I ran as fast I could, slipping through trees and jumping over narrow rivers. Freedom! Free from the pain and anguish I felt for years. Bye Father. My old life was now dead, while my new one shortly about to start. I did not know where to go or to who to go to, but all I needed to know was I didn't want to go back to father. I couldn't take it any longer living in that house with him. The constant lashing of his whip to my bare skin, slaps that bruised my cheeks and made them glow red, and the intoxicating smell of hard liquor.
I pause to catch my breath, since I have been trekking through the forest for 8 hours with very little rest. I figured I was put a fairly great distance from the place I use to call home. I wandered around looking for a pond or a freshwater stream so I could clean and dress my wounds, made by the broken tree branches and thorny pushes that tore through my clothes and skin. I guess running through them I didn't register the pain 'til later on, but they hurt less than anything he has done to me.
After I was attending to my injuries, I started jogging. After jogging for hour and a half, I heard the sound of cars. Running in the direction of the sound I found a road. I figured I would hitchhiking with a complete stranger would be a good idea at this point in time. A dangerous and stupid decision, yes, but it wasn't like I had much of a choice. Either it was to keep walking through the area at a slow pace with a high probability that my father might find me, or to stop torturing my feet and lower the chances of being found and hitching a ride with an unknown person in their fast car to wherever far away destination they may be going. I saw a car; I started waving my hands in the air, yelling at them to please stop. They saw me and pulled over in front of me. When they pulled the window down, I saw a woman with long charcoal hair and ruby red eyes with a fierce yet gentle persona.
"You need a lift?" she asked.
"Yes please that would be very nice, but before I get in may I ask where you're going." I said cautiously just in case she was going back into the direction of my former home.
"I 'm going to my house in the busy city of Konoha." She said as I breathed a sigh of relief. I got into the car and buckled up. We drove in silence for about half an hour, but she decided to break the awkward silence "So what's your name young lady?" I froze, my mouth went dry. I dared to look into those piercing, questioning red eyes. When I turn to look at her I saw that she looked like she came to a conclusion, an answer, but also trust.
"H-Hi-Hinata Hyuga" I managed to stutter out.
"Well Hinata my name is Kurenai Yuuhi, so why were you standing on the side of the road earlier?" she questioned. I opened my mouth to give her an answer, but soon closed it because I couldn't and haven't come up with an excuse to give. I thought we'd be driving in silence the whole drive.
"Hinata, look I'm just going to come right out and say it. Are you a runaway or not? If you are, can you tell me why?" my whole body went stiff and numb. My heart picked up speed that I should have had a heart attack right then and there. Out of all the shock I could only ask "Are you going to turn me into the police?" she stopped the car for a minute, and looked at me with deep concern and care I haven't seen since my mother passed.
"No, I'm not going to turn you in; every person has a reason to runaway. I just want to make sure it's a good one." That was it. That was my breaking point. I broke down into tears. When I felt warm arms wrapped around me and hold me close cried harder. I've lived through hell in my family since my mother's death. And here's a person I just met, from hitchhiking on the road, showing me as much care and compassion than my father has shown me in years. We stayed like that for a good 30 minutes. I had stopped crying. Kurenai told me I could tell her everything when we get to her house, and that I was more than welcome to stay with her as long as I liked for comfort.