Fate Wheel | Naruto

𝟒𝟏| Stars

Rage was the only thing keeping me going.

Knowing that Orochimaru might be involved with the people that had wronged me, made me even angrier. They were despicable people who lacked humanity and empathy. Cold-blooded monsters who preyed on the weak at night. That was what the world consisted of, but I was determined to purge the world of those monsters and prevent anymore people from suffering the same fate as I have. Even if it mean I had to ensure that people were safe from me.

Taking a deep breath, my eyes fluttered open adjusting to the darkness of the sky and the small flame providing light. The moment I tried heaving myself up on my elbow, a cry of pain escaped my mouth as I fell back down.

"Dawn!" Sakura exclaimed in relief, rushing to my side. The blur of pink hair and worried green eyes took some time for my eyes to adjust to, everything seemed so disorientated and hot. My skin was slick with perspiration and I could feel the warmth of my breath on my face. "Please don't try getting up, it'll only hurt you to do so."

"But-" I rasped, a cough forcing itself out of my mouth. Immediately, Sakura placed a flask to my lips as I drunk the water greedily, despite it tasting slightly humid it provided relief to the soreness in my throat. "I need to help."

Sakura stared down at me in disbelief. "Help? You want to help?"

"Yes... that's what I said."

"Are you stupid?" She retorted, using some water to dampen the rag in her hand before placing it on my forehead . A small sigh escaped my mouth at the sensation, making me feel all the more tired. But I couldn't sleep, I need to stay awake. "You're running on a high fever, you're practically a walking heater. You have a deep wound on your right leg and your left leg is out of commission. I don't even know how you're handling the pain without any medication and yet, you want to help?"

Pain was nothing when I've endured it most of my life. In fact, out of everyone here I would be the most suitable to endure through it again if it meant the others were safe, because I had firsthand experience on not being able to give up when it came to the imposition of others. It wasn't just physical, but mental as well. Even now I wasn't able to escape from the internal pain, but I sure wasn't going to allow myself to slip into the misery and let it overwhelm me. I had to be strong in order to become stronger. Another reason was that I found a way to distract myself by reciting the names of flowers in alphabetical order, my mother was a herbalist, so not only did it distract me it provided me comfort knowing that she was essentially being the one to provide the comfort to me.

"I can handle pain." I mumbled.

"Yes I know that, but I don't think I can handle you being in pain." Sakura responded quietly, her words tugged on my heartstrings and for once I felt the hollowness in my heart fill up by the slightest.

She cares.. why does anyone care? I don't deserve any of it...

"You guys were amazing." She continued, hugging her knees to her chest as she leaned against the tree. "Naruto showed up like a hero, Sasuke forced his fears away and put on a brave face and you... you were fearless. You had been composed from the beginning and fought to protect us. Meanwhile, I just stood there and watched, I was- I was so... useless."

Her words stunned me into silence.

"I kinda figured that I was behind you guys in a way. There was always something about Naruto that made you believe in his words and Sasuke had always been strong from the start and continues to become even stronger. You were an entirely different story, no one knows everything about you and... I hate it. I hate that they don't know the person you are, the person I know. Everything about you is... amazing."