The next day Mika was preparing for her get together the next day during which she would perform the Tikaake dance to her closest friends and people who helped her recover her memories. She had also invited a few of her families close friends who she could remember, but there weren't many.

'You look stunning.' came the silky male voice as she looked at herself in the mirror trying on her aunts costume: her mothers was too big for her and her old one had fitted her when she was eight. She smiled at the now familiar voice and blushed a little as she twirled around, watching the fairly heavy fabric follow her movement. 'Even more so than usual.' he added making the girls blush intensify.

She had agreed to meet up with Naruto and a few of his friends later that day in the park to get her mind off her battle the day before. Mika had persuaded Sasuke to join her which he had consented to do with great reluctance. She changed back into her usual outfit while the friendly voice in her mind continued to chat amicably, Surplus watched her lazily from his position in the centre of her bed. She had breakfast quickly despite the fact that it was already midday, left the bowl in the already overflowing sink and ran out of the door, shouting a hurried goodbye to her beloved cat.

Sasuke was already waiting for her by the swings, his right arm linked unenthusiastically around the string as he stared steadily at the ground between his feet which followed his slow swinging movement in the breeze. Mika snuck up behind him silently, biting her lip a little as she concentrated on keeping quiet, a playful smile on her lips. She reached forwards and put her hands over his eyes so that he couldn't see, making him jump out of his skin and leap up in surprise.

'Mika what are you doing?' he exclaimed incredulously, his chest heaving in shock and his wide eyes boring into the nervous girl whose hands were still in the same position they had been when they were covering his eyes. 'Sorry… you- you surprised me.' The girl with the brown eyes noticed a kunai knife already ready for battle clutched in his right hand: he was nervous about something.

'He's keeping something from you.' said the silky voice quietly.

'What's wrong, Sasuke?' she asked, standing up straight and looking at him through narrowed eyes. She watched him put the knife back in his shuriken holster and wondered whether he would have hurt her had he not realised who it was in time. 'You're not usually this jumpy.'

'It's nothing.' he mumbled rubbing the top of his left shoulder underneath his shirt and looking down at the ground unresponsively. When he looked up he saw Mika's disbelieving expression and her crossed arms and instinctively knew that it was no good denying it. 'I-I think something… someone bad is close.' he sighed, defeated. Mika's expression was curious, she wanted to know more. 'During the chuunin exam a man-a demon came to disrupt it and… well he left a mark on me. I don't know why, I guess he thought I was good, but it… it's a curse mark and it burns every time he's close.' he explained quickly, his hands moving nervously as he watched Mika listening closely.

'What was his name?' she said in such a quiet voice Sasuke was surprised he had heard her, but there was no mistaking her curiosity… and yet there was more to it than just benign inquisitiveness.

'His name was… and still is…' he paused before saying it, the name which had almost killed him and had cost him the chuunin exam. 'Orochimaru.' Mika's eyes fell to the ground where they darted left and right nervously. Sasuke wondered why this meant so much to her, did she know of him? Had he done something to her as well? 'Mika, do you know him?'

'No.' answered the girl immediately and a lot louder than her previous question. She cleared her throat nervously as she looked up at him again, uncertainty in her deep brown eyes. 'May I see it?' Sasuke walked slowly over to her and pulled down on the collar of his t-shirt, revealing the small black marks on his neck and the black circle which Kakashi had put there to keep the mark under control. 'Is it a lot of trouble?' she asked after inspecting it from a distance and looking back up into his eyes with an anxious expression on her pretty face. He shook his head and a small smile crept onto his lips at her worried expression, he was about to say something affectionate when he heard voices away to his right and her left.

'It was a gift, of course it's no trouble.' said the quietly familiar voice in Mika's mind.

They both looked in that direction and saw Naruto, Shikamaru and Choji walking towards them, Naruto talking loudly as usual. When they spotted Sasuke and Mika the blond boy waved enthusiastically while the other two exchanged meaningful looks, behind them a girl and another boy Mika didn't recognise were talking as the followed. The girl had brown hair which was pulled into two little buns on wither side of her head, she had a pink shirt on and dark green trousers; the boy had long dark brown hair which was tied in a very loose ponytail, a dark beige top and his eyes were a pearly white.

'He's got white eyes…' whispered Mika to Sasuke, trying to look inconspicuous as the gang came ever closer. Sasuke nodded with a friendly smile.

'He's from the Hyuuga clan.' he told her under his breath, leaning a little closer to the girl who continued to look blank. 'They have the byakugan which enables them to see peoples chakra, that's Neji and the girl is Tenten.' he explained briefly.

'They're not related though?' she asked quickly as their friends neared and were nearly in hearing distance. Sasuke shook his head and answered "no" as Naruto and the other two reached them and stood smiling at them. 'Hi Naruto! How are you?'

'Kakashi's working us really hard.' he answered with a tired expression and slouching his back in mock exhaustion. Shikamaru made a small disbelieving sound and Choji continued to much at a packet of crisps. 'How about you? Still training too then?' he asked putting his hands on his hips.

'This morning I was practising my choreography.' she answered shaking her head slightly, her friendly smile still glued to her face while Sasuke just glared moodily at them all. 'For the dance tomorrow night.' she added noticing Naruto's blank stare.

'Buffoon.' said the voice in Mika's head, inaudible to everyone other than her.

'The Tikaake dance which she invited us to go and watch her do.' explained Sasuke when Naruto still didn't seem to get it. The blond boy glared daggers at the dark haired Uchiha boy.

'I knew that!' he exclaimed furiously, shaking his fist at Sasuke who ignored him. Tenten gave a tiny cough from beside Shikamaru, letting them know that she and Neji were there. 'Oh yeah! Mika, this is Neji and Tenten!' continued the blond boy after getting over his moment of frustration. 'Neji, Tenten this is Mika!'

'We saw you fighting yesterday.' said the boy, his expression neutral as he sized the Mika up. 'Impressive powers. It would be interesting doing battle with you.' he finished, a hint of a smile creeping onto his cold lips.

'Don't listen to him, he's always thinking about doing battle with people he finds impressive.' interrupted Tenten with a dismissive wave of her hand and a friendly smile on her attractive face. 'So you're the girl who couldn't remember who she was, huh? That must have sucked!'

'Yeah, kinda!' answered Mika uncertainly, her usual shyness taking over again.

'I've said it before and I'll say it again,' said Shikamaru looking at Mika steadily with a hint of a smile on his handsome face. 'Memory loss… what a drag!' They all laughed at the memory of the time before when he had said that, before a friendly conversation started and they were all chatting happily.

A bit later the conversation was still going strong and they were all sitting around in a non-circular circle so that they could all see each other. Mika was sitting between Sasuke and Naruto, Naruto was beside Shikamaru who was next to Choji who was sitting beside Tenten who was next to Neji. Kiba and Akamaru had arrived shortly after they had sat down and had squeezed themselves between Neji and Sasuke (that was all very tedious… won't do that again! XD). Mika was leaning a little on Sasuke and their hands were linked affectionately, but she wasn't listening to the conversation: She was listening to the voice in her head she knew belonged to the man Sasuke had been talking about earlier… but he was so interesting, and he seemed to know so much about her… and he was so soothing and kind.

Every now and then she'd hear her name being said and she'd snap back to the conversation just to make sure they weren't talking to her but they were usually just making a reference to her method of fighting or something and she was able to go back to listening to Orochimaru talking to her. Why did Sasuke hate him so much? Orochimaru had explained to her that the mark he had left on Sasuke's neck was in fact a gift which would make him stronger later on in life. Mika frowned to herself as she wondered why the friendly owner of the voice in her head was so despised by the boy she adored.

'Are you okay Mika?' came Sasuke's voice suddenly, tugging Mika away from her little dream land she had been in. 'You look tense… do you wanna leave?' he asked anxiously, worried about her expression. She also knew he wanted to leave.

'I… umm, I need to go to… the bathroom…' she stuttered, unsure of what to say. She smiled over at him and received an adoring smile in return which made her grin more and blush crimson as she got to her feet tentatively, pins and needles biting at her right foot. She hobbled off and round a corner where she stopped and leant against the wall, wincing at the uncomfortable feeling in her foot, when she heard hurried footsteps.

'Mika!' came a girls voice, coming swiftly closer. Mika frowned as Tenten came rushing around the corner and had to grind to a halt so as not to bump into the girl with the plum coloured hair. 'There you are!' she panted as she regained her balance. 'Umm… I know I don't know you very well-'

'That's a bit of an understatement!' answered Mika smiling amicably at the brown haired girl in front of her. Tenten laughed meekly.

'Pathetic.' She tried to ignore the familiar voice.

'Well, I just wanted to say…' continued the older girl standing up straight again and looking straight at Mika's politely perplexed face. 'I know what you're thinking… and you've gotta think about it before you just give up.' Mika gazed at her blankly, her deep hazel eyes wide as she tried desperately to make either head or tails of the situation. 'I can see it in your smile… when you smiled at him… there was something in the shadow of your smile.'

'Umm… Tenten, no offence… but I think you're seeing things.' answered the younger girl tentatively with an apologetic expression on her pretty face. The brown haired girl opposite Mika smiled understandingly at her and shook her head slightly.

'Well, this is all I wanted to say.' she replied, the accepting smile still etched into her pretty features. 'Think about it before you walk away from him.'

'Are you talking about Sasuke?' asked Mika, an inkling of comprehension dawning in her eyes. Tenten smiled and started to walk back to the rest of the group, watching Mika intently as she moved slowly backwards before turning on her heel and leaving at a small jog.

'Rude peasant.' spat Orochimaru's voice as she watched her run off incredulously. Mika frowned down at the ground as she went over their brief conversation in her mind, trying to make sense of it. Why would she leave Sasuke? She adored Sasuke, and that was obvious to everyone. 'What does she know?'

Cheer up Lonely-Kitty! Hope this helps! 3