Mephiles: This is my first attempt at writing a Naruto Fanfiction and I must confess that I partly decided to write about this particualr pair from Akatsuki since they seem to recieve very little attention. I've tried to stay ture to the characters and to the main plot line as much as I can and hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to review and constructive criticism is always greatly appreciated

Reliance

Chapter One:

The Problem

Hidan watched calmly as Zetsu once more vanished back into the earth from which he had earlier emerged, the pretty, yet severely battered looking, host of the Nibi dissolving into the ground alongside him until, eventually, they were both lost to sight. He absentmindedly withdrew and retracted his pike, the end now glistening a lovely crimson colour, his own blood daubed all over it, as the eyes-and-ears of the Akatsuki left to finish his own business.

"And that is that," a nearby voice intoned monotonously, a deep voice filled with more menace then was humanly possible. Hidan craned his neck, blood still dripping from his open mouth like scarlet raindrops, as he caught sight of his partner amongst the rubble. Kakuzu slowly rose from the upturned piece of debris he had been resting on, drawing himself to his full and impressive height as he gazed down impassively at the bloodied, but satisfied, Hidan.

Kakuzu was tall and, more importantly, he was broad enough looking that it was impossible to mistake his height as a sign of gaunt or lankiness. This alone made Kakuzu an intimidating sight for any would-be adversary, but Hidan knew from first-hand experience that Kakuzu had other ways of terrifying his foes. The Akatsuki shinobi wore foreboding and terror as easily as he wore the black Akatsuki cloak, which obscured all but his face from view. His face was just as frightening, if not more so, as the rest of him. A hood kept the rear concealed from all view, and a face cloth over his mouth and nose coupled with his headband, an old and rusted thing still bearing the mark of Takigakure, the Village Hidden in the Waterfall, left only a tiny slit of his face visible to the eye.

This slit was completely dominated by Kakuzu's own eyes, which had, in Hidan's opinion, always been uncharacteristic with the rest of him. They were a pale green, teal more accurately, which did not sit well with Hidan. Judging from his imposing aura Hidan had expected red eyes, like the clan murderer Itachi Uchiha, or at the very least jet black eyes to represent the insides of Kakuzu's soul, but not green. Pure green in fact, there were no pupils at all, no iris or nothing, just enormous green orbs that seemed to always be staring at everyone, not really radiating malice or terror like the rest of him, but more just radiating a sort of ageless depth, as if the eyes themselves had come from so very long ago.

That seemed to be more than enough though, as Hidan had only ever met one person in his life who could match stares with Kakuzu and that was their Leader, and he hardly counted anyway since nothing seemed to ever faze him. Hidan often wandered to himself how Kakuzu managed to be so frightening, not that he himself wasn't intimidating, taller then most and with a powerful body, his silver hair slicked out of his face whilst his violet eyes looked on derisively at everything it saw, but he couldn't manage to inspire the same sort of raw terror which permeated Kakuzu's every move.

"Done?" Kakuzu inquired calmly, gazing down with his ancient eyes at the inert from of Hidan. The Jashin worshipping murderer gave himself a quick once over, making sure that everything was still connected to what it ought to be connected to, before giving a curt nod and standing up next to his partner. The two began to walk at a brisk pace, leaving the ruin that had once been a proud and majestic temple behind as a testament to their passing. Boredom quickly began to settle in between the two Akatsuki members, and Hidan silently prayed for something, anything, interesting to happen. His prayers were quickly answered.

"Hidan dodge!" was the only warning Hidan got; he caught a flash of metal in the corner of his eye and dodged per Kakuzu's instructions, giving an impressive jump as he turned his head back to where he had been standing previously. Kakuzu had similarly jumped away from the spot they had been occupied and was watching it intently. Hidan caught sight of a small Kunai, which proceeded to embed itself in the ground where they had been standing, a small piece of paper flapping lazily behind it.

"Boom!" The explosive tag erupted in a violent display of fire and force, leaving a scorched hole where the path had once been.

"Explosive tag, an enemy is in the area," Kakuzu analyzed, turning his head away from the hole and scanning the surrounding terrain for any sign of its origins. Hidan quickly mimicked him, his one hand straying idly to his back, where the large and triple-headed scythe he so loved, hung in all its violent glory.

"Trees to the south-south-east" Kakuzu whispered quietly to Hidan, keeping his attention firmly focused on every single direction but the aforementioned one. Hidan was smart enough to realize why, and quickly mimicked the behavior pattern, whilst wrapping the cords that connected his scythe to his hands tighter. Kakuzu made a microscopic movement, visibly clenching one of his fists as his eyes darted towards one tree in particular. Hidan gave an invisible nod and flung his scythe.

"Thunk!" The ruby-coloured scythe hurtled towards the tree in question, which promptly proceeded to snap in two as Hidan's weapon hit it and then continued to cut right through it. As the tree collapsed in to pieces, splintered by the force of the impact, two shinobi abandoned the cover it had been providing for them, leaping out into plain sight of the Akatsuki pair. A tense silence pervaded this action, the two ninjas who had attacked the duo eyed their foes cautiously, Hidan pulled the rope that connected his hand to his scythe taut and Kakuzu moved his legs apart.

"Now!" The enemy shinobi stated emphatically in a voice full of determination, one hand reaching for a scroll that promptly divulged a large shuriken in a puff of white smoke, the other one hurtled towards Hidan in a blaze of motion, vanishing into a vaguely human blur.

"Hidan, shuriken!" Kakuzu ordered roughly, Hidan gave a small smirk as he pulled he scythe back from the shards of the tree it had demolished. Faster then the eye could see the scythe came hurtling back towards its owner. The ninja who had been approaching Hidan was overcome by a momentary doubt and slowed his pace. Hidan smirked, confident in his victory. The scythe flashed out faster then the enemy could comprehend, slashing through the rival shinobi. Hidan smirked as the opponent slumped over instantly, a long and bloody gash across his midsection.

"Hidan you bastard!" Hidan looked over to where Kakuzu was now standing, a shuriken protruding roughly from his chest, in his hands the head and neck of the ninja who had thrown it, his neck bent at an uncomfortable looking angle, his eyes misted over. Hidan sneered at his ally, who was now trying, unsuccessfully, to rip the large shuriken out of his chest.

"Would it kill you to help here?" Kakuzu inquired disgruntled, Hidan shook his head laughing and approached his partner, ripping the Shuriken out roughly, leaving a bloody gash in Kakuzu's chest.

"I thought you would of hardened yourself or something," Hidan said broadly as he watched the wound on Kakuzu's chest vanished, swallowed up by writhing swarms of black strings, eventually looking as if there had never even been a wound.

"I didn't have enough time, that's why I told you to take him out, you could have survived whatever that other ninja was going to do to you!" He snapped irritably at Hidan, rubbing the spot where the wound had been. Hidan gave a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders as he walked over to the corpse of his earlier adversary.

"Wonder who they were, what they hate us for…I mean besides the usual," Hidan said calmly, examining the face of the ninja. A boy, probably somewhere between sixteen-eighteen years of age, wearing familiar armour.

"Their headbands say their Cloud-nins, like the Nibi's host was, I'm guessing that they were her teammates trying to avenge her," Kakuzu replied, still rubbing the wound thoughtfully as he stared down at the dead form of his opponent.

"Whatever, they were too weak to be real enemies anyway, what a joke," Hidan spat, kicking the corpse in the head. Kakuzu shook his head slowly at his partner's antics, before turning away to continue their journey.

"Where are you off to?" Hidan asked hotly, crossing his arms angrily. Kakuzu paused, turning around to face his religious companion with a dismal and sullen glare as they both said the same thing at the same time,

"The ritual!"

Hidan smirked, nodding with approval that Kakuzu had remembered, whilst Kakuzu nodded sadly, his shoulders slumming in defeat as he slouched down to the ground irritably. For a moment it looked like he was going to argue the point, and Hidan steeled himself, happily anticipating another heated argument, the closest the two came to bonding, but a look of pain flashed across his face at the final moment and he rubbed his wound cautiously before nodding his head in defeat.

"Proceed," he said in exhaustion.

Once the ritual was done, finally, the two continued onwards, Akatsuki cloaks billowing around them in the wind, making it look as if the small red clouds emblazoned upon them were actually moving, whilst silence filled the space between them. Occasionally a bird would chirp harmoniously, or a rustling of leaves would be heard, disturbing the somber air around the two S-class missing-nins. Hidan chewed his lower lip in annoyance, the taste of blood still fresh on his lips, as he followed behind Kakuzu regretting, not for the first time in his Akatsuki career, the fact that he'd been partnered with such an anti-social teammate. Kakuzu would never initiate a conversation, and rarely even bothered to pay attention to one that didn't begin or end with the word 'Money'.

"So…Kakuzu?" Hidan tried slowly, searching his mind desperately for some or other subject that would help pass the time until they reached the Country of Fire. Kakuzu gave an inaudible grunt as his only response, and seemed satisfied that this was all that was required of him. Hidan's one eye gave a microscopic twitch as he felt his, admittedly short temper; begin to boil up, frothing to the front. Hidan took a deep breath, causing his rage to subside reluctantly, upset at being quashed rather then vented.

"Hey Kakuzu" Hidan tried again, this time sounding far more sure of himself, an underlying current of anger evident in his tone to even the most unobservant. Another grunt served as Kakuzu's less then enthusiastic response. This was the last straw for Hidan whose anger quickly returned to the surface.

"You're fucking going to hell, you do know that right, dipshit?" Hidan inquired furiously, his face red with rage as he gave the back of Kakuzu's head a glare so wrathful that it was a miracle he didn't just burst into flames on the spot. Kakuzu gave a pained groan, as if the statement had actually caused him physical injury, doubling over as his pace slowed. Hidan smirked, taking the lead, Kakuzu gave another groan of pain but Hidan ignored it, not planning on missing a chance to submit Kakuzu to his obviously superior theological views. 'This one's for you Jashin-sama!'

"Oh yeah, you just go ahead and groan as much as you like, but that won't save you when Jashin-sama comes down and damns your ass to hell for being a fucking non-believer!" Hidan counseled Kakuzu loudly, waving his arms around him erratically to emphasize the importance of the situation to Kakuzu who merely groaned louder. Hidan's smirk grew larger as he continued to rant to his solemn ally.

"I don't think your getting just how fucking serious this is Kakuzu, you could wind up spending your entire afterlife in a shitheap, even worse than the shithole we use as a base now days!" Hidan continued, delicately clutching the prayer beads that hung around his neck, hoping for divine inspiration with which he could save the heretic.

"I'm fucking trying to help you're here, you know, so if I were you I'd convert and repent already, I'll even go ahead and ritually maim you just to show how much it would mean to me, that's pretty cool eh?" Hidan asked, his smirk growing ever larger. By this point Hidan couldn't even hear Kakuzu's responses anymore and he took this as a good sign.

"So what do you say? How about it? I'll fuck you over here and now and then you can begin your new life in the eyes of Jashin-sama," Hidan said, his smirk starting to falter in the face of Kakuzu's unnatural calm. It wasn't that Kakuzu talked a lot, but generally when Hidan began ranting about the glories of his religion, which were so obvious that he wandered why people kept being repelled by it, Kakuzu would flip his lid and begin countering just as fast as Hidan spewed curses, so far though he'd kept his cool the entire time, which is impressive when you consider that he had a habit of killing his partners when they so much as got in his way.

"Of course you'll first have to give up all that materialistic shit you've got, especially the money!" Hidan sneered confidently, that was sure to get a reaction out of the silent ninja. It was common knowledge that Kakuzu was the financial head for the entire organization, a difficult job to balance with constant active field duty, and one that he held in high esteem. To say the Kakuzu liked money was like saying Itachi was a mildly cold person. It wasn't even possible to begin to understand the inane devotion Kakuzu had to money, it actually scared Hidan sometimes, making him worry that Kakuzu was more devoted to money then Hidan was devoted to Jashin-sama.

"…" Was the only reaction Hidan got. Now Hidan knew something was most definitely wrong.

"Kakuzu!" Hidan shouted loudly, whirling around, his large scythe clanking audibly on his back, as he turned to find out why his money-grubbing partner hadn't started strangling him yet. It took Hidan sometime to comprehend the situation before him, owing mostly to the fact that he had never seen it in his life and had never really considered it possible.

Kakuzu was lying face down in the dirt…motionless. All these thoughts took sometime to run through Hidan's head before little warning bells began to go off.

"Holy fuck!" he cursed as he hurried towards his partner's inert form, leveling him up with both arms as he placed an ear to Kakuzu's chest, listening closely for five different heartbeats. Silence was all he heard for a torturously long time, and he found himself possessed of an unfamiliar and annoying feeling, a sort of awkwardness in his stomach, as if something had gone and died in it. Then, at long last, he heard something.

"Thump!" It was a small and pitiful noise, two words that Hidan never thought he would associate with the stoic Falls-nin. The beat had been faint, but it had most definitely been there. The panic that had momentarily filled Hidan subsided at the evidence that his partner was still alive, but the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach seemed determined to stay. 'Fuck! What now!' Hidan thought worriedly to himself, gazing at Kakuzu's eyes, both of which were closed, panic once more settling in on him.

Kakuzu was the senior member of the duo and was always busy telling Hidan what to do, or how to do it, without his guidance Hidan felt uncharacteristically lost. 'Fuck! I must look like some sort of shitty loser right now' he berated himself fiercely, embarrassed and enraged at his amateurish behavior. Wordlessly, but still fuming, he clasped his hands together in a gesture he had seen Kakuzu make several times but had never bothered to learn himself. 'Hope this works' and with that the ring upon his left index finger began to glow.

Hidan felt relief surge through him as the technique began to take effect, his mind drifting off as if it had suddenly become an entity of its own, reminding him of the astral projection technique they were forced to use so often.

'Zetsu!' Hidan called out mentally, hoping that the plant-man was still in the area. Silence filled his head and no answer seemed forthcoming.

'Fuck!' he swore mentally, desperately searching for any other Akatsuki presences in the area.

'Hidan?' came a cautious, but clearly curious thought from Zetsu. Hidan mouthed a silent prayer to Jashin-sama, once more offering thanks to the miracles he worked in every bit of Hidan's life.

'Zetsu, man, you got to get here now! Something freaky is happening to Kakuzu' Hidan explained quickly to Zetsu, hoping that he had managed to impart the gravity of the situation to the Akatsuki spy in so few words.

'Remain at your position, I'm depositing the Nibi and will come to you directly afterwards' came a far colder and more menacing reply, obvious signs of Zetsu's darker side. Hidan nodded, even though he knew the gesture was meaningless and broke off the connection, lowering his hands and watching the glow subside from his ring. He turned his head to the body of his partner, the occasional heaving of his chest the only sign that he was still alive, and marveled at how quickly perceptions could change.

When he was up and about Kakuzu was about as frightening as any individual could ever hope to be, radiating malice and wrath like the sun radiated heat. Yet, looking at him now, that entire feeling seemed to have just vanished like a puff of smoke, as if it had never even been there to begin with. Instead Kakuzu suddenly looked as old and withered as Hidan knew he was supposed to be, as if time had suddenly decided to catch up to him.

To see the normally fearsome and confident shinobi reduced to such a state so quickly was just so very…wrong! It didn't seem right, or fair. But more then anything else it scared Hidan, and that was the feeling in his stomach that he couldn't identify. 'Why am I scared?'

Mephiles: Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review if possible but only criticize if you have constructive advice to offer, thank you again.