"Look at how thick that mist is," said Hikari. Thery were crouched in a stand of trees, looking out at the Hidden Cloud which, at the moment, was completely shrouded in mist. Kumori's lips turned up slightly in a small grin, they were so clueless.

"That's not mist, it appears Kumogakure is currently in the middle of an ice storm," she said quietly. The two other chuunins had had gotten their first taste of snow and the biting cold that came with it yesterday. They had enjoyed it for a few hours, but it soon became a large problem. The mention of one of Kumogakure's famous Ice storms somehow didn't seem to raise their spirits.

"Another storm?" complained Tsuno. He leaned forwards, squinting hoplessly into the swirling, solid wall of whiteness before closing his eyes to shield against the brightness.

"It won't be so easy to get into the village from here on, so you should lead, Kumori," said Tsuno, turning back to her. She nodded, remaining in a crouch for a moment before standing.

"Alright. The easiest way is straight through, head on. I'll lead, followed by Hikari who should use the Byakugan to scout for any enemies. Tsuno and Shouri should bring up the rear, making sure to be in contact with Hikari at all times. You're senses are sharper than mine or Hikari's, so the storm will affect you the most."

She held out a hand to Hikari, pulling him up and looking out at her former village. It felt good to be back at Kumogakure. She remained lost in thought for a moment, her face hidden by her Anbu mask, before she dashed forwards, pulling Hikari with her as she charged to wall of ice.

It was painful breaking the barrier of spinning ice shards. She entered by shouldering her way through, the cloak not doing much to keep the cold out. It was almost the same as hitting a solid wall, but it gave out quickly and she plunged into the blinding white, ice cutting at the exposed parts of her body. It sliced her neck, blowing into her cloak and cutting her shoulders as well. It even managed to spin up into her mask, obscuring her vision even more and making it difficult to breath.

But her body quickly adapted, falling back into it's usual rhythm, her heart speeding up to pump blood throughout her body faster and warm her. The other two chuunin were having slightly more trouble, although they didn't trip and fall, it was obvious they could barely see and breathe. She continued at the same speed, charging blindly through the snow in a memorized path. She had often gone on missions outside of the village and it was required to pass the acadamy that you knew how to return to the village in the worst of storms.

"Scouting party ahead!" hissed Hikari, forcing out air from his frozen lungs. She suddenly dropped to the ground, taking Hikari and Tsuno with her, Shouri flopping down in silence as well. She began making a long series of seals, releasing Hikari's hand and concentrating.

"Shuu Yuki no Heigai!"

The snow around them was suddenly thrown violently aside as a grey, slightly translucent barrier unfolded around the three chuunins and the dog. It blocked out the sound of the snow, the cold and the burning ice shards, but left them able to hear the soft footsteps of four Kumo jounins scouting the area.

"They can't hear us at all from here, so there's no need to hold your breath," she said to Tsuno.

'I wasn't holding it, my body went into shock from suddenly being able to breathe properly," he said sarcastically. She snorted, turning back to the four jounins.

"I heard it over there," said one, dressed in Medical-nin clothes of the Hidden Cloud. The medical-nin of her former village had different uniforms than the leaf-nin. It consisted of a deep, navy-blue suit with a white cross on the chest and a badge on their left sleeve, on the shoulder, depicting a bolt of lightning backed by a dark grey, almost black, cloud. The three seemed as oblivious to the storm as Kumori was, and it was then that it became apperent to Tsuno and Hikari that Kumori was tougher than they had forst thought.

The Cloud-nin stood in silence, ready for an attack as they eyed their white surroundings. One of them broke apart from the group, taking a few steps forward and stopping feet from where they were hidden by Kumori's barrier jutsu.

"There's no one here," he announced. He wore a Kumo jounin vest. The Cloud's vests also differed from the leaf's, coming in three solours: dark blue, dark grey and white. Dark blue for spring, dark grey to match summer and fall storms, and white for the blizzards in winter. Their scrolls holsters were also horizontal unlike the vertical Konoha ones, and the vest was overall more padded for warmth, and waterproofed.

"The Raikage-sama will be angry if someone else manages to enter the village. Those Anbu still haven't started talking yet, he said he'll get Him to kill them tonight if they don't give him some info. We don't even know which village their from, though he suspects either the Leaf or the Stone. They can't be Sand-nin because they wouldn't last three seconds."

She listened as one of the other jounin, also in a white vest and white pants, complained to the one closest to them.

"There are Anbu still alive!? We have to get them out before they're killed or they give away any information," said Tsuno seriously.

"Are you saying us three versus four Cloud jounin?" asked Hikari. She could tell he was grinning under his mask.

"We have no choice," said Tsuno, shifting. "The three of us versus them. Me, You and Shouri."

"What?" asked Kumori. She was being left out again.

"We need someone to stay behind and hide in case something goes wrong. Your the one who can hold up this barrier, and on top of thet, you're the medical-nin for our team," explained Tsuno. She said nothing to this, but her face darkened slightly under the mask.

"Are you going to kill them?" she asked finally, turning to Tsuno. He looked out from the barrier, watching as the jounins lingered, still looking for them.

"It depends. If they agree to speak, we won't need to. But if they resist, we will act in self defense."

"Don't kill the medical-nin, he doesn't deserve it. He's only here to look out for the others," she said quietly.

"If he resists, we will have no choice. Let us out the back," he ordered emotionlessly. She rarely heard him being this serious. Kumori shifted, letting the back of the barrier break. The storm had let up momentarily, the winds dying down slightly, but she knew it wouldn't last long. Shouri creeped through the barrier, followed by Tsuno and Hikari. She closed it and watched as they confronted the Jounin.

"More Anbu!?"

Shouri growled dangerously, his hackles raised and his sharp fangs bared wolf-like as he took a step towards the Jounin. The wind kicked up again, swirling harmlessly for a moment before growing to full force, whipping ice around violently. She listened as Hikari tried to talk the information out of them. He had a silver tongue, but in their current position, it would be impossiblee to get information from the Kumo jounins.

She caught a glimpse of Shouri snarling, saliva flying from his mouth as he and Tsuno charged the first jounin, Shouri taking the same shape as Tsuno as they spun towards him at a high speed, senging ice flying everywhere.

As Tsuno and shouri fought the first two shinobi, Hikari faced the other two, the medical-nin stepping forwards and holding up his hands in an odd stance. It took Kumori a moment for the stance to register in her mind as one of Kumgakure's most dangerous fighting styles, and she bit her lip, hoping hikari would be alright.

He fell into a fighting stance she had never seen before and she remembered it eventually. It was the fighting style of the Main family, she had seen his younger cousin Neji use in a fight with him. She had been afraid of Neji, his talent was unnatural, he had learned the Main family's jutsus by himself. She knew Hikari was also a genious, he had mastered a few techniques himself, but she had never seen him use this style before.

She watched in silence as Tsuno and Shouri beat one of the Jounin int a snowdrift, taking on the other with full force. Hikari was using the Hyuga style taijutsu against the other jounin, but the medical-nin was still standing in the same stance, either building up for an attack or thinking up a plan. His stance was beginning to eat at her, she hadn't known they would encounter one to use that style, and she worried hikari wouldn't be good enough to deal with it.

The medical-nin suddenly took a step forwards, pulling a katana seemingly made from light itself from no where and charging forwards. Fear flashed through Kumori's mind, she recognized the attack. Throwing her cloak off, she broke through the barrier, charging to intercept the jounin before he reached Hikari, who was still occupied with the other jounin. She skidded to a halt, her Anbu mask doing little to protect her from the storm as she pulled out her Sword of Bone from her shoulder, shifting in front of Hikari and bringing it up.

She grunted under the impact of the powerful blade making contact with her bone blade and her knees almost buckled as she absorbed the shock, bending backwards slightly. The light katana had dug almost halfway through her blade, which was almost impossible since it was stronger than steel. There was a moment of silence as the medical-nin stared in amazement at her, suddenly jumping back along with the other two remaining jounins. They were all staring in shock at her.

"Why did you break cover!?" hissed Hikari, breathing heavily. The snow died down again as the three chuunin and Shouri faced the Kumo shinobi, catching their breath.

"It's her... That demon the Rokudaime called her bodyguard," muttered the medical-nin, shifting anxiously.

"Kumori-sama? I thought she was killed on the streets," said another. Great, she thought, they know who I am now. I can't let them escape. But they seemed to have no intentions of running.

"What are you doing here, demon?" hissed the medical-nin, cocking his light katana.

"I am not a demon," she hissed back, her voice low and dangerous.

"You can't deny it. You're a monster. You ended so many innocent lives without feeling any emotion whatsoever. I remember what the Rokudaime used you for. It was a bad influence for her to take you in and train you like that, she was a horrible ruler. I'm glad she's gone, she was nothing but trouble for this village," said one of the jounin. Kumori felt anger burning inside of her, bursting from her.

"I won't allow you to speak of the Lady Raikage like that! The state of this village has only worstened since she passed away!"

"It doesn't matter. You are a missing-nin from our village," said the medical-nin.

"Wh-what!? Missing-nin!?" she said, her voice catching. She hadn't thought her absence would be acknowledged. The only person she had thought had known of her was Akame.

"In fact, you are an S-ranked missing-nin, a top priority for our hunter-nin to find and destroy. They have been looking for you for a long time, ever since you first betrayed your village. Tell me, what village has been cursed with you now, Kumori-sama?"

The words stung her more than the ice whipping around her, and she bit down hard on her tongue to avoid another outburst. "I'll kill you," she said. She hadn't used this voice for years and years, not since she had fought for the Raikage.

"I'll rip you to shreds. I'll stain the snow red with your insides and watch as you slowly bleed to death, begging me for mercy, begging me to end your worthless lives. It is you who is betraying your village," she growled out, taking a step forwards. She grabbed the ends of the bandages on her lower legs, ripping them off and setting her Kaguya fighting stance. The medical-nin seemed to hesitate.

"I don't stand a chance against you, so why bother?" asked the medical-nin, eyeing her mask.

"Because I don't like you and I want to kill you," she said. Her old personality was returning, and it felt good to get angry. he flinched at her blunt words, but his face broke into a smile.

"If you must. I will die for the Raikage-sama. We will all give our lives gladly for him," he said simply. His foot connected with the ground as he shot towards her, his katana raised. Hikari engaged with the other jounin and Shouri and Tsuno took the last one, all plunging wildly into battle.

"Tsukimisou no Mai!" she screeched wildly. Long, thin spines shot from under her skin, rising a few feet into the air. They were thinner than in her other dances, fragile but incredibly sharp. Her green eyes blazed as she met the medical-nin, clashing. His katana sliced easily through her spines, but this was one of her more powerful dances, and it was meant to make the enemy let down his guard. Which is exactly what the medical-nin did.

But her transformation was not yet complete. Her hands grew into long, boney claws with unimaginably sharp points and more spines grew along her backbone, one from each vertebrae, stretching out dangerously behind her. She heard Tsuno's opponent fall, crying out before he silenced him, and she decided to finish up with hers as well.

She bit her lip, executing a perfect backflip and twisting into an ackward position, catching her opponent off guard. She grinned at the fear that flashed through his eyes when she suddenly disappeared in a gust of snow.

"Over here," she whispered. He spun around, but it was too late. A moment later, he was writhing on the ground, his eyes gouged out and his blood pouring into the snow. She watched for a moment emotionlessly from behind her mask,

"Demon!" he screamed, writhing and clutching his face. "You're just a monster! Hellspawn!" a string of curses erupted from his mouth, not losing any of their energy as she had hoped and only seving to anger her more. She pulled her spined back into her body, her own blood mixing with his in the snow. Hikari had apperently dealt with his opponent as well, and approached her.

"Are you alright, Kumori?" he said cautiously. Under her mask, her face was contorted with emotion; anger, sorrow, pain, disgust for the Cloud-nin and a desire to kill. But it vanished at the sound of his voice.

"Fine," she said, turning away and facing away from the still writhing and cursing medical-nin.

"Aren't you going to finish up?" asked Tsuno, looking down at the Cloud-nin. She paused for a moment, thinking before kneeling down beside him.

A bone broke the skin of her palm, stretching to within inches of his heart. She slowly slid it in and listened emotionlessly as he cried out for mercy, blood covering his hands and face from his gouged out eyes. She twisted the bone in his chest painfullf one, twice, before withdrawing it.

"Kumori, just finish. He's not worth it," hissed Hikari, grabbing her arm. She pulled her arm away angrily, but took his advice, giving him a quick blow to his chest with the bone and killing him instantly. She stood as the body fell still in an overly large puddle of blood. The storm had died down slightly.

"Let's get going," she said, picking up her cloak and slipping it back on. She took off without a word about the battle or what had been said during it, dashing through the snow. The wing had died down, leaving just the snow to fall and obscure their path, making travelling somewhat easier.

They reached the village a half hour later, easily jumping the low walls and narrowly avoiding a jounin patrol as they slipped into the frozen village. What Hikari and Tsuno saw from the shadows froze their hearts.

Children ranging from babies unable to even walk and still clinging to their mothers to people their age, fifteen and sixteen, huddled together for warmth along the sides of the street. People were walking around as if they didn't exist, passing right by them without doing anything. The children able to speak were begging for food, mothers doing anything to buy attention. There was a frozen body feet from them, a girl around six years old who had been unable to hold out against the harsh weather.

"This is... Horrible," said Hikari, looking around at the number of people lining the streets.

"This is what you grew up in?" he hissed, turning towards her. She nodded, glancing around.

"Let's go," she ordered, tearing their gaze away from the helpless children. She acted as if it made no difference to her, but it did. She was struggling to hold back tears, knowing they would freeze her eyes shut, as she dashed to the rooftops, taking to the shadows. She remembered every individual sidepath and shortcut in this town, but she was leading them the wrong way purposely.

She paused at the edge of a tall building, looking into the perpetually dark alleyway. She had never seen it in the light. She had never seen it in the past year and a half. She had never seen the one chained in it for as long. It smelled even worse than before, the garbage bin overflowing.

Kumori dropped down from the edge of the building, into the darkness fearlessly and landing in a crouch. Hikari landed beside her, but Tsuno remained on the building, keeping watch with Shouri.

"We shouldn't be distracted, Kumori," he warned gently. But she had no intention of following orders at the moment.

"....Akame...?"

There was no answer, no usual shifting noise or coughing.

"Akisu?"

Still no noise whatsoever. Her foot touched something cold and dead as she stepped forwards and she looked into a pair of frozen, red eyes. She almost screamed, but she calmed down when she saw it was not Akame, moving forwards again. There were several dead bodies here, and what was odd was they were mostly shinobi, wearing Cloud head protectors, their faces all contorted in fear or shock.

Hikari followed her deeper into the alley, past the garbage bin and towards the chain-link fence. There was a faint light shining from the opposite side of the fence, allowing her to easily see that there was no shadow of a person there. She stepped forwards, her hand reaching out towards a limp chain hanging alone from the chain link..

"Kumori, look at this," said Hikari. She turned, noticing her surroundings for the first time. The faint light illuminated the walls ever so slightly, but it was enough to allow her to view them clearly. They seemed to be painted red, blood spattering every inch but stopping ten feet up. There was only one unmarked area, a place where the wall was still its normal colour. This clear spot was in the shape of a boy, only slightly taller than herself, tracing his form exactly. It was Akame.

"What happened, Akame?" she whispered, holding a hand up to the wall and tracing the edge of the blood with a finger.

"Let's go, Kumori. We have to get this over with quickly before they find the bodies of the jounin we fought with," warned Hikari.

"I can't believe... everything I've lived for since then... useless. That medical-nin was right. I'm just a demon, a useless killer who'll do anything ordered of me."

She pulled back her arm and punched the wall with enough force to knock someone out, her fingers cracking as they connected with the cement, blood leaking down her arm and dripping off her elbow. She pulled it back again and hit the wall with more force this time, the cement braking along with her hand. She had never broken a bone before due to her bloodline, but there was no way she couldn't break them with the force she used.

"Stop it!" hissed Hikari, reaching forwards.

"Don't touch me," she growled back, still facing the wall. There was a long pause, and when she moved again, it was with a different mind, a different personality. She had run out of anger and sorrow, leaving her with nothing to feed off of, nothing to live for. Raising her hand slowly, deliberately, she forced her fingers apart, the bones snapping audibly in protest. She then ran her hand across Akame's silhouette's body, leaving five thin slide marks of dark red blood that ran down the wall thickly.

"I'll kill him," she rasped. "he took my life away, now I'll take his. For you, for the lady Raikage, for my clan, for everyone who I've ever known, everything I've ever lived for. I'll kill him for you. And this time, I'll keep my promise."

She dropped her hand, closing her eyes for a moment. It was useless to resist, her old self was taking full control. She was the same demon she had been before meeting Akame, and it was because of him she had reverted back to her true self.

"Let's go," she growled angrily, vanishing and landing on the rooftop above. She stood, Tsuno and Hikari joining her as she opened her poisons holster, removing a single, oddly shaped vial and holding it up in the snow, examining it from behind the mask. It contained a clear liquid. It was scentless, tasteless and indistinguishable from water. The perfect poison, a chemically based poison that killed within minutes, made the last minutes of life living hell, and was not reversable. It had been her favourite, and one of her only, poisons, and had also been the first one she had been taught how to make.

She shifted slightly, setting their course before taking off at an incredible speed towards the large office in the center of town where the Raikage lived. She would make this quick. The three Leaf-nin and the dog landed in silence in the shadows on the rooftop of the office building. Kumori split away slightly.

"You two keep watch out here, I'm going to go in alone. The less people, the less chance of being captured," she lied. What she really wanted was to watch the Raikage suffer alone, with no one to order her around.

Before Hikari could protest, she had vanished, slipping down and making her way into the building. It didn't take her long to find the Raikage; he was preparing to eat his dinner-which had been served by a group of young boys in uniform. she was currently huddled in the rafters, looking down at the fairly large meal. There was another boy beside the Raikage, but he was of higher stature- a jounin at least.

The Raikage wore the clothes she was used to seeing the Rokudaime in, and it caused her hatred to flare up again. He was speaking quietly to the boy beside him, his large hat obscuring his face from her as he leaned to the side. The boy, who would nod every now and then, was crouched on the ground beside him. He wore a completely black outfit, save for a blood red scarf tied around his waist. He wore a hunter-nin mask and the only skin showing on his entire body were his ears. His weapons were a pair od cat's claws, their long, metal blades stretching elegantly from his hands, longer than normal ones and made of a different type of metal.

She guessed the boy to be the one the Hokage had told them about, the one rumoured to be mare dangerous than the Raikage himself. He gave a final nod, bowing his head before vanishing, no puff of smoke, no noise, no black shadow, not even a slight breeze. Simply vanished into thin air. Kumori shrugged it off and leaned forwards as the Raikage said something to one of the boys.

She took the chance to tip the undetectable poison into the glass in front of him, two drops was all that was needed. He returned to his meal without noticing the slight ripples in his drink that quickly faded. It took him a long time before he finally reached for the drik, drinking down half of it before setting it back down and returning to his food. She waited patiently for the affects of the poison to set in.

But something happened she did not expect. The boy who had left minutes before returned a few seconds before the poison set to work and the Raikage fell from his chair. She was afraid that if she moved, her position would be betrayed, so she remained frozen to the spot, watching as the boy pulled the Kage onto his back, trying frantically to keep him breathing.

Blood spewed from his mouth as he tried to cry out in pain, spattering the boy's hunter-nin mask. He took it off, casting it across the room, but not revealing much more about himself. The only sking visible now was the sking around his eyes, which was pale and strained, small sweat beads forming as he tried to keep his Kage aliive. It took only a few more moments for the Kage to stop twitching, and he fell still in the boy's arms.

Something else unexpected happened then. A small amount of snow that had been nestled close to her body finally melted, a drop slipping from her hand and falling onto the wooden floor, breaking the silence. The boy looked up immediately and their eyes met through her mask, fear momentarily flashing through both before turning to anger. But she had not chance to move before he was beside her, grabbing her and falling back to the floor, grinding his abnormally long cat's claws into her shoulder and stomach at the same time. She had been totally unprepared for such an attack, and the weapons went in deep, especially in her stomach, blood leaking from her mouth.

But she was smiling, she had avenged Akame, keeping her promise this time and killing the Raikage. She fell to her knees as the boy slammed her into the floor roughly, crushing her lungs. His claws were poised millimeters from her neck as his eyes flared in anger.

"Who the fuck are you!? What did you do to Raikage-sama!? I'll... I'll rip you apart!!"

"He deserved it," she rasped painfully, more blood leaking from her lips and running down her cheeks, past her ears and onto the floor.

"Like hell he did! Who the hell are you!? Did you escape with the other Anbu!?" he hissed, slightly quieter, but more dangerously.

"Like you're gonna get anything out of me," she rasped. Her hand was groping for the vial of poison, but she couldn't feel it.

He dug the weapon into her throat, drawing more blood, and she looked him fearlessly in the eyes. The eyes.... the eyes.... Red.

"You're eyes..." she coughed. They were exactly like Akame's, with the same cat-like slits for pupils, the same ferocity.

"Just like... Akame's."

The grip around her neck suddenly loosened as he pulled back, her blood spattered on his face and his cat's claws soaked in it.

"Who the hell are you?" he hissed suddenly. He grabbed her Anbu cloak, lifting her with incredible strength and slamming her against the wall, ripping off her mask. Her hood fell away along with it, blood leaking freely from her mouth.

The boy suddenly slumped to the ground, wrapping his arms around her and rocking back and forth slowly, cradling her.

"What the hell are you doing," she spat, blood flying from her mouth as she tried to push away from him. He held her at arms length and completely pulled off his mask, revealing a handsome, pointed face, a pair of cat-like red eyes, raven black hair and... the remains of a leather collar and a small peice of chain hanging around his neck.

"Aka..." she felt to weak to finish her sentance. Her breath was stolen away and her vision blurred, but she fought harder than she had ever done before to stay concious.

"Akame..."