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Following the Unholy Priest

The Dream

Hidan was sitting at a ramen stand, which was weird seeing as he hated ramen with a passion. Same with eating at food stands (sitting with his back to the street always felt like an open invitation to stab him in the back, even if it couldn't kill him that shit still hurt). A bowl of miso pork ramen sat in front of him, untouched and steaming. The people around him wore expressionless masks made of porcelain and moved with lethargic slowness. Their talk was slow, garbled, and muddled. A crow fluttered down and rested on the lip of his bowl. He lifted a hand, which felt slow and weighed down as if by heavy stones, to shoo it away when it looked up at him. He gasped. The bird's eyes were solid violet with a spiky black swirl where each pupil should be. Everything clicked into place; he was having some kind of prophetic dream. He had only had one before. It occurred several years ago and the crow had warned him to stay away from the organization known as the Akatsuki, which had been trying to recruit him at the time. The crow was not a crow at all but Jashin-sama come to speak with him!

"Go to Konoha," the bird croaked in its gravelly voice, "Find the blue eyed fox. Take him as your apprentice"

"Apprentice?" Hidan had never heard of a Jashinist taking an apprentice. They were solitary creatures by nature.

"Go" the bird croaked again. It dipped its beak into the ramen and then took flight, leaving the silver haired zealot behind.

The moment Jashin-sama had taken wing the people around him ceased conversation and turned their faces towards him. Their porcelain masks slowly morphed, become horrible and hateful.

"Monster," they whispered, "demon, monster, demon, monster, demon" their voices grew louder, eclipsing everything, becoming loud enough that Hidan thought he would go mad from the sound of it. Suddenly, the mob rushed at him.

Hidan awoke with a jerking start, bolting upright, torso slicked in cold sweat, his breathing heavy and labored. His ears rang. He pulled himself into an upright position and pulled the blanket he had kicked off sometime in the night around him. The sun was rising in the east, casting the graveyard in which he had taken refuge in a pinkish-red light. He was only a day's trek from Konoha as it was. Standing up, he began to pack his measly belongings; he would begin his journey now and contemplate what Jashin-sama had meant by 'the blue-eyed fox'.

Hidan pulled on the hood of his cloak, making sure his distinctive silver hair was hidden. He fingered the storage scroll at his hip that held his scythe and headband. Without them on he felt naked but hiding them was necessary. Konohakagure was tolerant of many things but violent missing-nin roaming their streets was not one of them. He turned down another street and pushed down a growl of frustration. It was nearly night-time and he still had no idea who he was looking for, hell he didn't even know how to begin to get an idea. Anyone with ears knew about the fox demon that had nearly destroyed the village and if he asked a villager if he knew about a fox, odds were he would be attacked. And if he was attacked he would be forced to commit a brutal (but deserved and immensely satisfying) murder. Hey, what was that? Near the end of the street, half-hidden in shadows was a group of men standing in a half circle. For a moment they parted and Hidan caught a glimpse of a small boy, huddled in on himself, his blonde hair matted with blood.

Oh hell no!

That shit didn't fly with him! Children were off limits, Jashin-sama himself said so! Intentionally hurting one was a direct ticket to hell, and Hidan was going to send them there. He quickly un-sealed his scythe and gave it an experimental swing. He took off silently, a black shadow emitting murderous intentions.

Naruto ducked as an empty bottle smashed into the brick wall where his head had been a second before.

"Piss off Demon! We don't want you kind around here!" the villager yelled, alcohol making his words come out slurred and heavy.

The boy hunched in on himself, carefully brushing the green glass out of his hair with one hand. This always happened. He wouldn't be bothering anyone, or so he thought. His very existence seemed to piss off these people, people he had never seen, never talked to, never bothered. He began to walk away; he would just go back to his apartment, lock the doors and hope no one tried to break in tonight.

"Hey, where the fuck ya' going demon?"

Something hard connected with his head, pain exploded on the top of his head. For a moment he blacked out. Everything was muddled, something sticky and warm was trickling down his scalp and into his eyes. A foot connected with his stomach, pain hit him like a black wave, and he felt a rib snap. He screamed, or at least he tried. Another food connected with his stomach, knocking his breath out. Blows began to rain down on him, black pain swallowed him, radiating throughout his young body. He was fading in and out of consciousness; he looked up, fighting against the shadows that threatened to swallow his vision. One of the men held a kunai in one hand. Naruto felt fear swallow him entirely for a minute and then, a strange sense of calm. He was going to die, alright. It was going to end, no more abuse, good. The kunai rose, Naruto half-closed his eyes, the kunai began to descend and then the man stiffened. Red liquid, not his own for once, splashed against Naruto cheeks. Three red blades protruded from the man's chest. In quick efficient movements the man was flung from the blades and off to the side. The other men turned to run. A swing caught one across his neck, severing his head and dropping him like a stone. Another vicious swing slit the others stomach wide open, his entrails pooled around his feet and he slowly fell face first onto the ground, unmoving. The blonde looked up at his savoir. A shadow, dressed in a dark cloak clutching a scythe.

"Death," Naruto muttered, a hazy smile stretching his face, "about time you got here"

He felt his eyelids slide shut against his will. The last thing he was aware of was his face colliding with the pavement.

Hidan stared at the battered boy. He wanted to die? What the hell? He crouched down and examined the boy. He was young, probably only ten or eleven. Three whisker scars adorned each cheek, giving him a vaguely foxy look. Wait, foxy? He gently lifted an eyelid and gasped as he saw a clouded cerulean eye. Blue eyes, fox-like scars, could this be the boy Jashin-sama wanted him to find? He gently pushed up the boy's shirt and hissed sympathetically. Each of the blonde's ribs were visible underneath his tan skin and two of them were obviously broken. Bruises, old and new, littered his frame and what looked like a healing burn covered one side of his chest. Dear Jashin-sama what had this boy gone through? What kind of village would allow this to be done to a child? Well, his own would but that was a mute point seeing as they were all dead. He needed to get this boy somewhere where he could help him. He gently scooped the boy up into his arms and took off towards the abandoned apartment he was using as a base of operations.

He laid the boy gently on the bed and cut away his shirt. Wait, what the hell? The ribs had already healed? How was that possible? Just to be on the safe side he wrapped medical gauze around the boy's emancipated torso. He wet a rag in the bathroom sink and wiped the drying blood from his skin. Washing the blood out of his hair would require a bath or shower and would have to wait until the boy was conscious. He didn't have enough gauze that he could risk accidently getting any of it wet. After he had done all he could he gently covered the blonde with a light blanket and sat back against the far wall. Even if this wasn't Jashin-sama's kid he wasn't going to let him go without making sure he was okay. He freely admitted that he was a violet, borderline psychotic, sadomasochist that got off on killing almost killing anything with a pulse; but he despised people who hurt children. Abso-fukcing-lutely hated them. There was no scum on the earth lower as far as he was concerned.

He shrugged off his cloak and cursed as he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror over the dresser. His hair was fucked up! Dear Jashin-sama he hated wearing the hood on that damn cloak! He ran a hand through his hair, smoothing it back into his normal hairstyle. The boy shifted slightly in his sleep, Hidan looked at him. The blonde settled down in a moment, after waiting a minute to be sure the boy was resting soundly he leaned his head back against the wall and let his eyes close. Within minutes he was asleep.

A/N: first chapter up. and we're gonna do an experiment. I'm going to ask you guys for…let's say five reviews minimum before I put up the next chapter. Anyway, later gents and lasses, have a nice day.

pathetic-really