Ninja

Prologue

It was a cold, dark night. The moon shone bright among the blanket of stars, faintly lighting the dirt road below me.

My feet pounded at the ground as my legs ached from exhaustion. My lungs burned with each inhale and my throat felt sore with each exhale.

But I had to keep going.

'The village had to be close,' I told myself as a cramp started to form itself in my side.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

Left.

My legs throbbed as I forced them to keep moving, barely having control of the movement. My run was jagged and off beat. With each step the wound in my arm seemed to get worse.

I looked down at my arm where crusted, blood dried against my cold skin. With each step the wound in my arm seemed to get worse.

My whole body was hurting. It was screaming at me to stop but I couldn't.

He could still be chasing me.

That man... or whatever he was.

Hidden among the trees and barely poking over the tree tops, in the distance I saw head statutes of rock that had been carved into the mountains above the village. I identified them as the Hokage rock.

This caused me to exert myself more and I could no longer able to feel my legs as the gates of the Hidden Leaf came into view.

"Hey you! Stop right there!" I heard the voice of a guard yell, "Identify yourself!"

My legs automatically stopped below me and I came to a stop a couple feet away from them.

"It's just a girl," another guards voice said, "Hold your fire."

"I..I need help," I muttered. The stinging in my throat caused me to wince.

"What did you say? Did you hear what she said?"

"Something about milk? I think she needs she needs some milk."

"Young lady what are you doing out here alone so late at night. Don't you have school tomorrow? Your parents are going to be worried about you. You shouldn't be sneaking out and running around the Forrest at a time like this," one of the guards scolded.

The two guards started to approach me and with each step they took, their figures became blurred.

I took one last step towards them before the ground beneath my feet started to move and the world collapsed around me.

~

I woke to the sound of someone rustling beside me and my eyes snapped open.

A lady in an all white uniform smiled down at me as she adjusted one of the plastic bags that hung above my head.

I already knew where I was.

"It's nice to see your finally awake," she said sweetly as she grabbed a clipboard from off the chair at her side.

My eyes stung as they were forced to adjust to the bright white lights of the hospital room.

"I'm just here to check your vitals," the nurse said before she scribbled  something down on her notepad, "How're you feeling?"