From Kakuzu's P.O.V

I watched that silver haired Zealot drag himself to his feet. No matter what I did to him, he always managed to crawl back up with a grin plastered onto his mad face. How I hated and loved that grin. How I loved and hated every part of him, right down to his hidden feelings.

I was good at hiding my emotions, and I'd hidden them for a long time up till now. Mental pictures rushed through my brain as if in a hurry to remind me what a fool I'd been. A fool that sat back and did nothing as Hidan's heart rotted away for me underneath his dark cloak. How many tears had I seen spilled on his pillow every morning when I woke to find him gone? Every time I regretted what I'd let slip between my fingers, what I was too afraid to grasp.

I used to watch his rituals in the early mornings, grip the window pane in horror every time he fell with the pike embedded in that heart I longed for. I remember the cool wind blowing on the hot tears as they gushed down my face and soaked into my mask, the tears as I thought he had died after all. He never caught sight of me, never caught me watching him sleep. Sure I used the damn whores, but only to throw him off the scent, make him believe I wanted their filthy bodies more than his.

But now everything was revealed, and both of us had nothing more to hide, and nothing more to fear. Each was as nervous at revealing his feelings as the other.

I regretted throwing him at the wall now; he was so very delicate tonight. I just wanted to sweep him up in my arms, ok maybe not that far. I realized I was staring...and rambling.

"Stop looking at me like that-" he began, then realized that's how this whole thing had started. He laughed his gurgling laugh and leaned back against the wall. Completely submitting.

"Fuck it already!" he sighed.

I stood away from him in the middle of the room. He was almost naked, covered in filth and blood and with massive injuries plain to see, but how I longed to touch him, to feel and caress what could be mine. I took a shaky step forward and a look of confusion flickered on his handsome face for a moment.

"Kakuzu, no not tonight" he pleaded with a look of real fear in his violet eyes. I could see why, he'd had enough pain for one day without having me to deal with; hell he'd even missed his rituals. Without a word I sent out some tentacles and began the tedious task of stitching him back together, mending the wounds and sewing his tormented body back over his bones. I worked quickly seeing as he wasn't enjoying this like usual. Something weird was up tonight. As I sewed my mind flew back to a dream I'd had a few nights ago, a dream a lot like this...

A scream, a scream and a flash of odd coloured skin...my skin...my hands. My hands gripping the shoulders of another man, a man in front of me with few muscles and unbelievable strength. Clothes...where were my clothes?

Another scream and I looked down, Hidan and I were entwined on my bed, moonlight streaming in through an open window. The midnight breeze chilled the sweat on my skin and made me shiver. Only a dream but it felt so real. Hidan was cursing at me and passion was burning through my veins.

"F fuck you, you b bastard" came his gasping reply from beneath me, I leaned over him as he crouched on his hands and knees and I whispered into his ear

"incorrect, it is you who's being fucked" I bit down on his earlobe and blood trickled down the side of his neck hot and red. Loud moans and curses escaped my partner's mouth and I linked my hands around his delicate neck, pushing on his windpipe.

"Make it...hurt" he whined in pure pleasure.

"No worries" I gripped him ever harder and changed rhythm. I was about to, about to...

"Kakuzu! You freakshow!"

I was brought crashing back to the present with a rude outburst from that cursed Jashinist. I blinked and glared at him, amazed his was still awake.

"Kakuzu, ah you make me sick!"

Oh god no. No no no. I glanced down and saw that fantasy had been a little too real. Real enough to get me hard, and give him weird thoughts. Before he could add anything more to his long list of insults I shifted away from him and got up. Yeah, I'd got it quite bad. With one embarrassed shifty look I took off through the torture room door leaving him half-stitched on the cold floor.

"Get back here you retard!" he screamed, "we're not done yet, fuckface!" He then proceeded to use every single swearword he knew, I mean every one. I stood outside listening for a while, some of those were old. Created by dirty bastards of centauries past, of course being immortal we knew these things. After he ran out of swearwords in our language he moved on to the obscure speech which he prayed in. I didn't believe Hidan would sink this low. Swearing and cussing like that in the same language he used to talk to his god?

With a chuckle I left him to it, and continued up to my cosy bedroom assured of a sound nights sleep now I didn't have to share it with him.

breakyline

I awoke with a yell. Something was beating me over the head with such force I thought my skull would crack. I opened my bleary eyes and saw Hidan with an angry look in his bright eyes. He was poking at me with the blunt end of his scythe, desperate to wake me up.

"Leader says downstairs in 10 minutes" he said then walked out.

He didn't say a word about last night, and there was a weird atmosphere between the two of us, once I was sure he'd gone, I got up and threw my crumpled cloak around my shoulders. I walked quietly down the dripping stone passages and down many flights of stairs. It was dark and I could faintly hear the sound of a waterfall in another part of the cave, it was like a labyrinth down here which worked to our advantage. Any trespassers or spies would get lost and die before they found anything of value here, or they'd get eaten by Zetsu of course.

I was the last to enter the crammed room we used for meetings and everyone had already found seats. Sasori and Tobi sat together on the back of a sofa, Pein and Konan were snuggled in the love seat, for some reason Itachi had claimed the inflatable arm chair we got for Christmas last year from Orochimaru, Kisame was lurking nearby still standing up. He didn't appear to want to sit down which made me wonder what him and his partner got up to last night. I glanced around looking for Hidan and saw him sprawled over the couch taking up all the space. He saw me looking.

"Get your own chair fucktard!" came his reply. Leaning up against his sofa was Frio, huddled on the floor with her white hair covering most of her face. I glared at her, to me she represented competition. I suspected Hidan had a thing for her.

I looked for Deidara, at least he wouldn't mind me sitting with him, however he was no where to be seen. In despair I perched uncomfortably on the stupid deckchair that always broke, wondering why on earth I was here. After a pause the leader began,

"Do you guys know what day it is today?" the ginger haired man asked.

"Sasuke-kun's birthday!" squealed Itachi as he jumped to his feet. Finally it seemed he'd snapped.

"Hey you idiots it's the start of the advent of Jashin! God, how could you not know that?"

"It's Playtime for Tobi?"

"..." said Kisame

"I would ask if it's the day my make up arrives, but since Deidara blew up the Avon lady..."

"Hey isn't it the day we kill random blokes for fun? Oh wait we do that every day..." said Sasori

"Hiss" said Orochimaru

"How the hell did you get in here?" screamed Hidan pulling out his scythe

At that moment Deidara appeared running as fast as he could away from the kitchen.

"I'm sorry leader-sama I didn't mean to, but I had to find out what would happen if my clay got hot and..." his voice trailed away as a wailing screeching sound came from the kitchen.

"Micro waved clay" said Deidara with a smile on his face as he made the hand seal.

"NO!"

"RUN!!!!!"

"YOU BLOODY IDIOT I'M GON-"

BANG

As the akatsuki flew through the air and landed in various awkward positions nobody realized what day it was today. It was December 20th, 5 days before the most hilarious Christmas ever.