Bound
Chapter 36: Something Rotten

Even before our run-in with Gaara, I had been thinking about Sasuke. He actually hadn't lingered in my mind significantly enough to say I thought about him, but he had made fleeting appearances in my day-to-day thoughts. Once or twice during the weeks following up to the tournament, there were small prickles in the back of my head that reminded me of Sasuke. Once or twice, I was actually bored enough to check up on him, but when I did he was only training.

Now, as I make my way to the arena to watch my friends duke it out over a silly title and an ego boost that will undoubtedly make them more unbearable than normal, I wonder if Sasuke will be all right. He'll have to exert so much energy for this match, especially if he plans to keep up with Gaara, and with all that chakra loose, will he be able to control the curse mark? He can't be flinching in the middle of his match. One screw up in the ring with Gaara and Sasuke will most definitely be dead.

I suppose he hasn't been training for nothing, though. Kakashi will have made sure that he can control himself. He wouldn't send Sasuke out unless he's absolutely sure his pupil is ready.

As the arena comes into view through the trees, the villagers who walk alongside me talk about the pairings they're most excited to see: Neji versus Naruto—so the Hyuuga can 'put that fox boy in his place', someone has the audacity to say—and of course they're gushing over how well the last of the prodigious Uchiha clan will perform.

Funny, I think. In a matter of hours, none of us will mean anything to these people anymore. Once we've played our parts, everyone will move on and we'll be just another footnote. Fame is a fickle friend indeed.

The pathway opens up and children run ahead of their parents as the arena comes into full view. It's a towering hunk, higher than any building in the village, and ugly in it's simple grey-speckled wall exterior. No wonder the village opted to have it built on the outskirts of town, away from the eyes of tourists and grand leaders. Such a stoic looking building would have been out of place inside our pretty village, which overflows with colors and laughter and peace.

I, like the people who are skittering across the clearing now, am abhorrently late for the tournament, especially for someone whose best friends are taking part in the matches. At the rate I'm going, I'll miss the first five minutes of Naruto's match, and that's assuming I can find a seat without a hitch. I had made plans with Ino and Sakura (after grudgingly taking Shikamaru's advice and calling them up the night before) for the three of us to sit together, but that was assuming I would be going into the stadium with them. For obvious reasons, that much is impossible now, and I don't think they'd have waited this long for me. I wouldn't have. Hopefully, though, they'll have thought to save me a seat.

Despite the fact that I am going to lose major friend points for this, I don't hurry my pace. Mostly because I don't feel like it, but also because something catches my eye at the edge of the clearing—a girl, with wildly curly hair that sticks out at odd ends and a feather sticking out of her headband. She is standing on her toes, whispering into the ear of a boy, who nods when she finishes speaking and promptly hops away.

Like she can sense me staring at her, she turns to meet my gaze. Rei grins and wiggles her fingers at me, apparently oblivious to the fact that she should be inside, that she should have already been inside with the other contestants, preparing for her match.

She blows me a kiss, and I brace myself for the sound of her voice, too close in my ear as usual. "See you soon," it flutters, before drifting away with the breeze. Rei is quick to disappear into thin air as her words leave me, and I wonder why she wasn't already in the stadium with the rest of the contestants. Shikamaru had told me that they were supposed to show up earlier than everyone else to go over standard procedures do whatever official things that might be required of them. If Rei is only arriving, she's cutting it really close.

Although maybe I shouldn't be the one to talk.

I brush my thoughts of Rei aside and focus on getting into the stadium before I miss Naruto's match completely. The entrance is crowded and the mass of people pressing through the doors inch forward. There are a pair of shinobi standing on either side of the doors, checking tickets, and I'm pushed and shoved and forcibly, and uncomfortably, squeezed between two adults before I'm close enough to flash my ticket and get through.

Inside, there is more space, and the crowd begins to spread down the corridor. I follow them up a flight of stairs, and then another and another, and when everyone's thighs begin to burn from the uphill climb, I'm lucky to be well conditioned to endure much more than this and am able to break from the crowd to find my own way to the spectators' box.

There are three spectators' boxes in all, and they're big, holding rows and rows of people. It won't be an easy job, scouting for Ino and Sakura in the sea of villagers. How troublesome. I curse myself for not coming earlier. I shouldn't have started digging through those boxes in my parents' room without considering how distracted I would become. I'd only meant to kill time until the tournament, but now I'm wasting time dawdling about as the tournament starts.

In the first box I reach, I descend the stairs quickly, scanning for a head of bright pink hair and listening for voices raised to obnoxious volumes. As my luck would have it, everyone's voices are raised, and it seems that the normal shades of hair overwhelm and hide anything that could stick out. I'm sure I look like a complete idiot, craning my neck for my friends, and start on my way back up the staircase to go to the next box when someone calls my name. It's Sakura, only a few rows away, standing and waving to me. Beside her, Ino is frowning.

"Hey! Where have you been?"

"I got held up by some family stuff," I say, stepping up to their row. "Have I missed anything?"

Sakura shakes her head. "There's been some sort of delay," she says, her eyes shifting to the center of the arena, where the contestants stand on show for us. "I think a few of them are late."

I follow Sakura's gaze and count the number of figures I see. There are seven in total. I wonder if Rei is among the number, but before I can get a better look, I feel a light tap on my shoulder.

Behind me stands a boy with a mop of brown hair that has been habitually pushed to the side with a rough hand. I recognize him immediately. Hiro doesn't give me a chance to talk, instead leaning down into my ear and saying, "You'll have a few more minutes until the tournament starts. She's waiting for you in the woods, just outside the stadium."

"Waiting?" I repeat, pulling away from him and making no effort to keep my voice down like he had. "She should be down there!"

Hiro says, with a shrug, "You can go or you can stay. It's up to you." Then he nods to me in goodbye and starts up the stairs.

"Hey, hold up," I protest. "Where—how—"

"Ren!" Ino says, leaning back in her seat to get a better view of me. "Wasn't that one of the Sound Nin? He's the teammate of the girl Shikamaru's fighting! What are you doing talking to the enemy?"

"Nothing," I say sourly, already following after him as I'm sure he's expecting me to. "I'm going to be right back."

"Wha—but where are you going?" Sakura calls after me. "Ren, Naruto's match is about to start!"

"I won't miss it," I say. "Save my seat for me!"

"Ren!" Sakura cries, but I'm already to the corridor leading out of the stadium.

[+]

Hiro moves quickly. He ducks around the next corner just as I've rounded the last one, and I'm glad there's only one way out of the stadium so I don't have to keep track of him too closely.

Until we get outside.

As I stand in the entrance of the stadium, Hiro is nowhere in sight. I can feel a trail of disrupted vibrations, though, leading to the edge of the forest surrounding the stadium, and am about to follow it when I'm stopped by the two shinobi on duty.

"What're you doing out here?" one of them asks.

I struggle to come up with an explanation that won't make me sound suspicious. "That is, my brother and I just got into this huge argument," I say. "He stormed out of here a little before me and I—I have to find him before he does something stupid. He has a terrible temper and becomes absolutely irrational when he's angry."

The shinobi exchange looks and the other says, "There was a kid who came out before you. He darted into the woods that way." He points in the direction the vibrations had been leading me. "Now that I think about it, he did say something about being upset when we asked him."

"That was probably him," I agree, appalled at the coincidence of our stories matching up.

"Do you want us to help you find him?" says the shinobi who had spoken first. "The foliage becomes pretty dense in there."

I shake my head, already down the steps. "I should do this on my own," I say, frowning. The vibrations are becoming steadier. If I don't follow them now, I'll lose his track. "Thanks for the offer."

My strides become longer, faster as I close in on the vibrations, noticing now that they're calming more quickly than normal. I can't afford to lose Hiro now, especially with all the flack I'm going to get from Sakura and Ino for running out in the first place.

"This had better be worth it," I mutter, ducking under the first few branches. Hiro had said she was waiting for me—and by she, I'm assuming he means Rei. And why else would she be waiting for me unless she had new information on the bond?

My breath catches in my throat and I come to a stop. I am all at once hit by the reality of how close I will be to breaking the bond, when only a month ago I had been at an impasse. And then I realize that I can't feel the vibrations moving anymore and I can't remember where they had been leading.

I clench my fists. So close.

He couldn't have gotten very far. The woods here on the outskirts of the village are considerably thicker. However fast Hiro was going, there's no way he could have been able to cut through the foliage at an effective pace. He can't possibly know the terrain of the village well enough to.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes, concentrating hard on the vibrations. Without much ado, something nudges me, poking at my diaphragm. Then, my skin begins to prickle all over my body, like the vibrations are moving all at once. And I realize: The vibrations had, in fact, been slowing down, but there was also another energy source feeding them so they would slow. There is a significant pull from the vibrations toward the right. Surprised I had been able to sense anything at all, I go with the feeling and look.

A tree, thick and mossy, stretches out its branches. A breeze flits by and sends the tree into a shiver.

Cautiously, I take a step forward. A branch breaks beneath my feet, and I flinch. So much for staying quiet. "Hey," I call. "I know you're there!"

My only response is silence, until she swings out from behind the tree, feet apart, an arrow aimed at me, pulled back and ready to fire from Rei's bow. She has one eye closed to measure her precision and says, "You found me. Clever girl. How'd you manage to do that?"

As she adjusts her grip on the arrow's tail, I stare at her, unexpectedly calm despite the fact that there is an arrow in my face. "Where's Hiro?" I counter. Her posture doesn't give one bit; she only takes a deep breath, like she's preparing for an enormous sigh. "And how did he—or you—get the vibrations to stop? This is what you pulled in the park, isn't it? I recognize it."

"Hiro-kun has other things to do at the present. Also, you know how ridiculous that sounds?" she asks. "Sensing still vibrations. It's like me saying I can see you because you're standing there."

I narrow my eyes at her. If she thinks she's going to throw me off by switching fronts again, I'm not going to bite. "That's not exactly what I mean," I say coolly. "The vibrations are buzzing, which means they're not being still by nature. It feels like there's something keeping them in place. In other words, while they might not be shifting, they're still being manipulated, and I can feel it."

As I say it, I know it's true: This was how the vibrations had felt the day I ran into Rei at the park. They were oddly calm; I don't know why I didn't sense it then. Maybe I had been too shaken up by Rei's statements to really take notice of how the vibrations were acting.

Rei leans her head to the side so that it's no longer split in two by her bow. She hums in thought and, at long last, lowers her weapon. "You might not realize," she says, pulling her hair over her should and smoothing it down where the curls seem especially unruly, "but this is a major step forward for you so far as your relationship with the spirits go. You'll understand when you're older, young tonakai," she says when I regard her quizzically. "I'll have you know, though, that vibrations aren't really my thing. I focus on the spirits all around, and they do the work for me by pushing the vibrations back into place and generally cloaking my chakra from enemies or whoever is after me at the moment, i.e. you, and normally my aura just drops off my pursuer's radar. That's how it works. Well, that's how it works when someone can't feel the vibrations like you can."

"It's a gift," I say and I can't help but feel a little pride at this. At the same time, I'm surprised someone without my kekkei genkai can control the vibrations to such a degree. I mean, a shinobi can always conceal their chakra from an enemy, but stifling vibrations to hide one's aura is another thing. "In any case, shouldn't you be in the stadium with the others?"

Rei cocks her head at me, and the look she has in her eyes says, "I could ask you the same." Out loud, she says, "Last minute practice." She twirls the arrow in her hand before dropping it into a quiver at her feet. "My aim's been off lately. Probably 'cause of all the channeling I've been trying. Always messes with my head. Channeling," she adds, heaving her quiver over her shoulder, "by which I mean contacting the spirits."

"I figured," I mumble, scowling at the tone she's taking with me. "Have you been able to find anything new?"

A smile breaks across her face, and just like that she's flipped back to being the cheery girl who had helped me back at my house. "As a matter of fact," she says, "I have."

"Well, did you plan on telling me?"

"I was getting to it," she says, dismissing my irritation with a wave. "Patience, young tonakai! Patience. I'll have you know channeling the spirits puts me in a bad mood. Makes me want to sleep for a week. They're always so pressing. Not to mention it takes so much energy just to reach the simplest spirits."

Rei plants one end of her bow into the ground and presses it down so the string goes slack, then proceeds to unstring it. "Anyway," she says, stuffing the string into her sleeve. "I actually have a lot to tell you. I don't even know where to start. What would you like to hear first?"

The question turns out to be rhetorical because, when I open my mouth to answer, she barrels on with, "I know. Your hair is getting pretty long. That is, pretty and long. You look a lot better without that dreadful headband of yours covering your entire head. It made you reminiscent of a thug, to say the least. But around your neck, it gives you more an air of rebellion than anything else."

I stare at her, dumbfounded. "Firstly," I say, shaking my head. "What does that have to do with anything? Secondly, I don't care because, thirdly, I'm a shinobi. That stuff doesn't matter to me."

"I just thought it was a nice start to the conversation," she says, shrugging. "Normal people always seem to like being complimented."

I roll my eyes. "Moving on."

"If you insist," she says, swinging her bow under her arm. Unstrung, the bow is sinuous, curving only slightly in the center and curling at the ends. By the light that sweeps through the leaves, the bow shines gold, almost glowing. I'm impressed Rei has such a beautiful weapon, if slightly put off by the amount of trouble she must have to go to in order to use it in the heat of battle, like during the preliminaries, when I'd come back after tending to Sasuke and found her ready to send an arrow flying at her teammate. Archery is only helpful if you are a sniper. That's how I saw it. It had no place in the hands of a regular shinobi. "I know you want to hear about the bond, but—and I have reason to ask—I want to know: How's lover boy?"

And, of course, I know she's talking about Sasuke. While he's part of the bond, he doesn't share in my desire to break it. I don't understand why she's bringing him up, unless it's to spite me somehow. I picture myself grabbing Rei and shaking her until she spits out what I want to hear. She must see the malice in my face because she says, "I'll explain!"

"He's fine," I say. "He's been training in preparation for the tournament, but then so has everyone else participating right? You, for example?"

"Yes, I suppose," she says. "Can you check if he's arrived or not?"

"Wha—I mean, yeah, but I don't need to. He's here," I say.

She purses her lips. "Oh really?" she says. "Kind of like how I'm there?"

"Look, it's not—" Important, I'm about to say, but my mind drifts off at the implication he could, in fact, not be here. After all, there had only been seven contestants in the box, and before I realize it the bond is checking in with him.

All I see is desert. The air is dry and each inhale makes me thirsty for water, but there'll be no stopping until I get this just right. It has to be just right. I have enough time to perfect this. It doesn't take much more for me to figure out that he really isn't in the stadium.

"Sasuke," I say, irritated, although I'm sure he can't hear me. "What do you think you're—"

"So I take it he's not here?" Rei says, twirling her hair around her finger and sounding not even a little surprised. "Hmm. What do you know."

I stare her down. "So why do you ask?"

Her shoulders lift in a shrug. "Honestly, I wanted to make sure my little potion didn't kill him," she says. "It reacts differently to everyone. Granted, he was at the prelims, but don't think I didn't catch his little spasms. He could have easily keeled over between then and now."

I wince. The golden liquid, I remember. The one she had mysteriously been able to slip into my pouch and I had so desperately fed to Sasuke in an attempt to wake him up. The one, I am reminded, that's effects are lost to me, but that I still gave to Sasuke regardless.

"What was it, exactly?" I ask. "What was it supposed to do?"

"It unclogs your chakra pathways," she says. "It allows your chakra to more easily flow through your system without bothering with the little whatevers like the Hyuuga back in the prelims. It's a cheat, to put it simply. But it can either be vital to saving a life or totally kill you, if you take it unnecessarily and then can't handle the repercussions of loose chakra. Not that I need to explain this, right? You should know all about that, being a medic."

"Yeah," I say distractedly. Sasuke's chakra had been abnormally free-flowing that day. Which would explain how the curse marks were able to spread so far, how they were able to gain control of him. They were feeding off the excess chakra that was being released from Sasuke. And the pain, the fever—they weren't simple side effects of the curse mark. They were heightened by the fact that Sasuke's energies are all muddled.

I reach up to touch my neck, where the curse mark would be on Sasuke. I press the spot, feeling my neck muscles underneath my skin. "Do you know?" I ask Rei. "About the—curse mark, that is."

"Yes," she says. "I felt it when it happened. Not like you did," she sniffs, looking away. "Obviously not like you did. But I could feel that dark aura pulsing. It was—" She shudders, seemingly unable to finish. "When it happened, the spirits were in an upheaval," she goes on. "They informed me of it right away. And then they told me that I had to find you and give you that potion so your lovey-dove wouldn't die."

I can hardly believe my ears. "They…the spirits sent you?" I say. "And you just…went."

"It was something like divine providence," she says. "I can't ignore a direct order from the spirits. Besides, in case you've forgotten, we're supposed to be in this together. If it weren't for our family's petty grudges and disagreements, we'd have been best friends growing up, you know."

"Oh." I'm not sure what else to add. I'm having a hard time processing the things she says as it is, and to have this curveball thrown my way only serves to make the situation more complicated and confusing. Running my hands through my hair, I say, "You didn't tell your teammates about it, did you? That's why you were alone when we ran into each other."

"No," she says. "I don't normally tell Hiro-kun or Nao what the spirits have ordered of me, not unless I know I can't handle it alone. And you weren't too much of a handful."

"Right," I say with a scoff. "That's why you ended up at my knifepoint."

"Exactly," she says. "And, hey, speaking of your bond-brother, I suppose what you really want to hear is what I've found about the bond, right?"

There is a fluttering in my chest, a mixture of excitement and anxiety. "Yes," I say, barely able to contain myself. "What have you been able to find?"

"Good news," she says, "but…also not so good news. The spirits are reluctant talk about bonds, blood oaths, et cetera, except to warn me to stay away from them. That's the not so good news, but that much I expected from them. The good news is that I got them to cough up a few names of people who would be willing to talk. People who are alive and kicking."

"Names," I repeat, breathless. I am so close I can almost see it. Meeting with these people. Getting the answers I need. Breaking. "Who? Where are they?"

Rei taps her chin and shifts on her feet. Then she says, "I'm not going to tell you."

To this, I don't even know what to say. I'm so taken aback I only stare at her blankly. Finally, I find the words, awestruck at why I was having so much trouble forming such a simple question: "Why not?"

"Because," she says, "I'm not going to let you skip town again and miss out on all this." She makes a general gesture at the trees. "This is what you need. Well, more the people than 'this', but you get what I'm saying. Besides, you wouldn't last a day outside of this village now. You've been here too long. Times are different."

"It can't be that different," I protest. "I've been here less than a year. Even if the laws have twisted a little, they wouldn't have changed too dramatically."

Rei's voice becomes small, her expression darkens. "Don't risk it," she says. "I heard a number of other rumblings while talking to the spirits. After the Chuunin exams finish up, everything is going to change."

"What? What are you—never mind. Forget even waiting until after the exams," I say. "I could leave right now, while everyone's distracted by the exams." And in my head the plan is already forming: I could run back home, gather up essentials in a half hour, tops. Then to the bookshop to buy a map of the country, just to get out, until I can buy another one for whichever country these people will be in. No one to say goodbye to because they're all occupied. No one to try to talk me out of it. Easy severs. Just like seven years ago. Nothing is different, except that I actually have an inkling of where to go. Or I will.

"Please, Rei," I beg, clasping my hands together. "The names. Please tell me."

Rei regards me coldly, like she had seen my thought process and is disgusted with me for being such a flake. But I don't care because I am so close to gaining my freedom. The end will justify the means.

"No," she says firmly. "I won't."

"What about helping me?" I cry, my voice becoming exceedingly shrill, whiny. "You promised: No tricks. And so far as I'm concerned, revealing you have this information and waving it in front of me as a taunt is the worst trick you could pull."

"I'm not taunting you," she says, affronted. "I'm true to my word. I'm going to help you get this sorted out." She holds up a finger to silence my next statement. "Here's my proposal," Rei says. "I will find these people for you. I will speak to them, gather the information necessary and strike out whatever is extraneous and return to you as soon as all parts of the matter are clear to me. I doubt you'd understand a thing they'd tell you anyway; most likely, they'll be throwing out some shaman jargon and you'll come running back to me asking for clarification again, or run your whole 'I-can-figure-this-thing-out-on-my-own' spiel and get yourself in a worse situation."

"What makes you a better candidate than me to go running around the countries?" I ask. "I highly doubt you're well travelled if your shinobi village has only just been created."

"I've been to plenty of places and then some. You don't need to be a shinobi to travel, silly girl," Rei says. "Only a good amount of wanderlust and a decent sense of direction. And a mind for the travelling laws, of course. And charm," she adds. "For when the travelling laws don't apply to you anymore and you need to get out of trouble."

I groan, exasperated by this girl's stream-of-conscious way of speaking. "If you're just going to ignore some of the laws anyway, then what does it matter if I don't know them? At least take me with you!" I say. "I can handle myself out there. I was on my own for seven years before I came back here. You could use the help, too. With the two of us—"

"You would actually make four," Rei interrupts. "Hiro-kun and Nao are coming with me. I would never try to fly solo like you, Lone Wolf. I'm not an idiot."

I glare at her. She grins. Pushing my hair out of my eyes, I say, "How long would it take you to come back?"

Rei raises an eyebrow. "Huh. I didn't think you'd consent so easily. I mean, I expected more kicking and screaming. Seems there was only a lot of screaming, though."

"I'm not consenting," I hiss, crossing my arms. "I'll need a lot more convincing before I agree to this."

Rei counts off on her fingers. "All right then. Well, I'd say it'd take…a year, year and a half. Two and half, tops. What?" Rei asks. "What's with the bug eyes, girlie? You can't expect the process to go by any faster. Like I told you before, no one really trusts the magic of the spirits anymore, not since, you know, whatever it is that you medics pull out of your asses started gaining favor. So, since our services are low demand, shaman tribes are far and few. There is, from what I've been told, only one shaman clan in each of the four great nations, and if those clans are anything like mine, they only have one main shaman that would know any of this bond stuff. So, I'd have to track down the clan, then track down their chief shaman, which will be easy for me. Shamans have a draw toward each other."

"That—that's too long," I say, shaking my head. "The things that could happen in two years—"

From behind, I hear the faint whistle of cheers. Briefly, I wonder what I could be missing, if those cheers are for Naruto or Neji. I hope they're for Naruto. With that, I feel a pang of guilt and I know I shouldn't just be hoping the cheers are for Naruto. I should be cheering for Naruto, inside that stadium, with Ino and Sakura.

Something tugs on a strand of my hair, jerking my head forward. I look up to find Rei standing in front of me, her own head leaned close. Her dark green-brown eyes are bright and knowing. God knows how she's always so perceptive, or at least how she can always seem like she knows every small goings-on in everyone's head. Maybe it had something to do with her goddamn spirits.

"Trust me, Ren," she says, ruffling my hair. "This is stuff you want to stick around for. You don't want to miss this."

I wave her off, shaking my head. "I don't want to be stuck here doing nothing, either," I say.

"You won't be doing nothing!" says Rei. "You have missions to take on, friends to take care of, skills to improve. You'll have plenty to distract yourself with until I get back."

She doesn't get it. It's not a matter of just doing whatever to distract myself until she returns. It's a matter of putting my own efforts into breaking the bond and becoming free. All this time, I've been working toward breaking the bond by myself, so that when the end results came to fruition, I would have the feeling of accomplishment, of finally being able to have done something on my own. Now, while I'll still be able to break the bond, it won't be mine.

"Hey," she says, putting a hand on my back. "Don't sweat it, Ren. Whatever happens, your freedom will be yours. Isn't that what matters? In the meantime, keep your ears and eyes wide open. There are things you don't want to glaze over and things you shouldn't dismiss as nothing."

She bites her lip then, her eyes flickering left and right before resting on me, as though demonstrating how I should act. She says, "Also. I figure I should tell you this, otherwise I'll be doing you a great disservice. And I realize I could actually be driving you away but not telling you, and then it'll all be the fault of the Kannagi again if you do something stupid."

Before I can say or do much anything to reply, she lowers her voice and says, "I've been doing some snooping around over the duration of my time here, and I have reason to believe there's something rotten in the state of affairs."

"Something rotten?" I repeat. "Like what?"

"Orochimaru, of course," she says, looking at me as though I had been the one to bring him up. "He's not here for nothing, Ren. And, you know, Sasuke wasn't—" She mimes fangs clenching onto her neck and I lose my breath. "—just because. Orochimaru has a plan up his sleeves, and while no one is certain of what he wants to do, all the higher-ups in your village are aware and on guard. I wasn't able to find out more than that wouldn't slipping in way over my head, but I thought you should know."

My body has drained of warmth. In retrospect, it's obvious Orochimaru hadn't planted that mark on Sasuke for no reason. But I hadn't been expecting for things to escalate so quickly.

All the higher-ups are aware and on guard. Maybe that's why Kakashi had taken Sasuke to train so far away. Maybe he'll stay away from the tournament completely because of the danger he's in, whatever danger that may be.

No, even if that is Kakashi's plan, Sasuke won't have it. He wants to fight Gaara—and Naruto—too badly to skip out on this. Even if his life is in danger—especially if his life is in danger, I figure—Sasuke will do whatever it takes to prove his strength.

"Is ther—" My voice cracks and I flinch. Clearing my throat, I try again. "Is there anything else I should know?" I ask. "So that I'm prepared?"

Rei looks me dead in the eye, her eyebrows set in determination, like she's reluctant to say more but will because she must. "Only one thing," she says. "It's nothing…vital, I guess, but it's more for you than anyone else."

Her voice trails to a stop, and I wait for her to go on without prompting her.

She takes a deep breath, gathering the courage to say what she needs to say, and finally blurts, "Don't follow Orochimaru. Whatever he promises you, whatever he says to you, he doesn't mean a single word he says."

I blink at her, appalled and annoyed that she thinks she has to warn me about Orochimaru. "You've already said this to me," I say, crossing my arms. "In fewer words, but I get the gist. I'm not stupid; I won't—"

"I only wanted to reiterate," she interrupts, "because—the Toko. That is, the branch of the Kagiru that broke off when the bond was created because they were so humiliated by Mei's actions. They went back to the Sound and settled there and they met up with Orochimaru and were deeply involved with his exploits. Despite the fact that they hated your clan and the Uchiha clan, when they found out that Orochimaru was interested in recruiting you, they told him everything they knew about you, which, trust me, was a lot. That's how he knows about you," she says quietly. "About the oath, about your bloodline. And he's powerful; he knows of things we could only ever see in our nightmares. With the information he has on you, he'll try to convince you that he's powerful enough to give you what you want, and while he may in fact be able to do so, it will be the worst way possible."

I run my hands through my hair, unnerved. "He can't know that much about me," I say. "I…things change. You said so yourself. The information on my family could have been severely out-dated, Rei. And I haven't heard of the Toko before in my life! How certain are you that they're related to me?"

"Well, for one, they're the ones who showed Orochimaru the Shindou," she says. "They were extremely close with him, Ren. They sacrificed every fiber of their being to please them, which is why they're now an extinct clan."

I want to laugh at the irony. The Toko had split from the Kagiru to avoid the lifelong servitude of the bond and then fallen under the clutches of a man to whom they'd lost their whole legacy. I shake my head. "You're afraid that I'll be suckered into following Orochimaru like them, aren't you?" I ask. "That's why you keep bringing this up."

"Admittedly, yes," she says. "Be smart about this. Instant gratification can be tempting, but it's no use if you lose your soul over it. I promise you I'll find a way for you to break this bond that doesn't cost you your life. So just wait for me, okay?"

And then I do laugh, because it sounds like a cheesy movie where two lovers are separated by war. "Wait for me," the shinobi warrior would say to his girl. "Just wait for me." And she would.

"Trust me, I don't want to lose my life over this as much as you," I say, brushing my hair from my eyes.

"So," she says. "I have your consent?"

I roll my eyes. "You have my consent."

The vibrations shudder and, from over head, Hiro drops down beside Rei. He shakes himself loose of the twigs and leaves that have fallen down with him and gives me a friendly salute. "We have to go, Rei," he says, taking the quiver and bow from her. "Nao has had everything packed since yesterday and he's on the verge of throwing a hissy fit if we don't leave now."

Rei makes a face of displeasure and says, "What a baby. But I suppose we should get going."

I watch this exchange curiously, until their words click in my head. "Wait," I say. "You're leaving now?"

"No time like the present," Rei says with a smile. She jabs a thumb in Hiro's direction and says, "Hiro-kun's already put in my word of resignation and Nao's getting impatient. You do want to see me again as soon as humanly possible, don't you?"

I tell her I do.

"Then I should get started right away," she says. "So you don't need to worry about your friend Shikamaru anymore, although I was looking forward to fighting the darling. He's a clever little thing, isn't he?" At this, she turns to Hiro for an answer. He rolls his eyes and pats Rei's head endearingly. She swats his hand away. "Tell him I'll take a rain check if he's up for it," she says, facing me.

"You know, I think he'll pass," I say.

Hiro nudges Rei and she elbows him back in return. "Nao can sit for one more second," she says, frowning. And then Rei extends her hand, the kindest smile on her face. My heart dips in my chest like it had at Shikamaru's house, and I'm left feeling like, despite what she's saying, I will never see her again.

"Friends?" she says, wiggling her fingers. "And I mean for real this time. Not because you want to get your answers, and not because I want to make up for my family's idiocy. But…you know, because."

I take a deep breath that exhales as I laugh. I take her hand and comply.

"Friends."

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