CHAPTER 9: Fear Of Blood

Tsunade yawned and opened her eyes sleepily. The girl was still lying there, with Tsunade's green jacket wrapped tightly around her like a blanket. As she looked, the kid muttered some in her sleep, then rolled over.

Then the bird cawed a second time, and Tsunade realized what had woken her. She looked to where it was perched, and with a jolt of unease she recognized the dark blue feathers of Jiraya's messenger bird. He would only write in an emergency..

The moment she had removed the scroll from its leg, the bird took off and had soon vanished into the darkness of the night.

The message seemed to have been scrawled onto the parchment in great haste, and all it read was:

He knows. Get away!

Tsunade gasped and a cold shiver ran down her spine. The old feeling of fear had returned. He knew where she was. The Great Snake knew where she was. How soon would it be until his followers arrived? Too soon. She had to get out. Ba Sing Se would make the most sense, seeing as where she was. He would probably guess where she had gone, but the great walls of the city had managed to withstand the Fire Nation for over a century. Surely, she would be safe there.

Tsunade looked at the hour glass on her podium. One more hour until the ferries left. She had to move quickly.

She got up quietly, so as not to wake the kid, and half-ran to her superior, who was writing something at his desk. She told him she was leaving and collected her wages. She felt lightheaded at the simplicity of it all. She was leaving. Going to Ba Sing Se. Just like that.

She went back to the podium and got a ferry ticket for herself, hesitated, looking at the sleeping girl, then reached for another.

Tsunade had only to whisper the kid's name, and she was awake, scrambling to her feet eagerly, as if she knew what was about to come.

''Still want that ticket to the ferry, kid?''

Toph smiled broadly, and there was a strange gleam in her blind eyes. ''I knew that it was something good. I knew it by the sound of your voice.''

So, when the time came, they boarded the ferry along with the rest of the refugees, and as the ship started to move out, Toph was clutching the railing, facing the way they were heading, with her eyes closed and a blissful smile on her face, as if she could already smell Ba Sing Se in the cool wind. Oh, she reminded Tsunade so much of Nawaki. Too much, almost, to be comfortable with.

Tsunade looked up at the dark sky, at the white, almost full moon, at the millions of barely discernible dots, sprinkled across the horizon, and heaved a sigh of relief. He would never get to her in the capital.

The refugees could take thin blankets for the night on deck from the storage room, and Tsunade sent Toph to get two, as the room was not supervised by an attendant and there was usually a pushing, shoving, crowd gathered around it. The girl was small enough to slip through the people and procure the newer, softer blankets, rather than the worn, scratchy ones, most people would end up with.

Tsunade herself would line up for the food. Food? More like rest overs, of an unappetizing meal at that, Tsunade thought bitterly as she walked back to the deck, trying not to breath in the nauseating fumes of the contents of the two bowls she was holding. Toph was already there, sitting on one of the better blankets, and holding the other out to Tsunade.

''Was one of the first in,'' she said proudly, ''Aren't many good blankets there, but I found two of 'em!''

She wrinkled her nose as Tsunade put down the bowls.

''Urgh! What's that?''

''They say it's potato soup,'' Tsunade shrugged, ''But I'm not sure if I believe them..''

Toph, who had dipped her finger into the brew and licked it cautiously, spat it out again with force.

''No way am I eating that muck. It tastes like puke.''

''Well, I never heard of a refugee being so picky in all my life,'' Tsunade said indignantly, ''Don't eat it then, but you won't get anything else.''

''I'd rather starve to death.''

Tsunade snorted, then raised the bowl to her mouth. It really did taste like puke.. With a tremendous effort, she managed to swallow it. She put the bowl to one side, feeling nauseous.

''You can have mine too, seeing as you like it so much,'' Toph grinned slyly.

Most of the other passengers were asleep by now, but Toph seemed far too excited for that. She would have walked round the entire ship, if Tsunade hadn't told her to stay put. Refrained to siting, her restless fingers tapped endlessly on the wooden floor, keeping Tsunade awake.

''Why are you so tense?'' she finally asked, goaded beyond endurance. ''You don't really have a family there waiting for you, do you?''

''No, but it's the capital, isn't it?'' Toph said eagerly, the words toppling out of her in quick succession in her excitement. ''The place where Avatar Kyoshi helped the poor workers, where one says the ghosts of terrible murders cluster at the East of Lake Logai, where the dragon of the West was defeated only five years ago!''

''You certainly know your legends,'' Tsunade smiled.

''My friend told them all to me. That's why I'm so excited too, because I'll meet him there, they're sure to let him off. He's just a kid. He can't fight.''

''Let him off from what?''

After Toph had told her, Tsunade looked at Toph uneasily.

''He's the only one you know in Ba Sing Se?''

''Yes. But he'll be there soon, if he isn't already.''

''What if he isn't coming at all?'' How like a kid, not to think these things through. ''Do you even know where you're going to stay after you get there?''

Toph just shrugged. How like a kid, just to think it would all sort itself out. How like Nawaki..

''Well, Toph, I'd say you were pretty lucky, running into me.. Because I, unlike you, know exactly what I'm going to do. And I'll be needing an assistant.''

The enormity of this decision almost took her breath away. It had been years, years, since she had worked as a healer.. and now she was handicapped. Blood phobia wasn't the ideal characteristic for any healer.. But she could handle it. As long as she saw the blood on living people, she could handle it.

A corpse, lying in a pool of red crimson came to her mind. The face barely recognizable. And then another image, a crying man carrying a small, broken body in his arms, the blood dripping steadily onto the floor, drip, drip-

No! She would not be reminded of that!

''Anything wrong?'' Toph asked, bringing her out of her revelry. Tsunade wrenched her mind away from the nightmare, and her trembling stopped.

''What should be wrong? We're going to Ba Sing Se.''