The Mouse Princess
Once there was a man with two apprentices. His students fathers where both dead. They where both talented prodigies, but self-reserved and cocky. He had trained them ever since they where little, he was more of a guardian to them than a master. Now that they where older, it was time for the tradition in the Master's family to come upon them for the very first time.
One day he said to them, "Boys, you're old enough now to get married. But in my family, we have our own way to choose a bride, thus you two will follow the tradition too."
The older of the two students stayed silent, listening respectfully, but the younger one, by a year, said, "I believe you've told us already. We have to each cut down a tree and see where it points." He folded his arms and looked at his master.
The man smiled and combed through his silver hair. "That's correct," He said. "Then you will walk that way till you find your sweetheart, your soul mate. That's how my family has always done it, and we always will."
Now the younger student already knew whom he was going to marry, he also had the talent of making a tree fall down in the direction he wanted. He was going to make it fall in the direction of the home where his own sweetheart lived.
The older one, Neji, didn't have any one that fancied him, or anyone he fancied. He just had this resolve in cutting a tree and just watching it fall in whatever direction. When he did, it unexpectedly pointed to the forest.
"Good job, Neji," his fellow-apprentice mocked, his dark eyes with amusement. "Who will you find that mess? A wolf or a bear?" He placed his axe on his shoulder and looked at Neji with superiority.
"No matter," Neji responded, crossing his arms. "As asinine our master is about this tradition; I will follow and find who ever I find."
The two departed and went their separate ways. Neji went through the forest. He strolled for hours and hours in the shady trees, never seeing a human soul. Only the sound of birds singing and rustling of foxes and rabbits in their endless chase. But at last he came upon a small wooden cottage.
He curiously wandered into the run-down cottage. "Have I finally found someone?" he asked himself.
But as he fully inspected, he found no one. He sighed glumly. "I should have known, all this way for nothing." He was about to turn when a voice chirped,
"Perhaps not!"
Neji turned around in surprise. But all he saw was a small mouse on the table, that looked at him cheerfully with bright brown eyes.
"Did you…talk?" he asked, incredulously, stopping in the doorway.
"Of course I did!" She replied, looking slightly offended. "Tell me your name and what you came all the way here for?"
He came up to the little mouse. He had never talked to a mouse, nerveless to any sort of animal. But he carefully answered, "My name is Hyuga Neji, and I' am looking for a bride."
The mouse let out a cheery squeal. "Really?! Why, Hyuga Neji, I will gladly be your bride!"
"But you are a mouse." He pointed out.
"Very true," she said, most confidently "but I can still love truthfully. Besides, even a small mouse like me can be something else! Come, feel my fur." Her ears flicked as he reached out and gently stroked her fur.
His eyes narrowed in confusion. "It…feels like a sort of fine fabric for royalty, or velvet. Is that possible?" It was a texture he had never expected to feel on a mouse.
"That is right!" She said, as she let him pet her. Then she started to sing a small song,
"Neji's sweetheart will I be.
What a fine young man is he!
Gown of velvet I do wear,
Like a princess fine and rare."
Neji stared into her large eyes, almost seemingly human, and thought she really was very nice, for a mouse. Since he had never found anyone else in his life he said, "All right, mouse, you can be my future bride."
"Hyuga Neji," she said happily. "I promise you won't be disappointed." Her eyes flashed with a sort of mysterious confidence.
Neji wasn't entirely sure, but he put his trust into her and smiled. After awhile he departed with the little cottage and made his way back to his Master.
---
When Neji arrived he found the other boy already boasting to their Master, with a proud smirk and gleaming eyes. "Master I have found my sweetheart, with the prettiest enchanting porcelain skin and the exquisite rosiest pink hair in the land, with green eyes even finer than emeralds."
"Sounds excellent," Their master turned to Neji, who had just entered the room. "How about you, Neji?"
"Yes, Neji," The other boy said, snickering. "Did you find a fine animal with a nice fur coat?"
Neji, leaving his face emotionless, simply said. "Mine wears a gown of fine velvet, like a royal princess."
His fellow-apprentice stopped laughing and glared.
"Well," The Master said, nodding and looking pleased. "It sounds like your tree pointed in a good direction as well. But now, we must see if your choices are worthy. We must test them and their profound love! Tomorrow you have to ask to them to weave some cloth, and then bring it to me. That's how my family has always done it, and we always will."
Both of the boys had started out early the next morning. In what seemed like a shorter time, Neji had reached the small cottage. When he came in, he had found the mouse on the table just as expected. She grinned and asked cheerfully, "I'm so glad you're here Neji! Is it the day of our wedding yet?"
"Not yet," he replied, finding that accepting a mouse might have been a little bizarre.
She tilted her head and frowned. "What's wrong?"
"My Master wants you to weave cloth. But you are a mere mouse, how could you?" He answered.
"That is true," she said, "but I'm also your future bride, and surely Neji's sweetheart can weave, why, just rest for awhile while I'll set to work. The walk must have been long."
"All right." He settled on a bed, and relaxed while he lazily watched the mouse scurry around the room, quietly singing a song he could barely make out.
"Neji's worthy will I be.
What a fine young man is he!
Cloth I must weave.
I'll be done before he must leave."
When she was sure he had drifted off to sleep, she pulled out a dusty little bell and rang it. Out of all the driven mouse holes in the rooms, hundreds of mice had fled in. They stood all around, eyes on her.
She announced, "We have to work fast! Fine the finest strand of flax."
They all fled out and in; in seconds they all each had a strand of flax.
They first spun the flax into soft yarn on the old spinning wheel. It had made whirr noises but Neji was still soundly asleep. Then the mice worked on stringing the yarn on the loom and weaving it. Many mice worked on the pedals, the beater was rocked by some others, and some mice swung the shuttle back and forth.
When the cloth was done, they tucked it into a large hollow nutshell. "Now disappear." The little mouse commanded. The mice obediently ran away just as the young man woke up.
"Neji, I have something for your Master, now hurry home before the day is done." She pushed the nutshell toward him.
He sleepily picked it up. He mumbled to himself, "I don't know why my Master would want this little thing." He looked at the mouse and said, "Thank you. I'll be on my way."
---
When he arrived back at his master, he found his fellow-apprentice there, boasting even more, showing off the cloth woven by his bride-to-be. His master examined it and said, "Very strong and fine for folks like us, I'm pleased." He turned to Neji. "And what about yours Neji?"
Neji lowered his eyes in embarrassment as he handed his master the little nutshell.
"Look at that," the other boy said. "Neji asked for a cloth and his sweetheart gave him a stupid little nut!"
But the Master opened the nutshell and peered inside. He poked his fingers in and pulled out a linen fine beyond anyone's belief. It kept coming, yard by yard by yard!
The other boy looked at it with his mouth agape, Neji did the exact same.
"There has to be no better weaver than Neji's chosen one!" declared the Master. "But both your brides-to-be will be very much fine. Tomorrow you will bring them to home, and marry them to you on our porch step! That's how my family has always done it, and we always will."
Neji returned to the cottage the next sunny morning. The mouse asked cheerfully, "Oh Neji, is it the day of the wedding?!"
"It is." He answered, looking infuriated.
"What's wrong?" She asked frowning.
"How can I bring a mouse to marry? My Master and my comrade will think I'm a fool, as well as the whole village. It would be a disgrace."
"They might think you are," She said, and then added gently, looking at him. "But what do you think Neji?"
Neji looked at the mouse, staring him down so seriously with her bright humanly brown eyes. He ran the thoughts through his head, how much this mouse cared and seem to love him…and he seemed to love her back.
He finally answered, "You are more worthy than any other female could be. Let them laugh at me. Today we will be married."
"You made me the happiest mouse there ever was!" She replied. She rang the bell, to Neji's astonishment; there came a little carriage made by nutshells pulled by four black-colored rats. There was a mouse driver and even a little mouse footman.
"Aren't you going to help me in?" Asked the mouse to Neji.
He obliged and gathered her into his hand, then set her into the carriage. The carriage sped from the house toward the Master's home, with Neji running to keep up. As he ran, he heard her sing;
"Neji's one will I be.
What a fine young man is he!
In the carriage I ride
I go to be his bride."
Finally they arrived out of the forest and to the Master's home, more importantly to the spot of the wedding-on a bank of a shimmering running stream. The guests where already settling in, enjoying themselves.
As Neji arrived with the carriage, every one seemed to freeze; staring shocked at him and the little carriage. Neji walked passed with the little mouse following him.
His fellow-apprentice, also staring in shock declared, "That is the stupidest I have ever imagined." He rushed up and then forcefully kicked the mouse, along with the carriage and rats into the stream. Before Neji could react the current sent them away.
"What have you done Sasuke?!" Neji yelled in agony. "You've killed my bride!"
"Are you insane?" Sasuke replied, in disbelief that Neji had actually chosen an animal "It was a stupid little mouse!"
"She may have been a mouse," Neji said, filling up with anger and grief. "But that was my chosen one! I really did love her!"
He pulled his fist back, ready to punch Sasuke when his Master called, "Neji, look!"
The guests where at the stream, pointing in astonishment and yelling in wonder. Neji turn, and to his amazement was large glass carriage dominating the stream, pulling by four black horses with a human driver and footman. Inside the carriage was a soaked princess wearing a fancy white velvet gown of royalty, her hair that in buns that resembled mouse ears and large gleaming brown eyes.
The carriage stopped right in front of him and the princess opened the door. She tilted her head and said, "Neji, aren't you going to help me down?"
Realization hit him and his pale eyes widened. "Y-you're the mouse?!"
She laughed as he helped her down. "I sure was; a witch had enchanted me long ago, but not anymore. The spell could be broken by one way- one who wanted to marry me and another who wanted to kill me. But I really need to change my clothes; I don't want to be wet at my wedding!"
"You-you're really a princess?" He echoed.
"Yes," She said smiling brilliantly. "Princess Tenten to be exact."
And so they got married, and what a wedding it was, Neji's bride took the center of attention. Sasuke was a little jealous, that his rival got all the glory, but it quickly faded when it was his turn to marry his chosen one, the pretty Sakura, so he didn't feel all that bad.
The next day the Neji and Tenten went back to the cottage, but the cottage was no more. Instead stood a large beautiful castle, where they lived happily. As goes to show, if the two ever had any sons, they knew exactly how their sons would find brides.
Fin
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Author's Note: That was the sappiest folk tale I could find, it's actually based of a real folktale from finland except the boy was a younger brother named Mikko, and Sasuke would have been the older brother. And yes, the Master was Kakashi.
Sorry if Sasuke was a brat…that was how the story went and he seemed the only one to fit the part. :) But at least he was happy with Sakura.
BTW this might turn into an oneshot collection, depends if I'm up to it.
Neji, Tenten, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi (c) Misashi Kishimoto
Plot (c) The Princess Mouse by Aaron Shepard
See ya! -Gabbyrella