Chapter 11

8:30 P.M. -give or take ten minutes.

"C'mon, Taylor! Customers are showing up and you still aren't ready?" Aki had been shouting the same thing for the past hour.

And for the last hour I had been replying "Hold on!" For what seemed to me the millionth time, I retied my hair only to be frustrated once again. It just didn't look right. There was either a bump, one too many stray hairs, or it just plain out looked stupid. Even a side braid didn't do it. Pulling my hair band out from my ponytail, my hair just fell over my shoulders.

"Taylor!" Aki's voice made me jump.

"Ohmygod." I roughly shoved my hair behind my ears, and without another look in the mirror, started rushing down the stairs. Aki was hastening through the main room and the kitchen, hauling out fresh items. I threw my hands to my sides with a slap of my hip. "Happy? I'm done!"

The baker rolled his eyes, in a way that said 'Actually, yes I am.' Inconspicuously I slowly was walking towards him, hoping that I would catch his eyes and he would drop his tray of cookies to tell me how he had never noticed how beautiful I was. Just like how Disney told me things were supposed to happen.

"If you're waiting for me to tell you how stunning you are, you might as well leave." Sometimes I really think he just reads minds. That would be much less creepy then me actually accepting and admitting that Aki just knew me all that well.

Rude.

"Fine. Then you what, I'm leaving." Not that it bothered him at all. In fact I'm sure he hadn't noticed when I had left. I didn't even trouble myself with telling him a guesstimate of when I'd be home, I'd just be wasting my breath anyways. He'd probably have said something like, 'That's great then I'll make sure to wait up for you.' and it being Aki, he would have said it with the utmost sarcasm.

When I emerged from the Bakery I was more than surprised to find people actually outside. They were everywhere. Just roaming around with no worries other than having a good time. It was kind of creepy to me. Not that happy people isn't great and all- it just freaked me out. Normally everyone in that town was in a rush to be somewhere and to do something, but I guess everyone just took a break for festivals.

Weaving through the crowd as quickly as possible I must've seemed out of place. What with actually having to rush to be somewhere and meet some people. Those people being temperamental men… I really wanted to get there as soon as possible.

As I came to the gate I had never felt so relieved in my life. Luckily they hadn't shown up yet. I leaned against one of the gate's columns and let myself take a breather. "Thank you, J-"

A pair of arms suddenly wrapped around me from without any warning and threw me into the air. I landed on someone's shoulder, thoroughly screaming into their ear first. They twirled me around, making everything blur into a wave of undistinguishable colors. "Nice of you to finally show up!" They said, and dropped me back down. A hand gripped my shoulder to steady me.

It wasn't too difficult to imagine that I hadn't noticed the Akatsuki Host Club, considering they were ninjas and all. Kisame's deep chuckle bellowed over me. "Caught you off guard didn't we?"

Tobi gripped my hand. "Is Tay-chan okay?" I blinked at him for a couple of seconds before slowly nodding. It was funny, I was taking in everyone's kimonos. They weren't as girly and floral-ish as mine, but they were definitely eye catchers. Of course that could just be that I had only ever seen them in their criminal jackets.

Hidan smacked Tobi's hand off of mine. "C'mon already!" He crossed his arms across his chest. "We didn't come to just stand around, did we?"

A warm feeling split across my stomach. "No." It wasn't a feeling of enjoyment or anger or any other emotion. I couldn't place it. In fact, I was slightly worried about it. Everyone started moving down the path towards town. When I went to take a step my head dropped a couple pounds and I saw stars for a second.

A hand lightly touched my back. "You okay?" I looked up at Itachi, and my senses came reeling back to me.

I smiled again and nodded. "Yeah, just a little dizzy still I guess." His hand dropped his touch from my back. He waved his hand in front of him to signal me to get a move on. The wooziness drifted to the back of my mind as I walked with Itachi to catch up with everyone- it's not like it's anything a good time can't fix.

"Woo!" I screamed as another set of pins went down. Deidara had discovered the game that you throw balls to win games and along with that discovered how much he enjoyed them. He turned and double high-fived me.

"Did you see that? I completely blew that stack apart!" His inner teenager was emerging and blossoming in front of me. If he had been in regular high school I'm sure he would have done just fine.

"Yeah, you're doing really well!" The man at the booth on the other hand was less than thrilled he was picking up the pins for what must've been the twentieth time in the last hour. He'd lost the enjoyment after the first time.

Everyone else had scattered and split up, all wanting to go find some type of way to spend the night. A couple times Itachi or someone had walked past Deidara and I to see how we were doing or just by coincidence. Each time they seemed a little shocked we were still in the same spot. I started looking down either direction of the street, it was just about time for a certain 'coincidental walk by' to show up actually. To what does my wondering appear, than my very first hooker. Correction; hookers.

That's right two women dressed in clearly skimpy outfits were gabbing together a little further down. I rolled my eyes, couldn't they have enough decency to at least cover up on a festival night? There were children! Right before I went to dismiss it the skinnier woman started slapping her co-worker's arm rapidly. She was pointing to something. When the friend spotted what ever it was she too began to be overcome with giddiness.

My attention now rekindled I started craning my neck around to see what all the fuss was about. A bunch of people walking around, a couple kids with dango, and then I saw it. I saw him. I saw Hidan.

He two was craning his neck around, searching for someone. His attention quickly drained from his pursuit when the screams of the hookers reached him. A look dawned on him that could only be described as something like shame or maybe disgust. Well it was hookers so… either one would work I guess.

Boldly they approached him. One grabbed his hand while the other latched onto his arm. I covered the smile on my face. I was sure I would never see such a sight, but here it was. If it wasn't tonight in a festival I'm sure Hidan would've ripped into them and sent them running. My eyes ran over his mouth, it was moving. He was talking to them. He wasn't mad at them for being so affectionate with him.

Something ran through my eyes. "I'll catch up with you later, Deidara." I mumbled as I stomped towards my target. The threesome didn't notice the oncoming torpedo. My pace was catching myself off guard when I started slowing down. Their conversation was coming in clearer. I backed behind a line of people.

"Hi-kun!" The skinnier brunette whined. "You should still come see us more!"

I could feel my stomach crunch. That was utterly repulsive. Don't get me wrong, Hidan has his freedom but he could've at least found a better prey. With utter caution I peeked around a larger man. Hidan had regained his ambition for looking around. Probably for me. "I'm a little busy."

The brunette to his right had short hair which emphasized the face she made. It alone said dirty things even without actually saying anything. "Oh you're never to busy for a-" A group of people started busting a gut, thankfully stopping the woman before she could successfully continue to rape my ears.

Whatever she said made Hidan stop and look at her. If it made him speechless- it kind of made me a little curious. He rolled his eyes and shrugged them both off. "Listen, I am asking you nicely to leave me alone." The sleeves to his kimono had been rolled up neatly but he began readjusting them seeing as how one of his 'friends' had knocked it loose.

"So, what?" The skinny brunette smacked her hand on her hip in an angry fashion. "You think you can just come around when ever you damn well feel like?"

Hidan turned back to them. "Well that's what I paid you for, wasn't it?"

Ouch. That's gotta hurt.

The short haired brunette started tramping (ha, get it?) towards Hidan. That was my cue.

I stepped out from behind my camouflage and quickly made my way to Hidan's side. She stopped short a couple feet when she saw me. I gripped Hidan arm closely with both arms. He nearly jumped when I appeared beside him. Both women looked from Hidan to me and back several times. "I'm sorry, can I help you?" I visibly drew myself closer to Hidan, trying to at least come off as possessive.

The smaller woman grabbed the other's hand. "Come on, Nao." They both sent me one last dirty look before getting as far away from their ex-'client' as soon as possible. I waited before they were a good distance away before I made some slack between Hidan and I.

I looked up at him, ready to start bragging on about how he didn't need to thank me when I stopped. His eyes were fastened to me with the kind of look that scares me. I dropped his arm and took a step back, "What's wrong?" He didn't blink. Hidan just kept staring at me with this type of intensity that just made me want to smack him.

"Stop it, Hidan. You're freaking me out." A hint of a smile creaked up the left side of his mouth. It wasn't even a smile though, it was more like a curve of the lips.

He took a step towards me and swept some hair out of my face with the back of his finger tips. His fingers left a trail of odd sensations over my cheeks. It shocked me at first, what he was doing, until I realized that I had left my hair down.

My chin tilted upwards out of some kind of primal instinct, like it was all coming naturally. "I didn't get to tell you that I like your hair tonight." Hidan practically mumbled his words together. But it was okay because he was so close to me that I could understand him perfectly. Really, when had he managed to get his hand behind my neck and his face just inches from mine? What had made him suddenly propelled to act like this, and why wasn't I stopping him?

"Taylor!" My breathing hitched, Hidan stiffened. His eyes refocused onto mine. His hand slipped away from my neck and I realized the only thing keeping him smack dab close to me was the grip I had on his robe. I slowly let go and our little moment was gone. Our eye contact broke and we looked away. Deidara came pushing through the crowd hair everywhere.

"Deidara?" I pushed my hair behind my ears, praying that he hadn't seen anything prior to his showing.

Deidara tried to tidy himself up as he approached us, his face was twisted with annoyance. "Deidara-senpai! Wait up!" Tobi followed after him, ignoring the other annoyed people he was shoving into on his way. "I said I was sorry!"

Completely ignoring is partner Deidara started pushing me in the opposite direction. I looked at Hidan and he was still not looking directly at me. "Deidara, where are we going?" He muttered, not missing a beat.

"The bar." He growled.

"I was just saying 'hi', Senpai!" Tobi was still pleading to Deidara from behind us.

Then to the bar we go, I guess. This'll be good.

Gahh! I am soo sorry, this is soo short. I just really wanted to get my next chapter out there. Actually this is like a ¼ of my next chapter. If you guys have any suggestions, critiques, things you want to see, things to want to happen- PLEASE! Don't hesitate to say anything. Right now I am open to any ideas and such. So- review for love :3