The morning dawned cold and a thin covering of frost decorated the once squalid streets below the window. Intricate patterns of ice sparkled from the glass – inside and out. The temperature within the room was well below freezing. Kakuzu sat upon the floor counting out the money they'd need for the day, across from him the dried blood laid all over the concrete tiles. He hadn't bothered to clean it up, it didn't matter anyway they'd be gone before anyone woke up.
Hidan was still entwined in sheets, wrapped up and tangled on the bed. Small drops of blood speckled the white linen and lingered in his silver hair. He was talking softly and Kakuzu stopped counting coins to listen intently.
"...Ku...wait..he-Jashin-sama I wasn't!" Hidan rolled over and a frown creased his handsome face. He fumbled for his rosary and woke with a start when he found it gone.
"You look almost like Kakashi in the morning" said Kakuzu laughing at Hidan's crazy bed hair. "Looking for this?" he held up the rosary and it shone in the feeble morning light.
"Give me that!" Hidan jumped from the bed and made an attempt to grab at the chain but his feet became entangled in the sheets once more and he fell to the ground. Kakuzu looked at the sprawled Jashinist and noted how he had already almost healed from the night before. The black stitching was coming undone leaving only sore marks where it had held him together. As he watched he heard a quiet sob and noticed Hidan was shaking. Slowly he got up and approached.
"Erm...Hidan?" he knelt down by his friend – his lover and pushed back his hair revealing bloodshot eyes and rivers of tears. "Hey – what's wrong?"
Suddenly Hidan rose and crawled close to the other man. Hanging his head he wrapped two pale almost bloodless arms round his shoulders and buried his head in Kakuzu's cloak. The stitch nin sighed and sat back, pulling Hidan into his lap and cradling him like a child. He slowly rocked him and gradually the racking sobs subsided leaving only faint sniffles.
"What was that about?" a confused Kakuzu asked of his partner as he peered into puffy purple eyes.
For a second it looked like a stream of curse words were about to tumble out of Hidan's mouth, but all that escaped was a quiet whimper.
"I feel so weak" he complained
"It's blood loss" Kakuzu explained, "we have to get some food into you before you black out. Come on, we'll get back hom – I mean, back to the hideout." He sat the priest down on the ruined bed and turned his back while Hidan slipped on his trousers and cloak, last of all adding his precious necklace which he didn't believe he'd ever taken off. He rose to stand and immediately his legs buckled, his vision swam and he collapsed to the floor. Except he never hit the ground, two strong arms caught him and lifted him just as the colour drained out of the world, and every sound blurred into muffled noises. Hidan blacked out.
The steady drip drip of rain and the rhythmic crunching of gravel lulled Hidan out of his sleep. Something was digging into his shoulder but nearby he could smell food. He opened his eyes but could see nothing, he was being bounced along by like a sack of potatoes. Gradually the past events of the night before came flying back to him. The hotel, the cold and...and the pain. He gasped as he realized what had happened between himself and Kakuzu, what would Kakuzu think of him now? He tried to raise his head but it felt so very heavy, he opened his eyes blearily and squinted out into the rain drenched afternoon. All he could make out was a simple dirt track leading into the distance and over the horizon. It looked a lot like the track they were walking the day before...before the pub...and ...and...the rest.
He looked down and saw Kakuzu was carrying him over his shoulder, that bastard! Couldn't even wait till he'd woken up! But then again the mission was probably more important. Leader would roast their asses if it wasn't done on time. Hidan raised his arms and tried to pummel Kakuzu into submission, the problem was he hardly had the strength to raise his own head let alone beat the stronger man up.
"Hidan, just stay still it's hard enough to carry you as it is!"
"Don't fucking carry me at all then, asshole!" Hidan tried to scream back in a voice full of righteous indignation, but all that came out was a weak croak.
"I'm trying to get us to the next village before we both die of hunger. Do me a favour and shut up!" Kakuzu turned his head and glared into those purple eyes.
"Kakuzu...i'm cold" Hidan whimpered and tweaked playfully at the stitches in Kakuzu's neck. Even though it was only the afternoon the sunlight was beginning to fade out and all the warmth in the world was disappearing into the wind, like the smoke from the far off chimneys.
A rock tumbled onto the road ahead and Kakuzu stopped dead. An ambush? Before the thought had even crossed his partner's mind, three bandits crept onto the road. Black clad and armed to the teeth they posed a considerable threat. Hidan slipped from Kakuzu's back and stood unsteadily on the ground next to him. They took up their favourite fighting stance and prepared for battle. Normally robbers like this would be easy prey, but still it was fun to fight. Their fighting style was unbeatable, they fought in perfect synchronization and their skills matched impeccably. The rain poured down Hidan's cloak and soaked his chest, the wet mud seeped into his shoes but he clung grimly to his scythe and waited for the bastard robbers to approach.
Before they'd got within 15 metres Hidan took one down with his scythe, it was pure luck but the three blades split him open nicely, there would be no blood lost over him. Least not Hidan's. The other two posed a more immediate problem, the rain made visibility almost zero, and the bandits stealth made them difficult to see. Kakuzu stuck by Hidan's side until they were almost upon them, then it all went wrong.
The bandits masks were ripped off, revealing beneath – konoha shenobi. One tall and burly, the other smaller and with a pointed expression. The two akatsuki faced them down for a split second before the real fighting began. Hidan broke off, swirling his scythe around and managing to place a tiny nick on his opponent's skin. The ninja man laughed, thinking he had dodged successfully, but what he didn't know was that Hidan only needed a tiny drop of his blood to finish him for good.
"Let the ritual commence!" screamed Hidan before licking the warm blood from his scythe, his excitement building with every fresh stab wound he inflicted upon himself- and therefore his enemy. Blood flowed openly, but within his precious symbol drawn on the ground, Hidan was all-powerful. The ninja quailed and writhed with the unexpected agony and the bitterness of defeat. He died long before Hidan even thought about using the pike to pierce his heart.
Kakuzu, however was having more difficulty. The butch Konoha ninja turned out to be a woman. Not that Kakuzu had a problem with killing women – he took town the two-tails after all-he just wasn't expecting her to be this agile. She dodged the majority of his attacks and he wasn't half tired. He knew he'd need Hidan's help and it killed him to admit it. While he was musing this, the stupid bitch-ninja aimed a catty fireball at him, it didn't even sting.
"Oy! Hidan!" he called over his stitched shoulder, "come kill a konoichi with me?"
"hell yeah!" came the smaller nin's voice from his right as he wielded his scythe with surprising power. They attacked together and with complete confidence. It wasn't long before Hidan was once again inside his circle stabbing to his hearts content.
"Come on hurry up with that!" Kakuzu complained after 10 long minutes of unnecessary suffering. The woman wasn't nearing death yet, she was a tough one but Kakuzu decided enough was enough.
"Seriously man, when i'm done i'm done, ok?" Hidan sighed as he dropped to the ground to grab his scythe.
Suddenly, when his back was turned the woman leapt from her position amongst the dust on the road and sprang on him. She collided with his neck and knocked him clean out of the symbol, they rolled together across the harsh ground, the pike fell out of Hidan's hand and the bitch started pounding at his head.
"Arrrghhh BITCH! Get her fucking off! Get off me you ho!" Hidan screamed and tried to fend her off.
Kakuzu jumped in and pulled her off his partner, only to have her turn on him. She was nearly as tall as him as well as being equal in size. She spun and began attacking him in close combat.
"Hidan now!" Kakuzu yelled. The silver haired nin picked himself up gingerly from the ground. He'd taken a terrible blow to the back of the head and staggered sideways a few times before he made it to the safety of his circle once more. The rain seemed to drop out of heaven like a hundred knives. He couldn't see anyone else, it was just him and the spear in his hand that would end the fight. He sighed, why did it always come to this?
He raised the deadly weapon and laid it against his chest, beneath that spot his heart beat rapidly as if knowing what would come next. With pinpoint accuracy Hidan pushed the metal in, screaming as it burrowed deeper.
Kakuzu knew what Hidan was doing as soon as the woman's grip on him lessened, her eyes grew wide and she looked down at herself. Blood was leaking out of her in rivers, she gave a shudder as her ribs cracked, another as her lungs burst with pressure. She looked despairingly up at the leaking clouds above and a single trickle of blood escaped her mouth. It was done. Kakuzu kicked the corpse in disgust and staggered through the downpour,
"Hidan?" he called out and caught sight of the pale Jashinist lying in a puddle not so far away.
Hidan rolled onto his back and let the pain wash over him. He'd killed that bitch for sure, but at his own expense. There was blood on his back, his chest and on his hands that he used to wipe his unsmiling mouth. A figure approached that he knew to be his partner, unsteadily he rose to his feet, but all too soon found himself going down again. He collided with Kakuzu's strong frame and his head hit the taller mans shoulder. He leaned into him, feeling the others stitched hands wrapping around him – supporting him. The rain continued to turn the track to mire, the blood washed away from both of them and soaked them to the skin.
Sometime later, two bedraggled missing nin entered the next sad and dilapidated village, paid for a single room and disappeared out of the rain. For once, Kakuzu paid for food. The rain never stopped pouring from the onyx skies, it was as if some colossal god was crying for the blood spilt out on the road. It wasn't Jashin, so Hidan didn't care.