Run away

I ran. For hours, as it seemed to me, I was running now. My body ached terribly, but I didn't mean to stop. Not here, not now. I ran deeper and deeper into the forest. The dark shadows of the trees seemed to haunt me. The silvery glow of the moon made the world around me glow in a light silver. A cold breeze gave me goose bumps. I shiver. Whether it was exhaustion, fear or cold, I was unable to say. Today seemed infinitely far away to me and yet I had the feeling that years had passed since then. Years of being haunted by horror. Years full of darkness. Deep blackness, just as one could best describe the condition inside me.

I kept running. Fragments of memories of a conversation wafted through my head. Was that conversation really only a few hours ago? Not weeks, months or years. I did not know it. I didn't want to know. All I wanted was to be forgotten. Forgive and forget, you should think it couldn't be that difficult. But it seemed to me as if these words were inaccessible, separated from me by a deep ravine.

Displacement was the only possible way.My way.

My breathing was only intermittent and my heart was racing. I felt like I could still hear their voices. They were burned into my memory and I just wanted to forget. My heart hurt so much. As if someone had rammed ten kunais into this one. I felt my tears slowly coming. I didn't mean to cry! Not in this situation! Be strong once, stay strong and never turn back into that little pile of misery that I used to be. In her eyes, in all eyes. I didn't want it to be true, I had trained so hard to finally get stronger. But physical strength did not also mean spiritual. I realized that now. I felt like that little 13 year old girl again, who was scared at every opportunity and burst into tears. But was that just what I felt or was that just what I was?

Weak! A block on the by! No use to anyone ... Of course I could heal. I had developed incredible strength, but none of this was of any use if I had emotions, showed weakness. A ninja has no feelings. A principle that I couldn't implement, no matter how much I wanted to.

The trees thinned out and the area turned into a plain, where only a few bushes and shrubs protruded here and there. I just kept running. I didn't know where I was going. I didn't even know where I was at all. A cynical smile appeared on my lips. It didn't really match my tear-streaked face.Well done Sakura, I'm proud of you!Only you can do something like that. Run away and then strand miserably here in nowhere. You really haven't gotten better! And something like that is scolded by Ninja! Especially as a Jo-nin, I should get this done!
A small lake came into view. The moon was reflected on the surface of the water. There was something comforting about it, I found. My steps automatically turned towards the water as I slowed down. Just before the wet element started, I dropped to my knees. I could not anymore. My body was completely exhausted. I lay back on the damp grass and stared at the sky. Clouds passed me in the most bizarre shapes. Some faster, some slower. Behind them, hidden under the mist of water, were the stars. So far awaySo ... free?Yes, it had to be. I sighed and wiped my tears away. It made me angry that I couldn't hold her back.
Here in the cool air and away from home, from Konoha, I felt free too. A light breeze came up and made me shiver again. Nevertheless, I stayed where I was and continued to look up at the sky. My thoughts continued to revolve around the conversation. I tried with all my might to suppress it. You, the people I was here for now. It, the fact that made me come here. Basically everything. Everything that had happened before you ran away.


Only now did I realize how tired I was. My eyelids were suddenly so incredibly heavy and the sweet allure of black oblivion lulled me. The darkness welcomed me and I closed my eyes. But suddenly I started from the half-sleep state. I didn't know what it was, but it made me uncomfortable. How I would have loved to just surrender to sleep, but my intuition told me that I had to get out of here as soon as possible.

I got up painfully slowly. My gaze wandered around searching, but I couldn't find anything suspicious. Resigned, I was about to sit down again when I felt it again.
I was sure now. There was something. Something I didn't like at all. And then I noticed. It was a chakra signature. So subtle that a normal shinobi wouldn't have noticed, but I had a feel for it. My left eyebrow rose. Because of this small amount of chakra, did my instincts go crazy? Still, I tried to register where the chakra came from. I slowly started to move.
If I had listened to my reason, which was just causing a huge terror inside me, so that I would turn back on the spot, then my mind would probably have started again and my medic-nin training would have borne its fruits. Because not even a normal person could move at this speed with such a small amount of Chrakra as this one did. But I, tired as I was, did not notice this fact.In retrospect, I could slap myself for it, but it wouldn't change anything anyway.
I got closer and closer to the source of this energy until I had penetrated a long way into the depths of the forest. I looked around with tired eyes. Trees on the left, trees on the right. Trees everywhere. But suddenly my eyes darted back to a spot in the darkness that was barely visible, but still recognizable to a trained eye, against the rest of the forest.
As if guided by an invisible hand, I walked towards the outline. Reason raged all the more, because that wasn't exactly the behavior that a well-trained ninja displayed.It's night and not day,, I thought ironically and just marched on. I had given up my mind hours ago, more precisely at the time when I started running, but my common sense was now at the latest with a heart attack.

Slowly I could see a figure out of the dark shadow. She was leaning casually against a tree and seemed to be looking straight at me. Hesitantly, I stopped, my eyes narrowed to see details. A cloud that had just covered the moon moved aside and the forest was baptized in its pale light again.

My eyes widened and I stood frozen, no longer active in any movement. My mind, which had resumed, was working at full speed.

In front of me, wrapped in a long black coat, stood a ninja. In a fraction of a second, I realized everything. The rice hat with the little bells that put his face in the shade, the red cloud-like formations on the cloak, the long and large sword on his shoulder.
An Akatsuki. I swallowed. Not only was I here in the middle of the night in a godforsaken forest and at the end of my tether, no, there was also a shitty Akatsuki across from me. I snorted, which seemed to surprise my counterpart, because the bells rang softly in the wind when he tilted his head and took a closer look at me.

"They always have to show up when you least need it," I muttered to myself. I knew what kind of situation I was in. Of course, it was life-threatening, but I think it neither panicked me nor was I really scared because I was still in shock. Yes exactly! It had to be, that was the only logical explanation for my really strange behavior!

My opposite chuckled. "You have courage, but that won't do you any good either," he said ominously. Courage? Me and courage? A lot of things would apply to me, but courage was probably the least option at the moment. I would rather say tired of life, insane, or just suicidal hit it best. I smiled. As completely without weapons as I was, the situation just seemed too absurd to really believe it.I dream! The realization hit me like lightning. I hadn't woken up at all, no, I was still lying by the lake and dreaming. As if to confirm, I pinched my arm, but winced when I felt the pain. "Damn it," I grumbled and looked back at the person opposite. His name was Kisame. I didn't know how I suddenly came up with this name, but it was.
I only noticed that I had drifted completely into my world of thoughts when suddenly a shadow rose in front of me. Startled, I widened my eyes. The sword, which he had just held on his shoulder, now shot straight at my head. That's when I awoke from my stupor. As soon as I could get it in my condition, I jumped out of the way and started running.

I ran. I ran again while my body protested that it was no longer able to do so. But I didn't want to stop, didn't want to die. I kept running. My legs could barely carry me. I think it was only thanks to my will that I was still standing upright.
Suddenly something occurred to me. Only fleetingly, but I stopped abruptly.

[i]"... Shall they switch off, that's our job."

No! I stopped abruptly.

"I don't see the point in it, she's just a below average Shinobi, what use does he get from getting her out of the way?"

I pressed my hands to my ears. Not again! I didn't want to hear that!

[i]"She is close to the Hokage. He wants to wear her down, but that's a successful move."

"Please stop this," I whimpered.

[i]"Well, if she'd listened to us and hadn't gone to the academy, we wouldn't have to kill her now."

I fell on my knees. "Stop it, stop it, I don't want to hear that!" I screamed while tears were running down my face again.

"Stupid brat, but we are finally rid of her afterwards ... I still don't know why we took her back then ..."

"No, no, no," I shook my head in panic. Not here, I wanted to forget it, why did it come back right now?

Entirely caught in my memory, I did not notice how Kisame had come to a standstill. In front of me, no more than two meters away, was another Akatsuki, looking down at me.
The only thing that could be seen of him in the now reigning darkness was the red irises that eyed me.

Kisame looked at him. "Quite misery," he said with a grin and looked again at the girl crouching on