Alrighty... so, this is my second story. Yay! It'll be multi-chapter, but I'm not sure how long yet. Meh, oh well.
I know that the characters may be OOC in this story, but there wasn't enough characterization of some of these characters in the manga, so I'm doing what I think will fit best, and if you can't just deal with it, you can click the 'back' button on your screen.
Pairings: Kakuzu/Hidan (major), Sasori/Deidara (minor), Kisame/Itachi (minor)
thoughts
Okay... Here we go!
Partners
Chapter One
Kakuzu sat on one of the cold leather couches in the common room of the Akitsuki headquarters. He held a large scroll in his lap, but he had yet to unroll it, and had yet to discover the information it held. He had been sitting on the couch, in the same position, staring at the same spot on the opposite wall for nearly two hours. Everything was silent.
Had it not been against his nature, Kakuzu would have smiled; he did so lobe silence. He basked in the rare and precious solitude of the moment; the room was free of Deidara's constant chatter and the clinking of gears and sprockets from Sasori, and most importantly, no moans or banging could be heard coming from either Itachi's or Kisame's rooms. Oh yes, this occasion was a special one.
The only other person here is that fly-trap, but he's quiet enough. Sometimes I even forget he's there... he's just plain creepy.
Kakuzu, however, was not much less "creepy" himself; he had a hulking figure, his height and bulk only rivaled by that of Kisame, and stood at well over six feet with large muscle covered by tan, but slightly ashy, skin. This could be considered somewhat normal if not for the way his flesh was held together; thick black strands were sewn along his body to keep his skin in one piece. His most frightening feature was his eyes. His irises were an eerie yellow and pupil less, while what should have been the whites of his eyes were pitch black. Very few people had seen more than his eyes, though, because he wore a cloth mask and head piece to cover his head and neck, while his trousers and Akitsuki cloak covered the rest of his body, save for his hands and feet.
And so he sat, the minutes passing by disregarded, and thinking of nothing more until the main door creaked open, catching both his and the plant man's, Zetsu's, attention. The leader of the Akitsuki stepped through the door frame, another, smaller figure behind him. Kakuzu saw a quick flash of silver, and the figure was once again hidden by the leader's shadow. Though he would never show it, Kakuzu was curious about the newcomer.
The leader stepped aside to reveal an average-sized man with pale skin, silver hair slicked back against his head, and piercing magenta eyes under a curtain of thick silver lashes. He wore tight black pants and a loose, sleeveless black shirt. Resting on his sternum was an odd silver pendant, which was an upside-down triangle inside of a circle. The man looked around the common room, almost critically.
"This," the leader said, his deep voice echoing in the nearly empty room, "is Hidan. He will be your new partner, Kakuzu, and I'm sure that while he's here, we won't have any accidents like the ones we had with your former partners." And after a moment, " Now, I must be going; I have other matters to attend to."
The leader turned down a hallway and the sound of his footsteps became faint and distant.
Hidan looked around the room again, eyes stopping to rest on Zetsu, and he walked over to the plant man.
"What's your name?" he asked. His voice was a mellow tenor.
"Zetsu." Then silence.
"Ah," said Hidan, slightly taken aback by the shortness of Zetsu's reply. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you; I'm Hidan."
The only response he received was a curt nod.
Hidan sulked for a moment, slightly peeved that he was hardly beeing acknowledged. Composing himself, he turned to Kakuzu.
"So, you must be Kakuzu," Hidan said.
Kakuzu unrolled the scroll in his lap, sparing Hidan only a quick upward glance and an irritated "so it would seem."
He watched Hidan through the corner of his eye and was amused to see him flushed, with anger boiling in his eyes. Finally, Hidan's anger peaked, and he released a long stream of angry words.
"Dear Jashin! How rude can you bastards possibly be? I come here and can't get more than four words out of either of you! Well, this is no way to treat someone; I deserve more respect!" His rant went on until:
"You tell 'em, un!"
Hidan turned to the direction of the voice and saw a man with long honey-blond hair hat was half up and had bangs covering one of his blue eyes. Hidan looked at him in silent questioning.
"I'm Deidara, un," said the man, his voice high pitched, "and you must be Kakuzu's new partner. Leader-sama had told us you'd be comin' soon. So, what's yer name?"
"The name's Hidan," he replied. "It's nice to meet you."
"It's great ta meet'cha, too, un!"
"Thanks," Hidan said. "Are all the other members as rude as those two?"
"Well," Deidara started, "Zetsu isn't tryin' to be rude; he just doesn't talk much, un. Itachi can be cruel, but he can be nice, too, so I like 'im. My partner, Sasori, is like Zetsu, ya know? Just real quiet. Kisame– Itachi's partner– is really mean, un. He says that I talk to much an–"
"You do," came from the direction of the couch.
" Shut up, un! Nobody asked ya. Un!"
Kakuzu got up, sighing and muttering something along the lines of "idiots" before walking around the couch and staring down one of the halls adjacent to the common room, one end of the scroll fluttering behind him.
"Don't worry about him, un," Deidara reassure. "He's a total asshole, but he won't say much."
Hidan nodded, watching Kakuzu's retreating back, and then looking back at Deidara.
"Well," Hidan began, "would you mind showing me around?"
"I'd be happy to, un!" Deidara exclaimed, taking Hidan by the arm and dragging him down one of the many halls, talking animatedly the entire time.
Okay, there's the first chapter. I'm currently working on the second.
Oh, hey, does anyone know if the leader has a name, because if he does, I totally forgot it. --;
And please tell me if anything is spelled wrong... sometimes spell check just isn't enough.
Well, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story. I'll update soon-ish, pinky-swear!