The controller cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention but he was looking at Thanerah and the rest. “I’m sorry, but I’m gonna have to scan you as well.”
Thanerah sighed heavily then she turned to her companions “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”
Tagor groaned deeply and mumbled under his breath as he crossed his arms on his chest “I hate getting scan. It makes my skin crawl.”
“Well that’s thoughtful of you” Thanerah said to him sarcastically as they walked to the next room where they’re about to be scan. Hidan went first and he looked annoyed when he was being scanned.
Tagor glared at his sister while they were waiting for their turn. “Don’t be a smart ass, Thanerah.”
“Come on, bro. I was just having fun with you. What’s the harm in that?”
He asked “My feelings?”
Thanerah softly scoffed “Don’t get all sensitive, brother.”
“I’m not being sensitive. I mostly feel offended.”
“Tch”
Hidan walked out of the scanner and the controller said “Next.”
Thanerah and Tagor glanced at each other. “You go” he said to Thanerah as he nodded towards the scanner. Thanerah smirked at her brother but proceed into the scanner. She relaxed when the machine scanned her and the result was green.
“All right, next.”
She walked to the ‘safe’ room and stood beside Hidan while looking at her brother who looked a little nervous. He took in a deep breath and entered the scanner which leaves Thunder left. Tagor stood in the scanner very tensely and Thanerah could see his lips moving which could mean that he was telling himself to calm down as they machine was scanning him.
Once he was done, he entered the ‘safe’ room. He shuddered when he entered while Thanerah was smirking widely at him and her arms crossed on her chest. “Now then, it wasn’t that bad now, was it?”
Tagor narrowed his eyes at her “Bite me.”
Both Hidan and Thanerah chuckled. Thanerah realized that Thunder is still in the scanning room so she called out to him “Come on, boy!” He tried to enter the scanner but the controller shouted.
“I’m sorry, but he has to stay here! He’s an Ukrah and Ukrahs are forbidden to enter the barrier cities!”
“It’s not really necessary! I’ll take full responsibility!” protested Thanerah.
“You don’t have the authorization to bring this Ukrah into the city. I can’t allow that to happen!”
Hidan barged in the argument “You don’t have to f**kin’ worry about your superior! I’ll take full responsibility instead!”
“I’m sorry but who are you?” asked the controller with narrowed eyes.
Hidan was going to answer but the captain barged into the argument “He is Hidan, son of the High Priest Odan. He has the authorization to proceed that includes the Ukrah.”
“Um…” the controller was speechless as he stared at the captain. Hidan smirked widely at the controller until he sighed heavily in defeat. “Very well…” he pressed a few buttons on the holographic screen and the second doors were open for Thunder to pass through.
“Thunder!” exclaimed Thanerah happily as she embraced Thunder. He licked her face while Hidan nodded thanks to the Captain and he returned the gesture.
Hidan asked the captain “How did you know me?”
“I’ve heard some old legends by your name. I heard that you’ve lead the last remaining defenses against the armies of the Natoku. I’ve heard it from my grandfather when I was just a little boy.”
Thanerah smiled widely at Hidan while he was grinning nervously at the captain. “Oh yeah?” he asked with a hint of gratitude in his voice. Thanerah stood beside him and softly nudged his rib with her elbow and he only grinned at her.
Thanerah joked with the captain “Don’t give my husband too much credit. He thinks about himself more easily than you may think.”
Hidan continued to grin while the captain let out a small chuckle. When Hidan figured when she said, his grin dropped and he softly glared at his wife “What the f**k is that supposed to mean? That doesn’t sound so f**king nice.”
“Come on, honey. You’re a masochist.” She said to him while patting his chest.
“You know, that f**king excuse is getting tired.”
“But it’s true!”
The captain cleared his throat to get the couple’s attention, when they turned their heads to look at him he said to them “After you’re done having your little argument, I’ll take you to my superior.”
Thanerah quickly apologized “Right, sorry about that.”
--
The captain himself led the small group through the long metallic corridors and Thanerah haven’t seen a single person when they entered the corridors. She asked “Where’s everybody?”
“Its work hours right now” answered the captain casually.
“Ah…”
The captain stopped in front of two metal doors and stand on the side. “This is as far as I could go. My superior is expecting you.”
“He’s expecting us?” asked Thanerah with a hint of surprise in her voice “He knew that we were going to be here?”
“I’m sorry but I informed him while you were getting scanned.”
“Right…”
The captain saluted to them “It’s nice to meet you. I’ll be waiting here when you’re done.”
“Thanks”
The doors opened and the team went in. The room was dark but there was a single lamp on and there was a sight of the city right behind the desk. Someone was sitting on the arm chair but its back was facing them. The doors closed behind them and the security door rooms turned from green to red, keeping sure that it’s locked tight.
“Welcome to Swalogus…” said a deep voice from the arm chair. Soon it was turned around to reveal a man with black short slick back hair with onyx eyes while wearing a black uniform. He could be gothic too but he didn’t really seem to be that gothic. Thanerah felt Hidan suddenly went tense so she glanced at him from the corner of her eyes to see him staring at the man in shock.
“Pierce…?”
He looked at Hidan “It’s been a long time, Hidan. Far too long. And it’s General Pierce for you, General Hidan.”
Hidan growled deeply while his hands were clenching so tightly. “You f**king bastard…”
“Ouch, that’s what I get from someone who I haven’t seen for nearly – oh, what was that? – Oh right! A decade?”
“That doesn’t change any f**king thing from the last time!”
“Come on, Hidan. It was inevitable. Someone had to blow up that damn pitiful jail. Everything was out of control. Hey, at least you’re still alive, doesn’t that count?”
Hidan stepped forward, intending to strangle him across the table but Thanerah saw it coming. She quickly blocked his path and pressed her hands on his chest while softly shaking her head to him “No, don’t, Hidan.” Hidan growled deeply but obeyed then took a step back but he was glaring hard at Pierce.
“You damn son of a b**ch! I f**king barely escaped with my life and you blew up the f**king ship while my team was still inside!”
“Hey, sacrifices must be made at that mission, whatever means necessary and I did just that. You’re in a religion that has to have a lot of sacrifices so you must have understood better than I do, really.”
“Stop making these f**king pitiful excuses! Someday, you’re going to be f**king punished for what you’ve done and I’ll be smiling down at your corpse when that day comes!”
“Ooh, touching. That’s really cold for you to say something like that, Hidan but I expected as much from you. No doubt about it.” He said with so much confidence with a smirk plastered on his face as he leaned on his arm chair and crossed his fingers together. As if he was toying with Hidan without even trying. Thanerah could tell that Hidan wasn’t thinking anything but giving Pierce a good beating but she didn’t want them to get kicked out so quickly, yet.
She went near his ear to whisper “Love, please calm down. You can have your fight with him after I find my target.”
Hidan slightly pulled away so he could look at her in the eyes, he growled softly to her so only she could hear it “Can’t it wait until I kill this f**kin’ bastard? I’ve wanted to torture him slowly and painfully for years.”
“Please, we just got here. I don’t want to be kicked out…just yet.”
Hidan looked into her eyes for a moment then sighed heavily in defeat “All right. I guess I can live until then.”
Pierce arched a brow at Thanerah and asked “And who’s your lady friend?” in his voice, there was a hint of…interest which neither Thanerah nor Hidan liked. Tagor glared at Pierce threatening while Thunder was softly growling at him dangerously.
Hidan protectively wrapped an arm around Thanerah’s shoulder and growled at Pierce with so much force than he intended to but he couldn’t help it “You don’t need to f**king know her. It’s none of your f**king business.”
“It is my business, Hidan. After all, you’re all under my responsibility, hence I have the power to whether kick you out of the city or throw you in jail in a crime of assault. Take your pick. Choose wisely, you know how I can be, Hidan.”
Hidan cursed under his breath while glaring hard at Pierce. *Tch…asshole…* He growled as he answered him “She’s my wife.”
“She’s your wife? Really? She looks way beyond your taste, Hidan. Never thought you ended up with someone like her.” He said as he was looking at her up and down with interest twinkling in his mischievous eyes. It made her utterly uncomfortable.
Thanerah thought as she softly glared at him *Okay, I don’t like this guy. He’s creepy. No, way beyond creepy.*
Hidan growled at Pierce threateningly. “Hey, we’re only here to look for someone.” He said while still growling, immediately want to go straight to the point.
Pierce pulled his eyes away from Thanerah, finally and asked Hidan “What? You didn’t come to see me? Ouch, I’m hurt.”
“Don’t play all f**king sensitive, Pierce. Just tell us where Tsukon Borochah is.”
“Tsukon Borochah…?” mumbled Pierce as he rubbed his chin in deep thought while diverting his eyes away from the group. He looked back at the group with a hard glare this time and he leaned on his arm chair once gain. “Sorry, can’t help you. That name doesn’t ring any bells.”
“Well fine, we’ll just ask through the city until we find him.”
“I’m not sure if that will do you any good. If I don’t know, they don’t know.”
“So, you f**king know everthing?”
“Pretty much. After all, I am in charge of this city.”
Tagor scoffed as he looked at the so-called city behind him “You call this a city? Sure it has some high buildings here and there but it’s also part of the environment. It’s more like a domain than a city to me.”
Pierce frowned, deeply, while looking at Tagor wryly “And, you are?”
“You don’t need to know my name.”
“Hmm…” he turned his eyes to Hidan “…you need to teach this pup some lessons, Hidan. You’re getting soft.”
Tagor immediately felt annoyed and he growled at him like a wolf “Say what?!”
Tagor wanted nothing but to tackle the man down and devour him, but Thanerah quickly blocked his way from Pierce. “Please, we don’t want to make any trouble so calm down!”
“Hmm, you’re a smart girl. It’s about time Hidan found someone intelligent, he needs it. Unlike I do.”
Hidan growled at him while glaring hard at Pierce. He quickly appeared right in front of his desk and grabbed the front of his collar to bring his face close to his. Thanerah cried out “Hidan!” but he didn’t listen to her this time.
“Don’t play with your f**king games with me, Pierce. I’m not who I was before. If anything happens to my wife or anyone else who matters to me, I won’t hesitate to kill you myself. You’re just f**king lucky that your title is protecting you from me to kill you.”
Pierce just smirked widely at him and asked him “Then what stopped you before? You had so many opportunities back then.”
“That was a f**king mistake. I should have killed you when I had the chance but…before I knew what your real intentions were, I actually considered you as a friend.”
“…Hmf. You’re really getting soft, Hidan. You’re just damn lucky that your father is the High Priest; that gave you an easy ticket of becoming a General.” Hidan growled, immediately consumed by hatred while glaring hard at him. Pierce quickly and roughly pulled away from Hidan’s grasp and composed his clothes properly while staring at him nonchalantly. “Leave, now. I have some unfinished business and you’re in the way.”
Hidan growled at him. Thanerah quickly appeared by Hidan’s side and she wrapped her arms around his arm. “Hidan, let’s go. Now.” She slowly tugged him away from Pierce and towards the door.
“I would listen to the lady, Hidan. She is right, after all.”
Hidan couldn’t stop glaring at him then finally diverted his eyes away from him when they exited the dark office but he growled under his breath “Worthless bastard…”