They followed the priest through what felt like endless corridors, getting a half-hearted tour of the church. Though 'monastery' seemed to be a more accurate term: this obviously was not just a place where people came to pray. There were multiple, identical bedrooms (it appeared that many priests shared a bedroom: at least four futons were placed in each room). Those rooms were dull, grey and scarcely furnished. There were a number of small toilets, and some blood-splattered, empty rooms the trio prefered not to think about. The longer time they spent in the church, the more they realized that they did not really want ot know. About a lot of things.

"Tell me, Priest-sama..." Kisame begun, before he was interupted.

"Hidan."

"Pardon?"

The priest looked over his shoulder, rolled his eyes at their confused expressions.

"My name's Hidan. It's much easier if you call me that, seriously. You all look like bloody heathens anyway, so there's no need to be so fucking formal."

The trio were at a loss of words, Kisames question completely forgotten. The man was rude and blunt, and had one of the loudest personalities they had ever delt with. He reminded them of Deidara somewhat, the young artist had always been too arrogant for his own good.

But before thay could voice their irritation, he spoke again.

"And your names?"

Kisame looked at the other two, and realized that it would be up to him if they wanted any talking done. But really, what could he have expected?

"I'm Kisame. That is Itachi and Kakuzu."

"Do they talk?"

"When they have to."

Cracking a small grin at that, he opened a new set of doors, showed them into what looked like a much more comfortable bedroom. There was only one bed, despite the size of the room, and the room itself gave an air of... luxury maybe? It was hard to tell exactly, but whatever it was, they could tell without doubt that this room belonged to someone of high status.

The priest, Hidan, walked right through the room towards the warderobe, opened it and pulled three white robes out. He turned around to face his guests, a smirk playing on his lips.

"You'll have to wear these, since you don't have any spare clothes."

It turned out to be white monk robes, identical to what Hidan wore himself. A bit uncomfortable, especially for Kakuzu who's robe was too small due to his size ("don't blame me! It's your own bloody fault that you're so damn huge"), but it was infinitely better than wet and sticky Akatsuki cloakes. Though changing in front of the priest was starting to get both embarrassing and irritating there was nothing to do but put up with it, as the man did not let them out of his sight, and he did not miss out on any change to laugh at them ("oh tsh, you're too small, Weasel", "Nail polish! Who the hell uses nail polish!? You're just a bunch of sissy girls!", "Hey, don't break that robe, ragdoll!"). The pale man was a champion when it came to getting on peoples nerves. If he had not been rewarded with a price already, he definitely should. If they so had to nominate him themselves. 'Nominate', as in 'fist in his face'.

"Who lives here? Won't he mind if you lend us these?" Kakuzu could not help but ask. After all, lending clothes to people would in the long run cost money, and money was something to be saved. Those robes appeared to be pretty expensive too. But Hidan just shrugged, walked out the way they had entered and waved a hand to make them understand that they should follow.

"It's perfectly fine, seriously. This is my room."

--

The trio talked silently among themselves during the meal Hidan had cooked up at them. They had not expected the loud man who had... greeted... them at the door to be someone of such high status. But then again, they guessed they should have had, the man moved as if he owned the place; maybe he actually did.

The man was surprisingly good a cooking; there was nothing about him that stated otherwise, not at all, but somehow it was hard to picture him with a spatula in hand, had they not seen it themselves.

Anyway, his skills in the kitchen aside, the man truly was weird. They were pretty sure that a priest should never cuss that much, or behave like Hidan did towards visitors. The only priests they had seen previously were the kind and forgiving ones, those who tried to see the best in everyone and everything and who, quite frankly, were so naïve it should be considered a sin. Every priest but Hidan. Just what kind of church was this? What strange deity allowed such... disrespect to others?

Kisame decided to voice their questions.

"Hidan, what kind of church is this anyway? I've never seen anything quite like it."

The single most devious smile they had ever seen crept over said priest's lips, and they could not help but wonder if he was about to tell them that the Apocalypse were about to take place anytime now.

"This, my strange, fishy friend, is one of the few churches left dedicated to the only true God, Jashin himself."

Their reactions were varied. Itachi blinked a few times, though his face remained as apathetic as ever, Kisame's eyes widened, his mouth fell wide open. Kakuzu nearly choked on his tea, and Kisame had to hit him on the back twice before he could breathe properly again. Hidan just observed them, amusement evident on his face.

"Man, you should see yourselves, you look like you're ready to fucking piss your pants, seriously. I'll be forced to kill you if you stain my robes, though, so try to hold it in. As I said, it takes a shitload of praying to be forgiven for lousy sacrifices such as yourselves. I take it you've heard of Him then?"

Kakuzu gave him an angry look, but did not press it. None of them wanted to recieve the bad end of the priest's temper, should they piss him off. Especially not i he was indeed of such... high... status... high status... priest... Jashin... this man was a high priest of Jashin?! This man was the man they had been sent out to find? This man was the man who should be Kakuzu's... Kakuzu slammed his head down on the table, cursing Fate, cursing Leader and cursing the pale man sitting right in front of them. Cursing them with every fiber in his being.

Itachi and Kisame looked sympathic, and Hidan looked surprised. So they told him. Everything. About Akatsuki, their goals and ambitions, about his role should he accept. They were interupted once, by another priest who came in to check if the visitors had been sacrificed yet. Hidan barked out an order, once again giving them proof that he was indeed somewhat of a leader. After that they were left alone.

It was late when they finished, and now they could only look at him in nervous anticipation as he tried to get all the information straight in his head.

"Let me see if I got this right... 'Akatsuki' is an organization hell bent on world domination. You want me to join so I can be Ragdoll's new partner after his last one was killed. If I join, I'll be forced to wear that lame cloak and purple nail polish like some pansy, since your leader decided thay you should all match each other like little school girls. Am I right this far?"

Kakuzu did not look happy about the nickname, or the fact that the man had just ridiculed them, but they could only nod. They had decided not to tell the man how, exactly, Kakuzu's previous partner (partners, actually, he had had seven before Hidan) dies: they did not want to scare the priest away. Hidan grinned again.

"You all sound like a bunch of freaks. Sounds pretty fun to be able to piss you off on a daily basis. And maybe I'll be able to sacrifice heathens to Lord Jashin more often..."

He smiled; a real smile this time, not a smirk or a grin. It lit up his face, made his eyes glitter. Once again he looked simply angelic.

"Guess I'm fucking in."


Finally: There. Chapter two, uploaded in week seven as I promised. I cannot say that I am too happy with this chapter: it is short and pretty uninteresting in my eyes. Ah well, next time they will see more of why Leader decided that he wanted Hidan in the group, so hopefully that will not be such a pain to read. There may be some mistakes, but I am sick of proof-reading it now, so here we go. Please take some time to give constructive concrit. Thank you for your time and interest.