Who am I? Just...a shell of someone they miss? A doll for their make believe? What am I to my village? Do they see me as...Aya...or do they see me as Kari? Do I even have a name anymore...my own name...or Kari's name? I am no Auarlen. I am better. And yet...they do not see Aya. They see Kari's niece. Is my life my own or Kari's? Is my blood my own or is it the Auralen's? Is there anything that is mine? I want to make mistakes...just to say they're mine. I want to make the most powerful technique, more powerful than the Swan Method just to say it's mine. I don't care about power. I don't care about fame. I just want something...that's mine...and only mine...

Aya opened her eyes, then clutched her head and let out a cry. It was throbbing horribly. This was worse than any headache she had ever had. It took a few minutes for everything to sink in. Then suddenly, she shot up like a dart.

"Where am I!" she said aloud.

"Calm down. You're in a cave in the Snow Country. You better be careful or your head is going to hurt worse than that. I gave you a pretty nasty blow."

Aya turned to see the boy from earlier leaning against a wall, munching some crackers. She felt bandages on her head and saw a fire blazing between the two of them.

"Did you put these on?" asked Aya, pointing to the bandages.

The boy nodded. "Sorry to hit you like that, but you scared me and I wasn't sure why you were watching me for so long."

"How long did you know I was there?"

"Umm...from the time you arrived...you were pretty easy to see."

"I was?" cried Aya, slightly crushed. She had been using genjutsu. He was pretty talented if he saw through her illusion.

"Yeah, you were. You give off a pretty nervous aura."

Aya sighed. Of course, she had forgotten to calm her aura. An experienced shinobi can always see through an illusion if the aura is active somehow. Some great kunoichi she was. She had already been spotted on her first day. I have to get out of here....

"Thanks for treating me...but I need to leave now. I have something important to do."

"You're leaving already, Aya?"

Aya started. She stared at this boy who seemed to read minds and hearts so easily. Her frightened look seemed to make the boy smile. "What...makes you say that?"

"I was commissioned to kill one Uchiha Aya. Very dark hair and eyes, pretty tall, about seventeen years old."

Aya stared at him. Was it possible? Had the Snow sent their best ninja on a similar mission...?

The boy laughed. "I was just kidding...sheesh by the look on your face, you'd think you were an outlaw caught in a trap or something like that." Yeah, something like that, thought Aya drily. "You just talk a lot in your sleep. I was pretty sure after awhile that your name was Uchiha Aya."

"Well...that's not my name. That's a different person that I know...that I'm worried about." Am I ever! "My name is...Kari..." Great...just great...real smooth, Aya. As if you didn't get enough of it at home...

"Kari, huh? Well, that's a nice name. I liked Aya better though..."

"Sorry you feel that way...look I really have to go. I'm already late for...something."

The boy raised his eyebrows a little bit. "I think you better eat something first. It's been several hours, you know. And that blow really put a dent in your head."

"More like a bump...but really I'm fine."

"Come on, I insist. Here." The boy tossed Aya a bag of dried fruit. "Not a gourmet meal by any means, but it's better than those travel biscuits you've been eating," he commented nodding to Aya's pouch.

Aya sighed and began to eat. She figured she might as well eat to his satisfaction then get the heck out of dodge. She really couldn't stay there, she had already compromised herself enough as it was.

Suddenly the room began to swim before her eyes. Things were going blurry, coming into focus, then going blurry again. She clutched her head as it began to throb some more.

The food! It had been drugged...with a very strong sedative. Aya turned to look at the boy who was frowning as he watched her.

"We have some things to discuss, Uchiha Aya."

Aya's grew wide. Impossible...I can't believe... She didn't have time to think further. Swaying for a second, she finally fell back to the ground and slipped out of the realm of conciousness.