Naruto 1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Naruto and its respective characters do not belong to me. This plot however, does. **

**Chapter One**

The forest was deathly quiet.

Sakura's body trembled heavily as she leaned against the trunk of a tree. Fatigue plagued her like a disease gnawing away at her morale, and all she wanted at this point was to collapse on the earthen floor and succumb to the sleep her body so desperately craved.

Sakura had been wandering aimlessly for a day and a half now. It was all that was left for her to do anyway, for if she remembered anything, it was how to run.

Thirty-six hours ago Sakura had awoken on a battlefield. Her body had been badly beaten, gruesome cuts running up and down her arms, and blood soaked into her shirt. Her muscles were aching and sore and her face was caked in dirt. Her head was throbbing mercilessly, as if someone had cracked it open against a jagged boulder before she woke up. Upon touching it gingerly, small flecks of drying blood came back on her fingers.

In her confusion she took a few steps back, but felt something stop against her sandaled foot. Looking down curiously, a small shriek left her mouth. Bodies, so many bodies were strewn around her like spirals of barbed wire, mangled beyond recognition. Puffs of billowing smoke were erupting from the ground. She gazed around slowly and realized her feet were standing in the middle of a pool of blood, and it was a sickening realization that the blood did not belong to her.

Bile rose in her throat as panic threatened to overtake her mind.

The inevitable question was about to make its way on the tip of her tongue when suddenly a blond-haired boy with bright blue eyes came charging full speed in her direction. He looked startlingly, disarmingly familiar as her eyes strained to see him through the thickets of dust.

He was waving wildly in her direction, screaming something she could not quite hear. Sakura furrowed her brow and inclined her head to the side, trying to make out his words.

As the boy grew closer to her, her eyes drank in the crazed expression on the blond's face.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan, run! _Run!_"

She assumed had had been speaking to her, seeing as everyone else in their vicinity was dead.

He stumbled forward and tumbled to the ground with a cry, as if some impressive force had knocked him down and was dragging him away.

Her mouth opened in shock as she began to say his name, but quickly realized she did not have a name to call him by. Who was this boy? Why was he so painstakingly familiar?

He caught her gaze one last time and it shook her very soul as he screamed, the raw kind of scream that caused goosebumps to rise on her skin and the hairs on the back of her neck to stand tall in fright.

With every fiber of his being, the blond boy cried out desperately, "RUN!"

She turned on her heel instantly.

And so here she was, tired and aching and having absolutely no idea who or where she was.

Nighttime had fallen a few hours ago, but it was the hunger that propelled her forward to keep moving. Her head was still in pain from whatever blow had landed on it in the battlefield, not to mention the severe exhaustion and hunger that made her head dizzy and spin deeply.

Pushing off from the tree with a sad sigh, Sakura trudged on through the forest.

In the duration of her head injury and her flight, Sakura became painfully aware of a few things.

For one, she was a kunoichi. It did not take a genius to realize that one (though waking up in the middle of a war did shed some light on it).

Two, she had not eaten anything for possibly three days and was now suffering from its crippling side effects, and unless she found a viable source of food within the next hour, it would make no difference if she had stayed with the blond on the battlefield or died here in the dense woods out of exhaustion and starvation.

Three; whoever she was, she was capable of medical jutsu.

The last bit was discovered purely by accident on the first night she entered the strange forest. She had accidentally grazed past a thick branch and received a long, painfully deep cut on her right calf. Her hand automatically flew to her bleeding wound, covering the cut with a small grimace of pain. Her misery was beginning to bubble into her hysterically as she stared around her helplessly; she wished she knew what on this god-forsaken planet was going on.

And it was at this precise moment, where tears threatened to spill down muddy cheeks as her resolve very nearly cracked—for any young woman running blindly from an unseen enemy while suffering from memory loss _would_ start to go a little mad—that her hand began to glow green.

Sakura didn't notice it immediately. It was not until a gentle warmth began spreading down her leg that she glanced down, finding her hand glowing and her pain subsiding.

She yelped and snatched her hand away, staring at it like it was some foreign creature. She glanced down at her leg and was surprised to see that the wound had completely closed, but was still visible and slightly throbbing.

Furrowing her brow, Sakura stared at her hand again, then back at her wound.

Then, with tentative fingers, she touched her calf again.

It did not happen immediately. She was about to pull away, feeling suddenly very silly at the prospect that she was capable of healing anything and that she her hunger had made her think she saw her hand glowing, when it started again.

Her eyes widened comically as warm, soothing heat traveled from her hand directly onto her injury. A sigh involuntarily left her as the pain thinned out to a dull throb, before vanishing completely.

The revelation of her healing capabilities brought light to a few things. Over the day and half that she'd spent travelling, most of the wounds she had seen on herself when regaining consciousness were, for the most part, completely gone. It made sense, since she'd felt this same warmth spread over her last night while she was sleeping. At the time Sakura assumed she was getting sick and would probably wake in the morning with a cold, but to her amazement she was fresh as a cotton ball the following morning. Now she knew better.

However, medical jutsu helped her very little when foraging for food.

Despite that most of her memory was—hopefully temporarily—gone, she still maintained a general understanding of chakra. Right now she was nearing its finish, and that worried her. She was not foolish enough to believe she was strong enough to survive on her own without something to back her up. And while she did not remember what her kunoichi capabilities were yet, it was always a comfort to know that she had energy to fight if necessary. The depleting chakra did not help this cause, however.

Sakura's internal musings came to a halt when she arrived upon a clearing. Her movements stilled as her eyes scanned the open area critically. There were sparse trees surrounding a mass of tumbled boulders and rocks, as if a meteor shower fell upon one concentrated area.

There was no sudden stillness of insect chirps or owl hoots, so she presumed there was no immediate enemy threat here. She could tell, however, that a battle must have happened here once. From the looks of the overgrown grass in random patches, it must have been a few years ago.

Sakura took a step forward and stilled, listening intently. When nothing sharp and metal came whizzing at her heart, she took another step, then another, and another, until she was nearing the middle of the clearing where a few rocks were protruding the rough ground.

Wiping her forehead with the back of her hand, Sakura looked up at the night sky. Stars littered the sky with flecks of light, the moon shining in a crescent shape in the far distance. On a better night, she would have spent until sunrise staring at the infinite span of the sky. Unfortunately, tonight was not a better night.

Sighing again, Sakura glanced around and took a tentative seat on a rock jutting out smoothly from the ground. She was still hungry, but Sakura did not find any fruits or berries yet, and did not have any weapons on her to hunt with. If she could even hunt, that was.

Even if she found food…then what? Was she really going to spend the rest of her days scavenging in these god-awful woods? The prospect of spending eternity wandering was something Sakura cringed at, but searching for civilization made her wary as well. From what she saw on the battle plain, humanity was struggling at staying alive. She had no indication who the opposition was, and would not be able to tell comrade from enemy if approached.

Her best and worst option was to stay put.

Sakura's feet dangled idly as she pondered her predicament. Looking up again, she concluded the sky would not surprise her with a sudden downpour and force her into finding an alternative form of shelter. Glancing around, Sakura admitted to herself that being out in the open like this did not appease her resolve either.

Sakura rose to her feet and placed her hands on her hips, pursing her lips as she stared at the clearing skeptically. The mounds of rocks were jagged and very large. If they were altered around just a _tiny_ bit, she was certain that a perfect shelter could be made.

Sakura shook her head. Moving giant rocks. _Right._

It was while she was staring irritatedly at the uneven formation of the rocks that a small, auburn colored sphere partially embedded in the dirt caught her eye.

Was that…a berry?

Her eyes widened. Moving quickly, Sakura kneeled to the ground and brushed the dirt away, until the tiny ball was grasped between her fingers. But upon touching it, a disapproving frown etched on her features.

She should have known better. Berries buried in the ground? Even it were edible, Sakura questioned whether she would've actually gone through with it.

But it was not a berry, and definitely not something edible either. It was round and hard, not juicy and easily pinched into a ball of mush like a grape.

Upon closer inspection, Sakura realized it was a rosary bead.

"Odd," she muttered, holding it up to look at it closer. It was caked with dirt, and when her nail scratched at its surface the auburn color broke off to reveal silver.

Her stomach gave a sad noise and Sakura's face transformed into a grimace. A wave of contempt towards the faux berry flitted over her, and Sakura angrily pulled her arm back to fling the bead far, far away.

But something stopped her. Frowning, Sakura slowly lowered her hand and looked at the bead again. The dull silvery color was barely visible in the moonlight, but something about casting it off as if it meant nothing made her feel…wrong.

She sighed and moved from her knees to sit properly, gazing at the tiny rosary bead.

"Maybe I should just eat you anyway," Sakura said to the silent bead. As if to prove herself, she raised it to her mouth and bit down. Pulling it back, she noticed she'd left deep bite marks in it. She felt a little bad for tarnishing its round appearance.

Sakura shook her head. "What's happening to me," she mumbled somberly, lowering her hand sullenly to the ground.

Tiredly, Sakura scooted backwards with slow movements until her back rested against a massive rock. Her eyes drooped as her head began to feel excessively heavy to hold up.

Maybe in the morning…she could continue her search for food…finding a stream would actually be the jackpot…

Pale fingers were still curled around the rosary bead when she slumped over in deep sleep.

-:-

Small eyes stared through hers curiously.

She dared not move. Maybe it was the delirium and the severe extent of her hunger that pushed her mind to go on pure instinct, for Sakura knew moving or even changing the rhythm of her breathing would throw everything to hell. So, she did not move.

It was two feet away from her body. Sometime over the night Sakura had slumped to the dirt and grassy floor of the clearing, legs curled slightly in a fetal position for staying warm and one arm extended outwards, while pillowing her head at the same time. Her free arm was resting lightly against the cool ground near her chest.

It was small and its fur appeared soft. Its slightly plump body told her it was feeding itself well, finding food much more easily than she was. Its nose twitched slightly, not even realizing that she was a living, breathing predator.

What happened next was in a blur. One second she was still as stone, and the next her arm lifted in the air and swiped down swiftly in less than a millisecond. Before the creature could even realize that it was in danger, its neck was snapped in half.

Sakura was breathing heavily now, the deed done. Slowly she crawled to her hands and knees, arms trembling just slightly while pushing herself up. Hesitantly, she leaned over to her kill.

It was a small rabbit, scavenging for something to eat. She had woken up to it nibbling the ground near her. The early rays of morning were barely breaking through the darkened horizon when her eyes slowly cracked open upon the sound of movement. It had taken a large amount of restraint to keep from moving away on reaction, but when her eyes zeroed in on the animal, her mind had shut down and pushed itself somewhere far in the recesses of her brain. What overtook her next was something far more primal and desperate.

Now looking at the dead animal, Sakura felt the stinging sensation of pity. It had been hungry, just like her.

But that was the point, wasn't it? She was hungry too.

And thus the circle of life continued its rhythmic cycle.

"Let's get you cooked," Sakura muttered quietly, as if it could hear her. Sakura blinked. The absolute silence of her travellings was slowly eating away at her sanity, for sure. She hardly ever talked to herself, but quickly found herself doing it more and more often as the hours went by.

Then again, she had no idea if she used to talk to herself like this before her memory disappeared.

Glancing around, Sakura tried looking for something sharp that she could cut the rabbit with, but found nothing but dust, rock, and trees. She ran a hand through her hair in frustration, but paused when her hand caught something.

Her fingers wrapped around the band around her head, pulling the knot that held it together free. A metal rectangle with a small symbol inscribed in the center was sewn into a pink strip of cloth.

A forehead protector. If she needed any more indication that she was indeed a kunoichi, this was it.

Her mouth became a grim line as she gripped the cloth and tore it off, leaving just the metal rectangle. Moving over to a stone, Sakura raked one edge of the metal against it in hopes of sharpening it. After a few minutes when she was satisfied with her handiwork, she moved back to the fallen animal.

Taking a shuddering breath, Sakura tightly gripped the metal and began to cut.

-:-

"Oh that was _good_," Sakura sighed contently, stretching languorously on the ground. Never mind the blood and the stains all over the ground and down the front of her shirt, Sakura had been successful in gutting and cooking the rabbit for breakfast. Its effects were immediate, for Sakura was filled with more energy and stamina to keep searching for food and figuring out what to do next. Survival clearly superseded her guilt of killing an animal for food.

Eventually Sakura had ventured beyond the clearing and—thankfully—caught sight of a small stream that drained into a larger pool of water about half a mile from the clearing. Taking much-needed gulps of fresh water, Sakura found some vegetation nearby the stream and began gathering whatever she could before heading back to the clearing. It was probably not the safest place to camp out, but it was convenient with the rock shelter.

Sakura turned over on the ground, and her eyes caught the small rosary bead sitting just a few inches away from her nose. She raised an eyebrow. Just as she was about to pick it up, the corner of her eye caught sight of another bead not very far from her. Frowning, Sakura sat up and picked up the two beads.

Clearly the darkness of the night made her miss what was blatantly in front of her. Scattered all around the clearing were identical silver rosary beads, some partially buried under the rubble and rocks of the clearing. It was probably pure boredom that made her do it, but either way Sakura had forgotten all about her contented appetite and began gathering the little beads together. There weren't too many, a total of twelve in her hand.

"How odd," Sakura mused, turning over the beads lightly on her palm. Why were there rosary beads in the middle of the forest? She shrugged and glanced around at the clearing. "Whoever caused this rock catastrophe here must've dropped it," she deduced.

She kept them in her hand, moving them this way and that as she studied them contemplatively. Then an idea jumped in her mind and Sakura straightened, scrambling on the ground.

Grasping the red cloth which once harbored the metal (but now severely bloody and gutty) forehead protector, sakura laid the little beads in front of her in a small pile. With calculating eyes, sakura grasped the very corner of the cloth and stripped off a piece cleanly. Then one by one, Sakura slipped a bead down the cloth, until all fourteen were dangling on the sliver of cloth thin enough to be a reinforced string.

"Perfect," Sakura smiled. She was about to tie a knot to close it when she paused. "Hmm. Something still doesn't look quite…right…" Sakura stared at it inquisitively. Though Sakura had no particularly strong feelings for jewelry or fineries, something compelled her to continue her quest of putting together this particular rosary. She did not question it, deducing that sheer boredom encouraged her to waste a little bit of time like this.

Carefully putting the beads and string down, Sakura tucked her knees under her chin and stared at the trees surrounding her. Though her appetite had been appeased, she still felt…not right. Discontented.

_Maybe nothing ever will_, Sakura wondered. It was just too strange that she hadn't seen hide or tail of another living person in three days now. She'd expected at getting caught and captured within seconds of her flight, right after the blond boy with piercing blue eyes begged for her to run.

Just thinking about the boy made her stomach churn. Was he alright? Was he still alive? In essence the boy had saved her life. It did not sit well with her that he could be lying dead on that battlefield somewhere.

Then Sakura wondered if she should have listened to him at all. Sakura did not like the idea of running away. Whoever she was, she was a ninja. Last she knew, ninja did not run away from battle…and yet, that was exactly what she had done.

Her fist moved back to slam it against a large rock in building frustration. "Damn it all," she growled, squeezing her eyes shut. What god decided to put her through this hell? What had she done to bring this kind of misery upon herself?

Her fist connected with another rock as she punched it angrily. This time her knuckles throbbed, forcing out a groan. She held her closed fist tightly to her chest, wishing for the pain to go away. All of her pain.

"Unlikely," Sakura murmured to herself. There was no point in sitting and worrying herself to death. The only place to go was forward.

That thought halted on the spot. Sakura's eyes grew wide as saucers when she turned around saw exactly what damage she had done to the rocks surrounding her that she'd decided to punch.

"Well this changes things."

-:-

A loud crash against a massive rock brought a grin to Sakura's face.

"Now this is more like it!"

Nothing could make her stop smiling. Who would when they learned they could obliterate boulders with one swift punch?

Her breath was coming out in short pants. The clearing around her had not turned into a makeshift training ground against anything solid and over one hundred pounds. She had taken to practicing with them, seeing just how far her chakra control was. She did not want to spend too much time practicing, because she'd only just recovered some of her lost chakra from the rabbit and the stream earlier, and it would have been a pain to quickly gather that kind of strength again just to lose it all so quickly.

But during her incessant punches and kicks, Sakura had found the most perfect addition to her rosary beads; something she had found while smashing boulders together with her bare hands.

A small, silver circle with an inverted triangle pendant was lying innocently on the ground where she just picked up a few massive rocks from. Frowning, sakura set it down and looked at the curious-looking pendant with interest, before finally deeming it worthy and adding it on to the string. It was only big enough to be a bracelet, so she quickly tied the knot together and produced a unique bracelet that wrapped perfectly around her wrist, the pendant dangling freely.

Satisfied, Sakura glanced around at the havoc she'd wreaked. It was quite the mess. Sakura moved forward and easily gripped a giant rock that had split in half, maneuvering it to a more sitting position. Then another, and another, and soon she had created a makeshift shelter from three slabs of stone that would shield her from rain, should it decide to fall down.

Sakura stepped back to look at it critically. "Not the most subtle of shelters," she noted with a slight frown. She shrugged. It wasn't like she was going to stay here forever.

_Most likely just for tonight,_ Sakura thought idly. It was never safe to stay in one place for too long.

She began to shift the food she'd gathered near the stream and placed it inside the rock hut, then collapsed to the ground. It was nearing sunset, meaning another day had come and gone right before her eyes, and she still had no clue what was going on.

Sakura lazily lifted her wrist to gaze at the rosary bracelet she'd made on a pure whim. It was quite ugly, if she were being truly honest. She would never want to wear this out in public.

And yet despite that…wearing it gave her a sense of normalcy. Made her feel safe.

In a moment of impulse, Sakura brought the rosary bracelet to her mouth and closed her eyes, placing a gentle kiss on the pendant.

Her body jolted and her closed eyes scrunched even tighter. A gasp tore from her throat as her body arched, and flashes of images invaded her mind. So quick, so fast, and the feelings rampaging her body were almost too much for her to handle. Far off, she heard a deep chuckling, and saw a flash of black hair behind closed lids.

_You will be perfect, little one._ The voice was masculine and filled with amusement, and Sakura tried desperately to open her eyes, but still could not.

As soon as it started, it was finished. Finally she regained control over her body as her eyes flew open, settling back into reality. Sakura sat ramrod straight, gasping for breath as if she had run for miles.

"What the _hell_ was that?" she rasped, eyes ablaze as she glanced around her. Nobody was around her little shelter from what she could see, and when she tried dispelling a genjutsu someone could have placed on her, nothing happened.

Somebody had definitely spoken to her. Sakura was not foolish enough to believe that in the throes of pain she had imagined a dark-haired male speaking to her.

Her eyes fell to her wrist where the rosary bracelet was dangling innocently. Eyes widening, Sakura grasped with her other hand and tried tugging it off desperately. The sudden pain that had overtaken her body had happened precisely when she'd kissed the pendant. Perhaps there was a cursed seal or something placed on it that Sakura could not detect, but try as she might the bracelet refused to come off.

Desperation made her eyes sting, and Sakura enhanced her grip with chakra and tugged violently. The bracelet barely moved.

Letting go in frustration, Sakura ran a hand through her hair and gripped painfully at the scalp. "Dammit," she whispered harshly. The bracelet remained on her wrist. "What the hell is this?"

But the more she gazed at it, the less she felt like taking it off. The silvery gleam of the pendant and the beads shone dimly in her little shelter, and the longer she stared at it the more and more at ease she began to feel. It was only when her eyes began to droop that Sakura caught herself and gazed at the bracelet incredulously.

Growing increasingly uncomfortable, Sakura shuffled backwards until her back hit against the furthest wall of her hut, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. For some reason the rosary bracelet she'd constructed refused to come off, and what was worse was that she slowly did not feel the need to take it off anyway. What had happened a few minutes ago was still fresh in her mind, but even that started to slowly drift away from her consciousness, until all that remained was the sight of inky black hair and the sound of deep chuckling.

By the time the sun had dipped down below the horizon, Sakura could hardly remember why she wanted to take the bracelet off at all.

-:-

The problem with living in a forest was that there were no toilets.

So far it had been 'pick a bush and squat', but Sakura was still much too sleepy and tired and overall _exhausted_ to think that far. She had fallen asleep inside the hut for a few hours, and now it was nothing but stars and moonlight outside. Nature decided in the middle of her slumber to ring its annoying bell, and thus here she was, grumbling and kicking at rocks in irritation to try to find a nice place to relieve herself.

Ten minutes later, Sakura was walking slowly back to her campsite, a little annoyed at the peeping tom of an owl perched up on a tree that had decided to watch her with interest when she let her bladder go. She then decided that the nocturnal creature would make a fine dinner soon.

The thicket of trees parted once she came upon her little clearing. Sakura gazed down at her feet as she walked, noting with some trepidation that they were almost entirely caked in blood.

It was then that her wrist started feeling warm. Sakura did not pay it much heed, not until the slight warmth turned into blazing heat. With a sharp intake of breath Sakura looked at in dismay.

"What—"

She did not get to finish the sentence, for another round of prickly, scorching heat burned from her wrist to her arm, causing her steps to stagger until they stopped completely.

"Ow," Sakura gritted her teeth, trying desperately now to take the bracelet off. A second wave of heat burned against the skin of her wrist and Sakura cried out, stumbling forward until her knees crashed against the rocky ground, upturned severely from when she'd punched through several rocks the previous day.

Suddenly the pain in her wrist vanished. Breathing deeply, Sakura gazed at the flesh of her wrist under the bracelet, and saw it smooth and pale as it always was, as if the burning pain from a few moments ago never happened.

Frowning, Sakura was about to try and take it off again when a low sound caught her attention.

Instantly Sakura crouched low to the ground, her awareness of her surroundings spiking exponentially. She silently cursed herself for not bringing her forehead protector as some sort of weapon, for right now she was completely unarmed and an easy target.

The sound came again. Sakura furrowed her brow, straining her ears. She heard it once more, and it sounded like…a moan?

It came from where she was crouching, and Sakura glanced around at the rocks nearby her. She moved closer to the ground, pressing her ear against the dirt.

The sound was unmistakable, and Sakura's eyes widened. Instantly gathering chakra to her hands, she began hauling away large chunks of rock and stone. Sweat began to drip down her brow, but Sakura paid no heed. A sharp piece of rock grazed her arm and a thin stream of warm blood began trickling down slowly, until finally stopping on her wrist. A deep red droplet touched the edge of the pendant.

Sakura heard the groaning louder now. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed a particularly large rock and added more chakra to her hands, lifting it until it was completely tossed aside.

What she saw first was hair. A mass of dirty, silvery hair. Hesitant fingers reached out and slowly, tentatively touched it before retracting immediately. Sakura's frown deepened, and she carefully touched the hair again.

The hair groaned, and Sakura nearly leapt from where she was kneeling. So she was right! Someone was buried under here alive!

Finally Sakura felt her drive kick in, and Sakura squared her shoulder with resolve. _I'll get you out!_ Sakura thought forcefully, as if helping this defenseless creature could somehow redeem herself as the ninja she knew she was.

She touched the hair and felt down, clearly coming in contact with skin of the person's face. Going further down, Sakura gripped tightly (as she did not see this person's shoulders to grasp on yet) and gave an almighty tug.

Sakura yelped as she landed flat on her back with the amount of force she'd yanked upwards with, for the body of the person was lighter than she'd expected. In fact—

Sakura's face was still as stone as her hands held up, in front of her eyes while she was lying still on the ground, the head of a man.

And only the head.

His eyes were closed with his mouth slightly open, and Sakura could feel horror bubbling inside of her. She was drawing in a sharp breath, as if preparing to scream herself hoarse, when the man's eyes flew open.

She deflated as all the breath left her lungs, staring up incredulously at the man now blinking down at her with deep, purple eyes.

He groaned a little and scowled, eyes darting around him, then back down at her. His face twisted in a grimace.

Suddenly the head growled out, "About fucking time!"

Sakura blinked. He was glaring down at her, and her hands were starting to tremble from holding up a twenty-five pound head above her own, for the chakra that aided in her rock upheaval had long since left her.

The man scowled viciously. "Well? Are you just going to fucking lie there all night or are you going to put me back together?"

_The head is talking to me_, Sakura thought dizzily.

The man looked up as if in silent prayer, and then turned his eyes back towards her. "I cannot _wait_ until I can repay Jashin with your death."

And while the thought vaguely crossed her mind that right now her hands were holding up a talking decapitated head directly above her own, the first words that came out of Sakura's frowning mouth were, "Is that your natural hair color?"

-:-

In the first week of his incapacitation, Hidan had been angry.

Angry was a dull word. _Mind-fuckingly-furious_ would be more accurate. Because it was _never_ a good day when an S-class Akatsuki was bested by a short, choppy-haired Konoha chuunin. It pissed him off like nothing more in the world.

He had to admit though, the kid was smart. Damn him, but he was. He did not regret killing the former Ninja Guardian (Jashin had been most pleased with him upon his death), but the kid had taken his religious practices to heart and exploded Hidan into a million Akatsuki pieces.

And what ever happened to Kakuzu? That bastard never came to dig him out, nor did any other of his Akatsuki comrades. He expected as much. He hated them all, and if it were up to him he would have given Jashin the greatest of sacrifices and murdered every single one of those bloody existential pussies.

The first three months were the toughest to endure, mostly because of all the murderous rage bubbling inside his decapitated head, and there was nothing he could do about it. His body parts were around him somewhere (if he tried really hard he could sort of get a general idea where pieces of him were), but they were pretty much useless to him now.

His face was being crushed painfully under a tower of rocks and boulders, and so the only thing he could do was think. He couldn't see, barely feel, and heard nothing but the silence of his mind.

After a year had gone by, Hidan pretty much accepted that immortality was a bitch.

It was the hunger that was getting to him. He couldn't die, but that didn't mean he couldn't feel like any other human could feel. He wasn't sure if he wanted to thank Jashin for keeping him alive, or to curse his existence straight into hell.

After twenty-four months, he stopped thinking at all.

Time meant nothing to him anymore. He'd reached a passive state of mind where he was essentially nothing, just a mind floating in an eternity of emptiness.

And then, out of nowhere, he heard a voice.

It was light and jovial, feminine. Laughing at something, and then sound of loud crashes and booms met his unused ears. He could feel the impact tremors against his head. Then there was that tinkling laughter again. It was what first woke him up from his numb slumber.

As more time passed, Hidan realized something very strange. The pressure on his head from the mountain of rocks he was buried under was lessening. The weight was getting lighter and lighter, and he reached a point where he could _hear_ things again. The sound of the wind rustling against grass. A bird chirping far off, singing its morning song. Bugs crawling like a muted buzz in the soil.

He did not know how much time had passed since he heard the light laughter, but he knew something was going to happen. He could _taste_ it. It was just a matter of time. And he swore when the time came, he would kill the first thing he saw in the name of Jashin and his infinite generosity, for keeping him alive all this time.

It was while he was planning his first kill in more than two years that it happened to him. A sudden pain in his head like no other, and his mind completely blacked out. His eyes closed furiously as visions entered his mind, and he swore he heard a voice whisper to him.

_Your service to me has been ordained._

And then, while his mind was still being thoroughly fucked, the rocks piled on top of him were quickly disappearing, and he could feel the cool night air on the top of his head as he hadn't felt in years, and then there was such excruciating pain from when two hands mercilessly grasped the sides of his face and yanked him out of the earth like a carrot in the ground.

He expected maybe Kakuzu. Maybe a demolitions expert, or a farmer who was landscaping the area.

But _this_; this was the last thing he had in mind.

A girl with bubblegum pink hair and cypress green eyes was staring up at him with her mouth hanging open.

Hidan's eyes widened.

_Holy shit, she's fucking gorgeous._

But then she just kept staring at him, and that thought swiftly disappeared.

Hidan would have rolled his head back into the ground if the girl didn't have such a vice-like grip on him. But, he supposed, beggars couldn't be choosers.

He thought she was about to drop him to the ground so he spoke up. She still had that stupid-looking expression on her face. Probably wondering if she had gone mad. Hidan didn't blame her. In a world where he wasn't screwed up beyond belief, Hidan would have trouble grasping the concept of a talking severed head as well.

But she kept staring at him, and it was starting to piss him off. While he was here, he might as well get the rest of his body back, and truth be told, he really did not want to end up in that crater of rocks and dust again.

He scowled at the pink-haired girl irritatedly. "Well? Are you just going to fucking lie there all night or are you going to put me back together?"

Her mouth finally closed, and she seemed to have processed his words. _Thank Jashin_. The dazed look was starting to get really old.

When she eventually opened her mouth again, she blurted out, "Is that your natural hair color?"

Now it was Hidan's turn to have is mind go blank.

"I feel like I've seen someone with silver hair before—and your face looks too young to be an old geezer—and I mean it's alright if it's naturally silver! Look at my hair, it's pink, such a ridiculous color and—and you're a talking head, which is, ah, completely alright, I mean I can't say I've seen it before but there's a first for everything, and…"

If blood were still circulating to Hidan's head, a vein would be popping out on it right now. He knew it would be foolish to scream at the person who would potentially be putting his body back together, but the idiotic woman turned her shock into mindless, nonsensical rambling.

"…been wandering around and I thought I heard you, and where's the rest of you? Aren't you thirsty? Where would the water go if you wanted to drink? Or eat? Or—"

"For the love of God," Hidan said murderously, "_SHUT UP!_"

Her mouth snapped shut, and green eyes were staring at him with surprise.

"I was better off in the fucking ditch—look here, girlie, you need to calm the fuck down and do as I say." The girl blinked slowly, but nodded. Hidan almost sighed in relief.

"Get up."

The girl frowned, appearing a bit hesitant, but slowly did as she was told. She crossed her legs and was still holding him at eye-level.

"Now put me down gently."

Her hands shook and her mind looked a bit lost, when suddenly she let go.

Hidan screamed. "I said _gently_, you stupid cow!"

"I'm sorry!" she cried, and reached to grab him again, for what reason Hidan had no clue, but he did not want to find out.

"Don't! Just stop—stop. Stay where you are."

Her hands froze, still outstretched towards him. Slowly she retreated back, watching him curiously. This time he did let out a small breath.

"First thing's first. What day is it?"

The pink-hair girl blinked. "I…I don't know."

Hidan eyed her, taking in her messy hair and dirty appearance into account. From the looks of it, she'd been travelling on her own for some time now. She probably lost track of time.

"Let's try again, then. What year is it?"

The girl frowned, biting her lip. Hidan wondered why she had to approach everything like such a damn _girl_ and couldn't answer the question straight forward.

"Well?"

She lowered her gaze. Almost inaudibly, she replied. "I don't know that either."

This time Hidan's anger could not be contained. "What the fucking hell, woman? Do you know _anything?_"

The girl's face transformed into a scowl of her own. "Of course I do!"

"Oh yeah? What's your name?"

"Sakura!" she hissed, hearing him say something along the lines of 'fucking ironic'. "And yours?"

"None of your damn business," Hidan growled. He was surprised to see a spark of real anger in her eyes.

"Well actually it _is_ my damn business," she retorted hotly, "seeing as without my help, you're going to stay a lump of limbless flesh for the rest of your life, unless_ I_ help put you back together. That _was_ what you were shouting at me a few minutes ago, right?"

Damn her. She took his silence as truth, and a look of triumph flitted over her features, but Hidan was still a little taken back at her complete change of demeanor. One minute she was a brainless pink-haired idiot, and the next she was a fiery, hot-tempered woman with eyes that were far too knowing.

"So," she continued with a small smug smile, "I suggest you be a little nicer to me when speaking."

At this an ironic smirk twisted his lips. "Of course, Sakura-_chan_," he said gratingly, and Sakura's smile instantly slipped. "If you would please, answer some small questions for me. I've been buried for so long, and I just want to go home."

Sakura's eyes narrowed a little at his words. "You could be the enemy for all I know. Why were you buried there in the first place?"

"Some punk-ass kid thought it would be funny to blow up someone immortal to test his immortality," Hidan said bluntly. While it wasn't the complete truth, it was in the ballpark.

Sakura's frown deepened. "That's horrible."

"Isn't it, though?"

"Why would he do that?"

"He was very angry."

"Why was he angry?"

"I'm not his fucking therapist."

Sakura scowled. "Forgive me if it's a little hard to believe that someone random kid with poor anger management decided to blow you up in a forest and bury you in rocks. That seems a little more than anger there."

"I'm sorry that you have trouble believing that, because that's exactly what happened."

Sakura continued to stare at him skeptically.

If Hidan had hands, he would have thrown them up in the air. _God, I can't wait to sacrifice this girl_, the dark part of his mind seethed.

"You know kid, I don't need your trust. In fact, why don't you just roll me back into that hole over there and cover me up with those rocks. That'll clear up your damn conscious."

That made her pause. He could almost see the neurons firing in her head as she processed his words. Clearly her conscious was making its appearance now, and he could tell just by her face that she would do no such thing.

"Fine," she said finally. "I will help you. But I have two conditions."

"Of course you do," Hidan said boredly. "What do you want?"

"Once you're…all put back to normal," she started hesitantly, "I want you to take me to the nearest village just south of this forest."

Hidan raised a brow. "What makes you think I'm capable of doing that? I obviously could not prevent myself from getting blown up. You're silly to assume I would protect you."

"I'm not asking for your protection," Sakura snapped. "I just need you to be there with me in case…I need backup, or something. You only need to take me to the village. After that, you may leave as you please."

Hidan scoffed. "Whatever. Your second condition?"

He knew what she would ask for. _Immortality?_ he mimicked in his mind with her high-pitched voice. He couldn't wait to shoot her down on that one.

She smiled, which made Hidan raise an eyebrow.

"I'd like to know your name."

Hidan's eyes widened. That was it?

She was still looking at him with that stupid little smile, and for a second he didn't feel that murderous intent towards the pink-haired girl.

Frowning, he said, "It's Hidan."

"Hidan," she repeated, testing it on her tongue. She smiled brightly. "Well then, let's get started."

-:-

"That's a lumpy rock."

"What are you talking about! It definitely looks like a finger."

"Fingers don't look like lumpy rocks."

"Maybe yours do."

Hidan closed his eyes and refrained from cursing at the incompetent woman in front of him. After all, she had found most of his body parts by now, and the sun was still up. He had to commend her stamina, and her lack of aversion towards severed body limbs and toes.

He knew she was a kunoichi for a few reasons. One, she could lift fucking _boulders_ with two damn fingers. It unnerved him beyond belief when he saw her hauling giant chunks of rock from one side of the clearing to the other in search for his remains. His eyes had gone round like bloody saucers, and Sakura just happened to glance at him at that moment—probably because she wanted to gauge his reaction—and _smirked_. Then as if to show off even more, she lifted two giant rocks the size of elephants easily in each hand and walked off.

He watched her critically during this time. Her chakra control was genuinely good, that much he could admit. She gathered chakra to her hands and that gave her the ability to lift things quadruple her size, as well as obliterate boulders into dusty smithereens. A small part of him got excited at her raw destructive nature, and he dearly wished he had his body back so he could relish in that kind of ferocity.

His thoughts stopped when Sakura suddenly plopped down in front of him, crossing her legs and sighing as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Well," she started a little breathlessly, "so far it's two halves of an arm, both legs, and a quarter of your left torso. There's a lot—and I mean _a lot_—of rubble to go through. The ditch you were stuck in is very large and very deep. I don't know if I can finish everything today."

Hidan expected as much. "Tch. Whatever the fuck you want. Now roll me over."

Sakura frowned. "Why?"

"Because looking at you hurts my eyes."

Instead of scowling, she grinned sheepishly. "It's the hair, I know," Sakura admitted, lightly twisting a strand between her fingers. "I'm glad I don't see it half the time, anyway. Such a bright color shouldn't be made for hair. Unfortunately it's not a dye; believe me I tried washing it out in the stream."

He was about to retort that he hated self-depreciating idiots when something caught his eyes. A silver gleam near her wrist. Hidan looked closely, and saw a string of beads wrapped around her left wrist…and a pendant dangling in the center.

Hidan's jaw went slack, staring up at the oblivious girl incredulously. She was chattering away and Hidan could only stare in disbelief.

"You're—you're a _Jashinist?_"

Sakura's tirade paused. Her brow furrowed. "What?"

"Fucking—that _bracelet_," he said with quiet excitement. "You know what that is. I can't believe you're a Jashinist too," Hidan said in wonder. "How the fuck did Jashin grant you his approval? You seem like too much of a goody-damn-two-shoes to offer your prayers and sacrifices to him."

"I—what on earth are you talking about?" Sakura asked, confusion and mild irritation written on her features.

Hidan was just about to tell her off before freezing. The confusion on her face was genuine. Slowly, Hidan asked, "Where did you get that bracelet from?"

Sakura glanced at her wrist then back at him. "I made it," she answered. "I found these beads all around this clearing and decided to put them to use."

The expression on his face must have been livid, for Sakura shifted uneasily. "Is…is something the matter?"

"Is…something…the matter," Hidan repeated, his voice dangerously low. Despite having absolutely no control and no limbs, he was intimidating enough to cause Sakura to move back instinctively. "Yes. There is."

Sakura watched Hidan warily, and his face twisted into a snarl.

"Give me back my fucking rosaries, you cocksucking bitch."

The girl had the audacity to look surprised.

"_What?_"

"Give. Me. My rosary beads. You cock. Sucking. Bitch."

Sakura glared at him, rising to his bait. "What the hell is your problem!"

"My problem is that you decided to defile a sacred rosary necklace and transformed it into some shitty fucking _bracelet_. Jashin will smite you where you stand, and I can't fucking _wait_ for that to happen."

"Jashin, Jashin—who in the world is Jashin!" Sakura glared indignantly. "And I found these beads all around here, and you were still buried underground, and these beads deserved to be strung up again, so you can't blame me for wanting something that made me feel remotely human!"

Hidan felt anger roll off him in powerful waves. "Get out of my sight. And go wash yourself while you're at you, you fucking reek."

Okay, that part was a lie, but Hidan was struggling to check his anger, because for fuck's sake, the girl had taken his sacred beads for his necklace and strung them into a bracelet. And what was worse, she was openly wearing it, wearing something of the Jashin faith, without even being a Jashinist.

Sakura rose to her feet. "Have fun putting your body together by yourself," she hissed, and kicked the side of his head before striding away in the opposite direction.

He grunted in pain and his head rolled a little at the force of her kick.

It was only when she'd been gone for fifteen minutes that Hidan realized the gravity of his predicament.

"Shit!"

-:-

Sakura kicked off her shoes and angrily threw off her clothes before immersing herself deeply into the water. Furiously scrubbing against her skin, she washed off the dirt and grime and dried blood from her body.

She would have ignored his statement just to spite him, but even Sakura had noticed some while ago that she was in desperate need of a bath. Her clothes and her body were absolutely filthy.

Unfortunately she did not have any soap or shampoo to assist her in a thorough cleaning, so the water would have to simply make do. She dunked her head into the water and rinsed out her hair.

Who did that man think he was? And his mouth—his filthy, disgusting mouth dripping with vile words pointed at her—how was she to know how precious those beads would be to him? Hell, she didn't even know he existed until a few hours ago! The likelihood of rescuing a decapitated immortal was slim to none, so of course Sakura had landed herself in his presence.

It was so tempting to just forget about him and continue forward, but Sakura knew she couldn't do that. It would feel like a betrayal, not only to herself but to the duty she had given to herself. Besides, somebody not as forgiving could stumble upon him, and all hatred set aside Sakura felt bad for him. He'd been living a solitary life underground for years. He had cause for being cranky.

Sighing, Sakura rose from the stream and dried herself using the ends of her pants. Her anger was already ebbing away, and Sakura twisted the bracelet idly around her wrist. It was feeling warm again. Sakura wondered why it did that, or if it was just her imagination.

Feeling suddenly exhausted, Sakura pulled on her clothes and began heading back to the clearing. There was no point being angry. She still needed him to take her to the nearest village. She had a feeling she'd be lost in this forest for a long time, and Hidan probably knew where to go in order to find a village.

He was sitting right where she'd left him. Quietly, Sakura approached Hidan's head.

He looked like he could be asleep. Sakura watched him for a second before kneeling down again, sitting a little uncomfortably.

She watched him for a few minutes, wondering if she wanted to say anything to him after all.

"You gonna sit there and stare at me all day, pinky?"

His eyes were still closed when he spoke. Sakura fidgeted a little. "Not really."

A single eyelid opened, revealing a violet iris. "Oh?"

Sakura took a breath. "Look, about what happened…"

"Forget it." Sakura stopped, and Hidan growled and looked away. "I know I was being overemotional by throwing that fit. Whatever. I've been buried under a ditch for more than two fucking years. Cut me some slack."

Mouth parting slightly, Sakura was taken aback from his words. This was certainly not how she expected this conversation to go.

"Anyway, just forget it and move on."

Sakura cleared her throat at this. "Okay. And…and about the rosary…"

Hidan glanced away. "Forget about that too," he said, but she could see the grimace on his face and knew it took a large amount of restraint in saying just those four words.

"No," Sakura insisted. "I…apologize for ruining your holy rosary beads. I didn't think they belonged to anyone anymore, and honestly they were more for my own comfort than for spiting anyone."

"I said forget about it," Hidan groused in an annoyed fashion, not at all liking the tone of her voice. It sounded too somber for his taste.

He heard rustling and moved his eyes to see her struggling to take off the bracelet, but with no success. She glanced down at him. "See, it doesn't come off. No matter what I do, it's just stuck on me until I can find something sharp enough to cut the string. But even if I do find something sharp enough, I don't feel like breaking its string just like how its other string disappeared. I don't know. I'll give this right back to you when I figure out how to get it off of me."

Hidan watched her as she spoke. She seemed sincere enough. Now hopefully, she was still willing to put his body back together. Then she wouldn't have to worry about taking the beads off; he would gladly do with for her with the help of a little bit of her blood and Jashin's ritual.

"Yes, well," he said gruffly. He didn't know what else to say. He honestly was in no position to say anything else. Had it been his old partner Kakuzu, his mouth would by running with colorful words and fanatical ramblings of finances and money.

Sakura did not seem to need any more assurance. "I'll still dig you out," she said softly. "I don't know why, though. You're an astronomical jerk who doesn't deserve that kind of dedication."

A grin broke out on Hidan's face. "Can't say anything to that."

-:-

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"I told you to stop asking me that!"

"Well forgive me for being fucking concerned if you put my body back together all wrong! Fucking females," Hidan's head growled viciously.

Two days had passed since the rosary bead incident, and within those days Sakura had moved and upturned every rock until she found every single piece of his former body. She arranged them all together into a skeletal structure, and finally placed his head at the very tip of his neck. Normally Kakuzu would've sewn him back up, but seeing as he was not here, Sakura's assistance would just have to make do.

"I can do medical jutsu," Sakura said again for the hundredth time. "I know I can do this."

"You're still awfully vague for a medic-nin," Hidan noted dryly. "What hospital did you used to work at?"

Her face tightened predictably, just as it did whenever he asked her more personal questions. Hidan was detecting a familiar trend that he knew he would use to his advantage fairly soon. "None of you business! Let me focus on putting you back together or else you'll end up with toes for fingers!"

Hidan kept quiet after that. Wary eyes watched her hands suddenly glowing green, and Sakura glanced up at him again before carefully lowering her hands to his neck.

The feeling was raw and warm, but excruciatingly painful all the same. A sound of pain hissed out of his throat.

"Sorry," she whispered, though he wasn't sure why. Healing for him was always a pain in the ass, since he was almost always critically injured.

Her warm hands stayed at his neck for a very long time. Her brows were furrowed in deep concentration, green eyes narrowed.

And then suddenly the hands moved away from him.

"Well?" she asked hesitantly.

Hidan blinked a few times. Then, with just as careful movements, he tried turning his head back and forth, and found that he actually could.

The grin that split across his face was enough indication for her. "Let's keep going," she said in a pleased voice.

And that was how the next five hours passed. Glow. Heal. Drink a little water. Glow. Glow. Glow. Heal. Heal. Heal.

He could see her chakra levels lowering and lowering as the hours slipped by, and he mentioned this to her.

"Pish posh," she replied off-handedly. "I don't have much left to heal. I want to finish you all in one go."

Another hour went by, and he knew she was reaching a danger point. She was visibly exhausted, and her breathing had grown erratic.

"Sakura…" he said warningly. Instantly she looked up at him in surprise, and the expression on her face took him aback.

"What?"

Sakura opened her mouth, but then closed it and smiled just a fraction. "It's nothing," she said quietly. Hidan scowled at her and huffed slightly, turning his head away. Sometimes females were seriously fucking confusing.

"It's just that, you actually called me by my name for the first time, is all."

Hidan turned to look at her again, but she was focused intently on his left leg, which was gathering sensation by the minute.

He frowned. "Tch. I won't make that mistake again."

She looked at him again with an unreadable expression in her eyes, but the mirth in his purple irises gave him away and the corners of her mouth twitched upwards.

A few minutes later, he felt the chakra pouring through him slowly receding. Opening his eyes, he saw Sakura slump forward a little.

"Sakura?"

"I did it," she breathed, and Hidan stared at her in confusion. She looked dazed, but when she stared at him she grinned. "Go ahead. Try moving."

Hidan glanced down at himself. Taking a breath, Hidan's eyes widened. Even something as simple as filling his lungs with oxygen made him blanch.

"God," he breathed.

First he flexed his fingers. Then his toes, then his feet, then he lifted his arms. Rolled his shoulders, lifted his legs off the ground. Then slowly, with ever so cautious movements, Hidan sat up.

Breathless laughter left his lift. "Well shit," he grinned, flexing his legs.

Even though she was nearly dead on her knees, Sakura still frowned at him. "Don't be so quick to—"

Hidan ignored whatever the hell she was saying and sprang to his feet. He could feel the blood coursing through his veins, feel life pumping inside of him, and the sensation was like a drug. He began laughing in earnest.

"_Thank_ Jashin," he moaned gratefully, tilting his head up to the sky. "Oh hell, I _missed_ this…"

"I'm glad you're okay," Sakura mumbled, her eyes slowly drooping. "You should go eat something in the hut…you're probably…hungry…"

Sakura slumped onto the ground, unbeknownst by the silver-haired man who was busy sprinting gleefully around the clearing.

-:-

Hidan carried the pink-haired kunoichi inside the hut after a lap around the clearing and endless helpings of the food she had found from the forest. How good it felt to eat again!

But now Hidan's body was restored, and his use for the little medic was gone. He still remembered what he swore to Jashin upon his upheaval. That the moment he was release from his death trap, he would sacrifice the first person he saw in honor of Jashin.

Looking down at the slumbering girl though, Hidan felt something he never, ever felt before a kill: guilt.

This strong-willed, short little kunoichi had thrown boulders over her shoulders and healed him to the point where she'd depleted herself almost completely of chakra. She gathered food for him, knowing he would want to eat once his body was restored. Her incessant yapping had dropped to a minimum now that she became more comfortable around him, reaching a point where he found her almost…tolerable.

And she was fucking sexy as shit, which really, _really_ made him not want to sacrifice her.

"I cannot break my promise to Jashin, though," Hidan said mildly.

He touched the pink hair that Sakura detested so much, twisting it delicately around his fingers.

"What a shame."

-:-

Sakura woke to the sound of an owl's hoot. She frowned a little, cracking her eyelids open.

She was lying inside the hut. Slowly she struggled to sit, hearing a few joints click into place.

"Oh good, you're awake. I was afraid I would have to do this while you were unconscious."

Sakura turned around, and saw Hidan sitting a few feet away from her. He grinned wolfishly.

"Feeling better?"

Sakura nodded slowly, but feeling a little apprehensive at the almost predatory glint in the man's eye.

"How's your body doing?"

Hidan gazed down at himself and shrugged. "Never been better. Literally."

Sakura smiled a little. It quickly disappeared. "What did you mean before? When you said you would have to do something while I was unconscious."

"Oh, that." Hidan stared at her impassively. "Just saying my prayers."

"I see…"

Hidan's face transformed into an unreadable expression. "No, I don't think you do."

Surprise was shown easily on Sakura's face, and Hidan had to bite down a laugh. How on earth this woman became a kunoichi, Hidan would never know.

"How long was I out?"

"It doesn't matter."

Sakura scowled. "What is going on with you? Why are you acting so strange?"

Hidan moved forward, crawling towards her. The room in the hut allowed for this minimal movement, but it was still uncomfortably small and very soon he was inches away from her, leaving her with no room for escape.

"You're quite a beautiful fucking woman, Sakura. I just wish you weren't so…_this_."

"And what is…'this'?" Sakura said quietly.

His hand lifted to her face, and Sakura had to fight not to flinch from his touch. His thumb was caressing her cheek lightly.

A rare smile crossed his face.

"So fucking naïve."

His thumb pressed sharply into her skin and drew blood, causing Sakura to cry out. His thumb swiped across her cheek and he quickly crawled back to his original position in front of her.

Her instincts kicked in and Sakura leapt to her feet, albeit a bit unsteadily. Hidan rose as well, bringing his bloody thumb to his mouth and darting his tongue out to capture a few droplets.

"Stay away from me," Sakura warned.

Hidan grinned. "With pleasure."

His hand suddenly produced the metal forehead protector that she'd been using to cut animals open for food. Her eyes widened.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm not going to cut you. At least, not directly."

His skin, a few seconds ago pale and smooth, transformed into inky black with white stylings across his body. Sakura gasped at the sudden change of appearance.

She didn't have any place to run. Her chakra was gone so she couldn't punch her way out of the hut, and Hidan was currently standing directly in front of the entrance.

"_Now_, you will know about the true nature of Jashinism." He paused as he lifted the forehead protector to his arm. "I really am sorry about this, little Leaf kunoichi."

He brought the metal down to his arm and swiped it hard, blood oozing out of the wound rapidly.

Sakura cried out, feeling a wave of sensation tingle from her arm all the way up and down her spine. Her toes curled, and she gazed at Hidan in disbelief.

_What the _hell_ was he…?_

"Feels awful, doesn't it?" he said lightly. "I wish I didn't have to inflict this on you, but I made a promise to Jashin before we met. I do hope you can see past this some day."

He made another shallow cut just above the previous one, and Sakura shuddered, holding her arm close to her body as shivers ran up and down her spine.

"Stop," she breathed. "Don't—don't do this…"

She shuddered again when he cut his other arm.

"I can't," he answered. "It's just the way it is." He took a breath, and then pinned her with a violet gaze. "And now, you will feel true pain."

His hand went to his abdomen and made a deep cut right across it, and Sakura cried out this time. She fell to her knees as shivers wracked her body and her abdominal muscles tightened fretfully. She hadn't felt this way since…since….she couldn't remember…

He cut alongside his previous cut, going a little deeper, and Sakura moaned again, writhing on the floor.

"I don't think…you fully understand…what's happening here…" Sakura panted, her legs scissoring desperately on the ground.

Hidan couldn't help but laugh incredulously at her bravado. "Oh I'm pretty fucking sure, pinky."

"No," she said breathlessly, "I _really_ don't think—"

"Just shut up and accept this, alright?" he snapped. "It's fucking happening, so get over it."

As if to prove his point, Hidan took the metal and tore viciously down his thigh. Sakura cried out loudly, her back arching off the floor helplessly. Her hand went down to her thigh and grasped it tightly, her body trembling.

She could feel it building up, and she didn't know what was happening. He had trapped her somehow in some ninjutsu, or maybe even genjutsu, and now she was a helpless mess on the floor with unwanted moisture gathering between her legs. She could feel herself throbbing with desire, and she knew it had to do something with him cutting himself down his body with her forehead protector.

He however, seemed to be thinking that something else was going on.

"_Hidan_," she said forcefully, "I'm—"

"I know," he said. He didn't want to hear the rest. He hoped Jashin would be satisfied with his sacrifice.

Her breaths were coming out in short, erratic pants, and she was moaning endlessly with her eyes squeezed shut. Hidan frowned a little, but then refocused himself on the metal in his hand. It was time.

"Goodbye, little Leaf."

He slammed the sharpened metal to his heart, piercing it cleanly.

He heard her scream then, a loud, passionate scream and watched in mild confusion as her hips rose and her back arched into an almost perfect 'U'. She was trembling uncontrollably, and her legs fell open unabashedly to the world.

Hidan took out the metal from his chest and grunted in pain as blood spilled from the wound. He was panting hard, feeling his wounds close up instantly and reminding him that Jashin was indeed watching over him, and still granted him immortality.

It was when he looked at Sakura that his mind went completely blank.

She was still breathing. And very hard, at that. Her eyes were closed and her lips were parted, and her hand was very near her inner thigh.

Hidan looked at the boneless heap of a woman in confusion. Surely…_surely_ he had killed her? The metal went clean into his heart, he _knew_ it did.

So why the fuck was she still alive?

He stepped off from his inscribed circle of blood and approached her cautiously. Her breathing was slowly returning to normal, but the tremors still shook her body a little. A soft sheen of sweat glowed on her skin, her chest rising and falling dangerously. Through the shirt, he could see the little buds of her breasts fully erect.

It finally hit him.

Hidan's jaw dropped as Sakura's eyes cracked open. She scowled a little, though he knew for a fact she would not be able to do much for another few minutes.

"Sakura…did you just have an orgasm?"

-:-

**And that's it! My very, very, very, very, VERY first naruto fanfiction. I'm still amazed myself that I chose to write a HidaSaku fic, since I literally just got into this ship a few weeks ago. Nevertheless! I hope all 30 pages of this baby were enjoyable to read. Sorry if there are errors. I am beta-less and it's 2:30 in the morning. **

**I know some things might be different than the manga in this fic, and thus I must stress that this is just a silly girl's fanfic and if you see something different than the canon world, don't bother pointing it out. I'm changing things to my plot's needs. :)**

**Also, this is going to be a serious, serious rated M story. Seriously. That little bit up there was actually really nothing. I was a bit vague with the details of Sakura's throes of passion because Hidan was still oblivious to the fact that hurting himself was having the absolute opposite effect on her. **

**Also, you can't expect a freaky, badass guy like Hidan to have a nice, tame little relationship with anyone. No. Things are going to get very lemony, very steamy, and luckily with mucho plot to boot.**

**I don't know how frequently I will update this, so if this doesn't get weekly updates, don't say you weren't warned.**

**LASTLY, please tell me what you thought. I know you read this at the end of every story. I know you think that someone else will review and give the same basic idea. Don't be deceived! This ship is relatively (well, very) small. Every thought counts, and hearing what you have to say seriously improves my writing and gives me a bucketload of ideas. _Please_, please review! **

**Also, this story came out a lot more light-humored than I thought it would. *shrug***


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Sakura was on cloud nine.

Lethargy was settled in her, her body still thrumming from the intense release she just had. Blearily she opened her eyes and squinted up at the shadow towering over her. Hidan was looking at her with astonishment.

"Sakura…did you just have an…?"

A what? She couldn't really hear him above the ringing in her ears. He stared at her for a while and then his lips started moving again, but Sakura was much too drained to really pay attention.

_Something's not right here_.

Her subconscious was screaming to have its presence known, and now after the insurmountable pleasure had passed, Sakura slowly comprehended her surroundings again.

_Something's definitely not right here_, Sakura thought forcefully. This wasn't right.

Finally her body began obeying her commands, and Sakura shifted her legs and arms to try getting up. Her thigh slid up against her slit and the remnants of her release trickled dangerously onto her clit. Helplessly Sakura moaned and ceased her movements, falling back against the ground.

Hidan was finding difficulty in remaining passively confused through her display. Part of him was angry as shit, because his sacrifice had not been a sacrifice, which could only mean Lord Jashin had other plans for him.

The other part was currently glued to the afterglowing female below him, and right now she was rubbing her legs provocatively before collapsing on the ground again.

Hidan's grip on the metal band unknowingly tightened, blood starting to trickle out of his fingers and palm.

"What the hell is going on…" he muttered. "Jashin-sama…"

His eyes fell onto Sakura's wrist. Instantly he kneeled at her side and grasped her arm.

"Wha…what are you doing…"

"I need to talk to my fucking god," he growled, trying to ignore the delicious way she was curling to her side to face him. His fingers grasped the edge of the rosary bracelet and began taking it off.

"Ah!" Sakura cried, and Hidan's body stiffened. His fingers were electrified, his senses blurring as intense pleasure rocked his nerve endings. His vision went blindingly white as his hand still touched the burning rosary beads.

"Get…get _off _me!" Sakura gasped, and kicked him away while snatching her wrist from his grasp. Hidan stumbled backwards and landed on the ground unceremoniously, his body still reeling from the intense sensation that jolted through him the moment he came in contact with her wrist, and he could tell that she'd felt too from the way she was panting.

He blinked a few times, and saw that Sakura had moved considerably away from him, trying to catch her breath.

"What…what happened?" she looked at Hidan with wide eyes. He gave no response, only managing a small insignificant glare. "What did you do to me?"

"Not what I had planned for, that's fucking sure," he growled, shaking his head violently to throw off the tingling in his nerve endings.

He could almost see the fog clearing from Sakura's eyes as realization set in. Her face transformed into a shocked expression. "You—you were hurting yourself. I woke up and…and I…you…" Sakura's eyes traveled down her body and landed at the source of her previous writhing.

Instantly she rose to her feet and stumbled away from him, still a little unsteady. "_What did you do to me_?" she said viciously, an angry scowl on her face.

"I tried to sacrifice you," Hidan said bluntly, standing up as well. "And it didn't fucking work."

"Sacr—that was _no_ _sacrifice!_ You—you made me—!" she couldn't finish, glancing down at herself in a horrified expression as heat rose to her cheeks. "Oh my…"

Hidan watched her shift unsteadily, her body trembling. "I didn't want that," he heard her say, face aghast. "And…and yet…"

_And yet your body betrayed you_, Hidan finished. Hidan sighed loudly, rubbing a hand on his jaw. He never thought praying to Jashin would get so fucking complicated, and he didn't like that twinge of emotion he was getting as he watched the girl fluster herself into oblivion. To an extent, he understood why she was reacting as she was. He would too of some invisible source made him jerk off.

"It's part of my ritual," he said gruffly, not liking the way she was frozen on the spot. "It wasn't anything on your part."

That made her snap up to glare at him. "You've done this perverted ritual on others?"

"Yes—no, not like _this!_" he shouted when her face twisted in fury. "They're supposed to die!"

Sakura blanched and she stepped even further away until her back met a wall. "You're sick! You sick, disgusting _freak!_"

Hidan realized what his words implicated and growled loudly, gripping silvery hair tight in frustration. "Not like that, you twig! When I perform Jashin's ritual the person is supposed—"

But he never got to finish, because in less than two strides Sakura marched up to him and pulled back her fist to crash it into his jaw, sending him flying and straight through the rock wall, landing a hundred feet away and onto grass.

Blinding white stars met his eyes for a good few minutes until they readjusted to the dark sky above him. His jaw was swelling and his entire back was in excruciating pain from being punched through solid rock. Then again, he'd endured worse.

Irritation building up, Hidan sat up on the grass and cracked his jaw back into place, wincing just a little. He knew it was healed within seconds, further proving that he was still immortal.

His mind was being definitely being fucked with.

"God….damn…" Hidan pushed up to his feet, eyes glazed over maniacally. Faintly he heard footsteps coming his way; angry, kunoichi footsteps. He'd have to remind her that ninja footsteps should never be heard, but he doubted he would impart that kind of honor.

His eyes gazed at the clearing intensely, searchingly. Sakura had caught up with him quickly, and he could practically feel the rage emanating off of her in wild waves. Hidan was a little surprised at the relatively calmness of her reaction—he was certain had any other girl been _violated_ in such a manner, they would've burst into self-pitying tears immediately.

And while Sakura had been rightly horrified, she had chosen the opposite of tears—violence.

It almost made him smile, but his jaw still hurt and that made him angry again.

"I knew—should've known not to heal a dismembered man in the middle of the forest—"

"That was pretty stupid of you," Hidan agreed, jogging now with Sakura close at his heels and trying to get into punching distance.

"And now I know why! You're a perverted, masochistic psychopath that puts other women at your mercy!"

"I'm not a fucking pervert," Hidan shot back angrily, his eyes glued to the forest floor. _Not a lot._ "And it's not just women. Jashin-sama does not discriminate."

He heard her steps falter but did not look back. "You…you do that to men?" she said incredulously and disgustedly.

"Not _that_." Where the hell were all the animals in this bloody forest?

"But you just said—"

Having had enough, Hidan whirled around and said menacingly, "I don't know what the fuck happened in that little hut of yours, but it was not what I was going for." She opened her mouth to speak angrily but Hidan cut her off promptly. "I was _trying_ to kill you. Not make you fucking come all over the floor."

A blush, either from embarrassment or anger, rose to her face once again, and Hidan decided to ignore the irritating pink brat when something moved near a tree behind her.

With a grin Hidan moved stealthily but quickly to the tree.

"What are you doing?"

Hidan bent down carefully. With lightning fast movement, his hand shot forward and grabbed onto something. "Finally," he growled, turning around.

His hands were holding on to a little fluffy rabbit by skin of its neck. Sakura watched with wide eyes as he fumbled with other hand and reached into his pocket, pulling out her bloody metal plate.

"That's mine," Sakura started to say but silenced when he squeezed hard with his hand until blood started to gush from his palm. "What are you…"

He ignored her and knelt to the ground, drawing the blood into a circle onto the grassy floor, then a triangle. Her eyes widened, recognizing that symbol, and glanced down at her wrist that had the pendant.

She no longer had words, just watched in morbid curiosity as Hidan rose to his feet. He took the metal and cut the rabbit's ear, blood returning on the metal.

Then, he licked it.

Sakura was going to say how utterly disgusting that was, but never got the chance. As if in apathy, Hidan dropped the flustered rabbit back on the ground and watched it scamper away in fright. Her jaw slackened when suddenly his skin transformed completely to black with white lines dipping down his arms and torso.

The rabbit only hopped three steps before Hidan took the metal and viciously slashed his chest.

It faltered, huddling in sudden agony. Red blood seeping down its front. Sakura watched in horror as Hidan growled again, though not seemingly in anger. He brought the metal to his leg and cut deep, and the rabbit twitched pathetically, more blood gushing from it.

Hidan watched the rabbit with rapt attention. "And the finale…"

Sakura, who was finally putting two and two together, watched him bring up her metal plate to his neck.

Her eyes widened, glancing down at the tortured rabbit with fear. "Hidan, no—"

With one swift movement, Hidan swiped the metal across his neck and slit his throat. He groaned and brought his hands to his neck, grimacing, but his eyes were still trained on the rabbit.

Sakura glanced down, mouth still open. The rabbit was twitching heavily, and she saw blood pouring from its neck. It fluttered, twitched one last time, and fell to the floor.

She couldn't help the soft cry that rose from her throat. She scurried to the fallen creature, staring at it with eyes wide as saucers.

Hidan made a noise of discomfort, and he stepped off the circle of blood inscribed on the grass with an air of satisfaction, skin color returning to normal. Sakura could only look at him blankly as he approached her.

"_That_," he growled quietly, "is what should've happened to you."

Sakura blinked up at him. Swallowing hard, a sudden fear started to settle inside her stomach. This man, foul-mouthed and short-tempered as he was, was something Sakura knew to stay away from.

_He was trying to kill you_.

Slowly finding the words, Sakura said in slightly shaking voice, "And why didn't it?"

A cruel smile twisted his lips. "Fuck me if I know."

He bent down and grabbed the dead rabbit with one hand. He grabbed her arm and dumped the creature onto her, causing her to gasp. "Here's your dinner."

Frozen in shock, Sakura looked down at the dead rabbit. She was not prepared when Hidan suddenly grasped her free wrist with the bracelet tied to it.

"H-hey!"

Hidan ignored her, and ignored the invasion of sensation upon touching the bracelet. He heard Sakura intake a sharp breath, feeling the effects of his touch, wriggling her wrist away from him.

"I'm taking back what's mine," he hissed, and curled his fingers around the bracelet and yanking harshly.

"I told you it can't—come—off—_ow!_"'

With a violent tug, Hidan wrenched the bracelet off her. He stumbled back a step, breathing heavily. With a mocking grin, he said, "Now was that so hard?"

Sakura only stared at him, a mixture of anger and fear.

_You screwed up this time, Sakura_, she thought to herself as she stared up at the menacing face of the killer she knew he was. He openly admitted to attempting her murder, and to using that strange ritual to inflict death upon countless others.

She had just witnessed its true nature, anyway.

Which left the inevitable question—why didn't she die? What sick, twisted universe made her uncontrollably stimulated when he attempted his ritual on her?

"I can't believe I put someone like you back together," she said disbelievingly.

"Tch. Well you can stop looking at me like that," Hidan said bluntly, "it's not like I could kill you with my ritual anyway. Not that I'd ever want to see that again," he grunted, raising his hand to his eyes to inspect the rosary beads closely.

"Of course not. You'd prefer me bloody and dead."

He shifted his gaze from the rosaries to her angered face. A grin spread across his face. "You know me so well."

Slowly he slipped the bracelet onto his right wrist and inhaled deeply, closing his eyes. "I can almost feel him…" he groaned.

Sakura took a step back, feeling increasingly uncomfortable with his behavior. He opened his eyes and gazed at her intensely. Sakura returned the stare with apprehension, her muscles tensing perceptibly. She could feel the thrumming inside her, and indecision left her sympathetic system with the dizzied decision between fight or flight.

He moved so quickly that she barely noticed it, had his hand not suddenly gripped her around the throat. He was within two inches from her face, and his grip was lifting her from the grass, her feet dangling uselessly in the air.

"Just because I can't perform my ritual on you," he said with a deep intonation, "doesn't mean that I can't kill you another way. And I'd rather not piss off my god any more than he already is. Bastard's fucking with my mind."

Sakura attempted in vain to yank his hand from her neck, with little success. Desperately she started gathering chakra to her fist and hoped he would not notice it. Trying to stall, she gasped, "Arent you…pissing him off…by trying to kill me?"

His eyes narrowed dangerously, the grip around her throat tightening. "What the fuck did you say?"

Sakura gazed at him, lifting her chin even though her eyes were seeing stars. "Obviously—your _Jashin_ didn't want me dead—I'd say he…" she trailed, coughing a little.

"He, _what_?" Hidan whispered dangerously, bringing her closer to eye level.

She stilled, looking at him directly in the eye. "He must like me more than you."

Without another pause Sakura's fist connected with his head, and immediately Sakura was dropped to the floor as Hidan fell to the ground once more.

Hidan groaned loudly, cradling his head on the grass. "You fucking bitch!" Hidan tried to stand but crashed onto his knees.

Sakura's body was still thrumming with adrenaline, and she knew she had to run. Damn her and her stupid altruistic mind for healing an immortal, dismembered stranger! She'd dug her own grave with this one, and now she had to reap what she sowed.

Not taking any chances, Sakura marched up to Hidan and gave a hearty kick to the side before he could block her.

"Go to hell," she hissed, then bent down to gather the fallen metal protector that had been in his grasp a few minutes ago. Within seconds, she shot out of sight and began to run once more.

"Oh no you don't," Hidan seethed, stumbling to his feet once more. Cracking his neck, his eyes returned to full focus and he turned to the direction she had taken off to.

**-:-**

The sun had risen and set again by the time Sakura had stopped her flight. The forest was getting deeper, and Sakura was disinclined to know what exactly lurked inside the heart of this never-ending forest. But she had to keep going, and she knew she should continue south.

Sakura tried remembering what compelled her to do such a reckless thing such as putting a dangerous, immortal man who was buried under a mountain of boulders back together. _Why?_ Why did she do something so stupid?

It was unlike her, from the little she knew about herself. Sakura had fled from a battlefield, clearly showing she was in no mindset to play with fire. And yet play she did, the moment she lent her chakra to the violet-eyed murderer.

Several times during her run, Sakura had expected a large hand to grip her by her shoulder or neck and kill her on the spot. She kept shooting glances behind, to the sides, up ahead, just to ascertain that Hidan was not pursuing her. So far he had not appeared, and thus she continued forward.

He was unable to kill her through the psychotic ritual he performed on the poor rabbit, but that didn't mean he wouldn't kill her some other way. He proved as much when he started choking her yesterday. She wondered why that was, why he was so insistent on her death. She saved his life, and his idea of retribution was taking hers?

Sakura walked slowly, the dense trees and the darkening sky making it difficult for her to see. She was shivering, but was hesitant to start a fire. Doing so practically screamed 'here I am' to anyone with less than noble intentions.

Sakura paused in front of a hollowed out tree and furrowed her brow. It was a good place to sleep for a few hours before she resumed her journey. Peaking inside, Sakura sighed in relief when she saw it was uninhabited by other animals or large, ghoulish insects. Rubbing her bare arms roughly to gather warmth, Sakura lowered herself and crawled in.

She turned so that her back was against the inside of the tree wall. Tucking her knees under her chin, Sakura looped her arms around her shins and gazed blankly out into the dark forest. She could hear little crickets chirping, the rustle of leaves against the wind fluttering outside the hollowed tree.

Her mind was buzzing with a mixture of confusion, fatigue, and anxiety. Sakura still could not shake of the question of her actions in the past three days. What compelled her to dig out someone who was clearly left behind for a reason? Someone with a vapid temper and an insane religious addiction, not to mention his near-obsessive need for that blasted rosary bracelet that Sakura made.

Her thoughts halted. "The bracelet," she whispered faintly, her voice lost in the wild wind blaring outside. The moment she found that rosary bead, her entire journey had turned upside down.

She could feel it, feel the answer on the tip of her tongue. The answer was slowly crawling in her consciousness, like a slow-moving epiphany…and suddenly she _knew _it had something to do with those rosary beads…

Sakura's eyes started to droop, though her mind was fighting to stay awake. The sounds of crickets and softly rustling leaves grew further away from her mind, and her eyelids slid closed.

-:-

Sakura had no grasp of how much time elapsed from when she dozed, but the amount of lethargy blanketing her mind indicated it she fell well into deep sleep at some point. A gust of wind blew onto her and Sakura shivered, curling tighter together and clenching her fingers into her shins.

Blearily one eye opened, and saw that the first tendrils of dawn light were peeping inside the entrance of the hollowed tree. Her mouth was incredibly dry, not having found a viable water source since before she passed out after putting Hidan back together.

With a herculean effort, Sakura untangled her limbs and crawled out slowly from the tree. Her hair was dusted with dirt and her clothes barely recognizable as such, tattered and frayed at the edges. She felt incredibly dirty, viciously hungry, but most of all thirsty.

"What god did I piss off to deserve this," she mumbled, sleepily rubbing an eye. It was still dark but not enough for her to have difficulty navigating around. She stumbled a few times on roots that stuck out from the ground, and Sakura cursed silently at the amount of noise and attention she kept attracting to herself. Some kunoichi she was.

The terrain was sloping down, and the dirt beneath her feet was become less tough to walk, getting softer the more she walked. Eyes widening, Sakura picked up the pace and began walking in earnest, sleep and tiredness no longer dictating her clumsy steps. They were fast and precise, and Sakura scanned frantically with her eyes, waiting for the trees to part ever so slightly.

And part they did. Sakura inhaled sharply, a smile breaking across a world-weary face.

Cautiously Sakura took a few steps. Slowly she kneeled to the ground, and extended her hands into a cup. Cool water dipped into her hand and Sakura first used it to rub them together, washing off the dirt and grime from her palms and fingers. Once they were satisfactorily cleaned, she repeated the motion and brought the water to her dry lips.

The effect was immediate, and Sakura nearly rolled her eyes heavenwards at how incredible it was to drink water again. She took a few more generous gulps from the little stream and a genuine smile touched her lips.

She inspected herself, and pondered if washing in the stream would do more harm than good. What she really wished for was a new change of clothing. She briefly thought of Hidan, and how even though he had been blown up into pieces, his wardrobe managed to evade serious repercussions. He still had pants and a strange black cloak with red flowers on it. Enviously Sakura wished she could wear that cloak instead of the tattered and sweaty fabric clinging to her torso.

And soap. She really, really missed soap.

Sighing, Sakura drifted closer to the edge of the stream and fiddled with the hem of her shirt. She leaned over to the stream to crawl in, but through the flickering water and dark sky, her eyes saw something in the reflection. A dark figure looming near her…

In less than a second Sakura gathered chakra to her hand and twisted her torso, and her fist collided with a hand. Hidan was standing directly behind her, his hand encompassing the fist she threw at him. He grimaced but did not waver, and for a tense few seconds they stayed that way; Sakura kneeling on the ground and Hidan towering over her.

"Just give up, already," Hidan seethed, and she was briefly amazed that even though she shattered every bone in his hand, he refused to move. Then again, his immortality was probably already healing him already.

"Why are you trying to kill me?" Sakura demanded. "I saved your life!"

"Because I made a promise," Hidan growled.

"Yes," Sakura spat, "one that clearly your _god_ wants nothing of. You can't kill me with your ritual. Isn't that proof enough?"

"Stop running from me," he hissed.

"Stop trying to kill me," she shot back. "Start thinking with your brain for just a _second_ and ask yourself why everything that's happened happened the way it did. Doesn't it strike you as _odd_ that I found you? That when you tried to kill me, you couldn't?"

She watched him struggle internally for a minute. With a growl he released her fist and stepped back. Sakura cautiously rose to her feet.

"The deal still stands," Sakura found herself saying. "You must take me to the next village. You are _not_allowed to try to take my life through any means."

"I don't remember that part being in the deal," he said bitingly.

"It clearly needed revision," said Sakura plainly, though she felt her bark was going to be a lot bigger than her bite.

Hidan stepped closer to her, and it took an enormous amount of willpower to stand her ground. Defiantly she raised her chin to look up at him. "And what makes you think," he said quietly, purple eyes glazing brightly, "that I would listen?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Because if you don't, you're going to end up exactly as you were before I found you."

Violet eyes clashed with bright green. Hidan gazed slowly down her face to her body, then dragged them back up to her eyes. He smirked slightly. "You think you can take me?"

Sakura looked at him defiantly. "I know I can. And you know I have the power to do it."

Hidan knew that her words were just for show, and he knew that in a fight he could easily overpower her. Hell, he could snap her neck right now and she wouldn't know what hit her.

However, there were unanswered questions that plagued his mind that he simply could not ignore. The most important being why Jashin refused her as a sacrifice, and instead manipulated her into the most primal state of humanity, writhing in pleasure on the floor. He had to admit he was a curious bastard, and he just knew this girl would be important in his quest for finding the answer.

And, now that his body was fully restored, he wished to know more of the workings and whereabouts of Akatsuki. Not so much because he wished to be reunited with them, but because they were a convenient means to an end—the very reason why he joined in the first place. If it were up to him he would kill every arrogant dickhead in the organization.

Taking Sakura to the nearest village would prove worthwhile, and he would probably get vital information out of her and the villagers they would come across.

And most importantly…he couldn't ignore that this chit was connected to him in some way. At specific points when they came in contact, he would feel all-encompassing sensation from her touch, and he knew she experienced the same thing as well. There was something bonding them together, preventing her death. He was not happy with this. If there was indeed a bond between the two, it would become his weakness and his downfall, something he was not ready to have again.

"Alright."

Sakura blinked, visibly stunned at his sudden acquiescence.

"What?" she said unthinkingly, and immediately snapped her mouth shut. Hidan's smirk deepened.

"I'll stick with the deal," he said, amusement lingering in his eyes. "Let's go."

He stepped away from her and started crossing the stream, leaving her stunned.

_Well that was easier than I thought it would be_, Sakura thought vaguely, turning to follow him. Her steps were tentative, as if prepared for him to suddenly spring up and change his mind. His actions screamed trap.

He did no such thing, and unwaveringly strode through the forest. Sakura kept herself a good distance away from him, but close enough to have him within earshot.

Now that she had him, she did not know if it what to do.

Yes, conventionally, she told him her plan and knew what their destination was, but Sakura never actually thought he would agree to it. And she wasn't sure she wanted him by her side at all. Having him breathing down her neck did not make her feel safe whatsoever, and Sakura started to wonder again what compelled her to heal him.

"I didn't realize I was dealing with an incompetent shinobi," Hidan drawled ahead of her.

That snapped Sakura back to the present. She narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me?"

She heard Hidan make a disapproving sound. "Maybe this is why you can't even find your way out of this forest, pinky. You don't even travel like a ninja."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sakura scowled at the back of his silvery head and glanced down at her feet. She was walking perfectly fine, and even though her shoes had holes in a few places, she kept going. She honestly found no fault, and deduced Hidan was just a bored, foul-mouthed nutcase.

She ignored him when he decided not to comment any further. Soon enough her mind drifted back to the same things she thought of constantly when travelling—everything. The spot at the back of her head that seared with pain when Sakura first woke up on the battlefield still dimly throbbed a little, and no matter how hard Sakura tried to heal the spot with her medical jutsu, it was never enough. Sakura had even tried to heal her injured head in attempt to regain her memories, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Sakura's eyes wandered back to the form of the silver-haired man striding ahead of her, and she wanted to groan. The moment she pulled his head from the mountain of rubble, Sakura's life had taken yet another turn for the worst. He was everything she wanted to avoid until her memories returned. Psychotic. Dangerous. Uncontrollable bloodlust. Worst of all, he had tried to kill her. _And_ _would have succeeded_, Sakura thought as her mind returned to the dead rabbit. She saw his ritual first-hand as it should have been.

That thought puzzled her to no end. Why _didn't_ it worked on her? Why—why did it make her...Sakura clenched her fists, her cheeks heating up faintly. There was no denying that what he did to her was the most pleasurable thing she ever felt. Actually that was untrue. Sakura didn't know her past. Maybe she did feel something like that before. _Hell, I don't even know if I'm still a virgin,_ Sakura mused. She glanced down her body and eyed her covered womanhood skeptically.

Shrugging slightly, Sakura looked up and widened her eyes. Hidan was no longer walking in front of her. In fact, he was completely out of sight. Her footsteps stopped as she glanced around. Did she lose track of him when lost in the thoughts the preservation of her innocence?

The air beside her ear stirred, causing strands of her pink hair to sway slightly. A deep voice said quietly near her ear, "If you keep up this pace, I'm going to sling you over my fucking shoulder. I agreed to take you to a village, not to your deficiencies in travelling."

Sakura whirled around and suppressed an instinctive step back when she saw just how close he was to her. "What is your problem? This pace is perfectly fine."

A silver eyebrow rose. "Are you kidding me?"

Sakura glared. "I'm walking as fast as I can."

Hidan barked out a laugh, this time causing Sakura to step back at the volume of his voice. "I was wrong. You're not a shinobi at all. What pathetic Leaf nin died at your hand for you to steal that forehead protector?"

"I didn't steal it, it's _mine_," Sakura hissed, turning around and walking ahead furiously while swatting away branches from her body. He was chuckling mirthfully behind her, easily falling in step beside her.

"Is that so?"

Sakura refused to acknowledge him, instead increasing her pace. She could feel him watching her, and suddenly he grabbed her hand and lurched he towards him.

"What the he—_let me go!_" Sakura screamed as he threw Sakura over his shoulder. She was about to pound his spine into shattered pieces when without another moment's hesitation, he took off.

Sakura felt the breath escape her as scenery around her blurred. Trees became green and brown blobs, and her hair was flying wildly from Hidan's impossibly fast speed.

Sakura's eyes narrowed and she stared at the Hidan's bare back. Gritting her teeth, Sakura slammed both fists angrily.

The effect was immediate. He stumbled forwards and crashed to the ground with a violent, screaming curse. Sakura rolled backwards and quickly jumped to her feet.

"Don't you ever do that to me again," Sakura said in evenly, watching in curse on the forest floor.

"Fucking bitch, do you realize how much it hurts to heal a spine?" Hidan screamed up at her, violet eyes flashing dangerously.

"I wouldn't know," she said dryly, "but at least you know not to touch me without permission ever again."

"Sensitive about it, are you?" Hidan managed a smirk through his grimace of pain. "Don't be a prude, kunoichi. Even if it was unintentional, I was the best you ever had."

Sakura's lips tightened and she walked up to him, bending slightly to look over him. "I've had better."

She was about to turn and retreat when his leg shot out and tripped her over her ankles. Sakura immediately stumbled and landed on her knees next to Hidan, palms digging into the grass. In an instant he was behind her, twisting both arms behind her back and sending her facedown onto the grass. He pressed heavily into her so that she couldn't move, his bare torso emanating heat into her back. She tried in vain to kick with her legs but his shins trapped them both.

"I don't appreciate getting fucked with, you little bitch," Hidan said harshly into her ear. Using one hand to keep hold of her wrists, he grasped her head with the other and twisted it sharply so that she could see the side of his face. Sakura made a noise of pain, the muscles in her neck twisting dangerously. "I have my own reasons for keeping you alive. I couldn't give two shits about your deal. I'm a fucking S-class criminal, and I have killed enough people to fill five villages," he yanked on her head again and her neck joints cracked just a little. Sakura's breathing became rapid, fearing for her life. "So you keep that in your pink kunoichi head the next time you decide to break a bone in my body."

Sakura was breathing heavily, afraid to make the slightest movement that could provoke him to do her harm than he already was. "Understood?" Hidan whispered severely against the shell of her ear and his grip on her wrists tightened painfully, demanding her to respond. "Y-yes," Sakura gasped, her neck and arms twisted agonizingly.

He snorted a little and released his grip on her head, and Sakura winced as she looked down at the dirt, pressing her forehead against it numbly. She felt the weight that was pressing into her back lift off of her and she sighed a little in reprieve. She did not realize he was still holding her wrists until he used them to yank her upright while kneeling, and she could feel him pressed behind her again.

"Now that we have that cleared up," said Hidan conversationally while still holding her arms behind her back in a death grip, "let's get some things straight."

"No," Sakura said, and she winced when he pulled her so that she arched slightly against his torso. "You have to let me go first."

"And have you scamper away? Nice try pinkhead," he chuckled. "Just answer a few things and I'll get out of your hair." Sakura fumed silently, staring forcefully into the distance. He took that as acquiescence. "Why were you travelling alone in the middle of a hundred acre forest?"

Sakura swallowed heavily. His fingers tightened around bruising wrists and she grimaced. "I was running away."

"From what?"

"…A battlefield."

Hidan was quiet for a moment. "You are a Konoha kunoichi." _Konoha?_ Perhaps that was what the symbol on the metal protector meant. Silently, she nodded. "Is there a war going on right now?"

Sakura bit her lip. Honestly, she had no idea, but that was the impression she got when she regained consciousness for the first time. "Yes."

She knew Hidan was lost in thought, for the tight grip on her wrists was slowly loosening. "Who are you fighting against?" he asked with curious interest.

Sakura sighed and closed her eyes, knowing that she could hide this fact no longer. "I don't know."

Suddenly she was released and Hidan was standing over her, a look of impatience written on his face. "How the fuck do you not know?" he shouted exasperatedly. "You're a ninja who was fighting in a goddamned war, and you had no idea who you were killing?"

"It's not like that!" Sakura shouted back, massaging her wrists gingerly as she looked up at his towering form.

"And how is it then?" he mocked. Sakura scowled, disliking his sardonic expression immensely. Before she knew what she was doing, Sakura retorted sharply, "Because I don't remember anything anymore!"

Sakura widened her eyes and glanced at Hidan's face. He was staring down at her in mild surprise. "What?"

Not liking their height difference, Sakura rose to her feet and took a step back, refusing to meet his eyes. "I woke up on the battlefield and didn't know who or where I was. A boy screamed my name and told me to run…so I did."

A frown crossed his features, and purple eyes scrutinized her. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that?" Sakura's lips parted in shock. Clearly she hadn't thought of the possibility that Hidan wouldn't believe her.

"It's true!" Sakura protested, walking closer to him.

Hidan gave her a passively bored look. "Spare me the damn theatrics," he sauntered over to her, cocking his head back. "You're too stupid to be ANBU. Then again Konoha is a shit village, so it's possible. But you don't know who I am, so that makes no sense…"

Sakura glowered. "How would knowing you change anything?"

Hidan frowned a little at her words. "Don't you recognize this cloak?"

Sakura eyed him up and down skeptically. Reluctantly she said, "Am I supposed to?"

Hidan observed her for a second before laughing incredulously. "Well fuck me, you really don't know shit." He drew close to her until he was a foot away, gazing at her with amusement. "I wondered what kind of idiot heals an immortal S-class criminal that a Konoha nin put down."

Sakura scowled deeply, not liking where he was going. "What do you mean by Konoha nin? Who did that to you?"

"Nothing for you to be worried about," Hidan grinned roguishly, running a hand through his silver hair. "Oh, this is fucking perfect. Jashin-sama has truly been generous to me this time. I'm going to hunt that Nara punk down and avenge myself." His smile faded as his gaze lingered on her for a moment, before he shook his head. "It's no wonder you don't know how to travel like a shinobi; you don't even remember how."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sakura snapped, growing annoyed at Hidan's cryptic words, she heard him mutter something along the lines of 'of course you don't'.

Instead, Hidan gazed at her in wonder. "What made you do it?"

Sakura frowned. "Do what?"

"Heal me. Find me. How did you know where I was?"

Sakura furrowed her brows. "I…I actually don't know…" she rubbed her arm nervously, not at all liking how this conversation was going so far. "I came across the clearing by chance. I discovered my medical jutsu and chakra control by chance. I heard your voice…" Sakura's eyes grew large, and Hidan scowled when she became mute.

"Heard me? How the fuck could you hear me? I was buried under a shitload of rocks."

"The bracelet," she breathed, emerald eyes snapping up to violet ones. "It was the bracelet. I was walking, and it started to burn my wrist, and—and I heard a noise, and it wouldn't stop hurting unless I—"

Hidan, who was not following the sudden rampant babblings of the pink-haired idiot, snapped impatiently, "Spit it out!"

Sakura shook her head. Hidan frowned when he saw fear reenter her eyes, and found himself disliking that appearance. She should only be afraid of him.

He watched her swallow hard and reluctantly look into his eyes.

"The deal's off. Not that it did any good anyway. I told you all that you need to know. You can leave me alone and travel wherever you like."

"Huh?"

She turned her back to him. "I need to go." She began sprinting away, and for a moment Hidan was stunned at the abrupt actions of the increasingly confusing kunoichi.

"Wait," Hidan called. His legs kicked off the ground and it didn't take him long to catch up with her. He reached for her arm but she must have sensed him, for she quickly shrugged away from him and changed her route. "Fucking wait! I'm not trying to hurt you right now!"

Sakura wasted no breath on him, and merely stuck with the task of getting as far away from him as possible.

With a leap he landed in front of her, causing her to skid to a stop. She whirled around but he was faster, appearing in front of her again.

"Please," she said pleadingly, "leave me alone."

"Not until you tell me why," Hidan said angrily. "What the hell did you figure out that's got you so scared?"

She avoided his gaze, keeping her eyes trained on his body movements instead and looking for an escape. He was having none of it, making sure to keep blocking her way until she gave up.

Sakura stilled, her eyes staring fixatedly at the ground. Taking a shaking breath, she whispered, "It's your rosary beads."

Hidan glanced at his wrist vaguely, not following her train of thought. "The rosary beads are what's gotten your panties in a twist?"

Sakura shook her head emphatically. "It's because I put them back together. I found them, found your pendent, and strung it back. Ever since I found them…I…" she took a shaky breath, jamming her eyes shut as if trying to eradicate treacherous thoughts, "…it hurt me at some point…made me black out and I heard a voice speaking to me…and it was because of those rosary beads that I found you."

"Wait," Hidan furrowed his brows, "You said you heard a voice?" Sakura glanced up at him quickly, and the nodded while looking away. A breath escaped him, and he held up his wrist to his face.

He remembered too, when a voice came to him…the voice that had granted him his immortality…and if he recalled clearly, it wasn't too long after that that Sakura had pulled his head out of the ditch.

"Jashin spoke with you," said Hidan quietly, "as he spoke with me."

Sakura glanced up at him, this time not avoiding his violet stare. "Jashin. Your god?" Hidan stared back at her grimly. "What would he want with me? How can I even believe that this Jashin even exists?"

"What did he say to you?" Hidan asked in a low voice, ignoring her previous statement. Sakura shook her head slowly. "I…I can't…" _What did I hear that night?_ Sakura thought frantically, suddenly quite afraid with the knowledge that some unknown god had entered her mind and played with it until she did as he wanted, digging out his follower and healing him.

They stared at each other for a long while, a flurry of thoughts flying through their minds. Slowly, almost hesitantly, Sakura took a step towards him, noting that Hidan did not even flinch as she approached him. His eyes remained blank, his stare fixated on her. Sakura slowly reached towards his wrist, and wrapped her fingers around the bracelet.

Their bodies jolted simultaneously, and Sakura let out a small noise as Hidan sucked in his breath harshly. Immediately she withdrew her hand and took a step back, eyes wide as saucers.

"We're…"

The words never finished. They didn't need to, for they both knew they were connected in some way. Hidan watched her as he tried to regain the breath that had just been stolen from him.

Hidan marched towards her and gazed at her deeply. "I want you to try something."

Sakura blinked. "What?"

"I want you to try something," Hidan repeated, his voice foregoing all the foul words and cantankerous disposition.

Sakura shook her head, not wanting things to go deeper than they already were. Her thighs were still slightly trembling from touching the bracelet on Hidan's wrist.

"I have to know."

Sakura had to fight off a shiver, desperately clinging to control herself. This was pathetic. She was stronger than this. This was not who she was, and she had landed herself in a horrible mess, and she had to get away from this dangerous man immediately before things escalated out of control.

"_Sakura_."

Like a taught string that snapped, Sakura's resolve disappeared.

His voice was velvety and deep, her name rolling off his tongue like a sinful embrace. Inviting. She did nothing when he drew closer to her, and did nothing when he lightly grasped her hand into his larger one, lifting it so that her palm was facing up.

"Give me the hitai-ate."

Sakura blinked dazedly. Slowly she reached into her pocket and retrieved it, and Hidan took it from her. Her eyes were transfixed onto his deep, purple ones, wondering what was going on in his mind. He held her gaze steadily, a strand of silver hair falling in front of his left eye.

A sudden pain stung her palm, and Sakura inhaled sharply. She glanced down and saw that Hidan had made a cut down it, and red liquid was seeping from the wound. He closed her hand into a fist with his own, squeezing hard as blood dripped from her palm onto the grass below them. He dragged his foot onto the small pool of blood and drew it into a circle then a triangle. Belatedly Sakura realized what exactly he was doing, but did not have time to think. For within moments, Hidan wrapped his arm around her waist tugged her forward until their chests collided. She looked up sharply and saw Hidan biting his lip, almost as if in indecision, when suddenly he dipped his head down and pressed his lips to hers.

Sakura's eyes flew wide open and she pushed her arms against his chest, but he held her tighter against him and wrapped his other arm around her waist, anchoring her up so she was almost on her toes to make up for their difference in height. Her mind was screaming in protest, but he seemed to have anticipated this. He slowly tilted his head and massaged her lips, gliding his own against hers sensually, encouraging her to return the kiss, and Sakura unknowingly found herself doing just that. The kiss was gentle but firm, Hidan letting his intentions known with the expert way his mouth was moving against her own. He nipped on her lower lip lightly and then ran his tongue over it, causing Sakura to unwillingly gasp lightly and part her lips. He seemed to be waiting for this, and wasted no time in slipping his tongue in.

A shot of pleasure went down her spine, causing her toes to curl as Hidan explored the depths of her mouth, his hand travelling up her back until it reached her head, fingers curling into her pink locks as he tilted her head slightly, slanting his mouth at the same time. A small noise erupted from the back of her throat, her heart hammering rapidly and she could feel the blood heating up her face. This was wrong on so many levels, and she knew that this kiss was not at all what it seemed, and she knew if she wanted she could punch him with a chakra fist…but that part of her conscious was quickly fading into the recesses of her mind when his right hand began caressing up her side, and when he somehow coaxed her tongue to move against his, until his mouth closed around her tongue and sucked lightly.

Sakura was vaguely aware that a throbbing had begun in her center, causing her to clench her thighs together tightly; she hardly noticed that the taste in her mouth was sharp and metallic, and continued to taste like that all throughout the passionate kiss. Her brain could barely keep up, fog clouding her mind as unbearable pleasure was wrought out of her with just Hidan's mouth. He pressed into her harder, the kiss growing more forceful as he moved his mouth against hers in a tantalizing dance that had her spine curving as he bent her backwards.

His lips released hers, and Sakura couldn't help the small moan that escaped her lips at the sudden loss. Slowly she opened her eyes and saw deep purple eyes gazing down at her. Hidan took a step back and straightened them so that they were standing upright, slightly breathless from the exchange. Sakura was still panting as he placed the forehead protector into her hand.

"Cut yourself," Hidan rasped, his voice rough and deep. It took Sakura a few seconds to process his words.

"Cut… why?" Sakura asked breathlessly, fighting to regain control over herself. Her eyes flickered over his lips, and noticed a small smudge of blood staining his lower lip. Had she kissed him too hard? How did that…?

Understanding dawned on her, and it almost made Sakura angry with disbelief. He…he had kissed her so that she would have some of his blood into her system! She remembered seeing him biting his lip before he kissed her, and now she knew it was no valiant portrayal of indecision. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Remembering what had happened when she was on the receiving end of this ritual, Sakura almost gave a sardonic smile. "Of course." Gripping the metal, she glanced down her arm and was surprised to see that her skin had completely changed color, resembling the same inky black and white design that had adorned Hidan when he performed the ritual. Shaking her head, Sakura cut quickly across her upper arm.

Hidan's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. His jaw tightened, and she watched his spine straighten. Sakura watched him for any other signs, unsatisfied with his almost lack of reaction. She lowered the metal to her forearm and made a large gash.

That seemed to do it. A low groan sounded in his throat and Hidan took a step back, hunching over slightly as his hand gripped his thigh. Sakura glanced down at her bleeding arm and noticed with some surprise that most of it was already healed. She hadn't even been using any healing chakra. That fact had her mind reeling, and shock registered on her face.

Sakura took a step back, her hand holding the metal lowering to her side. Hidan saw this and shook his head. "No. You must finish Jashin's ritual to completion."

"I can't," Sakura whispered. She knew what this meant; it wasn't hard putting two and two together. She…she was…

"Finish it!" Hidan yelled hoarsely, and Sakura jumped at the volume of his voice.

"No!" she cried, taking another step back. She was almost out of the circle when Hidan gripped her upper arms tightly and tugged her back into the center. "You will fucking finish the ritual; do not test Jashin-sama's patience."

Biting her lip, Sakura gripped the metal tightly and ran a cut below her collarbone. Hidan's eyes closed as he released his hold on her, stepping back slightly. She watched his face twist into a look of grimaced pleasure as she dragged the metal down her other arm, ignoring the painful sting of her cuts and the deep red blood that was trickling from her wounds. Her eyes lowered down his torso until it rested on the prominent bulge in his pants. She could tell from the way he was gritting his teeth and holding his hands in a death grip onto this pants, that he was doing all he could not to reach down and relieve himself. The thought was embarrassing and brought a slight blush to her cheeks, but she knew what he was experiencing and why. Not too long ago, that had been her. But how? How was she able to do this to him?

Without a warning, Sakura took the metal and forced it into her chest, not wanting to draw this out any further than it had to.

Hidan's eyes flew open and a he gasped, falling to his knees as a helpless groan emitted from his throat. His hips were twitching and he shuddered, before gripping his hands into the grass and fighting to calm his breathing. His eyes were closed and his head bent down towards the ground, and vaguely she saw the massive bulge in his crotch area settle back down.

She should be dead. Even with her chakra, it would take ages to heal a direct hit to the heart, and yet she wasn't even doubled over in agony. She felt pain, definitely felt the pain—but it was passing, throbbing slightly in its wake, until it disappeared altogether. Sakura glanced down at her arms and saw that almost all the wounds had closed up by themselves, streaks of her blood being the only remnants of the exchange, and the color of her skin had returned to its normal state. The ritual was complete.

Her eyes wandered back over to Hidan, and suddenly she felt filthy. Stumbling out of the circle, Sakura dropped the metal band as her legs gave in. In a daze, Sakura leaned against the tree behind her and brought her knees to her chest.

Hidan, having finally regained some control, lifted his head to look up at her. "Looks like I'm not the only person Jashin's given immortality to. I fucking knew it."

Sakura gripped her knees tightly with her hands. "Why?" she whispered to herself, but Hidan could hear her nonetheless.

"I have no clue," Hidan gravelly voice admitted. "Probably because you put his rosaries back together. And that you saved me. I have no fucking idea why Jashin works the way he does, but one thing is certain," his eyes penetrated her own. "He has plans for us. Plans for you. And he is not going to let you go now that you're in."

"I don't want to be in!" Sakura cried, gripping her hair so tight that a few pink strands started to fall out. "I just want to remember! I want to get out of this forest, away from you and that damned bracelet! I want the universe to stop screwing me over and to give me my life back!" Tears unwillingly gathered in her eyes and she angrily wiped one away as it trickled down her cheek.

Hidan crawled over to her until he was resting his hand on the tree trunk beside her head. His eyes…they seemed almost understanding. They hardened when he began to speak. "Serve Jashin and he will bring your life back to order. It's only a matter of time."

Sakura looked away from his intense gaze, feeling utterly drained. "You are immortal now," she heard him say, and Sakura turned back to look at him. A mocking smile twisted his lips. "Looks like that adjustment in the deal was unnecessary anyway. We can't die."

Sakura gazed up at him and shook her head slowly. "Aren't you curious?"

"About what?" Hidan frowned slightly.

Sakura blinked. "You told me that this—_Jashin's_—ritual was intended to kill the person trapped in it. I saw you even do it to that rabbit." Hidan nodded. "Then why does it…why does it make us so…"

"Turned on?" Her face heated, but she nodded. "I don't know. But from what we've done so far…" his eyes darkened.

"What is it?" Sakura inquired, her curiosity piqued.

"You were wearing the bracelet when I did it to you."

"Yes," she said.

"I was wearing the bracelet when you did it to me."

"Yes…" Sakura trailed, her eyes falling onto his wrist. "Are you saying that that bracelet is the reason behind it?"

"Most likely."

Sakura moved to kneel on her knees, facing Hidan. "Then get rid of it."

Hidan scowled at her sudden shift of demeanor. "What?"

"Get rid of it," Sakura repeated, and he could see traces of excitement light up her eyes. "Don't you get it? That bracelet is what's binding us together! If we just get rid of it—"

"No," Hidan spat, anger brewing in his eyes. "You don't fucking disrespect Jashin's prayer beads. I'm not getting rid of them."

"But it's causing all this, Hidan! It could be stopped!"

"You really think so?" said Hidan sarcastically.

"Yes," she replied firmly. A cruel smile twisted his lips, and he leaned closer to her.

"If it's that fucking easy, it's not going to work," he hissed. "You're underestimating the work of a _god_, pinkhead."

"He is not _my_ god," Sakura said angrily. "I want nothing to do with this."

A jolt of pain travelled down her spine and a cry tore from her throat. Her eyes were blinded with white, but as soon as it came it left just as quickly. Panting hard, Sakura saw that her palms were planted on the ground and she was almost doubled over.

Slowly she lifted her head to see Hidan, who had an amused smile on his face.

"Not your god, eh? Don't let _him_ hear that again."

Sakura glowered at him and straightened. "Let's just go, already," Sakura muttered, standing up with the support of the tree. "I don't know what's going on, but I'll feel much better once we're in a village, preferably with new clothes and a much-needed shower."

Hidan snorted at her shift in mood and rose to his feet as well.

"Whatever you want, kunoichi. But I think," He took her hand and brought it to his wrist, forcing her to take off the bracelet for him and slipping it onto her own. "I think it's your turn to wear that."

Smirking, Hidan began walking ahead of her. Sakura trailed behind him after a few moments, wondering why it was her turn.

-:-

**Not the most interesting end to the chapter (I usually go for the cliffy, quirky endings) but it was needed, as this is sort of a transitional/explanatory chapter. Also if I kept going, it would end up 30 pages again, and I don't want to test your patience like that again.**

**More importantly, thank you so, SO much for the feedback! I loved your input and you guys are the sweetest people on the planet! I didn't expect anything more than like two reviews and one alert, but you knocked my socks off with the amount of love that came my way. You all deserve a mind-numbing Hidan kiss.**

**Speaking of which, you might think in relative terms that this story is going a bit fast since yes, Hidan and Sakura have already kissed by the second chapter (and both had orgasmed already…), but it was sort of needed and I don't plan on making this story more than 20 chapters, so things have to get to the point. :)**

**Also, I need to remind you guys that this story is gonna be really, really M-rated. I want to give a go at dizzying lemons and it's going to get really kinky and really hot so if that sort of stuff makes you uncomfortable…well, honey, you're in the wrong ship is all I gotta say~ It's Hidan. Come on.**

**Thank you ****animelover772123****, ****Kaus-y****, ****Sasu-Cakes137****, ****Thrae Elddim****, LadyRea, lexypink1, ****PLacIDwiCkedNEss****, ****howlingwindofthestorm****, silentsakura, ****The Seldom Seen Kid****, ****Gaiagirl33****, ****dolcezza****, and Wendy The Anonymous Reader for taking the time to review and let me know what you thought! I tried replying to all those who reviewed, so here's the ones I couldn't PM:**

To Wendy**: you were my first reviewer and it was the nicest thing anyone has ever written. Thank you so much. Don't worry, this story will definitely finish. It would be cruel to write something with Hidan and leave it incomplete! Thank you again for your encouragement and I'm flattered that you enjoyed my writing so much :)**

silentsakura**: thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed this fic!**

lexypink1**: oh yes, that ending just had to be there. I couldn't resist~**

LadyRea**: Yes, I particularly loved Hidan's expletive when he realized he was in deep trouble :) This is also definitely one of my favorite crackships. Hope I do it justice!**

**Okay, this is an unreasonably long author's note. I'll leave with saying that I probably won't update till next month as I have final exams for the next two and a half weeks. But this story is definitely not a short fic, and it will definitely reach completion. And there will be shameless hidasaku. SHAMELESS.**

**Sorry for errors. Leave me some love?**


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