A/N: Time's flying so quickly these days… I'm supposed to upload every week or so but it's more like every two weeks lately. I'll try to remember better!

Question answer: Their birthplace! N'aww :D

Riddle answer: Because seven ate nine... :P Guess that one was more of a joke :P

Still a disclaimer. I don't own Naruto or its characters, only my OCs.

What're you, my mom?

'You know, this is the first time I've ever had to wonder if they're actually after me or not.' Hidan sneered as he ran, earning a glare from Mika.

'Shut up and run, you moron!' She snapped, yelping as a kunai flew past her ear, nicking her cheek. 'Okay, so the running may not be such a great plan…'

The Jashinist glanced over his shoulder and tutted. It was a squad of four Konaha ninja from the looks of it, most likely after Akatsuki then, not Mika. Well, if they wanted Akatsuki…

Digging his heels into the ground suddenly, he skidded to a halt and spun on the spot to face their pursuers. Mika, utterly unaware of his thought process almost ran straight into him, only managing to stop just millimetres before colliding with his chest.

'Hidan!' She hissed, annoyed and confused. 'What're you doing?'

He scoffed at her panicked expression. 'I can take these losers… Go on ahead, I'll catch up.'

She bit down on her lip and growled in frustration. She may be weaker than him, but she wasn't about to leave him to do all the fighting. For one thing, as much as it annoyed her, it was against her morale judgement. For another, she'd never hear the end of it when he undoubtedly did catch her up.

One of the Leaf nin arrived swiftly just as she had positioned herself beside Hidan, her silent refusal to leave ringing loud and clear. Another hung back slightly on an overhead branch, though the other two were nowhere to be seen.

'Akatsuki.' The oldest of the two greeted coolly, brown eyes narrowing in accusation.

'Konaha.' Hidan responded almost pleasantly. If it wasn't for the tense atmosphere and the glares they were receiving, she'd have sworn they were meeting old acquaintances.

'Let's skip the niceties, shall we?' The Leaf jounin dipped his head and bent his knees slightly, a tell-tale preparing-to-attack pose that any ninja could recognise. He wasted no time in flinging two large shuriken stars at the Akatsuki member, who merely flicked the wire of his giant weapon, deflecting them effortlessly.

He started to move forward before freezing oddly mid-step.

'Way too slow…' The Leaf ninja from the overhead branch smirked cruelly, his hands pressed together in some sort of hand sign.

Damn it. Mika scowled, he's blocking his movement… with a shadow?

Before a single other thought could enter her head, the bushes on either side of them rustled obnoxiously, and the missing two Konaha ninja pounced from their hiding places.

Her golden orbs widened, but there was nothing she could do as the one closest to her whipped past her at lightning speed. Both wielding large, kunai-like blades, they drew them back and, without a second's hesitation thrust them into Hidan, equally hitting his vital organs.

'N-no…' Mika barely whispered the word, hardly daring to breathe for fear of breaking the illusion. This was an illusion right? He'd never go down this easily…

'That's one down…' The older jounin commented, and the shadow user nodded once in agreement.

She gulped audibly still staring at Hidan, his head was down and she couldn't read his expression. Was he…?

'OW. That hurts!'

Startled gasps from the Leaf ninja echoed through the trees, but Mika had still yet to release a breath.

'What the hell?!'

'Are you serious?'

'We both hit his vital spots!' One of them managed to stammer through his shock, earning another groan from the Akatsuki member.

'Hey, quit sticking it in like that… I said knock it off – it hurts!' Though still frozen, his magenta eyes flitted from one assailant to the other, seeming completely unfazed. Was she seeing things? Is this a genjutsu?

'What is he? Is he immortal?!' The second Konaha ninja demanded, backing away slightly.

'Isn't that obvious, you fool? Wait a second, that symbol...' Hidan's eyes moved to a sash tied around the oldest ninja's waist. 'That's from the Guardian Shinobi something-or-other. Oh terrific. Kakuzu's going to go crazy when he finds out he's missed out on you!'

'Kotetsu! Izumo! Retreat.'

The two jounin on either side of Hidan obeyed immediately, releasing their weapons and bounding back to stand beside their squad leader. In the sudden movement and shock of the situation, the fourth member relinquished his jutsu enough for Hidan to break free.

'I'm free!' His loud, obnoxious cackling rang in Mika's ears clearing her head and bringing her back to reality. She shook her head furiously, there was no time to be freaking out right now. They needed to get away, and fast.

'I'm going to enjoy this! You lot will make great sacrifices for Lord Jashin!'

Mika made to scold him, but after what she'd just witnessed, her voice failed and all she could manage was to croak, 'w-we should get out of here…' But Hidan had other ideas.

'Hell no! I want these guys for my ritual.' He grinned manically, a crazed look in his eyes, which she hadn't seen in a long time. 'Just stay out of this. I'll handle them.'

Seeing no other option and still feeling a little dizzy from the shock, she agreed. Maybe he could handle them after all…

She took a few hesitant steps back, but one final grin from Hidan, that could only be described as ecstatic, finally made her mind up. She leapt up into the trees where the leaves were thicker and ran full speed until she lost track of how long she'd been running.

Mika doubled over, panting hard. Her throat had completely dried up, making every breath coarse and painful. She tried to swallow, hoping to hydrate herself slightly, but winced when the motion scratched roughly against her throat.

She glanced up and around at her new surroundings. She knew was still in the Fire Country, and she was pretty sure she'd well and truly passed Konaha by now. She supposed it was kind of careless to check into an inn less than three miles away from one of the five Great Nations since, from what she knew, they weren't exactly on good terms with the Akatsuki.

Would she be branded as one of them now? She doubted it, and she hoped not.

She walked for a few more minutes, still catching her breath, until the faintest sound of trickling water reached her ears. Perfect!

Mika knelt down beside the small stream, gulping water from her hands and sparing a moment to wish she had a flask with her. Sitting back from the waterside, she closed her eyes and placed her hands on her knees in an almost meditative position as she stretched out her chakra. She felt around for a good ten minutes before deciding it was safe to rest here temporarily, and fell back against a fallen tree trunk.

Sleep was definitely needed right now.

'What're you, my mom?!' Thirteen-year-old Hidan sneered mockingly at the raven-haired girl as she stood blocking his path, arms folded defiantly over her chest.

'I mean it. There is no way we are taking that.'

She was glaring so hard that it was starting to give her a headache, but she absolutely refused to sit back and allow him to steal from a chapel.

Amused magenta eyes rolled, finally relenting and dropping the chalice he'd been holding on the floor. Mika flinched at the clatter, but smirked in satisfaction at the first time she'd won an argument.

'Right then. Come on, we're wasting daylight!' She voiced merrily, skipping through the chapel doorway and out into the sunlight.

The boy rolled his eyes again, grumbling as he started to follow her, but something in the distance suddenly caught his attention. He froze, senses alert as he listened for the noise again.

'Hey, what's the big dea–Mpf!' Mika squirmed as Hidan was beside her in a flash. He wrapped an arm around her neck, while his other hand clasped over her mouth and muffling any other complaints she had.

'Shut up a second!' He hissed in her ear, tightening his grip and pulling her head backwards slightly. She finally seemed to get that he wasn't just winding her up this time, as she stilled almost instantly.

He released her cautiously, subconsciously moving in front of her as he crept forward. The road before them was empty, but the rows of corn fields on either side of the path made it difficult to see beyond.

Mika watched him go, musing silently that this was probably the longest time she'd ever seen him be this quiet. She opened her mouth to ask what he'd seen or heard when the very same rumbling that she'd been hearing the past two nights sounded from behind her. She slapped a hand over her mouth to silence her gasp, hardly daring to breathe as she turned ever-so-slowly around.

Her amber eyes met with a deep pair of ebony ones, much larger than her own. The creature was massive and, though it's head was bent to meet her eye level, it could easily have towered above her tiny twelve-year-old form. The rumbling continued from deep within its throat as their eyes remained locked together, like it was daring her to try to run. It was strange, she felt paralysed and completely unwilling to move, stuck in its hypnotising glare. It was almost as though it was drawing her to it…

'Get down!' A voice yelled to her, but she barely registered it, lost in the seemingly endless black pools before her. That is, until something hard collided with her back and threw her sideways, pinning her to the ground just milliseconds before the creature had chosen to pounce. Its claws scraped her arm as she was pushed from its path, drawing blood.

'Wh-what the…' She stuttered dazedly, as though just waking up from a dream.

'Wolves. Seven of them. Get up. Move!' Hidan yanked her upwards by her bleeding arm, earning the desired pained cry from the girl and snapping her out of her reverie.

'There should be a village about six miles that way. I'll meet you there.'

She backed away a few steps, before fully comprehending the implication. 'Wait, what?'

'Just go! Now!' His eyes narrowed harshly, eyebrows drawn together in an expression of true anger he'd never actually directed at her before.

'But what about–' Her panicked question was cut off sharply when one of the wolves leap forward, fangs bared, aiming straight for her.

She barely had time to close her eyes when it was suddenly wrenched back in mid-air just inches from her face.

'NOW!'

She didn't need to be told twice this time, taking off in the direction he'd pointed and throwing one more look over her shoulder, a mix of terror and concern.

Waking up to violent shoulder shaking and an angry Akatsuki member yelling in her face was not something Mika enjoyed. She shook her head desperately and slapped his hands away, muttering something incoherent about needing more sleep.

'What, are you just waiting to be jumped? Falling asleep in the middle of Fire Country with a bunch of Leaf ninja about. You idiot!'

'Will you just shut up! I'm too tired! Just let me sleep…' It was rare that she managed to sleep so easily, and she wanted to make the most of it. Perhaps it was the shock of everything that'd happened recently, finally driving her to her limit. She rolled over and attempted to snuggle back into the grass, but Hidan was having none of it.

Moving to stand by her feet, he grabbed both her ankles forcefully and pulled upwards, unable to contain a laugh when she tipped upside down and almost did a full backwards roll.

'WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?!'

'Jashin damn it! I told you it was hell to pay by waking you up… Come on, we've got to keep moving. I think I just made things worse with the Leaf.' He smirked that sadistic crooked smirk that had her questioning his sanity, but only sighed in defeat and scrabbled to her feet.

'Fine, fine. I'm up. Come on then let's…' Her voice trailed off faintly as she took in his appearance. His cloak was ripped and torn off over one shoulder, and the majority of his upper torso was completely smothered in blood. However, she failed to find any deep enough cuts in his chest to match the way he'd been stabbed back there. She supressed a shudder as one hand reached out subconsciously, but he only grinned and leapt up into the trees before she could make contact.

Did I dream all that? She wanted to wonder, but she knew she hadn't.

'H-hey!' She shouted, the confusion and frustration all coming back to hit her in the face. Hidan ignored her, but his pace slowed slightly so she could catch him up.

'Erm, hello~!' She yelled as she ran two steps behind him, still completely bewildered.

He glanced over his shoulder, his smirk changing to a laugh at her disbelieving expression.

'What the hell?! Are we just going to pretend that didn't happen?' She screeched at him, picking up the pace slightly to catch him up.

'It's a Jashinist thing, I've been this way for almost four years!'

Jashin? There's that term again. It sounded vaguely familiar, but Mika couldn't quite place where she'd heard it.'And you didn't think to bring up that minor detail before now?!'

'Well it's not exactly something you casually drop into conversation is it? Hey, long time no see, by the way I can't fucking die!'

'Urgh, whatever, we'll discuss this later. We need to gain some distance from Konaha.' She snarled, pushing forward to lead the way through the foliage.

'What're you, my mom?' Hidan called somewhat playfully, but followed her all the same.

A/N: I enjoyed writing the links in this chapter between the flashbacks and present day! Let me know how many connections you found :P

Question time! Most owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested?

Riddle: A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for 5 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later, they both go out and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How is this possible?

Ha, till next time!