A perspective: Hidan and Kakuzu
"Kakuzu!" Hidan yelled over the gyrating, laughing, two sheets to the wind sort of crowd, peering down from the second floor and seeing his partner at the bar in the lobby.
"Oi! Kakuzu!"
Kakuzu finally turned around when he heard Hidan for the second time. He'd been hoping to ignore him, wait for the boy to get distracted by something pretty. It was a foolish hope. The kid was far less inclined to be drawn in by such things nowadays. To think, he almost didn't even come to Nightshade.
Hidan was grinning like an absolute idiot, looking disheveled ten ways from Sunday, so thoroughly and completely fucked based on the look on his face and his… attire.
What the fuck was wrong with this guy? Just a towel, really? Couldn't even manage some pants… though it was as unsurprising as it was unappreciated.
Ultimately though, this was a relief on Kakuzu's end. Izumi's entire ordeal had put too much stress on the idiot, and a stressed Hidan made Kakuzu nervous. Not for himself, not really. He knew how to handle the mood and scythe swinging boy, but Izumi stood no chance were his inner demons to become outer ones around her.
"Kakuzu, dude, hold up!" Hidan called out, flagging him down with a certain unchecked excitement as he pushed through the crowd.
Hidan was impatient. Almost a full floor up still, he launched himself over the side of the chipped oak banister after getting stuck behind a few particularly drunk and slow patrons, landing with a startling thud.
He had definitely given more than a few people a free show.
Kakuzu was one of them.
He clenched his eyes shut with a low growl, attempting to sear the image from his mind, the pulsing vein in his forehead competing with the one he'd just unfortunately witnessed on Hidan.
What the fuck was wrong with this guy? The question came up far too often around the kid.
There was no more wading through the crowd, people moved for Hidan. They gave a wide berth to Kakuzu as well, and the two men together were something of a sight to behold. They emanated a palpable kind of power.
Many of the surrounding men tended to steer away, but more than not, the women were drawn by it.
A few escorts, the ones that knew the pair, would trail their fingers down an arm or the muscles of their backs as they walked by. Neither of the duo seemed to pay any mind. Par for the course at this place.
They were both popular clients for… reasons.
They were also on their best behavior. Everyone seemed to be. If you took a moment to peruse the crowd, you would see all types, but it was a popular destination for shinobi in particular.
Everyone seemed to have the understanding that Nightshade was neutral ground.
Whatever qualms you had with whatever bastards there were, it was left at the door. The ambient red light flooding the interior was likely just a smart design choice, meant to make ninja feel at home. Like blood already covered every inch of the damn place, so maybe they could just take a night off for once.
"Hidan... looks like you've had a successful night," Kakuzu acknowledged, still a frost to his tone. Still trying to forget what he'd seen…
Hidan scratched the back of his head, not doing well to suppress the goofy grin threatening to split his face in half. "Mm, yeah, guess you could say that."
"Stop looking so happy when you're talking to me in public."
Hidan actively ignored whatever Kakuzu just said as he slapped an approving hand on his shoulder. "Walked by your room, sounded like you had a good night too. Guess you're not so geriatric afterall, y'old horny bastard," he laughed like it was something of an endearment.
"Did you need something?"' Kakuzu asked, looking to cut their interaction as much as possible.
"Oh, yeah, I need your fucking help, man." Hidan was casual and a little too presumptive for Kakuzu's tastes.
Kakuzu didn't even afford him a glance. "Pass."
"Aw come on you shithead, it's to do with Izumi though," he whined.
There was a long bout of silence punctuated with a begrudging sigh. "What about her?"
Hidan was in.
"These fucking voices..." Hidan started, trailing off with a wince. They were probably telling him to shut the fuck up right now. Kakuzu couldn't blame them.
"Are you planning on finishing that sentence?" The vein in Kakuzu's forehead was beginning to make its reappearance.
"I need to fucking…" Hidan winced again and slapped the counter, motioning to himself and Kakuzu. The bartender nodded and grabbed two highball glasses. "Need to fucking get rid of them, man."
Well that wasn't what Kakuzu expected.
Fuck this kid. Honestly, fuck him and his emotional fucking whiplash. Kakuzu didn't have the time or patience for ridiculous requests. He didn't know what kind of drugs the boy was on, nor did he want to.
Hidan's pupils were all blown the fuck out and he looked overstimulated. Even when he seemed to be annoyed or pained, there was still that stupid smile underneath. Kakuzu was seriously too old for this crap.
He just scoffed and turned his back to Hidan. His order would be up any minute now.
"Hey, you fucking prick, I'm fucking talking to you," Hidan complained, grabbing Kakuzu by the arm and forcing him to turn back around.
Kakuzu glanced down with a sharp eye, noting Hidan's grip on his arm. He'd become very touchy lately. Too touchy. Kakuzu didn't know where that hand had been, especially here.
Or maybe it disturbed him because he was pretty sure he did know, or at least had a vague idea, and he wanted to keep it that way.
He contemplated shaking out of Hidan's grip or even prying him off, twisting his arm until it popped out of it's socket. That would be satisfying, but Hidan would bitch about it too much. Wasn't worth it.
"What'd you take?" Kakuzu asked flatly, trying to determine which version of high Hidan was.
Hidan burst into laughter so raucous he had to hold his stomach. At least it got his hand off Kakuzu.
"Ah, you're fucking funny sometimes, dude," Hidan laughed, dropping some money on the counter and shoving a whiskey at Kakuzu before grabbing the other for himself. Kakuzu wouldn't say no, not to whiskey, though he did find the gesture oddly… thoughtful.
He cringed at that.
"Anyway, yeah, I need your help. I need to fucking get rid of these things," Hidan said, rubbing the heel of his palm against his temple.
Hidan was being insistent, just shy of obsessive. Kakuzu knew the subject wouldn't get dropped easily, not while he was like this.
Kakuzu sighed deeply. "Is there a particular reason you're bothering me with this now? I'm not seeing what this has to do with Izumi." The cut of Kakuzu's words were dulled by the pleasant taste of the aged, caramel-colored whiskey lingering in his mouth.
As if on cue, the red-haired woman from the front porch came clicking up to Hidan, inserting herself between the two men so she could run her fingers down his chest. Kakuzu was fine with this, his food had just been placed on the bar. He began to devour it.
"Hidan, baby, you haven't come to see me. Is everything okay?" she half-asked, half-pouted, full-body ground against him. Hidan took a step back.
Kakuzu had to do a double take.
"Not tonight, Mai," Hidan dismissed, not particularly mean, but his disinterest was obvious. Kakuzu observed like he was witnessing an act of God.
"Aw, baby. This some new hard-to-get thing? Or does it have to do with your little stunt outside with that tiny slip of a girl? Surely she can't handle you like I can, sweetie." She was over-the-top flirtatious and what most would consider downright enticing. This was her profession, after all, and she was certainly a pro.
"Mai, trust me, she handles way more of me and my bullshit than you ever fucking have," Hidan said matter-of-factly. Her half-pout waxed to full.
Kakuzu stopped chewing. His eyes narrowed. The pieces were clicking into place. Hidan and his initial disinterest. His odd, enraptured state. This talk of ridding himself of the voices...
"What girl is she talking about, Hidan?" Kakuzu asked severely and Mai knew immediately she'd opened a can of worms, and not one she wanted to stick around to see how they'd squirm.
She slipped away as fast as she came, leaving nothing but space between the partners.
"Don't you fucking freak out on me," Hidan began defending, pointing his finger like a warning in Kakuzu's face. "She just fucking showed up here." He downed his drink, throwing his hands up like he was innocent.
Hidan, innocent? Kakuzu scoffed.
"She's still here now?" he questioned, narrowing his gaze at Hidan.
"Tthe fuck was I supposed to do, send her back home by herself? Her little chicken legs barely got her here to begin with, you shit-for-brains," Hidan bit back, incredulous.
Kakuzu ignored this question because Hidan had too much of a point and that was something he refused to acknowledge outwardly.
"Hidan... you fucked her, didn't you?" Kakuzu deadpanned.
Hidan tried to keep a straight face, which was honestly more than Kakuzu expected, but it was obvious he couldn't iron out that smile.
"She's fucking fine, okay? I know what the hell I'm doing. I was fucking gentle, swear to fucking God," Hidan said, glaring at his partner, silently daring Kakuzu to accuse him of hurting her.
Kakuzu pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering, "You fucking… idiot."
"She was fucking begging me for it, dude. You can't seriously fucking expe-" Hidan got cut off.
"I don't need the goddamn details, Hidan!" Kakuzu groaned, loud and quick to prevent anything more from coming out of Hidan's big, dumb mouth.
Hidan grinned and laughed to himself. "Oh ho ho, I get it. The fucking details. That's good, man. Does that mean you wanted the non-fucking details? I could tell you about the shower, I guess, we didn't fuck in there," Hidan offered with a shrug.
"Hidan…" Kakuzu warned, fists clenching at his sides.
Had they not been inside the building, he would have already sprawled Hidan across the ground. There was that 'no violence' rule within those walls though, one that Kakuzu detested.
"Yeah, yeah…" Hidan waved off Kakuzu's aggression. "So on the topic of my fucked up head, you got any ideas on how to unfuck it?" he asked casually, leaning against the bar.
Hidan gestured to the bartender for another round and reached for a steamed dumpling on Kakuzu's plate. Kakuzu, not wanting it after Hidan had touched it, but also not wanting Hidan to have it, promptly slapped it to the floor.
Hidan laughed and grabbed another, resulting in two dumplings on the floor.
"Knock it off, Hidan. And I'm not fucking helping you," he growled, taking Hidan's drink as it was served and tipping it back in one go. He then took his own drink and did the same.
"What the fuck dude, I thought you liked Izumi," Hidan spat, not even noticing the theft of his whiskey. He ordered the round again with an impatient slap against the bartop when he noticed the glasses still empty.
"I don't like anyone. She's just more tolerable than most," Kakuzu clarified, annoyed anything to the contrary was even insinuated
Hidan snorted. "Fine. If you tolerate her so much, then you should fucking help me."
"Why? I thought you said she makes them quiet."
"She does… Well, when she's near me, she does… for the most part anyway. But when I'm away from her they get loud again, and they're always telling me to fucking… " Hidan trailed off with some sort of pained, exasperated growl. "Look, they just don't want her around anymore, okay? They don't like that she shuts 'em up. The second I'm not up her ass, they're all over me about it."
"I hope that's just a turn of phrase, Hidan," Kakuzu muttered.
With a playful grin stretching ear to ear, Hidan replied, "For now."
Kakuzu glared. This fucking kid.
The smile faded quickly though as Hidan had more to bitch about. "Look, I just… I can't keep going like this. I thought it might go away, or at least stay the fucking same, but it feels like the more time I spend away from her, the louder they get. It's getting hard as hell to come down from it, dude."
"You think you'll hurt her?" Kakuzu asked soberly, despite the alcohol warming his veins.
"I would fucking never. But God, do they want me to… and yeah, she makes them quiet, but there's this kind of… window? Like before she kicks in, ya know? So sometimes it takes a minute, and if they're loud enough… fuck, I just can't keep on like this, Kakuzu," Hidan admitted, deflating, letting a little bit of that raw desperation into his voice that Kakuzu had heard only a few times before when things were really bad.
Kakuzu scoffed. "So what do you want me to do about it?"
"I don't know how to get rid of them, but you… you're fucking old, and fucking… I don't know, good at figuring shit out?" Hidan floundered, clearly struggling to compliment his partner while simultaneously needing his expertise.
"That's your fucking pitch?" Kakuzu asked, brows riding low on his flinty stare.
"Fucking… yeah. Yeah, it is. Will you help me already? You know I hate asking, doesn't that fucking count for something?" Hidan folded his arms, staring at his partner with an impatient tongue poking at his cheek.
Kakuzu took a long sip, holding it in the back of his mouth as he stared down at the glass, idly swirling the brown liquor to lick up the edges. He watched it a few seconds longer before breaking to ask Hidan a pointed question. "You realize you'd probably lose your immortality, right? I have to imagine the two are linked–that and the voices."
"Yeah, I'm not a fucking idiot," Hidan sneered.
Kakuzu grunted out a mockery of a laugh, still sternly staring at Hidan. He didn't believe him, not for a fucking second.
"You would really give up immortality for her?" Kakuzu pressed.
Immortality. Kakuzu said that word slower than the rest. He surmised it may have had too many syllables. It was possible Hidan's comprehension of it–and thus the weight of this decision–was fundamentally lacking.
"Yeah, I'm not a fucking idiot," Hidan repeated, digging his figurative heels in.
Kakuzu scoffed again, just the tiniest bit of approval underlying. Though saying it twice did not make it any more true. Hidan was still a fucking idiot and always would be. But at the moment, he was a dangerous idiot. More dangerous than he'd likely let on.
If Hidan was confiding in Kakuzu, that meant things were pretty damn bad.
Kakuzu had just gotten done fixing that stupid little thing–Izumi. If Hidan managed to kill her now in some petulant, uncontrolled outburst, it would make all his efforts a waste of time and more importantly, money.
He simply could not allow that.
Shaking his head at himself, Kakuzu knew he was also an idiot, because only a fucking idiot would agree to help Hidan. Yet there he was, doing just that.
"If you're really serious about this… I'll help you. But don't tell Pain. Don't tell anyone, actually. You're a prick and no one likes you, so you can't trust any of them to keep a secret."
Hidan raised a brow. "But I can trust you?"
"I'm not doing it for you."
"Fair enough." Hidan grinned.
"Last time I tried to tell you what I thought of this 'Jashin', you tried to cut me down. Emphasis on tried," Kakuzu reminded.
"Yeah yeah yeah, that's whatever. I'm willing to listen now," Hidan waved off the distant memory. Nope, never fucking happened.
"God, Izumi really is a fucking miracle worker…" Kakuzu muttered with a cocked brow at Hidan's sudden compliance.
"Look, man, it's fucking… shitty enough that I'm asking you for help. Just fucking tell me what I'm supposed to do."
"I do have a theory," Kakuzu said. Drinks were back up, he took a sip. "Jashin isn't a God."
"Fuck you. Then who do I hear up here, hm?" Hidan asked, knocking against his skull with the rim of his whiskey glass before taking a sip.
Kakuzu answered short and blunt. "A parasite."
"Uh, come again? You mean like a fucking tapeworm?" Hidan looked far too grossed out for someone that ingested the blood of others.
"No, you idiot. I just mean your relationship with it is parasitic, with you being the host. Whatever it is, it keeps you alive because it needs you, it has nothing to do with your so-called devotion."
Hidan frowned at this potential, a deep crease forming between his brows.
Kakuzu finished his drink and let the glass hit loudly enough on the sticky, battered bartop to signal he needed a refill.
"You're paying for this," Kakuzu said.
"Tch, the fuck I am." Hidan folded his arms, puffing up his chest in defiance.
"You want to hear what I have to say or not?"
Hidan glared at an unwavering Kakuzu for a long moment. "Fucking A… fine," Hidan growled, slapping money on the bar.
Kakuzu seemed placated as his glass was once again shining with beautiful, brown liquid.
"Here's what I think, based on my many years of experience, as you like to remind me like it's a fucking insult and then come to me begging for advice."
Hidan rolled his eyes and unfolded his arms just to gesture for Kakuzu to get on with it. Causing Hidan even just a little annoyance satisfied Kakuzu enough to continue.
"I think you formed some sort of… pact. A binding agreementwith something that wasn't meant to be found. It could have been a failed experiment for all we know."
"What does that mean? Failed experiment?"
Kakuzu sighed. "Something shoved in a hole with the express purpose of it staying there. Look, people used to conduct all sorts of outlandish experiments. I wouldn't be surprised at all, given the shit I've seen." Remembering distant memories of such things made Kakuzu raise the glass to his lips subconsciously. Better to forget, even if just for a night.
"So, what?" Hidan questioned, growing increasingly perturbed. "Some old fucking relic not meant to see the light of day, and I just got fucking saddled with it because I walked into the wrong shitty ass cave?"
Kakuzu shrugged. "Maybe you were just the only one dumb enough to release it."
"I didn't even know what I was fucking doing and you know that," Hidan snapped back.
"Hm, I'm foggy on the details."
"That's because you don't fucking listen to me."
"I don't like listening to bullshit."
"I'll give you some fucking bullshit…" Hidan threatened to a surprisingly relaxed Kakuzu lazily sizing him up.
"Sit down. You're not going to give me any kind of shit," Kakuzu said, leaning back into his chair.
Hidan shook his head. "I can't stay, I've got Izumi fucking waiting for m-" he paused abruptly, his eyes snapping wide. "Oh fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. How long have I been down here?!"
Kakuzu didn't let slip any sort of reaction, but he had no goddamn clue what Hidan was suddenly going off about.
Between the several drinks and conversation, Hidan knew it had been for far too long.
He'd just hooked up with Izumi for the first time... he knew she was having a hard time with being alone, even outside of her fucked up little headcanon about how people would leave her after sex… How in the fucking hell could he let time slip by like that?
Oh, he could have just fucking killed himself right then and there.
He didn't wait for Kakuzu to answer, he just started pushing his way back through the crowd. Kakuzu watched with blank confusion as Hidan suddenly halted, ran back and reached over him in a rush.
"Sorry, but I need this way more than you fucking do," Hidan muttered, snatching the plate with one and a half gyoza still on it, whipping back around and disappearing into the crowd. He bounded up the stairs, taking them three at a time.
As he did, there was a flickering of the lights. The crowd in the lobby all simultaneously gasped while a few outliers giggled and cheered on the power outage. Another flicker. Hidan couldn't believe his rotten luck.
A moment later and the building was in darkness.
"Shit shit shit shit shit," he hissed between his teeth as he flew down the halls as best he could in the gloom, slamming into several people and even more walls along the way.
It had to at least have been a half hour… which Hidan was aware felt like a lot fucking longer when you're someone like Izumi. She got so scared by herself that she fucking wandered out into the shitty town looking for him… and then he just left her there anyway?
What the fuck.
Hidan reached the door. A small part of him didn't want to open it. He didn't want to find out what would be waiting behind it. Luckily that was only a small part.
The bigger part of him whipped it open, nearly tearing it off the hinges. It was like he timed it perfectly with the weather, a massive lightning strike crackling through the sky, illuminating the room at that same instant.
He rushed in and nearly fucking lost it when he caught a glimpse of her. For the fucking love of Jashin… he should have killed himself when he had the chance, might have been less painful than looking at that fucking face.
It was all wrenched up with tears. Her eyes were somehow big and wincing at the same time and for fuck's sake, why was she so curled in on herself just sitting at the edge of the bed like that?
She was just balled up there hugging herself, staring at the door like an abandoned fucking puppy.
The plate hit the ground, he'd lost the remaining gyoza in the hallway anyway. Hidan fumbled with the oil lamp on the entryway table, quickly lighting it and rushing over to her before hitting the ground himself, dropping to his knees in front of her.
"Fuck baby, no no no, put these away," Hidan pleaded, brushing at the fat tears with his thumbs.
"Wh-where…?" she began asking before choking on a coughing sob.
She was trying to ask where he was. Oh, fuck him. She couldn't even get the words out. Fucking fuck.
"Oh sweetheart, I'm so fucking sorry baby. I just ran into Kakuzu and got a little caught up. Come here, come here, give me your hands, baby girl," Hidan coaxed, trying to pry her fingers from their impressively tight hold on the blankets wrapped around her tiny, shaking body.
Fuck.
Why did her shoulders have to be shaking like that?
Hidan wrapped his hands around hers and leveled with her puffy red eyes, visible even in just the lamplight and flickering storm. "Aw fuck baby, please please stop crying, I'm a fucking idiot, sweetheart. Don't fucking cry over me," he pleaded, squeezing at little the hands in his own.
She let out a sniffling noise that might have been an 'okay' but it came out sobbing and strangled. Far from okay.
"Yeah? I'm a real piece of shit, right?" Hidan asked, nodding in a way that prodded her to agree.
She pulled a hand from his grip and wiped at her nose with the blanket, inhaling deeply with a tremor to her breath and nodding weakly.
Hidan's face split with a grin. She'd given him an inch, it was time to take a fucking mile.
"I'm just the fucking worst, right?" He asked, his hands now holding the sides of her head, forcing her to nod enthusiastically.
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying," he encouraged with a laugh. "I was just a distracted little shit, baby, that's all. I'm here now."
"I-I know th-that… I-I'm just s-stupid… it was just l-l-like…" She was hiccuping and stuttering so bad he could hardly understand her.
Hidan was doing well to hide how frantic he was in his head, because internally he was an absolute fucking mess at seeing her like this, beating himself up for letting it happen at all.
"It was like what, baby? Tell me. Fucking roast me baby girl–whatever you need to do," he pleaded, squeezing her cheeks in his giant mitts.
"Like… I...I-I-tachi."
Oh.
Oh fuck.
Rock fucking bottom.
That's how low his heart sank. Hidan lost the ability to speak, the breath knocked out of him from the blow of her words. She couldn't have said anything worse.
He winced his eyes shut and cringed, pulling a hand down his face, releasing a quiet 'fuck', muted into his palm.
Hidan opened his eyes practically against his will, not really wanting to see that face she was making again, but knowing he had to make this right. Things were too fucked for him to joke his way out of it.
"No, baby… no… not like him. I'm not fucking like him," Hidan choked out, his conviction fighting with his guilt on a vocal level. "Never like him."
Eyes flitting over Izumi's face in the darkness, he studied her to make sure she believed him. It ate at him, the pain so visible in every crevice. It could have fucking devoured him whole, and he would have let it, too, if it filled whatever hole that fucking Uchiha had torn out of her.
"Izumi. Sweetheart. Look at me, look at me," he said, holding her cheeks, forcing their gazes to connect. He waited for her eyes to focus.
His voice was low, words delivered slow and deliberately. "I said I wasn't fucking crazy earlier, but I lied. I fucking lied, okay? I am fucking crazy, I'm fucking crazyfor you. I don't give a fuck how fucking corny that is. I am head over fucking heels madly in love with you, baby girl. Madly. That's a fucking fact, alright?"
Izumi's face scrunched up even more at this, which almost startled Hidan. He was trying to get her to stop. Her shoulders wracked harder as she sobbed out something he couldn't understand.
"Wh… what was that, baby?" he asked, looking bewildered, brushing fingers through her hair, trying to make heads or tails of this reaction.
"Are y-you… s-sure?" she stammered, followed up by another coughing sob. Her tiny little fingers were grasping at his forearms like they were the only things keeping her from drifting off into the ether.
"Am I sure…?" Hidan repeated back to her incredulously. Izumi nodded, her face springing more leaks still.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fucking sure. What kind of fucking question…" he trailed off, shaking his head as he stared hard at Izumi. "Aw, baby girl…just come here..." he pulled her against him, enveloping her in strong arms, kissing the top of her head over and over.
Hidan choked in disgust as he soothed her. "God, look what he fucking did to you… I'm not like him, baby. I'm not leaving. I just lost track of time, sweetheart, but I'm fucking yours… if you even still fucking want me..." his last words came out more quietly as he considered the possibility that maybe she wouldn't want to deal with his bullshit.
He felt her shift in his grip, her legs and arms simultaneously wrapping around him, digging into his back to bring him closer. Her hot breath hitched against his chest with her cheek pressed flush against it.
Hidan breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed like a pretty solid non-verbal affirmation.
"Shh sh sh, baby, calm down. Breathe for me. Just fucking breathe for me, alright?" Hidan coaxed, smoothing Izumi's hair against the nape of her neck. She nodded against him, sinking into his comfort.
"I… I'm s-sorry…. I h-hate that I'm l-like this…" she whispered, broken.
"It's okay… you're fine, you're fucking perfect. I shouldn't have left in the first place. I'm a fucking moron, sweetheart. I've just…" Hidan breathed in deep, swallowing down the overwhelming wave of emotions setting his voice to waver. "I've never had anyone like you, or even fucking felt like this… so bear with me baby, I'm trying to learn fast for you. I promise I am."
God, he felt so stupid, like such an idiot for leaving her like that. No post coitus cuddle, nothing, just gone and for way too long. Didn't even bring back food.
"I-It's okay, I k-know it's just me," Izumi croaked against him.
Hidan continued his barrage of comforting touches. "It's okay, sweetheart. I'm here. I'm fucking here. Don't give up on me, baby, I promise I can be good to you…I'll prove it if you'll let me."
He worried that was a lie. Something he intended to be entirely truthful, but a lie nonetheless. How many times would he accidentally hurt her like this before he ran out of chances? He needed to get his fucking act together.
"Baby?"
"Hm?" Izumi sniffled.
"Can I come to bed, sweetheart?"
He felt her nod against him and he immediately took her up on it, lifting her up and crawling into bed, situating her to lay against him, her head on his chest.
Her breathing had calmed and Hidan did nothing but shower her with affection, kisses, squeezes, pets, rubbing all over her body. He did this until he made sure she fell asleep feeling safe, protected.
Loved.
Hidan refused to be another Itachi to her, this woman he felt inhuman amounts of affection for. He couldn't fathom a world in which she didn't know the intensity of his devotion to her. She was the silence before the scream, the calm before the storm, the space between the lines.
Everything.
So he held her there against him, pulled her hand onto his ribs, her leg over his thigh, her head to his chest, and told her over and over again how much he adored her. Laced with profanities, he told her as many fucking times as he needed to until she fell asleep in his arms.
That was fine, though. He was happy to do it. He'd do whatever it took to make her feel whole again, to undo the mess Itachi made of her. In the background of all that swelling affection he felt for Izumi–all of it so new and frankly, fucking terrifying–there was burning hatred for Itachi Uchiha.
Hidan fell asleep to indecent thoughts of the delicate woman in his arms and fantasies of removing the Uchiha's eyeballs with his fingers.
A/N: I am still diligently working on this with a hellbent resolution to complete this fic this year (still a ways to go…), and I hope to get back to regular updates soon! For today I'm updating all my stories as a show of good faith that I'm working on everything and happy endings will come in due time :) some quicker than others… hehe *sweating*
I adore writing Hidan and Kakuzu interactions and just how stubborn Kakuzu is in admitting he's fond of anything that isn't money haha. More of that to come as he's been working on a little something to give to Izumi :3
I hope you're all doing well as we enter the new year, love hearing from those of you still reading this crazy thing. Y'all have my eternal appreciation. I don't think I could have pumped out this much content if not for all your hilarious and amazing encouragement over all these chapters.
