Stage Twenty Two: Heart to Heart

"How long are you staying?" I asked. Hidan was sprawled out on my bed, hands behind his back, and his cloak was on the floor.

"As long as I want, whore. There's nothing you can do about it."

I sighed. "You're going to get me killed, Hidan." I threw his cloak in his face. "Put that back on. I don't want to look at you half naked."

He barked a laugh. "Then stop looking at me. No one says you have to stare, skank. You're not high on my 'to do' list, kid."

I reddened in the face. "You're horrid. Don't go outside this corridor." I made for the shoji, hoping to leave him behind.

"And what if I do?" The smirk on his face made me want to throw the dresser at him. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Rip you apart at every joint and pin you to the wall with swords." I smirked at the mental image of his body tacked to the wall, his head still swearing profusely, fingers wiggling, but otherwise helpless. "I'll make you beg Jashin for death."

"Sounds like one hell of a good time. Maybe I'll take you up on that."

I muttered under my breath, "What did my mother see in you?" I slid the shoji open and stepped outside.

"The same things you do," he answered.

The shoji slid closed too late; I heard his answer. I shook my head, trying to clear his words from defiling my mind. Suddenly, my room had just become way too small. I was seriously considering moving into one of the smaller side bedrooms for the duration of his stay.

I had a lot on my mind. The killer of my entire family was laying; lounging really, on my bed, making innuendoes under the nose of the man who has forbade me to have any contact to anyone who isn't under his control. My life was on the line in more ways than I wanted to imagine.

"I haven't seen you in a few days. Orochimaru's been wondering about your sanity," Sasuke chuckled. "Is all of this really from Ino's hair?"

"Right, like you really give a damn about it, kid." I pushed past him to go down the kitchen. I was suddenly ravenous.

"He's curious. He wants to know why you're so absorbed in this." He walked along side me, continuing his harassment.

"He's got his own obsession with this information. He's been making copies of it every time he's in my quarters."

"You mean he can actually get in there?" Sasuke smirked. "I was informed that everyone who attempted was killed on the spot. It happened to some genin some time back."

"Korai Ureteika," I answered. "It was a dare to prove her merit with the others. She was supposed to come back with a single strand of hair." I chuckled at the thought.

"If the trip hadn't killed her, you would have."

"Certainly," was my only reply. I pushed open the kitchen shoji and stared at the room. "Are you hungry?"

"Do you really think I would trust anything you prepared?" he asked, eyes narrowed. His arms folded across his chest, and I could tell this wasn't worth fighting.

"What ever, kid. Just remember, you're the one who hates me. I have no ill feelings towards you. There are far better ways to kill you than to poison your food. If anything, I'd give you the honour of crafting a toxin just for your death."

"I'll remember that, the next time we do battle. What are you making?"

"The hell if I know. I'm fucking starved."

He rolled his eyes. "You swear like a sailor. I've met missing nin who swear less than you do."

"I bet you have, Sasuke." I pulled things down from pantries, out of the fridge, and began preparing whatever my hands touched. He stayed out of my way for the most part. By the time I was done, my nose told me I had prepared the dish my mother was known for: curry.

It was red, and just as fiery. A complex blend of herbs, spices, and curry mixed with what ever meat you desired stared back at me. It was a work of art when she made it, but merely edible when prepared by my hands. What can I say? They were made to destroy, not create.

"Eat it, punk. Careful, it'll set your insides on fire if you're not prepared for it." I set the platter down before him.

He broke his chopsticks apart. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Stuff it in your face and find out."

I returned to the kitchen from the dining hall and loaded up a tray with servings for two. I didn't care too much for Hidan, but he wasn't going to starve under my watch. Keeping him out of Orochimaru's line of sight kept death out of mine.

"That's a lot of food, Tsuki," Sasuke observed.

"I haven't eaten in three days, Sasuke. I'm starving."

"I don't think you have room to eat all that by yourself." He arched an eyebrow. God, I hate when he does that. He looks too much like Orochimaru.

"It's for later, jackass," I sighed.

"You're going to eat it cold?"

"No, I'm not." I glared at him.

"I don't see how you're going to eat all that."

My anger and sarcasm were boiling over. "Fine, I'm pregnant. Shut up."

His eyes got huge! Mind you, I wasn't pregnant, that I knew of. I just told him the first reason that came to mind as to why I would eat for two. I walked out of the room leaving the awkward, exasperated, and heavy silence of disbelief hanging between us.

"You're back awfully soon, kid." Hidan still hadn't lost his smirk, though it had lessened to him lifting only one corner of his mouth into a lopsided smile.

"I brought food. I hope it burns your intestines."

"Holy hell, your mom used to make that shit." He took a platter off the tray and immediately started eating. "You have no idea how long I've been craving this."

I just stared at him. I wanted to scream, throw things, push him in front of Orochimaru, and gut him until his insides were on the floor, anything to torture him.

"Don't get your thong in a bunch, bitch. You look pissy."

I was raging. "You killed my mother, and all you can say for it is that you miss her cooking? You're a heartless bastard, Hidan."

"Blame her for that. She ripped it out when she married your father. Just think, bitch, you might have been my daughter."

I threw my empty tea cup right at his head. "I already am your daughter, jackass. You have the papers to prove it."

He looked at me after dodging the porcelain shards that rebounded off the wall. "You're my daughter in every way, except the one that counts. Your blood isn't mine, kid." There was genuine hurt in his eyes.

"You're still a ripe bastard, Hidan." I sat down at the table with my food. "Father wasn't the best in many ways, but he wasn't a monster. Were your situations reversed, he wouldn't have killed us."

"Don't bet your money on that, kid." Hidan shifted onto his side to look at me. "He was more of a heartless bastard than I will ever be, damn it. There are things you will never know about your own father. He took care to hide it from you, bitch."

"You're going to die before the night is over."

"I'm immortal, kid. Something your father was not." He rolled onto his back again.

"Is that why you hate me?" I asked.

He lifted his head off the pillow. "What, because he wasn't immortal?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, because he was my father."

"Might have something to do with it." He plopped back down. "Might have something to do with you being a total pain in the ass."

I pitched a chopstick at him. "I'm a pain in your ass? Who's decided to hide in whose room?" I demanded.

"I'm not hiding here."

"Why else would you be staying with me?"

He sighed. "The truth? Those papers scared the hell out of me. I was like, 'Holy fuck?' Kakuzu said nothing about them. They were just in your backpack."

"You went through my shit?" I asked.

"Are you fuckin stupid?" He sat up and looked at me. "Of course I went through your shit. You know, you should really carry condoms. Itachi doesn't ever keep them."

"Get out, Hidan." I pointed at the door.

"Fuck no! I'm staying here."

"You're not sleeping in my bed, damn it." I crossed my arms, finalizing my words. "I don't care if you sleep outside; you're not spending the night here."

"Just to piss you off, I think I will." He kicked my blanket down to the bottom of the bed and reclined again. "Care to join me?"

"Dude! You were involved with my mother!"

He laughed at me. "Kid, no. You don't know shit." He sighed. "I never did anything with your mother."

I held my head in my hands. "I am so confused. What the fuck happened, damn it? You admitted it, that you hated my father for taking her from you."

"My pride was wounded. Sure, there was a time when I thought I loved her. He took her from me. She was almost mine, but then she wasn't. I courted her, but then your father came and swept her away. To be honest, she was too old for me anyway."

"So, you just killed them both to salvage your wounded pride?" I arched my eyebrow at him, incredulous at his audacity.

"Yeah, that sums it up." He smirked proudly.

"You're a douche. I liked you better when I thought you did it because you loved her."

"Yeah, I don't care, slut. I'm a Jashinist. What about that don't you understand? Love is a sin: weakness. Jashin knows this, I know this, and I think even you know this. Love destroys people. If that is what I was going to do for pride, what would I have done for love?"

"You're fucked up, Hidan," I whispered. "You weren't hugged enough as a child, were you?"

"Fuck no. I don't need hugs. Never have. I don't need love."

"Right, that's why you want to share a bed with me, ass hole."

"There's a difference between love and lust kid. One of them isn't a mortal sin."

I glared at him. "You're not at the top of my to do list." I got up and gathered the dishes. "I don't even think you're on my to do list."

"Ouch, Brat, that hurts. Don't you think I'm sexy?"

I slid the shoji door on that one.

I ran into Kabuto as soon as I was outside my wing. He was waiting for me, having heard from Sasuke that I was active once again, and had dishes that would need returning. He seemed to have taken the few days of freedom from me rather well.

"Where have you been?" he demanded, looking me over with a keen eye, searching for a weakness, a flaw that would condemn me.

"In my chambers; didn't anyone tell you that?"

He intensified his glare. "Orochimaru has been waiting for you all day. He's disappointed that you would keep him waiting so long."

"Orochimaru knew where to find me," I answered.

Kabuto pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "Tsuki, venturing into your wing is a hazard that he doesn't always want to take. Especially when you keep rewiring your security system."

"Do you doubt Orochimaru's ability to surpass my mind and security?"

A breath passed through his lips. "I do not. I am simply saying that sometimes it is easier to wait for you to come to us."

"I think you're full of shit, Kabuto."

He clicked his tongue three times. "Language. You don't want Lord Orochimaru to hear you speak like that, do you?"

"I don't really care, Kabuto."

"Go to him. He is growing impatient, and demands your presence."

Orochimaru looked at me with weary eyes. "Did you find everything you were looking for?"

I sighed. "Not even close. Without a second hair to compare it to, I can't identify who it came from."

"Is this really that important, Child?" he asked. "What significance does this hair bear to you?"

I didn't really know how to tell him, without telling him. "Have you ever felt that there was a reason to do something, without knowing what it was?"

"I always have reason to do what I do, Child. I always know what those reasons are. Are you telling me that compulsion is telling you to do this?"

"Perhaps it is simple compulsion. Maybe I'm just bored."

"I could always give you more to do, Child. There is no need for you to lock yourself in your room for three days out of mere boredom."

"Please, Sensei, don't take offence to this, but sitting behind a mountain of paperwork, deciphering experiment after experiment is not my idea of fun."

He chuckled softly, warmly. A smile touched his lips, softening his expression. For the shorted portion of the smallest second, I stared. I couldn't help it, really.

"I've known that for years, my Child. Actually, I have a mission for you."

"You're sending me on a mission; outside the village?" I couldn't believe my ears. "Sensei, are you serious?"

He chuckled softly. "Child, you act like you've been held prisoner for years."

"Sensei, you make weeks feel like forever." I relaxed into my chair. "What do you need me to do, and who will I be doing this with?"

"Oh, Child, you'll be working with me."