[OP: "Eat You Alive"--The Oh Hellos]

Really, it was laughable how fast it was over. 

Wally had all the thugs on the ground, whimpering because he'd hit them so hard--though for him it was a light tap so he didn't kill them--and Shine had taken her sword out, hooked the boss' feet out from under him, and then slammed him into the wall, hard, while he was off balance.

Then, putting the blade that he certainly thought would kill him to his throat, she said, eyes gleaming, "Call Mai out here, now. And every other woman you have here. Or we'll destroy your entire establishment, right now."

The boss was as much of a coward as men like him usually are when faced with real force.

"All right, all right, just don't," he winced. Then he called a bunch of girls by name.

Not only did they appear shortly, but a bunch of customers fled the premises out the back door--or maybe it was the front door. It was hard to tell which was the most shady.

"Mai! Get over there," the boss called.

One of the women stepped forward, looking scared.

"I don't know what you did to anger these fiends," the boss said angrily, "but they're here for you. I'm done with you, I tell you! You're out on your own. I can't have anyone here who's gonna bring trouble!"

"But--" Mai began.

"Get out," he said. "You wanted her, take her."

"Don't move," Shine warned him, stepping back but keeping her sword pointed out. She turned to the others. "Ladies," she said, which had to be a new name for them, "assuming this is not a very healthy place to work, we won't make any bones about what it is you do for a living, but if you want out, any one of you, we know somewhere you can go. This scoundrel here won't ever follow you there, I guarantee it. You can start over...be free."

Some of them laughed at her.

"You're crazy," said one woman, a taller one with a hard expression. "What does anyone want with us trash? We'd be lucky to be a prize to some rich man."

"What do you have to lose?" Wally asked, nervous again now.

That seemed to catch women off guard a bit.

"For the record, I guess that goes for all of you." Shine looked at the bodyguards. "Perhaps some of you didn't want to do this either... You want out, now's your chance. We won't be coming back here, so take it or leave it. We can get you out. I don't believe any of you don't have worth, but you must believe it about yourselves if you want to be free."

They stared at her.

"It wouldn't matter what they believe," said the one who was Mai, apparently. "We're still... Do I know you? I have the strangest feeling I've met one of you before... Did I do something to offend you? Because if I cottoned up to the wrong person, it was an honest mistake."

"You remember that stranger from a few days ago?" Shine asked.

"The wire one?" Mai asked, moving away. "You're...his... Oh, no, no...I never meant any harm!" She put her hand up. "I had to! He made me!" She pointed at the boss.

"Why, you ungrateful little wretch!" the boss began.

"I suggest you shut up," Wally said to him.

He flinched.

"No hard feelings," Shine told Mai. "And we were especially asked to come here and get you (seems you made an impression), not to hurt you or anything. Am I right in thinking you didn't really want to be here?"

Mai bit her lip. "Who can remember?"

"Come on." Shine held out a hand. "You might as well... You can't stay here now, anyway, can you?"

Mai glanced at the boss, who was still glowering at her and the others.

"No, I guess not," she said. "What the h--l, can't be worse than this town."

She moved closer to Shine. "What kind of thing did you want me for?"

"You're poor quality anyway," the boss began to say. "You'd be lucky to do a party, let alone be a high priced--"

Wally punched him so hard, he hit the guy before he even saw him coming.

The boss fell over.

"Sorry, but he was really getting on my nerves." Wally rubbed his hand. "Talking to a lady like that."

The girls all laughed, almost hysterically.

"It can't be worse than here," one of them said to the one next to her. "Maybe we can at least find better customers."

"He don't pay us anyway, just food and board," said another. "Maybe they're right. This place is the pits."

"I will if you will," said another.

"Is there lodging where you're taking me?" Mai asked.

"Plenty," Shine said. "But they aren't fancy. The most I could say is that they are dry."

"Good enough for me," Mai said. "Let's hurry before the boss wakes up... I have to admit, that felt good to watch. He's the meanest one I ever worked for, which is saying something."

"I believe you," Shine said. "Let's go."

And that was how they ran out of that dark place with at least 8 women, and one man came too--said he was tired of the life anyway, and the boss would only fire him after such a miserable failure, just out of spite.

He wasn't willing to stay with them, though. He just left.

Shine then told the women that they were going to Rain Village.

That got a lot of fear from them.

"We can't go there!"

"That place is haunted, they say!"

"No way, I'd rather stay here."

But Shine explained on the way out that things were different in Rain Village, and that it was much nicer than it was before, and that the best part was no one would look for them there.

They began to warm up to the idea but asked if they would be looked down on.

"Well, some people might look down on you," Shine admitted. "But I guess it's up to you... All anyone needs to know is that you needed a safe place and are willing to work an honest job... If you're willing, then why should they know the rest?"

"Are you serious?" Mai asked. "Don't you despise us? You seem like proper people to me...not the kind that hang around the kind of places we do."

"Certainly not," Shine said. "That's what makes this perfect."

They stared at her strangely.

"She's a little looney, isn't she?" said one to another.

"Yeah, but she seems better than the Boss," that one replied. "Maybe it's not such a bad idea... I'm tired of being told what to do."

"It's too risky," said one sullen woman, and she turned and left.

Shine and Wally didn't stop her, though they felt sorry for her.

"Rain Village is opening itself up to the world?" Mai said. "If it's a lie, it's the worst one I ever heard...so, assuming this is true, that would be a miracle."

"If you're interested in miracles, I have some things I could tell you," Shine said. "I'm sure they would tell you too."

"I have nowhere else to go," Mai shrugged resignedly. "Show me Rain Village."

"Any other takers?" Wally asked.

Mai's decision seemed to inspire them; the other 6 all said they would come see for themselves.

* * *

Day 65:

And that was how they all came in Rain Village just at the crack of dawn.

Kosame met them on the way in. She'd been wondering where Shine and Wally were when she'd noticed they were not in the apartment.

"Who are all these people?" she asked.

"We found some strays who need a place to stay," Shine said, "and to work, and you need more labor, don't you? Figured you could help each other."

Kosame eyed them.

"They don't look very strong, but I guess no one here is either," she mused. "I don't know about letting in more strangers, but I suppose if the Council says it's all right."

She didn't seem to see that the way they were dressed suggested anything--probably she had not seen it before. Rain Village didn't have much in the way of organized work of that line.

It took a while to get the Council to accept the idea of new people coming in, but they were in need of manpower, and that part was finally convincing.

Surprisingly, they didn't ask the newcomers that much about themselves. In Rain, you asked no questions if you were smart, and that habit was still in place.

Wally told Shine that this being the shadiest Village they'd been to might actually be working in their favor this time, because it wouldn't be so strict.

"God works in mysterious ways," Shine said. "I suppose it wouldn't be easy for these women to just start a new life, but, if they really want to, they will. I'm sure that man was no honest person... I wonder what horror stories we'd hear if we did learn what went on in that town. I can't imagine it's different than the ones from home."

"I hate to think about it," Wally said. "I feel Iike I live in a more innocent time than you, and aliens attack my planet all the time."

"Different places, different problems, same sins," Shine shrugged. "I've had my moments of feeling the same about your world."

"You handle those things so beautifully, though," Wally said. "I really was about to chicken out."

"No, you wouldn't have... It felt like a dream to me. I almost didn't believe it was really happening," Shine said.

Mai walked up to them.

"It does feel like a dream," she said, as if she'd heard Shine. "I don't understand--why did you come and take us away? You don't seem interested in our...services."

"Please stop saying that," Wally begged.

"Actually, we're inviting you to our party here," Shine said. "Celebrating Rain's new start in life. I feel it's appropriate. Someone said that if you came, they would."

"That sounds like a mockery," Mai said skeptically.

"It was probably meant to be one, but we thought it was a good idea," Shine said. "We intend to show that no one is unwelcome to us...and it was our idea and our efforts, so all anyone should care about is who we want to invite. We have a long tradition in our faith of inviting people like you to things. Would you do us the honor?"

"The honor?" Mai snorted. "I still think this isn't real... I can't believe it... Maybe I'll wake up from it tomorrow. I'd think about it...but...it's hard not to go back to... I mean, there are reasons..." she trailed off.

"Believe it or not, I know something about that," Shine said. "I think I could help..."

"You don't seem so bad," Wally said. "Could you think about a new life?"

"I could think about it and it would never happen," Mai said. "Yet, something about you two...makes me feel almost as if I could... You just showed up there like two angels, or perhaps two warriors. I didn't think it was real."

"That's kind of how we are," Shine laughed. "It's fun, isn't it? Those men looked so scared."

Mai seemed to think they were a bit crazy too, but perhaps she preferred their crazy.

At any rate, she ended up coming back with them to their lodgings.

The students were all up waiting for them, sure they'd finally been caught by someone and wondering how they would find them if they were. Though Dabi declared that they had to be fine and were probably just explaining to some police force how they'd busted an entire crime ring.

This wasn't as far off from the truth as the others thought, but no one was any less surprised when they did appear, with Mai in tow.

Ino and Camie's jaws dropped, but Camie recovered quickly.

"See? Told ya," she said.

"This is her?" Shikamaru said. 

"You can't tell?" Temari sniffed, eyeing Mai's clothes.

Momo's eyes were huge.

"I really still don't get what all this is about," Naruto yawned. "Why is she here again?"

"This was a mistake," Mai began to say, but Wally didn't let her get very far.

"It all worked out," he told the students. "We invited her just like you said, and she's considering it, but of course we should give her a warm welcome to Rain Village. Not to worry, the Council already said it was okay for her to work here."

"Doing what?" Kankuro said before anyone would shush him.

"There's going to be plenty of new positions in the factories and other shops," Shine reminded them. "And 7 new people is nothing for Rain Village to sneeze at."

"Did you say 7?" Ino said, looking around Iike she thought the other 6 were hiding behind them.

"The others didn't come here. They're being put up in a different house," Shine explained. "But since you all especially requested her, we brought her with us. Seems only right."

They blinked at her.

"I don't think they want me here," Mai observed.

Momo swallowed both her pride and the sound of her mother's protests in her ears.

"Of course we do," she said, not very easily. "If Shine and Wally invited you specially here to meet us, it must be important..." She looked at the others.

Temari just gave her a look like "no way."

"Yeah, I'm psyched," Camie said helpfully. "Wait till we tell Jakku. I wish I could photo the look on his face."

"Again, he won't actually be happy," Shikamaru hissed at her. "This is nuts. Inviting her to stay here, do you know what kind of statement that makes?"

"Is it a worse one than inviting Sasuke to stay here was?" Shoto asked.

"In some ways," Shikamaru said vaguely.

"Don't be so judgy," Camie hissed at him in turn.  

Mai really might have left--if she had anywhere or go and it wasn't raining outside.

Shine tactfully took her to one of the alcoves away from the main group and just as tactfully gave her some new clothes, "in case she wanted warmer ones".

Wally tried to reconcile the others to her presence.

"We told you, it's the way we're supposed to do things," he said.

"The way you are," Tenten muttered.

Wally began to get a bit sick of their attitude.

"Hey, while you're under my roof--" He used a line his mom liked to use on him when he was in highschool. "--you'll have to live by my rules."

Then he added, "Seriously, all of you are like you're so innocent all the time. What's your problem with this lady? She was really pretty eager to come with us. Isn't that a good sign?"

Ino swallowed. "But...uh...it's...well, it's just that people will talk about us--and that's already happened."

"In Rain Village?" Dabi snorted. "Look, take it from me, be glad this chick isn't bloodthirsty and knife-happy. Anything less freaky than that is fine by me."

"What do you mean?" Hanabi asked.

"Dabi--" Wally warned him.

"Just that in LOV I had a 'teammate' who was always asking if she could stab people and drink their blood." Dabi warmed to the tale like older relatives do to creeping out their siblings or cousins or nieces and nephews. "And she got way too excited about it, if you know what I mean."

"Ew, stop," Tenten protested. 

"Then she'd get a crush on people who were bleeding a lot," Dabi went on, "and say how much cuter they would be--"

"Please make him stop!" Ino covered her ears, and Hinata covered Hanabi's.

Hanabi was still listening with the morbid curiosity of young teenagers about this kind of thing.

"That sounds awful," Naruto said. "What a weirdo."

"Yeah, well, I'm just saying you all have it good," Dabi said, shrugging.

"I don't even want to talk about it now." Tenten made a gagging face.

"If you think that's bad," Wally said, "my friend Batman has this villainess who gets all suggestive and then she poisons people with her lipstick."

"What?" the girls said.

"Surprised you haven't had a ninja who's thought of that, actually," Wally mused. "And there's another time--"

"Stop telling us stories like this!" Tenten cried. "It's humiliating! Especially in front of the guys."

The guys did look a little too interested.

"I kinda wanna hear the rest," Suigetsu didn't help by saying.

"Ew," Karin cried. "All of you are horrible!"

"Well, no wonder they don't mind," Sakura muttered. "Listen to what they've experienced. Maybe they need some protection from those people instead of us."

"Isn't that why they're saying it though?" Choji, who didn't usually get into the drama but was a troll, couldn't resist asking.

Sakura frowned.

"I'm still confused," Rock Lee remarked.

"Hey," Ino said to Sakura and Tenten, "if we don't agree to this now, they're just going to keep telling more stories and we're going to be more embarrassed. Maybe this girl won't be so bad... She seemed meek enough before."

"But it's still disgusting," Sakura said. "I mean, even to go so far as letting her stay here--"

"Well, it's that, Sakura, or we get lectured on why we're not being the most gracious hosts right now," Ino said warningly. "Which do you want it to be?"

Sakura frowned. "So they'll get their way either way, but I have to listen to them lecture more if I don't just give in now?"

"Pretty much," Tenten frowned. "There's no winning this."

"Might as well just bow out gracefully," Ino shrugged. "Or Dabi can tell us more about his league of rogue ninja, and Wally can let us more about his friends and their creepy rivals."

This was how Ino interpreted the villains they fought. The Ninja still didn't have the clearest idea what a "villain" was.

"Ugh," Sakura sighed in frustration. "There's no choice, is there...?"

The other girls weren't so ready to drop it, but once those three did, they lost their nerve--except for Temari, who likely would have gone on protesting had Shine not come back in and given her a warning look.

"We'll talk about your concerns later," she said, "if anyone still wants to talk about it, but for now, we didn't get much rest last night. Can I trust all of you not to give her a hard time if we take a nap?"

"Better idea, we can not talk to her at all," Kankuro suggested.

"Of course, I can...try," Momo spoke up.

"You're the best," Wally said. 

"Hey, I don't really care one way or the other," Dabi said. "Do I get credit?"

"You are also the best," Wally said amiably.

Dabi knew it was a joke, but it was still kind of flattering.

"Later then," Shine yawned.

* * *

Sasuke had missed all of this because he hadn't wanted to stay up and was avoiding everyone again.

But when he did appear around mid morning, he heard the whole story.

Shikamaru still thought it was a mistake but by now was realizing it was too late to stop it.

"Why do they do these things?" Sakura complained. "Is it just to embarrass us and make us as uncomfortable as possible?"

"Girl, do you even think about what it means to the peeps they're trying to help?" Camie snorted. "I swear, how can anyone be so selfish? And they say I'm self-absorbed."

Sakura frowned at her. "I'm not selfish."

"Really? Name one thing you've complained about this time without it being about yourself?" Dabi said.

"This also could hurt Gaara's reputation," Sakura pointed out.

"I didn't really seem like anyone here cared," Shoto said.

Kyuu had checked on them earlier and hadn't batted an eye when they mentioned their new guests. Likely he'd already heard about it from Kosame.

"I just think we shouldn't encourage that lifestyle." Sakura fell back on that.

"But you should encourage people to kill and steal and spy?" Shoto was taking the DJs' tack now. "I think they were right--there's really no difference. Except that you all assign honor to those things, for some reason, and not to other things that are just as bad."

"I have already thought about this." Momo looked up soberly. "How our culture assigns honor to some things that are still considered sins in the Bible, and even in some other faiths, and they consider some things that are not sins, like poverty, to be dishonorable. Work that requires skill...even if it's bad, is still seen more favourably."

[This would explain the reasons that Geishas were so normalized in Japan, if you ask me. The turned it into an art form, and that's what they called it...but it really was still just sex slavery.]

"Effort does matter, doesn't it?" Shikamaru said.

"This from the guy who puts as little effort as possible into his life?" Bakugo said.

"I never really claimed to be unusual," Shikamaru said. "But I do honest work, and it does require training and honing it. Why shouldn't that be more honorable?"

"It is," Momo said. "But my point was that we look down on people who are poor or orphans, as if that was something they could help...but it's not always something they can help. I never gave it any thought in the past, but is that honorable? To blame someone for what they didn't choose?"

"I remember being told that one such woman was in the line of your faith's Founder," Sasuke actually spoke.

They all turned to stare at him.

The attention made him uncomfortable, which it didn't usually. He got up and left the room.

"He's right," Dabi said, as if nothing had happened. "That's true... Rahab, wasn't it?" 

"I think there was another one, wasn't there?" Shoto said. "I forgot about that." [Tamar]

"Right..." Momo said. "I suppose that's why Shine and Wally insisted on bringing her here. They're telling us not to discredit anyone because of what they are..." She leaned on her hand. "Why is it so difficult not to feels like there's a difference between us though?"

"Because there is a difference," Tenten protested. "You're heroes, you're models of good, and we're all honest ninja--well, as honest as we can be when we're not on the job--and the fact is that everyone in our culture sees it that way. Maybe you don't like it, but it's how it is, and just because Rain Village doesn't care, doesn't mean that our Villages wouldn't. So what's even the point?"

"Tenten," Neji spoke (he'd been quiet all this time), "what is the point of defying our conventional ways? Why even ask that?"

Tenten clammed up, not sure what he meant.

Niji shrugged. "I didn't really follow most of what you were on about, but I think you're all being a bit narrow. So they invited someone who's a hooker, or whatever you call it. My mom warned me about people like that when we came to the mainland, but I've never had any harm from them, and she didn't seem like much of a threat. And if your reputation is on the line, what else is new? Wasn't it on the line when you helped us? When you left that other Village? And when you came to this one? One little woman with a bad reputation isn't really going to make it that much worse. In fact, that's the most normal thing you've done! Sheesh, other people might take to someone like that and think nothing of it. What's your big problem?"

Put that way, they all started to see it was kind of stupid.

"I think she's right," Gaara said. "I suppose the thought that bothered me was knowing that it was a kind of thing that we all thought was beneath us, not just controversial to our Village--and that is a shallow reason to reject someone. I should be ashamed of myself for even thing of it. As usual, Shine and Wally are wiser than we are."

"Wiser or more humble?" Dabi asked.

"Dabi," Momo scolded, "why are you rubbing salt in the wound?"

"Hey, you can let that slide, but I was just saying, I've had a problem with this idea because I know the kind of trash I am, and Mr. I-Was-The-Terror-Of-The-Sand had no business being squeamish about it," Dabi snorted.

"Dabi, I had not realized before," Gaara said, "that you are a humble man. And I think you're right. It is shameful for me to not know this already. But I have many things I do not know since we left Stone Village."

He got up and left the room also.

No one was sure if he was angry or simply pensive.

Temari and Kankuro exchanged at a look.

"I guess we have to do it, now," he said. 

"Who are we to judge?" Temari said. "It still feels counterintuitive to me, but if Gaara goes along with it, we'll have to anyway... I suppose Rainbow Girl might be right--it's the least strange thing we've done, and we're all acting like it's a big problem. Maybe we got too comfortable here the last few days."

"Temari, really--" Momo smiled. "--you're too much of a good sport. I wish I could accept this so easily as that... If my mother was here, I really think I wouldn't have had the courage to say any of this."

"Whatever." Temari shrugged. "I don't have that problem, I guess, so what do I have to lose? Our dignity is already out the window after coming to this Village in the first place."

She got up too. "I suppose we have plenty of work to be doing."

Well, that seemed the end of that.

Momo, Shoto, Bakugo and Camie were on dishes and clean up duty that day, per Momo's schedule, and after they finished, Momo said, "Sasuke seemed kind of upset. Maybe someone should talk to him?"

"Shine usually does," Bakugo said.

"Shine's tired," Momo said. "And besides...he's not been nearly as hostile lately. Maybe we could at least try."

"I gotta find Jakku," Camie said, "and Bakugo's gotta help me because he might go through the roof, and I need a bodyguard. But you go on. Sasuke probs likes you better than us anyway, since you're nicer."

"I'm not that much nicer..." Momo protested. "I just don't talk to him that much."

"I think that's exactly what he thinks is nicer," Shoto said. "But if you want to talk to him, I guess I can go with you...though that might not help your chances."

"That's fine... I'm sure it'll be okay." Momo was glad to hear this.

"Good luck then." Camie waved. "Hey, uh, you don't think they're blaming me for Mai being here, are they?"

"Probably," Bakugo said. "You should brag about it before they get the idea that you're ashamed of it."

"Oh my gosh, you're right! You're so smart." Camie patted his head. "What would I do without you?"

"Probably have an easier time making friends..." Shoto said in a very low voice that thankfully Camie didn't here.

* * *

Sasuke was brooding on one of the floors that no one used because it leaked more, and it was loud when the rain rattled on it.

But if you wanted to sulk, that setting was just a plus, really.

The only thing that would have made it better was a stray cat, but cats didn't seem to like the rainy weather of the Village.

Momo knocked on the wall. "Hey...Sasuke, are you all right?"

Sasuke glanced up. "Fine."

He looked away.

Momo didn't buy it.

"You seemed a little upset earlier. And since yesterday you've been even more quiet than usual. Did something happen while you and Suigetsu and Shine were out?"

"Nothing worth discussing." Coldly. "Go away and leave me alone."

"She'd be happy to do that," Shoto said, sternly. "But you know she's not going to."

Sasuke almost jumped. He hadn't noticed Shoto lurking in the dark corners of the room--which wasn't on purpose; it was just dark in here.

"It's all right." Momo risked coming a little closer. "I mean, I told you, I'm neutral, remember? So...there's no reason to feel embarrassed. I just thought, as a neutral person, maybe I could be a good sounding board."

Sasuke considered it... Well...

It might help him if he asked someone who'd likely know the answer, and Momo did seem to know the most about the DJs and was the least pushy about it.

But that didn't mean he wanted to admit what he'd been mulling over was anything so ridiculous as...

"Unless you can explain something that they refused to answer, then you're not going to be helpful," he said, tightly.

"If it's a secret, I don't think I could..." Momo mused.

"Are there secrets left?" Shoto asked her.

"I didn't think so, but they do always surprise us," she replied quietly.

Sasuke began to be irritated at them for no reason.

"All this is stupid," he declared. "All this...you all pretend you like it, but you really don't."

"If you mean bout Mai...I think it's just that we're not used to it..." Momo said. "But then...I suppose we could be being hypocrites."

"Don't let him talk to you like that," Shoto told her, warningly. "It's just spite, I'm sure. And if he's not going to be honest about what is bothering him, don't waste your time."

"I can hear you," Sasuke said.

"I really don't care if you can," Shoto replied. "Momo is trying to be kind, and you're being as ungrateful as you usually are. I suppose we have to make excuses for you, but I still don't see any reason to stand here and take it."

There was a pause.