It was... softer, somehow.
Sakura had never been here before, despite having been a resident of Konoha all her life. Exploring the forests was never really her sort of thing. She understood the beauty of the leaves and the greenery all too well- with a name like Sakura, it would've been almost hypocritical not to- but didn't care to experience that beauty hands-on. What was a medic-nin doing, anyway, poking around in a forest for recreation? Unless she was looking for some ingredients, or trying some sort of new therapy method, a medic-nin was best suited in populated areas. There was only so much healing to be done on squirrels before you went mad, after all.
She'd heard Gai and his crazy team regularly went on bushwalks, bounding around the forests of Konoha like the craziest tourists to ever exist. Whether they were training or birdwatching or even trying to catch one of those awful carry-me monsters, she didn't know, but they seemed like they had a lot of fun. They weren't the only people. She knew a few other people came here. Civilians on picnics, genin to train, chuunin and jounin just trying to meditate a little. But it just wasn't her thing. She preferred the indoors life.
Still, in this... this paradise, it seemed foolish not to have come here earlier. Almost blasphemous. Like she was betraying her home or something. Which was... it was a stupid thought. Honestly. And she had better things to worry about. Really. Like, um...
Like the fact that her team was getting slaughtered by Akatsuki-
Like the fact Konoha was under attack and it wasn't going to stop any time soon-
Like the fact she was dying, she was dying oh god she can't stop the bleeding-
But it didn't matter. Even if she closed her eyes, she could still see the soft light pooling through the leaves, turning her vision red through her eyelids. She could still hear the rustle of the leaves, the gentle sound of the wind filtering through the trees, the quiet, beautiful silence that betrayed the fact that somewhere out there everyone was probably dead or fighting for their life or, or-
If she opened her eyes, she could see where she was. She could see the trees themselves, ancient and proud, interlocking and weaving a canopy. She could see the patches of fungi and moss, the softest downing she'd ever, ever experienced. It was green, the soft muted color you'd expect on a leaf. There were little holes in it. She could fit her fingers in them, if she tried. They were probably made by bugs. Gosh. Moss-dwelling insects. Shino would probably be really interested in that.
Too bad Shino was dead, dead and gone and eaten by that goddamn flytrap, breaking his spine and ripping him limb from limb, his beetles or bugs or whatever they were dropping like flies when their master just-
It was so comfortable. If she was back, back in the office with her master, she'd totally- she'd definitely recommend they rip all the moss out of the forests and replace all the bedding in Konoha with it. God, it was so nice! What was it with these things? And it'd be a completely logical suggestion. They were a plant-based village, sort of, so they should have some greenery in their lives. Sakura bet that Tsunade would be pretty impressed with her idea.
Too... too bad she'd never hear it.
But that was alright. It was all okay. Because she was happy, now. She was happy she was going to die here. Happy she would die here, with this beautiful light and these beautiful trees and this moss and wind and blessed, blessed peace, like she'd never seen before.
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A/N: Ugh. Talk about rambling.
