Resurected

Kakuzu woke up sometime late into the night and stared up at the ceiling. Moonlight, pale and otherworldly, filled the room, casting the shadows of trees as they danced in the breeze like living things onto the wooden floorboards. Next to him, the mattress was empty and for a moment he wondered if Hidan had slipped out after he had fallen asleep. Barely audible snores coming from the other side of the room, however, assured the older man that his partner was still there. He glanced over and spotted the immortal right where he left him, leaning against the wall, legs spread out in front of him, arms still crossed, head hanging to one side, and drooling onto his shoulder. Kakuzu sighed, thinking back on the events that occurred earlier that night, thinking about his tongue infiltrating his partners mouth, about wrapping his hands around that slender throat, about something that would most likely turn into more trouble than it was worth. Maybe he shouldn’t have done what he did, though at the time, feeling Hidan’s body trembling against him was a lot more pleasurable than listening to the warning bells going off in his head.

Kakuzu stood and quietly approached his partner. He ghosted his fingers over Hidan’s forehead to push several stray hairs aside as he debated whether he should leave the man where he lay or carry him to bed. He chose the latter. As gently as he could, so as not to wake him, Kakuzu slipped his arms under the immortal and lifted him with ease, granting him several incoherent mumbles as he made their way back to their shared space. In moments like these, the older man found himself completely unnerved. Daunted by the sheer audacity of what he was doing. Tenderness was not in his cold nature and while Kakuzu could be violent and harsh when it came to the foul-mouthed idiot that he now held in his arms, he could also be unusually kind. Hidan, consciously or not, was turning Kakuzu into someone that he didn’t recognize. Making him possessive, sometimes jealous, other times, like right now, confused. Once again Kakuzu sighed, unable to find meaning in his actions or the tornado of thoughts wrecking his usually sound mind.

With one knee pressing into the mattress, Kakuzu rested his partner on the soft surface and let go of a breath that he didn’t know he was holding. Suddenly, he was thankful for Hidan’s ability to sleep through just about anything; not quite ready to face the onslaught of curses, questions, and demands the immortal was sure to send his way. Whatever may come of his actions, he would handle it. While Hidan could be the biggest, whiniest, most childish, pain in the ass, especially when he actually had something to be pissed about, this time, it was Kakuzu’s own fault. The older man laid down on his back and stared at his partner, tracing the shadows on his face and chest, as otherworldly as the moonlight. Slowly, thoughts began to fade, and his eyelids fluttered shut as he was lulled into dreamless oblivion by the steady breaths of the sleeping man.

As always, Kakuzu was the first to wake come morning. The room was still shrouded in a thick darkness, but far out on the horizon, a soft pale blue was working its way into the midnight purple of the night sky. He sat up and stared out the window for a moment before his red and green eyes drifted down to his partner. Tentatively, he placed a tanned hand on the man’s shoulder and shook him, telling him to wake up in his usual stern manner. Hidan groaned and slapped at Kakuzu’s hand. “Hidan.” Came the stern warning once again. This time the immortal opened his violet eyes and glared at his partner sleepily. “Time to go.” He said softer.

“It’s still dark out…”

“Not for much longer. Get dressed.”

“Ugh.” Hidan sat up as Kakuzu slid out of bed and began gathering their belongings. Lazily, the immortal followed suit, getting to his feet and searching for the shirt Kakuzu had so graciously removed last night. “I’m hungry.” He mumbled, finding the article in the corner and pulling it on over his head. For a time, his partner remained silent and Hidan began losing hope on breakfast.

“We can get something on the way.” The immortal eyed his partner suspiciously then kneeled down to grab his boots. Kakuzu may have seemed to be in his usual grumpy mood, but that was not his usual grumpy response. Suddenly, visions of last night flashed into Hidan’s mind and he bit his lip. The part of him that never knew when to shut up was itching to scream at his partner about what the hell he had been thinking. The other side of him though was worried about making an ass out of himself. It was not something that he had ever worried about before, but nothing about that situation was familiar in anyway. Maybe he should just pretend like it never happened. “If you aren’t ready in five minutes, I’m leaving you here.” Kakuzu said in annoyance, noticing the dazed expression as Hidan zoned at the wall. The immortal snapped out of it with a light dusting of pink tinging his cheeks but said nothing as he finished tying his shoes.

Hoping to be gone before someone realized the damage that they did to the wall the previous night, the duo left their room quietly and slipped out of the building unnoticed. They were greeted by the cool early morning air and Hidan felt himself shiver slightly as a strong gust of wind passed through his clothes and grazed his skin. Together they made their way to through the empty streets under the cover of near darkness. The immortal remained silent, watching as the still desolate shops of a village asleep swept past to pass the time. When that stopped being enough of a distraction, he closed his eyes and drowned out all thoughts concerning last night with quiet prayers as he followed the sound of his partners footsteps. By the time he opened his eyes once more, the last of the towns structures was already behind them. “Where are we headed next?” He asked with a yawn.

“Yugakure ...”

“Ah.”

“Our next target is a high-ranking shinobi; we will need to be careful.” Kakuzu paused for a time and waited for a response that never came. He ground his teeth in agitation. “Hidan, are you listening?”

“Attentively.” Hidan replied, managing to sound both bored and sarcastic at the same time. The older man stopped and whirled around on his partner, sensing Hidan’s strange mood and getting annoyed with it quickly. The immortal stared at him with a hard-unreadable expression which was odd considering his usual expressive nature. Kakuzu recognized what was happening immediately; Hidan was shutting down on him. Needless to say, he didn’t like it. His anger began to dissolve, and he sighed, this was his fault after all.

“Is this about last night?”

“Is what about last night?”

“Your behavior.”

“What about my behavior?”

“Hidan.”

“If we don’t keep going, it’ll have been pointless to have gotten up so early.” Kakuzu glared at him but turned around without another word, much to the immortal’s relief. Hidan waited until his partners back was completely to him before slumping his shoulders and releasing his breath. If he couldn’t stop thinking about his partner in terms of last night, this was going to be a very long journey. He glanced at the taller man nervously, then cast his eyes towards the sky. Last night was frustrating to say the least. Hidan had come to terms with the fact that his feelings for Kakuzu were not based on mutual respect alone quite some time ago. In fact, he had five years to do nothing BUT come to terms with it. Despite his obliviousness to a lot of things, jerking off to the thought of your partner in the shower, was not something normal partners did. Nor, he supposed, was raising them from the dead. In the past, he could write it off as simple curiosity, a fluke derived from the fact that they were together constantly. Now though, he wasn’t sure. What was curiosity in the past, after last night was uncontrollable desire. Desire and an exceptional amount of embarrassment because the thing that Kakuzu meant as a trick to keep him from going out, meant a lot more to the immortal than what was intended.

They walked in silence for miles, the sun rising high in the sky before once again beginning its descent towards the opposite horizon. On one side of the dirt trail, trees loomed over them, providing shade and comfort from the heat. On the other side a wide but shallow river cut its way through the earth like a scar. Hidan watched as fish jumped in and out of the lazy current to catch the occasional dragon fly. His mouth watered at the thought of eating one and he suddenly realized that despite being told that they would get food along the way, they never did. The immortals stomach growled for emphasis as he considered asking if they could take a quick break. “’Kuzu?” He finally managed.

“Hm?”

“Let’s stop for a minute. I’m hungry.” Kakuzu stopped and faced him, causing the smaller male’s ears to burn.

“We’re making good progress so I suppose it shouldn’t be a problem.” Hidan nodded in response then scanned the river once again. They didn’t have a fishing rod or bait so he would have to catch them by hand. Determined, the immortal kicked off his boots and rolled his pants up to his knees. As he made his way down to the edge of the embankment, kunai in hand, he pulled his shirt off and tossed it aside. The water was cold on his bare skin, but it felt nice compared to the merciless rays of summer sun. He waded out, the liquid coming first up to his ankles, then to his shins, and finally to his waist. He shivered as the current lapped at his belly but remained still and vigilant. From the shore Kakuzu watched in slight amusement as he leaned on the trunk of a massive dogwood. “You don’t think you can actually catch one, do you?” He inquired, earning him a dirty look that made him laugh.

Fifteen minutes later, Hidan stepped out of the water and onto the bank dripping wet. He picked up the three fish he had managed to catch from where he had tossed them on the shore line. The sun, in that short time, had burned the bridge of his nose and his cheeks, turning them bright red. The immortals silver hair, held up in a high bun, was escaping its confines and falling into his face which was flushed from the heat of the afternoon. As disheveled as he looked, he was beaming. A wide ear-to-ear grin plastered on his face triumphantly. ‘Fuck that heathen, it wasn't that hard,’ thought the immortal. “Oi. Food.” He said as he kicked Kakuzu in the leg to wake him. The older man hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but the small nap was worth it. He opened his eyes to three decent sized trout then shifted his gaze up to Hidan who was looming over him smugly. “And you thought I couldn’t catch any.”

“Took you long enough.”

“Ch. Asshole.” Hidan dropped his smile and moved away. The older man watched silently as he cleaned the fish and prepared it, trying not to laugh at the mess that the clearly inexperienced man was creating. Halfway through the fist fish, Kakuzu set his hand on Hidan’s shoulder who tensed at the contact.

“Start the fire. I’ll finish this.”

“No! I’m already almost done with the first one.”

“Mhm. And your butchering it.”

“Ugh! I got it! Just go count your shitty money or something!”

“Go. Start. The fire.”

“Heh, you know what? Why don’t you just make me like you made me get undressed last night. That seemed to work out for you.” Hidan glared daggers at his partner with a bitter smile, teeth clenched, eyes overflowing with anger and defiance. For a second, he reminded Kakuzu of a wild animal.

“I wondered when you were going to bring that up…”

“Right. And you think that I talk too much.” Hidan stabbed the knife deep into the fish and tossed it at his partner.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“That you should add some words to your very small vocabulary. Your short responses are infuriating. And just for the record, no, I don’t want to talk about what happened last night! It was shitty, beyond shitty. I don’t care if you hit me or yell at me or try to intimidate me, but that was not fucking cool, man.”

“I don’t see what the difference is. You get off on it when I hit you, too.” Hidan’s face went blood red.

“F-fuck you! You stupid shitty atheist!” The immortal’s voice was shrill, and he looked like he might throw up. Kakuzu smiled darkly as his sadistic side pushed to the surface.

“Do you know why it gets you off? Because you’re sick. And that stupid god that I hear you praying to every night is just some made up fantasy that you created for an excuse to act on your homicidal, masochistic, screwed up tendencies. When the reality is, you like being immortal, pushing your body past its limits because something in you is wired wrong and the pain feels good. You like killing and spilling blood because it makes you feel alive. And you like the way I treat you because you’re completely fucked in the head. Is that enough words for you?”

“Plenty.” Hidan schooled his features, closing himself off from his partner. Under the blank unreadable gaze, Kakuzu suddenly felt guilty. “I’ll start the fire.” With that, Hidan turned on his heels and disappeared into the forest. The older man sighed for what felt like the millionth time, tearing off his headdress, and running a dark hand through his brown hair. He could go after the idiot, but that would make him seem desperate. Not an image that he ever wanted to convey. No. He would wait until Hidan came back and then they would talk.

Kakuzu whittled away at the fish impatiently. It had been several minutes since the immortal left to get wood and while that wasn’t a particularly long amount of time, it felt like hours for Kakuzu who wanted to settle the dispute already and move on. He tried fixing the damage done to the first fish but found it to be too much work and moved on to the second and eventually the third, shucking off their scales with a kunai and gutting them. It wasn’t until after Kakuzu had cleaned the last trout and was washing the blood off his hands in the river that he heard footsteps behind him. He stood up and turned around in time to watch Hidan toss his collection of twigs and branches into a pile. “Hidan.” He started. When no response came, he approached his partner and grabbed him by the arm roughly. “Look at me when I talk to you.” Hidan snapped his ruby-violet eyes up to meet Kakuzu’s gaze.

“What?”

“I-I shouldn’t have said what I said...And last night…”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Apologize. It’s not like you.” Kakuzu opened his mouth to make a comment but Hidan shook his head. “Besides… you were right.”

“About?”

“I’m totally fucked in the head.” The ghost of a smile lingered at the corner of Hidan’s lips. “And blame it on that or whatever else you want, but I do like way that you treat me. Just so we are clear, though, if anyone else were to treat me that way, I’d kill them. Also, you’re wrong about Jashin, you heathen prick. Insult me all you want, but in the future, don’t talk about my god like that.” Hidan brushed off the fingers that were wrapped tightly around his arm and put some space between them.

“You are really ok with the way I treat you?” Kakuzu asked incredulously, taken back that the immortal would ever admit it. Hidan shrugged, busying himself with getting the fire started for their food.

“What can I say…I’m a masochist.” Kakuzu closed the space between them once more and grabbed his partner by the chin, forcing him to look up.

“If anyone else treated you the way I do, you wouldn’t get a chance to kill them...You are mine.” Hidan blushed a deep shade of crimson.

“Took you long enough to notice, old man.” He teased. Kakuzu leaned in and brushed his lips against the immortal's. It felt foreign to both, but not unpleasant. Hidan was the first to pull away, an even darker shade of red than before but smiling, nonetheless. Something the older man was relieved to see. They ate quickly and were back on the road in no time, Kakuzu leading the way to their next destination. Behind him Hidan followed talking about everything and nothing.