Tayuya walked into the Trainig Area swinging her flute in one hand and downing an Espresso with the other. If she was going to be awake, then she definitely didn't want to go to sleep. 'Wait, that came out wrong,' she mused as she threw the empty container into a garbage can. 'Become as strong as Kimimaro,' a voice whispered in Tayuya's head as she headed into the main body of the arena. It was, indeed, an arena, populated with trees among the sand. As soon as she entered the sparse forest, however, a dropped from a tree in front of her. It was Kimimaro. "Train with me," he murmured. "Kimimaro! Ah, uh, okay," Tayuya stuttered surprisedly. She just wasn't used to people who were supposed to be in hospital beds dropping down from the sky. 'But this is a good chance to get stronger!' she thought excitedly. She smirked and got into battle pose. "You may be strong, but I think I'll put up a hell of a good fight; I've been workin' on some new shit," she said. "Ah," he replied as he, too, prepared. "Start!" Tayuya yelled as she leapt into a tree and whipped her hands up to do a jutsu. Kimimaro jumped backwards, away from her, a few times before performing his seal second s before Tayuya performerd hers. "Abara Tsume no Jutsu!" Kimimaro called, and his ribs had barely ripped through his shirt before he had snapped them off and the bottoms had molded together to create a pair of claws. "Haridesasu no Jutsu!" Tayuya yelled as Kimimaro lunged at her. She smiled as he faltered. "How do you like that?" she asked him as she recited another incantation. "Fuuruto Dokuya no Jutsu!" Tayuya raised he flute to her mouth like you would a recorder and blew. Kimimaro barely had time to dodge as a dart zipped by his ear, then another and another. "They'll keep coming until I cancel the Jutsu," Tayuya explained between breaths, "Between that and the feeling of needles pressing into you every time you move, I'm doing pretty well." Kimimaro simply rushed at her again. "Hone Yoroi no Jutsu," he chanted and held up his arm. Tayuya watched in fascination as his arm bones became an exoskeleton as well as the traditional kind. Her dart bounced off it harmlessly, and Kimimaro slashed her across the face as she yelled, "Fuuruto Kodzuko no Jutsu!" and poked him hard in the cheek with her flute. Kimimaro paused. "Fuuruto Kodzuko no Jutsu?" he questioned. "Yeah, it's a poke in the face with the flute," Tayuya explained as they began to tussle again.

Just then the door to the training area swung open to reveal Kabuto, who shrieked, "Kimimaro! I leave you alone for a minute and you run off to train! Do you know just how bad it is for someone in your condition to be doing too much physical activities?!?" Kimimaro looked away from Tayuya and shrugged. "I don't care. I'll never get better if I don't train." Kimimaro's face was emotionless, but Tayuya could tell from his behaviour that Kimimaro didn't want to go back the hospital of catheters and IVs. The fact that Kabuto and him were enemies probably didn't help much. "Hey, chill Doc, I still have take Kimimaro out for lunch. Winner buys for the loser," Tayuya said, thinking quickly even though Kimimaro had been winning. "Good. You can pick him up at the hospital in six hours, since it's six in the morning now," Kabuto decided as he pulled Kimimaro out of the tree and led him back to the Infirmary.

"Well, Tayuya, I'm not sure if I should trust Kimimaro with you, but I'll give you one chance. You may only have him out until one-thirty in the afternoon, though, you understand?" Tayuya nodded borely. "Can I freakin' go yet, 'Doctor?'" Kabuto rolled his eyes. "Yes. Be careful with him, and he can't have anything alchoholic, drug-induced or too hard to chew and digest. No Coca-Cola either." Now it was Tayuya's turn to roll her eyes. "Whatever."

"Hmm... I'll take a BLT with iced tea, and he'll have...?" Tayuya asked Kimimaro as the waitress took their orders. "Friut Salad and Apple Juice," he stated. "'Kay," the waitress said as she left the two of them alone. There was silence for a minute, then, "Tayuya." The latter looke dup, startled. "What?" she asked. "Thank you. For lying to Kabuto to get me out of that... Hellhole," Kimimaro monotoned. Tayuya smiled lopsidedly. "Hey, don't worry about it, you've been in the hospital enough in your life," she said. Kimimaro looked down solemnly and said nothing. 'Wrong thing to say?' she asked herself mentally. Just then the waitress returned. "Here's your food," she explained as she placed their respective dishes and drinks in front of them. "Thanks," Tayuya said as she dug in. Kimimaro ate a bit too, but almost reluctantly. Tayuya glanced up at him and noticed the finicky way that he was eating. "You okay?" she asked. He paused a bit before answering. "I am fine," he said at last. "Okay," Tayuya said warily and she watched him as she ate. Either he didn't notice her or pretended not to, she decided, because he kept his head down the whole meal, and at length he finished. "I am done," he informed her. Tayuya, who had drunk his apple juice and paid their bill waiting for him, nodded. "Okay then, let's bring you back now, then." "No!" Kimimaro objected suddenly. "No," he said, calmer, "We still have forty-five minutes. Let's do something until one-thirty." 'How did he know what time it is? There are no clocks around here,' Tayuya wondered.

"Why did you choose the park?" Tayuya questioned Kimimaro, who simply shrugged and wandered around the area, a void expression on his face. After a bit he stopped ina sunny patch near some trees and lifted up his arms in front of him. Tayuya then watched, amazed, as seven to ten birds landed on Kimimaro's head, shoulders and arms. He murmured a bit to them, then moved slowly and smoothly to pet them with the tips of his fingers. He stood there, muttering to them, for another ten minutes (Tayuya watching all the while) before the flew off. Kimimaro observed them, then noticed Tayuya and turned to her. "I never knew you liked birds," she remarked. He shrugged. "Thay are not like humans. Their llives may be short, bet they are bound by nothing. Not by chain, not by pact, not by family." Immediately Kimimaro closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly. "I am sorry. I was rambling," he explained as he lifted his face again. The sun glinted off of his olive green eyes and shone on his pure white hair, making him look... Well, angelic, what with his white robe and all, Tayuya decided. "Hey Kimimaro, we'd better start heading back now," she stated.

"Thank you for bringing him back on time, Tayuya," Kabuto said as he opened the door to the private room for Kimimaro. "No fuckin' prob," she said while she watched through the window as Kimimaro unzipped his shirt. Kabuto glanced in to see what she was looking at and turned her around, a cattish smile his face. "So, you like Kimimaro better with Windows on his laptop, eh? Does he make you want to vomit out little chocolate hearts, Tayuya? Even though his wheel's spinning, but the hamster's dead?" he asked. "No, I was just wondering what he would do after I dropped him off," Tayuya explained with her teeth clenched and barely resisting the urge to pound Kabuto into the ground. However, she knew that Kabuto had noticed her blushing.

"I'm home!" Tayuya called as she walked into the house that she shared with her teammates.Ukon wandered over to look at her, then passed into the kitchen with a dull look on his face. There were bags under his bleary eyes and his skin was pale. Ukon's hair was also hanging limply and was greasy. "I'm getting pizza tonight," she informed him as he leaned against the wall. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever," he replied flatly. Tayuya sighed, walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ukon, are you okay?" she asked, even though she knew the answer. But if he said yes, then he was trying to pick himself up again. But if he said no, then... "No," he replied, pushing off from the wall and beginning to walk away. "Ukon, I miss Sakon too," Tayuya confided as she followed him into the living room. Ukon stopped and shoulders started to shake. "He was all I had, Tayuya, all I had left," he said as his voice caught in his throat. The girl in question wrapped her arms around his ribs and slowly rocked him back and forth. "I know," she answered, "But you have to have fuckin' hope to hell that he's alive." Now Ukon's knees began quaking. "How can I? He.. He was gone! And it's my fault that he died! If I hadn't been so clumsy, then I would still have a brother. Tayuya, you don't know what we went through together. If I hadn't had him, I don't think I'd be here now. He let me share his body when I was too injured to live off of my own Chakra, and hell, I still don't have it all back! When our parents died, he wouldn't let me see, you know? I can't remember their deaths. He can. After that, Sakon was the only family I had to cling on to. And now he's gone! They say that twins have special bonds, that one can feel whath the other's feelling, well, I sure feel dead." Tayuya turned Ukon around to face her. "Ukon," she questioned, "How did you react when they told you that they couldn't find Sakon?" "I didn't believe it... I just got more and more depressed," he confided. "Did you cry?" "No." "Well then, that's your problem," Tayuya cited. "You should cry for him. Go on, do that now. Let it all out," Tayuya commanded. Ukon shook his head. "Sakon wouldn'tve wanted me to cry," he explained.

This time it was Tayuya who wasn't sleeping properly. In fact, she wasn't sleeping at all. She was too busy remembering Sakon. 'He was my best friend...' Tayuya kept thinking as the memories swirled around. 'Tayuya, look what I found!' a giggling five year old boy with shoulder length hair said as he handed her some candy. She could remember smiling. She could also remember Ukon in tow, Sakon grasping his left hand with his right -- a strategy the two had developed so that they had their better hands free, but were still in contact with each other. Sakon had been clingier than Ukon, Tayuya decided. He would often sneak into Ukon's room to sleep beside him, even into their teen years. As children, they went so far as to such on each other's thumbs during bedtime. Tayuya could remember more than once tiptoeing into the room of whoever was originally sleeping in the bed there and tying the twins' hair together into knots, each one tighter and more intricate than the next. In a way, looking back on it, the knots could symolize how close the boys were.

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What do you think? Tayuya was going to reminisce about Sakon sooner or later. A little too much? Oh well. In this story, the characters won't get much chance for reminiscing. --