Chapter 9:

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto franchise, except my own characters.

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(Emma's P.O.V.)

"Um… I'm here with my team…" I say nervously as I try to walk away, but then a sand wall blocks me from even seeing my teammates as Naruto is ranting how excited he is about the next round.

"What's the hurry? We still time to speak, don't we?" He says ever so calmly, yet his face looks so murderous.

"I have to go, my team and I were discussing something very important. So, I be on my way. Oof!" just my luck… it was make up boy I bumped into.

"Sorry about that. Oh hey, my brother seems to really have an interest in you. So, I was wondering that maybe after the games-" he didn't finish because Sasuke came and rescued me from any more awkwardness.

"So sorry to interrupt, but the next round is about to take place" Sasuke said as he took this as an opportunity to carry me bridal style and carried me away. Boy, do I ever wish he didn't do that…

"Sasuke! That's supposed to me in your arms! Stupid Emma gets Sasuke to carry her…" Ino mumbled as we passed by.

"You know, you didn't need to do that… Right?" I say as he puts me down.

"Hn…" was all he said. It turns out he was right. The next part was to fight… The names the board choose to fight first was… Me and some girl by the name Mara Hayoshi.

"Yeah! I get to beat up a Leaf Ninja! Get ready to lose, loser!" yelled a girl, who I suppose, is Mara. Geez, this girl is twice annoying than Ino herself. I climb down the stairs and waited for the instructor to start us off. Once Mara came down, she had this cocky smirk on her face. She has long blond hair that is in a braid and her headband was tied around her neck: she was a sound ninja.

"Ready?" We both nod "Begin!"

I jump out of her first attack and land softly behind her, which gave me an opportunity to kick her legs across and causing her to fall. She, however, recovered quickly and threw a kunai knife at my direction as I not only dodged that, but was punched across my face.

"Aw… Did I hurt your pretty face? Once I win, I'll just take… this with me" she taunted and ripped off my necklace. But what she didn't know was that nobody. And I mean NOBODY! TOUCHES MY NECKLESS!

"Give. That. Back" I growled as I stood up with blood dripping down my chin.

"Look loser, you lost. So deal with it" she said like a spoiled brat.

"He hasn't said stop… Yet… Let's make things more things… Shall we?" I said in a menacing voice as I felt that familiar power start up again. Before anyone can blink, I came at her with full speed and grabbed her by the hair and punched her face with so much strength, her hair remained in my hand.

"MY HAIR!" she screeched "You stupid-" I was suddenly behind her when I grabbed her, threw her in the air and kicked her back to the ground. This power was incredible… And I loved every minute of it. When I saw her trying to crawl away while still holding my necklace, I stepped on her ankle. No, let me rephrase that: I broke her ankle and she yelled in agonizing pain.

"What's wrong? I thought you were dying to want to beat up a Leaf Ninja…" I said with an insane smile, which made her cringe.

"Stop it, please…" she whimpered as I grabbed a little chunk of what was left of her hair.

"How pitiful… You were all bark than action… You don't even know how stupid and pathetic you look right now…" I said insanely.

"I forfeit! I quit! Just let me go!" She begged as she pitifully attempted to remove my hand from her head.

"Not so fast… I do believe you have something that belongs to me… Right?" I say manically.

She was crying as she shakily returned my necklace.

"Winner is… Emma Toskino" said our instructor and I walked back to my teammates… Who looked terrified out their minds as I came in front of them. I instantly felt myself being "normal" again and became deeply remorse.

"Hey guys… About what you saw… I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. First, I felt angry and powerful at the same time. And then… I feel really terrible for what I've done" I explain and I look over to Mara, who's still crying, to see that her teammates are trying to comfort her. But then, a medical doctor takes her away. I didn't realize that I'm crying until a hand touches my shoulder.

"Dad…" I say, but he stops me with a gesture as he takes out a handkerchief and cleans away my tears as well the blood.

"Even without your memories, you know that the person that gave you that necklace was someone precious to you… For you to want to protect it. But Emma, I've told you so many times… never let your emotions, especially hate take over you or get in the way of anything" He explained. All I can do is nod. The other challenges begin, but I hardly pay attention to them. I'm lost in my mind when Hinata sits next to me and applies her homemade ointment on my cheek.

"You're hurt and the medical ninjas didn't help you" she explained softly.

Hinata… You're such a loyal friend…, I thought to myself as she finished.

"Thanks Hinata… I don't know what I'd do without you" I said with a tiny smile and she smiles back as she looks at the board. But then, her smile disappears. Before I can ask, she walks away to the arena and I see what made her lose her smile. She'd going against her cousin. I hurry to the rail and I see the hate and disgust in Neji's eyes.

Once the fight started, Neji was ruthless with her. It was only a matter of time before he did anything heinous to her, asides puncturing her pressure point and throwing insults at her.

"Come on, Hinata! You can do it! Don't listen to him!" I shout as I lean over the rail.

Before I knew it, the battle was over, but Neji kept hitting her. Especially in the chest area… Where her heart was.

"NO! STOP!" I shouted as tears ran down my face and I jumped off the rail. Once landing on the ground, I ran into a sprint. The other ninja restrained Neji as my dad grabbed me from behind, preventing to reach Hinata.

"LET ME GO! SHE'S HURT! DAD, LET ME GO! THAT BASTARD HURT HER! HE TRIED TO KILL HER!... He tried to kill her" I whispered and broke down crying as my knees gave out while dad was hugging me and stroking my hair. Naruto stood next to Hinata's little puddle of blood as they took Hinata away. He knelt down it to, touched it as if he was grabbing it, and faced Neji.

"You hurt, not only a family of yours… But a best friend to my friend… I swear! I will beat you not only for Hinata, but for my friend… Emma Toskino" he said determinably.

(A little while after)

"What do you mean she's out of the exams?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"She let her emotions get in the way. She nearly tortured her opponent to death… And made a scene when Hinata was injured" Kakashi explained as I stood there with my head down.

"What do you expect? She saw her best friend almost get killed in there! Why can't Neji be the one to be eliminated out of the games? He's the one responsible for Hinata's injuries!" Naruto stated.

"It's okay, guys…" I whispered softly.

"No, it's not okay-" I stopped Naruto by putting my hand up.

"I give up…" I say as I untie my headband and place it down "I wasn't meant to be a ninja"

"Emma, I didn't say-" Kakashi began, but I already left the building.

After walking a good distance away and into the training fields, I sat on the same spot where I met Ashido. I felt a presence behind me as she sat down next to me. Well, more like back to back.

"Tough day?" she asked and I nodded "I heard you got eliminated… and you quit"

"So what? Aren't you suppose to see how you're students are doing?" I asked. She turned me around, so that I was looking at her.

"They can take care of themselves, but I'm more concerned about you Emma. Hinata told me that you two are very close friends and what you showed back there… It truly shows that you deeply care for her" Kurenai sensei explained softly.

"She's like a sister to me…" I whispered.

"You know? Hinata has always told me that you were always the reason why she tries to get better each day. She tells me that you helped her so many times and she hopes to be, one day, Anbu with you as a comrade" she explains.

"It's too late for that now" I say as I pluck a small lily off the ground.

"It's never too late… I'm envious of Kakashi for adopting you" she said.

"Why?" My head snapped at her direction with both curiosity and confusion.

"Well… I always wanted a daughter and when we found you, I was going to meet the Hokage so I can adopt you, but he wasn't in his office and then… I found him at the hospital with Kakashi… I was too late. He had already asked to be your guardian…" she was quiet for a moment and removed the lily from my hand "… But I'm glad that he took care of you. Because just like this flower, you're growing and you will be someone very special in life…" she buries the flower back in place and pulls out my headband as she ties it on the original place of where I had it.

"My, My… Isn't this just a touching moment?" said a voice behind us. We whipped our heads behind and saw Sayuki… With the same outfit as before.

"Emma, Run!" Kurenai said as she got into a battle stance.

Right before I started running, a tall figure grabbed me from behind and placed me on his side shoulder, which gave me the view of his back.

"Kurenai sensei! Help me!" I shouted as I started kicking the tall man.

"No!" Kurenai shouted back, once she registered what's happening.

Everything became black… What happened?

...

Hey everyone, Beautiful Siren here… I'm sorry, but sadly a family member died recently and my family, including me, are saddened by this. But I promise to keep on writing stories, but I'm not sure when I'll publish it. Maybe January, I'm not sure, but I won't stop writing. If this chapter was somewhat bad, I apologize… I wasn't feeling myself. But made sure to read and review.

Thank You and have a nice day