Asna (10 years old)
I pressed my body tightly against the wall of the house, calming my breathing before I carefully peeked around the corner. They had dimmed the lights in the house. Its inhabitants had long since left the living room. They seemed to have gone to bed.
It was only a few steps for me. And yet so risky, because nobody was allowed to see me. They stopped looking for me a long time ago. The Kazekage had called off the search after just two days. I had heard the chunin say that he was less concerned about the life of a single, deformed child.
I knew that it had all started with Kairi. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to negotiate more than two days. Sometimes I still watched her. When she went to the orphanage at dawn. Or home in the evening. By now, I knew how to move around the alleys of Sunagakure without attracting attention.
I stayed away from the busy places. I only showed up there when people were sluggish from the midday heat or when tiredness enveloped them in the evening. When I stole, it was almost never purses, but food. Most often bread. It was the most nutritious.
I only stole money to send to the orphanage. As a donation. So that they could take better care of the children. Sometimes I thought about giving it to Kairi. But then she would know that I was still out there somewhere. It was better if she thought I no longer existed. At least not in her life anymore. We were worlds apart.
And yet she was different. Even though her husband earned good money and kept the family afloat. She cared about the people who had less and stood up for them. She didn't care about the dirty looks she sometimes received. Because Kairi existed, I still had hope.
I peeked around the corner again. My heartbeat had calmed down in the meantime. The sand was cool under my bare feet. The wind would quickly erase the tracks. Then I ran towards the house and pressed myself against the wall, closed my eyes for a moment and felt for the chakra of its inhabitants.
Through a lot of practice, I had managed to control my chakra and sense that of others. My good hearing helped me. A grin crept onto my lips. I would love to do something here. I had once thought about throwing a pile of animal droppings in front of this door.
Maybe one day. If I was able to defend myself properly, in case Raidon caught me. I was tall enough to see into the garbage can. Slowly and carefully so as not to make a noise, I reached for the bread. It was a little blackened, but still edible. I found two more dates in the other garbage cans.
These were also stowed in my bag. I carried them very close to my body. Knowing full well that this valuable booty could soon be stolen from me again if I wasn't careful. Especially as a ten-year-old girl like me seemed to many to be an easy target. But nothing could be snatched from me that quickly.
Like a shadow, I turned around and scurried back into the alley. My bag pressed tightly to my side. It was a long way to my and Yugure's hiding place. After all, I had ventured into the center of the city for this theft. Raidon didn't exactly live on the outskirts.
As I ran, I reached into my right jacket pocket and felt for the cold metal of the kunai. It gave me a sense of security.
The darkness of the alleyways meant safety and good hiding places. But also danger and ambushes. In eighteen months of living on the streets, I had had to learn, often painfully, which paths to avoid. It was a short walk from the city center to the Quarter of Ashes. I often avoided the narrow, dark alleyways, knowing full well that a few robbers could be waiting there. Although... we all were. But some seemed to enjoy stalking others and scaring them. Sometimes someone even got killed.
Yugure had warned me about them on the first day. Even now, I preferred to steer clear of this area. Instead, I kept to the side alleys of smaller side streets. That wasn't entirely safe either. After all, I could bump into shinobi here at any time. But they were still less dangerous than muggers. At least my encounters with them had been unspectacular. But that didn't change my caution.
Slowly, I scurried around the next corner. Cold metal dug into my neck. I hissed because it hurt and raised my head. Green eyes flashed at me. I backed away, felt a presence behind me and swung out with my elbow. An astonished groan followed. I turned on my heel and was about to run off down the street when someone gave me a walking fault.
My hands snapped open and my knees protested. I had only just managed to catch myself. Otherwise my knees would have been ruined too. I didn't have much time to think about the new injuries. Something heavy pressed into my back and forced me to stay down. I tried desperately to fight against it. But the person holding me had a lot of strength.
„Thought you could get away from us, didn't you?"
I didn't answer. As I did when they pressed my mouth into the sandy ground. Rough hands turned me onto my back. It was the person with the green eyes again. A boy, but not yet a man either. Maybe fifteen summers old. He grinned, but it didn't reach his eyes.
„Give me the food, come on!" he demanded. But I didn't move. Did he think I was going to start crying or surrender?
„Let go, Senshi," I said instead. My opponent stared at me in amazement before flaring his chakra threateningly. His companions also stepped a little closer to intimidate me. One guy stooped down to grin provocatively at me.
That's when my head shot up. Senshi tumbled back to avoid it. I staggered to my feet and dived under the first blow. The second hit me frontally in the eye. I sank to the ground again, tumbling. My skull rumbled. Pain shot through it. Stars danced before my eyes.
I didn't even notice how they grabbed me and rummaged through my pockets in search of something to eat. It was only when Senshi's hand moved to where my kunai was that I came to life and hurriedly made a few finger signs to swap places with a dustbin a few meters away. Only to take my legs in my hands afterwards.
Their loud shouts echoed in my ears. But I didn't stop. I kept running, further and further. Until a bloodcurdling scream made me stop. I braked abruptly and looked back. The scream was followed by another. The ground began to shake. Small stones came loose from the walls of the houses. They shook menacingly.
An earthquake? No. People would react differently. An attack perhaps? But by whom? The world war was over. The other countries certainly had enough on their plate. Unless... it came from us.
And it was precisely this thought that made my legs move of their own accord. Further and further towards the center. I highly doubted that Senshi would be able to approach me. Even if he was always showing off in front of his cronies, he was a terrible coward. He had also fled from Yugure the other day.
The shouting grew louder. Countless feet drummed across the floor. Shinobi ran towards me, up the walls, onto the roofs. Fear was in their eyes. Fear and horror. A dark rumbling sounded. Like the threatening growl of a tense predator.
Sweat broke out on my forehead. I had to brace myself against the nearest house wall as the realization washed over me. It could only be like this. The bijuu that had been sealed in the Kazekagen's son. He had broken out.
„H-help," a voice sounded beside me. I slowly turned my gaze. There beside me lay a child, perhaps a summer or two younger than me. A piece of fallen building rubble had trapped his leg. I recognized the youngest member of Senshi's gang. Fear flashed in the child's eyes as I leaned down.
My hands gripped the piece of rubble resolutely. It hurt, as they were still torn open from the fall earlier. Clenching my teeth, I let chakra flow into it to give me more strength. With great effort, I managed to lift the thing so that the child could pull his leg towards him. I grabbed the girl's arm a little too roughly and helped her up.
„Get out of here. I'll help you," I said curtly.
I set her down near the hospital. A weak thank you was all she got out. I gave her a curt nod and turned to go back. I didn't actually owe the shinobi anything. But there was one reason that drove me back to the center and that was Kairi.
She didn't live right there, but I still wanted to make sure. Make sure she was okay. After all, that was the time she went home from work. And she had to go through the center of the city.
My steps became faster, faster and faster. My knees protested, but I ignored them. People's screams blurred into one another. And I had almost stopped hearing the dark, menacing rumble when something made me pause. It was this huge shadow that loomed over the rooftops and hid the moonlight.
The fear was back, crawling up my neck. The fine hairs stood up. My fingers tightened into fists. I stood there, unable to move. All I felt was fear. All I saw was the huge Bijuu, made entirely of sand, sitting there on the rooftops, looking down at us with angry yellow eyes.
