So long, but never Goodbye. {P, IO, NK}

With a crimson flash, the young Uchiha would appear. Styled in her white haori with the proud Uchiha symbol on the back, underneath she had the usual black leggings with a normal black tank top. Her straw sandals crunched the dirt beneath her feet as she felt her body connect with real, solid ground.

She had just finished her discussion with her mother, and well...she wasn't happy. She had to say goodbye to the leaf. She had to let her friend know...even if it hurt both of them...the least she could do was give him the respect and tell him face to face.

The little princess looked tired and worn, her movements sluggish as she walked about the village saying her last goodbyes in one final patrol.

The village had been silent. The young ninja had seen none of his friends within the village and though he had wanted to go and see his friend Jason, he had doubts about it. Now he had been worried about Ashie as well though he had not seen her in a while since his journey out of the village. So many thoughts plagued his mind to the point where the other half of him mentally consoled him and yet...it wasn't enough. The pair had been in a state of confusion since their minds became one," What are we doing here? What shall we do about this?," he asked himself or rather themselves as they leaned into the bench that had adorned the road of the village.

His eyes had been closed for a moment or two, the blessing of the new eyes bestowed to him by the now deceased doctor made him worry about something, yet with his knowledge on them there had to have been a higher power to them. Along with the other bloodline coursing within him, he felt like a little cocktail waiting to explode but wait...something had been approaching. Opening the coal snake like eyes, they would flicker left and right before smiling and closing them again knowing this chakra signature all to well. Once she had came within distance of him, he would allow his chakra to rise only so that she knew it was him, though his appearance had changed he had still be the same one she had befriended.

With a simple smile he looked to her and simply spoke," Hey Ashie."

Ashie jolted, she was getting to distracted with things, she didn't even notice her best friend. She turned to see him sitting on the bench, he looked...different. She couldn't wrap her thoughts around it she was already scared to see his reaction.

"Hey Zero, I'm glad I caught you, I uhm...I have some news so...stay seated because well, just stay seated." The girl was already getting flustered, she cleared her throat, their eyes were leveled since she was so short, Zero sitting down made him the same height.

"I-I'm....going to be moving with my uncle Koroshi, in Sunagakure. My u-uhm..." She looked down her bangs hiding her face as a tear had managed to make a break down her face, until it patted the dirt beneath her. "My uncles...Echo and Navi...were killed in battle...S-So, my dad thinks it would be healthy to spend time with my other uncle." Her speech was no longer the adult-like tone that she had always carried, now it was one of pure sorrow.

She was scared now, she didn't want to leave, she wanted anything but that, but maybe Ashie could become stronger from this move. She looked up at her friend, eyes streaming with tears.

He didn't know what was going on, her tone and facial expression meant that something was off and for that he paid attention keeping his eyes locked with hers as he waited for the news. When she began to tell him that she would be moving to Sunagakure to live with her other uncle, the news itself made his heart sink abit and his mind waver. He didn't want to lose yet another friend though...he could always go and see her couldn't he? It was when she had further elaborated on what had happened he...Stopped smiling altogether and moved to hug the girl who needed it a lot.

His body knelt before her as he hugged her, making it not tight yet full of emotion. He was no longer mad at the fact that his friend would be leaving him, no. He wanted to console her to let it be known that even if she had left, he would be there for her. For a moment he would hug her before stepping back just a bit to look her in the eyes as he spoke," I do not fault your father for giving you this opportunity to live with your other uncle. Loss...Is a terrible thing especially at a young age with someone...or rather those who you were so close to. Do not worry Ashie I will always remain your friend and besides you'll still have Tibbers with you," he knew that leaving friends behind would be a tough adjustment, but he'd always be there.

The small girl gasped, she felt her face meet his shoulder as he hugged her, she leaned in. She was breaking her shinobi way, she was suppose to be strong no matter what. She cringed when she realized that she had his bear friend, "Zero, I want you to take tibbers back, it's nothing against either you or tibbers, in Suna, there will be no shade or river for him to grab some fish in. It's not the right enviornment for him. I want you to have him so you can still have your buddy and so he will live healthy. I...part of me wants you to come with but....I could never ask that of anyone."

She sniffled and raised her right hand to rub her eyes. As she rubbed her arm across her eyes her father's words kept repeating in her head, 'Do not activate your eyes again, you have something more powerful and dangerous than the Sharingan itself and you can't control it yet.' She had to show Zero, maybe...just maybe if he saw the monster that everyone feared. He would save himself  the pain of being her friend. She lowered her arm, no, she had to listen to her father, she couldn't chance endangering her friend.

She looked up at Zero before taking a breath, she still needed to tell him, "Zero, long ago, when my clan was reduced to only two members, there was a power amongst the bloodline known as, Mongekyou Sharingan. I've never told you...but since I am born from Uchiha and Hyuuga bloodline, I am a mutt. I have the power of what my parents call, Masutaai." She took another breath, "You cannot let anyone know, the Masutaai is both, a diluted Sharingan and a diluted Byakugan. I can see chakra networks as well as an increased move prediction; though its not as strong as the originators. My brother and I...we have an evolved form...something we don't even know the first step of controlling. I would show you, but I promised my father I wouldn't activate it unless its necessary, I cannot chance losing control and hurting you..."

She was looking at her friend's expression, hoping that, he would understand. Ashie could always trust in Zero, his hug, proved it. The fact that he gave her his bear, also proved that Zero trusted Ashie, and she wasn't about to break that bond.

When she had considered giving Tibbers back to him he had smiled and shook his head lightly,"I think he'd just follow you regardless Ashie. He marks the bond between us and even if its sand or water, he will be happy with you regardless. I don't mind traveling to Suna to come and see you from time to time, just to have fun and hang out. The village needs me I know, but my friend is also my family and i promised to never forsake those I care for. Besides I've become a better ninja since meeting you, you've shown me that... I still have these emotions that make me human and i'll always treasure them," he knew that he wouldn't want to take Tibbers from her and if need be he would go to Suna to see her at the mention of a letter.

When she had mentioned her upbringing he couldn't help but wonder what it had been like for her...isolated and treated like a monster. Yet he understood all to well. As she asked him to keep quiet about it he would simply begin to speak," My mentor and student were both of the Uchiha...I looked up to them for strength and guidance and...sometimes I wanted to see the world through their eyes. I vowed that I would take their examples and live them," he knew that he would need to stop and sigh before rubbing her head gently," its alright Ashie. I promise I will be here for you regardless of where you go," smiling he would remain near her knowing that she needed it the most.

Human. Something Ashie no longer feels, she new her body was mortal, but her power wasn't. She felt bad separating Zero from his friend, but if Zero said it were okay Ashie wasn't going to push the matter.

"I'm glad...you're my only friend here Zero. My uncles died for the peace of this world, if humans were still scared of my family..." Her head would lower and her tone would turn dark, not like the Ashie from before, but one that has no feelings for this world, "It would be a sin, a sin punishable by death." She looked up at Zero her smile had faded into a soft frown.

"Zero...my uncle is going to train me and my brother, and I don't...I still don't understand why MY uncle had to die to show you're world that we were human too. But I hate this world...fearing the people who were trying to protect them and show them that we weren't bad. My father...isn't the same anymore...he lost his spirit because of this...now we have to suffer for this world's fear."

Her hands were tightening into fists, she was desperately telling herself to stop, to put her hatred aside, but she couldn't, she could stop herself from dishonoring her uncle's death by breaking the peace...but she couldn't stop how she felt. "The death of my uncle's broke my family...now...now I want revenge. Not on the man who killed my uncle, but on this world."

Her struggle started to show, more tears fell from her eyes as she leaned on her friend, she was conflicted, sad, angry and scared. "But I can't...at the same time...my brother showed me how beautiful this world can be...you've showed me how compassionate shinobi can be. I don't know how to change how I feel...and I HATE it!"

The princess was breaking, something she only told her mother, but she felt like she needed to share this with someone who wasn't family, someone who didn't know what she was, and who her family was. Her father who would've rained fire over this world, her mother who would've broken at the site, and her brother...would probably still hate their father. "Zero...I just, don't know what to do! My brother hates my father, my father...my mom...everything is falling apart..." She couldn't stop herself now, she was sobbing and she felt like the worst.

Zero had understood where she was coming from, though he did not know who exactly her uncles were but to him losing family could make even the best of shinobi crack with ease. The more she had spoke, the more he had come to learn about her. He didn't see her as anything more than a human in itself and yet her family must have been regarded as those that had transcended the will of humans themselves...Did that mean that she was the daughter of the great Hokage of the leaf? Right now that been the wrong question as he could see a transformation happening within his own friend much like he had went through just recently. He didn't know how to console one who had just recently lost her family and even though he wanted to attempt to help her, he had to ask himself what could he do?

He listened in silence changing his sitting position to where he was kneeling on both knees like that of an ancient samurai, his coal black eyes staring at her for a moment before speaking. As he spoke however she would be able to here a very distinct split within his voice as he did so," Ashie...This world fears what it does not understand and when faced with things it cannot understand their minds go...into such a state, but," the two voices came back together to create a deeper, more wise voice as he continued," You can be the one to show this world through your example, that you ...and your family are like us and there is nothing to fear. My uncle once told me that when what we fear is understood we no longer fear it, instead we confide in it and try to understand it more," because of this melding of mind and body, he understood more than what his age had instilled into him.

He couldn't help how she had felt and what was worse was that as a friend he had nothing he could say and yet he knew what was needed. Taking her hands into his he would press them into two locations. One would be where his heart would be and the other onto his head as he spoke," Let your sorrows be passed onto me and your worries stored within my body. You aren't alone Ashie...I am your friend, a vessel you can confide in and allow your pain to flow into me. You don't have to shoulder it alone anymore...i've long since been myself and am now a simple vessel in which those close to 'us' can be safe," he stood there looking into her eyes, there was a somber silver glow about them as he smiled, the smile shared between one who had been upon deaths throne and came back.

The little shinobi would allow her friend to guide her hands. She sniffled as time seemed to freeze for but a moment, her mother's voice playing in her head.

'Your uncle Navi was my only friend...'

Her mind started to turn about what her mother had talked about with her not too long ago, 'If I were my mother, and my husband...well if there is one out there for me, had killed Zero...how would I feel?' The answer is clear, she'd be so upset, she wasn't sure if she would forgive that husband. In her mind the inner Ashie appeared before her, 'You would want to make the world suffer wouldn't you?'

She shook her head, 'That's no different than how I feel now, but my mother, she must be conflicted like I...I shouldn't have said all those things to her...not knowing how she felt.'

Her inner self chuckled, 'But you did, you spoke how you felt, you let the fire burn.' Her inner self was growing bigger, Ashie held her chin high walked over to her inner self and pushed it gently sending it floating through the connection that Zero had made between them.

'I may have started the fire, but I will not let that fire burn the things I love.'

With those last words time seemed to have started moving normal again, Ashie's once closed eyes would open, her lips that were making a straight line had turned up into a proud, soft smile. Her chin had lifted up. She could feel Zero's heart beat under her hand as she withdrew the one placed on his head, and that had now held Zero's. "Zero, I don't know where my path is leading me, but, thank you...for walking with me. I will come back to the Leaf someday, not as a hurt girl, but maybe...maybe a stronger ninja. I might not be the head of the Uchiha, or head of ANBU, I may not be the next Hokage...but, I think someday, I'll be strong like my mom, dad and my uncles."

Ashie could feel a tear escape her left eye, not one of sadness or hurt, but one of relief and happiness. The little girl reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small bracelet, it was black thick cord bracelet with seperated wooden beads and on the top layed a metal Uchiha bead, "I want you to have this, I made this before I left, a sign that you are always welcome in my district. A true friend of the Uchiha." She held it up to him, but as her arm stretches out, her haori sleeve on her arm pulls back to reveal the same bracelet on her wrist.

His smile remained as he listened to her and simply replied," As long as I am alive I shall walk this path no matter where you go or where it leads. Everyone needs someone who will be there for the good and the bad no matter what," though he paused when he thought about Ashie becoming stronger and nodded," I can see that coming sooner than you think. One does not become strong with strength alone. It takes emotion, resolve and the will to become more than you are now...But you have already crossed that road, now its time to continue forward," When the bracelet was given to him however he paused and literally froze.

Memories flashed back to the first he was given by his first friend, a tear streaming down his face as he nodded and took the bracelet putting it on and nodding," Thank you Ashie...this means a lot to me," as he spoke he held his left hand away from the two of them, pulling out a single bone blade in which he would give to her and smile," I want you to take this with you as well. A symbol that our friendship will never fade and if you need my strength it is always with you," the single two meter blade would be handed to her if she were to take it as he smiled. It had been so long since these emotions had ran through him and for once...he had loved it.