WARNING!: YAOI/SHOUNEN-AI ALERT! DON'T LIKE, DON'T READ!

I'll Give You My Heart

Coming back from an exhausting solo mission, Hidan opened the door of his and Kakuzu's room almost gently. He gave a small push on the wooden panel to close it once he was in, and headed to his bed before he heard the door shut. He bypassed a stain of blood and let himself fall onto the comfortable mattress, dropping his three-bladed scythe on the floor next to him.

"Hello to you too, Hidan" the miser known as Kakuzu said when the echo of Hidan's scythe hitting the stone ground disappeared. The pillow the immortal's face was buried in dimmed the silver-haired man's words, and the banker took that as a "Screw you and let me sleep in fucking peace".

"Sorry Darlin', but you don't have the time to rest: Leader already gave us a new assignment. We're leaving in an hour" he announced, his piercing green eyes glued to the money he had been counting for the last two hours. He didn't bother to turn around when the Jashinist lifted his head and almost shouted at him "Are you fucking kidding me, you dumbass? If you are, I fucking swear to Jashin-sama that you won't see the shitty end of the day!".

The black-haired man laid a pile of cash he had counted before answering "No, I'm serious. Now prepare yourself, we are leaving in fifty-eight minutes, thirty six seconds. Hurry up if you don't want Leader to get mad at you".

"The son of a bitch!" the wine-eyed one let out while getting up of the bed he just laid on for about two minutes.

"Don't be that upset, Hidan. It's his job, after all" the miser stated. Hidan muffled something to himself, and started packing up, not bothering to ask his partner about the details of their mission. He didn't stop cussing and swearing all the fifty-seven minutes fifty-six seconds left.

Hidan had let the larger man take the lead and was now slowly following behind, head down, trying to see the road in front of him through the thick curtain of rain at his feet. He could barely saw the banker's back when he occasionally looked up, but that was more than enough for him: if his partner knew where to go, they were fine.

They hadn't spoke in a while, and that was getting on Kakuzu's nerves. Hidan had the bad habit of talking too much along the way of a mission. Most of the time it was whining, but the five-hearted man was used to it, and was actually enjoying the Jashinist's criticism phases that were spending the boring time of the long walk toward their target. If the silver-haired immortal was quiet, either he was too irritate to talk, or he was exhausted. Since the pagan hadn't slept when he arrived to the lair, the taller Akatsuki bended over the second option.

But in fact, Hidan wasn't quiet because he was tired: he remained silent because he was... confused. It was a brand-new feeling to him. Many years had passed since his birth, yet, he had never felt anything like that. He always knew what he wanted, but now, questions were slamming against the walls of his skull, and anxiety was eating his insides. He didn't know why he felt that way; it was strange, odd, and pretty unpleasant, just like if his brain was out on a killing spree without the rest of his body.

"Hey Hidan! Your karma had taken away your dirty tongue?" Kakuzu asked over his shoulder, surprising the named one. The wine-eyed S-Rank criminal looked up to stare at his partner's back, blurred by the rain drops. The water coming from the dark clouds above his head was cold, but the Jashinist felt his face heated up when he noticed that the miser had turned his head around to glance at him, just to make sure if he was following.

The taller of the two stopped, and Hidan did the same, more and more blood flooding to his cheeks when the other walked toward him. "What the hell is happening to me?" he asked himself while his partner stopped inches of him.

"Are you alright, Darlin'? You haven't spoken a word since we left, you didn't even complain about the bad weather like you usually do. Is something wrong?" he asked, rising his hand to the smaller man's forehead.

Hidan gasped at the touch, and almost stepped backwards when his partner's hand was laid on the hot skin hiding his skull. Kakuzu never touched him before, not even grazed him accidentally during the countless years where they have been together: another new experience for the immortal. He was repelled by the contact, but also attracted by it, lured by the new feeling taking over his eternal young body. The thrill started from his wrinkleless forehead to run down his body, sending electric shockwaves in all his limbs, to finish in his fingers and heels. "Why do I feel this damn way?"

"Man, you're burning up" stated the stitched man. "You surely catch a cold, walking in the rain like that. You'll never learn to wear that straw hat, won't you?". He removed his tanned hand from the silver-haired man's head and started pulling off his Akatsuki cloak, which he handed to Hidan. "Put it on. I don't want you to slow us down because you can't find a Kleenex". The immortal took the cloak and put it over his own while Kakuzu turned around to continue walking forwards. "Don't forget to button it up" he advised, his green gaze staring at the road ahead.

The albino ran after his partner, convinced that he will be lost in less than thirty minutes if he couldn't see the other's back. He sticked closer to the tall man, close enough to count the stray locks escaping his hat, but still too far to be touch if the banker extend his bare arm. "Why is he fucking acting like that?" he thought, even more confused that before. He knew the five-hearted man had wished his death more than once. It was obvious just by the way he acted, talked to him, and many other hints were clear to understand. So, why was he so weird that day?
Lost in his thoughts, the smaller one didn't saw the pothole in front of him. A second later, he was falling head first into the muddy ground, the three-bladed weapon he had replaced in his back crushing him down. Even if the rain had dimmed the sound of something hitting the ground, Kakuzu turned around toward his partner, now lying on the soak road.

"Jashin damn-it! Fucking stupid hole. . .". Here started one of Hidan's swearing filled speeches. He was still stretched out on the ground, and was swearing into the mud, making the miser laugh at the sight at his feet. He waited till the pagan finished his surge of fury before tapping his shoulder gently. The pink-eyed man gasped in surprise when he felt the hand on his shoulder, swallowing a mouthful of mud. He then quickly gazed up to meet his partner's green eyes, dirty water trailing down his reddening face.

"It's not helping your cold if you make it wet already" the tanned banker said while poking the collar of his cloak that the Jashinist was wearing. He helped the unkillable Akatsuki to stand up, and fortunately didn't notice the red tint on Hidan's face, who was blushing madly of embarrassment. He resumed the walk while the immortal dusted himself, even if there was no dirt, only water on him, and tried to fix up his always slicked locks that had fell on his wet face, but only aggravated the mess it was by adding muddy water into his hair.

He cursed the so damnable water and the bad weather that were ruining his haircut and had given him that "cold". It was a marvellous invention from Kakuzu, who had thought that the heat of his skin was coming from the widespread illness. Fortunately for the "sick" immortal, the other man hadn't felt nor heard his heart pounding into his chest when he got closer to him.

Realizing that the pagan hadn't catch up yet, the masked man turned around (again) to face nothing else than the blurry landscape. He sighed and walked toward the direction where Hidan should have been, but only found him when he bumped onto him. "What the fuck?!?" Hidan yelled, reaching out for the scythe in his back.

"Woah! Hidan! It's me!" said Kakuzu as loud as his partner, holding the twice covered wrist of the Jashinist who was about to slice him in two with the heavy weapon. "I'm sorry, I just didn't see you" he explained while dropping the other's arm. "You shouldn't stay that far behind, you know. It could have been anyone". The smaller man gave a firm nod and put away the reddish scythe.

"You know you look like a terrible mess like that?" Kakuzu said before getting closer to slick Hidan's silver hair backwards. "There. Now, walk next to me; I don't want a bunch of punks to ambush a loner immortal". With that being said, the banker returned to the path they had been following for several hours, expecting his partner to come as well. Hidan didn't disappoint him, and walked on the right side of the miser, feeling the heat of Kakuzu's exposed skin, his arm inches away of the man's stitched one. The wine-eyed man walked head down, and hoped that the black-haired man hadn't noticed the drum beating in his chest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The treetops had never been so slippery since the last battle that had happened in the region guarded by the baron's castle's watchmen, meaning never: nobody was crazy enough to confront the master of the land. No one was a death-seeker, there was no way that someone will try to sneak into the stronghold filled with thousands of traps, guards, fellow beasts, and many more. None, except the two Akatsukis that were running the branches at a staggering height.

It was almost impossible to step on the rough bark of the trees without falling off the branches. The surface of the wood was collapsing under the weight of the falling water, of the poison covering most of the weapons thrown by the ninjas chasing the immortal and the demon-look-alike, and the blood escaping the several wounds on their bodies. The loss were heavy on the S-Rank criminals side: aside the minor cuts they both had, the larger man had died three times, and was now counting on his two remaining hearts to keep up, while his partner had a wound as long as his forearm on his chest, revealing his only heart.

"How many... are they?" asked Hidan, too exhausted to swear.

Amazed by the Jashinist's clean sentence, Kakuzu waited a second before looking back, his feet stepping directly on the right spot on each wooden extension. "At least... four" he answered, now fixing his neon green eyes on the blurry greyish horizon. "Fuck...".

"I knew it wouldn't last" the masked man thought, gazing at the green sky. It was the immortal's great limit: he was able to string together normal words in a five-word sentence, but nothing more. And he had to be extremely tired to forget to cuss at each three seconds.

The silver haired dodged a wave of kunais, but jumping to the left brought him in the way of a lost shuriken that drove itself into the tense muscles of his left arm. A line of reinvented cusses echoed into the forest surrounding the castle, and a new one followed when the albino pulled it off his pale skin. For the 936 729 528 time, he thanked his sadistic god to have make him an immortal. And for the fourteenth time, he cursed his eternal life. It was the fourteenth suicide mission they were sent to, he and his almost indestructible partner, for the only reason that it was harder to kill them.

Again, they had fulfilled their assignment by killing the baron, a rich and tyrannical man drowning into his own fortune. Putting an end at his luxurious life hadn't been a big deal; escaping the fortress was the real challenge, for two reasons. The first one, the numerous traps and others to keep them from leaving the place alive. The second, Kakuzu's obsession with money. All the valuable objects in the baron's property were like a magnet to him, and Hidan had been forced to smash, tear, and break most of them, triggering off a profusion of swears from the miser.

Back to reality, the two Akatsukis were trying to figure out a way to get rid of the four ninjas behind them. What to do? Kakuzu asked himself, reviewing over and over their past failed attempts to kill those stubborn ninjas.

He couldn't think about it for too long: one of the ninjas' kunais pierced his shirt and skin under his left shoulder bladed. Destabilised by the impact, the larger man's foot slipped on the next branch, and fell off the tree to head to a long fall toward the soak ground.

"Kakuzu!" his partner shouted when he saw him in mid-air, almost floating. Hidan froze and spun around on one foot to face their followers. They didn't see it coming: the red, three-bladed deadly scythe was swung all over, slashing the bodies of the ninjas and cutting through their flesh. After the slaughter of the last opponent, the wine eyed jumped off the tree to rejoin his partner now lying on the ground.

After an awfully long and frightening fall, Kakuzu had landed on his back, pushing the blade further into him. He gasped when the kunai went through his heart, and his head dropped to the side, his once piercing green eyes now dull and glossy, staring the roots of the tree he just fell of.

Hidan landed on his feet and crouched to absorb the shock, then ran to his apparently lifeless partner. His eyes started burning when he got closer to the tanned man. "Kakuzu..." he whispered, waiting in vain for an answer. He repeated the name several times, still hoping that the body before him would stand up and tells him that he was annoying with his pointless talking. Obviously, the corpse stayed where he was, looking away from its former partner.

The immortal fell on his knees and dropped his bloody weapon next to him. With a shaking and crimson hand, he cupped the other's face in his palm and turned Kakuzu's head toward him. Tears rolled down his dirt covered cheeks when the two lacklustre green eyes stared at him, seeing nothing more than the endless darkness.

A sob built up in his throat, but he gulped to let it inside. Something hot and salty streamed past his lips, and he rose his valid hand to his face. "What the hell's that?" he wondered when he felt the hot water touched his trembling fingers. "Is it... tears?" He was completely dumbfound: never he had cried in his whole life. It wasn't written as a law, but it was forbidden to cry in the Jashinist cult; it was against the population's believes.

A fierce coil was burning his pale body from the inside, like if a star was dying within him. "So... this is the emotional pain..." he thought, wrapping his almost paralysed arm around his stomach. "It's so different from the physical one... It's burning and, somewhat scary, oppressing... It is not a good pain at all..."

With all his strengths and will, he closed his partner's eyes, looking at his green, dead eyes being too hard for him, staining the dead man's eyelids with a mix of blood, rain drops and tears. Hidan bended forward and took the body in his arms, laying Kakuzu on his lap, the deceased's head resting against his open-wounded chest. He jerked the kunai out of the other's back and threw it away, far from his sight.

A few seconds of examination of the exposed skin of the stiff's face later, Hidan approached his hand to this too covered face and took off the garment of clothing hiding the features of the dead. He tossed the hat and the mask aside in the mud, and looked at his partner's face for the real first time.

The skin was as tanned as the rest of the body, parchment-like. Half-long locks of jet-black hair were surrounding his head, some strays sticking to his forehead damped by the rain that was pouring more lightly in the woods. The thin lips were closed, forever congeal into a serene smile. From the corners of his lips, two scars held by stitches were connecting the sides of his mouth to his jaw.

Hidan grazed the scars with his fingertips, tracing them and bumping on each stich. "You know, I've always been so damn jealous of those scars of yours... Your arms were covered, and the first time I saw them, I fucking turned green of envy... Yet... I...". Sobs prevented him form further talking, and from his eyes flooded oceans.

The physical wounds were current in his religion, they were even an occurrence of everyday life, and his people knew every trick to heal them, but no one had taught him to appease an injury of the heart, yet more painful. The eternal abysses had taken over him and were eating his mind to plunge him into the sorrowful, obscure hell.

He couldn't help it, it was too hard to stop crying. His heart was being tear into millions of bloody tatters. A gigantic bundle of sadness was trying to choke him, keeping the oxygen to reach his lungs, but he didn't care. He hugged the body in his arms with more strengths, like if tightening his grip on the corpse would bring Kakuzu back.

How could that be possible? How could Kakuzu, who was as immortal as him, have died? How many missions have they gone through and got out without a single scratch? How many times have they faced death and managed to pull through, the both of them alive?

For the second time this day, Hidan cursed his immortality.

Something brushed the tears away. It was rough, as some kind of sandpaper. "How strange... It feels just like... just like..." Hidan opened his eyes, just to meet the demon-like gaze of his partner.

"What's the matter, Darlin'?" Kakuzu asked, his voice full of concern. He wiped the tears with his calloused thumb, and looked at the immortal's eyes widened.

"Y-you... You're... You're fucking alive!?!".

"Yeah, it would seem. I still got one heart, remember?".

"How could I've been so Jashin-damn stupid?" Hidan asked himself, rubbing his red eyes. "I should have fucking known..."

"Hey, are you crying, Darlin'?" the stitched man asked, rising his hand to the other's face.

"Hell no!" the Jashinist yelled, pushing his partner off his lap. Kakuzu "omphed" when he fell on the ground again, his back still painful. The immortal stood up, but fell on his knees and hands as soon as he left the ground. He wrapped a hand around his throat and coughed a few times, before spitting a mouthful of liquid garnet in the mud.

"Are you okay?" the taller man asked, slicking the albino's hair backwards that had fell on his face by the pouring rain and the sudden movements caused by the fit of coughing.

"Yeah *cough*..." he answered, putting his good hand on the injury on his chest. "It's this *cough* stupid wound *cough*. It must have *cough* perforated one of my *cough* Jashin-damn lungs *cough*".

Kakuzu helped his partner to get up, both of them relying on each other to stay up. Once they were on their own feet, they let the other go, but Hidan had to bend again to take hold of the scythe he almost forgot. He vomited another mouthful of blood when his fingers entered in contact with the metal, then stood up completely.

The two of them turned around quickly toward the castle they just left. "Did you hear that?" Kakuzu asked, some of his tentacles escaping the wounds usually closed by stitches.

"No, I didn't" the pagan answered on a sarcastical tone, his scythe held in front of him in a defensive stance. He added while spinning around himself on one foot, almost dancing "I'm just fucking turning around for the damn fun of doing so.".

"I was just asking. The footsteps are getting closer. How many this time?".

"There's about a dozen of those idiotic bastards. At the sound of it, they're fully-trained assholes, maybe jounins. You're not gonna make it" he said, staring at the incoming sound.

"What's that, 'I'm not gonna make it'? I'm as able as you to fight, even more, since your chest his half-way open" the black-haired man protested.

"You only got one shitty heart, remember?" Hidan stated, taking back his partner's words. "I don't want you to fucking die. What would I do, spending the whole hell-boring eternity into tiny little pieces when those dumbasses would try to kill me, once they'll be done with your fucked guts?" the immortal half-screamed, now turned toward the other Akatsuki.

A shuriken was thrown at their feet, meaning that the ninjas were closer than they first thought. "I can fight" Kakuzu affirmed.

"Yeah, and my fucking name is Princess Hinode. We would loose some damn precious time if we fight. We killed the fucker, now we can just leave! And we should! C'mon!" the smaller man ordered, grabbing the other's arm to drive him through the thick field of trees ahead.

They ran as fast as they could, dodging the low branches and jumping over the rocks and roots, until they were sure that no one was following them too closely. The two Akatsukis stopped at a near cavern, almost impossible to see from the top of the trees. Hidan leaned his back against the stone and slid to the cold ground. He closed his eyes and rested his silver head on the wall behind him, before saying "Maybe we should stay here for the ass of the night, let those heathen loosers get lost in hell and forget 'bout us. Waddya think?"

"..."

"...Kakuzu?".

The Jashinist opened his eyes when he didn't hear any form of answer from his partner. The sight he laid his eyes on freaked the shit out of him. He jumped from his sitting position to run to the green-eyed, who was standing into a pool of red life. The tanned man was holding the left part of his torso, like if he was trying to prevent his heart from jumping out of his chest.

Hidan grabbed the other by his shoulders, who suddenly fell on his knees and palms, like his partner a moment ago. "Are you fucking alright?" the albino asked, a hint of panic in his voice. He pulled gently on Kakuzu's shoulders to make him sit, and leaned the larger man's head on his chest, adding blood to the red sea below them.

The stitched one caught his breath before giving an answer to the waiting and worried immortal. "N-no... I think... I think that... the kunai had... notched my other heart... You w... were right... I'm not gonna make it–".

"Shut up! Don't you dare say something like that shit again! We'll find a way. I'll find a way...". He whispered the last part to himself, and tried to believe in those words. He really needed to find a heart, and soon. An idea appeared in his mind, totally crazy, stupid, reckless, even suicidal. For the second time this day, Hidan blessed his immortality.

"Hidan..." whispered the dying man as he felt himself drift away. "I... have to tell... tell you something...".

"You'll fucking say it later. Now, you have to stay awake, dammit!" the pink-eyed one said, tapping slightly Kakuzu's cheeks to keep him aware of what was happening. "Sit up". He pushed the other's back to bring him up, and once he was sure that his partner wasn't about to fall back again, he moved in front of him and cupped Kakuzu's face in his both hands. His eyes twitched when a sting showed up in his left arm, but he had to stay concentrate, beautiful pain or not.

"Listen carefully, dumbass. I know where I can find a Jashin-damn heart, but it's kinda risky–".

"Are you gonna hunt those ninjas down?" asked Kakuzu, a glint of anxiety in those bright eyes of his. "You're not about to do that, right? They'll tear you to threads! You don't have to go there...".

"Like you fucking care...". Hidan bit his lower lip and looked away from the terrified man before him. "Look, I'm not going after those sons of b–".

He was cut by a slap in the face that sent him to the ground. "You baka!" Kakuzu yelled, looking at the albino sit up again, a hand on his reddening cheek. "How can you be so... so... Arg! There's no word to say how stupid you are! You're NOT gonna do that, understand?!?" the larger man shouted, shaking his partner by his thin shoulders.

A wicked smile spread on the immortal's lips, before staring at the deep eyes of the green-gazed man. He grabbed the stitched wrists and pushed them away, before taking a step back, walking on his knees. "Just try to fucking stop me. I dare you, 'Kuzu".

The black-haired one could only watched in horror the Jashinist pulled out his own heart from his wounded chest, staining everything around him with the crimson liquid that was flooding like white-water. The immortal was covered from head to toe with blood, sweat and water, but he managed to crawl toward his partner without slipping. "Here. Take it..." he ordered while handing the organ to Kakuzu, rivers of blood pouring from his foul mouth as he spoke.

The taller Akatsuki shook his head in disbelief, the arms he was leaning on shaking under the shock. "No... No, I can't".

"It's too late now. Just take it, dammit!" the silver-red-haired man said, his words accompanied by litres of blood.

His sight was starting to fade away, and his senses were too blurry to feel anything. Even the delicious pain he had experienced when he felt the veins being ripped apart when his heart was pulled out of him was already a dream, almost forgotten. But now, the only thing that mattered was the two neon-green eyes before him. He almost didn't feel the calloused fingers grazed his hand when his partner took the still beating heart from his palm.

The next thing Kakuzu saw was the pagan falling on the ground into the red ocean he had poured to save his life, a satisfied smile on his lips.

Can the immortals truly die? Can they disappear from the surface of the earth, so the only way to bring them back is to create a soulless, hollow creature?

But the real question his: do the immortals have souls? What is the price to pay to own an eternal body? Is it the immaterial bond that form a human being?

Hidan woke up somewhere and blinked a few times to identify his surroundings. The room was gloomy, candlelit with only a few of those light providers. It was hard to see beyond two metres for the wine-eyed, who was only starting the fight against his lazy sight. He was able to distinguish the flame orbs, and the darker shades from the lighter ones of the objects and the shadows.

He shut his eyes, the dry light giving him a headache. He focussed on his body, and founded himself surprise to have injuries all over him. "Strange... Don't dead suckers are instantly healed when they exit their pain in the ass of a body?" He tried to counted the cuts and bruises he had received, but gave up when he reached the hundred. He went on the more severe wounds he had, and noticed at least two cracked ribs from a low branch he didn't see in time, a half-paralysed arm courtesy of the damn kunai, a busted knee caused by his jump to help his partner, a perfo–

"Kakuzu." Where was that bastard? Was he dead, too? The last time Hidan had seen him, the guy was sitting into a stain of his own blood, a horrified expression printed into his features like ink on paper.

The albino opened his eyes in a crack, seeking for any sign of the miser, and sighed when he realized that it would be a bit more difficult than he expected. There wasn't enough light to see clearly, and the room was so empty of furniture, it could have been taken for a Future Shop after a 98 percent Sale day.

But somehow, the emptiness reminded him something, and only realized what when he noticed the totally dry blood puddle by the bed at the other side of the room. The puddle HE had made two days before he had left for his sole mission. "It's... It's our damn room!"

His first attempt to sit resulted to an electrifying pain in his rib-cage and a free ticket to the mattress. He tried to cuss, but could only mouth the words, the aching suppressing the sound. "Jashin bless this delightful pain..."

"I had hoped that you knew that cracked ribs meant staying still" a deep voice said. "I should have sewn you to the bed instead of sewing shut your cuts".

Hidan jerked his head to the right. There he found his partner sitting on the only chair furnishing their poorly decorated room, a relieved smile visible under a new mask. "You're alive..." the smaller of the two whispered, a hint of disbelief into his statement.

"It's the second time you point it out" the stitched man complained, leaning on the back of his chair, arms crossed over his large torso. "Is it so hard to believe?".

"It's not that, dumbass, and you know it" the Jashinist said, each syllable as hard to spit as knives. "It's just... I, euh... well, I'm glad to see your sorry ass here. In one Jashin-damn piece.". With a supreme effort given by his elbows, he looked over the other's shoulder before asking "Yo, 'Kuzu? Why am I in your fucking bed instead of mine?".

"Because, as you can see" – the miser said before moving his chair to his right so Hidan could look – "yours, is already soak with blood. That should stop your whining about the plain white colour of your sheets".

"But, they're all stinky and–"
"Don't say anything else. You should be glad that you're still alive, after the amount of blood you lost...".

"Hey, retarded dumbass, I'm immortal. I couldn't have died even if I had fucking wanted to".

"Yeah, I know, but... Now that you... eum... your heart, I mean...".

Hidan didn't register the next thing Kakuzu said. He rose his hand to his chest, where his heart was supposed to be, but could only feel the stitches underneath the soft fabric of the bandage wrapping his upper body. No heartbeat. He inhaled a few times to calm himself, and he repeated to his panicked being that he was immortal, that he didn't need a heart, that it was just fine...

"Hey. Hey, Hidan, are you okay?" the taller Akatsuki asked, waving his hand before the said pagan's eyes.

"Fuck no!" he answered, slapping his partner's hand away. "MY holy heart is surely beating into YOUR hellshited heathen body; I can barely fucking move; I'm in your shitty bed because MINE, is soak in Jashin-damn blood! And you... don't seem to give a damn..." he whispered as a slight blush crept over his pale skin, looking away.

"That's not true".

The immortal turned his head toward Kakuzu, only to be separate from the other's face by inches of hot air. They were so close to each other, the black-haired man could feel Hidan's smooth and warm breath through his mask.

He started slicking Hidan's hair backwards while he approached his other hand to the hem of his mask. "I do care" he whispered, pushing slightly his partner's head toward him. He pulled his mask down a second before their lips met, and hoped that the Jashin follower was too wounded to move away. Instead of doing as the miser had expected, Hidan didn't make any move to break the kiss, he simply gave into it once the shock was gone, melting under the rough lips of Kakuzu. "This is way better than pain..."

After what seemed an eternity of pure bliss, they broke away, both of them panting quietly for more needed air. The tanned man smiled a shy one, before reaching out for the fabric that was usually covering his face. The heartless man grabbed his wrist, wrapping the joint into a strong lock, but quite gentle. "Don't hide me your bitchy face again" he said, somewhat of a plea clearly audible.

"Okay then" he accepted, having Hidan's approval to get free of his grip. The lighter one lied down on his back again, a cocky smile on his angel kissed lips, trying the best he could to hide the exaltation that was overwhelming him.

"So," the pagan started, "mind telling me what the fuck happened when I was knocked out like a Jashin-damn heathen screwer?". It took a moment to Kakuzu to understand what the immortal had said, the sweet music staying unheard by the banker. He was totally mesmerized by those soft, pale pink lips, the one he had claimed for his own a few seconds ago. He could still remember the feeling of hot flesh against his, but maybe, maybe it was just a dream, or he was definitely dead, and had finally reached heaven. Or hell. He didn't care. If he was with Hidan, it was far beyond heaven.

"How could have I hated him?" Kakuzu asked himself, wondering why all those years past with Hidan had been time of mutual disrespect and hate. Never before he had felt something like this; it was simply perfect. All his other partners had died in his hands, and Hidan had been so close to not be an exception. After having decapitated him, Kakuzu had understood that his new immortal partner had been assigned to him for this only purpose. Now, just thinking about losing Hidan was giving shivers to Kakuzu, and was leaving a hole in his stomach, a deep one filled with pure fear and sadness.

He bended forward and cupped the Jashinist's face in his palm, only to lay another kiss on Hidan's perfect lips. The albino didn't struggle, didn't fight, nor protested. It was way too wonderful to just think about stopping. He moaned in the other's mouth, both from pleasure and pain as his lungs screamed for oxygen. They pulled away, the silver-haired giving a half-hearted glare to the green-eyed man, who couldn't help but smiling.

"Sorry" he apologized, letting out a chuckle in front of the immortal's pout. "I-I had to know if I was dreaming... or if I was dead....".

He closed his eyes, a bit embarrassed by his thoughts, avoiding the bitter look in his partner's pink eyes. He turned his head to the left, but soft and cold fingers grazed his stitched cheek, making him look toward Hidan again. "You baka. You can't die anymore, idiot, now that you have my fucking heart. You... took it, right?" the Jashinist asked, his eyes widening at the thought that Kakuzu may not have it.

The banker pressed Hidan's raised fingers in his, then started to remove his shirt. The pale immortal's blush grew even brighter when he watched the tall man strip before his eyes. Once the piece of clothing was discarded, Kakuzu squeezed slightly the other's hand, bringing it to his chest. White, cold palm and fingers entered in contact with tanned, hot skin of Kakuzu's torso, split into many parts by scars sewn by black threads.

Among the stitches and the feeling of the larger man's rough skin, the Jashinist managed to spot a powerful, steady beat, only increased by the proximity between the two men. "Now that I have your heart, maybe I'll live as long as you" the taller Akatsuki whispered, bending over the body lying on his bed, a wide smile carved in his features.

"Of course you will, dumbass" affirmed Hidan with the same tone in his voice. "I wouldn't allow that damn brat of Reaper to take your fucking heathen soul away before mine". With those words, he grabbed a handful of jet-black hair, intertwined his fingers in the dark locks and pulled toward him. They crashed lips in a bruising kiss, years of restraint erased. They pulled away a moment later, the taste of each other in their own mouth.

"I'll tell you what happened tomorrow" promised Kakuzu, before tossing away the blanket on the bed, which was also covering the half-naked immortal.

"Hey!" the smaller one whined when the air hit his exposed flesh.

"It's still my bed" the miser explained as he laid his back on the mattress and pulled the sheet back on them. "You cold?" he asked when he felt Hidan snuggled closer, his light but well-built body shivering as he tried to steal some body heat.

"Hell yeah! You're too damn cheap to buy more than one fucking sheet for the bed, you're too of a money-hungry asshole to rise up the heat, I look like a man-whore in Jashin-damn boxers, and–".

"You talk too much when you're angry" Kakuzu stated after he broke the kiss he had started to shut his new lover up. "Come here" he said, opening his stitched arms widely to let Hidan pass.

The pale-skinned man managed to get closer, hissing some times in pain when he laid too much weight on his cracked ribs. Kakuzu wrapped his arms around the smaller man's back to give him as much heat as possible. Hidan buried his face in the crook of the other's neck, slowly drifting to the edge as his body was trapped in this heaven of warmth.

Kakuzu gasped as he felt the immortal's cold nose on his skin, and smiled into the silver locks. "There had never been a cold, neh?" he asked. Hidan muffled something in Kakuzu's neck, hot moisturized air laying wet kisses on the tanned skin. He kissed the masochist's forehead and dropped his head on the only pillow on the bed, satisfied with the silent answer.

The demon-eyed man's heart rate ran faster when two perfect lips mouthed the words "I love you" on his sensitive neck, and he whispered a "Love you too, Darlin'" in the other's ear, happier than ever. The heartbeat never stopped to increase until the lighter one fell asleep in his lover's arms, telling Kakuzu that even if the heart was now his, it will always be beating for Hidan.

~Owari~

WARNING!: YAOI/SHOUNEN-AI ALERT! DON'T LIKE, DON'T READ!

DISCLAIMER: i dun own Naruto nor its charas *sniff*

dont ask where the whole Darlin' thing came from, it was just something to annoy Hidan with, and it ends up that it was his nickname for the story. heh...

Don't forget to review ^^

Check it out on dA! .com/art/I-ll-Give-You-My-Heart-91830282