Mitsuko only gazed back, mouth agape.
"Well girl! What's your name? You saved me after all, I should at least know your name," it demanded.
"Nara Mitsuko," she replied mindlessly, eyes still wide. This horror she uncovered in the pit, this was it. This head in the bottom of the pit, this was what she had always talked to and feared.
"Mitsuko huh? Nara..." she watched as the face's expression twisted from kind and pleasant into anger, "You wouldn't happen to know a heathen named Shikamaru would you?"
Her heart leaped in her throat. What did this head have against Shikamaru? The head couldn't do much as of now. It wouldn't do much harm to say yes, would it? "Shikamaru is my father," Mitsuko told it.
Suddenly, the head busted into laughter that echoed through the pit and throughout the forest. When it regained its cool, it smirked and looked at her again. "How ironic!? He buried me here and then his daughter comes and digs me up! What a gag!" It laughed again, scaring Mitsuko.
"My father buried you here?" Mitsuko asked it when it had calmed down again. "What is your name?"
"Name's Hidan. Shikamaru led me here and blew me to bits before burying me here after I killed his friend. Damn! This hurts," Hidan's face twisted with agony, "Could you help me out, Mitsuko?"
"Are you still wanting to take revenge on my father?" she asked him, concerned of her father's safety.
"Well duh! That son of a bitch blew me up and left me here for who knows how long. Who wouldn't want to kill somebody after doing that?"
"You got your just desserts for killing Asuma-sensei," a voice said and both Mitsuko and Hidan stared up in horror at the figure up above.
The shadow's short hair was pulled up into a tight ponytail in the back of his head and looked down upon the two as he flicked his cigarette, the ashes fluttering towards the ground.
"Papa," Mitsuko said under her breath.
Hidan recognized the man and shouted at him, "You!"
"Mitsuko, get up here," Shikamaru ordered, blowing smoke into the sun light and tossing his head to motion for her.
She lowered her head in shame and climbed up the dirt wall. Her father looked cool as he took a drag from his cigarette, waiting for her. The whole clan admired him. Now she disappointed him. When she arrived by his side, neither of them made eye contact. She faced him with her head bowed as he stared down at the helpless head in the pit.
"It's funny. I was your god when I judged you and punished you for your sin. Then my daughter becomes your savior and uncovers you, exposing your stupid mug to the world that had forgotten you for so long; you're absolutely unrecognizable."
"Thanks to you!" Hidan shouted up to him angrily.
"I won't cover you with rocks this time. I'll allow you to see the light of day and suffer the darkest of nights. Birds shall poop on you and maybe some brave animal will come down and feast off of your helpless limbs," Shikamaru tossed his cigarette into the pit and turned to his shameful daughter, "Mitsuko, you should have asked about the rocks before you went and removed them. I would have told you willingly."
"I am sorry, Papa. I was curious and I felt like I had to do it," she stared down at the ground and looked in the corner of her eye at Hidan. She was so embarrassed in front of him. Then again, he was the one whose body parts were scattered everywhere. She couldn't imagine everything he was feeling now.
"I won't punish you. I can understand where you are coming from. You can keep your duty as Northern nursery caretaker but you cannot come to this hole anymore, okay?"
Mitsuko took one last glance at Hidan as he stared up at her, waiting for something. "Yes, sir," she replied, taking her eyes off of the head.
"Now go finish your chores, I will meet you back at the house," Shikamaru smiled and patted his daughter's head. She finally made eye contact with him and smiled back. He wasn't mad with her at all. With that in mind, she ran off to the nursery, obeying her father's orders.
Shikamaru turned to the pit and lit another cigarette. "My wife named her Mitsuko because she gave us a light in dark times. Even when my wife died shortly after giving birth, Mitsuko still supplied that light we needed to get through my wife's death. She'll help anyone in need without thinking twice. Any clan, any organization, she doesn't see the harm in it. I won't let you use her and harm her like you did Asuma-sensei. Mitsuko is too precious to me," he took a drag and waited for his words to soak into Hidan.
Hidan's eyes were full of anger towards his jailer as he clenched his teeth in spite.
"I suppose you want to hear about what has happened while you were gone," Shikamaru blew a long puff of smoke into the air and stared back down at Hidan, "We destroyed the Akatsuki. What was left of them disbanded and became loyal citizens to some lucky countries. Mitsuko will never have to live in fear again."
Hidan looked away from Shikamaru, disappointed that his organization was no more. When he looked back, Shikamaru was gone. He was left alone in the pit of the Underworld, yet again; forever. There was no god. No Jashin. It was all a lie. All the people he had killed, the reason why he was in the pit, all for nothing. He was nothing.