Iris [Naruto Fanfiction]

Departure

Panic instantly took over me when I fell in the water. I've gone through this two times already and I'd rather not go through it a third time.

But the fear of drowning just won't leave me alone. Every time I look at water I think about it filling up my lungs and stopping me from breathing air. And on top of that, I have tiny hole in my hand and a slit wrist.

My limbs are flailing around aimlessly and my blood leeks from my wound in the water. My face is in so much pain. I feel tired, and weak, and hopeless. I'm almost ready to just stop holding my breath and just let the water take me away.

But I would be leaving so much behind.

I already left my entire family behind when I died. And now that I'm here, I've become attached to the new people I've met. Izumo, who brought me to Konoha in the first place. Aiko, who became a motherly figure to me. Akari, who welcomed me into the village with open arms. The Hokage, who let me stay in the village so I could have a new place to call home. Kakashi sensei, who kept my secret and didn't treat me differently when he found out what I was. And my teammates, who are slowly but surely starting to treat me as an actual friend. And I can't forget my loyal blue-bird Buddy.

I used to feel so lonely when I came here. I thought I had no one for a long time. But there are new people in my life who would be sad if I were gone.

Instead of panicking, I relax and focus on getting back to the surface. Swimming was my hobby, so I shouldn't just drown here and act like I don't know how to swim. I swam upwards as quickly as I could because I was about to lose the little air I had left.

I gasped for air when my head poked out of the water. My eyes were burning from opening my eyes in the water. Regardless of the pain, I focused my blurred eyes on one of the columns of the bridge and swam towards it. When I finally reached it, I grasped it with all the strength I had.

For a few minutes, I thought about how I would get to the bridge. I finally came up with the idea to try to use my ninja headband as support to get to the top. The fabric of my headband was quite long, so I would wrap it around the column, grasp the ends of it with both of my hands, and use it to pull myself up the column. You know, like in Mulan.

I untied my headband from my forehead and threw it around the column. My hand couldn't catch the other end. I tried it again but still failed. Okay, third time's a charm.

I tried the same thing again and I was able to grab the fabric from my fingers this time. I carefully grabbed the fabric with my entire hand. I slid the headband up a little bit and pulled myself with it. Pain rushed through both of my arms after doing so. I somehow forgot about the wounds I got after my fight with Haku. Getting back up to the bridge will be more of a challenge than I thought.

***

After what felt like a never ending struggle of trying to get to the bridge, I finally made it to the surface. Blood ran down my arms from the wounds I got before. I grabbed on bar of the railing and used my other hand to put my headband on the ground.

While holding myself up I see two lifeless bodies on the ground. One is the boy I fought earlier, Haku, and one is my own teammate, Sasuke, with Sakura crying over his body. I almost fall from the shock but I quickly caught myself.

Naruto looks quite upset and is yelling something at Zabuza, who's seems unbothered by his dead companion. Kakashi sensei looks hurt himself. There's a large crowd at the end of the bridge, who look like a bunch of thugs or something. They must be Gato and his army.

I tried pulling myself up, but my arms still hurt and I used all my strength to get up here. "Hey," I call out. "I need some help over here." I caught the attention of everyone on the bridge. Naruto and Sakura gasp in shock. Kakashi sensei ran towards me and grabbed my arms and pulled me up.