"Do it again!" A voice was shouting and I instantly knew it was me he was talking to. "Do it again!"

He sounded like a maniac, and I was still not used to it. Every time he spoke, actually, I flinched in fear. Tears were running down my face.

"I-I c-can't," I stuttered, choking on my tears. The room was dark and when he shouted again he sounded like he was everywhere. "Do it again!" he screamed at me and I winced.

My trembling hand move forward and hovered over the lone candle's flame. I was crying uncontrollably. I didn't want to do it again. It hurt and I had been at it all day. Even now I felt like throwing up but I'm sure that would not end well.

I swallowed and braced myself for what was to come. Slowly, I whispered the words, running my hand over the flame, feeling the heat scorch my palm. No matter that it would heal. It still hurt like hell. I held back a cry of pain as I said the last words.

Then the flame went out. And I screamed.

--

I woke up with my heart pounding frantically in my chest. My eyes didn't open because instinct took over as soon as I hear talking above me. But that dream had scared the daylights out of me.

"There's something definitely different about her," I heard Kakashi saying. I cocked my ears, knowing it was about me.

"Even SHE took Zabuza down!" Naruto screamed.

"Shush, Naruto," Sakura admonished. I heard him cry out and I knew that she had bopped him over the head. "She's still sleeping."

"But how could she have taken him down like that?" Naruto asked.

There was a short pause. "I don't know." Everyone was quiet for a while and I took that as my cue to show that I was awake.

I opened my eyes and attempted to sit up. Sasuke started forward but Naruto beat him to it. He grabbed a cup of water and held it out to me. "Here, drink," he said. Sasuke went back to lean against the wall.

I took the cup from him and sipped a little.

"Are you okay, Lea?" Sakura asked me worriedly. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What happened after I passed out?"

Naruto sat cross legged in front of me and grinned. "Sasuke and I took Haku down!"

"Good for you," I said dryly. "Are they both dead? Is Zabuza dead?"

"Yeah, they died." I relaxed a bit.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sakura asked again. "You've been out for five days."

"Five what?? Five days?? How could you let that happen?"

"We didn't tell you to black out, now did we?" Sasuke spoke up. I looked over to him. He was still leaning against the wall but he looked... angry? Sulky? I didn't know and I didn't really care. I had to get out of bed. That was five days' worth of training wasted.

I jumped up. "I've got to get out of here," I announced.

"No," Sakura said. "You're still too weak. You need your rest." She tried to get me to lie back down but I shook her off.

"I've been sleeping for five days, how much more rest do I need?"

"Before you go, Lea, may I have a word with you?" Kakashi spoke up saying.

I shook my head, looking for my weapon pouch. "No can do. Maybe later."

"No, I think we should do this now."

"After I get back, okay?" I grabbed my weapon pouch out of the corner and headed for the door.

"Lea." I stopped. Kakashi was staring at me, his eyes serious. I sighed. "Can you guys give us a minute?" he asked the others. They nodded, noticing that it was something serious. They passed me one by one, Sakura smiling at me encouragingly, Naruto giving me his signature cute grin and Sasuke not looking at me at all.

"What is it, Kakashi?"

"That's Kakashi sensei to you."

"What is it, Kakashi sensei?"

"How did you do it?" he asked, getting down to business. "How did you kill Zabuza?"

"Are you asking me what my strategy was? I used the Invisible Clone Jutsu. You knew I mastered it."

"Yes but that jutsu you did, the one with the wall of fire. That looked way too advance for your level. You're still genin."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused. "Yes, I came up with it, but it really wasn't anything special. Any simpleton could do it."

"It really wasn't anything special yet you passed out after the fight. Explain that."

"Oh. Well. I guess I had used more chakra than I had intended."

"How does it work?"

"My clone, who I had made invisible, sat in the circle and loaded up on my chakra. She had ten times my strength and speed."

"Ten times your strength and speed should not have done that much damage. You're a genin."

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at him. "Are you calling me weak?"

"I'm calling you out. That jutsu should be way too advanced for you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I think you do. When you passed out you were so lifeless. You barely had a pulse. We thought you were dead."

I frowned and let out and awkward laugh. "Stop exaggerating. I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

"Trust me. It was."

My frown deepened. I had secrets, yes, and I had no intention of telling him. Or anyone. But what did that have to do with my strength? I knew I was weak. Stronger than before but still weak. But the way Kakashi was looking at me so intensely, I had to wonder if what he said was true. If no genin should be able to do a jutsu that advanced. If it was true then, how comes I could?

I sighed and looked at him through bored eyes. "Are we done?"

He stared at me a while longer then sighed, knowing he probably won't be able to get through to me. "Yeah, we're done then." He waved me off and I left the room.

Sasuke's POV

Damn it, what was she doing in there so long? I opened my eyes to look the closed door and I shut them again, feeling even more anxious. What was wrong with me?

I still remembered that day like it was yesterday. Well, it was only five days ago but still, it felt like yesterday. Even thinking about it made my heart leap into my throat.

I had woken up to see everyone hovering over me. Sakura was crying, which I had half expected but Naruto was the only one not there. I was glad for it though. I wasn't sure I could look him in the eyes after he saved me and I almost got myself killed.

As soon as I had opened my eyes Sakura cried out with joy and Naruto came rushing forward, his face also streaked with tears. They had on smiles of relief. It was then that I realized that someone else was missing. I looked around.

"Where's Lea?" I had said. Their faces immediately fell and they looked down beside me. I followed their gazes and what I saw brought my heart to my throat. Lea laid looking dead on the ground, blood covering her body.

I couldn't take my eyes off of her, and I couldn't move. I was frozen. "I-is she dead?" I asked, not sure I wanted to know, my voice sounding croaky.

Kakashi checked her pulse and I almost screamed at him. Why didn't he do that earlier? Did they just assume that she was dead??

He frowned then lower his head to her chest. We all watched him. Then, when he came up, he had a faint smile. My heart fell back to its original place immediately.

"She's still alive," he said and the relief was so strong I almost passed out again.

Now, my anxiety was building. So was my curiosity, wondering that they could be talking about for so long.

"Sasuke-kun?"

I opened my eyes and Sakura was in front of me. She was blushing, not looking me in my eyes. My annoyance grew. She held out something to me.

"I made this for you,' she whispered, her voice sounding timid. It was a small rice cake.

I closed my eyes. "No thanks."

"But Sasuke-kun, I worked really hard on it."

"I didn't ask you to."

"I'd like some rice cake, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted.

"Shut up Naruto!" Sakura roared at him, sounding quite unlike she had before.

At that moment, I heard the door open and I opened my eyes. Lea walked out, giving away no clue as to what they were talking about. She walked right past us and out the door.

I followed her. I was just making sure she was alright. That's all.

She headed straight for the woods. Her silver hair flew out behind her, making her look like she was glowing. She was beautiful, I knew. But so were a lot of girls. Look at Sakura and Ino. Many girls were beautiful, she was nothing special.

I caught up to her. "You should be resting."

She didn't look at me. "I'm fine."

"You passed out for five days and you're telling me you're fine. Why do I not believe that?"

"I don't really care if you believe or not."

I frowned at her. "You don't have to be so hostile, you know."

She let out a short laugh. "That coming from Mr. Grumpy face? You don't smile, you barely talk and you're always glaring. And you say I'm hostile?"

Was I that bad? "As I said before, I have my reasons."

"And as I said before, so do I."

She stopped and sat on a rock. I leaned against an opposing tree, watching her. She looked around a little then her eyes landed on me, and I looked away quickly.

"What are your reasons then?" she asked me.

My eyes immediately clouded with hate. "I want to kill a certain someone."

"Who?"

My mind was going back. Back to the massacre. I could feel the hatred building inside me. I shook it off, coming back to the present. "That's none of your business," I said coldly.

She shrugged and looked away. We were silent for a moment, then I asked. "What's your reason?"

"That's none of your business," she said, repeating my same words. I smirked at her and she smirked back.

"Touché."

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and the wind brought a wisp of its scent. It smelled like apples. I hated apples but somehow, I loved the smell on her.

Not that it was anything special, or anything. Lots of girls had nice apple scents. She just so happened to pull it off nicely, that's all.

"Care to tell me why you're staring?" she asked. I blinked at her then looked away, my cheeks heating up. She was looking at me with confusion written all over her face, her head cocked to the side.

I cleared my throat. "Why would I be looking at you? Didn't you come out here to train? I'll leave you to it then." I left before she could say anything else.

Lea's POV

We were finally almost there. I assume it's safe to say that I had missed Konoha. I had been sort of homesick and I couldn't wait to go back over those gate borders. I couldn't wait to feel that protection I had been without these past weeks. Even now, as its towering gates came into view, I still felt exposed.

"Lea-chan, tell me! Tell me, tell me, tell me!" Naruto danced around me as I walked. He had been begging me to tell him how I took down Zabuza since we left the hidden mist. I ignored him as I had been doing since then. My eye twitched.

"Naruto, if you don't shut up I'm going to tie you to that tree over there." I pointed to a large tree with a very wide trunk.

He gulped. "Lea-chan ..."

"Do you want to see if I was serious?"

He shrank back, but then he perked back up almost immediately. "You won't do that, Lea-chan. We're friends. You like me way too much."

I looked at him, shocked. Friends? Did I really consider him my friend? I knew we were rivals although I wasn't exactly sure what that entailed, but friends? I frowned at him and he grinned at me. Soon I found myself grinning along.

"Maybe I won't tie you to that tree."

Sakura popped up beside me and wiggled her eyebrows. "You two are so cute," she gushed.

I lifted a brow but Naruto's face turned red. "What? Sakura-chan? I - we -"

"It's alright Naruto," Sakura said smiling. "I have no problem with it. It's very cute."

"But, Sakura-chan..."

I didn't hear a word they were saying. I didn't understand what they were talking about so I just blocked them out. The village's gates came into view. My heart soared and I began to run. I couldn't wait to step over those borders.

I ran past the gates, waving hi to Kotetsu and Izumo. They waved back at me. I ran straight into the village, my face hurting slightly from how hard I was grinning. I turned the corner and collided into something hard.

I fell back from the force. I rubbed my butt as I stood up and I face the person I had ran into.

"The proper thing to say is 'I'm sorry'." It was a boy, my age. He had pale eyes, almost like Hinata's and his hair was long and brown. He looked at me, waiting for an answer.

"What are you doing standing there anyway?" I said with attitude, upset that he had broken my good mood so quickly.

He frowned. "I wasn't just standing here. I was obviously on my way to somewhere."

"Then run along then. Don't let me keep you waiting."

"Aren't you going to apologize for running into me?"

"I was the one who fell, not you. But you really don't look like the mannerable type, so I'll let it slide." I knew I was only being mean. I could have just apologized and moved on but this guy was asking for it. Even the way he was looking at me right now got me upset.

"Neji! What's taking so long?" A girl appeared behind me. She looked at me with surprise and smiled. "Hi, I haven't seen you around before."

"I haven't seen you either," I replied.

"What's your name?" she asked cheerfully. She had brown hair too but her hair was in two buns. Her eyes were brown.

"Lea," I answered. "I've been here a while now."

"Neji! Tenten!" a voice was shouting.

A boy with bowl cut black hair and extremely large eyes came around to join the party. I looked him from head to toe. He was dressed in green spandex and he was jogging up and down.

"Youth doesn't wait for the slowpokes! Oh? Who's this?" He squinted his eyes at me.

"This is Lea," Tenten said. "I'm Tenten, this is Lee" he pointed to the spandex wearing jogger "and this is Neji."

Neji glared at me. "I'm still waiting for my apology."

I glared back. "Keep on waiting, Neji. Keep on waiting." I flashed him a grin then I turned to the others. "I'm going."

"It was nice meeting you!" Tenten shouted at me as I walked away.

"May the power of youth push you forward!" Lee shouted at me and I frowned. Do people really say that?