Author’s note: Alright, well, the short of it is this, I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything in while. Please forgive me for slacking and for any mistakes. Thank You reviewers and readers for waiting, enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 15: Matchmaker

He lounged on the artist’s bed, watching as the young man bustled about the room. Reaching a hand out, Hidan nabbed a spare work of art off Demetrius’s night table. Flipping it over in his hand, he inspected it out of boredom.

“So, what?” Hidan asked, tossing a clay sculpture into the air carelessly and easily catching it. “You’re leaving?”

The young artist shrugged as he packed away his many supplies in the depths of his bag. Hidan had watched him stuff sculpture after sculpture and bomb after bomb into the canvas sack. Despite how unkempt Demetrius’s half room was, the young man could pack with tidy, if not fussy organization.

“Oui, et es zime Maître and I went back zu working outside ze Inn.” He said and looked over at Hidan, only to see the immortal flinging one of his clay bombs unceremoniously about. Demetrius’s blue eye widened furiously. “Idiot! If you drop zat Maître will kill me!”

He snatched the sculpture away before Hidan could do it any harm. If it crashed onto the ground the whole room, not to mention all of his Maître’s unfinished mechanical works of art, would be blown to bits. Oddly enough though, Demetrius didn’t seem as concerned about the fact that they too would be in smithereens.

Hidan snorted. “Tch, whatever.” And he leaned back on the artist’s bed, folding his arms under his head.

Ever since their expedition two days ago he’d spent more time with Demetrius then usual. The artist had felt compelled to culture the immortal, since Hidan had apparently shown more interest in Demetrius’s views of art than anyone else. Hidan tuned out the artist a good deal of the time, but it was nice to hear someone besides himself talking, even if he really wasn’t paying attention to them. It was simply pleasant to hear a voice, regardless if all Demetrius did was prattle on about ideals Hidan found dull and mind-numbing.

“So, where ya go’n?”

“Zat I don’t know, Leader will tell Maître and I soon enough, un.”

The immortal heaved a sigh. “Do you have any idea how fucking boring it’s going to be around here now, seriously?”

Demetrius let a small sarcastic chuckle escape him. “I didn’t know you cared ‘Idan. Besides, I doubt you’ll be zat bored, you’ll be on ze move soon enough zu.”

This caught the immortal’s attention. Propping his head up with and fist, he looked at the artist curiously. “Wha’d ya mean?”

Demetrius gave a little shrug, a tiny smirk curling along his thin lips like ribbon. Hidan noticed the artist did this a lot; it was Demetrius’s way of saying ‘I know more than you do’.

“Oh, didn’t Zack tell you, un?”

“No, as a matter-of-fact he fucking didn’t,” Hidan glowed; he hated the artist’s smug game. “Spill it Blondie.”

“Humph.” He snorted indignantly. “You’re colleague zu be is on ‘is way.” Demetrius answered, shooting the immortal an offended glare. “In fact, zat es partly ze reason Maître and I are leaving, I don’t ‘ave zu baby-sit you any longer, un.”

“Oh, fuck you.” Hidan grumbled sourly, and flopped back on the mattress, glaring up at the ceiling. However, Hidan couldn’t help but feel excited about the prospect of a partner.

The artist merely rolled his eye and went back to his packing.

---

Sunrise Inn. It looked the same as when he’d left.

The building was situated between parallel structures on either side, almost like an egg in a nest. It looked unassuming, innocent even, but he knew what really went on behind the camouflaged exterior.

How long had he been away? Most likely only a few months, just long enough to dispose of his former partner. Then he did hodgepodge bounty missions until Leader got his act together and found him another tagalong, this was their routine. The missions not only kept him busy, but gave him lodging away from the Inn. Rarely was he ever stationed at Sunrise for long periods of time.

Because of his temper and distant attitude, he didn’t cope well with the other collogues and quarrels frequently broke out. This was also this same reason he wasn’t assigned to deal with new members often. Although he had some restraint when interacting with the older member of Dawn, he viewed the new ones, trainees especially, as disposable. Thus, Leader kept him on the move, allowing him a long leash.

When Leader would give up? Although Leader’s determination to find him a fitting partner was admirable, it was also very irritating. Obviously, anyone paired with him would die, by the enemy’s hand or his own. There was no point in finding new ones; it was less costly for him to operate on his own anyway. Morbidly, he wondered how long the new one would last.

He entered by the front door, walking briskly in to the circular lobby. Korina, who was manning her receptions desk, looked at him impassively before returning her attention to the sharply dress businessman she was waiting on. He walked toward the desk.

“Here’s you key, room 207.” Korina spoke, handing the man a little plastic card. “Please take the hall to your right.” And she motioned toward the correct hallway.

“Thank you.”

“Uh-huh.” Korina nodded.

The man turned quickly, too quickly, he nearly ran into him. Anger crossed the businessman’s features briefly, before he looked up that is. The man’s neck had to inclined nearly all they way to take in his intimidating height. He made no move, only gazed down at the blanching businessman unflinchingly. If looks could kill.

“Uh, s-sorry buddy!” The man spoke voice cracking.

He didn’t speak a word, only glared at businessman with his oddly inverted eyes. The startled man walked off hurriedly, fleeing to the safely of his room. He felt no guilt for frightening the unsuspecting man; everyone seemed to be alarmed when in his presence.

Korina sighed and leaned and elbow on the counter. “You know, it’s a good thing you’re not the receptionist Kazmer, you’d scare everyone away.”

“Hello to you too Korina.” Sarcasm tinted his voice.

She gave a small laugh, although it could have been a very small hiccup. “About time you showed up,” Korina murmured, raising her hand delicately to admire her nails, inspecting for any chips in the polish. “Leader’s not happy with you.”

Kazmer gave a shrug and rested his briefcase on top of the desk. “Well, I have something that might ease his mood.”

“Another bounty then?” She asked looking at the case indifferently, and received a nod. “He’s not upset about money, and you know it. What you need to do is to stop killing them.”

Even beneath his cloth mask, which was a simple black bandanna, Korina could tell Kazmer was frowning; she could see it in his eyes. They always seemed to have this discussion. She was Punish’s shoulder, the one he confided in. Therefore, she knew a lot more about all the social disruptions, money problems, and secrets of the organization than she let on. After all, Korina was his angel. She was entitled to know.

She knew when Punish was upset, always. For his welfare, she tried from time to time to smooth over matters with the troublesome members. Kazmer however, was the least willing to listen; it was his seniority that made him so unwilling to heed anyone else’s opinion.

“I can work on my own Korina, he knows that.” Kazmer spoke fatly.

“Teams of two make the percentage of success higher.” Korina tilted forward a little; a knowing spark lit her gaze. “He’d found an interesting one; I think it’s about time you met your match. This guy is different. ”

Kazmer was unimpressed. “Should I just kill the poor bastard now and be done with it?”

“Actually, I hear he’s pretty hard to kill.”

“I like a challenge.” Kazmer said and lifted his case off the desk. “What’s this one like?”

Korina paused, choosing her words carefully. “He’s a real trip.”

Kazmer gave her a questioning glace, but nothing more. After all he would have to witness his new partner in person before he could even begin to understand. He turned away and strode off down the left hallway heading for Leader’s chamber.

Korina watched him go and smiled faintly to herself, hoping that Hidan truly was capable of dealing with Kazmer. This was not for the immortal’s sake but for Punish’s, he was running himself ragged looking for new members to replace the ones Kazmer murdered in cold blood. While he believed himself to be a god, Punish did have mortal limitations. A guardian angel can only do so much. Giving a delicate sighed, Korina returned to inspecting her blue nail polish.

---

The door to the room unlock suddenly. Both Demetrius and Hidan’s eyes traveled with the entrance as it swung open quickly, revealing Soren’s rounded frame standing in the hallway. He maneuvered his curved casing past the doorway in a slow awkward shuffle. Hidan couldn’t help but wonder why Soren insisted on wearing that thing if it made it so difficult to move.

“Demetrius.” Soren’s gruff voice spilled out the shell, commanding attention. “Tobin stopped me in the hallvay; Zack vishes to see you, something about clay…”

“Oh! Right!” The blond instantly perked up. “Zat shipment came in zuday!”

After mumbling a few quick words of parting, Demetrius dashed off, after squeezing by Soren, and went quickly down the hall. Hidan didn’t watch the young artist disappear; instead he focused onto the hulking semi-circle that was Soren.

The puppeteer was staring at the immortal reclining on the blonde’s bed. It was difficult to tell whether or not Soren was glaring at him, the lifeless eyes gave nothing away. Hidan arched a silver brow at him questioningly.

“What cha’ staring at?” Hidan asked with a cocky smile on his lips. Maybe Soren wasn’t happy that he was here, in his room with Demetrius; Hidan’s smile grew.

A deep sigh rattled through the puppeteer’s hull. “Look, Hidan. I don’t do this sort of thing often, don’t get used to it…” again Soren heaved another agitated sigh, as if he were very uncomfortable. “I have something for you.”

Hidan blinked, had he heard the puppeteer correctly? Apparently so. A series of clicks and snaps followed, and the fabric covering the rounded shell slipped off a fraction, revealing some of the rounded body. The outer casing was made of steel or something similar; patterns were intricately carved over the glossy shell. Obviously, a lot of time and devotion had gone into making this moving shield.

A small hatch cracked open and a pale, smooth, luminous hand came out. What the hand was clutching Hidan was unsure, but the object was soon dropped onto the ground, lying just beside the puppeteer’s shield. Soren withdrew his hand quickly, the hatch closing behind it. Hidan was oblivious to the fact that he was one of the few to ever see apart of the actual Soren.

The black cloth drew back over, pulled by some invisible force, and covered the beautifully carved side once more. Soren didn’t move after that, and Hidan, who had since sat up to watch the spectacle, realized that he was going to have to pick up the object for himself.

Getting up, he moved toward the present on the ground with unhurried movements, trying to make it appear as though he wasn’t interested. However, as Hidan came closer his jaw opened in surprise. He knelt quickly, taking the trinket into his hands. He trailed his fingers over the black beads and the polished symbol attached to it.

It was a rosary.

A rosary of Jashin.

“Wha…I-” For once, Hidan was at a loss for words, he was deeply confused. “Why?” He managed to say after a moment, eyes switching between the rosary in his hands, and the puppeteer beside him.

“You know, I do listen to Demetrius from time to time, he talks about you…you give him something to do.” Soren’s voice grumbled. “He says you talk about something named Jashin…” Soren paused and spoke irritably, realizing he was rambling. “To sum it up, thanks, I guess.”

Hidan looked at him, getting to his feet he walked over and sat on the edge of the young artist’s bed. “Seroiusly? Aw, that’s touching…” His voice took a mocking tone, face taking on a smug look. “All the kid does is talk, I mean-”

“You listen to him right?” Soren cut him off. “He shares his passion about art vith you, ja?”

“…Uh, I guess. The kid just keeps talking; I mean there’s no way to shut him up, seriously.” Hidan spoke, already beginning to forget Soren’s interjection.

“Good.” Soren said simply, and Hidan didn’t understand, didn’t realize that Soren was thanking him for being good and active company for Demetrius. No one else understood or cared about the young artist’s views; they only used him for their own personal gain or belittled him for it. Hidan had done what Soren couldn’t, accepted or at least had heard out Demetrius’s ideas.

For a few short days, Soren had seen the young blonde actually content. Demetrius didn’t bother him with trivial ideals or silly bombs. However, he did share with Soren where he had traveled with the immortal and sometimes what they had talked about. That’s where the puppeteer had gotten the idea to make a rosary, modeling it after the strange symbols he’d seen on Hidna’s walls and floor. He had no idea he was replacing something that had been long lost centuries ago.

“You like it?” Soren asked at last, watching the immortal’s expression.

“Yeah, it’s…it feels so, familiar.” Hidan shook his head in disbelief, and smiled. “It’s pretty kick ass, thanks.” And he placed rosary around his neck.

“You’ll keep it with you den?”

“Yeah.”

“Forever?” Soren pressed.

“Sure.”

Within his shell, the puppeteer smiled victoriously. Although the rosary was a present, everything Soren did had an ulterior motive. The little metal symbol hung so innocently around the immortal’s neck; it had almost been too easy.

“I’m glad.” The puppeteer spoke truthfully. Turning his shell, Soren began to shuffle toward the door. “Come, originally Leader sent me to collect you. Your partner has arrived.”

---

“Leader.” Kazmer spoke, acknowledging the man as the entered into his chamber.

Behind the finely varnished desk there sat a man, but only his outline could be seen. The window’s blinds were closed, always closed. The small amount of light that trickled in to the gloomy room highlighted only Leader’s shape, never his features. He remained a dark blank sketch of a man, more of a cutout than an actual person.

“Kazmer.” For once, Leader’s voice was an even undistorted tenor. He wasn’t hiding behind his technology, only the dark. “I assume your trip here went smoothly?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” There was a smile in the man’s voice. “Your partner was alerted. He should be here momentary.”

The silhouetted figure motioned to the chair resting off to the side. Taking the hint, Kazmer seated himself. Placing the briefcase down beside him, he fixed Leader with a steely gaze, eyes daring the man to touch the subject that lay between them. Leader took the bait.

“So,” The shadow spoke, knitting his hands together and resting his chin on them. “Why this time? What was Kalb’s fatal flaw?”

Kazmer shrugged in response. The way he viewed it, his old partner’s death hadn’t been his fault. No, the idiot had merely gotten in the way. The fool should have known better than to stand between Kazmer and a bounty.

“He wasn’t…durable enough.” Kazmer spoke and it was more or less the honest truth, the bullets had gone right through the man.

Leader hummed quietly. “Shame, he had such promise.”

Kazmer scuffed at that. They both knew being partnered with him was a death sentence; the moment Kalb had been paired with him, the man became little more than a walking corpse.

“However, I don’t think that will be much of a setback any more.” Leader chimed in, sounding oddly pleased.

At that, Kazmer raised a questioning brow. Something was defiantly up. Never before had Leader, or Korina for that matter, seemed so confident in his new victim to be. Obviously, this new partner was someone extraordinary, something the likes of which he had never experienced before. Kazmer frowned beneath his mask; an unsettling feeling came over him. Just what had Leader discovered?

“Really now?” Kazmer asked flatly.

“Oh yes,” Even in the dark, Kazmer swore he could faintly see the smile on the man’s face. “I think you’ll be quite surprised.”

“I wouldn’t count on it.” Kazmer’s words were dry and very unimpressed, but the shadowy matchmaker only smiled softly in the darkness.

---

Hidan was surprised. He’d never witnessed the puppeteer really moving before and found that Soren could actually travel fairly fast. Despite how wide, heavy, and cumbersome his shell was, it moved pretty quickly, as long as there weren’t any sharp turns. However, because Soren took up so much space, Hidan had to trail behind him.

He really wasn’t paying much attention. Hidan wasn’t focusing, he ignored the blending colors of the pink and green wallpapered hallway; it all went by in a haze. He just followed the black moving semi-circle absently. This is why he nearly walked into the puppeteer; he didn’t notice Soren had stopped moving.

“Hey!” Hidan cried, stumbling to keep himself from falling. “What gives?!”

Hidan glared daggers at the puppeteer’s back, but Soren ignored him, his attention was focused to the two men in front of them. Hidan’s gaze shifted, fixing to glower at the strange pair obstructing their path.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here, eh?” A strange voice rasped before it was distorted with rough throaty chuckles.

Disgust curled at Hidan’s lip. It had been that taller of that two that had spoken, and he looked like something that had crawled straight out of a horror film. The man’s beady eyes gleamed with a twisted delight, but Hidan stared the large grinning mouth. Jagged, almost razor-like teeth protruded from the man’s gums, giving him a startlingly animalistic appearance.

“The fuck are you?” Hidan spat, looking the man up and down.

The serrated smile widened. “Quite a mouth you go there.”

A snort escaped Hidan. “Could say the same ‘bout you.”

For a moment, Hidan seriously thought he’d offended the man; he even smirked at the prospect. However, laugher began to trickle from the sharp toothed man. It was a coarse, but infections sound that grew in volume.

“Hey, I like you Mate.” The man grinned, leaving Hidan completely dumbfounded. “What do you think Irvin? We’ve got ourselves a fun one here eh?”

The smaller man, who Hidan had nearly forgotten about until now, said nothing in response. Thin and elegant, Irvin looked to be the polar opposite of his partner. His blank face remained unmoving, or at least the parts that Hidan could see. A pair of sunglasses concealed the young man’s eyes. The red tint was such a dark crimson; Hidan could see the reflection of the hallway in the lenses. He gazed at the two of them, beauty and the beast so it seemed.

“Keith,” Soren spoke up, voice acidic and low. “Move out of the vay…you’re going to make us late.”

The sharp grin faltered and the beastly man, who was apparently Keith, looked down at the puppeteer. For a moment, Hidan had absolutely no idea what was happening, but a hush fell over them. He watched as Soren craned his shield’s neck up, while Keith’s beady eyes narrowed downward. No one moved, frozen to the spot it seemed.

“What?” Keith asked. “Afraid waiting a few minutes is going to get your knickers in a knot?” A different sort of smile carved across the man’s face.

“Move.” Soren commanded. There was an edge of finality in his tone.

Oh, so it was a challenge then. Hidan understood now, and watched the two with faint amusement. Keith’s teeth clicked together, ailing and locking into place, that mad grin of his splitting his face nearly in two. Hidan smirked along with him. There was something he liked in that grotesque mug. It was wild and boundless, utterly memorable and charmingly ugly. Although Hidan felt nothing towards the man, he knew instinctively that Keith was a fighter; one that would tear a person limb from limb and enjoy every moment of it.

At any second the fissure would happen. Surely the tension would break, and it did, but not in the way Hidan would have liked. Breaking his silence, the raven-haired Irvin spoke.

“Let’s go, Keith.”

The tall man blinked in surprise. For a moment he seemed about to rebel against the cool voice, but like a dog on a leash, heeled. Keith’s posture slouched as he sighed. “Yeah, sure…”

Leading the way, Irvin squeezed past them gracefully with Keith in tow. The man mumbled darkly under his breath as he passed, and Hidan began to snicker. With the pressure gone, there was only amusement left.

“Dude, that was weak!” Hidan called back to the sulking beast.

A fair distance away now, Keith turned his head to glare at Hidan. The beady, yellowed eyes gleamed with malice. A lesser man would have been stricken on the spot, but Hidan only sneered in response, clearly he had no sense of self-preservation.

“Ah, don’t worry Mate, you’ll get yours soon enough.” With that said Keith turned back around and followed after his partner, leaving Hidan with a very confused look on his face.

“The hell does that mean?” He asked aloud to no on in particular.

Shrugging off Keith’s words, Hidan turned back around. He blinked as he saw the shrinking black cloaked back shuffling down the hallway. Feed up with waiting, Soren had left him. Swearing loudly, Hidan took off after the puppeteer.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Hidan called. “Wait up!”

“Valk faster.” Soren called back dryly.

Giving a growl of annoyance, he quickened his pace. Swift strides brought Hidan to his place behind the shuffling puppeteer. “Gee, thanks for waiting.” He spat sarcastically.

“Hn,” Soren gave a noncommittal murmur.

“Dude, who were those guys anyway?” Hidan ask, looking over his shoulder at the empty hallway.

“Irvin Ulysses and Keith Henderson,” The puppeteer answered monotonously. “Members and partners of Dawn.”

Hidan snorted. “That one dude is a fucking freak, seriously.”

“Speak for yourself.”

Soren slowed his shuffling as he came to Leader’s hidden door. He shifted off to the side, allowing Hidan full access to the entrance. The dead glassy eyes stared up at Hidan expectantly, apparently waiting for him to unlock it. Rolling his eyes, the immortal dug through several of his pockets; he was forever losing the stupid plastic key. After fumbling around with it, he finally managed to insert the card into the slit in the wall.

“Wait.” Soren ordered, stopping the immortal before he could open it. “Vhen you go in dere, don’t do anything stupid.”

Hidan scuffed at the hunchback, brushing off the remark. “Dude, I’m not going to make a fool out of myself, seriously.” Giving the door a shove with his shoulder, he pushed it open. “You need to give me more credit.”

His know-it-all smirk beamed down at the glaring puppeteer. For the briefest of moments, Hidan felt something akin to contentment. Here he was, thrown in to some upside-down world, and yet, for some strange reason he was beginning to believe things were going to turn out alright. The world was stabilizing. His roots to this life were beginning to strengthen.

There was Demetrius; he could talk to the younger man. He could pester Soren; the puppeteer always became so flustered when disturbed from his work. There was also Jashin, the symbol strung around his neck was now a constant reminder of that. Yes, Jashin was with him for eternity, there was no need to doubt that. Best of all, he was finally getting at partner. He could leave this dump at last! No longer was he bound to his sad little room. Without a second thought, Hidan entered into the dark chamber.

“Ah, good. You’re here.” The smooth voice of Leader spoke, and Hidan turned toward the sound. He shut the door behind him, leaving the puppeteer out in the hall.

To his surprise, Hidan found that within the dark, gloomy room Leader was actually with them in person. He’d never seen the man before and this time was no exception. The din shrouded Leader, wrapping about his frame like a cloak of inky blackness.

“Yeah yeah.” Hidan said, swaggering as he stepped toward the desk. “So where is this partner? I swear if I have to wait for this dumbass I-”

“He’s sitting right in front of you.” Leader’s mellow voice answered.

“Huh?” The immortal grunted, eyes scanning for another silhouette

His gaze came to rest on the chair positioned off to the side of the room, not too far from Leader’s desk. A toothy smirk flashed across Hidan’s face as he spied a large figure sitting in it. So this was it, this was his bran spanking new partner. From here on out, things were going to be so much simpler, so much clearer! Everything was going to be alright.

Then his new partner looked up. With one gesture, all of Hidan’s optimism vanished.

The seated man looked at him. No, glared at him. Hidan’s smile fell instantly. The man’s eyes were green; a bright, piercing, all too memorable green. The gloom seemed to come alive as Hidan’s mind went haywire and began to create illusions. The chimera of reality reared its false and translucent head, dragging Hidan’s senses into overdrive.

The room appeared to warp and bend. It twisted, bring the very darkness to wrap about the seated stranger. Trappings of midnight and crimson adorned the green eyed man, red clouds of morning coming out of nothingness. The colors of the dawning day began to envelop the man. Reality was being painted over by a diaphanous world, one that was growing in density and clarity every passing moment; as out of place as a nightmare in daylight, yet it was happening before his eyes all the same.

The floor began to stir and coil, as did the walls and ceiling. It dawned on Hidan that the room itself wasn’t truly moving, but something covering it was. This realization caused the hundreds upon thousands of thin strings to come into vision. These were the things starting to coat the inside of the chamber. They withered and wrangled like black snakes. He saw them now, millions of threads creating a moving tapestry. It engulfed him.

Hidan felt his throat constrict, the air crushed from his lungs. He began to choke. His eyes stared at the green orbs that glowed amidst all the spiraling chaos, two brilliant embers of jade burning in the madness of the room. Hidan moved his lips, but the air wouldn’t come. Only a small croaking sound came.

‘Hidan.’

That voice. That damn voice!

K…K…K-Ka….KA!

The world, figments and all, fell away as Hidan toppled backwards. His eyes rolled until only the whites of them could be seen. Unconsciousness took him before he crashed onto the carpeted floor of Leader’s chamber.