Saw 'The Dark Knight' yesterday! Weird but oh so good. Heath Ledger was sooo creepy as the joker. O-o XD I don't think I should be typing this while listening to the Mamma Mia soundtrack… Oh well. Now, to end my ramblings, please enjoy!
Ch. 5
Kakuzu cursed. Hidan was out for the count. He dragged the unconscious immortal to his feet and put an arm around him for support. Before setting off, he observed the new mark on Hidan's neck, just below the teeth-marks. Three round, black spots, each with its own 'tail' sweeping out to join with the next dot, adorned his skin like a bizarre tattoo. Kakuzu sighed. It was definitely a curse mark. His partner was in for a tough time, even by his standards.
Kakuzu thought back on what had just happened. He had never heard Hidan cry out with anything less than pleasure where pain was concerned, but that yell after Orochimaru bit him…
That led to more questions. What in the world did Orochimaru want with Hidan? How did he know about him? How could he see enough potential in this Jashin fanatic to mark him with his curse? Was he trying to kill him off? Kakuzu scoffed.
He sincerely doubted anything that held only a 90 per cent chance of death for normal people would give Hidan any trouble.
But still… he started to walk, half dragging, half carrying his injured partner towards the village. On the way, his thoughts returned to Orochimaru. Seeing his dead followers lying in the field he had fought them in made Kakuzu wonder. Orochimaru must have considered getting Hidan worth sacrificing his subordinates' lives. But why?
Hidan moaned and tensed again. Glancing at him, Kakuzu wondered how long this would last.
Their hunt for the Gobi would have to wait. Anything that concerned Orochimaru and an Akatsuki member needed to be reported to the leader as soon as possible.
…
At that very moment, Orochimaru was launching himself away from the scene with speed. Kakuzu had managed to wound his arm, and he knew from the feeling that it must have been badly sprained, maybe fractured.
But that didn't matter. Arms healed, the curse mark on Hidan's neck would never go away. It would continuously eat away at his mind and body, for as long as he lived. Orochimaru had no doubt that the mind games had already begun.
He was curious to know if Hidan's strong faith would help him through the torment the mark must be inflicting. Orochimaru wasn't worried, of course. Smirking to himself, Orochimaru glanced back over his shoulder.
"I'll see you soon, Hidan-kun."
No one escaped him after they had been cursed.
…
The mind games had, as Orochimaru predicted, already begun. Hidan knew he must be dreaming , because there was no way in hell that such as strange, sparkling gold background existed in the real world. Whoever thought up this place had pretty bad taste.
He continued to stare up at the dream world in disbelief, wishing he would wake up before something weirder happened.
Waves of pain were still washing over him every so often, but he was growing accustomed to it. That damn snake… If he ever saw Orochimaru again, he'd rip him into little shreds and throw the shreds off the tallest thing in the immediate area. There was no way he'd taint himself by ingesting his blood. He'd rather d-
Hidan faltered. Something else had appeared in the dream world. He looked the figure up and down. It was a perfect copy of himself. Hidan cursed. Here comes the weird shit, right on time…
The figure was staring right back at him, familiar look of boredom on its face. Without warning, it spoke.
"Have you forgotten them?"
Hidan eyes widened. He gripped his scythe.
"I'd give you points for the decent physical imitation, but you don't talk like me at all. What the fuck are you talking about?"
In response, the figure flipped him off, with a very familiar look of contempt playing around his eyes.
"I fucking knew it, cold-hearted son of a bitch. All these years, we've been living, doing whatever Jashin asks-"
Hidan snapped at him.
"Hey! While you're in my head, you call him Jashin-sama, bastard."
The figure made yet another obscene gesture and continued.
"-you fucking forgot about the people you grew up with and loved. Shit, man. When's the last time you had an actual bond with someone? What kind of fucking life is that?"
Hidan wasn't expecting this, and his glare changed to an expression of surprise. A second later, he regained his composure.
"What the fuck do you know? You trying to get me angry? That won't work."
The figure stood back ands scoffed.
"Shows what you know. You don't recognise me either? I'm the voice in your head that you've been ignoring for half a fucking century."
The figure quickly moved back to his first point.
"Some life we have. This immortality thing is fucking joke, Hidan. Don't start denying you've wanted to die before, just to get this shit over with. Fuck, I bet you'd be thinking it right now if I wasn't here. Do you remember when you started thinking that?"
Hidan was getting angry. He didn't like the direction this conversation was going. He held his scythe at the ready.
"One more word, asshole, and we'll see how long it takes you to remember where your body parts went."
The figure laughed, the exact same laugh as Hidan's.
"You think you can hurt me with that? Go ahead, it won't shut me up."
Hidan scowled.
"My head, my rules."
The scythe hurtled towards the imposter. It sliced him clean in half, and he evapourated. Hidan breathed a sigh of relief. That bastard was getting way to talkative.
"-You started wishing you could die after everyone close to you left you behind!"
The voice came from behind him. Roaring, he spun, scythe cutting through thin air. He was getting too worked up. The voice would only goad him more, but he couldn't help it. He'd never wanted to shut something up this bad. The voice was toying with him, but he wasn't in the mood to play along. Just this once, he took Kakuzu's advice, and took a deep breath, willing himself to remain calm. He wouldn't let this shithead know he was getting to him, so he put up the most uncaring front he could think of. He looked up calmly, and ended the conversation in a single sentence.
"Shut the fuck up and get away from me."
But despite his efforts, the voice still wasn't deterred.
"And you know what?"
Hidan glared up at the air above him, where the voice was now coming from.
"You'll never get to see Jashin-sama, ever. Never get to hear him praise you for all your hard work. What a fucking shame, huh?"
Something snapped, and Hidan's bored expression darkened. The voice had hit a nerve.
Whether the voice had noticed this or not, Hidan didn't know or care. How did that son of a bitch know that would aggravate him?
"You know who else you'll never see?"
Then, the voice started naming people. Family, friends, lovers. Memories were flashing through Hidan's mind, and try as he might, he couldn't block them, or the voice out. His anger rose up, making him want to tear the place apart. In desperation, he covered his ears. He let out a yell, and maintained it until it drowned everything else out.
When his breath finally ran out, there was silence. Hidan was breathing heavily, and he felt warm, too warm.
A softer voice came from his right.
"You want to see them again, don't you?"
Hidan glanced at the speaker, himself again, but said nothing. The copy continued.
"There is a way..."
Hidan blinked and looked up properly.
"What? A way to what?"
The figure locked eyes with him.
"A way for you to join them, in death."
Hidan stared. Slowly, the figure brought a hand up to its eye. The fingers pulled at the skin below, revealing the socket and capillaries snaking round the white. Hidan gave a sharp intake of a breath - the skin had pulled away completely. The eye was no longer purple, it was gold, with a snake-like vertical pupil.
"I can give you your eternal rest."
.. .. ..
Done done. This chapter was a nightmare to write. I must have changed it about fity times! But it's done now, ;)
I have cousins staying over for the week and I have to entertain them... So no updates for a while. But thank you, everyone who reviewed so far! I'm glad people like this story and don't think the plot is the weirdest thing they've ever read... o.o; Byes! :D