Chapter 5

"Again."

Nozomi took in a deep breath, a layer of sweat covering her body, before brushing her foot into the air, aiming a sharp roundhouse kick at Kakuzu's head. No sooner had he blocked it, she shifted her weight and successfully dodged a punch to her side. The two went back and forth before Kakuzu stopped the match and the female collapsed to the ground with a sigh of relief.

"How was that?" Nozomi looked up at Kakuzu as she fanned her face with her hand.

"It's enough to get by."

"My turn!" Hidan smirked as he charged head-first towards his partner. Nozomi scrambled to get out of the way as the two males exchanged hand-to-hand combat at a speed she couldn't comprehend. She knew Kakuzu had been taking it easy on her but all she could do was stare in awe and disbelief at how far apart their skill sets really were.

It had been two weeks since she started her training sessions with Kakuzu. They were mandatory, but they were not free. Thankfully, there was an easy payment method though - cooking and cleaning in the apartment. In the beginning, she could barely get through half of the day, but now she had more energy to last longer and she learned new self-defense techniques. It was all thanks to Kakuzu, with a little bit of assistance from Hidan.

"Move the fuck out the way!"

Nozomi snapped out of her thoughts as she looked up. Hidan's scythe was flying at full force towards her body. As if second nature, Nozomi pulled out two kunai and braced for the attack, seeing there was no way she could dodge it.

Metal clashed with metal and Nozomi's body slid back from the sheer force of the impact, but her feet never left the ground. At the last moment, Kakuzu grabbed the rope connected to Hidan's scythe and yanked it so the obnoxious tool flew back at its master.

Once she was deemed safe, Nozomi lowered her kunai and looked back at the males in front of her. Hidan had a stupid smirk across his features and her eyes narrowed, automatically assuming he had done it on purpose. "What is your problem?!"

"Shit, that t-shirt really wasn't doing you any justice." He whistled lowly, his smirk growing wider by the second.

"Huh?" She raised an eyebrow in confusion. Looking down, Nozomi realized the front of her shirt had been shredded from the attack and her chest was exposed for everyone to see her baby blue polka dot bra. Horrified, she immediately screamed and crouched down to cover herself, her face red as a beet. Livid couldn't describe how she was feeling at the moment. "Hidan, you jackass! When I get my hands on you, I'm gonna choke you out and hang you by your dick, you fucking pervert!"

"Damn.. Sounds exciting." The silver haired male nodded in approval.

"Quit fucking around." Kakuzu backhanded his partner in the face, instantly causing a nosebleed and a string of curse words to follow. Picking up his discarded cloak, he draped it over Nozomi's shoulders, not sparing her a glance as he kept walking. "Let's go. We'll be dispatched soon."

Later on, Nozomi sat in the bathtub, crossing her arms over her chest. A scowl escaped her lips as she thought of the previous spectacle in the forest. It was all too embarrassing and that silver-haired bastard was going to meet his demise by her hands. Sinking deeper into the suds, she whimpered softly to herself as she thought of Kakuzu's reaction. He didn't even look at her and she couldn't tell whether that was good or bad. Maybe he was being a gentleman? He even offered her his cloak, which felt nice and warm. On the other hand… she could only think of the worst - that he didn't like her.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and the doorknob twisted, causing the female to nearly slip as she tried to stand up and pull the shower curtain closed.

"It's occupied!"

"You've been in there for over an hour. I'm leaving something to cover yourself with." Kakuzu's voice said from behind the door. His hand reached into the room and placed some clothes on the sink counter. "Hurry up."

"O-Oh, thank you!" Nozomi called out to him, startled by his entrance.

Once the door closed, Nozomi waited a moment before getting out and drying off. Picking up the clothes, she recognized them as Kakuzu's from when she was cleaning the apartment before. As she put them on, his old clothes hung off her small frame. Fortunately, this was nothing she couldn't solve with some scissors and her sewing kit. Bringing the fabric to her nose, she took in a deep breath with a smile. They smelled just like him.

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The trio walked along a dirt path in the Land of Fire. Whilst Kakuzu led the way, Nozomi was two steps behind him, keeping as much distance between herself and Hidan as she could. She would never forgive him for humiliating her like that and she had found herself spending time on formulating a plan to get him back.

The past week and a half, the group had been alternating between traveling on foot and jumping through the trees, Nozomi simply hanging on for the ride. Kakuzu said they needed to go to some kind of hunting station, then head for Yugakure, which automatically put Hidan in a sour mood for some reason. They didn't give the female any details on the situation, but she figured from the sound of it that they were looking for a bounty.

"Stay here until I get back." Kakuzu told Nozomi once they got near the station. Hidan stayed back as well as Kakuzu left out and disappeared into the tall shrubs.

"Don't look at me or I'll gouge your eyes out." Nozomi crossed her arms as she sat down against a tree trunk, looking around at the dense forest. Instead of her previous outfit, she now had on a black turtleneck tank, with green pants that were rolled up and pinned into makeshift shorts, and a brown tie around belt.

"It was a fucking accident." Hidan rolled his eyes as he leaned against the side of the same tree. "At least the old bastard finally got to see what he was dealing with."

Eyes widening, Nozomi immediately jumped up and shoved his chest with her hands, her face heating up. "Shut up!"

Hidan merely laughed at her embarrassed look before his face changed and he looked up. A group of three approached the two, hands up to show they weren't a threat. Nozomi frowned as she switched her gaze from Hidan to them, her hands itching to grab her kunai in case something happened.

"Good afternoon. Are you the one they call Hidan?" One of the newcomers spoke, a male who looked to be in his late forties with a graying head and beard.

"Depends on who's fucking asking." Hidan cocked his head to the side with a grin, grabbing for his scythe.

The lead male kneeled down and bowed, signalling for his followers to do so as well. "My name is Hifumi. Lord Hidan, oh great leader, please teach us the way of Jashin."

Nozomi and Hidan exchanged looks before the Jashinist stepped forward with a grin. Wanting to test their loyalty, Hidan offered his services in exchange for a sacrifice to his god. Hifumi nodded in agreeance and pulled out a dagger, stabbing his left-hand associate. Laughing maniacally, Hidan edged the man on as he carved Jashin's name into the body as the victim screamed until the sound faded with his last breath.

"Okay, I'll teach you. If the greedy fuck can have a servant, then I can have a side project too." Hidan placed his hands on his hips. Turning to Nozomi, who was trying her best not to regurgitate her breakfast, he took the female's hand and pulled her along. "Run along. This shit's not for you."

Not bothering to argue with him, Nozomi left and went to find Kakuzu. Although not ideal, she was slowly starting to get used to dead bodies. Nothing would ever prepare her to see someone be mutilated in front of her eyes though. Pushing the thought out of her mind, she focused on locating her creditor.

₪•₪•₪•₪•₪•₪

"Look here, you old coot. I gave you all the information I have. You best scram while you can."

Kakuzu, seeing this as the end of the conversation, turned away to leave. He'd gotten most of the information he needed on the bounty he was looking for anyway. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out the rest. Thumbing through his updated bingo book as he walked out of the Land of Fire bounty station, his gaze landed on a familiar picture before his eyes narrowed. Capture alive… Wanted for outstanding debt, murder, and embezzlement...?

"Hey there. What's a cutie like you doing hanging around a place like this?"

The Akatsuki member closed his book and stuffed it in his pocket as he approached the stairs. At the bottom left of the platform were two male shinobi and a familiar female who never seemed to follow his directions. With a reluctant sigh, he began to make his descent.

"Leave her. We didn't come here for no reason."

"It'll be fine if we just have a little fun first."

"Wait… I think I've seen her before…"

Nozomi gasped in surprise as the hood of her cloak was thrown over her head. She stumbled over her feet as she was dragged away by her wrist from the two startled ninja. As she tried to fix her hood so she could see, her gaze fell on her kidnapper - Kakuzu.

"H-Hold on… Slow down!" The blond asked as she held onto his arm with her free hand. Once they were back into the forest, his pace slowed enough for her to finally fall in step with him.

"Why don't you know how to follow directions?" Kakuzu asked her as he came to a stop, looking down at his troublesome baggage.

"I did! I sat with the jackass like you asked until these three people came and one of them killed the other and they were talking about some J-thing, then Hidan told me to go find you!" Nozomi rambled as she looked back up at him, matching his gaze. "Honestly, I don't appreciate you assuming that I'm doing everything wrong. Why don't you ever ask me for my side of the story?"

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes as he listened to what she said. "Three people? Who were they?"

"I'm not talking until you answer my question." Nozomi narrowed her eyes as well, her stubbornness showing. Kakuzu, fed up with her annoying behavior, pulled her closer to him by her wrist.

"I don't need to bother with unnecessary details. You didn't follow my instructions, therefore you're wrong."

"What type of mentality is that?"

"One that was engraved in me a long time ago." Kakuzu ended that side of the conversation as he pulled her along once again. "Your question has been answered, now answer mine."

Nozomi wasn't satisfied with his answer but let it go for now. This was the first time he had inferred anything about his past and it only opened Pandora's box to the thousands of other questions that popped into her mind. As she walked alongside him, she thought of the three people that had approached them. The two background characters were plain, but the ring leader stood out to her. Tapping her chin with her free hand, she thought out loud. "Well… The man I assume was the leader was named Hifumi. His hair and beard were graying and, now that I think of it, he had a three-claw scar over his right eye like he was scratched by a small animal."

Kakuzu took in the information with a slight nod. That matched the description of the bounty. If Hidan's still with him, then everything should be according to plan.

Nozomi looked back at Kakuzu before covering her mouth to stifle a giggle.

"What's so amusing?" He asked.

"This reminds me of when we were stitched together." She grinned, holding up the wrist that he was still holding.

Kakuzu looked down at the cheerful female at his side. "You complained the whole time."

"Not the whole time!" Nozomi pouted as she lowered their arms. A small blush spread across her face as she looked down at the ground. "Even though it was a little frightening, it was still pretty fun...with you…" She murmured the last part under her breath, but he heard every word she said.

Suddenly, Kakuzu stopped and let out a deep sigh. Confused, Nozomi looked around before her eyes landed on the scene in front of them. Her stomach felt like it was turning inside out as she saw the trees and grass splattered with red and a large circle with an upside-down triangle on the ground, no doubt created with blood. There was a body in the middle with Hidan's scythe sticking out of it, but no head.

"Oh my gosh…" Nozomi covered her mouth in shock. "They killed him…"