Hi everyone!! A very special thanks to Winter-Rae and Ripuku for their wonderful feedback. Without you guys, this story would still be nowhere. I apologize for the long wait. I've hit a dead point in life and it's been really hard for me lately. Well, that, and school has picked back up as well as band so I'm going to try, but I can't make any guarantees on any quick updates. Also, I know I promised some answers, but... I don't think that there are too many, or any at all for that matter. Please, bear with me. Anyway, here is the next chapter, and I hope you like it!

Chapter 5: Reunion

Kuro turned around and stared at Hiorie in pure bewilderment. "Her sister?!" He said slowly. Hiorie nodded. "Why'd she try to kill her then? What kind of sisterly love is that?!?!"

"Never mind that, I'll explain everything later. I'll tell you and Kysona everything I know. But first, please help me kill her." He said uneasily.

"But, shouldn't we let Kysona….. I mean…. And why would you need my help??" Kuro asked suddenly, turning his slightly in Hiorie's direction.

"I don't want Kysona to find out about her sister at a time like this. In fact, I'd prefer it if she never knew." Hiorie stated seriously. "If she found out now, it would only make our problems worse."

"Oh, come on Hiorie!!" Hana begged eagerly, starting to bob up and down with excitement. "Let's start the fun already!!"

"Kuro, take her lightly, and you will die." Hiorie warned, walking up next to him. "Let's go!" Then they jumped in two different directions at the same time as if they had rehearsed it.

Hana kept her focus on Hiorie, expecting him to be the bigger threat. Kuro drew his right sword and jumped in front of her. Hana pulled out a kunai and easily blocked his first strike, also making sure to keep an eye on Hiorie, who was simply running along the trees. She brought up her left foot and Kuro easily grabbed it. She used his hand as a pivot point and spun around. She jabbed her kunai at the back of his neck but he ducked at the last second. Kuro then started to spin around in circles, being sure not to let go of her leg. Then he threw her in a random direction.

'Wow' Hana thought. 'He's good.' The moment she landed she felt hands tightly grip her shoulders. Before she had time to react though, Hiorie rammed his knee into her butt, causing her to arch her back and let out a very pained yelp. Hiorie quickly grabbed a kunai with an explosion note attached and slammed it into her exposed chest. He jumped away and set off the note. Kuro shielded eyes from the bright light and the dirt flying through the air while Hiorie readied another kunai.

"Wow, Hiorie. You know, that knee proved to look very wrong." Kuro said sarcastically. "You never struck me as the perverted type."

"I'm not." Hiorie replied, smiling slightly. "I hit her there for a reason." They waited silently for the dust to clear. There was a bright flash and Kuro suddenly fell forward. Hiorie turned quickly to see Hana stumble and fall on her knees behind Kuro.

"You bastard…… You hit my tailbone!" Hana screamed at him, struggling to deal with the immense pain from the hit.

"I know." Hiorie stated casually. "What, did you actually think that I would even flirt with a girl like you?" Hana glared at him with the utmost of hatred. "Not in this life time."

Hana reached back and rubbed where Hiorie had kneed her. She whimpered lightly. "How could I lose to someone so weak? You're lucky that Saizo didn't get here in time."

"Really, and what ever happened to Yagisura?" Hiorie asked mockingly. Hiorie slowly approached her, kunai in hand.

"He's got other matters to attend to." She spat, still unable to move very well.

"Like what? Taking care of your poor Orochimaru?? I thought that that Kabuto's job." Hiorie was within striking distance now. He was savoring the moment. 'Finally,' He thought. 'I'm one step closer to avenging you.'

'Damnit, why can't I move?' Hana thought, starting to get really annoyed by the whole situation. 'He must have shot chakra through my spine. I'm paralyzed from the neck down.' Hiorie raised his hand. "It's about damn time." She said, smiling.

"Stop stalling and die!!" He yelled. His attack was inches from her when he jumped back a few feet. 'Shit.' A long arrow had hit the ground where he was previously standing. Hiorie looked up into the tree above them and saw a figure standing on a branch, another arrow loaded into its bow. The upper part of its face was covered with shadow from its hood and its mouth showed no expression what so ever. It released its arrow and Hiorie caught it effortlessly. He snapped it with his fingers and threw the bladed end into a tree to the side of him after he had discarded the other piece.

"You've improved." It said slowly. It had a deep, raspy voice with wisdom in every word. It was obviously very experienced. It jumped down next to Hana and loaded another arrow into its bow.

"What are you doing?" Hana question worriedly. "What about the boy?"

"Orochimaru wanted to deal with the problem himself." The figure replied simply.

"Yagisura, you were the last person I wanted to find here." Hiorie said, uneasily. He stared intensely at him, hoping for an opportunity to run. 'I can't take on both of them at once. Hana will be moving again soon too. And if Orochimaru is here, this is getting to be much more serious than I thought. The only way this could get worse would be if…… Oh no.' Hiorie scowled as a third person dropped next to Yagisura and Hana.

"Come on guys, why haven't you finished him yet?" It asked coldly, clearly disappointed. But before they could answer Hiorie spoke up.

"Saizo Samashi." He said slowly. "Your all here….. Lucky me. I get finish all three of you in one blow!!!" Hiorie's chakra started to leak from his body. He grabbed his hookshots and readied himself. They stared each other down for what seemed like days until….. Hana charged. 'So it begins. What the??' Hana reached into her pouch and pulled out a tiny dagger. Unfortunately though, within seconds, it rivaled Zabuza's blade. "That's a new trick." He said to himself uncomfortably. 'Damnit….. this changes everything.'

Hiorie jumped back to avoid her slash and went to counter attack but Saizo was too quick. He knocked Hiorie back a few feet with an incredible palm thrust. Hiorie rolled on the ground. Unfortunately though, he had no time to recover. Yagisura jumped over him and shot four arrows down on his prey. Hiorie struggled to knock them away, but did so nonetheless, then he focused chakra into his hands and heels. He raised them and smashed them on the ground. It shot him high into the air. Now was his chance.

When he reached the peak of his flight, he relaxed all his muscles and started free-falling to the ground, head first. He loved the feeling of the wind on his face so much that he nearly forgot about the problem at hand. He waited for the right moment, and it came to him clearly.

Saizo jumped where Hiorie would land and brandished a glove with three long, sharp claws at the end of it. The moment before Saizo's blade made contact with him, Hiorie grabbed Saizo's wrist, spun and chucked him as hard as he could in a gap in the trees. Hiorie landed, and dashed towards Hana, smiling at the satisfying crash he heard in the distance.

Hiorie wrapped a hookshot around Hana's waist and pulled her towards him. She squealed from the jerk, but was soon silenced by Hiorie's chakra-loaded fist to her face. She smashed into the ground limply about twenty feet away. Her sword flew from her hand and returned to its normal shape upon impact with the ground.

Hiorie quickly turned around and charged Yagisura. 'Last one.' He thought. 'Then I can grab the newbie's and get out of here before anyone else shows up.' He smoothly maneuvered his way through the constant volley of arrows coming his way. One hit his leg, but he ignored it. He only cared about getting Yagisura down even if only for a minute or two. If he could do that, then he could get away from this without loss.

Yagisura kicked Hiorie away effortlessly. Then he put his bow away and reached into his cloak. 'Shit, this isn't looking good.' Hiorie thought. Yagisura pulled out two daggers with wavy blades and hand-guards to fit a king's rapier. Yagisura dropped into a ready stance and waited. "Okay, I'm sick of this taijustu crap." Hiorie said coldly. "Let's end it already." He ripped out the arrow with a grunt and slowly stood up.

He grabbed the water canteen from his bag and dumped the water into a puddle in front of him. Yagisura steadily crept forward, on guard for anything. Hiorie knelt down and drenched his hands in the puddle. Then he flew through countless hand signs, to fast to follow with the naked eye. Yagisura remained motionless. Unfazed by anything Hiorie was doing. Three long, sharp blades suddenly pierced Hiorie's back and went through his chest. He looked down at the wound in shock.

"Hn, I guess Kosuke and Angel really did die for nothing." Saizo said, a little disappointed. Hiorie's hands were trembling on the blood stained metal. Saizo jammed the blades even farther into him, causing him to spit a load of blood.. His mind was spinning, his vision blurry. He tried to capture thought with feeling but nothing came. Then, the pain was gone. The blades had left his diminishing body. He hit the ground roughly and more blood spilled from his mouth.

'Is this it?' He thought, everything was going so slow for him. 'Is this really how it ends? No, it can't. I haven't gotten back at them yet. I haven't fulfilled my promises. But, what am I going to do? They beat me. All this time, all the hours and sleepless nights. I thought I could have actually stood a chance. But it was pointless. Is this why I'm here. To die and leave my friends in pain?' Kysona's body was thrown in front of him. Her face calm and peaceful.

His vision now started to darken. Everything was dispersing into the darkness. With the last of his strength he reached up and clutched her hand tightly. 'I'm sorry.' He felt it give a light squeeze in return, but nothing more. 'See you on the other side….'

-Cries- Yeah, this was hard for me to do. By doing this I have two options: make the story incredibly hard to write and for reader's not to cry, or, make the story pretty hard to write. So, naturally, I chose the incredibly hard one. I know that last of it was pretty poorly written and I apologize for that but I just wanted to get the idea across and get this installment... well... installed. The next two chapters will explain some stuff I promise, and I'm getting some control on my life again so I hope that the next chapter gets here sooner too.