The battle happened too quickly for Yume to keep track.  Her and a few other chunin had only left the village a couple hours previously.  That amount of time shouldn't have put them in range of any villages that opposed Tsukigakure.  However, here she was, hiding behind a tree while she watched the last of her comrades falling to their knees.

It wasn't that she didn't want to help him - Yoshi was his name.  She simply knew that her added efforts would do nothing but lead to another death.  The gathered chunin had been taken out by a group of cloaked individuals in the matter of a minute.  And not a single one of their opponents had been injured.  No chunin could combat such strength.

Which was why Yume had to ensure that she escaped.  Otherwise nobody would be able to report anything to Hajime.

I'm so sorry, Yoshi.

Yume was just about to sprint away when one of the cloaked figures broke what had been a consistent silence.

"Don't kill him quite yet."

Whether it was curiosity or the need to report what happened next, Yume wasn't sure, but she found herself turning back toward the scene.  She wasn't using any chakra, and the three kept her out of clear view.  If she stayed for just a few moments longer, she should be safe.

There were five cloaked men surrounding Yoshi.  The group had performed the ambush in just a small enough break in the trees that it barely contained the six living people and the four dead Tsukigakure shinobi.  It was nearly impossible to make out any detail of the cloaked figures, the trees and hoods adding just enough shadows to hide their faces.  However, one member approached Yoshi, and the particular member had a bit of red hair hanging out of their hood - almost like the end of a ponytail.  The red haired figure knelt down in front of Yoshi, a kunai in their gloved hand.  

Yoshi himself was bleeding profusely from multiple places, one such place being his Achilles' tendons, leaving him unable to effectively move.  With what strength he did have, Yoshi kept himself propped up, his eyes narrowed and defiant.  When the figure only stared for a moment, Yoshi spat in their direction.

The spit seemed to land, because the figure raised the weaponless hand to wipe their face.

"It would seem that you want a slow death."

The voice belonged to a male.  It had a certain coldness to it.  Although it seemed to lack emotion, there was something to it that just made a chill travel up Yume's spine.

It appeared it had a similar effect on Yoshi, because a chunin Yume had not known to fear death tensed.  Hoping to hide his fear, though, Yoshi glared.

The cloaked man snorted.  "Anyway, before that happens, I would like you to tell me something."

"I will tell you-" 

Yoshi's defiance was cut off, shifting into a scream when the man plunged the kunai into his thigh.  With a jerk of his wrist, the man moved the kunai further up.  When Yoshi's next cry turned into a trembling pant, he continued.

"Maybe next time you will let me finish," he chided.  "You have ten seconds to tell me the answer to my question.  If you don't, your oh-so-sneaky friend will have my next kunai in her eye."

Yume flinched, the chill returning as it spread throughout her entire body.  She had been discovered.  The group must have been observing the chunin for longer than she'd predicted.  When they first attacked, Yume had just been returning from a restroom break.   Either they had seen her or somehow sensed her.

How strong were these people?

Fear drove her to turn, preparing to run.  Just as she was about to shove off to escape, the cloaked man's question reached her.

"Where is the girl named Sasaui?"

Either Yoshi gave them an answer or they didn't try too hard to chase Yume down, because she didn't die within the next couple of hours.  But the entire run back, that name rang through her mind.

The group could only mean one person.

*~*~*~

"An escort?"

"That is what I said, Sasaui.  Unless you were just trying out  career as an echo."

Taro snorted, receiving a glare from his dark haired team-mate.  As she was seated cross-legged on the ground and he was standing, though, it was lost on him. 

"You would probably make a better echo than a shinobi, honestly," he remarked, raising a hand to his mouth as he yawned.

Before Sasaui could retort, Megumi snapped her fingers.  Sasaui's mouth snapped shut.  During the three months they had been part of Megumi's team, the three genin had figured out quickly that if one continued after her warning, there would be heck to pay.  

After a moment of silence, Hikaru finally spoke up.  "Why do we need an escort, Megumi-sensei?"

The red haired jounin crossed her arms, her gaze moving over her team.  As they traveled over each person, Sasaui couldn't help but follow her gaze.  To her left was Taro, both hands now in his pockets as he stared somewhere past their sensei.  Figuring Megumi would have passed her by now, Sasaui then looked toward Hikaru.  The blond was staring at Megumi, one hand grasping the other arm's elbow while that hand traced the symbol of the headband around her neck.

Sasaui's eyes finally flickered toward Megumi, who had rested her own gaze on her seated student.  "There has recently been a report of high leveled activity around the village.   This wouldn't be so bad if a genin team was not leaving so soon and we are not sure if we can stop the occurrences before then."

Wind picked up.  With Tsukigakure's uncommon structure, this wasn't uncommon.  The village was basically built into a mountain, and the training areas such as the one Team Megumi found themselves were up high where the breeze enjoyed being stronger.  This sent Sasaui's hair flying around her face as she lifted her chin off her hand.

It was because Sasaui was spitting hair from her mouth Taro beat her to speaking.  "What exactly happened, Megumi-sensei?"

Megumi shifted, her hand falling to her sword sheath.  "There was just an attack or two.  Nothing major," she replied.  "Like I said, though, since our team has to leave in two days to make it to the chunin exams, we want to stay safe.  And to help solidify our alliance with each other, Konoha has offered to send ANBU to do the escorting job since our own stronger shinobi will be working to chase down these new enemies."

Sasaui tried to pay attention as Megumi proceeded to give them last minute tips for the upcoming exam, but she was unable to stop herself from zoning out.  The mere mention of that word had sent her mind inward, toward that darkness that she had tried to shove down many years ago.

The darkness that was her life before she reached Tsukigakure.

The darkness that seemed to ache every time Konoha was mentioned.

She can't know who she is.

For some reason, the small fragment of light that glimmered in the darkness - that mere line that served as her only memory - gave her an odd sense.  And the renewed vigor to prove it wrong.  She was going to find out who she was.

And maybe Konoha held some answers.

*~*~*~

First of all: HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, ITOKO/MERRY CHRISTMAS!  Seriously, I am going to post this the moment it tells me it is Christmas by your time XD

Anyway, to address the audience as a whole, this is a collaborative work between myself and Shizake19.  It follows my characters from the Tainted series and Shizake's character from Paths of Divergence.  We shall switch who writes each chapter although this is on my account.  And, well... If you couldn't guess from the preview to Tainted Hearts, Sasaui gained amnesia.  You also get a sneak peak into her team - Megumi, Hikaru, and Taro.  This is my first time writing them as a team, so we shall get to experience them for the first time all together XD Not sure what else to say except I hope you enjoyed this little prologue. 

So, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.