Sasusaku Month 2015! I loved participating and it was a great first time!

Day 31
Prompt: Reincarnation

Rating: T

Summary: Why is it that some people are drawn to each other before even knowing one another? Is is simply a coincidence or is there some other force at work? Maybe it's different for each couple as to why they love each other so easily, but one couple knows why. Well, except for the man who has lived for numerous centuries and understands why he is drawn over and over to the same person. Or perhaps soul would be a better word, because while he lives for eternity in the same body, she lives from body to body for eternity.

Disclaimer: Naruto and the other characters are not mine, only the plot is.

~Enjoy

The ground is cold under her feet as she walks through the dark forest, lightened only a tad by the full moon ahead. She has no idea where she is or where she's going, but she is going somewhere. Whether or not she is freely going there or is being pulled by some force is not known. A branch breaks under her foot as her journey continues, but she does not stop her movements forward.

The canopy of the trees as thickened as she has made her way deeper into the forest, and now there is no light at all from the moon she knows to be still up in the sky. Or at least she believes the moon is still there. Perhaps she has somehow transported into a moon dimension? Or been traveling for days without even knowing? The thoughts are scary and make her slow her pace as she is pulled farther into the forest.

The dew covered grass and uneven ground had made her feet cold as well as sore, since that is all she had been walking on since she started this journey. Therefore, when her feet register a smooth and flat surface-still cold-her body finally stops to glance at the change of substance under her feet. There is not light, so the girl's eyes which have adjusted to the darkness are only able to see a flat and dark colored surface. To better figure out what the ground is now made out of the girl swings one of her feet around the area.

She feels grooves here and there, and realizes she is now on some sort of stone. She turns her head from side to side and realizes it is a stone path since she can see grass once again on each side of her. A little bit suspicious the girl stands in the same spot for a couple of minute trying to decide on whether or not she should trek forward. A stone path in a deep part of a forest is a bit too sketchy for her, and she decides it may be best to head back. The girl turns around to head back to where she acme from, and she plants one foot in the direction. However, as her one foot lands, the other moves and turns her body back the way it had been moments ago. Then her whole body moves forward on the path as if it is being called that way, as if something had called it that way.

The stone gets colder as the girl follows its path farther into the forest, but she doesn't question it as she continues to march straight on ahead. Walking dead center down the stone path, eyes forward.

Without realizing it, the girl's legs are ready to give out, and they buckle slightly as she walks into utter darkness. Even her adjusted eyes can see nothing, not even outlines of anything around her. The girl marches forward though, and just as her legs are about to buckle from exhaustion, the girl stops. No sounds reach her ears as she stands bathed in darkness, but the girl stays still and seems to wait for something.

Suddenly footsteps are head on the stone in front of her, and she waits eagerly as the sound gets closer. There is still nothing but darkness, so the girl cannot see who is approaching her, but she is eager for who she believes it to be. Except, as the footsteps come closer, the girl realizes it is more than one person-even two-walking towards her. Anxiety suddenly fills her body, and she takes a step in fear of what may be in front of her.

There are two sudden glows that appear at the same time, and answer the question of who is here. One glow, the first to be appear by a split second, is a glow of red eyes. Eyes which the girl knows, eyes which should be up higher than her stature, but are not. The second glow is created by lanterns, lanterns which show people holding the man she knows; a man who looks slightly beaten and worn out. The lanterns also show how many people are around the girl; a circle of men in armor are just feet away from her at any point.

The girl is instantly frightened by the situation she is in, and hoping to receive some calming measure from the one person here she knows, she looks at the red eyed man. The action is either a mistake or blessing, because the man mouths only one word to her when their eyes meet.

"Run." And the girl instantly tries after seeing the word silently leave his lips, but it is too late. The moment she makes a move, the circle of men encloses around her and she is surrounded with swords at her throat.

The beaten man is enraged by the actions of the men surrounding the girl, and he thrashes around in the hold of the two men holding disturbance alarms everyone in the vicinity, and as the man breaks free of his restraints, chaos erupts.

Chaos which forces the sword wielding men to swing there swords at random as the man tries to reach the girl. However, as the man breaches the sword swingers, a gruntled choke is heard. A sound which brings the red eyed man to a halt, only before his eyes narrow and he instantly shoves the other men out of his way to reach the girl.

The girl who is now lying on the ground with blood pouring out of her chest as a man with a bloody sword stands over her. The man holding the bloody sword see the red eyed male and gives a smirk to him as he once again drives his sword into the girl.

The last thing the girl sees is her blood dripping off a sword held by a smirking man before the sword rushes down to her once again.

The scream is loud and ear shattering, and as the girl who let it out springs up in her bed, her heart is pumping after what had just happened in her dream. Tears are also crawling out of her eyes and as she tries to calm her heart and wipe them away, the door to her bedroom opens to reveal her panic looking parents.

"Sakura are you okay? That was a blood curdling scream." The woman, her mother, states as she and her husband walk into the room and towards her daughter who is shaking on her bed.

The girl says nothing as she continues to try and calm herself. Her mother sits next to her and starts to rub her back, and feeling a bit more safe, Sakura lays her head on her mother's shoulder and tries to forget what she just saw.

"Sakura?" This time it is her father who questions Sakura, but the girl only shakes her head and clings onto her mother. How can she explain that she just had a dream where she was brutally stabbed and killed?

"Oh, sweetie." Her mother says in a sympathetic tone as she puts her arms around her daughters head and starts to rock her a bit. Sakura's mother can feel the silent tears sinking into her skin through her thin robe, and holds on tighter to her daughter as she tries to calm her.

Mr. Haruno only watches as his wife works on calming their daughter down. He can see that the shaking has now stopped, but a look from his wife tells him that everything is still not alright. However, he is unsure of what he should do to calm his daughter. Deciding he needs to do something, Mr. Haruno sits behind his daughter and rubs her back as his wife had been doing moments ago.

"You're fine now." Mr. Haruno offers to his daughter as he continues to rub her back.

"It was just a dream." Mrs. Haruno follows up with as she plants a kiss on the top of her daughter's head.

Sakura says nothing back to either of her parents though, because deep down inside her, something says that her dream was more than just a dream.

"Yes, mom. I know. I'm fine." Sakura tells her mother on the phone as she walks towards her school. Her tone is a little sharp with her mother since both her parents have been harping on her about last night since she woke up.

"I'm almost at school, I have to go. Bye!" Sakura lies to her mother as she hangs up the phone with a shake of her head. She loves her parents, and is grateful for them calming her down last night, but she isn't a child who they have to worry about all day. Honestly, she is still unraveled by her dream, but her parents aren't going to be the ones to help her. Sakura actually wonders if anyone can.

She sighs as she runs a hand through her hair as she turns the corner. Completely distracted and lost in thought, Sakura doesn't realize someone else had been turning the corner at the same time. Which leads to her bumping into a hard chest and feeling an arm wrap around her waist.

"Are you okay?" Momentarily stunned, it takes Sakura a minute to realize what the man had said to her.

"Are you o-"

"I'm fine." Sakura backs up out of the guys chest and arm, and finally glances up at him. Only to be completely flabbergasted at the down right gorgeous man standing in front of her; her jaw almost drops as she takes him. His jet black hair styled up in the back, but flat in the front; his deep, onyx eyes; his sexy little smirk; and his tight fitted shirt and pants. Except, as she looks at him, a sudden shot of pain shoots through her head and she grunts slightly as she puts her hand on the side of your head.

Apparently the man is sadistic, because at her expression of pain, his smirk widens. Sakura takes no notice though as she continues to hold her head as the same shock keeps running through her head.

"I should take you somewhere." The man say as he reaches for her arm. Just as he is about to grab on to her wrist, she moves to push him away and say no, but a more painful throbbing starts in her head. Leading to her grabbing onto his outstretched arm and digging her nails into his skin as the throbbing worsens.

Sakura's grip tightens and her nails dig into his skin and begin to make blood appear on his skin, but the man doesn't even flinch as he begins pulling her back the way she came from. Sakura's vaguely aware of her body being pulled by the handsome man she had bumped into, and she registers her surroundings are what she walked past on her way to school, but her head is pounding to much for her to actually process what is going on.

The man pulls the Sakura along with confidence towards his destination, not hesitating for one second as he makes turns or walks across roads. Even as he opens a gate, then a door, he does it all in stride; despite the fact that the house he walked into his not his.

He leads the girl to a couch in the living room, and watches as she rests her head on the armrest. He finds it amusing how unaware she is of everything at the moment, he could have led her anywhere and she wouldn't be the wiser. Luckily for her though, he had led her to the one place she feels most comfortable and safest in: her home.

"Do you want water?" The man inquires as he sits down next to her, already knowing her answer. Which is a 'no' validated by her shake of the head, and he smirks as he leans towards her and watches her rub her temples.

"I can tell you what's going on. Why your head is pounding and why you've been having weird dreams; specifically the one from last night." The man says as he casually looks ta his nails and throws an arm over her shoulder.

Sakura looks up at him through her pain and wonders how he could possibly have answers to any of those things. She doesn't even know, and her head throbs more after that thought.

"First off, I'll tell you why your head is hurting so bad in order for to stop." The man states as he makes himself comfier on the couch and looks at the girl who unknowing curled into his side moments ago.

"Your head is hurting because consciously you don't recognize me. However, subconscious does recognize me and is trying to figure out how. Yet, you really don't know me, so your brain is in a jumbled mess since it's trying to explain how both knows me and does not know me. Here's the answer: you yourself as 'Sakura Haruno' do not now me, but your spirit/soul as Sakura the pink haired girl does know me." The man states as he looks smugly at her confused face.

"How would my soul know you?"

"Simple. I am the immortal Sasuke Uchiha who has walked the earth longer than humans, and you are the reincarnation of Sakura the pink haired human who I met centuries ago."

"The pink hair girl?"

"They didn't really have last names back then."

"I was called Sakura once before though?" The man looks to the side Sakura is not leaning on him from, and wonders how much he should reveal.

"You've actually been called 'Sakura' eight times before, this is your ninth time as being 'Sakura.'" Sasuke says as he continues to look away from Sakura.

"I've lived eight times before this life?! No, no!" Sakura yells as she jumps out of Sasuke's arm, completely frazzled and unwilling to believe his story.

"Your soul has lived eight times before this life."

"You're just making this all up." Sasuke sighs as he finally looks back at her with his head tilted to the side in annoyance.

"No, I'm not. That dream you had last night? The one where you were stabbed and killed, that event happened six centuries ago yesterday. You were even the same age of seventeen then as you are now."

"I died six hundred years ago yesterday?" The words are whispered as Sakura seems to be saying them to herself and not Sasuke.

"That was your last reincarnation as 'Sakura' up until this life. Your spirit must have been influenced by the anniversary of your last death and the actual memory of it was played to in your dream." Sakura finally sits back down as she contemplates what Sasuke has just told her.

"So, you were the one with the red eyes?" Sakura inquires to Sasuke as she continues to stare at the floor of her living room with a perplexed expression. Sasuke however leans back and closes his eyes as he tries to recall the one day in his eternal life he regrets.

"I was."

"I, what was happening? I experienced what happened, but I couldn't actually remember what sh-I was thinking."

"You were suppose to meet me in the forest. It was where I was hiding at the time; being an immortal wasn't exactly the thing to be in the middle ages. Therefore, I had to live somewhere no one-I thought-would go. My voice led you through the forest and to where I was living, but I didn't realize you were being followed. Knights had tailed you, and once they realized the direction you were heading, they went that way to find me before you did. They told me if I didn't do as they said, they would kill you, so I let them beat me up and agreed to being taken into the village. Wounds don't actually hurt me, so I knew I would be fine. However, those assholes double crossed me and well, you probably remember." Sakura nods as she recalls how she had tried to run and was stabbed after Sasuke tried to get free when she couldn't get past the knights.

"How come the last time I lived was six centuries ago?"

"I'm not sure, usually it only took a decade or two for you to materialize again. I have to imagine being killed for the first time, and so brutality, made your spirit not want to materialize again for a while; your soul was probably afraid of such a death again." Sasuke offers to Sakura's question, his head still tilted back with his eyes shut.

Sakura just nods again, even though Sasuke can't see her. She's trying to summon up the courage to ask what she really wants, and she's finding it difficult to do so.

"I know what you want to ask, so just ask." His deep voice startles Sakura out of her head, and she looks at him to finally see his eyes open again and looking straight at her. She looks way shyly though before she says what's on her mind.

"How come you keep coming back to me?" Sasuke shifts so he is body is facing hers and is eyes hold hers as she moves to face him head on as well.

"Because Sakura captivated me centuries back and has captivated me every century since. While the body containing Sakura's soul looks different, besides the pink hair, each reincarnation the soul itself stays the same. It stays the same Sakura I love." The words are so earnest and actually full of love to Sakura's surprise that she isn't sure what she should say in response; she stares openly at him as he continues to wait for her response.

"Th-that can't be, I have to have changed. Each century would have been different and influenced me, and I would not be the same Sakura on the inside." The words are spoken with both disbelief and fear, and Sasuke watches as Sakura plays with her hands to try and calm herself.

"You're right, each reincarnation was in a different time and your personality was influenced by it. However, the true depths of your personality remained the same. Your love of animals and nature, your desire to help people, your stubbornness, and your other core traits have remained the same. In this reincarnation you're aspiring to be a doctor, no? It's not the first time for being an ambition of yours, you've been a medic or healer of some sort in every life before. It's part of the reason the knights killed you back then. Healers were suppose to be pure, and after you were seen with me, they thought I tainted you and made you a slave of the devil. To them, you had to be killed." Sasuke's tone had changed as he explanation went on, but Sakura paid no mind to the angry tone at the end. Her mind is still focused on trying to understand what Sasuke is saying about her being reincarnated.

Sakura really has nothing left to say, and she simply stares down into her lap as she works on grasping everything Sasuke has revealed to her. She admits to herself that it seems ridiculous that she is a reincarnation of someone Sasuke met long ago, but his facts and accounts of her past make sense. Sakura had revealed her dream from last night to no one, so for him to be able to tell her what she dreamed, is a point towards him being legit about everything. Despite how obscure the whole idea is.

"I know it's hard to understand, but it is the truth. You don't have to worry about me dragging you off somewhere though, I'm adjusted enough to this time that you and I can work towards a relationship." Sasuke is clearly uncomfortable a he tries to explain what he wants to do about their situation, and Sakura watches as his eyes aim towards the ceiling as he tries to put his thoughts in order.

"What do you mean?" Sakura inquires as she leans towards Sasuke slightly.

"I mean, I've got an apartment and I know that I can enroll in your school and we can. Well, we can work towards being a 'couple.' This century is far different from the last century, and we don't have to be worrying about knights now." Sasuke had first been speaking while just looking at Sakura, but as he spoke his last sentence, he was speaking into Sakura. His eyes were delving into Sakura's, almost as if he was speaking to the soul inside her.

Sakura think it's a stupid thought at first, but after Sasuke finishes his sentence about them not having to worry about knights, she feels relief flow through her body. The feeling surprises Sakura and she clutches the front of Sasuke's shirt in shock and confusion. Sasuke doesn't seem upset at her sudden movement of the grabbing of his shirt, because a minuscule smile full of happiness appears on his face.

"How do you know if I will love you back?" Sakura's hand is still clutched on her Sasuke's shirt, but after asking her question, she unclothes her fist and lays her hand flat on her chest. Most people would be hurt at the question Sakura posed, but Sasuke seems unfazed as he simply brushes the hair out of her face. At first, Sakura believes that is all Sasuke is going to do since his face moves back. However, his face suddenly moves back towards her and she feels a pair of lips touch the top of her head.

"Our love pulls us to each other, whether you realize it or not. My soul is drawn to yours because of my love, and even though you don't feel it and understand it, your soul is drawn to mine for the same reason. You've never dated or had a deep interest in anyone before, right? You let me in your house without knowing me and listen as I claim things most people would never believe? You're not pulling away from me or even showing discomfort at my touch or closeness?" Sakura's knows he's asking questions, but she knows they are facts just as he does.

His face is still close to hers, so she turns her eyes to the side as she ponders over what Sasuke had just uttered to her. Sasuke doesn't push anymore as he sees her going over everything her mind once again; this isn't the first time he has had to explain everything to her. He didn't force her before and he's not going to force her now, and even as she moves her hand off his chest, he remains still and waits for her.

"We, we can work towards a relationship. I do feel comfortable with you, and something is drawing me towards you, but I don't want to start at a place where two people should work to over time." Sasuke gives her a perplexed look as he tries to understand what she's saying.

"I mean, I want to start out as two people who have an interest in each other. I don't want to start out as a couple; I want us to work towards being one." Sasuke seems to understand now and smirks a little as he leans back onto the back of the couch.

"I have no objections, it just means I get to woo you over once again." Sasuke's eyes became half closed and started staring straight into Sakura's during his statement, and with his smirk remains on his face, Sakura's whole face turns red by the end of his sentence. She admits he looks downright sexy at the moment, and looking like that while saying those words with such confidence, makes her embarrassed and excited.

"So-" Sakura starts, but she is interrupted as Sasuke cuts her off.

"I pick you up at eight, make sure to dress up." Sasuke states as he stands up off of the couch while Sakura gives him a shocked look. Sakura stands in response though, unsure of what she should do despite his announcement of a date later.

"Then-"

"I see you at eight." Sasuke interrupts while also giving her a wink and earning a blush on her face again. He turns and moves towards the front door to leave, but at the last second her spins back to Sakura. His actions are faster than she can process, and she only understands them when she feels a pair of lips on her cheek. He gives her a wink as he pulls away before once again making his way towards the front door.

Sakura's face is beet red even after she hears the front door open and close. Once she realizes he's gone and not in the house, she ungracefully launches herself backwards onto the couch. She's sprawls unladylike as she leans her head back and stares up at the ceiling, bathing in the feeling flowing through her body. Sakura might have been able to deny Sasuke's proclamations about their souls already being in love before, but she certainly can't now. Not after what she just felt when he kissed her cheek.

"Not long." Are the words which escape her mouth as Sakura closes her eyes and sees flashes of her and Sasuke together in different times from the past.

Sorry it's a day late! I wanted to give a decent length story for the last day, and it took a while to write it.

Happy summer!

~S-cherry-Blossem

P.S Thanks for all the favs, reviews, and follows throughout the month, I deeply appreciate it them all!