A Story

by BreakingWater21

This is a story mainly centered around my own character but contains all of the Naruto characters except Sakura...shiver... Read the Prelude for the background. Everyone's older than in the series.

3. Part III: Preparation for the Exam

Part III: Preparation for the Chuunin Exam

After a month of being back in Konoha, Naruto was once again getting mad at how easy and pointless all of their missions were. He repeatedly showed off in front of Sora on every mission and always ended up either doing it wrong and getting hurt, or getting saved by Sasuke which was worse. It was embarrassing to say the least.

Naruto and Sora's "date" was actually enjoyable but it was more like going as friends instead of an actual date. At first Naruto was completely nervous and stiff but Sora had him relaxed and back to normal in no time. After eating at a pretty nice restaurant for dinner, they decided to walk in the garden for a while then Naruto walked Sora home. Sora had moved into a small apartment for herself so that she could be closer to the village and to their training spots. "Thanks, Naruto-kun," she said as they reached her door. "It was fun."

"Yeah," Naruto said smiling comfortably. He'd never felt at such ease with another person before. I think I'm really falling in love with her, he thought. I mean, she's beautiful and easy to talk to, beautiful, caring, gentle, beautiful…just perfect. Then to Naruto's surprise, Sora gave him a small peck on the cheek then disappeared into her apartment. Naruto stood there in shock. Did she just…? He touched his cheek and walked away keeping his cool but once he got outside, "HOLY CRAP!" he yelled to the moon.

"Shut up," came a cranky voice from inside one of the buildings.

He ignored him. "I can't believe she kissed me! ME!" he shouted as he danced through the streets. "She KISSED me!" He did a few somersaults and flips then ran off to his apartment.

"Shut up!" said the man again as he walked to his window but all he saw was a small yellow blob of Naruto's hair disappearing off into the distance. The man grunted and shook his head. "Kids…" he muttered under his breath.

Sora thought back on what just happened. Something's not right…she thought as she got ready for bed. I have such a strange feeling about him. It's like I feel he's dangerous or something. She had tried to hide her intuition and act normally with him. Maybe I went a little too far with the kiss, she thought as she pulled her shirt off. It was getting warmer so it felt good for her bare skin to touch the cool air. She sighed as she walked to her bathroom to start her shower.

Kakashi had been watching over her the entire time. Sora didn't know this but he lived in the same apartment building as she did. He had been on the roof of the opposite building spying on the two Genins. Well, it isn't really spying, parse. He was jealous. He had always been jealous of Naruto and Sasuke. They were her age and didn't have a teacher student relationship to block the way. He saw her take off her shirt revealing her bra. He knew he shouldn't be looking but he couldn't take his eyes off her. She was so addictive, so beautiful. A wave of sadness washed across his face when she disappeared into the bathroom to take a shower. He wanted to go into her room. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to- I've got to stop this, he said to himself standing straight. He turned his head away from her window begrudgingly and leaped off to his own apartment. She sees me as just a sensei, he thought bitterly to himself. Just a sensei.

For the next few days, he tried to sort of ignore Sora and pay more attention to Sasuke and Naruto's awful teamwork. Sora felt his distance and decided to talk to him later. After another boring day of work and a grueling training session for the guys, but suspiciously not for Sora, it was time to go home for the day. The guys left angrily as Naruto continued to shout at the not-listening Sasuke. Sora stayed behind waiting for them to get out of earshot. Kakashi knew she wanted to talk to him but he pretended he didn't know and started leaving as well.

"Wait, sensei!" Sora said quickly as she saw him about to leap off.

Dammit, he said to himself but abstained from running away. "Yes?" he said as casually as he could.

"Um, I just wanted to ask you," she said.

He nodded telling her to go on.

"I mean, I've felt that you've been ignoring me a little, going softer on me in training than on the guys and well…" she trailed off feeling a little embarrassed.

"Have I now?" he asked nonchalantly.

Sora's head shot up a little annoyed. "Well, yeah, I mean, you've been paying more attention to them and spending more time with them and-"

"You shouldn't seek attention like that," Kakashi said surprising even himself at his words and tone. He felt guilty that he had been avoiding her as much as possible because he was jealous…of his students!

"What?" Sora was now more than a little irritated. "I don't seek attention at all and I'm sorry if I'm coming off that way." Kakashi's neglect towards Sora was so obvious that even Naruto had said something about it to her a few days earlier. "What's with this?" she asked getting angrier as she spoke. "You didn't let me fight on Tazuna-sama's mission at all! I could've saved everyone from so much pain if you had just let me fight Haku's technique! I'm an ice-ninja for God's sake!"

Kakashi knew she was right but didn't show it. He just stared at her coolly and said nothing.

Sora stared at him in disbelief. Then she remembered the training that he made her go through in the forest that one day. She calmed down a little. "I don't know what you know about me," she said quietly looking down. "I don't know if you know what happened to me in the forest but I'm pretty sure that has something to do with the way you're acting." She took a breath. "If you would just tell me…" she trailed off. All her life people have kept things from her. Always telling what and what not to do, never telling her why. She was frustrated. Even her father…she could feel her eyes sting with the threat of tears but she felt Kakashi's gaze on her so she refused to let them fall. "I'm sorry, Sensei," she barely whispered. "I shouldn't have said that. I'll go now." She started to walk past him but felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Sora," Kakashi finally said. "You have every right to be mad at me and I understand how you feel."

Sora closed her eyes and shivered slightly.

"I don't have many answers, but please be patient with me right now. I need-" you. "-to protect you right now. I'm sorry for my actions." He turned his head to look at her. She still looked forward but he knew she could see him. Can't you understand that you're tearing me up inside? Don't you know I love you? his heart cried out. He removed his hand from her shoulder and disappeared.

Sora was left standing by herself. A gust of wind blew her hair across her face. She punched the nearest tree in a sudden outburst of emotion. It made an indention in the trunk and the force of the blow made her knuckles bleed profusely but she leaned into the tree on her fist increasing the pressure on the newly formed cuts. She felt the pain but physical pain was like a second nature to her. She had trained herself to resist torture and the sufferings of the body, but not the mind, not the heart. Am I not strong enough to overcome these...walls? she asked herself bitterly. The blood ran down her arm but she didn't look at it. She slowly lowered her arm and turned to look at the sky. Am I like the sky? she thought bitterly. Am I just a perception, not really existing? They look at me, they admire me for my vast abilities and pretty face, but they can never touch me. I can never touch them…just a never ending stretch of imagination. She wanted to get home and sleep or something, anything. She sighed as she began her journey home.

Kakashi had been watching from a distance even though he had pretended to leave. He saw her look at the sky with a painful expression. Sora, your name means "sky." The highest goal, the quintessence of perfection and strength. Why do you torture yourself? He watched her leave but he lingered behind. Once she was out of sight, he jumped down from the tree he was in and went over to the spot Sora had been standing. He saw her blood on the tree she had punched still glistening in the sunlight. "I want to protect you," he said aloud touching the blood. "You're still so young and fragile…capable, yes, but naïve of what may happen. This thing inside you is more dangerous than you know." He had sensed a presence back when he had trained Sora in the forest next to Tazuna's house so long ago. He didn't know what it was or how to describe it but it gave him the feeling of pure evil. He wanted to dismiss it selfishly, to forget this feeling that surrounded her when she lost control. He felt as if this evil was keeping him from her and he didn't want it to come out ever again.

The call of an eagle abruptly brought him back to his senses. "Huh?" he said in surprise. He looked up to see the eagle circling the sky above him. "It's that time already?" He sighed heavily at what he was going to face but leaped towards the village.

All of the Jounin senseis of Genin squads were called to a special meeting with the Hokage. "It's time," the Hokage said taking off his squarish hat.

"For what?" asked a new Jounin, Kurenai. She was the Jounin leader of Hinata's team with Kiba and Shino.

"Oh, it's time to choose who will take the Chuunin exam this time around," Asuma, the Jounin leader of Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji's group answered. He knew that she was new to this and had tried to help her out as much as possible. He puffed his cigarette. "As leaders of Genin groups, we've got to choose whether or not our team members are qualified for the exam."

"Oh," Kurenai said. She thought about her team. They're ready, she told herself with confidence.

Kakashi had remained silent even though the other Jounins were talking amongst themselves. If I do, I must enter all three of them, he thought. Sasuke and Naruto can do it, if they don't kill each other first. They've gone through all the necessary training, but Sora… He closed his eyes guiltily. I don't know if she can control herself without me there to watch over her and I don't want that darkness that I felt to touch her again. He knew he was being selfish. He wanted Sora to be protected at all times from this horror. She is ready to go…her technique is faultless and her physical attacks exactly complimentary. She uses her Chakra to perfection and she can think up strategies for almost any kind of attack used against her. She would pass this easily if it weren't for this…thing inside her.

Sora had gone home but only stayed long enough to shower and wrap her hand with some bandages. She was restless and had too much on her mind to just sit around doing nothing. I need to get out of here, she thought to herself. She left her apartment quickly and went out to the garden. Usually the peaceful splashes from the fountain and the fragrance of the flowers calmed her down if she was stressed but it didn't work this time. She sat on the fountain and looked emptily at the water. The ripples chased each other back and forth across the surface looking happy together.

She sighed as she turned her head away only to find Naruto entering the garden with his head buried in a technique scroll. That brought a slight smile to her face. Imagine that, she said to herself trying to lighten her own spirits as she had done so many times before. Naruto's actually studying up? "Hello, Naruto-kun," she said.

Naruto's head shot up with his eyes bugged out. The scroll flipped up in the air in a tangled mess. He had obviously not noticed her. "WHOA!" he said catching the scroll. "Sora-chan! I didn't see you there," he said fumbling with the scroll.

Sora smiled. He can always make me smile, she thought thankful that she had company. "Sorry," she said. "I was in complete shock at the sight of you reading so I had to say something."

"Ha ha, very funny," he said rolling his eyes. He couldn't get the scroll straightened out. "What's wrong with this thing?" he yelled in frustration.

"Naruto, you're going to rip it!" Sora said getting up. She grabbed the scroll from him and began to gently roll it up. "Sometimes gentleness and patience are the keys to succeeding." She knew that Naruto had very little of either of these qualities.

Naruto snorted a little as she handed him back a perfectly rolled up scroll. "Yeah, well, I'm gentle!" he said indignantly.

Sora patted him on the shoulder and then something caught her eye behind him. Her expression changed to that of surprise.

"What, Sora?" Naruto said turning around to run his face smack into the chest of someone else. He got bumped back. "What the?" Naruto looked at the guy. "Who the heck are you?" he blurted out in irritation. "And what are you doing standing right behind me?"

"Well that's kind of rude, twerp," the guy said. He had on a sort of brown attire with a hood that gave him two ears on the top sides of his head. He had magenta patterns of kabuki paint lining his face and his eyes seemed a little unpleasant. He pushed past Naruto and extended his hand to Sora. "And who might you be?" he asked in a polite and sort of seductive way.

"Uh…" Sora was shocked at the sight of him but also that he was able to get so close to them without her even noticing. "Uh, Sora…" she said uneasily taking his hand.

He brought her hand to his lips and gently kissed it making Sora feel a little more than uncomfortable. "My name is Kankuro," he said not letting go of her hand as he flashed a smile.

He wasn't ugly but there was just about him that made Sora really nervous. "Uh…"

Naruto was fuming. "HEY! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" He grabbed Sora's hand from Kankuro and stood in front of Sora protectively.

"You're even ruder than I thought," he said getting annoyed. "I hate annoying short guys like you. Maybe I should teach you a lesson or two, huh?" He lowered something that he was carrying on his back.

"Bring it," Naruto spat.

"Naruto-" "Kankuro-" Sora and another female voice said at the same time. "Huh?" Sora said in surprise. She looked up to see a blond girl with a huge metal slab behind her back. She had her hand firmly placed on Kankuro's arm.

"What do you think you're doing?" the blond girl asked Kankuro.

"Nothing that concerns you, Temari," Kankuro said putting the thing back on his back.

The girl turned to Sora and Naruto. "Sorry, he can be an ass sometimes," she said in a less-than-friendly tone.

Sora was even more freaked. What? I couldn't sense her either! Two of them?

Naruto looked at their forehead protectors. They didn't have the symbol of the leaf on them. "Hey, you're not from around here! What's your business?"

"What? We're your guests," Kankuro said coolly. He was getting more and more annoyed at Naruto by the second.

"Guests? For what?" Naruto asked still standing protectively in front of Sora.

"Naruto, we should be more polite," Sora whispered to him. She didn't like the looks of the two of them. They felt really powerful.

"Hey, if they're intruding our village and their from another tribe then-"

"We're not intruding, dobe, we're here for the Chuunin exam," Temari said.

"Chuunin exam?" Naruto said confused.

"It's the exam you take to get from a Genin level to a Chuunin level," Sora explained quietly. He's a little too dense sometimes…

"Really?" Naruto said all of a sudden excited to no end. "Then I'm going to take it and become a Chuunin!"

"Uh, Naruto, I think you have to be recommended by Kakashi-sensei first," Sora said.

Naruto became slightly depressed. "What?" he complained.

"So I take it you're both Konoha Genins," Kankuro said to Sora with the same seductive smile.

Sora smiled uneasily. "Yeah," she said. "And you're from?"

"The Hidden Village of the Sand," Kankuro said with a hint of pride in his voice. "Country of the Wind."

Sora's eyes widened. I've been there before…but not to the village… she thought.

"But enough about me, what about you?" Kankuro asked approaching again. He seemed to forget that Naruto was even there.

Temari sighed but didn't do anything.

Naruto was once again shoved out of the way. "HEY! WHAT THE HECK? YOU CAN'T JUST SHOVE ME LIKE THAT!"

Kankuro stopped. He looked really pissed off. "Guys like you annoy the hell out of me," he said darkly. Then he suddenly grabbed Naruto's shirt and held him up. "There's only so much I can take."

"Kankuro, I'm not going to be responsible for your actions," Temari said with a non-caring sigh.

"Naruto!" Sora gasped. Then in a flash a rock came out of no where and hit Kankuro's arm with such speed and force that he dropped Naruto on the ground in shock and a bit of pain.

"You really shouldn't pick on weaker guys, you know?" Sasuke was sitting on a branch of a tree with his back against the trunk. He was tossing another rock up and catching it lazily as he spoke. "Lay off of Sora," he said with his tone becoming dark.

Kankuro rubbed his arm and winced a bit. Who is this guy? How did he sneak up on us like that?

"Or I'll come down there and teach you a lesson myself." Sasuke crushed the rock he was tossing to dust with his bare hand.

He's handsome, Temari thought blushing. She couldn't stop staring but he wasn't looking at her.

"There will be no need for that," came a soft but strong voice.

What? Sasuke thought as he looked to the side. He saw a guy with red hair and pale green eyes standing upside-down on the branch next to him. He was carrying a gourd on his back. How did he…? I didn't even notice him!

"We should go," the mysterious redhead said. He disappeared in a cloud of sand and reappeared in between Kankuro and Temari. He was shorter than the other two but seemed to be the leader of the group. As he walked the others followed.

Sasuke jumped down from the branch in front of Sora. "Hey," he called. "What's your name?"

Temari immediately turned around with a blush. "Huh? Me?" she said cutely.

"No, the one with the gourd," Sasuke said.

Temari's face fell.

"Gaara," the redhead said turning around. "And I am interested in you." No one was sure whether he was looking at Sasuke or Sora.

Sasuke noticed Gaara's gaze and narrowed his eyes. "My name's Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke said before Sora could say anything.

Gaara turned back around but gave Sora a look that was specifically for her eyes alone as he did. She felt extremely tense as his gaze passed over her. He's creepy, she thought.

The Sand Genins walked off leaving the trio behind. Naruto jumped up from the ground. He was fuming. What? Why is everything always about Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke? He glared at Sasuke. "I'm going to enter the Chuunin exam and beat you!" he yelled in Sasuke's face.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

"Didn't you hear me?" he yelled. He moved to grab Sasuke by the shoulders and shake him into oblivion but Sasuke was too quick.

He grabbed Naruto arms and shoved him forcefully to the side making him lose his balance and Naruto came crashing to the ground.

Sora glanced at the two with slight annoyance. This Chuunin exam is only going to make their rivalry worse, she thought. Naruto sprang back to his feet shouting and glaring at Sasuke. Sora quickly stepped in between the two. "Please," she said softly grabbing both of their hands. "Let's just go home ok?"

Sasuke nodded and relaxed his fist. Naruto did the same but still tried to stare a hole through Sasuke. Sora sighed as she let their hands go. I need to relax, she thought as she rubbed her temples. Something was up with Kakashi. She had seen the eagle as she walked home. I wonder if it has to do with the Chuunin exam, she thought as she looked up at the sky and the unusual amount of birds of prey in it.

"Now I will hear the recommendations from any of you who think your subordinates are ready for the Chuunin exam," the Hokage said smoking his pipe. "We'll start with the ones with rookies."

Asuma stepped up. "I recommend Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Chouji from my team."

Kurenai also stepped up. "I recommend Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino from my team."

Kakashi had made his decision as well. "I recommend Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Kousetsu Sora." He smiled to himself remembering how he knew Sora had just made up her last name on the spot. Snow, he thought. How appropriate.

Iruka-sensei was also there and he jumped up in surprise. "Excuse me, Hokage-sama!" he exclaimed hastily. "This is absurd! These kids were all once my students and they are definitely not ready to face up to the challenges of the Chuunin exam! They're just rookies!"

"That's right," Gai, another Jounin who considered himself Kakashi's arch-rival. "I even made my team wait a year before entering the Chuunin exam. You shouldn't be so hasty, Kakashi."

Kakashi looked at both of them. "I stay by my decision," he said crossing his arms. I'm going to regret this…

"As do I," said Kurenai. Asuma nodded in agreement.

"But-" Iruka started to say.

"It's ok, Iruka-sensei," the Hokage said smoking his pipe thoughtfully. "Let them go. This will be the first time in nine years since rookies have been entered in the Chuunin exam. It could prove very interesting."

Iruka wanted to say something but couldn't since it was after all the Hokage who finalized it.

"Go and inform your students to enter their forms for the exam, but Kakashi-sensei, stay a while," the Hokage said. The two other Jounins bowed and disappeared.

"Hokage-sama," Iruka started.

He held up a hand. "Don't worry, Iruka-sensei," he said reassuringly. "Have faith in this group. I think they might do very well."

Kakashi stood patiently waiting as the other Jounins recommended their teams. Of course his arch-rival Gai recommended his team with the utmost confidence. "I guess our students are going to continue our little rivalry eh, Kakashi?" Gai said giving him his shiny smile and a thumbs-up sign.

"Huh? What'd you say?" Kakashi wasn't paying attention to him at all.

OH KAKASHI! YOU'RE STYLE, IT'S TOO HIP! That's what makes you the worthy adversary, Gai thought dramatically as he grabbed his bobbed cut hair.

Soon all the Jounins left and Kakashi and the Hokage were alone. "Kakashi," the Hokage said puffing his pipe slowly. "I need to talk to you about your student, Sora."

He didn't call her by her last name? He must know then, Kakashi thought. "Yes. What about, Hokage-sama?"

"I've been watching her closely through my orb," he said closing his eyes in thought. "You must have noticed by now that she is dangerous and not just to herself." He opened his eyes. "I'm not fully certain of how much power she holds, but it is beyond our level of understanding at this point. Her Chakra seems to open a portal inside of her that holds a powerful and dangerous being. That is what I'm concerned about. This being's power does not flow from Chakra but from another source entirely."

Kakashi looked at him wishing all he said wasn't true but knowing everything was. "Yes," he said bowing his head slightly to avoid eye contact.

"I have no choice but to seal off her Chakra for now, maybe forever if need be. She is still very young and cannot control more than 3 percent of her Chakra. If she exceeds even a little bit, this monster will break free and kill her and who knows what else it might do," the Hokage said seriously. He knew that Kakashi had feelings for her even though he tried not to show it. I don't blame you either, he thought. She is the most beautiful person I've ever seen in all my years. He smiled at his perverseness in his old age but kept his face straight on the outside. "I know you care for her, Kakashi," he started slowly. Kakashi stiffened. "It seems as though many cannot help but fall for her beauty, but we must protect our village. She is a potential threat."

"I know," Kakashi said shortly.

"In the sealing process, she must learn the feeling of dying. You know this."

"Yes." He was afraid of this happening to her. I don't want you to feel anymore pain than you already do…but this is not my decision…or yours.

"In order for your team to enter the Chuunin exam, you know she will have to participate," the Hokage continued while puffing his pipe again. "Are you sure you want to go through with it?"

"That decision should be made by her," Kakashi said. "She has the right to know."

"Of course," the Hokage said nodding. "Come to the Lake of the Moon near midnight. If she survives, which I'm sure she will, you can take her back to her apartment."

Kakashi nodded his head and disappeared.

The Hokage sat deep in thought. "If she survives…" he trailed off. There is more to the human part of her I'm sure, but I've not heard of any demon sealings inside a human besides Naruto.

The next day, the three Genins woke up bright and early for training as usual, well, two of them did anyway, and they met on the bridge. Sora and Sasuke had to wait patiently for the others to arrive since they got there first. "Good morning, Sasuke-kun," Sora said as he approached.

He nodded in acknowledgment. She seems to have gotten so distant from me lately, he thought as he continued to look at her. He loved the way the rising sun shined through her gorgeous red hair. He loved how her perfectly curved body rested against the railing of the bridge. He loved how her captivating eyes stared at the ground as her delicate fingers played with a strand of her hair. He stepped forward and brushed the hair away. "Sora," he said taking her hand in his.

Sora gasped slightly but didn't look up. "Yes, Sasuke?"

"Tell me what's wrong," he said directly.

How does he see right through me all the time? Sora thought a little exasperated. She kept her gaze down and looked to the side.

Sasuke put his other hand under her chin and lifted her head so that he could see her eyes. "Sora, tell me." His voice was soft but absolute.

Sora sighed. "I…" She tried to look away but couldn't tear her gaze from the sea of blackness in his eyes. "It's the Chuunin exam," she said finally moving her gaze down.

"What about it?"

"It's just that…I know that Kakashi-sensei's gone easy on me and well, I think he thinks I'm not ready to move on yet," she said.

Sasuke snaked his arm around Sora's back moving closer. "How can he think that?" he asked. "You're strong. I've seen you in training. I can feel it." He stroked her cheek.

"It…It just seems like he works you two to death and then ignores me," Sora said feeling uncomfortable. She tried to move away but Sasuke held her fast. "S-Sasuke?"

Sasuke placed his lips on her cheek and brought her into a hug.

Sora gasped as she felt their bodies meet. Then she sensed someone approaching. "Sasuke, someone's coming," she whispered and pushed him away.

Sasuke let himself be pushed away although he wanted to stay like that with Sora forever. I don't care if anyone knows I love her, but why? Why does she push me away? What is she afraid of?

Naruto approached slowly with his hands in his pockets and a blank expression on his face. His eyes were sort of glazed over and he wasn't exactly watching where he was going but just kept putting one foot in front of the other. He hadn't gotten any sleep the night before since he was so excited about the Chuunin exam. He had stayed up all night trying to think up ways to convince Kakashi to recommend him to take the test.

What happened to him? Sora thought as she stared at his slowly approaching figure. He looks like a zombie. Sasuke just gave him a cold glance.

"Mornin'," he said sounding half-dead.

"Uh, hi, Naruto?" Sora said poking his forehead to keep him from falling over. "Are you ok?"

"Oh, yeah," he said with his eyes beginning to droop. "Fine, absolutely…" He had closed his eyes and began to snore lightly while standing.

Sora looked at him completely amazed that he could sleep while standing up. Weird.

Sasuke leaned against the rail next to Sora ignoring the strange scene in front of him. Where is Kakashi? he asked himself annoyed. Why is he always late? He looked at the sky. The sun was already pretty high in the sky even though it was still early morning. Then he sensed someone. Oh, shit...

"SASUKE-KUN!" a high pitched girly voice pierced the air.

"Holy crap," Sora said covering her ears. "What was that?"

Sasuke glanced in dread and annoyance towards the sound. It was Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji. They had been passing by to go to their meeting place when Ino spotted Sasuke. She was running like mad towards them. "SASUKE-KUN! IT'S BEEN SOOO LONG!" she swooned. She knocked the standing/sleeping Naruto over on the ground and pushed herself in between Sasuke and Sora. She wrapped her arms around Sasuke and gave him a huge hug. "Did you miss me?" she asked leaning her head on his shoulder.

Sasuke hadn't moved at all. He just stood there in silent irritation with his arms crossed. He didn't even look at her.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun! I missed you of course! That's what girlfriends are for!" she nuzzled him even tighter than before.

Sora had gotten off the rail before Ino could push her. Oh, it's her, she thought. She looked at Naruto on the ground still asleep and then back at Sasuke and Ino. She smiled. Ha, I bet Sasuke's going to burst anytime now, she said to herself. She made a small bet with herself and gave Sasuke 3 minutes to lose his cool. Then she turned around and saw Shikamaru and the ever-eating Chouji. "Oh, Shikamaru!" Sora said. She hadn't seen him ever since her first day at Konoha. They had both been too busy with training.

"Sora, long time no see," Shikamaru said with one of his rare smiles. "How are things?"

"Great! And you?"

"Not too bad considering…" He nodded his head in the direction of the blabbering Ino and the getting-ever-irritated-by-the-moment Sasuke.

Sora laughed. "I didn't know he had someone so dedicated to him," she said sarcastically.

"Oh, he's got most if not all the girls in Konoha swooning over him," Shikamaru said with a slight sigh of annoyance. "If you'd have been here when we were all at the academy, you wouldn't think twice about it when you saw it. It almost makes me feel sorry for the guy."

"Yeah," Sora said looking back at Sasuke. He was looking straight ahead concentrating as hard as he could on a seemingly very interesting pebble on the bridge. She caught his eye and waved in a friendly, joking way. Two minutes and counting, she thought as she smiled.

What? Is she talking to Shikamaru? Sasuke thought as he tried to keep himself from killing Ino. He stood up and removed Ino's arms from around him. "Excuse me," he said coldly.

"Sasuke-kun," Ino whined. "Where are you going?"

Away from you.

"Sasuke-kun!"

He kept walking.

"So how many missions have you been on?" Shikamaru asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Sora answered. "It seems like a lot, but I can't remember. You?"

"Maybe 20 some or 30 some," he answered. "They've all been like D ranked missions so it hasn't been too exciting."

Sora decided against telling him about their mission to the Country of the Wave. "Yeah, but I heard that the Chuunin exam is coming up soon. Do you think your sensei's going to enter you in?"

"The Chuunin exam? Eh, I dunno," he said. "It seems kind of early to be thinking about that, isn't it?"

"Maybe, but I think Kakashi-sensei's going to at least put Sasuke in."

"Don't you want to enter?"

"Sort of but I don't know if I'm ready yet."

"You?" Shikamaru asked in surprise. "Last time I checked, which was a while ago...but anyway, you were pretty much a Chuunin or even Jounin level ninja already. With the training now you must be a lot better than before!"

Better? Well, I found out I can't use my Chakra in battle or I'll go berserk. My sensei goes easy on me in training probably cuz he thinks I'm weak and control my own powers… "I don't know about that," she said looking down.

Hm, strange, he thought. She's much stronger now, I can sense it. Why is she doubting herself?

"Excuse me," Sasuke said butting in the conversation. "I think your sensei's here."

Sure enough Asuma-sensei was there smoking a cigarette. "I thought I told you three to meet me at the tower at 8," he said. He was surprised that when he got there his students weren't there. They were all usually pretty punctual.

"Oh, sorry, Sensei," Shikamaru said lazily putting his hands behind his head. "We got a little side tracked."

Ino had now run up to the group and was trying to hold onto Sasuke's arm which he tried to keep close to his body away from her. "Sensei, you can't expect me to just pass by Sasuke-kun after being apart from him for sooo long!"

"Uh-huh," Asuma said with a sigh. Maybe I shouldn't tell them about my recommendations… He glanced at Chouji who had been eating potato chips the entire time. He sweat-dropped. Yeah… "Let's go," he said. "We're interrupting Kakashi-sensei's group here."

Sora laughed. "Oh, he's not here yet," she said.

Figures… "Oh," Asuma said. "I thought maybe today he would come on time for once."

"Why?" Sora asked.

Whoops! Let that slip. "Uh-uh, nothing!" he said. "All right guys, we need to go now. Ino, let go of Sasuke."

Ino grudgingly let go and sauntered over to her group. She shouldered Sora as she passed her.

"Excuse me," Sora said sarcastically under her breath.

"Sasuke's mine, got it?" Ino growled as she smiled sweetly back at Sasuke who wouldn't look at her.

"Sure," she said rolling her eyes. What a jerk.

Ino shot Sora a death glare.

"Hey, Sora," Shikamaru said with a wave. "See ya around, ok?"

"Yeah," Sora said smiling again.

Asuma's team left. "What was that all about?" Sasuke asked Sora after they were out of sight.

"What?" Sora said not quite sure what he was talking about. "Ino?"

"No, Shikamaru."

"What about him?"

Sasuke didn't answer. He wanted to tell her to stay away from any guy but him but he held his tongue.

"Are you jealous?" Sora asked in joking tone.

You have no idea. "No."

"Come on," she chided. "Why would you be so up tight about Shika-kun if you weren't jealous?"

Shika-kun? "I'm not."

"You know, Sasuke," Sora said. "You and Ino…" She gave a seductive smile. He's going to kill me, she thought as she turned her back to him and tried to walk back to where they were originally waiting for their sensei.

Sasuke snapped. He grabbed Sora around the waist from behind and pulled her back. "There is nothing between me and Ino," he said in a low voice next to her ear.

"Sasuke," Sora said trying playfully to get free. "Come on, I was joking! I know you'd never go for a slut like her."

Sasuke just held her tighter pulling their bodies together. He put his nose in the crook of her neck and inhaled her scent. She smells so good… he thought as he nuzzled her neck.

Sora was getting uncomfortable now. "Sasuke," she said suddenly turning sideways putting her shoulder between them.

Sasuke let her go. "Sorry," he said shortly and walked passed her to the middle of the bridge.

Sora sighed. Sasuke…

Then Naruto stirred on the ground. He opened his eyes and sat up on the ground in a sort of daze. "Wha…what just happened?"

Sora looked at him with a sort of pity smile. "Well, you kind of got pushed over while you were sleeping standing up." She offered him her hand to help him stand. He took it. "How did you manage to fall asleep on your feet? What were you doing last night that was so tiring?"

Naruto immediately began to perk up. "I was busy all night trying to find a way to get Kakashi-sensei enter us all into the Chuunin exam!"

"Oh, uh, all of us?" Sora asked slowly putting a small space in between each word.

"Yeah! Then we could all become Chuunins together and Team 7 would never die!" Naruto said fully awake. "Where's Sensei? I've got to see if he's gonna do it or not!"

"Uh, he's not here ye-"

"Good morning, my young and, uh," Kakashi glanced at the scowling Sasuke, "ever so lively students!" he finished as he appeared on top of the entrance to the bridge out of nowhere.

Perfect timing as usual, Sora thought rolling her eyes.

"Huh? No return greeting?" Kakashi asked acting like he was emotionally hurt. He jumped down easily to the ground. "How rude."

"Uh, GOOD MORNING, SENSEI!" Naruto said running to him. "You know, I heard that there was some sort of exam thing going on around here and well, shouldn't we as responsible students go and take the exam?" He smiled as widely as he could.

"Exam?" Kakashi said playing dumb. So they already know. "What exam?"

"WHAT?" Naruto said in disbelief. "You mean you don't know about the CHUUNIN EXAM? I mean you see all these weirdo people from other countries crawling all over the place and everything! How can you not know blah, blah, blah…"

Not too perceptive are we? Kakashi thought as he sighed. "Naruto," he said in an attempt to stop him. No use. "Naruto."

"BLAH, BLAH, BLAH I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE BLAH, BLAH, BLAH…"

Sora walked up behind Naruto and clasped a hand over his mouth.

"Mmmf, mmmf, mmmf, muh?" Naruto finally stopped talking.

"Thank you, Sora," Kakashi said putting his hands in his pockets looking for something. "Now where did I put those things?" He kept rummaging around in his pockets. "Hmmm…"

Sora and Naruto looked at him strangely.

"Aha," he said pulling out three slips of paper. "Now, who can guess what these things are?" He waved them around slightly in the air.

"Uh…" Naruto was completely lost.

Sora had a suspicion. Three of them? Is he out of his mind? Those can't be the-

"Chuunin exam applications," Sasuke said shortly with his eyes closed. He hadn't moved from his spot.

"Oh, very good, Sasuke," Kakashi said smiling. "I recommended all three of you to participate in the Chuunin exam coming up in a few days."

"DAYS?" Naruto nearly shouted.

"Why else would the Genins from the other countries already be here, baka," Sasuke said.

Naruto scowled at Sasuke. Hmpf, Naruto thought. This means I'll really have to shape up and train hard every day! I can't lose to Sasuke. He immediately changed his attitude. "Wow, Sensei!" he said loudly to annoy Sasuke. "You recommended us? That's awesome! Now we can all become Chuunins, no problem!" He gave a thumbs-up and flashed a smile.

Sasuke slightly opened his eyes to stare at Naruto with annoyance. How can this guy be so dense?

Kakashi laughed. Heh, he's overconfident. But then again, so is Sasuke, as he always is. He looked at Sasuke. He had a raised, twitching eyebrow while staring at the overexcited Naruto.

Sora was the only one out of the group feeling worried. Oh no, she thought. The Chuunin exam already? I mean, I would've felt ready to take it BEFORE I GOT TO KONOHA! Why is my Chakra so strange all of a sudden? Is there something about this place? Is this the reason why Father wanted me to become a ninja here? She didn't realize her worried expression was so obvious.

Kakashi glanced at her. I know she's worried. I am too… He put an inconspicuous hand on Sora's shoulder. "So," he said getting the other two's attentions. "You three have until tomorrow to turn in your applications. Remember, you don't have to apply if you don't want to." Naruto and Sasuke nodded their heads.

Sora jumped slightly at her sensei's hand on her shoulder. She glanced up at him but quickly looked away seeing the other two guys' eyes on her. She gave them a confident smile but inside she felt horrible. Oh crap…

"This is soooo cool!" Naruto said scanning the paper. "Huh? Oh, Sensei, here it says we need an individual picture and then a team picture on the forms. We haven't taken a team picture yet, have we?" He tried to think back.

"Oh, no we haven't," Kakashi said smiling in his hidden way. "I guess we should go do that right now."

Sora immediately jumped. "Now? But, but, I mean it's not like I'm obsessed with how I look but for a life-long picture of our Genin team, don't you think we should at least wash up a bit?" She realized that it was still morning and they hadn't done much yet but she didn't want to look like a slob in her team photo.

You of all people don't need to make yourself more beautiful than you already are, Sasuke thought as he looked at her. Kakashi was thinking along the same lines.

"Aw, Sora-chan," Naruto said nudging her a little with his elbow. He had his sly grin on. "You want to look good for me?" He was making fun of her because he thought the same as the other two but he couldn't miss the opportunity of annoying Sora.

Sora sweat-dropped. "No," she said embarrassed. She pushed him away as she blushed. Naruto I'm going to kill you later. "Just give me ten minutes-" Ten minutes… The words stuck to her. She thought back to when they were in Tazuna's house and Sasuke gave her ten minutes to get ready that one morning. She blushed even more and glanced at Sasuke who, by his expression, was thinking of the same thing.

"Yeah," Sasuke said. "We'll give you ten minutes." He smirked.

Sora hated that smirk. She nodded her head uncomfortably and gave a shaky smile. I'm going to kill Sasuke later, too, she decided as she turned to walk to her apartment.

She remembers it all, he thought.

Kakashi noticed all the little glances between Sasuke and Sora and felt the pang of jealousy again but he kept his nonchalant look on his face. Dammit, Kakashi! he swore at himself.

Naruto was, as usual, completely oblivious to everything. "Whoa, Sasuke, when did you get to be so nice?" he asked stupidly.

Sasuke ignored him and started walking towards Sora's apartment to wait for her. Kakashi grabbed Naruto who was still scratching his head at Sasuke's odd behavior and they were off.

Once she knew she was out of sight of the others, Sora sprinted to her apartment and got there in no time. She ran in and closed the door as quickly as she could. I'm not gonna let him in here, she thought as she brushed her hair furiously. He thinks he's got me, huh? Well...let's see who's got who! She decided after her hair was neater to "dress up" a bit. Hehehe, she thought as she slipped out of her ninja outfit. This'll be nice. She picked out a nicer dress that wasn't exactly formal but it fitted her figure very well. It was a deep red color that accented her hair perfectly and had a collar but it extended down but was still modest. It was sleeveless and had silver linings around the arms, the rims of the slits, and the bottom of the dress that extended all the way to the floor. The slits on the sides went halfway up her thighs showing off her legs. The silver linings extended into her dress forming the symbol of her old village, an elaborate snowflake. She put on a simple silver choker necklace as a final touch. With a final glance in the mirror, she checked the time. It had been 9 minutes and 34 seconds. HAH! Beat that time! She put her forehead protector around her arm as she usually did and opened her door to find all three guys waiting.

Sasuke was about to sneak into her apartment because he had been hoping she would take longer than ten minutes but then the door opened. His mouth fell open. He was glued to the spot. Naruto's eyes were bugged out and his mouth had fallen open as well.

Kakashi, who had been reading his Icha Icha Paradise book looked up and almost dropped the book. His eyes widened as he saw Sora. Is it possible that she could be even more beautiful? He tried to breathe but couldn't. God, Sora, you could kill a man by just letting him look at you!

Sora… Sasuke was at a loss of what to think. He was too shocked at her beauty. I mean you always looked like a goddess but… He felt his eyes take a sweep over her body.

Naruto was the first to snap out of the trance. "Sora," he said wiping away some drool. "You are one sexy lady!"

Sora, who was already annoyed at them all for staring slapped Naruto across the face. "Excuse me, but shouldn't we be going now?"

Naruto whined but inside he didn't care. To him, it was as if she kissed his cheek. "Ow, geez, Sora-chan that really hurt," he complained as he rubbed his cheek.

Sora rolled her eyes at him. Kakashi was next to snap out of the trance. "Uh, sorry there, Sora," he said putting a hand behind his head. "Hehe, you do look very nice, but, uh, yeah, we should go." He forced himself to turn and start walking. You pervert, he said to himself.

Naruto gave Sora a last smirk and dodged another slap as he ran after Kakashi. Sasuke was still entranced and Sora of course noticed. Hah, she thought triumphantly. Beat that you jerk! She smiled and walked up to him getting very close. "What are you waiting for?" she whispered softly in his ear.

Sasuke was about to explode if he didn't do something. What is she doing? he thought as he tried to breathe. She was so close, her head was right next to his ear and he couldn't move. Sora… He finally moved to grab her waist and pull her closer but Sora was expecting this and moved gracefully away.

"Come on," she said coaxingly as she turned slowly and walked away. Hehe! Oh the agony! she thought evilly as she saw pure torture in Sasuke's eyes. He deserves it.

Sasuke began to breathe heavily. His heart was beating a million miles a minute. He knew that Kakashi and Naruto weren't far off but he wanted to take Sora right then and there. Oh god Sora… He managed to walk forward but kept a distance away from Sora so that he could control himself better.

Once at the photographer's shop, they decided to take their picture in the field where they had first trained with the bells. It was perfect weather with a slight breeze to add to the perfection. The photographer was an older gentleman but he couldn't help but gape at Sora when he saw her. As the group situated themselves for the photo, Sasuke on the left, Sora in the middle, Naruto on the right, and Kakashi behind them, the photographer began talking to Sora about how she should situate herself. He was planning on taking a few shots for himself.

Sasuke was about to kill the man but Kakashi spoke first. "Can we just get this done with?" he said impatiently. He was having a hard time just keeping his hands off of Sora who was directly in front of him. The three Genins looked up at him in shock. He was usually really laid back and lazy.

The photographer quickly went back to his camera. Heh, this is the Copy Ninja. I don't want to mess with him, he thought as he hid his embarrassed face behind the camera. "Okay, well, Sensei," he said carefully. "Why don't you put your hands on the two boys' shoulders?"

Kakashi obliged with a much more accommodating attitude now that the guy was further away from Sora. He was back to his lazy manner and leaned down a little to put his head nearer Sora.

Sasuke refused to smile and just crossed his arms to keep them from wandering over to a certain female next to him which made him look even more sullen than he usually did. Naruto was completely into it. He flashed his famous smile did a thumbs up sign. Sora smiled confidently looking like an angel from heaven.

"Ok, one, two-" Click.

"Huh?"

"Three. Now usually teams want photos of just the Genins in one and then a separate photo of the sensei with each of his students," he said hoping to make more doubles of Sora's pictures. "Did you guys want to order that?"

Before any of the guys could object, Sora said, "Sure!" She never had a picture of anyone from her village, not even her father so she always kept pictures of people she was closer to like all of her previous senseis and friends from other countries.

"Ok then! First we'll have you three Genins."

Naruto gave Sasuke a glare. Heh, I'm not going to let him get in the good spot, he thought.

Sasuke hated pictures. What did I do to deserve this? He sighed and put his hands in his pockets.

Since no one else had an opinion, Sora wanted to have the Genin picture on the bridge where they met everyday. The water was crystal clear blue and a few flower petals began to float through the air since it was spring time. Sora stood at one of the railings that showed the forest of blooming trees behind her. "How about here?" she asked as the photographer clicked an unexpected picture of her. "Huh?"

"Hey, what was that all about?" Naruto asked annoyed at the photographer whom he had noticed was watching Sora like a hawk.

"Oh, it was just the perfect opportunity!" he said trying to sound like a professional artist with an inspiration.

Yeah, right, Sasuke thought darkly as he walked over stood next to Sora protectively.

"Wow, Sasuke," Sora said jokingly. "I didn't know you liked pictures."

"I don't," he said shortly. Sora laughed to herself.

Naruto rushed up to them positioning himself on the other side of Sora. "Heh, how should we pose?" he asked trying to get her attention away from Sasuke. He draped an arm around her shoulders smiling cheesily.

Sora didn't push his arm off amazingly. She was enjoying Sasuke's torment. "Whatever you guys want," she said.

Sasuke was about to stab and then pound Naruto into powder but he refrained.

Naruto smiled even bigger. "Then," he said as he pulled Sora closer and did a gun sign with his other hand. Sora laughed.

Sasuke couldn't keep his arm from going around Sora's waist. He can't have her! he thought viciously. He pulled Sora closer to him. The photographer saw the opportunity and clicked. Naruto and Sasuke didn't notice. They were still holding onto Sora determined to keep her in their grasps.

That bastard, Naruto thought. He was certainly not going to let go. He glared at Sasuke. Sasuke glared right back at him and their gazes locked in an electric stare. Sora thought she could have some fun with this and didn't do anything. The two boys kept getting closer and closer to Sora but never kept their eyes off each other. The photographer kept clicking away. Then Sora moved suddenly but subtly and the two boys lost their balance and stumbled forward. Sora moved backwards a little as the other two fell. Then, as if it was planned, the photographer clicked.

It was an odd picture. The two boys each had their own little expression of shock and surprise as they were stumbling forward and Sora was behind them laughing. In the next spilt second, the two boys had bonked heads. "Ow," Naruto whined as he fell back. He rubbed his head. "What the heck?"

Sasuke kept his balance but was fuming at Naruto and Sora. She thinks she can torture me like this? Well, I'll just have to… He smiled evilly.

"Naruto-kun!" Sora said not meaning for them to bonk heads or fall. "Are you ok?" She helped him up.

Of course…Sasuke growled as he saw their hands meet.

"Hehe," Naruto said embarrassedly. "I'm absolutely fine!" he said as he turned red.

Sora was about to say something but the photographer wanted to get on with the sensei pictures. "Ok, let's get Kakashi-sensei again and find a suitable place for the last pictures."

Kakashi was nearby and of course reading to try and get his mind off of Sora. He was sitting under a tree when the others found him. "Oh? Done already?" he asked lazily avoiding Sora's eyes.

"Yup," Naruto said. "Now for my picture, I want to ride on your shoulders, Sensei!"

"Uh, no."

"Aw, come on!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pret-"

"Will you shut up?" Sasuke interrupted directing the "you" at Naruto. "I'll go first." He stepped forward and faced the camera. "Whenever you're ready."

"Ok," the photographer said. "Smile?"

That only made Sasuke scowl more.

Kakashi laughed in his amused way and put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and the other in his pocket. He smiled behind his cloth. The photographer took the picture. As soon as they were done Naruto, who had sneaked up the tree behind them jumped on Kakashi's shoulders making the unsuspecting Jounin stumble forward a little. "WOOHOO!" Naruto yelled as he winked at the camera. The photographer apparently had really good reflexes and was able to catch it on film.

Kakashi picked Naruto off of his shoulders and dropped him on the ground. "Don't worry, your punishment is coming soon," he said in his quiet threatening manner.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh even though he knew that Kakashi was probably serious. "I'm going to frame that one!" he said as he ran behind Sora for shelter.

Kakashi just sighed and fixed his forehead protector. "Ok, one more," he said to himself out loud.

Sora stifled a giggle that was threatening to come out as she stepped up to Kakashi. "Don't worry, Sensei," she said smiling. "I'm not gonna do anything."

You're already doing something, Kakashi thought as he sighed.

Sora surprised Kakashi by grabbing his hand and putting his arm around her shoulders. "Just a nice, friendly picture," she said as she put her arms around his waist and leaned her head slightly on his chest.

Kakashi was thankful for his mask because he was blushing like mad. He unconsciously drew Sora closer and put his other hand in his pocket. The two smiled at the camera and the photographer took it just when a few flower petals danced across the wind in front of them. It was a perfect picture. Sora, if you only knew, Kakashi thought not wanting to let her go. Her arms felt so good around his waist. The smell of her hair was intoxicating him and he wanted to bury his face in her neck and just kiss away the worries and fears he had sensed in her earlier. But he forced himself to let go.

Sora looked over at Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto was naïve as usual. "That was a nice picture," he said going up to her.

"Thanks," she said. She could sense that Sasuke was fuming on the inside even though he looked like he didn't care on the outside and that was enough for Sora. "You've got to get me a copy of your picture," she said quietly to Naruto.

"Yeah," Naruto said proudly. "Pretty good idea huh?"

Sora laughed.

"Ahem," Kakashi said appearing right behind them. "Did I mention a punishment for you Naruto?"

Naruto's face went pale. "Uh…I've got to go now! See ya!" He took off.

"I'll be going, too, then," the photographer said. "I'll get these pictures to you in an hour or so."

"Thanks," Sora said smiling.

Kakashi turned to Sasuke. "Can you go and find Naruto please? We haven't trained yet today." He wanted to get rid of Sasuke to talk to Sora.

Sasuke glared at Kakashi but disappeared in a huff.

"Sora," Kakashi said seriously once they were alone. "I've been asked by Hokage-sama for you to see him at sunset today."

Sora gave him a questioning look. "What's this about?"

"I don't really know," Kakashi said untruthfully. He should tell her. "But you have to go of course."

"I know," she said. I wonder what he wants.

Kakashi saw her worried expression and ventured to lift her head up to see her eyes. Please, don't worry…I can't stand to see you suffer. Their eyes locked. He couldn't look away. Why? Why are you so captivating? Are you some beautiful demon sent here to torment me or are you an angel from heaven sent to save me from my past?

Sora tried not to show her emotions through her eyes but she knew that Kakashi already knew her fears. He just had that talent of knowing things before you said anything.

"OW! GEEZ SASUKE! THAT HURTS!" came Naruto's voice from a distance. Kakashi took his hand away from Sora's chin and looked towards the direction of the sound to see Sasuke dragging a slightly beaten up Naruto over to them.

Sora changed her demeanor and waved at them. Got to act normally… "Finally!" she called to them. "Naruto, you knew we still needed to train today, right?" She smiled teasingly.

"Heh, of course I did!" he said sheepishly as he put a hand behind his head.

Sasuke glared at Kakashi. What did you do to her? He had noticed the fear in Sora's eyes before she could cover it up.

"Ok," Kakashi said going back to sensei mode. "I want you all to do 150 laps around the village, 100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, and 100 pull-ups. Then we'll go from there."

Naruto jumped to his feet. "All right!" He was determined to beat Sasuke in everything that day. "Let's go!" He took off running as fast as he could.

Kakashi sighed. "He'll never learn, will he?" Naruto had always used up most of his energy to do the laps because he didn't get the concept of conservation.

"Oh, can I go back and change really quickly?" Sora asked. "It'll only take like 10 seconds, I promise!"

"Ok," Kakashi said, "but I expect you to be done with your warm-ups at the same time Sasuke's done."

"No problem!" Sora said as she leaped away towards her apartment. Sasuke jumped out of sight as well to start his laps.

Kakashi sat down and began to read his book again but was distracted by his thoughts. Sora, Hokage-sama, the Chuunin exam, he couldn't concentrate and decided to just meditate a while until his students were done.

Training was done for the day and a tired Sora walked down the street towards the main office building where the Hokage was. I hope he doesn't keep me for long, she thought as she wrapped a new cut she had gotten that day from training. Oh, well, at least I think Kakashi-sensei was treating me a little more equally with Naruto and Sasuke today. She went in the office and was about to tell the receptionist she was here to see the Hokage when he appeared right in front of her. Holy crap! Where'd he come from? "Hokage-sama!" she said.

"Sora," he said. "You must come with me." He left the building.

What? Sora thought. We're already leaving? She sighed but followed. They walked in silence into the forest. Finally they arrived at a lake. The water was as still as glass and the half moon was reflected perfectly in it.

"You might be wondering why I brought you here?" the Hokage finally spoke.

Sora nodded. "Yes, sir."

"I brought you here to give you a choice but either way will end up with you having to give up your Chakra powers for a time."

"What?"

"I'm sorry that it's come to this," he said turning slightly to face the lake. "I've been observing you with a very keen eye ever since you got here to Konoha. You have a tremendous amount of Chakra inside of yourself but you can only use up to about 3 percent of its real power."

What? Only 3 percent? I've definitely used more than that before! Sora thought.

"I don't know why, but if you exceed this 3 percent limit then something awakens inside of you. I'm not sure what it is."

Is that why that other person inside of me came out? "I…I don't…" she trailed off. She wanted to somehow make sure the Hokage knew that she wasn't as weak as she thought he thought she was. (Confused?)

"I know what you're thinking," he said quietly. He watched her. "But your situation is getting to the point where it is becoming dangerous to yourself and those around you. I am forced to seal your Chakra in order to keep it from getting out of control. You will still be able to do Taijutsu but none of the other types of jutsu since they involve Chakra."

Sora was shocked. How can he just seal my Chakra away? And the Chuunin exam… "I thought you said I had a choice," she said.

"Yes. Your choice is whether or not you still want to proceed with the Chuunin exam without your Chakra powers." He let his words sink in. "I'm sorry to spring this on you so suddenly but I had to wait for the half moon."

"Half moon…" Sora didn't know what he meant. If he takes away my Chakra, I'll be at a severe disadvantage…but he's going to do it anyway so what does it matter? I have to try! I can't become a ninja if I don't! Besides, she gave a bitter laugh. It'll be a challenge. "I'm not backing out of the Chuunin exam," she said definitely.

Hm. The Hokage had predicted such a response. "Very well then, I can't stop you," he said. "But now I must do the seal."

Sora nodded trying to make herself trust him.

The Hokage stepped out onto the water and walked to the middle of the lake. He motioned for her to follow him. She gulped and stepped out cautiously on the water and walked behind him. Once they reached the middle, the Hokage turned to face Sora. "Close your eyes and picture the half moon in your mind," he directed her.

She did as she was told and concentrated her mind on the half moon. Then she felt his hands on her shoulders. He began to chant something but she couldn't decipher it. His Chakra began to flow down from his hands into her body. It felt strong and reassuring but at the same time dangerous.

"Keep concentrating on the half moon," the Hokage said sensing that she was being distracted by his Chakra.

Sora tightened her already shut eyes and focused everything she had on the moon. After some time, she saw the moon enlarge. It was as if she was rising up to meet it in her mind. Then her vision doubled and a mirror image of the moon appeared. It now looked like a full moon. What is this? she thought as her mind reached out her hand towards the moon.

The Hokage saw her motion. It's time. He took his hands off of her shoulders and preformed the last few seals. He spread his arms out and extended his fingers in the air. The water of the lake began to stir around them. Sora was too engulfed in her vision of the moon to notice. Then she began to sink lower and lower into the water. The Chakra that the Hokage had put in her began to swirl and mix with her own.

Finally Sora was completely submerged in the water bringing her back to her senses. She opened her eyes. The water was wrapped around her holding her down. She panicked and started struggling to get back above the water for air but she couldn't move. She was helpless. What the hell is he doing? she thought in fear.

"Focus on the moon," she heard his distant voice say.

What is he thinking? She struggled even more. He's drowning me! She was losing air quickly. I can't…hold it… She felt herself slipping in and out of consciousness. She was forced to stop struggling and let her mind go. Is this what if feels like to die? she thought as she sunk deeper and deeper into the lake. Her eyes fluttered shut as she was losing air. All she could see now was the moon. The mirrored vision was still there but now she could see that the mirrored half of the moon was becoming a real half. That's strange, she told herself subconsciously.

The Hokage was getting ready for the final step. I'm sorry, but this will hurt, he thought as he bent down and touched his hands on the surface of the water. "Chakra Moon Seal no jutsu!" he said as he released an enormous amount of Chakra into the water. Four columns of water shot up from the surface representing the four seasons. "Winter Moonshine!" One of the columns bent over and splashed down into the lake with a tremendous force. It broke through the surface and went straight for Sora.

I'm dying… Sora thought as she felt her last breath leave her. Why? She felt the water fill her lungs as an inexplicable burning pain overwhelmed her. She wanted to scream but had no air to. She lost all consciousness. The column of water surrounded her and then brought her shooting back up the surface. Once above water, the other columns of water fused together forming a barrier around Sora.

The Hokage stood up and walked to the shore. My part is done, he thought. Now, it's up to you. He left.

The water slowly settled back down and the lake became still again. Sora was standing in the center. The last of the Hokage's Chakra was leaving her. The reflection of the moon in the lake was not of the half moon in the sky anymore but of a full moon and so it was to be until the seal was broken.

After a few moments of silence, Sora's eyes shot open in panic. She gasped for air and fell to her knees but realized that she was sinking. What? she thought as she struggled to use her Chakra to stand on the water. Where is…oh, right… She caught her breath and swam for shore. Her body was aching and didn't want to move but she finally made it to dry land. She crawled up on shore and gasped for air. I thought I was going to die. She collapsed on the ground. I really thought he was going to kill me. She tried to get up but couldn't. I can't get home tonight that's for sure, she thought. She soon fell asleep on the forest floor.

Kakashi came at midnight as he was instructed and saw Sora lying on the ground still half in the water. She's still alive! he thought with a sigh of relief. He jumped down next to her and picked her up. "Sora," he said softly. Her body was sopping wet. She stirred in his arms but didn't open her eyes. Kakashi leaped away to her apartment.

It was only a matter of seconds before he arrived. He found Sora's key in her pouch with her kunai knives and opened the door. As he stepped inside he knew that he was going to have to undress her and put her in some dry clothes. Kakashi, he said to himself, now is not the time to be thinking like that. He had to use some of his Chakra to control his mind as he undressed her. He forced himself not to look. If I truly love her then I will not take advantage of her, he told himself over and over. He quickly dressed her in her night clothes that he found in her closet and covered her up with her blankets.

When he was done, he sat down next to her on her bed. "Sora," he said out loud. "I know you've made your choice about the Chuunin exam." He placed a hand on her neck and lightly stroked her cheek with his thumb. "I also made a choice for you as well when I recommended you to the exam. I know I haven't been going as hard on you as the other two but now you know my reasons. You have the potential to be a great ninja and this trial will help you to overcome all your weaknesses." He stopped and ran his fingers through her hair. "I want you to be careful in this exam," he said knowing that her subconscious mind will retain what he said. "Train up your physical speed and strength to its maximum. You can pass this without your Chakra. I'm sorry that it will cause you more pain…" Then he stood up and walked to the door.

"Sensei?" he heard Sora's voice.

He turned around quickly but saw that she was still asleep. He smiled and slipped quietly out the door. He stood looking at the moon outside her apartment. He knew that he could not protect her once she stepped into the exam room even though he wanted to. His heart ached as he thought of her pain and suffering to come. But she has made her choice, his mind told him.

But it's too painful, his heart pleaded. She's going to push herself to the limit physically no matter what now that she doesn't have her Chakra. She might even die.

Trust her abilities. She'll make it through.

"Yes," he said to himself. "Yes, I have to let her go." He leaped away into the night.

The next morning Sora woke up out of habit at the crack of dawn. She cautiously moved her hand expecting a piercing pain to shoot through her arm like before but amazingly, she didn't feel a thing. "Huh?" She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed in amazement. "I feel…fine?" She got up and stretched out her arms and moved her legs. "I don't feel any different than before…" she said as she looked in the mirror. "Was I dreaming?"

She washed up in a daze and dressed herself forgetting to wonder how she'd gotten home. She grabbed her completed application form for the Chuunin exam on her way out the door. "Well," she said to herself as she locked her door. "I'll just wait and see when the time comes." Part of her knew it was foolish to try and waste Chakra for no reason outside of battles and the other part of her didn't want to find out if it was real or not for fear of it being the former, so she decided to be patient and wait until it was absolutely necessary to find out.

The applications were to be turned in at the ninja academy in room 301 as it was written on the sheet. She walked over to the school expecting to find Sasuke there waiting for her. Of course Naruto is still probably asleep, she thought to herself and smiled.

Upon arriving at the school, she saw it was more crowded than she thought it would be with applicants. They all seemed to be tougher-looking, older, and somewhat intimidating. Sora was feeling really uncomfortable as she looked around for Sasuke. She walked in the building feeling really self conscious because she could feel the eyes of every guy she passed follow her. A group of male Genins from the village of the Mist whistled as she passed by. She ignored them but she felt more uncomfortable than ever. Where the heck is Sasuke? she thought as she kept walking. I don't know which way is room 301!

"Sora!" called a voice.

"Huh?" Sora said and turned to face the voice. It was Naruto and Sasuke was with him. "Naruto? You're here? Early?"

"Hey," Naruto said defensively. "I wouldn't be late for something like this! But yeah, everyone's heading upstairs now so let's go quick before we get caught in the traffic."

Sora nodded. She felt a little better now that her two teammates were with her. Both Sasuke and Naruto noticed the unwanted attention Sora was receiving from the other guys and they both instinctively walked on either side of her protectively.

As they climbed the stairs, they heard a commotion going on in the hall. "Would you please just let us through?" a female voice said.

"You've got to get past us first," a rough male voice said back.

The three turned the corner to see a cluster of Genins from all different tribes surrounding two mean looking guys who were standing in front of the door.

"This is ridiculous!" the female said as she approached them. One of the guys standing in front of the door lashed out and landed a punch on the girl's cheek. The crowd gasped.

"The Chuunin exam isn't for wimps like you guys if you can't even get past us!" said the other guy. "You should all just quit now if you don't want to get killed."

The girl, whose name was Tenten, wiped her mouth and was about to say something when Neji, one of her teammates and the number one rookie from the year before grabbed her arm to restrain her.

"What's going on here?" Sasuke said calmly walking up to them.

"You've got to turn in your applications here don't ya?" said the first guy. "Well, we're not going to let you."

"That's odd," Sasuke said in an uncaring voice.

"How so?"

"This is the second floor so room 301 wouldn't be here, now would it?" he said. The crowd gasped in realization. "You should've all seen the illusion they were putting up here," Sasuke said calmly putting his hands in his pockets.

"You think you're smart don't ya?" one of the guys said. "Well, how's this for smarts?" He threw a punch at Sasuke but Sasuke retaliated in the blink of an eye and was about to block it with a powerful kick but then they both stopped.

A strange looking boy named Rock Lee who was the other teammate of Neji and Tenten had blocked both attacks and was now standing in between the two of them holding Sasuke's foot and the other guy's arm. He had a bobbed haircut and bushy eyebrows adding to his strangeness. "We shouldn't fight in the school now! Save it for the exam," he said releasing both of them.

What? He's fast, Sasuke thought. He was able to block my attack and the other guy's?

"Lee," Neji said, "I thought we made an agreement not to do anything out of the ordinary."

"I'm sorry," Lee said looking down. "But…" He looked straight up at Sora with a blush on his face.

Sora looked at him knowing what was about to happen. She sweat-dropped.

Lee walked towards her. "My name is Rock Lee," he said confidently as he picked up her hands in his. "And I swear if you accept me I will protect you with everything I've got! Will you go out with me?"

Sasuke and Naruto dropped. What?

"Uh," Sora said not really expecting him to be so straight forward. "Do you even know me?"

"Not yet but I would most definitely like to get to know you!" Lee said with a deeper blush. "You are truly beautiful!" He bowed down to kiss her hands but then both Naruto and Sasuke suddenly appeared in between them making Lee release Sora's hands. They both looked mad.

"Excuse me," Naruto said, "but you're not her type."

Lee stared straight back at him seemingly unfazed. "And you are?" he asked sarcastically.

Naruto was on the verge of knocking his brains out. "She's-"

"Naruto!" Sora said interrupting him not wanting a fight to break out. She covered his mouth and dragged him backwards. "Uh, sorry but I think we need to go and, uh, turn in our applications now." Hint, hint, Sasuke.

"Mmmf, mmmf, mmmf!" Naruto said still talking to Lee.

Sasuke just gave Lee a look of contempt and turned his back to follow Sora and Naruto. He's got no chance with her, he thought.

"Hey wait a minute," Neji spoke up.

The group stopped and Sasuke turned around.

"What're your names?" he asked Sasuke and Sora. He wasn't very interested in Naruto.

"Usually you introduce yourself before you inquire another's name," Sasuke said coldly knowing perfectly well who Neji was and not wanting him to know who Sora was.

Neji refused to be fazed by Sasuke's attitude. "Hyuuga Neji."

Hyuuga? Sora thought. He's related to Hinata-chan?

Sasuke smiled confidently. "Uchiha Sasuke." He turned his back to face Sora and Naruto.

"And you?" Neji directed his question to Sora.

"Uh-" she started.

"That's none of your concern," Sasuke interrupted quickly. "Let's go." He grabbed Sora's arm and pulled her and Naruto away.

Naruto was now fuming at Sasuke. Why does he always get all the attention? he thought angrily.

Who does he think he is? Sora thought angrily. I can tell whoever I want what my name is! But then she felt Naruto tense up and had to concentrate on holding on even tighter to keep him from doing anything unnecessary. "Naruto!" she whispered. "Will you calm down?"

Naruto finally relaxed at Sora's voice and she released him but he still felt angry at Sasuke. That arrogant jerk…I'll show everyone in the exam who's better! The two boys' eyes locked in a vicious stare as they walked down the hall.

You can't keep her from me forever, Uchiha, Neji thought as he watched them go.

The two thugs had hidden in a room and they now were transformed back into their original adult Jounin forms. "I think this year's gonna be interesting, don't you?" said one.

"Yes, very interesting," replied the other.

The crowd that had gathered around the door was now dispersing to look for the real room to turn in their applications. "Come on, Lee," Tenten called to the boy still staring off in the direction Sora went.

"I'll be right with you," he said. "I've got to do something."

"Lee, you-" She was cut off when he was nowhere to be seen. "This could be troublesome," she said to Neji who was also still staring off in direction Sora and the others had gone.

"Hm."

Not him too, Tenten thought putting a hand to her head. Who is she anyway?

Sora, Naruto, and Sasuke found out that they needed to walk to the other side of the academy to get to the room to turn in their applications so they decided to cut across the courtyard.

"Uchiha!" Lee's voice called.

The group stopped as they all turned around to see Lee on the balcony above them. Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"I demand a fight with you right now!" he said jumping down from the balcony and landing with ease. He stood straight and tall with one hand behind his back and the other extended in front of him with his palm facing himself.

"Why?" Sasuke said coldly.

"Because," Lee said, "I want to prove to the world that geniuses like you can be beaten by hard work and perseverance. I, unlike you, can't use Genjutsu or Ninjutsu attacks, but my Taijutsu is superior and I'll prove it! And also…" He turned his gaze to Sora. "I need to prove that I'm strong enough for her!"

Sora stepped back in surprise. That was unexpected, she thought as she panicked. Crap, now Sasuke's going to fight him no matter what.

"Fine," Sasuke said confidently. I can beat him easily. He wasn't going to back down from a challenge for Sora.

"NO!" Naruto yelled having enough. "I'll fight you!" He ran at Lee.

"I want to fight the Uchiha, not you," Lee said calmly. As Naruto's fist came at him, he effortlessly used two fingers and pushed his fist to the side. Naruto went spinning into the wall.

What? Sora thought as she watched him. He's not able to use Genjutsu or Ninjutsu but he is still so good in his Taijutsu ability? If last night wasn't a dream, I'm going to have to be just as good as he is, but I'm not nearly of the same level…

Lee knew Sora was looking at him and he blushed. "Now, Uchiha," he said gaining confidence. "Fight me!"

"With pleasure," Sasuke said focusing his energy so that his Sharingan appeared.

"Sasuke, don't," Sora pleaded once she saw the Sharingan. "We've got to turn in our forms in a half an hour!"

"Don't worry," Sasuke said. "This will take ten minutes." He smirked at her confidently.

Sora rolled her eyes. The overconfidence again?

Yes, I get to go against the genius' special attack! Lee thought as he readied himself. "I feel honored to fight one as strong as you so early on," he said.

Sasuke ignored the comment and rushed at him whipping out a kunai blade. He sliced through the air but Lee had disappeared. "What?"

"Behind you," Lee said.

What the heck? Sasuke thought as he turned and sliced the air behind him. Once again, Lee was gone.

Lee was once again behind him. "Amazed? I've got to tell you that the Sharingan can copy any Nin or Genjutsu attacks but mine are all straight hand-to-hand combat techniques. The Sharingan can see them and copy them but your body cannot keep up with my speed!" He aimed a kick at Sasuke.

Sasuke barely blocked it and skidded back. This guy… He was getting annoyed. Faster than me? He ran at Lee again this time throwing two kunai knives at him but Lee dodged them easily and landed a punch right under Sasuke's chin. Sasuke went flying upwards. How?

Lee jumped up in the air. "I'm not finished yet," he said. He aimed a kick at Sasuke's stomach but Sasuke twisted out of the way just in time.

They both landed and immediately rushed at each other. Sasuke blocked another one of Lee's punches, but barely, and then he aimed a kick at Lee's legs but missed.

"Konoha Senpu (Hurricane)!" Lee yelled and kicked Sasuke high in the air stunning him.

No, Sasuke thought as he flew through the air. I don't believe this.

"Now I will end this battle!" Lee said. He was right underneath him in the air unwrapping the bandages on his arms. "Shadow Dance."

Sasuke turned his head in disbelief to see what Lee meant by Shadow Dance, but then a pinwheel came out of nowhere and pinned Lee's bandage to the wall making Lee land on the ground.

"Sasuke!" Sora gasped as she saw that he wouldn't be able to break his own fall. She ran over and caught his body from crashing into the ground. He couldn't even react to his attacks! she thought as she glanced over at Lee who was looking very scared in front of a giant tortoise. What the heck?

"Lee," the tortoise said sternly, "what have you to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I know I got carried away, please forgive me!" Lee was on the ground groveling at the tortoise's feet.

"Gai-sensei is coming," the tortoise said. "You'd better get ready to face him."

Naruto woke up at that moment and saw the tortoise. "What's with the turtle?" he asked groggily scratching his head.

"Ahem! Tortoise!" the tortoise said indignantly. Then POOF! A puff of smoke appeared on top of the tortoise and there stood Gai-sensei. His hair was bobbed just like Lee's and he flashed his shiny smile at Sora who was staring at him in disbelief. She's a cute one, he thought as his teeth blinded everyone in the room.

I didn't know such a person existed, Sora thought. She felt Sasuke struggling to sit up. "Are you ok, Sasuke?" she asked trying to help him.

He shook her hands off angrily. "I'm fine," he said roughly.

He's really shaken up, Sora thought. She knew that his pride was hurt and that basically meant he was going to be in a bad mood the rest of the day and then some. She stood up and shifted her gaze back to Gai but he wasn't there anymore. He was behind her.

"Well, well, well," Gai said from behind.

Sora gasped and turned around. I didn't even sense him moving! she thought.

"You're Kakashi's aren't you?" he said with a chuckle as he looked her over and liked what he saw even more now that he was up closer. Sasuke tensed as he saw Gai's gaze sweep over Sora.

"A fuzzy eyebrowed guy like you knows Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto yelled out rudely.

"Shut up!" Lee practically screamed at Naruto. "You shouldn't talk to Gai-sensei like that! He-"

"Lee, it's ok," Gai said walking back over to Lee. "Yes, I know your sensei," he said to Naruto. "You could say that we've been arch-rivals ever since the academy days." He put his hand under his chin a state of dramatic remembrance.

Naruto's eye twitched. This guy's Kakashi-sensei's rival?

Gai turned to Lee. "You!" he said overdramatically. He pulled back his arm and punched Lee hard in the cheek sending Lee backwards to the ground.

"WAH?" Sora gasped at what happened.

"Lee," Gai said more softly now with tears forming in his eyes. "You broke your promise to me, to your team, and to yourself!" he sobbed adding a soapy emphasis on the word "yourself."

Lee kneeled in front of his Sensei in tears as well. "Sensei! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!" He bowed low to the ground.

Gai knelt down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Lee! I forgive you with my whole heart!"

Lee looked up at him through his tears. "Sensei!"

"Lee!" The two embraced as tears flowed freely down both of their faces. "It's ok to make mistakes when you're in the springtime of your youth!" Gai said. "It's only natural to the process of growing!"

I can't believe I lost to a guy like that, Sasuke thought even angrier now that he saw his histrionic sensei.

"Now your punishment will be given!" Gai said standing up.

"YES SIR!" Lee said with a salute and stood up as well.

"You are to run 200 laps around the village!"

"SIR!"

"Um, Gai," the tortoise said. "Remember the Chuunin exam is coming up very soon-"

"Oh yes!" Gai said flashing a smile at the tortoise. "Lee! Then you will do 500 laps into the sunset, now!"

"YES SIR!" Lee said and immediately began running.

"Ah, yes, the springtime of his youth!" Gai said. "Let's go," he said to the tortoise. The tortoise nodded and the two disappeared in a puff of smoke.

A short silence followed. Then Sora broke the awkwardness. "That was probably the weirdest thing I've ever seen in my life…" she said.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "What was a turtle doing here anyway?"

Sasuke kept silent. He was still angry that he lost to an overdramatic, fuzzy eyebrowed guy like Lee.

"We should really go and turn in our applications now," Sora said checking the time. "It's almost the deadline." Naruto nodded and the three walked off towards the real room 301.

After turning in their forms, the group decided to do some self training since Kakashi had told them that that day they weren't going to meet. Naruto and Sasuke went their separate ways and Sora decided that she would go and try to find the lake where the Hokage had preformed the seal on her the night before. She couldn't exactly remember where it was but she leaped off into the forest anyway. It's got to be around here somewhere, she thought as she scanned the area quickly. She knew a faster way to look for the lake would be to use her Chakra to sense for water but she was afraid of the truth if it all wasn't a dream.

I'm such a stubborn wimp, she thought bitterly as she stopped to look around. "Fine!" she said out loud to boost her confidence. "I'll do it then!" She put her hands together in a focusing seal and started to feel for her Chakra. She concentrated and focused but nothing happened. No, I refuse! she thought as she furrowed her brows. She concentrated even harder but nothing happened. Finally she gave up and breathed a sigh of frustration. "So it wasn't a dream," she said bitterly punching a nearby tree. Some leaves and buds came falling down from the impact.

Well, I'm not going to get any stronger by sulking, she thought. I'll just train like that Lee guy does! She started trying to figure out how Lee would train from what she had seen. Hm, he probably runs a lot since he was so excited to do those 500 laps around the village. Then he most likely does a ton of push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups as well as punches and leg-kicks. She sighed at the work load. "I'm not going to back down now!" she yelled to herself. "Ok, 500 laps, no problem," she said sounding a lot like the overconfident Naruto. She took off at her usual grueling pace for running.

After 379 laps, she felt completely exhausted and on the brink of keeling over. "Holy crap," she gasped as she forced herself to keep going. "And he still does punches, leg-kicks, and other stuff after this?" She realized that running and doing all the physical activities were a lot harder now that she didn't have that extra boost of her Chakra to help her.

At 428 laps, she had to slow to a walk. Sweat was pouring down her face making her skin glisten. Her tight workout shirt was soaked making her bindings really visible. Well, at least I'm alone, she thought as she tried to slow her breathing down to normal. "How…the…heck does he do this?" she said out loud. She kept walking for a half a lap and then forced herself to run the rest. Finally she finished all 500 laps and she collapsed on the ground temporarily immobile. "Holy…crap…" she said in frustration between gasps of air. She managed to push herself up so that she was sitting on her knees. She punched the ground making an indention in the hardened dirt path and got up shakily. She swayed a bit but caught herself and wiped her mouth. She smiled. "All right," she said. "Now for those push-ups."

About 2 hours later, she was done with 425 push-ups, 800 sit-ups, 375 pull-ups, and 1400 leg-kicks per leg. She had kicked halfway through a stump about 20 feet in diameter with the force of her kicks. She had bruises and was bleeding but she didn't care. Punches… She did 2000 punches and was able to punch through the rest of the trees stump until it fell over.

She was even more exhausted now but she kept standing. "Heh, this is just warming up," she said bitterly wiping her mouth with her arm. She saw her hands. They were torn up and bleeding profusely. Come on, her rational mind told her. You're going to bleed to death if you don't wrap those. "Fine," she said sullenly.

She went home walking very slowly and was thankful that no one saw her because it was pretty late already. The sun had gone down but the moon was bright in the sky. Once at her apartment, she took a quick but very refreshing shower and then got out an aid kit. She put some soothing ointment on her hands and legs and proceeded to wrap them with bandages. She was sore all over her body. And I'm going to have to do this everyday until the Chuunin exam, she thought bitterly. She shook her head and refused to be sullen. "I'll just go relax a bit outside before I go to bed."

She opened the door to her apartment to find Kakashi about to knock on her door. She started. "Kakashi? I mean Sensei! What are you doing here?" she said quickly stepping out of her apartment and closing the door.

She called me Kakashi, eh? "Oh, sorry for coming so late," Kakashi said glancing at her bandaged arms and legs. "Have you been training today?"

Sora hid her arms behind her back. "Uh, yeah, just a bit," she said smiling nervously.

"I see," he said suddenly grabbing her arm from behind her back. He placed her bandaged hand on top of his and used his other hand to flatten her hand out. Sora winced in pain and embarrassment. "You've been doing Taijutsu training, haven't you?" he asked as he began to unwrap the bandage.

"Uh," she said not knowing what to do. She knew she couldn't take her hand back because Kakashi had a gentle but firm grip on her hand but she didn't want him to see her injuries. "Sensei, really, I'm fine," she said trying to pull back anyway but Kakashi held on.

"Let me see your injuries," he said gently.

Sora could do nothing but concede. She held still for the rest of the time and finally the bandage was off.

Kakashi inspected her hand. It's much better than I thought, making a mental note to himself. Her hand was still cut up and swollen but he had expected it to be much worse. He had spied on her while she trained knowing that she couldn't sense presences as well as she could with her Chakra. I guess her ability to heal comes from that other power Hokage-sama was talking about. "Hm," he said thoughtfully.

Sora looked at her hand in embarrassment.

"You never cease to amaze me," Kakashi said reluctantly letting her hand go. "But I actually came here to apologize for yesterday."

"For what?" Sora asked putting her hand down.

"Well, I guess I lied to you about how I didn't know what the Hokage wanted with you and I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he said. "I thought it would be better if he told you himself."

Then something clicked. Wait, how did I get home after the sealing? I remember hearing his voice somewhere…was it him? "It was you then, wasn't it? Who brought me home, I mean," she said.

"Yes," he said looking into her eyes.

"Then, uh, thank you," she said blushing. Not knowing what else to say she looked down and started playing with the bandage wrap that was in her hands.

"Sora, look at me," Kakashi said lifting her chin. "I know you've made your decision to enter the Chuunin exam already and I'm not going to stop you, but let me say this one thing." He put his hand down. "In this exam, many people have died or gotten so seriously injured that they could no longer pursue the life of a ninja. Your loss of Chakra and lack of specific Taijutsu training will put you at a big disadvantage."

"I know," she said quietly.

"Starting tomorrow, I think it's best if I personally train you without Naruto or Sasuke."

"Really?"

"Yes, but you must be able to work up to my standards of training. We're going to have to train much harder than we have been since the exam is only in three days which basically means we only have two days to train," Kakashi said.

"Of course!" Sora said enthusiastically. "I'll do anything!"

She's so young and eager… Kakashi thought to himself. She'll be fine. He patted her head. "Then I'll see you tomorrow at the bridge at oh let's say 6?"

"Ok! 7 it is!" Sora said eagerly.

"Not funny…"

"Hehe, just wanted to give you time to find your way around the village, Sensei," Sora said brightly putting her hands behind her back.

"I will be there at 6," Kakashi said turning to leave. "You'll see."

Sora just smiled as she watched her sensei walk down the hall. If he's just there by 6:30 I'll be happy, she thought as she went inside.

Sora was up at 5:30 and ready by 5:45. She wanted to be there really early to see if Kakashi would even try to come earlier. She ran down the stairs of her apartment building running into someone. "Oh, excuse me. I'm so sorry!" Sora exclaimed stopping to help the person up. Then she saw it was Kiba.

"Sora?"

"Kiba? Are you ok?" Sora knelt down beside him. He had taken a pretty hard fall since Sora was running so fast. She offered her hand.

"Yeah," Kiba said sheepishly and took her hand. "I'm fine, thanks. What're you doing up so early?" Akamaru, who had been smart enough to jump out of Kiba's coat in time, yipped happily.

"I was just going to train with Kakashi-sensei," Sora said as she pulled him to his feet. "I guess I was in too much of a hurry to get there since he promised to be on time today."

"Huh? You mean he's usually not on time?" Kiba asked.

"Well, he claims he gets lost all the time but I don't think so," Sora said with a laugh.

Kiba melted in her smile. She's even more beautiful now, he thought as he smiled with her. "Hey, it's been a while though," he said. "How've you been?"

"Oh, fine," Sora said automatically knowing that she was lying. "I just turned in my application for the Chuunin exam yesterday."

"Really? Me too! I was kinda surprised that Kurenai-sensei recommended us since we're all just rookies," Kiba said.

"I thought that, too," Sora said her voice faltering slightly. "I don't know…"

Kiba put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it," he said comfortingly. "We're all on the same playing level here. I bet you're gonna do the best out of all of us." Sora felt her heart sink as she thought of her Chakra seal. She tried to hide it but Akamaru sniffed it out and whined. Kiba also noticed. "What's wrong?" he said moving a strand of hair out of her eyes.

Sora immediately changed her expression. "Oh, nothing," she said quickly looking away. She tucked the strand behind her ear.

Kiba knew not to push it but wanted to make her feel better. "Hey," he said gently moving his hand down to grasp hers. "After your training, can I take you to dinner or something?"

Sora's eyes widened and she looked up at Kiba. "Uh, sure," Sora said without thinking.

Really? "All right," Kiba said squeezing her hand. "How does 7 sound?"

"Great," Sora replied still unsure of what was happening. "I've got to get going but I'll see you later then."

"Yeah," Kiba said letting her hand go. "See ya." Sora left. She said yes… he thought. HOLY CRAP SHE SAID YES! He picked up Akamaru and did a little victory dance. "Oh yeah!" Akamaru rolled his eyes at his master.

Sora realized that it was 6 on the dot and she wasn't at the bridge yet. "Oh shoot," she said out loud. She ran as fast as she could to the bridge. When she arrived, it was a bit past six but there was no one there, just her, the birds, and the morning mist. She smiled to herself as she caught her breath. Well, I guess he didn't make it after-

"Hello, Sora," Kakashi said from behind her.

Sora whirled around in shock. "You…you…" She backed into the rail with her jaw dropped.

Kakashi leaned down so his face was right in front of hers and opened a small pocket watch he was carrying just for the occasion. "Can you tell me what time it is?" he said smiling while bringing the face of the watch closer to her stunned eyes. The seconds ticked by as Sora stared at it blankly. She couldn't answer. "Oh?" Kakashi said lazily standing back up and putting the watch away. "You must be in quite a shock if you can't tell time anymore." He gave her one of his best innocent smiles.

Sora shook her head. "The one day…" she muttered.

"Ironic, huh?" Kakashi said. "By the way, you were one minute and 26 seconds late. There's a punishment for that kind of irresponsibility."

Sora's mouth fell back open. "But…you-"

"Ah, you see, there's the difference between you and me," Kakashi said putting a hand under his chin staring at Sora with false intensity. "I am the Sensei and you are the Student. Now, what shall I make you do? Hm…"

Sora couldn't believe what she was hearing. Of all the days to be late…grr…well, it's not Kiba's fault. I should've watched where I was going…ARGH I hate this…

"Well," Kakashi said with a mischievous smile. "I was going to make you do 400 laps but I'll let you do 600 instead and you still have to do your regular push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups but you must finish in time to make me my breakfast." He gave himself a mental pat on the back.

"WHAT? BREAKFAST?" Sora yelled in disbelief. "Do you know what kind of cook I am?"

"Better than me."

"I might kill you…"

"Well, if I were you," Kakashi said yawning, "I would start those laps now before you run out of time."

Sora bit her tongue to keep from lashing out and began running.

Kakashi watched her go. "This will be interesting," he said laughing.

An hour later, Sora amazingly finished her 600 laps and immediately began on her other warm ups. Her sheer determination to wipe her sensei's smile off of his face kept her going even though she felt half dead. Another hour later, her warm ups were done. She stood up ignoring her screaming muscles and walked with a straight back to a partially awake, partially reading Kakashi. "I'm done," she said through gritted teeth. She wouldn't let herself fall to the ground to rest. Not in front of him.

"Oh?" Kakashi said checking his watch. "Good job. Just in time for breakfast."

Sora stubbornly looked away and clenched her fists.

Kakashi laughed and pulled Sora down next to him on the ground. "I'm just kidding," he said with a laugh.

Sora looked at him incredulously. "Why you-" she ran out of breath and collapsed against the tree they were sitting in front of. WHAT A JERK!

Kakashi chuckled as he put his book down and looked at her. "I'm not a jerk," he said.

What? Did he just read my thoughts?

"No, I'm not reading your thoughts, it's just that your expressions are so easy to read," he said. "I'm actually impressed you finished within 2 hours since yesterday it took you much longer to do your laps and such."

"You," gasp "saw?"

"Well," Kakashi put a hand behind his head and laughed sheepishly. "I was sort of spying on you yesterday."

Sora rolled her eyes unable to speak.

"Very impressive," he said again.

A few minutes later, Sora could do the basic necessities: breathing, talking, and walking, so they began. "We'll start with focusing the physical energy in our bodies instead of the Chakra," Kakashi said putting his hands together in a meditative pose.

Sora followed. She closed her eyes and imagined her physical energy circulating in her body instead of the Chakra she'd always envisioned. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes feeling like she was ready.

Kakashi sighed. We've got a long way to go, he thought as he put his hands on Sora's. "You're not ready yet."

"What?" Sora felt as ready as she could be with just her body energy. "What do you mean?"

Kakashi pressed her hands together with one of his and lightly closed her eyes with his other. Keeping his hand over her eyes, he spoke. "Now, try again."

Sora was confused. "What should I feel?"

"Sh. You'll know when it happens, now just concentrate."

Sora tried to focus but she could feel Kakashi's hands on her skin. She shivered remembering the last time they were this close. He's just my sensei, she thought as she breathed out. Focusing was impossible. Why is he making me so nervous?

Kakashi knew what she was thinking. Am I making her this nervous? he thought to himself. He liked the feeling of making Sora feel this way. Is there more to her feelings than I think I know? He felt her breathing get faster. Hm… He moved his hand that was on her hands up her bare arm leaving goose bumps on her skin.

Sora didn't dare speak for fear of breaking her concentration, if there was any to begin with. What's he doing? Is this some sort of test? She tightened her hands together and focused even harder than before.

She's weakening, Kakashi thought as he moved his hand to touch her exposed neck. Such smooth skin…

Don't move, don't speak, don't think, Sora told herself. This is just a test. Just a test… She began to shake. Where's my body energy?

Kakashi snapped out of his daze. What the hell am I doing? he yelled at himself. He quickly took his hands away from her before he got out of control.

Sora felt his hands leave. She gave a small sigh of relief as she regained control of her mind again. Then she felt it.

Well, Kakashi thought as he felt her body energy come alive. At least it taught her how to concentrate. "Do you feel it?" he said keeping his voice surprisingly even.

Sora nodded.

"Good," he said acting like his wandering hands were part of his training. "Now use this energy and attack me."

What? Sora hesitated.

Kakashi sighed. I hate doing this to her. He got out his kunai and swung at her.

Sora could hear his blade slicing the air and instinctively ducked. Again? She opened her eyes and reached for her own weapons but then it struck her that she didn't bring them. Dammit… She jumped back just in time to avoid a shuriken knife. It struck the ground in front of her. Hm. She grabbed it while catching another shuriken knife in her hand. Now I've got weapons! She stood up and readied herself.

"Good. You can hear my attacks," Kakashi said running up to her in the blink of an eye.

"Uh?" Sora barely had time to dodge his foot that came at her head. She swung a shuriken at Kakashi and it met in a clash against his kunai. The star knife cut into her hand from the impact. She clenched her teeth. Fine! She used her other knife to attack but her arm was caught by Kakashi before the blade came in contact with him.

"Your movements are too slow," Kakashi warned as he pushed her back forcefully.

Sora flew backwards in the air but threw both shurikens at Kakashi before she sprung herself up with her hands and landed on her feet. The star knives went flying through the air but struck a tree in the distance hitting no Kakashi. Damn him…

"No time to lose concentration." Kakashi came at her from above with no weapons. "Use your body energy in hand to hand combat!"

Sora jumped out of the way as Kakashi's fist struck the ground creating an enormous hole. He's stronger than before. Has he been training too? Sora thought as she shielded her face from the flying rocks and dirt. Then Kakashi's foot came at her and she crossed her arms in front of her to block the attack but got thrown back again from the impact. She skidded on her feet to a halt. I should be attacking! Not him! She concentrated just like before on her body energy then, "Sensei!" she yelled as she sliced her hand behind her.

Kakashi dodged easily. "Good, now you're finally beginning to use your body energy," he said.

"Yeah, well you just wait," Sora said delivering a spinning kick at Kakashi's face. Kakashi blocked it and grabbed her leg.

"Too weak."

"Hah!" Sora had expected him to do that and she twisted her body in the air and attacked with another kick from her other leg.

What? Kakashi barely blocked the attack with his arm. That actually hurt…a little. Hehe.

GRRR! Sora screamed inside as she bent her knees and pushed off from Kakashi flipping over and landing a few feet away. She ran at him concentrating her body energy into her fist. "AH!" She punched as hard as she could through the air and felt it contact the palm of Kakashi's hand making him skid back a few feet leaving marks in the ground.

Much better, Kakashi thought as he readied himself for whatever Sora might do next but when he looked up, she was gone. Huh?

Sora was feeling a little more confident now as she ran as quickly as lightening behind Kakashi. "Gotcha!" she yelled as she spun and kicked at him from behind. Kakashi went flying through the air. "That's for going soft on me before!" she shouted after him with a smirk.

"Good job, Sora," Kakashi said from behind her.

Sora jumped and turned around slowly. Then she heard a small poof off in the distance and realized that she had kicked a log. Dammit.

"If I hadn't been able to use my Chakra, you probably would've had me there," Kakashi said smiling at the fuming Sora.

Cheater… Sora thought angrily as she clenched her fists.

"I'm not cheating you know because in a real fight, your opponent's going to be able to use his Chakra against you," he said reading her expression and laughing "Always remember that little detail and use your senses to figure out what's an illusion and what's real."

Sora sighed and closed her eyes. "This is going to be so much harder than I thought."

"Don't think like that," Kakashi said tapping her on the head with his fingers. "You've already improved so much in that short fight that I think you'll be ready in two days no problem!"

"Really?" Sora said looking up.

Kakashi nodded. "Again." He disappeared.

Crap…

After completely skipping lunch and going until about 5 in the afternoon, Sora finally couldn't move anymore. She was bruised in countless places and had several deep cuts as well as numerous smaller ones all over her arms and legs. Kakashi had indeed worked her hard. She collapsed to her knees gasping for air.

"I think that's enough for today," Kakashi said lazily. He didn't even seem to be breathing hard but in reality, he was hiding the fact that most of his Chakra was spent because he had to repeatedly save himself from her physical attacks. She had gotten almost as fast as she was with her Chakra now.

Ya think? Sora thought bitterly. She tried to stand up but fell forward.

Kakashi gracefully caught her in his arms. "I'll take you home," he said kindly. He transported them both to her apartment and opened her door with her key. "You should relax tonight," he told her as he set her down.

"Yeah," she said but then she remembered about Kiba. Oh, I almost forgot. She always felt relaxed around Kiba and Akamaru so she didn't think about canceling. I need some fun in my life, right?

"I'll see you at, oh, 6 tomorrow, or would you rather have it at 6:30?" he said smirking.

Sora threw the nearest thing to her, which was a scroll, at him but he ducked behind the door and shut it laughing. He can be so childish at times, she thought.

She went to take a quick shower but ended up taking an hour. She felt so much better after the hot shower that she didn't even notice that her wounds were in much better condition than before. She decided to dress a bit more nicely than usual for her little date with Kiba. She got out a pair of nice pants and a black top to go with it. The shirt had long trailing sleeves and was decently cut but it definitely showed off her figure as fitting black clothes usually do. She put a black choker on and then brushed her hair down. She glanced at the clock. "7 exactly!" Sora said pleased with herself. Then she heard a knock at the door. Very punctual, she thought with a smile as she opened the door.

There was Kiba dressed in nice khaki slacks and a longer but not baggy black collared shirt. He wasn't wearing his jacket that he usually wore and his short brown hair made him look pretty hot. Akamaru had insisted on staying home to leave his master and his crush alone. "Wow," he said at the sight of Sora. "You look sexy."

Sora rolled her eyes and smiled as she stepped out of her apartment and locked the door. "Thanks," she said taking his arm. "It's weird that we both wore black, huh?"

"Uh…" He was shocked that she had grabbed his arm. He stifled a growl that threatened to come out. "Yeah."

"So where're we going?" she asked him as they began to walk down the hall.

"Well, that's a surprise," Kiba said slyly. The two walked through the still busy streets of Konoha not noticing that they were getting quite a few stares and whispers because they were too engrossed in their conversation with each other. Finally Kiba stopped at a small but pretty crowded restaurant. "Here we are," he said opening the door for Sora.

"Thanks, Kiba-kun, you're such a gentleman," Sora joked as she poked his stomach.

Kiba blushed and went in after her. A waitress walked up to them. "How many for tonight, sir?"

"Just two," Kiba said putting an arm around Sora's waist.

"All right, follow me, please," the waitress said. She led them through the maze of tables and placed them near the indoor pond they had running down the middle of the room. "Your server will be here shortly."

"Thanks," Sora said. Kiba pulled out her chair for her to sit in. "Kiba-kun, you're spoiling me," she said with a blush as she sat down.

Kiba took his own seat and gave a sexy smile. "Anything for you."

Oh god, I hope he's not too serious, Sora thought. I don't want to hurt him.

Just enjoy yourself tonight, her mind told her. You deserve a break.

Yeah… Sora laughed and opened the menu. "I didn't know this place existed before," she said looking through the many choices of traditional Japanese foods.

"Yeah, it's small but it's sure getting more popular by the week," Kiba said not looking at the menu but at Sora. He already knew what he was getting and couldn't take his eyes off of her. "Do you like sushi?"

"Hm, I don't think I've had that before," Sora said unable to choose from the many delicious looking choices.

"I highly recommend it," Kiba said.

"Ok, then I'll try it," Sora said closing her menu.

Their waiter came and took their orders and soon Sora was eating probably the best food she had ever had. "This is soooo good!" she kept saying over and over again. She realized how hungry she was since she didn't have lunch that day.

Kiba always had a big appetite and ate even more than Sora did but he never took his eyes from the red-haired beauty in front of him. "So you like sushi, huh?"

"Definitely," she said laughing. "If it all tastes like this."

They talked about different things throughout the rest of their dinner and finally left the restaurant an hour and a half later. "Come on, I've got to show you something," Kiba said after he paid the bill. Sora followed him outside. "But I've got to blindfold you first," Kiba added mysteriously.

"Oh, this sounds dangerous," Sora joked.

"It is," Kiba growled playfully. "You've got to trust me now."

Sora smiled and let him put the blindfold on her. "Ok, now what?"

"Just relax," he whispered in her ear.

Sora felt him wrap his arms around her in a close hug. Then a wind picked up. She felt him transporting them to another place. Little did they know that someone was watching them.

Kiba transported them to a side of a secluded cliff overlooking the ocean that was on the other side of the mountains of Konoha. Sora smelled the difference in the air and felt the slight mist of the ocean nearby. "Can I take this off now?" she whispered excitedly wanting to see where she was.

Kiba smiled at the eager girl in his arms and took her off blindfold dramatically.

Sora gasped at the scene. The moon was high in the night sky that night and reflected beautifully off of the ocean water as it was cut through occasionally by a wave or two. A few stray birds flew silently through the darkened sky. "It's…it's beautiful," she whispered completely in awe at the scene in front of her.

Kiba slid his arms around her from behind and leaned the side of his head against hers. "You're beautiful," he said inhaling her scent. He was after all an animal-like person.

Sora couldn't take her concentration off of the ocean. In all her travels, she had never seen the ocean like she was seeing it now. She had always thought of it as a barrier to pass, a dangerous place where the power of nature could take a life in a second. She never thought of it as a source of beauty. She didn't notice that Kiba had begun to nuzzle her neck and had moved an arm up to her shoulder crossing her chest area.

"So beautiful…" he whispered as he began to kiss her smooth skin.

Sora was finally brought back to reality. "Kiba," she breathed as she felt him suckle her neck softly as he held her tighter. His other hand began moving up and down from her leg to her stomach. But then she heard a whizzing sound in the air. "Watch out!" she yelled automatically pulling Kiba forward causing them to fall to the ground with Kiba on top. A shuriken knife struck the ground right where Kiba had been standing.

"What the-?" Kiba said as he quickly got back to his senses. Then he smelled another person. Dammit, I was too caught up to notice, he thought angrily as he got off of Sora and stood in front of her protectively. "Who's there?" He clenched his fists.

"Kiba," Sora said getting to her feet and grabbing his arm.

"Get away from her," a cold voice said coming from a dark figure in the distance.

"Heh, not a chance," Kiba sneered as he readied himself. He already knew who it was by his smell. The figure advanced.

"Who are you?" Sora asked still a little shaken from before.

"I said, get away from her," the voice said to Kiba.

Then Sora recognized the voice and gasped. "Sasuke!"

"Back off, man," Kiba growled putting an arm in front of Sora. "What're you trying to do? Kill me?"

Sasuke had a kunai blade in his hand and he looked almost possessed. "She's mine!" He ran at Kiba, his eyes burning with hate.

Kiba leaped forward to meet him. Sora couldn't react fast enough to stop them. "No!" she yelled but to no avail.

The two boys clashed iron as they met in mid air. Each was thrown back from the impact. They stabilized themselves in the blink of an eye and attacked again and again. Sora was tired but she ignored her soreness and ran towards them ready to fight if necessary.

"You can't have her!" Kiba yelled as they clashed again.

"You don't deserve her!" Sasuke spat back as he brought out his Sharingan. He was out of control.

Shit, his damn eye, Kiba thought as he barely dodged Sasuke's blade. I can't win like this. He slid backwards.

Sasuke appeared behind him and kicked him down to the ground. He stood above Kiba who was struggling to get up and grasped his kunai, the sharp end pointing downwards. "Now," he said demonically, "you will die."

"Sasuke!" Sora was finally able to catch up to the two boys. She desperately grabbed Sasuke's arm pulling him back. "NO!"

Sasuke's eyes widened. What?

Sora felt tears streaming down her face but she didn't care. Why? Why is he like this? They fell to the ground.

Kiba saw them fall and then lost all consciousness.

"Sasuke…" Sora said shaking. She put her head against Sasuke's arm and let her tears fall onto his sleeve. "Why?"

"Sora?" Sasuke didn't know what to do. He felt as if his mind was taken over by some other force inside him. He looked at the unconscious Kiba and back to Sora. Then he realized what he had done. "Sora, I…I'm so sorry…"

Sora let him go and looked away. "How is this happening?" she asked herself out loud.

You only hurt those around you. Accept your fate.

But why is Sasuke…why is he so affected by me?

Those who are closer to you will only be caused more pain.

No! She shook her head.

Sasuke reached out to Sora. "Sora, I'm sorry," he whispered still shocked at what he had done. "Sora-"

"No!" she said through tears backing away. "I can't…please..." She wanted to be left alone but she didn't know how she was going to get back or get Kiba back to the village since she didn't know where they were and she didn't have her Chakra. She clenched her fists and wiped her tears away. "Sasuke, we need to get Kiba to the hospital, now," she said surprising both Sasuke and herself with her change of tone.

Sasuke was too shocked to answer but just nodded with uncertainty. He automatically went over to Kiba and picked him up.

Sora walked over to them with an unreadable expression on her face. "Can you…" she trailed off as she touched his arm lightly.

Sasuke understood and nodded. He transported them to the hospital. The doctors took him immediately to a private room. After about a half an hour of waiting, the doctor came out.

"Will he be ok?" Sora asked.

"Yes, he'll be awake by tomorrow morning," he said. "May I ask what happened to him?"

Sasuke tensed. What's wrong with me?

"Training, it was training," Sora said quickly.

Sasuke couldn't believe his ears. She was lying to protect him? He started to speak. "I-"

"Can we see him?" Sora said before Sasuke could get anymore out.

"Sure," the doctor said and left them.

Sora went in but Sasuke was too stunned to follow and stood in the hallway. She walked over to Kiba who was fast asleep on the hospital bed. He had a few cuts on his arms and face that had been treated and were wrapped but he didn't look too bad. Sora sat on the bed and put a hand on his face. "Kiba-kun, I'm so sorry," she said feeling tears well up again but she refused to let them fall. She leaned over and gently kissed his cheek. "I'll be here in the morning to see you wake up," she whispered as she got up. She left the room closing the door softly behind her. Once in the hall again, she saw Sasuke and looked away.

"Sora, I…I don't know what was wrong with me, I just…I lost it and-"

"Sasuke," Sora cut him off. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but please, I'm only going to hurt you if you have feelings for me."

"What? Sora-"

"No, listen," she said shaking her head. "I'm not worth your pain; I'm not worth Kiba's pain. Don't waste yourself on me." Sora started to leave but Sasuke grabbed her arm.

"Sora," he said sternly not letting go. "It's too late. I can't…I don't know what happened with me back there but I do know that...that when I see you with another guy, it drives me insane! Sora, you don't know what-"

"You don't know what you're doing to yourself," Sora interrupted trying to break free.

"Maybe, but I know if I lost you I would die!" he pushed her against the wall and put his hand beside her head on the wall. "I can't live without you!" he breathed looking into her eyes.

He's serious, Sora thought fearfully. She could see it in his eyes.

You're only going to hurt him…

"We should go home now," Sora said quietly. "Just forget about me." She pushed his arm away and walked out of the hospital.

Sasuke couldn't move; he couldn't think. He was breathing like he'd just run a million miles. Then he fell to his knees. "Sora," he choked out. I can't forget…

Sora got home at midnight and couldn't fall asleep. She paced her room, mindlessly lost in her thoughts. It's true, she thought bitterly. Everyone who gets close to me gets hurt. I was placed here with this fate…this curse. She slammed her hand on her desk. The closer they get the more pain I cause them. Father, it's my fault you were killed! It's my fault our village was destroyed. Everything I've ever known has been destroyed and the things I don't know yet, I…I don't want to know what they are! "I'm not making any sense!" she said out loud in frustration. "Why am I still alive? What's my purpose?" She curled her fingers on the desk against her palm making a fist. She sunk to the floor. "I don't deserve to live…" She stayed on the ground for a few hours calming herself with reason and false hope.

The village clock struck 5. She got up and washed her face with cold water and brushed her teeth. She changed her clothes that she had been wearing all night and went out of her apartment. It was raining. She walked quickly over to the hospital which was pretty far and got there in 20 minutes. She went up the receptionist soaking wet. "Can I see Inuzuka Kiba, please?"

"Oh? Hm, Inuzuka…" the receptionist said to herself as she flipped through her files. "Ah, yes. You were here with him last night, correct?"

"Yes."

"He's in the same room, 132," she said handing Sora a pen to write her name on the list of visitors. Drops of water began dampening the page. "Uh, would you like a towel or something?"

"Oh, uh, yes, thank you." Sora signed her name while the receptionist brought a towel. She wiped herself dry and walked down the hall to Kiba's room. She took a deep breath and then opened the door to find Kiba still asleep. She sighed and closed the door softly behind her then walked over to his bed and sat down putting her hand on his arm.

He stirred at her touch and his eyes flickered open. "Sor…Sora?"

She nodded and stroked his hand. "Hey, how're you feeling?"

He tried to sit up but felt his head spin and slumped back down. "Pretty good considering," he said with a small smile. "You?"

"Me? I'm fine. You shouldn't try to move too much today," she said.

Kiba found her hand and covered it with his. "That bastard didn't do anything to you, did he?"

Sora shook her head. "I have to apologize for what happened last night," she said. "I couldn't help you sooner…"

"Hey, don't worry about it," Kiba said pulling her hand up to his mouth kissing it. "You had a hard day of training yesterday." There was a knock at the door. "Yeah?" Kiba called.

The door swung open revealing a nurse. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I interrupting something?"

"Oh, no," Sora said taking her hand away and standing up. "Go right ahead." Kiba almost whined in protest.

The nurse bowed slightly as she went over to Kiba and started doing the regular check ups on him. "All right," she said a few minutes later. "I think you can go home at the end of the day, Mr. Inuzuka. Your wounds are healing nicely and you should be as good as new by tomorrow, but don't do any training today, ok?"

"Yeah," Kiba said not really listening.

The nurse bowed and left the room.

"You really shouldn't train today," Sora said after the nurse left.

"But the Chuunin exam is-"

"If you don't wait until you're better then you'll be in even worse shape for the Chuunin exam than if you waited. Please?"

"Oh fine." Kiba sighed as he relaxed back in his pillow again.

"Where's your sensei? I'm going to tell her that you're here, ok?" Sora turned to leave.

"Hey! Don't tell her it was because I was fighting Sasuke!" Kiba pleaded.

Sora sighed. "Ok, I won't," she said. "Just tell me where I can find her."

"She's usually near the base of the cliff waiting for us," Kiba said.

Sora nodded her head. "I'll be back after training today to take you home, and promise me you won't try and get up."

"Fine, fine," Kiba said with a sigh. "Just come back, ok?"

Sora gave a weak smile and left the room. As she left the hospital, she heard the bell strike 5:45. She sighed knowing she was going to be late again today but she still ran to the base of the cliff. Sure enough, Kurenai was there meditating under a tree. Sora walked up to her softly. "Excuse me, Kurenai-sensei?"

She opened her eyes. "Yes?"

"Uh, I just came to tell you that Kiba's not going to be able to training today," Sora said carefully.

"Really? How come?"

"Uh, well, he was just doing some extra training with me yesterday and got hurt pretty badly so he's resting in the hospital right now and should be better by the end of the day. I'm going to take him home later."

"Training?" Kurenai looked at Sora inquisitively.

"Yeah."

"Hm. Well, thank you, Sora," she said returning to her meditation.

Sora gave a sigh of relief since Kurenai didn't ask too many questions. She took off as she heard the bell strike 6.

The rain started falling harder as she ran through the nearly empty streets of the village. She reached the bridge and found that no one was there. She tuned in to her senses and tried to listen or smell if anyone was there but the rain diminished her acuteness.

"Sora?" Kakashi's voice came from behind her.

She turned slowly expecting a scolding.

"Are you ok?" he asked seriously. He could sense that something was eating at her. He put a hand on her shoulder.

Sora couldn't hold it in any longer. She let the tears fall silently thanking God that it was raining so it wasn't so apparent but the ever perceptive Kakashi saw through her expression.

"Sora…" She moved forward suddenly and threw her arms around Kakashi's neck and buried her face in his chest crying. Just crying. Kakashi was stunned but automatically wrapped his arms around her. He had never seen Sora in such a broken state before. Yes, he had seen tears before, but not like these. What happened? he wondered as he stroked her back.

Sora didn't care anymore about holding in her tears. She sobbed out loud with no restraint for once in her life. They stood in the rain letting the dismal drops fall from the grey sky.

Finally Sora got a hold of herself and pulled back. "S-sorry," she said shakily looking down in embarrassment.

Kakashi put a hand to her cheek. "No, it's ok to cry sometimes," he said wiping her tears away with his thumb. "If you want someone to talk to, I will listen."

Sora looked at him through glassy eyes. "It…it's nothing, Sensei," she said sniffing. "I'm sorry I'm late."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows at the sudden change in the topic.

"I think I'm ready to train," she said after seeing that he was shocked.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Pause. "It helps me get my mind off of things. Don't go easy on me though."

Kakashi looked at her. "All right then," Kakashi said hesitantly. He directed Sora to do the same amount of laps as the day before in the same time or less as well as the other warm ups.

Sora nodded and started off. An hour and 53 minutes later, Sora was done with her warm ups and was feeling more determined than ever to beat Kakashi in training today.

Kakashi was still unsure whether Sora was stable when she came back but when she almost caught him off guard during their practice battle, he knew she meant business.

The rain never stopped but it never got any worse either. By the time 5 rolled around, both student and teacher were dripping wet and exhausted. Sora had really concentrated and had almost hit Kakashi several times during their practice battles keeping Kakashi always on his toes.

"Ok, that's enough for today," Kakashi said as Sora threw three kunai knives at three targets on a tree and hit each square in the middle. "You've made some big improvements today. I think tomorrow, since it's the day of the exam, the team should meet together before you guys enter. But even though they'll be with you, don't forget your level of concentration."

Sora nodded. She almost collapsed down to her knees like the day before but she refused and kept standing. "Yeah. Thank you, sensei," she said and bowed.

Kakashi was still worried about her morning behavior but didn't want to bring it up now that Sora seemed to be more emotionally stable. He watched her as she went towards her apartment. It's amazing how much better she is today despite the fact that the rain dampens some of her senses. Hm, I wonder if this has to do with Sasuke or Naruto… But he decided that if Sora wanted to tell him, she would do so herself so he began his walk to his apartment by a different route.

Sora made it to her apartment in one piece and unlocked the door. She felt a lot better after her grueling training session with Kakashi but she didn't forget about Kiba. She took a quick shower and then went to the hospital taking an umbrella with her. She signed in at the desk and went directly to Kiba's room. She knocked.

"Yeah."

She opened the door and saw Kiba sitting on his bed looking out the window watching the rain. "Kiba-kun," she said quietly.

Kiba turned around quickly at her voice. "Sora-chan!" he said and got up. "Finally." He caught her in an embrace.

Sora let his arms surround her. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm fine," he said moving a wet strand of her hair out of her eyes. "You?"

"Tired, but I feel much better," Sora said truthfully and smiled. "Let's get you home." They walked to the front desk and Kiba checked out. Sora opened her umbrella as they stepped outside. They walked in a comfortable silence to Kiba's apartment building which was not that far away.

"Thanks, Sora," Kiba said kissing her cheek lightly.

Sora was taken aback by the sudden action but let it pass. "No problem," she said and turned to leave.

"See ya around?"

Sora turned her head and smiled. "Yeah." They waved goodbye and Sora walked into the falling rain. But instead of walking home, Sora walked to the public garden. The fountain was nearly overflowing. She stood in front of it watching the water slip over the side and flow to the ground. Then she heard someone else in the garden and turned around. It was Sasuke.

"Sora," he said panting like he had just run.

Sora didn't answer. She just stared at him not wanting to show any feeling.

Sasuke started breathing harder as he looked into her eyes. She doesn't feel anything? He fell to his knees on the soggy ground and looked down to keep himself from crying. Why? Why doesn't she love me? Can't she see how impossible it is to forget her? I…I can't…I just- He suddenly felt the rain stop falling on him. He opened his eyes and looked up.

Sora stood above Sasuke covering them both with her umbrella. She offered him her hand. "Here," she said quietly. Sasuke hesitated but took it and she pulled him up. "Now's not the time to let these emotions take over us. We can't let them get in the way of the Chuunin exam. We should forget any of this ever happened until the exam is past."

"How? How can you just forget?" Sasuke asked.

Sora smiled and shook her head. "Have you forgotten the rule of the shinobi?" She looked at the fountain. "A ninja must not allow emotion to interfere." She looked back at Sasuke. "I haven't forgotten, Sasuke, I just know that there will be a time for emotion to be shown and a time for it to be concealed."

She hasn't forgotten? Does that mean...?

"We all have reasons in becoming ninjas," Sora continued. "Mine is that I made a promise to someone important to me. You must have a reason, right?"

Itachi… He nodded as the rain fell harder and the wind picked up.

Sora smiled. "We've got to remember our original goals now and put this aside." She grabbed his hand and pulled him along as she walked. "Now let's get home before we both get sick, ok?"

That's a sudden change, Sasuke thought as he let her lead him out of the garden. She's acting like nothing happened.

Sora suddenly stopped. "Hm," she said thinking out loud. "I just realized I don't exactly know where you live." She turned around with a smile on her face.

Sasuke blinked. "Uh…"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten now," Sora joked.

Sasuke shook his head. She's right, he thought. I've got to become strong enough to kill him. Only then will I be worthy of her love. "No."

Sora smiled at his change back to his curt, almost annoyed responses. At least he's getting back to normal. "Ok then, I'll walk you home, and promise me to get some sleep. Tomorrow's the day of the exam and I think Kakashi-sensei wants all of us to meet him before we go in, ok?"

"Hm."

"Hello?" Sora let go of his hand to wave it in front of his face. "Sleep after you get home."

Sasuke grunted and grabbed the umbrella out of her hand and grasped her hand in his other as he pulled her along towards his house.

Sora smiled to herself as she let him drag her through the rain. Thunder rolled across the sky as a flash of lightening cracked in the distance. The storm was getting worse.

His house was enormous but it wasn't only one house, it was an entire estate. Sora looked in awe at the majestic, traditional architecture. He lives here?By himself?

Sasuke unlocked the gate and went in the court yard. "It's going to start hailing soon," he mumbled as he unlocked the door to the main house.

"How do you kn-"

Without even asking he pulled her inside and closed the door. He shook out the umbrella in the hall and set it down. Sure enough, ice pellets could be heard hitting the roof. Another flash of lightening filled the sky. "I can't let you go outside in this weather," Sasuke said flatly.

Sora looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Of all the days to hail, she thought.

"Stay the night," he said in a more of a commanding tone than an accommodating one.

"What?" she asked skeptically not sure whether her little lecture in the garden did anything to him.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and led her into the main hall. "I'll get you some dry clothes." He left.

Sora looked around her. The room had an unused air to it and the thin layer of dust over everything told her that he either didn't clean much or didn't use this house much. There were glass cases set up around the room with ancient looking weapons and artifacts in them. Magnificent paintings were hung all over the walls. Sora took a step closer to one of the cases to look at the scroll inside. It had the family lineage written on it.

"These should fit," Sasuke said coming back in.

Sora turned around and saw that Sasuke was holding a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. "Thanks," she said taking them from him.

"You can change in here," Sasuke said walking over to another room across the hall. "I guess this'll be your room for tonight."

Sora nodded and stepped in and slid the door shut. It was a very traditional room with a mattress rolled out on the side, but it was beautifully decorated with bonsai trees growing on the window sill and a small indoor pond in the corner. The desk had a porcelain basin on it with a towel hanging out of it. She changed quickly after admiring the decorum and then left her room to find Sasuke. "Sasuke?" she called as she slid the door shut behind her. There was no reply. "Sasuke?" She began to walk down the hall.

She turned the corner and- "Whoa," she gasped in surprise almost running into Sasuke. "Sorry," she mumbled looking down in embarrassment.

Sasuke had changed into some dry clothes as well. "It's fine," he said curtly. "I was just going to get you to for dinner."

"Oh." Sora had forgotten up until now that she hadn't eaten anything that day. "Sure." She followed him into the kitchen area. Everything looked unused. "So, do you just live here by yourself?" she asked as Sasuke got some food out.

He nodded. "I usually don't eat here though," he said trying to start the stove.

"What're you gonna make?"

"I don't really know," he said still trying to start the stove and failing. "Anything you don't eat?"

Sora shook her head. "I'm so hungry I think I can eat anything," she said smiling as she watched him struggle with the stove. "You obviously don't cook much, do you?" She moved his hand aside and started the stove with ease. "Allow me."

Sasuke felt completely embarrassed on the inside but didn't show it on the outside. Soon, some simple stir fry was ready to be eaten on the table. They sat down to eat. "This is good," Sasuke said as he finished his first bowl.

Sora laughed. "Don't eat too fast," she warned as he started filling another. "You might get sick and then I'd have to take care of you."

"I wouldn't mind that," he said slyly.

"Uh-huh," Sora said taking a sip of her tea. She set her cup down and sighed. "This place is amazing."

Sasuke looked up. "Oh, thanks."

"I didn't know you had such a big estate," she said.

"Yeah…"

"But it doesn't look like you use it that much."

"I'm not usually home so there's no need," he replied sticking more food in his mouth.

"You're lucky," Sora said sighing.

Sasuke stopped eating and looked at her. "If this is luck then I'd rather not have it," he said seriously.

Sora looked at him shocked. "Why?"

Sasuke put his chopsticks down. "This estate has been passed down in my family for hundreds of years. The Uchiha family is one of the families that started the hidden village of Konoha so I guess we're considered nobility. The Sharingan is our special Blood Line Limit ability but being in this family also has a curse."

"What curse?"

"Some old family story," Sasuke said drinking some of his tea. "Supposedly, an angel of some sort fell from heaven placing a curse on this family for some reason."

"Is it true?"

"My parents told me it wasn't, but now I believe it."

"Really…why?"

Sasuke tensed up.

Sora sensed his discomfort. "Never mind," she said quickly.

"No, you should know," he said quietly.

"Sasuke, you don't have to if-"

Sasuke put a hand up. "The curse is the reason I'm alone, the last of my family bloodline." He got up and began to collect the dishes. "My brother was born with the strongest Chakra and potential in the entire history of my family. He mastered his Sharingan at the age of 5 and became a Jounin at the age of 13. At 16, he was already an ANBU squad leader. But then something went wrong." He walked over to place the dishes in the sink. "It was raining that day, too," he said looking out the window.

Sora kept quiet somehow knowing that this was the first time he had had the courage to tell this to anyone.

"I came home after shuriken practice one day and…and found all of my relatives dead." He clenched his fists. "I ran to my father's house and it was empty. I remember being scared, so scared." He began to shake at the painful memory. "I heard a noise in the armory room and I opened the door to find my parents and my brother in the room. My father was shielding my mother from him…he was pleading with him to stop but, he didn't listen. He killed them! Right in front of me! That bastard killed them!" He slammed his fist on the counter. "He was their first born, their favorite, and he killed them!"

I've never seen him like this before, Sora thought as she got up. She walked over to him and put an arm on his back. "Sasuke," she said softly.

"He told me," he choked out, "he told me that he killed all the others as well. He said it was because he wanted to test his powers. He was powerful enough to kill the entire clan…and…I was weak and helpless. I couldn't stop him."

"Don't blame yourself," Sora said as gently as she could.

"But it's my fault," he said turning to face her. "I wasn't strong enough then but I must become strong now. I must have my revenge on him. He left me alone in this world to suffer…to kill him and I will." Sora saw the powerful hunger light his eyes. "You talked about a reason to become a shinobi before," he continued. "That is my reason."

Sora didn't know what to say. Was that man in the garden his brother? she asked herself. He must've been. They look so similar.

Sasuke searched her eyes for her reaction. She's the first person I've ever told this to…when I'm around her I…I don't feel alone anymore. "I'm sorry," he said and looked down in shame. "I didn't mean to go on like that." He turned to walk past her.

"Sasuke-" He felt Sora's hand on his wrist. "No, I'm glad you told me," she said softly. "I just never knew…" She let his wrist drop. "But there is more to life…your life than revenge. You have so much to live for, and you're not alone. I'm here. Kakashi-sensei and although you might not like him, Naruto, they're here. We all want to help you." They stood in silence as the hail pelted the outside world.

Then Sasuke suddenly turned around and grabbed Sora's shoulders pushing her against the counter. His eyes were red with the Sharingan. "No. Kakashi, Naruto, I don't need them…they care nothing for me. I only want you, Sora. Please accept me! I'll do anything!" He swiftly moved his hands behind her head and pulled her into a fierce kiss.

Sora gasped as their lips met but she didn't pull away. I don't know what to do… she thought as he broke the kiss but continued down to her neck, his hands wandering down her back. She could feel his heart pounding through his chest as he pushed her harder against the counter. His lips found hers again. Sora could feel, she could taste his desperate need…for her. She knew that he would truly kill himself if she rejected him. He has a future. Who am I to stand in his way? I have no purpose like he does. I've just been selfish in thinking that I do. Sasuke… She willingly opened her mouth to let his tongue enter.

She's… He broke the kiss. Both of them were breathing hard as they looked at each other. "Sora," he started.

She put a finger to his lips. "It…It's ok," she said as she put a shaky hand on his cheek.I don't know what I'm doing, Sora thought. She brought her hands down and took Sasuke's arms from behind her back to her sides. "We should get some rest," she said.

"Yeah," he said still in a daze but then he snapped out of it. "Yeah." I'm not going to be parted from you. Not now, not ever. He grabbed her wrist and led her to his room.

"Sasuke, what are-"

He covered her mouth with his hand. "I need you." He gently pushed her down on the bed and moved himself so that he was on top of her. He kissed her gently as his hands found their way underneath the shirt she was wearing. Sora opened her mouth to let out a gasp as his fingers ran across her ribcage. Sasuke took the opportunity to slide his tongue into her mouth. More… he thought, fire burning in his eyes. He sat up and tore off his shirt revealing his perfectly built upper body.

Oh god, Sora thought as she couldn't help but stare. This is bad. But she couldn't move.

Sasuke tore the shirt Sora was wearing down the front and tossed it to the side. Dammit, she has bindings on. He slid his hands under her back and turned both of them over so that Sora was now on top. He found the knot that held her bindings on and began to untie it.

Sora knew she should stop him but something kept her. Am I going insane? she thought as she let the cloth slip down her torso. She felt his eyes on her chest area. She quickly pulled up the blanket they were lying on and covered herself turning red with embarrassment. "Pervert!" she accidentally said out loud while blushing madly.

Sasuke smiled as he pulled at the blanket wanting to feel her breasts against his hard chest. "No, you're just irresistible," he said pulling Sora and the sheets down over them. Sora had to let go of the blanket to catch herself from smashing into Sasuke allowing full body contact. Sasuke slid his arms around her keeping her on top of him. "You're beautiful," he whispered as he licked her ear.

Sora didn't move to get up not wanting to expose herself again. Then she felt his hands sliding down her sides. They reached the top of the pants she was wearing and he started pushing them down taking her underwear with it. Sora shot her hands down to stop his. "Sasuke!" she whispered frantically. "We can't!"

"Why not?" Sasuke said moving his hands to pull off his own pants.

Sora felt his movement and grabbed his wrists. "Are you crazy? The Chuunin exam's tomorrow! We can't…" She trailed off blushing again.

Sasuke smiled mischievously as he slowly pulled her underpants back up letting himself feel her smooth skin. "Ok, but the pants go."

"What?" In the blink of an eye, both of their pants were on the floor next to the bed. Sora only had her underpants on and Sasuke his boxers. "This is so wrong," Sora said more to herself than to Sasuke.

"They were my clothes anyway," he said as if they were in a normal situation.

"You…" Sora muttered making sure the blankets were covering both of them so that neither of them would stare. She shot a glare at him.

Sasuke smirked and suddenly flipped them back over so that he was once again on top. His lips came crashing into hers as he ran his fingers through her hair. He nipped her lip making her mouth open. His tongue slid back into her mouth intertwining with hers. Sora accidentally let a moan escape from her throat as she tried to fight back with her own tongue.

The sound almost drove Sasuke over the edge right then. "Oh god, Sora," he gasped as he released her mouth. He moved down to the crook of her neck and began to suckle the smooth skin gently so as not to leave marks behind. He could feel her soft breasts pushing up against his chest making it his turn to moan. He moved his hand down and grabbed the side of Sora's underwear twisting it around his fingers.

"Sasuke!" Sora gasped in protest.

"Don't worry," he said kissing her lips lightly. "I won't do anything, I promise."

You're already doing something, Sora thought as she continued to let him caress her skin. She couldn't help but feel excited and aroused along with fear and nervousness. "Sasuke," she breathed as his hand ran up her side. "We need to sleep."

Sasuke let her push him away slightly but as she rolled to her side to get out, he brought her back up against his chest. "Stay with me," he whispered in her ear. His arms were locked around her waist.

"Not even a choice?" she asked half serious half sarcastic.

Sasuke brought her back closer to his chest as he laid his head on the pillow. "Please."

Sora sighed and relaxed a bit leaning her head back against his shoulder. She was determined to sleep that night so that she would be refreshed for the exam the next day. "Don't you dare try anything when I'm asleep," she threatened hugging the sheets closer to her.

Sasuke moved his arm so that it was on top of the blanket and he draped it across Sora's chest area. "I won't," he said. This is going to be pure torture, he thought miserably.

Although Sora didn't want to, she somewhat trusted Sasuke and soon fell asleep. Sasuke stayed up a little longer letting the scent of her hair take over. I can't believe you're here, beside me, he thought taking another intoxicating breath. I swear with every breath in my body to become strong enough to protect you from anything. You're mine.