Sakura ducked as one of the Warg's swiped at her with a heavy, clawed paw, and wheezed as it's orc-rider caught her in the side with some sort of mallet-like weapon. The fight had quickly disintegrated into an all out mêlée. The 'good guys' and the 'bad guys' were in such close proximity that she couldn't use an exploding tag without taking out half her own side, even if she had enough left to use. The same applied to her super-strength, especially since they were fighting on top of a cliff. That only left close-combat taijutsu and kunai. At least, she grunted as she smashed a fist into the beast's flank, she could still lace her punches with chakra. She felt its huge ribs crack under her knuckles and it toppled over onto its back, crushing the cursing orc underneath it.

Sakura had no time to appreciate the victory, though, because two more were already bearing down on her with slavering jaws and Orcs with big pointy weapons on top of them. She dropped and rolled under one of the Wargs, just as it leapt forwards, and bounced back onto her feet behind it with a kunai in each hand. A flick of the wrist caught the Orc in the back of the head, killing it instantly, but the second clipped the metal buckles on the Warg-riders saddle and deflected, leaving a severely pissed off and very alive giant wolfish beast in front of her – dead orc still hanging from the straps. She heard the growl behind her and ducked on instinct. The orc-blade whistled as it passed over her head, but the warm breath on the back of her head was more worrying. She managed to lunge between the first Warg's legs again just in time to avoid those jaws snapping shut. Sakura scrambled in the dirt to get back to her feet, but a heavy paw came down on her back and knocked the wind out of her. She could hear the Orc cackling over the growls of the two Warg's. She grimaced as she felt the claws dig into her shoulder and a big blob of warm drool hit the back of her head. Sakura wriggled desperately, trying with all her might to get her hands out from under her so that she could do something. Anything.

A low 'whoosh' sounded, and the weight on her was suddenly gone; the beast staggered and collapsed with a cry, an arrow firmly stuck in its neck. She hurriedly formed the signs for a substitution jutsu and got the hell out of there. The frustrated cry of the remaining Warg and Rider as their prey promptly turned into a log was music to her ears. Sakura finished them off with a few fast shuriken, though she had no time to see if they hit. She was already physically holding the jaws of another one apart, trying to keep it from eating her. It's breath was rank, and the whole beast smelled like a mix of rotting meat and wet dog. With a flicker of green chakra making her wrists glow, Sakura summoned her 'super-strength' and forcefully moved the animals jaws apart. There was a loud sudden CRACK. The Warg dropped to the floor with its broken jaw flapping like the dinosaur in King Kong.

All around her the Warg-riders and the Rohirrim were weaving in and out of each other, a spear here, a blade there; arrows flew and cries of pain rent the air. She comforted herself that those cries were more orc than human. It was a mess. She couldn't see her friends; they were lost in the sea of beasts. The very air smelled of blood, sweat and fur.

Sakura vaulted backwards as one of the horsemen swung past, fighting to get the panicked horse under control, while an orc and its steed snapped at his heels. She used her momentum to spin on the heel of her hand and snapped her leg up under the Warg's jaw, sending it flying sideways into one of its own. The two beasts collapsed in a tangled heap, and began fighting with one another as they wrestled to get up. The Orc though, had jumped off just as she had kicked, and aside from a few bruises from his quick drop-and-roll, he was unharmed. This was unfortunate, as said unharmed orc was now quite enthusiastically swinging his sword at her head. She tried to duck, and his boot came up to meet her ribs. She groaned painfully, dropping to one knee for just a moment, but it was long enough for the orc to bring down another swing. A few severed pink hairs floated to the ground. The orc gurgled unintelligibly as blood bubbled up in his mouth – Sakura had thrown her entire weight forwards to avoid the blow, and by extension thrown her whole weight onto the kunai she'd embedded in his stomach. He crumpled.

She barely had time to wipe the blood off her face before she was attacked again. Two arrows swooshed by her ears and took out two of the orcs surrounding her, leaving just one for her to dispatch with a quick chakra-fuelled kick. She recognised Legolas' elfin arrows – a fast search saw him firing from atop a rocky outcrop, taking down orcs left, right and centre. His lips were moving - as if he was counting under his breath. Or swearing. She had a sneaking suspicion it was both. She saluted him smartly in recognition, but didn't wait for him to return it. She dived back into the fray.

It was pure luck that she saw Aragorn when she did. Had she been anywhere else at that exact moment she would never had known what happened, such was the writhing changing mass of bodies on the battleground. She had been grabbed by an orc on foot – his sharp hooked nails dug into her shoulder – and on reflex she grabbed his forearm and pulled him over her bodily. He thudded into the ground, arm almost certainly dislocated, when the angry Kunoichi kicked herself into a spin and swung the loathsome creature around with her. He cried out as his arm jerked violently out of the socket for the second time. But halfway through her turn she lost all thought of this particular adversary. Aragorn was being dragged through the dirt by a wayward Warg –his hand was caught on the straps of its saddle somehow – and the sight of the panicked animal running full pelt toward the cliff-edge made her blood freeze. Without preamble she dropped the orc she held. Still mid-spin, he continued his path and flew into the ground some distance away, though Sakura didn't look to see where he'd landed. Her entire focus was tunnelled on the struggling ranger and diminishing distance between him and the cliff.

Sakura had no idea if she shouted his name aloud or not – her voice would have been lost in the battle either way. All she knew was that the gap between them was too wide, and she was running out of time. A frustrated yell was the only thing to mark the instant her feet left the ground. A sizzle of chakra glowed around her boots as Sakura leapt into the air and began running directly over the battle – stepping from head to head - faster than any elf could hope to be. Her chakra burned the scalps of the orcs she stood on, but she neither noticed nor cared. She needed to be faster. Her lungs burned as she pushed chakra through her body, willing herself with all her might to be closer, closer, closer. Her body flickered, and suddenly she was struck with the feeling that her major organs had just attempted an escape through her skull. And then she was there. Her breath caught as her brain tried to process the simultaneous shock of having flash-stepped for the first time, and the shock of suddenly, finally being in reach of Aragorn. She desperately tried to grab onto him; he flung out his hand to her. Their fingertips brushed. The Warg toppled over the edge, and Sakura's eyes widened frantically as she watched him fall away from her. This time she knew she screamed.

"Aragorn!"

She threw herself over without so much as a pause.

Sakura squeezed her arms tight against her sides, free-falling with her head down and her toes pointed – anything to make her fall faster. Her eyes watered as the wind rushed past. Her teeth ached, she was gritting them so tightly. The river was looming closer, and its vicious roar filled her ears.

He was tumbling head over end with the beast, unable to get away from it. Aragorn fought with the thing, wriggling around in the air as best he could, trying to reach the handle of the dagger. The rip of his sleeve was a blessing and a curse. With that sound, the fabric tore away from the dagger embedded in the Warg's flank and the wind pulled him away. For a heart stopping moment, he had the strangest feeling of flying. Then two dainty arms caught him tightly against a small slim body, and he felt them being flipped over as Sakura tried desperately to catch hold on the cliff-face with her chakra dancing along her fingers. To no avail. The rock broke away under the force of their fall, leaving them skidding down the cliff face. Sakura cried out as the friction tore away the pads of her gloves and burned her fingers, and the two of them tumbled backwards away from the cliff and into the river's icy grasp.

The water tossed them about like ragdolls, burned their lungs and their skin with its frigid temperature. Sakura's body had never felt so heavy, nor her movements so out of her control. She flailed about and for a brief second made contact with Aragorns arm. It was enough for her to catch his wrist in a death-grip. But the water was moving too fast for her to make any headway – it was all she could do to stay afloat, let alone swim. She couldn't even tell if he was still conscious or not. She choked as more and more water sloshed unbidden into her mouth. The river was little more than rapids and rocks here, and all too often she found herself smashed against the boulders. Her body ached. Her vision swam with black spots, her head felt disturbingly light, and before she could summon enough chakra to banish it she fainted dead away.

She was not to wake for some time, but when she did, it was to a fading sun on a rocky shore, and the oddest scent – the smell of her favourite shampoo - hanging around her…