Chapter song: FOOLS by Troye Sivan (Kakuzu pov)

"Hell yeah! Attack dogs!" Sasori shouted at the tv screen.

The guys were all hanging out at Sasori's flat, playing some now-vintage Black Ops. It was a free-for-all on Nuketown.

"Dogs deployed." The speakers monotoned.

"Fuck!" Deidara howled.

Sasori was lying back on the sofa, playing with a smirk on his face. Deidara was close to him, half-standing and pressing buttons furiously.

Hidan was sitting by him, smashing buttons just as fast as Deidara. Kakuzu was on the fourth controller, having a good time with his double-shotguns. Hidan's thigh was touching his, but he tried to focus on the game.

"Fuck your dogs!" Screeched Hidan, switching to his ballistic knife and slashing away.

Only a few dogs later and Hidan's character died again.

"GOD DAMN IT!"

Hidan's cry signaled the end of the round, and cheers and groans went around the audience. Sasori won of course, with Kakuzu in second. Followed by Hidan and Deidara.

Deidara slumped into the couch, looking defeated. "Why do I suck so much at this, hmm?"

"Hey, at least you got three kills this round." Sasori said, still smiling.

"Yeah, and you got thirty!" Deidara yelled.

Kakuzu laughed at the duo, pushing off Hidan and getting up to grab a drink of water.

Hidan hopped up after him, "wanna go outside? I need a smoke." Kakuzu nodded in response.

They exited the flat and Hidan struck up a cigarette. They leaned against the building near each other. Kakuzu pretended to look at his cell phone but was stealing a glance over at him. Hidan's pale hand was covering his lighter, trying to get a light going in the breeze. His long fingers and slim wrists gracefully cupped the air, despite his other-ward appearance of good build and masculine face. Stark collarbones poked out from the purple t-shirt that hung on his frame. Silver brows furrowed as the lighter clicked shut, and Kakuzu quickly glanced back at the phone in front of his face.

They were quiet for a while as Hidan dragged on his cigarette. Why was Kakuzu thinking about the kid this way? Hidan was a loud-mouthed brat, always hanging around Deidara at the shop. But Kisame wasn't stupid, he'd seen the way Kakuzu kept glancing at the front door every time the bell jingled. Hidan was a smoke-show and it was completely throwing him off his game. Kakuzu wondered if Hidan was even interested in him. Hidan was best friends with Deidara after all, so at least he wasn't a homophobe. Kakuzu didn't even know how to interact with another guy like that, anyway. In past relationships, he never really took the lead. It was always just girls flirting with him, a few short relationships, and then the complete train wreck that was...her.

Kakuzu glared down at the ground. He reached over with his right hand and snapped the rubber band on his wrist, wincing a bit.

Hidan glanced up at the sound. He grinned and walked a little bit too close for Kakuzu's comfort.

Hidan bumped shoulders with him. "What's this rubber band about?"

Kakuzu stiffened. "It doesn't matter." He said flatly, trying to relax.

"Hmmm." Hidan cooed.

They were quiet for a moment, Kakuzu not wanting to make eye contact.

Hidan shuffled a pack out of his back pocket. "Here, have a cigarette."

Kakuzu looked over. "You know I don't smoke."

Hidan pushed his shoulder against his own playfully. "One's not gonna kill ya."

Kakuzu stared at him for a moment, then nodded. Cigarettes definitely weren't his thing, but he didn't want to turn Hidan down. He took the cigarette clumsily, then looked back. "Can I get a light?"

Hidan smiled softly. "Here, I gotcha." Instead of getting the lighter out of his pocket, Hidan leaned forward, his cigarette between his fingers and in his mouth.

Kakuzu breathed out a laugh. "Seriously, dude?"

Hidan grinned behind his smoke.

Kakuzu leaned forward, putting the tips of their cigarettes together and inhaling. It quickly lit, and Kakuzu drew back, breathing out a short puff. He hoped that the smoke hid the blush spreading across his face, but he doubted it.

This was supposed to calm him down, but being this close to Hidan only made him more nervous, if anything.

"So how is work going?" Hidan said, changing the subject.

Kakuzu relaxed into the brick wall behind him, letting go of the tension in his shoulders which he didn't realize until that moment had been there.

"Same as always. Well, actually, I finished up a sleeve for a woman yesterday. It was her sixth session with me, and was mostly shading to finish off the whole piece." Hidan's eyes seemed to light up as Kakuzu talked. "The largest section is a tiger which stretches down to the forearm. The back of the arm is a skull within a victorian-style pendant, and then scattered across are water lilies and a few other motifs. The lilies were actually my favorite part—I used negative space to create triangles within the flowers which ended up looking really striking against all of the dark shading that went into the piece."

"Wow..." Hidan said. "How long did she have to sit in a chair to get all of that work done?"

Kakuzu took a drag on his cigarette. "Dunno...probably thirty hours at least."

"Damn." Hidan said.

Kakuzu glanced over at Hidan again. He looked at him closely this time, feeling a bit more confident that his gaze wouldn't embarrass him. Hidan's black earrings were stark against his pale skin, but he was otherwise a blank canvas.

"You're telling me that you don't have any tattoos at all?"

Hidan smiled sheepishly. "Nope."

Kakuzu pulled up to work that day, curious to see Hidan's black motorcycle there before him again. Actually, there were a ton of cars parked out front already. He walked in, the door bell signaling his arrival.

"Good morning." Konan greeted, not looking up from her desk. "Morning." He responded.

He looked towards his work station and frowned. Full of people. Just great.

He walked forward and noticed something very odd. Hidan was in his chair, arms behind his head as if he belonged there. Kakuzu walked forward without so much as a hello, grabbed the chair back and dumped his ass on the ground.

"Goddamn it, that HURT, you cocksucker!" Hidan screamed from the ground, holding his head.

Deidara laughed at him. "What did I tell you, hmm? That's what you get, haha!"

Kakuzu pretended not to notice Hidan's agony, swinging the wheely chair around and sitting in it backwards. Hidan glared at him from the ground, then kicked at the chair.

"Hey, down girl." Kakuzu said. That earned a snicker from Sasori.

Hidan puffed up and kicked him in the shin this time. Kakuzu winced.

"Oookay!" Hinata interjected. "Come on, we got stuff to do," she said to Hidan, giving him an arm up off the ground.

"See ya, fuckface." Hidan said to Kakuzu, waving him goodbye. And just like that, they were gone.

Ah, yes. What a pleasant morning.

Kakuzu turned back to the remainder of the group. Sasori and Deidara were hanging out at the work bench next to his own. "What the fuck was that about?" He asked aloud.

"Hidan was here looking for Hinata, hmm." Deidara answered.

"Oh yeah, that modeling work, huh?" Kakuzu wondered. "So... you're his friend Deidara, what kinda modeling does he do?"

Deidara glanced sideways. "I dunno, he says it's like... third-rate modeling? Like B-agency stuff. Magazine-type ads."

Sasori rolled his eyes.

Yeah, Kakuzu wasn't buying that. "Let me guess... porn?" He asked jokingly.

Sasori choked out a laugh, and Deidara glared at him. "No, it's not porn, hmm. But he doesn't give me many details. I guess I wouldn't want my friends to see me posing for a camera either, so I kinda get it."

"Yeah but how do you know it's not porn if he never talks about it?" Sasori interjected.

Deidara groaned. "Okay I've seen some of it, and it's not those kinds of pictures. He just doesn't like sharing that kinda stuff with people unless he's really close to them, hmm."

Kakuzu leaned back from his chair in thought. The blonde's answers just made him more confused, if anything. Maybe he didn't want to seem girly? He didn't think modeling work was all that girly. It was pretty badass if you had the right connections, too. Easy money would explain the guy's apartment and lack of any apparent schedule...maybe his over-inflated ego as well. Kakuzu chuckled to himself.

The next day, Kakuzu was sitting in his chair, drawing a new tattoo concept in his sketchbook, headphones on. There were no appointments for the afternoon, so he was left to himself.

He was completely drawn into what he was doing until he heard the all-too-familiar jingle of the door bell. His music was always turned low, quiet enough for him to focus. The act of wearing headphones was enough to keep people like Kisame away from prying into his work which was most of the reason that he wore them.

Glancing up, he saw Hidan smiling as he greeted Konan. He just as quickly glanced down, pretending not to notice Hidan's arrival.

Hidan was behind him soon enough, chatting with Sasori. Apparently, Deidara hadn't shown up yet. Kakuzu guessed that the headphone trick worked on Hidan as well, since he hadn't bothered him yet.

He continued working on his sketch. It bore a bald eagle clutching a stopwatch bouncing on a chain. Like all art pieces, there seemed to be some deeper meaning behind it, but to Kakuzu, it was just another piece. After finishing some shading around the eagle's head, Kakuzu stole another glance up at Hidan and took in his appearance more closely.

From his back, Kakuzu could tell that he was wearing a deep purple shirt today and black skinny jeans. Dark brown boots, Timberlands probably, were laced up around his feet. Only a small hint of the silver pendant around his neck glinted, a few small beads peeking above his shirt on the nape of his neck. He always had the necklace tucked in for some reason. Kakuzu wondered why.

It was then that he noticed. Noticed them. A stream of light purple bruises dotted down the back length of both of Hidan's arms, peeking out from his shirt sleeve and running to just above the elbows. Hidan's hands were tucked into his pockets, but from the back, Kakuzu could see them.

Kakuzu's breath caught in his throat. What the fuck...? What were those bruises?!

Anger was welling up inside of him. What on earth was going on? Did Hidan have someone that was pushing him around? What other explanation was there? A stream of bruises couldn't appear from falling down stairs or some shitty excuse like that.

He turned back to his sketchbook, not working on his drawing, but staring at it. What...? He couldn't focus anymore on the drawing anymore, his palms were getting sweaty with anxiety.

A few minutes later, Hidan stepped out.

As if on cue, he tore off his headphones and silently went out the back door. As the rusty door squeaked open, Hidan glanced over. He was lighting up a cigarette. Once his smoke was lit, he fanned out the flame and snapped his zippo shut with a clack.

"Oh hey, I saw you earlier, but you seemed busy." Hidan said.

Kakuzu was quiet, leaning back casually against the building, next to Hidan.

"Yeah... I was working on something. It's done now though. You swing by to say hi to Deidara?" Kakuzu responded.

Hidan bumped Kakuzu's shoulder playfully. "Yep. And to say hi to you, old fucker."

Kakuzu was still.

"What's up?" Hidan questioned.

Kakuzu didn't respond.

"What's going on?" Hidan interrogated. "You not happy to see me?" He said with a smile.

"No, I am, it's just... what are those bruises on your arms?" Kakuzu asked. He turned towards Hidan, staring straight into his striking violet eyes for what seemed like the first time. His gaze didn't shy away this time.

The question fell flat.

Hidan was quiet for a moment this time.

"Uhh..." Hidan trailed. The talkative, firecracker of a boy was at a loss for words. A moment passed with Hidan standing there, not sure what to do.

Then out of nowhere, he backfired. "Hey, FUCK off, okay? Keep your business to your damnself." He angrily took a drag on his cigarette.

Kakuzu was stunned. "Dude, I'm just trying to look out for you. You've been hanging out with us...and me, for a while now, and those bruises are freaking me out." He paused. "You might not feel that comfortable around me just yet but you can talk to me. I won't judge you. If you're seeing someone and they're pushing you around I'll knock their fucking lights out."

Hidan grimaced, biting into his cigarette and shoving his hands into his pockets. "Very fucking funny. I'm single, isn't that fucking obvious? Besides, what the hell would you know?"

That broke it for Kakuzu. "The FUCK is your problem?! Just tell me why you have fucking bruises on your arms and we're good, okay?"

Hidan jumped up into his face. "How about you fuck OFF old man? I told you to keep out of my business so GET OFF MY ASS ALREADY!"

Kakuzu's blood was boiling. He met Hidan's face with his, snarling, "fuck you."

At the insult, Hidan spat his lit cigarette right into Kakuzu's face.

His hands moved faster than his head. Within moments, he had grabbed Hidan by his pretty little purple shirt and punched him right in the brow. Hidan stumbled back for a moment, dazed from the hit, then shot forward, grabbing Kakuzu's shirt and kneeing him in the stomach.

Kakuzu doubled over and coughed a few times, ripping his black mask off. He straightened and glared at him. "You want a piece of this, huh? You're gonna regret it, you little shit."

Hidan grinned a devilish grin. "You think you're all that 'cause you lift weights. You can't do shit."

Kakuzu shot forward, tackling him. Hidan pushed back with surprising strength, catching Kakuzu off-guard and giving him a hard punch to the chin. Fuck. That hurt. Kakuzu flexed his jaw, and faced Hidan head-on. He bolted forward again, using his momentum to throw the boy to the ground. Hidan was yelling and kicking his feet, trying to push him off. Kakuzu held him there by the shoulders, gripping him hard enough to really hurt.

"You've got no fucking chance. Give up already." Kakuzu said. Hidan stopped flailing and looked up at him. He sneered and bucked again, suddenly grabbing his forearms and digging his fingernails in, hard. The pain made Kakuzu jump backwards with a yelp.

They stood opposite each other again, this time with fists raised. They went at each other like that, punching and kicking, screaming insults at each other non-stop. Again, they jumped at each other...

"HEEEEYYY!" Pain bolted in, shoving Kakuzu off of Hidan.

Kakuzu was on the ground, dizzy for a moment. When his vision cleared, he saw Pain pinning him down, the man's weight enough to press him into the rough concrete ground. Sasori was holding down Hidan, although he was snarling at the red-head, bucking to get back up. "Fuck off me!" He shouted.

Pain glared at Kakuzu. He could feel a trickle of blood from his eyebrow blur his vision. "What the fuck do you think you're doing beating up some kid out here, Kakuzu? Get your ass home, you're done for the day."

Soft beeping awoke Kakuzu. He opened his eyes slowly. He rolled over before wincing, having momentarily forgotten what had happened the day before. He turned off the alarm and sat up.

It was gonna be a long day.

Standing in front of his full-length mirror, he looked at himself. Despite Hidan being so much smaller than himself, he had done a number on him. Bruises dotted his stomach, his chin, and his face. There was a small bandage where Hidan had busted his right eyebrow open. The tattoos on his arms hid some of the damage there, but there were deep little crescent marks where Hidan had dug his nails in.

Kakuzu walked to his bathroom, finding his Neosporin and dabbing it on his cuts. Ouch. The nail marks still weren't completely closed up, just how deep did Hidan cut him? He reached in the medicine cabinet again and grabbed some aspirin for a headache that was forming.

He slowly got dressed and decided to just watch tv for a couple of hours before he left for work. He was dreading going back there, since he knew he'd be bombarded with questions.

His apartment door shut with a clack and Kakuzu sighed, finally back at home. He had managed to dodge pretty much all of the questions (and threats) from various people, either by just ignoring them completely or not giving any sort of real answer. Yeah, he'd wanted to ask Kisame for some advice, but he wasn't willing to explain why their fight got started in the first place. Someone beating up Hidan that wasn't him wasn't information he was willing to share. It wasn't his place to tell people that kind of shit, anyway.

Even as his bruises faded over the next few days, Kakuzu felt hurt. He didn't feel like working out like he usually did after work, so he just went home every night. Hidan wasn't showing up at Red Dawn and everything was a shit-show. They had been becoming closer and Kakuzu just had to go and fuck everything up. Well, he didn't start the fight, but he had thrown the first punch. Whatever.

It was getting dark out, and Kakuzu was lying on the sofa, staring at the ceiling. He couldn't stop thinking about Hidan. Part of him wanted to touch that pale skin, perfectly smooth with no blemishes in sight. And the other part of him wanted that same hand to tighten around his neck, squeezing the life out of that cocky expression Hidan always wore. Imagining either situation turned him on. Huh. He never took himself for a sadist.

Not just that, but he never took himself to be into guys either. He was never really attracted to men, but Hidan was...different. The bulge in his pants told him that much. What was it about Hidan that was driving him mad like this? The perfect skin with a lean, but well-toned body. Always smelling like a fresh shower or faint traces of smoke. The way his muscles flexed when he took his helmet off after pulling up on his motorcycle. How he always payed close attention to him when Kakuzu talked about work, or leaned in way too close when looking at a sketch. The playful pushes and constant teasing. The intense eye-contact he always got from Hidan, which he was rarely able to meet with his own eyes. The necklace he kept tucked away... almost as if teasing the secrets that he kept from him. From everybody.

Kakuzu glanced down at the rubber band around his wrist, his own secret. In all this time, he'd been so busy thinking about Hidan he hadn't even thought about his ex, Yugito. She had been his girlfriend for a year up until about six months ago. Their break-up had been a huge fucking mess, and he couldn't help but keep thinking about her. He missed her. This rubber band was supposed to keep those jumbled thoughts out of his head, and it worked, sometimes.

Kakuzu could see it now, her long blonde hair, and how it trailed down her naked body...no.

Snap. The rubber band struck.

He sighed, and shifted uncomfortably. He needed some fresh air.