Author's corner: Well, it's the long awaited (by some) addition to the fanfic. It was actually done pretty quickly considering the length and that it's written by two different people. To start off, I'd like to apologize for any out of "character-ness" this may have in it; I'd like to think I tried my hardest. I sincerely hope you all enjoy, and as always, please review.

Part 2

"What a dump," Namiki complained loudly as he and his group entered the rooms they would be staying in for the remainder of the exams.

"Namiki!" Yuri-sensei chided, wishing that what she had heard had been just an echo of her own personal thoughts rather than her own student's words. Namiki pouted as he picked at some chipping paint.

"Well it's true…" he whined.

"You of all people should know what a dump is," Okame offered, "We all know that your clan is the poorest in Kiragakure. You should feel right at home."

"Okame!" Yuki-sensei shouted, "That was not necessary," Before she could go on, however, Okame disappeared out of the room in a swirl of long, silver hair. Yuki sighed, "What am I going to do about her? She's been acting oddly since we arrived." Okage and Namiki bobbed their heads in agreement. "Okage?" The girl's head shot up in attention. "I want you to do me a little favor."

"And what is that, Yuki-sensei?"

"I'd like you to follow Okame, assuming you can find her, and see what's going on. I'm starting to miss her boisterous side—this melancholy attitude of hers is draining on my morale and I'm assuming yours too." Okage nodded her head and walked out of the room.


Okame asked herself as she kicked a pebble down a road with bazaars pressed against one another on both sides. Her blue eyes searched keenly for any sign of something to occupy her time, but to no avail. Stupidly she hadn't brought any money with her, and everything here seemed to cost so much. Her thoughts trailed mainly through the past, as she continued to walk, focusing mostly on home.

"Don't bother coming back if you don't pass the test, Okame. The Elders will disown you from the clan if you fail," her mother had told her before she left. It hadn't come as a surprise to her, however—her mother was known to be the most cold-hearted shinobi ever to live in the Takashi Clan, the most powerful in Kiragakure. To her relief, her father had been more kind with his goodbyes.

"I know you'll do great at the exams," herfather had said, while fondly ruffling her hair. "After all, you are my daughter." The contrast between her father's words and her mother's almost brought tears to her eyes. Why does she have to be so cruel? But Okame already knew the answer to that question. She grew up…hard.

In the Takashi clan, where Okame came from, women were only allowed one role in life—to marry and have children. Even those women who were exceptionally good as ninjas were only allowed to be active in missions for a short time. However, no female was ever allowed the chance to pick who she wanted to marry. Instead, the decision was made for them when they were declared "ready" to marry. Okame's mother, Ayame, was one such a person, only she had loved someone else when she was in her late teens and consequently they were made to separate indefinitely—he died a year later, but of what Ayame had never told her. Despite the fact she was a great shinobi, one that should have been allowed to protect the clan for as long as she wanted, Ayame was arranged to marry the best jonin in the clan, Hachirou—the two both had strong bloodline limits. She had a son, Koichi, early off, but he showed no potential. Okame was their second and last child. Unlike her brother, she showed potential from the age of six.

From that point on, Ayame had taken on the duty of training her daughter—children in the clan were trained by others in the clan instead of with the other children of Kiragakure—solely to gain revenge for what had been done to her.

"Soon it will be your duty to protect this clan and one day change the traditions it holds," Ayame had said coldly, her eyes gazing off into the distance, focusing on nothing.Okame at the time had tensed her shoulders and set her jaw stubbornly.

"No mother. I refuse to be used as your tool for revenge. I will live my own life the way I choose to."

"You are a fool Okame" she had spat. "One day you'll see how corrupt this clan has become, and when you do I hope the pain it brings kills you. Now get out of my sight."

Okame ground her teeth at that thought. I refuse to be used as a tool for revenge. If she wants to pay the clan back for ruining her life she can do it on her own time and not waste my life in her pursuits. No matter now though, for she was far away from her home and to continue with her own personal mission would be the only thing on her mind for the remainder of her trip.


Okage's eyes wandered hazily across the crowded street, Okame within her peripheral field of vision but far enough away that she wouldn't notice her. She twirled a tendril of raven hair around her index finger, rubbing her lips together and fervently wishing she'd brought some kind of balm. Her lips really hurt! And there was just enough of a breeze to dry them out. Blinking, she realized she was letting herself get distracted. No, that couldn't happen; she had to watch Okame with her whole attention. Wait, had she just passed a noodle cart? Hell, when was the last time she's had some good ramen?

About twelve minutes later, Okage—a bowl of noodles in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other—finally managed to catch up to Okame again. The girl was fast, even when she was merely walking down the street. She was, however, thankfully easy to find in a crowd, given the length and somewhat unusual color of her hair.

"Doesn't she ever stop to look at anything?" Okage asked herself, sipping nonchalantly from the bowl so as not to spill hot broth all over herself in the event of an abrupt halt. She didn't bother to unwrap the chopsticks. They wouldn't be of any use until she could sit down and eat, and that wouldn't happen until stubborn Okame gave the walking a rest. Okage sighed, knowing that her noodles would most likely no longer be hot when she could eat them.

She turned her head suddenly, Okame gone from her sight. Where the hell did she go? Her eyes narrowed as she shot her gaze through the crowd, she was just here a minute ago! Turning to check behind her, Okage collided with someone rather taller than her, sending her noodles flying somewhere to the side and her onto her bottom in the middle of the crowded street, "Oof!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you there, please forgive me!" came a sincere-sounding apology. Okage looked up to find possibly the ugliest boy she had ever laid eyes on; his hair was black and formed a bowl around his head, while he had bushy eyebrows and protuberant eyes with large eyelashes sticking out in clumps—but the thing that summarized everything about him was the horrible, green bodysuit with a loose belt.

She was pulled to her feet almost immediately, "T-thank you...I think," she said, her breath uneven, "I should have watched where I was going."

"Not at all," he said brightly, "it is a man's duty to protect a woman and accept fault for any dispute with her. I honorably say that it was my fault. You needn't try to take any blame," he gave her a blindingly white grin and a thumbs-up.

"Oh..." her lips twitched in mingled annoyance and amusement, Sennin's sword, he's insane!

Not only was she stuck with a nutcase, oh, no; she'd lost Okame, as well. Rolling her eyes, Okage's thoughts drifted back to lip balm, trying to block out the disgusting boy before her. He, unfortunately, appeared to have taken a liking to her.

"My name is Rock Lee, Konoha's Green Beast!" he gave her yet another thumbs-up.

"Tsuchiura Okage...p-pleased to meet you..." her head hurt. She'd have to stop getting herself into such situations, in the future.


Okame realized. Stopping herself, she dared a glance over her shoulder to make sure her teammate was no longer in sight. As she expected, Okage was nowhere to be found. At least she knows how to hide herself well, even if she lacks attentiveness. The same can't be said for Namiki. Wanting to see if Okage would continue her pursuit, Okame sauntered over to an overly bright booth selling a motley collection of jewelry and scarves, all of which were much too gaudy and overpriced for her tastes. Damn. I apparently picked the wrong booth. Not wanting to move, however, Okame continued to pretend to be interested, putting much of her attention on a surprisingly pretty blue gem—she couldn't recall the exact name of it—that hung on a silver chain. She realized it matched perfectly with the silver robe and light blue slacks she was wearing. Looking at the necklace, she found herself caught in a nostalgic déjà vu. The last time I saw a necklace like this, he was here.

Just as she took her attention off the necklace, not liking the memories flooding her mind and, more importantly, remembering she didn't have any money, she noticed a shadow over the booth that hadn't been there before. What the hell?

"Don't bother buying it," came a foreign voice from behind her. "It's cheap and will probably break." Okame ground her teeth in frustration. Who the hell was this person that thought they could invade her privacy? She spun around with an aggravated expression on her face wanting to scold this person herself for bothering her. As she came to face the stranger, however—a male with the strangest white eyes she'd ever seen—she blushed bright red with embarrassment. Something in his expression made her feelings of anger and frustration melt away until she was left there standing dumbly. Why did he seem so familiar to her? She couldn't figure it out.

His expression was blank as he added, "I apologize for making you angry. You must be new here, for I have never seen you before, and I think I'd remember seeing that odd silver hair." Okame visibly flinched at the comment but the boy didn't seem to notice as he continued. "My name is Hyuga Neji."

A Hyuga? She thought, and then everything clicked together. That explains the unusual eyes. I wonder if he's a shinobi or just a regular citizen…though I thought the Hyuga clan was fairly reserved. She shook the thought out of her head and tried concentrating on the present. "My name is Takashi Okame," she said, bowing slightly in what she assumed was a polite custom. What am I supposed to do now?

"Nejiiii!" came a loud cry from behind them, saving Okame from her momentary awkwardness. Neji jumped and groaned. A moment later, Okame understood why; strolling towards them, and dragging a rather reluctant Okage, was perhaps the most hideous boy she had ever seen. His parents should have been killed before being allowed to breed. She gulped almost on instinct, to stop herself throwing up.

"O-Okame!" Okage stuttered, giving her a look that was clearly a cry for help, "I had no idea that you were here. Wow, what an odd coincidence. Um, this is Lee-San, by the way...he appears to know your, uh, new friend...?"

Okame raised a questioning eyebrow at Okage. So she was admitting to following her? That was a first, albeit fine as she had known anyways, "Yes, I can see that this 'Lee-San' knows Hyuga-San," she had to resist the urge to just walk away, "Ah, Hyuga-San, this is Tsuchiura Okage, one of my teammates...and Okage, this is Hyuga Neji. By the way, is he," she indicated Lee, "a teammate of yours?"

"...Yes, he is," Neji responded, and Okame got the strong feeling that he had wanted to add 'unfortunately' to the end of that sentence. But by merely calling him a teammate, it was mutually understood around the circle (by everyone except Lee) that Neji had no choice in the matter of knowing Rock Lee.

"Er, nice to meet you, Hyuga-San," Okage blushed, fluffing at her hair nervously. His white eyes seemed to make her uncomfortable, as it was impossible to tell if he was looking at you.

Lee made what he obviously thought to be a suggestive face, "So, Nejiii...buying something for the lady?" he went to nudge him in the ribs, but Neji flinched and Lee pulled back, laughing.

"Wait a minute," Okage said, finally beginning to piece out the meeting between Okame and Hyuga-San, "How did you two meet?" She made a broad gesture with her hands at the two of them, and Okame looked from Okage to Neji-San and then back to Okage. Not feeling like explaining, she changed the subject to something that would easily distract her teammate for the moment.

"Is that a ramen cart over there?!" Okame shouted, walking quickly over to it and leaving everyone else in the dust. The sign that simply read 'ramen' looked harmless enough and so she ducked under the cloth canopy and sat down on one of the stools until she realized she didn't have any money.

Okage followed her in suspiciously, after giving Neji a long look, thinking all the while that he was rather attractive, aside from those dreadful, white eyes that could be looking anywhere. Hell, what if he had x-ray vision or something? She nonchalantly crossed her arms as she sat down next to Okame, a gesture protective of herself. Boys weren't allowed to see that until she was married—minus the plural.

"So, you just kind of picked-up the Hyuga guy, eh?" she tilted her head, feigning ignorance but knowing that she was testing Okame's resolve. The girl would possibly spill if she bothered her enough.

"I didn't pick him up..." Okame said, jutting out her chin, "he-" she stopped mid-sentence as the two boys came in after them.

Neji took the seat next to Okame and Lee did likewise to Okage; the girls didn't bother exchanging glances, each knowing what the other was thinking. Okage bit down a whimper—why had she gotten the ugly boy? It wasn't fair.

"So, are you here visiting? Family, possibly?" Lee asked, huge eyes fixed on Okage, "because I know just about every person in town. I could most definitely point you ladies in the right direction."

"Um...no family here..." Okage shook her head, "we've come for the Chunin exams, if you must know..." she shifted uncomfortably, wondering how much older they were than her; it couldn't be much, Lee certainly didn't look very old, and Neji obviously hadn't cut his hair since he was two, not that that had anything to do with his age. She mentally snipped at his hair with scissors, watching little tendrils fall.

"Oh, the Chunin exams?" Neji asked inquisitively, as if reaffirming it. Okame resisted the strong urge to reply, "Um, duh. She just said that," and instead said sweetly, "Yes." Lee piped up brightly.

"Do you remember hearing about when Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei defended the stadium after the attack of the sound and sand's ninja's?"

"Yeah," Neji reminisced, "I wish I could have seen some of that. You know—" But Okame wasn't listening anymore to what these people had to say—she had heard all she needed to. Within seconds she ran out of the ramen shop without giving any reason, leaving Okage to wonder, again, what was wrong with her teammate.


Okage frowned, seeing only a fleeting glimpse of Okame's back. What on earth was wrong with her? She had been fine until they discussed the Chunin exams, hadn't she? Perhaps something they had said upset her...was it possible she had a gripe with sound or sand? No, she had never even been to their villages, and they rarely entered Kiragakure...but what else had they said that she could take offense to? Only some boring drabble about their sensei's...there was no way she had ever met this Gai-Sensei or Kakashi-Sensei...

"Um, where did Takeshi-San go?" Lee asked quietly, looking hurt, "was she not interested in our conversation?"

Okage rolled her eyes, "I'm sure that wasn't it," she said dryly, "your conversation was riveting. Now, if you'll excuse me and grant forgiveness for not really caring about your Chunin story more than my teammate, I have to go. She's a damn handful."

Neji watched with an arrogant grin as Okage also ran off, following the exact route Okame had, "Well, they were pleasant."

Lee, not being able to identify sarcasm, responded, "Oh, yes! She reminded me of Sakura-Chan! Her eyes were so big, and-"

"Lee, don't go randomly asking girls out again," came a torrid remark, "I thought we told you after the last time that you were going to get yourself killed if you kept making the 'I'll protect you with my life' speech."

Turning to the girl who had spoken—a plain girl of medium height, with brown hair and eyes, dressed in a cute, pink top and bluish Capri's—and frowned, his large eyebrows overshadowing his even larger eyes, "Tenten, don't tease me!"

"Yes, he didn't make the 'be my girlfriend' speech today," Neji added, the smirk still playing upon his lips, "although he looked sort of like he wanted to..."

Lee pulled his neck in turtlelike and pouted, looking down the street that the two genin had run. Okage and Okame...


"Okame! Okame!" Okage called, eyes scanning the crowd, as before. This was entirely ridiculous. Okame should have been old enough to not do this kind of thing, "Hey, Okame-Chaaaan!" she paused, unable to allow herself to continue looking like such an idiot, "I should have stayed with that ugly kid and the Hyuga guy...at least I was going to get free noodles..." She went back to her previous train of thought: lip balm and ramen.

The search didn't take long however, to Okage's surprise, for Okame stepped out from behind a deserted cart and intercepted her. "Wha--?" Okage began, but her friend hushed her.

"I don't want you to keep following me, alright? This isn't any of your concern." Okame groaned and looked up at the sky. "I'm sorry Yuki-sensei tangled you up in my affairs. It wasn't fair to you." She bowed deeply and touched her fingertips to her head and then to her heart—the sign of the Takashi clan—and then she walked off again, hoping that Okage could understand what things she needed to take care of.


It was late by the time Okame got back to her room. To her dismay, though it hardly came as a surprise, she found her sensei standing at the doorway with her arms crossed—she was in her 'no nonsense' mood. Okame sighed; why did she have to go through with this? The sounds of Okage and Namiki sleeping encompassed the room and Yuki-sensei gestured that they should leave to somewhere where they could talk, though Okame knew she would have neither the chance to talk nor would it be a talk, but more like a scolding Yuki-sensei style. She knew better than to grumble, however, and quietly walked out of the room and out of the building to a bench right outside. The air was fresh and cool on her face, which gave her some comfort, as she had been feeling rather warm. The good feeling didn't last long, though, for her sensei was quick to talk.

"I think it's time you explained some of your behavior for the past few days," she said, her face an unreadable mask. Okame was torn; she couldn't tell the truth, for Yuki-sensei could never understand, yet if she lied, she was bound to be caught in it—Yuki-sensei was extremely good at knowing if people were lying to her.

"I guess I'm just worried about the exams," she lied. Shame snaked up her neck and face and she shivered. Why can't she just leave me alone? Yuki-sensei sighed her disappointment.

"I'm sorry you can't do better than lie to me. I had more respect for you than that, but no matter. Just stop taking your bad mood out on your teammates, especially Namiki; you know how low his self-esteem can get if you bother him enough. And as for whatever is bothering you, forget about it. Whatever your problems are, you shouldn't let them interfere in your performance in the Chunin exam." Yuki-sensei put a hand supportively on Okame's shoulder. "I know you'll do a great job. You were meant for this."

"I know you'll do great at the exams. After all you are my daughter."

As her sensei walked off, leaving her alone, Okame's memory of her father's words made tears come to eyes. I'll do my best if it kills me.