Chapter 10: The Truth is Spilled; Part Two

"Hey, Sasuke!" Annie ran down the street towards the raven haired boy. She felt happy and light hearted. Yesterday she had told Naruto everything. A huge burden had been lifted off her.

Flashback no Jutsu!

"Naruto, about my Justus...Is now a good time to tell you?"

"Yeah, it's a perfect time."

"Well...I'll start at the beginning...When Nine years ago, I was taken from my home, by a strange man with a snake tounge. His name was Orochimaru. That's the guy who tried to take you. He took me far away, across seas and over mountains. We came to his hideout that was close to the Leaf Village. He took me to a room with decent furnishing, and told me that I was safe now. He said some bad men were after me and now they wouldn't get me or my family. I knew he was lying, and it took a lot of his training and sweet talk for me to even go near him."

"T-training?" Naruto stuttered. She's been trained? By a bad guy?

"Mmmhmm. After a week of hanging around, Kabuto began to train me with kunais and fighting techniques. After a while, I got really good, and bored. So Orochimaru trained me with Justus."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "So, even if you were trained by big bad guys when you were little, how did you learn four elements? Not to mention the invisibility?"

"Kabuto...did some "tests" on me. He said it was just like a doctor check-up, but it was totally different. He gave me some sleeping pills, and when I woke up, my skin was greenish. It all faded after an hour or so, except for this-" Annie lifted her hair and tugged the back of her shirt neck down. A bruise sat there, It was kinda shaped like a shuriken. Naruto looked at it with curiosity.

"So, I started doing some of the jutsu forms Kabuto taught me later in training, and they actually worked! Thing is...whatever Kabuto did to me...It means I can't use chakra." Naruto's eyes widened.

"Nuh uh!" Naruto gaped.

Annie nodded. "That's why I didn't have to do the graduation test at Ninja academy."

"So...these elemental Jutsus you know...aren't really Jutsus? Or they're a different kind?"

"I guess. Anyway, after two years of training, I began to be more daring in my explorations of the hideout. I actually went inside his secret lab that he told me specifically not to. It was...*shudder* ...horrifying. There were corpses on tables, guts in jars, and...other things. I decided that these guys were bad, and I might end up one of those corpses if I stayed around. I explored some more and found the exit, and I used my four-year-old drawing skills with a crayon to draw a map near the dungeon so that I wouldn't forget." Naruto and Annie both giggled at this.

"After that I slipped out when Orochimaru wasn't looking, which wasn't hard when I had invisibility and intangibility." when Naruto looked at her funny, she explained. "I can walk through stuff." His eyes widened. "Seriously?" Annie laughed. "Seriously."

"What else can you do?"

"Wood jutsu. And I'm working on a few other things, like lightning and sand and metal. I'm getting the hang of metal, but lightning keeps exploding in my face. Promise you'll wait until the Chunnin exams before we tell Kakashi-Sensei and the rest of the world?"

"Why?"

"Well, it would be too...weird. If there's an emergency, I'm willing to spill it, but before then, people might hunt me down or expect a lot out of me. It was tough enough being the top fighter in the class, and that's nothin'. Plus, who knows what the ANBU will do when they figure out I was trained by Orochimaru?"

Naruto nodded. "Alright, my lips are sealed, Annie-Chan. I promise. Oh, and Annie-Chan?"

"hm?"

"Do you have visions too?"

"No, why?" She looked at him strangely.

"I remembered that thing you said to Sasuke, about vengeance being bad and he was gonna end up destroying the Leaf? What was that all about?"

"I-uh-read up on Orochimaru's psychological studies. Sasuke was one of his targets and-well-he was totally falling in his trap with his revenge-thing. Orochimaru uses revenge and power-hunger to get his science victims. It's all very intense." She rolled her eyes. Revenge. So dumb. Orochimaru had taken her from her family, but she didn't stay up at night planning his death. She winced. Floods of memories poured in. Where were they? Where was she?

"Annie-Chan? Thanks for telling me everything..." Naruto interrupted her thoughts. She smiled at him.

"No problem, Naruto-Kun. Thank you for listening."

Annie smiled as the flashback faded. She looked back at Sasuke.

He stood next to Ino's flower shop. "Watcha doing?" Annie flashed one of her million dollars smiles. Sasuke turned around with his hands in his pockets, a blank look on his face. When he saw it was Annie, a light lit up in his eyes and his face held a trace of a smile. "Um-nothing..." he muttered.

Annie flicked her eyes between the flower shop and Sasuke. "I know! Are you getting flowers for Sakura? Don't worry, it'll be our little secret!" She said in a teasing voice. He rolled his eyes. "Pfft, heck no. I was just...uh... getting some to...errrmmm...brighten up my place. But since Ino's in there, I decided against it." He looked away. Annie paid no attention to his face and considered this.

"Well...I could go get them for you, if you tell me what kind you want and stuff."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "NO! I mean...I don't want to trouble you with that. I can handle it myself."

Annie waved it off. "Nonsense. Those girls are crazy, 'specially Ino and Sakura. Now, what kind?

Sasuke looked away again. "A Canterbury bell , a daffodil, and...a r-red tulip." He mumbled. Annie smiled.

"Okay!" She bounced into the store, totally oblivious. Sasuke sighed in relief. Thank heavens she didn't know the meanings of flowers. As long as Ino didn't spill it...

"Hmm...A red tulip, hmm? Would these flowers happen to be for Naruto?" Ino said with a smirk.

Annie blushed a little. "Why would you think that?"

"Everyone knows you two have are so meant for each other. And, by everyone, I mean me." Ino smiled knowingly.

Annie composed herself with a sarcastic smile. "Wow, Ino. Naruto and I are just friends. Best friends, I mean. These flowers are just to brighten up my bedroom. What's so special about the tulip? It matches my bed sheets," she lied.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Well, they're supposed to mean a confession of love, the Canterbury Bell means gratitude, and the daffodil means respect, but apparently-"

"Bye Ino! Have fun with your matchmaking!" Annie yelled over her shoulder as she ran out the door with the flowers. She didn't really want to hear Ino go on and on about whatever.

"Here you go, Sasuke." She said. He looked away as he took them from her. Annie noticed that he seemed to have a habit of that. "Th-thank you, Annie-Chan.

From a distance, Naruto saw Sasuke holding flowers and standing next to Annie. An anger mark popped out of his head and he ran to them. "SASUKE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" First training, now Annie?

Annie looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. "Naruto, relax. He just bought some from the store, probably for Sakura-Chan!" Annie added with a wink. Naruto relaxed and laughed, while an anger mark popped on Sasuke's face. "It's not for Sakura or Ino or anyone like that."

Naruto smiled. "Anyone like that, eh? Who then?" He teased. Sasuke glared at him.

"Shut up, if you know what's good for you, dobe."

"Make me, teme!" Naruto glared back. Lightning bolts practically shot out of their eyes. Annie laughed at their rivalry.

"Stop it, you knuckleheads. Save that stuff for training." She teased, then walked away, leaving them to their fun. She wasn't a block away when she heard Naruto shout 'SASUKE!' again. She giggled. A little rivalry ought to do them both good.

Later that night, after a long day of hanging out with her friends, Annie tugged on her nightgown and collapsed onto her bed. She turned over and was blinded by the light she had forgotten to turn off. "Ugh...if I ever control lightning...That lightbulb is goin' down..." She smirked as she pushed herself off of her bed.

While snapping off the light, a fist rapped at her door, then she heard running footsteps in the hall. She narrowed her eyes. "Who the heck..." She opened the door. Nobody was there. She looked down.

Annie gasped.

Three flowers, tied together in a bow with a little white ribbon.

The purple Canterbury...

Gratitude...

The yellow Daffodil...

Respect...

And last, but not least, the Red Tulip.

a Confession of Love!

Annie swallowed as she picked up the flowers. "Thank you!" She whispered, just in case he was still there.

Sasuke...