Rin

All my memories came flooding back to me. It was over whelming. I saw everything; the times I played with Sasuke, the times we tried to get Itachi to teach us ninja techniques, the time I swam in the lake and almost drowned. They all came back to me, and I could do nothing but watch them unfold.

I understood my relationship with everyone. My brothers were the world to me, my mother always listened, but we were never very close. I was more like a guy than a girl, and I also remembered that my father was a complete ass.

The memory I liked most was the one of my 3rd birthday.

"Happy Birthday, Rin." Sasuke smiled and handed me a small blue box.

"That's from me and Sasuke." Itachi put in.

I untied the little white ribbon on the top and opened it. It was a necklace. A simple silver chain with a charm shaped like the Uchiha crest.

"It's so pretty." I said picking it up.

"It's to remind you that we love you." Itachi explained.

"Yeah, because Itachis gonna start missions soon. He said he'd get me a keychain for my birthday! He said it's an apology since he won't be able to play with us. I chipped in because in a couple of years, I'm gonna be an great ninja and go on plenty of mission, so you better not be lonely!" Sasuke added.

I laughed, " Okay, I'll keep this safe for now. When I become a full-fledged ninja I'm gonna wear it everyday!" I put it back in the blue box, jumped off my bed and opened the drawer in my desk. I carefully placed it inside

"It's my motivation." I said proudly.

Itachi laughed, "Okay, well I have to go to the academy. I'll see you guys later." He left my room to get ready for school.

"I'll make you a bet." Sasuke said as soon as Itachi was out of hearing distance.

I raised an eyebrow, "What kind of bet?"

"I bet our birthday presents!" he announced, "When we get older we'll have to see which one of us will be the best. If you're better than me, I'll give you my keychain. If I'm better you have to give me your necklace."

I grinned, "You want a necklace? Maybe we were born in the wrong bodies Sasuke. I think I was suppost to be the boy and you were suppost to be the girl."

"Shut up, I can put it on my keychain. I won't actually wear it, stupid." He made a sour face.

I laughed, "Okay, okay. I'm just teasing. You're on!" We shook hands and made the deal official.

When he was half way out the door he turned back and asked, "If you die on one of your petty genin ninja missions that's an automatic forfeit."

"Yeah, yeah whatever!" I yelled.

The dream faded and I was greeted with the memories of Danzo. Those were scarier than anything. I was back in that dark room. I couldn't see anything or anyone. No windows or doors. More abuse, then came the day where Danzo told me about the massacre. Though, at that point I was already broken and didn't care.

"Good riddance," I thought. "Sasuke was the only survivor? Who cares? If Itachi hadn't killed the clan, I'm pretty sure I would've."

The memories of Orochimarus weren't that bad. Mostly consisted of being tested on with some chemicals that I didn't know, or training under his extremely careful watch, and some painful memories when I learned how to control the curse mark.

The thing I was concerned about most was the fact that I could use all the elements when I was at Orochimarus hideout. I remember using every element to spar, even fire and wind, but now they were my worst elements. I quickly forgot about it when the memory of my escape came though.

I was lying on my bed, when I sighed.

"What's wrong, Rin?"

I turned my head and saw Tsubasa enter my room, followed by Midori.

"I'm so tired of this place. I wanna be outside for once." I complained.

Midori laughed, "Fat chance, kiddo. Plus, where would you go?"

"The leaf village!" I said excitedly.

"Why there?" he asked.

"I'm gonna kill the remainder of my clan."

"Your clan?"

I nodded, "I know I'm an Uchiha since I have the sharingan, but Orochimaru told me my clan was wiped out, killed by some guy named Itachi Uchiha. There's one survivor, his brother, Sasuke."

"Okay, but why do you want to kill them?"

"They may be connected to my past." I touched the seal on my neck. "I don't like thinking about my past it makes the seal hurt, if I get rid of them I may be at ease for a while."

Midori whistled, "That's some dark thinking for a 13 year old. What if they're your family? Like your brothers or cousins or something."

"They are my brothers."

"You remember?"

"No, Orochimaru told me."

"Then why would you want to kill them?"

"If they are my family and I'm in this hell hole they must not care about me enough to come and find me."

"You don't know that."

"Sure I do. Orochimaru just gave Sasuke the curse mark a month ago, he said Sasuke didn't even ask about me. Nothing. Nada."

"You trust Orochimaru? The one who wants to turn you into his new host body."

I shivered, "Hell no, but he's honest about some things, and I could tell he wasn't lying."

Midori patted my head, "Well good luck with that dream, squirt. But you gotta get out of here before you can get to that village." He left the room.

I turned to Tsubasa, "How come you guys can walk around the hideout, but I'm locked in a room?"

Tsubasa smiled, "Maybe because we've sworn our loyalty to Orochimaru and we intent to keep it."

"Well I didn't swear anything, I should be free to leave."

Tsubasa leaned closer, "You know what I heard?" she whispered, "I heard Orochimaru got you as a payment from someone in the leaf village, apparently this guy named Danzo needed help overthrowing the Hokage, so he asked Orochimaru. They tried their first attempt at the 2nd round of the Chunin exams, but it ended badly, and Orochimaru got hurt. He needs a new body soon."

I jumped back, "I'm not becoming that guys body!"

"Then you need to escape." She winked at me, "You can do it, you're powerful aren't you?"

I scowled, this place was inescapable. I've tried getting out of my room hundreds of times, all ended in failure. I thought she was teasing me, but as she was leaving she turned back.

"I was never here." She whispered. She left leaving the door open. My eyes widened. I waited till I couldn't hear her footsteps anymore. I peeked out the door, the hallway was deserted, the guard that usually watched my cell, I mean room was knocked out cold on the floor. I smiled.

"Loyalty my ass, Tsubasa." I joked.

I ran through the hideout trying to find the exit, but damn this place was huge! I kept getting lost. I just reached the end of the corridor when an alarm went off.

"Shit the guard must've woken up!" I cursed.

I turned down the last hall and saw the door. I sprinted the rest of the way to the direction I thought the leaf village was in. I stole a map from the library last time I went there, if we were where Midori said, the village should be in that direction.

I burst through a small opening in the wall, and was immediately greeted with sunlight. I looked around and saw trees, and a lake. The day was so beautiful. I could've stayed there forever. You know if I wasn't on the run from a psycho demonic snake man. I took off to the trees. I know they'd come after me, I know I could be killed, but right now I didn't care. With the wind blowing through my hair, and nothing but forest before me . I felt free for the first time in my life.

My eyes shot open. Light was streaming in through the windows. I think it was around noon. I was lying on the ground staring at the ceiling.

I got off the ground and stretched, sleeping on the floor makes you stiff. I walked to the bathroom and took off my shirt. Sure enough the seal on my back was gone. I smiled.

I walked back up the stairs to my room. It looked exactly like it did in my memories. I guess nobody touched the room even after I left. I went over to the desk in the corner and pulled on the drawer. Everything inside was covered in dust, but there was a distinct little blue box with a ribbon on it. I took the box and opened it. The necklace looked perfect. Still silver and shiny. I took the necklace out and put it on, but I tucked it into my shirt, I didn't want anyone seeing it yet. I put the box and ribbon back in the drawer.

I walked out the front door and turned to the house. It looked so much happier in the daylight, but you could feel the emptiness radiating off the whole compound. It was lonely and sad. I touched the spot on my shirt where the necklace was. I was a fully-fledged ninja, but nothing was how I thought it would be.

"Take that, dad." I said to the house, "I became a ninja." I smirked and made my way home.

I opened the door to my apartment. The whole place was clean. No broken glass, a new table in the kitchen, and no holes in the wall.

"They must've cleaned it this morning, that was fast." I thought.

What am I suppost to do all day? I didn't really have friends anymore, and my memories still didn't explain why Sasuke let me be taken away. Basically I went there for nothing. I guess I could go tell Lady Tsunade all my memories have returned. Did the others tell her I wanted to kill Sasuke? If they did I could be in trouble.

Screw it, it can't get any worse than this.

I headed out the door. "Maybe I should go see if Hinata's okay." I thought. I redirected my route to the Hyuga compound and approached the guard at the gates.

"I'm here to see Hinata. Tell her its Rin."

The guard gave me a look over and nodded before disappearing into the gates, a few minutes later he reappeared.

"I'm sorry, but it seems Lady Hinata is not home at the moment." He informed me.

My heart dropped, I wanted to at least see her to make sure she was okay. I mean, it was my fault she got hurt, even if she's not my friend it's okay to check up on her right? Ugh, I'm overthinking this!

"Are you okay?" The guard asked shaking his hand in front of my face.

I immediately snapped back to attention, "Yeah, sorry. Thanks anyway." I walked away from the compound. I was heading to the Hokage tower when my stomach growled, rather loudly.

"Oh yeah, I skipped breakfast." I was starving! I made my way to Ichiraku and ordered the biggest bowl of miso ramen they had.

"Here ya go!" Teuchi said placing the bowl down in front of me.

"Thanks." I mumbled. I dug in. Ramen was sooooooo good, especially on an empty stomach. I was on my second bowl when all of a sudden I was tackled to the ground.

"What the hell?" I yelled. I turned to face my attacker and saw Kiba holding my arms and Akamaru biting my ankle.

"Got you!" he shouted. Hinata and Shino were standing by us ready to attack.

"Okay, I know you guys don't really like me, but this is ridiculous. Get off!" I thrashed in his hands trying to get up, but when your face is eating dirt and some guy is sitting on you with his dog biting your ankle that's hard to do.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Kiba practically screamed in my ear.

"What are you talking about?"

"You've been gone for 2 days! Everyone's looking everywhere for you! We thought you left the village!"

My eyes widened, 2 days? How long was I sleeping on the floor? No wonder my back hurts.

"I was at the Uchiha compound you numbskull."

Everyone's eyes widened, "Y-you were?" Hinata asked me.

I looked at her, "Glad to see your okay, Hinata. I just went to see you, but they said you weren't home. But, yeah I was. You were right by the way; I got all of my memories back. I was gonna see the Hokage, but being out cold for 2 days makes you kinda hungry. Now, Let. Go." I said telling Kiba as if I was speaking to a toddler.

He quickly released my arms, and I turned to Akamaru.

"That hurts you know?" I said. He looked up at me then let go of my leg, distinguishable teeth marks were left on my ankle. "Ow." I muttered. I wobbled back onto my chair; Teuchi was still making noodles like nothing ever happened.

"You were out for 2 days?" Kiba asked peeking over my shoulder.

I sighed, "Yes. I woke up this afternoon. I'll go to the Hokage's office after I finish eating." I waved my hand dismissively. I expected them to leave, but Hinata sat down beside me and got a small bowl of Ramen.

I quirked and eyebrow at her and she gave a timid smile.

"Thanks for saving me." She whispered quietly.

I shrugged.

"You know, I really do think of you as a friend." She continued.

I choked on my noodles, after a couple coughs and a few sips of water I was back to normal.

"Are you sure? I mean, a dangerous criminal like me? You could end up dead by morning." I said sarcastically.

She laughed, "I'm sure." She smiled and I inwardly groaned. I can't stay mad, damn it. I didn't know how to reply so I just continued eating; I guess Hinata knew me pretty well. She seemed pleased by my answer.

I got off my stool and took a step forward before I fell on my face.

"Are you okay?!" Hinata asked.

"Damn it." I cursed, "My ankle hurts. Geese, Akamaru, you have a bite like a shark."

He barked proudly in response, and I rolled my eyes and laughed, "Yeah, yeah whatever, but if theirs and emergency and I die because I can't run. I blame you."

I started making my way towards the Hokage's office, my ankle hurt, but it's bearable.

"I'm not gonna run away guys." I said rather annoyed. Hinata's team had been following me since I left the Ramen stand.

"I know." Hinata said happily as she took my hand, "I'm here for moral support."

I let myself smile.

"Me and Shino are here 'cause we think you'll run off." Kiba pointed out.

I laughed, "Don't worry Akamaru's gonna keep me from running off. After all, my left ankle hasn't been bitten yet, right?"

Akamaru barked happily in response.

I knocked nervously on the Hokage's door.

"Enter."

I opened the door and stepped in. Tsunade's eyes widened when she saw me. Everyone nervously took a giant step away from me. Then, I saw why. She hurled the closes thing she had, which just so happened to be her teacup at my head. She has some arm muscle so that thing came whizzing at my face. I grabbed it out of the air before it could hit. I calmly set it down on her table. Everyone looked shocked and I felt pretty good, I felt all cool and powerful. Except for the fact that the catch hurt my hand like hell. I mean, it is Lady Tsunade we're talking about.

"Where have you been?!" she asked angrily. She started asking a bunch of questions at once. She kind of sounded like a parent, that idea made me smile. When she finished her long lecture of how much trouble I caused her and what everyone thought I explained to her.

"I went to the Uchiha compound." I told her.

She raised her eyebrows, "Really?"

I nodded then put my hand on the back of my neck, "The seal broke. I've regained all my memories as well."

Her eyes widened. I keep surprising her now don't I?

"Kiba go get Ibiki. I want him to get the file of Rins memories, were going to add some information to them. Shino, can you call everyone back. They should know Rin is no longer missing."

Kiba and Shino disappeared in an instant.

We waited for a few minutes before Ibiki and Sasuke entered the room.

"You're back?" I asked Sasuke.

He approached me and hit me on the head, "I got back yesterday. Only to find YOU went MISSING." He exaggerated.

I rubbed my head, "Hey I got my memories back! I was at the Uchiha Compound for God's sake."

"Well I didn't know that. I heard from everyone what happened with Midori and Tsubasa, they told me about their mission, and how you went missing afterwards. I thought you left!"

"Well I didn't, okay? Now be quiet so I can get this report done with." I turned my head to Tsunade, "Where do I start?"

She smiled, "from the beginning."

Hinata looked at me, "You want me to go?"

I gripped her hand, "No, it's okay."

She nodded and I turned towards Ibiki.

"Get comfortable, it took me 2 days to watch my memories. Imagine how long it'll take you to write them." I warned.

I stretched as I exited the building. "Whew, thank God that's over!" I told them all my memories, except for the necklace one, that one was private. I don't think Sasuke remembered anything about me though.

It took 4 hours to tell them everything. Most details weren't important, but I was told to tell them everything, so useless memories were shared.

Sasuke cracked his neck, "I can't believe you remembered all that. Did you see your file? It's huge now."

"I'm exhausted." I said, "But what happens now? I mean, does that mean I'll be kicked out of the village? Or put in jail? Or what?" that part was seriously worrying me.

"I think she'll have to talk about it with the elders." Hinata said.

I stopped walking, "The Elders?! Well frick, I'm already screwed then."

"You don't know that." Hinata turned around, and offered a hand to me. "Let's go to the curry house to cheer you up. My treat."

My face immediately brightened up. "YES!" I cheered.

Sasuke leaned over to Hinata, "How'd you know that would cheer her up."

"I spent a lot of time with her while you were gone. I noticed she eats a lot, she really seems to like food." Hinata replied.

"I don't like food, I love it!"

Sasuke sighed, "She is not my sister." He shook his head. Hinata laughed.

"Come on." I said running ahead, but I wasn't looking where I was going and crashed into someone.

"Ahh, sorry." I looked up and saw I crashed into Tenten. She looked up, when she saw me her eyes shifted downwards. She looked guilty.

"N-no it's okay." Tenten must've felt really bad. I stood up and extended a hand to her. She smiled timidly then took it. Neji and Lee were behind her. Neji, giving one of his famous death glares.

"Neji." I regarded.

"Rin."

I think everyone could feel the tension in the air.

"okay, okay you two." Tenten broke in. "Come on Neji. Let's go." She pushed Neji along.

"Bye, Rin. Bye, Hinata." She waved.

"Well that was awkward." Hinata laughed.

"Hate. Him." I muttered.

"Come on, Rin." Hinata pulled me inside the curry house, and I soon forgot about my hatred as I dined on the finest curry in the village.

"Ah, that was good." I sighed happily. We had just dropped Hinata off at home and were heading back to the apartments.

"We'll looks like your adapting well to Konoha." Sasuke said.

"Mmhmm."

Sasuke walked me to my door, "Hey, at least the Hokage knows the truth." Sasuke said goodnight and headed down the stairs.

I softly closed the door and made my way to bed.

There was something I was hiding though. I didn't tell Tsunade the truth about what happened on the day Tsubasa tried to kidnap me.

"Shit." Tsubasa muttered.

I groaned, the way she was moving was making my head pound.

She smiled down at me, "You really don't remember us, huh?" she questioned.

"Not one bit."

She looked behind us. "Your friends are following us, but their pretty far. This should do."

She hopped down to the floor and set me against a tree.

"Listen to me, Rin. We don't have that much time. You're friends are fast and they've probably noticed I've stopped moving. So I have to say this quickly before Midori dies."

"What are you talking about." I asked. I felt so weak.

"Rin, were your friends. Midori and I are like your family, that's why we're here."

"You're here to take me somewhere I don't want to go? Some family." I muttered.

"Shh, now listen. How many elements can you use?"

"Why should I tell you?"

She groaned, "Rin, trust me. I'm trying to help you, but you need to answer me. I don't have much time! Please Rin!"

For some reason I felt like I should trust her, "lightning, water and earth. Why?"

Her brows narrowed, "It's happening to you too."

"What are you talking about?"

"When you were at Orochimarus you were able to use all the elements. Do you remember that?"

"No."

"Okay well I'm telling you, you could. Orochimaru sent us here to get back his most prized experiment, but me and Midori had other ideas. Listen, Rin, those experiments he did on you. They did work. You were able to use all of them, but Kabuto realized something recently. It's only a temporary thing. You do get unimaginable power, but only for a while."

"How do you know this?"

"We didn't tell you, but Midori and I are part of the same experiment. We went through all the testing and injections you did. We discovered our powers are fading. Midori can only use Earth style now, and I can only use water and wind. You're powers will begin to fade as well."

"So what? I can't be a ninja anymore?" I asked crestfallen.

"Not exactly, you see we discovered that the tests performed on you were basically burst of chakra and energy, enabling you to use all the elements, but once the experiment wears off, a sort of aftermath occurs. Because it gave you so much power you begin to lose all the previous powers you had. It happens very slowly, but your body can't handle the amount of change occurring. So because the experiment gave you so much chakra and energy, when it ends it'll begin to deplete it."

My eyes widened when the realization of what she meant finally hit me.

"Midori's down to his last element." She continued to explain, "That's how we've been keeping time of how long his energies depleting. Orochimaru sent us here to get you back before we loose all our powers. Though, we wanted to warn you more than anything."

"Why?" I asked weakly.

She smiled and kissed my forehead, "You're like a little sister to us. We had to tell you. There's no stopping it, Rin. Midoris tried a bunch of test to see if it can be stopped, but there's no cure. There's nothing I can do to help you."

"I'm so confused."

"I know, you should get your memories back soon, I can feel it. You have to do it yourself, but I will tell you this. Once you regain your memory, you should remember where the hideout is. Orochimaru is still there. I don't know when he'll move, but now's your chance! I'm almost out of time."

"What?"

She picked her head up and looked in the direction of the village, "Midori's dead."

For some reason I felt myself become sad, "How can you tell?"

"I need to leave." Tsubasa stated, completely ignoring my question.

"Why?"

"I can't beat your friends. Don't tell them about our conversation, Rin. Who knows what they'd do to you if they thought you were a spy. Tell them I dumped you because I found out Midori was dead, so you were dragging me down."

"Gee, I'm really feeling the love."

She laughed, "Take care, Rin." Then she disappeared.

I sat there for a while just catching my breath and processing what she meant. Could I really trust her? I think I could, she seemed to really care about me. She knew my past, plus she hadn't killed me.

Minutes later I saw Tenten. I called her and she stopped.

"You look terrible." She told me.

"Gee, thanks." I groaned.

I snapped myself awake, not realizing I had fallen asleep. I was sweaty and breathing heavily. All the pressure was getting to me. My powers were fading and with it so was my life energy.

I was slowly dying.