Hey y'all! This is just a test chapter for a story idea...I'll continue it after Reluctant Return, but I already have it planned out.
I'm also going to add a NejiTen spinoff to The Cat story and a third NaruHina continuation as well as about three or four chapters to Descriptions in the next three weeks!
So be ready!
The Impossible Love Story of the Sun and Moon (working title)
"And with her mantle of plumes and tears so bright, she rose to the moon, forever out of sight."
1000 years ago
The elderly bamboo cutter and his wife gazed in shared grief and amazement as they saw their Emperor, the very lord of the land and the descendant of the Sun, fall to his knees. Golden strands covered sorrowful eyes, as dark as the night sea. His brilliant orange robes of rich silk fell in soft folds, draped across his broad frame. The only flaws were the gaping holes that ran across from one another, one over his back, the other over his left chest where his heart beat brokenly.
The letter on silver-dipped paper and the Elixir of Life lay empty next to him. His attention was fixed solely on the luminescent feather of pure white cradled in his hands; the last remnant of the only woman he had ever loved and who had loved him in turn. The last wish she had left behind, untouched.
That night, he grew to hate the moon.
Naruto Uzumaki slammed the worn copy of his textbook shut, detesting every letter etched onto pages 143-167. The sound echoed through the silent classroom, confused faces turned to view the unusually serious boy. His mouth was twisted into a grimace and he was prepared to face whatever onslaught Iruka-sensei would hit him with.
The bell rang and Iruka decided to dismiss the already distracted class. They were eager to leave anyway, seeing as it was the end of the week and his had been the last lesson of the day. He dismissed them all, except one.
"Naruto, can you see me after class please?"
Naruto sighed, blue eyes closed in consternation. He could almost feel the collar of his white shirt choking him, the blue tie tightening as he gulped. He turned to a waiting Sasuke Uchiha, and waved him off. "Looks like I'll walk home, then. Tell your mom I said hi."
"Hn." Sasuke could not help but smirk as his best friend turned to face the waiting literature teacher. He looked as if he was heading towards the gallows to be tried for a crime. Then again, the idiot had slammed his book too hard in the middle of silent reading. Onyx eyes glittered with suppressed mirth as he nodded towards his friend, knowing exactly why he had done what he did. He adjusted the strap of his backpack and headed out the door.
The door closed as the last of the students streamed out of the now empty room. Iruka waited for the door to click shut and turned brown eyes towards his most disruptive pupil. Underlying the slightly annoyed tone was worry. Naruto sighed, knowing his most trusted teacher would want to know what was going on.
"So, would you care to explain why you slammed the book like you did?"
Blue eyes shifted to look out the wide windows, the sun barely breaking through a gap in the endless gray.
"I don't know. Maybe it's because Dad used to love telling me and Mom that story."
The pitter patter of drops against glass was now audible.
Iruka's gaze softened, and he relented. He turned towards his desk, shuffling his papers and placing them haphazardly in his briefcase. He turned towards the boy who was still looking out into the sky and now falling rain.
"Do you need a ride home?"
Silence followed for several moments, a heavy sadness pervading the air around the youth. It was a large contrast to the usually bright smiles and loud proclamations. It was different. And different when it came to Naruto Uzumaki was worrisome.
Naruto turned back to his teacher, noticing the now obvious worry lacing his question. Whiskered cheeks contorted into a stretched smile, a mockery of the true grins that usually graced his face. He was faking it, and Iruka saw through it.
"I'm fine, sensei. I'll just walk today. I have an umbrella anyway."
Debating whether or not to pursue the topic, Iruka donned his windbreaker, shrugging his shoulders in confusion. He nodded, deciding now was not a good time for Naruto to talk. He would come to him in time. "Just don't get sick, okay?"
"Thanks, Iruka-sensei." Then Naruto shouldered his bag and grabbed the startlingly orange umbrella from his desk. He waved back at his teacher and exited the room. He could feel the weight of the book on his back, an almost physical manifestation of the grief and anger he felt towards the simple story. He made his way down the dark empty halls of the school, catching sight of the occasional club meeting or gathering.
Like an automaton, he found himself taking stiff wooden steps out the school grounds and onto the crowded streets of the small city, his open umbrella haphazardly resting in the crook of his neck and both his hands were stuffed into the pockets of his button up sweater.
An eleven year old with strikingly bright hair and eyes of sky blue sat with his father, a man with equally bright hair and eyes the color of the sea. They gazed out from their place, a spot underneath the stars on a secluded hill. The whispering of the wind through the coarse tall grass was oddly comforting. The full moon was large and bright, stealing all its worth from a hidden sun.
The boy tugged at his orange sweater, pulling at the strings of his hood to protect against the slight chill. His father chuckled fondly as he looked at his fidgety son. The boy grew restless at night, hating the dark encompassing the world and for some reason, detesting the very moon that brought light.
"Dad. How long are we gonna be here for?" Naruto huffed as Minato set up their personal telescope, a tiny thing of minimal power.
"Until we find the Moon Princess." He jokingly answered.
Naruto's answering groan had the man in another fit of laughter.
"Daaaaad…"
"I'm trying to find that anomaly they reported yesterday."
"You mean the UFO?" Naruto quirked an eyebrow at his normally practical father. The man was an astronomer with a PhD in Astrophysics. How could he believe any of those stories about aliens and visitors from other worlds?
"There's probably a logical explanation for it, which is what I am trying to find." Minato answered patiently. His mouth flattened into a straight line as he adjusted the lens on the telescope, hoping to get a better focus. "But even so, there's a lot of things that can't be explained, Naruto."
Naruto sighed. "Yeah, yeah…I know."
Minato turned towards his son, wondering why he was in such in a huffy mood. Naruto caught his father's gaze and looked out towards the moon, his eyes narrowing uncharacteristically.
"I hate the moon."
Minato's eyes widened, wondering why such a beautiful thing could cause such an extreme reaction in his son. "Why?"
"I just do. I mean, first of all, it's not even shining by itself. And second of all, it hides all the other stars in the sky when it's out. It steals light, Dad."
"Hmm, it also stole Kaguya-hime in the story, right?" Minato prodded, continuing in the same vein of conversation. He was astounded by his son's poignancy and almost poetic dislike of such an innocent looking celestial body.
"See! That's what I mean. The Emperor and her parents obviously loved her, but she was forced to go back. They even took away her memories with that feather cape thing!"
"Maybe it was for the best." Minato offered.
Naruto shook his head vehemently. "She had no choice. It wasn't fair to her or the guy. If I was the Emperor, I would've fought."
"Can you fight what you don't believe in?" Minato asked cryptically.
"Huh? Dad you're making no sense. I would've just beat up those stupid Moon people and taken the princess back." Naruto pounded a small fist into his palm, showing his resolve. He would protect the innocent and punish the guilty. His eyes burned blue fire. "I'll always help people who need me."
Minato smiled, proud of his son and gazed in the direction of the moon. He murmured a quiet hope. "Remember that resolve, Naruto."
Naruto pouted. "Do you still have to go on that dumb trip tomorrow?"
Minato smiled morosely. "Yes, Naruto. I'm going to go look at some meteorite residues at the site of yesterday's impact."
"So, basically you're gonna leave us to go look at rocks." Naruto groaned again.
Minato laughed at his son's words. "Your mother said the same thing. You both always say the funniest things."
He ruffled his still pouting son's hair affectionately, mussing the spikes of gold even more. "Do you want to help me look for the Milky Way arms?"
Naruto brightened, and rushed to the ready telescope. He looked into the lens piece, only to see darkness. He turned back to his amused father. "I don't see anything."
He was met with the blinding flash of a camera. Minato was struggling to hold in his laughter. "Your mother told me to do this."
He flipped the camera to show the boy. And there on the view finder was a confused Naruto, his wide eyes ringed with black circles.
"DAAAAAAD."
That was four years ago. Four years since his father had been declared missing and the site of impact had become a mecca for astronomers and geologists from all over the world. His father's work had been lost, all that had been found were the crushed remains of his camera, the viewfinder showing the picture of a pouty young boy with dark circles ringing eyes of blue.
His mother had been inconsolable. But Kushina Uzumaki was a strong woman and lived, taking longer shifts at the hospital and giving her all to raise Naruto on her own. She had become immensely overprotective, clinging to her only child and last piece of her beloved like lifeline. Which was why she would kill him once he got home, drenched to the bone and looking like a drowned cat.
His reverie was disturbed by a shout.
"OH MY GOD! SOMEONE'S ON THE ROOF!"
Several onlookers stopped, necks craned to almost impossible angles, all in an attempt to see. The crowd of black and blue umbrellas grew, a gathering of strangers with a common interest for once.
'What the hell?' He thought as he looked up.
And sure enough, there was a slight form, a girl, poised at the edge of the Yoruame eight-story commercial building. The rain obscured any distinguishable features, but she was clad in the recognizable grey skirt and black sweater of his high school.
The girl swayed forward a little, tension coiled in her form as though waiting for the right time.
Gasps and shrieks pervaded the audience, the inability of the onlookers from doing or saying anything useful revolted him. He cupped his hands around his mouth, dropping his useless umbrella to the floor, hoping to make a difference for once. Please let him be heard.
"DON'T JUMP!"
The figure stilled, hesitating. The torrent of rain grew stronger and long dark hair was swept to the side, a banner of night signaling the end.
He cupped his hands again and continued. "MY NAME'S NARUTO."
The crowd turned to look at the loud boy, surprised that someone was doing something other than gawking. Like sheep chased by an angry wolf, they rose to action. They became a mass of resolve underneath the cover of the dark umbrellas.
"I'm calling emergency services!" Cried a man with graying hair and a dark business suit.
"Someone help the poor dear!" Gasped a middle aged woman with brown hair.
Naruto smiled a crooked grin. Finally, people were doing something. He pushed through the crowd, waiting for the girl's response. He picked up the now useful orange umbrella, its bright hue standing out amongst the blacks and blues. He waved it vehemently, not caring that he was now drenched and that he almost blinded a young girl from his class.
"HEEEY!" He shouted, his throat already raw from his introduction.
The figure turned her body in his direction, and everyone gasped as she nearly slipped. She waved back softly, hesitantly.
"We're now at the site of what looks to be an attempted sui-"
He glanced at the now present reporter, a woman in a tight bun and pencil skirt, red lipstick smacking as she spun her web of conjectures and falsehoods. When had they gotten here? But then again, this was such a small city and news traveled fast. Those damned vultures couldn't possibly know the girl's life and yet they would probably make up some bullshit story about sad it was and she would become a pariah.
He shoved past them on purpose. His shoulder collided with the camera, ruining the set up. Ignoring the camerman's protests, he continued going closer to the building, directly under the girl. This crowd was ridiculously packed. He continued waving his umbrella, clearing the way. He looked up.
She was still waving at him. Good.
Then the cry of sirens had her turn away. The tension returned to her stance and he grew worried.
'Damn it.'
And then the sun broke through, illuminating in his path a feather. A white plume floated softly and impossibly slow from above. He gazed at it, mesmerized. And his hand stretched out to grasp it.
The feather disappeared into a burst of light, fragments of illumination floating down upon a startled youth. He stopped his barrage, ignoring the surrounding stares. Had no one else seen the thing?
More gasps and they all turned in time to see the girl leap, a beautiful display of a ballet inspired jete.
What a tragically beautiful creature.
She came closer, her dark almost blue hair streaming behind her and her arms outstretched behind, as if flying. And for a moment, he really believed she could. Then reality hit as she fell, defeated at the grasping hands of cruel gravity, her tiny fingers reaching for the sky.
He didn't think.
He rushed to the growing gap in the crowd. A place where they knew she would fall from the clouds like the meteor had four years ago. A bright, shining projectile of the unearthly hurtling towards scared bystanders. (Who was it, the girl or the rock?)
He didn't care.
His feet pounded the wet ground, the orange umbrella long forgotten on the curb of a dirty road. There was no sound, there was no color. There was only the falling girl and him, rushing towards the inevitability of destiny.
A sharp pain in his outstretched arms and he knew no more as she fell into his saving embrace.
Let me know what you think! Criticism is much appreciated.
