"Can we stop to rest?" Sasuke whined, his legs already beginning to ache from walking and supporting weight, "My feet hurt."

"Wuss," commented Millie, looking back at him with a blank expression on her face, "You're a man, you should be able to take it, quit whining!"

"But..." it was a lost case, the Highlander merely turned around, ignoring his protests completely, and continued to trudge onwards through the undergrowth. No longer was she wearing the dark-light blue dress she had on when he first met her in the holding cell, instead it was a red-black-blue fabric, multi-folded and very revealing around the legs ninja garment, not much unlike the chosen attire of Kasumi.

Millie had found the outfit greatly discomforting, the exposure of the legs made her feel cold, vunerable and exposed, especially up in the mountain country between Banner Villiage and the infamous Toran Republic. However, to her delight and pleasure, it had a stunning effect on Sasuke and allowed her to manipulate him into servitude. Sasuke, once aware of the ploy used against him, was far from happy, although the envisionment of two slender lightly-tanned legs exposed before him kept his mind, for the most part, duly occupied.

Several hours they walked, up hill and down, through branch, brough and wood, seeing nothing of their goal and no symbol that it was to be found. "Millie," Sasuke dared inquire, "Where are we?"

"Looking for Bonaparte," she replied, not even turning to look at him, more interested in the foliage before her.

"Yes, I know that but... where are we?"

"Somewhere."

"Do you have any idea where?"

"No," the honest answer slapped Sasuke hard in the face, nearly as hard as Millie could have done physically. He was too shocked to answer and too tired to move forward. Standing, his legs quivering and his boots covered in brown mud, the boy-ninja heaved a sigh and rocked back and forth on his heels, desperately trying to balance himself with the weight of Millie's two large bags and his own small duffel.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Millie yelped, finally turning to view him. She wasn't ready to stop yet, not now! Sure, so it was getting dark but what if Bonaparte was just a few steps ahead, what if...

"I'm resting, I'm tired, I'm hungry, I want to stop here, I want to set up camp, I don't want to move till the morning," the disobediant Sasuke replied, setting himself down slowly unto a grassy gnoll, "I'm not moving."

"WHAT?!" Millie shrieked, glaring at Sasuke for his bad-dog tactic, "We WILL keep moving!"

"It's getting dark!!"

"I DON'T CARE!" she was indignant now, it didn't matter whether he was right or not, the thought of being ousted by a sheltered boy younger than she was too much for her to take.

"WELL I DO!"

"What to make something of it?" Millie lept at Sasuke and immediately socked him in the rib. Doubling over, he darted around on the ground, unable to get up nor roll very far, the massive bulk of luggage keeping him pinned. Launching herself again, she was over him in a brawl-like fury. All Sasuke could do, however, was block each hit. Hitting a girl was against what he had been brought up to do, it was one of those taboo issues that was drilled into him again and again as a child although now he was beginning to think that giving up such childhood ideals wouldn't be such a sin. Giving protest, he endured the barrage until, finally, it ended with Millie collapsing from exhaustion on him.

"Fine," she muttered, muzzling her head in the soft folds of his ninja garb, "We rest here."

His eyes went wide, this was the most awkward position he had ever been placed in, save the night in the cell. On him was a girl, not much older than he was, resting on his chest. He was too afraid to speak and ask her to get off in fear off being reprimanded again with the now-familiar words of 'hentai' and 'ecchi'. At the same time, to add to his horror, he found he actually liked the feeling, the sweet smell of her auburn hair as it wafted up his nose and the added weight to his chest; a healing effect to the bruises his arm now carried.

In a strong act of will and bravado, Sasuke summoned his voice, a weak croaked tone which echoed in the silence, "Can you get off so we can set up camp?"

Millie snapped awake, stared in abstract horror at what she was doing, blushed a deep red and huffed in indignity, "HENTAI!~"

*slap*

The chance to travel forth from my cell of Rokkaku has finally been granted to me by Hanzo-sensei, but... I ask, what for? He would not send me out on a whim, nor for the sake of a stranger. I know there is a deeper meaning to it all but what?

Looking up from the roll of parchment before him, Sasuke surveyed the campsite. Past dark, it was near mid-twilight and several hours past midnight. He inked his words to the light of a dwindling campfire, taking care to not allow his paper to be devoured by the fiery fiend. Across the fire, in a bundle of blankets, lay the eccentric Highlander Millie. Even now, with the look of peace upon her face, the boy-ninja could not truly be sure whether she was sleeping or recharging her expent energies for another day of flounciness.

Could it be that strange creature that passed along to me this Rune of Darkness? The groundhog with six bead-like black eyes and yellow striped tiger hide? It is, from what I see, the only thing in common between the stranger and I and, even then, I'm not quite sure if it is the true intention of Master Hanzo to find the thing. What to make of it, I am still unsure of but perhaps, in a day or two when we catch up to the thing, as Millie keeps insisting we will, the answers will unfold before us and all will be known.

But then again...

He allowed the words to trail off, having not much more to write or think about. He glanced at the inky dark swirl that had etched itself on the back of his right hand. A Rune of Darkness, the ally of a ninja was the night, the ability to hide in the inky crevices of the shadowy domain and strike unknown and unseen at his enemies. It was, at least to him, an invaluable ally... if only he could understand how it worked. Runecraft was lost thoroughly on the boy-ninja, an art that he did not readily understand in theory or practice. With a sigh, he turned away from the curling symbol and watched again the rythmic breathing patterns of his travelling companion.

As for Master Hanzo's choice of companion, I don't know where to quite catagorize her. Indeed she is eccentric, far too energetic for me to even hope to keep up with, especially so since she dumped all her luggage with me.

Pausing from the pen, he gave an evil gaze at the two oversized duffel bags at the foot of a great tree, together with his own small backpack containing but the mere essentials he needed for woodland trekking and survival. The contents of the bag were more astounding, assorted trinkets, papers, pictures, books, gowns, dresses, skirts and other... personal attire. Why a person would pack such monstrousities was beyond him, although he understood the need to ditch it totally on others.

There was something inside that, for reasons he could not fathom, he was compelled to take and keep among his personal posessions...

"Mmm..." a tired travelling companion moaned, yawning awake and stretching completely within the confines of the strewn blanket pattern she lay in, "Is it morning yet, Sasuke?"

He darted a glance, "No, there is still some hours left before dawn, you should go back to sleep," he coaxed, hoping desperately that she would.

"What about my watch, isn't it time yet?"

"I'll take over that, you're tired and should rest, I'll keep watch for the rest of the night."

"You're so... swe...eeet...." Millie trailed before being taken again by the magnetic power of the sandman.

My companion just stirred in sleep and I have offered to take her position of watch the rest of the night, he continued to ink the words again on his page. It came so naturally, the answer, the offer... but the reply was one of sheer bliss. Why I should feel this way... I am not sure. Is this what Hanzo-sensei intended? I am compelled to think that it isn't but one can never be truly sure with the Master of Rokkaku.

I admit now to myself and to this page that, even if it isn't, I am glad for my companion. Now, while she sleeps I see her at her most vunerable, a strange sight to grace my eyes, a paradox to the rageful hurricane of her waking hours... If only she wasn't older than I. And if only I could be sure she felt the same.

Hesitation. Staring at the page with an expression of dumbfoundness and yet understanding, the ninja-boy raised and dipped his quill into the bottle of ink one last time before concluding:

And, before I forget this moment of strange fuzziness forever... she called me 'sweet'.

The morning came with a vengence on the slumbering Millie. She had slept all night and should not have had much problems with the day. However, it was the fact that she slept all night that gave her the extra added weight in waking. So contented and lazed dazedly in a heap of blankets that gave the soft grass-feather ground even more appeal and the feeling of a feathery bed, her body refused to allow her waking priviledges.

Just a few more hours, her body pleaded with her again and again. She was obliged to grant them their request but for the fact that Bonaparte could be up ahead and those hours wasted would give him the extra leverage to escape her yet again.

"Ohayoo!" a cheery voice resounded, "Time you got up, you want to catch this groundhog, don't you?"

Impervenant, impatient, inconsiderate... her body gave protest, yelling each and ever bitterness silently at the boy-ninja Sasuke. She knew he was right and hushed her body with a simple rising motion. Stretching lazily skywards, she gave a curious look when her personal bellboy turned red in the face and quickly turned away, flushed beat red and trying his hardest to not stray a glance.

She herself wanted to scream out indignities when she noticed. Dressed in not much than her undergarments and a translucent slip, she didn't realise the fact due to the coverage and protection the blankets gave her throughout the night. In turn, once covering up again with the protective gear, Millie turned a deep shade of red and requested, "Could you go somewhere else while I change?"

Without a word, too embarrassed to speak, Sasuke nodded an agreement, gathered the packs and moved up along the trail, "I'll be up here somewhere, see if I can find any trace of the gro.. uh... Bonaparte so we know which way to go..."

She watched him leave along the path and, once sure he was gone, frantically dug through her pack to find her blue attire and large white beret. Ninja clothing had been fun yesterday, it was time to wear her favorite outfit again... although this time she'd wear the comfy soft ninja shoes she wore the day before.

Why didn't I yell at him this time, or slap him? she thought to herself, unsure of the answers to those queries. On a normal basis, he'd leave not only red with blush but red with my handprint engraved again on his face...

Shrugging the thought away, and positioning the last button in place, she hunted after her companion in the woods, finding that he was heading back towards where they were camped. No doubt to sneak a peek at me... the pervert...

"What are you doing?! Coming back! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeccccccccccchiiiiii!" she howled at him, causing him to jump backwards and nearly fall from the sheer weight of the luggage. He stood, transfixed and frightened, coiling behind a shield of arms like he had the day before, yelling out through his barrier, "I did not! I'm innocent!! I just... thought... you... should... see... this..."

Millie was impatient, "See what?" she demanded, stamping her foot in protest. It would have felt good to have slapped him again, give him the right reward for his actions, his thoughts, his complete hentai existance. However she had to curb that one appitite to feed another: Curiousity.

"A-ah-um... I can't explain but you have to come and look!!"

He darted off again, running into the trees back to where he had allegedly seen this unexplainable thing. Either that or he's running away from me... ugh... boys. Finding no other alternative but to follow, she ran after him, proving quicker than his bogged down sluggish run.

Closer... closer..., she coaxed. There was no way in the nine hells she'd let him escape her hand of justice. She would get him and pay him in kind for his thoughts...

As she ran through the trees, her own thoughts strayed, Why do I bother so much with this boy when I never bothered with any before? Loius was a sick hentai but I never slapped him... nor did I care much for his drivel and drool and instead ignored him greatly. Why so different with this one? What makes him so... Shaking off the thought nearly as quickly as it had sprouted in her head, Nah.... him? You gotta be joking!

Already panting, Sasuke was ahead of her, his iron weighted shoulders causing him strain as he sought to show Millie the object before she misinterpritted his intentions and slapped him again like she always did. His feet could not take anymore and she was catching up quick. He had to make this last run, this last bit, he had to sprint...

No need. He looked before him and saw the sight he had wanted Millie to view. Gazing happily at his salvation, he was taken completely off guard as the fourteen year old girl flung herself at him from behind and caused them both to fall on the ground, Sasuke hitting the hard cracked mud ground and Millie landing comfortably on the luggage lining his back.

"I got you now, you sick perverted hentai ecchi freak!" she declared, pulling the hair of her prey, "This'll teach you to think ill of Mi..."

She stopped short in her sentence and was awestruck at the sight before her. Vine entangled and ancient, before a great mess of old stone ruins was what he had wanted her to see: