A/N: Hey! Just wanted to apologise for not updating again for another fortnight or...three weeks, once again my internet has been fucking up and I've been tying up loose ends with college work before I broke-up for Christmas, so I've been terribly busy, however, now that the Christmas hols are here, I'll be updating more often. Merry Christmas everyone! :D

Summary: Tadashii Hoshi, a royal Vampire was in debt to Akatsuki, instead of money, he gave them his granddaughter, begging them to take her away for her safety. Now, 4 years later, Shinko is a subordinate to the criminal organisation, but, something isn't right, as the past of her grandfather and her real parentage catch up to her, who can she turn to for help?

Part Fourteen: Healing

Without wasting anymore time, Shinko bent down low and thrusted herself into the air, towards the red-headed woman, just as Hidan lifted his scythe from his shoulder, readying himself to attack.

Within a second she was falling on the wind and rain towards the woman, seeing Shuiro's eyes dart up at her; gawking at her, this in-turn, had Hidan turning to stare in the same direction and soon his mouth fell open in shock, his eyes wide, no doubt he and Kakuzu had heard the explosion from the cave and both didn't expect her to still be alive, or at the very least walking.

Hidan looked lost for words, whilst Shuiro's anger started to reach onto her features, her expression turned violent as she pulled out her arrows and bow, holding it up at Shinko as the Dhampir fell towards her, everything suddenly seemed to have slowed down.

Shuiro placed three of her wooden arrows on the long, wooden bow, lifting it up towards Shinko, she took aim at her.

It was just as Shinko was a few metres away from the red-headed woman, that Shuiro launched the arrows into the air.

The arrows began to emit a shimmer of green light around them, and they became very fast, almost too fast for Shinko to see, so instead, she relied upon her hearing to sense them.

Shinko twisted her body in the air as two arrows shot past her, whilst the third one embedded itself into the solid, cold flesh of her left shoulder, causing an animalistic sound to erupt from her lips upon impact as she fell back onto the tree branch where Hidan was.

She would've fallen over the edge, had it not been for Hidan's arm suddenly whisking out towards her and grabbing her long, black coat, stopping her from skidding off over the edge and towards the forest flor below.

One moment she was hanging over the edge of the branch, waiting for the impact of the solid Earth from below to smack into her head, the next she was pulled upright and straight into a pair of warm arms that belonged to none other than Hidan.

Her body was slumped against his, held in a tight grip that would've made a human sufocate, her fangs were pointing out from the corners of her pale lips because of the pain from the wooden arrow that was embedded within her pale flesh, however, that weren't what was causing her pain, it was because she hadn't known it had been smothered in Holy water until it'd penetrated her shoulder.

It was enough to make her head rather woozy, she was surprised at how much pain she was feeling, but she was so glad that she had Hidan there to help her stand upright.

However, she was more surprised of Hidan standing there with both of his arms wrapped around her tightly, his head craned so that it was buried into her hair, she felt him shivering lightly and she wondered silently if he was alright.

"Fuck! I can't believe-Shinko, you're-you're alive! I thought you were dead, I thought-fuck, I thought I'd lost you!" His murmurs were silent to their very small crowd of two people watching with looks of surprise and disgust.

But, Shinko heard him and was surprised to hear him sound so...upset, like he'd actually cared that she could've died, of course they got on together, she just didn't think he'd be this affected by her 'death'.

She remained silent as she rested her head against his shoulder, feeling that warm feeling spreading through her like wild-fire and she couldn't help it, she couldn't help feeling so...light-headed, was this because of her injuries? Or was this what it was like to be...in love?

'No! This isn't love, i-it can't be...can it?' Shinko panicked a little, having never felt love for another being-make that a human before made her rather frightened at the prospect that someone had the power to hurt her deeply and she weren't even aware of it happening.

She looked up curiously, wanting to read Hidan's expression, needing to see what emotion he was feeling at that moment.

It was when Hidan pulled back a little to peer down at her with those magenta-eyes of his, still holding onto her tightly-as if he thought she was going to disappear, she could see that he was clearly worried for her and looked very upset, that was when she realised it.

She knew then that she'd fallen in love with the Jashinist, despite warning herself not to get too involved with human's, she'd just gone and done it anyway.

This was bad, she should know better than to fall in love!

And what was even worse was that she didn't know how Hidan felt towards her, for all she knew, he could see her as a younger sister-though, the thought of that seemed rather impossible, for one thing; she didn't think Hidan had a sister and for another; she knew that Hidan had responded towards her more than once, so she had a feeling he desired her, but didn't feel no love towards her.

"Hidan, I-" she cut off her sentence when she heard the distinct sound of metal brushing against air, her eyes widened ever so slightly as she realised what was happening, quickly now, she pushed Hidan and herself to the floor of the branch, she was laid on top of him as her eyes spied the five-bladed boomerang that belonged to Henshin came whizzing past above herself, only to then hear a sharp scream fill the air.

Hidan sat up, his arms still holding onto Shinko, fearing that she'd slip away from him any second, however, he glanced down at her and saw her staring across from them with such a look of longing and hunger, he knew that look all-too-well, she was hungry and wanted to feed, quickly now, he looked up at the red-headed woman and was rather surprised to find the same weapon sticking out of her mid-section, it was obvious that she hadn't been able to dodge the boomerang as easily as they had.

It'd happened so quickly that she mustn't have seen it coming towards her, blood pooled around her feet and was pouring from her mouth like a small fountain.

Hidan knew that he'd thank Shinko later for saving him the pain of having something so...sharp sticking out from his back.

Shuiro definitely weren't going to make it now, it was made even more clear as she fell to her knees, panting in shallow breaths, her eyes held that dead-look to them.

"Oh dear god…what did I just do?!"

Both Hidan and Shinko tore their gazes off of Shuiro and looked over Hidan's shoulder to see Henshin-Shuiro's lover stood there shaking from where he stood, his eyes wide from shock, Shinko almost felt sorry for him.

Henshin stood frozen to the spot, trembling violently, he looked devastated, he didn't even flinch when Kakuzu appeared behind him and stared down at him with those angry eyes of his, before grunting and walking past the shocked man and towards his comrades.

Meanwhile, Ao stared at the scene with a rather surprised expression, barely comprehending what'd just happened, though, he knew now that Shuiro was certainly going to die, Henshin was of no use, since he was paralyzed in shock and now he-himself was out-numbered, even with Mogoi's help, it'd be a useless battle.

He ground his teeth together in annoyance, this meant retreating and they were so close to killing Shinko too.

Ao's gaze rested upon Henshin's shivering body, thinking of how he'd get past the Dhampir and her friends, they'd most certainly prevent him from getting there if he were to make any sudden movements.

Shinko hissed low and wrenched the arrow from her shoulder and growled in the back of her throat, dropping it to the ground as she clutched her wound, it stung terribly, like she were being prodded by a hot poker.

"Shinko, are you alright?" She glanced up at Kakuzu as he approached, forcing a smile for his benefit, she gave out a small bitter laugh, answering "Not really, I need you to stitch my left arm, it was blown off in the explosion and I won't be able to use it properly for a while until it heals."

He gave a nod in reply, before his sharp gaze snapped up across from them once more, he stated aloud, most likely speaking to Ao, "There's no point in continuing this fight, unless you wish to throw your life away too?"

There was no reply from the silent 'Youchi' clan member, he merely stood there staring at them with a serious expression and eyes full of hate.

Shuiro quitely fell to the floor, in her own blood, not another word was heard from her; she died.

"Tsk. What a waste and she was a promising fighter too."

Everyone's heads snapped up into the tree branch above them all, naturally, it was Mogoi, the Team Captain to the squad of 'Youchi' clan members, he too, wore a serious expression, though, the aura emanating off of her body held anger.

Mogoi tore his gaze away from Shuiro's lifeless body and towards Shinko and her comrades, his eyes narrowed as he stated dangerously "You have a lot of nerve, Shinko Hoshi, calling in friends of yours, this battle was between you and us, alone."

Shinko attempted to stand-up, but stumbled due to her ribs still unmended, making it painful to move properly without wincing, Hidan quickly stood up and helped her by holding onto her right arm-the good arm.

"What's unfair is you pitching five of your brethren against just myself." Shinko hissed, giving the other male a hard glare, her fangs slowly protruding out from her lips.

Mogoi eyed her arm that slung across her mid-section and he gave the barest of smirks as he murmured "Be that as it may, you are still surprisingly alive, no matter, we will back off, for now, but don't rest easy, we will return. Today was just a warm-up, next time will be much worse, that we can guarantee."

"Yeah? Just you fucking try it-you fucking arsehole!" Hidan shouted up at Mogoi from where he stood, sending him a deathglare of his own that even rivaled Itachi's.

Mogoi snorted, rolling his eyes, he looked to Ao and gave him a small nod, signalling something of the sort.

Ao disappeared and re-appeared by Shuiro's corpse, bending low, he tore the bladed boomerang from her mid-section, tossing it aside, he picked up her lifeless body, he straightened and disappeared once more, only to re-appear by Mogoi's side on the branch.

"Get up Henshin, we'll avenge Shuiro's death, but first, you should focus on your sister, hopefully she's still alive." Mogoi encouraged his comrade enough to have him standing up straight, Henshin lowered his eyes and nodded silently, looking very pale, before he too disappeared and in the blink of an eye he was stood next to Ao and Mogoi, his bloodied boomerang held in his hands, before Mogoi nodded and they took off into the trees, none of them even casting a glance back in their direction.

"That's right! You better fucking run-you arseholes!" Hidan shouted to them (though they probably couldn't hear him), waving his fist in the air.

"Shut up, idiot." Kakuzu snapped, his eyes narrowed at the sudden childish behaviour of his partner, before he turned his attention to Shinko.

"Are you alright to travel?" Kakuzu asked, ignoring Hidan as he too, re-focused his attention on the Dhampir.

Shinko gave a weak smile, her hand still clutching at her shoulder wound, she muttered "Not anymore, I'm not, I've broken most of my ribs and I was too weak enough to realise that those arrows were coated in Holy water, God, I was so stupid..."

Both Hidan and Kakuzu glanced at each other in concern.

She'd never had any worries with Holy water, mainly because it was rare to find and she usually didn't give her opponents time to think before she killed them and she'd certainly never been so weak before, this was definitely something serious and they wouldn't let her stay out in the forest on her own any longer, screw Pein's rules, if she dies then that wouldn't help them at all.

"They'll be coming back, they were just going easy on me…" Shinko hissed, lowering her gaze so that she didn't have to look into their eyes.

Kakuzu bent down to her side, peeling her hand away from her wound, he pulled her coat back a little to inspect it, though, she growled like a beast in agony when he tried to wipe some of the blood away to see it better, this had him stood up on his feet fast.

Not because she would hurt him-especially not in this state, but because, if they don't do anything for her soon, then she'd most certainly die.

"Hidan, We must hurry back, she needs medical attention straight away." Kakuzu growled at Hidan, jerking him out of the Jashinist's dazed state.

Hidan blinked, before Kakuzu thrusted Shinko into his arms and took off into the trees for the base, Hidan raised an eyebrow and stared down at the Dhampir.

Her eyes were barely open and held that rather dazed look to them that signalled either death or something was terribly wrong with her.

Cutting off the urge to argue, he quickly followed after Kakuzu, whom was travelling a little a head of himself.

He couldn't help but glance down at her every now-and-then, hoping she would pull-through without too much hassle.

"You know Hidan, one day I'll eventually die, perhaps Shinko, Leader…maybe even you." Kakuzu called to Hidan as they travelled through the trees at great speed, though he barely heard him through the rain and wind that was pummelling against them.

Hidan's head shot up and stared at Kakuzu's back with surprise, though remained silent, going into deep thoughts that many people who knew him didn't think he was capable of.

He knew that everything ran it's course and everything eventually dies, but...it just weren't possible for him to die, Leader-pfft! He didn't even show any signs of aging!

Not that anyone knew how old he was.

It just weren't possible...was it?

/*\*/*\

It was later that evening, Hidan and Kakuzu managed to arrive back before it got too dark, the reason for why they'd taken so long to get to the base, was because of a lightning storm and the heavy downpour of rain that made it impossible to see where they were going.

So, they took residence within a small cave that almost had them squished against each other, Hidan didn't mind so much where Shinko was concerned, but there was no way on earth that he was going to touch Kakuzu willingly, he'd sooner eat horse shit than be cozy with the greedy bastard.

Through out the storm, silence had remained clouded around their beings.

Shinko was unconscious and both men were actually within three metres of the other and didn't once argue, both kept themselves-to-themselves and remained to each others thoughts.

However, silence didn't remain long, for after four hours of patient waiting and thoughtfulness, they soon took off into what was left of a storm; that horrid, clinging drizzle of an excuse for rain.

Conversation was kept to a bare minimum and for good reason.

Both men were in foul moods and were concerned for the Dhampir-though, they wouldn't openly admit such a thing, for it wouldn't look good on their character, or more to-the-point; their ego.

As soon as they'd arrived back inside the warm base, they were greeted with a flustered Konan and a rather stern-looking Pein; did he ever crack a smile?

After quickly examining Shinko, Konan told Hidan to take her into the emergency room immediately.

Apart from Itachi, Konan was one of the only Akatsuki members that actually had some reasonable medical experience, although, none of them knew how to heal anyone, they knew what was wrong with the patient after an examination.

So, when Konan had ordered Hidan to take Shinko into the emergency room, he held his tongue and didn't make any retort, more worried for the girl than he thought he would be and more so, because Konan knew what she was talking about when it came to injuries.

The emergency medical room was located at the other end of the base, having common sense, it would've been thought that Pein would've placed the room nearer the entrance, but, he didn't.

Whether he did this on purpose or not, will always remain a mystery.

After placing Shinko upon the only bed for a patient to lay on, Konan shooed him out of the room, by this time, Pein, Kakuzu and even Kisame were already waiting outside, discussing what'd happened between them.

Hidan swiftly turned round to ask Konan a question, but was met with the door shutting in his face, a vein worked itself in the side of his head, especially, after he heard Kisame's snicker and when he sent a glare at the shark-like man, he caught Kakuzu's amused glance and immediately wasted no time in telling the miser what he thought of him, surprisingly in a short sentence, but, used very colourful words.

The waiting process had taken at least two hours and they were still waiting with bated breaths to hear any news.

At one point, Hidan glanced to Kakuzu from where he stood by the door, looking surprisingly innocent, when he asked "Hey, Kakuzu, why is Konan taking so long? You don't think something's happened...do you?"

To say that the old man was surprised that Hidan hadn't used one swear-word when he spoke was an understatement, instead, he glanced at the door from where he was stood and replied "I'm not sure, she was in a bad way when we found her..."

Hidan's eyes lowered to the floor and he nodded silently, the other three men was surprised at how subdued the cursing Jashinist was being, they held their tongues, not wishing to spark off the attitude within him once more.

It was a little while later, that Hidan decided to pray but seemed more side-tracked than usual, since he kept glancing up at the door every-now-and-then, checking to make sure he hadn't missed Konan coming out, Kakuzu was walking around in a big circle, thinking deeply to himself, whilst Pein and Kisame were both sat down on the only two chairs that they'd deemed wise enough to bring out of a cupboard opposite, actually surprised that they'd found a secret stash of chairs and a couple of table there, each of them seeming to take turns in staring at the walls or at their joined hands.

It was about another five minutes when the door opened quietly, to reveal a rather tired and pale Konan.

All the men walked towards her-apart from Hidan, whom swooped over to her and was soon demanding how she was doing.

Konan sighed in irritation and immediately answered "She appears to be stable for the moment… she didn't wake once, even when I was cleaning her wounds of blood and dirt. With her fast healing abilities, most of her wounds should be healed by tomorrow..."

"But, she will live-right?" Hidan asked almost desperately, cursing himself mentally for sounding so needy and child-like.

Konan nodded silently and continued "Yes, she should be fine, but...the only things that concern me is the wound on her shoulder, it's trying to heal, but, seems to be failing to do so, because of the holy water that you said she'd been stabbed with, I've washed most of it out, but, as far as I can tell, that one might not heal properly for a good many more days yet and her left arm, Kakuzu, you'll have to stitch that one-just to make sure."

Kakuzu gave a small nod in agreement, since Shinko had asked him to do that earlier anyway.

"Can we see her?" Kisame asked quietly.

Konan glanced back to the closed door behind herself and thought for a moment, hesitating slightly, before she finally muttered "You could, but, I have no idea when she'll wake up and the first thing she's going to want is blood, she's lost a lot of her own, though the bleeding has stopped…for now."

They all stood silently for a moment, when Pein finally broke the silence and muttered "I will go in first."

He nodded to Konan and she went in with Pein, the door was closed behind them and all that could be heard was their voices, what was being said was impossible to understand, after ten minutes of them both discussing the possibilities that maybe she wasn't as safe here with them as they'd first imagined, did they finally leave the room.

They continued down the hallways, back towards Pein's office, still talking to each other.

Hidan sighed and lifting his head that was previously rested in his hands, he got up and looking over to Kisame, whom looked as though he were going to go in next, Hidan stated "I'm going in next."

Kisame stared at him for a moment, before nodding to himself, he backed away from the door and allowed Hidan some space, instead, he went back over to Kakuzu and they began talking quietly to each other.

Of what, Hidan weren't sure and didn't care about at that moment.

Hidan didn't wait any longer, he was already stood up and walked briskly inside the room.

The door slammed behind himself, shutting out the others, Kisame and Kakuzu exchanged glances and a rather careless shrug.

Though, Kisame kept a close eye on the closed door and wondered to himself if Hidan was perhaps growing soft for the young, half-vamp after all.

He pushed the thought away as Kakuzu moved onto another subject, naturally, involving money and all his suspicions were soon forgotten.

To be continued...

A/N: Omg! Will Shinko confess her feelings for Hidan? Will Hidan return them? Will Shinko recover from her wounds? And what role does Kakuzu and Kisame play in this?

Find out only in the next chappie :P

Okay, now I know I haven't done this yet, so let me do it now-

Special thank you to; 'Riayna Darkheart', 'watergoddesskasey', 'Aiko of the Akatsuki' and 'rushninja' for their lovely reviews!

I really DO appreciate it, sorry that it took so long to thank you guys! ^^'

!Reviews are appreciated!