My Pain is Yours
Chapter 20: Jashin
Days passed since Aiko and Hidan had kissed for their second time; now, they seemed closer than usual, Kakuzu was noticing. They kept passing each other flirtatious glances, their eyes almost as inseparable as their lips. As Kakuzu sat down at the kitchen table, he could not help but to note that breakfast had turned into an interesting occasion.
"Tell me more about Jashin-sama," Aiko picked at her eggs with her fork.
Pausing, Hidan lifted his gaze to meet Aiko's. "Hm?" Hidan looked up from his overflowing, heaping plate of sizzling bacon that gave the antediluvian Kakuzu indigestion just looking at it. A knowing smirk passed over Hidan's lips, lingering in place. "Well," he started, bacon jutting between his lips, "Jashin-sama rewards me with immortality for the human sacrifices I make."
"I see," Aiko nodded, patting her lip with her napkin. "What else? Are there rules?"
Pleased that Aiko cared about his religion, Hidan shoveled more bacon into his mouth before picking up where he left off. "It's a strict religion, seriously. There are so many commandments that have to be followed, like the self-sacrifice ritual after every battle, followed by prayers; the consequences for not following those rules are severe."
Aiko raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Really?"
Hidan nodded vigorously, plate abruptly empty. Kakuzu glowered at his partner, wondering how he could eat so much so quickly; what had taken him a half hour to prepare was devoured in minutes. Hidan glanced searchingly over at Aiko's plate noticing that she hadn't even managed to finish one of her two eggs; he cast her a keen smirk. "Say, you're not going to eat that other egg by any chance, are you?"
Kakuzu's lip sagged beneath his mask. What a pig.
Shaking her head, Aiko placed her fork down, murmuring, "Actually, I just realized that there's something I want to draw." She pushed her chair out from behind her and disappeared into her room with a little wave, Hidan yelling a muffled thank you after her, the egg already protruding from his mouth. Kakuzu glared at him from behind his newspaper in utter disgust.
"What are you looking at?" Hidan challenged, raising an eyebrow.
Kakuzu shook the paper, averting his eyes. "One hell of a nightmare."
Hidan scowled, hand running through his hair. "Whatever." He stood up and Kakuzu sneered.
"Going to see your girlfriend?"
"What do you think?!"
The missing Waterfall ninja exhaled a rejuvenating sigh as the silver-haired Jashinist strode towards Aiko's room, inevitably on his way to visit his 'girlfriend'. Kakuzu permitted their little visits anyhow, thankful that his annoying partner was out of his way, although sentiments of sympathy went out to Aiko.
Poor thing has no idea what she's in for, Kakuzu sighed, flicking his fingers through the wads of cash secured between his possessive hands. That Hidan is going to drive her past insanity.
Sitting upright in her bed, back propped against the cracked bed frame, Aiko sketched delicately in her notebook, drawing the pencil tip across the piece of paper. Her thoughts were so enrapt in Hidan that she found her senses degrading into ineffectiveness. Her psyche was devoted to him, eyes possessive, ears yearning, breath longing; she loved him. A fluttering feeling swept inside the barriers of her chest as the door swung open, heartbeat dithering until she was rapt by his voice.
"Aiko, you're in here, right?" Hidan asked, smirk flashing across his lips as he entered the room.
Setting her notebook aside, Aiko answered, "Yeah; come in." The Jashinist didn't need to be asked twice as he intruded, unhesitant, slamming the door shut loudly behind him just to spite Kakuzu. The Akatsuki treasurer shouted for him to be quieter and Hidan chuckled, smoothing out his silvery hair as he sat down in Aiko's bed beside her. She smiled lovingly at him, leaning her head on his shoulder, exhaling his overpowering scent.
She closed her eyes, head rising and falling with each of his steady breaths, his hand snaking around her waist. Aiko censored a small laugh; Hidan's breath smelled vaguely of bacon and eggs, and she immediately became self-conscious of her own breath, thus staying silent.
For a while, neither one of them said a word.
Aiko broke the silence, however, with a blissful sigh. "I wish we could stay like this forever."
"Yeah," Hidan answered quietly, hand climbing to stroke her hair.
Glancing at the kunoichi beside him, Hidan suppressed a sad sigh; he finally had her, she was his, she loved him more than she loved anyone in the world, but he knew that someday she would leave him; he was immortal, she would die someday; die and leave him. Each minute he spent with her was a second, each hour he spent with her was a minute, each day he spent with her was an hour, each week he spent with her was a day; she wasn't aging quickly per say, but Hidan could feel the time sliding by. He didn't want her to leave him; ever.
"Aiko," his tone was huskier, provoked, as he extended a hand to cup her cheek. "I want you so damn badly."
"Hidan?" Aiko questioned the frustrated look in his eye, stopping him from kissing her as he leaned in then back.
"What?" he ground out.
Sensing the innate desire radiating from his body, Aiko murmured in a hushed tone, "What's the matter? You're so serious all of a sudden." He scoffed, rolling his eyes and quickly covering up by saying that she was just seeing things, although Aiko could tell he was lying. She huffed indignantly, pushing herself away from him. "You said that I'm a bad liar; but what does that make you?"
"Huh?" Hidan arched a hoary eyebrow, lip curling. "What do you mean? Eh?!"
Chewing on her bottom lip, Aiko muttered, "I don't know…"
Seeing the annoyance welling up within Aiko's hazel orbs, Hidan threw back his head with a loud sigh. "It's hard to explain; remember how we were talking about Jashin earlier?" She looked over and nodded to this, wondering where he was going. "Well, I was reminded of something."
A hint of concern jabbed at Aiko's heart. "Does Jashin-sama disallow intimate relationships?"
Hearing that made Hidan smile and he chuckled at her blatant innocence. "No, no, it's nothing like that…oh dear Jashin, that's kind of funny though." He continued to laugh, Aiko's face flushing with embarrassment. She scowled and leaned over to him, eyes glinting.
"What then?" Aiko urged. "I was being serious, you know."
He sighed again, shuddering, gravity taking over. "All right, all right…well, I was thinking about how, you know, you're going to grow old someday, and I'm…not." Aiko breathed in, catching her breath in the depth of her throat, but did not say anything. Clearly, this thought had occurred to her before as well. Hidan reached over and stroked her cheek. "I just don't know what to do…someday you're going to leave me."
Aiko took in a deep breath. "Then…why not make me a Jashinist?"
Light flashed through Hidan's eyes and he went to pull his hand away, but Aiko caught it and held it tight against her cheek, emerald jewels firm. He snorted, tearing his gaze away. "It's not that easy to covert someone to a Jashinist. I don't even know what your current religion is!"
"I don't have one," Aiko stated calmly.
Hidan stopped, bringing his stare back to her. "Oh, you don't? Seriously?"
Shrugging, Aiko replied, "I never really felt that it was necessary; but if you want me to, if you'll let me, I'll become a Jashinist, just for you." Her offer sparked an odd, warming feeling within Hidan and he smirked, leaning in to steal a kiss. Aiko's eyes lit up as he pressed his lips firmly against hers, her arms wrapping around his neck in surrender.
Hidan pulled away after a moment, much to Aiko's displeasure.
"Hidan?" she murmured, wide orbs brimming with inquisitions.
The Jashinist's growing smile withheld all of his elation as he lunged at her, caging her in his embrace and tackling her onto her back, lips lavishing her face. Little intakes of breath caught hold on Aiko's lips as Hidan's moved around her face, edging towards her earlobe where he began to nibble, one of the sweetest pleasures making Aiko jolt underneath him. He grinned lasciviously at her reaction, hands tracing the outline of her rigid body.
"I'll do it," he whispered in her ear, breath tickling, sending a shiver coursing up her spine. "I'll make you a Jashinist." His tone grew huskier, giving rise to a whelming torrent of lustful tensions constricting in Aiko's stomach.
"H-Hidan…!" she barely managed to whisper.
Hidan pressed his lips against hers to silence her. "Then you'll be all mine, forever."
The way he spoke made Aiko quiver from the inside out; he sounded so possessive, so powerful, so wanting, so lustful; and she loved it. Her lips sought his and they kissed again, her body curling up against his, grip tightening, legs hooking around his waist as her skirt fell down around her stomach. Being with him forever was quite a prospect.
A beautiful one.
Her eyelids fluttered, conceding to another kiss before a voice interrupted them.
"Aiko, Hidan, Kakuzu, I have some news for you."
Flinching at the voice booming in her formerly thoughtless mind, Aiko let go of Hidan, who promptly dropped her. Hidan spoke first, voice louder than usual to voice his anger. "Damn it Leader-sama! You have the worst fricken' timing! Why'd you have to go and interrupt us?!"
"Interrupt you? What were you doing?"
Aiko blushed a crimson hue, face lighting up. "I-it's nothing Leader-sama, anyway, what news?"
"The two-tailed cat is in your vicinity; I need you to round it up immediately."
Author's Note: I am so sorry that this update was so delayed! I got very side-tracked and was plagued by a horrible writer's block…but, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter nonetheless! Besides, it's almost time to fetch Ni'i Yugito, the Nibi—hurray!
As usual, thanks goes out to my completely awesome reviewers, whose reviews assisted me in getting over my writer's block; thank you to yoyshaia-chan, Cheeky half-demon, I'll Save Myself, Keria Hoshigaki, and werewolfwithaheart. Thank you, thank you, thank you! And to all of you reading…please review!
Oh, and just by the way, if I'm taking too long to update or you're looking for a great story to read, might I suggest yoyashia-chan's story, Study in Contrasts; it's a beautiful story that I would highly recommend—it's one of the best stories that I have ever read on this site! You really ought to read it even if you aren't looking for another story, simply because the way in which it is written is breathtaking and leads one from chapter to chapter with such excitement that it's impossible to stop reading--I know I'm hooked!
XD! XD! XD!
-Aiko of the Akatsuki
