4 Chapter 4

Every human is driven by their desire to create the best possible life they can live for themselves. No matter if they have to walk over corpses or not.

I experienced it on my own; the tool the people used to make their lives easier. The corpse people loved to trample over, not caring one bit about my feelings, about my emotions, about my health. Every person I knew tried to use me at one point in my life, therefore, one could also say I wasn't too fond of people, and new people in particular.

(I lived in the woods all alone. Of course, I didn't like people too much.)

For the last ten years, only occasionally, strangers and villagers made their way through the deep woods, over rivers, some small, some big and almighty, over almost completely hidden paths, overgrown by plants and moss, and over a particular unstable wooden bridge. The wood was old, creaked with every step and every time, I feared I would break through, especially on the way back when the added weight of the produce and products I could only access in the village weighed on your shoulders.

And now this. Four complete strangers camped on the other side of my meadow. I watched them, how they build up their small tents, how they rolled out their sleeping bags, how the girl went off into the woods and returned with dry wood, all the while the black-haired teen sat down calmly and far away from the blond one, Naruto, before scrambling through his backpack, only to hand the adult in their middle a few scrolls.

The man with the smooth voice. The tortured, but slowly recovering soldier. The masked one. Kakashi-sensei. He accepted the scrolls, all the while the blond Naruto build with practiced motions a fireplace, assembled rocks and placed them in a neat, a bit askew circle.

They had been a group for a long time, that much I could say. There was a casual routine going on, tasks distributed unspoken and fulfilled in a manner which told me they had been done a lot of times already. Repetition and correct distribution.

Subconsciously, I grimaced. An entity, building a synergy. These people somehow trusted each other, out of reasons I would never understand. Just… strange. Strange mannerisms, strange trust, just a strange group.

A strange group which camped far too close for my taste. Again, I grimaced and rubbed quickly over the bare skin of my upper arms. Goosebumps pressed against my palms, awoken by the simple, sheer disgust of having any kind of humans living so close.

The worst is that I have no idea for how long they plan to stay. They could be gone in three days or next month. Depends on how long their mission takes.

Let's hope on a few days.

And what if they stay for longer than that?

Then I have to be creative. Make their stay as miserable as possible. Shouldn't be too hard, after all, this forest is my home and I know its little pests and disturbances better than anyone.

That hopefully gives them enough encouragement to leave sooner or later.

About the alternative I didn't want to think at all costs.

I stumbled away from the window, backwards, not able to look away from the cozy and strangely homey picture right out there. Their connections, their entity disturbed my mind and not even the herbal tea I cooked for myself would ease my strained nerves. Their mere proximity filled the clearing, throttled and choked me. Even through the thick stone walls of my home, I could faintly hear their voices, exchanged words and orders.

Just above a murmur, no clear words. Enough to feel pressured, just enough to feel so incredibly cornered that I buried your face in your hands, while the cup floated right beside you in the air.

A knock at my front door disturbed my growing misery and despair. Three rhythmic little sounds, unwanted and nevertheless they echoed through the empty, lonely room like a warning.

For a short second, I played with the thought of just ignoring the knocks. I could walk right out of the backdoor and vanish in the woods, even live in the deepest depths and return in a few days to see if the strangers finally left. But then, I shook my head, chasing the silly idea out of my brain.

Stupid. They would see me and probably follow my trail. In that regard, they are far superior than me.

Still dressed in my sleeveless shirt, the loose pants reaching the middle of my shin and feet bare, I opened, face adorned with a dark scowl and hopefully portraying exactly how much I disliked their presence.

The girl stood in front of my door. Pink hair and pink shirt, gloves on her hands and a skirt with a bag tied around her waist, which dangled weakly when she moved her weight from one foot to the other, a little, hopeful smile on her face I instantly disliked.

"Hello." With her still raised hand, she waved at me, what I answered with a darkening of my scowl. Sakura, I remembered. At least her parents had a tiny bit sense of humor left when they had named their daughter.

Awkward silence settled over the scene. I had no intention of acknowledging her presence even more than I already had to do, nor did I want to indulge in any kind of useless small talk. Apparently, Sakura hadn't been aware of my unwillingness to talk or expected me to break the silence. Thus, resulting in the awkward tension I definitely appreciated and welcomed, all the while the girl started to sweat and fidget on her feet.

"Uhm…" she finally said and maintained her forced smile with a dignity I only had seen on a few people in your life, "I was just asking myself, because the garden you have in the backyard is quite impressive, if it would be alright for you if I would just take a look around and make some notes for myself? You see, the gardens in Konoha are also great, but I couldn't help but to notice that there are some plants which are usually only found in the high mountains and swamp areas and I was curious how you managed to-!"

"No." Bland, simple, but effective. The girl immediately fell silent, mouth hanging open in confusion at my hostile voice, hissing the single syllable more than actually pronouncing it properly.

Good. My garden is not an arboretum for my little meek-girly games.

Her new attempt at a smile was strained, like Sakura only barely managed to hold on to the last shreds of her manners in the face of the lacking of mine. "Is that so? Alright, then I apologize for bothering you."

"Better apologize for wasting my time. At least two minutes I will never get back. Now, get lost." I said and slammed the door close.

The satisfying smack of the door and the creaking of the lock I purchased such a long time ago sliding into place brought the first real smile to my face since the day started.

That should make my intentions as clear as the sun outside. And really, my hostile behavior made Sakura first gasp and sputter, before heavy stomps went away from my front door. Her loud and booming complaints about my "absolutely mean and unnecessary stance towards a nice and reasonable question" echoed over the clearing, together with the reassurances of the blond boy Naruto, who seemed to be nervous enough to worry more about a possible outbreak of his friend than the badly treated hands he still had wrapped in more or less clean bandages.

Just when I wanted to huff in victory and go on with my day, hopefully undisturbed by the freeloaders on the attic, the smooth voice of "Kakashi-sensei" vibrated through the wood and I froze on the spot. "That wasn't very nice of you. I won't hear the end of it for the rest of the day."

The voice was coated in exasperated amusement, obviously aimed at making me laugh as well. Building a pleasant connection, building trust and friendship, making me loosen and open up.

My teeth grinded together, before I shook my head wildly. Strands of my hair whipped around, would hurt my face with the force I put into the single motion. It helped to clear my mind. No answer would discourage him for sure. So, I kept silent, balling my hands into fists, fingernails digging into the flesh of my palms, all the while the voice of this so-called sensei still made its way into the house, crawling into my ears and kindling the anger burning in my stomach.

"I kind of understand her though. Your garden is really a sight to see and when she pointed out the different kinds of plants and healing herbs there, I couldn't help myself to also be fascinated. It should be impossible to put an alpine rock-jasmine right beside valerian. But here you are and doing just that. Not to forget that most of these plants have a medical use and Sakura is a very respected healer in our village."

He paused, like he expected an answer or insult from me. Neither came. Only a slight hiss escaped my mouth, pressed right through my teeth. It was so goddamn hard to not tell them to piss off, to tell all of them that they could go to hell in my mind, to tell them that they could shove their presence and annoying voices and loud intentions right up their asses. I never asked for them to stay here, never asked for them to make conversation. How hard-headed could they be to not figure out why I lived this deep in the woods? Not because it was convenient or only partly my decision.

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