Stage Six: The Truth

The next part of my tale is not my own, and I must call upon other people to account for what happened in my absence. These are their words, their thoughts, and their feelings.

*****

Gaara

It wasn't long after finding Tsuki had disappeared that I was sent home. I found my father had been killed by Orochimaru. I didn't feel for my loss, but felt it was uncalled for. Now, we have to go through the process of finding another Kazekage.

Temari and Kankuro have often asked me about her. Every time they talk to me, her name comes up. I don't understand their desire to know. She double crossed me, and I let her. They don't need to know the details. They should just know that she tricked me, and now I intend to do the same thing.

I looked out at the moon as I thought about it. She has disappeared without a trace. Orochimaru probably sent her away. She left me as confused about myself as I have ever been, and she offered no clarification for her actions. She vanished as soon as she stepped out of my hotel room, not to be seen again. Her kiss lingered on my lips, burning through me with a hatred that I have never before known. Why hatred? I thought my first kiss would be nice. Hatred took over because I knew it was another lie and another empty promise. It's all I have ever known, but even when I thought she climbed over my inner walls of defense and tore open my heart, hate replaced the love that I thought I longed to have. Instead, I realized that all I wanted was to have the hate and anger return to me, as if I have never met her. No more confusion. No more lies.

I cannot shake the feelings that weren't of hate, no matter how small they were. The way my body reacted surprised me. Her kiss was felt all over, not just through my own lips. My heart raced faster, my stomach clenched, and I felt warm. How can she do this to me? Again, I am confused.

My confusion only leads me to hate her more. No matter how much I want to feel that sensation again, no matter how badly I want to be warm again, I can't allow her near me again. I am going to stick to the promise I made to her: I am going to kill anyone who wants to make her suffer. By the time I finish, I will know how I am going to pay her back.

I want to think that maybe she'll change, as she said she might. She said that if I could change, why couldn't she? I had to agree with it, but that is hoping. I don't hope for anything I can't control myself, and I can't control her. She is a wildcat. She is unpredictable and ferocious. Only time will tell, if anything can be told.

I could only wait, and pursue her enemies. In a way, I was determined to protect her. I am protecting her, only to tear her down myself. I won't wait for someone else to kill her before I get the chance to make her suffer myself.

*****

Neji

I watched her leave. I let her go. She was right, Konohagakure was under attack and no one even know. I didn't believe her, I didn't want to. She said it wasn't enough to redeem herself, but what does it mean for me, as I never told anyone about her warning? I feel just as bad as she must. She looked vulnerable, sitting on that rock. So small, clumsy, and afraid. I could see it in her fake, green eyes. She was frightened of what she was about to do.

I wonder if she has found what answers she was looking for, or if her fate didn't want her to know. She is a strong girl, with an interesting story to tell. I can see it in her eyes, her body, and her chakura. I would like to fight her someday, just to see what she can do with her unique strength.

Even now, as I walk the deck outside our house, I carry her purple Sound protector plate. She may have ordered me to burn it, but I can't bring myself to destroy it. It would be like destroying a piece of her.

I sat down on the polished wood. Her destiny is a strong one, because of this, she will do many great or terrible things. I cannot bear to think about what these things may be, but they are still great, they are still terrible. I can't help but wonder if she is a terrible person, but I don't know if I will ever find out. She is gone, and nothing will bring her back.

She made one friend here, and it was the person no one expected to befriend a girl. She made friends with Sasuke. Mind you, she's beautiful and charming from what I know, but Sasuke? It seems a little odd that he would turn to her. He ignores every other girl in the village who wants him, and as far as I could see, she didn't. Maybe that was the secret.

I sighed. I had seen her twice and she already has invaded my thoughts. I clutched the metal band, cutting open my palm. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I didn't know what she wanted me to do. Why has she chosen me to bear this burden?

*****

Sasuke

Tsuki had long since left us, and afterward I discovered she was working with Orochimaru. I didn't want to believe him when he told me, but he also knew about her time with Gaara. He used her against me, just to get what he wants. He used her to pain me just as much as this mark. It was a trap all along, and I fell for it. She set me up, and I loved her. I can't believe she got to me. I can't bear it. She couldn't have done much worse if she tried.

Some say she went off with Itachi when he came. This would be the only worse thing she could have done. I hope she didn't, but now, I don't know what she would or would not do. She doesn't realize her level of betrayal. I feel violated.

She was the person who knew me the most, the only one I dared to let in, all because I thought she would know what it was like. She looked away from me when everyone pushed me into the limelight. She didn't care about me, and that was what attracted me to her in the first place. She didn't like me.

She was like me. She told me of her parent's murder and of her broken memories. She told me that she was a slave to her forgotten past, and now I have guessed what she meant. Orochimaru had her bound to his side, and from what I know of her, she doesn't like being bound. She is a free spirit, like an eagle. She doesn't let anything hold her back if she wants it bad enough. She wants freedom, I could see it in her eyes.

Now, it seems she is a missing ninja. No one saw her leave, no one heard her leave, and not many people knew of her at all. She did her job well: not many knew of her, she blended in while standing out, she adapted well, she was trustful on the surface, and she kept quiet. She didn't draw attention, but that makes it all the harder to track her down.

I wish I knew how to think like her. All I know is that if I were in her shoes, I would seek the Akatsuki and destroy the men who destroyed my family. That is what I am doing, though. Maybe I should focus on this, and when I kill Itachi, I will find her, covered in her enemy's blood as well.

*****

I looked out at the forest around me. I was sure most of it was genjutsu, bending the illusion around the lair itself, making it impossible to find unless you knew it was here. There was no way for me to find my way out of that forest on my own. I already had my plan of escape. I had been here for three days already. It wouldn't be much longer.

I was bound to Itachi and forced to wear his bell as an earring as long as I was around anyone other than Itachi and Kisame. No one else could see me without it, because it meant that he had given me up. If that were to happen, someone else would take me. There were some twisted minds among the Akatsuki, most of which I wouldn't like being around for more than a few seconds.

I have observed everyone I have come across. Itachi was the one I knew the most about, from Sasuke and from my first hand experience. He is silent and thoughtful, wise, courteous, and analytical. He thinks of everything before making his move. Kisame is a fighter. He likes to battle anyone and everyone, and it seems that he only respects me because of Itachi. It doesn't matter to me. Hidan is a religious man who doesn't respect anyone at all. I have never met anyone so different from myself. The only thing we have in common is swearing, which I do occasionally. Pein is something else, but he still thinks of himself as a god. He has a troubled mind, and wants everyone else to feel as he does. Kakuzu is a material man, who thinks the only things that are constant in life is death and taxes, even though he has found "immortality." Zetsu is a character. His two sides confuse me, as I don't understand how someone can argue with themselves on everything imaginable. It's just queer. Deidara is artistic and strange, hot headed, sadistic in his fighting, and annoyed. Sasori is quiet, distant, and seemingly wooden. He reminded me of Kankuro without the ego. There is another woman here, but I have yet to see her. I can only smell her when Pein walks through the room. She is a mystery to me, and I don't want to solve it.

Itachi has taken to being more confusing. He drops hints at my past being intertwined with his, even though he has no reason to. I don't quite get his motives, but I must be patient. He keeps getting impatient when I shoot down his attempts at lies to me. Either he is a really bad liar, or I am just really bad at remembering. I can't remember anything of my childhood, but can only rely on Orochimaru. Why would he lie to me? Right, because he is Orochimaru. I still would remember Itachi, or at least get the feeling of deja vu around him. I don't get either.

"Tsuki," Itachi called to me.

I looked up from the book I was reading in response.

"Give me the bell," he ordered.

I reached for my ear and pulled the bell out, then tossed it to him.

"When was the last time you really looked at it?"

"When I was in Suna, I guess. Why?"

He tossed it back to me. "Study it."

I looked at it; it seemed as it did when I was in Sunagakure. A small bell that looked as though it came from my porcelain doll that my mother gave to me was attached to the end, with wood beads painted blue on red string. No different than it looked when I studied it the first time, the last time, or any other times in between. There was a small scratch in the last bead, but that was it. "I don't see anything different," I confirmed.

"Nothing at all?" he asked.

"There's a small scratch on the bottom bead, but that is all I can see."

"It isn't a scratch from accident. It's a carving."

I looked at it again, squinting at the tiny line. Indeed, it was a carving of a kanji symbol: the symbol of my name. It was obscured by time and the paint had filled it, as if to hide the symbol. "How did my name get there?" I asked.

"Think about it," he instructed.

I couldn't remember anything. I threw the bell at the back of his head after he turned around and sat on the bed, reading the book he asked me to put down to find my name carved in a bead on a string with my porcelain doll's bell. I had to accept that I made that stupid bell thing, that he got it somehow, and that our pasts were, in fact, intertwined. I hate when I am proven wrong. "So you were right, and I did make this. Where is the doll that the bell came off of?" I asked.

"I left it."

"Left it where?"

"The compound," he answered.

"You mean Sasuke has it?"

"No, he doesn't have it. It's where I kept you."

"Like an animal?"

"You don't remember?" he asked

"I don't remember anything!" I shouted.

He sighed. "Calm down, Tsuki." He knocked over an ink well, causing it to shatter on the floor, sending porcelain shards everywhere.

That sound was like flipping a light switch in my memory. I saw the Uchiha compound, from the inside. People were all around me, looking at me with strange and curious eyes. I shifted my little black back pack in discomfort. All of them had eyes that were black in colour, even through some of them were warm with kindness. I was alone, and I was very lost. I had to keep walking though, to find my way out of this maze of people. I didn't like people, and I was afraid, with the memory of my family's slaughter still in my mind.

I saw a little boy walking alone, just like me. I called out to him, pleading for him to stop. He looked back at me, startled at my bright red hair and coloured eyes.

"I'm lost," I told him. "I can't find my way back out."

He pointed east, away from the direction I was going in the first place. He then continued to walk away from me, silent.

"Thank you," I called after him, but he was engulfed in the crowd. I turned east and walked, keeping my head down. Tears began to slide down my cheeks as I felt alone in this foreign world. I quickly bumped into someone.

"You seem lost," a boy stated. I looked up into the eyes of Itachi Uchiha.

"I was lost, and I need to get out of here. I have to go," I told him.

"Why are you here?" he asked. "You aren't an Uchiha."

"No, I'm not and I was lost. I'm not anymore and I need to go home," I lied.

"Where is your home?" he asked me.

I stumbled, looking for another lie. I pointed to the tallest building I could see behind him. He looked at where I was pointing.

"The Hokage's office?" he asked, laughing. "You really are lost."

"I am not, my house is right behind it."

"There isn't a house behind the Hokage's office. A couple blocks away, maybe."

"Yes, that's it. A couple of blocks away," I laughed.

"You're just afraid," he told me. "I'll take you home."

"No, really, I'm fine. I have to go home. My mom is worried about-" I couldn't finish, because I knew my mother was dead. I started crying uncontrollably, running from Itachi. I heard him behind me, but had to get away. I turned into an ally-way, not knowing it was a dead end. I dropped my bag, hearing the sound of my doll breaking inside. I couldn't even see anymore, but I felt his hand on my shoulder. I screamed and tried to push him away from me, but I was too weak.

"What is wrong?" he asked.

"Leave me alone!" I screamed. "I don't need your help!" I pushed at him again, but he wouldn't let go. "Leave me alone!!" I screamed again.

People began appearing from the sides of houses, asking things like, "What's going on," or "Itachi, what happened?"

"What don't you need help with?" he asked.

"I can find my own way, just leave me alone!"

Someone approached Itachi. "What is going on?"

Itachi looked up and answered, "This girl showed up on our compound claiming she's lost. She wants to go home, but I don't think she knows where home is. She pointed to the Hokage when I asked. I'm sorry for the disturbance, Father."

I looked up at the man in fear. His eyes weren't kind at all. They were cold and dark, hiding something from all who looked into them. I struggled away from Itachi, screaming, "Let me go!" in his ear.

His father replied to his explanation, "Take her back to your mother, and I'll go talk to the Hokage to see if anyone has filed a report. Tell your mother to get her something to drink and to wrap her in a blanket. She'll be fine, but she's still in shock."

Itachi nodded and picked me up (resulting in me screaming bloody murder). He walked slowly and fluidly away from the ally, and the onlookers. I cried myself to sleep in his arms, not feeling endangered anymore.

I looked at Itachi. Fear clouded my mind as I evaluated this memory. My world was being tipped upside-down and I wasn't wearing a seat belt on this roller-coaster. "Why do you remember, but I didn't?" I asked. "And why didn't Sasuke say anything?"

"I don't think he remembers either," Itachi confessed. "I think that me killing the family blocked everything he remembered about you. What did you see?"

I looked down at the shattered bottle that triggered the memory. "I saw me, and then Sasuke, you and your father. I was lost and wanted to go home, but I didn't have a home, did I?" I asked.

"No one filed a missing person's report with the Hokage, and everyone we asked didn't know anything about you. It was that, and you kept turning into an animal at night. No one wanted you because they were afraid, so I kept you in our own section of the compound."

"I don't remember turning into an animal at night," I told him. "That sounds like it came out of a story book."

Itachi went to the wardrobe that sat in the far corner of his room. He shuffled around for a moment, then returned with a folded up piece of paper. "You might not remember, but I have some proof."

"About time," I answered. He handed me the paper, which was a picture. I unfolded it and looked, to gasp. A tiger stared back at me, with the same colour fur as my hair and my eyes, snarling at who ever was taking the picture.

"I took that three nights after you came to us," he explained. "I thought it might be useful to the Hokage. Father wouldn't let me take it to him. He figured you weren't a threat to people, and it was best to keep you a secret. That was when he said you should be kept on the compound, and my responsibility."

I looked down at the photo. "How often did this happen?" I asked

"Every night, almost as soon as the sun went down. Maybe within the hour of the rise of the north star."

"I don't know what to make of this, I have no recollection of transforming into a monster."

"A monster? No, you wouldn't hurt a fly. You were playful. You wished to continue your study, but Father wouldn't let you off the compound. I had to teach you everything myself."

I didn't know how to react to this, other than I was free-falling from my roller-coaster.