The snow was falling.

Miyuki was running. Running away from something or someone she could not see. Her feet sank in the snow, but she kept pushing, kept trying to get away.

She could just make out a village below the mountain. She had to get there, she had to get there fast. She ran faster until a voice came flitting through the cold air. She froze, it was her first mistake. But that voice, that voice belonged to no one else but her mother.

Miyuki turned, her eyes wide and frantic as she searched for her. The snow was falling hard, rendering her vision useless as she trudged back up the way she came. The screams grow louder, and she tried to call out, but her voice didn't work. She walked blindly towards the sound, hoping against hope that this time she would be able to do something. To save her.

Something gets caught in her foot and she stumbles down into a big downhill slope. She feels the frozen pond beneath her as she watched the flurry of snow rain down from the bright sky. So white, so bright. So peaceful. She could just lay here forever and forget everything else, but she had to save her mother. She had to.

She turns, pushes herself up on her arms and knees when her insides freeze. She could still make out what was under her, what was inside the pond before it froze, and she felt something seize her throat. In the deep waters below, she could see them. All of them.

Each died by her hands. They stared at her, no sign of life in their eyes or their skin.

They floated below her. The youngest one was the hardest sight to look at. She felt the cold seep through her skin. Felt the ice break under her weight. She let the tears fall. She wanted to apologize, wanted to take back what she had done and give them back the life they were gifted.

Then she saw her reflection, cracked and blurred on the frozen pond. She stared at those dark pools. Stared until words seemed to replace the tears falling from her eyes. Words, and names of all those she had killed. Dripping out like ink from the demon herself.

"I'm sorry," she finally whispered, just as the ice breaks beneath her and she is swallowed by cold darkness.

Miyuki gasps awake, almost startling Kei off her seat which was placed beside the bed.

"You're awake!" Kei jumps up, just as Akira runs to the bed, from another corner in the room. Her eyes were rimmed with tears as she looked up at Miyuki who looked frightened enough to even scare them away.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Kei asked quietly, but it would seem Miyuki could not hear her as her friend clutched on to her chest and she notice Miyuki was shivering and being cold was almost an impossible occurrence where they were.

Despite that, she removed the outer layers of her Kimono and wrapped it around her friend, before she proceeded to climb up the bed with her, and warm her up as best as she could. Akira silently followed suit.

"What's wrong?" Kei asked again, this time, Miyuki glanced at her in recognition.

"I saw them Kei," she whispered back, her voice shook as Kei listened to every word, worry etched over her face like a mask.

"I saw everyone I had killed," Miyuki raised her hands, and looked at them like she wished she could get rid of them as easy as she got rid of all those she was tasked to kill.

"I can still hear their pleas at night, feel their anger and their chakra inside me," she continues before turning to Kei who noticed, for the first time, Miyuki looked haunted. Miyuki always had a stoic expression, something even Kei could not break through, but right now, there was nothing between them.

Miyuki was still a girl, just a little older than her, but with a gift deemed as a curse. Miyuki had tried using her powers for good, once, and it cost her too much that she stopped defying Eiichi's orders.

Eiichi had found her weakness and it was the night their group had decreased in seconds. Kei could still remember all the blood. All the screams. And the darkness.

She could still see every bit of the monster Eiichi summoned that night, especially when she looked into Miyuki's eyes. Kei remembered that night all too well.

She held Miyuki close, watching as the marks appeared on her friend's arm and the skin on her neck. Kei could not even begin to imagine how much it took for Miyuki to stop that monster, or how much of her friend had been lost by simply allowing that monster to take her instead of everyone else.

She sighed, before the door to the room opened and the healer had walked in, carrying a tray of Tea. She placed them quietly on the table next to the bed and did not utter a single word to the girls who were huddled up in the middle of it. Instead, she went outside before the Kazekage entered the room.

He was alone.

Which Kei thought was a bad idea, given the fact that they were sent to kill him. Yet it was the first time she ever saw Miyuki delay a death. So, Kei discreetly watched the Kazekage as he stepped inside the room and glanced at the three of them. What was it about him that made Miyuki hesitate?

It was not his power, no. Miyuki had destroyed ninja's that were as powerful. Perhaps Miyuki felt something for him?

"Would it be alright if I talked to her, alone?"

Kei barely registered the Kazekage's voice before she felt Miyuki nudge her gently. She shook herself out of her thinking and nodded, dragging Akira with her. When they stepped outside, she found that the Kazekage was not alone.

Naruto was there, with Kankuro and from the looks on their faces, this was definitely going to be a long night.

"Have you guys eaten yet?" Kankuro asked, snapping her mind away from the room and what could possibly happen in there. Miyuki was unstable, that much she knew, but would she be able to resist killing the target?

"Let's go eat."

Before she could protest, Naruto had already started dragging her away from the door with Akira by Kankuro's side. She didn't know what to do, if she should stop them or not. If she should stay or not. She bit her lip as they turned to a corner and the door disappeared from her view.

She just hoped, whatever happens, that Miyuki will be alright.

Miyuki did not move.

She could feel him though. Feel his gaze on her but she could not meet his eyes.

There was only one reason why he would be here right now, and that was because he knew or wanted to know what happened inside those mines. She didn't know if she should just tell him everything and face the consequences of her actions. She glanced at the only window in the room, hoping that Eiichi was nowhere near here. Or that the girls were safe.

Then her gaze shifted to the tattoo on his forehead. Was the word ready to forsake her again? What did she know of that word, anyway? She balled her hands into fists and finally met his eyes.

They reminded her of both the sky and the ocean. Vast, open, and sometimes, relentless. And right now, it felt like the eye of the storm she had always lived in. She wanted to tell Gaara everything, but she did not if it was the right thing to do. Why did she trust him so much? Did she really think, he would be safe against everything Eiichi could do?

Would the village that he loved so much, survive the aftermath of 'her'? She bit the insides of her cheek to keep her feelings inside, and to stop herself from saying everything she had kept secret most of her life. Why was telling him important things, so easy?

Gaara could see the conflict in her every move she made. The way she kept her head low, her hands clenched, and her mouth move. He noticed every detail. Despite being as stoic as she pretended to be, it was getting easier to read her. Perhaps she had her guard down. Gaara could never really let his own guard down. But with her, he really had no choice.

He sighed, something he didn't do often before walking towards the chair next to the bed. Miyuki watched him as he sat and lifted one of his legs to rest on his other leg.

"Are you going to tell me what happened inside that mine?" He didn't sound like he was going to force it out of her. He really wanted her to tell him, on her own. Miyuki turned to the window before it closed on its own. She glanced back up at him.

"No one will hear us, I promise," he assured her. She could almost laugh at that but smiled instead. He could read her now, and that was a difficult thing to do when your eyes betrayed nothing.

Was she going to tell him? She looked at her open palms as the frozen pond flashed in her memory once more. All those faces. All those people.

In her dream, she turned to the Kazekage, she saw him floating with them.

"I have a gift," she starts, as the names of all those she killed, flow down her skin and into her open palms like tattoos melting away.

Authors note: I know it's short but hey, next chapter will be a treat. I hope. haha anyway, didn't expect for this story to get so much attention. It makes me really happy!

To the person in the review last chapter, I am a girl. XD

Also, do you guys have wattpad? xo