Chapter One
She slammed a heavy foot into her opponent's leg. She built her chakra into her fist and with a clean punch to the gut, sent him flying out of the circle, and half way through the training grounds; and so ended a ten minute fight.
"I believe we have a clear winner here." Her sensei applauded. "The winner is from our team, Azula Uchiha."
Kakashi continued reading his perverted book, while Azula Walked over to her team. Team 7, composed of Naruto Uzamaki, Sakura Haruno, and Mr. Emo himself, Sasuke Uchiha.
Azula was not an ordinary looking Uchiha, She had none of the characteristics of an Uchiha, and she looked more like she could be Naruto's sister, long blonde hair, and shimmering blue eyes. It was because she had been adopted into the clan, not born. Her mother, Azalon Suri who she'd been basically named after, and her father, Raiko Uchiha had been critically injured while on a mission. Her father had been so badly injured, that he hadn't even made it back to a hospital; the medic in their group hadn't even been able to patch him up. Her mother died in her hospital bed, with a small Azula holding her hand. Azula was a copy of her mother, with the same long blonde hair and glowing sapphire eyes. Her mother's hair was lighter than hers. As her mother's last wish she asked that her daughter be adopted into another family, within the Uchiha clan. Her mother's clan had been entirely wiped out in war; she had only survived because of a mission she was on. The only other survivor was Azalon's sister Avon, and she wanted nothing to do with her or her child. They'd always hated each other. Azalon desperately wanted her child to feel like she belonged, and knowing the Suri clan was gone, the only other option was putting her with the Uchiha. So Azula had been put with a nice family. Her new mother's name was Naomi Uchiha, and her new father's name was Kato Uchiha. She looked nothing like them. They both had raven black hair, and chips of coal for eyes. They had another child, named Saluki. She'd have a sister now. She looked exactly the same as her parents. She knew from the day she got there, she would never fit in there, she'd never be accepted as an Uchiha, only tolerated as a half blood, at least by the adults anyway.
"Hey! Azula!" Naruto's fingers clicked in front of her face.
"Huh? Oh, what is it Naruto?" Azula's voice asked.
"You were spacing out; our team's going to get ramen for dinner to celebrate our win over Guy's team. That was awesome how you beat Lee!"
"Um, Thanks, okay I-I guess I can go."
"Of course you can, Kakashi Sensei's paying and- Are you Okay?"
Naruto asked her, her team was looking at her, which made her feel weird. Sasuke's eyes bore into her, if looks could kill, she be dead on the floor.
"Y-Yeah, Naruto I'm fine, I just need a minute, I was just thinking back a little."
A few Tears started to make their way to her eyes.
"Azula, do you want to talk for a while?" Sakura made her way over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, her long pink hair draping over her shoulders.
"I just need to be alone for a while, that's all."
She bolted past her team and her sensei, flying up a tree, and moving quickly from branch to branch. Here, she let the tears run freely down her cheeks and neck; they dropped onto the thick bark and stained the leaves. She stopped after a ten minute run. Her trail led her to an opening in the woods, a small clearing that suited her. She set under a tree and bawled. Her own parents had been killed, and her adopted family had been murdered. She had shitty luck. Everyone that had ever been close to her was dead, except Sasuke, and Sakura, and of course Naruto. She still remembered when she first met Sasuke, and Itachi. Both were good mannered children, and had seemed to like her for her. Sasuke was the younger of the two, and the louder. Itachi always seemed a bit distant. Sasuke and her would run around and play while Itachi would train, a little longer every day to Azula it seemed. She had a bit of a crush on him when they were young, she always looked up to him; he was the best, in all ways. Then, he got really distant, worse than usual. He at least would talk to her a little bit, give her a small smile every once in a while. But then it just seemed to get really bad and she didn't know why. When she started the academy with Sasuke, she had immediately befriended Sakura. She had been her best friend since then, and in good luck she got put on her squad. That terrible night, she had been sleeping over at Sakura's house. And so she was a survivor as well as Sasuke. The Uchiha clan was gone, her adopted family was gone, the only people she had now were, her friends. She thought about it every now and then, it affected her less than it had Sasuke, because she hadn't made the special bonds that he had with her 'mother, father and sister'. They barely called her an Uchiha. They were nice to her, but she overheard a lot of conversations. She thought back to one she remembered clearly.
"I don't understand why we need to keep her; I mean there has got to be another Uchiha family that has no children, which could keep her better, we already have Saluki." Naomi's voice echoed through the house, unknowing who was sitting on the stairs.
"I know, trust me I know, but, this was Azalon's final wish. To have her with an Uchiha family, Azula's father was an Uchiha; she wanted her to carry the name. We can check to see if any other Uchiha families would take her."
She snapped out of her own thoughts. They didn't want her when they had her, why should she feel bad that Itachi killed them? Her eyes filled again with tears; letting them slip down her cheeks she turned her bloodshot eyes towards a tree. When she was young, she used to come through these woods, and play. She had just remembered this spot. She'd come here alone once before. Spotting the carving on the tree in her sight she took earth absorbing strides to get to it. To see what she had carved as a young girl took her breath away. It was a palm sized heart, and in it, two names, she had carved Itachi's first, and hers below it, with a small + in the center. She had forgotten it.
"I care because even though they didn't want me, I wanted them; I wanted a family back… No matter how hard you want to deny it."
She traced her pointer finger over the carved heart, then each name.
"Why did I ever like him?"
Her mind answered her again.
"Because he wasn't too loud, he was good mannered, he liked you for you, and when he rarely smiled, it was perfect."
She smiled a little, remembering back a few years. There were some good times with those brothers. Training just a little with Itachi, Playing around with Sasuke, when he still had a sense of humor.
"Why Itachi? Just WHY?"
Her mind didn't have an answer this time; she was brought out of her thoughts by the silence screaming at her. Azula decided that Sasuke had it worse than her, and that she needed to move on and try to be there for him. She wiped her eyes on her soft black shirt, and headed back. When she returned, her team was gone, save for one member, Sasuke was still there sitting in the shade near the tree line. She walked up to him.
"Why are you still here aren't you supposed to be with the team at the ramen stand?"
Azula's eyes were still red; she spoke softly, not wanting to sound rude to her former playmate.
"I was supposed to go, but I wanted to make sure you were alright. Are you alright? You were crying I see."
His voice was colder than she remembered.
"Yeah I'm fine I was having some memories, about my mother and father, and the clan."
Sasuke never used to judge her for being half an Uchiha, he always just thought of her as Azula, but now he always brings it up.
"You shouldn't care about the clan, you never were a real part of it, your father might have been an Uchiha but your mother just wanted you to try and slip into the Uchiha clan. I have no clue what clan your mother was even from."
She'd never heard Sasuke be so mean, so raw about things.
"My true mother was from the Suri clan; so you know. You know Sasuke, you never used to judge me for being half an Uchiha, I was just Azula to you and Itachi. I'm the same god damn person I was before any of that happened. Why do you think I'm different now? What did I do? You've been colder to me ever since he- you know… What happened to the Sasuke I used to run around with, where did he go?"
Sasuke looked up at her, his black eyes smoldering with something close to rage.
"He died, along with everyone else."
Sasuke got up, and walked off, leaving her behind. She stood there for a while, not wanting to follow too closely behind him. After she knew he was far off, she started walking, and when she made it to the village, she found her way to the ramen stand her team was at. She lifted the flaps a bit and sat between Sakura and Naruto. Sasuke hadn't joined them after talking with her.
"Hey what happened, were you crying?"
Sakura's hand made its way to her chin and lifted her head up, her bloodshot eyes bore into Sakura's sea foam colored ones.
"Yeah I was crying, I needed to get it out. I talked to Sasuke a little. God, Sakura, he's never been so mean to me like he was today."
Sakura had had a crush on Sasuke since she laid eyes on him. Every girl did. Except Azula. She played around with Sasuke so much when she was young that she had started thinking of him more like a brother than a boyfriend. Now, he was a cold hearted person. Hell, when they were young, and even up to the last day the clan was alive, Sasuke would be the one to run up and give her a hug. Now, if you tried to hug him, he'd shove you off and tell you that it was a weakness.
"What did he say Azula?"
Sakura's hands lay on the ramen shops counter top, and her eyes focused on her.
"He told me that I never was a real part of the Uchiha clan, and that my mother just wanted me to slip into it. He told me that the old Sasuke died along with everyone else in the Uchiha clan, his eyes were even angry…"
Sakura's eyes opened a little, she never thought her Sasuke could be so mean… If it was anyone else, she'd say that they were lying, but, she knew Azula. They'd been friends since the academy opened its doors. They were squad members now; Azula wouldn't lie to her, especially not about Sasuke, knowing how much she liked him.
"Come on, let's take a walk."
Sakura grabbed Azula by the wrist and led her out of the ramen stand, leaving her half empty bowl of ramen behind her. Kakashi overheard her, and so did Naruto. When the two girls were out of earshot, Naruto began to ask questions.
"Why's Sasuke so mean to everyone, it's not our fault about what happened? Azula's really nice. She never did anything wrong. If you ask me, that guy needs to"
He was cut off by Kakashi.
"Naruto, Sasuke has been through a lot. His brother of all people murdered everyone he knew. His parents were even killed. I imagine it's very hard to get over something like that, having no one around he's bound to be cold."
Naruto looked up from his bowl.
"But, if he has no one, why would he be mean to Azula? She's an Uchiha, you'd think he'd try to be nice to her because she's from his clan, not push her away and say she never was a part of it."
Kakashi shut his book with a light tap, and turned his head up towards the ceiling in thought.
"I guess, after something tragic happens in a person's life, like Sasuke, you might be afraid to let people become close to you, in fear of losing them the same way you've lost the people you loved before. He might push Azula away, and everyone else, because he feels like if he gets to attached to them, he might have a broken heart if they would die, like his clan before them. He puts barriers up to protect himself from his own emotions. He doesn't like to show people a soft side of him anymore, because he feels he's only being weak. Some people can't be strong enough to try and heal, and form new bonds after the old ones have been broken. Make sense?"
Naruto's blonde head nodded a little. He looked sad now.
"Why would Sasuke even say that Azula's not an Uchiha, you even called her Azula Uchiha today after she won her match with Lee right? So how can he say she wasn't a part of his clan?"
Kakashi knew better than to be telling these stories to Naruto, but he had a right to know as well, two of his friends were involved and he'd only pester them to tell if he didn't.
"Azula's mother was named Azalon Suri. The Suri clan wasn't very powerful, weak to be truthful, but they insisted on standing up to another clan closest to them, the Hiro Clan. The Suri clan was angered because the Hiro clan was taking over land belonging to them, not only that but the Hiro clan had been a bully to the Suri clan for decades, they'd send thugs from their clan to steal the Suri clans food, and needs, they were even known to rape Suri clan women… The Suri clan leader, Caro Suri warned the Hiro clan that if they took another inch of land, they'd declare all-out war with them. The Hiro clan leader whom everyone knew as just 'zero' dared them to do it. The Hiro clan took another mile of land from the Suri clan, and that was enough. Caro Suri declared war with them, and soon enough the whole of his clan had been destroyed. Two sisters survived. One because she had been on a mission, Azalon, and the other kept alive to tell the story to other clans, her twin Avon. When Azalon returned, her sister told her the story, and they both went their separate ways. They'd never loved each other. Azalon turned her life towards Konoha, where she met and fell in love with Raiko Uchiha. They married and had a child, Azula. They'd never thought about what last name to put on her. But when Raiko died on a mission and Azalon was badly injured and dying in the hospital, her final wish was to have Azula placed with the Uchiha clan so she could carry her father's last name. Azula was with her mother when she died. Sasuke doesn't think she was part of the Uchiha clan because she wasn't a full blood Uchiha, like him and his brother. Still following?"
Naruto nodded looking about confused.
"Azula was put with a foster family within the Uchiha Clan; their names were Naomi and Kato. They already had a daughter named Saluki. When the Uchiha Clan Massacre happened, Azula was with Sakura at her house. Everyone was killed except her and Sasuke. So not only has Azula went through losing her first real blood parents, she's also had to accept losing her adoptive family as well. Got it?"
Naruto nodded a third time.
"But then why is Sasuke the mean one?"
Kakashi looked over at him, not sure at what he meant.
"What do you mean?"
Naruto looked thoughtfully into his ramen broth.
"Well, Azula has had to lose two families. She has no one now either, and yet she still can be happy. Sasuke has only lost one family, and is the colder of the two? That doesn't make sense to me, Azula has had to endure more. She watched her mother die, and yet, she can still be strong enough to heal herself, and form new bonds? Sasuke should be happy to have her around, not be mean to her."
Kakashi nodded agreeing just a bit, and flipping his book open to the fresh page he left off with, beginning to read, while Naruto casually slurped Ramen broth from his white china bowl.