SRS TOPIC.

[Kleee]

After the relaxing end to their insanely unpredictable visit in Sunagakure, Team… unnamed began their new trek through the rest of the sandy Land of Wind. But this time, their freshly stocked supplies and their fully hydrated and fed bodies were enough to get them safely through the desert without too much trouble. They did have a run-in with a sandworm or two, but luckily the deadly creatures seemed to have an unexpected love for cake. Kei had practically gone into a rampage when Toya used a piece of the delicious leftover baked goods to lure away the beasts and allow them to escape. But hey, all’s well that ends well, right?

Finally, after exiting the sea of sand, they had the displeasure to enter yet another type of sea. This time the ‘sea’ came in the form of trees. Lots of trees. And if there was anything harder than travelling through a hot road of sand, it was trying to navigate through an incredibly thick forest with no clue where you were headed. Not to mention that even with the inspirational speech Hana had given them about teamwork and family and stuff, the three Yuki genin still had a long way to go when it came to getting along on a normal basis. As if figuring out the proper path wasn’t hard enough without them all arguing on who should be deciding which direction to walk…

”Alright guys, this is getting us nowhere, and we’ve been walking for hours.” Toya had stopped and placed his hand against a nearby tree for support as he talked.

”It’s going to start getting dark in an hour or so. I think you two should go on ahead and continue searching for a way out of this forest while I stay here and start setting up a camp for the night. If you don’t find anything in the next thirty minutes, turn around and meet back here. And obviously come back here if you find the way out…”

Toya sighed and pushed himself away from the tree, taking off his pack of supplies and setting it on the forest floor in front of him. This area was fairly open, even though trees still surrounded them in all directions. It would be a good place to rest for the night if Kei and Ryou couldn’t find anywhere better. Though now that he thought about it a little more, would it really be the best idea to send those two off by themselves? He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. They were a team, and he needed to treat them and trust them like teammates. They could get out of this place as long as they worked together and stopped second-guessing each other.

”Watch each other’s backs out there and get back here before it gets too dark. I’ll be waiting here.”

[Kleee]

Finally, Kei and her team had escaped Suna, the unbearable sandbox of doom.

Well okay, in the end, Suna hadn't been all that unbearable after all; and as far as Kei knew, there hadn't been too much doom in there either. In fact, the whole adventure in Suna had actually turned out to be sort of... fun. Hana-sama had seemed scary at first, but after she'd given the three genin their share of cake, hugs, and a even motivational speech, all before sending them off to a motivational festival, Kei had certainly changed her mind about the ex-Kazekage pretty quickly. Still, that didn't change the fact that Suna was a sandbox.

A hot sandbox.

So Kei had been understandably very relieved when the sand had given way to a line of trees looming up on the horizon.

Finally, something familiar! Yuki had trees too.

Upon realizing this, Kei had all but darted headfirst into the sea of trees, never once looking back. She soon realized, however, that Yuki's forests and this forest had next to nothing in common. These woods were way greener, for one. There were plants everywhere! It was really hot too, and-- hey, hadn't they already passed that same bush like five times already?

They were lost, Kei realized suddenly, feeling a twinge of mild dismay. The forest was just too thick; trying to find their way out like this would be pretty much impossible. But overall, Kei didn't really mind. It was all just part of the adventure, right? They'd find a way out eventually, but until then, Kei was having fun darting around and exploring the forest at random, wondering what new and exciting thing she'd run into next. Ryou and Toya didn't seem to be too happy about that, though...

”Alright guys, this is getting us nowhere, and we’ve been walking for hours. It’s going to start getting dark in an hour or so. I think you two should go on ahead and continue searching for a way out of this forest while I stay here and start setting up a camp for the night. If you don’t find anything in the next thirty minutes, turn around and meet back here. And obviously come back here if you find the way out…”

Kei didn't bother asking how Toya seemed to magically know exactly what time it was going to get dark; that was probably just a Toya thing. Instead she nodded and grabbed Ryou by the arm before he could protest.

"C'mon Ryou, let's go exploring~"

She wondered briefly whether or not it was really okay to leave Toya out here all by himself like this. What if there were bandits in this part of the world too? The worry left her just as quickly as it had come, however. He'd be fine, they'd only be gone for a little while, and they wouldn't be going that far. Besides, at this point in their adventure, there was no way a few measly bandits could possibly hope to pose a real threat, right?

Right, Kei told herself, and that was that.

With that, she marched off into the woods, Ryou in tow.

Night hadn't fallen quite yet, but darkness was just beginning to settle over the trees, leaving Kei feeling oddly nervous as the fiery light of sunset that had previously filtered through the leaves gradually faded into shadows, bringing all that was left of Kei's sense of adventure and excitement along with it. She'd never exactly been afraid of the dark before (or at least that was what she liked to tell herself), but now that the novelty and excitement of the forest had worn off, Kei couldn't help but feel that the lines and lines of trees were beginning to look more menacing than inviting. After all, like she'd told the seamstresses back in Suna, ghosts came out at night. And somehow, by the looks of this forest, Kei had a feeling that none of the ghosts she'd meet in here were going to be friendly ones.

Kei suddenly stopped short, turning to face Ryou.

"...Is it just me, or are all these trees starting to look the same?"

[Kleee]

Like all good things, the festival in Suna quickly came to an end. It was pretty sad, though, because he had actually enjoyed himself and actually eaten something. But more importantly, for the first time in a freaking month he had managed to sneak off and take a bath. Sanitation really did work wonders, that was for sure - because for a couple of hours, he managed to resist the temptation of dissing everything that came his way. He even "forgot" to yell at the Ex-Kazekage for not escorting them back to Yuki. A real miracle indeed. In fact, there was actually a brief amount of time when the three genin did take heed of the woman's words and actually work together. But just like with before, all good things did come to an end. And that was just the case with Team "Dysfunctional"'s precious few minutes of teamwork.

It wasn't that Ryou wasn't trying to be nice, it was just that he got really irritable when his surroundings weren't what he was used to. And Ryou hated forests. But seriously, who wouldn't hate them? They were so... full of trees! And dark too! Honestly, what was the point of a place that was so hard to navigate; what purpose did it actually serve in the world? As far as Ryou was concerned, all it was actually good for was getting lost. If he ever became some sort of world leader or something like his father, he was certainly going to make sure that one of the first orders he gave would be to have all the forests chopped down. Well, obviously that would mean that he'd have to become leader of some other village, not Yuki, because Yuki was just too awesome for forests, and therefore didn't suck as much as this place. Honestly, why on earth was it called the fire country of all things? Weren't fires supposed to like... burn forests down? One thing was for certain - whoever named this place had just about as much intelligence as Kei. Yep, it would be a while before he got over SS Cake.

Needless to say, Ryou wasn't in a very good mood after hours upon hours of jumping through the neverending sea of trees. The Kazekage's lectures entirely forgotten, he followed - sulking as usual - a short way behind his teammates. Finally, they came to a clearing. Refusing to walk a step further, Ryou collapsed against a tree.

"Can we stop here? We've been walking all freaking day!"

”Alright guys, this is getting us nowhere, and we’ve been walking for hours.”

For once it seemed that Toya, who had just stopped in a similar fashion, actually agreed with him.

”It’s going to start getting dark in an hour or so. I think you two should go on ahead and continue searching for a way out of this forest while I stay here and start setting up a camp for the night. If you don’t find anything in the next thirty minutes, turn around and meet back here. And obviously come back here if you find the way out…”

...Or not.

"Uh, who made you the leader of this team?" Ryou spat, raising his eyebrows at Toya before launching into another one of his tirades, "I am not going anywhere. Since when could you order me around anyway? Why don't you go and look for a way out while we stay here! I'm sick of you bossing us around like you've got all the authority around here. God knows what could be out there, and besides my feet are killing me and I'm out of breath I'm not going anywh- Aaaaah!"

"C'mon Ryou, let's go exploring~"

Grinning broadly, Kei had grabbed Ryou by the arm and proceeded to drag him away without a second thought. She didn't seem to be too serious, but she had a grip against which flailing was futile.

"Aaah! Let go of me! Why do you always side with him, huh? It's a conspiracy, isn't it!?!"

But no matter how much Ryou protested, Kei just didn't let go until they were well away from Toya and back into the thick of the forest. The sun was beginning to set, making it even harder to see in the dark forest than before. The moment Kei loosened her hand, Ryou shook her off, going back to his usual sulky walk with his arms crossed a couple of steps behind her. Stupid Toya with his stupid orders. Hadn't he already made it pretty clear that he wasn't the strongest of the three? Well, if that was the case, then shouldn't he have been the one who went out into the dangers of the forest. Ryou and Kei (...well, maybe not Kei) were both perfectly capable of setting up camp for the night, but nope, Toya had to make his life the easiest. Jerk.

As the sun continued to vanish further into the obscured horizon, the forest slowly became darker and colder. Ryou was pretty sure it was just an illusion, but it seemed that the trees were just becoming thicker and the prospect of danger just seemed to loom closer and closer. Ryou even found himself quickening his irritable pace just to walk a little closer to Kei (...He wasn't scared... just looking out for Kei. ...Yeah, that.). The crackles of their feet crushing leaves as they walked were the only noises in the air; any other sound quickly becoming suspicious and unnerving.

Crrsssssh.

Dead leaves were crushed to pieces as Kei turned abruptly to face Ryou, sending his feet back a few paces and his heart up to his throat in shock. What had caused her to just jump like that?

"What is it?!"

"...Is it just me, or are all these trees starting to look the same?"

...Oh, just Kei being Kei again. Ryou jumped at her angrilly.

"What! Don't scare me like that!... n-not that I was scared or anything. Just don't startle me," he spat, "And I actually have better things to do than look at trees. How the hell should I know if they look the same or not?! I'm not noticing anything differe-"

Rustle rustle

Ryou fell silent. He wasn't one to usually contradict himself or anything, but it wasn't often that anything else rang louder than his own voice. He gulped.

"Did you hear that...?"

[Kleee]

Toya had just been deciding whether to answer Ryou’s protests with one of his usual angry reprimands or whether he should cave in and agree to go scouting instead of sending the other two when Kei had taken the boy’s arm in her steel grip and pulled him off into the depths of the forest.

"C'mon Ryou, let's go exploring~"

"Aaah! Let go of me! Why do you always side with him, huh? It's a conspiracy, isn't it!?!"

Toya couldn’t keep a grin off his face as poor Ryou’s figure shrunk smaller and smaller until finally disappearing into the dark expanse of the trees. He was sure that the two of them would be fine as long as they stuck together, and besides, it’s not like they would be gone for very long if they actually listened to his instructions. This forest of the Fire Country did not appear to be the home of too many predatory creatures, and any other travelers would probably be other poor souls who had found themselves lost in this horrible maze of plant life.

Taking relief in these facts, Toya began to calmly prepare the small clearing between the trees for his team to camp for the night. Their supplies from Suna were not exactly luxurious, so they would still be sleeping on the floor and eating mostly unappetizing rations, but it was much better than being forced to hunt for food and water each and every night to survive. The dark-haired genin tightened the makeshift Yuki headband on his forehead and sighed. He would have felt a lot better if they had been able to bring along a couple escorts from Suna, but Hana had been correct when she said that they would learn and grow much faster if they completed this journey alone.

Plus, it would be hard to explain to the village that they had needed the help of foreigners to complete a simple D-ranked mission. Though after all that had happened to the unlucky team, you could hardly classify this as a mission of any normal rank. Even if a jounin teacher had been escorting them, this would have still ended up being a pretty crazy journey.

The sound of a twig snapping and leaves rustling finally broke Toya out of his trance-like state. He had been so immersed in his own thoughts that he had unintentionally allowed his senses to dull, but now his eyes and ears were ready to pick up on anything nearby. Could there possibly be other shinobi somewhere around here? And if there were, what village were they from, and would they be hostile? Either way, it was way too risky to stand around and wait for Kei and Ryou to return.

Leaving behind the supplies he had spread out across the grassy floor, Toya took off running in the direction that his teammates had gone. They already had at least a fifteen minute head-start on him, so it would probably take quite a while for him to catch up, assuming they hadn’t been at a stand-still the entire time. Toya had a sick feeling in his stomach as he ran. Something ominous was in the air, he could feel it…

-----

Meanwhile, Kei and Ryou were about to find out just how accurate Toya’s premonition was. Several shadowy silhouettes, still half-hidden by the forest’s thick lines of trees, watched the two genin from a distance. And just as Ryou turned to ask Kei if she heard the sound of leaves rustling, the three black-clad figures emerged from hiding. They fanned out, keeping a meter or two between each other as they stepped towards the genin. The one in the center spoke first, his his voice taking on a deep and intimidating tone. However, his question was aimed at one of his companions rather than the Yuki genin.

”You said you saw the Shiki with these two. Where the hell is he?!"

This time the black-clad figure on the left spoke up, his voice monotone and his words concise.

”The one with the demon eyes was accompanying these two when I last reported back. They must have split up recently.”

The leader in the center did not reply. Without another word, he reached for the sheathe at his waist, drawing out a long blade and holding it menacingly out in front of him. From the hilt dangled a small silver chain connected to a small metal trinket. It appeared to be the head of a wolf, its mouth agape and fangs showing, as if it was ready to tear apart its victims. It was an exact match to the symbol hanging around the necks of all three mystery assailants. A symbol that only the conveniently absent Toya would be informed enough to recognize…

”Tell us where your friend is and we’ll be sure to give you the privilege of a quick and painless death. He can’t hide in this forest forever, so you might as well save yourselves a lot of pain and give up your little demon friend.”

[Kleee]

”You said you saw the Shiki with these two. Where the hell is he?!"

The voice pierced the eerie silence like a knife, it's power only magnified by the fact that Ryou was expecting to hear some sort of reaction from Kei, not the murderous tone of a man echoing from behind him. Ryou gulped as he turned around, sure enough, there were people standing right behind him, and boy they didn't look nice. Three of them, all with characteristics he had recently seen in the bandits that had originally kidnapped them and the people who had come debt-seeking Suna, only millions of times worse. As if the dark forest wasn't cold enough already, Ryou felt whatever heat was left in him leave his body as he stared into the eyes of the men. Shiki? Where had he heard that word before...

”The one with the demon eyes was accompanying these two when I last reported back. They must have split up recently" said another of the men, obviously responding to the question just asked by his comrade.

Ryou's heart began to race. What on earth were these guys talking about? None of what had just been said made any sense to him. Demon Eyes!? He didn't know any demon eyes. What were these guys talking about...?! Unless...

Toya.

Memories collided in Ryou's head as everything became clear. Toya Shiki... and his eyes. But still... hadn't people given up trying to kill them ages ago? Toya wasn't really that harmful; there had to be stronger Shiki out there than a sixteen year old boy. Could these guys really be after Toya? If that was the case... then they were...

"Crap!"

One of the three men Ryou stood facing moved his hand to a sheathe, pulling out a deadly sword that glinted brightly even in the limited light of the moon. A chain with a pendant attached to the end dangled off the sword, it's frightening symbol impossible to miss. The man looked up at Ryou and aimed his sword,every corner of his face saying that he meant buisness.

”Tell us where your friend is and we’ll be sure to give you the privilege of a quick and painless death. He can’t hide in this forest forever, so you might as well save yourselves a lot of pain and give up your little demon friend.”

Damn. So even if Ryou just sold Toya out, he was going to die. And besides, he hadn't exactly been watching the direction he had walked to get here... he didn't even know where Toya was. What did these guys expect him to do? Had the situation been different, he could have just remained silent... but these guys looked like they weren't the patient type. And not to mention...

Ryou shot a glance at Kei. He had actually hoped she would be scared and silenced, but instead she looked furious, which was a problem.

When normal people got mad, they did stupid things, but when stupid people got mad then... to keep a long story short, if Kei even opened her mouth once, the two of them were as good as dead. Ryou had to say something, and say it fast.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about,"

Ryou stuck his hand out in front of Kei, both to stop her from just charging at the guys, and also to somehow give her a signal to keep her mouth shut. He cleared his throat, trying to put on a brave face and keep his voice firm. It wasn't like they would just kill him if he just stood his ground and didn't say anything... it wouldn't accomplish anything. They still wouldn't know where Toya was, and their leads would be dead - there'd be no point. This way he could at least buy some time... to do something he hadn't figured out yet.

"Demon friend? I've never heard of anybody like that. My only companion is her. I don't know about anybody else. We're just... travellers! We can't help you. Leave us alone!"

The chances of them actually moving on were pretty low, but hopefully this would give them time for Ryou to work out what the hell to do next. And hopefully Kei got the hint, and would keep her mouth shut...

[Kleee]

Kei could only roll her eyes as Ryou jumped, instantly launching into an explanation about how he was sooo not scared, and how he had much, much better things to do than pay attention to where he was going. Pfft. Not scared? Yeah right. Ryou was obviously terrified. Kei, on the other hand, was the epitome of calm.

Rustle rustle

"...Eep!"

It was Kei's turn to jump this time, startled by the sudden sounds of nearby. She glanced around at the surrounding bushes, searching franticly for the source. It looked like she'd been right about those ghosts after all; this forest really was haunted at night! Hopefully the ghosts wouldn't be too upset about being disturbed like this, though... Whenever random traveler people accidentally go and anger the local spirits of wherever it is they're traveling to, some pretty... nasty things tend to happen. There's always blood involved, and usually the loss of a limb or three thrown in as well. Kei knew this for a fact; all the ghost stories she knew said so.

But to Kei's surprise, the three shadowy figures that soon emerged from the bushes weren't ghosts at all. They were people.

...Somehow, Kei felt oddly disappointed by this observation.

She didn't have time to dwell on the loss of her ghosts for long, however, because suddenly, the people spoke.

”You said you saw the Shiki with these two. Where the hell is he?!"

Kei glared. Jerks! The creepy men in black had not only blocked her path and heartlessly crushed her ghost fantasies to pieces, but now they were ignoring her and talking amongst themselves. They least they could do was offer some kind of explanation for all this-- ...wait a minute. Kei thought for a moment. Shiki...?

She knew that name.

”The one with the demon eyes was accompanying these two when I last reported back. They must have split up recently.”

At the words 'demon eyes' Kei immediately tensed. It wasn't difficult to figure out by this point; there was only one person she knew of that the strange men could be referring to.

Toya.

But what did they want with him...?

She got her answer only moments later as the figure in the center shifted, revealing something long, sharp, and silver. It glinted in the moonlight as he moved; a blade.

”Tell us where your friend is and we’ll be sure to give you the privilege of a quick and painless death. He can’t hide in this forest forever, so you might as well save yourselves a lot of pain and give up your little demon friend.”

So. They were the reason why Toya had to lie about himself and live in hiding, Kei realized slowly. People like them were the ones that had hunted down his clan. His family.

It wasn't exactly news to Kei that there were people after Toya and his clan, he'd told her as much himself. It was one thing to hear about it, but actually meeting them in person was something else entirely. Before she knew it, Kei's mild irritation from before had sparked up and finally blazed into outright anger. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that anyone running around trying to wipe out an entire clan was obviously really, really strong, much more powerful than she was but at the moment, that wasn't really important. All that mattered was getting back at the people who were trying to hurt her teammate, and making them pay. At her sides, Kei's hands tightened into fists.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

Kei blinked and looked over at her other teammate, caught by surprise. Ryou! For a moment, she'd almost forgotten he was there.

"Demon friend? I've never heard of anybody like that. My only companion is her. I don't know about anybody else. We're just... travellers! We can't help you. Leave us alone!"

It seemed Ryou was actually being useful for once; Kei had underestimated him. She was almost surprised that he hadn't given Toya up right away, though Kei immediately felt terrible for even thinking such a thing. He was flat-out denying Toya's existence, apparently. It was probably the only possible way they could get past the assassins without getting attacked. If all went well, that is. Why hadn't she thought of that...? Kei didn't like the idea of letting the assassins go; in fact, she hated it. But as much as she didn't want to admit it, she and Ryou probably couldn't beat them alone. It did make more sense to try and get out of the situation however they could, Kei had to admit, somewhat reluctantly. Oh well, she'd play along then. It was just like back in Suna when she was pretending to be Hayari... but hopefully this time, the people she was trying to trick would believe her.

"Nope, we don't know any demons," Kei answered cheerfully. It made her feel sick to even fake cooperating with these people, but she did her best to appear helpful anyways. "But if we find any, we'll be sure to let you know~"

She took a few steps forward to emphasize her point: Kei didn't know who they were looking for, and it was time for them to move over and drag their sorry assassin butts off somewhere else to search.

Now all Kei had to do was hope they'd buy it.

[Kleee]

The men on the left and right both looked to their sides at their blade-wielding leader in the center, as if to reconfirm the fact that they had cornered the right people. Unfortunately for Ryou and Kei, their impressive display of quick-thinking and teamwork would be rendered useless by the fact that the Nanaya clansman leading the group had already seen the three Yuki genin walking through the forest together earlier in the day. These guys were no amateurs, and there would be no mistakes. The clan was known for its harsh training and strict discipline, even for the slightest of failures.

As Kei began to move forward, the man matched her single step and swung his blade horizontally, the tip of the steel weapon opening up a deep wound across Kei’s left shoulder. Most people didn’t understand the significance of the pain caused by a slash of a sword until they experienced it themselves, but even the smallest cuts hurt like hell. The man quickly pulled his blade back to its original menacing position, smirking cruelly as Kei stepped back, shouting out in pain.

”Sorry, but I’m afraid your little charade is futile. We know you two were with that Shiki bastard, and you both will continue to suffer if you don’t tell us where he ran off to.”

As he finished his final sentence, his two companions had suddenly appeared on either side of Ryou, each delivering a blindingly fast snap kick to the boy’s torso. One caught him directly in the stomach, while the other connected with the very center of his back. This pincer attack instantly knocked the wind out of him, causing him to drop to his knees before he could react in any other way.

Their leader took another step towards the already bleeding Kei and waved his weapon in front of him, taunting the girl.

”One little answer and all the pain will go away…”


Toya was practically flying across the forest floor as he leapt from the ground to low-growing tree branches, to other tree branches, back to the ground, and every other possible combination of those actions. His hear rate had climbed to an insane level as he sped through the trees. The worst part of all this was that he had absolutely no idea why his anxiousness continued to increase. He could always be counted on as the thinker of the group, the one who could make logical judgments in any given situation, but now his body moved with absolutely no rational reason. He just somehow knew that his teammates were in danger, and he couldn’t sit around and do nothing.

After a few more minutes of this frantic travelling, two familiar voices caused him to freeze immediately. He could hear the sound of Ryou trying to yell about something, but it sounded like his breathing was erratic for some reason. He had also heard the higher-pitched voice of Kei cry out in pain and then yell something angrily at someone. Not wasting another second, Toya burst through the next line of trees, only to come o a dead-stop once again as he came face-to-face with people he had hoped to never encounter during his lifetime…

The all-black wardrobe could be easily associated with hundreds of groups, but the silver wolf’s head chained to their weapons could only be connected to the Nanaya family. Toya’s most prized dagger bore the same exact mark, but sadly it had been taken from him by the bandits, along with the rest of his hand-crafted weapons. His father’s angry face filled his mind for the first time in two years, and he felt frozen in this single moment as he stared at the members of a clan that made up half of his heritage.

But it was this same group of people who would stop at nothing before they completely obliterated the other half of his ancestors. His own father had killed his mother and then brutally trained his son into becoming a weapon of war. And other members like these three spent most of their lives hunting the remaining Shiki clansmen, as well as other groups of people with supposedly “unearthly abilities”.

And now these heartless assassins had harmed his teammates, his travelling companions, but most importantly, his friends. Images of a dead mother that Toya had only seen in pictures. The sight of his father’s lifeless corpse, killed by his own son. The pained expressions of Kei and Ryou as they were attacked, with no one to blame but Toya and his past for getting them caught up in this. It was like a horrible movie being replayed over and over in his head for what seemed like an eternity, when he had only been standing there for half a minute. Finally, the leader of the Nanaya pack spoke up after the boy’s surprise arrival.

”Well well, the demon runs right into the grasp of the hunters. Now we can just kill him and his friends and then we’re off to our next target. All in a day’s work…”

Something snapped inside of Toya’s head. A dark and fiery wrath that hadn’t been awakened in two years had just been set free. This was no secretly sealed demon or some sort of alternate personality, it was simply the suppressed feelings of the troubled genin combined with some past trauma and just a touch of craziness, probably from his Nanaya genetics. He slowly raised his hand and pulled the sunglasses off of his face, casually tossing them to the side. In the instant that the infamous black and red eyes of the Fatesplitter’s vision were visible, Toya attacked while appearing to remain practically motionless.

Two kunai pierced the trunk of one of the trees a few feet behind the sword-wielding assassin, appearing to have missed their intended target. However, it could be fatal to underestimate the combination of a Shiki’s eyes with a little wind chakra. The man’s eyes widened in pain and horror as both of his arms fell to the floor, severed right at his shoulders. Blood spewed from the two gaping holes in his body as he fell backwards, landing in the grass on his back. In the blink of an eye, Toya was crouching above the mortally wounded man, and he lifted him up by his shirt’s collar until their eyes were only a few inches apart.

”Oh, I’m sorry… will you be needing those arms when you kill me? I guess we can see who the real hunter is here, eh?”

Toya lifted him up further, forcing the man to stand up. With his free hand, he carefully withdrew another kunai, coating the tip with sharpened wind chakra and slowly dragging it across the glowing red fate lines that marked the spot where the man’s legs connected to his torso. The results were immediate and severe. As if they had been completely sawed through, his remaining two limbs fell to the ground in a pool of blood. Grinning wickedly, Toya tossed what little remained of the assassin’s body to the side, letting it hit the ground where the man would surely bleed out.

Now turning his attention to the remaining two Nanaya, they unconsciously flinched as Toya’s gaze fell upon them. One of them quickly released his grip on Ryou, letting the thoroughly beat-up genin fall freely to the floor. Toya’s eyes truly were those of a demon’s now. Any trace of humanity that could be found in those dark orbs had been completely replaced by the appearance of a bloodthirsty killer, someone who could rip a grown man apart and enjoy the process. Before anyone could even blink again, Toya had moved from his previous position and stood directly in front of the attacker who had last struck Ryou.

”Something wrong? You look like you’ve just seen a monster… but I thought our clan specialized in killing creatures like that? Looks like I’ll have to show you how it’s done…”

Toya’s left hand flew forward, latching onto the man’s neck and squeezing it with just enough force to keep him from trying to flee or fight back. He then brought up his right index finger and slowly moved it towards the man’s chest. In this state of pure primal instincts, the Shiki’s Fatesplitter’s vision could be released to a state that would normally take years of training to accomplish. And now he could see the one location of the man’s body where every single glowing fate line intersected and formed a small dot of glowing red energy. The tip of his index finger finally pressed viciously against this specific spot on the man’s chest, and… his life instantly unraveled. As if the invisible threads of the universe that held his body together had been severed, he fell apart as if an explosive tag had been placed inside his body. The blood spatter covered almost the entire front side of Toya, dotting parts of his clothes and skin with the red liquid. They were close enough to Ryou and the man’s companion for some of it to come into contact with them as well.

Finally, as if the sole remaining survivor of the hunting party had come to his senses and realized that he had no chance of defeating Toya in his current state, he immediately turned and ran. For Toya, it was almost like an exact replica of the day he had regained his sight and killed his father. In this same manner, his father had realized the danger of his son’s power and had attempted to flee. But this would end the same way. Toya already knew how this story concluded…

”None of you bastards are walking away from this alive!! Feel the same fear and pain that you forced upon my family!

A few quick steps were all it took for Toya to catch up with the man’s clumsy running. Pulling his hand back, he allowed an aura of wind chakra to surround his entire right hand, the perfect way to accumulate destructive, piercing force. He then thrust is arm forward like a spear, his fingers plunging straight through the man’s back until they ended up piercing through the front of his victim’s body as well. Slowly pulling his now blood-soaked arm out of the gaping hole in his final target’s body, he slowly dropped to his knees and stared at the ground for a moment before uncharacteristically drawing his head back and laughing. It was a hollow, almost frightening laugh that seemed to be a little too sincere coming from someone who had just slaughtered three men.

”We’ll see how many of you guys come looking for me again! I’ll just keep killing you all until the entire Nanaya clan is erased from this world!”

The now completely red-stained, crazed Toya completely forgot about the presence of his teammate and why he had started fighting in the first place. All that mattered now was that he had killed the ones who had murdered his mother… or at least the people who followed the same path as his damn father, the true murderer...

[Kleee]

"Nope, we don't know any demons, But if we find any, we'll be sure to let you know~"

Ryou breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, Kei had decided to play along. He had been worried for a second there; what if she had just gone charging at these guys? They would have just killed her on the spot or something. Not that Ryou really cared if she got hurt or anything... it was just that he was pretty impressed that she had managed to figure out that playing along was the best course of action...

...Or at least, that was what he had thought. As Kei took a small step forward to set her act in stone, the man walked up to match her; his sword visible for a split second in the pale light of the sky before before slashed down, tearing open Ryou's teammates shoulder. A scream pierced the air as the sparkling drops of blood hit the floor.

”Sorry, but I’m afraid your little charade is futile. We know you two were with that Shiki bastard, and you both will continue to suffer if you don’t tell us where he ran off to.”

Ever the coward, Ryou remained rooted to the spot as the man's unfooled voice rang in his ears. His feet felt like stone; he could neither do something to stop them nor run away. Using his immobility to their advantage, two of the other assasins appeared at Ryou's either side. He had no chance to defend or dodge as they came at him; one of them striking him in the front, winding him, the other hitting him just as forcefully in the back, sending him hurtling to the ground.

"Ahhhhh!"

Catching himself on one hand, Ryou collapsed on the floor, cursing his luck. Damnit... why did he keep getting into these situations, huh? Why?! It was such a conspiracy! Random people coming and attacking him for no reason all the time! Why were these guys doing this? What was there to gain by attacking them?

He looked up; the leader of the attackers had begun to move up to Kei again, his sword raised once more. The look on his face making it plainly obvious that these guys still hadn't had enough.

”One little answer and all the pain will go away…”

He had his weapon dance in front of her, almost like he was tempting her to say something stupid. Ryou couldn't move; but it wasn't like there was anything he could do. What could he expect Kei to do other than confess? He was pretty sure anybody with twice as much intelligence as her would do the same thing. But Kei didn't open her mouth. Minutes passed, and injured and bleeding on the floor, being threatened with death, Kei didn't say anything. Ryou didn't get it - why was she vouching for Toya?! It was Toya's fault she was getting beaten up like that; why wouldn't she just sell him out for all it was worth? Maybe they would just leave her there, presuming she would die and move on or something. Why was she being so stupid. Stupider than usual...

The man looked impatient. He wanted an answer. Ryou didn't know what to do - what if he yelled out and confessed? What would happen then? If these guys killed Kei... then they'd probably come right for him, and that certainly wasn't good. Well, maybe there was something else he could do... just talk. What good was Toya anyway? Why should Ryou keep his mouth shut?

"Leave her alone!" he yelled suddenly, his voice not yet as clear as it was before due to him getting winded, "...I'll tell you where he is! He's not important to us anyway! Just don't kill us-"

He stopped mid-speech. The leaves had just rustled - just as they had before. Somebody was coming... Ryou couldn't tell if it was a potential ally or another enemy but there certainly was the sound of somebody in the distance...

Sure enough, a few seconds later a figure emerged from the shadows of the trees. Ryou craned his neck, he couldn't quite see whoever it was - but damn that silhouette looked familiar...

"Well well, the demon runs right into the grasp of the hunters. Now we can just kill him and his friends and then we’re off to our next target. All in a day’s work…”

Toya!

Ryou didn't know whether to feel relieved or annoyed. Suuuure, Toya had potentially come to their rescue, but honestly, did he stand a chance against these guys? Especially since they well... wanted to kill him! The three assasins instantly forgot about the existance of Ryou and Kei and launched themselves at their teammate, but their potential victim couldn't care less. Toya looked pretty calm as he just stood there, like the idiot that he was. Ryou couldn't catch the look on his face - but it wasn't like it mattered. If Toya just stood there like that, he was going to cark it and fast.

Well, maybe he could survive a few seconds longer. It took him a little while, but Toya finally stirred (God, what had taken him so long). His epic move? Throwing Kunai!

...and missing!

The two kunai flew straight past one of the men, hitting a tree. For a second, the speed with which Toya had moved had been slightly impressive, but now...

"You moron! Actually take aim before y-"

Ryou gasped. The man's hands fell off just as quickly and cleanly as if they were butter to a knife. How on earth was that possible...?! Toya had missed... hadn't he? Well, actually... it had all happened so quickly that Ryou wasn't exactly sure what had gone down, but it wasn't like Toya had that much power, was it? Ryou gazed back at his teammate; wondering if he had just gotten lucky somehow... or if there was something else the young man had planned.

”Oh, I’m sorry… will you be needing those arms when you kill me? I guess we can see who the real hunter is here, eh?”

Toya was bending over the man, kunai in hand. The guy was on the floor; there was no way he'd be able to get up without his arms... it appeared that Toya was going to stab the defenseless victim there and then. But it looked like that wasn't Toya's intention. First the fast glinting of a kunai knife, and next thing Ryou knew, a limbless body had come hurtling in his direction. Not believing his eyes, Ryou gazed at the body... the man was not yet dead, but the pain he had to be experiencing was a thousand, no, a million times worse than death.

"So brutal..." Ryou muttered to himself, gazing at the body in disblief for a few seconds as the wind rushed past him.

And then it began to rain.

Rain blood.

Cold speckles landing on his cheeks, staining the fresh new clothes he was proud of, Ryou turned his head to find yet another gory sight before him. The second of the men - the one who had struck down Ryou - had completely vanished. All that remained was nothing more than a massive area of splattered blood. Much of it on the floor, even more of it covering the body of the dead man's perpertrator.

Toya had already moved on; the last of the three men running away like a fish being chased by a shark. Of course, it was futile. Any doubt for the Yuki Genin getting killed by these men had been completely replaced by a complete disbelief in the survival of the so-called "assasins" in Ryou's head.

”None of you bastards are walking away from this alive!! Feel the same fear and pain that you forced upon my family!

Okay, now Toya was acting a bit crazy, but maybe he was just excited. After all, you probably would be this excited if you had so much raw power. It was pretty scary, but heck, all criminals deserved to be punished, and these guys had attacked them and even gone to kill Toya, so it was alright, Ryou supposed... but still, Toya brought an even more sickening way to kill in his next move. He stopped giving his chase; his hand extending... and then he thrust it forward, the fingertips cutting into the man's body like needles; the whole arm emerging from the other side like a sword. Needless to say, the man died instantly, Toya withdrawing his arm as if it was nothing... and laughing just as crazilly.

”We’ll see how many of you guys come looking for me again! I’ll just keep killing you all until the entire Nanaya clan is erased from this world!”

Ryou was pretty sure that Toya was overdoing it a ltitle - but that didn't matter. The assasins were dead and he was going to live, and that was all that really mattered. Gathering all of his stregnth, Ryou pushed himself up off the floor, the relief in his head quickly melting once again as he dusted down his shirt.

"Ugh, it's covered in blood now. It was designer too!" he whined, "Don't you think you overdid it a bit, dude? Though..."

Ryou looked around at the three bodies on the floor. Well, two bodies and giant pool of blood.

"...I didn't know you had this much power. Why the hell didn't you do this when we were first attacked by those stupid bandits? Then we wouldn't be here in the first place!" he looked back at Toya, sighing and folding his arms, "You're waaaay too protective about this clan ability stuff~ I've nearly died like what, three times, while we've been here. Ow!"

He goraned as his aching back gave another pang of pain. Ugh, those guys had given him quite a kick. Stupid people. Why on earth was he always getting in trouble like this!?!

"...Damn those guys! Why didn't you tag along in the first place - because if you had, this wouldn't have happened. Actually, technically none of this would have happened if you didn't exist, but whatever, can we make camp now?! I'm tired and I need a bath and..."

And so Ryou ranted for the millionth time in his life. Unfortunately the poor kid wasn't aware that everything he was saying would probably make it the last time in his life too.

[Kleee]

"Ugh, it's covered in blood now. It was designer too! Don't you think you overdid it a bit, dude? Though..."

Still kneeling in the blood-stained grass, Toya remained silent as Ryou launched into his usual string of complaints after anything inconvenient happened to him. After another brief moment, he slowly stood back up and began using his shirt to wipe some of the blood off his right arm. His back continued to face his teammates after he had risen back to his feet. After his sudden display of pure destructive power, he was acting a lot calmer than just a minute ago…

"...I didn't know you had this much power. Why the hell didn't you do this when we were first attacked by those stupid bandits? Then we wouldn't be here in the first place! You're waaaay too protective about this clan ability stuff~ I've nearly died like what, three times, while we've been here. Ow!"

He finally turned around, facing his teammate and staring quietly at him with his eerily dark eyes. Rather than showing the flames of rage, the small red pupils appeared to be like dying, smoldering embers that had nearly run out of fuel to burn. Toya’s mind had become caught in a strange struggle. All of his suppressed feelings of confusion and anger had unleashed and had been poured down upon the three Nanaya clansmen, resulting in their violent and quick deaths. There were no more logical targets for him to release anymore anger on… but his desire for vengeance had not yet been satisfied.

"...Damn those guys! Why didn't you tag along in the first place - because if you had, this wouldn't have happened. Actually, technically none of this would have happened if you didn't exist, but whatever, can we make camp now?! I'm tired and I need a bath and..."

A single phrase in Ryou’s seemingly harmless rant would become the new spark to kindle Toya’s wrath for a second time. None of this would have happened if you didn’t exist. Not only had it been a thoughtless and cruel thing to tell anyone, much less your teammate, but it also stimulated the guilt that lay deep within Toya’s heart. If he had never been born, his mother would still be alive and healthy back in Yuki. His father would have never found out about her Shiki lineage, and they would most likely have grown old together and lived a happy, peaceful life. And yes, as meaningless as Ryou’s words were, some of them were accurate. If he had never been born, Kei and Ryou would probably not be in this mess, at least not this particular one.

Without bothering to waste anymore time to reflect on his feelings of guilt and self-pity, Toya suddenly dashed forward, practically pouncing on the unguarded Ryou. His right fist slammed into the side of his teammate’s jawbone, sending him reeling backward. Before he could move too far, the same right hand that had delivered the punch grasped onto the boy’s shirt collar, lifting him into the air. Toya had performed a similar tactic on one of the Nanaya assassins, but he had something else in mind this time. Luckily for Ryou, he did not plan on cutting off anymore limbs.

As his right hand firmly lifted Ryou, Toya’s began a barrage of short, quick punches with his left. His fist’s target alternated between Ryou’s stomach, chest, and face, each strike filled with the intensity of Toya’s dark emotions.

”Sorry I couldn’t have been around to save you earlier, guess I thought for a second that you could possibly handle yourself for once. Stupid of me, right?” Another quick jab to Ryou’s chest caused a faintly audible cracking sound. ”And you’re right, I’m way too protective about my eyes. From now on, I’ll let the entire world know my secret and just tear apart anyone who comes to confront me. Thanks for the great idea.”

After the brief, but rapid string of attacks, Toya released Ryou’s shirt and sent the boy stumbling backwards until he landed on his back on the forest floor. Pulling out one of his many blades with his right hand, the practically insane genin took a step towards his fallen comrade, smirking as he walked.

”Y’know, you wouldn’t be in this situation if you didn’t exist either. Why don’t we see how that works out for you?"

[Kleee]

Almost there.

Only a few more steps and, if she was lucky, Kei would be free of the assassins. Free to double back and reunite with Toya, free to then escape safely to Kasai. Free to finally, finally return home to Yuki. But unfortunately, it didn't look like Kei was going to be lucky tonight.

The center assassin swung his sword.

It all happened too fast for Kei to realize what was going on at first. First there was a sharp glint of light, and then she fell back, stunned.

Only then did it begin to hurt.

Burn was more like it. A line of stinging, burning agony had flared up across her shoulder without warning, and all Kei could do was cry out in pain and drop to her knees, instinctively covering the wound with her good arm, as if by doing that she could somehow keep the pain at bay. The effect was the complete opposite of what she'd intended though, and Kei had to bite her lip to keep from crying out again as she removed her arm, holding it out in front of her.

Suddenly the assassin's threats and Ryou's cries were only background noise to her; all Kei could do for the moment was stare at her hand in horror.

She was covered in blood.

Getting hurt was nothing new to Kei, she was always getting herself into trouble back home, and it was rare that she got out of it again without a scratch or two. Blood was nothing new to her, but for some reason... this was different. Maybe it was because this was the first time she'd ever been hurt by another person, a person whose only goal was to spread pain and torment, or maybe it was the knowledge that, no matter how badly she hurt now, there was only worse in store for Kei if she didn't cooperate. Or maybe it was just the way her blood seemed to run black in the absence of sunlight.

Either way, the sight of it made her feel sick.

Just then, the man in the center took a step towards her, his blade dancing in front of her, taunting her. Kei looked up at him with wide eyes.

”One little answer and all the pain will go away…”

For some people, that might've been their cue to spill everything, give the black-clothed figures whatever they wanted, and simply hope the assassins would let them live. Maybe it was a selfish choice, or maybe it was just the rational thing to do. Either way, Kei wanted no part in it.

If anything, the assassin's words only hardened her resolve. Suddenly, all Kei's fear and disgust from earlier was pushed to the back of her mind. He could promise safety and freedom from pain all he wanted, but the menacing glint of his sword inches from Kei's face said otherwise. Besides, even if by some miracle they did let Ryou and Kei escape, it still wouldn't mean the pain was over.

Not for Toya, it wouldn't.

For Kei, escaping would only mean subjecting her teammate to the same pain she was going through now, with one major difference. Kei and Ryou were still alive, weren't they? They'd probably stay that way a while longer, until the assassins either got their answer or gave up on them. But if the assassins ever found Toya, they'd kill him on sight.

Yes, Kei was scared of dying, and no, she didn't want to feel that burning, biting sensation of being cut any more than she already was... and she certainly didn't want Ryou getting hurt either. But so far, they were still alive. And as long as Kei kept her mouth shut and refused to answer, maybe they'd have a chance. Maybe one of the assassins would let their guard down and give the genin a chance to escape or fight back, or maybe they'd be rescued by Kasai-nin at the last moment. Maybe, just maybe, the assassins would give up and leave. Whatever happened, it was better than giving Toya up.

After all, what kind of person would condemn their teammate to death just to avoid getting hurt?

"Leave her alone!"

"R-ryou--" Kei choked out, desperate. She waited for him to reveal the reason behind his outburst; maybe he was going to fight back. Maybe he'd surprise Kei and everyone by coming up with a genius escape plan to get them both out of there. Maybe he was just scared and shouting out at random. Anything was better than the truth.

"...I'll tell you where he is!"

No.

"He's not important to us anyway!"

Shut UP Ryou!

"Just don't kill us--!!"

For once, Kei couldn't speak. She couldn't even react; couldn't do anything but stare at Ryou and wait for him to realize his mistake and change his mind. There had to be something else... some other reason, some explanation for his sudden betrayal. There had to. He had a plan, didn't he? Pretending to cooperate just had to be part of the plan, because there was no way Ryou would do this otherwise.

Was there?

He was whiny, spoiled, and a huge jerk sometimes, that was for sure, but when it came down to it, he wasn't exactly a bad person. He was her teammate just as much as Toya was.

Wasn't he?

Kei just kept waiting helplessly for that explanation, but it never came. In a few moments, Ryou was going to give the assassins everything they wanted, and that would be the end.

...No.

It was already over.

Even if Toya somehow survived, even if they all got out of this mess alive somehow, that was it. The damage was done. The instant Ryou had decided to give up one of his own, the team had been destroyed. Suddenly, something began to dawn on Kei slowly.

Maybe they'd never been much of a team at all.

What if, all this time, they'd only been using each other to get home to Yuki? What if they'd only bothered sticking together in the first place because no one else wanted them? What if... what if everything they'd been through, all the progress Kei'd thought they'd made together... what if it had all been meaningless? If, after all the time they'd spent together, they couldn't even stick up for one another when it mattered the most, then maybe Kei had been lying to herself after all.

Now what was she supposed to believe in?

This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

Kei was so absorbed with her despair that it wasn't until one of the assassins actually announced it that she noticed the arrival of her third teammate.

”Well well, the demon runs right into the grasp of the hunters. Now we can just kill him and his friends and then we’re off to our next target. All in a day’s work…”

Toya.

But... something was wrong. Different. There was something slightly off about him, Kei realized.

There was a blur of motion as two kunai whizzed past Kei, burying themselves deep into the wood of a tree directly behind the center assassin. For a few heartstopping moments, it seemed as though Toya had missed. Then the man's eyes widened in agony just as Kei recoiled in shock; his arms were gone. He fell back onto the grass, not more than a foot or two away from where Kei was kneeling. There was blood everywhere, yet somehow Kei just couldn't bring herself to look away. Then suddenly Toya was there too, and it was only then that she realized her description of him as 'slightly off' was just about the understatement of the century.

”Oh, I’m sorry… will you be needing those arms when you kill me? I guess we can see who the real hunter is here, eh?”

One slow, deliberate movement of Toya's kunai, and then the man was limbless. By this point, the whole scene had become almost completely unreal to Kei, as if she was watching it all from somewhere far away, as if none of this concerned her. The seasoned killer in front of her simply wasn't the Toya she knew. In a moment everything would disappear, and Kei would be relieved to learn that all of this was fake, just some sort of sick and twisted joke.

But that moment never came.

Instead, a fresh wave of pain from the wound on her shoulder brought Kei back to reality and she winced, knowing that whatever she was feeling now had to be nothing compared to the agony of losing a limb. Toya, on the other hand, seemed to be reveling in the pain he was inflicting on the man. He was grinning.

It was then that Kei realized that this might just be the real Toya after all; maybe she'd been wrong to ever assume she truly knew him. At the moment, there was no difference in Kei's mind between Toya and the assassins. Both killed.

Both enjoyed it.

Numb, she simply watched as Toya discarded what had once been the center assassin and moved on to his next target. It occurred to her that she should probably do something to stop Toya, or at least try and get him to calm down before he did something he'd regret, but Kei just couldn't bring herself to tear her eyes away from the body in front of her. The fearsome man who had threatened herself and her teammates with death, torn open her shoulder and driven one of her teammates to betrayal was now completely broken, bleeding into the dirt. He was still desperately gulping for air, eyes wide and searching as he stared helplessly at-- no, through Kei.

She simply watched in horror as, slowly, the man's eyes finally ceased to stare at anything at all.

This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

The sudden sound of hysterical laughter from somewhere behind her startled Kei just enough to finally allow her to look away. The sight that awaited her was no better than the old one, unfortunately. She'd glanced over just in time to see Toya drop the second assassin to the ground, defeated.

The third had already been scattered in pieces across the forest floor.

And Toya--Toya was laughing.

”We’ll see how many of you guys come looking for me again! I’ll just keep killing you all until the entire Nanaya clan is erased from this world!”

Kei winced, fighting back the urge to be sick right then and there. Yet still, she just couldn't seem to find the words to make all of this just go away. What could she say? Toya was beyond reason at this point.

"Ugh, it's covered in blood now. It was designer too!"

Kei froze.

Only a little ways off, Toya silently got to his feet.

"Don't you think you overdid it a bit, dude? Though...I didn't know you had this much power. Why the hell didn't you do this when we were first attacked by those stupid bandits? Then we wouldn't be here in the first place! You're waaaay too protective about this clan ability stuff~ I've nearly died like what, three times, while we've been here. Ow!"

Once again, Kei couldn't help but be shocked by Ryou's utter selfishness. Was he serious? Had nothing that had just taken place affected him at all?

"...Damn those guys! Why didn't you tag along in the first place - because if you had, this wouldn't have happened. Actually, technically none of this would have happened if you didn't exist, but whatever, can we make camp now?! I'm tired and I need a bath and..."

That was it. Kei might have lunged at Ryou and taken all her frustration, fear and anger at the boy right then and there, but the only thing that stopped her was Toya himself beating her to it.

”Sorry I couldn’t have been around to save you earlier, guess I thought for a second that you could possibly handle yourself for once. Stupid of me, right?”

Crack.

Kei flinched.

”And you’re right, I’m way too protective about my eyes. From now on, I’ll let the entire world know my secret and just tear apart anyone who comes to confront me. Thanks for the great idea.”

There was a sudden glint of light as Toya advanced on Ryou once more; a blade. Ryou was only seconds away from ending up just like the assassins had; splattered in pieces all over the ground.

”Y’know, you wouldn’t be in this situation if you didn’t exist either. Why don’t we see how that works out for you?"

It was only then that she realized she was shaking; whether from rage or fear or some sick combination of both was anyone's guess.

But Kei wasn't about to let that happen.

That wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

"TOYA, YOU MORON!"

Finally, Kei had found her voice again. She surged to her feet and lunged at her teammate, knocking him off balance. Away from Ryou. Her shoulder flared up worse than ever in protest, but it was too late to think about that now.

"What's wrong with you--both of you!?" She demanded desperately, flashing an angry glare over at Ryou as well. But words had failed her, there was only one thing to be done here. Balling her good hand into a fist, she aimed a punch at Toya: square in the face.

"What happened to being a team?"

This wasn't how she'd wanted it to happen.

[Kleee]

He was finally going to do finish it. Finally kill the last person here who was in the way. Those Nanaya bastards would regret ever coming back to hunt him down, and anyone who got in his way would suffer the same fate. Not that Ryou had really prevented him from getting his revenge or had any relation to the assassin family at all, but… Toya’s usual logic mind was not exactly in it’s prime condition at the moment. Just as he had brought up his knife-wielding hand to deliver a killing blow, he was struck from the side by something fast-moving and surprisingly heavy enough to knock him off his feet. It had been accompanied by a loud shout just a second before he had been hit.

"TOYA, YOU MORON!"

Toya blinked as he looked up at his teammate who now had the advantage of being above him. The sound of his name being spoken seemed to confuse him for a moment, as if he hadn’t heard it in a long time and hardly recognized it. Before he could figure out how to react, Kei had already continued to shout at him, the loud words far too close to his ears to be comfortable.

"What's wrong with you--both of you!?"

Nothing was wrong with him as far as he was concerned. Everything had been going fine until the crazy girl had decided to interrupt his work and knock him down. What gave her the right to tell him that he was choosing the wrong course of action? But before he could reply, Kei’s fist slammed into his face, causing him an extreme amount of pain and dazing him for a brief moment. What the hell did this girl think she was doing, stopping him and now attacking him? Those who got in his way would suffer the same fate as the Nanaya…

"What happened to being a team?"

Rather than replying, Toya moved. He brought his legs up and swiftly kicked Kei off of him, both of his feet connecting with the girl’s stomach, sending her backwards and most likely knocking the wind out of her. Not wasting a second, he quickly jumped up to his feet and ran towards the now stunned Kei, not giving her anytime to recover or catch her breath. Crouching down next to the fallen genin, he pressed his left elbow firmly into her stomach, keeping her pinned to the ground and hopefully rendering her unable to fight back again.

“What happened to being a team? Are you kidding me, Kei?! We completely failed the first time around, and even the leader of our village gave up on us! And even after you pathetically tried to bring us back together, I did my best to go along with it. I was skeptical at first, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, we could really pull it off! But no, you and Ryou showed me exactly how wrong I was.”

Still firmly pinning his ‘teammate’ to the ground, Toya used his free right hand to trace his finger across the girl’s left cheek, applying enough pressure to ensure that she would be feeling the same pain as if he had been dragging a blade from her ear all the way to the side of her mouth. He then switched to her neck, tracing a semi-circle shape around the front. The sensation of feeling like your throat had just been slashed open would not only be painful, but was extremely frightening for the first few seconds. Toya’s carnal instincts seemed to know exactly how to inflict the maximum amount of pain and fear in a victim, and some part inside of Toya was frightened by the reality of his own destructive potential, even if he would normally never even consider doing something this cruel, ever.

”I tried so hard to make our team successful. I tried to put up with your air-headedness and your weird quirks. I tried to ignore Ryou’s constant complaining and completely thoughtless, insulting comments. But there was only so much I could do by myself when neither of you were trying hard enough! Why is it that I always have to be the one to point out the logical step to take on a mission? Why do I have to be the only one competent enough in a battle to defend all three of us? Why does the entire burden end up on me? Why did all of this have to happen, Kei?! Can you answer any of that?!”

Taking a deep breath, Toya tried to calm down his increasing heart rate and cool his temper, if that was even possible. His right hand slowly moved down, resting upon his final target. The bleeding line that the assassin’s sword had opened up in Kei’s shoulder. His middle and index fingers rested gently in that spot for a moment, drawing in the warmth of the thickened red liquid. His eyes could spot a thin glowing fate line running across the spot where the sword had cut, though it was practically camouflaged by all of the blood covering the already red line.

In one quick motion, he swiped both fingers across the line, pulling his elbow away from Kei’s body and standing back up in the same instant. He stood there motionless for a moment, knowing that soon his ears would most likely be filled with the sounds of Kei’s pained screams. Not only had his strikes to her face and neck already inflicted an incredible amount of mental pain to the girl, his last strike had been directed on an area that already would be hurting like hell, only enhancing the burning sensation.

Somewhere deep inside of Toya’s mind, and now slowly returning to the surface where it belonged, the Toya that existed ninety-nine percent of the time was screaming out in protest against his own actions, though he remained powerless to undo what had already been done. Ryou was beaten to a pulp, probably barely conscious on the floor, at best. Three Nanaya assassins, though still the evil bastards they were, had ended up brutally murdered. Kei lay on the ground, bleeding and most likely experiencing more pain than most people would ever have to endure in their entire lives. And now, a painful and dizzying sensation began to sweep through Toya’s head. Toya was starting to revert to his senses just as his body was starting to feel the repercussions of using the Fatesplitter’s Vision for much longer than he should have been able to handle...

[Kleee]

Pow!

It looked like the whole string of complaints that Ryou was yet to utter would remain eternally unspoken thanks to Toya's sudden interruption. Before Ryou even knew what was coming, Toya was right there in front of him, aiming a ridiculously strong punch to his jaw.

"OW!"

Feeling like his teeth had just been knocked out of place, Ryou lost his balance, stumbling backwards. Heart racing and blood forming in his mouth, he managed to catch his feet, spitting feverently on the ground as thought it might somehow ease the pain of Toya's sudden attack. Every single word of his rant flashed through his memory; was it something he said, or had Toya just... lost his mind? Why was this guy...

"Whad was dat for!" Ryou yelled, voice thick with blood. He looked up at Toya with a mix of confusion, anger and fear. His teammate's response was simply reaching out and seizing Ryou's collar; murderous intent more than visible in his bloodthirsty eyes. What was wrong with this guy? What had Ryou said that could have fired him up so much... Ryou said stuff like that all the time. Why was Toya so angry all of a sudden... could it be that he was in a completely different state of mind simply because of the whole assasin thing...?

Ryou gulped. If that was the case, this wasn't going to end well.

"T-Toya snap out of i-"

But struggling and yelling was useless. Toya, blinded by god knows what took no heed of a thing he said, a thing he did. Bearing almost no likeness to the Toya that he had been a day - no, even an hour ago, Toya proceeded to lift him up with a force that Ryou could have never dreamed he had. And then...

"Aaaaaaaarrrgh!"

Toya's strikes came without any warning, nor without any mercy. They were fast enough to boast tremedous agility but slow enough to leave alot of pain with every punch. All Ryou could do was yell and scream and make a fuss, but Toya showed no sign of stopping. The force of the strikes only got progressively more and more strong and painful. Ryou could feel himself bruising up everywhere that Toya hit, but how was he supposed to stop the madman? Was he going to die...? Sure, he didn't like Toya, and he was pretty sure that Toya didn't really like him, but what was this? Ryou felt sick, and not just from the attacks on his stomach. What on earth had he done to deserve this...?

"What's gotten into you?!" Ryou gasped, so breathless that it was almost inaudible, "...I-I didn't.."

”Sorry I couldn’t have been around to save you earlier, guess I thought for a second that you could possibly handle yourself for once. Stupid of me, right?”

Toya struck him again, causing Ryou to give a loud shout out as he felt his own ribcage crack. What was that guy on about? Okay, Ryou had been angry that Toya hadn't tagged along in the first place, but he had all the right to be. And besides, it wasn't like attacking Ryou could change that fact.

Toya was...

”And you’re right, I’m way too protective about my eyes. From now on, I’ll let the entire world know my secret and just tear apart anyone who comes to confront me. Thanks for the great idea.”

N-No! That wasn't what he had meant. He had just thought that Toya should have used his eyepowers more to save their team when they were in trouble, not go boasting about it to the entire world. What this guy was doing was insane...

Toya...

Ryou's so called "teammate" met him with a few more well aimed strikes before swiftly releasing. No, tossing him aside. Not even able to regain his stance as he hit the ground - his entire body and bruised and broken - Ryou hit the ground hard, more scared than he had ever been in his life as Toya's resounding footsteps came closer and closer to Ryou, now a heap on the floor. He couldn't move, let alone get away.

”Y’know, you wouldn’t be in this situation if you didn’t exist either."

Didn't exist.

So that was it. That was the comment that had turned his teammate into his murderer. Just one little comment.

One little comment, and Toya was a monster.

"Why don’t we see how that works out for you?"

As though he thought it would stop Toya's tyrant, Ryou held his arm in front of his face; as though that would stop the vicious maniac's knife. There was no chance. He was going to die. All because of a stupid, little, comment. There was nothing that was going to stop it. The knife that was going to seal his fate was coming.

"TOYA, YOU MORON!"

The knife didn't come. The shriek of metal piercing the air wasn't heard; instead it was the loud, distraught and angry shout of Ryou's forgotten teammate.

Kei.

Ryou opened his eyes and lowered his arm. There was Kei; the entire time he had been getting beaten up, he had taken no notice of her. But there she was, on her feet, fire and tears in her eyes, running up to strike Toya. Ryou could have yelled out; he could have spared her from becoming the subject of Toya's rage somehow, but even if he wanted to, it was too late. She reached him, taking him by surprise and hitting him, knocking him away from Ryou. Foolishly turning herself into Toya's new target. Toya's eyes fell on Kei, appearing to forget about Ryou for the time being. But it made no difference; Ryou couldn't even breathe or see properly, let alone move away. Toya had completely devastated his body.

"What's wrong with you--both of you!?"

Kei shot Ryou a glance as she spoke, making it perfectly clear that Toya wasn't the only one she was furious with. But Ryou didn't understand. What had he done wrong? Maybe he had said some mean things, but Toya was out of his freaking mind. There was no way that any sane person would attack anybody like that for simply saying something a little bit insulting. Attack anybody, let alone a teammate.

...After all, they were still teammates, right...?

"What happened to being a team?"

The fury in Kei's eyes perhaps rivalled Toya's as she proceeded to punch him again. But it was a different kind of fury. Her eyes were filled with the anger that came with dissapointment. They, as her teammates, had let her down. Ryou felt dizzy; he didn't know what to think. Maybe he had been a bit of a jerk... but had he somehow managed to let down even Kei. Even stupid cheery Kei.

Unlike Ryou, Toya seemed to have just the response to Kei. For a second it looked like her attack had affected him, but he had regained his form. He responded by throwing her off him, sending her flying as though she was just a bag of junk. She landed a short way off from Ryou, Toya approaching her once again. Ryou didn't know what to do. He didn't want to die himself - but if Toya killed Kei, then he'd probably move on and kill Ryou too... maybe this would buy time. NO! What was he thinking?! Just let Kei die there... no, thinking like that was being just as bad as Toya was...

"TOYA ST- Arghhhhh!"

Ryou groaned as he felt another sharp pang in his chest. He had tried to use his arm to hoist himself up, but instead fell back down, landing flat on the floor, with almost no energy left. No energy to stop it.

“What happened to being a team? Are you kidding me, Kei?! We completely failed the first time around, and even the leader of our village gave up on us! And even after you pathetically tried to bring us back together, I did my best to go along with it. I was skeptical at first, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, we could really pull it off! But no, you and Ryou showed me exactly how wrong I was.”

Head throbbing just as much as everything else, Ryou's mind processed almost none of this, but he got what Toya was talking about. They had never been a team in the first place. Teams were supposed to... supposed to support each other and help each other. Not hurt and maim each other. This was only further proof of the way they had been acting since day one.

The way they had...

Toya was crouched over Kei now, his finger moving quickly over the girl's face. Even lying a couple of feet away, watching him do it and then witnessing Kei's reaction, Ryou could almost feel the full impact of what Toya was doing. No! Ryou usually could not care less about other people doing things like this to others... but still... this wasn't the way teams were supposed to work. But he felt sick. How could Toya do that to Kei?

But was this any different from the way way they had been treating her the entire time? Had they been hurting her like this since the start. They way they had been hurting her despite her desperate attempts to keep her together...

The way they had...

”I tried so hard to make our team successful. I tried to put up with your air-headedness and your weird quirks. I tried to ignore Ryou’s constant complaining and completely thoughtless, insulting comments. But there was only so much I could do by myself when neither of you were trying hard enough! Why is it that I always have to be the one to point out the logical step to take on a mission? Why do I have to be the only one competent enough in a battle to defend all three of us? Why does the entire burden end up on me? Why did all of this have to happen, Kei?! Can you answer any of that?!”

A lack of oxygen did alot to one's senses. Ryou already knew some things about that after having suffered from breathing problems since he was little, however, he still felt that he couldn't grasp any of Toya's words. Only the general meaning. And the meaning of what was being said only made him feel worse and worse. Closer and closer to passing out. He understood what Toya was saying... the burden, huh? He understood why Kei was lying on the floor. He felt shame at how they had turned what could have been a great team into this.

No, that wasn't it. Ryou realized as his vision began to become blurry, the scene in front of him fading as the last of his energy ran out.

No it wasn't about the way they had done anything.

He felt guilt about the way that he had turned what could have been a good team into this.

Maybe he did deserve to die, he thought as he collapsed once and for all. Because if he hadn't been such a jerk, maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe three potentially great shinobi wouldn't have come so close to dying.

Maybe a great team wouldn't have come so close to ending.

[Kleee]

Wham.

Kei hit the ground, hard.

She winced at the impact, attempting to struggle to her feet again, but it was too late. Before Kei had a chance to so much as catch her breath, Toya had slammed his elbow into her stomach, leaving her helplessly gasping for air. As if it wasn't enough that she was already reeling from everything else she'd witnessed that night... Where had all of this even come from, anyways? One minute everything had been fine, with Ryou complaining like usual Kei dragged him off on another 'grand adventure', and Toya looking after them. But now...

Now, Kei decided firmly, now she needed to focus on getting Toya the hell off her before she ended up just like those assassins.

Unfortunately, Kei wasn't accomplishing much. Breathing was a challenge and her head hurt, probably from hitting it after she'd fallen a moment ago. Her vision was swimming... colors and shapes were starting to blur together, making it hard to focus. Was it from hitting her head? Could it be from losing all that blood? Or... was she just scared? Kei had no idea at this point, and she didn't care. More importantly, her shoulder was burning worse than ever; how was she supposed to fight back against Toya when every slight movement of her left arm soon became a battle all its own?

But worst of all was the memory of how easily he'd killed the assassins... Those three men had come with the intention of killing anyone who stood in their way. And they'd been more than capable of doing so. Kei's shoulder wound was proof enough of that. Killing, Kei realized, a nauseating mixture of horror and disgust slowly forming in her gut, was probably something they'd spent their whole lives training for.

Yet Toya had completely destroyed them.

Kei had always known he was pretty strong, but... that strong? Since when? Toya killed killers... did that make him one of them? Ryou too... despite all his whining, his betrayal had still ended up hitting Kei like a ton of bricks. Since when?

Since when had her teammates been so... so mean?

Since forever, apparently.

That was why, while Toya ranted angrily on about just how badly they'd failed, Kei said nothing. All Kei could do was squeeze her eyes shut tight and will herself somewhere else because yes, she had failed, and she certainly didn't need Toya of all people to tell her that. For once, no amount of yelling or fighting back would change anything. Kei had been so excited over being assigned to a team, so desperate to make it all work out no matter what, that she'd barely given any consideration to the other members of the team. Maybe they weren't the kinds of people she wanted anything to do with, and maybe they didn't want anything to do with her either.

Maybe all this had just been one massive, time-wasting, horrible mistake.

It was that thought, more than the still-fresh image in her mind of those men being torn apart, more than the burning in her shoulder, more than the fear... more than anything else, it was that thought that made Kei want to cry.

Out of nowhere, a line of pain erupted across her cheek, and Kei gasped, her eyes flying open.

Suddenly, her mind was terrifyingly blank.

All she knew was that it hurt. It hurt, and she needed to get away.

Kei struggled as best she could, but her shoulder wound was screaming in protest. Toya's next attack, however, would make that even that unbearable pain seem like nothing. Shoulder forgotten for now, Kei's hands flew to her throat.

It wasn't just pain anymore.

She was going to die.

There was no other way to describe it; Kei was going to die. She couldn't resist anymore, she couldn't even breathe. She couldn't even scream, though it was all she wanted to do at this point. All Kei could do was choke out a sob and pray for the agony to end. Oblivious, Toya was still ranting; it seemed he couldn't care less about the fact that he was killing her. He'd torn her throat to shreds. She was going to bleed to death, she was going to spill her life all over the forest floor until there was finally nothing left. Then, just like those assassins, she'd just stop feeling. That would be it for her.

But Toya would just keep talking. To him, this was nothing. He was a killer. When he was done with her, he'd move on to Ryou, and then someone else, and then someone else, and there wasn't a single thing Kei could do about it because she was dying.

Time crawled on. Kei didn't die.

Kei couldn't die.

She wasn't bleeding all over the ground, and she wasn't being torn to shreds. On the outside, there was nothing wrong with her. The pain was inside.

And because of that, it was never going to end.

Toya's words were little more than background noise to Kei at this point. All she could hear was someone asking why. Why her? Why now?

Why did all of this have to happen?

Can you answer any of that?

Well, Kei thought as, finally, the pain began to slowly become more bearable, my guess is as good as yours.

But then, just as she'd been beginning to think that the end might just be in sight, everything changed. Her shoulder--her shoulder was...

There were no words to describe it any longer.

Luckily, Kei seemed to have regained control of her throat.

So this time, she screamed for real.

She instinctively moved to throw Toya off her again, pain be damned, but he was already gone. She didn't even know where Ryou was anymore... was he okay, or...? Kei attempted to struggle to her feet and... and run or something, she wasn't sure what, but whatever it was, it didn't work. Her legs wouldn't hold her, and the ground wouldn't stay still long enough for her to stand up for long anyways. She fell again, wincing as the impact sent yet another wave of pain washing over her.

Well, either way, none of it was important anymore. It was getting dark now, and already it seemed as if her pain was fading. Maybe she was just getting used to it. Either way, whether she died or not, as long as the pain went away... As long as it just stopped hurting, anything was fine.

Anything.

Soon it was dark, and Kei was completely and utterly alone.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

[Kleee]

The high-pitched sounds of Kei’s screams filled Toya’s ears as she writhed in pain on the floor, helpless to do anything about the pain of the imaginary wounds that had been ripped into her body. The world seemed like it was spinning as the incredibly strong wave of dizziness continued to wash over the young Shiki genin.

What the hell was going on? Toya had been conscious the entire time, but it almost felt like the last several minutes had been a horrible dream that he had just woken up from. Why was Ryou on the floor unconscious? Why was Kei crying out in agony on the floor in a pool of blood? Why was he covered in blood and reeling with a massive headache and a dizzy spell? The truth dawned on him after another second of contemplation.

No, this can’t be happening… It was never supposed to happen again…

His father had been killed by this same manifestation of Toya’s dark feelings, but he had never hurt anyone he actually cared about before…

Hisui and Kohaku had been there to calm him last time… no one had been able to stop him this time…

How did this happen? Toya felt sick to his stomach as the awful truth continued to sink in, accompanying his splitting headache and dizziness. He slowly dropped to his knees and tried to ignore the overwhelming scent of blood that still remained fresh in the air. He glanced around and assessed his current situation. Ryou still lay motionless on the floor, out cold or maybe worse. Kei had finally stopped screaming, but she had fallen again after trying to stand up and appeared to have lost consciousness as well, her shoulder wound still seeping with blood.

It was all coming back to him. The Nanaya assassins, the bruised Ryou, the bleeding Kei. They had come to hunt Toya but had ended up attacking his teammates, no, his friends. And he had simply released all of his pent up anger and crushed them into nothingness. But he had gone too far. He had misdirected his rage towards Ryou and had unjustly targeted him. And when Kei had simply been trying to be a good friend and ally by stopping him from making a big mistake, she ended up suffering even more than Ryou.

And now he remembered the selfish and mostly over exaggerated words he had spoken to Kei as he had inflicted the pain upon her. He had been partially correct about shouldering a lot of the combat and tactical responsibilities for the team, but in the end he had pretty much given up on the more social side of teamwork. He had tried to put up with Ryou’s mouth and Kei’s eccentric nature, but eventually his patience had been pushed to the limit. If only he had been more acceptant of his teammate’s faults, this might never have happened. If he hadn’t sent them out to scout alone, this may never have happened either…

Even if the team survived this terrible scenario in a physical sense, would their “team” continue to exist? Could Ryou and Kei ever possibly find it in their hearts to forgive him for inflicting such harm on them? And even if they did, would he able to protect them from other assassins in the future without losing himself to his emotions again and repeating this same situation all over? It would be a long and hard road to restore this team back to its former… barely functional self.

Sounds and voices in the distance… others in the forest were headed this way. Maybe the three lost genin really would be saved.

With a bit of his remaining chakra, Toya activated a low-level genjutsu to change the black color of his eyes to a normal white. The irises still remained red, but at least they would not be recognized by any exceptionally knowledgeable people who might come across them. He didn’t even know how long it would last, especially if he passed out, but it was better than doing nothing.

Finally, his legs simply gave up, and he collapsed on the ground, still able to see the motionless forms of his teammates in his peripheral vision. Letting himself drift away into unconsciousness, his eyes finally closed, relieving him of the pain and the spinning sensation. His team would still be shattered when he woke up, but he would have to deal with that later. Right now he just needed to rest and pray that he could figure out how to fix everything when he woke up…

-----

Hours later, Toya’s eyes slowly opened for the first time since he had passed out in the forest. Everything was white. He could only wish that he had ended up in heaven, but after glancing around it became clear that he was lying on a bed in a hospital room. His blood-stained clothes had been removed and replaced with a sterile, white hospital wardrobe. He quickly grabbed the forehead protector off of a small table to left of the bed and glanced at the reflection. No black eyes. His secret was still safe for now, and his recovered chakra supply could fuel his minor illusion until they were safely out of this building.

His unconscious use of the word ‘they’ in his thoughts immediately sparked the painful memories of the forest incident. Toya had obviously survived, since he had received no wounds aside from a large, black and blue bruise that had appeared on his cheek from Kei’s angry punch to the face. But had the others made it out okay?

Glancing to his right, he breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted Ryou lying in the bed adjacent to his in the same room. The subtle up and down movement of his chest let Toya know that the boy was still alive and breathing steadily. There were so many things he needed to tell his companions about his full past, about the meaning behind his uncharacteristic actions, and so much more. But most importantly, there was so much he needed to apologize and ask forgiveness for.

If Ryou had survived such a harsh beating, then Kei would have surely been rescued in time by the same people. Just the thought of confronting Kei after what he had said and done to her filled his mind with an incredible amount of guilt, but at least he could start by working things out with Ryou. No matter what it took, no matter how hard he had to work for it, no matter what it would cost him, Toya swore to himself that he would definitely fix everything. He owed his teammates at least that much.

Now he simply had to wait for Ryou to wake up… hopefully it would take long enough for Toya to figure out exactly what he was going to say to him.

[Kleee]

The first thing Ryou noted as he slipped back into conciousness was the nostalgic softness of a bed. Soft. Bed. Surely, this was heaven.

Also known as home.

Ryou opened his eyes, expecting to see his bedroom; way too much space for a fifteen year old boy, filled with expensive furniture in all sorts of regal colors, but instead his eyes were met with white. Plain white.

And just as quickly as all color evaporated from Ryou's mind, all the memories came flooding back in.

He had been beaten by his own teammate, getting maimed by one of the few people he held any trust for. He had passed out, his other teammate's frantic screams ringing in his ears whilst Toya - the coldhearted murderer victimized her just as much as he had done to him. And then he had passed out; certain that he was heading towards death. But funnily enough, this strange white place wasn't heaven; it was the hospital.

Bright, almost blinding light glowed in through an open window next to the bed Ryou was lying in. The faint beep beep of hospital equipment the only sound in the air. He didn't recognize the hospital; it certainly wasn't the one in Yukigakure. He had no idea where he was... but it appeared that he had survived, even if just by an inch.

The brand new clothes he had just recieved from Suna were gone - to only be replaced by hospital clothes just as white as the rest of the room. And bandages everywhere. One of Ryou's arms, one of his legs and his entire chest were bound together by bandages as though he were a mummy or something. There was another one wrapped around his head, throwing his already overgrown and dirty, blood-matted hair in all directions. And another small one attached to his cheek.

Ryou tried to move even just his arm, to touch his face just to see if he was dreaming. But even with the slightest inch of movement, there was a surge of pain. He was bruised all over; he could smell faint traces of blood, even over the smell of sanitization provided by the hospital. If he had been left there even a little longer, he definitely would have died. Somebody had showed up to save him, and that was why he was here, and alive. But if he had been saved then...

Trying to ignore the pain and lack of stregnth in his arm, Ryou put his hands on the bed, trying to force himself upward and see over the bars on his bed. He succeeded... for half a second. And then his arm gave way, his chest throbbing in pain. Ryou gave a loud groan as he collapsed back onto the cushy mattress. But half a second was all he needed to see what else was in the room, lying in the next bed.

The one who had put him here in the first place. Toya.

In his split second glance of Toya, he had managed to note that the other boy was conscious, just staring away from Ryou, but with his eyes wide open. What were the hospital staff thinking, putting Toya in the same room as him? Actually, why had they even saved Toya in the first place? Did they like... not know what Toya had done to him... no, them..?

Yeah. Kei. What had happened to her? She wasn't in the room. Maybe she had been seperated from them because of her gender, or maybe... No!. She couldn't be...

Ryou bit his lip as he lay in bed. His breathing was heavy and loud, and on top of that, there was no way that Toya could have missed his squeal of pain a little earlier. There was no sign of a doctor, or a nurse, or anybody. What was he supposed to do, lie here and just wait for Toya to come over and finish him off? That was the only thing he could do; he could barely move, it wasn't like he could escape when Toya came around to deal the final blow...

Okay, maybe he was overreacting a little bit. He still wasn't sure if Toya was in his normal state or not when the incident had gone and down, and he knew that he was the one that had fired Toya up in the first place, but still... Ugh; what was he talking about? Of course Toya wasn't in his normal state when he had attacked them. But the question was whether he was still like that, or if he had somehow calmed down.

Well, there were three options now, die, not talk or somehow try and make-up. Had the situation been different, then maybe not talking would have worked fine, especially considering that making up seemed impossible. But maybe it wasn't all the hard in this case, considering that there was something Ryou had to say as well...

"I guess I owe you an apology," he said suddenly. Wow, it took so much effort just to talk. His voice pierced the silence; seemingly directed more at his ceiling than at Toya, "But maybe I should ask first if you've calmed down enough to accept it,"

It was a stupid thing to say. Something that he wouldn't have said a week ago, regardless of the situation. It was so stupid; there was a chance he'd die for saying it. But strangely enough he was feeling something different today.

...Feeling as though falling away and not talking was almost worse than death itself.

[Kleee]

Waiting for Ryou to finally awaken in that hospital room felt like an eternity to Toya. He had been contemplating thousands of ways he could apologize to Ryou and attempt to explain things to him, but everything felt cheap or insincere when he tried to imagine actually saying it.

Before he could actually decide on anything specific, a groan of pain announced Ryou’s regained consciousness as the boy sat up in his bed. Looks like Toya would have to play it by ear for now and hope everything worked out in the end.

"I guess I owe you an apology”

…What? Of all the initial reactions Toya had been expecting from Ryou, an apology had not been one of them. Most of his imagined scenarios had included yelling and more insults, but this certainly came as a pleasant surprise.

"But maybe I should ask first if you've calmed down enough to accept it."

So this was it. Toya’s response here could potentially solidify the fate of this team’s future, or at least would decide whether Ryou would ever fully forgive and trust him again. No pressure on him at all…

”I should be the one apologizing, Ryou. Sure, you did say some pretty harsh things back there, but I’m the one who could never let things go. Speaking your mind is just one of your more… difficult to deal with traits, and as a teammate I should have understood that.”

Toya scratched his head and took another deep breath, trying to think of how to continue. The initial awkward tension in the air was gone now, but there was still much more he needed to say.

”So before I move on, I should start with my apology. You probably can’t even comprehend how horrible I feel about all of this, and I’m so sorry for what I did to you and Kei. I know you guys might never completely forgive me, and I might never earn your trust back, if I even had your trust to begin with. I really let the team down, especially after all we had managed to accomplish together.”

Another pause. Toya knew that he needed to follow his apologies up with the full explanation of what had happened to cause such a vengeful side of him to appear. He needed to give his teammates the complete story of his parents and the events following the awakening of his Shiki eyes. He couldn’t use it to justify his horrific actions, but maybe… maybe it would at least help them understand more about him and what happened. Besides, they deserved to know everything. They had never hidden anything from him, at least not that he knew of.

”Ryou, there’s… something else I need to tell you, but I want to wait until Kei is around, so that I can let you both hear it at once. It’s about my past, and it’s something that you both really need to know if we want to have any chance of mending this team. You don’t have to answer my apology or anything I said right now if you want to wait and think things over until then. I know this is probably a lot to throw at you all at once, so take as much time as you need to before saying anything.”

Toya moved his gaze down to the floor, unable to make eye contact with Ryou any longer. He rubbed the back of his head as he sat there quietly, one of his many nervous habits. He didn’t expect Ryou to reply right away, and he was honestly scared of what his eventual response would be. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he still had to face Kei and then tell both of them about his bloody past. They were both already convinced that Toya was some sort of deranged killer, and his story would probably only confirm that.

The hope of receiving forgiveness and eventual redemption seemed to fade more and more as he continued to brace himself for the worst.

[Kleee]

Kei was in a bed.

That was the first thing she noticed before opening her eyes, a wave of relief washing over her.

She was home, and it had all been a dream.

Getting captured by bandits, Haha Island and the boat, the confusion in Suna, the assassins... all of it had just been one long, scary nightmare. In a few moments her alarm clock would go off, letting her know that she was late for something, maybe a team meeting, and then Ryou would complain, Toya would fail miserably at trying to get the team to accomplish anything, and everything would be normal agai--

Kei opened her eyes. Immediately, she wished she hadn't.

Everything was white. Spotless. Clearly, this was not her bedroom. The window beside her bed gave way to a view of a clear blue sky and a vast expanse of trees, not so much as a single snowflake in sight. Apparently she wasn't anywhere near Yuki either, Kei realized, her relief now replaced by a rising sense of panic. She shot upright into a sitting position, but soon regretted it, her left shoulder aching in protest. Kei winced.

There was no escaping it after all.

A quick glance at the rest of the room confirmed her fears; Kei was alone. There was another bed beside hers, but it was empty. Ryou and Toya were nowhere to be found. Did that mean that they were...? She couldn't bring herself to finish the trail of thought.

Looking down, Kei noted that someone had bandaged her shoulder. And aside from the dull ache emanating from it, she felt fine. There was no other pain. She was in a hospital, then, one of those places where they fixed people. Kei could only hope that it meant someone nearby had managed to fix Ryou and Toya too.

It took her a while, but a few moments later, Kei finally noticed the sound of voices just outside her door. If this was a hospital, then those had to be medics, she decided. Leaning forward, she strained to catch what they were saying.

"...genin from Yuki, it seems. They carried forehead protectors."

"They've come a long way. Have you gotten any more information on them?"

"No, both the girl and the two in Room 1C were still out when I checked. But they're stable, so we'll be able to question them soon."

Kei flopped back onto the pillows with a sigh of relief. Ryou and Toya were in Room 1C. And they were stable! Whatever that meant. It sounded like a good thing, though. Everything was going to be fine.

But then the events of the previous night came flooding back to her, and Kei couldn't help but wonder whether it was really time to feel relieved just yet. Her teammates were alive, but... she couldn't really call them her teammates anymore, could she? Teammates didn't abandon each other. Teammates didn't try to kill each other.

But they didn't give up on each other either, Kei realized with a twinge of guilt, the Kazekage Hana's words slowly coming back to her.

The world already wants to kill us out here, why make it easier for them? If you three are really lost and are on your way back home, you only have each other to rely on don't you?

This is where you find out who you are, deep down beyond what everyone else has told you are.

Kei spent so much time trying to convince herself that she was strong and brave and invincible, but when she'd needed those qualities more than ever, she'd given up. She'd been terrified and it had hurt and there had been so much blood... but she'd still given up, and that was no one's fault but her own. Kei had given up fighting, and she'd given up living. Worst of all, she'd given up on the team she'd put so much effort into, given up on the people she'd once considered her friends.

They'd been the first people Kei had ever thought of that way. There was no way she could let that amount to nothing. Maybe Ryou would protest, or hell, maybe Toya would kill her for real this time. But at least she'd die knowing she'd tried. It was better than giving up.

At the very least, Kei knew she should probably make sure they really were okay.

So as soon as she was sure she heard the voices of the medics retreating around the corner (this was important: it hadn't taken her long in Yuki to learn that medics never approved of anything, you always had to sneak past them to do things), Kei slipped out of the bed, out the door and down the deserted hallway towards Room 1C.

She was going to give it just one more chance.

[Kleee]

”I should be the one apologizing, Ryou."

Ryou blinked at the ceiling, slow to believe what he was hearing. He hadn't expected Toya to even say anything at all; he had figured he would either be ignored or killed. But at this rate, it almost sounded like Toya was going to do the exact opposite

"Sure, you did say some pretty harsh things back there, but I’m the one who could never let things go. Speaking your mind is just one of your more… difficult to deal with traits, and as a teammate I should have understood that.”

Ryou didn't know exactly what to make of that. Did he really 'speak his mind' that much? He wasn't that bad, was he? But anyway, it looked like Toya wasn't aiming for death threats this time round. He actually seemed to be... regretting what he had done.

”So before I move on, I should start with my apology. You probably can’t even comprehend how horrible I feel about all of this, and I’m so sorry for what I did to you and Kei. I know you guys might never completely forgive me, and I might never earn your trust back, if I even had your trust to begin with. I really let the team down, especially after all we had managed to accomplish together.”

Using his un-bandadged arm, Ryou adjusted his pillow, pushing himself up against it as to sit up and actually look at Toya. A solemn expression covered his teammate's face; Toya looking like he was almost at a loss for words. But Ryou didn't know what to say. What Toya had done wasn't right, Ryou knew that, and he also knew that Toya had all the responsibility to apologize for it. But how was he supposed to respond? Sure, it was partially his fault and all, but could he just sit there and forgive the man who had landed him - critically injured - in hospital, just like that?

But there was remorse in there. Toya truly had to be a madman if all those things he had just said were simply an act - if he was just going to do all of that again. Toya felt bad, bad for what he had done to Ryou and Kei, whatever had happened to her. He regretted how he had potentially just ruined a bond of trust that he wasn't even sure existed. And lastly, there was the sense of belonging to the team. A sense that he had let down the team, especially after all they'd achieved...

...hang on.

Achieved? What on earth had their team ever accomplished? As Toya had pointed out himself while in the process of rebutting Kei's rant about the team, even their village leader hadn't wanted them. There were worthless as a team. Useless. Dysfunctional. They hadn't been able to succesfully accomplish anything.

Hadn't.

Now that Ryou thought about it, they had come through alot. They had gone from being kicked out by the Emperor himself and then going on to getting beaten up by some bandits to somehow managing to overthrow some other bandits and somehow steal a boat. They had managed to survive an ecounter with the ferocious Mizukage. They had managed to somehow retain their freedom, even after breeching Sunagakure's security. Ryou wasn't sure exactly how that happened, but they sure had managed to accomplish alot in their time together.

He hadn't realized it before, but evidently Toya had. And not only that, Toya had a feeling of guilt over letting them down. Before now, Ryou had never felt any guilt. He had never held any faith in his team. He had been a jerk; he didn't even know why Toya wanted to make up with him. But the point was that Toya wanted that...

”Ryou, there’s… something else I need to tell you, but I want to wait until Kei is around, so that I can let you both hear it at once. It’s about my past, and it’s something that you both really need to know if we want to have any chance of mending this team. You don’t have to answer my apology or anything I said right now if you want to wait and think things over until then. I know this is probably a lot to throw at you all at once, so take as much time as you need to before saying anything.”

Toya wanted to talk. He wanted to tell them why this had all gone down. Judging from his tone of voice, the seriousness, it looked like this was some kind of secret of Toya's. And he was going to tell them all about it, because he wanted to fix the team...And Ryou wasn't going to stop him.

He was done playing jerk.

"It's fine, Toya," Ryou said, finally breaking his prolonged silence. He looked away though, staring down at his own bed instead of directly at Toya. "I get it. Something went wrong. Partially because of what I said, partially because of what those assasin guys were doing. I understand. Anyway, I don't condone what you did to us, and I don't know exactly where my trust lies now - not that I ever knew where it was in the first place - but I forgive you." he sighed, giving Toya a few seconds to take that all in. He looked up again, "I do want to hear what you've got to say. Not because I don't believe what you're saying is genuine or anything, it's just that I want to avoid anything like that ever happening again, and maybe hearing you out will help me do that. Because I agree with you there; if that were to happen again, I don't know if our team would be able to hold or not. Heck, I don't know how I've managed to hold on this time. But then again, I don't know how the three of us managed to do anything..."

Ryou looked around, catching Toya in the eye. He tried to force a smile.

"But we've actually achieved alot, and that's the bit that counts. And that's why I'm going to try to not let it fall apart"

[Kleee]

Unfortunately, Kei's search was not proving to be nearly as simple as she'd hoped.

1A... 1B... 1C...

...Wait a minute, where was 1D? It was Room 1D she was looking for, wasn't it...?

Exhaling in frustration, Kei settled on simply reaching for the nearest doorhandle. If all these doors really insisted on being so infuriatingly white and identical, she was just going to have to open all of them until she found the right one. Starting with Room 1C...

But then she caught the sound of familiar voices drifting towards her from inside, and she stopped.

"...something went wrong. Partially because of what I said, partially because of what those assassin guys were doing. I understand. Anyway, I don't condone what you did to us, and I don't know exactly where my trust lies now - not that I ever knew where it was in the first place - but I forgive you."

No way.

Were those really Ryou's words?

"I do want to hear what you've got to say. Not because I don't believe what you're saying is genuine or anything, it's just that I want to avoid anything like that ever happening again, and maybe hearing you out will help me do that. Because I agree with you there; if that were to happen again, I don't know if our team would be able to hold or not. Heck, I don't know how I've managed to hold on this time. But then again, I don't know how the three of us managed to do anything..."

Well, at least they were talking. It was better than trying to kill each other.

But... since when did Ryou forgive anyone for anything? Kei couldn't help but feel there was something off about this. He was probably just scared. That had to be it; why else would Ryou willingly say something nice if not to save his own skin? And even if he did mean it... As much as she didn't want to admit it, after everything Toya had put them through... Kei wasn't so sure he even deserved a second chance, let alone complete forgiveness. After all he'd... he'd killed people. He'd tried to kill her, too, Kei recalled hesitantly, the twinge of pain in her shoulder serving as a reminder.

But then again...

"But we've actually achieved alot, and that's the bit that counts. And that's why I'm going to try to not let it fall apart."

This is where you find out who you are, deep down beyond what everyone else has told you are.

Right. Kei couldn't give up, not now. After all, what if Ryou was being honest for once? Maybe he simply felt guilty for all that had happened. Maybe Toya did too, and maybe that was why this conversation had come about in the first place. Maybe things were going to get better if she could only give it a chance. Or maybe not. Either way she couldn't give up, Kei reminded herself for what seemed like the thousandth time. Now, more than ever, she needed to give this team a chance.

Kei opened the door.

"Wow Ryou, you really do say some pretty cool things every now and then."

She crossed over to the middle of the room, a quick glance at her surroundings telling Kei all she needed to know. Ryou was there, sitting in a hospital bed. As far as she knew, he looked fine. And in the bed opposite his...

Toya.

Well, he wasn't ripping anyone to shreds at the moment, it seemed. That would have to be good enough for now.

Her entrance had seemed casual enough, but Kei's expression said otherwise. She was looking straight at Toya, who had yet to speak, watching him carefully for any sign of a reaction. More than that, she wanted a response. She wanted answers. Most of all, she wanted to know the truth. Were she and her teammates on the same page? Did both of them, not just Ryou, genuinely want a second chance at keeping the team together as much as she did? Or was she just fooling herself again...?

Kei had to know.

"Give me one good reason why I should even bother talking to you after what happened last night."

[Kleee]

"It's fine, Toya,"

Toya had been unconsciously holding his breath ever since he stopped speaking, anticipating how Ryou would react. He let out a slow, deep breath of relief upon hearing his teammate’s first three words. Hopefully it would get even better from here.

"I get it. Something went wrong. Partially because of what I said, partially because of what those assasin guys were doing. I understand. Anyway, I don't condone what you did to us, and I don't know exactly where my trust lies now - not that I ever knew where it was in the first place - but I forgive you."

Wow, Ryou really did get it. Obviously he didn’t know everything about what had happened, but he seemed to understand the basic circumstances that had triggered the incident. But more importantly, Toya had heard the one word that he truly needed in order to start releasing himself from this horrible gripping guilt.

Forgive…

Maybe Ryou still couldn’t completely put his faith and confidence in Toya yet, but he had forgiven him. If Toya was more of an emotional guy he probably would have started crying or something stupid like that. Luckily for his own pride, he had the restraint to simply nod and let his teammate continue.

"I do want to hear what you've got to say. Not because I don't believe what you're saying is genuine or anything, it's just that I want to avoid anything like that ever happening again, and maybe hearing you out will help me do that. Because I agree with you there; if that were to happen again, I don't know if our team would be able to hold or not. Heck, I don't know how I've managed to hold on this time. But then again, I don't know how the three of us managed to do anything..."

This was really starting to get weird. Not only was Ryou speaking like a completely normal and understanding friend, but a lot of his words seemed to be incredibly similar to what Toya had been thinking for the past hour or so after he had woken up. If he could just tell them everything about his past and still received his teammates’ forgiveness, then they still had a shot at rebuilding their crumbled team.

"But we've actually achieved alot, and that's the bit that counts. And that's why I'm going to try to not let it fall apart."

”Yeah, exac…” The sound of their hospital room’s door opening and a familiar voice caused him to pause mid-sentence.

"Wow Ryou, you really do say some pretty cool things every now and then."

From Toya’s perspective, it felt like everything had suddenly frozen in place, the rapid beating of his heart the only indicator that he was still living. He had prepared himself for this moment, the time when he would have to confront Kei and find the nerve to apologize directly to her, but all of that time had been useless. How could he even look her in the eyes anymore without being drowned in guilt?

Finally he glanced up and met her gaze, his genjutsu-altered eyes meeting her piercing green ones.

"Give me one good reason why I should even bother talking to you after what happened last night."

Toya was at a temporary loss for words. He couldn’t just use the fact that he was incredibly sorry and guilty about what he had done as a ‘good reason’, and he honestly didn’t have much of a justification for his actions. He could only speak the plain truth and fill in the gaps of his life that he had been waiting to tell both of them.

”Listen, umm… Kei... I can’t tell you enough how horrible I feel after realizing what I did to you and Ryou. But more importantly, I am willing to do absolutely anything to make it up to you guys if it means we can maintain our team and try harder to make it work for real this time. I… I’m so sorry, Kei. I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to forgive me, but you don’t have to answer yet. I have something that both of you guys really need to hear before anything else happens.”

Letting out another deep breath, Toya swung his legs to let them hang over the side of his bed, angling himself to be able to see and speak to both Kei and Ryou at the same time. It was finally time to let go of this burden that he had been carrying in secret for too long. He trusted both of his teammates with his life, and they deserved to hear everything.

”You both already know that my mother was killed because of her Shiki heritage, but there’s a lot more that I purposefully left out of the story. My mother wasn’t killed by some random Nanaya hunter. She… she was murdered by my father only hours after giving birth to me. She had successfully hidden her eyes for several years, but when I was born with sightless black eyes, well… obviously the fifty-fifty chance of passing on the bloodline was not in her favor…”

Toya paused and glanced at the floor. He had never even met his mother, but he had several pictures back at his large home. Even after all this time, recalling those tragic events still filled him with sorrow.

”Even after finding out his son was half Shiki, my father decided to spare my life for some reason. Probably because I still had half off his blood, and the Nanaya clan has an annoying sense of superiority over most other people. He raised me not as a child, but as a killer. He wanted me to become the strongest hunter in the world, with the power to hunt down anyone that the Nanaya clan considered inhuman or unnatural. Unfortunately for him, my strength continued to grow, along with my hatred for him, the Nanaya, and everything he stood for. His plan backfired, because I refused to be brainwashed by his ridiculous ideals.”

Another pause, and this time Toya’s expression darkened. The next part of his tale would be the turning point. The point where Ryou and Kei would have to judge him and decide whether they could continue to trust him and work with him or not. He could only hope they would still forgive him and not fear him after these next events were revealed.

”About two years ago, my eyes gained the ability to see for the first time since my birth. The Fatesplitter’s vision finally awakened within me, and I could see even more than what normal people could. And the first thing I saw was my father’s face. The image of the man who had killed my mother and tried to make my life a living hell until I succumbed to his will. That was when I first lost control of myself. In a fit of rage, I lunged at him and killed him with one quick strike to the chest.”

A short break to catch his breath, but he couldn’t stop now. It was almost over, and he wanted to get through it as quickly as possible.

”When I finally came back to my senses, Kohaku was crying as her arms wrapped around me tightly, restraining me from harming anyone else. Hisui had immediately started cleaning away the blood that covered the room and any other evidence of what had taken place. The two of them managed to find a way to fabricate a clever lie about my father dying in some unfortunate accident and made sure that no one ever saw the condition of the body. It was all over before I could even figure out what had really happened. I realized the truth over time, but nothing like that ever happened again… until last night…”

This was certainly a lot of information to process at once, and Toya silently stared at the floor after finishing the story. How would they react to all of this? As if they didn’t already think he was insane after the recent events, now they knew that he had murdered his own father and probably would have done more if no one had been there to snap him out of it. Would they ever be able to understand him and learn to trust him again? Ryou had already voiced his forgiveness, but he had hurt Kei far worse, both physically and mentally. He wouldn’t blame her at all if she walked out and never spoke another word to him. That’s what most people would probably do…

[Kleee]

”Listen, umm… Kei... I can’t tell you enough how horrible I feel after realizing what I did to you and Ryou. But more importantly, I am willing to do absolutely anything to make it up to you guys if it means we can maintain our team and try harder to make it work for real this time. I… I’m so sorry, Kei. I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to forgive me, but you don’t have to answer yet."

Just the answer she'd been looking for. Toya hadn't given up on them just yet.

Yet, somehow, actually hearing it still came as a surprise to Kei. After all the terrible things he'd said and done last night, she'd mostly expected Toya to walk out on the team althogether as soon as he got the chance. If he didn't decide to finish what he'd started and kill them on sight, that was. And somehow that realization struck Kei as incredibly sad. Doubting her teammate? Expecting him to attack her again? That seemed more like something Ryou would do. It seemed more like something other people would do. But Kei had never been like other people. She'd never really doubted anything before, least of all her own teammates. In Kei's world, you weren't supposed to doubt your teammates. It just didn't work that way.

But now apparently, it did.

Still, he'd offered to make it up to them, hadn't he? Despite all that had happened, he still wanted to give the team a chance. Even Ryou still wanted to give the team a chance. So of course Kei would as well. This was what she'd been hoping for all along, wasn't it? Toya hadn't been himself the night before, Kei could figure that much out. He'd been like a completely different person. And now, he was back to his old self. There had to be some explanation for what had happened last night, some reason why things had turned out as terrible as they did. And once Kei knew what that reason was, they'd fix it and everything would be fine again.

So why didn't everything feel fine again?

Whatever had happened last night, it was over now. Toya was back to normal. No one was trying to kill her. So why couldn't Kei just let it go?

For a moment, Kei couldn't help but wonder if, even more than all the fear and physical pain that Toya had caused her, it was the fact that he'd broken her trust in him, in the team, and made her really doubt things for the first time in her life that Kei just couldn't forgive.

The same could be said for Ryou. Even if he was ready to move on and work to keep the team together, Kei still wasn't quite ready to forget how he'd so easily almost given up Toya to the assassins to save himself.

"I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to forgive me," Toya continued, "but you don’t have to answer yet. I have something that both of you guys really need to hear before anything else happens."

Right. Maybe she didn't need to forgive and forget just yet. Maybe she never would, but that didn't mean she had to give up on her teammates just yet. Kei didn't voice any of this just yet, however, because Toya had started speaking again.

”You both already know that my mother was killed because of her Shiki heritage, but there’s a lot more that I purposefully left out of the story. My mother wasn’t killed by some random Nanaya hunter. She… she was murdered by my father only hours after giving birth to me. She had successfully hidden her eyes for several years, but when I was born with sightless black eyes, well… obviously the fifty-fifty chance of passing on the bloodline was not in her favor…”

Toya continued his story and Kei listened, waiting. Waiting for his explanation for what had happened last night. Waiting for the excuse that she knew wouldn't be coming. Still, the more Toya talked, the more Kei couldn't help but feel sorry for him despite everything.

...No, that wasn't quite right. It wasn't pity she felt.

It was anger.

Toya had lost his mother for a bloodline? Just a random coincidence? A 50/50 chance!? Kei didn't know much about bloodlines, she had to admit, Toya was one of the only people she knew who had one. But still, killing someone, anyone, just because the color of their eyes was a little different or because they had abilities you didn't... it all struck Kei as just so very wrong.

But then she recalled that horrible feeling of fear and helplessness, of unbearable pain she just couldn't escape no matter how much she wished otherwise, and, for a moment, Kei could understand where those Nanaya were coming from.

And then she felt sick for even thinking such a thing. Kei crossed her arms and looked away, as if suddenly developing an intense fascination with a nearby blank patch of wall, carefully looking everywhere but at Toya as he continued his story.

All of it was just so confusing.

No--not confusing. It was frustrating. Kei knew exactly what she was supposed to do in this situation. She was supposed to reassure her teammates that everything would be okay, and then she was supposed to fix things. Then if any of the Nanaya ever came after Toya again, she'd beat them herself and that would be the end of that. Then maybe Toya would be able to live a normal life and never have to hurt anyone again.

Then maybe Kei wouldn't feel so scared to so much as stand in the same room as the boy who was supposed to be her ally.

Yet she couldn't bring herself to do any of that, because she was scared. She couldn't forget the pain, and the helplessness, and how easily she'd just given up on everything. Kei might as well have just rolled over and died last night, and it wouldn't have made a difference. She'd given up fighting, and she'd given up living. She'd given up on her friends.

What would happen if she gave up again?

But still, despite all her fear and doubt, Kei couldn't deny that she was angry as well. Toya hadn't deserved anything that had happened to him, and she understood that. She didn't know what it would be like to have a father like that, to lose your mother like that, to have a curse like Toya did, but she understood that it must be awful. Beyond awful; were there really words to describe how it must feel to be forced to live a life like that, even though you'd never done anything to deserve it? If there were, they certainly didn't exist in Kei's vocabulary. But Kei did know that now, more than ever, Toya needed herself and Ryou to give him a chance. He needed the team to give him a chance.

Yet, she was also pretty sure she knew where his story was heading, and she didn't like it one bit.

"...You've done that before."

Toya had finished. There had been no explanation, no excuse for why he'd snapped last night. No brilliant ideas, no solutions or helpful advice for the future. Only a warning. Even more than what Toya had said, it was what had been left unsaid that hung over the room, ominous.

Kei, however, wasn't about to let it. She didn't want to give up again.

"Well, you won't do it again."

It wasn't a question, and it definitely wasn't a suggestion or a hope.

To Kei, it was a fact.

"I won't let that happen." Finally, she could look Toya in the eye again. "I... don't really know how I'll do that yet," she admitted sheepishly, "but I'll get stronger, and I'll figure it out." Kei paused, and then corrected herself. "We'll figure it out. Don't get me wrong, I don't forgive you--either of you." Kei sent a glare in Ryou's direction, making sure he knew he wasn't off the hook for his actions either. Not quite yet, at least. "But there's still no way I'm giving up on the team this easily. We have accomplished a lot! And we're not done with that just yet, we still have more to do."

"So... we'll figure it out somehow."

We have to, she added inwardly.

"We always do, don't we?"

Doubting people, Kei had decided, was definitely not for her.

[Kleee]

Upon concluding his closing his mouth, Ryou looked away quickly, feeling kinda... embarressed. Where on earth had those words come from. It wasn't like he didn't mean what he had just said or anything, just that it felt so strange letting out something like that. Maybe it was just because he wasn't used to it; he had never previously gone to the tremendous effort to keep their team together after all. Maybe being nice just came with a bit of practice.
A trace of his smile still on his face, Ryou looked down, waiting for Toya's answer. Not only was he not very good at saying things like that, he also wasn't very good at predicting reactions. Were people actually nice enough to go ahead and accept just a couple of words, or did it really take more to achieve a an agreement?

Unfortunately, Ryou would have to wait to know the answer to that question, as it wasn't Toya who was the first to respond to Ryou's "motivational speech".

"Wow Ryou, you really do say some pretty cool things every now and then."

Ryou jumped when he heard Kei's voice echo across the cold, tiled hospital room. He looked up to face the door; not exactly sure what to feel upon seeing her. He was relieved that she was alive, and had apparently sustained no lasting injury. Well, no lasting physical injury. A quick glance at Kei's face told Ryou that this was certainly not going to play out the way he had thought it would. He had expected Kei to - as always- take the whole thing alot better than he had. Kei wasn't the type of person to hold grudges or get angry at anybody for a prolonged amount of time. She was the forgiving type of person. Ryou had done all kinds of things to her, and she didn't hate him yet. Well, after hearing what she had said just before he had passed out, Ryou had maybe had second thoughts about that little bit; okay, maybe even Kei had her limits - but still, he hadn't expected this.

Kei's glare was directed at Toya. It was an expression that he had never thought would fit her face. It was seriousness, rage, fear, all plastered onto the the one, usually carefree face. Ryou wanted to say something, anything, but he felt like it wasn't his place to talk. Even though she had just spoken to him, it was Toya who she was expecting some sort of answer from. And of course, Kei was probably still angry at him too, after he had attempted to sell Toya out the previous night. If he said anything, it would probably only make the situation worse.

"Give me one good reason why I should even bother talking to you after what happened last night."

Sure enough, Kei posed a question at Toya, inquiring about whether or not the faintest bond of trust still remained between them. So, even after everything Kei had overheard Ryou telling Toya, she wasn't willing to to just forgive and forget? Ryou heaved a sigh; this was going to be harder than he thought. Hopefully whatever Toya had planned to tell them was serious enough to turn the whole situation around.

”Listen, umm… Kei... I can’t tell you enough how horrible I feel after realizing what I did to you and Ryou. But more importantly, I am willing to do absolutely anything to make it up to you guys if it means we can maintain our team and try harder to make it work for real this time. I… I’m so sorry, Kei. I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to forgive me, but you don’t have to answer yet. I have something that both of you guys really need to hear before anything else happens.”

Fingers crossed, he gazed at Kei out of the corner of his eye. He hoped that her face would loosen up or something after hearing Toya's introduction. No such luck. Sighing, he turned back to face his other teammate; he nodded, signifying that he was listening before Toya began to tell his story.

As he had already forgiven Toya himself, he had not really expected to react so much to the story, but it turned out that he had been wrong. The moment Toya opened his mouth, Ryou found himself sitting there with his mouth gaping open in shock and sadness. He had never been a particularly empathetic person, even when he was actually trying to be nice, but for some reason this story held some sort of significance to him. Maybe it was because he too had lost his own mother at a very young age; maybe that was why he understood. But he had grown up all this time thinking that he had it bad. But his mother had been murdered for a gain; Political rivals of his father had murdered his mother in an attempt to have his father resign from his post. A twisted, pathetic, cruel gain maybe, but still a gain. But what had Toya's father had to win from the killing of his wife, who had evidently never done anything wrong except give birth to a baby? It wasn't fair. Toya's father had obviously married his mother because he loved her, and then he found out that she belonged to a certain clan, and all that love - all of those memories... none of that mattered anymore. He had just gone and murdered her.

It wasn't right.

Ryou looked down, but kept listening - half wishing he could she stick his fingers in his ears and make it stop.

Listening to the second part caused Ryou to remember some of the things that Toya had told him in the past. About the ways of the Nanaya clan, and the way that they tried to eliminate anything that was just a little bit different. It sounded like Toya's father had been just like the people who had just attacked them, only worse. He had spared Toya, but only so that he could rasie him to be just like him. That was... disgusting. To raise your son to become just like the people who had murdered his own mother.

Just when Ryou felt like he had heard enough, and wanted to say that he understood and had no desire to continue doubting Toya, the entire story changed. Changed and only left Ryou with no choice but to doubt Toya even more. So, this wasn't the first time that Toya had ended the life of another just like that. At the young and "innocent" age of thirteen, Toya had claimed his first victim; his own father. Sure, his father had treated him horribly, but still... to murder him in an instant just because...

Why did he suddenly feel slightly frightened to be in Toya's presence again? Just moments ago he had thought that Toya's father deserved whatever came to him; especially after to killing of his wife and the upbringing of Toya, but then, after hearing the next part of the story, he wished that that part hadn't happened either. Why?! Was it because Toya was his teammate, a person he trusted? Sure, he had just forgiven Toya for the whole crazy thing, but hearing that it wasn't the first time made him realize that it wasn't entirely a one off; Toya had done it more than once in the past, and there was all the chance that it could happen again. Up until hearing that, Ryou had tried to deny that possibility, and he had thought he had succeeded.

Apparently not.

"Y-You've-"

"...You've done that before."

Ryou's heart sank even further as he heard Kei voice exactly what he was thinking. She was the same page as him, it seemed. This just brought her chance of forgiving them down even further. But what was Ryou supposed to expect? After hearing a story with a conclusion such as that, there was no way anybody could find hope, right?

Right?

"Well, you won't do it again."

Ryou looked up as Kei spoke, confused. What did she mean by that? Did she mean that she actually thought that Toya wasn't capable of commiting such an act again, or...

"I won't let that happen."

What the...? Could it have been that Kei was actually taking the initiative to prevent Toya from harming their team in such a way again? Despite knowing the dangers and difficulty of doing exactly that? Well if that was the case, then Ryou suddenly felt just a tad more positive. If Kei was willing to do that, then why couldn't he?

"I... don't really know how I'll do that yet. We'll figure it out. Don't get me wrong, I don't forgive you--either of you. But there's still no way I'm giving up on the team this easily. We have accomplished a lot! And we're not done with that just yet, we still have more to do."

Ryou forced a smile. He didn't even care that Kei hadn't forgiven either of them. Why would she after what they had done? But the fact that she was going to try and move closer to that state of forgiveness was another thing entirely. It showed that maybe there was hope for the team after all. Maybe things could go back to the way they used to be.

"So... we'll figure it out somehow. We always do, don't we?"

Ryou turned from Kei to face Toya, feeling just a little bit more like his old self. He was smirking.

"She's right. And I'm not going to call your way of "working it out" stupid this time. Promise,"

[Kleee]

The pounding of his own heartbeat resonated throughout his entire body as he waited for any type of response after finally revealing the truth about himself to his teammates. The room was dead silent, and Toya didn’t even realize he had begun to hold his breathe as he waited for Kei to say something. Anything. He just wanted to get it over with, for better or for worse. Ryou ended up being the first to speak, but Kei’s voice quickly cut him off.

"Y-You've-"

"...You've done that before."

Toya’s heart immediately sunk. Fear and hesitation clouded his teammates’ voices, and he knew that it was all over. He honestly couldn’t blame them. Who could actually continue trusting someone who had lost himself in a murderous rage not once, but twice in his short lifetime? In spite of all the arguments and hardships the team had stumbled across, he would never be able to find a replacement team quite like this one. His life would go back to the boring monotony of paperwork and shinobi training just like it had been months ago before Tomo had formed this team in the first place…

"Well, you won't do it again."

…Huh? What was she talking about? It was impossible to know when he might lose control again… but she sounded so adamant.

"I won't let that happen."

After everything he had done, Kei was still willing to help him? Well, more like forcefully keep him from doing something like that again, but that was a trivial detail. Maybe this was the first step for Toya on his long road to redemption.

"I... don't really know how I'll do that yet. We'll figure it out. Don't get me wrong, I don't forgive you--either of you. But there's still no way I'm giving up on the team this easily. We have accomplished a lot! And we're not done with that just yet, we still have more to do."

So… wasn’t forgiving him or Ryou, but still giving them a sort of second chance. This was still the best news he could have possibly received. As long as the three of them stuck together and continued to push towards their goals, he still had a chance to earn Kei’s trust back. Well Ryou’s too, but surprisingly he seemed like he was already closer to trusting him again than Kei was.

"So... we'll figure it out somehow. We always do, don't we?"

That truly was the embodiment of their team. They disagreed, they quarreled, and they rarely functioned together as a unit, but they still somehow made it through every trial they had been thrust into. And if they actually did come together as a team in the future, then they really could accomplish anything. Their potential would be infinite.

"She's right. And I'm not going to call your way of "working it out" stupid this time. Promise,"

”You’re right Kei, it will never happen again, and we will definitely figure all of this out. We’re not going to give up on each other or this team. And we definitely have a lot more to accomplish, and nothing is going to stop us from now on. I… I promise that I will prove myself worthy of being your trusted teammate again. I don’t know when or how, but I swear I will redeem myself.”

Toya slowly raised his right hand and discreetly wiped the corner of his eyes, trying to hide the fact that they were starting to get watery. He had only cried once in his life, back when he had come to his senses in Kohaku’s embrace, after he had realized what he had done. But he was definitely coming close to letting loose his tears again.

”Thanks for everything guys… no matter what anyone else says, you two are the best teammates I could have asked for. We’ll show the world what we can do. We’ll make Tomo and Yukigakure proud, and we’ll live up to what Hana-san said about us. We only have each other, and we will survive and get stronger together.”

He finally lowered his hand, his tears completely dry before they even had a chance to leave his eyes and run down his face. His somber expression slowly turned a grin as he turned his head towards Ryou.

”By the way, I’ll hold you to that promise. You better not say a word about anything that we come up with in the future, no matter how stupid you think it is. That means you can’t say anything even if Kei thinks that the key to fixing our team is to throw a rainbow-penguin-cake-sleepover party, got it?”

His grin widened until Toya finally released some suppressed laughter, filling the room with a light and cheery mood for a change. He hadn’t been able to smile and laugh sincerely in a long, long time. Maybe this signaled the start of a bright new future for the hopeful young team. Out of the ashes of a nearly broken group emerged a stronger, more unified team. Now if only they could learn to actually cope with each other’s differences, all of this could actually work out.

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