It was humid...very humid. He could feel some cobblestones under his lower back, while the rest of his torso was propped up against a tree. He could feel the rough bark through his shirt. He had stopped wearing the flak jacket over a year ago, the damn thing more troublesome than useful to him. He could head birdsong, and the rustling of leaves in the breeze. He could distantly hear people walking across the cobblestone roads, but none were close enough to disturb his nap. It was a wonderful nap, except for one thing.

This was NOT where he had laid down. He had laid down on a patch of soft grass, and he hadn't been leaning against a tree. The vast majority of roads in Konoha were simple, packed dirt, not cobblestone. It was far more humid than when he had laid down as well...he could feel bits of his hair frizzing up because of it. He REALLY didn't want to open his eyes to figure out what the hell was going on yet, though. Although...he really really should. Troublesome.

He was saved from further thinking on the merits of opening his eyes or not by a soft kick to his thigh.

"Oi. You alive, ya weirdo?" a small voice asked.

He cracked an eye open and looked to the source, intending on telling the kid to buzz off or something, but...he was a bit startled. The kid looked similar to someone he had encountered before. The boy(?) was only a toddler, but had magenta eyes and silver hair, the same shade he vividly remembered burying in his clan's forest. Did...had that bastard had a kid or something? It wouldn't surprise him, not really...Hidan had been the absolute worst kind of person. The kid saw his open eyes and gave what he was pretty sure was an attempted sneer.

"Fuckin idiot, the creeps will get you if you fall asleep like that. They'll come up and grab you and you won't be able to do anything while they do whatever the hell they want to ya! You're lucky I saw you and woke your sorry ass up."

Was he...being lectured...by a toddler? Troublesome. He heaved a sigh before closing his eyes again.

"...listen, I'm a shinobi, I'd be fine."

He thought the kid would either run off or start pestering him with questions about what techniques he knows, or start babbling about how 'cool' it is to be a shinobi.

Instead, he got PUNCHED IN THE FACE.

A startled noise escaped him, because even though the kid could punch properly he was still just a toddler and didn't have that much raw strength.

"YOU FUCKIN IDIOT THERE ARE SHINOBI CREEPS TOO!!!! IF YA SLEEP OUTSIDE YOU'RE GONNA GET CAUGHT BY EM!!! DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT THEY *DO*?!!?"

The kid was...very angry. There were what looked like tears of raw, kiddie fury in the corners of his eyes, a small vein was throbbing in his temple, and his nostrils were flared as his breath heaved from screeching at him. Why the hell was this kid so upset by him taking a NAP? He pushed himself up into a full sitting position, and made a show of rubbing his jaw as he looked at the kid. The kid was clearly poor, and whatever he was talking about "creeps" was probably just his mother trying to make sure he didn't wander into dark alleys alone or something. Being afraid to be outside and alone as a small child, especially a poor one, would be useful in keeping them safe and out of trouble after all. He decided he'd humor the kid for now though.

"You're right, you're right...jeez, didn't have to hit me so hard though. What if you actually knocked me out, huh? Wouldn't the 'creeps' get me even easier then?"

The kid paused, and looked like he was deep in thought. After a few moments he spoke again though.

"I ain't strong enough yet to knock out a grownup. But I'm getting close, and if I DID knock your dumb ass out then I woulda stayed until ya woke up because if I left you it would make it MY fault if creeps got you, and that would basically make me helping the creeps and I hate those fuckers."

Well...he wasn't entirely wrong, he supposed. But at the same time what the hell would the kid have done if some 'creeps' really wanted to 'get him'? He had just admitted he couldn't take on adults. Yet here the kid was saying he'd stay with him if he had somehow knocked him unconscious, in order to protect him. Apparently.

Time to shift focus.

"Right...anyways...thanks I guess. My name is Shikamaru...what's yours?"

The kid cocked his head to the side slightly before grinning and jabbing a thumb at himself.

"My name's Hidan!!!! An' I'm gonna be the best fucking ninja this village ever saw!!!"

Shikamaru was a bit surprised that the kid's name was Hidan. Whether it was a coincidence or, more likely, the kid's mother had for some reason decided to name him after his father, it was a bit surprising. He hadn't thought anyone could make any sort of emotional connection to that bastard, but...well, the evidence was right in front of him.

There was a little niggling feeling in the back of his mind that he was somehow missing something, though.

"Hey, Shikamaru, you got anywhere to actually stay or any money for a place? Because if you don't you should probably leave instead of falling asleep outside again. I ain't gonna be around to save your stupid ass if that happens you know."

Well...he had some investigating to do anyways. Shikamaru stood up, and ruffled the kid's dirty hair, earning a squawk of protest.

"I'll be fine. I won't fall asleep outside again, kid. Thanks for the warning."

With that said, he walked away towards the busier parts of whatever village or town he was in. Shouldn't take him long to figure out what had happened at least, and then once he figured it out, he could go home and have a nice, peaceful, undisturbed nap.

--

"...This is the date? This is today's date?"

"uh...yeah?? What, you think I'd be tryna sell you old papers? No, my stand gets em fresh every morning."

Shikamaru knew what he had been missing now. All it had taken was grabbing a daily newspaper and seeing the date. He had missed the fact that he had somehow, at some point, traveled through time. This was MUCH too troublesome for his tastes, as time travel was purely theoretical. There was no telling what consequences could come about from this, if any at all! He had no idea how this had happened to him. All he had wanted was a nice nap on a nice sunny day, and now he was over twenty years in the past. It was as he was placing the paper back on the rack that another realization hit him. The kid. The kid from earlier wasn't Hidan's bastard son who was named after him. It was actually Hidan as a toddler. His sensei's murderer was currently a small, incredibly rude child.

His fingers twitched for a cigarette, but he unfortunately had none on him. Nor did he have any money to get some. Troublesome. Shikamaru simply continued strolling along the streets aimlessly, lost in thought. He knew he was a little over twenty years in the past. He knew he was in Yugakure, from while they were still a shinobi village. That was...about it, though. It was a good thing he hadn't been wearing his Konoha hitai ate when he'd taken his nap though. That would have been extremely troublesome to try and explain. He had no idea how to get back, or even how the hell he had gotten into this mess to begin with. He was broken from his thoughts by the sounds of a scuffle in an alleyway he was passing by, though. He was about to just turn and continue walking, but...it wasn't two adults. Or even two children. It was a much larger adult against a little kid, and the kid was being pinned to the wall. Shikamaru could smell the booze wafting off the guy from the entrance of the alley, and from the looks of it...the guy wasn't just gonna rough the kid up for something like stealing. Barely thinking, he sent out his shadows to connect to the man's. The drunk immediately froze, and Shikamaru allowed him to turn his head to look at him, but nothing more.

"Now...what the hell do you think you're doing, huh?" he asked.

The man snorted. "What's it look like? 's the red light district, 'n the kid belongs to one of the whores, so he's fair game."

Shikamaru was utterly repulsed. He knew that the red light district in any town or village wasn't going to be the nicest place, and he knew that people, especially homeless people, would be at high risk for being sexually assaulted, but to hear this piece of garbage just talk about it so casually, like it was normal to do such things...? It was disgusting. He was shaking in fury, and was trying to rapidly figure out the best way to kill the guy without getting caught, but the kid suddenly moved.

His legs and hands were pinned, but he had managed to lunge forwards at the leering man, and without hesitation closed his teeth around the man's throat before brutally ripping away. There was a choked noise, and Shikamaru released the shadow possession out of pure shock, and blood was everywhere. All over the walls, the ground, the man, the kid...and it was only after the body fell to the filthy cobblestone that he recognized the kid as Hidan. The silver haired toddler wasn't able to stay standing, and collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily as he desperately rubbed at his face and eyes.

He should leave. This was Hidan, the man who had killed his sensei in cold blood and enjoyed it. A member of Akatsuki, the organization that had almost ended the world itself. A complete psychopath, with no hope for anything like redemption, who would make the world a far better place if he died. The world was already better for him being buried in the Nara clan forest.

But...he also wasn't any of those things right now. He wasn't a terrifying immortal ninja. He wasn't the sick fuck who got off on killing people. He wasn't even a genin...he was a scared little kid, in a filthy alley, covered in blood from a kill born of desperation to not be violated in one of the worst ways possible.

Before he had truly made the decision himself, he stepped forwards, and squatted down in front of Hidan.

"Hey, kid...he's dead now. You're okay. He can't do that to you or anyone else again, you hear?" He really had no idea what he was supposed to say in a situation like this.

Hidan just continued to rub at his face, chest heaving. After a few moments, Hidan spoke. "They don't...they don't come out til later...they ain't supposed to start that stuff until the lights start bein lit...he was out early...I gotta...get home...before more come..."

It then hit Shikamaru that...all his ranting about 'creeps' earlier...it wasn't just from the mouth of a kid who had been told that bad people would get him if he stayed out late. It wasn't a kid repeating scary stories from his parents. He lived like this. The constant fear of being sexually assaulted...it explained why he was so incensed when Shikamaru had tried to blow him off. Because he knew what would happen if you were caught.

He was still processing this revelation when Hidan scurried past him, running down the streets. If he was going home, he'd be fine. He'd be taken care of, or would at least be indoors and out of reach of the apparently plentiful pedophiles. He stayed there for a few more moments before getting up with a heavy sigh and walking away. He'd have to find a place to camp out at the outskirts of the village...he didn't exactly have money for an inn.

It took a bit of searching, but he eventually found a suitable spot, and had even managed to snare a rabbit to eat. It was bland, but still edible food, so he couldn't really complain TOO much. He kept trying to think up theories as to what happened to him, and how to get back...but the memories of what had happened earlier would not stop resurfacing. He couldn't stop thinking about Hidan, of all people. He couldn't entirely blame the guy for growing up into a psychopath, not after seeing what he had to live around. Not after witnessing him make a desperation kill as a toddler. Just what else had contributed to Hidan growing up into the horrible person he was familiar with? He wasn't sure he wanted the answers...and he really did not want to think about it anymore, but his brain just wouldn't stop. Eventually, he gave up trying to redirect his thoughts to more important things, and just did his best to force it to shut down entirely. It took him a while to fall asleep, but eventually, he did...and his dreams were plagued by silver hair and magenta eyes.

--_--_--_

Shikamaru had been simply wandering again. He had investigated the spot he'd woken up in, and had been unable to find even the smallest clue as to how he'd wound up in the past. He had literally nothing that could even possibly help him figure out how to get back home, either. After the lack of anything useful, he had decided to just walk as he had yesterday. He didn't think he'd be able to nap so casually, not after what he'd found out the previous day. It was while wandering that he glimpsed Hidan once more.

Hidan, even as a child, didn't seem to wear much clothing. He wore some ratty old shorts and a t-shirt with holes in it that was slightly too small on him. But the lack of coverage revealed a lot.

The listless toddler was covered in bruises and scratches. He had one big, hand-shaped bruise over his entire neck, along with several smaller, darker bruises. His wrists also looked like they had hand shaped bruises, and the scratches were all along his collar, shoulders, and hips. He was sitting curled up next to a tree, but no one paid him any attention. The only people who even acknowledged his existence were other people who were clearly from the red light district, and all they did was give him a glance filled with pity as they passed by.

Last Shikamaru had seen him, he was running back home. He must have been beaten by whoever supposedly took care of him. He ignored the little voice in his head that kept saying this didn't look like he was beat. He didn't want to think of that. He couldn't. Eventually, Shikamaru had had enough. It had been hours, and Hidan hadn't moved at all. He dropped down in front of the kid, but received no reaction at all.

"Hey...kid...what's up? You haven't moved for hours." he said.

Hidan slowly looked up, his eyes clouded and face lax. It took a moment for there to be a dull flash of recognition. "...I saw you last night...y' made the creep freeze long enough for me t' kill 'im."

Shikamaru winced slightly. That had been...brutal to witness, and Hidan's tone of voice was so lifeless.

"Yeah...my name's Shikamaru, remember?"

Hidan nodded slowly. "yeah...you're the dumbass that was sleeping outside..."

Well...he wasn't...wrong. "That's right. Now, come on, what's up?"

There was an extended pause before Hidan finally spoke. "...Mom was mad at the mess. Told me I shoulda let the creep do what he wanted, 'cause it would have been less messy..."

Shikamaru had to work reign in his killing intent. What the hell kind of monster SAID such a thing? It didn't explain the bruises and scratches though...but apparently Hidan wasn't done talking yet.

"...'n after that I was kicked outta the whore house for the night. I don't...I can't...I know some creeps got me though..."

Shikamaru couldn't ignore the voice saying it wasn't a beating now. Not when Hidan had just said what he had. His heart felt like it dropped down straight through his stomach. He wanted to throw up. He wanted to scream, to cry, to something...but he couldn't. He was horrified and disgusted, and absolutely furious, but he couldn't do anything. How could anyone do that? Even worse, to a kid? The fact that Hidan had specified 'some creeps' too. Plural. More than one.

Another part of him didn't know how to feel, because this was still Hidan. This was still the kid that would grow up to kill his sensei with sick, perverted glee. He hated him with every fiber of his being. But at the same time...he couldn't quite block out the whisper in his mind. The whisper saying that it was surprising that Hidan wasn't an even worse person as an adult. That he easily could have been even more terrible, yet somehow wasn't.

He hated this entire situation. He hated that he was feeling all of these things because of Hidan. He couldn't just leave the kid, because while it was technically Hidan, it wasn't the adult version of him that he hated so much. Hidan was just a scared, horribly traumatized little kid right now, and to just leave him and do nothing didn't sit right with him. But what could he do? He had no idea if anything he did would affect his own future time line. He couldn't do anything as drastic as bring Hidan to Konoha for multiple reasons...one of the biggest ones being that in this time, he hadn't even been BORN yet, and had no idea if his or Hidan's presence would complicate that. Sure, he'd be able to prove his clan heritage pretty easily, what with all the hiden jutsu of the Nara clan, but he didn't exactly trust the state of Konoha at the moment. ROOT would still be active, and he wasn't certain he wouldn't be put there if he went to Konoha. He also couldn't become part of any other village, both because of his clan heritage and because the very thought made him slightly sick. No, he was a Konoha shinobi. He had no money, so he couldn't buy the kid anything, not even some cheap treat, and something told him that right now, Hidan wouldn't even want to eat anything. So what could he possibly do to help the kid? Without him even consciously realizing it, his hands briefly fell into his favored thinking pose. It didn't last longer than about ten seconds, though, because once he considered everything, the answer was obvious.

"Hey...kid...you said you were gonna be a shinobi, right? I can't teach you much, but I can teach you how to set up a camp and traps."

Hidan looked vaguely confused. "...I am gonna be a shinobi...but what does camping and traps have to do with anythin?"

Shikamaru smirked. "Because, if you can set up camp with some good traps, then at the very least civilian creeps won't be able to get to you if you're stuck outside again."

Now Hidan looked curious and slightly hopeful. Perfect. He could teach him this without affecting anything for the future, too, since the traps he'd be teaching him would be simpler ones meant for kids to learn. Sure, he wouldn't typically learn these until he was in the academy, but learning this particular skill a couple years earlier still wouldn't affect his overall battle skills for the future. At the same time, if Hidan was ever kicked out again, he'd be able to set himself up in a protected spot and give himself at least some amount of safety.

He held a hand out towards the kid. "Well? If you wanna learn, come with me. Once you learn how to set these up right, civilian creeps won't be able to get anywhere near you."

Hidan eyed his hand with distrust. "...how do I know you ain't a creep?"

Shikamaru winced because...yeah he could see how this would look. "I saved you from that first creep last night, remember? I'll admit, before you killed him, I was trying to figure out how to kill him myself without getting in trouble for it."

Apparently his appeal with murder was good enough, because after a moment Hidan nodded and carefully uncurled to reach out and take his hand. He stood up shakily and awkwardly, and he was still so very subdued, but...it was progress.

"okay now...I don't have a lot of kunai and shuriken on me, and I don't have any wire really, so we're gonna have to go to a training ground and find supplies there that people have left behind. Can you take me to one?"

It took a few moments, but Hidan nodded and began leading him, a slight limp in his gait. The sight made bile rise in his throat, because it made him recall the reason Hidan was walking like that. It made him realize that the sickos who did that would most likely never be found or punished for what they did.

"Hey...why are you so pissed off?"

The small, hoarse voice of Hidan broke him from his thoughts, and he had to pause for a moment to put his words together.

"...I'm pissed off because of what happened to you. It's disgusting that some people are like that, and it pisses me off that they're never gonna be punished for doing such horrible things."

Hidan looked at him like he was beginning to grow a second head. "Uh...you're...talking about a different punishment, right? Not the kind that happens in whore houses?"

Shikamaru recoiled slightly, his mind sputtering as he did his best not to stutter from how taken aback he was by that particular comment.

"I'm talking about being thrown in prison, or being killed for what they did!"

Hidan relaxed a bit. "Okay, good. If it was the regular kind that woulda been super weird...but you're still weird for thinking that anyways. Most people don't give a shit."

He had noticed as much. That no one cared. That also pissed him off, to a degree, because how often do things like this have to happen for people to just accept it as

normal? At this point, they were approaching a training ground, so he had to push those thoughts to the back of his mind as best as he could. Hidan's hand slipped out of his, and he turned to look at the kid.

"Okay, so, this might take a bit, because usually shinobi are pretty good at cleaning up after themselves, but there's always something they miss that we can take. I'm gonna be the one finding everything though, because I don't know if anyone who trained here set any traps or not and I don't want you caught in any, got it?"

Hidan nodded, but shifted uncomfortably. "...can...can I stay over here? I...there's a hot spring on this training ground, and...and last night...last night it was by one..."

Shikamaru's stomach rolled, but he didn't show it. He just gently put a hand on the kid's shoulder, careful to not put hardly any pressure.

"Yeah...you can...just yell for me if you need to, okay?"

Hidan nodded, and with that, Shikamaru turned away and got to work hunting down supplies. It took about an hour for him to find enough, or at least what HE deemed enough, but he got everything. When he went back over to Hidan, the boy was once more sat curled up on the ground, leaning against a tree with unseeing eyes.

"Hey...I got all the stuff. Come on, we can practice setting up traps on the outskirts of the village. No one should show up there."

Hidan blinked before seeming to come back to awareness, and nodded, once more awkwardly standing up. Shikamaru did his best to gesture for Hidan to follow him, what with his arms full, but clearly it was effective enough as the kid followed him. He didn't bring the kid to where he had his own meager camp set up, but to a different spot, in a place he hadn't looked the previous night. It would serve well enough for what they were doing.

Shikamaru laid out all the supplies in as organized a fashion as he could, and gestured for Hidan to sit down across from him and the laid out weaponry and wire. He figured he'd explain the traps first, then show him, then guide him through putting them together. It was about noon when he started the entire process, and even though he wanted to teach Hidan more traps...he was only able to get through three before the sun began setting. He had thought he'd be able to teach at least five, but had forgotten to take into account that Hidan wasn't exactly the smartest. As an adult or as a kid. Either way, knowing three traps was better than knowing zero traps.

"So...just keep practicing setting these up, I guess. If you ever get stuck outside again, then you can make sure you'll be in a defensible spot with these. You should probably get home, though...the lights should be being lit soon, right? The creeps start coming out when the lights are lit you said..."

Hidan nodded, and paused a bit in his dismantling of his trap. "Yeah...they do...I don't get why you're bein so weird and nice, teachin me this...but...thanks, I guess..."

Shikamaru nodded, unsure of what to say. "Do you...want me to walk you home, too?"

Hidan shook his head. "Nah, I'll be okay...I'm bringin one of these kunai with me, so if some early bird creep tries to grab me, I can gut em."

Shikamaru didn't like how comfortable Hidan already was with the idea of killing...but at the same time, he couldn't blame him either. He wasn't sure he could even consider the monsters that assault *children* like that as being people. He couldn't change Hidan's nature, but...in this kind of situation, he wouldn't want to. He'd rather Hidan be ready and willing to kill those monsters than have him not be and become their victim. It was still sparking all kinds of contradicting feelings in him, though, because he could now see the very beginnings of the man he'd grow up to be. The man that killed Asuma.

In the end, he only sighed lightly.

"Okay then...just...try and get home safe, alright?"

Hidan gave him an odd look, but nodded. After the small boy had finished gathering up then hiding all the ninja tools save for one kunai, he scampered off, and Shikamaru left shortly afterwards to go to his own campsite. He hoped he woke up back in Konoha in the morning, but he wasn't betting on it either. He had been unable to find out anything about how he'd gotten here from his end, so hopefully time was still passing in Konoha and the people he knew were trying to find him, to find a way to bring him back home. He just wanted this to be over.

A/N: Heeeyyy!!! I know most of you who already know me are waiting for an update for Because I'm Sasuke!, but it'll probably be a while for that one. My sister (who is the insert for that story) is currently in a non-Naruto phase (they always come back), so I gotta wait until she comes back to the fandom to be able to continue that one. For now, have this!!! Cross-posted from AO3.