The cave was dim. A low fire crackled in the center, casting flickering shadows along the stone walls.
Kentaro sat beside Aya—Riko—carefully adjusting the cloth bandage wrapped around her head. Her eye had stopped bleeding, but the hollow where it used to be throbbed with every heartbeat. She hadn't said much since waking up.
He had briefed her on what happened after she got knocked out, but he did leave out the fact that he tried to expose Jun's location.
He shifted awkwardly. "You're… okay. Jun patched you up real good. He went out to get food and water. He'll be back soon."
Riko didn't respond. Her one remaining eye stared blankly at the fire.
Then, the flap of vines at the cave entrance rustled.
"Miss me?" Jun stepped inside, radiating a casual sweet face, his Sharingan was activated like he said he would to make sure Kentaro doesn't attack him. A bundle of fish hung over one shoulder, and three bamboo canisters clinked together at his side.
Riko looked at Jun and was very surprised to see that Kentaro's story is accurate, and that he really does carry the Sharingan. Though, she didn't say much.
Kentaro looked up like a dog spotting its owner. "You're back!"
Jun tossed the bamboo canisters over with a grin. "It's water. Don't spill it, okay?."
Then he dropped the string of fish beside the fire. "And dinner. Twelve servings of fish!"
Kentaro blinked. "Twelve?"
"Don't question greatness. Just cook."
"Ah, okay," Kentaro scrambled to quickly skewer the fish. He felt that Jun was indeed very meticulous and thoughtful as he had already gutted the fish before bringing it back.
Jun, meanwhile, crouched beside Aya, his gaze softening just a little.
"How are you doing, Aya?" Jun asked with a voice of concern.
"…Who?" Riko looked at Jun, confused as heck. She didn't know who this 'Aya' is!
Jun blinked back at her. "You."
Kentaro coughed before explaining since he had totally forgotten before. "Uh, yeah. I… forgot to mention. Jun's been calling you Aya."
"My name is Riko." The mean girl said with a frown on her face.
Jun let out a soft gasp. "You're still on that?"
Riko frowned. "It is my name."
Jun tilted his head like she just told him the earth was flat. "No. See, you give off 'Aya' energy."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It means," Jun said patiently, "that everything about you screams 'Aya.' Your face. Your voice. Your attitude. Especially the eye thing now. It's very Aya-coded."
"I lost an eye, not my identity," she grumbled.
Jun placed a hand over his heart. "Exactly. And the name 'Aya' has been through so much now. You want to throw that history away?"
"I—" she looked to Kentaro, who quickly looked away and pretended to focus very, very hard on the fish.
Jun smiled gently. "It's fine. You don't have to thank me. Just know I'm committed to your spiritual arc."
Riko—Aya—sighed and gave up, settling back against the wall with a mutter, "You're insane."
Jun took it as a compliment.
But the moment her head turned slightly, Jun saw it—that flicker of something in her expression.
The corner of her lips tensed. Her one visible eye drifted downward. She reached up, fingers brushing along the fresh bandages.
Silence riddled the camp. And through the crackling fire, the scent of roasted fish began to waft around.
She was clearly thinking about her lost eye.
Jun's tone shifted, ever so slightly.
"You know," he said quietly, "it's okay to feel sad about it."
Aya didn't answer.
"I mean," Jun continued, "it was your eye. You probably had it for years."
"…Since birth," she muttered, feeling like Jun is an idiot.
"Exactly. That's a lot of emotional attachment. Like, I get your sentiment." He leaned in just a bit. "But it's okay."
Aya turned her head slowly toward him.
Jun's voice dropped into something lower. Almost comforting. Almost.
"Because there are a lot of eyes in this forest."
Her brow furrowed. "…What?"
"I'm saying, this is an opportunity. You could replace it. Multiple times, actually. Why settle for one boring old eye when you could try out different ones?"
"That's not how eyes work—"
"It is," Jun said smoothly, "with the right medical ninjutsu, you can implant any eye that you want. You can learn the medical ninjutsu yourself or pay someone who doesn't ask questions. So like, go dig out some options and stop pouting."
Jun wasn't bullshitting in the slightest. In the Naruto world, eyes are swapped out like lightbulbs. Do you need an eye? Yoink! Just go grab it from someone else! As long as it wasn't a Kekkei Genkai like the Sharingan or Byakugan—those came with chakra consumption issues and angry power-hungry clans attached—pretty much anything was fair game.
"…You're insane," she whispered again, but this time it sounded… different.
Not horrified, but intrigued.
Then, her voice turned softer. Sweeter.
Like a girl asking a boy to walk her home.
"Jun…"
He blinked. "Yeah?"
"You're strong, right?" she said, tilting her head just slightly, strands of hair falling across her cheek. "Even though I was kind of awful to you before… Can you help me?"
Jun raised an eyebrow.
"Help you… dig out eyes?"
"Not all of them. Just a few." She smiled.
"Well," Jun replied, not even flinching at all, "We'll have to draw a fine line between the Hyuga and Uchiha eyes because it's highly illegal for you to do that, but I'll help you dig some normal eyes out."
"Really!! Yay!" Riko said happily as she inched closer to Jun like a school girl in love.
At this point, Kentaro—who had been silently flipping fish over the fire—was staring at them both with an expression normally reserved for overhearing cultists in a public restroom.
"Uh… guys?" he ventured. "You're aware you're just casually discussing stealing people's eyeballs, right?"
Aya turned to look at him while Jun leisurely turned to look at the fishes that were being cooked.
"What's wrong Kentaro? Killing is legal in the Death Forest. So what if a few eyes go missing?"
Kentaro shivered and went back to cooking like his life depended on it.
While Kentaro continued doing his task, Jun asked: "So, Aya…"
"Riko," she corrected automatically, though her eye was still lit with that dark little spark.
"…Aya," he continued without hesitation. "You think you'd want blue? Green? Red? Or one of each?"
She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I don't know. I always liked amber."
When hearing this, Kentaro dropped a fish into the fire.
Luckily… There were 11 left…