You are all so good to me. Please continue to be that way! I hope I don't disappoint.

I re-read chapter 6 and was like, wtf weird errors?

I'll get around to fixing them….

One day….

..

-Chapter 7-

-Ino-

"Ugh, dammit! This is impossible!" Ino slapped the leaves of a low hanging branch out of her face. "You really suck at this!" So far on their little hunting trip she had managed to get numerous scrapes and bruises, her foot stuck in a tree's gnarled roots, and a giant rip in one of her net stockings. They hadn't even spotted one animal! Not one!

"How about this?" Hidan twisted around a tree and was suddenly pushing a bright green snake toward her face.

Ino screamed and fell backwards, crab walking away as his maniacal laughter filled her head. "You are such a jerk!" she screeched. She cursed when her hand scraped over a rock - just one more cut amongst a thousand others at this point. She gripped the rock before her better judgment could take over and flung it at him. She smiled in satisfaction when she heard him yowl. "Ah!" her eyes widened when he stormed over to her, rubbing at his nose before using his free hand to drop down onto her head.

"Get off!" She screeched even as his fingers wound tighter in her hair. She flailed her legs as he pulled her to her feet and gripped at his wrist and hand. When she failed to pry his hand off of her hair she she focused on a different method. She took a deep breath and aimed a kick at his shin.

"Ow!" he released her to grip his shin. His hopping around made her snort. "You bitch!" his eyes were fierce and Ino ran when he reached for her.

At first she had planned on stopping just a little out of his reach, but then she realized what she was doing. She was running...It was stupid - so so unbelievably stupid but she couldn't bring herself to stop. She was running from Hidan - a fit shinobi of the highest level. She was no better than a regular civilian with her chakra bound as it was! Not to mention she had no idea of even where she was! "Oh dammit!" She bit out and jumped over a root, pushing herself to move even faster - what other opportunity was she going to get?

She began tugging at the knots of the rope as she ran. If she could get this damn thing off she'd be able to use her chakra and actually possibly start covering some real ground. She could hear the bastard on her heels, was he just playing with her right now? She had no time to celebrate when she got the first knot undone. She heard him curse behind her and brought the rope to her mouth, frantically pulling at the next knot with her teeth. Hope blossomed when the knot gave, and then diminished once more as she felt for the next knot. She sent up a prayer and began sinking her teeth into it. Fingers brushed along her shoulder and she screamed, zig-zagging to get out of his reach. Twice more he reached out to touch her, and now she knew he was just playing with her - he had to be! There was no way she could run faster than him, even if he hadn't been using chakra.

Her eyes scanned the forest frantically and she held her breath at the sunlight that began to filter through the trees to her right. Thinning trees meant they were coming to the edge of the forest. That could either go very badly for her or be her one possible chance at escape. If it opened to an empty field then she had no hope of running anymore. She wouldn't have any trees to dart behind, no rough terrain for him to have to navigate through to get to her. But if it opened to a village or city, she could scream for help and possibly get some reinforcements of the ninja kind. It was a gamble, but a gamble she had to make. She abruptly changed direction and darted for the light. Her lungs were burning and her legs were shaking, but she was on the last knot, the treeline was looming ever closer, and Hidan hadn't caught her yet!

She burst through the trees at the same time an arm hooked around her center. She screamed as two terrifying realities hit her at once. The first, was that Hidan had finally caught her. The second, was that he had not caught her tightly enough, and her momentum was now pulling them both over the edge of a cliff into an unbelievably deep canyon.

At least she knew where she was now. Only Earth Country had canyons like these.

"Oh shit!" she heard him curse as they both cleared the ledge. He reached out and tried to grab the ledge but missed. Dirt and rock slid between his fingers as they continued dropping.

She closed her eyes, holding her breath as she was left to wonder: was it really going to end like this? A grunt was wrenched from her throat when she came to an abrupt halt. The force of gravity pushed her stomach into his forearm, forcing the wind from her lungs and making her wince in pain. Her eyes opened and she found her breath. She screamed, then screamed again, then screamed and began kicking her legs as she flailed in panic. She wasn't exactly thinking clearly as she stared into her imminent death about 40 stories below.

"Stop fucking squirming!" the strain in Hidan's voice made her finally calm enough to think sanely. She twisted her head to the side and fought the stupid urge to struggle. Hidan had one hand clinging to a small ledge in the side of the canyon. His face showed the obvious effort it was taking to hold them both as his gaze kept switching from looking up toward the cliff edge and down to the hard ground below.

Tears filled her eyes as her ridiculous situation hit home. She thought of her friends, her family, her colleagues and acquaintances. She thought of this whole stupid kidnapping so far, how hard she had fought to achieve everything she had accomplished in her lifetime. She was going to lose it all, trying to escape from her most hated enemy. Being faced with death had a way of clarifying things. Ino Yamanaka did not want to die. "Pull us up! Pull us up!" she begged through a choking sob.

"You think I'm just hanging here enjoying the fucking view!?" He spat through gritted teeth, "Take off the damn rope, I need you to be able to help if we're going to get out of this and you're starting to drain my chakra!"

At first Ino's scattered mind had no idea what he was talking about. She almost asked him what he meant until her eyes dropped onto the hand that was now clutching against his forearm. She gasped and jerked it off of his arm. If she drained him of his chakra she was certain to kill them both! She brought the rope to her teeth and began tugging frantically at it.

"Hurry up!" Ino whimpered at the panic in his voice as she continued gnawing at it. She gasped when the rope was suddenly loose enough on her wrist for her to shake her arm free. She couldn't help the hysterical laugh that tumbled from her mouth as she watched it twist and tumble toward the ground below. Almost immediately her body began to sing with chakra. At first it was just a slow trickle as it coursed through empty paths, and then she began feeling almost normal as her chakra made its way throughout her body. "Now what?" she asked as she clenched and unclenched her fist, the other was still clinging tightly to his forearm.

"You need to figure out a way to climb up enough to get a hold of this ledge!" she nodded, but was unsure how she could manage it without falling to her death. Hidan must have seen her hesitation because he was cursing up a storm. "I'm going to pull you up to my chest, put your arms around my neck so you're facing me!"

She clutched at his arm with both hands as he lifted her with the one arm. She wrapped one arm around his neck and realized with a terrible sinking feeling that he would have to let go of her briefly for her to twist around enough to reach her other arm around him. She took a deep breath and tensed to move, but ended up clutching the arm around her waist tighter. "I can't! I can't!" her tears started anew as she sobbed. "I'm going to fall!"

"The fuck you mean!? Figure that shit out bitch or we're both going to fall!" His shouting only made her cry harder, pinching her eyes shut as the arm around his neck gripped him tighter. He let out a frustrated growl before taking a deep breath. "Look!" he heaved another breath. "Look at me, look at me!" she turned her head to meet his gaze as she hiccuped and sniffed. His purple eyes were calm, they bored into hers and she swallowed, trying to calm down. "I'm not going to let you fall. Now reach your other arm around my neck, you have to turn around."

Ino gasped in breaths of air as she glanced down at the ground below once more. "You promise you won't? Swear on your God!" she demanded.

"I swear to Jashin I won't let you fall!" he snapped, his patience once again wearing thin as the strain lines settled back on his face. "Hurry up!"

Ino pinched her eyes shut and nodded frantically. "Okay! Okay! One..Two.." on three she reached out, swinging her body around and hooking her other arm around his neck as she wrapped her legs around his hips. His arm loosening in that moment had sent her heart once more into her throat, pounding so quickly she thought it would explode. She hid her face in his neck to hide the view of the ground below and sobbed as his hand cupped her rear end, pushing her upward.

"Climb up! You have to get a grip on that ledge," the panic in his voice was plain as he frantically began pushing her upwards.

She sniffed and looked upwards to where his hand clutched at the rock. The muscles in his arm were taught, and his fingers were now all that held them to the rock face. "Okay! I'm moving!" she took a deep breath and began shimmying her way up his body. With her legs at his armpits she began reaching. "I can't get it! It's too far! Can you give me a bigger push?"

She looked down, he struggled to tilt his head backward to get a view of where she could reach. His chin landed between her breasts and he frowned as his sweat rolled down his temples. "Can you get your legs over my shoulders?" at her panicked look he gnashed his teeth together, "I'll keep you steady! Just do it!"

"I'll try!" she heaved a breath before placing one hand on his shoulder and the other wrapped around the back of his neck. She loosened the grip of one leg and slowly began trying to hook it over his shoulder. His hand at the small of her back kept her brave, and she lifted the second a bit more gingerly. The last thing either of them needed was to cause him to lose his grip because she bumped his shoulder too hard. She sighed in relief when she managed the second and looked down at him again for assurance. She immediately felt heat filling her face. "This is so embarrassing!" she whined as she began reaching for the ledge with his face nestled snugly against her womanhood. "I'm so sorry I'm shoving my vagina in your face right now!" She watched his hand slip on the ledge below and stretched her fingers higher, only a fingertip too short. She yelped when his hand pushed firmly against her bottom, giving her just enough lift to grasp the ledge with both hands. "I got it!"

"I'm going to twist around, push off the rock with your feet to give me space!" Hidan instructed, ignoring her moment of lunacy.

"Okay!" she did as he asked, trying to disentangle herself from him. Her heart did a funny drop before traveling back into it's new home in her throat. Hidan was no longer holding her, with one firm kick she could send him flying until his body went SPLAT on the earth below. But her mind went back to those dark purple eyes and the way they had willed her to be calm. The way he reassured her that she'd be fine and he wouldn't let go...She bit her lip and cursed herself for not being stronger. Shikamaru and Chouji would have dropped him on the spot, regardless of what he did to help them, right? It was a weakness to feel like she owed him after everything that he had done. She felt him shift and watched him take a deep breath before pushing off the rock. She held her breath as his body twisted around, both hands grasping the ledge.

She felt her breath come out in a relieved gust when he grinned at her. "Well that's a little better. Who knew you were so heav - Ah!" She screamed when the rock beneath his fingers crumbled. She shot her hand out without thinking, grasping his tightly to stop him from swinging. She swallowed as she realized they were now both only hanging by one handed grips.

"You just had to makes jokes!" she snarled at him. "Now what!?"

"Now you let go."

The rough voice from above had Ino craning her neck in disbelief. Kakuzu sighed, staring down at them with an obviously annoyed frown. He had left his mask off, and the glasgow smile couldn't hide the downward point to the corners of his mouth. His threads were suddenly bursting from beneath his skin, coursing downward to wrap around the two of them. "Let go," he snapped at them as they continued to cling to the ledge.

Hidan and Ino released their grips simultaneously, the strings pulled them upward until their feet were safely on the ground once more. Ino collapsed to her knees, sobs wracking her body as the terror and adrenaline began to pass. She jumped when there was a thump beside her. Hidan had laid out flat on his back, a wild grin on his face. "How can you be smiling right now!?" She demanded in disbelief, giving his chest a thump with a clenched fist when he started laughing.

"What the hell woman! Look at Kakuzu!" Hidan held his hands out as he gestured to the other man.

Ino blinked in surprise before turning her gaze to their savior. His eyes pierced her like they always did, sending shivers down her spine with their intensity. At first she wasn't sure what he meant, his skin exposed as it was looked like it had more color, he seemed more alert, just healthier altogether. Her eyes trailed down from his face and a laugh escaped her throat. "Of course!" she fell back onto the ground beside Hidan as they accompanied each other in laughter. Her body shook with over exertion and weakness, she was shocked she could even draw in enough air to laugh at all. But how could she not laugh? Kakuzu had a string of three rabbits around his neck.

-Kakuzu-

Kakuzu rose an eyebrow as he took in the odd sight before him. He had been gone for less than two hours and somehow these two idiots had managed to land themselves in mortal danger. At least mortal for the girl, if Hidan had fallen he'd be writhing in pain for a while, but ultimately would heal up girl would have ended up as nothing more than a bloody meat pile on the canyon floor.

He had heard her screaming on his way back from disposing of the two now heart-less bodies. Conveniently only a few kilometers up the canyon, where it had been narrow enough to fit the bodies through without fear of immediate discovery. He had been shocked to find them both dangling precariously from a ledge no wider than his own fist. Saving them had been easy enough at least. It seemed the new hearts had done the trick.

"Let's get back to camp. You'll have to explain this to me on the way," he got an odd sense of pleasure when their laughter died abruptly.

"She got the rope off, in case you haven't noticed," Hidan said as he sat up with a groan.

The girl stiffened under his gaze as he took in her bare wrists. He nodded, "I noticed. It doesn't matter anymore." Hidan stared at him for a long moment as he deciphered those words.

"So it went well?" The silver haired man was obviously struggling to word it so he wouldn't reveal anything.

"Yes, very well." Kakuzu smirked and stepped closer to the girl who still lay flat on the ground. "Can you get up?"

She flushed and then shook her head. "I don't think so," she admitted. Kakuzu sighed and reached to grab the cord at his neck that held the rabbits and threw them at his partner. He stooped down and scooped her up, she hissed in his ear in pain at his sudden jostling of her sore limbs. He ignored it and stood up, his hold loose enough that she must have thought he was going to drop her - he was judging by how fast her arms had snaked around his neck. "Use mystical palm on yourself. You have your chakra back, remember?" Even as he said it his eyes conveyed his unspoken warning as they bored sown into hers. She was to use her healing techniques and only her healing techniques. She lost the staring contest and nodded in resignation. "So what happened?" He had his suspicions, but wanted them confirmed.

"She ran, I caught her." Hidan shrugged as he began moving in the general direction of their abandoned camp site.

"And what a good job you did of that," Kakuzu snarked, observing the girl who's hands were now glowing with healing chakra before setting off after the younger man. "When you're done, you're going to heal Hidan," her eyes widened and darted to the Jashinist. "It's your fault he blew out his shoulder." His partner grimaced, throwing a glare over his shoulder as he realized his tough act was blown. Kakuzu was old but he wasn't senile. Hidan may have been trying to hide his injury, but with the way his arm was hanging it was painfully obvious.

When they reached camp again he dumped the girl onto a felled tree and set to work skinning the rabbits. It was a much easier task now that his threads were fully cooperating. His body was thrumming with his chakra. For the first time since he had been revived he felt normal. He wanted to collect more hearts, and with his strength back he finally had the confidence to go ANBU hunting. He smiled to himself, they'd have to make a few more stops on the way to his prisoner's drop off.

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So all you fans should either consider yourselves lucky or unlucky depending on how you see your glass. You see, I was going to post this sooner, however the servers were down so I couldn't(unlucky). But, because of this, I decided to type out some more. I had originally only planned an Ino chapter, and you got Ino and Kakuzu(lucky)! Hurrah!

I find my biggest weakness when writing fanfics is that I am so excited to get to the juicy parts that I rush through all the build up. I mean honestly I want to get to the end so badly I wish I could just skip all this nonsense, but then what kind of story would I have? A BAD ONE, that's what!

I hope this is enough to keep you all smiling and waiting for more! Reviews are always wonderful and welcome, and as for the reviewer who was worried I'd take offense to being called out on making some errors - NO WAY! It doesn't bother me at all. In fact, please do point it out. The sooner I know about it the sooner I can fix it you know what i'm saying? (Let's be honest I'm far too lazy to really go back and fix my mistakes, but we can pretend!)