A/N: So I'm a massive sucker for Nalu fanfiction, and an even bigger sucker for reincarnation AUs, so I decided to write a combination of the two!
This starts in the beginning, so there are no names or speaking , so I hope this can still read well.
Year One
They met on a hunting trip.
He'd gone out with his tribe to find meat, and she'd wandered off alone from her own tribe to find herbs.
She saw him before he saw her. He was tall and strong, and his hair was a strange color he had only seen in berries. He stalked through the grass he was in silently, tracking the pig he was hunting. She hid behind a nearby tree, watching. She stared at his spear, wondering about the damage that could be done with just a pointed stick.
She had never seen him before. She didn't think that there were other people out there, besides the people in her tribe. After all, they've never had to worry about other creatures like them, so why go out looking? The mountain lions gave them enough trouble. Imagine what others of their kind could do?
She made an attempt to run away before he spotted her. She didn't want him to know her tribe existed. He could want to attack. They could all want to attack. As she took a step back, though, her foot fell on a twig, and she watched with horror as he turned quickly in her direction.
He growled and made a movement in her direction. She quickly stepped out from behind the tree, arms raised, hoping to avoid being gutted like the pig he was hunting. He stared at her, eyes wide, head tilting as he slowly lowered his spear.
He took a step forward.
She took a step back.
He made a noise to explain that he wouldn't hurt her. She took another step back, her eyes on his spear.
He followed his eyes to the stick in his hand. He set it down slowly, and took another tentative step. This time, she didn't step back.
He came forward with a bit more confidence, until he was close enough to touch her.
He extended an arm slowly, hoping she wouldn't move away. When she didn't, he reached out and took a piece of her hair, holding it between his fingers. He had never seen hair as light as hers before. All of the women in his tribe had dark hair. Hers was almost yellow, and he had never seen anything so beautiful.
He smiled at her then, and took hold of her hand, pulling her with him as he walked. She pulled away, slightly confused. He made a noise and motioned towards the direction of his tribe's location, and waved for her to come with him.
She strongly considered going.
Something inside of her wanted nothing more than to travel back to his tribe and live with this stranger. But her tribe needed her, and there were people back at home who needed the herbs she was in charge of collecting. So she took a step back, shaking her head. He frowned, but made no move to force her to come with him, instead turning and heading back to where the rest of his hunting group were located. His pride was slightly wounded, since he'd be going back without a pig or a woman (not that the latter of the two was expected of him, but he thought it might be nice to bring one back anyway).
He watched as she made her way back into the trees, her yellow hair the last sight he saw before it disappeared into the forest.
He returned to the hunting party empty handed. One of the other men smacked him over the head, a frown on his face.
He immediately jumped on top of the other male, growling at each other while hitting and pulling each other's hair, until one of the strongest of the men loomed over them angrily. They were apart within seconds, hanging their heads as the red-haired male pushed past them approvingly, dragging his pig behind him.
They made it back to the tribe before nightfall. The food was made, everyone ate, and the berry-haired male looked out towards the forest, wondering what lay behind it.
The man he'd fought with earlier took a seat next to him, nodding in the direction he was looking at questioningly. The man swiped his hair out of his eyes. It was long and black, almost touching his shoulders.
The pink-haired man pointed towards the tribe, singling out one of the women. She turned toward them, her blue hair falling to her mid-back. She smiled and waved at the man with black hair excitedly, who only grunted and turned away in response.
A woman?
He raised his eyebrows questioningly, and the pink-haired man nodded. The other sighed, nodding in the direction of the forest again.
Out there?
Another nod.
The man with black hair pushed the other off of the rock they were sitting on. When the other man turned around in protest, he was met by a frown.
Go find her then.
He crashed through the forest, the sun moving down behind the trees as night grew closer. His feet hurt and his arms and legs were pretty scratched up, but he didn't mind. He just wanted to see her again.
She was probably the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. His tribe had women, of course – every tribe had women – but his tribe didn't have anyone that looked quite like her.
He found a break in the trees in front of him that opened into a meadow. He stumbled through the opening, slightly surprised at the fact that the exact person he was looking for was standing there in front of him.
Her back to him, he could see nothing but her hair as it swayed back and forth in the breeze that passed through them. He smiled, moving towards her, until she whipped her head around to stare directly at him.
He stopped immediately, the smile fading from his face as he saw the terror written all over hers. And then he looked behind her, seeing the animal over her shoulder.
A mountain lion bigger than the both of them stood crouched, teeth bared at the girl as she watched motionless. She was shaking, tears rolling down her cheeks in fear as she attempted to take a step back. The mountain lion snarled and stepped after her, and she promptly stopped.
The man panicked, and did the first thing that came to mind.
He grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her quickly behind him, and snarled back at the mountain lion. It attacked, jumping forward and landing on top of him, one of its paws smacking his neck, the other hitting his shoulder. The man kicked the animal off of him, throwing him across the meadow. It landed on a rock, straightening itself out and shaking its head in frustration. It stalked out of the meadow, obviously not thinking the two of them worthy of so much effort.
The man sighed, turning to the woman to make sure she was okay. He expected relief to be present on her face, and instead was confused when he was met with more horror than had been present when she was confronted by the mountain lion.
He took a step towards her, and she immediately took two back, her hand reaching up to cover her mouth. He opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped when a sudden pain shot up his shoulder and into his jaw. He fell to the ground, his eyes squeezed shut. He opened then tentatively, and he saw it.
Red.
Drops of red stained the grass beneath him. His neck felt warm, and a sickening feeling overtook him as he reached up to touch it. He hissed as his palm made contact with open flesh, and he pulled his hand back to see it covered in his own blood. He had been careless. He had allowed himself to get wounded, and now he was going to die.
Something clear and hot fell onto the tops of his hands, mixing with his blood, and he realized that he was crying. His arms began to shake, and he fell face first into the grass. It was soft, and he took a deep breath in and closed his eyes.
He felt something soft on his cheeks, and he felt his head being lifted. He was set down on something equally as soft, and he opened his eyes to find the woman looking down at him, tears in the corner of her eyes. She held his head in her lap, and began running her fingers through his hair, softly.
He smiled up at her as his eyes closed, and he took one last breath. If this was how he was to die in this lifetime, he didn't think it was a very bad way to go.
"You've made it back so soon."
"Mmm."
"Did you like her? The woman, I mean."
"She was beautiful, yes. I would have enjoyed meeting her properly, had you not sent an oversized cat for my jugular."
"Life is funny that way, don't you think?"
"No, I believe that you think it's funny. The rest of us don't have that luxury."
"That's true, I suppose. Are you ready now?"
"Yes."
"Good. Let's get started then. How do you think the next life will be?"
"Hopefully better than this. Either way, I'll be sure to find her."
A/N: This will be a multi-chapter, with each chapter being one lifespan. I was originally going to do. One-shot with a paragraph for each life, but I got way too carried away and resized I'd probably end up with like 15 pages minimum, so I think this will be easier. (:
Comments are appreciated. From here on out there will be names and dialogue, so I think it will read much easier!