The Willow Maiden [Naruto]

{12} The Maiden's Capture

It was the end of the day and squad 7 was finally done with their missions for the day. "Man, I'm starving! Let's grab something to eat. What do you say, Ruka?" Naruto smiles at the Maiden for am answer.

"I don't eat anything." Ruka informs, shocking everyone but Sasuke.

"How are you still alive!?"

"She's a flower, Naruto. Remember? All they need is water and sunlight to keep them living." Sakura explains.

"She's right. However, with this medicine that Tatsuya has given me, ot allows me to walk out of the forest and around the earth, thus making me 50% human. But I wondered what your human food taste like now that you mentioned it, Naruto." Ruka smiles at Naruto with her arms behind her back.

Naruto smiles brightly and cheers, "Then follow me! I'll take you to the best place in the village! Ichiraku Ramen Shop!" Dragging Ruka to the shop, Naruto orders two bowls of Ramen. One for him, and the other for Ruka. Sasuke and Sakura ordered something else since they weren't big fans of ramens. "You're gonna love it, Ruka! Try it!" Naruto says with a mouth full, eating away his ramen. 

Ruka grabs a pair of chopsticks and takes a small portion of the ramen, then eating. Her eyes lit up when she tasted ramen for the first time. "Delicious. I never thought human food would taste this good before." She says without showing any enthusiasm.

"It's the best in the village! Whenever you're feeling hungry, just come to me, okay?" Naruto points to himself with his thumb as he grins at Ruka. 

Ruka nods her head with a light smile and continues to eat her ramen. By the end of the day, Sasuke took Ruka home with him as she waved to Naruto and Sakura goodbye. 

As Sasuke and Ruka returned home, they got dressed and ready for bed so they can be prepared for tomorrow's mission. But Ruka didn't go right to sleep. She sat on the window sill and stared at the moon while Sasuke slept. 

Every second of the day she thinks about her mother, hoping that she is safe in the Willow Forest. The wind is all she needs to communicate with her mother, from one Willow Maiden to another. 

"Mama. . .I hope you are doing alright without me being there. . . I have so much to tell you about my new home. Everyone has been nice to me so far and I've been using my abilites for good, just like you taught me. But without you it's cold. . . Even though I cannot see you physically, your presence is close by. . . But without your warmth, I feel so alone. . . 

I wish I could have taken you with me, but you a are flower that is never meant to leave our birthplace. . . I miss you so much, mother. I wish you were here with me, so that you, as well, can be secure. . ." 

Ruka stops talking when she hears a sudden noise coming from downstairs. As first, she thought it was Sasuke getting a midnight snack, but she realizes that he's been asleep for 2 hours now. 

Out of curiosity, Ruka gets out of bed and leaves her room to check out the strange noise. First, she heard the slide doors opening, feeling the cool breeze hit her skin. Then, she heard footsteps thudding against the wooden floor. 

"Hello?" Ruka calls out in a whisper, walking into the living room. Nothing was there except for the furniture, so she continues on searching the house. As soon as she is about to head to the next room, she saw something moving, causing her to stand still in place. 

She saw about 4 figures moving in the darkness. She knew they weren't any friends of Sasuke, nor were they from the village because of the headband. These were rouge ninjas that came from the village hidden in the rain, and they were after the Willow Maiden. 

Ruka panicked and made a run for it down the hall. "Sasuke!" She called for help. One of the rouge ninjas throws a wire, wrapping around her ankle, and pulls it, making Ruka trip and fall onto floor.

The Maiden grunts and the other 3 are on top of her. Ruka wanted to scream but her mouth was quickly covered by a cloth. Their grip on her was tight and it made Ruka cry out under the cloth wrapped around her mouth. 

Silently, the rouge ninjas exited the leaf village with the Willow Maiden. Ruka's hands were tied in front of her with a rope wrapped around her neck like a collar. These ninja knew what she was capable of. So, if she had tried anything, they would hang her. 

All Ruka could do was silently cry as she walked with her kidnappers. This brought back memories of when the warriors from the Grass Village tried to kidnap her. 

The way they held her down and shouting in her ear, telling her to come with them or else. This also made Ruka's mind race with fear. 'I'm scared! . . . I'm scared! Mama, please. . .help me! Anybody!' Ruka cried with her thoughts. 

"Oi! Stop crying!" One of the rouge's kicked her to the ground, making her help since she went head first. Blood slowly seeped out of her head as her eyes became slightly wide. When she saw her own blood on the ground, sinking into the dirt, Ruka's mind suddenly became dark. 

'Blood. . . It's my blood. . . Red. . . I have to defend myself or else they will take me. . . I have to kill. . .Kill. . . Kill. . . Kill!' Her mind repeated these words as thorns slowly crawled around to the rogue's feet without them noticing. 

This is Ruka's first time seeing her own blood. It made her breathing quicken and heart pound against her chest. One of them was nudging her with their foot as they said, "Get up and keep moving. We don't have time for this." 

As the thorns wrapped around the rouge's ankles, there was a shout, "Leave her alone!!!" Causing Ruka to come back to her senses. 

'Naruto!?' She thought in surprise. A bunch of shadow clones began to attack the rouge ninjas. While they were distracted fighting off Naruto's clones, Sasuke sprints over to Ruka, grabs her, and getting out of the rouges sight. 

Naruto does his ultimate ninjutsu, Rasengan, to finish off the rouges. The ninjas were blasted away and eventually knocked out because of the jutsu. 

Sasuke carefully untied Ruka's hands and got the rope off around her neck, then taking the cloth off that was covering her mouth. "Are you okay?" He asks her. Ruka was too surprised, that somebody came and saved her for the second time, to answer Sasuke's question.

"You alright, Ruka?" Naruto walks over to them, asking the same question. His eyes widen when he sees blood running down Ruka's head. "Y-You're bleeding! What did they do to you!?" 

Coming back to her senses, Ruka blinks and answers, "They. . .kicked me to the ground and I hit my head really hard. . ." She frowns at the end of her sentence. 

Sasuke takes out some bandages and takes care of Ruka concussion. After cleaning the blood, he wraps the bandages gently around her head. "There. That should stop the bleeding."  

"Thank you. . . How were you able to find me?" 

"We followed you." Sasuke answers. "After you screamed for help, I woke up and saw them take you." 

"I watched you walking out of the village with those guys all tied up." Naruto explains himself. "Let's get you back to the village and tell Grandma Tsunade." Narutp gently places Ruka on his back and sprinted back to the village with Sasuke leading the way. 

Ruka rests her head on Naruto's shoulder as they traveled back to the village. She's thankful that Naruto and Sasuke recued her. If they hadn't showed up, there would have been a lot of bloodshed. On the bright side, Ruka was able to snap out of her own madness. 

But this only showed how far someone could push Ruka until she finally snaps. . .

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