A pristine white moon which hung alone in a starless sky gazed over the silent wood, watching, waiting for something to happen. It shone seemingly intently on the trees below, searching for a note of interest. The solemn song of the wind sounded softly as it danced and meandered through the trees, tickling the leaves with its' breezes, clinging onto them intoxicatingly, seductively entrancing them to the point of stealing a few leaves, leading them along its' trail, only to slowly let it fall onto the unforgiving dirt.
The dew drops rested on the bent blades of grass which covered the forest floor, glistening so slightly in the moonlight as the cold gusts of wind gently brushed across the ground, dew drops sliding off the grass and invisibly flying through the air, hanging on the wind.
The clouds dragged themselves slowly across the empty sky, leaving behind them a trail of disappearing white, the cold winds pushing against them, slowing them down to a crawl. The tips of the tallest trees brushed against the gales, reaching desperately for the clouds, their trunks stretched out to their fullest in hope to grab at the coldest air, the purest of water vapour to caress their leaves and branches with a frozen touch.
The clouds gently released a soft pour of rain, as night came to its' darkest and the blinding darkness filled all with a sense of isolation, the eerie silence deafening all of those who weren't there, invisible monsters roaming the landscape. No one whispered. No one moved, no bird sang, no animal called and even the wind seemed to still. All that was heard was the softest patter of water droplets falling upon the flying leaves of the trees, dripping off them to land upon the cold hard land, slowly sinking in.
A single star faded into view, relieving the moon of it's' loneliness. They gazed upon the forest beneath them in unison, their light creating an Illuminated path between the gaps of the trees shadows. The star seemed to momentarily pulse, but only in the time it takes to blink an eye, a silver light ebbing round it, in the vast endless sea of space; like a pebble, thrown into a lake, leaving a small ripple around it.
The sky was a dark violet canvas with darkened grey clouds lazily painted on, dripping sloppily, slowly down on to the landscape below. The rain grew from a drizzle to a down pour, seemingly agitated by the silence after its arrival. The strength of the falling rain grew and grew until finally, the wind was revitalised and picked itself up from its' dormant state to battle the down pour. The strong winds carried the rain at a forty five degree angle, crashing against the trunks of trees, crashing violently against them.
The moon continued to glare its' attention in the form of its' bright light down upon the woodland, focusing intently upon the battle. The wind toyed with the water, tossing it around in small circular motions, as it continued to fall down with destructive intent. The once large grey masses of vapour dwindled down to merely small drips of ink on the dark violet spread and with a heavy sigh of gales, the clouds continued their journey to see, observe and battle many more terrains.
The solitary star shone more brightly, giving off 3 agitated ripples of a dark red light, allowing the scene to return to normality, almost as if the cause of the nights events were its' pulses.
The cold air continued to dance and meander elegantly across the forest, a single rabbit peeking out its' head from a log, torn down and broken it its prime, its hollowed shell perfect protection from the storms and that which once was a woodpeckers front door, the perfect entrance to its burrow. From each of their burrows and locations, the animals emerged and sat in unison, watching the single star as it gently, slowly faded back into the dark background.
As the animals stared together at the night sky, the softest sound of the stars signal reaching their ears at last, a single creature crawled the forest floor, looking for a new prey, its dark orange hair hidden in the night, the smallest amount of smoke visible in the moons light emitting from its skin and its ears twitching from the stars signal. The smallest Amberfox walked low, avoiding debris of the forest which could bring any attention to any unaware creature.
Its cold electric yellow irises glared through the darkness at the distracted animals to spot a small creature unknown to it, gleaming with murder intent and flickering hunger as the tiniest of flame like tufts spiked off of its fur. It readied itself to pounce only to be distracted by the sound of a single horses hooves scraping across the woodland floor, the crackling of the leaves and the abrupt snapping of twigs.
The small Amberfox's ears perked up as it examined the intruder and saboteur of its dinner plans. A mighty shire stood towering before the inferior animal, Its mud stained horse shoes rusted to the point of being unbearable to wear, it's shivering feet hesitantly placing war worn metal on to the soft earth, only to have a sharp shooting of pain travel up its body, its eyes of a dying pale brown quivering with every shot of pain endured. It uttered no sound, just seemed to sigh as it slowly dragged itself through the forest, its shaggy light brown hair of a medium length stained with multiple shades of debris and rain water clung to it desperately, dripping down its body, falling softly to the drenched earth below. Tied lazily around its belly were two leather straps, keeping neatly, if not firmly enough, a worn leather padded seat, its metal foot rests kept on only by a rusted screw, shot through metal and fading leather.
The rider of the mighty creature looked down at the smallest fox beside him and smiled, shaking his wet hair and scratching his head
"What'cha doing boy? Ol' Danu here is in a right state, we need to get her to a stable right away and rest her up" The rider flung himself off the large shire, laughing to himself, stroking the horse's mane. "I guess me riding ya doesn't help, does it?" holding the saddle to pull the horse along the route. The rider stood at about 6 foot 4, with Shaggy dark brown that only just reached his eyes, his eyes being of a dark jade green.
The fox shook itself in apathy, glancing over once again at the small foreign creature in the rain that the forest creatures were fascinated by, them holding no fear of it, having no knowledge of its scent or look. The rider followed its' eye line, his dark green eyes widening at the sight he beheld
He ran over quickly to the small child that lay shivering and weak in the rain, too cold to move or even cry, his small fingers bright red and shivering, reaching out for something.
The tall brunette unclothed his torso, wrapping the small child in his working sleeveless robe, attempting to get him warmer. As the child was cupped and easily held in the large mans arm, he placed the small child's hand between his fingers, rubbing them gently to warm them, only to break his hand into pieces of sand.
The man gasped and almost dropped the small child out of shock but quickly caught him. His eyes grew more curious as the sand swirled around the child's wrist before forming another hand, his small fingers moving slightly.
He stood in awe, the wind growing still as he looked up towards the path. He hurriedly re-mounted his shire, the child held firmly inside his arm, wrapped in the light blue robe.
"Sorry Danu, You're gonna have to run like a bitch, cos this feller's on his way out." The horse huffed and shook his head as fluffed his mane, hitting his hoof gently on the floor. The rider turned his attention towards the fox and sighed "Looks like the hunt's over tonight, Kippa"
The fox growled low before sprinting off through the bushes and paths, making the rider sigh before shaking his head. He patted the horses side, signalling it to sprint after it, the horse attempting to run its' fastest.
The rider steadied himself on the racing horse as one arm held the small child and the other shielded his face from the onslaught of branches that slapped and scraped his skin, marking and cutting him, blood running thick down the shirtless mans arm.
Along the horizon, the beam of lights shone, creating an aura of warmth around a simple, cosy looking village that was surrounded by trees, mist thick along the tree tops which touched the cloud.
The rider smiled as his horse slowed down, retreating within its own small home, a small stable made of a simple stone structure with brick walls, lit by torchlight.
The man, walked up to his small abode and opened the door slowly, a blond haired woman who was rough five and half foot turning to look at him from her place at the table, dropping the plate she intended to set on the table onto the floor.
She hurried over to him with a distraught look, gasping and panicking
"Satoshi! What have you done? Why are you bleeding? And shirtless?" Her questions came out at a million miles an hour, being almost incoherent. Satoshi merely smiled at this and planted a kiss on her lips gently, silencing her.
"I have a gift for you." He stated with a small grin.
"A gift?" she asked incredulously, a small look of scepticism "What kind of gifts brings you back to my house like that?"
"This little bugger" he replied, removing the robe that covered the child from his arm. The woman gasped and held even more gasps in with her mouth, looking at the child
"Where did you find it?" She half shouted due to surprise
"3 miles deep into the hunting forests. We're at least 20 miles from the next village so... whoever abandoned the blighter was hell bent on it either dying or never seeing them again."
The blonde frowned and looked at the child "How could you abandon a child? How jaded must you be?" She took the baby into her arms and examined it. "It's barely even got any hair... as if it were just born." She cradled the child and it opened its aquamarine eyes, making her gasp and smile
"This little boy... is beautiful." She rested the baby's head on her shoulder and closed her eyes, feeling its warmth on her. Satoshi smiled at the sight then frowned as he saw something odd. He stepped forward and grabbed something that was hanging out of the small child's diaper. He examined it closer, humming in confusion
This humming caught the attention of his wife who looked at him and noticed the wet letter, furrowing her brow. "What's that?"
"I'm not sure..." he responded "I've just found it on the child. Though I'm sure that wasn't there earlier."
"You were probably just being a typical male and not seeing everything that's in front of you. What does it say?"
He gently ripped open the soggy envelope and peeled the letter open. The letter stated such.
Dear Satoshi and Midori.
Though the complete circumstances cannot be explained, nor can the reasons I know your names or that you've got a hold of this letter, please take the manner of this notice very seriously.
The child you now have is called Gaara. He is a child that holds misfortune and despair deep in his soul, his very life being created by a love that was misguided
I have made it your job to show this child the right path and show him what the world can be
To show him what love is and create his life again, to make his heart feel real love, and to help him find true love.
Yours sincerely, with great expectations
"...With great expectations...? Who? He sounds like a right top class. Could he be a noble?" The rider's wife asked, not completely understanding the letter. "Needless to say a child needs love. But what the rest of it meant I've no clue" she looked at the sleeping child again and smiled
"But what does it matter anyway? It's like this is a gift from the heavens. We finally have our own little boy. A little Gaara"