I do not own Naruto but I DO own the all the OCs

Chapter 25: Confrontations

Thanks to Katamaru, Sunday night an outing to the outskirts of the city was arranged. If they wanted to track the witch, they would have to get her to come to them first. This plan was rather ironic, and there were a few objections. The fact that Katamaru insisted he come along was defiently not for the better.

"This is ridiculous," Kakuzu complained.

"Oh really?" Sasori was thoroughly surprised.

"Absolutely."

"Wow," Hidan mused. "Kakuzu has a complaint."

"Yes," Kakuzu said curtly.

"Is Kakuzu upset?" Hidan teased in a exaggerated, cute voice.

"Don't waste my time."

Kakuzu turned away in obvious annoyance.

"He's been like this for a while," Hidan commented, once Kakuzu was a little ways away, by a tree.

"I noticed that," Sasori agreed. "I wonder what's bothering him."

"Let's go find out!" Meiko suggested.

Meiko hurried towards Kakuzu. Shortly after everyone followed, afraid what naïve Meiko would get herself into.

"Hey, Kakuzu-kun," Meiko said, bouncily once she reached him.

"What?" Kakuzu crossed his arms.

"We want to know what's bothering you."

"Huh?"

"You've been in really [censored]," Hidan cut in. "You're not usually like this."

"Yeah," Tenko chimed in. "That's totally Hidan-kun's area."

Hidan gave Tenko a I-wish-I-could-kill you-now look.

"It's nothing," Kakuzu replied.

But his eyes were aflame with murderous anger; Hidan followed his fixed gaze to Katamaru.

Hidan crossed his arms assertively. "Is this about Katamaru-kun?"

"Don't jump to conclusions!" Kakuzu snapped.

"Jashin," Hidan winced. "Chillax, okay?"

Kakuzu just growled, turned and began walking.

"Are we going?" he stopped and then resumed walking again.

Everyone followed, Sasori taking the lead again, to the place they were supposed to be going.

Hidan fell back to the back of their group where Katamaru was slowly following, texting someone.

"Katamaru-kun?" Hidan said.

"What?" Katamaru asked.

"Did you…say anything to Kakuzu?"

Katamaru rolled his eyes, texted another sentence and closed his phone/PDA/texting device.

"You mean your freak of a boyfriend?" he asked.

Hidan let out a groan. "I already told you! Do we look like we're dating?!"

"No. But I like your reactions. Listen, I didn't do anything to Kakuzu. He's just being idiotic."

"You two don't get along, do you?"

"Hmm? Do I like the guy who kept me from being the richest, most famous man in the world? Um, yes. Of course."

"Look, I don't know what is wrong with you two, but cut it out. You are messing this plan up entirely."

Katamaru chuckled. "The only one who's causing a problem is him. He has the worst temper in the world."

He cast a judgmental glance at Kakuzu.

Hidan clenched his fist, knowing that Katamaru was wrong. Kakuzu had never had any problems with his temper (for being who he was anyway) before Katamaru came along.

"Kakuzu may have a temper but--!"

Suddenly, Kakuzu came out of nowhere a pushed Katamaru roughly backwards.

"So why was he attacking you this time?" he asked Hidan.

"He wasn't," Hidan insisted.

"Aww," Katamaru said, looking Kakuzu in the eye. "It was so cute the way Hidan tried to defend your sorry butt."

At this point everyone had stopped and was watching wide-eyed.

"Hidan," Kakuzu said. "You don't have to try to do that."

"Oh, of course," Katamaru widened his eyes in amusement. "He needs you to protect him, doesn't he?"

Hidan slapped them both across the face, as hard as possible. "You had better be glad that we're witch hunting tonight because I swearto Jashin that I would've unleashed used my jutsu on you! And I've learned a lot of 'em since we've been here."

He turned and began to head towards Sasori, grumbling about the two "first-class idiots" and a few other unspeakable words.

For the rest of the walk Katamaru and Kakuzu kept a distance from each other and Hidan stayed away from the both of them.

Everyone else was afraid to speak because there was an unmistakable, heavy, dangerous feel to the air. It was so strong, it seemed tangible, smothering, like a layer of darkness was compressing the air and attempting to crush them.

After a few blocks of smothering, silent fuming and uncomfortableness, they finally reached where they were going. A small empty field was on the side of the road that had now turned to dirt as they were getting closer to the country. An old, regal, Japanese-style house was in the field. A large Japanese maple covered the house and it's yard in red leaves that were falling, like a flaming but cool rain. Amongst the leaf-covered ground were a few leftover late-fall wildflowers, apparently fighting against the recently-turned-frosty air.

Everyone stared in awe.

"Sugoi!" Meiko mused.

"Yeah!" Sorami agreed. "It's totally like the house in--"

"Uh, yeah!" Sasori cut her off, tired of her constant anime and manga references. "Erena showed it to me. Taemi and her should be waiting inside."

Sasori grinned, happy about being able to do this. He wanted the outing to be relaxing, unlike their usual outings.

"Seems small." Katamaru's words cut through the lighthearted mood like a sword.

Suddenly, the chill in the almost-winter air was evident again and they all had a feeling what was coming next.

First there was silence.

"Can you ever say anything useful?!" Kakuzu snapped; the silence shattered.

"Oh, I'm not useful?" Katamaru asked, in a humored tone. "How did that tracking device get in your possession again? I forget."

"You are so full of yourself."

"Yes, of course. I'm the one with the pride issue."

"Why you little--!"

"You're bursting my eardrums!" Hidan cut across.

Silence befell the situation again.

Sasori grabbed Hidan's hand. "C'mon, let's go in."

Sasori and Hidan went ahead of everyone into the humble house.

A chill went through Kakuzu's body and an uneasiness he couldn't understand fell over him. His head filled with accusations toward Katamaru, who was within reach, and he felt the impulse to lash out at him. But then, a sudden realization hit him. It was because the usual playful jives from Hidan were becoming unadulterated hatred. For once, what was coming out of Hidan's mouth actually mattered.

A/N: Always, thanks for reading everyone! Oh, and for those who don't know, "sugoi" means "amazing" or "wow", usually used as the fomer.

~Katsuki Shizenno