Bound

Chapter three

Seven days had passed since Kakuzu's heart went missing, and the stitches all across Hidan's body had all but vanished. Every time he paused in his search he would pray for guidance, but God never answered him. Maybe it was because it was not Hidan's duty to find the monster. He was not required to find it and find Kakuzu's body, and see him revived. God recognized that.

But he wanted to. It had taken him much angry ranting at nothing to realize that he truly wanted to help Kakuzu be restored to his old self. Even if it was only to return the favour, he wanted it done.

The forest was vast, and Hidan was well aware of the circles he had wandered in. He searched every part of it, and would look at any dark bush twice, in his desperate search. Screaming did not help, because the monster was deaf, Hidan figured, but even so he had yelled at it to stop hiding many times. The coniferous trees, so different than the bamboo forests of his home nation, were driving him slowly insane. There was just so much moss and root he could walk barefooted on, so many rabbits he had to eat raw, and so many falling autumn leaves that he could take before snapping.

"Give me some credit," he said aloud, in his habit of speaking to himself. "I haven't complained yet." But he said it without mirth.

That night he slept on fallen leaves as a poor and thin mattress over the hard ground. He regretted having cut off the sleeves on his clothes as the wind chilled him, and the next morning was no better. It got colder and colder, with each day that passed, and the leaves continued to fall. Hunting became harder to do, though at least he did not need to search for water, when the rain started to fall.

The third day of rain had Hidan sitting under a thick tree branch, to be shielded from the heavy fall. It poured down and clouded his vision completely, and made him freeze to his bone. His scythe, already an old tool, seemed to get rustier by the minute, and would soon be completely worthless.

He prayed, but there was no end to his streak of ill luck. Jashin cared little for disciples who could do nothing, so he understood why he was punished, of course. Rather than looking for some monster belonging to a heathen, he should have looked for more sacrifices. All that time spent under the earth had dulled his usefulness to God.

Hidan buried his head in his hands, and pulled up his legs to his body. He hated loneliness.

The dark clouds had appeared on the sky over the course of a week, warning them for an upcoming storm, before the downpour truly started. Everything was wet at the first sound of thunder, from the fields surrounding their lonesome road to the hills ahead of them, and the forests in the distance of each side. Blue had been replaced by grim, autumn grey above them, just as red, yellow and orange had replaced the green of forests and grass for the last several weeks. Still the first real rain was a surprise for Hidan, who cursed at its cold when it started to pour.

Just a few steps ahead of him, Kakuzu opened up an umbrella he had been carrying since they left the last town on their journey. As soon as it was opened, Hidan hurried up to walk right beside him, taking cover under it from nature's harshness.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kakuzu asked him darkly, as his oddly coloured eyes glared down at Hidan.

"What do you think? You know how fucking stupid my hair gets when it's wet, seriously. All that wax and it just dies, no way I'm walking in the rain," Hidan replied, while running his fingers through his hair to make sure it was still intact. Kakuzu ceased his walking then, making Hidan stop as well to remain dry. Only when they were still standing did they become aware of just how close they had to stand in order for Hidan to remain under the umbrella.

No matter the intimacy, Kakuzu was still accusing, when he said: "When we were in the last village, I told you to get an umbrella for yourself, because there were clear signs of rain," with a dangerous tone. "And you said that it was not going to rain, and that even if it did, you would not need an umbrella."

His unspoken threats fell to deaf ears. "Yeah, well, I was wrong, you happy?" was Hidan's only retort, and then he sighed, and rolled his eyes. "Seriously dude, you're not gonna make me walk in the rain, are you? Because then I am going to whiny and bitch at you, and I am going to whine about my hair, and you're gonna get really pissed off and threaten to kill me but you won't, cause you can't, and then you'll just be in a way worse mood than you would have been if you just let me walk here with you."

The patter of the rain against the umbrella following the deadly silence told Hidan that he had won this round, so he smirked proudly just as Kakuzu wordlessly resumed walking. Sharing the umbrella with Hidan, as he did.

The humid air and the cold winds made Hidan's body damp, but it was almost too numb for him to be able to feel it. His head was hidden behind his legs as he hugged them, and his clothing was drenched from the blowing rain. He was lost. He hated that even more than he hated loneliness.

"For fuck's sake," he started another prayer. "Just… I am gonna be a good servant, you know that I am the best you could imagine. But Kakuzu, heathen bastard as he is, serves you too. Do you know how many people he's killed over the years? It must be a fucking insane amount. And when he lets lose, he kills fuck ton more than I've ever managed."

Was he defending Kakuzu to Jashin? The bizarre concept made him want to chuckle, but it was so cold that his teeth just ended up chattering. "Just… for fuck's sake, help me out here!" He yelled the last part, but his voice was drowned out by the rain.

And then his prayers went answered. He heard something approaching, and that noise alone seemed to cure his cold body, and he was able to quickly get to his feet. It sounded like something heavy being dragged across the ground, but when he spotted what it was; a big lump of black thread with a white and black lined mask, he ran out from his cover towards it at once.

He was laughing, he realized when he reached the ugly monster. "Where the fuck have you been?" he yelled, but the joy in his voice made the curse insincere. The creature did not answer, but it did let Hidan pull it under the thick branch again for cover. There they sat, staring at each other, with Hidan's grin being unable to go away.

"I was almost fucking worried about you," Hidan told it. "You might be Kakuzu's heart, but you're weak, aren't you? You can't even walk, you just crawl, how lame's that?" He let out a crazed giggle. "Well, don't worry Kuzu, I'm here to protect you," he mocked.

Or maybe he was serious. Even he was unsure, as he looked at the odd creature until the rain finally stopped. Grasping the threads, he felt a sense of hope rekindled once more. Where had it been? What had it done, in Hidan's absence? Had it been as lost as he?

The stiff mask and the soulless eyes of the monster remained unchanging as Hidan grinned at it, giving no answers to any question raised. But the heartbeats from within its threaded body seemed louder than before, when Hidan's grip tightened.