The men ran and ran, fearing for their lives. Even though they had gone quite some distance now, enough to be called "safe", they continued to run despite being out of breath, fuelled entirely by fear and adrenaline.
They hadn't even stopped to consider the black and red haired woman who eyed them with great interest as both parties passed each other. They, much like her, pressed on or at least in their case—until they deemed themselves in the safety of their homes. And until then, were prepared to continue running.
"Damn! The party's startin' without me!" With a big laugh, she was prepared to charge forwards faster but before she could kick her speed up a notch, she was distracted by the rather bright pink in the distance. Despite the overwhelming fog, she could still pick out the bright colour since it stood out so well against the white and grey of the fog.
"Ah! Just like Haruto said... There you are." She took a bite of her thumb with her canine and ran her bloodied thumb over the seal on her chest. Forming the summoning seal with the very same hand, Ruby smiled wider when she felt her fingers wrap around the familiar handle of her scythe. Oh, how comforting it was to be able to feel the familiar instrument of death that she played for her victims.
She liked to think that in a way, her performances with her weapons were so impressive that she left them breathless and completely speechless. But alas, with the promise she had made to Haruto, little to no blood would be split today. Well, at least not from the kids, but Zabuza and Raiga were free game for her.
"NOW GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY WAY!"
"—GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY WAY!"
The shinobi and Tazuna came to a screeching halt when Ruby came rushing towards them, scythe held in an underhanded grip up against her forearm and behind her back as she ran.
Kurenai held her hand out and began to bark commands to her group, making sure that they stayed safe.
"Shino, Sakura. Get behind me and protect Tazuna." Both students complied and moved to stand next to each other, keeping Tazuna behind them and far away from the silver eyed maiden. A kunai appeared in Kurenai's hand and she held up in front of her after a quick twirl, preparing to defend herself if need be.
"No time to chitchat." Ruby nodded to the side for the other party to leave, "Just get outta my way and we can all be on our merry way."
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't allow you to pass. This is strictly shinobi business and the bridge is currently unsafe." Kurenai didn't trust this woman. What if she was helping Raiga and Zabuza? Or even if she were a civilian, which judging by the giant weapon she held—was clearly not, she wouldn't allow her to pass because of how dangerous it was.
"Tsk." Ruby sighed as she made a look of disappointment, "I really didn't want it to be like this, but—Ah, who am I kiddin'? I totally did." Ruby dashed forth and thrust the butt of her weapon forwards, holding onto her scythe between the fangs. Kurenai shifted her head aside, only just narrowly avoiding being struck by the attack. She hadn't expected Ruby to attack that quickly.
Ruby flung the scythe up and caught it as it fell, holding it normally again. Swinging it forced Kurenai to bring her kunai up, pressing against the lowest fang and pushing against it to prevent it from cutting her.
"Don't bother fighting," The immortal's attack relented and Ruby pulled back. "It's already—" She wondered why Kurenai was being so calm and focused on her crimson eyes. Suddenly, like a throb in her head, the world around her evaporated and dissolved away into darkness. All that was left was just her and a world of emptiness. She felt her scythe go loose in her hand and realised that it too had disappeared. Glancing back down, she stared at her hands as her head grew heavier and heavier. Nausea began filling her skull and making her seriously dizzy. Then her hands began to melt away as her vision blurred horribly.
"—Over. Genjutsu complete." Kurenai finished her sentence and Ruby reached for her forehead, clutching it tightly. That damnable woman's voice bounced between the inside of her cranium, seemingly taunting her on an endless loop.
However, despite the intense headache that was building up in her head, with the knowledge that she had dropped her scythe somewhere near her, she fell to her knees onto the sea of moving and shifting colours and began to search for it with her hands.
Feeling the touch of cold steel beneath her fingertips, she slowly curled her fingers around the thick blade and squeezed hard.
Kurenai turned to her team, ignoring the woman for now. The crippling nausea that it caused would undoubtedly keep her grounded for quite some time.
"Shino, Sakura. Are you alright?"
The students nodded, but were confused as to why their teacher had asked them. Sakura looked away from Ruby for a brief moment to look at Kurenai. "Why did you ask, Kurenai-sensei?"
"I don't know what kind of powers she has. I was just asking to make sure that she—" Ruby suddenly pushed herself off the ground and lunged at Kurenai silently, gripping her scythe tightly.
"Sensei!" Shino tried to pull his teacher to the side, but could only watch as Ruby thrust her scythe forwards, driving the blunt edge of the blade into the back of Kurenai's head. Completely caught off-guard and having expected Ruby to have been downed, Kurenai made the rookie mistake of letting her guard down around an opponent, something Gai and Kakashi would've never done.
Kurenai's eyes rolled to the back of her head as she passed out, and careened forwards into Shino. Tasked with catching his sensei, he was face hard, breaking his darkened glasses into two. However, Ruby wasn't finished yet. Wanting to make sure that he stayed down, Ruby opened her hand and grabbed Shino's forehead before driving his head into the ground, knocking him out with brutal efficiency.
Sakura and Tazuna gaped in horror at the sight of the two being knocked out before looking to Ruby.
"Well... Would you look at that." Ruby grinned and waved to the last two who were shaking in fear.
As Ruby waved, they noticed a large, bleeding gash in the middle of her palm from where she had cut herself from, breaking herself out of the Genjutsu Kurenai had put her under.
"God. You Konoha shinobi are so fucking irritating. I wasn't here to... Actually, you don't need to know what I'm here for." Ruby sneered at Tazuna, "And it's definitely not for you, ya fuckin' leathery bag of bones."
Tazuna would've been insulted if he wasn't quivering in his boots as much as he currently was. This woman was even scarier than Zabuza, with a complete lack of regard for her own health.
She then rushed up faster than either of them could stop her and drove her fist into Sakura's gut. The girl tried to block it but was far too slow in doing so, managing to only lift her hands up a little before Ruby made contact with her stomach. While punching Sakura, she simultaneously swung her scythe and smacked Tazuna in the temple with the back of her scythe, downing to the ground next to Kurenai and Shino.
Ruby was sure the four would be perfectly fine if she left them there, waking with some bruises and headaches but nothing too severe. Hand already healed up, Ruby sealed her scythe back into her chest.
Not wanting to waste any more time, she quickly set off again.