Past Lives...
A playful, spring wind blew, whistling, through the grass below it, twisting and turning as it caressed each individual blade, making them flutter like butterfly wings. It twirled through the air, entering a small grove of trees, rustling their leaves and making delicate flower petals shiver in the after-winter warmth.
She sat on the branches of her tree, laughing and swinging her bare feet back and forth as the wind blew her hair out behind her. She giggled as the rosy flowers around her were shaken by the wind, some flitting to the ground around the tree's slender trunk.
Her pale green eyes sparkled as the wind returned, her delicate hands brushing a strand of hair the same color as the blossoms around her out of her eyes. Her white kimono symbolized her purity, the streaks of pink adorning it her affinity with the flowers dancing on the wind.
She began humming to herself, a wordless tune of her own invention. It was like the wind, sometimes quick and lively, sometimes slow and dramatic. But no matter what it was, she loved to sing and eventually gave up humming in favor of warbling her song out to the other trees as their braches were twisted around by the gust.
He watched her from a safe distance, concealed behind another tree. He watched the breeze toss her rosy hair around her shoulders, he watched her eyes sparkle in delight when the sun came out again from behind a cloud. He remained hidden, but kept his eyes on her as she continued to croon her little tune.
He sighed sadly. To him, she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. She was so happy and carefree, always finding a reason to laugh and smile. He loved it when she smiled, imagining what it'd be like if she ever smiled for him.
He shook his head, dispelling that thought. She could never smile for him, she was a creature of the cherry trees. They were never sad, even in the winter when reduced to bare shells of their former selves. They always comforted themselves with soft music, waiting patiently until the spring thaw meant they could emerge again and fill the world with their beauty.
He glanced back at her as she reached out and caught a flower as the wind tossed it out of its branch. She cradled the tiny bloom, stroking it as though comforting it before pressing it against the side of her head. It stuck firmly, never to be flung out of her pink tresses when she shook her head in the wind. Since spring had started, she'd already acquired several flowers, each of which she placed carefully in her hair for decoration. He'd witnessed the adding of every blossom so far, having listened to her sing almost every spring day since further back than he could remember.
He longed to speak with her, to tell her how he felt about her. But he reserved himself to listening to her haunting tune as she sat in cheerful bliss on the branches of her beloved cherry tree. Even if she did accept him, they couldn't be together. A romance between a cherry princess and a snake god was more than forbidden.
He glanced down at the large, scarlet flower clutched in his hand. He'd picked it out especially for her, but he felt his earlier confidence waning. He noticed his hand was trembling, and scolded himself for letting his nervousness get to him.
He'd watched jealously as others had spoken with her. Robins and sparrows alighted on her branches occasionally, calling her beautiful and cheeping out other flirty phrases. It made his blood boil, it made him want to knock their smarmy grins right off their beaks. In a way, he was jealous because they had no problem talking to the one who made his heart do flip-flops in his chest.
He glared down at himself, wishing he could have been born a bird like them. They were blessed with graceful wings that let them rule the sky, and he was stuck earthbound forever. It was something he had in common with her, but he wanted so badly to impress her in any way possible.
He glanced back up, and his eyes widened at the sight of someone else squatting on the branch next to her.
It was only a squirrel, but seeing her talking to anyone made his jealousy rise up again. She pointed in one direction, and the squirrel nodded quickly. She was only giving him directions.
He scoffed inwardly. Squirrels were common and fidgety rodents, he could see his bushy gray tail twitching restlessly. She deserved so much more than that. So much more than he could ever give her.
She waved as the squirrel darted off onto another tree's branches, smiling and pleased with herself. This was his chance.
He took a deep breath for self-assurance, gripping the crimson flower in both hands before slipping out from behind his timid shelter.
She began humming to herself again, her grassy eyes glued to a pair of butterflies as they danced in the field beyond the grove. The female one giggled and made the laughing male chase after her, always staying just out of arm's reach. The young male's wings pumped harder to get closer, but always seemed just an inch too slow to catch her. She smiled when he finally caught his partner by the arm and pulled her close, giving her a long and meaningful kiss.
It was fun to watch them as they continued their dance, but inside she felt a tiny pang of loneliness. Butterflies were free creatures, able to travel wherever their hearts desired. She glanced at the other trees, she was the only one out at this time of day. The others were probably still asleep.
"Uh…excuse me…"
She slid off of her branch at the sound of a voice below her, landing nimbly on her toes on the soft, grassy earth below.
She looked up, realizing the one who had spoken was much taller than she was.
"Yes?"
He had black, plated scales covering almost all of his body. Where most legs would be, he had a slinky black tail, the tip of which twitched nervously whenever she spoke to him. His upper body was humanlike, his muscular arms covered in smaller, glistening onyx scales ending with dark, clawed fingers.
The only part of him that wasn't covered by his natural armor was his head. She glanced upwards to be met with a regal, porcelain-like face, with strong, handsome features under a crop of ebony-colored, disheveled, spiky locks.
His slit-pupil eyes were averted, staring at the ground as a faint blush made its way into his pale cheeks. The next thing she knew, he thrust a ruby-colored flower under her nose.
"This is…for you," he choked out. "I…I really liked your singing…so…here."
His heart nearly stopped when her dainty hands curled around the blossom's stem, just barely brushing his as her eyes sparkled with childish glee.
"Oh, thank you!" she burbled. "It's so pretty!"
He blushed even more as she carefully placed it in her hair, just above her ear. Its scarlet petals stood out brightly against the other pale-pink blooms.
"But flowers should be left alone, you know," she murmured. "That way everyone can enjoy them."
"Oh," he said meekly, staring back at the ground.
"But that was really nice of you," she gushed. "Nobody's ever given me a present that pretty before."
"Y-You're welcome," he stuttered, inwardly criticizing himself for acting like such a nervous wreck.
"Hmm…" she mumbled, tapping her chin with her finger. "You're cute, too. I think I like you!"
He blinked a few times, turning even redder.
"Wanna be friends?"
Though his heart deflated an inch or so, he smiled faintly and nodded.
"Yay!" she squealed, clapping her hands in delight. His heart stopped again when she grabbed his scale-covered hand and tugged at it. "Come on, let's sit up there together, new friend!"
He coiled himself around the tree, slowly circling upwards while watching her swing herself up to her previous perch. He scooted over next to her when he reached her branch, letting his tail dangle over the edge in the same fashion as her legs.
"That was cool," she said. "The way you got up here."
He shrugged. "It's how we climb."
She clapped her hands together. "Oh, that's right. What's your name?"
He blinked. "I…I don't have one."
She giggled, and pinched his shoulder. He cursed the thick plates covering it, without them in the way he could've been touched by her again.
"We'll have to find you one, then!" she laughed.
"Do you have one?"
She smiled teasingly. "Of course, silly. I'm a cherry blossom tree, right? I'm a Sakura."
"Sakura…" he murmured, trying out the name on his forked tongue. "Does that make me a Hebi?"
She tapped her chin again, squinting at him. "No…that's too plain for you. You need something…unique. Something cool and original…"
While she thought deeply, he smirked triumphantly to himself. She had called him her friend, and they had only just met!
"I know!" she announced, holding her hands up above her head. "You know humans, right?"
"Of course I do."
She giggled, and pressed her pointer finger against her mouth, as if telling a secret.
"Well, there's this one group of 'em…they're warriors, they're super-fast and deadly, too!"
He wondered vaguely where she was going with this, but the sound of her voice would be pleasant to him no matter what she was saying.
"And sometimes they seem dark and brooding, but they're all fire and energy underneath, y'know?"
"Not…really…"
"They're called shinobi!" she announced, throwing her hands in the air again. "They're the coolest humans, because they know not to hurt nature, not like the other ones."
He thought for a moment. "Wait…are you saying I'm dark and brooding?"
She giggled, patting his arm. "Well, you looked like it at first, but you're fun and nice on the inside!"
He was impressed with her honesty, he'd never found anyone so blunt and passionate about their ideas.
"And you're fast and dangerous, but in a totally good way, just like them!" she continued. "You…you'll be…hmm…no, Sarutobi's too fancy-schmancy…hmm…you'll be…"
She thought for another few seconds before her eyes lit up.
"I know! From now on, you'll be Sasuke!"
"…Sasuke…" he mumbled, testing it out. "It's…a good name."
"I think so too!" she agreed, giving him a dazzling smile.
He blushed when she slid her hand against his, linking their pinky fingers together.
"We're gonna be best friends, right Sasuke?"
He liked the way she said his new name.
"Sure."
He visited her tree every day after that. She was always perched on their special branch, singing to herself when he showed up. He loved how her eyes would light up as she squealed, "Hi, Sasuke!" It made his heart fling itself against his ribcage every time she called him by his name.
Even though she was the best…well, the only friend he'd ever had, he still imagined what it would be like if she liked him as more than just a friend. He didn't want to ruin their beautiful friendship though, so he kept his mouth shut.
"Sasuke? What's up? You're off in daydream land."
He shook his head, meeting her emerald-colored eyes. "Sorry. Just thinking."
She scooted closer to him, unaware of how it made his heart beat a thousand times faster.
"About what?"
"N-nothing…"
She frowned in thought for a moment, before nodding quickly and sliding off of the branch, landing gracefully on the ground below.
She gazed up at him mischievously.
"Come on, Sasuke! Let's play a game!"
He raised an eyebrow, but couldn't say no to her. He dropped off of the branch as well, using his tail as a landing pad.
"What's this game?" he asked, brushing a clump of dirt off of his arm.
She grinned. "Catch me if you can!" she shouted, darting behind another tree.
He blinked for a second, then realized she was getting away.
"Eek!" she squealed to see him slithering after her, a determined smirk on his handsome face. She sprinted between the rows of trees, eventually crouching down under a plentifully large bush, hugging her knees to her chest.
"Too easy."
"Waah!" she squealed, rolling out from her spot under the bush's protection. "How'd you find me so fast?"
He smirked. "I followed your scent."
"Aww, you big meanie!" she pouted.
He glanced over to a large boulder only a few meters away.
"Y'know…you could've hidden over there," he murmured. "It's got moss growing around it, it'd be easier to hide there."
"Oh…well, um…" she said, twiddling her fingers together. "My…my roots actually stop here. I can't go any further than this."
He raised an eyebrow. "You can only go as far as your roots?"
She smiled sadly. "Yeah…it seems restricting I guess, but…you get used to it. Every year the space gets a little bigger when my roots grow, so someday I'll be able to go all over the place, just like you!"
His heart went out to her, stuck in the same area for years and years and yet she never stopped dreaming of the world beyond her little grove.
"But you did find me, so as a prize, you get a kiss!"
At the word "kiss," he froze completely. His face turned bright red when she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her soft lips against his cheek.
"Mmm…" she hummed after breaking the contact. "Did you like it, Sa-?"
She never finished her sentence. Not really knowing how it happened, he wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her into a dip as he crashed his lips down onto hers.
Her eyes widened in surprise for a few seconds before slowly closing, her hands gripping at his ebony hair as she kissed back.
When he broke the kiss, she gazed up at him with half-closed eyes and an overjoyed smile.
"I love you too, Sasuke."
Gossip spread far and wide throughout the sentient spirit world that one of the Cherry Tree's youngest daughters had a lover in one of the Serpent Kingdom's sons. Rumors were created that they planned on giving up their mortal bodies and becoming eternal ghosts together, even more outlandish said they possessed human bodies so they could be married by a human priest.
Sasuke ignored every one of these rumors, he continued to visit his beautiful Sakura every day. Even when her tree's pink blossoms were gone in the harsh heat of the summer sun, they sat together, holding hands and talking about anything and everything.
Even when her leaves turned brown and fell off in autumn's chill, he stayed with her. She created a special space for him, hollowing out an old, unused root underground and lining the inside with insulating grass and shed animal fur. When the winter snows fell gently over the grove, he slept there in deep hibernation, his head in her lap as she stroked his hair, waiting patiently for the warmth of spring to return, and with it her beloved Sasuke.
Their love was pure and innocent, each cared for the other more than anything else in the world. Insects were deterred from chewing her bark because of his presence, while her highest branches provided him with a place to lie in the sun, his trademark smirk plastered onto his face. Together, they were invincible. They could conquer the world a thousand times over with each other by their side. They only grew to love each other more as time passed, the kisses and embraces becoming more frequent, as were the passionate gazes and whispers of sweet words.
For each other, they'd give anything. The rest of the world meant nothing, as long as they had one another. The cruel gossip and disgusted looks from the rest of the spirit world couldn't deter them from being together, even the inevitable mentioning of how they could never make it work because of their differences was ignored. Her body, mind and soul belonged to him completely, as his belonged to her and her alone.
When they performed the spirit bonding ritual under a full-moon night sky, freely-flowing blood from cross-shaped cuts on their hands mingling together, she knew he was the only one for her. The way he always took control, always protecting her made her love him even more. He had to be with her, she gave him a purpose in life. She was his precious someone that he would sacrifice the world for, someone he could trust with the dark secrets that dwelled in the bottom of his heart. The tales of his life before her, the numerous childhood beatings by his thousands of siblings because he wasn't the fastest or the strongest. These cruel memories were all dissolved under her loving kisses.
It seemed they could go on forever, peacefully and blissfully in love together. It almost seemed for him that after so much darkness in his life, there was finally a ray of sunlight slicing through the starless night. It almost seemed as though something had finally gone right for both of them.
"Hnnh?" he mumbled one morning, blinking groggily after just waking up. A strange sound was coming from outside the little hollow he had taken to living in.
"Sak-wah, wake up…" he yawned, shaking her sleeping form gently by the shoulder as she lay sound asleep on the other side of the hollow root.
Her jade-colored eyes opened as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Whazza matter?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. She stopped, hearing the noises from outside. "What's that, Sasuke?"
"I don't know," he admitted, crawling toward the root's entrance hole. "But I want to know what it is."
"Hey, I'm coming too!" she announced, clambering out of the hole after him and into the early-morning sunlight. She stood blinking her sleep away for a few seconds, and observed with confusion what was going on.
All around the small grove, there were humans. They were everywhere, walking, sleeping, talking to one another in loud voices.
"Sasuke, what are they all doing here?" she asked, her hand grasping his as he shook his head.
"I don't know…" he murmured. "But…it doesn't feel right."
They both turned their heads as the sound of a loud voice from a group of humans.
"Thass'right, that big 'un over there."
"Sasuke, why are they pointing to our tree?"
"I know about as much as you, Sakura…"
The loud human, who they discovered to be quite overweight, shouted again.
"Yeah, it should give us just enough wood for it. Yeah…"
"Sasuke!" cried Sakura, tugging on his arm. "Did you hear that?"
He said nothing, just glared furiously at the group of humans squabbling over something in the center of their group. They both stared in shock at the glint of metal.
"I won't let them do this!" shouted Sasuke, shrugging off Sakura's arm as he raced forward, ignoring her calls of his name.
He stationed himself between the humans and the tree he had come to call home, his clawed hands balled up in fists.
"Don't touch it," he spat at them.
"Sasuke, they're humans! They can't hear or see you!"
The overweight human had won the squabble over the piece of metal and was approaching Sasuke, looking right through him as though he was invisible. Sasuke gaped at the metal object, he had seen it slice through tree trunks many times before. He couldn't let it get to his Sakura.
"Well, I think this 'ere saw's gonna cut it real smooth," shouted the human to the cheering group behind him.
"Back off," hissed Sasuke, drawing out his fangs for the first time since meeting Sakura. "Get away, human."
"Sasuke, you'll get hurt!" shouted a panicked Sakura.
"One more step and you'll regret it, you filthy human!" shouted Sasuke, the venom sacs in his fangs dripping the poisonous liquid into their piercing tips. "I'm warning you!"
The human's eyes gained a mad glee as the metal object began whirring, its many tiny blades revolving around the edge in a blur of steel.
"Say your prayers, wood!" he shouted, rushing towards the seemingly-unprotected trunk of the delicate little cherry tree.
Sakura watched in shock as Sasuke, almost in slow motion, reared back, his razor-sharp fangs exposed. Then, fast as lightning, he struck forward, sinking his dagger-like teeth into the human's leg.
The saw fell, still whirring, to the grassy dirt, where it slowly ground to a halt. The human's eyes bulged out from his head as Sasuke's fangs emptied their venom into his fleshy calf. Sasuke then jerked his head back, spitting out dark red blood as the human fell over backwards, frozen in shock and from the poison's paralyzing effect. Sasuke ignored the terrified screaming of the humans as they hustled their fallen comrade away, instead turning toward Sakura.
"Sasuke!" she cried, running to him and flinging her arms around his neck. "What did you do, Sasuke?"
"I…I don't know…" he murmured, blinking as though just snapping out of a trance. "I just…lost it."
"The human…what's gonna happen to him?" she asked. He couldn't believe such a gentle soul existed, worrying even about the one who tried to take her life.
He stroked her head gently. "He'll live. Another reason I was teased as a child was because my venom was slower than everyone else's."
"Oh, Sasuke…" she sobbed, "Please…don't ever do that again. Somebody could've gotten hurt! Please…please don't…"
He held her in a tight embrace, glancing up to make sure no humans with metal toys remained.
"I promise, Sakura…I won't do it again."
The next day the two of them sat on their branch, as they always had. Though this time, the air of playful chitchat had disappeared. Both pairs of eyes, one grassy-green and one slit-gold, roved nervously over the empty spaces on the ground between the trees. It was a given that the humans would come back, and though Sakura had practically forbidden him from biting them, Sasuke would give them a desperate fight if they wanted to cut down his Sakura tree.
"See anything?"
"Nope…just a few birds, some beetles…that's all."
"Where are they…?" murmured Sasuke, squinting at every patch of shadows as though they hid a band of avenging humans.
"M-maybe they won't come," muttered Sakura, her hands gripping his arm in uneasiness.
"No…" he murmured in reply. "Humans are stubborn creatures. If they put their mind to something, they'll just keep coming back no matter the cost until it's done. Someday they'll wipe themselves out in one of their brainless ventures, but for now they content themselves with destroying everything else around them."
"Sasuke…I'm scared."
He wrapped his arm around Sakura's waist, allowing her to lean on his shoulder. "It's ok. You're safe right now."
"But what about you?" she asked, her big jade eyes gazing up at him. "You're the one they're after. I don't want them to hurt you!"
"I'll be fine, it's you I'm worried about. You can't run away, so I have to protect you."
"Sasuke…" she whispered as his clawed finger gently brushed a strand of hair off of her forehead.
A sudden commotion made them both jerk their heads up in alarm. Birds took flight from their roosts, chirping and squawking as they disappeared beyond the grove.
"Hey! What's going on?" shouted Sasuke to a tanuki as she raced around their tree's slender trunk.
The tanuki stopped, though the fur on her striped tail bristled up in fear.
"Humans!" she shouted. "Humans with shiny things!"
They stared at one another as the tanuki disappeared into the undergrowth. They had come at last.
"Sasuke, wait!" Sakura protested when he slid down the tree's trunk onto the grass below. "Be careful, Sasuke!"
"I will."
He switched on his animal senses, closing his eyes and dropping to the ground. He could feel the steady thumping of footsteps, and sense the waves of heat coming from many bodies. Their smell disgusted him, but it gave away their location far too easily.
"They're close," he shouted to Sakura, still safely perched in her tree. "There's a whole group of them…"
His eyes opened in surprise at the sound of a ringing crack, and only seconds later something heavy crashed down on top of him.
"Sasuke! Sasuke!" he heard Sakura's frightened voice shout. He thrashed under what he discerned to be a tree branch, though why it smelled of burning he had no idea.
Only seconds later a human hand closed around his squirming body, pinning his arms against his sides as it lifted him up from under the branch.
He coughed when the human's foul breath reached his face, struggling against its grip as the human peered at him.
"'Zis the 'un that bit 'cha?" he asked the human standing next to him, who to Sasuke's horror was the one he had emptied his poison into.
That human squinted, and nodded. "Yeah, that's the blighter."
Sakura could only shriek "Let him go!" though she knew the human's couldn't hear it. To them, she was invisible and her beloved Sasuke was just a common snake. They had another metal thing this time, and had made it blow off a tree branch, not hearing the tree's scream of pain. Humans couldn't see or hear spirits, and the ones that could often had their powers abused until they died.
She had jumped off of her branch and was shouting at the humans as one of them produced a canvas bag and dropped their squirming captive into it.
"Sakura!" she heard his voice call. She would've reached the human group, if one of them hadn't detached and approached her tree with another shiny metal thing.
"Stay back…" she half-shouted, panicked by the unfolding events. "Go away, go away!"
She glanced at the group again, torn between defending her tree and going after Sasuke. The human's metal object began whirring again, its spinning blades made her sick to her stomach.
Sasuke clawed desperately at the bag's thick material, holding his breath as the air was closed off by the human's hand gripping the bag closed. Sakura was in trouble, she needed him, and he was stuck in this crude prison!
He heard her scream of terror over the whirring of metal blades.
"Sakura!" he shouted repeatedly, succeeding in tearing a miniscule hole in the heavy cloth. "Sakura, hold on!"
Her cries turned from panic to agony as the human's fiendish laughter mingled with the sound of wood being sliced open.
The moment the hole was big enough, he thrust himself through it, only to me met with a scene that froze in his mind.
The human's metal thing chopped endlessly at the defenseless tree he had come to love. His Sakura, his beautiful tree spirit lay on the grass, her limbs splayed out as though she had fallen where she stood. Her chest rose and fell with her ragged breathing, she cried out more and more weakly every time the whirring blades cut into wood.
He felt something close around his neck, lifting him up again though this time he couldn't breathe.
His captor's eyes looked directly into his as the man showed off a yellow-toothed grin.
"Whoa there, spunky. Can't have you escaping now, can we?" he laughed, his thumb and forefinger closing more tightly around Sasuke's throat. He clawed feebly at the human's thick fingers, unable to move his head enough to bite the man.
"Sakura!" he shouted, using the last ounce of air in his lungs. "Sakura…I…I love you, Sakura! Forgive…me…I couldn't…protect you…"
He coughed only once, gasping in the human's grip. Sakura watched from where she lay as his body convulsed violently a few times, before slowly growing limp in the human's grasp. A few seconds later, his golden eyes glazed over as his head flopped to the side, never to move again.
"Sasuke! SASUKE!" she screamed, her already-teary eyes pumping out anguished tears. "Sasuke, no! No!"
As the human that had murdered her darling Sasuke tossed his unmoving corpse to the ground, the human with the metal thing struck her trunk with a concluding swing. She gasped in dying pain as her killer stepped back, shouting, "Timber!"
As her tree fell in a majestic arc to the ground, her eyes slowly gazed upwards at the exposed sky, previously kept at bay by her leaves' shade. She felt something brush her sweat-soaked hair out of her eyes, and smiled through her tears as her lover's face appeared, her head resting in his lap as his had done in hers through all the winters they had shared together.
She watched her name form on his ghostly lips, his faraway voice reaching her ears a few seconds later.
"I'll see you again soon," he mouthed. "I'll always love you."
She could only nod, tears streaming down her ashen cheeks as Sasuke's freed soul kissed her, leaving an icy-cold feeling on her drained skin.
Eventually, everything grew darker and darker, and the last thing Sakura saw before the eternal sleep claimed her mind was her Sasuke, her prince, her king, her lover Sasuke's smiling face telling her he loved her.
And even as her spirit left her body far below on the blood-soaked ground, she knew she would see him again someday. Maybe in another life, in another body, but they would be together without fail, just as the winter snows and summer rains never failed to fall over the tiny grove where the stump of a slender tree and the carcass of a black snake lay together.
But, with a little luck, maybe their next story would have a happier ending.
The end.
Yes! Sad ending! OMG! (cries like a little girl) but you all know they get reincarnated...so it's not really a sad ending, is it? It's my first attempt at a tragedy story, so be nice in your flames...:(
And for those who don't own thousands of Naruto fanbooks, the names "Sasuke" and "Sarutobi" are often associated with ninjas in Japan. just like "Zelda" makes most Americans think of elves and "Harry" makes people think of wizards.
And yeah, Team Hebi jokes galore! Ha ha ha! take that, you band of idiots! well, Juugo's bearable, so he's cool. though, the other two? YUCK. don't know why our beloved Sasu-kun hangs out with them.