A/N: So... uh... long time no see! Gosh, where has the time gone. Oh I know! Into college and scholarship applications, my smiley (not) job, Cheer, and school work! But I finally whipped up this chapter after it's been collecting dust for months now. (I don't even know how long I've been gone :'O) Thankfully, I'm starting to get more time on my hands because graduation is in three weeks so chapters should be edited and released faster. Off you go to reading!

(***) = scene change btw

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way. I only own my original characters.

Protection! Survival Skills Kick In!

Team Shizen ran a great distance through the dark forest with tremendous speed. The rush of wind and the violent shaking of the leaves filled their ears with a loud whooshing sound. They slammed their feet against each branch, pushing off with such force, little pieces of bark would snap apart. The wood would almost shatter with each one of Yumika's steps. She desperately wanted to get as far away as possible.

This wasn't supposed to happen… A mixture of feelings ran through Yumika. While Etsuyo and Ayako were slightly frightened and frantic, she felt that along with anger, guilt, and idiocy. She was angry at herself for growling, guilty for dragging her friends into a wild goose chase, and idiotic for forgetting about the Hakinowa clan's agreements with the village. She was so conflicted she didn't speak a single word. She wished she was the only one being chased. Ayako and Etsuyo put her in charge and this is what she did to them.

I wasn't supposed to come into contact with one of them… any of them. I'm so stupid! How could I be so careless! She wanted to bang her head against a hard surface for being incapable of coming up with anything to do. Her mind rambled on with useless ideas and worried about the real problem. They can't know… Ayako and Etsuyo can't find out-

"Stop!"

I can talk to them!

She heard the animal calling to her, maybe unaware she was listening, repeating, "Stop, stop!" It asked for a chance, but of course obliging wasn't going to happen.

The tiger kept pace with them easily, following close behind. The girls gave their best effort to escape from the beast, but after some time, they couldn't continue forward. With Tora no me still activated, Yumika saw specks of chakra in certain places indicating where the other people were. It was a constant reminder that they weren't alone. There were more Genin in the forest who were all probably having their own trouble on their hands trying to survive their own battles. They weren't going to use the others as bait. They couldn't. Yumika wouldn't allow it.

There was no choice. It wasn't rational to keep going like this. They had to stop.

Yumika turned her head and made eye contact with both of her teammates before she planted her feet on a thick branch. Ayako and Etsuyo quickly landed next to her and all watched as the tiger slid to a halt as well down below.

Its head gazed upwards at them, but it only stared at Yumika with its bright green eyes. Only looked at her intently and didn't care about the others. It only wanted her. And she knew that.

"I'm sorry," Yumika apologized with quick breaths. She refused to break the locked gaze between her and the animal. "I forgot Konoha 'borrows' some of our tigers and keeps them captive here for the exams," she explained. "My growl attracted it."

"It's okay, Yumika. Don't beat yourself up over it." Ayako accepted the mistake as did Etsuyo. They understood that she had only returned home recently. Recalling all the politics and agreements was difficult. After all, she didn't need to deal with them for years. She was just jumping into them now.

"What does it want?" Etsuyo pondered.

Yumika swallowed hard, not wanting to tell any part of the truth, but she had to. "Me…" she almost whispered.

Ayako looked at her close friend with somewhat sad eyes. "Then what do we do?" she asked even though she had an idea as to what she was going to say.

"It's an insane idea, but," she started off. "You two have to get away from me."

"What?" Etsuyo's voice rose at the thought. "We can't do that!"

"You're going to have to." She was dead serious. "I know we should stick together considering where we are and what could happen to any of us if we're separated, but you shouldn't have to worry about this animal. It's my fault, I'll deal with it."

"There's no different option?" Etsuyo wondered.

"No," she stated. "Not unless you want to be cooped up here until this portion is already over. At some point we may come across another team and like you said Ayako, we don't need any extra trouble. This is enough. I'm going to handle this myself and I'll sense for you when I'm done."

"How are you going to take care of it?"

Talk, she thought but didn't dare to say out loud. Instead she lied and said, "I don't know…I'll find a way, but you have to go now. It's starting to get dark. You want to get away while you still have natural light. If I don't find you by tonight, go to the tower. I'll meet you there instead. I've got this under control, don't worry."

That was something easier said than done, but with no other choices, they obliged. Without any further hesitation, Ayako and Etsuyo jumped away from Yumika and began to flee.

But the tiger acted unpredictably. It began to chase the two instead and Yumika didn't realize it until a few seconds later. She quickly hopped off the branch to the ground to run after them.

The stomping of feet below them gave Ayako and Etsuyo the sign that the tiger was following them. With one glance, it was confirmed and panic began to sit back into their stomachs.

"Aw come on!" Ayako grovelled, annoyed with the situation.

"What do we do now?" Etsuyo asked.

"Um…" Ayako thought for a moment as she hopped from one branch to another.

As Yumika weaved between bushes and trees, trying to catch up with the animal, she yelled for it to stop, but it didn't listen. She wasn't getting any closer on foot, so she decided she had to use her nature. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, and with one swipe, the wind lifted her in the air and flung her forward like a slingshot.

"Ayako, any day now!" Etsuyo yelled at her teammate who had yet to make a plan.

"Sorry!" she apologized. She obviously wasn't doing too well under this pressure. "Turn!" she quickly demanded.

"When?"

"Now!"

The two girls bounced off the same branch and shot to the side… but not in the same direction. Ayako ended up taking a left, while Etsuyo took a right, and neither one of them noticed.

Yumika had almost reached the tiger when she saw the whole thing while flying. "No!" she screamed, but it was too late. They were separated and gone.

"Damn it..." she cursed just as she was above the pursuer. She tucked once in the air before taking a seat on its back and grabbed a hold of its fur. With one yank and a sharp command to stop, the chase was over.

Yumika hopped off and landed in front of it so that they were face to face. Their identical, green, cat-eyes locked and suddenly, something felt familiar to her. She started to feel as if they had met before, but she wasn't sure. That yellow fur, those black and white stripes, those sharp teeth hanging from its mouth… it looked like an average tiger, yet felt more connected with her than usual.

Her answer was given before she could even ask when the animal acted unexpectedly again and bowed down before her. That was when she finally noticed the one red stripe on top of its head. The mark of her pet.

She stared wide eyed as it lifted its head again to look at her. His eyes and stance more relaxed. "Toramaru?" she asked out loud in disbelief.

The tiger growled lightly at the sound of his name. "I knew it was you, Yumika."

She heard his voice inside her own mind and closed her eyes, trying to swallow the reality of this. It was hard to accept how far she has progressed in her stages, but she swallowed down her emotions, focused her chakra at him, and closed the connection.

"Toramaru…" Yumika began thinking back. "Why did you run after my friends?"

"I'm sorry, I thought you ran along with them… I was too excited with the suspense and the chase."He dipped his head sincerely, and Yumika easily forgave him.

"How long has it been?" She changed the subject.

"I'd say about two and a half years…" he replied in a deep, gravelly voice.

"That much time, huh?" Toramaru let out a slight rumble in his throat to agree. "It's kind of hard to believe. I barely recognized you, and if I couldn't, I see how Ayako couldn't either. Your strip of red fur is hiding."

"It stands out occasionally... but I understand, when you're as busy as you are, you tend to lose track of things... and others. You do remember why I left you and your friend, right?"

Yumika had a feeling clan matters would be brought into this conversation, but she hoped it didn't deal with this.

"Yeah…"she thought sadly. "How could I forget? You ran off because my grandmother died."

"The leader of our clan,"he clarified. "I went to make sure the ambush was okay, because when the connection is broken-"

"I know, I know…" she interrupted. She shook her head along with her response. "When the connection is broken, you aren't under control, and you can do whatever you wish."

"You weren't developed enough in anything to take charge. That's why you were left alone on your journey after… or so you thought."

Yumika's eyebrow raised as did her curiosity. "What do you mean by that?"

Toramaru didn't answer right away. Instead he walked over to a tree and lied down on his stomach. With his eyes, he invited her to sit with him.

She hesitated at first, but agreed and picked up her feet to move over to him. She took a seat between his front and back paws and leaned against him. For a moment, she felt like a child again, because that was how they always sat together, even when he was only a cub.

"I apologize for frightening you in the beginning," he spoke again, "but you see, the reason for my persistence was I wanted to talk with you."

Yumika glanced up in the direction of where her teammates off. "Then I guess it was a wise to send my friends way."

"Child, we both knew you were going to separate from them even if I wasn't your pet."

"Is that so?"

He bobbed his head once. "You don't want them to know you've gained this ability to tap into my mind to communicate. When you were younger, I was just following orders from your grandmother and all you had to do was use gestures. But when you came back and pet some of the others, you heard them."

She swallowed down the ever-so familiar lump of fear down her throat. "It's another step closer to having all the powers to be leader."

"I know… and you're afraid."She didn't have to say her answer because he knew it was true.

"I'm not just scared," she told him. "I just don't want to basically give up my life right now. I want to find an alternative, but they're not giving me a chance to. The people of our clan keep telling me how bad our territory has become, and people keep disappearing. I don't know what else to do except try and hide as much as I can."

"You see, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."Yumika snapped her head at him, the curiosity rising in her again, as the conversation was heading toward her question a few minutes ago. "There's something I have to tell you… something you don't know... or are supposed to know. While you have your secrets, they have theirs, but you have a right to know what they are."

She was confused by his words. They didn't make sense. What could her clan- her parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins- possibly be hiding from her? "Toramaru, what are you getting at?"

He looked at her, dead in the eyes before replying, "They've been lying to you this whole time…"

"Well this is just shit-tastic!" Ayako quietly yelled to the open air in front of her. She was currently banging her head against a random tree in the forest out of anger and utter frustration.

It wasn't long after she scattered in the opposite direction of Etsuyo did she realize she was alone. Unfortunately, at that time, it was too late. Her red-headed friend was no where to be seen.

Ayako contemplated her options, but came up short. She couldn't go back, fearful that the tiger would see and chase her. She couldn't keep going in the same direction causing more distance between them. She had no choice but to take a different route, in hopes of intercepting her teammate.

She didn't have any luck. Yumika was handling a beast, Etsuyo was no where to be found, and she became a sitting duck because the sun was practically set and she could barely see a thing. Of course she was irritated by that.

Though she knew it couldn't get the best of her. She was still in the Chunin Exams, there was still danger all around. Even though it was nighttime, there could be certain teams who would be going in for the attack while everyone's guards are down. She may not have had the scrolls, but she certainly wasn't going to be targeted because someone believed she did.

Gradually, Ayako kept moving through the darkened, eerie trees, avoiding anything that sounded like it came from a Genin.

Meanwhile, Etsuyo was doing the same. Ayako couldn't have guessed it, but they basically went through the exact same stages and acted the same way.

The bright red-head noticed the other girl wasn't with her when it was too late, and she too came up with the idea of going around the area of Yumika believing they would reunite… But shecircled the opposite side of Ayako.

Because of the loss of light, and the fact that using her nature would be a signal flare for trouble to the entire forest, she continued her journey on the ground, quietly, but after some time, she wasn't so lucky and accidentally ran into some opponents.

The team was also from Konoha, though Etsuyo didn't recognize them. They were older and meaner looking.

"Well aren't you stupid for wandering around in the dark by yourself," one of them taunted from the shadows.

"If you give us your scroll, we'll let you go with your life," another added.

Their threats were coming out dry, unaffecting Etsuyo. "Is that the best you can come up with?" she giggled a little at their tough-guy act.

"Shut up," the girl spat, holding out a kunai in front of her too add to their seriousness.

Etsuyo remained unfazed. "Sorry, but I'm not the one who has it."

"Liar!" the first boy shouted.

"No really," she unlatched her back pouch from behind her and opened it up, facing them so they could look inside. The team squinted their eyes into the dark hole. "Oops," she laughed. "You probably can't see because it's so dark. Let me help you out…" A hint of her sinister side came out at the last part.

Etsuyo moved her free hand in front of her and snapped her fingers. To their amazement, a small ball of fire appeared in the palm of her hand. "That's better."

All of their eyes widened in surprise, wondering how she did that, but it was slapped away by the sudden feeling of alert kicked into them.

"Hey, you better put that out," the second boy ordered.

"You'll give our position away!" the girl added, frantically.

Etsuyo smirked at their composure before saying, snottily, "That's the point…" She swiftly threw the fire ball at the ground, where it spread out to form a short wall between her and the Genin. She ran off afterward to find a safe place to rest for the night.

"That is the truth, child."Toramaru had just finished his story.

Yumika was in absolute astonishment. The words she heard, the lies once told and the facts hiding behind them. It made sense, but then again it didn't. "I… I can't comprehend all this… it's all… it doesn't…" Her private thoughts were intertwining with her shared. She wasn't putting together full sentences.

"I'm sorry that this is the truth. I've heard it with my own ears and seen it with my own eyes. I would never betray you, Yumika." He lied rubbed his head against her arm, softly. "In fact, I tell you this to protect you. Now that you know, you can use this information to act upon this issue."

Yumika didn't say or think anything more. She was too fixated on her heart pounding so hard, there was a beat in her ears and it knocked around in her insides. She swore her lungs were about to explode by how fast she was breathing, and her stomach was going to drop so low, it would disconnect from the rest of her intestines. Her trembles were so wild, it shook the ground around Toramaru.

He could see how torn she was getting because of his speech, but he let her be. He truly believed he did the right thing and all that was left to do was to let it sink in. The rest was up to her, and he had faith she would do the right thing.

Slowly, Yumika started to feel numb. Her vision started to blur from the sides and felt lighter out of nowhere. The tiger noticed her head stirring back and forth, along with her eyes opening and closing slowly. He sensed the connection was slowly being broken. "You rest now, child. You used a lot of chakra speaking and listening to me, and I caused some anxiety within you. I'll protect you tonight."

Those were the last word she heard before she drifted off into sleep. The connection broke and the old friends lied in the trees in the dark together.

The night ran on with the three distanced from one another. Yumika slept on Toramaru, Etsuyo napped and moved, while Ayako did the same.

While awake, she received no sign of Etsuyo or Yumika anywhere, and she was still all alone. Though, she successfully avoided any conflict or direct contact with other Genin.

Ayako woke up fully right as the sun was crawling its way up in the sky. It was then she realized she needed to find her team quickly before all the commotion starts up again. She began to head back into the direction of the tower, as she remembered Yumika's directions before they horribly departed.

Aside from the chirping crickets or the slithering critters who inhabited the trees and bushes, it was pretty quiet around her. There were occasional voices from teams who were awake, but it was nothing to be worried about. She mostly heard the sound of the wind blowing and the river when she was near it, but the silence made her realize how alone she really was.

I wonder how Sasuke's team is doing, Ayako thought, trying to distract herself from the depressing situation she was in. I'm sure they're fine, but it'd be nice to run into them sometime before I'm reunited with Etsuyo and Yumika.

"Leaf Hurricane!" she heard a yell from her left as well as contact between persons. That sounded like… she couldn't put a name to the voice.

Carefully, she made her way in that direction, making little noise as possible as she slipped through the bushes in front of her.

Slowly she reached a spot where she could see the scene clearly and crouched onto her knee. Immediately, her eyes opened as far as they could. The sight she saw was not what she expected. What… the… hell…?

In front of her very eyes was a battered Team Seven. Her brother lied underneath a lifted tree trunk, unconscious, next to Naruto who was in a similar state. Sakura sat protecting them as best she could, while the boy she met during the written portion, who introduced himself as Rock Lee, stood in a fighting stance facing the Oto Genin. She remembered them instantly.

They were going to have a battle, she foresaw it and she couldn't help but be scared about it. The situation was definitely apparent, and unfair. It was three against two- or more like three against one. Sakura wasn't a fighter, so it was all left up to Lee.

But Ayako wasn't going to let that be the case. She didn't take another moment to process. A fight was about to occur, and if her brother was going to be protected, it would be by the aide of her hands.

Standing up, her feet moved quickly beneath her and she darted to break into the open territory. Ayako ran passed the remaining trees in front of her and slid to a halt beside Lee, with her back to the enemy.

They had no idea her eyes had changed. From a shining onyx-black to a piercing, blood red. For the first time in Konoha, she had opened her Sharingan.

"Now, who are you?" the girl asked.

"Who do you think?"

A/N: Thanks for sticking with me if you did. I'd love to read what you thought in a review. Hope you liked this extremely edited and changed chapter. :)