Kiri paced the hall quickly with her arms folded over her chest as she chewed on the ends of her hair. Finally, a doctor stepped out of a nearby room. Kiri stopped pacing and moved the hair from her mouth as she approached with a solemn expression.

"Well?"

The doctor sighed for a moment before meeting Kiri's eyes. "Well... we've been able to stop the bleeding and heal the wound. If you hadn't acted so quickly, we wouldn't have been able to."

Kiri's eyes watered and she covered her mouth. "You mean... she'll be okay?"

The doctor shifted her feet and slowly continued. "She got very lucky. The wound was not very deep, and it didn't sever the arteries. While it certainly bled a lot, it looked much worse than it really was."

Kiri's eyes lowered as she choked back a cry softly and a tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm so glad... I thought for sure she wouldn't make it."

"There has been... a problem, though." The doctor cleared her throat and Kiri looked up at her.

"A... problem?" Kiri bit her lip. "What do you mean?"

"While we were able to heal the wound itself, we discovered that she had been poisoned." The doctor glanced back at the door, then turned her eyes to Kiri again. "The blade that cut her must have been coated with some kind of toxin, but it's one we've never seen before. It's consistent with all the old reports of the Araki brothers."

"Poison?" Kiri put her arm out to steady herself against the wall. "But you can create an antidote, right?"

The doctor paused. "We can try, but without knowing the origin of the poison, we could end up making it much worse. We've isolated a sample of the toxin to study for now, however it seems to be slow-spreading and concentrated in her neck— as long as someone continues to heal the area every thirty minutes or so." The doctor let out a small sigh and put her hands into her pockets. "For now, we'll have someone assigned to treat her at all times while we work to create the antidote. However, if the poison continues to spread and it reaches her heart before we can find the cure, she won't survive it."

Kiri began to tremble and pressed herself against the wall. "No..."

"I'm sorry to have to deliver this kind of news." The doctor patted Kiri's shoulder and forced a faint smile. "However, don't lose hope. Without you stopping the bleeding and getting her here so quickly, she wouldn't have made it. But now she has a fighting chance."

Kiri stared at the floor and drew her arms in closely, and the doctor lowered her arm.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to brief the nurses and set up a treatment schedule."

"...Thank you." Kiri mumbled as the woman nodded and walked away.

"Kiri?"

Kiri looked up slowly and blinked, then wiped her face with the back of her hand. "Kotetsu?"

Kotetsu furrowed his brow as he looked her over. "...Bad news?"

Kiri shrugged. "A little good and bad..." She mumbled and leaned against the wall. "Sena's alright for now... but her condition is..." She shook her head and bit her lip. "Well, they're not sure what will happen."

"I'm sorry." He stood beside her against the wall and his eyes fell to the floor ahead.

"What about Natsumi?" Kiri glanced up at him, her chest heavy and her stomach knotted. "Is she okay?"

Kotetsu met her eyes. "...To be honest, they're still working on her. Chakra exhaustion of that extent... they said she was half dead when they began to heal her." He sighed quietly. "But they said that if they could stabilize her, that she would be alright... the problem is that her body is so deprived of Chakra and she pushed herself so hard that her cells were damaged." He paused. "They think that she converted the life from the healthy cells into Chakra, sort of... eating herself in order to draw extra Chakra."

Kiri pressed her lips together and looked away and he touched her arm. "There's a whole team working to help her. She's a tough kid, so she'll be okay. They both will."

Kiri gritted her teeth and swatted his hand away. "How can you say that?"

"W-What?" Kotetsu blinked and looked at her.

"H-How can you say that?" Kiri asked again, her eyes spilling over as her voice quivered. "Natsumi is already half dead and Sena's wound was tainted with an incurable poison, so how can you just say that everything will be fine?!"

Kotetsu blinked and reached out to comfort her. "Kiri..."

She shoved him back, shaking her head. "Just leave me alone!"

Kotetsu's eyes widened and he grabbed her wrists, looking over her hands. "Kiri, your hands!"

She tried to pull away from him, only turning to look away as she remained quiet.

Kotetsu furrowed his brows and looked between the wounds in her palms and her eyes. "You need to be treated right away. This is serious."

"I'm fine." She muttered and tugged away from him again, though her energy was slowly draining.

"You're fine?" He scoffed. "I can see through your hands!"

"This is nothing." Kiri mumbled. "Sena and Natsumi are more important."

"They're being treated as we speak." Kotetsu gently tugged her along as he looked around the halls. "Now you need to stop being so stubborn and let someone take a look at you."

"Let go of me!" Kiri glowered and Kotetsu narrowed his eyes back at her.

"Not until someone sees you."

A group of Medical Ninja rounded the corner to look at the pair.

"Excuse me." A woman looked between them. "If you can't keep it down, we'll have to ask you to leave."

"She needs help." Kotetsu pointed at her hand as he lifted one of her arms up to reveal the wound. "Right away."

"Oh my." One of the women walked over and gently took Kiri's hands and examined them. "This is serious." She smiled reassuringly at Kiri. "Come with us, please, and we'll get this all fixed up for you."

Kiri shot Kotetsu a glare as he chuckled and put a hand on his hip. "Ass."

Kotetsu shrugged and smirked. "You're welcome, you stubborn idiot."

Kiri followed the Ninja to another room and sat in silence as they cleaned her wounds and began to heal.

"You're very lucky." One smiled at Kiri, her eyes raising from Kiri's hands to her face. "Your boyfriend is very caring, looking after you like that."

Kiri blinked for a moment, then her cheeks warmed as she realized what had been said. "H-He's not my boyfriend."

"Oh." The woman pursed her lips, then winked with a soft laugh. "Maybe he should be."

Kiri's eyes unfocused as she stared down at the soft glow on her hands. After some time, her hands were carefully bandaged and the woman patted Kiri's shoulder.

"All done now, dear. Considering the severity of the wound, you should come back every day for several weeks so we can be sure it's healing properly without any infections forming. Please try to take it easy so that your hands have the opportunity to heal."

Kiri stood slowly and nodded, only half listening. "...Thanks." She stepped out of the room with a long sigh, then left the hospital, wandering slowly with her eyes glazed over.

"Tell us again, K, what you saw." One man asked another gruffly and crossed his arms.

"I already told you! I went to pay back some of the money I'd borrowed from Gou, and I saw that girl killing him! Stabbing him over and over with a look in her eyes like a wild beast!" The smaller man shuddered and shook his head. "I've been in war before... and never seen anything so gruesome."

Another man scoffed under his breath. "A four-year-old child couldn't have killed Gou."

"I know what I saw!" The second man insisted again and glanced toward the barred holding cell, pointing a finger at the blood-covered figure inside. "That thing is a monster!"

"That thing is a four-year-old girl." A new man entered. "Furthermore, why would a child kill her own parent in cold blood?"

"Lord Raikage." The men turned to him and nodded respectfully, glancing away.

"Gou has always told us that his daughter was... strange." The second man spoke slowly. "Ever since she was born, there's been nothing but bad luck. Fatal work accidents... wells running dry... fertile fields turning barren..."

Another man spoke up, stepping forward from where he'd been standing in the corner. "It's more than just that. There's an old myth about the Ueno clan... that they were placed under a curse hundreds of years ago. If there was ever a daughter born to them, they would face ruin..."

The Raikage raised a brow. "Are you suggesting that a supposed cursed child is to blame for all those problems?"

"All of those old predications have come true since that child was born, Lord Raikage." He defended.

"That's right..." Another man nodded. "It has been strange..."

"And, Gou's talked about how strange she was before, too." The second man continued. "He said that usually she was a happy child, though sometimes... she would suddenly change. She'd be cold and callous— as if she was some kind of... empty puppet."

"I heard once that she killed a wild dog with her bare hands after it had wandered into their garden." Another muttered under his breath. "And was using its blood to paint a picture..."

"Enough!" The Raikage looked between them. "We're talking about a young girl here. Has anyone spoken to her yet?"

"No, sir." One man quickly answered. "Once we captured her... she's been mute and staring into the corner of the cell. I'm not sure she's even blinked."

"Let me see her."

"S-Sir!" K's eyes widened slightly. "I'm telling you, she was like a wild animal!"

With one glance, the man stepped aside and the Raikage walked over to the cell and peered through the bars of the cell. He knelt and his eyes fell on the small girl, who was covered entirely from head-to-toe with blood splatter.

He cleared his throat and she remained in place, staring into the corner as they'd said, unblinking.

"Kiri, isn't it?" He spoke softly to the child, who didn't acknowledge him. "Are you alright? Were you hurt at all?"

Without a reply, he frowned and tried again. "K says he saw you attacking your father... but I want to know what happened."

After a long pause, he let out a sigh and shifted to stand when a small voice answered.

"He didn't want vegetable soup again."

"Hm?" The man's eyes fell on her again and the men behind her shuddered at the chill in her voice.

"Mommy made vegetable soup. He wanted meat and rice." Kiri muttered under her breath, her tone hollow. "Meat and rice, he said. Meat and rice." She began to cackle loudly.

The Raikage looked behind him at the others, who had stepped back and were staring at the child, frozen in place. He turned back to the girl.

"What do you mean?"

"Meat and rice, he said." Kiri cackled again. "He said it with his mouth... and his hands. Meat and rice... he was tired of vegetable soup. Mommy said we had no money for meat. No money for rice. No meat and rice."

"Meat and rice." Kiri laughed coldly and swayed slowly side-to-side. "He was yelling. Yelling. Yelling. And hitting. Hitting. Hitting. And mommy was crying. Crying. Crying." The laughing stopped suddenly and she stopped rocking. "Meat and rice."

The men gulped and looked at one another and the Raikage turned to his assistant. "Why is she like this?"

"Often, when a child undergoes trauma, their psyche is damaged and they are thrust into an instinctive, protective state of mind." The woman answered quietly. "The looping responses are not atypical, and they always pertain to the incident."

"What does it mean?"

"I-I'm not sure..." The woman answered hesitantly. "I doubt we'll get a clear answer from her when she's in shock like this."

They turned to look inside the cell, where faint singing was echoing from.

"Daddy wanted meat and rice, mommy said no.

No money for meat, no money for rice.

Lots of empty bottles daddy tried to hide.

Daddy yelled. Mommy fell. Daddy hit. Mommy snapped. Crack, crack, crack."

The girl began to laugh again, first as a whisper, and then it grew louder and louder.

"Kiri killed daddy. Kiri killed daddy.

Lots of pretty, pretty blood on the pretty, pretty knife.

No more daddy. No more yelling. No more hitting.

And no more meat and rice."

The Raikage's eyes widened as the girl turned her head slowly, still unblinking, with her eyes wide and wild and a grin on her face.

"No meat and rice for daddy."

He stood quickly and turned to the small group.

"I-It's like I said." K gulped again and held his arms close. "That's not a child... it's a monster."

"If I may..." The woman cleared her throat. "From what I've gathered, her father was the murderer. She's just a child who tried to help her mother when she was being abused."

"That's impossible!" Another man muttered. "Gou was deeply in love with Aimi. They'd been together since they were kids. He would have never hurt her."

"Kiri's testimony suggests otherwise." The woman put a hand on her hip. "'Lots of empty bottles' is what she said... did you know if he had a drinking problem?"

"No!" K shook his head. "It's true that we did like to go out for drinks often, but he never drank around his family. And none of us have ever known him to be violent."

"Do you know this for certain?" The Raikage looked at him. "Have any of you been to his home before?"

"W-Well..." They looked at each other. "He's always asked that we stay away."

"He said that Aimi became anxious around guests, and that Kiri was too... odd to be around company." Another man admitted.

"My lord, it seems to me that Gou presented himself much differently in public than he was at home." The assistant turned to him. "If we could have someone investigate at the home, we could confirm what really happened."

The Raikage nodded. "We'll get to the bottom of this."

"What about..." K glanced into the cell. "...her?"

"She should be looked at immediately, my Lord. She could have been injured in the struggle, and the psychological damage needs to be addressed right away."

"Very well. See to it that she's treated. Have her moved into the hospital, but separated from the other patients and monitored." The Raikage nodded once more and let out a breath as he turned to the men. "No one is to go near her without authorization. She's a key witness to this investigation."

"Y-Yes, Lord Raikage."

"Kiri." The Raikage cleared his throat a second time and the girl slowly blinked as her eyes came into focus. She vaguely met his eyes, saying nothing, as she had become mute once more after her song.

"You're going to spend tonight in the hospital." The Raikage explained. "There are guards outside your room, for your own protection." He paused to look for understanding or recognition in her eyes, but only saw emptiness. "I've arranged for Medical Ninja to tend to you, so cooperate with them."

He sighed and stood straight to look at the pair of guards in the doorway. "No one is allowed in or out without my authorization. Understood?"

They nodded he solemnly glanced back at the child in the bed before leaving. The guards looked between themselves and stepped out of the room, allowing the Medical Ninja inside.

Once they had cleaned her off and examined her over, they left her alone with a tray of food and shut the door behind them. After some time of staring blankly at the ceiling, Kiri eventually fell into a restless sleep.

Several hours later, K approached the guards with quiet steps to avoid waking any of the sleeping patients.

"Hey." K smiled slightly and nodded his head to them.

"We can't let you in, if that's what you want." One of the guards grunted under his breath, leaning against the doorframe.

"Nah." K shook his head and held up the two steaming cups he held in his hands. "I just brought these for you. I figured you two might be getting tired and needed a pick-me-up."

"Huh. Thanks." The other guard nodded in appreciation and reached out to take a cup and took a long drink. "Ah. Good stuff."

The first guard took his own cup and drank.

"She hasn't tried to escape or anything, has she?" K glanced toward the door.

"Nah." The second guard shook his head. "We've peeked in a few times and she's fallen asleep."

"Good." K let out a slow breath. "After what I saw her do to Gou... I'm glad the Raikage has you keeping an eye on her. I'd hate for her to get loose."

"We heard." The first guard sipped his coffee and exhaled slowly. "To think that Gou could have been completely different than we knew..." He shook his head. "And to think that a small child like that could have done so much damage in retaliation... it's hard to believe."

K clutched on hand into a tight fist and shook his own head. "I still can't believe it. It keeps replaying in my mind over and over. It was unlike anything I've seen before."

"I can't even imagine." The second guard finished his coffee in a gulp and crossed his arms. "She's such an innocent-looking kid."

"Appearances are deceiving." K muttered quietly under his breath and crossed his own arms and rested a shoulder against the wall. "What is the Raikage even thinking? What is he going to do with her now?"

"What do you mean?" The first guard sipped and held the cup near his mouth. "She'll go to the orphanage, won't she?"

K shook his head. "That's just it... even if she is a victim... would you feel safe letting her near the other children after she's brutally killed someone?" He paused and cleared his throat and met their eyes. "The trauma of it has probably done severe damage on her mind. Would it really be a good idea to have her around the others? Or placed into a foster family?"

The guards quieted, and the second one yawned slightly and shrugged. "She'll definitely need therapy, but she's so young. You don't think she'll make a recovery?"

K shrugged. "I'm not sure. I've never known anything like this to happen before. I'm just concerned for everyone's safety. I think the Raikage is only concerned about the girl, instead of the potential risks."

The first guard finished his cup and shook his head sadly. "I'm sure the Raikage has considered all sides to it. Whatever he decides, I'm sure it will be the right thing."

"I forgot..." The second guard yawned again and blinked hard. "You're the one who was closest to Gou. It must be hard for you."

"We've been friends since we were kids." K closed his eyes and furrowed his brows. "We did everything together. He was the one there for me after my father walked out on me. To think he's gone... it's going to take a while to sink in."

"I can imagine." The first guard nudged the second with a scowl. "Hey! Stop nodding off!"

The second guard blinked and held up the cup. "Sorry. I think I need more coffee. This one cup only reminded me how tired I really was."

His eyes began to flutter close and he leaned against the wall, his words beginning to jumble together. "I dunno... why I'm so tired..." He collapsed on the ground and the first guard's eyes widened and he stepped closer to him, wobbling suddenly as his vision blurred.

He blinked as he fell to his knees and gritted his teeth, glaring up at K. "You bastard... why the hell did you drug us?"

K's innocent expression of surprise twisted into a smile nearly too wide for his face and his eyes darkened. He stepped over the guard's body and watched as his eyes closed heavily.

"Too trusting..." K chuckled under his breath. "Just like Aimi."

Cracking his neck, K propped the guards up so they appeared to the sitting at their posts and opened the door to step inside.

His eyes adjusted to the darkness and his smirk grew as he approached the bed, watching intently as Kiri's chest rose and fell in her sleep and her eyes darted back and forth behind her eyelids in a nightmare.

"Oh, poor girl." He chuckled again. "I used to be plagued with nightmares as a kid, too. I was cured of them after I fell in love... but they came back when she married someone else."

He shook his head, reaching out to stroke her silky black hair. Kiri's eyes burst open at the touch and her mouth opened to scream in surprise, and K clamped his hand over her mouth tightly.

She thrashed in the bed and he kept his hand over her mouth tightly.

"Shh now... you don't want to alert anyone." He chuckled. "I just wanted to have a little chat with my own daughter."

Kiri's eyes widened like saucers and K laughed under his breath as her struggling faded.

"Don't make that face." He leaned closer to her as she began to tremble. "Gou wasn't your father." He laughed. "Oh, he thought he was. But he didn't know..."

"You see..." K stroked her hair with his free hand. "I always loved Aimi. I never had the guts to tell her... not until she'd already married Gou. I went over to drop off some tools Gou had asked to borrow... and I found myself confessing to Aimi and begging her to run away with me. Of course, she refused and ordered me to never speak of it again or mention the conversation to Gou."

K sighed and shrugged. "Of course, I was too in love with her to accept her answer. I had to take matters into my own hands."

Kiri continued to struggle and attempted to scream, but was stopped when he placed his foot on her stomach and kept his hand in place.

"So, I pretended to go along with her terms and offered to make her tea as an apology. I had some poison on hand if I ever gathered the courage to take out my rival... but I put it to better use. One sprinkle in her cup was enough to knock her out." He stopped stroking her hair to mime sprinkling a powder and smirked. "And, she just looked so lovely that I couldn't help myself. By the time Gou finally returned home, all evidence had been erased and I convinced him that she must have been sick and overworked herself."

K laughed and then quieted himself. "Of course, that fool never doubted me for a moment. She made a full recovery in less than a day and had no memories of that day. And, when Gou announced that she was expecting... I knew that you were mine. I've always known. I could feel it in my bones."

Kiri's eyes began to water and spill over as she cried, trying to pull away from him.

"I knew Gou best, so I knew just what to say over time to plant the seed in his mind that Aimi was unfaithful." K chuckled, a breathy, raspy laugh. "Not only that, but he was so gullible that I was able to twist him and turn his unwavering love for her into violence. I had hoped that, once it became too much, Aimi would simply leave him, taking you with her. And then I would be there as the compassionate friend and protector, until she fell for me as well, and we would be the family we always should have been."

K's expression darkened. "But, you went ahead and ruined those plans instead. Aimi grew too devoted and timid to leave— most likely for your own sake. And you couldn't have even attacked Gou until after Aimi was..." He clenched his hand tighter over her face and scowled. "Why couldn't you have done something sooner? My Aimi is gone now, and all that's left of her is you... you worthless child."

His hand moved from her mouth to her throat, gripping it as she thrashed and gasped desperately for a breath.

"The last thing I wanted was to lose Aimi... and it's your fault that she is gone forever. You might be the beloved daughter I've wanted to raise, but I can't forgive you for letting her die."

Kiri struggled and he laughed coldly.

"You might have overpowered Gou by pure surprise alone... but you're not strong enough to defeat me."

Kiri narrowed her eyes and clasped the silverware she'd hidden beneath the mattress, swinging them into his side. His eyes widened slightly and his grip loosened just enough on her throat for her to draw in a large gasp of air.

Before he could react, Kiri drove the knife and fork into his chest again and again. He growled and gripped her wrists, squeezing to get her to drop her weapons as he bled.

"You little—!" K pinned her down, scowling. "You took Aimi from me! Just accept your death!"

She bashed her head against the bridge of his nose, regaining control of her arm and she plunged the knife into his neck and kicked away from him. She scampered over to the window, out of breath and crying, prying it open as he clutched his neck in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

"Get back here!"

Kiri shook her head quickly, her lips quivering, and she jumped from the window with her eyes closed tightly as she fell from the second story.

Kiri blinked hard and gasped for breath, clutching her neck as if a man's large hand were still there and she rushed behind the nearest shop. Gasping and trembling, she clutched her head at the memories and she suppressed a choking sob. She sunk to the ground, out of sight of the street, and buried her face in her legs as she drew them nearer.

"No." She held back another sob, biting her lip to keep quiet as her eyes spilled over. "Not those memories again. Not now."