A/N: This may seem kinda short, but it'll be more action-packed.
Chapter 20: Premonition
The hours had grown tiresome for the teenager. She found herself yawning uncontrollably when Karin showed up to take over for her. She hardly remembered the sleepy jaunt back to the safe house, back to her nice, warm bedroll. Hell, she didn't even take off her clothes. She kicked off her sandals and collapsed, not even stirring when Hinata lifted her head tiredly to peek over at her.
Soon enough, though, the ex-heiress fell back asleep herself, and before either of them knew it, they were back safely in the dream world.
She huffed and puffed, trying to keep up with Tsunade. She was thirteen again, her hair a choppy shoulder-length strawberry-blonde, her skin slowly retaining its former healthy glow. Tsunade had kept her busy and had fed her well - so much better than she'd ever remembered. Said blonde woman's twin ponytails fluttered in front of her, the exercise hardly making her break a sweat.
"Sharp left at the Knotwood up ahead," Tsunade called over her shoulder.
"Copy," Sakura replied promptly.
There wasn't anything quite like running through the trees, with the wind running through your hair, the cool breeze hitting your skin like the shock of a cold bath in the lake. She savored every single moment with the biggest of closed-lip smiles, as big as she could manage.
She closed her eyes for just a couple of seconds, but when she opened them again, Tsunade was beside her, eyes sparked with sharp alertness, and the tree (that had been dubbed the 'Knotwood' for its gnarled, jagged branches) was nowhere in sight.
"Tsunade-sensei?" Sakura asked, slightly concerned.
Said woman quickly hushed her, taking her arm and leading her away into the trees.
"Sorry for cutting it short, but... we're being followed." The look in her eyes was strange; it wasn't like anything Sakura had seen before. It somehow seemed... otherworldly, as if 'Tsunade' wasn't herself.
Her eyes widened for a moment. Somewhere within, she felt herself stirring in the real world, and she understood that she was dreaming. Some feeling akin to floating midair began to overtake her body, and she felt herself begin to shift to third-person view, but she tried to ignore it.
"Sakura, I need you to wake up." Tsunade urgently looked around for a moment before shaking her, her face going from alarmed to downright panicked. "Right now. Wake up."
"What's going on?" She asked, grabbing Tsunade's arms. "What's happening?"
"You're being attacked, wake up!" Tsunade suddenly shouted. "Wake up!"
Sakura shook her head, somehow not quite grasping it. "What are you talking about?"
She could feel herself slipping through the cracks; she didn't feel quite as rooted in her dream anymore, and she could vaguely feel someone shaking her roughly.
A slurry of voices echoed around her, mostly the ones of her squad. She recognized Tsunade's and Hinata's among the horde, and strangely someone else. A boy's, switching rapidly between a child's soprano and a teenager's baritone.
By the time she recognized the male voice as Sasuke's, she was almost gone.
With one last exasperated shout of "Sakura!" she awoke, gasping and sweaty.
Hinata was straddling her, hands gripping her shoulders with a painful firmness she didn't know the woman even had.
"I'm sorry to wake you up like this, but- but-" The noirette stumbled over her words for a moment. "- but I feel like we're going to be-"
"Attacked? I know," Sakura interrupted, eyes wide and alert, darting around the little room. "I had a dream."
"... me too." Hinata hesitated, but she crawled off, already dressed in the travelling cloak that Tsunade had sewn for her. "We need to hurry. I already alerted Senju-sama."
Nodding rapidly, Sakura jumped out of bed, pulled on her sandals, and packed quicker than she had in her entire life. All of her belongings were either in her backpack or in a tight bundle in two minutes flat, and before long she was dragging the heiress out of the safehouse.
Nearby, Tsunade stood with a couple of soldiers, talking in hushed, concerned tones.
When she spotted them, she nodded in appraisal. "Good, you both are up. Karin spotted someone with the Konoha hitai-ate a few minutes ago. The others are being awoken. We need to be all packed and ready to get the hell out of here in ten minutes, or else we run the risk of getting caught again."
"Hai." Sakura saluted her sharply, turning to Hinata with her bag in hand. "Please look after my luggage while I'm gone."
"Of course." Hinata agreed, slipping Sakura's pack over her back. Then, hesitantly, "... Be careful. Please."
"Swear with my life, my lady." The teasing grin the pinkette gave her almost seemed too bright, considering the situation. But quick as a flash, it was gone, and so was Sakura, the only traces being the breeze left after her.
"Alright, alright, who are we searching for?" Sakura asked Noh as she crouched beside the woman. "Is it the Copycat?"
"Kami forbid," she answered tightly, scanning the area. "But we shouldn't be too careless. We haven't found a trace of him yet, but the moment we see him, we need to run. He's just too dangerous to face head-on without the Akatsuki present."
"We have Pein and Konan," the pinkette shrugged.
"As a distraction," Noh reminded. Her lips were drawn into a tight line, her eyebrows furrowed into a deep frown. "I've no doubt he would be able to take them down in a lucky match."
Karin appeared beside them, the faint light reflected off of her glasses. "We need to leave. Everyone is ready and packed."
"Tsunade's orders?"
A pause. Then, "We leave the villagers behind."
"All of us?" Noh demanded, staring at her as if she'd grown another head.
"No, not all. I'm staying behind to make sure they continue to have care." Karin shook her head, the hood shifting. A bright red lock or two of hair fell out of the garment, and she tucked them back in.
Sakura held out her hand, and the redhead squeezed it tightly for a moment. Grassy eyes met ruby, and after a few seconds, both nodded their heads.
"Stay safe, firebird," Sakura whispered as she pulled the girl in for a hug. "Don't let 'em rough you up too badly."
"Wouldn't dream of it, Violet-chan." Karin squeezed her eyes shut in a solemn glare until they both pulled away. "Stick it to the Uchihas for me. For us."
Another nod of her head.
Noh touched her shoulder. "Let's go."
"We need to set course for the capital," Tsunade explained as they stood together in the shadows of a nearby tree. She turned her stare to Sakura, "You need to go in as Hayashi."
Her mouth went dry, and she swallowed harshly. "N- now?"
"If not now, we may not get this chance again." Tsunade's voice was low as she glanced between the group and the quiet little village. "Now c'mon. I've already sent word ahead to the group near Konoha to make sure they prepare. If we leave right now with no stops, we should be there by dawn."
A/N: See you next week!
