This story was inspired by The Willow Maid by Erutan, although I will be adding my own twist to it
Long ago in the land of fire, there was a great village by the name of Konoha that was filled with many kind people of different backgrounds. The village was peaceful under the rule of their fifth leader, Queen Tsunade. Over the village she had an iron fist with a caring heart, and it is because of her nature that she had maintained the order that had once been lost after the sudden death of the third leader, King Hiruzen. Like every village of this time, they were famous for something, or perhaps it was more of a somebody in this case.
In this village there was a hunter who went by the name of Sasuke Uchiha, those who saw him would be in awe of his beauty but he in turn had no interest in anyone else. He who had skin as pale as snow with navy hair that seemed as if spun by the silkiest of silks and dyed with the night sky itself, and his cold coal eyes as dark as soot. Many people from far and wide, royalty and poverty, had come to him in hopes that he would take their daughter as his bride, only to be denied and turned away, their hopes and dreams ripped from them. This kept happening until soon no more would come to the village in hopes of marriage, but more so in hopes that he would use the women to bare his child and bring fame to their families, but he found no interest in that either. "I will have only the most beautiful woman as my bride, with her I'll raise my children, with her I will live my life.", he had explained to all that had asked regardless of how many times they asked. His hunting buddies, however, found his behavior to be saddening and pathetic, a notion that Sasuke paid no heed too.
"You'll end up dying alone being picky like that.", his friend Naruto had stated as he sat at a table in the corner of the pub with his childhood friend Sasuke. Naruto wasn't bad looking per say, but it was more of his seemingly lack of intelligence and goofiness that had scared away most of the ladies, that, or his childish love for fairytales and folklore. His skin was sun kissed with three whisker like marks on each cheek, as if the great God Apollo had shined upon him while he had been just a infant while his sister Artemis had gently marked his cheeks, his hair was as yellow as the sun above, and his eyes were as blue as the vast, salted ocean far out in the North. "What does it matter to you, aren't you in a relationship with someone anyway?", the raven haired male cocked an eyebrow as he ignored the wooden mug of beer in front of him, playfully mocking his friend. Naruto sulked and crossed his arms, "You like doing that, don't you?", he asked bitterly, pouting like a child who hadn't been allowed to go with the hunters and gatherers to help them pick berries.
The very sight had caused Sasuke to laugh, "With a face like that, how am I not suppose to love it, idiot?", he asked in a joking tone as he rolled his eyes. The blond haired male pouted even more, but the face was quick to leave when Sasuke had stood before putting a few coins on the table for his untouched drink.
"Where are you going?", a simple question.
"I'm a hunter, where else could I be going?", a simple answer, although Naruto could read between the lines.
"Look, if you intend to go into that forest you'll get in big trouble. Granny said to stay away from it.", another argument, but this one in a hushed tone. Sasuke had dreamed of going into that forest, he wanted to see things no one else had seen before.
"What's the matter? You okay there, scaredy cat?.", came the playful insult with a chuckle.
"A cat has nine lives, but it seems you're interested in only having eight. I don't know about you, but I can only take so many beatings to the head.", half playful, but seriousness clear in the air.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and brushed his friend off, "If you say so, scaredy cat.", he teased once more with a tiny chuckle before walking out of the pub. The sun was high in the sky, it was the perfect time to go out hunting, and Sasuke was in a little adventurous mood. He was quick to grab his things from his home before heading out of the village gates where, not surprisingly, no one was keeping watch. As he walked he took in his surroundings, he hadn't understood why people were always so scared to just adventure and discover great things, it was better than just sitting around the pub and talking about relationship problems. He was well aware that he was on his way to dying alone, he would admit it, his standards were high.
A beautiful girl whose beauty had outshined all of the others around him, who would give him his sons and to live his life with, it was almost like one of those things that Naruto would try to tell him about, despite Sasuke not being interested. He thought about it, what in the world had they been called? Sasuke would have assumed that he would have been able to remember it in a snap with how much Naruto had went on about them, but it was almost as if he couldn't think straight. He thought and thought about it until he had finally made it to the entrance of the forest that had been marked forbidden by the Queen. "Nymphs.", it was simple, he wasn't sure why it had taken him so long to think about it but he brushed it off, it wasn't like it had anything to do with him.
Looking at the bright and seemingly harmless forest he questioned why the Queen had kept this place off boundaries. She never said why that it was forbidden, but all she had said was that it was dangerous. Normally, Sasuke wouldn't have cared about it and would go about his business, unwilling to make an enemy out of the person who could send any man flying with just a flick to their forehead. It was a fable, in his opinion, as he had never once seen her do it. He brushed it off and ventured past the entrance into the woods, pulling out both his quiver and his bow, ready to shoot an enemy or what could be part of his supper.
It was quiet, he could really only hear the sounds of the few lone birds chirping, a gust of wind here and there, but only his footsteps in the soft grass seemed to be continuous. With a sigh he kept walking, deciding that if he didn't find anything by sundown that he would head back to the village and leave the forest where it was, but that was until he had heard something.
He hushed himself and listened, it sounded like someone was humming...no, singing, and whatever tune they were singing was beautiful. Not able to contain himself he walked towards the voice, walking deeper and deeper into the forest as the voice became clearer and clearer until he found a beautiful Hamadryad sitting in a large, ancient willow tree. He had never seen such beauty before; her beautiful navy blue hair was long and luscious as it hung on random branches on the tree like the finest silk string as she sat on one of the lower branches, her naked body, despite her enlarged chest and lower area being covered by her long hair, was covered in ivory white skin of the likes that he had never seen before, her warm doe eyes were a beautiful shade of lavender and without pupil, and her lips were plump and light pink.
She sang softly as she worked her fingers through some of her silky hair as she soaked in the sun, but in Sasuke's eyes she was grooming herself for him. She had to look her best when meeting him, as, in his mind, she was basically made for him. He stepped closer towards her and into the light that surrounded her as well as her willow tree, this causing her to snap her head up towards him as fear painted her beautiful features. The raven haired male was in awe, how was it that she could still be oh so beautiful even when she had such a look of fear over her face? Straightening himself to look presentable, he moved forward.
"Are you the owner of that beautiful voice?", he had asked her, breaking the ice.
She became hesitant, what if she were to answer yes, what would he do to her? What if she were to answer no? Would he try to kill her?
"Yes…", her voice was soft.
It made Sasuke's heart jump, her voice was beautiful even as she spoke. Walking towards her more, much to the Hamadryads' displeasure, he tried to avoid stepping on the odd red toadstools that surrounded her tree in almost a ring shape despite the other toadstools being spread out around the tree and woods seemingly at random as well and the sparkling river that seemed to ebb and flow to the far side of her tree added to the beauty surrounding her. It was almost like a fairytale when he saw them, he would be sure to ask Naruto about it later, perhaps after his wedding with the beautiful maiden.
"Do you have a name, maiden?"
A simple question, but in the forest nymphs eyes it was opening a gate to a dangerous path. Humans were a danger to creatures like her as well as to themselves, as after all, humans seemed to have a knack for destroying things be that they hated, liked, or even loved them. Hinata was no fool, she could see that he had interest in her, to him she was a beautiful girl with womanly features and he was a man with good looks who would no doubt want a bride to match. She knew many hunters over time, one of her favorites being the goddess Artemis who cared greatly for creatures such as Hinata, but she was well aware that hunters weren't always nice.
"Hinata."
She didn't bother to ask for his name, she didn't care for it and she already knew that he would tell her anyways.
"What a beautiful name…", he was in awe, "I am Konoha's best hunter Sasuke Uchiha."
As if that information was supposed to woe her he had a prideful look on his face, something that Hinata couldn't stand. Prideful people like him always wanted to be entitled to something, be it a person or a thing. His ego, however, faltered when he realized that she had no interest in who he was and if he was the best or not. He shook it off and decided to not let it get to him, after all, he wanted her to be his bride and he was sure that a weak man would do her no good.
"Hinata, come with me my maiden. Come from thy willow bed."
He tried to be smooth, adding in the 'thy' part as a way of being poetic. She looked at him serenely, shaking her head before she sang her answer to him.
"See me now, a ray of light in the moondance. See me now, I cannot leave this place. Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest. Don't ask me to follow where you lead."
She answered back to him in a similar poetic manner, but hers was much more flowing than his own, he noted that. His face soured into a frown when she sung to him. It wasn't her voice that upsetted him, no, it was the words that she had sung to him. Was she rejecting him? He couldn't understand!
Why was she not coming with him, was he not handsome to her? He hadn't the time to ask her anything before she once more started humming, but this tune was a very different one, it was airy and light, almost as if the Hamadryad was calling someone or something. He looked up into the sky and around him, looking for whatever it was that his beautiful fairy was calling, it was when her tune had changed into a darker yet peaceful one that he noticed the sky suddenly turning a pink and purple hue. Was she making it evening time? The wind had picked up, but it only seemed to be blowing towards him, pushing him back the way he had came.
It seemed as if he was pushed until he was only about a mile away from the gates of Konoha. He fell to his knees and hands in confusion, what on Earth had that been? He was shaken, much too shaken to notice that a winged figure had began her fly back to where the Hamadryad, Hinata, lay resting in her willow tree. He snarled as he stood to his feet, "Does she really think a little wind and changing the time is going to stop me?", he asked himself heatedly. He was a man who could get any woman he wanted, and the woman he wanted was her. He stormed back into the village towards his home to calm down and make a plan for the next time that he would go to that forest.
He would have his fairy no matter what.