Hi guys, chapter 8 is here! We get to see Hidan's softer side emerge again. No citrusy goodness I may say, but that will come later. Reviews, my lovelies. (Thank you for your support thus far :D)

Chapter 8- Healing

"Ah, come on Mia, don't be all like: 'I hate you now!'" he called after her. "The commandments are very strict, you know, and I can't get away from mass slaughter."

The girl ignored his shouts and disappeared farther into the thicket at the clumsy pace of a normal human. He stared after her.

She was in an immortal clan, the clan whose chakra was used to make him into what he was, this thing. No-one could kill her- the only way she would die would either be starvation or old age, the natural causes. It was the same with him. Maybe that was why he gave into the desire inside him to do that with her, to connect. A like-minded soul was difficult to come across. And he had revealed some of his real self to her- damn! Those words he had said… Did they mean anything? Of course they did.

"Jashin, if they could kill me, I'd want them to… Isn't that what I always said? If I could get away from following your damned commandments, I would, right? I'm sick of all this fucked-up-ness."

His frustrated words were called on deaf ears. How was he to know if Jashin was even a true being? It could be some pathetic myth invented by a group of thugs looking for something, anything, to believe in. The experiments, he knew now, were nothing more than the theft of chakra from Mia's people, who had been buried into the ground. They were not dead, he could attest to that, but they were six feet under for sure. Was it wrong to ignore Mia's feelings? (He had to remind himself that a girl like her actually possessed such things- she was always so carefree).

It did no good overthinking it like a kid. He had to find her before she- he- did something stupid and irrational. More stupid and irrational than usual, at least.

"You are a ninja, Hidan…" He reminded himself of his days back when he graduated ninja academy in Yugakure, back in its glory days as a prominent shinobi village. The education was exceptional, but not the strength of their personalities- they themselves believed they were weak, despite their skill, and so they allowed the village to deteriorate in prestige to a common tourist attraction to generate more wealth. The bitterness welled inside him till he remembered why he thought of it in the first place- he wasn't just a Jashinist, he was a ninja, with skills beyond that of the immortality techniques.

He threw his senses out into the open, and sensed that Mia was running East, in the direction of Konoha- the Leaf bastards- not that she was to know exactly what happened between him and them. It would be easy to catch up to her, weak as she was, and full of food which would also slow her down. Yes, he could catch her and it would be all apologies and soft stuff like that.

Digging his feet into the ground, Hidan launched himself and began running at full speed (though for an ex-Akatsuki member, he was rather slow) in the direction of Mia's chakra. She really wasn't far away, and he caught right up to her within minutes.

"Mia! What the hell are you doing?" he shouted.

She was crouched against a tree, and he was startled to see that she was sobbing. But it was quiet crying, not crying for attention or anything like that.

"Mia. Stop that now!"

She was also digging her fist into the tree, grinding it, in an effort to stop her tears.

Why was she doing that? What had he done now? All he had done was… Well, he did kiss her… a lot… and tell her those words… and then acted as if nothing had happened. He had treated her like she was expendable and like a child. But there was still no cause for this kind of overreaction. Still, who was he to lecture anyone on overreaction?

"Hey," he said, not shouting this time. He went to crouch next to her and grabbed her grazed fist, taking it in his rough, warm hands. What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you want?" she muttered.

"Come on, are you really that mad at me? I'm sorry, okay?" He really didn't realise that she was such a complicated girl. Cheerful, indeed, but complicated. This was so much more than he was expecting. At least she wasn't boring him.

"You're not sorry. You're never sorry." She eyed their linked hands. "I don't know why I do this. I guess I just want to die sometimes. When bad things happen, they're just the fucking catalysts."

He raised his eyebrows at the language. He must be rubbing off on her. "I know how that feels. If I could be killed, I'd let my enemies kill me, but I can't, so I may as well have a bit of fun while killing them. I enjoy the pain because I can imagine killing myself when they die." Letting out a bit of emotion was hard, so hard, but to stop her from hurting herself, it was the only way to act.

"I didn't know someone like you could be so understanding…"

"Hey, I have my moments."

"Maybe this is what you were like before you became a Jashinist. You could go back to how you were, couldn't you?"

"I'll never stop loving the pain, though. We're not going to die of this, Mia, there's no point in hurting yourself like a dumbass who doesn't know the value of others' pain. Just stop doing this and come back to me, and we can ease each other's boredom some more, okay?"

She sighed and nodded, and he sighed too, finally having gotten through to this crazy girl. Hey, they were both crazy. They were just right for each other.
He'd thought she was immature, happy-go-lucky, incredibly unaffected by blood and gore, and a bit of a brat, but now he knew so much more. And what was he? What was he to her? She wanted to be there with him, but was that all? Was he simply a replacement for a family? That couldn't be it. Things seemed simpler, but so much more complicated still.

"Let's go. I bet there's a shop or an inn nearby."

"You're going to do another ritual?"

"Hell yeah, I need to appease the mighty Jashin!"

"I think you just enjoy the blood."

"Heh… maybe."

He planted a kiss on her forehead, surprising them both. Mia sniffed back the tears and laughed. "You can be nice, I knew it," she mumbled.

"Only to Mia," he replied simply, and went in to kiss her lips. She sighed and parted hers, leaning into him. He smirked; she was getting better at answering her instincts. He responded by urging her closer towards him and stroking through her hair, parting his own lips.

They pulled back a bit, and he triumphantly observed Mia's blush.

"You've got no idea what you do to me, Mia," he said, still breathlessly close.

"I'm not sure I want you to explain," she chuckled.

Hidan smiled back, and he helped her to her feet, pulling her body towards his and slipping his hand slyly around her waist. Then he lead her out of the forest, stroking her with an odd tenderness.