•Chapter Three•

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He cursed himself for waking up way too damn early.

A new face among the crowd. She maintained her head low, averting her eyes each time one of them tried to approach her. She responded in low murmurs at each question. Their contact was the last thing she wanted. Her hands gripping her black hair, focusing her mind somewhere else.

The young women respected her space. As if they already knew that approximating their distance to the new comer would only make her want to pull away from their grasp. These fanatics knew how to tie people around their fingers. They only needed to make her feel welcome into a new home where pain was non-existent.

He sighed as he watched the new girl finally giving in as one of them offered food. Hopefully no the repulsive milk they had offered to Neji.

The harpies had a good way of imposing a false welcome to their prey. Hospitality worked like magic in cults.

"What are you looking at Shikamaru?"

Sakura asked as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. At least someone enjoyed their nap, even when sleeping around farm animals.

"Fresh meat."

Sakura turned her gaze in the same direction. A young girl of lilac pupils that had long and obscured bangs was circled by the group of women. They smiled and laughed, using the insecurities of the girl into the comfort of a deluded group of fanatics. Welcoming her into a new family.

"See. That's why women are scarier. They don't need a fist to impulse dominance into their colleagues ..." he blinked as he thought for a second time. "Except for Temari. She is more fists than manipulation."

Green orbs burned with anger at the display. As if a disgusting play of how an animal was manipulated to enter the cavern of the predator. A fly caught in the nectar of a carnivorous plant.

"How?"

" I wonder too."

Then he wondered how the hell did his head survived so many blows. The sound echoed more distance than his grunting. The loud smack resonated as the palm that struck the back of his head hit him for a second time. He must've looked pretty dumb, because Sakura tried really hard to cover her smile.

"Argh. What the hell Hyūga? One wasn't enough?"

Apparently no. Because a third hit was what he got. This time twice as hard and painful.

"ARGH!"

"You know why I did it."

"Jeez Neji. I know, I am a know-it-all. But could you be more eloquent and explain me your reasoning for almost leaving head-trauma?"

"It's almost as if you enjoy that habit of making my belongings disappear. Care to explain why the food of my bag suddenly ended up thrown out in the grass?" Shikamaru shrugged. Neji sighed. "You think I didn't thought you would do that? We talked about this, Nara."

Sakura blinked. Remembering that when she opened her bag in the morning all her consumption products had vanished.

"Wait. My food was throw out too."

She narrowed her eyes towards Shikamaru

"Why did you throw it out?"

A snickering sound behind them interrupted. They turned back to meet the new visitor.

Her sole presence made the Nara's head get a tension headache . A involuntary response he couldn't help. After all, it was her who almost poisoned the Hyūga and tried to tie Sakura to her cult.

"Seem you enjoyed your accommodations after all."

Neji turned his head to meet green eyes and large red hair. Her lips painted of a pale pink color. It was the cult leader.

The lazy strategist was the one who spoke. Crossing his arms and giving the facade of having his guard down.

"What are you doing here...err...lady."

"It seems Young Nara. That even on the table you forgot the basic etiquette: Presentation. And you say men are equal to women." It was true he never bothered to learn her name. Talk about being a genius. "My name is Aiko. Seems we didn't have much to talk on dinner yesterday. So I decided to approach and talk. Might I know why is that your team was sent here? Arriving without invitation is quite rude."

Shikamaru sighed. But, before he could even say a word the woman raised her hand, silencing his. Then she pointed to Sakura.

"I won't speak to a man. Explain to me young one."

That woman hit a nerve that not many did. The Nara had little pride to his persona, but Aiko sure had the blessing of making him feel attacked.

"Uhhh, well." Sakura blinked and turned her head towards Shikamaru. A little awkward for having the spotlight all of the sudden. "You see the town nearby contracted us to investigate the kidnaping of many of their young women-"

The laughter of the woman made Sakura pause.

"Kidnaping? Ha ha ha." The Nara thought there was nothing fun about that. "Oh they call me a criminal now? For giving these young women a safe place. They were never kidnaped. But, like I said when you three arrived. You are welcome to remain in our home for as long as you want and investigate. You will find that there is nothing but a warm place for my children."

"Children?"

Aiko turned her attention to the Hyūga. Tilted her head and looked from head to toe to the Hyūga. As if he was a interrupting brat who had yell in class in the middle of a test.

"You wouldn't understand. These girls suffered and came here for peace. All I'm giving them is a safe sanctuary to remain like sisters." She began to walk away, but paused midway. "Oh. I came to invite you to our little party. We do it once a week, what is your name young girl?"

She bore her eyes into Sakura's almost like a snake hypnotizing it's prey.

"Sakura..."

"If you would like bring a comfortable clothes to take a bath. The summer here is quite nice, we have a river in the other side where we bathe. But is mostly for fun. We do have baths inside our dorms. But, it will please us more if you came to socialize." Her lips turned into a motherly smile. She placed her hand on Sakura's left shoulder. "It will be at four in the afternoon if you are interested. I think you might need a bath. Is been two days since your arrival. We'll eat afterwards. See you later young one."

Sakura replied with a fake smile. Again the same feeling of having her personal space being invaded came accompanied with the sensation of anger.

"I'll think about it..."

"Then. Goodbye for now."

Her shoulder was liberated of the woman's grasp. As soon as they watched her walk away the tension broke and Sakura grabbed her shoulder. It almost felt as if venom had been left behind.

"There is it again..." she spoke in a low tune, her eyes still watching Aiko from afar.

The constant emotion of agitated powerlessness. Aiko took that as soon as she approached her with a gentle smile and conversation. It was like a sweet and sour poison that made her defenses go down. As if reading her thoughts. Shikamaru's comment was precisely what Sakura wanted to know.

"Damn. What that hell was that? Talk about using motherly manipulation at its best."

"So you did notice too." The kunoichi smiled. "I wish I was a man so she wouldn't approach me so much. I bet that having a son would be her nightmare."

"Huh? Believe me you don't want to-"

There it was again. The oh so familiar ache in his head, this time he just grunted and grabbed the back of his head as the Hyūga smack was delivered for the fourth time. And it was just morning, way to welcome the sun.

The pink-haired girl smiled at Neji.

"Argh. Now that's a reason why you don't wanna be a man. They abuse you from both genders." He rubbed his attacked area and blinked. Too much of a hassle at the moment he just decided to slowly turn to meet the pale orbs with a deadpanned expression. "Fine... now what did I do?"

"Thanks to you we don't even have the basic necessities to clean, because you arrogantly decided to have your ego above Aiko's."

Shikamaru blinked as a thought crossed his head. Even he had to applaud himself. They might not have the basic access to those things, but...

"We might lack those privileges here. But, Sakura doesn't. Didn't you heard, Aiko? They are having a summer party in their lake." A playful smile was all he needed. This time he dodged the hand of the Hyūga. "Not this time, Hyūga."

Neji shook his head.

"When did you hit your head Nara? You have being anything but a capable strategist. First you offend the person we are supposed to be more careful around with. Now you propose this. Two unwanted men whom they clearly despise to go to their celebration-"

"Hey. You want to bathe or not? Besides, we need to casually approach their newest prey. Why do you think they suddenly celebrating anything. To make her feel warm in her new home."

"Who are you talking about? "

Sakura was reminded of the girl whom they had watched arrive in the camp minutes ago.

"You mean that shy girl?" The pink-haired kunoichi said as she finally understood part of the plan. "I can approach her. But, why are you insisting on going? Don't tell me."

She watched Shikamaru with deception. She pointed an accusing finger on his face.

"I can't believe it, you're just like Kiba and Naruto. You want to peek at the girls!"

The Nara rolled his eyes.

The Hyūga blinked and watched the Nara with suspicion.

"Like I said. I don't like being handled by troublesome women."

"Yeah. I don't believe you."

He face-palmed himself and grunted.

"Ever heard of psychological games? There must a reason why they hate men. There must be a kind of control she has over them. It isn't just her compassionate love for them. They have that in common. So what better way that to read their reactions when they see what they hate the most arrive unexpectedly."

Sounded convincing enough. Sakura finally gave him a break as she tilted her head and thought about his words.

"You know they are gonna chew you alive."

"Don't worry. I'll take Neji down with me."

The Byakugan-user sighed.

"How noble of you."

"Well...we better get ready for the party,right?"

Suddenly a loud sound was heard. Sakura's stomach reminded her of her wasted food.

"Great now what are gonna eat? Mind telling us the reason you threw our food out?"

"An experiment."

"Experiment?"

"I gave it to the cows. Remember the weird milk? Since we are really close to the source that provides it I want to know what they feed them to make their milk like that." He began to walk. "Follow me. You'll see the difference."

They walked towards a small group of cows who were eating Sakura's salad. While others were eating the flowers provided by the cult.

"Did you guys noticed anything weird?" Sakura tried to look closers the behavior of the cows, but she shook her head. "Their cows only consume those flowers. They don't eat the grass or herbs around them. It took me long, but just few of them accepted the food that I gave them. It will take few days for the results."

Sakura looked at him in disbelief.

"You are gonna make us farm these cows and drink their milk?"

Shikamaru shrugged.

"No us. I will test it like I did with the cow who drank the milk from Neji's sleeve. But, yeah we will learn to farm these ladies."

"Putting your male skills on the girly farm?"

"They always say a woman's touch works magic. Let's give them a man's touch. Also, I'll share my food with both of you."

"Right. Sacrifice our food and not yours."

He walked towards where he had left his backpack. Neji and Sakura followed behind.

"Is probably around ten a.m. Guess we still have time before going to their party."

Neji nodded. He really wasn't enthusiastic to endure such humiliation.

The warmth of the sunlight tempted them. A warm summertime on the middle of a vivid place full of blooming nature. It didn't mean that they had any right to have their guard down.

"Great. This feels more like bad vacations. Anyway, what is the menu Shikamaru?"

"Salad and rice balls."

"I'm not on diet you know."

Shikamaru paused and looked at one of the cows.

"Hey, we can take on of their cows for meat. Well, might not want to eat it either. Their nutrients might be just as toxic as their milk."

Neji walked towards one of the buckets where the cows ate, he bend down to pick some of the flowers the animals were consuming and brought it to Shikamaru.

"It would be useful to have Ino. She knows more about flowers than any of us. That might give us a clue what kind of plants they are feeding these animals." He smelled the petals. "Why bother to feed them a specific kind of food. They don't seem to have any other connections outside their camp. Which means they must have a stable community."

The Nara offered him a rice ball.

"Are you gonna eat plants or real food, Neji?"

"You want another concussion Nara?"

"Yeah. No thanks." He chewed his food and talked at the same time. Sakura shook his head as disapproval at his manners. "Still, the new girl they brought. It will be easier to know how and why she came here. How she was lured, there must be something they offered her besides a warm home. Usually in cults they have a vision of being special from those on the outside."

They remained in a circle discussing as a group.

Two pair of eyes observed them. She tilted her head as her attention was more captivated by the lazy man who sat with his head tilted to the side, a vulgarity display of indifference towards etiquette. The other male sat elegantly, ate with a more sophisticated movements each time he bit from what seemed a rice ball. Yet, she went back to observe the Nara.

"Aiko-sama. What are you looking at?" A younger female of blonde hair approached as Aiko watched comfortably the group as she had her back against a wall.

Aiko laughed.

"My lady? You seem more happy lately...why is that?"

"He reminds me of him..." a nostalgic moment captured her as she played with her hair as a past memory repeated in her mind. "It makes me feel nostalgic. But, at the same time he reminds me why I hate men..."

"Aiko-sama...Is better to not to be captured by your emotions towards that man. You know what happened last time you-"

"Oh, shush child..." there wasn't malice in the words of her worried girl, it was just a painful warning. "I will never forget what that man took from me...from all of you my young ones."

The girl bowed her head.

"My apologies. Is just...I don't want to see you ever again like that Aiko."

"I know. Still, there is something that has been bothering me for awhile...the Young Nara seemed so frustrated when I tried to approach his other male companion. I know he cares the same for Sakura. But..."

Aiko sighed disregarding her thoughts.

"Enough of that. Let's prepare the welcome party for our new arrival. What was the name of the new girl?"

"Her name is Ayame."

"You know why she came to us? Did she mention anything from her past?"

"She didn't say much. Just told us she hated men..."

Aiko nodded.

"That's enough. Means that they left her broken enough." She tilted her head as she watched Shikamaru get hit by his male comrade. She snickered. "There was a time I thought men like him wouldn't hurt a fly...how wrong and naive I was. And still is been a long time since I seen such a concerned man for those close to him."

Trying to ignore her words the young girl simply watched and paused a little nervous on her question.

"Should we feed her the milk, my lady?"

Aiko sighed.

"No. She seems to have her guard up. Is better to be patient. Let's go prepare for our celebration..."

She took hold of the hand of younger girl.

"You know. My child would've have looked a lot like you. Blonde hair like his, and green sparkly eyes like me..." she played with the hand of the youth. They walked away as if a mother and daughter were taking a stroll in the midsummer. "Men don't comprehend that pain. My beloved certainly didn't."

Thanks for reading. I will try to fix typos and grammar later.