This is a request for beanie300. Sorry it took so long! ^^'

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Seeking Solace

Written by chockitta

Prologue

Life isn't fair, I can tell you that for a fact.

Fairytale princesses always have a perfect life; they spend the first seventeen or eighteen years living normally; and then they are suddenly swept off their feet by a handsome prince, completely out of nowhere. The prince and soon-to-be-princess don't even know each other most of the time, they just see each other for the first time and decide to get married; living happily every after. To me, it's always seemed completely absurd. I mean, how can you marry someone you've just met? They could seem nice, and then turn out to be really horrible, or a serial killer or something.

And after that, they ride off into the sunset on a pretty white horse.

Is that one of the requirements to be a prince? You have to know how to ride a horse? I mean, what if there was a prince who was allergic to animals? Wouldn't get any girls then, would he? Nope, they'd all turn their noses up when he came on foot, and then decide that the bad guys are so much hotter.

I mean, that could be a major problem in a relationship. For example: say they were at a party, and the prince decides he wants to have a drink. Unfortunately, this presents a problem, as the princess cannot ride his horse, and if he is unable to ride it as well, they are left with no means of transportation. Of course, they could simply call home to the palace and ask to be picked up, but phones and other technological things never seem to exist in these stories; so let's say the prince ends up riding drunk. Is it illegal to ride a horse under the influence of alcohol? Because if it is, he would be in a lot of trouble. Imagine the shame! The prince of the land ends up in the slammer; and his father – the king – is so ashamed that he decides that the crown will pass to the prince's younger brother, who is a power-hungry maniac who ends up turning into an evil-overlord type of guy, and puts the whole country into depression; until someone comes along and starts a revolution.

See? This would not happen if the prince and princess simply didn't get married.

Then again, this would never happen anyway, as the prince and princess are always perfect, so they would never find themselves in a situation like that.

The princesses are always perfect, so I suppose it would be fitting that they meet the perfect guy, and then end up living the perfect life, right?

Nobody's perfect, though. I suppose that's why they're just fairytales.

I don't believe in love at first sight. Some people do; and that's fine by me, everybody has their own opinion; but I don't see how you can tell that you want to spend the rest of your life with someone just by seeing them once. Sounds kind of shallow to me. Then again, I've never been in love, so I can't really say much, can I?

I'm not a big fan of judging on appearances, either, but a lot of people do. And so when I became a teenager, and boys started to take an interest in me; I decided that I would wait. Wait for my Prince Charming. He wouldn't have to be particularly strong, or rich, or handsome (after all, beauty is often lost with old age), but he would have to accept me for who I am; not judging on looks or wealth or anything like that. Accepting me as a person, complete with all my flaws. Because, to me, that's what true love is; knowing all of someone's flaws, and loving them more for them.

After all, nobody's perfect. With the exception of fairytale characters, of course, but they don't exist.

A lot of people still judge on appearances, though. I don't know what they'd think of me. Some people have said I'm pretty, but I disagree. I'm nothing special, rather plain actually. My hair is long, and light-brown; but it's dull, and limp. It has no particular shine or volume to it. It used to, though. Then again, I used to have a shine, in a way. I was a happy and outgoing child; friendly, not shy like I am now. Though I suppose most kids are like that; they'll make friends with almost anyone, without discriminating or judging. All you have to do at that age is tell each other your name, and immediately you're friends, happily playing tag together without a second thought. Sometimes I wish I could go back to being a child again, even just for a day. Go back to before that night, before everything changed. Go back to having no responsibilities, and a loving family. Go back to my parents and my big brother, living together in our house in Konoha.

Sometimes, I feel like I'd give anything just to see them again. Just once.

But I won't ever see them again, I can't.

Sometimes I just want to scream, to fall to my knees and wail my heart out; hitting my fists against the floor over and over, until my knuckles bleed. Until I run out of tears, until I have no energy left, and can finally shut my eyes and fall asleep from exhaustion.

But I can't.

Like I said, life isn't fair.