Authors note!

K so I am soooooo sorry that this is up so late! I sware I probably had tons of time to work on it- I just didn't and hung out with my friends instead... :) Well now this one is up and the next one should be up semi- soon after. Here it is! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter btw. =]

The boy could not remember what all had happened after the half black- half white man painfully picked him up out of the rubble. He had slipped in and out of consciousness for what seemed like days. The pain of his injuries kept him from willing himself back into a conscious state. His mind raced, trying to find memories that were hidden from him. Finally, after many long days, he brought himself back.

"Kid?" he heard faintly just as he slowly opened his eyes.

He let out a groan in response, still feeling extremely disoriented. As soon as he made a noise, he heard a rustle and figured someone had just gotten up from a chair.

"Hey? Kid!? Are you awake?" the same voice, this time much louder, rang in his ear.

The teen opened his eyes fully and instantly blinked, getting used to the light in the room. He turned his head to the left and noticed that he was in some sort of hospital room: complete with all the essentials. Then he turned his head to where the voice came from.

"Damn it, you ARE awake!" The loud voice came from a man in an odd orange mask. Black, spiky hair shot up from behind it. The boy decided that he had seen enough weird people for that day. "Man, I had a bet with Akahana that you wouldn't wake up. Now I owe her…"

He was interrupted by the boy's raspy voice, "Who the hell are you."

The masked man tilted his head and raised his hand. "My name's Tobi!"

The teen scratched his head, "Just Tobi? Don't you have a last name?"

It was as if Tobi didn't hear the orange headed boy at all. He leaned in close to the boy. "What about you? I should be asking you who you are! Zetsu-sempai didn't even say anything at all about who you are or what you were doing in a bunch of rubble!"

The boy's face turned confused. "I…I don't know…I don't know what my name is. I don't even know if I have a name."

"Oh come on, you've got to have a name! Everyone has a name." Tobi inquired, leaning in.

"Well, I don't remember mine, okay? I don't remember anything before that damn explosion!" The teen slammed his fists into the mattress, causing Tobi to jump back.

"Hey. Hey. Calm down, okay? It's not Akatsuki's fault that you got into that mess!" He put a hand to his 'chin', thinking. "Well it might be Akatsuki's fault, but I don't remember anything about an explosion."

The boy frowned, willing himself to sit up. He was stiff and sore, but he realized that most of his wounds had been healed. "Akatsuki?" The name seemed familiar somehow but the boy couldn't pinpoint where he knew it from.

"Yeah that's the organization that Zetsu-sempai belongs to. The others here like me are just his subordinates, but someday I'll join the Akatsuki too! Just you wait, Orange boy!" At the nickname, Tobi flicked some of the boy's orange hair. "I know, why don't you become one of his subordinates too!"

"I guess so…" The boy still was insanely confused and decided to think things over before he made any big decisions. "Orange boy? Can you really not think of a better name then that?"

"Well I don't know your real name." Tobi dug his hands in his pockets, then instantly drew one of them back out again. "Hey! I almost forgot about this"

"What is it?" The masked man laid out his hand flat and pushed it toward the boy. "Zetsu-sempai told me that he found this clenched in one of your hands!"

In his hand lay a small orange cat figurine, with one hand raised up like it was waving. Gold and silver trim traced around it in spirals. Attached to it was a long, gold chain. Kyo reached his hand and slowly took a hold of it, turning it around in his hands. The little trinket seemed maddeningly familiar to the boy, but he couldn't grasp where it was from. "Are you sure this was in my hand? It looks so familiar…"

"Can you remember anything!?" Tobi slammed his hands on the bed and leaned in uncomfortably close to the boy.

The boy thought for a moment, then shook his head, disappointed. "Nothing." He clenched his hand in a fist around the cat.

Tobi backed up, sensing that this boy had a large temper. "Well, I've figured out a name that I can call you, besides Orange boy!"

The boy threw a glare at Tobi but the masked man kept going. "I'm going to call you Neko-kun! That cat of yours gave me the idea- since you already seem to love it so much-"

Little did Tobi know that the teen had just heard enough. He jumped off of the bad faster than the eyes could see and pinned Tobi against the wall. "Listen, Tobi. If you don't shut your mouth I'm going to-"He was stopped by a knocking on the door.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Kyo whispered and set his newly bloodied thumb to the ground. A few seconds later, the puff of white smoke cleared to reveal a small, orange cat with maroon eyes.

"Suzaku!" Tohru breathed, almost silently. The cat's head turned toward and he opened his mouth in what could only be described as a feline smile.

"Tohru, it's nice to see you." He purred, then looked around. "Where's the rat?"

"Suzaku. He has a name." Tohru scolded.

"He couldn't come." Was all Kyo said. "He got hurt on our last mission, so he stayed behind to rest and train." Tohru added.

Suzaku nodded, and then turned back to Kyo. "What's up then? What do I need to do brother?"

Kyo smiled at his summons. "I need you to sneak past those guys out there and figure out where the information on Konoha is located. After that I need you to report back here and lead me to it."

Suzaku peeked through the bushes, making sure not to rustle any leaves. "Through that door there? Sure, I can do that; no problem."

"Thanks Suzaku. Now, go before they sense us." The cat nodded its orange head and crawled under the bush.

"You haven't told him about this mission?" Tohru asked as the cat walked through the clearing unnoticed.

"It's best that he doesn't know the details. He would make me head right back to Konoha. He wouldn't do what I need him to do later."

"Kyo- I..."

He looked through the bush. "Alright- he's in."

Kyo turned to Tohru. "Alright, here we go. You sneak behind them and come out when I give the usual signal; I'll attack them head on." For any other ninja, attacking ten enemies head on would mean certain defeat and insanity. However, for Kyo Sohma, attacking the enemy head on gave him the advantage. "Make sure you release the genjutsu so you can see me and they can't."

Tohru nodded her head while Kyo made the necessary hand signs. His hands moved in a quick practiced air that was difficult for Tohru to follow. Just as he was about to make the last one, he turned to the girl. "Tohru, go now. I'll attack first." She smiled, nodded her head, and then crawled off, all the while making no noise whatsoever.

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Kyo made the hand signs for the Sohma family's jutsu, one he and he alone had fully mastered in his generation. He couldn't hold it for too long- but that didn't matter as long as no one sensed him. He smirked as he felt the genjutsu wash over him, extinguishing any trace that he ever existed. His enemies couldn't see or hear him, but he could see them perfectly.

As he walked into the clearing, he could clearly see the guards of the temple going about their duties. There was about six experienced looking shinobi; he would have to go for them first. However, the other four looked younger than he was and completely helpless. It was all he could do not to laugh; especially at the smallest one- a dark haired boy with purple looking eyes.

He pushed those thoughts out of his head, grabbed for his kunai and rushed toward the first shinobi. Once he made the first move, the others would try to go after him. Swiftly, he cut the old man's throat and tried to do the same to the shinobi next to him. However, the man reacted and blindly swiped a kunai in Kyo's direction. Kyo jumped away, back behind one of the younger men, who met him with a kunai.

Their weapons clashed and Kyo went in to kick his head. The man blocked it with his hand (just like Yuki had done every time- Kyo noted). Finally, Kyo caught the man off guard and kicked behind his knees, causing him to fall.

He knocked the man and the kunoichi next to him unconscious, and then, realizing that he had now been noticed, even though they couldn't see him, lifted up his hand punched the air. After he knew Tohru had seen his signal, he ran towards the older shinobi he tried to fight before. His genjutsu was still holding up, but not for long.

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Tohru had silently climbed a tree with a good view of the area, and waited for Kyo to make his move. As soon as she saw the first man suddenly fall to the ground, she released the Genjutsu that she knew hung in the air and over Kyo. She blinked and suddenly she could see everything, including the signal that Kyo told her to wait for.

She grabbed her kunai and jumped down right on top of the ninja under the tree. She was met by an attempted punch to the head, but she flipped backwards and dodged it. Then she ran at the ninja and kicked him in the head, sending him flying.

After that, she immediately dispatched the ninja lunging at her from her right side. She wasn't used to having enemies running after her everywhere she looked, but her sensei had trained her for it, so she would be okay. She was the medical ninja in her group, so usually, Yuki and Kyo would do this kind of fighting-Tohru wasn't the type of person to mercilessly kill like this- but Yuki wasn't here and Tohru had to protect Kyo from any harm.

As soon as she finished with that ninja, she ran to Kyo's side. His genjutsu was wearing off; it exhausted his chakra looked like he had just run a marathon and had small scratches all over his arms and face.

"Tohru. Thank you." He panted, and then released the genjutsu, fully showing himself. There were only five more shinobi left and Suzaku wasn't back yet. They had time.

Kyo turned to her, his breathing still heavy. "Let's do this."

Tohru smiled and punched the air. Then the teammates and best friends faced their foes. Kyo raced toward the older, more experienced shinobi with unmatched speed. He was locked in battle with three of them, while Tohru took on the younger two. She quickly knocked one of them, a kunoichi with dark pink hair, to the ground and then turned to the boy, who had knelt at his comrade's side, screaming her name.

"Kalin, Kalin wake up! Please!" Aside from the screaming boy, there were only two shinobi left out of the ten.

He looked younger than her, with chin length dark hair and bright purple eyes. They looked up at her and she felt the guilt in her chest that she always tried to push away. She averted her eyes from his and ran straight towards him with a kunai. He blocked it, pushing against her. However, Tohru was stronger than the young shinobi and she pushed him up against a tree.

"Please, don't…kill…" the boy mumbled, wincing at the knife she held at his neck.

"Don't make me hesitate. Please, I don't want..." she whispered. Suddenly she saw the boy's eyes widen and she felt someone coming up behind her. She quickly knocked the boy unconscious and turned around quickly enough to keep the attacker from stabbing her in the heart. However, the blade kept going and sliced her stomach almost all the way across. She let out a cry of pain and sank to the ground, just in time to see Kyo lunge after her attacker.

Cliff Hanger :) Don't you love those?

Neko- It means Cat in Japanese, very fitting!

You'll find out why Suzaku calls Kyo brother in a few chapters:) I kinda involved the Sohma curse, but it's a little different.

Oh If you watch Code Geass, try to find some of the characters in there :) I was bored and on a Code Geass marathon while writing this- so some of the characters made a little pit stop into this story. I don't own any of them though!

K I think that's all. This chapter was supposed to be twice as long but I'm splitting it up into two chapters. Please review- it'll help me get motivated to get the chapters out quicker!

REVIEW :)3