NF17

Neither group paid attention to him, yet he knew that someone was watching him. He could feel their eyes.

Relax, calm down… it's probably just someone wondering what a guy's doing in here. He knew it wasn't even as he thought it. Those looks began anew whenever a new girl entered the changing rooms and yet he hadn't once reacted to them like this. This was a feeling he knew, a sensation like thick nausea in his stomach. Unable to ignore it, he shifted on the bench, desperately searching the room for the source.

No one leapt to his attention, not even the customers coming out of new booths or the lone, bored teen in the back who was supposed to be watching to make sure no one was damaging the clothing, but who instead was playing with her scroll. The needles in his skin increased, until he finally noticed a solitary figure, leaning against the back wall.

He didn't recognise her.

Blonde hair, short stature and unremarkable clothing - she was chewing on something, gum of some kind. Her eyes met his, however, narrowing imperceptibly. Someone from Haven? He didn't think so… at least if it were someone important than he would have remembered them. She was tilting her head to the side now, fully accepting that not only had he noticed her, but that he knew full well that she had been caught looking.

A confident girl who liked what she saw and wasn't afraid to admit it? Then why were his instincts screaming at him? The girl blinked once more.

Jaune's breath caught in his throat.

She turned to the side, pushing her way out of the changing room.

Jaune swore as he rushed after her. "Hey!" some random woman cried as he knocked her aside, but he didn't pay any attention, scanning for the figure and catching her moving among the lingerie aisle. The face he didn't recognise, the clothes he didn't recognise – it wasn't any person he knew.

But those eyes… those he recognised.

Because mismatched eyes the colour of ice-cream were not common.

She glanced over her shoulder, eyes narrowing as she realised he was in hot pursuit. Her pace increased, not enough to cause a scene but enough to have him bumbling into people as he followed. Why was she there, why was she watching him? Any thoughts of innocence were crushed the moment they entered his mind. She wasn't there to shop – she could have done that how she normally looked. She had been watching him. She had been following him.

She had seen his sisters!

The realisation made his teeth gnash together. Why Neo of all people was interested in him he had no idea, but he was willing to bet lien on it being something Torchwick had ordered.

[...]

The girl ahead stopped at another door, glancing back one final time to see if he was still chasing. Mismatched eyes met blue, the girl's face twisting in confusion before settling into a little smile. With a slow wink and a blown kiss, she slipped through the door – barely three seconds before his shoulder slammed into it, smashing it open.

At least thirty people turned to look at him.

Breath coming out in pants, his palms bleeding slightly from where his nails had bit into them, Jaune let his eyes traverse over them. At least ten customers queued at a till, manned by two people, more by a display of shoes, others among the shirts and jackets. Any one of them could have been Neo.