Chapter 3
Those lost and those forgotten
There were always those who were forgotten if lost and always those remembered by many when lost. In our scenario there are ten of these individuals, lost. Some for four some years and some for ten. It was always hard for most when you realize how long you have been gone and that you would never be found.
Knights, from kingdoms all over the world were sent to a curse ridden cave where they were sealed for what they though to be all eternity, these unlucky knights were they best of their kingdom, each a protégé of their generations, sealed and bound by one cursed cave.
All those who herd of this cave believed there was a beast. They were all told that those who entered did not walk out and for the most part these people were right. In most cases no one bothered to search for them, knowing they had failed. All the kingdoms thought that he who defeated the unknown beast made their kingdom the strongest of them all and in an attempt to be the best, the kingdoms sent their best knight to battle with the beast some claimed to wield the power of the of gods.
'foolish they were' thought the golden haired boy as he eyed a rat crawling along the ground of the dark cave. he had been there with the rest of them for seven years now, their magic nor swords worked within this trap that kept them contained .
'there was no beast' only a cage so strong it held the strongest of all the lands and destroyed the memories they build outside of it.
There was a water source but they could not break the cave walls due to a protection spell so strong the proclaimed 'strongest' could not break them. Ironic really, how they built them selves so high that they ended up stranded here because their king ordered it.
' but that's the duty of the knight, to give your life and soul to their king for the sake of their kingdom' they believed there was always a way but for some reason, they could not find it and because of this, they were stuck.
"this sucks…." the knight mumbled as he bit into an apple.
Kneeling on one knee before a thrown the blonde waited within the room for the one man who commanded him. Ōnoki stepped out in all his short glory as he took his seat at the thrown.
"Diedara, it is your time to prove your worth to this kingdom. Are you prepared to sacrifice your life for your king ?" said wizard lifted his head and grinned.
"of course I am, hm" he said standing up at the flick of his kings wrist." good, I am sure you have herd of the cave where none have returned correct ?" he asked and at the sight of his prized knights head nodding he continued.
"well I have decided to sacrifice you with the trust of the kingdom in you, I believe you will bring me the head of the beast from that cave so that our kingdom may be titled as the best" Diedara flipped his cape from covering his front as he bowed in courtesy to his king.
" I have waited for the day my lord, and am ready to prove my worth to the kingdom of earth" he spoke bravely. Although Diedara was ready to sacrifice his life as his father had long ago he was skeptical of what lied within the cave that so many disappeared inside of. He was also apprehensive about weather or not he was indeed ready to die for his kingdom, although a rational thought, Deidara inwardly felt like a coward for stumbling upon this instance of skeptical thought.
Within the confinement of the hellish cave Deidara felt no sense of cowardly dismay at the thoughts of apprehension he felt the day his fate was seemingly sealed, he knew now that this was hell and that glory was not worth giving up a life of his own for. He never lived his life, he lived his late fathers in order to prove a point to no one but himself for the sake of reassurance.
" Then go, you will leave tomorrow at dawn. Do not return until you have brought the head of the beast." Diedara stood from his bow and nodded in understanding. With that he turned around swiftly disappearing behind the wooden doors of the thrown room with the swish of his cape.
Ōnoki watched after the valiant knight with a dark look on his face, he knew even his best knight would most likely never walk through those doors again.
Sakura stared out into the prolonged wilderness where her first journey would bring her. She and her companions would scour outside the kingdom walls in search of a plant with healing properties for a wounded knight within the walls of the kingdom.
" Sakura, are you listening ? " turning to look at Sasuke she sighed. " no, I wasn't. I'm anxious to get going " Sasuke scowled at her and turned back to his large map, drawing circles or 'x' marks on the thin paper with his quill.
"if you want to complete this simple mission and become a favorable knight to my uncle then I advise you pay attention." I sighed and mentally agreed with the boy, knowing I wanted to prove some worth to the king in case he would not see me as a worthy knight. With that i focused on the markings he made on the map.
"are the circles where we will be searching for the plant ?" I inquired and at the nod of
his head I observed the circled areas on the map of the land beyond the kingdom.
"have you seen Naruto ?" Sasuke asked, looking up from his work. " I saw him at breakfast but he didn't come out this morning to exercise with me. Sasuke hummed in thought, looking back at the map. I pouted at his habit of keeping his thoughts to himself like this, it was annoying.
"so ? Do you have any idea where he could be ?" I asked finally, breaking the silence. Sasuke did not even look up from his map as he spoke.
" I told him about something the other day, he is probably just shaken up from it" I frowned at him and wondered what could probably shake up Naruto.
"what ? What did you tell him ?" Sasuke sighed in exasperation and rolled up his map.
"my brother was sent to a cave four years ago to kill a beast in this cave, and he never came back ok ? " my eyes widened at the burning hatred in his dark optics.
"Sasuke…. I didn't know. I'm terribly sorry I asked. It must be hard talking about such a thing " he glared at me and then averted his gaze from mine.
" what would you know about such a thing ?" he asked and I felt a surge of pain in my chest at the memory of my late parents. I would not tell him though, already knowing the sadness of loosing someone dear to you…..i remembered the terror of loosing the master blacksmith and the loneliness I felt without him there to help me or comfort me when I felt sad.
" I would know nothing but the helplessness you must feel, knowing you can do nothing…" I answered finally which gained his attention, he looked at me, then scoffed. " lets go find that idiot so we can get going. I smiled, pushing memories of despair deep within the back of my mind. "yeah, lets go"
It turned out that Naruto had been confused and went to the wrong place to meet up and he did not show up for our exercise routine because he had something to do for his mother on short notice. I felt as if Sasuke was embarrassed but masterfully covered it up, Naruto was himself and I felt better as we set off on our journey to find the plant we required to heal the knight.
During our journey, I could not help but wonder about what Sasuke told me. I did not known he had an older brother and could imagine the pain of loosing him. I would have to do research on this beast when we got back. My grip on the reigns of my steed tightened, my knuckles going white as I looked ahead, eyes on the look out for predators and a specific plant.
" Sakura is this it ?" Naruto asked, clutching a fist full of blue flowers slightly similar to those in which we searched for. "no, their not " I informed him and smiled for the first time since Sasuke and I spoke as Naruto pouted, allowing the blue zinnias to fall to the floor.
"common, were off to the next area" Sasuke said, hoisting himself up onto his horse. I could only imagine how hard it has been on Sasuke, being crowned the heir of the kingdom should Madara not bear a child. It was most certainty hard on the boy, I could tell by his tense demeanor all the time.
I found myself wondering what Sasukes brother would be like, was he up-tight and moody like Sasuke was ? Was he rude and conceited like most Uchihas ? Lost in my thoughts I soon enough found my vision clouded by a certain flower we had come on this voyage for. I took it from an overjoyed Naruto hand and gently paced it in my satchel.
" Awesome job, lets get out of here. I'm starving " I said taking the reigns of my horse into my hands, gripping them before kicking the side of my stallion lightly with my booted foot. Naruto bragged the whole 7 hours back to the kingdom for finding the pesky flower we had obtained. It was amusing to see Sasuke send such heated glares at the blonde haired boy from afar. It also was not too surprising to observe an oblivious Naruto as he was ranting about his achievement.
I grew too fond of the boys company by the end of our training, we had only a few days before the test of strength where we would be declared as knights if we were to pass. To say the least , I was nervous. The kind of restless, panicking, distant nervous. I had Naruto worried because I was so silent with my deep thoughts of the most consuming, unoptimistic depression.
Not long did this spell last before Naruto and Sasuke bombarded me with seemingly cruel remarks and optimistic speeches. I knew Sasuke showed his compassion oddly, his reassurance came out as snide remarks about ones capability in an array of ways, his joy came out as glares or the microscopic blush to his face.
But Naruto was a complete opposite to my dear gloomy friend he was an open book, he was very outward and up in the clouds with the way he thinks while Sasuke; although seemingly apathetic with every situation under the sun. I knew deep down cared in his own inverted, condensed way.
"Sakura you need to stop moping and quit thinking about it !" Naruto had yelled suddenly, tearing me from my realm of thought and single handedly sending me into a new mental frenzy. He was too close fro comfort I noted as he pressed his forehead against mine, stating me down with large optics of Safire.
"s-sorry" his eyes squinted at my fraudulent apology.
" noooooo~~~ don't say sorry ! Just tell me you will focus on something more beneficial to your performance on Monday." he said, flailing his arms in exasperation.
" I didn't know your brain could absorb a word like beneficial or performance" my jaw went slack and fell open slightly at Sasuke's crude insult. I saw the situation escalating quickly when Naruto's head whipped in Sasuke's direction so quick I wondered if he had hurt himself.
"shut up jackass, I'm not stupid. I've been reading more and expanding my vocabulary thanks to Sakura !" If I had not grabbed Naruto by his arms he would have made their verbal fight physical. I sighed, tightening my grip on his wrists enough to pull him out of his childish defense of his mental capacity.
"good, now that you have decided to be the bigger man, lets get to our last session of training before we are declared knights." Naruto brightened up. "that's the spirit sakura ! We will definitely pass the test. I glanced to where Sasuke had been standing to find it barren of his presence. I grew worried but knew he had just went to train.
lately Sasuke had been more likely to verbally assault us then when we had met nearly a year ago. To be honest deep down I felt I knew what would happen if I did not do something but to my dismay I almost tricked myself into thinking it was nothing.
I had been on my way home from dinner when I spotted Sasuke near the entrance of the stables, his horse trailing behind him as he led it through the grass toward the court yard where an exit to the castle was. I was frozen and my mind reeling, running through scenarios of what I should do before I came to a halt and realized I had to stop him, I knew whatever he was doing was a bad move and I would need to save him from whatever it is I had too.
So with that thought in mind I ran after him only stopping when I could grab his shoulder, stopping him in his path. Turning his head Sasuke looked at me with eyes that spoke volumes. He was leaving on a journey he would give up his life as a knight and as a candidate of the kingdoms leader.
"Sasuke… I'll go" it fell from my mouth without thought, teaching me just how attached I had grown to him and Naruto. His eyes flashed with hope before the cold sheet of a boy with no emotions closed off his emotions. I did not need his eyes to tell what was running through his head, he felt as if he had no choice but to abandon his family for his brother, who he was not even sure was alive.
" you have a choice, let me go. I will bring him home " speaking with such certainty I made it clear I meant it by allowing a smile to grace my face. His lips twisted into a frown." you are weak you could not possibly kill the beast if my brother could not." I frowned at his question of my strength.
" I know you do not mean that, you don't want to have hope, your to self reliant. I of all people would know how it is to be like that." He turned his body toward me as if to make a point. "you are a girl, no girl nor woman could be a knight, get it through your thick head Sakura. You will never be strong enough " At first his words stung but the more his words echoed in my head the less it pained me, I knew that harsh tone, I had that mentality myself at one point after I lost the master blacksmith to the cold hands of death.
I would not be put down though, I would be strong and save those I loves, from either death or the loss of a part of them, I was never able to save my parents or the blacksmith. But if I could help Sasuke from a path of destruction by showing him what lengths I would go to in order to protect him, then so be it. This is why I would prove myself, showing him ultimately not what a girl can do but what extent love will take someone.
"I will be back Sasuke, I will show you" as these words fell from my mouth I knew exactly what I was doing when I knocked Sasuke out, left a note in his pocket and another for the guards that find him on their outpost doorstep.
Surely loosing my chance to become a knight and never being allowed into the kingdom would be worth the hollowness I felt as I hopped on my horse and descended in the direction of the 'X' on the map that was in Sasuke's pocket.
His eyes cracked open as the sunrays from a window above his cell proved dim lighting within the small space. He quickly realized what had happened the night before, every detail flashing through his head and her last words echoing in his mind, clinging to crowed spaces of his mind, he slowly begin to piece together what she meant, what she would do now that she seemingly took his burden from him.
The young Uchiha wanted to believe in his friend, he wanted to hold on to the words she had spoken when she stole his path away so easily and also gave him the choice he truly wanted, he just needed to know at least someone would give him an answer.
Sasuke would wait how ever long it would take for her to come back, he would trust her word and believe she would indeed be back with bad news or his brother.
" I will be back Sasuke, I will show you" she would give him back the chance to live a life with or without his brother. Sitting up he herd the crumbling of paper within his pocket and pulled out a note which he found was from her.
'good luck on your test' he smirked at her words, he would indeed do his best, knowing there would be some form of satisfaction to come.
Unknown to him, he did not question that there was a chance she would not be back, he seemingly just knew that there was no need for question.
Welp...that's that. I'm glad i took my time to write this chapter, thanks everyone for your follows and faves, embarrassed that i did not thank you lovely people last chapter for all your support~~
Until next time ladies and gentleman.