Ringo's legs burned with exertion beyond anything she'd felt before, shaking under pressure she knew Shizune would have killed her for putting on them.

The knowledge that if Shizune found her then Ringo would likely be dead anyways didn't really help.

Finally, she felt herself give out, knees buckling as she slowed, planting a hand on the grassy dirt and lowering herself to the ground. Slowly, painfully, she drudged herself over against one of the forest's trees, leaning back onto it as she struggled to keep her breathing under control, every breath a small wheeze. For all that she'd run, she still had a long ways to go before she'd reach the border, and the damn trees were starting to get to her. Fire country was much bigger than it had any right to be.

Ringo snaked her hand into the front of her gi, pressing against her side trying to alleviate some of the goddamn burning in her abdomen and why did it still burn-

She knew she wasn't done with her recuperation; Shizune had told her that much, and she could figure it out herself by virtue of how she could still feel her guts fucking up just from running. There was also how much her lungs burned and begged for her to stop after just the first mile, and what the hell was with everything in her body burning lately!? And now the way her head swam, and her vision doubled and- oh fuck not again-

Ringo fell to her elbow, grunting at the impact, dry heaving over the grass, having nothing left in her stomach to empty. The heaves turned very quickly into painful wet coughs, blood and bile sticking in her throat, forcing her to hack and spit out what she could onto the ground.

When the heaving finally subsided- just in time, as the arm she was using to support herself felt like it was going to give any moment - Ringo let herself fall to her back, wiping some of the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.

For a moment, she was content to just lie there and bask in the coolness that was so rare in Fire territory, reveling in the small break, but when she opened her eyes and saw the faint tinge of orange creeping into the sky above her, she was struck with worry about a routine she'd forced herself to remember.

Shizune would be waking up soon.

"Goddamn..." she groaned, trying to quell her exhaustion. She was at least glad she wouldn't be there when Shizune came to check her room.

A shiver ran down her spine at the thought.

Ringo honestly had no idea exactly how far she'd gotten, but there was no way she'd been traveling as fast as she used to, not with another month or so of recovery scheduled. As well, something that was driving her nerves up the wall was that she was clueless as to how fast Shizune or Tsunade could be, and goddammit, she was really hoping she wouldn't have to find that one out, which meant running like hell and hoping they wouldn't catch up. Ringo didn't even know if they would follow after her, but there was no room for taking chances when it came to her life anymore. She worked too damn hard just to keep it for her to lose it all over something as stupid as that.

Besides, if she could make it to the north-eastern border, then even if the medics were following her, they'd be unlikely to go any further. Ringo would be out of Fire country, and into the Land of Hot Water; not too small, not too big, a fair medicine program if not a particularly good one, and decidedly neutral about most everything.

Besides. She'd always wanted to try a hot spring.

As her breath started to steady, the irony finally hit her. She was fleeing for her life from the medics she'd just spent ages trying desperately to find.

Juzo would've thought that was absolutely hilarious.

Ringo took in a deep breath and slowly let it out in a sigh, feeling somewhat steadied after her night of running. Her hand made its way back into her gi, pressing lightly against her incision scar. That was far too quickly becoming a habit, but she'd found that a bit of pressure on her side eased the lingering surgical pains just a bit, and a small body tic was more than worth the relief it brought.

"...dammit!" She strained to yell into the empty forest, "Why can't this be easier, huh!?" She'd had enough stress lately! When was everything gonna settle down!? The illness, the chase, the partial recovery, the worrying about Kiri searching for her...

And that. That was something she held no illusions about- Kiri was almost definitely after her. Ringo knew her country was falling apart at the seams, but not many had actually gotten the balls to run just yet. So one of their finest, from the pride and joy of Mist's military, deserting now?

She didn't have an updated Bingo Book to look at, but she was fairly certain she'd be able to find her face in one.

She'd even stayed away from the coast on this trip just to keep as far away from Mist's reach as possible, betting they wouldn't be willing to move any forces beyond the coastline of Fire Country for fear of sparking a larger conflict.

But now? Now she was moving out of the Land of Fire, no allies, no supplies, too many enemies, and too much goddamn stress.

Ringo let another minute pass in blissful silence, savoring the bit of time she had where her insides didn't feel like they were trying to eat her. Again. Soon, however, another realization of what the rising sun meant dawned on her.

"Morning, huh...?" The hand in her gi grabbed at the small vile she'd stashed away in the folds of her clothing, drawing it out so she could see it.

Daily pills. She relentingly twisted the thing open, picking out a pill and dropping it into her mouth, grimacing at the taste before swallowing it down.

Ugh. Like chalky toothpaste that's been left out in the sun.

This was her life now. No more land of water. Now the land of fire was being left behind too, apparently. That one was actually a bit of a shame; the food was really good around here, and there was an overabundance of luxury. If Ringo hadn't pissed off one of the sannin and her apprentice just because she'd gotten a bit stir crazy, she might have been tempted to stay.

Well. The future was still up in the air, anyways. Who even freaking knew anymore?

Ringo sat up with a grunt, stashing the pills back into her clothes.

Her five minutes of rest were up. Time to get moving once more.

The man was tired. Exhausted even, drained from months of effort with near nothing to show, and it was increasingly obvious how fed up with this mission the rest of his comrades were becoming. For a couple weeks, they'd even considered recalling most of their force until they received some kind of word, but in the end all they could do was send their best tracker inland and wait.

Which was why he was relishing in the nap he was currently giving in to, resting on a branch of one of the thousands of trees Fire country offered, arms behind his head as he basked in the morning sun.

"Hey," a voice called out from below him, breaking him from his reverie. "Get up. We're moving."

"Whaaat...?" He said, rolling onto his stomach to look down, seeing his masked ally. "Why? It's not like-"

"We have a lead. Torakkā sent a message."

He paused, momentarily stunned. "Seriously? No way. That bastard actually found her?"

"Found and following. She's begun moving, towards the northern border."

"So she is still alive..." He muttered, actually surprised, before turning back to the other man. "And he can stick to her?"

He could almost feel the smirk beneath the man's mask. "She's bleeding."

Oof. Blood, huh? If she was leaving any kind of blood trail, there was no way Torakkā wouldn't be able to keep on her. Looks like their little hunt had finally bore fruit.

"Get the others," the man below him ordered before turning, "We're leaving immediately."

"Yeah, yeah, alright," he replied, making sure his own mask was in place and securing his swords to his back.

"Ameyuri Ringo..." He smiled, chuckling to himself. "Your funeral...will be interesting."

AN: Short chapter this time, and it's actually on purpose!

Here's the deal - I have a summer class out of the country. It's gonna be about 3 weeks with no time to write at all. Now, I have more than just this written out right now, but not quite enough for a big update before I leave, so I shaved this off the rest of the chapter, fixed it up a bit, and made it part 1, because I really didn't wanna leave you all for 2 months with nothing again.

I'll be back towards the end of june, and have the next chapter up within/around 2 weeks after that.

Hope y'all are having a good summer, and I'll see you soon!

Vermiss mich nicht zu sehr! ;P