The first snow of winter crunched beneath her bare feet, bruised from running all night. Her breath was short and raspy as she began to slow, the tall gates barely visible over the horizon ahead of her. Her throat seized up and she coughed, stumbling over her feet and into the snow. Picking herself up, she began again towards the gates, her ripped, brown kimono now wet and cold. The wind picked up, pushing against her and howling in her ears.
The light above the gates became stronger, illuminating the untouched snow and solid doors into Konoha. She drew closer, her body shaking profusely, and began to relax. She was almost there, almost safe inside. Someone jumped down from the top of the gate where he had been trying his best to keep warm in the cold weather. The scarf tied around his neck whipped around his face as he yelled out to her. She stopped short of the light, not sure what he had said. He called out again.
"Who are you?" She could barely hear him over the wind but she understood. She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it, drowsiness beginning to dawn upon her. She tried to respond, but the words never left her. He stood impatiently on the other side of the light, waiting for her reply.
What the hell is going on… he thought to himself. The dark figure stood motionless in front of him, past his view in the snow. He began to lose his patience and yelled again. This time he watched her step forward and stop. He stared at her disbelievingly; her bare feet, her thin kimono, and her snow-covered hair. He watched as if in slow motion, as she keeled over and landed in the snow again.
"Damn!" He ran over to her. Placing his gloved hand on her back to turn her over, he pulled back as something warm soaked through the fabric. He looked at the red stains now on his glove and back down at her torn back before shaking his head. Right then wasn't the time to space out; he had to get her to the Hokage as quickly as possible. He had to get her out of the snow and cold. He continued to roll her onto her back and gently picked her up, her headband falling out of her hand; the leaf symbol was imprinted on the metal. Biting back an oath, he scooped it out of the snow and jumped back to his post just as the guard from the next shift came into view.
"Who the hell is that?" The man shrugged his shoulders but nodded towards the village.
"Keep watch," he growled to his replacement, "Make sure nobody without identification gets by you." He took off, jumping over building towards the village hospital with the unconscious girl lying in his arms. The sleeve of his shirt was covered in blood by then from carrying her. The building slowly came into view and he ran faster, bursting through the doors and into the mostly empty room. A surprised nurse looked up from the files on the desk. She yelled towards the back, bringing Tsunade running with two more nurses on her tail.
"What happened?" she asked, pulling up the girls' eyelid to look at her pupil.
"She arrived outside the gate and collapsed. Her back is injured." Tsunade placed a hand under the girl and turned her head back to the nurses.
"Get a gurney," she commanded, sending one nurse running, "Warm liquids and something warm to put her in. We'll need bandages for her back as well." The nurse returned with the gurney, which Tsunade put the girl on as the other nurse ran off for the other requested items. As she pushed the bed towards the back rooms she looked down at the girl.
"How did you get into such a mess?"
To anyone who is reading this for the first time: This is a remake of the original first chapter because the original SUCKED, so the story may seem alittle strange because I'll be trying to update it.
To anyone whose read it before (couchAceacough): This is the updated version I promised...more to come when I can. I'm killing my brain to try and do them.