[Truth 7]

"Here you go." Rini hands over some blankets. "Sleep well." She starts heading back to her room.

"W-wait a minute." Sora tries to keep his voice down, as to not wake the others up.

"What is it?" Rini turns to him.

"Why didn't you… say anything? About that guy I mean?" Sora stares at the ground. "You never told anyone about us talking with him. Why?" he glances over to her.

"Because I didn't see a need to." Rini simply smiles warmly. "I know what its like to long to talk with someone that doesn't look at you like how the monks do with you." She remembers her previous life. "Don't get me wrong I don't trust him and do think we should tell the others. But I'll wait for you to say you're ready." She starts heading for her room.

"Thank you." Sora hugs the blankets, his face heating up.

'Why? Why does she make me feel like this?' Sora lies on the couch with his heart racing and face bright red.

Rini changes into her PJs and crawls into bed snuggling with Nao. The little fox tries to play but quickly clams down as Rini hums a lullaby. Sora hears it as well and feels his eyes become heavy with every note. The three of them quickly drift off to sleep.

Rini opens her eyes to find herself at the bottom of a snow covered cavern. She shivers as the icy wind harshly blows. Looking around she sees a smoking car tipped over on to its roof.

'Hold on!' Rini starts running over to it. A large white wolf grabs her sleeve making her stay put. 'L-let me go. There could be people in there.' Rini tries to pull herself free.

'Don't.' A clear male voice calls. 'Don't Young One.' The wolf digs his paws into the snow, trying to hold her there.

'What do you mean don't!?' Rini pulls herself free. 'They need help!' she starts running again.

The wolf runs in front of her, standing in the way. Rini stares at the wolf angrily, that is until she truly sees the expression in his eyes. His firefly-green eyes showed clear sadness and desperation.

'Don't Young One.' The wolf pleads again. 'Don't look. Don't open your eyes Young One.'

Rini seems confused as her head starts to pound. She falls into the snow holding her head her eyes shut tight. As she opens them again the snow beneath her is crimson red. With this she wakes up in her room drenched in sweat.

'D-dream.' Rini pants. 'Just a dream.' She places her shaky hands over her locket where she can feel her heart racing like a hummingbird.

"Wait…" Rini glances at the barely lit room. "Where's Nao?" she scans for the little fur ball.

Deciding she won't be able to get back to sleep and realizing it's just about time for her morning run, Rini reluctantly hops out of bed. Her legs wobble from the shock of the dream. Rini shakes her head trying to regain her composure.

Getting dressed she finds her black sleeveless turtleneck and dark sea-green long sleeved tie tube-top. The turtleneck is fine but the tube-top is badly torn from the fighting. Rini sighs placing it to the side for now planning to patch it later.

Ready for the day and a bit calmer she heads out to the living room slash kitchen to find Sora feeding Nao. Rini stares for a moment realizing Sora is TRULY smiling. Nao, seeing his mom, lets out a squeak wagging his tail. Sora turns to see her and jumps a bit.

"Oh, um… m-morning." Sora rubs under his nose turning red.

'I-idiot. Why are you suddenly an idiot around her?' Sora lectures himself staring at the floor.

"Morning." Rini grins still a bit out of it. "What are you doing up so early?" she heads to the fridge for a water bottle.

"Well… this little thing was licking my face." Sora glances at the energetic fluff ball. Nao simply wags his tail in satisfaction. "What about… you?" Sora looks over to her noticing something on her shoulder.

"What's up?" Rini blinks confused as she takes a sip of water.

"S-sorry, but… your shoulder…" Sora stammers not sure what to say.

"Oh that." Rini laughs. "Weird right? It's a birthmark I've had forever." She touches her shoulder slightly. "No one can explain it. All I know is that it means Earth. Well that and a lot of people think I have a tattoo of a bow and arrow." She laughs think back to people's reactions.

"That actually looks really cool." Sora mutters then covers his mouth.

"That makes you the second person to say that." Rini smiles happily.

'Second? Who's the first?' Sora seems to pout at the thought of this.

"Hey Sora, wanna go for a run with me?" Rini winks pointing to the door.

"W-what?" Sora flushes backing up a bit.

"Why not? We can stop for breakfast after we're done." Rini seems confused yet entertained by Sora.

She's come to think of him a bit like a stray cat, she can only get so close before his wall goes up. Yet she finds the challenge fun and sees him as a kindred spirit.

"A-alright." Sora glances at her from the corner of his eyes.

Rini simply chuckles to herself then heads out with him. Nao, not happy about loosing his new playmate, whines at the door until Rini pats his head promising to bring him back a treat. The two of them head off into the misty barely lit morning.

Sora has no trouble keeping up with Rini yet he finds himself at a lose as he looks over catching glimpses of her troubled face before she quickly changes to a smile. Sora finds that he flushes every time she smiles and aches every time he sees that hidden expression. This confuses him, having never felt this way before. The two of them hadn't been running for long when they come across Kiba leaning against a wall clearly waiting.

"Kiba." Rini and Sora stop in front of him. "Planning to join the run?" she smiles happily.

"The mutts coming?" Sora huffs clearly unhappy about this.

"For your information squirt, I ALWAYS join her at this point." Kiba jabs.

"Can you even really run? You could barely keep up when we sparred." Sora scuffs glaring at him.

"You wanna race then?" Kiba glares back leaning in more. "First one to Sakura Plum Tea House is the winner." He points down the quiet streets.

The two of them rush off in a cloud of dust, completely forgetting about Rini. Rini sighs putting this off to boys being boys as she tries to catch up.

The two of them rush down the dirt roads making it to the little shop at the same time. An old lady sits inside getting everything ready for the morning only to be halted when she hears two thuds on her door. As she goes to see what it was she sees Kiba and Sora bickering about who won.

"You were WAY slower than me!" Sora declares.

"In your dreams runt!" Kiba scuffs.

"Are you two done yet?!" Rini slaps the two of them off the side of their heads. "Did you forget we were supposed to be jogging? What if you two woke everyone up?" she lectures.

"Sorry." The once wild guys sit on their knees in shame on the dirt ground.

"Well now." The old lady comes out. "Since you stopped here how about some tea and dumplings for breakfast?" she motions to her store.

"I'm so sorry about the racket." Rini bows while also forcing the two guys' heads down as well.

"We're sorry." They mutter still glaring at each other, clearly blaming the other.

"Oh it's not like this village isn't used to racket." The old lady laughs heading in. "It'll be a bit so just choose a place to sit." She heads into the kitchen.

The three of them sit with Rini in the middle of the group. This is mostly Rini's choice since they seem to act like six year olds around each other. The two guys pout realizing she's treating them like children.

Sometime later the old lady brings them their food. Rini is ready to dig in when Ino comes in.

"There you are." Ino barges in. "Did you forget that you where going over poison extraction with Lady Tsunade today?" she lectures.

"B-but dumplings." Rini gives puppy-dog eyes pointing to her food.

"I can pack them up for you." The old lady laughs as she goes to grab a bag for them. "Here you go." She hands Rini a fresh bag of dumplings.

"Thank you." Rini bows leaving hers and Sora's share of cash on the counter. "See you guys later." She runs out waving to the two of them. The two of them wave until she's gone.

"How long have the two of you had feelings for her?" The old lady chuckles.

"What are you…?!" They both turn bright red.

"Oh? Am I mistaken?" The old lady ponders. "You two were so feisty until she came and you seem to be effected by her."

'Do I… have feelings for her?' The two of them ponder staring into their tea and up at the sky.

Meanwhile Rini is worked extra hard at training since she was late. Despite her tardiness, Rini is able to do well in the lesson. One it's done she heads back out to the village in order to stretch and get fresh air after being locked up for hours. While walking, she looks in a store seeing something she thinks will suit Sora.

'Sora will love this.' Rini smiles to herself as she walks down the streets.

Spotting Sora she starts heading over to him until she sees a man with him. Realizing it's the same one from before she turns heading for Tsunade only to be stopped by one of them from before, knocking her out and leaving her in an alleyway.

'Young One.' Calls the male voice. 'Wake up Young One. Your friend needs you. WAKE UP!' Rini pops awake leaning against an alley wall later on that night with her gift lying beside her.

"What just?" Rini groggily tries to remember. "SORA!" Rini shoves herself up. After grabbing the gift she heads for the Hokage office.

"NOW YOU DIE!" Sora grins evilly ready to strike against Tsunade and Naruto.

"SORA!" Rini drops the gift as she holds his normally wrapped monster arm. "Sora what are you doing?! Stop this!" she pleads through the ragging wind around him.

"Get off!" Sora throws her off.

Rini flies into a wall knocking her out. Before her eyes close she sees such a hurt expression on Sora's face. Rini doesn't wake up until the next morning and once again finds herself in the hospital.

"Hey, welcome back." Kiba smiles down at her from beside her bed.

"W-what… what happened?" Rini touches her pounding head.

"You got thrown across a room hitting both your back and head hard." Tsunade sits on the bed checking her pulse.

"WAIT! Sora! What about Sora?!" Rini's eyes tremble. "He… he didn't mean any of it! He's just hurt! He…" she starts pleading.

"We already now." Tsunade puts her finger to Rini's trembling lips. "He was being used just like his father was years ago, there for there's no punishment." Tsunade smiles down at the now relieved Rini.

"Come idiot!" Naruto's voices echoes down the halls outside. "You can't avoid going in forever!"

"L-let me go!" Sora panics. "And I'm not avoiding anyth-!" Naruto manages to shove him into the room.

Sora refuses to move closer or glance at Rini. Rini glances at the others and they seem to get it. All of them leave so the two of them can talk. The two of them stay quiet for a while, Sora still refusing to look up.

"Are you really not going to come any closer or look at me?" Rini seems saddened by this.

"I'm… so sorry." Sora finally mutters with gripped fists. "I… I didn't have any control and I…" he keeps his head down but Rini sees the drops of water hit the ground.

'Sora.' Rini slowly moves out of the bed heading for the weeping boy.

"DON'T!" Sora hollers. "Don't come any closer. You… you might get hurt again." He trembles stepping back tripping over his feet falling to the ground.

Rini wraps her arms around him holding him close. "Life is meant to be lived. So don't waist it. That's my ninja way and it applies to you too. Don't hate yourself anymore, okay?" she gently pats his head. "You aren't to blame. You were used and hurt." She continues to hold him near.

Sora doesn't speak again; he just shakes as he clings to her crying. This time around Rini is released in just a few days, which she was grateful for. She gets out in enough time to say good-bye to Sora, whom has decided to leave the temple and figure out his powers more.

"Are you sure you won't stay?" Naruto seems a bit down.

"I'll be back some day. I just… need to figure things out first." Sora gives a genuine smile at his group of friends.

"Before you go." Rini goes into her bag pulling out the present. "This is for you." She hands it to him.

Sora flushes as he takes the wrapped rectangle. He opens it to find a journal with a picture of a black cat on the cover and a purple hydrangea bookmark on top of it.

"This… is for me?" Sora glances over to her thrilled and a bit bashful.

"Yup." Rini gives her usual smile. "I figured you can write everything in this and the bookmark can remind you that memories can always have more than one emotion attached to them."

"Thank you." Sora hugs it close. "But… before I go… there's one more thing I have to do." He turns a bit redder as he moves closer to Rini.

"Wh-hmm!" Rini starts before Sora stands on his tiptoes a bit to kiss her.

"I really like you Rini and… when I come back… I plan on asking you out." Sora smiles happily as he runs out the gates.

"Why you little… get back here!" Naruto and Kiba shout after him.

Rini stands frozen a bit as she touches her still moist lips. "My… first kiss…" she mutters under her breath.

'Oh well, at least it was stolen by a cute little stray.' Rini laughs to herself as she pictures that true bright smile on Sora's face.