Nothing is more dreadful than the howling of a wolf.
The small girl's nostrils expanded and contracted dramatically as she tried to grasp the scent of that place.
It was… stuffy.
Yes, though they were fairly close, the mountains were much different from her small village.
The smell of the ocean couldn't reach so high up, and the air there was heavy, moist, with the scent the earth exhaled after long periods of rain. The sunlight she had grown up with and so dearly loved barely peeked through the dense mass of leaves that served as the forest's ceiling. The morning mist that hovered over the sea, gleaming golden in the early light and rolling over the waters like waves was like a specter there, cold and harsh, hiding all the dangers of the woods in its white thicket. That place spoke nothing of her quaint village by the sea. It was dark, gloomy, scary and instilled in her a sense of oppression unlike anything she had felt before.
Mount Kurama was very different from her home, and she didn't like it.
"Sakura-chan" As she heard her name being called, the girl turned her eyes and her attention to the man who stood by her side, a large satchel strapped to his back and a warm smile plastered on his face "Are you scared?"
She shook her head rapidly, making her father laugh. It seemed she hadn't fooled him.
"There is no reason to be scared." He said, giving the first step of their journey across the mountain, and she followed, apprehensively.
She was sure her father would like to think that he could protect her, but Sakura was smart for her age. She knew that the forest was a dangerous place, housing wild animals, thieves and maybe even monsters. She didn't doubt his intentions, but she wasn't sure if he could protect her from the things that lurked in that place.
"You know, they say that a wolf lives in these parts" Sakura's fearful eyes snapped up to look at her father, and he smiled gently at her "He's an emissary of the mountain god, the most powerful creature in this forest, and he protects the good people and punishes the wicked. You are good, aren't you, Sakura?"
"Yes, tou-san!" She nodded resolutely and he grinned brightly.
"So there's nothing to fear. The great wolf will watch over us and lead us on a safe journey." Then he paused and scratched his cheek "But… Once we get home we have to make an offering to thank him for sending us off. I mean, howl could we not? Eh?"
He paused to laugh boisterously at his pun, and Sakura giggled in return. She was glad it was just her and her father, because if anyone else was there she'd be too embarrassed to laugh at his jokes. He was past the age of being so playful, and both her mother and she would always chastise him when they were in public, but they couldn't keep from laughing when there was none there to watch.
His humor had more practical uses, though.
Haruno Kizashi was a merchant and he had learned from an early age that maintaining a friendly relationship with his costumers was a must. Unfortunately, they were travelling to the capital with the sole purpose of trading with the Uchiha, and no amount of social skills could help with them. It was a good thing that the Haruno family boasted a good relationship with the clan, having supplied the Uchiha with quality goods for generations.
Sakura was the first and – thanks to an accident her mother suffered when she was a baby – only child of her parents and was taught from an early age to one day inherit the family business, no matter how frowned upon that was. Traveling with her father was yet another aspect of her training and this would be the first time she would meet with such important patrons. From what she had heard, the Uchiha weren't particularly nice, but she hoped she'd get along with them all the same.
Really, they'd better be good costumers, because she would only traverse that mountain for the sake of someone very special. She wasn't welcome there anyway.
"Tou-san" She began tentatively "I thought women couldn't climb the mountain?"
"Just stories." Kizashi shook his head "Besides, to be able to say you're a woman we'd either have to stretch the meaning of the word or stretch you!" He laughed and patted her head.
Sakura didn't like the idea of being stretched.
"So I can come here no problem, right?" She grinned hopefully.
He gave her a firm nod and turned his attention back to the road.
"And the wolf won't eat us?"
"No, of course not." Her father spoke, before scratching the back of his head "That is, so long as we don't trip."
"Eh?!" Sakura's eyes were wide as she waited for further explanation, but none came.
"Say, Sakura-chan, how 'bout we race to Heian-kyō?" He grinned at her?
"B-but we could trip!" She was terrified now, but the man paid her no mind and began sprinting down the winding road "Tou-san!"
"Sakura, I'm going to win!" He shouted, now dangerously close to a group of trees that would surely hide him from her view once he passed them by.
The little girl chased after him, emitting shrill cries of both fear and anger. What if they got separated? What if one of them tripped and this 'sending-off wolf' pounced on them?
Sakura was determined to stop her father in his tracks, and so she swiftly removed one of her sandals to throw it at his back. She missed the first, and as soon as she took off the other one, her father was gone.
"…Tou-san?" The little girl jogged to where her sandal had fallen and craned her neck to see if she could see her father around the bend, but he wasn't there "Tou-san!"
Sakura pouted. He was messing with her, that was it. Her father liked his jokes too much sometimes.
"That's not funny!" She shouted to the road, but got no answer whatsoever.
The girl put on her shoes, all the while looking at her surroundings, expecting to see her father pop out of somewhere. Her father or… something else.
Sakura resumed her journey, hands close to her chest and eyes turning to every tree and bush that looked suspicious. The forest had grown eerily silent, and it was all the more scary as she had expecter her father's steps to make some sort of noise.
"Tou-san, stop messing with me!" She called out, her voice distorted with worry. "You're mean!"
'It's alright, Sakura.' She told herself 'The great wolf is watching over us. We are good people, so he won't let anything bad happen to us. So long as we don't trip.' Then her traitorous mind conjured an awful image.
'What if tou-san tripped?'
Now there were tears threatening to spill from her eyes, and every little sound had her darting her head around frantically.
"I-I'll scream." She proclaimed weakly.
The looming pine trees were indifferent to her plight. The birds held only contempt for her fear. The sun didn't take pity on her, refusing to light her way with its bright rays.
She was alone. Utterly alone and nothing would save her.
A tear slid down her cheek and fell to the ground. As Sakura was about to hunch over herself and start crying, a sound made her stop dead in her tracks.
It wasn't like the other sounds of the forests: leaves rustling and birds chirping. It wasn't the sound that she hoped to hear the most: her father's voice, apologizing for the prank and saying that it was all okay now, that he was there and he would protect her.
Sakura didn't like the sound, because it was just like what she'd imagine the voice of that forest to be if it had one. It was dark, deep, guttural, stuffy and, most of all, oppressive. She couldn't cry anymore because she felt like whatever had made the sound didn't want her to cry, and not obeying its wishes was simply not an option.
She looked at the place where she was sure the noise had come from. It didn't look like anything was there. How strange…
The sound – a growl, really – came again, conveniently destroying the little sense of security she had gained. A bush trembled, and from behind it a shadow emerged slowly, and its size alone seemed to suck all the little light in the area.
Sakura didn't dare taking her eyes from the figure, but she risked a step back to create distance between them.
The shadow inched closer, its growl like a brewing storm and its form like a mountain, and Sakura felt a bead of sweat sliding down the side of her face. She couldn't move. She knew she should, but her legs simply refused to take her anywhere.
It took only a louder growl for her to snap out of her trance and start sprinting down the path, not really caring if giving her back to the thing was a bad idea.
'Don't trip, don't trip, don't trip, don't trip don't trip don't trip don'tripdon'tripdon'trip…' She chanted in her head, hoping that the mantra would keep her feet from slipping in the moist ground.
She came to a crossroad and took the right instinctively, more concerned in escaping the monster than finding her father.
For whatever reason, her route seemed to displease the shadow, as it suddenly leapt to stand in her way. A scream erupted from her throat before she even realized that crying out at the moment was dangerous. She just couldn't help it.
Sakura turned around and ran in the opposite direction as fast as her legs permitted. She made no sounds other than her steps and heavy breathing, but the tears now fell down her face freely, blurring her vision until all she could see were blobs of green and brown.
The beast was still fast on her heels, and she felt more and more hopeless by the second.
Barely able to recognize her surroundings, she collided with a hard object, the force of the impact strong enough to make her fall.
That was it. That was how she died. Eight was too young to die, especially devoured by a monster, but there was no way of escaping now, and all she could do was hope that it would be painless.
Two arms warped around her and kept her from tumbling to the ground.
"Sakura!" Her eyes were still too wet to make out anything but blurs of color, but she would never mistake that voice.
"Tou-san!" She bellowed, finally giving into the urge to cry loudly "You left me behind, tou-san!"
Kizashi pulled his weeping daughter into a hug.
"I thought you were behind me." He spoke softly, patting her hair.
"No, you ran too fast!" Sakura shook her head vehemently, tears still pouring from her eyes. "That was mean!"
"Sometimes I forget you're this short. I'm sorry." His gentle expression broke into a grin when she started pouting "Well, on the bright side, we're almost at the top of the mountain."
"Really?" She sniffed.
"Yes, I think you could say that things escalated quickly." She didn't like his joke, and the man scratched the back of his head under her glare "How about I take you on my back the rest of the way?"
Sakura pondered for a minute and she decided that even if she was mad with her father there was no point in refusing being carried, so she finally nodded in agreement.
Kizashi removed the satchel from his back and strapped it to his daughter's before turning around for her to climb on his back.
"Promise you won't do that again." The girl said, wrapping her arms around his neck with a little more force than she normally would.
"I promise." Her father sighed "You got really scared back there, didn't you?"
Sakura nodded and rested her head against his. Even though she knew her father wouldn't be much help at all, him being there made her feel safer. That and whatever was following her had stopped after she bumped into him.
Maybe her father was stronger than she had given him credit for.
As they walked, there was a moan and the leaves on the treetops shivered, as if scared by the sound.
"What's that?" The little girl hugged him tighter.
"Just the wind." Kizashi assured her in a strangled voice "Sakura-chan, you're suffocating me."
Sakura slackened her grip, but his answer still didn't comfort her. Maybe it was only the wind, but something about it was uncannily similar to a howl.
Heian-kyō was the capital of Japan during the period of this story. And for those of you who don't know, 'tou-san' means 'father'.The 'wolf' in the story is heavilly inspired on a creature called "Okuri-ōkami".
I'm going to try to make this fanfiction history-compliant-ish, and focus on japanese mythology and have some religious elements. Cross your fingers; I have things to study.
Also, since Kizashi is going to be sticking around for other chapters, I would be thankful if people sent me puns. I am in dire need of them. Get it? Dire as in dire wolf. Heheh
…Someone stop me.
*Edited.