:D

-Chapter 5

-Hidan-

Three hours after that bitch puked on him and his skin still itched. He had scrubbed and scrubbed in a freshwater stream for damn near twenty minutes and still felt filthy. It was strange really, a man so accustomed to gore and the failing bodily functions that went with it and yet he couldn't stand being dirty. It had gotten worse - so much worse - after being buried alive for so long. He always had phantoms creeping across his skin. Crawling down his back, his hands, into his eyes. He would wake up from a restless sleep slapping at his skin to kill an insect that wasn't really there. And Jashin help him if there actually was a bug on him. His heartbeat would fill his throat, the constricting muscles would tighten with every frantic beat until he couldn't breathe. He'd rip his clothes off and submerge himself in the closest body of clean water and then inspect every thread of his clothing before putting it back on. It was never easy biting back the hysterical screams and sobs that wanted to wrench free from a chest that was already so tightened with anxiety it felt like a gentle tap could shatter it completely. But he managed. He had no choice. The last time he had given in it had left him practically comatose, drooling onto the floor in the fetal position. He had mentally snapped, only a few weeks into his freedom, and still to this day was unsure how he had managed to regain his sanity.

The only reasoning he could come up with was that he had a goal. A goal that he had to fulfill not just for himself, but also the partner whom relied on him. He had been freed by Kakuzu, and had some twisted sense of honor-bound duty to revive the man and seek revenge. It was the only reason he could think of that had enough power to make him scrape himself off the temple floor that day. In a way it was just one more debt he owed the old bastard, though he'd never admit it aloud. By focusing on reviving Kakuzu he was able to drown himself in his religion and his experiments until he was almost free of the anxiety, anxiousness, and paranoia. He had finally gotten to a point where he could ignore it and pick up where he had left off to finally give himself some feelings of urge to kill in the name of Jashin was only something he did to find some familiarity in his routine at this point.

His mind wandered back to the elderly couple they had stumbled upon earlier that day. Unlucky bastards happened to be gathering herbs or some shit. They had seen the blonde hanging limply between the two and Kakuzu had only had to give him a look to know he was free to rampage. In the end their elderly frail bodies couldn't even begin to put up with the torture he had tried to dish out, and it left him incredibly dissatisfied. He tried to convince himself that it was just because they were old, that they died too quickly for him to truly enjoy it, or that they didn't even give him a decent fight. Ultimately, every kill he had made since Kakuzu had pulled him out of the ground had felt the same. The thrill wasn't there anymore. The satisfaction was almost non-existent. He felt empty, and craved that something that would finally appease him.

He turned his head, glancing back over his shoulder at his partner, or more pointedly the purple covered ass right next to his partner's face. They had both decided after watching her analyze their surroundings almost constantly that it would be better to knock her out as often as possible when they were moving. On the off chance she did manage an escape, they wanted to maintain the upper hand by knowing the area better than she did. Hidan had to give the bitch credit, he had never expected that the annoying little brat would ever become so revered by so many. Her knowledge and skill in her field was rival to none, and there were no villages in the world with any advancements in modern medicine that didn't at the very least know of her work, if not the woman herself. Surprisingly, she had been the easiest - other than Naruto Uzumaki - to gain information on. He also had to give her credit because he was coming to grudgingly accept that her ass was fine with a capital 'F'. He smirked, forgetting that Kakuzu could see him.

"Problem?" the old man's eyes pierced his accusingly.

Hidan felt heat rise in his cheeks at being caught, the feeling was quickly followed by annoyance. "No," he spat, "Just praying to Jashin that whoever this buyer is will give that slut what she deserves." He focused his eyes forward and clenched his fists, he could practically feel Kakuzu rolling his eyes and it irked him. "I still don't understand how you aren't just as Hell bent as I am about this. How you could ever consider getting money for her over enjoying her heart beating in your body after what she helped do to us."

A long silence stretched between them. He assumed that Kakuzu, being Kakuzu, would just ignore him completely and avoid answering. "I died, you didn't." Hidan nearly tripped over himself when the man finally spoke.

"The fuck do you mean?" He demanded as he craned his neck once more to examine what he could of the other man's face.

"They finished me off. Fair is fair. They got lucky, but they did what their job told them to do. I did mine too, see the mission through or die, that was our job. I didn't have to sit and stew in a hole for who knows how long with nothing to do but think about it."

Hidan faced forward again without a response to give. His heart pounded in his chest like he was beginning to have a panic attack. He swallowed thickly as Kakuzu's words tore him apart with flawless accuracy. They also gave way to far worse thoughts: was Kakuzu really in this to the end? Would he give up if things became too difficult because he didn't have enough fire for vengeance that it wouldn't be worth the risk? Would the older man abandon him because he grew bored with the hunt? Hidan pinched his eyes shut, and shook his head, he had to trust Kakuzu. He trusted the man more than he had ever trusted anyone, which honestly wasn't saying much, but he really did trust the man with his life. Yes, he had to trust Kakuzu at his word, and his word was that he would see revenge through to the end no matter what the cost. He turned his eye back of his shoulder and let out a crude snort, "Should we pull out the chaise doc? You suddenly playing therapist with me?"

"Shut up, Hidan."

Hidan smirked, but there was no mirth in his eyes. Calling Kakuzu a therapist wasn't too far from the truth. He was the only person, alive or dead, that had managed to keep him sane.

-Kakuzu-

His body was aching, his concentration was lost, and he decided he didn't feel like hearing more of Hidan's complaining. That was why he'd stopped to make camp for the night. But when Hidan had asked he glared at him and said, "I'm hungry."

He was eating his third fish when the woman began to stir beside him. He had dropped her on the ground with no care of how she landed, and judging by the way she was groaning, she didn't appreciate it. He let out an inaudible sigh as he braced himself for another exchange between he and the kunoichi. The silence had been pleasant while it lasted.

He reached one arm over and buried it in the back of her shirt once more, lifting her in once sharp and surprising tug to her knees. The sudden movement made her cry out, her large sapphire eyes glinting at him in the firelight as she squirmed uncomfortably. "Would you stop doing that!?" she shouted and he hid his wince. The bitch was louder than Hidan.

He went back to eating his fish without responding, ignoring her huffing and glares until his fish was down to bones and he was throwing the skewer into the fire. He held out a hand, signalling Hidan to give him another. "No way! You already ate three!"

"It's not for me," he began rubbing his temples to preemptively fight the headache that he knew was about to happen.

"Give her...are you...Hell no!" Hidan spluttered in disbelief. "I did not catch and cook these for - "

"-She can't starve!" he barked, thoroughly halting the Jashinist's arguments in his throat.

Hidan let out a string of curses as he picked a skewer beside the fire that had the smallest fish on it. He stomped in front of the blonde and shoved the skewer into the ground about a foot in front of her. "Eat it like the bitch you are!" he snarled at her before stomping back to his side of the fire. "I'm going to sleep!" he announced without looking back at the two of them.

Kakuzu watched him go with little empathy, he stood up and grabbed the last fish that Hidan had left abandoned and settled back down in his spot. His eyes flickered back to his captive and he had to hold back the urge to rub at his temples again. She was just glaring at the damn thing, not moving to eat it or anything. Wasn't she hungry? "Eat," he ordered.

"You are out of your mind if you think for one second I am going to degrade myself by eating that pathetic excuse of a fish off of that stick without my hands. I choose to starve!" the fire in her eyes was impressive, apparently she had regained some of the backbone she had been rumored to have. That was fine with him, he didn't mind breaking it again.

"You'll eat it or I'll feed it to you, choose that," his unwavering gaze made her flinch and he struggled to not roll his eyes at her. She was pathetic, this was too easy. But then her eyes hardened, resolute in her decision to defy him. Apparently she was calling his bluff. But he wasn't bluffing. He threw what remained of his own fish into the fire and grabbed the one in front of her.

"I'll bite your fingers off!" she threatened with wide horrified eyes.

"Well unless you swallow them I'll just sew them back on. Didn't take you for a cannibal though," He began tearing what meat he could off the bones of the fish without looking at her and completely unaffected by her threat.

"Ugh! You are disgusting!" she screeched and jerked away when he brought the torn fish to her lips. "No! No! Please...I'll eat it! Just please...undo this rope and let me eat with my own hands. Please?" Either the sound of her begging or the request she had made itself had Hidan appearing without warning at his shoulder.

"What do you think Hidan?" Kakuzu didn't know exactly why he asked. Maybe because he wanted to make sure that Hidan would be fine with chasing her back down if she tried to dart off. He couldn't after all, and while he didn't feel so weak that he worried about a battle with her, the Yamanaka's had always been known for their formidable mind jutsu techniques.

"She begs so pretty," the Jashinist took a step toward her and leaned his face down only inches from her own. "Do it again," he smiled at her and she seemed to explode with rage.

"Never you evil prick! So help me I will throw up on you again if you do not get away from me!"

Kakuzu sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes as the two began a shouting match filled with equal amounts of profanity and insults. Finally he had enough with the both of them and shot his hand forward as the woman had opened her mouth to continue her tirade. He shoved the fish into her mouth and was pleased when she gasped in horror and began spitting the food onto the ground. Hidan held his stomach as he doubled over in laughter. "Maybe she likes your fingers in her mouth Kakuzu. She was checking you out earlier after all." His words had the desired effect, the kunoichi was practically foaming at the mouth as she struggled against her bindings, probably trying to claw the Jashinist's eyes out.

Kakauzu had been well aware she had been 'checking him out' after she had regained her consciousness upon leaving the caves. He also knew that Hidan and himself both knew she hadn't been checking out his looks - at least not in an attraction kind of way. She had been sizing him up, trying to find a weakness or flaw that she could exploit later. Little did she know, he was ripe with weakness at the moment, just none of it was external.

"Lean forward," his words interrupted the two shouting again. Ino stared up at him in obvious distrust. "Do it," he snapped.

She bit her lip, and then slowly bent forward with her eyes closed tight. Kakuzu worked the rope free of one of her hands before tightening it on the other. He worked quickly so it wouldn't affect him too much, but the chakra leaching rope still made his skin crawl uncomfortably. He straightened himself and waited for her reaction.

"Thank you," the whisper came out while her eyes were still closed. Like she was still awaiting some sort of punishment from her captors.

"Eat," he ordered again, and handed her the skewer. She immediately brought the fish to her mouth and began to nibble at it, averting the gaze of her captors.

"Yeah of course you're thanking him!" Hidan huffed as he headed back to the other side of the fire. "I caught, gutted, and cooked those things. Ungrateful whore!"

"You like gutting things you sick-o! You didn't do me any favors!" she spat back.

"Enough!" Kakuzu shouted before Hidan could make a comeback and start another never ending argument. "I'm taking first watch! I'll wake you when it's your turn!" Hidan grumbled but fell back onto his sleeping pallet without any more hassle.

Ten minutes into blissful quiet the girl tossed the remains of her dinner into the fire and began casting him nervous glances. He ignored her as long as he could until she cleared her throat, tapping out an odd rhythm on her lap and searching the surrounding dark forest. "I have to pee." Her announcement made him scowl beneath his mask.

"Come on."

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I am going to be updating faster now I think. I don't promise, but I think. C: