A:N/ Guys, I'm so sorry for the late ass update :( I was in the process of moving across country and to top it off, it's a really hard semester in college so my attention was elsewhere. I had this draft sitting for awhile, I may go back and revise it a little bit eventually, but I truly have not had the time to relax these past two months.

Thanks for understanding :(


Several days had passed with no sign of Kamatari. She'd get several minutes of artificial light, sometimes an hour if she was lucky. For the most part, she slept in darkness and was given food once a day. Hidan was being rather nice to her these past couple days, and their conversations consisted of nagging or playful banter. He had revealed to her that he had someone use a healing jutsu on her to get rid of the blood and bruising he caused, which showed a softer side of him despite the horror she went through to get them.

Temari felt hopeful that she'd be rescued or better yet, set free. Hidan made it known that the other akatsuki members were not aware of her capture, hence staying in an isolated room. Her tactic at this point was to befriend him, get under his skin and hopefully be let go. There was no way to find out how much time had passed physically, so instead of guessing, Temari would hum a song she knew word for word and base the time passed on how long the song was.

Kamatari

She knew her companion was loyal and wouldn't purposely leave her to suffer, yet she hummed until her throat got dry, resulting in angry screams or loud sobs. She felt so helpless and weak. She was restless and tried so hard to free herself from the shackles, but it was no use. For once in her life, she needed someone to save her, and she really didn't care who at this point.

There were crystals behind her eyes revealing her past every time her eyes were shut. Time was running slow, yet it felt so fast, the time blowing away her past memories of angst only with new ones to appear. Her thoughts were creating knots of confusion and hurt.

There were rocks weighing heavy on her soul.

For once she felt helpless, for once she felt like this was it.

To surrender without stating so, she knew she just might die here.

Every time Hidan entered, it was as if a husband was coming home from a long day at work to greet his wife. He was either excited over nothing or stressed beyond belief. This time around, his skin was black revealing a white skeleton. His purple eyes glared over to the blonde with a wide grin. Her knees were to her chest with her head snug in her arms.

"Well, aren't you excited to see me? Today's prophecy has been fulfilled my love!" Hidan did a spin only to come back to his two-foot stance to see Temari laying on the ground ignoring him.

Hidan twitched and threw his scythe at the wall next to where she was laying.

"I'm SO fucking NICE to you! And you treat me like I'm nothing… You TREAT me like I'm keeping you in some prison or something." He took a few steps towards her holding his hands together.

"This doesn't have to be isolation, Temari! It can be anything you imagine if you just believe! Look! It's a palace!"

Temari lifted her head and gave him a dead-panned look. "A palace? Are you serious right now."

Hidan shrugged and rubbed his hand on his temple.

"You only talk when you want to antagonize me. If you followed Jashin you'd probably be nicer."

Hidan stepped back and let his shoulders lean up against the wall. The mentality he possessed was nothing short of crazy. There was no way anybody could read him without getting confused during the process. It was as if a parasite had infested his brain and he truly did not know what was going on, but he knew the main motive:

Kill or be killed.

And of course, laugh and act like a complete idiot during the process.

"You're stubborn and mean. Has anyone ever told you that before?"

Temari rolled her eyes and lifted a brow before pulling her head back down in between her arms.

"Plenty of times."

"I'm going to be gone all day so do me a favor and be kind to me once I come back."

"Unless you die."

Hidan raised and eyebrow and sighed. "Believe me, if someone could kill me I would be more than happy about it."

As he walked out he turned to face her one last time.

"While you're at it, please don't try to escape. It's rather annoying and I don't feel like killing you right now."


Asuma led his team through Konoha talking about which people to look after along with what their possible disguises could be. The sky was blue with a whispering wind catching on to the tips of their hair as they walked.

Ino and Choji could tell that something was off about Shikamaru, yet they couldn't put their finger on it, nor could they get it out of him through small talk. And the truth was, he truly didn't know how to feel or what to make out of this situation. He cared about Temari and would do anything for her, yet he enjoyed his privacy and knew she didn't want people worrying about and in her business just as much as the next person. It's been a week since she went missing without a trace and that really did bother him. By now, if she had the resources or was able to put up a good fight, she would have made it out of wherever she was by now, but that wasn't the case.


Asuma stepped aside to talk to Kurenai leaving the three in an alleyway to take a break from work. Shikamaru kept his head low, reaching for a book in his backpack before being greeted by a gentle tap on his shoulder.

Ino stood behind him with her arms crossed. A concerned glare spread across the bleach blonde's face with Choji not far behind her eating his lunch.

"You've been extremely quiet this past week, me and Choji are starting to get worried." Ino looked back towards Choji who seemingly wasn't paying any attention.

"Choji!" She looked back at him in annoyance while he straightened himself up wiping the crumbs from his cheek with his wrist.

"Oi right! Everything alright?" He began to head towards the two to join the conversation.

"I'm alright don't worry about it."

There was a visible green vein popping from Ino's head. Although she was used to it, she wasn't too fond of his present attitude because for once she was actually really concerned about his current mental state.

He hadn't been sleeping, rarely interacted with his team, and when he did it didn't involve her or Choji. After taking a breather and realizing her current state of mind, she relaxed herself and softly called to him.

"What happened...? And don't tell me nothing or not to worry about it, we've been friends our whole lives and you expect me to believe your bullshit story?"

Shikamaru ignored her and continued to read with Choji eating quiet and awkward behind trying not to make eye contact.

She was steaming with an irritable glare spreading across her face. She stomped over to him smacking his book out of his hands. Choji snickered only to be greeted by the same repercussion.

"My sandwich! Hey what's your-"

"-I'm tired of your crap Shikamaru! Tell me-"

"-She's missing." Shikamaru quickly responded giving his friend an irascible stare.

"Who?"

"Don't act like you don't know, Ino." He scoffed and reached down to pick his book back up.

"I didn't even know you two were like that."

Choji cocked his head and gave Ino a face. "Yes, you did."

"All I'm going to say is that I'm handling it so don't worry about me."

Ino looked down embarrassed noticing how uncomfortable she made her comrade. "Wow, I didn't know you actually cared about her like that."

"If I did, it wouldn't matter. It's nobody's business."

Shikamaru looked down the alleyway only to see a flash of what looked like Temari's companion Kamatari.

"It's not real." He thought to himself.

Suddenly a large gust of wind appeared with leaves dancing in its trail. The trio straightened their form ready for an attack only for the leaves to make out a form.

"…It can't be?"

The leaves formed into what looked like Temari bound to chains weeping. The location was unknown, yet the Chakra Kamatari saved from his visit with Temari revealed her voice screaming at Hidan.

Shikamaru's eyes lit up with fear as he tried to run towards the leaves only for it to disperse before he could get ahold of the form.

Tears were welling in his eyes as he fell scraping his knees.

Kamatari appeared in front of Shikamaru rolling a scroll towards his knees before vanishing.

"Hidan"


"If you're 100% sure then let's do this!" Choji and Ino were running behind Shikamaru struggling to catch up.

Asuma was alarmed to see his students run past him but quickly took note of what happened joining them.

"I'm going to kill him and when I do-"

"We are not killing, we're capturing just remember that Shikamaru. We need to gather intel otherwise we'll never find her or help the village."

Asuma pulled out a cigarette and let out a long sigh.

" Shikamaru, did I ever tell you about Chiriku?"

"No, who is that?" Shikamaru kicked some dirt around anxiously waiting to move along.

"Chiriku and I were once part of the Twelve Guardian Ninja. He was a good friend of mine much like Choji is to you- but he was killed by Hidan."

Shikamaru stayed quiet, pacing as he watched his sensei smoke.

"This mission to capture Hidan isn't just for you, don't think we're just out here saving your little girlfriend in secret."

"-She's not my girlfriend."

"Well whatever she is, she's clearly important to you. That's not the point though. Hidan has killed so many helpless innocent people including my dear friend. We work for the village at the end of the day and we were going to have to take him down regardless. Don't beat yourself up over this because if we didn't get to him, someone else would have sooner or later."


The quad split up into groups, Shikamaru went with Asuma while Choji and Ino went with Aoba who had caught up with them later on.


"Wait over here and don't come out until I give you the signal."

Shikamaru and Hidan had arrived at the bounty station after getting a tip on the akatsuki's whereabouts.

There was no telling which members but for now it was something. If at least one of them was captured, that would get them closer to finding Hidan

Asuma stood behind a pillar waiting with anticipation for someone to pop out.

"-Kakuzu, it took you long enough."

Shikamaru hid in a nearby location only to hear the clanking of metal and the ground rumble underneath.

Once retrieving the signal from Asuma, Shikamaru used his shadow possession justsu while Izumo and Kotetsu stabbed Hidan in the chest with their kunai only to be greeted by an annoying glare from the Jashin worshipper.

"Ow that hurts! Who are you people?"

The four froze in confusion. Their kunai laid deep in Hidan's chest, yet he didn't show any signs of mortality.

"What the hell? We both hit his vital spots…"

Hidan rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Quit sticking it in! I said knock it off that hurts."

"What is this? Is he immortal?" Izumo and Kotetsu stood there fearful not lessening their grip.

"Isn't it obvious you fool? Now once again, who are you people?"

Shikamaru was thrown off by Kakuzu's sudden attack, causing the real battle to begin.


Temari sat in isolation looking at the wall. She was tired of being tired yet there was a hopeful feeling filling her body. Hidan was still gone and if she counted correct in her head, it had almost been a full day.

She was startled by what looked like a purple glow and seemed like paper flying around her in an orb like entity. There was a storm of wind surrounding her fast with no sight of the room aside from the shackles and ground. Temari wasn't fearful as a wind style user, but being in her current state she didn't feel like putting up a fight.

The orb was neutral, calming the winds as it spun. Feminine amber eyes eyes appeared and glared towards the entryway signaling a warning that someone was coming.

Temari sat there relieved but the horror she felt consumed her body. She already knew that they must have put up a fight, and if Shikamaru was even present in the situation she was done for.

With the blink of an eye the orb was gone leaving nothing but a shred of paper near her foot.

"Asuma is dead."


His scythe had slashed her right shoulder blade, collar bone and neck at once.

Hidan's eyes were two flaming suns beaming down at a frightened Temari. She was hysterical and sobbing while blood erupted from her throat with every minute passing by.

"-please don't hurt anyone else! Please...please!" She bawled. Her arms were limp as they hung above her head within the rusting shackles. Her head sank low to her chest slowly turning purple while she dangled there in excruciating pain.

He growled and forcibly pushed her shacked hands up against the wall with one hand. He leaned down to be at the same level with her head and held her at her neck aggressively.

"I told you... not to try and escape. I told you not to tell ANYONE! And now look what you've done! You know they tried to kill me- little do they know, I can't be killed. And then I killed the wrong person! I was aiming for that pineapple head bastard you like so fucking much." Hidan gritted his teeth and twitched his angered face to a creepy grin and laughed.

"There's no such thing" he loosened his grip from her throat to her breasts placing his finger over a clothed nipple. "There's no such thing as the wrong person!" He was laughing maniacally now gripping at her chest.

"Lord Jashin sees no mistake! There are no mistakes! Don't you see Temari! I never wanted this life but this life chose me!"

Temari held her eyes shut tightly refusing to stare at him. The white dress she wore was drenched in her own blood. Her feet were swelling in the grips of the floor shackles binding her to the ground.

He gave her a psychotic smile and a pouty tone. "THIS is what lord Jashin wants! He WANTS you to witness immortality in the making, HE wants you to FOLLOW HIM!" He pressed his face against her bloody neck and began to flicker his tongue on her fresh scythe wound.

"Follow JASHIN my love! It's the only way! I can't die and I refuse to live this life alone." He was now shaking her frantically.

Fear couldn't even describe what she was feeling at this point. Temari didn't care if she died, she just wanted him to stop killing people. She feared for her brothers, but most importantly she feared Shikamaru would be his next victim. She was almost certain that's who he was after next considering Hidan's failed first attempt. She knew she had to do whatever she could to save them.

"Don't!" She wept heavy now opening her eyes to a squint.

Hidan let out a menacing grin and glared up at Temari, removing his grip and coming to a stand.

"You know too much, and I can't have anyone find out about you." He whispered to himself in a frenzy with moans and groans before cocking his head back in Temari's direction and laughing loudly.

"If there's a will, THERE'S A WAY! I asked those idiots several times who they were but nobody would answer me, and now you? You won't tell me why you sent an attack? That was very annoying of you I might say."

Hidan released the shackles from her feet, but unfortunately she was too weak to move. Her angles were numb and purple from the tight grip. He pulled her legs back towards him with her rear in the air. Her arms continued to dangle above her head in the remaining shackles with her head sinking low. He lifted her dress from the back and lowered her panties to reveal her rear. From this angle he could see her vagina, only he wasn't aiming for that. He wanted the other end.

Temari let out a scream, knowing this isn't what she wanted at all, she wasn't supposed to go out like this. But she was mentally distraught because she thought Asuma's death was her fault. She thought Shikamaru was going to be hunted next and if he didn't think fast his chances would be low.

Hidan caressed her hole with his index while tears ran down her face. She didn't have the strength to kick backwards into him. He then gripped her neck forcefully before throwing her back on the hard ground.

"We're relocating once I get back. I can't deal with all of these distractions."