Why Remember?

A young store keeper, long abused and blind, bumps into an Akatsuki member. What shall ensue?

Pairings: Hidan/OC

Rated: M

Genre: Humor/Romance

Note: I do not own Naruto, though I really wish I did. But I don't….su yeah. Don't sue me. It's called Fan-fiction for a reason…

Your promises are all played out

You've got your wish, you've worn me down

I treated you the best I could

I realize that I don't need you

"Make more dango! We don't have all day!," A man with a scraggly beard rasped angrily, staring down at a girl with pretty blond hair. She bowed her head in fear of being hit, her eyes trained on the direction of his voice. Sadness ensued as she felt the strike land hard against her cheek and she sprawled against the floor, "Worthless. That's all you are. I don't know why I keep you."

'Maybe it's because I'm your daughter you asshole.' She thought. She never had spoken her thoughts, often. A frown marred her face as she reached out in his direction, feeling a broom get shoved into her hand, "You know where the door is. Sweep in that direction. And make sure you actually get it right…"

"Yes father," She sighed in a disappointed tone and grasped the broom nervously, feeling the current of the air from where she was. There was the door. With small sweeping movements she moved closer and closer to the door, tripping of a few wires, but regaining ground as she continued on her way, stopping when she heard a jingle of the door, "customer." She called and her father wandered out, she could tell he headed behind the counter she hated so much by his heavy footfall.

"Ah yes! How may I help you customer-san!", Her father boomed merrily and she wished, for just a moment, that she could be talked to in that tone, before resuming her sweeping, the hollow look invading her eyes from the once depressive view, "My partner is hungry, and he will not stop whining. Will you supply some food?" A deep gravely voice rang through the room, she tensed. It was full of malice and temperament, barely being kept on the edge of murderous intent. She heard her father take a small step back before clearing his throat, "Yes yes. We could! Irei! Go get the man as much food as he'd like!"

Was he being threatened? Her beautifully narrow eyes focuses on her surroundings, not like she could really see, "…Yes father." She said in a hushed tone and carefully walked into the back, holding her hands out in front of her a lightly. She didn't want to make a wrong move that could piss this guy off… 'It may just be the end of us…' She hummed as if she was happy a she retrieved a bag from the rack her father made her remember, if it was not by the slapping, it was from falling to the ground as he struck her, and hitting her temple against the corner of the cabinet beside.

Her hands drifted and plucked sticks of food off of the shelves, all wrapped neatly, through blood sweat and tears. Boy, was her father ever so lazy. She smiled out of faint adoration, when…would she be able to relax? Irei's father coughed from behind the counter, a silent sign for her to hurry up, and she stuffed a few more into the bag, rushing back out before stumbling a bit. Irei held out her pale hands, the bag was soon plucked out by rough calloused hands and the bell from the door jingled again, a wave of annoyance passed through the room. It must be his partner…

"Hurry the fuck up! I'm starrrving," A man said, his voice full of anger and an underlying confidence. She heard her father's fists clench tightly, and grew nervous, what made him so tense? Did they have weapons? She heard the light tapping of feet before a bag was shoved into the 'whiner's' hands. Why did the guys who have really nice voices have to whine or curse? "Finally. Food! About fucking time!"

She heard the rustle of the bag and the tearing of the wrapping she took such a long time wrapping and felt a pang in her heart. It was a waste, wrapping them…when they were just going to be put to waste, "Irei, get back to work." Her father ordered and she nodded slowly, reaching her hand out to where she remembered the broom to be, her eyes staring out into the open, then darting to the broom when she got hold of it. She could at least pretend she could see right?

"Yes father," Irei said quietly and began to sweep once more, away from the direction of the customers who started bickering at each other. "Why the fuck are we on one of your stupid ass side missions again? We have other missions too! More important ones!"

"We need money to continue missions," He grunted and flipped out a one hundred dollar bill as he went through his money. He looked at the bill before a pang of anger flashed through his eyes as he handed it over to Irei's father. Her father bowed and accepted the money, handing back a twenty dollar bill, which was twice the amount that was supposed to be given back… but oh well, "Thank you for your business customer-san. Please, do come again."

"Hn, move Hidan, we're on a timed… Hidan." The man with green eyes trailed off when he saw his silver-haired partner staring at the blonde who was sweeping in close, almost struggled strokes, as if she was having a bit of trouble. His partner's eyes gleamed with interest, probably having thoughts buzzing through his head as he ate his dango, "Hidan. We have to go."

"Oi, girly, why are you sweeping so funny?" He asked walking over with confident footfalls. Irei felt a wave of panic, and her white eyes darted around nervously, flickering to grey in the lighting to an unbearable white when they moved in the other direction. She acted as if she was trying to pinpoint him…

Irei was scared, incredibly fearful for her young life, she hadn't even been outside of the house before, she hadn't met any cute guys, nor had she ever strived to become something great yet… She backed up a bit in the opposite direction, the way she came and took a shaky breath. Hidan had to smirk, it was habit, seeing his victims tremble in fear, or at his godliness. He popped another piece into his mouth as he watched her, and chewed slowly, imagining her falling to the floor from his sexiness. When she didn't he frowned, and moved closer, this time, with smaller footfalls, testing her hearing. She moved away quicker, and bumped into a shelf, her father was probably panicking, she could imagine the sweat on his brow, or the fear that laced off of his chakra, as he taught her when she was but a child.

"P-Please don't harm my daughter, she- she is only doing her job," He stuttered, trying to pass off the fact she was blind.

"Huh. Looks like she's doin' a fucking bad job," Hidan grunted and Kakuzu rolled his eyes, tapping his foot. Irei felt a pang of guilt and lowered her gaze to the floor, was she really doing a bad job? She dropped to her knees in the direction of her father and bowed down in what seemed to be a 'please have mercy on me' position, her forehead touching the carpeted area, "Please forgive me father. I will try harder."

"It's fine Irei, just- go. Into the back. Make more dango. Now." Her father said in a rushed tone, pulling out a kunai from underneath the shelf. She nodded and got up, her blonde locks swaying from her braid and moved out of the room slowly, before she heard a small clatter and a spray of what she knew was blood, praying her father would be okay as she huddled into a small ball in a fairly large cupboard. Would there be a next time?

She heard a muffled scream and shook lightly, the cupboard she was in trembled gently, if not in a subtle fashion, discrete would be another word, but she felt it open shortly after and a rough hand drag her out. She tried to curl into a ball, like she would and her father would embrace her, but soon found out it was not her father as they didn't support her, but tossed her into a wall, feeling her head crack in the most painful way she could ever imagine on the cement wall.

"…," Irei stayed silent, curling into a small ball while clutching her very warm and wet head, taking deep breaths as to keep from screaming or lurching forward and loosing her lunch at the excruciating pain, "So your father was a ninja? What did he send out with you?" Kakuzu demanded, she didn't know his name though, since it was never mentioned, so she just referred to him as the 'gravel-voiced man'.

"There was nothing to send sir, he knew he was going to die, there was no point in getting the authorities involved. Please, take the money from the register and leave," She said, choking back the emotion that rose her temperament. She felt like screaming, or crying, maybe throwing up and then doing both, or crying and vomiting, whichever one came first. She reached for her head again as she felt a hand grip her hair and yank her up. There was pain, oh yes, and red staining her once pristine light blonde locks.

"Tch. Like that's fucking believable. Want me to search the bitch?" Hidan grumbled loudly, his voice full of anger that he wasn't the one who killed her father. Kakuzu looked her over, and saw that once again her eyes were not focused on them correctly, more so in the direction of their voices, "No. She couldn't have sent out a letter. She couldn't even write."

"Why the fuck not Kakuzu? She's probably just as capable as any dumb bitch," Hidan shouted, the sound of a blade hissing through the air.

"She's blind," Kakuzu stated simply and Hidan let out a small sound of disappointment, he really wanted to check and slice in the process. Sacrificing to Jashin was always a good thing. He seemed to nod to himself as she squirmed in Kakuzu's grip on her hair, before she fell to the floor again, her eyes vacant, no longer filled with pain, since a numbing sensation was passing over her, "Let's leave. We have no more business here."

"Why the fuck not? It's a fucking sin not to sacrifice for Jashin! I have to kill her! Or we have to take her along, and I vote for the first fucking option. So quit being a dickweed and let me have a slice!" The sound of metal rang through the air again and then a punch was thrown, someone being knocked into the other wall, opposite from her, "We'll take her along."

"FUCK NO." Hidan bellowed, she heard the rustling of a cloak before she was picked up, and held in a classic bridal position, curling into a small ball in who she guessed was Kakuzu's arms. Maybe she was safe… for now. She then drifted off to sleep at the chime of the bell on the front door, and the tearing of paper again, with some faint swear words in the distance.

--

Her head was throbbing, it felt….odd. When did her head throb? Her eyes opened, and she was greeted by darkness, sighing in distaste, "Hello world." She muttered and felt above her, slowly remembering last nights events. There was no one there, or anything there for that matter, she was safe to sit up. Her white eyes, now a diluted cream color, glanced around the room as if she was taking in detail. She was, but it was in the form of scents and sounds, unlike most people, who groan and complain about it all.

The room stung her nose with the scent of bleach, heavily downed in it, the floors and walls were probably a yellow streaked with white, or completely white, as were the tiles, or cement. Someone probably dies here whenever they take captives…then they let them rot…and rot…her eyes had finally rid themselves of sleep, now a normal pearly white as they usually were.

"So you're awake, hm," A male's voice rang and a door swung open, light footsteps sounding from the floor. The room was obviously big, because it echoed. She followed the voice with her ears, feeling them wiggle as they tried to pick up the last of the vibrations. This room threw her hearing off… badly at that, "We put you in this room for a reason, hm."

"Who is we sir?" She asked politely, if not in a quiet enough tone. She was taught to talk quietly, another sequence of hitting made sure of that… when she was a child… she shuddered lightly and shook herself out of her reminiscing, her gaze lifted to the ceiling, "Hn. The Akatsuki."

"Never heard of you….of course. I've been kept in the dark my whole life. Why start telling me things now?", She questioned him politely, raising a delicate blonde eyebrow, "They did tell us you were quite polite. I didn't think that it would be true…"

"Huh. Especially since Hidan's version of polite is someone walking up to him and stabbing him in the chest and saying hello with a smile," the other chuckled, he seemed to be a bit more mature, but he had a light sense of humor. She pondered on this thought, sighing in distaste, oh well, "Why do you sigh Irei-san."

"I wish I could see," She stated bluntly. One of them seemed taken aback, before settling down, "It's a horrible thing, you can't enjoy things."

She turned her head to the side, towards where she guessed them to be, now that she had a good grasp on the room, "It's like you're not human."

--

Author's Note

Squee? I know the chapter's short. But it's a good thing… you know? Kinda good, but kinda bad. I could have drawled on, but I'm afraid if I did, I'd have nothing to run on. Oh well. So reviews and comments? Your choice really. Have fun with it.