As Hayate announced the beginning of the fight, neither of them moved. Akira and Kai stared each other down until Kai's gaze began to wander. She saw him linger on the black mark peeking from her collar, then on the burnt arms. He lingered on the absence of weapons to fight with, the way she seemed to be in pain by doing nothing at all. Kai, on the other hand, was in near-mint condition. Being a long-distance fighter meant that he didn't have a scratch on him. His hair was still clean and white, his eyes weren't tired, he had all his weapons, and his clothes weren't stained by battle. Akira didn't think he'd used up that much chakra either. Not that it mattered; she couldn't use hers anyway.

"You sure you can still fight, kid?" Kai teased. Akira could tell there was worry behind his smile.
"Of course, I can. I wouldn't be here if I couldn't—I wouldn't waste my time," Akira replied, voice even, almost stern.
"With arms like that it's gonna hurt, you know."
"A little pain never killed anyone, Kai."
"You don't even have a sword to fight with."

Akira sighed. He had a point. She clicked her tongue and snapped her fingers, suddenly remembering something. Akira turned to the proctor standing nearby and he seemed surprised that she was looking at him.

"Can I help you?" he said, confused.
"May I borrow a sword?"
"Uh..."
"Lost my blades during the last part of the exam," Akira said nonchalantly.
"You use kenjutsu?"

Akira nodded and looked at Hayate expectantly. He stared at her for a few moments before slowly reaching to his back to grab one of his katana. He tossed it at Akira and the moment she caught it, she began spinning and twirling it, trying to get a feel for the foreign blade.

"This thing conduct chakra?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"Lightning?"
"I think?."
"Cool. If it shatters I'll buy you a new set."

The second that Akira felt comfortable with the blade in her right hand, she bent her knees and pointed the katana forward, getting into a standard attack position. She brought her left hand into half a ram seal and closed her eyes, which was signal enough for Kai to begin his attack. Akira heard Kai run towards her, which meant he was starting out easy, testing how far she'd go in her condition or if he could take her out without using any jutsu.

When Akira's eyes opened again, Kai was mere feet away from her, shuriken in both hands. He threw them at her two at a time, and she knocked them out of the air with Hayate's katana. For each shuriken that hit the blade, a wave of pain radiated up her burned arms. Akira pushed through it, bobbing and weaving through Kai's onslaught of kunai until she found an opening. She jabbed the katana forward, sending a wave of pain through her arm again. Kai expected the attack and jumped out of the way to dodge it. The second he jumped back, Akira sprang forward and slashed down at Kai with the blade. Kai noticed Akira's face scrunch up in pain as she swung, and he took out his paper fans to knock her back. He waved the small fans in front of him but, like Temari, he produced such a big gust of wind that Akira was sent flying backwards. She landed on her feet and skidded back, but when she came to a halt, she fell to her knees, a sharp pain knocking her down.

Her shoulders and back burned with atrocious pain. Even without the use of her chakra, the mark on her back kept reminding Akira that it was still there, alive and kicking. The pain managed to distract Akira long enough for Kai to send more gales of wind her way. She rolled out of the way, katana in hand, arms painfully scraping against the stone floor. When she stood back up, she used the katana to deflect more shuriken. It was then that Kai noticed her arms were bleeding. Drops of crimson blood were falling to the ground, slowly, one at a time, from the edge of Hayate's blade. Kai made the mistake of stopping to stare at her during which time Akira had the time to calm herself and clear her mind.

Akira pushed the pain to the back of her mind and she planted Hayate's katana in the ground. Kakashi narrowed his eyes at her. Calmly, Akira took a traditional martial arts form. Her bleeding arms were held in front of her, creating a new puddle of blood, and she bent her knees to the correct position. Akira took a deep breath and the tension was released from her body when she exhaled. Her mind was blank and at peace. She couldn't hear anything but the sound of her own ragged breathing and even when she closed her eyes, Akira was completely aware of her surroundings. Another wave of pain surged through her body but Akira didn't let it break her concentration, not even as it grew more and more intense.

She sensed Kai moving rapidly towards her but she remained calm, swiftly and deftly dodging all the punches and kunai swipes that he was attempting to land on her. Akira swayed, moving around Kai in circular motions, her movements fluid like water and as light as air. Everyone watched as Akira nearly danced around Kai, eyes closed and seemingly quite peaceful. However, there were many things trying to break her concentration. With the fluidity of her movements came the memory of Maru, and with every duck came the pain related to the mark on her shoulder.

The fight went on like this for a while, and Kai was getting irritated. He'd never seen Akira fight like this. When he'd had enough of testing her limits, Kai went to pull back and use his typical wind-style attacks. However, Akira felt him move back and she jumped off the ground, flipping over towards the sword. In one swift motion, she pulled it from the ground and landed, swiping it at Kai from behind. She sliced through his thin armour a few times, keeping her movements circular, but unpredictable, like a dancer leading his partner into new moves. Akira managed to keep herself behind Kai and, against hers and Kakashi's better judgement, she sent a small burst of chakra directly into his back with a small jab. With the small burst of chakra came excruciating pain, but Akira was determined to ignore it. As Kai went flying into the opposite wall, Akira sprinted towards him, pushing past the burning sensation in her limbs.

Kai retaliated by sending waves of slicing air toward Akira, but she dodged them all, for the most part—one of the air blades managed to cut Akira's face. All of the gusts of air landed on the opposite wall with loud crashes, sending dust and rock flying everywhere again. Kai moved before Akira could slice down on him with Hayate's katana again, and he sent a rain of shuriken at her in defence. Akira jumped out of the way, easily evading the weapons, and she made the executive decision to use a single jutsu in the hope that this would take Kai out. When she landed, Akira planted Hayate's blade into the ground again and began weaving hand signs as fast as she could. When Kai landed, he sent an onslaught of gales toward her, forcing her to send chakra to her feet just to remain standing. A pained cry forced itself up Akira's throat and filled the otherwise silent arena, and as the gales died down Akira gripped the katana once again.

"Lightning-style: Reverse Lift!" she cried out.

A stream of lightning cracked up the stone before her and headed directly for Kai. Without time to evade the incredibly fast attack, the lightning hit Kai directly. It broke through the stone and shocked Kai so hard that he flew upwards, screaming. With one final hand sign, a bolt of lightning came out of nowhere, and as it pummeled Kai back into the ground, Akira screamed, her entire body on fire. Dust and stone filled the air once again, and when it had cleared, Kai was lying limp in the centre of a crater.

Akira let out a pained and desperate groan as she fell to her knees. Her vision began to blur and her breathing became hoarse. The pain in her body was slowly shutting down her systems and, when Hayate called the end of the match with her as the victor, Akira collapsed, everything turning to darkness.

The sun began to sink lower in the sky, the light of day slowly draining away, giving way to the velvety dark of night. Akira awoke peacefully, but not without difficulty, her body aching and burning with every inch she sat up further. Her red and puffy eyes glanced around, taking in the details of her unfamiliar surroundings. She was sitting in bed but it wasn't her own. It was uncomfortable and stiff, and Akira knew immediately that she was in the hospital. The bare room was a further indication of this, but there were a few things in the room that made it feel more welcoming. There was a branch of hydrangeas in a small glass vase on the window sill which Akira knew was from Sakura. Beside it, in a slightly larger vase, was a small bouquet of jasmine flowers and stalks of lavender atop a pile of Shojo mangas which made Akira laugh. Clearly, that was a joke from Kai.

With great difficulty, Akira stood up from the bed, the hem on her pristine hospital gown falling down to her battered knees. She trod over to the window sill, each step more painful than the last, and reached out to the photograph between the two vases. It was a picture of herself and Shikamaru that Kai had taken while neither of them was looking. They were both looking at each other and laughing. Akira smiled. She remembered that the picture was usually hidden in Shikamaru's room, far from eyes that could see a picture of him smiling. Akira flipped it over and read the inscription on the back.

Don't die or anything, that'd be a real drag.

She couldn't help but chuckle. Akira put the photo back and dusted off dozens of ramen coupons from a package, which were no doubt part of Naruto's secret stash. The parcel was poorly wrapped so Akira could tell it was from Kiba—he could never be bothered to wrap anything up properly. She tore off the paper and opened the box, then picked up the note that was inside.

I figured you can't use the sword that the proctor threw at you during the preliminaries ever again, so I found these for you. You're gonna have to like them—I worked hard to get a good deal on them so you wouldn't yell at me for spending so much money.

At the bottom of the note, scribbled down haphazardly, as if an afterthought or forced upon him by someone it read:

Oh, and, get well soon, Kira.

Akira chuckled and put the note with the ramen coupons, then proceeded to take out an obscene amount of tissue paper from inside the box. Her eyes went wide as they gazed down at a brand new set of retractable katana. Ignoring the searing pain in her entire body, Akira excitedly moved around the room with her blades, practising her swings and getting a feel for the longer and lighter blades. Her movements were in no way acceptable by any shinobi's standards, but in the cover of a deserted hospital room, Akira was safe from judgement.

Akira smiled and swung the blades around, stopping herself when they nearly went through a gourd sitting on the table at the end of her bed. It was about as long as her forearm and twice as wide, painted charcoal grey, with a sturdy black ribbon beside it which, Akira assumed, was meant to tie the gourd to herself. Curious, Akira placed the katana on the hospital bed and picked up the gourd. There was weight to it and when she moved it around, Akira found that there was something sloshing around inside. Her eyes widened in realisation and she nearly dropped the gourd. Looking around, Akira found no note that went with it.

Against her better judgement, Akira grabbed the change of clothes that was on the side table and slipped into them. She strapped her kunai holster to her right leg, found that her old tachi holsters were too small and tied her katana to her waist with the many-coloured belts she owned, securing it all with her father's bandanna. She grabbed the gourd, wrapped the ribbon around it a few times, and then strapped it to her back before heading out the sliding window and disappearing into the night.

The last lingering light of day had been obliterated by the fallen night. The once salmon and purple sky had transformed into a vast expanse of jet black that engulfed the town as Akira ran towards training ground number three. A canopy of luminous stars materialized amongst the ocean of blackness above. Some were dull, merely flickering into existence every now and then, but there was an adequate amount of shimmering stars to illuminate the dark, moonless night.

The lake that faced the memorial stone glistened, mirroring the dazzling assemblage of glittering stars. The faint breeze brushed away Akira's hair as she stood in front of the memorial stone, mind blank. She then headed to the lake's edge and sat down calmly. The wind rippled the still surface of the water and shattered the girl's reflection as she stared at herself, perhaps echoing the shattered feeling of her mind and body.

The longer Akira waited, the heavier her body felt. She breathed deeply, trying to rid herself of the pain as she'd done during the preliminaries god knows how many days ago, but in this shattered state, Akira couldn't manage it. Her thoughts were everywhere and she was starting to regret even coming here. She knew it wasn't a good idea to seek aid or consult from a complete stranger, especially one that may wish to cause her harm.

If Kakashi knew she was here, he'd lose it. He'd already gotten angry about Akira not telling him about the mark, and he'd surely get mad if he ever found out that she was sitting at the lake, seriously considering asking a potential enemy to help her use it on purpose. Just sitting there thinking about it made Akira nauseous. She felt like she was betraying his trust. But every fibre in her being was telling her that this was the only way. What she'd said to Sakura was true. Akira didn't feel like she had a right or wrong path anymore. She was going to achieve her goal by any means necessary... even if it cost her.

Akira waited by the water's edge for what seemed like hours, lost in thought, debating whether she should leave and forget she'd ever had the idea to ask this man for help—forget she'd ever met this man in the first place. But it was too late for that now. She could feel an intimidating presence behind her and soon, light footsteps were approaching. Akira didn't bother looking at him, and he didn't bother sitting down next to her. He stood next to her and stared out at the lake. Neither of them spoke, waiting for the other to speak first, a silent battle for power that Akira had already lost by coming here in the first place.

After a few moments, Akira stood, pain burning through her. She glanced up at the man beside her, once again surprised at how much he looked like he belonged in this darkness. He didn't seem natural.

"I would admire as well, but you look as if you've died and come back," he said, words rolling softly off his tongue. "You should be resting."

Akira chuckled humourlessly and stared back at the water.

"I don't trust you," she said simply. "Every part of my body is telling me that you're wrong, that you're dangerous, that you probably want me dead."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because I'm selfish."
"Sometimes being selfish is the best thing you can do for yourself."
"Don't act all wise," Akira snapped. "You're vile and malevolent, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to hide it."
"Why? Are you afraid you may start to like me?"

Akira pulled out a katana and held it up against Maru's throat. He just smiled.

"I'm afraid that I might start appreciating your advice and your knowledge. I'm already going against everything I believe in just standing here with you. So, don't be nice to me."
"As you wish."

Slowly, Akira put her katana away and looked back to the lake.

"Why me?"

Maru glanced at Akira sideways, eyebrows furrowed. He seemed genuinely confused.

"Why you?"
"Yeah. Why me out of literally an entire world filled with selfish young kunoichi?"
"My dear, you are unique amongst selfish young Kunoichi," Maru said almost softly.
"And that's it?" Akira said, then laughed humourlessly. "You've singled me out because I'm unique? Unique how? Because I can move water with chakra? Because I'm the last kunoichi of the Uchiha clan? Because my arms are scarred more than the average ninja? Huh—what is it?"
"My dear—"
"I said don't be nice to me!"

Akira's shout woke up a few sleeping birds and they flew across the darkness above the lake, relocating to a quieter location.

"You're able to tolerate that mark on your neck," Maru said simply. "That's one thing."
"How do you know about that?"
"Everyone at the preliminaries has at least suspected it, and your teammates don't exactly take care about what they speak of when they think they're alone."
"And how does that make me unique? Sasuke can do it too," Akira said, annoyed.
"Yes, he can. However, your brother went on with his battle as if nothing were impeding him and it almost got him killed. You, on the other hand, embraced the challenge. You worked around it and as a result, you fine-tuned your style of martial arts to near perfection. The way you moved during the preliminaries was quite a thing to behold."
"So, I overcame a challenge, big deal. That can't be it."
"It is true that I may have a more... personal motive for choosing you."

Akira frowned and looked up at Maru. His face was immobile and his gaze was fixed on the lake. After a few seconds, however, the corners of his mouth became softer and his eyes quit staring. He glanced at her sideways and Akira could have sworn there was a kind of fondness in his eyes.

"You remind me of myself when I was younger."
"Gee, thanks, now that's a compliment," Akira said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes and looked back to the lake. A fish came to the surface and gobbled an insect. "'Hi, you remind me of some creepy night stalker I met a few weeks ago.'"

Maru chuckled quietly. It sounded wrong coming from him.

"You're curious, almost dangerously so," he said. "You seek knowledge at every opportunity. You were born gifted, but no one took you seriously. No parents to tell you how proud they are."

There was a warmth bubbling in Akira's stomach that she wanted to punch down and never feel again. If Maru was telling the truth—which Akira would never be sure that he was—they were fairly similar. It was that feeling of empathy that was creating the warm feeling inside her. Sasuke never knew what she'd gone through growing up, not really. Her friends didn't know because they never asked and she didn't tell. But this stranger... he knew. And, regrettably, that made Akira feel truly understood for the first time since she was a child.

"I thought I told you not to be nice to me."
"Am I supposed to be shouting at you? I don't think that would do either of us any good," Maru said. "You're not going to ask for my help if I'm shouting, and I don't want you to ask out of fear."
"What—you want me to trust you?" Akira scoffed. "Good luck with that."
"You and I don't need to trust each other, my dear. You just need to trust that I can give you what you seek."

They were silent for a while, both of them listening to the wind pick up the leaves on the trees and watching the water ripple softly.

"Can you help me control this thing?"
"I'll only be as effective as you are."
"Yes or no, Maru, dammit," Akira snapped. "I'm not here for half-assed nonsense. If you can't do this, I was never here!"

Maru brushed some of Akira's hair away from her shoulder and he stared at the mark.

"I can."
"Good," Akira said. She breathed deeply and let out a long sigh. "What is it exactly?"
"It's juinjutsu."
"The hell is that?"
"It's illegal, a type of fūinjutsu that seals the power of the creator in the subject."

A wave of pain rose in Akira's shoulder as Maru spoke.

"While active, it will feed off your chakra and replace it with the chakra of the person who put the seal there, increasing your chakra levels tenfold and making your jutsu stronger."
"Other than sharing my chakra with some psycho, any other drawbacks?"
"If you use all your own chakra and the cursed seal doesn't have anything to feed off of, you'll die."
"Fun," Akira said, deadpan.
"Yours has been sealed off," Maru said.

Akira sighed. It was probably Kakashi's doing.

"Can I use it while sealed?"
"The seal will naturally disappear if you chose the mark's power. However, it will come with worse pain than you're feeling now. I'd suggest removing it as soon as possible."
"Of course, you would."
"May I?"

With a sigh, Akira tilted her head to the side and pushed her hair out of the way. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Maru's fingertips glow with intense purple chakra. He placed them around the seal and a faint burning sensation made it melt away. When Maru's fingers left her skin, a jolt of pain went through her arm, but it was nowhere near as painful as before. Akira sighed, relieved.

"Now we can begin. But first—"

Maru gently placed his hands on Akira's shoulders and turned her away from the lake.

"—go rest. You're of no use half dead."
"I told you not to be nice to me."
"Starting to like me already?"

Akira didn't say anything and turned to look back at Maru, a concerned look in her eyes.

"Maybe."