I walked down the path to the cabin in the clearing. It had been a year and a half since I had come to the clearing. I was begining to take over the roles from Lavonia and was coming back from a mission to stop an uprising. The dense green forest surrounding me was silent, as a killer would be. Hidden in its depths were monsters so terrifying that they couldn't be properly put into words. Lavonia had tossed me into the forest for a week as a training exersize, and one week was enough for me.

I heard the steady thrum of her bow. She must have been practicing her bow work. It was rare of her to do, but she herself had said she needed to stay in practice. There was a steady thrum and whack pattern that was all to familiar.

I was almost at the clearing when I heard a scream that was immediately cut off. The only person that could be in the clearing was Lavonia, and the immediate cut off was never a good sign. I began running down the path, blinded by light when I got to the clearing. The sight I saw wasn't happy.

Men ringed the woods at the end of the archery range she had set up for me. She hadn't been practicing her aim though. A good dozen men lay dead on the ground, though far too many were still standing. Lavonia herself was on the ground. All the men held a bow, swords at their waist. Arrows stuck in the ground around her, and her body itself. Without even feeling for a pulse, I knew she was dead. There were at least a dozen arrows lodged into various places on her body, too many for her to have been able to dodge.

I backed away, prepared to run, but behind me was a solid, fleshy wall. Looking up I saw a man at least twice my height. I reached for my daggers, but he fastened my arms behind me before I could get a hold on the hilts.

"Looks like we caught the little apprentice murderer as well." The man chuckled at his own wit, along with a few of the men closer to us. They marched me down the path in the woods. They had never looked as sinister as they did now, but it didn't seem like I would be escaping anytime soon.

We arrived at the grand castle that housed the king and his many attendents, servants, and advisors. I was taken to the dungeon, the lowest level in the castle. They chained me to the wall, ensuring I wouldn't be able to escape. I had been stripped of my weapons and most of my clothes. All I wore now was a thin white shift.

I sat there for a long time, but I couldn't tell you exact days. Eventually the man who had caught me graced me with his presence.

"Hello there dearie, maybe now that you've been here you'll be willing to give me some information. Let's start with something easy, what's your name?"

I looked him dead in the eye before answering, "Quis scit, servus basilicus?"

He smacked me. "Don't you dare use the ancient language. It's tainted by killers and commoners like you."

I spat a little blood out of my mouth. A normal slap wouldn't have led to bleeding, but he still wore his iron gauntlets. I glared at him steadily.

"I'll ask again, girl, what's your name?" I simply glared. If he didn't want me using the tounge of the ancients, then I wouldn't speak at all. "Speak girl. It will be far better if you do." Blood still welled in my mouth from my bleeding cheek, so I simply spat it into his eyes. He kicked me harshly in the stomach and I coughed a little, winded.

"Monster."

"What was that girl? Your name? Such mean parents to call you a monster."

"No. You're the monster here."

"Such a brute of a girl. Why don't you just give in and tell me? I'll give you some water." He tried to bribe. I wasn't given water in my stay here, probably to set up for this moment.

"Idiot, if I don't drink, eventually I'll die. Either way you'll get no information."

He was shocked a moment before delivering a poisonous glare. He stalked out of my cell, speaking to the guard outside. I heard something in the conversation that chilled me to the bone, "Then whip her."

_-_

"They whipped you!?" Shika asked me worriedly.

I nodded. "Some information is too precious to give up easily, and I had plenty of it." I lifted the back of my shirt slightly so he could see some of the scars. "I won't lie. It hurt many times worse than anything I'd been through before or to date. Somehow though, I managed to keep my mouth shut."

"What was so important that you needed to be whipped?"

"No one else knew of jutsu in that country. The fact that we had created a dimension that took them 20 years to locate, and another 5 to fully infiltrate, was mind numbing to them. They didn't see how it was possible. They called it witch craft, devil work, and many other names. In the end though, they all wanted to know how it was done."

He glared at the floor, almost as Sasuke was like to do. I swear if he kept it up the thing would burst into flames.

"Can I continue?" He nodded and looked back up at me. "They whipped me, yes. I never gave them any information, not even my name. Eventually they grew to see it was useless. The gathered up all the other prisoners they had deemed the same and we were loaded onto a boat. Few of us knew how to work a boat, but enough did that we learned quickly. We never expected to make landfall, but we continued to head westward. There were fisherman and men who could get fresh water from the sea somehow, so we survived. I don't really like fish anymore, no matter what you do to it, but we survived, until we landed here.

"We managed to completely bypass the land of water upon coming to these lands. We made landfall in the land of hot water. No one knew where we were, so I was nominated to look around at our surroundings.

"I walked slowly into a village in the unknown land. The architecture was completely different than I was used to, so I looked around in awe. I heard voices, but I couldn't make out any words that made sense. I went to the side of the street and began to listen to conversations, though it was obvious they spoke a completely different language. By listening to vendors or ladies chatting as they walked along I began to pick up the meaning of a few words. It would take work, like the tounge of the ancients had, but I would learn the language.

"I returned to the ship and related all I had learned to the people aboard. They were shocked at the news I brought, but slowly we all disembarked. We made our way through the forest slowly, warily. When the village came into sight, there was a chatter amongst us noting the differences from where we had come from.

"I helped in getting the others settled into homes throughout the countries. I soon became fluent in the language myself. Eventually I ended up in the Land of Keys,  Jomae Village no less. I showed them the skills I had gained from Lavonia and they let me into their fold. I became a ninja there, and continued to train.

"On a mission near the Land of Iron, I wandered into the country on my own. The samurai, though wary at first, taught me how to use my katana. I returned to Jomae Village two years later. I became a valued member of their genin, but I always refused to go to the chunin exams. When I left on a solo mission to *ahem* gather information on Konoha, I passed out. I awoke in that clearing, and you know the rest."

"You didn't go as in depth near the end. Why do I feel like you're hiding something from me still?" Shika accused me blantently.

I sighed a little, "because I am..."

"Tell me."

"No."

"Tell me."

"No!"

Shika stood over me menacingly, "Tell me."

"N-ah!" I struggled as I was suddenly lifted off my feet. Shika had picked me up and was walking out of my house. "Stupid pineapple! Let me down!" I started pounding on his back half-heartedly.

"Will you tell me?" I remained silent. "Troublesome woman."

We entered the forest and soon came upon a lake. "You wouldn't dare." I tried to turn and see his face, but it was an attempt doomed to failure.

"Try me." His tone was dead serious. "Now will you tell me?"

"Er-ah... no?" I screamed as he hefted me off his shoulder and I was tossed into the water.

I rose to the surface, only letting my eyes break the water in a glare at him. "Can't believe I did that. What a pain. Will you tell me now?" He looked at me from where he sat on the grass.

In response I raised my face above water level and shot the water in my mouth at him. It hit him dead in the eye. He sat shocked for a moment, before it actually hit him that I had done that. By the time he moved I had dove back under the water. I saw him walk on top of the water overhead, searching for me. I swam up behind him and grabbed his ankles. I quickly pulled and he ended up in the water with me.

We both broke the water, me laughing hysterically. Even though he tried to stay mad, he ended up chuckling at the situation as well. We climbed out of the lake and rested on the shore.

"Tell me?" He asked again.

"Alright." He turned his head towards me as I spoke, "I have a kekkei genkei of sorts. I can, to some extent, time travel."

"What?" His eyes widened.

"You heard. My family was the last to be able, and though we didn't really know of chakra, we had the kekkei genkei. It seems my ancestors came from this continent ages ago, and we lived over there ever since. Recently, it came to my attention thanks to my sensei for the chunin exams. Turns out my whole life has been ruled and chosen by my descendants and ancestors."

"Time travel in what way? Give me specifics." Shika looked completely interested.

"Pushy pineapple. Fine. I can travel mentally through time. One day in my current time, now, will be equal to a year in another time. While in that time I'm visible to them and they treat me like any other human. When I come back, all memory of me is lost from them. I can also call events to the present, so long as they land on the same day of the year. For example, I could call back an event that happened one year ago exactly, the months have to match, days, it goes down to the second actually."

"How is that possible?"

"Time is just an illusion. What you see as an hour another could see as mere moments depending on the situation. What you see as a day, I can see as a year in another time."

There was a silence for a while as we lay there side by side. Neither of us minded though, it was nice to just sit and watch the clouds.

"Are you ready for the chunnin exams tomorrow then?" He looked over at me.

"Been training for it more years than I've been alive." He smiled at the inside joke we now shared.

He sat up on an elbow, "What techniques have you been able to learn in your time?"

I barked a short laugh of sorts, "Any that I could. I actually learned partical style for three days, turns out I have the kekkei touta as well. Drains my chakra too much to be of use though."

He looked at me oddly before sitting up. He proffered a hand and I just looked at it. "It's dinnertime, cook for me."

"Noooooo!" I whined jokingly.

"Troublesome woman." He picked me up over his shoulder.

"Pushy pineapple." I flicked the back of his head and he dropped me. We walked together back to my house. When we got there we were tackled by three little demons.

Happily, we ate dinner. Shika left soon after, saying something about being gone from home all day. I hope his mother's not too mad. I watched the three kids train as I thought about the match that would be coming up tomorrow. A knot of worry filled my stomach, but I pushed it away. I could, hopefully, more than handle my opponents now.

Dedicated to AllyHatake, for being an awesome supporter and friend ^-^