My throat hurt. In fact, my entire body trembled at the thought of moving. Beneath me, I could feel shattered glass cutting into my bare torso. The little jagged shards pierced through the raggedy scrub pants I was wearing. How had I gotten here? Why couldn't I remember anything? Questions streamed through my head in a never ending torrent of madness. I could just barely hear the garbled mass of voices passed the ringing in my ears, shouting obscenities from above me.

I coughed, trying to relieve some of the dryness in my throat, only to convulse in pain. My chest felt like it was going to collapse any second and a searing fire erupted from my ribs any time I tried to gasp for a breath. It was so hard to breathe, the air was dense and warm as if a storm was on its way.

The ringing in my ears died down enough for me to hear some of what the voices were saying. "What in the hell is going on?! Where's Ritsu?!" My heart stopped. That's my name. Ritsu...Onodera Ritsu. I knew that for a fact even if I had forgotten everything else. The flash of dark shaggy hair made my skin crawl and panic flood through my veins. "Get down there and bring him back!" As the pounding of feet infiltrated my mind, I pulled myself to my feet. Danger was clearly here and I knew I had to run if I wanted to get away.

Adrenaline coursed through my veins and as I lurched into the heavily wooded area around the tall building I was laying by, the door flung open to reveal eight armored men trudging hurriedly in search of me. Each muscle groaned and creaked under the new strain of each of mu jostling strides. Blood flowed from each wound on my body, creating trails in the dirt on my skin.

My hip bones jutted out from just above my pants, revealing an intricate line of swirling black ink. From the way my body looked, and my stomach gurgled and churned, I hadn't been eating much, if at all.

The men's voices grew louder behind me and more violent. "Ritsu wait!" the leader called out to me before he turned to his men. "Stop him!" Shivers ran up my spine at his fierce voice. It struck fear into my very core and urged me to run faster. Thanks to all the adrenaline, I was numb to anymore pain and hardly noticed the wind picking up or the snow that now crunched underneath my bare feet.

"Dammit! Don't let him get through that barrier! You know how hard it was to get him here! If he gets through its going to be even harder to get him back! Just shoot!" the man barked. Those last two words seemed to slow time. I could hear the click of the gun, practically see the feathered needle shoot out of the barrel and sink deep into the tree right beside me. The bark exploded and sent splinters piercing through my skin. My eyes widened in new found fear and I ran faster than I would've thought possible. My legs pumped hard and my lungs were burning for air.

There was a bright blue wall of light just ahead of me in a clearing. It stretched from the sky to the ground and domed around the expanse of the area. I wasn't the least bit discouraged though. I had a feeling, from the way it shimmered, that it would give to and force that was applied to it. I ran directly for it. "STOP!" the man screeched, his voice as sharp as the wind, and just as biting.

There was a click of the gun and a bang that reverberated through the chilled air as the sedation dart exploded from the gun and imbedded itself deep within my shoulder. I screamed as I came into contact with the wall.

The air was stripped from my lungs and I felt as though I was being tossed around inside of a tornado. There was a loud smack as I came into contact with something hard and a strained gurgle bubbled up from my throat. I tried to suck in air but only managed to gasp little pants instead. I opened my eyes to find myself staring at a starry sky. My heart was thundering in my chest as I jumped to my feet again.

Something squished between my toes and then I finally took the time to take in my surroundings. I was standing on top of a pristine white table cloth, my foot in some type of food that now happened to be a squashed green mess.

Everywhere I looked I caught pair of eyes trained directly on me. the only noise was my own ragged breathing and galloping heartbeat. As the first chair screeched backwards, I bolted. After that, everyone jumped into action. "Wait!" someone yelled. "Come back!" I wasted no time in leaping off of the table, only to be swatted out of the air and cradled into a broad, black suited chest.

I struggled with my captor, lashing out in any way possible, and managed to catch him in the jaw. "Leave me alone!" I screamed. Speaking finally for the first time in what felt like years. I reached behind myself and pulled out the dart, a whimper escaping my mouth as I realized that I had taken to much time before removing it. The dart had already begun to take effect on me.

The world was now spinning uncontrollably and I stumbled. My stride broken, I collapsed shaking on the ground. That same suited chest was back now, this time accompanied by a face. It was slightly tanned with a mop of jet black hair, a flash of gold eyes and a bloodied lip.

"D-d-don't touch me!" I stuttered, trying to pull away from his grip as I shuddered. The pain I had felt before had turned into pure agony now that my adrenaline rush was gone. I could see more faces behind that guy that was holding me in his arms. Their mouths were moving frantically, their heads whipped forward and as someone else came through the crowd, they parted.

The boy was chattering nonsense in my ear. "I'm sorry, Ritsu. I'm so sorry. I've been looking everyday, but..." His voice broke off.

"G-g-get away f-from me!" I said as I pushed feebly at his chest. All I could think about was the men that had been chasing me. He could be one of them, all of these people could be. My instincts were screaming at me to get up and fight but my body was heavy with the sedative.

There was a woman behind him then. She was probably in her forties but beautiful all the same. She had light brown hair that spiraled from her head to her lower back. Her eyes were a warm and chocolaty brown and her delicate hand trembled above her quivering mouth.

"Oh god, he's here. He's alive." She sobbed once and then started outright crying. She felt almost familiar somehow but I couldn't place her. The raven haired boy looked up at her. His movements jostled my agonized body, and now that there was no barrier to stop the pain, everything hit me like freight train. I screamed as loud as I could and when it stopped my broken sobs filled the air.

Hot tears fell down my face, obscuring my vision and burning my eyes. I could see the outline of a hand slowly descending to my face before I yelled "NO! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! No more! Please!" The words tumbled out of m mouth without any thought, as if it was a habit. "Please..." I whimpered halfheartedly before I sank into the complete oblivion of unconsciousness.