We'd been tracking Zabuza Momochi for hours and my legs were sore from how long I've sat in one place. He has a different target at the moment, but that doesn't mean that he won't come back after us. Best to get him now while he's distracted right? I glanced over to my brother Kalen and asked, "Who is his target?" Keeping his focus on the group in front of us he whispered, "That old guy there, his name is Tazuna." "Wonder why Zabuza's after him..." I quietly questioned. "Who cares!? Point is we gotta keep an eye on 'em!" Nema yelled, his outburst was rewarded with a glare from me and a punch from my brother.

"Shut it Houzuki, do you want us to get caught?" Nema rubbed the place on his head where Kalen had struck him, "Ass! and how will we get caught? We searched the area, Zabuza's not here." "Kakashi Hatake is though, we don't want him thinking we're after the old man." Kalen answered in an aggitated tone, he was getting annoyed with explaining things. Nema replied with, "Woah! that's the copy cat ninja? Who are the brats?" I ignored Nema's questions for the moment as I caught a cell of unknown ninja setting a trap up ahead of Kakashi's team. "Caught that Kalen?"

"Leave it alone Alai, Zabuza's our concern, not a rookie genin team." "But that rookie genin team is protecting Tazuna." "Who is Zabuza's current target." Nema and I teamed up on Kalen like we typically did. "Fine, don't let Kakashi see you two." "What!? I'm going alone!" I argued, he simply looked at me and said, "I'm letting you help, but your not going alone." "He's got a point Ali, better not go alone." I was going to argue more when I saw how close the team was getting to the trap so I gave up. "Alai 0, Kalen 1" I pouted as Nema and I ran ahead, "Technically, since you convinced him to let you go, it's Ali 1, Kalen 1" He smiled which made me smile. "I knew there was a reason you're my best friend."

We got ourselves in a good look out spot, so that if the team is in trouble, or Tazuna is attacked we can jump in un-noticed. They were all mumbling until the blonde kid got in an argument with the other boy. I glanced at the kids as they walked by. Kakashi definatly noticed the puddle, which meant he knew it was coming. As he made a shadow clone and waited I caught the back of the raven haired kids shirt.

"Uchiha" I muttered, he must be the last one. "Hey, I though-" Nema whispered but I cut him off quickly. "They left him alive, now shush silly, we can't get caught." We watched in silence as the hidden ninja attacked "Kakashi" making the Genin freak out over their sensei. The pink haired girl ran over to Tazuna to protect him as the Uchiha took action. He was skilled, but cocky. He let one of the ninja go right for the blonde kid.

Just as the enemy ninja got near the scared rookie, I pulled out my bow and readied a shot. Nema started to protest when we saw Kakashi appear. I then heard a slight whistle from Kalen, the copy-cat ninja would be able to handle this now. "Didn't need you did they?" Kalen smirked, thinking he was right. "I wanted to be there incase they got Tazuna, but Kalen. An Uchiha is traveling with them." He stiffened at my statement. After a moment he asked hestitantly, "Is it?"

"I don't know, he's young though..." Nema looked at us worried, he knew little of it, but he didn't want us to lose sight of our current target. "Guys, what about Zabuza?" That brought me back to our situation along with Kalen, he nodded and said, "We should go on ahead, he'll target them soon." We followed quietly.

"We've been camped out here for an hour! are you sure?" Nema whined, I giggled and Kalen sighed, I explained again, "Yes, I felt Zabuza's presence here only a short time ago." "Chakra" Nema corrected, I looked at him and said, "Same thing." "Nope, as your teacher I DEMAND you say chakra!" he stuck his tongue out at me, "If she says chakra will you shut up?" Kalen asked, clearly irritated. "Yes, yes I will." Nema said in a matter of fact tone. I got a glare from Kalen before I pouted. "Never." I folded my arms and looked away with a stubborn attitude. "BUT ALI!" Nema shouted and suddenly a kunai was thrown our way, making us react quickly.

I pulled out my bow and readied myself as Kalen grabbed my best friend and muffled his speaking. "You just got us caught moron." Kalen seethed as Nema tried (and failed) to breath, I looked at who was around. Zabuza or his lackey don't use kunai. So who was it? "Naruto stop scaring me!" a girl yelled, "Both of you quiet, you'll get us caught." A boy retorted.

I turned my head to catch sight of Kakashi and his team, the blonde one was throwing kunai's everytime he heard a noise. He even came close to hitting a rabbit, which he then cuddle and apologized to it. I sighed, lowered my bow and returned to Kalen and Nema's side. "It's just the genin kid, he's scared-" "GET DOWN!" we jumped into position, recognizing Kakashi's voice commanding his team. We looked down to catch Zabuza's sword fly right by our tree, close call much.

It wasn't much longer before their presence arrived. "So both of his targets are here." We all froze, the voice behind us was none other than Zabuza's lackey, Haku. "Are you protecting the bridge builder as well?" he asked in his usual monotone voice. "Nope, just looking for you." Nema grinned wide. He wanted to beat Zabuza for his place as one of the seven swordsman. "Nema." He connected with Nema's eyes and shifted quickly to me, Nema understood as did I, he was telling Nema to get me out of here. My eyes widened as I protested. "What!? I'm staying here with you. We've been here waiting for them!" He wasn't making me leave now, "We're in this together Kalen, come on-" Nema started but Kalen interrupted him, "They know we were here, it's obviously a trap, we'll get them later. Besides, I can handle Haku on my own."

Before I could say anything else I heard Nema sigh and pick me up. He didn't say anything until my brother was out of sight. "He'll be fine, he just wants to keep you safe, we both do Ali." "But-" "But nothing, you know that if you use Talon or tire yourself out then you may not be able to run when we fight Zabuza." "I wasn't going to use him!" I shouted, waited a moment, and then continued "I'm going back Nema!" I wiggled until I felt his grip loosen, when I finally escaped I tried to book it, but was stopped when I felt a hand hit the back of my neck. "Sorry Ali..." I heard just before I blacked out.

"Kakashi Sensei!" echoed through the forest, waking me up. "What? Where-NEMA HOW DARE YOU!" I shouted realizing that Nema had knocked me out. I was on his back and he was already running in the direction of the scream. "Hate me later, I'm worried about your brother, he hasn't come back yet." He said in a serious tone. "I can run, let's go find him." I said, understanding the situation, he stopped long enough to put me down. We ran as fast as our feet would take us to the last place we saw my older brother.

When we finally got there, what I was almost made my knee's buckle beneath me. Kalen was resting against a tree, with needles sticking out of his limbs. He was still alive, but he was definatly unconcious. "Kalen!" I ran over to him, pulling the needles out of my brother. Nema came up behind me and cursed. "Stupid moron."

After hours of hiding in the woods, Kalen woke up. Nema had moved him until we found a small clearing. "Ali! He's awake!" Nema exclaimed, making me ignore the food I was cooking on the fire. "Kalen! Your alright!" "I should beat you right now." Nema threatened, Kalen smirked and replied, "I was fine until he used this new jutsu on me." "New jutsu?" Nema and I questioned in unison. "He pulled up all these mirrors, he was so fast. there was no way I could beat him without someone outside the mirrors." He explained. Nema muttered "A blood line limit." we both turned to Nema, waiting for an explanation. "What? I've never heard of it before!" I sighed, "Fine, new rule, never be alone with Haku." Nema nodded in agreement.

I decided to hit Nema on the head REALLY hard just then. "OW WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" he yelled, rubbing his head. "FOR KNOCKING ME OUT!" "Oh, get over that will ya?" he complained. I walked slowly up to him and put my hands on my hips. "Excuse me?" "Ah!" Nema shouted before dissolving into a puddle of water on the forest floor, he had seen the knife I took out. I pouted as his face materialized. "Haha!" he laughed as he stuck out his tongue at me. "Meanie." I muttered as I turned away from him. "I'm a meanie!? your the one running at me with a knife!" he came back to his normal self, I just crossed my arms. "You knocked me out, it's only fair." He sighed and held out his hand for a shake, "Fair, truce?" "Of course!" I yelled and jumped into his arms for a hug, smiling and laughing. "You two are too hyper for me, I hope you'll have that energy when we train the next couple days."

We stopped our hug and looked at Kalen, "Why would we waste our precious energy on training with you?" Nema questioned sarcastically. I laughed, "You really think they got that much stronger?" "I think that jutsu is a concern of mine." I looked at Kalen with a frown on my face. "What do we do? I mean how do we prepare for a jutsu we know nothing about?" my brother smirked and replied, "I'll figure that out, until then just rest for tonight."

~FF a few days (don't worry they just sparred and trained a bit.)~

The sky was clear with so many stars in the sky, it was such a pretty sight. I told Kalen and Nema I wanted to stargaze alone and I would signal if I ran into any trouble. I needed to walk around alone occasionally. "YEAH! i made it!" "Hey dope...thanks." I looked up to see the genin from Kakashi's team standing at the top of two trees. I watched them celebrate before they started to climb down.

They looked my age, it was so funny how different we were. Kids our age here were ninja's going out doing dangerous missions. "HEY! There's someone down there!" I mentally cursed as I realized they were climbing down the tree. I started to run when I heard the blonde yell, "Who are you?" I kept running without a word until I found a nice spot to hide, now why was I hiding? I really didn't want to have Kakashi find out we were here yet. Best not to raise suspicion. "She's gone, damn I lost her!" The voice came from a few feet away, they wouldn't be able to sense me as long as I didn't move. "Do you think she was a civilian?" "Probably, we have to go back." Stated the Uchiha, when they left I ran back to Kalen and Nema, where I then went to sleep. I had a bad feeling about tomorrow.

~FF to mid-day tomorrow~

"I think we should go to that bridge today." I announced to my group, "Why? What's wrong?" Nema worried, I had been quiet since last night. "I just.." Kalen looked at me before he said, "Right, to the bridge then." Nema spent the whole trip trying to cheer me up, that was until he felt a familiar presence. "Haku and Zabuza, Ali? he questioned. "Yeah" I answered knowing he understood my silence.

By the time we got there Haku had the Uchiha trapped in those mirrors and Kakashi was tied up in a fight with Zabuza. "When should we join?" Nema asked, we intended on helping, we just didn't know when. That was when Haku said something to the Uchiha. He was losing that fight, we caught Kakashi trying to help him out, but Zabuza stopped him, threatening to go after the bridge builder and the pink haired girl. Kalen was just telling us the plan. I'd go and gaurd Tazuna while Nema had his fun with Haku and Kalen would help Kakashi. "Sasuke take this!" That name, I thought it was him, but this confirmed it. "Alai, don't" Kalen ordered as soon as he heard the shout from the girl, but I was already running out. I hid in a tree near the ice mirrors and got my shot ready. He was hurt and I had to help him now.

Just as Haku threw senbons at him I fired my arrow, shattering one of the mirrors. Within a moment I went from silently celebrating to being face to face with Haku. I gasped and dropped out of the tree, running for Sasuke. I could sense Haku was behind me with a needle in hand. I dropped to one knee and blocked, smiling at my opponent.

~!~ Ok everyone! I already have the first book completed honestly. So I'm just gonna post away... I'll say this now, I do not own Naruto, characters or any of that jazz. I do however own the characters of Alai, Kalen and Nema. Along with their background's and the changes they make to the original storyline. Chao! ~DawnxAingeal ~!~