The Key To So Many Doors (Hidan Story)

Chapter 3.

The novelty of the journey had worn off by the second day.

Once the recollection of what it was like travelling with Kakuzu came back to Hidan, his mood lowered significantly, it was true. He just tried to focus on the fact that they were doing something, at least, and that soon enough there would be a third member on their team—for the time being. Hidan constantly hoped that she would have better social skills than Kakuzu did; though then again, anything could have better social skills than Kakuzu (sorry Kuzu). But Hidan was looking forward to it with a passion. It would pass the time better, allow him to focus on something other than the boredom this mission had promised to supply him with…all in all it would definitely help elevate his mood, so as much as he got pissed off travelling at the moment, if he could just wait until he met this girl, then things would change. And change for the better.

He could just feel it.

It was why he was so happy when the gates of the village appeared ahead, a grin flickering over his face as they walked through them. Yeah, the village wasn’t anything fantastic, but compared to the one before it was much better. This village was quite a bit bigger than the one before, with lots more people, places and things to do. That fact in itself made Hidan happier, let alone all that was going to be happening, even if he most likely wouldn’t get a chance to do a lot there. Kakuzu rolled his eyes at Hidan's change in mood now they had arrived, telling him to stop acting like an idiot, but Hidan wasn’t about to be stopped by him; he just needed anything to get rid of his boredom. And if he couldn’t have a battle, then this was second best.

A battle wasn’t as far off as Hidan might have thought, however. Two guys hovered around the village gates, deep in conversation with each other and seemingly paying attention to anything else. It was only clear what they were really concentrating on as Hidan and Kakuzu fully passed by, their gazes flicking to them as they continued walking into the village. They knew who they were, so there was no way they would reveal they were watching them like this. As such, they didn’t stop talking until they’d finally disappeared, one turning to the other to suggest casually,

“I guess we better keep following them, huh?” The other rolling his eyes at the statement to reply with a scowl,

“Naturally, baka. Considering we’ve followed them this far, why would we stop now when we’re after the same thing they are?”

It had been coincidence that he’d heard about the scroll—but when he’d overheard them talking about it, he couldn’t pass up the chance. They would pave the way for him, and all he would have to do was pick up the pieces and get exactly what he wanted. So looking once more in their direction, a second later and they were gone.

Hidan and Kakuzu had the basic area of where she lived, but decided to ask someone to get the specific address before they approached her. Making it look as if they were stalking her wasn’t about to get them in her good books, so after a quick set of questions they had the information they needed, heading over their straight away. The house wasn’t anything special, but then again, it didn’t need to be. They knew she was a ninja too, and as such, she travelled a lot. Why spend tons of money on a fancy house when she might not even be staying for long? Then walking up to the door, Hidan (for once) agreed with Kakuzu to act polite for the moment, and after a slight pause, he knocked on the door, waiting to see if there was any answer.

He just hadn’t expected the door to open a second later with her standing in her underwear.

For a minute, there was silence on both sides. Hidan attempted to avoid looking Shima over, but found his eyes began to wander anyway, regardless of what he did to stop them. Her long silver hair was left loose at the moment, tousled and ruffled from sleep to lay mid-torso. Clearly she hadn’t been up for long, and from the looks of it, she still wanted to be in bed, her golden eyes a little half-lidded from tiredness. The fact Shima was in her underwear seemed completely lost to her, as she remained standing there looking at them as if it was completely normal—not that it bothered Hidan. She did suit the underwear she was wearing…he’d say that, at least. With a body like hers he wouldn’t really protest to the idea of her walking around like that, only focusing back in on the big picture as she blurted lethargically,

“Who the fuck are you?”

Only for her gaze to soften a little as she looked down at their cloaks. Blinking in surprise at how that made such a difference and wondering why she was now suddenly ok with them being there, neither Hidan nor Kakuzu could say anything as she then added swiftly on afterwards,

“Oh—come in, whatever.”

Stepping back, Shima turned and headed back into the house, Hidan following perhaps a little too eagerly on behind. Following her through the corridors, she eventually halted in the kitchen, turning round to lean against the counter and ushered them in. Doing as she said, they stood facing her in the kitchen, Kakuzu taking the chance—considering it was there—to begin asking her questions. Nodding in acceptance of that fact, she confirmed her name and the fact that she was able to have visions of the future and of things that generally happened in the world; but Hidan couldn’t help but notice things weren’t quite right. It was almost as if she was using the counter less as something to lean against, and more as something to prop her up, lacking the energy to stand of her own accord. He had noted her tiredness a moment earlier, but he was beginning to wonder if it was more along the lines of exhaustion.

This fact was only brought more to the surface as Kakuzu asked her where she came from, only to find she hadn’t heard the question at all, merely standing there rubbing her temples. She was still barely listening when Kakuzu tried again, and Hidan eventually took a step forward, questioning bluntly,

“Is something wrong? Maybe we should come back later.”

“I’ve got a bad headache. Just…11:30. I’ll be fine by then,” she replied swiftly, and nodding in acceptance, glancing at Kakuzu as he did so, they turned and left the house—though Kakuzu didn’t exactly seem too happy about it. He said nothing as they said goodbye and walked off, but the moment they were out of sight he span to face Hidan and spat,

“What the hell are you doing? We don’t have time to make appointments, here!”

“What? So you’ll just attempt to fucking ask her questions that she can’t answer because she’s fucking tired and in pain? Yeah, because that’ll fucking work out great!” Hidan snapped back, and although he noted Kakuzu's hand clenching into a fist, he did nothing to try and hit him; knowing there was nothing he could do about it now. As such, he turned and headed further into the village, dismissing Hidan's words as he growled,

“Fine! We’ll go back at 11:00!”

Shima took several deep breaths, trying to dispel her headache. She didn’t always get them, but considering she hadn’t exactly slept well last night, they were more inclined to appear, and this one happened to be a particularly bad one. It was most likely this that stopped her from noticing anyone else in the house with her; and it wasn’t until she was hit in the back, causing her to fall forward onto the floor, that it finally occurred to her that any ninjas were there. But really not in the mood for this, she swiftly got back up and responded, her anger only growing as several things were smashed in the kitchen, allowing her to kill a couple of the ninjas. But there was nothing she could to do to fight the sedative that entered her body with a senbon needle a moment later; even as she grabbed her shuriken holster. So she did the only thing she could do; building up chakra in her hand, she placed it on one of the bodies as she dropped to her knees—it would activate when it came into contact with someone else. And as she fully fell into unconsciousness—

She could only hope one of the Akatsuki would find it when they came back.