Shinobi (Sequel to Otokage)

Now Shut Up and Stir Your Chocolate.

"Hidan." Marisu called softly, tapping the lump beside her. There was a muffled groan from beneath the sheets as it shifted. She smiled and ran a hand through the silver tuft of hair that poked out onto the pillow.

"It's our off day." he whined, "Can't we just stay in bed? It's like, six in the morning and it's cold outside. Plus these pillows are fluffy and shit... Fucking amazing..."

Marisu glanced at the clock at the bedside and at the glowing blue numbers on the alarm clock. 10:38, it showed. Hidan had fallen soundly back to sleep as she slipped out of the sheets and walked to the bathroom. When the shower started running, he pulled the blanket off his head and looked out the window.

It didn't snow in February, but it was still cold enough to want to bundle up in a million layers and sit next to the heater all day. His wife wasn't particularly bothered with the weather, saying that she was used to it. It was the same type of climate of the other village she once lived in. Hidan pressed his lips together at the thought of her past.

She was four years older than him and had already had the experience of a family. She had a husband and a son back then. He'd seen pictures of the two and the way her eyes would light up when she talked about them... Though they had met an unfortunate end a little bit before Sakura asked her to join the village.

It wasn't that he was upset that she still mentioned them from time to time. In fact, he loved it when she brought them up. All he wanted was her to be happy-- with herself, with him, and the life they were living now. Hidan sat up with a wide yawn and leaned back against the headrest.

He hadn't had someone precious to him in a while. Six years, it probably was since the last time he felt the need to keep something (or someone) safe. His faith was what he kept close to heart when he accepted it as a naive teenager. 

But... when he became a surgeon and felt that thrill of saving lives instead of taking them...

Hidan sighed, thinking to the pendant that he kept stashed away in one of the drawers. It wasn't a life he wanted to go back to. Everything he had now and the opportunities he was given? He wouldn't trade it for the whole goddamn world.

Marisu stepped out of the bathroom clothed in civilian wear with her hair braided to the side. Her bangs still covered the scarred half of her face. Hidan stretched his arms out towards her and enveloped his wife in a hug.

"I love you, you know that?"

She bent down and pecked the top of his head.

"I love you too."

::

"I've had enough of wearing aprons, Kisame."

"Suck it up. You're Uchiha Itachi-- I'm pretty damn sure you can handle some frill."

In Kisame's apartment, the ingredients to make chocolate were laid out on the counter. Valentine's Day was coming up in a week, and Kisame mentioned that making something for Sakura could boost him along after that horrid coding mistake (Deidara laughed so hard that he nearly fainted from lack of oxygen). So here they were, standing in oddly domestic-looking kitchen in their respective brightly colored aprons.

"These aprons are hardly pleasing to look at." Itachi deadpanned. Kisame pointed a wooden spoon at him.

"I'm an S-Rank feared throughout the Shinobi Nations that happens to be responsible adult who knows how to manage his finances. If I see aprons on sale for 50% off on a Saturday morning, I am going to get those aprons even though they look like the devil's grandma made them. Now shut up and stir your chocolate, we don't got all day."