She ran as fast as she could. Perspiration running down her face and chest. Her eyes were red from crying, and her body shook from fear. Her legs felt like rubber she's been running so long . . . hours . . . maybe even days. A ninja from Amegakure, she had short dirty blonde hair and crystal blue eyes.

The short, fifteen years old was running from two Akatsuki members. One that held the Sharingan eye and the other who held an enormous sword. These two were Itachi Uchiha and Kisami Hoshigaki. This all started with Sasuke just showing up at the girl's house around nine or ten at night, though she didn't know how long ago that was.

XXXX

She sat on her bed writing down in her journal. This was routine for her every Sunday night. She would record her doings of the past week. She liked to remember the pros and cons of the week, and she focused more on the pros which made her happy. The young ninja lived in Konohagakure, having left Amegakure about a year ago.

This week her pros were: being able to talk to the hottie of the village, Sasuke Uchiha, finally learning how to control her chakra, shoving the pink-haired fangirl, Sakura Haruno, into a river, and getting Sasuke to chuckle. Sasuke was probably the guy she wrote most about, she had a major crush on him but didn't huggle or cling to him like Sakura, or Ino Yamanaka, did. She believed that this would make him like her. She was thinking her plan was working when there was a knock on the door. I wonder who would come at this hour. She thought to herself as she slugged off her soft and fluffy bed. Another knock.

"I'm coming! Sheesh, don't you even know what time it is?" She grumbled as her hand clutched around the door knob. She turned it slowly, hesitantly, for she was always paranoid. The door creaked open and she was staring into onyx eyes. Her face flushed red. "Sasuke. I'm so sorry, I didn't think it was you." She was so embarrassed as she had blindly yelled at her crush.

"No, it's fine," The sixteen years old started with his normal cool voice. " I guess I shouldn't have come over so late." He didn't apologize though, he thought that apologizing was below him. "See ya." He said coldly but the girl interrupted his departure.

"Wait, you came all this way, why not come inside?" She said softly, and in a gentle tone. Sasuke turned back around and stared at her rosy cheeks. He knew she didn't wear make-up, that her cheeks were naturally pink, but they were brighter when she blushed. The young Uchiha nodded but didn't walk in. "Well?" The girl asked confused of why he didn't. There was more silence between the two. Sasuke wasn't nervous, but he wanted his thoughts together before he asked her anything. They stood in the girls doorway for what seemed like hours, but in fact was just five minutes.

"It's not that I wanted to be invited in, I wanted to know if you'd go on a date with me." Sasuke said quickly. These words made her insides bubble. Blood rushed to her face making it blush as bad as ever. She nodded all the same and went and got her jacket. Upon returning Sasuke was heading down the porch stairs and the girl followed after locking her door and making sure her house was secured.

"So where are we going?" She asked almost in a whisper she was so shy.

"To the lake outside the fence of the Forest of Death." He said calmly, as if the Forest of Death didn't bother him. The young Kounochi blinked but shrugged the wonder off. She actually thought the lake was really pretty, especially on nights with a full moon. They walked the rest of the way in silence.

Once they arrived, Sasuke took her hand and sat her down in the soft grass. She let the gentle breeze mess her hair as she looked up at him. His pale complexion seemed grey in the moonlight. He sat down next to her and stared out at the lake. It was a while before either of them spoke.

"There's something I have to tell you, Erica." Sasuke finally spoke her name. Erica blinked her big blue eyes and looked up at him. Silence and more silence. The tension in the air was dramatic and just as Sasuke was about to speak there was the sound of leave crunching from the forest. Sasuke stood up. "Stand back." He said coolly towards Erica.

Erica stood up and stood behind crunching got louder, closer. Out of the pitch black shadows, emerged Itachi and Kisami. Erica gasped but Sasuke just stood his ground. Kisami let out a low chuckle.

"It seems she's been getting it on with your brother, Itachi." Kisami chortled. Itachi just gave him a glare, apparently not liking the idea of Erica being with Sasuke. Sasuke glared at his brother and Kisami. The wind picked up and the water in the lake started to move more, and violently at that. The wind whistled through the trees and all was silent. Erica tried to sneak away.

She did not want to witness a fight between brothers. She didn't know if Sasuke could handle himself or not, but he did tell her to stand back. Sasuke looked back at her, then at Itachi and back at Erica again. Erica was about ten to fifteen feet away from him. He thought about her safety first.

Sasuke pivoted and dashed towards the dirty blonde, and before she knew it, she was swept off her feet and was being carried off.

"Ah! Sasuke!" Erica screamed, startled by the suddenness. The blue-haired boy gave her a sharp and harsh, shh!, and kept running, carrying her bridal style. "Sasuke," She whispered. "Where are we going?"

"Outside the village. If Itachi and that fish freak followed me, we want them outside the village, right?" He spoke softly as he glanced down into her lagoon blue eyes. She just nodded a yes to answer him. She then turned toward his chest and clutched onto his shirt.

Time seemed to stop for her. Even in this moment of panic, this was romantic. She felt like a damsel whom was being saved by her knight in shinning armor. She never knew it at the time but Sasuke was thinking of the same senario. Minutes later he ran through the village gates.

Sasuke finally stopped running when he got to a far away clearing in a forest. He looked down at her and put his hands on her waist as Kisami walked up behind her. Erica was staring into Sasuke's dull eyes. "We have to keep running, I'm sorry." He said.

"No, I understand, it's fine." Erica replied. Sasuke picked her up over his shoulder and looked at Kisami. Sasuke then transformed inro Itachi. Erica felt the height difference and shrieked. Itachi winced.

"Shut up you brat." Itachi groaned. Erica started to kick and thrash around. He sighed and tightened his grip on her and started to walk off with Kisami. Erica continued to kick, she was screaming and crying as well. An anime vein formed over Itachi's forhead. "Will you stop it?" He grumbled. But she didn't.

What did they want with her? What did she do? Were they going to kill her? Rape her and then kill her? Or worse, were they going to rape her and beat her and let her die slowly as she loses the will to live?

She wouldn't allow it. She wanted to live a full life, do something important with it. She stopped her kicking but kept crying. Itachi sighed and kept walking. Kisami let out another low chuckle, he loved seeing Itachi annoyed.

Walking . . . walking . . . more walking. Erica wasn't going to let herself be taken away. She lifted her knee and quickly kneed Itachi in the gut! Itachi dropped Erica and huddled over to clutch his stomach. "Gah!" He spat out. Erica did not waste time and she took the opportunity to run. Days passed.

XXXX

She looked back. She didn't see Itachi or Kisami, but she kept running. Keep running! Whatever you do, don't stop! She thought to herself this time. Small twig-like tree branches swatted at her as she ran by them. Her body ached and bled from the hits of the twigs.

Though Itachi nor Kisami were in range of her, she ran until her feet started to bleed. She fell over at the edge of a smaller clearing. She whimpered and grunted as she pulled herself up against a tree. Opening her eyes, her pupils shook violently. Everything seemed to swirl, which made her head ache. She let out a small cry of pain, sorrow, and help.

She felt like she was there forever, thirsty and starved, neon white and cold. Her blood loss was to much. She wanted to give up, but she didn't let herself, her pride of being a kounochi of konohagakure over powered her want to die. She also wanted to sleep, but no, she had to force herself to stay awake . . . at least until she got help. Rustle, rustle. Someone walking, yes!

She let out another cry, and the rustling stopped. "Lord, there's someone over there." A male voice had said. She cried out once again. "By the sound of it, their alive, but barely."

"Go see where they are from." A second male voice asked. She felt a tug at her forhead protector, which was tied around her neck.

"This band says Konohagakure," There was a pause. She felt her shirt being lifted and she panicked. There was a loud smack! Erica, though weak and scared, was not going to let herself be sexually abused without a fight. The man touching her fave a kind and gental chuckle.

"Now, now, I'm not going to harm you. I just want to know if your from anywhere else." He said as he set her shirt down. "Can you speak?" Erica nodded very slightly. "Alright, are you from anywhere else besides Konohagakure? If you are, where?" She let out a small grunt, trying to find her voice, and then she weezed out:

"Amegakure."

Suddenly the second man spoke. "Take her." He commanded the first man. He didn't say anything and picked up Erica up with ease. She grunted but he held her close to his chest. She knew she could sleep now, and so she did.