Pain.

It was a word that she had become all too familiar with in her short life frame. It was ironic if one were to truly think about it. It was such a short and simple word, yet in those seemingly simplistic letters, laid a much deeper meaning. It was a word rooted in suffrage and anguish, something used to describe an emotion so paralyzingly awful.

To be completely honest, the word failed to convey all the feeling that was poured into it. Pain could not be explained, it was felt and God, did it demand to be felt.

As she laid there motionless and tired, these thoughts ran through her mind. Her arms laid at her side, stiff and dripping with blood. Blood. It was everywhere she now saw, or rather felt. She had a deep slash across her abdominal area and knew that if she remained there she would bleed to death.

But why bother moving? They were dead. All of them, her friends, her family, the only ones who gave her a reason to live.

She let out a strangled cry of pain. Why? If only she had been faster, if only she wasn't so weak she could have helped. She refused to close her eyes. If she did she knew that the scene of all her love ones being killed would replay. Why them, why him? She felt such hatred. Why was faith such a cruel and cunning villain. Why did it seem that she was cursed to live in constant suffrage, and in constant pain.

Their smiles replayed in her head. Her team, her family. She should have died, she wanted to die. It was a selfish thought, because death would offer her an escape to the pain, but transfer the burden to others. However, after everything she had just endured, she liked to think that she deserved to not care for once.

This was all his fault.

If he had never left and betrayed them they wouldn't have gotten the mission. Hell, if they had known about what he was planning, they would have come with more reinforcements. If only...A sad smile crept onto her face. It didn't matter anymore.

It was over. Her team was dead and he had once again destroyed and embarrassed her, leaving her to die alone.

Tears were now leaking freely from her sore eyes. If anything she hated herself more than imaginable. The sole man who murdered her beloved team and would attack her home, still held a place in her heart. She let out another cry. How pitiful could a person honestly be? She was trained to act on command and suppress any emotion that would interfere with her mission. Yet she had failed at this, she had hesitated, which ultimately had resulted in all their deaths.

A humorless laugh escaped her. She was indeed disgusted with herself. She deserved this slow and painful death.

Her head was throbbing and she no longer felt any part of her body. No more tears fell, they must of dried out. She knew she probably looked like a pathetic little girl. Her face stained with the blood she had coughed up after receiving the fatal blow. Her eyes red from the tears and dead from witnessing the slaughter of innocent lives. Her throat was dry from the screaming, and her hands sore from trying to desperately hold onto sanity, as everything around her went to hell. Well it mattered not, for she soon she too would join them all.

Not standing the pain anymore she allowed herself to shut her eyes, and even though she knew she didn't deserve it, and that it would just waste time, she allowed herself to wish. She did not wish to be saved, for it was too late for any of that. She wished for a world where she wouldn't have to live as an emotionless soldier, who was nothing more than their organization's puppet. Where she could act, live and be what she always wanted, but was never allowed. She wanted to finally be able to be Sakura, whoever that person actually was.

With that last thought she let the darkness surround her and no longer fought or clung onto life. If whatever followed would offer an escape to the pain, then she would embrace her faith, as cruel as it may be.

It is said that death is easy. In one's final moments there is no sense of time and certainly no sense of pain. Death for all its grim surroundings was in a sense very peaceful and even very beautiful. It was that logic that made her realize that she wasn't dead. At least not yet. The first thing she felt upon regaining somewhat of a consciousness was a throbbing pain. Her head felt as if someone had taken a metal bat and repeatedly bashed her skull in. Letting out a small groan, she kept her eyes closed and tried to feel if the rest of her body was still intact. It is a well known medical fact that after a traumatic physical experience, the last thing one wanted to do was try to move too much of their body too fast. So instead she started with her fingers and slowly moved limb by limb, making sure that nothing was broken or worse. Letting out small exhales for every limb she moved, she was glad to see that everything seemed to still be working. She heard her wrist give a loud crack. Alright perhaps not perfect, but she would live.

She focused on her breathing once more as she tried to slowly force her eyes open, only to be blinded by an intense light. Groaning she quickly shut her eyes again.

Willing herself to calm down, she focused instead on her other senses. She heard sounds of footsteps, beeping noises and different voices speaking. There was no sound of chirping birds, or of leaves crunching, which meant that she wasn't in any sort of forest. The air was dense and it held a murky scent to it.

Letting out a sigh she tried once more to open her eyes, this time much slower. The first thing she noticed were the large brick walls that were on either side of her, which seemed to endlessly stretch up into the sky. Beneath her she felt hard concrete floors, which led out to an opening at the end. She was in a deserted alleyway with nothing but her tattered and worn out clothing. Using the walls for support she shakily tried to stand onto her burning legs. Questions began filling her mind about the situation she found herself in. The most obvious of them was how exactly she had gotten into this alleyway to begin with. As she tried to recall whatever last memory she could, she reached a devastating realization. She couldn't recall anything. Her breaths began coming out in small pants, as she searched through the clothing she wore, trying to find any sort of clue that would be able to explain how she had gotten there, or even who she was. It was in her left pant pocket that she felt a crumbed piece of paper. Taking it out, she saw what seemed to be the remnants of some sort of photograph. It was ripped and the glossy texture seemed to fade at the edges which were burnt. Flipping it over she saw a single name scribbled over the charred picture, it read:

'Sakura'.

Staring down at the photograph she felt the throbbing in her head calm down a bit. Her name was Sakura? She didn't have any other proof to confirm that idea, but for some reason the name resonated with her. Placing the photograph back in her pocket, Sakura turned her attention to the opening at the end of the alleyway. Slowly she began moving towards the opening, heart pounding in anticipation of what she would find.

Taking a deep breath Sakura stepped out from the alleyway, eyes widening at the scene in front of her. There were buildings surrounding her, all stretching as high as her eyes could reach. Cars filled the streets, trying to maneuver around one another as fast as they could. All around the streets and sidewalks were filled with people walking to unknown destinations. Some speaking, others laughing and some even yelling. The city was filled with lights and activity and noise, all of which very rapidly became too overwhelming for her. Sakura was brought back to her senses as someone quickly shoved into her, walking past as if nothing had occurred. It became obvious to her that she couldn't stay here, everyone who walked by gave her odd stares and she was beginning to feel very claustrophobic. Sakura could feel her breaths begin to pick up again as it became harder to breath.

Taking a step back she rushed into the isolated ally, trying to compose herself the best she could. Sakura's eyes stung with emotion as she desperately once more tried to search her memory for any information about herself. When she again couldn't remember anything Sakura finally allowed herself to let out all the emotion she currently felt. Tears began falling from her eyes as she cried in humiliation, in frustration, in desperation. None of this made sense to her.

"Are you alright?" a voice asked, causing Sakura to suddenly freeze up.

Slowly she turned towards the direction that the voice had come from, to see who had approached her. The first thing she noticed about him was that he seemed young, with a youthfully innocent looking face. He had brown hair which laid neatly on top of his head. The man wore a clean white shirt, with a red tie and a tan coat which matched perfectly in color with his pants. His eyes were a light brown which complemented his fair colored skin. The man was handsome, and for the first time since regaining conscience Sakura felt somewhat self conscious. Sakura noticed that the man's expression had switched from one of curiosity to one of suspicion.

"Sir can you tell me where I am?" Sakura asked in a small horse voice.

The man's eyes narrowed a bit as he continued to stare at her.

"That's an odd question." He said, "You're in Tokyo."

The name didn't sound even the slightest bit familiar to her. Sakura tried to ignore the throbbing pain that was once again returning.

"Of course, and where is that exactly?"

"It's...well it's in Japan."

Sakura felt as if she was going to be sick. She didn't recognize the second name either. The sound of footsteps brought her out of her thoughts, as she noticed that the man had begun to walk away from her. Panic flooded her senses as she quickly followed after him.

"Wait! Please can you help me!"

She heard him give out a sigh, but otherwise continued walking.

"Listen I actually have somewhere to be. So I don't have time for your joke Miss."

"I'm not joking. Please I don't know how I got here. I'm begging you please help me."

Sakura's voice sounded desperate as her stepped in front of man preventing him from walking past her. A look of annoyance crossed his face as he stared down at her.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Its..." she remembered the photograph she had found earlier, "Its Sakura."

The man seemed to be contemplating something in his head as he looked from his watch back at her face. Finally after what seemed to be an eternally of tense minutes, the man finally seem to reach a conclusion and he let out another sigh.

"Look I can bring you to the police station, they can help you there, but that's really all I can do."

Nodding in thanks, Sakura felt relief flow into her as she hurried behind the mysterious young man. As Sakura walked with the young man she took in the sights around her. From the signs located on the streets to the many faces that passed her. She was looking for anything that could trigger any sort or memory, but as she continued to look around her confusion only grew.

"Sakura please don't take offense, but what happened to your clothes?" He asked glancing down at her.

Sakura looked down to see that he did have a point. She was wearing a long sleeved black shirt which was covered in dirt and torn in the middle. The pants she wore were also black and equally as filthy, torn at the bottoms and at the knees. She looked like someone had dragged her through a forest and purposely hit every rock along the way. At least her boots seemed intact, still filthy and covered in dirt, but at least they weren't falling apart. Shrugging her shoulders she said,

"I woke up in the alley with no idea of how I got there."

"Ok...Did you take anything or drink anything last night? That could explain it." He answered.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders once more, unable to answer his question.

"Do you remember anything at all?" he asked.

She hesitated a bit before answering, unsure if she should reveal that information. The man looked innocent enough.

"No. I don't" she responded in a small voice.

They continued walking as the young man led her through another dim lighted ally. She was about to question him, when her hearing picked up on the sound of footsteps behind them.

"Now look what we've got here boys!" said a wicked voice from behind.

They turned to find a group of five rugged looking men, who smirked back at them. Fear flowed into Sakura as she eyed the knives they carried, while one of the men held a bat. She noticed her companion tense up, and slowly take a cautious step in front of her. One of the more beastly looking men chuckled at this and moved towards them.

"Don't be stupid kid." He said as he reached into his back pocket, pulling out a silver gun and aiming it directly at them.

"Empty your pockets, before I empty this gun."

It was in that moment that Sakura felt an immediate and compelling impulse to act against these thugs. She had moved before her mind could register what actions she was taking. It was as if some deeper instinct had taken control of her body and caused her to move. Dashing forward Sakura pushed the young man aside, ducking down to roll towards the man with the gun, who at the moment pulled the trigger. The shot fire was heard throughout the alley, and she took that chance to launch a kick at the gun, causing it to fly out of the man's hand. Jumping up she swung a fist at the man's jaw, noticeably breaking it. As he fell back, Sakura dodged a swing from another thug who was brandishing his knife at her. As he ran towards her, she grabbed onto his arm, and used his momentum to flip him over, slamming him into the ground. Without hesitating she landed another powerful blow on the man's temple, causing him to also lose consciousness. Grabbing the knife as fast as she could, Sakura aimed it towards the three remaining thugs who were watching the scene with wide eyes. Standing up, Sakura took another step towards them, knife ready to attack anyone who charged at her. The thug with the bat, took that moment to fling his bat in the direction of where her young companion stood. Once again letting instinct take over, Sakura raced forward, catching the bat before it could do either of them any harm. As she looked back towards the thugs, and saw that they had use that as a distraction, and were running away from them. Letting out a relieved sigh, she looked back at the young man who was staring at her in astonishment.

"How did you do that?" He asked.

Sakura placed the bat back on the ground, and looked towards the men she had been able to successfully defeat.

"I have no idea." She replied, feeling even more confused at what she had just done. The young man stood up, and placed a hand on her shoulder. His expression was one of wonder and determination, as if he had found the solution to some sort of problem.

"Actually, the police station probably isn't a good idea for you. Why don't you come with me instead. It's the least I can do, after you just saved my life."

Sakura considered his offer for a moment, surprised in his change in attitude and grateful that he wasn't running away from her.

"I don't want to be any bother. Really if it's any inconvenience,"

"It's not. Please I insist." He said, cutting her off.

She studied his expression a bit longer, before nodding her head in agreement. After all, it wasn't like she had much of a choice. Perhaps this man could help her make sense of all this mess. The man offered her a smile, as he started leading her out of the ally and Sakura couldn't help but return it with one of her own. She was still worried about her future, but as she looked at the young man's handsome smile she couldn't help but trust him. He was just a teenager, how much harm could he honestly do to her?

"By the way Sakura, my name is Light Yagami."

Well it certainly feels good to finally post a new chapter after years of neglecting this story. This chapter was a bit dry, I recognize that, but I hope I succeeded in capturing some of your attention. Any reviews are welcomed, as long as they'e not flames, because no one likes that. Please forgive any grammar mistakes that slipped my editing. Anyways, I'll post a new chapter soon.

Take care!

-Sarcasmo