[I]"You can't be serious!" Sergei paced back and forth, his calloused hand scratching at his scalp in between strands of blond hair. The man was clearly distressed, and his Russian accent was becoming stronger by the minute. "Those girls are my family! The only family I've [b]got[/b]!" Sergei simultaneously pounded his fist down on his superiors' desk, the contents on it shaking as the commander silently eyeballed him. "You have no choice, Sergei," the man said, his glare an unmistakeable sign that his words were neither a joke nor to be taken lightly. But the blow that his words delivered left Sergei stunned, at that very moment questioning just about everything that his superior, Mako, had planned. "You [b]will[/b] put them on that next vessel for Japan and say goodbye for good, no ifs buts or ands. Are we understood—" "Daddy?" Hana walked through the door, not fully comprehending what both men were talking about. Maybe it truly was a lack of understanding, or maybe some part of the young girl understood their discussion, yet she refrained from accepting its reality. Sergei rushed to her side, easily picking her up off of the ground as he held her in his arms. "Everything's okay, sweetie, you have nothing to—" A loud bang, followed by the excruciatingly long fall to the floor. Hana landed painfully on her back; her father's lifeless body nearly crushing her. She screamed so hard that her throat burned, but she grew silent the moment Mako aimed his gun at her. Hana knew better than to make another sound, but that didn't matter, not when the next shot went off.[/I] [sup]TIME: 1020[/sup] [sup]LOCATION: IZAYOI VILLAGE[/sup] The girl woke up with a gasp, beads of sweat clinging to her bare skin as she realized it had all been a dream. A terrible, terrible dream. She looked out the window to witness a grey sky and heavy rainfall, nothing uncommon to see, but nonetheless it was rather depressing. She lay in bed quietly staring at the ceiling, the raindrops on the roof the only source of ambient noise in an otherwise quiet room. Before she did anything else, Hana looked at her watch. It was early, just 10:21 in the morning. Without hesitation, she got up to commence her work-out routine. --- Hana attempted to do one more final pull-up. Her arms shook, and although she was slow, her chin eventually reached the bar. At that point, Hana breathed a sigh of relief and finally let go, her feet landing on the cold floor as her arms started to throb even more. She was up to three pull-ups, and she was satisfied. Her only goal was to remain toned enough to be able to do her job properly. You're bad at your job and you can easily end up dead...at least out in the battlefield. Wearing a black sports bra and shorts, Hana made her way to the small kitchenette for a much needed refreshing glass of water. Her work-out routine was roughly 45 minutes, yet this particular morning she felt quite over-heated, probably due to the high humidity in the air. It’d been raining for some time, and it’s was predictably muggy. After her drink of water, Hana took a bath. She took her time and relaxed, wondering what the day would bring but not dwelling too much on such thoughts. Instead, she let her mind take her to a time before she understood the harsh realities of the world, back when her family was together as a whole. It was better times, happier times, and the mental images always brought a smile to her face. But her calm state didn't last long when there was a sudden knock on her door. She called out from her location, and the voice of a young boy delivered the news to her. Urgent Town Hall meeting. [I]Here we go...[/I] Hana was quick to wrap up her bath and get ready. She did not enjoy being late in the least bit, and she'd be damned if she was the one to hold up such an important meeting. A few moments later, Hana made her way through the main entrance, strands of her short, wet hair framing her face. She was escorted to the Elder's location, and upon her arrival she noticed that she wasn't the first, but certainly not the last.