Hello, Heartache ~Uchiha Sasuke Love story~

Chapter 47: The truth revealed and Sasuke's return

'Makoto, come with me.' Okaasan said softly once we all calmed down. 'I need to tell you something that should've been told to you a long time ago.'

I looked at her through my puffy eyes before glancing at Masoto.

'Go on,' he said, giving me a sad smile. 'I'll stay with Nii-san.'

I stood up and nearly did a double-take once I realised I was a head taller than Okaasan. How times have changed.

I followed her out of my tent. She sat on a log and I followed her actions. I looked at her, expecting her to speak but all she did was stare blankly at the grass. She looked lost in thought. Physically next to me but not mentally.

That's when I noticed how different I looked from her. She was small and petite and her movements were unbelievably graceful. Whereas my movements are abrupt and anything but graceful. I wasn't tiny or petite, I was slightly taller than most girls my age.

'Makoto,'

I blinked out of my thoughts. 'Yes?'

She sighed. 'I'm not proud of our clan. Neither was your father.'

My eyes widened. 'What? But ... I always thought -'

'Our clan,' she continued as though I hadn't said anything. 'Was biased.'

'What?'

She sighed again before turning to face me. 'Makoto, how many families are there in our clan, including us?'

I looked at her strangely. 'Five ... Why?'

She nodded, her lips pressed together. 'Haven't you ever wondered why our clan was so small compared to other clan's like for example the Hyuuga clan?'

I furrowed my eyebrows. 'Um ...yeah but I never really thought about it. I'm not sure where this is going ...'

'Our clan looked down upon girls, Makoto. I'm not sure how it started but our clan didn't like girls. The clan's head believed that women were weak. Most of the girls your age left the clan at a young age because they couldn't stand how they were being treated.'

I had a vague memory of looking out of the window during a storm when I was about four and hearing yelling from the house next to us where a girl about twelve ran out of the house, a large bulky bag swung over her shoulder.

I wasn't sure whether that was an actual memory anymore.

'When you were young, we didn't let you out much because we were afraid you'd make friends with the other girls or find out how all girls were being treated lowly and follow them when they left.' she said before flashing me a bitter smile. 'Makoto, your father and I loved you and we still do. The reason we treated you horribly was because we wanted you to turn out to be the strongest girl in our clan. We compared you to your brothers so you would have high expectations for yourself.'

I stared at her in shock, my bottom lip quivering. 'Is this ... True?' my voice cracked.

She nodded, tears rolled down her cheeks. 'Your father and I always wanted to tell you but we didn't know how ... Makoto, we're so sorry -'

I her off by throwing my arms around her and shaking my head vigorously. 'Why couldn't you have just told me?' I cried. 'Now all the memories I have of Otousan is me having bitter feelings about him. Why was I born into such a clan? Why? Why!'

I knew why now. The question I could never stop asking myself until now. Why did my parents treat me differently from my brothers? Why did they seem hate me? It was because they loved me.