Disclaimer: I do not own the manga; only the storyline, original characters and my strange imagination. Neither do I make any money off of this.

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All was normal. The forest was quiet and at times the sound of a predator catching its prey would sound out to break the nightly silence. Only the keen eye would notice a slim shadow moving quickly through the trees. They were gaining on her, she thought. There was no doubt that her pursuers would soon be upon her. She kept on running forward, as she went thorough her options.

She was outnumbered, five to one. There was no way at all that she could win. Perhaps if she was a hero, then she could have… but she was no hero. Just a shadow, nothing more. Even without the difference in numbers, she was wounded and almost out of chakra. If only she could have reached the safe house, then she could have gotten help. But the safe house was still quite a while away and by the looks of it they were going to catch up to her in the next five minutes, at most.

Cursing softly under her breath, Father would be appalled at such blatant show of emotions; she speed up using the last remains of her strength. The five chakra signals behind her lagged for one moment, but soon enough began to gain one her once again. Three minutes.

She tried to think of what people normally thought of at death. Which was a good thought, to be honest. What did people think of at death? Their loved ones, regrets, hopes, wishes? She didn't have much material to go off of, other than books. And those were never that reliable. She would have liked to ask someone but unfortunately anyone she could have asked was quite unreachable at the moment. Maybe she could ask someone when she died? Surely someone in hell would have to have the answer. There were plenty of people to ask from. Two minutes.

Her breathes came more rapidly now, sounds dulled by the presence of her mask. Her wounds were finally beginning to get to her. While not fatal, they were still big enough to risk her dying of blood loss, if not impeded. And it appears that the weapon that she was struck with was poisoned. Typical Suna.

The people behind her would be very disappointed indeed, to catch her only to have her die because of some minor wounds. Someone was surely looking forward to executing her himself. Or maybe not, it was hard to tell with ninjas. They were probably just satisfied with getting the mission completed. One minute.

Stumbling off the branch (she wondered how many times her Father must have turned in his grave by now? Good thing that it was difficult for even him to come from the dead, otherwise he would have come back just to kill her himself), She fell to the ground with a quiet thud. Dragging herself to a tree, she pushed her back against it, having no more strength to fight back or even get up. It wasn't much that she wanted to face death in the face, but more of the ingrained ninja habits that made her do this.

('Never show your back to the enemy ,' she remembered her Father say.)

She chuckled under her breath. Even at death's door, her Father would still not leave her alone. He was always there throughout her life. Her curse, her blessing, her nightmare and only solace. Her family. How strange that a thing so good could turn out to be so wicked. They were upon her.

Out of the shadows of the night, five figures slithered out. They truly did live up to the title of a ninja. The most elite of the elite. Quiet, dark, like five shadows ready to bring down the judgment of the village. Had she looked like that, she wondered. A long, long time ago…

'Tori Yamiko, you are to be executed on the orders of the Kazekage, for treason against the village.' The figure in the center (the captain, her mind whispered, just like you were, before you…) stated monotonously.

Ah, that did sound like her, she thought. All cold and unfeeling, truly the example of the perfect ninja. It was a tad bit strange, to be true, to be on the receiving part of this speech. So far she had only been the one giving it. Her eyes started to blur, and she could feel burning in her lungs. Although she was usually more resistant than this to poison, her wounds and exhaustion let the poison progress a lot faster than it would normally.

The sound of a sword being drawn brought her attention back to her situation. Damn, she really ought to stop drifting off. Otherwise she might miss her death. And from what she hears, those can only happen once so it must truly be quite an occurance. She vaguely hoped that the person executing her would be experienced. Sometimes when a rookie did it, they would mess up and would cause the victim to bleed out a slow and painful death. Not that the ninjas pursuing her would care, but she would rather not experience anymore pain.

Closing her eyes, she thought back to the beginning as she let herself drift away to the darkness with no more strength to resist. The very start of everything…

'Gaara…'

~~...~~

To those who have read the original version of this story 'Shadows the Tale of the Legendary Suna Ninja', thank you. I have personally reread it, and my notes, some time ago and I have decided to rewrite it. All of it, because the story was horrible and the ending was lame. I blame it on youth. So I am throwing everything away and leaving only the basic skeleton behind. If anyone finds this newer (and hopefully better) story interesting, please review! And if you don't, still review! I've got to improve somehow. Anyways, til the next chapter (no promises on when that will be) bye~

Silver