Chapter 1

Chapter Note: It's only fair to publish the actual beginning the same day I publish the Prologue.

—

"No! Please! Don't do this!"

She was screaming, tears streaming down her face as she backed into a large tree. The boys across the small clearing from her were staring at her with disgust in their eyes. They each had a kunai in their hands turned towards her. One of them snarled at her.

"Oh, shut up already! You've been nothing but a pain in our ass since we started this mission. In fact, you've been a pain in our ass since we were assigned on the same Genin team, and you're obviously the slowest out of all of us. We don't have the speed to outrun the enemy and you're dead weight. You're either going to run a diversion willingly and die doing it or we're going to cut you down and leave you here to keep them distracted. Your choice." She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. She looked back in the direction that they had come from and could feel the enemy nin getting closer. They were missing nin that had caught their scent while they were on a routine mission near the Land of Water, however they were more powerful than a Chunin team was able to handle.

In that moment of hesitation, her teammates made the decision for her. She barely had time to feel herself get grabbed from behind and take a blow to the temple. She didn't black out but she was disoriented and blood flew through the air in the split second she had been reorienting herself. She fell to her knees as the two other Chunin jumped back to put distance between themselves and her. She had two large, deep gashes cutting across the top of both of her forearms. She could see the fleshy layers of her own arm through the cuts, they were deep and could be fatal.

Gasping and struggling for air as the pain set in, she crumpled even further, putting her forehead to the ground as she curled in on herself. She was losing so much blood so fast.

"She's done. She won't move from here and the enemy will take care of her as soon as they get to this location. Maybe they'll have a little fun with her and give us more time. We need to go. Now."

She heard the two Chunin start running in another direction as her heart pounded in her ears. There was blood everywhere. The ground beneath her was soaked and the grass was dark under her. After a moment of catching her breath, she mustered up the strength to walk away from the spot, going towards where the trees were dense, hoping for cover. She found an outcrop that formed a cave-like hole in the wall, it just wasn't deep enough to be called a cave. It would work. She sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall of the not-cave as the first scent of rain and ozone blew past her with a quick breeze.

She had never done anything to those two for this to happen. Everything had been fine through their Genin days and they had even cheered each other on during the Chunin exams. She thought they were her friends. Sure, she was only fourteen while they were sixteen and they wanted Jonin positions, but that couldn't have been enough to do this. They had been acting differently for a couple of months, more lifeless and less patient, almost aggravated constantly. Today must have been the breaking point. She didn't know why they did this to her but she was not dying today.

Taking deep breaths, she dug through her kunai pouch and produced two rolls of bandages. She always came prepared for reckless behavior, just not this reckless. She quickly wrapped her arms as tight as she could without cutting off circulation to keep the skin of her arms held shut until she could get stitches. With her arms wrapped, at the very least she wouldn't be openly bleeding everywhere and with the upcoming rain, she could be impossible to track as long as she covered her trail. From there, it would just be a matter of getting back to Konoha...

She frowned and stared at a nearby tree with a blank glare. Did she even want to go back at this point? Her teammates would say everything was a big misunderstanding and that she was obviously injured by the enemy and she would be ignored again. This wasn't the first time she'd considered leaving the village. This time, however, she had a chance. She knew they were in the Southeast region of the Land of Fire and knew that there were small towns in the area that would accept a new face with no questions asked.

She sighed and leaned her head against the wall. She could just run away right now. Get away from the enemy nin, from Konoha, and just leave the life of a ninja behind. Yeah, that was what she was going to do. Just run away. She had the perfect opportunity in front of her. She just had to get away. Her balance was off and she stumbled as she tried to orient herself.

She stumbled through the woods and the pouring rain long enough for the sun to go down and darkness took her senses as the rain slowed to a drizzle. After catching her shoulder on several trees, she dropped to her knees and gripped the damp grass under her fingers. It was okay to take a break now, right? Looking at the bandages on her arms, they were completely soaked through with blood and rain. The gashes in her arms were going to need stitches. She knew how to do it, but could she do it herself? Not right now. She didn't have the supplies and she could see how bad her hands were shaking even pressed against the ground. Her breathing was ragged and it only took a few deep breaths for everything to go dark, her thoughts swirling with panic.

-10 Years Later -

Avurin took a deep breath of fresh air from the forest as she walked a worn path towards the nearby creek. She had made this trip almost every single day since she had started living in the woods just outside of a nearby town. Collecting fauna she knew was edible in a leather foraging pouch she kept strapped to her belt, she felt a small smile creep across her face. This was peace. The sun was peeking through the leaves, the birds were calling to each other, and she could hear the creek burbling not far ahead. She couldn't call it happiness, living off of her own resources in the woods for over a decade, but she knew she was living in peace.

As she approached the creek, she took in the scent of wet dirt and fresh water flowing through the area. This was her favorite spot in the entire forest. It was quiet and the sounds of the creek helped calm her thoughts on her bad days. She could hear the ground squelching under her sandals as she walked down to the bank. Squatting down on the bank, she pulled a small sifter from the bag she carried with her and dug it into the silt of the bank.

Shaking the silt out of the sifter into the water, her eyes brightened at the new treasures revealed in front of her. Shells, small pieces of metal from upstream, and, surprisingly, a small fossil of an old crustacean. She quickly pocketed the new finds in a pouch strapped to her belt. As she was cleaning the sifter, she noticed a light pinkish tint to the water. Ribbons of pink and red flowed with the current over her hands as she pulled the sifter out of the water. She slowly looked upstream and froze.

A body lay on the bank, dressed completely in black with a gray vest and exposed arms, one proudly displaying the tattoo from the Leaf. He was covered in deep wounds that bled into the creek, some slashes down his arms looked worse than others but the worst of the blood was coming from stab wounds to his stomach and side. She could also see silver hair and a white dog mask from where she was crouched a couple of meters downstream from the body. Her eyes narrowed. They were Konoha Anbu, she would recognize her nation's masks and that tattoo anywhere. As she crept closer to the man, she could see that he was curled in on himself in pain and his breathing was stuttering. His face was just barely out of the water while the rest of his body was bleeding into the creek. She debated notching an arrow into the bow slung across her shoulder and ending his life right then. He was Anbu, Konoha wouldn't look for him if he disappeared.

She huffed and shook her head to herself. She was too soft. She couldn't leave him here like this and she couldn't put him down like an animal. Stepping closer to him, she moved slowly in the event that he was still conscious, trying not to startle him. She gently grabbed under his arms and started dragging him out of the water on his back, knowing that the smooth river stones under him would not hurt him any worse than he already had been. She pulled him into the grass above the bank where the sun was shining through the leaves, hoping the sun would help dry him off since she didn't have any other way to dry him.

Pulling her first aid pouch around her waist, she dug into it looking for her med kit. She always kept it fully stocked with a combination of homemade medical ointments as well as the very few supplies she could get when she went into the nearby town. She was regarded as a "witch of the woods" in these parts and not everyone was willing to do business with her. Using an alcohol bottle and medical ointment, she started to disinfect and patch the deeper wounds over the man's body. She had to stop the bleeding before she moved him any more. After several of the wounds were patched to the best of her ability with her limited supplies, she pulled one of his arms over her shoulders and started dragging him back to her cabin.

He wasn't heavy to her since she had been doing hard manual labor for years just to keep a roof above her head but he was taller than her and the angle was awkward. His feet were dragged across the dirt as she took slow and steady steps down the familiar path to her cabin. She felt the water from his clothes seeping through her own and dampening her back. She huffed to herself and continued to put one step in front of the other. Why was she doing this? She would have to pretend to be as civilian as possible around him until he was well enough to walk back home. Her ninja gear was well hidden but an Anbu could be trouble. They liked to investigate things even if they had no business doing so.

As she finally approached her cabin, she let out a sigh of relief. At least she could lay him down in the spare bedroom and let him rest while she thought about how to go about remaining as inconspicuous as possible. The steps into the cabin were a challenge but she managed to get through the front door before kneeling down to set the Anbu on the floor, taking a short break. She looked him over and determined that two of his wounds were going to need stitches and if the paleness of his skin was any indication, he'd need fluids as soon as possible to heal from the blood loss. Carefully, she lifted his upper body off of the floor and held him under the arms as she pulled him to the guest bedroom, laying him on the floor next to the futon. He was still bleeding and until that was fixed, she wasn't going to let him ruin the sheets.

Taking another glance at him, she stepped back into her living room and started gathering everything she had for medical treatment. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough for what he needed right now. Coming back into the guest bedroom, she was surprised to see him gasping and clutching at his white mask, ripping it off of his face and looking around the room frantically. She quirked an eyebrow at the face covering underneath that covered his mouth and neck. He had a scar over one of his eyes that he kept closed. Something about him felt awfully familiar... Being a decent host, she waited at the door as she spoke to avoid prompting any defensive reactions from him.

"I found you in the creek near my home and you're heavily injured. I'm currently treating you with what I have available and then you can be on your way when you're well enough to walk." She spoke as evenly as possible so that he knew the facts and could assess his options. He didn't take much time to consider before nodding and relaxing against the floor, giving her silent permission to start healing his wounds.

"Not much for words, are you? Fine by me. I've been living alone for long enough that I'm happy to enjoy the silence." She muttered as she leaned over him. "I do have to take this vest off of you though if you want me to be able to stitch these up well enough to heal. You've been stabbed a few times. I patched you up temporarily to get you here but I need the vest out of the way to actually fix this. Can you sit up?" she asked, looking directly into his one exposed eye.

"Yeah... I think. Just take it all off. I'd rather have this done right than worry about my modesty." His voice was scratchy as he spoke but his deep voice was still clear and held no room for argument. He sounded resigned and tired. His face cringed as he shakily pushed himself up and she put a hand behind his shoulders to help him. Once he was sitting up, he unstrapped the clasps for his vest and she pulled it over his head with minimal movement on his part. Her eyes focused on where his face mask met the skin-tight shirt he was wearing and looked around the room. She found a bandana she kept around the house for her work in the garden and handed it to him.

"I know a thing or two about privacy. I'll pull the shirt over your head and you put that on over your face. I'll keep my eyes elsewhere." she muttered quietly. He nodded and gave her a small smile that crinkled the corner of his eye. She did exactly as she said and pulled his shirt over his head, taking it along with the vest to the corner of the room to make sure he had time to fasten the bandana.

"You can look. Thank you." He spoke softly, possibly from blood loss or he could actually be appreciative, she wasn't going to even give it a second thought. She turned back around to see him shirtless, slowly laying himself back on the floor. She kneeled next to him again as soon as he was flat on his back.

"You're welcome. I'm going to have to stitch two of these so if you need something to bite onto let me know. It won't be quick."

"No, it's fine."

"Suit yourself."

With that, she began thoroughly disinfecting, cleaning, and stitching the two largest stab wounds on his stomach and his side. He occasionally groaned and his fingers would dig into the wood under him when the pain was enough to break his composure. She wanted to feel bad for the pain she was causing but he was right, it was better for this to be done right so he could get back to his village. She finished with the stitches and wrapped gauze and bandages around his torso before moving on to the smaller gashes on his arms and other areas. Using the ointments she had made earlier in the season, she was liberal with application before using more gauze and bandages to wrap the wounds. At this point, the Anbu was breathing steadily and he looked to be fighting off sleep. She knew he was exhausted but she needed to get him onto the futon.

"I need to get you onto the futon. I can drag you up there or you can try to work with me. Just don't rip your stitches." He nodded in response and took a deep, shaky breath. He sat himself up slowly, her hand supporting his back again and he rolled himself over to crawl onto the futon that was on the ground. She had already pulled the covers back and as he laid himself back down, she pulled the covers over him, silently giving him a glass of water from the table next to the bed. She had brought it in earlier, knowing he had to drink something while he was conscious. He took the glass from her with shaky hands and she turned away as he moved the bandana to drink. Once he'd emptied the glass, she took it from him and dimmed the lamp in the room.

"You need anything, you yell for me, okay?" She hoped her stern voice conveyed how serious the situation was. His eye softened.

"I promise. I just have one question though." he said quietly as she walked to the door. She stopped at the doorway and turned her head.

"What is it?" she asked. There were a lot of questions he could ask and it made her anxious he was even asking a question.

"What's your name?"

She turned towards him and looked him in the eye.

"Avie. That's all you need to know." With that, she turned back to the hallway and closed the door.