The Night of Red Tears [Open]

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“W...wha?”, Espi opened her eyes, blinking into the darkness of her bedroom. She had been startled out of sleep, but by what she had no idea. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was exactly three o'clock in the morning.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In the room next to hers she heard voices: her parents were up too. She couldn't hear exactly what they were saying though, as it was too muffled by the wall. She heard their bedroom door opened, and then hurried footsteps down the hallway.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

”Hold your fucking horses on, I'm coming! Who the hell do you think you are banging on my door like that at this hour---”, her father had been shouting, but had suddenly gone silent. Espi sat up in bed, pulling the covers up to her chin as she waited to hear more noise. After what seemed like forever, but in truth was likely no more then ten seconds or so, she heard shuffling outside in the hallway. Espi felt frozen in fear: she had no idea what was going on, but she was too scared to get out of bed and figure it out.

”Get your fucking hands off of me!”

There was more shuffling, and then she heard her parents door slam into the wall. The sound of glass shattering was heard – likely her mother's favorite vase or some such being knocked over – and then she heard her mother too, ”Get your damned hands off of me, what is this?”

”Let go of my wife!”

Suddenly, Espi heard a new voice, ”What's in here?”

”That's my daughters room! Don't you dare go in there! She has nothing to do with anything!”, her mother shouted, loudly.

Espi suddenly felt an urgency to move, to flee. She threw her covers off of herself and was in the middle of diving beneath her bed when she heard her door suddenly bang open and hit the wall. Heavy footsteps behind her told her someone was in her room. Her ankles were suddenly grabbed and she screamed as she was dragged out from underneath of her bed. Everyone suffered a fight or flight response, and in Espi's case it was a fight: of course, this didn't last longer then a few weak punches and slaps, before Espi found herself restrained via the Temporary Paralysis Technique, rendering her incapable of moving. ”Stay still girl, if your hands are clean I won't have a reason to harm you.”

”You heard my wife! Our daughter has nothing to do with this! Release her right now you fucking bastard!” Suddenly, the masked man holding her father struck out with his hand, hitting a pressure point on her father's neck and causing him to fall unconscious though remain standing.

”Now, little girl. I want you to look me in the eyes...”

Espi closed her eyes, tightly, and began to shake her head no: the last time she had looked someone in the eyes she had been put under such a powerful genjutsu that she spent weeks after convinced she had literally been in hell itself. Even now she had trouble sometimes telling the difference between fantasy and reality. Suddenly her hair was yanked back, and her eyes opened in a fear response: locking right on to the masked individual who up until that point had done all of the talking. The world around Espi became a blur and then dark: as if she were removed from her own mind. In the distance she could hear herself answering questions, but she had no idea why, nor did she have control: it was as if she were momentarily trapped in her own mind, no longer in control.

Espi had no idea how long she remained like this, though in truth it was less then a minute. However, before she knew it her hair was released, and the genjutsu was canceled. Espi found herself falling onto his knees, shaking. ”The girl is innocent, she knows nothing of her parents treachery. Kill them, spare the girl.”, the man ordered before exiting the room.

Espi looked up, staring with light purple colored eyes, into the hallway. The light was on and she saw as the masked men, ANBU, holding her parents moved too fast for Espi's untrained eyes to track. Blood splattered the walls, and their bodies crumpled. Her parents... were dead. Killed right in front of her. The ANBU gathered up the bodies and began to drag their lifeless forms out of the house while Espi's screams of anguish began to fill the night...

Word Count: 775

"This fuckin' sucks...." Zaiaku said as he stood in-front of a closed drug store. He had ran out of cigarettes and decided to buy more, disregarding the fact it was three in the morning. Of course, as any normal person would, the manager closed it down nearly five hours ago, leaving Zaiaku without his addiction. "Dammit..." He mumbled as he stuck his hands in his pocket, now walking off. He didn't want to go home since he wasn't sleepy. Tiger and Kodo were there to protect Zaigou, so that was covered. Not to mention, Zaiaku needed something to do anyway except just lay in bed, doing nothing. As such, he left and entered the night-life of Yokuchigakure. Numerous restarunts, bars, dance clubs, and other entertainment facilities were still open and still full of people. Amazing except not at all. Not exactly one to be with people, Zaiaku simply continued walking, looking about the buildings and such, as he had nothing else to do. However, something caught his eye. Something...strange. Two ANBU were perched at the top of a building, seemingly speaking to one another. "Th'fuck...." Zaiaku mumbled as he eyed them from below, wondering why two ANBU Black Ops members were just there, speaking. Though curious, he left it alone, given it wasn't his business and didn't want any trouble.

As such, he kept moving, now going into a residental area. Everyone was seemingly asleep. No lights were on inside the homes, nor was anybody outside. It was deathly quiet. As such, Zaiaku nearly jumped as he heard a little girl's scream. He quickly ran to the source as the screams kept going. On and on. People began to leave out of their homes and look at each other, wondering what the problem was and who was creating the noise. A few minutes passed until Zaiaku found the source. A home had its door open and the lights turned one, with the screaming emitting from inside. He quickly rushed into the home and looked about until he found a hallway, quickly entering it and almost tripping. What he saw at the end of it was a rather familiar face. "You!!" He said as he rushed towards her, slowing his pace as he noticed the blood splatter about the walls. "Th'hell....." He mumbled before kneeling towards the little child and attempted to calm her. "What happened here?"

WC:406

”Why did you do this?! Why did you kill them?”, Espi shouted at the ANBU, demanding answers. She wanted to know! She needed to know! Her parents had been her everything, her entire life. They were the only people she had. Now they were gone, cut down right in front of her, their blood painting the walls. What would she do now that they were gone? Where would she go? There were so many questions in her mind, but no answers.

Suddenly Espi saw someone enter her home, her room: a familiar face among a sea of masks – one of her comrades she had done the escort mission with the day before.

One of the ANBU paused – he was the one carrying her father's feet, and this caused Espi's attention to snap back on him. He looked back to her and Espi saw nothing but his mask. He remained standing there like that for a moment before he spoke, ”Your parents betrayed our village: the punishment was death, as it always is for traitors.”. Finished speaking her father's body was carried down the hallway and out of the house after her mothers.

Espi wrapped her arms around herself as she began to mutter, “What am I going to do? They were it. They were all I had... There is no one else. Why did they have to kill them? My parents weren't bad people. They weren't....” Suddenly, Espi looked up to Zaiaku, as tears poured down her rosy colored cheeks. “My parents were good people... they were good. They loved me... they... they were good.”

Espi began to rock back and forth while remaining on her knees where she had fallen; her arms still wrapped around herself. She closed her eyes, sobbing, as she hugged herself. Espi, who was always very happy, felt a swirl of emotions in her that she normally didn't feel: pain, anger, sadness. Suddenly Espi tilted her head back and just screamed at the ceiling.

Word Count: 335 + 775 = 1,110

Zaiaku looked at the man who Espi was yelling at. The moment he saw, his heart dropped for two reason. Reason one, it was the ANBU. The same ANBU he saw earlier. The second reason, he noticed what he was carrying. Though he did not know who the man was, he easily pieced together what was happened. Within that single nanosecond, Zaiaku became enraged. Enraged to the point he almost flung himself at the ANBU as he walked away, tackling him onto the floor and pinning him. "Get the fu-" He tried to say as Zaiaku's giant fist connected with the back of his head. "THE FUCKING SHIT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Zaiaku roared as he punched the ANBU again and again. His next strike was going to be a chakra enhanced punch that would've killed the ANBU...if he hadn't managed to use the True Paralysis Technique to restrain Zaiaku. In a instant, he was bound by the invisible robes, causing him to fall off the ANBU and onto his back. Getting up, the ANBU spoke to him. "The Kouyakage is gonna hear about this, freak! You're gonna be in big trouble." The man sneered as he proceeded to pick up the dead man and proceeded to leave.

"FUCK YOU!!" He roared as he struggled against the invisible ropes, trying with all his might to break free and maul that man to death. However, he slowly began to stop struggling and more so began to stare at Espi. Not with a face of boredom or rage, but with a face of pity, sympathy, and sadness. Slowly, he crawled to her side again, but said nothing, cursing himself silently since he couldn't think of a way to comfort her. After all, he received no comfort when the...."Lose" happened to him. "I'm sorry..."

WC:715

Espi watched as Zaiaku suddenly got angry – for reasons she wasn't quite sure of, outside of not agreeing with what he had just seen and heard – and launched himself at the ANBU. The ANBU was tackled and hit, and Espi watched as it looked like Zaiaku was going to hit him again, but was suddenly stopped. It looked like something similar to the jutsu that the ANBU had used early on her father, and her hands went up to her mouth and covered it as she gasped. She was sure the ANBU was going to kill Zaiaku, but instead the ANBU only insulted him and then threatened him with the Kouyakage finding out about this before carrying her father's body out of the house.

As tears kept streaming down her cheeks she looked to Zaiaku as he crawled to her side once more. ”Why did you do that? Why did you attack them? You'll be in so much trouble...”, she said softly in a voice that trembled. Sniffling she reached up and wiped away her tears only for more to take their place. ”They might kill you, next. I hate them, I hate them so much. My parents weren't bad people: I don't believe it. I don't believe a word of it.”

Espi shook her head as if the action would make it more truthful. ”I hate them, hate them, hate them!” Espi could feel her anger rising, an emotion she wasn't all that familiar with, and her hands clenched into fists until her fingernails were biting into her skin. ”I want them dead...”, she whispered suddenly, and very quietly.

Word Count: 274 + 1,110 = 1,384

Zaiaku felt his chest hurt as Espi questioned him about why he did what he did. Memories came flushing back as the mere second went by. Their faces.....their smiles....their deaths. Shaking his head at the thought of it, he responded. "I don't care if I'm trouble or they kill me," He spoke, "What they did is something nobody should do." Zaiaku, thought as violent and brutal as he is, does have morals. Very stern ones at that. What he had just witnessed....it disgusted him. ”I want them dead...”, Zaiaku looked at Espi the moment she said that and did a knowing sigh. "I know you do....but revenge is not what is needed..." He said. Though this behavior is definitely contradicting his usual views, he knows better in cases like these, no matter how much it pains him. "Kill 'em...and you're no better than those fuckers...and nothing good will come of their death.." It was around this time that Zaiaku felt his binds disappear. Now free, he sat cross-legged next to Espi, gently and carefully wrapping his arms around her and patting her back. "I should know.....same thing happen to me when I was your age." With that being said, he picked up Espi, his own fatherly instincts kicking in. Holding her close and comforting her, he gently laid her on her bed before sitting on the left end of it.

WC:956

Espi listened to Zaiaku's words, and how revenge wasn't the answer. It was hard to believe it, though she knew in the back of her mind it to be true. Revenge wouldn't fix this, no, but it sure would feel good in the moment. Still, the long term consequences... Plus, who was she kidding? These were highly trained ANBU, not some Genin like her, she knew she would never stand a chance against them. She would only end up dead in the end, imprisoned even.

She allowed Zaiaku to put his arm around her and pat her on the back; her tears still streaming down her cheeks like an endless stream. When she heard him say that the same thing had happened to him when he was her age she looked up at him, sadly: that meant he knew exactly how she was feeling right now. It also meant that he of all people's advice was the most sound, the best. He knew exactly how it felt to be in her shoes, which meant she should listen to him.

Espi was then picked up and put on her bed before Zaiaku sat at the end of it. She turned on her side, curling herself up into a little ball as she stared out the doorway to the wall she could see: the wall still coated in her parents blood. ”I keep hoping that I'll wake up. I keep hoping that this is all just a bad dream... but I know it isn't. This is just like when that missing-nin who slaughtered my friends at our Academy graduation trapped me in a genjutsu. This is what I saw... this was the hell he put me through. My worst fear... Only this time it's real.”

Word Count: 295 + 1,384 = 1,679

Zaiaku watched as she curled up into a ball and listened to her. It was amazing how cruel the world could be sometimes. Even though Zaiaku had done his share of bad things, he still knew the right way and knew how see felt. "Heh....on the bad nights I dream about it too.....parents...sister getting killed....then my cousin and uncle...but those are the bad nights. " He said as he scooted closer and placed a gentle hand on her arm. "I know I won't be able to forget that......that hell. But I won't let it stop me from livin' my life. I mean...look at me. I'm Special Jonin. I have a smart little son. I have some money.." He trailed off for a moment before speaking again, now focusing on her. "You know...you shouldn't live here anymore...alone. Chances are they might send you a foster home and, living in the ghettos for so long, I KNOW thats fuckin' bad. If ya want, you could live with me for a while. After all, there is some worse shit out there than those ANBU douchebags."

WC:1150

Espi listened to him as he spoke, listening to him explain how he still dreamed about what happened to his own family sometimes. Espi knew that would likely happen to her, too: that every so often she'd end up going to bed just to wake up in a cold sweat because her mind had played this night over again like a sick, sadistic movie. It had happened that way when it came to the genjutsu she had been put under, so why not over their actual deaths?

Espi thought about Zaiaku's offer for a moment: she knew him just a little – and yet in the past few minutes he had been here she had learned more about him then she did most people, and he could understand her in ways other people never would because they never suffered such a loss. She didn't want to go and live with perfect strangers in foster care, or worse end up in one of the villages orphanages. She knew she couldn't afford this house on her own, and after her parents had been killed here... this place would haunt her if she remained. She also knew she couldn't risk living on the streets: there were indeed some terrible things out there, things far worse then those ANBU who had just killed her parents.

Sniffling Espi lifted her hand and wiped away her tears once more: her eyes were red and puffy by now and a bit sore from all of her crying. “Okay, I'll come live with you... if you're sure you want me to. I don't want to live in a foster home; and I definitely don't want to end up in the orphanage: that place is horrible.” She looked away from the splatter of her parents blood on the wall and to Zaiaku, sniffling again.

Word Count: 307 + 1,679 = 1,986

Zaiaku smiled as she accepted his offer, happy that she didn't decide to go to the streets like he did. "Ok.." He said as he gently scooped her up in his arms like he did before, he stood. "Let's go." He said he wiped her tear stained face. Closing her room door behind her, he began to make his way down the hall and, eventually, out into the neighborhood. People were watching due to the ruckus and stared at the odd duo. Nonetheless, Zaiaku didn't care and quickly jumped onto a roof of a near-by house and began to move back from where he came, disappearing into the night with Espi in his arms.

WC:1286
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