Year and age will be updated when the story reaches it.

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-Year: Unknown, Age: Unknown-

His heart beat faster than it ever had in his entire life, he ran faster than he'd ever run before, his arms flailed before his eyes haphazardly, his feet tripped over themselves, his eyes took in the blurry landscape with reckless abandon.

Run. His mind told him.

Run! His body echoed.

Run, run, run. His limbs felt cold.

Run-run-un-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n! He screamed inside.

Run! His mouth repeated the moment he felt himself slow down.

Run! His mind screamed when his body protested.

Run! His consciousness raged when it felt like slipping.

His heart threatened to stop at any moment.

His body left a trail of his own blood and snot.

His shoulders dislodged without pain as his arms flailed without care.

His feet broke apart with every step.

His bloodshot eyes took in the blurry world uncaringly.

Run.

Run, all the same. Don't Stop. Don't think. Don't care.

All he had to do was run. All he could do was run. All he would do was run.

RUN! His very soul screamed out to the world.

He run as fast as he could. For as long as he could. As far away as he could-

He first noticed the disorientation that came with falling. The second was the pain as he felt something crash into his chest. The third was the instinct to use his chakra to push on all the same- Yet his chakra failed him and he found himself falling.

He had fallen, his mind processed. He had slowed down, his body caught on.

He wasn't far enough- He could still feel it, could still taste it, could still see the everlasting darkness. The death it promised, the sheer terro-

He blinked and snapped himself out of his panic.

He blinked and barely managed to take in the world around him again.

He blinked and finally saw the cause of what had stopped his escape. What had caused him to slow down. What was going to be the death of him.

Shoulder-length hair. Black eyes. Shorter than him. His heart skipped a beat. His mind froze again- His body screamed at him to attack and yet, he stopped himself the moment he took a look at the headband.

It wasn't Konoha, he breathed out a shaky breath.

But it wasn't his village either, his instincts kicked in. His chakra, low as it was, told him the truth that stood before him.

Weak.

He latched onto the word with a vice grip as he took in the woman that slowly picked herself up, her widened eyes locking onto his own as he did the same.

Different headband. Enemy. Threat. He breathed quickly. But weaker than him. Less chakra than him. Smaller than him. He could take it. He could win. He could escape.

He raised his kunai shakily and took in the woman. She was shaking too, his mind told him. Relief flooded him- It wasn't a Genjutsu, she was scared. She knew she was in danger. She knew she was weaker-

She would not win this. He could still run. All he had to do was... He blinked, the enemy kunoichi doing the same as she took a slight step back, her shaking hand holding the damaged kunai. All he had to do... Was... Was... He blinked away his unease. He ignored his shivering.

All he had to do was kill- And he immediately broke down at the thought, his body lurched over as his stomach emptied whatever had been left inside. The sheer thought of it, of taking a life- He vomited again, spewing spittle and mucus, his body hunched over at the hip this time as he felt his forehead land on mud.

All he could do at that moment was scream his fear out. His frustrations, his anger- His everything at the unfairness of it all!

He screamed and screamed and screamed- His instincts called out to him again as he heard the footsteps. As he faintly realized he hadn't dunked his head onto mud, but bloodied water. As his eyes took in the form that stood over his hunched body.

He was going to die, his mind whispered. Relief filled him at that thought as his stomach settled.

He was going to die in a random ditch, in the middle of nowhere, to a kunoichi weaker than him- But he was going to die all the same. His face broke out into a slight smile.

The form in the reflection kneeled down towards him, hands outstretched.

He was going to be free-

The hands landed on his shoulders and pulled his head up.

The woman stared at him as he dimly noted the fact she was crying.

"You..." She whispered. "You were there... Weren't you?" Her tears fell faster as she let out a gulp. The words broke him as he felt his own tears let loose the fear he'd felt. The horror he'd witnessed.

He didn't notice the woman put her arms around his neck, her head buried into his shoulder. The two ninjas, from enemy villages, were unable to hold in their tears anymore.

"...He was just a kid..." He'd found his own voice. "Why..." His voice failed him the slightest bit as his mind recalled the scene. "Why... How..." He said between bated breaths. Yet, his voice stopped there, unable to spout anything else, for to do so felt as if it would make it real. Make it true.

The only sign he was even still alive was the subtle shift of the woman's head as she buried it deeper into his shoulder, his pain ignored.

"He just wouldn't stop laughing..." The woman finished his words for him as she broke down even more. "Why wouldn't he stop laughing!?" She screamed into his ear.

And then silence filled them as he felt both their forms slack from exhaustion into the ground.

He dimly noted then and there, that the woman was from Kumo.

He was from... Iwa? Right. He was from Iwa.

...It didn't matter to him anymore.

Slowly, he reached his hand up towards his own headband and ripped it off.

The woman stared at him as she watched him throw away his headband before she turned her gaze downwards to the one around her own neck.

After a brief moment, he slowly reached into his vest and pulled out a kunai- The woman's gaze slowly went towards the weapon with resignation. He reached his free hand out, and pulled her headband, surprising her, before he cut it off and handed it over.

After a brief moment, he watched her throw it away as well.

There was no going back.

He simply... Simply couldn't find the will to anymore.

Slowly, he brought himself up to his feet and turned away, his back to the kunoichi, as he simply started walking. He ignored the sound of the woman following him. He didn't need to look back to know the expression on her face.

It was the same as his.

Run.

It was the look of one who could only escape from it all as laughter echoed out in the furthest part of their minds.

...

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