Hello People! Hope you guys like this chapter. Thanks to Lyris88, MistFairie93, lovefatedestiny, Uchiha Sasha, ruler of dragons, Eterna1, Lady Moonaya, Valinor's Twilight, Tsukinoyo, NMBC-Sally, and MYDOGRULES for reviewing. Please review, the sooner you review the sooner I update and the more reviews I receive the more I write. Now, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but the lovely Rei.

Chapter Thirty-One

Team Seven traveled for a while jumping from the branches of the trees. Sasuke was running next to Rei and Naruto was in front with Sakura. Although Rei had said that she wanted to be in the back to keep an eye out for enemies he suspected that her wound was bothering her. He glanced over at her as they landed on another branch and for a second he thought she had flinched. He frowned as he knew that unless she was really in pain she wouldn't be bothered by it. He noticed that she was slowing down, but he knew how stubborn she was and so he remained quiet. Suddenly, Rei stopped. Sasuke turned to her and saw her leaning on the tree. He walked up to her as the other two stood where they were.

"What's wrong?"

Sasuke could see that she was tired as she was panting lightly.

"It's nothing, let's go."

She composed herself, but Sasuke saw her wince slightly.

"No, we should rest. Besides, we haven't had anything to eat for a while."

Rei glared at Sasuke knowing the real reason why he wanted to rest.

"No, we should keep moving. Our run ins with Orochimaru and the Otonin delayed us. We're at a time limit and we still have to get the other scroll."

"Yeah, but if we're tired we won't be able to fight off any other enemies that attack us."

"I feel fine and you and Naruto were unconscious long enough to allow you to keep moving. Besides, we rested before we took off."

Sasuke frowned at her stubbornness. He knew she didn't want to hold them back, but he was worried about her. Still, he didn't want to point out that he wanted to stop because of her as he knew that would upset her.

"Let's go. We have to keep moving."

Rei took a step forward, but stopped and held her side. She flinched and Sasuke helped her down. She sat on the ground and Sasuke crouched next to her. Naruto and Sakura went over to them.

"What's wrong with Rei-chan?"

Sasuke ignored Naruto and moved Rei's hand away from her wound. He could see a small red stain growing on her shirt.

"You idiot, your wound opened up. You should have said it hurt."

"I'm fine. I just need some new bandages."

Sasuke ignored her and picked her up.

"Let's find a place to rest."

The others nodded and they reached a place near the river. Sasuke didn't want to stay by the river as someone could see them. Sasuke asked Sakura to take care of Rei while he went to get some food with Naruto. After a while Rei got bored of sitting with Sakura without talking and so she left to go see how the others were doing. She found them fishing, or at least trying to fish. Naruto would scare the fish and make them jump, then Sasuke would throw shuriken at them. Rei watched for a while without saying anything, but she was discovered when she laughed as Naruto was almost hit by one of Sasuke's shuriken. The guys turned around and Sasuke frowned.

"You're supposed to be resting." He said.

"I was bored, besides, I'm fine."

"Hn."

"Rei-chan, how do you feel?" Naruto said as he reached his two comrades.

"I'm fine, Naruto-kun."

"Come on, let's go back." Sasuke said.

"I think I'll get some water first. You guys should fill your bottles too."

Sasuke gave her his bottle as did Naruto so that she could fill them for them.

"We'll tell Sakura-chan." Naruto said.

Rei smiled at the hyper shinobi. Sasuke looked at her seriously.

"Don't take too long."

"I won't. You worry too much."

"Tch." He said annoyed.

They left and Rei sighed as she walked towards the river. She was worried about Sasuke. He had been acting strangely and she wondered if it was because of the whole Orochimaru thing. She sighed again and went back to filling up the bottles. She thought she should hurry. She knew Sasuke and he would probably go check on her if she took too long. Still, she couldn't stop thinking about the mark Orochimaru had left on Sasuke. She hoped they wouldn't run into too much trouble from now on.

As she was filling up the bottles she failed to notice someone approaching. She was too preoccupied with what was going on to sense the person hidden in the trees on the other side of the river. Suddenly she sensed something and looked up to see some kunai heading towards her. She jumped back, but was caught by someone behind her. She felt a kunai being pressed against her throat and growled.

"You're not as good as I remember."

She was surprised to hear the familiar voice and when she turned around and saw who it was she smiled brightly. In front of her stood a very familiar boy with short red hair and bright green eyes.

"Okoru-kun!"

Suddenly he pushed Rei to the side as he jumped away. Rei looked over to where the kunai had come from and saw Sasuke.

"Get away from her!"

"Sasuke stop!"

Sasuke looked at Rei with a questioning look.

"He won't hurt us, he's my friend."

She went over to Okoru and helped him up.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Rei, you're bleeding!"

Rei looked at her side and saw the blood stain on her shirt growing.

"Ah crap! Sasuke, you jerk, look at what you did!"

Sasuke's eye twitched in irritation.

"I thought you were in danger!"

Rei sighed and her expression softened.

"I know, sorry."

"Who is he anyways?"

"Oh, he's an old friend from Kirigakure. His name is Okoru."

She turned to Okoru.

"Okoru-kun, this is Sasuke."

For some reason Sasuke found that he was a bit annoyed that Rei called him Okoru-kun and he was just Sasuke. He was surprised to see that he was jealous, but then again, he hadn't been so close to anyone in a while. He looked back towards them and saw Okoru smirk.

"Well, it's nice to meet you."

"Yeah." Sasuke said and looked away.

Rei sweatdropped and turned to Okoru.

"Don't mind him, he's just anti-social."

Okoru just laughed.

"Hey, are the others here too?"

"Yeah, but I got sort of separated from them." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, I'm sure they'll find you eventually, hey why don't I introduce you to my other teammates?"

"Yeah, let's go."

They walked back to where Naruto and Sakura were.

"Hey, guys, I want you to meet someone."

They looked up and Rei was amused when she saw Sakura staring at Okoru. She knew he was good looking, but he was more like a brother to her.

"This is Okoru. Okoru-kun, these are my other teammates, Naruto and Sakura."

"Hello!" Naruto said.

Rei watched in amusement as Sakura just sat there. She felt a bit bad as she knew Okoru would dislike her as much as Sasuke did.

"It's nice to meet you guys."

"So, Rei-chan, why don't you tell us how you met him?" Naruto said.

"Yeah, I'd like to hear that too."

Rei glanced at Sasuke with a questioning look. Why was he being so moody all of a sudden. Then it occurred to her that he could just be jealous. She almost laughed at the idea, but managed to hold it in. It was absurd for Sasuke to be jealous and then again, she had once thought that about him feeling something towards her.

"Well, there really isn't much to tell. We met when we were kids and we used to play back in Kirigakure. I haven't seen him for about three years."

"But, I thought you were in Kirigakure before you came to Konoha. Didn't you see him there?" Sakura asked.

Rei frowned.

"It's along story."

Sasuke looked at her and wondered what had happened.

"Hey, wait a minute, won't he try to take our scroll?" Naruto said suspiciously.

Rei and Okoru laughed at this.

"Okoru-kun wouldn't do that."

"Yeah, this little brat here is like a little sister to me."

Rei smiled at Okoru as he smirked. Sasuke watched them and felt like punching the guy.

They talked for a long while and then decided to rest. They would take shifts to make sure no one ambushed them while they slept. While Rei took her shift Okoru woke up and went over to her.

"Hello Okoru, couldn't sleep?"

"You know me, I don't sleep much when we're on a mission."

She smiled at him and they sat there in silence for a few seconds.

"Rei?"

"Yeah?"

"Do they know?"

Rei frowned.

"Not all of it."

"Are you going to tell them the truth?"

"…I don't know…"

"You should, they worry, especially the moody one, the one you call jerk."

"Sasuke?" She said with a bit of amusement.

"Yeah."

"They know some of it."

"What did you tell them?"

"I didn't tell them because I wanted to…Okoru…Orochimaru is here."

Okoru looked at her, startled.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm here aren't I?"

"You know what I mean." He said sternly.

Rei sighed.

"It's just, seeing him reminded me of some things I would rather forget. I was scared, Okoru…I don't want to go back with him…"

Okoru sighed and held her.

"Hey, don't worry, I'm sure your friends won't let him take you away and I'm here too."

Rei composed herself and sighed.

"Thanks Okoru-kun."

"Don't mention it…but…why didn't you go back?"

Rei looked at him and then looked down. She knew he was referring to why she didn't return to Kirigakure while she went there with Orochimaru. Although her parents had left her with Orochimaru she would go back to Kirigakure once a year for a few days. At first she used to visit Okoru and her other friends, but then things changed...

"Okoru, after I left three years ago, things changed. The new training Orochimaru used on me…he made me…kill…I didn't want to see you guys after that because…I didn't want you to see what I had become…I wasn't a shinobi I was nothing more than an assassin…I was a killer and I worked for him. I killed so that I wouldn't be killed and for that I can never forgive myself…I was a coward."

"No, you're not. You're alive, and that's what matters. In the end the one who survives is the one meant to live and achieve great things. Rei, don't let the past hold you down. If you let things go I'm sure you'll be happy."

Rei smiled and shook her head slowly.

"You always were the optimistic one."

"Then what were you?"

"I was the ruthless one."

Okoru frowned at this.

"Don't be stupid, you brat. You were actually the mature and smart one. I don' think I would be alive if it weren't for you."

Rei laughed at this.

"Yeah, well, as I recall you saved me a couple of times too."

"A couple?"

"Fine, a lot."

"That's better."

Rei smiled.

"You know, I don't think it would matter to them."

Rei sighed and looked at the ground. She thought about it for a while.

"Okoru, I just don't want them to get hurt."

"Rei, you can't keep the truth from them forever, especially that Sasuke guy. He really seems to like you."

"He better like me, we're going out."

Okoru grinned widely.

"Oh, I see, you're worried about your little boyfriend."

Rei's eye twitched and she smacked Okoru on the head.

"Alright, sorry. Anyways, you'll have to tell me more about him later."

"Well, you're quite the nosy one aren't you."

"I worry about you. I meant what I said before, you're like a bratty little sister to me."

Rei smiled and hugged Okoru.

"I know."

"And as your older brother I think you should tell them about why you're here."

Rei sat up and looked at Okoru seriously.

"No, you know I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because…I'm afraid they wouldn't like me anymore…"

"You idiot, they're your friends. They'll like you no matter what because they are your teammates. As teammates you often trust each other with your lives and so they would never hate you for who you were. Besides, you know that wasn't really you. You only killed because Orochimaru would have killed you if you had refused."

"That doesn't make it right. Nothing can make what I did right. Okoru, they don't know me. They don't know who I really am and I don't want them to know. Okoru, I killed two men earlier and you know, it's been such a long time since the last time I killed. It felt strange and my hands began to shake. I don't want to kill anymore. At least not like that."

Okoru sighed.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. You did what you had to do and if you not doing those things means that you would be dead I'm glad you killed those people."

Rei didn't look at him. She stood up and walked away.

"It's your shift now."

Okoru sighed. He would never be able to make her forgive herself even if others had already forgiven her.

End Chapter Thirty-One

Hope you guys liked it and please review. The sooner you review the sooner I update and the more reviews I receive the more I write. Sayonara!