The stars that night were quite magnificent. The way they lit up the pitch-black sky, like as if there was no such thing as daytime. Like they promised to stay forever.

I would of loved to see them stay forever. It became such a habit to watch the stars every night.

They had something new to tell me every night. Or show, to be precise.

The sounds of Danno's quiet snorts as he ate the grass up, along with the sounds of the evening bugs most definitely made this night a great one.

My fingers ran through the grass, slowly, as I stared at the sky.

It wasn't a good thing to be out in the middle of the night, in the middle of the prairie, especially since I was one of the two people on his priority list.

That never had a tendency to stop me, you see.

Everything was so peaceful.

It would have been lovely if it stayed forever.

Danno's sudden movement made me jump several inches off the ground. He lowered his ears and whinnied in a sorrowful voice, backing up slowly and lowering his head.

I stood immediately and walked up to him.

"Whoa boy, it's okay." I rubbed the front of his face gently, reassuring him.

He wouldn't stop though. His whinnies were low, in a crying manner.

"What's wrong Danno?"

He nudged me with his nose.

"Lauren."

I paused, eyes wide.

"DAMN." I whispered to myself. I turned slowly revealing Kakashi-sensei standing several feet away from me, arms folded across his tough body, his one visible eye narrowed angrily at me.

I let go of my horse and allowed him to back up from me. I looked at him, trying to keep the attention off my angry sensei.

"Don't be scared, Danno." I forced a reassuring smile.

Danno knew me better than that. For an animal, he knew better than anything and everything.

He knew I was beyond scared now, too.

He shooed his head at me, as if he was forcing me to go to Kakashi.

I gulped and turned away from him, and looked back at sensei again.

His face still had the same expression on it.

"Come. Walk with me." He said, letting his arms flow at his sides, hands running into his pockets. He turned his back to me, head tilted to the side looking at me to make sure I wouldn't take off.

"Alright." I said, walking up to him steadily, meeting him at his side.

We didn't talk as we walked.

We stopped in the forest. It was pitch black; I was surprised I could even see a foot in front of me.

He turned to me, closer than before.

"WHY would you think it would be SAFE FOR YOU to come out to THE MIDDLE OF THE PRARIE to gaze at some stars, HUH?" He yelled, pointing the direction that we had just came from.

I shook my head at him.

"For the record, SENSEI, I'm SIXTEEN. I'm OLD ENOUGH to watch over myself. AAAAAND strong enough to WATCH OVER MYSELF!" My voice was rising. "YOU MUST… No… YOU HONESTLY THINK I'M SUCH A STUPID PERSON, DON'T YOU?"

Being calm wasn't an option now.

He folded his arms again.

I wanted to so badly scream at him that it wasn't a time to be 'cool.'

"SIXTEEN, huh?" He laughed. "You're still young, I JUST HATE to tell you."

I looked him straight in the eye.

"You think I'm stupid enough to follow that man again? Really? I could KILL him if I wanted, too!"

He shook his head.

"You were stupid back then to follow him, Lauren. What makes you think that that hasn't changed?"

"I WAS SEVEN FOR GOD'S SAKE! I wasn't going to live in the middle of bufu and try to survive on my own!"

He sighed heavily and un-folded his arms.

"Don't you get it?"

His voice was a whole step quieter, calmer; I just stared at him, eyes wide again.

I actually didn't have anything to say after that.

My expression changed from pissed to surprised, actually.

He shook his head. "You don't, right?"

I didn't answer. I think the expression I had was enough for him. He looked to the side and mumbled to himself.

"I was the one who planned your rescue, Lauren."
My eyes got bigger, if that was possible. "…What..?"

He looked me dead on. "I left the village on my own when I knew your location."

Silence followed that last statement.

He looked up at the canopy of trees above us, as well I. It was gorgeous under the moon's light.

I felt his glare upon me again and it literally forced me to look back at him.

We weren't too far apart. For some, odd reason, my heart pounded.

"Do you know why I always make these training days so long?"

"To make sure I'm not janked."

He chuckled. CHUCKLED.

"That. And." He pulled out a book and held it in front of me. "They told me to take records of you."
My gaze went from him to the book. It was like a normal writing book, blank cover with a few scribbled characters on it.

"Records..?"

He swiftly flipped through the pages, closing it tightly at the end. He held it in one hand while the other met his pocket again.

"Yes, records." His expression never changed, I might add.

Probably his best quality; not showing too much emotion.

He sighed. "They wanted so much information about you. They know your amazing abilities, Lauren. They were scared."

My eyes met the ground. They were scared?

And… amazing abilities..?

A flower danced in the slow moving gust of wind like a ballerina in a slow moving dance. Everything flowing perfectly until the wind came to a stop.

"I never gave them the book, you see."
My attention focused on him again. "Gave is past tense."

He nodded. "The training… or tests were only supposed to be for a week only."
I gasped silently. Not only were they tests… but…

"It's been over a month..."
He nodded yet again. "Exactly."

I looked at the book. Why so long..? Why? What was the point, honestly? I was nothing special. At all.

So what made this so….

My gaze moved upwards, meeting his one, visible eye. Everything he wanted to say showed through that one, single visible eye. It was intimidating, I say.

"When will you give it to them?" The silence was killing me.
"Never."

Pause.

"Never?"

He nodded. "Never."

My heart was pounding again. My cheeks were flushed.

'Oh God.' I thought. I was used to my heart pounding, since Orochimaru made it pound with his flattering comments.

But along with my heart beating up a storm… came this weird, odd feeling.

Butterflies…?

He moved closer to me, so close that he had look down at me. I looked up at him, still keeping his gaze.

"Why 'never'?"

His expression had changed again, it was quite shocking, seeing the man's expression change at all in a day.

"Because there's more info than is what needed in there."

I turned away a little, tilting my head down.

I can't tell you what I was thinking. It was like a busy highway going through that head of mine, it was ridiculous.

"Why?"

He chuckled. "You ask too many questions."

I looked up at him. "It NEVER hurts to hear and understand the truth someone hides behind their smiles and eyes."

He tilted his head. "Orochimaru told you that, didn't he?"
I nodded and looked at the ground, grasping to a simple smile.

"He was a clever speaker..."

Kakashi-sensei's hand then suddenly met my cheek and ran down to my chin where it stopped, placing his thumb on my chin, three fingers behind it, tilting my head back up to face him.

I could feel his body heat through his thick shinobi glove.

The animal in me could feel anything.

"Do you remember back when you first got Danno?"

"I was seven..."

Another moment of silence.

"Do you remember me?"

My eyes wanted to water. That's why. That's why we had… that connection.

I shook my head.

"No…" I said, choking up.

He looked at me with a sadistic expression and it literally killed me.

"You don't." It was more of a statement then a question.

A part of me wanted to scream and yell. The other part of me just wanted to…. KISS him.
"I don't care."

My breath staggered.

"I was in love with you since day ONE."

Now my heart was beating faster, and faster, and faster.

He was serious and it nearly made the tears in my eyes fall.

All of this… was… for…

"And I still am."

LOVE.

My eyes got so big at that moment and the tears couldn't wait anymore. My heart felt like it was going to explode the way it pounded so heavily.

I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him so close to my body. Not ever did I want to let go.

His hands moved cautiously around my body, one of his hands meeting the back of my head.

I felt his clothed face near my ear. "What I wrote was that how much more you made my heart beat everyday, how much more stronger and gorgeous you were getting, how much more I couldn't resist you any longer, how much more you made me flush so red," Pause. "How much more I was falling madly in love with you after being torn apart for nine years."

I hugged him tighter.

This moment… This, simple, single moment….

"Can you feel it?" I asked.

He chuckled so quietly and pulled back. He removed his hand from my head to his face, removing his mask, leaning in close to my mouth, placing his lips to mine, kissing me so passionately; it felt as if the world would end at that moment.

I didn't even have time to fuss over his perfect face.

My heart was a racehorse on a racetrack, going for that first place trophy.

When I couldn't breath anymore, I pulled back not even an inch, smiling, breathing heavily, and saying; "They showed me something new tonight."

His forehead met mine, closing his eyes with a soft smile. "Hm?"

"A heart."

"As if the stars whispered to me."

He chuckled again, "What?"

"That everything I dream would come true."