Sakura turned to them, pushing out one last sentence through a strained voice.
"Don't come for me..."

And she turned away, running off into the night.

...

It wasn't going to win.
She was going to get rid of it, once and for all.

No matter what Sakura had said to them. She would not let Sakura give up on herself. It was going to be everything all over again, from the day that all had became a living nightmare for them.
From the day where Eunchae had been possessed.
Many of them had nearly died at the monster's hands. Even she had undergone a near-fatal experience, and it otherwise would've been fatal if it weren't for Jungwon and Niki that day, being able to subdue the monster's terrible wrath.

But now, she had left them behind.
She left all of them behind.

She was risking it all.
For Sakura.

The branches cracked and tore around them, scratching their arms and faces. It nicked at their hair that were dewed with water. The rain poured relentlessly, soaking their clothes and beating on their eyes.

Kazuha could barely make out the limping, flailing figure of Sakura in front of her, pelting through the overgrowth, shadowed over by the darkness.

"SAKURA!" She screamed.

She had already screamed so much that her lungs ached with every breath and her throat, even with droplets of water falling into her mouth, felt like it was parched and raw, or that it had been worn down so much that there was a lingering metallic taste to it; a hint of blood lingered in her throat.

Sakura was just pushing herself forwards by sheer willpower.
All she wanted to do was stop and collapse. Her muscles burned, and her heart felt as if it were contracting and palpitating excruciatingly, like it were about to tear through her own body.

But she couldn't stop.
Everyone she cared for was in danger, and she needed to buy as much time for them as possible.
Nobody was going to die tonight.
Nobody.

Sakura could hear Kazuha's screams, but there was nothing she could do.
For once.
Just once.
Just this time.
She wanted Kazuha to leave, to go away.

She didn't want to see her ever again. Never. But it was because she cared for her. She wanted Kazuha and all the others to be safe.
Sooner or later, Sakura knew that she would be the danger. To them, and to anyone.

But, right now, she was the one in danger.
And so was Kazuha.

Sakura had told them not to follow her.
But she did.

And Kazuha was quickly gaining ground on her.
She was only so far away. It was any moment until she'd catch up to her. Sakura dragged herself as fast as she could, shielding her wounded shoulder with a hand. The blood that seeped felt like molten hot acid upon her skin, and it was covering almost her entire upper shoulder and ran down from her hand to her forearm.

It was all just an illusion.
It was all just an illusion.
She needed to push on.

Sakura tried her best to push away the thought of the pain.

She was burning.
Everything was burning.
She couldn't see anything through the rain. All that rung in her ears was the sound of her heart throbbing wildly, and the ear-piercing screeches and ungodly shrills from the spirit.
One hand was on her wound.
The other was beating at her own head.

From her mouth came indecipherable words, most of which were not even from her conscious.

Her head hurt.
Her body was giving up on her.
The spirit was fighting her back.

She was losing.
The world was slipping from her grasp.

It was turning numb.
Her body was turning numb.

Everything was fading.
She was-

A sudden, shooting pain coursed up her back as a strong force tackled her from behind.

Kazuha had thrown herself at Sakura in a last ditch attempt.
And she had put all of her strength behind it.

The force sent both of them hurtling through the boughs, and they tumbled down the side of the slanted hill, ripping through bramble and feeling parts of briars digging into their skin.

Kazuha had landed upon her back, and her head thudded on the ground. Her sight went blank for a second, but she felt like she was twisting and falling. The sounds of beating rain, harsh thumps, crumpling leaves and exclamations of pain erupted in her ears as the two of them fell downwards.

She felt like she was being rammed from all sides, and still she continued to tumble. Shooting pains exploded around her body, and she was met with a mouthful of blood and muck when she let out an involuntary gasp.

The hill was extremely steep, and, as much as Kazuha tried to grasp and stop herself from falling, every single attempt was in vain.
She was completely disoriented. Wherever Sakura was around her exactly, she couldn't pinpoint.
It was impossible to when you were falling down a hillside.

There was-

THUD

She slammed into a tree with a sheer amount of force. It stopped her completely, but she was already on flatter ground.
They had reached the bottom of the hill.

Kazuha let out a sudden, agonised cry.
A huge, stabbing pain surged in a spot on the side of her torso.
She reached down with a shaking hand, yet she didn't have to do anything to know that blood was already seeping from it.
There had been so much adrenaline in the moment that there had been an entire split second before she realised that a stray branch had impaled her.

But now, it hurt worse than anything else.
She struggled up, leaning upon her one free hand for support.
Kazuha gasped and spluttered, but she tore her eyes away from her wound, and looked around her.

Where was she?

Sakura.
She needed to find Sakura.

She wasn't going to go down that easily.
Nothing, absolutely nothing was going to stop her.

Kazuha wasn't going to give up on Sakura. She was going to save her comrade, or die trying.
Whatever happened, if someone were going to die, it'd be her.
She was going to make sure that nobody was going to die.

Whatever it was going to take.

...