Hidan coughed and whined about his discomfort. Hinata was feeling slightly less sympathetic after he made a big fuss about the fact that 'he doesn't get sick' while she was ill. She kept telling him that he should keep his distance, but there was the possibility he got sick from being wet and cold, too, and it just took longer to hit him.

Hidan took having a cold worse than her young students did. He was acting like he was going to die from a fever and a runny nose.

Hinata sat on the edge of the bed and put her hand across his forehead. His fever was returning, but the medication directed him to wait another hour before taking another dose. He may just have to wait it out.

"I hate this shit," Hidan whimpered, curling his arms around her waist and laying his head in her lap, effectively trapping her from getting up.

Hinata ran her hand back through his hair. Poor thing. He took care of her when she was sick. Even if he was playing it up a little, she could understand him wanting attention.

They were both getting a little stir-crazy stuck in this motel room. The downside of hopping from place to place was there was no comfortable place to rest when you got sick or needed to lie low like they had a few times.

Home was a funny word for her now.

Would she call the base bar home? Would she just call wherever they were sleeping at the time home?

Hinata pushed Hidan's hair back from his face as she realized he was back asleep. She was stuck here.

Maybe home was just where he was.

Hidan busted through the door. "I need money."

Kakuzu made a face at his manners. "What for?"

Hidan huffed, frantically running his hand back through his hair. "Hinata was arrested. I need to bail her out before they realize who she is."

"How did she get caught?" Kakuzu wondered idly. This seemed like it was entirely his fault, adding to all the stress.

Hidan glared at him. "Why does that matter?"

"Do you want help or not?" Kakuzu answered flatly.

"Hinata stabbed Orochimaru, yes, that one." Hidan put his hand up before he asked. "It was a while ago. He was getting grabby. Anyway. I wasn't thinking about it and wasn't checking if the clubs we were going to and…"

"And you stepped back into one of his clubs, and he was watching for you." Kakuzu finished for him. Being on the shit list of one of the most prominent club owners in the area was a dumb ass move.

Hidan slammed himself down into a chair and held his head. Kakuzu had never seen him so upset about anything. The weird bastard actually loved this girl.

"You realize they are going to keep looking for ways to screw with you, and the police will be looking for her once she skips bail." Kakuzu always wondered how this would end. Hidan was too reckless. His luck was going to run out eventually, but now it mattered. He hadn't cared much about his own crimes because he didn't mind prison, but now that he had someone he wanted to take care of, he was going to have to think about how his actions affected others.

"I am getting her out of here." Hidan waved his hand. "We are getting the fuck out of town. Deidara is up in the mountains somewhere. I'll take her there and get a job in the mines or something." Childish half-thought plan of running away, but it did solve the problem and answer the question of where to look for him when he wasn't to recollect his debt.

Kakuzu sat up. "How much?"

Hinata leaned over as the officer showed her the security monitor. "See." She pointed. "He was watching me the whole time. I was doing what I was told."

The office frowned at the screen, confused, but who were they going to believe, the girl who wore a knit sweater to a strip club or the man who was already on their radar for all kinds of sketchy dealings and illegal activity passing through his clubs?

"I have been trying to escape his debt for weeks." Hinata lied. "If you want proof, you can see the scar on his leg when I stabbed him for trying to get the debt in… other ways."

"I see what you mean." The officer turned his screen back. "We will let you go for now. Call us if he comes calling for your debt again. Would you be willing to come back as a witness if we find enough to charge him for enforcing these kinds of debts?" Hinata nodded, and the officer started to take her cuffs off.

That was going to be a very strange call her sister was going to get. Hinata didn't like using her name, but it was easier to give her sister's information that she knew by heart rather than try to skirt around giving her own or making something up.

She was asked to write down a statement and was released just as she watched Hidan coming up to the door. "What are you doing here?" Hinata pushed him back and dragged him away from the last place he should be seen.

"How did you get out?" Hidan stopped her to hug her, showing all of his remaining panic in how tightly he squeezed her. She was sure he was freaking out the whole time, wondering how to get her out. She just hoped he didn't make another prison escape plan that involved more explosives.

"I lied." Hinata hissed.

Hidan face washed away the stress to delight. "What did you say?"

Hinata looked behind her to ensure they weren't being followed by a suspicious police officer. She turned back and wrapped herself around his arm. "I told them that I had a debt to pay to Orochimaru, and he was forcing me to steal from his patrons to pay him back, and he only turned me in because someone else caught me." She explained. "I told them to ask him about the time I stabbed him if they wanted proof."

"That's… pretty damn smart." Hidan nodded his head.

Hinata leaned her head on his shoulder. "We are going to have to stay away from this area in the future because once it gets back to my sister that I used her name, I am sure she is going to come looking for me, and if they show her my face on their camera's I think it's going to be clear that I am on the run, and I am going to go from missing person to wanted criminal."

"Oh yeah, we're getting the fuck out of here." Hidan agreed, pulling on the strap to his bag. "I came to bail you out, but maybe we can use the money to get a place in a new town and just lie low for a while."

"Where did you get the money?" A better question would have been why he thought to bring it himself instead of finding someone else to come to bail her out, but he clearly wasn't thinking about that at the time.

"Kakuzu," Hidan answered. "He'll come after me to pay it back at some point, so we might as well use it to get started making less risky money."

Knowing Kakuzu, he would be upset when he found out Hidan didn't need the money and then used it anyway, but that wasn't really something she was worried about right now. They needed to get back to the motel, grab their things, and get out before anyone knew they were there.

Hinata held the letter to her heart for a moment. She debated sending Neji this letter for a long time. What stopped her was the question that always came to mind: was this going to cause more pain than not knowing?

Before, the answer leaned toward yes. Even if they were actively looking for her, they would have hope. They could still imagine that she would come back safe and untainted by her time away.

But once they got the news that she was arrested, and she was willing to use her sister's name to get out of it, they were going to suspect the truth that she had run away. They may already suspect that she had something to do with her father's death, but they may think more of it now.

"Ready?" Hidan called from behind her.

Hinata took a deep breath and dropped the letter into the street-side mailbox before turning to go back to Hidan as he offered out a pastry. She took it with a smile and a kiss for a thank you, feeling lighter.

Hidan tucked Hinata's hood closer to her face. He didn't want there to be a chance in hell anyone saw her. He wrapped his arm protectively around her as she slept on the train.

He almost lost her because he was a fucking idiot. This was entirely his fault. He should have realized that he was taking too many risks when she had to defend herself in the first place. He should have thought about getting her out of town when they were getting thrown out of more and more places.

He always thought at some point, he would get caught, she would be able to say he forced her to do it all, and she could go back to her life, but he corrupted her too much, and now her hands were dirty too. Her getting caught and lying through that idea out the window, and now he was out of his safe backup plan for her.

It was too late to go the easy route and send her away and go back to prison. Now, he was going to have to take the long route of trying to settle somewhere like the shittiest witness protection program. It would be boring and mundane, and he would have to behave and keep his fingers out of blood, but maybe he could have some self-control knowing that she was waiting for him to return.

This fucking woman was going to make him domestic.

Hinata shifted, pushing her face into his neck. He turned his head to press his lips to the hood, concealing her from the world.

Fuck it. He was going to be domestic for this woman.