Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, but the story is mine.
-For my grandfather who passed away on Saturday, March 1st, 2008. I miss you pop.-
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With a graceful half twist, an exhausted Sai landed on the damp forest floor, the huge falcon behind him melting away into ink, staining the surrounding tree trunks and earth black.
Within a short time he had traveled over a large chunk of land, almost two hundred miles, he calculated, in just less than six hours. Sai staggered forward, his weary feet slipping on the black, slippery ground.
Hokage-sama is dead. Sakura-san is injured. Naruto-kun is unstable and Kakashi-san seems unable to make quick decisions. Not to mention Danzou-sama. Should I tell him first or go straight to the frog hermit?
His foot caught under a particularly gnarled root that had wandered quite a ways away from its mother, and he toppled forward, his knee scraping painfully against the sharp, jutting branches of a small bush before he caught himself. The full moon, hidden behind angry, rolling clouds, was doing nothing to help his situation.
I will not be able to continue on at this pace. I don't have enough chakra to create another bird, and even if I somehow managed that, with visibility this low, I would probably steer it into a tree.
Blood began to leak from the deep scratches crisscrossing his legs, but Sai showed no signs of pain or stopping. Instead, the root member continued on, although his quick pace wavering slightly. Slowly, almost tentatively, a gloved hand reached up to the miniscule pack strapped across his back.
With a muted zip, pack opened and he began to fish around inside. I'm only fifty miles from Konoha. If I travel at full speed, I can make it in two and a half hours. That will have to do, for now.
Deftly, his fingers closed around the desired object and he withdrew his hand from the pack. Onyx orbs fixed on the pill case resting on his cloth covered palm, his face scrunched up in thought as he tried to remember exactly what color pill he needed.
Red. Emergency Suicide Pill.
Green. A paralyzing gel.
Yellow. No idea. Anti-depressant?
Brown. Soldier pill.
Purple. Aphrodisiac.
Carefully, so as not to drop the others, he plucked two brown pills from the case. Popping them in his mouth, he came to a stop and waited patiently for the rush of pure energy that was on its way.
With one last glance at the case, he closed it and replaced it in his pack (except for the yellow pills, those found themselves bouncing angrily off the trunk of a nearby sycamore, after all, what use does an emotionless man get from anti-depressants?) and shot back into the trees.
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Sakura's landing was not nearly as graceful as Sai's had been. As soon as her feet hit the cobblestones of the road, her knees gave out, and she collapsed. Breathing heavily, she tried to stand, her body shivering from exhaustion.
Sweat ran down the sides of her face, adding to the small channels of the liquid cutting paths down her back. A wave of nausea washed over her. Bracing her hands against her knees, she coughed and sputtered. After several minutes, the need to dry heave passed and Sakura was able to straighten.
Using the back of her hand as a napkin, the girl gazed at her surroundings. Ok. We've finally reached the main road to Grass country. And would you look at that it's only midnight. Lovely.
Emerald glared angrily at the half hidden moon and the gently curving hills in front of her. The cobblestones underneath her feet were not well laid, leaving not only large gaps and an uneven surface that screamed 'I want to make you fall down and crack open your skull!', but also sharp, jutting shards of rock from limestone slabs that the metal covered wheels of traders' carts had shattered.
Carefully, the medic-nin began making her way forward, and after stubbing her toes several times, she suddenly wished that she had steel lined, steel toed boots instead of steel lined sandals.
Seriously, she thought as her foot hit one of the cobble stones particularly hard, what asshole thought that sandals should be the standard issue shoes for ninjas? Obviously, no normal enemy ninjas would stab someone in the foot. No, it would take a tactical genius to think up that plan. I'll have to take that up with Tsunade-shishou when I get back.
Sakura stopped dead in her tracks. Finally hit you eh? I mean, when you first saw her, you went into shock, but it didn't really sink in, now did it? Tsunade-shishou...
With a renewed hatred, Sakura began to push forward, straining against her limits. A sudden wave of nausea cut her enraged charge forward short, however. Not again.
This time, the girl made her way over to the side of the road and sat down, placing her head between her knees. Air hissed in and out between clenched teeth, as Sakura tried to steady both her breathing and her somersaulting stomach.
In the distance, she could hear muted voices, and without thinking, the girl threw herself into the thick brush near the side of the road. Ignoring her spinning head, she waited, hoping that the voices belonged to traders hoping to get a jump on competition by traveling all night instead of the more likely scenario of a nin-squad returning from a mission.
Several agonizing minutes later, a pair of heavy hooves clomped into her view, followed shortly by a pair of slim, sandaled feet. The liver spots dotting the light, almost translucent skin, on the feet signaled that the man they belonged to was not young. To Sakura's utmost horror, the feet did not continue on immediately.
Noticing her hand was almost touching the man's right foot, she pulled the intruding thing away as hastily and quietly as she could. Another poorly shod hoof slammed into the ground where her hand had been moments before, as the man began to plod forward again, dragging the carthorse with him.
"Darling, why did we stop back there?" a soft voice sounded out as one of the large metal studded wheels rolled past the girl's hiding place. "I thought I heard something is all," came the gruff reply.
"So? Perhaps other people are out traveling."
"At this time of the night? Hardly. If anythin', it's bandits I heard. Probably getting ready to rob us silly."
"Oh don't talk such nonsense, Jin."
Slowly, Sakura crawled out from the underbrush, the elderly couple's conversation slowly fading away as the space between the two parties increased. What is wrong with me? I should have known they were there. Well, nausea does tend to lessen observation skills.
She sat back on her haunches and waited for several minutes before daring to move. Keeping a healthy distance from the two, she began to follow them.
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Several miles and hours later, Sakura paused in her slow trek. The gentle, rolling hills covered in thorny underbrush had given away quite suddenly to massive, towering cliffs.
For several minutes, Sakura had to search for the path the couple and their cart had taken, finally spotting the thin, haphazard trail that made its way along one of the larger cliff-sides. With a sigh, the exhausted Konoha-nin began to make her way along the trail, careful not to go near the edge that dropped off sharply only two and a half meters away.
Ok, so Grass country must be nearby. How do you figure that? Well, let's see, Fire country ends where the Gotu River meets the Kidou River. There is a large, wooden bridge, the Wheat Bridge, that officially marks the end of Fire, but those two rivers serve as the unofficial boundary line.
Yeah and? That, Sakura thought glancing meaningfully at the muddy, fast moving water only thirty feet below her current altitude, is the Gotu River. Well, damn.
Sakura scuttled backwards, away from the edge, until her back slammed into the rock wall, her inner-self quiet once more. Noting how far ahead the elderly couple, obviously Grass country natives judging by how easily they navigated the cliffs, had gotten, the kunoichi hurriedly tried to lessen the distance.
If she lost sight of them, she would have to wait until her chakra returned so she could water walk out of the dangerous, cliff-maze hybrid.
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Sakura jolted awake as the kunai sliced through the top layer of skin on the back of her arm. Silently, she looked down at the makeshift alarm she had fastened out of some string she had found in her pack, one of her remaining kunai, and her knife scabbard.
The string attached the kunai to the plain scabbard. As long as she was awake, she could move so that her arm would not hit the threatening blade, but as soon as she fell asleep, her movements would change and she would nick herself.
Hey, dipstick. That was a close one. You started walking towards the edge in your sleep. I had to take over for a minute to keep you from trying to learn how to fly. Shut up.
You know, going without sleep for twenty two hours is not healthy. I've done it before. Yeah, but you had all of your chakra then. Now you have less than half.
And? That's happened before, too. You've been through an emotionally exhausting ordeal. You've never had all three happen at once. Your brain is shutting down, which is why I'm here, consequently.
Gee…My hero. Sakura stopped short as she rounded a particularly sharp corner and came within feet of the back of the cart. With a muffled shit, she threw herself backwards and gripped the cliff-side with an arm, using it to swing her back around the corner.
When the hell did I get so close to them? I told you not sleeping for almost an entire day isn't healthy.
After several minutes, Sakura finally decided it was safe to peek around the corner, and she did so, tentatively. The wagon had moved forward slightly then stuttered to a halt. The giant carthorse let out an exasperated whinny as it tried to tug its heavy load forward, the back wheel stuck on a large sharp rock.
With a final, mighty tug, the horse freed the wheel and lurched forward. The beast, not expecting that his load would suddenly become much easier to pull, was thrown off balance, and fell to the side.
A large portion of his hulking mass, landed over the edge, and in horror, Sakura watched as gravity did its work and pulled the writhing creature into the abyss. The horse hung in the air for a terrible moment, its legs kicking feebly as it strangled on the heavy oak yoke, before the cart crashed to its side, and with shouts and curses from its occupants, was also pulled over the edge.
Oh shit! Sakura rushed forwards and peered over the edge. The river water had completely swallowed the cart and its inhabitants, a plume of mud the only indication that anything had disturbed the current.
Apprehension plastered on her face, Sakura waited for someone, anyone, to surface. Seconds passed and without a second thought, the girl leapt over the cliff, her earlier fear forgotten.
What the fuck are you doing? You'll die! They need my help! They'll die! You didn't know them! Who the hell cares if they die?! Aren't you supposed to have abandoned your "good Konoha shinobi image"?
I have. But that doesn't mean I can sit back and watch as innocent people drown! I'm still human! The thought flashed across her mind as she hit the water, and she realized belatedly, that she had forgotten to take a breath.
Using her chakra to push her towards the surface and to keep her from being swept downstream by the violent current, Sakura took in a healthy breath of air before diving back into the murky water.
Dirt swirled around her, catching in her hair and scratching the skin on her unprotected face and neck. Blindly, she swam farther into the swirling vortex of murk, hoping that she was heading in the right direction of the cart.
Something caught the sleeve of her robe, and surprised, Sakura turned to stare at the long, bony fingers fisting in the dark cloth. Then she was gazing into the dark beady eyes of the old man.
The thin layer of film covering the black orbs and his slack jawed expression marked him as a lost cause. Sakura reached out and pried his hand from her sleeve, breaking the man's fingers as well as his death grip.
The kunoichi blinked, and after a few moments of deliberation continued on with her former mission, deciding to abandon the corpse to the river's whims.
Seconds later she found the cart, literally bouncing off its back. Steadying herself, she began to feel her way along the side, nails scratching deep gashes into the wood as she tried to resist the strong pull of the current.
Running a hand across her eyes to clear away some of the dirt, Sakura reached the driver's bench and began to search for the heavy, metal latch attaching the horse harness to the thick beams of the undercarriage.
She flinched away when an angry black hoof slammed violently into the front of the cart, sending the entire structure backwards several feet. Sakura, whose hand had been wrapped around one of the beams, held on for dear life as she was dragged with it, air bubbles streaming from the side of her mouth.
Holy shit! I didn't know the horse was that close. Looks like Seabiscuit's getting desperate. See what you got yourself into? And for what? The old man already bought the farm. The hag is probably dead too. Futile! Shut up.
As the cart skidded to a halt, Sakura's hand closed around the latch and she pumped her free arm in triumph once before she thudded into the stationary mass of wood and iron. Prying herself off of the side of the cart, she gripped the latch in both hands and squeezed.
There was a flash of pain as the iron latch broke, the metal shards cutting deep into the palms of her hands, but she ignored it. With an almost silly grin plastered on her face, she turned to watch the horse, suddenly free, lurch towards the surface.
Her grin disappeared quickly, however, when the animal's powerful back legs clipped the cart, sending it crashing onto the girl. Trapped beneath its crushing weight, Sakura scratched feebly at the muddy riverbed.
The force of the blow had knocked the breath out of her and as she lay there trapped and gasping, water began to pour into her lungs. I told you not to do this. See what happened? Survival of the fittest, I guess you just weren't good enough.
Shadows flitted in and out of her rapidly darkening vision. Some tall, some short, some beautiful, others gruesome. All were familiar.
One of the taller shadows moved forward. Teasing, taunting the dying girl. It's long, thin hand caressing the side of her face.
"Sakura…baka…get up."
The girl blinked, trying to comprehend the soft whisper. Slowly, the shadow hand left the side of her face in favor of floating strands of pink.
Twisting the locks of hair around its fingers, the hand gave them a gentle tug, and the figure whispered softly, "A good apprentice would not die this way."
Dull emerald flickered up to stare into warm brown. The brown hardened.
"Now get up!"
And suddenly, it was like she was back in medic training. Chakra poured into her lungs, forcing the destructive water back up her esophagus and out of her mouth and nostrils, before sealing off the open passageways. Immediately, any unused energy moved on to her heart, slowing it down while at the same time repairing some of the damage inflicted by the dirty water.
Carefully, Sakura sank her palms into the riverbed behind her, the cool mud quickly soothing the fiery pricks of pain as it seeped into the lacerations crisscrossing the already scarred skin. Using her hands to pull herself backwards, inch by inch, she managed to wrench one of her legs out from under the massive cart.
In her hurry to rid herself of the massive weight, she had twisted the other leg the wrong way and had gotten it stuck in between a wooden beam and a large stone, half hidden by mud. When twisting and almost frantic tugging provided no results, Sakura resorted to sending a chakra packed kick into the side of the wagon.
Due to the small amount of chakra backing up the blow, the cart flipped over only once, nevertheless collapsing into itself upon landing. Through the wreckage Sakura could see the faint outline of a plump hand, and with a sick feeling, she realized where the other cart owner had gotten to. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Sakura glanced around at her surroundings one last time, a shiver ran up her spine when she realized she was alone, before wrenching her hands free from her muddy anchor.
Wasting no time, she began to swim towards the surface, reaching it just as her makeshift air supply ran out. Gasping, she floated on the surface for a moment before being dragged back under.
Seconds later, she reappeared and tried to stay afloat as the current to carry her downstream. As she floated in the water, half dead, Sakura fancied that she heard a soft whinny. Don't tell me the horse didn't make it. Not after all of that.
Eyes searching for the source of the noise, emerald finally locked on the massive black horse. The creature pranced happily (dragging the useless yoke with it) in a circle before shaking some of the moisture from his glistening coat.
For a few seconds, the girl just stared at the obviously happy animal. And then it hit her. LAND! EASILY ACCESSABLE LAND!!THANK GOD!!
In moments, she was swimming like a madwoman towards the small, gently sloping bank, ignoring the flare of pain in her lower back and shoulders that the sudden, rapid movements caused. With a sigh of relief, Sakura dragged herself ashore, careful to keep her distance from the carthorse.
Which reminds me…where did the old woman get to? Who cares? I do. I did not just jump into a river for my own excitement. Ah, but you must admit, there is something about drowning. A sort of calm feeling that comes over right before your heart shuts down and your soul is ripped from your body. That's sick.
But true, her inner-self interjected before Sakura was pulled back into reality by a tug on her hair. Glancing up warily, she found herself inches away from the horse's flaring nostrils. The beast looked at her, dark eyes liquid, and went back to nibbling her hair.
Too tired to swat the nuzzling animal away, Sakura laid her head down on the ground and curled into the fetal position. The horse followed her descent and lied down next to the shivering girl, his warm chest sending waves of heat into her soaked form.
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Macadamia: Okay people, I am back after what…five weeks or so? Unfortunately, over the last five weeks my house has been acting as a hotel for at least four out of town relatives who were up here visiting our dying father/grandfather in the hospital. They all left on March 7th so…I now have access to the computer again! YEAH! Hopefully, I'll be able to get the next chapter out sooner. Only one more chapter to go before she meets Hidan and Kakuzu! YEAH! Can you feel the buzz of excitement?