Blood splattered out of her wound like a cascade and ran down her legs, marking them with flowing, scarlet ribbon tattoos. She clutched the wound to keep the blood from spilling out but the pain was too unbearable and when she removed her hands, they were covered in her blood. Nothing would keep the blood in. She felt weak and thought she was drowning in a sea of crimson blood so she dropped to the ground to keep herself sane. The color red in excess could make any person insane.

Above her, thunder rumbled and added to the assault on her already weary body. The ringing of the clouds echoed in her ears painfully and she grabbed her ears to try to block out the noise. It was an assault coming from all angles; it was slowly killing her from the inside out.

And then he appeared in front of her. He got so close so fast that she could see herself in his dark eyes. And she could see the blotches of blood on her face from her hands. Lightning from above illuminated his face harshly for a second and she could see that he too was covered in blood. The entire left side of his face was literally dripping with the stuff, making his Sharingan even brighter. But something told her that the blood wasn't his.

The sky kept wailing and flashing bright light but rain would not fall. It was as if the land had committed a sin that made the heavens condemn them, so even the blood that stained everything could not be washed away. As long as the blood remained on the land, every living being was in a state of panic, whether it was physically or emotionally. They were in a process of atoning for their sins.

She admitted it: she was scared. Never in her life had she seen so much blood drain out her body, not when she fought with Sasori that one time nor when she and Kisame had a one-on-one. A spasm of pain hit her and her hand flew to her mouth to keep the strangled cry in. It felt as if it would tear right through her lips if she didn't keep it inside.

The man before her didn't look at her with sympathy; he didn't look at her with understanding or even with indifferent anger. He seemed to be just observing her pain and doing nothing to further or stop it from consuming her. His body was slightly tense in its posture, his face blank...but his eyes were filled with pure rage. He had the most expressive eyes of anyone that she knew. Whether they were as dark as night or the color of the rising sun, his eyes were his first line of offense.

A droplet of blood from his hair fell onto the right side of his face and rolled down, painting that side of his face.

"What did I tell you about betraying me?" his voice was low and dangerous. The more he spoke, the more suffocated she felt. "What did I fucking tell you about lying to me?" He reached behind her and grabbed her by her hair, bringing her up to eye level. He ran a hand down the left side of his face; the one drenched with blood, and wiped it on his finger tips. The skin he uncovered was pink as the blood began to seep into it. It was becoming part of his system. "Do you know whose blood this is?" he said in a whisper, looking down at the liquid accumulated on his fingers. "Do you know how many times I had to beat him to get this much blood?"

The way he formed his words left little to the imagination.

Suigetsu didn't bleed, and if he could she doubted it would be colored red, so he could have only been talking about two people. His hand tightened in her hair and he pulled her closer, so close that she could feel the residue of chakra from the blood on his face. It made the skin on her face tremble a bit.

"Do you know how long and hard he had to scream to get this much blood?" He didn't expect an answer from her. Her lips felt stuck together because they were so dry and her tongue felt abnormally large. She couldn't have answered him if she tried. "Tell me," he growled. He lifted his blood covered hand to her face and ran it down her cheek. The blood felt hot like tears and she could feel the chakra being absorbed into her skin through the blood. Or maybe it was just the blood that was being absorbed. She couldn't tell.

She blinked as something landed on her face and looked up. A liquid started to fall from the sky but it wasn't rain. It was denser, hotter and that an indescribable yet familiar odor that made her feel as if the entire universe was falling apart. It was raining blood. He didn't look surprised and even smirked when the blood drops smacked against his head and trailed down his face as if racing one another. She felt them on her face, on her hands, streaking down her body with lightening speed and felt the need to cry out. It felt so wrong.

Why was the sky crying out in blood? Why was he just standing there as if he expected it to happen? Why did the blood drops burn with such intensity that they felt as if they would cut through her skin?

"Do you like that?" he asked her and her attention was back on his face. His face, which was usually porcelain or marble like, was completely covered in falling blood drops. His eyes were the same color and glowed brighter than ever before as if gaining power from the drops. "Do you like being covered in someone else's blood? Do you like that feeling?" he asked her roughly grabbing a hold of her chin with his hand. With a harsh tug he opened her mouth and angled it toward the sky, a shiver ran down her spine. He wanted her to drink the blood from the sky.

No, she said in her head but her vocal chords refused to work.

No...

"Taste it," he said to her, watching as a drop of blood landed safely on her tongue, "Does it taste good? Do you want more?" She didn't know why he was making her do that. She didn't even know whose blood he had first on his face but she had a feeling she didn't want to know. Somewhere along the line, they had separated so she was too far to feel his charka signature but she hoped he was alright.

Then, something inside of her froze. The man was speaking again and his words seemed to weigh heavier than before.

Is this a dream?

"He screamed for you to come save him," he softly smacked her cheek that he had wiped blood on, "The last thing he said before he died was..." He leaned over her body, his lips right next to her ear, "Tell Sakura I love her."

Is it?

If she could have gasped she would have so she just settled for breathing in very quickly. Her best friend was dead was dead and he knew her identity. She closed her eyes and waited for the final strike that would end her. He would not keep her alive, no matter how hard she begged. "I'm going to take my time killing you," he whispered, "I'm going to enjoy this more than you think."

IT'S A DREAM!!

IT'S A DREAM!!

WAKE UP!!

WAKE UP!!

Her eyes opened on their own accord and her heart was racing at an incredible speed. She sat up off the branch and cupped a hand around her mouth just incase she started to scream uncontrollably.

The dream seemed so real, the pain was familiar and the blood rain...

She looked down at her arms which were pale in the moonlight and showed no signs of blood. She felt her face and her sides which were normal and unhurt and not bleeding out. The trees rustled in the cool midnight breeze and she tried, unsuccessfully, to calm her self down. There was no way she could continue with the mission without having any second thoughts. Sasuke didn't know who they were but he would be so much more furious when he did. The more time they spent with him and his group, the harder it would be to escape him and his lifestyle. He would have hurt them badly either way but she came to the conclusion that it would have been better if he had already known who they were. He didn't like to be deceived by the people closest to him and he would take it harder if they stuck around longer.

Either way, they were as good as dead. She and Midori were less than a day away from Konoha and they still didn't have a strategy. ANBU had occupied the Akatsuki so they hadn't noticed them yet but she knew Sasuke was following them. Despite being all powerful, he was predictable in his actions but not in his thoughts. Suigetsu was probably with him as well because she couldn't detect Jugo's massive chakra or Karin's condensed one. So they were, in essence, leading the criminal back to the scene of the crime.

All she had to do was somehow alert the Hokage that she was there and Sasuke would be in a chakra sealed box in less than a minute with ANBU surrounding him. Although the plan seemed simple, complications were every where. If Suigetsu was there when it happened, if the Akatsuki somehow found out who they were and if Sasuke knew beforehand who they were they were thoroughly fucked.

Next to her, her companion snored softly and muttered something about 'die you stupid weed' in his sleep. Sora sighed deeply and fell back on the branch, looking down at the ground below her. Sasuke was a master at hiding his chakra but it could be felt at certain instances, like when he either turned on or turned off his Sharingan. At the moment she couldn't feel him but something told her he was there. It must have been the re-awakening of her Sasukedar, left over from her Genin days. She smiled at that and leisurely traced patterns onto the bark of the thick brain. It was weird at first, the power to feel him within a two mile radius but then she got used to it. She thought it was an advantage, until he left of course. She still didn't know why she had waited for him all those years, even though she knew he would never come back.

He was destined to do great things and if they were dark great things than so be it. Even if she had to lose the man that used to be her first love. Or still was her love...whatever.

Why is this so complicated? It's not healthy to mix business with pleasure! That's right; they had a mission to do. It was to keep Sasuke safe from the Akatsuki until they got bored of trying to recruit him and then they were allowed to return home. That's it, no where in the mission guidelines did it say they were allowed to do anything selfishly or that would have negative consequences on either Sasuke or Konoha.

She shifted again and hit her foot again the branch accidentally, emitting a loud sound. The snoring from Midori stopped and she heard him yawn, his joints popping as he stretched.

"Is it time to get up already? I didn't even get to finish my ramen. Ramen goood" he said drowsily, sitting up and looking over at her.

"No, it's still night time. Go back to sleep and finish your damn ramen this time." She saw him look toward his right and squint into the distance, a goofy smile on his face.

"I think I can see the entrance gate from here," he said gazing out.

"It's dark and it's foresty out here, you can't see the gates yet. We're still too far away."

"Yeah," his smile was still persistent, "But I think I can still see them." He paused, his brows furrowing, "Did I just hear you say foresty? Is that even a word?"

"Mmm," came her reply as she tried to snuggle back into a deep sleep. She didn't really want to have a nightmare again but the forest was uncharacteristically active at night and early morning. Any person or thing that was traveling under them could hear their conversation.

"Okay," he say back down next to her but she could tell that he wasn't asleep yet.

"Hey Midori?" she whispered.

He turned his head to her, "Yeah?"

"Do you think it's possible for it to rain blood?" She couldn't see his expression very well because of the dark but she could tell it was nothing less than horrified or extremely confused.

"Uhh...I've never actually thought about it before. If it were possible, I would imagine it would be a sick jutsu," he looked at her closely, "It sounds like something the Akatsuki would use. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," she said to him closing her eyes, "I just thought of it."

He looked unconvinced for a minute before he attributed her question to a lack of sleep. Why else would a medic nin ask about if it was possible to rain blood? But still, the question did make him curious. He would be sure to ask a more experienced ninja if it was possible. Blood rain huh...also sounds like a jutsu Sasuke would have up his sleeve to freak his opponent out. It might be a dark jutsu...interesting.