Darkness… Darkness all around me… I'm laying down? No… More like floating on my back.

My eyes are closed, but I do not need to open them to know I am in darkness. Yet, when I opened them, I was not in darkness, but in a forest next to a creek bed. I remember now, I fell asleep here, just as I had always done when I wanted to get away.

I heard a twig snap a few feet away and turned my head to where I had heard the sound.

"Sora" a voice called as I stood up.

I would recognize that voice anywhere, it was that of my friend, Tenshi Kurosaki.

Tenshi always wore dark colors, whether it was a blood red, dark blue, green, purple, or just the absence of color, which is black. Today he wore a dark gray t-shirt with fish nets on his arms and black shorts. His black head-band almost covered his brown eyes. Tenshi's hair was dark blue and went down to his neck, and curled at the ends.

"Did you need something" I asked as he walked toward me.

"Well, I was hoping we could spar or something" he said as he removed his two dark blue katanas from their sheaths which hung from his back.

"Oh, I see" I said smirking as I removed my two dark red katanas from their sheaths which also hung from my back.

"It's been a while… Hasn't it Sora?" He asked taking his stance.

"A few months… But I suppose with all the missions we have been on, it cant be helped now can it?" I asked, mimicking his stance.

"I suppose not" Tenshi said, both of us un moving.

Our clans specialized in the same thing, making us almost equally matched. You would think the two clans would always be competing to see which was better, instead, we live as one.

Tenshi and I had always known each other, even before academy days. I smiled to myself thinking back to those days of us working hard, always pushing each other.

Before I got completely lost in my thoughts, I remembered I might want to try and win this sparring session.

We circled for a little before we lunged forward at the same time, our blades crushing against one another until we pushed off each other's blades and jumped back only to repeat our earlier motions over and over again. This was like a test to see who could break first. Normally, this resulted in us both collapsing because we refused to give in.

Though the score was Tenshi: 1 Sora:0 because of the one time I had lost my balance and fallen flat on my butt, and before I could get to my feet and recover, Tenshi's katana was already to my throat, I had no choice but to surrender that time.

Today was going to be different though, I was sick of this routine, so when we collided for the tenth time, I made sure I had only used one of my katanas, which blocked both of his, then I held my other blade in my left hand, and stuck it up to his throat.

"Okay, you win this round Sora" he said before backing off.

"Tenshi: 1 Sora: 1" I said, satisfied that we were tied again.

"Why don't we get some training in" he asked as we put our katanas back into their cases.

"Sounds good to me, why don't we start with our jogging routine" I asked as I leaned back to stretch.

"Sure why not" he said as he ruffled my hair and smiled down at me, bending his knees so he was now eye level with me. Oh yeah, did I mention Tenshi was 6'4?

"Hey, cut it out" I said as I hit his hand away and fixed my dark orange hair.

He just laughed and did some weird stretch to stretch out his long legs. "Okay, where would you like to go jogging this time?"

"Lets go five laps around the village" I said smiling at the fact he actually let me pick this time.

"Five laps around the village it is Shirazaki" he smirked as he drew a line in the dirt with a stick.

"Right Kurosaki, five laps, no cheating" I said as we both stood behind the line. (When we say jog, we are really talking about racing each other).

"Go" he said before bolting into the leaf village forest with me right beside him.

I began to laugh as we ran by tree after tree, and after a while, everything was a blur to me as I ran past it… Everything except Tenshi of course, only because he was going at the same speed as I was.

Soon he began to laugh too, why the both of us were laughing, I have no idea. But the more I heard Tenshi laugh, the more I wanted to laugh, and by the time we were on our second lap, our laughter was uncontrollable, and by the time we finished our "jog", we were lying on the floor laughing so hard our sides were hurting until finally we were able to calm down.

"Hey Tenshi?" I asked as I sat up and turned toward him.

"Yeah? What's up Sora" He asked as he sat up as well.

"Do you think we will always be as close as we are now?"

"Of course Sora, we've always been close, what makes you think we wouldn't be later on?"

"I don't know… I just don't want to grow apart is all…"

"Oh, I see… Well don't worry. You've always got me by your side Sora. I mean, not always physically, 'cause of missions, but you get the point."

"Yeah" I said as he stood up and held out his hand for me to take. "you promise?"

" Yeah, I promise, now, we should probably head back soon. The chunin exams should be starting soon, we wouldn't want to miss it, after all, it would kind of suck to stay genin" he said as I took his hand and he pulled me up.

"Well yeah, but the only reason we are still genin is because the sand and sound villages invaded us."

"Well, unless you want to be stuck as a genin for another year, I suggest we get moving."

"Right" I said as we walked to where we were supposed to meet team 24 (Tenshi's team) and team 4 (my team).

When we finally got to the place where we were supposed to meet (which was Ichiraku's ramen shop) neither of our teammates had shown up just yet, so we decided to go in and order for us all, figuring they would pay us back some time in the near future.

As old man Ichiraku began to make our orders, I sat down and thought about what my teammates Rikku and Lulu were doing about now.

As I sat there and thought about that, I knew Tenshi had his mind on his two teammates Kisake and Naga.

Just as Ichiraku gave us our orders, a girl with light green hair and gold eyes walked in. She smiled widely at me, showing her shiny sharp teeth, they were nothing compared to her shimmering gold eyes though. Her black headband was around her waste. She wore a forest green tank top, that cut off at her stomach and cargo pants that were black.

"Hey there Rikku" I said as her dog Ranma wagged her tail happily as she barked at me from the top of Rikku's head.

"Hiya Sora" she said as she sat at the table to wait for Lulu.

"Rikku" Tenshi said and nodded at her.

"Tenshi" she said and nodded back.

(That was their way of saying hello.)

A few minutes later and a boy with light blue, spiky hair, lime green eyes and blue leaf head-band around his arm came in. He wore a white t-shirt and tan pants.

"Naga" Tenshi smiled up at him before Naga sat down.

"'Sup Tenshi" he said returning the smile flashing his dull, yet shiny teeth.

Sooner than expected, a girl with light purple, wavy, hair and crystal blue eyes walked in arm in arm with a boy with long-ish blond hair and icy blue eyes.

Lulu's headband was in a different place every day, today, it was around her ankle, and Kisake's headband was wrapped around his leg, as usual.

After grabbing a bite to eat, it was off to the preliminary rounds… For the second time.

"Good luck team 24" I said waving to them as they went to find their sensei.

"You too team 4" Naga said waving back.

With that, we were off to find our sensei, Kaname, which we found him lounging under a tree in the shade.

When we walked up to our spiky black haired sensei he smiled at us, told us we already knew what to do and to go away.

What a jerk!

Anyway, Lulu went to go get our scroll, which turned out to be the heaven scroll, while Rikku and I listened to Anko sensei's instructions again.

After Anko was finished with all of that, the gates to the forest of death were opened and all teams rushed through the different gates.

Luckily, we had already been through this once, so we knew who was going to carry the scroll and what our plans were.

When we finally stopped to rest, the sun was beginning to set and Lulu was tired. So we stopped where we stopped the last time, by the river to get water and set up a temporary camp with no fire, just in case.

We caught some fish for dinner… Well… I caught fish, Rikku hates fish and has a phobia or something, and Lulu doesn't know how to fish. Anyway, after I cooked them with the fire ball in my hand, I set them on plates for us to eat. Although I didn't enjoy fish, I ate it anyway, there was no way I was going to starve and have no energy, I was taking the first watch while the other two slept.

The first few hours of the night seemed to fly by, and finally, I woke the other two so I could get some shut eye. Lulu bounced out of bed, shouting something about waffles when I covered her mouth about to pound her face in for almost giving us away. Rikku on the other hand, was about to strangle me for waking her until she remembered it was her turn for watch with Lulu.

My two teammates woke me up just before dawn so we could pack up, then wait and hide for the first group to come along.

I could not believe what team I saw first… You guessed it, team 24! Just great, I thought as Naga walked up next to the bush Lulu was hiding in.

Rikku signaled for Lulu to jump out cover his mouth and get back to the bushes. So Lulu did so without anyone noticing, she apologized to Naga and then knocked him out and searched his pockets hoping to find an earth scroll. No such luck though.

The next person to come was Kisake, and Rikku slowly rose up through the ground grabbing his ankle. It wasn't as easy for her as it was for Lulu, because even when it comes to friends, he may not want to, but Kisake will fight back, and that's exactly what he did.

He pulled a kunai from his pouch and threw it at her hand, but Rikku pulled back just in time before it sliced her. But because Rikku pulled back from Kisake's kunai attack, he was able to jump back out of her reach. So she came out of the ground, her black puppy, Ranma, on her head as she pulled out kunai and threw them which he dodged with ease.

I was so busy watching their fight I didn't notice Tenshi creeping up behind the tree I was hiding in. When I had noticed him, it was too late to move, he had one of his katanas to my throat and was telling me to step out of the tree.

I did as I was told and stepped out of the tree with my hands raised above my head "okay Tenshi, you caught me."

He said nothing and began searching me for a scroll, before he finished, I was able to pull my katana on him and catch him off guard and with that, we began to fight, but then I quickly realized something: all those times in training… Tenshi had been going easy on me. I could barley keep up with any of his movements at all let alone even try and land an attack on him.

I was growing more and more frustrated by the minute, and the longer the fight drags on, the weaker I got and the more amused Tenshi seemed.

Somehow, a few moments later, our fight ended, Rikku had taken their scroll from Kisake and Kisake had taken our scroll from Rikku. They opened it at the same town and both began laughing, at which time, Naga had woken up.

"What's going on" Lulu and Naga yelled in unison.

"We have the same scroll" both Kisake and Rikku replied.

I was somewhat relieved to hear that, but at the same time I was so mad about Tenshi going easy on me I was in no mood to be happy, I simply stormed off into the bushes to let off some steam.

"Sora, what's wrong" Rikku called after me.

"I'm just mad. All that work for nothing" I lied as my two teammates followed me into the forest.

It didn't take long before we had another target in sight, a team we all despised, team 17 made up of all girls. We hated them since academy days, they were Sasuke fans… We hate Sasuke. This was going to be a piece of cake, they once tried to beat us up for harping on SasGAY.

Luckily, this time they had an earth scroll and we were off to the temple after Rikku had sicked Ranma on each of the girls who ran off screaming throwing their scroll in the air. Once inside we opened the scrolls once again to greet our now summoned, Kaname sensei who was to lead us to the next part of the preliminary rounds.

"Okay guys" he said, his spiky black hair now falling in his startling silver eyes. "Just remember what I taught you and you should be just fine" he said putting his arm around Lulu's shoulders.

"Icky! Get your perverted butt off of me" she said and hit his hand away.

"Oh come on! I am so not a pervert" he said as he gave her puppy dog eyes.

"Uh-huh, sure" Rikku said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes, Ranma barked happily agreeing with her.

Kaname sensei then ran over to me "Sora, you believe me right?"

I just looked down annoyed "I'm not saving your ass this time pervert, you're the one who decided to be a jerk earlier."

"UGH! I GIVE UP" He sighed in defeat and took us to where the teams who made it were.

When we got there, we were given the rules and the matches began.

The first two people who were pitted against each other were Lulu and some guy from the sound village I didn't bother to remember the name of. Lulu, of course, won in no time. Naga faced off with some girl in the sand village.

Finally, Kisake fought a guy from the sand and Rikku fought his partner with Ranma at her side the whole time. I never realized what a splendid tracker ninja she was until after that day.

In the end there was only myself, Tenshi, a guy from the leaf whom I didn't know, and a girl from the hidden rain village.

Tenshi fought the boy from the leaf and even though I was upset with Tenshi, I was still very worried about him.

Their fight seemed to drag on forever, and before I knew it, Tenshi was caught in the other guy's genjutsu, and just when the guy was about to finish him off, I yelled out to him.

"Tenshi! Tenshi don't give up! Please don't give up! You can do this! I know you can!" With that, Tenshi was able to break the genjutsu and landed a direct attack on that poor guy which ended their match.

Tenshi was declared the winner and decided he wanted to watch my match with that girl before he would be treated.

When our fight began, the girl made water clones of herself, so I made shadow clones, the next few minutes were a barrage of fists while we tried to fight our way through to each other. When that wasn't working, I pulled out my katanas which I infused some of my chakra in them and engulfed them in fire.

I demolished most of her water clones, but then they had me pinned down and she stuck a kunai to my throat commanding me to give up.

I have to think of something, and fast, I thought as she rose the kunai, about to slit my throat. My right leg felt loose under one of the water clones, so I kicked up knocking the clone off, and the kunai out of the girls hand.

I quickly rose to my feet, katanas in my hands, I quickly made a hand sign and a ring of fire appeared around the girl and I.

After I did that, it wasn't long before I had the girl cornered… I didn't get to do much… She forfeited and I was declared the winner.

After that we were all to head home and rest and begin our training for the continuation of the chunin exams in three months.

I spent every day with Kaname sensei, doing whatever I could to get stronger. I wanted to spend as much time away from Tenshi as possible. Yes, I was still mad about him going easy on me. How was I supposed to get stronger if he held back? Did he think I was weak?

The point was, I did not want to think about him, so I spent every minute I could training my heart out with Kaname sensei.

"You know Sora" he said one day in the middle of our sparring session "you have gotten a lot better at this."

"Thanks sensei" I said smiling up at him.

But I had let my guard down, and before I knew what was going on I was lying on the ground and my head was spinning.

"Never let your guard down" Kaname sensei was saying, but I blacked out, tired from working so hard all week.

When I woke up, I was at home in bed, there was a note next to me, it said:

"Sora,

I was called on a mission and wont be back in time to train you today, so consider it your day off,

Kaname."

I sighed and decided to get up and go to the spot I lay down and went to sleep at, the one by the creek.

So I got up and went to get dressed. I grabbed my dark brown cargo pants that unzip at the knee and gray t-shirt and kind of threw them on. Next I tied my head band around my head after brushing my long hair out of my silver eyes.

Then I ran to my favorite spot, hoping not to run into a certain someone I was still upset with.

When I arrived, no one was there, and I was thankful for it. But instead of lounging in the shade, as usual, I decided it might be better to do some training exercises.

The first thing I did was 100 push-ups, then moved to 150 sit-ups, before stretching out my legs and jogging a certain distance and back to my spot.

When I finished with that, I sat down by the creek under my tree. The sun was shining down through its leaves.

"Is it noon already" I asked myself not expecting an answer, so I was startled when I heard Tenshi's voice.

"Yeah, just about" he said as he walked over and bent down next to me.

I sighed "what do you want?"

"Oh come on Sora, don't tell me you're still mad at me. I'm sorry I went easy on you ok? But I didn't want to hurt you."

"Didn't want to…" I trailed off, now more angry than I was. "What, am I THAT weak to you?"

"What? No Sora, I didn't mean it the way it sounded I-"

"Then what did you mean Tenshi? You know what, just forget it and go away."

"Sora-"

"Just go already!" I said as I glared at the creek.

"Sora, get up" Tenshi said, he sounded aggravated.

"Why should I?"

"Get up" he said rising, grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet.

"What?" I asked glaring up at him.

"I will fight you fairly ok? If you win, it proves me wrong, if I win, you cant be mad anymore. Deal?"

"Fine" I said, my anger retreating.

"Good, now get ready, I am going to come at you pretty quickly so-"

I cut him off this time by throwing a kunai at his head, which he dodged, and then threw myself at him sucker punching him.

"Just shut up and fight already Tenshi" I said as he stumbled back.

"Fine by me" he said as he appeared behind me, his blades to my throat.

I elbowed him in the stomach, giving me time to get away.

I pulled out a shuriken, jumped in the air and sent it spiraling toward him, which, he had stopped it with three of his kunai.

I was still in the air when he appeared behind me, just when I was about to turn around he whispered "Too slow" and kicked the crap out of my back with his right leg. This sent my body hurling toward the ground, I caught myself by landing on my hands and springing to my feet.

I lunged forward, as hard and fast as I could and punched his gut, sending him flying back and knocking into a tree.

He recovered and mimicked what I had just done, but I blocked him and thrust my leg up to his jaw, which, just before he received the impact, he caught my foot and twisted it to where my back was facing him and I was having trouble moving.

Before he had even lifted a finger, I jumped as high as I could with my free leg, and let my body swing before kicking back behind me, hitting his shin making him release me.

He yelped in pain, but that was about it.

"Give up already Sora" he yelled lunging for me.

I turned around, ready to block him, but I didn't expect him to pounce on me.

We rolled on the forest floor kicking and hitting and biting, well… I bit.

This lasted a few minutes before I found myself pinned down under the weight of Tenshi, who was now sitting on top of me, holding my wrists above my head.

"Just give up" he said out of breath.

I squirmed under him but couldn't seem to get loose… Damn!

"Why should I" I said looking anywhere but his face.

"Sora, look at me."

"Will you just get off me?"

"Not until you look at me and tell me you give up."

"Fine! I give up" I said looking up at him to see a smile spread across his face.

"Good because I was wrong to assume that you were weak when you are definitely not" he said as I returned the smile.

When he was about to get up and let me go, something happened.

"OH YEAH! Get some Tenshi" a very familiar voice said a few feet away.

This sent Tenshi to his feet pretty quickly as well as myself as we got up to see Naga, Lulu, Rikku, Kisake, Kaname sensei, and Ayame sensei standing there. (Ayame is the leader of squad 24 just like Kaname is leader of squad 4)

"No its not like that" Tenshi said going completely red "We were just-"

"Dude, chill out, Naga was just kidding" Kisake said as he wrapped an arm around Tenshi's shoulder.

"Ohmigosh! Sora are you okay" the childish Lulu asked running over to me.

"Yeah" I said brushing the dust off my pant leg as Ranma growled at Tenshi, along with Rikku.

"C'mon Sora, lets go down to the training hall and spar! Kaname sensei's orders" Lulu said pointing to our weirdo sensei who was trying, unsuccessfully to flirt with Ayame sensei.

"Well, I guess I will see you around Kaname" she said as she followed her squad into the forest.

Kaname sensei watched her until her long blond hair was no longer in sight. (I was just kidding about the flirting thing, Kaname and Ayame have been friends for a long time, they used to be on the same squad.)

"Okay you guys, I want to see Sora and Rikku fight first" he said as I frowned and Rikku smirked.

"Fine, but Rikku" I said as she turned toward me.

"Yeah Sora" she asked, as Ranma climbed to the top of her head.

"If you get crazy and bite me, you're going to wish you hadn't" I said as she flashed her teeth at me and I flinched.

"Sora, I have never done that to you and don't plan on it unless you really piss me off."

"Right." I said as we headed to the training hall.

Once inside, Kaname sensei gave the signal to start the match and Rikku lunged for me without hesitation.

When I jumped back just out of her reach, I heard Rikku say "sick her girl" meaning she just gave Ranma permission to bite the crap out of me.

When the dog leaped for me, I grabbed her fur and threw her into Rikku before taking my Kunai and running straight for her.

She punched the crap out of me and sent me flying back and Ranma was holding onto my ankle for dear life, her jaw clenched tightly around my foot as I tried to shake her off, and when I couldn't, I hit her on the head knocking her out.

Blood poured from my new wound as I pulled my katanas out.

"Oh, look sensei" I heard Lulu say as she sat watching next to our teacher. "Sora actually decided to use her blades" she said pointing at my katanas now in my hands.

"That's right Lulu" he said petting her head as they watched to see what would happen next.

I made the ring of fire, like I did when I fought the girl from the village hidden in the rain at the chunin exams.

I lit my katana tips on fire as Rikku charged me… Big mistake, she was going to get burned.

Just when I stuck my swords in her, there was a log in place of her.

"A substitution!"

"That's right" Rikku said from behind me and stuck a kunai in my back.

Crap… I lost I thought as Kaname sensei ended our fight and began to treat our wounds.

Next Lulu fought against Rikku, I didn't think Lulu had prayer of winning, but she did… Some how.

Then I was to fight Lulu and her genjutsu almost caused me to lose this match, but I won, despite her little tricks.

-months later-

It was time for the chunin exams, and I was so ready!

Kaname sensei had taught me all that he could and I was just ready… Well… Until I saw who I was going to have to fight: Tenshi Kurosaki.

Crap, I thought, why him?

Our match was last though, first up was Lulu and some dude from the hidden village, Lulu almost didn't win, but it was soon known that the guy was cheating, using outside help and automatically lost the match.

Rikku's battle went much like our fight did, and she won pretty quickly against another Sasuke fan girl.

Then Kisake faced off against a sand ninja and that was pretty close thanks to the guy's puppetry and all. But in the end, Kisake had him where he wanted him and won with a very unique water style kind of move.

Naga also won his match, he faced a girl from the sound, her poison needles were nothing special though. Being the hyper childish boy he was, I didn't know he was capable of that many jutsu. Huh, guess you learn something new every day.

Finally, it was my turn to fight Tenshi. I really didn't want to lose and stay a genin for another year, so I had to try my hardest.

When I got down to the middle of the arena, he was already waiting for me, along with Genma, who was in charge of starting and finishing the matches.

I smiled up at Genma, he used to watch me when my parents went out on missions. When my parents first vanished, he was over every single day to check in on me.

He smiled back, said good luck to both of us, and started our match.

Before we really started like we were supposed to, Tenshi gave me an encouraging smile and stuck his hand out for me to shake.

"Good luck" he whispered before stepping back and taking a stance.

I followed suit, my eyes were locked on him, watching his every move.

We circled for at least five minutes before Tenshi lunged forward, a kunai in his hand, I lunged forward then as well, but with my bare fists.

He stuck his kunai out toward me, ready to stab me when I grabbed his wrist with my right hand, and punched his face with my left, though there was not a satisfying crunch under it like I wanted… I was weaker than I wanted.

However, this punch did knock him off balance, allowing me to kick him four or five times, around that time, he blocked and fought back.

I went to punch him, but he grabbed my arm and before I knew what was going on, he threw me against the wall, there was a huge indent in the wall where my body had just hit., and before I had time to even recover from that blow, he was right in front of me. He grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and lifted me with just one hand. I was having trouble opening my eyes due to the fact my head was spinning and all. But I wasn't dizzy enough to not know what was coming next, I knew he had his right fist raised and just before there was an impact, I made a substitution, so he would hit a wooden log in place of me, which would hurt his hand.

Right after I made the switch, he hit the log, and as suspected, hurt his hand. I then appeared behind him and gave him one hell of a kick that sent him spiraling into the wall.

His head hit it followed by the rest of his body and I know I saw blood spurt from his mouth and for a fraction of a second, worry and shock went through me, but I had to let go of the past. Yes, Tenshi was my best friend in the entire world, but I could not be so kind hearted toward him, not in the heat of battle. I had to win, what would happen if we ended up being enemies? Would I be able to fight him then? Or would I let him win because we have been long time friends? No. He wouldn't either. We must do what we have to do, no more time for this, I had to stay focused.

He was just getting up when I threw my kunai straight into his right arm. He screamed in pain.

I cant do this, I thought, not to Tenshi.

I sighed… Not even if he was a traitor. I could never betray my best friend, I thought as I went to raise my hand.

"Excuse-"

I was cut off just then by Tenshi's hand which now covered my mouth.

He had me in a head lock, his bloody arm dripping all over me.

"Sora don't you dare" he whispered in my ear. "I am NOT letting you forfeit this match for me, not even if you are my best friend. I don't care about being hurt, but I am not about to let you let me win."

I was able to get loose long enough to speak to him. "Oh, you mean like all the times you let me win?"

"That's different Sora" he said as he gripped my left arm.

"No. It. Isn't." I said and elbowed him in the ribs with my right elbow making him let go.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, straight to Genma.

"Genma, I-"

I was tackled to the ground by an annoyed, stubborn Tenshi.

"Don't do it Sora!" He yelled as I grunted in a way of saying ; GET THE HELL OFFA ME YOU BASTARD!

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Asked a familiar voice and it seemed like everyone was frozen except for Tenshi and I.

"Tenshi, what's going on?" I whispered as he let go and got off of me.

"Itachi…." was all he said, and I immediately understood.

We both took our stances, back to back as we were shrouded in black mist and could hardly see a thing.

"Tenshi Kurosaki and Sora Shirazaki… Its been a long time." A man with long dark hair and the Akatsuki cloak stepped out in front of me and I flinched.

Immediately, Tenshi was in front of me, his back toward me with his left arm out, as if he were trying to protect me, which irritated the crap out of me.

"Don't worry, I just want to talk" Itachi said as I glared at him over Tenshi's shoulder. (I know I'm short compared to him, DON'T JUDGE ME!)

"What the hell do you want" Tenshi asked, obviously not interested in whatever it was that Itachi had to say.

"You will seek me out in time Tenshi, you will begin changing, and will realize that I am the only one that can help."

As soon as he said that, Tenshi fell to the ground, ready to gouge out his left eye.

"Bastard! What the hell did you do to him" I yelled, lunging forward but was soon caught in some sort of jutsu. Just great!

The next thing I knew, my hands were bound behind my back, I was blind folded, and there was something like a rag in my mouth so I couldn't speak.

Then I heard Itachi's voice: "this is your future. Dwelling in darkness" his voice echoed in my head and I kept thinking to myself that it was all a lie.

"I will show you more" Itachi said and months of lying in a hospital bed in a dark room flashed before my eyes.

After that, Itachi disappeared and time was un frozen, but Tenshi was on the ground still trying to gouge his eye out screaming bloody murder and I rushed to help him, forgetting all about chunin exams.

In a moment, Genma was at my side.

"Get him out of here" he yelled to the medics.

Tenshi was taken away, I was declared the winner, and no one was aware of what just happened.

The next day I went to see Tenshi, who was in the hospital recovering.

As I opened the door, I saw Sakura Haruno standing there with her hair pinned back and she was taking a look at her medical chart.

"Sakura" I smiled at her. She was my best friend's rival, yet I hadn't seen Ino for quite some time since she'd been out on a mission with her squad. A.K.A Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and there Sensei Azuma.

"Hey there Sora" she smiled back at me "here to see Tenshi?"

"Yes ma'am. May I have his room number?"

"You can have his room number, but you will have to wait a minute. He's already got a visitor this morning and this person has requested privacy."

"Who is it?"

"I'm not aloud to give out that type of information to someone like you Sora, you know that."

I frowned at her. She knew I would be training here in the medical core soon and that she could get me the information, she just didn't want to.

"Fine, whatever. Let me at least have his room number" I said now glaring at the floor.

"It's room ten, at the end of the first hallway on your left" Sakura said, looking at her clip board. "You can go in now, the private meeting is done."

She was only half way finished with her sentence when I had bolted down the hallway.

How dare she, I thought to myself, she is not superior to me.

I stopped in front of room ten to catch my breath. Just as I reached for the handle, the door slid open. A girl with the same color hair and eyes as Tenshi stepped out, she was a few inches shorter than I was.

"Hello" I smiled at her as she looked up at me.

"Stay away from Tenshi. He is my betrothed" the girl stated and walked off.

I blinked confused, betrothed?

I shrugged it off and went in to see Tenshi sitting up staring at the doorway.

"Hey bud" I said as I came in and closed the door.

"Sora" Tenshi smiled, happy to see me.

"I brought you something" I sat a book he had been wanting for some time now on the night stand next to his bed.

"Thanks" he said scooting over and patting the bed as a sign for me to sit next to him.

I sat on the very edge of the bed and began to speak when Tenshi cut me off.

"You met a girl in the hallway just now, correct?"

I nodded "how did you know?"

"Don't mind her, she's from the same clan" but that's all Tenshi said and would say, so I left it alone.

We talked a bit about Itachi and what he meant by all of that and just what exactly was going on.

After fifteen minutes or so, we sat in silence.

I sat just letting my eyes wander around the room, it was so bare, when my gaze finally returned to Tenshi, he was chuckling.

"You always do that" he said ruffling my hair as I glared at him.

"Not funny Tenshi" I said fixing it.

With that came a knock on the door and Sakura entered the room.

"Tenshi, you have a visitor" she said glaring at me as a sign to get off the bed, so I stood.

"Tenshi" a silver haired tiny girl around my age said from the doorway.

"Sen" Tenshi smiled and opened his arms for her and she rushed to hug him.

I don't know why… But it made my blood boil.

"See you around Tenshi" I said as I turned and left the room quickly.

I wanted to get as far away as possible at that moment. Why did I feel like that?

I stumbled around training grounds for some time when I realized where I was: Team Azuma's training grounds.

I smiled as I remembered bits of my past spent here with my three best friends in the entire world.

-Flash Back-

"C'mon Ino" I yelled, my fists clenched and unclenched as I waited for her to make the next move.

She swiftly moved her arm, I saw what was coming so before her hand slapped mine, I moved it.

We were playing a game called ninja, where you can only move when you are attacking or being attacked. Once you hit your opponents hand, the game ends and the person attacking wins.

We repeated our movements so rapidly that it made both Choji and Shikamaru (who were already out) dizzy.

We were only twelve at the time, but it was an excellent way to gain speed and sharpen our weak points and our eyes.

"You have gotten pretty good Sora" Ino smiled as she dodged my next "attack".

"You aren't bad yourself Ino" I smiled back bending back throwing my left hand in the air just as her right hand missed it.

-End Flash Back-

"Sora? Hey" a voice yelled from a few feet away.

I turned to face a smiling Choji.

"Choji" I yelled as I ran and half leaped into his arms.

"What a drag… Oh, hey Sora, what brings you here?" Asked a familiar voice.

"Hey Shikamaru" I said as I finished hugging Choji. "Just thought I would stop by" I said giving Shikamaru a hug as well.

"Hey wait, where's-"

"Are you just not going to say hi to me, or what" asked my best friend in entire world.

"Ino" I smiled as I embraced her. "Man I missed you guys!"

After a few minutes of reminiscing, Ino and I decided we would head to our "so called" mall.

"Sora, I have to tell you something important."

"What is it?" I asked as we sat down at a bench with our ice cream we had just paid for.

"I realized that I love Shikamaru!"

"What?"

"Yeah… Well… I knew I liked him, but its clear to me now."

"Oh… How sweet!"

"I hope he feels the same"

"I'm sure he does Ino."

"You think so?"

"I know so Ino, who wouldn't love you?"

"Aw you are so sweet Sora! Come on, we should go back to the training grounds and spar or something."

"Actually, I can't, I have to train with Kaname sensei…"

"Oh, okay then" Ino said smiling.

"But tell the guys I said hello" I said as we stood up and hugged each other.

"Okay, lets hang out again soon Sora."

"We definitely have to, like before either of us goes on a mission."

"Until then" she smiled and waved.

"Until then" I repeated as I waved before we turned to go our separate ways.

I trained with Kaname Sensei for a little while, but he knew something was off so he had us stop pretty quickly.

"Sora, what's bothering you, you know you can tell me."

"It's not that something is bothering me Sensei. I just feel a bit under the weather is all" I said as I rubbed the back of my head.

"Oh I see" he said looking at me with suspicion.

"I'm going to go home and lie down for a while, okay Kaname Sensei?"

"See you around Sora" he said and disappeared.

I did one of those anime sweat drops as I stared at the spot my sensei had been a moment ago before I decided to head home.

When I got to my empty house, I went straight to my room, passing the empty kitchen, the empty living room and every door in the empty hallway.

I was tired of feeling so empty, it was bugging me that my parents had disappeared without a trace. It was bugging me that the rest of the clan wouldn't talk about it either. And it was bugging me that everyone had given up!

I opened the door to my room, before I even took a step inside, I looked at the walls.

They were a sky blue with clouds painted all over the room.

I took a step in, pausing to run my hand over my name, which had been carved into the wall since before I was born. As I ran my hand over it, I had memories of touching it when I was smaller, with my father and mother at my sides as they told me this is how I could be close to them. I did feel close to them, every time I ran my hand over the carving. After all those years of running my hand across it, it no longer felt jagged, but smooth to the touch.

As I walked more inside, my eyes wandered around my room, from my wooden floor painted green, to my vine covered bed…. Only the head and foot boards were vine covered of course. From my bed to the dresser only a foot or so away from it. It had a mirror in it, and a chair next to it, I remembered years of doing my school work there. My eyes shifted to my half open window with the light from the sunset shining through across the floor in my room. The window ceil was painted silver and the curtains on it were white and at the moment were blowing softly from the calming breeze that entered through my window.

I came all the way in my room and closed my door, which, if there weren't a knob, you wouldn't be able to find it.

The words: "Sora, keep us close to your heart, love, mom and dad" were written in silver, just above my door.

I stared at them for a moment before I turned and laid down on my bed to think about everything that had happened today, however, my thoughts stopped at the hospital.

"Who the heck is Sen?" I asked myself after an hour of laying there. I sat up and thought for a moment "why… why am I so mad?" I stood up, anger flowing through me now, boiling my blood "Who the heck is Sen?" I screamed and suddenly, all my anger vanished and I was embarrassed at how angry I had felt.

I buried my face in my hands and fell to my knees, I was suddenly overcome with emotion.

I began to cry, I couldn't stop myself, the tears just kept coming.

"Stop crying!" I ordered myself, but it didn't help any.

"Oh you poor thing" I heard a voice coming from the open window.

I stopped crying instantly, wiped the tears from my face. I stood up to see a familiar face… An old friend.

Before I knew what was going on, I was wrapped in his arms.

"It's okay, Sora. You don't have to hide your tears from me, you just let it all out. Poor thing." He embraced me tighter as he spoke.

"K-Kabuto" I stuttered as tears blurred my vision. "Is it really you?"

"But of course Angel" I knew that he was smiling.

"Don't… Please don't…." I pulled away.

"What's wrong Sora?" He asked, a puzzled look on his face.

"You know exactly what's wrong" I glared up at him.

"I didn't use you, you know. I really did like you. That is why I came, to ask you to come with me Sora."

"Oh, right, like I could ever trust you again" I shouted at him angrily "you left me! You left me to work for Orochimaru and didn't bother to look back. Leave before I get the Anbu on your ass!"

"Fine Sora, but know this; I still love you, I never stopped. I will give you one week to decide whether you want to come back with me or not, understand? One week. I will be waiting at the village hidden in the grass. Until then my angel" With that, Kabuto disappeared leaving me alone.

I spent some time trying to figure out his plan, when I began to get a headache, I gave up.

Just as night came, I realized that I was in love with Tenshi, and that's why I was so upset when that girl came in and he looked so happy…

"I'm going to tell him" I said aloud as I got into bed to get some rest "first thing tomorrow."

I woke the next morning early, just before the sun began to rise.

As soon as I was finished with fixing my room and myself, it was off to the hospital, just as the sun began to rise.

Today is going to be great, I thought to myself as I walked through the hospital doors.

They told me Tenshi had just left and that I would find him at his house.

His parents were gone as well, disappeared, just like mine had.

When I opened the door to Tenshi's room, it was empty, except for a note on his bed, which was folded in half.

I picked it up to see my name on the front of it, printed in Tenshi's handwriting.

I shrugged to myself and opened it, it read:

If you are reading this, I am already gone. Sora, I am going to find the Akatsuki, where Itachi is, I know that he knows what is going on with me. Please understand that this is something I have to do, and I have to do it alone. Thank you for everything, you are a great friend and we will always be friends. This is goodbye,

Tenshi

P.S Burn this letter soon after you read it. I will miss you Sora.

After I read it, I did what I was told and set off after him.

I knew that once I left, I would be considered traitor and could never return. I didn't care though, I had to find Tenshi, and even if they wouldn't let me see him, even if they wouldn't let me join the Akatsuki. I still had a place to go… Orochimaru.

It wasn't hard to find where Tenshi was, our clans had a special connection, all I had to do was point my Katanas up to the sky, and think of him, then they would pulse, and tell me which way he was, how far away he was and all sorts of things.

I set off, and found the Akatsuki base in two days.

I ran into Itachi and fish boy, Kisame.

With a smug look on his face, Itachi walked over to me.

"Looking for something?"

"Where is he?" I asked, so ready to kick his butt.

"Hmm, someone isn't very happy, huh Itachi?"

"Shut it, before I turn you into Sushi. Now tell me where he is, I don't have time to mess around." I said, my blood about to boil over.

"He's out right now. He wont be back for a while" Itachi said, the smug look never leaving his face.

"Fine, I need to see Pein." I said as our eyes met.

"Itachi… How does this brat know about leader?"

"That isn't important. Just take her to him, I have business to tend to." With that, Itachi disappeared and Kisame did as he was told.

"Come here kid" Kisame said.

I knew that when Itachi said he had "business" to tend to, he meant Tenshi. I knew Tenshi was here, this is why I would go to Pein.

"What is it?" I asked walking over to Kisame.

Before I realized what was going on, he knocked me out, the next thing I knew, I was laying on a bench in a dark room.

"What is it that you want child?" A voice said in the darkness.

"To join you" I answered without fear as I stood.

There was a pause and then the voice spoke "a child such as you would be no use to the Akatsuki as you are now. We do not need your services here, the only way you would be of service is if you were dead."

I sat there for a moment, dumbstruck. What did he mean? This voice was Pein's. "What but-"

"Good bye" the voice cut me off.

I took a step forward, then felt a sharp pain in my neck, it rippled throughout my body. I felt my body shifting. With tears in my blurred vision I whispered the word "please" I felt my body hit the ground then I passed out.

When I woke, I was lying on an unfamiliar forest floor, I had a splitting headache, and I hardly remembered anything.

I lie there, wondering how long it had been since I last heard Pein's voice.

"Tenshi…" I whispered, feeling the complete emptiness in my heart. I felt so alone, not only was my heart empty, but it felt as though it was being crushed from within my body, at the same time, as if it were being ripped right out of my chest. I couldn't stand the pain… I began to cry again.

What's with all this crying all of a sudden, I silently questioned myself. I never EVER cried. Why in the world am I crying now?

My vision was so blurred I could see nothing but darkness around me, but I knew it was broad daylight.

I slipped into darkness, I slipped into this quiet timeless universe. For a while, the emptiness was all I felt, and it was nice… Then I began to feel.

I saw Tenshi's face, and this small burning sensation went through me, like an electric shock running from head to toe. It subsided after a while and then his face appeared again, sending a fire to my fingertips. This fire slowly spread throughout my entire body. It began to circle my heart at the same time, still spreading through my body. I felt my body twist itself into the spreading fire. It made me feel like a mangled rag doll that had been tossed around too many times.

His face appeared to me yet again and it felt like a burning arrow pierced my heart, it set off the fire that had almost subsided and made it completely grow into this blossoming pit of endless pain and hate. I felt the raging fire spiraling through my body.

This sent my body hurling through the darkness, was this all my imagination? Or was this someone's genjutsu that I was never going to break?

Just as I thought there might be no end to this, I sat up, to find that time had not moved forward, that what seemed like forever in darkness, was all in my mind and only a few seconds had actually passed.

Was I losing my mind? Or was this the hurt I would end up facing in a life without Tenshi?

I clutched down at my now burning chest, it was like my emotions were eating away at me, eating a huge gaping hole right through my heart and soul, I couldn't cry anymore, not even if I wanted to.

"Pull yourself together" I told myself as I drew my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them.

I wanted to get up, but it was like my body was too heavy and I couldn't lift it, it was like I was weaker than a new born baby, who could hardly lift its head to turn it slightly.

I was like a small child, helpless, vulnerable, I had to get up. I searched inside myself, I searched for some sort of strength in me, something that would get me up off the ground, something that would keep me up and moving forward. I struggled to search for a reason to continue on with my life.

My parents, I thought to myself. I have to keep myself alive to be able to search for my parents, or, at least… Find out what happened to them.

At that moment, I rose to my feet, I felt light, even to myself, how long had I really been laying there?

There was no time to think, I would set off to the village hidden in the grass, find Kabuto, and start a new life.

I never stopped, I had the will to keep going, I made it in two days, after using resources around me to find just where I was, making my compass out of the sun and my map out of the climate.

I stayed at the very edge of the village and waited, wondering if I had come too late.

"You're early" a voice said from behind me.

I didn't even blink as I breathed his name "Kabuto."

"Yes my angel?" he asked, wrapping his arms around me as he always did.

"How early?"

He sounded puzzled when he answered "about three days early."

"Lets just go" I said, no feeling in my voice.

"As you wish" a smirk played on his lips as he spoke "you must be tired, rest a while?"

I only nodded, feeling absolutely nothing.

"Here" he said, picking me up, cradling me as if I were an infant, I did not protest as I would have seeing as I was tired and weary from my non-stop travel.

As I listened to the beating of his ice-cold heart and felt the rise and fall of his chest, I closed my eyes and somewhere along the way, fell unconscious.

When I woke, it was in darkness.

Startled, I sat up only to be shushed and lightly pushed back onto what felt like a bed.

"Go back to sleep" Kabuto commanded, and in a matter of seconds, I was out again.

The next time I woke, I was in a bare room painted white, it was poorly lit, and I knew it was because I was under ground.

I stood to find that my clothes were different than the ones I was wearing. I was now wearing a white summer dress.

I walked to the door and opened it, I stepped out in the hallway only to be greeted by none other than Kabuto and Lord Orochimaru himself.

"Well hello there young miss. You must be Kabuto's… Exquisite friend"

I flinched at his words, only able to blush and nod to this man now standing before me.

I looked down, but soon regretted it as I felt his wet slimy tongue wrap around my neck.

"You will look up and meet my eyes when I am speaking to you, and you will only answer me with a yes."

I looked up at him, still no feeling in my voice "yes."

"Good girl" he said as his tongue released me and flew back into his mouth.

"Now then, there's someone we would like you to meet" Kabuto said as I suddenly felt another presence coming from down the hall.

I knew who it was instantly, but kept my mouth shut. Instead of saying something, I simply walked past Orochimaru and Kabuto, down the hall a few steps, and stopped to see a red glow.

Hmm, Sasuke is already not happy to see me, I thought as I tilted my head to the left, dodging the fire ball he had thrown at me.

"Sora" he said coming closer and stopping three feet away.

"Sasuke" I nodded and turned back to Kabuto, I had no interest what so ever in an ignorant Uchiha.

"Tenshi did not come with you?" He asked, I knew he was smirking, he could tell it hit the soft spot in my heart, I did not show it though.

"No… He's with Itachi" I said, knowing his face would twist into a hardened mask.

"With… Itachi" he spat, his brothers name dripping with hate.

"Yes, Itachi" I said as I looked at Orochimaru, who now seemed amused.

"Milord…"

"Go on Kabuto, take the girl and do what you like, the hour is yours." Orochimaru said, as he walked toward Sasuke, then Sasuke turned to walk with Orochimaru.

"Lets go outside" Kabuto said taking my hand, leading me through various tunnels until coming upon an exit.

"Kabuto, what are we doing?" I asked, finally getting some emotion in my voice.

"I promised you remember? That I would teach you the way of the medical ninja myself."

"Oh, " was all I said as we walked to a stream and he took a fish from it, sliced it open and told me to focus my chakra on the wound and it would heal, I couldn't put too much or too little chakra, it had to be just right.

I practiced for hours on end, with Kabuto at my side, instructing me to do this or that until finally, I got the hang of it and was able to do it by myself.

Then Kabuto told me that I must spar with him, to learn how to dodge properly so as not to get hit. I could not allow myself to get hurt in battle, I had to focus on the battle, I would be the only one to heal my teammates. I could not die.

Kabuto taught me all sorts of things, he taught me never to blink, how to heal myself without ever expending my chakra. He also taught me to use his chakra dissection blade.

"I'm glad. You have learned well Sora" Kabuto said one day after having had me heal his right arm from the wound he gave himself with a kunai.

"Thank you, my skills have really improved, my eye sight has sharpened as well as my technique."

"Though you have improved, it isn't enough…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, that's your max, I don't think you can get any stronger than you are right now."

"Oh…" I looked down, he thinks I'm weak too?

"It's not a huge problem, I was actually thinking…"

"Thinking what?"

He looked up at me, that evil smirk playing on his lips again, he pushed his glasses back where they belonged before speaking, "Well, you see, Lord Orochimaru and I have been working on this new program. I just learned it so we aren't one hundred percent sure it will work, but it's worth a try. We designed it just for you. It's a surgery, it will make you faster, lighter, and you will instantly know more jutsu."

I sat there for a moment, trying to comprehend what he was telling me, I felt angry.

"You mean like his damned experiment?" I asked, my head bowed, my voice low and every word was dripping with hate.

"No, No! Of course not! I designed this project, he approved it." He smiled at me, I didn't have to look up to know that he was wearing it. A fake warm smile… I hated it.

"So… I'm your experiment. Is this the only reason you wanted me here?"

"Well no" he said, the smirk never leaving his lips.

"Wipe that smirk off your face!" I yelled finally looking up into his eyes.

"Sora, what in the world has gotten into you?" He asked, obvious false care in his eyes.

"Just stay away from me" I said and turned to walk back into the base.

In a flash Kabuto was behind me, his arms wrapped around me. I struggled under him.

"Sora come now, are you really upset with me? I was only thinking of you" he whispered in my ear, hearing his voice, I knew the smirk was still on his face.

"Stop. Get away from me!" I yelled, pushing him off of me and turning to face him.

"Will you listen?"

"Just stop, I don't want to hear what you have to say."

"Then you leave me no choice…. Sora, you have no choice. It pains me to do this but…"

With that, he was instantly behind me, it happened so fast…

I knew what was coming, I felt him behind me, but I couldn't dodge his hand quick enough. Kabuto hit me on the back of the neck, sending a shock wave down my spine and messing with my nervous system.

I fell to the ground, unable to move.

"K-Kabuto?" I asked as I felt him pick me up from the ground.

"Forgive me angel" he said and put his hand over my eyes, I was soon unconscious.

I remember being carried somewhere dark, I was being held the way Tenshi would hold me, I thought it was him…

I woke in darkness again, my body bound, my eyes blindfolded, and what felt like was a rag was shoved into my mouth and tied securely behind my head so it wouldn't fall. My hands were tied behind my back and I lay on cold hard stone floor.

What seemed like forever passed as I lie there on the cold floor, too weak to get up.

Finally, I saw light through the blindfold and felt the rag in my mouth being undone and taken out, I instantly began coughing, I had no idea this rag had been so far down my throat.

"Sora? Are you awake?"

"T-Ten…Shi?" I asked, feeling it was his voice I heard.

"Oh heavens no. It's me angel" Kabuto said, fake concern in his voice.

I wanted to cry. I was so sure that the voice I heard was Tenshi's…

"I came to tell you that your results came back and they were excellent which means I can start your surgery. Isn't that great?" He asked, picking me up by the hair, his face an inch or so from mine.

"I swear Kabuto, if my hands weren't bound-"

I was cut off, his lips crushed against mine. I struggled, trying to pull away, it was no use, my hands were bound and he had me by the hair.

When he finally released me, I was glad.

"If I untie you, do you promise not to run?"

I only nodded, I was too weak to do anything else.

In a moment, my hands were unbound and the blindfold was removed.

I looked up at him, almost thankful.

He picked me up and cradled me in his arms, just the way Tenshi used to, and then I was not so thankful.

"Well, are you ready for your surgery?"

I said nothing as he carried me down the hall into a room where I was sure was hell and I would spend months rotting in it.

He started a drip and the room began to sway, he had laid me on a lab table, this room was dark too, you could see though, thanks to the monitors that were hooked up and turned on.

Kabuto began to work over me, all of these cords and wires were going in and out of my body… Then, just darkness… I was slipping into darkness again. I saw Tenshi's face, but after a while… it disappeared, just like he had disappeared.

Tenshi's P.O.V

I trained for months, I got to the point I was able to control various types of sharingan. But it seemed no matter how much or how hard I trained, I couldn't get one thing off my mind; Sora.

However in the midst of training with Kisame, he never went easy so spacing out like I was doing was a big mistake, then there it was his giant whirlpool jutsu knocking me into a tree with enough force to make me cough up blood.

Kisame standing over me grinning his shark grin "well, well , you will never surpass Itachi this way"

Coughing for the last time standing up I chuckled " I have no reason to even try " I laughed turning disappearing into the trees.

I couldn't stop thinking about Sora as I walked deeper into the trees until I reached a pond looking into it seeing her reflection as clear as day, thinking all the while I have to go find her even to see if she is okay , what am I thinking I thought as I hit the water standing to walk away. Punching a tree as I walked by my last thought about Sora , she will never forgive me for leaving her.

Sora's P.O.V

This darkness… does it ever end I asked myself, feeling a tear roll down my cheek. I need Tenshi here with me.

Tenshi, thought, I had no idea I felt I was dwelling in darkness because I was unconscious.

I woke suddenly, trying to sit up, however, my body wouldn't, or rather, couldn't move.

I tried to speak, instantly regretting it, some sort of tube was in my throat and it hurt to breathe now. There was another tube, it was in my mouth, leaking some kind of fluid.

I struggled to open my eyes, and when I did, there was some sort of wet sheet over my head, it kept me from seeing anything, or even moving my head.

Just then I heard someone enter my room.

"Oh, you are finally awake Sora?" Kabuto asked, removing the wet sheet from my head.

I glared up at him, at the same time, my eyes softened, they pleaded for him to remove these stupid tubes so that I could talk. He understood and nodded.

"I can only take the one in your throat out for right now, the other one has to stay I'm afraid, however, I can move it to the corner of your mouth. Get ready, take a deep breath and… Exhale now."

I did as I was told and exhaled as hard as I could and he yanked the tube from my throat, blue liquid spewing everywhere, I began to cough and gasp for air.

"Feel better?"

I nodded and relaxed a bit. "Kabuto?"

"Yes?"

"What did you do?"

"I gave you another jutsu, I'm pretty sure you haven't realized you are using it right now."

"What?" I asked, obviously confused.

"Here" he chuckled "let me show you" Kabuto said leaving the room.

New power, I thought to myself. Come to think of it, I did feel different. My chakra felt different, I began making the chakra inside me bend to my will, making it grow and shrink, or spreading it around, I could feel my body grow and shrink, I was so amused that I didn't hear the monitors going off.

Quickly the door to the room burst open and Kabuto rushed in, a worried expression on his face.

He set whatever it was he had, down on the floor and ran to the machines. After he took a quick look at the monitors, he began typing something, and the alarms on them shut off. He spun around toward me.

"What the heck do you think you are doing? Its dangerous to play with chakra while hooked to monitors like that!" Seeing the anger in his face I couldn't help but smile.

Kabuto's face suddenly softened. "Oh… Who could stay mad at that face" he said, and picked a mirror up off the floor.

I looked at my reflection and was suddenly shocked. I looked so… different. I was a four year old girl.

Snowy white hair, crimson red eyes, body like a twig. I was four foot at most, I was wearing a white dress, something like a Sunday best dress, for children from the ages three to five.

"Let's test your power out now" he said, removing the cords that linked me to the stupid monitors.

"Before I take you out, I want you to change into a girl, exactly how I describe her." He said, removing the drip from the corner of my mouth.

"Okay I said, waiting for him to tell me what to do next."

"All right, picture this in your mind: Flowing raven black hair, past the waist. Sapphire colored eyes, soft pale body, youthful, fifteen or sixteen."

I closed my eyes, took in a sharp breath, painted the picture in my mind, and let my chakra do the rest.

"Excellent" he said as I opened my eyes and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked exactly like the picture in my mind.

"Your new jutsu will come in handy for this mission" he said as he took my hand and helped me off the table.