Suzume watched as the group of Anbu approached. As they neared she looked at the masks they wore. She felt on edge as she recognized who they were. The highest Anbu force that the Sand had, a group of skilled killers who would do anything for the village or, more exact, for the elders. Suzume jumped back from the edge of the plateau as the group climbed up the side. They jumped over the edge and stared her down behind their masks. Suzume thought carefully about her next move, she knew that one wrong move would mean her death but she still couldn't understand why they seemed so hostile towards her. It's not like she had done something wrong, she had been kidnapped for heaven's sake.

"Why are you here?" Suzume looked at the group of ninja before her, pondering what their answer would be. After a few seconds the leader of the squad came forward and answered.

"A threat to the village was detected. We were sent to eliminate it."

'Threat? I'm not a threat.' Suzume was puzzled at his response. "What do you mean? I'm no threat to the village."

The group of ninja began to laugh at her words.

"YOU not a threat." the leader continued. "You, the one who turned her back on her village for the Akatsuki. You, the one who killed your fellow sand ninja. You, who betrayed the late Kazekage and his wife who took you in. How can you say you're not a threat!"

Suzume stood there shocked. She slowly started to shake her head.

"No…. I never…. I was kidnapped! I was stolen from my village! I would never do any of that! The Akatsuki were the ones who killed my team, they took me because they thought I was the jinchuuriki. I was protecting the village!."

The leader scoffed at her words.

"Sorry. We won't be falling for any of your tricks this time." And with that, they attacked.

Suzume was on the defensive. She had counted six opponents in all. Way too many for her to defend herself from especially with her chakra being so low. She didn't have much time to come up with a plan as the group split into two teams and came at her from both the right and the left.

"Lord Baki!" Baki lifted his gaze to the scout who had just burst through his door.

"What is it?" His tone was nonchalant. He saw that is was koichi, a relatively new member of the scouting squad who seems to think everything is an emergency. Baki thought of a recent incident when a hawk came back a day late and koichi thought it had been attacked by enemy ninja.

"It's Suzume. She's been spotted on the outskirts of the village."

Baki immediately put down his paperwork and in a dangerous tone asked,

"Am I the first one you have told about this?"

Shakingly koichi answered,

"No… I reported it to the elders first. They told the elite Anbu team to go and 'handle' it. They said that word in a really weird way so I don't actually know what they meant by that."

Baki cursed under his breath at how stupid this boy was. He had told everyone in secret that he should be the first one to hear news of Suzume if it ever came up, but he guessed the word had not gotten to the new recruits yet. He thought about his next move.

"Who else knows about this?"

"No one sir. Only the elders, the Anbu squad, you and I."

Baki thought again about his options. 'At least it's only the few of us.' He didn't know what he would do if Gaara found out. He had never faltered on the idea that she was not a traitor. He sighed again as he gave into the only possible solution.

"Thank you for telling me this. You're excused koichi."

"Yes sir."

As koichi closed the door and left Baki looked back towards the window. He knew that the Anbu squad would be looking to kill Suzume. As he looked out past the walls of the village he sent up a silent prayer that someone or something would intervene so she could have a chance at escaping.

There were too many for Suzume to handle. She had already sustained several small cuts throughout her body and was starting to bleed pretty badly. It was an endless rotation of trying to block attacks on one side while still dodging attacks on the other. After several more shallow kunai and sword wounds the Anbu team jumped back away from her into their formation. Suzume was breathing heavily from the attack. Her knees where shaking from exhaustion and her vision was becoming hazy from the amount of blood that she was losing.

"Why don't you just give up now. We promise you won't feel a thing when it's all over."

The leader was holding up his sword. Suzume assumed that meant he was going to decapitate her. That was what the elders wanted wasn't it, her head on a silver platter. She was so frustrated. 'Why? Why did this have to happen to me?' All Suzume wanted to do was to go back to her home. To be with her friends. To hold up her end of her promise to Gaara.

A slight movement from the Anbu leader caught Suzume's attention from her thoughts. He had stepped closer to her with his drawn sword. Suzume raised back up her guard and prepared for another round of battle. The Anbu leader sprung into action towards Suzume but, before he could reach her a figure appeared in front of him.

Through Suzume's blurry vision she could see familiar characteristics. The long black cloak with red clouds, the giant red scythe, and the short silver hair.

The group of ninja knew who he was instantly. The leader stepped back into their formation and started to formulate a new plan in his mind. He didn't need the Akatsuki member, just Suzume.

"So you called for backup huh. Pretty pathetic that you couldn't face the consequences of your actions all by yourself. Alright everyone listen up, all of you focus on attacking the new Akatsuki member and create an opening for me to take out Suzume. Once that's done our mission is over and we'll retreat." 'Hopefully the new guy won't try to follow us.'

"HA! Like hell you will. You're not gonna get passed me." Hidan laughed as stated this. 'Like these non believers could even lay a finger on me.' "Hey how are you holding up?"

He looked back at Suzume. She was in pretty bad shape and he noted that he should have intervened earlier.

"Why are you here?" Suzume's voice was cold, ignoring the question she had been asked.

Hidan pondered a response. He couldn't tell her his plan or why he had been stalking her, at least not yet.

"I came to save your ass. So I think a thank you is in order." Hidan turned back towards the group of ninja who were moments away from launching their attack.

"Like I would ever thank you."

Suzume words were just above whispers. She had lost too much blood and was starting to lose consciousness. Hidan let a small smirk come to his lips. Even in this situation she still had that bit of spunk to her. He was going to do everything in his power to make sure his plan became reality.

Just as he focused his mind back on the task at hand the group of ninja attacked. Hidan didn't have much trouble keeping them at bay with his scythe. It was perfect for keeping enemies at a distance. The only thing that was bothering him was keeping track of all of them. He wasn't use to having more than three opponents to worry about. After a few rotations of attack and defense he noticed that he had lost one. He frantically looked around to try and find him in between the bombardment of oncoming attacks, then he heard the earth seperate behind him. He turned his head to see that he was further away from Suzume than he had thought, the sand ninja had been baiting him to slowly step forward with some of his movements creating a better opening. He saw the leader of the Anbu squad rising from the hole in the earth. His sword aiming for Suzume's chest and her cloudy eyes trying to make a last ditch effort to block it. His eyes widened as he saw the short sword pushed into Suzume's chest and her mouth open in a silent scream.

"Get away from her!"

Hidan swung his scythe just as the squad leader jumped away back to his team. He jumped back to Suzume as she started to fall and caught her. He looked at the gaping wound in the center of her chest that was pouring out blood at an alarming rate. He looked back to the group of Anbu, but was met with the sight of nothing. They had retreated thinking that their mission had been accomplished.

"Shouldn't we go back and get the body."

"No we don't need to take that risk. We'll just tell the elders that something came up, but that we got the job done."

Hidan watched as the group of ninja ran across the sand back to their village.

"Those damn cowards."

He cursed more under his breath as he placed his scythe on his back and began to carry Suzume away. He would need to find shelter until her wounds healed enough for her to move. He looked down Suzume in his arms and thought about his rash choices that had brought him to this point in his life.

After a little while of walking he saw the edge of the forest come into view. With the sun getting ready to set he decided that he would find the best natural shelter he could and rest. It didn't take him long to find a hollowed out tree trunk. It was just big enough for Hidan to set Suzume inside in a fetal position so she could sleep, he would stay outside and keep watch till she woke up. He already knew that she would not be happy, he thought back to his first major wound after gaining immortality. The pain had been overwhelming and he was sure that when she woke up she would wish for death to take her. He started a fire and soon found himself staring at Suzume in the dim light of the fire. He found himself staring at her a lot lately.