I make it to the entrance of the tower quite quickly. I hide in a tree, close to the edge of the forest. Now all I need is a heaven scroll. I sit back on my perch, waiting for someone show themselves.
It takes a few minutes, but somebody finally limps into the clearing. The girl has obviously been horribly wounded and doesn't seem to have a team with her. This'll be easy.
I jump down from my tree, landing in front of her. She jumps back quite slowly, and looks at me shaking. "P- Please, don't hurt me," she stutters tears beginning to fall from her face. "I'll give you my scroll, just let me get to the building. I need to tell sensei what happened to them." I assume she's talking about her teammates.
"What scroll do you have?"
"Earth." Dammit.
I smile. "I don't need it. But I'd be happy to escort you to the front. Just incase you're attacked on the way there. There are a lot of ninja waiting for people like you pass, and I'm guessing you couldn't fight them off."
She looks at me, eyes wide and full of thanks. "C'mon," I say, smiling. I wrap her arm around my shoulder to help support the weight. We nearly make it to the door before a kunai is launched in our direction. I spin around, bringing the girl with me.
A large man, probably two of three years older than me is standing there. He's massive and his muscles seem to be constantly rippling under his skin. Ew. I wouldn't be surprised if he started talking like a gorilla.
"Give me the scroll, girl." Dammit. There goes my dream of Muscle Man speaking like a monkey.
"No," I state firmly, pressing my foot farther into the ground.
"Bad choice." His cocky grin widens, showing his pointed teeth. He springs at me. I drop the girl and she rumpled to the ground. I leap at him and we meet in mid air. But my aim had been off.
He flies past me and I ram my back into a tree. My vision blurs for a second, but I quickly recover. His back is turned as he searches the girl for her scroll. I launch a kunai just as he turns around. There's no way he can dodge that.
CRACK!
A trickle of blood falls from the wound. The girl's eyes roll to the back of her head and she falls limp in the man's hands. No. I killed the wrong person.
"Looks like you made a mistake, girly." I'll get revenge. "Too bad you can't bring her back." I'll avenge her. "Aww... Is the wittle girl gonna cry?"
"No." I whisper into his ear. I plunge the kunai deep into his neck. He sputters, spitting blood, before falling to the ground. I look at the body of the girl beneath him. I can't leave her here like this. I have to do something...
I pull the heaven scroll out of the man's pouch and then begin pulling the girl's arm to get her out from under him.
I carry her through the forest until I find a small flower field. I lay her down with all the colors surrounding her. I find a rock and pull out my kunai and begin to carve. I don't know her name, so, instead I carve a word.
Hope.