[backdated] "You can't help that. We're all mad here." -- Chesire Cat
Who: Kakuzu, Hidan, Kakashi
When: March 27
Where: Ceno
What: The mission created in response to these orders.
Rating: R (Violence, Language)
Against the chalk-white sidewalk and the light beech colored wood of the bench, Kakuzu’s black suit looked like a black splotch of tar against the two light colors, bringing discord to the perfectly simple harmony. Even on a mission, he found his own taste in something simple and familiar unwavering. After all, sometimes it worked in his favor.
People seemed to trust those with an air of astute civilized look about them. Even if there was a wolf lying beneath all these dark colored sheep skin.
Equally deceiving set of green eyes peered over the newspaper and at the twin set of apartment buildings side-by-side, a setting that couldn’t be more perfect or easier for the nature of the entire mission. If there had only been one guardian or the grandmother to consider, Hidan and himself would be fine. However, there was the matter of government borders and the woman next door. Not to mention the fortunate disposal of an ex-government member that had fallen in debt to him within the recent weeks. A threat and scant messages later, the ex-Arceos was being used as a pawn in the mission. If anything, Kakuzu liked using what he had on hand. It saved money and time. Both which he was a stingy bastard over, something Hidan never forgot to remind him every day.
Eyes tilted to the side, indifferent to the dull print of government propaganda but instead hid the mental calculations running in his mind. Only when the needed numbers and digits had sorted themselves within their assigned memory slots, did Kakuzu fold up the useless waste of paper and fish out a cell phone out of his inner breast pocket.
Numbers were dialed with punctuality with glove-clad fingers.
Ring, ring, rin--
At the sound of the ringing being cut off unexpectedly, Kakuzu proceeded to speak, standing up from his position to look down the street, looking for a man with white hair.
“Where are you?”
Hidan glared down at the annoying piece of technology, briefly toying with the idea of letting it continue to vibrate but in the end it would only cause another headache and with his piss poor luck already with this mission, that was something he didn't particularly need.
Viciously stabbing his finger into the 'answer' button he lifted the small handset to his ear only to hear that pissy ass voice already snapping across the line without giving him the opportunity to bite out some sort of greeting.
"Where the fuck do you think I am? I'm sitting in the back of the lecture hall keeping an eye on our pretty kitty, what the hell else would I be doing right this second?" Hidan growled out, keeping his voice low enough so it wouldn't be heard over the voice of the professor and the soft chatter of the students. Perturbed, he shifted slightly in the too small seat keeping a steady glower on the blissfully ignorant blond female sitting a few rows ahead of him, This was not his idea of a good time. There was supposed to be blood and screams and all the fun stuff that made these missions tolerable, and here he was, stuck on tailing some chick he could take down without the help of his asshole partner and whoever this other poor idiot was who found himself in debt to the bastard.
"This fucking sucks, just in case you haven't already gotten that fucking clue you asshole. Why in the fuck am I stuck here and you're getting to do all the good stuff?"
Kakuzu mildly watched the third window up on the building to the right, eyes sharp to catch any motion occurring within. If the information they had been given was correct, then one of the guardians and the grandmother would be inside having tea. The gaunt man was mildly amused at the detailed information given to both him and Hidan, especially when the report even gave the brand of tea that the two women liked.
A waste of ink and paper, in his opinion. Dead people didn’t drink tea.
The static lacing his partner’s voice pierced through his thoughts, making the slightest signs of annoyance etch into his face. Kakuzu was tempted to remind his partner of his tendency to make big elaborate deals out of murdering people, but held his thoughts in check, especially seeing that it would be too risky to have Hidan yell into the phone during the class session.
Instead, Kakuzu took the traditional route and ignored Hidan’s words completely.
“Do not touch her or even breathe on her unless I call you. You are only to make small talk.” Kakuzu looked down at the watch wrapped around the edges of his glove. “And by small talk, I hope I can trust you to find something intelligent worth saying in your mind."
"The size of your penis is out of the question,” Kakuzu added dryly into the receiver as he crossed the street. Better to be safe than sorry. And with a partner like Hidan, whose mind was equally sharp in the area of pissing people off, Kakuzu had to be careful in all sorts of situations. Something he utterly loathed when working with the other man.
"Yeah, well at least I've got one to talk about you damned prick." The phone cracked slightly under the tense grip the violet-eyed man exacted on the poor device, the only outward sign of his supreme irritation aside from the disgustedly bored scowl gracing his features. The room suddenly erupted in the scrapping of metal chair legs against the cheap flooring along with the commotion of books being gathered and idle chatter from the students prattling on about this and that.
"Better not keep me waiting too long, class is over and if you drag your damned feet too much who's to say what'll happen if I get bored," he warned softly before hanging up on his partner, quickly gathering up a few token books before wiping the scowl of his face and settling a pleasant grin in it's place.
"Miss Nii! If I can just borrow you for a quick second, I've got a few questions about that last paper you turned in..."
The sound of a dial tone was enough for Kakuzu, who was already moving onto the next person on his shitlist, the newly recruited ex-military man. Kakuzu didn't like to depend on other people, the same reason why he was always wary in lending out money to those he knew would never pay it back. But it all ended with interest and high percentages which made his day, so in the end it evened it out. Even so, this one was being treated with extra caution, since with a military background --disgraced or not -- Kakuzu wasn't about to dip his fingers that far into the government's own rejected toys.
Again, the pulse of two rings was enough before the phone was picked up on the other end.
"It's four o'clock. Your mark is on the third floor, most likely watering her garden on the balcony, located on the east side of the apartment. Terminate her without complications. You have twenty minutes, starting from as soon as I walk into the complex. Wait for five minutes and follow." Hard soles tapped hollowly against the pale concrete as Kakuzu walked over to the front door of the complex, his eyes not even bothering to look at the apartment numbers written on the side of the door.
"If I find that she is still breathing after fifteen minutes, you will find yourself joining her in the afterlife." A pause was given before Kakuzu snapped the cell phone closed and slipped it back into the pocket he had drawn it from, brushing against the handle of one of the knives that he had brought. He had warned the man not to use any firearms, instead to go for a silent approach to the termination. If this Hatake Kakashi was anything that was on the records that Kakuzu had found out, he would find a way.
With a quick twist of the knob, Kakuzu slid inside the complex and in long, paced strides, walked up the stairs to the third floor. One of his knives were already in the palm of his hand, it's reflective surface catching the reflection of its handler as his thin lips subtly tilted upwards in one direction.
Murder wasn't an art. It wasn't a form of anything worthy to be talked about with poetry in books.
It was just good business.
Kakashi took a long swallow from his cup of black coffee, temporary cell phone pressed to his ear as he listened to his apparent employer state the obvious for him, again. He wasn’t sure if the speech was a result of Kakuzu questioning his intelligence and competence, and so feeling the need to repeat himself as insurance, or if it was simply that the other man enjoyed bullying and intimidating people. Given the threat and following snap on the other end of the line, Kakashi was leaning towards the later. Kakuzu was proving himself to be a volatile and violent man who valued efficiency. Luckily, that was a personality the ex-Arceos was extremely familiar with, having spent roughly a decade under the hawk eye of Curia’s top general, Danzou.
The white china cup clanked gently against the top of the table Kakashi sat out, outside a small café across the street from his target’s building. He slouched in the chair and picked up the cigarette that had been idly burning away in the ash tray. The spent paper was flicked away before he brought the charcoal filter to his lips and inhaled slowly. The smoke curled down into his lungs unnoticed, the motion of smoking having never been something he craved so much as something he simply did to keep himself busy and maybe shave off a few days from his lifespan. As the nicotine started to buzz through his blood stream with the caffeine, he let his eye (the black one only, the scarred one useless and distracting, and therefore shut and masked by a discreet eye patch) roll up the face of the building across the street to the balconies of the third floor. As supposed by his slave-master, there was indeed a woman watering flowers outside the appropriate apartment, but it was the way she seemed far more interested in the street activity than the plants that really gave her away. He exhaled, a long and contemplative stream of smoke as pale as his hair, and momentarily allowed himself to be distracted by the undulating shapes
There was something familiar in the curves, a trick his brain always pulled on him when he would breathe into the wind. He pushed it away, like how he pushed the cigarette into the flat bottom of the ash tray, crumpling and smothering the remnants of the white stick. There was another inch or so in his coffee cup, but it was ignored as the lean man pushed idly to his feet and straightened his non-descript green canvas jacket on his shoulders.
Crossing the street was mere feet, but it felt longer, and sliding his skeleton key into the front door of the building and tricking the lock took seconds that lasted for hours. The world felt like it was moving in slow motion, while his mind was on fast forward. Kakashi supposed, as he waited with the patience of a saint for the elevator, that it must mean he wanted to get this over and done with.
In the ride up to the third floor, half formed thoughts zinged like lightning in his brain. Something resembling loathing towards Tenzou, or maybe it was loathing towards himself for allowing his apprentice to learn the buttons he’d need to press if ever he needed him, Kakashi, to act on his behalf. Rin’s name flashed, leaving nothing but a scorch mark of festering shame and guilt, like it always did. Then the doors swung open with a smooth ding and everything went blank.
The usual, chaotic mess of his headspace was wiped away completely, leaving only a fresh white board in his wake. Already though, he was scrawling his observations and measurements onto its surface, filling in the details of his original plan. It was familiar to him, unfortunately. Apparently he hadn’t escaped the second nature his decades of training had instilled in him, he’d simply written over it until it was unrecognizable.
Gloves were pulled onto his hands as he walked down the hall towards the appropriate door, they muffled the impact of the wood against his knuckles when he knocked. By the time the gardener opened the door, his hands were back in his pockets, and when she met his good eye (the patch half obscured by the shaggy white hair he’d let grow longer over the left side of his face), he smiled at her, that wide open smile he’d learned from Rin to be completely disarming. The woman blinked at him and then hesitantly smiled back, completely unaware that she was suddenly snared.
---
Asphyxiation death times varied from person to person, it was usually a few minutes until they passed out, and then several more before their heart actually stopped. This woman took a total of eight minutes according to Kakashi’s internal clock. It took him six minutes to settle her body into her bed, working fast while her body was still limp, and arrange her in a position of sleep, her face snuggled into her pillow.
With his skeleton key, he reset the lock as he left the apartment. His mind was blank once more was he waited for the elevator, but not the clean blankness of earlier. Now it was the unfocused blur of radio static, of his scarred eye. The ding of the elevator was muffled by his internal noise. Outside, the sun seemed overcast and particularly far away as he dug into his pocket for his pack of cigarettes. The tip of one flared to life under a lighter, no matches as they could be evidence traced to him later, and Kakashi idly wandered away from his first cover up in almost two years in the general direction of the man holding his leash.
The sickening surprise settling into the younger woman's face informed the intruder that her partner had been already been taken care of, unable to answer the silent call; unable to ever answer any call. It only took several quick steps, a dodge of a stray bullet and two knives to pin the woman down onto the wooden floor. Literally pinned to the boards by twin blades, each of them already glistening with trails of crimson lines, the woman was quickly silenced with another knife sinking through her throat, pinning her esophagus and vocal chords into a neat sandwich. With another firm thrust from Kakuzu, who was bending over the fallen women at this point, the knife silenced the death rattle from the wide silent "o" of her mouth and was embedded to the hilt before being stopped by the bones of her spinal column.
The shuffling and moans of the old woman in the background brought Kakuzu's attention back to his other target, his attention having been captured by the frozen anguish of the dead woman's face. Straightening, Kakuzu followed the older woman's movements with his sharp eyes. Unlike the guardian, the grandmother of the target had no knowledge of defense or offense from an intruder; all she had was the basic survival for instinct and the sorry lucky of being the relative to the target. But strangely enough, as Kakuzu moved slowly towards his next target, the older woman had stopped scratching at the wall, the only barrier separating her from the now non-existent next door neighbor.
The stricken look on her face as she slid down the wall made him slow down his pace and finally stopped in front of the woman's outstretched legs, his eyes still trained steadily on hers.
"O-Our Father, who art in Heaven...hallowed be thy name. Thy King-kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. And le-lead us...forgive us...d-deliver us from evil..."
Kakuzu watched the woman drop down onto her knees and prostrate herself, warranting an upward look at the ceiling where her eyes were burning holes in. The shaky voice from her aged voice pipes was hushed and it took Kakuzu couple of seconds to understand what it was that she was saying. A sour expression immediately passed over his face at the prayer, a more crude representation of his partner's own mouthful of garbage that Hidan devoted to each day. The look itself was enough to set off a chain of events that ended up with the old woman being roughly dragged off the ground and pinned against the wall with one arm, while Kakuzu's other arm carved a jagged line with a knife across the wrinkled skin of the woman's neck.
"Your Father, not mine," he hissed before releasing his iron grip on the front of her homemade wool pattern, the blood of the woman's sliced pulmonary arteries spilling all over the floor and dying the sweater in a crimson color. Unaware of the same blood having splattered over his black jacket, the dark liquid easily seeping into the equally dark fabric, Kakuzu quickly moved and recollected the knife from the dead guardian's throat. From a quick glance at his watch, things were moving at the needed pace, but Kakuzu wasn't one to breath easily just because of what rotary gears and slender hands under a diamond face told him.
The mess of blood and the wreckage of the furniture was unavoidable, the apparent trail of any Akatsuki member's dealings if not worse. Sooner or later the smell would probably give away what had happened, the corpses at that time being prayed upon by maggots or rats of the like. A massacre orchestrated carefully for one clear message to these government handlers, something that Kakuzu was willing to make more of. Even if he had deviated from the norm today, there was a good reason for that unholy mess.
After locking the door behind him and spending a short moment walking down the stairs, did Kakuzu contact Hidan again. Instead of speaking, he silently pressed a quick text message to proceed in capturing their target. With the guardians gone and no one being the wiser to look for Yugito at class, there shouldn't be any more complications.
Kakuzu stopped in front of Kakashi, giving the other man's strange cover-up of the side of his face a once-over. If he had half the ounce of Hidan's own sadistic personality, there would have probably been a sneer at the edge of his lips at this pitiful man, all patches and ragged edges. Underneath his own clothes, Kakuzu may prove to have even more seams and threads holding him together, but he was no scarecrow or a disposed ragged doll.
"Do you have proof of the woman's death, Hatake?" Kakuzu never asked for one in the beginning and there was already a reassurance in his own state of mind that the woman was taken care of, but this wasn't for the mission. Instead this was a test for the man. A doll or not, the man was tainted with a history of government doings and if there was even a subtle hint of things being out of place, it was no trouble for Kakuzu to rid himself of this simple puppet.
“Nope,” Kakashi replied easily around his cigarette’s filter as he met Kakuzu’s stare apathetically, his now gloveless hands sliding into the front pockets of his jeans as his shoulders slouched comfortably.
Kakashi was the scarecrow, not the crow itself, he didn’t take trophies. For years now, that had been the only scrap of morality he’d been able to cling to when trying to justify exactly why he wasn’t a serial murder, it was the only argument that stood up and it would have to be pried from his cold, dead fingers. Tenzou could go fuck himself with his plans.
That aside, there were none that he could have possible taken in that time frame that didn’t completely jeopardize the operation. The only acceptable proof he could have collected (which was probably limited to teeth, the entire head, or some bulky but necessary internal organ) would have required butchery, which not only would have scrawled his name all over the crime scene, but also would have scrawled the crime scene all over his person. They still needed to get past border control, and even though they were changing clothes, Kakashi wouldn’t have been able to get the visible blood off his hands, nor the smell of raw meat off his skin. Seeing as he was specifically the one that would be interacting with the patrol, it was essential that he remain untainted and immaculate, which is why he’d opted to suffocate his target in the first place. Kakuzu seemed to have either not thought of the second half of their plan, or simply not cared given the sharp stench of blood emanating from him.
However, that wasn’t exactly something he felt even remotely inclined to verbally elaborate. He felt no need to explain or justify himself in the slightest. If his new retainer didn’t trust him, he’d have already checked and confirmed that the target was dead, which meant he was now fucking with him. If, on the other hand, the Cena mobster did trust him, he wouldn’t have asked for proof in the first place. There was no point to sweating and rising to the bait.
Besides, what was the worst that could happen? Kakuzu would just kill him. Wasn’t that why he was here in the first place? Every outcome to this scenario was optimistic as far as Kakashi was concerned
For one that didn't show emotions very often, Kakuzu's face betrayed that streak of annoyance only briefly before fading away and leaving a cold glare.
In that simple answer, Kakashi managed to piss off Kakuzu on a variety of levels, darkening the older man's face as he looked back into Kakashi's one eye. Just that one eye and the easy-going attitude of this man reminded Kakuzu of Hidan's own nature and a multitude of past victims that seemed to never take things seriously. In the face of Kakuzu's own serious and calculated manner, anything that dared to suggest otherwise that things were easy and forgiving in reality, were things that Kakuzu took the liberty to correct. But with pests like Hidan, who was a never-ending preacher of Kakuzu's own vices and faults, that were successful in never once taking anything seriously or doing things in a whichever manner, Kakuzu loathed the type with an unguarded hatred, which had had make known to his partner quite a few times.
And yet, here was another one, all calm, collected. If Kakuzu was one to practice empathy, he'd probably see this as a blow to his own pride and his expectations for everyone to follow his orders. It was a good thing that he didn't.
Gloved fingers reached under his jacket, pulling out the cellphone used to contact Hidan only minutes before. Flipping it open, Kakuzu punched in a simple text message to signal Hidan that it was time for him to make his move. Kidnapping the victim with words seemed only appropriate for Hidan, having acquired many of the stock in the whorehouse in a similar manner. Kakuzu could only hope for his partner's life that Hidan didn't pull off any sacrificial bullshit before they arrived to the meeting place off of Securis.
Kakuzu looked towards the door before glancing back at Kakashi, an enigmatic look on his face. "A pity. Tongues fetch a good price on the Market these days."
He moved towards the door, expecting Kakashi to follow not far behind. Once outside, the sunlight once again being absorbed by his black suit, Kakuzu returned the cellphone back to his breast pocket and crossed the street again, walking towards the direction of the government car that was in their possession for the short time.
Maybe this scarecrow could scare off a few birds.
This whole mission...seriously fucking sucked.
The bastard was out having a good old time taking out the guardians, even pulled in some other poor bastard indebted to him for a hand, and here he was, fucking babysitting. It was disgustingly easy to pull the girl aside, suggesting they take it back to his temporary office. By all accounts the previous occupant had sent off a last minute notice regarding a death in the family and had ever so thoughtfully suggested a substitute to fill in during his absence. By the time the authorities found what was left of the corpse Hidan would have long since disappeared with at least one body count to this farce of a good time. Just because he normally left the more tiresome aspects of their missions to Kakuzu did not mean that he himself was completely incapable by any stretch, but that still left him pointing out odd grammar mistakes and holes in this girls research paper like he really gave a damn when he would have much rather finding how much it would take to make the girl cry out to her own hedonistic God. Or at least make her bleed, just a little bit, to pass the time away.
Briefly he contemplated ignoring the bastard's orders to just deal with his part now. If she went down quietly, at least there would be no anomalies and less hassle. But if she were to make a scene, there would be the added bonus of making up for the severe lack of action on his part in this whole farce.
What to do, what to do.
Sadly, he was saved from his inner contemplation to politely apologize for the interruption even as he dug his cell phone from his pocket. Annoyance-veiled violet eyes quickly scanned over the brief message, clipped and to the point just in every other form of communication with his tight-assed partner, Hidan let out a relieved sigh, glad the charade was over with.
With a deliberate slowness he snapped his phone shut, chuckling to himself softly as he slid it back into hiding, a smile slowly lifting the thin pale lips as he turned to the young woman, casually flinging the report over his shoulder now that there was no reason to pretend anymore.
"Sorry sugar, I hate to be the one to tell you this but just ignore all that bullshit 'cause it ain't going to be doing you any good where you're going."
The confused look on her face quickly turned to one of panic as Hidan let the mask fall away, the chair she had once been seated upon falling over to the side as she bolted from the cushioned seat with her fight or flight reflex kicking in. She may not know why she was the chosen one but it seemed she had no intention of finding out as she made an attempt for the door only to find herself shoved face first into the sturdy wooden structure, a firm hand quickly gathering her wrists together and pinning them above her head while his body took care of keeping the rest of her in place. A deep chuckle resounded through his chest even though Hidan was quite saddened by how easy the whole affair really was. If only to increase that tantalizing scent of her fear, he nuzzled his nose at the nape of her neck, imagining the features to be a little finer then those she was gifted with, the blond hair a little lighter and her body a little curvier not to mention a hell of a lot less naive, the similarities were nearly enough to complete the brief fantasy he allowed himself, wondering if he would have the time to maybe take a little time out for himself to play with the kitten but in the long run having to listen to Kakuzu bitch endlessly about it, it just wasn't worth it.
Reaching into the pocket opposite where his phone was secured, he withdrew a pristine piece of cloth, fingers fumbling around before finding the small vial that was hidden amidst it's folds and crushed it, feeling the dampness begin to seep through the handkerchief.
"Time to say night-night my pretty kitty," Hidan breathed into the girl's ear, easily fitting the cloth over his hand which then completely obscured her nose and mouth, ignoring her petty struggles against his grip. Slowly but surely the chloroform did it's work and she crumpled to the floor in a disgraceful heap. Nudging the prone form a few times with the tip of his shoe, Hidan released yet another disgusted sigh. Entirely too fucking easy.
It only took a second to jab a heady bit of tranquilizer into the girl just in case the chloroform happened to wear off and then another handful to straighten the office up to give the impression that no one had been there, righting the tossed over chair, wiping down any surfaces where his fingerprints may have appeared. A quick glance out into the hallway confirmed that the coast was clear, it was late enough in the evening that very few if any staff remained which would make the second half of his part go even smoother then the first. Hefting the unconscious girl over his shoulder still grumbling about all of life's unfairness, Hidan began to make his way to the predetermined rendezvous.
That fucker owed him big for this.
After a brief ride in the government van, both Kakuzu and Kakashi arrived at the rendeveouz point, with the white-haired man in the driver's seat and the grim-faced man in the passenger's seat. Both had changed into matching black uniforms of the Arceos, something that Kakuzu sadistically wondered if it brought back any sort of memories for Kakashi to think about. Of course there was only so much that papers could inform someone of another's history, but Kakuzu had his resources, one of the bonuses in being part of the Akatsuki organization. The organization had built it's reputation through terrorism, enough that the name could cause most of the puppet kingpins in the so-called Underground world to shit in their pants. Through his usual method of countless interrogation, Kakuzu had built up a rather touching history of his recent debt acquirement.
It nearly broke his non-existent black heart.
After the ignition was cut, Kakuzu opened the door and slid out of his seat, looking up and down the road they were on before continuing to go to the back of the van and open the doors. The road planned for the mission was one that rarely had any government activity upon it, a perfect place to get things done quickly and quietly with little to no interference. After a brief check of the time, the tall man turned his head slightly to look down the road, his vision tinted slightly gray by the helmet that was part of the whole Arceos outfit. Brows furrowed at the empty street as hands curled briefly into half-made fists.
Someone was late.
Adjusting the dead weight tossed carelessly over his shoulder, Hidan purposefully took his leisurely time getting to the check point, his mood getting darker with each step taken. Even the quartet of mangled troops left a block over didn't cheer him up any. It had been more for the matter of self-preservation then that of enjoyment, his burden was tossed off so he could gut the little sonuvabitch that had felt the need to ask what it was that Hidan thought he was doing. Honestly it had been all that Hidan could do to not laugh his ass off at the cheesy line but his distraction had cost him as he hadn't noticed the idiot's three buddies lingering nearby.
Maybe if he hadn't been left with a cargo that supposedly was worth more than his life (to some prickly bastards anyway), Hidan could have taken his time to savor the moment and to have had some fun but when one of the shadow stalkers had made a grab for the girl and alerted him to the presence of the others, the resulting massacre that followed was quick, messy and just fucking boring.
Pretty much the summation of the entire wasted evening.
Which was exactly why he slowed his snail's pace even further as he stepped from the shadows of the alleyway and into the odd mixture of blue and white streetlights, an annoyed scowl gracing his features. But in hindsight, having to see Kakuzu in the skin-tight Arceos uniform was definitely the ultimate low of this mission. Quite possibly any mission in the history of their partnership.
It was just fucking wrong.
One arm securing the girl's waist over his shoulder, Hidan's free hand rose to cover his eyes so as not to torture them further, instead choosing to focus on a distant spot.
"For the sake of all fuckin' things holy, why dammit...I do what I'm supposed to, I make offerings in Your name near fucking daily and in return I can't even be blind to that? Jashin-sama, where did I go wrong," he groaned. Perhaps the broad he sacrificed prior to their setting out for the night wasn't to the Higher Power's liking?
Surely that had to be the reason for his own agony throughout the evening.
Kakuzu mentally rolled his eyes and scowled at his partner's dramatic response, something that may have been incited by himself. It always was. But it wasn't imperative that Kakuzu understood the cause, instead it was imperative to make Hidan shut up about whatever it was.
"Your uniform is in the front passenger seat. Change into it," Kakuzu icily ordered Hidan, giving him a poisonous glare from behind the tinted visor. When the girl came into reach, the older man took charge of the body and hefted her over his own shoulder before gently placing the target into something that resembled a stretcher inside the vehicle. A small medical vial filled with clear liquid was dispensed from a black bag that was within the vehicle, as well as a needle. Kakuzu quickly uncovered the needle point and filled the syringe up with the liquid, something that would keep the target in a temporary vegetative state.
Shielded only lingered briefly on the resting face of the girl, the skin tone of hers almost as pale as his. His hands prepped her arm before plunging in the needle without hesitation and quickly wrapping things up after the liquid was fully delivered. He then climbed into the van and closed the back doors, positioning himself next to the target.
"Drive," was the simple order to the other white-haired man at the wheel, Kakuzu's voice permeating through the mesh covering that separated the driving cabin and the cargo area. He didn't even bother to check if Hidan was on the van or not.
If he was left behind over an insignificant dressing issue, then Kakuzu would be more than happy to be rid of him entirely.
It was with no small amount of grumbling and mutterings under his breath that Hidan stripped and slid on the too-tight uniform, not even sure why it would be necessary since he'd be in the back and no one was likely to see him anyway. He had just managed to slide into the passenger seat before he heard the faceless command from the back and then the sound of an engine turning over before the were off again. He glanced at the silent man driving out of the corner of his eye and immediately classed him in the 'don't like the looks of the bastard' category. Perhaps it was just the bitterness that they had needed to seek for assistance from an outside source but whatever it was, the other man rankled him and they hadn't even spoken to each other yet.
Shifting uncomfortably in the seat, Hidan adjusted himself without thought or care to his current company. No wonder these damned troops were always so bitchy, he couldn't imagine having to deal with his junk crammed into the skin-tight uniform day after day.
The other man wasn't even sparing him a glance it would seem and Hidan didn't feel like he should break the silence to make nice with the bastard. Briefly he pondered sucker punching the guy and taking over the wheel, he wasn't nearly as slender as the other man but with their similar coloring whatever ID the man had on him would have been enough to get them through the check point. Rather than having to face the wrath of his asshole partner, Hidan left it as a thought and instead shoved aside the mesh curtain to join Kakuzu in the back.
"I'll be glad when this shit is over, this whole fucking thing has sucked."
There was no audible response as Kakuzu eyed his partner, the glare behind the look was a warning in itself to keep quiet and not start a verbal tirade at how "boring" things had been without the usual excessive bloodshed that he knew Hidan was always looking forward to. Depriving that right to his partner was a sadistic glee in itself, but it was rare that Kakuzu ever showed such enjoyment on his own pale face. He preferred seeing pain for his pleasure rather than showing his own.
The metallic clattering underneath the wheels made Kakuzu look back at the driver's seat, only meeting Kakashi's eyes in the rear view mirror briefly before looking away and back down at the unconscious woman lying on the floor. The sound of the van passing over metal grates was the sure sound that the entire group had entered Cena without a hitch and without being stopped. Even if he had anticipated a border check, it seemed that the military's own shortage of men from the virus of a certain caliber had shortened the amount that was needed to watch the borders in this part of town.
The familiar red glow of the Red district greeted the van as it poured through the glass windows. Now safely within the confines of Hell on Earth, Kakuzu removed his helmet and allowed it to clatter onto the metallic floor.
He looked out towards the driver again, before dragging his green eyes back to his partner. If they weren't passing within a dark tunnel at the moment, Hidan could've seen a cruel smile carved into Kakuzu's face at the moment, a rare moment of any sort of emotion for the more stoic man.
"Now it's over," came the voice from the other side. "And the whole thing has been a success."
When: March 27
Where: Ceno
What: The mission created in response to these orders.
Rating: R (Violence, Language)
Against the chalk-white sidewalk and the light beech colored wood of the bench, Kakuzu’s black suit looked like a black splotch of tar against the two light colors, bringing discord to the perfectly simple harmony. Even on a mission, he found his own taste in something simple and familiar unwavering. After all, sometimes it worked in his favor.
People seemed to trust those with an air of astute civilized look about them. Even if there was a wolf lying beneath all these dark colored sheep skin.
Equally deceiving set of green eyes peered over the newspaper and at the twin set of apartment buildings side-by-side, a setting that couldn’t be more perfect or easier for the nature of the entire mission. If there had only been one guardian or the grandmother to consider, Hidan and himself would be fine. However, there was the matter of government borders and the woman next door. Not to mention the fortunate disposal of an ex-government member that had fallen in debt to him within the recent weeks. A threat and scant messages later, the ex-Arceos was being used as a pawn in the mission. If anything, Kakuzu liked using what he had on hand. It saved money and time. Both which he was a stingy bastard over, something Hidan never forgot to remind him every day.
Eyes tilted to the side, indifferent to the dull print of government propaganda but instead hid the mental calculations running in his mind. Only when the needed numbers and digits had sorted themselves within their assigned memory slots, did Kakuzu fold up the useless waste of paper and fish out a cell phone out of his inner breast pocket.
Numbers were dialed with punctuality with glove-clad fingers.
Ring, ring, rin--
At the sound of the ringing being cut off unexpectedly, Kakuzu proceeded to speak, standing up from his position to look down the street, looking for a man with white hair.
“Where are you?”
Hidan glared down at the annoying piece of technology, briefly toying with the idea of letting it continue to vibrate but in the end it would only cause another headache and with his piss poor luck already with this mission, that was something he didn't particularly need.
Viciously stabbing his finger into the 'answer' button he lifted the small handset to his ear only to hear that pissy ass voice already snapping across the line without giving him the opportunity to bite out some sort of greeting.
"Where the fuck do you think I am? I'm sitting in the back of the lecture hall keeping an eye on our pretty kitty, what the hell else would I be doing right this second?" Hidan growled out, keeping his voice low enough so it wouldn't be heard over the voice of the professor and the soft chatter of the students. Perturbed, he shifted slightly in the too small seat keeping a steady glower on the blissfully ignorant blond female sitting a few rows ahead of him, This was not his idea of a good time. There was supposed to be blood and screams and all the fun stuff that made these missions tolerable, and here he was, stuck on tailing some chick he could take down without the help of his asshole partner and whoever this other poor idiot was who found himself in debt to the bastard.
"This fucking sucks, just in case you haven't already gotten that fucking clue you asshole. Why in the fuck am I stuck here and you're getting to do all the good stuff?"
Kakuzu mildly watched the third window up on the building to the right, eyes sharp to catch any motion occurring within. If the information they had been given was correct, then one of the guardians and the grandmother would be inside having tea. The gaunt man was mildly amused at the detailed information given to both him and Hidan, especially when the report even gave the brand of tea that the two women liked.
A waste of ink and paper, in his opinion. Dead people didn’t drink tea.
The static lacing his partner’s voice pierced through his thoughts, making the slightest signs of annoyance etch into his face. Kakuzu was tempted to remind his partner of his tendency to make big elaborate deals out of murdering people, but held his thoughts in check, especially seeing that it would be too risky to have Hidan yell into the phone during the class session.
Instead, Kakuzu took the traditional route and ignored Hidan’s words completely.
“Do not touch her or even breathe on her unless I call you. You are only to make small talk.” Kakuzu looked down at the watch wrapped around the edges of his glove. “And by small talk, I hope I can trust you to find something intelligent worth saying in your mind."
"The size of your penis is out of the question,” Kakuzu added dryly into the receiver as he crossed the street. Better to be safe than sorry. And with a partner like Hidan, whose mind was equally sharp in the area of pissing people off, Kakuzu had to be careful in all sorts of situations. Something he utterly loathed when working with the other man.
"Yeah, well at least I've got one to talk about you damned prick." The phone cracked slightly under the tense grip the violet-eyed man exacted on the poor device, the only outward sign of his supreme irritation aside from the disgustedly bored scowl gracing his features. The room suddenly erupted in the scrapping of metal chair legs against the cheap flooring along with the commotion of books being gathered and idle chatter from the students prattling on about this and that.
"Better not keep me waiting too long, class is over and if you drag your damned feet too much who's to say what'll happen if I get bored," he warned softly before hanging up on his partner, quickly gathering up a few token books before wiping the scowl of his face and settling a pleasant grin in it's place.
"Miss Nii! If I can just borrow you for a quick second, I've got a few questions about that last paper you turned in..."
The sound of a dial tone was enough for Kakuzu, who was already moving onto the next person on his shitlist, the newly recruited ex-military man. Kakuzu didn't like to depend on other people, the same reason why he was always wary in lending out money to those he knew would never pay it back. But it all ended with interest and high percentages which made his day, so in the end it evened it out. Even so, this one was being treated with extra caution, since with a military background --disgraced or not -- Kakuzu wasn't about to dip his fingers that far into the government's own rejected toys.
Again, the pulse of two rings was enough before the phone was picked up on the other end.
"It's four o'clock. Your mark is on the third floor, most likely watering her garden on the balcony, located on the east side of the apartment. Terminate her without complications. You have twenty minutes, starting from as soon as I walk into the complex. Wait for five minutes and follow." Hard soles tapped hollowly against the pale concrete as Kakuzu walked over to the front door of the complex, his eyes not even bothering to look at the apartment numbers written on the side of the door.
"If I find that she is still breathing after fifteen minutes, you will find yourself joining her in the afterlife." A pause was given before Kakuzu snapped the cell phone closed and slipped it back into the pocket he had drawn it from, brushing against the handle of one of the knives that he had brought. He had warned the man not to use any firearms, instead to go for a silent approach to the termination. If this Hatake Kakashi was anything that was on the records that Kakuzu had found out, he would find a way.
With a quick twist of the knob, Kakuzu slid inside the complex and in long, paced strides, walked up the stairs to the third floor. One of his knives were already in the palm of his hand, it's reflective surface catching the reflection of its handler as his thin lips subtly tilted upwards in one direction.
Murder wasn't an art. It wasn't a form of anything worthy to be talked about with poetry in books.
It was just good business.
Kakashi took a long swallow from his cup of black coffee, temporary cell phone pressed to his ear as he listened to his apparent employer state the obvious for him, again. He wasn’t sure if the speech was a result of Kakuzu questioning his intelligence and competence, and so feeling the need to repeat himself as insurance, or if it was simply that the other man enjoyed bullying and intimidating people. Given the threat and following snap on the other end of the line, Kakashi was leaning towards the later. Kakuzu was proving himself to be a volatile and violent man who valued efficiency. Luckily, that was a personality the ex-Arceos was extremely familiar with, having spent roughly a decade under the hawk eye of Curia’s top general, Danzou.
The white china cup clanked gently against the top of the table Kakashi sat out, outside a small café across the street from his target’s building. He slouched in the chair and picked up the cigarette that had been idly burning away in the ash tray. The spent paper was flicked away before he brought the charcoal filter to his lips and inhaled slowly. The smoke curled down into his lungs unnoticed, the motion of smoking having never been something he craved so much as something he simply did to keep himself busy and maybe shave off a few days from his lifespan. As the nicotine started to buzz through his blood stream with the caffeine, he let his eye (the black one only, the scarred one useless and distracting, and therefore shut and masked by a discreet eye patch) roll up the face of the building across the street to the balconies of the third floor. As supposed by his slave-master, there was indeed a woman watering flowers outside the appropriate apartment, but it was the way she seemed far more interested in the street activity than the plants that really gave her away. He exhaled, a long and contemplative stream of smoke as pale as his hair, and momentarily allowed himself to be distracted by the undulating shapes
There was something familiar in the curves, a trick his brain always pulled on him when he would breathe into the wind. He pushed it away, like how he pushed the cigarette into the flat bottom of the ash tray, crumpling and smothering the remnants of the white stick. There was another inch or so in his coffee cup, but it was ignored as the lean man pushed idly to his feet and straightened his non-descript green canvas jacket on his shoulders.
Crossing the street was mere feet, but it felt longer, and sliding his skeleton key into the front door of the building and tricking the lock took seconds that lasted for hours. The world felt like it was moving in slow motion, while his mind was on fast forward. Kakashi supposed, as he waited with the patience of a saint for the elevator, that it must mean he wanted to get this over and done with.
In the ride up to the third floor, half formed thoughts zinged like lightning in his brain. Something resembling loathing towards Tenzou, or maybe it was loathing towards himself for allowing his apprentice to learn the buttons he’d need to press if ever he needed him, Kakashi, to act on his behalf. Rin’s name flashed, leaving nothing but a scorch mark of festering shame and guilt, like it always did. Then the doors swung open with a smooth ding and everything went blank.
The usual, chaotic mess of his headspace was wiped away completely, leaving only a fresh white board in his wake. Already though, he was scrawling his observations and measurements onto its surface, filling in the details of his original plan. It was familiar to him, unfortunately. Apparently he hadn’t escaped the second nature his decades of training had instilled in him, he’d simply written over it until it was unrecognizable.
Gloves were pulled onto his hands as he walked down the hall towards the appropriate door, they muffled the impact of the wood against his knuckles when he knocked. By the time the gardener opened the door, his hands were back in his pockets, and when she met his good eye (the patch half obscured by the shaggy white hair he’d let grow longer over the left side of his face), he smiled at her, that wide open smile he’d learned from Rin to be completely disarming. The woman blinked at him and then hesitantly smiled back, completely unaware that she was suddenly snared.
---
Asphyxiation death times varied from person to person, it was usually a few minutes until they passed out, and then several more before their heart actually stopped. This woman took a total of eight minutes according to Kakashi’s internal clock. It took him six minutes to settle her body into her bed, working fast while her body was still limp, and arrange her in a position of sleep, her face snuggled into her pillow.
With his skeleton key, he reset the lock as he left the apartment. His mind was blank once more was he waited for the elevator, but not the clean blankness of earlier. Now it was the unfocused blur of radio static, of his scarred eye. The ding of the elevator was muffled by his internal noise. Outside, the sun seemed overcast and particularly far away as he dug into his pocket for his pack of cigarettes. The tip of one flared to life under a lighter, no matches as they could be evidence traced to him later, and Kakashi idly wandered away from his first cover up in almost two years in the general direction of the man holding his leash.
The sickening surprise settling into the younger woman's face informed the intruder that her partner had been already been taken care of, unable to answer the silent call; unable to ever answer any call. It only took several quick steps, a dodge of a stray bullet and two knives to pin the woman down onto the wooden floor. Literally pinned to the boards by twin blades, each of them already glistening with trails of crimson lines, the woman was quickly silenced with another knife sinking through her throat, pinning her esophagus and vocal chords into a neat sandwich. With another firm thrust from Kakuzu, who was bending over the fallen women at this point, the knife silenced the death rattle from the wide silent "o" of her mouth and was embedded to the hilt before being stopped by the bones of her spinal column.
The shuffling and moans of the old woman in the background brought Kakuzu's attention back to his other target, his attention having been captured by the frozen anguish of the dead woman's face. Straightening, Kakuzu followed the older woman's movements with his sharp eyes. Unlike the guardian, the grandmother of the target had no knowledge of defense or offense from an intruder; all she had was the basic survival for instinct and the sorry lucky of being the relative to the target. But strangely enough, as Kakuzu moved slowly towards his next target, the older woman had stopped scratching at the wall, the only barrier separating her from the now non-existent next door neighbor.
The stricken look on her face as she slid down the wall made him slow down his pace and finally stopped in front of the woman's outstretched legs, his eyes still trained steadily on hers.
"O-Our Father, who art in Heaven...hallowed be thy name. Thy King-kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. And le-lead us...forgive us...d-deliver us from evil..."
Kakuzu watched the woman drop down onto her knees and prostrate herself, warranting an upward look at the ceiling where her eyes were burning holes in. The shaky voice from her aged voice pipes was hushed and it took Kakuzu couple of seconds to understand what it was that she was saying. A sour expression immediately passed over his face at the prayer, a more crude representation of his partner's own mouthful of garbage that Hidan devoted to each day. The look itself was enough to set off a chain of events that ended up with the old woman being roughly dragged off the ground and pinned against the wall with one arm, while Kakuzu's other arm carved a jagged line with a knife across the wrinkled skin of the woman's neck.
"Your Father, not mine," he hissed before releasing his iron grip on the front of her homemade wool pattern, the blood of the woman's sliced pulmonary arteries spilling all over the floor and dying the sweater in a crimson color. Unaware of the same blood having splattered over his black jacket, the dark liquid easily seeping into the equally dark fabric, Kakuzu quickly moved and recollected the knife from the dead guardian's throat. From a quick glance at his watch, things were moving at the needed pace, but Kakuzu wasn't one to breath easily just because of what rotary gears and slender hands under a diamond face told him.
The mess of blood and the wreckage of the furniture was unavoidable, the apparent trail of any Akatsuki member's dealings if not worse. Sooner or later the smell would probably give away what had happened, the corpses at that time being prayed upon by maggots or rats of the like. A massacre orchestrated carefully for one clear message to these government handlers, something that Kakuzu was willing to make more of. Even if he had deviated from the norm today, there was a good reason for that unholy mess.
After locking the door behind him and spending a short moment walking down the stairs, did Kakuzu contact Hidan again. Instead of speaking, he silently pressed a quick text message to proceed in capturing their target. With the guardians gone and no one being the wiser to look for Yugito at class, there shouldn't be any more complications.
Kakuzu stopped in front of Kakashi, giving the other man's strange cover-up of the side of his face a once-over. If he had half the ounce of Hidan's own sadistic personality, there would have probably been a sneer at the edge of his lips at this pitiful man, all patches and ragged edges. Underneath his own clothes, Kakuzu may prove to have even more seams and threads holding him together, but he was no scarecrow or a disposed ragged doll.
"Do you have proof of the woman's death, Hatake?" Kakuzu never asked for one in the beginning and there was already a reassurance in his own state of mind that the woman was taken care of, but this wasn't for the mission. Instead this was a test for the man. A doll or not, the man was tainted with a history of government doings and if there was even a subtle hint of things being out of place, it was no trouble for Kakuzu to rid himself of this simple puppet.
“Nope,” Kakashi replied easily around his cigarette’s filter as he met Kakuzu’s stare apathetically, his now gloveless hands sliding into the front pockets of his jeans as his shoulders slouched comfortably.
Kakashi was the scarecrow, not the crow itself, he didn’t take trophies. For years now, that had been the only scrap of morality he’d been able to cling to when trying to justify exactly why he wasn’t a serial murder, it was the only argument that stood up and it would have to be pried from his cold, dead fingers. Tenzou could go fuck himself with his plans.
That aside, there were none that he could have possible taken in that time frame that didn’t completely jeopardize the operation. The only acceptable proof he could have collected (which was probably limited to teeth, the entire head, or some bulky but necessary internal organ) would have required butchery, which not only would have scrawled his name all over the crime scene, but also would have scrawled the crime scene all over his person. They still needed to get past border control, and even though they were changing clothes, Kakashi wouldn’t have been able to get the visible blood off his hands, nor the smell of raw meat off his skin. Seeing as he was specifically the one that would be interacting with the patrol, it was essential that he remain untainted and immaculate, which is why he’d opted to suffocate his target in the first place. Kakuzu seemed to have either not thought of the second half of their plan, or simply not cared given the sharp stench of blood emanating from him.
However, that wasn’t exactly something he felt even remotely inclined to verbally elaborate. He felt no need to explain or justify himself in the slightest. If his new retainer didn’t trust him, he’d have already checked and confirmed that the target was dead, which meant he was now fucking with him. If, on the other hand, the Cena mobster did trust him, he wouldn’t have asked for proof in the first place. There was no point to sweating and rising to the bait.
Besides, what was the worst that could happen? Kakuzu would just kill him. Wasn’t that why he was here in the first place? Every outcome to this scenario was optimistic as far as Kakashi was concerned
For one that didn't show emotions very often, Kakuzu's face betrayed that streak of annoyance only briefly before fading away and leaving a cold glare.
In that simple answer, Kakashi managed to piss off Kakuzu on a variety of levels, darkening the older man's face as he looked back into Kakashi's one eye. Just that one eye and the easy-going attitude of this man reminded Kakuzu of Hidan's own nature and a multitude of past victims that seemed to never take things seriously. In the face of Kakuzu's own serious and calculated manner, anything that dared to suggest otherwise that things were easy and forgiving in reality, were things that Kakuzu took the liberty to correct. But with pests like Hidan, who was a never-ending preacher of Kakuzu's own vices and faults, that were successful in never once taking anything seriously or doing things in a whichever manner, Kakuzu loathed the type with an unguarded hatred, which had had make known to his partner quite a few times.
And yet, here was another one, all calm, collected. If Kakuzu was one to practice empathy, he'd probably see this as a blow to his own pride and his expectations for everyone to follow his orders. It was a good thing that he didn't.
Gloved fingers reached under his jacket, pulling out the cellphone used to contact Hidan only minutes before. Flipping it open, Kakuzu punched in a simple text message to signal Hidan that it was time for him to make his move. Kidnapping the victim with words seemed only appropriate for Hidan, having acquired many of the stock in the whorehouse in a similar manner. Kakuzu could only hope for his partner's life that Hidan didn't pull off any sacrificial bullshit before they arrived to the meeting place off of Securis.
Kakuzu looked towards the door before glancing back at Kakashi, an enigmatic look on his face. "A pity. Tongues fetch a good price on the Market these days."
He moved towards the door, expecting Kakashi to follow not far behind. Once outside, the sunlight once again being absorbed by his black suit, Kakuzu returned the cellphone back to his breast pocket and crossed the street again, walking towards the direction of the government car that was in their possession for the short time.
Maybe this scarecrow could scare off a few birds.
This whole mission...seriously fucking sucked.
The bastard was out having a good old time taking out the guardians, even pulled in some other poor bastard indebted to him for a hand, and here he was, fucking babysitting. It was disgustingly easy to pull the girl aside, suggesting they take it back to his temporary office. By all accounts the previous occupant had sent off a last minute notice regarding a death in the family and had ever so thoughtfully suggested a substitute to fill in during his absence. By the time the authorities found what was left of the corpse Hidan would have long since disappeared with at least one body count to this farce of a good time. Just because he normally left the more tiresome aspects of their missions to Kakuzu did not mean that he himself was completely incapable by any stretch, but that still left him pointing out odd grammar mistakes and holes in this girls research paper like he really gave a damn when he would have much rather finding how much it would take to make the girl cry out to her own hedonistic God. Or at least make her bleed, just a little bit, to pass the time away.
Briefly he contemplated ignoring the bastard's orders to just deal with his part now. If she went down quietly, at least there would be no anomalies and less hassle. But if she were to make a scene, there would be the added bonus of making up for the severe lack of action on his part in this whole farce.
What to do, what to do.
Sadly, he was saved from his inner contemplation to politely apologize for the interruption even as he dug his cell phone from his pocket. Annoyance-veiled violet eyes quickly scanned over the brief message, clipped and to the point just in every other form of communication with his tight-assed partner, Hidan let out a relieved sigh, glad the charade was over with.
With a deliberate slowness he snapped his phone shut, chuckling to himself softly as he slid it back into hiding, a smile slowly lifting the thin pale lips as he turned to the young woman, casually flinging the report over his shoulder now that there was no reason to pretend anymore.
"Sorry sugar, I hate to be the one to tell you this but just ignore all that bullshit 'cause it ain't going to be doing you any good where you're going."
The confused look on her face quickly turned to one of panic as Hidan let the mask fall away, the chair she had once been seated upon falling over to the side as she bolted from the cushioned seat with her fight or flight reflex kicking in. She may not know why she was the chosen one but it seemed she had no intention of finding out as she made an attempt for the door only to find herself shoved face first into the sturdy wooden structure, a firm hand quickly gathering her wrists together and pinning them above her head while his body took care of keeping the rest of her in place. A deep chuckle resounded through his chest even though Hidan was quite saddened by how easy the whole affair really was. If only to increase that tantalizing scent of her fear, he nuzzled his nose at the nape of her neck, imagining the features to be a little finer then those she was gifted with, the blond hair a little lighter and her body a little curvier not to mention a hell of a lot less naive, the similarities were nearly enough to complete the brief fantasy he allowed himself, wondering if he would have the time to maybe take a little time out for himself to play with the kitten but in the long run having to listen to Kakuzu bitch endlessly about it, it just wasn't worth it.
Reaching into the pocket opposite where his phone was secured, he withdrew a pristine piece of cloth, fingers fumbling around before finding the small vial that was hidden amidst it's folds and crushed it, feeling the dampness begin to seep through the handkerchief.
"Time to say night-night my pretty kitty," Hidan breathed into the girl's ear, easily fitting the cloth over his hand which then completely obscured her nose and mouth, ignoring her petty struggles against his grip. Slowly but surely the chloroform did it's work and she crumpled to the floor in a disgraceful heap. Nudging the prone form a few times with the tip of his shoe, Hidan released yet another disgusted sigh. Entirely too fucking easy.
It only took a second to jab a heady bit of tranquilizer into the girl just in case the chloroform happened to wear off and then another handful to straighten the office up to give the impression that no one had been there, righting the tossed over chair, wiping down any surfaces where his fingerprints may have appeared. A quick glance out into the hallway confirmed that the coast was clear, it was late enough in the evening that very few if any staff remained which would make the second half of his part go even smoother then the first. Hefting the unconscious girl over his shoulder still grumbling about all of life's unfairness, Hidan began to make his way to the predetermined rendezvous.
That fucker owed him big for this.
After a brief ride in the government van, both Kakuzu and Kakashi arrived at the rendeveouz point, with the white-haired man in the driver's seat and the grim-faced man in the passenger's seat. Both had changed into matching black uniforms of the Arceos, something that Kakuzu sadistically wondered if it brought back any sort of memories for Kakashi to think about. Of course there was only so much that papers could inform someone of another's history, but Kakuzu had his resources, one of the bonuses in being part of the Akatsuki organization. The organization had built it's reputation through terrorism, enough that the name could cause most of the puppet kingpins in the so-called Underground world to shit in their pants. Through his usual method of countless interrogation, Kakuzu had built up a rather touching history of his recent debt acquirement.
It nearly broke his non-existent black heart.
After the ignition was cut, Kakuzu opened the door and slid out of his seat, looking up and down the road they were on before continuing to go to the back of the van and open the doors. The road planned for the mission was one that rarely had any government activity upon it, a perfect place to get things done quickly and quietly with little to no interference. After a brief check of the time, the tall man turned his head slightly to look down the road, his vision tinted slightly gray by the helmet that was part of the whole Arceos outfit. Brows furrowed at the empty street as hands curled briefly into half-made fists.
Someone was late.
Adjusting the dead weight tossed carelessly over his shoulder, Hidan purposefully took his leisurely time getting to the check point, his mood getting darker with each step taken. Even the quartet of mangled troops left a block over didn't cheer him up any. It had been more for the matter of self-preservation then that of enjoyment, his burden was tossed off so he could gut the little sonuvabitch that had felt the need to ask what it was that Hidan thought he was doing. Honestly it had been all that Hidan could do to not laugh his ass off at the cheesy line but his distraction had cost him as he hadn't noticed the idiot's three buddies lingering nearby.
Maybe if he hadn't been left with a cargo that supposedly was worth more than his life (to some prickly bastards anyway), Hidan could have taken his time to savor the moment and to have had some fun but when one of the shadow stalkers had made a grab for the girl and alerted him to the presence of the others, the resulting massacre that followed was quick, messy and just fucking boring.
Pretty much the summation of the entire wasted evening.
Which was exactly why he slowed his snail's pace even further as he stepped from the shadows of the alleyway and into the odd mixture of blue and white streetlights, an annoyed scowl gracing his features. But in hindsight, having to see Kakuzu in the skin-tight Arceos uniform was definitely the ultimate low of this mission. Quite possibly any mission in the history of their partnership.
It was just fucking wrong.
One arm securing the girl's waist over his shoulder, Hidan's free hand rose to cover his eyes so as not to torture them further, instead choosing to focus on a distant spot.
"For the sake of all fuckin' things holy, why dammit...I do what I'm supposed to, I make offerings in Your name near fucking daily and in return I can't even be blind to that? Jashin-sama, where did I go wrong," he groaned. Perhaps the broad he sacrificed prior to their setting out for the night wasn't to the Higher Power's liking?
Surely that had to be the reason for his own agony throughout the evening.
Kakuzu mentally rolled his eyes and scowled at his partner's dramatic response, something that may have been incited by himself. It always was. But it wasn't imperative that Kakuzu understood the cause, instead it was imperative to make Hidan shut up about whatever it was.
"Your uniform is in the front passenger seat. Change into it," Kakuzu icily ordered Hidan, giving him a poisonous glare from behind the tinted visor. When the girl came into reach, the older man took charge of the body and hefted her over his own shoulder before gently placing the target into something that resembled a stretcher inside the vehicle. A small medical vial filled with clear liquid was dispensed from a black bag that was within the vehicle, as well as a needle. Kakuzu quickly uncovered the needle point and filled the syringe up with the liquid, something that would keep the target in a temporary vegetative state.
Shielded only lingered briefly on the resting face of the girl, the skin tone of hers almost as pale as his. His hands prepped her arm before plunging in the needle without hesitation and quickly wrapping things up after the liquid was fully delivered. He then climbed into the van and closed the back doors, positioning himself next to the target.
"Drive," was the simple order to the other white-haired man at the wheel, Kakuzu's voice permeating through the mesh covering that separated the driving cabin and the cargo area. He didn't even bother to check if Hidan was on the van or not.
If he was left behind over an insignificant dressing issue, then Kakuzu would be more than happy to be rid of him entirely.
It was with no small amount of grumbling and mutterings under his breath that Hidan stripped and slid on the too-tight uniform, not even sure why it would be necessary since he'd be in the back and no one was likely to see him anyway. He had just managed to slide into the passenger seat before he heard the faceless command from the back and then the sound of an engine turning over before the were off again. He glanced at the silent man driving out of the corner of his eye and immediately classed him in the 'don't like the looks of the bastard' category. Perhaps it was just the bitterness that they had needed to seek for assistance from an outside source but whatever it was, the other man rankled him and they hadn't even spoken to each other yet.
Shifting uncomfortably in the seat, Hidan adjusted himself without thought or care to his current company. No wonder these damned troops were always so bitchy, he couldn't imagine having to deal with his junk crammed into the skin-tight uniform day after day.
The other man wasn't even sparing him a glance it would seem and Hidan didn't feel like he should break the silence to make nice with the bastard. Briefly he pondered sucker punching the guy and taking over the wheel, he wasn't nearly as slender as the other man but with their similar coloring whatever ID the man had on him would have been enough to get them through the check point. Rather than having to face the wrath of his asshole partner, Hidan left it as a thought and instead shoved aside the mesh curtain to join Kakuzu in the back.
"I'll be glad when this shit is over, this whole fucking thing has sucked."
There was no audible response as Kakuzu eyed his partner, the glare behind the look was a warning in itself to keep quiet and not start a verbal tirade at how "boring" things had been without the usual excessive bloodshed that he knew Hidan was always looking forward to. Depriving that right to his partner was a sadistic glee in itself, but it was rare that Kakuzu ever showed such enjoyment on his own pale face. He preferred seeing pain for his pleasure rather than showing his own.
The metallic clattering underneath the wheels made Kakuzu look back at the driver's seat, only meeting Kakashi's eyes in the rear view mirror briefly before looking away and back down at the unconscious woman lying on the floor. The sound of the van passing over metal grates was the sure sound that the entire group had entered Cena without a hitch and without being stopped. Even if he had anticipated a border check, it seemed that the military's own shortage of men from the virus of a certain caliber had shortened the amount that was needed to watch the borders in this part of town.
The familiar red glow of the Red district greeted the van as it poured through the glass windows. Now safely within the confines of Hell on Earth, Kakuzu removed his helmet and allowed it to clatter onto the metallic floor.
He looked out towards the driver again, before dragging his green eyes back to his partner. If they weren't passing within a dark tunnel at the moment, Hidan could've seen a cruel smile carved into Kakuzu's face at the moment, a rare moment of any sort of emotion for the more stoic man.
"Now it's over," came the voice from the other side. "And the whole thing has been a success."