Unintelligible murmuring, far away. Obscenely bright lights. Can't see. Sledgehammer to the chest. Can't breathe. Can't hear. Can't focus. Can't scream. Won't scream.

There was a pause of the rushing thoughts in his head, leaving a tranquil silence filled only with a dull throbbing that seemed to radiate through his entire body. He blinked lethargically at the stabbing white light directly above him, feeling his conscious return enough to try moving, though he seemed to not have gained control of his muscles yet.

They seemed to know when his mind was back again; they always did, and a sense of panic washed over him at the sound of what he was sure was some sort of power tool. He closed his eyes.

Saw blade. Jagged teeth. Tearing through flesh. Slashing through bones. His ribs, the unbroken, shattered. Whirring cacophony in his ears. Drowning everything. Existence itself.

He couldn't tell if it had been a second or an hour that the saw was shredding him, and frankly he didn't want to know. He cracked one eye open, blankly staring at the lights, unseeing. Through the buzz of noise ringing in his head, he heard one voice just distinctly enough to understand the words.

"Alright, time for a break."

The relief was instant and nearly overpowering. He closed his eyes and managed a weak smile just before the knife blade sunk into his heart.


The day was warm and pleasant, and she was grateful for it. It was that day again, and anything that could help improve her mood was more than welcomed.

Mirai stood in front of the grave, head empty of thoughts but full of grief for the father she never knew.

Asuma Sarutobi: A Hero of Konoha was engraved on the stone, and she swallowed the lump rising in her throat. Usually she could stay positive about the situation; be content with calling him a hero of Japan and be proud of him, of his sacrifice. But not today. Not on September 8th. That was the day she grieved, the day he'd lost his life 17 years ago.

The cemetery was empty this early in the morning, but she kept her voice quiet when she murmured, "I'll make you proud, Father.. And Mother too.. Today and every day for the rest of my life.. I hope you're watching over me.. You are, aren't you..?"

The stone gave no answer; the wind didn't rise, no leaves fell. The air was painfully still and silent as if in a void. It wasn't the comfort or sign she'd been looking for.

Feeling a vague sense of unfounded frustration growing in her, Mirai vowed, "I'll avenge you, I promise.. I'll kill the bastard that did this to you, no matter what it takes.."

No wind, no leaf, no sound.

She turned and started in the direction of school.


Mirai sat in the front of the History classroom, resisting the urge to yawn and hoping her boredom wasn't shown on her face.

It was all things she'd heard a thousand times, whether in or out of school. Everyone else seemed just as bored as her.

"As I'm sure most of you know, there are 46 known Ajin in the world, two of which are in Japan, and are currently being held in a government facility, safely away from the public. It is a necessity, as Ajin extremely dangerous beings to our society. And to make matters worse, they are immortal, and can be nearly impossible to stop without military action. Next-"

Mirai stopped listening when the teacher showed a projection on the board and turned his back to the class, letting her gaze wander the room until her attention was caught by two students watching something with unconcealed delight on one's phone. She couldn't see the screen, but she got enough of an idea by overhearing their whispering.

"Do you think it's real?"

"It looks real. They just emptied a clip into his head and he's still moving!"

"It might just be someone getting fancy with their computers again.. You know most videos on Ajin .net are faked. But this one really looks like it might be.."

She stopped listening to them too, looking back to the front of the room with an impassive expression. The one student was right; everyone knew Ajin .net was famous for it's 'leaked' government footage of experiments on Ajin. Nothing on it had every been proved real, and plenty had been proved fake. The government denied ever experimenting on any Ajin.

The teacher's voice came back to her: "Does anyone have any questions?"

She had plenty, on how to beat them, how to kill them, how they became what they are, why they had to kill people- But she couldn't ask these things. She wasn't even convinced the teacher knew those answers anyways. She kept silent.

One of the students who had been watching the video raised his hand then and was called on.

"Is it true that the government experiments on the captured Ajin?"

The teacher snorted incredulously and shook his head. "No, of course not. The government has assured us no harm comes to the captured Ajin. They are simply kept where they will not interfere with the public. All reports of evidence of torturing Ajin have been proven to be faked and edited."

The student looked disappointed and dissatisfied, but slumped back in his seat without pressing further.

Another student on the other side of the room stood and without waiting to be called on asked, "Doesn't anyone who turns an Ajin in to the government get a huge reward?"

Murmuring broke out around the class room, and the teacher cleared his throat for silence. "Yes, it's true. The military and probably some news stations offer rewards for any aid or reports of Ajin that the public give them. It is dangerous to call out an Ajin, so the money is a good incentive to get people willing to help."

The bell rang then, and the students rushed out of the classroom to the hallway, all chatting animatedly amongst themselves.

Mirai wasn't shocked; nobody had ever asked those kinds of questions about Ajin in school before, so no wonder everyone was so worked up about it.

It was lunch break next, so she dumped off her bag at her locker and made her way to cafeteria, finding a quiet corner to sit by herself with her bagged lunch. She didn't really want to deal with anyone else and their obnoxious noisiness today.

Bored and mildly curious, she pulled out her phone and went to Ajin .net. She knew the video was fake, but she couldn't help wanting to check for herself.

The video was in black and white, and the angle was from a little to the side and above, hiding the face of the older man who stood with a gun in his hand. Directly across from him, and what the video angle had centered, was a surgical table that was tilted vertically, and had a slight figure that was still distinctly male wrapped in bandages from head to toe, to the point none of his skin showed. The number 001 were drawn in what looked like permanent marker across the bandages covering his face.

The older man raised his arm with the gun and pointed it at his head.

The 'Ajin' didn't struggle.

He pulled the trigger.

A splatter of dark liquid came from the wound, staining the bandages, streaming down the surgical table, spattering on the floor.

He pulled the trigger again. And again. And again.

Over and over.

There was no volume.

There was no gun shots.

There was no screaming.

The figure was limp after every bullet, but just before the next one went into his head, he shifted and started to weakly struggle against his bindings, then stopped again at the next head shot.

It looked real, it really did, and she wasn't sure how she felt.

That must hurt so much..

He deserves it.

Being shot in the head like that..

He killed so many people.

Mirai shut down her phone and sighed, not sure she felt like eating anymore. Of all days for a video like this to come out, she wished it hadn't been today.


The day was still clear and pleasant when school was over, and the sky was a beautiful orange overhead. It helped her feel more relaxed, looking up at the soothing sunset.

A small breeze started up, and she closed her eyes, enjoying the cool wind passing through her short black hair.

Why couldn't it have been like this at the cemetery?

The tranquility she felt, it became broken, disjointed, a feeling of fear spreading through her body from her chest. Heavy. Crushing. Suffocating.

The sound of birds chirping, passerby's talking, and traffic vanished, and all she heard was the screeching of tires, the only sound in her world.

Crimson eyes opened. Pupils dilated. Vision filled with metal and headlights. Mind blank.

The car that had lost control was on the sidewalk with her, and there wasn't time to react, let alone move.

The collision was instantaneous. Bones shattered, flesh tore, blood everywhere.

This is the end.

Her eyes opened.

She was under the car, it stopped when it collided head-on with a street lamp.

She felt everything, the agony was horrible, but she moved, started to pick herself up as bones shifted back into place and skin knitted back together. Black sand was surrounding her and she had no idea where it had come from.

Mirai stood, and stared back at the shocked faces that were surrounding her from a distance, feeling like she was in a dream.

Something was horribly wrong.

The things she'd learned from her studies of Ajin came racing to mind.

Immortal. Heal quickly. Indestructible. Dangerous. Unstoppable. Murderers. Not human.

"No," she whispered. Her body was shaking.

They were talking about her, she could hear, but she blanked out their words. The shocked whispers, the accusing glares, the students' grins at that thought of the reward discussed in class-

The video came to mind then, too.

Is it true that the government experiments on the captured Ajin?

Suddenly, she wasn't sure she quite believed her teacher's answer, or the things she'd always believed herself.

The pressure of the fear and horror became completely unbearable in her chest, and she screamed. It sounded different; ringing, hollow, mechanical.

The world froze, everything but her. She didn't understand it at all, but the sirens in the distance was enough incentive to use the opportunity, and she fled in the opposite direction of the shrieking sound, heading for a forest she used to play in as a child all the time.

Mirai's throat constricted as the gravity of the situation kept trying to sink in, but she pushed it away, focusing only on running.

She made it to the cover of the woods without any trouble, and slumped against a tree, burying her face in her hands. She was shaking, and it was so difficult to hold back her tears. But she wouldn't cry, she wouldn't.

What do I do? she thought. What can I do?

I need help.

Mirai pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts, feeling hope diminish when none popped out to her.

I can't call Mother.. Shika? Naruto? Kakashi?

No..

Ino? Choji? Kiba? Shino? Tenten?

No..

She needed help so bad, but the thought of getting her loved ones involved, when if they helped her would certainly get them in so much trouble, she couldn't do that.

I'll call Shika.. I'll just ask him what I should do.. I won't get him involved; no one else will ever know.. I just need someone to tell me what to do..

She called, and felt increasingly sick with each ring that passed. Vaguely she remembered he was part of the police force and wondered if calling him had been a bad choice, but she pushed it aside, as the call went through then.

"Mirai? What's going on? What happened?"

He already knew.

Swallowing thickly, she said in a weak voice, "I don't know.. Something's wrong.. What should I do..?"

Shikamaru sighed before answering, "I don't really know.. This isn't a situation I've exactly had to deal with before.." He paused for a moment before continuing. "For now, just try to run and stay hidden. Stay away from anywhere public or with people, and don't let the police catch you. I'll try to buy some time, but I can't promise anything.."

"Alright," She agreed, glad to have been given instructions and knowing he was still on her side in all of this.

Asuma meant so much to him, too.

It would be so easy for him to turn me in.

"Just stay safe, Mirai. I'll do whatever I can to get this sorted out, alright?"

"Yeah, I will.. Thank you Shika.." Mirai ended the call and took a deep breath to get her bearings, then stood and slipped her phone back in her pocket before taking off further into the woods.

If the police did find me, what would happen? Would they shoot me? Asuma was on their force, they would know who I am, right? They wouldn't try to kill me, would they? Would they send me to the government holding facilities? Is that video real?

Mirai did her best to ignore the thoughts racing in her mind and focused on getting as much distance between herself and the town as she could.

The forest was quiet, and getting darker as the sun slid behind the horizon, the sky bleeding out the last of it's colors in favor of an endless black expanse, only a few stars speckling it all far between.

The other edge of the forest came into view ans she sighed in relief at seeing a small gas station with a motorcycle parked outside. Someone had even left the helmet on the seat, obviously not planning on being there long.

She was hesitant to approach the bright lights around the outside of the store, and the road on the other side of the building, but she didn't have much time if she wanted to get her hands on a vehicle. And at the moment, it was more of a need than a want.

Mirai sprinted out of the cover of the trees and went straight for the motorcycle, covering the distance over the grass and asphalt fasted than she could ever remember running before.

After a quick glance through the window of the store, she saw no one was looking and pulled on the helmet, then climbed onto the motorcycle and turned it on, feeling a rush of gratitude toward Temari for taking her for rides on her motorcycle and teaching her the basics of driving them.

A yell of alarm from inside the store sounded when she turned on the bike and revved it, and it was enough to get her to tear out of the station like a bat out of hell as the owner flung open the door to try and stop her. Luckily she was pretty sure she'd been fast enough for him to not have seen her face or bloodied clothes. She hoped so, anyways.

A small stab of guilt hit her for stealing the bike after a few minutes of speeding down the road, but she shook her head.

I needed to, she told herself resolutely. I just didn't have a choice.

Find somewhere far away to hide. That's all that matters right now.

Finding she just had to be satisfied with that for the moment, she pushed all other thoughts trying to invade her conscious away, and for the next three hours, she was blissfully unaware of anything but roar of the engine and rushing of the wind around her as she raced down the nearly abandoned road.