Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor the characters in Naruto. I just manipulate them like my own personal voodoo dolls.
Shards
Chapter Twelve: Disillusioned
"Who are you?" spat Hidan, glaring up at his opponent from his position on the floor.
The imposter gave no indication that he had heard.
"I asked you a question." hissed the zealot as he wiped the blood from his mouth, and flicking it to the ground.
"Who the fuck are you?" he asked again, his voice rising.
As he expected, his opponent said nothing, instead glared at him impassively, twisting Kakuzu's features into an expression of contempt.
Swaying to his feet, the immortal grinned maniacally.
"You wanna play that way, fine." he smirked, re-energized by the fact that this was not his partner some dickhead in what seemed to be a Kakuzu bodysuit.
Yet again, no response came.
If there was one thing that pissed Hidan off more than anything in a fight, it was being ignored.
That simply would not do.
More often than not, he came out with some pretty awesome, albeit vulgar insults, which he was naturally quite proud of.
The fact that these veritable gems were being lost on his opponent really got under his skin.
This coupled with the fact that he was getting his arse handed to him by someone wearing his partner as a costume was what forced Hidan to adapt.
Hidan needed to remember that this was not Kakuzu. It just looked like him.
With a sigh, Hidan rocked forward, behaving as though he were about to collapse from the arduous exertion of energy that this fight had forced him to spend.
Naturally this was not the case.
The immortal's energy reserves had barely been tested, let alone drained.
Hidan just wanted to gauge how his opponent would react. Had it been Kakuzu, the threads that held the miser's body together would have pierced his body before he could say 'Jashin'.
As expected, the imposter did nothing.
The zealot on the other hand grinned. Hidan had a brilliant idea.
They may not have come often, but when they did, they were pretty damn good.
The fact that his partner, or more accurately his partner's body had not attacked meant that his opponent was limited to short range attacks.
"You're a dick." he chuckled, before turning away from him, crossing his arms in front of his chest, sulking.
Two could play the childish ignoring game.
The immortal turned and began to walk away, waiting for the imposter to fall into his carefully considered trap.
As expected, he did.
Hidan heard the telltale rustle of his opponent's cloak and smirked.
Bingo.
Turning on his heel he turned to face the fake Kakuzu, catching his fist squarely in the palm of his hand.
A short-range attack was just what he expected.
Although his opponent may have had the super strengthened fists of doom, the immortal had something better.
Pure stubbornness.
That, coupled with ridiculously high stamina allowed him to use trial and error to probe his opponents strengths and weaknesses and find an opening.
Hidan expected to rock back from the impact of the strike - but nothing happened.
It felt wrong.
Tightening his grip on the fist, he felt it shift and disappear through his fingertips.
"An illusion..." breathed Hidan.
At last it clicked. This had all been an illusion, and the Uchiha was responsible for it.
Hidan hadn't even noticed that the Uchiha had disappeared. He was too caught up in his own guilt and self-loathing to notice.
The immortal had left himself wide open, and he had paid the price.
In the past he knew that he would have realised immediately, but his though processes were erratic and unpredictable at best these days.
…and deep down, he didn't want to hurt Kakuzu anymore.
Shaking his head, Hidan chuckled to himself in a crazed sort of manner, laughing hysterically at his own idiocy.
It all made perfect sense now.
The heightened pain, the lack of healing and the fake Kakuzu were all justified by the fact that he was caught in an illusion.
Now to break it, and make the person responsible pay, in large amounts of blood and suffering.
This was usually regarded as the hard part. What was a problem for some, however, was child's play to a masochist like Hidan.
The zealot's laughter died away, only to be replaced with a maniacal grin.
Pain broke an illusion, and the immortal was no stranger to the feeling of cold steel penetrating his skin.
Reaching into the torn remnants of his cloak, he drew out his spear.
"Suck on this, dickhead." he grinned, delighting in the strangled look on his opponents face as realization dawned - seconds before he drove the spear deep into his abdomen.
Blood spurted from the wound, staining the floor. Hidan grinned as the familiar ecstasy set in.
He had broken the illusion, but at a price.
Overwhelming exhaustion washed over him, and the wound in his abdomen was deeper than he had intended it to be.
Sometimes he just didn't know his own strength.
The zealot straightened, locking his eyes on that of his stunned opponent.
Uchiha Itachi's illusions usually left his victims unconscious, occasionally even dead. The fact that Hidan was still standing seemed to throw him off guard.
"You bastard." seethed Hidan, taking a shaky step towards the Uchiha, panting hard. "I'll kill you." he spat, tearing the spear from his wound and levelling it at the illusionist.
Before he could however, a sharp blow hit the back of his head, and he collapsed, unconscious.
[EndChapterTwelve]