AKATSUKI APARTMENT part 4

After his first few weeks, Kakuzu couldn’t imagine his life without the Akatsuki. They were his friends, partners in crime, everything. He still didn’t know too much about their backgrounds, but that was fine with him. After all, from what he could tell, they didn’t have too many problems.

That delusion was shattered one day after school.

The Akatsuki were walking out of the building, heading towards the base. Suddenly, Deidara turned on a street corner, going off down a road Kakuzu hadn’t been on. “Deidara, where are you going?” he called.

Deidara stopped and turned, giving him a half-hearted smile. “My dad wanted me home early, un.”

The banker felt the atmosphere instantly shift. “Deidara, you don’t have to go,” Itachi stated.

“Yeah, just come with us,” Hidan called in an almost pleading voice. Kakuzu raised a brow. What was going on?

“It’ll be fine,” Deidara replied, giving the entire group his fake grin. “Save some food for me, un!” And with that he left.

Kakuzu noticed how the conversation level drastically dropped. Hidan leaned in close to Sasori. “You better stay until he shows up.” The red head nodded. Kakuzu wanted to ask why it mattered whether or not Sasori stayed around, but held his tongue.

When they arrived at the apartment, they told the leader and Konan the news. Konan and Pein exchanged worried looks before ushering the kids into the living room. Kakuzu wanted to ask what was wrong, but was worried about what kind of answer he’d get. If he even got one.

It was Itachi’s turn to cook, and the weasel decided to make mac and cheese. The conversation began to pick up again, and Kakuzu almost forgot about Deidara.

Until the apartment door opened again.

He looked up at the sound and couldn’t believe his eyes. Deidara was leaning heavily on the door frame, panting. His hair was a mess, and he had blood going down his arm. “Danna, un…”

The red head looked up at the nickname and frowned. He walked over to the artist, wrapping his arms around the sculptor’s slim frame. “He did it again?” By now everyone was watching them.

Deidara nodded. Sasori gave an exasperated sigh. “I thought so. Come on.” And without another word he ushered Deidara into the bathroom.

The room was as quiet as a funeral parlor. Kakuzu finally managed to open his mouth. “Hey, Hidan?”

“Yeah?”

“What happened to Deidara? He looks like he just got mugged.”

Hidan laughed. “I wish it were that simple,” he spat out bitterly. “At least then we could beat the hell outta the person that did this.” He frowned. “It’s his dad.”

Kakuzu’s eyes widened. “His dad did THAT?”

“It happens pretty often,” Itachi said, butting in. “Haven’t you noticed how he comes to school with bruises all the time?”

“Well, yeah, but I thought he jut got into fights or something.”

“No, it’s his Jashin damned alcoholic father!” Hidan practically yelled, slamming his fist into a wall and adding a few more choice words to the man’s description.

“Then why the hell don’t you guys do something about it?!” Kakuzu demanded.

“Well-“

“All done,” Sasori called out, walking back into the room. Deidara followed him a moment later, hair back in place and a bandage on his arm. “It wasn’t too bad, un. He barely even grazed my arm.” Kakuzu didn’t bother asking what had cut the sculptor; in truth, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. “I’ll tell you later,” Hidan whispered to the banker.

The conversation was slow to pick up, but with Deidara and Hidan around it was hard for the somber mood to hang around. Soon they were joking around again, Deidara’s incident all but forgotten. Still, the group couldn’t help notice how willing Deidara was to lean on Sasori for support when they walked down the steps.

As Hidan and Kakuzu walked towards the banker’s apartment, the Jashinist began to speak. “So, you wanna know why the hell we don’t do anything?” A nod. “I’ll tell you. When we first found out what that son of a bitch was doing, we tried to tell. But we were only ten, and the Jashin damned teachers wouldn’t listen. They even called that bastard and told him what kind of liars his son had for friends!” Hidan’s fist curled into a ball. “And then…”

“Then?”

“Deidara wound up in the damn hospital.” Kakuzu’s eyes widened. “His dad said that some punks had beaten the crap out of him on the way home. A pretty believable story, if you didn’t know the bastard like we did.

When we saw Deidara, he was crying. He begged us not to say anything again; his dad would either kill him or keep him home from school permanently. Either way, we’d be screwed.

So, in exchange for keeping quiet, his dad lets him stay with us. It’s an unspoken agreement, I guess.”

Kakuzu’s rage was nearly boiling over. “That monster,” he hissed.

Hidan nodded. “I know, but there’s nothing we can do. But I swear, one day that bastard’s gonna get it, if it kills me.” Kakuzu was a bit surprised by the anger in Hidan’s voice; ordinarily the immortal acted like the blonde was beneath him, and picked on him. This was a new side of the Jashinist he hadn’t seen before. “Hidan, why did you say Sasori had to stick around until Deidara showed up?”

The silver haired teen grinned. “You know how I told you Sasori’s straight, but Deidara really likes him? There are a few ways the sculptor can get Sasori close to him. Those injuries are one way.

See, that stubborn blonde won’t let anyone but Sasori near those Jashin damned marks on him.” He laughed. “I remember this one time the old bastard had broken a beer bottle on Dei’s head. None of the damage was lasting or deep, but when a person bursts into an apartment at nine o’ clock at night, bleeding and screaming, you don’t really notice that kind of crap.

Well, we tried to help him, but that idiot wouldn’t let us anywhere near him. He said he wanted his danna to take care of it. Unfortunately, Sasori had already gone home for the night.

So, Pein had to run out, find the poor bastard, and drag him back to the base.” Hidan’s grin grew wider. “I swear, if he didn’t look like he was about to die of blood loss, Sasori would have strangled Deidara then and there. Although the blonde did get a few good whacks later on for it, though. And ever since then, Sasori knows to hang around until Dei’s been taken care of.”

“Wow, that’s f-ed up,” Kakuzu muttered thoughtfully.

Hidan shook his head. “I know, but we’ve all got problems.”

“Such as?”

“Well, Pein and Konan have been on their own for as long as we’ve known them; guess that’s why they’re so close. Kisame used to be a thug, and Sasori lost both his parents and his grandma (although they left him a pretty tidy sum of cash). Itachi had a pretty bad family life, but that’s a whole other story. Tobi….well, we’re not really sure what happened to him, but whatever it was convinced him he has to wear a freaky mask and be a ‘good boy’ all the Jashin damned time.” The Jashinist turned to Kakuzu, looking him up and down. “And I’d say you’ve had it pretty bad too.”

“I lost my parents and got pretty cut up a while back,” the banker admitted. They stopped walking; the two were in front of Kakuzu’s apartment. “What about you, Hidan?”

The immortal paused, as if choosing his words carefully. “I guess……….I’m kinda lucky. My family just hates my guts.” He spun around and walked off, waving over his shoulder. “See ya, dumbass!” Kakuzu waved back, wondering what the Jashinist had left out of his explanation.