"Sachi?" I repeated softly.

When she didn't stir from her sleep, I felt my insides freeze over and my breath catch in my throat. The skin I touched on her shoulder was cold and clammy, and I quickly withdrew my hand as if I'd been burned.

I couldn't breathe as I reached my hand towards her neck. As soon as my index and middle finger made contact with her jugular vein, I learned two things. The first was that that skin was just as cold and clammy as the skin on her shoulder. The second was that she was unmistakably dead.

My eyes misted over in tears as my body racked itself with sobs. I dropped my hand and used it to weep into. Sachi was dead. She was so young and such a good person. She was one of my closest friends. She had a family. She had so much in store for her.

"Don't worry, Akira. She's in a better place."

I started and spun around, only to recognize a fellow ninja from Kumogakure. We grew up together and went to the ninja academy as children. He was a loner and hardly spoke to the other children, but we'd always been polite to each other. He came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder as I looked back down to Sachi's lifeless body.

"We'll all miss her very much. And I'll see to it that somebody sees to telling her family… Those poor, poor children."

I sniffed and wiped my eyes. "Only a monster would've killed somebody as sweet as her. It's awful that someone could've done this."

Haru's fingers began to drum onto my shoulder as he sighed. "Maybe not a monster. Just somebody doing their job."

My eyebrows furrowed. Here he was, trying to comfort me after the loss of one of my oldest and closest friends, and he's justifying her murderer? What was he even doing here, anyway? This was a confidential mission and there was no way he could've 'just been in the neighborhood'.

"What are you trying to say, Mitsuharu?" I asked, frowning and trying to puzzle it all together in my head.

"I'm saying he might not have been a bad guy. He could've just been doing his job to protect his country. Maybe Sachi was the antagonist, or had to be removed." He explained. I felt myself clench my fists and gritted my teeth. He had no right to talk about her in such a way. The bastard didn't even know her!

"What do you-" My words were cut off when I let out a shriek as Haru dug his nails into my skin deep enough to bleed. It hurt so badly and to increase my agony he drug his hand down my back, ripping through cloth and skin as blood poured out. My voice came out as a high-pitched scream as my back arched. He pulled his hand out, his hand covered in my blood, and looked from his hand to my face and back again, a sick smirk set onto his face.

"Haru, I-I don't understand…" I sobbed and tried to pull myself away. My back and shoulder felt as if it was on fire and the crawling wasn't helping.

"Yes, that's right," He grinned and walked slowly closer to me, easily keeping up with my dragging. "Cry all you want. Beg me to tell you what's going on. Hiroma didn't try that tactic, as much as he wanted to know. Too bad for him, I suppose…"

I froze and looked up at him as tears began to overflow from my eyes. Hiroma too? No! He couldn't have! Hiroma could've taken him down- Haru wasn't known for being the most talented ninja.

"You're lying!" I snarled and glared up at him as he smiled. "Hiroma would've killed you! You're a lying son of a-"

"Ah, ah, ah. Watch your language." Haru smirked and shook his finger, scolding me.

"I don't give a fuck! You killed my friends!" I yelled and began clenching my fists tightly.

He smiled. "You bet I did."

He pulled his foot back and kicked me in the chin, sending me head first into a tree trunk. Bark shattered as my face took the blow for the rest of my body. I felt my nose break in several places as I fell to my back on the ground.

Blood gushed from my nose and it felt like I was drowning in it. I couldn't breathe and I could hardly move; my body was twitching on its own.

Mitsuharu walked up beside me, tipping my head over to the side so I wouldn't drown in my own blood. I could hardly consider it a kindness.

"You know, it's a shame." He said softly and fixed his wide eyes on mine as he slowly ran his finger along my jaw. "You're so talented that we could've used you. It's a shame… You're far too sweet."

His hands were at my throat and I struggled as much as I could- scratching, punching, clawing, anything to get him off so I could run. His fingers only tightened around my neck as I felt pressure, unbelievable pressure build up in my head. It was a terrible. Agonizing. I needed oxygen now.

I went for one of his pale eyes with my nails and clenched my jaw as I pulled- out came sphere, cord, and blood.

Mitsuharu shrieked and grabbed at his now empty socket as blood seeped out and reddened his desperate, pained hands. Hands no longer at my neck. My eyes watered as air went into my lungs and I was able to cling to life a bit longer. I scrambled away and got to my feet, sapped of my energy and struggling to remain standing.

"Mitsuharu…" I whispered as he stopped thrashing about on the ground to focus all of his hate into one glare. I returned it, never lacking any loathing either.

"I am going to kill you. I will not show you or anyone you're working with mercy. It will be as painful as I can possibly make it." I seethed through my clenched teeth.

"You plan on killing me in that state?" He growled. "You can barely carry yourself. And you have no weapons."

I reached my hand down to my pouch. Shit.

"I don't need them to kill you." I replied in a raspy voice. "And I'm not going to kill you now. It'll be when your least expecting it and it will be the single most painful thing you've ever experienced. I guarantee it."

I brought my foot back and kicked him in the face as hard as I could. He howled with pain and clutched his face.

"You little bitch! I'll see to it that you are tortured! You will be begging for death by the time I am through with you!" He snarled and opened his good eye to glare.

But no one was there.