A/N: Sorry about the time this has taken. I'm really busy with schoolwork and such now, with finals approaching my SAT requirements not yet met…

Disclaimer: See Chapter 2.

The two shadow clones closest to her grabbed her arms and hurled her headlong towards the third, waiting in front of her. Sabaki, paralyzed with fear, could do nothing to help herself as she traveled directly at the third clone. But she did have time to wonder... Was the thing that was different about shadow clones the fact that they could touch things physically and not vanish? Like throwing a poor Genin towards her doom...?

She was knocked unconscious when the clone hit her hard on the head.

Headaches were really starting to become part of her daily routine. A particularly strong one visited her as she regained her senses. At first, Sabaki didn't want to move; her temples were throbbing and she ached all over. It took her longer than usual to remember why exactly she was lying down on a soft bed that wasn't hers, why the room smelled unfamiliar, and why she hurt so much.

It all came pouring back the moment she felt someone lay a hand on one of her bruises. Flinching, she drew away from the source of discomfort and opened her eyes.

"Lay still, damn it." A rather disgruntled and gruff voice.

Tsuimaru! Sabaki's features shifted into a grimace as she turned her head to the side. Sure enough, there was the culprit, crouching down beside the mattress, one hand still frozen in the air where it had been touching her arm. Right then, she realized that they had actually given her a blanket this time, and it was pulled up to her chest, folded down once with her arms exposed.

Slowly, her eyes traveled up and down her left arm, which she guessed (with some disbelief) that Tsuimaru had been tending to, and traced over every bruise. Some were big, others were small, others were clumped together in an ugly array of purple-brown-red... And some had been carefully covered with a white cream of some sort. Sabaki blinked, then switched her gaze back to Tsuimaru's hand. Sure enough, there was a small dab of the same cream.

"What are you doing?" Her voice carried more strength than she thought it would. She struggled to sit up, and managed to see from the light through the clouded window that it was still daytime before a sharp twinge ran up her back. Hissing through her teeth, she fell back down on her pillow with a groan.

Undaunted, Tsuimaru resumed rubbing the cream on her bruises. It was kind of nice; it layered the dull pain with a cool sensation, masking it effectively. Not only that, it smelled nice, a little like jasmine and tea. It relaxed her. Though Sabaki still considered Yuumoya and his Genin cohorts to be her enemy, she was about to thank Tsuimaru before he spoke, and all good intention evaporated.

"You performed quite pathetically today," he commented dryly, prodding a large bruise twice before applying the cream.

Heat rose in her cheeks from both anger and embarrassment. It would most likely be futile to argue against that, but that didn't mean she wouldn't try to defend herself. "Oh, really?" she replied, tone heavy with sarcasm. "I'd like to see you do better, Mr. Hotshot."

There was no indication whether taunt had any effect on him. Tsuimaru simply continued his task, traveling from her elbow up her arm. After a moment's pause, he answered, "I can hold my own against both Yuumoya-sensei and Chinji while they're attacking me directly. For a minimum of five minutes. But you..." he let out a dry chuckle, glaring at her, "You got your behind handed to you in under two minutes."

Ergh. When the two scenarios were compared, Sabaki had to admit it was no contest. She fell silent.

"You're so weak..." he murmured, shaking his head slowly. "Why Yuumoya-sensei told us to capture you, I'll never understand. Useless," he spat, and at the same time pressed too hard, causing her to pull away again.

"See what I mean?" A bite of agitation that Sabaki did not care to return. "It only hurts a little. Endure it until I finish! Stupid girl..." he growled.

Sabaki didn't reply. Maybe he was right. Look at how badly Yuumoya beat her. And that night in the forest when her team was killed? She didn't stand a chance. All she could do was delay the inevitable. She was useless because she couldn't protect Kanake or Tomeko, and even now she was of no use to her kidnappers.

Again, he was too rough on one spot. She grit her teeth but didn't move.

No. What was she saying? So she couldn't win against two Genin on a rainy, thundering night when she was confused and scared. So she couldn't last longer than two minutes against a very strong, irrevocably powerful Jounin packing katons, fuutons, and jutsu she hadn't even heard of. So what? The same man had destroyed her sensei! If Gasumi hadn't had a chance, why should she be ashamed of losing?

Suddenly, she tugged her arm away from Tsuimaru and sat up, clenching her teeth as her battered body protested. "Go away. I'm fine," Sabaki said flatly.

"Don't be an idiot." Standing up, he made to push her back down, but she knocked his hand away, to the surprise of them both.

"I said I'm fine! I don't need your help!"

The dark-haired boy rolled his eyes, shaking his head at the silly girl before him. "You know, when I said to endure your pain, I didn't mean 'be a fool'. You're taking this the wrong way. Lie down; I need to finish applying the cream on your bruises so they can heal-"

Sabaki cut him off sharply with a fierce stare. "What if I don't need your stupid cream to help me heal?" Now she was acting childish, she knew, but she couldn't help herself. It was bad enough she had been stolen away from her team, forced to fight someone she would never defeat in a thousand years, be scolded by some missing-nin with an attitude... Now she had to let the same boy patch her up like a broken vase? No. It didn't seem right.

"Fine." Tsuimaru shrugged, obviously annoyed by her stubbornness, and screwed the cover back onto the little white container of cream, perhaps a little too hard. "Heal yourself. Just don't blame me if you die tomorrow when Yuumoya-sensei tests you again." He turned to leave.

"Wait!" She reached out a hand to stop him but was stopped by the ache in her shoulder. Ouch. Just how many places had that creepy Yuumoya busted up this morning? "Wait..." she repeated, a little more quietly. "What do you mean 'tomorrow'?"

She could tell he was trying hard to conceal his triumph. The corners of his mouth were twitching, attempting to hold back a smirk. "For your information, idiot girl," he said smugly, "you are training with Yuumoya-sensei again tomorrow morning. And I'm telling you right now, he's expecting a lot better from you this time around. It's your choice. You want my 'stupid cream' and me to help you heal so you won't get your ass handed to you again?"

Damn it all. Bowing her head and accepting that she'd been bested, Sabaki nodded. "Please."

"Good. Then lie down."

She did so, then shut her eyes tightly as Tsuimaru tended to her right arm. The migraine was coming back...

After the bruises on her arms had been covered in the white cream, Chinji entered her room and explained that he was supposed to use healing jutsu on her back. Sabaki asked how exactly he was supposed to know where it hurt. Tsuimaru replied that she had to take her shirt off. The comment was not well received by Sabaki, to say the least.

He was ready to knock her out so Chinji could do his job, and she was just as ready to defend herself to the last even in her weakened state, but it seemed Chinji was not the unhinged, mad boy Sabaki had made him out to be at first. He graciously intervened and said that if she removed her jacket, he'd figure out where the points of most pain were and deal with it accordingly. And she could keep her shirt on.

Tsuimaru left in a bitter mood, and Sabaki sat down cross-legged at the foot of her bed, facing the wall across from the door so Chinji could do his work. Once again, he surprised her. Although he was a scary and fierce guy in combat, his touch was even more gentle than Tsuimaru's, and it just occurred to her then that it seemed strange a demented fellow like him would know healing jutsu. Tentatively, she asked him about it.

The pale boy only laughed in his usual high-pitched cackling manner. "Yuumoya-sensei stresses the importance of being able to heal yourself. And he's right, don't you think? If you get yourself busted up and separated from your teammates and can't heal yourself, you're screwed!" More laughing.

At the notion of being separated from one's teammates, Sabaki got that suffocating feeling in her throat again. Fearing that her voice would crack if she verbally responded, she only nodded in agreement to Chinji and sighed in relief as yet another center of great throbbing on her back was eased by his healing jutsu.

He was an efficient worker, and within half an hour he declared her good to go for tomorrow. Just before he was about to leave, Sabaki asked him to wait.

"Hey... thanks for everything..." Despite the fact that she still thought her kidnappers were a group of psychotic murderers, it was only the right thing to do, thank them for patching her up. Even though they'd been the ones to inflict the wounds in the first place.

"Kekeke, no problem. You're one of us now, you know?"

Again, the choking feeling. "Y-Yeah," Sabaki stammered. "One of you." One of them. No longer a Genin of the Hidden Cloud. But wait...

"Hey, what's keeping me from escaping?"

Chinji evidently thought she was formulating plans of escape in her mind, for he swiftly moved towards the window and checked to make sure it was still locked. Sabaki shook her head, though not too vigorously, since she still felt stiff.

"No, I mean... Okay, I'm not going to beat around the bush here. You guys took me by force, i.e. kidnapped me. And killed my team. Other shinobi from my village will come out to look for us, and once they figure out what's happened and who's responsible, they'll be after you guys." She tried her hardest to sound as casual as possible. It would be just plain horrific if Chinji got insulted and decided to undo all the healing he'd done for her.

But he only laughed. And this time, the chortles were hollow as they echoed around her sparsely furnished room. "Hahaha! They'll be after us? They'll be after you, Sabaki!"

"What? What the hell are you talking about? You're the ones that-"

"Oooh, I get it. No one told you and you haven't figured it out yet. I was about to think you were pretty smart but I guess Tsuimaru-san was right..."

Great, he'd lost confidence in her when she didn't even know she'd had it in the first place. "Tell me what?" Sabaki asked with forced calm. If insane laughing boy didn't stop the riddles and talk straight, she'd-

"Oy, you haven't noticed your hitai-ate is missing?"

Her... Oh, no! Eyes widening, her hands shot for her neck and found that it was indeed no longer covered by the comforting headband of her village. But it... When had it disappeared? Thinking back automatically and with rising panic, Sabaki tried to remember the last time she'd recalled having it on... No, not during training yesterday. Not while in the cell. Then that meant...

Yes. That rainy night just before she was knocked out, Tsuimaru had his foot on her throat and the metal of her hitai-ate had been pressing into her flesh. "What did you guys do with it?" she asked faintly, gaze frozen on Chinji.

He wasn't laughing, but there was an annoyingly know-it-all smirk on his face. "Nothing much, you know. Just took it, made a nice line through the insignia like a missing-nin would do, and left it by the bodies of your teammates." A little snigger escaped him. "I bet you hunter-nin are after you right now. Cool, ain't it?"

Kami-sama. No. No, no, no. How could this have happened? How could she have not noticed her hitai-ate was gone? It was her hitai-ate, for goodness sakes! Breaths coming rapidly and in short gasps, Sabaki gripped her hair with her hands and shook her head slowly, refusing to believe it. They had made it look as if she were the culprit. As if she had gone and taken the lives of Tomeko-chan, Kanake-kun, and Gasumi-sensei. As if she, Shikeru Sabaki, not even one of the top ten in her graduating class, had committed three murders in cold blood.

There was no way the hunter-nin would believe that. Would they?

Chinji's voice interrupted her frantic thoughts. "Yah, well, I'm done here. Good luck tomorrow and don't mess up again. I'm not going easy on you, you know."

And with that, he left and closed the door, leaving Sabaki confused, frightened, and very much alone.