Hiro emerged from the smoke, smoldering with anger... His arms and legs were bloody, torn by the razor-sharp chakra of Ume's technique. His vest even had a number of scratches upon it. He was furious...<em>What kind of person does that? What kind of ninja uses such a technique in training?</em>He couldn't believe it.<em>Is she just stupid? Is she that out of touch?</em><br/><br/>As he walked towards her, his mind was abuzz with a myriad of thoughts. Of course she was out of touch with other people... she was raised by tigers, after all. But she wasn't a tiger. She must have been abandoned, left there by her parents to feed the giant cat who would become her father. The one who apparently chased her around and terrorized her as part of her training- Ume was already a teenager when she was given away to the leaf... put in that position, coming from such a place- it was no wonder she was so self-reliant, so hostile. Back then... in the hot springs, he chased her off because he didn't understand her. Everyone probably chased her off.<br/><br/>The shinobi wound his hand back and punched her square in the jaw... not enough to hurt her, but at least something to shake her up a bit. She whirled around and then he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her close. He pushed his forehead protector against her neck and squeezed his bleeding arms against her stomach, "You still just want to run away?" He said, "You live with tigers half your life, fought until you could barely move during the exams- but a little awkwardness between your new comrades is what it takes to turn you into a coward?"<br/><br/>"I understand now... Raised by tigers, working alone, living only to fight. Thinking you're different from everyone else... You don't have to be lonely anymore." He squeezed her tighter, "You don't have push everyone away. Like it or not, you have a new team and a new family- no one here cares if you're different or who raised you."<br/><br/>He was starting to get blood on her clothes- he relented a bit, lifting one hand up in front of her, showing her one particularly deep cut, "See this blood? This morning I swore that I would sacrifice my life to protect you, if that's what needed to be done. That is what it means to be a shinobi, to wear this headband that we all have, to be a part of a team- to bleed together."<br/><br/>"You owe me." He added, his tone deadly serious, "and Iku too- for this blood we shed."