A few days had passed and Hidan was finally ready to tell Suzume about the rituals of his religion. He waited until Kakuzu had gone into the woods and looked over at Suzume. She was finishing up a fish that they had caught earlier when she felt his eyes on her.

"What is it?"

Hidan took a deep breath before beginning.

"You know how we use to talk about my religion every night. And how you thought I'd told you everything."

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, I didn't really tell you everything about it."

Suzume felt the air change around them. As she looked into Hidan's eyes they gave her no sense of comfort. It was as if they held a sadness so great she did not want him to talk about it. She did not know how to respond to him, so she kept silent and waited for him to continue.

"In my religion we have to make sacrifices, and I'm not talking about giving something up for a period of time or anything like that. We have to kill people in the name of our lord."

Hidan gave Suzume a minute to process what she had just heard before continuing.

"When we fight someone we intake their blood and draw the diagram on my talisman on the ground in our own blood, that links their body with ours as long as we stay inside of the diagram. Then, we inflict various wounds onto our own body that get transferred to the victim. When that is done the pain that we feel turns into pure ecstasy, that is the reward we get for bringing a sacrifice to Jashin. The final part is inflicting a fatal wound on our own body and waiting until the victim dies. That concluded the ritual sacrifice."

Hidan watched as Suzume took in the new information. Her face fell as she looked at the grass in between them. Hidan waited for what felt like an eternity. His mind racing with endless possibilities. 'She'll hate me now. How could anyone love someone like him? Would she try to run? Would she try to kill herself?'

Suzume looked back up at Hidan and got his attention.

"So… you would die for your religion?"

Hidan looked at her with shock and confusion. He was sure that she would have angrily shouted or turned and sprinted away for involving her in something like this. But all she did was just stared at him

Suzume saw the confusion on Hidan's face and tried her question again.

"You would risk everything on the hopes that your lord would save you?"

Hidan took a second before answering. Trying to find the right words for an answer.

"No I wouldn't die for my religion,"

Suzume's mouth dropped and she was about to speak, but Hidan finished his sentence before she could.

"I would live for it."

Suzume's mouth slowly shut as those words impacted her more that she realized. She had always heard her comrades talk about what they would die for or who they would die for, but she had never heard someone say that they would live for something. Her mind realized that that was true sacrifice. It was easy to die for something or someone, but to live for something, that was truly impressive.

Hidan watched Suzume as she thought through everything and paused before he continued. Waiting for her full attention to come back to him.

"There's one more thing I need to talk to you about. When I put that necklace on you, you became apart of my religion. You are my equal in the eyes of Jashin. And that means that you must also participate in ritual killings."

Suzume's eyes widened in shock. Her body froze as she stared at the man in front of her. She could accept the fact that he needed to kill people. She had seen ninja kill and had killed people herself, but knowing that she had to kill someone in that kind of way made her stomach turn. She slowly began shook her head from side to side.

"Hidan… I can't….. I can't do that."

Hidan saw her eyes turn to disbelief and panic. She was still shaking her head back and forth as she started to stand. Hidan knew he had to do something before she started to run.

"Hey listen it won't be that bad. The pain is only for a second and you won't have to do it often, maybe like once a year."

Suzume heard none of Hidan's words as she continued to go into a downward spiral. There were too many voices talking in her head for her to even know which way was up or down. She turned away from him and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Blindly running into low branches not even caring to knock them out of the way, tears streaming down her face. She felt like a rat caught in a trap with no way of escaping. She couldn't take off the necklace, she had tried, and she doubted Hidan would take it off even if she asked him to. She heard Hidan running behind her, calling out her name and yelling at her to stop, but she couldn't. She wanted to run as far away as she could, she wanted to run back into her childhood where the world wasn't as messed up as it was now. She closed her eyes as she ran not caring about which way she went or how far she ran.

Hidan was gaining on Suzume as he tried to catch her. He was within a few feet of reaching out and grabbing her before she tripped over a high tree root and fell face first into the ground. Hidan grabbed her arm as she made an attempt to get up and keep running.

Suzume kept looking to the direction that she wanted to run. Straining against Hidan's grip on her arm.

Hidan watched her pull against him while she muttered to herself.

"I can't… I can't"

Hidan felt a wave of guilt wash over him. This was all his fault, if he hadn't have placed that stupid necklace on her none of this would have happened. He sighed as he thought about how this kind of thing had happened once in his childhood.

Hidan followed his father up the stairs to the temple. This was the day he became a true follower of Jashin, the day he got his first kill.

As they lined up inside Hidan was the first to go, being the son of the leader of the clan he had the most to prove. His kill went off without much effort, the kidnapped shinobi not making much of a fuss as Hidan played with various depths of cuts until he reached the killing blow. As he recovered he walked towards his father who handed him the necklace that he still wears, and took his place at his side to watch the others.

Everyone but one of the children had gone. Some had had no problem while others needed coaching with the first few cuts and punctures. The last to go was the son of a man who had fought with Hidan's father for the top kill count. Hidan had always told him that it did not matter how many people you killed, but that you killed them in the name of their lord. As Hidan watched the boy step into the middle of the temple another ninja was brought out to him. Hidan watched as he slowly approached the blindfolded shinobi and made a small cut on his arm. He ingested the blood and began back to the center of the room. As he stood there he held his spike up to his hand hesitating before plunging it into his palm. Crying out in pain he began making the ritual symbol on the floor. The boy looked at his skin as it changed from its pale color to black with small white markings of where his bones were. He looked up at his victim then over to his father. Holding up his spear he put the point against his chest, trembling he continued to look at his father with fear and hesitation in his eyes.

Hidan watched as the boy's father mouthed the words 'Do it' over and over again. He watched as the boy slowly began to cry saying that he couldn't, repeating 'I can't' over and over again. He watched as the boy's father walked over to his son and demanded that he finish what he started, the boy shaking his head over and over, again saying that he couldn't do it. Hidan watched his father start to run over to the boy, as the father grabbed his son, held his hands down and plunged the spike into the boy's chest himself.

The entire clan was shocked. No one in the clan had even heard of someone doing something like this. There were murmurs then silence as Hidan's father rushed over to the boy.

"What have you done!"

Hidan's father held the small child in his arms as he yelled at the boy's parent. The man was silent, all he did was stare at he motionless boy in the clan leader's arms wondering the same question himself. Hidan's father glared at the man before taking the boy in his arms and rushing his up to the top floor.

As they bursts through the door Hidan's mother turned in shock and at her husband. She instantly noticed the small child in his hands and rushed over to find out what had happened.

"His father landed the killing blow on him, he fell instantly but his skin didn't return to normal and he's freezing cold. My dearest can you do anything for him"

Hidan's mother looked into her husband's eyes and took the child from him. As soon as he hands touched him she knew it was too late. Someone had interfered with the ritual, and this poor child had payed the price.

Hidan and the boys father ran up the stairs in time to see Hidan's mother place the boy on an alter table and lay a tan sheet over him. Taking her pendant in her hands and sending up a silent prayer to their lord.

Hidan continued to stare at Suzume. His mind kept flashing between the dead boy's body and her trembling figure. A new emotion overtook him as he pulled her into him and wrapped his arms tightly around her. A mix of anger, frustration, and guilt overtook him and he held on to Suzume for dear life as she thrashed against him, screaming at him to let her go and to get away. Hidan didn't care. All he could think of was finding some way to get her out of the contract he had signed for her. Hidan pulled her closer and laid his head on top of hers. Suzume had stopped fighting him and was now crying into his chest, holding onto the sides of his cloak for dear life. Hidan stayed like that for hours. Calming waiting for Suzume to calm down so they could talk more about the predicament that he had caused, but when Hidan opened back his eyes and looked down Suzume had fallen asleep in his arms. Her eyes were still red and puffy and she still had wet streaks down her cheeks. Carefully he maneuvered his arms around her and picked her up bridle style and began to carry her back to camp.

As Hidan slowly made his way back into the clearing of the campsite he felt a sense of relief. He had told her the truth and now they could start moving forward with how to deal with the problem that he had caused. He walked over to their tarps and laid Suzume down on hers, but he couldn't let her go. He knelt down, letting Suzume's head rest on the crook of his arm as he took his free hand and wiped away the wet marks on Suzume's cheeks. Hidan took a deep breath before gentle laying himself down right next to Suzume and wrapping his free arm around her once more. Half of him was concerned that she would wake up and run again and the other half still could not fight the image of the dead boy in his mind. Hidan pulled himself closer to Suzume as he looked her over one more time then laid his head down to sleep. Nesting his head on top of hers and whispering to her.

"I will fix this. I will protect you. "