A/N: So I was looking for things to write about and googled "Writing prompts" and found this one called War Never Changes. I found it on Writers Digest so I would like to say I do not own this prompt. I made a few changes to it but other than that, I don't own it. I hope you enjoy though!


It was a hot day today, warmer than I thought it would be as I walked off the airplane and into the terminal with my Husband, James in tow. We had just come from LAX and were both super excited to be able to stretch our legs after such a long flight. Thirteen hours was entirely too long to be in a stationary position without being able to lay down.

I didn't have much of a problem since I brought along sleeping medication. James on the other hand refuses to take any sort of pill and there for did not sleep a wink. With my rolling carry-on behind me and James' shoulder bag in its proper place, we made our way through customs and onto baggage claim.

Walking outside had been the most enjoyable moment I had ever had in my entire life. Of course, it wasn't like this was my first time flying internationally. When I was just 18, I had flown from California to Germany in order to visit my husband (boyfriend at the time).

For three years we had been in a long distance relationship, flying back and forth between West Germany and Central California. It wasn't fun and the moment I stepped into the Austrian air, I was glad that this time we could travel together.

We had decided to tour around Austria's capital for two weeks before we headed up to James' home to visit his family. I was glad to take a break from our hectic lifestyle.

As soon as James' had come to California for good, he was instantly whisked away for Marine boot camp as soon as we were married and he had his Greencard. I hadn't been too happy about it, but in the first two years, I realized that living with him in San Diego on base wasn't so bad after all. I had also finished college, majoring in History, and began teaching at the school located on base.

The only time we really got together were dinners on the week nights and Sundays since he worked from nine to five and I had constant grading to finish. So being able to escape our life for about a month was such a weight lifted from our shoulders.

"Nicole, our taxi is here." James' voice woke me out of my thoughts and nodded to him and with our luggage in tow, we walked to the yellow Mercedes and climbed in.

The ride to our hotel wasn't so bad, in fact, since this was the first time I had ever been to Austria, I was totally in love with the sights. Being a History major, my life was always about finding the history in everything, even if it wasn't a subject I was particularly interested in.

At the moment, we were driving up to the Hotel Imperial and my jaw dropped the floor at the sight of the building. It was huge! There were so many stories and the architecture was just... argh! James' must have noticed my excitement as he smiled at me.

"So you like it," he asked, grabbing our bags out of the trunk.

"Like it? I love it!" Instantly, I threw my hands around his neck and kissed him. "I made a good choice, no?" He winked at me as he grabbed his bags before we headed to the entrance.

We had made a compromise together: since James loved all things modern, we would stay in a newer hotel while visiting his family, but while we were in Vienna, we could stay in a historical place. It was amazing! Here I was, sweating over which one he had chosen, feeling anxiety creep over me every so often.

But who was I to doubt my husband?

Later that night, as I finished my unpacking and he was still getting settled, I laid the laptop on the bed and rummaged through Google to find something out about the hotel. As I propped myself up on my elbows, my curly blond hair splayed out over my shoulders. My legs were bent upwards at the knee as my ankles crossed over each other.

"Wooow," I exclaimed as James set his toiletries up in the bathroom. "This hotel was originally a home for the Duke of Wuttermburg."

"Wüttermberg," he said from the bathroom, correcting my speech. I simply rolled my eyes and continued on. "This place hasn't even been renovated yet! Do you know what that means? Maybe there are some treasures to find!"

I smiled at my brown haired husband and watched him lean down for a kiss. "I'm going to go find something to eat, want to come with?"

I shook my head. "I want to take a shower. Will you grab something for me?" James nodded his head, gave me one last kiss then walked out of the room. I waited till he was gone to shut the black out curtains to keep the afternoon sun from coming in, then headed over to the closet to grab the clothes I needed for my shower.

My blond eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I couldn't find the nightdress I had wanted to wear for the night. "Maybe its in the dresser," I mumbled to myself. After rummaging through the drawers, I came up empty handed. I stood up straight, placing my hands on my hips, thinking about where it could be for a moment.

I know I didn't leave it at home, I specifically remember packing it. It's my favorite thing to sleep in after all! I then walked over to the closet and reached on my tippy-toes to grab my suitcase from the top shelf.

With a few tugs, it became apparent that it was stuck, so naturally, I pulled harder. On the fifth tug, the suitcase dislodged, toppling on top of me and spilling items all over the floor. With a shake of my head, I began to pick the things up, only to realize some stuff didn't belong to me.

Once again, my forehead formed a small "11" in confusion. Among the scattered items that were left in my suitcase were a multitude of envelopes only addressed to two people. The paper had been stained yellow, the script was neat and cursive and each envelope was open and sealed.

The history professor in me instantly came out. I set them on the dresser, cleaned up my mess then instantly hopped onto the bed to further inspect them. I placed my square glasses on the bridge of my nose, pulled my curls into a high bun and set to work.

At first glance, I could tell these envelopes were old due to the yellow tinge on the paper and the faded ink the wrote out the two names that kept popping up. Three of them read "Sasuke" and two of them read "Sakura".

Now, I am no forensic hand writing reader, or what ever they're called, but I could tell that who ever wrote "Sasuke" was the same person each time and most likely had been a girl due to the feminine curves. And who ever wrote "Sakura" was male since that handwriting was more messy and edgy. They must have written letters to each other... but how did they end up here in the closet?

I rose from the bed, papers in my hand, and headed over to the desk in order to work easier. I wanted to find our who these two people were. Were they brother and sister? Lovers? Friends? When were these sent to each other? How did they end up here?

My mind was reeling for questions as I took out the laptop and spread the five envelopes out on the desk. I would have to organize them in chronological order and if they were letters, that would be fairly simple.

Pulling on a set of cotton gloves I had brought, I took out the first letter painstakingly slow, trying my hardest to remove the paper with out causing any damage. I didn't want the oil of my skin to ruin the fragile paper, so I had placed on the ivory glove that I use when its cold so I must have looked ridiculous.

This one had been labeled to Sasuke, so it must have been written by this Sakura person. I paused before unfolding the paper and opened up a spread sheet in order to keep organized. Once that was finished, I began the task of unfolding the paper and once it was opened, a small gasped escaped my lips.

In the top right corner was a date ever so neatly sprawled out. "01. Jan. 1933". I had just stumbled upon letters from the beginning of World War II. The realization alone made me hurry on to the next letter addressed to Sakura. This one read "06. Jul. 1948". Okay, so the previous letter must have been first, seeing as how it was at the beginning of the war and the other one was at the end.

With a few taps on my keyboard, I wrote down the dates the opened another one with Sasuke written on it. I repeated the process for the final two letters and sat back to look over what I had so far. Four different dates, spanning from the beginning of the war, all the way to 1948.

They were in order like this: May 21, 1933, June 10, 1938, May 8, 1945 and July 6, 1948. A smile spread across my face as I looked at the five letters, each ranging in length and what not. In fact, as I opened the final paper, a small, Polaroid picture of a couple celebrating the end of the war.

On the back it read "Together for ever... Sasuke & Sakura". In the picture was a man holding a woman around the waist in front of a hotel that must have been the Hotel Imperial. The man was wearing an American Army Uniform from that era had hard dark, spiky hair and dark eyes. The woman had lighter hair that reached her shoulders and fashioned typical of the 40s. Her eyes were also lighter and her face seemingly much happier than the man that was holding her.

She had on a long, dark skirt that reached below her knees and a lighter button up shirt that was tucked into it's hem. I couldn't tell what colors there were since it was a black and white photo, but what I could tell was that they were a couple and not brother and sister.

With everything spread out on the desk, I sat back and admired exactly what I had on my hands. These were two lovers that kept in contact during the war. She must have been European but kept in contact with this American soldier and at the end of the war, he visited her here at the Hotel Imperial where they left their precious letters behind.

"My god..." I breathed and grabbed the first letter. It was time to start reading and I couldn't wait.


A/N: So theres the first chapter. Ill be introducing the other characters next chapter in order to keep it within the category. let me know what you think!

Ciao! xoxo