SUMMARY: Time to get ready.
Her month is over.
Ra's month is finished.
No more planning.
No more nights spent with the Sand Siblings and Neji, Tenten, Lee or Ino.
No more casual shogi with Shikamaru.
It's not like Ra hasn't been in any dangerous situations before.
It's simply that she has never had so many people to worry about.
She knows that Re and Ru can take care of themselves.
Re lived in the District before her.
Ru was used to pain.
Ra remembers little flashes of a happy life.
A mother and father.
She doesn't remember their voices or faces.
Only that they were there.
But then they weren't.
She never found out why.
But it's not currently high on her list of priorities.
They need to figure out how to survive an invasion.
She was meant to think something up a while ago.
Ra will never tell the others but she spent every day, except the day before, creating and discarding plans.
She only has a few basic ideas.
They will pull it off anyway.
She hopes.
It is the only thing they can do.
Maybe, just maybe, they will be able to escape relatively unscathed.
She has never been that lucky.
Ru is smiling.
He knows he could die.
That their plan could go wrong.
That they could start a civil war.
That so many other things could happen.
Orochimaru is way out of his league.
Ru may be stupid but he's not an idiot.
Not all problems can be solved by punching them.
It would be a lot simper.
It isn't that way.
But he would prefer to smile as he faced death than cry.
It's not like this is the first time he's been in danger.
But is seems bigger, somehow.
Maybe because he's always thought that he will die a nameless orphan on the streets of the District.
He was forged there, made there so he thought he would die there.
It would at least be a poetic ending.
That's not why he is smiling.
If he is going to die soon, he wants to die happy.
Wants to leave grateful and beaming.
Wants to enjoy his moments with his friends, to get to know people.
Considering he only had a month and he's still 'demon boy', he thinks he's done a pretty good job.
He could be upset.
He could cry.
But he won't.
If Death is coming for him, he'll go with a bang.
Re is somewhat ready.
She's not particularly fond of the idea of dying but it doesn't scare her either.
She chooses not to concentrate on it.
She treasures the time she spends with Neji and Tenten tinkering away.
She's glad on that front.
If she and Tenten pass away, they can still do something meaningful.
The seal is a few, measly steps away from being completed.
If she and Tenten do not survive, anyone proficient should be able to complete it.
Neji will be free.
The branch family will be free.
If she ever wanted to leave a legacy, this seems like a good one.
Of course, if she does die or it goes wrong in any way, she will probably be remembered as one of the ones that provoked two revolutions.
If this goes wrong, she will be a traitor.
As if she was ever loyal to the village in the first place.
it's not that she hates the village.
Perhaps she should.
It's simply that she doesn't care about it enough to feel for it.
How can she feel loyal to people she has never met?
Simply for the fact that they live in the same place.
Why would she care about the Hokage, a dictator?
Why should she?
She spends another part of her month with the 'Rookie Nine' and the Sand Siblings and Lee.
Maybe, if she has the time she can come to care for them.
She does.
A month seems too fast to form any sort of attachment but she does.
And Ru and Ra do too.
She has heard of 'love at first sight'.
Perhaps there is an equivalent for friendship.
But Re believes that true friendships are built on respect first.
There is none of that there.
Despite the odds, her, Ra and Ru have come to care for them.
And for Gai too.
It is surprising but Re doesn't think it is bad.
The first time the Uchiha comes anywhere close to Naruto after his two-day disappearance, Gaara steers his friend away.
Friends protect friends.
He thinks so at least.
He doesn't have much past experience to base it on but his siblings are friends and they protect each other.
And him too.
He doesn't need protecting but he understands the sentiment.
He shares it.
He doesn't like killing or the needless rage and violence that sometimes consumes him.
So, he tries not to interact with the Uchiha.
Like Re.
He does not want to have to deal with the other boy.
He doesn't like the fact that the boy hurts Naruto for no reason.
It has become increasingly obvious that Naruto doesn't feel safe around the Uchiha.
His personality switches and Gaara has come to recognise it as a defense mechanism.
Like his sand.
But the Uchiha is persistent and Gaara is tired.
He isn't quick enough one day.
But the Uchiha is kinder than normal.
He is almost... tender.
Gaara hesitates to use the word.
But maybe he has judged the boy too quickly.
Perhaps he is like Gaara was.
Hurting, defensive.
The more he watches, the more he becomes convinced.
Uchiha Sasuke is like him.
He cares about Naruto in his own sick, twisted way.
He just doesn't know how to show it.
Gaara should feel happy about this discovery.
The boy just needs someone to connect too.
He has found the problem.
If you know the problem, you can find the solution.
The solution is easy: he can do it himself.
But Gaara doesn't know how.
He doesn't know how to approach the drowning boy and not get dragged under.
Doesn't know how to make the boy see.
But he figures it out.
Eventually.
And as Gaara looks at the Konoha teams and his siblings, he feels unexpectedly light.
Then, he prepares himself to die.