This chapter contains trigger content for sexual abuse
There was a deadly warning to his tone, but the infuriation was so profound it banished all rationality from her mind.
Rin has been walking for more than thirty minutes. The view of Cascades Town is now a muddle of blurry buildings. She does not know where she is going, but getting away from there is a priority.
The vastness of cloudless skies is almost a travesty of the enragement that is growing inside. As the beaming sun turns a soft glow of gold, the exasperation diffuses and no longer is she feeling the urge to thwack any one within sight.
But she soon realises her unimpeded surroundings. The unusual and eery silence resonates precariously. No birds singing, insects chirping, or other foot traffic from travellers. Perhaps Cascades is so large and secluded, people do not cross paths? Either way, she finds the lack of life incredibly disconcerting.
Disregarding the discomfort, she forges ahead. The hapless sensation of dread intensifies, until it reverberates uncontrollably from somewhere deep within. And though she pins it down to the indispose feeling of her memory's return, she cannot help but notice the flagrant signs of her screaming instinct.
When her vision suddenly blurs and there is a searing pain that scuttles through her muscles, she fumbles to the side path and collapses underneath a large tree. The weakness spreads. It momentarily incapacitates her and recedes as briskly as it appeared.
And it does not stop. Back, forth, back, forth. Her muscles twitch when the pressure builds, as if she is clamped down by an unseen physical force. When the heaviness releases, the respite lasts five seconds and decreases in time intervals before the weight lingers.
The strange feeling is not reminiscent of the indispose feeling she has been so used to, rather, it is a newly accrued sensation that almost feels like it has been deliberately implanted into her.
A poison?
For the next ten minutes, Rin scans the area with her chakra. She is acutely aware that its level has depleted immensely, and her body's capacity to regenerate is minimal. Her chakra has been dipping since her first encounter with those strange dreams she now knows as her memories.
She is not as strong and physically resilient as she used to be.
Maybe that explains why I couldn't detect the poison?
She is deathly sure this malevolent, artificial weakness is a form of advance poison.
A noise interrupts her speculative muse.
She scans the environment in the hopes of catching the culprit. But the trees rustle ever so serenely, as if the sound was a hallucination and her sanity is being tested.
Only several moments later, she hears swift like movements followed by heavy hands to her body.
"Tracked you this far," says an oily voice.
The men from the restaurant, led by their revolting leader.
His face is so close to hers, she winces automatically and hits the back of her head against the tree trunk.
"You see, I don't tolerate being dismissed like that. But I was patient, particularly when there is an innocent, beautiful woman who happens to be a medic. It's very useful, medics that is, amping up a shinobi's survival rates by almost what, ninety-percent?"
And that decaying smell from his breath makes her silently gag.
"A bit brazen of you with those stats, boss," one of his comrade says.
The other men are watching with a level of menace she has never seen before, as if she is a filthy object only to be used at their disposable.
Their leader waves an airy hand in their direction.
"No, no, no. I know a good medic when I see one. She is definitely good. Do you know why?"
The others shake their heads in unison.
"Because I saw her with those damn Akatsuki. If such organisation deems a medic worthy enough to be their medical ninja, then that is good enough for me."
"I'll never serve you!" Rin cries.
The man faces her.
"I'll pretend I heard nothing. I politely offered you the chance to say yes, you blatantly refused. I hate people saying no to me. You had your chance, I need to be more forceful with you. So now, you follow us back and serve us well."
"You're better off killing me now, or I can do the deeds with my medical treatment," she says fiercely.
The weakening sensation sits heavily against her, but it does not progress, nor subside.
"Really feisty aren't you? More than I thought. I told you I like a feisty woman. You should use that when I bed you, it would make things a lot more fun," he says slyly.
And Rin turns away in disgust. She would rather die than allow him to mangle her body.
"You are a foul, dirty pig and I will never-"
The blow cuts her sentence short. The man slaps her so hard, her lips bleed and her cheek bruises from the force.
And rather being angry at the situation, she is furious with herself. For being so weak and useless.
"Women should know when to keep their mouths shut," the man growls, "they are just an impediment to a man's duties. A woman is just as good as how she pleasures him and how obedient she is to his commands and…"
Rin tunes out of the man's misogynistic rants. Has she finally relented to the inauspicious circumstance?
She barely reacts when he presses a beefy hand to her throat, and then plunges his other hand into her blouse. But even if she has the willpower, the poison is so incredibly overpowering, she can barely move from her position. Together with the indispose feeling that is her memory's return, she is almost incapacitated.
But despite this, her own body has some element of pride, because she is struggling automatically against the man's heinous actions of assault.
When he attempts to press his mouth to hers, she forcibly turns her cheek, only to have them held down with such vigorous force, she whimpers in pain. He tries again with more accuracy, and that rotting, offensive breath hits her hard - a stale smell of sick and something else she cannot pin down.
"I know a woman's purity when I see one," he heaves, "Can I say that's a special ability I have?"
He laughs cunningly, and his comrades join in on the comment.
"And even if I don't, who cares right?" He continues, "But such soft skin, this one is definitely pure."
With one forceful pull, he tears half the fabric of her blouse to reveal the delicate paleness of her breasts. Only slightly hidden by her undergarments, it does not dissuade the man from reaching through and seizing a handful of soft flesh. And when she attempts to push his hand away, he slaps her violently across the other side.
"P-Please stop," she utters.
The bruising pain courses through, yet not once this entire time does a drop of tear fall from her. Perhaps they have dried up from the many months of pain and suffering?
"Did you hear that? She's begging for mercy!" The man cries.
But when he receives no answer, he swiftly turns. His comrades have all miraculously disappeared.
Then a hand on the back of his collar tightens and he is being hurled backwards with such incredible force, his entirety goes through at least ten thick tree trunks.
It takes Rin several moments to register Tobi's sudden appearance, as if she is floating in a surrealistic reality and has yet to be expelled from its trance.
Tobi's slow footsteps reach the impaled man, whose body is grotesquely mangled from the dozen protruding branches. The blood seeps through in an excruciatingly unhurried pace as he picks the man up in one hand by the throat.
"If Kakuzu does not deal with you soon, I will," he says quietly, "and you wouldn't want that."
There is so much anger and hatred in his gaze, she can physically sense it from her position.
Rin does not recognise the person standing before her, nor the flagrant darkness that is now emitting so strongly from him.
He throws the man carelessly to the side before facing her.
For a brief moment her heart stops. The fear is so stark, her previously immobilised body shuffles to hug herself protectively in a futile attempt to quell the tremors.
There is no mercy in his gaze - the fleeting expression is far from amicable.
But then it briefly softens.
When he approaches, she expects him to say something demeaning, that she should have heeded his warning and that she deserved the assault. But all he does is kneel beside her and pull her into a comforting embrace.
Then the entire world distorts.