Hello all! Chapter 3 is out a day early, yay!

I really hope you like it, I finished it on my 18th birthday. May 2nd! Woo adult life.

Anyways, onwards to the chapter! Enjoy (:


I can't breathe. My heart hurts and I'm scared. Am I going to die here? Is this really the end?

"Please…stop." I say barely under a whisper, I'm not sure if Kabuto can even hear me as he drills into my skin. Honestly, I can't tell if this is dying or shock but I can tell that it feels terrible. What is the point of this experiment again? I can't remember since I wasn't really listening when he explained it; I was too focused on the drill in his hand.

With fuzzy vision I watch as Kabuto cuts off a piece of one of my organs, I think it might be a kidney. Maybe this has something to do with the small part of the stem cell he took from me the other week. I vaguely remember him saying something about growing spare organs for me using stem cells.

Why doesn't he ever put me to sleep for these experiments? He just numbs me and lets me watch. It's terrifying, and I'm not sure how much longer I can stomach the sight of my own inner body.

Fuck, the numbing is warring off and the pain is slowly fading in. I can feel as he stitches up my skin. I can't stop the heart wrenching scream I let out as the pain hits me full force.

"Oh shut up, I'm finished." Kabuto says, slapping the freshly stitched skin making me cry harder.

"Really, you're such a cry baby Kaiko-Chan."

"Can…I just…have something…to numb the pain…please Kabuto." I manage to choke out between cries.

"I guess…you do have training with Sasuke this evening right?"

"Y-Yes, I do." I try to hold in another cry but it breaks through, sounding more like a sob than I would have liked.

"Alright, I'll get it to you an hour before your training." Kabuto says and I feel my heart flutter in relief.

I hear Kabuto chuckle evilly before leaning down, his mouth inches from my ear, "Oh and Kaiko-Chan," he pauses, "Happy Birthday." he finished with a jab into the newly stitched wound in my side, causing me to screech in pain.


I sit up from the flashback type dream, a cold sweat has broken over my entire body and I throw one of my hands over my mouth to muffle a scream from the memory.

I jump when I hear Shikamaru behind me, "You okay over there?" he asks, starting to walk closer.

"I'll live…" I reply after re-gaining my composure, I give him a small fake smile.

He frowns at me as he buries his hands in his pants pockets, "You shouldn't do that." He says quietly.

"Do what?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows at him.

"Fake a smile; it doesn't look right on you."

I let my eyes drop to the ground as the fake smile falls from my features, I don't reply.

A few seconds of silence goes by before he finally clears his throat, "You should go back to sleep, I have to go keep watch." He turns to leave but I speak up before he is out of hearing range.

"Can I come with you, I really don't think I can go back to sleep." I bite my bottom lip, still staring at the ground.

I can feel his eyes on me, they stay there for a few more seconds before he looks away and replies, "Sure."


The night sky is really beautiful. I can almost compare it the first night sky I saw a few months prier. However, tonight's sky is different somehow. It may be the full moon fully lighting the sky, causing the Milky Way to really shine, or it might be the fluttery feelings in my stomach and heart caused by sitting next to Shikamaru. Either way tonight feels amazing.

"I love the night sky." I whisper to Shikamaru, deciding to end the surprisingly comfortable silence between us.

"Me too, I really…" He pauses, I watch him out the corner of my eye; he is still staring at the sky and I can tell he is thinking. "I really cherish the sky, day or night." He finishes his thought, seemingly satisfied with this choice of words.

I let my gaze leave his features and look at the sky again, "I feel safer at night." I say.

He makes a quiet sound, letting me know he was listening. I appreciate that he isn't trying to pry into my past, though I keep talking, not wanting the conversation to die out.

"I love the night sky, because I feel less trapped, It's nice to be able to see past our world. It's reassuring knowing that there is more to the universe than just this planet. For some reason I love the Milky Way the most, I guess because it never dies."

"Have you ever heard the Chinese mythology about the Milky Way?" He asks.

"No I haven't. Would you teach me?" I ask, leaning my upper body a little closer to him, I tip my head to the side and give him a small puppy dog face.

He smirks at me softly and nods, "The Chinese thought of the Milky Way as the River of Heaven, where the mothers of the Sun and Moon bathe their children before they enter the sky."

"Interesting." I say, honestly I don't care much for mythology, but I love the sound of his voice, so I look interested in hope he'll continue.

"Also, according to old Chinese household folklore, the Milky-Way is a wide river that separates two star-crossed lovers represented by the stars Altair and Vega. Only once a year can the two reunite for one night."

"Oh, I never knew that, what else?" I ask a little bit more sarcastic than I meant it to sound.

He raises an eyebrow at me but keeps going, "A young cowherd named Niulang, which is the star Altair, came across seven fairy sisters bathing in a lake. He stole their clothes and only agreed to give them back if one of the sisters would marry him. The youngest and most beautiful of the fairy sisters, Zhinü, which is the star Vega, agreed to his request for marriage. They lived happily together and had two children. But the Goddess of Heaven found out that Zhinü, a fairy girl, had married a mere mortal. The Goddess was furious and forced the fairy back to her former duty of weaving colorful clouds, a task she had neglected while living on earth with a mortal. On Earth, Niulang was very upset that his wife had disappeared, so he carried his two beloved children off to Heaven to find Zhinü. The Goddess discovered this and was very angry. Taking out her hairpin, the Goddess scratched a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever, thus forming the Milky Way between Altair and Vega. Zhinü must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niulang watches her from afar and takes care of their two children represented by Altair's two flanking stars. But once a year all the magpies in the world would take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge, "the bridge of magpies", over the nearby star Deneb, so the lovers may be together for a single night, which is the seventh night of the seventh moon."

"Cool!" I exclaim happily.

"You don't really care do you." He asks flatly.

I rub the back of my neck laughing awkwardly, "Not really, sorry. I just didn't want the conversation to end." I confess.

"I guess its okay." He says shrugging.

"Really, are you sure?" I ask, a little worried he is irritated with me.

"Yeah, you seem truly happy for once. So really, it's fine." He says, giving me a small smile.

My heart dances in my chest and I give him a real smile in return. I can't tell if he blushes or if he is just surprised to see me really smile for once, but all the same, his smile grows a little bit at sight of my own.

"Now that smile, that one suits you." He says before his gaze turns to scan the forest floor.

My heart is racing and I can't look away from him. I force myself to look back towards the sky before I allow myself to talk again.

"Hey Shikamaru..." I say to get his attention.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you." My voice is quiet and soft; I would be lying if I didn't say it made me sound about five years younger.

"What for?" He questions.

"This is the best birthday I've ever had." I can feel him look at me; I wonder what he is thinking.

"Oh, you're welcome then." Is all he says, and I'm thankful he doesn't question anything.

After that he makes me go back to bed and I do, convinced that there is no way I could have another nightmare due to how happy I am.


Asuma wakes us all up; I am the first he wakes. I look over to watch him wake up the other three as I pack my small blanket back into my bag. Though, my eyes are mostly on Shikamaru. He is just as gorgeous first thing in the morning as he is throughout the rest of the day.

Wait, I think he's gorgeous?

The realization makes my heart jump, the sudden feeling in my chest kind of hurts. I decide to ignore these thoughts and force myself to look away from him in order to finish getting ready for the day. We should be at the hideout within the next four or five hours and I shouldn't be distracting myself with thoughts of him.

I deicide to run a few steps ahead of Shikamaru so I don't end up staring at him. Instead I run next to Asuma, telling him I should be in the lead with him.

The entire way we are quiet, not wanting to be caught by any possible guards outside the hideout. When we arrive at the opening of the hideout my heart feels like it is about to explode and I feel like I need to start running away. However, the thought of any children having to go through what I did forces me to keep going.

I pretend as though I don't know where the opening is, not wanting them to grow to suspicious of me or my past.


If I thought my heart was going to explode outside, once inside I am almost sure of it. As we walk down the long corridors I can feel the need to vomit at the back of my throat at a constant.

It is almost impossible to hear anything over the sound of my own heart; I can feel it pounding in my ears. I am over heating; I am no longer sure if I can do this. I start to turn around, prepared to run any second now. Before I can though, Asuma stops at a door, making every one else stop as well.

"I think this might be it." He says. I know he is wrong, I know exactly what room that is. It is the training room. For all I know, Sasuke could be in there, or any of the thousands of followers that Orochimaru has. Hell, Kabuto might even be in there. I need to stop him from opening that door, but if I do, they'll know I've been in here before; they'll want me to explain how.

Before I can even make my decision, it is already made for me. We all turn at the sound of foot steps behind us. My heart stops, I am sure of it.

"Oh, Kaiko-Chan, I didn't peg you for such a dumbass. Coming back here, really…do you have a death wish?" Kabuto smirks at me.

I look behind me at the four utterly confused and, dare I say, angry faces of the team I had just gotten to know. My feelings of panic are instantly replaced with utter dread and fear of losing any respect these four had for me.

I shake the feeling off and decide to become numb; I've had enough of these damn emotions. It takes a few seconds to let as much emotion as I can possibly get to fade to disappear. When I finally shove them deep down inside myself I let myself reply.

"I don't really plan on dying anytime soon, Kabuto." I reply, letting venom drip in my voice, letting my want to rip his head off apparent.

He simply laughs and it only pisses me off more, "Your actions would say otherwise."

"The hell is going on here Kai." Ino speaks up, her obvious mix of anger and confusion in her voice.

I end up glaring at her along with Kabuto, whom seemed to not even notice them until she spoke. He quickly re-gains his composure and laughs again; I wince because I really hate his laugh.

"Ah, Kaiko-Chan, are you keeping secrets again? That has always been a bad habit of yours."

"Shut up!" I yell at him, instantly drawing my swords the second I let the words come out.

"Do you plan on killing me with that Kaiko-Chan?" he tilts his head to the side, a crazed look on his face.

"You fucking bet I am." I reply, griping the swords harder.

"Awe, that's adorable." He laughs more.

I launch myself at him; I swing around and aim a kick at his chin. He blocks me and I end up kicking his forearm. I turn my body around quickly and go to cut his arm open, attempting to ruin his block.

He does a few back flips in order to avoid my attack, "Oh you're really great at dodging attacks Kabuto, fantastic fucking job." I laugh before running my fastest behind him and try to shove the blade into his back. I almost get it but he ducks down the last second, swinging around and kicking my feet, causing me to quickly fall onto my ass. I wince in pain before flipping back onto my feet.

"Yeah, but you're not apparently." He smirks, "I highly doubt you've approved enough in the past few months to beat me."

I grind my teeth in annoyance because I know he is right, I have been more focused on getting money and food than I have been on training. I go to launch another attack on him but I find that I can't due to a hand now wrapped around my upper arm. I look back to see Asuma holding me back and glaring at Kabuto.

Why? Why would he stop me? Annoyed, I rip my arm out of his grip and glare at him.

"You're only going to get yourself killed Kai." He answers me before I even have a chance to ask.

"I don't really think that is any of your business, you should hurry up and get that thing you need to complete your mission." I start to launch another attack at Kabuto but am stopped again.

"The fuck is your issue?!" I scream at Asuma but quickly shut my mouth at the angry look he had aimed at me.

"A mission is a lot less important than a life, especially one as fresh as yours." He says, his anger quickly disappearing as he watches tears spill down my cheeks. He thinks my life is important?

"Awe, how sweet." Kabuto says sarcasm clear in his voice.

Before I can even look at him, Asuma is thrown away from me and a green glowing hand is thrown into my chest near my heart. My breath is taken away as I fly back and through a wall. I cough violently and blood flies out of my mouth.

I lay there for all of five seconds before my entire body goes numb, I can faintly feel my heart beating and quickly it grows weaker and weaker.

The world fuzzes before fading to black.


Ah, I know, terrible cliff hanger. And yeah I know, I really suck at fighting scenes, they're really not my thing. You'll have to forgive me.

I am sorry, please don't kill me!

Next chapter will be posted on Saturday the 10th of May.

Please, please review!