The theater collapsed into silence, and Kakuzu struggled to still himself as adrenaline flooded his body.
"Hidan," he tried with a shaky breath, "Hidan, can you hear me?" Hidan's body was limp against the table.
'Dammit… he's out.' Kakuzu licked his lips trying to think of his next move, and looked up towards the large window on the second floor.
Orochimaru looked back at him annoyed; obviously unamused with the result of the hypnosis, and turned in his seat to face Danzo.
Kakuzu took a deep breath, and stole a glance towards the doors. They were locked, but even if they weren't, he'd never make it by the guards with Hidan in tow.
'Hidan…' Kakuzu thought, 'Now is the time for one of your unpredictable moments.'
The loud speaker that connected the top floor to the lower buzzed mechanically; and beeped with a little light. Orochimaru's raspy voice flooded the large white theater. "Dr. Taki, your services are… appreciated, but no longer needed."
"What are you going to do with him?" Kakuzu squinted to try and make out the color of the beeping light.
Orochimaru rolled his eyes and the speaker clicked back on, "Doctor, we can't hear you."
"I said- what are you going to do with him?" Kakuzu yelled louder this time, and Danzo grabbed the intercom.
"Kakuzu, you've interfered long enough! Your presence will not be missed at this asylum! You are not welcome here any longer! Guards, get him out now!"
'Green,' Kakuzu made a mental note of the color. He gripped onto the rail of the table and shook Hidan's chest. "Wake up!" Hidan's unconscious body could've been mistaken for lifeless.
The metal doors opened with a bang and ski-masked guards rolled Hidan out into the hallway before Kakuzu could get his bearings.
Kakuzu grabbed the nearest guard, slamming him, and a few others to the floor in a fit of rage. He pushed patients and staff out of the way as he barged through the hall; finally making his way to the front of the pack. He yanked the ski-mask off the tallest guard and punched the man square in the nose.
"Kakuzu get a fucking hold of yourself!" Kisame pushed Kakuzu away, and continued to run down the hall with Hidan. Kisame just about made it to the idle exit at the back of the building when Kakuzu rushed at him, and shoved the larger blue man against the stone wall.
"Kisame! What do you think you're doing? I'll beat you into the ground for this-"
Kisame pushed the table towards Kakuzu; pinning him against the opposite wall. "Kakuzu! I'm trying to get him out!"
"What?" Kakuzu breathed heavily.
"Mei's got an ambulance waiting for us, but we don't have a lot of time, so are you coming or going?"
"Nobody told me anything," Kakuzu grunted.
"It wasn't exactly a planned ordeal," Kisame huffed, and pulled Hidan's table off of Kakuzu, "We have to go now though."
"Fine," Kakuzu nodded and together the two used their backs to heave open the heavy metal basement doors. Kakuzu tried to lift the table through the exit, but it was too awkward to fit through the hatch.
"You're gonna have to unstrap him. I'll carry him out," Kisame said.
Kakuzu freed Hidan from the bed and lifted him up to Kisame; who grabbed Hidan's arms and pulled him out the rest of the way. Kisame laid Hidan down on the wet grass and gave Kakuzu a hand up.
"Let's go," Kakuzu said. Kisame hauled Hidan over his shoulder, but when the large man took a step he winced almost dropping the living cargo.
"Shit." Kisame put Hidan down and bent over to inspect his ankle.
"What's wrong?"
"Not all the guards we're okay with taking him," Kisame winced, "and one tackled me down some stairs."
"Can you still walk?"
"Yeah. It's not a problem," he went to pick Hidan up again, but stumbled down on his first step, so Kakuzu stopped him.
"It's too much weight on your ankle. I'll carry him." Kakuzu tried to haul Hidan over his shoulder, but it was too awkward and opted instead to carry the muscular man bridal style.
"You good?" Kisame asked.
"I'm fine. Just lead the way."
The two slipped through the entrance gate and quickly disappeared into the woods. They jogged through brush, mud, and over rocks until they made it to the road. Kisame flashed his light twice into the darkness and a vehicle belted to life on the opposite side of the road. Lights silhouetted the men as they ran around the truck to the back. Once the back door closed the ambulance took off and Kakuzu laid Hidan down on the bench; strapping him in so he didn't roll off.
"How many of the guards turned against you?" Kakuzu asked.
"Most of them. Danzo fired most of my original team, and replaced them with his goons," Kisame found a compression bandage and started wrapping his ankle, "I got the order to have a small security team on standby near the operating theater. I had a bad feeling, so instead of sending someone else, I went with the team."
"How did you know I was in there?"
"I didn't. Mei was with the two that hauled Hidan in, and just… with the things that have been happening… that those people have been doing to the residents. I didn't believe it until I saw it for myself."
"What are you talking about?"
"I guessed they'd try to keep it as far away from you as possible," Kisame gave a sarcastic snort, "Orochimaru was calling guards at all hours of the night to pick up residents from medical, and I finally went myself to see what was going on. Kakuzu, they're all but killing residents, and I wouldn't even be surprised if we did a head count of everyone and found we were missing some. The resident I picked up looked like she'd been beat half to death."
Kakuzu huffed, "This is why Tsunade got rid of Danzo in the first place."
"Mei called me on the walkie before I came down tonight and we took it from there. I didn't think we'd make it," Kisame winced as he rested his foot on the bench, "but you didn't make it a walk in the park either." He banged on the truck wall and the partition opened to reveal Mei driving the ambulance.
"A little slow on time for your taste don't you think, Kisame?"
"Yeah, well, I had to fight off most of the guards and then this guy, but good thing he ran after me because there was no way I was getting Hidan out of there with this." He motioned to his now swollen ankle.
"Where are we going?" Kakuzu asked. Kisame popped his tongue and looked at Mei.
"We can't go to my place. It's right in the city," She said.
"Fuck. Maybe we can-" Kisame started but Kakuzu cut him off,
"We can bring him to my cabin," he swallowed, "It's far away enough and Danzo doesn't know where it is. I think."
"Is that the best we got?" Mei said.
"Yes. It is." Kakuzu answered.
"Alright. Let's get this bad boy hidden away."
It was a good hour to Kakuzu's cabin. Trying to maneuver a large ambulance along a small dirt road was apparently harder than it sounded according to Mei.
"What happens now?" Kisame tsked his tongue.
"We hide until morning," Kakuzu said.
"And then what?"
"I have to get Fuu out."
Kisame put a hand on Kakuzu's shoulder, "Okay. We'll try."
Kakuzu shrugged him off, "I do it myself if I have to."
"Kakuzu, I know what happened tonight, but we can't just barge in there and steal her away."
"We're not stealing her! We're rescuing her!" Kakuzu roared.
"Okay," Kisame put his hands up.
"What about the other residents?" Mei asked.
Kakuzu scowled. "We'll get evidence about the conditions they're living in, and bring it to the board."
"And if that doesn't work?" She asked.
"We'll bring it to the people," Kakuzu said.
"Risky. I like it," Mei winked, "but…" she looked at Hidan, "even the people aren't going to let Hidan get out of this one easily. They want him dead just as much as Danzo does."
"The only reason Danzo wants him dead is because the people want him dead," Kakuzu muttered. He turnen to Mei, "I need you to get something for me."
"What?"
"Tonight we did a hypnosis session on Hidan and he confessed to never killing anyone.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Kisame said, "He didn't kill anybody!"
"Well… he might have killed someone, but it seemed to be in self defense."
"Holy shit! Is hypnosis therapy even real though? Can we trust what Hidan said?"
"Yes. It's real, but Mei I need you to get the recording tapes. Everything in the theater is recorded onto a computer file."
"They could've deleted it! That brat, Kabuto, wiped security footage from the past two weeks!" Kisame said.
"Maybe, but I know there's a second recording system that hooks up to a stereo. It's rigged to the entire room. I doubt anyone even remembers it except Danzo. The only reason I knew it was recording was because I saw the green light flashing on the loudspeaker."
"What are the chances there's even a tape in that old thing though?"
"Kakuzu's right. We have to try." Mei said.
"This is insane. Are you serious?" Kisame asked.
"Yes. I'm serious," Kakuzu said, "You two can stay here for the night. I'm going to try to call Tsunade in the morning. She might be able to help somehow."
"Yeah, we're kinda fucked," Kisame said, "What if we tried the police? I have some buddies on the force. I'd have to run a pitch by you though because I don't know if they'd even listen to me..." Kisame sighed and put a hand on Kakuzu's shoulder, "I'm going to be honest. You look like hell. Get some sleep. Mei and I will think of something, and we'll regroup in the morning."
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes, but his shoulders quickly dropped in surrender. "Fine. The couch pulls out into a bed."
"Thanks and goodnight, Kakuzu," Mei said with a wink, "Don't get too frisky with Hidan. Remember he's still unconscious."
Kakuzu rolled his eyes and retreated to the bedroom. The second he sat on the bed exhaustion flooded his muscles. The adrenaline was starting to waver and he desperately wanted to sleep. He looked at Hidan, and reached a hand out to stroke his hair.
' It's so soft…' Kakuzu thought, 'What are we going to do… Fuu is still in there... The only way to get to the end of this is through it.' Kakuzu, against his better judgement, leaned forward and nudged his nose into Hidan's hair. 'Is it possible for someone who's been dragged through the mud to smell so nice?' Kakuzu walked to the opposite side of the bed and slid under the comforter. He ran his hands down his face, and took a deep breath. 'He's going to be put through the ringer again if we go through with trying to prove his innocence. If it's even possible…' Kakuzu felt Hidan's body heat and found himself turning towards it. It was unbearable to be so close to Hidan, to have Hidan right where he wanted him, but not be able to touch him. Kakuzu's eyes drifted closed, and the somber man slowly drifted to sleep; unconsciously wrapping his arm around Hidan's torso, and burrowing his nose into the younger man's hair.
