A/N: This chapter is a bit poetical. A couple references to outside literary works are written into the story. They have been noted with end notes. The following chapters will follow a more usual format. This is just my creativity having a field day. Writing a story pertaining to Blue has been in the back of my mind for several, several months. Originally, I was going to do a crossover with her in another anime, but alas, apparently not.
Prologue—Born in a Night
We are led to believe a lie
When we see not through the eye
Which was born in a night to perish in a night,
When the soul slept in beams of light.
-William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
Once in a blue moon, when a world is reborn, the angels of some far-away heaven come to answer the howl of the wolves.
They sweep down into moonlit forests, rattling the leaves with the breeze of their wings. They touch down among fields of lunar flowers, dancing to that feral harmonious dirge—dancing as if they have waited an eternity for this night.
They glide in the wind, bending around the notes of the collective voices, holding them in the cup of their ethereal hands. And then they too begin to sing, chiming in to join the call of the wild. They sing and sing until they can sing no more. And their voices are like beacons, calling to those beautiful wild beasts. "Come, come, my children," they hum sweetly, allowing the wind to carry their words, "for you stand now at the gateway to Paradise."
The wolves come from all corners of the new world and gather in the shadows of the full moon, among silver enchanted fields and racing fireflies. They come and sit among the angels, allowing them to pet them and pamper them, listening as they sing the songs of old.
But on that particular night, the night that Cheza sprouted a new world into being, the five wolves were unable to enter Paradise. They could only watch helplessly as it grew further away—the dream, the desire, the desperation—all lost to the obscure fogs of their own fleeing souls.
Once in a blue moon, a child's soul is shattered by blood.
Uchiha Itachi was a mere boy the night he killed his clan, but he made the choice of a man.
Hoping to save his brother, he chose to play on Sasuke's hatred, demanding that the child chase after him—demanding that the one person he loved the most in the world hate him in order to become stronger.
As he cast Sasuke into sleep amidst the dead bodies and shattered glass, Itachi shed his first tears.
Not for himself, as he wanted to do, not for the dead, but for the child in the rubble—the child he had doomed to loneliness and turmoil for the rest of his life.
And yet, even in the obscurity of those thoughts, Itachi could not help but believe that surely things could be different. Surely there was hope. Sasuke would have the world before him and choices to make. He could make different ones. He could rebuild the clan—this time free of the curse.
And so Itachi held that hope in his heart, becoming the villain so that his brother could be the hero.
Once in a blue moon, things go the way we want. But more often and not, we are left to clutch the coattails of chance, allowing it to merely drag us along.
Such was the case of Uchiha Itachi, who had placed all his hopes and dreams in Sasuke's future, only to have them shatter at his feet.
Uchiha Sasuke sold his soul to the devil. Revenge swept him away into the wings of a fury—a fury that proceeded to darken his heart day by day, until only a silhouette of the broken child remained. Until, eventually, even that silhouette began to fade into the darkness.
Perhaps, had he had someone guiding him from the beginning, things might have been different. Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura. They had all arrived too late. Four long years had passed before they began futile attempts to erase the marks of hatred from Sasuke's tainted soul. By then he had already resigned himself over to power—to a singular desire to destroy.
Once in a blue moon, those angels from a far-away heaven come to stand before the mortals—to answer a silent prayer of a seeking soul.
And thus, as Uchiha Itachi smiled lovingly at his younger brother for the last time, releasing his soul to the heavens, the angels took pity on his struggle.
"You have fought a hard life; you have murdered and killed, shedding blood to protect the things most dear to you," they stood before him in a mixture of bright light. "In your world, you were damned, but we see differently. You are pure."
Pure, they echoed, their voices filling the void. Pure. And so few are pure.
Itachi was hardly aware of their presence until they touched him, their skin, warm and fluid, taking shape with the contact. Then he could see their evanescent beauty—the way the shadows fled from the chasms of the swirling colors in their eyes. The way their warmth seemed to spread through him like slow trickling lava.
"We can take you to where Lunar Flowers grow."
"And what will I find there?" his voice rippled. "What will I find among Lunar Flowers?"
"You will find Them—the Wolves. The Wolves who seek Paradise but cannot enter. Perhaps one among them can serve you."
"Serve me?"
"A pact can be made. A wish granted. Go. Go to the Lunar Flowers. We will guide you."
Once in a blue moon, a wish is granted.
The angels found the fleeing souls of the five wolves and brought them to the gateway.
"Why can't we enter?" the white wolf asked.
"You died, Protector of the Lunar Flower, before the rebirth."
"After all that we have done. After all that we have lost. Will you truly bar us from Paradise?"
"There is a way. A wish can be granted. But only for one."
Itachi stepped forward then, announcing his presence, "I have wished for a guardian. They brought me to you."
"He who accepts Uchiha Itachi's wish shall be given a wish of his own."
"Why do you need a guardian," the white wolf asked, "when you are already dead?"
Itachi seemed almost forlorn; could he willingly ask this of these strangers? It would separate them; it would destroy the pack. But it was merely an offer, he reminded himself. They could choose whether or not they wished to accept.
"In my world, some years ago, I murdered my clan and my family to protect my village from destruction. I could not, however, bring myself to kill my younger brother. But that night—" Itachi paused, remembering Sasuke's screams as he tortured him in his Tsukuyomi, "he was lost to the idea of revenge. Because of me, he lost his soul. But if someone could have been there—to guide him—"
Itachi could bring himself to say no more. The guilt of his decisions became perilously close to spilling over in a flood of tears.
The angels wrapped him in their light, their voices a mixture of old soothing words, "Fear not, Child. Every wolf's howl raises from hell a human soul." (1)
But the wolves were not convinced, "What will become of the one who accepts your offer?"
"He will be torn from this world, forever lost to your Paradise," the angels responded, their tones sympathetic, "but reborn to life."
"Is that not what Paradise is? Rebirth?" This time a wolf the color of the night sky stepped forward, coming to stand beside the white alpha; her eyes were sapphires, quiet and unafraid with a chiseled hardness lurking somewhere in their depths. They met Itachi's own stare with the force of boulders. She addressed him, not unkindly, "If what you say is true, it might be impossible to save him. Even should one of us accept."
"I cannot rest without having tried," Itachi said simply, his words hopeful; they were not lost on the she-wolf. She understood the desire to try, even if failure was the only outcome. They all did.
"Will it not change you as well?" she demanded, looking to the angels for the answer. "Will it not alter the course of his fate?"
"What is fate?" he pondered before they could answer, glancing towards the full moon and remembering that night. It would always haunt him, he knew. Even if he were to linger in this in-between reality for the rest of eternity, he would never forget the screams. He would never forget Sasuke's howling rage and the slow crushing defeat as the boy realized his brother had betrayed him.
"Wyrd bið ful aræd!" (2) the angels answered. "Fate is resolute. But fate can be reformed." They regarded the black wolf, reading the turnings of her mind as they dipped down to encircle her, "Just as his choice changed his brother, so too can yours."
"Blue, no!" A large brown wolf rushed to the she-wolf's side. "I know what you're thinking. But this boy isn't Quent's son; he's not Quent either."
She nudged him, "Hige. You boys searched endlessly for Paradise. I merely hunted you down."
"But you protected Cheza, in the end. You helped us! Why should it have to be you?"
"I was Pop's guardian," Blue whined quietly, begging him to understand. "I protected humans; I have loved them. I am not a free spirit like the rest of you, racing against the wild call of my ancestors. You belong here. And if I could give you Paradise, Hige…" She paused and looked at him, recalling their first conversation on the bridge. "If I could give you Paradise, then I wouldn't have any regrets."
"How do you expect me to go to Paradise without you?" Hige murmured, nuzzling her. "Don't you understand Blue? There is no Paradise without you in it. Not for me."
"We're dead," she whispered. "If I don't go, we're all lost. There won't be a Paradise for any of us. "
"Blue…" Hige backed away as the other three pack members rejoined them, a look of utter consternation written in his eyes.
"Kiba, Tsume, Toboe," Blue began, addressing them each individually, but her words fell short.
"You don't have to do this," the white wolf—Kiba—said quietly.
"Yes, I know," she answered, gazing up into the sky thoughtfully—sadly, "but somehow it feels right. I feel like I should do this for Pops, you know? I failed to protect my family all those years ago."
"That wasn't your fault!" the youngest, Toboe, exclaimed, stepping forward to nudge her. "You're a part of the pack now. You can't just leave."
"You'll have to look after Hige for me, okay?"
And before they could block her path, Blue, resigned and wary, pushed past them to walk towards Itachi. To protect them, I will do this. To give them what they have sacrificed everything to find. Halfway she stopped, turning around to face her friends one last time. They had already said good-bye to one another once, back in the old world. She didn't want to have to do it again.
But she lifted her head to the sky anyway, allowing a howl to penetrate the stillness of the air. It was not a sad song—as they had sung for Toboe—but a song of hope and of well-being. Of wishing for the best. Farewell friends. Farewell…Hige.
The others did not join her. This was Blue's song, and Blue's alone. But they listened; they allowed it to lull them into her world—to nourish their weary souls. It would be okay, they decided. It had to be okay. Paradise would find her again.
The last of her cry faded into the gateway, leaving an eerie silence in its place.
Donning her human façade, she turned to Itachi, her expression serious as she closed the gap between them. "I accept. But in exchange, allow my friends into Paradise."
"It will be done."
A light expanded on the horizon, golden like the sun had been in the old world. It set the entire gateway on fire with colors of yellow and orange, illuminating the meadow in glowing shades of warm iridescent beams.
"The gateway is opening."
Blue watched as Itachi held out his hand. She accepted it quietly. "One day, should we meet again under friendly circumstances, I hope that I can repay you."
"Maybe things will be different for you too."
"Be wary of your words!" the angels warned, rushing towards the pair, enveloping them, whispering to them. "Now choose the moment, Child. Choose quickly."
Itachi thought back to the full moon of that night, the way it seemed to grow red and dangerous—nothing like the red warmth descending now from Paradise—casting a light on his sins for the entire world to see. The angels followed his thoughts, tugging at them, picking them apart. "I see," they whispered.
And then they began to chant:
"Unwind the fading cycle
From the darkness and untruth,
Cast a hand in her direction,
Beneath the departing moon;
Relinquish the past to fate,
To a partner born from doubt,
Abandon all wronged notions,
Never stop to turn around.
Plunge forward with every step
On the trail, though it may wane,
Fight like the moon for rebirth,
Where souls weaken but never fade." (3)
"What does that mean?" Blue asked, suddenly alarmed; her entire body began to feel like it was melting away and she tried her best not to panic.
Itachi's grip tightened in encouragement, "Calm down. They speak in riddles, but they cannot change the essence of who you are. Only your personal choices can do that."
They cannot change who I…am? Blue wondered, vaguely as a heavy fog began to fall upon her senses. She wondered if Itachi felt the same way and fought to see him, but her eyes were shutting of their own accord.
But who am I?
She glanced over towards the entrance to Paradise and saw the shadows of her four friends, but they too began to fade from her vision. Hige.
In the fading distance, they howled a melancholy farewell, "BLLLLUUUUEEEEEE."
But, despite their cries, despite the longing she felt to answer, Itachi's voice was the last thing she heard:
Blue, please…take care of him.
Once in a blue moon, the angels come to change the course of fate.
They come to make it right.
And then, before the night can wane, they disappear as silently as they arrived, running off to hug the moon and skip among the stars.
1. A reference to William Blake's, Auguries of Innocence
2. A line from The Wanderer, an Old English poem. The translation here is my own, but it is a loose translation. The last word does not translate easily: Fate is resolute.
3. Taken from my own personal collection of poems: Specters of the Moon. Permission must be given before using this in your own work.