Chapter 5
"Where's Hidan?" They all looked around to find the silver neko. A small whimper was heard from one of the room's corners. The group moved closer and saw something sitting there with a blanket over its head and a silver tail sticking out from underneath it. Konan carefully kneeled down next to the neko and pulled of the blanket, exposing a curled up, crying Hidan with his hands over his cat ears. He looked up at them with big teary magenta eyes. He jumped when he felt a pair of arms around his thin frame only to find that it was Pain, pulling him into a tight embrace.
"Hidan you are a part of our family now and we will never let anything hurt you ever again. Okay?" The silver neko rubbed his eyes and nodded slowly.
"Okay everyone, let's give Hidan some space. You should all thank him as well for sharing this incredibly difficult part of his past with us" Konan said and stood up. A soft mumble filled the room as one after the other exited until it was just Pain and Hidan left.
"You were very brave to tell us all of this Hidan" the orange haired man said, causing Hidan to blush as he lifted the silver neko onto the sofa. "Is there anything that I can get you?" the pierced man asked before standing up. Hidan just shook his head and pulled his legs up to his chest.
"If you want something, don't hesitate to ask someone, okay?" Another nod from the neko. The silver cat ears soon picked up on the sound of Pains' footsteps as he left the room. Hidan hadn't expected it to feel like this. Sure, he was a bit emotional right now but he also felt like a burden was lifted of his shoulders. He had never shared anything about either his past or even his feeling to anyone before now and it actually felt good.
After sitting nearly 10 minutes in silence, the neko decided to find some company. He grabbed the notebook and walked out of the living room and up the stairs. As he passed Kisame's and Itachi's room, he could see the black neko sitting on the bed reading. Hidan gently knocked on the opened door, causing Itachi to look up from the book that had taken all of his attention. "Oh Hidan. Do you need anything?" Hidan lifted the notebook, where he had written: "Is it alright if I come in for a while?". Itachi gently marked the page and put the book down, giving the silver neko a nod. Hidan walked into the room and sat down next to the black neko while Itachi continued to read.
After a few minutes, Itachi felt something tapping his shoulder. He looked up and saw the notebook again. "What are you reading?"
"It's the biography of my favorite author" He said and to his surprise, he saw something resembling excitement in the other's eyes.
"Do you like to read Hidan ?" The silver neko nodded and smile.
"If you want to, you can borrow some of my book" Itachi said and gestured towards the large bookshelf. Hidan looked a bit unsure but he got up and walked over to look at the books. With shaking hand, he pulled out three books and went back to the bed with them.
"Can I borrow these?" The other looked down to see what books the silver neko had picked out. He saw Harry Potter and the philosopher stone, Lord of the flies and The Fellowship pf the ring. Itachi couldn't help but smile when he saw how happy the other seemed as he sat there on the bed in silence, reading.
They sat like that for nearly 2 hour before a light knock was heard from the door. The two nekos looked up and saw Konan standing in the doorway.
"Hey guys. The rest of us are going to watch a movie. Do you want to join us?"
"Which movie?" Itachi asked as he looked down at his book again.
"We were thinking Sherlock Holmes" Whit this, Itachi got and almost ran down stairs, leaving Konan and Hidan alone in his bedroom.
"It's his favorite" Konan chuckled. "You want to come down too?" Hidan carefully marked the page he was reading, picked up the books and nodded.
"Good but maybe you should leave the book in your room" The neko nodded and walked pass her. Moments later he was back, notebook around the neck and a small smile on his face.
When they came down they saw Sasori, Kakuzu and Itachi sitting in one sofa, Kisame and Pain in the other one, Deidara and Tobi sitting on the floor with a bowl of popcorn between them. Hidan gently sat down on the floor next to them.
"Now that everyone's here, I think start" Pain said and pressed play. Deidara passed the bowl to Hidan, who sniffed curiously. He had never had popcorn before but as he took one, he found that they were really yummy.
As the film moved on, Hidan moved farther and farther back until his back was against the sofa, between Kakuzu's right leg and Sasori's left leg. The banker couldn't help but smile when he felt the neko jump against his leg as an explosion was shown. He didn't know why but he felt like he really cared for the silver neko. Hidan remained pressed up against his leg for the rest of the movie.
About 2 hours later
"Well that's it" Konan said as she took out the movie.
"Did you like it?" Deidara asked as he crawled over to where Hidan was leaning against the sofa. The silver neko smiled and nodded. Seeing this, Konan couldn't help but chuckle. It felt so good to see the neko smile, to know that he was happy there with them and not scared like when he first arrived. Sure he was still a bit jumpy and nervous but after what he had been through, who could blame him? Even thou, she was sure that in time, Deidara's and Tobi's energy might rub of on him. In her head, she could almost see the little neko running around the house with the others.
A small giggle brought her out of her thoughts. She looked down to see Deidara and Hidan poke Tobi who had fallen asleep during the movie. She could also hear some of the others chuckle at the way the neko's leg kicked out in his sleep everything Deidara poked his side.
"Now, let him be. Naruto and Sasuke are coming over in about an hour so we have to clean up a bit" Itachi said as he stood up. Hidan looked up when he heard Naruto's name. He was that nice man at the shop right?
"Do you know how long they'll be staying? Cause I have to get up pretty early for work tomorrow" the blond neko said as he grabbed the now empty bowl and walked out the room. Hidan quickly wrote something in the notebook and ran over to Kisame.
"Does Deidara have a job?"
"Yes, so does Tobi and Itachi, Sasori and Kakuzu"
"Can nekos really have jobs?" The blue haired man chuckled at the confused face on the silver neko's face.
"Of course they can Hidan. Why wouldn't they have jobs?"
Hidan looked down for a minute as he thought out what to write.
"Do you think I can get a job?" the neko looked a bit unsure but a little bit of hope could be seen in his magenta eyes
"I don't see why not" Kisame said with a wide smile as he ruffled Hidan's silver hair. The neko looked at the other with a huge smile on his face. A job? He could really get a job? But what would he chose? He quickly hurried over to Deidara, who now sat in one of the armchairs, watching TV. He silver neko hoped onto the armrest and sat down.
"Can I ask you something?" He had to poke the blond neko with the notebook to get his attention.
"Sure"
"Where do you work?"
"Well I work as an assistant at an art gallery" Deidara said, tail held high proudly.
"That must be nice" Hidan didn't really know what it meant to be an assistant at an art gallery but he wanted to be polite.
"Could you tell me about what job the others have?" Hidan hoped that he wasn't annoying the other but Deidara just smiled and nodded.
"Well Tobi works at a kindergarten. You know, he takes care of kids, both human and neko. Sasori is the owner of at least 4 coffee shops in town. Kisame is a hairdresser, Kakuzu is a banker. Itachi is a lawyer just like his brother Sasuke. They both specialize in cases with nekos since they are nekos. Konan is a preschool teacher and Pain is some sort of business man" Deidara finished and leaned back to get a better view of Hidan, who looked a it unsure.
"Aren't nekos bought to be pets?"
"Well, umm, ITACHI!" the blond shouted all of a sudden.
"What?" the red eyed neko yelled back.
"Could you help us for a minute?" Deidara moved out of the chair as Itachi walked into the room.
"What do you want help with?" he asked and sat down. Hidan held up the notebook, seeing Deidara hurry up the stairs in the corner of his eye.
"Well at first they were. But today nekos have almost the same status as humans. There are some cases in which a neko must have an owner, like if they are mentally ill or something like that. Still it's not allowed for a neko to live alone thou" The silver neko nodded interested.
"Why?"
"I suppose it's because do to the animal instincts that are left in neko, people feel that they might need some extra supervision, at least when they're still kittens"
Hidan had a few more questions he wanted to ask but they were interrupted but the doorbell.
TBC
Here's the new chapter (finally) Sorry that it took so long but I had SO much to do in school these last week. Anyway, I hope you all had a happy holiday.
And also HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY ^_^
Please post a review and tell me what you thought ;-)