The Breaking Point (SasukeXOC)

22

"Enough." Sasuke stayed silent, unwilling to offer any answers.

His thoughts consumed him. Memories of that night played on repeat. Anger, hatred, and pain filled his very being. He remembered how scared he felt coming face to face with Itachi and seeing the corpses of his family piled in a heap on the floor. An odd emotion made it's way into his heart. He was confused for a moment before he realized what it was.

Empathy.

Memories of that night quickly dissolved into worried thoughts. How did Miyu feel when she saw what he saw? Was she consumed by hatred too? Did she feel the pain he did?

A small hint of relief hit him when he realized how thankful he was that Miyu had come to the compound later than he. She didn't witness his brother's bloody work first hand like he did. If she had come back to the compound just a little bit earlier she would be dead by his hands too.

Then Sasuke would've truly been utterly and painfully alone.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi asked quietly once he had been silent for too long. Sasuke glanced at his teacher, oddly thankful that Kakashi-sensei pulled him from his destructive thoughts.

"It's my burden to bare." Sasuke finally spoke.

His explanation was small and limited, but Kakashi understood. Sometimes Sasuke wondered if his sensei understood loss almost as well as he did, but then he remembered that no matter what loss anyone felt it couldn't amount to the massacre of one's entire clan.

Only Miyu could understand that kind of loss.

"You won't save her any heartache. She'll find out on her own eventually. Wouldn't it be better if it came from someone she trusted who could help her through her feelings? Wouldn't it be better if it came from you?" Kakashi asked. His words were wise, but Sasuke didn't like the idea of Miyu knowing.

Miyu held the Uchiha clan with such high regard. He knew she suffered discrimination based on her diluted blood. He even recalled some nasty words being spewed about a white-haired Uchiha when he was young. If it had been him on the receiving end of that sort of hatred he didn't think he would care that the Uchiha clan is dead.

But Miyu did. He didn't want to, couldn't, taint her perception of the clan. She deserved to live in blissful ignorance.

After all, Itachi was his prey and his alone. He would face the danger and devote his life to hatred while she stayed pure and happy.

Without another word Sasuke left his sensei in bed and walked to his room.

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"Okay, team. Time to start training." Kakashi-sensei announced to our small squad. We stood in the forest close to Tazuna's house.

"Today we're going to be climbing trees." We all made a face of confusion at Kakashi-sensei.