Chapter 3

Kurenai led me through a barrier of trees into a second grassy opening, smaller than the previous one and completely encircled by trees and other foliage. A group of three was gathered there. I inhaled and was startled by a familiar scent.

Flicking my gaze to the right of the group, I recognized Shino. Did the Hokage do this so that I'd know someone? Or was there another motive? Maybe I was just overanalyzing this. Well, whatever the reason, I wasn't too sure how I felt about being assigned to the same team as the guy who got possibly found me in the rain outside the village.

'Speaking of my team,' I thought, redirecting my attention toward all of them. There were two other members, as well as, to my surprise, a rather large white dog. First was a kunoichi with long dark, blue-lavender hair and pale, pupilless eyes. A Hyuuga then, I assumed. The way she carried herself nearly made me reconsider my thinking though; she appeared timid and withdrawn, unlike any Hyuuga I'd ever encountered. Perhaps we'd get along then. The other member was a boy who had a feral look about him. He was dressed in a hooded jacket, sitting down and reclining against the dog. Red triangular tattoos covered his cheeks while his canines poked out from his upper lip. Seemed I wasn't the only one with "fangs" then. The Hokage had some sense after all it would appear.

"Alright team, this is Tenshi. She'll be joining our team for some time. Tenshi this is Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga, and Kiba Inuzuka," Kurenai introduced, pointing to each of them in turn. "And Akamaru," she amended at a bark from the dog.

"With this addition to the team you three you will all need to grow acclimated to Tenshi and she to you; I'll leave it up to you to decide how you want to do that." After finishing with her instructions, the raven-haired woman left and I was alone under the curious gazes of my new teammates.

Kiba was the first to approach me, standing up and walking over with Akamaru trailing after him. My nose twitched in response to their scent and I nearly recoiled instinctively. He reeked of dog. It was worth it though to see his expression upon noticing my likely more feline scent. I couldn't really pick up my own scent, so I wouldn't know.

"You smell like...cat?" He questioned it? Did he not trust his nose? Dear Kami…

I settled for staring at him silently before biting out, "You try and chase me around and I'll cut out your tongue." He stared at me as though unsure whether I was serious or not. Note to self: threats don't make for good first impressions when you actually don't want to murder someone. He was soon asking me another question, so I assumed he didn't take me seriously.

"Are you from some cat clan or something?" I stiffened and attempted to create an excuse or some way to redirect the conversation. I came up completely blank. Indirectly as it might have been, Kiba had touched upon a sensitive subject. My past. Carefully, drawing upon years worth of practice acting in a manner different than my inner emotions, I responded.

"Something like that." I managed to keep my voice mostly neutral, though there was a warning undertone to it.

The Inuzuka seemed like he was about to pry further so I directed my attention to the others.

"Nice to meet you. Guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other from here on out." Shino made no attempt at a response while Hinata nodded and smiled shyly. No help there...at least I managed to distract Kiba though.

"So what are we gonna do?" he inquired, sounding antsy. His nin-dog, Akamaru yipped at him in what I took to be agreement.

Shino chose that moment to offer an intelligent suggestion.

"Perhaps we should try a game centered on teams. Why? It will encourage interaction with our new teammate and as talking seems to be falling short of accomplishing this, cooperation for victory is a better option."

His suggestion was well received and it quickly decided, mostly by Kiba, that we were to play a game they called "capture the flag". Kiba looked horror struck that I had never so much as heard of the game. I didn't say it out loud, but the way I grew up didn't really allow for such frivolity. He quickly took it upon himself to explain it to me. We would be split into two teams, each side with a flag, either yellow or green. The object of the game was to get the flag. It seemed simple enough. There were technicalities of course; no changing the appearance of the flag, the flag must be partially visible and carried by a person. Jutsu was permitted so long as it was used with sound judgement. I could do this.

Teams were determined and I was paired up with Hinata. She moved quietly to my side as I listened to Shino rule we would have five minutes to strategize before the actual game would begin. When he finished he and Kiba split away, vanishing into the trees. I motioned for Hinata to follow me into the forest opposite of where the boys had gone and stopped once we were deep enough to see only trees on all sides. I directed my attention to Hinata, the skeleton of a strategy building in my mind.

"What is your fighting style like Hinata? I assume that because you're a Hyuuga, you utilize Gentle Fist and the Byakugan," I waited for her nod of affirmation before continuing, "so a close range fighter, like myself. Given what I know about the styles of your teammates' clans they're mid to long-range fighters, which puts us at a disadvantage unless we can get close."

This wasn't entirely true. I had an earth affinity and had a decent stockpile of jutsu to go along with it, but I was still wary about using too much chakra so soon after losing control to the other chakra, so I would stick to taijutsu. It would suffice for a game among teammates. I assumed at least.

"A-actually Tenshi-san, I can do water jutsu a-and a varied version of g-gentle fist."

At my prompting she elaborated on this "varied version of gentle fist". Apparently she sent long, thin streams of chakra from her palms and utilizing her flexibility, creating what was essentially thin chakra blades. It was an interesting technique, and the question of how she had created it flitted through my head briefly.

"That's certainly helpful information," I responded as the strategy growing in my mind came together, "let me see the flag." I took the green cloth as well as a leaf from the tree we were standing one, "I'm going to henge the leaf to look like the flag. You keep the actual flag and I'll take the decoy. Your Byakugan will give you a heads-up on any threats. I'll hide somewhere nearby and act as back-up if you need it. Now where to put this?" I murmured, gazing at the leaf I had henged. I cast a glance to the glove over my right hand, lifted it, and carefully stored my "flag" under it. The ends of the henged leaf showed from the beneath the glove ensuring it was visible as per the rules.

Hinata had concealed the actual pendant under the bandages that bound her kunai pouch to her leg. She too allowed a bit of the flag to remain in view from it's hiding place.

"Are there any sizable pools of water within the game's boundaries? I questioned. As I was entirely unfamiliar with the terrain surrounding Konoha I was relying heavily on Hinata's experience. I made a mental note to begin exploring the place as soon as I could.

Hinata appeared contemplative for a moment before she nodded, "Y-yes actually. A spring feeds into a st-stream not far from here."

"Then let's get over there now!" Anticipation for this game was building, a feeling I was relatively unfamiliar with. Hinata led while I trailed closely behind her. Within a few minutes, about two from the deadline, we had reached the spring. A grin grew on my face upon seeing the spring was a size that was conducive to my plan.

"This will work perfectly. My plan involves you being in the center of that spring where you can use water jutsu easily to defend yourself and gentle fist should either of them break your defense. Then to minimize your chakra usage, I'll create a platform in the middle of the spring with jutsu. Your Byakugan will give 360 degrees of visual, so it will be more or less impossible to sneak up on you. Then I'll stay here in the trees and blindside one of them when they show up. I'll go for the flag while you focus solely on defending ours," I explained. As an afterthought I asked, "Are you alright with that?"

"It sounds l-like a good plan Tenshi-s-san."

I inclined my head once in thanks before dropping down from the trees and walking toward the spring. I swiftly flipped through the hand signs for the jutsu I planned to use and brought my hands flat on the ground when I finished.

"Earth Style: Rock Raising Jutsu!"

I felt the vibrations underfoot as a stone column pushed up half a foot from the water. It was roughly five feet in diameter. The surface was still slick from the water and clinging bits of moss, but it would have to suffice for now. Hopefully I hadn't blocked the spring's source in the process of creating the column. That would be annoying to fix.

"Head over to the platform and I'll wait back in the trees for them."

Hinata followed my instructions while I returned to the woods and settled in thickly leaved tree. I had a vantage point though which provided me with a view of my teammate and much of the surrounding area. I also made sure it was downwind of Hinata, so hopefully our opponents scents would reach me before they got to Hinata. I masked my chakra signature and checked for a way to hide my scent. Unable to find anything suitable, I stumbled upon a longing for my pack of ingredients. Some of them had been plant oils that would have suitably obscured my scent. Of course, I reminded myself, this was a game not a mission.

Thankfully things went the way I had hoped. Hinata shot a slight glance in my direction, making me wince slightly, but Kiba, who was approaching from the forest on the far side of the clearing with Akamaru didn't seem to notice and appeared intent on Hinata. There was no sign of Shino anywhere though which put me on edge. I needed to locate him quickly.

I briefly returned my attention to Hinata who had already performed a water jutsu and was employing whips of water to harass Kiba and Akamaru while the pair sought a weak point in her defenses. Not an easy feat with Hinata's field of vision, but then that was the point. Her kekkai genkai was of a great use in this situation.

My observation of the fight was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Shino's scent and the growing sound of skittering legs and buzzing wings.

Cursing my inattentiveness, I quickly used a substitution jutsu and watched the poor log being swarmed in front of me. I then pinpointed Shino and moved a few yards behind him, unnoticed.

"Good move, figuring out where I was and approaching me downwind. You must've realized I have senses acute as an Inuzuka's."

He stiffened slightly at my voice before turning to face me. Apparently it was possible to catch him off guard. He obviously hadn't expected me to move so quickly. Maybe not even to dodge his attack. He'd have to do better than that though.

"You knew I was there," he responded, a note of question coloring his voice, as if wondering how I knew. I decided to tell him. At least some of it. He was going to be my teammate after all, so I needed to try and build some semblance of trust between us.

"Before I came here I had to watch my back a lot. I made a lot of enemies and had no but myself to watch my back. I heard your bugs for one and I've worked to be able to smell downwind roughly nine feet by using a small stream of chakra to my olfactory glands. If you'd stood literally a foot back I might not have reacted fast enough to avoid your bugs. Might. My reflexes are probably faster than your kikaichu."

He didn't respond and I knew it was time to get this over with. I couldn't see the flag on Shino, so I assumed Kiba had it. Meaning I needed to get to him. Unless Hinata got him. COuld be possible. I just like to tie up loose ends personally. I moved then, launching myself toward Shino. Seeing as he wasn't quite up to my level in physical attacks-though in a battle of wits he might come out on top-I toned down my speed quite a bit. Ending a battle before it could begin was never fun.

I brought my foot up quickly aiming to slam it at his chest. Based on what I knew of his clan techniques and the resulting long distance style I assumed taijutsu wouldn't be one of his strong points. My prediction proved to be correct and he was forced back to a tree about five feet back by the strength of my kick. I followed him landing on a nearby branch before being forced to dodge away as a swarm of kikaichu come toward me. He had recovered faster than I'd expected. I dropped under the kikaichu and twisted back toward Shino, determined to force him into taijutsu this time around.

I landed in front of him and began a swift combination of kicks and slashes which he was hard pressed to block and avoid. I moved round him too, going in for a quick flurry of attacks before circling around him to attack his blind side. Poor bug-boy couldn't get a hit in edgewise.

Then things took a turn for worse. Shino managed to evade me well enough to leave an opening for him to jump back. I followed and reacted with a move I'd incorporated into my taijutsu to utilize my claws without recognizing what I'd done. I flexed my fingers, extending my already claw like nails and jabbed them forward, stabbing them into Shino's left arm. The action startled me. I'd had no intentions of hurting my new teammates in this game. Apparently the phrase "old habits die hard" had more stock than I'd given it credit for. I was contemplating an apology when out of the wound I'd left black beetles crawled rather than blood. I cursed under my breath as the clone collapsed trying to get away and locate Shino. I wasn't quite successful and had a good ten or twenty beetles on my hand; they were moving upward while some worked to siphon my chakra. Not good. Not fighting in two years did not do one good it would seem.

Suddenly I became very aware of kikaichu all around me. They had swarmed me and soon I was encased in darkness. Then I was no longer in the forest with team eight. My arms and legs were strapped down and I couldn't break free no matter how much I struggled. Cold metal pressed against my back and icy tendrils seeped into my skin from it. The sterile smell of medical rooms and chemicals hung in the air sending a shudder down my spine. My breath came out in gasps until a hissing voice came out of the darkness and stopped it completely. It was a voice from my nightmares and the dark corners of my mind that I tried to suppress.

"Tensshi, we missed you while you were gone."

"No," I breathed out. "No, no, no this isn't real."

"But isn't it?" Orochimaru asked, coming out of the shadows. A sudden paralyzing fear washed over me accompanied by a faint, lingering feeling of betrayal and guilt, something I had tried so hard to shake.

Then, before Orochimaru could take another step forward, my side seared as the grafted chakra reacted to my emotions and the abrupt reappearance of filtered sunlight burned my eyes.

Tremors still racked my frame when my gaze flickered up to Shino's face. I could feel his hidden eyes on me, could see his brow furrowed in contemplation. He knew something was up with my chakra; most likely because, I realized, the pulse of chakra had sent his kikaichu skittering away. The Aburame's bugs obviously didn't like a chakra that was so purely malevolent. I couldn't fault them for that. The chakra was nasty stuff for anyone to deal with. I'd been doing so for as long as I could remember and I still had troubles with it. Especially when my emotions, negative ones in particular, ran rampant like that.

Meanwhile, I swore I could almost see Shino's mind working, struggling to discover what darkness was in my chakra had sent his bugs scattering and where it originated from. This would likely find it's way back to Tsunade and put me in a very bad position if I didn't manage some damage control soon. I tensed in preparation to fend off any questions for the time being when Kiba's voice broke the tension filled staredown between myself and bug-boy.

"I've got the flag Shino!" he shouted from the ground, the green pendant held high in hid triumphantly clenched fist. He and Akamaru were soaking wet, while Hinata, who stood with them, appeared winded and sported a few scuffs as if she and and Kiba had fought hand to hand. Kiba had probably been hit with gentle fist a couple of times, judging by the focused bruises forming on his hand.

"it wasn't easy though," he continued, seemingly addressing no one specific, "Hinata's gotten pretty good with her water jutsu and her gentle fist."

"It w-was Tenshi-san's idea," Hinata protested as her cheeks flushed a light pink.

"I simply offered a strategy which you put into practice," I told her as I dropped lithely to the ground. I had managed to pull myself together while Kiba talked, but I wasn't sure how long I could keep this up. I may have been good at putting up a facade once but I lacked a significant amount of the emotional baggage I had to haul around now. I needed to get away and be alone as soon as possible.

Shino descended lightly nearby, barely making a sound on the thick undergrowth encouraged by the rays of sunlight piercing the trees. I refrained from looking at him, not wanting to further any suspicions I'm positive he had.

"Well I'm starving. Should we go for lunch?" With Kiba's statement I found my means of escape. As my new team began to walk toward the village center I made to flee into the trees.

"T-Tenshi-san, are coming?" came Hinata's tentative voice. I turned around, an excuse on the tip of my tongue but one look at their faces had it dying right away. It was obvious they expected me to join them and I highly doubted anything I told them would change their minds. Might as well try though.

"Well I just had a few errands to run and thought I'd get to them." Yeah like that was going to work.

"You can do them later. What better way for everyone to get acquainted than over lunch?" Kiba stated.

Well I'd dug myself into a nice hole here and the only way out was lunch. With Shino who undoubtedly had about a million questions I didn't even know how to begin to answer nor did I have any desire to. And most of them probably concerning a certain dark chakra which I was still shaken up by. Not to mention the emotional fallout just waiting to happen from my daymare slash flashback.

This was going to suck.

A/N: It's been so long since I updated they changed the uploading format...but the chapters finally up! I want to thank all of you who reviewed for doing so. Some of them came during really stressful days and it was wonderful to read them. So a few questions with the dialogue: Was Hinata's stuttering excessive? Not enough? And with Shino's couple lines, sis you find him to be in character? That's about it, so thanks for reading and I'll try to update in a timely manner next time!