Bound
Chapter 25: Break

My being here is wholly unnecessary. Sakura can handle this situation fine on her own. Naruto and Sasuke are doing nothing but sleeping to regain what stamina they'd lost during our fight with Orochimaru. Sure, Sasuke is burning up and still grimaces in his sleep, but so what? He's a big boy. He can handle it.

I have my own issues to deal with, you know.

The bond, however, doesn't let me shake the feeling that I've failed Sasuke. Not that I can take full blame. Or any blame at all, really. I'd tried my hardest and gotten injured in the process too—there's a hole roughly the size of my head crudely torn from the middle of my shirt to prove it—and my chakra levels were low from having the Genshindou activated for too long. So it isn't my fault that this happened. The fact that this Orochimaru guy had put a curse mark on Sasuke was way out of my control. I couldn't have prevented it no matter what I did.

Wrong! the bond screams at me. It's entirely your fault. You were more concerned with your own little schemes than you were with Sasuke! He was behind you all that time, and all you cared about was breaking, breaking, breaking—

I rattle its pestering away with a shake of my head, waking myself up a bit as well. Sakura's taking her shift sleeping as the night drags on, and she doesn't show any signs of awakening. What does she need rest for, though? She didn't do anything.

I don't bother getting her up to tell her it's her turn to play sentry . I'm too angry at her to even want to look at her, much less talk to her. Instead, I pull myself over to Sasuke, slipping my fingers under the towel that I'd soaked with semi-cold water to cool his fever just a few minutes ago. Because no matter how bitter and resentful I am toward him, I can't shirk my duties as his doctor. That would be irresponsible. And the bond would never leave me alone.

Sasuke is still burning up.

Aggravated, I pick the towel up and sop it with my drinking water again, slapping it on his forehead without wringing it out. It's annoying that his temperature won't ease up. And it's not as though I can very well go out and collect herbs to heal him, what with Sakura resting and my irritation too overwhelming to want to bother with her at the moment.

I huff, watching Sasuke as he cringes in his sleep. My resolve to let him suffer weakens. I frown and reach out to him. I cup my hand over his cheek that is slick with either sweat or water from the towel and, as usual, when his skin touches mine, it feels like I've just put my hand over a fire. Although that could just be his fever. It's hard to tell. Either way, I have to recoil because the heat becomes unbearable.

My breathing starts to act up. My throat gets thick like I have to cry. I double over like I'm going to pray or beg for forgiveness when neither is my intention. I clutch my stomach as it writhes and rolls, the wound over my abdomen suddenly springing to life and aching again.

A hand comes to my back and I turn my head to the side. Through a wave of my brown hair, I faintly see pink wisps.

"Ren?" Sakura asks groggily. "Are you all right?"

I close my eyes and take a deep breath before sitting up. "Yeah," I answer, running my hand through my hair. "I'm fine. Just a little tired."

"Well," she says, her eyes flashing from me to Sasuke. "It looks like your shift has been over for some time now. You should get some rest."

"Hmm, yeah, sure," I say, dismissing her with a wave. I push myself to my feet, brushing the dirt off my hands and walking to the entrance of the thicket we'd found to hide in. I look out into the surrounding area. The vibrations aren't acting up too badly and I don't sense anyone loitering around the perimeter of the clearing that our thicket is located in. The coast is clear. "I think I'm going to go lay out some more traps around the area instead. And get some meat for supper. And water, considering we used most of it trying to keep darling dearest here cool. Which is to say: yes, he's still burning up like crazy."

She bites her lip and her hand flies to Sasuke's forehead. She picks up the towel and wets it again, before placing it gently back on him.

"I'll be right back, okay?" I say as she straightens his shirt.

"But," she protests, "shouldn't you be resting, Ren? You've hardly slept at all and during the fight—"

"I'm fine," I insist, stepping out into the open after making sure that there's no one around. "I mean, initially, I did collapse when we first found this place—" I sigh at this embarrassing memory of how I'd been able to lay Sasuke down carefully before passing out. "—so you had to set up all the little booby traps around here yourself. I should do something to help too, besides guarding and sleeping. And I got enough rest from, you know, fainting," I grumble sheepishly, picking at the loose fabric around my wound. "We've got other things to be worrying about than our own personal health. And I think I saw a few herbs on our way over here that might help reduce Sasuke's fever. I'll gather some and bring it back to feed to him, all right?"

I mosey on past her and scoop up Naruto's, Sasuke's, and my own water canisters. As I'm about to duck out of the thicket, Sakura speaks up again.

"Hey," she says quietly.

I sigh, pushing my hair from my eyes and sigh, "What?"

"How did you know to come?" she inquires and I stiffen. "And how did you find us in here? How did you even get into the forest? Have you been following us this entire time, assisting us, helping us cheat? Helping Sasuke-kun cheat?"

"Yeah, that's it," I growl, straightening up. "Because I was so desperate to participate in the exams and you guys are so important, right?"

She's taken aback by my angry retort to her question. "That's not what I—," she starts, but I cut her off.

"Don't flatter yourself," I say, waving her away. "I wouldn't be so kind. And if I had the choice of who I helped, it wouldn't be Team 7, despite the fact that I was once stuck in it. Don't look at this as me coming to save you. If anything, I've put you in danger of being disqualified, especially if the higher ups find out about this."

I've rendered her speechless for the time being and use it to my advantage. I slip out of the thicket, sneaking my way behind the tree so as to preserve the traps Sakura had set up. Once I'm out of Sakura's view, I press my hands together in the sign of the dog before flipping it over to the boar. I slam my hands palms down into the ground and feel the vibrations kick up. They form a shaky circle around the thicket and I'm able to keep track of the slightest movements that take place around our hideout.

I scowl, disgusted that I had even thought about putting up this protection circle around Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto. Without another glance back, I head off into the forest, toward the spot where I had seen the herbs and noticed a small stream trickling, though I don't really intend on collecting any herbs. The fever that he curse mark has built up is way out of my league. There's nothing to be done about it but wait until it dies down on its own, and I find myself hoping that it does.

Goddamn this bond-induced ambivalence! Why can't I feel one way or the other about the people I'd considered my teammates not a few weeks before? I'd had no problem helping them in our previous missions or in the Land of the Waves. I had warmed up to them even, really, truly cared for them.

My lack of judgment seemed to have gotten the better of me then. I'm wiser now.

No, I can't even say that. There are no excuses that could make this act of abandoning my friends forgivable. There's no amount of lying I could do that could save me from the immense guilt that starts falling on my shoulders as soon as I'm away from the thicket.

I could have done something, should have done something, anything to help my friends, to protect them. I should have been tuning into what was going on during the first exam. I could have joined in at the first sign of trouble at the start of the second exam. I would have been more helpful to them. And now they're torn up and defenseless and it's safe to say that it is in fact my fault.

I shake my head violently and rub my arms down to stop this incessant shivering that has started up. My feet are jittery and my hands feel like they're going to tangle up into this messy knot because I keep twining them together. I've got to get out and go, go now, go far, go somewhere that isn't here; otherwise I'll think myself to death with all the could-have, would-have, should-haves of the past twenty-four hours. Granted, I'll probably think about it more when I'm alone, but at least I'd be alone. I wouldn't have to see my friends, wouldn't have to see the consequences of all the things I didn't do. At least I'd be able to run away and deny and make believe that I did all that I could have would have should have done. That I'd been able to protect my friends.

It wouldn't have made any difference if I had been here in the first place. It wouldn't have changed this outcome one bit.

I should have just stayed away.

And so, as I scramble through the heavy brush that only seems to get denser as I move away from my former teammates, I realize that I'd lied to Sakura about coming back. I might as well finish my business within the Forest of Death and then leave Team 7 be.

Somehow I start thinking about what Sasuke would think about my abandoning him. It's not so different from when I'd deserted him nearly five years ago and he hadn't seemed to mind then. Neither did the bond. But that was when it was so much weaker than it is now. Than it continues to be. And as I run farther and farther, my urge to run back to Sasuke grows so intense that it can no longer be considered a simple urge. It becomes a goddamn need.

Just as I'm about to turn around and give into this self-deprecating, resolute and unyielding need, there's a shift in the vibrations around me. I skid to a stop, taking in my surroundings carefully. I can hear the faint, trickling sounds of the stream that I'd remember seeing on our way over, but there's something else. A restless rustling in the trees above.

Slowly, I reach into the holster around my thigh to grab a kunai. Before I'm able to, though, someone drops from the canopy of trees above, surprising me and throwing me backwards. I trip over my own feet and stumble to the ground. I hadn't expected their assault to be so straight-forward and immediate. I yank my kunai from my holster and hold it at the ready for an attack, but then when I'm able to register the face, I lower my weapon, glowering.

"Ren! Fancy meeting you here!" Rei vociferates, spreading her fingers out in a wave while she plants her other hand on her hips, casual as can be. She's wearing the same thing as she had been when Sasuke had presented her to me through the bond, but she's added a little primrose to her hair to accompany the lone eagle feather tucked behind her ear.

Her headband with the little eighth note on it winks in the sunlight.

"Seriously, though," she says, tapping her chin, "I hadn't been expecting to see you here, especially since you weren't in the first exam. Why is that? Your friends finally see how much of a burden you are? Whatever," she dismisses when I open my mouth to interject. "Doesn't matter, I guess. So how is it that you're here now?"

She watches me expectantly. I brush myself off, having picked myself off the ground while she was blabbering on. I return her look and ask, "Oh, sorry. Were you expecting me to answer? I figured you'd keep yammering to yourself, so I didn't bother listening to what you had to say."

Rei blinks at me steadily before breaking out in a fit of laughter. "Ah, Ren," she says, holding her stomach and wiping tears from her eyes. "Now. You and I both know that's not true. So? What're you doing here?"

"Funny," I say as she plucks the primrose from her hair. I glance around the area, searching for other presences that could be waiting to ambush me. I let out a tired sigh when I don't feel anything. "I would have expected you to know."

"Oh, I do!" she gushes, smiling at me giddily. "But I'd rather hear you say it, doll. It's so much more satisfying that way. And I do so solemnly swear that if you simply tell me, I will help you without a trick."

She's still smirking and there's a glint to her eyes that I don't like, making it hard for me to tell if she's sincere.

"No catch," she promises, taking note of my hesitation. "None at all, Ren dear. I promise on my ancestors' graves."

"Do you? And how trustworthy have they been?"

Her lips press together in a thin smile. "Very trustworthy," she says, spinning the primrose between her fingers. Her words come out slow and dangerous. "But I wouldn't count on you to know. Anyway, we're digressing. Have we got a deal?"

She holds out her hand and smells the primrose, reveling in its scent as I debate on whether or not I should go through with this. The bond tells me to forget about it, which in turn makes me want to take her offer, but then I remember:

"I'll see you again if you manage to defeat the Otonin who answer to me."

"I don't have all day, Ren-chan," she says tiredly, tucking the flower back in her hair. She waggles her fingers back and forth. "Make your decision today, please."

There's a chance that Rei has nothing to do with Orochimaru. There is also a chance that she works directly under him and this is all part of this scheme. Is breaking the bond worth getting involved with her, if that's the case? Is my freedom worth making a pact with the enemy and betraying my team?

"Reeeeeeen," Rei says, propping her arm up on her hip. "It's now or never, girly. Come on."

I shut my eyes tightly, taking a deep breath.

"Deal," I say upon opening my eyes, and we shake on it. The bond writhes, but I find that it's easier to suppress it this time.

"All right!" she cheers with a clap. "Now, Ren, tell me. What is it that you need?"

"I want to know what you know about the bond," I explain. A sly smile sweeps over her lips and she cocks her head to the side fiendishly. "I've recently come across some evidence that says you can help me with it."

She hums, taking her chin between her fingers and screws her face up pensively. "Is that so? And what if I were to tell you that you've been sorely misinformed?"

"I wouldn't believe you," I retort. "Not after what you said when we first met. And not after what you said to Sasuke at the end of the first exam."

Her lips pull up into another one of her devilish smirks. "He told you about that, did he?" she says. "What a baby. But I digress. You're right. I do know a little something something about the bond. What's it matter?"

"I want to break it," I tell her, taking a step forward. "I need to break it. And I don't have any inkling as to how to do that and I'm getting a little desperate because it's getting stronger."

She snorts, but nods, and starts to circle me. "I see," she purrs. "And you think that I know about how to break the bond, is that it? Because on that account, you are mistaken."

My eyes narrow to slits as she completes a circle around me and comes to a stop. She waves her hand impatiently and says, "Don't give me that look. You're right: I know about your silly bond with the Uchiha, but I don't know how to break it. That's witchcraft beyond my time. It's all voodoo and black magic stuff now. We've progressed through the ages so far as making contracts go, you know."

"You're lying," I snarl.

"I am not," she huffs. "I said I wouldn't and I won't. What you're not keeping in mind, Ren, is that that bond was conjured up by your lovesick ancestor some hundred odd years ago. It was a completely different time period and their methods of 'bonding' were primitive because contracts were first coming around. And also, once people caught wind of how dangerous and unrelenting blood bonds were, they dumped it and forbade it across the land. At least, among my people."

Rei shrugs, flipping her hair from her face. "I suppose you guys didn't get the memo, though. Nevertheless, any information on blood bonding was destroyed when people started, you know, dying and stuff from not being able to live up to the conditions they had set or trying to break the blood bonds in unorthodox ways. I think that the only people who know about it now are the Kannagi Elders, and even they won't speak a word of it."

"You're lying," I say again, advancing on her. My frustration starts to burn my eyes and cause them to water. I can't be hitting another dead end, not when I'd been so close!

"I knew I shouldn't have wasted my time," I say, gripping the kunai that I'd pulled out at the beginning of our encounter. "I knew I shouldn't have bothered—"

"Putting your trust in me to get what you want?" Rei finishes for me, ever omnisciently correct. "But what else could you have done, Ren? Weren't you, and I quote, 'getting a little desperate'?"

The kunai flies from my hand before I can help it. Rei moves fast though and is able to catch the knife easily. She throws it up into the air and catches it again by the hole at the end of the knife, whirling it around her index finger.

"Temper, temper," she reproaches, tossing the kunai away. The smile that slinks over her mouth is vile and haughty, thoroughly reminiscent of a certain snake I'd encountered moments ago. "You should watch yourself, Ren. Otherwise, you'll be finding yourself in some terrible situations." She pauses for a moment. Her eyes flash and then she laughs, "Just like your silly ancestors!"

The vibrations around me start to waver as my fury grows. "Shut up," I order. "Don't you dare—"

"Ren," she says, surprised. "Are you actually offended by my teasing? And on the subject of your ancestors, no less. Despite all that they've done to you? I mean, really. The bond," she lists, counting them off on her fingers. "The right to live how you want, to do what you want, to be who you want. They've chained you, bound your abilities strictly to medicine, basically forcing you to become a slave to the Uchiha. And still, you get defensive when you hear me mock them?"

"You're grouping me with them," I say, calmly as possible, before the vibrations go haywire and start ripping my skin to shreds. "That's why I'm getting frustrated."

"Hm, only frustrated?" she muses, rubbing her chin. "Seems like more than that to me. But never mind that. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things. But it's hard because the apple usually doesn't fall far from the tree, you know? It's evident in everything that you do. I would try to see you as an entity a part from the Kagiru, but that's a no can do. You've got too many connections. It's impossible to isolate you from them now. Especially knowing what I know and being who I am."

I take a moment to consider her words. Especially know what I know and being who I am.

There's something she's not telling me. There has to be more. Not that I'd gotten any substantial information from her in the first place.

"I don't," I say, massaging my temple, "understand who or what you are. What do the Kannagi have to do with the bond in the first place?"

Rei blinks at me. She takes a deep breath. Lets it out slowly. Like she's got to savor this breath. Make it last. Settle in the moment. And then she speaks. Deliberately. Defiantly. Like she really has to make a point with her words.

"I would think that you would have realized by now," she says, "or at least attempted to figure it out. But you're going off of names and random mentions, aren't you? It's a matter of luck that you were able to come this far. But I guess I should have expected much from you." She shrugs as though it can't be helped and sighs. "You don't deserve to have me tell you anything that could help, so you can give up on trying to get me to spill the beans. Find out who I am by yourself, and maybe then I'll be more serious about helping you."

"More seri—then what was this entire conversation for?" I demand. "God, what's the use of even talking to you? Don't answer that," I growl when I see her mouth open to retort. "I don't care. I'm leaving now. Good bye."

I'm livid. After all this—all this torture, all this fucking around, first in the park, then with Sasuke, and even at this moment—she's acting like this is some game that can be offhandedly played. Like she doesn't realize how badly I need this information.

"Oh, now, don't be like that," she whines, coming after me as I stomp away from her. "Ren, darling—please don't leave me."

"Shove off," I snap. "I have no other business left here. Don't you have a team to get back to?"

"They're otherwise currently preoccupied," she says, and I wonder what they could be doing that she wouldn't be involved too. "The real question here though is don't you have a team to get back to?"

"No," I say quietly, and Rei catches on to the melancholy in my voice.

"No?" she says with a giddy giggle. "No? Why not?"

"Fuck off," I groan, combing my hands through my hair. "What does it matter to you, anyway, Rei? Why are you so concerned with my life when you don't even care enough to seriously help me with one of the most important things to me?"

"Oh, gag," she replies, screwing her face up in disgust. "Don't talk like that, Ren. Come on. Just tell me what's going on with you. I'll listen. I'm good in that way."

"Right," I scoff, trying to walk farther away from her, but she keeps bumping closer. "Because we've known each other for such a long time and are the best of friends."

She takes a single longer stride than I do and manages to get in front of me, blocking my way. Her eyes are gleaming that dirty green-brown that sticks to my mind and makes it hard to clean away. "Exactly," she purrs, smoothing down her hair. "You're getting somewhere with that train of thought. Now, why don't you open up that big, sensitive heart you have to me?"

"Why?" I demand, glaring at her with all I can muster. "After everything that you've done—or maybe I should say haven't done for me, why should I let you in on anything? Most importantly, we're supposed to be enemies here, considering we're from different villages. And what with the way you hop-skipped into town with this holier-than-thou attitude toward me for what seems like the simple reason of annoying the hell out of me, why should I do anything for you except this?"

I swing out my arm and hit her square in the jaw with my fist. She staggers back, hands pressed to her mouth. I blow my hair from my face and shake my hand free of the pain as she bounces back and cries, "What the hell!"

But I'm done. I don't give her a second glance as I trudge away from her, profanities steaming out of my mouth so smoothly that it sounds like I'm reading it off a list. I need to get out of here. Fast.

"I'm done with this stupid test," I mutter, "this goddamn place, this goddamn town. And this people. All these fucking people."

"Bitch," I hear her mutter as the vibrations take a sudden violent turn. They grip my legs and pull me to a stop. For a second, I think that my anger has gotten the better of me, and now the vibrations were using my bad chi to their advantage. Then I realize that this could be an ambush and, since I'd instigated it, her friends are going to be dropping down from the trees above, ready to take me out. But that's not it. No. The way the vibrations are moving this time are unlike anything that could be caused my something in my surroundings. It's like a warning. A definite tell-tale sign of trouble. It's—

"Oh god," I mutter and whirl around, remembering the vibration circle I'd set up around the thicket. That's what this nudging feeling is. They're being attacked. And Rei.

That goddamn traitor.

Rei is still standing there, dabbing her fingers against her jaw line. "If you're going to apologize," she says, wincing, "forget about it. No way am I going to ever let that—"

I charge for her and grab her by her collar, throwing her roughly to the side so that I can pin her to a tree. For once, Rei is the one that's looking terrified. I can't say that I'm not pleased by these turn of events. And if there's something going wrong with my friends, I have to get the information I want quickly and get back. Forget running away, being a coward. I need to help, help somehow, help someway. Just help.

"What the hell are you planning?" I hiss at her, shaking her slightly. I can practically hear her eyeballs rattling in her head. "What is it that this Orochimaru guy wants from us? From Sasuke? Tell me, goddammit, or I swear I'll kill you."

"Listen!" she says, panicked. "I don't know what you're talking about, all—"

"Don't lie to me," I shout. "I've had enough of that from you. What are your friends doing to my friends? You said that they were and I quote, 'otherwise currently preoccupied', didn't you? So what were they doing? Scouting out my friends? God, I knew I shouldn't have trusted you, I fucking knew it."

She tries reasoning with me. "Look, you're obviously unstable right now, Ren," she says, her teeth chattering beneath her words. "Why don't you just…let me go, take a deep breath and—"

I'm holding a kunai to her throat before she can say more. "Tell me, goddammit," I hiss again, my voice dangerously feral and low, "or I swear I'll kill you."

"We'd appreciate it if you didn't," sounds a voice from behind me, and something cold and sleek I can tell is a blade presses against my throat. It makes me second guess the kunai I've got in my own hand. "If you did that, we'd lose our ticket out of here. And besides, you'd lose your one resource to getting the answers you need, right?"

"Hiro," Rei greets, so very obviously relieved by the way she sighs and the muscles of her face relax. "Nao. Nice of you to finally drop in." Rei gives me this pointed look and smirks now that she's got back up. "If you would please, Ren."

"You're out-numbered, kid," one of Rei's teammates says. "You might as well let her go." He puts his hand on my shoulder and pulls me back as I reluctantly do as he suggests. As I let her go, however, I shove her against the tree so that she hits her head brusquely.

She winces, but shrugs it off and acts like it doesn't hurt. Rei fixes her collar and says to her friends after clearing her throat, "What's the report, guys?"

"There's a disturbance up ahead," says one boy as I shrug the other boy's hand off of me. The boy that had spoken has scruffy brown hair and I'm vaguely able to identify him by the picture that was on the card Kabuto gave me. I decide that this is the one Rei had called Hiro. Either way, these boys are generally good-looking, mostly because they're spotless—like they've taken time to wash up before showing themselves. I suppose it would be natural for Rei's teammates to be as vain as she is. "We should get moving before we get caught up in what's going on."

"We've also got our second scroll," Nao adds, crossing his arms. I take shifty, slow steps away from them and back toward where my team and I had made camp. The disturbance ahead, the vibrations that keep nudging me—could it be connected? I pray to god not. I hope that it's just the weird aura these guys are giving off. But the way the vibrations are running is definitely trying to draw me back to the campsite. "We might as well head to the tower now. Wouldn't want to chance running into another group."

"You're right," Rei agrees, nodding as I grip the kunai in my hand tightly, knowing that I'm outnumbered, but unable to keep from thinking about what I could do to kill them all. "Well, Ren dear, sorry to skip out on our lovely meeting so abruptly, but it doesn't seem like you want me around much longer anyway." She doesn't wink at me like I think she will or do something snarky. She merely looks at me stonily, seriously, like she's finally seeing me as a threat instead of some kid to play with.

"Hiro, sweetie," she says, and motions the boy with the raggedy brown hair toward her. When he doesn't move, she takes his hand and drags him closer. Then, she plants a kiss on his lips, which doesn't seem to faze either of her teammates, making me come to the conclusion that this is something that she does frequently. Or at least enough so that it's not out of the norm for her. Or maybe that's the kind of personality that Rei has. You stop being surprised by what she does after a while because she will do just about anything.

She breaks the kiss and mutters something to him with their foreheads pressed together, like they're lovers or something, and I catch her eyes flicking toward me for the briefest moments. His eyes do the same, though stick longer to me longer.

I don't care enough about what she's got to say to listen in or try to make out what she's saying by using the vibrations. They're too busy begging me to return to the campsite anyway. I'm not sure why I'm still loitering around with these people.

He jerks away from her when she's finished mumbling and says, "Let's go."

"Right," answers his other teammate who then jumps off.

"You best take care of your friends, Ren darling," Rei warns, making the skin on the back of my neck crawl. "We'll see you in the finals." She follows after the first boy.

The boy with the elegantly disheveled hair stays after. He won't stop staring and I start to think that they'd planned it so that he would finish me off and am immediately on my guard. All he does, though, is nod to me respectfully, like he owes me for something, and turns around.

And before he leaves, he says, "Rei's not kidding. You've better get to your friends. And quick. Especially considering—"

I don't stick around to hear what he's considering. I'm shoving my way through the shrubbery without a second thought, regretting having left in the first place, and now just wanting to get back get back get back because I reallyreallyreally need to help Sasuke.

God, it all clicks, now that I think about it. The knowing looks Rei's teammate gave me. The reason why Rei pulled him away and spoke to him in whispers. Why he wouldn't stop staring. That last warning was the final straw.

Oh, Sasuke. Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke.

Please be okay.

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