Quietus

by Seraphina Scribes

When first he laid eyes upon her, he thought her the very personification of spring. He watches, from the depths of shadow; waiting to steal her away from the land of the living. Waiting to make her Queen of the Dead. Hades/Persephone retold. SasuSaku/AU.

48. Chapter 47

The next two chapters will consist mainly of a series of flashbacks from Kore's point of view and will make the exact nature of her past relationship with Hades clear. As a result, there will be a break in the current plot, but it will resume full swing in Chapter 49.

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Notice: This chapter ends with a smut scene which is NOT readable on this website. The placement of the scene is preceded by scene dividers indicated with triple X, as indicated below:

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XXX

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A similar divider is placed at the end of the scene, and in between will be a number. Please use this number to find the corresponding scene in the SasuSaku Quietus group page on deviantArt, in the folder labelled 'Love Scenes'. So if the divider is labelled Scene 1, you read scene one.

Please note that explicit content will NOT be posted here, in keeping with the submission guidelines of this website.

Also visit my profile page for a link to the tracks I was listening to while writing specific scenes. I hope you enjoy reading.

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Chapter XLVII

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Love is folly, blind - or so they say,

Still it lingers when hearts are cast away,

No man, nor woman - nor immortal god,

Can escape its sweet ruin,

Its tempestuous road,

A will of its own - it bends for none,

Not mind, nor spirit – all sense it shuns,

As the clock's hand ticks, it runs its course,

A most turbulent passion,

An unstoppable force.

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Adjusting her ornate gold face-mask more comfortably in position upon the short bridge of her nose, Kore gave herself one final, inspecting look in the brass framed mirror, twirling in a manner that caused the full skirt of her flattering, white silk chiton to swish gently outwards. Her fingers ran over the plaited gold and pearl girdle wound thrice around her flat midriff. Strands of her long hair were prettily braided at the front and sides, twisted and secured to the back of her head by decorative pins, while the remainder of her gently waving tresses cascaded free. Matching, decorative gold jewellery adorned her slender neck, wrists, and earlobes.

She had to hand it to Aphrodite, who had excitedly dressed Kore for her first Spring Equinox Festival; the Goddess of Love had ensured that Kore looked nothing short of sensational. There was only one tiny problem, however, one anomaly in the attractive reflection that gazed back at her.

Her hair and eye colour had been altered beyond their natural hues.

It had been one of the several, strict conditions her mother had placed upon her when she had somehow finally caved into pressure from Kore (and Apollo, Aphrodite, Hera, and most influentially, Zeus), to permit her daughter to participate in an Equinox at last. But her acquiescence had come with the instructions that her hair had to be transformed into a dark shade of blonde, while her bright eyes had to be toned down to a dark shade of brown. She'd stand out far too much otherwise, Demeter had insisted, and she did not want Kore to draw unwanted attention to herself, especially with so many - what she called – 'lusty' gods in attendance.

The other terms of her agreement were that the dance she was to participate in would be a masked one, so as to conceal her features (the mask was also to remain on her face all night), and Aphrodite was to remain by her side at all times. Additionally, both Zeus and Apollo were to keep a watchful eye on her throughout the evening's celebrations. Kore had been far too ecstatic with the unexpected concession on Demeter's part to protest much at not being afforded the absolute freedom she had craved for so long. Perhaps, the following year, Demeter would fully relent and allow Kore to attend in her undisguised glory.

Kore pouted a little in distaste as she brushed back her blonde locks. They were not as bright as Apollo's, nor as lustrously fair as Aphrodite's. They did not even match her mother's beautiful colour. Instead, they were an almost dirty, dull shade. She supposed that was the point; to lessen her appeal. Her figure alone was sure to lure enough gazes.

"Have you seen my necklace?" Aphrodite exclaimed, as Kore moved away from the mirror and crossed over the gold-stitched crimson rugs to the tent's entrance.

"Did you not place it on the table?" she answered distractedly, parting the heavy brown fabric to peer out into the early spring night. The smell of delicious food and alluring incense mixed with the sweet scent of flowers wafted to her nose. The large, grassy circle that formed the entertainment space was currently empty, save for the wooden logs that housed the crackling fire burning heartily in the centre.

The guests sat on wooden chairs arranged around the circle, conversing loudly and happily. There were two large, raised platforms, upon which were seated royalty from both Olympus and the Underworld. Each dais was draped with banners depicting the family crest of its house. Decorative flowers, banners and ribbons in bright colours were strung between towering wooden posts. Stern, armed centaurs patrolled on guard duty around the site and a wide variety of obliging surface nymphs served the guests silver platters laden with delicious assortments of food and ambrosia.

Kore's heart skipped a beat as her seeking eyes found the dais occupied by the Underworld's royal family. The stoic King and demure Queen of the Underworld, clad in dark, formal finery and rich jewels - Hades's parents, Kore had immediately realised in awe - were seated on the larger of the thrones, flanked on the right by three unfamiliar deities she did not recognise.

It was the individuals to their left, sitting in the smaller thrones, who caught Kore's rapt attention.

He was there, of course; just as she had spent the previous, sleepless night fretting and hoping he would be. And he looked every inch the prince she had always suspected him to be. Hades was clothed in seductive shades of black and midnight blue, seated petulantly between his stunningly beautiful mother, and an elegant, long-haired young man whose face was turned away from Kore's line of sight, toward another handsome, grinning deity.

Hades looked thoroughly uninterested and bored by the entire affair. She watched in amusement, as his ivory-skinned mother noticed, and smilingly leant toward him to whisper something, placing a loving hand upon her son's arm. Hades tilted his head, and the frown on his features seemed to soften marginally as his mother laughed quietly.

Kore felt an inexplicable stab of envy. It was ridiculous, and impossible, but she longed to be the one close to him.

He wouldn't even recognise her, though, Kore knew. That fact didn't stop the internal butterflies from fluttering, regardless.

Her gaze trailed over the other guests sitting in their smaller chairs around the circle. She spotted playful Poseidon, who had left his seat by the other Olympians and was somehow both flirting with and antagonising a cross-looking, crimson haired nymph who was trying to serve him wine. An animated Apollo, looking dashing in white, had left his seat too. Kore saw him approach the platform Hades was seated upon, and greet him and his family, before cracking some form of jest at his unimpressed friend.

Behind her, a gorgeous Aphrodite professed haughtily, "Well, it looks like I shall break many hearts tonight, as always!" She stopped admiring herself and fussing over the intricately styled ringlets in her hair, blinked at the other nymphs and goddesses who were staring enviously at her – and then proceeded to anxiously screech last minute orders at them.

"Stop gawping at my beauty, all of you! Once Lord Zeus finishes his opening speech, it shall be our turn to take to the stage! Be ready. Stop nattering, over there! You, brown-haired nymph! What in Zeus's name has happened to your hair? Oh, come here, hurry! Let me pin it again or else you'll make a mockery of us all!"

Kore swallowed down a less than ladylike snigger. Trust Aphrodite to panic over appearances at the final moment. She felt a light hand brush her shoulder, and turned, smiling when she found a bashful looking Selene, who was dressed and masked identically to her. Her straight, waist-length hair was worn free, however, and there were more pearls strung through her purple-black tresses.

"You look beautiful," Kore reached out to squeeze her hand reassuringly.

It was Selene's first time participating in the dance, too. She glanced embarrassedly down at her sandal clad feet.

"Ah-" she began softly in her gentle voice, picking nervously at the girdle around her shapely waist. "You do not think this gown is- is perhaps too… revealing?"

Kore giggled. "If it was, my mother would've never allowed me to wear one like it."

Selene's luminous, lavender-tinted silver eyes widened. She ducked her head and squeaked, "But w- what if… what if they look at me…? I shall be so embarrassed…"

Kore smiled teasingly. "Oh, I shouldn't worry about that," she replied innocently. "I'm sure Apollo will burn their eyes for staring at you."

Selene's hands flew to her mouth to stifle a gasp. An adorable blush stained the visible parts of her face red, and she pleaded, "Please- please do not say such things, I entreat you!"

Kore giggled again. "Stay next to me." She winked, and turned back to part the fabric as the cluster of nymphs who had been playing musical instruments ceased and all fell respectfully silent when Zeus's clear, authoritative voice rang through the air, from across the dais on the opposite side of the circle to the one Hades and his family occupied. It was beyond Kore's line of vision from her position inside the tent, but she knew her mother sat there, also.

"My friends and brethren. Brothers and sisters! My Queen and I warmly welcome you to the Spring Equinox. Honoured are we by the grace of your company." He paused, before continuing smoothly, "Spring is a time of new growth and blessings. New beginnings. And just as the flower that blooms in this most auspicious of seasons, long may the harmonious accord forged between Olympians and Underworld dwellers continue to flourish and prosper. We have gathered here this night to celebrate peace, to renew the alliances and good will between our honourable houses. And although he is regrettably absent this evening, praises we sing to Lord Cronus, for his role in creating order and balance in this world. Hail, Cronus!"

"Hail!" The audience in their seats chanted in unison.

Hera's honeyed voice took over. "We hope that you will enjoy the opening entertainment that we have prepared for you and the feast and festivities that follow." She clapped her hands. "Please, be at ease and merry tonight. Let us begin!"

Immediately, the nymphs took their cue, plucking on string instruments, blowing into flutes and striking drums. Seductive music floated through the air, and Kore's sense of anticipating soared.

"Ready, girls?" Aphrodite whispered to her troop of ten dancers.

They all nodded eagerly, abuzz with excitement. The Goddess of Love slipped gracefully in front of Kore.

"Stay close to me like we agreed!"

"I will," Kore promised.

"Just think, your first dance, at last!"

"I'm terrified. What if I fall over, or set a foot wrong, or-?" Kore gulped. Her heart was ramming against her rib-cage. What she really feared was somehow turning, mid-motion, to find Hades's' dark, penetrating gaze on her. The prospect was enthralling and horrifying in equal measures.

"You'll be fine," Aphrodite winked.

"I-I feel faint," Selene confessed weakly.

"Don't you dare pass out on me," Aphrodite whirled and pointed a perfectly manicured finger at her.

Kore reached back and squeezed Selene's hand again in silent support. "It's my first dance too," she whispered. "We'll do this together."

Selene gulped, but nodded.

Aphrodite took a deep breath – and then stepped out of the tent. Kore followed after her, trailed by Selene and the others.

They took their positions around the fire, and when it reached the starting point in the music for them to begin, they moved in perfectly synchronised rhythm. Kore's nerves quickly evaporated as the music seeped through her ears and commanded her body. She sashayed and spun, keeping next to Aphrodite at all times. They clasped hands around the fire, dancing in a graceful circle, drawing in and out before parting again.

Each time she spun, and managed to sneak a furtive look in Hades's general direction, her heart sank. He wasn't even watching, his chin resting in his hand, elbow propped against the arm rest as he seemed to direct his gaze anywhere but at the dancers. As she twirled again, she thought she glimpsed the handsome long-haired deity next to him lean slightly to his right and murmur something – likely a light reprimand about appearing ungrateful and discourteous before their hosts – which prompted a brooding, disgruntled Hades look up at last.

Kore's heart quickened. But he wasn't looking at her, thankfully. She then realised that he was looking at the fire, rather than attentively watching any of them. Perhaps that was a blessing for her. Forcing herself to ignore him as best she could, Kore continued to perform the steps to the dance faultlessly, throwing a discreet glance at her mother as she turned in the opposite direction.

If Demeter was tense, she certainly did not outwardly show it. But her eyes remained on her child throughout, flitting only briefly onto the others to avoid suspicion.

At length, the dance reached its final steps. Kore fell into her resting, end position, and could not help but chance another hasty glance upwards. This time, her heart seemed to wedge itself into her throat.

Hades's head was angled back aloofly, and his closed posture still indicated complete apathy.

But his dark eyes were unmistakeably locked directly onto her. She could feel them blaze through her despite their distance, and quickly averted her own, feeling her cheeks flush against her wishes. It was merely coincidence, she thought frantically to herself, heart pounding, as the music finally ended, and the audience broke out into enthusiastic applause, tossing flowers at them.

It seemed to be the case; for when she snuck another peek towards him, Hades had turned to his smiling mother and was no longer looking at her.

---

The remainder of the evening passed in a pleasant blur. Kore remained out of sight for the banquet, eating in her tent with her friends as her mother had instructed. Demeter visited them once, complimenting her child on the dance, before slipping back out to rejoin Zeus and the other elder gods. Kore kept glancing through the tent opening, and when Aphrodite curiously asked her who she was looking for, she bluffed that she just wanted to watch, because she had never been to an Equinox before, and everything was so new and wonderful. Aphrodite seemed to believe her, for she shrugged and did not trouble her with questions again.

When Apollo snuck into the tent, a red-faced Selene almost did faint. He caught Kore into a big bear hug and swung her around, which made her laugh. Then, rubbing the back of his neck in the manner he did whenever he was embarrassed, he awkwardly greeted the swooning Moon Goddess, who just managed to stammer a thank you when he told her she'd danced really well, too.

Aphrodite had met a sly Kore's eye and winked knowingly.

At length, the nymphs and other goddesses had left the tent to mingle. Kore kept close to Aphrodite, Selene and Apollo as they went out to socialise. Zeus and Hera had moved to converse with Hades's parents on their podium, and Kore found herself searching for the elusive god continuously – only to be disappointed. There were simply too many in attendance and her eyes could not locate him. She resorted to having a good time with her friends instead, although thoughts of Hades remained fixed in the back of her mind.

Eventually, the celebrations drew to an end with one final dance shared by Underworld deities and surface folk. Kore, excluded from participating in the routine, returned dutifully to the tent, and peeped out to see that Hades had returned to his seat. Zeus gave his closing speech and both rulers shook hands to cement their continued alliance. The venue then slowly began to clear as deities prepared to go their separate ways.

As Aphrodite walked back to the tent, Kore, who was now standing just outside it, suddenly caught sight of Hades's tall form again. He was clasping his black cloak around his broad shoulders, and walking away in the opposite direction, toward a larger tent. She lost sight of him as others walked between them. Internally frustrated, she entered her own shelter again, and listened distractedly as a triumphant Aphrodite claimed she had, as usual, broken many hearts that night and could make anyone she wanted fall in love with her – even an Underworld dweller.

At Kore's dubious look, the Goddess of Love and Beauty had vowed she would prove her point before they left.

Selene hugged her goodnight, and the other nymphs soon departed, leaving Kore alone with Aphrodite, who, peering through the tent's opening, gasped delightedly, as if she had spotted someone of interest. Or unsuspecting prey. Instructing Kore to stay put and watch safely from inside, she slipped out.

Kore followed curiously, parting the fabric. She gaped in nervous dismay as she watched Aphrodite twirl a lock of golden hair flirtatiously around her slender index finger, whilst batting fluttering eyelashes at a handsome young god with unruly layered, dark brown hair and sharp eyes.

It was the same one from earlier, Kore immediately recognised; one of the two, regal-looking deities who had been seated beside Hades on the podium. He was tall, and even more arresting on closer scrutiny. There was an almost languid grace about his posture.

She could scarcely believe it; Aphrodite really had not been jesting when she'd claimed that she would make a pass at an Underworld dweller.

"It is Hypnos, isn't it?" The Goddess of Love questioned.

He cocked his head. "You know who I am," he commented. His deep voice possessed a rich, smooth, lulling tone. It seemed to match his namesake.

"Of course," Aphrodite smiled one of her irresistible smiles, before she dramatically declared, "You and I share a fated connection, after all."

His dark eyebrows shot up at that. Although Kore hung back at a safe distance, she could still make out the god's expression with perfect clarity. To her great surprise, he did not appear anywhere near as smitten or flustered as all the other young deities Aphrodite usually accosted. It normally only took her several minutes to have them either eating from her palm, or eyeing her with lustful, dishonourable intentions.

This one was doing neither. In fact, he seemed mildly amused, instead. As if he was in a benevolent mood and was choosing to indulge a small child, instead of the ravishing Goddess of Love and Beauty.

"And how is that?" he drawled, a small smile dancing upon his lips.

"Love and Sleep," she simpered coyly. "Is it not obvious, sir?"

The deity's gaze trailed unhurriedly over her voluptuous form, taking in the flattering manner in which her dress hung from her body. But he did so with marked detachment.

"I see," Hypnos mused, making no move to alter his casual posture, leaning nonchalantly back with his elbows propped on a wooden fence.

"What do you think?" Aphrodite flirted.

Hypnos appeared to consider a moment. Then he stated, "I think I have a far better idea."

Aphrodite's crystal-clear blue eyes widened. She leant forward, resting her own elbows on the post, also.

"And what might that be?" she purred seductively.

Hypnos did shift then. He turned, and leaning forward toward her in turn, he smiled. Aphrodite made a show of looking enthralled - when Hypnos suddenly held up an index finger, and tapped it once against her nose.

"I think you had better try your luck with some other, more gullible fool," he smirked, before making a little shooing motion with his hand, as if to encourage her to leave. "Run along, now, little goddess."

Kore's lips parted. A deity who was refusing Aphrodite? And mocking her attempts at seduction? It was impossible! What uncommon strength of iron will did this 'Hypnos' possess?

Aphrodite bristled at the rejection. "Little goddess?!" she exclaimed indignantly, her back straightening as a scowl formed on her features. Even frowning, she was dazzlingly beautiful. "Why, how dare you-!"

"Well, that's certainly changed your countenance, hasn't it?" Hypnos remarked, feigning surprise.

"Now you listen here, you impertinent, pompous-"

"Pompous? Me?" Hypnos chuckled. "You haven't met my cousins."

Kore had seen quite enough; she didn't want to witness the aftermath. Now was her chance. She knew she wouldn't get another one. While Aphrodite was preoccupied with Hypnos, and there was nobody else around to chaperone her, she had the perfect opportunity to sneak toward the tent she had spied Hades heading towards earlier.

Her heart pounded as she slipped out of the entrance and walked hurriedly in the direction she had seen Hades head. He wouldn't recognise her, she told herself again. Not with her changed eye and hair colour and the mask that still concealed half of her face. He would just think her one of the dancing nymphs he had watched perform earlier.

She knew the desire to see him was reckless and probably unwise. But she strangely longed to, even if only for a moment, and the craving was far too great for her to dismiss.

She kept her head down as she passed numerous other tents, hoping she would not see anyone she knew along the way. Fortune seemed to favour her, for she did not.

Kore wondered why the butterflies in her stomach seemed to flap more agitatedly the closer she ventured to her intended destination. When she finally reached it, her heart was racing so fast that she was almost tempted to flee back to the sanctuary of her own shelter.

She parted the heavy black fabric – only for her eagerly seeking eyes to find the rich rug covered interior empty. Her shoulders slumped in disappointment. Had she come to the wrong place? But she had been certain that he had entered this one. Or perhaps he had already left?

Her eyes then widened when she suddenly spotted a figure she'd initially overlooked in her haste, stationed almost beyond sight behind a decorative plume of large peacock feathers. The person was tall and cloaked entirely in black – in a hooded cloak identical to the one she had seen Hades pull on as he'd headed into the tent.

Her heart leapt. He was here!

Without thinking, she stepped forward into the tent, her lips automatically parting to call to him, just as he lifted his hands to push back his hood.

"Ha-!" her breath hitched in alarm and she swallowed back the rest of his name, when the hood slipped away and the back of the head she found herself looking at did not match that of Hades. The silky hair was black, yes – but a different shade, and much longer, drawn up into a high, elegant tail atop the individual's head. She realised her mistake far too late, however, for the figure immediately noticed her presence and turned to regard her.

Kore had to fight to suppress a startled gasp. It was the other immortal she had seen earlier, the quiet, indifferent one who had been seated directly to Hades's left. While Hypnos's grace seemed a care-free, relaxed kind, this god carried a far more imposing and reserved air of grandeur about him. His dignified, authoritative bearing radiated a majestic aura of effortless grace and daunting brilliance. Yet as compelling as his form was, there was something else about him that unnerved her. Something almost dangerous, a potent, overpowering presence that froze Kore in place as his piercing, crimson eyes locked onto her. They seemed to stab through her soul with their searing intensity, and were rendered all the more striking by the long, heavy black lashes bordering them. Strands of dark hair framed his face, and a garnet and gold droplet adorned his left ear lobe.

He was beautiful. So beautiful, that Kore felt like she was marvelling over a statuesque masterpiece, as her eyes darted over his face in dazzled confusion. The chiselled perfection of his aristocratic features reminded her greatly of Hades; all sharp planes and sculpted angles. But he appeared older. Even more silently intimidating and magnificent, and she could not comprehend how that was even possible, how anyone could possibly match, much less surpass, the perfection that was Hades.

While he was not as smoulderingly intense or brooding in demeanour, and seemed not to possess the same degree of unabashed arrogance, his beauty, instead, was decidedly more unearthly. Kore was entranced and afraid all at once.

He blinked at her. While there was no expression on his face, the suffocating weight of his heavy gaze suggested a depth of wisdom and knowing that went far beyond Kore's young existence.

"I-" she finally stammered. "I am sorry! Please forgive me. I must have taken a wrong turn!"

The god spoke then, and his deep, quiet voice was akin to the richest, most luxurious of silks, a smooth, dark, sensual caress that sent a violent shudder rattling down Kore's spine. His voice… it was irresistible and soothing, glided seductively over the senses and rendered thinking a laborious task, indeed. It was the kind of voice to command immediate submission, and melt away all resistance, without the need to alter its tone or lift its pitch in the slightest degree.

"You called for Hades."

It was not a question.

Kore gulped. So his ears had caught the name before she could take it back in time! There was no use in denying it. Her mind raced. Think! She urged herself, but the way he was watching her, so unnervingly, caused guilty heat to flood to her cheeks.

Somehow, she could not look him in the eye and lie. Averting her gaze, she fumbled, fidgeting awkwardly with her hands, "Ah- y-yes. I was sent by the Sun God to fetch him." In an attempt to sound even more convincing, she ventured, "A-are you him, my lord?"

"…" There was a weighty pause, in which she could feel his eyes continuing to watch her intently. And then, "I am not."

"Then please forgiv-" she began to bow courteously – for it seemed the correct and appropriate thing to do before this grand prince of a god – when another, more familiar, and equally as alluring voice rang clearly through the tent as an identically cloaked Hades suddenly entered through the opening opposite the one Kore had used.

"Thanatos. Hypnos is waiting for us by the-" he broke off abruptly, blinking as he noticed her standing there.

Kore's heart was beating so thunderously, she could feel it shaking her entire body, shifting her internally like trembling quakes in the earth. The sight of him made her breathless, and for an awful moment, she feared that he would somehow recognise her, and know.

He glanced at the god Kore now knew was named Thanatos – and then inclined his head briefly toward her.

"Who is she?" he questioned flatly.

"A messenger for you," Thanatos answered, and turned dismissively away to retrieve the sword behind him.

Hades regarded her standoffishly. When she simply stared at him, his eyebrows drew together in distaste.

"Well, nymph?"

Kore swallowed, horrified that her voice might have abandoned her entirely. She had really landed herself in a fix, now! She had to repeat the lie, since Thanatos was still present. Her cheeks burned. Oh, what a mess she had gotten herself into. What if Hades went in search of Apollo, only to discover that he had not called for him at all? And what had she been thinking? Since when did Apollo send others on errands, especially when it came to Hades?

It didn't matter; she frantically tried to reassure herself. Hades had no idea of her true identity and no way of holding her accountable.

Thankfully, she managed to get out, ashamed of how nervous she sounded, doing her best to keep her voice as throaty and unrecognisable as possible, "Apollo the Sun God sent me. He wishes to see you."

Hades's smoky eyes narrowed at her. She tried to hold his gaze as steadily as she could, though it made her pulse hurtle faster still.

"Hn," he then scornfully dismissed, closing his eyes briefly. "I have no interest in conversing with that moron."

"…" Thanatos, who had finished gathering his supplies, cast him a silent glance.

"Let's go. Brother." Hades nodded at him.

Brother? Kore's eyes widened. So that explained the uncanny resemblance in good-looks; they were relatives!

As Thanatos exited the tent, Hades began to follow after him. She was just about to exhale a sigh of relief that everything had worked out fine, after all – when Hades abruptly swivelled back around, and tossed a smouldering look over his shoulder back at her.

Kore's was powerless to look away. His gaze made her feel as though her very blood was being set alight and birthed an agonising, throbbing ache deep inside her.

Her heart then jumped violently into her throat, as he murmured with great derision, quietly for her ears alone, "That colour. It's awful."

The air caught in her lungs and she gaped at him in open astonishment. He was referring to her chakra-altered, dirty blonde tresses. But how could he possibly have detected it? He had even called her 'nymph'! There was no conceivable way he ought to have recognised who she really was-! The disguise had been fool-proof!

But there was no room for doubt - when the tiny, smug, condescending smirk curved one corner of those haughty lips just before Hades turned away and left - that he unmistakeably did know.

---

Long after she had settled into comfortable slumber and the murky clouds in the night sky began to drizzle lightly with rain, Sasuke remained in position, cradling Sakura protectively in his arms. He was not sure what strange force, exactly, was responsible for freezing his limbs in place. Perhaps he was still reeling from the numbing shock of observing the small patches of green moss that had started to surface ever so sparsely on the bare, lifeless trees surrounding them, or the delicate, thread-thin shoots in the soil, unfurling the tiniest of leaf buds so tentatively.

He'd believed it impossible for anything to grow in the barren, mist-cloaked forest. Somehow it was happening anyway; a testament of the powerful, undeniable force that was sealed within Sakura.

Or perhaps it was that Sasuke did not dare to move, for fear of what would happen if he took Sakura back below ground.

Had the Essence triggered spring already? How long did the process take, exactly? Was it immediate, evidenced by what he could see starting to sprout with painstaking slowness around him? Did it take a day? A week? The entire three months that the season typically spanned for, or did its growing influence last up until the end of summer? If he did return Sakura to his realm – would the Essence react even more unstably?

His eyes trailed over her features again. In sleep, she appeared even more vulnerable.

The words she had hurtled at him like rocks during their earlier confrontation returned to haunt him, replaying over and over in his mind, despite his best efforts to shun and ignore them. He'd long been expecting her to bring up the subject of her abduction, and had always thought he'd be fully prepared to deal with it.

But he hadn't really been, at all.

'Sasuke- you kidnapped me!'

'Even if you had no other option, that doesn't excuse your actions! What were you thinking? That I'd just get over it, and adjust, and everything would just- fall into place and be fine?'

His jaw clenched tightly.

'You took me away from my home!'

'You could have explained why you kidnapped me, and maybe, just maybe I might have understood!'

No. She wouldn't have understood, Sasuke knew - because he hadn't even fully realised, back when he'd first taken her, why he had done it, himself. He'd foolishly called it a whim, then. He'd desired only to unravel the mystery of her. To understand the purity of her soul, and why she lured him in so much, the way no other ever had. He'd initially intended to do just that – and then discard her after he discovered that she wasn't so special, after all.

Except things hadn't quite ended up so straightforward.

The death deity swallowed back the bitterness in his throat. He hadn't known at first. How could he have possibly comprehended or foreseen the consequences of his actions at the time? But now he did. Now he knew all too well. And it unnerved him more than anything; that he was so completely out of his depth, how everything had spiralled completely beyond his control.

For one as meticulous in planning and strategizing as Sasuke had always been, it was as if a calamity had struck. And he supposed it had; for he did not know how to process the crushing, alien emotions that were gnawing away inside his chest. He was at a loss over how to deal with the way the very thought of releasing Sakura made him feel. He could not come to terms with the dreadful ache inside.

And with every word he recalled, that ache intensified, and he felt as if pieces of him were splintering, bit by bit. He wanted to claw out the sensation, to tear open his chest and find its source and rid himself of it, once and for all.

But he couldn't. He couldn't.

He tensed when a sudden, soft whimper escaped her lips, and her eyebrows drew together, as if she was unexpectedly coming around. When her eyelids lifted to reveal disorientated, dazed green eyes, he felt his pulse quicken.

"Ugh…" she groaned, as her gaze drifted from the sky, to settle briefly onto his face. She looked momentarily confused, like she was finding it difficult to recognise him.

"Sa-" she finally did, and struggled to speak just like before, to croak out his name. "Sa-suke…?"

"Here," he uttered, much more harshly than intended.

Tears pooled along her waterlines, rolled down her cheeks. She seemed to want to say something else, but suddenly gasped and stiffened, as if pained once more. Her head rolled back, and her eyes fluttered shut again, her return to consciousness all too short-lived.

It was as if a merciless, icy fist was gripping his heart. Sasuke could do nothing but stare helplessly as she grew still once more. He knew it would be hopeless to try to call out to her.

What had become of him? What had she done to him? He felt like he was losing his mind, his senses, everything, and she was the one responsible, and there was nothing he could do to prevent it, to stop it, to save himself from the catastrophe that was threatening to drag him under its riptide.

Where was the composed, proud, unwavering King he had once been? What pitiful fool had he been reduced to, now? He didn't know whether he was angrier at her, or himself. Things had been so much simpler, before he had ever laid his eyes on her. How he now hated that cursed day for the turmoil it had wreaked upon him, how he rued the chance meeting that had turned out to be sadistic Fate's precise design.

Before he had seen her… he hadn't been burdened by such maddening thoughts. Such horrible, weak emotions. He had lived for his purpose, his function, and that alone. It would have remained that way, too, had he not faltered, and given into the enticement of taking her away.

And yet, as much as he told himself that he loathed it… he could not imagine it any other way. He couldn't picture his realm without Sakura. Without her curiosity, her smiles, the light and warmth she radiated.

But she didn't see it the same way. She had made that all too clear while confronting him.

'Do you have any idea how much I've suffered emotionally? What it's been like for me, to be trapped here, how hard it's been for me, having to adjust to a completely new world, how scary it's been, thinking that any wrong move I pull will make you mad, will make you kill me!'

'Have you even thought about any of those things? Or do you only think about yourself, and what you want?!"

He hadn't thought about any of that, or even cared at the start. It had been, as she had all too accurately pointed out, only about his selfish wants. She had just been an object of curiosity to be studied, not an individual with her own feelings and opinions. That was before he had gotten to know how much more there was to Sakura on the inside. Before he had acknowledged her courage and bravery. The strength of her spirit, how she always picked herself up, again and again despite everything.

But now, every word he recalled stabbed viciously into him like jagged glass shards.

'You can't just kidnap me and expect me to- to just accept you!'

His eyebrows drew together in frustration. The fingers curled just beneath her left shoulder tightened. He had always been so accustomed to taking whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it, giving no thought to repercussions. It had always been his law that had been absolute - that had steered everything.

But now… now he was learning that his law wasn't the only thing that mattered. And when it came to Sakura, it seemed to be completely ineffectual.

'Do you expect me to just forgive and forget? To accept everything like nothing about this entire situation is messed up and wrong? Everything about it is wrong, Sasuke! Everything!'

Perhaps she saw it that way, Sasuke thought sourly. And maybe now, as difficult as it was and as much as it scalded him to admit to himself, he could see with unwanted clarity the errors he had made, which had resulted in the emotional and physical harm that had afflicted the unconscious girl in his arms.

What else could he have done? What other choices had he had?

Could he have tried harder to ignore her for all those years he'd spent watching her from the shadows? Could he have tried harder to purge her from his system?

No. No. And if he hadn't, she'd still be living a lie. Oblivious to the source of her internal suffering. A part of him was enraged, that she still wished to return to them so desperately, to the very people who wrapped her in cotton wool and treated her like a child, who readily indulged her weaknesses instead of cultivating her strengths.

Sasuke hated them.

But he also hated the way something felt like it was fracturing inexplicably deep within him, when he acknowledged the harsh, underlying truth behind everything she had said.

Sakura didn't want to remain in the Underworld. And it wasn't only because she wanted to understand why her mother and friends had withheld information from her, or even because she believed they were too different.

She didn't want to remain with him.

He inhaled sharply, his chest burning. It was a difficult blow to digest. His pride struggled to accept it, to swallow it down. To take it not as the King who was used to enforcing his will upon his subjects with an iron fist, or a mighty god who took anything and everything he desired – but as a man who was being handed open rejection by a woman.

The death deity ground his teeth, glaring down at her with a sudden stab of intense envy that was disconcerting. Another foreign emotion that he could not recall feeling since the days before the demise of his family. It had to be easy for her, he thought resentfully, to be free from the shackles of everything that he was experiencing, all the unwanted, crippling feelings. To be blissfully oblivious and insensitive to the agonising sea of torment that swirled such deep, inner longing, the senseless yearning, for something she had made plain she could not and would not give to him.

And he had not even known it, until she had returned his kiss, had not understood what it really was he'd truly been craving from her, until then. He had perhaps grown too eager. Too hopeful, when she hadn't pushed him away again initially, that Sakura was maybe finally, finally starting to accept him.

Because that was all he had been waiting for, the very thing he hadn't even realised he'd been truly seeking all along.

Her acceptance.

Why? The question resounded deafeningly in his skull, frustrating him to no end. Why had obtaining that become so crucial to him? And when? When had he started caring so damned much about her? Had it been there all along, suppressed beneath the layers of his pride? And if it had, why could he no longer subdue it now?

She had not accepted him. And as Sasuke's head lowered, and the tremors of anger, frustration and something else entirely unfamiliar - something that disturbed him and shook him to his very core – coursed through his body, he realised at last, with an alarming, sinking, sickening feeling, that nothing he did could ever force her to.

'You can't force feelings, Sasuke! Maybe you can force anything else you want to happen in the world, but feelings… they take time, and they have to be given freely!'

He closed his eyes, exhaled disjointedly as he rested his forehead against hers. Defeat and guilt were two things he did not concede easily, yet it was astonishing, that Sakura was the one who stirred both into being simultaneously. Or perhaps, it was not so surprising. After all, she'd held that strange power over him all along. Hadn't she?

She yearned to return home – and yet he had already tied her irreversibly to his realm. He had still yet to tell her – and while he might have relished doing so before, now the prospect filled him with an inexplicable sense of dread.

If she stayed any longer, she risked dying; fleeing to a place he could not reach or follow. How could he compromise all that? Why did merely thinking about it make his ordinarily sharp mind throb, when a solution should have come to him so easily already?

It was because of her. She was causing everything to blur out of focus, confusing the priorities he'd always prided himself on knowing, jumbling his thoughts and throwing them to the gnashing jaws of turmoil, leaving him unable to do what he was best at, and think.

He wanted her to stay by his side forever. But he had to let her go. No. How could he? He never wanted to release her. But she could not remain. He wanted his eyes to drink of her light until he was blinded. But if he did not surrender her to the surface, there would be no light left in her.

The rain was now pouring, soaking them both, but Sasuke scarcely registered the freezing, surrounding fog or the touch of icy water droplets upon his skin. Suddenly, he was so tired. Exhausted by his incessant need for her closeness and warmth. He wanted nothing more than to tear out his treacherous heart, even as his arms tightened around her. How he detested the beating organ. How feeble and pitiful it had turned out to be! How helpless to the tumultuous tides of internal conflict, waging war within its chambers. Tied to Sakura by a red string of fate that felt more like a choking iron manacle, a barbed wire noose around his neck, drawing blood, constricting his breathing.

How he wished he could return to a time when he had believed it to be as still and stone-cold as the lifeless bodies of the spirits that inhabited his world. Unchained to any wearisome bonds. He wanted to feel no more, to return to the emptiness and coldness and numbness of his former, bleak existence. As he had functioned, with nothing but the shades of the dead for company, nothing but the darkness as his companion, before the day of the funeral.

Before the torment of Sakura.

---

Apollo grinned gleefully as he tore through the undergrowth, the sphere of light floating above his palm. There was absolutely no way he was going to lose this race to that grumpy bastard Hades. Really, he congratulated himself on the ingenious idea of challenging his rival to a contest to see who could make it from one end of Kore's forest to the other without getting the glowing orb stolen out of their hands.

Hades, always up for the opportunity to better him, had immediately agreed. Kore, who had been curiously watching them bicker from up in a tree, had then surprised them both by demanding that she participated in the fun, too.

Hades had stared at her for a moment before turning his face dismissively away. Apollo had admonished him for being his usual insufferable self, and then, feeling kind, had enthusiastically agreed to let her join in, although he'd been a little nervous about the prospect of her getting hurt. The more, the merrier, he'd smiled at her – even if poor Kore really stood no chance at all of keeping up with them.

The only rules were that they could not use their abilities to gain an unfair advantage. Speed was allowed and so was resorting to basic physical force to jostle the ball out of possession – but no special chakra fuelled, elemental attacks.

They'd started by tossing the sphere into the air. Hades – blast him – had been the one to flicker to it first and had rushed ahead. Apollo had finally caught up to him, scuffling and shoving and finally managing to yank the orb away. That had been a while ago. He'd surely succeeded in losing both of them through the dense trees by now-

Something small suddenly darted out from his right. Apollo blinked, astonished to find Kore drawing up beside him.

The Spring Goddess smiled sweetly as she tossed him a mischievous look.

"Heh, I've gotta admit, you're faster than I thought," he complimented.

"This is my forest," she answered pointedly. "I know its paths better than you. Now are you going to be a gentleman and hand over that orb?"

He flashed a regretful smile. 'I'm sorry Kore! You know I'd totally give it up to you, but you see, that blasted Hades-'

"Is right behind you," the dark-haired young god's voice uttered ominously to his left, as he lunged directly at the Sun God.

"Damn it-! You bastard! No way am I going to lose to you!" Apollo dodged, retreating closer to Kore, who watched them both closely from the corner of her vision as they leapt simultaneously over tangled green vines and upturned tree roots.

"That's what you say all the time, moron." Hades retorted. "Before you lose."

"Oh yeah? You watch me wipe your ass all over this forest floor here-"

"Try it." Hades closed in again, grabbing at the long end of the gold sash tied across Apollo's white tunic.

Apollo punched his arm aside.

"Yeah, you just wait, you dumb bastard!"

Kore's eyes narrowed and a spark of indignant irritation filled her. They were acting like she wasn't there, as usual, engaging in one of their childish arguments where they ignored everything else around them.

Well, they were making a grave mistake by underestimating her and treating her like she wasn't even a credible threat or contender.

"Keep babbling, loser," Hades snapped back.

"Who's the loser, sour pants?" Apollo demanded as their shoulders collided with one another.

Hades shoved him. "Say that again-"

"Sour pants! Grumpy grandpa!"

By the gods! Could his insults be any more embarrassingly immature? Kore almost giggled at the incredulous, affronted look on Hades's face. Almost but not quite - for she had spied the opportune moment – and seized it by throwing herself gracefully to her left and snatching the orb out of a distracted Apollo's hands.

"You idiot," she heard Hades snarl, as she immediately took to the nearest tree, running fluidly along the branches. The feel of wood beneath her bare feet was wonderful, and she delighted in the adrenaline and excitement of the chase.

Things were always much more interesting when Apollo and Hades were around.

Especially Hades.

"Keep arguing, boys," she sang. '"While I steal victory from right under your noses!"

"Awww!" Apollo whined in despair, his blue eyes flying up to track her movements as she leapt lithely from branch to branch. "Come on, Kore! Come back down here! Uwaah!" He suddenly wailed as Hades used his lack of attention to roughly elbow him in the gut. He doubled over, winded, and Hades used the moment of weakness to shove him down into the leafy forest floor, with enough violent force to leave him dazed, costing him precious seconds.

A different kind of exhilarated thrill rippled through Kore when Hades's dark eyes lifted to lock onto her as he shadowed her movements on the ground, keeping pace.

'You should keep your eyes ahead,' Kore called down to him as she swung swiftly from a vine. 'There's a ditch right in front of you!'

"Like that will work on me-" he sneered – only for his feet to almost stumble as he reached the exact location she had warned him about. He stopped at the very last moment, reaching out to steady himself and keep his body from toppling into the dip in the earth. When he looked back up towards the trees, Kore had already vanished.

She smiled as she heard Apollo's furious shouts far behind her.

"When I get my hands on you, you bastard, you're gonna regret the day you were born!"

How like Apollo, to say such overly dramatic things. She giggled, keeping the orb cradled carefully against her chest as she darted between the trees with more agility and elegance than the most sprightly of nymphs. This was her terrain. She knew these routes as surely as she knew the back of her hand. Now that she was in flow and concealed behind the sheltering canopy of dense leaves and vines, there was surely no way they could catch up to her.

She only realised, once she was forced to drop down to a lower branch to continue along her way, how premature and misguided her sense of triumph had been.

Hades flickered into being ahead of her, as silently as a shadow, alighting at the end of the thick, sturdy branch. She caught her breath, jerking to an abrupt halt at the sudden sight of him. He was like a shock to her senses, instantly making her hyper conscious and aware of his smothering, all-encompassing presence.

The Underworld prince slunk towards her, looking as seductively dangerous as he always did in a smoky grey, sleeveless tunic and a darker grey cloak. His eyes seemed to burn holes right through her as he prowled unhurriedly forward, and Kore could feel her heart pounding wildly in response to his nearing proximity, completely unrelated to the exertion of her exercise.

By Olympus. Did he have to look at her like that? In a manner so positively fiery that it made her feel like she was oil-doused wood, ready to ignite?

'The orb,' he stated simply, flatly, lifting an expectant hand that was wound with black bandages up to his elbow.

She swallowed and slowly shook her head – which prompted Hades to narrow his eyes, as if unused to having his demands refused. Kore glimpsed her salvation in the corner of her eye – a hanging vine to her lower right. All she needed to do was shift and jump off before Hades could realise her intended route and escape point-

But she had not even finished the thought, when Hades blurred into movement, so fast that a stunned Kore only realised that she was moving in the wrong direction when she felt a brief, sharp tug in her hair. The crimson ribbon Aphrodite had gifted to her on her last birthday was snagged by a low, overhanging branch that ripped into the silk material and tore it out of her tresses, sending her locks flying into her face. A heartbeat later, her back slammed against the tree trunk, knocking the air cleanly from her lungs.

Hades pinned her in position, his right arm pressed just above her heaving chest. Kore blinked rapidly, her eyes watering as his charcoal gaze sucked her in like an inescapable vortex of darkness. She gasped for breath. He had closed the distance between them entirely in a mere split-second.

Before she could react, or do anything else, his lips crashed angrily into hers. She stiffened, eyes widening as surprise and shock rendered her frozen to the spot.

His kiss was wild. Bruising. Branding. Burning. And Kore's body was responding immediately a second later, the inferno inside her roaring to life all too readily at the detonating spark of his touch.

It was terrifying, his physical power over her, how instantly he set her blood alight. She moaned weakly against his mouth as her lips fully parted for his, and for a brief, blissful moment, the kiss deepened, became more ruthless and frantic, more frighteningly ravenous; seemed to steal the very bones from her body-

And then, just like that, and far, far too soon, he broke it. She blinked, her mind spinning, caught in a panting daze. When she came to her senses again, Hades had already flickered back to the end of the branch.

He raised his left hand, smirking that cold, devious, smug smirk that did such terrible things to her heart.

The last of the lust-filled haze was chased completely out of her head and replaced with insulted indignation when she saw the orb floating above his palm. He tilted his head, silently mocking her, his eyes ablaze with victory.

"You-!" she spluttered, aghast and mortified that she had been so foolish as to fail to recognise his cheap, underhanded choice of distraction technique. Of course he had done it with an ulterior motive in mind. How very like the unashamedly arrogant Hades! She did not know whether she was more incensed with herself or him for toying with her. But how could she have possibly defended against such a devastatingly intense kiss?

He had already blurred out of sight.

Rage filled her, turning her pink cheeks a deeper shade of red. He wasn't going to win so easily! Her eyes stopped on the delicate ribbon on the branch – tattered beyond repair, she thought sadly for a moment. Then she leapt to the vine she had originally intended to use and gave chase, returning to lower ground, where she found Apollo jumping over bushy undergrowth, his gaze fixed on Hades, manoeuvring gracefully ahead of them.

"Give it up, bastard! There's no way I'll accept defeat this time!"

"You should be used to it, idiot!" Hades's voice echoed back.

"I'm gonna kick your ass so hard, Cronus will feel it!"

Kore continued to race forward, face set with grim determination. They were rapidly approaching the edge of the forest, and the finishing point of the contest. She would not lose! Not like this, in her territory! She would teach that cocky Hades a lesson, thinking he could defeat her so easily.

Apollo managed to catch up and threw himself at the raven-haired deity, tackling him around the midriff, toppling him off balance. Hades cursed and punched at him with his free hand, and they rolled onto the earthy floor, scuffling and kicking and insulting each other. Apollo made a wild lunge for the light sphere, and managed to get his fingers on it – only for Hades to kick it beyond his reach. They fought and jostled some more, snatching the sphere from each other multiple times. Just when it seemed Apollo had finally gotten the upper hand, a watching and waiting Kore made her move.

Grabbing onto the vine beside her, she swung down, directly into their path, reaching out with her right hand to pluck the orb out from beneath where Apollo had just been forced to drop it again. The vine propelled her body at a blinding pace toward the nearest tree. As Kore landed on it, she wasted no time in gloating, pushing onwards, ignoring the protests from Apollo on the ground below her.

When the two gods finally reached the edge of the forest, still bickering sourly with one another, Kore lowered herself from the branch she had been waiting upon, twirling down gracefully as she lifted the orb in her hand and met Hades's sullen glare victoriously.

"I win," she declared emphatically, her eyes shining fiercely with triumph.

Apollo blinked - then burst into loud laughter. He slapped his best friend good-naturedly on the back, proclaiming that they had both lost to a girl and gushed how incredible and amazing Kore was.

Hades's gaze lowered, and he snorted, turning his head dismissively away.

But his voice reached Kore's mind telepathically as he feigned visible disinterest to a still chuckling Apollo. And what he communicated to the goddess caught her by surprise for the second time. Made her heart quiver despite her best attempts at appearing cool and collected.

A rare, reluctant concession of grudging respect.

'Hn. Well played, Kore.'

---

Kore hummed a tune to herself as she expertly wove her flower garland, turning her face upwards to enjoy the bright sunlight that filtered through the forest canopy. The young doe keeping her company nudged her shoulder affectionately as she worked. Smiling, the young goddess reached out to stroke the deer's head, before returning to her design.

At length, she tilted her head and held it up for inspection, asking of her animal companion, "Well, what do you think? Do you approve of it?"

The doe nuzzled her hair in response. Kore giggled. "Of course you do," she said fondly. "You like everything I create, don't you?"

The deer's ears twitched and she raised her head, large eyes alert as she detected a sudden rustle in the trees around them.

"Hmm?" Kore watched her. "What is it?" Then she turned her face up again as she became aware of movement from one of the branches above. "Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise, as a splendid, dark-feathered hawk swooped down straight towards them. It circled around Kore gracefully, before coming to a smooth landing on the small, flat tree stump beside her.

Kore blinked at it in awe. It was a beautifully majestic creature, with piercing golden eyes. She had not seen a bird like it in any of her forests. Curiosity filled her.

"Hello, there, handsome fellow," she greeted it. "What brings you to these parts?"

The hawk hopped forward and cocked its head at her, watching her with its sharp gaze. That was when Kore, on closer inspection, saw that it was carrying something, a compact, black-leather pouch attached to corded string, secured around the bird's neck.

A messenger hawk? For her? Intrigued, Kore reached out to it, gently running an index finger over the animal's regal head. It ruffled its feathers in response, and allowed her to carefully detach the string.

"I wonder. Could it be a message from Artemis?" Kore mused aloud. Delight filled her. She didn't usually receive messages in such a dramatic, exciting manner. In fact, she barely received messages from anyone. Her interactions with other deities were extremely limited, after all.

The hawk screeched, as if affronted. Kore then thought to herself that she couldn't remember Artemis keeping such a bird.

"Oh? If not Artemis, then who…?" She unbuttoned the silk pouch, and the first thing she found was a folded piece of parchment. Her sense of bewilderment growing, Kore smoothed open the paper, to discover writing scrawled by a neat, elegant hand.

Her eyebrows drew together in genuine befuddlement as she read the short, curt message.

'A replacement. For the one that tore.'

"What's this?" Kore's eyes darted back to the hawk. It was watching her intently. Shaking her head, she peered into the pouch, sticking her fingers inside – only for her skin to brush against something soft and smooth. She pulled the object out – to find a neatly bound piece of deep, crimson material. She stared at it in astonishment. Her heart began to quicken as she then unwound it, and once she had, she gasped.

In her hands was a long, thin, silk ribbon - one suspiciously similar to the delicate strip she had lost during the orb race, three nights prior.

Kore released a quiet, unsteady breath as she caressed the smooth, rich material. It was deeper in hue than the one Aphrodite had gifted to her. Somehow, that only made it all the more alluring.

She swallowed thickly, feeling her cheeks flush pink. She could scarcely believe it, and yet there was no doubting it; only one person had been with her when her ribbon had caught on the rough branch and been yanked out of her hair. She was surprised that he had even noticed. But in many ways, she supposed he had been the one responsible for it happening. Was that why he had chosen to recompense her?

Her gaze returned to the bird in a combination of incredulity and amazement.

Hades! Arrogant, insensitive Hades had taken the pains of directing this hawk to find her? She was overrun with uncertainty. Just what did he mean by it? What was she to think and do? It seemed so unlike him – but perhaps she had misread him? Perhaps there really was more to him than the cold façade he wore before the world?

Was this bird his personal messenger hawk? Would it return directly to him? Was it the correct thing for her to do, to accept what he had sent? Kore felt anxious. Her mother had always warned her against allowing deities to spoil her with gifts. But how could she possibly refuse such a lovely item? It was surely the most beautiful ribbon she had ever seen. She already loved it, and knew that she would wear it in her hair every day from then on.

Her heart was singing with joy. Biting her lower lip, she folded his note, slipped it snugly down the neckline of her chiton for fear of it being discovered if she hid it anywhere else, and whispered shyly, "Would you take something for me too, little prince?"

The hawk released a distinctive screech, which she took to mean its consent. After all, it had yet to fly away, which she assumed meant that its master had ordered it to wait for some manner of response before it departed. Gripping the small pouch, Kore turned back to her garland, and selected the most beautiful flower she could find.

Its petals were a deep, rich hue of blue. A shade that reminded her of the midnight sky – of him. She called upon her power to infuse it with renewed life, so that it glowed with ethereal light. Then she tied the string carefully around the stem of the flower and slipped it around the hawk's neck.

With another screech, the bird spread its graceful wings and took to the air, and Kore's heart seemed to soar up with it as she watched it fly away, back to its master.

---

He came to her four nights later. Swathed in a hooded black cloak from head to feet, he melted noiselessly out of the shadows, as she sat on the bottom steps of her temple, plucking distractedly at a golden harp while staring longingly out into the night. Kore blushed furiously at the sight of him, her pulse immediately finding a more erratic rhythm. She'd spent all of four days agitatedly wondering whether he had received her flower, and had foolishly looked to the skies with the romantic hope that his hawk would return to her. It hadn't, of course, and she had started to despair that perhaps he'd thought nothing of it.

She tossed a frantic glance back toward her temple entrance. If her nymphs were to come outside and see them-

Hade, however, looked as unconcerned as ever. Folding his arms across his chest, his onyx eyes narrowed at her, as he intoned disdainfully, "What use have I for a flower?"

Kore unconsciously lifted a hand to her hair. She had wrapped the ribbon around a headband and adorned it with a cluster of little pink flowers. Its long, silky ends trailed prettily.

"It is an ever bloom," she answered defensively, her voice hushed. "I infused it with eternal life. You could have planted it in the garden you showed me-"

He snorted flippantly, and she felt the sting of insult. As if to make a point, she pulled the hairband off her head and - with much regret - tossed it at his feet.

"Well, I have no use for your gift, either!" she exclaimed huffily.

"…" His gaze lowered to it. Then he reached down and scooped it up. "Don't flatter yourself," he said stonily. "It was no gift. I merely replaced the item I was responsible for damaging."

"I did not ask you to," she averted her burning face away, to make a point of showing him that she was upset. But inside, she could feel herself starting to come undone as she felt his eyes observing her.

Despair overwhelmed her. She just could not help the way her body reacted whenever she saw him. She did not know what madness had come over her.

"Tch." Hades sighed at length. "You are an annoyance."

She blinked, hurt even more by the words. Then she turned her head back - to find he had stepped forward and was holding the band out to her. Biting her lower lip uncertainly, she hesitated – for she really did want to keep it, and yet did not want him to see her eagerness.

"If I am an annoyance," she said in a small voice, "then you have no business coming to see me."

"Hn. Who said I was here to see you?" he demanded.

Her mouth opened in bafflement. She gestured vaguely behind her. "This is my temple, and there is nobody else here…"

"Just take it," he ordered icily, eager to change the subject.

"But I do not want-" she started to protest.

"Take it," he snapped impatiently. "Or I'll burn the stupid flower."

Her eyes widened. He had kept it, after all? Slowly, she stood up, throwing another cautious look up the steps behind her. Her nymphs hadn't heard them yet. She then moved to join him on level ground, and reached out to accept it again.

"You kept it," she said, a small smile curving her lips as she replaced the hairband, smoothing the ribbon ends with her fingers.

He looked away contemptuously. "I dislike flowers," he clipped.

Kore's smile widened. "But you kept it," she teased playfully. He looked so sulky and displeased that she struggled to muffle her laughter.

She thought that maybe she was starting to understand him a little better, at last. Hades clearly found it difficult to express any feelings other than derision, boredom and irritation.

"Why did you kiss me again?" she could not keep from blurting out, pulse skipping a beat.

Without looking at her, he retorted emotionlessly, "To take the orb."

"Oh." It was just as she thought. After a moment, she added, "But you did not end up winning." Instead of being disappointed, she felt only amusement as she watched him. "Was that not a waste, then?"

"Yes." He ground out bitingly.

Kore couldn't keep herself from giggling this time. Well, it seemed she had won in more ways than one.

He stiffened, head whipping back around to glare at her. Clearly he did not respond favourably to being laughed at. But Kore simply smiled graciously at him, a strange twinkle in her bright gaze, and twirled away, skipping back up the steps to retrieve her harp.

"Where are you going?" he found himself hissing, unused to being left behind first. He hadn't told her she could go.

She whirled back, and directed another sweet smile at him. "Back inside. You didn't come for me."

And with that, she disappeared, leaving Hades staring after her in frustration, thoroughly perturbed by the way his throat seemed to constrict as her musical laughter reverberated in his ears.

---

They had been gossiping in well-obscured safety high up in one of the trees that bordered the outskirts of the dense forest surrounding Hestia's temple, when all of a sudden, Aphrodite gasped, and pointed toward the rocky, earthy terrain beneath them.

"Look! Isn't that-? Why, it is!"

Kore peered through the branches. Sure enough, she spotted a familiar sunshine blond head, and behind him was… her heart jumped. None other than Hades, the very god who kept her from sleeping so often at night, who tormented her waking thoughts – even as she tried her best to cast him out, to forget about him.

Unable to do so, she had settled on harbouring her guilty secret until the end of all existence – because even though he had kissed her twice, she knew neither instance had really meant anything; he'd only done it to gain an advantage over her. Otherwise, he treated her with nothing but the same contempt and detachment he carried for everyone else.

She wasn't naïve enough to believe that anything could ever happen between them. After all, he was an Underworld dweller. She was the Goddess of Spring. It had been a doomed concept from the start.

Yet still her heart and body pined foolishly for him. She desperately hoped that Aphrodite hadn't noticed the way she had been so distracted lately. Love, after all, was her forte.

"Hush!" Kore panicked, despising how nervous she immediately felt, the way her heart cantered. "They'll see us!"

Aphrodite didn't know of her occasional meetings with Hades, in Apollo's company. For some reason, Kore thought it was a bad idea to tell her best friend – although she felt deceitful for concealing the truth. She definitely wasn't going to admit to the interactions they'd had alone. Her cheeks coloured in mortification simply thinking about it.

"If only your mother wasn't so strict," Aphrodite sighed heavily. "Then we wouldn't have to stay hidden up here and could've engaged in a little harmless flirting with those delicious specimens of young gods." Then she scowled. "Wait a minute, what is that down there, with them?"

Kore, who had also spotted the crimson-haired young woman who was latched onto a very displeased looking Hades's arm, tried hard not to frown.

"It must be a nymph," she said, straining to get a better look. She felt something unpleasant stir inside her at the sight of the unfamiliar girl, draped all over Hades, cooing and simpering into his ear. Something that caused a bitter taste to form in her throat. She was horrified to grasp what the unmistakeable emotion was.

Jealousy.

Oh, of course he was popular with females, she thought resentfully. With his damned perfect face and his perfect body and his perfect voice. Everything about him was tempting. Was it any wonder the nymph was throwing herself at him?

Aphrodite smiled mischievously. "What a jest it would be," she murmured deviously to Kore, "if I made that swaggering peacock of a god fall in love with a lowly, common nymph."

Kore stiffened, dismayed by the very idea. Aphrodite could not gift Hades's heart to another! Her mask of apathy completely slipped away, and she could not keep herself from whispering vehemently, "No!"

As Aphrodite blinked at her in surprise, she added in flustered embarrassment, "He- he is dangerous. You told me he was."

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "My dear Kore. A mighty god he may be in battle, but he is still a male, and his heart is but a plaything in my hands. Hmm." She narrowed her pastel blue eyes, and a cruel smile twisted her lips. "Maybe this would be the perfect retribution for all the times he has slighted me."

A horrified Kore, realising that she was seriously toying with the idea, pleaded, "Please do not, Aphrodite! Leave him be."

Her best friend's eyes formed suspicious slits. "Why do you care so much?" she demanded. "You have never opposed my matchmaking games, before."

"I always oppose them," Kore argued back.

"Only when they concern you-" she suddenly released a gasp, and something wrenched unpleasantly inside Kore's belly as Aphrodite jabbed a condemning finger at her. "Do not tell me that you fancy yourself to be in love with Hades!"

Kore shook her head. Her heart was thundering faster than ever. "No!" she hissed furiously. "That is not it, at all!"

"Do not lie to me, Kore. I know the look of love, and it's written all over your blushing face! You do not want me to do it because you are jealous!"

"I am not!" Kore struggled to keep her voice as low as possible. Luckily Apollo was being as loud as he always was which she hoped helped to disguise the commotion they were making in the trees.

"I pointed him out to you as a game," Aphrodite wore a look of horror. "Not a worthy suitor for your serious consideration. He is nothing but trouble, Kore! All the Underworld dwellers are." She gestured wildly with her hands. "How can you even entertain it? Why, your mother would have my head on a pitch-fork!"

"That isn't- I do not-" Kore fumbled for words. In desperation, her mind supplied her with the only possible escape route – one that was shamefully untrue, but her only available option for throwing the Goddess of Love off her trail. "It isn't him. I…" she gulped, before venturing, "I do not want Apollo to be hurt!"

"Apollo?" Aphrodite appeared even more perplexed.

Kore looked away. She made a show of fidgeting restlessly with her garland. "Apollo is important to me," she mumbled. "And Hades is his closest friend…"

Aphrodite's eyebrows flew up and her jaw dropped in shock. Her stunning features contorted comically in disbelief. "You-" she inhaled sharply. "You like Apollo?" she squeaked incredulously.

Kore bit her lower lip. Her friend grabbed her shoulders. "Is that why you've been so dreamy-eyed lately? Because of Apollo?" She shook Kore. "Are you serious?! Have you lost your senses? He's practically a brother to you!"

"Be quiet!" Kore whispered agitatedly. "You must not breathe a word to anyone about this. Especially not Apollo. Or my mother!"

Aphrodite slapped a despairing palm to her forehead. "By the throne of Olympus, Kore! You must be jesting with me! This is a joke, isn't it? I cannot believe you!"

"Please, be quiet." Kore looked away miserably, feeling awful for resorting to such deception, but what other choice did she really have? She couldn't let Aphrodite know the appalling truth. And she didn't want her to cast an enchantment over Hades, to toss his heart away to the irritating nymph who was resisting his attempts to peel her off him.

"Well, how long have you felt this way?" Aphrodite demanded next.

"I do not know," Kore covered her red face. "I cannot say when."

Aphrodite sighed exasperatedly and turned her gaze skyward for patience. "But you know how Selene feels for him…"

"That is why nobody will know!" Kore hissed, gripping her wrist tightly. Scarlet-faced, she reassured her friend, "This is probably just a misplaced infatuation. Apollo has always been so kind to me. And you are right – I must be out of my mind, for he is practically my brother. This will pass. He is not to know. Promise me you will not tell him! Promise!"

"Fine, fine," Aphrodite conceded frowningly. "But I do not know why you would let yourself suffer such a thing. I can undo your attachment right now-" she lifted her hand.

If she reached out and touched her heart, Aphrodite would discover where Kore's true feelings lay. Kore could not allow that.

"No! It will pass!" Kore insisted. "So please," she implored. "Do not make Hades suffer for a game. It will hurt Apollo's feelings, too, and I do not want…" her voice drifted off.

Aphrodite searched her face intently for a moment – and then rolled her eyes again. "Oh, the things I do for you, silly girl," she clucked her tongue. "Apollo is a clueless idiot. Who would have thought that he would be the first one to catch your fancy? But then, he is the only deity your mother suffers to be around you…" Her eyes returned to the nymph. Apollo was now desperately trying to help Hades prise her from his arm.

"Well, she's rather persistent," she remarked. "I suppose I had better step in." She pointed a stern finger at Kore. "You stay right here!"

Kore nodded as Aphrodite gracefully moved to a vine, and used it to lower herself from the tree, onto the ground below. Slipping out from behind the thick trunk, she stepped out onto the plains and approached the three.

She watched as her best friend swiftly shooed the nymph away, probably threatening that she would make her fall in love with a horrendous beast if she did not make herself scarce. Kore exhaled in relief as the indignant nymph flushed a shade that matched her garish, uneven tresses, before she slunk reluctantly away from Hades and departed at last. Aphrodite then latched herself onto Hades's side, smiling seductively at him.

Irritation spiked inside Kore, but Hades sneered in refined distaste at the Goddess of Love. Apollo laughed loudly and grabbed her away from his friend, trapping her in a playful headlock, while she shrieked at him to stop ruining her hair.

Hades watched stoically, as Apollo dragged a screeching Aphrodite around so that their backs were both facing towards the forest and Kore.

On her branch, Kore leaned forward longingly, able to gaze fully and openly at Hades without reservation at last. Happiness - and relief that he had been saved - gave her the courage to try to communicate telepathically with him, although she was unsure that he would let her call in, much less answer.

'That nymph was annoying, wasn't she?'

She saw his shoulders tense marginally – a sure indication that he had registered her message. As Apollo howled theatrically in response to a distracted Aphrodite's attempts at smacking him senseless once she finally succeeded in wriggling out of his grasp, Hades's head shifted barely perceptibly, chin angling back slightly as his eyes swept upwards toward the trees.

They found her almost immediately. Kore was arrested by the searing weight of that heavy-lashed, smoky stare, felt oddly breathless as his sardonic answer echoed in her mind.

'Hn. Not as annoying as you.'

---

She was sulking unhappily by a small stream in another of her forests, when Hades came across her by chance one night.

"Where is Apollo?" he demanded the moment he saw her, skipping all manner of polite greeting, as usual. The Sun God had agreed this location to meet, but after prowling through the forest, his irritation peaking with every step, Hades had discovered that his moronic rival was nowhere to be found.

Kore remained motionless on the flat-topped rock she sat upon, one slender leg dangled to allow her toes to dip into the crystal clear water. She was dressed in a pretty, knee-length cream chiton. Its shoulder straps were formed from straps of red ribbon tied to form butterfly knots that draped over the ruffle-detail neckline. Additional gold strips decorated with hanging beads hung off her shoulders. In her hair was the flower-adorned hairband wrapped with the long crimson ribbon he had given to her.

She did not look up at him, which struck Hades as odd as he lingered in place on the opposite side of the shallow stream. It wasn't usually her custom to outright ignore him.

"I do not know," she answered at last quietly. Her chin rested on the knee cap of her left leg, which was drawn up and inwards towards her chest. She continued to gaze distractedly at the water.

Hades considered leaving – but she looked so uncharacteristically dejected that he found himself leaning back against the larger boulder behind him. He reasoned that he could wait for Apollo to find them both here.

His dark eyes narrowed as he regarded her aloofly. Everything about her hunched posture openly expressed unhappiness.

"I wish to be left alone," she said at last, when she could no longer stand the dragging silence.

"…" Instead of honouring her request, he continued to stare at her.

Kore finally lifted her head to glance up at him, disconcerted by his unwavering study of her.

As always, he appeared to be forged of seductive night, clad in a black tunic and breeches that reached just below his knees. His lower legs were strapped into black sandals. The tunic's high collar was lined with silver stitching, and so were the edges of the sleeveless shoulders. Elaborately etched, burnt-silver forearm guards were secured from his wrists to just beneath his elbows. A flowing black cloak fell to his ankles, rippling like a wave of darkness behind his back.

The onyx jewelled, silver droplet earring in his left earlobe swung as he tilted his head slightly at her.

"Why are you staring at me?" she questioned, her smooth forehead creasing to form a slight frown.

"You look pathetic." He deadpanned unkindly. That was only one of the reasons, in truth. He derived a strange sense of satisfaction from observing the ribbon in her hair and how it matched her dress, but there wasn't a chance in Tartarus that he was going to admit that aloud.

Kore stiffened. But instead of answering back with the fiery retort he had hoped to hear, her shoulders slumped further.

"I suppose everyone thinks I am, then," she murmured softly. When he saw her eyes water as if she was on the verge of crying, an uncomfortable Hades scoffed to himself.

She really was a child, wasn't she? What in the world was the matter with her?

Kore had had another argument with her mother. Demeter hadn't allowed her to go up to Olympus to visit Zeus and Hera that day. She'd said the same thing she always did about Zeus having 'important' visitors. Kore had hoped after her mother had allowed her to attend the Equinox Festival that she would grow more lenient in other respects, too. But nothing had changed, and Kore was once more left to despair that she was the only young goddess who was denied the freedoms all the others enjoyed.

The only places she could roam unaccompanied were in her mother's lands, Hestia's, and her own forests and temple. Everywhere else was strictly off limits without a trusted chaperone, and Kore's frustrations were growing. She wanted to see the rest of the world. To interact with all the deities she'd never met.

She'd been in a depressed mood all day. Not even Aphrodite had been able to cheer her up, and had eventually left her to wallow in her misery, forced back to her own temple by the prayers that were being made by mortals there.

"It must be true," Kore went on, as she looked back to the water. "Everyone treats me like a child. And here I am, crying like one. I really am pathetic."

Hades folded his arms disapprovingly. "Then stop acting like one," he stated.

She sighed tiredly, in no mood for his taunts. He had judged her, the same way everyone else did. And yet… she found herself wanting to talk to him anyway. Perhaps it was because she so desperately needed to confide in someone who did understand what it was like to feel so isolated. To share the burden that was devastating her. Aphrodite was always sympathetic – but what did she truly know of being trapped? Of having one's every move and decision questioned and monitored?

She knew she would receive no empathy from the indifferent Hades. She also knew that she was breaking all the rules by sharing her troubles with him, of all deities. That didn't stop her from speaking, regardless.

"It doesn't matter what I do," she confessed, expecting him to cut her short and leave at any moment. But he remained still, so she went on, "No matter how grown up and responsible I try to prove myself to be, it is no use. My mother keeps me sheltered."

Hades pointed out, "You attended the Equinox."

"Yes," she agreed. "But under disguise. I could not be myself, even then." She was ashamed to feel the tears prickle more insistently. "I-" she released a shaky breath. "I do not know why I am the only goddess who is kept from Olympus. I have only been a handful of times, and when I do go, it is as though I am to be smuggled into Lord Zeus's palace."

"…" Hades's gaze lowered to the water in turn as he listened with great interest to her disclosure, internally curious over why she was denied freedom, too. He assumed it had to relate to the important nature of her abilities.

She swallowed. "It is like I have no opinion. No identity of my own. Like my powers are weak, a secondary function that nobody values or recognises. Many deities do not even know of my existence." She laughed a little. "They think me a fanciful creation. I am isolated, and I am never told why."

She threw a pebble into the stream. Watched the ripples it stirred as it struck the water's surface.

"I cannot roam where I please. I am confined to my forests, or my mother's lands. Or to our temples." She lowered her head dismally and rested her forehead on her knee to hide the first, falling tears. "I have not seen the oceans," she whispered, body trembling slightly as she tried to keep her composure before him. "Nor the fiery volcanoes of the world. I do not know the feeling of sand beneath my feet." Sniffling, she went on, "Why, I have not even seen the fireflies that dwell in the forests to the eastern ranges, far beyond my mother's borders."

"…" Hades's eyes returned to her pitiful, despondent form.

Kore then seemed to catch herself, for she wiped hastily at her tears and rose. "I'm sorry," she said. "I have made quite the scene, haven't I? How bored you must be, to listen to my inconsequential woes. I know you have no care for the troubles of others." Shaking her head, she muttered, "How weak of me, to cry." She bowed her head in respectful parting, and mumbled, "Please, excuse me."

Hades straightened as she turned from him. His voice made her halt before she had even taken four steps away.

"The gift of life is no weakness."

She was surprised at the unexpected comfort she found in his words. There was trace of sarcasm or insincerity. For once, Hades meant what he said.

"Then why…?" she whispered, without turning to look at him. "If it is not, then why does my mother not trust me? Why does she keep me hidden away? Why does she keep me to her side and not let me wander where I please, or make my own choices?"

When he next spoke, he was right behind her. She hadn't even heard him move.

"Make one now," he challenged.

She did turn to him then, curious. He held out a hand, eye defying her to refuse. Kore hesitated for only a moment – before sliding her palm into his. She blinked, and a great gust of wind encircled them. She felt the ground fall away beneath her feet – and when she regained her footing and sense of surroundings, she found that Hades had transported them to another location entirely.

It was also a densely clustered, leafy forest – but the humid air, smell of the soil and the thrum of energy here were different, foreign to Kore's seeking senses. She realised with a start that this was not one of her usual woodland roaming places, or that of her mother's. It was of the unattended clusters that grew beyond their borders. Kore's power spanned the entire earth – but the forests she was permitted to stroll through were limited.

"Hades?" she asked uncertainly. "Where are we?"

He stepped out from behind her, gesturing for her to follow after him. They walked in silence through the undergrowth. At length, Hades drew to a stop by a small clearing between the trees, from which she could glimpse unexpected sparkles of light.

Looking back at her, he inclined his head, wordlessly enticing her to join him. Kore stepped hesitantly forward and drew to a stop beside him. Only to gasp aloud at the wonderful sight that met her widened eyes.

Fireflies – pure gold and orange, floated delicately through the air, dancing in trailing patterns that captivated Kore. She took another small step, so that Hades was directly behind her. His dark eyes slipped away from the impressive natural spectacle ahead of them, to examine the profile of her face. She was visibly enchanted, her expressive eyes shining with joy and wonder.

Hades didn't understand why it suddenly seemed more laborious than usual to swallow. He hadn't even really thought about it; bringing her to see the very things she had spoken of so longingly had occurred on a spontaneous, uncharacteristic impulse. It meant nothing; he fiercely tried to reassure himself. A mere act borne out of pity for her plight. But the unsettling sensation of unfamiliar warmth as it bloomed into being within his chest when she spoke suggested otherwise.

"Oh, Hades…" she whispered, lifting her hands to clasp them before her in contented awe. "They are so beautiful."

He was silent. He couldn't seem to trust his treacherous tongue to say anything right then. All at once, his body was all too alarmingly aware of hers. He was standing close enough behind her to smell the floral scent of her hair. His eyes followed the trailing ends of his ribbon, entwined in her loose tresses. He had the sudden, senseless desire to reach out and run his fingers over the silky material.

A part of him wondered whether her hair felt even softer.

They remained standing there for a time, watching the glowing little orbs of light together. When the fireflies began to gravitate towards them, as if drawn to their divine energies, Kore laughed with delight, twirling as she followed their hovering paths of flight. Surrounded by their mesmerising circle, seeing the way their light illuminated her features and emphasised the golden sparks in her eyes, Hades found that he could not tear his gaze from her.

Some fireflies then drifted far too close to his face, and he ducked his head instinctively to avoid them – only to freeze at the soft feel of Kore's lips brushing lightly against his left cheek. He blinked, startled into stupor, not all prepared for the way something unidentifiable seemed to lurch almost painfully inside his chest. His confused gaze darted to her face, to find a charming blush on her cheeks as she shyly thanked him, with eyes coyly averted, for making one of her wishes come true.

Kore's heart thundered. Afraid she had offended him or overstepped personal boundaries – for she had never been bold enough before to close the physical gap between them – she opened her mouth to automatically apologise.

But he did not look angry. Instead he was staring at her intently, as if she was a most intricate puzzle that he urgently needed to solve – and yet he was at a loss, not at all certain of how to proceed. Somehow, that unknown made his pulse race faster, and caused something to shift within him. Suddenly the forest around them faded away. There were only the fireflies and the two of them, and his body seemed to move by its own design.

When his lips met hers this time, it was real, part of no game or ruse. The kiss was soft and hesitant. Fleeting. Tender. It made Kore's heart swell and soar, and all her woes seem to melt away at his touch.

So taken were they by one another and absorbed by the discovery of dawning, new emotions, that they could not have possibly seen or detected the two masked individuals concealed in the treetops high above them.

Watching, in silent sentry from the shadows, with luminous, piercing, crimson eyes.

---

Over time, Kore discovered that she started to yearn for the night to fall. She'd always frolicked under the sun, basked in its warmth and golden light; favoured the life it cultivated over the quietness and stillness that followed dusk.

But the darkness she began to anticipate because she associated it with him. The one she could no longer deny had completely stolen her heart captive, so that her every waking moment, and even her dreams, were filled with wistful thoughts and fantasies of him.

Whenever her mother left her in the company of her chaperone nymphs, she would sit at the bottom steps of her temple, and gaze yearningly out into the horizon, hoping to catch a glimpse of his familiar outline. He had no reason or obligation to visit, she knew – but always she watched for him, anyway.

And so many times, he had never come, and her heart would always sink with a disappointment that became increasingly difficult to stomach.

Following their encounter with the fireflies, however, it was as though something had shifted and began changing between them. All at once, Hades was materialising out of the shadows more often, and she was encountering him more frequently in the safe, concealed sanctuary of her forests – without Apollo in tow.

Sometimes they would simply just walk. Often Kore would talk far too much, but Hades did not seem to mind it, or if he did, then he certainly did not make it apparent. Other times, they would observe the stars through the canopy of the trees, and take turns at pointing out constellations or sit in comfortable silence and enjoy the tranquillity of rippling water by a rock-littered stream. Hades would never speak much, but as time went on, and they grew more accustomed to one another's company, he would surprise her, saying a little here and there, telling her more of the unexpected wonders of the Underworld. Kore would always listen in awe, to his far too brief and short tales, that painted such a starkly different picture of the dreadful image she had been raised to fear so greatly.

Mostly, however, Hades was just content to listen to her speak of herself and her day.

Sometimes they would race each other. Sometimes Hades would win. Other times, Kore would. Once he challenged her to a rematch of the orb contest, and tackled her down a gentle incline in the forest floor. She'd landed, giggling girlishly, under him, and her heart had thundered as he'd hovered above her, his arms caging her beneath him.

She'd wondered scandalously right then as she'd lain under him, what it would be like to be taken by him completely. She thought that maybe a similar thought had entered his mind, too, as he'd gazed down at her dishevelled locks and flushed cheeks. Perhaps it had, for he had suddenly seemed tense, and quickly gotten off her, muttering that the race was "stupid" and the result was a tie.

On the scattered occasions when they did meet with Apollo, Hades would maintain a careful distance from her, scarcely acknowledging her verbally – something that always infuriated the Sun God. But whenever Apollo turned away, they would steal little stealthy glances at one another.

Somehow, the fact that they met in secret made it all the more thrilling. Kore knew what she was doing was forbidden. That it would break her mother's heart, if she were to ever find out. But she was addicted to Hades; to the way he made her feel so alive. She couldn't stop herself from seeing him.

Then, one night, he did something unexpected and different. He offered her the adventure she craved, delighting her as he suggested an impromptu journey through the forest on his dark chariot. They'd rode like the wind, so breathtakingly fast that she had been left giddy, laughing and squealing all the way. She was far too preoccupied by her excitement to see the way Hades had, once again, been completely unable to take his eyes off her for the entire duration of the trip.

---

Kore cast a cautious, surveying look back over her shoulder, her racing heart fluttering. The night was quiet. As always, she had ensured that nobody was following her.

Quietly she slipped into the forest, and into the circle of Hades's waiting arms. And when his lips found hers, and the blistering heat of his fingertips singed into her skin, she forgot everything else.

---

XXX

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SCENE 1

Please visit the deviantArt group page if you wish to read the ending scene.

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XXX

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Author's note

Sorry to have to cut it at this - technically this is just a break to make what is really one big instalment easier to read. Next chapter continues directly from this one and will feature more flashbacks, as well as Sakura's meeting with Kore in her mind, and a conversation between Chiyo and Sasuke.

If you'd like to review or have the time to do so, I'd appreciate it. Next one should be up by Christmas Eve.