The Key To So Many Doors (Hidan Story)

Chapter 11.

Hidan wasn’t sure how to react to the sudden change.

Yesterday Shima had yelled at him for asking so many questions. But the moment he woke up, yawning, pushing himself into a sitting up position, he had glanced over to see Shima looking back at him with a smile. A smile he hadn’t seen from her yet. Yeah, there had been the times when she wasn’t swearing and yelling and telling him to stop asking her questions and they’d talked a little, maybe joked around a bit, and she’d smiled then. But it had never been the kind of smile she was showing to him now. Strangely enough, it put Hidan on guard, tensing up a little as he watched her. He was almost expecting something to happen; that the moment he responded and got on with his morning routine she would proceed to attack him and hack off his head or something.

But then again, it’s not as if Shima acted like she full on hated him. If he kept away from questions, they actually got on pretty well. Plus, he had no idea what she was trying to show from this smile. Admittedly, there could be something she was hiding beneath it, but at the same time it could just be an honest smile. Hidan had never exactly been good at reading people and understanding their emotions; how the hell would he know what she was attempting to show him? Therefore he couldn’t immediately act defensively. Shima had no reason to truly act up against him, and so shaking off his slight hesitation, he smirked back, sitting up fully and stretching a little, oblivious to the feeling of relief that flickered through Shima. She didn’t even know why she was so relieved. It was a smile; what was the big deal? Yet she had gotten nervous that he would react badly.

At least the first hurdle was over…

So the morning continued in the way it normally did. Shima tossed some food over to Hidan for him to eat, getting ready to go on with their journey. They didn’t have much longer to go until they’d reach their destination, and Kakuzu was getting fidgety, hurrying up Hidan as much as he could to finish his breakfast swiftly. After all; he’d considered this whole thing a detour for the mission. He hadn’t wanted to have to go and attempt to find someone who could have visions, and then go and collect them and travel all the way back. So the idea that they were close meant that things could finally move forward and they could do what was necessary. The mission was absolute, when it came down to it (or at least in Kakuzu's opinion).

But eventually Hidan was finished eating, and getting up, making sure there was nothing to leave a trail for someone to follow, they all set off through the trees once more. Hidan was still a little tense, however. He’d accepted the fact Shima had smiled at him, and he’d accepted the fact that he’d tossed her the food and had gone ahead and eaten it. But he couldn’t help but feel as if something had changed. When Shima had yelled at him yesterday, he had figured she wasn’t about to forget it any time soon—she had an anger that was similar to both him and Kakuzu. Only now she seemed pretty calm towards him; no, even more than calm—almost happy with him. Sure, Hidan wasn’t about to protest to that fact, having wanted to get past the whole aggressive stage, but the fact that it had happened within the space of one night made him a little unsure.

But he got the feeling he was about to find out as Shima abruptly came a little closer to him, walking side by side with him and turning towards him in a way that meant whatever she was about to say was for him only. Smirking at that fact, but still noticing that his muscles had automatically tensed up, Hidan did nothing but nod in acceptance of the fact that Shima was there as she began a little sheepishly,

“Hey, Hidan…listen. I’m sorry. I know I’ve been a real bitch over the last couple of days and it’s probably been pretty difficult to deal with me considering I know I was talking and chatting with you at one point and then screaming at you the next, but…I was just a little unsure. With how things have gone…it’s kind of a change for me. So; yeah. I’m sorry.”

Blinking a little in surprise, Hidan didn’t say anything in return for the first few seconds. Like him, Shima didn’t seem the type to have a thing for apologizing to people. If you did something, you did something—there was no point regretting it, and most people didn’t even deserve an apology anyway. So to hear her saying it was slightly unusual. But as Hidan watched her saying it; watched as she kept glancing away and avoiding eye contact, keeping her voice low like she didn’t want Kakuzu to hear it, and he knew it was genuine. There was no need for all that nervousness he’d had earlier that morning, or the immediate reaction of tensing when she had come closer to him. True, Shima did have reason to make people be wary of that when she had the abilities that she did, along with her temper, but in this situation, Hidan didn’t have anything to worry about, and so shrugging at her words, he replied casually,

“Seriously, Shima, don’t fucking worry about it. It’s nothing—I mean, we are practically fucking strangers, anyway. Not to mention you’re not difficult to deal with. Not when you have to deal with Kakuzu every fucking day. But why are you unsure? What’s there to be unsure about?”

Looking back at the confused and strangely adorable and innocent look on Hidan's face at why Shima was unsure about talking to him and answering his questions, Shima couldn’t help but smirk back at him and shake her head. Somehow, she was beginning to wonder the answer to that herself. There might be people out there who would consider her vision abilities weird; who would call her a freak like they had done before in her old village, but she wasn’t with them right now. She was with Hidan and Kakuzu. And Hidan wasn’t the manipulative type; he might be violent and vicious when it came down to fighting and killing people—not that Shima wasn’t—but she could tell he was the confrontational type: that had pretty much been obvious when she had first seen him yell at Kakuzu when he had mocked him. No; Shima didn’t have anything to worry about—at least not at the moment—and so she shook off Hidan's question, not even knowing how she would have answered it to begin with.

So instead Shima changed the topic, turning it elsewhere and allowing them to get back into conversation. This time, when Hidan asked questions, she was alright with answering them, and found she had her own questions to ask in return. At least now they were able to find out a little bit more about each other, and just like they had know to begin with, they got on well. It was just easier now that Shima wasn’t so on guard when it came down to what Hidan might say and her moods were flicking back and forth like she had bipolar disorder. Things remained amicable with the two of them, and she realised she had a lot more similarities with Hidan than she had even thought when they’d first met. She still hit him a few times, true, but at least this time they were able to laugh it off and move on. Kakuzu wasn’t sure whether he liked this or not, considering now that they were talking and getting on even better Hidan was bringing out Shima’s own obnoxious side. She shared that same ‘fuck all’ attitude as Hidan, even if it wasn’t as obvious as Hidan's own.

At least before she had been quiet and alright to deal with.

But Shima didn’t care. She was having fun. And she actually found that, although he was crass and obnoxious, there were parts of that that were merely superficial. When she got onto the right kind of topic with him, Shima found it wasn’t just swearing and shouting with him. That she connected with him; but on a deeper level than just the one on the surface. Sometimes he could say something and it almost seemed sweet, even if the fact he was an S-class criminal remained at the back of her mind. Sometimes she got to see the true entity of his faith for Jashin and realised just how loyal he was.

But Hidan was more than willing to show it to her—because, unlike others, she actually listened to him. She didn’t immediately dismiss his beliefs and act as if they were stupid and didn’t mean a thing. Whereas he was so used to Kakuzu seeing him as a stupid idiot 24/7, Shima treated him as more than that. For once, someone was looking past that surface layer, getting to know the person underneath and getting along with them.

Though they couldn’t help but feel they were the only ones who could understand each other.