When I describe this chapter, I can only say the feels. Hehe, I had some trouble writing this one.

Yay, Suigetsu finally comes into play! :D

If you review, you will make my day. (I promise.)

Disclaimer: Haha no.

Chapter Three

Over the course of the week, I remained mostly in my bed (or at least in my room), with Karashi coming in several times a day to either bring in curry or tend to my injuries. Oddly enough, the majority of his time was spent in my presence. At first, I was puzzled as to why he would willingly choose to stay with me. It certainly wasn't because of my "charisma", or my lack thereof. But over time, as Karashi revealed his personality, little by little I quickly figured out why he preferred to be with me.

Karashi was only trying to boost his ego... I was sure of it. Almost constantly, he bragged about his oh-so-great Kurosuki clan. Even though he was no longer a member, he talked about it so animatedly, as if the clan was his. I did admit that it was kind of getting on my nerves, but finally establishing human contact- normal human contact- after being locked up in that hellhole for so long was so wonderful that it was more than tolerable.

And really, there was no reason for me to keep secrets from him. Although I had expected Karashi to reveal some sliver of immorality, he remained as pure as ever, and my view of him didn't change. As I got used to having him around, I slowly opened up to him and even shared with him the story of my horrid past one night. Besides, who would he tell, and how would they benefit from that sort of information? Karashi only lived with two others- his mother, Sansho, and his younger brother, Ranmaru. Even if he felt the need to tell them, it wouldn't threaten my safety in any way.

"...Wow," Karashi breathed after I had just finished relaying my torturous experience. "You really went through all of that?"

I raised an eyebrow as I fiddled with the threads of his bed sheets. "Why would I make it up and waste my time telling you? You're the very first to know about this."

Karashi, like usual, didn't show any signs of offense; I guess he got used to my personality. Instead, he laughed. "Of course... It's just hard to believe. I'm surprised you haven't gone crazy from all of that."

I wouldn't have been surprised if I already had gone crazy. Laughing softly, I said, "Same here."

"I'm glad you found your way here," Karashi continued.

Well, of course I was, too... Why wouldn't I be? He brought me back from the brink of death, after all. But as I noticed a flicker of a hidden meaning in his blue eyes, I started to wonder why he would enjoy nursing me back to health.

"Why?" I inquired. "You had to spend so much of your time taking care of me while I couldn't do anything for you. I was basically dead weight."

Karashi's lips curled upwards in a small smile as he regarded me with a knowing look. "That's not true," he objected. "A few years ago, a good friend of mine taught me what the true meaning of strength was. I was lucky to meet someone like Lee..." He trailed off, probably recalling something from the past. I continued to look at him and waited for him to continue.

"Anyway," said Karashi, the same intense look returning to his eyes, "He taught me that real strength is finding the courage to not only protect yourself, but others, too. Now that you're here, I finally have something to protect- you."

I blinked as I processed his words, but I didn't have much time to come up with an answer... All of my attention was drawn to Karashi's arm, which was now circling around my waist.

Wait... What was happening? Up until now, I only thought that Karashi had friendly feelings toward me. That was certainly true in my case, at least...

Although it was barely detectable, a warm feeling started to spread throughout my body. Nobody had ever offered me protection before, and if they did, they eventually betrayed me sooner or later. But for Karashi to promise me safety after he had already done so much... I started to admire him.

"Karashi?" I murmured in surprise. Even though I was caught off guard by his behavior, I didn't try to move away from his hold. There wasn't any harm in hugging me, right?

"Kisara..." he murmured in turn. His tone was so different from before that I actually resisted the tendency to shy away at his unfamiliarity. But my gratitude for him outweighed any other emotion, so I was content with being wrapped in his embrace.

And even when Karashi leaned forward and softly pressed his lips against my cheek.

Because this sign of affection was so foreign to me, I had no idea how to react; I was only barely aware of a lingering warmth on my cheek when he pulled away. Confused and a little baffled, I could only look at him with wide eyes.

"You look like you've just seen a ghost," he joked. "Am I really that breathtaking?"

Ignoring that last part, I said, "It's just that... no one has ever kissed me before."

Karashi tilted his head ever so slightly, regarding me with an amused expression. "Seriously? Even with your past, I would think that you've been kissed many times considering how pretty you are."

It was just one thing after the other... I wasn't used to all of this romantic attention. "Thanks," I replied in an effort to disguise my growing feelings of awkwardness.

More time passed, and I finally had the leisure to practice my rusty skills as a ninja. Karashi accompanied me nearly everywhere I went (not that I really had anywhere to go besides his home) because he had nothing else better to do. But I didn't really mind... Despite all of his romantic attention, I only ever developed feelings of friendship for him.

As I'd expected, ninjutsu remained my weak point. I was able to figure out the hand signs for the basics, like Shadow Clone Jutsu and Transformation Jutsu, but any other water-style ones that I could pull off were so weak that even Karashi could stand through them without even doing anything. When I attempted to invest my time into strengthening those, however, I rapidly discovered the pointlessness of that idea. They weren't going to get any better.

But my other skills did.

My skills pertaining to ninja tools, that is. I had always been fond of using shuriken and kunai against my opponents, and it certainly showed in my proficiency of using them. Just like I had seen during my escape, those skills hadn't really weakened over the years. In fact, after only a week spent perfecting my abilities, I was able to nail every target Karashi placed in his backyard, no matter where the place.

"Wow," breathed Karashi after one such practice session. We were basking in the shade of a tree, and I felt extremely relaxed despite my exertion a few minutes ago.

"What?" I prodded, sending a small smile his way. "I swear you say that after every practice."

"I have a good reason," said Karashi. "You really suck at ninjutsu, so I never would have guessed that you'd be so good at this. You're basically a goddess."

I wasn't sure how to take that. "Um, thanks."

Laughing at my response, Karashi opened his mouth to say something else, but a crashing noise suddenly sounded from inside the house.

"Did Sansho knock over the pot again?" Karashi wondered. I quickly shot him a warning look to render him quiet; my intuition told me that this was caused by something... out of the ordinary.

After a few more seconds, another crash sounded from inside. This one was louder than the first, so my guard immediately shot up.

Slowly, I stood up from the cool grass, never keeping my eyes off of the house. After waiting for a long, silent moment, I quietly took a few steps forward.

After another moment, Karashi broke the silence. "What do you think-"

"Shh!" I cut him off. How much of an idiot did he have to be to speak at a time like this?

Once I waited another moment, I took a few more steps toward the house. There was something fishy about this situation, and if I could just peek through the window-

Bringing my thoughts to a halt, the back door suddenly burst open. I immediately zipped back towards Karashi, but once I focused on the sight before me, my muscles nearly froze all together.

The leader of the trio, the leader I so despised and feared, stepped forward and gave me a chilling smile.

"I finally found you," said Ruga. "I was afraid that we'd never see each other again."

My thoughts weren't short of a whirlpool at the moment, but I knew that I had to focus on the immediate threat if I had another chance at escape. "How did you find me?" I questioned. There was nothing that could have given me away... was there?

That sneer remained plastered onto Ruga's face, and I resisted the urge to spit at him. "Simple," he replied. "I have spies scattered across the Land of Rivers. It was only a matter of time before they discovered this place."

Recalling the crashing noises, my anger spiked. "What did you do to Sansho and Ranmaru?" They were the sweetest people I had ever come across, and they definitely didn't deserve any amount of pain... my stomach wrenched just at the thought of it.

My question was answered when his sneer grew. Giving him the scariest glare I could manage, I reached for the satchel around my waist.

Of course, Ruga remained unfazed. He only really lost his temper when I did something extreme... like escaping. "There's no need to fight, Kisara," he said. "If your little friend there will turn you in quietly, there will be no trouble."

Karashi... I had almost forgotten he was there. I allowed myself a small glance behind me and took in the sight of him cowering on the ground, his eyes wide in fear. Ugh... What happened to him vowing to protect me?

One of Ruga's subordinates stepped towards Karashi with a scowl, and the latter cowered even further. "T-Take her," Karashi stammered. "Just take her and leave me alone."

I couldn't believe him! Here I was, standing fearlessly in the face of the enemy, while all he could do was tremble on the ground. How was I ever fooled by his facade of courage? If I had figured out anything during my time with him, it was that his supposed "love" for me was fake as well. It was not like I was heartbroken or anything; I had developed no romantic feelings for him. But that definitely didn't prevent the feeling of disgust from welling up inside of me.

In the end, I was right as usual... people weren't capable of providing generosity without having some sort of ulterior motive.

There's no one I can trust, I thought. Pushing away my feelings of hopelessness, I grabbed as many shuriken as I could hold and flicked them towards my enemies. My actions were almost robotic, so I wasn't surprised when my opponents deflected the shuriken without difficulty.

"Don't think you're getting away from me this time," Ruga warned. Before I had a chance to respond, he weaved signs at the speed of lightning and muttered, "Fire Style: Flame Flower."

I did the only thing I could think of when it came to a water attack: cancel it out with water. Allowing my reflexes to take over, I weaved signs for the strongest water jutsu I could remember. My jutsu activated just as three giant balls of fire came hurtling at me, but it did little to no good- compared to Ruga's, my jutsu was pathetic. I realized this and jumped back with one of the fireballs narrowly missing my leg.

Damn... That was definitely the wrong move. As Ruga let out an unsettling laugh, I tried to ignore my aching muscles from the recent training. He's toying with me, I thought. I have to pull myself together. Instead of wasting more shuriken, I hurriedly summoned a thin sword from a scroll on my waist. The chances of holding my own with those three were slim, but at least it would prevent them from weaving more hand signs...

Paying close attention to my movements, I lunged towards Ruga and engaged him in a close-combat fight. Of course, his sidekicks also joined in, but their taijutsu skills were inexperienced enough to allow me to focus most of concentration on Ruga. Although I managed to land a few blows on him, the futility of the fight started to get to me. The chances of me emerging victorious were close to zero, so I had to look for an opening to escape…

Eventually, the three rogues succeeded in cornering me against the house. My chakra levels were dangerously low, and they had given me no opportunities to go on the offensive for a while. Would I lose? Would my escape ultimately mean nothing?

...No. Only over my dead body would I ever end up back in their hideout.

Lunging at Ruga once again, I faked an attack and suddenly feigned to the right, shoving away his two surprised minions. I used this window of opportunity to dash across the backyard and around the house, knowing fully well that they would be on my tail in a few seconds. As I allowed myself a glance through the window, I couldn't spot Sansho or Ranmaru anywhere. But I couldn't think about their safety now- I had more pressing matters to focus on...

Just as I had expected, Ruga soon wheeled around the corner with an expression that could only be described as horrendous. As I reached the main road and headed for Katabami Kinzan in the distance, I focused chakra into my feet to give me a burst of speed. I couldn't dwell on my pursuers right now, or I would falter in my steps... I had to concentrate on reaching the village and finding somewhere to hide.

The next half hour felt like it was stretched out into the timespan of several days. Aside from my burning legs and lungs, the constant fear of Ruga catching up threatened to overwhelm me. He nearly did a few times... The only reason I eluded his grasp was due to the brief moment of surprise from earlier. I could deflect every kunai or paper bomb with ease, but the real challenge was manifested in the running. The pressure of capture forced me to sprint the entire way to Katabami Kinzan, and I wouldn't have been surprised if my legs had fallen off.

Eventually, however, I was able to reach the village without any interference from Ruga. Innocent bypassers openly gawked at me as I dashed through the crowded streets, but I couldn't care less at the moment. All the shops were open-door ones that offered me no form of protection, so I continued to run until I reached a yogurt shop. Throwing open the door, I sprinted inside and frantically scanned the room for an empty seat.

With a rush of relief, I spotted a promising booth and proceeded to run towards it without any regard for the people around me.

A young man occupied the booth, fiddling with a spoon halfway in his mouth. He had straight, white hair with a light blue tint that barely reached past his chin. He seemed to be pondering over something, so I felt a small pang of guilt when I threw myself into the booth across from him, breathing heavily.

The guy jolted back in surprise. "Huh? Who-"

I put a finger to my lips. "Don't... ask now. Just play... along." I whipped my head around the booth when I heard footsteps rapidly approaching. "...They're coming! Quickly! Act normal!"

The guy's expression remained the same, but he said nothing. Not wasting any time, I weaved a few hand signs and muttered, "Transformation Jutsu."

My body didn't physically change, but a blonde pigment slowly spread throughout my long, chestnut hair until not one speck of brown was to be found. I couldn't see this part of the transformation, but I knew from personal experience that my eyes slowly faded into a pale blue color instead of my natural bright green. Well... At least, I hoped It did. Because the only other time I had performed it was once with Karashi, there was a strong chance that my transformation had some flaws. Merely a second later, my three pursuers hurtled around the corner and screeched to a stop in front of the booth I occupied.

Ruga spoke, and I resisted the urge to shiver from the sound of his voice. "We're looking for a young woman the age of seventeen. She just came running in here, and she has long brown hair and green eyes. This is urgent! Tell us if you've seen her, and you will be rewarded."

The guy's eyes showed a subtle flicker of understanding, and I fought to maintain a blank facial expression. God, I really hoped he wouldn't rat me out... If he did, I would have to return to the previous hell I was living in. Just the thought of it made me want to cringe.

After a few seconds, to my surprise, the guy across from me chuckled. "Oooooh, a brunette? I wish I had seen her. Maybe I should go looking for her... Right, sis?"

It took me a few seconds to realize that he was referring to me. Hiding my surprise, I rolled my eyes. "Jeez... You need to stop being such a player, bro."

Apparently, the trio of rogue ninja had run out of patience by this point. Directing nothing but a growl at us, they stalked away without another glance.

Smirking, the guy remarked, "You're a really bad actor, you know."