SUMMARY: No one can escape forever.
Ra sees them everywhere now.
It feels like she is being hunted.
And she is not the hunter.
Ra is the prey.
It's not like Ra is unused to this feeling - it is simply that she is unused to it here.
It is a lot harder to play cat and mouse in the 'good' sector of Konoha.
It could have been a good thing.
But just as it is harder to hunt, it is also harder to flee.
And Ra is just waiting to be caught.
That is always the worst part.
At least your fate is a little more definite when you are captured.
Before that, there is always a feeling of being watched.
Ra cannot escape from it.
From them.
And she cannot go on like this forever.
But if she evades for long enough they may give up.
Unlikely.
Ra is still going to try.
She is too busy caught up in her thought to realise how exhausted she is.
She catches a glimpse of haunting pink-hair and taunting green eyes before everything goes black.
She wasn't fast enough.
Re can the feel the eyes on her.
She can sense them.
But she cannot move.
She feels trapped by that gaze.
It is not that she is unaccustomed to such gazes, simply that she is usually mentally-fortified enough to deal with it.
But she is not.
Someone is watching her.
And she is the only one in the bathhouse.
She tries to sink lower into the water but she just cannot make herself move.
Maybe if it was a curious gaze or one leaking Killing Intent.
She could deal with that.
But she isn't ready to deal with this.
Not here.
Because if she lets herself go, someone is going to become headless.
And it won't be her.
Re is not ashamed of her body.
It is a just another weapon.
She can deal with stares - usually.
But she has always been able to defend herself.
Here, she can feel her watcher's immense power.
With Temari's death match, Sasuke leaving and the destruction in the village, she is too stressed to deal with it rationally.
Re is vulnerable.
And she didn't put herself into this position.
That is what matters most.
At work, she is the one who goes.
She never signed up for a watcher.
And she hates it.
Hates that she has to submit.
Hates that she cannot do anything about it.
If there is one thing she values more than anything, it is Ra and Ru.
For them to be happy, she needs to survive.
And trying to decapitate her watcher is not going to help.
They are too strong.
She doesn't have a choice.
So she tries her best to move, to turn her back and leave.
But she cannot feel the soothing warmth of the baths.
Cannot allow herself to relax and enjoy them.
She is frozen.
Ru frowns as he follows Ebisu.
He is trying to convince the man to help him with his chakra control.
It's not going very well.
Clearly the man has something against him even though he 'rescued' Konohamaru from the District.
Maybe the man doesn't know about it.
He pales as he realises just where the man is going.
Ru doesn't understand why so many nin are perverts.
Then and and again, they are killers.
Not good people.
But he doesn't get why they couldn't just stop at that.
He would have asked Re and Tenten to lay some interesting seals around both bathhouses.
If they could get away with it.
Unfortunately, many of the perverts were proficient in seals.
And they would never own up to making them so they would be removed by the ANBU.
It would be a waste of time.
Ru wishes it wasn't.
As they reach their destination, Ru is forced to blink.
Because a giggling Toad Sage is in front of him, Ebisu unconscious nearby.
Stomach already sinking, Ru directs his attention to the occupants.
Because Ru is strong but he isn't strong enough to take down Jiraiya of the Sannin.
And in front of them, paralysed, stands Re.
His mind short-circuits.
And Ru is moving before he knows it.
He 'accidentally' barrels the man over as he dashes towards his teammate.
Re doesn't need to be rescued.
She is a Street Rat, not a princess.
But Ru loves her.
And his teammate, his sister, his Re is terrified.
Not even the Toad Sage could stop him as he helps her out of the bath and hands her her clothes.
Her eyes are glassy and her face is set like stone.
Ru wants to launch himself at the man.
But Re needs him more.
And he would never win.
So instead, he turns away from the - man is too generous - nin and leads Re away.
He has more important thing to do.
The Sannin evidently does not agree.
"Hey, think you could introduce me to your pretty girlfriend?" the white-haired man calls, wiggling his eyebrows.
Re buries her head into his shoulder.
And he decides - to hell with it.
"NO!"
Far from looking discourage, the nin continues.
"And what about you sweet-cheeks, think you can-"
Ru glares at him.
The nin falters slightly for a moment.
He isn't stupid enough to think it is because of his glare so Ru glances around him subtly.
"Naruto?"
How does this man know his name?
He has to leave.
He has to leave now.
Re tugs his hand expectantly.
She might not be talking but she will always have his back.
They flee like the Shinigami is chasing them.
They don't look back at the bruised and still shocked Sannin.
Nor at the still unconscious Ebisu at his feet.
They have to, need to go.
They cannot stay there any longer.
So they leave.
When Neji finds his (potential) cousin, she is clinging to her teammate like a lifeline.
She flinches away when he approaches them.
It hurts that she trusts Naruto more than she trusts him, her cousin.
But Neji knows that Hinata has had a hard life.
She hides it well but Neji is perceptive.
And he is about to make it even harder.
"Hiashi-sama has summoned you and Tenten regarding your creation."