Update: In an effort to get back into the mindset of finishing this story because I am damn determined to I'm going to be going through and fixing mistakes in the posted chapters. A new chapter should be quick to follow. I just need to bring the muse back out and dust it off a bit.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Running Up That Hill
Prologue
Pain. It wrapped itself around her in an unwanted caress. It held onto every limb, every pore, and every muscle as if she had been stretched and twisted, compressed and confined, and generally pushed to the brink of exhaustion. It was the deep ebbing pain that even gripped her mind, not the sharp acute pain of a particular injury. Rather something old and new at the same time, an all-encompassing ache that almost eluded description entirely.
Trees. Clouds. The blurred forms slowly came to recognition as her eyes adjusted to the sudden light. She groggily waved a deceptively delicate hand about in front of her vision testing each finger individually. Everything looked hazy to her weary eyes, as if she had just woken from an unneeded midday nap, synapses firing sluggishly. A darkness clinging to the edges of her vision refused to give up its hold.
Wild life. Shouting. Metal clanging. Sounds of nearby battle caused her to snap to attention, the shinobi and medic within her battling for control. The midday laze dispersing instantly, she was up and pulled taut like a band ready to snap, pushing the lingering pain and darkness to the back of her mind.
Wind. Branches. She was running before she even registered it, bare feet pushing off the cluttered ground with purpose. Carelessly leaving bloodied tracks as the sticks and rocks tore into the normally protected flesh, more important matters were at hand.
Chakra. It electrified the air and stung her nose and lungs, the battle ground was seeped in it, the smell clawed at her subconscious. She could remember that the aroma always accompanied a certain jutsu however she couldn't quite put a name to it. As she neared the fight the elemental force adhered to her skin, raising gooseflesh and hairs on the back of her neck.
She didn't think, just reacted. As soon as she entered the cave she unconsciously registered the markings on the headbands, there was no time to compute any situations or let her sometimes overly logical mind take matters into hand. Before the enemy registered her entrance she was dashing across the cramped space flooding her limbs with chakra and pushing a boy to the side. Grunting with exertion and mild pain she punched upwards allowing her enhanced strength shatter the large stone falling towards her into harmless pieces. She raised herself, unfolding from the semi crouched position she had been forced to take and looked at the three stunned shinobi before her assessing any damage.
She blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Another time just to be sure, and shook her head violently. Pink locks swayed with the movement as she transitioned from battle ready kunoichi to a state of strained confusion. The darkness that had been threatening to swallow her vision encroached ever more yet she could clearly see the unmistakable silver mop of hair and masked face. Nothing made sense and she hoped it had merely been the odd exhaustion that was causing her to see this vision.
He was dead, she and what remained of her team had buried him only weeks ago. She was sure of it, felt it within every fiber of her being. Yet here he was, looking years younger than herself and staring right back at her with a single drooped eye that sung of as much confusion as hers. She slumped forward as the slinking blackness closed in more, barely registering a flash of yellow light and uttered one exhausted word.
"Sensei?"