WARNING: Parts of this chapter contain (very) foul language and mentions of drug usage. Viewer discretion advised ;)
Chapter 4: How to Save a Life
"Where did I go wrong?" Kisame thought to himself as he stared at the insides of his eyelids, waiting for sleep to claim him. The answer was simple: it was a mistake to let Itachi take his car in his condition. The man was in a car accident a little over a month ago and had a minor concussion, for God's sake!
He didn't dare look at the time on the clock beside his head. He knew it was well past midnight and Itachi hadn't come back yet. How long does it take to clear your head? Better yet, how much gas does it take to clear your head? He wondered. Itachi had the money, no doubt, but it was Kisame's mileage that he was worried about. What if something happened? Should I have called the police? He wondered for the thousandth time since Itachi didn't return after two hours. He's an adult, he reasoned, he should be fine.
An adult recovering from a head injury.
His eyes popped open the moment his cell phone sounded as he turned on his side to answer it.
'Call from Itachi Uchiha' it read.
It's about time. "Hey, is everything okay?" Kisame answered. It did not escape his notice that it was 1:56 am which was cause for alarm in and of itself, but he squelched it. Itachi was on the other end of the line, which meant that he was alive at least. Kisame could deal with everything else.
But Itachi had his car. Damn it.
"This is a 911 dispatcher, is this Kisame Hoshigaki?" A woman asked him.
And just like that, all the breath contained in his lungs froze as his heart slowed to a dull beat. "Y-yes." Kisame stuttered, blinking away the shock in an attempt to regain his breath again.
"Do you have any relation to Itachi Uchiha?"
"Yes?" Kisame answered before realizing that answering "yes" or "no" wasn't a sufficient response. "He's my co-worker and roommate."
The dispatcher sighed, which was never a good sign.
"Is everything okay?" Kisame asked in uncertainty.
"We dialed the most recent number we were able to find on your co-worker's phone."
"Is everything okay?" He asked for the third time. Was it really that hard to get information?
She sighed again. "I'm afraid there's been an accident."
Not again. "Is he okay?"
"I'm afraid not. Your co-worker is dead." She sighed.
Fifteen hours ago, he and Itachi were going through the motions like they did every morning since Itachi moved in. Kisame would wake up first and take a shower before heading over to the nearest service station to get an on-the-go breakfast sandwich as Itachi claimed the smell made him nauseous like everything else that Kisame ate around him, and would scarf it down in the car before returning back to pick up Itachi who would be dressed and ready by the time he returned.
Twelve hours ago, Kisame swung by Itachi's office as he always did around this time, to ask his co-worker if he wanted to take a break to eat lunch with him. And as always, Itachi would shoot him a glare and remind Kisame that he wasn't very hungry anymore these days. But no matter how many times the Uchiha reminded him of this, Kisame still came around every weekday at noon to see if his answer would change.
Eight hours ago, the pair was arguing over Itachi's attitude since the accident. There was only so much Kisame could do to help the younger man out, after all. He might have offered him a place to stay while he got back up on his feet, but Itachi made no attempt to eat, to gain back the weight he had lost in the past month. He had long since canceled the appointments with his therapist, God knew how many of those he had attended, and on top of that, he was neglecting to take his medicines. The very pills that would ease his headaches and nausea and would allow him to sleep soundly through the night and wake up refreshed and ready to start the new day. But instead, Itachi was silent. He ate very little for breakfast, skipped lunch, and usually ate a late dinner if he ate dinner at all and it showed. And he was never happy. He didn't smile, or show any emotion aside from anger, disgust, and frustration towards others – namely, their boss and Kisame who were the only two people he really talked to anymore.
And less than an hour ago – maybe even longer than that – Itachi had died.
And within a minute of hearing the news of his roommate's death, one thing had made itself startlingly clear to Kisame.
I lost a friend.
-8-8-8-
"Fucking cunt." Hidan muttered as he rubbed his neck. He would no doubt sport a lovely hand shaped bruise there tomorrow morning, that was for sure. Heck, it was probably already coloring by now, but it was late and there wasn't a reflective surface for him to check. "Who did the guy think he was choking me like that? He could've crushed my goddamned throat, the fucking son of a—" He was saying when he caught the familiar sight of an alternating flash of red and blue up ahead.
The fuzz! Alerted, Hidan looked around for any cops that might be hiding in the bushes waiting for the perfect time to take him down and ducked behind somebody's porch stoop.
Zangei or whatever the fuck Kakuzu's dealer was didn't live in this part of town, so he couldn't be getting weeded out by the police. Hidan chuckled to himself as he considered the irony of the police "weeding" someone out for possession of "weed." Too fucking funny, if you asked him.
Maybe he was caught dealing it to someone? Maybe a snooping neighbor who couldn't sleep called the cops when they saw some sneaky stuff going down in front of their house? Or maybe he was selling it to a snitch! Or better yet, maybe a cop had put someone up to lure Zan-what's his face out into the open!
Hidan had to see this. It was too good to resist, catching a glimpse of baldie getting what he deserved. Especially after he sent his buddy after Hidan because he didn't trust him.
Like a stealth albino ninja, Hidan crept along the side of the brick buildings to the street corner to catch a glimpse of the action occurring right before his very eyes. But instead of seeing two parked cop cars while a pair of officers pushed Zangei into one of the vehicles to cuff him, Hidan saw instead an ambulance, two cop cars, two totaled automobiles blocking the street, and a couple of curious neighbors clad in their robes and pajamas.
"What the hell? This isn't a police bust..." Hidan uttered.
"Hey! You there!" One of the officers called out to him.
Hidan's eyes widened as he realized that, in his confusion, he had stepped out into the light and was fully visible for all to see. His translucent hair didn't help matters any as he considered what to do. His first thought was to run, but if he ran, he'd look suspicious. But if they knew who he was, they might become suspicious and call him down to the station, and he did not need to do any more time this year.
"Do you live here?" The officer asked him before he decided what to do.
Well, it's too late to run, I guess. I'll just have to play it cool for now. "Sorta. Yeah." He answered vaguely so that the man wouldn't associate him with all the other addicts and drug dealers who inhabited his part of town like fucking cockroaches.
"Did you happen to witness what took place here tonight?" He asked him.
Hidan shook his head. "Nah."
"So you didn't see anything at all here?"
"Nope. Just taking a walk."
The officer glanced skyward. "At nearly two in the morning?" He asked.
Okay, now he was getting on Hidan's last nerve. "I know it sounds crazy, but a good friend of mine just got carried away in an ambulance not too long ago, and I needed to clear my head."
"This friend wouldn't happen to be a dark-skinned older male suffering from a major heart attack, would he?" The officer asked.
Shit. Someway, somehow, this man knew that Kakuzu had gone into heart failure from the joint he had been smoking and somehow linked him back to Hidan. Shit.
"If that's the case, your friend there," he said, gesturing to the ambulance over his shoulder, "didn't make it in time because of the accident that occurred earlier this evening."
"What are you saying?" Hidan asked. "Yeah, that's my friend then. What are you saying? Is he alive or not?"
"I'm afraid he died en route. Sorry for your loss." The officer replied and placed a comforting hand on Hidan's shoulder only for the albino to push it away.
This was his fault. If he wasn't so hell-bent on making Kakuzu see the error in his ways, maybe he wouldn't have gotten so worked up and sent his heart into overdrive. And over what? A tiny, fucking joint of all things. What's worse, somewhere along in the bitterness of their argument, Hidan had gotten so annoyed that he hadn't even accompanied his long-time partner in crime to the hospital during his final hours.
"Some long-time partner I am." Hidan whispered under his breath.
"Excuse me?" The officer asked. "Were you two…together?"
"Fuck no!" Hidan cried and stalked down the sidewalk, pushing his hands into his pockets. …you and I have never been friends, or 'buddies' or 'pals.' I've only stuck with you for so long because you promised me that you 'knew people' who would supply me with this. In short, I've only stuck with you because I thought this partnership would be profitable for me…Hidan remembered Kakuzu saying earlier that morning and whispered. "We weren't anything."
-8-8-8
Deidara had a feeling that something wasn't quite right when he saw the flashing lights up ahead. And curious by nature, he had to see what was going on down there when he passed by. An ambulance. A handful of cops and paramedics. A dozen or so neighbors gathered around wearing whatever could be quickly thrown on. And two smashed cars. More specifically, an SUV with a smashed windshield and imploded hood that had seemingly collided with a much smaller car, a Buick or something, with two smashed headlights and a windshield cracked with such fine detail that it rivaled a spider's web.
And if you looked closely enough, the smaller car was missing the lid of the gas tank on the side that had missed the collision, the side Deidara accidentally sideswiped when he put the car into drive instead of reverse a month ago after a night of drinking with Sasori…
"What happened?" Deidara asked one of the nearest officers when he arrived at the scene, trying to regain his breath from running a block to get there.
"We don't know all the details yet, son." The officer replied. "But it looks like a two car collision caused by a drunk driver."
Oh no…
"What did the driver look like?" Deidara breathed. He really needed to go back to the gym one of these days, but that wasn't important at the moment. So long as he was standing and breathing, he would be fine.
"Unless you're related to the deceased, we can't divulge that information, son."
Deceased? "My friend's car looks exactly like that!" Deidara explained, pointing to the missing gas tank lid. "I was with him several hours ago. Is he dead, yeah?"
"Yeah, unfortunately, the victims of the crash were pronounced dead at the scene, and due to the sudden road blockage, the man being transported to the hospital died in the ambulance on the way."
"Can I see him? Where is he?" Deidara pleaded, frantically looking around for that familiar head of red hair.
The officer regarded him for a moment before consulting with another officer. While they talked, Deidara couldn't help but overhear a clearly frazzled man with toned muscles talking to one of the paramedics behind him. "I don't know!" The man said. "I mean, yes, I knew he was suffering from a head injury, but I wasn't thinking straight when he took the keys from me!"
"To your knowledge, did he ever show signs of epilepsy or suffer from any seizures before?" The paramedic asked him.
"Not that I know of, no!" The man cried.
"Forty-three year old Caucasian male, 5'5" and a hundred and forty pounds; time of death, approx. 1:25am…" Another paramedic was saying from inside the ambulance.
"Sasori!" Deidara exclaimed, and dashed into the back of the waiting ambulance.
"Hey! You're not allowed in there!" The officer he was talking to a moment ago protested from behind him.
"I'm sorry, Sasori, my man, I am so, so, so sorry! I swear! If I had known this would've happened tonight, I would've gone to the bar with you, I'd have driven us there, I'd would have even filled your car up with gas!"
"Sir, come with me, you can't be in there." The officer said, pulling Deidara away from Sasori's lifeless corpse.
"I would've stayed up…with you all night…" Deidara cried, hot tears streaming down his cheeks despite the chilly October air, "had I known that I could've saved your life."
-End-
Well that was sad, don't you agree? Damn.
Fun fact #1: I had the details of this chapter planned before I knew the specifics of chapter three!
Fun fact #2: The specific details regarding the crash follow as such: The ambulance transporting Kakuzu was on its way to the hospital with its lights flashing. Itachi was on his way back home when he saw the flashing lights and suffered from a seizure (due to his concussion - seizures/epilepsy can occur as a result of a concussion, I read, but not always. If Itachi had suffered from a seizure before then, Kisame definitely wouldn't have let him drive anywhere and Itachi probably would've gotten his license suspended/revoked (I don't know the correct term) due to his risk of seizures while driving) and swerved into the lane Sasori was driving home in. Because of Sasori's alcoholic impairment, his reaction time was delayed so he didn't swerve to avoid colliding with Itachi's car. As a result, the crash killed both Itachi and Sasori, and because their cars were blocking the road, the ambulance couldn't get to the hospital in time to save Kakuzu (who probably would've died on the way anyways)
I hope you enjoyed it and I'm sorry for all of you Nagato , Konan, Zetsu and Tobi fans out there who didn't get to see a chapter featuring these guys; the son only contains so many verses to use, and unfortunately, the pairs I've mentioned met their ends before these guys did in the canon! (sorry!)
Any who, please leave a review and tell me what you liked/didn't like, what couldn't been improved upon or what was inaccurate (I can't guarantee I'll go back and fix it, but hey, you never know, right?) and if you had any favorite parts! (I so look forward to hearing these things!) But if you don't review; it's no big deal ;)
Until next time~
Sasori33-001
