Missing

Disclaimer: I do not own them (sad face)

Rating: R (to be on the safe side)

It was the same every time that she closed her eyes, images from the past would flash and flicker before her eyes. Some would be happy memories but the majority would be the ones she desperately wanted to forget but would never be able to.

They never came in full stretches only in small pieces each one running into the other, none of them making much sense until she thought about them and she tried so hard not to.

This time was no different the images came just as they always had. Flashes of her graduation from the academy, her sister was so proud of her that day she was treated to ice cream. A luxury for them. The image of the ice cream twisted into her sister's face as the knife sliced through her chest, her heart lying a few feet away as her eyes slowly lost their luster.

Soon it warped into a small dark room; the stench of decaying bodies over powered all other smells causing her to gag. A faint light flooded the dim room causing her to squint and look up at the figure towering over her.

Suddenly she was outside her friends and teammates training beside her their laughter turning into screams of agony and pain as their bodies were ripped apart. Running away, she found herself in a long narrow hallway, the silence more terrifying than any scream.

Finding the courage that only a child could have she began to make her way down the hallway. A large wooden door at the end seemed to grow larger the closer she came to it. Reaching out she grasped the handle intending to pull open the door only to have a hand grab hers and lift it away.

Her mother was smiling down at her, but the voice was wrong. That wasn't her voice and those were not her mother's eyes that were staring down at her.

The image of her mother seemed to fade away to be replaced with the image of her tormentor, parts of his face and body obscured by the shadows. Cringing she began to tug on her captured wrist trying to break free, opening her mouth she tried to scream but nothing came out.

Silence.

She couldn't scream. Why couldn't she scream? She could feel the tears, as the streamed down her face so why wasn't she able to cry out for help, why was no one coming to save her?

--

A pair of pale blue eyes stared down at the young girl laying on the bed, her face contoured in pain as she moved around on the bed. She had been brought in a few hours ago by one of the teams. They had been training when they came across her lying in the woods.

Dipping the clothe in the water she rung it out before placing it on the young girl's forehead. If the fever did not go down soon, well she didn't want to think about that. Checking the equipment once more before standing up the nurse got up and walked out of the room making sure to leave the door open a crack.

Out in the hall stood three of the four who had found her. They were the same age as her little brother.

"Is she going to be ok?"

The young nurse turned towards the small blonde boy a small smile gracing her face.

"She will be now that she's here. She's lucky that you people happened to be around. Don't worry she'll be fine, she just needs to rest."

"Do you know when she'll wake up?"

The young nurse turned towards the pink haired girl and gave her a sad smile.

"I'm not sure. She's hurt pretty bad and it may take some time for her to get her strength back. Even then she might not..." she said trailing off as she saw the look in their eyes.

Swallowing her original sentence, she put on her best smile.

"You could try coming by Friday and seeing if she's up. She's probably just needs sleep."

The two looked at her not really believing her but said nothing. She sat there watching as the three walked away disappearing down the hall. She let the smile fall from her face.

This was not going to be a happy ending she knew this for sure. That girl was not going to have it easy when she wakes up. If she ever wakes up. Sighing the young nurse brushed off her knees and peered into the room, the girl had stopped thrashing about but her face still looked tormented.

Shaking her head sadly, she continued on her way down the hall, she still had five more patients to see too.

---

Kakashi stood there waiting for the Hokage to speak. She had called him in to talk to him about the young girl they had found. Obviously, something was bothering her too.

"I want you to keep an eye on her. There is something about her...something that is hard to place but seems familiar."

"I know what you mean. Her aura seemed...off for lack of a better word."

"Hmm...yes."

Kakashi watched as she moved across the room her face set in thought as she rummaged through jars scattered through out the small space. Finding what she was searching for she turned back towards the copy ninja and held out the jar to him.

"Take this. It is a healing powder. She'll recover faster and we might be able to get some of our questions answered."

The ninja nodded as he took the jar. Placing his hands together, he formed a simple escape seal.

"Oh and Kakashi."

"Hai."

"Keep her away from the others...for now anyway."

She watched as the copy nin vanished in a whirl of wind and leaves. Sighing she turned back towards her desk, an open folder with its contents scattered everywhere the main item on it.

Bending down she picked up the top sheet her eyes scanning over the contents, a small frown puckering her brow. This was not a good time for this.

---

Kakashi arrived at the hospital in a puff of smoke, the relatively quiet night surrounding him. Making his way inside the silence was broken by a shrill scream. Not hesitating he raced towards the source and was startled to find the hallway he had just entered littered with blood and bodies.

Another scream broke through his thoughts and he raced towards it, it was one of the supply rooms. The door was half-open and there was a young nurse standing out side of it, the front of her uniform covered in blood.

He crept beside her and before he could react, a blurred figure darted past him and rebounded off the wall before lunging at him. He jumped out of the way taking the shocked nurse with him.

"Are you ok?" he asked as he dodged another attack

The young nurse seemed a little dazed but soon her face cleared and she glanced over at him.

"You have to help her. Please."

He opened his mouth to speak but was instead shoved against the wall a small forearm pressed up against his throat, two large green eyes glaring at him. Well it looked like they didn't need the healing powder after all.

Approaching footsteps sent her into another panic because she let go of him and flew back into the supply room the door slamming shut behind her. Curious he stood there eyes taking in everything in more detail and calm mind. The hallway was splattered with blood but upon closer inspection, it looked like none of the bodies was cut.

It wasn't their blood.

He watched as a few began to come around and stand up. So she had only knocked them out, why and if it wasn't their blood then.

"Please you have to help her!"

Glancing towards the urgent voice, he saw the nurse from before clutching his sleeve her pale blue eyes pleading with him to do something. The footsteps were growing nearer with every second and it seemed he was at a lose for what to do. How would you handle a child that looked as though she had seen more in her life than any veteran ninja?

He sighed the sound muffled by his face protector. Cautiously he made his way towards the door. If he had to, he would need to use a jitsu to keep her under control. Body tensed and ready he stopped before the door, the faint ki signature fluctuating slightly the closer he got.

Opening the door he stepped inside prepared for an attack but none came. Glancing around he found the girl crouched in the corner her arms wrapped around her legs as she curled in on herself. Her entire form was shaking and her body was covered in blood.

She had re-opened her wounds, why?

"Hurry please!"

The nurse's voice filtered in from the outside and he moved quickly to the girl's side and scooped her up, noticing that she automatically went limp in his arms. He frowned, even for a captured nin this was not normal behavior. Someone just did not rip open their wounds and lock themselves in a small closet then go limp when touched.

Pushing those thoughts away for the moment, he cradled the young girl in his arms before creating a seal. They were gone by the time the door swung open.

--

She could see swirls of colors and blurry shapes through her half lidded eyes but was unable to make anything out. She knew she wasn't in the forest or in that hospital nor was she in that room either. So where was she?

She tired to move but her body protested, paining shooting through out her now awake nerve endings. Squeezing her eyes tightly she forced her body to move, her hand twitched.

'Great. I can flick them off as a defense, how reassuring.'

Blinking a few times, she tried to get her surrounding into focus but it seemed like her eyes did not want to co-operate with her for even though the colors sorted out the blur was still in place.

Forgetting her sight for the moment, she focused on listening. It was somewhat quiet the muffled sounds of a waking city drifted to her ears telling her she was in a room near a window at least.

Her body relaxed at that, she was safe for now. Well as safe as one could be not knowing where they were.

Focusing her hearing once again, she let the sound drift to her immobile form. She could tell she was not alone the distant shuffling was evidence enough but who ever they were, were good enough to hid their ki and charka well.

That and she was too tired and tapped out to detect it. Turning her attention back towards the shuffling noise she noticed there was two sets and one was heading this way.

Her whole body tensed as she heard the door slide open and the floor boards creak under the person's weight, telling her they were a lot heavier and larger than she was. Her body gave an involuntary shiver at that mental image.

She lay there listening as the person moved closer to her and she was unable to doing anything. The feeling of helplessness welling up inside her.

'Just like before'

Came the haunted whisper. She tried to ignore it but the closer the person got and her body not wanting to respond she began to panic. So out of instinct for self-preservation she parted her lips and took a small breath.

A/N: (evil grin) I end it there just cuz I need sleep. Mmmm...sleep.... (blinks) yeah well thanks to hikariko for reviewing.