Hey guys. not much to say here... cept im submitting this right in the middle of class. xD
just consider this one a continuation from the last chapter... its a little short.
for whatever its worth... Enjoy!
The rain that used to gently pelt me as I ran… suddenly became a hell of wind and water in a matter of hours… and I was right in the middle of it fighting my way towards the bridge… I was soaked head to toe, I had mud in my boots and in my socks. I felt gravel in-between my toes… this was the worst day to be running out in the rain.
With every second that crawled by, I ran faster and harder. But the relentless wind and rain felt like needles piercing my skin as I pushed my way forward. Instead of picking up the pace, I was slowing down with each passing second. It was like Mother Nature herself was against me… Even the ground felt like it was trying to slow me down; every step I take sinks into the wet mushy mess that used to be a dirt road. Before I even realized it, my full on sprint turned into a sluggish struggle to walk forward while fighting the powerful winds.
Logic kept on telling me to find shelter, wait out the storm… But my heart was telling me otherwise.
I knew the chances of him even remotely being near the bridge were slim to none, but there was still a small and tiny chance he was, even if it meant he was in a ten mile radius of the bridge… And that was enough for me to throw away all logic and common sense and put everything on the line…
…Funny, I'm thinking just like him now…
I was literally pushing against the wind with my hands and using them to block the bullet like rain coming at my face, but each time I even let my eyes crack open, a fat raindrop would nail me right in the eye causing me to close them again… I was running blind. And yet, each time I closed my eyes, I saw his back, and that made me chase after him even more… I wanted to reach out and turn him around and tell him everything I had ever wanted to tell him… that wasn't the only reason that kept me going, the chance that maybe, just maybe, I would be able to do it before morning… with that, I just had to keep going.
Something heavy brushed up against my shoulder with something on it prickling my skin… "A branch?"
In my poor visibility, I had completely walked off the muddy road and into the forest bumping into a low pine tree branch… Damn, if I can't see where I am going, how the hell am I going to get to the bridge in time? Maybe I should just… No. I gotta keep going…
I turned around and headed back to what I thought was the road, but the winds threatened to push me off my feet as I toward the road again. "Damn… is the weather that bad here in the land of waves?" I jokingly asked myself.
I made it back to the road, I knew because my foot sank into the mush again. Another heavy object brushed against my shoulder, only this time it scraped me and disappeared instantly. I flinched at the stinging pain… What the hell was that? Did I walk off the road again?
Another object hit me, but it was lighter and it just bumped me and it too vanished before I could see what it was. I immediately dismissed the idea of me walking off the road. I tried to open my eyes again to see what was happening… it was a rather scary sight, the branches around me were dancing like crazy, and some of them went flying into the wind along with other debris… The wind was actually so strong it wasn't just ripping off the branches off the surrounding trees and sending them flying, trees were actually uprooted and tumbling into other trees. I saw some more branches fly by me… If I'm not careful, one of them could knock me out…
I caught my bearings and headed down the road again, using my hand to block the incoming raindrops so I could see what was flying at me. It was so hard… and I was getting tired. Just walking felt like it was draining my life away, if I could barely walk… how the hell am I supposed to dodge this flying debris?
I went a couple more feet, and I stopped to catch my breath. It hurt to even take a deep breath of the frigid air, almost like I was inhaling powdered glass. But I guess there was an upside to this freezing chill, I no longer felt the stinging of the rain or the pain on my arm from that branch that hit me earlier. I lost feeling in my body and I couldn't really tell that my body was sore anymore. I couldn't even feel my teeth…
But I had to go on, numb or not… Naruto might be near the bridge and now I was even more determined to move forward… Even a fifteen mile radius of that area is fine with me now… Now I just have too…
My knees suddenly buckled and I was kneeling to the powerful winds in front of me, the winds were trying to push me down onto my back into submission. Eventually, even my arms gave up the fight too and they went limp in the wind like rags. My abs burned as I tried to keep myself upright, and I peeled my eyes open down the dirt road… the rain was hitting my eyes again, but I managed to get a good look down the road long enough. The road looked like it disappeared into the typhoon… But… The road had to end somewhere…
I forced my limp arms back into action, and put them onto the ground in front of me, feeling the nasty mud in between my fingers through my soaked gloves. I crawled two feet forward, then a couple more… and then a couple more. I dragged my knees across the mud, and they became raw in no time in the slush… But I had to keep going… I was not going to give up anymore… I wasn't… I couldn't…
I lifted my head up and looked down the path again, debris still flying at me violently… "Just a little more… I don't care if this road leads through hell… All roads have to end somewhere…" I told myself, stirring myself onward.
I continued to crawl on while talking to myself, "Just a little more… Just a little more…" I kept telling myself. While chanting these few words to myself… I felt like Naruto was over my shoulder cheering me on…
I looked up again, there was more debris, this time they were bigger and coming at me faster… luckily most of the big branches went flying inches over my head, maybe taking a hair or two with them. The rain was still stinging my eyes… but then I saw it… I had made it…
"The bridge…" I moaned, of course I didn't hear myself say it because of the gusts of winds whirl winding around me. As I looked at the wooden bridge in front of me, it was shaking and twisting in the wind like it would collapse at any moment… I just had to get across it safely, he could be on the other side…
I tried to get up from my crawling position and back onto my feet, it drained me of everything I had left, but I managed to stumble to my feet despite the hard winds pressing against me…
"Now… to cross…" I moaned again, the rain was stinging my eyes again, so I closed them briefly and imagined Naruto in this weather…"I'm coming Naruto, wait for me!" I took a step forward… and suddenly it went silent…
-
Why did it suddenly go silent? What happened to the storm?
I listened again… and it was so quiet, I don't think I remember a time as quiet as this… I thought I was standing, but I had no way to make sure I was… my body was so numb from the cold, so I could've been lying in the mud for all I knew.
I couldn't feel anything… I couldn't hear anything… I looked down, and I saw my dirty hands and body. Even though I saw them, I couldn't feel my limbs. I looked around; I was in some sort of dark world, a blank world… I looked at my fingers and wriggled them to make sure I still had motor function…
I looked up again, and I saw him, his image slowly appeared in front of me, 'Naruto…' my voice echoed.
His back was still facing me, his shoulders slumped down in a depressing manner… it hurt me to see him like that. I wanted to reach out to him… I saw my muddy hand slowly extend to his shoulder.
'Naruto…' my voice echoed again, 'Can you hear me?' I asked him as I was about to grab his shoulder.
I saw his ears perk up, and he began to slowly turn around… I froze my hand in place as if I were going to grab a venomous snake.
He turned around so slowly, it was almost creepy. Finally, I caught the corner of his eye looking at me… but something was wrong, it was different.
'Naruto?'
Without a word, he slowly turned back away from me… and he slumped his shoulders again in a deep sigh. And he began to walk away from me… Wait… wait!
'Come back!' my voice echoed. I made a grab for his shoulder, but my filthy hand was to slow to grab him, he moved a little bit forward just out of my reach… I was so close to him.
Naruto began walking away from me slowly, He was disappearing again, down into the dark horizon…
I tried to run after him... I felt myself lunging forward, but he wasn't getting any closer… he continued to walk away, 'Naruto!!! I'm sorry! I never wanted to hurt you so much!!!' I yelled still chasing after him. My voice only carried away in an echo…
"Naruto you idiot!" I heard a loud voice… it was coming from behind me, and it sounded very familiar.
I stopped running and glanced back to the source of the voice, but there was no one. "Do you know why I told you not to use it so much?" I heard the voice ask… it was… Me…
"That technique…" My voice said sharply, "I told you that, because I didn't want you to use it against Sasuke-kun…"
'No!' I yelled trying to fight against…myself. 'Don't listen to me! I don't mean that!'
I saw Naruto turn his head and look at me again with the corner of his eye,"Don't call me Sakura-chan… your still fucking annoying and stupid… just look at what you did to Sasuke-kun, you and that… that thing in you!" I heard myself say to him.
'Naruto don't listen to me! I was… exhausted! I didn't know what I was saying!!' I yelled trying to overpower my rogue voice, 'Please don't listen!'
"Because of you! I almost lost Sasuke-kun completely!"
'No…' I murmered still trying to catch Naruto. I knew what was going to come next… and I didn't want to hear myself say it again… I didn't want to hear the reason why he ran away… I covered my ears and kept on chasing him.
"Get out… don't come back here again…"
I still heard myself clear as day… I wanted to choke and throw up… If only I had only heard myself that day. 'Naruto!!!'
He turned his head around again, and slowly started walking away getting smaller in the distance… I felt like going insane, I was still sprinting towards him, but he was getting further and further away instead of getting closer, I yelled at him, 'I didn't mean anything I said to you that day!!! Come back!!!' I screamed at him running. But I wasn't getting anywhere at all, I was running in a fixed position.
He was already so far away in such little time… I suddenly remembered what I told him that rainy day… 'Why do you care about what I said to you so much?!! Why do you care about a bitch like me?!!' I was getting desperate…
'You shouldn't care for someone like me!! God damnit!!' I screamed. I collapsed and gave up my fixed running. I was on my knees sobbing now, 'Why do you care about me so much? I've been hurting you for so long… Is this the result of all my abuse?!' I got back up and started after him again, I wasn't going to lose him like I lost Sasuke-kun three years ago. 'God-damnit do you hear me?!'
I began to think back to my childhood while I ran. I too was one of the children who was… "different." I was singled out as one of the freaks at school… but eventually I found a friend then another and then another. And eventually I turned into the person that always used to make fun of me, I became the very person I used to hate… I made fun of other kids including Naruto. I never treated them nicely especially to him… and even after we became a team… I still treated him wrong…
I rarely treated you nicely then too…
…He always did me favors, did just about everything I told him to do…
God damn, I was so stubborn and childish back then… Hell I still am. To yell at him like that and tell him to go away... I haven't grown up at all have I?
Even in my bitch fit, he still listened to me… he went away like I told him too.
"Get out… don't come back here again…" I heard myself again.
The feelings I had for Sasuke-kun… were they only skin deep? Was I really in love?
I didn't know what Love meant anymore… was Love just a feeling? How did you know if you were in love? Was it something that made you crazy over someone? Was it an instinct? Was Love something that made you do anything for someone?
Naruto… did you love me?
I tripped and fell face first onto the ground, I looked up and saw him nothing but an orange speck in the dark horizon, 'Naruto… come back…'
He was all but gone now. I was a mess, I was crying my heart out and I felt nauseous. I slowly rolled over on my side and closed my eyes… I felt like I died… Maybe I'll go to hell now, it seems like a fitting end for someone like me.
-
"Sakura?" I heard…
Naruto?
"Sakura, Wake up!" came a second voice.
Are they Angels? Am I dead?
"Come on forehead girl! You gotta wake up!" said a third voice. This one had an attitude, kinda familiar.
I felt numb and cold. Is this what it feels like to be dead?
"She's still shivering violently, Ino, Hinata give me your sleeping bags, we have to bring up her temperature… And Kiba, help me bandage her head."
Temperature? Bandage? ...What's going on?
"Come on you idiot! First you ditch us back at that town and now you have freaking pneumonia?" continued the angel with the attitude. I swear I know this voice…
"Sakura-chan, please! Wake up!" came a much more gentle voice. This one must be an angel. "We still have to find Naruto-kun!" she sounded like she was getting desperate.
I wanted to see these angels, but my eyes absolutely refused to open… It felt like somebody had glued my eyes shut, then again I am dead… right?
Maybe if I spoke to them, tell them I wanted to go to hell quickly, I can be free from this loveless and miserable world.
But all that I managed to let out was a super retarded moan. I felt my throat tremble. Definitely suited for a dead person.
"Ah she moaned! She's waking up!" yelled another angel, sounded like a guy.
…Waking up?
I cracked my heavy eyes open finally… and I was blinded by a bright light… there were four shadows floating over me… My angels?
"Who… are you?" I managed to squeak. My voice sounded terrible, and I tasted phlegm in my mouth.
"Shut it forehead girl… just rest…" said the annoying angel, only this time, she said it in a kinder and relieved tone.
I closed my heavy eyes again, "Just… take me away from this world and take me to hell…" I said as I fell asleep.
-
I felt my body again… and I really wish I didn't half because I no longer wanted to be in this world and the other half because it was in so much pain.
Everything ached, I couldn't even begin describing my situation… I swear even my fingernails were aching… I wanted something to end my misery. But, I was feeling warmer, even though I was still cold as an ice cube. A light and warm feeling smothered my body. It felt nice…
I cracked my eyes open again, this time they weren't so heavy. I was lying on my back looking up to a dark grey sky… and I felt like I was floating… "Wh-where am… I?"
"Sakura-chan! Your awake!" came a voice… the angel? Are they carrying me to hell?
A presence came soon after the voice, from my angle it looked like a shadow was staring down at me, "Sakura-chan, can you hear me? It's me, Hinata." Hinata… chan?… Her voice is so loud its hurting my head.
I wasn't dead I guess… Heh, angels… I thought they were angels… "Y-yeah…" I groaned.
I heard footsteps around me. I guess everybody was here.
"Sakura… You gave us a real scare you know?" said a voice, it was Kiba, "We really thought we were going to lose you."
I closed my eyes again, just wanting to rest so badly, "What happened?"
"You want the whole story?" came a sassy voice, this one hurt my head too, only worse… Ino. "First you leave a bum family back at our Condo, and they stink up my sleeping bag… then we realize you aren't home, and they told us you ran off to the bridge. We decided to wait out the storm because it was a damn typhoon out there near the land of waves… We should have come sooner though."
"Yeah…" said Kiba's voice, "We found you lying in the middle of the road half buried in the mud with a huge gash on your head…"
A gash on my head? …Oh yeah, the flying debris. One of the must have gotten me… I was careless, that must have been the reason for everything going silent… And that nightmare.
"You got lucky… surviving a direct hit on the head by a piece of wood the size of my arm. But you managed to catch pneumonia while you were unconscious." Kiba continued, "It was scary."
I heard a gentle voice sniffle, "When we saw you laying there with blood coming from your head, and you shivering violently… I thought you were going to die." said Hinata-chan continuing to sniffle a little more.
"Ya know? At the very least take care of your own problems! That hotel owner guy gave us a really hard time! He had the whole town's yakuza on our asses, which was another reason for us to leave town… And now we are camping near this damn bridge where we found you." said Ino complaining as usual.
…I sort of wish they never found me.
"Why are you guys worried about me? Naruto is around here… we… gotta… find… him…" I said feeling myself drift away again. I can't go to hell now... I had to at least do something before I do... I'm not going to give up anymore...
"Don't worry…" said Kiba, "Sasuke is already looking for him while we take you to the town… we told him to meet back at the town if anything happened."
So I'm in a makeshift stretcher… that explains my "floating" feeling. And what town?
"You should recognize this town Sakura." said Shikamaru, "You had your first mission here."
Tazuna…san? "You mean… Tazuna-san's…" I didn't have the energy to finish my own sentence as I drifted back to sleep. I just hoped that Sasuke-kun would maybe find him... I wanted to get up and look... But my physical needs were far to demanding at this point... I had to rest...
"Sakura? Hey!" I heard some my team say…
When their voices disappeared, I saw Naruto's back again… he was walking away like he did before… I darted after him. I wasn't going to give up anymore…I'm too stubborn.
any comments welcome! make sure they are nice:)