Bound

Chapter five

An old woman had walked the path to Konoha frequently, so Hidan assumed it must have been easy. He remembered her description well, and walked back the way that he had come.

"So we took the wrong turn after we got out of the fucking fields," he commented to the monster cheerfully. "I got to kill some heathen scum, eat proper meat and get some clothes. That's worth the delay, seriously." He chuckled, as he looked up at the sky and the scattered moving clouds. "Kakuzu would bitch about it. He'd be all "Hidan, I'm gonna kill you if you make us late again", or some shit like that, right? He never gets that he's the problem. You know, if he'd just open up a bit, he'd be much more tolerable, am I right?"

As always, the creature deigned to give him any sort of agreement. Their walk had taken them through the forest path back to the lakeside, much smoother this time around, and now they were standing by the still water.

In anger, Hidan kicked at the ground with a clenched jaw, holding back a needless scream. The creature's soulless eyes bore into him when he looked down at it, and he could take it no longer.

"You're just as frustrating as he is!" he yelled. "Fucking answer me! I hate the silence treatment, don't you get it? Kakuzu you bastard, I know you're in there, I can hear your fucking heartbeat. You must be in there somewhere, and you're doing this on purpose, aren't you? You goddamn bastard. I could kill you now!"

But the creature just continued to stare at him as he ranted, never leaving him with its gaze. Hidan clenched his fist, and thought to punch it, putting just enough energy into his fist to shatter the white mask into pieces. He took a step towards the calm creature, and raised his fist. Last time he had attacked it it had responded, but he was faster than it, he was sure.

The silence and the stillness finally made him snap, and he threw the punch towards the mask. It would be the end.

"Kakuzu, slow the fuck down," Hidan called after his companion, who kept a faster pace than him. They were climbing up a steep set of stairs, the steps being of old wood and taking them up a green hill. A canopy of trees covered the stairs well, and surrounded them and the hill entirely. Birds flocked and sang, and the greenery of spring was overwhelming.

Kakuzu would not heed to Hidan's words, as he walked up the stairs. Hidan grumbled and cursed as he followed suite, sickened by the animals and lively colours already. His taste was for carnage and slaughter, not this serene form of beauty.

They were supposed to be free for a couple of days. They had performed well, their leader said, and were not on an assignment at the moment. But Kakuzu had not cared for that, nor had he cared for Hidan's complaints, instead he had said that they were to find a bounty he had been searching for. His obsession for money, Hidan could not understand, and he found it appalling.

The trees blocked their view of how much further they would have to climb, and eventually Hidan decided to simply sit down.

"Hey, shithead," he called to his partner. "Let's take a break. I'm not walking one more step." To prove his point, he sat down on the step and folded his arms. Kakuzu stopped in his ascent, and turned around to glare at Hidan.

"No," he said. "Get your lazy ass up now."

"Fuck off, I'm not going one more step. It's tiresome, seriously. Plus, it's fucking unnecessary! We're not on an assignment. What the fuck do you need to hunt down this Koji guy for? Last time I checked, we were not running low on cash, you greedy fu-"

Kakuzu's iron fist connected with his jaw before he could even finish his sentence. The power behind it made him fly off the steps into the thick forest. After breaking through one tree, the second Hidan's body connected with stopped his flight, but just as his dizziness wore down Kakuzu was standing over him, with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Money is important," he said. "It's the only thing in this world you can rely on. If you live long enough, you will realize that too."

"Fuck that shit, Jashin-sama is the only one I need to rely on," Hidan cursed as he rose to his feet. "And how dare you punch me? That fucking hurts." He threw a punch at Kakuzu, but his fist was caught almost before he could raise it.

"You are tragically predictable," Kakuzu commented, his monotone voice dripping with condescension. He let go of the fist, and walked back towards the stairs with nothing else to say.

Hidan considered staying put, but when he could no longer see Kakuzu's looming figure he hurried away after him still. Kakuzu was terrible company, but he was better than no one.

Hidan stopped himself right before his fist connected with the mask. He cast his gaze downwards, with gritted teeth, and then started to walk along the lakeside again. He could hear the creature following, but kept staring at the ground.

The sun went down behind him, making his shadow taller and taller until the darkness was all-encompassing. That night he slept on a sleep roll he had brought from the village, but he did not grip the monster's threads to keep it from straying this time. Yet it remained by his side when he opened his eyes the next morning.

For the majority of the following day Hidan was quiet. They walked at the monster's slow pace back past the shed where he had found the now discarded scythe, and then alongside the wheat field again. It was a lonely road, and the sun hid behind clouds, but they were spared rain.

When they reached a hill, with a set of stairs to help one ascend it, Hidan spoke once more.

"I didn't mean to… you know, nearly kill you," he told the creature. He sat down on the old wood steps, with the monster stopping before him, looking at his face as always. Hidan tried to wave it away with his hand, but the gesture did nothing. "It's just fucking frustrating. You're frustrating. Like seriously, really fucking frustrating."

The inane rambling persisted for a while, but then he took a deep breath, and sighed. "I miss that bastard. I heard that he was immortal, so I thought that I should find him. And it took me ages to track him down, but I did, and I joined Akatsuki for his sake, and I even said that religion was a good source for money just so he'd let me partner with him. How fucking pathetic does that sound, right? But he was immortal, and I wanted to have someone… like me. Which turned out to be such a fucking joke, right? We couldn't be more different."

Hidan leaned forward, pressing his hands to his forehead as he did. He could not look at the monster as he talked, for he would be more honest if he thought no one heard. "But I liked him. God, I sound like such a loser, don't I?" He chuckled without mirth. "But I did. He always got my back, and he knew what immortality was like. We were great together."

"Even so," Hidan continued. "When I was buried... I really started to think he was dead. Because he's not immortal like me, he's just got five fucking hearts. Seriously, so lame." He glanced up then, looking straight at the monotone mask, and felt his mouth spread into a smile. "Well, six I guess." Rising to his feet, he started to climb the stairs. "Come on," he called to the creature. "Enough with that gay shit. Let's go save the old bastard, his corpse must miss being alive."

With the creature dragging itself up the stairs behind him, Hidan slowly climbed up the stairs. It took time to reach the top, but when Hidan started to see over the edge he ran up the last few steps. From the view on top of the hill, he saw the Village Hidden in Leaves, beyond a forest of large trees. And the village was in pieces.