Lovelyanime: Hi, long time no see. Sorry for taking forever with this update. I've been going through a lot in life and been more focused on getting better at drawing. I've given pretty much everything a time out in my life throughout the year. I guess that included my stories. I've been more focused on deviantart too, trying to get better at drawing. Ever since the beginning of summer I've been getting a lot of messages asking me if I'm going to finish 'this' or 'that.' Because of everyone I'm going to try to come back and write. I'll try to update and post some stuff up. Anyway, this chapter has reached an important spot in the story. I hope you enjoy.

11-30-10

Chapter 6- The Secrets of Love

Sasuke was taking Sarina home in silence. Neither one of them spoke. Sasuke would've been pleased of the peace and quiet, except that he couldn't get over what just happened. Never before has he thought Sakura would ever do something like that just so he will go out with her. Honestly though, he still didn't want to go out with her. Trying to make him jealous? Did she seriously think that was going to work?

He glanced at Sarina she was awfully upset by the look on her face. He wanted to ask what the matter was, but thought otherwise. It was none of his business to ask what was wrong. It bugged him not to ask; she looked so down and wasn't speaking to him at all. He was used to her smiling and all the weird things she would say.

"You know…" The Uchiha spoke. Sarina didn't look up at him nor say anything in return. He decided just to continue on anyway. "Sakura isn't like that. There was something going on with her."

"Yeah, I'm sure it has nothing of treating her like shit since you were in the academy."

Sasuke gave her a glare. "Excuse me?"

Sarina sighed. "Nothing, nothing at all. It's just that people should seriously consider other people's feelings. You never know how it may affect them in the future. One small act can leave a large scar on a person."

"So you're trying to tell me this is my entire fault? I didn't force her to do something like this."

"True, but she held so much tension after trying to get you to like her the way she wants you to that it just exploded all at once. It's like someone having a horrible day then finally unleashing it on someone before the day is over. Sakura may be strong, but she has held in her feelings for you for many years-"

"Alright already, I get your point. Don't need to say anymore."

"Sasuke-san..."

Sasuke gave out a grunt. "Yeah?"

"I know there's no one that catches your eye, but there's no need to treat them like they're beneath you. The least you can do is let them go gently instead of a harsh way like you do it."

"Whatever. Why the hell do you have to try to teach me a lesson everyday? It's pointless so you might as well shut your mouth."

Sarina looked up at Sasuke for a moment. She then hung her head low with a small 'sorry.' Sasuke became irritated by this, but said nothing to make it better. He just wanted to hurry home and head for bed already. It was a long day and he wished nothing more at that moment to make it end already. Sarina will get over this soon enough so he has nothing to worry about.

Meanwhile…

Sai and Ino sat next to each other on a blanket that was laid across the large field of grass. It was quiet between the two as they ate. Ino was busy thinking about what happened. She wanted to let it go and move on knowing that the three of them will solve things. Still it nagged at her to no end. Meanwhile, Sai couldn't help but to wonder about something. He couldn't let the feeling go, but he felt that Ino may still like Sasuke. The way she looked at him when they spotted him with Sarina. She was so eager to follow them into the forest just because she wanted to find out what was going on. Was she eager to find some gossip? Was it that it was an insane idea that Sasuke was with a girl at night? Or was it because she wanted to know because she was jealous? Sai was really starting to question if she was really over the Uchiha.

"Ino," Sai started.

Ino stop taking bites out of her food and put her attention on the young man next to her. "What is it?"

Sai didn't look at her. He stared off into the depths of the trees that were far off from them. "Do you still care for him?"

"Still care for whom?"

"Sasuke."

She was a bit set back by this. "Wh-why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

"Well it's just that you've liked him ever since you were in the academy together. Why the sudden change? Why are you going out with me?" He moved his head and looked deep into her eyes for an answer.

"I-I…" She looked away. How could she tell him that Sarina told her that she should go out with some guy that draws and makes fun of a man's size? It was pretty stupid to have listened to a stranger which made her wonder how he would react. She didn't want him to make fun of her for it. She actually cared what he thought of her unlike some of her friends like Sakura. So she decided instead of telling the truth she should lie about it. "It's just I've felt something for you ever since we first met. It grew kind of…I don't know, grew stronger than how I feel for Sasuke-kun." She looked up at him with loving eyes. "Does it really matter how I felt for him? I don't think I could've been any happier with him like I am with you tonight."

They stared into each other's eyes. Neither one of them spoke as Ino leaned in close for a soft warm kiss. They closed their eyes so they may savor the moment when their lips touch one another. This was the best part of their date so far. It wasn't long before the two separated and pressed their foreheads together with the feel of the kiss still on their lips. They both shared love in each other's stare. A cold breeze passed by making the young blue eyed girl cold. Ino snuggled closer to Sai for warmth and even fed him the last few bites of their late dinner. He smiled at her with his arms now wrapped around her.

Even with this moment, that may be his most treasured memory of all time, the thought still lingered in the back of his mind.

Why is she with me?

A few days later…

"I don't believe this…" Kiba said as he watched in amazement, along with Chouji, Shino, and Naruto.

"How the hell is he doing that?" Chouji wondered out loud. "He's never been able to get one! Now look at him!"

They all sat in a diner finishing their lunch while they watch Lee get three girls' phone numbers. "This seems a bit strange to me. Doesn't he like Sakura?" Naruto said before putting a load of ramen into his mouth.

"Apparently not anymore," Shino said as he too watched the scene.

The guys continued to watch through the window until the girls said their goodbyes to Lee and left. He had a proud look upon his face after his great victory of containing the numbers. He walked into the diner where he was greeted his friends

"Lee! Over here!" Kiba yelled for the older shinobi's attention. Lee came over to them and grabbed a seat from a nearby table and dragged it over to their table. He sat down on it with a relaxing sigh. "Dude, tell us everything."

"Excuse me?" Lee didn't quite get what Kiba was getting at.

Chouji stepped in and spoke. "How did you get all those phone numbers?"

"Oh that? I just talked to them and kept telling them how beautiful their youth is as it shines in spring. They seemed to like it."

"What about Sakura?" Kiba asked. "Don't you like her anymore?"

Lee looked away from his friends with a sad smile on his face. "No, I've given up on her and decided to pay for my time I wasted on her by going out with other women. So far I've been on at least five dates a day, spending little hours on them like little walks, while I still have time for my training." He gave them all a grin. "I've already been on two dates today and I'm here for my third one. Speaking of which…" He looked around the diner with worry. "She's kind of late. I hope she didn't see what happened outside." Everyone stared at him with wide eyes; not including Shino who only has his eyebrows raised high. Naruto even stopped eating, with noodles still hanging from his mouth. No one spoke, they were all completely quiet. Lee noticed this and put his attention back onto them. "Is something the matter?"

"Oh my kami…" Chouji started. "Lee, y-you-"

Kiba stood from his seat and pounded his fists on the table. "Since when the hell have you become a playboy?"

Lee gave him an odd look. "Did you just say playboy?"

Naruto swallowed his food and decided to speak. "This isn't like you at all Lee. I get it; you don't like Sakura anymore, but to go on dates with several different women at a time?"

"I know, but for some reason I can't help it. It's like after I realized Sakura and I will never happen, I just want to make up some time by romancing other girls. I should use my youthful looks while I still have them. Why waste it on only one person? Especially when they do not return my feelings?"

For some reason Naruto didn't like this one bit. It wasn't the fact that Lee was going to hurt a bunch of women by cheating on them. It was more like something was misplaced. He was just too much out of character. He thought maybe he should talk to his friend in private another time.

"Oh Lee-kun!" A girl wrapped her arms around his neck from behind. "I'm sorry I didn't get here on time, I was just finishing up my training with my teammates." The girl had bright red eyes and had tan colored hair in a long pony tail.

Lee turned his head slight to the left so he was able to kiss the girl on the cheek. "I don't mind at all, although I was a bit worried." He stood up from his seat and eyed the girl. "You're looking more beautiful than ever Ami-chan!" He took a hold of her hand and kissed it gently. "I do not deserve to be in the presence of such beauty that is greater than the springtime of youth."

The girl giggled and blushed. "Oh Lee-kun, you're such a sweet talker."

Lee gave his friends one last smile. "If you excuse me, I'm going to start my date now." With that said, he left his friends with his current date.

"I don't believe this." Kiba said as he and everyone else watched their friend go to another table. "How the hell is he able to get the girls like that? I'm lucky if I get one every 5 months!"

Chouji grinned. "Maybe because you smell like dogs and only take showers every five months."

"No I don't! I take them every two weeks!"

"…That's still pretty bad…"

Naruto scrunched up his nose with disgust from the conversation. "So it's been you that's smelled around here? I thought it was just the food in this place."

Kiba grew red with frustration. "Can we stop talking about my hygiene and go back to Lee?"

Just as Naruto was about to say something, Shizune came walking in. She approached Naruto all the while watching Lee swoon a girl off her feet. "Since when has Lee… Never mind." She shook her head and turned to the others. "Naruto, Where is Sarina? Tsunade-sama wants to see her right away."

"She's with Sasuke walking around town. Is something the matter?" Naruto said, not understanding how she knew how he was there. He wanted to ask until she said Sarina's name.

"It's nothing urgent. At least, I hope it's not…

"Can I go get her for you at least? We're supposed to meet someplace down the street in five minutes for my turn to guard her."

"Well, I do need to hurry back to the hospital for some paperwork so I'm sure Tsunade-sama won't mind if you bring her."

"Great." Naruto took one last gulp of the broth in the bowl before standing up. "I'll see you guys another time." So he left the restaurant with Shizune as she walked beside him. "So why does baa-chan want to see Sarina-nee-san? I know it's not urgent, I really want to know."

"It's a private matter. I've been forbidden to tell anyone."

"Come on, you can tell me. Sasuke and I have been taking care of her so she's our responsibility. Besides, I'm sure I'll just find out anyway through Sarina-nee-san."

Shizune wasn't so sure Sarina would, she had no clue how strong willed the girl is against him. What she definitely knew for sure was that Naruto won't give up finding out. So with a sigh she decided that she might as well. "Fine, I'll tell you all that I've been told, but remember to keep your mouth shut. Now, it seems that most of the women in Konoha are refusing to go on missions for 'personal' reasons. It is also happening for some of the men around here, but the women are just so much worse. They keep crying or just seem so irritated and make up stories of how they just can't do it right now."

"Seriously? What does any of that have to do with Sarina-nee-san?"

"I have no idea, but apparently Tsunade-sama seems to think she's connected somehow."

"Weird…What kind of 'personal reasons' could it be? Can it be PMS or something? That's what it sounds like to me."

Shizune had a sweat drop on the back of her head from hearing this. "I doubt that since the men are doing the same thing."

"Oh yeah… Well thanks for telling me." Naruto gave a foxy grin. "Now I'll just get the rest of the information from Sarina-nee-san."

Shizune just shook her head at this. "Well good luck with that. I'm going to go to the hospital now. Try to behave yourself when you see Tsunade. With all of this happening right now she's in an awful mood."

"Fine, but you can't blame me if I accidently slip up."

She gave him a glare, with a serious tone in her voice. "Oh yes I can. Say anything to upset her and I will send you off to the worse missions I can find for the next two months." With that said, they made it to the spot where Naruto was supposed to meet Sasuke at. Shizune gave Naruto a goodbye and left.

Meanwhile…

Ino stared into space as she stood at the counter of her family's flower shop. She was in deep thought about the incident that happened a few days ago. It was so strange to her seeing Sakura like that. It just didn't seem to fit her to do something like that at all. Ino went to see her everyday, but she wasn't doing very well at all.

"Man, I have to do something to help her…" Ino sighed as she remembered her last visit just a couple hours ago.

Flashback

Ino sat at the edge of the bed as Sakura was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest, covering her nose and lips. She sat on the bed as she was leaning towards the wall. Her eyes were so red and swollen from all the crying she had been doing for the last few days. Her hair was a mess like she hadn't bothered to wash or brush it. She was wearing the same pair of pajamas she had on from everyday so far. It was dirty with food stains from what little she had been eating.

"Come on Sakura, you have to go to work at the hospital." Ino said with pleading eyes. "Shizune said if you don't go in within the week then you may get fired." Sakura said nothing. She only stared down at her bed with a blank expression. With no response Ino just sighed. "At least come out to lunch with me later so you can eat and have some fresh air." She only received silence once again. "I really have to get back to the shop, so come and see me when you can." With that she stood. She walked over to the door and had just touched the knob when Sakura finally spoke.

"Aren't you curious?" She said, making Ino turn around. Sakura was still looking at the bed, not even once looking at her friend. "You saw what happened; don't you want to know why I did it?"

Ino walked back and sat on the bed again. "I don't care about that. All I care about knowing that you're going to be ok."

This made Sakura finally look at her. "Liar."

"What?"

"I know you to well. You love watching people, as if their lives are some soap opera. You love seeing how much your life is and always will be better than theirs. You're just here because you want more depth into this little 'incident' between my teammates and I."

"Sakura, that's absolutely not true! You're my best friend! I would never-"

"Yes you would." More tears were threatening to appear. "Why else would you be there? Hiding as you just watched us like we were some show?"

Ino said nothing. It was true. She shouldn't have done that. She should've just continued on with her date.

"You know the funny thing is though? I don't even know why I did it."

"WH-what do you mean?" Ino was afraid to ask, but that didn't make any sense to her.

"I mean I didn't mean to do it. It was like, I don't know, something deep inside me took over. I knew what I was doing, but something was pushing me to keep going. I guess you could say it was an, 'out of body experience.'"

"Sakura…" Ino brought a hand to touch her friend's shoulder. Before she could, her friend gave her a deathly glare.

"Now that you know, you don't need to be coming back anymore. Now leave me alone."

Ino protested to stay and asked more questions about what she meant with all of that. She didn't get another out of her pink haired friend so she did what she was told.

END OF FLASHBACK

Ino stood there, afraid of what Sakura may do to herself if she keeps acting this way. She was not used to this kind of Sakura. She was so used to the cheery, hot tempered, enthusiastic pink haired friend of hers.

"Do I really like watching others in pain like that?" She thought out loud, remembering all the times she watched people break up with their boyfriend/girlfriend, all the rumors she liked to listen to, the way she felt of how lucky her life wasn't like someone else's. "And what did she mean when she said she didn't mean to do all of that stuff? How could someone not mean to do something like that when clearly it had a lot of thought into the matter? Wasn't able to stop herself at anytime?"

She couldn't answer her own questions when she heard the bell at the door jingle. She looked over at who it was and smiled at the person. "Sai! What brings you here?"

"Hello beautiful," he said casually as he leaned against the counter and touched her cheek softly. He read more books about making a woman fall in love with a man and this small gesture was one of the acts. "I was just letting you know that we're going on another date tonight. This time I'll be deciding what to do." He also read about how some women loved some dominance. He didn't know how much Ino would like of that so he decided to do it gently with where he wanted to go on a date.

Ino blushed at this. She was full aware of what he was trying to do. She decided just this once she will let him feel like he knows what he's doing. "I guess that sounds good. What time?"

"Not sure. I have some errands to run so I guess whenever I come and pick you up?"

"Hm…I guess that'll be ok. Just don't finish early. I want some time to get ready."

"Alright, I'll see you later." He leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.

To their dismay, that may have been the final kiss they will share together…

Meanwhile…

Naruto was with Sarina in Tsunade's office. He, being the hard headed ninja that he was, kept refusing to leave until he knew what was going on. He could tell from looking at Tsunade that Shizune was right. The hokage looked like she was about to murder the next shinobi that told her they weren't going to be able to go on a mission. She was surrounded by piles of paperwork from the past couple of days. Sasuke was in the room as well, trying to make Naruto to leave with him. The only reason he came was because Naruto got over excited about the emergency and said he should come with them.

"I don't have any time for this." Tsunade gritted her teeth, trying hard not to get up to pound the boy until he was unconscious. "You can stay, but once you hear everything, you have to swear that you may never say a word about this to anyone. This might as well be an S-Ranked mission. Sasuke, you may stay if you wish. If anything I believe you both might have to escort Sarina here out of the village."

Sarina gave a shocked look. "Wh-what do you mean? I haven't finished my business here. I have to stay!"

"Then I expect you to explain everything to me. Why is all my shinobis having love problems?"

Naruto laughed at this. "Wow, really? That's why nobody is listening to you? I don't see what Sarina-nee-san has to do with any of this." Naruto continued you laugh while Sarina looked at him with worried eyes. "You…You really don't have anything to do with this, right?"

"I believe she is Naruto." Tsunade said. "You see, Sarina here has a powerful bloodline that is so forbidden, all of her family has to keep it hidden."

This got Sasuke's attention. He walked over from the door and stood next to Sarina. "What kind of bloodline?" The poor girl started to squirm with him next to her.

"Do you wish to tell them or would you like me to do it?" Tsunade asked the young woman, who seemed to feel uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"Y-you may tell them." Sarina replied, wishing that she may somehow escape. Sasuke was now blocking her one way of getting out of there.

"Fine, have it your way. You see, she has the Akai umei eyes. She is able to see who are destined to fall in love with each other just by one glance at someone's pinky."

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't know how you find that powerful, but to me that doesn't even sound real or even has a purpose." Sasuke turned to leave, his interest gone like a puff of smoke.

"Oh, you are most defiantly wrong." As easily as it had left, Sasuke became interested once again. "For you see, she can do so many things with someone's string. Say for instant…" Tsunade intensively stared at Sarina. "Cutting them up."

"I would never do that!" Sarina yelled.

"Oh really? So you expect me to believe that some other person with that kind of bloodline shows up conveniently just around the time you do? I think not!" Tsunade fired back. "There have been reports of rape, suicide attempts have sky rocketed, people just crying in their beds all day…This is only three out of the top ten problems from these stupid reports."

"I'm telling you it's not my fault!"

Naruto decided to speak up. "So you're saying Sarina-nee-san has been cutting up these strings?"

"Naruto-kun…I-it's not that easy." Sarina stared down at the ground. "The string has to be very vulnerable…"

Tsunade gave her a hard look. "Even if you didn't cut them up, you are able to restore them, right?"

"If they haven't killed themselves, then yes. And with the loves of the people that died, I can tie their strings to others without strings."

"Fine, I will give you a list of people to see." The blonde hokage handed her a piece of paper she had already written. Sarina took it, with fear all across her face. Tsunade gave a large sigh. There was no way a girl like this would have done this when she seem to obviously know the punishment. "Listen, I know I'm sounding hard on you, but this can look like a weak moment for enemies. Like I told you when you first got here, I have people watching you. But I don't know if they have been doing their job or not, specially because some of them that have been following your trail are now unable to work with some personal reasons."

Sarina gave one last scared little look, before trying to cover it up in front of Sasuke and Naruto. "I understand." With that, Tsunade allowed them to leave. They left in silence, the boys right behind Sarina as she looked at the list of names with addresses. They followed her in silence as she led them to the village streets. "Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san, have you two noticed anyone watching us since I've been here?"

Naruto shook his head. "I'm always getting stares from villagers so I pretty much don't bother to pay attention."

"I see… What about you Sasuke-san?"

Sasuke said nothing. He hadn't paid attention to anything except for Sarina ever since he met her. It was hard to focus with her talking and pulling him everywhere they go. He didn't want to say so, so instead he changed the subject. "Who cares about that right now, I still don't feel like I'm getting the whole story here."

Sarina looked at him with sad eyes, but soon turned away. "I might as well tell the both of you. It's a bit of a long story, so is it ok if we talk about it on our way to the first house?"

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged each other looks. This was not Sarina's normal attitude so they knew this had to be something terribly serious.

"I guess…I'll start from the beginning." She breathed in deeply, preparing herself to tell a story she had always kept hidden from others all her life. "It is said a long time ago, my great ancestors met Yue Xia Loa Ren one night. Everyone says they thought he was a simple traveler, but the rest of that story is a bit blurry. Some believe they let him into their homes and gave much hospitality towards him, some other just think they gave him a snack for the road. Another story is that they helped him with some nightly errands that he desperately needed done. Or the one I believe is that they found and returned his 'Book of Fate' he had had accidently misplaced somewhere. Whatever the reason, he was very grateful. So much so, that he thought they might enjoy seeing the love that surrounded them. They were unsure of what he had meant by this until the next morning when he was gone and…" She put a hand onto her right temple. "They all had red eyes."

Naruto gave a confused look. "I don't understand… Who is this Yue Xia Loa?"

"He is 'the man under the moonlight,' or most importantly he is the matchmaker god." Sarina told Naruto as they approached the first house.

Sasuke knocked on the door. Minutes passed before a depressed looking woman opened the door. In her hand she held a kunai. "How may I help you?" She said with an emotionless voice. "Whatever it is, please make it quick. I was ready to do something."

Naruto and Sasuke both thought they arrived just in time while Sarina moved quickly and grabbed the woman's hand. Before the woman could do, or say anything, Sarina made some hand motion. It looked like she was tying some sort of invisible string.

"All done." Sarina bowed to the woman. "Thank you for your time." And with that, she turned around and left with Sasuke and Naruto right behind her. Naruto looked behind them as the left to see the woman watch them leave with emotionless eyes.

"Are you sure you helped her? She still looks the same. Shouldn't she be happier or something?" Naruto asked.

Sarina shook her head as she read the next address on the paper. "No, it will take some time. Not everything is fixed in just one day. She will need some time."

"How much time?"

"Depends on how strong their will is. Might take a few seconds, a couple of hours, or even a couple of days. Now that her string is reconnected she won't kill herself or anything. She will be back to her old routine; she just now has a deep scar that won't heal, even when she meets her true love."

"I see… So what else can you tell us?"

"You still want to know more?" Sarina was a little taken back. She always wondered how people would feel about her bloodline. From the stories of her family being banned in many places she thought it would always end badly. "I thought you might just want to know the beginning of how we received it."

"I want to know everything! This sounds like an awesome bloodline to have!"

She looked over at Sasuke who didn't seem to change much from what she had told them already. "Do you want to as well?"

"I guess…" Sasuke only muttered. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away. He didn't want to show it, but this really got to him as well.

"Um, ok then…" She looked down at the ground in thought. "Let's see… After they discovered what their eyes can do, they started sharing their ability. They told everyone who they would end up with, who wasn't right for them, who didn't even have a string."

"Who didn't have a string?" Naruto asked.

Sarina nodded her head. "There are some people that will never find love. Of course, unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Well you see my family found many ways to do more than see the strings. Not to long after receiving the eyes, they found they can cut them up and reconnect them. They could even try someone's string to someone who didn't have one. This caused trouble throughout the region. Fights, even wars would start over a simple woman. Suicides were in almost every home. People not acting like themselves… Not even a year passed before they gathered my family together to try to stop this all from happening. Everyone wanted to kill them, but legend goes that Yue Xia Loa saved them. He convinced everyone to let my family live. But there were rules made. First, we may never tell anyone who their true love is. Second, never cut a string. Third, never reconnect that string to a different person to whom it doesn't belong to. Fourth, never mention of the bloodline to anyone. The only people that may know are leaders across every nation. Fifth, if we were to stay in a location, we must tell the leader of a nation who we are so they know we will not do anything wrong."

"Seriously? That's insane."

"You would think. But after many generations, most of the people don't listen to the rules. For you see, they become fortune tellers, because when you touch someone's string you may see their whole life. From the time they were born, up to when they die. This is because we see what their life happens in reaching to the moment they meet their love to the day they leave them when they die. So someone may ask us anything and we will give them an answer, even if it isn't about love. Also, there are people with high positions in society where they have someone with my bloodline to work for them. They have us make sure their wives love them enough so they do not cheat with other men. They may even have them cut up a woman's string and put it onto theirs so they will immediately fall in love with them. And once the person is done with that woman, he gets her string cut off and moves on with another woman. This way he can have as many affairs as he pleases with the hassle of feelings."

"But wouldn't that mean he would fall in love as well?"

"No, because you see we can manipulate the strings. We can have it that a man can love a woman so little, while the woman will show so much undying devotion to him. This way when he doesn't have much love, he can still go and have sex with other women."

Sasuke decided to speak up. "So you're saying that when there's a woman a man wants, but she's too hard to get into her pants, he uses one of your people?"

Sarina giggled from hearing Sasuke saying 'get into her pants.' "Hai, that is exactly it." Her mood quickly changed as a thought occurred to her. "Besides fortunetelling and working for high business men, we are also…Sold into the black market."

This certainly caught Naruto's, mostly Sasuke's, attention.

"Some of us do try to do well and stay hidden, but there are still people that were told stories about us. So when they see our eyes they try to kidnap us and taken for their own use."

"So that's why you wanted some bodyguards." Naruto realized.

"There were people from the desert that tried to take me when I tried to come to Konoha on my own. Luckily Temari-chan was there to save me. She took me back to her home and I quickly asked for some shinobis to escort me over here."

"So I guess there are some downsides to your bloodline, huh?"

"Yes, but there is one that gets to all of us… We are unable to see or touch our own strings." Sasuke showed some surprised emotion, but he quickly hid it. Naruto on the other hand was confused.

"That makes no sense though. How can you not see your own when you can see everyone else's?"

"It's part of the downfall to the bloodline. It is said that Yue Xia Loa didn't want us to rush into our own marriages, so he keeps all of our family strings hidden. During the second great ninja war, there was a jutsu made that allows us to see. The problem is, not many of us are able to use the jutsu. Because we are not trained like ninjas, we don't know how to use our chakra like you can. Many of my family train hard to become a shinobi. The problem is, even when they do become one, it is still very hard to use. I have tried to use the jutsu myself, even though I do lack the experience with the training you have gone through. I have succeeded in doing it. Plenty of times actually, but it only lasts for a few seconds. I have been trying to find where it might lead, yet still I can't find where it is connected to."

"Why are you trying so hard?"

Sarina looked at Naruto with sad eyes. "You should know more than anyone else how it feels to be alone." Just as the blonde was about to say something reassuring, Sarina gave him a smile. "But it's ok now. I've finally found him."

Sasuke all of a sudden was feeling a bit uncomfortable about the whole thing. He remembered the day where he thought he was saving her from Kiba. Later when he was angry at her she told him about a man she bumped into had a string on his pinky. She was so overjoyed about it. It made him think that perhaps it was her string connected to his. That didn't make sense to him. Sarina had said her family can only see their strings through a jutsu. He didn't see her use her do anything, but talk to the man. He never saw her perform a jutsu. How else was she able to see?

During this time, Naruto was thinking to himself as well. He wondered if the reason Sarina helped him so much with Hinata was because she was his soul mate.

'Soul mate?' Naruto blushed at the word. He never before thought he would be thinking of it.

Naruto thought back to when Sarina said how it felt to be alone. Did she really see his whole life? Then that meant she knew of his demon. "Sarina-nee-san?"

"Hai?" She responded.

"You looked at my string, didn't you?"

Sarina froze when he asked her this. She should've known this was going to come up. With a deep breath she responded. "I only looked at the time you were born up to the moment I met you. I saw who your true love is, but I didn't go any deeper into it. I don't like looking into another person's future. I have only done it once and it didn't feel right. I didn't like the feeling of knowing how someone lives to how they die."

"I see…So you know about the kyuubi then?"

Sarina nodded head. "I have seen how hard you had to overcome everything and how you are nothing like him." She smiled. Naruto was amazed that she accepted him from the first time meeting her even though she knew his darkest secret.

"Besides that though, I just have to know something… Is it Hinata-chan?" There was nothing said. He wanted for her to say something, but she didn't. "Come on, it's pretty obvious now. I mean, you did help me out a lot, like with the bentos."

"She is the one." She finally spoke. "That's why you should treat her well."

"Right… Hey, if it's ok with you guys, is it ok if I go?"

"I wouldn't mind, but why all of a sudden?" Sarina poked Naruto's side with her elbow as she giggled. "Going to see a special someone"

"Uh, yeah…" The blonde rubbed the back of his head, clearly embarrassed. Now that he knew Hinata was his love, it made him feel awkward.

Sasuke gave out a large sigh. "It's your turn to be on guard, but I guess if you have her tomorrow I won't mind staying with her."

Naruto grinned at them both. "Thanks! I'll see you tomorrow guys tomorrow!" With that, he ran away to the other direction. They watched him until he turned around a corner.

"So…" Sasuke started. "Tell me more about who this guy that's supposedly the love of your life?"

Sarina giggled. "Why? Are you jealous it might not be you?"

"Of course not, it's just that… With all of these things going on here, how do you know you're not a victim as well?"

"I doubt that is possible. My family members cannot see or touch one another's string. If there really is another person here, it is impossible for them to do anything with my string."

"Right, I guess you think that guy you ran into is him?"

This got the girl blushing. "What makes you automatically think it's him?"

"The way you acted after meeting him." Sasuke looked away, an unfamiliar feeling inside him. "It just struck a cord in me. You always smile, but after seeing him that smile was different."

"Oh…I see…" She wasn't sure of what to think of this. She felt embarrassed for having him notice her on cloud 9. She felt weird that it was him that she let see it. There was something else that she was feeling, but couldn't understand. Was it guilt? But why? She wondered if it was because it was because she was happy to see her true love while Sasuke won't ever have anyone.

"Wait a second…" Sarina stopped walking.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

She didn't respond. She was busy thinking of what had just occurred to her. There were people that had killed themselves, so that would give opportunities to connect someone's string to Sasuke's. Although she wished she didn't have to mess with someone's destiny, she just couldn't stand thinking of Sasuke being by himself forever. She had been with Sasuke for all of her stay in Konoha. He was truly a wonderful person to be with, even if he has something so demonic about him. If someone loved him, then maybe he can become happy.

"Quit dazing off like that."

Sarina was pulled out of her little thoughts as Sasuke grabbed her arm and pulled her to look at him. She looked more carefully than she usually would at his features. He glared at her with his beautiful onyx eyes. His skin was so very pale. He was scar less, even for a shinobi as himself. A blush was coming across her cheeks so she looked down at his muscled chest. She could see clearly well why a lot of girls came to fall head over heels for him. His hand was still tightly on her, but was not tight to hurt her. She was somewhat confused. Despite how much he hated people touching him, he was holding onto her arm. Was he that annoyed from being ignored?

"I-I'm sorry, I was just thinking of something…" She bit her tongue. She didn't mean to stutter like that.

"Well stop, we don't have time for you to stop like that. We have to finish the list." Sasuke let go of her arm. "I think you should get on my back."

"What?"

"If you get on my back and I can carry you, which will make things quicker."

"Oh, that's a wonderful idea Sasuke-san!" She beamed brightly as she prepared herself to get onto his back.

"You have to hold on tight." Sasuke lifted her up and got her to get comfortable. He could feel the warmth of her body on his, giving an odd feeling. Unknowing him, Sarina was also feeling the same way.

She rested her head on his back with her arms wrapped around his neck. 'Why?' She wondered. 'Why am I feeling this way towards him? I don't understand…'

Sasuke leaped off, jumping onto a rooftop and then to another. He was fully aware now, more than ever, destiny was not set in stone. After hearing Sarina story, he knew whatever comes was fully up to her.

End of Chapter

Lovelyanime: Glad that's finished. I worked really hard on Sarina's bloodline. I tried to think of how it would be in real life. Like how people get divorces and remarry, it can because their string is cut. The reason whey someone will cheat one someone is because the weight of the string is shifted a bit. I will add more to what kind of abilities she will have. Red string of fate is one of my favorite Chinese stories. I really enjoy it and I'm proud I was able to put so much effort into Sarina's bloodline. Also, sorry for the lack of naruhina in this chapter. I wanted to put some to the ending, but I don't want to make the chapter to long. I just pretty much wanted to focus on Sarina's background. That's all for now, I'll see everyone next time.

Hinata: Please Review.