Bolded texts are texts that are based off the past. Like a flashback or a thought from the past. Also may be a scene from the past.

Mezuki was lying on the couch in the main lobby in the hospital sleeping. He needed the rest after the long journey. The couch, as always, was the only aspect of the hospital that Mezuki thought was classy, due to its fine leather material and comfortable sleep that it had provided to anyone willing to sleep in a make-shift building. When sleeping, Mezuki was as calm as a tree on a nice spring day on a plain. He never snored, moved, or sleep talked. But anyone who knew Mezuki or his sensei, Orochimaru, knew that this was the time where their senses are doing the most work. Orochimaru trained Mezuki to increase the productivity of his hearing and smelling senses when asleep, because when asleep, a human is in its most vulnerable state.

Kasumi walked into the room, with her hair damp hair hanging freely from her head. She smiled at the motionless body of her dear friend. She wore a small grey shirt that showed her belly-button and wore a red silk pajama pants. As she expected, Mezuki woke up as soon as she stepped a foot closer to him. He turned his head in her direction. "Good morning Mezuki, had a nice sleep?"

Mezuki yawned, "It was okay. How did the operation go?" Mezuki stretched and sat up straight, giving room for Kasumi to sit next to him.

As she knew he wanted, she sat down. Kasumi's faced changed from happy to signs of worry as she explained to him her latest news. "I am not sure. It was a perfect size leg for the patient, and the correct blood type, but the chances that his body is going to accept its new part are very slim." She began to lie back, getting comfortable, before continuing speaking. "I am sure that the patient is going to be okay; we had a famous medical ninja with us today during the surgery. She was really amazing Mezuki. Her skills surpass anyone here. I want to be like her when I grow up." Kasumi saw the tension buildup in her friend's face. "Do not get all wild up Mezuki; she was not part of any village by the looks of it. By the way, she is a friend of the head doctor."

Mezuki had cooled down before speaking back. "Well, then you are going to be better than her. I promise you that." This was the usual way of getting Kasumi to start a goal and finish it all the way. He has been doing it since the same night they had met. Mezuki began to remember the day, as if it was only a few weeks ago.

Time rewind-Mezuki and Kasumi both eight years old…

Border of the land of fire and the land of waves

Mezuki was running through a mountain trail with two other sound shinobi. Mezuki was wearing his usual Otogakure shinobi mask and uniform. The only difference was that Mezuki was not wearing the headband from the village. The three man team was led by Kyaputen, who Mezuki knew to be an elite sound ninja that didn't have a curse mark. The only reason why lord Orochimaru did not give the man a curse mark was due to the fact that Kyaputen was forty three years old and had cancer. Besides that, Kyaputen was a very reliable ninja.

The other shinobi, who was a lot younger, only in his twenties, was Tesaki. Tesaki was a very arrogant ninja, but was able to back it up in a fight. The only flaw with him was the fact that he didn't feel like his lord wasn't paying enough attention to him and would do anything to get that special attention. Tesaki was ready to prove himself in this mission no matter what.

Mezuki was weary of his two teammates, especially Tesaki. Kyaputen raised his arm, signaling the rest of the squad to halt. The area was quiet, but the team had long sensed the presence of their pursuers.

"Do we kill them now?" Tesaki asked in an almost excited tone of voice. Kyaputen nodded his head, authorizing Tesaki to attack their pursuers. "Finally..." Tesaki turned and cracked his fingers and neck.

The pursuers soon appeared. There were ten of them, all ninja that abandoned their home village. They surrounded the small squad. One of them began to talk. "You have no right to be in this territory, leave at once or suffer the consequences."

Tesaki smiled inside his mask. "I would like to suffer the consequences." He jumped and performed hand signs, "Kodō no Oto ga doramu! (Sound of the Beating Drum)" Like most sound shinobi; Tesaki has ninjutsu that are based off of various forms of sounds. Tesaki focused chakra into his palms, and began to repeatedly clap them at an enormous speed, sending sound waves in all directions, even at his allies. Mezuki and Kyaputen were prepared for this, and both created chakra barriers, deflecting the waves to the enemy. When the sound waves it the enemy, they were either ripped apart or flung away. Tesaki landed and took a small analysis of his environment. He seemed disappointed. "Two seconds of fighting...really?" He walked up to the bandit that had threatened the small team. "'You have no right to be in this territory, leave at once or suffer the consequences.' I don't know where you were going with that by the looks of it."

The bandit was bleeding through his mouth and began to laugh maniacally. "Don't worry about that threat. You may have defeated us with no effort, but our bosses will make sure to take your heads and feed them to the dogs."

"Yea, whatever you say..." Tesaki took out a kunai and stabbed the man in the chest, causing the man to die slowly and painfully. Mezuki had always felt weird after watching someone die, maybe because he had never killed someone, no matter what the mission was. But Mezuki was never scared to kill if he had no other choice. After Tesaki was finished, they began to continue their mission.

After five minutes of quiet running through the mountain, Kyaputen started to talk, explaining to Mezuki and Tesaki exactly what the mission was. "Lord Orochimaru himself gave me the mission to enter these mountains. The mission is to take out the bandit group that has been stealing Otogakure's food supply. They have been doing this crime for over three months, and the sound four has tracked them back here. So lord Orochimaru gave us the order to eliminate all present bandits in the mountain and any other allies of theirs we may find, except for the head leader of this group; he wants him alive. Afterwards, we will blow up the entire base with the charges that Tesaki brought along to make sure that any other members of the organization won't find traces of us."

"That is exactly the mission I was born for!" Tesaki cheered.

"We will attack the hideout at the break of dawn." Kyaputen ordered. Mezuki looked up at the stars, and kept his gaze on the small lights, as if they were casting a genjutsu. He couldn't wait to go back to Saruya's house back in the village.

Back to the present time…

"So Mezuki, any luck in finding out about that Darui guy. I saw you fighting him earlier." Kasumi looked at Mezuki with a small tint of discontent.

Mezuki looked away from Kasumi in a guilty expression that he failed in covering. "Well…" He tried to make up an excuse, but couldn't. So, Mezuki went with telling the truth, or telling some of the truth. "I was making sure that he was not going to compromise this hospital." He looked back at Kasumi, who still looked upset. "And…I wanted to protect everyone here from you know; corrupted ninja."

Kasumi sighed, "What am I going to do with you Mezuki." The girl stretched her back, showing more of her lower stomach. Mezuki looked down at the girl's abdomen, and saw the marking what shinobi actually are when they have full authority over another human's life. That marking was a small scar left by a kunai stab that wasn't healed quickly. Mezuki had always wished that he could have done more for this girl, his friend, at the time of the stabbing. Kasumi saw Mezuki looking down and felt violated. "What you looking at?" If Mezuki was anyone else, she would have slapped him and walked away. The truth is, Mezuki was the only person to see Kasumi in her naked form, and lived.

In the past…

Three shinobi were hiding behind a huge boulder, looking down at a small entrance into the mountains. There were two guards that were both big-boned and tall. The guard on the left was carrying a huge mallet and the other was wielding an axe. Kyaputen made a hand movement. Mezuki knew this hand movement to be a command that means to disable any enemy by stealth. Mezuki stood up and looked at the guards. 'They seem stupid enough.' He picked up a small rock and tossed it to the opposite direction. The two guards became startled at the sudden noise and looked at each other.

After a moment of staring at one another, one of them commanded, "Well, we ain't getting paid to look pretty. Let's check it out." The guards began to investigate the area where the noise came from. "Maybe we will get lucky and find a bunny. I am hungry." Mezuki ran up silently behind the two much bigger opponents and hit one on the neck with a quick chop. "Hey, what the…" Before he could finish the sentence, Mezuki kicked him across the face with a spiral kick that was executed perfectly, sending him unconscious. Mezuki turned to his two comrades, signaling them that the area was clear currently.

Tesaki walk up to Mezuki and looked down at the two unconscious, but still very much alive. He smiled evilly and took out a kunai, the same one that he had used to kill the other bandit. "The mission is to eliminate all bandits except for the leader; and I am quite sure these two are not one of the leaders. Let me teach you a lesson kid. Killing an enemy is very fun. But, if you give your enemy a slow, agonizing death like I did that other bandit, you will feel like you have been giving a new life for taking a life. Do you understand?" He sliced each one in a throat, allowing them to bleed out and suffocate. "Lord Orochimaru is so going to be proud of me after this mission!" One again, Mezuki turned away.

Kyaputen investigated the possessions of one of the guards. After a thorough search, he found a key and a crumbled sheet of paper. When he unfolded it, the paper turned out to be a map of the base. "Okay, according to this map, the leaders' den should be in the far end corner of the cave. The ration room is in the western wing of the base. Tesaki and I will go to kill the leaders. Mezuki, since your young, I am going to give you a simple assignment. Go to the ration room and gather any supplies you can for the road back. Mezuki felt offended by the assignment and the statement that he is getting a simple assignment. He knew he was the strongest member there, but the other two didn't know. They did not know that he was their lord's apprentice. They never even saw him in an actual fight and they were already judging him. Mezuki just ignored the comment and agreed to the task. "Commence mission now." The three ran into the cave ninja-like.

Around a minute after entering the mountain base, Mezuki had taken a turn to go to the west wing and separated from his squad. After the separation, Mezuki felt relaxed and calmer than he did while he was with Tesaki and Kyaputen. It wasn't long before he had found the ration room. The room was very large and was filled with all sorts of stuff; mainly food, but there was also jewelry and clothing. In one end of the room, there were large containers of gasoline.

He took out a bag that he had found on the floor and began filling it with the food. After he was finished stuffing the bag, he strapped it on his back and had started setting the charges that Tesaki had given him before they separated. As he left the room he had heard a scream. At first he ignored it, thinking it was a scream from some of the bandits that Tesaki or Kyaputen probably killed, but the scream became louder and clearer. It was a scream of pain and fear of a girl.

"No! Someone help me! Get away from me! Please Stop!" These were the screams that Mezuki had heard as he was running closer to the origin of the noise. He tracked the noise to a hidden room of the base. The door to the room had a small window. When he looked through, he saw a small girl around his age chained to the wall and stripped naked, except for her panties. She was covered in dirt. She had long black hair, that too was dirty, and black eyes. "What are you going to do to me?" The girl cried.

"I just want to have some fun. At first, you probably won't like it, but trust me when I say this, you'll get used to it." A middle aged man walked up to the girl smiling in a perverted fashion. He had short brown hair, a long nose, and brown eyes. He wore ragged clothing. "Now relax girl." He took out a small knife and placed it around the girl's neck.

"Please don't kill me." Tears began running down the girl's neck.

"Don't be afraid, I am not going to kill such a…delicate girl like you." The man ran the knife down the girl's body, but not actually cutting her. He stopped, and licked the girl on the neck before slicing her underwear off of her. The girl screamed in fear.

Mezuki couldn't take any more of the injustice that was going on before his eyes. He ran into the room and took out a kunai. "Hey you, stop what you are doing!" This was the first time Mezuki had talked during a mission.

The man jumped at the sudden noise. "What the hell are you doing here? Who the fuck is you? Can't you see I am having some me time here. Get the fuck out before I kill you kid!"

"Release her now or else I am going to hurt you."

The weak threat only made the man even madder. "I am Nagi Jukiki. Remember this name when you go to the afterlife. Remember that the reason why you died is because you disrespected the head leader of Bukushu bandit organization."

'So he is the head leader of the bandits. I got to be careful.' Mezuki looked at his surroundings to see if there were any other bandits nearby, and there wasn't. He then looked at the girl, who still looked frightened.

"Please help me!" The girl begged.

"Shut the fuck up you little cunt." Nagi screamed as he made some hand signs. "Katon: Fire Grenade jutsu!" Fire appeared in the man's palm. Nagi threw the fire at Mezuki, who easily dodged it. When the fire touched the floor, it exploded, sending a shock wave that had thrown the boy against the wall and igniting the whole room on fire. The girl screamed.

Mezuki opened his eyes to a reality that had now seemed to be a blur; a side effect from knocking his head against the wall. Two large boots stood before him.

"You should not have come here kid and tried to be a hero." Nagi took the kunai that Mezuki dropped when he got hit from the shockwave from the fire grenades. He placed the tip of the kunai far above the boy. "Goodbye kid…" With full force, Nagi swung the blade to the boy.

"No!" the girl screamed. The scream, somehow had gave Mezuki the strength to get up a move out of the way of the kunai. The boy performed hand signs, and shouted, "Meiton: Black coffin!" Black chakra had shot out of Mezuki's palms and wrapped the man.

"What the fuck is this shit! Get it off me!" Nagi screamed in fear. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again. Please just get this off me!"

A moment later, the chakra crushed Nagi. Blood spilled all over the room. Mezuki stared at the blood with his eyes wide open, wondering if what he had just did was the right thing. He had just killed someone. Tesaki was wrong about the feelings someone gets when they kill someone. Mezuki felt nothing but regret and sadness.

He just stood there as the room was falling apart. He came back to reality when he heard the girl scream again. "Don't worry, I got you." He took out another kunai and covered it in lightning chakra, increasing his cutting range and sharpness. Mezuki sliced the chains off of the girl. The girl fell onto his arm unconscious from lack of oxygen from the smoke. Mezuki felt awkward with the naked girl he was now holding. But he knew that he had to rescue her. It was the right thing to do no matter how much his master would disagree with it. Mezuki also noticed that she was bleeding from her stomach. He ran out of the room and out of the cave.

He stared at the entrance of the cave, and began to wonder when his teammates where going to come out. Eventually, he heard Tesaki's voice as he was bragging on how much Orochimaru would be proud of him but disappointed at Kyaputen for not finding the head leader. They could not have found the head leader because Mezuki obliterated Nagi. Mezuki began to think whether or not his teammates would allow a stranger on their mission to rescue, but almost instantly came to the conclusion that they would probably kill the girl. He turned his back to the cave, and began running, abandoning his squad and the mission.

Present Time…

Mezuki got up from the couch and asked, "Kasumi, let's go see the head doctor. I want to go ask her if she needs any supplies or body parts so the next time I come, I can bring them along.

She stood up, "Okay, follow me Mezuki." The two arrived at a two way staircase, in which they went up. The flight of stairs was very short in distance to get to the next floor.

"How is your ninjutsu going along?" Mezuki asked.

Kasumi had been learning ninjutsu from the head doctor of the building. The head doctor was not only an expert doctor, but she is also an ex-shinobi from Kirigakure. The reason why she left her home village was because she was against the violent nature of the hidden mist.

"It is okay; still better than yours." She joked.

"Yea, okay; whatever you say."

Back to the past…

When Mezuki was sure that he was at an okay distance from the cave, he stopped running to take a rest. He laid the girl next to him. He then placed his right palm across the girl's forehead. 'Good, no fever.' She began to shiver. Mezuki was confused at this because it was a really warm night, warmer than usual. Then it occurred to him that the girl was still naked. He took off his jacket and laid it on her before starting a camp fire.

A couple of minutes later, the girl woke up. She saw the boy sitting by a fire eating rice balls. She noticed that she was still had no clothing on her; but she felt safe near him.

Mezuki saw the girl staring at him. He picked up a small bag and offered, "You want some dumplings?"

The girl stared blankly at the bag. Her stomach growled with excitement. She hasn't eaten anything for days. She took the bag and began eating. After her short meal, she said, "Thank you."

Mezuki smile at the comment, "No need to thank me, I have a bunch of food in the bag here. If you want anything else, just ask."

"I mean for saving me back in the cave." The girl said in a small harsh tone for the boy not really understanding what she was thanking him for. "I probably would have gotten…" She couldn't finish her sentence.

Mezuki again felt sort of awkward, "Well umm… anytime I guess. Where do you live?"

The girl swallowed another dumpling. "I live in a small village in the far end of the land of fire border of the land of rivers."

Mezuki was amazed at the distance between where she lived and the bandits headquarter where he had found her. "How did you end up all the way over here?"

The girl hesitated as she was trying to remember exactly what had happened, as if her brain didn't want to remember. "I was playing on the outskirts of the town with my brother Julien. We were playing hide and seek. It was my brother's turn to seek and I was hiding in a tree when the bandits came. I think they heard me because they dragged me out of my hiding place and imprisoned me in some type of jutsu. Then they brought me to their base. And that's when you came."

Mezuki felt bad about the girl's current situation. "I am going to take you back to your home town. But afterwards, I have to head back to my village; okay?"

"Okay, but I have one question?"

"What is it?"

"Can you take off your mask? I want to see your face."

Mezuki thought about it for a moment. Orochimaru had strictly told him to never reveal his face during a mission. But Mezuki felt like he can trust the girl, and he technically was not on a mission anymore. So he unmasked himself.

The first thing the girl locked her eyes on was Mezuki's unique marking around his right eye. "What is that around your eye?" She had never seen anything like that before in her home town.

"I don't know. I think I was born with it. I think it is just some big birthmark."

The girl giggled, "Your funny. My name is Kasumi."

Mezuki smiled, "I am Mezuki." This was the first real friend that Mezuki had ever made.