Disclaimer

This story contains mature themes including BDSM, self harm, kidnapping and lemons. If any of those trigger you, do not read. References to alcohol and drugs are for mature audiences. This story is fictional and does not advocate or promote any of the activities described herein.

The main couple is Kakuzu x Hidan, but you'll see the rest of the Akatsuki as well. Plenty of drama and lemons later on :)

All characters are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

All artwork used is not mine.

I've got an outline for this story, so stick around for updates. :)

p.s. At the beginning of most chapters will be a song that I think reflects the character's moods in each chapter. Have a listen to dive deeper into the story. Thanks, xoxo

Chapter song - Ain't Got Time by Lil Wayne, Foushee (Kakuzu pov)

Kakuzu awoke to his alarm softly beeping. Eyes still closed, he reached over to turn it off. He laid in bed for a few more minutes until the sunlight streaming through his blinds forced him to wake up.

He rolled out of bed and started getting ready for work. He went with a simple black tank top and dark green cargo shorts due to the hot June weather. He peered into his tall room mirror as he pulled his hair back with his fingers, a hair-tie in his mouth. It was always a hassle pulling his long dark hair into a bun, but he hated having strands falling into his face while he worked.

Finished, he looked into the mirror.

Kakuzu was pleased with what he saw. He'd been hitting them gym for years now and the soft black tank top did not disappoint. It followed the curves of his muscles well and was cut just low enough. He was 6'2 with muscular broad shoulders, going on 27. By trade, he was a tattoo artist; this was evident with his appearance. Tattoos of stitches that crossed his entire body, including his face, were his trademark. Aside from that, he had two thick black bands around each wrist. A large tattoo covered his left shoulder to his neck which depicted a hand gripping a bleeding heart. His boss, Pain, excelled in realism tattoos and made the heart upon his neck look as if it was one beat away from death. A handsome sleeve covered his right arm. A few other black and gray-style tattoos were scattered on his body, hidden by his clothing.

Kakuzu reached over to his nightstand to grab a few earrings. He attached the two simple black hoops that hung from his left ear's cartilage. He never wore a watch to keep his wrists free but did have a rubber band wrapped around his left wrist. To complete his look, he wore a simple black medical mask. He kept it on all the time so as not to forget it. Not required by his trade, but sneeze on a client while they're getting a tattoo once, and you'll never hear the end of it.

Kakuzu pulled up to work with some time to spare. Always early, as a professional should be. The blinking neon sign read "Red Dawn." It was the city's most renowned tattoo and piercing parlor, with multiple artists all having varied portfolios. Plenty of the artists came from the nearby art school that was just a few blocks down, curious to see where their passion could take them as far as money-making went. As much as Kakuzu wanted to make fun of them, he couldn't deny how talented they were with free-handing tattoos once they got the hang of the equipment.

Entering the building, Konan was already at the front desk, shuffling some papers about. She was the receptionist for Red Dawn and assisted clients with appointments and meetings for the various artists. Her blue hair was always pulled into a bun and dark eyeshadow adorned her pretty eyes. She always wore revealing clothing, exposing the beautiful myriad of tattoos adorned on her body. All of it was the work of her husband, the owner of the shop - Pain. Pain had made a huge name for himself in the industry using social media platforms before opening up his shop, but once he did, everyone just kept calling him by his pen-name. Only Konan called him by his real name, Yahiko. Most people called him Pain out of familiarity but he thought it was closer to a professional curtesy.

"Good morning." Kakuzu said with a nod. "Morning," Konan replied, not looking up from her desk. Kakuzu crossed the parlor into his station and sat down. It was your typical tattoo parlor - chairs and tattoo equipment scattered about with heavy metal music turned to a whisper for all of the employees who considered noon to be morning. He turned on his laptop and started looking though his calendar for appointments.

"What up buddy?!" screeched Kisame, crossing the distance from the front of the parlor to him in just a few strides. Kakuzu turned around in his wheely chair. "Morning, what are you up to?"

Kisame grinned, grabbing his chair and sitting on it backwards. "I got an awesome appointment today, man. A total hottie is coming in to get her nips pierced here in 'bout an hour."

Kakuzu laughed. "Yeah, that should get you a bigger tip than normal, huh?"

Kisame dead-panned. "She could tip me jack-shit and I'd be just as fuckin' happy. Didn't you know that's why I signed up for this gig?" They both laughed.

Kakuzu glanced back at his laptop. Kisame was a nut-job, always keeping everybody laughing. He was the resident piercings specialist, performing any and all types of piercings, dermal implants, scarification, and even some barely-legal procedures such as skin dyes, as evidenced by his blue-tinged skin. As far as appearances went, he had a good few inches on Kakuzu and tattoos of gills on his cheeks and upper arm muscles. He almost always wore a shit-eating grin on his face which showed his shining white teeth and incisors which he had sharpened to points. He was fresh into work from the shower, smelling like Axe body spray and his hair gelled up like usual. Kisame didn't have the creativity needed for custom tattoo jobs but had the same steady hand as all of the other guys. He could make any customer laugh to the point where they wouldn't even realize the needle had gone though their skin before it was all said and done.

A while later, the bell on the front door chimed as someone walked though. Kakuzu turned his head, curious to see who the mysterious hottie was, but it was just Hinata. She was Konan's cousin and a graduate of the nearby art school. She was a freelance photographer and came by the shop all the time mostly to visit, but she also created professional portfolios for all of the artists here. As most people in the city did, she had some tattoo work done - a colorful sleeve on her right arm in a watercolor style. Her dark purple hair was tied in two low pigtails that covered the front of her mesh black jacket. She wore mostly black but a colorful mini-backpack bounced around behind her.

Kakuzu wheeled around again. "Damn, I thought that was gonna be her."

Kisame looked over. "Oh, I did her nips last year," he said with a nonchalant expression.

Kakuzu snorted a laugh, "Bro, she works for us. You didn't have to tell me that." Kisame laughed. "Whoops."

Kakuzu returned to his work, getting headphones out of his backpack and setting his Spotify playlist on a quiet shuffle. He opened an email conversation he had going with a new client and got out a sketchbook on his right. He was working on a draft for a black and gray sleeve; geometric roses covered in dark leaves next to flowers in a different style—tribal— surrounding the whole piece. This sleeve was right up his alley. Black and gray was where he excelled, and his steady hand allowed for geometric tattoos with perfect symmetrical lines. It could be hard to keep a steady hand when skin was wrinkled or around body parts like the elbows, but Kakuzu had plenty of practice. He'd been tattooing for almost 10 years, after all.

With no early appointments, a few hours passed with finishing the draft and bullshitting around with Kisame until they went on break. The door bell jingled and the intern walked in. His name was Sasori, and he went to the local art school that many of Red Dawn's employees hailed from. He was much shorter than himself but had a very mature air about him, with messy red hair and brown eyes that always appeared bored. Walking to the back, Sasori knocked a few times on the bossman's door. He entered Pain's office and they both emerged a few minutes later.

"Hey Kakuzu, you'll be looking after the kid today." Pain stated. Kakuzu nodded, and Pain walked back to his desk. The boss would come out of his office, but usually only for a smoke break or to pester Konan. He had clients from time to time, but people had to shell out some hard cash to get ink from such a well-established name.

Sasori plopped down in a chair in Kakuzu's work area, throwing his backpack at his feet and stretching. He had been an intern here since the semester started two months ago, and would always head over after class.

"How were classes today?" Kakuzu asked.

"Meh, same as usual," Sasori responded. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Actually, wait, no...something interesting did happen. Have you met my boyfriend Deidara yet? We go to the same school."

The question took Kakuzu by surprise. "No, I don't think I have. Has he been by here yet?" He said.

Sasori frowned. "I guess not. I'll have to ask him to come with me here tomorrow. Anyway, we have mostly different classes since our specialties in art are different." Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. Sasori continued, "I mostly do sketch work and painting. Deidara just focuses on pottery. We happened to be in the same class today—a life drawing class," a silly grin lit up his face, "and we had to sketch some naked dude."

Kakuzu smiled beneath his black mask. He preferred hours upon hours of practice as opposed to spending money on college, so he'd never stepped foot in an art classroom. He could definitely imagine it, though. "And?" Kakuzu said eagerly.

Sasori started snickering. "This dude could barely hold the pose that the professor asked him to do, so within 15 minutes there's a huge pile of sweat on the floor. After about 20 minutes the instructor asked him to change poses, and the guy slips in how own sweat and faceplants." Kakuzu looked surprised.

"Yeah...he had to go to the hospital. I think he broke his dick or something," Sasori said before breaking out into a laugh. "The best part was the look on Dei's face! The entire walk out he was watching out for puddles."

Kakuzu clocked out promptly at 8 o'clock and left the building. He hopped in his car, a '10 beater, 'ol reliable. As always his routine on weekdays, he made his way towards the local 24-hour gym.

He'd always enjoyed working out and only got really into fitness a few years ago. In that span of time, he'd toned up his arm and thigh muscles steadily until they seemed to bulge under his pattern of tattoos that snaked up his arm. He warmed up in a few different areas of the gym, moving from pull-downs, to rows, to deadlifts. He had been able to increase his bench weight with great progress and had switched from bulking to increasing his strength through calisthenics for the past year. He usually rotated through sit ups, squats, push-ups, and pull-ups.

After working up a great burn, he hit the shower in the gym. No sense wasting shower water at home. He walked out into the cool night air, breathing it in slowly, before heading home for the night.

Soft beeping made Kakuzu slowly open his eyes. Another day, another dollar.

He glanced at his phone, still lying in bed. No messages. He sighed in relief, thankful that his morning was off to a peaceful start. He'd been through some shit in the past and had been single going on for five months now. A sigh escaping his lips, he reached over with his right hand and snapped the rubber band on his left wrist. He winced in pain. He had to stop thinking about her.

Rolling up, he started getting ready. He picked out a dark green v-neck t-shirt paired with black shorts. It fit him fine although the shirt's arms struggled to fit around the circumference of his upper arms. He rolled his shoulders, a little sore from last night. No big deal.

He pulled his hair back into a messy bun and donned his usual black mask, heading out the front door of his apartment, backpack in tow. He lived on the third floor which he could appreciate for the lower cost and extra cardio going up and down the stairs.

Pulling into work, he was curious to see that someone besides Konan and Kisame had beaten him there. A few different vehicles, actually; Sasori's old dodge pick-up, a blue sedan, and a small black vintage motorcycle. He walked in curiously and strode over to his work station, setting his backpack down as per usual. Clients never had appointments right out of the shop opening, so it must be some visitors. A loud conversation behind him confirmed this, and he swung around to see what was going on.

"Hey Kakuzu, come over here! I want you to meet some people," Sasori called out. Kakuzu nonchalantly wheeled over to Kisame's area where a few people were gathered.

"This is Deidara and his friend Hidan," Sasori said, motioning to the two people.

Deidara was the same height as Sasori, donning a black band tee and some burgundy skinny jeans. His hair was blonde but unusually long and tied up in a high pony-tail. Dark eyeliner made his blue eyes seem bright and bubbly.

Hidan was a bit taller than the art duo at 5"10 and noticeably more muscular. Unlike his blonde friend, he was quite pale. He wore an army green button-up rolled up to the elbows and dark blue jeans paired with black combat boots. The parlor's ceiling spotlights added a white sheen to his silver hair, which was gelled back neatly. Kakuzu noticed then that the two had matching ear piercings; two black bars in their cartilage, Hidan in his right ear and Deidara in his left. As Kakuzu studied the strange duo, he noticed that neither of them had any visible tattoos.

"Kakuzu has been showing me the ropes here for a few weeks now. Last week, I actually started working on clients," Sasori said with a smug smile.

Deidara's face lit up. "Whaaat? You didn't tell me you were doing tattoos for people already!" His expression turned to playful puppy-dog eyes. "When am I gonna get a tattoo from you, hmm?"

Hidan laughed, "maybe you should wait 'till he finished his internship, right? Wouldn't want anything on you permanently just yet or you'll regret that shit later."

Sasori glared at him.

Hidan grinned seeing Sasori's expression and threw his arm over Deidara's sulking shoulder. "Ehhh, what's with the face, shorty? Don't worry Sasori, you won't be working on pig-skins forever."

Deidara pushed him off playfully and sat in Sasori's lap. "Hidan, don't be mean to Sasori danna," he said, sticking his tongue out like a kid.

Kakuzu rolled his eyes at the display and Sasori noticed, pushing Deidara off of himself in embarrassment. "Anyway...Kakuzu here has been tattooing for over ten years. He's amazing at geometric patterns and bold lines. In just the past few weeks, I've learned a lot from him."

Hidan whistled in feign impression. "Ten years, huh? How old would that make you, anyway?" Hidan asked, eyeing Kakuzu's mask.

Kakuzu was surprised at how bold this kid was. He didn't seem to have an ounce of respect for him, despite Sasori trying to introduce him politely.

"The hell do you care?" Kakuzu said coldly, pulling his arms behind his head and leaning back in his wheely chair.

Hidan scoffed. "Whatever."

"Alright then, well it was nice to meet you, Deidara," Kakuzu said with a polite nod. "I'll be getting back to my work now." With that, he walked his chair back to his desk and grabbed the laptop out of his backpack.

What an irritating morning. Kakuzu wasn't particularly interested in meeting new people, but he didn't think Sasori's boyfriend would bring such a prick along. Whatever.

Headphones on, he began doodling in his sketchbook, with no appointments coming up soon. He cranked up the music to drown out the noise of the guys behind him, and settled into a comfortable study.

Thirty minutes later, someone was talking at him. Irritated, he pulled his headphones off and turned his head. Hidan's face was right in his, trying to get his attention.

"What?" He asked coldly.

"Is that a snake skeleton?" Hidan asked, pointing at the sketchbook. He was so close to Kakuzu, he could smell the scent of cigarettes on his breath.

"Uhh... yeah. Sometimes I'll just draw up stuff that I think I can adapt into a bigger design at some point."

Hidan looked thoughtful. "It's pretty badass. Do you add color normally or nah?"

"No... I just do black and gray." He turned back to his work.

"That's fuckin' sick. It looks perfect without any color." Kakuzu gave him a sideways glance as Hidan kept looking over his shoulder.

He noticed then that Hidan had striking violet eyes. His silver eyebrows were furrowed as he examined Kakuzu's sketch. A few silver beaded strings hung loose from around his neck as he bent over, a pendant tucked into his shirt. He leaned back then, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

"I was never any good at drawing," Hidan said. "Major fuckin' props to you guys for making a living out of it."

Kakuzu stifled a laugh. "Thanks... I guess?"

Hidan smiled at him.

Deidara called out from the background. "Hey Hidan, we're leaving! Class starts soon."

"Oop, that's my leave. I'll catch you around?" Hidan asked in a friendly way.

"Sure," Kakuzu said, his smile not visible behind his mask. "See you around."