I do not own Naruto but I DO own all of the OCs and this fanfiction.
Chapter 32: A Snow-Covered Afternoon
Light streamed into the windows of-not the house- but, Katamaru's limo. Katamaru offered his friends a ride in his multipurpose Hummer/limo with air-conditioning, a built-in fridge and a surround-sound stereo system. Of course, that had practically no effect. It seemed like the same cloud was hovering as usual, but had it even stormed yet?
Hidan-who was now awake-was still trying to figure out what had gone on. He remembered the witches, Kanjou and Seishin, being held hostage and all the fighting and finally blackng out only to wake up and see everyone packing. He didn't even know if the mission was accomplished, and no one was telling him anything which slightly frustrated him.
Katamaru didn't seem to care and was texting away on his phone. Hidan looked at him and Katamaru glanced up from his phone. Katamaru sighed and started texting again. Suddenly Hidan heard a bing from his cell. He picked it up to see a text from Katamaru. Katamaru, who was sitting right next to him.
Hidan read it anyway.
"Tlk 2 Kakuzu," was written.
Hidan looked at him questioningly.
Katamaru just nodded his head in Kakuzu's direction.
Hidan shrugged, "Kakuzu."
"Talk to Sasori," Kakuzu said, without a glance.
Sasori glared.
Katamaru look annoyed.
"Oh seriously?" he grumbled.
"He's right," Tenko said. "You didn't even let him say anything...eh!-not that I care!"
"I was just gonna ask if we finished the mission," Hidan muttered.
Kakuzu and Sasori's eyes widened as if they'd had a sudden revelation.
"You forgot about the mission?" Hidan asked, incredulously.
Kakuzu and Sasori did nothing but glare at each other.
"This is your fault," Sasori said, through gritted teeth.
"Again with the name games, Sasori?" Kakuzu shot back.
"Guys," Katamaru said.
"What?" they snapped.
"Do you really think I just spent the entire time watching?" Katamaru said, simply.
Tenko's eyes widened. "You mean you planted the-?"
"Don't look at me in such an unbelieving way. Yes, I planted the tracking device."
Yumi's eyes brightened and he turned to Genmaru. "Wow! Genmaru-chan, you must be some kind of psychologist or something!"
Genmaru blushed. "I didn't do anything."
"Yes you did," Meiko smiled. "You helped make Katamaru-kun a good guy!"
"I wasn't a bad guy," Katamaru sighed, irritated.
"What matters is that we're tracking them, right?" Genmaru asked.
"Right," Akako agreed. "Kuromi still missed last time."
"I won't miss," Kuromi said coolly.
"I can link this up when I get home," Katamaru said.
He glanced at Kakuzu and Sasori, who were completely silent and ignoring their surroundings. Then he laid his head back and let himself fall into his thoughts while Meiko chattered along preoccupying the others.
A day later, nothing seemed very different. Except for the slight disruption between Sasori and Kakuzu and the fact that some details about the battle were, for some reason, being kept on the down low. Hidan had asked about it before but no one would really talk to him about it; even Erena always made some excuse about why she couldn't talk at the time and Taemi was quiet anyway so getting her to talk was a feat on it's own. Hidan was the persistent type though, and he hated being in the dark when everyone else wasn't. He bet even the witches knew and that thought really ticked him off. So, the only other options were to go ask Sasori or Kakuzu directly. He thought about it for a moment. He was already on Kakuzu's bad side-that is, even more than usual-so Sasori would be the likely candidate. He stopped short. But that meant he might get on Sasori's bad side. He rethought it for a second and decided to go find Kakuzu instead. At least if Kakuzu got mad, Sasori would actually let him in the house; if he got Sasori mad...well between Sasori and Kakuzu, he might be sleeping outside.
After thinking that through, he noticed that Kakuzu had just gone out the door. He decided to follow him. He grabbed his coat and scarf and tailed Kakuzu out into the snow. It was sunny, but still cold and snow blanketed the ground in a sparkling sheet. He followed Kakuzu to the park. Hidan had always liked the park here, although he'd never tell anyone. He liked to observe the seasons. Like, now, in the winter, the trees hung with beautiful icicles and it's branches were laced with snow.
Like whipped cream. Hidan thought and then laughed aloud.
That made Kakuzu stop short.
Hidan cursed and the covered his mouth quickly, realizing he said something else.
Kakuzu turned around and glared.
Hidan moved forward. "Um, hi Kakuzu."
Kakuzu smacked himself in the forehead. "Honestly?"
"It's funny seeing you here," Hidan continued, trying to make it look like it was by mistake. "I was just walking and-"
"Why are you following me, Hidan?"
"I wasn't."
"How stupid do you take me for?"
"Am I that bad at acting?"
"Really, very."
With this he turned and started walking again.
Hidan felt annoyed. So, he did what he knew he shouldn't, and started following him again, maybe to ask his question but mostly just to piss Kakuzu off.
It didn't take long.
In less than a minute, Kakuzu turned around, exasperated. "What are you doing?"
"Following you," Hidan said, matter-of-factly. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Let me rephrase that," Kakuzu growled. "Why are you following me?"
"I came to ask you a question."
"You could've waited until I got home."
"No."
"Why not?"
"'Cause I'm bored! No one talks to me at home."
Kakuzu cocked a brow. "You could have waited."
"But what'd I miss? I wake up after being knocked out and all of a sudden you and Sasori won't talk to each other. And no one will talk to me. I hate not knowing stuff!"
"It's nothing to worry about, Hidan."
"But Kaku-"
A sudden beeping noise cut him off.
He flipped open his phone and then his eyes widened.
"What?" Hidan asked.
"Katamaru installed the tracking device counterpart on my phone," Kakuzu explained.
"So, you're excited about that?"
"No, the beeping means it's picking up something in this area. That means-"
"There's witches in the park?"
"Shh!" Kakuzu covered Hidan's mouth.
Kakuzu looked around as if he was pondering something.
Hidan studied his face. He wondered what he was thinking about. He looked slightly frustrated. The he turned and started walking again.
"Kakuzu?" Hidan was puzzled.
"C'mon," Kakuzu motioned for him to follow.
Hidan didn't quite understand but he obeyed, curious.
Kakuzu led Hidan through numerous bushes, down a pathway hidden by overgrowth and obscured in snow. With all the snow-covered, now-dead-from-cold, foliage around that almost overgrew the path, Hidan could see it was rarely used. Then, without warning, Kakuzu pulled Hidan behind some coniferous foliage. He would've complained if it weren't for the fact that Kakuzu had covered his mouth. Kakuzu lowered his hand and Hidan just sat there, still confused.
"How could she send them?" Hidan could hear Shinzouko's voice from the other side of the foliage. "They're no good!"
"True," Hidan and Kakuzu could hear Seishin saying.
"They think they're all pretty," Shinzouko growled. "Looks don't matter if you can't do anything useful! See, I, on the other hand, am blessed with power and good looks."
Kakuzu and Hidan could practically feel an eye roll emited from the other side of the bushes.
"Don't fuss, Shinzouko," Kanjou was talking now. "We'll have I'll chance again. Next time I'll rip Puppet Boy open and see how he ticks!"
She cackled.
"Well, for the time being, the Mistress told us to recuperate," Shinzouko said. "So let's make this a vacay, see some sights or whatever."
"I suppose," Kanjou said. "Come on, let's get out of this stupid park."
Kakuzu could hear them leaving and started to get up so he could follow them, grabbing Hidan's hand and pulling him in the direction the witches went but stopped short. He noticed Hidan's hand felt limp to him.
Kakuzu turned around.
Hidan looked to be in a sort of daze. "Hmm?"
"Hidan?" Kakuzu looked at him closely and noticed his face looked flushed.
Kakuzu touched Hidan's forehead. "You have a fever. Why didn't you say anything?"
Kakuzu looked toward the direction the witches were going and knew they'd get away.
He thought for a second and then started leading Hidan back home.
Unfortunently, the witches would have to wait for now.
A/N: OMG, an update! I dunno why, but I had a sudden burst of inspiration. ^v^ Well, I hope this chapter satisfied you guys. And a thanks to all my readers! Arigato Gozaimasu! :)