Quick Note: Reuploaded chapters 24 and 25 because was being weird and not showing the chapters. Sorry for any inconvenience

Chapter 24

"YOU TRAITORS!"

The accusation rang out in the air, punctuated by the clash of metal. Sparks flying as the two engaged in deadly melee. The fight quickly escalated to a speed beyond what my eyes could see. Becoming little more than blurs highlighted by more sparks and clangs. The last image in my mind being the red and white fan, the symbol of the Uchiha seared into my eyes.

"No... No..." I muttered with disbelief. This shouldn't be happening, couldn't be happening! Misaki had assured me everything was going to be okay. Itachi was set to become the next Hokage! There should have been no reason for them to attack anymore! What was going on!? My mind was quickly spiralling into chaos. Nothing was making any sense. The world itself even felt like it was going dark around me, the sounds of the battle and people fleeing becoming mute.

"...Ko... Iko... MEIKO!" Dad's voice finally broke through the veil of confusion and panic. Forcing me to take a large gasp as it felt like I had forgotten to even breathe. "Don't go spacing out! We have to go!" Dad continued shouting, his patience at it's end he simply scooped me up with his free hand. Pulling me close to his chest as he started running.

"Don't worry Meiko. You're going to be okay. Calm down." Dad said, his words helping me realize just how violently I was trembling. Gripping his shirt tighter, I could only bury my face into his chest. My mind was still racing, trying to make sense of everything.

Another explosion erupted somewhere in the distance. That was enough to finally wake up Sengo who, once he saw the situation at hand, began bawling. Hearing this, my mind was finally cleared. There was something far more important to worry about than panicking over how this happened. We were all in danger right now and I was just making things worse.

I extended a shaky hand over to my brother, gently placing it on his head. "Shh, shh. It's okay buddy. No need to cry." I said, trying to hide my own fears. It was enough to at least stop his crying for the moment. "You're a big boy now, right?"

"Y-yeah!" Sengo nodded back, sniffling hard. "I'm not going to cry."

"That's good." I replied, giving him back a weak smile. "You need to be brave for Mom and Dad." I said as my eyes shifted over to Mom running at Dad's side. Her normally pristine silver hair was a mess and she was gasping for breath but I could tell from her eyes she was thankful for calming Sengo.

The moment was brief, interrupted by an increasingly bright orange light. Generated by a thin spear of fire streaking through the night sky, mere meters above our heads. Even at that distance it radiated an intense heat almost rivalling that of the forge back home. And how it roared. The intense flames sounded like the cry of a mighty beast as it burned through the air.

Tracking its path however, revealed something terrifying. "DAD!" I cried out, pointing ahead and upwards. There, atop the building just ahead of us was a small water tower which also sat directly on the flight path of the wayward ninjutsu.

"SHI- HANG ON!" Dad shouted as he started running even faster. The flames striking the tower just as we were passing underneath. Wooden supports exploding on contact. The tower toppling over and falling on the street where we ran below. Thankfully, Dad was fast enough that we would be in the clear.

But then I heard Mom scream.

She was already having trouble keeping up and now, with the added demand for speed, she couldn't maintain the pace and stumbled. The world slowed around me as I watched over Dad's shoulder. Dad couldn't stop to help her. There was no time, if he did all of us would be caught up in it. It was like she was suspended in mid air, arm out desperately to grasp Dad's back.

"NO!" I screamed as chakra surged through my body like never before. Pushing myself out of Dad's grip, I formed the ram seal and the moment my foot touched the ground my body launched itself over towards mom. Even with chakra enhancing my eyes, I was simply moving too fast to see a thing. Thankfully my body still remembered how to calculate distance and re-materialized right behind Mom.

There wasn't time to think, and I was most certainly rough, so I could only grab and throw Mom out of the way. The shadow of the tower engulfed me as I once again activated the body flicker technique. Kicking myself backwards and tumbling violently on the ground just as the tower crashed into the ground. Water flooding the streets and thoroughly soaking me to the bone but otherwise unscathed.

Coughing, I slowly got to my feet. The world spinning as I wobbled upright. The ringing in my ears deafening me for a few moments before I could finally hear my Dad shouting my name. "I'm okay!" I called back before slumping against a wall until things stopped spinning. "What about Mom!?" I quickly added.

"I'm fine!" Mom's voice brought with it a wave of relief so great my legs nearly gave out from under me.

"Thank God." I muttered, hand over my heart and fighting back tears.

"Meiko! Wait there!" Dad shouted from beyond the wreckage, "I'll get you in a second!" This was followed by the sounds of scrap metal and other debris being shifted and thrown. He was trying to dig a path through the fallen tower.

"No!" I shouted back, "You need to get Mom and Sengo to the shelter! I'll go around and catch up!" I could still hear the battle going on further down the street. They had to go. Mom was exhausted and Sengo was too young to run in this situation.

"But-" Dad began to shout back but I cut him off.

"I'll be fine! I've had some training and I'm a fast runner! Go!" Silence hung in the air from beyond the debris. Then a heavy sigh.

"Alright. You know where the shelter is, right?" Dad called, his voice calmer now.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Okay. Don't take too long." The pain in Dad's voice was palpable.

"I won't!" And with that we were forced to go our separate ways. As for me, I was forced to double back. The buildings here had no alleyway access nor lower roofs I could use to jump up. And my chakra control wasn't at the level I could just run up.

The mud was slick under foot, thoroughly saturated from the fallen tower. Ahead, about a hundred meters or so was an alleyway I could hopefully duck into and get around the fallen debris. As I neared it however, a leaf shinobi dropped from the sky. Landing hard on his back, he coughed violently before barely dodging into said alleyway. His attacker dropped a moment afterwards, kunai stabbing into the ground.

I came skidding to a stop, as the attacker glanced at me. Blood red eyes staring straight into my soul. From them I could feel a wall of rage and hatred so potent my blood turned to ice and I wanted to be sick. Our eyes were locked for what felt like an eternity yet less than a second passed. Something flew across his face, too fast for me to make out but it was enough to force him to switch his attention to the shinobi in the alleyway. Vanishing into a blur as he pursued his real target.

The telltale clashing of metal echoed out from the alleyway. My path had been cut off and now my only option was to continue running down the street. Although with how close the fighting was I was hesitant to cross that threshold. My legs trembled every time I tried to push myself forward.

"Ah dammit!" I shouted before slapping my cheeks hard and forcing myself to run. Moving as fast as my legs could go, I dashed across, not even bothering to look down the alley. I had to find another way around, hopefully in a direction away from those two.

Moments after I had passed the alley, that fact was heavily reinforced as an explosion rocked the street. Fire spewed forth onto the street and the walls bursting as debris and smoke was tossed into the air. The shock wave from it all nearly threw me to the ground as the heat seared my back. Screaming, I could only run faster. Pushing myself to my absolute limit to escape.

Rocks and burning debris fell around me as I ran. I had to get away! I had to go faster! With those thoughts in mind I formed the needed seal and rocketed forward, flickering in and out as I repeated the jutsu several times in succession. Vision tunnelling so severely I was almost blind to the world even after enhancing my eyes with chakra.

I ran and ran and ran until I couldn't anymore. The strain of pushing myself so hard while spamming out the body flicker technique finally caught up with me and I had to stop. Stumbling, I managed to do so before crashing into a wall as I had done many times before. Immediately I filled my lungs with a hard gasp of air before hobbling over to some nearby crates for support.

As I caught my breath, I couldn't help but notice something. "It's... Quiet?" I said between gasps. Quiet was a relative turn, I could still hear the sounds of intense combat far in the distance. But for the immediate area, it appeared I was alone. The street, from what I could see, was abandoned. In their haste, the people had dropped everything where they stood. Decorations, food and other bits and bobs littered the area. As though the occupants had simply vanished into thin air.

Still, it appeared for the moment, I was safe. Looking back, a small plume of smoke rose from the direction I had come. Likely from that explosion I was nearly caught in. But it was almost a speck in the distance. "How far... Did I run...?" I wondered aloud. In my panic I had certainly covered a lot of ground and now, I couldn't exactly say where I was.

"Darn it... Now what?" Crouching down, I pressed myself into the crates. Using them as cover to hide from any passing assailants. The hatred I had felt from that Uchiha sent another chill down my spine as I recalled it. Should I be caught out by another one of them, there was no telling what might happen. Curling into a ball, I took in another deep breath. "Okay, let's try and figure things out." I said quietly, trying to put my thoughts in order now that the chaos had quieted for the moment.

"Dad should have gotten them to the shelter by now. So they should be safe now." Stating that aloud helped to reassure me of the fact. Even if I couldn't be sure, it was the thought that counted. Plus, I knew just how unreasonably strong Dad was. I couldn't imagine him losing. Mom and Sengo were in good hands.

"So how do I get to the shelter?" That was the next question. "I probably can't get to the same shelter now..." At this point it was far more realistic for me to try and find a shelter closer to... Wherever I was now. "Which district is this now? Why did I run so far?" I cursed myself slightly before sighing. "No point getting angry over that now. There has to be one around here. Hopefully they'll be able to send a message to my family."

"Family..." I repeated and Misaki's face came to mind. "What happened? You said everything would be fine." I pulled my knees in closer to my chest, hugging them tight. "This isn't fine at all..." Where was Misaki right now? Was she... Was she a part of this attack?

"No!" I almost shouted, violently shaking my head to throw such doubt out of my head. "Misaki would never do that." My heart tightened as I sighed, squeezing my legs against my chest again. I wanted to see her, to know she was safe. To ask her how things could go this far. "Where are you?" The Uchiha Compound was the only place that came to mind. It was a long shot but that was my best guess. Of course, there was no way I could even get close to that place now.

And yet the feeling of wanting to see her only grew stronger.

"Wait..." A wave of horror washed over me as a thought occurred. "Where is Itachi?" Like Misaki, there was no way he would attack the village. Nor would he ever let it get this far. An attack like this threatens both the village and Sasuke. He would have most certainly intervened if he could. And there was almost no way he could have been taken down. So then...

"They must have waited until he couldn't do anything?" I muttered. It was the only answer I could think of. And yet the why still escaped me. Gripping my legs tighter, my nails started to dig into my skin as the frustration at being unable to comprehend how this happened grew.

"It doesn't make any sense!" I all but shouted when I couldn't contain my emotions anymore. Fist slamming into one of the crates with a louder thud. My outburst was met with a low, weak groan. For a moment I froze, hand slapping over my mouth. Straining my ears while trying to make myself as invisible as possible. Even though I had basically revealed myself already.

The most painful silence of my life hung in the air. "Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap!" I silently panicked, praying that whoever that was hadn't heard me. My heart trying its darndest to break through my rib cage. Each beat sounded like an explosion to my ears.

Finally, there was another groan, this one just as weak as before. Whomever this was, they must have been injured. "I should go..." Whispering behind my hand, I cautiously rose to peek between the boxes. I couldn't see anyone through the narrow slit so I shifted to peek out the side. Still nothing.

"Okay, let's go." Dashing out from behind the box I made a break for the nearby alleyway. Once I found a better hiding spot I could figure out the way to the nearest shelter. Almost immediately after I started running, another groan caught my ears. Just off to my left. From the corner of my eye, for just a split second, I saw a person, a shinobi, slumped against the wall.

I ignored it and kept running, diving into the darkness of the alleyway. I had planned to keep running but found my legs slowing. The image of that man slumped against the wall hung in my head. I knew I had to keep moving, to get to shelter but...

"Argh!" I groaned, furiously scratching at my head before turning and peeking around the corner again. The man still sat there against the wall, unmoved. Was he already dead? A cough and a twitch answered that question. Again, I knew I should move but I couldn't bring myself to do so. "Darn it..." Instead of going to find shelter, I found myself running over to the man's side.

As I approached, I noticed he was clutching his stomach. Thick vest stained a deep red to the point it was almost black. Underneath him, the blood was pooling and seeped deep into the dirt. The stench of iron, one I was well familiar with, wafted in the air. Normally such a thing was comforting for me, reminding me of Dad's forge but now, now it was only nauseating. Swallowing down the bile, I moved closer to the man's side.

"H-hey, are you okay!?" It was a stupid question, of course he wasn't okay.

"Huh?" The man's head slowly raised, clearly straining himself to do so. "Who's there?" I gasped as a thick layer of blood poured down half his face, originating somewhere under his headband. His left eye was coated too thick to see while his other one was dull and unfocused.

"I'm right here" I replied, voice shaking and placing a hand over the one that covered his wound. The blood was sticky and warm, the feeling sent a shiver of disgust crawled down my spine. "How can I help?"

The man turned to me now, his one good eye coming back into focus. "A... Kid?" He mumbled, then coughed. A thick, reddish black spurt dribbling down his chin. "What are you doing here? You need to get to the shelter."

"Sorry, I'll go but you need help first!" I insisted, putting more pressure over his hand. "What can I do?" The academy had been giving us first aid lessons but with a wound this deep, I was in over my head.

Coughing again, he weakly shook his head. "There's nothing you can do. I'm a goner but... At least I got a good chunk out of the bastard. Damn traitorous Uchiha... They won't get away with this." The vitriol in his words was as potent as snake venom. Hatred radiating from him like a burning fog so thick I flinched. Yet it only lasted for a moment before he coughed again, another wave of crimson spewing forth from his mouth. Afterwards, he simply slumped forward and fell silent.

A long moment passed with him not moving before I realized what was happening. "Hey! Hey!" I called out, using my free hand to rapidly slap his cheek and shake him. "Wake up! Stay with me!" If he fell asleep here, he was certain to die. "Come on!" I urged as my heart trembled in my chest.

Finally, he stirred and opened his one good eye. Again his vision was unfocused as he raised his head. "S-Sana?" He asked, his voice once overflowing with malice now meek and only barely above a whisper. "Where are you? I... I can't see..." As his words trailed off, his body fell limp again. His last gasp of air cut short. It was true what they say, I could feel the life leave his body.

"...Hey..." I said weakly, "That's not funny..." My voice trembled, my body following shortly after. Shaking the man, I called out again, "Wake up! Wake up! You have to wake up!" The shaking grew more and more violent until I lost my grip and the body slumped over on its side.

He was dead.

The realization finally sunk in. This man, who's name I didn't even know, had died right there in front of me. My hands were stained with blood, his in a literal sense and of many others dying right now. "This... This is all my fault... I did this..." It might have been funny if it wasn't so morbid. I must have thought myself special because I knew the future. That if I tweaked a few knobs here and there I could swing things for the better.

What a fool I was.

"He...Hehe... Hahahahaha!" I had to laugh at it all. No one would ever believe it, how one little girl could be the cause of such tragedy! How the desire to save one life had now destroyed countless others. Tears streamed down my face as the laughs bled into a single long scream towards the heavens.

The scream went on and on until my throat was hoarse and my breath finally ran out. Gasping, weak whimpers replaced it as I looked at my stained hands once more. "What have I done?" I asked and received no answer save for yet another distant explosion. The fighting was ramping up, the sounds of battle more intense now. Konoha was fighting back.

I couldn't say how much time passed as I knelt in the blood stained mud. Listening to the chaos in the distance, so close and yet so far away. Thick pillars of smoke rose in various locations, blotting out the once beautiful starry sky. My cries had finally stopped as a strange calm overtaking me now that I had let it all out. Maybe calmness was the wrong word. More like, resignation.

"I should head back to the shelter..." I mumbled while pulling the man's body back into a sitting position. He at least deserved to be found in a more dignified position. "I'm so, so sorry." I apologized and offered my prayers, as unwanted as they may be. Slowly, I got to my feet and started walking back in the direction I had come. Back to the shelter.

My pace was that of a zombie, unsteady and wavering back and forth, arms dangling limply at my sides. The sounds of battle close yet distant. At this point, I just couldn't care. "Maybe it would be better if some Uchiha did find me..." I said, eyes rising again to the smoke-veiled sky. The sky I so loved to see was all but gone. Only a couple stars were able to peek between the rising plumes.

Blinking, my mind began to retreat into itself as I continued to stare at the faint twinkling lights.

I collapsed onto the grass, gasping desperately for as much air as I could. Yet each breath, despite filling my lungs, were insignificant. Pain wracked my exhausted form, violently throbbing in tandem with my rapid heartbeat. Only slightly soothed by the cool grass tickling my skin.

"Haa... Haa... I... can't..." Was all I could wheeze before giving up on speaking further. Above me, the sky was a beautiful sea of stars swimming between blues and greens. All highlighted by the light of the full moon. No matter how many times I saw that sky, it never got old.

"Is that all you got?" Misaki said as her head came into view, blocking the moon. The light tinging her black hair with a light blue glow. My response was only a pained wheeze. Her mouth twitched into a smile before steeling her face once more. "What? Too much? Want to give up?" She asked, her voice as steely as her expression.

"Ye-" I started to respond but it caught in my throat. We were only a few days into Misaki's training and it was far, far more exhausting than anything I could imagine. All I knew these last few days was pain and all the future ones promised was more. Giving up sounded so appealing. The easy way to make the pain stop.

"There's nothing wrong with that." Misaki said, noticing my hesitation. "No shame in realizing your limits." Misaki's words were sweet, her expression softening too. Tempting me to give in. And honestly it was working. "You're still young. You have plenty of time. No need to rush."

"Time huh?" I thought to myself. Yeah, maybe there was plenty of time. Six years was a long time. I could take it a bit easier, work my way up to a level I could handle. My eyes closed as my breathing was finally coming back under control. Yet still my body thrummed with pain. I couldn't even raise my arm if I wanted to. I couldn't take an entire month of this. And Misaki wouldn't hold it against me. We could try some other method.

"Yeah..." I began just as a weak cry echoed from the direction of my house. One I easily recognized as my little brother. Probably fighting against going to bed again. Hearing him however brought to mind the first day I met him, back in the hospital. When I held that little guy in my hands and made that vow to protect him. I knew what was coming and six years wasn't nearly as long as I hoped.

"...Right!" I finished, eyes snapping open with renewed resolve. "You think this is enough to get rid of me? You gotta try harder than that, you demon!"

"Demon?" Misaki echoed in a menacing tone while a horrifyingly smug grin grew across her face. "Well then, this demon won't hold back anymore."

"I have made a mistake." The realization sent a shiver down my spine. Forcing myself to mimic Misaki's smugness, I twisted my mouth into a grin of my own. "Bring it."

Misaki laughed, "Good to hear." She said before laying down at my side. "You have to have a certain level of stubbornness if you want to be a ninja." There was a short pause before she quickly added in; "Just not too much." Her words were weighted with first hand experience that caused me to chuckle.

"It hurts to laugh..." I muttered as my chest stung.

The two of us laid there in relative silence for a time. I had finally caught my breath but I still hadn't recovered the strength to move yet. A refreshing breeze occasionally wafting lazily by. The entire time I was simply taking in the majesty of the night sky. Honestly, I could fall asleep right then and there. My eyelids were growing heavy when a bright, narrow light sped across the twinkling expanse.

"Oh!" I couldn't hide my wonder watching that shooting star burn bright and fade away.

"Did you make a wish?" Misaki asked.

"Ah... No. I didn't even think of that." I admitted with another, slightly pained chuckle. "I just..." My words trailed off as I continued gazing into the vast expanse.

This time, it was Misaki's turn to laugh. "You really like stars, huh?"

"Well, yeah." I replied after another pause, I could feel the smile spreading over my face as I took in a deep breath. "I mean, look at it. It's beautiful. The sky is so much brighter here."

"Hmm?" Misaki hummed inquisitively, rolling onto her side and prodding me with her stare.

Flinching, I just tried to laugh it off. "Well, you know..." I started to say before lifting my arm weakly upwards. Palm passing over the moon. "Just look at how big the moon is."

A distant explosion rocked me back to the present. Blinking as I continued looking towards the sky. The image in my memory juxtaposed by the smoke-veiled reality. "Ah..." I sighed weakly, new tears welling in my eyes but failing to fall. "Misaki..." My chest was tight, almost suffocating. And yet, in the sky above there was a change. The winds shifted, forcing the smoke to drift just enough to reveal the full moon once more.

I found my hand reaching upwards toward it, light streaming between my outstretched fingers. Despite everything that was going on and my own better judgment. A new feeling, or rather an overwhelming desire was growing. I just wanted to see my friend one more time. To see Misaki safe so we could look up at that clear night sky once more.

There was no delusion of heroism. No belief I could somehow save her from this. And yet, as stupid as it was, I found myself running once more. Not towards the safety of a shelter, but to the heart of all of this. The Uchiha compound. An awkward chuckle escaping me at the ridiculousness of it all. "Hehe, what am I even doing?" I mumbled, knowing I couldn't stop. There was no stopping this now, but if I didn't at least try to find Misaki, I knew I would regret it for the rest of my life. As for what the heck I was going to do once I got there, well...

"I'll figure that out later."

Things were relatively calm as I ran through the streets. The battles fading further and further into the distance as I neared the outskirts where the compound resided. The Uchiha must have all pushed further into the village. Even so, progress was slow. I was moving cautiously, trying to move between relative areas of cover.

The closer I got, the more anxious I became. Getting to the compound itself was the easy part. Getting in was an entirely different story. It was guaranteed to be heavily guarded and judging from that one Uchiha I encountered earlier, very trigger happy. "This is so stupid." I chastised myself.

As I rounded a corner, I took note of a few nearby trees of decent height. "I could use those." I said as an idea popped into my mind. Darting to the trunk of the nearest one, chakra coated my feet as I didn't stop. Running vertically up the trunk several paces before I could feel my chakra wavering. Before it could launch me away, I kicked off and upward. Managing to just reach the lowest branch and pull myself up.

"Whew," I said, carefully climbing higher. The tree would give me some cover while giving me the lay of the land. Peering between the leaves, I could see over the rooftops of most buildings in the area. In the distance, I could just see the outline of the Uchiha compound. To my surprise, the place looked absolutely peaceful. One would be forgiven for not thinking there was a coup going on were they to just see this. It was almost eerie.

There wasn't any movement I could discern, no patrols or guards. At least, not this far out. Biting into my lip, I tried to come up with a way to sneak in. From what I remembered, the entire compound was surrounded by a high wall with only one real entrance. And it wasn't like I could just waltz in the front door. "Maybe if there was some kind of distraction?" I mumbled. If something happened to pull the guards towards one side of the compound I could scale the wall elsewhere and get in that way. "Not like I would be that lucky, huh?"

I couldn't think of a way to start a distraction either. I would need something on the level of an explosion to do that and I certainly lacked such capabilities. The voice of reason still whispered in my ear to turn back. There was nothing I could do and my family must be worried to no end. The thought caused me pain, but not trying to find Misaki pained me more.

After a few more minutes of fruitless planning, I sighed. "Well, nothing for it. Maybe I'll find something if I get closer?" Musing to myself, I descended the tree and darted off again. There was another cluster of trees closer to the compound. I planned to make my way there first and get another survey.

The closer I got to the compound, the more uneasy I began to feel. How was there no one around? "Maybe all of them moved out for the attack?" I thought but that made no sense. There were non-combatants in the compound like Sasuke and the old couple running the senbei shop. If the village counterattacked, there would be no one to defend them.

"Were they that confident of their victory? Or do they just not care?" The unbridled hatred I had seen in that Uchiha's eyes had me leaning towards the latter. If this was the case, then getting in might be easier than I had initially thought. Regardless, I should be able to figure that out once I reached the next perch.

Rounding the next corner, moonlight began to gently illuminate the village again. A hard wind blowing through the streets enabling it to peek through the smokey veil once more. And it was lucky for me too, for the light revealed something speeding directly at me. It was only a momentary flash, but it was enough for me to register it and stop just in time as something dug itself into the ground at my feet.

A kunai.

My heart skipped a couple beats as my eyes tracked it's flight path back to it's origin. The top of a nearby street post. Atop it stood a shinobi, his features hidden by night, save for two piercing red eyes glaring down at me. I could feel the same burning hatred from them as I had the other Uchiha. No, perhaps even stronger. Even with the distance between us, that look alone had my blood running cold and hair standing on end. A primal instinct told me to run but I could barely breathe at the moment. It felt like if I were to twitch but a finger, this man would strike me down.

"A child?" The figure spoke aloud, his question not one that required a response. "No matter. Leave. Now. Least my next kunai find it's mark." A shiver ran up my spine as I could tell that was no mere threat. This person was fully intent on cutting me down. And yet, I did not run. Instead I swallowed down my fears. This threat was intense and I was indeed terrified, but I had faced worse. This hatred was still nothing when compared to Itachi's rage. Plus, I recognized this voice.

"Mr. Gento? I-Is that you?" I asked, voice cracking involuntarily. Once more, as though it was looking out for me this night, did the moon's light break through and illuminate the shinobi. It was indeed Old Man Gento, Misaki's commanding officer and mentor. I had always had this image of him as a kind but strict grandfather figure. That image was shattered now. His face was steel, hardened and sculpted by age and battle. The man who stood before me was no longer the same who saved me all those years ago.

The man huffed, his brow furrowing harder than it already had been. Further emphasizing the many age lines on his face. "So its you. The brat Misaki had taken such a favour to." He said, his voice cold and controlled, but I could sense something behind that. Something personal. "Why have you come?"

My fists tightened as I bit hard the inside of my lip. "I'm looking for Misaki!" I called back, giving him the simple, honest truth. Gento, of all people, should know where she was. Plus, I knew him to some extent. He wasn't like this. He was someone Misaki truly respected and took his work on the force seriously. If I could just get through to him I might be able to get some answers.

Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry about the delay on this chapter. It should not have taken this long to write but I've been in a bit of a funk lately and this chapter had like 3 rewrites when I realized my original plans didn't make any sense. Anyway, enjoy!