Author Rant: REVIEW!!! Sorry.—I don't mind if you want to flame me or offer suggestions but REVIEW! If you have me on alert or favorites you really should be reviewing (there are nine of you, you know who you are). I don't mean to get on your case about it but I'm desperately starved for your reviews! That's part of the reason why it took so long to write this chapter and why it's so short—reviews are my motivation! Please, motivate me!

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After what I supposed had been sometime I blinked slowly and sat up. The bright afternoon sun was seeping through the leafy boughs of the Konoha forest and spilling on to my face. I was lying in a rather large patch of assorted mosses—though I had no idea how I got there or why anyone would bother putting stack of mosses together. In addition it being detrimental the growth of the moss I couldn't imagine what you'd use it for, but I wasn't in the mood to guess.

My back was sore, actually, it was venturing into feelings of stabbing, and there was a headache nagging me like I had been slammed into something very hard—but of course I had. My eyes narrowed and my fingers curled into a fist. I fumed for a moment but then tentatively examined my limbs (…no use in dwelling on losses I convinced myself). My legs held a few cuts but it wasn't anything serious, nothing broken so I turned my attention to the most daunting part of my search and experimentally made a few turns with my back. I froze—It. Hurt. Like. Crap.

"Sasuke you—!"

An indifferent response floated down to me, "Yeah?" His voice came from right above me—of course, of all the times I'd forgotten to turn on Byakugan… I mentally kicked myself and then turned to glare up at him. He was seated so that the sun was right behind him, and he had both legs on the same side of the branch dangling over my head. A cloud finished drifting across the sun and I was forced to squint, in what I hoped was a menacing way, instead of glaring. Naturally, he smirked…and then perhaps feeling guilty about slamming me into something, he jumped down and met me half way, squatting down next to me.

There were a lot of things I could have said in response to him but it generally wasn't a good idea to make enemies of someone you were planning on asking a favor of (though it was a little late to be considering that) so I bit my tongue and looked down at my lap instead.

I felt his stare on me for a few more minutes and I shifted uncomfortably. When he, evidently, saw that I wasn't going to say anything he fell back from his squat, sat down in the moss next to me and fumbled with a bundle for a moment, finally withdrawing a small canister that turned out to be filled with something that smelled like it would be very green and threatening looking.

"Lie on your stomach," he commanded.

I eyed the… immediate threat to my well being, and questioned him. "Why?" I asked disgustedly.

"It's a medicinal salve. It's for your back."

I started to back away slowly. I didn't care how established a remedy it was, I was not going to have that applied to my skin.

He sighed exasperated, "I swear its medicinal salve for your back," he pledged, halfheartedly, holding up his right hand.

I stared at him like he was insane. Exactly how old was that stuff?

"Just turn over! It's good for you!"

Appreciating this must be somewhat important to my general well being if it the first he had ever offered to this for anybody, (which I concluded due to his complete lack of tact)…I gradually turned over— suspiciously eyeing the 'salve' to whole time.

When I had finally turned over completely face down, he began pulling off my shirt and unbuttoning the side of my pants so he could peel away the top edge around my waist. My muscles contracted, ready to strangle him—about to throw him off, but it occurred to me that if he had really had malignant intentions he wouldn't have had me lie face down while doing this. I let the logic sink into me and took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. I shivered as his fingers trailed along my skin, carefully avoiding aggravating the wound.

He dipped his fingers into the balm and began spreading it on my shoulders. It was a slow careful sort of rubbing and though his hands were callous, they felt gentle to the touch. The tips of his fingers were warm but I quivered slightly…perhaps realizing that the contact, though uninvited, was not unpleasant. His hands moved in smooth hypnotic circles till I relaxed and immersed myself in the motion like a contented kitten.

Half asleep, I didn't notice as my fingers curled slightly with pleasure and warm flush began to spread over my skin… His hands seemed to dissolve into warm sunlight that embraced my skin. If I had been more alert, I might have sensed his fingers tensing as they moved down towards my waist, lingering less and less on higher circles.

The bruising on my lower body was the worst and it was necessary. His hand hesitantly began moving to the lowest reaches of my bruise, a little below my waist; as he touched it I winced a little in pain. His touch lightened to accommodate me and I saddened at the slight withdrawal—it was tentative and frightening but anticipated his touch. I realized and was horrified.

I mentally tore myself away from my satisfaction and stiffened. There's nothing wrong with this, I convinced myself,–this is practical and just he's being responsible. I inhaled deeply and the scent of the balm willed me to think of other things. I let my mind wander and the tang of the smell compelled me to remember practice session with Hinata.

It was only about a month ago; she was sitting on a pillow on the walkway next to Obasan quietly hugging her arm which was sporting a small bandage for an even smaller scratch, the stench of medical ointment wafting around her. I had seethed just looking at it. Otousan had set aside the morning for training her, clearing an important meeting to free the morning and she had the nerve to sit out and waste his precious time?! Her precious training time? The kind of training time I would kill for?

And now, because of her inconsideration Otousan would have to go to the trouble of rescheduling an appointment he had just canceled, after all, he was certainly not going to train Neji, and he never trained me.

But there are first times for everything.

This was the day I learned to respect the power of an Elder. Obasan, apparently disgusted as I was at Hinata's behavior, commanded me to spar and I was happy to oblige—Otousan was less so. Uncertain, I rose from my place a bit unsteadily but assumed my juken stance with cautious grace. Needless to say, I lost; but that was predictable and unimportant, what was important—what was important was that I had lasted more than twice as long as Hinata's longest session. Furthermore, in doing so I ascertained a permanent place for myself in the favor of Obasan during the match; and the value of her favor is not to be under estimated.

Within the hour, my room was moved from the humble corridor nearest the servant quarters to a master-room in the inner sanctuary of the main house bordering the main court yard. The room was the size of a mid-sized house and was shaped like a square picture frame. The actual roofed indoor area of the room was the frame and the center, where the picture would have been, held a private open air court yard. It was immediately plain to see that although the room was rather Spartan, it was filled with only the most high quality materials for the highest ranking of the Hyuuga. It was a room meant for an heiress, and I was not sure why I was allowed to stay.

Curiously, after that day I was also never asked to clean or do laundry again by the house keeper, nor was I made to do dishes by the cook. In the weeks following, I profusely thanked Obasan as expected and made good use of the court yard by adding various traps and geological features for training. The only request made of me by my generous benefactor was that I train and do well to prepare for a time when 'things would change'.

Upon my court yard's completion, the first person I invited to my room was—of course—the only person who had mattered, Neji nii-san; and as we sat drinking tea we were both profoundly satisfied to see Hinata holding her teddy bear, watching us through the wall with more than a twinge of envy as she wrenched off it's head.

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