(art from @karhenchahelata on Twitter)

"You'll answer my questions now," I warned her, holding her with the same strength I held my frown. But she didn't flinch "Why did you help me?"

"I'm not helping you, I'm helping myself,"  she finally answered, even though it didn't really answer any of my questions nor dispelled my doubts. 

"How?" I asked "And why shouldn't I kill you right now?" I asked what had been on my mind since she had freed me of my chains. I pressed my tanto harder against her skin, making a thin cut on her still bruised throat. 

"You could say you're my in-case-everything-goes-wrong plan. You can kill me, but you won't make it back to Konoha. You still don't know where we are, and you're a long way back from home. You don't know how to make it through these forests, let alone the cities and villages"

I inspected her eyes further, wishing she would say something more convincing, but in the end, I retreated my blade. And suddenly, a lot of bells and gongs started sounding from inside the city behind us.

"Shit," she mumbled, her expression changing completely. Her eyes left me and instead moved behind me, to where the sounds were coming from "They already realized. We need to move, fast" she warned me, and I finally let her go.

I followed her while we ran in the opposite direction, and hadn't I had a Sharingan I would have probably lost (Y/n) in the darkness and thickness of the forest. It actually amazed and surprised me equally how she was able to dodge all the weeds, bushes, and protruding roots in such darkness. Although I guess, that if I didn't continue to be wounded, and unused to stand (let alone run), I might have found it easier. 

We ran for so long, that I was starting to feel my legs ache like they hadn't since I was a genin; and we had been running for so long, that the bells and city alarms had been long lost into the distance. But I stopped in my tracks when I suddenly stepped into water that soaked my feet up until almost my knees. I looked to my side, to where (Y/n) was, and watched her walk calmly deeper into the stream. But suddenly, she disappeared into thin air. 

My eyes widened and my brows arched as I looked around me and into the blackness, trying to spot her or sense her smell, chakra, anything... 'Did she ditch me?' I thought, a little scared as even despite using my Sharingan I still wasn't able to see her. But then, I heard a low giggle, and suddenly, a hand appeared out of nowhere: her smaller and frail hand that grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me towards her, towards... nowhere. 

And I finally saw her. But I could have sworn she wasn't there before...

"What was that?" I asked, but she turned around and continued to lead the way, this time calmly walking instead of running. I quickly caught up to her side

"I left a few seals nearby. We'll be safe here," she answered, approaching the slope of the cliff right by the stream's side "Unless they're brought in from inside, no one can't trespass the genjutsu. The only way is if they peeled the seals off their places but... the genjutsu also hides them, so if that happens... Well, we'd probably be the people with the worst luck in the world," she added while she walked into a cave after having lit up a small torch she took out of her backpack. It took me a moment to follow her as all I was able to do for a long moment was observe her figure in front of me with slight awe.

"How long have you been planning for this?" I asked what had been on my mind. 

This, the hole in the wall behind the grave, the sounds from the thrash that covered the movement of the rock, even the routes and timetables of the guards... it all looked meticulously planned.  

"Way before you were even kidnapped," she answered blandly.

"Why?" 

But this time she didn't answer, she just sighed and halted when we reached what seemed like the end of the cave that, in comparison with the rest, was kind of wide. 

"We'll set camp here for tonight," she answered instead, sitting down on the cold floor and starting to take some things out of her backpack. But I continued to look at her, or well, rather watch her. 

I observed each of her features, now no longer looking at her as my captor and torturer but with the utmost curiosity. After all, even if she had said she had saved me to help herself... I still couldn't be sure and safe around her. However, she didn't seem the least bothered by my attentive eyes. And although I knew she had deliberately ignored my question, I could not keep going without knowing all the answers to my questions. 

"Why did you plan all that? Why did you really free me?" I asked again, which made her sigh heavily. 

"I'm no ninja nor soldier. I have my ways of getting around, but if things come to worst, I won't be able to escape from them. You, however, managed to defeat three of our —or well, their— squads" she answered. 'Did that mean that since the first day I met her she was already planning to save me...?'

But she seemed to still ignore my first question while she started a small fire right in the middle of the cave. 

"You still haven't told me why you wanted to run away and risk letting me free,"

This time she didn't say anything at all. She stopped what she was doing her eyes looked at me in such a way that made me regret asking. But I wanted and needed to know if I was to follow her. After all, no matter if she had helped me, she had also been holding me captive and torturing me. Even though now I wasn't so sure if she had been torturing me or rather helping me...

She blew into the fire, starting up the flames, and then she sat back. She took her shirt partially off, leaving only her arms in and using it to cover her chest. It still made me tense and flush slightly, and I only became more nervous when I remembered I did not have my mask on. But I forgot about it when she showed me the skin of her neck that had been covered by the shirt. 

"You've already seen it," she said, and for the first time, her voice lacked any arrogant or teasing tone. In fact, it lacked any tone. She then turned around slightly, letting me see her back as well, and how it was filled with bruises and scars worse than mine. They were all different, some seemed like old whipping scars, others seemed from cigarettes and different burns, and then there were many bruises that differed in shape and color.

"Why don't you heal yourself?" I asked. She put her shirt back on before she continued to rummage through her backpack.

"I used to. How do you think I learned to heal?" she said, but it only made me more confused. She sighed, "I learned how to do it out of need, but I'm not a ninja. I barely have any chakra" she explained, standing up and throwing me what seemed like a packed sandwich "Talking of which, take your shirt off, you still have some open wounds," she said walking closer to me and kneeling next to me. 

"Wait," I said, putting my hand between her and me so she wouldn't lift my shirt up "Why? Use it on you," 

"I told you, I need you at your fullest in case we're caught and a fight breaks," she said with a serious face. And when she saw I wasn't reacting she lifted my shirt up. 

I let her take it off, but I stopped as soon as I felt her weak yet refreshing chakra flowing into my body. Now it made sense, why she always sat down after healing me... it was because she could physically not take it.

"Heal your wrist, at least" She looked at me with annoyed eyes, but after clicking her tongue she accepted. So she retreated her cold fingers from my skin and uncovered her arm. 

My eyes flickered to her unbothered ones when I saw how it was badly bruised and burned. And then, a slight blue aura came out of her fingers, engulfing her forearm while it helped her get rid of the bruises, or well, at least make them less vibrant. But she stopped right after, not even repairing her scarred skin. Her eyes looked up at me, making me swallow when I was caught staring, but she made no comment about it. She covered her arm again and then proceeded to continue healing the wounds and cuts over my ribs and back. 

After that, there were no more words exchanged, and once she had no more chakra, she tiredly walked back to her previous spot, right across from me. She took out a rug and told me I had one in my backpack to sleep as well. So I took it out, and like her, laid down, enveloping my exhausted body with it. 

I was actually so drained, and my muscles ached so much from having walked and run after so much time of not moving, that my lids closed almost automatically. Even despite the hard and uneven floor; despite the humid and cold air of the cave and the bright light of the fire.

I couldn't help but groan out of pleasure when I stretched my body, enjoying the freedom of my limbs. But as much tired and comfortable as I was, I was not able to sleep. 

I turned my face towards the side, towards (Y/n)'s figure that laid on the other side of the flames. Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be breathing heavily, but something told me that she wasn't sleeping either. 

"Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?" I asked. After all, I should be looking for vengeance. Anyone would. I'm sure her other victims would have.

"You don't look like the type to do that," she answered with a genuinely and exhausted sigh over the cracking sound of the fire. 

Her answer took me aback as I had, in fact, killed many people before. And she knew I had.

"You know I've killed many people," I stated the obvious with a frown. 

"Yes," she sighed one more time, sounding sleepier and not elaborating any further for a long while "I just know you wouldn't kill me in my sleep. And if you do... well, that'd be better than going back there anyway," she added that last part so lowly she sounded actually asleep.