Komiko's once sword weilding hands were rubbed raw from the amount of dishes she had done that day. Her once strong back ached from bending over and scrubbing hardwood floors for hours on end. The bottom's of her once soft feet peeled, having no shoes to wear around the manor she lived in, or more so, was slave to.

"Where is that slave girl? I need my kimono picked up for this evening!" Demanded a woman Komiko's age, but with far more status than she had. Stomping her feet loudly against the wooden floors, she started throwing a tantrum to the poor man infront of her that served as her personal attendant, D. It was hard to believe that this woman was twenty, when she acted as if she were five. The only thing that gave away her age were her curves and make up.

The manor was made up of merchants, shinobi, and commoners that had been captured by the Yatzuno clan, and made to be slaves to the royal family in a small, but wealthy village on the outskirts of Kirigakure. Upon entry, the new slaves must discard their names, and have it replaced with a single letter. Slaves were given bright green, long-sleeved shirts and long pants, to stand out like sore thumbs from everyone else, and erase what was once their individuality. It didn't matter where they had come from, because in the end they had all ended up in the same place.

For people like Komiko, with prior shinobi and samurai training, she was given heavy, chakra cuffs to wear on her wrists, that also glowed a bright green. These cuffs were designed to stifle chakra use and weaken the wearer, making it impossible to fight back and rebel against the royal family. The cuffs were also a constant reminder of how she had gotten there in the first place. Komiko shook her head a little, she hated that memory most of all. Hearing Mai's voice, she decided to head over to her. She loathed Mai, but rushed over to the seething girl to save poor D from suffering her ranting any longer. "Here." Komiko replied, looking directly at Mai.

"What did I tell you about looking at me in the eyes? Look down!" Mai's brown eyes met Komiko's blue, seeing her hesitate about looking down, Mai further pressed, "Now!" Reluctantly she looked down at the floor, hands clenching into fists at being degraded. "You need to go pick up my kimono today in town. I need it for a date tonight and it must be here by five o'clock. Oh, K?" Mai then let out a barking laugh, proud of herself for making a joke out of Komiko's one letter slave name. Anger couldn't begin to describe what Komiko felt towards the spoiled brat, but she nodded her head, like the slave that she had become.

Mai skipped away up to her grand room, so she took it as her signal that she was dismissed. D looked at Komiko with pity, so she attempted a small smile to show that she was alright, and didn't need sympathy. With all of her being, she hated Mai. She had it all, a pretty face, beautiful clothing, lithe body, light skin, and on top of it all, formal training in the art of the double sword. This evening she was to go on a date with a handsome man Komiko had seen come to the manor. Riches, looks, love, and she took it all for granted.

As Komiko opened the door to the room she shared with five other female servants, she got ready to go into town. It was her favorite part of this job she had aquired, being the rare time she got to see outside of this manor. The humiliating part was the bright, green uniform she adorned, telling everyone that she was a lowly servant. Looking around the room, there were no beds, only blankets on the floor and a pillow here or there. No dressers, just a few uniforms layed neatly on the floor to whoever needed a fresh one for the day, not everyone got more than one uniform, and no one was stingy.

Bidding the ladies that were in the room a quick goodbye, Komiko met the guards at the gate to gain access to the outside world. Once permitted, she pressed her bare feet onto foreign soil, breathing in what she imagined freedom to feel like. It had been so long, she couldn't exactly remember what it felt like to be free to come and go as she pleased. This was not what she had imagined doing at twenty years old. As she made the trek to town, Komiko thought about her life back in Kirigakure, the one that made her heart ache...

Komiko stretched her arms and yawned as she was woken up by sunlight pouring through the thin mist infront of her window. Smiling, she got out of bed, and dressed to go greet her parents for breakfast. In the Misuto household, all family was to attend breakfast together, which only included herself, her mother and father. Walking into the dining room, she greeted her mother with a kiss on the cheek, asking, "Where's dad? He's usually here by now."

"Your father has been working all evening and still hasn't come home. He's working on that new sword of his. You know him, if he has a client he's taken a liking to, he wont come home for days!" Komiko's mother said laughing. Komiko's father like all of her family before him worked as the swordsmith to the Mizukage's private compilation of swordsmen. The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist relied on the family for their swords, praising the Misuto's of the finest work in the nations. Komiko was honored to have been born into such a family, and to take on the responsibility of becoming a swordsmith, working as her father's apprentice.

Sitting down, Komiko ate her breakfast, excited for the day. Today was going to be the day she would get her tattoo symbolizing her family's crest. At the age of sixteen, she had surpassed most, if not all the swordsmen who resided in the Hidden Mist, including a few of the Seven Swordsmen in the past. She was a force to be reconned with, and her father had decided it was time for her to get her mark and be officially indited to the family's tree. Komiko's face beemed with pride, her blue eyes bright with joy. After breakfast Komiko went to her room to get ready.

Picking out her best kimono, and brushing her long, black hair she deemed herself ready for this important day. Bidding her mother farewell, she practically ran to the parlor where the man would tattoo her. A dragon winding itself around a sword would be inked from her left shoulder, wrapping itself around her left arm, all the way until the dragon's tail wrapped around her left wrist. Her hand was to be free of any markings; they were to be soley dedicated to the swords she would craft and wield in her lifetime.

The old man smiled at her as she entered the shop. "Ah, Ky's girl, Komiko, was it? Now let's see that arm of yours, and take a good look at it in that mirror. Lie down and relax, this will take several hours and try not to flinch, it's going to hurt." Komiko appreciated that he didn't sugar coat the pain, she knew that the tattoo would hurt, but the pain was apart of the initiation...

Several teeth grinding hours later, Komiko sat up and looked in the mirror at her arm in awe. "I believe you are the most beautiful of the Misuto clan I have ever given that tattoo to. I'm honored to have been of service to you Komiko." The old man beemed with pride at his work. Wrapping her arm with a clear wrap, she couldn't take her eyes off of it. The dragon was almost all bright black, but the man had added in bright blue to some of the scales, but the most prominent blue was the dragon's eye on her upper left shoulder. Smiling a toothy grin, Komiko paid the man and thanked him, promising that her father would come by and visit him later.

Reaching the town, Komiko lightly touched her covered arm, running her fingers over the tattoo she wore with pride. Once Mai had seen it, she immediately had her cover it up, not liking that it made her unique when she was only supposed to be a letter. Sighing softly, Komiko went to the small town's kimono shop. Giving the prestidious clan's name she waited for the small girl in charge of the shop to bring back the clothing in request. Turning her head to the window, Komiko saw a row of street merchants trying to sell their goods, families laughing and talking, fruit stands, and more. She longed for her freedom back more than anything, except perhaps her favorite sword, Ryukiba, or Dragon Fang.

"Here you are, little slave." The girl said to Komiko. Even here in town she was disregarded as a slave. Before she turned around she tried to quell the anger raging inside of herself, and as she looked at the girl she could tell the rage had not left her eyes, but she left with a simple thank you and walked outside. Deciding to roam around, checking to see that the time was only three o'clock, Komiko began exploring the town she had only twice been to before. After checking out a few shops, she went outside to a fruit stand.

The fruit here was odd, not like the fruit in The Hidden Mist, even though the two places were rather close together in proximity. As Komiko was wondering what could make the genetics of the fruits different in such short distances, she heard a high-pitched scream from a woman at the end of the marketplace. Heads began turning, and people closer to the noise began running away from the direction she was in. Loud yells and shouts caused the marketplace to become a chaotic scene. Komiko herself dropped the fruit back where she had picked it up and began running with the crowd away from the woman.

Cursing the chakra cuffs on her hands and the kimono she was carrying, she knew that she could have taken lowly nin out if she was without these burdens. Two men completely clothed from head to toe besides their eyes weren't only trying to rob the place, they were slaughtering civilians left and right. Komiko knew she was going to be killed if she didn't get into hiding. Outrunning others wouldn't work, it'd just make her an easier target since the ninja were mainly taking out people that ran away from the crowd instead of with it. Running into an alleyway as the crowd passed it, she snuck away from the mass of people, turning onto a street that was barren, she looked back to see if anyone was following her.

"Oof!" Komiko rammed into a wall full force. Groaning from the pain in her head, Komiko reached up with her left arm rubbing her forehead. Looking up, she saw that it wasn't a wall, but a man she had ran into, one of the bandits. Her breath hitched in her lungs, this man was huge, and she felt surely going to kill her. His short, black hair stuck up in odd angles, and white guaze covered most of his face, neck, and arms. Eyes with intent to kill looked down at her, and then he bent down, his black eyes mere inches away from her blue.

Grabbing her left arm, he rolled up the sleeve, looking intently at her family crest tattoo. His eyes widened with interest. It was then Komiko noticed the slashed Hidden Mist headband he wore on his forehead. This man looked so familliar, and as she looked him over again, she noticed the giant sword he carried in his right hand. "Kubikiribocho!" The name of the sword in the man's hand came to Komiko's mind, literally meaning Decapitating Carving Knife, recognizing it as one of her father's greatest and most powerful swords. "That must mean this man is Zabuza Momochi...".

This particular sword was designed to decapitate the enemy, giving it another name, Danto, or Seversword, a brutal sword made in the heart of the time of The Bloody Mist. From experience, Komiko's father knew that in battle a sword didn't always last, so as a fail-safe he performed a jutsu on the sword as it was being welded, causing the sword to regenerate using the iron in blood that was shed on the sword, preventing one of his greatest creations from ever shattering. Some had said that the sword itself was made from a demon's blood, and could only be used by another demon thusly. Zabuza had made the perfect wielder for Kibikiribocho.

Memories flooded into her head of this man, and her heart began to pound as she thought of how deadly this man was, and how weak she had been left without her chakra and sword. Feeling frozen into place, Komiko felt helpless, hating the feeling of not being able to defend herself, she hadn't been raised to be a coward! She saw his eyes notice the chakra cuffs on her wrists, and placed his hands on one of them while the other hand was still on the tattoo of her left arm. Her eyes wide with fear, Zabuza stared at her, confusion displayed in his eyes while his hand was still grabbing her left arm, "Master Zabuza! Do we head to the Yatzuno manor?" One of the men shouted to him. As Komiko looked closer, she recognized his garb as that of The Demon Brothers.

Zabuza gave a grunt, seeming to be snapped out of his own memories, dropping her arm back to her and standing up straight once more. Still staring her straight in the eyes, he growled out in a low voice, "Fall back." The Demon Brother looked at him disappointed and was about to open his mouth again when Zabuza repeated himself with an even deeper growl, "Fall back! That's an order." Giving her a hard stare, Zabuza pulled Kibikiribocho out of the ground with a loud, metallic clang, and vanished in a cloud of mist, along with the two brothers.

It seemed that she had forgotten to breathe while being stared at by the Demon of the Mist. Questions flooded her brian concerning these bandits, and what they had to do with the Yatzuno family. If they killed civilians that easily, would they kill the family just as easy? Or perhaps the family had hired them themselves? Coming back to reality, and considering herself lucky to still be alive, Komiko moved her shaky limbs and looked up to the sky. The sun told the time to be almost five o'clock. Grabbing the kimono she had dropped on the floor, Komiko ran through the deserted streets in the town back to the manor. Mai was going to have her head if she was late...