The base was oddly quiet for once. Kakuzu wouldn't have found this so strange on a normal day, because he knew there was only one other person in the base besides himself.
However, that other person was Hidan.
The miser looked over at the clock. "8:04. Hidan should be ranting about Jashin right now." Curious as to why the zealot wasn't trying to convert him at the moment, he stood and walked down the hall to their room. He stopped outside the door, wondering whether to go in or not. Hidan may just be asleep, so letting him rest would spare the banker from a few hours of religious ranting. On the other hand, Hidan would probably wake up in a foul mood. He sighed and grabbed the doorknob. Best get this over with now.
To Kakuzu's surprise, Hidan was sitting up on the bed, back to the door. He didn't move, so he probably hadn't heard Kakuzu come into the room. The immortal was hunched over, apparently looking at something. Kakuzu watched from the door, not sure what to expect from his unusually somber partner. The Jashinist straightened and sighed, not moving from the bed. Kakuzu watched as Hidan's arm jerked back and hurled something against the far wall, the object hitting with a soft clink and falling to the ground. Kakuzu's eyes widened drastically as he realized what had been thrown.
Hidan's rosary.
The little hunk of metal, that tiny piece of jewelry, was more precious to the immortal than life itself. The banker walked into the room, heading to the spot where the necklace now lay. "Hidan…"
"What, dumbass?" the zealot asked, eyes, glued to the wall in front of him.
Kakuzu bent down and picked up the metal, walking over to the bed. "You dropped this," he muttered, holding it out for the immortal to take.
Hidan snorted. "You mean I threw it." He wasn't swearing; Kakuzu took this as a bad sign.
The banker sat down by his partner, staring at the smaller man. "What the hell is it?" Hidan growled, looking at his partner from the corner of his eye.
"You just threw your rosary across the room. The last person that breathed on this thing got cut up into tiny pieces with a rusty spork and fed to Zetsu." Hidan sighed in annoyance. "Your point?"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Hidan stiffened as Kakuzu picked him up and pulled him into the miser's lap. "Wanna try that again?"
"Go to hell." Kakuzu didn't say anything, and after about ten minutes of dead silence, Hidan sighed. "If you laugh, dumbass, you're spending the next ten Jashin-damned YEARS on the damn couch."
"I won't."
"I'm going through a crisis."
"…Care to elaborate on that?"
Hidan sighed. "Ok, I'm immortal, right asshole?"
"As far as I can tell."
"That means that no matter what, I'll always be here. Even after all these Jashin-damned ninjas disappear, after every sorry-ass human dies, even after this damn planet spins out of control into the damn suns and burns to a fucking crisp, I'll still be alive." He looked up at his partner. "Got it, dumbass?"
"Ok…and you're wondering if immortality's actually worth it?"
"Yup."
Kakuzu sat in silence for a time, just thinking. How exactly were you supposed to respond to that? Hidan mad no indication that he planned on moving, so the miser knew he'd have to respond. "Just…don't think about it."
"Don't think about it," Hidan repeated, giving his partner an incredulous look.
"I mean, just think about the here and now. Don't worry about hundreds or millions of years into the future. We're shinobi; we're supposed to live in the moment, so we can be around later. Make sense?"
"Kinda."
"You feel any better?"
"Kinda."
"Say something else."
"Burn in hell, dumbass."
"Not exactly what I was going for, but ok." Kakuzu started as he felt Hidan's hand reach up and move across his body. He realized the immortal was searching for his necklace and held it up, watching Hidan take it and return it to its rightful place around his neck. He smirked and leaned against his partner, hugging him. "Thanks, dumbass."
Kakuzu wrapped one arm around the Jashinist and tugged his mask down with the other hand, giving his partner a light kiss. "No problem." They heard a door open and shut downstairs. "WE'RE HOME, UN!"
"That's my cue," Hidan said, climbing off of Kakuzu's lap and walking towards the door.
"Off to try and convert Deidara again?" the banker asked, pulling his mask back up.
"Hell yeah!" Hidan said, grinning as he walked out the door. Kakuzu stood and followed his partner. "Hidan," he muttered under his breath, "don't worry about the future. I'll keep stealing hearts and live as long as I can, so you won't have to be alone. Ever."