AN: Honestly I'm not really sure what to call this. (And apparently neither does Kakuzu.) It's like some unholy mixture of (maybe)gen, (maybe)romance, and ANGST. Either way it was more of the concept that inspired me. Hope it proves at least vaguely interesting. :/

This is not love.

This is not romance, affection, caring, or anything else.

But you will not leave him and he will not leave you and that's what counts.

You are instinctively distrusting of people, standoffish, and cold, but not for any of the reasons that people expect.

Then again, you suppose that most people don't associate with immortals on a regular enough basis to form expectations.

The problem with being immortal, you've found, is not being immortal so much as the fact that everyone else isn't. No matter what they think of you, how much they claim to love you, or what they promise, in the end they will die and you will still be there. It's an exotic form of betrayal that you're not entirely sure makes sense, but you've grown so used to it that the question has become largely academic anyways.

So you don't think about it.

You count your money and hoard your gold and watch people sprout, bloom, and wither like transient flowers under your feet.

You don't think about it and convince yourself that it's their fault for being so damn weak anyways.

He's different.

Different as in loud.

Different as in impatient.

Different as in reckless, irritating, and devoted to a religion whose foundations are steeped in blood and built with corpses.

And he's immortal, which still seems so novel even now. Somehow the idea that you're not the only one watching souls slip through your fingers is inconceivable.

But he doesn't die, even if you kill him, stab him, beat him as you find yourself doing if for no other reason that to get him to shut up.

Yet he's become dear to you in a way that you don't understand and you hate it, you utterly hate it, because you gave up getting attached to people so long ago and you don't even enjoy his company.

And yet you always wait for him (when bloody rituals are required), you always stitch him back together (even on the rare occasions when you weren't the one who tore him apart), and you haven't yet gone to your leader to petition for a change in partners (even though you know you could convince him).

You find yourself protecting him and not wanting him to die, which is quite possibly one of the most ridiculous, ironic things you've ever done.

But you won't leave him and he won't leave you and that's what counts.

Because whether you like him or not, he's the only one who will, who can, in your bitter little happily forever after.