My Pain is Yours

Chapter 8: Kakuzu's Assignment

"Your next assignment is Six-Tails; tend to it immediately."

Aiko felt a shudder ripple through her body; whose voice was that? The deep timbre and commanding tone was god-like; almost frightening. She waited for the voice to say something more, but it was gone almost as quickly as it had come. She shivered.

"Aw man," Hidan complained, smoothing out his silvery hair. "This sucks."

"I don't want to hear it," Kakuzu hissed. Great, now he was going to have to put up with Hidan for even longer than he was used to. And to make matters worse, they still had to cash in the bounties for Kohaku and Jun. Kakuzu heaved out a sigh.

"Hey, Aiko!" Hidan yelled over his shoulder. "You coming or what?"

The kunoichi didn't answer; she wasn't listening.

"Hey!" Hidan yelled louder, eyes narrowing. "Aiko!"

Finally, Aiko heard him and looked up.

Hidan rolled his eyes. "Never mind…" He lifted up Kohaku's lifeless body and threw it over his shoulder. He then glanced behind himself to look at Aiko again, and she seemed to be off in her own little world. Something didn't seem quite right with her.

She seemed really out of it.

Frowning, Hidan walked over to Aiko and snapped his fingers in front of her face. She flinched and looked up at him.

"What's the matter with you?" Hidan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"N-nothing!" Aiko said quickly; maybe too quickly.

"Then why are you half-asleep?" Hidan challenged.

"None of your business!" Aiko looked away.

"Why are you so cranky?" Hidan asked innocently.

"I'm not!" Aiko felt her cheeks flushing.

"Now you're all red," Hidan teased, grinning.

"Will you leave me alone?" Aiko growled.

Hidan raised both eyebrows. "Oh-ho, touchy."

Sick of listening to the pair argue, Kakuzu intervened, jade eyes aglow as he roared, "If you don't stop flirting with Aiko right now, I swear to god that I will kill you Hidan!" Aiko blushed even more at the word, 'flirting'. The Jashinist flushed himself and snorted loudly.

"I was not flirting with her."

Kakuzu glared dangerously at him. "Do not argue with me. I'm done fooling around."

Aiko's mouth sagged into a frown as Kakuzu began stomping away, ordering that they follow him. She sighed inwardly and did as she was bid; but in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder about Hidan. Then, she noticed something odd.

She still hadn't stopped blushing.

Her thoughts overtook her again and she began to worry about Shinsei, hoping that she was all right after having that vision; Shinsei would often find herself unconscious from the strain that it put on her body. Then, Aiko stopped; Hidan and Kakuzu had come to a halt.

"Here we are at last," Kakuzu muttered, looking up at a sign.

"Is this it?" Hidan asked. "My arm hurts from carrying this guy!"

"Oh shut up," Kakuzu growled. "And yes, this is it, can't you see the sign?"

"Yes!"

"Well, can you read?"

"Of course!"

"Really? You've left me unconvinced as usual."

"Hey! Kakuzu!"

Aiko looked up at the sign to the building, and sure enough it read in large block lettering, The Amegakure Collection Office. She giggled a little at Hidan's blatant stupidity and he spun around, glaring at her. She blushed.

"What are you laughing at?!" Hidan demanded, exasperated.

"Never mind her, Hidan," Kakuzu muttered gruffly. "Let's just cash in these bounties."


Itachi watched Shinsei in silence, alone ever since Kisame had gone to inform Pain that Shinsei had announced the Six-Tails' emergence in that strange voice. After having her vision, Shinsei had blacked out. Itachi had then brought Shinsei back upstairs and remained beside her to make sure that she was all right. He sighed upon seeing her gently sleeping face.

"Ah, Shinsei…Shinsei…" Itachi murmured, closing his eyes. "Why did you come here?"

The door clicked open.

"Hey Itachi, how goes it?" Kisame asked, parading in through the doorway. "I just contacted Leader-sama; he's sent Hime and that zombie pair off to take care of Six-Tails."

"Good," Itachi said, getting up with a grunt. Kisame frowned.

"Have you been watching Gaki the entire time?"

"Yes."

Folding his arms across his massive chest, Kisame glanced from Shinsei to Itachi and grinned. Itachi stopped to look at his partner. Kisame chuckled. "You two know each other, don't you? I can tell, you know; it isn't much of a secret." He continued grinning, teeth shining.

Emotionlessly, Itachi shook his head. "It wasn't meant to be a secret, Kisame. And yes, we do know each other. In fact, I've known her since she was very, very little." Kisame frowned; it was odd for his partner to say so much about his past.

"Were you close?" Kisame inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Itachi nodded solemnly. "Quite."

The shark nin watched the Uchiha walk by, his expression unchanging as their gazes met for one, brief moment. Kisame sighed.

"I swear…I'll never understand you, Itachi."


Whispering softly into the imminent night, the wind began murmuring its hushed stories to the flowers; lulling some to sleep, arousing others. The moon glistened against its dark background, shining just enough to provide a source of light to the world below.

Hidan stared up at the sky, perched upon a rock.

He fingered the necklace he wore, looking over the circle of Jashin. He sighed and continued peering at the sky, at the night he would see for an eternity.

Then, he heard a distinct rustling behind him.

"Who's there?!" he demanded.

He waited for a moment without getting a response and frowned; he was certain that he had sensed something, or heard something at the very least. He grabbed his scythe and spear, cursing beneath his breath as he thrashed through the trees.

"Damn it! What was that?!"

As Hidan rounded the corner, he found himself looking at a giant vortex of swirling chakra energy that had taken the shape of a wolf. He opened his mouth, muttering, "What in the name of Jashin is that thing?" Apparently, the creature heard him as it turned around, golden eyes glowing. It was then that Hidan noticed the six tails protruding from the back of the enormous monster.

The Jashinist's face fell; he had found the Tailed Beast.

Fuck.


"He runs off and disappears! Damn him!" Kakuzu hissed, getting up to search for his partner. He glanced over at Aiko, who had fallen asleep on the ground as Kakuzu didn't feel like paying for a hotel room, despite cashing in the bounties. He looked at the sleeping kunoichi again.

Well, he couldn't just leave her there, could he?

Reaching over, Kakuzu jostled Aiko's shoulder roughly, jarring her from her dreams. She pressed her eyelids together and moaned, trying to fall back asleep. Kakuzu growled and shook her harder, yelling, "Wake up!"

Aiko's eyes snapped open.

"Kakuzu?" Aiko yawned. "What's going on?"

"We have to find Hidan, get up," Kakuzu ordered, yanking Aiko onto her feet. She winced, but ignored the slight pain as Kakuzu began storming off into the trees.

"Hidan?" Aiko murmured, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "What do you mean we have to find him? Kakuzu?"

But the missing Waterfalls nin was already disappearing into the trees, angry with Hidan for leaving them without saying anything. "Aiko, you'd better hurry up or get left behind!" Kakuzu shouted over his shoulder. "I'm not waiting for you!"

Rolling her eyes, Aiko yawned again and followed after Kakuzu, trotting along behind him. When she caught up with him, she asked, "Wait, so Hidan just left?" Kakuzu didn't answer her as he continued crashing through the trees and carving out a convenient pathway for Aiko to follow. She shut her mouth, realizing that she was going to get no answer.

Where would Hidan go though? But hey, I shouldn't be worrying, right? He is immortal!

Aiko sighed inwardly.

But he's also an idiot.

Suddenly, Kakuzu came to a halt, causing Aiko to stop as well. She looked up at him, unable to see his face in the darkness of the night. "What's wrong Kakuzu?" He stared ahead of them, body rigid with anger, still not speaking to Aiko. She frowned and tried to look around Kakuzu.

"Damn that bastard!" Kakuzu cursed, rubbing his temples. "If there ever was an idiot dumber than him he wasn't immortal! I really am going to kill him when I get my hands on him!"

Squeezing past Kakuzu, Aiko peeked around a tree and her eyes widened. The area that they walked into appeared to have been torched; the ground was still smoking. All life around a certain perimeter had been obliterated and quite recently as well.

But that's not what had Aiko worried.

Lying on the ground was Hidan's scythe. She held back a gasp. Where was Hidan?

"Follow me," Kakuzu ordered through gritted teeth.

A shiver ran through Aiko; Kakuzu seemed uncontrollable; his rage was frightening. But she had to do as she was told. She nodded silently and followed him into the night, hardening her gaze.

You'd better be all right, Hidan.


Author's Note: Hey there! Sorry for not updating sooner! But I have to say, I was a little disappointed; only 1 review for the last chapter---thank you to Cheeky Half Demon for that one too BTW---but, what can I do?

Anyway, any and all reviews are as appreciated as ever! I have to start preparing for finals and I'm currently working on a major English project that consists of my drawing the 27 people in my English class as anime characters, so yeah.

I'll be a little busy! ;D

And before I forget, if any of you have any suggestions for Shinsei/Itachi I would love to hear them; um, yeah. I know what happened with them in the past and all that; it's just that I don't know what I want to happen between the two of them.

Thank you.

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! (XD)

-Aiko of the Akatsuki