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‘Help me damnit!’
Kakuzu heard the impatient shout from far away. That was unusual. Most of the time even if he got an arm lopped off, Hidan was too drunk with blood in the heat of battle to ask for help right away.
That means it’s really bad then. He thought. Now or never. He called out his fire familiar from its hiding place among the trees and used almost all his chakra for one final wave of fire, hoping it would catch the remaining Waterfall shinobi by surprise. To his relief, they weren’t fast enough and died screaming, burnt to ash.
Their echoes hadn’t even died in amongst the trees when he rushed towards where the string of hoarse curses was coming from.
‘I can’t move god damnit! Where are you? Get your ass over here!’
He found Hidan in a clearing kneeling with one leg and one stump cut off at the knee, with two shinobi pushing his own scythe back with kunais in their hands, a spark flaring up now and then when they managed to push back a bit.
The kid was at his limit when Kakuzu shot out his arms and lifted the enemies by their necks, sending them crashing in a mighty arc against two trees with all his strength. They died instantly.
‘Took you long enough!Where were you?’Hidan sounded irritated.
‘More importantly where is your leg?’ his partner asked urgently, alarmed at the size of the blood pool under the other’s leg.
‘Somewhere that way.And make it quick this hurts like a bitch!’ he said, breathing heavily and pointed behind him.
Kakuzu hurried off in the indicated direction.This is my fault.Those Waterfall shinobi came for me.They never give up, those stubborn village elders.He chuckled to himself sadly. I guess as long as I live I am a stain on the name of the village.Once a monster, forever a monster.The fact that they’d clearly sent the best to take him out didn’t flatter him anymore, it was just a burden.
Now that the imminent danger was gone, he started to feel how drained he was.Thruth is, he was tired.Has been for the past 30 years at least.Tired of fighting, tired of running, tired of being alone.
He found the leg stuck in a bramble bush.Trying to remove it without damaging it he hurried back to his partner.By the time he got back, Hidan was lying on the ground, white as a sheet. Kakuzu shook him by the shoulder.
‘Hey! You alive? Talk to me!’
‘Mnnh’ came the weak answer. A huge missing chunk in Hidan’s cloak allowed easy access to the stump. Kakuzu worked quickly, carefully lining up the leg and reattaching it with a black thread.No sound came from his patient.
This is not good. He usually curses up a storm when I do this.
He scooped him up in his arms and hurried off to get away from the scene of battle in case reinforcements were coming.Hidan’s breathing was shallow and he felt even more icy cold than usual.Kakuzu carried him as far as his remaining strength allowed before stopping in a clump of trees, propping his burden against a tree in a sitting position.
‘Hey! Hidan!Say something damnit!’ he urged, lifting one of the eyelids and being met with nothing but an unfocused lilac orb almost completely swallowed up by the abyss of the pupil.
He could not believe this.The brat was supposed to be immortal.He couldn’t even remember the last time tears blurred his emerald eyes. In that moment he realised why he was tired all the time.Money,glory,power,earthly possessions only made you content for a while.Anyone he ever cared about was dead, and knowing he’d outlive anyone he’d come close to made him stop trying long ago.Then the outbursts came.90 years of anger, frustration, loss and loneliness made him snap and punch and even accidentally kill anyone within talking distance.
Hidan annoyed him at first, he talked so damn much.He lifted his hand against him a few times and felt something long forgotten: remorse.After a while togther Kakuzu noticed that when Hidan wasn’t talking he had this infinitely defeated expression on his face. That made him realize: the other felt the same way he did. What good was immortality when you were doomed to be shunned and alone?
The kid tried to cope with it by constant attempts at communication, but his frustration didn’t make his words kind ones so on the surface he seemed like this bratty mindless idiot who did nothing but complain. But Kakuzu has seen enough to know there was more to his partner than that.
‘Say something damnit!You were supposed to be immortal!You were supposed to be...the one that didn’t leave me…’ Kakuzu choked out.
Hidan remained motionless, like a statue in the pale moonlight. Kakuzu felt so helpless and angry he wanted to scream. Eventually his exhaustion got the better of him and he fell asleep as he was, kneeling in the grass beside his partner.
×
‘You gonna sleep all day old man?’ in Hidan’s weak voice was the best sound Kakuzu had ever woken up to.Feeling thankful for the mask that hid his smile he asked:
‘How’s your leg?’ Hidan tried to move, but all that came of it was a sharp cry.
‘Ah!Son of a bitch that hurts!’
‘I thought you liked pain.’
‘When I’m in the mood for it, yeah.Feeling like I’d lose to a 5-year-old in a fight is not the mood for it.’
‘Well I guess we’re stuck here. Unless you want me to carry you.’
‘Yeah, not happening.’
The reply felt like a stab to Kakuzu. So you too huh? Of course anyone would be disgusted to be so close to me, a patchwork of scars and bloodshot eyes. He remembered his best friend’s reaction upon noticing the first mask on Kakuzu’s back when his shirt got ripped in battle.He’d asked what that was, horrified at how it seemed to be fused to Kakuzu’s skin.
And worst of all he remembered Yui’s reaction when she first felt it when they embraced. She demanded to know what it was and Kakuzu didn’t have the strength to lie to her. Upon hearing the truth, she’d called him a monster too. But she didn’t understand. He’d done it for her, to be stronger, to always be around to protect her.That backfired spectacularly.She never wanted to see him again.
For the first time in a long time Kakuzu made a real effort not to get angry and snap at Hidan so he walked away into the forest.
‘Where you goin’? I hurt your feelings or somethin’?If you even have feelings.’Hidan shouted after him.
Taking a deep breath, his partner tried his best not to tell him to shut up like he always did.
‘I’m going to gather firewood and maybe something to eat.You’re already hurt, I don't need you to freeze or starve too.’
By the time he got back and started the fire, Hidan’s eyes were closed again. After forcing him to drink some water, he opened his eyes.
‘You’re cold as a stone.At least half the blood in your body is gone.’
‘Eh, I’ll recover.Always do.’Came the weak reply.
Kakuzu was still doubtful.Hidan looked like hell, the veins were visible through the bloodless skin on his arms and neck and his leg was still seeping blood, no matter how tight the stitches were.
By nightfall they ate something but it was getting uncomfortably chilly, a constant wind diminishing their fire and making even Kakuzu shiver.
‘That’s it.Complain and I’ll kill you.’ he instructed and sitting with his back against the tree, drew his partner into his lap and folded his cloak over both of them. His five hearts made his body temperature higher than the average, he figured he would do a better job of keeping Hidan warm than the struggling fire.
Surprisingly, Hidan listened for once.Probably overwhelmed by exhaustion, using up all his energy on healing he let his head fall on Kakuzu’s shoulder. The bastard was cold and damp with sweat like a fish, but Kakuzu didn’t mind. His chest felt lighter than it had in decades.
Tightening his arms around the brat he vowed to remember this moment the next time his temper urged him to yell at his partner.