Forsaken

Nine - Hidan's POV

I was elated when Ayame finally opened her eyes and looked around. The expression of pure curiosity as she saw the towering ice sculptures and building made of ice that neither melted or broke. Koorigakure was a village hidden far away in a land that has yet to be discovered by anyone, such as everyone called the area which the leaf village rested The Land of Fire, this land was called The Land of Mystery. Typically, the ninja here specialized in the element of water, but many of the ninja that are here came here from all over our world after having been found abandoned by their villages so there was not a specific type of ninja that resided here. This village was also one of peace, knowing only violence if violence should come to them, never do they purposely engage in wars or battles and this is where I want to rest.

"What is this place?" I smiled as she looked up at me with a joy that was long since gone in her eyes. The same joy was even in Sasori's eyes as he watched Ayame glide on the ice below her feet.

"This is Koorigakure; It was once your mother's village." She stopped skating and looked around at all the ice sculptures.

"Why was I never brought here?" I knew that question would surface, and I truthfully had no response that would make Ayame happy. Sasori stepped in and took Ayame's hand in his own and looked down at her with a loving look in those puppet eyes of his.

"It probably brought back bad memories before, but now we're all here, and we're going to live here in a peace we never had anywhere else. Is that okay with you Ayame?" I was thankful for Sasori stepping in and as Ayame looked in my direction I knew the answer had satisfied her for now. The kage of this village walked over to us and bowed slightly at me. I waved my hand signaling that they didn't have to do that but when they looked over at Ayame; their eyes seemed to brighten up.

"Oh Hidan, is this beautiful young woman my niece?" I nodded and she wrapped her arms around Ayame. I could see the unfamiliarity making Ayame uncomfortable at first, but soon she raised her arms around her aunt and gave her a hug. Something she wouldn't do with anyone before this.

Ayame's aunt took her away while they gossiped among themselves. Amira was my wife's sister who was devastated when she was told Ayame had unfortunately passed away. Before the attack I had reconnected with her and explained to her that my life of crime was coming to an end and I needed somewhere that Ayame could grow up. Of course she was confused at first since Ayame had passed away when she was young, but I managed to fill her in on everything that's happened. I made sure to tell her that Ayame has no recollection of any of it since we wiped her memory that way she wouldn't accidentally bring all those memories back and make them haunt my daughter.

Sasori touched my shoulder and looked up at me; he wanted answers because not even he knew where we were going. Sasori had informed me after Ayame's injury that he wanted to go with us and protect her. I knew he just wanted to remain close to her because of his true feelings towards her, but I couldn't deny him. If anyone were to touch my daughter I would prefer someone that I knew well such as Sasori. I motioned for him to follow me to a quaint cabin to our left.

Upon entering the cabin I took a deep breathe; this was where I used to live when my life was turned into a downward spiral of misery. Sasori put his hand my arm as a way to calm me down and I looked at him gratefully. I was glad that Sasori was here with me because while he didn't speak much at the base, he's rather comforting. We sat down on the couch I used to have many movie nights with my wife before she passed away.

"Alright Hidan, where are we? How come no one knew of this village?" Sasori asked with confusion lacing his voice.

"We are at The Village Hidden in the Ice. No one knew of this village because when Shina became pregnant with Ayame we traveled around looking for the perfect home. Shina's specialty when it came to her chakra was water and ice, so we figured we could maybe live in the Village Hidden in the Mist. Upon arriving, we saw how many homeless people and ninja there were. At this point this was something we'd seen a lot of but Kirigakure had been the worse. Shina got the idea to create our own village, so we ventured on until we came upon this abandoned place. No one had been here in centuries so Shina took the time and researched how to make the perfect ice which is what most buildings are covered in here, even if they have normal homes underneath. This is for defense purposes. When Shina crafted this village she left it under the control of Amira, her sister." Sasori paused as he was about to speak, presumably because this was a lot to take in.

"How did Amira know of your arrival?"

"I have been planning to leave the Akatsuki since Ayame was first back in my arms. I reconnected with Amira via birds, and explained to her my plan. Then when they attacked and you found my plan, I had to set everything in motion faster than I wanted to." Sasori nodded as we both laid back on the couch. These couple years have been something to think about, especially now that I've found that Ayame isn't aging. She would be twenty-two now but she's still stuck as a child, and I know that nothing is going to change that but having her here will at least let her relax and live normally. She no longer has to deal with being an experiment or a ninja. She can finally relax.