Lavender Field

She wasn't sure how long they'd been at it; an hour? Two? Five?

Rin slid her blade up in time to protect her face, but only just. Her movements were slowing and it didn't seem like Yua was giving up any time soon.

"You've gotten weak, little Sparrow."

"I haven't fought anyone in years. Nice perk of getting along with the people around you." Rin panted as she side-stepped another crack of her mother's whip.

Haru managed to bring himself to a sitting position, his hand cupping his face, trying to see through the pain of having two mind-melders battling in his brain. He felt each slash, punch and tussle, as if he himself were at the brunt end of it.

Rin ducked out of the way, rolling to the side and landing beside her friend. "Haru. Stay down."

"This can't go on, 18."

"I know."

Yua cracked the whip and won her prize of slashing Rin across the face. "I wouldn't take your eyes off of me."

Shattered glass pain splintered down her cheek, dripping blood onto her hand, that was now plastered against her face.

Rin hissed and so did Haru, both of them brandishing a new scar.

She didn't know how to stop it. No matter what tricks she tried, they were growing weaker and Yua stronger. It didn't make sense.

"I'm not going to beat her with brute strength. Her jutsu has always been stronger than mine." Rin thought to herself, narrowly avoiding another punishing blow.

If she could take a moment to think, some way to strategize her next move, she could find a way out of this, but Yua was relentless. Her moves were quick, her body agile in its execution, more so than it should have been.

Regardless if she was stronger, Rin should have been able to keep up better than this.

"What am I missing?"

She glanced over to Haru, who was nursing the slash down his face.

"Haru isn't going to last much longer," Rin tried to quell her rising panic. "His body wasn't meant to put up with this kind of beating. There's no way he'd recover from this. He's going to die in front of me again. I'm going to lose him again and there's nothing I can do. There's nothing I can do. There's nothing I can..."

Her eyes widened when she followed the trail of blood dripping from Haru's wound and saw that it didn't pool on his clothes, the way hers did.

"Wait a second..."

Yua raised the whip and cracked it down, but Rin brought up her sword, smiling as it wrapped around her blade.

"Got ya." She teased and pulled with all her might, sending Yua flying towards her.

The pair collided, tumbling over each other in a heap of punching, kicking, pulling hair.

Haru's hands came to his head, his voice ringing with agony, as Rin tussled with her mother, neither willing to let up.

"Haru!" She cried, as she took an elbow to the face.

He hissed in pain.

"Haru! Listen to me! It's not real. None of it is real!"

His eyes opened.

Yua slammed Rin's face into the ground. "Shut it."

Rin's foot came to her mother's chest and kicked her off of her mount.

As quickly as she could manage, she crawled over to Haru and took his hands. "Look at your hands and look at mine. I have blood from my wounds, but you don't. It's all in your mind. Whatever she's done, it's not real. You're punishing yourself for no reason."

"But I..."

Yua coughed, the wind knocked from her by Rin's kick. "You little bitch."

Rin held Haru's gaze. "Don't look at her. Look at me. Right here. Stay in my eyes, 15, stay with me. Don't go back into whatever trance she put you in. This is your mind. You control it.

"18."

Her hands came to his face. "If you think I can win. I can. You need to imagine me winning against her. I know you're tired, but you can do it. Believe in me and help me take her down."

Yua rushed over and grabbed Rin by her hair, pulling her away from the broken man. "That's enough chatting for you."

Rin yelped and frantically clawed at the hand clutching her hair. "Haru! Help me!"

"He can't." Yua threw her against a wall and conjured the vicious chains that decorated his mind.

Slamming them on Rin's wrists, the sharp inward spikes rammed through her skin, pouring blood down her arms.

Yua put her hands in the air, as if she were surrendering. "Let's take a break from these vulgar fisticuffs, shall we? It's beneath us."

"Nothing is beneath you." Rin snapped, trying to focus enough of her chakra to release herself.

"Not when I want something, no. That shouldn't surprise you. But, I'll solve this your way, Sparrow, as a sign of goodwill. You and I have had quite the journey together in this life. It seems only fair I give you a fighting chance and I'm tired of this little tussle between us."

Rin's hanging body dripped with her life's blood, fresh slash marks, bruises and new black eye, glared her mother down. "You couldn't have summoned up that generosity sooner?"

Yua shrugged. "You needed to be taught a lesson. It was about time I put you over my knee, so to speak. But enough of that talk. You want our little Haru to choose your strength over mine, correct? Time to prove that I'm not only superior to you physically, little one, my jutsu is far stronger than yours."

She turned to the subject of their quarrel and smiled. "Isn't that right, 15?"

Haru's mouth opened, but no sound came out.

His hands came to his head. "Please."

Yua smiled and sauntered over to her plaything, a cat stalking a bird with a broken wing.

She stood beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder, her voice dangerously low. "You know what I'm capable of, don't you, 15? The things I can do to her. It would be more merciful to kill her now, wouldn't it? Unless you want me to do to her what I did to you? In the dark, on that cold, metal table."

"Stop it."

"I pulled you out of the ground, didn't I? Kabuto had his way with you, in more ways than I one, if I do recall."

"Stop."

"I'm the one who breathed life into you again and then we had all kinds of playtime, didn't we? Can you still feel my fingers in your mind, 15? Can you feel me inside of you?"

"Please."

Yua chuckled to herself and crouched down in front of him. "It's time to show her how close we've become."

Haru shivered. "Don't do this. Not to her."

She slid her fingers to either side of his head, resting on his temples. "See me with your heart, love."

Haru fought it, with everything he had, he fought to stay in control.

Rin knew what was coming, she'd seen it before. "Haru! No!"

Yua threw a hand back and conjured a gag that slammed over her mouth. "Shhh, we're having a private discussion over here."

"I won't do it. I won't."

Yua inhaled and breathed out two words. "Lavender field."

His eyes rolled back, his body shaking beneath her grasp. Yua held him steady, humming a gentle melody she'd heard several times. "15."

He stopped shaking, his head lolling down to his chest.

Yua released her hold and tilted his chin up. "15, look at me."

He did and his face blossomed into a smile that made Rin's heart hurt.

His eyes searched Yua's face, his voice broken with its happiness. "18?"

"Hey 15."

"Where are we?"

"It doesn't matter. We're together again. Just like before."

His chest rose and fell in relief. "How did you escape Yua?"

"You saved me, remember? You saved me at the last moment."

Haru shook his head. "I'm sure you saved yourself, you never needed me to do that."

Yua laughed and it sounded disturbingly similar to Rin's. "Can you stand up?"

"Yeah, I think so."

She helped him to his feet, brushing her hand down his cheek and caressing it, as if she'd done it before.

Rin shook her head, her fingers curling into fists from her chains. This was beyond cruelty, beyond anything she knew her mother would stoop to; this was sick.

Haru pressed his face to her hand. "18, I don't think I'm going to be around much longer."

"Shh, you're here now. Let's enjoy ourselves. I miss your touch, 15."

She curved her body so that Rin had a perfect view, flashing a wicked smile to her daughter. "Kiss me."

"But, how did you..." He shook his head, trying to clear it.

"How did I?"

"I don't understand how you fought back Yua. It was too quick. I thought she was going to kill you."

Yua giggled, her Rin-impression far too alike. "She didn't. I'm warm and alive. I'm in your arms, aren't I? Kiss me."

"But..."

She rose up on her toes and took his mouth, her arms locking around the back of his neck.

Rin looked away.

Though her heart found warmth in Gaara, there was a time when Haru was her world. It wasn't easy, seeing him with someone else, even if he believed that person to be her.

She pulled at her restraints and found them loosened slightly.

Yua was putting so much of her chakra into maintaining this illusion to hurt her, she wasn't focusing on Rin.

"This is going to hurt." She thought to herself.

Yua pulled away from kissing Haru and took his face in her hands. "I need you to do something for me."

"Anything."

"Yua isn't gone. I have her restrained, but I can't bring myself to kill her. I need you to do it."

Rin froze, the realization of her plan sending shivers down her spine.

Haru looked down, a slight glazing over his eyes. "How?"

Yua conjured up a dagger and placed it in his hands. "Quick and easy. Please? For me?"

She pointed Haru at Rin's hanging body. "Just over there."

Rin fought against her restraints, the spikes working their way into her wrists, searing pain shooting up and down her arms.

Haru focused on whatever illusion Yua showed him, his stance sure, despite the weakness he felt.

If he killed her in his mind, she wouldn't come back to her body. She wouldn't come back to Gaara.

Her voice came out in a muffled scream when Yua smiled. "You're going to die here, Rin. It's over."