HOLY SHIZU! THIS ONE IS LOOOONG!! I don't think I've ever written something with this chapter's length and posted it, and I guess that's why it's so late. Apologies for that. (sweatdrop)

So…yeah. Not much more to say, so let the plotline commence!


A fist pounded on a bedroom door, and a maternal voice accompanied it, sounding between every three hits. "Kakuzu! Kakuzu, honey, open up!" Her ability to speak seemed sincere enough, but behind the door hid a teenager, and he wasn't about to break his vow just yet.

Kakuzu glowered angrily at nothing in particular, his back up against the object of his mother's attack. He was going to stick to his means of protest, regardless of what either of his parents said (apart from apologizing to one another and calling a truce), which meant he wouldn't eat, drink, or go to school until some type of peace treaty was worked out. Lending a deaf ear to his mom's demands, Kakuzu fluidly put his earbuds in their respective ears and turned on his mp3 player, having it play an excessively metal rock song. They'd get the idea after a while, without an explanation.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hidan ran his palm down his face, contorting his expression into an inhuman frown as he laid his head on the desk in front of him. He had made it to school on time by the skin of his teeth, seeing as though he had to walk there rather than hitching a ride with DeAnn as usual. His house wasn't terribly far from the building, taking maybe ten minutes to stroll from one to the other, but Hidan had left late that morning due to the lack of DeAnn's nagging for him to get up, and devoid of his foster mother's driving, he was without the fastest way to school.

Sighing with relief, he relaxed his tense muscles. He was there, not tardy, and safe. All he needed now was to focus on the task at hand (currently, schoolwork) and things would work themselves out. Speaking of working things out, where was Kakuzu? The cult member looked around, just shy of being frantic, but there was no sign of the heathen at all. Was he sick? He had seemed healthy the day before –which normally wasn't a sure-fire way to determine if someone was sick or not, but Hidan's mind worked in odd ways, and his logic was no exception—and he didn't say anything about going on any trips. How weird.

Hidan would have fretted more over this if it hadn't been that he was so damn exhausted, since even huge bundles of both molecular and kinetic energy like himself tire out once in a while, and adding the fact that he wasn't a morning person in any sense made the start to the day an unpleasant one for him.

Stepping through the silent halls of his student occupation, Hidan stared curiously at the pink slip of paper he held. Just moments ago, in the midst of his history class, a tall, thin, blue-haired girl with a white flower clip adorning it had interrupted and given him the piece of paper. "Read the back," she had whispered before heading back to her office page post, and he reluctantly, but still did, oblige. On the reverse side of the slip was a sentence of blue, handwritten text with a left slant:

Meet me in the home economics room immediately- Pein

The white-haired kid gave the message an incredulous glance: Pein was known for being able to forge and send paging slips in order to get into contact with his associates, much like an underworld kingpin, but the real question was why he would want anything to do with Hidan. Was Pein interested in hiring him for some sort of 'project' he happened to be working on, or just punishing him for something that he hadn't realized he had done wrong? So many questions, and not an answer for any of them…

The home economics room was abandoned that period, seeing as though the class had taken a field trip that day, and eerily quiet, much to Hidan's consternation. It was plain to see why this was the perfect place for a secret meeting at the time: it was near the main office, so any passerby who happened to see Hidan heading in its direction would assume that he was going to the disciplinary-administrative section of the building, and most of the room as located behind a solid brick wall, making it easy to conceal two people conversing within it. Yes, Pein certainly was a genius worthy of a mob-leader position.

When Hidan entered the classroom, the first thing that caught his eye was Pein's bright, nonconformist-orange hair styled in its normal rebellious spikes, with his prominent facial piercings being the second. He had propped himself against the wall behind him, his ringed, gray eyes closed, and boomed out an order: "Close the door, lock it, and come over here."

The other boy did as he was told post-haste, trying with all he had not to seem skittish or flighty. If the stories he had heard about Pein were true at all, then it was best to stand as strong as one could around the guy, in a matter of speaking.

Once he was deep enough in the room, Pein began to talk in his signature despotic tone. "Hidan," he began, lifting himself from the wall and padding heavily around the room, "you know where Kakuzu lives, correct?" With a slight nod from the zealot, he continued, authority ringing through his very aura itself. "Good. As you and I are both aware of, he is not present at this learning establishment. Do you know why?"

Hidan shook his head robotically as he felt adrenaline shoot into his bloodstream—whatever the characters in horror movies go through, it had nothing over the kind of fear that Pein could instill—taking a quiet, small breath while trying to keep his body language as calm as possible.

Pein closed his eyes, out of slight annoyance this time, and sighed. "Okay, then. Well, my advice to you is to visit him tonight," he stated matter-of-factly, releasing another breath. "I believe it's in both of your best interests."

The cult member nodded, stifling the confusion whirling around in his head uncontrollably as he unlocked the door and left upon the other kid's order. Sheez, whatever he should become when he grows up, Hidan would hate to have to work under that sadist.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Kakuzu, God damn it, come out!"

"We know you're in there!"

Kakuzu scoffed and plugged his ears, trying to block out the distasteful screaming coming from the wooden door across the room from him. His parents just didn't get it; he was not coming out under any circumstances less than his requests. Though he had never really stated the requests being referred to in the first place, he knew that his parents were smart people –how else could they have accurately tracked the members of a minor cult religion or manage to crash an Internet server without alarming the feds?

Even still, he hoped they would get it soon. Not only was he bored out of his mind, but his stomach hurt hollowly and he was having the worst kind of 'swimming' headaches that one person could contract. Hugging himself, he tipped off of his bed (the spot where he had been situated for the past hour or so) and toppled onto the bare wooden floor. This was going to be a bumpy ride.

XXXXXXXXXX

Yet again, Hidan was pisssed off when he returned home that day; but, on this occasion, he couldn't figure out why. He was aware that his bad moods were normally the product of some other underlying emotions, but he didn't remember ever getting sad, anxious, or any other type of feeling along those lines (disregarding the run-in with Pein) that day, so, there really was no reason for a bad mood. Must be a bad day for Scorpios.

He was able to slip past both DeAnn and Terrance undetected as well, creating somewhat of a lonely, longing feeling deep inside of his chest. DeAnn was always with her boyfriend nowadays, and she never took any notice of Hidan anymore. It was like he didn't exist, and it made the white-haired kid feel thrown out and forgotten, like yesterday's trash.

His teeth gritted as he made his way up the carpeted stairs silently, heading to his room, when he remembered something: he needed to visit Kakuzu. Pein had commanded it, so it was to be fulfilled –he was like an urban god in this sense—but Hidan wasn't up to visiting just yet. He'd do it later; after all, he needed to keep his procrastination record in check.

Hidan rolled smoothly through his feet, hands in his jeans' pockets, across the plaster-white sidewalk directly in front of Kakuzu's abode. He sighed nasally, readying himself for the dangerous task he was about to embark on: he was about to enter enemy territory, head-on, and try to talk to someone with whom his relations with had been strained and tense at best. Needless to say, the cards weren't stacked in his favor.

Gathering what little courage he could foster, he purposefully walked up to the front door, shifted his foot to strengthen his stance and make it easier for him to start running on a second's notice, and raised ge he a balled fist to knock on the wood. Just as he was about to touch the beige-painted gateway, Hidan withdrew his hand. What if it was a bad time? What if he was interrupting something? What if…?

He shook his head rigorously. Whatever happened, he would face it. Or, at least, try to.

To his surprise, the door was left unlocked, and with a quick turn of a knob Hidan was admitted to the Hyper-Christian-House-of-Doom. Surveying his surroundings, he found that no one was present in the living room or front hallway, and incessant and vulgar (even for Hidan's standards) fighting and yelling was coming from the kitchen. Kakuzu's dad, as it seemed, was bickering with a woman in Japanese, and because it sounded like it was pretty heated, Hidan avoided the kitchen altogether and tiptoed over to the stairwell in the corner to attempt to locate his friend.

The cards, perhaps, were in Hidan's favor, in view of how easy it was to distinguish Kakuzu's room from the others on the second floor; all the rest had open doors and no human life. The black-haired kid, however, was apparently behind a tightly locked door, though, since said door hadn't budged when Hidan had pushed on it. "Hey, Kakuzu?" he solicited gently, not wanting to profess his presence to half of the population, "it's Hidan. Open up, please?"

Within ten seconds, Kakuzu had cracked the door open, ever-so-slightly. "Why?" his baritone voice asked, just as softly.

"Be-CAUSE, if you old man finds me here, he'll shoot me or worse!" the first boy hissed through his teeth, trying to make a point. "I'm risking my life being here, so you'd better let me in, heathen!" Hidan was past nervous at this point; if Kakuzu wouldn't conceal him, if even for a little bit, he would be seriously dead.

The Asian kid took a breath, closed his visible eye (the other one being behind the door) and pulled the barrier open with one fell swoop. "Well, okay," he halfheartedly agreed, "but get in quick."

Nodding, Hidan accepted, hurriedly following the directions given to him. The room, he noticed, was darkened by the blue-twilight, and that it was somewhat barren, without many of the items and applications that made his own room cluttered and disorganized (Kakuzu had just moved, he reminded himself, so most of his stuff must have been in storage). He also took note that Kakuzu's expression bore something of a sickly, tired person's face, not to mention the disheveled appearance, and that the other kid wasted no time in situating himself in the far-right corner. Hidan's head tilted with his curiosity; whenever he confined himself in a corner, it usually meant he was in 'emotional-basketcase' mode. Would the same principle apply to the other boy?

Kakuzu took a deep breath, bringing his knees into his chest and holding them from under his thighs. "So, what brings you here?" he asked, sighing delicately. "Come to scold me about my absence today?"

"Um, no," the cult member said, shifting weight from one of his legs to the other. "Sorry to disappoint you. Actually, I've come to see what the matter is. Let's just say a little birdie told me you were having a bit of trouble." Yeah, a little birdie with bright orange hair, multiple peircings and Medusa's glare, Hidan added to himself.

The black-haired kid's gaze drifted to his right. "Why should I tell you anything?" he demanded, obviously referring to Hidan's ability to use emotional ammunition to wound others.

"Because I asked nicely," he retorted, tossing his head back to evoke a sense of carelessness into the strained environment. "No cussing, no insolent demanding, and no insulting, for once. Spill."

Kakuzu laid his head on his knees. "To find out, listen." When the cult member sent him a look of puzzlement, he motioned to the lower floor, where his dad and the woman were still going at it. "That's why. They're my parents, like you probably noticed, and they never stop fighting like that, even though they're divorced. I hate it, and my staying in here is to protest."

The white-haired kid gave a small laugh. "You think that's going to stop them from fighting? Dude, if they hate each other, nothing's going to stop them from doing so. People are stubborn that way."

Kakuzu sighed again. "Yeah, you're right; they do hate each other, but I'm the one thing that they have in common. I figure if I do something drastic and keep on doing it, they'll have to come to some sort of compromise to get me to stop," he explained, raising his head from its former pillow and brushing his stringy bangs away from his face. "Besides, this is my fault, anyways."

"How is any of this your fault?" Hidan inquired, taking up a seat next to his friend on the wall. This was a typical divorce case; kids often held themselves culpable for their parents' wrongdoings, and Hidan knew exactly what to do. "If blame's being pinned, it should be on your 'rents. Their bickering's what made you resort to passive resistance or whatever it's called, so they're the ones at fault. And, like you said, you're the one thing your parents have in common. If they smarten up, they'll cease fighting and team up to find out what's going on with you." He paused as the female voice (Kakuzu's mom, it appeared) screeched something inaudible. "Judging by the current circumstances, though, it seems that they have yet to become learned," he added with a grin.

This only made the Asian kid curl up into a human ball, staring at the wooden floor below him. "It is to my fault," he dissented, "because…because it just is! Look, it complicated…"

"Kakuzu, Kakuzu," the white-haired kid said, shaking his head from left to right, "If you keep blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong in your life, you'll only get depressed—believe me, there are things that I still feel guilty about, even when they weren't my fault. You just have to forgive yourself and forget, however hard that may be." Hidan wrapped an arm around Kakuzu's shoulders, bringing him into a friendly, sideways hug. "Okay?"

The other kid's emerald eyes were still glued to the floor, his tanned skin tone tinted with a slight blush, but he nodded anyway. "Yeah," he agreed, voice hoarse and cracking.

Hidan's smile widened. "Well, that's good to hear. Wouldn't want my new bud to be all sad and emo, now would we?" He assumed that it was safe to consider Kakuzu a friend, considering all that was going on at the moment, and he couldn't help but connect to the Asian's insecurity. Hidan often blamed himself for the temple massacre he had witnessed, and, although it wasn't his error at all, it felt like he could have done something to prevent it…but, then was not the time to reminisce negatively, he decided, terminating the thought.

"No, I guess not…"

"Good, it's settled," the Jashinist said, looking Kakuzu square in the eye. "Now, don't go all anxious-depressed on me now, else we'll have a few—" he paused to crack his knuckles for emphasis, still bearing a huge beam "—problems. Got that?"

The black-haired kid's eyes met the other's with a gawk of confusion. "Uh, okay," he replied, "but just don't scare any children on your way home, alright?"

This earned a giggle from both boys, and Hidan got up to leave. "I have to go," he stated, evenly strolling over to the door. "See ya round school one your folks decide to be agreeable," he bode, leaving the refuge and Kakuzu alone. "Best of luck to you."

When Hidan arrived home for the second time that day, DeAnn wasn't there to reprimand him about leaving the house without permission. Instead, to his dismay, there was something worse than DeAnn's wrath. "Hey, there," a medium-pitched male tone of voice crooned as Hidan walked through the living room to get to the staircase. "Where've ya been, short stuff?"

The younger male gave a disgusted grunt. Terrance. He turned his head slightly, just enough to glare and the moocher, and replied in a mocking, upset tone. "First of all, I'm not short," he snapped, as he always did when people commented on his stature. "Second, I was visiting a friend."

"A friend, eh? What kind of friend?" Terrance taunted with a leer. "Dear Hidan wasn't being naughty, was he?" Laughing at his own joke, he continued. "Why, I remember one time when DeAnn and I—"

"You can stop there," Hidan interrupted, not willing to hear a boyfriend-girlfriend story, especially from a pervert like Terrance. "For your information, I was over a guy's house, but don't get any ideas," he articulated irritably, stomping up the stairs. "Jashin-damned horny bastard mother-fucker can't keep his head out of the gutter for his less-than-worthless life," he grumbled to himself, careful not to let the person in question hear.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kakuzu covered his face with his hands after Hidan had safely left his house. How unexpected was that?! Just coming over like that, braving the evil Jashinist hunter, to see what the matter was. How sweeter could one person get? And, Hidan had called him his bud, which he knew to be an informal word for 'friend,' and had been hugging him while doing it. Kakuzu was lucky that he didn't blush easily; otherwise he would have easily died from blood going to his head.

What the hell was he thinking?! He did NOT love Hidan. Did not, did not, did NOT. Still, Hidan had called Kakuzu a friend…but that meant that they were only friends; no relationship was involved, so he was safe, in a way; in the other, he was upset. Damn those stupid hormones.

Cradling it, Kakuzu heard his stomach moan sickly and along with it his skull throbbed. He had been episodes like this one since he had started to protest three days ago; the aching, the rawness, the stinging, and all the other symptoms he had been having. It could have been anything—food poisoning, and allergic reaction, or the physical effects of anxiety; anything. Whatever it was, it hurt like hell, and Kakuzu wanted it to stop.

Using all of his strength (he hadn't eaten in three days, thus he was weak), Kakuzu pulled himself up onto his bed and began to drift into a warm, deep sleep. Non-violent protests, it seemed, took more energy than once thought.


0.0 Wow. Just wow. I have no idea what to think of this. Perhaps you all could help me out…?

Kuzu's still OOC, Hidan's just an unpredictable mess…ugh. I just don't know anymore. But, I do want to thank all my readers for staying with me this far; these chapters get an average of about 250 hits per, so that's pretty sweet. XD