Follow your Arrow

by Wierdowithagun

'When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight, just follow your arrow wherever it points.' -Kacey Musgraves - Modern Realistic AU Featuring KakuHi, & KisaIta. Slow plot progression and character development. Graphic(ish) MxM action in later chapters.

16. Chapter 16

FOLLOW YOUR ARROW

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Hidan fidgeted anxiously on the counter, suddenly aware of the position they remained in, the discomfort pouring full-strength back into him. He tried desperatley to make sense of what in the holy living fuck had just happened as he stared into Kakuzu's somewhat distant eyes, that thrilling and slightly terrifying gleam still in there, giving small insight to the carnal urges the man was resisting. He couldn't seem to make sense of anything though, his head was still swimming with the fucking pheromones and all that shit Itachi talked about that happened when you wanted to fuck someone beyond your range of bodily control.

He blinked, not understanding at first why his insides still felt as if they were burning though they had stopped the act. It was kind of starting to hurt, now that the endorphins were fading away and his masochistic tendancies were reverting any pain back to actual pain as opposed to pained pleasure. He shifted again, trying to release pressure from his abdomen, where the pain seemed to originate. It didn't help, and so he dismissed it. There were more important matters to attend to anyway.

Kakuzu's eyes finally left his, trailing down his convex-arched body, and he resisted a shiver, alarmed and excited somewhere in the back of his mind at the fact that the man's mere gaze could provoke such responses in him. He stared at him, leaning back on his hands for support, only part of him recognizing the fact that Kakuzu was re-fastening his jeans, and even that part refusing to put forth any sort of thought on the matter as opposed to just basking in the beauty of what had happened.

Emotions flitted through him, none of them stopping long enough for his mind, feeling strangely warm and fuzzy, almost as if all his thoughts were wrapped in a thick blanket, to make any sense of them. By the time he had the first surge of disappointment figured out (They'd been interrupted, right. Someone had seen them. Why didn't he care?) He was already two emotions behind.

'Fuck...I can't... think...' He admitted, some idea zipping through him that that wasn't very good, that that was abnormal. He only waved it away, he was just drunk, is all. He'd had too much, and now it was going to kick his ass. No big deal, he'd done it a thousand times. Besides, There was still a more important matter to deal with now. His eyes flicked back up to Kakuzu's, who was looking at him again in a mix of interest and horror. He tried to smile to reassure him, though he wasn't sure why he felt the need to do so. His facial muscles didn't seem to want to respond at the moment, and his face remained neutral, though he did manage to force his mouth open.

"Holy shit..." He breathed, his lungs feeling almost as if he couldn't get enough oxygen. 'Tch, I just need a cigarette...' He consoled himself, eyes blinking heavily. 'Even though that doesn't make sense...'

"Hm." Kakuzu grunted in what he assumed to be agreement.

The burning in his midsection sent out a sharp wave of pain then, as if reminding him that it was there. He ignored it though, aside from a wince, choosing instead to sit forward and let his forehead fall onto the valley where Kakuzu's collarbones met. The older man didn't pull away, as Hidan kind of expected him to, remembering just who it was that was standing here with him. He realized almost as soon as his skin reconnected with that of Kakuzu's how insanley tired he suddenly was, his body drooping almost against his will, threatening to fall asleep with him for the split-second in which he closed his eyes to gather himself.

The man he was leaning on made no movement at all, something Hidan was a little bit grateful for, as he was suddenly victim to a terrible case of vertigo. He tried hard to control his breathing, which he knew wasn't working, seeing as he could feel the pinpricks in his lungs as he dragged in each mouthful of air desperatley, never seeming to get enough oxygen from each giant heave.

He tried to lift his hand up, and he thought he managed, as it felt as if it moved. He couldn't be sure, as his eyes refused to re-open at the moment, until he gritted his teeth and forced them with an immense effort.

Okay, maybe that was a little unusual. Usually when he was this fucked he wasn't able to think any form of rational thoughts. Not that he was completley aware of what was going on, but he could at least recognize the small spark of fear in him, the small acknowledgement that maybe he needed to get off his counter and go sit and collect himself for a few moments.

Something wrapped around his hand, whose palm had settled against Kakuzu's chest. He heard the unintelligible, deep-voiced murmerings of someone, whoever it was that he was leaning against, he'd forgotten already in that millionth of a second.

Shit, okay, he definitley needed to sit down.

'Where am I again? What's going on?' He tried to say, managing only to groan.

Someone pulled him from the counter, guided him in his blindness to a chair, and plopped him down in it. His hand hit a surface next to him. His mind registered it as a table, and before he could think of anything else his body adopted a mind of its own, twisting sideways to fold his arms under him and lean his head down onto them, letting them serve as a pillow. Swirls of lights and color flowed and twisted behind his closed eyeslids, his insides seemed to shift inside him, giving him the impression that he was on some sort of rollarcoaster instead of sitting stationary as he was vaguely aware that he was.

That wasn't even what bothered him so much, he was used to those sensations, merley the body and minds way of punishing you for ingesting waaaay too much alchohol. It was this damned burn in his gut that was driving him nuts. It was getting worse, some strange cosmic force informed him, though with such subtlety that it was hard to believe. It did really fucking hurt, however, and now that he could concentrate it wasn't even his stomache that was causing it. It was some spot just above. It almost felt like he had some sort of jagged rock inside him, cutting into his insides, making them swell only to push against it, cutting deeper with every movement.

His head cleared a little bit as cool air hit him, making him realize suddenly that he was sweating. Something was set in front of him, and his eyes snapped open with far less effort than before, though it took a little more work to lift his head.

A glass of water greeted him, at least he hoped it was water. He might puke if he so much as smelled any more alchohol, so far past his limit as he was.

His eyes roamed further, head turning slowly at his eyes focused on someone standing next to him. It took him a minute of blank stareing before the thought snapped into his mind with the force of a slingshot that it was Kakuzu, the recollection of everything that had just transpired zapping back into him like an electrical shock.

"Don't think I won't leave you here if you humiliate yourself by throwing up." Kakuzu's deep voice rumbled out, giving him a strange sense of peace and comfort. This in turn gave him a wash of strength, letting him push himself back to a normal position, instictivley grabbing the glass and sucking the thing dry in half a second. The terrible, mineral-ey taste of the tap water didn't even bug him as he suddenly realized his raging thirst.

"Shut up old man..." He croaked out, the memory of Kakuzu's strangley soft-but-firm lips on his making him look away while his face burned hotter than the rest of his skin, which still felt as if on fire. There was still a gentle, cold breeze slipping over him though, which was helping a lot. He used the movement of adverting his eyes from the Doctor to see where it was coming from, only to find a steel door propped open with a chair, the sign above read 'EXIT'.

Oh right... He was at the 4H building, back in the kitchen where he'd come to bitch out his boss for showing up to ruin his party. But they'd ended up in a heated make-out session instead.

His face screwed up as he blinked at that thought and the warmth it sent resonating through him.

A chair screeched as it slid out beside him, and he forced himself not to turn and look, seeing as his heart was pounding ferociously now and he didn't trust his own body, given the drunken episode he'd just had.

Again his face burned. Fuck, that's twice Kakuzu had had to take care of him when he inexplicabley lost control of himself, only this time he literally had to take care of him, instead of just talking him down out of delerium.

'But...' A quiet thought snuck into his head. 'That's twice that he's done it, and not left you to your own devices...'

He sucked in a sharp breath, wincing when it made the pain in his gut flare up again for a second. That was significant, right? No, wait... it didn't matter. He didn't need to sit here and decrypt Kakuzu's messages, because he knew he liked him, because they'd just...

He grit his teeth, refusing to blush again. For fucks sake, was he a man or not?

"Uh...I'm s-...sorry. 'Bout that..." He mumbled, gripping the empty glass, holding back from offering thanks as he remembered his frantic words to the older man earlier, suddenly embarrassed for them. God, stupid fucking alchohol... fuck you.

"You should be. For as arrogant as you were being." Kakuzu replied curtly, snatching up the bottle of Aberlour and pouring it into his own glass.

"Arrogant!?" Hidan scoffed, before he could stop himself. "Bitch, please." He said, wincing and interally slapping himself that he had seriously just said that gay-ass phrase in front of his boss. "You were the one who refused to tell me a happy goddamn birthday."

"You were trying to force me to leave a publicly advertised party that I had been singularly invited to." Kakuzu said back.

"Yeah well, motherfucker, I'm pretty sure you were the one trying to take my pants off!" As if that had anything to do with arrogance, but he couldn't resist saying it, as Kakuzu had seemed so shocked just after the incident had occurred.

The man looked away, remaining silent. If Hidan weren't busy dealing with his own embarrassment, he would have reveled in the victory of actually managing to get such a reaction out of the stoic old bastard. He did allow the smirk of victory onto his face though, going to take another drink from his glass only to remember that it was empty. His body twisted as he judged his recovery against the distance of the sink. He desperatley wanted more water, but he'd be damned if he was going to ask his boss to get it for him.

He turned back, eyeballing the man currently taking a sip of scotch, eyes focused on the bare table, apparently lost in thought. He fidgeted with the glass, glancing back and forth from it to the Doctor. The question floated between them again, laughing at them both, taking pleasure in their mutual pride and resulting embarassment at what had just happened.

What would happen now?

He opened his mouth to ask it aloud. Why not just be direct about it? They weren't prissy, emotional girls afterall, surely they could just sit here and come to some decision.

His lips remained parted as the words refused to come out, memories of Kakuzu's hands caressing his body, his tongue forcing its way nearly down his throat. Again his groin bursted into flames inside him, sending it rippling through all of him as he clenched his jaw, trying to will it away.

Fuck. Fucking, fucking fuck. It was so awkward, he was terrified, but... he couldn't let it stop here, now that something finally happened. He just... he couldn't. He would die, he thought, if he couldn't feel that again. The tight, suffocating pain erupted into his chest as he tried to imagine going back to the way things were. The emotional pain of that overrideing even the actual, real pain in his stomache with such force that he reached out to clutch at the older man's arm for some sort of support without thinking, meeting his eyes when he turned, even though he was completley aware that his own were wide with fear.

"Don't..." He said quickly, unable to go any farther as his mind drew a blank and the pain subsided simply from being at to look at him and touch him, cementing him into reality.

Kakuzu raised a brow. "Don't what?"

Hidan's mouth opened to reply, then closed. His face twisted in frustration, mouth opened once more, then shut again without saying anything.

What the fuck, goddammit? Words, where are you? Get the fuck out here!

"Just...don't. Don't." He screamed inside his head in frustration, making him take notice of the splitting headache forming behind his eyes.

Kakuzu rolled his eyes, turning back to look at the clock above the doorway, but not before Hidan noticed the almost non-existant upwark crook at the corner of his mouth.

That was a smile, he thought, letting his own grin spread. I made Doctor Satan smile.

"I'm a doctor, not a mind-reader, Hidan. If you're going to try to communicate you need to use your words, prefferabley more of them." He finally said, turning back to regard him with an expression Hidan couldn't quite put a name to. He continued, not wiping his smirk away, but not acknowledging it either.

"Don't... leave."

Again the doctors brow stretched high. "We have to leave eventually. Unless you intend to purchase this building and live in it."

Hidan rolled his eyes. "That's not what I fucking mean, stop being a smartass."

Kakuzu nonchalantly took a swallow from his glass. "I'd rather be a smartass than a dumbass."

Hidan stared incredously at him. What the fuck was this shit? Being all casual and... what the fuck?

He opened his mouth, brows furrowed in anger as he prepared to chew him out. His stomache had other idea's though, lurching suddenly and sending an un-ignorable sword of pain through him. He choked at it and moved his arms instinctivley to wrap around his stomache, doubleing over, vision going black but instantly beginning to fade back to it's usual nature.

"Hidan.." Kakuzu said, sound somewhere between some sort of unamused warning and a minimal amount of concern.

He tried to tell the man he was fine, able to only gargle out an incomprehensable noise of pain. Instead he used his free hand to hold up a finger, the universal sign for 'Just one moment, please'.

Kakuzu went to his feet, Hidan panic'd for only a second as to where the man was going, unable to overcome the searing pain inside him enough to sit up and see for himself. The sound of the tap running comforted him, and a moment later the older man returned to his seat, putting a hand on Hidan's shoulder and helping him to straighten himself with surprising gentleness.

Hidan's eyes met his, studying him carefully. He knew his own expression was most likley something between a request for an explanation and stubborn defiance to admit anything was wrong, despite something clearly being very wrong. He told himself it was nothing, just far too much alchohol, ignoring the tiny little mouse-like voice in the back of his head, telling him he'd drunk himself into a delerium hundreds of times and never hurt like felt like something else familiar... usually this only happened when he overdosed... but he didn't. He'd only been drinking. He hadn't done anything wrong...

Kakuzu held out the water to him, instructing him to drink. Without even really being able to think of it, Hidan's hands acted on their own, snatching it up and chugging the entire thing down in the blink of an eye, as if he'd been wandering a desert for weeks.

"Hidan..." Kakuzu said again, as the albino made a noise of satisfaction and set the glass back on the table, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He only grunted in response, twisting to look at the sink again, wanting to discard the glass and just suck the goddamn liquid straight from the tap until he didn't feel like a fucking sponge left in a sandbox on a hot, sunny day.

"How many medications are you on, exactly?"

Hidan flipped back around to stare at him quzically. "I don't fucking know... I think... four? No... wait... There was only three pills on Friday, 'Tachi said something about them cutting out the booster since I was doing so well."

"Do you remember their specific names?" The elder pressed on, sending a spike or irritation between them.

He didn't want to talk about this kind of shit, dammit, he had a goddamn pharmacist already, and a therapist, and a best friend who doubled as a pharmacist and therapist that he happened to live with. "I don't fucking know, why?"

"Try to remember."

"Don't bark orders at me, I asked why."

Kakuzu glared at him for a few heartbeats, before reaching out to poke a flattened hand at a certian spot on his abdomen. Shock and pain sparked through the albino, making him yelp before roughly smacking the man's hand away and clutching at his stomache again.

"What the fucking hell you bastard!?"

"That is why. That is not your stomache that's causing you pain right now, it's your liver."

"So!?" He cried, wincing.

"So, mixing alchohol and physchiatric medications can cause liver and kidney failure if you aren't careful, which I know you haven't been. Which medications are you taking?" He asked again, making Hidan growl in irritation.

His face screwed in thought as he tried to remember, absently chewing on his inner cheek. "I think... one started with an A. Something to calm me down, a mood stabilizer or something... Dammit, I should know this, it's on commercials all the time..."

"Adderal?" Kakuzu guessed.

"Yeah! That's it, it's for the hyper kids."

Kakuzu's brow furrowed in confusion. "Adderol is a stimulant, It doesn't make sense to use it as a mood stabilizer... Though I can't argue with a diagnosis of ADHD*..."

"Well I don't fucking know, I just do what they tell me so they don't send me back to a fucking funny farm..." Hidan said, voice getting quieter toward the end of his admittance. "There's another one that starts with an A too. I don't know which is which though. One was for fucking psychosis or something and the other was for anxiety or whatever. And there was depression too, but one of them handled two different ones, which was why they had the booster before..."

"What was the other one called?"

"Uh... Prozac? Maybe?"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "You need to pay closer attention, I doubt they're going to try to kill you, but only an idiot takes prescription strength medication without knowing what it is they're putting into their body." He got up before Hidan had the chance to respond, snatching his glass and going to fill it up in the sink again, continueing on as he sat back in his seat. Hidan forgot whatever arguement he was going to make as soon as he set eyes on the water anyway.

"Prozac is most generally and anti-depressant, though it has the tendancy to work as an anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic as well. Which wouldn't make sense as to why they'd have you on a second one for the same thing." He stopped to study Hidan, gulping down the water greedily. "I would assume they probably had the extra as an anti-anxiety, seeing as stress is what seems to trigger your episodes. Was it Ativan?"

Hidan made a noise of distinction as he finished slurping down the precious water and set the cup down. "Yeah! That's it!"

Kakuzu seemed upset about this, instead of happy, which bugged Hidan again for some reason, making him turn to fiddle with the cup for a lack of anything to occupy his hands with.

"That's a dangerous combination of medications... Your therapist is either a complete imbecile or a genious. He would know better than I the in-depth effects they would have on you in particular. I only know the medications, not so much the psychology behind them..."

Hidan shrugged. "Oh well, if he fucks my body up I'll just sue him. I don't like his stupid ass anyway... he's a smug bastard."

Kakuzu looked at him blandly for a moment, and shook his head. "You're an idiot..." he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Keep drinking water, you need to flush your system before your liver decides it's had enough of your torture and gives out on you."

"Tch, fuck you. I haven't drank since I moved in with 'Tachi. One night ain't gonna kill me."

"It might if you don't do what I tell you."

"Well then I guess there's nothing I can' fuckin' do huh?"

"Except what I tell you."

"You're not my doctor."

"But I am your boss."

"Well then I should sue you! For Sexual Harrasment!" Hidan said, smirking as the doctor remained silent again, refusing to let it show that he was also embarrassed for his actions, and that a warm heat spread through him every time he remembered the feeling of Kakuzu's hands on him, his taste, his smell...

"You could." He finally admitted, not revealing anything in his expression, which irritated Hidan to no end. "But you won't. So you might as well stop with the empty threats."

"Who the fuck says they're empty!?" Hidan countered. "I could take every fucking cent you own and put you out of business!"

"You could do that before, and you didn't." Kakuzu deadpanned, only the barest traces of a smirk showing at the corners of his mouth.

Hidan's mouth bobbed open and closed as he struggled for a comeback, unable to for the pain that returned to his chest, squeezing the air from his lungs at the thought of possibley losing the Doctors affection after pulling such a stunt. No, he wouldn't do that, not even if he was faced with death. He'd preferred it that way, he was shocked to realize. When the hell had this asshole become so important to him?

"That's what I thought..." Kakuzu said, leaning back and refilling his glass. "So, since you're not going to come out with it, I will; This needs to be kept quiet."

The pale man stared in confusion for a second, making Kakuzu roll his eyes as he took another gulp of the alchohol. "I'm referring to the situation that you described as 'sexual harassment'."

Hidan's face burned in understanding then, but disappeared quickly as anger replaced the humiliation. "Hey! I'm not some fucking secret to be shoved away in a closet you fucking insensitive prick!"

Kakuzu's brow rose, and Hidan swore internally as he realized how stupid that must have sounded. Why in the name of Jesus fucking Christ almighty was he being such a goddaamn pussy!?

"I meant only that it need not be advertised. I thought I should clarify, knowing your loud and oblivious nature."

"Why the fuck would I go announce to the world that I made out with an old fucking man?" He said, trying to hurt the man's pride as a way to distract the attention from his own blunder, but wishing he hadn't said it as soon as he did.

Kakuzu recoiled, not physically, but the slice of insult that flashed across him was unmistakeable. Hidan stared, startled for a few moments to actually see such a reaction in the stone-hearted man, the cleared his throat in an attempt to somehow magically signify an apology.

"You're the one who threw the tantrum because you thought I didn't like you." Kakuzu growled, taking an angry drink.

"Hey, no, I don't think so. I was only pissed because I was having a good fucking time until I had to see your fucking face and be reminded that I had to go back to fucking work and pretend..." He trailed off, again slapping himself mentally. Really, why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut?

"And pretend you didn't have a crush on me?" Kakuzu said, his smirk a little more noticeable now than the last one Hidan had seen.

"NO!... well... Yes... but no... Goddammit I don't fucking know!"

Kakuzu then shocked the hell out of the younger by letting out a small whoosh of air that sounded distinctly like a laugh. "Idiot..." He said afterward, but the insult didn't sound like an insult at all, which made a devious grin slide across Hidan's face.

"You like me too though. So that makes you just as much of an idiot."

"Indeed it does."

"You're not going to go back to being an ass to me for no reason again, are you?"

"Only when you deserve it."

"You always think I deserve it."

"Exactly."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"It mean's stop talking, or I'm going to be an ass."

"I'm not even doing anything fucking wrong though!"

"Of course you'd think that. You're an imbecile."

"Grumpy old fucking bastard!"

"Immature brat."

Hidan stared at the elder man, staring down at his glass as he rotated it in his hands, still smiling ever-so-softly, as he turned it round and round in his hands. His tounge absently came out to run over his lips, knowing Kakuzu wouldn't see the borderline-seductive gesture. He was put off when he wasn't able to distinguish the taste of Kakuzu on them.

The man hadn't come right out and said it, but he wasn't acting at all as if he regretted what had just happened, or that he was going to pretend it didn't. And the albino could only assume from that that he had no intention of letting things return to the way they were before. This both excited and terrified him.

He wetted his lips again, assuring himself that he'd have plenty of time to get acquainted with that taste in the future. They did work together after all, there was plenty of time for him to return the old man's little attack, now that he realized he wouldn't end up in a coma in the hospital for it.

Dozens of possible scenarios flitted through his mind, and he leaned back in his chair, a content smile on his face, just before there was a knock on the door.

.

Hidan raised the cigarette to his lips again, that serenity he had felt earlier fading slightly as he fought to continue standing upright despite the ever-increasing pain in his gut. Tayuya stood to his left, Kakuzu leaning against the fence that was in front of the building on his right, making a triangle. The girl was making inappropriate small talk with his boss, who seemed to be getting more and more irritated by the second. She'd come sprinting up to them after she and Shark-dick had finished that fucking hilarious scene that turned into a gag-fest of mushy, girly, romantical bullshit. Apparently the girl who brought her here had fucking dissapeared and wasn't answering her phone, and she'd requested to stay the night at his apartment not having enough cash on her to get any other place to stay except a cardboard box in an alley.

He couldn't have given less of a fuck at the moment, too caught up in resisting the near-debilitating knife of pain in his stomache to think straight enough to make a rational thought. From there the three of them had meandered out front to wait on the cab Kakuzu called, who was suddenly back in a sour mood after being introduced to the girl as Hidan's employer and being throughly drilled with questions that repeatedly insulted his intelligence for accidentally hiring Hidan.

He knew the man didn't like Tayuya, hell, he didn't really like anyone, so he wasn't surprised, and he felt only a minimal amount of guilt at her presence, but he didn't have the energy to go much farther into it than that. Waht the fuck was he supposed to do? Tell her she couldn't stay with him, even though she was one of his closest friends, however annoying her presence may be at the moment?

Taht was unfair, he supposed, half of him was grateful for the distraction she provided. With her drunken ass blabbering away, Kakuzu's attention was being kept off of him as he struggled to act like he wasn't in burning, fiery agony. He'd taken the offered cigarette from Tayuya without really thinking, lit it up, and puffed on it as some sort of distraction from the pain, while he listened to her prattle on to his boss and his crush and his... significant other? Bah, he didn't know, he didn't have the concentration to think of such things right now.

He had felt better after he and the doctors chat, he'd been almost back to normal when Itachi came in, the pain mostly gone apparently thanks to the consumption of the water. It wasn't until he'd started laughing that it came back, what with it putting strain on his body to be stuck in his repeated fits of laughter. And after he'd briefly lost control of himself when Itachi's fuck-buddy had started rapping on stage, it had only increased. He'd done his best since then to assure everyone nothing was wrong, though no one had actually asked... But hell, that just meant he was doing a good job, right?

He wanted to go home, that was the only thing he could keep thinking to himself. He wanted to go home and curl up in his bed and wait out this damn stomach-ache in peace, as he wasn't about to fucking show weakness in front of Kakuzu. Shit, the guy had already nursed him back from nearly passing out drunk, and after making out with him and nearly driving him insane with the desire to either fuck or be fucked. (That alone had only made it worse, as he'd never 'bottomed' before, and therefore didn't really know what it was like to have the desire to.)

That was more than enough new experiences for one night, he figured. From singing on stage, kissing his boss, witnessing Itachi act like a jealous little bitch (Although that didn't really surprise him, the man had always been possessive as fuck) and now this... well, he just wanted to go home. At this point he actually felt like he could go to sleep, and stay asleep, possibley for days. Aside from the ache, his very soul was still bound by the serenity of all that had happened tonight. Though physically nothing would change, except for knowing Tayuya would be sleeping out on the couch, he somehow didn't feel as if he'd be completley alone as he slept. And with this thought, he was almost eager to go home and collapse onto his mattress.

"Hey... Hida. Are you okay?" Tayuya said, suddenly right in front of him, standing on her tippy toes to squint in his face, though she was close enough not to need to.

He blinked in surprise and stumbled away from her, almost losing his balance as his limbs suddenly seemed to tingle and not respond correctly to his intent as if asleep.

"Shit, didn't mean to scare you." She laughed as he caught himself, quickly moving to stand where he hand been, giving her a playful shove, though unable to produce the energy to smile.

"You look even paler than usual." She continued, "I thought for a second there maybe you fucking died and now you're a ghost..." Her teasing grin faded quickly as Hidan struggled to make some sort of reaction that wouldn't give away his condition. She saw through it just as easily as everyone seemed to see through him, and reached out to grab his shoulders, stopping him from swaying there in place, which he hadn't realized he'd been doing until she stopped him.

"Just... just really fucking tired..." He said breathlessly, his vision starting to darken again. Fuck, he needed to sit down... Where the goddamn hell is that cab?

"It just pulled up." Tayuya said, confusing the hell out of him until he realized he must have said that out loud. "C'mon, you're kind of freaking me out, let's get you home to bed, psycho."

"Hidan." Kakuzu said sharply, making him jump and successfully clearing his vision again, bringing him momentarily back into clarity with the small spout of adrenaline it shot through him.

"I'm good!" He piped, happy that he didn't have to lie for the moment.

"Is your liver hurting again?" Kakuzu said, ignoring the questions that started spewing hysterically from Tayuya at these words.

Hidan jerked his head away to look at the ground. He really didn't fucking like lying, especially not to Kakuzu, who really fucking hated being lied to. But dammit, he just wanted to go home and lay down. He didn't want some kind of big ordeal being made out of this.

"I'm fine." He said, knocking Tayuya's supportive hand away and instantly falling as his knees buckled under him after an attempt to take a step.

"God fucking dammit, fuck. Fucking FUCK!" He swore on the ground, expending the last of his energy and then nearly falling face-forward onto the tarred parking lot as he was struck again with vertigo.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Tayuya said, half in a panic and half in some sort of rage. She moved behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle to pull him off his hands and knees and back into a sitting position. "God dammit Hidan, this isn't fucking funny. I'm too drunk for this kinda shit, you're scaring me!"

"Tch, you're such a girl." He said, managing to give her a mischevious grin, though accepting her offered hand as she hauled him back to his feet. "I just needa go home, maybe throw up a little bit, and go to sleep." Possibley shed a few tears. Fucking hell this hurts...

"I don't think so." Kakuzu said, grabbing his arm and yanking him roughly to the side of the car that seemed to vaporize in front of them. He opened the back door, Hidan blinked, and tried to tell him he was fine again.

.

Then he was in the back seat of a taxi. It was moving, judging by the vibrations and the bumps that were sending waves of agony through him.

He groaned, hearing Tayuya gush about something, and then Kakuzu's deep voice replying in an impatient but soothing way.

"I've heard of people throwing up and passing out. But I've never seen anyone pass out and then throw up... Is he gonna be okay?"

"His body is trying to get everything out of his stomache so it won't poision itself anymore."

That... really, REALLY fucking hurts... He thought, flopping an arm over his stomache and grunting in pain as the pressure sent the pain flaring up to unbelievable proportions.

"Why are his eyes like that?" Tayuya said loudly as someone forced his eyes open, shining a bright light into it before letting it fall shut again, at least he thought it was loud. It sounded far away now... and echoey...

"He's suffering Acute Liver Failure, it's not pulling the toxins from the alchohol from his bloodstream, the yellowing is from the toxins. A minor case of jaundice."

"Well make it fucking stop! You're a fucking doctor aren't you!?"

"Why do you think we're going to the clinic? For the love of Benjamin, woman, shut your trap."

Oh fuck... I'm dying. This sucks...

.

"I don't want to die..." He mumbled, feeling a sharp pain, like a pinch, on his inner elbow. His eyes fluttered open, squinting in confusion when he was suddenly stareing up into a flourescent light instead of the inside of a cab.

Those look like the lights at work...

"Shut the hell up you idiot, you're not dying. He's gonna fix you up." Tayuya's voice chided, stern as if angry but still soft with worry. It sounded as if she was above his head, which confused the ever-loving hell out of him. He tried to reach up to feel her, as the bright lights had made him clench shut his eyes. Something grabbed his wrist and pinned it roughly back to where it was. confused, he tried to sit up, only for two small hands to grip his shoulders, forcing him back down.

"Sit still, brat." Kakuzu's voice said.

"What... What the fuck..." He couldn't manage anymore than that, though he did suddenly feel the terrible sensation that he recognized as a telltale sign that he was about to vomit. He drew in a deep breath and held it until the sensation passed. He couldn't do that, not in front of Kakuzu... What was he doing anyway? Where the fuck was he? What was happening?

"Kakuzu is putting an I.V. drip in your arm Hida, so don't move."

"Where... where's Itachi... The party..."

"We left the party, remember? You got sicker than all hell, we're at the clinic trying to keep your liver from shutting down... you dope..."

"Bloody hell!" Kakuzu snarled, and Hidan felt somewhing warm and wet run down the length of his forearm. He let his head flop to the side to look at it, flexing his fingers, smileing for some reason he didn't understand why when he saw the blood running over his fingers, and kakuzu's gloved hands apparently trying to get a needle into his vein.

"SHIT!" Tayuya shouted,"Are you even a real fucking doctor or what!?"

"His blood is full of unfiltered alchohol, it's thinner than normal, it's going to spray. If you don't shut your damn mouth so I can work I'm going to lock you in the bathroom."

He smiled again. Hah, Kakuzu locking Tayuya in the bathroom. That would be hilarious.

He probably would too...

.

"He's not answering. I called him with Hidan's phone and I tried to use mine."

"Kisame isn't answering either." There was an irritated growl/sigh, then; "I don't know why I'm surprised. No one ever listens to the damn doctor."

"Hey don't try to act like you weren't drinking either. I can smell that shit on you."

Hidan clenched his eyes shut at the intense ringing their voices caused. His head throbbed, and his body ached like hell, like he was laying on a damn boulder. "Shut the hell up..." He muttered without meaning to. "Try'na... sleep..."

Immediatly there was a tight grip on his arm. "Hida, you're awake again! Are you fucking coherant this time? How do you feel?"

His eyes snapped open, and he was temporarily blinded again by the flourescent lights. His throat protested as he shouted out a string of swears, voice cracking several times. He started to throw an arm over his face to block it out, only to find it secured down.

Angry, he growled, pulling harder against his restraint.

"No, don't do that!" Tayuya's voice said. "Fucking idiot! You're still all loopy aren't you!?"

"LET GO OF MY FUCKING ARM!" He snarled at her.

"No, we had to tie it down so you wouldn't rip the I.V. out and bleed to death on the fucking floor. Quit thrashing you dumbass!"

The words didn't make it all the way to a point of understanding, and starting to panic, he flailed again. This place smelled like sanitizer, and anesthetic, and iodine. Like a fucking hospital. He didn't want to be in a hospital. If he was in a hospital with an I.V. in his arm, that meant he'd accidentally overdosed again... and they would likley think he was trying to kill himself.

"Hidan!" A deep voice snapped, making him struggle harder as the image of Kakuzu flooded his mind. He wasn't trying to kill himself! They couldn't keep him here! He actually wanted to live! They couldn't pt him in that place again, he'd lose his job, he'd lose his boss. That couldn't happen, he'd only just found him. If they took him away, Kakuzu would never talk to him again.

YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO ME!

"Itachi!" He cried, struggling against the hands holding him down. Oh god, what would Itachi think? How had this even happened? He didn't remember taking anything except his prescriptions. He hadn't done anything, someone set him up. It wasn't his fault, he didn't do anything. He was trying to get better! He had a job and was paying off his bills. He was making friends, hell, he might even have some kind of wierd relationship now...

One of his captors grabbed his chin, trying to force him to look into their eyes. He snapped them closed. He didn't want to look at them, he didn't want to see their accusing stare, their pitiful looks. "I wasn't trying to! It's an accident! Don't do it! Don't take me to that fucking place!" He shouted, kicking his legs which had been left free, shouting over the demands of the people holding him. They couldn't keep him here, they couldn't fucking do this. "I'll fucking kill you! LET GO! FUCKING LET ME GO!"

Pain exploded on the side of his face, and his muscles relaxed in the shock, legs flopping back down uselessly onto whatever surface he was on. His eyes were open again, looking at the room. His chest was heaving as he drew in breath after breath.

White, the room was white. So white and clean. There was a door just ahead of him, a wooden door with a bronze handle. That was wierd, thats what the doors at the clinic were like. That wasn't significant though, there were a lot of doors like that. Itachi's doors were like that. Maybe he was at home? No, that's not right, it was cold in here, it was freezing. It smelled like a hospital and it was cold and bright and he was strapped to a table...

"Hidan, calm down or I'm going to knock you unconcious." A deep voice grated.

"Don't... please... please don't.." He sobbed, though his eyes remained dry. "Let me go..." he said weakly.

"Dammit you brat would you look at me?!" That same voice said. "You're not going anywhere!"

He closed his eyes, vertigo taking him again now that he had lost the adrenaline that allowed him the strength to resist. Kakuzu called him that. He called him a brat, and an imbecile, and an idiot. Moron, boy, child... he was so mean, Kakuzu was... but it never bothered him as much coming from him as it did everyone else...

"I'm... gonna be late.." He muttered, not realizing that had been his voice he was hearing until after he'd said it. "'Tachi... call... Kuzu... He'll be mad."

-o-

.

-o-

Kisame navigated the roads, making sure to stay off the highways that passed each other perpendicular through the town. It was easier to take the two-lane highway, there were less turns adn it was illuminated far better than these others, but everyone took that route, and thusly, that's where all the cops usually were. And though he'd never been one of those people to get lost while drunk, he would have no problem with it even if he did. After all, a police car could only legally follow you for three turns until they either had to pull you over or buzz off. Not that they were lurking around here at all anyway.

He felt giddy as he made a left, breaking the law like this was so exciting, even if it was just some stupid little meager thing that kids now-a-days did all the time for a lack of any other activitives to do in town. He laughed out loud at himself, acting like a rebellious teen again, despite being long past that stage. Sitting sideways in the passenger seat with his back against the window Itachi's eyes centered on him, wearing a smirk of his own.

"What's so funny?"

"Everything." He chuckled back, turning momentarily to smile at the beauty of a man. "Hell of a party." He clarified. "Kakuzu and the kid. God. You told me, he told me, they kissed, I still can't believe it..."

"Hn, you should have realized by now that I'm always right. Even when I'm wrong, I'm right."

"You get pretty full of yourself when you're drunk, don'tcha babe?" He chuckled, making another turn, being sure to count slowly to three at the stop sign before hitting the gas.

"Mm, I'd like to be full of you." Itachi said back, making Kisame turn in surprise to him. He smiled again, showing the barest hint of perfectly white teeth, twisting a piece of hair around his finger.

A shiver ran up his spine, drawing goosebumps across the nape of his neck. That was the sneer of a predator if he'd ever seen one...

He cleared his throat, bringing his attention back to the road. Maybe beinging the hoplessley drunk Uchiha back to his house wasn't such a good idea, he didn't want to give him the wrong impression. He had no problem sharing a bed with the guy, but he meant that in literal terms. Sharing a bed for it's intended purpose; to sleep in. As far as sex went... he didn't think he was drunk enough for that...

Itachi had been perfectly respectful of his apprehension, and had been beautifully understanding, if a little bit peeved, each time he moved a little bit farther with the man, stopping when he began to feel uncomfortable. Until this point, and shit, even now, he hadn't done anything with Itachi that had been any different from being with a woman, except for the man's flat chest. Their hands had never drifted below the belt, sex had only been brought up in a teasing sort of way. But now he was realizing he was faced with the actual possibility of Itachi trying to go farther than he was comfortable with.

He was okay with feeling the way he did about the younger man. He didn't neccesarily think he was gay, or bisexual, as the Uchiha was really the only guy he ever thought of in that sort of way. Maybe he was pansexual, something the raven hair had suggested to him once. If he understood correctly, it meant you simply love people for who they were, gender had absoloutly no weight in the equasion.

He supposed that made sense, though he didn't understand how it could just not matter. Sex was a part of any relationship. And they both had the same equipment... It wasn't that he was confused as to how it would work, that much was pretty obvious, and honestly didn't bug him as much as he figured it would. Men and women went anal all the time, he'd never done it personally, but he didn't judge those who did. And it's not like there was some difference between a woman's ass and a man's...

Really... he wasn't even quite sure himself why he was still so unsure of the whole thing. It was hard to determine in his own mind, let alone form the thoughts into words and try to put them into a sentence to explain to his poor boyfriend. He was just scared, he assumed, it was something new, and he'd been let down so many times in his life...

Not to say he didn't trust Itachi. Hell, if there was anyone in the whole entire world that deserved it, it was Itachi. Maybe... maybe it was himself he didn't trust... The way the Uchiha looked at him, how he acted around him. He just didn't want to let him down.

What if it turned out to be another dud?

"Sorry..." Itachi said softly. "I'm drunk... This is embarrassing... I'm not trying to pressure you, I just spoke without thinking... I'm sorry." He said again.

"Don't worry about it." He said, flashing the man a reassuring smile. "It doesn't bug me, really." Didn't it though?

"You're hard to resist, I can't help myself..." Itachi mumbled, his lid's drooping and then flashing open again, obviously fighting sleep. Hell, the man hadn't gone to bed last night, and here it was just after 4, he had to be dead tired. Kisame was vaugley surprised the ma was still even halfway concious, surely nothing would come of this night. He had no reason to worry, right?

Hmm, but that was wierd. He was also afraid of nothing happening. He wanted to hold the man close, breathe his scent, taste his lips, run his hands over every inch of him, learn everything there was to know. And damn, he was so beautiful, it was hard to resist. He didn't think he'd mind getting to explore everything, even in a sexual manner...

"I know the feeling." He said back, earning another seductive smile from the raven-haired beauty.

At long last his driveway came up on his right. he let out a breath of releif as he pulled in, shut the car off, and hurried to get out and escourt the drunken, sleep-deprived Uchiha inside.

"You're so wonderful, Kisa." Itachi mumbled after they'd made it into the house. "Really, you've no idea. I can't understand how on earth you're single still."

He laughed, helping the man out of his coat, as he was struggling with it. "But I'm not, I have you."

"Mm, That's right. You're mine. All mine." Slender arms wrapped around him, that gorgeous face nuzzling into his chest with a content sigh.

Kisame's heart warmed and he smiled down at him, running his fingers absently through the lucious black locks. That was hard to believe both ways. The world was a miserable, lonley place, sexuality didn't even enter into it, it was the same for everyone. Happiness was like a forsaken drug, constantly reaching out to people, wrapping them in a beautiful embrace until it slipped away the next moment without warning. Love was nothing but a more singular form of happiness, even harder to acquire because it was so specific. Easy to recreate, easy to imitate, easy to fool yourself, but hard as fucking hell to actually, truely find. There was no telling how long the high would last, when it would come back, where you might find it again. People pursued it their entire existance, hoping maybe it would make one last appearance as they lay on their death beds...

To feel the way he did about this person in his arms, it frightened him, somewhat. Itachi was his drug, his happiness. Kisame was an easy-going guy, a trait he considered himself lucky to have. Always far too jovial, Kakuzu told him. Content with the way life flowed because he could accept that there would be just as many bad times as there were good. But this Uchiha, he was far too perfect, it threw off the balance. He couldn't not be happy, even when he wasn't in the man's presence, because he knew he was there, always, until the next time they would see each other. The doupt and the uncertianty didn't run rampant as they did for everyone else.

He had no problem embracing it... but happiness never lasted. False love never lasted, and the real thing was so very, very rare...

And maybe that's what he was afraid of. He could continue being easy-going and jovial for the rest of his life knowing that unexpected curveballs would be coming. But with such a permanent fixture, he knew he would get attached. Hell, he was already attached, and what would happen when life decided he'd had enough happiness? What it if fell apart?

No, it wasn't Itachi he didn't trust, it wasn't himself that he didn't trust. It wasn't the thought of being intimate with another man. It was just life. It was his damned humanity, so fearful of the unknown. Unable to enjoy what's right in front of him for the fact that he cannot unglue his eyes from the horizon.

"I am." He finally whispered back, leaning down to scoop the man up and carry him bridal-style to his bedroom. "But you, my Angel, need to get your drunken, delerious, ass to sleep."

"Oh yay, a sleepover." He said, his extreme attempt but utter failure at girly enthusiasm made Kisame breathe out a laugh. Was there anything that this man wasn't?

" I sleep naked, you know..." He snickered, face snuggled to the taller man's chest and, if Kisame wasn't mistaken, sniffing him deeply over and over.

"Oh do you now? Even though you've normally got an unpredictable, hyper, man-child that lives in your house?"

"Well... I sleep naked at your house."

"You've never slept here before."

"Well I've decided that's what I'll do. Don't argue with me, Kisame. I'm always right, remember? " He said, pinching the mans chest and then squealing in surprise when he was tossed onto the bed. The older chuckled and climbed over him before he had a chance to change position.

"I guess I'll just have to keep you awake, neh?" He left a trail of sweet kisses down his neck, the younger craning his neck as he stretched and yawned.

"Nope, I think you should probably help me with these. I'm so very tired, you know." He said, pulling weakly at Kisame's Shirt. There was a double meaning to that that the oceanic man managed to catch. And unrefined Itachi was by far the cutest damn thing he'd ever fucking laid eyes on.

"Those are my clothes, angel."

"Yes. You sleep naked too."

"You're so insightful. How did you know?"

"I know everything."

"Oh, then what do you think will happen if we're both naked in the same bed?"

"We'll go to sleep, obviously."

"You think so?"

"Yes. Eventually."

Kisame let him pull the piece of fabric off of him, studying his face, his sweet smile, his adoring eyes as he let his hands run over his own chest, down his sides, up his arms. Tracing over his scars as he always did,styudying them as if they held some sort of secret to be discovered, looking at them in such fiery interest that it would appear to anyone else as if he'd never seen them before, and had to examine them immediatly. Kisame closed his eyes, letting the sensation melt into his skin, he couldn't feel through his scars as well as the un-marred skin on his body, and the nerves of each layer of dermis' had been stripped away by the ferocity of the shark he'd wrestled with. There were a couple spots where, even if you took a knife and pushed it through his flesh, he would not feel it until it went deep enough to bypass the dead nerves. He still enjoyed it anyway. The women he'd been with had always been apprehensive about touching them, what with women and their focus on outer appearance, their fear of causing offense. It felt nice, he thought, to have someone so brazenly unafraid and curious about them. Finally, Itachi's hands seemed to get their fill, and they reached his face again, cupping at his jawline and gently pulling their mouths together.

His body lit up with the familiar feeling of those lips on his, as it did everytime, responding to whatever strange connection it was that attracted him so powerfully to this man. All his beauty, inner and outer alike, felt almost as if merging with him, trickleing into him with a burning intensity that, as always, had him wanting more.

His mind, not nearly as intoxicated as Itachi's but certianly not sober, seemed to take a step back when those long fingers trailed down him so lightly that there was almost no touching at all. Down his chest, his sides, to his hips, and then back up again to slip behind his neck, pulling him closer gently but possessivley. He let himself be pulled, he wanted to be closer, and though those nagging doupts still tugged on the outskirts of his awareness, they were much quieter now, pushed back by the sensation of everything that was Itachi Uchiha.

They broke apart briefly, his courage returning to him in his hunger for more, so that he could slip the man's shirt off of him in one smooth motion that he wasn't really even sure how he managed. As soon as it was off he was dragged back down again, excitement making his very skin tingle as angelic hands smoothed over his body again, exploring the same as they always did, but with more intent now, more knowledge as to what would turn him on (Which was pretty much anything the Uchiha did) and what wouldn't. (Nothing wouldn't, because everything did.)

Again he felt the tugging, but he pushed it aside. No distractions, no doupt. When life gave you lemons, you made lemonade. When life gave you Itachi, you never, ever pulled away from him. Not for all the insecurity or discomfort in the world.

He did trust him, with all he had. And he decided there in that moment that even if he didn't trust fate or chance or whatever force controlled the universe, he would trust in this man below him, his addicting and overwhelming new presence in his life, the adoration he felt for him. That's what life was made of, the pursuit of happiness, and he'd be damned if he'd purposley let it get away from him all for the sake of something so rediculous as fear of the unknown. How bloody idiotic, Kakuzu would say, that people constantly lost the things they cared about most because they wasted all their time fearing that they would lose it and so unable to enjoy it while they had it. In some cases, it was almost as stupid as simply taking it for granted, assuming that it would just always be there. They were essetially the same damn thing, when you really get to the knitty-gritty.

Fingers slipped into the edge of his jeans, and his back arched without thought, stomache sucked in, allowing them to slip lower at the subtle downward pressure given to them. A soft sigh came from his lover, and had his eyes not already been closed, they would have fluttered shut at the wave of desire and satisfaction it brought out in him.

He respositioned himself, not breaking the contact of their mouths until he could rest his weight on one hand. With the other he smoothed the tousled, black strands back, exposing the creamy porcelin skin of Itachi's neck. He attacked it with abandon, mind taking yet another step back from reality, his body acting on it's own now.

The younger drew in a sharp breath as he was bitten sharpley and then soothed again by Kisame's scarred lips, Thin legs drawing up to wrap themselves around his lower torso somehow without pushing any further space between them.

The pants, and my boxers... He thought, not sure if Itachi was wearing underwear, excited by the mystery. Three layers between us. Maybe four.

Easily removed layers of weak cloth and stitching.

Not yet though, not yet.

He scooted down the lithe body, wishing he could watch the expressions run across his lovers face as he let out his sighs of pleasure and anticipation as he licked and sucked his way down to the man's chest. It's not so different from a girl, still, he reasoned to himself. Just a flat-chested girl, the young man was so far, responding the same way they did, feeling the same sensations.

It helped that the man kept himself so wonderfully clean-shaven, not a single hair on his body except those beautiful locks on his scalp. He didn't have to worry about that half of the transition, the body hair. He thanked whoever was listening for that, as tasting that would probably somewhat ruin his newfound drive and acceptance of what was likley going to happen.

So smooth. So soft. God, he wanted all of it.

Tentativley he peeked up at his lover, who was blinking lazily up at the ceiling, arms splayed up over his head, taking short, shallow breathes with eyes glazed, looking but not seeing, before he flicked his tounge over an exposed nipple. The body below him tensed, and arched, begging for more with another quiet gasp that morphed into the softest whisper of his name.

He let out a shakey breathe at the rush this gave him, nearly consuming the hardened bud of flesh, sucking and swirling his tongue around it with the experience that had been used only of women previous to this. Itachi arched further and moaned -Exactly the same... he thought, Man or woman, it feels the same.

He teased the other with his free hand, pinching and biting in synche until the body beneath him writhed in euphoria. He broke away, unable to mask his smile of pride as he leaned back forward to reunite their mouths, as those wonderful lips with the cat-like grin tasted so much better than just flesh, though it was certianly a close second.

Itachi's subtlety, or what scant amount there was left of it, left then as he was pulled with surprising ferocity on top of him, crushing their bodies and mouths together alike, pushing his weight upon the small person beneath him. He didn't seem to mind though, and so Kisame didn't shift to balance himself as his mouth was invaded agressivley.

There would be no interruptions this time, something he was both genuinley pleased about and still somewhat unsure of. He pushed the latter back, his determination not to be overriden by that damned nagging insecurity.

He wanted this, heart and soul and body.

Drunk or not, he wanted to memorize every second.

This is how the first time should be, every time, for everyone.

With surprising strength he was pushed sideways, his brief distraction used against him, rolling off the smaller man and then in the same motion their positions switched, Itachi now straddled over his hips, rubbing their groins together, doing nothing to reduce either man's hunger or arousal.

His hands slid down the thin torso and slipped beneath the smaller's black slacks, his curiosity pleasantly satisfied and arousal doubled two-fold to find that the younger was, indeed, going commando. He wrapped his hands around the lower cheeks, reveling how they were the perfect size for both his hands to grasp firmly and comfortabley, despite the two men's difference in size.

Soul-mates. Destined to be together since their birth. That's what Itachi called Kakuzu and Hidan... but maybe they were too... Built specifically to grow into everything the other would ever want, garunteeing they would see each other and be unable to resist the attraction.

He squeezed and pulled, manipulating the Uchiha into a slow grind against him, no resistance given to the motions at all. They rocked like that, mouths working, hips grinding, lungs fighting to draw in enough oxygen through their nostrils as they refused to break away from each other. Itachi sighed out all sorts of unidentifyable or describable sounds, driving Kisame's libido closer and closer to a breaking point, as well as making his jeans feel rediculously tight and constricting.

"You're going to make me lose what sanity I have..." Itachi whispered, their faces inches apart. Kisame only replied with a grin.

"Or you could just lose the pants..."

The beauty of a man gave something between a moan and a growl before slipping down to stand on his own feet, leaning over to almost frantically undo Kisame's fly. Kisame pushed away the humor that tried to sneak a laugh out of him at Itachi's eagerness, despite feeling like he could destroy this beautiful man from the inside out in the sexual frustration of the moment. When it was done he pulled both layers down, slowly, staring with deadly intent at the slow exposure.

Unashamed and turned on by the display beyond belief, Kisame let him, sitting up when his pants dropped around his ankles and Itachi seemed to be too taken in utter awe to remove the article of clothing completley.

He shimmied them off without using his hands, as they were currently taken up with the task of removing the other's slacks. When the deed was done they both sat in a brief silence, looking at each other in the dim light provided by the streetlamp filtering through the window.

"How are you so perfect?" Itachi suddenly asked, making a face as if he were about to burst into tears of joy.

Not knowing any other natural responses, Kisame only said; "I was wondering the same about you."

In another instant he was pinned down to the bed again by the man who he was happy to observe was stronger than he appeared, his mouth being attacked and invaded in the best possible way. They stayed like that, skin on skin, heat against heat, grinding and moving against each other and reveling in their shared nudity until Itachi slipped downward, back to the edge of the bed.

"Can I...?" He asked softly, gripping Kisame's painfully erect member and stroking slowly, Blowing all rational thoughts from the man's mind. It it had been intesnse before with those feminine, slender, sexy hands just running across his skin, seeing it grip him there was... was...

He could only groan in response, and with a devious smile Itachi opened that devine mouth of his and wrapped it around his lover's mose sensitive piece.

-o-

This might hurt a little... Was the first thought that ran through Itachi's already overwhelmed mind as the tastes he'd desired for so long danced across his tongue.

By all means, he hadn't expected Kisame to be small. That was such an insult, surely his equipment would be just as large as the rest of him. But that thought had never really cemented itself in his mind until he felt the sheer girth of the man in his own mouth. Average ized would be good, Itachi had happily said. He'd been with men, but not so many that he needed anything bigger than average to satisfy him.

Kisame was bigger than average though.

But only for a few seconds... He thought again, his mouth watering to his own delight as he started to move his head down, back up, and down again. Then I'm going to possibley die of pleasure... At least he hoped so. What better way to go? He didn't know, he didn't care, he could only think about this wonderful piece of artwork in his mouth, resisting the blush that seared over his face when he glanced up to see Kisame staring at him, licking his lips like a lion about to leap out and catch it's prey.

He felt silly, a little, for being as embarrassed as he was. He'd had plenty of experience with this sort of thing, and being self-concious was somewhat of a new thing for him. But it only added to the excitement that already thretened to break from the restrains he was trying so desperatley to keep it in.

He couldn't just go about it like a sex-crazed animal, it would ruin the mood and perfection of the moment, and though Hidan always called him a slut, though the entire town seemed to somehow get the impression that he was despite the absoloute lack of evidence (Because there wasn't any, because he wasn't one.) he wouldn't enforce the accusation by acting like one, even in the privacy of Kisame's house. What two people did with their beloved in their own homes was no one else's business, but since when had that ever stopped society? And it wasn't even society, there were principles on this sort of thing, sex principles. This was Kisame's first time, he couldn't use every trick in his arsenal right off the bat or every time following it would just be increasingly boring and uneventful.

But Fuck, he wanted this man inside him. Like, now.

Kisame was gripping the bedsheets, mouth closed but jaw clenched tightly, if it weren't for the labored breathing and sensual moans escapeing him it might appear he wasn't enjoying it. So complicated, sex sometimes was.

He continued working his mouth, tongue, and jaw over the appendage, pushing as much as he comfortabley could into him, and using a hand to stroke the remainder. His eyes closed as he revelled in it, focusing briefly on the taste and the near inaudible sounds and gravelly sigh-growls Kisame offered him for his effort. So beautiful, everything about this man. It didn't make sense, because it was impossible for someone like him to exist.

Human's weren't perfect, not in any form of matter. Their personalities were always fouled by one sin or another. After four months, which admittedly wasn't that long, but it was long enough, by Itachi's standards, one would thinkthat by now he'd be able to recognize some sort of flaw in their significant other. The Uchiha was the master of breaking people down with nothing more than a glance, he could depict a perfect rendition of their personality with nothing more than a bit of prolonged eye contact. Kisame though, was different.

Most people, through trying to hide themselves, made it all the easier for him to see through them. But Kisame didn't care. He hid nothing, he was ashamed of nothing, even in his shamed he was somehow still unashamed, even the stuff that could be considered bad. He had no quarrels with his life, and never had up until recently when he'd realized his feelings for Itachi. That had passed so easily though, and even now he wasn't hiding anything.

Why this made it so hard to figure him out, he didn't know. It should make everything easier, by all means. But it didn't. He couldn't help but think that it wasn't as hard as he was making it, that he needed to stop trying to over-analyze and just let it be, and surely it would bring about his epiphany. But it didn't, and he didn't understand. And every new thing he discovered about the man only increased the confusion and awe he was consantly trapped in. And this was what had prompted his previous question; How are you so perfect?

Even his non-perfections were perfect. Itachi liked to keep himself hairless, for obvious reasons. He he himself wasn't that fond of body heair, unless it was purposley and strategically placed, and sometimes not even then. But Kisame, in all his naked glory, had somehow gotten it right without even trying.

He had only a small triangle on his chest, low enough to not show when he wore his usual V-neck tee's, (Which is kind of a 'mind-fuck' if you asked Itachi. It gave you the impression that it wasn't there until he took his shirt off.) which narrowed out into a point just short of his abdomen, dissapearing for a moment before it started again just below his belly button. Whether he kept it trimmed or if it was naturally like that, he didn't know, after all Kisame was known to take care of his looks as carefully as any gay man would. His back, thankfully, was smooth and perfect, backhair wasn't attractive even on an ape.

As far as the pubic area, well, such a topic was never pleasant, and unattractivley akward in any circumstance.

But like everything else, it was just... so imperfectly perfect. Short and soft despite being a little course, not too thick and not creepy and patchy. Something so distasteful made into an acceptable and almost artful form. Damn, if only he know know... There was just no way Kisame was only human...

"Oh Fuck, Itachi..." Kisame said, after a mere seven minutes of his manhood being carefully attended to my the youngers mouth.

"Mm-mm..." Was all he could manage, unable to even shake his head to tell the man he wasn't ready to stop before he had the chance to suggest it. It might be embarrassing, momentarily, if his lover accidentlly came in his mouth, but he wouldn't mind. In fact he drooled a little more at the thought, happy that the light didn't quite reach him well enough to illuminate the mess he was making.

Hey, he couldn't be pristine constantly, sex was a dirty, sloppy thing, even at the best of times.

He continued doing what he was doing with a little more energy, which provoked the man on the bed to lift his arms up, sliding them up to cover his face as he growled into them, letting out a jerky, detached string of curses out in whispers and husky sighs.

Itachi wasn't worried, surely someone like Kisame would have plenty of stamina. And if not, well, he'd have to get a little forceful, which he reasoned would probably only make the man enjoy himself more, seeing as he liked being 'bested' by the Uchiha.

Kisame apparently had other thoughts on the matter, which brought out a laugh of approval as the oceanic man finally seemed to be pushed beyond the edge of self-control. He lurched himself suddenly up, and in reaction Itachi removed his mouth from the organ to look up at his gaze, intense and hungry.

And within the next second the smaller man was grabbed and hauled from his half-kneeled state, flipping them around again to return to the exact position they'd been in before, this time with the plesant absence of clothes.

He gasped when Kisame's soaked, slippery appendage rubbed against his own with a delicious thrust. His mouth was probed again, his back and really, entire spine, arched involuntarily as his own excitement began to spike again.

Good, he thought, he was afraid he'd have to be on top. He didn't mind that position usually, but not for first times. Never for first times. More of the unspoken sex-principles. And he realized with an inner mental kick that this meant he was going to be unprepared, most likley. Kisame was used to having intercourse with women, which were most often self-lubricated. And this thought did concern him, because Kisame was big, and that... that would hurt.

He grabbed the man's broud shoulders and pulled him closer, biting his ear sharpley.

The only option here to keep from having some sort of awkward gay-sex lesson would to be to hurry and get this thing initiated before all his saliva left the rock-hard member, twitching aginst his own in thinly restrained anticipation.

Honestly, he had no quarrels with that, he hadn't slept in nearly two days, after all, as immensley wonderful as this moment was. This was enough foreplay anyway, he decided, especially for a beginner like Kisa.

"I need you now..." He whispered into the man's ear, still pulled close to him. "Please..." Ugh, that was humiliating... he thought, flinching away from himself mentally. He hated that kind of behavior and more specifically , that phrase, but this damn alchohol paired with his exhaustion and simulatenous excitement and adrenaline was making him desperate. It had the desired effect, at least. Kisame tensed for a moment, as if having too stop and process the words, before he pulled back, seeming to regain some of his awareness as he looked at Itachi, who was doing his best to look as sexy as possible.

If he backs out now I'm going to kill him... Itachi thought, tipping his head down and looking up at the man with a hopeful pout, an expression very similar to puppy eyes, but with more dignity. He shifted while the man seemed to war internally with himself, pushing up to a half-way reclined sitting position, his knees still drawn up on either of Kisame's hip-bones. He kissed the strong jaw, down his muscled neck, gave a few sharp bites to his shoulder junction, all means of distracting the man as he reached between them. He wiggled slightly, positioning himself, and then smiled deviously up at his lover when he let out a sort of choked-off moan when Itachi slipped his hand once again around the other's manhood. He kissed him softly on the scarred, slightly parted lips once, twice, shifting slowly to press the to to his hole.

"Kisa...?" He asked again after a third kiss, as the man had gone shock-still. His eyes cleared from the thoughtful fog, flicking to Itachi, feautres unreadable. The endless black pits flicked back and forth between Itachi's coal for a moment before some sort of internal decision was apparently made, as his lovers tense expression relaxed into a smile.

He smiled back, a genuine one with his teeth showing, unable and unwilling to stop it as the accepting expression Kisame made nearly made his heart explode with love and adoration. He began to move toward him, nearly in slow motion. Their lips connected first, distracting the younger from the increasing pressure on his hole, and then, unexpectly despite being completley expected, the thick layer of Itachi's improvised lubrication worked like a charm and thanks to a quick-but-still-slow thrust, Kisame was inside him.

.

His head was thrown back as a cry somewhere between pain and unyeilding pleasure exploded from him.

Yeah, that definitley hurt.

He couldn't take the time to be embarrassed about it though, he was too taken by the predatory laughter coming from the man pressed closely to him, attempting to distract him from the burning in his ass with afflicting sharp bites and rough sucking to his throat.

Right, Kisame wasn't completley inexperienced. He knew all the basic fundamentals, and apparently had been informed of his larger than normal size, which led him to learn how to do what he was doing now.

He heard himself whimper in between heavy breaths when he tried to move, in that same mixture of pain and pleasure. Kisame was absoloutly still from the waist down, giving him time to adjust and meanwhile showering him with affection.

Touch me... He tried to say, unable to for the overwhelming satisfaction of being filled the way he was. It didn't hurt now, but he knew as soon as the man moved it would start stinging again. But, at the same time, until he started moving again, it would not get better. And he needed more distraction than just kisses, more stimulation.

But he couldn't seem to speak words or move his own body aside from flopping his arms numbly onto Kisame's shoulders and around his neck. And so his wishes went unheeded, something he was grateful for in the next minute, as he very well might have died right there in an orgasm. He hadn't intended it to be some sort of signal that he was ready for more, but it was taken that way, and Kisame pulled back and thusly, out.

A breath hissed in through the youngers teeth at the same time a slight grunt escaped the man above him. This made him snap his eyes open, looking at the man in question, who smiled apologetically.

"Sorry... Angel..." He said, it sounded forced, like ,he too, was in pain. "You're...Ah, kind of really tight. Kind of, ngh... kind of hurts a little."

For some reason that still baffles the Uchiha, he burst into laughter, which of course clenched all the muscles in his body, which in turn made Kisame let out a loud, snarling, swear. This would have made him laugh more if he wasn't also thrown into quite a bit of pain from the action. He managed to restrain himself to near maniacle giggles, which Kisame patiently tried to talk down from through clenched teeth. When it didn't work, the ocean-loving man resorted to other measures, sucessfully shutting the younger up with a sharp thrust, sending his giggles into a high-pitched moan.

The sound closed the door on all entertainment with a heavy finality as stars exploded then behind Itachi's lids. Self control flew out the window, logical thought abandoned him after he recognized the sound of one last growl of arousal from Kisame. Then his world was thrown into oblivion, indescribable pleasure zapping through him like electricity as the larger man started moving rhythmically above him.

Reality, the world, the past and the future, everyone one and everything in his life all dissapeared in a flicker of awareness. There was only he and Kisame and this nirvana they found themselves in. He was very distantly aware that he may or may not be shouting as the seconds passed by, as the pressure built up in him, and aside from that random bit of clarity he had no idea what else was going on. He was kissed a few times, he thought. Maybe some sort of strange conversation took place in gasped half-words, and then he was absoloutly sure he was screaming, trying to relaze some of this overwhelming ecstacy flooding through his veins like molten fire. He remembered telling Kisame ferociously that if he stopped he would eat him alive, despite his vauge concern that he may very well pass out at any time, and if there was some kind of hidden sexual meaning behind that or if it was a genuine threat, he honestly didn't know. He didn't have the focus right now to do any sort of prolonged thinking. It was all he could do to keep grasping at that thread that kept him alive and breathing in the mist of this euphoric hurricane.

They were in that nowhere-place for hours, the seventh heaven, some people called it, it felt like. He had no idea how much time actually passed, and honestly he didn't care. Kisame stayed with him, moving in synche, breathing with him, moaning with him. He felt his own fingers digging into the man's skin, heard curses of bliss and disbelief of that bliss exchanged ruthlessly between them. The frequency of the thrusts growing steadily faster, so slow and regularly that neither seemed to realize until some sort of cord snapped in that nowhere-world in Itachi's head.

He didn't know what he said in his pleasure-filled panic, but he knew he pulled himself up, clinging to the anchor of a man above him when it happened. Somewhere in the back of his mind he recalled fighting a terrible un-ending war that lasted years and years and yet no more than a millionth of a second as to whether to scream out OH MY FUCKING GOD, Or Kisame's name, when he finally toppled over the brink of sanity and climaxed with frightening ferocity.

In the end he just did both, he knew.

He was enveloped in an insanley comfortable blanket of darkness and exhaustion after that, the waves of pleasure caused from the hurricaine of ecstacy washed over him, smoothly retreating in a way that left him feeling throughtly satisfied. he felt the vertigo and movement of the world around him as something moved him on whatever soft surface he was on. Warmth flooded over his skin that he hadn't realized was cold until if was covered in what he could only assume was a comforter. His breathing slowed as he managed to roll to his side, halfway out of of the rapturous pergartory he'd been in, but still as appeased as he'd been while in the midst of it.

He didn't know if Kisame managed to feel the same thing, he could only assume that he had finished as well, and in the darkness he smiled happily when a preassure wrapped around his middle, pulling him close to something warm, something thudding steadily in the rhythem of a heartbeat. he sighed, managing to maneuver his still numb-feeling arm over the one wrapped around him, entwining their fingers.

I'll never leave this place... He promised himself. We'll stay here forever...

"Forever..." A deep voice assured him. "My Angel..."

A kiss to his temple, a caress on his cheek, and finally he let himself sleep, feeling as if he could die right now and go straight to hell where the world assured him he'd go, and he still wouldn't care.

-o-

A/N-

Ohaidere! *Is wearing a paper bag over her face because all the terrible blushing that occurred while writing this chapter made her skin fall off*

I DID IT! *weeps in fetal position* Are you happy now? You got your lemon. Hopefully it's not fucking death in word form, this is only the second time I've written a sex scene. Which begs the question to you fellow yaoi writers; Does it ever get easier? Cause I'm serious, my face hurts from being so red.

Also, on a random note, is it totally fucking rediculous that I can sit here and shout the words penis and cock to the heavens and not give a fuck, but as soon as any sort of intimate sexual thing happens, those words are like goddamn sin?

Bleh, so, yeah, anyway, ahem. Moving on to the actual main coupling in this story... . Who's pissed about that eh!? HAHA! Why am I so fucking evil?

The correct answer to that is; I'm not. That shit happens, believe it or not. I've lived through acute liver failure due to overdose. I've never had it happen the way it did to Hidan, but I'm doing my best here, kay? This situation was briefly mentioned as having the possibility of happening by Itachi in earlier chapters, if you don't recall, so you shouldn't be so surprised. And with the history Hidan has, we can't just pretend that his internal organs are somehow miraculously unaffected.

So, yeah, that happened. So the real question you should be asking is; Do we need to Kill Wierdo?

Ya know, cause who the fuck knows if he's going to die and that's how I planned the story to end. I mean that would save me from having to write any Kakuhida lemons, which I'm seriously terrified to do, by the way. (Kisaita is easy cause they're all romantic and shit. Kakuhida? Oh god... I'll die.) But either way, I'm not telling. :) So, guess you'll just have to find out, huh?

So, review, forgive typos, and if you don't believe me by now I'll tell you again, I love you guys.

See you next chapter. 3