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Fic - Enmugakure - 6/?
Title: Enmugakure
Author: Evandar (yamievandar / hikarievandar)
Fandom: Naruto
Rating: M
Pairing: Hidan/Temari, mentioned Ino/Shikamaru/Temari love triangle and past Hidan/OC.
Genre: AU Adventure/Mystery
Warnings: Swearing, some sexual situations, violence
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I am making no profit from this story.
Summary: The secret to defeating the Akatsuki lies in the demolished village of Enmugakure, but only one person knows where it is. Pity he's in pieces...
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man;
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
The Tables Turned
William Wordsworth
Part VI
Origins
Naruto hated the desert. He hadn’t before this mission; he’d found it wild and impressive, but that had only been the impression he had gained while racing towards Suna to rescue Gaara. He hadn’t had to spend much time in the desert then. He hadn’t had to suffer the cold nights and the harsh winds that had given the country its name; he hadn’t even thought of how unbearable the heat was back then, how the sun glared down at them from the blue, blue sky and made them sweaty and achy within minutes. He hadn’t worried about snakes or scorpions or sandstorms. He hadn’t even been bothered by the fact that sand, whether it was being whipped up by violent winds or not, managed to get everywhere. He had sand in places that he hadn’t even known existed before this damn mission.
He didn’t know how the people of Suna managed.
Before he’d set off on this mission, he’d thought that Kankuro’s outfit – the black cat suit with the freaky cat ear things on the hood – was a pretty stupid outfit form someone who lived in a desert. He’d since admitted that he’d been wrong: that cat suit – dodgy ear-things or not – sounded like paradise compared to the synthetic and far too warm material of his jumpsuit.
He found himself glancing at Temari a lot as they walked. She didn’t seem bothered by the sand or the heat, something which probably came from a childhood spent in the desert, though she did look tired. Everyone looked tired, even Hidan, and he’d proved himself to have an almost insane amount of stamina; enough to rival Naruto himself.
Then again, he supposed, at least half of their exhaustion could be attributed to the tension between them all. Most of the tension came from Shikamaru, who’d been pissed off about the mission before they’d even left Konoha. Travelling with someone that he seemed to hate more than anything else in the world – including exercise, and everyone knew that Shikamaru was a lazy bastard – through a damned desert for a week had strained his temper to snapping point. He was, if Naruto was completely honest with himself, acting like a complete dick.
Then again, Hidan had killed Asuma: Shikamaru’s sensei. He had every right to be pissed off, even if he had already had his revenge.
But the tension wasn’t just coming from Shikamaru. Sakura was annoyed with the heat and the slow pace and the fact that her clothes – not in the slightest bit suited to desert life – were chafing in places Naruto was trying not to think about. She was sick of healing Hidan after his rituals – though why she bothered when the guy wouldn’t die, he had no idea – and she was sick of walking.
Naruto didn’t blame her. He was sick of walking too, sick of the desert and the heat and the sand. He was on edge travelling with an ex-member of Akatsuki, even though Hidan hadn’t tried anything since Tsunade had stuck him back together again. He was sick of the tension that surrounded them – more volatile than the sand storms that Temari had warned them about – which had made the general atmosphere more awkward than Sai in a social setting.
Temari, poor girl, had no idea what was going on. None of them had taken it upon themselves to enlighten her as to how, exactly, they had met Hidan. None of them had wanted to face her wrath after telling her that their guide had been part of the organisation that had killed her baby brother – even if said baby brother had managed to be resurrected. But then again, she was part of the reason for a good measure of the irritation that was pouring off Shikamaru like heat from the sun.
Naruto hadn’t been the only person who kept glancing at her, and he had been doing it for way more innocent reasons.
And that brought him onto Hidan. Hidan: the foul-mouthed bastard that they were trusting – on the recommendation of Uchiha Itachi of all people – to guide them through the desert on a mission that was, frankly, completely insane.
He was immortal, good looking – according to Temari, at least – dangerous, violent, religious to the point of being a zealot and he looked far, far too calm about their situation. Naruto glowered at his back as he walked, wondering how on earth he was managing to keep going in his tight shinobi pants, his open shirt that revealed a lot more of him than Naruto was interested in seeing, and with such a huge scythe slung over his back. Not to mention that his clothes were black. He had to be swelteringly hot, but Naruto hadn’t even seen him break a sweat.
He also seemed impervious to the glares that most of their company – Naruto included – kept sending his way. Naruto envied him that. If he had that ability then he knew that their journey would be far less…awkward. He wouldn’t end up babbling to try and cover up the silences that fell over their group; wouldn’t have to deal with Sakura’s irritated looks every time he opened his mouth just because he couldn’t cope with the tension.
They had, he decided, been completely mad to trust Uchiha Itachi. Tsunade hadn’t been thinking; he hadn’t been thinking. Itachi had obviously cracked a long time ago and then continued to fall apart over the years. Hell, even Hidan had admitted that Itachi was most likely insane, and that said a lot.
At noon, on the seventh day of their journey through Wind Country’s endless desert, Naruto found himself walking straight into Hidan’s back. His nose smacked into the handle of the three-bladed scythe and he staggered backwards, clutching his face as tears automatically filled his eyes from the blow. Hidan had stopped dead in his tracks while Naruto had been lost in thought – mental bitching about the desert, again – and hadn’t even twitched when Naruto had run into him.
Naruto glared at Hidan’s back from between his fingers. He had a naturally slender build, and it was easy to forget that under the clothing he had really, really impressive muscle tone. It had felt like walking into a brick wall.
“Why have we stopped?” Sakura asked. Her voice was dry and raspy, and she coughed slightly after her question to try and clear her throat. She grimaced. Naruto wondered if she’d managed to get sand in her throat somehow; it sounded like she had.
“Use your fucking eyes, pinkie,” Hidan said. Sakura bristled automatically, and Naruto lowered his hands from his face in order to grab onto her forearm to stop her from hitting the bastard. He shook his head wearily when she looked at him. He didn’t have the energy to put up with fighting as well as this tension.
“We’re at the fucking oasis,” Hidan continued. Naruto moved to peer around Hidan’s body, dragging Sakura with him. She stumbled, looked at him ruefully, but followed. True to Hidan’s word, just ten feet away from them was the glorious glitter of the bluest water Naruto had ever seen shining through gaps between trees and flowering shrubbery. The water was the colour of the sky overhead, the greenery was lush and it all looked absolutely wonderful.
A rough bark of laughter burst from his throat – it had been far, far too long since he had last laughed – and he started to run, dragging Sakura behind him. He didn’t know where the energy had come from; he didn’t care. There was water. There was actual plant life. There was something to look at that wasn’t the shifting red sands of the desert.
They made it to the water in record time, and Naruto finally let go of Sakura’s forearm. She sank down onto a boulder – no doubt part of the bedrock that had been dislodged by the jutsu blast that had created this place – and gave a soft sigh.
“It’s beautiful,” she said quietly.
Naruto ignored her, going straight to the water to the water to test its temperature. It felt wonderfully cold against his overheated skin and he groaned in pleasure. He would definitely have to take a swim at some point.
“It is beautiful,” Temari said.
He glanced back to see that the others had caught up with them. Shikamaru looked slightly less sullen than he had before, Temari was smiling widely – teal eyes shining and her white teeth contrasting against her tanned skin – and Hidan was propping his scythe up against his tree and watching her out of the corner of his eye.
“Most oases are like this,” she continued, stepping forward to join Naruto at the water’s edge. “Sometimes villages are built up around them, especially along trade routes, but this one managed to escape that. We don’t really trade with Earth Country.”
She left out the fact that they had traded with them before the last Great War, when they’d ended up on different sides.
Sakura nodded. “It’s like a little bit of home in the middle of the desert,” she said. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, letting a smile flitter over her lips. It had been the first smile Naruto had seen her wear since before they had left Konoha and he found himself remembering why he had developed a crush on Sakura in the first place.
Temari said nothing to that.
“How long will we be staying here?” Shikamaru asked.
“We planned for two nights,” Temari said, glancing at Hidan, who nodded in silent agreement. “To give you guys a break.”
Naruto almost felt offended that they were being pandered to by someone like Hidan, but he knew that it made sense. They weren’t used to desert travel, unlike Temari, and they weren’t immortal like Hidan either. And, whether he wanted to admit it or not, he did need a break. They all did.
Shikamaru grunted in acknowledgement of the statement and dropped his pack onto the loamy ground. Further down to the water, where Naruto crouched and Temari stood, the loam gave way to sand again. Red, desert sand, but Naruto wasn’t bothered by it as much as he was by the sand that lay outside of the tree line.
As if they were all of one mind, they began to strip. Naruto was too tired to care that he was getting undressed in the presence of two very beautiful kunoichi – while he didn’t fancy Temari, he wasn’t blind – or that they were doing the same so close to him. He knew that he would probably be embarrassed later, but he didn’t care. He was more interested in getting into the water and getting the dust and grime that had accumulated on his skin off.
He felt kind of glad that Jiraiya wasn’t there. His sensei would have made things even more awkward.
Temari was the first in the water. She waded out, completely naked, showing off a surprisingly uniform tan, and sank into the water. She turned back to them; her nudity obscured by the glittering blue water, and waved them in.
The water was blissful. After bathing, which was a priority for all of them, they swam and messed about. The tension that had been irritating Naruto for the entire journey evaporated and they stayed relaxed even after they clambered out and dried off.
A campfire was lit and as they sat around it, Shikamaru smoking and the girls brushing out their damp hair – Naruto had never seen Temari with her hair down before, and she suited it; Hidan seemed to think so too, if the way that he was watching her meant anything – Naruto couldn’t help but think that maybe, somehow, they’d all managed to bond. The quiet, for once, was not awkward.
“So,” Temari said eventually. She looked at Hidan, caught his eye and pinned him with her gaze. To his credit, Hidan did look slightly intimidated. Apparently immortality didn’t make Temari any less intimidating. “This big secret that we’re meant to be searching for. Do you know it?”
He frowned. “Like I told the others,” he said, “I have no idea what Itachi was talking about when he mentioned it to the Hokage. He could have been talking about anything; could have made it up off the top of his head.”
“He seemed serious,” Naruto interjected.
Hidan shrugged. “He’s always fucking serious,” he said.
“I’m not even going to ask how you ended up on first-name terms with Akatsuki members. But you know something about it, this secret,” Temari said calmly. “I know you do.”
“Your faith in me is fucking astounding,” Hidan said drily.
Shikamaru growled. “Look,” he said. “Just tell us what you do know, okay? This is getting irritating as hell.”
For a moment, Naruto thought that Hidan wouldn’t answer and that their peace would be ruined. That was the last thing he wanted; it was so much better now that they weren’t fighting all the time. He found himself hoping that Hidan wouldn’t be confrontational. Catching Sakura’s eye, he knew that she was thinking the exact same thing.
Hidan heaved a sigh. “How much do you people know about the Bijou?” he asked.
“They’re scarily powerful, obsessed with killing and kinda creepy,” Naruto said, briefly touching his stomach, just over the seal that kept the Kyuubi at bay. He was the only one that answered.
Hidan snorted. “So nothing then,” he said. He tipped his head back to look at the sky briefly before he looked around at them all. The water had cleaned the gel out of his hair and it looked soft and silky as it fell messily around his face. “You’ve got a Jinchuuriki and the sister of an ex-Jinchuuriki and none of you know anything?”
“Just get on with it,” Sakura said.
Hidan shrugged. “A Bijou was born in Enmugakure,” he said. He glanced at Temari. “The Shukaku, actually. It happened during the fight with Suna and Iwa.” He snorted. “It was Shukaku that did the most damage.”
Temari’s fingers twisted in the fabric of her battle kimono. “Shukaku…” she whispered. She cleared her throat. “And how is a Bijou born?” she asked.
“He was human, once,” Hidan said simply. “I don’t know how or why he turned into a Bijou, but that’s what happened.” He gave a short, bitter sounding laugh. “Makes sense, really. The worst demons are always human.”
Naruto’s hand, still pressed against his seal, tensed. The Kyuubi had been human? He had something that had once been human sealed inside of him? He suddenly felt slightly ill.
“Did you know him?” Sakura asked. “Shukaku, I mean, before he turned into a Bijou.”
An odd look flickered across Hidan’s face. “Yes,” he said shortly. He paused, let out a slow breath, and looked back up at the sky. Naruto followed his gaze. The sky was darkening now, fading from blue through grey and purple to black. Sunsets were always so quick in the desert, he’d noticed.
“He was my father,” Hidan said quietly. When Naruto looked at him in shock, Hidan was still staring at the sky, watching the stars appear. He watched as Temari bit her lip and closed her eyes before reaching out and touching Hidan’s arm. He wondered if she had felt the same horror he had at the thought of the Bijou being human once.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Shikamaru’s eyes narrow and his gaze fix on Temari’s hand. He sighed inwardly. He should have known that the tension would be back.
Author: Evandar (yamievandar / hikarievandar)
Fandom: Naruto
Rating: M
Pairing: Hidan/Temari, mentioned Ino/Shikamaru/Temari love triangle and past Hidan/OC.
Genre: AU Adventure/Mystery
Warnings: Swearing, some sexual situations, violence
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I am making no profit from this story.
Summary: The secret to defeating the Akatsuki lies in the demolished village of Enmugakure, but only one person knows where it is. Pity he's in pieces...
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man;
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
The Tables Turned
William Wordsworth
Origins
Naruto hated the desert. He hadn’t before this mission; he’d found it wild and impressive, but that had only been the impression he had gained while racing towards Suna to rescue Gaara. He hadn’t had to spend much time in the desert then. He hadn’t had to suffer the cold nights and the harsh winds that had given the country its name; he hadn’t even thought of how unbearable the heat was back then, how the sun glared down at them from the blue, blue sky and made them sweaty and achy within minutes. He hadn’t worried about snakes or scorpions or sandstorms. He hadn’t even been bothered by the fact that sand, whether it was being whipped up by violent winds or not, managed to get everywhere. He had sand in places that he hadn’t even known existed before this damn mission.
He didn’t know how the people of Suna managed.
Before he’d set off on this mission, he’d thought that Kankuro’s outfit – the black cat suit with the freaky cat ear things on the hood – was a pretty stupid outfit form someone who lived in a desert. He’d since admitted that he’d been wrong: that cat suit – dodgy ear-things or not – sounded like paradise compared to the synthetic and far too warm material of his jumpsuit.
He found himself glancing at Temari a lot as they walked. She didn’t seem bothered by the sand or the heat, something which probably came from a childhood spent in the desert, though she did look tired. Everyone looked tired, even Hidan, and he’d proved himself to have an almost insane amount of stamina; enough to rival Naruto himself.
Then again, he supposed, at least half of their exhaustion could be attributed to the tension between them all. Most of the tension came from Shikamaru, who’d been pissed off about the mission before they’d even left Konoha. Travelling with someone that he seemed to hate more than anything else in the world – including exercise, and everyone knew that Shikamaru was a lazy bastard – through a damned desert for a week had strained his temper to snapping point. He was, if Naruto was completely honest with himself, acting like a complete dick.
Then again, Hidan had killed Asuma: Shikamaru’s sensei. He had every right to be pissed off, even if he had already had his revenge.
But the tension wasn’t just coming from Shikamaru. Sakura was annoyed with the heat and the slow pace and the fact that her clothes – not in the slightest bit suited to desert life – were chafing in places Naruto was trying not to think about. She was sick of healing Hidan after his rituals – though why she bothered when the guy wouldn’t die, he had no idea – and she was sick of walking.
Naruto didn’t blame her. He was sick of walking too, sick of the desert and the heat and the sand. He was on edge travelling with an ex-member of Akatsuki, even though Hidan hadn’t tried anything since Tsunade had stuck him back together again. He was sick of the tension that surrounded them – more volatile than the sand storms that Temari had warned them about – which had made the general atmosphere more awkward than Sai in a social setting.
Temari, poor girl, had no idea what was going on. None of them had taken it upon themselves to enlighten her as to how, exactly, they had met Hidan. None of them had wanted to face her wrath after telling her that their guide had been part of the organisation that had killed her baby brother – even if said baby brother had managed to be resurrected. But then again, she was part of the reason for a good measure of the irritation that was pouring off Shikamaru like heat from the sun.
Naruto hadn’t been the only person who kept glancing at her, and he had been doing it for way more innocent reasons.
And that brought him onto Hidan. Hidan: the foul-mouthed bastard that they were trusting – on the recommendation of Uchiha Itachi of all people – to guide them through the desert on a mission that was, frankly, completely insane.
He was immortal, good looking – according to Temari, at least – dangerous, violent, religious to the point of being a zealot and he looked far, far too calm about their situation. Naruto glowered at his back as he walked, wondering how on earth he was managing to keep going in his tight shinobi pants, his open shirt that revealed a lot more of him than Naruto was interested in seeing, and with such a huge scythe slung over his back. Not to mention that his clothes were black. He had to be swelteringly hot, but Naruto hadn’t even seen him break a sweat.
He also seemed impervious to the glares that most of their company – Naruto included – kept sending his way. Naruto envied him that. If he had that ability then he knew that their journey would be far less…awkward. He wouldn’t end up babbling to try and cover up the silences that fell over their group; wouldn’t have to deal with Sakura’s irritated looks every time he opened his mouth just because he couldn’t cope with the tension.
They had, he decided, been completely mad to trust Uchiha Itachi. Tsunade hadn’t been thinking; he hadn’t been thinking. Itachi had obviously cracked a long time ago and then continued to fall apart over the years. Hell, even Hidan had admitted that Itachi was most likely insane, and that said a lot.
At noon, on the seventh day of their journey through Wind Country’s endless desert, Naruto found himself walking straight into Hidan’s back. His nose smacked into the handle of the three-bladed scythe and he staggered backwards, clutching his face as tears automatically filled his eyes from the blow. Hidan had stopped dead in his tracks while Naruto had been lost in thought – mental bitching about the desert, again – and hadn’t even twitched when Naruto had run into him.
Naruto glared at Hidan’s back from between his fingers. He had a naturally slender build, and it was easy to forget that under the clothing he had really, really impressive muscle tone. It had felt like walking into a brick wall.
“Why have we stopped?” Sakura asked. Her voice was dry and raspy, and she coughed slightly after her question to try and clear her throat. She grimaced. Naruto wondered if she’d managed to get sand in her throat somehow; it sounded like she had.
“Use your fucking eyes, pinkie,” Hidan said. Sakura bristled automatically, and Naruto lowered his hands from his face in order to grab onto her forearm to stop her from hitting the bastard. He shook his head wearily when she looked at him. He didn’t have the energy to put up with fighting as well as this tension.
“We’re at the fucking oasis,” Hidan continued. Naruto moved to peer around Hidan’s body, dragging Sakura with him. She stumbled, looked at him ruefully, but followed. True to Hidan’s word, just ten feet away from them was the glorious glitter of the bluest water Naruto had ever seen shining through gaps between trees and flowering shrubbery. The water was the colour of the sky overhead, the greenery was lush and it all looked absolutely wonderful.
A rough bark of laughter burst from his throat – it had been far, far too long since he had last laughed – and he started to run, dragging Sakura behind him. He didn’t know where the energy had come from; he didn’t care. There was water. There was actual plant life. There was something to look at that wasn’t the shifting red sands of the desert.
They made it to the water in record time, and Naruto finally let go of Sakura’s forearm. She sank down onto a boulder – no doubt part of the bedrock that had been dislodged by the jutsu blast that had created this place – and gave a soft sigh.
“It’s beautiful,” she said quietly.
Naruto ignored her, going straight to the water to the water to test its temperature. It felt wonderfully cold against his overheated skin and he groaned in pleasure. He would definitely have to take a swim at some point.
“It is beautiful,” Temari said.
He glanced back to see that the others had caught up with them. Shikamaru looked slightly less sullen than he had before, Temari was smiling widely – teal eyes shining and her white teeth contrasting against her tanned skin – and Hidan was propping his scythe up against his tree and watching her out of the corner of his eye.
“Most oases are like this,” she continued, stepping forward to join Naruto at the water’s edge. “Sometimes villages are built up around them, especially along trade routes, but this one managed to escape that. We don’t really trade with Earth Country.”
She left out the fact that they had traded with them before the last Great War, when they’d ended up on different sides.
Sakura nodded. “It’s like a little bit of home in the middle of the desert,” she said. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, letting a smile flitter over her lips. It had been the first smile Naruto had seen her wear since before they had left Konoha and he found himself remembering why he had developed a crush on Sakura in the first place.
Temari said nothing to that.
“How long will we be staying here?” Shikamaru asked.
“We planned for two nights,” Temari said, glancing at Hidan, who nodded in silent agreement. “To give you guys a break.”
Naruto almost felt offended that they were being pandered to by someone like Hidan, but he knew that it made sense. They weren’t used to desert travel, unlike Temari, and they weren’t immortal like Hidan either. And, whether he wanted to admit it or not, he did need a break. They all did.
Shikamaru grunted in acknowledgement of the statement and dropped his pack onto the loamy ground. Further down to the water, where Naruto crouched and Temari stood, the loam gave way to sand again. Red, desert sand, but Naruto wasn’t bothered by it as much as he was by the sand that lay outside of the tree line.
As if they were all of one mind, they began to strip. Naruto was too tired to care that he was getting undressed in the presence of two very beautiful kunoichi – while he didn’t fancy Temari, he wasn’t blind – or that they were doing the same so close to him. He knew that he would probably be embarrassed later, but he didn’t care. He was more interested in getting into the water and getting the dust and grime that had accumulated on his skin off.
He felt kind of glad that Jiraiya wasn’t there. His sensei would have made things even more awkward.
Temari was the first in the water. She waded out, completely naked, showing off a surprisingly uniform tan, and sank into the water. She turned back to them; her nudity obscured by the glittering blue water, and waved them in.
The water was blissful. After bathing, which was a priority for all of them, they swam and messed about. The tension that had been irritating Naruto for the entire journey evaporated and they stayed relaxed even after they clambered out and dried off.
A campfire was lit and as they sat around it, Shikamaru smoking and the girls brushing out their damp hair – Naruto had never seen Temari with her hair down before, and she suited it; Hidan seemed to think so too, if the way that he was watching her meant anything – Naruto couldn’t help but think that maybe, somehow, they’d all managed to bond. The quiet, for once, was not awkward.
“So,” Temari said eventually. She looked at Hidan, caught his eye and pinned him with her gaze. To his credit, Hidan did look slightly intimidated. Apparently immortality didn’t make Temari any less intimidating. “This big secret that we’re meant to be searching for. Do you know it?”
He frowned. “Like I told the others,” he said, “I have no idea what Itachi was talking about when he mentioned it to the Hokage. He could have been talking about anything; could have made it up off the top of his head.”
“He seemed serious,” Naruto interjected.
Hidan shrugged. “He’s always fucking serious,” he said.
“I’m not even going to ask how you ended up on first-name terms with Akatsuki members. But you know something about it, this secret,” Temari said calmly. “I know you do.”
“Your faith in me is fucking astounding,” Hidan said drily.
Shikamaru growled. “Look,” he said. “Just tell us what you do know, okay? This is getting irritating as hell.”
For a moment, Naruto thought that Hidan wouldn’t answer and that their peace would be ruined. That was the last thing he wanted; it was so much better now that they weren’t fighting all the time. He found himself hoping that Hidan wouldn’t be confrontational. Catching Sakura’s eye, he knew that she was thinking the exact same thing.
Hidan heaved a sigh. “How much do you people know about the Bijou?” he asked.
“They’re scarily powerful, obsessed with killing and kinda creepy,” Naruto said, briefly touching his stomach, just over the seal that kept the Kyuubi at bay. He was the only one that answered.
Hidan snorted. “So nothing then,” he said. He tipped his head back to look at the sky briefly before he looked around at them all. The water had cleaned the gel out of his hair and it looked soft and silky as it fell messily around his face. “You’ve got a Jinchuuriki and the sister of an ex-Jinchuuriki and none of you know anything?”
“Just get on with it,” Sakura said.
Hidan shrugged. “A Bijou was born in Enmugakure,” he said. He glanced at Temari. “The Shukaku, actually. It happened during the fight with Suna and Iwa.” He snorted. “It was Shukaku that did the most damage.”
Temari’s fingers twisted in the fabric of her battle kimono. “Shukaku…” she whispered. She cleared her throat. “And how is a Bijou born?” she asked.
“He was human, once,” Hidan said simply. “I don’t know how or why he turned into a Bijou, but that’s what happened.” He gave a short, bitter sounding laugh. “Makes sense, really. The worst demons are always human.”
Naruto’s hand, still pressed against his seal, tensed. The Kyuubi had been human? He had something that had once been human sealed inside of him? He suddenly felt slightly ill.
“Did you know him?” Sakura asked. “Shukaku, I mean, before he turned into a Bijou.”
An odd look flickered across Hidan’s face. “Yes,” he said shortly. He paused, let out a slow breath, and looked back up at the sky. Naruto followed his gaze. The sky was darkening now, fading from blue through grey and purple to black. Sunsets were always so quick in the desert, he’d noticed.
“He was my father,” Hidan said quietly. When Naruto looked at him in shock, Hidan was still staring at the sky, watching the stars appear. He watched as Temari bit her lip and closed her eyes before reaching out and touching Hidan’s arm. He wondered if she had felt the same horror he had at the thought of the Bijou being human once.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Shikamaru’s eyes narrow and his gaze fix on Temari’s hand. He sighed inwardly. He should have known that the tension would be back.