General
Kakuzu swept his eyes across as much of the bar as he could see, looking for vampires or demons. He'd done this 45 times over the past several hours, and he knew it was a futile effort. The demons and vampires presumably all looked like regular people. Only Hidan could tell them apart if they did not reveal themselves. Kakuzu growled. Even this had to remind him of Hidan!
He checked the time again and focused on his next moves. He had to leave very soon. It was several hours since his phone argument with those two, and Kakuzu had been sitting in the bar for all of them. He was not drunk; odds were good this was the same bottle he'd ordered several hours ago. So what was he doing here? Definitely not hiding from having to face him.
The bottle seemed to mock him. Kakuzu contemplating smashing it just to have something to break, and realized that was why it seemed to be mocking him. Hidan had gotten fed up with Kakuzu's slow drinking and smashed the bottle not very long ago. Kakuzu closed his green eyes and sighed in a very controlled manner. Perhaps he was hiding. It was only natural that he would see so many reminders of Hidan, since they had so many memories together. How could anyone look a friend they'd known for decades in the face, and say the things he'd said over the phone?
It was a good strategy for Konan to force him to do so. Kakuzu had to admit that he couldn't do it.
Because of his own reluctance, he was going to have to be civil, and with civility came a chance for reconciliation. The odds were getting higher every minute Kakuzu's anger faded that he was not going to be able to muster the rage to break away like he had hoped. But, wait, wasn't reconciliation a good thing? Did Kakuzu really want to be angry?
A spark of anger reignited. I wouldn't have this many questions if it wasn't for that little bastard. Kakuzu reached out for the first time in half an hour and grabbed his bottle, downing the rest of it in one gulp. He got up, left money, and stormed out. This much anger would have to do. It was already too late for him to be comfortable with. If he waited any longer, others would show up in time to be dragged in to the confrontation, and Kakuzu could not allow that to happen. He wasn't going to ghost anyone, and he couldn't stand the thought of dragging anyone else in. No matter how unprepared he was to yell at Hidan in person, it was now or never.
.
Hidan chewed on his hand. He noticed this hand was starting to lose its taste, so he switched to his other hand. He didn't have any idea what he was going to do or say. The revelation of why he had run away was too upsetting; he hadn't been able to think or plan about anything else. His mind kept running away to imagine what and who he had been before. Maybe I was unhappy? If I couldn't handle knowing other people's feelings and no one could help me manage it… He spun himself a whole mental movie of a misunderstood young boy lashing out, using his knowledge for bad purposes, and realizing it was a mistake when nobody would look at him kindly anymore. Hidan paused to take note of the pleasant taste of his skin, and then returned to thinking. This time, he spun himself another story, of a boy who was perfectly kind like he had been when Kakuzu first found him, but who hadn't had the good fortune to be surrounded by ninjas who understood strangeness, so he'd been chased away. Had he run away, or had he been chased? What role did his parents play? Hidan knew that there were several terms for people who forgot their previous lives and started over as a different person. Maybe it was one of those? How and why had he received those disappointed words and rolled eyes? Was it because of his extra sense, or some other reason? What else could it be?
The world was a dark gray haze. Hidan couldn't feel his arms, but saw himself holding these different scenarios, as in a dream. He remembered that he was breathing. The scenarios were different colors. The colors were important, but he had no idea why. He watched one scenario, then another, and they blurred until they looked the same. He couldn't muster the mental energy to make a decision. He didn't try. If he could have thought about how he felt, he might have compared it to hanging suspended in deep water. He continued to stare blankly at the images in front of him, not thinking any more. He didn't recognize who or what was in them.
"What are you thinking?" asked a voice from out of the darkness.
Hidan blinked. The darkness disappeared, and he forgot all about it as he regained full consciousness. "I can't," he said. "I can't think!" He turned and sat on one arm of the comfy chair, not looking at Konan watching him from the other arm. "I've had so many fucking questions, and now I get a tiny little glimpse, but I just have more questions! Do you have any idea how big a deal it is to know why I ran away?!"
Konan allowed herself a small smile. "As if you've learned why God sent your soul into this body, at this time, in this place?"
Hidan closed his open mouth and blinked slowly. Huh. It kind of does feel like that. "How'd you know?" he asked.
Konan smiled again. He looked at her as if she was a genius. It was amusing. "It wasn't hard. Your questions are about what happened before you existed, to result in your being here. Anyone can have questions about that."
Hidan raised a finger to point out, "But I'm talking about why Previous Me did what he did, not why -" He waved a hand in the air uselessly. "Whatever. You get it."
Konan nodded. Cautiously, she said, "Actually, I think it might be the same."
"Yeah. Whatever." Hidan scratched his head nervously. Then, out of nowhere, a great idea occurred to him. "Hey, y'know, I'd never be able to let it go if shit happened and I didn't thank him. I should start with that."
Interesting. He gave an affirmative answer. Perhaps his human side was not the side that made this decision, which would explain why he doesn't remember. Konan filed this away for further consideration later and returned to the immediate problem. First and foremost, she had to protect Hidan. "Do you mean Kakuzu?"
Hidan nodded. "I have to thank him for everything. Definitely, 100 fucking percent. I should get it out of the way first so I have a chance to." He then checked his phone. "Crap."
"What is it?"
"4:30."
"Others will arrive soon…"
Hidan put his phone back and scratched the back of his neck with special fervor, pushing it to the brink of bleeding. "That means he'll show up right about...now?"
.
Kakuzu hardened his right forearm and hand and brought them down on the outside wall of the hotel, channeling a brief burst of vicious glee as he did so. There. That should get his attention. Kakuzu checked to see how much damage he'd done - he'd tried to be careful - and, after seeing that he had not pushed the building substantially closer to falling down, placed a foot on the wall and ran up the side towards the roof. There was no way he was going to be any nearer that demonic symbol than he had to be, and if voices didn't get raised there was a good chance they might finish uninterrupted even if others did arrive and enter the building below.
On the other hand, that thing pisses me off. It could give me a useful boost. Kakuzu still hadn't decided if, in the grand scheme of things, he really wanted to be angry with his longtime friend, so he didn't know if this counted as a reason for or against meeting on the roof. Dammit. Things were a lot simpler before I had all these 'other people's feelings' to worry about. No burst of anger accompanied this thought. Kakuzu realized that he didn't know what he wanted to happen. Shit. First rule of making a deal: have firm plans for what you want to get out of it. Dammit! How am I going to get a fair deal out of this now?
Hidan's hand appeared, grabbing the edge of the roof and swinging the rest of his body over in the same place where Kakuzu had swung the rest of his body onto the roof. "Kakuzu!"
Kakuzu was still in a unstable and dangerous place negotiation-wise, so he wasn't surprised to find all of the skin on his body hardening. He braced himself for annoyance and possibly even anger, or maybe tears and pleading. The one thing he didn't brace for was a hug.
Hidan's grip didn't falter, even as Kakuzu froze and did not respond. Hidan simply readjusted his grip to compensate. "I got something to say before you say anything," he murmured into Kakuzu's shoulder.
Because Hidan's hug was Super Effective, Kakuzu stayed silent, as requested. Hidan pulled back and forced his hand to pet the top blade of his scythe instead of his own head. His scalp was beginning to complain about the rough treatment. He looked up into Kakuzu's face, almost but not quite meeting the older man's eyes. He didn't want this to turn confrontational. "Thank you."
Kakuzu blinked and stayed frozen. Hidan smirked and went on. "Had to get that out before you ruined the moment. I was thinking earlier of how normal people - sorry, I mean the NPCs. Though, actual normal people would qualify too… Fuck! I'm getting off track! Anyway, they're super delicate.
"You remember when I was learning about how to interact with people and stuff from lions? I chewed on your hand, and play-fought and wrestled. You even let me stalk you sometimes." Hidan's face softened at these memories.
"I know nobody else would have let me. Nobody else would put up with play-fighting or being chewed on, because you can only do that with others who can take some punishment, and who get that it's all play. Others like you. Like me?"
The last part came out as a question because it was one. Hidan's brow furrowed. Was it true? He knew Kakuzu was more like him than a normal person would be; that was why he had thought of thanking Kakuzu. But was Kakuzu really like him? Did they really understand each other that well?
Kakuzu's brain caught up to itself and scrambled to process what was happening. His skin softened as the protective technique wore off, and he studied Hidan's face. Was this true? Did Hidan think they were really alike? Were they alike?
Konan sat off to the side and waited for them to answer the question. She had no place just yet.
Surprisingly, Kakuzu was the first to answer. He muttered, "Before I looked up the vampires, I was putting the final touches in place to ambush a target. It felt good."
Hidan's tongue poked out of his mouth. "How big is it? Juicy? Tasty-looking?"
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes. "None of those things. He was an irrelevant pest. I was just going to enjoy tearing his little setup apart and seeing what, if anything, leaks out."
Hidan paused. This did not fit the scenario he pictured in his head. He changed the scenario, reimagining it in a forest instead of an open savannah. "Can he bug you?"
Kakuzu snorted. "Not a chance."
Hidan could get behind that. The joy of a hunt so well-planned that the prey didn't even notice until claws were sinking in… Hidan preferred a good chase, but he also enjoyed a good stalking. It was nice to have any part of a hunt be particularly good. "Fuck yeah!" He was proud of Kakuzu. I have got to hear about what he was doing. Sounds really interesting and tasty.
Kakuzu crossed his arms and tightened his fingers to make himself focus. So maybe we are a bit alike. So what? I'm here to make a deal, not get touchy-feely about good times. He called back his sense of unfairness, his sense that he wasn't particularly respected or valued and that others thought they could manipulate him. With this at the forefront of his mind, he sincerely believed the previous conversation with Hidan no longer affected him.
Hidan labored under no such pretensions. He grinned and said, "So I guess that means -"
"Shut up, and let's get to the actual point." Kakuzu glared.
"Um… Fine. Dickface." Hidan crossed his arms too and pouted. "Way to ruin a good moment."
"Not that good," Kakuzu countered, "considering how inconsiderate you are. You drag people around any time you want, for whatever purpose you want, and for the love of me I have no idea how. I do know I'm sick of it. I'm sick of going along with your plans, for no apparent reason, and without you bothering to pretend to be apologetic. If this is something Other Us did, which I gather it is because she knew enough to weaponize it against me already, I don't want to have any part of it. This ends. I won't be controlled by anyone."
Hidan's arms fell to his sides. He's accusing me of not caring about him? Why? I never wanted to do anything like what he said. He opened his mouth, but saw one of the scenarios he'd imagined earlier flash across his mind's eye. Even if I never wanted to, did I? Is that why I ran away? Am I really hurting him?
"I…" Hidan's teeth clenched as his mind raced back over every memory he could recall. He had always pushed and pulled Kakuzu, hadn't he? Kakuzu had rarely encouraged Hidan to do anything he objected to, but he'd gotten Kakuzu to do things he wouldn't have done all the time. Was that a bad thing to do? But he had never meant any harm, and he would never have dragged Kakuzu anywhere if he'd felt the slightest bit of real fear or worry or hurt. He didn't remember feeling any of those things, nor did he usually pick up resentment. Hidan felt sure he would never have aimed to manipulate or hurt his oldest friend. "I never meant to."
"So you admit it." Kakuzu's voice hit Hidan's spine like ice.
"That's not what I meant!" Hidan struggled to articulate what he did mean. "I would never hurt you or make you do anything that you couldn't do or that you wouldn't like. It always felt fine. I never picked up any pain or fear from you, and you were fine with whatever I suggested! I just like getting you to come out of your shell and have fun!"
Kakuzu uncrossed his arms, balling his hands into fists. "Really?" he said with as much caustic sarcasm as he could muster. "Would these, by any chance, be the same feelings that were mixed in with all of yours? I didn't know you could magically filter out all of your fun and your excitement to get a perfectly unbiased reading. Of course your perception is entirely trustworthy and reliable; how could you ever have any need to listen to my very words when you already know everything that's going on with perfect accuracy, better than I know myself?"
Hidan leaned backward. That was true. It was how he maintained his own personality even in a crowd; his own feelings did not get washed away, still dominated his heart most of the time. Had he really ignored Kakuzu? "I…"
"I'm not finished," Kakuzu growled. "And now, you go around cozying up to everybody, but especially to someone I've never seen before who thinks that she can order me around despite that. And she can, through sheer force I haven't yet learned to counter. You get to make rules and give out orders now through your friend, and trade off whenever you don't feel like having anyone call you or her on anything you do. I can't be certain you even heard a damn thing I said earlier. For all I know, you handed the phone over to her and walked away whistling. Nice way of avoiding me."
Konan shot to her feet. "My aim is to protect him," she told Kakuzu as she walked over to stand by Hidan's side. "Your words were very hurtful, and I will not allow him to be told such things. Do you have any idea how much pain you cause?"
Kakuzu glared at the both of them, but especially at Hidan, who was once again not speaking. "I'm not going to sugarcoat the truth just because he doesn't want to feel like an asshole."
Konan held her tongue. If Kakuzu was speaking honestly, her continued presence would not help matters. She stepped back to stand beside Hidan, and waited for him to speak on his own behalf.
Hidan felt tears come to his eyes. Fuck...shit… He…
He's right.
"I'm sorry…"
Both Konan and Kakuzu turned and stared at him. Konan stared because this was ludicrous. Hidan didn't deserve half of the accusations leveled against him!
Kakuzu stared because this was unexpected. Was it unexpected good or unexpected bad? He had never heard Hidan apologize in this way for their entire association.
Hidan wiped his eyes. "I...I guess… If you say it's bad and shit, then it is. I didn't think so, but… I guess I don't really ask you to say anything, and I do kinda brush your complaining off as you being a grump. I'm sorry."
Konan held her tongue again. She had unofficially (and perhaps officially at some point) allied herself with him and promised to stand by his side, so if that was the truth he wanted to accept she had to support that. She didn't remotely believe he deserved blame for anything. But even so, she held his hand and kept her opinions to herself.
Hidan squeezed her hand back. The feeling of her being there to help him was a great relief, and helped him regain control of himself. He finished wiping his eyes and looked at Kakuzu, almost but not quite meeting the older man's eyes. "So, since I haven't for a while, I should ask now. What do you want, Kakuzu?"
For once, the stitched-up ninja was at a loss for words. Silently, he considered the question for a while. Hidan waited. Eventually, Kakuzu shrugged. "I suppose it's simpler than it seems," he said, quieter than he had been before. "Firstly, I don't want to be controlled. You are actually correct." He glared as if to say But don't take that to mean you're not at fault. "It is true that I have never been seriously discomforted by anything you have asked me to do. I do actually enjoy most of it, somewhat." He held up a hand. "But that does not make it any less rude to constantly interrupt my routine. I like my routine. I like not having my stable life torn to tatters just as much as I like the occasional few hours of fun."
Hidan nodded. "Secondly," Kakuzu continued, "I don't even know how you manage to drag me off to half of these things. Why the hell did I agree to practice with these repulsive threads and use them to fight a demon just because you asked me to? Why does dragging work for you? I don't understand my own actions sometimes. If I don't have even that much control over myself, it does become...worrisome. I have to wonder who does."
Hidan nodded again, but swallowed. What could he do about that? "Lastly," Kakuzu said, "thank you for asking."
Hidan blinked. "I...yeah. You're welcome. I can ask more."
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes. "You'd better."
Hidan patted the top blade of the scythe. "So, I shouldn't drag you off so much anymore, and not without asking first. That's it? If I do that, you won't talk about me like I'm disappointing?"
Kakuzu tilted his head. "I don't talk about you like you're disappointing."
"Yeah you do." Hidan's throat closed up, making speaking difficult. "You get all annoyed when I can't remember something, and sometimes you look at me like you're only willing to accept me and my stuff because I'm useful or fun." He sniffled and allowed more tears to drip down his cheeks. "And when it's not, when demons are mad at me 'cause of something I didn't do and don't know about, you get mad at me too. I didn't do anything! It's like you think that I'm trying to hurt you, that I'm a bad thing that's bad, when I don't want anything to happen to anyone and I don't know why demons hate me and I'm not bad! What did I actually do?"
Kakuzu squeezed his eyes shut and huffed. "Do you have any idea how annoying it is for you to act in strange ways and never provide an explanation for it? I am simply forced to go along with you, and have no ability to predict what you'll do next or figure out what the hell's going on."
"So am I!" Hidan whined. "I'd love to have an explanation. My entire fucking life is going along with things. I'd tell you what I was doing if I knew."
Kakuzu glared. "That helps me how?"
Hidan looked away sourly. It doesn't. That's my fault how?
Kakuzu then muttered, "Besides, your memory loss is too precise to be believable. It only ever seems to affect the important questions. Lucky us."
Hidan couldn't believe what he was hearing. What? Does Kakuzu think I'm a liar? His mouth hung open, and he stared down at the leaf-strewn white roof. The very first thing that Hidan had ever said to him was "I don't know," when asked what he was doing on the side of a road. Kakuzu didn't believe that was real? All of it, every time Hidan had ever shivered at something on TV and not known why, all the times they had sat down and tried to puzzle out the meaning of yet another bizarre sentence, and then later chuckled at how incorrect their guesses were if Kakuzu was able to find out what it really meant… He believed that wasn't real? That they hadn't really been searching for answers together?
He took a breath (it was difficult to breathe), and voiced this aloud. "You think everything was fake?" You think I'm fake?
Kakuzu refused to be swayed by accusations and guilt trips. He said levelly, "I don't know what to think."
Hidan had no idea what to do or say. What could he do or say? He couldn't take Kakuzu into his mind and point to all the holes. He couldn't prove an absence. If Kakuzu thought he couldn't be trusted, then he wouldn't trust any protest Hidan tried to make.
There was only one thing to do, and that was get off of this topic. Hidan took another breath, and was grateful that it came easier than the first. "I was probably chased," he decided.
Kakuzu sighed. "Are you going to explain what that means?"
Konan stepped in front of Hidan. "I will," she offered. "Later." Her amber eyes glowed dangerously, and little expressions came more easily to her face than before. "I must ask. If you don't believe he tells the truth about his own experiences, why did you bother talking with him at all?"
Kakuzu realized he should not have said what he said. "I don't think he lies in what he says. It's what he doesn't say that's suspicious. The rest is mostly accurate, I'm sure."
"Say?" Hidan's voice rose to a high squeak. "It doesn't matter what you think about I say. What about what I do? All those times we talked about what I might've meant by something I couldn't remembered saying, you thought I wasn't really enjoying making fun guesses? That I wasn't really laughing, that it was just an act because I wanted to watch you be confused? Walking away from parties or certain places because someone said something that hurt for no reason that I can remember, was that an act?"
His voice turned distant in the space of a second. "You think that I was faking you out for sympathy back then, that time when everything was horrible? I spent months shivering and huddling and holding my head, which hurt like a bastard, and you took care of me, and you think I wasn't telling the truth about it? That I wasn't really hurting, and losing over half my memory, and that I didn't really need food and shit, and that I wasn't really grateful?"
Hidan wiped his eyes. "I can't even remember if it was one month or more because I was losing so much time. Wake up on Monday, spend a few hours on stuff, then you visit and tell me it's Friday. It was… was… the worst!" The loss of so much time was what frightened Hidan most about what he had experienced after 9/11. He knew people were in pain but he couldn't help, and on top of that he hadn't been able to help himself. He hadn't been able to even be himself. He'd known as an absolute fact, during the whole experience and forever after, that he was not in control of himself. This was terrifying to know. Kakuzu, who'd listened to him the most, was denying that terror?
Hidan discovered his anger. "I know I've messed up. I've disregarded what you say a little too often, and I haven't asked for it nearly as much as I should. But you're doing the same thing! I can't do stuff and I don't have any control, which is just what you want for yourself, and you're not going to bother to help me? You don't know why you do stuff? Why do I do stuff? Why'd I have to go through that shit? What the fuck was stealing whole days from me? You don't care about what I want or need at all!"
"So I'm supposed to care for the both of us?" Kakuzu shot back.
"I want consideration! I'm not fucking lying when I say I don't remember stuff and I don't like it!"
"Neither am I when I say that I don't want to pretend I trust people I do not trust! I don't pretend."
"I don't pretend either!"
Konan turned to the side and jabbed both of them in the chest with her fingertips. "You two really are alike." Her tone indicated this was not a good thing. "Neither of your originals ever got along with anyone else. Original Hidan was headhunted specifically for his immortality because Kakuzu would get angry and fight with his partners, and Hidan would do the exact same thing if he was with someone he could reasonably overpower in battle. You don't get along with others, you fight when angry, and I'm sure neither of you have practiced empathy or trust for a long, long time.
"Now, both of you have a substantial advantage over your originals. You have both been raised in a world which trains you to at least try to get along with others, and Hidan's power and what it has forced him to do make up for his original's complete lack of social skills.
"What held the old Akatsuki together was a rigid power structure." Konan looked between them, distress tinging her voice. "The leader was the most powerful person in the group, and all members were dangerous enough that fighting each other would have been risky even if he hadn't used threats of force to break up disputes. Partners were matched at least as much on the basis of battle power as on personality. Peace depended on battle being too dangerous.
"That is no longer the case here, because I am not as powerful as Nagato was. Distribution of battle power can no longer be counted on for stability. You're on your own to solve your disputes with your own social skills, or lack thereof." She glared at the both of them. "That said, the boost this world has given to your social skills is the greatest advantage you have over your originals. Disregard it, and weaken yourselves.
"Both of you, take the rest of today to settle down. Work to overcome your shortcomings, and practice consideration, because it sounds like both of you are bad at it. Kakuzu, your desires do not come before those of others. Hidan, you understand what beasts desire and how they think better than you understand humans, and your power does not make up for that entirely.
"Any questions?"
They had none.
"Very well. Hidan, go. Kakuzu, stay."
Hidan nodded and ran past Kakuzu, towards the forest. If he had known before the argument that Kakuzu was predatory like him and enjoyed hunting, he'd have been so much more interested in what Kakuzu did and so much more eager to hear about it. Konan was right. He related a lot better when he could understand someone as a fellow hunter.
Kakuzu turned to watch Hidan go, but stayed as requested. Konan was right. He hadn't depended on anyone in a long, long time. Even her command to understand that his desires were not more important than others' made sense, because now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember wondering why Hidan would have passed the phone to Konan instead of speaking for himself. He'd just been angry at his desire to yell at Hidan being thwarted. Kakuzu turned to Konan and raised an eyebrow.
Her face was still once more. She turned to face him directly. Kakuzu unfolded his arms and admitted, "I'm impressed. You located the source of our problems."
Her eyes narrowed. "Naturally. My powers of analysis failed before. I have practised judging the nature of things ever since to make sure they do not fail again." She stepped closer and stopped much too close for Kakuzu's comfort. Her eyes blazed into his, making him want to take a step back. She still loomed far too well for someone shorter and smaller than he was. "Do you know why I invited you to stay?"
Kakuzu wisely did not choose to comment on her misleading word choice. "I assume you have more to say to me."
She nodded once. "As I said before, my objective is to protect Hidan. At this point, I see only one thing he needs protecting from."
She went on to explain, "Earlier, when you called, I spoke for Hidan because he was unable to speak for himself. I asked you to remember what I had said before. You remembered one thing, and I reminded you of another. But there is a third aspect of that earlier discussion which you evidently did not remember and which I did not remind you of. Do you recall why I asked you not to spread your conflict with him to others?"
"'What he fears will surely come to pass if you are loose-lipped,'" Kakuzu quoted.
"Precisely." Konan edged forward, making him lean back even more. "What he fears was exactly what you threatened him with. To be disregarded, to be unable to be with anyone, to have nobody think anything positive about him. He did not speak because he was paralyzed with fear, because he could not face the previously unspoken assumption that you believe everything that's happened is his fault for merely existing, that his existence alone is a bad thing. The worst possible thing is for his existence to genuinely be a bad thing of itself, or at least to be perceived as such."
Kakuzu blinked, and his eyes widened. I was threatening him? I thought he was using me for his own ends and that I was merely righting the balance, but he was the one feeling threatened and unable to assert himself? I used his very worst fear against him, too. He finally realized the true meaning of Konan's words. When she'd said he was being hurtful, she meant hurtful.
Konan leaned back. "One last thing," she said. "After the call ended, he told me that the extreme emotions had allowed him to recover previously buried memories. As you spoke, his reactions to what he heard included fleeting impressions of leaves, and a cold roadside. These were clearly memories from before you met him, when he was running away. We were only able to think of one explanation, and that is that he ran away because of similar words and treatment in his previous life.
"If so, he has very good reason to fear being treated harshly again." Her eyes narrowed viciously. "Hidan wondered if he ran away because he was seeking something or because he was chased away. If he has decided he was chased, that means he feels these words are a mortal danger capable of ending his life. My goal is to protect him. If you speak to him in this way again, it will be just as if you were slashing at him with a weapon, and I will consider you an enemy. I don't wish to, but I will if you act like one. Don't force me."
Having said her piece, she turned and left. Kakuzu stayed where he was, frozen to the spot. Unconsciously, all of the mystery and speculation over the decades had built up Hidan's previous life, and the reason why it ended, into something monstrous and all-powerful. The discovery of a piece of the monster was enough to shock Kakuzu's mind into inactivity. That it resembled himself?
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