Next Time
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
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#11 – Midnight
It was near midnight when Hidan made his grand reappearance to the Akatsuki, being held around the shoulders by a very grudging pink-haired medic-nin, and the only people who had really seemed to care were Tobi and Kisame, who hollered in triumph and helped him to the couch; Deidara and Zetsu had taken far more interest in Sakura than him, poking and prodding at her, wrapping a vine around her wrist, or tugging at her odd-colored hair, which she did not appreciate.
#12 – Temptation
At one time, he'd had no intention of marrying her at all, and sex without marriage was a sin in the eyes of Jashin; he couldn't count the times he'd cursed her temptation and performed that thirty-minute long ritual, imagining she was touching him in ways that would make any holy man blush.
#13 – View
She didn't really share his views on religion and all the like; in fact, she didn't even have a religion, and even though he highly disapproved of this, he couldn't find any real reason to honestly argue with her about it.
#14 – Music
The only one that knew how to play any musical instruments in the Akatsuki had been Sasori, and he'd passed on a bit of what he knew to Deidara, who played as often as he could; upon hearing that Sakura absolutely adored the wonderful notes that came from Deidara's little guitar, Hidan immediately demanded that the blonde give him lessons as often as fucking possible.
#15 – Silk
He hadn't realized that she was the only one not privy to his little rituals, so when she stumbled upon him one time, saw him sprawled out in that holy circle with a stake through his chest and screamed, he'd been surprised out of his meditation; she'd fallen onto him and tried to heal him for the first time, and he opened his eyes and commented that her chakra felt like silk with an amused grin.
#16 – Cover
When she'd had all of his limbs gathered in that burlap sack and began to drag him back to the Akatsuki base, ignoring his curses and keeping a straight face, she insisted on keeping a plastic cover over his head; it wasn't enough that she had to drag his ass back to the enemy, she'd said, but she didn't want to do it while he was sneezing all over her, either.
#17 – Promise
In the decaying heat of the after battle, kneeling where she lay broken and bruised and half-dead: "Promise me you won't die, Sakura—promise me that you'll live forever and you'll marry me and you'll convert and become immortal or I'll revert to mortality and we'll have tons of little…little pink-haired, purple-eyed babies with sadomasochistic tendencies; just promise me that you'll live."
#18 – Dream
It was inescapable that she should leave him one day for her life back in that place with the boy who'd dismembered him in the first place and the blonde girl who'd sat back and watched; it was absolutely inevitable that he would dream of her return, and that when he awoke early that morning, she'd be sobbing apologies in the Akatsuki lobby, Deidara's consoling arm draped around her shoulders.
#19 – Candle
She never approved of his affinity for candles and gothic architecture, especially not when the flame of one caught the hem of his cloak and burned a path up to his hip; it'd taken him a good five minutes to notice that the pants underneath were on fire, as well.
#20 – Talent
During those first restless nights of mortality—right after he'd pleaded Jashin to take away his demigod status and the God had actually accepted while keeping him a Jashinist—Sakura had a talent of calming Hidan's restless nerves; he was still so nervous and paranoid, because before he had wanted death and now he did not, but she managed to quell his anxiety by asking what his favorite boy's name was.
