Stitched || Kakuzu

Ch. 9 - Hell Is Where The Heart Is

The tousled blond hair, once full of life but now a bit dull with grays mixed in. Blue eyes with a grayish tinge to them that looked so focused... on all the wrong things. He had aged since she had last seen him, a bit more frail like he hadn't eaten since she had last seen him either. "Is it really you, Daddy?"

The man took another step in front of his son, looking at his daughter from the other side of the crater. "Ah, my little princess." His eyes drifted towards the two men in the cloaks by her. He could spot those cloaks from a mile away and knew exactly what they meant. His daughter had found not one bodyguard, but two. "My name is Touma Shidou, but I suspect you know that already. Thank you for delivering my daughter to me. I'll double whatever she promised to pay for you to babysit her."

"So you're the reason I have to deal with all this shit now." Hidan cocked his head, reaching behind himself to grab his scythe. "Never thought I'd have a run in with a fucking grave digger."

Touma merely ignored the male. Another body wouldn't have a negative effect on the jutsu so he could join the damned. All that mattered was that he met the quota and with the revelations at hand, he could finally finish preparations for the jutsu. "Hideki, retrieve your sister." Stepping towards the amassed chakra ball, he began to focus and form hand signs to start.

Hideki nodded and with a poof, he transported from the spot by his father to a spot a few feet away from Nozomi and Kakuzu. "Hello sister. Have you finally come to terms?"

Nozomi took a step back from her older brother, inching towards Kakuzu. It had been three years since she'd seen her father and this was how he chose to spend their reunion? She was starting to lose feeling in her legs and the only thing she could hear was her heart being loudly in her chest.

"I'll take her off your hands now." Hideki smirked at Kakuzu. The male didn't offer him a spoken response, but in turn, pulled Nozomi closer to him. While the offer of double the pay was tempting, there was more in this bounty for him now than just the money. This new jutsu had intrigued him, plus a few spare organs wouldn't hurt in case he needed them.

"You can have her after I receive the bounty."

Hideki frowned as Nozomi's eyes widened and she looked back at the male she had hired. Kakuzu yanked the woman behind him. The blond then smirked and nodded, seeing as the situation wouldn't have gone any other way, and started to attack first with taijutsu.

"Hold on! I need to pray first!" Hidan grabbed a hold of the chain around his neck and closed his eyes. Once he opened them, there was a crowd of ninja around him. He recognized the group from when they were fighting in Snow Country. Groaning, he took the scythe off his back. "Why the hell do I have to fight with the extras?"

As Hidan began his fight, Kakuzu was well into his. Straying away from taijutsu after what happened last time that resulting in the added weight next to him, he veered towards long range attacks - his favorite being Fire Style: Searing Migraine. Speaking of the added weight, he'd been carrying her around the whole fight and it was nothing but a nuisance. How could he reverse the jutsu without any unnecessary antics?

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It felt like it had been almost an hour and she was being tossed around like a ragdoll. That seemed fitting of her role right now. Duck down, Guard. Get yanked. One moment she was in the air and the next moment, she was on the ground. It was all happening so fast, she couldn't even see it. The moment Hideki would try to reach out to her, Kakuzu would retract back and pull her with him.

"Hideki, please. I know you. You're better than this." Nozomi cried as they continued to fight. "This isn't right!" The battle advanced as if he couldn't hear her, but she knew he was listening. He always talked about how he loved his little sister so much. "Don't you remember when Dad left us behind? It was you and me against the world. We would always have each other's backs. You promised to protect me! Don't you love me?"