Akira felt the sweat drenching her clothes and running down her skin, the throbbing of her eyes as the Sharingan strained, the thumping of her heart against her chest. Her fingers curled around the handle of her tachi, nails digging into her palms. She couldn't hear her rapid breathing, or Kakashi's either, but she could feel the rise and fall of her chest, and it was far calmer than Akira was comfortable with. As her eyes rose to stare at the standing corpse at the edge of her blade, horror tortured Akira's insides, churning her stomach in tense cramps. It engulfed her conscience, knocking all other thoughts aside, and overwhelmed her body, making it drastically exhausted. A wave of nausea rose in Akira's throat, but she kept it down easily, and that was what horrified her the most.

Kakashi was just as shocked, perhaps even frightened, and his pack of ninken vanished as his concentration left. Zabuza looked on, just as shocked, then at Haku, and Akira's eyes were forced down as they followed Zabuza's. Her blades had pierced right through him, and Kakashi's palm left a cavity in his chest. There was blood everywhere, pouring out of every orifice possible, and onto anything it touched. It was on the ground, on Zabuza, on Kakashi, and as the electricity from the attacks died down, Akira could see the blood soaking into her clothes. The chirping and the buzzing stopped, throwing the bridge back into a tense silence, and as Kakashi went to pull away his hand, Haku latched onto his arm.

Akira's breath hitched in her throat, and she took a step back, her blood-soaked blades leaving a short trail as she pulled them from Haku's body. Footsteps sounded behind her and, mind still confused and filled with panic, she swung her swords behind her. The tips of her tachi stopped mere inches away from Naruto's face, and he stared at them, then at her with wide eyes. It didn't take long for him to understand what had happened.

"The boy threw himself in front of our attack," Kakashi growled. He glanced up at Zabuza. "He saved your worthless life at the cost of his own."
"Well done, Haku," Zabuza chuckled. "I knew I found a treasure when I found you, boy."
"Well done..." Akira whispered. "Well done... WELL DONE!?"

Akira turned back towards Zabuza, eyes burning with anger.

"Haku gives his life to save your sorry ass, and you say, 'well done!?'" she roared. "This isn't some training exercise, Zabuza—Haku is dead! You'll never get to see him again!"

Suddenly, Zabuza began to slash down at Akira and Kakashi, fully aware that he'd split Haku in half if he did. Kakashi didn't hesitate to pull Haku towards him and jump out of the way, but Akira didn't move. Instead, she rose her swords at Zabuza and stopped his broadsword in mid-swing, concentrating chakra in her arms to help keep it at bay.

"Not bad for being in shock, kid," Zabuza laughed, pushing down on Akira's blades with his own.
"I'm not in shock," Akira said through clenched teeth. "I'm pissed!"

With a yell, Akira pushed her swords up enough for her to jump away from Zabuza. She landed next to Naruto, Kakashi and the dying Haku.

"You'll pay for that!" Naruto yelled

Akira's head turned swiftly in his direction. It was only then that it registered that Naruto was safe. Looking on either side of him, however, Akira didn't see Sasuke. As the information registered in her mind, the Sharingan vanished from her eyes, revealing oceans of deep blue. No more than a split second later, Akira burst into a run, heading where the ice mirrors were slowly melting. Her hands were shaking as she ran, and her tachi fell to the ground as soon as they became a burden to hold.

And then she stopped. Akira couldn't breathe. It felt as if someone was choking her, as if someone had a hold on her heart and was crushing it with their bare hands. A cry forced itself up her throat, and tears slowly began pouring out of her eyes. Sasuke wasn't moving, needles sticking out of him by what seemed like the hundreds. A small pool of blood was building up beneath him, soaking his clothes.

Akira took a few steps closer, wanting nothing more than to fall to his side, but she froze when her foot touched the blood. She recoiled, terrified of what was in front of her eyes, a stark reminder of what Itachi had done all those years ago. The world turned into a blur, as did all the sounds, everything from the scents to the taste of the air fading into those of that tragic night. She breathed heavier than she ever had before, gasping for air that simply wasn't there. Her throat burned, letting out a raw scream that curdled blood.

"Ugh, don't do that... You're going to give me a headache."

Akira gasped, suddenly finding the air that her lungs desperately needed. She took a step forward, walking through the blood, and knelt down beside her brother, whose eyes were open and looking up at his sister. Akira bent over and hugged Sasuke, sobbing into his clothes.

"Don't ever do that to me again," Akira whispered between sobs. "Don't you dare!"
"It hurts, Akira, jeez," Sasuke groaned.
"Shut up, or I give you to Sakura."

Sasuke sighed and stayed quiet, gently hugging Akira back as best he could. Moments later, Sakura arrived, worried sick, and she helped Sasuke sit despite Akira's protesting.

"He was just half-dead, Sakura," she shouted. "He needs to be lying down!"
"How's Naruto?" Sasuke asked. "What happened to that guy in the mask?"
"You know, if you're worrying about Naruto maybe you should be lying down," Sakura said, trying to put Sasuke on his back again.
"I'll be fine! What happened?"
"Naruto's good," Akira said with a sigh.
"And the kid in the mask?"

Akira didn't answer. Instead, she distracted herself by checking Sasuke's wounds.

"He's dead," Sakura said quietly. "Kakashi-sensei and Akira... it was an accident, really. He jumped in front of Zabuza and—"
"He's dead," Akira said sternly. A trail of blood from her sleeve smeared itself onto her face as she wiped her tears, and Sasuke and Sakura stared straight at it. "He's dead, and I killed him."
"You—"
"Yeah. And it's not something I plan on doing again anytime soon."

Sasuke nodded, and as Akira began removing the needles from his body, Sakura stood, calling over to Naruto. With the last of the needles plucked, Akira helped Sasuke stand, and they both faced Naruto. Upon seeing them, Naruto smiled, and even Sasuke rose a hand to acknowledge him.

As Akira's eyes scanned the bridge, she noticed that the mist was nowhere to be found. In the centre of the bridge lay Zabuza, and Kakashi placed Haku beside him as all the villagers gathered up on the bridge, Inari leading them forward to scare of Gato's thugs.

Akira supported Sasuke as they, Sakura and Tazuna walked back towards Kakashi and Naruto. Her eyes lingered on the blood on Kakashi's clothes, then on the ground where Haku had been killed. Sasuke shook her out of it, reassuring her that everything was going to be all right, and as he did, dainty flakes of snow began to fall. Akira smiled as they lodged themselves in her hair, and laughed, thinking about how Kai would say she looked like something out of a manga again. Sasuke looked at her strangely, but Naruto smiled as well, looking up at the snowflakes that could only be a reflection of Haku himself.

Akira stood, watching the line where heaven touched the earth. Lavender illuminated the sky and glimmers of orange melted in like watercolours on a canvas. Akira glanced over her shoulders with her heart heavy and at her shadow stretched over Zabuza's and Haku's graves that she and her comrades had dug. The girl sighed and, before the last stretches of colour disappeared and the sun had set, looked back at the horizon and at the bridge that Tazuna was safely completing.

"Is that really it, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. "Is that really the ninja way? To use and be used by people like tools?"
"Shinobi are merely tools in the hands of destiny," Kakashi said. "No point in wondering whether it's right or wrong. It just is. It's the same in the Village Hidden in the Leaves."
"Well, if you ask me if that's what being a ninja is all about, something's outta whack," Naruto said in a huff. "Is that why we go through all this training? Just to end up like them? What's the reason for that?"
"That's a question with an answer that's different for everyone, I think," Akira said calmly. "I think that we all just need to find our own ninja way, our own path to walk."
"I think Akira's onto something!" Naruto chuckled, looking out at the sunset with Akira. "From now on, I'm finding my own ninja way! A way that's straight and true, and without any regrets! From now on, I'm following the way of Naruto!"

Akira swung her arm around Naruto's shoulders and laughed. Once again, Naruto's optimism had cheered everyone up, and even Sasuke had the faintest of smiles on his face.

"Come on, guys," Kakashi said. "Let's go back and rest—we're leaving early tomorrow."
"I'll race you, Akira!" Naruto exclaimed, smacking Akira on the shoulder. He began running towards the hill. "The last one down's a rotten egg!"
"Hey, Naruto, you're gonna fall flat on your face if you run downhill like that!" Akira called, worried. She jogged after him and watched as he face-planted. "See, I told you!"
"I'm fine, I'm fine!"

Naruto jogged the rest of the way back, worried that he'd fall again, and it was at the last moment that Akira dashed forwards and beat him to Tazuna's house. As they all went inside, Akira walked toward the water and stared at her own reflection. She looked tired, and her clothes and skin were covered with dirt and blood. Her worries about the rippling water from a few days ago seemed meaningless now.

Akira followed everyone inside, with a sigh and went straight up to her shared room to clean off her face and hands. Akira watched as the clear water turned murky and brown and as the dried dirt on her arms trickled down when she passed a wet cloth on top. But the blood had concentrated in the folds of her knuckles, in the webbing of her fingers, and no matter how hard she scrubbed, no matter how much dirt washed off her skin, Haku's blood didn't seem to leave, a stark reminder of the act she'd committed.

When Tsunami called everyone for dinner, Akira never showed. She spent the next hour with her hands in the washbowl, hoping that the warm water and the soap would loosen the blood. Sakura came to check on her before she sat down for dinner but didn't dare engage Akira upon seeing several bloody towels strewn across the room. Instead, she went back downstairs and told everyone that Akira had gone to sleep. And when Sakura returned to go to bed, there was no evidence that Akira had been scrubbing her hands raw. The soiled towels were gone, the water in the bowl was clear, and the only reminder of Akira's actions remained on the pile of dirty but meticulously folded clothes in the corner of the room.

Akira came back to Konohagakure a changed girl. She was stronger than before, and yet far more wounded than she'd ever been. Still, even though her hands were clean, Akira could see Haku's blood, and she could still hear the sound her blades made when they pierced him.

When Akira stepped across the threshold that led to Konoha, she was met with the same familiar smell of jasmine flowers. The main street was alive and bustling with the people she saw every day. It was like a salve, rushing over her bloodied hands to heal all their wounds. Akira was quick to break away from Team Seven and dashed off towards the training ground she, Kai, Shikamaru and Kiba were always at. She ran through the crowd of people on Main Street, passing the bright green cherry blossom trees, and waved hello to the father and daughter who ran Ichiraku Ramen when she bolted past.

The girl's heart swelled when she reached the Academy and wandered onto the training grounds. Of course, her friends were the only ones there that weren't training, which brought a smile to Akira's face. Kai was sitting cross-legged in the grass, as usual, fanning himself with his pale blue paper fans; Shikamaru was leaning against a tree, arms crossed and staring at Kiba with his typical lazy expression; and Kiba, lying flat on his back, was staring up at the sky with Akamaru sleeping peacefully on his stomach.

"Miss me?"

Three pairs of eyes glanced over towards the sound of Akira's voice, and the three boys stared at her in pure shock. There she was, after an entire month, just standing in front of them with a lopsided smirk on her face. Even after a whole month, Akira didn't look different at all, but her eyes were sunken. The boys couldn't tell whether it was fatigue or something far more worrisome, but they set it aside, and Kiba scrambled to his feet.

"Kira, you're back!" he shouted happily, trapping Akira in a bone-crushing hug.
"We missed you like crazy!" Kai said, joining Kiba.
"I missed you too, guys, but you're gonna kill me if you don't stop squeezing!" Akira said with a wheeze. "Shikamaru—help!"
"Welcome back, Akira," Shikamaru said, smiling slyly. "You're on your own."
"You asshole!"