Hidan
Hidan woke up from a deep, dreamless sleep into bright sunlight. As soon as he opened his eyes, he had to squint in pain as his retinas protested. He normally lay down next to his bed with his feet toward the window and his head toward the door, but he was now lying horizontally before the foot of his bed with his face pointed directly at the shining leaves outside.
As Hidan rubbed his eyes and sat up, he felt a chill run down his spine. He would never have positioned himself like this. Someone else must have done it. The question was: Who? Who had moved him while he was sleeping?
What happened last night? Hidan grimaced at the taste in his mouth. He sometimes woke up with a strange taste in his mouth, a strong and thick flavor that tasted like something which was good when fresh, but had gone horribly stale by the time he tasted it.
As far as Hidan could remember, he had always woken up in this condition on a regular basis, and he had never developed any health consequences like might be expected if it was leaking brain fluid or something, so he ignored the odd taste. However, that did not mean he thought of it as normal. He still thought of it as odd, and when combined with waking up in a strange position, the combination put him on high alert.
I…don't remember. His alert level went even higher. I ran off into the forest to cool down and think about how I should fix things with Kakuzu. I thought up a decent-sounding plan, which I still remember - Yes! - and then, I went to go hang out in the Bird Tree and watch the sunset. I did, and then... what?
Hidan stood up and sat on the edge of the bed. Concentrate as he might, he could not call up any memory beyond watching the tops of the trees do interesting things as the angle of light changed.
He'd felt a little drowsy from the coolness of the air and its constant movement, but also from hunger, which his stomach had complained about. Shouldn't his large lunch have lasted longer? Regardless, his stomach was not to be ignored, so… So…what? Hidan didn't remember planning anything for dinner. Yet he was comfortable and not hungry now. Another chill ran down his spine.
He took a deep breath and tried to relax. Great. Another fuckin' reconstruction job. This wasn't unusual either, but like the strange taste, he could never get used to it. It was always upsetting. So I was hungry, but now I'm not.
The sun was setting, which happens at a good time for an early dinner. I must've gotten down from the tree, and come back for something to eat. By the time I did that, it would be a normal dinnertime. So I ate, and then went to sleep, all while being whatever it is I am when I don't remember stuff.
Hidan shivered. He was glad that most of the time, he couldn't actually perceive his missing time. That meant it was just a short, momentary blip, slipped into the middle of an otherwise normal conversation.
It was easy to picture himself saying a single sentence, or doing something in a fit of strong emotion, that he did not remember. These longer fugues were a different story. Hidan wondered who and what actually did the things he found done when he woke up from them.
Was it just like sleepwalking? Did he just walk around in a bit of a daze, looking mostly normal, doing normal things out of reflex? Did he have glazed eyes from not really being conscious? Did he act as if in a trance, or like he was in a dream?
Or… Was he fully aware? Had he, in fact, gone on to think of dinner? Had he talked to someone, as well as eaten? What had he said? Had he planned anything, or thought of something interesting? If so, what kind of plan or thought was it? Was it something that he wouldn't like when he woke up, or was he just like himself? Was he such a perfect imitation that nobody could tell the difference? Could Hidan's friends have talked to him, and laughed, and felt good, not knowing that he wouldn't remember it? Had he been himself enough to think that he would remember, but then bam! Nope? Stolen?
Hidan shook his head. He couldn't just sit here stewing in questions. The light was too bright; it must already be late morning. He should get up and go out, be with people. And, for all of his conjecturing, the scenario he'd invented didn't even make complete sense. It still didn't answer the question of who had moved him.
Hidan had eaten or done other things in a fugue before, but he had never woken up to discover someone else had done something to him while he slept. Had he inexplicably decided to go to sleep in entirely the wrong position, or had someone else moved him? If it's the first, why would I decide to do that now, after never doing that before? If the second, who and why? And how?
He shivered. The reflected light seemed cold, and goosebumps rose up and down his arms. Hidan felt a sudden need for clothing, to be covered. He took deep breaths while shoving his arms into the sleeves of his cloak as fast as they would go, trying not to panic. Did someone do something to me? Is Fugue Me easy to take advantage of? What happened? Am I missing anything? He checked all of his possessions. Where's my scythe?!
Hidan looked in all directions frantically. Did someone - did I - There it was. He saw his scythe propped up in a corner. That was also a place he would never have left it, because it belonged on his back. Hidan wondered if he should touch it. There might be fingerprints left on the handle.
This thought was the one to jog him into a more reasonable frame of mind. Wait. No, I have other people around me now. I'm not alone in the woods anymore. It was probably a friend, taking me back to my room and putting my stuff where they would put it. I don't have to think about all this on my own. I can just ask about what happened.
His stomach dropped. Hidan wondered why. That's what I've always wanted, right? Answers and shit? But now, faced with the idea of getting some, he was scared. If he didn't ask, he could go on picturing himself sleep walking, maybe looking a little dazed. If he didn't ask, he could go on comforting himself with Well, as far as I can tell, the one thing that's certain is that Fugue Me looks after me.
He could go on believing the best. The idea of having every one of his questions answered made his heart race. It also made him feel a little odd. Hidan found his head turned to the side without any memory of turning it. Shit! No! I don't want to enter a fugue again! Hidan grabbed the handle of the scythe with one hand and some part of his cloak with the other, and squeezed as if he was holding on for dear life. He was. Maybe not for his whole life, but definitely for a part of it.
He still felt very strange, as if he was about to pass out from lack of oxygen. He couldn't get enough air. Hidan's eyes darted around the walls. His room was very small, an excellent little box to go crazy in. He had to escape. Get out! Hidan swung his door open so that it bounced off the wall, and raced out into the hallway. It was a little easier to breathe when he could look down long stretches of tile.
Hidan turned left and ran to the most open room he knew. If it got worse, he could go outside and run very, very far away. But it wasn't that bad yet. The lobby would do. Hidan looked out its huge glass front, the entire street on display.
If he moved all the way over to the left, he could just see the part of road that the snake boy had turned into a small forest. The sight reassured him. It was normal. It was not dangerous. It was not going to do anything to him. His breathing slowed.
Hidan relaxed his right hand so its fingers were no longer digging into his left arm, restoring circulation. He leaned against the wall and sighed. Okay, what the fuck was that?
No, these fugues were not like the strange taste in his mouth. He couldn't stop thinking of the taste as odd, but he had at least gotten more comfortable with it over time. In contrast, the fugues freaked him out more and more as more hours of his life disappeared. It's like someone's taking scissors to me. Snip snip. He blinked away tears.
For some reason, that idea - Tears - brought Nagato to mind. Hidan remembered that Nagato was awesome, and brave. He was so fucking brave. Hidan gritted his teeth. What the fuck was he doing standing here, when he should be being brave like Nagato? So fucking what if someone's got scissors? I've got people who saw what happened.
I'm gonna get those pieces of me back! His internal organs twisted alarmingly, but he ignored them. If I keep freaking out more every time, it won't take a couple of other suspicious details to push me over the edge anymore. I'll be a nervous wreck just from it happening. I've got to figure out what's happening so I can stop myself from being wrecked just because of a few missing hours!
Sometimes, if he was pushed to, Hidan worried about his state of mind. But Nagato would never worry. He'd say that Hidan was as sane as he needed to be, and he was strong, look how much good he did for everyone, yadda yadda. Nagato was always nice and calm and would say things like that. I'm not gonna go crazy. I'm not gonna let myself go crazy. I'm gonna get answers!
I wish it wasn't late morning so I could tell him…
It was no fun inspiring oneself alone, nor was it any good to be grateful. Hidan didn't even feel inspired, but somehow more anxious than before he had summoned these thoughts. He hung his head and wondered if something was wrong with him.
Something thumped against the wall nearby. Hidan blinked and remembered where he was. The thump turned out to be Kakuzu, his foot still raised in a kicking position. Kakuzu lowered his foot and studied Hidan more closely.
His green eyes saw Hidan's face, his eyes, the way he leaned against the wall, the way the scythe must have been pressing into his back yet Hidan didn't seem to notice. Hidan noticed now and stood up. Kakuzu narrowed his eyes at him, rightly suspicious. "Are you alright?"
Hidan swallowed. He was the more active one, wasn't he? The more fun one, the mover and doer. Or he was supposed to be. Hidan couldn't remember being the one to need Kakuzu, aside from that hellish period of a few months that to him had been a week. Those were obviously special circumstances.
He did not need help, at least not from Kakuzu. Nagato and Yahiko were obviously special people, so they were different. Kakuzu was a normal part of everyday life, and Hidan didn't need any help in that domain.
Yeah. Sure I don't. That was a bitter thought. I could use someone who knows all about it to talk to…
Alright, fine. So he needed help with some very weird and very strange and unusual shit. That was okay. Hidan supposed it was only right to let Kakuzu be the one to help him for a change, anyway. Hadn't that been part of what they'd argued about?
"Someone moved me last night," he explained. "That's literally never fucking happened before. I know it was probably someone being helpful, but I've always woken up right where I went to sleep without anyone helping, so what the fuck? I'm not appreciative, and I have that weird taste in my mouth again, and on top of all that I know I lost several hours last night! All of those things fucking suck on their own, so a whole pile of them…" He growled.
Kakuzu looked at him very strangely. "What weird taste?"
Huh? I must have mentioned it at some point… Hidan thought quickly. Didn't I? "That weird taste I get in my mouth sometimes," he repeated. "Like something old and stale. It doesn't taste good. Glugh." On second thought, I always wash that shit out as soon as I can. I never have Kakuzu around right when I wake up. "I always wash it out really quickly." Hidan ran his tongue around his mouth and wondered if it would be good manners to go outside and spit.
Kakuzu approached. "Hmm… Maybe I could smell it." He gestured at Hidan.
Oh… Fuckin' duh. Figuring out what the taste is could help. Why haven't I thought of that? Hidan opened his mouth and slowly exhaled.
Kakuzu said nothing, but his eyes widened. Hidan felt his major muscles wind up like old-fashioned clocks. "K-Kakuzu?" What is it?!
Kakuzu went to great effort to untense himself. "It smells very similar to blood… How often did you say you taste it?"
Hidan's hand went to his mouth. He stuck his fingers in as far as he could without gagging, then withdrew them. They had no traces of red on them. "Blood? What the fuck? Are you fucking sure?"
"Or something very similar," Kakuzu repeated. "Now answer the damn question."
"Um, pretty regularly. At least weekly, but a little closer. Most of a week?" Hidan could not claim to have kept track.
Kakuzu stared, horrified. Hidan shuddered. "So, wait, does that mean I'm bleeding? Like every few days, bleeding, in my mouth? What the fuck? I'm fucking fine! What could cause that anyway?"
Kakuzu blinked. "Odds are it's not your blood."
…? Hidan had no idea how to make sense of that. "...What?"
Kakuzu explained, "Like I said, the local vampires have a problem with you. When nobody had seen you for hours last night and you didn't show for the meeting, I wondered if it was safe for you to be who knows where, at night, alone. Those two - you know who I mean, they only ever come together. I should figure out a pair name for them - went to talk to the vampires diplomatically. I have no idea what was said, but on our way back -"
Hidan's heart stopped. His eyes grew wide. "I didn't come back last night?" He let out a rusty squeak. Unconsciously, he grabbed his stomach. What did I eat?!
Kakuzu mentally cursed. Of course, how typical of Hidan to put on a brave face. He should have known Hidan wasn't okay just from the fact that he could see Hidan being visibly not okay. It had been foolish not to assume Hidan was really in a much worse state than he appeared. "No, you didn't. Everything's alright, though. Everyone else with a cloak went out looking for you. You don't look harmed, and you said they brought you back. Everything is fine."
"No it's not, because I don't know what the fuck is happening!" Hidan blinked away more tears. "Who the fuck is taking scissors to my life and cutting off pieces and shit, Kakuzu? What the fuck did I eat? Why the fuck did I eat it? Who the fuck ate it? Was it me, and I'm apparently a bloodthirsty bunny murderer when I can't feel their pain? Or was it not me, and I'm not - I can't - my - everything - What the fucking fuckity fuck?!"
Kakuzu closed his eyes, whispered several more curses to himself, then opened them and lunged. He grabbed Hidan's wildly flailing arms first. "Hey! Let goooo!" He held them still until Hidan stopped struggling and they went slack, then lowered them to Hidan's sides where they should be. Finally, before he could panic any further, Kakuzu grabbed him and wrapped him in a hug.
Hidan kicked a few times, struggling, before suddenly relaxing and going limp. It was like a switch had flipped and turned off all his muscles. Kakuzu continued to hold him, now for the purpose of keeping Hidan from falling to the floor. He wasn't very huggy for no other reason, and Hidan knew it.
"Ka-ku-zu?" He's done this before. There was only one other time when Kakuzu had made such extensive physical contact with him. It had been for the same reason, too. He pressed me to the floor that morning when Sasori's shit was stolen.
I was freaking out. Felt like things, ideas, kept whirling in and out of my view and they were all so interesting I couldn't see anything else, like my head was spinning. I was getting dizzy but I didn't care, just wanted to do everything. I was sick. I couldn't think right. I hurt Nagato.
Hidan raised his hands and pushed on Kakuzu's shoulders. "Kakuzu." The older man did not let go. "Kakuzu, stop it! I'm not going to hurt anyone anymore."
Kakuzu released him. Hidan stumbled backwards into the wall, where the feeling of the scythe pressing into his back helped calm him. Was I that far out of my mind again just now? He felt sick. It's probably not all from being out of my mind.
It might be from the blood. But Hidan could not remember ever feeling sick when he had that strange taste in his mouth. Apparently he digested blood just fine. Hidan reached for the handle of his scythe.
It took several tries to grab it since his hands were shaking, but he did, and he removed it from his back and leaned it against the wall next to him. It fell over onto the floor, which he did not prevent because he was too busy slumping on the floor and gripping the sides of his head.
He didn't know if it would stop his brains from leaking out, but he had to try. That time, I was out of it because Konan was. This time, it's all me. Oh for fuck's sake, I'm losing it.
Kakuzu crouched in front of him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Hidan flinched away from it. "Fuck me," he whispered. "I'm losing everything and I'm hurting and scaring people and they're scared and they're going to go…"
Kakuzu's eyes widened. For the first time, he seriously wondered what those four had said to Hidan last night. Had they said something that was scaring him now? He couldn't imagine Konan ever allowing anyone to say something like this directly, but maybe their body language had given it away. "Shit. And you have no memory of what they said to you."
Hidan sniffled. He raised an arm to wipe his nose. I must look so pathetic. I'm like a mess. How can I do anything for anyone if I'm a mess? What would I even do if I can't do anything for anyone? That's just as bad as if I hurt them. Even worse; I'd be such a huge weight...
He wiped his nose and cleared his eyes before trying to speak in a steady voice. "That's it, Kakuzu. I don't remember anything. Why?" Hidan's throat squeezed again as he looked up at Kakuzu. "Why me? I haven't done anything, I'm not - I'm not anything special, I…" He swallowed back a sob. "I'm just a guy. So why is everyone so angry that I just fucking exist? Why do I get shit on like this?"
Kakuzu
Whatever Kakuzu had been thinking of saying flew out the window. He looked down at Hidan, who had given in to being a mess. In all their life together, since Kakuzu had discovered him decades ago, he had never seen Hidan like this. Hidan was strong. Hidan was a mirror. Hidan was a black hole. Hidan was a strange and half terrifying, half impressive being who swept into people's lives and made them more interesting. And now he was weak, sitting on the floor crying and feeling powerless, claiming to be ordinary.
Kakuzu's first reaction was to search what he could see of Hidan's face for a sign that he was joking. He cannot be serious. He is not just a guy and he never has been. Everyone can see it. There is no possible way he can believe that.
Hidan continued scrubbing at his face, trying to piece himself back together and getting frustrated at his continued failure. Kakuzu knew this because all of it showed on Hidan's face. The younger man was really bad at hiding things from other people. He can't be serious… Can he?
Kakuzu's second impulse was one he had never experienced before. He had never needed to. Hidan had never needed comfort before. But now he did, and Kakuzu could see plainly that Hidan was not joking. How could he believe that? Kakuzu understood how bewildered Hidan must be feeling, because he was bewildered himself. He reached out a hand, slowly, hesitantly.
Hidan gasped when he felt Kakuzu's hand on the side of his head, but did not move away. Hoping to hell he knew what he was doing, Kakuzu proceeded to scratch. Slowly at first, then more confidently, he massaged the area behind Hidan's right ear. Hidan's eyes partially closed as he lowered his head, directing Kakuzu's fingers upward. "M' hair." Kakuzu gently tugged on Hidan's hair with every movement of his fingers, lightly pulling back and forth. Hidan's ears flexed and he started to purr.
Kakuzu did not know how long he kept doing this for. He only knew that by the time Hidan took hold of his wrist and stopped it, he had learned a lot about how to properly pet Hidan but was still far from mastery. If Hidan's smile was anything to go by, he'd learned enough. Kakuzu was glad for that.
Hidan pushed his wrist away and opened his eyes. They were still red and puffy, but his vision was unclouded with tears for the moment. "Thanks." He actually had never considered Kakuzu petting him. It had seemed like something that simply couldn't happen. The whole world must have changed somehow to accommodate this.
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes. Right. Now to get back to business. "How the hell can you, of all people, possibly believe that you're ordinary?"
Hidan blinked at him, then looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to him. "Well… I'm a pretty normal guy. I've got issues. I've got friends. I like my friends. I got stuff I like, and I do shit. I like people in general. I've got a handle on the issues, for now." His face wrinkled. "M-maybe not. I dunno."
Kakuzu shook his head. "You're leaving things out." He held up a hand to count on. "Let's see. You can feel other people's feelings. You convince people that shouldn't be convinced, of things they would never in their right mind be convinced of. You come and go as you please, and everything goes right for you.
Your ratio of foolishness is one hell of a lot lower than anyone else's. Oh, and that's before we get into the things you don't remember saying always turning out to be mysteriously accurate, somehow. Care to explain that as something an ordinary, normal person can do?"
Hidan shivered. He grimaced as if in pain. "No. I… What, you think me being good to talk to is a sign I'm something bad? Something that vampires and demons should be angry at?" He shook his head frantically. "No, fuck you! Just because you found me on the side of a road doesn't mean you get to interrogate me!"
Kakuzu stared. He isn't making any sense.
Hidan continued shaking his head. "I'm not wrong. There is no reason anyone should treat me like I'm some kind of...whatever you implied I was. Fuck off."
Kakuzu tilted his head. Now that makes sense. He doesn't want to believe there's any reason for people to reject him. But that invited a question: Why does he fear that people will then, if he doesn't believe there's a reason to?
"Why are you afraid that anyone would, then?"
"Fuck you!"
Kakuzu sighed. He's getting hysterical. Great. "I reserve a right to believe you aren't ordinary."
Hidan sniffled. Kakuzu added. "Not in the bad way. You're the good kind of not ordinary."
Hidan sniffled again. "Like Moonlight?" he whispered.
Kakuzu thought about Nagato. "No, he's pretty ordinary."
"He is not!" Kakuzu startled backwards at the force of this exclamation. In less time than it took him to blink, Hidan had gone from slumped and relaxed to tense and in Kakuzu's face. He graciously allowed Kakuzu to shift into a stable position, then continued defending Nagato's honor. "He is not ordinary!"
Hidan's eyes filled with tears, but they must have been a different kind because he started smiling through them. "Nagato is… Brave, and awesome, and crazy loyal. He's my best friend." Hidan's face was soon covered with salt water.
He ignored it and gestured at Kakuzu. "You, I mean… You're my oldest friend. You always will be. But Nagato won't run away, and he's not mad, and he's got me. He promised." Hidan grinned, even as the flow of tears increased. Kakuzu realized they were happy tears. "He's darn close to the best person I've ever met. He's way braver than anyone else. Not ordinary."
Kakuzu latched onto what he could while he processed the rest. "He promised?"
Hidan was still smiling. "Hm?"
He demoted me. Kakuzu was shocked. He demoted me, because he has other friends now and some of them are closer to him than I am. What did he feel about that? "You said that Nagato promised he wouldn't leave you."
Hidan blinked and rubbed his chin, where the gatherings of droplets itched. "I did?"
He doesn't remember? Kakuzu sat straighter. "Yes. You said that, right in the middle of everything you just told me about him."
Hidan grinned and started to laugh. He bent over, laughing and shaking his head. Kakuzu narrowed his eyes. "What's so funny?"
"I like that shit," Hidan answered. "When it's in the middle." He chuckled for a few more seconds, then recovered. "It feels like I haven't lost anything when it's right there in the middle like that."
Kakuzu sighed again. Ridiculous. As usual. I might never get a handle on him.
Something occurred to Kakuzu just then. There was a way he could make up for his hurtful words. He patted Hidan on the shoulder to get his attention. When Hidan was looking at him, Kakuzu told him, "You haven't lost anything."
Hidan's brow wrinkled. "I haven't?"
"No." Kakuzu smirked, a rare thing. For once I've beaten him. "When did Nagato promise you this?"
Hidan looked around the ceiling while he tried to recall. "I don't know. I don't remember him promising it."
"Exactly." Finally, I get to show him somewhere. "You lose a few hours, during which Nagato goes to talk to you. Today, you're more convinced than you have ever been that he is your best friend.
You're not exactly stingy with affection; if you had thought this before today, I would have seen it. You only believe it now, after he talks to you while you're amnesiac."
Hidan's face cleared. Kakuzu was gratified to see him look stunned. "So, you mean… I do remember. I remember something he said to me last night."
Kakuzu nodded. "It's not in a part of your memory you can reach, but it's there, just like whatever happened before you ran away is still there. Some part of you remembered that and that's how you knew to be afraid of me when I started to sound similar. Your memories aren't gone, just moved somewhere else."
Hidan's eyes glazed over. "I remembered some things, leaves and the road, from before…"
Kakuzu nodded. "Yes, you did. There's no need to be afraid. You aren't losing things, and you aren't scaring away people either. You. Are. Fine."
Hidan relaxed, truly relaxed. That made sense. But, more importantly than it making sense, it felt right. It struck Hidan in a way that his earlier attempts to figure things out had not. He tilted his head. "Hey, Kakuzu?"
"Yes?"
Hidan remembered his scythe falling to the floor and looked around for it. "Before you came out here, before I started freaking out," he said while picking it up, "I wasn't thinking of any of that shit." Hidan carefully swung it away from Kakuzu and replaced it on his back, the blades nestling against his shoulders in such a way that, if he tilted his head back, the top of the topmost blade would press into his head just a little. "Everything I said earlier, losing shit, scissors, losing people… That was all smoked herrings. That's not why I freaked out."
Kakuzu dusted off his pants. "Why did you?"
"Just before I kind of panicked and ran out here, what I was actually thinking was that I could ask someone what happened, get answers." Hidan frowned. "The idea made my heart go crazy. I thought I wanted to get answers to what I'm like and why I don't remember, but I was scared as shit when I thought I could."
Kakuzu nodded. "You don't actually want to know."
Hidan nodded back. "I don't think I do. When you said some part of me remembered, I thought, 'That means I don't need to ask. I don't need answers.' And, bam. That's when what you said started feeling right."
Kakuzu crossed his arms and stared at Hidan flatly, unimpressed. "You only just realized this? I thought it was obvious all along. You lose your memory of things that upset you, that you can't handle. Of course you don't want to remember them."
Hidan growled. "You think I want to run away like that? You think I want to be scared and shit?"
Kakuzu shook his head. "No, you don't. That is why you forget. You forget because if you remembered, you would always be afraid. You'd remember whatever made you run away constantly, and you'd always be looking over your shoulder for it. Congratulations; you ran away and got a new start, just like you probably wanted. You get a new start mentally, too. How fortunate. Cherish it."
Hidan stared back with his mouth hanging open. He'd always wondered about his past, tried to reach for it, tried to recreate it in his imagination. He had always thought of it as a thing stolen from him that he needed to reclaim. But perhaps he had deliberately thrown it away, instead? Perhaps it wasn't worth worrying over. Perhaps he ought to think of his future.
He wished he could remember which was the case. But he also wished for Kakuzu to be right, so that he wouldn't have to. It felt so right to not have to worry, to think that he could trust Fugue Hidan to take care of him, as a friend or partner in arms. He wanted to trust himself.
So he did. It was really that simple.
"Hey, Kakuzu." Hidan shuffled from foot to foot. "I thought of what we can do to practice being more considerate and shit. Want to hear it?"
"Sure." Kakuzu pulled over the chair from behind the reception desk and sat. Hidan grinned and began to pace back and forth, gesturing as wildly as he felt like gesturing. He looked down as he talked to check if he was floating.
Kakuzu understood why he checked and was amused. He also felt a lot lighter. So Hidan isn't a terrifying cosmic force that I am powerless against. Or at least not all of him is. Ahh, it feels good to have some control over these things.
He listened to Hidan's plan for better relations, and found no obvious faults with it. He realized he needed to thank Konan. She had pushed them apart and made him stay, and here he was, feeling glad he had.
Kakuzu wasn't looking forward to admitting it, though. I'll save it for a special occasion. He grinned. This was a time of triumph, and he made sure to enjoy every second of it.