The day had arrived, the day of the Chuunin Exams. Yasuo and Kaemon flanked me on both sides as we headed up through the second floor. We were on our way to the third floor, room number 301.

"Hah! You plan to take the Chuunin Exam with that?! You should quit now! You're just a little kid!"

The annoying voice came accompanied with the thud of someone hitting the floor. The sign above their heads reading 301, though we were still on the second floor.

"Please let us through!"

TenTen! Can you help them? Rai pleaded.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Will do, I responded, knowing that she would take over if I didn't. I managed to catch Rai's friend as she was thrown back from a hit. "You nimrods," I growled.

TenTen looked up. "Hey, you're-"

"Yeah, I'm doing a favor for your friend. She made me promise."

This made Team Gai look up at me. "Why?" Lee asked.

"Just head upstairs. Trust me."

"Why should we?" Neji asked, crossing his arms.

"'Cause Rai would have my head." I turned to the two idiots in front of the door they had been trying to enter. They were still rambling on. "Will you two idiots stuff it? You're annoying," I said, my eyes narrowing at the pair.

"Remove this surrounding created with Genjutsu. I'm going to third floor." I wasn't expecting Sasuke to show up behind me with the rest of his team.

"This is why I hate Genjutsu," I whined towards the younger boy. "It makes nothing look like the way it should."

"Ah, so you noticed?" one of the idiots in front of the door said.

"Sakura, you must have noticed first, right?"

"Huh?"

"Your analytical ability and genjutsu know-how is the most improved on our team." Sasuke gave the pinkette a small smirk.

She smiled back at him. "Of course, I noticed a while ago. This is only the second floor."

"Yup!" And of course, Naruto had to add in his two yen.

There was a warp-like feeling, and then the room sign above us now read 201.

Something was about to happen, the annoying boy was moving. "Hmm, not bad. But all you did was see through it!" He swung a high kick at Sasuke and the Uchiha was returning it. With two more blurs, the kicks were stopped. Lee was holding on to Sasuke's leg and I had taken the annoying kid's leg and pushed it up while pushing him backwards, pinning him against the wall in an uncomfortable position before letting him drop to the floor.

"Hey, what happened to the plan? You're the one who said we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves." Neji drew closer to Lee, trying to keep his voice low.

"Well…" Lee cast a glance at Sakura, a blush coming to his face.

Hah! This is priceless. Your teammate has a crush on Pinkie!

Why am I not that surprised? Her voice sounded slightly distant.

Hey, kiddo, what's up? I started to head up the stairs leaving the younger ones behind, my fake teammates following closely.

I should be there with them. I should be with my team, not hiding. I had to wipe at my eyes, tears gathering from Rai's emotions flooding through me.

Hey, the Elders decided that you're more important than your teammates. They want to make sure that I keep you safe because they don't want to lose you. You're more important to them than anything else.

Yeah, but they're not that important to me. They come in to my life from nowhere and dictate that I'm not capable enough to defend myself so they hide me away. It pisses me off! I don't want to be hiding. I'm a lot stronger now than when Nii-san tried to kill me six years ago.

"You guys go in without me. I'll be in later." I waved off my teammates and headed down the hall.

"What's up?" Kaemon asked, a worried look in his eyes.

"Something's wrong with Rai," I answered, not saying anything else.

"What's wrong with Rai?"

Kaemon and Yasuo flinched at TenTen's voice behind them. They turned to find both TenTen and Neji standing there.

"I thought Rai was in Kusabana," Neji asked, crossing him arms and glaring at the two older boys.

The two pretend Kusabana genin looked at each other, and decided that it wasn't worth it. They headed in to the room, leaving the Leaf genin behind.

"Hey, you didn't answer the question!" TenTen called. She was worried about her friend. Why would Rai leave without saying goodbye? How do these people know that she's in trouble when she's supposed to be an almost two-day trip away? "Neji, we need to talk to Ran-san."

He nodded. "Let's go."

Rai, you need to accept that you need to make some sacrifices-

No! Rai slammed a fist in to the wall, making the concrete crack underneath her hand.

Hey! Calm down! She was starting to piss me off.

I should be there for them! I should be fighting with them! I shouldn't be leaving them-

They're going to be fine without you!

But I lied to them! I didn't say goodbye! I-

"Sometimes you don't get to say goodbye! Rai, you need to learn that you are more important to Kusabana then anything else. There would be no other reason for them to wake me up! Those idiot Elder-"

"So, Rai's not in Kusabana?"

Fuck! I was speaking out loud! I turned around at the familiar voice. Rai's teammates, all three of them were standing in front of me with their arms crossed.

"What are you talking about? Of course she is-" I tried to cover.

"Cut the bullshit and tell us the truth!" Neji interrupted. Veins seemed to bulge out from around his eyes. "Your chakra system isn't yours. It's hers."

"I'm sorry! I wanted to tell you everything but-"

I slammed a hand over my mouth as Rai's voice came through my throat but she took control and removed it.

"The Elders of Kusabana came to me and said that something was happening. They said that I needed to hide. They told me that there was nothing I could do but hide. So they woke up Ran-san to take care of me. I really wanted to tell you everything, but they are worried that you'll get in trouble too." Rai's voice was almost hysterical.

"So that's why the ANBU took you away?" Lee asked.

I nodded, not Rai. "They are expecting something to happen, and soon. They didn't want to take any chances."

"But why would they want Rai? What is it about Rai that makes her that special?"

I gritted my teeth. "I'm not supposed to tell you anything, and Rai understands the fact that you aren't supposed to know either. She wants to keep the three of you safe from what's going to happen. So for that to happen, the less you know, the better. When this is all over, we'll tell you everything, okay?"

My vision faded out then and it took me a moment to realize why as I was pulled completely from control.

I brushed my 0nce-short black hair from my face and I rubbed my hands together. It was odd being completely in control again without having to really think about it. I also had to block out Ran-san screaming at me in the back of my mind. I turned my blind eyes in the direction of my teammates. "I really am sorry. I should have told you everything, and I really want to-"

I was interrupted mid-sentence as TenTen threw her arms around me. "Do you know how much I missed you? Do you realize how scared we were when we couldn't find you?"

Another pair of arms wrapped around me, Lee this time. "Whatever it is, we want to help protect you as well. You are our teammate."

A hand came to rest on my shoulder. Neji was silent, though. But I couldn't help but smile slightly even as tear ran down my face as I faded back in to my mind.

I opened my eyes as my vision came back. "Okay, enough of the sappiness! We have to get to the room or we'll all be disqualified." I pushed the younger genin away from me, smoothing my shoulder-length brown hair back in to place.

"Let's go do this!" Lee cried, all fired up.

"Yeah!" TenTen and I cheered while Neji just made an agreeing noise.

"Sight of the target has been confirmed. Let him know that she is there."

"How do we tell them which one she is?"

"He'll probably recognize her from his past. But let them know to move in on the third round."

"Yes, sir."