Disclaimer: I own Lyric only. He's my RP character.

It's Mika-chan! This was supposed to be a chapter for Akatsuki goes on a Vacation, but it was longer than the chapters usually were. but i really like this, even if it isn't KakuHi. it's hinted, though. let the deadly tale begin!

It was three in the afternoon and Hidan was bored out of his mind. Kakuzu wasn't around and he was, for once, tired of reading his bible, which was a rare occurrence in itself. Grabbing his scythe, the Jashinist left the apartment he shared with Kakuzu and went down the three flights of stairs and walked out to the parking lot.

Upon arrival, Hidan found only one person nearby; a younger man, closer to Deidara's age, with skater's style black hair. What was so peculiar about this teen was the fact that he was sitting on the blacktop in an unusual position that Hidan had never seen anyone but himself sit. That's when he saw the symbol that the teen was sitting inside.

"You're a Jashinist, too?" Hidan asked in amazement, wondering if this was a dream.

The teen turned to face him and Hidan could see that he was right in assuming that he was around Deidara's age. Up close, the boy's eyes were slanted, with tattoo marks around the eyes in hunter green ink. The eyes themselves were a shocking shade of red, making Hidan think of blood. The raven black hair fell casually into the eyes and on the neck was a spider-web tattoo and a large pair of wings were on the back. On the shoulder blade was a tattoo of a Celtic knot next to a thorny rose winding up a cross. A lip-ring shone from the lip and the ears had multiple piercings that reminded Hidan of Pein.

"I guess you're one too, huh?" the boy smiled somewhat shyly.

"Yeah…" Hidan said." Are you in this building or the next one?"

"This one." The boy indicated the building with his chin. "Second floor."

"Third." Hidan said.

"Sweet." The boy nodded. "I'm Lyric."

"Lyric?" Hidan frowned at the name.

"I know, it's weird." The boy named Lyric flushed slightly. "You?"

"Hidan." The other replied.

"So…" Lyric said. "Now what?"

"I guess we start praying, huh?" Hidan shrugged.

-

Nearly an hour later, Hidan was still nowhere to be found. Kakuzu had been looking all over the apartment complex, barging into the rooms of the Akatsuki, finding Deidara and Sasori having sex on the floor again, but the Jashinist was nowhere to be seen.

Kakuzu was starting to get bored, too. He'd balanced his checkbook for the hundredth time in the same week and still found no mistakes. He had even considered making mistakes just so he'd have something to fix.

After thinking for a moment, the stitched-nin realized the danger that Hidan's disappearance could bring. This was Hidan, for Shiva's sake! He could start a riot right outside the building! Well, maybe not. Still, Hidan was pretty dense and he did just about anything that came to his mind.

He was just about to go look for his lover when Hidan entered the room with another boy.

"Where were you?" Kakuzu's tone wasn't demanding for once in his life.

"I was on the blacktop praying like yesterday." Hidan said, setting his bloody scythe against the wall.

"And who is this?" Kakuzu gestured to the teen with his chin.

"Oh, this is Lyric." Hidan said. "And guess what, Kakuzu?"

"What?" Kakuzu asked warily.

"He's a Jashinist, too!" Hidan exclaimed.

"Are there really that many of you?" Kakuzu frowned.

"I guess so." Lyric shrugged.

"Not many here, I'll tell you that." Kakuzu said.

"Anyway, we're going to go walk around a bit." Hidan said. "Wanna come with?"

"Have you told Leader-sama?" Kakuzu raised his eyebrows.

"He knows." Hidan said.

"He didn't seem to like me very much." Lyric mused.

"He's like that to everyone." Kakuzu told the teen. "I'll stay here and read something."

"Can't say I didn't offer." Hidan shrugged as he and Lyric left.

About a month went by and not much had changed. The Akatsuki went on missions, mostly scroll retrieval and espionage, but Zetsu was forced to go kill the leader of the Village Hidden in the Mist, which was about the most exciting thing to happen for a while.

Hidan and Lyric were still hanging out a lot, which annoyed and worried Kakuzu. Annoyed because Hidan never wanted to do anything with Kakuzu. Worried because Kakuzu was afraid that Hidan would fall for Lyric and leave the stitched-nin.

So Kakuzu confided in Itachi and Kisame one day during lunch. He explained his problem, hoping that the Uchiha and Hoshigaki would be able to be of at least a little bit of help.

"But you don't know that Hidan's falling for him anyway, Kakuzu." Kisame pointed out after taking a sip of black coffee.

"You haven't seen this kid." Kakuzu retorted. "He looks like he's about Deidara's age and has a many piercings as Leader-sama."

"Wow." Kisame breathed.

"Not a good combination." Itachi shook his head.

"And he's a Jashinist." Kakuzu added.

"That's pretty bad." Kisame said.

"You aren't supposed to say that!" Kakuzu glared at the shark-nin.

"Think about it, Kakuzu." Itachi picked at the crust of his chicken sandwich. "Hidan's been complaining for years about how he's the only Jashinist. Now he's found someone else like him."

"But he's supposed to be with me." Kakuzu said fiercely.

"Remember when Orochimaru was here?" Kisame began.

"How can I not?" Kakuzu rolled his eyes.

"Remember that he and Sasori had a thing?" Kisame ploughed ahead.

"Yeah…" Kakuzu said slowly.

"But now that Deidara's here, he's a lot better." Itachi said, seeing where his lover was headed.

"But Hidan's fine with me!" Kakuzu exclaimed, ignoring the Hot Pocket that was gradually going cold on the plate before him.

"It doesn't seem like it to me." Kisame said.

"You don't see us when we're alone." Kakuzu said, feeling his face turn hot. "When we're alone, Hidan's a completely different person."

"I find that hard to believe." Itachi gave a rare smile.

"Just wait and see what happens." Kisame said. "You'll know for sure soon enough."

So Kakuzu took Kisame's advice and watched Hidan and Lyric whenever they were together. Sometimes it seemed like they were the best of friends. Other times, however, it seemed like they wanted to be more than that. Kakuzu couldn't see how Hidan could find this guy interesting.

Lyric was everything Hidan was. He was a Jashinist like Hidan, he liked to play his music at an alarming volume like Hidan, he even liked the same TV shows as Hidan. Maybe the amethyst-eyed ninja just wanted something that he could relate to. Sure, Kakuzu talked about money all the time, but he didn't remember Hidan ever complaining about it, either.

One day, the two Jashinists were on their way back from a praying session in a nearby temple when Hidan noticed that something was on Lyric's mind.

"What's up, Lyric?" Hidan asked, twirling his scythe around.

"I didn't want to tell you this so soon…" Lyric said slowly.

"What?" Hidan frowned. "What is it?"

Lyric faced the amethyst-eyed ninja and said, "I'm moving."

"What are you talking about?" Hidan couldn't have heard Lyric right.

"You know I work for a big company, right?" Lyric asked.

"Yeah." Hidan nodded.

"Well, they want to open a shop in the Cloud Village and they're sending me with a bunch of other people to work there." Lyric said.

"Couldn't you say no?" Hidan stopped walking and faced the crimson-eyed teen.

"I'd get fired." Lyric grimaced.

"And I don't want you to loose your job, either." Hidan sighed. "When do you move?"

"Next Thursday." Lyric said in tones of sadness.

"Next Thursday?!" Hidan yelped. "So soon?"

"They want me down there so I can do inventory." Lyric explained. "They like how I organize things."

"So I guess this is it, huh?" Hidan said as he started walking again.

"It's not like I won't be able to talk to you." Lyric said, twisting his lip-ring with his finger. "I have your cell number and you have mine."

"Good point." Hidan shrugged. "What time do you leave?"

"I should be on the road by eleven." Lyric said, stroking the handle of the dagger in his hand.

"I'll come over before you leave if it's okay with you." Hidan said.

Lyric nodded. "Sound's okay with me."

Kakuzu was reading The Art of Bounty when the door to the apartment opened and footsteps could be heard. Marking his place, the stitched-nin closed his book and left the bedroom and walked into the living room to find Hidan on the couch polishing the bloody scythe.

"Don't do that on the couch." Kakuzu snapped.

"Okay, okay." Hidan said.

The stitched-nin knew that something was wrong. Hidan would normally put up a better fight than that.

"Something wrong?" Kakuzu asked.

"Oh, Lyric's just moving next Thursday." Hidan said sadly.

"When did you find this out?" Kakuzu frowned.

"When we were leaving the temple." Hidan said. "He's getting transferred."

"Well, it's not like you're never going to see him again." Kakuzu said. "You have his e-mail and phone number, right?"

"Yeah, that's what he said." Hidan said, leaning back against the couch. "It's just that I won't be able to see him again, you know?"

"Not really." Kakuzu shook his head.

"He was the only other Jashinist besides myself that I knew. We had a lot in common." Hidan said. "But now he's leaving."

"And you still will have all that in common." Kakuzu said. "Maybe we can go visit him sometime."

Hidan tried to be a little optimistic, but failed. "Sure, I guess so."

Lyric and Hidan tried to cram everything they wanted to do into a week, which left both feeling exhausted. It was worth it, however, in the minds of both Hidan and Lyric.

All too soon, it was Thursday. The clock on the wall read 10:45. Kakuzu was still asleep, so Hidan wrote a note for the stitched-nin and stuck it to the fridge before walking out of the apartment, down the hall and down a flight of stairs. He could tell which apartment was Lyric's, even though he'd been there before, because there were boxes upon boxes outside the door.

Hidan didn't bother knocking because the bright yellow door was open and Hidan stepped onto the hardwood floor of Lyric's apartment. Noticing the teen's absence, the amethyst-eyed ninja looked in the other rooms before he found Lyric in his bedroom, packing a few last-minute things. When he heard Hidan enter the room, Lyric looked up and their eyes met for the briefest of seconds before Lyric quickly looked away.

"It looks so empty now." Hidan tried to smile a little to lighten the mood.

"I don't like empty." Lyric said. "It drives me insane."

"Me too." Hidan nodded. "Kakuzu used to have the walls empty for a while and after a few months, I started putting up posters. He never seemed to mind, though."

Lyric laughed, but it felt like a forced laugh to him. Neither wanted to be separated from the other and this was the hard part. What do you say when someone you haven't known for a while leaves when they feel like you've known them for years? When they feel like they could be your long-lost sibling?

"I'll give you a call later tonight if you want." Lyric offered, breaking the silence that had lasted for several minutes.

"Or I'll call you." Hidan shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

"I'll call." Lyric said. "You might call when I'm on the road or something."

"I know how you are when you drive." Hidan smiled a little.

"Maybe you could some over sometime." Lyric suggested.

"Or you could come down here." Hidan said. "I think we have a spare bedroom in our apartment that you can use."

"You've never been to the Cloud Village, have you?" Lyric smiled that mysterious smile.

"Only on missions." Hidan shook his head.

"You need to see the real thing." Lyric said. "Kakuzu can come, too. He might like to see it."

"He's only interested in money." Hidan gave a short laugh. "He probably won't care."

"Well, it's his loss then." Lyric shrugged.

After a few seconds of silence that seemed like a thousand light years, Hidan said, "I guess this is it."

"Looks like it." Lyric nodded grimly. "It was nice hanging out for the short time we did."

"Of course it was." Hidan said. "You'd better call me."

"You know it." Lyric said, brushing the raven hair from his eyes.

For a moment, neither said anything before Lyric picked up the box and said, "See ya, Hidan."

"Later, Lyric." Hidan said.

And with that, Lyric walked out of the apartment, leaving Hidan alone to take in the memory a friendship that was cut to its tragic end.

Hidan was kinda OOC, but can you really blame him? I'm looking for some art for Lyric, since my sister may not draw some for me...i'd greatly appreciate it as well as reviews. thanks for reading!