I was awoken with a start. A scream of a young girl, no my sister's scream reverberated throughout the house tearing me away from another void dream. But what I woke up to made me wish that I had never woken up at all.

Smoke quickly took hold of my airflow and the most I could do was bring my shirt over my nose to keep most of it out. I could see from out of my window that there was an orange glow surrounding my house. Putting two and two together along with the excessive heat, I knew that my house was burning with all of us inside.

Knowing this I had a strong feeling that at any moment my dad would burst through my door and save me and the rest of my family, but Nari's scream kept ringing through my ears. Why did she stop screaming? How long had this fire been burning? Where is dad?

I turned back to look at my perfect escape route, the window, then turned back to my door. I had two voices in my head, one telling me to run and the other telling me to look for my family within the flames. Maybe they were trapped and I was the only one who could save them.

I went with the most dangerous option and later on the most traumatizing option. The moment I slid open my door, I was met with immense heat protruding from the flames within my home. I used one hand to hold my shirt over my nose while my other hand tried to block the heat waves wanting to burn my face. My eyes watered as if I were cutting onions, but this was no time to complain, I had to move forward.

Down the hall from my room there's a little corner which leads to the hall that my siblings' rooms are in. Down that hall there is a flight of stairs that lead up to my parents room. Hopefully they have already made it down and were busy collecting Nari and Michi so we can escape from this madness.

My feet ran across the hot wooden floor. It hurt like a bitch, but I had to keep pressing on. I had to find them, I had to. The roof was set ablaze, wooden beams quickly crumbling to nothing. If I'm not careful then it could all collapse on me.

Lucky for me though I had made it to the corner that led to my siblings' hallway. As I turned the corner I could hear faint noises from above meaning that mom and dad were fine and were probably just trying to save what they could get their hands on.

The sliver of hope that I had for a perfect escape from the flames was quickly extinguished as I finally rounded the corner completely. Right in front of Michi's door a body was propped against the wall. I could call out that big shaven head from a mile away. But why on earth would Michi be laying on the ground at a time like this?

His back slid down slowly against the door as gravity wanted to pull him all the way to the floor. The palms of his hands stared upward at the ceiling while his head hung down limply.

I moved as quickly as I could towards him while still remaining safe from the flames that had taken over this part of the house. As I reached his body I could see a dark liquid spreading out onto his shirt. Perhaps he had gotten burned and was too weak to move.

"Michi!" I called out to him as I finally reached his body. "Come on! We have to leave!" I reached down with my free hand to grab his arm and pull him up. His body was a lot heavier than I thought it was going to be, so I accidentally dropped it. This is where I began to regret not escaping through the window, and this was when I realized that we were under attack.

Michi's body fell from my hand causing him to land directly on the hot wooden floor with a loud thud. The flames illuminated the nightmare in front of me. The nightmare I never wanted to see. Blood pooled from his body and onto the floor from the large gash that was cut along his neck. The cut was too big to be done by some small blade. No, whoever had done this was using something strong and thick to kill him. His eyes were now a dull, lifeless mirror of what they once were. Glancing down at the hand that had grabbed him, I saw that it had been painted red with my own brother's blood.

I could feel everything within my stomach coming up to my throat and all the tears that I had stored within me welling up in my eyes.

No. This can't be happening. This isn't real. I'm still dreaming, right? I never woke up and I'm just stuck in an endless nightmare. Right?

Right?

I'm just dreaming. I'm just dreaming. Michi is still alive and will beat me to the bathroom tomorrow morning. He'll help me with my training, he'll nag about everything Nari and I do. Yes, that is what will happen tomorrow. That's how it always happens.

As if things couldn't get any better for me and my family, my mom's painful scream echoed from up the stairs as loud thuds rushed down the steps, "Taigen!"

That was my dad's real name. My mom had only ever used it in emergencies and once I saw his body hit the floor. His hand hit our burning wooden floor with such heavy force that I knew no living hand would be able to produce.

His body was turned to the side hiding half of his face away from me. It wasn't able to hide the pool of blood that was oozing from the other side of his head. I didn't need to step any closer to know that my dad had the same fate as Michi and most likely Nari as well.

But no fire could do so much damage to someone or even cut someone's throat, so what the hell was happening?

My hands slapped hard against my mouth to hide the scream that wanted to be released. Fear bubbled within me as I slowly started to realize that my time was coming to an end just like the rest of my family. My breathing quickened as I tried to back away from it all.

I would have woken up by now right? Why isn't it happening? Why am I still stuck in this dream?

Soft footsteps clicked against the stairs as someone slowly ascended downwards. I knew from the soft placement of the stranger's steps that it wasn't my mother making her way down the steps, instead it was someone else. Had the attacker already gotten my mom as well?

My death was nearing closer and closer by the second and yet I couldn't move. I was trapped in place in between two dead bodies of my family. Soon it was going to be three.

The stranger had finally reached the last step with such grace that I questioned if they even saw the fire. I knew from the way that her body was built that she was in fact a woman, but why? Why was she doing this to my family? What did we do?

Her head snapped towards me and I was met with a piercing gaze that mended it's way into my soul forever. Her head leaned back and within the flames I could see her lips curve up into a wicked smile. She was aware of what she had done and had no remorse.

"Oh," For someone so evil, her voice sounded like one of an angel's. "It appears I've missed one."

Both of her hands lifted faster than my legs could turn and run. One hand was in the basic jutsu form while the other hand morphed out of human flesh into a large green vine. It shot out towards me, quickly wrapping around my small neck. I was dragged away from my frozen state and closer towards the attacker.

The tears struggling to fall from my eyes blurred my vision. All I could see was her permanent smile and bright purple eyes. Purple hints at royalty, the ones with higher authority and right now it all made perfect sense. I meant nothing to whoever this woman was. I was just a feeble ant bothering her picnic of life. So she planned to rid me off this planet forever.

The vine tightened harshly around my neck cutting off any airway I had. The muscles within my neck pushed tightly against the bone and I knew within seconds it would snap and I'd be a goner.

Moments away from death, an angel from the top of the stairs had saved my life while costing her own. My mom, feeble and weak, grabbed a vase from the upstairs and threw it with all her might down towards the murder. Knocking her right in the head, she dropped me to the floor with a moment's hesitation. Glass from the vase separated everywhere after hitting her head, they were all sent flying down to the floor like me.

My mom stood up there, blood running down from her head as she sucked in a large amount of air. Tears stained her cheeks as she stared down at her last living child. Her golden eyes shot over to the murder and she growled like a beast, "Stay away from my daughter, you bitch!"

Chills rushed through my body after hearing my mother use such language. She was such a gentle soul, but at this moment she wasn't messing around with anybody.

The other woman grunted as she whipped her vine around to face my mom, "I thought I got rid of you!"

Her vine shot up the stairs, but my mom was ready. She got the vine with both her hands and was able to move it in a different direction. The vine went straight through their burning wall. As the strange woman was busy trying to remove it, my mom's frantic gaze turned back to me.

"Yumi, run! Please!" Her face softened once she realized just how terrified and confused I was. "It'll be okay... I promise..."

That was all my body needed for the ice in my soul to melt. I rose from the floor to quickly make my escape from this burning dream. All I had to do was make it out the door and everything would be fine.

My feet hit the ground faster than they ever have before. I was no longer carefully avoiding the flames. I had to make it out of this hell while my mom distracted her for as long as she could.

I ran past Michi knowing that I would argue with him tomorrow morning. I ran past my room that I would wake up in. I left behind my mom and dad knowing that they would be there to tell me goodmorning. I left behind my sister who would offer to help me with my hair tomorrow. I knew that it would all be fine tomorrow.

I had finally made it to the door that was hidden away in flames. It didn't matter if I got hurt. The burns wouldn't be real. None of this is real anyway. My hand went through the flame and touched the part that allowed me to slide it open. It hurt, but it didn't matter. It hurt like a bitch though, I won't lie.

The night sky never wavered once as I made my way out. The ground beneath my feet didn't disappear and my eyes never closed. The pain from my hand still scattered throughout my palm and my neck still felt like it was being held.

All the emotions fell on me at once like a heavy boulder that I was in no state to hold. I fell to the graveled ground not having the strength to stand up anymore. The smoke in my lungs and the pain from my neck made it impossible to breathe.

As I tried coughing it all out, I turned my head to finally realize that I was not in a dream. My house, the one I had grown up in, was up in flames slowly crumbling in on itself and my family. The family that I had left behind forever.

The family that I would never see again.

Distant yells came from the other side of my home as loud footsteps came closer. All of them yelling at me to see if I was okay and to see what the hell had happened to everything. I didn't want to turn away from my home, but their cries were too unbearable.

"Yumi!"

Finally I turned my head to see the two dinner guests from before chasing each other down the street with the leader of my village close behind them. All of them had a fearful gaze in their eyes.

Minato slid out in front of me, grabbing my shoulder to see if I was alive or even responsive. His eyes searched mine for answers, but I was just as confused as they all were.

All their voices started to jumble together in a loud mess as their bodies became little blurs in my eyes. I saw Minato order Fugaku inside my burning home to check for any survivors but I knew there wouldn't be any. Even if my mom made it out of that fight, there was no way she survived the fire.

Minato held onto me still trying to get some kind of answer, but nothing was making sense anymore. The only thing that was on my mind was one burning question.

What the hell just happened?