A/N: Oh, my goodness! I'm actually out with a new chapter after only a couple of days, a week, at the very most... O.o I think this is the result of playing too much Fire Emblem on the GBA (I'm soooooo not 'in'), and reading Eric Lustbader's novels. His fight scenes are the best! XD Just ignore the, uh...really 'hot' stuff...

Well, I hope everyone enjoys this new chapter!

Disclaimer: no own, no sue...except for Kotone. She's MINE!

Chapter 4: First Light

"Sakura-san!"

The pink-haired girl turned around upon hearing her name, and then smiled upon seeing who it was.

"Kotone! Ohayou!" She called, waving. Sakura didn't think Kotone would mind if the honorific from the end of her name were dropped; she just wished Kotone would do the same with her name.

She stopped walking for a while to allow the raven-haired teen to catch up, which Kotone did after a few moments.

"Where are you off to, Kotone?" she asked as soon as Kotone had caught her breath and the two had resumed walking.

"Uh...I recieved a summons earlier this morning from Hokage-sama."

"So soon after you arrived in Konoha?" Sakura looked surprised; as far as she knew, Kotone was as gentle-natured as they came, and she had done nothing to merit something as serious - and nerve-wracking - as a private audience with the village leader.

"Is...is there a...problem?" the jade-eyed girl inquired further. She hoped there wasn't. But if there was...

What could it be?

To Sakura's relief, the amethyst-eyed teen shook her head.

"Nope. She...just wants to talk to me about something we discussed last week regarding my stay here in Konohagakure."

"..."

Kotone seemed to sense her friend's anxiety for her, because she suddenly laid a hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Sakura; it's not as serious as you think. Anyway, I'm going this way now-" with a jerk of her free hand, Kotone indicated the right-hand road - "and I wouldn't want to trouble you by asking you to accompany me all the way to her office building."

The pink-haired teen hesitated, and then gave a small smile; Kotone could take care of herself, after all.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later, then," Sakura replied, tilting her head to the side, her smile a bit wider now.

"Ja, mata atode, Sakura-san." was the hurried reply, and then Kotone fairly flew off down the path.

"Hokage-sama?" Kotone called uncertainly as she stepped into the darkened chamber. Strange... she thought, glancing about. What on earth would the village leader want to meet her in such a place?

The large room was almost entirely in shadow, save for the small area near the door, lit by what light crept through the still-open doorway; even darker shadows loomed left and right. She studied the strange, almost grotesque silhouettes; these, whatever they were, were set at random. She shivered; she could almost imagine horrible faces carved into these gigantic figures, leering and jeering at her from where they stood.

She took a step forward, and nearly jumped when the door suddenly slammed shut without her touching it. Nearly jumped, but she caught herself in time; she was supposed to be a unit from the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushou Butai - ANBU - after all, and these elite nin were not supposed to be caught off-guard. Well, except for that one incident which led to her subsequent capture -

Kotone shook her head, night-black hair brushing back and forth along her back (she'd tied it up into a high ponytail that day). Best not to think of that at this point; now, she had to concentrate on finding her way out of this room - whatever this room was - alive. Preferably in one piece.

She moved into a ready stance, one hand moving slowly to the midnight blue weapons pouch at her right hip. She brought out a kunai and, her movements still painfully slowed, brought her right hand up and held it along her front, crossing her chest at an angle, the blade running almost parallel to her forearm.

The amethyst-eyed teen forced herself to relax, take deep breaths, readying herself. With the chamber as dim as it was, she knew she would have to rely mostly on sound - an easy feat, she thought, seeing as how the chamber was as quiet and still as it was dark.

Suddenly, movement from behind her and up above. But how many? Her eyes snapped open instinctively - as one would do when waking up from a sightless, disquieting nightmare - chakra swirling unknowingly into them. And then, quite surprisingly, she could see her attackers, were they real enemies. But, strangely, she wasn't seeing their physical forms, really, but their chakra circulation systems.

There were two coming down on her from different angles, and only one from behind. And, somehow, she could see how they were armed. The first one - leaping down at a trajectory point of around at 45 degrees to the downward vertical, was clutching a manrikigusari, a three-foot long chain with two weighted ends; his partner, clutched several shuriken; and the last one held a katana.

As surprising as this was, it seemed to her they were all moving in slow motion, each gesture broken down into what looked like a hundred or more frames, with only minute differences between each one. She experienced something like this in the restaurant her first night in Konoha, and again last week when she and Sasuke had talked; still, she hadn't expected a repeat performance.

She shoved this to the back of her mind; now was not the time. Moving quickly now, she transferred the kunai to her left hand and reached back into her weapons pouch and drew out four shuriken. She stepped slightly to the left and, after aiming carefully - the second attacker's small blades were already flying - let hers go, one after the other, with quick, short flicks of her right wrist. She paid no mind to the series of slim metal colliding with slim metal. The one with the manrikigusari was beginning his offensive, as was the sword-wielder; she had to time this just right. Otherwise...

Kotone returned to where she stood before the attacks started, then off to the right. Then, thought translating into action, she leapt forward, slashing her kunai obliquely upward, deflecting the deadly blade of the sickle. The resounding jangle of the chain as it recoiled on itself told her precisely where to reach out and grab it, which she did, yanking the man towards the ground. There was no muffled thump, but a slight tremor in the earth as the thwarted nin - she was sure they were all ninjas here - corrected his descent pattern, landing on his feet and bounding back upwards. He would return for another attack, she knew, but now there was the third attacker to think about.

Now in possession of the manrikigusari, she turned to face the swordsman and let fly the sickle, careful not to hit the man himself; she was aiming only to deprive him of his weapon so he could be dealt with safely. There was a sudden satisfying tautness in the chain; the weight had done its work, its aerodynamic shape allowing it to spiral around the blade of the katana and bringing the loose section of chain with it, effectively preventing further bladed attacks. With a swift pull, she wrenched the sword away, and then, just as quickly, threw the weapons far to the side.

And then, more movement. It wasn't so much the perception of movement, but the sudden, subtle change in the air, as if anything moving against it was causing dents in the invisible wall. The jet black-haired girl glanced around quickly; there were too many to be dealt with at any one time, so she'd be forced to take the defensive. She dodged several incapacitating blows, blocked others, and threw some of her own, all in an effor to buy her time. She knocked down quite a few ninja as well, using her feet to floor them or kick them so high in the upper region that their balance would be lost and they would fall over. After assuring herself that no more were coming, she backflipped towards what she hoped was the exit, then rounded up on her feet; there would be less attackers in this portion of the chamber, she hoped.

She stepped forward cautiously, the chakra draining from her eyes so that she had to rely on normal eyesight once more, as well as her hearing and touch. She reached out and touched warm wood. She almost sighed in relief, but stepped back. Wood wasn't, couldn't be warm in a room such as this! Purple orbs narrowed; there was one more ninja back here. Then she remembered that there had been another grotesquely twisted column in this area, and from her vantage point a few minutes ago, she couldn't have spotted this last one.

Drawing out another kunai - the first one she had had to throw in an evasive maneuver earlier - she stepped back just as the concealed shinobi lunged at her. Kotone blinked in surprise. This one was a bit on the short side, not like the others she'd fought just now. There was a warning flash of steel, and Kotone countered from the left middle attribute, slashing the other's kunai away from its intended path towards her abdomen. She moved quickly into the upper attitude, countering a downward slash from this last attacker. The raven-haired girl knew instinctively that she was taking too much time with this one opponent and that the others could be waiting to ambush her soon, but it was a risk she was willing to take. And a necessary one, for this opponent matched her nearly blow for blow, striking and blocking with as much speed and precision as she herself possessed.

This has to end soon... Kotone thought vaguely as she countered a fatal slash to her neck with a sidestep-slash combo, drawing the opponent's weapon vertically upward. At last she heard the signal that this portion of this unexpected confrontation was over: there was a thunk! as the opposing kunai embedded itself into the wooden wall. The amethyst-eyed teen was ready to face the rest of the attackers now, but...

"That's enough!" a familiar voice rang out throught the darkness. Kotone glanced up, towards where the voice seemed to be coming.

"Hokage-sama?" she called hesitantly, unsure of what to expect this time. Then she blinked as the lights, all at once, came on, surging into her pupils and blinding her for a time; she'd gotten used to the shadows and needed a few moments to adjust to the brightness. She glanced up again, smiled when she made out the familiar outline of Tsunade, who jumped down from what looked like the highest of the stone mounds - for that was what the strange, twisted, looming shapes had been - and landed gracefully in front of her.

"Well done, Kotone," the blonde commented, clapping her hands to some silent rhythm known only to her.

"Tsunade-sama, I don't understand," Kotone said in reply, in effect admitting to her confusion. "What just happened?"

"Just a little entertainment I cooked up to see if your skills were intact - which, apparently, still are, even after four years of dormancy - and to make sure that you were the real Uchihara Kotone; for all I knew, it could be one of Konoha's enemies donning a clever disguise. Orochimaru, in particular, was of great speculation, his having held you captive a very big factor in considering this possibility."

"I see. So who-"

"Several Jounin, Tokubetsu Chuunin, and Chuunin I called on for help in administering this little...test, if you will. Oh, and a few ANBU, maybe two or three."

Kotone just stood, processing the information she'd just recieved. She thought to herself that it had been a good decision on her part not to employ devastating force when attacking and counterattacking during the 'test'; if she hadn't, the village would be short quite a few skilled ninja. Then she glanced up at Tsunade, skeptical. The Hokage wasn't telling her the whole truth; she could feel it.

"Was there anything else, Hokage-sama?" she asked. She wasn't suspicious of the village leader, just curious. She could feel, too, that it was something...pleasant, to say the least.

The ninja who had attacked her last answered for Tsunade.

"Onee-san?"

Kotone's head snapped in the direction of the ninja who had just spoken, shocked. The voice...it was so familiar!

And yet...

She stepped forward tentatively, willing herself not to expect anything for fear of being sorely disappointed.

But could it really be...?

She reached out a hand towards the mask, the single wall that stood between her and knowledge. But the owner of that mask beat her to it.

Slowly, the mask - one with the face of a cat - came off, and Kotone gasped, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"You..." she breathed, hardly daring to believe what her eyes told her was real.

Brown-black hair, tied back into a low ponytail, the end slung carelessly over one shoulder...

Eyes of a blue so deep it was like staring into the depths of the sea...a slow, shy smile, growing wider still...

And the small silver charm bracelet, from which dangled a single charm, its design very familiar.

The symbol of the Uchihara clan.

"Kaoru...?"

A/N: Wooh! First fairly detailed combat scene! P Believe me, it's hard working out which words to use to describe various actions and reactions...If anyone has problems understanding a particular portion of the entire fight, don't be afraid to ask; I'd gladly try my best to explain.

Well, I'm off to work on my ninjutsu research paper!

Peace out and God bless!