Bound

Chapter two

Crows cawed and circled him in the air, as Hidan's journey continued. It was his third day of freedom, and he and Kakuzu's creature, which he referred to as "Kuzu" in his own mind, had reached a lake. The fields they had crossed had been abandoned, as evident by their wild nature, but at the end of it Hidan had found a small shed where a farmer must have once lived. Hidan's joy had been unsurpassed when he had found a scythe, meant for reaping the fields as it were, and he had taken it with him. Soon they were bound to meet another person, and then God would be given another sacrifice.

It got easier with each day to treat Kuzu as a pet. Hidan could forgive it for not responding to him, if he saw it as a dumb animal.

"Still," he rambled on, as they walked along the waterline, in no clear direction. "It feels a bit lonely without that fucker. Not that I like him or nothing, but it was more fun to rile him up than it is speaking to a fucking sewn together heart with a mask like you, like a fucking lunatic, seriously."

The cawing persisted above him, but the sound did not bother him. The lake was tempting to bathe in, but he wanted to keep searching for a sacrifice, before taking any such pleasure for himself. Serving God was more important than keeping clean, and more important than chasing off birds.

Hidan scratched the stitches on his neck in boredom as he followed the aimlessly crawling monster, before he realized what he was doing. Quickly he withdrew his hand, not wanting a scolding from-

Hidan groaned so loudly that the crows scattered. "Why the fuck does that fucktard keep coming up in my head?" he questioned no one, angrily swinging his tool scythe. He pointed the edge against the monster. "You," he called with a dangerous tone. "You're just one heart. I probably wouldn't have been able to kill that old bastard when he had fucking five of you, but you're alone. I can kill Kakuzu for good, you know. Never have to bother with that old miser again…" He licked his lips, before making a swing with his weapon against the monster.

Instead of piercing the heave of thread, the blackness struck out against Hidan and crawled around the edge of the scythe, making it immovable. Forced to retreat, Hidan jumped backwards to escape the suddenly hostile monster. At a distance, he braced himself for the impact of a dangerous technique, readying himself for fire, wind, water of lightening, only to see the monster immediately drop the scythe again, and continue to crawl away.

Was it a challenge? Was it telling Hidan to try again and kill it? Once more, Hidan pondered on how the monster even thought.

"I'll let you go this time," he grumbled as he walked after it, picking up his scythe again on the road. "Kakuzu's damn lucky that I am such a nice guy."

Beyond the lake, Hidan and the monster reached a narrow road through a thick forest. It had been a long and lonesome walk, as the company Hidan found in the monster was lacking in all the ways that truly mattered. Yet he followed it, hoping for some sort of miracle, his prayers answered, that it would lead him somewhere worth his time.

Ever since his lame attempt at killing the thing, Hidan had not conversed with it. Much as he wondered why he had attacked it, he wondered even more why he was still following it, instead of setting out to search for sacrifices on his own. How far could a debt owed take him, in comparison to the service to God?

As he pondered on his next course of action, the monster suddenly stopped, in the middle of the path. It had never stopped unless Hidan had grabbed it before, so he quickly pulled out his scythe, readying himself. In the distance, he spotted what the monster must have sensed; first one human and then a second one. Two sacrifices.