Mitsuko stepped off the train onto the gravel path into town. A lot of people were getting off after them, crowds were forming along the tracks and Mitsuko was starting to get pushed around.
"Here, Mitsuko," Hidan said as he held his hand out to her in the midst of the crowd. She smiled up at him, taking his hand. Hidan followed closely behind Kakuzu, pulling Mitsuko through the crowd.
"We'll go and get our disguises and supplies, then we'll leave this town," Kakuzu told them over his shoulder.
Mitsuko tightened her hold on Hidan's hand as they walked into a hair stylist's boutique. They followed Kakuzu up to the desk where a lovely blonde woman was giving herself a manicure. She reminded Mitsuko of Mother Ino.
"My kids want to dye their hair wild colors," Kakuzu told the woman, "What colors are available?"
The woman grinned and caught sight of Mitsuko, "Well, little girl, we can dye your hair any color you can think of," she said as she leaned over the counter.
"You go first," Hidan whispered with a smile, letting go of her hand and nudging her forward.
She gave him a glare and turned back to face the woman, brainstorming a color she would like her hair color to be. She liked her black hair but if it would save her life, she would gladly choose another color. "I'd like red, please," she smiled, walking briskly up to the desk by Kakuzu.
"Ooh, red! What shade, nee-chan?" Hidan teased with a cocky smile.
"As red as blood, if you can," Mitsuko said, paying no attention to him.
"Alright, hon. Come over here by the sink," the lady said, heading over to a sink on the wall to the left. Mitsuko skipped away, playing along with Kakuzu's plan as she followed the woman to the sink.
Hidan and Kakuzu watched as the woman washed Mitsuko's hair and then color treated it for blood red hair dye. Hidan saw a bottle of hair dye that caught his eye.
"Can you dye my hair brown?" Hidan asked her.
"Sure, just a minute," the woman replied, helping Mitsuko out of the uncomfortable position of leaning over the sink.
"I thought you kids wanted to dye your hair all un-natural colors?" Kakuzu turned to Hidan.
"Nah, I changed my mind. If I do a wacky color, everyone will think I'm copying," Hidan shrugged. It was all a fake so the woman would believe their story. It was amazing how it kept going with both Mitsuko and Hidan having no idea what Kakuzu was up to in the first place. They just played along when he said, "my kids."
"Sit right here," the woman instructed as Mitsuko joined Kakuzu and Hidan walked up to the sink.
Mitsuko watched as the woman went all over him, washing his hair and dying it brown. Jealousy boiled in her. Hidan laid backwards, his head in the sink and the woman being all in his face. What was this other feeling all of a sudden? She felt like throwing something at the woman.
"Now, how long will the colors last in their hair?" Kakuzu asked when the woman was finishing up.
"About a week," she replied.
"Can I buy more? Because my ex-wife is supposed to be taking them to a friend's party back where they came from and they want to have the same colored hair then, you know, to impress people," everything that came out of his stitched mouth was a lie.
"Sure, a bottle is five ryou," the woman came up to the register, finished making over Hidan.
Mitsuko came up beside Hidan, who was admiring himself in a mirror.
"She was all over you," she whispered to him.
"I know, I wanted to pull out my kunai but we needed this done," Hidan told her to make her feel better. He didn't enjoy the woman either, she smelled of wet dog.
"I'll buy a case of both colors, in case the others want some," Kakuzu began to count up money.
"You look different. It's not you, you know?" Mitsuko looked up at the new Hidan.
"You do too," he smiled, "It suits you though, you're such a hot-head when you get mad,"
Mitsuko smacked him playfully and Hidan began to laugh.
"Come on, you two," Kakuzu ordered them as he headed toward the door holding two cardboard boxes.
"Thank you! Call me sometime!" the woman shouted and waved at Kakuzu as the family walked out of the boutique.