"Have a good day, but remember god is watching you." Those ominous words greeted Hidan at the end of every service. His pastor delivered the line with a sense of smugness everytime, as if he was letting them in on a little secret. Whatever the secret was, it made Hidan little to no difference. He hated the church.
Everyone Sunday he would try to tune the 4 hour service out, relying on false images of a different life to flutter in mind. It started when he was younger, imagining running through a land of milk and cookies and now it had become second nature as he matured. Anything to get the pastor to shut up. Anything to escape his annoying mother, Hitomi, who hovered over him. Glancing over every now again to make sure he listened attentively. Surely there had to be more to life than wasting away in this god-damned forsaken place.
Still a silver lining hung in the clouds, the silver haired teen was finally off to college this week, and this would be his last service. That was until winter break. He was determined to find a reason to stay at school most of those days. Buthe couldn't escape entirely because Christmas would fall on a Sunday and he mother wouldn't be too keen on spending the day lounging around their small home.
At the end of every service there was always a moment of pure stillness. No one wanted to be the first to go or the first to stand up. Everyone would sorta shuffle to their feet lazily, as if not to be the first one to dash to the door. Hidan, of course, never cared for such customs and once the pastor had signaled the ushers to open the door, Hidan dashed for his life.
Of course, his mother had given him pamphlets on various churches that shared the same conservative, judeo, evangelical values that his church shared. Everyone's message seemed to be saving souls from the fiery pits of hell. "Maybe hell wasn't so bad." Hidan mused. If his pastor or any of these other sacks of shit descended to heaven then maybe hell might be the place to be.
"Hidan!" His mother, Hitomi, a woman slightly shorter than her passed pubescent son with long black hair and pink orbs, grabbed Hidan by his collar before he reached the door. For a slightly smaller woman, she had a death grip.
"Yes." Hidan growled, fingers still inching towards freedom, which embodied itself as a gold painted double door that chipped away to show the nasty white-brown that hung underneath.
"Come back." She said. "You know you have to say your final goodbyes to pastor Harusame. You know you have to receive the going away prayer." She said those words as if it were some sort of sacred ritual.
"Do I have to?" Hidan sounded like a five year old being told he had to hug his aunt he hadn't seen since he was a baby. "I felt the spirit today in church, mom."
"You know it is what we do." Hitomi said. "There are awful spirits that lurk around college campuses. I just read about the sucide rate of college students, and it's going through the roof. I will not have my son banishing himself to a life of hell."
And a sacred prayer will solve all those problems? "I'm not depressed." Hidan insisted. "I'm practically skipping."
"We will not argue about this." Hitomi said, and her son could tell from the look on her face, which was worn from a long thirty-five year old life, it was the final world she would hear about this.
Hitomi was what the church would consider a top tier member. She tithed every week and gave an offering when she had it. She was the reliable one, anytime anyone needed anything, especially organizing a prayer circle. The older woman participated in every bake sale, party, and any event the church was having. The pink orbed boy was beyond relief when he began working at his current job. It was the perfect excuse to get away from Cross Cookies for Christ.
Hidan mused on the fact that an eight hour shift at work would be better than this torture as he stood behind many ass kissing church memeber. Most of them went on and on about problems that seemed assicine to the young man. If his mother wasn't hovering carefully behind, ensuring he followed her directions, Hidan might have made a run for it.
Most of the members in front of him only wanted to say goodbye to Pastor Harusame. Probably in an effort to get brownie points or climb up the member ladder. Like anywhere else in a capitalist world, there were always levels. What happened to everyone was equal in the eyes of the lord? Everyone wanted to be the one not being damned to hell. To perform the role of the model christian.
The line finally began to move after ten minutes, but it came to a halt as the woman in the front of Hidan weeped her entire life story. In short her marriage and life was suffering because her husband's job cut his hours, and she's a stay at home mother with three kids. Hidan had a quick solution for her, "Get off your ass and get a job." But that would be inappropriate to say. Instead he waited for her to cry until her face turned into a depressed tomato and the pastor finally got a word in.
"Let us pray." He said.
For all his musing, Hidan thought, the pastor wasn't a terrible person. Sure he was a raging idiot who approved of very harmful conservative ideas, but sometimes even he could be thoughtful. The way he held the woman's hand as she whimpered away into nothing, made Hidan warm on the inside. Maybe he was doing it all for show? But the fact that he was doing it at all was an act of kindness Hidan hadn't seen much of in his eighteen years.
"Hello." Pastor Harusame greeted the silver haired teenager, with a light smile. After that woman, Hidan didn't see how the man could even wear a smile. He was worn out from listening to her.
"Hi." Hidan offered, and then just stared at the man. He stared at the man for ages, and the older man's eyes twitched, confused.
"How may I help you?"
"My mom wanted me to come speak to you," Hidan explained. "And I have so...I think we can-"
"He needs the going away prayer." Hitomi interrupted, eyes sparkling hoping to impress the pastor. "He's got into Konoha college, on a scholarship, praise the lord, and I just wanted you to pray for him to be protected as he heads back to school."
"Oh right!" The pastor smiled at Hidan, who rolled his eyes on the inside. His prayer wasn't going to do a damn thing to save him from anything. He offered his hand to Hidan, who begrudgingly accepted it, and he began to speak. "Father, god. I am calling on you to protect the soul and precious gifts that this young man has been created to bestow upon the world. I am begging that you send your angels to guard and protect him. Father, there will be so many awful spirits that will try to consume him as he enters college, and I'm asking you to bind them and keep out anything that is not like you. Don't let him fall pray to homosexuality, beastality, and all these other god awful things these children of the world are up to…" Beastality! Really? "Father god, we only ask that you bestow your power of intelligence onto this man so that he may pass all his classes without any problems. In the name of Jesus. Amen."
"Amen." Hidan and Hitomi repeated.
(BREAK)
Hidan college was only an hour away, but honestly he wished it was on the other side of the country. He'd only gotten this scholarship because they were giving it to underprivileged children. There was no way a school as good as Konoha would take Hidan's pretty good grades. They were known for only accepting GPA of 3.6 or better. Hidan's 3.2, although good, would usually not be their cup of tea. Still opening their doors under the pretense of being more inclusive paid off for the teen. And he was grateful. God knows he spent hours writing essays about how even though he didn't have a 4.0 he was still worthy of their attention. He would still be on probationary entry for the first year though.
Still as Hidan sat at the pizza parlor for his family usual after sunday dinner he was worried about other things besides grades. "May I buy some new clothes with the money I've saved?" Hidan asked. "Some that are more..:in style?"
"Clothes?" Hitomi looked at him like she was offended. "Hidan, what's wrong with your clothes. Young men don't walk around with a sense of pride anymore."
"I'd just like to own a pair of jeans." Hidan sighed, taking a sip of his pink lemonade.
"Well first it's jeans then it's god knows what." She sighed. "Jeans are for men that work outside. Do you work outside?" She would not let him answer. She never planned on letting him answer. "No. You work indoors, at a fast food place and soon you won't be doing that. I would be silly to allow you to spend your money on frivolous things like jeans."
"But no one else walks around like-"
"And no one else got that scholarship to Konoha." She smiled. "You are smart Hidan, and your intellect is blossoming beautiful just as god designed. You are where you are because you are obedient to your mother and represent a god fearing man. You will be a beautiful young man. And a beautiful young man doesn't worry about what everyone else is doing."
"But-"
"The pizza is good." She cut him off taking another one of the square slices from the platter. "Zani's always knew how to make a great thin crust."
"Yes." Hidan said. "It's good."
(BREAK)
When Hidan had alone time, one thing he enjoyed was the beauty of porn. He wasn't one of those people that watched just to get his rocks off, but he appreciated the art form. He was uniquely drawn to ones with storylines like a coach, samurai battling in the forest, or just married couple consummating their first time. He loved a little excitement in porn. Maybe a little BDSM never hurt anyone, Hidan didn't know. But it sure did look exciting and beautiful.
The way the dominant partner would tie on the sub in a shockingly beautiful manner. One would never think that rope being tied around the human body could look aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes Hidan didn't jerk off, he'd just watch the story play out over the course of the video. The awful acting and sometimes the silly dialogue made the video.
"Want me to shove my hotdog in your buns?" Was one line that always stuck with Hidan. He'd catch himself laughing at it from time to time.
Since he finished packing, he thought maybe he did deserve a little dessert. So he pulled up a private tab and turned on one of his favorites. It was the story of two men from opposite clans. Madara and Hashirama were the actors, and it was a home made film. Self produced by the two, but it seemed the two had a pretty decent budget. Those are always the best, and Hidan had a subscription to their only fans, which charged to a private credit card he'd got for himself without his mom knowing. It featured all the things Hidan liked in a film, BDSM, a story line, solid acting, and most of all men enjoying the wonders of another man.
Hidan set his tablet up and watched on bed, careful to be angled towards the door so he could quickly click off, if he heard his mom coming or the door clicked.
"Hashi-kun." Madara teased his arch-rival, throwing a kunai in his direction. Again, Hidan thought this was pretty well made for a privatly funded film.
Just when the two were about to get nasty in the woods after skipping rocks, like they did when they were kids, Hidan was interrupted. "HIDAN!" He Heard his mother call. He thought she'd gone to bed. It was 8 pm and she'd be in bed because she had to be at the law office early on Mondays. She was a paralegal.
"Yeah" Hidan sighed, clicking out of the video.
"It's yes." She scolded. "Look what I found?"
Hidan growled inwardly before getting up, walking to the kitchen where he heard her voice.
"It's your first play at the church." She said. "Noah's Ark. You were the snail, remember."
Hidan sighed. "I try to forget."
"Let's watch it." She gestured to the family room. "Come on, for old time sake."
"Uhhhh…" Hidan really wanted to finish that video. Madara was just about to get tied to a tree, by Hashirama's wood style keikei genkai and be fucked until he limped back to his clan. "Fine."
"I'll make popcorn on the skillet." She hopped off, chipper and pleased with herself. Hidan just looked at the family room tired and annoyed. He would be away soon and free to watch Madara get pounded anytime he wanted at college.
"Soon." He whispered to himself. "Soon."