The forests of Amegakure never felt so unprotected and foreign. My favorite terrain had turn against me, the shadows made by the towering oaks concealing secrets and enemies that I couldn’t see or hear. I was becoming paranoid, always looking over my shoulder as I slowed down to a trot to regain my breath.  Running over facts in my mind, I exhaled a sigh. “I wasn’t safe in that village. What with Tsukiko and Akatsuki walking the streets, someone was bound to give me away,” I mumbled, head low to the ground to stretch my spine. “Besides it’s about time for a visit. It’s safer there than Ame could ever hope to be.”

Maybe it was me, or maybe a piece of leaf was cast into my eye, but I couldn’t hold back a tear from falling. Dropping onto the ground below me, it lay forgotten as I burst into yet another sprint.

 
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“Was there something you forgot to tell me Tsukiko? Like for example Lynx can create a doppelganger of pure demon chakra to trick us?”

 

Tsukiko leered up at Itachi as she crossed her arms, scowling angrily. “How should I know she would use it when she’s struggled for four freaking years to make one last that long,” she spat venomously at him. Itachi held his gaze, Kisame’s nervous glance flickering between the two fighting siblings.

 

“You’re her friend; therefore, you should know how she reacts to confrontations.”

 

“When you’re not there you can’t really tell what’s going on!”

 

“Hey calm it down. Fighting will get us nowhere,” Kisame managed to cut in before Itachi’s remark, stepping in between the two. “If you want to get somewhere then I suggest we use the tracker to our advantage or did both of you forget about that?”

 

Embarrassed, Tsukiko blinked a few times wither cheeks turning a shade of coral. “Whoops,” she mumbled to herself. She lowered herself off her tip-toes and let her arms hang beside her as a chasm of silence came between the small group. Tsukiko remembered the sleek figure leaping over the rooftop by her house suddenly, struggling to put her thoughts into words. Itachi glanced at her irritated. “I don’t think she’s in the village anymore,” she spoke finally. “I glimpsed out my window earlier and saw her shadow heading towards the opposite end of Ame.”

Kisame sighed with a worried expression marked clear on his face. “Leader isn’t not going to be very happy, Tsukiko. We already reported in,” Itachi replied coldly, turning around and heading into Ame. “We have a week to recover her or we can guarantee you won’t be safe.”

 
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Running through the night had given me the advantage. Now as dawn painted the sky, I slowed down to watch the pallet of colors arise on the horizon. Faintly, I could see the outline of the Hidden Leaf Village on the edge. Since Amegakure was quite close to Konoha it was an easy night trip but quite tiring if you sprinted the whole way. The pads on the bottom of paws were chaffed and cracked, a slight cut dripping blood onto the leaf strewn forest floor. Glad I put some distance between me and my attackers, something rustled inside me, uneasy. It was the feeling I usually received when I stood below the West Tower: the sense of being watched...