Lalin

You have to be a brat in order to carve out your parameters, and you have to be a monster to anyone who gets in your way. But sometimes it's difficult to know when that's necessary and when you're just being a baby, throwing your rattle from the cage.

- Paul Thomas Anderson

Phase I
Part VIII

Ai was ten when Sora was betrothed.

The fourteen year old waited enthusiastically by the door for her knight in shining armor to come rescue her from the horror that had become her existence. She hadn't transformed in over two years, which was an excellent benefactor on her inner-physical being, but on the outside, along with mentally, it was tearing her apart.

Actually, it was Ai who was tearing her apart. Piece by piece, the little girl took away a part of Sora's life every time the New Moon came around.

But she couldn't blame her - couldn't blame the evil deeds and harsh stares, couldn't blame her ten year old sister for resenting her for what she had to endure just so Sora could live a normal life. Ai got the horrible end of the deal, Sora just had to deal with the repercussions of the matter.

But now - now she had an escape. Now she had a knight, a way out of this horrible life and away from her parents who had turned her beautiful baby sister into a teeth baring monster. Away from Ai, she would transform every month, but her body's ache was just a small price to pay for her sanity.

The first thing she noticed was his golden eyes, and how unnatural they looked against his pale skin. He was only a few inches taller than her, and though she knew he was only sixteen his face looked aged and worn out in a handsome sort of way.

He came with his father, a noble of a land she had yet to know the name of, and he wore his face stern. She didn't mind though, this would be her escape, her new family, her -

liability.

Her eyes softened when she realized that this boy would be marrying into her family, and exiling them completely was out of the question. She loved them all, to a certain extent, but this what arranged by them... and they could take him away if she stepped out of line, but if she didn't...

The young girl gulped. Her sister would...

What would she do?

"Are you going to let us in, Seishin-chan?" the older of the two asked after the moment of silence.

Sora's blue eyes widened and she stepped aside, allowing the two the enter their home.

"My father hasn't returned yet, and my Mother's running errands. Can I get you some tea while you wait?"

"That would be lovely, thank you," the man said as the two took a seat at the counter.

"Whose this?" The younger boy asked, and for a moment Sora's heart dropped thinking that Ai had returned. All of the questions that she could not answer flooded through her mind as her hands began to shake around the teapot, but she quickly stopped as she realized the boy had been referring to the small black mop of fur positioned at his feet. With a sigh of relief, the girl smiled, setting two tea cups on the counter.

"Evie," she responded with a small smile. "She's my partner."

The boy nodded, not asking any more questions. To Sora, it was a relief; explaining the circumstances behind Evie would only scare him off. She had not considered the possibility that he could have already known.

"You're not going to beg for your life?"

The woman looked up from her spot on the ground. She leaning against the wall, her ankles and wrists chained together and held down by blocks of metal. They had reached Orochimaru's base an hour ago, and Ai had tied her up and left Sasuke on guard while she went to relay the information to her supposed Leader. It shocked Sora that Ai would be following anybody - she had never been the type to take orders, but of course the world could be a cruel place and even the scariest of people needed protection.

It only made her wonder what Orochimaru could possibly be like, for her sister of all people to trust in his protection.

"With what's she's planning… death would be a blessing considering the other possibility."

Sasuke clenched his fists at his sides.

"What makes your life so worthless? How can you throw it away for someone like her?" he stopped, re-assessing whether or not his next choice of words were necessary. He said them anyway. "She killed your entire family. Everyone you loved... gone, because of her."

Just like Itachi, but he couldn't say it.

"What you don't realize, is that we killed her first."

"Excuse me?"

"Imagine... you're the older brother. There is this beautiful baby in front of you. She's pure and innocent, so much that it's leaked into her physical being... and then you take this perfect little girl and you twist her until she becomes... well, this. Everything Ai has become is because of our family, because of me. I've taken everything from her... I can't resent her for doing the same to me."

When Sasuke was silent she spoke again.

"I even took her name, you know. It's Lalin. Child of the Moon."

"And she wants to destroy it?"

He was confused now more than ever. He knew Ai was childish, but could have never imagined that anyone would go to such extremes just to completely murder any indication of their past. He knew his decisions were questionable, and though they followed the same wave length, leaving his village could never compare to destroying something that wasn't even of the planet.

"Of course she does. It's the very thing that takes away what makes her real."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

Sora stopped, contemplating her words, and smiled sadly behind the shadows.

"Because I don't want you to think of her as a monster. There's... humanity behind her, it's just locked itself away."

"She killed her family," Sasuke repeated again, as if the girl in front of him didn't know. As if she wasn't there. "That took away the last of her humanity, if she ever had it to begin with."

"You are so convinced you know her."

He stopped, his eyes narrowing.

"Tell me," Sora asked. "Do you truly believe you know her... or are you trying to give yourself reason not to?"

"I found my Sun, Oro-chee. Aren't you so excited? You're almost free of me!"

She was sitting on the steps that led up to the elevated portion of the dining area, or what would have been a dining area if the base had any home-like qualities at all. Her hair was thrown up in a bun, her cloak thrown off to the side revealing her body in all it's bandaged glory. Only now did she look like the kunoichi she had intended to be, instead of a drowning rat in excess cloth and untamed hair.

Orochimaru's smirk hid his thoughts. Had the time really come already? Had their deal really been completed in only a matter of years? Where would she go now, if not with him? She didn't belong anywhere, could never fit in to the world as a normal civilian, and could never become a shinobi for any village. If she wandered, she would be killed eventually; if she hid, she would kill herself simply out of boredom.

Ai was crazy, but she was not stupid, which only made him wonder what she could be planning.

"How exciting," he replied.

"You don't sound very excited," she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest and closing her eyes. "What? Did you expect me to stay here forever? I have to grow up eventually. I can't be a kid forever."

You have never been a child, he wanted to say. Children can be taught; they can be changed, manipulated and shaped into whoever the creator wanted them to be. Ai had always been molded a certain way, and there was no changing it.

She was a wonderful asset to have, but a terrible one to keep because her wants and needs could not be changed to fit his. Not like Kabuto's, not like Sasuke's. Ai would always look out for Ai, just like Orochimaru would always look out for Orochimaru. There was no changing it.

But that didn't mean he wouldn't try.

"I'm just wondering how my end of the deal will play out," Orochimaru laughed. "What can you really offer me, Ai? When I already have just about everything I could ever need."

She narrowed her eyes.

"What are you saying?" Her voice was cracking now.

"What am I saying?" he laughed again, though this time it was more sinister. Ai stood up, her fists clenched in frustration and her teeth ground so tightly together she could feel the specks of bone in her mouth coming off like sawdust. He couldn't, wouldn't, this wasn't part of the deal, wasn't part of her plan - Orochimaru was weak, the only redeemable quality about him was his brain; it's the only reason she left Akatsuki to begin with. He was weak but he was an excellent observer, and because of that he would be the perfect candidate to perform her ritual. He would find her a Sun, because they were so rare, and then he would perform the ritual for her and destroy the Moon. And in return she would tell him everything he needed to know about his opponents, about the people he wanted to study. She would tell him everything she knew, everything the Moon saw would play right in to his hands until the day she was free...

Free, free... she was almost free. And now he wanted to take that freedom away from her.

The shadows had already begun to crawl from her feet and they were racing towards Orochimaru.

There was a piercing scream and then everything went black.

End of Phase I