I'm ok

Shivering, Sakura got hold of her senses and realized the time to move was now. Yet her entire body felt heavy. Swallowing away the uncertainty growing inside, she tried to think rational.

She didn't know where she was, other than in a foreign country she also knew very little of. She didn't have a single weapon on her… nor any money to get by.

Licking her lips, she tried to think but her mind was shattered. Closing her eyes to focus, she listed the things she'd be needing. Supplies, weapons, food…

Was she truly going to leave? A little voice inside asked.
Yes, her mind yelled viciously. You will not be staying here like some meek girl waiting to be rescued!

Pushing down all the doubt and fear, she tried to be strong and forget what she had merely told Haku moments ago. Almost running towards the bed where Zabuza had slept, she threw away the sheets and felt around for a kunai that lay hidden between the matrass and sheets. Finding one, she found another when throwing his pillow to the side.

As she tried to find a place to put them, she realized that the kimono Haku had given her was not something she could travel in. Hastily she walked back to his closet where there were only a few garments remain hanging and quickly pulled out a dark navy-blue shirt that looked rather worn out, until her eyes fell on the clothes at the bottom of the closet. Her red tunic lay neatly folded with black shorts and small pouch.
Her headband was nowhere to be found but she didn't care, taking off the given clothes and going back to what she knew. For some reason she had thought it would make her feel better to be in her usual outfit, but it only ached her heart and filled her mind with memories of pain. Dried up bloodstains had remained but nevertheless she pushed away the feelings, telling herself to be strong.

Even if it felt as if her body would be giving out any moment.

I can find a way, she told herself over and over. I can do this!

Some food would be preferable, she noted, going through the cabinets when suddenly she heard footsteps coming her way. It had only been fifteen minutes and they were already back!?

Scared, she dropped the cans she had been holding and took a few steps back. The voices coming didn't sound like Haku's or Zabuza's. They were loud and laughing.
Trying to think quickly as they tried to open the door, she decided to hide. Hearing a man slur his words that it was locked, another brutely kicked it in.
'That's how you open it!' he laughed and then looked around the empty space. 'Hello?'
'Hoji said there was a cute girl,' the other, much bigger man said, standing right behind the first.
'It was a kid from what I heard,' a third one said, only now entering the room. 'Let's just see where they stacked their money, before someone else comes up with the same idea.'
'Are you sure though? About the order?' the bigger one asked.
'Gato wants them gone; says they are becoming too much of a hazard. I personally think he's scared out of his wits by them…'
'Takeda is rising in power, if he truly did offer them a position, well then I too would get rid of them if I were Gato!' the first one said, laughing again. He had an annoying cackling kind of laughter.
'I want to find the girl,' the bigger man said looking around. 'Hoji said there was a girl!'
'a kid, Fuji,' the smaller one of the three said again, he was only here for the money.
'I like girls all ages,' the big one laughed. The other one, the redhead, simply cackled along again.

Turning the place upside down, Sakura flinched when they got closer to the bed watching as their feet came to stand still before her. She tried to think of how to quickly exit the room and avoid confrontation with all three of the men. They had left the door slightly ajar.

Without much of a hassle, the bigger one lifted the bed entirely. 'Found you!' he snickered when he lay eyes on her. Sakura's eyes widened in shock. The man was incredible tall and had an oafish appearance while the other one looked a bit like Hoji, redhaired, small eyes, crooked nose and a clear scar on his face. The third one wore a black scarf hiding most of his face and looked down at her in repulsion.
'Hey, this one is cute!' the redhead remarked.
'It's a kid,' the other one snorted, clearly disgusted by his fellow companions.
'But one day it's going to be a pretty girl, I can tell…' his eyes traveled over her body, making Sakura squirm in reaction.
'Bwahaha, doesn't matter!' the big one, Fuji, said while throwing the bed to the side and making a wrecking noise that echoed not only through the room but probably through the entire building.

She then remembered going up several stairs when arriving with Haku. Was there no one else around to hear this?

As she wanted to make an exit, the only one who wasn't making disgusting remarks grabbed her roughly by the arm, lifting her up in the air.
'Doesn't have much of a body, yet' the redhead muttered in disappointment.
'I don't mind,' the oaf laughed, grabbing her clothes forcefully and without a warning ripped them. Eyes widening in shock, she could only stare as they kept making denigrating and filthy remarks about her. Heart pounding in her ears, she eyed the door again.
'No bed,' Fuji muttered as he looked around.
'Well, yeah you just wrecked one!,' the other cackled, finding the oaf's self-inflicted predicament hilarious.
'The boy probably has a room,' the man holding her by the arm cooly replied.
'Oh, yeah!' the oaf snickered, then taking her and throwing her over his shoulder as if she were nothing but a mere ragdoll to him. Sakura smelled the stench of alcohol, smoke and sweat coming off him and it instantly made her feel nauseous. They simply walked towards the tiny bathroom and room, muttering out loud who would get to go first. She decided to not wait any longer and make the escape she had been plotting before they had arrived.

Hitting the oaf on the head with all the might of both her fists, she then scrambled out of his arms and jumped off his shoulder and ran towards the door as fast as her feet could take her. Only the more serious one seemed to have the right reflexes, jumping after her. Grabbing her by the hair, he shut the door with his foot and turned her over and pushed her. As she fell to the ground, his foot connected with her back, making her scream out in pain.

'Little bitch!' Fuji yelled.
'Yeah, I was going to be nice before, letting Fuji go second but now…' the redhead hissed.
'Shut up, Fuji, Ren,' the one with his foot still on her back, barked at them making them both immediately shut up. Lowering himself to her level, he grabbed her by the hair again, this time pulling out a small knife.
'Where do they hide their money? Valuables? Hm? Talk, kid!' Another blow to the head followed.
'I-I don't know!'
'You don't know? You live with them— 'I'm their prisoner!' Sakura yelled back. 'I don't know anything! Let me go!'
'Prisoner? Oh, so Zabuza already had you? Aw, I was hoping you'd be a virgin,' the redhead, Ren, wined.
'I don't care, though… Hey, can I have her back?' Fuji asked.
'Quit thinking with your pants for just a moment, will you!' the colder one snapped at them.
'Come on, Hachi! Stop being such buzzkill!'
Dragging her up, he held onto her and roughly moving her around before ordering the other two to start looking. The big one remarked to the other one that they shouldn't wreck the bed this time around if they wanted to have some fun with her later, to which Ren only cackled in response.

Meanwhile Sakura tried to get away from the man but as soon as she moved, he hit her again, 'Stop being such a winy bitch! Maybe I should just drop you off in one of Gato's whorehouses, hm? It isn't just Fuji who is into girls your age…' Holding her face close up to his, squishing her cheeks together. Bringer her closer to whisper horrid stories into her ear while he kept a small dagger at her throat. 'Would you like that? Hm? Some just want to watch…'

'Found it!'

The yell came as a relief, making the man abruptly shut up. 'Finally!' he sighed, pushing her to the tiny bathroom and further into Haku's room. Halting when seeing Ren rummaging underneath what seemed to be a loos plank of the wooden floor. Hachi shoved her aside and as she stumbled in, the tall man, Fuji, picked her up and threw her on the bed. Untying his pants while crawling over to her, he let out an eerie chuckle, fantasizing out loud what he would do to her. Eyes widening in fear as it dawned on her nobody was coming to save her, Sakura screamed.
'Keep it quiet,' Hachi said, annoyed by Fuji's lack of self-control. Ren only snickered, staring for a moment before counting the money.
'No!' Sakura shrieked as he clawed at her pants. His sweaty palms touching the bare skin of her stomach. The kunai she had hidden on the side of her thigh became exposed and for a moment Fuji got startled by the sight of it. Not waiting for him to realize she wasn't just some girl, Sakura kicked him in the face with all she had. Grabbing the kunai, she jumped off the bed only to be stopped by Ren. 'Seriously, Fuji! It's a kid!'

'She's got a weapon!' he muttered as he tried to stop his nose from bleeding all over. 'Damn bitch!'
'Incompetent fools….' Hachi muttered as stuffed his pockets with money and what seemed to be some documents.
'You're surrounded, girl! And all you've done is piss us off, so I'm afraid' he said looking at her, 'It's going to be long and painful for you.'
'I think I should go first, you can't seem to handle her very well, Fuji…' Ren snickered.
'Nah, I got surprised that's all!' Fuji yelled back.

Not wanting to hear their disgusting remarks any long, Sakura managed to get the nerve to hit the Ren in the face, but he responded swiftly by dodging and hitting her back. Dodging the blow herself, she gave him a swift kick in between the legs which made him scream out in pain, eventually even pass out.
In a matter of seconds, a dark shadow came over her. Jumping on her, Fuji, completely imprisoned her with his huge imposing posture. A small struggle followed but his strength was enormous compared to hers and soon she was trapped again, the kunai in her hand snatched away.

He tried to stun her with slap on the face while telling her to just give in to his disgusting antics. 'Just quit squirming!' he hissed.

All the pain of the pass days suddenly turned into anger as she helplessly lay underneath him. He kept undressing her and she could feel his big hands all over her body. Enraged she turned around, trying to hit him in the face which only made him smirk.
'I'm leaving,' Hachi announced, tired of seeing the drunk idiot trying to overpower a mere girl.
One hand was held above her head, as he tried to grasp the other with his other hand. Thinking quickly, she halted her movements. Softening her features, her hand suddenly reaching out and touching his face. It appeared to be a soft caress, which made him relax. His grip on her hand loosened.
'Finally want to play along, eh?' he snickered at her, letting his large hands roam over her.

She only nodded sweetly while holding his face for a little longer and then gently tracing it down his chest and eventually dropping it to her thigh. Behaving accordingly to distract him, she then slowly inched her hand to get the other kunai out of her pouch, which had loosened up around her hips but miraculously was still within her reach.

'Fuji!' Hachi yelled out when seeing what she was doing. 'Watch out, you fool!'

But the kunai plunged into his throat, making blood splatter all over as she hit a vital vein. Although he would not survive, she couldn't help but doing it again and again, and again. For every dirty, disgusting remark he had made. For ruining everything.
Eyes wide, he didn't make a sound as he bled dry on top of her. Shoving him off of her, she quickly got up and took a stance when seeing Hachi had whipped out his knife again.
'Little bitch,' he hissed, jumping over the knocked-out man and into pool of blood of the other assaulter she had just killed. As he tried to strike, she summersaulted back and ran on the wall up to the ceiling, jumping down with the kunai headed straight for his back. Though he moved, he was too late and made strangled sound as the kunai plunged into his back. Stabbing several more times until it became unnecessary, and his body slumped dead at her feet. Heaving and sweating, she looked down at her own work. Blood, warm blood… that flowed like water.

The knocked-out man started to move and as he was about respond to the gruesome scene, he felt his head being pulled back and the already bloodied blade of the kunai swipe clean through his windpipe. A gargled sound followed and soon there was nothing but silence.

They found her on the ceiling, sitting upside down with her hands grasping tightly onto the bloodied kunai. Zabuza's eyes widened when seeing the scene, three men slaughtered, blood splattered everywhere... Her green eyes stared blankly ahead, hardly acknowledging their presence. He doubted she noticed that they too were covered in blood, though not from the same people. It seemed have been a bloody night, he mused.

Taking her in, he saw she was steadily moving chakra to her feet to keep balance. Her chakra control was quite impressive as he was certain she hadn't moved since she had killed them. They had left several hours ago and by the looks of things, these men had been dead for more than an hour. Her dried-up bloody footprints proved his theory.

'I guess Hoji spread the word,' Haku snickered, crunching down in front of Hachi.

Of course, nothing of real importance was here but still, it clearly irked the kid that they had gotten hold of his personal savings. With a huff, he took it back and tried to get the bloodstains off.

Zabuza looked back up to the ceiling. Her pink hair was dipped red again and hung from the ceiling, strands of hair lightly touching his face.
'Sakura,' Zabuza spoke up, his voice having some effect as she flinched. 'Sakura,' he repeated, sounding slightly annoyed. Her green eyes widely stared at him now.
He could tell by the tearing of her clothes and how vicious she had fought back that this hadn't been a simple burglary. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the body of Fuji, knowing the man's perverted tendencies…

'Come here.'

She didn't move.

'Sakura,' he warned her.
'You should probably listen to Master Zabuza,' Haku spoke up, now looking up at her too.
She didn't respond only staring at them without any emotion, clearly still in some state of shock.
'Come here,' Zabuza tried again, this time holding out his hands towards hers. Staring at his hands before looking back at him, he gave her a reassuring nod.

Hours of sitting and using chakra like that asked for serious concentration, which probably meant she didn't quite know how to get down without hurting herself. Trembling hands finally moved, reaching out for him. The weapon fell from her hands and made a clinging sound on the wooden floor. Reaching out he grabbed hold of her and like a child she held on to him, her legs wrapped around his waist. Surprisingly, he gently held her, her legs dangling to each side while she buried her face in his neck.
'Haku, grab our things…'

He didn't wait for his pupil to respond but he could feel the boy's eyes on his back.
Walking out the apartment, Sakura kept still in his arms.
'Girl,' he tried, not quite sure himself what to say to her.
'…I'm ok.'
That wasn't exactly on his mind but he noted that she indeed had no injuries. He refrained from saying anything back, uncertain of what he was doing with this girl in his arms.

Instead of running in the streets, all bloodied, he opted to go by rooftop to remain at least a little obscure. Jumping up without much effort, he then started running. His wound of a few days ago was hurting but his mind was too preoccupied with what was ahead of him. He halted, seeing the lit-up mansion in the distance. This would be his new home. At least for the next couple of years…

'Can I go?' she suddenly whispered. 'Can I go where you go…?'
A heavy sigh escaped his lips, unsure of what to answer her. Instead, he started moving again. The girl tightly held onto him as he jumped down from the rooftop. His mind was racing, realizing that he was officially taking over from Gato now that he had killed him. This wasn't something he would be able to go back on.
'For a while,' he muttered in her hair. She could stay for now as it seems like the strange little enigmatic creature in his arms might proof to have some use to him after all.