Much love to Neonn who helped me beta and write parts of it. You should check her stuff out as well, there's a couple of wild'n'crazy one-shots.

This is the sequel following up 'Morbid Curiosity' so if you don't want to be confused, go read that first and tell me what you think.

A Morbid Acuteness of the Senses

Chapter 1: Just a Whiff

Recap

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Hidan, get the door!" Sakura yelled from her study, her face half hidden behind a medical text which Hidan hadn't joined in reading, saying something about how he didn't need to know about his body since he could take anything out an examine it himself. Groaning, Hidan pulled his hands out of the sink of dirty dishes and rinsed them of the soap, since Sakura had put him on dish duty for no apparent reason other then to annoy him. As he made his way to the door, he grumbled about how he was a servant of Jashin and should not have to do such measly tasks as washing dishes. Upon opening the door, he found Shikamaru standing there, holding out a scroll.

"What's this?" Hidan took the scroll from him.

"It's a scroll, idiot. Just read it and find out." Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Hidan scowled.

"I know that! Dammit, I'm asking what this is about! We haven't gotten any scrolls before."

"The Hokage is expecting you two later." And with that, Shikamaru poofed away. Hidan looked at the scroll he was left with and made his way to Sakura in her study.

"Hey, Sakura….that one guy that hates me, Shika-something, gave me this just now." Hidan held up the scroll for her to see. Without looking up, she sighed,

"His name is Shikamaru-" Upon looking up and seeing the scroll's specifically colored markings, she immediately put her medical texts down. "Hidan…"

"What?"

"That's a mission scroll."

Continued

"A mission scroll?"

There was a loud clatter as the medical texts clattered to the floor in Sakura's hurried scramble to get up.

"Hidan…do you know what this means?" Sakura said slowly. She really couldn't believe it. The Hokage was beginning to take Hidan seriously.

"…that we got a mission?" he said uncertainly as he bent to retrieve one of the fallen books.

"No! Idiot! It means that you did it!" and the next thing he knew, Sakura was latched on to him in a suffocating hug.

"Sa-Sakura, I haven't even started the freakin' mission yet! What's with the hug?!" He gasped out, too uncomfortable to appreciate her gesture of affection.

"She trusts you!" Sakura beamed up at him with pride. To her, this was a landmark achievement. She was the one to come up with the plan. She was the one to dig him up (with Shikamaru's help, of course). And then, she was the one who took care of him, found out about him, and put her trust in this once-upon-a-time enemy. She was so proud of him for proving to everyone else that her trust was well-founded. And now, it seems that Konoha trusted him, too. But when she saw the look of bewilderment on his face, her smile faded. Mentally sighing, she realized that she would have to explain even this.

"Eh?" Hidan wasn't sure what she was getting at. He wasn't sure what he had done except be himself. He didn't try exceptionally hard at anything outside of trying to impress her and keeping his pride in tact. The past few weeks since he had gotten his body back were a long, boring blur where it seemed that he was living his genin and chuunin years all over again with all the training he had been forced to do.

Unfortunately, even though he had been living with Sakura for these past few weeks, and it was probably the longest he'd been around any woman in his life, he was still very uncomfortable whenever they got close or she casually touched his arm or shoulder; however, he did manage to control his infernal blush. At least his blood pressure didn't give away his feelings anymore. He very carefully reached up and grasped her arms lightly in an effort to loosen them..

"The Hokage, Tsunade shisou… she trusts you just like she does the rest of the Konoha ninja. I'm really proud of you." She explained as the moment totally lost all of its initial impact. Hidan returned her small smile with a tiny, uncertain one of his own as he finally understood what she was talking about and at the same time, newly realizing some truths about himself.

All of a sudden, there was a lot going on in his mind. Of course, his first priority was to wreak his revenge on Akatsuki, so anything that helped him reach that goal quicker was immediately accepted by him. But, until now, he had never thought about the stakes at hand. It was as if he was playing a card game and every time he took a card from another player, he had to show all of his own cards to the player he took them from. So basically, the other player now knew Hidan's hand as well as Hidan's strategies, so now, the other player held certain expectations. In Hidan's case, this other player was Konoha and they were expecting a card from him in return as well as a certain move. Konoha now wanted his undying loyalty and for the moment, they had it. But they wanted something more, they expected him to become one of their own shinobi and Hidan wasn't sure if he wanted to do that.

"Quick, you have the scroll, let's see what it says." Sakura's voice snapped him out of his reverie as she grabbed the scroll from him and began opening it while moving closer to the lamp. Hidan peered over her shoulder to investigate.

"It's probably something easy. I doubt she'd assign you an A-rank or something for your first mission. I bet it's something simple like…like 'Infiltrating the Akatsuki'?!" Sakura had to reread the scroll two times just to be sure until Hidan suggested they might as well head to see the Hokage now. To him, this was fine. The sooner he got to the Akatsuki, the better.

Jashin-sama, I'll give all those bastards to you. They deserve to be damned.

--

"Shisou, are you serious?" Sakura stood in the middle of Tsunade's office with Hidan standing next to her. Although, he was eyeing an empty part of the nearby wall as a decent place to listen from.

"Sakura, remember, you're the one who suggested it. You told me he was ready for missions, and frankly, time is running out."

"Yeah, but-"

"We want to stop Akatsuki from reaching their goal. They cannot be allowed to complete their plan or it would mean the end of everything for the rest of us."

"…shisou, I know this. I'm as worried as you are. Naruto is my best friend and they're going to come after him soon…but Hidan…he can't go on an S-rank like this right off the bat!" Sakura didn't know why she was feeling so overprotective of Hidan (she never argued with her teacher) , it's not like it was any of her business. In fact, it was on the same level as Naruto, so much so that she was wringing her hands together. Hidan watched this all a little curiously. Of course, he was flattered that she was so worried about him out of nowhere since she had never shown this much concern for him before… unless there was blood on him, but still….where had all that come from? Wasn't he just 'there' as one of her responsibilities? He hadn't yet said anything to the Hokage since Sakura had been doing all the talking since they'd arrived.

"Sakura…." The Hokage rubbed her temple "his purpose by being with us is, first and foremost, to help us stop the Akatsuki. Besides that, Hidan is a competent shinobi of very high ranking, especially as an ex-criminal and missing nin. He is more than capable of handling himself." Tsunade said as she leaned back into her chair.

"uh…Lady...Tsunade, can you tell me what exactly you're asking from me? I mean heheheh, I don't exactly make unconditional deals with anyone but Jashin…" Hidan had to word his speech carefully to avoid giving the Hokage the wrong impression, but without offending her. He refused to call her 'Hokage' because he never accepted her as his leader in particular, but he did respect her as the leader of others.

Tsunade and Sakura both looked at Hidan as if they'd just noticed him standing there for the first time. Sakura forgot about him in her argument with the Hokage, while Tsunade didn't give him any special attention because he simply wasn't hers. Although Sakura did not notice how Hidan had replaced 'Hokage' with a simple 'Lady', Tsunade did, and as such, she lifted a brow in his direction before tapping her lip in thought.

"Well…Hidan, all those parts and labor don't come cheap, now that you have your body, you have to keep your end of the bargain by helping us stop Akatsuki. You already agreed to it beforehand, right?"

"Yeah…" Hidan's voice sounded tight because he hated the fact that she was referring to him as if he were some sort of vehicle. And what did she mean by 'parts'? It's not as if they had to piece him together from someone else's body, all of him was already there!

Just a little longer, Hidan. Two steps forward, one step back. Swallow your pride for now, you'll get it all back later. Jashin-sama will be proud of you.

"Then there shouldn't be any problem for you to go on this mission. It's settled." Tsunade smacked he hand on the table. Sakura looked at Tsunade as if she'd grown a second head.

"But shisou!! You can't send him alone! And on an S-rank! And into Akatsuki! What if something happens? What if he needs backup? He'll be in trouble! Then we'll be in trouble! And everything will go wrong! Akatsuki will have their guards up again! We'll never have this chance again. If something happens to him while he's alone, no one will know!"

Tsunade's face darkened just a little as she realized that Sakura, smart as she was, was still too naïve and trusting. She probably couldn't even fathom the possibility of Hidan betraying Konoha. She was obviously too attached and worried over his well-being.

Tsunade sighed softly because…well…Tsunade couldn't blame the girl. After being around the same person constantly for so long, there's bound to be some sort of attachment. Just take her and Jiraiya. They absolutely hate each other, their personalities are different, and yet, they still worry about one another. The most likely reason would be because they all grew up together.

"Oh there'll definitely be some trouble Sakura…I'm expecting it, that's why you're going to go with him."

"What?!" Sakura instantly deflated. Hidan watched, mildly amused. His pride was basically on a teeter-totter. Swelling up whenever she tried to protect him, because it just felt good to know that somebody worried about him; thinking about him…and then crashing back down because she thought he couldn't take care of himself.

Jashin! Does she really think I'm that freakin' helpless? She's seen me train. Except for minor scratches, I never get hurt. Seriously…just because I can't cook or wake up on time, it's like I'm a baby -sigh-

"Yes, so both of you go pack up. Hidan, we have some of your things, Shikamaru is waiting outside, he'll take you to them. And Sakura, I still need a word with you."

Hidan glanced at Sakura and caught her eye for a second. Her expression told him that she was just as bewildered as he was. And then he looked at Tsunade. She didn't look threatening, but he had learned not judge her by her youthful looks. He paused in the doorway. He had a bad feeling about this, but he left the two alone anyway and headed down to get his things with Shikamaru.

"Sakura, you're too attached to him. I don't trust him. I don't know if he'll betray us as soon as he leaves, or if he will even do the mission. He is a very powerful shinobi and I would like for his loyalties to lie with us, but he's not being very convincing." Tsunade watched Sakura very carefully for a reaction, but whatever was going through her mind, never showed on her face. Sakura on the other hand froze. She completely put her guard up again, as soon as Tsunade accused her of being too attached.

"What do you mean, Tsunade Shisou?" She asked carefully.

"…I'm not sending you because you think he needs to be taken care of, I'm sending you because you're going to make sure he doesn't do anything against Konoha."

"…but… I thought… you finally trusted him…" Sakura unconsciously fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

"I trust him…for now, but remember, ninjas don't trust anyone." There was a slight ominous pause after this statement before Tsunade continued.

"Has he said anything to you about what he plans to do?"

"He says he plans to kill every remaining member of Akatsuki." Sakura quickly replied.

"Yes, so we all know. But tell me, has he said anything about what he will do if and when, he succeeds?"

Sakura looked down at her hands and tried to remember all of the conversations she had had with Hidan about this topic. There weren't very many. He seemed to be set on only one thing and since he was such a straightforward person, she didn't think any of his words had a double meaning. But what Tsunade said was true. Hidan had not mentioned, even once, what would happen if he actually wreaked his vengeance on Akatsuki. If he actually did manage to kill the Akatsuki.

"Actually, Tsunade-sama, I don't think he has even thought about it yet." She gave Tsunade an apologetic look. Sakura knew that Hidan and Naruto were very similar in personality, so knowing Naruto for so long, she figured that if Hidan had not said a word about anything, it was most likely because he had never thought about it in the first place.

Upon hearing that, Tsunade developed a small twitch on her face.

"…I see…very well. Please make sure to tell Hidan that this is a reconnaissance mission for now. There is no need to kill anyone yet. You must infiltrate Akatsuki, and gain information on them and their latest plans. Report back once you feel you have enough. Go now, get ready. Shizune!" Sakura walked towards the door but Shizune raced in at the same time.

"Hai! Hokage-sama!"

"Get me my sake!...oh, and Sakura…" Sakura paused in the doorway.

"Hm?"

"Once you leave Konoha, trust no one." Frowning, Sakura gave a subtle nod and walked out, leaving the sound of Shizune's protests and Tsunade's demands behind.

I'm sorry this was so short, but it was more dramatic if I ended it here. The next chapter will be longer.

Please leave me a review. Do you like the new tone? It's more serious now, but there will be a focus on romance more.

Once again

Please Review! They make me very happy and make me want to write more :D