SUMMARY: Ra and Ru scheme.
I won't be able to update for the next few days (probably until Wednesday) so I'm posting four chapters (Part 13 to 16) now.
Ra has a month.
For real this time.
No sudden preliminaries because of Cat's boyfriend.
He's been hanging out around them lately, particularly the Sand team.
Honestly, he is terrible at stalking them.
Pineapple did a much better job.
And he wasn't even a Genin.
Honestly, this guy's meant to be a Jounin.
But she needs to concentrate.
She doesn't want to.
But Ra does what she has to not what she wants to.
So she sits and she plans.
As is often said, no plan survives first contact with the enemy.
Or with Re and Ru.
But plans give all of them guidance.
Depending on how it goes, at the end, they will have several enemies or no enemies at all.
Ra doesn't like this.
She goes back to planning.
Re doesn't know what to do.
She has never been in a situation like this before.
She often manages to improvise but it is out of necessity.
She does not want Neji to be a necessity.
And he's there, before her, looking so unsure and lost she can't help herself.
She has invited him to their meditation rooftop.
She has already put seals on it - with Tenten's help - so it is relatively secure.
Re must still be careful.
She has no wish for a seal she did not choose to bear to be placed on her.
But maybe she can counter Neji's?
She need to get her hands on the Uchiha too...
Can she really ask him to simply show her it?
Is it worth a try?
No, she scold herself, not yet.
What if the boy thinks she only cares for him as some sort of lab rat?
Instead, she asks him about himself.
Everyone likes talking if you ask the right questions.
Re quickly learns not to touch the topic of the Elders.
She isn't particularly surprised.
As expected, there are a few liberal ones but most seem overly old-fashioned.
Re is half-convinced she is living in some sort of book because they sound so two-dimensional.
But Neji doesn't know them enough and she refuses to press him any further.
They don't mention the fact that she could be Hinata.
That she probably is.
They don't makes small talk either.
It is difficult.
They are both broken things and it is hard.
But they try.
And, as always, that is what matters to her.
She thinks it's gone well.
They begin to part ways.
"Can I see your seal?"
She should have know better.
She jinxed it.
Ru is getting fed up of this.
Naruto might be happy and naive enough to believe that he is helping.
But Ru is quickly approaching the end of his tether.
He was not exactly happy - but understanding when the Uchiha began to take his temper out on him.
He thought it would help.
Some people need people to hold and talk to them most of the time.
Some prefer breaking things.
Uchiha Sasuke is trying to break him.
He is nowhere near close.
He will never be.
Ru is made up of things wedged in gaps they weren't meant to fit into and some pretty bad structure.
But Ru knows how to break and build himself back up.
Poor Naruto doesn't know that.
But Naruto isn't poor - at least in that sense.
Naruto cannot break.
Because Naruto does not exist.
You cannot destroy something that was never created.
But Ru does.
Ru does and he is becoming angry.
As the Uchiha's self-proclaimed rival, he is probably the best bet to dig the guy out of the hole he created.
Ru doesn't particularly like the boy but he was a child when he fell into the pit.
So Ru's going to drag him, kicking and screaming, out.
But he has to do it right.
Because he is not alone.
He has to protect Ra and Re.
He is learning that by doing that, he must protect himself as well.
It is Re who verbalises the thought for him - that there are many different types of pain.
Ru gets it now.
He didn't get it then.
Uchiha is in pain so he is trying to inflict that pain on Naruto.
But Naruto is resisting his efforts.
He is always in so little obvious pain.
Perhaps to piece the Uchiha together, he will need to show a little pain first.
But Ru is not sure he wants to.
He can deny it verbally.
But Naruto is him.
Naruto is not as separate as he pretends.
Letting Uchiha see a vulnerability won't just affect Naruto.
He says Naruto doesn't exist.
But he does.
And Ru hates it.
Kurenai awakens to Anko cackling.
That is never a good sign.
Naruto (Hikaru she calls him the rare few times they have proper privacy) is beaming.
The smile of a prankster.
But Hikaru is a predator.
Together, they are like a Kitsune.
Kurenai has a moment in which she wonders...
It doesn't matter.
She snaps back to attention.
"You what."
"Well, you see they were kinda bored and needed a new project so I decided to help them out and -"
If she cared about it a little more, Kurenai would punish Naruto.
Instead, she sits up and listens gleefully.
It goes like this.
Uchiha Sasuke is looking for the Dobe.
He finally finds him wandering around the Red District.
Honestly, how can a boy be so stupid!
He beats up Naruto for the sake of it.
Not because he is worried or anything.
Uchiha Sasuke doesn't care.
He is incapable of such positive emotions.
(Uchiha Sasuke is good at lying to himself.)
Then something hits him and the last things he sees is the Teme's confused face.
("I thought you needed a little longer."
"We're bored.")
When he wakes, he is in an unfamiliar building.
His chakra is - paralysed would be the best word and he is tied up.
And Hyuuga Neji is sitting near him.
The other boy isn't bound but for all Sasuke knows, his captors are great at seals.
Seals.
His eyes flare and he looks at where his cursed seal is branded.
It is exposed.
He growls when he hears voices.
"It's not the same seal as on Anko! Why did that snake have to-"
Neji sighs long-sufferingly next to him.
"It's better to follow their orders." the boy advises.
Sasuke snarls.
Someone pats him on the head.
Sasuke screams.