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I was able to calm down rather quickly. I sunk into my brain where I was able to surround myself with chakra, and time once again became relative. Something I didn't realize I learned was how to self sooth using my chakra. I found myself mentally kneading my chakra, expanding it out into thin wisps and back again. I sometimes did it for a couple hours without even realizing I was doing it. "Seems Gai really worked you hard." My eye popped open at his voice.

I opened the other one and stretched my arms. The first thing I noticed was the position of the sun. It had moved quite a lot since I had first arrived. "When do we get started?" He chuckled softly, "Eager aren't we?" I blew a strand of hair out of my face and frowned a bit, "I only have 14 more days." I nibbled on the inside of my cheek. I was trying not to unravel as the days started dwindling. "We'll start first thing in the morning. I will train you early and Sasuke later in the day." I nodded my head, that was fine by me. It gave me time to mediate and work on opening that gate while he trained the boy wonder.

Just the thought of the kid made my blood start to boil. He knew how to press my buttons. "You're troubled." I glanced over at the silver hair nin that pulled out that orange book as he spoke to me. I rolled my eyes at the comment. If I had a nickel every time someone said that. "If there comes a time im not troubled then maybe you should worry." He glanced at me from behind the book for a moment.

"What happened?" I pursed my lips together and pushed myself up. "If you don't want to tell me that's fine, but if it's about Sasuke ..." There was so much that happened I didn't even know where to start. "I miss the village." I mumbled as I rummaged through my backpack to pull out a scroll I had packed with food. It was dumb because up until now all I wanted to do was join the two and now that I was here all I wanted to do was leave. I sat down on my butt with a ration bar in my hand. I was about to take a bite before Kakashi bent down to be more leveled with me. He reached out and pat the top of my head. I could feel my ears heating up.

"It's good to have you here." I couldn't help but smile, "I missed you too sensei." I knew he was smiling behind the mask by the way his eye glistened. "Breaks been long enough." My smiled was gone at the sound of his voice when he came from behind some large rocks that separated the different sections of the peak we were on. Kakashi got up and sighed, "Who is training who here?" He said walking back over to him while rubbing the back of his neck. Sasuke didn't spare a second passing glance and neither did I.

I was glad I had brought some books with me because they helped passed the time till dinner. The sun was starting to dip and I hadn't seen a sunset quite like the one from the view on the top of this peak. We made a quick fire and it was silent. Kakashi making no attempt at conversation as he read his little porn book and I just enjoyed the view of the horizon. I could tell there was something was bothering Sasuke but my pride was bigger than ever so I didn't have the heart to ask him and I bit my tongue.

I sighed after a few moments and grabbed my sketch book from my bag along with some pencils, my finger twitched and I knew instantly what I wanted to draw. I let the pencil glide around the page, shading and erasing. I could feel eyes watching me and I tried my best to ignore it even though my skin started to prick with heat, my arms littered with goose bumps.

The silence was deafening and I tried hard not to sigh yet again. When I was done sketching I tossed the pad onto my bag. I needed to get out of this right now. It was driving me crazy, so I did. I leaped up on top of a rock and took a few steps away from the fire. I wanted to catch one last glimpse of the sunset. The orb dipped deep into the sky where only a small slim part stuck out casting dark orange and reds against the purple and dark blues of the night.

I felt his chakra but didn't take my eyes off of the view. It was breath taking. I had never tried to draw anything like this. It was too beautiful and I knew that I would never get even a glimmer of its likeness onto a mere sheet of paper. I waited just a moment longer. "What do you want?" I pulled my knees to my chest and let my cheek rest on them. He took the seat next to me. Plopping down looking out at the vase open sky as well. For a moment his face was soft. It reminded me of all the times he had snuck into my room. Those days felt so long ago and it seemed we were changing into completely different people right before my very eyes. I felt helpless in stopping it.

"You should have told me." I huffed a bit, "Sorry didn't realize that I was supposed to track you down after you left me at the hospital to tell you id see you in two weeks." I was being snide but I didn't care. "Still." I rolled my eyes at his comment, "Kakashi should have told you." I answered matter of factly and it was true. He was the adult after all. "Hn." I clenched my fist, "I don't even know what that means." His eyes moved over to me, his face indifferent for a moment before he cracked a smirk and I couldn't help but snort a laugh. The clouds instantly vanished for now.

"You look different." I untucked my legs and folded them Indian style looking down at myself. I didn't think I looked that different. "YOU look different, dirtier." I started to take my braid out of my hair. "Excuse me?" I glanced over at him, "You're all dust. You need to take better care of yourself." Not that I was one to talk. "You try training on the top of a mountain peak."

"You try training with the Green Beast of Konoha." I chuckled at the thought of him. "Was he tough?" My eyes narrowed a bit and it was time for a smirk to cross my face. "You have no idea." I realize now that Sasuke has no idea the training I went through. Granted he went through training with Kakashi, but Gai was a horse of a different color and Sasuke has no idea what I have learned or how much better I have gotten. It must be driving him crazy. Competitive didn't even cut it when it came to this boy. "Learning anything good?" I knew he would ask and I couldn't help but flicker over to the other side of him. "Maybe." He glanced at me and rolled his eyes. I let my chin rest in my hand that was propped on my knee. "Cute trick. Anything else?" I cocked a brow. Usually at this point I had steam coming out of my ears but I did some growing up in the last two weeks. "Probably have to fight me to find out." He cracked a smile and I did too. I remember that day in the water country. This conversation was like deja vu.

"After the finals." I nodded my head, "I'll hold you to it." We were quiet. The last of the sun was gone and the sky was dark but the stars were wild. I was content in the moment and most of my doubts were pushed aside for the time being. I glanced over at the boy, to his neck and I felt a prick on my own. I wondered how he was doing with that but for the life of me I didn't want to ruin this moment. He was emotionally like a rollercoaster, though when you just looked at him he seemed cold as ice. I knew better though.

He had so much inside of him but he is able to mask it under a stern and unmovable stare. His eyes solid and shrewd. "What?" He didn't looked at me but knew I was looking at him. I stretched my arms, it was getting late and I needed to get to bed if I was going to be up early for training in the morning. I stood up and flicked the brat in the temple, "Missed you loser." I mumbled before walking back down to where the fire was. My brain was buzzing and at this point I just wanted to unroll my bed roll and go to sleep.

I was up before the sun. Thirteen days till the finals. I was worried, be stupid not to be but I wasn't sure why. I had a feeling deep in my gut like twisting glass. I pushed the feels aside for now. There was no way to trust my gut if I didn't even know what it was telling me in the first place. I had found a spot to do my yoga. The climb yesterday was a hand full and I wanted to make sure I was limber for whatever Kakashi had me doing today. "Are you ready?" I glanced over at the man and nodded. I was surprised he was up but not at the same time. Something told me that Kakashi-sensei was more than meets the eye. The lazy demeanor he put fourth almost didn't even seem his own. I stood up and dusted my shorts off. Looking up I choked a bit when I saw his eye exposed. I hadn't seen it in so long.

He pointed to his eye, "Oh right." I turned mine blood red to. His chakra was bright and warm. I wanted to squint but I couldn't look away. "Alright let's begin." Before I could even blink I was shoved off the mountain peak. Air cutting my cheeks, the brown blur of rock rushing past me. Damn it. I had to calm my heart, I could feel it in my ears, I had to focus. I was able to slow things down only enough to focus and flicker up but it wasn't enough I was still falling. Come on Come Suiren focus. I pushed chakra to my eyes, I needed to slow everything down or I'd just be a stain at the bottom of this thing.

I flickered again, my foot grazing a ledge allowing me to push myself up with the a little help from my chakra. I flickered again, my fingers reaching out to try and keep myself from falling back. I slipped but before I could fall back again I focused on the ledge above me and I flickered one more time landing on top of the peak with a loud thud. My lungs burned and I couldn't stop myself from coughing. I rolled off my back and was able to get on my hands and knees.

"Little warning next time." I sat back on my legs and looked up at the ninja. "Better than Sasuke's first time." My eye twitched. The little jerk went through this already. I had to stop myself from frowning. I got onto my feet and dusted myself off. No time to be tired or winded. "Again?" He looked at me a little hesitant but the expression was gone momentarily when he shoved me back off the cliff.

I drank from my water canteen, the water wasn't very cold but it was heavenly and my body thanked me. I wasn't sure how long till I got used to being up here. "Not bad for your first day." I glanced over at the nin with a smirk, "What, that's it?" His eye was covered again. I wondered if he had it on incase he needed to catch me the first time. I didn't want to think about being a pile of mush at the base. I grabbed a banana out of a scroll and offered some to Kakashi. I was burning through calories fast. "I was just testing to see where you were." I rolled my eyes. "Sure you were."

"Looks like you unlocked your third tomoe, at least in one eye." I glanced at him a bit confused. He bent down and tilted his head down so I could see my reflection in his head band. My eye flashed red and I saw it. One eye had two and the other had three. How strange. "What does it mean?" He eye smiled when he looked back up at me, "It means you're getting stronger." I couldn't help but crack a smile. I wondered if Sasuke had three yet. "Why don't I have three in the other one?" I mean they were a pair so didn't it make sense that they should get stronger together. "I wouldn't worry too much about it right now." I nodded a looked over to the left. I sensed his presence from around the corner.

"Are you ready yet?" He stopped and looked at me for a moment, eyes hard they flashed red. Even though they looked perplexed they still brought on a wave of calmness for me. I held his glare until Kakashi spoke up beside me, "Alright. Alright, let's start." I looked to the floor and focused it till they were out of sight. I took another sip of my water. It was like all the lightheartedness from last night was gone again and the kid was giving me whip lash. One thing I didn't over look was his eyes. Only two in each and I wondered how the heck I got a third but not in both.

I rubbed my temples softly because I was starting to get a headache. Maybe some meditation would do me some good. I got on my feet and found a good spot overlooking the valley. The harsh heated breeze kissed my already tender face but I didn't mind. I got into a standard tree pose with my hands directly in front of my chest. I took deep slow breaths knowing this would help me with getting used to the altitude.

I shifted slightly into a dancers pose. I no longer had to pull my foot toward my head because I had become flexible enough that my heel lay lazily on top of it on its own. I found my inner balance as shut my eyes focusing on my beat up chakra. I let it surround me and slowly I pushed it out and pulled it back in, something I found helped it heal and regenerate faster. It was calming and helped me stay reassured in myself. I took a few more deep breaths and figured this was a good a time as any to work on opening that gate. Maybe a change of scenery was what I needed.

The sun started to set before I knew it and again we were gathered by a small fire. The embers were warming in the way they danced the air, slowly eating up the oxygen, fueling itself as if it were alive. I found comfort in it. "Im going to turn in early kids." I glanced at Kakashi-sensei only giving him a two finger salute as a good night. Kakashi's nose was deep in his book as he rounded behind a stone where he usually slept. We fell into that usual silenced I was so fond of. The one that was soothing and I had craved from before the exams and Orochimaru. "What's wrong?" I glanced up at him when he broke the silence. He usually wasn't the one to do it. I just shrugged my shoulders and he rolled his eyes, getting up and closing the space between us, sitting beside me, close enough that our arms brushed as he situated himself.

"Talk baka." I cracked a small innocent smile. "I think im going to train for Anbu after the exams." I felt his body stiffen. I knew it wasn't what he thought I was going to say when he asked what the matter was but I didn't want to talk about the things that really bothered me. "hn." He replied so I kept talking. "Best way for me to be the strongest I could be right?" I glanced over at the kid and he just eyed me suspiciously. "The Hokage said my father was very passionate about his role in the police department. This would kind of be like – following in his … footsteps." I looked down to the hem of my shirt and instantly regretted everything I had just said.

My cheeks flashed pink when he draped an arm over my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. My heart beat slammed against my temples. "If that's what you want, do it." Do it, like it was that simple, everything he ever said made things seem like they would be simple. A cool breeze broke through and I shivered. As hot as it was during the day was as cold as it was at night up here. "What about revenge?" I let my head fall against him. I was tired and comfortable, a dangerous combination. "For what?" I mumbled, "For what happened to you? To us?" I yawn a bit, "If I focused on that I'd be stuck." He became ridged beside me. "The future is too bright to be muddled by having to relive the past."

The next few chapters will be back and forth a lot.

Much love and hate.

Hold on tight

It will be rocky

xoxo