A/N: I am so sorry for keeping all of you waiting. I have been extremely busy. Here we go.
In the great new kingdom in the island of Cretes, the folks had a strange tradition of singing and performing plays about the affairs of the aristocrats and royalty.
The literacy rate across the country has been improving with the new king's installment of sophist institutions and tutors. However, literacy still remained a privilege of the few who lived clustered to the capital.
So the free spirited and artistic people who lived in the margins devised new ways to spread news about what was going on in the capital.
The kingdom was divided into precincts and districts, which were then divided into smaller towns. The kingdom's mountainous topography further divided the people from the countrysides from the capital inhabitants.
So it was not strange for rural towns to select a flighty youth with a sonorous voice perform and sing about the news in the air.
A melodious voice of a man echoed in the town's plaza, "In the kingdom of Cretes, there was a beautiful princess. And the king loved her very much."
Sasuke, who happened to be in the town's plaza, overheard the melancholic song that has been sang for ages. He turned his profile to the center, where he saw people his age flocking to hear the town's most popular singer.
One of the towns youth mocked, "I haven't the slightest idea why such a dull song is so popular. Do you, Sasuke?"
A villager answered with a laugh, "Why? I find the singer rather charming."
Sasuke didn't say anything. His deep dark eyes looked at the singer who played his lyre with a controlled timbre in his sad voice.
His spiky black hair rustled in the soft spring breeze, as his gaze lingered at the singer and then fell back to his pouch that had a grey squirrel and a wild poultry left.
He rose, much to the towns girls and women's dismay.
"Sasuke, are you leaving already?" One of the men called out.
"But aren't you going to wait for your game to sell out?"
Without answering, he rose and dusted off his thighs and headed to the demarcated exit of the town.
When he was about to leave, he heard sounds of light food padding, "Sasuke!"
When he turned, he acknowledged the person with a nod.
A pretty girl hunched over and tried to catch her breath. Her long locks clustered across her bare shoulders and neck like vines and she raised her eyes to him that looked like stars.
"Sa-Sasuke, are you le-leaving already?"
He nodded and waited a little for the young woman to bring out her business. But when she hesitated, he tried to turn away.
Then she suddenly grabbed his arm, toned from years of surviving in the woods from hunting.
She blushed and released her grasp as if it was on fire, "I-I...I've known you since we-we were kids, Sasuke. And you know, Goddess Kaguya's moonflower festival is coming. I-I wanted to know..." She bit her juicy looking tangerine hued lips, "if you chose the girl who will be yo-your moonflower."
Sasuke, who didn't really enjoy myths knew about Kaguya's moonflower festival.
It was drilled into him every spring, due to the myriad of women who pushed, begged, and pressured him to make them his moonflower.
It was said that Hirama, the legendary founder of the country, inspired the myth. Hirama was so beautiful that he seduced the moon goddess by staring alone. But a nymph who was Kaguya's handmaiden accidentally met his gaze and was so shy that she turned into a flower.
The crest that is the emblem of the Cretan royalty is said to be the very flower of the perished nymph.
When he first heard of the legend as a child, he scoffed, 'The myth is clearly a curse. Yet people decide to call it beautiful and commemorate it every year. What a sham.'
So at the girl's question, Sasuke showed facial expression, one of scorn, " I would never meddle in such foolery. Is that why I was being bothered so much today?"
He admitted that he had a soft spot for the girl. But it was only because she was the only one who helped him when he was a lost orphan wandering into the village. She was more like a little sister than anything.
When she nodded, Sasuke sighed. "I hardly even noticed about the festival." Then he made a slight smile at the beautiful girl, "Thank you for reminding me. I will remember to not set a foot on the village."
"Sasuke!" She called after him, but he already turned away and ran off. She bowed her head and sighed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
The sound of the mountain stream and birds fluttering in the air welcomed Sasuke. He was deep in the forests where he could relax and be in peace.
He didn't have to be harassed by people who tried asking him questions or such. Not liking crowds and preferring solitude, he was rather glad that he was forced to live in the woods since a young age.
Sasuke was an orphan who lived with a mentor who went by the name Kakashi.
Sasuke didn't know why he became an orphan. Kakashi always averted the question, when he asked him who his parents were, and why he was by himself. As he grew older, Sasuke realized that he had much more urgent affairs to take care of-such as putting bread on the table and sustaining his hut from the weather.
The sunlight pierced between the lush foliage, and he finally smiled, a refreshing smile that girls would have died to see. He was known as the village's most beautiful youth.
He blocked the sun from blinding his eyes as he stepped into his favorite secret spot that had a wealth of white poplar trees growing by the narrow stream.
"It's beginning to get hot," he muttered under his breath. He swallowed and felt his throat parched. So he knelt down before the stream and scooped a handful of water and took some gulps. Then he swiped his mouth with the back of his hand and gazed up at the rustling boughs.
If there was anything Sasuke was fond of, it was the white poplar trees that grew tall and lush in the forests.
When he felt alone, Sasuke used to take a leaf and twirl it in his hand.
The poplar leafs were pale white on one side and dark on the other. As a child, he would have fun with seeing how the color flitted between white and black like day and night.
Even now, when Sasuke had to cool off his head, he would pluck a white poplar leaf and twirl it between his index and thumb. His dark eyes would watch the poplar leaf idly and he would either drift it away in the stream or let it fly in the air by the breeze. It was an old habit he had since he was a lonely orphan.
So he was twirling a white poplar leaf idly until a cold wind swept the leaf abruptly from his hand. Stunned by the sudden chill, he stood up and his gaze followed the white poplar leaf that fluttered far away.
Then his eyes widened in shock.
The small white poplar leaf flew away and landed gently on a soft human palm.
He rose quickly. Lying by the bank, was a form of a frail woman with long dark hair, surrounded by small burrows of white poplar leafs.
His breath hitched up as he took steps closer to the petite woman lying in the forest ground. He couldn't see her face as she was lying face down on the ground.
He wondered, 'Is she dead?'
As if drawn by some strange force, he approached her carefully and reached out his hand as if she was a wounded animal.
His hand flinched when he saw a sudden rise in her shoulder, registering that the body still had life.
When he realized that she was still alive, he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. And when he saw the woman's face, he was speechless. "..."
The sight of her face shot to his chest. He remained stunned for a moment.
The girl had a pure round face that looked pale but had a soft glow. And her round oval face was framed by long smooth hair so black that it looked blue.
Her built was small and petite but graceful by the way her long white gown swirled as if she flew across the wind and landed on the ground.
She looked clear like air itself, so natural and clear was her aura.
Sasuke wondered if he was beholding a human incarnation of a white poplar tree. So slender, and pure, did the girl look.
Suddenly he felt as if he was hearing the song that echoed in the town, In the kingdom of Cretes, there was a beautiful... And the...loved...her
A strange darkness enveloped his mood, and he shuddered at the queer sense of foreboding. Why did he suddenly remember that song?
After staring at her like a lost soul, he finally came to his senses. The girl was unconscious and she might be colder if left in the forest dew. He hoisted the girl in his arms and carried her to his hut.
After laying her down on his bed, Sasuke quickly put a coverlet made of lamb wool over her and started building a fire. His heart kept thumping as he prepared hot water.
He found himself making unnecessary blunders like burning his hand and pacing around.
This time, he dropped the kettle.
The kettle dropped on the ground, making a sound of a metallic clang.
Sasuke flinched and scowled at the cacophony he unwittingly created. He slowly turned towards the girl who was lying on his bed. There was no way she wouldn't wake up.
When he turned, he held his breath.
The woman rose slowly, her long black hair cascading like ink spilling across her face. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.
When she blinked her eyes and looked at him, Sasuke couldn't help but stand stunned and in marvel.
He never saw eyes like hers. What color they were-white, or was it light purple? Her eyes reflected the light coming from the small fire built in the middle of the hut. Out of superstition, he really wondered if he accidentally brought in one of Oceanus's daughters.
Men his age make up when they are bored and need to ease their sexual appetites—of abducting nymphs that wandered in the forests for flowers or entrapping ocean nymphs that came to sunbathe. He would laugh at some of the exaggerations of the nymphs' physical assets that his friends draw on the sand. He was after all just a young man. But now seeing the young beauty with strange pearl eyes, he was both shaken and mesmerized. He wondered if he really did manage to capture a nymph like legend would say. The next minute, he might turn into a stag.
The girl kept blinking, as she looked clearly disoriented. His chest started to thunder as his eyes processed even the slightest movement the maiden made.
Her voice was soft like the spring wind and touched the deepest part of Sasuke's soul, "Where am I?" Her voice sounded soft like a dove's as she was still feeling half sleepy.
She had an unfamiliar cadence to her voice. But in his ears, it sounded graceful like a strung of a lyre. Hearing her voice assured him that she was a mortal just like him.
Sasuke had never left the mountains or the precinct that lied by the banks of the upperworld Acheron in Threspotia, of Cretes. He was not familiar with different regional accents. But he could guess she wasn't from the same district. And he could tell she was a lady of upper rank, not someone who would easily associate with the likes of him.
When the truth of their differences sank in, he felt a little sobre for some reason. For whatever reason, a young woman of a socially distinct rank was found unconscious on the forest bed. A mere hunter found her and took her to his hut. The lady woke up, and Sasuke could only imagine how lowly and humble he and his place must look.
When she finally saw him, she visibly started. He almost scowled, thinking that this woman was starting in fear or loathing.
An awkward silence fell. Sasuke shuffled his feet. Suddenly he felt as if he was where he wasn't supposed to be, despite it being his hut.
He felt his face growing hot as he felt the girl's gaze on his form. He was rather surprised by the girl's fearlessness as she didn't scream or demand to know who he was. She just calmly viewed her surroundings and him.
What was he going to say? He found her on the ground in the forests so he picked her up. He helped her, but he felt as if he was caught doing something dishonorable to the woman. He suddenly felt very humble.
Then the small petite woman broke the silence, "Are you...the god of death?"
Sasuke started and finally looked at the woman directly. She looked at him with her pure irises. She indeed looked like a personified poplar tree. A strange juxtaposition of black and white. Graceful, lithe, and very inhuman and strange.
When he finally showed his face to her, she looked stunned.
After some silence, she said, "No, you look more like the god of war..."
He clenched his fists. He felt his chest thumping as she looked at him.
Then he asked breathlessly, "Who are you? Where do you come from?"
The question caused a shadow to fall across the woman's features. For some reason, Sasuke didn't like to see darkness cast on her face. It was like seeing a leaf drowning into the depths of the stream.
She nonetheless answered her rescuer, "I have no name. And I have no where else to go."
Only then when she said that, Sasuke's eyes fell to parts on her body that he didn't notice before.
Her clothes were dirty but made of the finest softest material he ever laid his eyes on. On her left wrist, she had a bold silver clasp. But he saw a strange mark on her neck that looked as she was burnt. He blushed as he recognized those marks. When he was thirteen, he was already tall and handsome enough to turn heads in the streets. Once, a girl who looked seventeen suddenly lunged hard at him and sucked hard on his neck. Repulsed, he pushed her back but when he ran home, Kakashi saw that he had a pink mark on his throat.
On the girl's neck and around her collarbone were several pink marks that showed that her skin was similarly abused.
His gaze fell to her wrist that was bruised purple.
Sasuke wondered, 'Is she... a runaway slave?'
Suddenly, he felt anger towards whoever did this to her.
When she realized what was causing him to stare at her neck, she gasped and quickly covered her neck with her beautiful dark hair.
Embarrassed, Sasuke coughed into his hand.
"Do...you...have any place to go?" He asked stupidly.
He almost bit his tongue. She already told him that she had no place to go.
"'No, and I have no name," she made a sad smile.
Sasuke raked his spiky black hair with his hand, "If you plan to stay here for a while..."
The girl started and looked at him with eyes wide like a rabbit's.
"You could. It's dangerous for a woman to be out alone anyways. But I'll...have to call you something."
When she looked up at him, he blushed profusely, "You don't want me to call you 'woman' or 'girl,' do you?"
She quickly shook her head, and he said, "When I saw you by the white poplar trees...I didn't know if you were human. When you opened your eyes..."
He couldn't say the rest out of bashfulness, but he wanted to say that when she opened her eyes, it seemed the world turned white. 'I felt blank in my head.'
He continued, averting his eyes, "So...how about being called... Leuke Λεύκη?"
To his surprise, a light of recognition shone in her mysterious light lilac eyes, "...Hades' lover who turned into a white poplar tree..."
Suddenly hearing her voice made Sasuke feel unsettled as if her voice lifted him to the air. He felt his heart thumping wildly and his fingertips trembling slightly. He thought, 'even her voice is cute.'
He approached her slowly and sat himself on the bed next to her. She flinched a little but her eyes remained on him, steady and alert. She blinked her large lilac eyes, which he couldn't tear his gaze away from.
He raised his hand and held her chin. He looked at her in silence as if he was inspecting a wild animal he just caught in his trap.
At his poignant gaze, the woman dropped her eyes quickly to the floor and blushed. But she didn't struggle from his grasp.
His rough calloused fingertips felt the silk skin of her dimpled chin and then her cheek.
He whispered, "Leuke...for 'pale woman'"
She met his eyes squarely, but there was a trace of fear and resignation in her eyes that made her face look sorrowful. He never saw a face like hers. He was surprised himself because he thought he would never find a girl with the typical innocent look attractive. He was disgusted by his mentor's disturbing fixation with innocent girl heroines in tragedies and much preferred looking at taller women with more buxom charm and full lips and attitude. But there was something about the girl that added to her mystery of being found amidst the white poplar trees.
He uttered again, looking at her face, "Leuke..."
When Kakashi entered the hut despite Sasuke's protests, he stared fixed at the sight of a young woman lying on the bed. 'Leuke' went back to sleep soon after that brief, rather odd encounter with her savior.
Kakashi stared at the woman's pale, lovely face, then to her smooth hands that never experienced harsh labor. But his gaze shaken when he saw small reddish bruises on her pale neck.
When Sasuke tried to explain, he gave him no time and grabbed him by the collar and stormed out of the hut.
As soon as they were out of the door, Kakashi tried to suppress the anger in his voice, "Sasuke, are you mad?"
Sasuke was stunned. He never saw him get this furious. Kakashi was the only adult figure and protector he had in his life. He was always on the cool, aloof side. He never saw him lose his control of his emotions and raise his voice until now.
At first, he thought that Kakashi has mistaken him as the perpetrator. He felt rising anger at being an object of such dishonorable implication. When he tried to open his mouth to explain the circumstances, Kakashi beat him first by yelling,
"Do you even know what you just brought into this house?"
The shock in Sasuke's eyes lessened. He understood the reason Kakashi was so angry.
Refusing to cower, he glared back. But his voice was calm as he tried to reason with his guardian. "She was dying, Kakashi."
A fine vein pulsed on Kakashi's throat, "She is clearly a slave! And not just any slave, but a runaway slave!"
He rubbed his mouth roughly and continued to speak in an agitated voice, "Judging by her clothes and her appearances, she must have belonged to some blue blooded aristocrat. Do you know what happens to commoners who help runaway slaves?"
Sasuke grimaced. Even someone who lived an ostracized life as him knows what happens if slaves runaway from their masters. Especially if their masters have wealth and power. The slaves could be put to death in the most horrendous way to set as an example for other slaves. The masters could have their limbs tied to ropes connected to bulls, whip them until their backs are red, or starve them in a cellar for days.
If any commoner helps the slaves run away, they also couldn't escape such penalties. Helping a slave runaway was akin to theft, and those who stole lost their wrists.
As quick as Kakashi's temper fired up, he started to feel himself cooling down. In a lowered, agitated voice, he asked, "Sasuke...did you see the marks on her neck?"
Panic flared in his dark eyes. Remorse flitted across his sculpted features. How could he forget the reddish marks that looked like tiny red flowers on her neck? He even remembered the way she gasped and hid them with her long black hair, and the shame that appeared in her wet eyes.
Kakashi's voice came out as a whisper, "Sasuke, she might be a prostitute."
Sasuke's face darkened a little more. She looked barely sixteen, but for her to be a prostitute at such a young age. It was likely that she was sold as a child to the brothel by her parents or was a bastard child of some nobleman.
Kakashi shook his head sadly, "It is very sad, but there is nothing we could do. We can't put our lives out for charity."
When he tried to enter the hut, Sasuke blocked his way, "Kakashi, wait."
When Hinata opened her eyes, all kinds of thoughts rushed to her as she realized it was morning and daylight was pursuing her once again.
She hated the daylight and loved the night, because that was when she could just sleep and let the slumber just engulf her into forgetfulness.
When she rose from the bed made of fur hides, she started hearing sounds of talking outside the hut. The sounds got louder, and she realized that it was the sound of two men talking. It sounded as if they were arguing in low, murmuring voices.
She recognized the voice of one man, "I don't know where she came from. But even if I do, there is nothing I could do at this point."
"Sasuke-"
"Even if I do take her back, there is no guarantee that my life will be spared."
"But-"
"If you are certain that we will not be executed, you should go and take her."
After a pause, she heard the other man speaking through gritted teeth, "Fine. Do what you want. But Sasuke, remember what I told you. Your life is not your own." Even the man who opposed her staying was not sure if their lives could be spared.
Then she heard the sound of footsteps retreating.
She pulled the covers to her chest. Leuke, she remembered. The man who is talking outside with someone decided to call me Leuke. His name is Sasuke. A sense of fear surged in her heart, as she had no idea what the man's intentions might be. She was half delirious when she encountered him the first time. She didn't even remember what she said, whether she said anything. She just remembered someone with a low, husky voice telling her that from now on, she was to be called Leuke, "pale woman."
She surveyed the inside of the hut around her - simple furniture and clay dishware and a rug. Everything was humble, but necessary for survival. She supposed that this man wasn't married. No hint of children or another woman. The realization frightened her even more. This man might not be acting out of charity. Yes, she overheard the other man saying that they couldn't stake their lives upon charity.
When she turned her gaze back to the man, she started. The tall, dark haired man was staring at her. Sasuke, that was his name, she told herself.