A/N: Happy Christmas Eve, y'all! Here is your present, an extra-long chapter. Akako likes to think with her stomach, but she does plenty with her brain, too. This chapter is going to involve mostly the second kind.

One last thing-I edited Chapter 8 for pacing and subsequently lopped a bit off the end and stuck it to the beginning of Chapter 9, so don't be confused =P

Rebirth

Part Three: Chasing You

Chapter 9: Slow Realization

I spent the rest of the day and most of the night pondering why Sasuke would want to bring me on this mission with him, turning it over and over in my mind until my head ached. I could think of no logical explanations for his decision; I simply could not fathom what was driving him to be so selfish. In the end, I decided that he simply wanted me to be with him because I was the only family he had left and he didn't trust anyone else to watch me.

I am not the little girl I once was. When I first met Sasuke, I barely met his ribcage. Now, I almost reach his shoulder, though I have yet to grow into my skin.

He found me in the morning, sitting on a tree stump by the lake.

"Come eat breakfast," he said, and I knew it was his way of apologizing.

"Okay."

During breakfast, I chatted with Sasuke about inconsequential things. I did not bring up the fact that it was my birthday in a few days. I told it to him a few years ago without realizing that the Uchiha massacre had occurred the day I turned one.

I had a day off today and decided to find Hanemaru. I needed to distract myself from the thoughts swirling around in my mind.

"Wake up, Hanemaru-kun!" I said, dropping through his bedroom window.

"Akako-chan!" he exclaimed, jumping out of bed. He was clad only in a pair of sweatpants.

"I have a free day today," I explained, as he hunted for a shirt. "Want to train?"

"Sure," he responded. "Are you taking the jounin exams?"

"I don't think I'm ready," I said, after a short pause. "Sasuke-san still beats me too often."

"Akako-chan," Hanemaru said, rolling his eyes, "Sasuke-san is a genius. Comparing yourself to him is unreasonable."

"You sounded very wise just now, Hanemaru-kun."

"Of course I did!" he scoffed. "I'm sixteen now, I'm practically a man."

We spent all day together, catching up. It was enough to push Sasuke's bizarre behavior from my mind.

-paragraph break-

The next morning, I broached the topic of taking the jounin exams with Sakura.

"That sounds like a good idea, Akako-chan," she said.

"I just don't know how to tell Sasuke-san," I said, watching her demonstrate the Resuscitation technique on a fish. "He's been acting strange lately."

"He's worried about you," she said. "Put your hands here."

"Aa," I replied, doing as she directed.

Sakura must have detected my lingering confusion, because she kept speaking.

"Understand, Akako-chan, that Sasuke-kun has lost so many people dear to him, he's afraid something will happen to the remaining people he loves."

I frowned as I processed her words.

"Oh, you almost have it!" she said, as my fish gave a particularly lively jerk. She held a bucket of water at the ready.

"Will you help me train for the jounin exams, Sakura-sensei?" I asked, when training for the day was over. I had made my decision.

Having spent yesterday with Hanemaru and today with Sakura, I was reminded of the reason I became a ninja in the first place. I wanted to become strong in order to make my mother proud and in order to find my father.

Now, I also wanted to prove to Sasuke that I was strong enough to take care of myself.

"Of course, Akako-chan, but you don't need to call me sensei anymore," she said. "I don't have much left to teach you."

"Really?" I asked.

"It's up to you to develop your area of specialization," she said. "Shishou passed all her techniques on to me, but her styles of fighting and healing are not compatible with yours."

I nodded. Sakura's words reminded me of a piece of advice Hanemaru had given me the previous day.

"Don't compare yourself to others, Akako-chan," he said. "You are strong, but it's your heart that makes people pay attention to you."

I frowned, unconvinced.

"Okay, only when you're not being anti-social," he laughed.

-paragraph break-

My resolved to take the jounin exams was solid, but Sakura's comments on Sasuke's behavior had further confused me. I knew that Sasuke loved me as a family member, as I did him, but the way Sakura had looked at me as she said the words made my stomach churn. She had known Sasuke for longer than I'd been alive, but I still wanted a second opinion.

Over the past few weeks, I've become friends with one of the terminally ill patients at the hospital, Ueda Sachiko. She's a quiet girl, full of wisdom. I decided to bring my concerns to her. I told her of my frustrations with Sasuke's recent strange behavior and grew more and more confused the bigger her smile got.

"Oh, you're so lucky, Akako-chan," she giggled.

"Lucky?" I scoffed.

"He loves you," she said, patting my hand.

"What?" I exclaimed.

"He wouldn't be so protective of you if he thought of you only as a cousin," she said, as if she was speaking to a child.

"But—"

"He loves you," Sachiko insisted. "He's just too afraid to tell you."

When I got home, I spent a long time thinking of what she'd said. Reluctant as I was to admit it, a wave of comprehension had swept through me when Sachiko told me of Sasuke's feelings. Now, his decision to take me with him Kabuto-hunting finally made sense.

I'm fourteen, but I've never given a thought to dating or boys. I've been too focused on becoming a ninja and finding my family. I suppose it's a trait of the Uchiha clan to be consumed with one goal, to the exclusion of everything else, until it's achieved.

The notion that someone could love me had never crossed my mind. I knew that the Konoha elders expected me and Sasuke to one day wed and have children, but I was perfectly fine with the way our relationship was, now.

I like living with Sasuke. I like talking to him, training with him, eating with him. I like that I can touch him and not have him flinch away from me. I like knowing that he listens to me, even when he's angry.

-paragraph break-

Since Sakura and Sachiko's proclamations, I have been observing Sasuke more carefully. He has not commented on my increased scrutiny, but I've noticed that his chakra becomes disturbed if I stare at him too long.

"I'm home, Akako."

"Welcome back, Sasuke-san."

He'd just come out of the shower when someone knocked on the door. He answered it, as I was busy preparing dinner.

"It's for you," Sasuke said, when I poked my head out of the kitchen.

I frowned when I saw a civilian messenger at the door.

"Uchiha-san," he began, "the Ueda family respectfully requests your presence at Sachiko-san's wake, which will be held in three days."

I gasped.

Sasuke placed a hand in the small of my back, presumably to keep me from collapsing. He also took the messenger's proffered envelope.

After the messenger left, Sasuke led me to the kotatsu. Upon sitting down, I felt myself start to cry. It started as little gasps before turning into full-fledged sobs. I cried almost as hard as I had for my deceased team members in Iwagakure. In all my years using iryou ninjutsu, I'd never had one of my patients die.

At some point, Sasuke must have left to make a cup of tea, which he pushed into my hands with a soft command to drink. I did, though my hands shook so hard I had to put the cup down after a sip.

"I just saw her a few days ago," I whimpered. "She seemed so happy."

"Naite kurasu mo issho, waratte kurasu mo issho," he said softly. It is the same life whether we spend it crying or laughing.

I hiccupped, understanding that Sasuke was trying to make me feel better. Sachiko had been a terminally ill patient, so her death had been inevitable. Still, part of me was convinced that she had died because of me.

"I should have paid better attention to her health!" I thought. "I should not have been so caught up with my problems."

Predictably, I couldn't fall asleep that night. Sasuke came to check on me at three in the morning. I was still agonizing, holding my head in my hands. Kneeling next to me, he poked me in the side to get my attention. I flinched from his touch.

"It wasn't your fault," he said, his voice raspy with sleep.

I shook my head. Now I knew how Tadao had felt when he had found out about my mother's death.

Sasuke poked me again, this time in the forehead.

"Itai!"

"Go to sleep, Akako."

Immediately, I felt myself becoming sleepy and knew that Sasuke must have cast a jutsu on me. I did not protest when he picked me up and carried me to my room. I was half-asleep in his arms by the time he put me in bed, sighing as he tucked me in.

Right before I fell asleep, I felt the caress of his hand on my hair.

-paragraph break-

The jounin exams were less than two months away. Sasuke and I trained each day until we were exhausted. I was glad for it—it helped keep Sachiko's death from my mind.

I am proud that even though I am not up to Sasuke's speed, I can keep up with him now. I have learned to adapt any new techniques I acquire into doton. My genjutsu skills have improved, and after a day spent with Rock Lee, I appreciated more than ever what Sango had to go through for the chuunin exams. I also understood why he had developed a sudden hatred for curry and had refused to eat it ever since.

Every time I look into Sasuke's eyes, tomoe spinning, I realize how fortunate I am that he exists. If not for him, I would not be at the level of skill I am now. I would never have improved my katon, and I would never have learned about my heritage as an Uchiha.

As soon as I stepped onto the lake today, I sensed something was wrong. Activating my Sharingan, I tried to pierce the genjutsu Sasuke had cast over me. It took me several minutes to find a slight distortion on the surface of the rippling water, but once I broke free, Sasuke's hand shot out of the water and wrapped around my ankle. Surprising the both of us, I flung my chakra-infused leg upwards as hard as I could and dragged him out of the water, which should not have been possible—he weighs almost twice as much as I do. I clipped him in the chin with my other foot before we both crashed beneath the surface.

"Kai!" I shouted, just as my lungs were about to burst.

I broke through the second layer of his genjutsu just in time. I dodged a Chidori-charged Kusanagi by a hair's breadth before pulling out my tantou. In recent years, I have learned to use two blades at the same time—I used to carry a back-up before I decided I should learn to do more than just sharpen it. Since I started training with Sasuke, my swordsmanship has reached new heights.

We sparred for two hours.

"You lose."

"Okay Sasuke-san, you win," I panted.

He had just taken Kusanagi from my neck when I stumbled, presumably from fatigue. Sasuke moved to catch me, and in that small window of time I tackled him, knocking the sword from his hand.

Sasuke landed with a small "oof."

"I fooled you, Sasuke-san!"

He scowled and pushed me off.

-paragraph break-

I was relieved to learn that I would be fighting an existing jounin during the jounin exams, not a fellow applicant. For the written portion of the exam, I had to decode a page of instructions for the practical. The instructions were different for each person, so I couldn't cheat even if I wanted to.

For my practical, I had to once again go into the Forest of Death and find a scroll hidden there. The scroll would have the name of my opponent for the final part of the exam written in it. If I did not find my scroll within twenty-four hours, I would fail. The scroll was keyed so that only I could find and open it, but once it was in my hands, anyone could steal it.

To their detriment, most of the other applicants had large chakra stores that they could not completely hide. That made it easy to avoid them. I knew that the only one I really had to watch out for was Sasuke.

The scroll I had to decode for the written exam had instructions written in the form of a riddle. If I solved it, it would tell me the location of the second scroll, the one with my opponent's name on it. Sakura was one of the brightest kunoichi of her cohort, and she had drilled the importance of critical thinking into me from day one. We had two hours to decode our scrolls. I decoded and solved my riddle in one hour, which put me at an advantage for the practical—I didn't have to wait for the others to finish in order to enter the forest.

Getting to the second scroll was tricky, as my instructions were deliberately vague about the landmarks they referenced. I spent several hours exploring as much of the forest as I could before investigating every sizeable overhang I found for my scroll.

It was on a nearly un-climbable ledge littered with traps. I was loath to use doton in order to dismantle it, so I settled for disabling some of the traps, first. The traps consisted largely of dynamite. After some deliberation, I decided to carefully set a few off. On my fifth trap, I was lucky. I saw a small shape that did not look like shrapnel fly from the rock and snagged it.

In the hours I had spent searching for my scroll, about a dozen other applicants had entered the forest. I had to leave the ledge a few times while I worked in order to lead would-be opponents away. I didn't want anyone to steal my scroll the second it landed in my hands.

Giddy with joy, I decided to reward myself by catching a rabbit. Finding a safe spot to cook it, I dug a hole in the ground and lined it with clean stones I'd gathered from a nearby stream before heating them with katon until they glowed. Dropping slices of rabbit in, I covered the hole with a rock and started examining the scroll with my Sharingan while I waited for my food to cook.

I pierced through the three layers of genjutsu surrounding it like they were made of paper. However, it took me an hour to figure out how to disable the self-destructing seal that would activate if I tried to open it. By then the rabbit was gone.

Opening my scroll with slightly oily hands, I saw that it was blank. My directions had told me that the name of my opponent would not appear until this section of the exam was over, but I was still disappointed.

Sighing, I made my way towards the staging area. Sasuke was already there, his chakra flowing like water. Recalling how he had terrorized the other genin cells during our chuunin exam, I decided to turn back without showing myself to him and see if I could cause any mischief. I had found my scroll in less than twelve hours.

Predictably, I stayed awake the entire twenty-four hours of the practical exam. Sneaking around using both the trees and the ground, I was able to steal and hide three scrolls without their sleeping owners noticing. The next morning, with only three hours of the exam left, I heard three separate howls of anger and frustration that made me smile.

In the end, the three applicants whose scrolls I'd filched failed the exam. I felt only the tiniest bit of remorse for them, but fair was fair. Sasuke had bags under his eyes, so I was willing to bet he'd stayed up all night to avoid the same fate.

"You may open your scrolls now," the proctor said.

Several of the applicants panicked when a kunoichi's scroll self-destructed. She was escorted out, wailing.

Opening mine, I let out a short laugh. I was paired with Kisuke!

"You have one week to prepare for your matches. The date and times will be posted in front of Hokage Tower within twelve hours. Good luck, everyone."

-paragraph break-

Sasuke and I were tired and dirty from taking our exam, but we agreed that it was necessary for us to eat, first. Naruto was at Ichiraku's when we arrived, and he enthusiastically greeted us.

I was well into my fifth bowl of ramen when Shizune appeared in a puff of smoke.

"The Hokage requests your presence immediately, Uchiha-san, Akako-chan."

Looking forlornly at my bowl, I put down money for my tab before getting up.

"Don't worry Akako-chan, we can have our eating contest next time!"

Sasuke snorted with disgust. At the same time, he swept my money off the counter.

"Sasuke-san," I said, frowning as he pressed it back into my hand and put down his own money for the both of us.

"Lucky, Akako-chan! He never treats me to anything, and I'm his best friend!"

"Bottomless pit," I heard Sasuke mutter, as we left.

"We have more information on Orochimaru and Kabuto's whereabouts," Kakashi said, when we arrived at his office. "We have also obtained additional information on Orochimaru's objectives.

Orochimaru has fled to the ruins of Uzushiogakure. It seems he is building an underground lab there. Kabuto currently resides in Konoha, in a remote village by the border of Hot Water Country. He has renounced being a shinobi and works as the local medic. He claims he has no knowledge of what Orochimaru has been doing.

Concerning Orochimaru's objectives, things do not look good. Apparently, the DNA he obtained from Madara was low quality. That is why Orochimaru seeks to capture you, Akako-chan. He wants fresh genetic material in the form of your—"

"Enough," Sasuke snarled. He had been growing more and more distraught during Kakashi's report and looked on the verge of breaking something, probably Kakashi's face.

"What now, Hokage-sama?" I asked, shooting Sasuke a warning glance.

"Pass the jounin exams," Kakashi stated.

"And then?"

At this, Kakashi heaved a sigh.

"Unless we kill Orochimaru, he will continue his experiments no matter how much we pursue him. I will make his assassination an S-rank mission."

"I'm taking it," Sasuke snarled. "I'll bring Akako with me and go kill—"

"You will do nothing of the sort without my authorization!" Kakashi snapped. "You forget, Sasuke-kun, that you are a free man because Naruto, myself, and countless others petitioned on your behalf."

"Are you threatening me?" Sasuke growled.

"Sasuke-san, please listen to him," I said. "You cannot afford to make any mistakes."

He glanced at me, scowling.

"Yes, please listen to Akako-chan," Kakashi said dryly. "Do not forget that your actions could endanger her life, as well."

At this, Sasuke turned and left the room.

"I'm sorry for his behavior, Hokage-sama," I said.

"It's alright, Akako-chan, you haven't known Sasuke-kun as long as I have," Kakashi said. Sighing once more, he pulled out a bright orange book from the folds of his robes, clearly dismissing me.

As I left to find Sasuke, I heard Kakashi mutter, "This job keeps getting more and more tiresome."

-end of chapter-

A/N: And that's a wrap! Stay tuned to find out how Akako and Sasuke (mostly Sasuke) deal with the Orochimaru problem once and for all.