Bare feet hit hard against the painful ground. Heart pumping hot blood all throughout her body in a desperate attempt to keep her ahead. The dew of the morning sun on the grass kissed her feet, making her slip and fall. But that didn't bother her. She got up just as quickly, tearing through the trees that promised sunlight after an eternity of running in darkness. Shouts of her pursuers drowning out all other sounds to her ears. She wanted to get away. Needed to get away. She couldn't go back.

Not to that place of nightmares.

Her body burned, lungs pumping fire instead of oxygen, sweat seeping through her thin clothes and sticking tight to her. She was just about ready to give up, when she broke through the edge of the trees. Harsh sunlight greeted her, skin dancing at the feeling of warmth. Her eyes though, weren't used to such brightness, and they shut instinctively.

Visual abilities blocked off, she burst out onto the side walk and landed head first into someone's chest, making them both fall over. Her pursuers were close, she could hear their rabid voices getting closer with threats of more torture. She had to get up, but she couldn't, her body frozen from running all night in the cold wind without a single minute's rest. Instead, she clung tight to the body beneath her, flinching when a pair of hands gripped her shoulders.

  "Please..." She rasped, voice hoarse from breathing hard, body jerking as she forced down a cough, "Don't let them take me..."

It seemed like an eternity before she got a response, the only thing filling her mind were the gaining footsteps behind her. She was a bit shocked to hear a voice bring her back, soft yet somewhat... Empty.

  "Do you need help with something?"

She looked up to see a pair of pretty eyes and a head of beautiful hair. Both had two colours, clashing yet harmonizing.

Heterochromatic. Something a bit like me.

She shook her head. No time for that. She needed a quick believable answer.

  "Could you... d-direct me to the... nearest police station?" Damn cold wind, "Please?"

Nothing at first. Then she was being helped up to her feet and led down the street, mutterings and cursing of her pursuers right behind them. Looked like they were going to let up. For now, she was safe.

Can't be too careless and trust anyone.

She looked up at her rescuer. She didn't pay much attention to his outfit, only noticing the white wooly scarf around his neck. His hair was red on the left side, white in the other. His eyes. Wow his eyes; right was grey, left was blue, like ocean, or sky, or both mixed into one. She couldn't care less. He was pretty.

Not handsome.

Pretty.

He could probably feel her eyes staring at him from behind the bangs of her black hair. He glanced at her, said nothing, then drapped his scarf round her neck.

She stopped and blinked at him, "W-Why...?"

  "You're cold."

He was kind. Maybe a bit too kind. She didn't know how to describe it.

The police station was in site right across the road, and for a moment she asked herself what she was doing. It struck her, and she pulled away.

  "Thank you." She stopped herself and him when he began to walk away. Wherever he was going, he didn't seem to be much of a hurry, "Your scarf...?"

He shrugged and walked off.

As much as she would've loved to just watch him walk away, she didn't trust the four men who pursued her to completely give up. So into the station she went.

Her feet, wet and bare, froze to the cold tiles of the building. Color shifting eyes scanning the faces that spared glances at her in sweat soaked dirty clothes and a snow-white wooly scarf. She slowly dragged her body to the front desk, the pains and aches finally kicking in to let her know how much she'd overworked herself.

Freedom, a sliver of it, at the cost of a butt load of pain. And for what? A name and phone number you don't recognize?

  "Hi, how are you—?" The lady at the desk stopped when she saw the young girl's appearance, the name on her shirt read 'Sara'. Sara made a confused, somewhat disgusted face, before quickly hiding it behind another smile.

No doubt she looked revolting, sweaty and dirty, littered with scrapes. Weird headgear that sat on her forehead and ran down both sides to cover her cheeks. Bangs hiding her weird eyes and bandages that covered her hands all the way to her fingertips. Long black hair as tangled and uncharted as the Amazon forest and river.

Yep. Revolting.

He didn't look at me like that. He didn't look at me like I'm some kind of monster—

She stopped. Would they believe her story, whatever her story was? She might've not been able to remember much before all the running, but she had a feeling that she got that look a lot.

Especially from police.

  "Are you lost sweetie?" Sara asked again.

Inner walls up. Trust no one.

Tentatively, she placed her hands on the desk, as if her appearance might offend the desk itself. She leaned and quietly asked:

  "Could you help me find someone?"

Sara grabbed a pen and a form for her to fill in details, which was the last thing the girl needed, so she raised her hands to stop the officer.

On second thought...

She took the form and flipped it around, writing down the name and number that had followed her in her mind throughout the night. She gave the paper back to show the officer and pointed at the name she wrote.

  "I need you to find her." She  pleaded, "I need her to help me."

Sara looked down at the name and her eyes widened. She knew that name. She looked up at the girl. Either something big was coming after, or she was about to do something big. Either way, it'd be strange to pull this name out of the blue, especially since it's so hard to get a hold of.

Of all the people, why Nagisa Sabito?