Kasei walked down the bright flouresent halls of the hospital towards Koumei's room. As he neared the door to her room, he heard a strange noise coming through it. There was a voice, Koumei's, interrupted everyonce and awhile by a harsh croak. He turned the knob and the noise stopped.

Koumei sat up in her bed with only a few of the original life support machines still around her bed. The window to her lef was wide open and the room was absolutely freezing. Her right hand was held up and supported a large black bird, which her left hand was stroking affectionately. She was actually smiling for once, but it disappeared in a flash as she saw Kasei enter.

"What do you want?" asked Koumei right off. She dropped her hand as the bird flew up. It headed straight for Kasei before landing on a table by the foot of Koumeis hospital bed.

"What are you doing with the window open and a giant bird in here?" asked Kasei. He glanced at the large bird before going over to close the window.

"Your avoiding my question. Answer it first," said Koumei. The bird flew up to her shoulder.

"Tsunade-sama told me to tell you that you will be able to leave your bed in about a week,"

"Oh, that's good," replied Koumei absent mindedly.

"Now answer my question," demanded Kasei.

"I had to open it to let Kuro in. Oh, and this raven is Kuro, he's my only friend and he always keeps me company," Koumei smiled as she stroked the raven again, and Kasei just stood there, not knowing whether to leave or not. Koumei seemed to be in a fairly good mood today.

"Come here," said Koumei suddenly. Kasei obeyed.

He approached the window side of her bed and sat down in the unused visitors chair.

"Say hi to Kuro."

To his suprise, Koumei reached out, and took his hand with her icy fingers. She brought it up to the raven and forced Kasei to stroke the bird. The downy neck feathers were very warm and soft and when Koumei dropped her hand, he continued to stroke the raven. The raven suddenly croaked, and Kasei jerked back in suprise. Koumei laughed, a sound he had never heard before. He dropped his hand.

"Kuro says that he supposes he could put up with having to be around you. But only because of me," said Koumei. "Open the window."

Kasei turned and opened it wide again, before moving the chair aside. Koumei reached into her bedcovers and pulled out a small scroll, giving it to Kuro, who took it in his beak. The bird dipped his head and nuzzled his head into her hair, making a soft croaking noise. He then jumped down from her shoulder and flew onto Kasei's, who froze. The raven looked at him for a moment and then vanished out the window.

Kasei recovered from his shock. Why am I afraid of a big crow? Then he pinpointed it. The bird had radiated chakra. A huge amount. Strange, he thought. He stood to leave without saying anything to Koumei, but before he reached the door, she spoke up.

"Thanks, Kasei,"

He stopped and turned his head slightly. "For what?"

"Nobody ever came to visit me all month except for the nurses. I was getting really bored."

Kasei paused for a moment, before turning again and leaving. This girl can sure switch personalities quickly, he mused.

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Kasei woke up early the next morning, and slowly got up. He stood and stretched, looking at the clock on his bedside table. It read 5:31. He stretched again before heading over to the bathroom to have a shower.

When he came out, he got dressed, putting on his modified jounin vest. It was a darker shade of green and the scroll holsters were horizontal insted of vertical, and had kunai holders on the inside. He srtode slowly over to the window and looked outside. It had snowed.

The roofs of the houses were covered in about a foot of newly fallen snow, which was actually still slowly falling. Kasei frowned and took of his vest. He traded in his sleeveless shirt underneath for a dark brown sweater before replacing his vest and heading off to get breakfast.

The ramen bar was packed full of people, one of them in an orange outfit, so he decided to just go buy some groceries. But before he could head off again, a small yellow bird landed in front of him. He turned around and stalked off at the same slow pace. It was too early for a mission.

When he arrived at the Hokage's quarters, he found her pacing impatiently.

"Kasei, she's vanished," said Tsunade. Kasei knew who she was speaking of.

"When?"

"Around 5:30. I've got an Anbu squad searching, but I wanted you on the job too. She is from another village after all, and we know nothing of her. She could have been lying the whole time for all I know. I want you to find her, unless of course the Anbu do."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," he said sleepily. He turned and left.

Kasei spent over an hour looking around the town, after he lost tracks of the footprints in the snow outside of Koumeis window. He was about to start back at the beginning again, when a black streak crossed his path. It flew right past him but then it stopped, landing on the ground and turning around. It was the raven, Kuro.

Kasei paused for a moment, wondering what it would look like talking to a bird. But he decided that finding Koumei was more important, and crouched down.

"Where is Koumei?" he asked, pronouncing each word clearly. The bird cocked it's head and walked past him. Kuro croaked, and lifted of, circling once before heading off, in the complete opposite direction of the footprints. Kasei dashed after him.

When they reached the village borders, they continued deep into the forest, and Kasei wondered if the bird was indeed leading him to her.

Five minutes later, however, Kasei found Koumei in a small clearing far away from the village. The surrounding snow was covered in blood, and three bodies lay on one side. Koumei was not hurt however, and she was crouching over a fourth body. It was another kunoichi, and she was apperently dead.

"What the hell happened now!?" yelled Kasei, breaking the silence. Kuro flew over to her as she turned around. There was not a speck of blood on her.

"She's from my village. She actually managed to escape." Kasei looked past her and was suprised to see that the dead ninja looked only to be around twelve or thirteen. There was a small yellow bird, also dead and stained orange with blood, that she clutched to her chest. Her headband had a crescent shape engraved in it. Wing ninja, he thought.

"This means that the Akatsuki have managed to fully overpower the Hidden Moon. She must have killed these three Grass-nin before she passed out from the cold." Koumei stood and clutched her stomach, almost keeling over. She was still in her hospital robes, and wore no shoes.

"I need you to get the Hokage to burn her body. She also has a few deadly bloodlines, and I don't want them to be found out."

"You shouldn't run off like that. How did you know about her?" asked Kasei as she brushed past him.

"Kuro told me." she said simply.

"Are you okay to get back on your own? I need to report to the Hokage."

"Hai."

"Good," Kasei slipped off his dark green jacket and placed over her shoulders. "The Hokage-sama will most likely be having a talk with you later today, so you can expect as much" He vanished.

Koumei revelled in the warmth still clinging to the vest as she stumbled back the the hospital. A voice came into her mind, interupting her thoughts. 'This means that the Kage has failed. You are now the last Wing Ninja. You should hurry back so that you can recover faster and train the two Leaf-nin.' It was how Kuro comminicated to her.

"I know. But even if I can get out of bed earlier, I'll still be unable to fight and if they find me then, I won't stand a chance." she said aloud.

'It doesn't matter. You can spend the first days explaining, and if the Akatsuki come, I'll lend you my chakra and you can easily defeat them.' said Kuro.

'You're so straightforward. But I suppose you're right. I will, and I know you'll help me. I'm no good at teching, but I've done it before and I suppose I can manage.' replied Koumei through her mind. The trees ended and she made her way through the village towards the hospital. Before she stepped through the double doors, Kuro flew off.

Once inside, several worried nurses started scolding her and dragged her back into her room, forcing her back into bed and injecting her with something. She felt the warmth returning slowlly as the nurses left her again, and she removed Kasei's vest. She folded it neatly and placed it on the chair beside her. She felt very tired. They're putting me to sleep! Hey, they should ask me before they jab needles into me....

Her thoughts were broken apart as she slipped away, into more dreams of red snow.

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A moment later, Tsunade opened the door, followed once again by a faithful Kasei. She opened the door noisily and barked out at the sleeping Koumei.

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU RUN OFF LIKE THAT!?"

Koumei woke up suddenly and hit her head on the headboard. She fell back into her pillows with two hands over her ears. It wasn't the bump that hurt her, it was the Hokage's voice.

"Not so loud," she whispered, but the Hokage continued.

"How was I supposed to know if you were going off to steal my scrolls or something!?" Tsunade exploded, but slightly quieter. Kasei was also covering his ears.

"If I was the enemy, I would not have stuck out my neck for you. I would have gladly let Orochi kill you"

Tsunade paused and decided she was right. She calmed down a bit.

"What happened, Moon-nin?"

"I have a name you know," retorted Koumei, "One of my gennin managed to escape, I suppose."

"Yours? You were a sensei? What's your rank anyways, Koumei?" asked the Hokage.

"Yes, mine. She was also a Wing Ninja, but she was only half trained and it was her first year as a gennin. But she was very promising, and was a Hyuuga. She had the Byakugan as well, that's why I wanted you to burn her body to destroy the possibility of someone finding out her secrets." she paused before continuing. "And I'm a Special Jounin, former Anbu squad leader, and currently a Hunter-nin. I never got many missions, though, because our village had no Missing-nin. I usually just worked as an Anbu captain."

"Oh? The same as Kasei... Anyways, your now under constant supervision. I'm leaving Genma to watch you." she turned around, holding in any other words she might have had and left, Kasei turned to follow.

"Here, Kasei." She held out his vest and he stopped and turned to accept it. "Gomen. I didn't mean to get you into trouble. Especially not this early."

It was true. When he had reported back to Tsunade, whose mood had steadily declined, she had blamed him for not watching her. He had gotten a small lecture about his responsibilities and how what he did was wrong. And worst of all, Kasei had seen right through his expressionless actions.

"It's not your fault. You kind of had to go, and it's true that I was supposed to be monitering you."

He turned and walked out, leaving Koumei to her nightmares.