Disclaimer for entire story: I do not own Naruto, but the new plot is my own.
New Strength
kkstev
~-~-~-o-~-~-~
The only times when she was totally aware of herself seemed to be was when she was alone. Working, relaxing, and planning were interspersed with periods of deep contemplation, where Sakura found herself uncertain about an interaction she had had at some point during the day. She would find herself trying to remember what was said, and failing. Only recalling that words popped out of her mouth without much thought. Instant responses that caused, always quite memorably, some reason for awkwardness or tension in the rest of the interaction. Well, admittedly, usually only from her own perspective.
But still, it was truly vexing.
Mostly because she felt that, though nothing tangible in particular had changed over the last months, something did. Almost like she was losing that unbreakable reliance on herself only, and in response began spitting out random bits of information about herself that she did not plan to say. The words just seemed to come out, and again, these pieces she always remembers. After, Sakura would almost want to slap herself, realizing that talking about herself had been uncalled for, and that no one had actually asked.
Forget vexing, it was downright frightening.
As she sat cross-legged in the grass, her fingers stilled from petting Hito's back, suddenly gripping a chunk of fur rather tightly. Hito raised his head and made eye contact with Sakura, who's wide gaze was unblinking and unfocused, and he began to whine uncertainly. It's like her epiphany was palpable.
Sakura abruptly realized that being alone was wearing on her. When in the presence of others, she was unconsciously reaching out by making herself more relatable. But people were untrustworthy, and incapable of being truly reliable, and so she was setting herself up for pain and failure and – 'Okay, okay, breathe, and focus. There are many options here to fix this, though some are more unpalatable than others. But should still be considered equally before making a choice that will rectify this situation.'
Absolutely none of her peers here, if they could even be considered that, were honorable, so finding a friend to be with to relieve her social needs was out. Professionals were out of the question as well, as she had no money she would be willing to part with so frivolously. And, by her father's thinking, she would forever be labeled as crazy. Not that she thought even a professional would have a different attitude than the others in Sengaku, just that they would ethically have to keep their snooty opinions to – 'Stop. Focusing, remember?' Okay, so then, she could travel and try to make friends, but that would be inconvenient and bring up some difficult realities that would be better off untouched for now… So, it was settled.
She would simply have to change herself back. Sit, think, focus and organize her own head. Perhaps write concrete lists of priorities to keep as reminders when she feels as though she is wandering. And of course, be constantly vigilant of her behavior when others are around.
It would definitely be beneficial to return to normalcy before graduation, and before the real search for a permanent life started.
Not to mention safer.
~-~-~-o-~-~-~
This was stupid. Really, it seemed like a great idea at first. He was able to play around and set up, and, then – watch. He had to sit around and watch these flailing civilian children try to complete tasks he could easily do with a blindfold, one hand tied to a boulder, both legs glued to –
Well, yeah.
He knew that they were by no means ninja, but really? It was almost sad. They would trip on their own feet and get a teeny tiny scrape, then they would cry. Cry! Come on!
Oh look, there goes another one. Naruto snorted at the sight, and heard Sasuke growl next to him. Broke his pencil too. Looked like he was contemplating using it as a makeshift senbon.
That may be a bit much – is was Teme, though, so whatever, he liked to make kids cry – but they were still kids either way. Not to say Naruto didn't understand his friend's frustration. Almost none of these children had come anywhere close to meeting the qualifications Shikamaru and Itachi set. They actually changed it slightly over the time to be more lenient, thinking they had originally expected too much from the civilians. That barely worked, but it was something.
The only reason he wasn't going absolutely crazy in all the time they have spent on the road was because he got to see his friends regularly. Apparently his own team, Itachi's, and the police force members were assigned to this mission indefinitely, the latter always being in uniform as a comfort to the villagers. So they were stuck until Baa-chan decided they could come back. But the others who were working this incognito recruiting mission rotated every couple of weeks, so he had some entertainment in seeing more of his precious people.
Naruto stared off from the judging podium, away from the sad sight unfolding before him, and got lost in thought. Beside him Shikamaru and Sasuke noticed his blank look, and stared disbelievingly at each other for a moment, that Naruto of all people was thinking so intently. With accepting shrugs, they brushed it off after what happened yesterday. He deserved a little slack. All of what had been happening recently had to strongly effect someone with such a bright outlook on life, who was so dedicated to his home.
When they did finally find someone who had a hope of being trained, what happened after was just upsetting. Naruto felt his eyebrows furrow, and he still was suffering somewhat from the shock of it all. It was about a year and a half since they actually started on the road outside of the village, and they only picked up sixteen new recruits. None of which, he felt guilty enough to even think, would be great. But it was true; they were bound to be average, and just take some of the strain off of the more seasoned shinobi. Probably no higher than chunin, if even that much. At least this way though, the highly skilled could focus only on things that require their talent, and not waste time on anything less.
They had gotten a lot from inside the village itself, which was a plus. Even though civilians, many still had the Will of Fire burning deeply within them, prepared to work themselves to protect their home. He was proud that his village was so strong, and Naruto couldn't help but wonder how they were doing with their training so far.
But the luck at that time was definitely overshadowed by what happened beyond the village walls, when they approached a child and their family for recruiting. Though the picking was slim, there were definitely much more than the sixteen that accepted who were propositioned in the first place. The rate of rejection was way too high.
Though it was the reactions of some of them that was just heartbreaking.
Did they not know what Leaf shinobi did for them? What he did for them? Everyone's sacrifices of precious people in defense, in the name of good? Naruto knew he always had, and will continue for the rest of his life, protecting his innocent people of the Land of Fire.
Even when it quickly became clear that the civilians most certainly did not have even the slightest clue.
Every time a prospect uttered the word shinobi with hate, Naruto would shudder. Every time a prospect muttered the word repeatedly in complete confusion, Naruto would hang his head. And every time, like yesterday and too many times before, when a recruit would run, literally run, screaming the word without relent in unadulterated terror, it was everything Naruto could do to not completely break down.
And with their personalities, it was always himself or Shisui – sharingan safely deactivated – who began the offers of training before allowing a captain to take over. So they always got the worst of the emotions thrown at them.
It insistently forced the question of what were things like for these people? What had been done to them that they would think so horribly of the protectors of their country? What had he been missing all these years?
Regardless of what it was, the same thing would happen after each failed attempt at aiding Konoha. Whoever was closest, Itachi, Shisui, or Sasuke, the most talented genjutsu specialists of the Uchiha, would make the kid and his family simply forget their request.
And no matter how much Naruto begged, they would never peek into their past to see why they reacted the way they did.
So he continued to contemplate why, because he was restricted from asking around. According to Itachi, they could not have any of the villages they passed through be suspicious of their real motives, and, "Yes Naruto-kun, talking freely about shinobi in any way counts as suspicious." Stupid orders and all that.
But Itachi wasn't here, now was he? Both he and his team had gone to do one of their regular rounds to check up on the progress of Orochimaru. They were usually gone for about a week, sometimes longer if they ran into trouble. It was a main part of the reason as to why his team had this assignment. Sure, both Itachi and Shikamaru designed the program, but only one is really needed on location at a time for operation. Neji's team, which included Shikamaru, was already dispensed solely for this cause. Itachi and his squad were needed for the initial set-up, but the extending time beyond that was just a cover. Their current assignment was to help suppress Sound and their leader until Konoha was prepared for them. They were careful to only leave when the secondary squads were rotating, so their absence was not suspicious to anyone beyond the innermost circle.
A maniacal cackling began in Naruto's head as he crafted a few devious schemes, while outwardly tapping his fingers together ominously. His eyes shifted all around him to locate his target for interrogation…
"Get off it dobe, don't even think it. We have our orders."
Naruto whined, "But teme! How do you always know? It's gotta be like, cheating to use your stupid Sharin-"
Sasuke immediately clamped a hand over his mouth, halting the blonde's words. He glared in his direction, hissing, "Shut it, dobe, and I didn't. You're just obvious," though once he removed his hand he looked more tired than angry. Consenting slightly, he went on, "Listen, I know it's dull, but we gotta do it. Maybe later tonight we can sneak off and go train in the woods or something. But if we do anything stupid now and get caught, Itachi will skin me and leave you to Genma and Shisui." It said a lot, how bored he sounded when he said it, as though the threat was so constantly hovering around them that it was commonplace.
"I guess I'm supposed to pretend I didn't hear any of that?" Shikamaru yawned.
"Hey, you should come!" Naruto said excitedly, not really listening to what he said, "I know you're lazy and all, but even you should be down for some training! It's been forever since we got to do anything fun."
"That's because we're undercover, Naruto," Shikamaru answered, "but whatever. You go do useless, strenuous, un-fun stuff, I'm gonna relax here. Too troublesome and all."
"It's fine, Nara, just don't rat us out. Do what you gotta do, but at this point even I'm getting a little stir-crazy," Sasuke waved his hand nonchalantly.
"Mhmm." And with that, Shikamaru put his head down after he saw Neji signal for the next event across the field.
~-~-~-o-~-~-~
This was definitely a lot harder than she had originally thought. Changing yourself is hard, and a goal, she quickly realized, that has to be constantly remembered all the time or else it wouldn't work. Tiring to say the least.
And it wasn't even that successful yet.
Sakura approached a small clearing and lay down on her back, utilizing both arms behind her head as a pillow. She watched the sway of the trees, enjoying the unnaturally warm day in February.
After much struggling, she found that she could keep more thoughts to herself with almost everyone, as long as it was possible to talk to someone. So, as to ration things out and keep one person from knowing everything she was willing to share, Sakura found herself with three semi-confidants. Two of which were quite unlikely, and one, not so much.
She visited her aunt as much as she could. On some days when she was taking a, uh, break, from school, she would spend the morning and afternoon on paths winding through the forests, her place of peace. She always made sure to get all of her work done before it even started to get dark. If she had the night off, or her boss forced a night off on her, Sakura would make her way from the trees and travel to her aunt's home a few towns away.
Seijin would always welcome her with open arms, and they would hug and catch each other up on the basics of their lives. The simple things. And Sakura would always pretend she didn't notice the look of joy when Seijin saw her father's necklace securely around her niece's neck. In return, Seijin would pretend that she thought the black marring her niece's beautiful was nothing more than a passing teenage fad.
Normally after greeting, the two would go out for food, always at the same small shop close to Seijin's home. Every time Sakura would try to pay, Seijin would scold her teasingly for disrespecting her elders until she won the check for herself. She would then proceed to laugh at Sakura's defeated look as she paid.
The conversations they had were more normal than Sakura was ever used to, more two-sided, and she felt freer to open up. Deciding that her aunt was more than trustworthy, she figured that problems revolving around her peers were the safest to broach. So when these things came up, Sakura would let loose about the judgment of those that were 'popular,' the somewhat creepy hero-worship of those that were not (as they mistook her most times for one of 'popular' people, thought she had no idea why), and the uncaring and more than likely unintentional frustration Kouhi continually puts her through.
But that was always the limit of topics Sakura would speak about with her.
When she was in school, during her free periods, Sakura found solace within the walls of the library. Many times she could be found reading new medical texts – the ones Shinki had ordered specifically for her benefit. Though as much as the new information was well worth Sakura's time, she could never deny the pull of fiction stories and losing herself, for however brief a period, within the words of another world.
Surprisingly enough, Sakura had found some comfort in more than just books in that library. Shinki was one of the first genuine people she'd ever met, altruistic almost to a fault, and honestly interested in others' well being. And the woman found a bit of a project in Sakura the first day she had come through the doors.
Growing more comfortable with the other's continued presence, the two would find themselves sitting across from each other at a table amongst the stacks, chatting at a level respectable for the library. When no one else was around – which was quite often, in fact – they would get a chance to speak seriously. The topic in these moments was about each of their families.
Shinki had lost all of hers, everyone from husband to grandchildren, to merciless killers while traveling. Sakura was quite understandably appalled, but had no real words of consolation to give. She was so unused to being somebody's trusted person that she simply did not know what to say. But it seemed that just being allowed to speak about them, and remember good times, was enough for Shinki. Though she never did give details about the day they were lost.
In return, the elderly woman asked Sakura about her own family. It took time for her to relent, especially with the guilt of even having a family when such a good person did not. But eventually she spoke of them, though never to the true extent that should be explained. Having lived and experienced much more, Shinki always found some light in the situation, though she legitimately sympathized with the darkness. She also always seemed to be apologizing, rationalizing that such poor things should not happen to anyone, never mind one so young and bright. She always promised Sakura that things would be better.
Though she certainly did not understand the logic, Sakura would smile, and nod, and accept what her elder said without protest. And she always felt better afterwards for having spoken with her.
But that was always the limit of topics Sakura would speak about with her.
Having the opportunity to vent at times about the past and present, Sakura found the most improbable source for a confidant about her future.
During the times when she was in school, and called to the office, her principal would be there as encouragement. Long ago had she broken through his shell of stone: cold and unfeeling. At least when they were behind closed doors, that is. In the hallways, or even in the waiting room outside his office, he would be unwavering in his authority. The moment the door closed, he was more of an unlikely friend, willing to actually listen to her, and help where he was capable.
Sakura sat up, becoming irritated with the bugs that chose to make a meal out of her in the long grass. Jumping up to her feet, she checked around briefly and found a decent sized boulder to perch herself upon. Brushing it off briefly, she sat atop it cross-legged, and thought back to when her principal's demeanor actually changed.
It was almost two years ago now, a few days after she turned sixteen. She had dropped off her first 'extra assignment,' but had not heard anything about it for a day or two. Finally, she was called in again, though not exactly for the reason she had expected.
The principal seemed to be almost seething silently, and curious, Sakura had politely asked why. He asked why she was wasting her obvious talent. Why she was being so brainless for such an intelligent girl. Why she would want to spend years studying animal medicine rather than human medicine. Why she was throwing away a chance to be one of the first women to actually make a name for herself in this world in one of the most positive of ways.
Sakura had let him run himself out, before asking if she may be blunt and truthful with him. Frustrated, he had said, "By all means, be my guest," and was definitely caught off guard when she began by stating that people were simply ungrateful. Obviously perplexed, he allowed her to go on.
In Sakura's eyes, not all people were good people. In fact, most were not. This does not have to mean that they are all murderers or thieves, but just that they don't have a kind heart. It is these, self-entitled, self-deserving, self-important people that Sakura could not envision herself slaving for. The kind of people that, no matter the situation, just knew they were better than everyone around them. With good reason or not. Who didn't care what happened to those they stepped on.
She knew she could never leave someone hurt if she could help it, no matter what they would do to her in return. And that it would eventually crush her; mind, body, and soul.
The people that would tell her she did not do good enough, even if they were healthy due to her care: not fast enough, not perfect enough, scold her and degrade her. The people that would hate her if she was unable to help: not smart enough, not skilled enough, scream at her, curse at her. The people that would tell her that her help is unwanted: not male enough, not noble enough, sneer at her, spit at her. The people that would be ungrateful for everything she worked for: not important enough, not worthy enough, ignore her, never thank her.
She tried to explain all of this to her principal, but he reacted as though she was being overdramatic. But Sakura explained that she had seen it herself, firsthand – there was a time she had volunteered at a hospital. Not everything that happened there was good.
One was life changing in the worst of ways.
Sakura couldn't help but laugh to herself slightly, thinking that the incident couldn't have helped her faith in people much. But she also thought it was funny how, even after having heard this story and more, her principal never relented in trying to get her to change her mind. After seeing that assignment filled out for veterinary education rather than doctorial, he tried to convince her whenever they spoke.
But she was happy with what she chose, and excited to pursue veterinary medicine.
She picked up her bag from the grass beside the rock, seeing it was getting late, and smiled as all the animal movement around her instantly stopped. Shaking her head, she found it amusing how they found her safe enough while motionless, but once she moved she became a threat.
As she picked through the trees to find the road, she hunted for movement outside of her own in the dying light. The most she saw in the relatively short walk were a few confused looking chipmunks she unintentionally snuck up on.
Now safely back on the long stretch of empty dirt road, Sakura allowed her mind to wander once more. Her principal, though convinced she was throwing away something special – especially considering the intensity of the work he had been throwing at her recently – still pushed her to be her best to help her on whatever path she chose in the end.
No matter how rationally she explained, he would not accept that animals were innocent, and not helped nearly as much as they should be. That people selfishly tended to disregard them. She had conceded that, even as a vet, she would still deal with people sometimes, but they were more likely to be kinder people, having sought her out for their animals' benefit. Sakura knew he secretly agreed with her, no matter how adamant he was about being unsympathetic. He did seem to want her to be happy in the end, which was most important.
Stepping daintily with slight hops in each movement, Sakura let out a light laugh that ended with a content sigh. He would be there for her to help her succeed. Why exactly, she never really knew. But he did side with her when one of his vice principals tried to keep her from graduating this coming spring, due to 'excessive absenteeism.' Sakura probably could have been valedictorian regardless of this, if girls were allowed to hold such a title. And that was the exact defense her principal had used on her behalf - she found out later from his secretary.
Looking up into the color-ridden sky, her eyes twinkled at already being able to see the moon. Things were really beginning to seem better already, and she wasn't even quite done in Sengaku yet!
Kicking something on the ground hard, it caught her foot mid-stride and made her topple to the ground. She ungracefully flapped her arms without aim, whether trying to regain her balance or catch herself, her brain hadn't yet decided. But by the end of her unintentional squeak and multiple un-ladylike grunts, she hit the floor hard.
Rubbing at her sore elbows, she looked back to see what had so easily taken her down. Creeping back, she came across the thick, dirt-encrusted links of a chain. It was bunched in a small pile, and there was something silver shining in the middle of the coils. As she crawled closer to it, it looked like a little metal block. She followed the other end of the chain with her eyes, and it disappeared into the growing shadows of the woods.
For a moment, she seriously considered seeing what was at the other end, but she didn't feel right considering the almost violent feeling in the air. She couldn't really explain it, as she had never felt anything like it before, but it was definitely not inviting. There was a prickling on her skin, and the hairs at the back of her neck stood at attention. So as casually as she could while scanning the area, Sakura grabbed her pack, which had fallen with her, and moved back onto the road towards home.
"Well, hello there, lost lil' genin," a deep, intimidating voice rumbled from behind her.
'Well, speaking of people being bad…' She hesitated before ultimately turning, having debated on just running for it. But she thought it was probably best to at least know what she was up against. Her eyes widened and she could have sworn all of her life-sustaining functions ceased right then. 'Holy shit, I knew I didn't want to know what was on the other end of that damned chain!'
The man was humongous; bulging with thick bunches of muscle everywhere visible. Probably everywhere not visible under his shaggy clothes too, if she had to bet. In his left hand he gripped a long pole topped with a threatening, slightly curved blade. Connected to the opposite end from the blade was the mysterious chain, the portion she tripped on now gripped in the man's right hand, a few links from the end, spinning the attached weight in lazy circles.
He smiled, flashing a yellowing display of rotting teeth, and the bulk, combined with the clearly overall unhygienic appearance, combined with the giant weapon, he just screamed 'bad guy.' But taking in mainly the chain, the only thought that coherently passed through her mind was, 'Fuck, that thing's made for throwing!'
And with that, she ran with absolutely all of the force she could possibly summon to her legs.
She felt like she was flying, and was thrilled to have been fast enough to get away from the brute when another, smaller man seemed to drop from the sky in front of her. She cut her trajectory sharply, instinctually knowing that this guy was no good either. Heck, if she was wrong, she could always go back and apologize later.
But now she was running off the path, through the woods, with the plan of making a wide ark and popping back out much further down along the same road. She could sprint the rest of the way from there. The only problem was that the sun was moving ever lower in the sky, and the trees were making it seem as though it was almost nighttime already. Determined to escape, though, she just settled on tripping, stumbling, and getting whipped in the face with stray branches until her plan came to fruition.
Even over her loud rampage of an escape, she heard the braking of a large branch up ahead, followed by a dull thud and the crinkling of dried leaves. Believing it was indicative of her escape having failed, she went for stealth and looked for a place to hide. She spotted a fallen tree a short distance away, and crept carefully over to it. Preferring not to be lying down and completely vulnerable, she opted to crouch behind the huge, tangled mass of upturned roots.
She heard multiple sets of feet approaching from two directions, and felt her heart beating so rapidly she thought she might die of cardiac arrest before they even had a chance to find her. As the sounds came closer, she clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from whimpering, and tried to quietly press herself as far as she could into the cocoon of roots.
As she felt tears begin to slide down her face, Sakura could truly say she was not embarrassed. She was scared shitless and praying to any of the Kamis or demons or anything that may be listening to please not let her die today. At this first realization that she could seriously lose her life within minutes, dread began to set in. She never got a chance to find out she wasn't completely worthless, to find any true friends, to maybe even possibly hopefully find love…
"Ya really think pink is gonna be hidden in tha forest, girlie? The least ya coulda done, besides runnin' like a coward, is thought 'nough to suppress yer chakra. Jus' come out from behind tha' tree now."
She didn't move, having absolutely no idea what this psychopath was talking about, and hoping that it was a ploy. There were trees everywhere; he could be trying to lure her out and maybe didn't know her tree was-
"The rotten one. Les' go I ain't got all night now!" He sounded more impatient, and now that she knew that there was absolutely no way he was mistaken, she was caught. How, she had no clue, they couldn't even see her. But not wanting to anger him further, she decided to move. Taking two deep breaths – that ended up being shallow pants of panic – and wiping the tears from her face – which did nothing but highlight how flushed her skin was with a nice, dark contrast of dirt – she stepped out, and immediately backed up against the closest standing tree. She wasn't sure if it would be better to have open space behind her, but for now this position made it feel like they couldn't surround her.
Before Sakura stood seven men of all sizes, being the only vague detail she could make out - besides that some of them were holding very shiny weapons. Shock and terror made things like descriptions of anything, besides the obvious and threatening, pretty damn hard. She waited for them to speak as she searched for her own voice. She didn't have to wait long, though.
"Well hallo there, ya purty lil' thing!" Great, just great. She was going to be stolen from/murdered in cold blood, and they had to taunt her too? Assholes. "What village ya from? Producin' the lil' girl types, all runnin' away an' shit." The one speaking was the same man from before, the second one to surprise her.
She had no idea what to say, not wanting them to follow her home if she escaped, so just remained still: well, shaking terribly, but her feet weren't moving. She just looked. Apparently it was infuriating, "Aright, you, now lissen up! Yer gonna tell me essactly where yer from, or-"
"'Ey boss?"
"Yeh, whadda ya want?"
"She ain't got no forehead 'tector."
"Huh, lookie that, she don't." The apparent leader observed her again, asking, "You a civilian?"
Knowing it was now or never, she went for it, "I t-think so." Not exactly all out, but a start at least.
They all laughed gruffly, and the leader said, "I'm sure y'd know if ya wern't. 'Pressive, all considerin', I gotta say."
'Big save now, let's go, you can do it. This is it.' "Listen, I-I don't know w-what you all want, b-b-but I will willingly hand over a-all the money I have if you j-just let me leave in p-peace. I was just p-paid yesterday, so I h-have a considerable amount on m-m-me."
Six stayed back, all of the ones with pointy things, and the unarmed leader approached with a big smile and nod of concurrence. Sakura unlooped her bag from her shoulder and tossed it to him. All that were unarmed seemed to flinch slightly towards their midsections, and she didn't know why. All she knew was that she absolutely did not want that man coming anywhere near her, so she threw it.
He looked at her oddly for a few seconds, then commenced with rifling through her stuff. Coming up with her wallet, he threw the books and other valueless things in the pack to the floor, and held a hefty handful of bills in a hand raised abouve his head with a smile. There were some cheers and wolf-whistles, and a call of, "Jackpot!"
She felt like such a fool for simply being too lazy to empty the three weeks worth of tips and her last two regular paychecks from her wallet into her stash.
That was the least of her problems at the moment though. In the space of a blink, the leader seemed to cross the five meters separating them until he was right in front of her. She didn't even have time to brace herself as he whispered in her ear, "Well, now, ain't you just a profit'ble lil' thing. Can' believe this's all hard-earned an' all, tho'. Prolly have, uh, other val-u-ables on ya." And she felt his fingers on her throat. Tears began to slip unbidden once again as she thought he was going to kill her. But she realized he was fingering her necklace.
Without thinking, she just screamed, "No!" and punched him in the stomach, the closest thing to her fisted hand. When he doubled over, growling, "Why you lyin' lil-" she never got to hear what she was lying about, because she leaned back against the tree as a brace as she kicked out, hard, towards his lowered head.
When he went down, and didn't rise, everyone in the area just stared. No one moved or made a sound. Breaking herself from the trance of her own actions, she took to running once again. Instead of silence, as Sakura knew they were following her anyway, she started screaming for help. If there were any remaining shreds of goodness or luck in this world, she would be near enough to a town for someone to hear, and come to her aid.
But it was only getting darker, and she was falling more and more often. She was so petrified, waiting for that one fall that would stop her from getting up again.
It didn't matter. When she stepped passed a tree about as thick as her own body, she heard a faint chink before familiar chain links curled around her front. She saw the glint of the weight fly past her to the left, before her momentum violently changed directions. Thrown backwards, Sakura slammed into the tree as she felt the chain wrap around her body an unknown number of times. Nothing was spared for the hit: her head, spine, tailbone, even her knees felt as though they were jarred in abnormal directions.
Sakura was so dazed that she felt as though she was dreaming for a few minutes, as the men stepped from the surrounding darkness and into her line of sight. Who knew her forest was so dark and scary at night?
Thrown back into reality by the sound of their speaking, Sakura felt herself begin to shake again from shock. Everything was pinned down, arms stuck securely to her sides and wrapped snugly in rib-crushing chains from just below her breasts to mid-thigh.
"You try an' kick out with those things again, an' yer gonna lose one," The first man she encountered warned as he flashed the curved blade attached to her shackles. Nothing would change her fate now, she was dead, and she knew it. "Tha' peece a crap neck-lace ya got on sumthin' special ter ya?"
She only whispered, "Yes, please don't t-take it," too stunned to be anything more than honest.
"Well nah, we need sumthin' to make up fer it, an' fer the pain an' suffrin' ya caused our boss. He ain't lookin' to good right 'bout now."
"I'm sorry, I p-panicked. K-keep my money. P-please, just let me g-go," she couldn't even bear to open her eyes. She didn't want to see what was happening. Who knew it would end for her so ingloriously? It would be best at this point if they just took her out before it got any worse.
"We're g'nna get erry las' bit outta you we can 'fore we do tha'," he replied lowly, and the others cackled all around her. So focused on sound, she heard how different it was from before. It sounded scarier, more…
'This is not happening, not happening, not happening! This doesn't happen, why is this happening? Oh this is it. You know you're done for, so don't let them have this! Fight with everything you got the second they give you an opportunity to move!'
Her broken voice came out barely louder than a broken whisper as she looked over the gathered men, her emerald eyes settling on the man who chained, "You never planned on letting me go."
It wasn't a question, as she already knew. She just had to be sure.
He gripped her chin with his thumb and forefinger, forcing her to meet his eyes, as he said, "No, ma'am. No we did not," with a disgusting smile on his face.
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