Afternoon

Hinata sat next to Kenshin, watching the sun make his slow descent across the sky. The heavens had gained a golden glow.

A question was gnawing at her mind for days now, and she had finally worked up the nerve to ask it.

"Kenshin?"

"Yes, love?"'

"What were you like when you were still human?"

Kenshin was silent, gathering his thoughts. And then, he replied…

"If anyone had asked me that way back then, I would've shut up, told him a stern no, and stopped speaking to him…" He said to her, his voice taking on a serious tone.

Hinata felt the wind go out of her sails, but then Kenshin continued…

"I'll save that tale for later..." He said.

"If I said that I was an organized and efficient planner, I'd be lying. I was headstrong, and I tended to leap before I looked, and it cost my team our lives…"

The sun sank low in the horizon as Kenshin finished, and as the light slowly left the skies, Hinata laid her head on Kenshin's shoulder, and Kenshin placed his head on hers, silently trying to forget dredged u[p memories.

Kenshin felt her soft breath on his shoulder, and knew that she was asleep. He shifted her to his lap softly, and kissed her brow gently.

He then followed her lead, and slept as well…

Sasuke watched his team prepare for the night. He wondered if he was making the right choice. Itachi had told him to protect Konoha, and he was just going to do the opposite.

He gave everything so that I would be a hero in that village… he thought to himself.

But that village drove my brother to murder his entire family, and doomed me to be their avenger…robbing me a life I could've had, a peaceful life…

"That village took the life I would've enjoyed with my family, and for that, Konoha deserves to burn…" he whispered to himself, or so he thought.

"Why?" a voice suddenly whispered.

Sasuke turned, and activated his Sharingan. He looked about, but saw no one.

"Where are you?" he asked to the forest.

"Here in the trees." replied a female voice that sounded almost airy.

He turned and scanned the forest, but saw no one.

"Tell me why Konoha deserves to burn, there are a lot of good people in there…" asked the voice.

"My brother killed my entire family, joined the Akatsuki to become my antagonist, and he left me behind to become our family's avenger, and eventually, when I killed him, I found out that he did all of this just so I would become Konoha's Hero! I didn't want to become that damned place hero, I just want to see it in flames, let them feel some of the hate I felt in my heart all these years…" he answered to the forest.

The voice was silent for a while, and then something extraordinary happened.

A slender form materialized in front of him. It was a girl, her hair a vivid green, matching her verdant eyes. She wore a white scarf around her neck, her green long-sleeved shirt was cut off above her stomach, and her leggings were green as well. Most striking of all was the look of sadness on her beautiful face.

Sasuke was taken aback at her. She was invisible even to his Sharingan, making her a danger if she chose to attack.

Still, if she did want to kill me, she would've done it while she was invisible, and she wouldn't have shown herself to me if that was her intention…He reasoned to himself.

Still, he was wary of the newcomer…

"You're so sad, for someone so handsome…" said the girl.

She kept approaching him, and as she came closer, Sasuke prepared to fight, building up the chakra to create the Chidori Current, just in case.

He still remembered what happened the last time a stranger came to him…

The girl reached him, and wrapped her arms around him. She embraced him, and Sasuke dispelled the chakra buildup.

"There, better?" said the girl, smiling as she broke their embrace.

Sasuke was speechless. Everyone who had come close to him that were not his teammates usually tried to kill him, or try to take him back to that accursed village.

"Why did you do that?" he asked her.

"Everyone needs love in times of sadness."

"Even the enemy." She said to him.

"But they killed my family…" Sasuke whispered.

"What they did was unforgivable, but taking eye for an eye makes the world blind." She reasoned.

Eye for an eye, makes the world blind… he thought to himself.

"Hey Sasuke, who're you talking to?" asked Suigetsu.

Sasuke turned to him, and turned back to the girl, but she had vanished…