Hello! I really shouldn't be typing this up now, I'm supposed to be studying… But I know how annoying it can be if a fic suddenly stops being updated, so…
I hope that didn't sound too vain. XD
Enjoy, and thanks to everyone who has reviewed! Here is the stuff I promised, it's… over there. . . . runs away
Ch. 10
It was midnight, and on the outskirts of the land of Rice Fields, smoke was rising from a small village, blocking out the half-moon. Drawn by natural curiosity and his duty as a spy, the Kusa missing-nin drew close, looking for some cause of the disaster.
A face, framed by tall leafy structures gradually appeared on a nearby tree. Zetsu's piercing yellow eyes searched for any sign of life. The village was little more than ash at this stage, and it had not been much to start with. Zetsu made out the foundations of about ten buildings; whether they had been houses or shops was anyone's guess.
The rest of Zetsu's body detached itself from the tree, and started walking around the live embers. His white side spoke up.
"There's nothing left…"
"Then there's nothing useful to us. Let's go," replied his black side curtly.
But the white side wasn't satisfied. Zetsu looked up from the burning foundations to the village square.
"There's something there."
"A person?" said the black, squinting.
Zetsu shook his head.
"I don't know."
He walked to it, careful not to catch fire as the flames spread along the ground.
It was a man, dead, several stab wounds dotting his corpse. Zetsu bent down to inspect it fully.
"Still fresh? We should dispose of it."
But the white side had spotted something else.
"We'll do that later; what's that on the ground?"
"Hn?"
There, a small distance from the corpse, was a familiar symbol of bloody graffiti. Zetsu moved closer. It was the symbol of Jashin.
"Hidan?" the white side inquired.
"Do we know of any others?" answered the black.
"But Kakuzu is with him…it would take him at least two days to get this far. We would have heard."
"We should report it anyway."
Zetsu stepped away from the body, but didn't take his eyes off it.
"If it was him, the evidence should be destroyed…"
But just as Zetsu leaned over the corpse again, a noise in his head made him pause. Someone was calling his name.
'Zetsu!'
Both sides of him answered in unison.
"Pein?"
'Forget your scouting mission – Hidan had escaped from the base. Your orders are to find his trail and keep track of him-'
Zetsu's black side interrupted.
"We know."
Pine gave a quickly stifled noise of surprise.
'How?'
"We found victims."
There was a pause.
'Where are you?'
"Rice Field Country."
Zetsu heard Pein give an angry sigh.
'He's heading east. The fool's going to him!'
Zetsu's white side piped up.
"This corpse and his symbol are fresh. He is close."
'Follow him. I'll send others to help you. Go!'
Zetsu grunted an affirmative.
'And Zetsu – slow him, if you can.'
With that, the voice faded and left.
Zetsu stood up again. He threw a side-glance at the corpse. Picking it up, he threw it, with a hint of reluctance, into the nearest patch of flames. Then, the earth swallowed him again.
…
Back at Akatsuki's base, Kakuzu was pacing by the entrance. How could he have grown so complacent as to let Hidan escape? He was an idiot; he should have looked in all the rooms on Hidan's side after Hidan stormed off, not just have looked in the backroom before going back to his half. Maybe he would have heard something, if nothing else.
He had only grown suspicious when he hadn't seen Hidan for another two days after that.
And then he had discovered Hidan's escape route – in the very room he had looked in! Could Hidan have been gone by then? If he had been hiding, Kakuzu mused; he's gotten smarter for not falling for the bluff.
But then Kakuzu remembered where he'd gone.
"That fucking moron! Does he not understand the word 'trap' or is he purposely ignoring it?"
He kicked at a pebble by his foot in anger.
"Raring to go, I see."
Kakuzu spun around.
"Sasori."
Hiruko stared back at him, expressionless as always. Kakuzu turned to face him properly.
"You're my travelling companion, then?"
Hiruko nodded.
"Call it temporary partner, if you will."
"You have a death wish? You know what happens to my partners."
Sasori brushed the threat off.
"The ones that don't run off? I'll survive."
"What about Deidara?"
Sasori's voice was laced with amusement.
"He's Bijuu-sitting."
Sasori paused for a moment.
"Pein was thinking of sending you by yourself, but you'll need my help to get to Orochimaru. Zetsu left a trail for us to follow, two days journey from here on foot."
Kakuzu nodded, still looking critically at his 'temp'.
"Two days… We better get going before that idiot gets further ahead. The trail starts in Rice Field Country, right?"
Hiruko grunted.
"Travelling on foot until then would be optional…"
The two older Akatsuki leaped down the hill and vanished into the night.
…
Far away, the distance between Hidan and his fellow members was growing by the second. Lead by the light of the half moon, he pelted along the very trail he and Kakuzu took all those months ago – the road to Otogakure. It had looked like a meek enough village to him back then. Once he got there he'd destroy it.
He'd find Orochimaru and kill him, tear him apart, make him suffer and vainly apologise for everything he'd put Hidan through.
And maybe, if he remembered, in time, Hidan would tell him to remove the curse mark.
He was sure Jashin-sama would smile down on him and bless his next battle with victory; he had atoned for his sins by sacrificing all the people in three villages he came by on his way to Otogakure. If that wasn't repentance, he didn't know what was.
The bad thing about his slaughtering was the amount of time it cost him; he reckoned he must have lost half a day between the killings and the rituals.
Akatsuki must have realised he had escaped by now, and they would be on his trail in an instant. Strangely though, he had neither seen nor heard anything of them yet. Maybe he was overestimating them, the retards.
Spurred on by this thought, Hidan grinned and leaped into the canopy of a nearby forest. He jumped from branch to branch, covering more ground then he had by running.
He was nearing the end of the forest when the branch he was about to land on suddenly became occupied.
Hidan was already in mid-air, feet outstretched and ready to land when he saw it.
"Whoa! What the-?"
Too late to change direction, he landed heavily on the branch, crushing one of Zetsu's plant structures, causing a needle of pain to shoot down the spy's right shoulder, and his face contorted in annoyance.
"Ow."
Hidan hastily stepped off, backing up the branch a bit. He pointed an accusing finger at the Kusa missing-nin.
"What the hell are you doing here? You following me?"
Zetsu blinked slowly, and his frown deepened.
"Obviously."
"Then why the fuck did you go in front of me? Seriously, I coulda broken my neck if I'd tried to avoid you."
Zetsu's frown deepened further, and his white side spoke.
"We were told to stop you."
"We didn't expect to get stepped on," added the black.
Hidan sniggered.
"You fucking got in my way, it's your own fault, seriously."
He looked up at the sky. A red haze hung over the eastern horizon.
"Shit, that's more time lost. I'll be going now."
He took a flying leap to the next branch. At the last second, he felt something tug at his cloak, and it came away. He landed and whirled around to face Zetsu again. The spy held Hidan's Akatsuki cloak in an unseen hand.
"Hey, asshole, I kind of need that. Do you know how fucking cold it gets around here at night?"
Zetsu's face was unreadable.
"We were ordered to stop you."
Hidan laughed in disbelief.
"So you steal my clothes? Shit, you really are insane."
Zetsu chose to ignore Hidan's reaction.
"Why are you going to Orochimaru?"
In a flash, Hidan dived at Zetsu and yanked his cloak from the spy's grasp.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that? Here-"
He bent down to the Grass nin's eye level.
"-I have a message for everyone. It's none of your business why I'm going, so fuck off."
Then he was gone, jumping though the trees again.
Why the hell are they all so concerned anyway? Hidan thought as he bounded away. He wasn't joining Orochimaru, seriously. Maybe he'd ask him how he expected him to kill him, if he remembered in time of course. It was probably something stupid.
What was the whole 'body' thing about then? Orochimaru said he could kill Hidan, but what was the point if he wanted Hidan's body? You couldn't do much with a corpse, unless you were that plant freak.
And all that tensei ninjutsu crap. He was probably bullshitting the whole thing, bastard.
From that thought, a plan began to form in Hidan's mind. It might be fun to fight bullshit with more bullshit…
He sped up, and soon he was out of Zetsu's sight.
The Kusa missing-nin looked down at the shred of Hidan's cloak he had managed to keep. He put it down gently on the branch and secured it. Another addition to Hidan's trail. He hoped Sasori and Kakuzu would catch up soon. Tracking another Akatsuki member was so unrewarding, both sides thought idly, as he drew into the tree again.
…
"You're late…how unlike you."
"Forgive me, Orochimaru-sama. Teleporting uses up a lot of my chakra."
Orochimaru continued to stare expectantly at his subordinate, waiting with growing impatience for Kabuto to catch his breath.
Orochimaru was out of his room today, feeling energetic enough to at least greet Kabuto at his entrance to the underground lair. He had even made it to the training grounds, and had spent the previous day instructing the Sound Five in their training.
However, his mind had only half concentrated on these menial tasks. Now that Kabuto was back, he could finally ask the question that had been bothering him all this time.
"Where is he?"
Kabuto, still panting, gave a wry smirk.
"He's coming."
.. .. ..
-blank space- O.o