Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...would I be writing fanfics if I did?

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Chapter Twelve

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Hotaru hadn't been to a festival since shortly before she entered the Academy. She wasn't sure whether she should be excited or nervous. She obviously had something to wear, but she didn't have a clue how to style her hair, or if she was supposed to wear some of that make-up that some girls wore. Did girls her age wear that? She wasn't even sure how to put on her kimono! She paced her room that morning, up far earlier than usual and in the process of working herself into a nervous breakdown over this. She didn't want to make a bad impression…not that she really cared what most people thought, but for some reason she didn't want to look any more stupid than usual in front of her peers.

Before she could work herself into a full panic attack though, there was a knock at the door. She could hear Sasuke move across the living room to answer it, but she couldn't make out what he was telling the person at the door. When the knock came on her bedroom door she squeaked, and then cleared her throat and answered, "Come in!"

The door opened a little and Sakura stuck her head inside. "You're not dressed yet!" She sighed and slipped in, looking gorgeous in her own pink and silver kimono. Hers was less elaborately patterned than Hotaru's, but beautiful nonetheless. It started out a pink so pale it was nearly white at her shoulders, darkening as it went down until it was a dark pink that was several shades removed from actually being black at her feet, with trailing sleeves that matched the color at her shoulders. Scattered over the body and legs of the kimono were delicate sakura pedals, each a pink that matched the shade of her hair precisely and edged in silver. The pedals were few near the top, becoming more frequent as the fabric got darker. Her obi was of a plain, dark pink fabric. Her hair was pulled back into a messy looking bun, with hair sticking artfully out around the edges of it. Silver chopsticks with little pink jewels dangling from tiny chains were keeping it in place, and as far as Hotaru could tell her make-up was minimal…a light dusting of what seemed to be blush and a hint of lip gloss was all she could see on the kunoichi.

When Sakura stopped talking and put her hands on her hips, frowning, Hotaru suddenly realized she'd been staring at the other girl enviously and missed everything she'd just said. She took a deep breath and then said helplessly, "I…didn't know how to put it on. I don't know what to do with any of it!" She refused to cry over something so stupid, but it was a close thing.

Sakura's expression softened, but she turned briskly to the kimono that was hanging from Hotaru's closet door. "Well, get undressed then. You can leave your underwear on, but that's it. We'll have you dressed and ready in no time!" It was only then that Hotaru realized that the other girl was holding a small bag in her hand. She stripped down as the other girl laid out some things on her dresser and went looking through the hair supplies that she had picked out.

Sasuke stuck his head through the door at that point to ask, "Are you two going to be long? Apparently some…people followed Sakura, and seem to be expecting us all to go together." His distaste was obvious, as was his obliviousness to the fact that his friend was standing there in nothing but her panties.

Hotaru didn't think anything of it, but she watched in amusement as Sakura stiffened, grabbing a hefty metal statuette that was on Hotaru's dresser and chucking it at the door as she screeched, "She's naked, you idiot! Get out!" The door shut quickly just as the figure hit it with a clatter, with ominous mutters from the other side of it. Sakura continued on in a calm tone, "And since they're here anyway, please send in Hinata-chan and Ino-pig to help me, Sasuke!" The kunoichi grinned at Hotaru's soundless laughter as they listened to the raven stomp his way down the hall. "Now, let's get you into this kimono!"

While Sakura helped her into the kimono there was a gentle knock at the door, immediately followed by Ino barging in with a mortified Hinata peering in the door behind her. Ino frowned. "Forehead-girl, what's up? You really need help getting the idiot ready?"

As Hotaru drew breath to take offence to that Sakura put her fingers over the blond's lips and glared at her rival. "Yes, I do. She's never worn a kimono, she hasn't got a clue what to do with her hair, and we need to do a bit of make-up too. We can't have Sasuke's date looking anything but her best!"

Hinata's eyes were wide with surprise, but she remained silent as she watched the exchange between the two girls. Ino raise an eyebrow and replied softly, "Sasuke, huh? You really have given up on him, haven't you, Sakura…why? I didn't really believe it when she told me." Despite her question, she moved towards Hotaru to help get her dressed. At that point she was starting to feel like a big doll or something.

Sakura took her hand off Hotaru's lips and crooked a finger at Hinata, gesturing her over to pick out hair supplies and leaving Ino to finish dressing their clueless friend. "Because we don't stand a chance, Ino. Why continue to waste our time when he's only got eyes for one person? I think…" she pursed her lips and handed a few strands of beads to Hinata, piling hair pieces into her hands, "…that I want someone that actually sees me, you know?"

Hotaru decided at that point that anything she said would do more harm than good, and decided to watch Hinata instead…the shy girl seemed to be throwing small, measuring glances her way that she wasn't sure how to interpret. Ino stopped for a moment to stare at Sakura. "Are you serious? He's finally showing an interest, after all this time? In who?"

Sakura snorted and turned to look very pointedly at their makeover victim for an instant before looking in Ino's eyes. "I think that's something we can talk about later. If we don't hurry we're going to be late!" Her tone was cheerful, but as her rival's eyes widened in astonishment she nodded very slightly.

Hotaru grumbled as Ino tied her obi snugly. "I always miss the good stuff! You girls are always keeping the stupidest secrets…why does it matter if the bastard likes someone? I'm not gonna tell him, you know…" The sudden giggles as she was pushed into a chair were alarming. "Gah! I should have just refused the bastard when he said we were going. You girls creep me out!" She started squirming away from the hands that were suddenly in her hair and doing things to her face, closing her eyes and flinching as a pencil of some sort was brought near her eyes. "Hey! Stop that! You don't need to poke my damned eyes out, I'm sorry!"

As a hand grabbed her chin, Ino's voice firmly told her, "Sit still and I won't have to poke your eyes out." She chuckled as their victim stilled and continued to speak, though not to Hotaru. "Nice choice of colors, Forehead-girl. You suck with flowers, but this seems to be one thing you're good at."

There was a tug on the side of Hotaru's head. "Thanks, Ino-pig. Flowers were always your thing anyway. Can you grab that bottle of gel over there please, Hinata-chan?"

There was a soft "Y-Yes!" from the other girl present. The totally incomprehensible things continued to happen to Hotaru's face for several more minutes in silence. She had to bite back a yelp as pain suddenly blossomed in her ears, but it disappeared quickly. They all stopped suddenly, and she opened her eyes to see the three of them looking at her, the two outgoing girls speculatively, and Hinata with a slight blush. She stammered softly, "Y-You are a v-very p-pretty girl, H-Hotaru-chan…"

The blond just about raised her hand to rub the back of her hair when her teammate slapped it down firmly. "Don't you dare after all that work!"

Hotaru laughed nervously. "Oh! Sorry…can I see what you did to me yet?" When the three girls nodded permission she got up to go look in the mirror on her dresser. Her expression changed to one of surprise as she saw the girl in the mirror, not quite able to connect her with herself until she watched the girl's face move as hers did. They had done something to create a dark gold outline around her eyes, making them look more almond shaped and somehow a more…vivid blue. The illusion of the shape of her eyes was aided by the single lines of tiny red jewels that had been glued from the corners of her eyes, back across her temples. Her cheeks dusted with a light, faint gold that shimmered subtly as she moved, blending well with her natural tanned tones and making her seem to…glow, somehow. Her lips were glossed instead of painted, giving them a plump, pouty look. And her hair! Instead of gold, everything used in her hair was either crimson or black, contrasting well with her face and matching the kimono. Her bangs hung straight down for a change, with only a bit of the spiky look to them. Her hair was pulled back into clips as it usually was, but each clip was a beautiful crimson butterfly with black bodies and black edged wings. She was startled to see tiny jewels of some sort, rubies maybe, decorating the wings of each butterfly. Strands of miniscule beads were woven into her hair, trailing back from her hairline to the clips, giving the impression of glittering crimson streaks in her hair. The back of her hair was spiked wilder than ever; fanning out above the butterflies, but at the same time gave the impression of being that way on purpose. The strangest thing was the decorations hanging from her ears…she had never worn earrings before, but the girls had obviously pierced her ears for her, and from them hung onyx butterflies, each the size of an average sized coin with strings of tiny red jewels hanging from the tip of the body of each down to her shoulders.

She turned to the three very smug girls, her eyes wide. "Is that me? How…I mean…" She was speechless for a change, not sure what to do.

Sakura smirked. "Well, I'd tell you that you should be thanking us…but I think the reaction of the boys that are waiting for us will be all the thanks we need, right girls?" As the other two nodded, Sakura grabbed her hand and dragged her out to show off before she could get another word out.

Even she could sense the uncomfortable silence in the room she was dragged to. No wonder though…it was a room full of guys that didn't entirely like or trust each other, all forced to be there by their female teammates. Once you added Sasuke's anti-social tendencies and general bastard attitude into the mix it was guaranteed to be at least a little uncomfortable. Silence reigned as Sakura stopped her just out of sight and went ahead to announce solemnly, "Gentlemen, I have the pleasure of presenting to you the lovely…Uzumaki Hotaru!" The other two girls pushed her out into the living room when she balked, the giggles indicating that they were enjoying her discomfort far more than they should have.

She stopped beside Sakura, assessing the mood of the room…and was startled to find everyone except a certain raven-haired teammate staring at her. Chouji's blurted exclamation of, "She really is a girl!" had her cheeks burning, and she discovered that she felt frighteningly…vulnerable. Kiba finally broke the tension in the room by turning to Sasuke and groaning. "Man, it figures you'd get the best looking date! You don't like girls anyway, why can't you leave the cool ones for us?"

The killer intent from three of the four girls spiked, and Hinata had the grace to look embarrassed for her teammate. Hotaru gritted her teeth and said to Sakura, just loud enough for everyone to hear, "Maybe I should have worn weapons under this. We still have time, right?"

Kiba laughed nervously as Ino started reaching into her kimono to offer the other blond a weapon. "Ladies, ladies, this is a party! We don't need weapons!" When the killer intent didn't diminish any he continued hopefully, "It was a joke! A joke! Hotaru can appreciate jokes, right?" He started to back towards the door slowly, shooting the other boys an appealing look. "C'mon guys, help me out!"

Sasuke snorted and gave him a withering look. "You got yourself into this, mutt-boy. You can get yourself out." The other boys all seemed to agree, staring at him with amused pity.

When Kiba fled the apartment the girls couldn't help but laugh.

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Uchiha Sasuke found that he was truly enjoying himself for the first time in a very long time. He was bemused by the way his blond friend ran from stall to stall like a kid in a candy store, determined to try every last game, make the most of every moment. She tried every game at least once, but never seemed to win at a single one. It may have been his imagination, but he could have sworn he'd seen a shadow of hatred in the eyes of the stall owners right up until they caught sight of him standing behind her. She was either completely oblivious or determinedly ignoring it…he wasn't entirely sure. As well as he was coming to know her, he simply couldn't tell…it had taken him time to realize that while her cheerful demeanor wasn't an act, it was just as much a mask as his indifference.

The sun was setting, and he was mildly enthralled with the way the vivid colors that washed over the village had seemed to set Hotaru aflame, bathing her in a glow that made her seem almost unearthly. He wasn't paying a whole lot of attention when the girl suddenly stopped dead in front of him. He grunted as he was forced into an abrupt stop, nearly running into her. "A little warning next time, dead last?"

She snorted, not bothering to take her eyes off whatever had caught her attention. "A ninja of your skill shouldn't need warning, dumbass."

He rolled his eyes and pushed her. "Quit taking up the walkway, idiot." She started giggling at his growl when she refused to be budged. "What the hell are you staring at?"

She pointed a finger towards one of the game stalls and said in a determined tone, "That. And I'm going to win it if it takes me all night!"

He peered past her, sighting down her arm to look at the object she was pointing at…which turned out to be a perfectly ordinary looking medium sized, dark brown teddy bear. He looked at her skeptically. "That? Why that? It's just a…" He gritted his teeth as she suddenly stomped on his foot.

She turned to glare at him. "I just want it, okay? It's just a dumb shuriken throwing game. I'll have it in no time!" She whirled back around and stomped stiffly off to the stall, demanding loudly what she needed to do to win that bear.

He saw the flash of hatred in the stall owner's eyes, just as he had in the others, but decided to stay back this time. It wasn't that he didn't want her to win the bear…but he had the feeling that if she discovered he was easing the way for her then he'd never hear the end of it. He watched impassively as she threw her first shuriken at the target. Her aim wasn't bad, but he was watching the stall owner rather than her, and caught the ever-so-slight nudge he gave the target stand as she threw her weapon. He had just about decided to intervene when the stall owner did the same for her second throw, but discovered that someone else had beat her to it. Just as he tensed to move to the stall, Hinata approached. The beautiful Hyuuga placed a hand on Hotaru's arm just as she was lining up for her final throw. The gentle girl seemed to be giving her sunny friend a few tips, but all the while she was pinning the stall owner with an implacably reproachful glare. The blond paid him no mind as she listened intently to Hinata, commenting with loud exuberance that she was glad the girl had come along to give her tips. The man in the stall flushed angrily, but Sasuke was glad to see that the former prankster's final throw was clean, hitting the target dead center. She started jumping up and down excitedly, hugging the suddenly flustered Hinata in her excitement.

A moment later she came running over to Sasuke with her prize. "Look, bastard! I got it, I got it!" She hugged the plush toy merrily, glaring when he gave her a bored look.

"It only took you how many tries? Are we done in this area yet?" He was about to continue when he caught a flash of something wrong in the crowd behind Hotaru. Not a normal kind of wrong…he was starting to get used to the constant killer intent that followed his friend around. No…this was a wrong that was ebony and crimson, eyes that would be burned into his memory for the rest of his life…hair as dark as his own…

Hotaru caught the mood shift as he suddenly tensed, her body reacting in turn to his sudden alert state. "Sasuke? What is it…? Sasuke, talk to me…"

He saw the flash of red and black eyes again, in a different spot in the crowd, and the blond in front of him was suddenly forgotten in the surge of his consuming need for vengeance. He pushed past her without a word, threading his way through the crowd in the direction of those eyes, unthinking as they drew him on like terrible beacons. He only vaguely registered the startled and increasingly angry shouts from her as those eyes led him to the edge of the festival and then…disappeared. He snarled in frustration as he stared at the empty streets before him, lit with mockingly bright and cheerful festival lanterns, panting in rage and exertion. She caught up with him moments later, startling him enough that he groped after weapons he wasn't wearing, mistaking her for a moment as an enemy.

She was staring into his face with anger for a moment, but her face quickly shifted to that incredibly serious expression that he thought he would never get used to seeing on her. She frowned slightly. "Sasuke? Are you okay? What did you see?"

He stared past her for a moment, shaken more deeply than he was willing to let on. He finally shook his head as she started tugging on his sleeve. "Nothing…I saw nothing. Let's go home. It's starting to get dark." He turned away from the empty street resolutely, vowing that the next time he saw those eyes he would be skilled enough to catch them. His partner was strangely silent as they headed back into the crowd, but he barely noticed. It wasn't until a high pitched shout ahead of them brought his attention back to reality that he realized she hadn't said a word the entire time.

She looked up brightly at the shout though, just in time to see three children dodge several adults, who laughed indulgently. The trio stopped in front of them, with Konohamaru in the lead. "Hey boss! You never have time for us…" The boy's eyes went wide as he took in Hotaru's appearance with a touch of awe. His two companions seemed just as awed by her. "I heard you were really a girl, Hotaru-nee-chan, but they didn't tell me you were so pretty!" A faint blush dusted his cheeks.

She snorted and gave him a skeptical look. "Nice try Konohamaru. Just don't think I'm weak just 'cause I'm a girl!" She gave him one of her cocky grins. "You're still gonna have to fight me to be Hokage!"

The boy puffed up and grinned back at her. "Of course, boss! Hey…" He suddenly glared at Sasuke, his blush deepening slightly. "I'll fight him too!"

She glanced between the raven and Konohamaru with a puzzled expression as he snorted at the kid's stupidity. "Him? Why him?"

The boy gave her a cheeky grin and proclaimed, "Because the best ninja should get to be your boyfriend, Hotaru-nee-chan! And that's gonna be me!" Before she had time to protest that he ran back off into the crowd with Udon and Moegi, laughing merrily.

She stared after them, red faced and drawing in a deep breath to let out a roar of protest, but quickly subsided as Sasuke put his hand on her arm. As amusing as that scene would normally have been, it just didn't pierce the turmoil that engulfed him at the sudden reminder of his status as an avenger. He was in no mood for their antics, and Hotaru seemed to sense that with unusual insight. She sighed softly and followed behind him as he continued on home, as silent as before.

They made it home without further incident, and as they slipped off their sandals in the entryway he told her curtly, "I'm tired. I'm going right to bed." He stalked off without waiting for an answer, making it to his bedroom before she had a chance to ask any questions he wasn't prepared for. He slipped into his room, closing the door before turning on the light…and froze the moment he caught sight of his dresser mirror. The glass was cracked, with delicate fractures radiating out from the center of the mirror. The glass was all still in place, but written over top of it in something bright red and dripping slightly was a single word. "Brother."

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Hotaru still wasn't sure what had set the raven off at the festival, but he'd been silent and cold the whole week following, and she was getting sick of it. He refused to talk about it, refused to discuss why he suddenly wouldn't let her even see into his bedroom. He had suddenly shut down on her completely, and it was starting to reflect in their training time. Every time she made some sort of gain, he would work as though possessed to outdo her…like he couldn't stand the thought that she was getting ahead of him in any way. Any semblance of home life or friendship they had built seemed to have gone right out the window, and his eyes had a cold, almost dead look. He had developed an amazing sense of timing for avoiding her questions.

Under normal circumstances she would have enjoyed the way he was challenging her but there was something driving him that she didn't like, and she had finally appealed to Kakashi to help her out. It turned out that he was just as concerned by his student's sudden turn about as she was, but it still took some passionate argument to get him to agree to trapping Sasuke for her, rather than talking to the raven himself. She was relieved when she finally obtained his reluctant agreement…and they'd had plenty of time to get a plan together, since the raven seemed to be avoiding their sensei outside of training.

They were working on her offensive style when the time finally came. She carefully maneuvered Sasuke around until he had his back to the tree that Kakashi was casually leaning against while supervising their spar. Her glance flickered to Kakashi meaningfully, and just as Sasuke moved to take advantage of her momentary inattention he found himself wrapped in a dozen lines of ninja wire, yanking him back rudely to bind him to the tree. The flicker of surprise in his eyes was the most emotion she had seen from him all week, but she ignored it as she nodded pleasantly at the jounin. "Thank you, Kaka-sensei. I can take it from here."

The masked man gave the suddenly enraged Sasuke a pat on the head before replying, "Don't hurt him too badly, Hotaru-chan…unless he asks for it, of course." Before she could bellow anything about perverts he used a teleport jutsu to escape, leaving her with an incredibly pissed off Sasuke.

She watched him speculatively for a moment before turning away to drag a stump to sit on around in front of him. She was tired, damnit, and didn't really feel like standing with as long as this was likely to take. She had to give him some credit though…despite how angry he obviously was he didn't say a word, just continued to glare at her.

She plopped down on the stump, legs spread and resting her elbows on her knees in a terribly un-ladylike pose. She matched him glare for glare for a few minutes, waiting to see if he would say anything…but he didn't. Being the amazingly patient person she was, she finally demanded, "So, what the hell is up with you, bastard? You've been an asshole all damned week. What happened at the festival to set you off like this?"

He sneered at her, very much the arrogant little dumbass that she hadn't seen in months now. "Why should I tell you, dead last?" He tugged at the wires binding him, but was just out of luck for a while…as good as he was, Kakashi was far better. "You're so weak you needed our sensei to catch me for you?"

Her eyes narrowed at him, glinting dangerously. "I thought we had gotten past that by now, Uchiha. You are I are dead even. Does that mean you've sunk to my level? Maybe I should have asked Sakura to come talk to you then, if our skill level is as low as that." She snorted. "Yeah, right. The girl has improved, but not that fast. No, I had to ask Kaka-sensei…because you're such an asshole that the only other option would have been to beat this out of you." She snared the gaze of those black eyes, filled with more life than they had been all week, and held them with sheer force of will. "I think I might have to anyway, but we'll see. So, back to the question of the night…what the hell crawled up your ass and died?"

He snorted, but didn't look away from her. "It's none of your business. You wouldn't understand."

She launched herself off the stump at him, grabbing his throat with enough force to slam his head back into the tree trunk. She wouldn't kill him, but she was well aware that it sometimes took force to drag these things out of him. She got right in his face, perversely enjoying the startled flash in his eyes, and hissed softly, "None of my business? Wouldn't understand? You are my business, Uchiha Sasuke. You made yourself my business the moment you chose to keep my secret. My secret is out, but it still applies. You are my best friend, and my rival. You are the only one of our peers who understands my pain, even if you don't understand all of it. Don't make the mistake of thinking I'm stupid, Uchiha. You know better than anyone that I'm not. Don't assume that I'm not going to understand because of your idiotic idea that you're better than me. You've known for a while that you're not." His expression was getting darker by the moment, but when he opened his mouth to interrupt her she wasn't having any of that…her grip on his throat tightened, restricting his air. "Don't. Don't you dare. How can I even try to understand something if you won't tell me? I know you don't know everything about me, but I don't know everything about you either. There's a time and a place for these things and this is the time for you to tell me what the fuck is up." She released his throat, eyeing the angry redness and bruises quickly forming, but not regretting them one bit.

He continued to glare at her, clearing his throat a little to rasp out hoarsely, "I'm an avenger, Hotaru. I don't have time for this shit. I don't have time to be weak, to coddle you, to play second to you. I have a man to kill, a terrible man, who is so far ahead of us that I may never catch up if I take the time to…"

She held up a hand abruptly for silence, and was a little startled when he cut off what he was saying. She started pacing in front of him, her anger making her seem more…feral, and yet more controlled at the same time. She thought for a moment, and then finally replied in a carefully neutral tone. "Are you even hearing yourself, Uchiha? You don't have time to coddle me, and yet you don't have time to play second to me all in the same breath? What the hell? You've never had to coddle me! We work off each other, and keep each other on our toes. Do you really think we would have gotten this far in two whole weeks if we didn't have each other to compete against? If it had been anyone else standing in front of one of you, you would have wiped the floor with them." She threw him a contemptuous look and continued to pace. "Are you really that stupid, Sasuke? Have you really missed everything that's happened since Wave?"

His head turned back and forth as he followed her pacing. "I don't have time for stupid relationships! I have to…"

She whipped around and snarled, "…avenge your clan, I know, I know! Why Sasuke? Why do you have to avenge them! Why do you have to kill him! There's more to it than that now! Do you have to lose your humanity to do it? Do you have to become like him? Can't you do this your way?"

He shook his head stubbornly. "There's nothing more than that! I just have to!" It was the lamest excuse she had ever heard, and he didn't get to say any more than that as Hotaru's fist met his right eye with only half the force she was capable of, but he also hadn't, and couldn't, move out of the way at all…his head collided with the tree trunk again with a crack that wasn't enough to satisfy her, but she was trying not to kill him after all.

She closed again and spat, "Not good enough, Uchiha. I know there's more there then that! Why do you want to kill him? What will it accomplish? I bet I know the reasons better than you do!" She backed up a bit, growling softly. "You know what? If you're going to be so stupid, then fuck you! You can get yourself out of that! I'm out of here…find me when you're ready to be human again!"

She stalked off out of the clearing, not prepared to let him see the tears in her eyes. She thought he was different…she thought he was finally coming around, but apparently she had been wrong. It hurt to be so damned wrong. It hurt to see her first real friend, her best friend go back to killing himself by inches in a way that she was achingly familiar with, but was so damned normal in a village of shinobi that he was applauded for it by most. She broke into a run the moment she was out of sight, and it fit her mood when the sky suddenly opened up over her, drenching her within seconds. She didn't go back to the apartment though…she couldn't. Not now. He would probably go back there immediately upon finding his way out of those wires, and she just couldn't stand the thought of seeing those cold eyes right now. So she fled to her favorite thinking place, her aerie…a place that only two people in the whole village knew she went to when she was upset, and Sasuke wasn't one of those people. As she settled on the head of the Yondaime Hokage, hidden in his stony hair, she was glad that the downpour hid her tears.

Author's Note: Woo, sorry that took so long guys. You wouldn't believe how many times I had to rewrite everything up to the point in the festival where Sasuke spots the eyes…it just didn't come out in a way I was satisfied with, much less liked. I'd have skipped it entirely, but the whole thing was necessary. Everything after that just seemed to flow out…but it was like pulling teeth to get that far. Ah well…I think that's likely to be the most challenging part, in terms of actually writing it, for the rest of 'Shadow and Flame'. I'd like to state that the rest of the fic is already structured and outlined; at this point it's just a matter of getting it out. Don't ask me how many chapters exactly…I haven't broken it down; I'll just stop where it seems appropriate for each. Let's just say 'lots' and leave it at that. I'm so into this that I've actually started plotting the sequel in my spare time at work, which is currently working under the title 'Fractured Souls'…just a little food for thought! Thank you for your patience and amazing support…happy reading!