A shiver would grip her form, crawling along her spine to raise the finer hairs along her flesh as goosebumps spawned in the shivers wake. With her chakra suppressed intending to go undetected she would near the opening of one of the many secret tunnels that lead into the wilds that surrounded Iwagakure no Sato. Her left hand would rise to shield her eyes from the glair of the slowly setting sun, waiting for it to set before continuing it from the tunnel under the cover of darkness given by the night sky. Cradled against her body in her right arm were a total of three canteens, matt olive green in colour, and by the hollow thumping sound they made as they tapped against her chisled and tense form as she stalked forwards, they were empty.  

Voices. Her head would turn and her gaze would flicker over all that surrounded her... nothing, no one. Turning back she would continue. The sound of voices, however, would come again and again drawing her attention from her path until the voices seemed close enough to be right beside her ear. Yet now she recognized the voices, "Because you're my squad.” His voice, the voice of the Tsuchikage. Freezing in place her vision would lock on the ground as her fists balled and head lowered as she grit her teeth, "And being in my squad, you're expected to be splendid shinobi, the best of the best and future leaders of the village. Perhaps even to take the mantle of Tsuchikage yourselves as part of my lineage." A more violent shiver would grip her, forcing her form to shudder before bowing forwards as though a weight had been dropped within her chest. “You know Tsuchikage Sama, I could see Anri one day becoming the Tsuchikaage... after all, You aspire to be strong and help people like the hero’s in your comic’s right? and since we’re a team, if I were to become strong enough, I could protect you as a guard.” Her own voice then, loud and clear as though she herself had spoken them aloud. Her hands would shift to cover over her ears as her knees buckled causing her form to crash to her knees, the canteens would drop, hitting the ground seconds before her knees did before scattering along the ground yet the sound they made as the connection to the ground was not registered by her. But she couldn’t protect any of them, had she? And where were they all now? Yet the voices persisted as though sent to torture her, "What? No thank you, I can become one through other ways, but that spot? Me fitting into it would be a square into a circle, I know that for sure. I'm b-better suited for other things... B-Besides, the Kage can't be a hero, it has to be someone that can do what's best for their people, not what's right." Her torso would lower slowly as she attempted to breathe, sucking in deep lung full’s of air through her still gritted teeth, as she placed her forehead against the ground. The ache inside her chest welling to the point she felt her ribs may give way. Greif eating away at her very being, dripping into the subtle sounds that let her with each gasp. Why was she the only one? Where were the others, had they endured a fate like her own? Or did they slumber peacefully in the underworld?  

With footsteps passing by her at a running pace kicking specks of dust and a stone up at her would cause her form to flinch drawing her attention up as she watched a familiar form take a few more running strides. "WAIT!” Ryuko. Through blurred vision she would watch, the image becoming clearer and clearer. "I'm sorry for my tardiness Sensei. There is no excuse for it, and if you'll have me, I'd like to come on this mission with you." Mission... a fools errand more like it.  Her form would lurch forwards before feeling about the ground with her hands to gain her balance as she lent pushing up from the ground, transfixed on the view before her. Watching the Tsuchikage, Anri, her younger self and Ryuko stood a mere few meters from her. The sound of their voices now drowned out by the echo of white noise that filled not only her ears but her mind.  Her left hand would reach out towards them, her voice failing as a ranchy sensation gripped her throat, her lips dry. She could stop them, couldn't she? They were right there... if only she could call out, tell them not to go, that it was an ambush... if only... She would take a struggled step closer only to pause, her form wobbling as though strings held her back and then came a voice, whispering at first, carrying with ease over the crackle of white noise, ‘you can't stop this. It has already happened. Come back. How will you find them if you stay here? You know this is real.’ but they were there, right there... ‘how weak you are to stay here whilst they could be hurting.’ Attempting another struggled step forwards. ‘The longer you stay the closer they are to death.’ at that moment reality would dawn and though the hallucination before her remained her foot would connect to one of the empty bottles. Tearing her gaze away from the hallucination she would bend to retrieve the bottles before raising once more. With a calming breath her from would relax some, her skin now coated in a layer of cold sweat, she would step passing right through the hallucination forcing it to disperse, clinging to her for a few steps. Her pace would pick up into a soft jog as she passed into the wooded area.

Quickly enough she would be ducking and weaving through the underbrush, listening closely to the sounds about her before the scent of damp air drifted to her a few minutes before the trickling sound of running water. she would remain far from the beaten track she knew well, opting to pick out a small stream that split off from the Gisei lake into an underground passage before emerging out into the open again a few miles from the most used area’s. She had made the same treck a few times, every other day that she had been back in the village, ensuring she spent as little time in public as possible for the time being. Emerging unto the small opening of the stream she would step quickly before kneeling down. She would cup her hands to fill them before arching her back forwards to drink a gulp or two from her hands to test the water just in case before loosing the cap of one of the bottles, filling it before placing it beside her then repeating again for the second and then the third bottle.

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