Chapter Three
"Our time is running out
Our time is running out
You can't push it underground
You can't stop it screaming out."

Kakuzu was watching her like a hawk. He had been since they left the inn that morning, and it was more than a little unnerving. Kinshin tugged absently at her hair, and fell back to walk beside Hidan, just to get a break from being within Kakuzu's eye line.

Hidan seemed just as ready to kill her as he would be an annoying mosquito, though. This was odd, considering he seemed to be in a better mood than usual. Despite his scowl at her, the sunlight caught his pale hair and glinted from his violet eyes, making him look… very nice.

She shook her head violently. What an odd thought to have. It must have been because he seemed so much better in comparison to Kakuzu.

The walking continued for hours, but any complaints that the girl might have made died after the very first one was met with an extra deadly glare from Kakuzu, and the sort of smile that didn't bode well for her from Hidan. She winced quietly as her feet, unused to shoes, blistered and screamed that she sit down for a little while.

At last, Hidan badgered Kakuzu into setting up camp for the night, and they found a nice little spot beside a creek. The area was well-hidden by dense forest, but the grass was long and soft. Closer to the water's edge, the ground was sandier and warmer from the sun's rays.

Kakuzu sat on a rock, looking over his map, while Hidan flopped down onto the grass in the shade. Kinshin sat on the rocky ground and removed her shoes, dipping her bare feet into the cool water and sighing in ecstasy at the feel. The bottoms of her feet were plenty calloused from years of being barefoot, but the sensitive area where the strap of the shoe rubbed between her big and second toes was a burning red.

"Collect some firewood," called Hidan across the clearing to Kinshin. The girl frowned.

"Why me?" she whined, regretting it the second Kakuzu reiterated Hidan's command. Biting her lip, she shook her feet of excess water and slipped her shoes back on, moving into the foliage reluctantly.

She collected dry twigs, all the while muttering to herself, until she glanced over her shoulder to check on her companions, the lazy bums. They couldn't be seen through the thick branches, and she paused. She could run. She couldn't get far if they knew she was running away, but if they thought she was collecting wood, it would take a while before they thought something was amiss. Or so she reasoned.

Gathering her courage, she set her twigs down gently and prepared to sprint.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah!" She turned guiltily to look at Hidan, who raised an eyebrow at her. "Nothing!" she shouted.

He squinted, "Really?"

"Y-yes."

"Then why don't you have any wood?"

She quickly picked her bundle back up. "I have wood. See? Right here."

He waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah, I see it," Hidan snapped. "Get back to the campsite, then. It's getting dark, and a girl like you would be eaten by wolves in a second."

She hurried to walk in step with him. "You came to check on me because you were afraid wolves would get me?" she asked, moved that anyone cared about her.

"No, I came to see what was taking so long because I'm hungry."

"Oh." She thought for a second, "I'm hungry, too."

He didn't seem to care. "I hope you're good at catching fish, then."

"What's the trick?" she asked, frustrated.

On the grass, Hidan and Kakuzu both had more fish than they could possibly eat, having caught several with little effort. Kinshin had been at it for more than an hour and hadn't gotten any. They were too fast, and too slippery to hold onto when she did manage to grab a slow one.

Hidan laughed at her expense. Kakuzu only pulled a kunai out and launched it at her, imbedding it into the ground beside her.

"Stab one," he advised.

"And don't get your own foot," Hidan added, still highly amused.

She was tempted to throw the pointy object at Hidan's head, but settled on doing as Kakuzu had instructed her. She missed every time.

"You're holding it wrong, stupid," Hidan commented from his spot. "How can you expect to stab anything with a grip like that?" He stood and came up behind her, still barefoot and without his cloak from his own fishing. He reset the kunai in her hand so that she was holding it properly. "Don't grip it so hard," he said, critiquing from over her shoulder. When he was satisfied with how she was holding the kunai, he set to work correcting her stance. "Spread your legs more. You'll fall over too easily like that."

She did it. "Like this?"

"Now stop going after every fish you see. Be selective. Bigger ones are better, and the ones that dart around a lot are going to be too hard to predict." He watched the water for a moment, then pointed out a fish that was indeed bigger and slower than the rest. "There. That one. Now wait until it's by that rock… And now!"

His hand guided hers and she brought the point down just behind the fish's head, impaling it. When she pulled the kunai from the water, the fish came with it.

"I did it!" she cheered, waving it around for both of them to see.

Hidan snorted and went back to where he had left his fish on sticks protruding from the ground. "Come cook it, already. You can have some of mine, too. You look like a skeleton."

She hummed happily as she ate Hidan's extras and waited for her own fish to cook. It turned golden-brown in the fire. She sat with her mouth full, staring at the second thing (aside from the occasional bug) that she had ever killed in her life. Then she remembered the kunai that sat by her side, and picked it up to look it over. She recalled the way Hidan had told her to hold it, and changed her grip.

"How'd you throw it like that?" she asked Kakuzu, who gave her a look.

"Captives don't get to use weapons," he told her.

She pouted. "No fair. I never asked to be a captive."

"No," Hidan agreed. "But you did ask us not to kill you."

She humphed, and went back to her fish. The injustice of it all was just too much. Even after the fish and the daylight were both gone, she stared into the fire, fingering the dangerous blade. It was hopeless. No matter what she did, the Akatsuki members were too strong and fast for her to get away from. And she was slowly losing the will to try getting away.

"Ouch," she hissed, and the tiny cut on her fingertip dripped tiny dots of blood onto the grass below her.

Hidan raised an eyebrow, grabbing her hand and looking at the cut. "You should be careful," he told her, a smirk playing across his lips. "One drop of your blood is all I need to cause you a slow and agonizing death."

"But you won't," Kinshin reasoned. "Because Kakuzu-san wants me alive until we get to Kenba; until he has Okaji."

Hidan tilted his head, looking at her from below a furrowed brow. "What do you think happens after that?" he asked.

"I'd like to think he'll keep his word and let me go," she admitted. "Realistically, I'm hoping it will at least be quick, whatever he decides to do."

Kakuzu feigned sleep a few feet away. He resisted the urge to huff at her statement. Then again, it wasn't like he was above making promises with his mouth while strangling someone with his hands. Still, that she had so bluntly called him a liar and a cheat irritated him.

Hidan let go of her hand, smirking again. "At least you aren't completely naïve," he said, taking her kunai and standing. "I'm going to sleep, and you should, too."

"Yeah," she murmured thoughtfully. She followed him over to where Kakuzu slept and laid down on the grass. Staring up at the stars, she shivered in the chilly nighttime air, thinking over everything that had happened in the last week. She had gone from homeless, hungry and in rags, to… Well, homeless, less hungry and wearing real clothes. It wasn't a huge step up, but it was more than she expected out of her life. She eventually fell asleep, lulled by crickets and the sound of wind-rustled leaves.

Kenba was the town equivalent of a seedy bar. Every person looked about ready to do something unspeakable; every building looked dirty and about ready to fall down, and the sun seemed unable to penetrate the smoky brown clouds. It was not a pleasant place, making it perfect for a fugitive with a bounty on his head to hide.

Kinshin wrapped her arms around herself as if it would stop the scary stares that she was receiving. She walked extra close to Hidan, half-expecting him to yell at her for it, but he never did. His presence actually shifted to something that was almost comforting.

"Filth," commented Kakuzu dryly. He looked around for anyone that he recognized from his bingo book. If he was going to find bounties anywhere, this was a good place to start.

The town square was in worse shape than the rest of the village. An old fountain loomed in the middle of the cracked stone walkways, no longer running the murky, fungus-thick water through its pipes. Without the water that would have been spraying over it, it looked like a statue, and Kinshin stopped to look at it.

Hidan and Kakuzu both stopped as well, looking at her with curiosity and irritation, respectively.

"I remember he said something about a statue of an oni," she explained.

The two men looked up at the fountain. It was, indeed, an oni, wearing a loincloth and squatting down with his club held over his head menacingly. The stone figure had lost a horn at some point, and the paint that had once made him red was so far gone that it looked more like the creature had chickenpox.

"Great," muttered Hidan. "So now what?"

"We wait," Kakuzu said. "We'll find a vantage point of the square, and watch for any sign of him." He glanced around, stopping when he spotted a tall building, which loomed over the center, giving anyone looking from one of the topmost front windows a perfect view on the entire square. "There," Kakuzu pointed out. "We'll stay in that hotel."

"Perfect," was Hidan's sarcastic reply. "It looks like the epitome of cleanliness."

"Is it safe?" asked Kinshin as she followed along after the two.

Hidan gave her a look, "No more dangerous than traveling around with us."

Kakuzu asked (read: threatened) the receptionist, a mannish woman who didn't seem all that interested in customer service at first, for one of the front rooms near the top, and she was quick to hand him a key with the number 914 on it.

The door creaked on its hinges like nails on a chalkboard, and the room itself was just as one would expect it to be: filthy, dark, and damp. There was only one bed, but it was doubtful that any of them would even want to fight over it.

Kakuzu smeared at the grime that coated the window with his sleeve until it was clean enough to see through, after which he pulled a chair across the room and sat in it, peering through the glass. He hoped Okaji would show up soon, because they wouldn't be leaving that hotel room until he did.

A/N: Short chapter, I know. Not much to say about it.

Song is Time is Running Out by Muse.