Hello people! Hope you guys like this chapter and sorry for not updating in so long, but I've been a bit busy lately. At least I'll have some more time since y classes are mostly art classes. Anyways, thanks to MizuHime, MistFairie93, Hibiki-chan, Skyheart, Eterna1, ruler of dragons, Tsukinoyo, lovefatedestiny, larrycucumber2, Lyris88, tru-viet, Valinor's Twilight, and Uchiha Sasha for reading and 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 yet clumsy Rei, the dashing and cowardly Okoru, the childishly charming Zakyo and the Arrogant yet powerful Yu.

Chapter Forty-One

Rei woke up early tat morning. In fact the sun was barely rising when she looked out her window. She grinned and got up. She made a clone of herself and instructed it to stay in bed while she walked out and carefully made her way to Sasuke's room. She made it there without running into anyone and entered the room. She was surprised to see Sasuke was up and dressed in his regular clothes. He turned to her and frowned. She closed the door and walked up to him. She smacked him on the head before he could do anything.

"Why did you do that?" He asked.

"Because you were leaving without saying bye you jerk."

Sasuke sighed.

"I know, but I didn't want you to know I was leaving."

"Why not, it's not like I care." She said blankly.

Sasuke turned to look at her with a bit of confusion in his face.

"I mean, you're just leaving to train with Kakashi right?"

"How did you know that?"

"Naruto told me, but I could have guessed on my own. Besides, you'll need the training if you're going to fight Gaara."

Sasuke frowned.

"Just make sure to get back here in time for the fight and you better win."

He smirked.

"I will, you should train too. I don't know much about who you're fighting, but you better win."

"Of course I'll train! By the time you get back I'll be able to beat you."

"Yeah right."

He smirked and she grinned at him.

"I should leave before a nurse comes." He said.

Rei nodded. Suddenly she hugged him.

"Good luck."

"Hn."

She looked up at him and glared at him slightly.

"I told you to stop saying that."

"Hn." He said smirking.

She sighed in exasperation.

"Well, I guess I should get back to my room too. I'll see you during the exam."

Sasuke nodded and she left.

Rei went back to her room and dismissed her clone. She yawned as she got in her bed. She slept for a while and when she woke up she just looked out the window. She was very bored. Luckily for her Okoru decided to visit her. He stepped in with some flowers and she smiled.

"Okoru-kun, I knew you wouldn't abandon me! I'm sooooo bored!!!" She said dramatically.

Okoru sweatdropped and put the flowers in a vase by Rei's bed.

"Yeah, well I had to get away from Zakyo to come here since she wanted to train and then I met this weird girl at the flower shop."

He shuddered and Rei had to wonder who he had met.

"Who was it?"

"I don't know, some blonde girl. She works there."

"Oh, you met Ino."

"Ino?"

"Yeah, she's one of Sasuke's fangirls." She said smirking.

Okoru grew a bit pale and she tried very hard to not laugh at his expression. She knew he had had some bad experiences with fangirls. Of course this only made things more interesting.

"I guess you'll have to be more careful around her Okoru." She said mockingly.

"What happened at the flower shop, anyways?"

"That's none of your business." He said quickly.

Rei laughed and he glared at her. After a while she stopped laughing and turned to her friend.

"So, how is the training going?"

Okoru frowned.

"How do you think it's going? I'm training with Zakyo."

"Oh, come on it's not so bad."

"I know, but I just wish she wasn't so energetic." He sighed.

Rei grinned.

"You know, I always wondered how it was possible for you two to be related. I mean, you look alike, but you act differently. Zakyo is always happy and energetic, while you're always boring and lazy."

"Hey!" He said indignantly.

She grinned and Okoru just sighed.

"Well, I still wonder how you can be so annoying when you should be thinking about what could happen."

"What do you mean?"

Okoru sighed and she could see that he was serious.

"I mean, Orochimaru. We don't know what he wants or where he is. If he's still here you could be in danger. Do the people here know about your connection with him?"

Rei sighed and grew more serious at the mention of Orochimaru.

"The Hokage and some of the Jounin know. Of course my teammates know as well. Still, it doesn't matter who knows, if Orochimaru wants me back he'll get me back."

"Don't say that! I won't let him take you back!"

"Relax, if he wanted me back he would have done something already, It's clear that he has another purpose. The Hokage must be aware of that too."

Okoru sighed and looked at his friend warily.

"Still, I would feel better if you had some protection."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"You said that last time and you ended up wandering around until Konoha found you."

"I was fine during that time."

"No, you weren't. Orochimaru was after you and you were barely able to stay away from him. If the Hokage hadn't sent those shinobi to find you Orochimaru would have gotten you back."

"So what? At least you guys were safe!"

Okoru sighed and shook his head.

"Yeah, but you weren't."

She looked at the older boy and then out the window. She knew he was right. She had had a hard time while she had been trying to escape from Orochimaru. She knew that if it hadn't been for Konoha's shinobi she would have been captured by Orochimaru. She looked back at her friend and smiled.

"Well, enough about that, let's talk about something that isn't so depressing."

Okoru frowned slightly, but he knew she wouldn't talk about Orochimaru if she didn't want to. He sighed and sat down next to her bed. Suddenly he smirked.

"Soooo…did you talk to your boyfriend?" He said mockingly.

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

"Yes, I talked to Sasuke. He left this morning to go train."

"He left? Was he released already?" He said surprised.

"No, he just left."

"Aren't you worried?"

"No, why?"

"I don't know, I just thought you would be."

"He's just going to train. Speaking of training, I need someone to train with."

"Let me guess, you want me to train with you." He said flatly.

"Yep, you got it!"

He sighed.

"Fine, but I have to train with Zakyo too. We don't know much about her opponent so we have to be careful."

"You really think so? I thought he seemed pretty weak. I think Zakyo can take him on, I mean, you said it yourself, she's gotten stronger."

"Still, she needs to train. There's something I've been helping her with."

"A new technique?"

He nodded.

"Alright, don't worry, I won't need to train too often since I know Yu and my arm will take a while to heal."

"About that…sorry, I guess I got carried away during our fight."

She looked at him and noticed that he looked sad. She smiled at him.

"It's alright, I might have gone too far as well."

"Yeah, but you really didn't mean what you said."

"And you did?"

He frowned.

"I meant some of it."

She sighed.

"I know and I'm sorry about leaving you guys."

"I know, and it doesn't matter, what mattered to me was that you left to protect us when I had always wanted to protect you. You never gave me a chance to show you how strong I was. You never let me help you."

He looked down at the floor as he thought back to when she had left. He had felt useless as he saw his closest friend walk away to ensure that he was safe. He felt pain like he had never felt before as he thought of the possibility of it being the last time he saw her. Rei knew what he was thinking. She sighed.

"I know you're strong."

Okoru looked up at her and was surprised by her serious yet gentle expression.

"You're one of the strongest people I know, but I care about you and the others too much to put you in any danger. I always trusted you and you helped me more than you know. If it hadn't been for you and the others I would have died long ago. You gave me hope. You were the reason I didn't just give up and let myself be killed. There were many times when I could have died, but I always thought of you guys and I always got up and fought to the best of my abilities so that I could see you again. When I was running from Orochimaru the only thing I thought about was seeing you again."

Okoru didn't now what to say. He smiled and hugged Rei who was taken by surprise.

"You stupid brat. You should have let me protect you."

Rei smiled and held him. She rested her head on his shoulder. She had missed her friends more than she had thought. Suddenly she got an idea. She pushed herself off of Okoru and grinned.

"I know, why don't you guys stay at my house while you're here!?!"

Okoru was surprised by her sudden offer.

"Are you sure it's okay with you?"

"Of course it is! I missed you guys and I want to spend some time with you, besides it'll make training easier!"

"I know, but are you okay with living with Zakyo?" He said smirking.

"Of course I am! I'm not the grumpy jerk that gets annoyed so easily."

She grinned and Okoru sent a slight glare at her.

"Whatever, you brat, do you know when you're getting out of here?"

"No, the doctor hasn't said anything. Why don't you ask him?"

He sighed.

"Fine I will. I should go. Zakyo will probably be here in a while so I should try to hide somewhere else." He said lazily.

Rei sweatdropped.

"It's nice to see you two get along so well."

He smirked.

"Yeah, well you try being with her for as long as I've been. You haven't even seen her when she's hyper."

Rei laughed.

"Well, I think it was nice of you to ask your father to take her in after her parents had died. I think she appreciates it too. Maybe you shouldn't fight so much with her."

"I guess, but it would be kind of weird for us to get along."

She chuckled and he smiled.

"Well, I guess I'll come back tomorrow, I'll ask the doctor when you can leave."

"Alright, good luck with hiding from Zakyo."

"Yeah, I'll need it, that brat can practically smell my annoyance."

Rei shook her head as her friend left.

End Chapter Forty-One

Hope you guys liked it and sorry for taking so long and making it short but I've been a bit busy. Anyways, please review, the sooner you review the sooner I update and the more reviews I receive the more I write. Sayonara!