Miki pushed herself up with trembling hands. She knew that Blitz was more than a match for her, but she couldn't give in.

"Miki..." Rowan soothed.

She pushed him away gently and said, "I'm fine." Her vision blurred for a moment as she stood. Blitz had returned to his meditative state. Miki glared over at Nami, "What the hell was that?" She demanded.

Nami tossed her dark hair over her shoulder before answering, "It was just a test and you passed with flying colors."

"I'm done with your tests." Miki took a step towards her. "I will not be your lab rat to experiment on."

Nami frowned. "You honestly think that is all you are to me?"

"That is all you have shown me that I am to you." Miki answered.

"You should go rest, Miki." Rowan said softly next to her.

"I appreciate your concern, Rowan, but I'm fine." Miki kept her focus on Nami. "What exactly am I to you?"

Nami smiled and spoke in her sweet voice. "You are like a little sister to me. As your older sister, I'm asking you for help. Are you not angry about what The Leaf did to us?"

Miki swallowed hard and took another step towards Nami. "Yes. I'm angry...hurt...confused..." She paused and averted her eyes a moment. "It hurt enough to learn that Gai isn't my brother by blood..." Miki brought her gaze back to Miki with determination. "But I choose him as my brother. I love him."

"So that's your decision?" Nami frowned and the sweetness left her voice. "You choose that pack of murders and liars...you choose them over your own clan?"

"Gai isn't the one who killed our people." Miki answered.

"You do realize that by choosing him, you choose to stand with The Leaf?" Nami asked in a growling tone.

Miki nodded. "Yes I realize this." Miki remembered when she first met Kakashi and the conversation they had. Bad things happen, he had said. He's right...bad things happen. It happens to good people and bad people. She didn't know why The Leaf chose to destroy her village, but she had faith and trust in her brother. She knew in the deepest part of her heart and soul that if she couldn't trust anyone else in this world, she could trust her older brother.

"I don't think you realize what you're giving up." Nami took a step toward Miki. They were now only a few feet apart.

"It doesn't have to be this way, Nami." Miki answered softly. "Come back to the village with me. We'll try to make sense of this together."

"Hmph." Nami answered with a glare. "They had you locked away like an animal when we rescued you. Do you honestly think they will greet us with open arms? If you think that you're dumber than Rowan."

Rowan made a small noise in protest. Nami glared at him and he backed down.

Nami fixed her glare back on Miki and said, "You're either with us or against us. What's it going to be Miki? I'm only going to ask this one last time...Will you choose your rightful family or will you choose the murders that are holding you prisoner?"

Miki felt her hands tremble, this was a fight she knew she couldn't win. Maybe she could take Nami. She didn't have her weapon, Infinity, and if Rowan and Blitz joined in the battle...she would definitely lose quickly. Blitz had the ability to use Genjutsu and that was something Miki knew she would have a hard time over coming. Rowan may be fast and stronger than anyone she had ever met, but he was definitely the dumbest. Nami had clearly shown superior skill as far as the mind jutsu capabilities their people possessed. Miki couldn't judge how Nami would be in an actual physical fight though...

Miki closed her eyes a moment and remembered the lake that Kenchi would take her to for training. He taught her how to use her chakra to walk on water. He would have her do training exercises with infinity while standing on the lake water. She fell through the water many times until she was able to multitask and concentrate her chakra to her feet as she completed training routines. Kenchi had trained her very well, but now she had a doubt about herself she never had before. She had the memories that Nami showed her...the village burning while she was taken away as a baby.

Then she remembered Gai, he always overcame overwhelming odds. He always had such an energetic and positive spirit...he overcame so much through sheer determination and hard work. He didn't care what anyone said about him, he was going to be the best that he could be. And when he achieved his best...he would push himself to be greater. He was her rightful family...it may not be blood that bonded them together, but it was something deeper. She wanted to be with Gai, her adopted brother. If she got out of here alive, she was going to tell him how much she loved him.

Miki smiled wistfully as she thought of Gai and answered, "I choose family."

Nami exhaled a sigh of relief. "I was hoping you would do the right thing and choose us."

Miki tilted her head and answered, "By family...I meant Gai...my REAL brother. True family would not offer me up to Blitz to experiment on. I choose The Leaf." Miki quickly averted her eyes so that Nami couldn't enter her mind.

"Stay out of this." Nami commanded Blitz, who was about to get up. "This is between me and Miki...I will settle this."

"Stay back, Rowan." Miki said softly. "I do not wish to hurt anyone, but I will defend myself."

"Miki, please don't fight Nami." Rowan gently said behind her.

"Rowan..." Miki looked over her shoulder at him. "I'm sorry but Nami has left me no choice."

"Nami is strong." Rowan answered cautiously.

Miki smiled. "So am I."

"Stay out of this, Rowan." Nami warned him.

Rowan nodded reluctantly and withdrew.

Miki looked at Nami's feet and asked, "Are you sure you want to fight me? I'm giving you one last chance...it doesn't have to be like this."

"You're a fool." Nami growled.

Miki took a defensive stance. "That may be...but I do this with a clear conscious."

Nami was suddenly behind Miki and whispered. "Not a bad choice for your last words."

Nami was fast, but so was Miki. Miki spun quickly and the two women began exchanging blows, neither one landing a hit. Miki kept her eyes at Nami's feet the whole time to avoid being caught in her mind jutsu. Miki knew that if that happened, she would be done for. Miki grabbed Nami's arms, holding her in front of her.

"You're still that scared little girl, watching her village burn." Miki spoke to her as if she was a wounded animal. "Pain and revenge is all you know...it holds you back from true happiness."

"Don't try to counsel me, Miki." Nami answered with a snarl before head-butting her. Nami smiled, satisfied with the blood that trickled from Miki's headband and into her eye.

Miki was dazed a moment before she answered, "You think that's what I'm doing?" She laughed as blood trickled into her mouth as she spoke. "I'm not trying to counsel you at this point, I'm telling you the honest truth. You're too blind by hate to see past your own damned nose."

Nami screamed as she head-butted Miki again, blood spattered on their clothes. Miki's face was now almost covered in her own blood. The world around her blurred like an unfocused camera lens as she lost her grip on Nami. Miki shook her head in an attempt shake out of her daze as she focused on Nami and resumed her defensive stance.

"When I'm done with you..." Nami spoke in her sickingly sweet tone, "You'll be begging for death."

Miki responded with a snort. "I've heard that before."

An enraged Nami came at Miki again. Their moves so fast, it looked as though their hands and feet were blurs. Blitz remained in his meditative stance, completely detached from the situation around him. Rowan watched them fight with regretful eyes. He was loyal to Nami to a fault, he would follow her even though he knew their actions were wrong.

Miki blocked every move Nami threw at her, but the mental fatigue she suffered from Blitz's attack was catching back up to her. She lost her footing for a mere second and Nami caught her by the arm, forcing her to the floor.

Nami laughed darkly. "I'm feeling generous.." She commented as she twisted Miki's arm, making her cry out in pain.

Rowan stepped forward to intervene, but stopped in his tracks when Nami threw him a death glare. He took a step back and averted his gaze away from them.

"Really?" Miki grunted. "How so?"

"I'm giving you one last chance... Cut your ties to The Leaf and this will all be over. We will be family and you can be a part of our plan to right the wrong that was done to our clan." Nami held Miki's arm firmly.

Miki was afraid, she didn't want to die at this moment. She never even got a chance to tell Kakashi how she felt about him. She wanted to see her brother one more time. She thought of Kenchi and the strange friendship that they had. She almost laughed at the thought of him finding another partner. He was very difficult to get along with, but they made it work. If she turned her back on The Leaf, that would mean turning her back on everyone she cared about. She looked over at Rowan, who was still looking away. Rowan wasn't like Nami, he didn't carry hatred in his heart. Going against Nami would mean going against him as well.

"Well?" Nami twisted her arm impatiently.

Miki screamed before answering, "No...what you're doing is wrong. You can't heal your broken heart with hatred and revenge. Agreeing to this would be agreeing to destroy what is left of our clan. I would like to believe that our clan is above revenge and hatred. Having the abilities we do should make us want to understand and heal people. What The Leaf did to us was wrong, but shouldn't we try to understand them instead of causing further death and destruction?"

Nami answered with a humph, "You are weak and a disgrace to our clan."

Miki looked up at Nami, "You are the disgrace, look at how afraid Rowan is of you. I refuse to believe that is the kind of life our clan would be proud of."

Nami's face twisted into an expression of rage as she gave Miki's arm one last twist as she pushed her down. Miki could hear her bones in her arm break as her senses were overloaded with pain. She laid on the floor, writhing in agony as Nami stepped away from her with a smug expression. Nami walked around Miki, watching in delight as she screamed.

"Does it hurt?" Nami called sweetly before stepping on Miki's broken arm. "Are you ready to beg for death now?"

Miki screamed as Nami applied more pressure to her broken arm. Her screams eventually calmed down into broken whimpers as Nami backed away from her.

"I'll never beg for anything from the likes of you." Miki panted as she struggled to get up.

"Oh you will." Nami hissed before kicking Miki in the chest.

Miki collapsed back to the floor in a heap, coughing. Tiny droplets of blood splattered on the floor as she coughed. Her vision went fuzzy around the edges, she felt something rattle in her chest as she pushed at the floor. All of her strength went in an attempt to stand only for her to fall back to the floor.

"Get away from her." A familiar voice threatened. Miki swore it sounded like Kenchi.

Nami smiled as she stood over Miki. "We have guests."

"Miki!" Gai called out. He took in the horrific sight of his sister, crumpled on the floor in a bloody heap. Were they too late? Was she dead?

Kakashi's eye was wide as he ran into the room and saw the same horrific scene. His gaze met the dark haired woman that stood over her wearing a smug expression.

"Rowan...Blitz." Nami smiled in amusement. "Why don't you give our guests a proper welcome."

Blitzed opened his creepy eyes with a bored expression. "I don't take orders from you...but in any case I can't let them have her." He stood.

Gai called out to his sister again as his hands clenched into trembling fists.

Miki felt her dulled senses wake up a little at the plea of her brother. Gai? She thought to herself. She struggled to open her eyes and forced deep, painful breaths. She needed to stand up, but her body protested. Nami's feet slowly came into focus as Miki forced herself to stay conscious. She wanted to see her brother again. She didn't care if they weren't blood related...that didn't matter to her anymore. He was her brother and there wasn't anything that would change that.

"Gai..." Miki whispered. No one heard her though. She put all of her focus into willing her body to move as she began to push herself up.

"Oh, you're awake again." Nami snorted.

Gai sighed in relief as he watched Miki feebly move into a kneeling position. He waited in agonizing suspense as she slowly turned to face him. He smiled reassuringly at his little sister. His heart felt heavy in his chest as he watched her blood stained face and she returned his smile with a feeble one. He needed to get her out of here, she looked bad. Her left arm hung lifelessly at her side, blood soaking through her green sleeve. That arm was clearly broken.

"You're the one who stole the forbidden Jutsu." Kenchi said to Nami with a harden expression.

"Well," Nami chuckled. "I see you're about as smart as she is. I didn't steal it, I reclaimed it. The Leaf stole it from my clan."

"Your clan became power hungry and wanted to control people. They were a threat to human kind. Are we proud of how we handled it? No...but we did what had to be done." Kenchi replied.

"I'll be sure to put that on your tombstone." Nami smiled sinisterly.

Kenchi smiled. "That's kind of you, but it will be difficult for you if you die first."