Is this the end

Is this the end? Ryume thought to herself as she fell off the cliff. Why? Why does it have to end like this? She closed her eyes for a moment and waited until she hit another cliff or the solid dirt on the ground. But she had keep her eyes open; she looked up and saw blue skies with no clouds. Her hair swirled wildly against her as she continued to fall. Then, suddenly, her left arm hit a small cliff sticking out of the side. At first she barely felt it, but in a few seconds she yelled in pain as she realized her arm was broken The deep gash in her left leg started to bleed again and she bit her lip, closing her eyes again.

Bad mistake.

Another small cliff hit her. And this time, it was her injured left leg. She screamed even louder and a single tear came out of her eyes, floating in the air as she fell faster that the liquid.

Oh my god. Oh my god. This hurts so much. I'm going to die. Ryume kept telling herself. She was giving up. A gust of wind brushed against her and she looked quickly to her left, she saw someone falling with her. Who was it? She couldn't tell because of her watery eyes. So she kept them closed and held her arm in frustration.

"RYUME!" The person beside her called out. She tried to open her eyes again but couldn't because the pain was so great. "Hold on!" The voice yelled again. Ryume didn't move as she continued to fall. Her eyes stayed shut and tears continued to come out of her eyes.

Ryume felt herself being held as the wind decreased and she stopped moving, but she hadn't touched ground yet. She rubbed her eyes with her good arm, which was covered in blood and looked up at the person who was carrying her.

"Sasuke!" Ryume cried out as more tears built up and she clutched his shirt.

"Shhh. It's okay. You're fine. You're going to be okay." Sasuke soothed. Her looked sadly at Ryume and gritted his teeth in anger. He knelt down on his knees and set Ryume down carefully on the ground. He moved to get back upright but stopped as he saw Ryume was still holding onto him.

"Please…" She cried. "Stay here… Please?" She whispered and more tears tumbled down her cheek.

Sasuke's eyes relaxed and sat next to across from Ryume. "Of course." He whispered back and held Ryume's hand. She looked up into his eyes and her tears started to decrease. Her eyes started to get heavy and she leaned back against the rock she was sitting against.

Sasuke moved closer to Ryume and leaned his forehead against hers. He looked deep into her eyes and never moved his gaze.

After a few minutes of more tears of pain and gritting of teeth, Ryume finally said. "It's quieted down a bit. I think the fight's over."

Sasuke only nodded in agreement. "Is your arm broken?"

"Yes. And I don't know about my leg."

"Your leg?" Sasuke asked urgently.

Ryume nodded and told him at how she had hit both am and leg on cliffs. He stared at her and then looked up. Ryume also looked up and saw everyone else coming down to meet them. She rubbed her eyes quickly and took in a deep breath. Another bad mistake. She coughed as her gut started to hurt again. She clutched her belly and covered a hand over her mouth as she coughed up more blood

"Ryume!" Sasuke cried as he saw Ryume coughing. "Are you okay? Speak to me!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked at her face.

"Is she okay?" Risu asked as she jumped next to Sasuke and bent down towards Ryume.

"She better be!" Rynn answered as she too landed next to Risu. Naruto was next and Hikuro was last as he struggled to get down. He went to the other side of Ryume and hissed at the sight.

"W-where's…Kasaigaru?" Ryume managed to get out. But she ended up coughing again when she spoke.

"Don't talk, Ryume." Naruto said.

"Yeah." Rynn agreed. "We don't want you losing any more blood."

Risu answered Ryume's question. "Kasaigaru is taking care of the ninja that got away into the village. He's fine."

Ryume nodded her head and gulped. It tasted horrible. She looked down at her arm and tried to move it. A shot of pain rose up to her shoulder and she cradled her arm in pain. She looked up at Hikuro and spoke. "You okay?" She cleared her throat to speak better.

Hikuro wasn't expecting to have someone speak to him and answered quickly once he realized she was talking to him. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. But just worry about yourself…"

"That's impossible for her, right, Ryume?" Rynn said and laughed put a hand on Ryume's head. Ryume flinched and bit her lip. Rynn noticed and put on a confused look. "Oh, don't tell me. You have a bump on your head too, huh?" Ryume nodded and Rynn laughed. Risu put on an Anime sweat drop and sighed. "Sorry, pal. Guess I'm still a little too rough for a person who-" She was cut off as a kunai flew towards her. Ryume noticed it just in time and pushed Rynn out of the way, but unexpectingly, she landed on Risu and they toppled over.

"Oops," Ryume mumbled but turned her attention back to the group of ninja who were now surrounding everyone in a circle. Sasuke moved closer Ryume protectively and glared at all of the ninja.

"Now, now, no need for you to look so angry. Ryume asked for it and she got it. It's all fair." Said Nushi as he grinned and looked straight at Ryume.

Sasuke got in the way so he couldn't look at Ryume's tear-stained face, which she was now wiping off. "She didn't ask for anything! So shut up and go back to the hellhole you came out of!" Sasuke growled. Nushi laughed and made a motion with his head.

Then, out of nowhere, ropes flew above Ryume's group's heads and a net followed behind them. The ropes tightened and so did the net. Ryume, Sasuke, Naruto, Risu, Rynn and Hikuro were trapped. They all fell to the ground and grunted in pain. Ryume's leg got caught in the net and she yelped out in pain when the net tightened.

Nushi made another movement with his hand and two of his ninja grabbed Ryume through the net and got her out. But not for a good reason. Ryume grunted in pain more when she was dragged to Nushi. Hikuro lifted his head and glanced at Ryume. He looked down to her leg and noticed it was in an awkward position. "Ryume!" He called out. "Your leg! It's-urg." He coughed up a few drops of blood as he was kicked in the stomach.

Ryume hissed at Nushi, breathlessly, "Don't…hurt them… I warn you!"

Nushi laughed and tilted Ryume's chin up so her was looking into her eyes. He laughed as she tried to break his gaze and release his grip. "And what're you going to do about it? Huh? Bite me? That's just so cute." He released Ryume and nodded to his ninja. "Lets go, boys. I've got what I wanted." Looking back at the group under the net, he laughed again and ran off with Ryume.

" DAMN IT! COME BACK HERE YOU JERK!" Naruto yelled.

"I AM SO GOING TO KICK YOUR SORRY ASS!" Rynn screamed.

"You kick, I punch, got it, Rynn!" Risu said angrily.

"HELL YEAH!" Rynn screamed again, pissed off.

Sasuke clenched his teeth in frustration. God damn it! Why Ryume? Why her, of all people! If they hurt her… He went on and growled. Hikuro stared desperately at the spot where Ryume was last seen in the horizon.

I can't believe it. I just now noticed; Ryume risked her life for me. She fought my battle. But why? Why did she do it, dang it? He pounded his head on the dirt and also clenched his teeth.

"What the hell happened?" Kasaigaru's voice boomed.

Everyone looked up at him and Rynn, Risu, and Naruto's face should fear. Rynn dared to speak to the furious wolf. "Oh, hey, Kasaigaru. Well, you're probably gonna ask about Ryume, huh? Uhh, yeah, about that… They kinda took her-DON'T KILL US!" Rynn blurted out.

Kasaigaru's eyes were blazing. Then he jumped down and got everyone out of the net. Once everyone was settled, Kasaigaru started to speak again. "All right. Here's the deal, all of you go patch up while I go find Ryume. I'll come back to pick you guys up and we'll go get her. But if you're too injured…" He glanced at Hikuro, "Like Neji, then you'll have to be left behind."

Rynn kicked the air to show she was okay. "Don't worry about me! I'm all good!"

Risu punched the air with her fists and agreed. "Yeah! Me too!"

Kasaigaru shook his head, "Sorry but I'm not taking all of you with me. You'll only slow me down, unfortunately.

"What do you mean? We won't slow you down!" Naruto piped up.

Kasaigaru sighed and growled softly. "Go to the hospital and get fixed up, whether your injured or not. Understood?" He said loudly on the last few words. Rynn, Risu, and Naruto stood up straight simultaneously and saluted.

"Yes sir!" They all said at the same time and started up the cliff to the Sand Village.

Sasuke looked off into the distance and then clenched his teeth. Kasaigaru's ears twitched as he heard a rock smash. Hikuro quickly looked at the sound and saw Sasuke going to punch another rock. He squinted as he saw Sasuke bring his fist back then pound it against the rock until it crumbled.

"WHY?!" He roared. "Why Ryume!?" He went to another rock and raised his bloody fist to punch it, but instead he laid his hand on the rock and leaned against it. "Damn it." He said softly.

"We'll get her back." Kasaigaru reassured. "I swear on my life I will bring her back. If I don't, I'll trade myself for her. She'd never forgive me if I did, though." He tried to smile at the thought, but didn't succeed and it turned into a goofy, crooked smile. He was too worried about Ryume to smile.

Hikuro watched from the background and was trying to fit all the pieces in the puzzle into place. So far, he wasn't doing a very good job at it.

Kasaigaru interrupted his thoughts; "We should get you to a hospital. I'm surprised your still even standing." Hikuro looked blankly at him for a minute but then shrugged.

"I'm fine but whatever." He looked away and ignored any other comment.

Kasaigaru smirked. "So, it looks like we have another Sasuke."

Hikuro looked back at him strangely and noticed Sasuke wasn't paying attention. He shrugged again and went up the mountain of dirt.

"Let's go Sasuke. We shouldn't waste time. I'll see you later."

Sasuke didn't say anything but kept staring off into the distance. Finally, he closed his eyes, turned his head, and walked off while Kasaigaru ran off to find Ryume.