.:Mirrors Of Vengeance:. (Sasuke Love Story) *part 14*

Hello everyone. Happy New Year! I'm back and I apologize for the long long long wait. I've got literally no time to spare so this chapter was rushed and probably not of the highest quality. I've been rather stressed lately and finals are coming up so please understand that updates will not be incredibly often. Probably every 2 weeks. Again, I'm sorry about these circumstances but it's good to be writing again.

Recap:

At last it was my turn. I was glad to have been last. That way, I'd been able to watch all the matches and observe all the contestants for the third round. I'd learned a lot but now, I had to fight Kabuto.

I jumped down and faced him. "Gee, I didn't think I'd have to fight you Hotaru-san," Kabuto sighed.

"That's what they all say…"

I took my taijutsu stance as the instructor yelled, "The eleventh and final match…. BEGIN!"

I had rested for a good few hours because of all the matches before mine. I wondered if I'd be able to activate my Byakugan without the cursed seal acting up… It was worth a shot.

Wearily, Kabuto came at me, intending to use Taijutsu. I slid under his arm and slammed my elbow into his back. As he stumbled I activated my Byakugan.

It happened again; the immense pain that caused me to immediately release it. I jumped backwards as Kabuto spun around, recovering from my previous hit.

I noticed that Naruto wasn't cheering for me. I was grateful for the lack of distraction.

I took on Kabuto in a taijutsu spar. He might have a stronger kick or punch because he was bigger than me, but I was fast and gained the upper hand. I found an opening and shoved my fist into his chest and he went flying. Pity I wasn't using the Byakugan; that would have almost finished him.

Kabuto got back up and made a few hand signs. His hands began to glow with ragged blue chakra. I figured I needed to stay away from that.

I started to make hand seals to but he threw a kunai that forced me to stop the signs and dodge. I still received a cut on my palm.

Taking this opportunity, Kabuto ran at me and managed to graze my shoulder with his chakra enveloped hand.

My body tingled and felt distorted; all of my nerves seemed to be switched in some way.

I looked up in shock, the expression in my eyes saying, 'Do explain.'

Kabuto smirked, "It'll wear off eventually but it's a type of medical jutsu that switches the nerves and the signals they send to the brain."

As he explained, I tested out each finger and limb to see what would actually move. Slowly, I moved my hands behind my back and, still slowly, formed hand signs as Kabuto talked.

Suddenly, my earth spikes sprouted up, one stabbed his left foot and another caught under his right arm and thrust him into the air.

I had slowly, but successfully preformed my Doton; Ganchuusou jutsu. It was encouraging to know that I could still preform normal jutsus despite the curse's effect on my kekkei genkai.

I tried moving my thumbs, which ended up making me jump up towards Kabuto's air-born body. I then tried to move my right foot, which caused me to punch Kabuto into the wall.

I fell back to the floor, not figuring out how to maneuver fast enough to regain my balance.

Kabuto leapt back up and walked over to me. I struggled to stand but he took advantage of my confused state and punched me a few times.

I landed several feet away and decided that it was time to finish this. I knew that Kabuto wasn't giving it his all because he'd never wanted to do this in the first place but I was growing tired of it.

I made some hand seals, a little bit faster this time, "Doton: Dochu Eigyo no Jutsu," and disappeared.

I was under the concrete floor, which from my perspective was transparent. I traveled stealthily through the ground until I was almost directly under Kabuto. By now, he'd realized that I could be nowhere but underneath and was about to punch the floor.

His jutsu had worn off though and I could move freely. I was faster and my hands reached up, penetrating the ground and grabbed his ankles pulling him into the concrete.

I then broke through the floor several feet away and saw Kabuto trapped; only his head showing above the floor.

I looked up and saw Kakashi-sensei smile; he'd preformed that jutsu on Sasuke during our training exercise. I'd been working on improving it ever since I'd seen him do it.

The examiner crouched down next to Kabuto and seeing that it'd be impossible for him to get out of my trap without assistance, raised his hand. "The winner of the eleventh match is Hyūga Hotaru!"

I smirked but before I could go back up to the platform, Kakashi-sensei appeared beside me.

He dipped his head to the examiner and Hokage-sama, "Excuse us," he said, taking hold of my shoulder. We both disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

We reappeared in some sort of dungeon, surrounded by pillars; the roots that supported Konoha.

"Hotaru, I'm going to have to ask you to remove your kimono in order to write the sealing runes for the procedure…" I could tell that Kakashi-sensei felt bad about having to ask this of me but I didn't protest.

I stripped the upper half of my body down to my bra and tried hard to ignore the fact that under normal circumstances, this would be completely inappropriate.

Kakashi proceeded to write Japanese symbols (using his own blood) down my back, chest and face. Then he wrote across the floor and several pillars. He had also placed several kunai on the ground as markers.

My head protector had been removed and my forehead was bear, exposing both curse marks. Kakashi-sensei knelt before me, preformed a few hand seals, and placed his palm on my forehead.

Pain seared through my head and neck, where I'd been bit. Then my whole body felt as if I'd just experienced major frost bite and was only now beginning to warm up. It was a horrible, tingly and altogether, a very painful sensation. I fought the urge to clench my fists or curl my body into a ball. I trembled violently until finally, the pain eased away.

I gasped, not realizing that I had been holding my breath.

"I did this for Sasuke too." Kakashi began, "The next time the curse becomes active this seal should keep it in check. However, this new seal relies on the strength of your will. If you lose belief in yourself, Hotaru, and your will weakens, the curse will run wild.

I barely nodded before I fell on my stomach, unconscious.

I was shaken awake a day or two later by Sasuke, who claimed that Kakashi wanted to train him and that I might as well tag along.

He handed me a fresh batch of cloths that had been in a dresser in the hospital room; Neji had dropped them off apparently.

He left the room momentarily as I changed and I followed him out through the window, not wanting to be spotted by anyone familiar.

We climbed to the top of the canyon on the outskirts of Konoha; a long and rough climb; the point being not to use chakra to build up physical strength. Atop the canyon was where we were supposed to meet Kakashi.

An hour or two later he arrived and we proceeded with warm ups. We spent the following days training vigorously on new jutsus. Sasuke was learning a high ranked lightning technique and I was in the process of trying to ease my way into being able to use the Byakugan again. The curse mark was persistent and if I wanted to be able to use it properly for the final exam, I would need to put up a serious effort to control it.

Kakashi also explained to us how the exams were supposed to work and that we would be judged based upon how well we fight. We now have a month to prepare. I wasn't too worried upon finding out that I'd be battling Sakura. However Sasuke would be against Gaara of the Sand… so far as I can tell, the kid is strong and that could be serious trouble for Sasuke in his current state.

And so, for the next several weeks, Sasuke and I trained under Kakashi-sensei's guidance. We spoke to no one: in-fact we didn't even see anyone else for we woke early each morning to climb the mountain. We packed meals and ate up there during the short breaks we took amidst the intense training.

We both made a lot of progress and were confident in our skills.

Finally, the day of the final exams arrived and I left before Sasuke. He'd spent all night hurriedly perfecting his new jutsu and Kakashi insisted that Sasuke needed more time to rest before he could fight. I made him swear they wouldn't be too incredibly late.

All the contestants were lined up and told to face forward. Naruto and Sakura were giving me questioning looks. They were probably wondering where on earth Sasuke and I had disappeared to for almost a month.

We were announced as the Chuunin exam test takers and were reminded of the battle lineup.

Naruto thrust his hand in the air, "Hey, hey! Sasuke isn't here yet, what are you gonna do?"

The examiner looked bored, "If he doesn't appear by the time of his match, he will receive a default loss." The examiner then explained the regulations regarding winning and losing. Neji and Naruto were to stay and the rest of us were dismissed to the waiting room.

The fight slowly took shape. Naruto and Neji exchanged a few words and I watched intently, not at all worried for my brother. Naruto made the first move but Neji easily gained the upper hand. It was clear from the very beginning that Neji was superior. Pleased with himself, Neji provoked Naruto, calling him ignorant and a failure. All throughout the fight Naruto put forth all his effort but Neji still reined strong, pulling out impressive kekkei genkai jutsus here and there. And then Neji preformed the finishing move- or what should've been the finishing move. He completed the Gentle fist, 64 hands of Hakke.

I grinned regretfully thinking, 'Thanks Neji, now everyone knows my secret jutsu as well. I suppose it can't be helped though…'

I was sure it was over… until Naruto stood and screamed insults at Neji. My eyes narrowed angrily and Neji removed his forehead protector. Several ninjas in the waiting room glanced at me; I clenched my fists.

Neji told our story; the story of how our father died because of the selfish main branch and that our curse faded only by death. There was an audible gasp from the stands and eyes turned in horror from Neji to me, and back again.

I stood, ripped off my forehead protector and cried out to the crowd, "You see, our rage is not uncalled for! None of you could possibly comprehend our pain. We deserve none of this, yet you see us here, crippled as such because of burdens that were forced upon us." I spat the words bitterly out from my mind and in that moment my telepathy reached the minds of everyone in the stadium, even those whose names I didn't know. My own lust for reconciliation had expanded my telepathic ability.

Then to my dismay and complete disbelief, Naruto produced a strange chakra and the fight flipped up-side-down; the energy of the spar increased dramatically and with a simple trick, Naruto defeated Neji- a feat I had believed to be impossible from someone like Naruto. I clenched my teeth and headed down the enclosed staircase that led to the arena. My match against Sakura was next and I had no desire to hear the declaration of my brother's loss. My anger drowned out the thundering applause and my body trembled with the desire to redeem the branch family. I was disappointed in Neji but my hatred towards the main branch only grew. The fire within me fueled my strength and power; there was no way that I was going to lose against Sakura Haruno.