'People are screaming.'

That was the first thought in my head as I regained consciousness. The second was 'Owww oh fuck all kinds of duck that hurrrrrrts…' as sudden pain flared from the back of my head.

I started to sit upright, but was stopped by more pain, this time from my sides and chest and far more intense. I gingerly lifted one arm and brushed my hand over the area that hurt, biting my lip to keep from screaming. As I felt the area, I realized most of my ribs were shattered, as if something incredibly heavy had struck me or fallen on me. I could feel my body already beginning to heal, thanks to my Jashinist background, but I was healing far too slowly, meaning my chakra was almost gone. Unlike Hidan, I could die from blood and chakra loss.

Trying to reign in the fear that was welling up, I assessed my surroundings. It looked like I was near downtown, as I recognized the Metro rails in the road. There were people stumbling around with varying injuries, some looking calm, others looking on the verge of total breakdowns. Nobody paid any attention to the girl in a gang jacket lying broken in the shadow of a crumbling building.

Suddenly, I spotted a familiar figure wandering down the street, his black and red jacket torn and his mask cracked and bloody, but otherwise unhurt.

"T-Tobi..!" I called, my voice rasping, my mouth tasting of blood. "Tobi, it's Kaita, I'm over here!"

"Kai-chan!" the black haired man yelped, darting toward me and scooping me into his long arms. "Kai-chan, Tobi has been searching every-"

I screamed as he picked me up, agony shooting through my broken torso like a million acid-tipped needles. He was so shocked he almost dropped me in his haste to lay me back down. "Kai-chan?! KAI? Kai, what's wrong?! What did Tobi do?!"

I clutched his shirt tightly in my hands, panting and sobbing in pain. I'd been cut, burned, even impaled before without much outward complaint; hell, I ripped my own back open on a daily basis to let my wings out. But I was not good at handling the pain of broken bones. I finally managed to regain some composure after a few moments and looked up at his orange mask.

"B-broken ribs… Probably most of them," I whispered, trying to not even breathe as deeply as before. "Out of chakra… Lost a shit-ton of blood… Can't heal-"

Before I could say much more, he thrust one hand up under his mask and used his teeth to pull off one of his leather gloves. I heard the tearing of flesh and felt him wince against me; he'd bitten his hand to draw blood. The other hand was behind my head, keeping the large bump – which he no doubt could feel beneath my long hair – off the ground. He slipped his now bare hand beneath my shirt gently and pressed the injury against a laceration in my stomach, and I could feel his chakra pouring into me in the form of blood, my body seizing it and putting it to use almost immediately through my kekkei genkai. My breathing grew easier as the pain subsided and I almost laughed with glee. I stopped him once I felt I could resume healing on my own and he helped me sit up.

"Thanks, Tobi," I said, touching the side of his exposed neck softly. He caught my hand in his own and squeezed it. I pulled his injured hand to my mouth and licked the wound, the coagulants in my saliva stopping the bleeding.

"No problem, Kai-chan." He said, sounding cheerful, but shaken as he slipped hi glove back on.

"Have you seen the others?" I asked him as he helped me stand up, stumbling a little when I tried to walk. He caught me by the arm and supported me.

"No, Tobi was already looking for you when all this started." He replied. "Tobi guesses he and Kai-chan should look for them, huh?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Regrouping is the most important thing right now. Let's go."