Hakura's eyes softened and she smiled at Sasuke and Sasuke closed his tired eyes.

"I just pray you're not lying to me," Sasuke said under his breath as if it was meant to only be heard by him.

Hakura giggled and got up on her feet and reached her hand down to help Sasuke up and the boy took her hand. As she pulled Sasuke up, a huge bond, stronger than any other bond created, was formed silently. Neither one of them had to speak, for they knew what each other was thinking. They knew they each were telling the truth and there was no denying it. Sasuke smiled and felt his body harden. Not harden in a sickening way, but in a warm way; his body was gathering stored energy that had long been hidden from his childhood.

"Shall we?" Hakura said pointing back at the woods they had just ran through.

Sasuke seemed to hesitate and that worried Hakura.

"Does he not trust me now?"

Then Sasuke picked back up and looked at the girl.

"That girl," Sasuke began.

"You mean Akane?" Hakura finished.

"Yeah, what was the deal with her?"

"I don't know, you're the one who pissed her off," Hakura said as they started back to the house.

Sasuke dropped the subject and they had a few minutes of walking silently when the silence became a little tense.

"Do you know…what I've done?" Sasuke said looking at the girl with firm eyes.

Hakura's eyes darkened a little.

"I know a lot of what you've done. But I may not know all of it. Mind spillin'?" Hakura asked smiling.

Sasuke flashed one of his famous smirks and stopped walking. Once Hakura stopped too, he looked at her firmly and never dropped her gaze.

"I left my village, nearly killed my best friend, left another close friend and probably got a lot of people killed by me leaving. And now here I am with you, not with the person who can give me power," Sasuke said turning a little angry.

Hakura must have picked up on Sasuke's mood change and she began to sweat and started to fidget nervously.

"No, Sasuke you're wrong. Orochimaru can't give you power!" Hakura said trying her best to be persuasive.

"What do you know about Orochimaru?" Sasuke said getting angrier by the second.

"What do you know about Orochimaru?! He could be a pedophile for all we know!" Hakura said flinging her arms in the air trying to be as dramatic as possible.

"Quit taking this so lightly! If you really are Hakura than you should understand why I feel this way! Itachi betrayed us! He killed our family! Hell, you're an Uchiha yourself yet you are letting Itachi slip away untouched!" Sasuke yelled.

Hakura looked Sasuke in the eyes and sighed heavily. Then looked back up at the boy she swore to protect.

"It wasn't Itachi's fault," Hakura tried to explain.

"Oh, sure it wasn't! He slaughtered everybody by accident!" Sasuke said so sarcastically that he sounded serious.

Hakura narrowed her eyes and glared at Sasuke, becoming a little angry herself.

"You are so stubborn! If you would at least hear my out, then we can discuss this matter!" Hakura yelled.

"What more do you have to tell me?! Why are you covering for Itachi?!" Sasuke yelled back.

"Because I know that Itachi isn't responsible."

Hakura turned away from Sasuke and paced back and forth, thinking of something, anything, to get the young Uchiha to listen to her.

"Sasuke. I'm about to tell you something that will change your life forever," Hakura said.

"What? That you're actually my mother too?" Sasuke said bitterly.

Hakura slapped Sasuke across the face and he reared back to hit her but stopped. The look in her eyes told him to stop. He didn't want to hit her. His mind told him to beat the crap out of her until she couldn't move, but his heart said to stop and listen to her. Why should he listen to her? She just slapped him!

The two stared at each other, in shock. Hakura's eyes were glassy as if she was about to cry, but she wouldn't dare cry. Not Hakura Uchiha, she never cried. Sasuke lowered his arm and turned away from the girl.

"Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't want to hit you but I had to get you to listen to me," Hakura pleaded.

"It's ok. Go ahead and tell me," Sasuke said softening up a little.

"Ok. First of all, the stories you heard about Itachi were probably not true. Well, not entirely true. Yes, Itachi did kill the Uchiha clan, but he was ordered to kill them. Danzo, ordered Itachi Uchiha to kill his family. But, Itachi couldn't bring himself to kill his little brother, you, and so they made a deal. Sasuke would be spared but Itachi would have to leave the village and never come back. Itachi was supposed to have killed me too, but Itachi couldn't bring himself to. So he told me to run. To run away and never look back. So I did. I ran and ran," Hakura began.

"So Itachi was ordered to kill everyone?" Sasuke asked bewildered and almost a little too calmly.

"Basically," Hakura nodded.

Sasuke broke out laughing hysterically again and Hakura's heart sank.

"You're funny!"

"Yeah, well you're funny looking, Sasuke! Quit being such a dork and listen to me! It's the truth!" Hakura tried desperately to get Sasuke to listen to her.

Sasuke looked at the girl for a long time, studying her face, looking for a sign of lying or deceiving. But Sasuke couldn't find anything in the girl's honest face. There was no line or trace to be seen of lying. Her eyes told the truth, which somehow, seemed to help Sasuke.

"You…you're telling the truth, aren't you?" Sasuke said quietly.

"Yes she is," came a voice from behind. It was a familiar voice that both Sasuke and Hakura recognized.

"…Itachi…"