Chapter Nine
What Nightmares May Come


"There's only one thing to say about pain, it hurts." - Zeke Willey


The faint light from whatever celestial bodies that poked their ethereal rays through the dismal grey sky swirled and sparkled on falling rain. A quiet murmur interrupted only by the suddenly plop of something holding much more weight as it hit the hard earth in a dark red splotch that was immediately diluted and almost washed away by the rain. There was a dull ache at the back of her head that caused sound to borderline on muffled slurring and impaired vision to fuzzy outlined shadows, she was forced to blink rapidly a few times before things seemed to fall back in line and recenter themselves well enough for her to see straight.

The harsh pinch of metal assaulted her sense of taste causing her mouth to water in an attempt to be rid of the acidic tinge. Blood had apparently found its way in passed her lips, no doubt having traveled its way from the wound sitting up against her hairline on the left temple. Swirling her tongue about the inside of her mouth she gathered the taste amongst her own saliva and then proceeded to spit the vile mix out, but the aftertaste remained.

"You should just die."

No infliction of a bladed weapon, nor the battering blow of a fist could have caused more injury than those four words. Her heart skipped a beat as her breath caught within her lungs. Eyes widening from the tortured shock of hearing such heartless cruelty while hands hung limply at her sides. No one had ever said anything like that to her before, but she had sensed the underlying disgust that many seemed to harbor against her. A disgust she couldn't come to understand until now.

Here she stood, an arm rendered almost useless, numerous injuries torn open across her young body with fatigue threatening to be her utter downfall, and now with an emotional stab to her psyche; it was a wonder that she continued to stand upon her two feet through her own willpower. But it wasn't her own stubborn force of will that kept her standing, oh no. To her it felt as if someone had their hands slipped about her, holding her rock steady in a firm grip that made damn sure she stayed on her two feet.

As if it had been as simple enough as turning the knob of a faucet, the rain ceased completely but left behind the deepening grey sky overhead. Taking this as come sort of cue, two combatants raced for one another at a dead run, their bodies giving off wavering auras of incredible power for being so young. Meeting at the center, a shout from either as they collided, an explosion followed immediately after that swept out from that one little spot and rocked both surrounding earth and tree.

You should have broken the seal! You should have let me OUT!

There was only one momentary twitch before a full on jerk of the body snapped her awake as if reacting to the end of the dream and the voice that bellowed from somewhere far off yet so close it vibrated through her chest. In a panic, Sara shot up in bed, stiff as a board and practically sweating bullets, her grey eyes were wide while staring down at the rumpled covers of her bed that had been twisted about in apparently a rather unsettling sleep. There was an odd thing about her eyes, other than the fact that they expressed an incredible sense of terror, was that for the briefest of moments they had pulled a color shift towards a pale shade of blue that held a darker ring about the pupil.

Once she finally blinked, the grey was back but the panic and fear still remained. Her breathing was starting to slow as she attempted to calm herself down. A heart racing near the speed of light probably wasn't good for ones' all around health. Running her left hand through her damp hair, Sara set her right hand over her stomach in a manner that seemed near the side of gingerly. She winced even at her own actions before tossing what covers still clung to her body off to the side. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Sara sat forward with her palms resting upon her knees so that her arms locked. What was that? I haven't had that kind of dream in so long. Maybe it's because of what that guy said to me.

Lifting her head, Sara glanced over at her alarm clock. The bright red numbers of four am winked back at her. You've got to be kidding me. It had only been six hours since she fell asleep after that whole mess out front in the street. She exhaled a small sigh through her nose before looking away from the clock.

It had been a fortune of luck that her parents were out late on a dinner date with one another, and only returned home an hour after the initial fight that Sara and Casey had been put through. Even though she had tried to assure Casey that 'the faceless ones' would not be attacking again within the next ten seconds, he still insisted that he had least stay with her until her parents returned home. And thus, there was also the event of Casey Jones introducing himself to Sara's parents for the first time that night as well. Keeping quiet about the attack, insisted of course on Sara's part for now, Casey still suggested that she at least talk to Splinter the next day.

Right. I have to talk to Splinter today when I get the chance. She sighed again before flopping backwards on her bed, legs still dangling over the side so that her feet kept contact with the ground.April should be calling by at least six in a hysteric panic if Casey hasn't already told her. She'll probably demand that I go over to the apartment right away and then drag me down to see Splinter. Staring at the ceiling lost its appeal as Sara glanced off towards her left, eyes now falling upon the desk situated near her door. Hidden beneath a pile of clothes and other things was the mask that she had ripped off the face of one of her attackers.

Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the hidden object, a dark brooding scowl cutting across her face as she sat up on her bed again with eyes still glued on her desk that was just a dark shape in her dim room. Getting up, Sara crossed the floor, coming to the desk as if drawn to the mask she had hidden. If her mother ever saw it, well,Her going into hysterics would be the least of my worries. Lifting up the pile she had shoved the mask under before going to bed, Sara retrieved the said item while switching the desk lamp on as it was the only source of soft light in her room. The painted metal gleamed as if were practically brand new. The blazing jagged red scar line cutting at an angle over the expressionless face with only the nipped out slant-eyed openings hovering on either side, it was all creepy even without being upon an actual face.

"Jijii, what are they? They're scary!"

"Ah, yes, they are scary aren't they? That's the purpose of this mask, little one. They are meant to induce fear, oppress the target without even using a genjutsu and make it easier to take them. They have no real name that they go by, but by word of mouth for nearly three hundred years our clan has called them 'the faceless ones'. Never underestimate them, and never by any means are you to ever engage them on your own!"

"What do you mean Jijii? Why would I ever want to fight them?"

"You are a very special girl, little one. One day, when you have become a much stronger ninja, you may have to fight them as you are a guardian of Inaris' Secrets. But fight them only when you are backed by other ninja, comrades who can aid you against their numbers. If you are alone, retreat. Not many ninja can take them on alone, and not many survive the battle to talk about it later."

"Who are the faceless ones Jijii? Are they ninja too?"

"They were once a part of a ninja clan but are now nuke-nin; rogue ninja, runaways. They are loyal to no one, and are bound only by their greed for power and wealth. They are no longer ninja."

Sara's grip tightened upon the mask that already bore the indentations at the top where her fingers had attempted to dig as deep as possible. Even though her grandfather had warned her, told her to never fight these nameless ninja, she had taken them on and managed to survive. Had it not been for the fact that she was taught techniques earlier in her training to create solid replications of herself, dopplegangers that could fight as her backup, more than likely she would not be in her room right now under her parents' roof. But still, something bothered her, more so than the fact that she had been attacked. The leader had attacked her personally once his subordinates were occupied with her dopplegangers, and he had reprimanded her with a saying she had been told once by someone important in her life...who had been important.

But they said you were dead. Kiriu...are you really still alive? The free hand at her side curled into a fist, tightening to the point where her fingertips dug into the palm of her hand. The same hand that had been injured by the point of the bo-shuriken that had been used to stave off what could have been an even worse injury from the claws of the leader. Wait a minute... Her gaze shifted from the mask and down to her other hand that unfurled to reveal what should have been a deep gash at the middle of the palm. Only, instead of that wound she had successfully hidden from the view of her parents, there was only a dark scar that stood out against her lighter skin tone. It was a bit tender still, but it wasn't horrible.

Her mouth twitched, an unamused look coming across her face.

Another something she was going to have to explain. "Great." She murmured quietly while moving to set the mask back to its hiding place. However, she hesitated. Eyes staring hard at the piece of shaped and rounded featureless metal. Something moved behind Sara's eyes, another's reaction that was not her own. One singular glint and it was gone as she pushed the mask back underneath the pile of assorted junk on her desk.

If anything, she needed to get back to sleep and rest a bit more before her cellphone would eventually erupt with April's frantic call somewhere around six maybe six-thirty, give or take whether or not Casey told her when he got home about what had happened. Slipping back into bed and pulling the covers up around her tightly, Sara stared at the red numbers on her clock before turning over and closing her eyes.

Four Hours Later...

"Good morning Manhattan! We are looking at an overcast day ranging in the high forties to the low fifties, so you're gonna wanna bundle up a bit. West 42nd Street is experiencing a bit of a back up in traffic this morning as well as the usual traffic jams up near Time Square."

The blaring voice of the radio DJ nearly shouted right into Sara's ear as she had somehow gotten herself in one of those positions in bed that had her head hanging rather close to the bedside table. The bubbly and energetic voice was enough to wake her up immediately as Sara had made sure to have the volume up on a rather high number. Blinking dumbly for a few moments, she squinted at the glowing LCD numbers that stamped out the current time – 8:00am.

"No way." She mumbled while sitting up and bed, blurry-eyed and hair looking as though she had gone through a wind tunnel. She would have bet money on the fact that April would have been calling her by at least six o'clock, but yet here she was waking up at eight because of the alarm clock. Not even th murmured chirp of a missed call could be heard. It was weird.

Tossing her covers aside and slipping out of bed, Sara walked over to her bedroom door and twisted the knob to get out into the hallway. As soon as the door was even open a crack the smell of coffee hit her senses and woke her up a bit more. Padding off down the hall, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she entered an empty living room and glanced over at an equally empty kitchen. Her parents had already left for their respective jobs, leaving her alone in the apartment yet again. Scratching the back of her head, Sara trudged over to the kitchen area and made a beeline for the cabinet that held the mugs.

Moving about the kitchen she came across the TV remote that her dad had no doubt left on the counter as he tended to watch the morning news while getting ready for work. Multi-tasking, Sara aimed the remote at the TV off in the open living room as she pulled a mug down out of the high cabinet. The black screen winked to life and soon the voices of the news anchors filled the living room and trailed their way into the kitchen.

"A stationary fog coming in off the Atlantic have many wondering if maybe there's some ground truth to a popular work of fiction by famed author Stephen King. Reports of this strange fog are said to collaborate on a few specific aspects of this strange occurrence, one in which being that while it lasts for only a few hours it is extremely dense. Dock workers on the graveyard shifts who have encountered this fog over the past week say that when in the middle of the fog it is easy to become disoriented and even nauseas upon leaving it. This has officials a bit concerned."

Sara glanced back over her shoulder at the TV while setting the coffee pot back on its hotplate. Her brow held a furrow as she listened to the anchor woman give her report on a minor headline that seemed to be slowly gaining attention from a few people. Stationary fog sounded a bit odd, and with the details of it being incredibly dense to the point where upon entering it one was quickly disoriented and even felt sick after leaving, Sara couldn't help but wonder.

Moving into the living room from the kitchen, Sara stood behind the sofa with eyes fixated on the TV while sipping at her coffee. The report was done and over with in the next minute, the anchors moving on to something about construction going on near the Hudson. Something didn't sit right, especially not after last night and the genjutsu that had been used on her and Casey to blindside them. I was hoping it had just been some weird coincidence that the Foot knew that I was apart of the Haruno Clan when they ambushed me in the subway. But with the appearance of the faceless and now this, I'm starting to fell worried. Maybe I should send word to Jijii. Her mouth pulled into a frown as she walked off back down the hall to her room.

Somewhere around ten minutes was spent searching her room for the cellphone she seemed to have misplaced, only to come to the conclusion that the only way she was going to find said belonging was to use the home phone and call it. Dialing her number on the cordless phone from her parents' room, Sara stepped out into the hall, ears tuned for the familiar ring tone she had set. It wasn't hard to miss it, especially since the blaring words of a song she had managed to rip off an internet download of The Same Old Song by Sev were hard to miss. She waited as the line rang a few times and then frowned as she headed towards her room to listen for possibly the muted tone as she figured it had gotten tossed under something by accident.

Nothing.

"Crap." She hung the phone up as the voice mail message came over the line. There was a good chance she had it set on vibrate or even silent, and then there was kicked in dread that she had lost it. "Man, no wonder I wasn't woken up earlier. April's gonna kill me." Sara muttered under her breath while dialing the number for April's cellphone on the cordless.

Michaelangelo paced back forth near the main door of the underground home he shared with his three older brothers and their father, blue eyes glancing every three seconds to the door, hoping that at any moment one of his few topside friends was going to walk in. Worry twisted his stomach and scribbled a frown upon his face, and it only intensified with each passing second and minute.

"Wow, Mikey looks really worried." Donatello spoke in hushed tones to his eldest brother Leonardo, who nodded in agreement. "You think one of us should talk to him? I mean he's been pacing since April called, and that was almost three hours ago." He glanced at Leonardo with his own look of worry. Donatello was concerned for Sara's well-being at the moment, afraid that maybe something had happened to her during the night, and also worried over Michaelangelo's personal concern for their female friend. It was a bit unusual for their young brother to be appear this worked up.

Leonardo shook his head. "Even if one of us did talk to him, Mikey's not going to just sit down and relax. In all honesty, I want to go topside and head to Sara's place, but Master Splinter said we should wait things out." Leonardo recited the advice their father had given them as soon as April's information had been passed on to him. "If anything, I bet you she lost her cellphone again."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Raphael's gruff voice spoke up from his place in front of the TV, and away from his brothers who hovered near the front door. "You guys are getting all worked up over one girl, one kunoichi might I add, who's from some legendary ninja clan and can take care of herself. Worrying about her because some masked Foot ninja jumped her and Casey the other night ain't gonna do you any good." His amber-eyed gaze didn't even leave the TV screen as he channel surfed for something entertaining to watch. His lack of concern was rather evident and frowned upon by the other turtles.

Michaelangelo stopped his pacing long enough to shoot the back of Raphael's head a quick glare. "Yeah, well, Sara's our friend! That's why I'm worried! You're suppose to worry about your friends when something like this comes up!" He shot back, his tone of voice unusually serious and almost strict with reprimand to his older brother's lack of all around care for someone who had been nothing but nice to him from the very beginning. Michaelangelo's retort caught his brothers off-guard, and even had Raphael looking back over his shoulder at him with a surprised look in his eyes.

Before any kind of comeback could be so much as thought out on Raphael's part, the door lifted up into the pocket frame. Michaelangelo's head nearly snapped back over his shoulder, blue eyes lighting up instantly while a huge smile pulled out across his face. "SARA!"

In an instant, the teen was nearly tackled as she stepped into the underground home of her unique friends. Swept up into the overjoyed hug of Michaelangelo and squeezed, Sara first went completely stiff at the force of the impact before blinking dumbly as she was lifted up off her feet momentarily and then set down.

"You're okay! You're alive!" Michaelangelo cried out in his usual bubbly manner while quickly inspecting his friend just to assure himself of this. She looked to be in one whole piece, if only a little tussled and wide-eyed in response to his zealous greeting. "April said you and Casey were jumped last night."

"Yeah." Sara replied slowly while shifting her gaze to the other two turtle brothers coming up alongside Michaelangelo. "We were. But the dudes left."

"After you handed them a royal butt-kicking right?" Michaelangelo pipped up, mind playing out a vastly expanded upon fight he didn't really know word one about other than it being mentioned.

Sara shook her head slowly. "No."

"Then why did they leave?" Donatello appeared much more relaxed alongside Leonardo with Sara standing before them. His worry over what he had heard firsthand from April had lifted with her appearance, but its still gnawed at the back of his mind as the truth of the matter was that she had in fact been ambushed by unknown assailants.

"Actually, I think it would be better if you started with why they attacked you in the first place." Leonardo pointed out while noting the additional appearance of April and Casey in the doorway.

"I believe that would be a very good idea." Splinter's voice entered the main living area as he appeared from the dojo. The elderly anthropomorphic rat had been meditating for the passed three hours, focusing all he had learned from his Master Yoshi to gain further insight to the attack. "Please, Sara-san, have a seat." He gestured toward the couch and lazy boy that formed the semi-circle about the TV.

Casey grinned while passing Sara on his way in, reaching out and ruffling her hair with a hand. "Yeah champ, it's story time. I'll help you out, although I think I may have left my crayons and paper at home." He laughed while walking over the couch where Raphael still sat upon. Casey's laugh was cut off into a strangled choke as a backpack collided with the back of his head rather quickly.

"Don't worry, I brought 'em for ya old man." Sara shot back while holding a look to her face that challenged Casey to even dare make another wise crack as he snatched the backpack up off the floor.

"That's it, April no more straight coffee for that one this early in the morning!" Casey met Sara's glare with his own as he yanked the backpack open and rummaged inside, briefly wondering if Sara had really brought something. "You better have packed the scented ones." He grumbled, taking a jab at her earlier comment and disliking the fact that she had even noted him as an 'old man'. His fingers grazed over a cool texture that was incredibly smooth beneath his touch. Yanking it out, Casey stared at the faceless mask that he had watched Sara rip off a face the night before.

The image of that last blow replayed in his mind, the details were a bit fuzzy, but that heavy feeling he had experienced was still there during the initial strike. Shuddering, Casey looked away from the mask he held as it started to give him the creeps.

April stared at the mask from behind Casey's shoulder, eyes tracing the white featureless surface that held only one jagged red strip between the narrowed eye slits. Her eyes alighted upon the indentations near the top, a furrow formed between her brows as she glanced over her shoulder towards Sara as she came around to take a seat on the lazy boy. "These markings up at the top of the mask, they aren't originally part of the overall design, are they?"

"Uh, no. I kind of added that when I ripped it off the guy's face." Sara sat back in the chair, momentarily glancing up as she caught sight of Michaelangelo hovering above her.

"That thing is seriously giving me the creeps." Michaelangelo commented aloud while staring at it from his place behind Sara's chair.

"Masks like these are used for that exact reason Mikey." April tore her gaze from the mask as she was starting to feel oddly overwhelmed by its vacant stare. "Samurai used demon faced masks to intimidate their enemies, make them think twice about attacking and gave the wearer a delayed advantage on the first attack."

"But the mask of the faceless ones is not meant for that purpose I am afraid." Splinter interjected as he came closer to inspect the mask for himself. He met the rather surprised look on Sara's face with his usual genteel smile. "Yes, Sara-san, I am well aware ofthe faceless ones myself. My Master Yoshi spoke of them when we first arrived in New York. He was afraid that in his vengeance, Oroku Saki would enlist their aid. I have never heard such fear in my Masters' voice as he spoke of them." He exhaled a quiet sigh as he turned to take a seat upon the couch.

Donatello scratched at the back of his head, confused like his brothers as to what this all meant. It was obvious that this mask was incredibly creepy as Michaelangelo had pointed out, and that whoever had attacked Sara and Casey the other night wore these masks. However, he could sense a rather uneasy atmosphere collecting about them, and it bothered him. "So, who are these faceless ones? I mean, they don't sound as though they're connected to The Foot."

"They're not connected to anyone Donny." Sara glanced over at the purple banned turtle. "They're rogue ninja, nuke-nin, who will take contracts from anyone or anything willing to pay a high price for their services. The masks they wear are used for two purposes; one is mainly conceal their former identity, and the second is to induce an all consuming fear the immobilizes their targets immediately in a state of temporary paralysis. Normally it's because of genjutsu that's been used before their initial appearance before their target."

"So that freaky fog that we were surrounded by was a..." Casey trailed off as he couldn't quite grasp the pronunciation of the word Sara had used.

"A genjutsu? Yeah." Sara nodded.

Leonardo lifted a brow while crossing his arms over his chest. "Why would these guys target you anyways Sara? I mean it doesn't make any sense. The Foot wouldn't hire someone else to do their work for them, if in fact they're still bent on capturing you."

"Yeah, you know what, that sounds like the most decent question I've heard all day." Raphael spoke up suddenly as he saw his chance to finally voice his own opinion out in the open. While initially, when he and his brothers had first seen Sara during a pizza run, he was impressed at how well she could fend for herself and the ninjutsu she deployed. But after she was ambushed by The Foot and identified by them specifically, he had begun to doubt whether or not she was anything other than what she projected. No one gets ambushed by The Foot like that if they weren't on either their 'to-do list' or 'most wanted list'. Standing up from his seat on the couch, Raphael took a step towards Sara. "What aren't you telling us?"

Sara stared at Raphael with a scowl crawling its way across her face. She was used to him snubbing her, ignoring her very presence whenever she came down to hang out with his brothers, and just shrugged it off every time he gave her the cold shoulder when she attempted to talk to him or include him on something she was already doing with his brothers.

However, she picked up on the underlying distrust he seemed to harbor against her, the tone of his voice and even his body language was enough to convince her of this finally. "My clan guards secrets handed down by the kami deity of Inari, like I've said before. The greatest secret we protect for Inari, is also the darkest. It is coveted and sought after by enemy ninja clans and rogue ninja alike. It's not locked up in the shrine, it's locked up somewhere else and guarded by one solitary ninja from my clan until the day they die. The day that I was born, I was made the guardian of that dark secret. I was cursed. I was made a monster." Her gaze fell, her resolve crumbled as she hung her head with slumped shoulders.