Chapter 6

"He's not dead."

"B-But… His head is missing!"

Kakuzu let go of Nozomi's wrist and walked over to the gruesome scene. "Unfortunately it would take a lot more to get rid of that headache." Honestly, it looked worse than it actually was. Inspecting the body more, he was thankful that it was a clean cut; that made stitching his head back on an easier process. Pulling the scythe out of the body, he took out a storage scroll and sealed the dead weight and weapon for easy transport.

Nozomi, on the other hand, was still in shock. How could he be so nonchalant about this? "It doesn't make any sense." She was trying to wrap her head around the bizarre thought that Hidan was still alive when everything sane clearly rejected the idea. "The body needs a brain and heart and… This is insane…"

"Let's go. It's better if you don't try to understand the logic." Kakuzu walked past her.

The female tilted her head as she stared at the blood symbol drawn in the grass. Would this have happened if she had stayed with Hidan like she was supposed to? Now he was dead, but not dead, and Kakuzu didn't have his partner anymore. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty, even though a small part of her was glad the pervert was out of the picture for a while..

Kakuzu, on the other hand, was satisfied that step one of the plan seemed to be a success. A couple of days ago that had gone over the plan but he figured his partner had ignored him as usual. Maybe the idiot had listened to him after all and decided to be useful.

Hidan slouched back in his chair as he sat in Kakuzu's apartment. It was nearing midnight and this was honestly the last place he wanted to be right now; everything was always so fucking stuffy in here. The girl was currently sleeping, something he wanted to do at the moment, in his partner's room with the door closed.

"The target is a man by the name of Hifumi, a shinobi and scientist from your home village." Kakuzu started off. He opened his bingo book and held it up so Hidan could see the male's picture.

The silver haired male rolled his eyes. "Should be quick then. That shithole is full of nothing but fucking pacifists."

"Apparently he's been looking for you and is interested in your… lackluster hobby."

"Jashin-sama is not a fucking hobby. It's my damn-"

"I don't care." Kakuzu interrupted him before he could go on a rant, causing the latter to scowl in distaste. When he could finally rip him to shreds and offer him up… that would be a damn good day. "I'm going to put out a tip with your location and you're going to lure him in and take him to the rendezvous point. It doesn't matter how you do it, but leave him recognizable."

Hidan stood up from the table and headed to the door so he could retire for the night. Damn old bastard giving him all these fucking instructions, placing restrictions, and insulting his beliefs. Who the fuck did he think he was? Instead of doing all this bullshit, he needed to go and get laid. Maybe that would get the solid gold dick out his ass.

"Don't screw this up."

"Blah, blah, turn the bounty in and go home. I got it, fucking old bastard."

Kakuzu looked back and saw that his servant hadn't moved from her spot. "Nozomi."

She jumped in surprise at the sudden calling of her name and immediately turned away from the scene, running after Kakuzu. "I'm coming!"

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"Do you know where they took Hidan's head?" Nozomi asked as she held onto Kakuzu's body. Kakuzu was jumping from limb to limb in the treetops at such a speed where she had to bury her head in his neck to avoid the wind.

"I have an idea." Kakuzu responded. "They'll be expecting us so we'll meet them at the destination."

It was nearing sun down as the two crossed the border of the Land of Fire and into the Land of Hot Water. Steam filled the air and Nozomi peeked over Kakuzu's shoulder in awe as she spotted some of the hot springs. She'd read about this country in school and all of the tourist accounts said they were magical and had special healing properties, so she wanted to experience them in person.

There was a small traveler's inn a short ways from where they stopped. Handing her some money, Kakuzu told Nozomi to go get them a room since she would raise less suspicion. The female obliged and set off in the warmed atmosphere. Once she got there, she noticed there was a small hot spring, most likely privately owned, which raised her excitement. It wasn't Yugakure, but it was something!

The innkeeper handed Nozomi the key to her room and warned her to be safe since she was traveling by herself. Heading back into the forest to get Kakuzu, a pair of voices called out to her and she turned around.

Two men approached Nozomi as she was leaving the inn and she immediately recognized them as the ones who stopped her while she was outside the bounty station. It must have been a weird coincidence that they would meet again since Kakuzu would've said if they were being followed.

"Look who we have here! I was right; you are the girl in the picture!" The one with short, messy brown hair spoke with a sneer.

"There isn't much on your head but anything's better than nothing at this point." His partner, who had equally messy navy blue hair, shrugged. "Stand still so we can get this over with, dollface."

Nozomi furrowed her eyebrows, confused. There was a picture of her somewhere? Deciding that wasn't the most important thing at the moment, she took off in the opposite direction of the two and ran deeper into the forest. Once she made it far enough away from the traveler's inn, she turned around to see the navy haired male right behind her. He made a grab for her arm and she quickly took hold of his wrist and twisted it behind his back before stepping on the back of his leg to try and force him to the ground. The man's partner stepped in and pulled Nozomi away. When she broke free, he swung on her and she ducked, landing a kick square in her attacker's jaw.

"So there's a little spice behind that sweet face of yours?" Brown smirked as he massaged his jaw. "Too bad it's going to take a little more than that to take me and my partner out."

This time, both of the males rushed at Nozomi at the same time. As she evaded them and tried to fight back, her clear lack of experience was starting to show. One of them managed to kick her in her side, which she knew was going to leave a bruise, but in return, she was able to knock out Brown.

"Guess it's just me and you, dollface." Navy rolled his shoulders back. Compared to her, he wasn't all that hurt, which was more of a disadvantage to her. "What do you say you turn yourself in now and I'll go easy on you?"

"That's not an option for me." The female held her side as she tried to stand up straight.

Navy shrugged. "Your loss. I'll just hold back enough to keep you alive." He took a step forward, only for both of his feet to dangle over the ground as he was suspended in the air by his neck. Gasping for air, the man struggled before he was thrown into a nearby tree where his partner laid.

"Kakuzu-san…" Nozomi's eyes widened as she looked at the newcomer, who's attention was solely focused on the semi-conscious prey to his side.

"Y-You can take the bounty, man! We don't want it anymore!" Navy scrambled to his feet as he eyed the tall, glowering male and picked up Brown. No sooner did he have his partner secured on his back, he had taken off in a fright.

Kakuzu immediately turned away from the scene and walked over to Nozomi. There was an evident frown on his face as he saw her leaning towards her right side. The female, however, grinned at him, which caught him a little off-guard.

"Did you see me? I beat up a shinobi all by myself!" Nozomi looked up at him. "It felt exhilarating being chock-full of adrenaline and in the center of the fight, even though my knuckles and side hurt. On the bright side, I don't think I broke anything!"

Judging by their skill level, she probably beat up a bandit that was posing as a low-level shinobi, but nonetheless, she defended herself which meant that their training hadn't gone to waste. Deciding not to downplay her excitement for now, he settled on picking her up and carrying her back to the inn.

"Ow, ow, ow…" Nozomi groaned to herself as Kakuzu set her down inside their room.

"You need to take off the cloak and shirt." He walked away to the small kitchenette before coming back with some ice. Squatting down, he unbuttoned her cloak and immediately proceeded to reach for the end of her shirt.

Nozomi blinked and immediately shook her head with a blush, pushing his hands away. "O-oh, it's okay! I can do it myself."

"Okay, then take it off."

"H-How can I when you're staring at me?"

"I've already seen you without a shirt, so you can stop being so modest."

"Can you please unsee it…?" With a face red as a tomato, she wished she could die right at that moment. The culprit wasn't there, but right now she was cursing his name to the grave. She whimpered quietly to herself as she started to pull the shirt over her head but her side hurt too much for her to move. Giving up with a small sigh, she looked at the male in front of her. "I need help…"

Smirking underneath his mask as she finally stopped being stubborn, Kakuzu helped her undress, which revealed a large purple bruise underneath her rib cage. He wrapped an ice pack to her side to reduce the swelling and told her not to move until he got back, leaving the room. Leaning back against the cool wall, Nozomi did as she was told and closed her eyes. Feeling tired, she dozed off and didn't wake up until she heard the sudden opening of the door.

Kakuzu came back in his usual clothes minus his cloak. Everything looked familiar until her eyes traveled up to his head and she noticed his headpiece and mask were gone. He had shoulder length brown hair, which was a nice surprise since it contrasted her theory of him being bald. What intrigued her the most was his mouth, which featured stitches leading out from the corners of his mouth to his cheeks.

"Has the ice pack started to melt?" Kakuzu's voice interrupted her thoughts. The stitches didn't move with his mouth so she assumed it was safe to say that they were similar to the ones on his arms.

"Y-You took your mask off!" Nozomi spoke the obvious, ignoring his question.

"What about it?"

"Nothing, I just… Your face shape is nice, I mean handsome…" She rambled, her face heating up as she looked away. "I wasn't expecting it to be off."

"Well, it would be weird to keep it on to take a bath." Kakuzu walked over to her and took off the ice pack. Nozomi held her breath as she tried not to make eye contact with him. She knew she couldn't trust herself to think rationally with his face inches from hers. "Most people who see my whole face don't live to remember it so now we're even. You should go take a hot bath before your muscles get stiff."

"Roger that!" She ignored any signs of pain she felt as she immediately rushed off to the bathroom.

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Post Credits Scene: (Kakuzu and Nozomi later on that night!)

They were really going to sleep together.

Voluntarily without the use of some weird jutsu.

In the same room.

Alone.

Nozomi stood in the doorway to the inn room, holding her futon in her arms. Kakuzu was already sitting with his futon folded out and was reading a book. It was his idea to get one room to save money and she had agreed to it, mostly because he was paying, but how was he so nonchalant about this?

"How long are you going to stand there?" Kakuzu spoke up. "Your body isn't going to heal without rest."

"Oh, right…" Nozomi murmured. She glanced at him warily before setting up her futon a little ways away from his. Placing an extra pillow as a barrier in between their beds, she quickly said good night and turned on her uninjured side so her back was facing him.

Later on, Kakuzu decided to go to bed and turned the lights out. He could hear Nozomi's small, shallow breaths that indicated that she had fallen asleep. Replaying today's events in his head, a small smile of amusement ghosted his lips. The woman beside him was predictable, yet every time he got comfortable, she found some way to keep him surprised. He wanted to be closer to her and thought the pillow barrier was a bit excessive considering how many times they'd slept in the same room before, however, he was going to respect her boundaries.

As he started to drift off, Nozomi's sudden movement woke him up and he glanced over to see the female was now on her back with her head facing him. She let out a soft sigh as she settled back into her peaceful slumber. Turning onto his side to face her, he memorized her features, which were illuminated by the soft glow of the moon. Time was money, but he could always allow little detours like these.