Five months passed since the accident. Izaki had decided to not press charges. Things proceeded as regularly as they could possibly go. Sasori and Deidara came to terms with their feelings and started going out. Itachi matured a lot more and his parents came to realize he wasn't going back to his old ways. Mizuki started to get better. And Izaki… changed. Izaki had avoided Sasori and Deidara for three months of those five months to recuperate and figure out her life again. Now, as the snow fell during a very cold December, she could be seen clearly silhouetted against the snowy trees. Her long ebony hair swung by her pale face in its uneven style. Her violet eyes were vacant from the life they used to have.
Izaki was still perfect academically. She was completely together on the outside. Everyone thought she was wonderful and back to the person who she'd used to be. It was never the case with her. Inwardly Izaki was shattered beyond repair and nothing seemed to be right to her anymore. Often she found herself sitting in her windowsill with snow falling next to her face as she cried.
She cried for everything she'd lost. She cried for the life she used to have. Izaki knew tears were useless but they never seemed to stop. It was that one day in December things finally went the way she wanted them to. Both wrong and right.
- - - - - - - - -
December twelfth. Izaki was in her senior year at Konoha High. She was seventeen years old going on eighteen that May. It started off as a regular day—walking with Deidara and Sasori to school and talking with Itachi whenever she had a spare moment at school. Then things turned upside-down when she was sitting in Mr. Hatake's class.
A gunshot resounded off of the halls. Someone screamed and another shot was fired. The screaming ceased. The silver-haired man snapped his book shut and gazed up at his students.
"Everyone, don't panic. Get under your desks and don't make a sound," he ordered the class. It was the first time in a long time he'd spoken seriously to the class. Silently they obeyed. Their teacher went over and turned off the lights. Then he locked the door and went back to the desk in front of the room. Silence fell for what seemed like an eternity. In the distance they could hear more gunshots and screams. Then someone called to another person and the knocking started.
When the door didn't open, the two people started to try and break down the door. One said something that the students didn't hear. Then the door unlocked. Everyone held their breath and stayed frozen in place. The thin slice of light fell on Mr. Hatake who was casually lounging against his desk with his hands in his pockets.
"What do you want?" he asked casually. The students snorted with laughter.
"To end this stupid crap we have to go through every day," one snapped back. The voice was male.
"Yeah," echoed the second, a female. Izaki glanced up at the two. She couldn't see faces, only vague outlines. The door creaked open wider to cast more light onto the two shooters. Mr. Hatake seemed to stay silent for a moment before speaking.
"I didn't know you had such issues, Aidan and Mizuki." Izaki's blood turned to ice.
- - - - - - - - -
Mizuki had long since made up her mind. Ever since the night of the accident she'd been 'getting help'. She lied to her parents she was going to alcohol addicts meetings to get better and her boyfriend, rebel Aidan Xan, helped her forge letters to her parents that Mizuki was doing well and on the way to getting much better. In reality, the two had been planning ways to get back at others for making them suffer through their lives and making things so miserable for them.
The first idea they'd come up with was going into school with guns and shooting people. Then they planned to go back to Mizuki's house and kill her family. If they didn't get caught.
In the morning Mizuki feigned being cheery and happy. Secretly she slipped the gun Aidan gave her into her backpack and left for school on her own. At school she'd met up with him during class in a deserted, and hardly used, hallway. They'd started in the main hallway and branched off into a side hall of classrooms.
Mizuki had never felt so alive. The thrill of killing was more than she could've ever imagined. Without a word between the two they, most likely, killed eight students, injured countless, and then headed down to Mr. Hatake's classroom. Mizuki had an unsettled score.
- - - - - - - - -
Deidara was hiding closest to the door with Sasori. Both were desperately trying to avoid getting seen. When they'd heard Mr. Hatake's last words they'd immediately known that they could be potential targets. As the blonde gazed across the room to where Izaki was huddled under her desk he knew deep inside of him Izaki could only blame herself for this.
- - - - - - - - -
Izaki watched carefully as the two made their way farther to Mr. Hatake's desk. She caught Deidara's eye and nodded slightly to him. Her plan was to run to the gym where there was an emergency exit with Deidara and Sasori following her. The shooters were almost upon Mr. Hatake. She took a slow and soft breath. The trio knew it was time.
She launched herself out from under the desk and took off running. There were two pairs of footsteps behind her. Gunshots shattered off of walls around her. Deidara was running next to her with Sasori right next to him. The three were some of the best runners in Konoha High. She heard shouts and yells behind her as one of the shooters pursued them.
Several gunshots rang out in the classroom they'd just left before Izaki knew, with a sinking heart, both shooters were after them. Left, right, left… The hallways seemed to mock them with their endless twists and turns. She could see the gym door coming up fast. Her feet pounded the ground and her lungs burned with the need for proper air. They were almost there…
- - - - - - - - -
Aidan Xan had always been a rebel—always wanted to be different. A bad-boy kind of different. When he'd met Mizuki that seemed just like what he was going to get. His parents were the over-protective type that was completely blown away by the sudden change in their 'perfect' son.
Only Mizuki wasn't exactly all he thought her to be. He'd thought her to be a typical smoker punk skateboarder bad-girl. Instead Aidan realized Mizuki was a morbid, hateful, alcoholic who resented her family with every part of her being. The ideas she'd suggested to him he just went along with to perfect his 'image'.
With Mizuki Mukura it was all about revenge no matter the cost. She did most of the killing while Aidan watched in silent horror. This wasn't what he wanted. He only wanted to be a typical bad-boy. He'd bitten off way more than he could chew. And there was no going back now. Aidan needed to stop her. Before more students got fatally hurt.
- - - - - - - - -
Deidara, Sasori, and Izaki had finally reached the emergency exit doors. All three were panting hard. They pushed as hard as they could against the door. Then they heard the footsteps slowing as the shooters reached the gym where the three were.
"Push harder, yeah," hissed Deidara.
"I'm trying," muttered Izaki with another huge shove to the door. They almost had it open when Sasori cried out in shock and pain. Deidara let go of the door to kneel down next to the red-head. There was a deep crimson stain blossoming out near his shoulder.
"Sasori!" cried Deidara. The boy on the floor screamed with each throb of pain. The screams were something Izaki would never forget—ever. Then she heard a gun being aimed.
"So long, and good night," a voice laughed.
"Deidara!" Izaki, without thinking, threw herself in the path of the bullet.
- - - - - - - - -
Mizuki's finger tensed on the trigger. This was it. She pushed harder on the trigger and… Someone knocked into her from the side and her finger pulled the trigger. The gunshot exploded, resounding off of all the walls in the gym. The bullets aim was off. There was no way to tell where it was going to go now. Gazing up she saw Aidan with his gun pointing at her.
"Mizuki, why'd you do it?" he whispered hoarsely. Mizuki couldn't meet his eyes. She didn't have a reason. Every reason she had seemed to vanish into nothingness when she needed them most. None of them seemed to be the right answer.
"I…I…don't know…"
- - - - - - - - -
The shot seemed to tear right through her. Pain ignited every nerve in her body and a scream seemed to rip from her throat. She collapsed to the floor, her head hitting the cold wood floorboards. The bullet was lodged somewhere in her left side. Blood spilled to the floor and over her stomach. Her vision turned blurry and her mind seemed to slow. Her sister's words echoed in her mind over and over like some bad horror film. So long and good night…
She smiled to herself faintly. So this was it. This was how it ended. So be it, then. She deserved it. Every bit of pain coursing through her veins, every drop of blood that fell from her limp body, and every single second she spent dying there.
"Izaki…Izaki…no…" Then, everything went black.