It was just supposed to be an easy mission to heal the townspeople. Yet, twenty feet below on a little rowboat, Aceso found herself tied up in an underground canal, and Sasuke was the rower. 

"You can't just kidnap people," Aceso said. "If you won't come back to the village, then I shouldn't be forced to come to your snake nest."

"Don't make this harder on yourself," Sasuke advised as he glanced at her. "Besides, Lord Orochimaru wants you as well."

"Doesn't he have Kabuto and other medics?" Aceso asked.

"Lord Orochimaru plans on taking over my body," Sasuke brought up.

"We all know that," Aceso said.

"Kabuto mentioned needing something of your blood," Sasuke explained. "And other forms of DNA."

"Other forms of DNA?" Aceso asked. "What do you mean?"

"Lord Orochimaru wants to see what happens if you combine Uchiha blood with Matsuba blood," Sasuke explained.

"How does he plan on doing that?" Aceso asked. "That would take many trials, and not work at all."

"As I said before, he needs your DNA," Sasuke answered. "But only when the time is right and you are older."

" I don't like where this is going," Aceso frowned. She pulled picked up a kunai that was underneath her and began to cut through the rope.

"Even if I don't allow Lord Orochimaru to take over my body, we should still consider creating a child," Sasuke answered. "Lord Orochimaru is right in wanting to see the combination of an Uchiha and Mastuba, both of us are the last of clans. It's only right we continue our clans through reproduction."

"No," Aceso denied. " I don't want to have that kind of relationship with you."

"Whether you like it or not, it will happen," Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. "Kidnapping you will allow Lord Orochimaru to experiment on you as he please, I will be able to defeat Itachi and restore my clan, our deal was till we were both 19."

"And we are only 12," Aceso said. "This cheating."

"This is doing whatever it takes," Sasuke disagreed.

"I like somebody else Sasuke," Aceso admitted. "This won't go well for any of us."

"As if I should care," Sasuke grunted. 

******
Up above, Lee was during a lap around the town, looking for Aceso. 

"Lee," Temari said as she appeared in front of her. "Where's my cousin? She's not back where we left her."

"She's not at the infirmary either," Lee said as he looked behind Temari.

"With how things are, there's a possibility she just went back to your village without you," Temari said.

"Possible," Lee frowned. "But she would have told me." He looked down an alley. 

"You two were fighting earlier," Temari recalled. Lee leaned against a wall and let out a sigh. "What is going on between you two?"

"We got into a bit of a fight earlier," Lee answered. "Sakura and Aceso whispered something to each other and she won't tell me, saying it's a secret."

"You should respect her wishes," Temari said. "You two may spend a lot of time together, but she doesn't have to tell you everything or anything at all." 

"But shouldn't friends tell each other everything?" Lee asked.

"No," Temari denied. "Is that why she walked here alone? You were assigned as her escort. You abandoned your mission?"

"No, I didn't go too far ahead, I just made sure she couldn't sense me," Lee answered. "She has to her medical journey alone, well she'll be traveling at first, but I'm sure others will tag along."

"Aceso just didn't want to get used to having to be protected," Temari said. "If she depends too much on someone else, she'll never know how to survive on her own out there." Temari shook her head. "You men and your fragile egos." Lee glanced at Temari. "I know Aceso like the back of my hand, but there are a few things she's told me, but not Gaara." 

"Aren't they best friends?" Lee asked. "How can they be best friends if she doesn't tell him anything."

"Gaara went from wanting to kill everyone to being an overprotective cousin and brother," Temari explained. "There's something my kid cousin will not tell him. What do you think Aceso said to Sakura?"

"Something about how I'm not able to ninjutsu," Lee answered. "I am a splendid shinobi without it."

"She knows that," Temari said. " And she would never say anything like that to anyone."

"Then what do you think she said?" Lee said.

"She'd kill me if I said the real answer," Temari admitted. "But I know who my little cousin likes...I don't why she'd waste her time on crushes, they are nothing but a waste of time." Lee's eyes went wide.

"I was a little rash on her," Lee said. "I thought the secret would affect our teamwork."

"Rock Lee, my kid cousin adores you with all her heart, whatever secret she is keeping from you respect it," Temari ordered. "Since Sakura knows, it was probably just girl talk, things girls tend to only say to each other." 

"I have overreacted, my apologies," Lee frowned. " I was starting to think she didn't like spending time with me anymore."

"Far from that," Temari shook her head. "And I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." Gaara and Kankuro then appeared in front of them.

"Did you find her?" Kankuro asked.

"No," Temari answered. "Nobody has seen her. We suspect she already left town."

"Not possible," Gaara denied. "Aceso would have said something to me if she was leaving."

"I'm surprised to see all of you working together," a voice said. They looked down the road to see a man in a black cloak. "Especially you Gaara of the Desert and Rock Lee of the Hidden Leaf." The man removed his hood, Lee narrowed his eyes.

"Kabuto, faithful follower of the Orochimaru," Lee recalled. "You were there a few weeks ago."

"When your doctor so happened to decline Sasuke of medicine," Kabuto recalled. " He says my stuff is too weak, and he needs something stronger."

"What is he talking about, Lee?" Gaara asked.

"This is one of the few things Aceso didn't tell Gaara," Temari whispered to Lee.

"Well, can't keep it from him now," Lee answered.

"So you don't know?" Kabuto taunted. " A few weeks ago, you dear old enemy Sasuke came to Aceso for medicine while she was out on a small doctor's mission. You see, Aceso was not so willing to give him the goods unless he agreed to come back to the village. Let's just say it's a good thing me and Rock Lee here stepped in when we did or I would still be tending to their injuries."

"Are you behind this attack?" Kankuro asked.

"Yes, but never mind that now," Kabuto answered. "We got what we needed."

"Where's my cousin?" Gaara demanded as he crossed his arms.

"You'll just have to kill me to find out," Kabuto answered. "Poor Sasuke would be devastated if his plan goes south and we can't let him get unhappy. If this mission goes south, not only with the prize pupil will be upset, but so will Lord Orochimaru, and no one wants to feel his wrath." Kabuto laughed. "That'll be all for now." Kabuto held up a finger before disappearing in the night.

****
Back underneath in the underground canal, Aceso was still focused on cutting herself lose.

"You haven't tried to call for help," Sasuke noted. "You either smart or just dumb."

"The sand siblings probably already set off back for their village," Aceso answered. " Lee's a bit upset, but I am certain he'll show up."

"I wouldn't get too confident," Sasuke said. "He's a bit dull."

"He's not dull," Aceso argued.

"You really trust a guy that can't do ninjutsu or genjutsu," Sasuke stated.

"Lee's the strongest genin I know," Aceso answered. "He certainly didn't need those things to whoop you."

"I'd watch your tone," Sasuke advised as Aceso got her hands free. "If you wish to make it to the hideout while conscious, I'd watch what you say."

"That's if we get to the hideout," Aceso said. She did a hand sign, the ropes shot up to the structure above, she grabbed them and went up with it.

"Get back here!" Sasuke shouted.

"I'm not going to the hideout," Aceso denied as she slipped through the vents and up to the open skies above.

"Aceso!" Sasuke shouted as he went after her. Aceso reached the outside, she was able to see they were in the middle of the forest. They were far from the town, but it was still in sight. "Stop trying to run away!" Aceso turned to see that Sasuke now stood a few feet in front of her.

"Stop trying to abduct me," Aceso argued as she jumped back as the two both pulled out kunai. They charged at each other a couple of times, the clings of their kunai echoed through the area. They managed to cut each other in a few places. They were now up in the trees, Aceso kept trying to get away as Sasuke was pursuing her.

"Not so fast little lady," someone said as a group of Orochimaru's followed appeared in front of her. "We need you to come with us, don't make this harder than it has to be."

"If we add you to the mix, Lord Ocohimaru's human experiment will go much smoother," another said. "You are a top-notch medical ninja."

"There's no way he'd pass up on a prize like you," another said.

"You can also get stronger," another said as Sasuke appeared in the branch behind her. 

"Just give up," Sasuke advised, "You are no match for all of us. We can either do this the easy or hard way." Aceso kept her knife risen. "I'd rather not do it the hard way again."

"Just let me go, Sasuke," Aceso wished.

"Get her," Sasuke ordered as he took out his sword. "Just don't kill her."

"You heard him, fellas," one smirked. Aceso saw that there was a total of eight others, nine if she included Sasuke." They are charged and Aceso did her best to avoid their attacks while attacking them. 

****

Down below, Lee and the Sand Siblings has just the little rowboat from going into the underground canal.

"Aceso was definitely here," Kankuro noted as he held up a few strands of red hair. Lee was starting to feel guilty.

****

Back by the battle, one guy just plummeted her in the stomach as another kicked her in the back. She landed on a tree branch as they surrounded her.

"Just give it up," one advised. "We can't let you get too injured." He squatted down and grabbed her face. "It's too pretty."

"Are you finally going to get serious?" Aceso asked as she held up a hand sign.

"We have been serious," a man laughed. He stopped laughing when her ropes wrapped themselves all around the followers. Aceso stood up holding on to two ends. She yanked them up, before slamming the ropes down, she released the ropes, letting each opponent slam into the ground below harshly. 

"Weak," Sasuke frowned at the group below. "Guess this means, it's my turn." Aceso looked up just as Sauke charged at her. Those two went back to fighting it out. 

"Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted as he jumped up blowing out a ball of fire at her. Aceso fell back, she used her ropes to go around and go over to the branch Sasuke was standing on, she swung around, slamming her foot into his back. Sasuke got sent a few branches away from her.

"You should just give it up," Aceso advised. "I'm not going down without a fight." 

"And I need you to come with me," Sasuke growled as he got back on his feet.

"Not happening," Aceso denied.

"We'll help you for real this time," a voice said. Aceso glanced back to see all of the other followers back on their feet. 

"If you get hurt, don't blame me," Sasuke warned. "It's best you all stay out of this fight." He charged at Aceso, and she charged at him, once again they kept clinging. They landed on branches two feet apart from each other. "This is going to go down like it did last time."

"Possibly," Aceso agreed. "We could just walk away from this."

"I'm not leaving without my ninja tool," Sasuke answered. He activated his Sharingan and he held out his hand forming the Chidori as Aceso tied her rope to a kunai. Sasuke charged forward, while Aceso dropped off the branch, she swung around, she went to got kick him in the back again. This time he turned and stuck out his hand, his Chidori skinned the skin of her stomach while her foot plunged into Sasuke's stomach, he flew back as Aceso flopped onto the branch. She slowly sat up and blood flowed out of her body.

"Sasuke!" one of the followers exclaimed.  

"Stay out of it!" Sasuke ordered as he got to his feet.  A kunai landed next to Aceso's head, with a rope attached to it, climbing up was one of the followers. Aceso simply cut the rope, and the man fell along with his attack. "I said to stay out of it!"  Aceso picked up the kunai and retied the rope around, Sasuke charged at her as well as the other followers, down below not too far off the sand shinobi and Lee were about to reach her. 

"If I just stayed with her, then none of this would have happened," Lee frowned. "That's way too many people for anyone to take on at once."

"It's not your fault," Gaara said. "None of us knew that Uchiha would be here."

"It was a trap," Temari added. "We weren't completely prepared for it."

"I knew Sasuke would appear again, Kabuto said that they would meet again," Lee explained. "I just didn't think it would be so soon." 

"We need to reach her as soon as possible, then the puppet show can begin," Kankuro said as he took Crow off his back.

Up above, Aceso did a few hand signs, and her ropes wrapped themselves around the followers besides Sasuke, each of them had a weapon out. Aceso then crossed her arms, she dropped below as all of the followers clashed headfirst with each other, blood splattered everywhere. The ropes retracted back to Aceso as the victims fell far below. Down below, the group stopped for a second and stared up in surprise beside Temari and Gaara.

"I expect nothing less from her," Temari smiled. "As Kurenai-sensei has said before if she has to kill someone she will." They looked down at the bodies that fell in front of them.

"Her taijutsu moves are similar to yours," Gaara noted as they saw go to hand to hand with Sasuke.

"I've been helping her with it," Lee said. " She asked me to help her touch upon her taijutsu." Lee was in complete shock to see the damage Aceso caused, but he was impressed at how far she has gotten in her taijutsu. He could see all that training with her had paid off.

"We shouldn't waste any more time," Kankuro advised. "They are both moving further through the forest." Up above, Sasuke and Aceso landed on separate branches. The ponytails, holding Aceso's braids have been cut off, her hair no longer held back.

"This will be my last attack," Sasuke warned as he formed the Chidori in his hand again.

"We'll see about that," Aceso said. This was about to be her last attack, she was low on chakra. Sasuke charged at her, he slammed the Chidori in her front, there was a puff of smoke revealing a log. 

"Hm," Sasuke frowned as he turned to see Aceso flying down towards him.

"Dynamic entry!" Aceso shouted. Her foot connected with his face, and Sasuke plummeted into the branch below. There was another puff of smoke revealing a rock. 

"Behind you" Sasuke warned as he put the Chidori at her back, it was skinning her. "If we could make a pretty good team you and I. In battle and in marriage."

"Come back to the Leaf and we can team up for many missions," Aceso offered. "You can get stronger there as much as you get stronger with snake man."

"As for marriage?" Sasuke asked as he furthered the Chidori, the pain was intense.

"We're too young," Aceso answered. " Besides...as I said before...I like somebody else...Papa Kakashi says I should only marry someone I love...though marriage isn't even in my plans yet, I would like to keep this person around for a long time."

"Foolish," Sasuke frowned. "You should think what's best for your clan, not what's best for your heart."

"Sasuke, who I fall in love with isn't up to you or anyone else," Aceso said. "You are in search of power to defeat Itachi, don't drag me into this...please."

"Aceso you are the only one left in your clan, join up with me," Sasuke said. "It'll be the wise thing to do, I will defeat Itachi and we will create ultimate shinobi. Aren't you tired of being alone?"

"Alone?" Aceso asked as she glanced back at him. The others have gotten closer and could hear everything that was being said. "I'm far from being alone."

"Kakashi isn't your real father, and the sand siblings and Naruto aren't even really related to you," Sasuke said. "It's not blood."

"Yes, they aren't blood, but they are my family and I would risk my life for them," Aceso said. " I love them, a family doesn't have to be through blood or marriage, Sasuke." She put her head forward, and bent down, swung her leg out and around, knocking Sasuke off his feet, making his Chidori stop. He started flipping back, grabbed onto the branch, swung around, and kicked her. Aceso flew back, but she didn't crash into a branch or anything, she felt herself get caught. She looked up to see Lee was holding on to her, she looked forward to seeing the sand siblings appear. "You came." Lee looked down at her, he seemed angry, but it wasn't towards her.

"Until next time," Sasuke grunted before taking off, the sand siblings went to go after him.

"No," Aceso denied. "Just let him go."

"Little Sister," Gaara said as he looked back at her. "You have no desire for revenge."

"No, I am just happy all of you are here," Aceso answered. They took Aceso back to the town to get her patched up, at the moment Lee was the only one in the room with her.

"This is all my fault," Lee said as he sat on the bed, facing her.

"No," Aceso denied as she shook her. "It was my fault, I should have just told you what I and Sakura were whispering to each other about."

"No," Lee denied. "I should have respected your wishes to let it stay a secret. I just got jealous and worried you didn't want me around anymore."

"That's dumb," Aceso frowned. "I like having you around."

"Then why didn't you want me to tag along?" Lee asked. "Besides the fact you need the practice of traveling alone."

"That's the only reason why," Aceso answered. "I mean, since we were traveling together, I did offer Sakura to tag along, and she said no."

"I'm sorry for being so harsh," Lee apologized. 

"No, it's alright," Aceso answered. "I should have just told the truth about, but not the whole truth. I am glad you showed up again." 

"I am to protect you, of course, I showed up," Lee said. "Next time, I'll stay with you when you ask." He took her hand. " I made a promise, I'm sorry for breaking it."

"You showed up and that's all that matters," Aceso said. "By the way, where are my sand siblings?" 

"Talking to the hospital staff and reporting to Lady Tsunade," Lee answered.

"She's not going to be too happy," Aceso frowned.

"Yes and no," Lee answered. "Not happy that you had another collision with Sasuke, but she would be happy to hear that you can fend for yourself. I gotta say your Taijutsu is really coming along."

"With you as my teacher, I'm not surprised," Aceso laughed.

"So, I guess this means you don't need to train with me anymore," Lee frowned.

"No, I'll continue to train with you," Aceso said. "I like spending time with you."

"Really?" Lee asked as a big smile grew on his face and tears fell from his eyes. "With me?" He pointed at himself. 

"Yeah," Aceso smiled as she closed her eyes. "Say...how about we come up with a combo attack together?"

"Really?" Lee asked as he grabbed both hands, Aceso opened her eyes to see he was right in front of her face. His eyes locked onto hers instantly, his eyes then flickered to her lips and back to her eyes. Aceso started to panic as Lee started to lean in closer, she was too young for this. The door swung open, sandblasted Lee off the bed and now Gaara was in front of Aceso, he had brought her into a hug, she happily hugged him back.

"What were you thinking? Taking on all those people by yourself?" Gaara demanded as he pulled. "You could have gotten yourself killed."

"It was either back or be abducted," Aceso said. " I didn't have a lot of options."

"Still, you could have waited for us to show up," Kankuro said as he sat next to Gaara. " I was really looking forward to putting on a puppet show."

"Next time," Aceso smiled at him. 

"How are you feeling?" Temari asked as she sat next to Aceso. "You do know that you killed a few people, right? I know you are not a fan of that sort of thing." Aceso's smile dropped.

"I wasn't planning on that," Aceso said softly. "I feel horrible about it."

"Good to know you didn't enjoy it," Gaara said. "Are you going to be okay to go home?"

"Yeah," Aceso answered. "I'll have Lee with me."

"Maybe it's best we go back with you," Gaara answered.

"You don't think I can handle it?" Lee asked as he stood up.

"No, I just don't want you two to be alone together," Gaara answered as he narrowed his eyes at him. 

"Gaara, you are being overprotective," Kankuro laughed. "They are just friends."

"Yeah," Lee and Aceso agreed at the same time.

"We have to get back to our village," Temari reminded her younger brother. "These two will be fine getting back to their own." Temari pulled out two ponytails and started putting Aceso's hair back in the braids. 

"Just write to me as soon as you reach the village," Gaara insisted.

"Always do," Aceso confirmed.

"Let's get moving," Temari ordered as she finished the braids. 

"Have a safe journey home," Aceso wished as they all hugged her.

"You too," Kankuro said. "Try not getting abducted."

"Will do," Aceso smiled. Shortly, after they left, Aceso was allowed to leave and Lee carried her on his back.

"I can walk," Aceso told him.

"Every great shinobi experiences bad injuries, they know they have to rest and let their body get better before they resume," Lee said. " Aceso let out a small gasp. " I believe those are the exact same words you told me a few months ago."

"At least half of the way," Aceso said. "I want to walk."

"Next time," Lee smiled back at her. "Just take it easy for now. The Leaf's Handsome devil shall carry you all the way back." 

"You win," Aceso agreed. "But if you continue to go any slower, I will get up and race you home."

"Is that a challenge?" Lee asked as he picked up the speed a little. Aceso smiled lightly and put her head down on his shoulder as she tightened her grip a little. Lee blushed heavily, he looked back to see that her eyes were closed. Lee then understood why Aceso didn't to him to come. She seemed to find safety around him, and they both know that the journey won't be like that the entire time. "So about that combo attack?" No response, he looked back to see her fast asleep.