My breath escaped me in ragged gasps, my feet pulling behind me as if chained to balls of iron. Maybe it was time for some rest. I didn't know how long I'd been running at that point but the adrenaline had definitely worn off.
Thirsty and tired with no clue where I was or where I was going, I leaned against a huge rock and shut my eyes, listening to the sounds of the forest. Whispers fluttered in the trees as the wind told them secrets, crickets chirped in tune with the tree frogs, accompanied by a skittering of feet clambering up a tree. This was my Mozart, my Beethoven.
My eyes remained closed as my mind began drifting into some semblance of sleep until the sound of footsteps tore me from the promise of a dreamscape.
Who is out walking through the forest at a time like this? I mean, besides me obviously… I kind of feel like an exception to the rule right now though. How many people could really be running away from home right now?
The distant voices grew nearer.
"How much further do we have to go, un?" One voice whined as his sandals scuffed through the dirt.
"How many times do you have to ask that?" Another voice answered, dull and flat with an edge of annoyance.
There were only two people from what I could hear… but why were they out here in the middle of nowhere? If they were traveling for business purposes they would have taken main roads. I felt uneasy about the situation and decided to lay low. I stayed behind the large rock and tried to make myself small, breathing in deeply and holding it as their footfalls drew near.
"I'm beat, can't we take a rest here, un?" One of the men whined.
No. No. No. No. This cannot be my luck.
"Fine." the other voice replied.
God dammit… this is my luck.
The two sat in silence mostly, though one was much more talkative than the other. They spoke briefly of a village they had just come from, apparently they had killed a lot of people there. Shinobi then. I was worried about that. I knew I needed to get away from those psychos, but from what I could tell, they were sitting on the rocks that I had been crouching behind.
"Deidara." The calm voice cut through the night air.
"Yeah?"
"Have you felt something strange since we've arrived here?"
I clenched my jaw and squeezed my eyes tight, my hands balled into fists, nails biting into my palms nearly drawing blood.
If I don't move, they can't see me… that's how it works, right?
"Well now that you mention it…" his voice suddenly in front of me, "feels like someone's been eavesdropping, un!"
My eyes snapped open to find this stranger's face directly in front of mine. My face held no surprise, only flat anguish. I stared with a pained expression into the man's shockingly blue eyes, well, eye rather, his other was covered by a sheen of blond hair. It felt like I was locked into place by medusa's stare. My brain screamed for me to run, but my body did nothing.
A terrifying abomination of a man soon appeared just behind him, scrutinizing me with coal black eyes that glinted ominously in the moonlight.
"What are you planning, un?" the blond said as he reached out quickly, grabbing my hair by its roots and yanking me up to my feet. I flinched backward in vain, a pained noise bursting through my gritted teeth.
"Hey, I asked you a question." He said, tightening his grip and shaking me slightly.
You know how they tell you about everyone's instinct for fight or flight? Well there's another one. It's freeze, and I am the absolute best at it apparently. I stared at him through wincing eyes, trying desperately to form a sentence in my mind that would get me out of this situation but they all seemed to end with me in a pool of my own blood.
"What the hell's wrong with you?!" he pushed me backwards with such force that the rock I backed into cracked on impact. The breath flew from my lungs painfully, causing me to cough and sputter, doubling over.
"Kill her, Deidara, we need to get moving" said the other man… thing? I didn't know what he was to be honest.
"Hm, Fine." Deidara said as he approached me casually, obviously not viewing me as a threat. This was my only chance. My body was still leaned up against the rock. I clenched my eyes shut and begged for this to work. It had to work.
A swirling uneasy feeling filled my gut as I was hit with the sensation of falling backwards.
It's working!
I stepped back and righted my balance before passing completely through the rock. I didn't stop running, I had to count on their confusion to give me a head start. I hoped they hadn't met too many people that could phase through boulders.
My adrenaline was back in full force as my feet pounded against the dirt. I raced through the forest with no particular destination other than far, far away from them. Directions be damned.
"Well that was a neat trick, un?" the blonde, Deidara I presumed, leapt down from a tree branch landing right in front me.
How is he already ahead of me? Are all shinobi like this?
My face dropped, at which he smirked. Skidding to a halt, I looked frantically around me. The other one, Sasori, flanked me from behind.
Izumi, girl, you are not making it out of this one.
"You see, we just wanted to chat at first, see what you're up to out here, but now I feel like you've really got something to hide," Deidara tutted, approaching me with an amused but menacing expression.
What kind of game is this guy playing? Just wanted to chat? You were going to freaking kill me…
"So I'll ask you again, what are you planning onna?" His one visible eye narrowed dangerously.
I put my hands up in the air to show I had no violent intentions, trying to find my voice.
"I-I um, I swear I'm not up to anything. I'm r-really sorry if I've caused any trouble." I managed to stammer out, unable to feel like his pointed glare wasn't burning a whole through my head, making it entirely too hard to think straight.
He took a step forward and with a laugh said, "you really expect us to believe that?"
Shit. Okay, time to try the thing.
I abruptly kicked my shoes off which earned me an odd look from Deidara.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing, un?" He moved toward me, doing a wild-eyed double-take between me and the ground as he began to sank down. Sasori too was now sinking and grumbling in frustration.
The pained expression painting my own face was just from me using all my concentration and will to focus my energy into the sand through my feet, loosening it… then tightening it so they couldn't escape. I clenched my teeth hard as I tried to imagine the earth turning to rock around them. Visualizing it made it easier to make it a reality.
I suddenly let out an exhausted breath, panting from using so much energy. A small bead of crimson dripped down from my nostril, I sniffed and wiped it away quickly. I'd worry about that later. I prayed that everything worked properly as I took off sprinting again, the voice of Deidara cursing loudly from behind me and Sasori cursing at Deidara to be quiet.
Their shouting ceased as I pulled far enough away that I could no longer hear their voices. I had never used that on a person before and I had no idea how long it would hold, I knew I had to keep moving but my body had other ideas.
I only managed to run for a few minutes before it crashed against a tree that I swear, came out of nowhere. I hugged it to keep myself standing. I could barely breathe, barely keep my eyes open. It was like that last move sapped me of my very lifeforce.
"Aw, are we taking a little break?" Deidara's jeering voice sounded from behind me. As my head whipped around to look at him, a small bird-like object caught my attention to the left. It all happened too fast for me to comprehend.
There was a loud noise, an explosion. I found myself skidding across the ground, a ragged gasp escaping my lips as cuts and scrapes lined the side of my face and body.
What the hell was that?
"Don't think your little quicksand trick is enough to stop the Akatsuki, un." Deidara walked over to me confidently and crouched down to grab me by my hair once more.
"Akatsuki", like I'm supposed to know what that means?
I stood before him once again, if you could call it standing. Dangling might have been more appropriate.
"Now I'm going to have to kill you," he said as if it were an inconvenience to do so as he opened his left palm, revealing a tiny clay bird.
"Open up," he ordered, forcing it into my mouth and clapping his hand over my lips. "Art is a—"
"Wait." Sasori stopped him before walking over to me, his uncaring eyes meeting mine for one electrifying moment.
"Yeah?" Deidara sounded annoyed.
"She could be of use to us. What village are you from and why are you out here?" he directed his questions towards me as he grabbed Deidara's wrist, removing his hand from my mouth. I hastily spit out the tiny clay bird.
"Bang…" Deidara muttered as it exploded away from me.
"Well, aren't you going to say anything, un?" Deidara demanded as Sasori's eyes grew increasingly impatient. I stalled because my brain was buffering, trying to come up with a response that wouldn't get me killed. If they knew I wasn't useful, which was the truth, they would certainly just kill me on the spot.
"I-I'm from Konoha," I offered up with a wince.
"Alright, kill her. I hate that freaking place." Deidara said, his grip tightening on the roots of my hair.
"Deidara…" Sasori glared at his partner with warning eyes before continuing on. "I asked you a two-part question, do not make me repeat myself."
It would have been great if my brain weren't a complete pile of mush in that moment. What was the other question, what was I doing? Now that, I had no good answer for. What was I supposed to tell them, that I was running away from home? I didn't get the impression that they would give a damn.
"Too slow," Deidara exclaimed, his fist connecting hard with my jaw. I stumbled for a moment, dazed by the blow, before falling to my knees. The pain was incredible as I touched my jaw lightly, my fingers softly trailing over the bruise already appearing. Tears attempted to spring free from their confines within my eyes.
"If she won't talk, then we will take her back with us, I think I know someone that will make her talk." Sasori's dull eyes glanced from me to the sky. "Let's move."
"Alright, un. Ready to go, kid?" Deidara asked impatiently.
I frantically wiped at the corners of my eyes, taking in the severity of the situation. I didn't really have much of a choice. I couldn't outrun them, I couldn't fight them, and I certainly couldn't negotiate. I slowly pushed myself to my feet, still dizzy from the punch, I stumbled forward with spots dancing in front of my eyes. Catching myself on something sturdy, I softly groaned and let myself lean into it while I regained my balance and vision.
"What the hell, onna?" Deidara's voice penetrated through my haze, bringing me back into focus. I looked up to see I had been leaning against him, his black cloak nearly consumed my small figure before I pulled away, his hands planted firmly on my shoulders to stabilize me.
"Sorry…" I nodded wearily and he let go.
"Let's go then." Sasori ordered as he began shuffling south. Deidara motioned for me to walk so that I was in between him and Sasori, Deidara being the caboose.
I didn't even know where we were going, how far away it was or when we would be getting there. I was already spent, I wondered if they intended to walk through the night or if we'd be making camp.
The thought of having to walk even one more mile, especially with no shoes, made my eyes well up once more. My legs felt like jello, each step pushing the limits of my bones and muscles within. I couldn't do it. My knees buckled before giving out, I fell face first, not even enough to energy to put my arms out.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" I heard Deidara's voice but it sounded as if it was coming from the end of a tunnel. That's the last thing I remembered before waking up.