Hidan snorted, reading his letter. They really had run out of things to talk about at this point. Hinata somehow was upset enough about a chicken salad to write him half a page about it. Even her usual clean, practiced cursive became sharper as she wrote the stupid complaint with rage.
"Does her husband know she still writes to you?" Kakuzu stuck his nose up at his letter.
Hidan couldn't wipe the stupid grin off his face. "She's not married. I'm not even sure she has a boyfriend. She told me about the crush she had in school. I doubt she wouldn't tell me about a boyfriend."
"Are you going to look at the rest of these?" Kakuzu lifted the small pile of other letters.
Hidan shook his head. "I don't read fan mail." He didn't want people to admire him for what he did. They were basing their assumptions on a courtroom full of lies. If they knew the truth of the matter, they would hate him. It was almost funny that their idol was not what they thought he was. A throne of lies he built made the new meat away, though.
Kakuzu ripped one of the letters open.
"I think that's a federal crime," Hidan commented without looking up from his letter.
Kakuzu rolled his eyes as a picture fell out. "You sure you're not more interested in this?" He held up the image of a groupie posing with a Jashin symbol in her mouth, and that was the clean description of that picture.
"Sacrilege." Hidan comment. His public image was one of a comic book villain, he had to keep it up, but he didn't have to interact with the shithead at a convention.
Kakuzu shrugged, opening the next letter. "Your followers are nasty."
"If I responded, they would get worse," Hidan commented.
Kakuzu ripped the letter in half with a face of disgust. "Wouldn't that be part of the draw?"
"I am only a prophet. I speak the word. I do not lead the people." Hidan answered vaguely.
Kakuzu huffed. "Never mind."
Hinata dismissed her class and watched them all pick up their things to go home. It was a long day, but she had to keep a smile on, at least until the children left. A clatter followed by a thunk was a common noise when you have a room full of clumsy kids. "Uh oh." Hinata helped collect books and pencils as her students pulled themselves up. "Are we okay?" Despite the lack of crying, there was a scuffed knee and bumped head.
It was amazing that a child would scream over getting hit with a marker but could bounce off the floor and get up like it was nothing.
With a band-aid and a pat on the head, they were off the bus like the rest, giving Hinata a moment to sigh in her chair.
Hinata leaned forward to look at her latest letter that she was working on during her student's quiet time. Sometimes she used Hidan as a confessional for stupid things that she wasn't able to let go of. Her father's disappointment, her feeling of inferiority to her sister, her guilt for hating Neji's mothering because he meant well.
Hidan's colorful replies made her feel like she could let go of what she was holding on to. Hinata was embarrassed to admit it, but she actually cried when Hidan sent her a seemingly endless letter after she told him about her childhood crush she had finally chosen to formally let go of. At first, he did what she expected, made fun of her, but there was so much more that made it clear that he actually read and understood why she was still so insecure about it, and of course, it ended in a rant.
Part of her knew that it was possible that he was sharing all this with the whole prison and really just making fun of her, but something about his almost dumb honesty made her want to send the next letter.
He was blunt, brash, and a bastard. And Hinata had to admit he might be her best friend.
What a sad thought. Her best friend was a convinced serial killer. If she ever said that out loud… well, maybe she should never say it out loud.
Sometimes Hinata could feel Hidan being her anti-continuous. Everyone thought about fixing problems in the most horrendous way possible, but sometimes she felt like she could do it with him in the back of her head. She was scared of that voice whenever one of her kids came in for the third day in a row in the same clothes, and their hair was not brushed, or she could hear a parent screaming at the pickup.
God forbid if she ever found a bruise, she might actually take his route. Hinata could imagine the headline now 'Serial killer's pen pal continues his murder killing a series of *completely innocent* parents'.
Hinata reached forward and pulled a childish sticker out of her supplies to add to the letter. At least he should get a laugh out of her pain.
Hidan's face dropped after reading her latest letter. This rant was a lot less light-hearted. There was a special place in hell for people who didn't take care of their kids. He knew she took a job as a teacher, but she never told him how young her students were, but this made it clear they were probably young.
At the end, he chucked at the note of 'you're a bad influence' with a 'You Did It!' sticker next to it.
There were two more pages because she never did want to just send him a complaint. He could tell how much something really bothered her by how much time she took trying to make up for dumping the thought on him.
Why was this stupid girl too sweet and insecure?
"Is she a frustrated novelist?" Kakuzu snagged the letter from him.
"Hey, bitch!" Hidan grabbed his arm to pull his letters back.
Kakuzu ignored his death grip and read the section he was on. "Are you sure she isn't in love with you?"
Hidan yanked on him. "What the fuck does it matter to you?"
Kakuzu rolled his eyes, dropping the page. "Does she send you anything?"
"Occasionally, she sends me pictures of flowers and landscapes." Hidan couldn't really remember why that started. He was sure he could look through old letters to find out where it began.
Kakuzu's face twisted in disgust. "That's it?"
"What were you expecting? Dirty pictures? She's a prude." Hidan rolled his eyes.
"Money?" Of course, that's what Kakuzu wanted it to be.
"She's not a groupie." Hidan collected his pages back into their pile. "She's got a bleeding heart, but she's not going to support me."
Kakuzu side-eyed him. He was the type that would have fully milked the idea of having murder groupies if someone freak found murdering your own employee sexy.
Hidan stopped long since trying to understand the women that would send him their 'love.' These women saw him acting up in court and wanted him to father their children, and people called him psycho?
Hinata, on the other hand, gave him shit when he told her he got into trouble again. Bitching that, he was making life more difficult for those who were in prison for less severe offenses. Not that he cared, honestly. Sometimes he started shit just to have something to write about or to watch her try to scold him. She full well knew that she wasn't going to get through to him but spent the time telling him anyway. He knew to back off for a while when she just started ignoring his comments on his latest bad behavior.
"I bet she would send money if you asked." Kakuzu nodded his head.
"Greed is a sin." Hidan spat back to shut him up.
Neji set a plate amongst her mess of papers. "Why are you grading so late?"
"Parent came in during my free time," Hinata explained. "Do we have extra staples somewhere? I am almost out."
"Your father's office, maybe?" Neji shrugged. "Have you heard from Hanabi-chan?"
"Nope." Hinata huffed. "Her last excuse was that she was taking late classes in our usual call time. If she wants to call, she will."
"Do you think there is something wrong?" Neji lingered, resting against the wall next to her desk.
"No, I think she probably is having fun or found a boyfriend and doesn't want to think about home." Hinata took a bite of what Neji brought her and flipped a page. "Hanabi-chan has always been stubborn and free-spirited."
Neji always worried too much, so Hinata wasn't surprised that he thought it was something deeper. He didn't want her to go abroad in the first place, and the fight they had before Hanabi left was the reason she was still not talking to him. "You can be rather stubborn too."
Hinata ignored the comment.