By the time Ukai and I got back to our makeshift campsite, it had gotten dark, the sun barely visible over the horizon with dark clouds looming over it. Ukai set me down and started a fire, pulling his cloak off his shoulders and setting it on the floor.

"Sit." He told me.

I rolled my eyes slightly but did as he asked, pulling my own cloak from my body and undoing the armor closest to the scratches on my limbs.

"Well that~ mmmm, didn't go as planned..." I mumble, groaning slightly as I touch a cut on my arm.

Ukai didn't say anything back, he just knelt in front of me and took my arm out of my hand.

"This is deep, how does it feel?" He asked placing his thumb just to the side of the cut as he examined it.

"It hurts but it's not~ mgh, too bad..." I answer.

"..." Ukai pulled at the skin around it slightly and activated his Sharingan, staring intensely at it.

"You'd expect a Gang with a reputation like there's to know better than to attack someone before being accused of something... now we know their intentions aren't as saint like as they crack it up to be," I continued to dissect our encounter with the Byakuya Gang.

"It wasn't their intention to let us get away either... what's the harm in telling your plan to a dead man walking... I mean the point is he won't live long enough to out you..." Ukai commented, pushing his thumb onto my cut.

"AH!~" I tried to jerk away from his hold but his hand gripped my bicep tighter, refraining me from doing so.

"Sorry..." He apologized, looking at the blood on his finger before reaching behind him into his bag.

"So much for Noble Thieves huh?..." I sighed, looking over at the fire for a second.

It's crackling and hisses were the only noise I could hear when I wasn't talking, the forest we were in seemed to be dead silent.

"What do you think about them?" I turned my gaze back to the Uchiha.

"Them?" Ukai voiced, pulling out a small pellet looking tube, breaking it, and using the water inside to wash my cut.

"Noble thieves... what's your opinion of them?" I clarified, looking down at the cut he was working on.

"Biased," He answered bluntly.

"How so?" I turned my eyes to look at him.

His eyes darted up to meet mine for a second, his bright red irises seeming to glare warningly at me before he turned his attention back to my wound.

"There is no such thing as a 'Noble Thief' in my personal opinion... stealing is stealing but, one does what one must to survive in this world..." He answered me.

"You are forced to pick the lesser of two evils..." Ukai added.

I looked at him confused. His eyes fluttered slightly and this faraway look of sorrow and pain settled in them. My heart clenched, my throat tightened and I felt... weirdly affected like I could feel his sadness through his eyes.

"Are you ok?" I asked, tilting my head to get a better look into his eyes.

I don't know why I wanted to see them better, I felt like if I did I'd just be overwhelmed with the feelings he was experiencing... but I needed to see if I could find out why he was so sad, he certainly wasn't going to just tell me.

"..." Ukai said nothing instead, he scoffed out a breath, -so quietly I almost missed it,- taking a deep breath before turning away to grab something out of his bag again.

"It doesn't look like any poison got into your system, I've cleaned it but when we get back to the village you'll need to have it looked at by proper medical personal," He avoided my question, wrapping a bandage around the wound.

He then stood, deactivating his Sharingan, turning away from me and heading to sit by the tree just left of me, settling with his eyes on the fire.

"Get some sleep, tomorrow we head back and I have a feeling we won't be allowed to leave without a fight. I'll stay up as watch..." He said softly, placing his arm on his bent legs.

"I'll stay up with you~" I tried.

"No. ...there's no point in both of us being sleep deprived... rest," He argued.

I stared at him, watching the fire flicker and reflect in his eyes, his dark onyx eyes dull, far less lively than before, though when you looked at him there wasn't much life, to begin with. The male Uchiha always gave off such a lonely aura... like a sadness that never leaves.

'Why is he so closed off...?' I think curiously as I stare at his stiff figure.

I shake off the thought, laying back down and closing my eyes, going to sleep. The next morning Ukai woke me before the sun us up, he said the earlier we leave the less likely we were to run into the Byakuya gang again. I didn't argue... I wanted to get home as fast as possible.

We didn't speak on the journey back to Konoha, in fact, Ukai seemed to keep his distance from me even more than yesterday. When we got back to the village we reported to Lord Seventh with our report, saying how we had identified one if not maybe three of the Byakuya Gang's members and how they had already completed their mission before we arrived. The Hokage was happy with our report, he congratulated us on getting all this info without being seriously injured. When we were excused, I followed Ukai out onto the street before watching him turn to walk away.

"Hey Ukai," I called to him, making him stop.

"Um, do you maybe wanna grab some lunch with me? Consider it payback for you saving my life yesterday."

"..." He said nothing as he turned to look at me.

"...No, thank you," He looked down at the ground for a second before back up to my eyes, his eyes lidded.

"Don't forget to get your arm checked ok... I'll see you around," He added, turning and walking off again.

I sighed, an ache settling in my chest, like that tight feeling when you're about to cry but aren't... I looked at the ground, biting my lip then turning to walk away as well.