So... Hi guys...

I know I know! Its been a stupidly long time since I've updated, and I am so sorry about that.

Next chapter will be the start of the second exam... and where things will get very interesting.

Hope you enjoy the chapter and thank you all for sticking by.

NOTE: The chapter has been edited since its a original post... And I am much happier with it.

As we left the classroom, I released a heavy sigh "That was intense" I muttered.

Naruto laughed "oh it wasn't that bad!"

I threw him a glare "oh please, I bet you didn't even touch that paper."

"I wrote my name on it!"

I giggled "oh that's such an achievement."

Suddenly, I felt someone leaning their arm on the top of my head, as if I were a table.

"You did good in there kid" Haruo complimented.

I stared up at him, not really sure what to say to that.

"I guess... I was wrong" he admitted "you're more than ready for this exam..." he then looked at the rest of my team "you all are."

Sakura smiled "Thank you Haruo-kun!"

"Yeah thanks" Naruto piped in.

Sasuke remained silent, which was probably a wise move.

"By the way" I spoke, removing Haruo's arm from my head "was it really appropriate for you to be an examiner?"

"Hm? Why? Did you have a problem with it?" Haruo queried.

"Well no..." I admitted "but they must have known that I'm you're sister."

"Of course they did" Haruo answered "to an extent, you're right I wasn't suppose to be in that exam. However, at the last minute... three Beadurincs entered the exams."

"So, you were called in as their translator?" Sakura asked.

"I guess you could say that" Haruo replied.

And speak of the devils, out came Tesuya and his team.

Now things were getting really uncomfortable, as they walked over to us.

"geþancian for úre filstan Kenelm (thank you for your help Kenelm)."

'Kenelm?'

Haruo smiled but his eyes deceived him "Eádga æt, ac ic fragian ðu ne æt onmæ mec eac sé titul (Happy to, but I must ask you not to address me with that title)."

'Title?'

Tesuya smirked "old habits die hard, but I'll respect your wishes" he said with a bow, "we shall leave you and your darling sister alone... for now."

He shot me one more look, before leaving with his team.

An awkward silence hung in the air... and Haruo was blissfully unaware of it, or he was a marvellous pretender.

"It's good see some of our own kind" he said pleasantly "I hope their pilgrimage goes well."

"But, Haruo-kun" Sakura cut in "they're not on their-"

"What does Kenelm mean?"

Haruo threw Sasuke an unreadable look, he was probably surprised that he cut Sakura off she easily.

"Kenelm is an olden name" I answered "right Aaron?"

Haruo narrowed his eyes at us, "they are names, nothing more."

"But why haven't I heard you being called Kenelm before? And Kendra?"

"I thought I told you not to pursue that name!"

I flinched at his harsh tone, "Well... yeah... but..."

"Tomoko!" he cut in sternly "I'll say this for the last time, to all of you. Put. That. Name. Out. Of. Mind!"

I sighed heavily, it was obvious that Haruo wasn't budging.

"Are you going to be present for the second exam Aaron?" I asked, changing the subject.

Haruo seemed to chirp up a little "sadly no, and I'm afraid that's all I can tell you."

I smiled at him "I understand, we'll be going now."

"Alright" he piped in "I'm afraid I won't be home till late tonight."

After saying bye to him, me and the rest of my team began to leave. Once we left the building, I gazed up into the setting sun, were we in there for that long?

"Hey" Sakura called "why didn't tell your brother what's really going on?"

Naruto made a "huh" sound in confusion, not sure what she was on about.

I remained silent as I stared up into the sky, but she continued to question me.

"Tesuya is dangerous, and could use Haruo against you!" she issued "you have to tell him!"

I stopped walking "Haruo isn't an idiot."

"What?"

Sasuke turned to face her "did you notice how tense he got when he was called Kenelm?"

Sakura blinked, as if remembering it in her head.

"Huh, I'm really confused" commented Naruto.

"Don't worry about it Naruto" I told him "its nothing worth getting a headache over." I then turned around to face Sakura "Haruo is already suspicious of them, and is probably keeping an eye on them."

"He... he is?" she questioned.

I nodded, "his superiors have probably ordered to keep an eye on them, I can't say I blame them."

"Or he's just pretending the problem isn't there" Sasuke suggested.

I shrugged "if my brother wants to hold on the belief, that I'm some innocent little twit. He's gonna be disappointed." And with that I began walking again... even though there was a possibility that Sasuke could be right. I was sure, in my heart, Haruo was aware of what was going on, and I couldn't shake the feeling that he was hiding something.

My Brother was a master at keeping secrets, which is probably what made him such a fantastic ninja. However, he can never fool me...

"Hey."

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at Sasuke.

"Since Haruo won't be around tonight, do you want me to stick around your place?"

I blinked, "pardon?"

"Just hear me out" he reasoned "Tesuya only tries to get to you when your own. When Haruo was here, Tesuya barely paid you any attention, and when I turned up that night... he fled."

Oh I understood what he meant, strength in numbers... or something like that.

"Are you sure?" I asked "don't feel like you have to stick around."

Sasuke let out a hm sound "I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't."

"Oh so we're all staying at Tomoko's house tonight!" Naruto butted in happily.

"What?" Sasuke gasped "no I didn't mean-"

"That's a great idea!" Sakura chimed "that's if its alright with you Tomoko?"

I smiled nervously "er... yeah... I guess."

"Great!" she cheered, "I've always wanted to see your house!"

I sighed deeply, this was going to be a long night.

"Alright!" I ordered as I walked into my house "don't touch anything, Haruo keeps a lot of valuables and will have my head if they are broken."

"Alright!" Naruto hooted running inside, Sakura following him.

"And stay away from the fridge Naruto!" I ordered, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears as I could hear him going through my cupboards.

I let out a heavy breath, and Sasuke closed the front door.

"Such an idiot" he grumbled, walking further in the house "we better figure out what to eat before he trashes the kitchen."

I stayed back to lock the door and walked into the kitchen, irritation crept into me as I saw Naruto's head poking in my fridge. Immediately I grabbed him by the back of the collar and dragged him back.

"What did I just say?!" I snapped, feeling a vein pop in my forehead.

Naruto cried out in fear and began saying sorry repeatedly, gradually I let go of him and walked to the fridge.

"Go sit down and shut up! I'll make something now!" I barked at him.

Naruto begrudgingly left, leaving me alone.

"Now" I said, staring into the fridge, "what can I whip up quickly."

I noticed some tuna steaks in the back, grabbing them and closing the fridge door, I studied them.

"Need any help?"

I looked up to see Sakura standing in the doorway.

"Er" I breathed "yeah sure, although I don't really know what I'm doing just yet."

"Why don't you fry them with some vegetables?" she suggested.

"Naruto hates vegetables."

Sakura let out a very defeated laugh "oh yeah... how could I forget."

I studied the steaks for a little longer, "I suppose I could do some rice and noodles on the side... then all they have to do is pick and choose."

"Sounds like plan" Sakura agreed.

"HEY WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?!" Naruto suddenly whined from the living room "I'M WASTING AWAY HERE!"

The sound of a punch echoed down the hall.

"OW! WHY'D YA HIT ME!?"

"Because you're a moron" Sasuke answered sounding very annoyed.

Sakura couldn't help but giggle, whilst all I could do was shake my head...

Yep I was right, this was going to be a very long night.

After about fifteen minutes, the food was ready and we were all sat in a circle eating... well everyone but me was. I was too caught up in my thoughts about today's events.

"So what do you think the next exam is gonna be?" Sakura asked generally.

Naruto pulled a very scared look "hopefully not a written one."

"Oh?" Sakura teased "what happened to that confidence, wasn't the test a piece of cake for you?"

"Y-yeah it was!" he spluttered "I just didn't want you guys to worry about me!"

Sakura huffed "yeah right..."

"You've been awfully quiet..."

It took while to realise that Sasuke was talking to me, "sorry what?"

With a raised eyebrow he repeated what he said, Sakura and Naruto were still talking amongst themselves.

"Oh sorry" I mumbled "I'm just... trying to process everything that's happened so far."

Sasuke gave me a knowing look, "who would've thought he would be your cousin."

"My cousin... who wants to kill me..." I said solemnly.

That statement silenced everyone, and caused them to stare at me.

Well that's one way to ruin a moment of peace.

"Ah sorry" I said to everyone "ignore me... I've... "

But then a light bulb went off in my head, "I gotta check something out."

I didn't give them a chance to question me, as I shot up to my feet and ran up stairs. It just hit me... Haruo had a load of old books on Yamakure and Mountain culture, why didn't I think about it before!?

'Because you're banned from Haruo's bedroom.'

Oh yeah, but Haruo isn't here! This is the perfect chance to see what I could find.

Swinging the door open, I hastily entered his bedroom and was greeted by mountains of clutter and a very bad smell.

That punk, he has the nerve to complain about my bedroom, when his was disgusting. As I waved the bad odours away with my hand, my eyes landed on the massive bookcase.

"Bingo!"

Stepping over all the junk on the floor, I reached the bookcase, and immediately started looking through the books. Any that didn't help, which was the majority, I just flung behind me onto the floor... at least they had a soft landing.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked as he cautiously entered the room, and dodged a few flying books here and there.

"No wonder you're not allowed in here" I heard him remark. Once again, without looking I chucked a book over my head, not realising it was aimed right at my best friend. Thankfully, he had the skill and agility to catch it.

"Dúnælf Reccung sylfum sé Stán(fairy tales of the Stone)" he read out loud, "I remember this one."

"What is it Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura as she entered the room, grimacing as she went along.

Sasuke didn't look at her, he gaze remained firmly on the book in his hand.

I cease what I was doing for a moment "it's a children's book" I answered turning my head to her, "its also the first book I used to teach Sasuke how to speak Yamakurism."

Sakura gazed at the raven-haired boy longingly "wow Sasuke-kun! I bet you picked it up really fast!"

"Actually it took him a few months to master" I stated with a small smirk.

Sasuke huffed whilst still flicking through the children's book, "I'll say this in response to that, teaching you to read was a nightmare."

I couldn't help but laugh that his remark, and also said 'jerk' in my first tounge.

Sakura pulled a curious expression"Why did you want to learn the language Sasuke-kun?"

he shrugged "there was no particular reason."

"Oh Sasuke-kun!" She gushed "there's no need to be shy about it!"

I felt wetdrop from on the back of my head, 'who said he was shy about it?'

"You still haven't told me what you're doing" stated Sasuke, completely ignoring her stupid prattling.

I Went back to rummaging through the bookcase, "to be honest... I'm not sure. I'm just acting on a feeling."

"Whoah this place is seriously a mess!" Naruto spoke in astonishment.

Once again I flung a book over my head, Sakura and Sasuke managed to dodge it... Naruto... not so much, as it landed right in his face.

"HEY!" he bellowed storming towards me "watch where you... whoah!" He never had time to finish his rant. Because he slipped on a piece of clothing, and fell, very dramatically I might add, back into Haruo's wardrobe.

The rest of us stared at him in surprise, whilst Naruto practically had stars flying around his head.

"Well..." he said in a light, dazed tone "it can't get any worst..."

But it did, as something very heavy fell from the top of the wardrobe, onto the top of the blonde's head.

Lets just say, he was sporting a nice sized lump on the crown of his head.

But back to the matter atmhand,Sakura was the first to reach the object. "Its..." she started as she picked it up, "a book? Ah heavy one!" She opened it from the middle, her head scanning left and right as she read it. "I can't read what it says... but it looks like some form of documentation."

Sasuke took the book from her and read it himself "this book is old..." he stated "very old..."

I stood up straight and watched him read it. One thing was for sure, the book was on the verge of falling apart. The pages were stained and faded with age, and the binding was tearing away.

Sasuke was treating it very delicately, probably because he was afraid it would crumble to ashes if handled wrong.

"Can you read it Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke didn't answer her, instead he turned to me "I think its a record book of your family."

I raised my eyebrow at him "how can you tell?"

"Because there are a load of dates, and the Name Mori is continuously written down."

As I got closer to him, he asked me whether I'd seen this before.

I shook my hea. As took the book from him, and flicked to the very first page. I never realised how far my family tree dated back! And according to this book, as I turned the fragile pages, my family tree began way before the first Hokage came to power.

"Why would Haruo hide your family records from you?" Naruto asked slowly as he got out of the wardrobe.

"I... don't know..."

And that's when I saw it, Mori Tesuya scribbled in ink. But that's not what caught my eye... next to his birth name... was an olden name.

"Wardle?" I read out loud. I then noticed my mothers name, and next to her birth name, was another olden one.

Lufu.

I turned the page again, and saw Haruo's name and what Tesuya called him... Kenlem.

Then, completely out of no where, the book suddenly felt very hot.

Myself and Sakura, could help but scream as the book suddenly burst into flames.

"Tomoko drop the book!" Naruto ordered and managed to knock it out of my hands. Once it crashed onto the floor, he use his foot to put out the fire.

All we could do was stare at the black ashes that spread across the floor.

"What did you do?!" Sakura asked shakily.

"I..." I began, nearly at a lost for words "I don't know... I just touched it... I... I..."

"It's alright Tomoko-chan" Naruto tried to reassure.

"No its not alright!" I cried hysterical "books don't suddenly set on fire!" I stared at my violently shaking hands, at the Vambrace...

Was it because of them that the book Burnt to a crispt? That had to be it! Both Sakura ans Sasuke handled the book just fine...

"This... T-this Vambrace" I spluttered, my eyes widening to the size of saucers.

"Tomoko-chan" I heard Naruto say sadly.

I began clutching my head "why is this happening!?" I wailed. "Why won't they let me remember my past!?"

Sakura told me to calm down. But I shook my head "I can't take this for much longer, I need to know who I am... I need... to confront the woman covered in..."

I couldn't finish my sentence, because I suddenly found it very hard to breathe.

"Oh shit" I heard Sasuke curse loudly and immediately came to my side.

"What's wrong with her!?" Naruto demanded.

"Panic attack" he affirmed "she use to get them a lot when she first came here. Nowadays, it takes a lot to set them off." I felt Sasuke placed both hands on my shoulders. "Tomoko, you need to calm down" He told me sternly.

As I stared up into his black eyes, I felt more reassured and my breathing slowed down. I couldn't tell you why, but Sasuke always had a nack of bringing me back to my senses. Even when we were kids, I always felt safe around him, reassured that nothing bad would happen.

"You okay?" he asked.

I nodded, "yeah..." I replied cradling my forehead. "Aw man!" I groaned "how embarrassing, I haven't had one of them since I was six!"

feeling very sorry for myself, I left the room... I needed some fresh air.

"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura breathed "that was amazing! You knew exactly what to do."

Sasuke didn't saying, he just stared at the pile of ash on the floor.

"Is she alright?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

Again Sasuke didn't say a word, instead he just left the room, to check on his friend.

"Go away!" I yelled as I heard a knock on door bedroom door.

"It's me."

"Never met someone called 'Me' so buzz off."

Sasuke walked into the room with an amused look on his face. "We'll your becoming yourself being because you're being sarcastic."

"Sasuke…" I moaned.

"Hm?" He breathed looking at star and sat next me on my windowsill.

I shook my head, what was the point, he wasn't gonna leave me alone even if I punched him.

But I had to admit, Sasuke has stuck by my side through all of this, he was the only one who really understood.

"Thanks" I mustered.

Sasuke crossed his arms and leaned back on the wall "don't worry about it."

"God damn it Sasuke!" I snapped "quit it!"

Sasuke threw me a look, as if to say what's your damage?'

I growled at him "you're being way too amazing about all this!"

"hang on" Sasuke cut in "why are you mad at me?"

"I'm not mad at you!" I barked "just... I don't know! Get annoyed at me, tell me I'm completely you my rocker!"

Sasuke sighed loudly and said, in a very calm tone:

"You are by far, the most complex, off your head, insane girl I think I've ever met. This whole situation is irritating the hell out of me, worrying everyone else and stressing you out. I'm beginning to despise those things on your arms and I want to punch your moron of a brother in the face!"

I was baffled, and it seemed to be very clear from my expression.

"Did that meet your expectation?" He queried casually.

I couldn't help it, I burst into fits of laughter. I wasn't what he said, it was the way he said it. Not to mention he was taking it all in his stride.

"I wasn't expecting that, but at least you're happier now" he remarked.

Finally calming down, but letting out a few more giggles, I managed to form a sentence.

"Still to this day, you continue to surprise me" I told him.

I could see him pull a small smirk "I could say the same thing about you." He then stood up, "now I'm going bed sleep, try not to have any nightmares... Otherwise I will getting angry at you."

I grinned "I'll certainly try."