Wanted Man (Botai, Sal)

Salzem sat under the shadow of one the especially large training dummies, attempting his meditation. The past few days have been less than ideal, what with being tossed in another cell, questioned again, interrogated to the point of mere death, and then revived and being told it was a test. A TEST!? Salzem hadn't said it to the kage's face, but he felt that was an unnecessary move to ALMOST KILL HIM for the sake of a TEST! He supposed he couldn't complain though. He was alive, in well enough shape, he had new, not-blood-stained clothes and a home. He supposed he could live with this arrangement, even if it did almost cost him his life. Though, throughout his attempted meditation, he couldn't help but worry about his friend Kira. He had been stupid trying to return to Konoha without letting her know. He had scared her to death, inadvertently convinced her he was a spy, and not to mention sparked all the unpleasantness with the Kazekage. He didn't know how they would ever forget the stupid mistake he'd made. So much strife for them both... And then there was Yensung... the very thought of his name made Salzem's fingers clench in anticipation. He had been the one who told the village elders he was leaving. He probably told Risako too. Yen was the fool that started up this spiral of misfortune. Yeah, it was probably a childish thing to think, and yeah, some of Salzem's decisions would have probably yielded the same end result, but it was the fact that Yen CHOSE to betray Salzem, to tell everyone the lie that he had BETRAYED his birth village. That hurt. That hurt a lot. The wanted posters arrived in Suna only recently, making Sal believe they were determined to drag him back. He guessed that meant they were cracking down on Missing Ninja everywhere, whether they be criminals or not.

It was no longer really meditation at this point... Salzem was sat cross-legged and hunched over, eyes closed with brow furrowed in concentration at this inner conversation.

He figured they'd come for him eventually. Some ninja would hunt him,  go after that bounty. They'd probably do it soon too. He often wondered why people just couldn't leave him alone. Just let him be in a place he wants to be. Of course the world doesn't work like that. So far, Life seemed to be like one of those over-zealous tax collectors who always demand more than last time when the tax a DAY AGO was MUCH lower. He hated that he couldn't just brush all this unfortunates away. Konoha would never allow it...