sleeping beauty

he went on still farther,
and all was so quiet that a breath could be heard,
and at last he came to the tower,
and opened the door into the little room
where briar-rose was sleeping

Once upon a time, there was a girl.
The girl was debatably the most beautiful in the land.
Her hair was the shade of blossoms in wintertime,
Pale and soft and delicate.
Her eyes glowed emerald,
And her smile lit up the world.

She was innocent and stained white,
Out of place in a world so filled with darkness.
Her parents named her Sakura,
After the fair trees that grew in their land.
They worried and fretted for their only child,
Their star-bright blossom girl.
Her enemies, the evil of the world,
Had long ago marked her—

There was a terrible curse placed upon her.
She was doomed to fall into a terrible sleep.
Only to be awakened by her one true love—
Her knight in shining armour.
She was captured by the thorns of the wicked,
Her smile dimmed as the days passed by,
Her brightness faded out like a dying star.

She was a princess, a beauty, an angel in human skin,
Destined to freefall and perish.

Yet she prayed that one day,
She might be freed from what bound her,
And so she relentlessly pursued the hope of loving.

(Will you save me from my fate, kind sir?)

"I'm Sakura," she said, in case the boy hadn't heard her the first time.

The boy, dark-haired and sad and solemn, stared out at the fading horizon. "I heard you," he responded in a growl-grunt.

"How did you find this place?" she asked, following his gaze. The sunset was prettier today, spilling out over the edges of the world and bathing everything in a shiny pink hue. She felt at place here, in her little fantasy-bubble, never disturbed by the harsh brutal tones of reality.

Until the solemn-boy had appeared, intruding upon her sanctuary.

"I walked," he said around a smirk.

"Well, this is my place," she declared piously, sinking into the dewy grass next to him. "So you shouldn't be rude to me. I could kick you out."

He arched a raven eyebrow, calculating. "As if," he finally scoffed, turning his attention back to the view before them.

Sakura reeled back, surprised by this lack of respect. She was used to people flitting around her, bowing, curtseying, stammering—recognising that she was better than them. She didn't particularly like this attitude, just wanted the company, but the solemn-boy didn't appear to be concerned by the crest marking her status.

"I could!" she protested, furrowing her brow.

"You haven't brought your army today, princess," he uttered softly, the dissipating sunlight giving his too-pale skin an eerie glow. He looked like he was on fire, and like he enjoyed it. Sakura realised that he was drowning, drowning in somethings and tears and sunsets.

"I don't need an army to be stronger than some scrawny boy!" she laughed, giggled, guffawed. She was thin herself—sometimes people missed her completely—but this boy wasn't much bigger. He wasn't much better. He was a pretty boy, but a tad too sad. "You should bow to me, you know. It's what all the other people do."

The boy rolled his eyes. "I'm not like other people."

Sakura made a face. "That's for sure. You're not very friendly."

His liquid eyes glanced at her searchingly. She thought they were like oil spills, like somebody had dropped darkness into the sea, and it had tainted them.

"…don't you know who I am…?" he asked, confused, as if the thought hadn't occurred to him before now. He was fidgeting, making patterns with his hands, like he was trying to paint a picture in his mind.

She frowned, biting her lip. "No, should I?"

He half-smiled, and looked feral. "…no. I guess not," for a moment, all was quiet except for the sounds of crashing waves. "I ran away."

"From your home?" she gasped, not believing. Her home was the only place she felt peaceful, the only place she felt safe. It was colourful. It was familiar. It was home. If you didn't have a home, what did you have—?

She felt sympathy curl around her, misting her breath.

The boy stayed silent, glowering at the waves beneath the majestic sunset.

"That's terrible," Sakura said, the weight of the words making her tongue feel strange. "No wonder you look so sad. Who is there to take care of you and make sure you're happy?"

"It doesn't matter," he said dismissively. "I'll take care of myself."

Demurely, Sakura rested a hand on his shoulder. He tensed but didn't break the contact. He was unsure, curious, afraid. It happened like lightening, like an electrical current—once she had a hold on him, she didn't want to let go.

"You can come and live with me," she smiled brightly, smiled so he would hope, too. "There's enough room, of course. Everyone will take care of you! And you can be my friend, too."

The boy stared. He didn't believe her, she saw it in his eyes. He thought she would cast him away, leave him. He thought she was pretending.

She held out her other hand to him. "I don't tell lies. I don't. My mother taught me not to be a liar—if you come with me, I'll make sure you're safe. Promise."

God bless naivety and immaturity and having simple solutions to a problem.

The boy half-smiled again, this time looking hollow and haunted, but took her hand. It shook slightly in hers, pale and cold and insecure.

"I'm Sasuke," he said—

—and their story began.

Once upon a time, there was a boy.
He was debatably the most handsome in the land.
His hair was black like ebony and dark things.
His eyes were sad with unshed tears.
His smirk could break hearts and bridges.

He was cursed from the day he was born,
With a life he did not want,
With strangers for parents and no one to love.
Eventually the sad-boy made his decision to leave.
He ran away into the night,
Ran as far as he could, through woods and meadows,
And found the sunset place.

There he met the cursed girl,
And in her recognised his own struggle.
Her smile convinced him of better things.

Together they fought against the world,
And together they fought against themselves.
Together they would fall into oblivion.

(The princess and her knight, together.)

But as soon as he kissed her,
Briar-rose opened her eyes and awoke,
And looked at him quite sweetly.

A/N: No, this isn't the one-shot anthology. I think it's safe to say this rarely happens in highschool. Ha. This is a new story I'm going to be working on at the same time as the one-shot anthology... and PWHC, too. Don't worry, I'll try to update as much as possible! So, what'd you think of it so far? PS: DON'T OWN NARUTO. DAMN.