The young Shinobi awoke with a scream, finding himself alone in a room that he did not recongize or knowing why he screamed. He began racking his brain for information, trying his best to remember where he was or how he had came to be there. The last thing he remembered was a late night training session in the village training grounds. "What happened?" the boy said aloud to himself finding his voice harsh and his throat sore in the need of water, looking over to find a glass of water on the table beside the bed in which he laid, grabbing it and quickly taking a drink from it downing all the liquid inside the glass in one gulp as the door to the room opened to reveal a woman standing  there. "Ah your awake, I was beginning to think you for the afterlife" the woman said as she walked into the room placing a tray with a cup of water as well as a bowl of water and some rags, it was then that the boy realized that he was in some kind of hospital but not the one of the hidden sand village, he had seen the inside of it before and would of recongized it if it was, this place was smaller and did not look very sanitary for it to be a hospital. "Where am I?" the boy asked his voice shaky and his throat still sore the woman as she walked over and felt the boy's forehead, "you are in Okawaga" the woman said with a kind smile as she began checking the boy's heartbeat. "Okawaga? but that village is on the edge of the wind country, how did i come to be here?" The boy asked still trying to piece his memory together. "What's that? You don't remember how you got here?" The woman asked with a puzzled look on her face and began looking around the boy's head for a sign of injury. "Well your head seems fine," the woman said with a low sigh, obviously due to her not understanding why he could not remember. "The Village Hidden in the Sand has fallen" the woman said in a sad heavy voice, Raphael eyes opened in shock and began filling with tears, "it's... not... possible..." he said his voice trembling as the memory of that horrible night came flooding back to him.

It all started with an explosion, the Village Hidden in the Sand would never be the same after that. Raphael remembered the screams of terror as smoke began to fill the night sky, a Beast unlike anything he had seen in his life so large that he could see it even from where he stood in the training grounds though still not safe from the destruction it caused as a building near where he stood to come crashing down around him.

Raphael gripped his arm as he rememebered the pain he felt when the sand stone wall hit him, he had done his best to avoid the falling rubble but it was not fast enough it seems. The woman took notice of the boy grabbing his arm and made an attempt to comfort him, "I might not be the best medic, but I do have some skill." she stated making motion to the boy's arm before continuing, "but I was able to heal you of your injuries." The boy looked up from his arm to the woman standing near his bed she had kind eyes an it was obvious to the boy that the woman was to be a friend, "Thank you for your kindness Madam, but I still do not know how I came to be in this place." the boy said pressing for an answer to his earlier question. "Oh yes of course, you were brought here by a man, I did not see his face nor did he give his name, he brought you to my door nearly five weeks ago just before dawn and was gone before I could ask any questions, his only words were that Sunagakure had Fallen. I must be honest I did not believe it at first but then more survivors began to show up and told of the same destruction." the woman said with tears beginning to swell in her eyes as she spoke. Raphael was now sat even more stunned than he had before, five weeks was a long time but he more interested in the idenity of the man who the woman said brought him to her, who was he and why did he bring him here of all places to this woman. Raphael reached out and grabbed the glass of water from the tray the woman brought in, drinking it down slower than he had the first one, before looking around the room for his belongings. "Your things are over there in the corner," the woman said noticing the boy's glancing around the room, "I am glad you now are awake, and I will not keep you from leaving if that is what you desire. I know your mind yet holds questions a I would see any that I can answered, but I can tell from the look in your eye that you have a desire to be somewhere else. I wish you luck on your journey and hope you have safe travels." the woman said as she left the room closing the door behind her as she left.

The boy stood from the bed finding a little stiffness in his joints as he moved, though that would be expected if the woman was to be trusted at her words of him having been laid in bed for the past five weeks. Raphael did not let the stiffness bother him though he knew that once he was up moving again his muscles would remember their training and he would be back to full strength. The images of the Village hidden in the Sand Falling still burning in his thoughts, the boy knew what he must do and with that thought in his mind he grabbed his clothes from the corner dressing as fast as his stiff body would allow him before grabbing the rest of his gear strapping them to his belt and heading out the door of the room. He walked down a long low lit hallway to find himself on the second floor of the building, with a large pub like area below the balcony on which he now stood, he was right this was no hospital but was an inn. Walking down the stairs he found the woman from his room standing behind the bar, "I am sorry for any trouble I might have caused you in caring for me, how much do I owe you for your sevice and use of the room?" Raphael asked the woman once he had reached the bar, "Oh no, there is no charge for you, nor any other survivor of Sunagakure, should you choose to stay your room will remain available for you free of charge" the woman answered with the same kind smile she had given him in the room moments before. "I appreciate your kindness, but I do not require nor wish for charity" the boy returned in kind placing a bag full of Ryo on the counter, "I hope this will help you in the service of other survivors," the boy said before turning towards the door to the inn and taking his leave. Once he was outside he saw that night was again upon the land, bringing the boy's resolve to greater meaning. Pulling the hood of his cloak over his head the boy set out away from this small town headed towards answers.

His journey was not a long one as with the rising of the sun he had reached his destination, removing the hood from his head the site that beheld his eyes was that of the ruins of his village, it was true the Village Hidden in the Sand now stood nothing more than a shadow of it's former self, where once sat the vast village of the sand now sat a sea of glass and ruins. The young shinobi fell to his knees as he began to weep for his fallen brothers and sisters, not just of the village itself but of all the Kozai that stood in its walls. Should any of them had made it from the wreckage they would of returned to the Compound far from this distruction, Raphael knew that he should probably do the same, though by now they had probably thought him to be dead since he did not return with the rest of them if any others had survived. "Perhhaps it is for the best that they believe me to be dead," the boy thought to himself aloud as he stood from his knees, "It would prove less destraction to what must be done now" he said pulling his headband from his pack and gripping it briefly in his hand before letting it fall from his grasp, he then pulled his hood back over his head he left the Village Hidden in the Sand behind him, where he was heading he did not yet know but his mission was clear to him now, he had to become stronger, he needed to ensure that he never again found himself faced with an that he could not protect those he loved from. The boy knew the journey he was about to take would be a long one, but one that must be taken if he was to become stronger, and he had to become stronger.

{Exit Thread}

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1620
Travel: -600
C-Rank Jutsu Spiraling Wind Ball: -1000