~Sasuke~

When I woke up I found myself in a hospital bed with a sore neck.

'Stupid Kakashi.'

I instantly lifted myself up with one hand and used the other one to touch the mark I now had. Kakashi may have sealed it but I knew it was still there, tempting me.

The power I had in the Forest of Death, and even in the preliminaries was immense, and I loved it.

~*~ Forest Of Death ~*~

"Sakura!"

That was the first thing I heard, Ino's annoying voice screaming out for my teammate. 'What's going on?'

"You have such long and pretty hair. Maybe if you had spent more time training and less time shampooing then you wouldn't be in this situation."

'What Situation? Where is Naruto and Alai?'

"I can't be weak anymore! these boys need me!"

I tried to move my body to help with whatever as going on, but the pain refused to let me even open my eyes. It was pissing me off to no end when I suddenly heard a whisper in the back of my head.

"Use it."

'Use what?'

Before the voice could speak again I heard another voice from the apparent battle in the forest, Choji Akamichi.

"If your all they have left, then where is Alai? I don't see her."

"You mean that girl? I killed her before I came after you, didn't put up much of a fight." An unknown voice called out. there were a few gasps in the area but I no longer cared.

'He...Killed her?'

'Use it.'

'...How'

~*~End~*~

That was when I lost control, sort of. In a way I couldn't move my own body or even register what I was really doing. I wasn't fighting it, the power I felt was so amazing that I didn't want it to leave. Even when I tried to rip the Sound Nin's arm off for telling me Alai was dead and that he hurt Sakura, I just didn't want it to fade.

When the Sound Shinobi admitted he lied about killing Alai I didn't calm down. I wouldn't be calm, not even when Sakura wrapped her arms around my waist and begged me to stop. But then her voice rang through my head.

~*~ "We're friends right?" ~*~

I cursed that memory I had of her, the little girl in my room who reminded me of Alai, the time when we were sparring and Kakashi had to break us up. For some reason they made freeze both times.

'But why?'

I didn't like this feeling she created within me. This idea she put in my head, with all that nonsense of 'having friends'. I wasn't entirely sure what it exactly was, but I knew one thing.

It wasn't hate...

And hate is all I know, it's all I need to achieve my goal.

'But if it were true, then how come I had to keep telling myself that?'

'Alai is just some annoying girl who I got stuck with because of Kakashi. Nothing more.. right?'

I shook my head quickly and cursed. "Right."

"Right what?"

I looked up to find none other then my trainer Kakashi Hatake standing in the doorway with his stupid closed eye smile.

"Hn, what?" He walked out of the doorway and stopped just short of my bed, looking down to me.

"Well then, aren't we grumpy... come on, I'm getting you out of here."

"Your breaking me out of the hospital."

"You can't train for the finals sitting in a hospital bed can you?"

I thought about what my sensei had said for a moment before climbing out of bed and reaching for my clothes to head to the bathroom, as soon as I was dressed we were heading to a secret training area Kakashi knew of.

'Training was all I needed to forget about that annoyance, at least for now. But what about when I see her in a month? Sakura had told me that Alai had said she was running last time she saw her, she even had a lead. Kakashi isn't out looking for her either. Which meant she was back in Konoha safe. I'll be forced to be around her again.'

...

'I'll just have to ask her my questions.'

~Naruto~

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO ONE FOUND HER!?"

"Naruto calm down, she is safe."

"Safe? then why isn't she here?"

"She is with her brother."

"SHE'S WITH THOSE TWO JERKS!? and you just let her go!? She's part of team 7!"

I was in the Hokage's office demanding answers, I mean he's supposed to be the Hokage! he should be able to bring her back! When he didn't answer me I continued my rant.

"Well you may have given up, but I won't!"

"Naruto I haven't given up, I'm just returning things to how they were before you found her in the mist."

I scowled at the old man before shouting. "Things can't go back to how they used to be, she made friends here. She may have left before but now that she's my friend I'm not just gonna let her run away again!"

The old man laughed before locking eyes with me. "Don't worry Naruto, I never said we weren't going to look. I just need you to train for the Chunin exams alright? That way we have another capable ninja on the search team."

I huffed at the stupid old man before turning my back. "But Kakashi-Sensei gave me the WORST teacher ever!"

"Ebisu is a fine teacher, you can learn a lot from him."

"YEAH RIGHT! All the two of you do is fall for my Sexy Jutsu! If this is what you call a 'super Jonin' then I can just skip right up to Hokage now!"

"YOU LITTLE BRAT!"

Ebisu had heard me talk about him and his stupidity so he ran in trying to pummel me.

"Sexy Jutsu!" I put my hands together and made the hand sign for my trick, the old man and pervert fell over with their nose bleeding. I ran past the pervert, "Nice try guys but if you keep falling for a trick like that then you'll never get me!"

~Sakura~

I came back home after visiting Lee in the hospital, it was the least I could do after he saved me back in the second part of the exam. I had planned to see Sasuke as well but the nurse told me that he had disappeared earlier that day.

'What should I do today?'

With Sasuke gone I had no other plans. I had a sudden thought then, 'Maybe I should see how Alai is.'

I was stupid enough to reveal her name in the Forest of Death and that man Orochimaru figured out who she was. I knew from the beginning that Alai had the bounty on her capture but when I heard it was the Akatsuki I became worried. The Akatsuki were a group of missing nin, rogue killers.

If that was who was after her then she must be really strong to prevent their success for all this time.

'That means she must be back in the village. Orochimaru is only one guy after all.'

I then decided that finding Alai was what I was going to do today. 'But where do I start?' I thought as I wandered through the streets. 'Sasuke is gone along with Kakashi and Naruto, I don't know where she lives either. hm... does she know anyone else?'

I thought carefully for a hint when it hit me. 'She does! After the first exam she came flying in the room with Anko-Sensei, and then Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, Neji and that girl Ten-Ten recognized her. Maybe they'll know.'

I knew that I had a better chance looking for one of the Genin so I started wandering around the shops until I saw Ino's blonde hair in the distance.

"Ino!" She reacted quickly as she turned back to face me. "Hey Sakura, what are you doing today?"

"I'm actually looking for Shikamaru or Choji, I need to ask them a question."

"How troublesome, now everyone's looking for me." I looked over to see Shikamaru being followed by Choji and Kiba, Shikamaru looked annoyed and bored as usual. I smiled as Ino looked over.

"Who would want to look for you?"

"That's what I want to know, I don't have all the answers. Geez, what do you want Sakura?"

"Oh! I'm looking for Alai, and I saw how you all knew her, so I figured you would have a good idea."

Kiba answered before Shikamaru could. "Isn't she on your team? good job losing your own team mates." I looked down, he was right. Alai saved us multiple times, and I didn't know enough about her to locate her and say thank you. "Cut it out dog boy!" Ino shouted in return, as Kiba and Ino started to argue Shikamaru spoke up.

"She's gone." everyone stopped what they were doing and looked to Shikamaru in confusion.

"Gone? but Shikamaru, we just saw her last night."

"Last night?" I questioned Choji's statement. Shikamaru sighed.

"Kiba, couldn't you tell the tone in her voice? She was sad, she wasn't being allowed to stay and talk to us. Last night was the night Alai disappeared from the village." Kiba thought for a moment before his eyes widened slightly.

"Your right, she used the same tone just before she left last time. But why would she leave?"

"She's being chased..."

Everyone looked to me, waiting for me to explain my announcement.

"Back in the land of waves when we first met Alai, the enemy revealed that she has a bounty out for her and her brother."

"She has a bounty, that makes sense. Kalen must be furious." Shikamaru was deep in thought, Kiba turned to me.

"That's when you first met her right? I knew her before she left the first time, she really hasn't changed at all, she'll be ok."

"I hope so, she was put on our team because Kakashi knew her but how come she met you guys and none of us?"

"Us? Aside from Shino and Ino, your the only one who didn't know her out of the rookie nine..Well maybe Sasuke too, I didn't care that much to know."

"Wait, so-"

"Naruto knew her too, he probably spent the most time with her all those years ago."

"But when Naruto saw her on the mission he didn't recognize her, I still don't think he does."

"Naruto's an idiot, he doesn't remember a thing. Alai asked us not to tell him. Something about him needing to 'remember on his own' or whatever."

'Knowing Naruto that'll take forever.' I thought as Ino shouted out my thoughts. "That blockhead can't remember anything, doesn't she know that?"

"Alai is different, she has faith in everyone. She was really the only one who talked to him. You just don't know her like we do."

'He's right, But she's gone now...'

"Guess that means it's back to the three of us."

~Kakashi~

"You won't be returning to your home for the next month, so get comfortable here. I won't have any distractions."

"Hn." was all I got for a response, I took it as a 'yes' before making a small fire, preparing for my month long stay with the one and only silent Sasuke Uchiha.

For a moment, I thought about how I won't have to worry about 'wars' every morning. When I said that something happened, a sharp pain in my chest was telling me to think otherwise.

'No, There's no up side to her leaving again, I failed once again. Kalen was right.'

~*~Konoha, 6 years ago~*~

"Kalen! Kashi! your back!"

"Well hello Alai, how are you doing today?"

"I'm great Kashi! I got to play with my best friend today!"

"That sounds fun."

The little girl looked up to me before looking to her brother and changing topics, something she often did.

"Did you find him today Kalen? The masked man!"

"That wasn't the mission today Alai, we will soon though ok?" Her brother reassured her before moving to grab ahold of her hand.

"Maybe I could look into some leads for you."

The only thing that Kalen told me was that a strange masked man had brought them to a forest just outside of Konoha. Their parents were dead, leaving them as orphans.

But instead of asking for help from me or the Hokage, Kalen always insisted on doing everything alone. He would never even let Alai help.

"We've been over this Kakashi, I'll be fine finding him on my own."

"But big brother! Maybe Kashi can really help!"

"Alai..." Kalen changed his tone to that of a warning one. This argument has happened many times, and it always ended the same way. That is until today.

"But Kashi can be a Guardian, Talon said so!"

"Guardian?"

I knew that Alai was a Beckoner, it was something that only two people aside from the Hokage know about, myself being one of them. All we knew was that she could call her spirit Talon when she was in trouble. I had no idea what a 'Guardian' was.

"Alai...remember what we talked about?" Kalen cut in, trying to stop his younger sister, but she kept going.

"Yes big brother, but Talon thinks he can help and so do I!"

As Kalen started to argue with Alai a different voice had cut in, the Tyiadain siblings turned their attention to me as the realized what I had said.

"I'll become this 'Guardian'."

"Kakashi" Kalen warned as his sister jumped up and down for joy, she quickly grabbed my hand and led me away.

"Ok but we have to be serious, it's not an easy job!"

"Of course." I replied with a simple head nod. I heard a quick whistle come from Kalen and when I looked up, he was walking away from where we were currently standing. Alai, who was trained to hear his whistle was watching him carefully. Waiting to see if she would get a signal to hide or run. When no signal came she understood and looked up to me, letting go of my hand.

Kalen wanted to talk with me, and I wasn't afraid to hear what he had to say. Even though I knew it was something like 'You can't be a Guardian.'

"Yes Kalen?" I asked softly as I reached where he now stood. He back was faced to me as he began to explain things to me.

"I can't tell you no, it's not my decision who Alai and Talon pick to protect them, but as her brother it's my job to make sure that the Guardians are kept up to their oath."

"Oath?" I questioned. 'Just how serious is this to them?'

"You'll have to recite and live by an oath. Kakashi I'm telling you now you won't make it as a Guardian."

"Oh? and what makes you say that?" I challenged the boy, he was silent as I waited calmly for his response.

"If you take that Oath, you are expected to protect Alai over anything else. ANYthing Kakashi, that means you can't leave her for Konoha."

"As long as I protect Konoha, I would also be protecting Alai." Kalen quickly spun around to face me in response.

"And what happens if someone kidnaps Alai and The Lord Hokage? and you can only save one? who would you pick Kakashi because I promise you that I will protect my sister from anyone, always." He glared intensified as he was anticipating my response, I could tell that he wanted me to back down and politely deny Alai's offer.

"Then I'll have to find a way to save them both."

He looked at me for a moment as he started to walk back to Alai, who was patiently waiting at a distance but he stopped short and told me.

"She doesn't let people take that Oath Kakashi."

He continued walking until he was back in his place next to Alai, watching her.

I understood and respected Kalen for telling me what he did, but there was still a part of me that wanted to protect her as much as I could. With her kind of power she's bound to run into some trouble at one point.

'I can never let anything happen to my comrades again.'

~*~End Flashback~*~

'So much for that promise.' I thought about my failures as I focused on the flames of the dying fire in front of me. I tried to tell myself that Alai was never in any danger but I knew better than that.

'What's worse is that she'll never blame me.'

I looked up to my brooding student as he watched the fire with an intense glare. 'Thinking about Itachi.' was what I thought before my fear of Sasuke returned.

'Orochimaru is after him, if he doesn't drop the act for revenge, he'll become a problem. I hope this training will help.'

A part of me knew it wouldn't help. Sure I'd try, but in a way I knew that Sasuke's only hope left when Alai left.

Then it hit me. There was hope for my favorite student.

~*~ "Talon chose him, it is tradition." ~*~

Whether he admits it or not, she was creating a positive change within Sasuke. He was allowing someone to be around him, talk to him even.

'And that night at the festival...'

I relaxed as I heard her repeating those words again. 'Talon chose him.' It meant that Sasuke would have another purpose, it meant that I haven't failed yet.

There was still time.

"Why don't we get started with some exercises." I suddenly told my student who was pulled from his trance.

"Hn." he responded as he got up and waited for me to take the lead. I didn't fail yet, and I would train Sasuke until Alai came back to save him.

'I won't fail.'

~!~Hi everyone! sorry this is a bit short but I wanted to have a chapter focusing on the actual team and what they would be doing. Anyway this ends The Path Of Light (Book One of The Choice Of An Uchiha) next up will be The Path To Darkness (Book Two of The Choice Of An Uchiha). Also there is one more chapter that I'm uploading from Wattpad, after that FF will be all caught up and you guys will be waiting like Wattpad does. Sorry xD.

Any feedback or comments would really be appreciated. Seeing views makes me happy. Bye guys! ~DawnxAingeal~!~