The Gift of the Moon [Naruto]

The price of power.

As I expected I was healthy as a horse and passed Iruka-sensei's test with flying colors and was expected to return for one last year at the Academy after summer vacations were over.

Kotetsu, Izumo and Iruka-sensei were blaming themselves for not having been able to protect me and made a promise to never let that happen again. I felt kind of bad about lying to them- though it was for the best- but felt vey touched by their care and protected by them (even though I was much stronger than all three of them combined). I finally was capable to assure them that Konoha is safe and me going out on my own won't get me kidnapped... again.

The villagers... well, they are a whole new story. Instead of being glared and sneered at they welcomed me with open arms and words of comfort, it seems that the death of my parents had spread across the village fast but my time of 'captivity' was still kept hush hush. I was so weirded out that I fled away, I ran as far as I could until I ended up in front of a very familiar gate.

I had reached the Uchiha Compound.

Sasuke's P.O.V:

Perfect! All I needed to complete this day is another useless fangirl who had to stalk me all the way to my home. I groaned in my head, glaring the famous Uchiha glare to the silver haired girl's back.

"Hey! Scram!" I sneered.

The girl squealed in shock and turned around in a haste. I was about to snap at her again, wanting her to feed the place faster, but I stopped in shock. The girl was beautiful, long silver hair that glittered under the sun, delicate curves that accentuate her femininity, perfect skin, wearing a stylish but comfortable for fighting kimono, but what attracted me the most to her were her baby blue eyes. You could not call them eyes anymore, they were two sapphires. They showed every single emotion that the girl felt, I've never met someone so emotional.

"Watch it teme! I didn't even plan to get here, all I wanted was to get away from the village and their pitiful gazes" she snapped back at me, making me raise an eyebrow in slight surprise. She was the first girl I met that did not get all fangirl over me or shivered in fear... interesting "It's as if they've never seen a kid who've lost every single family member before. Hello, they are called orphans!"

I flinched slightly at her words but covered it fast, however she noticed it and snapped her gaze towards me. She had talent... good, no more wanna be kunoichis who cared more about boys than training.

"So, you are the girl whose the village has been talking none stop all week long. The one whose parents were killed by a missing nin" I commented, impressed when she didn't even wince- she was good.

"Orochimaru, if we want to get into specifics" she replied, spitting the sanin's name as if it were poison.

Her expression full of hate and promise of pain, the temperature dropping at the mention of her parents' killer... she was like me, an avenger who lost it all one night out of the blue. She knows of my loneliness, of my pain...

"I'm sorry" she said, I was about to yell at her that I did not need her pity, when she continued "I mean, I cannot understand what you felt that day. It wasn't an enemy ninja the one who came and killed your clan but your own brother. You trust was betrayed by the one you loved the most... that must have been painful. You must have felt so alone, I wanted to be your friend then, not out of pity but because everyone needs someone. However, you changed into someone I did not recognize... someone dark and lost. I was afraid of you. I blamed your brother for the masacre, but I also blamed you for allowing him for still having such a tight grip on your life and ruining all chances of ever being happy again" I glared at the girl, trying not to think of how much her words were right "At least, until I myself got consumed by the same darkness and all I could think of was the demise of my enemy. Can you understand the feeling of knowing that the death of those you hold dear was all because someone wanted your power?"