Just What I Want Chapter 2, a naruto fanfic

Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Warning: Hinted- very hinted- substance abuse, self-mutilation, and slight swearing. Rated T.

Summary: "What's that?" "What's what?" "Those… marks; what are those marks?" "Oh, these? They're nothing; old things- from training." "You're not…are you?" "What!? No. Why would I?" "Dunno. You tell me." "It's nothing; leave it." "No. What's wrong?" "Nothing. I said to just Leave. It."

Chapter 2: Leave It Be

I wake up the next morning to a stream of sunlight sliding through my window. I get up and stretch, feeling how stiff I am. Not understanding why I'm so stiff, I look out the window at my reflection and start. Staring back at me is a living nightmare: Paper-pale skin, dark circles, dried sweat and grime, dull gray eyes all red and puffy, and… vivid, infra red slash marks across my arms. "Oh. I should cover these up so my uncle won't see. He'll have my neck, probably. "

Not wanting to think much about my 'line OCD', as one of my friends kindly put it, I change into my clothes for the day; trashed, rock-style jeans, black, commander boots, a tight, black tank, with a gray sweater that covers half of my hands and cuts off just above the jean line. Then I tie my headband around my waist loped sided, like a belt over my jeans, and slip my sword through the makeshift belt. To create a more dramatic effect, I twist my black, silky hair into a messy twist-top and clip on the red and blue hair extensions I bought at the Hot Topic (yes, they have a Hot Topic in Konoha in my story). 'Well, should I put on the make-up or not?' Thinking about my uncle's sanity, I decide against it and leave it be. What am I aiming for; punk goddess? (*ehm* no offense of course)

I walk out of my room and smirk broadly as I see Izumo and my uncle stare at me in shock. Apparently, they weren't expecting a punk teen to wake up this early in the morning. The thought wants to make me laugh, but I decide against it. Pulling out a chair for myself, I sit right between my uncle and his friend. I wait for them to rail me for wearing something so 'expressive', as my stepmother supplied, but they didn't do anything. 'Weird, well, not all people are like her. I wonder what they are thinking though.'

"So…," Kotetsu starts hesitantly. "Did you sleep well, Rav?" Well, at least he didn't add the suffix this time. What has him so shaken this morning? It's not what I'm wearing, is it? Maybe I should have chosen something less 'expressive'. I wonder what kind of impression I just made on them.

"Sure." I don't offer much more information such as that dream I had last night. Why bother bringing up a topic that they never knew, much less, saw happen? Apparently, this wasn't the case since Izumo brings up the topic as if he could read my mind.

"Are you sure you slept okay? I mean, you were really shaken up last night from the… nightmare. It's nothing to be, uh, embarrassed about; especially considering how… graphic it was." God, what is with them? Why are they acting like they're walking on egg shells around me? It's making me really ticked right now.

I search for a plausible answer and find only one that might work if I can pull it off right. "Yeah, I slept fine. Considering what happened in it," I say and they both straighten just a tad. They share a meaningful glance at each other and I pretend to not notice the gesture. 'I wonder what'll happen next.'

"Considering? Is the nightmare usually worse then that?" Kotetsu asks curiously with a slight hint of seriousness in his tone when really meaning to be light and conversational. I only sigh in response at the question. 'Great, I rallied the 'psychologist' and 'protector' in him. Why did I even bother to slip that piece of information?' My uncle prompts me with a 'conversational', "Well?" That's what annoys me the most about family members sometimes; their ability to pry for answers and not get punched in return. Damn it!

"They're not really worse then that. In fact, that was the most graphic they ever got," I notice the look on his friend's face. "No, I'm not lying either. Why would I lie to my own uncle? Is there really any point in it?" Seriously, why lie to a psychologist when they can tell that you're lying? Plus, why would you want to lie when they really want to help you? Oh. Just so they can get off your back and leave you alone for a few minutes. That, obviously, is not the case with my uncle. When he finds out your lying, he'll keep prying for the truth or trick you into saying the truth whichever he thinks is the most amusing at the time.

"No, I guess not, good point," Izumo says and I notice him relax a little but continuing to keep his posture. 'Are they quizzing me? No, they wouldn't do that, would they?' The thought brings about a scowl and my uncle's the first to catch it before I can devoid the emotion off of my face.

"Hmm… is there something you're leaving out? I don't like to pry, of course, but seeing as to how terrible you looked last night and how bad off you look this morning, I can't help but show a little concern." Some concern if you ask me. At least they're bothering to try to talk about my nightmare where as my pseudo-mother didn't bring it up and refers to it as 'the result of an overactive imagination'. That phrase still ticks me off despite it being a few months ago when she had first said it.

"Well, there is just this little bit… could it mean anything if the same dream occurs repeatedly? I mean, I'm not… crazy …am I? Wait, don't answer that; I really don't want to know the answer." They both look at each other with surprise and then beam at me with smiles that look suspiciously like smirks. My uncle's the first to say anything.

"What? Why do you think you're crazy? Unless, of course, you really are crazy," he couldn't say anymore then that before he broke out into a fit of laughter. I punch him on his arm and playfully glare at him before pretending to pout.

"I'm not crazy!" I try to counter in a serious tone but it only seems more like a curious question instead of a solid statement. 'I really do need to come by more often. I forgot just how fun my uncle is. If I knew he was this fun, I would have chosen to live with him instead of with that crazy bitch of a woman called my stepmother (sorry, had to add a bit more effect to it).

"Then there you go, you're not 'crazy', just misunderstood and confused like all teens." At this I look to him and send a half-hearted glare at him. I can't keep the glare because the laughter comes back in full throttle and forces me to double over.

Once we all manage to get our laughter under control, Uncle Kotetsu goes back into the conversation, but with a much lighter air this time.

"Alright, now that that's settled, how often does the nightmare occur and do the same events in it repeat or overlap?" I actually have to think on the question for a while before I could respond. 'Do they repeat or overlap? Maybe they do a little bit of both? How often do they usually occur then; once, twice, or three times a week… possibly more?'

"Well… I guess they occur about… four times a week or when I'm really upset about something? I think they both overlap and repeat or maybe they repeatedly overlap? I think they actually repeat so often that they seem to overlap; it's really confusing. Do I have to actually answer that question?" I wasn't trying to get out of having to answer the question, so I hope that it didn't seem as though I am doing that.

"I'm not sure what it could mean, but it can't be something good if the nightmare's repeatedly overlapping. I do, however, know that the way it leaves you after waking up from it isn't good for both your mental and physical health," Uncle Kotetsu responds matter-of-factly. I'm afraid of what he would say next. "You're not suffering from memory relapses or black outs are you?"

"I don't know! If I knew, why would I be worried to begin with!?" Just then a thought comes to me that my actual mom told me: "My dear, your grandmother's mother, grandmother, and I have all experienced occurrences like these and there's only one explanation: We're psychics, hone; actual psychics. At the time, I didn't want to accept the fact that I am indeed psychic and decided to just ignore any 'out-of-ordinary experiences' that I have as I have started to dub them. Eventually, it got to a point where I couldn't ignore them and I just had to learn to deal with it.

By the time I went to seek advice, however, my mom left for the mission to Oto and never came back. The thought made me want to cry, but I suddenly remember where I am and decide against it. 'Ignore the thought, ignore the thought, just ignore it, ignore…' I silently chant to myself. Unknowing to me, I was saying it aloud since Izumo and Uncle Kotetsu start to look at me in confusion.

"Ignore what, Rav? What's it that you're trying to ignore?" Izumo asks this and I stop chanting to myself long enough to give him a blank stare. He must have realized that it wasn't anything relevant to the present conversation because he didn't bother asking the question again. I'm glad he didn't. I mean, what would they think if I actually said I'm psychic? They'd probably think I really am crazy then.

The conversation continues on for sometime until I glance at the clock and announce that I have to meet my team for training in thirty minutes. They both say the usual be careful and stay out of trouble so I just salute in return and walk out the door.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When I reach the gates to Training Ground 15, I remember that I completely forgot to put on my original training garb. At this I stop and decide whether or not to go back and finally end up deciding against it. Besides, it's just practical theory today we're working on and some teamwork themes. I'm not all to concern with sparring matches and weapons.

I finally reach the middle of the clearing and sit right dab in the center of it. Anytime now my teammates will be here followed by my sensei and we'll get started. I'm usually the first there then Senji accompanied by Gary, and, about twenty minutes later, sensei comes along. In the meantime, I think I'll just sit here and meditate for a while or so until they get here. With that in mind, I lay back and get comfortable before taking in a deep breath and then releasing it slowly. I repeat this for a few moments before moving on to relaxing my body by tensing and then releasing. After a few minutes I start to sense Senji and Gary, but I choose to just lay here for a few more moments and fall into a light nap. With the morning sun beating a warm ray of light on me and a gentle breeze kicking up I really do end up falling asleep.

"Oi, Gary, c'mere! Someone's enjoying herself. Oi, Raven-chan, wake up, sensei's gonna kill us in training if you don't!" I listen to Senji's voice and mentally roll my eyes. There was no way in hell I would be getting up anytime soon. Then I sense Gary walking over to my sleeping form and feel him kicking my side.

"Hey, Rav, you up? Get up, you lazy girl, get up before sensei gets here!" Gary can be really annoying when he wants to. A trait that really agitates me and he knows it does. 'Looks like I have no choice but to "get up" and get moving. Ugh.' I sigh in annoyance before opening my eyes and sitting up. Looking around, I notice Senji crouching on my left while Gary sitting down with one leg held tight against his chest and the other stretched out.

"Can't you guys let a woman get her sleep every now and then?"

"No." They say in ursion and then Senji was about to say something but sensei interrupted him.

"Okay, everyone here? Good. I want to go over a few rules before we start training today." He's always blunt and too the point, which I'm thankful for, but Senji would rather have Tsume-sensei beat around the bush; crazy teammate of mine. Despite wanting to voice our opinions, we just say, 'hai' in ursion before sensei continues. The sooner this is said and done, the sooner we get to swim in the river and head home.

"First, the maximum amount of chakra you can use today is a third," we all started to protest but sensei just ignored us. "Second, you can only choose two weapons a piece. Third, you have to work together in a team and distribute your jobs evenly. Last, you have to, no matter what, stay within a twenty mile radius and you cannot leave that radius for any reason unless I call you out. If you break any of these rules, you are disqualified as a team. Understand?" I raise my hand and sensei looks over to me.

"Uhm… when you said two weapons a piece, did you mean like your own or can you borrow from your teammates," I ask.

Tsume-sensei looks like he's actually thinking before answering me. Normally, he just says the first thing that comes to mind so we can get started early; he hates staying over three pm for training like Senji, Gary, and I which makes him the perfect sensei.

"Whatever you think is best. Don't forget, this is a teamwork thing, so yes, you can if want to." I nod my head and a huge bucket of relief falls over me. I guess it doesn't matter that I didn't bring any other weapons, besides my sword, with me today.

When sensei dismisses us for the exercise, we all head over to the nearest clearing inside the radius sensei showed us. Despite our limited knowledge of the radius around the training ground, we will still beat sensei's teamwork test.

"So, now what?" I ask Senji and Gary curiously. They both look at me like I had hit my head earlier today which makes me sigh. "Well….?" Senji is the coach on our team for his ability to strategize in any given situation so I expected him to say something at least. Gary, on the other hand, is the defender with his uncanny strength and agility. While me, I'm the tracker due to my control of chakra and senses.

"Hello, earth to Senji! Do you have a plan!?" Gary asks in a sarcastic tone of voice.

"Tsch, it's not like sensei said what we were supposed to do. I mean, is this a survival thing or just a sparring match? The two make a big difference in a strategy," Senji responds coolly. Now that I think about it, what are we supposed to do? Did sensei say what we were supposed to do? We all start thinking trying to decipher what Tsume-sensei wanted us to really do. 'Sensei said, "…chose two weapons a piece…work in a team…distribute your jobs…stay in a twenty mile radius… can't come out until I call you out…" So, was there something more to it then that? What was that saying again? Look underneath the underneath, through the lies, and stay on guard' Oh! I think I got it now!'

"Hey guys, we're supposed to find sensei and work as a team to defeat him and in the meanwhile, defend ourselves against any kind of attacks! It's a survival test!" Then we all smile wickedly before Senji starts up a plan to take down sensei. When everything is set up we split and go about our own ways; for now. Hehe… we got this thing in the bag!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Going To Tsume

Huh, I wonder what those brats are getting up to. They usually attack me straight away; act first, ask later. Then again, they're not academy graduates anymore, are they? Heh, I remember when Raven jumped from out of no where and attempted to tackle me while the other two tried to get the scrolls from me which resulted in me tying them all up which made them start fighting with each other. Shame they didn't realize the whole point was teamwork to begin with. I know I stress teamwork on them a lot, and they're probably sick of it by now, but it does good to teach it early on before they become chuunin and end up getting killed due to lack of teamwork skills. Well, I guess I should start looking for the brats. I think five minutes is a good head start for them. Having that said, Tsume takes to the trees and starts skimming the forest for any signs of movement.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(Raven's PoV again)

I walk through a meadow in the dense forest and begin to wonder where sensei is. Before my thoughts start to wonder, however, I shake out of them and scan the area to find the perfect spot for the trap. The plan Senji made is fool-proof; Gary, having the most stamina on our team, is to incise sensei and lead him here to this trap I'm making while Senji, due to him being the only one on our team that can summon gray rats, is following sensei's every move and sending two rats every fifteen minutes to Gary and I so we can stay informed of how close he is to us, his chakra levels, ect, ect. "Heh, we're gonna win this one sensei!"

"Oh? Are you sure, Raven?" I jump and turn around before stumbling back a few steps and landing flat on my arse. 'Damn it.'

"Sensei! Where… where… where did you come from!?"

"Ah, now if I told you that, I wouldn't be a good Jounin, would I?" Before I could respond, however, we get into a taijutsu fight that goes on for what seems like forever. I notice my chakra declining rather rapidly and try to steady the flow and focus on the match between sensei and I. Man, I never knew he was this fast! To use my sword or not... I'm not sure. Hm, maybe I should use my sword, but then that would put me a disadvantage because I'm not really quick on my feet like I should be. Plus, I only know so many tricks and sensei will figure them out fast and I'll be doomed. I think I'll chance it then and hope for the best.

As I use a substitution jutsu sensei gives me the questioning look as if saying, 'The Hell'. Heh, I got 'im now, but the fight's not over yet. Having put a few good yards between me and him I smirk and draw the sword from its sheath before gathering up all of my chakra and pushing it through the blade. This technique will let me cut through anything and I can just as easily pull it back as needed. I don't waste chakra and yet I still use it; it's fool proof. Focusing back on the battle, sensei shakes off his surprise and follows up my attack by throwing a water jutsu at me. I easily dodge it and start to go through the correct movements for the dance of leaves just like the books taught me. This is a really good technique since it's actually from the country of grass and not fully known. I came by it just by pestering my dad when he was teaching me new techniques with the blade.

Sensei seems taken off guard as I move left, then right, flip back, move right, move left, flip back and continue before reaching my baffled sensei and sheathing my sword to go straight into his ultimate weak spot; his left knee. I wonder what happened to Gary, though. I thought he was supposed to keep sensei occupied for Senji and me? Oh well, now, to release the trap! I flash through some hand seals while sensei gets back up and then shunshin away to safety just as the traps go off. I laugh my ass off as I watch sensei dodge, kick, scream, curse, and curse some more. Shame I didn't add my kick ass chakra into the trap, but Senji said it was better to have a full supply of chakra for this exercise. Wonder why that could be.

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With Senji

'Damn it! Where's Gary? The plan can't work without him!' Calling back a few of his summons, he asks one to relay info as where Gary and Tsume-teme is.

"We lost track of him when he dispelled the genjutsu you set up. By the time three of our men found him, he was in battle with Raven and Gary was no where to be found," the oldest looking one of the rats says. All Senji can manage at this point is a tried sigh as he tries to reform a more workable plan. Looking back down at his summons, the old fart starts to say something.

"Uhm…group 3 of Ren's squad just now supplied that Raven has managed to get Tsume caught in the trap and is heading to the nearest vantage point as we speak." At this, Senji gets back up from his squatting position, runs a hand through his hair, and sigh in what seems like relief. 'Maybe the plan isn't ruined; yet.'

"What's her current status, Juno?" He asks the youngest and of the group receiving a squeak of surprise in return. The rest of the group turns to look at the 'newbie' of the summons.

"Uhm….err….she is in good health, but her chakra seems close to being depleted, and she is unharmed and is now heading in this direction." Ignoring Juno's hesitation, Senji takes a few moments to formulate another plan.

"What about Gary? What's his status? Good, bad, okay?" He prompts the now terrified rat.

"He's okay, just trapped in the ground… Raven's already working on healing any major wounds… and now they are both attempting to break the genjutsu Tsume placed on the halfway point."

"Tsume-sensei?"

"The same as Raven except he has minor cuts and is now resting in a nearby clearing," the rat says in one breath and waits for his master's response.

"Very well; I want you, Grimes, and Gramps to shadow sensei while I meet up with Raven and Gary. As for the rest of you, good work; dismissed." With this, all previous summons minus the three in front of Senji, poof away. Without a second glance at the remaining summons, Senji turns and darts in the direction of Gary and Raven hoping sensei needed more rest than his teammates did.

~Raven and Gary~

"Rav, what are you doing? Shouldn't we stay here and wait for Senji?" The teen simply says, "No, he's close by. We need to get going before he recovers."

"What 'bout the previous plan?" He asks as they both jump into the nearest tree and steadily make their way to their base camp hoping to find Senji.

"As far as I see it, it's dismissed. We need to meet up with Sen-kun to work on a new strategy to take down sensei. My trap and your fight didn't quite get sensei's chakra down low enough like we wanted it too." Gary manages a small 'Oh' and nothing more is said between the teens.

~~~~~Fast Forward~~~~~

Sometime after Survival Test

"Congratulations. You all have passed my survival test." This confused the genin.

"But… didn't we already pass your test to be your genin squad, sensei? I mean the one you gave us the day after we met you?" At Raven's question and confused look, Tsume couldn't help but break out into a smile. Senji and Gary are just as confused as their female teammate, but they didn't voice the exact question Rav just asked for fear of being berated.

"Well, yeah, you did." At all three of his students puzzled faces he sighs and elaborates, "I noticed your teamwork becoming a bit sloppy and thought that I needed to redo the test so you can get back to working as a team again. Also, repetition doesn't hurt when it comes to skills that need to be enforced and taught. I also did it because you were all being brats." The genin all wear an expression between 'oh, duh' and 'bastard' on their faces. Tsume smiles even wider at this, but then frowns remembering that he had to teach teamwork so the innocent children can become skilled killers and kill in synch. This thought dampens his mood and Senji asks if something is wrong. "No." The short and sharp reply keeps them from asking anymore questions. Obviously, they said or did something to upset their sensei; but what?

Not long after that, their sensei forces a happy smile, tells them they all did a good job, and dismisses them early so they will be well rested for tomorrow's possible C-ranked mission. At this, his squad all pester him to tell them what it was, but he refuses and the defeated genin leave, going in the direction of Raven's house. 'At least they have a long way to go before they have to kill an enemy. I'm glad they didn't grow up during the war. This must be how the academy teachers feel when their ex-students graduate from the academy. I'm in serious need of a drink.' With this remaining thought, Tsume-sensei leaves reminding himself that his laundry and bills needed to be tended to first. "Shit."

With Team 12 (Third Person Limited)

The genin squad walks through the winding and ever growing streets of Konoha as they head to Konoha's Greenery Square. Upon reaching their destination, they all sit under the willow tree overlooking a coy pond. As Senji leans against the willow's trunk, he couldn't help but ask, "I wonder what has sensei so worked up today."

"Dunno. Whatever it is, it must be affecting his ability to think straight. He lost to us, again, for like, the sixth time this week!" Raven responds making the trio laugh in response.

"Seriously, though, sensei is never so sharp and…well, angry," Gary interjects making the trio now mull over the fact that their gentle and kind sensei turned into a real bastard for a split second. Just then, Raven remembers her uncle saying, "Everyone has a dark side and they're either fooling themselves or lying if they think that they don't." Again, she didn't realize that she had spoken out loud.

"Yeah, that's right, Rav." Both Senji and Gary say before returning to their own minds with a comfortable silence falling over them. A few hours pass by before Senji mentions something about his mother needing him and Gary asking Raven if she wanted him to walk her home. "Uhm…sure." His face lights up causing Raven to smile warmly in return.

On the way back to her uncle's, Raven suddenly remembers that she wasn't living with her parents anymore, but her over-protective uncle who may think he's her boyfriend. "Uh… on second thought, I think I'll walk the rest of the way home, 'k Gary? Thanks anyway."

"Ooh, yeah, sure…no problem." Leaving Gary behind, she jogs the rest of the way to her stationary home at her uncle's place making it there in record time. Knocking on the door, the familiar voice of Kotetsu grumbling and swearing under his breath, made a full hearted smile come to her face.

"What the hell is it? If it's 'bout that flower pot thing, I had nothing to do with it."

"It's me."

"Who's me?"

"Raven."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Sorry, Rav, c'mon in; dinner's ready."

"Alright cool."

The quick exchange said plenty of unspoken words that made a smile come to her uncle's face. Raven's finally opening up to him. It's been so long since she actually smiled for real. Meaning, her step-mother's plan is actually working; get Raven back to her original self before she's consumed by her mask forever. At his niece's confused look, he just smiles even wider and tells her to help set the table for dinner; ignoring her complaining. Maybe, just maybe, he could finally find out more about her and her 'extra-curricular activities' that Genma presented to him the other night.

Not too long after Raven finished setting the table was dinner ready. Before she sat down at the table, however, she said she needed to take care of something in her room first. Letting her go, Kotetsu confides in Izumo about what Genma mentioned to him sometime last night when she fell asleep. When Raven comes back and sits down at the table, she hears the last bit of conversation between her uncle and his friend.

"…So, Gen told you this sometime last night?" She hears Izumo ask in a whisper.

"Yeah; should we be concerned then," her uncle asks in a whisper as well.

"I don't think so; maybe it's not what we think. Y'know how Gen can get overexcited sometimes."

"Yeah, I should hope so. Wonder if she could be doing whatever it is due to the nightmares?

"Dunno; I hope she isn't. I mean, think about it; depending on when the nightmares started and how long she's had 'em, she been doing this."

"This is not good… I hope it's not what we assume." Kotetsu finishes before sitting down at the table and smiling at Rav's confused look.

Meanwhile, Raven is trying to figure out what the conversation is about. 'Oh kami, did they find out 'bout my "line obsession"? Did Gen-san see me take the knife and skewer before I could hide them? I wouldn't put it past him; I mean he's a jounin after all. Wait, I'm over thinking this; Gen-san wouldn't assume that. Let's see… my uncle took me out of the shower last night, but he didn't see the scars I sport from cutting otherwise he wouldn't have had to ask about it. I'm fine then, I'm just stressing over nothing. If that's the case, then, why were they whispering?'

As if sensing Raven's uneasiness, Kotetsu tries to figure out a way to open the conversation without offending or scaring his favorite and only niece away. Sure he was and is concerned about her, but if he and Izumo scare Raven off, then she would probably 1) never come back to them or 2) won't confide in them ever again. Looking to Izumo, they decide the only way to get it off and over is to be blunt and to the point. 'Tsch, easier said then done,' Kotetsu thinks and watches Raven push the food around on her plate for just a few more minutes.

"So, Rav, how was training today?" Izumo asks already knowing that Kotetsu wasn't going to say anything yet.

"Training? Well, Tsume-sensei had us do this survival test to improve our teamwork since it was sloppy and he also said it was our punishment for being brats. Then, we beat him, of course, but he doesn't give us the scrolls saying, 'there aren't any; you did all that for nothing, brats' and had a good laugh while we glared at him. Then Senji asks this question when sensei zones out only to receive a sharp 'no' and Tsume-sensei seemed really irked or angry about something. After he dismissed us, we went to the park before Senji had to go home to help his mother and Gary and I just stayed under the tree until he offered to walk me home which I turned down."

"Why," Kotetsu begins, "did you turn him down? I thought you said you had a crush on him?"

"No. I never said that; I just said that he and I are good friends."

"As for Senji?"

"What 'bout him?"

"Don't you like him?"

"No. As a friend and teammate and the same goes for Gary. Why are you asking me these things?" To say that Raven's starting to get suspicious is an understatement; she's to the point where her full guard's up. Izumo inserts his two cents about the teamwork issue.

"He said that your teamwork was sloppy?" At Raven's 'uh, duh' look Izumo hurriedly asks the next question. "Well, why would that be? I thought you said your team would have a chance in the Chuunin Exams this year?"

"Well, why would that be? Hm, let's see… we were arguing over a stupid thing and it caused us to hate each other for a while. The teme-,"

"Language." Kotetsu and Izumo say in ursion.

"Sensei noticed and decided to try to help us solve the issue only having each of us- Gary, Senji, and I- to fight with each other again. Since we didn't really hear the lecture he gave us and we started to give him a really hard time he said 'meet me sometime next week when this issue between you three is over. Don't be late or slack off or even skip or I will hand out severe punishment.' Then he started 'bout some dumb stuff like 'without teamwork, you can die on a mission and as a team you have to be willing to solve any issues or ignore them and help each other out. Period.'"

"…and you should listen the first time," her uncle scolded. The majority of the rest of dinner was spent in silence until Izumo brought out dessert: Apple Cream and Butterscotch Pie. When Raven got to the point where the pie reached her mouth, Kotetsu, in a rush, said, "Raven, have you been cutting?"

Choking on the piece of pie now in her mouth, she practically shouts, "No! What in Kami-sama's holy name would ever give you that ridiculous idea!?"

"Okay, sorry! Pull up you sleeves real quick." Kotetsu says holding his hands in a surrending gesture to the now pissed teen. He was too caught up trying to see her reaction to even mention: Language.

"What!? Why!?"

"If you're not cutting, then why are you so defensive?"

"Because you are accusing me of something that I would never do! How am I supposed to act!?"

"Would you really not ever cut or purposely hurt yourself?" This time Izumo asks. Better to get this thing done and over with...or not.

"What? No. Never. Here, I'm not cutting, see?" Pulling up her sleeves, both Kotetsu and Izumo scan her arms and see very faint white marks but no recent red or blotchy marks of any kind.

"Turn your arms over, please?" Izumo asks kindly trying to get the now angry teen to calm down. Complying, they see just the lightest tint of a red line leading from the top of her wrist, to…"Take your gloves off?" To the end of her left middle finger. 'She's cutting…that proves it right there. I can't believe she's actually cutting…why? Why would she do this to herself?' A very concerned uncle asks over and over again in his head.

"What? These marks, I can reassure you, are old-things from training and stuff of the sort. The most recent one that you're looking at, uncle, is where a kunai recently grazed my hand before I could defend myself."

"No, please Rav, don't lie to us. Are you cutting?" Kotetsu asks in a pleading tone. Sighing in defeat, the teen pulls the sleeves back down and replaces the gloves on her hands.

"If I said yes, would you be mad at me? Don't lie, please?" Taking note of the tone and volume of Raven's voice, they know she's telling the truth and, by the look on her face, she's close to tears and is extremely vulnerable.

"No. We wouldn't; honestly. Have you told anyone else?" Izumo asks gently.

".......no," comes the extremely quiet reply. Izumo and Kotetsu sign tiredly at her hesitant reply.

"What about your teammates? Have you told them?" Kotetsu attempts carefully wording the question.

"Yeah; they're the only ones that have known ever since we've been made an official team."

"Why didn't you tell anyone else until now?"

"They would've thought me crazy or suicidal. I'm not really hungry anymore. I think I'll just head off to bed. Night." With this said, before they could stop her, she forms a few quick hand signs and vanishes. When in her room, she locks the door and seals it shut with her chakra; a technique her father showed her when she was young. "Great… now what?" She mumbles before opening the window, climbing on the ledge, and watching the glowing stars and cherry blossoms blowing in the wind.

AN: Well, second chap. How was it? I think a few parts don't make a lot of sense. Sorry for the lateness, but writer's block been plaguing me for quite some time. Anyway, please review. I'm not sure if I'll continue or not. The more good reviews for the story and less flames, the better I feel and the more I want to write.

As for those who reviewed, thanks! You know who you are. ^^

In honest truth, I've been really depressed as well. I've recently been thinking that I suck at writing and have been working at only half of my standards. I still feel like this story and a few others of mine aren't up to my standards. Oh, I'm also looking for betas as well.

Thanks and Review please,

ferret-nin