Hey Ran-san? Do you have any idea what this meeting is about? I asked as I ran a comb through my hair. It was getting very long. The front of the cut now reached my collarbone while the back was only an inch or two above my shoulders. A drastic difference since I had left the academy when it was kept very short in the back.

No idea, kid. Maybe we'll learn why they wanted you to stay out after all the fuss of getting me back.

It's also the fact that they wanted this meeting before Hokage-sama's funeral. I placed the comb down on the dresser, taking a deep breath. Yasuo-san said that my brother showed up at the hospital, but he disappeared. He wanted to bring me to see someone.

I remember him mentioning that.

I sighed quietly before turning away from the dresser. I straightened out my black skirt and long-sleeve shirt. My Kusabana headband was tied around my neck and all of the bruises from my ordeal in the hospital were either faded or were hidden. The funeral was right after the meeting. There would be no time to change. Once I deemed myself appropriate, I headed out, making my way to the Hokage Tower.

Kaemon and Yasuo joined my walk about half-way there. They were quiet, unusual for the blonde.

We entered a room that was filled with a number of people, most of which had familiar chakras. There were a few of the higher ups in Konoha, probably the next in lines due to the loss of the Hokage. Two of the Elders were here along with several of their guards. Mokuba-san was standing with someone I didn't recognize. But there were also Neji and his uncle standing with others I didn't recognize. Hinata was there as well.

"Now that everyone is here, we can get started. Please take your seats," one of the Elders invited. I believe his name was Saichi-sama.

A gentle hand took my elbow, guiding me to a seat.

"Thank you, Neji-san," I said quietly as he took his place sitting down next to me. I felt his fingertips brush over the back of my hand in acknowledgment.

"For many years," Saichi-sama began, "We have been wondering how to strengthen the bonds between Kusabana and Konoha. Being a day and a half away from each other would make it easy to take care of this bond, but until recently, differences have kept us apart. With the finding of the Kohana line here in Konoha, we have found a way to settle these differences between us. It has been brought forward by several people that an alliance through marriage would be the best way to start and we believe that we found a good match." He paused for a moment to let the information sink in.

Ran-san? Is he saying…? I couldn't even think it.

Girlie, I have to say yes, he is.

"We propose a marriage between Rai of the Kohana clan, and Neji of the Hyuuga clan to solidify this alliance."

I forgot how to breathe. I'm only fourteen! Now they're talking about marriage? They are deciding this for me?

This is how Kusabana works. There are no such things as love matches there. Marriages are arranged in terms of power. At least you like the guy they chose for you. I hated my betrothed so much that I was happy when he died on a mission a few months before our wedding.

I felt a warm hand close over my cold one. "Breathe, Rai-chan. You've gone white," Kaemon said softly.

I drew in a shuddering breath as I felt another hand rest on my shoulder from the other side of me. "Rai?" Neji asked quietly.

I closed my eyes and focused on breathing for a moment. "I'm okay," I insisted, "It's just a surprise."

"Of course, they will not be married until they are of age," Saichi-sama continued as if there was nothing going on in the front row. "But we hope that this will be the beginning of a long friendship between our two cities. Thank you everyone."

I thought you loved the guy?

I gave a sad sort of laugh that confused those who couldn't hear Ran-san. I do care for Neji-san very much, but I'm only fourteen. I should be celebrating the fact that I've become a chuunin, not the fact that I'm engaged to be married. I shook my head.

Someone kneeled down in front of me. "Rai, I should have warned you about this," Mokuba said quietly. "I knew they were thinking about it, I didn't know they were going to go through with it."

Pulling my hand from Kaemon's, I clenched my hands tightly together. "I am pleased that it is someone that I know and that I am close to age with." I turned to my newly-betrothed. "Neji-san, your birthday is some time before mine. Are you okay with waiting that long after you turn eighteen?"

The Hyuuga's hand was warm on my back before he pulled it away to brush the hair out of my eyes. "I will gladly wait for you," he affirmed quietly.

I gave him a soft smile before we were interrupted by the approach of the Elders. "Rai-san, Neji-san," Saichi-sama started, "I believe that you two will make a fine pair."

"Sir," I asked at Ran-san's insisting. "What would you like me to do? I know you requested me for this meeting but should I have Ran-san come back out?"

A hand landed on top of my head, mussing my hair slightly. "They already know about Ran," he explained. "It would make no difference to us whether she is out or you are."

I nodded, looking down in to my lap. "Does this change the way things are going to go? Them knowing about Ran-san?" I asked quietly.

"It means that Kaemon and Yasuo will be sticking around a bit longer."

I sighed softly before turning towards where the two Kusabana nin were sitting on my left. "Are you two okay with having a chuunin as a third member of your team?"

"Chuunin is better than a genin," Yasuo cracked up.

A warm hand landed on mine, Kaemon's hand. "It is fine with us."

"Rai," Neji called. "It is time for the funeral."

I nodded and pulled away from my new (official) teammates. "I will see you later," I promised.

"We'll have to see how you do in a fight," Yasuo called as I walked away from them, meeting my newly betrothed at the door.

It poured buckets of rain while we stood in front of the line of caskets, the Hokage's most prominent. I stood beside the Hyuuga family, partially due to the fact it would please the Elders and the higher-ups of the Konoha village, but mostly because I felt safer next to Neji-san. Kaemon and Yasuo had decided not to attend though they had promised they would be nearby in case something happened. But being with people who had some idea of what was going on (Hiashi-sama had been informed prior to agreeing to the betrothal) made it easier to relax.

The entire village now knew of my blindness, thanks to the sound nin who had screamed it at me during our fight. That meant Towa had told them of my blindness. But it made me wonder how they connected me with Ran-san. Had they been watching when I had insisted on turning back to me right before the first part of the Chuunin Exam?

It had to be.

Every time I had transformed in the woods we had done a sweep to make sure that no one was nearby before we started training.

I clenched my hands together tightly in anger at myself. How could I have been stupid enough to blow my cover like that!

You were emotional. It gets to the best of us. They insist that us nin have to have no emotions, but you really can't take the emotions out of the human. You just learn to deal with them after the fight is done.

But I blew everything because I couldn't stand keeping a secret!

There's a difference between keeping a secret in general and keeping a secret from your teammates. Your teammates, you are supposed to be able to trust implicitly. Everyone else is another story.

I shook my head, not caring that it drew Neji-san's attention. I still don't understand why they made me keep it a secret from them in the first place. They could have trusted them not to tell.

These are the Elders we're talking about, not some group with actual hearts instead of robots.

Does this mean we can blame me getting caught on the Elders?

We definitely should. Your teammates would have found out at some point. I do tend to talk to you out loud at times, so we would have given ourselves away.

I relaxed the grip on my hands just as a warm arm wrapped around my shoulders. My head shot up. "Neji-san?" I whispered, not wanting to disturb those around us.

He pulled me in to his side, remaining quiet. His warmth was welcome in the cool rain, prompting me to not pull away. I relaxed, closing my eyes as I bowed my head again. We didn't move for a while. Everyone was quiet apart from the sounds of tears as someone spoke about the Hokage.

It was nice, being able to stand amongst a clan and not by myself. Being the last Kohana in Konoha tended to be very lonely.

But still, the idea that I am engaged to be married and not even fifteen for another two months. I couldn't help but sigh. I wonder how Neji-san feels about all of this. This has to be shocking for him too.

You could always ask Kaemon how he felt, too. He was betrothed when he was fifteen. We should have a pow wow with the five of us.

Five of us?

You, me, Blind-boy, Kaemon, and Yasuo.

Are you ever going to call him by his real name again?

Not until he makes it up to me what he did to you! He's going to have to try real hard.

He just needs to give you chocolate cake with frosting and chocolate chips on top and you'll be his best friend, I quipped.

That'll work too.

I couldn't help but smile slightly and shake my head again.

"What is she saying?" Neji-san asked, quiet enough so he wouldn't disturb the other mourners.

I gave him a soft smile. "She's still upset with you," I answered.

"What do I have to do?"

"I'll get you the recipe."

Don't give him the damn recipe! He needs to figure it out for himself!

I winced at her scream. I'll let you eat the entire cake, I offered.

I heard her grumbling back there, Fine, but it better be a damn good fucking cake.

It will be.

The rain suddenly drizzled out to nothing, the heavens deciding that they had given us enough. I stepped out from under Neji-san's arm, feeling pleased when his touch lingered. "I'd like to go pay my respects," I told him quietly.

"I'll go with you," he responded.

I gave a short nod, feeling his hand grasp mine. We moved forward in to the line and stood quietly until it was our turn. Almost everyone had left and only a few stragglers remained by the time were able to make our way to the casket of the third Hokage. We both bowed and said our prayers.

Your geezer was nicer than my geezers.

They believed that you had made yourself an enemy of the village by handing your soul over to a demon, I reminded her. Did you want to say anything?

Me? Hah! I barely even knew the guy.

I thought I would offer. I stood straight and moved away from the casket so someone else could take my place.

"Kohana-chan," a deep voice called.

I looked up; focusing in the direction it came from. "Hyuuga-sama, please call me Rai. I will begin to look for Mokuba-san if you call me that."

"Rai-chan then, I wanted to discuss with you your new living arrangements," Hiashi explained.

"My living arrangements?" I repeated, confused.

I heard another set of footsteps come up from the casket. "Uncle?"

"Neji, we were discussing where Rai was going to live now that she will be taking the Hyuuga name." He turned back to me. "Of course, you should move in to the Hyuuga compound. It would only be appropriate."

I balked and I could hear Ran-san starting to get frustrated with the older man. "But, Hyuuga-sama, I don't-"

"We've taken everything in to consideration. You would have a room next to Hinabi and Hinata until the ceremony, and then you would move in to your own home within the compound."

I could feel myself paling at the thought. "Hyuuga-sama, I don't think you understand how drastic of a change that is. It could take me months to learn the Hyuuga compound enough to be able to move around on my own." I took a deep breath, pleased when they let me continue. "It would simply be a waste of everyone's time if they had to help me learn."

Let me out.

I was startled by Ran-san's sudden intrusion. "What?" I asked out loud, confusing the two Hyuugas.

Let me out. I think I know what to do.

"Alright," I agreed quietly. "Ran-san has something to say on this subject. I can still speak through her so you will not lose my say in the conversation."

I closed my eyes and pulled back, allowing Ran to take over.

I shook my head, wobbling on my feet some. When I opened my eyes, I noticed the two Hyuugas staring at me. "It feels weird enough that I can't imagine how it looks to watch us change back and forth. But, anyway, why the hell are you scaring the shit out of her?" I asked, bluntly towards the head of the Hyuuga household.

"It would only be appropriate to have her live in the Hyuuga compound. She is marrying a member of the clan." He looked as if that this was the ultimate reason and that there should be no reason to go against that.

I glanced at Neji who stayed silent and simply shrugged at the idea. I rolled my eyes. "I hope you realize, that as of right now, Blind-boy isn't only marrying her, he's marrying me too. We come as a package deal."

I held out my arm as I heard the usual ruffle of wings as Kohei realized that I was out instead of Rai. For some reason, he couldn't figure out that the two of us were the same. Dumb demon bird. I let the bird sit on my shoulder as I crossed my arms as I glared up at the elder Hyuuga.

"Also, you'd be taking her out of the only place she feels even semi-comfortable, even if she can't sleep in her own bed because of the trauma she experienced." I raised my eyebrow at the males. "Don't you get it? You'd be completely alienating her. She'd have to relearn literally everything. She'd have to learn how to get places from there. Her memory would have to be completely rewritten."

"Why couldn't you be the one walking around?" Neji asked.

I sighed. "Do you really want to deal with me on a day to day basis? My sentence has been lightened some with the restrictions taken off of Rai, but I kind of like the girl. I'm not going to steal her life away because I screwed up mine." I kicked a random stone away, trying to figure out how to tell them the next part. "You weren't there, when she had to watch you and your teammates walk away from her. You weren't the one that had to remind her constantly that she wasn't allowed to trust you guys."

Both sets of Hyuuga eyes widened. "She can see us when she is on the inside?" Neji asked.

I nodded. "She can see, smell, hear, the whole shebang. She can feel my feelings and I can feel hers. She's quiet right now but she can speak to me just like I can speak to her. Just she can choose to speak through my body while I can't speak through hers."

"Why can't Rai take control of your body and live through yours? She can do everything while your mind is on the forefront, right?" the elder Hyuuga asked.

Rage flew through me, causing my eyes to flash then settle on gold. "You have no idea who the hell you just married your nephew off to, do you?" I didn't give him a chance to answer and I could tell that this question upset Rai horribly too. "You have no fucking clue who she is!" I raised my voice, not caring that people were still around. "You think that she would take away that right from someone else when somebody took it from her?" I stepped closer to the males, pleased when they both took a step back in response.

I had to work to fight off Rai's emotions. If she was on the outside, she would have been crying. Ran-san…

I sighed. "Go ahead, kid."

"Hyuuga-sama," she started, through my mouth. "I know you don't know me yet, but do you really think so little of me?" Her voice wavered, making it obvious that she was extremely upset. "Just because my brother took away my right to a normal life, doesn't mean that I'm going to do it to someone else." I could feel her moving me some, like making me stand up straighter and my hands balled in to fists, just for a moment before she pulled back again, retreating from the confrontation.

"You know what?" I started, "Neither of you really know either of us!" I realized. "You think that I'm this horrible person that made decisions simply to get back at people! And you'd be completely shit-tastically wrong!" I yelled at the two males. "I made my decisions based off a shitty hand that I was given, being born a girl that could do amazing things. I could beat both of your asses at taijutsu and I know the Hyuuga specialize in it. But I had to make myself like this because nobody would even give me the fucking time of day simply because I had boobs and no dick." I was beyond the point of caring that a few people had stopped to watch the exchange. "Neji probably knows something along the lines just because his father was born the second twin. Something that neither of us could control set us up as completely fucked for the rest of our lives. That's why Neji pushed himself to master all of your abilities. That's why I handed my soul to a demon. The same fucking thing happened to Rai. Her father was a bastard who beat the shit out of her on at least a weekly basis, sometimes daily. Her mother was weak-willed and wouldn't stand up to him. Her brother is trying to hand her off to some nutcase. She had me implanted inside her and she had no fucking choice. You get it now? You get why she doesn't want to take my choices away?"

With that said, I turned and walked away, leaving the two of them to make their own fucking decisions.