It's been almost three weeks now that I've been with Team 7. I spoke to no one of when I saw Sasuke, and as time passed it became less of a stress to me as I didn't see him any of the following nights. I guess Kakashi didn't feel like actually doing any work during those three weeks as the only thing we ever met up for was to discuss something or go out for something to eat. Naruto, Sakura and I met up a few times for some simple taijutsu practice, but other than that we haven't done any training. During the excessive amount of free time allotted us, Naruto and Sakura introduced me to their friends in other teams. Everyone welcomed me warmly, and I've gotten to know them better as we would sometimes meet up with them to hang out or spar.

Today, however, that free time seems to be coming to an end as Kakashi has told the whole of Team 7 to meet up for training. I don't know if I should take this seriously. When he told us, he didn't seem too enthusiastic about it, but then again, he never seems enthusiastic about anything. Anything except those books he's always reading... That man never ceases to perplex me.

Anyhow, as soon as I am dressed and ready, I go to our designated meeting place to find Sakura and Naruto sitting there seemingly bored, and Kakashi is nowhere to be found. I approach my teammates and plop down in the grass next to them, leaning back on my arms as I briefly examine the field we are currently in.

"Late again?" I ask, already knowing the answer to my question.

"As usual," Sakura replies, squinting up at the bright morning sky as she sighs. Naruto leans over, holding his stomach as he groans in complaint.

"I skipped breakfast so that I wouldn't be late," Naruto whines before falling into his back. A silence falls over us, and I start stretching as I sit out of boredom, figuring that it'd be better if my body was prepared for a training session. However, as time passes, I find that there aren't enough stretches for the amount of time on my hands. Just as I come to a resolve to see if Sakura or Naruto want to spar, our beloved sensei shows up.

"Good morning, everyone," Kakashi greets cheerfully as he approaches us. Naruto sits up, narrowing his eyes at Kakashi. Naruto seems to mentally debate whether or not it's worth it to file a complaint with Kakashi, but decides against it. We all slowly get up and surround Kakashi. "Alright. Let's just spar for a bit to warm up." Sakura and I pair up and begin fighting as Naruto and Kakashi also fight at a distance. After a while, Kakashi calls us back. "Sakura has asked me to help her with something in specific, so Asami, you and Naruto will be training together for today. You can manage yourselves. Just don't... KILL each other." I laugh and nod, then Kakashi and Sakura walk off somewhere. I then turn towards Naruto.

"Okay," I say smiling, and Naruto grins back. "Do you want to train right here, or...?"

"I'm guessing you don't," Naruto says, and I smile at the ground. Guilty as charged.

"Well, if you didn't mind I'd like to go in the wooded area to train," I say.

"Okay," Naruto says, "I'm cool with that." He then turns and leads the way to the surrounding woods. He walks until the woods grow denser, then turns around. As soon as he turns, I lunge at him with my kunai, wasting no time in trying for the upper hand. Naruto, surprised, immediately pulls out kunai of his own, exclaiming in surprise as my attack nearly has him on the ground.

Before long he grounds his stance, although I still spar with the upper hand. The intensity of our fighting grows quickly as Naruto throws shuriken here and there, with which I repel with my own shuriken. He soon summons a shadow clone, and by its movements, I can see there's a density to its presence; it's not just a diversion. Seeing this, I decide to temporarily retreat and jump into the branches overhead, then back away some, gaining some distance. I don't have shadow clones, but I do, however, have the ability to create illusions.

I scope out Naruto's position and create a plan. He isn't too far from me, and he's facing away from my general direction. I perform the hand seals for my replication jutsu and focus on the space directly behind Naruto. One of the perks of manipulating light and sound waves is that I can hear and see every illusion I create, but I know they aren't real because... well, because I created them. I'm still at a level of uncertainty with this technique, but I'm growing more stable in my ability to perform it.

A smile graces my face when I hear the rustling of leaves near Naruto and see what seems to be myself descending from the trees directly behind my companion. Naruto immediately turns around and swings, and I control my supposed body like a puppet, having her dodge all of Naruto's advances. I slowly lead Naruto to where I can launch a surprise attack, having him follow my illusion. When he stands nearly directly underneath me I concentrate my chakra in my fingertips, then silently drop down when I see the purple glow of my chakra. I land on Naruto, knocking him onto his back so that I'm straddling him. My hand is immediately on his head, my chakra pouring into his body; I want that clone jutsu.

Within a few seconds, I find what I wish for and withdraw my chakra, a new air coming about me as I recognize in my mind the clone jutsu. Right underneath me, Naruto groans, and I'm about to make a smart remark when he suddenly disappears with a poof. My eyes widen before I realize that that had been his clone. Well, two can play at that game.

Before anything, I search for chakra signatures to find Naruto's position. A deadly silence settles around me as I listen and look for even the slightest inconsistencies in the air, and after a short while, I sense a presence behind me. I quickly summon two clones before going into attack mode, turning around to find Naruto already rushing at me to attack. I jump back as my clones go on either side of Naruto. In turn, Naruto summons two clones as well to cancel out my force. As the clones fight it out, I throw multiple shuriken with chakra strings attached in Naruto's general direction. Most miss, and Naruto dodges the others, but it's intended as I weave the shuriken through the air around Naruto using the chakra strings. One might compare the way I manipulate the shuriken to fly fishing, as the ways in which either are conducted look very similar. However, they are totally different considering that: 1) I am not fishing, and 2) I am using multiple shuriken, not just one. If anything, it may seem as if I'm using multiple fishing rods, that is to say if I were fishing.

That's besides the point. Anyways, I have eight shuriken, four connected by string to my fingers on each hand by which I manipulate them. Naruto does well to avoid getting tangled in them while putting up a mean offensive, but it's not long before I entrap him. It started with one catching his arm, and as it slightly handicapped him, I took that opening and managed to get him up against a tree, my chakra strings binding him to the tree. As soon as he's trapped, I use replication on him, immediately approaching him and putting my fingertips to his head.

Something is wrong, though; I can't see his memories to search through them. It's just...black . After a second or two I know it's useless and retract my chakra, stealing some of Naruto's along the way. As the chakra enters my body, I know something is wrong. I stumble back, feeling oddly off. Suddenly, a searing pain spreads from within my body, and it feels as if my entire being has been set on fire from the inside out. The pain is so intense, I can't even manage to use my limbs. My body hits the ground as my vision goes black, the burning sensation swallowing me whole.

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I'm floating in darkness... it's actually quite relaxing. I don't know where I am or how or why I got here, how long I've been here or any of that junk, but it doesn't concern me right now. All that matters is this warm, comforting darkness. As I float, a falling sensation begins to take over, but I don't fret over it. Wherever I fall is where I shall fall; end of story. After falling a while, I'm plunged into deep, warm water. The water obscures my vision, and although I hold my breath at first, I let it go to find that I can breathe just fine under this water. I swim to the surface and see an orange glow in the distance, so I seek it out.

I get into a nice backstroke and see the orange glow coming closer when suddenly I'm pulled underneath the water. I gasp and try to free myself to see who my captor is, but panic when I find that I can no longer breathe under this water. After fighting against the pull, I briefly escape with just enough time to get a gulp of air at the surface before I'm pulled back under. I manage to turn around and face my captor to find an enormous fox. Something I find to be odd is that the fox has multiple tails... Nine tails, to be precise... Is it really...?

My heart begins pounding as my brain constantly repeats "I'm screwed" over and over in my head. I turn back around and try to see how far up is the surface as my oxygen supply is running low. I don't even care anymore; I desperately fight against the pull to get any closer to the surface. Suddenly, I see a person dive into the water directly above me, swimming towards me. As the person comes closer, I make out the details to find that it's Sasuke who is coming to my rescue. Sasuke is not the first person I'd want to come and save me, but right now I can't really complain if anyone comes to save me.

When Sasuke is face to face with me, rather than trying to free me from my captor, he gives me a half smile before turning away. In a panic, I reach out and grab the back of Sasuke's shirt. He stops swimming, and after a second slowly turns towards me. In a moment, my hopes of being survived are replaced with utter despair and fear as the face that turns towards me is none other than that of Lord Orochimaru himself. I want to fight, but I can't even breathe! Hot and cold courses through my body with my increasing heart rate as Orochimaru closes in on me, and all I can do is scream.

"Asami!" I wake with a start at the sound of my name, my body instantly flinging into an upright position. A sheet of perspiration covers my skin, and I look around at my surroundings with heaving breaths, still trying to differentiate between fiction and reality. I begin to relax when I realize that I'm no longer in danger of the snake man or the tailed beast. I lie back down and try to calm my breathing, observing the white walls and white sheets on this white bed... Am I in a hospital?

"Asami?" The voice beckons to me again. "Are you okay?" I look to my left to find that Naruto is at my bedside, and has apparently been awaiting the moment of my awakening.

"Naruto," I say, almost subconsciously to find that my voice is rather hoarse. My body aches as I cough violently, and Naruto seems to panic for a second while he lightly past my back. When I stop coughing, I lie on my back with a groan, my head and body aching. "Am I in the hospital?"

"Yeah," Naruto says as Kakashi walks in.

"Why?" I ask, keeping my voice at a whisper as not to trigger another horrible coughing attack. "What happened?"

"I'm not exactly sure," Naruto says, a tinge of guilt tainting his voice.

"Lady Tsunade will be here on a little bit to check on you," Kakashi says, "and she can explain it best then. I just know that while I was training with Sakura, I heard you screaming. We rushed over and found Naruto bound to a tree, nearly passed out, and you were on the ground just screaming, but you weren't responsive. So we brought you here."

"Did I ever stop screaming?" I ask with wide eyes, none of this registering in my memory.

"Well, you did after a while," Kakashi replies. "You stopped before we brought you and Naruto here, which was a good thing... I thought I told you guys not to kill each other."

"We're still alive..." Naruto says with a chuckle, rubbing the back of his head. Just then Tsunade walks in.

"Oh, good," she says as she sees me, "you're awake, Asami. How are you feeling?"

"Sore," I reply. "And hungry. Can I have some water?"

"Sure, after this," Tsunade replies. She comes to my bedside and does the routine checkup before pulling a stool next to the bed and sitting down. "Kakashi, do you want to get her some water?" I want to laugh as Kakashi gets up, but my throat won't permit me to. Tsunade continues as Kakashi hands me my cup of water. "You're well enough to be released today, but take it easy. Okay?"

"Yes, Lady Tsunade," I reply, pausing before continuing. "Can you explain what happened to me?"

"How much do you remember?"

"Well, I just remember passing out while I was training with Naruto," I say. "I had this really horrible burning sensation in my body."

"Yes, that happened when you took in Naruto's chakra," Tsunade explains. "He has two chakra types, and you, unfortunately, had a taste of the bad one. When they brought you here, we had no choice but to extract all the chakra since it had infused itself with your own chakra. You've been out because of the lack of chakra in your system, but I'm just a bit surprised that you've nearly recovered over night."

"All the better for me," I reply.

"It is," Tsunade says with a smile. "Well, that's all for now. Any other questions or anything?" I shake my head after thinking for a second. "Okay then. Make sure to get rest. Just treat this like a common cold; consume lots of liquids and such. Alright, goodbye Asami; Kakashi and Naruto." She nods her head towards the males before stepping out of the room.

"Let's get something to eat," I say right away, and Naruto chuckles.

"Well if you can handle yourself from here, I'll be going," Kakashi says.

"I can," I say, and Kakashi nods before striding out of the room.

"I'm down for some ramen if you are," Naruto says, and I smile, nodding.

I check out from the hospital, Naruto helping me walk as I have a slight limp. We stop at the Ichi Raku ramen shop, but after a while I decide I want to go home and rest. Of course, being the nice person he is, Naruto walks me and carries my ramen for me. We stop in front of the door to my flat on the fifth floor, and Naruto leans on the railing behind him.

"Is there anything you need help with in there?" He asks, and I smile. He's so courteous.

"No," I say. "I think I've got it from here. Thanks Naruto. I'm fine, really. I just need some rest."

"Alright," he says. "I'll come back tomorrow morning to make sure there's nothing you need."

"Naruto," I say, chuckling, "you don't have to do that."

"But I want to," he replies, and I smile at the ground.

"Well, I suppose I can't stop you from doing as you please," I say, and Naruto smiles.

"You should rest, now. I'll see you tomorrow." With that I open my door, and we wave goodbye as I enter my home. No longer very hungry, I place my leftover ramen in the fridge. It'll get soggy, I'm sure, but I honestly don't mind. I'm too tired to care about that right now. I go to my bed and lie down, almost immediately falling asleep.

Once again, I'm surrounded by the warm, floating darkness that plunges me into water. A fear of meeting the tailed beast or the snake man again washes over me. I focus my chakra in the soles of my feet and hands so that I can climb out of the water and stand on it. When I look around, I find this time not an orange glow, but instead a person standing in the distance, and I almost immediately recognize that it's Sasuke. Seeing as there is nothing else to do and nowhere else to go, I walk over to Sasuke, constantly checking under my feet for one who might try and pull me under.

I finally reach Sasuke, and he turns around as I approach him. As I draw nearer and nearer to him, my heart beat speeds up and memories flash by. When I stand directly across from him, I'm unsure of what to say, but he doesn't say anything either so I suppose it's okay. After a while, he takes my hand and pulls me under the water with him, and I let him. We continue sinking further and further into the water, staring endlessly into each other's eyes.

Then, gravity suddenly takes effect and cool air hits my body, and I'm shocked as my wet body hits dry ground. I look above me, and the water seems to be held in place above me. I stand up and see Sasuke is still holding my hand. He looks at me before turning around, staring pointedly at a person in the distance. He turns his eyes to me again before walking in the direction of the person, and when we get close enough, I'm able to see the person is Orochimaru. I then stop, and Sasuke stops as well, feeling my hand tugging on his. He looks at me expectantly as I debate on whether I want to follow Sasuke to the snake or if I want to leave. Sasuke shrugs before letting my hand go and continues heading towards Orochimaru.

"Sasuke, wait," I beckon, but he doesn't stop, doesn't even turn around. I hear my name called from behind me and turn around, startled, to notice that Team 7 is standing at a distance, calling me over. I turn back and see Sasuke, still walking towards Orochimaru. "Sasuke! Please, wait!" I begin calling his name, my throat tightening up as he nears the snake man, and I run towards him. "Wait! We can go back, together! Please, stop!" I run faster, panting as hot tears roll down my cheeks, a heavy dread weighing down my heart as Orochimaru holds Sasuke in his clutches. Only then Sasuke turns to face me, his face devoid of emotion.

Orochimaru pulls out a kunai, holding it close to Sasuke. A shot of hotness courses through me as I see this, and I yell to warn Sasuke, but he ignores my calls. I can't stop... I can't let Orochimaru kill him... I have to save him! Then, the blade is pulled across Sasuke's throat, and I can't reach him in time. His lifeless body drops to the ground, and I drop to my knees in despair as agonized cries rip free from my throat. Then there's the calling of my name, over and over again, filling my ears and my being. I don't want it. I scream "no" over and over and over again.

My eyes suddenly open to a very frantic Naruto. He's bent over me and stops calling my name when he sees that I've awaken, looking down at me with wide eyes. The pounding in my heart won't reside, and before I can control myself, the tears force themselves from my eyes. I curl into a fetal position, and when Naruto sits on the edge of my bed to embrace me, I welcome him by grasping the front of his shirt while sobbing. After a while I make myself stop crying as I feel Naruto shouldn't have to do this for me. I'm not sure if he really wants to comfort me or if it's simply out of pity, but either way I don't want him to be bothered by me.

"Naruto?" I mumble after a minute.

"Yes?"

"Why are you in here?" Naruto chuckles before answering.

"Well," he begins, "I came here like I said I would last night to check on you, and when I knocked, I heard you... You sounded like you were in pain or under attack... I don't know what, but your door was unlocked, so when I heard that I came in."

"Oh," I say, pausing for a second. "Sorry for scaring you."

"Its fine," Naruto replies. "You didn't scare me. I just was confused for a second. Don't worry about it." I nod and retreats from Naruto's embrace, sitting upright on my bed. "Asami... what happened?"

"It's nothing," I reply. "I was just having a bad dream, is all. I'm fine, though."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Absolutely. It happens." I smile at Naruto just to try to reinforce my statement, but he seems reluctant to accept it.

"Alright..." he says, getting up. "Well, you should eat something."

"I'll just eat my ramen from last night," I say, my stomach suddenly growling. Oh yeah, ramen sounds pretty good right now. I look up to see Naruto's face twist with disgust.

"Won't the noodles be soggy?"

"Yeah," I reply. "But that's okay."

"Ew. Whatever suits you, I guess." I laugh at Naruto's demeanor before getting up. Naruto chats with me as I eat and get dressed, and we eventually leave my place.

"Are we going to train or anything today?" I ask as we walk down the road.

"No," Naruto replies. "Since you're still recovering from your injury, Kakashi decided not to do anything until tomorrow. He and Sakura will train, but he turned me loose to help you." I'm about to reply when Sakura suddenly appears.

"Hey," she greets, "Lady Tsunade has called us together for a meeting." Naruto and I both nod our heads and Sakura speeds off. We head in the same direction as Sakura and arrive to the meeting. When the whole of Team 7 and a few others such as Shikamaru and Kiba stand before Tsunade's desk, the meeting begins with the authoritative voice of Tsunade.

"Alright," she begins, "we have been informed of the presence of Uchiha Sasuke near the outer walls of the village, and it's likely that he's been within the village walls recently." My heart begins pounding immediately, and I do my best to quell my unusual heart rate. I glance at the rest of Team 7 to see Sakura with a fiercely determined face, and Naruto has a similar expression.

"Within the village walls?!" Kiba exclaims incredulously, leaning forward some as if he can't believe his ears.

"We aren't completely sure," Tsunade replies to Kiba, "but it's a high probability. Either way, we can't let this opportunity go. I'm sending you all on a mission to pinpoint the location of the radical and take him into custody, inflicting as little damage as possible to him."

"Wait," Naruto objects, "the 'radical'? Take him into custody? What are you talking about Grandma Tsunade?"

"Naruto, Sasuke is a rogue ninja," Tsunade says tiredly. "He's a traitor of this village, and I can't help that. Continuing with the mission, I've readied Anbu to accompany you on the mission-"

"Grandma Tsunade," Naruto cuts her off, "we don't need Anbu to get Sasuke."

"Naruto," Tsunade says softly, but he continues.

"I mean, he's not just my friend; he's a friend to all of us!"

"Hey, Naruto-"

"We can't treat a fellow shinobi of the Leaf like this!"

"Naruto!" Suddenly, Naruto stops talking as he is surprised, along with everyone else in the room. Tsunade sighs heavily while rubbing her temple, then says the next words very slowly. "This isn't a rescue mission anymore."

((Hellooo! Thank you for reading everyone:3 I know I can be really bad at updating my stories, but I'm really trying to commit to this haha. It's not that I like DETEST writing or something; I love it. That's the reason I do it haha. But it's not always easy to keep up with this when I have, oh I dunno, SCHOOL everyday. Well thanks to the one person who reviewed so far:3 I'm not sure about anyone else, but reading reviews is just like "WOW! Ego boost! I'm going to update this story asap because someone loves it!"._. Eh. That's just me. Well, forgive any of my minor typos;-; I'm kind of scared of rushing the story... I feel like I might run out of ideas, but... either way. Thanks again for reading! I really appreciate y'all^.^))