*I do not own Naruto or any associated characters. Naruto was created by Masashi Kishimoto and Shueisha, and they own all the rights. This work is just for entertainment, and I am not making any profit from it.*

Chapter 1

Blood Mist Village came by its name honestly. A province where young Shinobi-in-training were pitted against one another in a fight to the death was a poor place to be born. Most folk did not choose this village to be their home; they were simply too poor to leave.

The nobility of the Land of Water was wealthy beyond anyone's wildest dreams, and most of the average citizens could barely afford their next meal. The only middle class consisted of the nation's warriors, the Shinobi whose emotions were beaten out of them in childhood.

Inside the walls of Blood Mist Village, it was not uncommon to see orphaned or abandoned children in rags. When money grew too tight in a household, one or more of the children were often turned out to make it on their own. Shinobi of the Land of Water were not nurturing parents. Most procreated out of necessity, to stock the Academy with new recruits.

The perpetually grey sky was especially dark today, letting only a little light filter into the Academy's sparring arena. The instructors didn't believe in using artificial lights in the building, stating often that real Shinobi had to enter battle in less-than-ideal conditions, so they might as well get used to it. There was no heat during the frigid winter months and no air conditioning in the stiflingly humid summers, and Rei tried to slow the pace of her breaths, forcing her body to maintain order while her mind panicked. Blood was running down her face, her dark hair was beginning to fall into her eyes, and she knew her voice sounded hysterical.

"Stop!" she shrieked, thrusting an open palm forward, more a gesture of surrender than an attempt at blocking the oncoming blow. Sayoko didn't even flinch, didn't hesitate to plunge her kunai straight through Rei's hand, between the branching bones of her third and fourth fingers.

The pain was electrifying, bordering on unbearable, and Rei knew right away that it would escalate further when the adrenaline faded from her blood. Even so, she dropped to her knees, instinctively cradling her hand against her chest. She felt a hand grasp the hair atop her head and yank her back so that her chin pointed at the ceiling. Sayoko's cold, wet blade touched the skin that covered Rei's carotid artery. "Dead," Sayoko announced proudly. Her long, black ponytail was still in pristine condition.

Niko Sensei's crossed arms tightened, and he nodded with approval. "Nicely done. You're dismissed, Sayoko." Without sparing a glance at Rei, he looked to her sensei. "See you tonight?"

Hina Sensei said something in reply, but all Rei could hear was her teacher's airy, wordless voice over the pounding of her head. She didn't even register that her sensei had approached until a gentle hand fell on her back. Rei looked up and brushed her hair away from where it stuck to her wet, blood-smeared cheeks. The trembles were coming on, and Hina Sensei called sharply for the medic that was always on standby during sparring sessions.

Rei had never liked doctors, but she was no longer afraid of them. She couldn't be; not with how often she had to see them. "Rei, I need to see your hand," he said to her, not quite kindly, but not as harsh as most medics.

"What about her head?" Hina Sensei lifted Rei's bangs from her forehead and a fresh trickle of blood dripped from the arch of her eyebrow.

"It'll wait. It's just a scratch; this is much more than that." He cupped his palms together, cradling Rei's much smaller hand between them. Rei's body and soul warmed, and she smiled weakly at him. The pain didn't ease, but the bleeding slowed and stopped in just a few moments.

Rei's wounds weren't often healed in their entirety by Mist medics. It wasn't how things were done for students. The medics' energy and chakra were better saved for more serious wounds and sicknesses. Even the youngest doctors in the Mist soon worked through blood, fever, and plague. They faced death more than any common Shinobi. Rei wilted when he released her hand.

Hina Sensei pulled a rag from the weapons pouch on her hip and dampened it with water from her canteen before pressing it lightly against Rei's face. Crimson-touched droplets fell to Rei's legs and her vision wavered again. "I know you know what you did wrong," Hina Sensei muttered. The medic had placed his hand on the back of Rei's head, sending his chakra through her scalp to pull the skin of her forehead back together. "But you need to tell me anyway."

"I gave up." Rei's voice was unnaturally loud in her ears, drowning out the rushing sound of healing chakra flooding through her face. "I expected her to stop when a real enemy wouldn't."

A cold finger met the skin under Rei's chin, turning her face up. "You lost." The gentle tones were gone from Hina Sensei's voice, replaced with the carnivorous purr the young woman was known for. "Had you taken the blow and used your other hand to strike your own, you could have taken her down with the element of surprise. You know your classmates. You've learned each other's weaknesses."

The tingling sensation faded from Rei's face when the medic lifted his hand, and her eyes rolled backwards far enough to blacken her vision. Hina Sensei's sigh was laced with exasperation, and she grabbed Rei's upper arm, hauling the girl to her feet. "Get to the barracks and rest. Make sure you're in the cafeteria for supper."

Rei's head still swam, but she pushed through the Academy's heavy double doors and looked outside, checking both the left and right, and then took off running. She wasn't going to the barracks. Definitely not. What she needed was a tree to climb, to hide in, to get away, even for only a few hours. The pumping motion of her arms thrust her blood down into her fingertips, and her wounded hand began to throb. She clenched her fingers into a tighter fist and dove around the corner of a doctor's office, not seeing that one of the windows had been shattered recently. Her boots crunched on the broken glass and threw off her balance, making her throw her hands up to keep herself from eating concrete.

"Whoa, there." Rei knew she wasn't the most accomplished Shinobi-in-training, but her senses were keen enough to sense danger before it got to her. Usually. The man who had grabbed her arm was at least a foot taller than she was, and his muscled fingers were thicker than the sausages given to them at Sundays' special meals. Goose bumps began at the point of contact and flooded her body in a rippling wave, and she nearly lost control of her bladder when she met his eyes.

"I was sure I'd run into you again," he said, his voice low, and he pulled her a fraction of an inch closer. She wasn't allowed to carry weapons on her person yet, officially. But no child wandered the streets of Blood Mist Village unarmed. She was twelve and a half, but every student at the Academy, except for the few from noble families, appeared to be younger than their years. Children were preyed upon mercilessly.

Rei couldn't force any words past her lips. After the first time she'd encountered this bastard, she'd promised herself that she'd avoid him at all costs, and if she couldn't, she'd stab him in the neck with her shiv. But all her plans had shaken off as she trembled. Her shiv was tucked into her boot, and the man was holding her bicep high enough that she couldn't bend to retrieve it without dislocating her shoulder.

What would a real Shinobi do? The milliseconds passed as options flew through her mind like tickertape, and then were quickly rejected. She wasn't much good at Ninjutsu, in all honesty. Her chakra control was mediocre at best, and she'd never been able to create even the simplest Genjustu. She couldn't break free; he was expecting her to try and run like she had done last time.

"Why don't we get off the street?" It wasn't a question so much as a suggestion to himself, and Rei watched his dark eyes search the area around them. Sundown was still a few hours away, and only a few people were even in sight. The owner of the little grocery store across the street was sweeping up trash outside the door, and he looked up for a fraction of a second before turning back to his work. A woman with a young child was walking their way, but when she saw them, she picked her son up and held him close, pivoting on her heel and going back the way they had come.

No one cared about the Blood Mist orphans.

Rei stumbled forward, her body crashing into the man's when he yanked her towards an alley, and his arm wrapped around her waist tightly enough to nearly lift her feet off the ground. It was then that she found her voice. "Get off me!" she shrieked, kicking out with her feet and wrenching her arm violently. She couldn't dislodge herself from his grip, and her struggling only seemed to excite him further. He'd almost gotten her into the full shadow of the alley when a low growl behind them shocked them both into stillness.

The biggest dog that Rei had ever seen was standing less than ten feet away from them, crouching to spring. He looked very wolf-like, but his coat was the deepest black, which only made the white of his teeth more obvious and frightening.

For a moment, the man's grip tightened even further on Rei, but then he lifted her clear off her feet and thrust her at the dog. Rather than letting her reflexes take over, she collapsed and covered her head with her hands, paying no mind to her newly skinned elbow. A rush of air over her head prompted her to raise her eyes, then she looked back over her shoulder.

The man had run off down the alley and was just jumping onto a box to propel himself over the chain-link fence that connected the two buildings, but mid-jump, the black dog latched his teeth onto the man's calf. With a vicious swing of its head, the dog ripped him down onto the ground and barked in his face, the sound echoing off the walls. The man was screaming, or weeping, or both.

Rei was acutely aware that her body was going into shock. She wasn't out of danger yet, but she wasn't going to be abducted anymore, it seemed. Only now did she begin to feel the pain in her wounded hand again. Her knuckles were shading violet, filling with new blood, and every rapid heartbeat made the angry bruise creep further across her skin.

The dog padded over to her, lowering its head to sniff her boot, and she drew in a panicked gasp before kicking out and trying to scramble back to her feet. The little wounds on her arms and legs had begun stinging, an ever-present medley of pulsing pain.

The man scrambled to his feet and took off for the fence again, limping this time. The dog looked his way, but didn't pursue.

"Leo." This new male voice was soft, but still managed to ring around the brick walls of the alley. "Come."

The dog lifted his head again and went back to his master's side, and Rei's whole body tensed, unprepared to suffer at the hands of another man. When he knelt next to her and sighed, she finally recognized the patterns of his body language, the sound of his voice. "Niko Sensei," she breathed, allowing her muscles to relax.

"Why aren't you in the barracks?" he asked, no emotion present in his voice. Rei chanced a look up at his face. His eyes were narrowed and his forehead protector had been moved from his head to hang casually around his neck. A half-eaten sandwich was in his hand, and he took one more bite from it before tossing the remains back to the dog.

Rei was sure that Niko Sensei knew the answer to that question.

It was a rare occasion in Blood Mist Village when an orphaned child made it to adulthood with their innocence. Only the craftiest and luckiest were able to avoid molestation and frequent injury. Thus far, Rei had certainly been lucky. Most of her classmates had not.

A breeze that was much too chilly for April wafted over her skin, and she sat up slowly, taking stock of her physical state. Right hand: out of commission. Right elbow: bloodied. All extremities: oozing blood in one way or another. Forehead: aching and hopefully intact. Stomach: queasy.

"Come on. I'll take you back." Niko Sensei stood and offered the girl his hand. Still clutching her right hand to her chest, she ignored his outstretched fingers and stood with her own power, eyes downturned. It wasn't safe to trust men. It wasn't safe to trust most women. It wasn't safe to trust most of her classmates, either.

Niko Sensei put himself between Rei and the street as they made their way to the barracks, where the orphaned Academy students were supposed to spend their spare time. "I'm sure the barracks are still strange for you, but as you saw today, it's in your best interests to stay near them," Niko Sensei said quietly. "There's nothing stopping men on the streets from taking their pleasure and slitting your throat when they're finished."

And the Shinobi that monitor the barracks at night? Rei wanted to ask. What is there to stop them?