When he had left the village on that night, with the moon completely full, he had expected his disappearance to be short lived news and to simply be classified as an S-class criminal. He had expected his former village to feel betrayed, and especially his teammates. He refused to call them friends anymore. He thought that after a few months he'd be forgotten, that he'd become just a memory of one of the village's former inhabitants, but on that night he was deeply surprised by none other than Sakura Haruno. She had been expecting him. He, however, hadn't been expecting her. His surprise was short lived though, and was never displayed on his face. Their conversation had mostly consisted of her trying to convince to stay while he remained silent with his back to her. When she said that she loved him, he ignored it, brushed it off as a simple infatuation from a twelve year old girl. Not love, never. Yet his heart seemed to beat once more than it should have, creating an odd feeling in his chest. Never before had calling her annoying been so difficult, nor had seeing the hurt look on her face been so painful. Maybe it was because the small part of him that hadn't been killed or transformed the night of his family's massacre wished he'd be able to do it again in the future. He turned his back to her again and resumed walking. When she threatened to scream he felt a little thrill run through him once he realized that she would search for him after he was gone, her and Naruto and Kakashi. He would be missed. He appeared behind her and for what seemed like forever they stood in silence as the wind swayed their clothes. He let her name slip from his mouth one last time.
"Thank you." He said.