After their reconciliation, Sasuke and Rinn were inseparable once again. Sasuke went back to staying at Rinn's every night, and his nightmares began to diminish until they were finally kept at bay as before. The more time they spent together, the more aware Sasuke and Rinn became of their growing feelings for one another, and they couldn't bear to be apart for more than a day a time. Of course, neither would admit this truth to the other, for fear of rejection or embarrassment.
Before they knew it, the morning of the Chunin exam finals had crept up on them, and as the morning sun crept in through Rinn's curtains she was suddenly overcome with undeniable feelings of dread.
"Psst. Sasuke. Are you awake?" Rinn whispered to her friend, who was currently holding her closely pressed to his chest from behind. She felt his arms, one of which was tucked under her neck, the other wrapped around her chest, shift slightly.
"Hmm?" he sleepily answered. Normally he was a very early riser, but the more time he spent enjoying sleep with Rinn, rather than avoiding it as before, the later he was waking up in the morning. Hell, he'd stay there all day cosied up to her if he could.
His grip loosened on her slightly as he felt her shuffle around to face him. Sasuke chuckled a little at the sulky frown that had manifested onto her face, and he tenderly brushed some stray hairs out of her eyes.
"What's gotten you so grumpy?" he teased groggily, prodding her lightly in the cheek.
"Don't you know what day it is?!"
Sasuke blinked a few times, racking his brain.
He didn't.
Rinn sighed in exasperation.
"It's the finals today! The one on one fights! And you have to fight that bloodthirsty sand ninja!"
Sasuke blinked again, still processing what was going on.
"I'm worried about you!" Rinn said.
Now it was Sasuke's turn to frown.
"Ye of little faith," he said, poking her nose, "I don't know whether I should be offended that you have such low confidence in my abilities."
He grinned at her cheekily.
"Sasuke I'm being serious! You need to be careful."
"So do you."
"Well... yeah... but..."
"No buts, I worry about you too, you know!"
"Ugh stop being so pedantic!" Rinn said in annoyance, suddenly whacking him with a cushion.
This only made Sasuke laugh at her more.
"Well, if that's the best you can do, then I'm definitely worried about you," he said, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Rinn glared at him before whacking him much much harder with the same cushion.
Then she hit him again.
And again.
And –
"Ok OK! I'm sorry I'm sorry! Mercy!" Sasuke pleaded, hands up defensively as he lay on his back trying to protect his face. By this point, Rinn was sitting above and to the side of him, cushion already held poised in the air for another attack, and they were both laughing at the ridiculousness of their little play fight. She looked down at him thoughtfully, as if deciding whether he was being truthful enough not to deserve another clobbering with the cushion. Thankfully for Sasuke, she seemed satisfied.
"Good. I'm glad we've reached an understanding," Rinn replied, placing the cushion back down onto the bed, and sitting back upright in a more relaxed position. She began to turn her body away from him to get off of the bed.
Not one to accept losing a fight, Sasuke's arms shot out and grabbed her the second her defences were down. Rinn let out a yelp of surprise as he latched himself onto her waist from behind, pulling his chest to her back as she sat on the edge of the mattress.
"And where do you think you're going?" Sasuke said, almost huskily.
"Since when did you get so fast?!" Rinn replied, heart still hammering from the shock of being grabbed, or so she told herself.
"Still think I need to be careful?" he cooed smugly, smirking a little.
Rinn was quiet for a moment, clearly debating whether to be truthful, or lie her way to an escape.
"Yes. I. Do." Rinn responded, emphasising every word, and beginning to giggle.
Sasuke let out a mock growl of annoyance, standing up on top of the bed, Rinn being pulled upwards with him due to his still vice-like grip around her middle. Letting out another yelp, Rinn began flailing her arms and legs around like a madwoman, trying to wriggle out of Sasuke's hold – much to his amusement.
"Try as much as you like, I'm not letting you go until you tell me how confident you are that I'm gonna wipe the floor with my opponent," he said, chuckling.
"HMPF! I am not prone to lying Sasuke Uchiha!" Rinn said defiantly, causing Sasuke to frown a little. In the blink of an eye, he switched his hold on Rinn so that she was now hanging upside down over the bed, his arms still tightly wound around her waist.
"Ahghhhh! Put. Me. DOWN!"
"Nope!"
"I swear if you don't put me down now I'll..."
Sasuke merely laughed in response.
He was soon taught a lesson, however, as blue sparks materialised from nowhere and forced his arms away from Rinn in a painful, concentrated electric shock, causing him to drop her onto the bed with a *PLOP*. Distracted by the tingling in his hands as a result of this, he inspected them briefly before feeling a light breeze hit him as Rinn raced by and into the bathroom, cackling mischievously as she shut the door with a loud *SLAM*. Still not wanting to be bested by his friend, Sasuke began to loudly stomp his way over to the bathroom door. He was about to make his presence known and burst in on her when he stopped himself.
Maybe I shouldn't go in...
What if she's already started getting... undressed?!
Sasuke gulped and shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot as his mind drifted to places it shouldn't, still deciding whether or not now was actually an appropriate time to exact his revenge.
Suddenly, he heard the lock on the door turn round with a *CLICK*.
"Sasuke, you can't come in, I'm getting in the shower. Don't you have anything else you can busy yourself with, rather than lurking outside my bathroom door?!" Rinn called out to him, laughing.
Sasuke turned beetroot red, and cleared his throat in embarrassment.
"Well... I... Uh... But you – Umm..." He stuttered, suddenly unable to articulate his words. At all. His mind began to wander to that place again as he began to picture her in the shower. He heard her chuckle at his response from behind the door and was just about to scold her for it when he was interrupted by the whooshing of the water turning on.
Pft. I don't know what she thinks that tiny lock's gonna do.
I could break down that door if I wanted to. Easily.
Sasuke shook his head.
Wait, what the hell am I saying?! That's my friend in there. I don't want to intrude on her whilst she's showering!
He bit his lip. In fact, he'd like nothing more than to join her in the shower. But that would never happen.
Sasuke let out a growl of frustration.
"Argh! I'm gonna go shower and get back to my training! I'll see you at the exams!" he shouted through the door to Rinn, turning around and skulking off as she sang a happy "Okkkkkk!" down to him as he left the house.
- X -
Rinn leaned onto the balcony's edge in sheer boredom as she looked down into the arena. In all honesty, she was fed up with waiting for her turn, and could think of a million and one things she'd rather be doing at this moment. Shichiro had already won his fight against some poor unsuspecting leaf genin who had a certain affinity for bugs.
The match had lasted about 20 seconds.
Tatsuo had not yet fought but Rinn suspected his wouldn't last much longer than Shichiro's either. She was due to face one of the sand ninja from the same squad as Sasuke's opponent.
Rinn sighed dramatically.
Sasuke still hadn't turned up and she was worried that she might've put him off competing all together with the comments she had made that morning.
"Don't worry, he'll turn up!" Tatsuo said happily, nudging Rinn as he came to stand next to her.
"Hmm? Who will?" Rinn replied, feigning ignorance.
Tatsuo laughed loudly at her pathetic attempt at lying.
"Don't play dumb with me! You're worried Sasuke isn't gonna show, aren't you?" he said.
"He'd be wise not to," Shichiro interrupted, standing protectively on Rinn's other side, as he had been since his match finished.
"I did tell him that..." Rinn said, "But I didn't mean it! I didn't think he'd actually listen to me..."
"Of course he's not gonna listen to you," Tatsuo smirked, "In fact, knowing Sasuke, it'll probably make him even more determined to show up and beat that Gaara's ass into the ground!"
"You're probably right... Do you think he'll be all right fighting Gaara, Shichiro?"
Shichiro ignored her, eyes locked on the Hokage and Kazekage across the other side of the arena.
"Shichiro?" she pestered again.
Nothing.
"Hey! Shichiro!" she shoved him a little this time.
"WHAT?!" he said, a little more angrily than he had meant to.
"What is it?" he repeated, much more calmly and pleasantly.
"Never mind..." Rinn trailed off, eyes going back to the match happening below them. Sasuke's match was supposed to have been second and had now been moved to be last. She couldn't help but feel concerned.
Tatsuo looked over to Shichiro questioningly, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.
Shichiro's eyes immediately switched back to the Kazekage, and, not taking his gaze away from him, Shichiro walked past Tatsuo so that he was standing a few feet away from Rinn, and beckoned him over. Luckily, Rinn was in such a daze worrying about where Sasuke was that she didn't notice.
"Are you gonna explain to me what's going on?" Tatsuo whispered as soon as they were out of earshot.
"That's not the Kazekage," Shichiro stated gravely, eyes glowing the familiar mint green that enabled his extraordinary sensory techniques.
"Whoah whoah whoah! I'm sorry –WHAT?" Tatsuo said, a look of horror appearing on his face.
"Orochimaru is-"
"Firinne Flynn vs Kankuro."
The two boys were interrupted by a loud "WHOOP!" of excitement from their female teammate as she jumped in the air with joy, before running off down the stairs to the arena.
Shichiro's eyes widened.
"Shit." He cursed under his breath as he raced over to the balcony, eyes now glowing an even brighter mint green. The runes on his neck also came alive with a faint light.
"HEY! Hang on just one minute!" Tatsuo yelled, chasing after his teammate in disbelief, grabbing him and spinning him around once he caught up to him.
"Let go you IDIOT! I need to concentrate!" Shichiro yelled back, spinning back to face the arena where he could keep an eye on Rinn. Their sensei, Toru, who was sitting below in the stalls closer to the ground noticed this instantly, and looked up inquisitively. Seeing Shichiro's glowing eyes and tattoos, Toru was up from his seat in a split second, and began making his way up to his students in haste.
"No, you 'need' to tell me what's going on!" Tatsuo shouted, trying to get in front of Shichiro's eye line so he couldn't ignore him, "Orochimaru? Orochimaru what?!"
Not letting Rinn out of his sight, Shichiro spoke very bluntly and clearly, most of his chakra and focus already being concentrated on concealing Rinn from Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru is impersonating the Kazekage. There's a group of ninja preparing to perform a summoning jutsu out in the forest. I can only assume an invasion is imminent."
"Then why the hell are you just standing there?! We must warn the village!" Tatsuo said, his temper beginning to be tested.
"I have to make sure Orochimaru doesn't discover Rinn. I can't perform the jutsu as effectively if we're moving around."
"No. Stay here if you must. I'm going to try and stop the summoning. You need to go to the Hokage. NOW."
Tatsuo turned around to leave, but Shichiro grabbed him by the collar the second he moved, his eyes still focused forwards on Rinn, who was beginning to fight.
"By all means go, but I won't be informing the Hokage in your absence. I won't be moving from this spot until Rinn has finished her match and is safely back up here with me."
"Shichiro. Listen to yourself. This is an entire village at stake. Innocent lives. Orochimaru might not even be interested in Rinn now that he has his eye on Sasuke. Especially if, as you say, he's planning an attack at any moment!"
Shichiro said nothing in response, but his grip on Tatsuo's collar loosened slightly.
"Look... I know she means a lot to you, but is she really worth more than the safety of the whole village?!"
His grip on Tatsuo tightened once again, and this time he looked over at him – only for a split second – but the look in his eyes was nothing short of deadly.
"She's worth more than the safety of the whole world, to me," Shichiro stated, letting go and pushing Tatsuo away from him, attention solely on Rinn once again.
The force Shichiro hit Tatsuo with propelled him most of the way across the balcony, and he would've had a painful collision with a stone wall had he not hit something more comfortable and squishy instead.
"Whoah careful Tatsuo!" Toru said, chuckling as he caught his falling student.
"Toru-sensei... You have no idea how glad I am to see you."
"What's the deal up here? Looked like you guys were fighting from where I was sitting! Need I remind you to save all of the fighting for the arena," the sensei continued, amused at his own joke. His smile soon dropped however, as he noticed the serious look on Tatsuo's face.
As Tatsuo quickly explained everything that Shichiro had just told him, his expression too became one of concern and he looked over to Shichiro in confusion.
"You didn't think that this was something worth notifying me about?!" he exclaimed.
Shichiro did not take his eyes away from Rinn, who at this moment was successfully blocking every attack with her newly perfected skill of projecting her force field defence metres ahead of her, stopping any projectiles with ease.
Toru stormed over to Shichiro, slightly offended by his obvious insubordination.
"Shichiro! I'm talking to you. How long have you-" he stopped mid sentence. Looking at his student, he was able to see just how tirelessly and exhaustingly Shichiro was protecting Rinn, and how much it clearly meant to him. In that sense, he really was a model student – once he put his mind to something, nothing, and indeed nobody could stop him from achieving his goal.
Toru sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Make sure you join us as soon as you can - I'll notify the other jonin. Tatsuo, you go ahead to the summoning and I'll catch up to you. Everyone, be careful. Don't lose track of one another, we may need the three of you to perform your summoning too," he instructed, before disappearing completely.
Shichiro and Tatsuo exchanged a brief nod and Tatsuo hurriedly made his way down the stairs.
"Winner: Firinne Flynn." The announcement rang through the stadium, which was gradually growing more tense. It was not long now until the fight they had all been waiting for: Sasuke vs Gaara.
"Next: Tatsuo Fukir-"
"I FOREFIT! I FOREFIT!" Tatsuo screeched as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Rinn, who was but a couple of metres away from him, looked aghast, and her mouth dropped open in bewilderment.
The proctor looked at him, surprised and confused. He'd seen Tatsuo fight in the last round, and he should have no problem in beating his opponent.
"I DON'T WANT TO COMPETE! I FOREFIT!" Tatsuo exclaimed again, as he ran towards Rinn.
He wrapped his arm around her so he could speak into her ear quietly.
"Get back to Shichiro. NOW." He muttered.
Before she could ask him any questions, he was already speeding off through the exit to the arena. Dumbfounded, Rinn did as she was told and wandered back up the stairs to join Shichiro, who smiled as she returned, although the smile didn't reach his eyes. She could tell his mind was on something else.
"Shichiro, can you explain to me-"
The crowd began to drown her out, much to Shichiro's relief.
They grew louder and louder, and increasingly impatient. It was time for Sasuke's match, and he still hadn't shown up. Rinn bit her lip as her mind was drawn back to Sasuke's whereabouts.
"Can you use your jutsu to find out where Sasuke is?" Rinn pleaded, looking up at Shichiro with the best puppy dog eyes she could muster. Shichiro, who was concentrating adamantly on where the Kazekage and Hokage were sitting, glared down at her, his eyes softening considerably once they made contact with Rinn's.
"I'm sorry Rinn... I can't right now," he explained, lightly squeezing her arm and smiling apologetically before intently observing the Kage once more.
"But... Why can't you jus-"
"Don't worry, they're giving him another 10 minutes to show up," Shichiro said, easily picking up the words exchanged between the Kage, despite them being a considerable distance away from him.
Realising she wasn't going to talk him around, all Rinn could do was what everyone else was doing...
Wait.
And wait.
And...
"He now has 20 seconds..." Shichiro mumbled, as Rinn's eyes followed Naruto's frustrated pacing in the arena below. The crowd were getting louder and more unruly by the second.
Rinn didn't respond, but Shichiro noticed her grip tighten around the railings in front of her, and she let out a tut of annoyance.
What does he think he's playing at?! After all that talk this morning, if he doesn't show up I swear I'm gonna –
The *WHOOSH* of what appeared to be a miniature tornado stopped her mid-thought.
The whole arena plunged into silence, as onlookers watched with bated breath, waiting for the dust to clear. As it settled, Rinn noticed a familiar tall, grey-haired ninja, and –
Sasuke!