Suddenly, huge amounts of sand shot in the direction of my father, who began to dodge with an almost frightened expression. Which wasn't exactly easy for him. Especially as the wound on his hip was causing him increasing discomfort. The dark spot under the bandage had become much wider and wetter.

He wouldn't last much longer here. Anger flashed through me, and I straightened up again to take a few uncertain steps towards the fighting. The rest of my raiton chakra flowed through my legs. Then a noticeably thin arm of sand wrapped around my waist and held me back again.

„You stay here, Tora."

I hissed angrily as he pulled me behind him, glaring angrily at the redhead's back. What did he think he was doing, interfering in MY fight? I had started this, and I was supposed to finish it. That wasn't fair anymore.

„Even worse than Lee," Gaara growled, half-turning to face me. However, this meant that he could no longer concentrate on the fight and my father hurled a few letter bombs in his direction, but they bounced off the small shield I had erected around his body.

The only thing wrong with the whole situation was that I hadn't taken myself into account. And so my body was thrown through the air by the explosion. It landed hard on the water. Gathering the last of the chakra in my feet and ignoring the scolding thigh, I straightened my weakened body to realize that Gaara had ... caught my father. In disbelief, I resisted the urge to rub my eyes. But ... what was that ... he grinned and formed a few finger signs with his hands.

Startled, I stared in his direction. No. No!

„Jutsu of breaking scars."

And I began to scream. Gaara's gaze shot to me. Pain dominated my world, tears welled up in my eyes, streaming out, wetting my cheeks. Completely unable to control my chakra now, I fell into the river and began to paddle for my life, still unable to swim.

Water rushed down my throat and entered my windpipe. I coughed, spat, choked. Everything was on fire. My throat and back were on fire. Not even the cold water could dull the pain. Voices reached my ears sporadically and indistinctly. Blurred into one another. It was impossible for me to assign them to specific people.

The river wasn't fast, but I still couldn't fight the current. I didn't have the strength. The fight had cost me too much. Anger arose in me at how pathetic I was. I couldn't even swim and defend myself against my own father. What kind of ninja was I? I always needed someone to help me.

Convulsively, I opened my eyes and could see the shore right next to me. Blinded by pain, I stretched out my arms to hold on to something sticking out of the embankment. After a short time, my hands did indeed grasp something solid and I grabbed hold. I pulled myself out of the water with the last of my strength and remained lying on the bank, completely soaked.

My lungs were bursting with water and gradually robbed me of air. It became harder and harder to breathe before I slowly began to drift into the cold darkness.

„...wake up...lungs...water."

Something pressed into my chest, so fiercely and relentlessly, that it began to ache. But this was not the only thing that caused this terrible stinging. The pressure pushed all the water in my windpipe upwards.

And then it was out. I opened my eyes and, exhausted, coughed the cold liquid into the wet grass. Colored dots danced up and down in front of me, my whole body shook, trembling with pain and exhaustion. Now the voices kept coming through to me. One excited female voice and several deep ones.

Other hands carefully touched my back and I abruptly shot upwards, pushed them away and staggered in an uncertain direction, my perception of the world still quite unclear. Perhaps this was also due to all the water I had gotten into my eyes.

Hands gripped my hips. My elbow shot out at breakneck speed and I rammed it into the person's stomach. The person went down, gurgling.

„Idiot. I warned you," said a cool voice that sounded familiar.

Something warm settled on my face and I blinked. My vision became clearer and clearer, and I recognized Shikamaru in front of me, who was looking at me with a worried expression.

„Stay calm, Tora. We only want to help," he said. The nara's voice sounded raspy and concerned at the same time. Something shimmered in the dark eyes. Tears. Slowly, I began to nod and was about to take a step towards him when another wave of pain rolled over me and brought my body to its knees. Once again, the darkness began to take over my field of vision and slowly pulled my mind with it.

Once again, it was soft voices that woke me from my unconsciousness. The wounds began to burn as soon as I was half awake. Gritting my teeth, I ignored it and began to observe my surroundings.

Everything was white. The bed, the ceiling, the walls, the chairs ... Only the person sitting next to me on the chair stood out so much with their clothes that it almost hurt my eyes. But I was even more surprised by who was sitting opposite me. His eyelids were slightly closed, and his body was leaning back. He looked relaxed and calm.

I tilted my head, following an old habit, and looked at the familiar figure. He seemed to have changed, as I owed him my life. He certainly wouldn't have done this in the past. In general, his features seemed almost relaxed. Even his posture was no longer so stooped.

„Thank you," I said quietly as my head lay back on the mattress.

Turquoise eyes gazed back at me. Not even cold. He just looked at me before his lips twitched barely noticeably. I hadn't expected much more. He had never been one for big speeches. If he had, he would have undergone a radical transformation.

„Where did these scars come from?"

This question came out of the blue, making me flinch slightly and look away from him. Should I tell him? In some crazy way, I trusted him, perhaps because he seemed to have changed or was in the process of doing so.

„It's not obvious by itself. After all, you saw it," I replied quietly and once again the events played out before my eyes. My father had seen no other way to hurt me after Gaara had caught him. His only chance to distract Gaara. And it had worked.

Tears welled up in my eyes again when I thought about it. I was still trying to understand him, but at the same time I didn't want to.

„I want him to understand what I've done to make him hate me so much. But I can't ... I just can't," with each word I got quieter. My voice broke when his eyes looked into mine. A feeling flickered in them that I had never seen in him or anyone else before.

Understanding.

Because no one could understand my situation as well as Gaara. He had already experienced much of it himself. My gaze wandered to the necklace with the lynx pendant, which was lying on the bedside table.

The door opened with a loud jerk and thundered against the wall. Tsunade stormed into the room, deep circles under her eyes, which nevertheless looked wide awake. Her gaze slid briefly to me before she dug a small tin out of the pockets of her coat and held it out to Gaara. Curious, ignoring the protesting pain on my back, I straightened up.

„Get your sister or help Tora to put this on the wounds. There's a hope that it might heal them a little."

„That won't do any good," Gaara interrupted the Hokage. His gaze shifted to me.

„Even if the wounds close up again, it's called the jutsu of breaking scars for a reason."

The blonde's expression darkened increasingly with the words of the redhead, who gazed unblinkingly into her eyes, in which undisguised anger was slowly but surely spreading. Her fist began to tremble ominously and seconds later she had split the small table that stood at the edge of the room into two neat halves.

„If your father ever crosses my path, I will personally see to it that he is put in the ground, I swear..." she began, but was interrupted by me.

„Forgive me, but you'll have to get in line. I'll train until I'm better than him and then I'll catch him, put him on trial and hope he spends the rest of his life in prison."

Silence reigned in the room for a moment. Only the birds sitting in the tree outside the window continued to chirp happily. The blonde Hokage looked at my determined face and my hands clenched into fists in disbelief before nodding with a slight smile.

„Smart decision, even if I'd still like to take this guy on. As soon as you reach the rank of Jonin, and I'm sure you will, you'll have my official permission to hunt your father. Because then, in my opinion, you'll be strong enough to face him."

Then she was out of the room. I looked after her silently as Gaara released me from my thoughtlessness again.

„No desire for revenge?"

I shook my head, flattened by the question.

„What good does it do me? What do I get out of it? Then I'm no better than him."