The pain swept over my entire body, even though I had painkillers, it was still was immense. My whole body was paralysed but I could still scream. It echoed throughout the many empty hallways and bounced off the walls in the room. My face was wet with tears but he would not stop. It felt like a million knives bearing down into the bare flesh on my back and yet there was no blood. It was all the pain of being tortured but with no evidence left on the surface.

Even after he was done the pain continued, sweeping over and paralysing my body from head to toe with the most being concentrated on my back. I wanted to tear and pull at the skin to get it off in hopes the pain would stop but I couldn't, my hands are chained down to the ground. The pain only makes the uncomfortable position worse. My knees are bruised and sore from the ground and any movement just causes more pain. I want it to end, I want it to be over, but his shadow looming mercilessly over my body only makes me break down and cry, knowing I'm just a toy for him to play with. My only purpose is to be his experiment, I know this pain isn't the end, his smile glowing in the dark just makes me more upset. He's enjoying my pain, and I know it won't stop.

I wake up with a jot and scan the room hastily. Take a deep breath Miharu, it's just your bedroom. I didn't sleep all that well knowing what day today is. Today is the day I was kidnapped and I never saw my parents again. The day a child was tortured and manipulated by an evil man before being rescued and coming home to nothing but emptiness.

I ended up shopping late last night and I dropped a note under Lin's door, I hope she gets it. Sorry Kakashi, I don't think I'll be at training today.

"Good morning everyone" Kakashi says brightly as he enters the training ground

"Morning Kakashi-sensei" Lin and Kuri say in a saddened tone, "Lin, Kuri, what's wrong, why isn't Miharu here yet?" He continues. Lin and Kuri both look at each other in silence

"Um Kakashi-sensei" Lin begins, "Miharu isn't going to be at training today", Kakashi looks at both Lin and Kuri in shock and disbelief. Both stand with their eyes facing the ground in silence.

"You see, today is a bit of a rough day for her", Kuri says to break the silence before looking back at Lin again who nods at her teammate, "She also asked us to tell you about it", Kakashi continues to stand in silence

"I'm sure you have heard a bit about what happened to her but just before she turned two, she was kidnapped by Orochimaru who also killed both of her parents. He trained her and experimented on her, giving her the seal that releases those wings. I'm sure she could go into the detail of what happened but when she was six, some of the Anbu black ops had managed to infiltrate Orochimaru's hideout, retrieved her and brought her back to the leaf. After being in intensive care, my family took her in and looked after her" Lin explains, "She slowly started to open up a bit more but she felt isolated compared to everyone else. Soon after, Kuri came to the village and we went through the academy and were put on a squad together. I think that really helped her to open up a lot more but even now she still sufferers a bit from it"

"We're sorry about not telling you about this sooner but we didn't really want to tell you anything without Miharu's consent", Kuri says to Kakashi

"She doesn't like to talk about it too much for obvious reasons"

Alright, I can't do this anymore. I can't keep hiding from my past, it's been ten years since I was rescued so it's about time I got over this. I get up out of my bed and move over to the window which I open up to let the fresh air into my room. The mid-morning light illuminates my room, bringing light to all the dark corners. Though it's still early, the sun begins to warm my skin in contrast to the cool, fresh air outside.

I can't keep stalling and standing outside, it's about time I get going, I'm already late for training.

Damn I really hope I'm not too late to training, I already know I'm a tad late but hey, the quicker I go, the quicker I can deal with my past and more importantly, the quicker I can get to training. Thankfully, I enter the training grounds and see three familiar figures still standing in the centre. Kuri and Lin who have their backs facing me turn and I can see the shocked looks on their faces.

"Miharu? What are you doing here? Are you okay?" Kuri says worriedly as I near the trio. She walks towards me hesitantly, as if I am some weird apparition that they're all seeing and they're not sure if I'm really there.

"I'm fine, I really shouldn't be skipping out on training so I came along. I'm sorry I'm late Kakashi and that I got Lin to tell you about my past. I should've have told you myself. I've decided that I've had enough of hiding from my past, it's in the past and it's time I got over it" I say apologetically, Kuri and Lin both look surprised but their faces quickly soften into smiles. I don't want to think of how annoying I've been to them over the past years, I must have seemed like such a baby and I hope Kakashi doesn't think the same of me.

"Thank you for coming along Miharu" Kakashi says. The tone of his voice reassures that he isn't going to treat me as a baby and that he accepts my apology. If it was more worried or questioning, I would have thought otherwise but it was accepting and understanding, I guess he would've already known some of the details surrounding my past but how much I'm not sure.

"So, what are we doing today Kakashi-sensei?" Kuri says impatiently, as energetic as ever it seems.

"Well, I've planned to have the joint training session again with team 7 and Yamato" Kakashi says. Team 7, that means that Sai is going to be here and I still don't really know what to make of his apology yesterday. Whether it was him actually meaning it or if someone made him apologise. Kuri's face lightens up at Kakashi's reply, she is always excited for a fight, even if it is just training.

"Kakashi-sensei, can you tell us a little more about team 7 and how they fight? We got to see a bit yesterday but we would like to plan accordingly", Lin asks Kakashi

"Yes I can"

Team 7 sure didn't give us a lot of time to plan. They all walk onto the training ground together with Naruto at the front and Yamato at the back. Kakashi told us that both he and Yamato would also be fighting along with us which makes it all the more interesting and will really increase the difficulty. We decided that our usual set up wasn't going to work either, there are too many people and we need to work closer as a team. The good news is that we have techniques for this kind of fight. It just means that we don't have a planned set up which is more realistic in the long run.

"Now that everyone's here, I'll explain the training", Kakashi begins, he then holds up a number of coloured bands, "Each member of the team is going to wear one of these, the aim is to collect the bands from the other team. Once your band has been captured, you are out. The winning team is the one who collects all the bands from the other team. The band has to be tucked into your pants and can't be moved once the training begins. Any questions?" Kakashi explains, a silence follows his question which means no one has questions.

This training is really going to test all of our skills and our teamwork, no doubt both teams are going to set up traps and ambush the opposition, that's probably going to be the easiest way to get the bands. Kakashi hands out all the bands, blue to our team and red to Yamato's team.

"Everyone has until sunset to collect the bands, once this timer goes off then everyone can start. This is the time now to discuss tactics" Kakashi continues. I head off with my team into the forest whilst Yamato's team heads off into the other direction.

"Well, tactics wise, it would probably be best to set up a trap of some sort", Lin says, seems like we were both thinking the same thing

"Yeah but wouldn't the other's be doing that as well? I mean, it's pretty obvious that we would make a trap", Kuri continues

"That's true, but having a trap is a good back up plan if we need it. If one of us gets separated and outnumbered, then using a trap could be a good plan. At least having one that we could use would be helpful", I reply, it does make sense that the other team would assume that we would make a trap, we also assume that of them.

"My guess is that the other team will try to overpower us and use Yamato-sensei to capture us in some way to get the tag", Lin says again

"I agree", Kakashi says after being quiet for quite a while. He must have been waiting for the right opportunity to join in. Although he could easily give us a strategy, it's probably best as a teacher to let us come up with ideas and help us refine them into a great plan.

We talk for a few more minutes, coming up with a comprehensive plan before waiting for the sound of the timer to go off. This really is going to be difficult, although I could easily stay out of reach, that doesn't exactly help my team in gathering the bands and it would just end in a stalemate of both teams.

Okay, deep breaths, get into the zone and focus on the plan and task ahead.

And in the silence is the sound of a distant timer going off.