So apologies y'all, but fall is here...the cooler and cold months mean my life gets incredibly busy. I really tried to get this chapter out by the end of September... I failed. I failed so hard. T_T

I have hit a stand still in my current writing of this story. I'm trying to dig my way out, but the last time this happened I didn't post for like..4 months? 6 months? More-ish months? I feel like I've hit the halfway point and things are just not flowing naturally. Luckily for all of you, as I've mentioned multiple times before, I have written far more than I have actually posted, so I'm praying that my muse is found soon and I'll be able to get out of this slump before I lose material to give you.

But anyways, I do believe the bath scene is way overdue right?

-Chapter 8

-Hidan-

He really should be enjoying this more, but he was just too damn annoyed. The whole bathing process had been nothing less than awkward. So many times he had been presented opportunities to make a snide comment, embarrass her, torment her, and yet he just couldn't bring the words to leave his throat. Watching her pale skin dripping with water, the edge of a plump breast... Hidan dunked his head under the cool water. He was a man. She was a woman. He was a man attracted to women. Now he had to grudgingly accept that she was one hell of an attractive woman.

Hence his annoyance.

At first it had been fine. He had lit a small fire on the bank just large enough to dry the clothing they had washed in the water. She had removed all but her bra and panties, but she had held her head high when he leered at her, like she knew he was doing it just to bother her. At that point he really had been doing it just to bother her. After that she had been oddly helpful. She began picking up plants around the water's edge that she would use to scrub at herself and her clothing. He had been curious, and when he asked about the plants she had given him a boring textbook response about the plant and its uses. He had been weary of using the plants she offered him anyway. She could have handed him some poison root that left him seeing faeries or something. So, being skeptical of the plants, he asked her if she was lying. She had given him an alarmed look, like the thought had never even crossed her mind. The look had been so innocently genuine that he knew that she must be telling the truth. She had quickly furrowed her brow and glared at him, responding that she should have thought about it first, and that next time she'd give him poison ivy. He had grinned at her humor, and from there on out it had become a bumbling attempt to keep his eyes to himself and his blood in the head that rested on his shoulders.

She had finally removed her bra once she was at a safe depth beneath the water. He had watched her peel that strap down every centimeter of pale shoulder and had actually turned his back to her when she threw it onto a log by the fire. He had scrubbed himself with the plants she had given him and tilted his head in her direction once more. She had her back to him, and the moonlight made the water on her pale flesh glow. A stray drop of water wound its way down to his lip as he watched her. Kakuzu would probably kill him for getting so distracted. He caught the water drop with his tongue as he tore his gaze from her. Fucking Kakuzu. Thinking of the old bastard was enough to kill anyone's libido. He made his way toward the shore and looked back at her just as he completely exited the water. He smirked when she jerked her eyes away and dunked herself under the water. It was still nice to know she wasn't completely blind to his obvious perfection.

He checked on his clothes, making sure they were completely dry before going through the painstaking process of checking for any undesirable inhabitants. After assuring himself he had left no thread unchecked and that he wouldn't be getting any crawling surprises he began to pull on the clothes. Since the fall of Akatsuki, Hidan had made a few changes to his wardrobe for the sake of flying under the radar. The biggest change was his mesh long sleeve under a plain black top. Originally he had only worn the mesh, but at Kakuzu's pestering he had picked the lightweight black tank to fully cover his torso. His pants were a black modified shinobi issue cargo pant that he tucked into his white shin guards. He still wore his pale footwear, Kakuzu had more than once complained that it wasn't fiscally responsible to wear such a pale gray when he stomped around in blood and then had to replace them all the time. Hidan had simply argued back that he put a shirt on, and the old bastard wasn't getting anything else out of him.

"Clothes are dry," he announced to the blonde as he pulled his pants over his bare hips.

He watched her shoulders go stiff as she froze in the water. Dry clothes meant it was time to get out of the water. Getting out of the water meant she was going to have to show off that mostly naked body with no way to hide it from him. He grinned wolfishly at the vision to come. He glanced at the bra on the log by his feet, he hadn't realized how well endowed she was until she had to strip down.

"Would you please turn around?" She pleaded as she drifted closer to the bank.

His immediate response was NO! Absolutely not! But the more he thought about it, the less inclined he was to give in to the sudden hormones racing through him. He was not some horny teenager. He was only making himself into a fool with his mindless drooling. It wasn't like he could do anything about it anyway, so why was he getting all hot and bothered over her? "Yeah, whatever. You've got five seconds." No sooner had he turned away that he heard her feet pattering up behind him as she reached her clothes. He began counting down, slower than he should have - he still had to worry about the risk of her darting off on him again - to give her enough time to at least get her underwear on. He reached the end of his count down and turned back to face her.

"Wait - Ah!" she flipped around just as he fully faced her. She had managed to get her pants on but nothing else. He realized why when he saw her wet panties lying on the log where her bra had once been.

He fought down the fire in his stomach at the sight. It was taking nearly all his self control to will the blood back into the appropriate extremities. It couldn't be helped really. He hadn't gotten any since he revived Kakuzu. Even before his partner died the man had never seemed interested in any sins of the flesh. He had called such excursions a waste of time, effort, and money. Hidan had found rather quickly that meant he wasn't going to get many chances either, lest his partner move on without him. Hidan wondered why he had even bothered to go through the embarrassment of making sure that Kakuzu's entire body was perfectly functioning and intact. Why had he even bothered making sure it worked when the older man didn't even use it!?

"Hurry up!" he snapped, finding the glimmer of the moon on the water suddenly very interesting.

"I am!" she snapped back. "I swear both of you think I'm a man! It's not as easy for me as it is for you! I can't just walk back to camp shirtless like you're going too!"

Hidan rolled his eyes, adjusting the cloth and mesh that he had thrown over his bare shoulder. "Cut the fairer sex bullshit. If you want to walk back without a shirt on then by all means," he laughed at the glare she over her shoulder.

When she was finally dressed well enough, he put out the fire. He made sure to hide it the best he could in case there were any nosy trackers about. They headed back to camp in silence and Hidan re-started the fire there. He snorted when she arranged her panties by the new fire.

"I hope Kakuzu comes back before those dry out!" he cackled. That was sure to get some reaction from the old celibate jerk! Probably a funny one too.

Her cheeks pinkened and she hastily grabbed them up, rolling them into a ball and shoving them into a pocket. "Where did he go anyway?" she finally asked as she shifted uncomfortably.

"Who knows? I'm not his secretary. That bastard rarely shares his schedule with me." All Hidan knew was that there was a rogue camp nearby, and he had probably gone there. She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest as she watched him roll out his sleeping bag. He intentionally made a show of it, knowing she had to be getting irritated with having nothing but dirt and leaves to lie her head on at night.

"Why are you even bothering?" the bitterness in her voice wasn't lost on him, "He said he'd be back before dawn, which means he's planning on being gone for a while. It's not like you're getting any sleep any time soon." He smirked and lay back on the bedding with a flourish.

"Because the hate in your eyes while I do it is worth the hassle!" her lip curled when he stretched languidly and rolled onto his stomach.

She sat down by the fire without even looking at him, and they fell into silence as they both waited. It felt like a good hour before the boredom began to eat him alive. He yawned and stretched once more. He had long since turned onto his back so he could at least watch the leaves rustle. He couldn't go to sleep if Kakuzu wasn't here to watch the girl. He wasn't hungry, but even if he was he wouldn't dare take her hunting again after the last time. Judging by her own yawn and heavy sigh, she wasn't doing any better than he was. He watched her watch the fire for a few minutes before her face contorted in distaste.

"What are you staring at!?" she demanded.

"Not you!" his lie sounded childish even to his own ears.

"Don't you have something to do? Like keep watch - away from me - or something?" she groused.

He didn't answer and grasped his rosary. He was definitely going to need to pray for strength to make it through this night.

-Ino-

Her night had been nothing short of horrific since the moment Kakuzu had left! She shuttered as she tried to block out the memories from the lake. She had almost managed to convince herself that he wasn't even there for part of the time - but then he'd say something stupid and ruin it all. He had mostly remained blessedly silent, but when he did speak, he just had to say or do something that made the whole situation even more awkward. When her eyes would meet his across the water it was all she could do not to melt into a puddle of humiliation right there. She was no blushing virgin - she knew that look in a man's eyes when he saw something he wanted. It didn't help that the whole scene reminded her of an erotic romance novel she had read about a month before her trip to Waterfall. The steamy scene between the handsome criminal and young innocent heroine in the lake had just hit far too close to home! She suppressed the urge to smash something and tried not to scream when her companion paused in his lengthy tirade of prayer, only to start again with renewed vigor. He had been doing this for twenty minutes!

"Stop!" she couldn't hold it in any longer. "Just stop! Can't you find something - anything - to keep yourself occupied?" She was about ready to tear her hair out if she heard 'Praise Jashin' one more time.

"You bitch! My faith is keeping me occupied! Maybe you should learn some respect!?" his eyes glinted in the firelight, his rosary caught the light at the same time, creating an an eerily sinister light that cast shadows all about his face.

"Why are you so fanatical about this Jashin anyway?" she was shocked and a little disturbed by her curiosity.

"I'm not fanatical! I'm faithful! There is a difference! Jashin granted me immortality," He placed a hand against his chest to emphasize his point, "Me! I am the only person ever to be granted such a gift. Through me he is able to show others how precious mortal life really is," his eyes had grown distant, and his mood dark as he spoke. "Of course I have to pay my respects." But he didn't sound happy about it from what Ino was hearing.

She felt her eyebrow twitch. Why did such a pretty exterior have to get paired with such an insane interior? She stretched her legs out in front of her and shook her head to fight her fatigue. She was tired, but wouldn't dare fall asleep with him only a few paces away. Her mind traveled back to her conversation with Kakuzu and she grimaced. Some of that insanity had probably been caused by her, though she refused to consider herself directly responsible for his entrapment beneath the earth. She opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it. No good could come from bringing it up to him. Especially without Kakuzu there to run interference if things got ugly. She blew a raspberry at him. "Yeah...okay," she rolled her eyes though he probably couldn't see it even with the fire light. He ignored her obviously snide comment and lifted his rosary once more.

"Uh...Hidan?" His name sounded foreign on her lips, like she had said said it while sucking on a sour candy. She had never really said it without a string of curses in the sentence before and after it. She gazed through the fire at him when he didn't answer.

His gaze was intent on hers, the rosary once more dropped by his side. "What?" the weariness in his voice would have been funny - he apparently had been just as uncomfortable at hearing his name as she had been about using it.

"Why were you both in the caves that day? Were you waiting for me?" How had they found out she was there? Was there a rat in Takigakure or Konoha?

"No. Kakuzu wanted to hide out there for - " he seemed to catch himself "-reasons. It was a blessing that we overheard you'd be there from a scouting group about a week or two before."

Though he was hiding something, she was actually a little surprised he had even answered. And to know that they had known about her whereabouts by sheer dumb luck? It was a relief and irritating at the same time. On the plus side, she now knew for sure that the only way she was going to get any information, Hidan was the big-mouthed gateway to it. Kakuzu would have just glared at her. "So you're telling me it was just luck? You found me because you were in the right place at the right time? I was in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"It wasn't luck! It was a blessing. I said blessing," he stretched the word out, "But yeah, in a nutshell."

Ino's mouth hung open stupidly. "You've got to be kidding me!" She shot to her feet as her frustration piqued. "I'm going through all of this just because of bad luck!?" she kicked at the dirt and turned her face heavenward. "Thanks a fucking lot higher powers!" What did I ever do to you!?" she shouted at the stars, stomping her foot for good measure. "Oh I could just - !" she began kicking at the ground again as she grumbled curses.

"Throw a tantrum?" Hidan deadpanned from behind her. She spun at his closeness and swung a clenched fist.

"Hit something!" she shouted at the same moment the punch made impact. His hand went to cradle his jaw, and the fire within her quickly dissipated as she watched him spit on the ground. Violet eyes turned almost black in the darkness, glittering dangerously as he eyeballed her. Her stomach flip-flopped and an uneasy feeling of adrenaline, fear, and excitement flooded her all at once. What had she been thinking? Did she really want to fight him? The thought was absurd!

"You hit like a girl," his voice was dangerously quiet.

"I am a girl!" she choked out when fear won and caught her like a deer in Nara forest when she snapped a twig underfoot.

"You're bored right?" The out of place question through her off.

"Yeah," she breathed as she continued to eye him. What was his angle here?

His face transformed into a silly grin. "Want to fight?"

"No!" She waved her hands wildly, "I - "

"You punched me in the face and now you're going to back out?" He barked a laugh. She began fidgeting nervously when he took a step closer. "Just a friendly spar. I won't use any jutsu or my techniques as long as you don't use yours."

Ino hadn't done too much training in a while - her schedule really didn't have enough openings in it for training. Not to mention - her biggest dilemma - was that she'd be having a friendly spar with one of her worst enemies. Even if he did promise he wouldn't cause her any serious harm, could she really bring herself to do that?

"So…?" he held his hands out wide in a welcoming pose.

"You promise not to kill me or cause me any injury that I can't heal myself in a few hours?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Well I was going to say a few days," he sighed dramatically, "But Hell, it'll be good training to have to go so easy on you." He smirked at her again, "So…?"

Ino knew she was no match. She was rusty. She never really liked taijutsu. He outmatched her in almost every way, and the idea of allowing him a free swing on her was scary. Granted, she'd get a free swing on him as well, but the whole idea...exhilarated her. She smirked and nodded, "Let's do it!"

"Ow!" she whimpered, "That was a total cheap shot! You cheated!" she rubbed vigorously at her ankle where he had used the toe of his shoe to knock her feet out from under her.

His eyes widened incredulously, "I cheat-" he stuttered in disbelief, " How the Hell do they teach you to fight in Konoha!?" He reached a hand out to her, "Get up! Let me teach you something worth learning!"

She took his hand after a moment of hesitation, allowing him to pull her to her feet. She immediately let go once she was up, and tested her weight on the bruised joint. It was sore, but he hadn't broken his promise - she would be able to heal this up easily enough. "I haven't done this in a while! To be perfectly honest I don't usually do the taijutsu thing - my jutsu works best at a distance!" she justified her lack of skill, unable to bear him insulting the teachings of her sensei.

"Yeah well that's just stupid! How do you fight the majority of your opponents? You just zap them with your mind-fuck powers?" she snorted when he wiggled his fingers around his head.

"Yes, as a matter-of-fact I do!" she shrugged her shoulders. "But are you just going to talk all night or are you going to show me all that fighting wisdom you're bragging about?"

Hidan relaxed and smiled shaking his head. He opened his mouth as if about to say something, and then he was on her, raining punches against the hasty blocks Ino threw up in defense. She jumped back when his foot swept out. He was trying to dump her on the ground the same way he had before, but she wouldn't be tricked twice.

"You're learning!" he cackled and charged her once again.

Ino threw an elbow, trying to take the offensive, but he blocked her with a palm. She followed with an uppercut, but he caught it in his free hand. She leapt upward to free herself and bring a foot down into his solar plexus, but when his hands freed her fists, they clamped around her ankle, slowing the kick and effectively trapping her leg. She yelped when he yanked on her with a triumphant grin, sending her sprawling on the ground. She moved quickly, rolling forward to put space between them just as his foot made impact on the ground where she had once been. She scurried to her feet just in time to parry a kick with her palm. She took advantage of his moment of imbalance to send a jab at his throat. He recovered too quickly and dodged her jab, jumping backward to put space between them once more. She panted as he began walking a circle around her, watching him the whole time but grateful for the small breather. Once she felt stable again, she charged at him. She faked a hook before sweeping a leg out to knock him down. He sprung into a backflip like it was easy, landing so that he straddled the leg that had tried to ground him. She gasped and tried to pull her leg back, but he had dropped to his knees, hands grasping the leg behind her knee and giving a hard squeeze and yank.

"Ah!" she staggered forward before his other hand grasped her sore ankle. He laughed before yanking her feet out from under her. "Ack! Dammit!" she rolled to her side to grip the back of her head. She thanked god it wasn't winter, if the ground were any harder it probably would have cracked her skull from the impact. She turned a glare on him when she registered that he was still laughing at her.

"Want to up the stakes?" he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Up the stakes how? I win and you'll let me go?" she snapped grumpily as she pulled herself into a sitting position, still rubbing the sore spot on the back of her head. "Somehow I doubt either of those things is going to happen," she grumbled.

"Well, this is reality...so no," his eyes twinkled with mirth, "I was actually thinking: you drop me once - just once - and I'll let you sleep in my sleeping bag tonight."

"Ew!" she curled her lip, "How is sleeping with you a win for me?" she struggled to her feet, dusting off her knees.

"Not with me!" The flush on his face was a mixture of anger and embarrassment. "Like I'd want some little brat like you anyway! That's a privilege you don't deserve!"

Ino rolled her eyes as he continued to defend his manhood. The thought of lying down on something other than dirt was incredibly appealing. Being able to watch him lying in the dirt would also be satisfying. "What's in it for you if I can't?" her suspicion was plain.

His dark smirk made a shiver run down her spine. "If you can't, then you will have to join me in a prayer to Jashin."

"So you're saying if I win I get your sleeping bag, but if you win I have to pray to a god that I don't even believe in?" she raised an eyebrow. It didn't seem like a big deal. Sure, his prayers were annoying, but she'd only have to do it once and it wasn't like she believed in any of that garbage. Images of Asuma's last moments flashed in her mind, she saw him dying, Hidan's skeletal appearance. Could she really pray to the god that condoned the murder, even if she didn't believe? She watched him nod his affirmative before she turned her eyes toward the ground. "No," she said firmly.

He didn't say anything for a long moment. Long enough that Ino's curiosity won out and she glanced over at him. He stared out her with a serious expression she couldn't quite place. "You can have it for the rest of the trip." Ino's eyes widened, damn her for being so selfish.

"One prayer or a sleeping bag for however long this," she waved her hand, "journey is going to take?"

"Yes," his eyes were sparkling again, she just knew he could see her resolve crumbling down around her.

I'm sorry Asuma, "Done!" the guilt settled like a brick in the pit of her stomach.

"Alright!" he clapped his hands gleefully, "Let's go!"

Ino landed on her back for what had to have been the thousandth time. That was an exaggeration of course, but her body didn't feel like it was an exaggeration. She groaned, unable to move as her muscles clenched and cramped in protest. She blinked her eyes open and glared at the grinning man leaning over her.

"You done?" His face was lit up with a child-like glee.

"No!" she snapped and forced herself to roll onto her side with a grunt before slowly getting onto her knees. She felt her blush rising when he began laughing at her.

"You're moving slower than a retiree in hospice care!" he held his stomach as he doubled over, gasping from his own joke. "Just admit it! You're done!"

"No way!" she braced her hands on the ground and her arms trembled before giving out. Her legs were no better, the muscles were twitching and aching. They felt like rubber. She whimpered, "Fine I'm done!" She grudgingly accepted her defeat.

Hidan gave a little hop and clapped his hands together. Ino couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of her current situation. "Do you want to help me up or should I just stay on my knees and start praying?"

Hidan cocked his head to the side as he met her eyes with a wicked smirk, "You on your knees is appealing, but we'll hold off on the prayer until the time is right."

Ino suddenly found the ground incredibly interesting. Red was rising up her neck into her face faster than mercury in a thermometer on a hot day. She insisted to herself that she was making something out of nothing. The man wanted all his victims weak and begging for their lives, nothing sexual about that. Even so, she pretended to wipe at her face when she took his offered hand, so he couldn't see the blush that was leaving her light headed. Once she was standing on her own, she was in far too much pain to be embarrassed by anything. She wobbled on unsteady legs and let out another groan. The man had certainly made his point that she would never beat him if it came down to a fight. "Why did I even bother taking a bath and washing my clothes?" she complained as they moved through the trees back to their camp.

"Because your stench was becoming unbearable," He laughed at the weak punch she threw at his shoulder.

"Can't we just stay in a hotel one night?" She pleaded at the sky, "Just one night!?"

She collapsed onto a felled log that Hidan had dragged over. "I can't help but agree with you on that one. I'm tired of all the dirt, and plants, and bugs - ugh! This shit is definitely getting old." Ino watched him stoke the fire before settling down next to her. "Who knows what the fuck crawls on us at night" His eyes darted over his exposed skin. "Fucking filthy."

"Really?" She didn't hide her surprise, "I didn't think you minded getting dirty. You always seem so happy to douse yourself in the blood of the innocent," she rolled her eyes.

Hidan shot her an offended look, "Don't compare the beauty of blood sacrifice to sweat and dirt and…" he paused to shudder, "I pride myself on being very clean."

She was smiling at him now, pleasantly amused when he grinned at her. When had it become so easy to talk to this murderer? She felt her smile slip on the corners and stood up "I'm going to sleep," she announced. She stiffly made her way over to what she decided was 'her side' of the fire. She needed to get out of her, not make friends with the man who had agreed to sell her t the highest bidder.

"Wait," she froze when he called it out gently to her.

"What?" her response snapped like a whip. "What?" she demanded again as she turned to look at him with her hands on her hips.

"Never fucking mind!" He responded to her hostility with his own. "I was going to let you take my sleeping bag tonight, but apparently something flipped your bitch switch! You call me crazy? Bipolar skank!" tossed a final glare at her before sitting down on the sleeping bag in question and began ignoring her presence.

Ino pursed her lips to fight the urge to apologize. So what if she upset him!? He kidnapped her! She sat down with her back against a tree and began deep breathing. Why couldn't all of this end? Where was her rescue party? She closed her eyes and began to get comfortable. Her eyes opened when he began praying on his rosary once more. She needed to do something to get herself out of this captivity. The answer hit her like an epiphany. Play nice. Make friends. Get them to lower their guards and then make her escape. If only she had thought of that before she lost her once chance at a sleeping bag.

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I was beginning to type some more but i'm exhausted and just wanted to get something out today! I'm sorry for any errors, i was starting to nod out while typing this up! Thanks for waiting!