Bound

Chapter seven

The remains of Kakuzu were almost unrecognizable. The Leaf shinobi who had done the autopsy had been unable to close the scars, if they had tried at all, and the lifeless crass threads hung out from every wound. The corpse didn't look as much as a body as it appeared to be a broken doll, with rips in the fabric no one had bothered to sew up.

Rather than relief, Hidan felt a wave of anger, as he witnessed the corpse. He clenched his jaw, and grabbed Kakuzu's shoulder, digging his nails into the skin.

"Why did you lose?" he asked. "Why the fuck did you lose, huh?" Kakuzu's body was lying on its stomach, and Hidan grabbed both shoulders, pulling it up just to shake it. Kakuzu weighed very little, and was even lighter in death. Hidan started shaking the body, and repeated the question, until his eyes met Kakuzu's.

The bizarre combination of green and red which had been Kakuzu's eyes was gone. A simple white replaced his entire eyes, and appeared just as empty as the mask of his final monster. In disgust, Hidan dropped the body, and fell to the floor just as the corpse hit the brig.

"Goddammit," he muttered to himself. He had reached his goal, but found no satisfaction in his discovery. Seeing Kakuzu truly dead had made his blood turn to ice, and no matter how hard he shut his eyes, he could not get away the picture of the white eyes of Kakuzu's corpse. He tried to think of the still beating heart of Kakuzu's, left out in the woods, but his mind only focused on the soulless eyes of the mask, just like the still eyes of Kakuzu's corpse.

He was scared of death. Immortality had tempted him so, because of his fear. With Kakuzu, he had felt safe. No one could kill them, and they could have each other for an eternity. But the reality of the lifeless body on the brig above him, with the open wounds, slacking threads and empty eyes was impossible to ignore, and Kakuzu's death was as real as Hidan's own life.

But it didn't have to be. Hidan could give Kakuzu his life back, and make it all go back to the way it should be. It had been a bump in the road, nothing else; their entire battle against the shadow boy and his friends. Soon, things would be as they should be, Hidan reasoned as he stood up once more, and heaved Kakuzu's corpse over his shoulder.

Even though Kakuzu was a tall and burly man, he was easily slung over his back. Hidan did not know how much time he would have before someone was foolish enough to cross his path, but subpar as the security was, it was impossible that a shinobi village would not soon find out that something had happened at the prison facility. With a tight grip of Kakuzu's legs, as Hidan let the corpse hang over his back with the arms over Hidan's shoulders, he started to sprint as fast as he could with the liability. By leaning forward, he was able to run fast through the corridor, and back up the stairs he had ventured down.

The corpses of the security had bled all over the floor as he reached the upper levels. He almost slipped on it, until he focused his chakra in his feet, and stayed upright. But then, as he finally was at the last flight of stairs up to ground level, he heard voices.

"What the..." a man said, and at the same time a woman screamed "there's been a jailbreak! Call for backup!"

Hidan quickly pressed himself against the wall, trapping Kakuzu's body between himself and the concrete surface, as he hid. If they had thought someone had broken out, they would not search the inside, he told himself. Patience, wasn't that what Kakuzu had always gone on about?

He waited until he heard the voices fade away, but just as he readied himself to make a run for it, the woman's voice from before said that she would look for survivors. Hidan cursed at the distraction, but knew that he had no choice but to drop Kakuzu's body. It hit the floor with a hard thud, and then Hidan unsheathed the wakizashi, and ran up the stairs with determination to end the life of the woman before she could even scream.