The Willow Maiden [Naruto]

{44} Break My Mind, Ruka's Breaking Point

"Are you alright, Ruka?" Suigetsu asks the maiden while the team walked to the Akatsuki hideout they were heading to.

Ruka nodded her head, telling him that she was fine, while looking at Sasuke. 'Sasuke use to be gentle. Is revenge all that he desires?. . .' Ruka thought to herself. "Sasuke. . ." Ruka stops walking with her head down. "Can we take a break? Your wounds have not fully healed yet, and I am beginning to worry about you. . . How you won't be able to defeat Itachi." 

"I am strong enough to defeat him. We have to keep moving." Sasuke says without looking back at the maiden as he kept walking. 

"No." Ruka shakes her head. "You are still injured. Please, let me heal you with my song." 

"I said, I'm fine." 

"You are not fine. You need more rest. Please, Sasuke. Let us rest here." 

"Why are you preventing me from finding Itachi?" Sasuke stops walking and turns to Ruka with a bit of a glare. "Are you protecting him?" He walks over to her. 

"I am not! I am concerned about you, that is all!" 

"You use to be in the Akatsuki. You two have shared a few secrets with one another, haven't you?" 

"Chigau!" {You are wrong!} "You are becoming paranoid. Itachi and I have not shared any secrets. Believe me!" 

". . . You are hiding something. You're protecting him!" Sasuke grabs Ruka's wrist and pulls her to him. "He told you something, didn't he?" 

"Īe! Hanase! You are hurting me, Sasuke!" {No! Let me go!} 

"What did Itachi tell you?!" Sasuke shouts at her.

"Nothing!" Ruka shuts her eyes and looks away from him.

"Let her go, Sasuke! Can't you see that you're hurting her?!" Suigetsu grabs Sasuke's shoulder and pushes him away from Ruka, having him let go of her. "What's gotten into you? You're scaring her!" 

While Suigetsu has a hold of Sasuke, Ruka makes a run for it. "Ruka, wait!" Karin extends her hand out to her. But Ruka was gone and out of sight. She was scared and wanted nothing more than to get away from Sasuke. 

She didn't care where she was running to. As long as she's away from Sasuke. This brought back memories of Tatsuya shouting and grabbing her like Sasuke did just now. 

Her heart raced as her head began to throb at the memory. Ruka kept looking back, in case Team Taka was chasing after her. She didn't stop running until she felt like she was far enough from the group. 

But, N]not knowing where she was going, she bumped into Kakashi, which made her scream. "Ruka! Calm down, it's only us." Kakashi gently holds her. Ruka pulls away and sees that everyone is there with him. 

"What's going on? Are you okay?" Naruto walks over to her ad Ruka hugs him tightly, shaking. "Hey, what's the matter? Did something happen?" 

"Sasuke. . ." Ruka whispered out. "He is not the same. . ." 

"Where is he?" 

"On the way to the Akatsuki hideout to fight Itachi. . . I do not want to go back!" Naruto saw the fear in Ruka's eyes, which caused him to frown. 

"It's okay, Ruka. You did a good job. We'll take it from here. Take it easy from now on." 

"Hai. . ." {Okay. . .} 

"You have his location, right? Can you use the roots to point us in his direction?" Kakashi questions and Ruka nods. 

She closes her eyes and uses the thorns from her body to create a trail. "He is that way." Ruka points. 

"All right, let's go! Stay close to me, okay, Ruka?" Naruto gently grabs onto the maiden's hand. Ruka nods and the team takes off running towards Sasuke's location. 

'Why? . . . Why is this happening?' Ruka questions herself as memories of the past come back to her. One particular memory came back to her. 

The memory of when she was kidnapped by bandits and being taken to another village. Back then she was at her breaking point, and seeing it was similar to the event that happened with Sasuke moments ago, it made Ruka think otherwise about Sasuke. 

Looking at her wrist, Sasuke had left his handprint, which made Ruka's eyes widen. Back then when she saw her crimson blood on the ground when she was kicked to the ground by one of the bandits. 

'It is the same as back then. . . Itai. . . Hontōni itai. . .' {It hurts. . . It really hurts. . .} She recalls while staring at her wrist. 

Ruka was at her limit. 

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Sorry to make it short. More to come in the next chapter!