Chapter Nine
It was midafternoon before Sakura woke up, the aches and pains from the previous days' battle made her flinch, before she bypassed the pain and stood up and looked down at the pale little girl in the bed who was breathing evenly, better than she was just 14 hours previously. Sakura pushed some of her long black hair out of her face, her finger lingering lovingly on the little girl's forehead before she swooped in and laid a soft kiss on her forehead. With a single glance behind her to make sure the little girl was still there, Sakura walked out the doorway, her eyes sensitive to the shining midday light as she walked across the rickety bridge, stopping when she say three sets of eyes on her.
With a narrowed gaze she stalked purposefully towards them, her eyes never leaving the baby blue eyes that were widened in fear to see her. A hand made its way to their neck, subconsciously rubbing the still red marks in remembrance.
"What are you still doing here!" Sakura accused, her voice venomous as it lashed out like a physical whip, making the three recoil. "You are not welcome here!" Her voice rose in octaves as the wind around them begin to grow stronger and more wild, whipping their hair around their faces.
"We don't know how," a small voice from the blonde that had almost condemned her village spoke up.
"Do NOT speak to me", Sakura's voice turned icy as she clenched her fists, the memory of the terrifying incident still clear in her mind. "You selfish, weak-minded pathetic excuse for a human-being! Because of you a little girl is fighting for her life. Because of you this village nearly lost its heir." With every word spoken Ino cowered even closer to the ground, the two people with her gripping her arms tightly so her legs wouldn't give out in fright. "If not for Shikamaru and Lady Tsunade you would be dead, killed by my own hand, remember that… and be thankful I am not yet Queen." And with that said she turned on her heel, leaping off the bridge and gripping a rope to swing down, never looking back. Not seeing the jade eyes that followed her movements or the sad hazel eyes that looked away in shame.
She swung into the forest and began running, not to anywhere in particular, just to get away from the strangers that had put the village in danger and would again, she felt that in her bones. They would be the death of them all.
"Ino? Are you ok?" A timid voice at her above her had Ino's tear filled eyes looking up to see clear worry-filled lavender eyes. Choking on sobs, Ino threw her body onto the small woman, her body shaking with fear or sobs no one knew.
"It was my fault!" She cried over and over, clinging to the dark blue haired woman with all her might, her legs pulled under her; not yet able to hold her own weight.
"Ino… she will forg –" Naruto began, his voice soft as he spoke to his friend, only to be cut off by a sharp voice from above them,
"She will never forgive, nor will she forget." A figure crouched on the hut's roof above them jumped down, his brown eyes as icy as Sakura's. "Cara is like her little sister. Her parents taken from her as a baby by the Airan's. Sakura was the one who took her in and looked after her; fed her and clothed her. Kept her safe. And this… Garzha nearly ruined all that because she gave into the Airan's song. Stupid." With a growl his lips curled to reveal the two sharp canines inside. The red tattoos on his face only making him seem even more feral as he glared dangerously as the pathetic form of the fallen female now silently sobbing to herself, clinging to Hinata's body like it was her only lifeline. "Leave as soon as you can. The longer you stay, the more dangerous it will be for our people." Turning his back, the Naturian walked past them to the hut he had previously been perched on.
"Garzha" = like the insult 'bitch'.