• That night, Mitsuko snuggled with Hidan under the cardboard box and used the pack they had been carrying all this time as a pillow. She had her back to him and waited for him to start talking. He rolled over and placed his hand on her arm, head bent near her's.

    "Kakuzu wants to make sure we're not getting into any trouble so he's going to travel with us to Earth Country. Tomorrow morning, I'll go into work and tell the boss that we'll be leaving and then we'll meet Kakuzu by the camels that he rented. We'll travel like the villagers so we don't draw attention. You'll have to get dressed heavily though, to protect yourself from the sand and sun. Kakuzu we'll give us some clothes when we meet with him. Does that sound good?" he asked her with a smile.

    She nodded, happy that they would still be together. "Yes, that sounds excellent," she replied.

    "Alright then, get some sleep," Hidan told her and rolled back over onto his other side. It was warmer tonight and Mitsuko slept away from him.

    The next morning, Hidan shook Mitsuko awake and quickly made way for the bakery as she got ready for the busy day. Mitsuko sat beside the trash can where they slept, with the pack in her lap as she waited for Hidan to get back. The morning sun rise was so refreshing and the sand was at rest. It cast a golden glow on the already golden town. Mitsuko wished her father could see the sunrise. He's probably watching it right now from his hangout on the rooftop, thinking of her. Mitsuko, light child. Hidan saw the light in her when she found him in the pit yet he curses the light of every sunrise. She found him very peculiar.

    "Surely he'd be back by now," Mitsuko said aloud when Hidan hadn't returned for her. She estimated it took about five minutes to get to the bakery from the alley so it would take ten minutes back and forth and probably another ten minutes tops to quit their jobs. It had been almost an hour, judging by the sun's position. Mitsuko was beginning to get worried.

    She stood up and gathered herself, making sure she wasn't leaving anything behind before walking down the street towards the bakery. Oddly, no one was out bustling around on such a beautiful day. The streets were deserted. Mitsuko turned a corner and found out why.

    Blood stained the well trodden road towards the bakery, forming the same symbol that she had seen Hidan lay on the night he killed the Inuzukas. The symbol of Jashin. A man stood in the middle of it, clutching a bloody dagger. He had slicked back silver hair, black skin and white paint where his bones would be. He was shirtless and wore a pair of blue hakama and wooden clogs. This wasn't Hidan, was it?

    She looked ahead of this man and saw her own face, her brother Haru as he spat up blood on the ground, grabbing his arm. Suddenly, a hand grabbed Mitsuko's shoulder and caught her by surprise. It was Kakuzu.

    "Hidan has your brother in his sorcery jutsu," Kakuzu told her.

    "That's Hidan!?" Mitsuko pointed. Kakuzu nodded.

    "If you want to save your brother, you have to get Hidan out of the circle long enough for you brother to flee," Kakuzu explained.

    "You couldn't even protect Mitsuko when Ken was abusing her!" Hidan yelled at Haru, oblivious to both Mitsuko and Kakuzu's presence behind him.

    "I didn't know!" Haru growled in pain.

    "That's why I finish it before it starts," Hidan smiled and dug the dagger into his thigh with a groan.

    Mitsuko saw her brother double over and it was too much for her. She rushed forward and jumped on Hidan, hopeful that she had pushed him well enough out of the circle. The dagger had dug deeper into Hidan leg as she landed on him but Haru wasn't in anymore pain other than the wounds he already had. She had successfully taken him out of the circle!

    "Mitsuko! What the hell!?" Hidan yelled as he squirmed under the little girl. She didn't let go, she clung to his waist and held him down.

    "Run boy!" Kakuzu yelled at Haru, "Run if you want to live another day!"

    "Not until I kill that son of a b***h who took my sister away from us!" Haru struggled in all of his agony.

    "Yeah, we had something to settle!" Hidan's face was squished against the ground. "Ouch!" He shouted as the dagger poked out of the back of his thigh and Mitsuko moved out of its way but stayed on top of Hidan.

    "Please nii-chan! You're aren't ready to take him on!" Mitsuko shouted at him.

    Haru clenched his teeth in anger. He couldn't do it. He couldn't protect his sister or fight for her honor. He wasn't a good brother. He struggled to stand up and looked at his sister once more. She was sucessfully restraining Hidan to protect her big brother. Why could she do it? What made her different? This small ninety pound girl was able to keep an adult down on the ground. He wasn't even able to attack Hidan successfully.

    "Hurry, nii-chan!" Mitsuko shouted at him as Hidan tried to get out from under her. His hideous form had disappeared and he back to being handsome.

    Haru turned and dashed as best as he could back towards Konoha. When he was out of sight, Mitsuko rolled off of Hidan and allowed him to get up.

    "Mitsuko! Why did you have to stop me!? It was getting good!" Hidan didn't face her.
    He had his back to her as he tried to pull the dagger out of his thigh. He let out a pleasurable groan that sent shivers up and down Mitsuko's spine as she sat up and watched the bucket of blood fall from his leg to stain the sand and form clumps.

    "Done now?" Kakuzu asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest impatiently. Hidan nodded, grinding his teeth as he wiped off the dagger on his pants and stuck it in his waistband. "Good, let's go."