He couldn’t see. He couldn’t hear. He couldn’t breathe- or at least, that’s what it seemed to him. Everything was abstract, floating. Significant, with sharp outlines… but in some places, they drooped and sagged, like they were melting. He saw his own cries for help dissipate into nothingness, into the sky. It felt like he was on some kind of obscene drug. He tried to cry out again; his mouth opened and he saw his words shrivel before him before they even reached his ears to hear them.

The sky took pity on him. He was a pitiful creature lying fevered and afraid on the earth, and the sky knew this and knew it couldn’t do anything. So it cried. It felt his pain. It cried freezing tears upon the earth and it sobbed thunder, it lashed out with its pity, striking the earth with its lightning hands and tried to reach out to him, to do something. But it failed, and so cried harder with another desperate sob.

Hope failed him. He tried to lift a hand to the sky, his mouth moving silently, to tell the sky not to worry. But he couldn’t. His eyes fell shut against the sky’s tears; it was too cold and painful against him. Tried to roll over to avoid getting hit- once on his side, curled up into a ball, the sky saw it and was pleased. It stopped crying. The clouds broke and the sun came out; and with its rays of light, his strength was renewed.

And then he was back on the ground, flat on his back, gazing up at the sky. Oh- it hadn’t happened. He’d been praying for it to happen, in his mind, but and it had happened. But only in his mind.

He screwed his eyes shut again and waited. Something was bound to happen sometime.

And something did happen. He wasn’t sure when, or how, but he was lifted bodily, against something solid, cold, and wet. He curled his face to this new, strange, solid thing, it provided just a bit of shelter against the sky. He spoke to it, like it was someone he knew or recognized. But he wasn’t sure he did- maybe it was just his imagination playing tricks on him again.

And the thing responded. It spoke in a deep, gravelly voice that caused something to flicker in his mind. The voice… he was sure he knew it. But was this happening this time? For real? Those words… he’d heard them before. He tried to speak to it again, and it replied again!

“Yeah, yeah, Hidan- just shut up.”

-----

He was such an idiot. The door slammed heavily behind him, and Hidan jumped and shifted, clinging to the front of his cloak and mumbling incoherently, his eyelids flickering.

“You fucking deadweight.” Kakuzu growled, shaking rain from his wet bangs as he shouldered his way into the living room. The room was occupied- a young man with glossy black hair tied into a ponytail was on the floor, skimming a book, while his companion, a blue-skinned, blue haired man who appeared to be the young man’s elder, stretched on the couch with one foot propped up on its back.

Both looked up as Kakuzu appeared in the room. The blue man sat up a bit, looking a combination of concerned and interested. “About time you found him,” His voice came out deep. “Where was he?”

“Flat on his back in the middle of the damn woods.” Kakuzu rolled his black eyes, gingerly depositing Hidan in an armchair. He straightened up, then removed his rain-soaked cloak, sighing. “Fucker. Wandering off like that.”

“I’m not entirely surprised he did,” Spoke the younger man, not looking up from his book. “Feverish people do some weird things.”

“No kidding, Itachi.” Kakuzu put his cloak on the back of the armchair Hidan curled in. The immortal was a wreck: his silver hair plastered to his face, soaked by the rain. His eyelids were still flickering mindlessly. Kakuzu put a hand on his shoulder- he was trembling. “Wish I knew what to do with him now.”

The blue man stood, stretched, then crossed the room to stand beside Kakuzu and look down on the delirious zealot. “Hm. Throw him in a hot shower or something to get him to stop shaking.” He shrugged.

“Thanks for the advice, Kisame.” Kakuzu gave the other a disgruntled look. “I dunno how I feel about having to strip him, though.”

Kisame shrugged again. “He’s soaking wet already, isn’t he?” Raising an eyebrow. “Get his cloak off him and then throw him in the shower with the rest of his clothes on. I dunno. See if Lady Konan won’t do anything for him.”

“Might as well.” Kakuzu sighed, shrugged, and bent to hoist the limp Hidan into his arms again.

“Godspeed.” Kisame chuckled, giving a salute and returning to his spot on the couch.

Kakuzu edged through the other door leading into the hallway with an irritated growl. Hidan was such a pain in the neck, even as he clung to the front of Kakuzu’s cloak like an abandoned baby looking for warmth. But then again, he wasn’t too surprised.

“Damn deadweight,” He growled, kicking his way into his own bedroom, crossing the room to his ajar bathroom door and kicking that open, too. “For fuck’s sake…” Using his elbow, he shoved the shower curtain aside and lay Hidan gingerly down in the tub. Once his hands were free, he pulled the curtain back all the way and crouched on the floor, tentatively trying to remove Hidan from his soaking wet cloak. “You… are a pain in my ass.”
Hidan did not respond, of course, but simply opened one eye to fix Kakuzu with a rather creepy, unseeing eye. “…Stop looking at me.” He growled, freeing Hidan’s left arm from the confines of his cloak. Hidan blinked both eyes, mumbling something that Kakuzu couldn’t discern. “Weirdo…” He murmured, pulling the cloak out from underneath Hidan and throwing it onto the floor. “God…”

Hidan was left in just his navy blue capris now; since he never wore a shirt. Kakuzu pulled the inner shower curtain up just a little bit, and then started the hot water. It came out cold at first, like it always did, but it quickly warmed. Sighing, Kakuzu made himself comfortable on the floor, watching Hidan carefully for any signs of conscious movement.

“…I wonder why I do things like this for you.” He said quietly, watching the immortal’s face. He was handsome- his closed eyes were pink beneath the lids, his platinum silver hair falling in his face; which was fair-skinned and well-sculpted. Sighing, Kakuzu reached up to his own face and removed his mask, shaking his hair out of its prison and running a hand through it a couple times. Glanced at himself in the mirror- dark-eyed, dark haired, stitched like Frankenstein. Oh well. It could be worse. He could be a plant or a fish. Or a puppet.

“You cause me so much trouble, you know that?” Kakuzu rounded suddenly on Hidan, leaning forward and adjusting the temperature of the water so it wasn’t scalding. “You break my stuff, you spend my money, you get in my way, and you never shut up. So why do I put up with you?”

Disgruntled, he ran a hand through his hair again- only his bangs were wet and they were hanging in his eyes like a curtain. “Why? I dunno. Maybe its because someday I hope to get a little something more out of you than just a disgruntled thank you. I wish I could figure you out.”

He leaned against the wall, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes with a sigh. “God, I wish I could stay pissed off at you.”

Silence, save for the shower, then:

“…Heh… I’m sorry.”

Kakuzu opened his eyes to find he was being watched. Hidan had opened one eye fully against the shower spray, and he had a very weak grin on his face. Shifting around slightly in the shower, he opened the other eye, then winced. “Ow… fuck… my head.”

“You’re awake.” Kakuzu stated, raising an eyebrow. “Wow. About time. It’s been three days.”

“No it hasn’t.” Hidan replied weakly, reaching up a shaky hand to wipe water from his eyes. “Ngh… ouch.”

“Yeah, it has. You fell sick Wednesday. You wandered out yesterday. I found you today. Today is Friday. Three days, brat.”

Hidan fixed him with a pained, irritated look. “I… what?”

“You wandered off. In your weird little fevered delirium, you wandered out at about seven last night and I’ve been looking for you since 9 o’clock in the fuckin’ morning this morning. It’s five, now, by the way.”

“…Oh…” Hidan blinked, squinted against the shower spray. “…why am I in a shower?”

“Kisame suggested it. You were shaking, so we figured it would warm you up.”

“…How’d you get me here?”

“I carried you, duh. Idiot.” Kakuzu sighed, and shook his head despairingly. “You are one hell of an albatross, by the way.”

“Isn’t an albatross a bird?”

”…Albatross can also mean ‘burden’ or ‘weight’, dumbass.”

“Wul… don’t use big words around me,” Hidan moaned, swiping a hand over his face. “At least not right now… oh, god, I hurt everywhere.”

“I am not surprised. You want out of the shower?” Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. “Think you can stand?”

“No. Yes, I want out of the shower. Go get me some clothes or something.” Hidan groaned, his hand remaining over his eyes. “Outta my room.”

Kakuzu sighed. He stood up, gave a weak thumbs-up, and shouldered his way out of the room. Through his own room, into the hallway, and then into Hidan’s room- just across the hall from his. He rarely ever went in here- he avoided it usually at all costs, seeing as the room reeked like blood and carnage.

The smell even lingered now, as Kakuzu edged his way into the room carefully. Hidan’s room was a mess- it put him in mind of a teenager’s room, save for a normal teenager’s room didn’t usually have this many bloodstains in the carpet and bedsheets.

Hidan’s dresser was in disarray. Kakuzu opened the first drawer to find a combination of boxers and shuriken. Frowning, he extracted one pair of boxers, then shut the door. The next two drawers contained random articles of clothing; he found a clean pair of navy-blue capris in the second-to-last drawer.

The last drawer he did not open- burgundy stains encrusted the bottom of the drawer and there was an utterly foul smell coming from it that burned Kakuzu’s eyes.

He also found something he did not expect- a couple of shirts. One of them was short-sleeved and white, the other was long-sleeved and black. He removed the black shirt- regardless of how proud Hidan was of his body, Kakuzu was not about to let him flaunt when he was in such bad shape.

Kicking the drawer shut, he threw the clothes over one shoulder and left the room, nearly slamming into a fluffy of blonde hair. “Dafuck-?”

“Un! Kakuzu, watch where you’re going!” Indignant blonde took a step away from the startled Falls-nin. “You- hey, what’re you doing in Hidan’s room, un?”

Kakuzu gave the blonde man a scrutinizing look. “Getting clothes for him. I found him about an hour ago. And you watch where YOU’RE going, Deidara.”

Deidara blinked. “Where was Hidan?”

“Out in the woods. Now move, brat, he’s waiting for me.” Brushing past the confused blonde, Kakuzu ducked back into his own room and shut the door.

“…Well fuck you, too, un.” Growled Deidara’s muffled voice from behind the door, but Kakuzu ignored him and moved into the bathroom. Hidan blinked up at him from the bathtub, looking expectant.

“Was that Deidara?”

“Yes.”

“What’d he want?”

Kakuzu shut the bathroom door behind him, closed the lid to the toilet, then dumped Hidan’s clothes onto the shut lid. “To know what I was doing in your room.” He leaned into the shower with one hand and turned the water off. “Can you get dressed?”

“Throw me a towel, shut the curtain, and hand me my clothes when I tell you.” Hidan reeled off, sitting up a bit with a wince and a moan. “Owwww.”

“Oh, stop whining.” Kakuzu reached up onto a shelf and pulled down a blue towel, which he tossed into the shower. Shut the curtain door, and waited, leaning on the edge of the counter to wait.

He heard Hidan shifting in the shower, occasionally making pained noises. “Okay… what did you grab?”

“Boxers, capris, and a black shirt.”

“Why’d you grab a shirt?”

“Because you need one. You don’t need to show off your body while you’re sick.”

“…Gimme my boxers.” Kakuzu threw said article of clothing over the curtain’s top, he heard Hidan shift around a bit more and whine in pain. “Dear-Jashin-my-everything-aches. Okay, capris.”

Kakuzu balled up the pants and slipped his arm between the curtain, Hidan pulled from the other side and took them.

The Jashinist was silent again save for the sound of cloth shifting. “Ngh… wet clothes.” He growled in annoyance after a moment. The shower curtain pulled back and Hidan was revealed to be sitting on the towel, his hair loosely towel-dried and falling in his face, shirtless save for his capris. His wet clothes were at his feet. “Okay. Shirt.”

Kakuzu couldn’t help but give a weak laugh at the disdainful way his partner said ‘shirt’. He tossed the final article of clothing at Hidan and watched as the immortal pulled it over his head.

“You can’t stand, then?” Kakuzu tilted his head to one side. Hidan looked a bit unfamiliar wearing a shirt, but it did not look bad on him. The sleeves were baggy and left about an inch and a half of finger showing at the end.

“No. Probably not. Carry me.”

“Carry you WHERE?”

“I don’t know. The living room or something.”

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. He’d have to persuade Kisame and Itachi out of the room, but, ah well, he was sure he could manage. “Okay. Hang on.” He knelt and scooped the Jashinist into his arms, leaving his wet clothes behind in the shower. Hidan keened softly, wrapping his arms around Kakuzu’s shoulders for support.

Carrying him bridal style, Kakuzu walked sideways through the bathroom door, growling in annoyance. “God, you are /not/ light, Hidan.”

“Shut up.” Growled the other into his ear, giving a tug on Kakuzu’s hair.

“Ow.” Kakuzu stepped into the hallway now, shaking his head to rid Hidan’s creeping hands of it. “Quit, you little fucker…or I’ll drop you.”

“Mm… bite me.” Hidan mumbled.
The Jashinist remained silent for the remainder of the trek to the living room; which, once they arrived, was mercifully empty. Kakuzu gingerly laid the other down on the couch; Hidan winced and groaned, leaning with one arm propping him up at the end of the couch. Kakuzu sat at the couch’s other end, looking out into the bay window at the sky.

Hidan gave a long, slow sigh and was quiet, until:

“Kakuzu… why’d you come looking for me?”

Kakuzu blinked at the question, turning to look at his partner with a bewildered look on his face. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Hidan looked up at him with half-lidded eyes. “…Because you don’t like me.” He muttered, closing his eyes and shifting a bit on the couch.

“Why do you keep insisting that I hate you?” Kakuzu tried not to roll his eyes. He didn’t dislike his partner. Even though Hidan was angry, arrogant, noisy, loudmouthed, whiny, bitchy, and an overall pain in the ass, he didn’t dislike him. On the contrary, he got a similar vibe from his partner- not now, though. Hidan had opened one eye to give him a beseeching look.

“Because… I cause too much trouble for you.” Hidan’s voice was dull. “And that’s like… all the fuck I ever do.”

Kakuzu did roll his eyes this time. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” He reached over and pulled Hidan upright by his arm, the Jashinist yelped and swayed unsteadily once he was sitting up. Kakuzu forced himself to lock eyes with the Jashinist’s pink ones, then spoke slowly and clearly. “If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t have bothered to go and get your sorry ass outta the woods.”

Rain pattered the window, penetrating the silence that reigned after Kakuzu had finished speaking. Hidan tore his eyes away from Kakuzu to look out the window. His eyes were half-lidded again and looked a bit uncertain.

“…’kay.” Hidan spoke after a minute or so, still not looking at Kakuzu. “I get it.”

“Damn well you’d better have.” Kakuzu growled, releasing his partner and leaning back against the couch with a sigh, his eyes turned on the window now, trying to look anywhere but at Hidan.

Hidan coughed, then moved again on the couch to lay back down. But he didn’t lay as he had before- much to Kakuzu’s surprise, Hidan rested his head and one arm on Kakuzu’s lap, his eyes closed.

“If you liked me, you’d let me do this.” Hidan mumbled before Kakuzu could speak.

“…” Kakuzu smirked, then shook his head. Little fucker.

The clouds had begun to part outside, even though the rain still poured down. Kakuzu’s eyes trained on the sky, the sky a smoky gray and the clouds black. Hidan shifted slightly, coughing a bit more. With a resigned sigh, Kakuzu put one arm on the back of the couch, then rested the other hand gently in Hidan’s hair, threading through silver locks.

“’Kuzu?”

“Don’t you dare ask. I’m not in the mood for talking, so shut up and either go to sleep or watch the damn sky.”