Chapter 34

"I…. I didn't send any letters. I-It wasn't allowed," Hinata spoke softly, completely baffled.

Kakuzu's eyes glazed over as he stared at her for a moment before he removed his hand from her face and clenched his fists, looking up at the ceiling, "Fuck! We should've seen this coming!"

Til this point, the man had never lost his temper like that in front of her, so she understandably winced, inching away from him. He noticed, brow furrowing as he looked over her appearance as though he was seeing her for the first time, "Hidan received a handwritten letter from you around a month ago. You didn't send it?"

Hinata's blood went completely cold as realization struck her, "N-No, I didn't! I-I-I also received a letter from H-Hidan. Was that not him?"

Kakuzu seemed overwhelmed with anger and removed himself from where he sat on the edge of the bed to walk across the room, "We tried the entire time you were gone but could never locate you."

'So, Hidan didn't…? He didn't break up with me? He didn't ask me to stay away?'

Suddenly, the man's behavior made complete sense. She'd broken his heart into a million pieces. Hinata's chest tightened dangerously as she pictured what he must've looked like, reading that false letter that likely looked similar to the one she had received.

The tan-skinned man in the room realized she was having trouble breathing and cautiously sat on the bed again, his tone less tense, "We can still fix this, so calm down. Losing your composure won't help anyone."

Tears filled the girl's eyes as she searched his face. This was the person who uncharacteristically assured her he approved of her relationship with Hidan just so she wouldn't worry anymore. He was a man that rescued a misunderstood, helpless child in this very town a decade ago.

"K-Kakuzu…." Hinata couldn't help herself. She was so overcome with relief that everyone hadn't abandoned her like she thought that she crawled across the bed to throw her arms around his shoulders.

He became tense but awkwardly patted the upper part of her back, where the shirt wasn't ripped, "Everyone was so surprised by the letter. Hidan…. How he is now is a thousand times better than he's been for the past month. Getting him out of Konoha seemed to help."

The Hyuuga girl sat back on her knees, wiping delicately at her eyes with her scuffed-up hands, "Do you p-promise he didn't send that letter? You know for sure?"

He nodded, frowning. A moment passed, and neither said anything.

Hinata was too busy working through her hectic thoughts. It was emotionally draining to have believed everyone she loved had given up and wanted her to stay away, only to find out it'd been a lie, and they thought she'd done the same thing to them.

"I bought some clothes if you want to bathe and change. I'll go after Hidan and explain what happened." She nodded, accepting his help when he offered a hand to take on some of her weight in an effort not to hurt her sprained ankle.

Before she could close the bathroom door, he stopped her, "Those marks on your back. Are they from what I think they are?" Brow furrowing, the girl nodded, closing the door before he could respond.

Bathing and changing into fresh clothes made Hinata feel a lot better, but that went away when she stepped out of the bathroom to see Kakuzu waiting there with a frown that told her without words that he hadn't managed to find Hidan.

There was nothing they could do for the night, so he had her go back to sleep, waking her in the morning so they could both search the town. Splitting up, they agreed to meet back at the hotel by two in the afternoon.

As Hinata walked around aimlessly, she tried to imagine where he'd ever go in this town. At first, she had no idea, but then a familiar-looking building came into view down the road she was walking, and the girl broke into a run toward it, or as close to a run as she could with her sore ankle. It was a church, the very same one where his older brother was killed, and he murdered the men responsible.

Without thinking, the Hyuuga burst through the doors to see Hidan sitting in one of the front pews. He turned to look at her, scoffing, "Get the fuck outta here."

Hinata could barely contain her emotions. It was easy to disregard his glare because she was overwhelmed with relief that he hadn't betrayed her after all. Closing the doors behind her, she slowly approached, which had the silver-haired man coming to a stand with a warning glare, "I'll hurt you if you don't fuck off."

Though terrifying, she ignored his threat and continued approaching, "H-Hidan, it's all a misunderstanding!"

Her speaking seemed to snap his patience, and he came to meet her in the aisle, grasping her upper arms tightly and hissing, "You made things perfectly clear."

Hinata stared at his handsome face, enthralled despite his rage because she'd missed him so much.

Hidan picked up on it, "Stop! What the fuck are you trying to do? I'm serious, Hinata. Leave now, or I'll really do it."

She could see the hurt in his eyes no matter how hard he tried to hide it, and it brought her to tears. Rather than back away, she lifted her hands to grasp onto his shirt, her voice breathy and soft as she tried to manage her heightened distress, "All the things you've had to go through because of me…. I'm so so sorry, Hidan; please believe me."

Hinata had been crying for minutes, but then Hidan's eyes were watering up, too. He didn't give in, though. No, he lashed out further, "Fuck you and your bullshit apology."

Hidan released one of her arms and fisted his hand as though he'd hit her, which made the woman panic. Not knowing what else to do, she tugged him closer by his shirt and kissed him with all the passion she could muster in her state.

For just a moment, the man froze. Then, he kissed back. Seconds later, he came to his senses and shoved her away. Hinata's neck turned as a sting came across her cheek.

'He slapped me….'

It wasn't nearly as hard as she knew he was capable of, but the fact that he did it hurt enough. With wide, pearl-colored eyes, she shakily cupped her abused skin and tried to step away, but now he wasn't letting her leave.

"If you think for a second that I'm gonna let you fuck around with me again, you're seriously mistaken."

Trying to speak through her sobs, she tugged against his hold, reminding her of last night when he chased her in the street, "I-I didn't send that letter, Hidan!"

He grabbed the front of her shirt, pulling her face closer while threatening, "If you want to walk out of here alive, I suggest you shut the fuck up."

"It's true! I-I swear!"

Hidan growled, rearing his hand back as though he was going to hit her again, this time with a fist and not an open hand, "I said shut up!"

Hinata flinched, squeezing her handfuls of his shirt for dear life and yelling, "Dad took my earrings before I was sent away!"

Somehow, some way, it worked.

"...What did you just say?"

The girl opened her eyes to see a look of bewilderment upon the man's face. Hoping she was getting through to him, she nodded, "I was sent a letter from you, saying you never want to see me again. Your earrings were in it. Am I correct in assuming you were sent mine, too?"

Hidan became frozen and remained that way for a very long time. Only when the doors to the church opened behind her did he snap out of it. A gutwrenchingly familiar voice met her ears before Hinata could turn to see who it was: "I'd been told that number Seven was connected to my beloved son, but I was hesitant to believe it until now."

It was Usotsuki.

Memories of all the times he'd stricken her bare skin with a whip in the punishment room or how he'd stare down at her with disgust when he'd open the door to the box played across her eyes.

Then, she processed his words and looked from Hidan's chest to his face, completely stunned. It was the same look that a bloodied, handcuffed, nine-year-old Hidan had in the photo she saw in his file.

He seemed too surprised to react, but Usotsuki didn't care. Surprising her, he spoke to Hinata instead of his long-lost son, "Rarely does a student leave my school a failure, but I'm not surprised that my lessons didn't stick. You were a problem from the first day of your enrollment."

The girl tried to get Hidan to release her shirt so she could turn around and face him, but he wouldn't. He did, however, turn his wide-eyed gaze onto her. Obviously, he was beginning to connect at least some of the dots.

"Your father has paid the school a fine amount to locate and return you to him. I expected it to take much longer."

Hinata gasped when she realized he would soon be close enough to grab her, and pried at Hidan's fingers, whispering desperately, "P-Please, let go! Please!"

The silver-haired man snapped out of his stupor and loosened his grip, only to pull her behind him and face his father, "I'm gonna kill you, but first, you're going to tell me everything you did to her."

Usotsuki's ever-present frown didn't leave, but his voice sounded a little smugger than usual as he looked over his son's appearance, "You'll really commit another murder in the walls of a sacred place like this? You won't get away with it this time if you do."

Sirens could suddenly be heard in the distance, steadily getting closer. It was apparent the older man had called the police in advance, having foreseen Hidan's violent reaction.

The young man in question didn't budge, and Hinata realized he was still intending to kill Usotsuki, cops around or not. Hoping she wasn't making a huge mistake, she wrapped her arms around one of his and whispered, "We need to go now."

Hidan didn't even look her way. He didn't respond at all.

"Listen to the girl, Son. She knows well it's impossible to win against me."

"Hidan, please! We have to leave!"

For a moment, he seemed like he was going to continue ignoring her, but then his magenta eyes flicked down at her for a moment, and he picked her up over his shoulder before walking toward the side exit, "Just fuckin' wait, you bastard. I'm coming for you."