Tck. Tck. Tck.

I love the sound of rain. Perhaps I am a bit biased, but it's just so soothing. My eyes are getting heavier the longer I sit here. It's not very often I find a spot like this. Everything is perfect. There's just enough shade, the tree I'm in is very old and seems larger than life and fits to my body perfectly, the leaves catch the rain almost in a musical way and keep me dry, and it's just so peaceful and beautiful out here.

I really could just go to sleep… it's been weeks since I've had more than an hour or so of sleep in a night. My body aches and my eyes burn; it feels like fire every time I blink. God knows I could use some sleep, but if I do I'll get lost and even though there seems to be not a soul around, someone could get hurt. I hate it so much. I lose control when I sleep and so I've trained myself to be a light sleeper, because anyone that's within reach can, and usually will, get hurt. Even though I've trained myself not to fully sleep, when I get like this I might fall all of the way asleep regardless, because I'm so exhausted. Either way, there's still a risk for anyone that might be around, because, although I've worked pretty hard at it, staying semi-conscious while asleep is easier said than done.

My entire body feels heavy. I try to move my arms and it's like moving wet sand… it's useless. I've let myself get too comfortable and sat here too long. *sigh* Well, it looks like I'll be asleep soon no matter what.

The wind blows and the rain gets heavier. The sound rushes through my brain, clearing out my thoughts. Whatever I was thinking about is gone now… I was worried about something earlier, but what? …it must not have been too important. All well.

…

[I'm running. My heart is racing, I can feel it shaking my entire chest. I can hear my pulse in my ears and my footsteps are dry and loud. Why am I running? Where am I? Everything is dark. At first all I can see it the dark pavement that I'm running on and then the rest starts to fade in. First I see the dark, shadowy trees like lace against a dark, blood red sky. The moon is overhead, but isn't lit. It's almost like someone cut it out of the sky and you can see the hole where it used to be… but why am I running?

I look back and everything snaps into place. Suddenly I'm in a dark room, but I'm not alone. It's staring at me, its eyes consuming me. I open my mouth to scream, but nothing comes out as my body is lifted and starts toward the beast. I claw at the air, anything to try and stop this. Make it stop.]

I wake with a start. My hands are shaking and my heart is racing. Everything is too bright to bear. I look down and the tree I'm setting in is now marred where I've clawed it in my sleep. The rain has stopped, tiny little water droplets float all about me. I clench my fists and exhale, the water droplets fall. I guess it's time to move on.

I am a nomad, a gypsy, a misfit… I don't really belong anywhere. I've heard that many villages have someone like me, someone who bears the curse of a monster, but my village, my village shunned me. They hated me. People tried killing me, no-one would talk to me, but better than all of that was that they feared me and I don't even really know why. I suppose it's not completely lost to me. I mean I can't sleep with anyone around and the monster inside me killed both of my parents. I never did a thing though… actually I was always trying my best to do good and control what was inside me. But no-one really saw that, so I wonder… it's easier that way.

I get to travel and go places I've never been and meet people who have no idea who I am. It's nice. I keep moving though, because I've learned the hard way that if you stay in one spot too long, your past catches up with you. I've seen beautiful places and sad places, busy places and peaceful places. The last place I saw was a sad one though. Many people had just died in an attack and almost as many were injured. I'm not too sure what was going on, but they seemed like strong people. Everyone was fighting together and doing what they could. They even lost their leader as he died defending them. I helped as much as I could healing people, as I've learned through my many travels. I'm certain that those people will be alright; they have the spirit to carry on, they have perseverance.

I left, though, as I always do. I made sure that I had helped as many as I could before leaving Konoha. I'm not too sure where I'll stop next, but right now it seems as though I'm headed towards a desert. I'm not really one for hot weather, but hopefully by the time I actually reach desert land it'll be dark and I can travel through the better conditions. Or at least, in my opinion, they are better.

Author's notes:

So there's the first chapter. I've never done this before, so sorry if you don't like it. I'm just getting started though, so more to come later...