Hinata couldn't take another day of this. When was it going to get easier? Was there going to be a point where she could walk past her father without feeling like she was walking past a wild bear? Even home alone now, she felt like the file was haunting her just being in the house. Why didn't he get rid of it? Why would he save it? What was that key to? Was it something worse?

Hinata swiveled in her desk chair to look at her school bag by her bedroom door. She had papers to grade. She was getting behind with how distracted she was. Hinata just wanted to write down everything she was going through to Hidan, but not only could she not send him what she really wanted to in case the people screening picked it up, she was afraid her father might find the smallest scrap of paper.

Moreover, Hidan still hadn't written her back.

Hinata drafted another letter to just go back to their usually silly, meaningless rambles, but it was starting to just remind her that she had now sent a few letters without a reply at this point. She went as far as to check the news to make sure that Hidan wasn't publicly hospitalized.

Why was this the thing that stopped him?

A bang on the wall made Hinata jump as something hit the… outside the house. She got out of her chair, opened the blind, and screamed.

Hidan stood on the other side of the window, waving his hands defensively. He pushed up what she had thought was a locked window. Was she dreaming?

"Shhh!" Hidan tried to hush her.

"Hidan!?" Hinata screeched.

Hidan covered her mouth as he climbed into the window. "Shhh! Don't freak out."

Hinata was freaking out. Was this a bad dream? Did she completely lose it? Shouldn't he be in…? Hidan slowly pulled his hand back as she stopped fighting him. "What are you doing here!?" She whisper-yelled, grabbing the closest thing she could and holding it out to him. Would she fight him with a brush? If she had to.

Hidan put his hands up, backing up to show she wasn't being attacked. "You said you needed help."

"So you broke out of prison?!" Hinata's hand shivered as she wielded the brush out as threateningly as she could.

"Yeah?" Hidan shrugged.

Hinata's mouth fell open. This aligned with how he made decisions, but just because it made sense for his logic didn't mean that it made sense for how he executed it. "How did you even get out?"

"That is a long story that really doesn't matter." Hidan offered a hand. "But hey, I managed not to kill anyone on my way out if that makes you feel better."

Could she give him points for that? "How did you find me?"

"I had someone look you up. Your name is unique. Schools have teacher profiles on their homepage. There are some pictures from the news coverage of your uncle's murder with pictures of the front of your house. It didn't take long to come up with an address. Your favorite color is purple." Hidan waved his hand at the curtains. "I didn't stalk you if that makes you feel better." Did Hidan hear himself? Him stalking her was the least of Hinata's worries. There was a serial killer IN her house acting as if he came over for tea.

Hinata could barely form a thought. What did she do? Did she call the police? "What is wrong with you!?"

"Do you really have to ask?" Hidan waved his arms out. Hinata sighed in disbelief. He was really just as much of an idiot as she thought he was. "You were worried about your dad. Here I am."

Hinata squeaked. What did she say to that? "I…" This was why he wasn't writing her back. He wasn't at the prison. Why wasn't a prison break on the news? Didn't they blast that to as many people as possible to find them?

Hinata's lip trembled. She thought he abandoned her, but he was trying to get to her to help her. Why did that make her want to cry? Why did it fill her heart to know he cared that much that he would do something so stupid?

Hidan waved his hands out frantically. "Woah. Hey, don't cry. I'll go back out the window." He pointed.

Hinata dropped the brush and buried her face into his shirt, squeezing him as tight as she could. This was stupid and wrong, but she was so desperate not to be alone in this situation. If this was a dream, she was going to be so heartbroken when she woke up.

Hidan's hands hesitated over her for a moment before wrapping around her, and he rested his chin on her head. "You're shorter than I thought you would be."

A single laugh came out of her crying. What was happening?


Hidan watched Hinata pace back and forth in her room in a panic. Yeah, she was just as high-strung as he thought she would be, and she was in full moral meltdown.

"If they come looking for you, they are going to come right here. I have been writing to you for years. The police are going to question me. I am not good at lying. I can't lie to authority. I couldn't look my father in the eye when I lied to him the other day, and I said two words!" Hinata rambled. "And you would think there would be a manhunt if several high-profile inmates just broke out of prison, right? This should be all over the news! What if you were seen coming here?"

"Knowing those bastards. They are hoping they will catch us before they have to make it public." Hidan rested his head back. "And by the time they put the word out, I'll be gone."

Hinata only gave him a glance and shot her eyes away like she had a few times now, like she was hoping the next time she looked, he wouldn't be there, and the problem would just go away.

"Hey, what about your dad?" Hidan wondered. "How did you even find that out?"

Hinata whimpered, stopping to cover her face as the problems overwhelmed her. "He's going to be home soon. What am I going to do?"

"Well, you know what I would do." Hidan looked to the side.

"You can not kill my father!" Hinata whispered-yelled at him.

Hidan snorted. He knew this was serious, but this little woman was just as adorable as all her swirly writing suggested, and it was really hard to keep a straight face when all he could think about was how much she reminded him of a furious bunny snarling at him.

Hinata let out a defeated squeak at his reaction. That really wasn't helping the picture.

"Calm down. It's not that serious. No one is going to come to your door looking for me. At most, they might call and ask you to come to the station. I didn't leave your message behind, and your last letters said nothing about them." Hidan deflected.

"This is so bad. I can't think of how this could have gone worse." Hinata whimpered.

Hidan waved his hand toward him on the floor. "Come here, sit down." Hinata surprisingly obeyed, plopping down beside him under the window and curling around her knees. "Breath. Everything's fine. No one knows I am here. No one is going to look at the innocent letters you sent me and think they mean you're harboring a fugitive, and I am not going to let your dad hurt you."

Hinata buried her face. Hidan wasn't sure what was going on in that little head of hers, but she hadn't thrown him out yet, so that meant she was either on board or really hadn't calmed down enough to think about what was going on because he would have to admit, he thought this was going to go worse.

Hinata could have screamed until she alerted the neighbors. She could have attacked him immediately. She could have called the police the moment she saw him. She could have told him that he was a monster and that she didn't want to help her.

Which was true, but it would have hurt coming from her.

Hidan reached an arm around her shoulder. When she didn't shrivel away, he pulled her into his side. "It's going to be fine. I can just pick up and leave. Problem gone."

Hinata's hand around her knees opened to grab a fist full of his shirt and hold on. She didn't want him to leave. Was this poor girl so alone that she would just take any literal bastard?

"I'm not going now," Hidan promised. Ugh, this felt… cheesy. This girl was too sweet for him. He was a big believer that everyone had done something to deserve the shit they got, but this little thing? She didn't deserve this shit.