Sakura woke to the sound of creaking wood and the taste of dirt in her mouth. Heat crawled over her skin and she felt the air shift as a loud boom vibrated through her ears and drilled into her skull.

Her hands shot to the ground, pushing herself up from where her body had fallen face first into the dirt. She craned her neck, long hair flying up in an arc as she opened her eyes. Pupils dilated and irises bighted to an electric green, the color changing in fear and panic.

A tree loomed above her prone body, its wood flaring with fire as it fell towards her.

She could see the blue-white embers glowing a devouring trail up its trunk, see the branches cracking and bark shattering at the stress and heat, before her sight was blocked by a rising flame of red.

Sakura flung herself to the right, barely escaping a horrifying death and tearing her arm on a jagged, ash-covered branch. She instinctively took a deep breath and promptly choked on it.

She could taste the foul smoke in the air, like grit in her teeth and sand in her throat. She could smell the terror of the fleeing wildlife, their boiling flesh and singed fur heavy in her nostrils.

Sakura jumped to her feet, the movement far more graceful and quick then she had ever been able to move.

Around her the forest died; she could feel it screaming in her aching bones and bleeding from her ears. Sounds bombarded her, smells overwhelmed her and when she opened her clenched jaw to breathe, her throat seized, coughs spitting out the putrid tastes in the air.

Her eyes whirled wildly, watching as the world went up in a blaze of vivid colors. The fire seemed to move in slow motion up the trees, eating dead and live leaves without restraint. It was floating in the air, crawling across the ground and scratching angrily at her bed roll.

Sakura jolted when it reached for her, insatiable hunger driving it to consume even its maker. Her mind was a flurry of thoughts, the keen intelligence she had always relied upon deserting her in this onslaught of confusion and fright.

Animalistic instinct urged her to run, snapping at her to flee, to survive.

So she did.

She ran past her once-small fire pit, past the satchel that held her new life within its brown clothed depths, and flung herself through the forger's fire, heedless of what she had left behind.

Sakura ignored how her clawed feet dug desperately into the soot covered earth, how her incisors punctured her lower lip when she bit into it and how her body seemed to move with the speed of lightning.

The wind ran with her, whispering encouragements, sliding ephemeral fingers through her hair and guiding her to safety.

And when she finally stopped, sides heaving, she fell to the earth and dragged herself into the hollow of an ancient tree. Its kind roots surrounded her and enfolded her in blessed darkness.

She covered her pointed ears, curing into a ball and pressed her face to her knees in a vain attempt to stem the constant stimulation to her senses.

Sakura gasped in the old and musty air of the hollow, distantly thankful that it was devoid of the stench of death.

Weary and confused, her head pounding in pain, Sakura curled her tails around her shivering body and fell asleep to the distant hum of the earth's heart beat.


AN: Review Please! :)

~Delgodess