The Fallen

Chapter 10-The Hidden Truth

Kinda a 'your past is unfolding' thing.

Yeah, yeah you guys should know the drill by now.

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Hikari wandered the house aimlessly. It was Team 7's day off and the two inhabitants decided to stay home and relax. For one, it was to stay home and be bored. Ah! It's so friggin' boring here! It was fun when we were doing those crappy D-ranked missions and they were boring!

Sasuke was following the girl around to make sure she didn't do anything. It intimidated her, but she chose to ignore her teammate, and continue her sulking mood. Finally, Hikari opened a random door and walked in. The Uchiha followed and sighed. Both were in the library which was filled with dusty books and bookshelves. Hikari took the liberty of opening the books and looking at them, with a very bored expression. She finally came across a book that held her interest.

"The Village Hidden in the Flames," she read aloud. "Ever heard of this Uchiha?"

He shook his head and walked over to his 'friend'. His eyes trailed over the book's cover, and then looked away. "Read it if you want," he stated. "It's always been there anyway."

Hikari shrugged and sat down in window seat in the library. Flipping the book open, a new book scent hit her so hard that she almost fell out of the seat. Damn, this must've been written a few years ago!

She started to scan the writing. All it was was history of the village and how it was just discovered by a stray traveler. A certain topic caught her eye. "The Kage Clan," she read to herself, "Might as well read it."

The Kage Clan is an intriguing clan. It is a combination of many other clans combined, but they all have one thing in common; they are each a descendant of the Shadow Angel. Not everyone is a descendant though. A few years ago, an Uchiha married a Kage unknown. The Uchiha, Kuroi, was not an official Uchiha. She was adopted by them and raised as their own.

Kato Kage is a Jounin for the Hidden Flame Village. He now was two children, Dan Kage, age 9, and Hikari Kage who is only one month old.

"Holy snap!" Hikari exclaimed. "I was originally from here!"

Sasuke ran towards Hikari. "What's wrong?" he asked in a concerned tone.

She pointed at the passage she just read. Sasuke read it over and his own eyes widened at that moment. "Read more aloud," he demanded.

"Can't you read?" I asked, impatiently. He glared at the girl who just sighed

'A few years later, a raid was set on the village and killed almost everyone there, except for Dan and Hikari whose locations are unknown. The Kages were well known for selected jutsus for teleportation. Everything was in an uproar after this event. All of the Kage Clan was gone in one way or another. The attackers wore black cloaks with red clouds.

The village was never known until that day. Konoha was the nearest and was the first to know of the village. Kuroi Uchiha never mentioned the village when she came back from missions from that direction. She would disappear every so often that everyone just dropped the case. When the news of her death reached the Uchiha Clan, everything fell. Ito Uchiha was angered at this.

Every so often, one person remembers the Kage Clan. Only a select few know of this clan and they are all unknown, except for the Hokage.'

Hikari stopped reading and stared at the book and its contents. Why didn't anyone tell my anything? she asked herself. Why would they hide this from me?

"That wasn't there before," Sasuke muttered. "I've looked back at the shelf. This was in the wrong section."

"So someone put it there," the girl concluded. "Makes sense since the scent isn't that old or stale. Still, I want to know."

"Someone who seeks answers is a person with their own journey and path," a voice echoed.

"Zero," Hikari murmured.

"Who?" Sasuke asked.

"My guardian," she explained, "He's the one that was showing me you guys when I died. Zero explained to me how my life is going to work, but I'm ready for it. Wonder why he's here."

"I'm here because I need to tell you something," Zero explained. "You can only see me in your dreams, but I cannot come to you anymore. From here on out, you will have to endure your path without my direct guidance. I can send you signs, but it is up to you to interpret them."

"Like road signs?" the girl asked.

Zero's sigh rang throughout the library. "No, signs that only you could understand," he said. "I really don't have patience right now, but I guess I'll have to deal with it. Anyway, one of my last direct messages is this; in two months time, a friend will betray you."

"Wait!" Hikari shouted, "Why are you leaving?"

"I'm still your guardian but once I told you that you are a fallen, it was only a matter of time before I had to leave you on your own," Zero explained as his voice faded. "Remember, even we cannot control your destiny, only you because you have defied your own."

As the he said those words, he faded from them. "That guy was always weird," Hikari said breaking the silence. "So, you going to enter the Chuunin Exams?"

"Of course," Sasuke said coldly. "You?"

"Duh!" the girl replied rudely, "Wouldn't miss something that fun."

Sasuke sighed and sat across from Hikari on the seat. "Care to spar?" he questioned her.

The pale-eyed girl smirked. "Wouldn't miss it for the world, yo," Hikari said as she got up and put the book down. "Let's go Sasuke. And no going easy on my just because I'm a girl."

Xxxxx

Both Genin stood ten feet away from each other. Hikari reached for her small sword on her right shoulder. I'll have to use my wits on this one, she though. He's gotten stronger and I've barely grasped other jutsus. Good thing I scanned some of the jutsus but still…

Sasuke started to charge at the girl in full swing. The girl whipped out her sword and brought it up for defense against any of the blows. Her sparring partner whipped out two kunais and threw them at her. She smirked and dodged them with amazing speed. He stopped and tried to look for Hikari.

Her weakness is her jutsus, but she knows how to use weapons, her own style of taijutsu, and using the surrounding area, Sasuke thought bitterly. Hikari must've been good where she came from to elude me.

"Don't think too much Uchiha," the girl taunted, appearing in front of him, "It might just hurt you."

Sasuke reacted and blocked a slice to his torso with a kunai. Hikari frowned but whipped her sword back towards her and tried to slash at him again. In an instant, he dodged it and threw the kunai at him. She deflected it and it fell to the ground. Her next move was striking her sword into the ground.

I only have one shot at this move, she thought. In fluid, graceful movements, she moved her hands around the hilt of her sword. Zero told me to try out this technique during sparring. This is the perfect time.

Sasuke watched intently. He didn't know what she was doing, but he knew she was up to something. Then, blue flames surrounded the sword. Hikari smiled and drew the sword out. She's just full of surprises.

"Flame Style: Fire Dance!" she yelled as the fire surrounded the hilt. Heh, this stuff is cold. Talk about cooling off.

"Katon: Ryuuko no Jutsu!" Sasuke returned as he cupped a hand over his mouth.

Shit. Hikari brought her sword up as fire started to charge straight at her from Sasuke's side. She sent out some of her cold fire that clashed with the dragon fire. The fires clashed and vanished before the two. Sasuke looked at where Hikari was standing. Hey eyes were glittering with excitement. He smirked and charged towards her, ready for another go. He's got the advantage over me now. He knows jutsus while I just have the feel. Looks like I'll still have to depend on my wits.

The girl got ready and sheathed her sword. Sasuke smirked again as he saw her action. Hikari started to slightly bounce on her feet so the weight wouldn't slow her down. Her opponent frowned as he saw this. She's planning on doing her hand to hand combat. It's still unpredictable. In a flash, the girl threw a sidekick as Sasuke closed in on her. He put one hand over his chest where she had kicked him. Hikari's still not smart enough to power up her hand to hand, but there was power there.

Hikari stood in a front stance and had both of her hands up. Sasuke did the same and waited. He doesn't want to do any jutsus on me. "Just go and do some jutsus yo. You're killing me here," she offered.

Sasuke smirked. "I won't hold back," he warned.

"I could tell you were holding back," Hikari muttered. "It's getting really boring you know."

Xxxxx Hikari's PoV

"Unless you want me to die," I added to myself. That wouldn't be the most fun thing to happen again. Dieing wasn't really the most fun thing in the world.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted.

"Is that all you can say at times?" I snapped. This guy can be so annoying that it's not even funny. "Someone's really short in vocabulary."

Sasuke just 'hned' and did some hand signs. I sighed and started to bounce again. This was going to be awhile. Fire balls spit out of his mouth and I just stood there dumbly. Kami knows why I was doing that but oh well. When it was six inches in front of me, I jumped up and got away in a flash. Never liked cutting it close but hey, I had to do it for some practice.

"Still having trouble with jutsus?" Sasuke taunted.

"No, I'm doing so well on them, that I just didn't want to use them against someone like you," I said sarcastically.

Sasuke smirked at me and laughed. I smiled slightly at this, since the Sasuke Uchiha never smiles and laughs. Oh yeah, I'm really something aren't I?

"You should really pay attention more," Sasuke said dryly as a kunai flew through the air.

Smirking, I got out another kunai and threw it towards the other one. They both clashed and fell towards the ground. "What was that? I thought I heard someone say I needed to pay attention more," I said looking around. Ah shit, he disappeared. "I take that back."

I felt someone wrap a hand around my waist. A kunai was touching my neck and I could feel the cool metal touching my neck, ready to go deeper. "You should," my captive said. One of the many reasons why I hate Sasuke Uchiha.

"Yeah, yeah just let me go," I snapped. "No need in taking so much pride in beating the living crap out of me."

Sasuke didn't let go but he did drop the kunai. "I would also love for you to let me go too," I said dryly. "It's getting really awkward," I added with a singing voice.

There wasn't a response from my teammate and I started to get fidgety. Usually, I would have done something but something was holding me back. Why couldn't hormones just shut down for one damn day? I seriously think we can deal without them for a day or two.

"You just going to stand there?" Sasuke asked behind me.

"If you'd let go of my waist I would move somewhere," I snapped, "Probably away from you… hime hentai."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted in annoyance. I always seem to have that affect on people these days.

Slowly, I wriggled out of his grasp and started to walk away slowly. "Do you ever smile?" I asked suddenly, not bothering to turn around.

"Not anymore," was his simple reply.

"I bet you can crack a smile like you kinda did at the bridge," I challenged, still walking away. "It's good for your health." I paused for awhile before adding, "And your sanity."

I started to run for my life. If Sasuke thought he was sane, well by the way he gets angered easily, I don't think so. I've been getting him pissed off at me lately and I find it highly amusing. Okay, it's probably only me and Naruto, but hey at least it's not just me… I think.

"Stay focused," I chanted to myself. "Yay, I'm talking to myself again. Haha go figure I'd still have that habit these days."

Then, a tree just so happened to be in my way and since I wasn't paying attention, I ran into it. I fell backwards and landed on my back really hard. Sasuke walked calmly over and looked down on my figure. I've heard of looking up to people but this is just ridiculous! His gaze locked into mine and I felt a strong presence around us. My eyes blinked and the presence was gone as soon as it came. Slowly, I started to get up and struggle to stand. One thing that's always bothered me was why do we have to have long lasting injuries?

"Now, what did you say about my sanity?" Sasuke challenged.

"You might lose it one day?" I questioned uncertainly. I highly doubt it was the right answer.

"Hn," was the response.

"I think Sasuke Uchiha's getting softer," I teased as I started to back away. "Usually, I would have been near death by now, but I guess there was a soft little boy in there."

"Don't push your luck," Sasuke said coldly.

"I can't really push it since it's not solid," I returned rudely. "You I can push but not luck."

"Hn."

"You need a new word you know," I said impatiently. "Hn is barely anything. If it works for you then I guess I'll just have to leave it be."

Sasuke twitched slightly, but he just stood there. He's more of the stoic type. Haha, I like that word for some reason.

"We should go inside," he suggested, "It's starting to get dark and we'll see what's in store for us at the Chuunin Exams."

"Oh yeah!" I exclaimed. I stopped for a minute. "Hey… isn't supposed to be teams of three not teams of four?"

"Hn."

I scoffed and walked towards the compound. The stale stench of blood hit me, but I just continued on towards my room. Inside, I took out a drawing pad that was inside my backpack and looked through the drawings. Some were just small doodles of some scenery from random places. I frowned as I saw a drawing of me, Geoff, Skira, and Akira.

"To think, it was only about a month ago that it all happened," I murmured as I closed the sketchbook and lay down. "I've had fun but I wish they were here to share it with me." I shifted so I was facing the window, with the moon slowly rising.

"But they're always watching me."

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Sorry about not updating... yesterday but I was busy. Next chapter should be up in three days since that's how long I type it.