Chapter two: The Assailant.

When Matsuri got home, she immediately fell onto her couch, every bone in her body feeling broken.

She almost wished they were so she wouldn't have to go to work tomorrow. But she knew full well that, when her alarm clock rings tomorrow, she'll get up anyway, and wish the same thing the next day and the next.

She closed her eyes, deciding that a small nap couldn't hurt.

Pale Eyes walked into the room, smirking at her sleeping being.

Time to get to work.

Matsuri woke up an hour later, having the strange feeling that something was wrong. "Stop being so pessimistic," she scolded herself.

But she couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness off. She stood slowly, scanning the room for anything off. She felt a small bout of relief when she notice nothing missing or out of place.

But a few more seconds of scanning the room lead to her curiosity of why she sensed something was wrong in the first place. There was nothing wrong visibly.

She shook her head, trying to shake conspiracy thoughts out of her mind. There was absolutely no need for it. Her house was perfectly fine. She was alone. And she felt uneasy.

Was she alone? Really?

Matsuri sighed, running a hand through her messy hair nervously. I better go investigate, she decided.

Her first instinct was to check the kitchen- which is what she did. She crept quietly into the hall, then paused at the kitchen door. There was no movement at all. The light was off.

She shook her head. Unless the assailant had the eyes of a cat, there was no way he would be in the dark kitchen.

Matsuri suddenly felt herself shivering. She whipped around. There was no one there. But she could have sworn that she had felt someone's breath on her neck.

She mentally cursed herself for being such a child, then moved on to the next room on the list.

Slowly, gradually, she checked every room, but found nothing off or weird. Yet, her uneasiness continued to eat at her. Strange.

Matsuri had been about ready to give up, when she realized that she had not checked EVERY room. Her bedroom.

That's the last place he could be.

She crept down the hall, a deep sense of dread filling her as she crept closer to HER room- her personal space. She felt blood flood her mouth as she opened the door. It creaked open and she stepped inside.

The first thing she was the mirror. A tall, elegant, black marble mirror that stood on the other side of her bed. But then, she never had a mirror.

Something caught the corner of Matsuri's eye. A tall figure dressed in all black. She only had enough time to dash into the room as he launched at her. She moved away enough to avoid a fatal blow, but she still didn't miss getting clipped in the side by his hard boots, sending her flying into the bed frame.

He moved onto the bed, leaning over her, drawing a kunai knife from his dark cloak. She immediately recognized the design. Akatsuki.

She gasped as she rolled out of the way. His blade struck the pillow that she normally slept with.

The assailant immediately corrected, pulling out another kunai, throwing it at her. She cartwheeled to the left, causing the kunai knife to sail past her and lodge itself into the mirror.

The assassin sighed. "That's not a good thing," he muttered, pulling out a shuriken from beneath his cloak.

Matsuri raised an eyebrow at the superstition reference he had just made. "What do you want with me?"

She heard another sigh from the man (it had been obvious when he spoke). "To kill you, what do you think?!" his answer was blunt.

She ducked the shuriken thrown at her. She miscalculated, and it stabbed her shoulder with a slight blood splash.

She immediately felt the poison. She pulled the shuriken out, but it was too late. Everything started to go dizzy around her.

She felt herself fall to her knees roughly. "Who- who are you?"

She got the feeling the assassin was smirking beneath his mask. "Everyone and no one," was the only reply she got.

"What? What is that?"

The assassin turned and walked over to the door, opening it, "The key to saving your life."

She gasped, a sickening thud striking her. A kunai was lodged in her arm. Blood gushed through her fingers as she tried to stop the bleeding with her hands.

With that, he left. As fast as he'd come, he'd gone.

Matsuri collapsed into the cold, harsh darkness.

She didn't even feel the antidote as it spread through her being with the help of a certain kunai knife.