The Silver Rose
Chapter 1- Prologue
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Naruto, or I wouldn't be here writing some crappy fanfic now would I?
The night was silent, dead in sight and sound. The streets lay mostly asleep, but they became momentarily awake as the occasional car would zoom across. As it was 12 O'clock midnight, it was no surprise that mostly everyone was in their houses, sleeping the night away.
Next to the neighborhood the people reside in, a forest lies, forgotten in the darkness. The coyotes prowl searching for their prey. The deer would gallop around the woods, searching for their family. The strange thing about these woods is that instead of sleeping peacefully, the woodland creatures would scurry around in worry, searching their surroundings for any sound of a footstep.
Most animals would hide themselves in a cave, shutting their eyes and trying to block out the screams of horror that would come from the less fortunate animals. No matter how hard they tried to experience silence, the everlasting sounds of despair would never escape them.
Oddly enough, even though the animals of the forest have to hear the deadly cries of their family or the forgotten nearly every night, the people in the neighborhood next to them would be completely oblivious to these sounds. It seemed as though these sounds would never escape the forest and leak into the outside world. They would only go as far as the first tree, no farther.
However, the town does not end in the green forest. On the other side of the woods lies a small neighborhood. It was completely different than the neighborhood on the other side of the forest, but it was still unimaginably beautiful. During the day, it would shine magically and brightly. At nighttime however, a different sort of magic seemed to fill this place. It was a fantasy sort of atmosphere, the type of magic that would only exist in fairy tales.
The people that resided in this neighborhood could hear the voices of the forest, but they did not seem to mind. They were extremely ordinary to them now, and a night without those sounds of terror would be marked as a strange one. Their reactions would differ completely from the woodland animals'. Instead of curling up and trying to escape into another world, some of them would hum along to the music, and some would get oddly excited.
Some of these people would even go into the forest themselves late at night. What they would do in there, the other people of the town had no idea. But there were many theories, many surrounding fictional ideas.
Some people thought that they were trying to stop the sounds and save the godforsaken creatures, and others thought they were causing them. Whatever it was the people had no idea, for most of those that resided in that odd neighborhood them kept to themselves. Half of the people that lived in that neighborhood didn't even leave that magical place. Or at least, no one ever saw them leave.
Mostly everyone tried to stay away from the forest and the neighborhood. Straying into that forbidden part of town never led to good consequences for anyone. An occasion dog would wander inside, only to never return. The government considered putting up a fence around the area, but that would be impossible since it was public property; it belonged to the town and the people that resided in it. The mayor of the town searched for someone to buy the forest so it would be gated away once and for all. Unfortunately, nobody wanted to own it.
In the still night air, one girl around the age of five was running around playfully in her backyard. She was chasing her tiny Shih Tzu puppy through the fields of grass and through the mass of bushes. Meanwhile, her parents were sleeping soundly inside the house, not having any idea that their precious daughter was running around in the dead of the night. But the girl did not care, for this was her favorite time of day; it was when the fireflies came out.
A certain firefly suddenly flew into her mist, and her puppy noticed it. He started pawing playfully at the firefly, but it would just zoom away out of his reach. He started to get frustrated, and when the firefly flew over the backyard fence, the dog chased it through a small hole in the backyard.
"Simba!" The tiny girl called, starting to run after the dog. "Simba, come back! Mommy and Daddy will get sad if they find us gone!"
But the dog named Simba payed no attention to the small voice, and he continued to chase the firefly. The girl was able to climb through the hole herself, and chased after them.
She ran through the thick green grass, stumbling a bit. The firefly buzzed into the forest, and the girl cried out for her dog, but it was too late; he had already followed it.
She walked slowly towards the woods. Everyone always said that this place was cursed, and bad things happened inside it, especially at night. Should she listen to them? Thinking of the danger Simba could get himself into, she started to worry. The girl looked back at her house once last time before running into the forest and the world beyond.
The forest was pitch black; the pink-haired girl shivered as she looked around, trying to find some sort of light source. Finally spotting the troublesome firefly in the distance, she chased after it.
Panting, she ran and ran and ran, never stopping. She had a lot of stamina for a five-year old girl. The constant barks of Simba were what kept her going. Suddenly, she heard a soft tap.
The firefly changed its direction upward and flew towards the sky, as though it was trying to escape something. Simba stopped in his footsteps and started sniffing his surroundings. The girl caught up to him and skidded to a stop, frozen to the spot.
Tap. Tap. Tap. They were coming closer now. She started to shake, and she felt the tears grow in her emerald green eyes. They were coming closer, and closer, and closer…
She finally managed to unglue her feet from the forest floor, and she stumbled backwards. She tripped on a branch and fell backwards, her tears growing thick and fast. She looked down to find her skirt stuck on the branch. She tugged at her skirt, finally untangling it. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly the footsteps stopped. Sakura felt herself shiver, staring straight at the floor with widened eyes. As she heard a soft chuckle, she slowly moved her head upward, only to find him in front of her.
The man staring down at her was like nothing she had ever seen. His pale skin seemed to glitter in the moonlight, and yet it seemed to be hidden by the dark shadows. He looked as though he was no older than twenty, yet his face carried the experiences only a man of 100 would understand. And his eyes… they were blood red, and you could see the hunger reflected in them.
Sakura was dead silent, but shaking violently. As the man licked his lips, she managed to come to her senses. She hastily got up and attempted to run, but somehow, she fell back down on the floor. She tried to move her muscles, but it seemed as though she was rooted to the spot. She shot her head toward the beautiful monster again, to find him slowly advancing towards her. His eyes were staring at nobody but her. Sakura suddenly understood that she couldn't move because he was somehow keeping her in place.
Tears fell from her eyes like pouring rain from the sky. He seemed to be taking his time walking, taking the tiniest steps possible. Above the man's head, Sakura noticed the firefly from before. It started buzzing around her, as though taunting her. She felt a sudden urge to catch the firefly and squeeze the life out of it. Her intentions with the fly were a little more murderous than Simba's, but the stupid fly deserved it. Wait a minute…Simba….
Sakura's head flew to her left, expecting to find her precious puppy lying beside her. Unfortunately, it seemed as though he had abandoned her. She spotted him behind a tree a few feet away, tail behind his legs and crouched down in fear. She knew that he wanted to help her, but the man looked so deadly and threatening that she could hardly blame him.
Sakura turned again to the man in front of her, to find him barely three feet away. This was it, she's done for. At least nobody she loved got hurt, everyone else was safe. If she had managed to hurt a loved one, she would never forgive herself. Simba would be able to find his way out of the forest and back to safety, back to Mommy and Daddy.
When he was a foot in front of her, the man stopped. He looked down at his prey with malicious eyes.
"Please…" The young girl whispered with a quavering voice. "Please d-don't hurt my M-mommy and D-d-daddy".
He stared at her for a moment, and then burst out into laughter. His teeth seemed to sharpen and become longer as he bent towards her. Sakura closed her eyes shut, trying to block out the horrors. She was one of those less fortunate animals now, the ones that couldn't make it to the cave in time. It was the end.
The sounds she heard next were all a blur. First a snarl had filled her ears, and then an angry growl. The next sounds surprised her, for all she heard was painful growls and thuds, very loud thuds. Deciding to chance it, she slowly opened her eyes.
Standing ten feet away from her were her predator and an unknown figure. They were both on the ground, her predator practically out of breath and the silhouetted figure looking only slightly worn out. The person then got up and moved into the light, and Sakura felt her heart drop to her stomach as she saw him clearly.
He was a little boy; he looked no older than Sakura. He had raven black hair that stuck up in the back. His pale, ghostly skin glistened in the moonlight. Even though he looked way younger than the evil man sitting before him, he also looked way more confident. Sakura had to admit, he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
"Leave now before I kill you." The murderous man whispered in a deadly voice, glaring at the gorgeous boy with blood red eyes.
To Sakura's surprise, the younger boy just smirked. "I'd like to see you try." Even though he was way younger than the man, it was obvious he possessed way more skill and power than him.
The predator growled. "Don't get cocky just because of whom you are. What does a little human mean to you, anyway?"
The boy closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, and then slowly opened them again. His eyes, which used to be black, had now turned red. These eyes were a darker, warmer shade of red than his opponent. Somehow, Sakura found this reassuring.
Sure she didn't know who he was, but if he was fighting that evil man, then he must be good. Unless he's fighting him because he wants to eat her or kill her or some other freaky thing. That wouldn't be good.
Sakura suddenly erupted into tears, unable to contain her emotions. It was difficult for a five year old to go through all of this. She looked towards her left again at the tree and saw, to her pleasure, that Simba was still hidden safely behind it. Even though he was shaking and whimpering, he was safe nonetheless.
The boy sighed then turned towards the girl. "Don't worry; you're going to be safe." He stated. He didn't give her a smile, but there was something reassuring about him that seemed to calm Sakura down.
A loud rustling noise suddenly came from the trees. Sakura tensed up and stared towards the trees- friend or foe?
The two opponents seemed to be thinking the same thing. The predator glared at the trees, as though challenging the unknown person to come quicker. The boy just stood there, waiting.
The person came before them, and the evil man's glare turned into a look of complete surprise. Fear was evidently visible in his, and he started to slowly walk backwards.
He looked like an older version of the boy, but just as beautiful. He wasn't a child, yet he hadn't reached his teenage years yet either. He wore his dark black hair in a ponytail down his back.
The boy glared at the new presence. "I could have taken care of this myself, you know." He growled angrily.
He smirked towards his mini-me and said, "Of course you could Sasuke. You're just a little boy; don't get into these things by yourself. Now take her back home while I take care of him."
The boy called Sasuke rolled his eyes then turned towards Sakura. "Follow me." He stated bluntly, and then started walking. Willing to take any excuse to leave this scene, Sakura followed him. Simba seemed to trail along behind them.
All of a sudden, Sasuke turned around. He bore his eyes deep into her. The world started spinning, and everything seemed blurry. Sakura fell to the ground.
When Sakura woke up the next morning, her mind was in a state of confusion. Was that just a dream? A silver rose lying beside her confirmed her that it wasn't.