Hidan watched Reni sleep through the afternoon, exhausted beyond belief. He never thought he would see her again, yet here she was, bruised, beaten, yet somehow not broken.
He sighed and looked out the cave entrance, keeping watch. They would begin traveling at night, and they should be within Taki's borders by the third day's morning. However, at the rate Reni had been traveling last night…..
He wasn't sure if she would be able to do it. When he had scanned through her files, he had seen that she had been a slave for almost nine years. That was plenty of time to lose strength and will.
Frowning, he took the files from the pack, opening them. He hadn't examined them closely yet, and now was as good a time as any.
'Subject captured near Amegakure's borders, seven years after the Treaty. Behaved wildly, as if unused to humans. Brought to Ame's ANBU forces on suspect on being a rogue Akatsuki: found not to be, and given to slavers to sell. End of close monitering.'
Hidan's frown deepened as he flipped the page, wondering why they had the investigation. The Treaty had occurred when Pein and the Akatsuki fell, and Konoha, the leading political force at the time, had forced Amegakure into the peace treaty. But why had she been found near Ame? There was nothing there for her, unless….
He shook the thought from his head. There was no way that could be it. He looked around briefly before continuing reading.
'October 17: Subject 376 behaves horribly, correctional treatment used.
October 24: Treatment proving useless, harsher methods to be used. (To see list of treatments, turn to Appendix)
October 31: Killed village pet, manager forced to pay for damages. He was not happy.'
Here, the entries became more scattered, as if uncaring about her.
'April 14: 376 attacked guard, punished severely.
May 17: Attacked another guard, third one. Extreme measures used. Failed.
November 26: Subject became unresponsive, not eating. No medical treatment given.
January 14: Subject recovered from illness, misbehaving more. Treatments began again. Torture added.'
From here, the dated entries stopped, as if declaring her a lost cause. There were more notes of behavior, but none worthy of recognition. Growling, Hidan almost turned to the Appendix, where the list of 'treatments' were. However, he stopped when he noticed a small passage about half way through.
'Manager reports good for sexual pleasures, but nothing more. To be sold as sex slave, for cheap price. First date on the blocks: Tomorrow.'
Hidan's fist tightened. No wonder Reni had attacked that man so severely! They had raped her!
A soft whimper escaped Reni's throat then, and Hidan looked over, watching her twitch in her sleep. He rose and walked over, brushing her hair until she calmed again. Sighing, she murmured their names before settling into a deeper sleep, temporarily escaping the nightmare she had barely managed to run from.
Hidan watched her for a bit more, smiling, then went back to the cave entrance, watching the forest for any sign of the guards. Seeing nothing, and sensing nothing either, he went back to the folder, flipping to the Appendix. When he reached the page, he froze.
The list of measures used to control Reni was almost two pages long, marked as either 'failure' or 'success'. Most of them were marked as a failure. Only two were marked as success.
Looking through them, eyes flickering past such horrors as 'whips', 'branding', and 'starvation', he reached the two that had worked. One was the rape. The other was watching the death of another slave.
He stared, then kept reading the small passage that followed it, failing to notice the person watching the cave intently.
'Death watching: Success
Subject 376 had brutally attacked one of the guards (to be noted that she had bitten his throat), and was whipped with spurs for punishment (failure). However, when we forced her to watch the death-beating of Subject 472, she became obedient again. Treatment proven a success.'
Hidan spat. And they had called the Akatsuki disgusting?!
Suddenly, he was knocked aside by Reni, who launched herself out the entrance at a shadow approaching his right.
He whirled around, watching Reni savagely attack the man, a guard from the uniform he was wearing. He stared in shock at the aggressiveness she tore into the man, biting and tearing with a savage fury.
The man tried shielding his throat, but Reni merely broke his arm and flung it to the side, jaws latching around his throat. Instead of letting him suffocate peacefully, as she had done in the past, she wrenched her head back and forth, slowly, painfully shredding the throat from the rest of his flesh.
His scream started to bubble, and he tried one last time to push her off, but she growled with an anger that no demon could match and shoved a hand into his stomach, nails slowly working their way through the skin and flesh to tear at the organs underneath. Her hand broke through, and she started pulling his intestines from his body as she finally managed to shear his throat, teeth bared and smiling as he died under her hands.
Hidan could only watch in shock. He had killed many himself, but never with this brutality. Whatever they had done to her, it had altered something in her mind.
Reni smiled down as the blood of the man soak into the soil, a sadistic grin on her face. Hidan shuddered, this was not Reni. This was something else.
Voices sounded in the distance, and Reni turned to them with a growl, ready to kill more. But Hidan held her back, a hand on her shoulder. She lashed her head around, and Hidan jumped away from her in surprise. She had been as ready to harm him as she had been to the others.
Seeing his shock, she apologized and lowered her head, whimpering. Hidan distantly led her away from the voices, grabbing her folder. They were on the move.
They ran on, the sun slowly sinking into night. They had to stop a few times, as Reni still was weakened, but never stopped to sleep. Reni hunted while running, and after a few tries, had finally managed to catch a small rabbit, pausing to eat a little before running after Hidan, always running. She didn't know what the urgency was, but she knew she had to follow. Something told her he was taking her to the giant, where she would finally be safe, safe from the torturing ones.
When dawn threatened, they finally stopped to rest, panting by a river, sheltered from sight by an overhanging cliff. Collapsing as soon as she had drank her fill, she sank into and exhausted sleep, dreaming no dreams.
Hidan watched her, still seeing the dried blood on her. A chill had settled over him, separating from the girl he had once been in love with. She was different. This was not the same Reni as before. This…. this was a monster. The real Reni wouldn't kill like that. Not her.
Hidan shivered lightly and looked away, rubbing his arms to ward off the cold. While it never did freeze like other areas, fall was still a cold season. Eyes heavy, he settled into sleep.
The sun set slowly, and the slanting beams shone into the girl's face, waking her.
She snorted and shook her head, rising into a sitting position. The smaller man slept beside her, back against hers. The stream bubbled, and she sniffed the air carefully before leaving the shelter of the overhang.
She waded into the cold river, growling in surprise as the icy water ran over her body. She took a deep breath, then submerged herself, rinsing the blood from her shorn hair. The hurting ones had kept it short, and now it was only at neck length.
Clean, she surfaced, gasping for breath. She snorted water from her nostrils, then swam to the bank, shaking herself at least some-what dry. She sat for a few moments, then entered the water, heading slowly upstream, searching for the flash that would betray a fish.
A sparkle appeared on her left, and she walked forward, hands dangling. Her fingers gripped the gills, and she tossed it to the bank, pinning it to the ground and killing it swiftly. With her prize in her hand, she walked back, intending to share the catch with the smaller man. There was enough for a small meal if they shared.
In the temporary shelter, she saw the smaller man still sleeping, and she smiled slightly before she remembered his fear of her earlier. She sighed sadly and left the fish in the shade, then walked out to sit in the sun's dying light, watching the moon slowly appear, queen of the night.
She smiled in memory of her pack, the ones she had been with after she had left the two men. However, they had all gotten a strange, mouth-foaming sickness that had destroyed them. It seemed to spread by biting, but when they had bitten her, she hadn't been affected. She didn't know why, but she had been the remaining member of the pack , the only one that had survived.
That was when she had been captured, just as she had finished burying her pack-mates. While she had been singing them a farewell song, a net had been flung over her, and then she had been caught. As easily as that.
Growling slightly, she turned back into the shelter, peaceful mood gone. It seemed as if every good memory she had was overshadowed by the horrible memories of the cage years. Except for those long ago, when she had lived with the giant and his family.
She smiled at that thought. She knew that when she saw him again, everything would be all right again. The world would continue to turn, the sun would continue to rise and set, and the skies would continue to be blue.
She turned back to the moon, barely showing over the overhang, and froze. At its top stood the same boy-child from her dreams, sucking his thumb as he looked calmly down at her. His gray eyes, so much like hers, stared piercingly at her, dark-brown hair slightly covering them. He looked so much like her, but yet so much like the giant as well.
He smiled down at her, waving in a friendly manner. She watched him carefully, then grinned hesitantly back, making his grin widen, causing him to reveal his fangs. They looked so wrong, but yet belonged there, like antlers belonged on a deer.
She heard the smaller man rise, and she looked at him briefly at him before returning her gaze to the top of the overhang, back to the boy. But he was gone. There was no sign of him, or that he had ever been there.
Grumbling slightly in discomfort, she leaped to the top, sniffing for any trace of the scent she couldn't quite place. But there was nothing but the smell of grass and rain, nothing to show there had ever been anything there.
She heard the smaller man call her name, and she looked back at the spot before turning back to him slowly, feeling disconcerted. In the wind, a boy's laughter rang, intended for her ears alone.
Hidan stared at Reni as she sniffed the grass at the top of the rise, feeling confused. What was up there?
However, when he called her name, she gave a last disgruntled sniff before turning to him, acting like the old Reni he knew and loved.
She jumped down, landing lightly on all fours. She walked silently to the fish she had stored in the shade, picking it up and giving it to him. He grimaced and handed it back. He had never learned fire-making, so he had no way to cook it.
Reni shrugged and took it back, burying her teeth in it. With a few simple motions, she soon had eaten all of the pale, white flesh, swallowing it without chewing. When all the meat had picked off the bones, she tossed the skeleton and skin aside, yawning.
With a grin, Hidan ruffled her hair, making her grumble slightly. He signaled in a familiar gesture, and her eyes brightened. With a smile, they started running again, heading toward the Village Hidden in Waterfalls.
As the girl ran, she felt the familiar presence of the pup/boy running beside her, seeing him out of the corner of her eye. However, when she turned her head to fully look at him, he vanished, until she just settled for looking at him from the side, a small smile on her face. Somehow, his presence made her spirit feel lighter.
They ran on, passing small streams which quickly grew into raging rivers. The air became damp as the water droplets hung in the air, soaking them. Waterfalls appeared around every cliff, surrounding them in a dull roar.
They finally stopped to rest, a soft glow emitting from the luminescence of the moon reflecting off the water in the air, sending out a peaceful feeling.
They sat leaning against each other, basking in the glow. Fireflies flew around them, accenting the feeling even further. The air around them had a slightly green tinge, and the strange fauna seemed to take them away to another world.
Finally, the two sank into sleep, lulled into dreams by the haunting music of owls and exotic birds.
Hidan rose, stretching pleasantly. For once, he felt at ease, completely at peace. The air was pleasantly warm, birds chirped cheerfully, and Reni slept beside him, head on his stomach, curled up against his side.
Smiling gently, he reached down and brushed her short hair away from her face, reveling in the soft texture. She stirred, and his smile flickered, replaced by uncertainty. Would he be able to give her up? Was he ready to just give her to Kakuzu, instead of keeping her to himself?
She shifted again, and sighed Kakuzu's name with a longing whimper, causing him to feel a pang of sadness. Kakuzu had a claim on her he had no chance against, and to try was to fail. She was Kakuzu's, and there was no chance he would have her.
Saddened, he looked around, seeing the sunlight pass through emerald leaves, sparkling as the mist from the waterfalls reflected the light. They were within a few hours travel of Taki, and now had to wait until tomorrow, when Kakuzu would be at the gates. Hidan had no clue why Kakuzu had gone back to his old village, but he supposed it was almost why he had gone back to Yuga.
He had wanted to see what his old village was like, now that he had been gone for over thirty years. He had left when it became a tourist spot, and now, it sickened him even more. The hot springs were commercialized, full of fat old men and old women. There was nothing there for him. So he had left and became a wanderer, an assassin for hire. It worked.
Reni yawned cutely, face scrunching up and teeth bared, tongue curling as a small squeak issued from her throat. Hidan felt that familiar pang in his chest as she stretched, using him as something to push against.
Finally, she rose, stretching in a cat-like manner. She shook her head drowsily and looked around, sleepy-eyed. Her eyes spotted the waterfall, with a basin of cool water at the bottom, and she chirped happily before running in, water splashing everywhere from her entry.
Hidan laughed and followed her, cannon-balling in with his clothes still on. They laughed and played, pushing each other into the water and wrestling, imitation snarls issuing from her throat. Finally, tired out, they flopped down on the banks, letting the sun dry them.
Reni yawned again and curled up with her back against his side, purring lightly as she dozed off. He smiled gently and stroked her face, marveling at the feel. It only would deepen the wound when he gave her back to his old partner, but hey, he was a masochist, right?
With the sun warm, they both fell asleep.
The sun set swiftly, rousing the sleeping pair. Reni had slept late because she was still recovering from her weakness, and Hidan had slept because he didn't want to rouse her. But they had to move. If they were going to get to Taki on time, they had to run now.
They shook the sleep from their bodies, stretching and smiling. With a final shake, Reni started running, and Hidan swiftly took the lead, heading towards the city. He still had to find the right waterfall, the one with the gates hidden behind it.
When the moon was high above them, Hidan finally paused outside a large waterfall, waving her through the spray. She looked at him doubtfully, then walked through the blast, cringing as the weight of the water fell upon her back. However, she was soon through, and stood in a small cave, with three puddles on the floor.
Hidan paused and looked at them, mentally smacking himself. Of course he knew the right waterfall, but which puddle led to the gates?
Taking a deep breath, he dove into one, leaving Reni behind him. He swam until its end, and of course it was dead. He growled mentally, then let himself float to the surface, all oxygen gone. A normal human would have died in diving, but as he was immortal, he could go and test them.
Gasping for breath at the top, he fended off Reni's attempts to 'rouse' him, shaking her off. Of course, he had just floated up, making her think he was dead, but still, he had two others to test.
Inhaling again, he dived into the opposite one, leaving the one in the middle for last. What village put a gate in the middle puddle?
He gave a small swearing fit when he hit a dead-end. Of fucking course. The last one he would check was the right puddle. Great.
He rose to the surface, recovering his breath so that he could dive into the middle puddle, to guarantee it was the right one. He wasn't leading Reni anywhere he wasn't sure of.
Reni again scolded him at the surface, but he grinned and waved her off, showing he was fine. She grumbled and huffed, but left him be, sulking in a corner. Finally, he stood up and dived into the last one, to check its depth.
He surfaced on the other side, within a few feet of one of the guards. She looked at him, and said, "Sorry, but the gates don't open until dawn. You can regain your breath, then dive back under."
He waved and gasped, trying to give the impression that he was a normal human, then dove back under, surfacing next to Reni. She growled and tackled him to the ground, pinning his arms so that he couldn't rise.
Her teeth bared in his face, he cringed and apologized the way he had seen Kakuzu in the past, ducking his head and grimacing. She looked uncertain, but let him rise, walking off. He sighed and rolled his eyes, leaning against the wall and letting the water run off him.
With the dull roar as a background, he fell asleep.
The girl watched with a growing frustration as the smaller man continued to dive in and out of the holes, grumbling to herself. Why was he going in them anyways? What was he looking for?
When he surfaced from the last one, she jumped, knocking him to the ground and pinning him there, baring her teeth in annoyance. He had tried to apologize like the giant, but that only brought a pang of emotion, causing her to get off him. He watched her for a bit, then sighed and rolled over, falling asleep.
The girl watched out the entrance, keeping an eye out for anything that might be harmful. She had just gotten one of her pack back, and she wasn't losing him.
Dawn came and went, and still the smaller man slumbered, almost dry. A small splashing sound behind her, and she whirled around, snarling.
She froze, the growl dying in her throat. Standing there, water dripping off him, was the giant, staring at her with the same expression she was sure her face held: wonder, shock, and an unknown emotion, connecting the two.
With a tear-choked squeal of joy, she leaped into his arms, burying her tear-stained face in his neck. He held her tightly, his face buried in her hair, strong arms curled around her. They stood there, time freezing, lost in each other for an eternity, the girl whimpering softly and the giant shushing her, rubbing her back gently.
A cough sounded behind them, and the girl whipped her head around to see what it was.
The smaller man stood behind them, smelling of embarrassment. He kept his gaze averted, and said something to the giant, who growled back in an annoyed voice.
The girl smiled and buried her face in the giant's neck again. This was just as it used to be, the way they had been in the past. He turned his head to her, and cooed her name softly, making her chirp in pleasure. Still holding her, he turned to the puddle, standing at the edge.
He made her look up at him, then signaled something she couldn't understand. She frowned and chittered, not understanding.
The smaller man came and tapped her shoulder, drawing her attention. She looked, and he inhaled deeply, holding his breath, signaling for her to do the same.
Her eyes widened and she tried backing out of the giant's arms, chittering in panic. No, she couldn't go in the water, she couldn't swim!
He held her tightly, murmuring comforting sounds to her and softly petting the back of her head, sending a clear message: I won't let anything happen to you, I promise.
She whined softly in fear, then buried her face quickly against him again, trembling. He pet her softly once, and she inhaled as deeply as she could.
He leaped into the water, and she could only hope he wouldn't let her drown.
Kakuzu swam, aware of the trembling girl holding onto him. She trusted him not to let her drown, and he felt love swell through him, making him pause briefly in his strokes to touch her shoulder comfortingly.
She trembled a bit more and pressed herself tighter against him, and he continued his strokes. Hidan swam beside him, keeping pace.
Light appeared above them, and they slowly rose, letting themselves depressurize as they did.
Water broke around their heads, and Reni coughed and choked, gasping for new air to refresh the old in her lungs.
The guards looked mildly at them, but this wasn't the first time they had seen someone afraid of water pass their gates. They waved a friendly hello to Kakuzu, not knowing truly who he was, and he grunted back, backstroking to the shore with Reni's weight holding him down.
He climbed out and picked Reni up, carrying her. Hidan rose beside him, and they walked deeper into town, heading for his small apartment.
Hidan looked around with interest, folding his hands beside his head. Kakuzu merely growled and walked to the steps of one building, pressing the buzzer.
The door opened, and he walked in, still carrying the soaked girl. The doorman looked briefly up, grinned at the sight of the wet and shivering girl in Kakuzu's arms, and gave him a thumbs-up.
Kakuzu returned the gesture with a dirty glance, and the doorman cringed and looked away, turning back to his newspaper.
Kakuzu climbed the stairs, and opened the door to his small home, letting Hidan in after him before shutting the door. He gently set Reni down on the couch beside him, and she gave a sharp cry of joy.
Finally, after twenty years, they were back together.