Recurring Nightmares
Exhaustion.
Exhaustion to the point of near death.
That was all he felt. It was all he could think about, he was so overtaken by it that he just wanted to collapse right where he was and sleep for days.
He couldn't though, not only would his head not stop spinning from all the thoughts spinning around in it, but he wasn't done. He had something to take care of, or someone more like.
Hidan was still laying, sprawled out on his back in a puddle of his own blood that was mixing in with the rain and mud. The Nara had done what he could to fix the deathless man's wounds, but it wasn't as if he'd been prepared for this, not in the least.
Damn it all, he was so sick of not knowing what to expect. Damn Hidan, Damn Jashin, damn what his life had been reduced to. Now he was responsible for this insane man as well as a follower of some terrible demonic religion.
He sighed and continued staring at him. His chest was rising and falling steadily, it if weren't for the terrible abuse on his body, one might think he was just taking a nap. The bruise on his ribcage seemed to continue to grow larger, and Shika honestly had no idea how to treat it. He'd never used that tecnique on a living thing since he'd perfected it, seeing as his only choices had been to use it on either Neji when he was still here and sparred with him, or himself via a clone.
He didn't even know what kind of damage it had done, though in all honesty the albinos skin looked like it was rotting. It was somewhere in-between the normal purple color of a bruise and a dark green. Skin didn't turn green unless there was something horribley wrong with it. But hell, if anyone could take it, it was Hidan. The man healed with rediculous speed. The spots on his wrists and calves that had been ripped open at first had been so deep that Shika could see his bone while cleansing them. He hadn't looked at them recently, seeing as they were wrapped with the remainder of his gauze. But they'd stopped bleeding shortly after they'd been treated. And wounds like that didn't stop bleading until you were dead.
Speaking of which, he probably needed to get himself to the hospital for the hole residing in his thigh. It hurt so terribley bad that he'd all but forgotten about his hand and the large bruise on his jaw from where Hidan had landed that very first blow. He was a little concerned that he may have broken a few of his teeth from that too. But he didn't want to get up, he couldn't. Not right now, he was so fucking tired and his chakra was so low and he was in so much pain that just the thought of trying made him want to throw up.
He would just wait for Hidan to heal up, and then have the stupid fucker carry him home. He had to if he ordered him to, Shikamaru reasoned, smiling to himself.
On the one hand he had just put a terrible, massive burden on himself, but on the other, this was going to be entertaining, at the least. He had the man no one else could control wrapped around his finger now. Even Kakuzu couldn't order Hidan around without a fight. It was probably unrealistic to think that the idiot was just going to agree to whatever Shikamaru said without resistance, but it was a nice thought, a calming thought.
"I'm not going to serve Jashin though.." He muttered aloud. Maybe he'd accidentally sworn his loyalty to him. But he was going to fight every fucking step of the way. If he remembered correctly, all he had to do was give a little bit of his own blood each day and he would be left well enough alone. It was the absolute minimum requirement. And maybe he could manage that, he really didn't want to risk coming down with leprousy or cancer or some aweful thing like that just because he couldn't poke himself with a needle and draw a little blood.
He sighed, two years ago he would not even have considered letting thoughts like these into his head. What had he ever done so bad to make karma decide to introduce this man into his life. He could have been so happy and content right now. He'd had everything he ever could have wanted before this whole mess started.
"I hate you." He said to Hidan, and almost made the worst, most girliest squeal ever when the albino suddenly sat up and looked at him.
"Well I hate you too. Shit eater."
"I fucking hate you more!" He said, then hating himself for doing something so childish. "You ruined my life!"
"Hey! You wouldn't even have a life to be alive in if I wasn't such a nice fucking person!" Hidan shot back, attempting to get up but only falling onto his side. "DAMMIT! I can't even stand up! Look what you did to me!"
"YOU WERE TRYING TO KILL ME!"
"Well maybe you should have fucking let me." Hidan muttered, sitting himself back upright. "You hate your life anyway."
Shikamaru growled and let himself fall backward onto the swamp-like ground. This was surreal. He'd just been in a battle for his life and now they were sitting here argueing like a couple kids.
"I don't hate my life. I just miss my old one." He muttered, not expecting Hidan to actually hear. And if he did hear, not expecting him to respond.
"We all miss what we used to have." He said back in the same exaspirated tone.
"Shut up."
"Make me."
"I order you to shut up!"
Shikamaru smiled at the silence that followed. Yes, this would certianly be entertaining, now that the deadly peril was over.
"No more trying to kill me." He said, "No more fucking with me. Don't even threaten my life."
"Yessir, Master sir." Hidan replied snarkily.
"Good. Now, take me to the hospital. I don't like pain, unlike you."
"Oh for fuck's sake you pansy! You want me to carry you bridal style?"
"At least find a damn phone and call an ambulance."
"Tch. C'mon pineapple head, I'm in worse shape than you. You'll pull through."
Shikamaru pushed himself up to glare at Hidan, who only returned it. "How can you act like this after what just happened!? Like everything's fine and this is a totally normal situation? I'm not immortal, I will die if my wounds get infected. I have a hole in my leg, I can see through my leg. This is going to take fucking forever to heal. You're my slave, do what I say!"
"Why don't you go suck a cock!?" Hidan just stared at him, obviously trying to fight the amusement in his voice. This was pissing Shikamaru off, why didn't he understand the seriousness of this? It wasn't a game, dammit!
He sighed. This was getting him nowhere. If he wanted Hidan to do anything for him, he had to make him think it was his idea. Reverse psychology maybe? It was cliche all the other dumb ideas Shikamaru had tried had pretty well worked on him.
"Fine then. Let's just stay here. "
Hidan just grunted.
"Yeah, we'll stay here in this mud pit. You don't deserve a shower and a nice place to rest anyway. It's better here."
"You ain't gonna let me in your fucking house. So knock it off."
Hmm. Well that wasn't going to work. Or maybe he wasn't very good at it..
"Yeah. You're right. I wasn't. But you've broken in plenty of times before anyway."
Hidan smiled proudly. "You didn't exactly make it hard."
"I didn't know I needed to. But it's cool. I can just stay here and look at the clouds forever. Doesn't bug me. " With that Shikamaru plopped back down into the mud, wincing when even the movement and looked back up at the night sky. The clouds had vanished completley, leaving what would be a clear sky if not for all the lights and pollution blocking it out. He could see the moon, and maybe one star.
Oh, nope. That's a helicopter.
He closed his eyes, he could wait Hidan out. He may even doze a little. Soon he would get bored and probably start whining. He could be patient, he had been prepared to play the waiting game anyway before all that utter insanity had started.
He took a deep breath and counted to 10, and released it.
"I have some pills that would probably help." Hidan said somewhat sullenly. And Shikamaru let his brows arch up, but didn't open his eyes.
"I don't do that stuff anymore."
"Yeah, I know. You're fucking boring. They're like antibiotic type shit. Pain releivers too."
Hmm. He could use some painkillers. All he had was over-the-counter meds at his house, and they wouldn't be enough for this.
"I told you no more trying to kill me."
"For fuck's sake dude I'm trying to help!"
"If you wanna help then take me to a damn hospital!"
He opened his eyes and sat up when he heard the Jashinist shift around, grunting and grumbling. When he managed to prop himself comfortably, Hidan had staggered to his feet. Shikamaru smiled inwardly. Hah, he was going to do it. Big bad Hidan was actually doing what he told him to do.
The albino man limped over to Shikamaru, and stood over him. Shikamaru held his gaze with a look that just dared him to try something. Hidan's eyes narrowed, and he held out his hand.
"I'll take you to your shitty apartment. I've seen Kakuzu wrap me up a million times, I'll do that for you and then you're on your own."
Shikamaru sighed and took his hand. He hissed as his new partner yanked him to his feet rougher than neccesary, but aside from a short glare, he didn't say anything. If he helped him to his house then he could call the damn ambulance himself. This had been one serious drag of a Sunday.
"Ahh Crap.." He said, and Hidan gave him an irritated look as he put one of the Nara's arms around his shoulder and let him lean his weight on him. Honestly, he wasn't sure why he was trusting him all the sudden, even with something like this. But it wasn't as if he had much choice. "I have to call in..." He muttered, to which Hidan snorted in reply. "For like... a week, at the least."
"You're such a puss, pineapple head."
"Shut up Hidan."
-o-
That was probably the longest, most awkward trek of his life. The walk which usually took him twenty minutes had taken the two battered men nearly an hour. Granted, Hidan only seemed to get better and better as they trudged on in heavy, uncomfortable silence, but the opposite could be said for Shikamaru. His body ached like no tomorrow, his thigh was still lightly bleeding from the effort of walking, his hand was still throbbing and he couldn't feel a large portion of his face, and he felt as if he looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame with how swollen he knew it was.
Hidan had absolutley insisted on grabbing his scythe, which Shika had to admit came in handy. At least every passerby kept to their own business. Normally he would have thought it rude that no one cared enough to ask if they needed any help, but in this case he just fucking wanted to go home and sleep. It didn't ease his irritation any that it was now well after dark and everyone they passed was most likeley a drug dealer or hooker. At least those who looked at them as a potential target to rob took one look at Hidan and walked in the opposite direction. Apparently he had made a bit of a reputation for himself, and had somehow managed to keep it on the down low as well. Shikamaru certianly would have remembered hearing rumors about anyone even vaugly fitting Hidan's description.
The giant bruise on the zealot's side seemed to have finally stopped growing, though it was definitly more green now than purple. It took up pretty well the whole left half of his torso. Both of then hobbling down the street together was probably a pretty even mix of hilarious and just pitiful. He couldn't even think of the things people would assume they had been doing. They probably had them both pegged at jutsu user's, which, depending on who you taked to and what neighborhood you were it, might be a bad thing.
Jutsu had been steadily declining in popularity, due to many people feeling threatened by those who misused it. It ended up getting several rules and regulations pinned to it's use, and was balancing very deliately on the edge of being banned all-together.
It was a chaotic world when people were able to do things they shouldn't be able to do with reckless abandon.
The city especially had a very strict policy on it, though it was hard to enforce seeing as anyone could call in with a complaint, and not have a single bit of proof. It was far too easy to kill someone with some sort of jutsu and not leave a single trace. That was why Shikamaru's law firm was so huge. And they only worked with the Southeastern portion of the city!
It was all a drag really. But, being in the firm and having his own special handy dandy little license, he was permitted to use it basically whenever, as long as he had a good reason. Sparring in the park with himself? Meh, no one had cared enough to call him in, thought that was usually why he tried to leave city limits, and he would still be doing this if a certian psycho hadn't made him too paranoid to drive his car.
"Hidan.." He croaked, when they were only a block away. (City block were rediculously long compared what 'a block' would be in his old town.) The man beside him remained silent but for a grunt.
"Why.. Why didn't you just attack me right away? Why'd you stalk me?"
He answered with a shrug, made very awkward because of Shikamaru's arm draped over his shoulders.
"How long have you been watching me?"
"A while." Hidan said, glaring at an underdressed woman who caught his eye. She averted her eyes and walked off down an alleyway.
"Why?"
"Why do you ask so many damn questions?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I didn't even fucking know you were alive until literally like an hour and a half ago! I didn't even know someone was following me around until a couple days ago!"
"I've been working on my flaws too, pineapple head." Hidan said with a toothy sneer.
"So you were using me for practice before you killed me?"
"You rationalize it any fucking way you want, fuckwit."
"If you'd answer the damn question-"
"Fuuck! This must be what Kakuzu always feels like!" Hidan interjected. "Jashin christ, if I tell you will you shut the hell up? This is weird enough without you fucking chatting me up. In case it's not obvious I'm not very fucking happy about this whole shitty situation."
"You mean you being my slave?"
"I'm not your fucking slave."
"Then what do you call it?"
"I'm loyal only to Jashin. He obviously has something in mind. I'm just going along with it until he gives me the okay to kill you."
"You can't kill me. I've beaten you twice now."
He could hear Hidan grinding his teeth, and decided he should probably stop provoking him. He was in a bit of a compromising position right now, it would be pretty easy for the man to just break his neck or something. But he wanted to know the answers to his questions. He didn't have a clue as to what was going to happen when they reached his apartment complex. He could probably use the elevator and get to his own, as long at his 'slave' helped him up those initial few steps into the lobby. But whether Hidan would stick around or leave and go... wherever he'd been keeping residence, was a mystery.
Not saying he wanted him to stay, hell no. Maybe they were tolerating each other right now and acting vaugely buddy-buddy, but the man had mentally tortured him, tried to kill his ex-who-he-still-loved, and somehow managed to come back from the dead and then tried to kill Shikamaru himself! Hidan was absolutly unpredictable, and Shikamaru hated it with every fiber of his being. No wonder he kept screwing up, how the hell was he every supposed to make rational decisions when facing such an irrational opponent!?
"It's a pretty simple explanation. You're thinking too fucking hard on it." Hidan muttered, interrupting him from his thoughts. "I just wanted to see what I was dealing with. It took me awhile to track you down. And I was actually looking for the princess. I was planning to deal with you later."
Shikamaru counted to ten to control the anger at Hidan's easy admittance of this. He just told him he still wants to kill Neji as if it were no big deal. Like he was really just going to be okay with it, like he wasn't going to do everything in his power to keep it from happening.
"But when I finally found you, he wasn't around. He fucked you over pretty bad huh? I couldn't help myself, you were so pathetic that I had to watch. I was just waiting for the day when you finally decided to kill yourself. I was gonna jump in and offer Jashin's bounty to you, and kill you myself if you rejected. But damn Pineapple head, You surprised me, coming around on your own like that."
"It wasn't intentional."
"Oh yes it was. You just think it wasn't."
"...Have you ever thought of making sense when you talk?"
Hidan sighed dramatically, but as long as the subject was Jashin, he didn't seem to mind dishing out info. "You were desperate for a way out, you idiot. You accepted him mentally without even knowing it. That darkness you felt? That numb sensation, it was him knocking at the door. Jashin is scary clever, even more than you. After that all that was left was finding some way to make you think that doing what you did was your idea and not something he was 'suggesting' to you while you slept."
Shikamaru was speechless. How did he possibly know all this? How could he have known how he was feeling? How did he know about the nightmares?
Hidan continued on, oblivious to Shikamaru's smouldering anger.
"I helped a little bit, with the whole tire thing. I thought it was a stupid idea too, I mean, I knew there wad no fucking way you weren't gonna catch on. But who am I to question Jashin almighty? I guess I gave you more credit that you deserved in the end eh?"
Shikamaru just wanted to go to sleep. He wanted to go to sleep and never wake up.
He didn't know what to even think now. This was all far too supernatural for his logical mind. He... he was out of his league. What Hidan was saying sort of made sense in some crazy way, but it was just so far-fetched that it didn't make sense at all. Shikamaru was going to blow a circut if he didn't get home and get some rest.
"I...I can't handle all this." He admitted aloud. He didn't know if he was saying it to himself or his unlikely new "friend", but it was already out there.
"Tch, and I thought your boy-toy was the drama queen." Hidan muttered as they at long last arrived at the entrance to the complex he lived in.
Shikamaru let it go. His energy was gone, he had nothing left to fuel any more argueing. He waited for Hidan to stop helping him limp along and leave, but he didn't. He continued on right up the few stairs and only removed Shikamaru's arm to open the door. After the Nara hobbled inside and started making his way to the elevator, he still heard footsteps behind him. He pressed the button and shifted to lean against the wall, giving Hidan a questioning look.
Hidan didn't notice right away, he was inspecting the diseased-looking side of his body, making a bit of a disgusted face.
"Hidan."
The man 'Hmm'd' in response but continued poking at the sickly green flesh.
"Er.. are...Are you like, coming with me?"
Hidan stopped amidst what he was doing and turned to look at Shikamaru. The look on his face made Shikamaru blush even though he hadn't meant it at all like that. And of course the blush just made it worse.
"Aahhh pineapple head are you coming on to me?"
"NO! Dammit I didn't mean it like that! "
Hidan just laughed and made a seductive face. But Shikamaru continued before he could say anything.
"I thought you'd probably dump me at the entrance and take off. I can make it the rest of the way myself."
Hidan went back to the signature grin. "Chill the fuck out, I told you I was gonna help you fix up your leg. I don't break my word, unless some goddamn spikey haired motherfucker forces me too."
It was Shikamaru's turn to be amused. Why he found it funny was a bit of a mystery. He supposed the thought that Hidan had the same notion about him that the Nara did was... what was the word? It added another dimension to Hidan, a little more humanity. Shikamaru knew that once before, a long time ago. That deep down the insane satal masochist was still a person with wants and needs like everyone else.
"Huh, I didn't know the great and mighty immortal Hidan had morals."
Hidan scowled at this. "How many fucking times to I have to tell you. You and everyone else. I'm a nice fucking guy as long as you don't piss me off. I'm about tired of putting forth the fuckin' effort when no one ever believes me."
"It's hard to beleive when you keep trying to kill everyone you're trying to convince."
Hidan looked almost as if he'd been slapped, and Shikamaru couldn't stop the laugh that burst from him. Why was he laughing? This wasn't funny! Hidan treated lives like objects instead of... instead of lives!
But he kept chuckling, it made his aches and pain all the worse but he couldn't stop himself. He was so tired, he almost felt like he was stoned.
"You.." Another giggle. "It really never occured to you to not kill someone just because they irritate you?"
Another round of laughter, and now even Hidan was staring at him like he'd lost it.
The elevator dinged and Hidan had to shove him in when the door opened as he tried desperatly to control his mental meltdown.
But why? Why was this any different than any other stressful situation?
He'd wanted to fall over and die when he humiliated himself waaay back when he'd first asked Neji on a date. When he first started at his old firm he'd been so overwhelmed that he'd mistakenly asked his supervisor if he had any pot, thinking he had dialed Choji, one of his closest friend back then. When his father passed away he'd thought there was no way he'd ever be happy again. And learning of Asuma's death had hurt him so badly that he had more or less been in denial ever since.
Two years ago the life of the man he loved was resting completley in his hands, and he'd barely managed to keep him alive. And then he'd left him despite it all.
And he'd managed to keep his head, but now, in front of the last fucking person in the world that he wanted to ever, EVER see again, he was crumbling, with no one but the man who'd just tried to kill him to lean on.
His life was so utterly fucked that... that he didn't even know how to finish this thought.
He didn't think he was laughing anymore now. But everything seemed hazy, like it wasn't really happening. His body felt so heavy, but light at the same time. And damn, he hurt. He hurt everywhere, in places he hadn't even been injured in.
He vaugley heard someone ask for his keys, and without even thinking about it he reached into his back pocket to get them, and handed them over.
Soon after that his face hit something soft, and he almost cried in relief at not having to stand up anymore before he realized he couldn't breathe. He forced himself to roll onto his back. Damn... he was so hot. I think I'm sweating...
"Why's it so fuckin' hoooot?" He asked whoever it was that was with him. He knew someone was, he couldn't remember who though. Holy shit why was it so hot? Was someone burning him? Jesus christ he was on fire!
Someone said something to him. He tried to tell them he couldn't hear them, that they were too far away but he couldn't because he was suddenly being shaken.
What the hell is going on here? Was there a fire and an earthquake?
Something cold was on his forehead now, damn it felt good, he reached up and grabbed it. It kept trying to pull away.
"Sss...stop it. Feels good." He said. Holy crap, he didn't feel good. Oh god... he was... he was gonna throw up. Oh no.
"Trasshhhcannn..." he moaned. He heard someone shout and the cold object was ripped away.
Oh no... ohh no. He was gonna spew, he was definitly gonna spew. Where'd that person go? Who was that? Who was with him? He didn't have any friends, not since Neji left.
Neji!? Was it Neji?! Was he back?
Something metallic clanged, and he was being lifted up and leaned forward so his head was between his knees.
"Neji...Neji.. are you here?"
He heard someone in return, it was muffled and far away. And damn he was still hot, he was so hot he was gonna, gonna...
He faintly heard what sounded like a five gallon bucket being dumped into another bucket.. and everything went dark.
-o-
Nightmares. Always nightmares.
Some had Neji, some had Hidan. Some even had Itachi and Sasuke. Some had his old friends, damn he missed them. He missed friends.
Why the hell had he resorted to being alone all the time? He didn't wanna be alone. He wasn't a people person really, but he didn't want to be completly alone.
Then there were these other weird dreams. He wasn't sure what was going on. He was laying in bed, always laying in his bed. He thought he was in his apartment, but he never dreamt of that. All he knew was he was in a bed, and he felt horrible. He couldn't get his eyesight to focus for more than a moment. And his entire body hurt, it hurt so bad. His leg was the worst, some days the pain was so bad he thought he was dying. And everything would go dark.
Sometimes there was someone there, they talked to him. But they weren't nice, sometimes he was even yelled at. Occasionally it felt like someone might even be slapping him.
He knew it wasn't Neji. He was always nice. But he couldn't think of anyone on earth that could be here. Neji had left... he left awhile ago.
Who was it? Who the hell was here?
Why couldn't he wake up? He should have woken up by now. He always woke up after everything went black.
Damn it he was so tired of being confused all the time. Why didn't someone just answer him? Why can't he just know what to do? How to make this pain go away, all this pain. Oh bloody hell why did everything hurt so bad? Why was he so hot? Why couldn't it just go away, he didn't want to hurt anymore... He was so tired of hurting. It wasn't fair, he tried so fucking hard. He was trying to move on and he was trying to be a normal person. He wasn't doing a very good job but dammit HE WAS TRYING!
He opened his eyes, and for once he could see. He could focus for more than a second, and he could make out... his apartment ceiling?
Yeah, that's what it was. It was the ceiling. He took a deep breath and let it out, blinking slowly. He was awake now, he had to be awake. He didn't dream of his apartment.
There was something on his forehead, and he reached up to touch it, his breath hissed in when he flexed his fingers though. That was sore, really sore. He held it above his head so he could focus on it. It was all wrapped up, the bandages looked fresh. What happened to his hand.
Remembering the object on his forehead, he let his hand down to touch it. It was wet.. It was.. a rag? A wet rag on his head. What the hell was going on?
He felt so weak, damn, what the hell happened to him?
He wanted to sit up, he had to. And taking another breath, he forced himself to do so. He was a little dizzy for a moment, and felt kinda nauseous. But he kept himself upright.
His leg, his thigh to be exact, was throbbing so hard it made him wince repeatedly. Wait.. he remembered this, his leg had hurt so bad in all those weird half-lucid dreams...
He gingerly pushed the covers down to find his leg heavily wrapped with gauze that smelled so strongly of antiseptic that he retracted the blanket. And just then his bedroom door opened. Upon seeing those violet eyes and slicked-back silver hair everything came flooding back to him.
Hidan.. he was here? He remembered being with him in front of the elevator, he'd been making jokes about Shikamaru wanting him. And he'd started laughing and couldn't stop.
"Holy shit you're alive." Hidan said in monotone. Then his shoulders slumped and he grinned. "Oh dear Jashin, that was the worst torture of my life. Damn pineapple head, Don't ever get sick again. I'm not your fucking mommy okay?"
Shimamaru's confusion must've shown on his face, because Hidan gave him an agitated sigh and came further into the room. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and gray sweats. Shikamaru wasn't sure why he noticed that, or why he was thinking that he looked good in casual clothes like that when there were so many questions for him to ask.
"You ain't still hallucinating are you? Fuck that was annoying as all hell."
"Hallucinating?" Shika asked, his voice sounding like he hadn't used it for awhile.
"Yeah man! Damn people say I'm whiney but you could win a fucking award for that shit. 'Neji, Neji come back, I looove you!'" He said the last in a dramatic and admittedly whiny voice. "Kept fucking crying and shit. I've never seen a more pathetic excuse for a grown ass man In all my life. I swear I was so close to just smothering you with a fucking pillow."
Shikamaru processed this, and still understood nothing.
"What happened?"
Hidan rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, shrugging."Ah, you freaked shit cuz your leg got infected and it got all in your bloodstream. You were out for days."
There. That answered quite a few questions. He didn't have a nervous breakdown, he was sicker than all hell. He thought he was on fire from a fever. Those dreams weren't dreams at all, at least not all of them. He'd been teetering on the edge of conciousness. For days apparently... wait WHAT?!
"Days!?" The Nara yelped. "Oh shit I'm gonna lose my fucking job! Where the hell is my phone! Did they call? Oh damn it all I'm so screwed-"
"Oi! Calm down! Damn, I told'em you had a bloodstream infection. They even sent a fuckin' guy over, guess they thought you were playin' hookey or some shit. Chill the fuck out."
"You.. you covered for me?"
Hidan made a face, as if wondering why he did it as well. "Well.. huh. Yeah I did... ain't gonna fucking happen again though. So get your pansy ass outta bed."
Shikamaru was.. was... was what? He didn't even know...
A bloodstream infection? Damn, Hidan had... taken care of him? Even called into work so he wouldn't get fired..
WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON!?
He'd just been trying to kill him and now all the sudden he's saving his life?
What the actual fuck?
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why'd you... do this?"
Hidan was quiet for a moment, his expression looking as if he'd just eaten rotten food. "I don't fucking know.."
"Hidan.. you had to have a reason. You don't do anything without reason."
Hidan looked sideways at him. And it occurred to Shikamaru that he had accidentally given him a compliment. Saying he actually thought things through instead of just brainlessly charging into strange situations.
It was true though, a few years back when he'd actually almost thought of the religious man as a friend they'd had a conversation about basically the same thing. Hidan was secretly smarter than people gave them credit for. And quite honestly it was a hell of a strategic move, and also quite a burden. After hearing something so many times you start to believe it. Shikamaru had been under the same pressure, but in the opposite way. Everyone always looked to him for advice. When there was trouble, he was the person they called. Everything was always on his shoulders. He didn't realize how much he actually missed that until now.
"Jashin has a plan for you. If he wanted you to die then I would have killed right away. Besides, you told me not to try to kill you anymore. Just leaving and letting you die would basically be the same fuckin' thing."
Shikamaru's spirits dropped at the reminder of his newfound religion. Not that they'd been too high in the first place. But they were helped just slightly by the fact that Hidan's deathwish for him seemed to have truely vanished. It was strange that it would happen so suddenly and easily. He'd really never thought of the zealot as the easily forgiving type.
Even if he had used his God as an excuse again, there seemed to be some sort of almost unnoticable change in his overall demeanor.
It all made sense, but still didn't.
What concerned him was Hidan's constant mentioning of 'Jashin's plan', the concept in itself was foreboding and being more or less helpless to determine what it was was just a really huge drag.
This was the God of slaughter and chaos we were talking about here. If he wanted something from Shikamaru then there was a pretty good fucking chance that he wasn't going to be saving the president or ending world hunger.
"Well... thank you."
Hidan grimaced. "Oh jeez don't get all fucking girly on me. We're even now okay?"
"Even?"
Hidan looked at him like he was the dumbest thing he'd ever seen. "Yea. Even. You need me to spell it out for you?"
That was all the more explanation he was going to get out of the Jashinist, (he needed to stop referring to him that way seeing as he apparently was one too) because with that he stalked from the room, saying something about getting some fresh air.
But Shikamaru wasn't stupid in the least. He knew what he meant now. He could have killed Hidan, and seeing as he'd more or less done it once and he'd escaped, he was one of the few people who would know how to keep him dead. Keeping Shikamaru alive had been his begrudging way of saying thanks.
The immortal really was scared of death after all.
-o-
A shower had been both absolute bliss and pure torture. He hadn't even realized how disgusting he'd felt until he was underneath the stream of water, he still had mud caked in places that even sunlight didn't reach.
At least he could take solice in the fact that Hidan hadn't given him any sort of spongebath. That would have been going a little too far. He was grateful for the help, really. But the absolute last thing he ever wanted was another dose of trauma relating to that man.
But, when the soapy rinse water ran into his just-barely-starting-to-heal leg wound, it was a whole other kind of hell. In retrospect, taking the bandages off had been an utterly brainless move. He should have decked the damn thing out with seliphane wrap. He knew he had some around here somewhere..
But, after rinsing the hell out of it and limping out and drying off, he almost felt like a whole new person. And Hidan's presence had completley slipped his mind in his ecstasy of relief from being back to a somewhat normal routine. In just over an hour he'd gotten himself something to eat, ate it, put his hair up, and had just sat down in his easy chair and lit up a cigarette when Hidan came swooping in the window.
"HOLY SHIT!" The spikey hair yelped, nearly jumping out of his own skin.
Hidan just brushed off his pants legs and straightened up, grinning.
"I forgot about you.." Shikamaru explained, searching frantically for his cigarrette before it caught something on fire. He finally found it and quickly extinguished it. He hated wasting them like that but his heart was already going a million miles an hour at the moment, he didn't need nicotene to make that any worse.
"Well damn. Wish I'd known that, I would've just fucking left."
"Where'd you change at?" Shika asked before he could stop himself. Good God was he ever gonna stop that crap?
Bad brain. Stop it. Just quit. That's a no-no.
Hidan gave him a skeptical glance before plopping down and making himself comfortable on the loveseat. "You think I've just been fucking camping out on your window ledge for 4 months?"
The Nara's brow raised. So that's how long he'd been there. He had to give him a little credit, or maybe he should just be scolding himself for not eve suspecting that someone was there watching his every move that whole time.
"Well I'm never really sure what to expect from you." He admitted. "Why are you still here?"
"Well damn I'll fucking leave! I thought you wanted me to hang around, mister swear-your-loyalty-to-me-or-die."
Oh, right... that.
"I didn't mean it like that!" The Nara said as Hidan shifted to get up. He was a little disturbed at the small amount of panic he'd had when he realized he really was going to leave. "I just wasn't sure like... what to do now, I guess."
"Tch, don't look at me. This was your retarded idea."
"Hey! I was trying to stay alive!"
Hidan just rolled his violet eyes and moved back to his original position, with the addition of his arms spread across the back of the couch. "You mortals are so fucking indecisive. You sit there and beg for death but when your wish gets granted you turn around and whine about how you wanna live."
Again Shikamaru's brow raised. "I don't ever remember wanting to die."
"No, but you sure as hell were content to sit there and waste the life you cling to so desperatly."
That... that kinda hurt. It hit a little too deep and rung a little too true for Shikamaru's liking. The fact that Hidan knew how depressed he was when the Nara himself hadn't even been very aware of the problem really put things in perspective. He had been just coasting along, waiting for his problems to suddenly fix themselves and begging for relief from the pain and the nightmares while not really willing to do anything to help himself.
"And who the hell are you to talk?" He said, a little shocked at how hostile the question came out. "What good have you been doing with your immortal life? You just spent four months doing nothing but watching me do nothing. And even before that all you did was get fucked up on drugs and wreak havoc!"
"I didn't just sit here and watch you the whole fucking time you conceited fucker!" Hidan snapped back in the same tone. "Just because killing you was on my list of shit to do doesn't mean you're the center of my universe!" He leaned forward now, every movement and feature radiating his attempt to control his agitation. At least Shikamaru could appreciate his restraint. It wouldn't have been anything like this a few years ago.
"I don't have to fucking explain myself to you. I can't die, I have all the time in the world. You..." Something in his eyes shifted as he paused. Shikamaru couldn't really decide what it was, but it bothered him.
"You only have a certain amount to get your shit in order, to make an impact in history, then you die. You die and life goes on like you never fuckin' existed."
Shikamaru was silent, unsure how to respond. This conversation had somehow taken a very dark turn. He was seeing bits and peices of Hidan that he had the feeling hadn't been seen by too many people.
"And I'll fucking tell you from experience pineapple head, It ain't an easy thing to do.." His head fell back onto the loveseat, and his violet eyes scanned the ceiling for just a second before closing.
Shikamaru remembered his last conversation with Asuma suddenly. When he'd explained everything that he'd figured out. The darkest, most disturbing fact being that Hidan really had died once for real. But Jashin had brought him back. How long he'd been dead was something he had no way of knowing. Hidan looked only a few years older than himself, maybe 5 at the most. But was that truely his age or one of the perks of immortality?
Shikamaru realized something that he had never even bothered to think about before. Hidan, like anyone, had a past. He had a childhood and went through puberty and all those stages of life just like everyone did.
Maybe he'd even died an old man, and Jashin had put his soul into his younger body, or even someone elses all together...
And with nothing more than that train of thought, this psycho satal madochistic muderer of a man suddenly became a puzzle that Shikamaru was unhappy to find out he was interested in solving.
But, this was enough for now. He had all he needed to keep his head busy for awhile. And seeing as this time neither he nor anyone he knew was under a death threat, he actually had time to think about it.
"Why didn't you just take me to the hospital?" Shikamaru said, breaking the awkward silence.
"You didn't fucking need it. Be happy, I saved you money."
"I don't care about money! I almost died!"
Hidan's head snapped up and he looked at Shikamaru with a mixture of disbeleif as well as childlike amazment at hearing such a thing. And the spikey haired man couldn't quite hide his amusement at this.
"What? Is it so weird that I care more about my life than saving a few hundred bucks?"
"Uh, yeah. It is. I thought everyone was obsessed with money."
"...Why would you think that?" Shikamaru asked, chuckling. He vaugly remembered one of Kakuzu's traits as being a Scrooge. Or at least he'd deduced so from a comment Itachi made once and then another when Kakuzu had mentioned somthing about 'protecting his investments' of of the several times Neji had forced Shikamaru to go have a chat with him.
He could sort of understand Hidan's puzzlement, He couldn't die, so obviously he probably had never been to the hospital. Or at least not since his immortality kicked in, which could be any undetermined amount of time. Kakuzu, being more experienced as well as terrifyingly strong, most likely rarely sought out medical help, if ever. In afterthought, taking Shikamaru to the hospital had not been an option through no fault of Hidan's.
"I don't know! You mortals are always doing stupid shit for meanlingless possessions. People kill each other over money, girls will have sex with you just to earn some, people rape and pillage and plunder for it. Hell even that little Uchiha twit was willing to go to jail for it. And that family is so fucked that they make their own standard of 'normal'." Hidan paused for a moment, looking at the reaction on Shikamaru's face. "I just figured it was one of those things I'd never understand. I don't judge you for it, I just don't fuckin' get it."
"Well.." Shikamaru said, still smirking a little. "It is important, but it's not the most important. I'd take saving the life of someone I cared about over a million dollars anyway, wouldn't you?"
"Tch, I don't care about anyone."
"What about Kakuzu? You and him are still a..thing.. right?"
"Hey. Keep your mind on your own personal life eh? It's none of your damn business. I'm not gonna sit here gossiping with you about my sex life, I'm not a damn woman."
Shikamaru held up his hands in surrender and shifted himself in his chair so he could rock, then lit up another cigarette. There were a few nice moments of silence before Hidan piped up again.
"You didn't get any money for saving me." He said, only the slightest teasing tone in his voice. Shikamaru just sighed, knowing what was coming.
"You liiike me huh Pineapple head? You wanna peice of this?"
"Shut up Hidan."
"Don't be embarrased, I often cause feelings in other people that they don't fucking understand."
"Stop quoting movies."
"Damn you're just as boring as Kakuzu."
"And you're insane."
"But it turns you on huh?"
"Shut up, Hidan."
"Are you gonna make me?"
"I order you to shut the hell up!"
Hidan huffed and flopped onto the couch. And Shikamaru smiled.
Yea, this would be entertaining.
-o-
A/N- Mreee! Woow that feels like it took so freeking long. Ugh, it always seems so much longer on my phone than when I transfer it to computer.
But, yeah. Here you are my lovelies. One more chapter! Feed, feed and grow strong and use your strength to REVIEW! 3