Bound

Chapter four

The women Hidan had sacrificed before the downpour started must have come from a village, he reasoned. For two days he and the monster walked about the forest in search of the path they had originally staved off from, and finally found it after a hunt of fox with his bare hands. The rusted scythe, he had left I the depths of the woods.

Unarmed, he felt restless, even though he was walking next to a living-weapon. But his body had regained much of its physical prowess, so he did not experience any fear for what he would do in combat. It bothered him that he would not be able to sacrifice someone properly, nevertheless.

"But you know, my nails are pretty sharp. More like claws, seriously. Think I can use them to kill myself?" he asked the monster casually. He scratched at his own chest, digging the nails into the skin, and pulled. "Fuck," he moaned. "Yeah, I can probably do that."

As usual, he received no reply.

"I don't know if I prefer Kakuzu's ridiculous death threats over your silence or not," he lied to the monster.

The path through the forest was short, made longer by their slow pace, and brought them to an open meadow where a small community lay. It was a hunting village, with a few vegetable plantations, made of tree and with hay roofs. The entrance was an open gate, and without realizing that his appearance was bound to cause a stir, Hidan and the monster entered.

Roughly twenty of the wood and hay cottages surrounded the main road from which Hidan had walked, before it forked and stretched to two different and open gates on the other side. It was sparsely populated, and Hidan could see that the market was not open at the point of his arrival. Most of the villagers seemed to be working the plantations behind the houses, or were assumable off hunting, though a few children were playing on the street ahead of him.

It was a peaceful and calm atmosphere. And then a young girl spotted the monster and screamed.

The scream became an avalanche, and it was not long before heads turned from every direction to look at the commotion. Women and men came out from their homes, farmers left their fields and the children all ran.

A crowd gathered before Hidan on the main road, halting him in his steps, but they appeared to be nothing but courageous pacifists, rather than a militia. Bravery was shown on every face, but it was obvious from their state of dress that these were the people left behind as their hunters searched the forest for game.

One man stepped out from the crowd, as soon as it had been gathered. He was tall and balding, with a black beard and simple clothes, dressed mostly in his pure rage. "That's Tomoe's yukata," he yelled in fury, as he accusingly pointed his finger at Hidan. "We found her corpse a few days ago… You're the bastard who killed my wife!"

Hidan remembered the nude and beheaded woman only slightly, but the art of mockery had always been something he excelled at. The furious husband had a wakazashi in his sash, a weapon as good as any, so Hidan smirked.

"That was me all right. She was a fucking ugly bitch, I just had to kill her. I did the world a favour. She was a lousy cocksucker anyhow, and looked even more awful when I made her strip."

His words did their purpose in the offensiveness, and the man cried out in anger. He was probably a simple and retired huntsman, not built for combat, and he wielded his blade as if though it was a knife as he rushed towards Hidan.