He grinned. "Well I was told I'm not supposed to take my eyes off you…"
"Hidan," I scolded, tapping my foot impatiently.
"Fine, have it your boring ass way then…" he said, crossing his arms and turning around like it was such a big ask.
I let the towel drop and quickly entered the water, not trusting Hidan to stay turned around for very long. Though once I was in, I felt sufficiently covered. Between the hot water and the cool night air, the fog was thick that night. The water's surface spattered and broiled and I welcomed the burning sensation. Even if it burned off my skin, at least it would mean I would be rid of every bit of Gorzo.
"So," I began as I started gently splashing water on myself and rubbing the dried blood from my neck. "You were going to tell me about your village."
"Was I?" He retorted, still facing the wall shockingly.
"Mhmm." I waited patiently.
"Alright, fine." He sighed and took a deep breath as if he only wanted to use one to tell the whole story. "Long story real fucking short, my village had a shitload of hot springs. I grew up and trained there to be a shinobi where they basically beat the living shit out of us to make sure we held up in battle. I'm not bitching though, it was fine because I got to fight in the war which was great, I had the time of my fucking life," he ended with a chuckle like he was recalling the good ol' days.
So far it all checked out. "So where do the hot springs fit it?" I asked as I scrubbed and rinsed away the grime and makeup from my face.
"Well it turns out when the war was over, the village elders decided they didn't really need shinobi anymore. The hot springs were popular enough so they wanted to lean into that. Can you fucking imagine? They had the audacity to tell us our new duties would be escorting tourists around the springs. They fucking rasied us like feral wolves and then the minute we didn't make them money, told us to sit and stay like a goddamn house pet. Tch, like I could do that..."
"Oh…" I wasn't really sure what to say. The more he spoke, the angrier he seemed to become. I thought of what Konan had said to me about all the men in the Akatsuki being broken. I didn't doubt it was true, but I was starting to see more than just a glimpse of it and I was beginning to understand why Hidan was the way he was. I felt genuinely bad for him in that moment as I realized he was just a product of the war machine that washed over the various countries in ebbs and flows, only to be tossed aside when he wasn't needed anymore. I figured that's what would happen to me too.
"I'm sorry for bringing it up… that sounds really shitty," I added.
"It's fine. I get to do whatever I want now." He said with a shrug, still staring at the fence. I wondered if he truly believed that or if it was just how he'd coped all those years. Maybe both.
"Hey Hidan," I wanted to change the subject. "Um, what was with the blood thing earlier? Isn't that really unsanitary?" This immediately elicited a laugh from him.
"Probably," he agreed.
"And wouldn't it have been less risky to just lick the blood directly off Gorzo than me?" I asked in a somewhat accusatory manner.
He glanced over his shoulder at me with a wry grin. I sank down a little but continued to meet his gaze with a glare.
"What, you didn't like it?" He teased.
"I didn't even know what was happening," I pointed out.
"Well I'm not gonna apologize if that's what you're expecting. If you give me the option of licking you or that fucking dude," he made a face, "well, I'm gonna pick you any fucking day of the week, sweetheart."
I stifled a laugh in favor of shooting him a disapproving look and splashing some water in his direction.
He raised an eyebrow at me, turning around fully and taking a step towards the spring, "You think I won't come in there?"
I shrunk down so my nostrils barely hovered over the bubbling water's surface and shook my head vigorously to signal that I was backing down. I fully believed that he would, in fact, come in here.
"No, you don't think I will?" He cocked his head and advanced another step with folded arms. A couple more steps and he would in the spring.
I quickly lifted my head just slightly so I could speak, "No, I meant 'no' like you don't need to come in here!" I blurted out in one breath before sinking down once more.
His smile grew wider. "I don't know. This feels like a challenge, and I have a real hard time backing down from a challenge..." Oh, he was loving this. A couple more slow, purposeful steps. His eyes didn't break from mine as one foot splashed into the steaming water, then the other.
"You wanna try splashing me again?" He dared, looking smug as ever. In the lighting of the moon it was difficult not to take notice of Hidan's half naked body. The shadows moved across him slowly and defined his musculature as he sauntered forward with his usual Hidan swagger, which I typically found irritating, but I had to admit, not so much in that moment. If I had to put one word to him, it would be impressive.
I shook my head innocently and thought hard about how reckless I wanted to be before discreetly taking in a mouthful of the spring water below the surface. I held it there in my cheeks, looking up at Hidan and contemplating how much trouble it'd get me in if I were to spit it at him.
It was like he could tell I was up to something, his smirk unchanging, eyes daring me, and index finger tapping against his bulging bicep. The fact that he'd already stepped into the shallow area and gotten his shoes and the pant bottoms wet without a second thought led me to believe he'd have no problem trouncing in completely. He was the reckless type. I knew if I was actually going to get him with the water, him being a shinobi and all, I'd have to be sneaky about it. He was expecting me to splash him so I moved my arms to hold myself by the shoulders, which served two purposes really. I felt less exposed of course, but also I couldn't possibly splash him without using my hands so it'd look like I was conceding… right?
"Smart choice…" he said with a sigh and perhaps even a hint of disappointment.
Now.
I quickly angled my head up, cheeks bulging like a puffer fish, before spewing a magnificent torrent of water at Hidan. I was quite impressed with my range as I actually managed to hit all the way up to his face. As the spray dwindled out I immediately retreated, scuttling backwards against the opposite edge where the water was so deep that I didn't even reach the bottom on my tippy toes. I treaded water as best as I could and watched Hidan with a smug grin of my own.
His tongue poked at the side of his cheek as he slowly nodded, eyes downcast and processing the situation. His hand ran down his face in a singular wiping motion before flicking the water aggressively off his fingertips.
"You forget, Izumi," he paused, his eyes locking on me and narrowing dangerously, though he couldn't seem to drop the smirk, "I come from the land of fucking hot springs. You might say this is my favored terrain, a.k.a, a very stupid place to challenge me." He tutted as he slowly began to stride further into the spring.
Fuck.
"Would an apology help?" I asked, still awkwardly treading water.
"How sincere would it be?" He inquired back, head cocked and quickly approaching.
"Not very," I admitted with a small smile.
He shook his head, "Un-fucking-believable." Without warning he clapped his hands together to make a paddle before swinging them down into the water and carving through it with force. I yelped as the massive spray of water pelted my face and jostled me about in the water which had become a miniature wave pool from that one motion. He was right, I never stood a chance.
I looked like a drowned rat gasping for breath as the water settled. My dark hair clung to my face and covered my eyes. Arms still holding myself by the shoulders, I was growing tired of treading water and now I couldn't even see. I could tell Hidan was within close proximity from the uncontrollable snickering erupting from right in front of me.
"You done?" Hidan asked as he began to push the hair out of my eyes. I finally opened them to see him standing before me, not even treading water, looking down at me with a very amused expression.
Screw these tall people.
He tucked the wet strands sloppily behind my ears, causing me to wince as he fingers grazed across the rather tender burn wound on my left temple. Even I had clipped it when I was trying to clean myself earlier. He paused when he noticed me flinch, taking a moment to move the hair a little more gently, a slightly discerning look coming over him.
"I'm tired, is that the same as being done?" I finally answered, I was beginning to become short of breath from all the treading.
"Too tired to spit more water at me?" He asked with some skepticism.
I couldn't help but smile sheepishly. "Maybe… that was pretty impressive though, right?"
"Impressive will be when you can get past me." He grinned, stepping even closer and blocking me from any escape route. "How long you think you can keep that up?" He asked, clearly in reference to my ever increasing panting. "It's an interesting technique, not using your arms like that. Not sure it's working out in your favor though." He pretended to analyze thoughtfully.
I scoffed and rolled my eyes, continuing to hold tight onto myself.
"You know I can't see shit through this steam, right?" He said with a sigh.
"That's exactly what a pervert would say," I noted between breaths.
"Well that's fucking rich coming from the girl that came bursting into my room when I could have been doing anything," Hidan gave me a look and waited patiently for my retort with a raised brow.
"That was an accident," I admonished.
"That's exactly what a pervert would say," Hidan said in a mocking voice, his head cocked and smirk growing.
I had to give Hidan credit, he was more clever than I thought. I looked up at him with a defeated smile, huffing as my legs burned from trying to keep myself afloat.
"For Jashin's sake," Hidan rolled his eyes and clasped his hands against my upper arms to hold me in place. I tensed at first, grateful my face was already red from the water's heat and suddenly very aware of his close proximity to my naked body.
"What's wrong, don't think I'm pretty anymore?" He joked, clearly taking notice of me freezing up. If I could have blushed any harder, I would have. I had completely forgotten I said that to him in the middle of my haze after nearly plummeting to my death earlier that day.
"I feel like I should get a free pass on that, I wasn't exactly in my right mind when I said it," I retorted sheepishly.
"That's not a 'no'." He said. God, he was cocky. Even more frustrating was that he wasn't wrong. I watched his expression shift with some confusion. He had a broad grin only a moment before but it quickly dissolved into that of a hound that caught a scent. His attention was suddenly elsewhere.
"Hey Izumi… weren't you in a hot spring that time the weirdo took your hair or some shit?" Hidan asked, continuing to look past me.
"Um, yeah… why?"
He sighed with annoyance. "Okay, new rule, no more fucking hot springs," He muttered with a growl. I stared at him, baffled. "We've got company," Hidan explained, his eyes narrowing at something in the distance behind me. I turned to look but he held me in place. I had to crane my neck in order to see the familiar figure of the same man I had encountered before. He sat perched atop the tall wooden fence.
"Izumi, I must admit, this isn't how I expected to find you. I'm not interrupting something, am I?" The man's playful voice called out. I wanted Hidan to just let go of me so I could sink down and end myself right then and there.
"I could be doing literally nothing and you would be interrupting," I called back angrily from over my shoulder. I struggled in Hidan's grip to turn around, he reluctantly let go, still standing behind me as I spun around and gripped the edge of the stone ground. Hidan's hands appeared next to mine, boxing me in from behind which made me feel oddly safe. Peering up at the mystery guy, I could see he was wearing the same clothes as the other times I'd encountered him.
"What do you want now?" I asked with venom.
He seemed hurt by this. "Well I only wanted to check on you, Izumi. Strangely enough, I was investigating what happened at one of my master's client's place of work today. You see, my master had been contracted to place a warding jutsu on a mansion to keep powerful ninja out since the property owner, Gorzo, had ended up in a bingo book. I was quite surprised to come across your blood there during my investigation..."
"Oro… Orochimaru set up that ward?" I asked in disbelief before honing in on the more important fact. "M-my blood?"
"Well yes, I have fairly keen senses and I recognized it as yours immediately," He stated matter-of-factly as he produced from within his pocket, a small piece of white fabric with a blood stain on it. He had collected it… I zoned out for a moment thinking about what that meant for me.
The man continued on, seemingly oblivious to the bomb he just dropped on me. "And knowing full well what type of operation Gorzo runs, Orochimaru-sama doesn't appreciate the precarious position the Akatsuki put you in." His eyes narrowed at Hidan who scoffed. "I found a piece of your clothing, Izumi… an undergarment." He paused for a moment and my heart sank into my stomach at the mention of it.
"Well as you can see, I'm fine," I called out with a noticeable tremor to my voice.
"Izumi… It looked like it was torn off-"
"I said I'm fine!" I cried out, cutting him off and wishing I were anywhere else and clothed. I flinched when I suddenly felt Hidan's breath on my ear.
"I need to take care of this fuckboy but I can't leave you in here alone while he's right there." His tone was low and steady.
"What are you saying?" I whispered back.
"I'm saying you're not gonna like what I'm about to do but you're not allowed to be pissed about it, alright?" He didn't give me time to answer. I suddenly felt Hidan's hands grab my waist from behind, hastily jerking me around to face him once more. My eyes bulged, mind racing with all the things that could happen in the next 10 seconds and they were all horrifying, mostly due to my exposed state. I swallowed hard, unable to even respond, but I'm sure my trepidation was written all over my face.
Hidan regarded me for a quick moment before adding, "Trust me, this is gonna be harder for me than it is for you…" In an instant his hands released me, his right shooting to grab the scythe on his back and the other snaking around my back and hugging me tight against him.
Oh… my… GOD.
"Hold onto me," Hidan ordered before leaping up out of the water with speed and force. I clenched my eyes shut as if that would make it so I couldn't be seen, my arms instinctually looping up and around Hidan's neck, clinging to him for dear life despite wanting to just die.
O_o Izumi's bathhouse bad luck continues. Thanks for reading :)
