The Key To So Many Doors (Hidan Story)

Chapter 15

Kakuzu instantly span round to face Hidan, wearing a look of utter confusion on his face at Hidan's words. Questioning as to what the hell he was talking about, Hidan rolled his eyes at his immediate dismissal of the idea, replying firmly,

"Fucking think about it, dipshit! That's why she didn't see anything when she put her hands on the wall and tried to bring on a vision; that's why it was just her memories that kept fucking popping up! She said they automatically fucking appeared no matter what she did! She is the key!"

Kakuzu paused as he contemplated this idea, but eventually he shook his head, still looking confused, causing Hidan to growl in irritation and continue,

"Come on, Kakuzu! Why would she need to have a vision about herself? Hell, in a way, she fucking did! And she's connected to the spirit world and temples and stuff; she said so herself. It's her—we have to go find her!"

Glancing down, Kakuzu thought it over, and although he knew Hidan was a little more attached to Shima than he should be, and that his feelings for her could easily be affecting what he was thinking and therefore saying, he couldn't help but think that Hidan's words did make a lot of sense. It was true she was connected to the spirit world; and it was a little strange that her memories had almost been forcing themselves into her consciousness when she tried to bring on a vision. It wasn't as if there were many people out there who were able to have visions in the first place, and yet Shima came along. The images on the sanctuary clearly showed that the person who could have visions was special. Why couldn't it be possible that the person would be the key as well?

Hiding a sigh, Kakuzu finally looked back up at Hidan, a slight frown on his face. As much as he wanted to say Hidan was wrong and that he was coming out with a load of bullshit, Hidan never having made an impact on a mission before, Kakuzu knew he was right, and eventually nodded in agreement with his words. Instantly a smug smirk flickered over Hidan's features, and resisting the urge to just go ahead and punch him straight in the face, he turned his attention to the fact that, considering Shima was the key, they had just let her walk off and head off into the forest. But now they needed her, and that meant they had some travelling to do, causing him to simply state bluntly,

"Then I suggest we get going, if we're going to catch up with her, Hidan."

Right away and the smirk disappeared, a look of concern flashing up instead, and glad that his feelings for Shima would brush aside any need to boast about having figured out the solution, at least, Kakuzu followed on behind Hidan as they headed out of the temple. Taking a moment to remember and pick out the direction Shima had headed in, they quickly set off, following the clear trail she had left. At least they could be thankful for that—Shima wasn't exactly heading anywhere in a hurry; it wouldn't take long to catch up with her—or so they hoped. But they pushed on anyway.

They just hadn't been expecting what they found a moment later.

At first they had simply dismissed it and began to carry on; but noticing that something wasn't right, Kakuzu slowed to a halt, Hidan slowly doing the same, though wondering what was going on in order for him to do so. It was only when Kakuzu gestured around him that Hidan realised what he was getting at, and his mood sunk once more. Where Shima had been struggling, she had created a lot of broken branches and destruction around the clearing; though she hadn't been able to break free, she had at least managed to land a few blows on the guys who had grabbed her. But it wasn't exactly hard to figure out who it had been. It had been a surprise to find anyone else after the scroll at the beginning, let alone two groups coming after it.

"It's those guys again," Hidan growled, clenching his fists and glaring at the clearing in anger, adding on swiftly afterwards,

"Clearly they weren't finished when we got her out of there before."

Kakuzu was as frustrated as Hidan was at what had happened—though his reasons were a little different than what Hidan's were—but knew that they had to do something. But how in the hell were they supposed to find her now? At least before they had known she was heading back to the village; but those guys could have taken her anywhere! Scanning the clearing once more, Kakuzu looked for anything that could help them out; when he spotted something a moment later.

They had grabbed Shima and dragged her off, true, but she hadn't stopped fighting when they did so. She had continued to struggle as they hauled her out of the clearing—and that ultimately meant they had left a trail as they headed off. They hadn't tried to cover it up, knowing that as Kakuzu and Hidan were no longer with her, they weren't about to be coming after her...and finally they had some stroke of luck to help them out.

Pointing out the trail to Hidan, they instantaneously set off, knowing they would need to travel as fast as possible to catch up, considering these guys had had a pretty major head start against them. But they were a bigger group, and they had to carry their 'extra'—an extra that was fighting and struggling every step of the way, no doubt. That would slow them down significantly; and they wouldn't feel the need to travel as fast as possible, believing no one would be coming after them. In their minds, they had all the time in the world to take Shima back to their base; they didn't need to rush. They'd just be concentrating on making sure Shima didn't escape—so they would merely be ambling along. That merely meant Kakuzu and Hidan would be able to catch up with them easily enough; there was only two of them, and they could travel fast.

Mentioning these facts to Hidan, he simply increased his speed even more, determined to find Shima as soon as possible. Kakuzu wasn't about to protest, and pulled up next to Hidan, keeping equal as they continued on. Hidan knew that Kakuzu wasn't thinking about Shima's predicament in the same sort of sense that he was, not considering her safety but merely the fact that he couldn't lose the key that would allow them to complete the mission: after all, 'the mission was absolute'. But Hidan didn't care. As long as Kakuzu was willing to do what was necessary to keep Shima alive and unharmed, Kakuzu could have his own motives for doing this. But Hidan was determined to help her out and make sure she was okay. He had let her go off on her own, not making sure she got back to her village alright even though those guys had been after her anyway. He should have at least checked she would get back to her village unharmed!

But this time he would keep her safe.

His enthusiasm was only heightened by the idea they needed Shima once again to help out with the mission. True, he didn't know how things would turn out once she had opened the sanctuary and they had the scroll, but he at least had more time with Shima. That way he might be able to figure something out. He might be able to find a way to keep in contact with her and see her again. But he couldn't do that if she was hurt—or worse, dead. Though he doubted these guys were going to kill her, if they got her to open the sanctuary and got the scroll for themselves, there was a chance they would consider her useless afterwards, and ultimately kill her then. So he had to hurry.

They travelled in the same way; at the same speed for what seemed like hours from there, Hidan growing more and more frustrated as the time went by. But as voices reached his ears; recognizing a string of swear words as coming from Shima, he brushed that all aside and headed through the trees towards them, seeing her continuing to struggle, but with the guys beginning to get irritated with her, pushing her around and hurting her.

Hidan didn't hesitate to get out his scythe.