Author's Note: From now on I will post any new chapters I have on Saturday.

I got up before everyone else. I couldn't sleep. The test had made my histrionic mind ponder and with it came a pool of nightmares that seemed to worsen every time I closed my eyes. I would be with Satori and he would begin to choke, no matter what I did I could not help him. Then I would hear Kat telling me I should have gone with my parents. I would see my mother lying behind her begging me for help, but every time I moved Kat would block my path. I could hear my dad giving me a goodbye speech, but I couldn't make out the words. I would wake up and the joy and relief as I realized it was just a dream would course through me before remembering my reality. That little joy that made my breathing easy froze in my throat and I felt my heart drop in my chest. I decided I'd chalk it up to nerves and I simply gave up on sleep.

Kat wasn't on the couch downstairs, which was rare since she tended to fall asleep while reading and Satori had started having a regular sleep pattern after we moved him into my parent's room. I suppose it was nice having a big house. The three bedrooms and the one spare were perfect for our little orphanage. That being said it made it lonely down in the dining room and the living room. The stairs simply felt like a passage way into a world of isolation.

I turned on the lights only to spot the dark red stain still on the couch and I had to turn the lights back off. Eventually, I just decided to go out into the smithy and finish reading my scroll.

The fires had long been gone in the forge. No hot embers glowed; no fuel even remained in the room. My father had always told me to keep it going. He told me before he went on every mission to do this or that. It got my mind off the bullying. Now that there was nothing to distract me from my thoughts I realized I would have killed to return to my days being called 'Tangles' if it meant I would see my dad again. We didn't even have a body for him.

I sat on the steps up to the smithy and opened my scroll trying not to think of what I couldn't change.

It was five in the morning when I had properly finished reading and I marched to my room to grab some papers and begin sketching out my idea. As I went down the stairs I saw my brother seated on the porch. I knew his quiet presence would be nice in the lonely morning so I went to seat myself next to him.

The drawing was very rough, especially for the hilt. I thought I could order a lion ornament for the top. Dad always told me to do my own metal work so it would mean more, but I wasn't so great at that sort of artwork and I knew it would be easier for me, as a ninja fighting for rent, to simply have another do it. Dad was rolling over in his grave.

"What are you doing," my brother asked.

I glanced at him, surprised he had even spoken to me.

"My next sword. I need a chakra blade."

"Why?"

"To practice sword Ninjutsu with less expended energy," I muttered.

I began to sketch out the wrap of the katana. I could choose blue for my mother's eyes…or I could choose gray. I had sworn to protect Kat; it would be a constant reminder. Grey it was.

"You know you're not going to have time for that."

I glared at my brother. My brows furrowed, my eyes shut and I rubbed my temples.

"I know!"

I heard an odd sound, a sound I thought I hallucinated. When I opened my eyes my brother was smiling at me. The world froze for a moment. It was as if one shinning bright light of my brother's old soul had crawled into my dark reality. The thought of not being alone anymore, the thought of having a supporting person in my life surfaced and for a moment the loose blueprint in my lap was forgotten.

But, before I could speak, the slightly warm embers in his eyes crumbled to ash and his smile receded.

"I miss you sometimes," I whispered.

We went to the Forest of Death early, but it seemed the intensity of the test had already roused the rest of the participants as well. Satori said we should do actual work with the extra time we had, but I didn't see any that could be done. It wasn't like pickpocketing was going to help anything. Even if Satori did go around and manage to get some information it already looked as if it would be relatively pointless. The test, after all was in a forest and it didn't take a genius to understand we'd be fighting in a huge battleground completely unsure of what enemies we'd be facing. So why expend the energy?

Instead, I spotted Kiba and Kat followed me to greet him. Kiba introduced me to his team. I had grown up with them, but Shino had completely forgotten my name and face and Hinata thought my name was Tangles. I wasn't really offended. The only people that had cared enough to take note of me were Kiba, Choji, and Ino (In an odd sense). Hinata asked about Kat's eyes but she seemed sated (Or at least too shy to prod further) when I said she was just born that way and that, of course, she certainly was not related to a Hyuga.

Believe it or not that was the first time my mind ever rumbled discontent about the mystery of relation. How were we cousins? Why wasn't she a Hyuga?

"You're not wearing your jacket today," Kiba interrupted, "And It looks like you put on a couple pounds," he said squeezing my arm.

"Hell yeah I did! Want to arm wrestle?"

Kiba scoffed, "You're not that strong."

I was halfway to taking Kiba on when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kat had begun to glare at Shino who had edged much closer to her during my talks. Shino seemed happily oblivious as he stared at my cousin. I tugged on Kiba's sleeve and gestured to the two who were now starring at one another. Kat, as if she were about to fight him. Shino, as if he were calmly disconcerted.

"May I touch your neck," he asked.

Kat turned towards him completely and raised one eyebrow daring him to come closer. He did. It was in that second that one of Shino's bugs decided to crawl right out of his eyeball and across his face. The color drained out of Kat's cheeks and I almost winced as she raised a fist and decked Shino right in the jaw.

"I don't do bugs," she yelled.

His body skid across the ground and we could already see an irritated scarlet mark formed on his bone. Hurriedly, Kiba and I crouched beside him. Kiba was worried. I was curious.

"Why did you want to touch her neck," I asked.

"There was a spider…"

I heard a loud shriek and turned around to see Kat wildly brushing off her neck and asking wildly if it was gone. Kiba laughed, but I hit him. I'd probably do the same thing if a spider had crawled on me.

"Kat, let me see," I said.

She lifted up her hair and revealed a very bare neck. Shino got up, shaking off the hit. He walked gracefully over to her and grabbed the little bug out of her hair. Kat stared at it, unnerved, but she seemed to realize he had helped her.

"Thanks," she responded still eyeing the spider on Shino's finger as if it were a rather irritated bear.

To my utter and complete joy Shino blushed.

"Why did I help you? Because I think an insect's life is precious and…," he hesitated, "You have nice hair," he blurted.

I watched Kat's wide grey eyes blink several times. She looked at me and blinked. She looked back at him and blinked. She opened her mouth. She closed her mouth. Then with a sudden jerky movement she slapped his arm.

"What the hell? I don't even know you," she growled

She marched off casting a wary eye behind her to where the rather gloomy bug user was staring at his feet. I slapped Shino on the back and promised him that he'd find someone someday.

What sort of guy would attract Kat's attention? I thought maybe someone sweet to contrast with her personality, maybe he'd be quiet and thoughtful. She always did seem happy after talking to Shikamaru…and he had always been quiet and thoughtful. Kat was pinning over her new shadow boy!

Anko began talking about the Forest of Death before I could locate my offended party member. I'll give you the synapsis. She essentially staved off an aggressive transgender individual with an obnoxiously long tongue. Then told us our test: five days, twenty-seven teams, two scrolls, start with one, get the other, don't open it, get to the tower, entering at different gates, river down the middle, sign a form so we're not responsible for your deaths.

It made sense to me to do a survival mission. We'd have to be finding food when we went on missions, just like we had when we were out with Kyo. I supposed I was lucky to have Kat who seemed so well-versed in food. We'd be fine there. I wondered about sleep, though. It seemed that once we were in the tower we'd be safe. We could sleep there. Then again that implied we'd be finishing before we succumbed to exhaustion. How long could we last? Two days, tops.

Someone passed me a paper and I sat down near the first rock I could lean my back on. I had no idea where the rest of my team was and everyone seemed to be grouping up here and there. I had just spotted Shino and Kiba (Without Hinata, for some reason) signing their names and started formulating an Alliance in my mind when I felt someone near my opposite side. I looked up to see Shikamaru, alone. He crouched down beside me and tapped the paper in my hands.

"So what do you think?"

He faced me with those keen eyes. I stared down at the paper feeling nervous about his proximity.

"What do I think? This is going to be awful. It looks like no sleep and a lot of tough situations. On top of that there are so many strategies and so many counters to them I can't even begin to think of a good one."

He hummed in agreement, "Go to the tower and set a trap?"

"To predictable, make a ruckus by your gate to draw attention then hide?"

"Could backfire. Find the river?"

"Slaughter house, definitely. Run towards any screams and take out an exhausted team."

"What if you weren't the only one?"

I sighed and so did he. The silence gave me time to realize what was happening. Someone besides Kiba and Choji was speaking to me of their own free will. Without really thinking about it I gave him a smile. His eyes bounced to my expression then sprinted towards the ground.

"You dropped something," he pointed out reaching down beside me to pick up a rock with familiar lopsided eyeballs.

"Oh," I said surprised.

I stood starring around the large spectrum of people and shouted out to Kat. The familiar gray eyes met mine across the green and hurried over to Shikamaru and I. I held out my hand to Shikamaru and he dropped the rock into my palm giving me an odd expression. I handed it to the perplexed Kat and grinned. I imagined the whole situation looked like a dog that had brought a dead bird do its master: me, with my large victorious grin and Kat, starring at the weight in her hands with a vacant and displeased frown.

"This is for you. It's a pet rock. I bought it when—"

"Down rock!"

The little pebble hit me in the leg and a blossom of stinging pain bloomed on the bone in my leg. I folded down and hissed from the sudden pain simultaneously realizing I had made myself look like a loser in front of my 'classmate' again.

"Sorry, my rock isn't trained yet," Kat said dismissively.

"You're such a child," Shikamaru barked as he crouched down in front of me.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," I refused to meet his eyes, "Thank you."

I stood up, attempting to look some-what resilient to pain. However, Shikamaru followed suit and once again we were both faced with an abnormal proximity that would be awkward to correct. Our eyes met, accidentally, but his eyes were quick to scamper off to the right as he scratched his head in an attempt to be casual.

"I only care because it would be a drag if you got hurt by your own teammate."

I raised an eyebrow. I wasn't sure how to take that. Hadn't I seen him being 'hurt' by his teammate before? Maybe that was why he cared. Now some debt would be repaid and he wouldn't have to talk to Tangles anymore.

"Okay, then. I'll see you around, Shikamaru."

He turned around without meeting my eyes once, "Yeah, right."

I watched him walk off to go find his team and wondered what could have possibly driven him to come and talk strategy with me, especially without Choji by his side. I was nearing conspiracy theories about Ino when I turned back to see Kat staring at me.

"What?"

With a shrug she leaned down and picked up the rock, "Let's get to work, already."