"Arg" Sakura let out a sore cry. Her right leg gave out from under her and forced her to stop on a tree branch. Five hours of a constant sprint behind her, she needed to cover as much ground as possible after leaving Konaha.
Silently panting, Sakura looked down at her trembling legs.
Her muscles couldn't take the intense physical activity like they used to. Her days at the hospital although exhausting, didn't hold up to her old rigorous training routine.
Sakura pulled out her "hard-core" solider pills, as Naruto called them, and popped a few in her hand. They rolled around in her palm.
How much further could she keep going? She knew she needed to conserve her chakra to heal the kids. The poison effected the nervous system and it took an intense healing process to undue the damage the poison was inflicting. It had already been 3 days since they'd been exposed.
She threw back the pills and slumped down against the base of an oak tree. The pills needed 30 minutes to metabolize in her stomach and she could rest in the meantime.
Sakura relieved her hands from her gloves and placed them at her side. Slowly massaging the sore tissues in her thighs her mind drifted to the sounds of the birds tweeting around her. When was the last time she actually heard the birds?
What a peaceful rarity.
She listened more deeply and heard a brook running close by. Sakura slowly went through her body muscles, flowing down, like the brook. She began with her temple relaxing her forehead muscles, then her sub occipital muscles in the base of her skull, her shoulder muscles, and all the way down the her feet, relaxing each sinew with a single breathe.
Sakura had learned how to do this in stressful situations during the war. When she felt overwhelmed in the middle of pandemonium of the hospital tent, she took a moment to release the tension in a short meditative moment. It always made her sharper, and quicker to bounce back into the throngs of chaos. A smarter, levelheaded medic would loose less patients.
She took one more deep breathe with her eyes fluttering closed. The earthly aroma of dirt and flora drifted through her senses...
The air stilled against her face, Sakura cooed in disappointment at the disappearance of the breeze, and the birds... the birds were starting to sound like crows? Sakura fluttered open her eyes. *Thump* something fell next to her. Time stood still. Something warm was touching her hand. Her mind screamed at her "Don't look!" But her body would not stop moving. She peeled around the tree and dozens of crows were fighting viciously and cawing in a heap around a meal. Pecking and screeching at each other, an angry feast. All of the sudden the crows all slowly turned to face her one by one and stopped. All at once they flew upwards in a cacophony of feathers and "caws". Rushing to the sky leaving their dinner behind. And there revealed was one of them. From 4 years ago. His chest had been crushed and his lungs collapsed. The man's eyes rolled back from his head and he stared straight into Sakura's eyes. "Missed me?" He smiled through his teeth.
Sakura bolted upright, kunai in hand gasping for air. Her hands shook and her disorientation was too much. "Oh kami." She dropped her kunai and clutched her eyes with her hands. This is why she ran herself into the ground, this is why she couldn't leave the hospital. Her blissful exhausted sleep cycles prevented her from dreaming. From letting them haunt her.
Sakura dug her nails into the dirt to release the fear, slowly regaining control of her composure.
She glanced at the golden sky.
The sun was descending, she didn't have much time until nightfall.
She lifted her small frame off the ground, grunting from her stiffened muscles and decided to go as far as she could before darkness overtook the forest. She burst out through the branches trying to use up the energy she had from the solider pills and dispel her nightmare. The soldiers of the past always haunted her, always followed her.
The sun had finally dipped behind the tree tops and forced Sakura to descend to the forest floor. Finding a small mossy patch the lone kunoichi kneeled down exhausted.
Sakura was traveling through a very remote part of the forest, but she took no unseated precaution. She scouted the area and set up three trip lines.
Satisfied with her work, she returned to her pack, opening up one of her scrolls she unsealed a sleeping mat. Starting a small fire she pulled out her notes from Sana-san. The Nightshade was found usually growing on a remote hill outside of the village. Sakura traced the sketches she took of the flower's petals with her finger. Smiling to herself she heard Sana's soft voice describing the flower's beauty. The flower was truly a remarkable essence of nature. Delicate violet petals outstretched in five, and yellow anther graced the middle. They grew on small bushes and were easy to spot with their purple color.
Tired of reading Sakura placed the scroll back into her pack. She put out the flame and turned to look up at the star speckled sky.
Night was always difficult for her. Images of death, anger, heartbreak were always in her peripheral. She just put a lab coat over them and doused them in antiseptic, trying to kill them off. But at night, when her lab coat was hung up, and the antiseptic was washed down the drain- the memories flooded her.
She could usually stop the thoughts from sheer exhaustion, but things were different, she wasn't in the village right now. Memories of the last solider she couldn't help, memories of the child who bled out in front of her, memories of the man who never returned her love, memories of her never knowing how to be herself, shook and rattled inside her like a caged animal.
But she persevered. Like she always did. She had to.
Pushing the memories down while Sakura settled deep under her blanket she closed her eyes to the stars. She'll deal with them tomorrow.
The stars shown brightly through the hatch door in the abandoned barn.
Sasuke lay staring up through the cosmos. A barn cat curled up next to sasuke's side purring at the hand that was softly scratching the underside of his ear.
The stars were always a comfort for him.
A melancholy one.
The moon was unreliable, but the stars were ever present. They could have burned out millennia ago, but they remained sending light through thousands of lightyears.
For this reason, Sasuke felt that they were comforting. Because no matter how long ago you died, the light you provide will shine through for millennia.
Unable to visit their graves since his departure from Konaha 4 years ago. Sasuke named his mother, father and Itachi in the night sky. Finding their star, it felt like he could honor and eternalize them in a cosmic way.
Sasuke's companion stirred and sat up rubbing his paw with his head. Satisfied, the cat took off, bounding after a barn mouse.
The villagers of Shirazaki had been less than welcoming when Sasuke came through. The old woman on the outskirts had let him stay inside the barn in return for some small house repairs. She was warm and felt guilty for not having a spare room to offer. Her husband had passed away during the war and she was left alone to tend to the farm. Sasuke had assured her that the barn would be fine.
There were two beautiful sakura trees growing out in front of the house and the older woman took notice when Sasuke had stopped to look at them.
"My late husband planted these for me, they flower beautifully each year. You should come back when they're in bloom." The older woman chuckled.
"hn" Sasuke returned curtly.
He hadn't thought of her in a long time. He didn't allow himself to think of her. It was one of his rules.
But the trees only brought out memories.
"Sakura..."