Author's Note: I know, I suck. Another story! I'm sorry! I'm open to pairings. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot.

Warnings: Language and OOCness.

Word Count: 4,356

It was early evening and yet the open field was lit up with torches in preparation for the impending darkness of night to befall them. There was a fire pit in the center of the torches, the grass around it pulled up leaving a patch of dirt, charred from multiple fires set in that one spot. There is a crowd of people gathered, just outside the circle of torches, all yelling and screaming. There had to be almost a hundred of them, it was impossible to hear what any one person was saying over the din.

Off to one side was a large cart, bigger than most with two strong oxen to pull it. They stood around, grazing on the grass around them, no longer minding the noise.

Inside their cart was about ten girls, ranging in ages from fifteen to twenty-five. Almost all of them were huddled together, weeping pitifully or begging to be released. All were dirty from being dragged through the mud and their hair was in complete disarray. Most of these girls, all middle to low class, were dirty with ripped clothes and marks on their arms and legs from where they were grabbed and thrown into this make-shift prison.

Only one girl, seventeen in age, doesn't cry or beg. Her pale, but dirty hands are curled around the bars keeping them in the carriage, staring at the man in charge of this murder-spree. Her hair, long and beautiful at one time, is dark and caked with dried mud, along with her forehead and much of her right cheek. Her kimono is ripped in multiple places and dirty. She stands out amongst all the others with the hard face and the blazing emerald colored eyes.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the priest from the nearby village that the prisoner girl can only assume the majority of the spectators and fellow prisoners are from, says, sweeping his arms out wide. "These girls here have been accused of the accursed witchcraft! As you all know, witches are not welcome in our town, in order to cleanse their dirty souls, we must burn them!"

The spectators cry out in agreement, making the girls around the emerald eyed prisoner start crying and begging harder. Tears streaking through their dirty faces, leaving clean lines in their wake.

"Every since the Grand Fire Coven was destroyed and the witches went mad, they have shown their true colors," the priest continues, dark eyes scanning the crowd for any disapproving eyes. He found none. A small smile begins to curve over his lips. No one disapproved, not even the Hunter in the crowd, who was watching from beneath their signature black cloak with red and green flames dancing against the bottom. "We must kill the witches now, while they are new to the land, before they can gain their powers!"

More cheering.

"You're an idiot!" The green eyed prisoner shouts, silencing the crowd and drawing the attention of the priest.

His lip curls in disgust. "Very well, witch, how about you first? How are you going to prove to us that you are not one of those bloody monsters?"

"I can't," she says. The people gasp and start yelling out to kill her when she continues, ignoring them, "This entire system is designed that there is no way of proving innocence. How do I prove that I don't have something no one can see? In order for one to know for certain that someone is a witch is if they themselves are a witch as well." The girl narrows her eyes. "How are we to know for certain you are not a witch in hidden beneath your holy cloak?"

The priest blubbers. The crowd looks around at each other, not knowing what to say to that. "That's preposterous!" The priest yells. "I am a man of Kami! I wear artifacts purified in holy waters! That is my proof! Witches cannot touch such things! They are manifestations of evil and would burst in flames!" People begin to murmur their agreements butt he girl rolls her eyes.

"Idiot. If you knew anything about witches, you would know that isn't true. The Grand Fire Witch was said to hold the symbol of Kami around her neck, given to her by the Daimyo as a sign of good faith and alliance with the witches," she says. "You don't know anything. Witches now are hideous creatures unable to maintain a human like appearance because of their curse. No one here could be a Fire witch, and if any of us were a witch from anywhere else in the world we sure as hell would let you burn us alive. You're killing a bunch of innocent people."

"They are not innocent!" The Priest insists.

"I'll give you a three pronged lesson on Witches 101," she says condescendingly. "Firstly, there is no witch alive that can resurrect herself from the dead, okay? I don't care how powerful you are, it's impossible. You hear about witches living for a long time, but that's it. Immortality is impossible. That's common sense. And secondly, the Grand Fire Coven has been reduced to mindless killing machines and if put into this situation, she would kill all of these girls, then kill all of you without forcing what little rationality must be left within her to listen to your incessant jibberish. She doesn't think or act human anymore. She's gone.

"And thirdly," the green eyed girl says, dragging out her words, still glaring at the priest, "if there was a witch around here, she wouldn't be dumb enough to get caught by a moron like you, but besides that, if she was a bad witch, she'd be practicing blood magic. And you know what the prime source of power for blood magic is, you stupid peace of shit? Virgin or unrighteous murdered sacrifices."

There is a painful silence that follows. No one knowing what to say. The crowd is inching back, staring at the pyre like a witch is about to jump out of it and kill them all.

"And you just gave them a spot to pull dead, vengeful souls," the girl says, rolling her eyes. "Way to go. I'm pretty certain you don't have a witch infestation here, but with all of this death, you are practically yelling: Hey, over here! Come get us! But go ahead," she says drolly. "Kill me now so I don't have to hear about a real witch coming here and slaughtering you all."

That was all they needed, the people began to turn tail and run away like the witch was already there.

"Wait, no!" The priest calls after them. "No one listen to her! She's a witch, trying to fill your head with lies!"

"I think I've seen enough, Goronin," the Hunter, who remained perfectly still while the people around him ran, says, walking closer. "What the girl says is true. None of these girls are witches. Release them."

"No, my lord, listen," Goronin begs, stepping back from the tall Hunter. "She makes some valid points, sure, but they are witches, I guarantee!"

The Hunter shifts a bit and then his cloak parts and a sword appears, glowing an electrified yellow, crackling like literal lightning. The tip remains pointed to the dirt but the threat is heard loud and clear. No doubt it was crafted by witches. Goronin holds up his hands in surrender.

"Release the girls. Now," the Hunter growls. "The last thing we'd want is to attract witches here to the death and misfortune. While my duty is to kill witches, I have no qualms with killing stupid humans."

"Alright, alright," Goronin says quickly, digging around in his pockets for the keys. He holds them up, as if to show that he's being good and walks over to the door and unlocks it, opening it and stepping back a good few feet. The girls were hesitant at first to get out, but when they realized that they weren't going to be attacked, they ran for it, crying out their thanks to the Hunter before disappearing into the darkness. The green eyed girl, although close to the door, was the last to climb out.

She looks down at her dirty and ripped clothes with disgust, tsking loudly before glaring at the priest. "Think before you act, stupid. All those girls you've killed is on you. Good luck getting to Kami's side after that." The priest starts to sputter something that she didn't care to hear. She was almost burned alive today and almost watched nine others suffer that fate, she could get far enough away from this place fast enough.

She made some kind of ambiguous rejection noise and walked away. Just when she thought that she would finally be left alone, she could hear footsteps following behind her. They were quiet, definitely trained, but her ears were keen enough to hear them.

The green eyed girl turns swiftly to glare at the Hunter. He stops when she turned to him, face still obscured in the darkness of his hood. His sword is gone, hidden beneath the cloak. "Stop following me."

She turns back around and keep walking but after a few minutes of trudging unhappily through the forest, having to lift the tattered ends of her filthy kimono, she hears the footsteps again. This time she tries to ignore it, but she can't. She keep listening to the soft patter behind her. It was grating at her nerves and she wanted nothing more than for the Hunter to leave her alone.

Just before they reached the lake that she was originally at before she was taken captive, she just about lost her mind. There was nine other girls that went running into the forest, why in the world was he following her? A horrible thought crossed her mind. What if he was hunting her?

Just as the thought crossed her mind - and she really had to hit herself for having not thought such a simple thing right away - she broke into the clearing in front of the lake and stopped dead in her tracks. Three other Hunters stood around, talking. They all turned to her as soon as she appeared, all of their faces were hidden by the shadow of the hood. It's getting dark out now and their dark cloaks are getting harder to see in the fading light.

She turns to the Hunter that stalked her all the way here. "What is this? What do you want?"

"Are you the pink haired witch hunter?" one of the other Hunters behind her asks. She turns to him, thinking he'll be the one to give her answers.

"What?"

"We've been tracking you for almost two months now," the one to the furthest left says, the shortest of the three, probably all three. The one right next to him, in the middle of the trio, was only a bit taller than him. "You've alluded our trackers for so long we had to come after you ourselves."

The girl raises an eyebrow. "Okay... well, you found me. What the hell do you four want?" Her heart is beating heavily in her ears. Are they going to kill her? Are they part of some group of elite Hunters?

"Forgive us," the tallest says. He brings his hands up and pulls down his hood, reveal a handsome young man in his early to mid twenties with long brown hair still trapped in the cloak but two long pieces of hair frame his face and stop at his chin. His skin is tanned, naturally, from spending long days in the sunlight and his eyes are a large, doe brown. There is something about him, the girl couldn't seem to place. Something about him that drew her to him. She couldn't really tell what it was exactly.

She didn't recognize him, but the two next to him, when they pulled down their hoods, she recognized the unmistakable family trait of black hair and eyes. The two were Uchiha.

The taller of the two had long black hair, wild and untamed framing his face, obscuring most of it and half hanging out of his cloak. Sakura is surprised he was able to pull the hood over that mane. His skin was pale and his eyes were pitch black. As dark as the starless night. There were strange lines under his eyes from either lack of sleep or heavy stress. Something that the brown haired man lacked. He looked slightly younger than the first man.

The shortest of the three was no doubt closely related. His hair framed his face, similar to the other man. His skin was a little bit tanner, only slightly though, but that could just be the waning light, and his eyes were just as dark. He too had lines under his eyes from similar conditions as the other man. He looked to be either be a late teen - but older than her - or early twenties.

The girl turns to look at the final man, who had been stalking her since her release.

He was by far the most exotic of all of them. His hair was like a shock of moonlight. It was so pale that it was gray in the fading light and while he looked to be older than her, it was hard to tell how much older. His eyes were the color of magma and burned just as hot with intensity. His skin was pale, partially translucent with how pale. She was close enough to see the light blue of his veins in his cheeks.

She s toward the oldest man again, dirty eyebrows raised high. "What do you want from me?"

The tallest man smiles apologetically. "Forgive us. We've been on the road for a long time without pause trying to catch up with you."

"Uh huh. And what do you want from me?"

"Are you the pink haired witch hunter?" the middle man asks again, voice flat.

She tilts her head to the side. "Does it look like I got pink hair?"

He doesn't appear to be amused by her. "You're a little too dirty for me to tell," he says. It was both honest and cutting. The dirty girl wasn't sure if he was referring to her person being dirty or her person being dirty. Either way, she didn't like his attitude or -if he was referring to the later of the two - his assumptions about her personal upkeep.

"Madara!" The oldest says sharply, glaring down at the man in the middle. "We came here seeking her help, not to criticize. Be nice or be quiet."

"Yes, brother," the other boy says, grinning coyly. "Shut up."

The other man, Madara, glares down at what the emerald eyed girl assumes to be his brother. "Izuna," he says warningly.

"Well," the tall man says, putting his hands to his chest. "I'm Hashirama Senju, the man behind you is my little brother, Tobirama. The man next to me," he gestures with a sweep of his hand, "is Madara Uchiha and his little brother Izuna."

"Nice to meet you," the girl says, hands resting on her hips. "What do you want from me?"

The tallest man, Hashirama, blinks a few times in surprise at her brushing them off. He didn't seem insulted, just curious. He must be under the impression that she didn't know who they were. But in fact, it was quite the opposite. She knew about them through rumors and what she hears on the road. Madara was the leader of the Uchiha clan and Hashirama was the leader of the Senju clan. They were famous Witch Hunters, along with their little brothers and the rest of their clans. The girl heard that they were the most powerful two clans, gifted many things by witches in the Grand Fire Coven before... it stopped being.

They used to be in a war, the two clans, until just before the fall of the Gran Fire Coven and united to kill the witches that were once their friends. She didn't blame them, she doubts the witches make good company anymore.

But she digresses, she knew of them. They are a legendary four man squad, said to be able to take down any witch when they work together. Which, to be honest, just means they haven't come across a witch strong enough to kill them. Every Hunter lives like that, until they get killed.

"Excuse me," Hashirama says, bringing a hand to his mouth to hide his surprise before he schools his features. Once he's done that, he continues, "In our travels we heard about a pink haired witch hunter that was very knowledgeable about the strengths and weaknesses of witches. That she had been spreading that advice to villages plagued by witches to help them survive and then going off to kill the witches herself. Is that you?"

The girl raises an eyebrow. "Why? Do you want to fight about it?"

"What? No!" Hashirama puts his hands up, palms facing her. "I, uh..."

"I'm kidding," the girl says. "You want to know if I'm trying to encroach on your territory? Well, sorry, I've got a mission and I'm not going to stop because of hot-heads just haven't met a witch too powerful for them." She shrugs and walks past them to the lake, walking in. Her kimono is immediately weighing her down. She gets about mid-thigh deep before she washes her hands and face.

"No, ma'am, it's not like that..." Hashirama says behind her. "We just wanted to see if you would be willing to share some of your insight. You appear to know a lot from what we hear..."

"It's true," a new voice says. The girl glances over her shoulder to see it's her stalker who spoke. "She was very knowledgeable about the ways of the witches. She spoke a lot of logic."

"I wouldn't say that," the girl snorts, turning back away, resuming cleaning herself. "Most of what I said was common sense, if you think about it." She scoffs, there is no way she's going to be able to restore this kimono back to the way she originally had it before she was viciously man handled and put on the chopping block. She shakes her head, muttering under her breath, "Stupid humans."

"As true as that is, you did manage to talk a crowd of people down and saved the lives of ten people, including yourself," the final man - Tobirama - says.

"No," the girl says, giving him a droll look over her shoulder, "I do believe that was you, sir. If you weren't there, I'm sure he'd light a match and throw it on us after a healthy dousing of lighter fluid and that would be the end of that. So, I think you are the one that saved us. I just scared the crowd away." She shrugs her shoulders. She wouldn't admit it - especially out loud - but she was proud that she was able to do that.

She takes a deep breath and submerges into the water, running her fingers through her long, thick hair, trying to clean the mud from it. She keeps her eyes closed but it sure that the area around her head is turning cloudy. She shakes her head around and rubs at her scalp before she's sure most of it is probably out and reemerges, letting out the remainder of the air and gasping for another lung full and relaxing. Her kimono and hair were heavy. Her hair settled down to her lower back, making it hard to turn her head a bit.

She glances over at the men, noting with mild surprise that all four had their backs to her, respectfully. "Huh," she says aloud. "I guess chivalry isn't dead." She walks back over to the shore just about three feet away from Hashirama. There was a bunch of rocks there, and her bag that she dropped in the struggle. Thankfully it didn't fall into the water.

Before the four men turned to her, she peeled off her sodded kimono, letting it hit the water with a loud and soppy splash, making all four men jump and then go rigid as they realized it was her clothes that she had removed. The was in a thin white under layer of her kimono that was undamaged, but see-through and unabashedly changed into a new kimono.

She wrings out her hair before tossing it back over her shoulder and walking around to the front of the four men, her bag over her shoulder and eyebrow raised.

"You guys were gentlemen to the end of that. Cool." She crosses her arms over her chest watching as the four men stare at her dark pink locks. Even in the darkness that has settled around them, the moon provides enough light to see that it is definitely pink.

"It really is pink," the presumably youngest boy - Izuna - says, eyes wide.

"Yeah, yeah," the girl says then waves her hand around dismissively. "I'm really busy, so what do you want to ask? Just make it quick." The less time she spent with Hunters, the better.

"Uh..." Hashirama says, dumb-founded. He looks over at his brother and two Uchiha brothers, mouth opening in closing, unsure of what to ask under pressure. "Um, where are you going?"

The girl raises an eyebrow. "Why?" She asks plainly. "Thinking about tagging along?"

She meant it as an annoyed jab, or maybe even as a dismissive brush off, but Hashirama shrugged and said, "Sure." And she didn't know how to respond to that. She just stares at him with a weird look on her face.

"Why?" is the only thing that she could force from her lips.

"We have a common goal, I suppose," Hashirama says, glancing over at the three other men to see them speaking to each other with their eyes. Once he seems to get the message, he smiles charmingly at her. "Would that be okay with you?"

"No," she says, dumbly.

Hashirama's entire face fell. "Oh, why? We could make a good team. The four of us are pretty strong, I'll admit, but we don't know all the important things about witches we probably should before fighting them. If you truly are knowledgeable, then you would fit in perfectly. We promise not to hold you back." His smile is a perfect mixture of friendly, disarming, goofy and charming, it baffled the pink haired girl as to how he pulled that off.

"You got one thing right," the pink haired girl manages to say. "You don't know what's important about dealing with witches."

"What's that?" Izuna asks, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning onto one hip.

"They used to be people," the emerald eyed girl says softly, face worn and sad. "They used to have conversations, think, feel like us. They haven't been gone long, and yet people seem to already forget that."

Madara's black eyes lower and to Hashirama's credit, looked genuinely remorseful. Izuna let out a long breath, as if uncomfortable with that thought while Tobirama looked completely impassive.

"I'm not aiming to kill just the witches here in the Land of Fire," the girl says suddenly, emerald eyes hard. "I'm going to kill of the witches within the Grand Fire Coven. All of them. Even the Grand Witch. If you really want to ultimately face her and die trying to defeat her, then you are more than welcome to come along, if not, I suggest you don't start down this road. Especially if you are afraid of what lies at the end."

She wasn't sure what she wanted from telling them that. Maybe she wanted to scare them away. Make them realize that she was serious and this wasn't just some game to her and have them turn tail. Or maybe she wanted to test their mettle. She knew it was going to be impossible hard to fight the Grand Witch on her own, and in some ways wanted companions, but she just didn't want to come right out and say it. That, and she didn't want them to bail out on her half way through their mission.

But instead of getting scared, or nervous, the two sets of brothers looked determined. Like someone lit a fire under their butts and they were running off sheer force of will. There wasn't even an ounce of fear in their eyes. Almost like this was their goal all along. That surprises the pinkette. Her eyebrows are raised as close to the hairline as they can be.

"Then it's settled," Madara says simply. "Shall we get moving?"

Unsure of exactly what happened, the girl nods slowly. "I suppose. But aren't you afraid?"

"Certainly," Tobirama says, voice sounding very calm, not afraid at all. "But we have a stake in this. We set out on this journey with the intension of finding the Grand Witch and killing her."

The pink haired girl flinches, wanting to ask why that was, just to ask, not sure she wants to know the answer, but by the hard set look on all of their faces, she suspected that she really wouldn't like to hear the answer and decides to let it drop.

"I... guess that we are working together now," the pink haired girl says slowly.

"It would appear that way, yes," Izuna says simply, uncrossing his arms.

"I suppose I should introduce myself, then, if we are going to be spending a lot of time together. I'm Sakura Haruno."