Yay, I'm on a roll with this story! ...okay, not really. I actually wrote parts of this chapter before so it was easier and faster to complete. :P
Enjoy. :)
*****
Hidan continued staring. He hadn't been expecting Kakuzu to be the one to walk through those doors. Was he a walk-in or the appointment Hideki had been talking about?
"Hidan?" Kakuzu asked, just as surprised to find his art rep there. The first thing that came to Kakuzu's mind that was maybe, Hidan was here for a tattoo as well but remembered that Hideki had mentioned over the line when making an appointment that he would be the last client. Kakuzu walked forward, eyes narrowing in confusion. Hidan shouldn't be spending so much time outside, the mid-year exams were coming. He should have been at home, studying. "What're you doing here? Are you stalking me?"
"I work here on the weekends," Hidan answered, crossing his arms defensively over his bare chest. He raised an eyebrow. "What're you fucking around here for?"
Kakuzu shrugged, setting down his bag and taking off his coat to reveal his bare arms and also revealing his tattoos. "I had an appointment here with a guy called Hideki, unless I'm mistaken and this isn't Inked Pleasures."
"He's a little fucked up at the moment so I'll be taking his appointments and other walk-ins," Hidan replied with a small, smug, smirk. So, Kakuzu had finally realised how shitty his tattoos were, eh? He raised an eyebrow, still smirking when he saw how shocked Kakuzu was. And then uncertain. Hidan's smirk widened. It was a look he often got when he took over his brother's clients. Kakuzu shook his head, rolled his eyes and then grabbed his coat.
"I'm leaving."
A single beat.
"Hey, hey, hey! What the fuck, man?!" Hidan yelled, running ahead of Kakuzu to block his path. He crossed his arms again, a glare in his eyes but a pout on his lips. Dammit, Kakuzu hadn't even seen what he was capable of and he was already leaving? He had to at least give Hidan a chance to show just how good he was. "What, you don't trust me? I'm almost as good as my brother!"
If possible, Kakuzu's eyes went wider than the first time. After two seconds, he narrowed his eyes down at Hidan, disbelief in his eyes. His own emerald eyes were searching for any hint of bluff in Hidan's magenta eyes but found none. Their names were quite similar after all and Hidan had mentioned that his older brother was a tattooist. But he never expected the older Yuu to be so good that he'd be in Inked Pleasures. Not only that, but Hideki? The owner of Inked Pleasures? "Your...brother is Hideki?"
"What, you mean you didn't fucking know that? Yeah, Yuu Hideki's my brother," Hidan pointed out with a shrug.
"It's hard to believe a genius in art like him could even possibly be related to a brat like you."
"Brat?! We're only two years apart in age and you call me a fucking brat?! It's only two years!"
"My Lord, yes, I have seen the error of my ways. Surely seven hundred and thirty days isn't a huge difference."
"It isn't, you fucking douche bag!"
"Even if it isn't," Kakuzu started, smirking. He put one hand on Hidan's head, making the albino bare his teeth. "In terms of mentality and physique, you are out of my league."
Hidan growled and swatted away Kakuzu's hand. "I am just as fucking smart and tough as you, asshole!"
"Geez, what's going on out here?"
Both heads turned to the back of the shop where Hideki was coming out of. He stilled looked exhausted. He had barely even gotten one minute of sleep before Kakuzu and Hidan had started arguing again. From the facial similarities, Kakuzu had no problem figuring out who this albino was. He raised a finger to point at Hidan. "Is he always like this at home, Hideki-san?"
Hideki yawned, rubbed his eyes of sleep and then sighed tiredly. "Oh, you have no idea."
Hidan was absolutely glowering. Kakuzu had walked over to Hideki, beginning to speak to the older albino, leaving Hidan by the door, fists in balls and shaking with anger as he grew more and more impatient with his brother and art teacher. And Kakuzu had said he was the mentally childish one? Who was the one ignoring the other now?
"Hm...you have my sympathies," Kakuzu said, purposely loud enough so Hidan could hear.
"Thank you, it is very much appreciated," Hideki said, more dramatically than necessary. Hideki chuckled. He glanced back and forth between Kakuzu and Hidan before resting on the former. "I take it you two know each other?"
"I'm his temporary art teacher, Taki Kakuzu. I'm teaching his class until the end of the month but I doubt I'll last that long..."
"Ah, I see. He must be a handful in class then, I'm guessing?" Hideki inquired with a grin. It wasn't often he got to make fun of Hidan with someone else. It was nice to meet someone else with the same love-hate relationship he had with his little brother. He might have just met the other man but from the stories that Hidan told him("Kakuzu, that fucking douche, made me carry all the fucking work back to the office and caused me to miss lunch!" "Apparently, that asshole Kakuzu actually likes caffeine. He made me get him coffee! How can anyone even down that shit?!"), he could pretty much pick out their relationship.
Kakuzu sighed and nodded, hands in his pockets. "Just last week, he stole my lunch."
"Hey! You offered that sandwich to me, you lying sack of shit!" Hidan protested after realising which incident Kakuzu had been referring to. Oh, and the tattooed man had been so nice about it too.
"Did he, now? I am so terribly sorry. He is just so difficult to control..." Hideki whined, wiping away a non-existent tear as Kakuzu patted his back with a sigh.
"There, there, you shouldn't blame yourself. It's not your fault that Hidan-kun," Kakuzu turned to Hidan with a smirk. "...is an idiot by nature."
Hidan lost it.
"Ah! That's it!" Hidan yelled, throwing his arms in the air. He stormed past Kakuzu and Hideki, who was trying to stifle his laughter, to get to his school shirt. He threw it over himself, not bothering to button up, slung his bag over his shoulder and stomped out of the shop, all the while yelling all the profanities in his vocabulary, ranging from "asshole" to "zealous cocksuckers". Some even made the two older men wince. "You can clear up the fucking shop yourself, nii-san!"
After Hidan left, slamming the door shut, Hideki burst out into laughter and Kakuzu chuckled in morbid satisfaction. "That felt good..."
Hideki's laughing tirade passed quickly and he grinned at Kakuzu, no longer feeling as tired as he had been before. "Ah, right, nice to meet you, Kakuzu-san. I guess you know who I am, now, huh?"
"Hidan spoke of you before, although he didn't mention any names, Hideki-san," Kakuzu said with a shrug. Something Hidan previously said dawned on him and suddenly, he got all teacher-like. It just wasn't...right. "Hidan told me he works here on the weekends, is it true?"
"Well, yeah. He's been working here since he was...uh, let's see..." Hideki cast his gaze to the ground, counting with his fingers, mumbling to himself as Kakuzu watched on, amused. "...opened the shop in '04... That was beginning Hidan's second year in training and he joined in '07 so... Oh, yeah! Joined here when he was sixteen. Yeah, anyway, putting that aside, want me to touch up on your tattoos now?"
Kakuzu paused for a moment before he glanced back up at Hideki, shaking his head. "I'll come back next week, instead."
"Ah, no, you're gonna get Hidan to do it instead, aren't you?" Hideki cried, before smacking himself in the forehead, seemingly distressed although there was a smile on his face. Kakuzu just continued watching the older man with eyes that asked for an explanation for that assumption. Hideki placed his hands on his waist with s bright smile. "Ah, Hi-chan is getting better everyday... More and more people want him to do their tattoos nowadays. Oh, pretty soon I'll be obsolete and just a thing of the past while Hi-chan takes over this place..."
Kakuzu only caught one thing from what Hideki said.
...Hi-chan?
*****
Hidan's room was on the second floor, right across from Hideki's, and had his desk directly in front of the only window. He had a fantastic view of the lake across from their house. On some days, Hidan would just look out of his window as the sun shined it's reflection over the waves. Moments like those, Hidan swore he could forget everything and he would think everything in the world was okay. Those wasn't one of those times though... With a love-sick blonde by his side, how could it be?
"Only two more weeks, Hidan! Two more weeks, un!" Deidara squealed, rolling about on Hidan's bed, which was next to the desk, hugging onto his pillow while doing so. He stopped his rolling long enough to look at Hidan. "Aren't you so excited?!"
The blonde had popped over for dinner with Hidan as the younger albino claimed that Hideki had made enough for two. He wasn't going to the shop that day. No, he wanted to tattoo but because of some coughs Hideki heard coming from his room in the morning, the older albino commanded Hidan to stay home and rest up. Hideki didn't believe it was just something tickling my throat. Hidan took two pills and went back to sleep, feeling more revived when waking up after.
Hidan stared at Deidara as if he had two heads. Having Deidara occupy his bed, Hidan settled for the chair. He swung one leg over the other as he crossed his arms over his bare chest, a scowl on his face. "Fuck no. It's just another sappy holiday."
"Aw, you're just grouchy 'cause you got no one to spend it with," Deidara said with a cheeky grin. As much as Deidara knew, Hidan never had a girlfriend. Not even in his kindergarten days where little girls and boys would run up to each other and say, "I like you! Let's go home together!" In Deidara's opinion, Hidan seriously needed to get into a relationship. "And you're jealous of me too because I have Sasori no danna and poor, lonely, unlikeable you has no one, un."
Hidan rolled his eyes. Oh geez, calling his boyfriend of six months husband was a bit too much. Sasori was another student in college and had met Deidara at a art convention. Their views on art conflicted but it was because of it that brought the two closer together.
"And poor, hopeless, pathetic you needs someone to look after you, we're even," Hidan retorted and then smirked when Deidara threw a glare at him.
For a while, the two friends played music, went on the net, talked about art, talked about life and Hidan could actually smile. Knowing someone actually cared about him? Yeah, it made him feel good. Hidan had no idea how Deidara had even became his friend. Deidara was rather popular at school. He had many friends and all the teachers liked him. He wasn't the top student but it wasn't his looks or his grades that drew people to him. It was his personality.
Deidara was just naturally a fun guy and nice to be around. But despite his popularity, the blonde seemed determined on sticking with Hidan. They had been through thick and thin together since elementary and even through junior high when they went to different schools. They had tried going out once when they were freshmen in high school, but it didn't really work out. Instead of the awkwardness they expected would follow the break-up, they were relieved to find there was none.
If possible, it brought them even closer. Besides family and in art, Hidan was quite sure that Deidara was the only one he had really shared his dreams with. And Deidara shared his own with Hidan's. Fair trade.
"Hey, I heard that Kakuzu-sensei will be taking us for math and science too. Shikamaru-sensei got into a car accident, un," Deidara suddenly said when he was lounging on the bed with a very sleepy Hidan next to him. Hidan was actually already slumping down against Deidara, half-asleep. Hidan wrapped his arms around Deidara's middle, using his lap as a pillow.
"...ngh...wasn't an accident..." Hidan muttered and Deidara chuckled. After a few minutes after seven, Hidan had fallen asleep, snoring quietly and Deidara took this as a chance to read. He grabbed a random book and then flipped it open, starting to read. After a few minutes, Deidara too fell asleep.
*****
Outside of the college dorms, Kakuzu had a small apartment he shared with his college classmate, Kisame. The blue-skinned man tended to spend more time at the college dorms anyway so Kakuzu mostly had the entire apartment to himself. But Kisame had been going to another high school to teach for extra credit as well and thus, had been using the apartment as well. Kakuzu made him use the couch, though. Not that the taller man minded. That way, he could watch television right before falling asleep anyway.
Kakuzu was in the living room, looking through Hidan's art portfolio again. It almost became a daily habit. Whenever he had free time, he would take out the portfolio and look through at least three art pieces, always feeling much better after doing so. Kakuzu had been informed that he would be taking class 3 – 6 for their math and science classes as well, meaning he would have to see that albino idiot every single school day. Under such stress, he needed to unwind. Wasn't it ironic though? Both the causes of his stress and relaxation were the same person.
Subject: School
Title: That's All It Is
It was made using stippling and wasn't bad at all. It was a picture of a diploma. That was all school had meant to Hidan. A diploma. It wasn't prom, school dances, the clubs they had or any of that sentimental crap. It was as clear as day, Hidan merely went to school to get a diploma and nothing else. It might seem like that only but Kakuzu knew better. The problem was, since he knew better, how was he going to get Hidan to know it?
*****
Author's Note: My God, the part in Inked Pleasures with Kakuzu and Hideki was killing me... I think I made the part with Deidara and Hidan too sappy...
Reviews are appreciated and loved! :)
