The Darkness Before Dawn

Insanity

The lonely constant drip drip somewhere in the dark and dank hallway began to get on Kakuzu's nerves. He hated coming here and if he wasn't so desperate for some direction with this case, he would've never stepped foot in this building again. The last time he had it was to say goodbye to his longest running quarry.

Hidan grimaced as putrid water dripped onto his shirt and he stepped into the middle of the hallway, trying to keep his distance from the crazies.

They passed a cell and heard chanting. "Rasen...Rasen...RASEN!" Hidan jumped as a crazed man with long blonde bangs and the rest of his short blonde hair spiked at odd angles, slammed against the door of his cage. "RASEN!" The man shouted at Hidan, his bloodied knuckles clenching at the rusted steel bars that prevented his freedom. "RASEN! RASEN! RASEN!" He screamed as he hit his head on the bars each time he shouted.

"NAMIZAKE! KNOCK IT OFF!" The loudspeaker ordered and the man stopped. "Rasen...Rasen..." he muttered and turned, walking back to a grimy wall that was full of nonsensical equations. He pulled an old stubby pencil from behind his ear and began writing on the ground. "Rasen..."

"The fuck?" Hidan whispered, shaken by the encounter. "Learn to ignore it" Kakuzu advised him. They finally reached the cell they had been looking for and stood in front of it. "My my my. Aren't you looking...tasty...Kakuzu~" whispered a man. "Come into the light" Kakuzu demanded and the man did.

The dim yellow light glared harshly off his prisoner pale skin, giving it a jaundiced tone. His slim fingers wrapped around the bars and he pressed his lean body against them. Yellow slitted eyes focused on Kakuzu and a long pink tongue licked his pale lips. "It's been so long, since you last visited me" the man whispered hoarsely, his voice raspy from disuse. He pushed his greasy black hair behind his ears, the grease smearing onto his fingers.

"Orochimaru" Kakuzu said, tilting his head to him. Orochimaru looked at Hidan and then back at Kakuzu. "Who is this?" He asked, his tongue flicking against his lips. "Hidan. My partner." "Hmmm he doesn't look as delicious as you but I wouldn't say no to him" Orochimaru smiled sinisterly and pushed himself off the bars. He stood, his hands clasped behind his back, his stained and grey prisoner garb emphasizing the leanness of his body. 

"Have you been following the news?" Kakuzu asked, putting his hands into his pants pockets and relaxing his stance. "What little that makes it down here, I follow" Orochimaru hissed. "Then you know about the recent events occurring?" Orochimaru smiled and licked his lips, raising his hands as if he was about to conduct an orchestra. His hands flicked in the air as he made his imaginary points: "bombings, disease, murders, financial ruin...and congratulations are in order for your chief, being promoted to Mayor and all that."

"Can you tell us something or not?! Don't waste my goddamn time!" Hidan snapped, wanting to get the hell out of this creepy place. The prisoner glared at him, "for your rudeness, I will not savour your flesh." Kakuzu held up his hands to placate Orochimaru, apologizing on Hidan's behalf. "Tch. Rude" Orochimaru said again and settled back to listen to Kakuzu, clasping his hands behind his back again.

"We don't have DNA from any perp, the victims are often mutilated and have their DNA altered to prevent speedy identification, ballistics are a dead end as the ammunition they are using was traced back to the Third War and are not on any manifest..." Kakuzu trailed off.

"In a sense, you have nothing" Orochimaru filled in. He turned to face his back wall and his fingers played with his slimy hair. Turning back, he approached the bars again. "This is not a fly-by-night group and you're fools to think so. Everything you think you know, toss it out. Start from scratch." He said. "...that's it? That is what we came all this way to hear?! Are you fucking kidding me?!" Hidan ranted. Orochimaru looked into Kakuzu's eyes and said one last thing before he turned away and laid down on his bunk: "double check those closest to you. It is often those who need to hide the most that are most present in your life." Orochimaru closed his eyes, signalling the interview was over.

Kakuzu and Hidan could not walk fast enough to leave the building and step back outside into fresh, sunlit air. Breathing deeply to rid themselves of the stench of human misery, Hidan asked Kakuzu about Orochimaru on the drive back to the City.

"He was a medical doctor, working for the rebels during the Third War. Throughout his years taking care of the soldiers, he experimented on the prisoners. Horrific human experiments: eye transplants, amputations and mutilations without anesthesia, testing various biological and nerve agents on helpless civilians and prisoners. Eventually, he developed a taste for human flesh when meat became heavily rationed. He told me that women were the most tender and delicious, not that I needed to know that.

Anyways, I was assigned to his case as part of the Department of Uniform Justice during the War and managed to capture him before he could escape. It was my testimony as to what I encountered during the investigation and his capture that put him away."

Hidan was silent as he digested this new piece of information about his longtime partner. Finally he spoke, "so you think he could know who's doing this and why?" Kakuzu nodded, "killers like them all have one thing in common: they all think alike. Their reasons might differ but the thought process remains the same. He's right when he said we needed to start over. The investigation has become clouded and we need clarity. Hopefully Itachi has some."

Hidan was silent the rest of the way back into the City. With his forehead pressed against the car's window, he watched as the trees, shrubs, people, all flew past him. He knew Kakuzu was right: they all needed clarity. He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text: I need to see you.