Uchiha Sasuke sat morbidly on a rock. He was by a pond hidden in a small woodland near the edge of Konohagakure no Sato, or "the Village of Those Who Hide Among the Tree Leaves." Often the village was simply called Konoha, or "Tree Leaf," for short. It was one of the five hidden ninja villages, each belonging to one of the five great nations. Konoha belonged to the southernmost one, Hi no Kuni, or "Land of Fire." Officially the wooded area Sasuke had chosen as his refuge was called "Training Ground Number Fourteen." It was not used very much, so it was a good place to be alone and collect one's thoughts.

In Sasuke's seven year old left hand was an onigiri rice triangle. It had a single bite out of it that exposed the pickled plums inside. Sasuke gazed at it emptily. He was still in too much shock from the massacre of his entire clan. To him the onnigiri's rice grains seemed to wriggle and squirm like a large white mass of maggots freshly pulled from a rotting corps. The single bite he had taken front he rice triangle still lingered in his mouth unchewed. Briefly, he thought it tasted like the rotting meat of a cadaver. The thoughts churned his already unsettled stomach, and he spit out it back out; tossing the remainder of his meager meal after it.

"So much for lunch." Sasuke grumbled to himself. Images of his slaughtered family flickered through his mind, as they had continuously since the massacre two weeks before, causing a new wave of nausea. Instinctively, Sasuke covered his mouth until the feeling passed, eyes closed, skin pale and waxen.

"You don't look so hot, kid," a voice suddenly from somewhere nearby. "What happened? Did the onigiri go bad?"

Sasuke jerked suddenly, startled by the sudden voice, and tossed about to locate its source. The motion caused his nausea to come back with a new vigor, so he stopped and curled up in misery. "Where are you? Who are you?" he asked weakly.

"Gro ho ko? Where am I you ask? Why, I am up in a tree, that's where." The voice cooed from above. "Who am I you want to know. I am Dancing Oak Leaf, the second son of Swooping Mouse Kill, the Queen of Ural Owls. Nice to meet you. Now may I inquire your name?"

Sasuke snapped his head up and searched the trees above him. To his disbelief, Dancing Oak Leaf was indeed an Ural owl as he claimed to be. After staring for long moments at Dancing Oak Leaf with his eyes wide and jaw dangling open, Sasuke finally managed, "You're an owl!"

Dancing Oak Leaf cocked his head in an owly fashion, and blinked his narrow deep brown eyes. "Of course. What else would I be?" After an expectant pause he added, "What did you say your name was? I could not hear you. The ibises must be squawking too loudly."

"S-Sasuke." Sasuke managed with some difficulty, then quickly added more smoothly, "My name's Uchiha Sasuke. Nice to meet you too."

"Ah! Good, good." Dancing Oak Leaf hooted excitedly as he hopped down closer to Sasuke. "Now that we are both officially acquainted, you may simply call me 'Leaf,' like all my good friends do."

Sasuke looked at him for a moment, then, realizing that that Leaf expected a response, replied, "Um, okay – Leaf."

"Yes, Sasuke." Leaf fluttered down again and flopped down next to Sasuke, then looked up at him. Leaf gestured to the tree he had recently vacated, and said "I was resting in a dark hollow up in yonder tree, when I heard you mumbling and groaning with great distress. I have seen you here many times before, but never have you had such distress and illness in your face. What is the matter, Sasuke?"

Looking down at Leaf blankly, Sasuke thought, You have got to be kidding. Why is this funny little owl looking at me, and acting as if we were friends. Why does he even care? He is an owl! He should worry about owl things. My problems are none of his business. "Go away." Sasuke turned his head away from Leaf.

Leaf was silent for a moment. "No," he answered simply, "I won't leave until you tell me." He tugged on Sasuke's shirt with his razor sharp beak. "I will follow you like a shadow until you tell me."

Sasuke turned to look at Leaf. The determination in Leaf's voice had startled him. Does this stupid owl really care that much? For a moment, he felt touched, like he could accept this strange creature as only true friend in a world of hate and blood. But he was not ready. The anguish of his lost clan still brewed inside of him along with a growing hatred for the one who had betrayed and destroyed it; his own brother, Itachi.

"Go away before I kill you." Sasuke stated simply.

"Well, that wouldn't be very nice." Leaf hopped a little, slightly unnerved by Sasuke's passive proclamation of murder. "You seem a bit disturbed . . . and angry. Did someone do something to upset you?"

"I said, GO AWAY!" Sasuke struck fiercely at Leaf with his clenched fist, but struck only at empty space. Leaf fluttered franticly in to the air, sending feathers flying every which way in his distress.

"I'll take that as a 'yes.'" Leaf said from his new perch in a nearby tree.

Sasuke sent one last scathing glare at Leaf before he hopped off his rock, and headed to the edge of the woods. He had been allowed a leave of absence from the Ninja Academy of Konoha to grieve his lost clan, but the leave had come to an end, and he was expected to return to his schooling. All his class mates simply regarded him with false comforting smiles, and kind words, but they gave him sideways glances and whispered to their friends when they thought he was not aware. They had all heard of his plight of course, but none of them really cared. It was merely a new piece of gossip for them all to obsess over for a few days, weeks if he was really unlucky, which he was. None of them cared about Sasuke himself either. He was at the head of the class, so to them he was merely something to envy, to overcome, to scorn. Many girls did find Sasuke attractive, but even to them Sasuke was merely an object to fight over, a prize. Sasuke was alone in the world, and to him it seemed best. That way no one could become cursed as he seemed to be. No one could get in his way when and if he finally decided to take his revenge on his traitorous brother. His brother really pissed him off, and he deserved to be killed.

"Hey, Sasuke, where are we going?" Leaf burst into Sasuke's pensive thoughts as he trudged down the silent alleyway. Sasuke found the jolly tone in Leaf's voice particularly irksome. Sasuke twitched.

"Gro ho ko. You're going to give me the silent treatment now are you? Hm . . . Too bad for you, I guess."

Sasuke and Leaf continued down the ally in tense silence. Sasuke walked as a peeved alley cat might, and Leaf followed like a watchful guardian. The silence continued as Sasuke made his way along the network of streets and alleys that led the Ninja Academy. As Sasuke entered the school grounds he did his best to remain unaffected by the odd stares he got from other students, who were loitering about the grounds. When he got to the door he quickly bolted inside, slamming the door shut just behind himself.

"Gro ho ko~oh!" Leaf exclaimed as he nearly collided with the door, feathers molting from his distressed form.

Once inside, Sasuke returned to his normal routine. With minimal detours he made his way to his first class after lunch, ninja history. Once inside the class room, he took his seat in the far back on the highest row of desks near a window. Sighing, Sasuke reined himself to his fate. Ninja history was not the most boring of subjects, but the way Masakawa Sensei taught it made even the dead want to rise up and strangle him for the shear boringness of his lectures. The other ninja-in-training filed in and taking their seats in small clumps of close friends. He noticed a renewed vigor in their side long glances at him. Sasuke decided that news of Leaf's annoying antics had already made its way through the school. What a bunch of idiots, he thought to himself as he turned to look out the window for a change of scenery. The sight of the outside world usually never failed to sooth his disgust of the other students, but today it did. Leaf's small owly eyes bulged in at him with a pleading look intended to make Sasuke take pity on the poor owl and let him in. But all the look accomplished was to make Leaf look ridiculous. Instead of making him look like a poor and adorably cute thing, it made him look like an alien invader set on brainwashing the human race with a bizarre form of grotesque cuteness.

It was then that Sasuke decided that his life really was cursed, and he should kill his brother simply because he had nothing better left in life to do. Sasuke turned away from the window just as Masakawa Sensei began to take attendance.

After Sasuke departed Training Ground Fourteen, Leaf shadowed him. It was not hard. Sasuke made no effort to evade Leaf. He definitely showed no approval of it, but all the same, he merely ignored Leaf. Leaf supposed that maybe Sasuke just did not care, but was abruptly convinced otherwise when Sasuke intentionally slammed a door in Leaf's face. Unfortunately, Leaf assumed that door would still be open when he reached it. As a result Leaf slammed hard into the thick metal door, and flopped senselessly to the ground, feather billowing about him in a great plume. He must really do something about his molt. It came at the most unseasonable of times.

Luckily Leaf had been knocked senseless for a moment. When he finally came to his senses, he realized he had been rudely dumped into a nearby bush with his wing twisted in a way that made it go numb. After a bout of flopping and flailing of wings, he finally figured out which side was up and which side was down. Shakily he took to the air, and looked for Sasuke through the windows.

It was not difficult to find him. He was sitting right by a window on the second floor. Leaf landed with an ungraceful flop on the window sill. Just as Sasuke turned his head to gaze out the window, Leaf made the most adorable, pleading look he could muster. He tried so hard to make his small eyes plead "Please open the window . . . please . . . If you do not, I will die." It did not work. Sasuke just gave him a brief look of horrified disgust then turned away.

So much for that, Leaf thought as he turned his attention to the window itself. If Sasuke won't open this window for me, I'll just have to do it myself.

The window consisted of two panes of glass that were mounted in in frames that slid back and forth along separate tracks. They could be opened and closed from the inside with the help of handles. As far as Leaf could tell, there were no other locks or latches on the window other than the two that where mounted on the panes where they met the edges of the sill to either side. He decided he could pry the window open from the outside as long as the window was not latched. Luckily, the pane farthest from where Sasuke sat was slightly ajar, and Leaf could stick tis talons through the gap between frame and sill. Bracing his body against the sill, Leaf pried the window open. The window protested with a loud screech, but obeyed Leaf's will.

Indignant at being forced into such labor, Leaf puffed out his feathers and shook hard, sending out a new shower of down. After fulfilling his Restoring-dignity ritual, Leaf hopped inside and settled down right next to Sasuke.

Masakawa Sensei finished taking attendance and the day's lecture immediately. He began rambling on about some historical battle in which one side had stealthily lead the other to a ravine where they then ambushed them. Sasuke listened attentive, but decided that, despite Masakawa Sensei's enthusiasm, the battle was very dull.

The sudden screech of metal on metal caused more than a few to jump in their seats. Everyone turned to see what had caused the noise, and Masakawa Sensei stopped drawing his diagram on the board to see what all the fuss was about. Sasuke merely closed his eyes, and emitted a slight sigh, his arms crossed. He did not look; he already knew what it was.

From the newly open window swooped Leaf. He fluttered gracelessly, and flopped down next to Sasuke. Leaf glanced at Sasuke, but found that Sasuke was doing his best to both completely ignore him and glare at him with his eyes closed. The room seemed so quiet that Leaf turned his attention to his surroundings. He became curios at all the people looking at him.

Just leave! Thought Sasuke desperately, just keep your beak shut and leave. You have nothing to do with me. For a moment, Sasuke wished that owls could read minds, but they could not, or at least, that is how it seemed. No one quite knew with owls.

"Greetings all," Leaf began in a chipper voice. "I am Dancing Oak Leaf the Owl. I am the second son of Swooping Mouse Kill, the Queen of the Owls. How nice it is for me to meet you all."

A long awkward silence pervaded over the room. The silence was thick like butter. Most of Leaf's audience had never even heard of a talking owl before, much less seen one. Sure there were the summoned animals who could talk, but none of them were owls. What use was an owl in combat anyway? In the novelty of it all, a few of the students acquired such wide eyes that it seemed as though their eyeballs would fall out from their sockets. The rest simply stared at Leaf with their face screwed up in a look that was a mixture of disbelief and disgust.

Consequently, Leaf found the effect quite unnerving, and began to wish he had never bothered with the screechy old window. He fluffed up his feathers in an attempt to restore his dignity, and stuttered nervously: "W-well with the formalities over with, I suppose we can all get on with our lives?"

More silence. More stares.

At this point Masakawa Sensei decided that the obnoxious owl had stayed to distract his class far too long. Looking purposefully at Sasuke he said, "Sasuke, I must ask that you not bring your pet to school. He is disruptive and unsightly. I must ask that you send him back home."

"Pet?! I am not a pet!" Leaf screeched in protest.

Almost simultaneously Sasuke said, "He's not my pet," but did not say it loud enough, so only the last part of what he said, "my pet," was audible. Immediately, Sasuke tried to correct the problem, but it was too late, the damage was done. Masakawa Sensei had interpreted "my pet" to mean "he is my pet," and moved in for the kill.

"Then I suggest that you not only teach your pet some better manners, but also escort him home yourself." Masakawa Sensei continued, "If you do neither of those then I am afraid that I must send you to Ishimura Sensei."

A loud gasp emanated from every student in the room. Ishimura Sensei was in charge of all forms of student punishment. He never asked what you had done wrong that had lead you into his presence, but he made sure that you paid hell for it.

Sasuke, who had never actually had the honor of meeting Ishimura Sensei himself, could only gape speechlessly at Masakawa Sensei. Leaf on the other hand, had never heard of Ishimura Sensei, or his legendary punishments, and so was immune to any fear that he should have felt.

"Didn't you hear me . . . ah . . . whatever-your-name-is, I am not a pet. I am a free range owl, and obey no law but that of my own kind." Leaf spoke with an unfaltering confidence. "In fact, I have only just met Sasuke this past noon hour. The only reason I am here is because I am concerned for my new friend."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at Leaf's comment of friendship, trying to indicate to everyone that only this crazy owl thought they were anything like friends.

"Then take your 'concern for your new friend' to Ishimura's office right now!" Masakawa Sensei had had enough of this owl intruding on his class time.

Leaf did not know how he was supposed to find this "Ishimura," but was too flustered to say so. Instead, he resorted to clicking his beak nervously. Sasuke, who was unsure of whether Masakawa Sensei was just sending Leaf to Ishimura's office or if he was sending them both, simply looked at the nervous Leaf.

Masakawa Sensei turned bright red with rage at the impudence of Sasuke and his pet owl. Fuming like a volcano he shouted, "Out! Both of you."

Leaf did not need to be told twice. Fluttering wildly in a thick cloud of down, he shot towards the open window. Sasuke was less impressed by Masakawa Sensei's display, but headed towards the door anyway. Not wanting to suffer Ishimura's fury alone, he quickly grabbed Leaf by the feet just as he was about to make it outside. With a great deal of angry hooting, flapping and down spewing, Sasuke managed to pull the frantic Leaf out into the quiet hallway.

Hearing the racket, many students rushed to the doors of their classrooms to see what all the commotion was about. They crowded around the doors so tightly that more than a few students became physically stuck. Sasuke chose to ignore their frantic whispering and giggling as he paraded down the corridor with Leaf hanging upside-down from his hand. At this point Leaf had given up on defying Sasuke's iron tight grip, and resorted to glaring at their spectators, wings splayed out limply to either side of his fluffed body.

When the pair had finally reached Ishimura's private student hell, Sasuke simply entered the room without even bothering to knock. He found an empty table and flopped Leaf down on his back before seating himself. Leaf simply looked at Sasuke with an expression of such disgust, that Sasuke was forced to look away.

Ishimura Sensei looked up from the scroll he was reading at his desk. He looked like a sickly crane with long greasy red hair and a skeletal face. Silently he rolled the scroll back up and walked over to Sasuke and Leaf. Upon reaching the two, Ishimura Sensei slammed both hands onto the table and yelled strait into Sasuke's face, sending strings of spittle flying every which way.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU KNOCK, BOY? THAT'S JUST PLAIN RUDE! FIFTY PUSH-UPS. NOW!"

Leaf, who had just gotten back onto his feet, fell flat on his face from the force of the sudden attack.

"YOU TOO, BIRD BRAIN." Drops of spittle covered Leaf's patchy feathers.

Sasuke was already on the floor, angrily complying with Ishimura's command. Leaf, however, was not so lucky. Being an owl, his arms were wings, and he found the concept of push-ups very awkward, painful, and difficult. A bird's wings were not meant to touch the ground, ever. Nonetheless, Ishimura Sensei forced Leaf to do the fifty push-ups. He yelled at Leaf every time the pain of bracing himself on his wingtips caused him to fall down. He yelled when Leaf trying to rise by flapping. He even yelled at Leaf because he had been born an owl; like he could help it. Through all this Leaf managed ten acceptable push-ups by the time Sasuke had finished all fifty of his.

Unable to watch Leaf suffer in this way, Sasuke turned to look at the only other person in the room. He was collapsed over the next table over with his head in his arms. Sasuke could not see his face, but from his obnoxious day glow orange T-shirt, Sasuke guessed he must be the class clown who could not do anything right and wasted his time by making a fool of himself. His name eluded Sasuke, but he did not care. He turned his attention back to Leaf who had fallen unconscious from the effort of his fifteenth "push-up."

Ishimura Sensei had apparently decided to leave his new victims to stew in a mind numbing boredom because he strutted back to his desk. After gently reseating himself with all the elegance of a crane, he resumed reading his scroll.

The silence that descended upon the room was deafening. For a long moment, Sasuke expected Ishimura Sensei to launch another unexpected attack on Leaf and himself, or maybe the other boy with the orange shirt, but as time passed he realized he wouldn't. With a soft snort, Sasuke resorted to nesting his head into his arms and watching the unconscious Leaf who lay sprawled on his belly. Sasuke decided that in that position the mad Leaf looked absolutely ridiculous, and managed a small smile. The smile quickly faded when Sasuke remembered how Ishimura Sensei had made Leaf suffer. Leaf had suffered in here when he could have remained hidden in his dark and cozy tree hollow snoozing the day away. Leaf did not need to be here. But he was. His concern for some trouble he saw in Sasuke had brought him, and even through all the barriers and trials he had had to go through to be with Sasuke, he stayed. Sasuke realized that Leaf could have given up at any time and gone home. What was it that the foolish owl saw in Sasuke that made him so persistent?

Leaf stirred, and opened his small dark grey eyes. For a moment they locked with Sasuke's. Something seemed to pass between them, a feeling, an understanding. It was strange to Sasuke, and in his seven year old mind, he could not place what it was. Then the moment passed, and Leaf struggled to his feet, flopping about like a new born chick. He looked about silently, not daring to speak for fear that his hooting voice would upset the ogre, Ishimura Sensei. Seeing nothing of interest, he set about preening his bedraggled feathers. Every so often he would send a furtive glance towards Ishimura Sensei, just in case.

The rest of the day passed slowly in the deafening silence and crushing boredom. The seconds became minutes; minutes, hours. Every time Ishimura Sensei so much as flicked an eyelid funny, the fear became palpable. The only thing that broke the silence was when a girl with a multitude of bruises and a black eye entered the prison. She remembered her manners and knocked at the door, announcing herself politely.

"Good afternoon, Ishimura Sensei.," she greeted Ishimura Sensei in a sweet girlish voice. "The weather is nice today, isn't it? The sun is shining, the birds are singing—"

"SIT!" Ishimura barked, with a stern glare, and then turned back to reading his scroll.

The girl became quiet, her mouth set in a trembling line. She was sensitive in everything but a fight, and immediately collapsed into a chair and started to sob quietly into her arms. This went on for a few minutes until Ishimura Sensei got up, and grabbed the girl by her arm, throwing her onto the floor unceremoniously.

"YOU BED-WETTING WENCH!" Ishimura screamed. "HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT TALKING TO ME BEFORE I TELL YOU TO. WHAT WAS YOUR MOTHER ANYWAY? A PIG? A DOG? OR MAYBE SHE WAS A MONEY GRUBBING VIXEN WHO HAD YOU BY ACCEDENT. ONE-HUNDRED PUSH-UPS. NOW!"

Obediently, the girl dropped to the ground and did as she was told. It was a noisy affair between the girl's screeching sobs and Ishimura Sensei's yelling. When the girl finally collapsed helplessly on the floor in a whimpering mess, Ishimura Sensei gave up on her. He gave her one good kick to her ribs and strode in an indignant huff back to his desk.

The girl whimpered softly for a few more moments before falling completely silent.

It was a relief when Ishimura Sensei finally released his small collection of prisoners from their bonds. The loud mouth class clown was the first to take advantage of his new freedom. He ran for the door, all the while skipping and hollering joyously. The girl was next. After being tormented by Ishimura Sensei, she had lost the will to get up from the floor, but upon release she quickly scurried out the room, almost crawling on all fours in her desperation. Sasuke and Leaf left at a more leisurely pace. Ishimura glared at them fiercely for their slowness, but the two just ignored him. Mostly it was because the "push-ups" had so badly hurt him that he was no longer able to fly. After many ungraceful attempts at flying, Leaf resorted to awkwardly waddling along the floor. By the time Leaf had made it halfway along the room, Sasuke, who had decided to wait for Leaf, became impatient and picked Leaf up by his middle and carried him out of the room.

After exiting the empty school, Sasuke insisted that Leaf see an avian vet about his wings. Leaf protested, saying that wild owls could take care of themselves. Leaf finally gave in when Sasuke told him it was the least he could do for causing Leaf so much trouble.

The only avian vet that lived in the village was at the aviary where messenger birds of all types where kept. Normally they did not let just any one enter the aviary, but upon seeing Leaf's condition and hearing Sasuke's persistent argument, they let the two in. The avian vet was a grouchy woman by the name of Aodori who did not care if she hurt anyone else as long as they were not a bird. Whenever she met an injured bird, she would care for it, all the while cooing at it sweetly. She bound her long brown hair back in a topknot, and had sharp brown eyes that peered through semicircular glasses. When Aodori saw the condition Leaf's wings were in, she chewed Sasuke out about how he should have stopped Leaf from hurting his precious wings. Then she quickly shoved Sasuke out of the room and slammed the door directly in his face as he turned around to protest. Almost before turning back around Aodori began cooing about how beautiful poor little Leaf was.

After what seemed like forever to Sasuke, Aodori reemerged to give him a strong lecture on the proper care and treatment of owls. Then she let Sasuke back into the room and handed Leaf to him. Leaf was wraped in a royal blue towl made of the softest Egyptian cotton. Leaf looked rather peeved, but did not say anything. Careful to not displease Aodori any more than he already had, Sasuke left the aviary with Leaf still wraped up in the overly extravagant towel.

Not sure what to do with Leaf, Sasuke brought him home. Leaf, still indignant from being manhandled so much, refused to speak until after Sasuke had wound through the alley ways and locked himself in his room. Once they were safely inside, Sasuke discovered that he was very hungry, so he set off to the cafeteria to get some food. Leaf moped the whole time he was away. By the time Sasuke got back with a plate of yakisoba, a bowl of rice and a health serving of fruit, Leaf had shed his towel and rearranged it into a nest on Sasuke's bed.

Sasuke sat down at his small table, and began to eat after a brief prayer. All the while Leaf glared at Sasuke from his glistening royal blue nest; a single round bundle of ruffed up feathers with two small piercing deep brown eyes. It was when Sasuke was picking upn a particularly large bit of carrot up with his chopsticks that Leaf finally spoke.

"That was traumatic." Leaf said shortly.

Sasuke had almost forgot the owl could talk and jumped slightly. "You were the one who wanted to follow me around." He pointed out.

"Yeah, I suppose." Leaf agreed softly.

There was a long awkward silence. Owl and boy looked at one another, waiting for the other to speak first.

"You know," Leaf began, "I would really like to get some real bedding. Maybe some soft moss or rabbit fur. That vet meant well, but I think she must have stared at the moon too long when she was a chick."

Somehow, despite Sasuke's grief and frustration over the loss of his entire clan, Sasuke managed a short snorting laugh.

"I think I will have to agree with you there." He said.

Leaf ruffled his feathers stiffly. Grimacing from the pain in his wings, he said, "good to hear that you finally agree with me on something."

Sasuke's meal was getting cold, so he turned back to eating it. For the first time in days he found that he had the apatite to finish it. He offered some of the fried pork from his yakisoba to Leaf, but he declined saying that cooked food was bad for the gizzard. The two began to discuss their lives with each other.

Leaf, the second son of Swooping Mouse Kill the Queen of Ural Owls, had almost lost his life to his insane uncle even before he was fully fledged. For some unknown reason Leaf's uncle, Mighty Night Cloud, had decided that Leaf, his brother, Bobbing Oak Twig, and sister, Singing Brown Acorn, were some kind of "oversized winged termites" and needed to be exterminated. Unfortunately Leaf's father, Jumping Squirrel Foot, only managed to stop Mighty Night Cloud after he had killed Leaf's siblings. Jumping Squirrel Foot had then fought Mighty Night Cloud to the death. Jumping Squirrel Foot had won the fight, but later died from the severity of his battle wounds, leaving Leaf with only his mother.

Sasuke listened to Leaf's story and wondered what it would feel like to have most of your family killed off in such a way. In the end, Sasuke decided that it would not be nearly as traumatic as what he had gone through. To prove his point, Sasuke told Leaf all about how his brother, Itachi, had massacred the entire Uchiha clan except for Sasuke and himself for no apparent reason other than rebellion and power.

Leaf listened attentively taking great interest in Sasuke's words. He realized that this was exactly why Sasuke had been mopping about in Training Ground Fourteen. It was indeed a tragic story, but Leaf was sure it was not as tragic as his own.

When Sasuke finished his tale of woe, Leaf stated his opinion, and the two began to argue about who's life sucked more. Eventually the arguments the two threw at one another became more and more ridiculous. The arguments became so ridiculous that Sasuke and Leaf stopped arguing about their horrible lives in favor of seeing who could come up with the most insulting thing they could say to Ishimura Sensei if either of them ever picked up enough courage to say it to his face. Their competition went on until the sun slid down beneath the horizon and their voices became silent.

For a long moment, the unlikely pair looked into the other's eyes; Sasuke began to see the bond that had begun to form between them during the trials of the last few hours.

"Come on," Sasuke said finally, "let's go find something for you to eat, and some good soft moss for your bedding."

As if the two were one, Sasuke arose from his empty tray, and Leaf fluttered over to him and hopped onto his shoulder. Together, boy and owl left the orphanage, and set off down the darkened alleyways in search of mice and voles.

The End