"Kakuzu, I really hate this."

"Shut up, Hidan."

"I really, really hate this."

"Will you shut up?!"

"I really, really, really---"

"Shut up!"

Hidan's face settled into a pout as Kakuzu continued to pull at the oars. The immortal glanced over the edge of the boat at the dark water beneath and shivered. It looked cold, uninviting...and scary. Fog danced over the lake, and the immortal couldn't see the shore. He wished there was some other way to their next mission other than by boat, but Kakuzu had refused to let them go any other way, saying he didn't want the delay. So they were now crossing a huge lake, and Hidan was giving the water nervous glances every moment or so, and every time a breeze pushed by him, he instantly clung to the side of the small rowboat.

Hidan did not like water.

Water itself didn't scare him, the thought of falling into it did, and being crushed by surrounding blackness, his lungs filling up as his sight faded....but it wouldn't kill him if it happened.

Just crush his body and drive him to the brink of insanity, but it wouldn't kill him. Not that was reassuring...if anything, it made it worse.

So yes, Hidan was terrified of water.

Kakuzu sighed as he watched his partner glare at the lake water beneath him. For someone as old as the Jashinist was, he as remarkably childlike at times. Hidan had a furious look on his face, and the water reflected into his eyes, making the lavender irises glow under the cloudy sky.

"Kakuzu---" the immortal began after a moment of blissful silence, looking up at the miser with his startlingly beautiful lavender eyes.

"I don't want to hear it, Hidan," Kakuzu snapped. Hidan's face fell, and Kakuzu inwardly cursed himself. He never had any real idea what to do around Hidan, he always just said what came first to his mind.

Which was usually not a good idea.

Kakuzu pulled back roughly on the oars and the boat rocked as it went forward. Hidan's expression changed to one of alarm and he gripped the sides of the boat with both hands.

"Oh come on Hidan, it's not like the water will kill you."

Hidan glared at his partner. "What the hell do you know about me?!"

"Well, you're immortal, insane, a fanatic for some religion, and you seem to be afraid of water," Kakuzu replied, grinning under his mask. Hidan glowered at him.

"I am NOT afraid of water!" he snapped, a blush crawling across his pale cheeks, ignoring Kakuzu's comment about his religion and insanity, but they still stung at him.

"And that's why you're clinging to the boat like a little kid."

Angrily, Hidan got to his feet, forgetting where he was. Kakuzu paid him no mind, but continued rowing. "Leave me the fuck alone, Kakuzu!"

"Or what?"

"I swear I will fucking kill---" the breeze moved the boat at that moment, knocking Hidan off balance. The Jashinist's eyes widened as his body fell over the side of the boat and landed with a splash in the dark water, the water so cold his muscles froze up upon impact.

Kakuzu stared at the spot where his partner had been standing just a moment ago, then at the water, expecting Hidan to surface any moment. But when he didn't come up after a minute....the miser began to worry. He had read that if someone fell into cold water, their body would seize up and they would be unable to move. He was guessing that was what had happened to his partner.

Kakuzu sent his threads over the side of the boat and let them enter the dark water. The dived down deeper and deeper, searching for his partner. Where was the albino...?

Kakuzu let out a sigh of relief when he felt his threads wrap around something warm. His partner.

The miser hurriedly climbed out of the boat, using chakra to stand on the surface of the water, bringing his threads and Hidan back up to the surface.

Hidan's head broke through the water, threads supporting him, wrapped around his thin chest. His hair was soaking, the Akatsuki cloak clinging to his thin body. His face was pale and water made it's tracks down it. Kakuzu quickly took the immortal in his arms, letting the threads retreat back into his body before he examined his partner. The boat bumped against his leg, and he shoved it away, before he realized something was wrong.

Hidan wasn't breathing.

"Shit!" Kakuzu slapped his partner across the face, but all it did was make a red mark appear on the Jashinist's face.

Kakuzu grumbled as he sent his threads out again, using them to hold the immortal out of the water. He laid Hidan down, then began to preform CPR on his partner, pressing his lips to Hidan's own.

Please, please....

Hidan coughed weakly, and Kakuzu drew back as the immortal sat up, coughing and hacking up water, eyes shut tightly, a pale, thin hand on his wet chest as he drew in a shuddering breath.

When his coughing had subsided, Hidan turned his lavender eyes on his partner. "What happened?"

"You nearly drowned," Kakuzu replied, getting to his feet before hauling his partner up and stepping back into the boat, Hidan just behind him.

"It wouldn't have any real effect on me," Hidan muttered, pushing back his wet hair out of his eyes and glaring at the bottom of the boat, hatred for water clear in his eyes.

"Still doesn't change the fact that I was worried," the miser replied matter of factly, picking up the oars again. He was glad to hear that his partner was already back to his usual bitching. Nothing affected the immortal for long, no matter what he said or did, and that was something the banker was grateful for sometimes. A depressed Hidan always made him upset as well, for some reason he couldn't quite put his finger on. Hidan started at Kakuzu's words, and looked at his partner, eyes wide.

"You were worried?"

"Why would I not be?"

Author's Comments: For some reason, I now have a nosebleed, which is weird, because I never have them. And this has made me lose all my will to understand how my brain works. But I like this, anyway. And this is the tenth theme! only 90 left!