Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Masks
When you have been hated and, even worse, ignored your whole life would it be nice to be needed and loved even for a little time. I thought that way. I sought attention and tried to make people to notice me. I was loud and made myself a fool just to make people to notice how I was alive, how I good was. But even if I tried I couldn't make people to seek my attention and my caring. I felt depressed and even little betrayed. But I couldn't change the fact that to other people I was nobody, I didn't exist.
When I met him the first time he didn't even look at my direction. I thought that he acted the same way that the other did, but then I realised that he didn't laugh when I played the fool. He didn't make fun of me when I failed to answer the questions teacher asked me or wasn't able to perform the perfect bushin. He didn't notice me the way others did but somehow I felt he didn't ignore me either.
After I realised that he was different I started to feel little curious about him. He was adored by the villagers and especially by the girl population. Everything he did he did perfectly. I was told that he was intelligent and good looking when I was full of faults. But had my own good features, I was sure of it. I could admit to myself that I felt jealous when he was around and even I knew that I had fighting spirit that many lack of. But people didn't see the good me, they saw the ugly me, all those mistakes I made and all fears I had. That's why I thought I hated him.
I had always been very angry to others because they didn't see behind my mask where I hid my loneliness, and it was huge shock to realise that I wasn't any better than them. The person I saw perfect and popular wasn't what I had thought. One night when I was running to my apartment I saw this bundle in the alleyway on the better side of the town. First I thought it was just a pile of rags but when I came closer I saw that it was actually a person. The fact that there was a person lying on the alleyway wasn't so rare because, as rich and powerful Konoha was, there still were beggars, and many homeless tried to find the shelter where ever they could. That's why I wasn't so surprised when I saw this person on the ground, the reason why I was surprised was because I knew who it was.
My whole image of Sasuke broke that night. When I watched him crying in that alleyway I saw so clearly the mask he was wearing. I realised he was hurt and couldn't bear the pain he felt the same way I couldn't bear my pain. So different I had thought we were we were the same. I held him near me and my own tears mixed to his. We cried together until we fell asleep. And when I woke up morning he was gone.
We never talked about that night. At academy we acted the same way we had acted before but we both knew something was different. We had lost our masks for a moment and seen each other so much clearer. I can't ever forget the way his eyes shone emptiness he carried inside of his heart. The memory of those eyes still burns me even after so many years.
That night in that alleyway changed my whole life. I was still hated and shunned everywhere I went but he was always there to comfort and hold me until I had cried my pain out. He still had to face the pity of the villagers but I was there to sweep his thoughts of loneliness away. And I didn't have to seek his attention. No, he wanted to give it to me by his own will. It was the first time somebody had wanted to do that for me. Our masks still existed but there was someone who saw through them.
And we were able to grow stronger.