Sometimes it seemed like the whole world was waiting for her to fall, to make a mistake. Sometimes it seemed that everyone had turned away from her, like a single spectator at the back of the crowd, only just able to see the main attraction through the people. And at those times, when it seemed like nothing would work, she simply walked away, leaving whatever they were watching and slipping out the back into the night. Now was one of those times.
The stars were bright as she wandered through the fields behind her house, reflected in her pale eyes. The moon, full, bathed the world in silver and black shadows, painting her along with it. Silence was the perfect sound as she wandered among the tall grass, not caring if it was getting the hem of her kimono muddy or if anyone saw her.
She reached the lake, staring out at its glass surface with a mystified gaze. How could something so perfect be a threat? It seemed that everything was like that. She wasn't sure if she enjoyed it.
Something moved across the lake and she stopped walking, watching it. It almost looked like a person, a woman, her hair loose in the night. Whoever it was knelt, touching the water.
She crouched down, her knees pressed into the moist sand at the edge of the river, dipping her fingers into its dark surface, and reached out, sending droplets of chakra speeding across the lake like ripples.
The person at the other side looked up as her chi touched the girl's fingertips, her cherry hair swinging over her shoulder. They gazed at each other, the wide expanse of water like a trickle and at the same time a sea. Emerald met pearl and mixed, falling into each other.
She didn't know how long she knelt there, her legs now soaked through the material, only that she was happy. And she could feel that the figure was too, her aura pulsing around her like a great blue fire. Finally the person drew back, looking into the woods as the echo of a word was heard. Sharpening her hearing for only a second, though, she heard it, and, smiling, she stood and began to return to the house, her confidence restored.
Sakura.