Conversing: The first time she tried to have a decent conversation with him; she was insulted.

"The weather today is wonderful, yes?"

Hidan twitched in annoyance.

Do not yell at her.

Her parents are paying you.

Do not fucking yell at her.

"…I guess."

She smiled at him; her face beaming with absolute happiness at his half-assed reply and trailed after him like a puppy would to a new friend.

He ignored the eerie resemblance she had to a certain dark haired Uchiha that did the same to Deidara and walked passed her, a large sack of dirt over his shoulder. It had been almost a week after the leaves incident and the girl had made it a point to start talking to him every time she spotted him in the garden. Her Japanese was quickly improving, but her speech was still formal to the point that it was almost painful to speak to her.

"The sack, is it not too heavy for one to carry?"

"I'm fine."

"You are quite the strong person!"

"…sure."

"We have much ground to cover, we start now?"

"Whatever."

His feet crunched the gravel at every step he took. Today was the day he was assigned to get some planting done, Kakashi had brought in some potted flowers and instructed him the owners would want the garden to look. He wanted instructions on how the rich bitch wanted it done but no. The silver haired old man wanted him to follow what the Princess wanted for the god damned space of dirt.

With much reluctance, he yielded and allowed the pink haired girl to boss him around for the rest of the day.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

"Here! Here!" Sakura walked a little bit ahead of him and stopped near a cultivated plot of land, pointing at some direction. It was hard to tell because the girl was flailing her arms like a crazed woman with all the excitement she felt. He groaned and approached the tiny pink haired girl, praying to jashin that this girl would tire out sooner than later. He glanced at the large collection of potted flowers that Kakashi had brought out awhile ago, a bunch of colorful plants that he knows nothing off. He glanced at his supposed partner who was already fussing over the plants, speaking in English as she experimented with flower combinations. He dropped the sack on the ground and sat on it, waiting for further instructions.

She was moving flower pots left and right, probably thinking of what arrangement to go with. Her eyes were sparkling with happiness as she mumbled words to herself, shaking her head every now and then as she tried to decide on which one to use first. Hidan rested his cheek over his fist as he waited, bored as hell. He sighed and pulled out his phone, checking if he had any new messages just to pass the time.

"Hidan-kun!"

His eyebrows twitched at the mention of his name. He resisted the urge to growl at the pink haired brat, who dared to use such an intimate title, running up to him.

"…What?"

Sakura smiled at him and pointed at a bunch of flowers piled together. Pinks and blues with a bit of white ones. He looked up to her when she began speaking in English once more, she does that from time to time, forgetting that he didn't knew the language as much as she did. Her hands were moving about, as if trying to explain to him what shape she wanted for the garden, her hands were smeared with dirt and he held back a snort as she wiped at her cheek, dirtying her pale face without even knowing it. Her mouth was moving a mile a minute, excited as she gestured around the area.

"Then we could add some lilies around the fountain, mother always loved lilies!"

...What?

She made a move to grab him by the arm and pulled her up to his feet with a strength that he didn't know she possessed and dragged him to the empty flower bed, words he didn't understood still being thrown at him.

He pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand, trying to calm himself. "Kid…"

"Should we go with the pink or the violets? I'm pretty sure we have enough of both but—"

"Kid…I can't understand a word—"

"Or should I just have that tree removed? I never really liked it—"

"Hey… Kid…"

"Ah but father likes the trees—"

FUCK IT

He grabbed the smaller girl by the head and forcibly moved her gaze towards him and glared. "Listen!"

Sakura's gaze was shocked and a bit terrified at the way he was holding her head with his strong grip. Her bottom lip trembled and her eyes were wide."W-what are you—"

"I. Do. Not. Understand. English." He growled. "Speak Japanese when you're in Japan idiot!"

Hidan released her head, and with one final glare, left her standing alone in the middle of the courtyard.

...

"Hidan-kun,"

oh shit.

Hidan abruptly flinched upon hearing the saccharine sweet tone of one Hatake Kakashi. He tried to ignore the feeling of impending doom and continued to pack up his tools having finished his duties for the day. He ignored the older silver haired man was standing in a non threatening fashion with his ever present slouch and misleading eye-crinkle.

"H-Hey..." He cursed all that is good for having fucking stuttered in front of the man who would murder him. "I'm just packing up... I'll continue tomorrow."

Kakashi nodded and patted him on the shoulder, a simple act but he was sure the way his hand was dangerously close to his neck was anything but. "Good work for today,"

"Yeah... I'll just be-"

"Not so fast Hidan-kun," The hand on his shoulder was gentle but the grip that followed had him wishing he had gone home the minute he could. "The miss would like to speak to you before you leave."

"...Do I have to?" He was whining like a bitch but right now he wanted nothing but to leave this jashin forsaken place.

Kakashi merely smiled at him and pointed towards the direction of the garden once more. "She's having tea by the fountain."

"I'm sorry."

Hidan blinked. That I didn't expect. "Uh… apology accepted?"

Sakura stood up straight, green eyes downcast, afraid to meet his gaze. "I…had gotten carried away, I become…uh… insensitive of Hidan-kun's position."

Hidan could only freeze when he saw tears begin to form and panic once again bloomed in his system. Fuck!

"It's fine!"

Sakura blinked. "E-Eh?"

"Just…" He sighed. "Don't do it again next time we work on the garden."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Next…? Hidan-kun will allow a next time?"

"Yeah…if you promise to be good…?" He scratched the back of his head looking anywhere but the pink bundle of joy in front of him. "Let's… work hard okay?"

"Yes!"

God she was smiling so much it was almost painful to watch. Hidan shuddered. "I'm leaving."

Sakura smiled. "I will see you tomorrow again, Hidan-kun!"

"Uh…yeah."

blergh.

Fanfic recommendation: goys this is amazeballs!

Dirt and Ashes, or: The One-and-a-Half Body Problem by Tozette on AO3

it's fucking amazing.