Upon opening my eyes, I felt a strong pull on my hands. My skin was pitch black, my scars were now gone- replaced by the white echo of my bones.

I brought the kunai down into my chest repeatedly, hearing Jun gurgle out a noise of confusion. He was clutching at his chest now, several stab wounds appearing, blood soaking through his flak jacket. He coughed, and it spilled from his mouth and dripped down his chin.

"Akatsuki bitch," he spat one last time before succumbing to his wounds, and falling over dead.

I sighed and sat up. Barely 21 and I'm already an immortal Jashinist. I am so tired of this shit.

Standing up, I felt my skin prickle, and knew what had to be done. I drew on the floorboards with my blood-coated fingers, then I bowed my head and prayed.

Sometime later, Hidan and Kakuzu barged into the room I was in, and Hidan's face lit up. "Fuck yeah, that's my girl!"

I flushed and stood up, feeling my skin fading back to my original pasty white.

"Did you dispose of the enemies?" I asked, feeling calm flooding through my veins.

Kakuzu sighed, mumbling something along the lines of, 'another fucking religious lunatic,' while Hidan beamed with pride at me.

"I'm so overjoyed that you accepted the Lord into your heart," he cackled.

I could tell. He had only cursed once so far.

"All opposing forces are neutralized," Kakuzu finally said. "As such, please clean yourself up, and redress yourself properly." He tossed down my pack that I hadn't even realized I was missing, and Hidan pulled out my cloak from Jashin-knows-where.

While they got rid of the body and tried to return the room to a sense of normalcy, I retreated to the washroom to scrub the blood off my skin.

Once I was finished, I left the steamy room, pausing in the doorway. The place was spotless. With all signs of my earlier struggle and subsequent sacrifice gone, the Zombie Combo stood waiting for me. Kakuzu had the now-dead leaf-nin wrapped up in his Earth Grudge Fear.

He seemed happy. "Decent work, kitten. This man was listed for a decent bounty."

I nodded, holding in a laugh at the nickname.

We left the room, and I recognized the small inn as the one being near the main road in the village. Kakuzu led us out of town; back in the direction we had come from the day before.

Soon enough, we had stopped at an inconspicuous building hidden off the road. Kakuzu nodded at Hidan to stay. "Sakana, come."

Obidiently, I followed him inside, immediately realizing that we were in a bounty office.

Kakuzu spoke to the man quietly, then motioned for me to come over.

"Sakana is new to bounties, I trust you will pay her well." The man nodded at me and pushed a coin sack into my hands. Kakuzu handed over Jun's corpse, and the man smiled.

"Admirable work, you didn't marr his features any." I supposed it was a good thing- an unidentifiable cadaver leads to no bounty.

As we exited the building, I dumped a few of the coins into my hand and gave the rest of the money to Kakuzu.

"I don't need much- I'm not very fascinated with money."

The miser scoffed, but accepted my gift anyways. I tucked the loose coins into one of the pouches on my side as Hidan joined us.

Kakuzu walked ahead, leaving Hidan and I to conversate quietly.

"So, do you think His power is as awesome as I do?" Hidan asked excitedly, his magenta eyes flashing crazily.

"I guess so. I felt so strong in that moment," I admitted. "Someone was trying to hurt me and I could actually fight back this time."

Hidan nodded. "I used to get beat up a lot, but when I converted, I showed those heretics who's the fuckin' boss."

Kakuzu intervened as we reached the main road again. "We will cut through the Land of Fire to reach our destination ahead of schedule. This will give us 48 hours of preparation before the targets gather."

Hidan let me up onto his back before jumping up into the tree. I held on for dear life as the immortal duo sprinted through the braches.

Within a few hours, we had covered a good distance. Somehow, satiating their bloodlust had given the criminals an energy boost.

By midday, we were nearing the border between Fire and Steam. We stopped to refill our water bottles in the stream, and Kakuzu caught a few fish to grill for lunch.

I took to sharpening my kunai like the miser had done the night before. Apparently I had been doing it wrong because Hidan sighed and snatched the tools out of my hands.

After we ate the fish, Kakuzu hoisted me onto his back. "Hold tight, Kitten."

I smiled, knowing that the stitched man would threaten bodily harm if I expressed admiration for him. So I settled for backhanded compliments.

"You're not bad for an old geezer," I mumbled. Kakuzu snorted, and I felt myself holding on tighter.

Hidan laughed at his partner's expense, almost missing the tree branch in front of him. "Shit!"

"And you're not that bad for an annoying brat," Kakuzu retorted, after presumably rolling his eyes at Hidan's failure.

"Gee, thanks, Oji-san."

He made a small noise, quiet and indignant.

I grinned at my victory, doing a little dance. I almost slipped, but clutched onto Kakuzu's cloak for dear life.

As we sped through the treetops, Kakuzu had to endure me entertaining myself through song. I was halfway throughThe Ready Set's Luxury when Kakuzu scoffed.

"What?" I asked, offended he didn't like my off-key singing.

"Love could never make money obselete," Kakuzu huffed. "In fact, money makes love obselete."

"Yeah, you would say that." I retorted.

"I didn't peg you for the romantic type," the miser replied. "You're kind of an ass."

I gasped in fake shock, then laughed in amusement at my own antics. "Again, you're one to talk."

Hidan cut in, "Kakuzu is right, you aren't all lovey-dovey like the blonde bitch."

"Suki." I corrected, then cleared my throat. "I have my reasons for not being big on affection."

Kakuzu hummed in understanding, but before Hidan could further the subject, announced that we were stopping soon for the day.

It was nowhere near sunset, but I didn't protest. These were criminals, they wouldn't want to be spotted in the area too soon before these big-shot ninjas were to meet.

We were in a thick part of the woods, the trees looked dark and dead, with lots of gnarled snags. The dead trees were still standing, missing smaller branches, their cores hollowed out.

I held in a shudder at the eerie feeling that chilled my bones and found a spot to sit and meditate while Kakuzu and Hidan discussed the 'game plan'.

However, before I could drift off into my mindspace, Kakuzu called to me.

"Get up, girl. You will be playing an essential role in this."

Interested in how I could possibly be of service, I stood up and dusted dirt and leaves off of my ass.

"See, before you were useless, but now you have a purpose. Two of the targets are too string for you to defeat in hand-to-hand combat, despite your immortality. The third is not as well versed as the others, so you will ambush her and sacrifice her."

"Uh- uh-" I was fully aware that I was incapable of such a task.

"Sakana," Hidan looled at me squarely, taking my shoulders in his hands. "No matter what, you have to remember that you will not die."

I bit my lip, staring into his fascinating eyes. "I don't even know how to use chakra." I reminded them.

"Which is why we have stopped here. In the next two days, we will train you to use amd conceal your chakra signature to your advantage." Kakuzu explained, but Hidan still held my shoulders.

"In two days," The man in front of me cut in, gripping my shoulders firmly. "These heathen fucks are having a dumbass party in celebration of some shit-"

"They are hosting a gala for their upcoming project, and all three are attending. Our source gave us a one-hour frame where they will all be separated. Hidan and I will ambush the two stronger opponents, while you are to pose as a servant, corner the third, and gain access to her blood. Then you are to secure yourself away and perform the sacrifice." Kakuzu really had thought this out.

"And I'm gonna help you 'refine your technique', or what-the-fuck-ever it was that this dickface said." Hidan added in.

I breathed in. Okay. You can do this, Sak. I looked at the two Akatsuki members, and nodded. "Alright, let's start."

Kakuzu quickly determined the nature of my chakra- wind- and taught me how to manipulate it. It took until sunset, which he was not happy about, but we were cramming years worth of training and knowledge into two days.

The next two hours after the dark had fallen on us were spent with me trying to conceal my chakra and hide in the dead trees. Hidan and Kakuzu were trying to find me, throwing shuriken to mark where I had been.

'This is kind of like a deadly game of hide-and-seek' I thought as I tried to creep from my hiding spot in a hollowed out tree trunk. It was beginning to cool off, and I hated that Kakuzu had made me leave my cloak back at our camp.

Unfortunately, in my haste to escape the small space, I made more noise than intended, and my pursuers were on me in matter of seconds.

They hadn't managed to hit me with their projectiles, which I knew was intentional. I turned in a direction they hadn't anticipated, and I felt a stray shuriken imbed itself into my arm. I shrieked at the sudden pain, pausing only to rip it out of my flesh, curse, then discard it. I looked up to see Kakuzu blocking my path, a kunai clutched in his hand.

I felt Hidan's presence behind me, and I knew I had lost this round. Throwing my hands up, I heard Hidan laugh.

"Sakana, when cornered in the field, you would be dead by now." Kakuzu chastised me, and I felt like a child. "You have three minutes to escape and hide. Go."

I scoffed, "One of you assholes hit me!" I tur ed to glare at Hidan, who pointed at Kakuzu.

"While I admire that you took a route I had not anticipated, and I apologize for causing you harm, you must be aware if your surroundings, including unexpected obstacles or projectiles."

I wiped some of the blood off of my arm, assessing how deep the blade had dug and hissing at the tenderness. "Aren't you going to sew me up or something?" I asked sharply.

"That is a luxury you will not have in the field. You have two and-a-half minutes left." Kakuzu's motley eyes bored into mine, and I sighed before turning and sprinting away.

I scrambledy way through the trees, trying to suppress the energy coursing through my body. When I was satisfied I was a good distance away, and sufficiently out of breath, I found a large tree and began scaling it, grabbing onto branches and hoisting myself higher. When the braches weren't sturdy enough to hdy weight, I sat down amd waited for my ninjas to find me.

It was a while before they finally appeared, standing a few bramches below my perch. I waved to them tiredly, dangling my legs over the side. "Kuzu, I'm about to pass out."

Kakuzu audibly sighed, but gave in. "Alright. We will return to camp for the night."

"Ah, there's a problem," I said, feeling ashamed. "I kind of can't get down frohism here." I admitted, and Kakuzu shook head and disappeared from my sight.

Hidan shrugged at me from below and held his arms out. "Jump down," he suggested. "I' catch you."

I sighed and stood up on my branch. It cracked under the sudden shift, and snapped. With my foothold gone, I was tumbling through the branches. The cracking and snapping I heard wasn't just from the tree. I hit the ground hard. My breath had been knocked out of me, and I saw white.

"Oh shit!" Hidan screeched, and I felt his and Kakuzu's presence beside me. "That's gotta hurt."

I coughed, pain racking my body. "No shit," I mumbled out, feeling my blood coating my lips.

Kakuzu sighed and pushed Hidan aside, then placed his palms on my abdomen. I felt the warmth from his hands spread through me.

Hidan stammered apology after apology as Kakuzu worked.

"I didn't fuckin' mean to- I'm so fuckin' sorry Sak'." He surprisingly wasn't masochistic, and it slightly baffled me.

Kakuzu spoke, his voice deep and warm. "You had several broken ribs, which I have repaired, as well as internal bleeding. At the point of impact, you sustained fatal injuries. Congratulations, Sakana," he patted my bloddied hair, "You are immortal. If you had taken that fall while still being human, you would have died."

"So it's real," I sighed, blinking slowly. "I thought it was all fake after I skewered that guy."

Hidan laughed, "There you go!"

Kakuzu smirked, and helped me sit up. "Your muscles will be sore for a few hours, but it will go away."

He was right, I felt like I just had just ran a marathon. Unfortuneately, now I was going to have to drag myself back to camp; a feat I knew was going to be gut-wrenchingly painful as I sat up.

"You'll survive," Kakuzu chided, already walking away. Jerk, I thought, Can't even help a bitch stand up. I was struggling to my feet when Hidan offered his hand to me.

"Want some help?" He asked, his magenta eyes shining. I accepted his hand and he helped me up, before picking me up in his arms and carrying me back to the camp.

It was humid, being in the thick of the Land of Steam. Hidan's skin was sweaty, and I felt my hair sticking to his chest as he carried us.

I pressed my cheek further into his chest, lulled by the rhythmic beating of his heart.

"You good?" His voice rumbled in my ear, and I hummed in response. "You're actually adorable," he mumbled.

I snorted softly, opening an eye to peer up at him. He was gorgeous, I'd always thought so. His character was my favorite type- loud and boisterous bad-boy. Hidan was a bad-ass. Of course I'd read many a fanfic about him, I knew everything about him. Including his "death", I reminded myself of his demise- blown to bits and left to starve.

"Such a pity," I sighed, not realized it had escaped my lips.

"What's that?" The zealot asked, smirking down at me.

"Oh, well.. I was thinking about death." Probably shouldn't bring up that topic yet. "I suppose I'll never know about the afterlife. If there is one."

Hidan hummed softly, considering ky words before he replied- "But you've already experienced that."

I was confused, "What do you mean?"

"Didn't you say you know everything about us? Me?" He was right, I did say that.

"Well, they hardly mentioned you, except for your story arc, which is pretty early on in the shippuden saga." I explained, knowing he wouldn't quite understand. "Then again in Itachi's arc... But they didn't go into Jashinism at all- it was merely in reference to you as a character. What I do know about Jashinism is due to curiousity. And the way it's explained in my world is completely different from what it's actually like."

Hidan didn't reply to me, but after a second he cracked a grin and laughed. "You really are adorable like this."

I blushed, looking away from his face and cast my gaze at the passing trees. Hidan wasn't walking very quickly. Kakuzu would definitely bitch at us for taking our time.

His chest was warm, albeit sweaty. My face stuck to it, but I didn't mind. In fact, the beating of his heart and the sound of his laughter had me lulled into a light sleep.