I DO NOT OWN KP OR NARUTO
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Rokubi No Raiju
Chapter 10 - Cursed
30 Minutes later, Anko had taken the 'Survivors' of the first exam as Anko had called them, and led them to the edge of a dark forest, Ron knew of this forest since he had lived on its outskirts for eight years and had also been trained in the forest by his mother.
The ninja all looked at the forest and shuddered, even though it was day time, the inside of the forest looked like it hadn't been exposed to sunlight in decades,
"You'll soon experience why they call it the forest of death…" Anko spoke with an ominous tone.
Naruto however was not impressed and he decided to show everyone he was not scared in the only way he could, by mocking the teacher, Naruto spoke with a mocking tone as he repeated what Anko said with a squeaky voice,
"You'll soon see why they call it the forest of deeeeath… You think that scares me? that's nothing, I'm not afraid!!!" Naruto yelled into the air
Ron looked at Naruto in pity and had only one thought in his head,
"Miiiiistake'
Rons suspicions were confirmed when a single kunai shot from Anko and flew past Naruto just lightly nicking him on the cheek before it landed in the ground at the feet of a long haired grass ninja.
Anko disappeared from her spot near the fence leading into the forest laving only a trail of dust before re-appearing behind Naruto, she leaned close and whispered in his ear,
"…Kids like you are the first to be killed… spraying that red blood I love…" to emphasize her point she slowly licked a single drop of blood from Naruto's cheek.
When Yori saw this she suddenly froze and blushed furiously after remembering the same move being used on her a month ago, she subconsciously looked over at Ron but then looked away quickly when she saw him smirking at her, her teammates X and Fukushima (Aka: Ben) saw her discomfort but quickly dismissed it.
Ron smirked as he saw a blush across Yori's face, it was true that Ron had used the exact same move on here a month ago, right after Anko taught it to him. His thought were distracted though when he noticed something else going on, he looked back at Anko and saw the grass ninja whose feet the kunai ha landed at holding the kunai out to Anko… with his tongue.
"Here's your kunai" the grass ninja spoke with a low voice, Anko smirked at his over her shoulder before taking the kunai,
"Why thank you grass ninja… but don't sneak up on me like that unless you want to die young…"
The grass ninja sucked his tongue back into his mouth as he stalked away with a smile, Ron watched him and shuddered, there was something wrong with that ninja.
As Anko holstered her Kunai she made her way towards the gate leading into the forest, she then turned to address everyone.
"This is your objective, each of your teams are being given either a Heaven scroll or an earth scroll…"
Anko reached into her coat and pulled out two scrolls, one white and one black.
"Half of you will be given a heaven scroll and the other half will be given an earth scroll, you must make your way to the center of the forest where you will find a tower, but once you are there you must have both scrolls in your possession in order to get in… how you get those scrolls is up to you… you have three days"
Ron thought about the rules for a moment,
'Both scrolls…. The only way to get both scrolls is to take another teams scroll… so only half the teams can pass, that's what mom meant when she said half will fail… it wasn't a threat, it was just a fact'
After signing a permission form, each team were instructed to walk behind a curtain booth where they were each given there scroll, as Ron stepped behind the booth everyone else was watching him curiously, Sakura was the first to voice he thoughts as she turned to Sasuke,
"Hey, where's Ron-kun's team? I didn't see them in the first exam"
Sasuke turned to her and shook his head at her ignorance,
"Sakura, six years ago a law was passed by the council forbidding Mitarashi from ever being assigned to a team… he is one of a kind, he has no team, he works alone" As Sasuke finished speaking he noticed that Sakura was shocked, not many people knew much about Ron, he took another look around to see that all the other ninja were smirking at the prospect of one person being alone in this test, at that point many of the ninja teams were making plans to target Ron.
Behind the curtain Ron had just handed in his form and had received his scroll when he noticed his mother walk in behind him,
"Hey mom, what are you…" Ron was cut off as Anko knelt down and pulled Ron into a tight hug, a moment later Ron hugged her back,
"I want you to be careful, ok? Because you're alone the other teams are gonna be gunning for you" Anko finished speaking and separated from him to see Ron smiling,
"Don't worry mom, if any team tries gunning for me then I'll just show them what a Mitarashi can do, after all I was trained by the best" Ron spoke with a mixture of a smile and an evil smirk.
"Oh Mom, I didn't know I was gonna be away for three days so Sheila doesn't know, could you look after her for me?" Ron asked, Anko nodded without hesitation.
After slipping his scroll into his pouch he walked past the curtain and back into the open where he noticed most of the other ninja smirking at him evilly.
Ron noticed this a sighed as he came to a conclusion, everyone knew he was alone and most of them were planning to attack him as soon as he steps foot into the forest… but he had anticipated this and already had a plan.
After making sure all the ninja were watching him he reached into his pouch and pulled out his white colored heaven scroll for everyone to see… many of the ninja were shocked such as Sakura and Ino, the rookie nine were looking at him as if to say,
'Are you suicidal?!?!'
But there were three ninja who had a small smile on there lips, these three were Anko, Sasuke and Shikamaru… they were all smiling because they all had the same though…
'Smart move…'
Ron slipped his scroll away and continued towards his entrance gate.
Sakura was still shocked, but got curious when she saw the look on Sasuke's face, as if he knew something she didn't,
"Sasuke-kun… why did Ron do that… now everyone knows what scroll he has…"
Sasuke looked at Ron as he was walking away and started explaining the situation to Sakura.
"Sakura, the reason we go behind the curtain to get our scroll is to make sure that nobody know which of us is carrying it, but since Ron is alone they automatically know that he is carrying it… so naturally everyone will be after him for his scroll, since he is alone he wil be considered easy pickings… that's why he showed them what scroll he has, now only the half of us with earth scrolls will be after him instead of all of us… not only that but he has effectively given us information as to the scrolls everybody is carrying, look around"
Sakura was shocked at Ron's ingenious thinking but was still able to look around, half of the ninja were still pretty happy but half of them now looked upset… that's when it snapped… the half who looked happy all have earth scrolls and they can attempt to get Ron's heaven scroll but the half that look unhappy all have heaven scrolls and it would be pointless to go after Ron.
In that one simple gesture, Ron had eliminated half his competition and turned the ninja's attention to each other instead of him, many of the ninja noticed the looks on each others faces and quickly took note of who must be carrying an heaven scroll and who must be carrying an earth scroll.
Kakashi who had been watching the action from afar also smirked, as if he knew something everyone else did not.. This was because with his Sharingan he had been able to see Ron's scroll laced with chakra when he pulled it out.
'Well done Ron… very smart… vary smart indeed… you are already way past the level of a Chunin'
Ron smiled as he walked towards his gate, he felt a small poof of smoke coming from his pouch as the Henge (Transformation) he had placed on his scroll dispelled and it changed from the fake heaven scroll he had disguised it as and changed back to its original form, a black earth scroll. By fooling everyone into thinking he had a heaven scroll, only half of the ninja teams would go after him and the wrong half at that, this way he could hunt for his own heaven scroll without interference, even if a ninja team did catch him (unlikely) then he would show them his earth scroll and they would realize he didn't have the scroll they needed. Nobody even noticed, not even his mother… unknown to him there were two people who had noticed, Kakashi hiding high up and out of sight… and the grass ninja who had passed Anko back her kunai.
'How interesting…do I know him? Looks so familiar'
Ron was tense and ready to run, only a few more seconds before the gates were open and the test began, Ron looked to his left and right and saw the two teams next to him were smirking at him,
'Hmm, two teams, both with earth scrolls no doubt, trying to get my 'Heaven' scroll, heh, should be fun…' Ron was so into his thoughts he almost missed the starting signal, in front of him a Chunin opened his gate and without a second thought, Ron ran through it and into the forest.
Ron was barely a few meters into the forest before he heard rustling from his right and left, obviously from the teams that had been smirking at him, Ron grinned as he reached into his pouch and grabbed a handful of what looked like pieces of paper, as he ran through the forest he quickly slapped the papers onto the side of the trees without breaking a stride.
After disappearing into the trees ahead, a ninja team that had been tracking Ron since they stepped foot inside the forest were hot on his trail, as they emerged from a tree one of them noticed the papers on the trees but more specifically a small fuse underneath them,
"….Oh shi…"
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After sounding the signal for the start of the exam Anko was busy munching on some sticks of dango just as Kakashi appeared in a poof of smoke before taking a seat next to Anko,
"…So, how do you think Ron will do?" Anko asked slightly nervously,
Kakashi looked at her for a moment before answering,
"…He'll pass… I don't have a doubt about that… he is already far beyond a Chunin, even if he by slim chance doesn't pass this exam then I am still going to push for him to be promoted…heh" Anko was a little shocked, Kakashi hardly ever complimented anyone, she was however curious about Kakashi's little chuckle at the end of his sentence,
"What's so funny Kakashi?" Anko asked,
Kakashi looked at her and smiled under his mask,
"It's just kind of ironic, the council passed that law about Ron not being on a team to stop him from getting more powerful and maybe becoming threat to the village… so he never had a real Jounin sensei and he was kinda bounced from one teacher to another, he learned Taijutsu from Gai, he learned Genjutsu from Kurenai and he learned Ninjutsu from you and me… by doing that the council have inadvertently made him more powerful… not to mention his… tenant."
Anko smirked at the thought and let out a small chuckle of her own, she turned to say something else but was cut off when they heard a rather loud series of explosions coming from inside the forest.
"Well, that didn't take long…" Anko said with a smile.
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A little later and after having lost the team that was following him it was getting dark, Ron leaped up and landed near the top of a tree, he smoothed down some large leafs and got ready to rest, if he wanted to pass this test then he needed to get some serious rest to recover from everything that had happened, he gently laid himself down on the comfy leafs and started to drift to sleep.
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Meanwhile outside the forest, Anko was still eating helpings of Dango.
After finishing another stick she tossed it over at a tree nearby along with all the other sticks she had finished with, nearly 50 little dango sticks were lodged in the tree making a little pattrn of the Konoha symbol, Anko smirked at her handiwork.
In a poof of smoke, a Chunin appeared in front of Anko,
"Anko-san, we have found something, dead students."
With a concerned look on her face Anko quickly jumped down from her perch on top of the scroll booth and ran after the Chunin.
After a few minuets of running they finally came to a group of small monuments, at the feet of the monument lay the bodies of three grass ninja but the most disturbing thing was, there faces were missing, almost as if they had been skinned off, at the sight Anko was overwhelmed with a feeling of deja'vu,
"This, this is … 'his' technique… Orochimaru" at the mention of that name Anko suddenly felt a strong pain in her left shoulder blade, she fell to her knees gripping it, her cursed mark, the one given to her by Orochimaru all those years ago.
Trying to regain her composure she notised something, one of the ninja, there hair, there clothes… it was the same ninja who had given her kunai back to her with and elongated tongue… but how, she saw him enter the forest with the rest of the ninja… that's when it snapped,
"THAT WAS HIM!!! Orochimaru was right over my shoulder and I didn't see him…" even though she was angry at herself for missing him she was cut from her anger when another fact dawned on her, he entered the forest along with the other students… along with Ron.
"Oh god no!!!…."
Anko got up and started running full speed towards the forest of death, when she was about to jump into the forest she was suddenly held back by the two Chunin who had been with her at the momument,
"NO MITARASHI-SAN, if Orochimaru is truly in there then we cannot let you go after him…"
Anko quickly spun on the spot and puched the Chunin square in the face,
"SHUT THE HELL UP!!! MY SON'S IN THERE!!!"
Without another word Anko leaped over the fence and into the forest.
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A few hours later and the exam had ran straight into the night, Ron couldn't sleep, every now and then the sounds of fighting would resonate through the forest keeping Ron awake, about half an hour ago he could even swear he had heard Sakura scream.
Ron looked up into the star filled night sky and smiled, it was one of his favorite pastimes, his mother had introduced it o him, just laying outside at night staring at the stars, it was relaxing.
Ron found himself remembering when he had first came into the forest with his mother, it was so she could teach him to track people, her method for teaching him was pretty unorthodox though, she simply tied him to a tree and ran away, then he had to get free from the tree and try to find her… one time it only took three days to find her.
Ron continued staring at the sky, he even saw a glint of a shooting star in the sky, slowly moving across the sky, it even looked like it was falling to earth, getting bigger and bigger as it got closer and closer, as looked at it closer, it seemed to have a metallic look to it…
"…SHIT!!!" Ron creamed as he moved to the side allowing the Kunai he had mistaken for a shooting star to ledge into the tree trunk behind him, looking up he saw a whole lot more of them, he jumped out of the way just as the tree became a pincushion.
Ron landed on a nearby branch and looked across from him, there they were, three rock ninja, how they had gotten this close to him without alerting him was pretty impressive.
Unknown to them there was another person watching them from afar, a grass ninja with long hair, but this was only a disguise, a face stolen from a poor student, his true identity held a little more terror, Orochimaru, one of the three legendary sanin and traitor to Konoha. He watched the action with his yellow eyes, the boy he simply knew as 'Ron' was a very capable ninja, impressive reflexes and obvious intelligence, he kept looking at his face and kept repeating the same thing in his head,
'I recognize him from somewhere, but where?'
Orochimaru watched as Ron leaped through the air, dodging all the projectiles the three rock ninja could throw at him, kunai, shuriken and even senbon (needles), but they were all dodged by Ron, just as it looked like Ron was about to be hit, he raised his arm's and muttered,
"Senei Jashu!!!" (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)
Orochimaru's eyes widened in surprise when he saw a dozen snakes shoot from Ron's sleeves and wrapped around the rock ninja, the snakes quickly constricted, squeezing the life out of the enemy ninja, after few more moment the snakes loosened there grip and quickly slammed them to the ground, the lack of blood flow to there brain and the sudden impact easily knocked them out.
Orochimaru was smiling now, this boy knew a technique that he himself invented and there was only one person who could have taught him the move, Orochimaru's former student Anko Mitarashi. He continued smiling at Ron as he watched him search the rock ninja's bodies for there scroll and came to one conclusion,
'I must see what else this boy can do'
After beating the rock ninja, Ron continued to search the ninja for there scroll, he finnaly opened the right pouch but was in shock when two scroll fell out, one white and one black…
"Idiots… they already had both the scrolls they needed, they just attacked me to wear down the competition later in the exam… fools, never attack without a reason" Ron spat at them while pocketing BOTH of there scrolls, Ron now had two earth scrolls and one heaven scroll.
"I couldn't agree more…"
Ron spun to face who had spoken, he saw across from him a grass ninja, the same grass ninja who had that weird elongated tongue, Ron listened as the ninja continued,
"People shouldn't attack without a reason... But then again… if you look deep enough there is always a reason… and to me finding that reason is half the fun…"
In an instant the grass ninja was moving, Ron barely had time to register the movement before the ninja was right in front of him delivering a punch to his gut, Ron skidded back a few meters clutching his stomach,
'Fast… he's extremely fast…'
The ninja moved to attack again, Ron had enough time to extend his arm,
"Senei Jashu!!!" (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands), the ninja stopped his assault as several snakes extended from beyond Ron's sleeve and shot at him.
Ron watched as the snakes got closer to his assailant but was shock at what happened next, the grass ninja rose his arm and said,
"Senei Jashu.." all at one snakes shot from his sleeves as well, they quickly slammed into Ron's snakes and slammed them into the ground, all snakes from Ron and the grass ninja retracted back into there sleeves.
The grass ninja looked up at Ron,
"You fool, do you think you can really defeat me with a technique I myself created"
Ron had a shocked look on his face,
"Y-You created it?…" Ron asked, the one who had taught him the Senei Jashu was his mother. This ninja was obviously dangerous.
Ron quickly put up his hands into the Ox seal and muttered something under his breath, Orochimaru was only able to hear a little bit,
"…. Bunshin no Jutsu!!!" in an instant, two copys of Ron appeared to his right and left, Orochimaru smirked, Ron was not the only one who can use clones.
Orochimaru placed his hands in the rat seal and muttered,
"Doton Bunshin No Jutsu!!!" (Earth Clone Technique)
Mud started riseing around his feet, soon I rose from the ground and started mold into the shapes of two people, soon there were two copies of him at his right and left, in an instant both Orochimaru's earth clones shot towards Ron's clones, Ron's clones jumped to intercept them but were quickly defeated and thrown to the ground by some unseen snakes from Orochimaru's clones, Orochimaru looked at the original and spoke,
"It would seem that my clones are stronger…" Orochimaru stopped speaking as he saw Ron smiling, Ron open his mouth to speak,
"There is a difference between our clones… mine can keep attacking even after they are beaten!!!" as Ron said this, both of his clones seemed to disintegrate into mass's of snakes, the snakes all shot up into the air and sunk there teeth into the earth clones, pumping poison through there fangs and into the clones, after a moment the clones seemed to melt back into mad and fall to the ground, then the snakes turned there attention towards the original and shot towards him.
Orochimaru moved fast, dodging the snakes as they shot past his from all sides, and even though the snakes were trying to kill him, he was smiling,
"A Snake clone… very inventive, I didn't see it coming… too bad I have to end this now"
Orochimaru landed on a branch and regained his footing, then he jumped towards Ron, he opened his mouth as a blade extended from his mouth and he shot towards Ron.
Ron didn't have enough time to react, Orochimaru got closer and closer until the blade extending from his mouth finally struck and lodged in Ron's chest, Orochimaru smiled and turned his eyes upward to see the look of pain in Ron's eyes, but was shocked when he saw nothing, Ron hadn't even flinched from having the blade stuck in his chest, that's when Orochimaru realized his mistake.
'Another clone!!!'
Orochimaru quickly retracted the sword and swallowed it while leaping backwards away from the clone just as it disintegrated into dozens of snakes.
Orochimaru landed on a branch behind him and quickly looked around,
"Where…. Where is the original?" he continued looking around and suddenly felt a small killing intent behind him, he turned around just in time to receive a chakra enhanced punch to the face. Orochimaru shot backwards and smashed straight through several trees before landing on his face o n the ground.
Ron landed nearby and put up his fists ready to fight, he breathed heavily, his chest inflating and deflating in slow heavy motions.
Orochimaru lowly stood up holding half of his face, the face he had stolen was now beyond repairing, it had already been melted by Sasuke's fire jutsu less than an hour ago and now it was ripped by a powerful punch from Ron.
He slowly raised his head and looked at Ron, deja'vu set in again when he saw Ron, his stance, his fists up and breathing heavily, his hair, his eyes… Orochimaru smiled.
"Ah yes… now I know where I've seen you before… I remember that punch…"
Ron was confused at Orochimaru's words, they had never met before yet this ninja seemed to know him.
Thought were running through Orochimaru's head,
'He is very powerful, perhaps he would make a suitable vessel in the future… I already have Sasuke… but I could always use a backup plan just in case'
Orochimaru smiled as he let his hand drop from his face, revealing it to Ron.
Ron's mouth fell open in shock, the ninja who had attacked him just let his hand drop from his face, his skin was ripped and was revealing another face underneath.
"W-what the hell are you?!?!" Ron spat out.
The ninja slowly spoke to Ron in a smooth tone of voice,
"Well, since we will be getting to know each other quite well in the future you may as well know my name…. I am Orochimaru… and you are MINE!!!"
Ron felt a movement behind him, he quickly spun around and saw it, a giant snake, he had seen his mom summon snakes before but never this big, Ron did not have enough time to move as the snake quickly shot at Ron and wrapped around him and pinned his arms at his sides at the same time.
"ARRRGGGHHH" Ron screamed as the snake slowly crushed him, soon he felt himself fall out of consciousness.
Orochimaru slowly placed Ron's unconscious body on the ground, Orochimaru was about to administer a certain juts until he felt a familiar presence approaching… Orochimaru smiled as he recognized the feeling… it was his old student, Mitarashi Anko.
A few minuets later Anko arrived at the clearing still holding her throbbing shoulder, she quickly looked around and spotted him, seemingly camouflaged into a tree,
"I SEE YOU!!! OROCHIMARU!!!" Anko screamed at snakes shot from her sleeves and slammed into Orochimaru, with a quick tug Orochimaru was pulled from the tree and thrown behind her, as he got back up he raised his arms in defense, it seemed strange, Orochimaru didn't seem to be even trying to fight back, these thought didn't stop her though she delivered punch after punch to Orochimaru, soon he was slammed up against the side of a tree, at this point Anko was wondering why he hadn't said anything.
Orochimaru slowly raised his right hand as if to stop Anko from attacking, but Anko saw this as an opportunity, she quickly grasped his hand with her own and slammed them against the tree, using her free right hand she grabbed a kunai and stabbed it through her own hand and into his, effectively pinning them to the tree, Anko winced at the pain as Orochimaru mumbled something.
Not paying much attention at what e was saying Anko quickly used her right hand and grabbed Orochimaru's hand,
"You don't mind if I use your hand do you?' without waiting for an answer, Anko used her own hand and Orochimaru's hand and placed tem into the Ox seal, a single tear fell from her eyes as she thought about the technique she was about to use, it would kill both her and Orochimaru
"..I'm sorry Ron….. Souji Sousai No Jutsu!!!" (Twin Snake Double Assassination Technique)
Just as she was about to use the technique she heard a voice behind her,
"So… you would be willing to kill yourself in order to kill me…"
Anko turned her head to see who was speaking, she saw Orochimaru standing behind her and then looked back at the one pinned to the tree as it started melting into mud.
"Damn!!! A clone." Anko cursed, but Orochimaru shook his head,
"No, not a clone, just a simple Doton Henge" (Earth Transformation)
Anko was confused, she looked back at the dissolving Orochimaru and froze in shock, the mud was slowly falling from another person with blond hair and in an instant she realized what she had done,
"Oh god Ron!!!" with tears on her eyes she quickly pulled the kunai that had kept her and Ron pinned to the tree out of there hands allowing Ron's body to fall to the ground, she quickly knelt down and tried to shake him awake,
"Ron!!! Ron please wake up baby, please I'm so sorry" Anko had not cried in a long time, but now she couldn't seem to stop, Orochimaru had tricked her into beating her son almost to death, her mind wandered back to that day she met Ron when she saw that mob trying to beat him to death and one thought filled her mind, he was just as bad as them.
In a fit of anger Anko stood and charged at the real Orochimaru only to fall to the ground in pain, the pain coming from her cursed mark, the pain so intense that it paralyzed her.
Orochimaru smiled as e used a few snakes to wrap around Ron and pulled him closer to himself, he slowly picked up Ron by his hair, Anko saw this and screamed at him,
"NO!!! please… let him go, I'll do anything, just let my son go!!!" Anko pleaded, she had never begged in her life, but she would do anything to protect her son.
Orochimaru smiled at Anko's out-of-character behavior,
"Son eh? Well you can't possibly be your real son… after all the cursed mark I put on you renders you incapable of baring children…"
Anko continued to cry at Orochimaru's words but continued to listen to him,
"….Very well, I have some good news and some bad news… the good news is, I am going to let your 'son' go…"
Anko felt something in the pit of her stomach, a small spark of hope.
"…the bad news is, once I let him go… he will only have a 10 chance of surviving the night…"
The hope Anko had felt a moment before as Orochimaru's words registered,
"10? That means… NO!!!" Anko screamed a moment too late, Orochimaru leaned forward and bit Ron on the back of his neck, sinking his fangs into Ron's flesh.
As Orochimaru released his hold on Ron three small black marks appeared in the place where Orochimaru had bitten, the black marks appeared in the shape of three lightning bolts all pointing into each other.
"I'm warning you now Anko, don't stop the exam and if the boy survives then don't pull him from the exam, if you do then there will be dire consequences"
Orochimaru dropped Ron's body to the ground and quickly jumped away disappearing into the tree's, Anko was released fro her paralysis and quickly crawled towards Ron and pulled his head into her lap, just as she did that Ron's eyes shot open and he let out a loud cry of pain,
"ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!" Ron's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he started shaking wildly, Anko saw his reactions and cried silently, she vaguely remembered when she had gotten her cursed mark, the intense pain that followed.
All Anko could do was hold and comfort her son as he continued to scream in pain into the night and prayed that when the sun rose, her son would still be alive.
To Be Continued…
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whew, this one took a while... oh, no, the fact that Ron now has the cursed mark is NOT the plot twist i am planning, but i have once again left a few clues as to what it is. if you wanna take a guess at what the twist is then go ahead.
anyway, please read and review. let me know what you think of the plot so far.