Chapter 10

Muu let the girl drop at his feet. She made no sound as her body hit the ground, her front facing him as she lay there. Her green hair coated with blood fanned out around her. He looked down at his arm as well as his front, he was soaked in blood, her blood to be exact. Of course this kind of situation would look bad for anyone, no matter who is was. He had no idea what Saiko was doing at the moment but she probably didn't find anything and would be looking for him probably very soon. Focusing his chakra, he sensed no one close to him. He observed the scene around it; obvious signs of a struggle were present. The blood stained tree was a dead giveaway and the girl had left more all over the ground including the rock he took her upon. He decided rather than leaving his scene here he would have to do something about it before someone else stumbled upon this scarring scene. He grabbed his cloak and wrapped the petite girl in it nice and tight; she didn't resist or make any sound of being there. He got on his knees and pulled her against him cradling her body before reaching behind him into his pouch for his hand held radio. He took a deep breath before taking a breath and bringing the device to his mouth and calmly speaking into it.

"Saiko, do you copy?"

There was a short pause before a crackly sound could be heard indicating to him she was about to respond,

"I'm here! What's up Muu-Sama?" she replied to him.

"Listen Saiko I need you and the medical squad out here right now. We got another body." He replied trying to sound as calm as possible. There was a long pause before saiko replied to him,

"Dead…or alive."

"Alive but in critical condition."

"Who is it? How bad is it?"

"Female, about our age. Name and status currently unknown."

"Alright we are on our way hold on! I'm out!" and with that Saiko disconnected from him. Muu could already sense chakra rushing back in the village indicating that they would be there quickly.

Saiko was changed into her gear faster than one could breathe and already she notified the medical core they would be responding fast with Muu-Sama who was already on the scene.

Saiko had located his location right away, but when she approached the blood volume she saw was sickening. At Muu's feet lay the body of a girl who was clearly dying of blood loss.

"Muu-Sama what happened to her?" Saiko asked as she crouched beside the girl and began unwrapping her from his bloodstained cloak.

"I have no idea, I found her like this. I pursued an unknown individual briefly but he got away."

"Well lucky for her," She ripped open the front of her kimono, "the killer failed this time. I NEED SOME HELP OVER HERE!" Muu backed off and let the team of medics surround her.

"She's got a deep slice through her back! Her lungs are collapsing!"

"Her lungs are filling with blood. Someone prepare a chest tube and a whole lot of blood volume pills!" Muu watched as a large glowing green light being admitted from the medic's many hands began to surround the front of the girl.

"Saiko this doesn't look good!"

"Shut up and keep going!"
Saiko formed a hand sign before slowly opening up the side of Ayame's torso allowing her to insert a tube.

"As long as her heart is still beating we won't give up on healing."

As she got the tube carefully into place she heavily bandaged the portion of her chest and then allowed the tube the start draining.

Blood began to pour out of the tube. Finally after a minute Ayame started coughing and gasping for breath as a sudden rushing of air filled her body.

"Yes, that's a good girl!" Saiko cooed her on, "Stay with me and keep breathing!" Ayame may not have been there consciously but her body desired the air and savored every bit of it. Muu tensed as he watched her from his spot leaning against a tree. Finally he decided to ask something,

"Saiko what are her chances?" he asked calm and collectedly.

"She has a good chance but we must get her into surgery right away and close her back!"

"Someone get me those blood ration pills before this girl dies from blood loss!"

Saiko was given the small bowl filled with crushed up blood volume pills and using a little bit of chakra she managed to turn them into liquid before gently pouring them down the girl's throat. Another medic supported her head as saiko guided her mouth closed gently to make sure she didn't spit anything up. "Alright let's get her on a stretcher."

The board was laid out beside her and everyone placed hands underneath her. "Alright easy, that's it."

"Alright let's get her out of here! On three, one…two…three…lift!"

Saiko gave Muu-sama a look of reassurance as she and three other medics rushed off with the heavily injured girl. A few other medics stayed behind to clean up the mess.

"My lord, let me attend to you." Muu was pulled from his thoughts to see a young female medic in front of him. "My lord, your injured." He looked down and she was right, he had failed to notice deep scratch marks along his biceps and forearms. He didn't say anything, but sat down and allowed the woman to attend to his wounds.

By the time he and the medical team had arrived back Saiko had already taken the girl into surgery. They were at it for about 6 hours. He merely went on with his regular duties, but grew curious after a while because they had been in surgery for almost 7 hours. Finally all paper work and letters he had to respond to were finished and when almost 8 hours went by he decided to go check to see how things were.

But it was just his luck because as he was about to walk out the door of his office his radio beeped,

"Muu-Sama, This is Karin. Do you copy?"

"Yes, I'm here."

"Saiko-Sama has requested your presence down in the medical ward. The girl she brought in has just gotten out of surgery."

"Alright I will be there soon."

"Roger that."

…..

He arrived to find Saiko standing in the hallway; she was dressed in his medical uniform with her long white hospital coat and her red hair in a high pony tail on top of her head. She was staring into the window of one of the hospital rooms, her green eyes hard and focused. He could tell she knew he was there but she didn't say anything. He walked beside her and looked through the glass. There lay the young women, heavily bandaged and hooked up to many tubes from her arms as well as her chest. He noticed that her long green hair had been done nicely in a long thick braid, probably done by Saiko most likely.

"She's one lucky girl," she finally spoke, "I managed to drain the blood from her lungs but one of them collapsed during surgery. She took some heavy blows to the head; my guess is with some sort of wooden object. I recovered wooden fragments from her head."

"…Has she said anything?"

"Nope she can't. When I examined her chest cavity it appeared something was shoved against it so hard it almost collapsed her intercostal membrane. Bastard was so strong his fist practically went right through her.

"…Well what did you do about it?"

"It took a bit of time but I healed fine, she also had a broken ankle but that was an easy fix as well. Most of her injuries will heal nicely, but my main concern is the trauma to the brain she suffered and the slice down her spine."

"Who is she? Have you figured out that much?"

"Nope, no ID on her, but this might help us narrow it down a little bit." Saiko reached into her pocket and pulled out an item for Muu to see,

It was a black sand village headband.

Muu tensed a little, trying to avoid the fact that he already knew where she was from her ANBU mask. When he finally decided to respond, he tried to hide the sarcasm in his voice,

"Well that narrows it down pretty easy then…."

"And considering how small SUNA is it will be easy for someone to tell us who she is and what she was doing here." she gave a loud yawn before placing the headband back into her pocket, "Boy am I beat! I need rest."

"Do you think she will be fine if we leave her here? Like unsupervised?"

"If you're trying to ask will she leave in the middle of the night? Not a chance unless she grows a new pair of lungs overnight. Anyways once I send off a photo of her to the sand I'm g-"

"No!"

Saiko gave him a confused look.

"I mean- you just got through an 8 hour surgery. Go home and be with your son. I will take care of it."

"…Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Fine, see you tomorrow then. Here's a photo I took earlier. Make sure to explain everything in a letter to lord Kazekage."

"….Sure thing." Muu accepted the envelope and watched as Saiko left him alone in the hallway. He opened it, observing the photo inside. Saiko sure knew how to pick the right photo. He was sure a photo of her lying on an operating table was probably not the best. But it didn't matter because the sand would never see it. He took one last peek through the glass. Muu had everyone fooled, and he planned to keep it that way. Of course he didn't plan to hide the fact she was responsible for the deaths of those people and it was bound to come out eventually, once she wakes up.

"You're so lucky little girl," He whispered darkly, pressing his fingers against the glass, "Saiko may be willing to spoil you but don't expect anything special from me."

….

Ayame didn't know where she was or how she got to be, but she defiantly was not prepared for the pain she woke up to. The room was dark but the curtained window next to her bed confirmed that it was indeed morning. She tried to sit up, but found herself held back by some kind of restraints. She weakly tried to feel around her, tubes, wires, bandages, oxygen mask and a large, heavy but very warm blanket. She was in a hospital. She accepted quickly that she was unable to move and just lay there; despite the great pain she felt the bed was very comfortable. Her eyes wandered to the other side of the room, a large window and a hallway on the other side could be heard. She made the mistake of trying to call out, the pain silenced her, and then the memories of how she got here did as well. It all went so fast, it felt like she got a huge impact the head. It hurt so much. Flashes of different color filled her eyes, not an image but just a bunch of flashing colors, and screams. They got louder and louder, they sounded like her but she was unsure. She clutched her head in pain, and gasped when a black shadow started to come closer, it blocked off all the colors. All the color started to fade and the blackness was followed by a booming sound. It got louder and louder and when something warm grabbed her face that was when she screamed. She fought the blackness but it forced her body down, the ringing came back again.

No.

Stay away.

Be quiet!

The force of the darkness forced her still, and the ringing was overlapped by many more booming noises.

'Leave me alone!' was all she could think.

…

"NO LEAVE ME ALONE!" Ayame shrieked.

Morning had arrived and the first thing on Saiko's to do list was check on the young woman. She arrived, expecting to find her asleep, but instead found her awake and in obvious pain. What she was not ready for was a complete and utter panic attack. She had no even touched the girl, only came close to, and was already struggling to restrain the obvious frightened girl.

"Please just try to relax! I'm here to help you!"

Kind words were spoken, but they only caused the ringing Ayame heard to grow louder, more painful, and more unbearable. The colors came back, but the ringing and booming grew louder and a force was trying to hold her.

"My head!" Ayame shrieked grabbing the sides of it, ripping out the nice braid saiko had made for her. "Oh god please get out!"

Well that solved one mystery for saiko.

"Baby please just real-" Saiko grabbed her wrists to try and prevent her from any more damage; she was currently using her body to pin down the violent girl, who was clearly having an episode due to the head trauma she suffered. Having to act fast saiko grabbed a shot of sedative she kept handy in her jacket pocket. Ayame gave up struggling but resorted to screaming even louder. Attention was soon attracted and Saiko gave the medics who just came upon the ugly scene to give her much needed backup. A few female nurses came in to restrain both of Ayames arms as saiko raising the shot up ready to strike a vein.

Ayame turned her head around, the shadow came back. But as soon as she looked, a long arm had been raised. She saw it, it began to glow, and then the lightning appeared.

"Ayame…..Ayame….Ayame…."

No. She was dead.

"Ayame is that you?"

No she couldn't be speaking to her.

"Your worthless piece of trash, you let me die!"

NO!

It was then Ayame gave fourth one last loud long shriek and with a rush of adrenaline Scorch release chakra was pumped through her body and released in that instant.

The force sent both nurses through the wall and Saiko flying through the glass with a loud crash.

….

Muu had gotten a distress call about trouble at the hospital. He responded instantly guessing what the ruckus would be and his guesses were confirmed when he arrived there. As he ran down the long hallway he could already hear the screams and cries. But what he was not prepared for was the loud crash and to witness his red headed assistant go flying through the glass and hit the wall with enough force that it cracked all the way up.

"Saiko-San!"

He was at her side in an instant.

"Holy hell," The redhead groaned rubbing her sore head, "that is going to hurt in the morning." Many other people ran to her side, avoiding the broken glass scattered out all over the floor.

"Saiko are you ok?!" A frantic Karin cried running up beside her.

"I'm fine get off me." she muttered standing up and trying to push the many concerned people away from her.

"Are you sure-?"

"Yes and please don't touch me!" There was nothing more the hot headed red head hated more than touchy feely people.

She pushed past everyone and rushed back into the room. They found Ayame half dangling from her the bed due to the tubes deep inside her. Clearly conscious her blue eyes met dark green ones,

"Wh-o…?" she had no time to finish her last words before collapsing into sleep once again. Saiko ran to steady her, carefully lifting her back into the bed and covering her tightly.

She turned giving Karin a sad look,

"Karin prepare the operating room I'm taking her back in again."

"Roger….." she stuttered, she was still a little frightened by the scene. She watched as Saiko shined a penlight into the girl's eyes.

"Karin! What are you waiting for?!" Saiko's voice interrupted her thoughts and she ran out the door to prepare for another surgery.
_

Ayame didn't know how she got where she was, but she found herself running. Running really fast.

Was she really escaping?

And how the hell did she get the strength to run as fast as she was?

The sun was setting, and the forest around her was growing very cold. She been that foolish to forget to bring something to keep her warm? In the desert during this time of day it would be freezing cold. But it didn't matter because she was out but still had to get back home. She had to get back to her family.

"Maki...Karina...Hani...Akari...mother...I'm coming! Wait for me I not dead!" She cried to herself as she continued to run. The only thing keeping her feet moving was pure adrenaline. The thought of leaving excited her to the point where she almost wanted to laugh out loud with joy. She was free. She savored the fresh air.

"Take that you bastard!" She cried as she jumped through the tree branches with pure joy. It felt good to know that he lost. He had tried to take her life from her but he lost, he had lost and she was free.

Ayame ran, and ran, going faster each time. She could feel fog suddenly coming in. It shocked her because fog was indeed rare during this time of the year. She stopped, standing upon a tree branch. Was this a trick? An illusion? Had he found her already?

The air was way too cold, and it kept on growing even colder.

"Why?! What do you want from me?!" She shouted. "Please let me go home!" The tears came fast, and suddenly she felt the tree branch break under her. Her body was paralyzed, and she screamed as she felt herself helplessly fall to the ground.

She hit the ground unharmed. The forest floor made a sloshing noise as her body was slammed into the grass.

What?

Ayame was suddenly not cold anymore. In fact she felt something warm, and very wet underneath her body. She sat up slowly. The fog had become so thick she couldn't even move.

Warm liquid ran down her face.

Did she hurt herself during her fall?

She observed her hand that rubbed the back of her head. Blood.

Then moving down her arms, more blood. It was dripping. All the way down her tan colored kimono. It was saturated with blood.

It became fairly difficult to regulate her breathing as she slowly looked up.

It was all around her. Blood. More blood.

She screamed. How?

The ground was gone.

She was on her feet in the instant. Blood dripped from her hem of her robe. She could feel it between her toes as her sandal's waded through it. The iron aroma was so strong she felt like she was going to vomit. She didn't hear herself shrieking as she desperately tried to wipe it off.

Her hair was soaked. It dripped down her face, and stained her pale white skin.

She ran. Her feet sloshing as she ran through the sea of blood that surrounded her.

She once again resumed her attempts to rub it off, but everything around her was soaked. She only left bloody handprints on the stone as she rubbed it along the surface.

"No! Please! No!"

She ran. But soon found herself flat on her stomach as she tripped. The taste of hot metal filled her mouth as she tried to sit up but was held down by her soaking wet clothing.

She coughed, and eventually allowed herself to relieve her stomach.

"Ayame I know your there."

?!

She jumped at the voice. A women. No, it was far to childlike.

"Why do you run Ayame? Do you think you can run from him?"

"Who the hell's out there?!" She screamed as she stumbled to her feet.

She was greeted with silence.

"Why Ayame? You sound afraid..."

"Do I have a reason to fear you?" She asked frantically looking around trying to find the voice of the girl who spoke.

"You have no reason to fear that I harm your body," to her left, "Only what I can do to your mind." She swung out, only to strike the fog. She created a fireball in her hand readying to strike the empty air.

"Worthless, Worthless and Pathetic."

She fired into the air, but only lit up the darkness briefly.

"Your still no better," Her left. She fired again. "But your no better than you were 16 years ago." Her right.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?!" Ayame screamed as fireballs appeared in both hands, "Are you part of his illusion?"

Silence

"Answer me you piece of crap!"

Silence, the a giggle. Ayame sucked in her breath, She knew that laugh.

"Dai-Chan! Is that you?"

Silence, then more giggles.

"You're smart indeed Ayame."

"But Dai-Chan you're supposed to be dead?!" Ayame frantically looked around, but she saw nothing. Only the darkness that surrounded her. She lit another fireball.

"Dai-Chan please show me your face! I want to see it again!"

Her pleads were full of desperation, but they spoke nothing but the truth. More silence.

"Do you really want to see me? Ayame?" Behind her! She fired again, but it only caused another explosion,

"Does my little sister miss me that much?" Ayame could feel her breath, so close. In front of her! But how?!

"Dai-Chan I've missed you" She said smiling a fake smile that was covering sadness. She was happy to hear her voice, she missed her older sister more than anything. "Please at least let me look at those blue eyes mommy gave us."

"Oh yeah how is mommy? Have you been treating Akari well?" Ayame shivered at her tone, it didn't sound happy at all.

"Mo-Mommy had more kids, do you remember Dai?"

"Of course Ayame do you take me for a fool?!"

"Maki was born a healthy baby, and many years later your younger sisters Hani and Karina were born."

Suddenly Ayame was thrown back and landed on her back with a splash. She coughed hard as bloody went down her throat. She sat up and looked around, but only saw the fog, she swore she could hear it groaning.

"Ayame how does it taste?"

"How does what taste Dai-Chan?" Ayame asked attempting to wipe her face with the bloody sleeve of her Kimono.

"My blood! How does it taste?!"

Ayame didn't answer as she sat in the pool of blood leaning back on her hands to try and fight more nausea. Suddenly she was pushed back again.

Splash.

Drip

...

Drip

...

Drip

"Dai-Chan...Are you angry?" Ayame asked as ever so suddenly a force pushed her forward slamming her head down forcing her mouth to taste more iron. She coughed frantically as the fog around her growled a much darker and evil groan.

"Ayame how much did you cry?"

"Huh? Dai-Chan please don't speak in such a confusing manner!" Ayame cried.

Slam.

She was slammed down once again.

"Dai please!" She cried.

Ayame was on her feet in the instant and in both hands she created two more flaming orbs, while standing in defense stance.

"Are you really going to kill me with that? Face it Ayame!" Ayame was prepared this time as she dodged the attack this time, "I'm already dead! You can't kill whats already dead!"

"How people have you killed since my death at the hands of the warrior from the land of lightning? Huh? HOW MANY AYAME!"

"Far more than necessary." She threw the flaming orb and snapped her fingers as it multiplied and was sent in 5 different directions.

"and how many innocent children have lost their lives like I did? and how many of those children died at the feet of the ones they loved?"

"Dai-Chan..."

"Answer the question Ayame! Tell me how many children you killed after my death."

"Dai-Chan our world has been out of the warring states for over 4 years, we finally discovered peace."

Silence, Ayame took the battle stance once more, and suddenly she was grabbed around the neck.

"You lie. YOU LIE! peace doesn't come that easy. Why do you speak such disgusting words?"

"It's the truth!" She choked out fighting the grip around her neck. "Your surrounded by so much hate you would never no peace even if someone served it to you on a silver platter!"

Ayame screamed as something jabbed its way through her shoulder.

"Don't try to justify what I think. Your just as cold as I was! You belong in hell along with me and daddy!"

Ayame was silent, horrified at what she just heard.

"Dai-Chan please tell me you don't mean that..."

"Face it Ayame, you will never understand who I really am."

"Dai what are you talking about?!"

"Dai? Dai? Dai?! DAI IS GONE! YOUR SISTER IS DEAD! I am the hatred that dwells deep within your heart. I am the curse that Dai left when her corpse lay at your feet. I was created the moment your sister was pierced to death and killed. I am your new sister. The good and loving Dai is gone. I am the evil, and you and I will be forever bonded!"

"No...No...No...Oh god please no." Ayame whispered sadly to herself letting the warm tears fall. "Dai was good, Dai was a loving girl, She was my sister," The grip on her neck tightened but Ayame slowly raised her hand, "and you're not my sister!" She screamed as she pierced the shadow the held her captive. Ayame fell to the ground clutching neck and trying to regain her breath from the death grip that was surely about to kill her.

She looked around, the fog began to clear and something was revealed. A tiny figure lay floating in the blood a few feet from her.

"Ayame...Ayame...Ayame"

She flinched at the voice, but something was different. This voice was...sweet, and gentle.

"I love you Ayame. You will always be my little sister."

She shook her head, not wanting the voice to fool her. But as she came closer to the figure she covered her mouth with her hand in horror.

It was a little girl. A little girl who looked no older than 7.

"Oh my god," Ayame sobbed, "Oh my god, Oh my god!" The child bore a battle robe, a plate covering the front of her little torso. A large gaping hole lie in the middle of her chest, black liquid was oozing out of it into the pool around them.

Ayame felt the sobs come. They were uncontrollable.

The short curly bob was pulled out of the girls face with a blue hair clip, revealing her round adorable little face.

She looked peaceful, as if she was sleeping.

Ayame fell to her knees with a slosh next to the child, not caring anymore about her surroundings. Her fingers traced her little neck and up her little chin and those little lips that had blood all the way down them.

"Dai." She whispered, as she reached behind the child's head lifting her out of the blood. She pressed her to her chest. "I'm so sorry." She poured out her long held emotion as she cradled the little girl like a doll in her arms. "I love you! I love you so much!"

"I love you too Ayame! I wish I could have had the privilege of growing up, growing up to take care of my little sister!"

More giggles, but Ayame could not see where they were coming from. The voice sounded so close, yet it was really far away.

"Do you wish I was alive? Do you want to be with me?"

Silence, Ayame sniffed rubbing away the warm flowing tears.

"Do you want me to take you to a world, where I am alive? Along with daddy?"

Ayame suddenly looked up into the darkness, her eyes red and puff, while still clutching the doll like child in her arms.

"Sister can you really do that?" She whispered, there was another playful giggle.

"Of course I can!" She said in a very chipper tone. "All you have to do is let my body go….and let me do the rest Ayame. Do you really love me little sister?"

"Yes of course I do! Never question it Dai!"

"Do you….trust me?" the voice asked, purposely drawing the last word out long than necessary.

"With all my heart, love and soul."

"Then release my body, then me and you will be together….in a new world."

Ayame slowly placed the girl down back into the pool, and she started to float away, as if someone was pulling her.

"Wait Dai! Where are you going?" She called out,

Suddenly, a strong force grabbed Ayame by both arms.

"Dai! What's going on!?" She cried as she was forced to her knees with her arms pinned behind her back.

"I told you Ayame, I am taking you to the new world where Daddy and I are waiting for you."

"But Dai! What is the meaning of this?!" She struggled but suddenly the front of her robe was sliced by an unseen force. "Dai!" She screamed.

"It's time for me to take you with me…back to Hell."

Ayame watched helplessly as her little sister's floating corpse was covering with the sea of blood, and then she was gone.

No!

"No Dai! Please no!" She cried out as the fog suddenly groaned again.

"No Dai! Please no!" the voice replied mockingly.

Suddenly, the pool at her knees began to bubble, and it began to rise right before her eyes. Ayame held her breath as the blood took the form of a sharp spear.

"NO DAI PLEASE I DIDNT MEAN IT LIKE THIS! PLEASE NO I DONT WANNA DIE!" Ayame screamed as the spear pierced her right through the stomach below her breast bone.

A screamed filled Ayames throat. A scream of agony as blood began to spew out of her red lips and she vomited blood all over the operating table. Her eyes rolled back into her head as the pain from the internal bleeding took over.

Death was something the people of Ayame's time had gotten use to. You were considered lucky by many if you saw your first dead body at 8 years old, Ayame was six.

Not very many people knew her mother was originally the mother of six beautiful girls. Ayame, who was the 2nd child to Hide, was made heir to her father's clan when her older sister Dai was killed in the line of duty. She was only 7, a year older than Ayame. The force of the attack had left her with a heart shaped scar; it could be seen on her left shoulder. If it had not been for Dai, who intercepted the lightning enhanced punch from the land of lightning ninja, it would be Ayame's body would be buried deep within the sands of the land she called home.

She would never really know how painful Dai's death really was. When the ninja had them both pinned together, she swore she heard her call out to her. The words were faint do to the blood that was leaking from the wound in her chest. Ayame tried to call out, she wanted to answer her older sisters call, but her own chest was penetrated deep enough to silence her. Dai had seen the ninjas face just before she died. She looked him right in the eyes.

She couldn't find love.

No peace.

No remorse.

Only hatred.

He forcefully ripped his fist free, allowing Dai to slowly fall onto the sand with a thud.

The sound of him removing his fist made the loudest suckling sound Ayame had ever heard in her 6 years of life. She would never forget that sound. She had been freed, she still stood proudly, but she bled.

"Dai?" She called out. No one responded. "Dai? Dai?!" Her six year old voice could not carry out any noise. All that came out were silent calls and wheezing gags.

"So you're still alive Eh?" Her eyes looked up his figure. He was tall, but the shadow covered his eyes.

More gasps

More calls

More sad attempts to call out

She knew Dai was already dead. Her corpse lay at her feet. She struggled to look down. Dai lay on her side, her lifeless violet eyes wide open and the excruciating pain could still be seen in them. The blood from her mouth had formed a pool under her neck. Ayame's little hands clutched the wound upon her shoulder as blood spilled out through her fingers.

"Tell me little girl are you really in such a hurry to join your sister"

The green haired little girl tried to hold back the tears, the tears of anger, rage and sadness as she watched the older man raise his hand high above her. She had long lost the grip on her own weapon and it lay at her feet next to Dai's lifeless head.

No one could be surer they were going to die at that moment. Die at the ripe age of six years old, fighting as a hero. Blood, so much blood. Her lungs were already suffocating her. She looked up the man as his fist began to crackle. Lightning chakra filled his fist. It sounded like thousands and thousands of birds making noise at once. She clenched her eyes shut.

"Die" was the last word she heard before he brought his fist down once more.

One does not simply forget the first time they were left on the verge of true death, and one does not simply forget the sight of watching the one you love take their last breath right in front of you.

Ayame had been told so many times the death of Dai was not her fault. Some called it a tragic accident, some called it being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and many called it fate. Ayame view it as neither. Dai was dead and she was never coming back.

The inner demon within Ayames heart told her that she should be proud she's dead. She deserved to die and should spend her days in the afterlife in hell. She deserves hell for abandoning her little sister on the battle field. She would have been killed as well if it wasn't for the ninja who rescued her. The kind ninja who had came to her rescue had managed to take out the enemy before he fled with an injured Ayame under one arm and Dai's dead body in the other. She wished he had just left it behind. Why waste time trying to rescue a corpse? It's not living. It can't feel any pain. It's only a burden.

She had woken up in the operating tent for a brief moment. Her mind was loopy and her eyes were half lidded. She was not totally aware of what was happening in her surroundings. She was able to make out the many medics that were surrounding her. They had their hands deep within her chest.

"Did I die?"

Ayame knew right away she was alive because she felt pain.

It turned out he had missed her heart by a few centimeters, she had woken up in the medical tent to discover this. It was not surprise there, the strike the heart instant kill method was a very commonly used technique in that period. It got the job done a lot faster.

Her mother's face was the first thing she saw. The young woman, with her tear stained face, clutched her daughters hand with a loving grasp.

"Mother?"

Hide was shocked that she was able to speak.

"Yes darling?" she whispered losing control of the sadness she so desperately tried to hold back.

"Dai is dead." Silence

""Yes baby I know."

Ayame struggling to sit up, her body screamed in pain. She looked around the medical tent from the little bed she was laying in. The only other person that was in there was another nurse bandaging a man's arm.

"Mommy what did they do with Dai's….body." It sung to hear her ask that. But Ayame in her six years of life knew more about death than Hide did and Hide was her mother. She turned to her mother, "Well? Where is it?!"

"I don't baby," She sobbed shaking her head, "Please lie back down and rest."

"No I want to see her!" She said. She tried to get out of the bed but the pain was far too great.

"Ayame for the love of god stop it!" Hide cried as the little girl curled up in a ball in pain.

"It was supposed to be me," She whispered, "It was supposed to be me mommy!" Her grabbed her pillowed tightly and wrapped her arms around it. "That man, his fist…it was so strong!" Hide gathering Ayame on her lap and rocked her as she began to cry. "It was so strong! His fist…it went right through Dai's body like it was nothing!"

"Please stop ba-"

"That suckling sound, the blood, all that blood!" She began screaming as Hide held her tighter. "I was supposed to die! If it hadn't been for me, if I had been more careful, if Dai hadn't jumped in front of the attack…"

"Stop it that's enough! Don't blame yourself. Mommy loves you very much!"

Ayame yanked her little hand away and gave her mother a venomous glare that she was very familiar with.

"How? How can you love me? I LET HER DIE!" Ayame buried her face in her pillow and let out all her held in emotion. Hide willingly left her there. She gained control of her tears as she clutched her 8 month pregnant belly that had stretched out the front of her nursing kimono. She let out a cry of anger.

Dai was dead, her eldest daughter and heir to her husband's clan was dead. Her family was ruined, it would never be heal the same way ever again.

A medical ninja confronted Hide and asked if she wanted to say goodbye to Dai's corpse, she said no. Plain and simple she said no. She refused to live with the image of her daughter's lifeless corpse. Ayame would already suffer enough. When Hide located her husband that was when she poured her heart out into his arms. She clutched his armored body as she allowed herself to be rocked in his strong arms. She cried in pain, of emotional pain that grew to be physical. She cried out for Dai. But the only thing that could be heard was her husband's soothing words.

Hide hated ninjas.

One would call her a hypocrite. But her clan grew up where no woman could ever hold a Kunai. Instead they were trained as doctors and nurses. She wanted that for all of her girls. But she soon discovered that in the shinobi world, the world of warring states, it doesn't matter how old you are because you are born to fight.

Hide, who was already a mother of two at 16 years old, had already experienced the pain that she never understood. Dai would never live to see adulthood, and Hide was hardly one herself at 21 years old.

She had discovered the real nightmare of the life she hated so much.

Authors note:

So just to clarify this chapter is separated into 3 parts.

The current events, Ayame's nightmare as shes on the operating table, and a flashback of Ayame's life.

Any real naruto shippuden fans would be able to see that Ayame's nightmare was inspired by the chapter 606 where Rin's body is floating in the blood. ;)

Anyway you find out the fate of Ayame in the next chapter!