Enthralling

Hidan's POV

His mission was, in theory, simple- really.

Deidara and Tobi had been assigned a three-person mission, and Kakuzu had been instructed to go along with them. Hidan had been given a mission that any of the Akatsuki should be able to do alone.

A Leaf Village ninja was on a mission with her children. She was too powerful; the kekkei genkai of her and her children were a threat to other villages, and they needed to be dealt with. The Akatsuki had been hired to do it.

A mother and her three children should be easy enough for Hidan. She had strange chakra she could use to kill people instantly; her adopted son could see into people's minds; her daughter could manipulate her own bones and do wonderful, horrible things with them. Her student, a child she had reportedly developed a deep relationship with, did not have any remarkable jutsu, but he wasn't to be dismissed, either.

With Hidan's immortality, though, their most dangerous jutsu would be ineffectual against him. The student was a genin of nearly twelve; her son was eight; her daughter was two. He was planning to sacrifice the mother early on; the kids would certainly be no issue for him.

He'd never killed any fucking children before, though.

It shouldn't be that big of a deal, right? He'd killed hundreds of people at this point. Teens, sometimes. People he liked, loved, cared about- you know, neighbors. Saving them from the fear of death. Saving them from future pain, sending them out with a bang for Jashin-sama.

The thought of offing a couple kids shouldn't eat at him so much, but it did. It really did.

They were ninja, though- weren't they? Maybe not the tyke, but the other three definitely were. It was the way of Shinobi, the lives they'd gotten themselves into.

Eleven. Eight. Two.

Fuck, man. Just... Fuck.

He'd never looked into the eyes of a child as he'd fucking slaughtered their mother. That was an entirely different kind of pain.

He prayed to Jashin for strength as he made his way to where he knew they would be...

He knew he should have insisted on being the one to join those idiots, sending Kakuzu out on his own, but there was a chance, of course, that Kakuzu could die. The man himself had not seemed to believe it, but if the reports about the team were true, it wouldn't surprise Hidan.

Hidan couldn't die- but could he kill these ones? Could he look into the eyes of a toddler and murder her?

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

They were sitting around a campfire. The oldest kid was skinning some sort of animal, getting it ready to be eaten. The younger boy was sitting beside his mother, who seemed to be breastfeeding the tyke. He crouched in the bushes, waiting.

It was hard to look at this quaint little scene and see horrifyingly dangerous ninja.

Get your fucking act together, you jackass, he thought to himself.

"He's here," said the middle child.

"I know," said the mother.

"We already know where you are!" called the older one. "Might as well come out already, yeesh."

Hidan stood up then, strolling out. None of them seemed to react to his presence; none of them were worried. The younger boy blinked at his cloak; the older boy was grinning up at his scythe; the daughter peeked past her mother's breast, eyeing him with curiosity. The mother herself looked him up and down for a moment before looking back to the fire.