• The next day over breakfast, Hidan politely asked Mitsuko to take him around town today. She knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to talk to Ken.

    Everyone looked and stared at the Nara girl walking alongside the handsome man with silver hair. Some girls were jealous that the Nara girl was hanging out with the guy with no shirt on. Some people knew who this man was while others ignored them as they passed by.

    Mitsuko led Hidan to the outskirts of the village where all of the teenagers liked to hang out. Over a hill sat a broken down wall and a group of laughing teens. Mitsuko pointed at a boy with a large black dog at his side.

    "That's Ken," she said, staring down at the grass as she pointed. She looked up to see Hidan already at the wall, taking Ken by the back of the head and thrusting him into the ground, face first.

    "That's for hurting Mitsuko!" Hidan shouted as he ground Ken's face into the dirt. The dog tried leaping on him but Hidan threw his arm back, throwing the dog and another boy off of him.

    He stood up as Mitsuko ran up to the scene, scared and surprised.

    "Hidan! What... really... you..." she stuttered as she watched Ken's friends help him back up and stare angrily at Hidan.

    "You ******** b***h, hiring a hit man to wack me!" Ken exclaimed as his friends dragged him away.

    "A hitman?!" Hidan muttered under his breath when Mitsuko came up to his side to see if he was hurt. He held her back, bent down and picked up a rock before chucking it at Ken and hitting him in the back.

    "That's for calling Mitsuko a b***h!" Hidan shouted after him as the teens marched away, their leader defeated.

    "We're going to get in trouble," Mitsuko mumbled on the way home.

    "Don't worry about it, I'll smooth things out," Hidan smiled confidently. Mitsuko was filled with more grief.

    "Ken's father is going to come and start it with my father... Oh! It will be horrible, Hidan!" Mitsuko covered her face with her hands.

    "I'll talk to your good old dad. Just don't worry about a thing, Mitsuko. You have enough to worry about with the deer nursery and piecing me back together," Hidan grinned, "The last thing you need is to fret about that good for nothing Ken."

    Mitsuko flashed him a quick smile. "Thank you, Hidan," she whispered just loud enough for him to hear. He smirked with satisfaction.

    That night, Mitsuko had went to bed early under Hidan's sweet talk while he spent the evening in the livingroom, waiting for Shikamaru. His hatred towards him had subsided since he was taken in by Mitsuko but he still remembered what Shikamaru did to him.

    Shikamaru came through the door and plopped down on the opposite end of the couch, exhausted.

    "How ya doin', pops?" Hidan asked, turning off the television by remote.

    Shikamaru looked at him through one eye. "Tired."

    Hidan laughed. "Hard day?"

    Shikamaru nodded. "Why the friendliness?"

    "Well, to be honest, I wanted to talk to you about Mitsuko."

    Shikamaru looked at him patiently but his eyes told Hidan that he was on the verge of killing him.

    "Mitsuko told me about Ken and how he abused her. I asked her to take me to him today and I beat him up," Hidan explained.

    "He abused my daughter?!" Shikamaru stood up from the couch. Then the thought creeped into his mind, "You didn't kill him, did you?"

    "No, I just made him eat dirt and threw a rock at him," Hidan smiled.

    Shikarmaru stood at ease. Why was Hidan being so kind to Mitsuko, standing up for her? At least no one was killed.

    Suddenly someone was banging at the door and Shikamaru rushed to answer it.

    "Wait, pops," Hidan couldn't help but giggle calling Shikamaru "pops."

    Shikamaru stepped back and let Hidan answer it. All of a sudden, someone landed a puch across Hidan's face.

    "That's him dad!" Ken shouted from outside.

    "What did you do to my son?" a man grabbed Hidan by the arm and pulled him up to his face.

    Hidan was still trying to catch up with what was going on after the punch. Shikamaru stepped in, putting hands on both of the men's shoulders.

    "We can do this peacefully, my children are sleeping," he said.

    Ken's father nodded and motioned his son in. "Explain to Mr. Nara what happened to you earlier," he told his son.

    Ken looked up at Shikamaru with a sad, hurt face. His brown hair was tossled on his head and his cheeks were marked with red face paint in the shape of triangles. You could tell he was an Inuzuka as his large black dog came in and sat at his feet obediantly.

    "I was hanging out with my friends when that silver haired man came up to me and threw me to the ground, calling me names!" He pointed at Hidan, accusingly. "Mitsuko was with him, watching him beat me up! Then when my friends tried to help me away, he threw a rock at my head!"

    "Not true you lying brat!" Hidan objected but Ken's dog turned and growled at him.

    "Hidan, we don't need that right now," Shikamaru exhaled as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

    "I demand an apology from your whore daughter and her pimp," Ken's father snarled.

    Shikamaru dashed forward so quick, father nor son was able to see through his attack. Hidan looked up at the wall to see Shikamaru holding Ken's father up at the chest with a kunai at his neck.

    "Take that back," Shikamaru said through clenched teeth.

    "No. You have no idea what your daughter does. Ken told me."

    "You both have no idea who my daughter is!" Shikamaru made a motion to stab the kunai into Ken's father but Hidan caught his arm.

    "Let me take care of it, pops. You're tired and need some rest," he said with a sincere face.

    "No, I know what you'll do," Shikarmau stared into his opponents eyes. "You promised the village."

    "I know but... They didn't keep their bargain. They still haven't forgiven me," Hidan tried to persuade him.

    Shikarmaru suddenly dropped Ken's father to the floor and stepped back, handing Hidan the kunai.

    "Be as quiet as possible. I do not want Mitsuko to wake up and see what you can do."

    Hidan watched as Shikarmaru disappeared into the hall and heard the sliding of the paper screen door. "Pop's getting old," he said with a sneer. Quickly, he turned and jabbed the kunai into his opponent's shoulder and withdrew it, jumping back.

    Ken dashed to his father's side as the door opened and a large dog jumped in and nuzzled his master's face. Hidan grinned almost maniacally, licking the blood off the kunai. He couldn't believe Shikamaru would just let him perform the ritual. Maybe it was because Inuzuka had called Mitsuko names. Shikamaru must be really mad.

    "The ritual has begun!" Hidan exclaimed as he thrusted the kunai into his belly, withdrawing a splatter of blood. The Inuzukas watched as his skin changed from skin color peach to black with white stripes where his bones would be. He smeared the blood across the floor forming a circle with a triangle inside it. The symbol of Jashin.