in for the kill
note1: So maybe I'm a little partial to the least loved Akatsuki members. (Well maybe just everybody besides Itachi... He's difficult to write :/)
note2:Inspiration... it comes and goes.
arc one: dawning
chapter: ugly
Chicken or beef? Now that was the question. Sakura glanced between both ramen packets again, deep in thought. She had been sent on a shopping trip with Kakuzu and intended to make the most of it. (Apparently they were a big deal in the Akatsuki household, as everyone had looked rather glum when Pein had announced that she would be the one accompanying Kakuzu to the supermarket this month.) Chicken, she decided. It was cheaper and her favorite.
She feels a presence behind her, chakra sliding over her skin in cool tendrils. She looks up and raises an eyebrow.
"Can I help you?" she asks crisply, wondering why he has decided to supervise her perusing of ramen. It's a very non-threatening activity, and therefore he has no reason to looming over her quite so ominously.
"We need to go," he states blandly. "Grab a pallet of those and meet me by the register." He turns and stalks off, looking out of place in the bright fluorescence and stark white tiling of the supermarket. She tilts her head and sighs.
'Men,' her Inner grumbles, and Sakura feels like rolling her eyes. 'Tell me about it,' she sighs in response.
She hefts a pallet of chicken ramen over her shoulder and starts to head towards the register, ignoring the shocked look of the skinny worker stocking the shelves. She lets a grim smile cross her face, then scans the area for Kakuzu. (Sakura loves shocking people with her strength. She hates how people underestimate her because of her appearance. It doesn't matter if she has pink hair, she can still kill people with a single punch. Nobody deserves to be judged on how they look.)
Sakura finds Kakuzu at a cash register glaring at an aging woman with too much makeup and atrociously long, pink nails. She's glaring back, smacking her gum in an unpleasant way that makes Sakura want to sew her mouth shut. (She'd bet Kakuzu is having to hold back doing the same thing, as it would be exceptionally easy for him to do so.)
"I'm tellin' ya, ya gotta take your mask off," she croaks, and Sakura can smell the tobacco and nicotine from where she's standing. It makes her cringe, imagining lungs collapsing, full of smoke and tar.
"And I am telling you that it isn't necessary," Kakuzu hisses back, muscles visibly tensing as he tries not to strangle the infuriating woman.
"And I'm tellin' ya that it is!" the cashier coughs. "We needa see your entire face to verify your identity for your discount! Akatsuki or no, I gotta follow the rules! And them's the rules!"
Sakura sighs as Kakuzu's chakra writhes around her, growing more and more stifling as moments pass. This is going nowhere good fast, and as much as she wants to strangle the annoying woman herself, Pein would kill them both if either of them killed a civilian. Cursing her luck and this ignorant woman (who challenges an Akatsuki member?! Who does that?! Seriously!), Sakura approaches Kakuzu warily.
Kakuzu frowns behind his mask as Sakura places a hand on his arm, a pleading look in her eyes. He's furious and ready to strangle someone. He hates taking off his mask. It's not worth the looks he knows he'll get from the other patrons.
"Please," she murmurs, "just take it off so we can get this over with and leave."
He hears the desperation in her voice and sighs. Grabbing his face covering, he roughly pulls it down to his neck and glares even more intensely at the cashier woman, daring her to say anything. She stares back in horror, and his threads shift irritatingly under his skin. He is used to this reaction regarding the stitches, although it still irritates him to no end. (He had decapitated Hidan once, for mentioning them.) His muscles tense even more when both he and Sakura hear the disgusted and fearful whisperings of other civilian shoppers, unaware of the danger they were putting themselves in. 'Ugly. Scary. Monster. Disgusting. Look away.' He's heard them all before and he knows he will again, but that doesn't stop the bitter taste in his mouth.
Sakura frowns, pissed off beyond belief. She hates how people act like this. They know nothing about him, nothing at all, and yet they think they can judge him. Something needs to be done about this, now.
Kakuzu blinks with surprise when Sakura places her hands on his face, thumbs gently stroking his cheek bones. He is even more surprised when she pulls his face down to hers and begins to tenderly kiss each stitch that adorns his face. Her lidded eyes are full of fury, sadness, and some other emotion he can't quite place, and doesn't really feel the need to. She finishes with one side and moves to the other, ignoring the gasp of their cashier. He gives her a questioning look, but she just nods her head and gives him a soft smile before pressing her lips against his. They're so soft and inviting, and he can't help but sigh into them, just a little bit. She pulls away after a few more moments, turning towards the cashier.
"We done here?" she bites out, angrier than he's ever seen her. The cashier nods mutely, still in shock. (Over his face or Sakura's affection, he doesn't know.)
He pulls up his mask while tossing the proper amount of ryo on the counter. Grabbing their purchases, he teleports most of it to base, leaving the fragile items on the counter. He and Sakura each grab a bag and begin walking towards the exit. He sneaks a quick smile under his mask as they leave the market in companionable silence, not really minding when Sakura smoothly slides her hand into his, fingers interlocking. For the first time in decades, Kakuzu doesn't feel so ugly.
note3: Well school has started which means I won't be able to update this as often as I would like. It will be finished though, I swear it!
note4: It was longer this time, yeah?