Hello people! Thanks to Gravenimage, EggrollPerson, Valinor's Twilight, ruler of dragons, Tateno Atsukino, The Memories of Old, Rei's fan, XCrissCrossX, MrsMonkeyDHitachiinx3, Avonda Alleyne and lovingo0Kawaii0oGirl for reading and reviewing, I really appreciate you guys taking the time to comment. Please review if you have the chance. The sooner you review the sooner I update and the more reviews I receive the more I write. Anyways, please enjoy this chapter and please read my other stories if you are interested. Now on to the story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the lovely Rei and her lazy sensei Jin.

Chapter Sixty-Four

The day had barely started and Rei already had a feeling that it was going to be a very grueling and long day. With the addition of Sai to the team Rei couldn't guarantee that this mission would be an easy one, although intercepting a spy from a powerful organization of rogue shinobi didn't really sound too easy. She sighed as she made her way back to her home to get ready for the mission.

"So what happened?"

She turned and saw Jin leaning against the wall behind her.

"Well, sorry to leave you so soon, but it looks like I have to go on a mission." She said with an apologetic grin

Jin blinked in surprise.

"We just arrived and they already have a mission for you?"

Rei nodded and watched as her sensei sighed. She knew he would be somewhat annoyed at hearing that she was going to leave him alone after having just arrived in a new place. Especially since that place was his old master's home. It was only to be expected that being in such a place would stir up some old memories.

"So what is the mission about?" He asked in a tone that suggested that he already suspected something.

"It's basically just a mission to gather information." Rei said, trying to avoid looking at Jin.

It wasn't such a good idea as this only served to let him know she wasn't being completely truthful. He had known the girl for long enough to know when she was hiding something. He stared at her for a moment longer before saying what was on his mind.

"Does it have anything to do with Sasuke?" He said in a soft voice he only used with the girl before him.

He knew he had to be careful when discussing a subject as delicate as the betrayal of his student's old friend. The problem was that he wasn't too used with this type of discussion seeing as how she rarely talked about the boy. From what little he had managed to get out of her he had concluded that her feelings for him had been more than those of a friend. This only served in making things more difficult to understand.

He watched as the girl frowned and looked away. Obviously, he had been correct in assuming that the young Uchiha had something to do with the mission.

"Yeah, if we manage to intercept our target we may get some information on the hideout of Orochimaru. With that knowledge we could find Sasuke and bring him back."

"I see…Are you sure you can carry out your mission, I mean, given your real goal is to…" He trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"I'll be fine. It's like I told the Hokage, I owe my teammates the chance to deal with Sasuke in their own way before I deal with him my way."

Jin smiled a bit at his student. He couldn't say he was happy about her choice, but he was glad that she was at least willing to give other options a chance.

"Send a message before you return." Jin told the girl.

Rei nodded with a small smile knowing he would worry until he received proof that she was returning in one piece.

"Alright then, I guess I'll leave you to get ready." He said walking off.

"Jin-nii."

Jin stopped and turned at the use of a rare name for him. He was a bit surprised to see the girl grinning at him.

"I'll be fine."

Jin smirked and shook his head a bit. At the simple reassurance from his student he felt a bit better.

"You just focus on getting this place cleaned up."

He snapped his head up, but the girl was gone leaving only the fading sound of laughter.

Packing for the mission was rather easy as she hadn't really bothered to unpack yet. She only had to add a few things and after a quick inventory to make sure she was properly equipped she left to join her team.

When she arrived and saw Sai standing by the village gates she couldn't help but frown. Neither Naruto nor Sakura were there, making her feel more uneasy than she already did. She greeted Yamato, the new team leader then glanced at Sai.

"Hello, Rei-san." He said with the same unnerving smile.

She nodded and then fixed her gaze towards the road leading back to the village, hoping to see her teammates soon. A sigh of relief escaped her as she saw Naruto and Sakura approaching. Both of her teammates greeted her and then proceeded to glare at Sai.

"Okay guys, if you're ready then let's go." Yamato said.

With that they began to head out of the village and towards the Tenchi bridge. Rei was a bit dismayed at having to leave Konoha so soon after having just returned, but she was glad that she would be able to spend some more time with her teammates. However, every time she turned to say talk with Naruto she saw him glaring at Sai who just ignored him. After a while Sai turned to Naruto and both Rei and Sakura looked at the two boys.

"What is it?" Sai asked.

Naruto just continued glaring and Rei had to wonder what he was thinking. She really didn't feel like watching another argument between the two boys.

"If you keep staring at me like that I'll punch you." Sai said.

It was a bit strange to hear him make such a harsh comment with a completely impassive expression. His eyes seemed empty of any emotion, making her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"What you think I'm scared of you!" Naruto exclaimed angrily, with a raised fist.

Rei just sighed and shook her head.

"Naruto-kun, just leave him alone." She said exasperatedly.

"He's our teammate now, so you should at least try not to argue, even if you dislike him."

"No he's not one of us! Our real teammate is Uchiha Sasuke!"

Rei frowned and looked down while Sakura stared at Naruto in surprise. Sai just stood there with his usual expression. He didn't seem to be bothered by the way Naruto rejected him as part of the team.

"Even on his best day…this loser couldn't even be half as good as Sasuke! He will never be our teammate!"

Rei looked up and was surprised to see Sai smiling.

"That's fine by me. I wouldn't want to be compared to that traitor who abandoned his own village for Orochimaru just to gain power."

For the first time since she had met Sai, Rei glared at him. It wasn't that she disagreed, after all her latest goal was to do away with Sasuke, but she didn't need to be reminded of what he had done. She really didn't need to remember the fact that he left just to gain power.

Naruto was shaking with anger. His fists were clenched at his sides as he glared at Sai.

"How dare you…" He said, taking a step forward.

Sakura held up her arm to stop him.

"Even if you don't like each other, Naruto isn't too familiar with you and shouldn't judge you. Please forgive him."

Rei had to admit that she was surprised at Sakura's actions, especially since Sai had insulted Sasuke.

"It's fine by me." Sai said with his usual smile.

Sakura smiled brightly at the boy.

"That's good." She said.

After saying that, Rei watched as the pink haired girl delivered a rather hard blow to their new teammate. She winced knowing how much that had to hurt, even though she wasn't particularly fond of Sai. He went flying and landed hard on the ground, quite a distance away from them. Both Naruto and Yamato seemed surprised at Sakura's sudden attack but Rei couldn't help but be somewhat amused by the usually calm kunoichi's actions.

"I don't care if you forgive me…" Sakura said with a fierce glare.

The argument continued until Yamato demonstrated a rather unusual power. He was able to create a rather large cage out of wood that seemed to grow at his whim. After threatening them with locking them in the cage both Naruto and Sakura calmed down and they headed to the inn in which they would spend the night.

Everyone went to the hot springs except Rei. She stayed in the room she would share with Sakura under the pretext of being tired. The girl took the chance to summon the same falcon she had used to send Tsunade a message before she returned to Konoha. Although he wouldn't admit it, Jin was probably worried about her at that moment. She wrote a quick note telling him she was alright and sent the bird off.

After sitting by the window for a while, watching the trees swaying in the night wind, she decided to go to the hot springs for a bit. She just hoped that there weren't a lot of people. The last thing she wanted was to sit around with a bunch of gossiping women.

To be completely honest, she wasn't much for socializing. Sure she was friendly, but that didn't mean she liked to actually spend time with people. That might sound a bit harsh, but she supposed it was just because of all the time she spent shut up in Orochimaru's lair as a child. Her mind wandered back to those times while she walked to the hot springs and she wondered how Sasuke was coping with the snake bastard.

"Not that I care." She reminded herself.

She groaned as when she found herself thinking of the Uchiha yet again. It was getting harder to stop thinking of him after returning to Konoha, not that the addition of Sai to the team really helped. She really didn't want to think about him, but what upset her more was the realization that there was a hint of worry present when she thought of Sasuke.

She entered the hot springs and saw Sakura along with about ten other women happily talking about things that she couldn't care less about. Rei considered going back to her room, but Sakura spotted her and smiled. With a resigned sigh and a small wave, the girl made her way over to her teammate. She wouldn't risk upsetting Sakura by walking away when things were finally starting to get better between them.

"All for the spirit of teamwork." She thought.

"Rei-san, you decided to come to the springs after all."

"Yeah, I thought I might as well take advantage of this chance. Besides, I kinda need it after all the traveling." She said with a grin.

Sakura nodded in understanding.

"What was it like, being away from the village for so long?"

Rei seemed to think about it for a moment.

"Well, at first it was hard."

Sakura blinked in surprise at hearing that from Rei. She had always thougth that Rei wouldn't mind being away from the village due to her past experiences. Rei seemed to know what her teammate was thinking and gave her a small smile.

"I guess being on the road again just brought up some old memories…"

There was a dazed expression on the girl's face as she recalled the first few days of traveling. She remembered thinking of her friends and trying to push down the anger and sorrow building up in her. The memories of her time with Orochimaru as they traveled while training and the time during which she had to run with his subordinates chasing her had always been present as she continued down the road on her own. Sakura looked at her with a mixture of surprise and understanding.

"But once I met Jin-sensei things weren't so bad. He kinda distracted me with all the idiotic training methods he came up with. Half the time I was just trying to stay alive."

A fond look crossed her face as she thought of her teacher.

"But his training really helped didn't it?"

"I guess so, but there were still some things he wasn't able to help me with."

"Like what?" Sakura asked curiously.

"It's a long story." Rei sighed.

She began to walk back to the changing room.

"I think I'll head back to the room."

Sakura nodded with a small smile and Rei left. She really didn't feel like talking, much less about the past few years. It wasn't so much that she had suffered. Far from that she had more or less enjoyed learning from the things she saw and traveling with her teacher. Jin had always made sure that she was well fed and well rested even when his training methods were a bit unorthodox or, as she like to think of them, near suicidal.

What really bothered her was thinking of the reason for her journey. Just thinking of what she was training for and of the reason for gaining more strength annoyed her. She didn't like to think that she was wasting her time training to kill someone that, in the past, she would have given her life for. As she dressed her hand brushed against a scar on her side making her stop and frown.

There was a fair amount of scars on her body considering her choice of profession, but the one that never seemed to heal properly even in a physical sense was the one that Sasuke had given her the day he left. It irritated her to have such a lasting reminder of that day. As she often did, she ignored it and finished getting dressed before stepping out and heading back to her room only to run into the one person she really didn't want to see at the moment.

"Hello, Rei-san."

"Hi." She said as she tried to walk around Sai, avoiding his gaze at the same time.

"You seem upset, is something bothering you?" He asked with the same eerie smile he always had.

Rei tried to keep her eye from twitching in annoyance. She thought she had made it a bit more obvious that she was trying to avoid talking to him. Before she could respond he said something that made her want to strangle him.

"Does it have anything to do with Sasuke?"

She crossed her arms to avoid stabbing her teammate and gave him a slight glare.

"That's none of your concern. Now please let me pass." Keeping the annoyance out of her voice was a hard task but she manage to do it.

"We're teammates and I read in a book that it's important to talk about these things to get to know each other. Showing concern for others is important to a good relationship between comrades."

"Don't talk like there's a manual for everything and stop showing such fake concern. If you want to get to know me better than the first thing you should know is that I don't appreciate it when others meddle in my affairs."This time her voice had an edge that she didn't bother to hide.

Sai still stood before her, smiling, to her chagrin. There was something about that smile that smile that bothered her.

"But you were close to Sasuke so it's important to get to know you. If a traitor like him and someone like you who trained under Oro-"

He stopped when he felt the cool steel of a kunai at his throat. He could see a flash or rage in the girl's eyes before it was quickly replaced by an empty look that made it hard to read what she was thinking. She hesitated for a moment before slowly withdrawing the weapon and giving Sai a cold look.

"I'm not like my teammates who will only scream and punch you. If you irritate me enough you'll find that I'm not as forgiving. Now, step aside."

Sai looked at her intently for a few more seconds before allowing her to walk away. His assignment wouldn't be as easy as he thought if the girl was so cold all the time. But then again, it would guarantee that things would be at least a bit interesting.

End Chapter Sixty-Four

Hope you guys liked the chapter and sorry for the wait, but my brother's birthday just passed and I also had to go to the Chinese New Year's celebration. Aside from that, I was feeling a bit ill so I wasn't able to do too much writing at a time. Anyways, please review and vote on my poll if you have the chance and if you have any ideas for side stories for this fic Pm me. Please pardon any mistakes. Until next time.