Quietus Chapter 48, a naruto fanfic

For all of you who celebrate, Merry Christmas. For those of you who do not but also have a break, I wish you a restful and enjoyable holiday season, and a Happy New Year to everyone.

This is a direct continuation from the last chapter.

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

XXX

A similar divider will be 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.

Please listen to the track on my profile page under Chapter 48, and consider playing it during the goodbye scene.

Chapter XLVIII

She gave herself to him,

He stole away her heart,

Claimed her as his,

They were never to part,

He consumed her light,

Took his fill,

She sighed and adored,

And lost herself to the thrill,

Her gravest mistake,

A great error in measure,

To fall into the honeyed trap

Of love and pleasure.

It was strange, how after so long he could still effortlessly set butterflies flittering in her stomach. Simply walking to his apartment made her heart gallop. Persistent worry for his well-being, however, had given her the courage to visit him again.

She had kept his secret, as he'd requested. But she wondered how much longer she had to stay silent for. Had he discovered anything else about Sai's visions?

The apartment wasn't showy or expensive; nowhere up to the standards of what anyone would expect the son of the king of the gods to reside in. But that had always been one of the things Hinata had greatly admired - and loved - about grounded nature.

Neji lingered back by the car, watchful eyes alert. He stood with his arms folded, scanning their surroundings like a sentinel on guard duty. That was precisely what he was, of course. Hinata's personal protector.

She inhaled deeply as she drew to a stop by his front door. The curtains to the humbly sized lounge were drawn and a light was on inside, indicating that he was home. Her heart did that funny little thing whenever she was in close proximity to him, flip-flopped inside her chest. She raised her hand to the doorbell – only to freeze when she heard Naruto's voice exclaim angrily, his words slightly muffled – but still discernible to her ears.

"Are you even listening to me? You really think it's a good idea to just go down there and confront him? You know what he gets like when you push him into a corner-"

"Lower your voice, Naruto," a deep voice admonished. "We already agreed that Kakashi and I were going to handle this."

"We're going to negotiate," another voice supplied more quietly. Hinata had to strain to hear it.

Her winter-grey eyes widened in bewilderment.

Jiraiya and Kakashi-sensei were inside with him? Who were they talking about? Where did they want to go?

She brushed aside her curiosity. It wasn't polite to listen in on their private exchange. It wasn't a good time, she told herself, to call on him. Biting her lower lip regretfully, she stepped back with the honest intention of turning away and leaving, not wishing to infringe or eavesdrop any longer.

But the next thing her ears inadvertently caught made her halt in place.

"We need to find out how many seeds she consumed first." Kakashi was saying.

"I see no reason why he would keep that from us," Jiraiya commented.

Seeds? Hinata raised an alarmed hand to her open mouth. What were they talking about?

'Hinata-sama,' Neji's voice spoke telepathically to her, as he sensed her discomfort and hesitation. 'Is everything alright?'

'Ah!' she answered. 'Y-yes. I just- Naruto-kun isn't alone right now, so we should-'

And then she heard it. Something that made her heart thud to a much more unpleasant rhythm. The words would have been lost to ordinary humans. But she was not an ordinary being, and her ears picked up everything.

"Still, we must be cautious." Jiraiya went on. "There's no predicting how someone like Sasuke will react, so we must be alert at all times."

Hinata gasped softly into her palm in disbelief. A sudden tremor overcame her.

Sasuke?

"And choose our words wisely," Kakashi added.

"You have to let me go with you!" Naruto ranted. "There's no way I can just sit this out-!"

"No," Kakashi instantly rejected, his tone leaving no room for argument on the matter. "Not this time, Naruto! Jiraiya, Sai and I will be sufficient enough. You stay up here and keep an eye on Tsunade and the others."

"Wha-?!" Naruto whined. "Sai? Are you kidding me? Why does he get to go?!"

"I am the Messenger," another voice supplied helpfully. Sai, Hinata registered.

"Don't be such a smartass!" Naruto yelled at him. "And anyway, didn't Sasuke say he'd kill you if you went back there?!"

"He said the same to you," Kakashi reminded him dryly.

"That doesn't count, I've heard it a million times before and I'm still alive!"

Hinata zoned out of the rest of the bickering, frantically trying to process her chaotic thoughts. Sakura had consumed seeds… from the Underworld?

Was that where she was, now? Was that where she had been all along? With Sasuke?

Her mind spun. Staggered by shock, she could only remain numbly in place, staring at the ground in horror, hoping against hope that she had somehow misheard, that it was all some terrible misunderstanding.

By the car, Neji stiffened, his acute vision immediately discerning her discomfort.

"Hinata-sama-" he began with quiet concern, moving forward automatically – at the precise moment the front door swung open to reveal a masked Kakashi.

His single visible eye drooped as he discovered Hinata, her hands clutched to her chest, a half-ashamed, half-frightened expression on her face. She'd done a poor job of disguising her presence, but then, it had never been her way to be anything but honest.

"Maaa…" he sighed, turning his gaze exasperatedly upwards. This was the last thing they needed – someone else from their group finding out. "You'd better come inside, Hinata."

"I-" she stammered, flushing deeply. "I am so sorry, I-!" she gasped, when Naruto suddenly appeared behind Kakashi, his blue eyes wide with dismay as they rested on her face. Without a word, he stepped out and grasped her wrist, yanking her into the apartment.

"Stay there, 'ttebayo!" he pointed at Neji, before abruptly slamming the door shut.

Neji frowned and reluctantly drew back again. What in the world was going on? Why was Hinata so distressed?

Beyond the door, Hinata felt like she was on the verge of fainting. Naruto bypassed the lounge, telling the two elders that he would handle this. She put up no resistance as Naruto pulled her along behind him, until they reached the kitchen, where he closed the door, sat her down on one of only two wooden stools by the single, central aisle, and kept his hands firmly on her shoulders as he peered down into her crimson face.

"Hinata," he said worriedly. "How long were you standing outside?"

"I," she stuttered in shame. "Naruto-kun, I only came to- to see if you were alright, and I was about to leave but then I overheard-" she bowed her head low, shoulders hunching upwards. "I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun! I didn't mean to- I was only outside for a few minutes!"

Naruto's expression softened as she squeezed her eyes shut, on the verge of tears.

"Hinata…" he began, his fingers on her shoulders relaxing, becoming gentler in their hold.

"I didn't mean to!" she repeated in an anxious rush. "Please forgive me, Naruto-kun! But when I heard about Sasuke-kun-"

Naruto's right hand shot out, and he slid his fingers under her chin, tilting her head up. Her eyes flew open and she gasped as his cerulean gaze locked with hers.

"Hinata," he spoke in a hushed voice. "You have to promise me that you won't say a thing!"

She bit her trembling lower lip. She didn't think she was brave enough to keep such a weighty truth from Tsunade.

"But- but why?" she shook her head in confusion, visibly shaken and upset. "Naruto-kun, if you've known where she's been all this time, then why… why haven't you told us?"

Naruto drew away, raked a hand stressfully through his sunshine spikes as he paced restlessly before her. "Damn it," he muttered in frustration. "You know what they think about Sasuke. I don't know why he took Sakura-chan, but believe me, Hinata!" he pivoted back to her. "Believe it when I tell you, he hasn't hurt her!"

She stared mutely back at him, wide-eyed, her lips parted in astonishment.

"You know that Sasuke and I were like brothers," he said quietly, stepping closer to where she sat, her hands fisted into palms in her lap. "And it's stupid, I know, but I can't let go of that bond. I feel like… I feel like he's lost, Hinata! I feel like I'm responsible for him, somehow. Even after everything- but they won't listen to me. They think he betrayed us, but I've never believed it. I just know there had to be a reason for him marching against us. I need to find out what happened, somehow!"

Hinata began to shake her head. Her heart constricted. She loved Naruto with every fibre of her being, wanted to support him in any and every way she could, but keeping something like this a secret? She wasn't so sure she could.

As if he could read the indecision on her features, Naruto got to his knees, reached out and took her hands in his. Her pulse rocketed at the contact.

"Please," he whispered, looking earnestly up into her face. "Hinata, I'm begging you. I know you don't understand everything that's going on, and I'm asking so much of you already, but I promise you. I promise you, I absolutely will tell you everything once we figure out why he took her."

"She-" Hinata struggled to speak when his fingers slipped under hers, uncurling her fists. Gulping, she went on fearfully, "She's eaten some seeds, Naruto-kun…?"

His eyes flashed with pain and lowered briefly. "Yeah." Shaking his head, he muttered, "I don't know why he'd do that. It doesn't make sense. I want to kick his ass, but the most important thing right now is that we try to get him to give her back. Otherwise…" he didn't need to finish. Hinata was more than aware of what would happen if Sakura did not return to the surface before the start of autumn.

She exhaled unsteadily. She couldn't even begin to imagine the terror Sakura was going through. To be trapped in such a place, with such a dangerous deity…

"Naruto-kun…" her voice trailed hesitantly. "I… I don't know if I-"

"Promise me," he insisted, looking up at her again. "Hinata, you can't tell Tsunade or Ino or anyone else. Not yet. I know they'll find out eventually, but if you could just hold out for a little longer. I-" It was his turn to close his eyes. "I know I've got no right to ask this of you, but a person like you… who I like and trust so much…! I know I can count on you! So please!" He bent his head forward, to rest his forehead beseechingly against the top of her hands. "Please trust me, too!"

The heat in her cheeks intensified. Inside her chest, her melting heart was skipping and soaring.

A person he liked and trusted so much.

Slowly she withdrew one of her finely tremoring hands, and placed it affectionately upon his golden head. Love swelled within her at the feel of the soft, unruly strands under her skin. How long had she yearned to touch him like this? To give him direct, physical comfort, instead of support from a distance?

How could she ever refuse him anything?

"I trust you, Naruto-kun," she whispered reassuringly, causing him to release a shuddering breath of relief and another, untold emotion, as he remained bowed in position before her, taking a selfish moment to enjoy the soothing gentleness of her touch as she caressed his hair with her slender, ivory fingers.

Kore huffed impatiently, feeling irritable. Apollo had told her that he would be on time, tonight. But once again, he was tardy, and she really was in no mood to indulge him. Especially when she would have much rather preferred to be somewhere else, with someone else, doing something else…

Folding her arms crossly, she leant back against the tree trunk, lifting her eyes up to the starry sky, twinkling beyond the treetops high above her. Her thoughts automatically began to unwind, recalling the second night of passion she'd shared with Hades, once again in the sanctuary of her temple. Her heart skipped a beat and the insatiable ache inside kindled once again into existence as she recalled the way their sweat-slickened bodies had writhed together.

Their love-making had been harder, faster, more urgent than their first union. Kore closed her eyes at the sensual memory of his lips clamping down over her skin, sucking over her pulse point, biting and branding, fingers scraping possessively along the contours of her hips as he'd claimed her again as his. She'd struggled to deaden her whimpers as he'd pounded savagely into her, as if to prove a point to them both that he could perform much, much better.

'Tell me,' he'd ground out between laboured breaths, taunting her as she'd moaned pleadingly for release under him. 'Is this,' he'd slammed even harder into her cavern, driving her wild with need, ''good', Persephone?'

It had been more than 'good'. It had been incredible, mind blowing, and she would have screamed had it not been for his lips devouring hers to keep her vocal cries from being heard beyond the thick, towering double doors of her private chamber.

Kore's eyes opened and she exhaled softly into the warm night's air. Hades was an intense and fiery lover, and she relished the merciless force of his passion, his confident masculinity, his scorching heat. He was all iron and flame, set her blood alight.

It had been five nights since she had seen him last and her body craved the new sensations he'd opened up to her like flowers craved the kiss of sunlight. Where was he? Was he well? Perhaps he had just become preoccupied by his Underworld duties. She was consumed by thoughts of him all the time, and it was difficult, punishing, even, to maintain the façade of 'Kore', the innocent, naïve maiden, around everyone else.

Particularly her mother. Kore was shredded by guilt and felt nauseous every time she met Demeter's eyes. It was a battle to try to act as normally as possible, while bearing such an awful secret. But she knew she couldn't possibly leave Hades, now. Not when they had become one.

She pushed herself away from the tree and began to stroll distractedly through the undergrowth. If Apollo didn't show himself soon, she would just have to-

Her mind never completed the thought, for when she arbitrarily glanced up her eyes fell upon a figure, clothed entirely from head to toe in black, save for the deep purple sash tied across his chest. A matching amethyst droplet dangled from his left earlobe.

Her heart fluttered violently at the sight of him and immediately quickened.

Hades slowly stepped out from the bushes he'd been concealed behind, and slunk unhurriedly towards her. There was something almost predatory about his graceful movements.

"Hades!" she glanced nervously around them. She could not sense Apollo's divine energy in the forest, but the Sun God had an unpleasant knack of appearing out of nowhere. "Apollo asked me to meet him here," she said unthinkingly. "He could arrive at any moment, so…"

Her voice trailed off as he drew to a stop at a carefully measured distance from her. Instead of wearing the haughty look of arrogance, smugness or indifference she was accustomed to seeing on his features, Kore glimpsed the hint of a scowl on the corners of his lips.

He seemed tense. Displeased. Irked, even.

"What is it?" she blinked, bewildered.

His eyes glittered hard, like black diamonds. They narrowed at her.

"Don't play stupid with me," he snapped icily.

She stiffened, offended. Frowning, she shook her head, at a loss over what it might be that was bothering him. "Hades, what are you talking about?" she questioned, feeling strangely nervous. What had she done wrong? The last time they had seen each other, everything had seemed perfect. What had changed?

"Apollo told me," he bit out.

Kore's confusion grew. "What?"

"I said," he stepped forward, the dark aura encompassing his form pulsating around him like thick wisps of smothering, deadly smoke. "Don't play stupid."

"But I do not know what you are talking about," Kore exclaimed, wringing her hands in dismay. "Truly, Hades, I do not."

"I did not take you as the kind to share yourself so generously." His eyes blazed accusingly at her.

Growing frustrated, Kore gestured, "What are you talking about? Will you not tell me what crime I have committed?"

"Your…" he spat out the next word hatefully, as if it was a slander that insulted him in every possible way. "'Feelings' for Apollo."

"My feelings for…?" Kore echoed blankly. What was he saying? "Apollo?" she repeated, perplexed. Why would Hades be questioning that, out of the blue? "But…" she shook her head, again. "He is like a brother to me. I do not-"

"That is not," Hades glared, "what he thinks."

Anger spiked inside Kore at the unfounded accusations – just what was he trying to suggest?

Then, with a sinking feeling, sudden realisation crashed into her.

What she had said to Aphrodite, more than several months prior. The lie she had told to hide the nature of her true feelings for Hades. But Aphrodite had promised her she would not speak a word! Had she opened her mouth and gossiped again?

She slapped a despairing hand to her forehead. "What did that fool tell you?" she closed her eyes briefly, seeking patience.

Hades's scowl intensified. Apollo had come to him two days earlier, half-panicking, half-bragging about Aphrodite letting it slip that Kore harboured deep, secretive feelings for the Sun God. In truth, Hades hadn't listened to the rest of the particulars. He'd been far too incensed, and immediately challenged Apollo to a duel, battling him until they'd both been left battered and bruised. He'd spent the following two days seething to himself, until unable to stand the consuming bitterness any longer, had sought Kore out to confront her directly.

"You know what I speak of," Hades hissed.

Kore's eyes opened again. "Yes," she sighed heavily, but he had gotten her intentions wrong entirely.

Hades bristled, inhaled sharply. "Then you do not deny it."

"I said those words," Kore admitted, "but it was only because-" she broke off at the indignant look on Hades's face. Something hostile flashed across his penetrating gaze.

He was positively furious, his hands balled into fists by his sides. Her jaw hung open as something flattering and thrilling suddenly occurred to her.

He was jealous. Jealous – of Apollo! Of the prospect of her paying attention to another! The unexpected but thoroughly pleasant discovery made her light-headed with happiness.

She could not help it, looking at that adorable frown – she burst into laughter – which she would soon discover was the wrong course of action entirely, for it only further fuelled the perilous wrath brewing within Hades's chest.

"You!" she gaped. Who would have thought a god so sure of himself, so pompous and dismissive of everything and everyone, would harbour such common insecurities? "You are jealous," she chuckled. "Of Apollo! Oh, Hades!"

"Shut up." He snarled at her. Of the many things he loathed in the world, being laughed at was high up on the hierarchy of his most despised things.

"I am sorry," she gasped. "It is just- that you are- jealous! Of that clumsy, clueless-"

"I," he fumed acidly, positively glaring daggers at her, "am not."

But he was. Everything about his defensive posture and expression screamed so. Kore doubled over, wheezing to catch breath. She then straightened, but continued to snigger uncontrollably into her palm. "You are," she giggled. "You think that Apollo and I are-"

She never got to finish. Hades blurred rapidly into movement, and a second later, a gasping Kore felt herself being knocked bodily back into the trunk of a tree. Hades spun her around roughly so that the front of her torso was pressed uncomfortably against the abrasive bark. His hands encircled her wrists to pin her in position, trapping her in the cage of his arms as he pushed the front of his body weightily against her back.

"Hades!" She was immediately alarmed, her foolish mirth wearing quickly thin. "I-I did not mean it! I said that to Aphrodite because she suspected that I- unh?" she gulped, when his mouth drew directly beside her left ear.

"Do you think," he exhaled hotly, making her skin tingle. "He can match me?"

XXX

SCENE 2

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XXX

"You seem distracted lately, daughter," Demeter observed, as they sat together, weaving baskets from straw.

Kore's heart drummed. Of course her ever-perceptive mother had noticed, and this was the very confrontation she had spent the last three months dreading. She was surprised, really, that Demeter had kept quiet for so long.

Summoning a smile to her face, she attempted to dismiss lightly, "Oh, it is nothing."

"Kore," her mother said sternly. "I know that false smile."

Her daughter swallowed, mind racing. What could she say? Horrified to feel a blush stain her cheeks, she dipped her head, wrenching the straw through the weave she had been working a little too forcefully as a wave of anxiety gripped her.

How she wished, at that moment, to possess Hades's enviable talent of masking emotions!

"It is nothing. Truly, mother."

"Then why do you blush?"

"I-"

Demeter pursed her lips and set her basked down. She had been suspicious for a while; she knew Kore better than anyone, and her strange behaviour confirmed that something was weighing heavily upon her conscience. Reaching out, she gently placed a palm on Kore's left arm, signalling for her child to stop, also.

Kore gulped. Her pulse was racing so fast, she was certain her mother could somehow detect its frantic rhythm.

"Tell me," Demeter commanded.

How had this happened? She had taken such pains to act as normally as possible. But clearly it hadn't been enough to throw her eagle-eyed mother off her scent. Now she was trapped, forced into a corner, and to her mortification, her tongue seemed to have relinquished the ability to form speech.

"Kore?" Demeter reached out to cup her daughter's chin, turning Kore's head to meet her concerned honey gaze.

"I'm sorry," Kore blurted out, biting her lower lip nervously. "I did not want to trouble you, or worry you- I- I was afraid you would be angry with me-!"

"What is it?" Demeter frowned.

"I-" Kore felt wretched. Then a sudden, unexpected ray of hope came to her, as she recalled a tragic love story Aphrodite had reported to her not a week prior.

Surely she would be damned to Tartarus for telling her own flesh and blood such horrible fibs, to keep her secret hidden in such a deplorable way, and Hades would be powerless to do anything to prevent it! But she told herself fiercely that she had no choice. Alluring dark eyes flashed across her mind, and the desperate need to protect him – to protect them, took precedence over everything else.

"I saw a hunter in the forest recently, mother. I do not know who he was, but… he had the sweetest face!"

Demeter scowled. "Do not tell me-" she began over-protectively.

Kore's hands flew up defensively. "Wait, mother! There is a nymph, who is so terribly in love with him. You have heard of Echo?"

"Echo," her mother repeated. "The nymph who sings sweetly?"

"Yes," Kore nodded. "She is so in love with this hunter boy, but he will not have her. He is terribly proud, you see, and it pains me to see her suffer so greatly. She has come to my forests for comfort often, and talks very much of him. I have felt so sorry for her. I am trying to find a way to help her, but Aphrodite tells me her love is doomed."

It was not a complete fabrication. Echo had come to her a few times. Just not as often as Kore was making it sound. And she had always talked for so long, that even a goddess as patient and considerate as Kore was had found herself growing weary of her endless chatter. Aphrodite had arrived both times to shoo the poor love-sick girl away.

Demeter shook her head, satisfied with the explanation. How very like her sweet-natured child to carry the afflictions of others upon her shoulders.

"Love," she muttered. "A fool's pastime, indeed."

Kore hesitated. "You have been in love before, have you not, mother?"

Her mother tensed. But instead of being angry, or displeased, as Kore feared and anticipated, Demeter replied softly, "Yes, child. I have known love. And there are times when I wish I had not."

Kore was relieved to divert the focus off her. "But not often?" she questioned.

"Not as often as I would like," Demeter admitted ruefully. Then she smiled a small smile. "Had I not experienced it, what is most precious to me in this world would not have come to exist."

Kore tilted her head curiously. "What is that, mother?"

Demeter met her gaze directly. Reached out to caress the side of her daughter's head.

"Why, you, of course, daughter." She answered, a rare display of open fondness shining across her beautiful features. The severe guilt inside Kore became a burden so gnawing, she felt tears sting her eyes.

Swallowing thickly, she managed a genuine smile in return.

XXX

SCENE 3

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XXX

When it was over, they lay together for a while, relishing the lazy haze of the afterglow. Hades cocooned her in his arms, knotted their fingers together, and a smiling Kore rested her head contentedly against his chest. Eventually they rose to dress and took the stone path that wound around the back of her temple, leading to the carefully tended, vast garden there. Kore giggled girlishly as they snuck through the shadows, feeling like a devious felon in the night as she walked ahead of Hades, who allowed her to pull him along after her without resistance – when the unexpected appearance of one of her chaperone nymphs caused them to halt abruptly.

Kore released a startled gasp. Her grip on Hades instinctively tightened as dread knotted unpleasantly in her gut.

The dumbfounded nymph's eyes bulged and darted to their joined hands. She looked from Kore, to Hades, and back to Kore again, shock and horror painting itself on her pretty features.

"My Lady!" she gasped, visibly appalled.

"Despina," Kore whispered frantically, "I can explain-"

The trembling nymph began to back slowly away, shaking her head in disbelief, muttering that Lady Demeter was going to be very displeased, which made Kore feel like a serrated blade was being plunged and twisted around in the centre of her chest, turned her icy with fear.

"No!" she began, stepping thoughtlessly towards her, pulse thunderous. "Despina, I command you not to-"

A tug prevented her from going any further. She glanced wildly back over her shoulder to find Hades, looking remarkably unconcerned by the entire affair.

"Don't bother," he stated evenly, before he relinquished her hand and stepped in front of her. "Nymph," he addressed the terrified girl stonily, and Kore saw his eyes glint crimson. "Stop."

Despina became as still as a statue, as though his command had chained iron shackles to her limbs. Hades slunk towards her with the grace of a predatory feline. When he reached her, he grasped her chin roughly, angling her head back to look at him.

"Do not hurt her!" Kore exclaimed in alarm.

But Hades simply hissed at the girl caught in his ruthless grip, "You saw nothing. You will speak nothing. You will remember nothing."

Despina's breath hitched, and Kore saw the way her eyes glazed over. A second later, her body grew limp. Hades released her and she crumpled to the grass.

Kore darted forward, horrified. "What did you do to her?" she demanded. "Hades-!"

He reached out and grabbed her left arm, to stop her from tending to the nymph. "She sleeps."

"Is she hurt?" Kore worried.

"No." He informed her curtly, pulling her back to his side. "She will remember nothing when she wakes." At her reluctance to move, he scowled impatiently, "Stop fussing, Persephone."

Kore chewed her lower lip anxiously and directed one final, guilty glance back over her shoulder at the slumbering nymph, before she relented and allowed Hades to guide her through the darkness. She kept asking him for reassurances that Despina would wake up unharmed, and an exasperated Hades kept answering she would, so Kore believed him and told herself not to fret. It had been necessary for him to intervene, she justified to herself, as awful as it was for him to meddle with the nymph's mind. However, she was certain there would have been no way that their secret would've been kept by Despina had Hades not acted. They absolutely could not risk Demeter finding out about them.

When they reached the outskirts of the garden, Hades turned back to her. Kore tilted her face up automatically in anticipation of his parting kiss – only to blink in surprise, her eyes flying open when she felt a light tap against the centre of her forehead, instead.

Blushing, she peeked up in bewilderment to find a mocking half-smile playing on one corner of Hades's proud lips. Lips that did such unspeakably wicked things to her. He chuckled at her comical expression - a short, abrupt sound that made Kore's heart melt. It was not often that he laughed, and it warmed her to know that she was the source that inspired his amusement.

"I'll see you soon," he promised.

They had taken shelter up in a tree from the pouring rain, and Hades, sitting against the robust trunk with Kore's back pressed to his chest, had been absentmindedly stroking circles along the smooth skin of her right forearm, when Kore, uncharacteristically tense, suddenly squirmed and pulled away from him. She then shifted on the branch, and when he angled a questioning look at her, she made a point of avoiding his gaze.

He waited, knowing her well enough by then to trust that she would speak when she was ready. Her bright irises were rendered a darker shade than usual, which made apparent that something was troubling her.

Sure enough, it did not take the young goddess long to start talking.

"How long have we been meeting like this, Hades?" she asked softly.

"Hn." Hades shrugged. He hadn't really bothered to keep count. Besides, what did she mean? How long they'd physically been together, or how long they had started to get to know each other generally, after he'd taken her to see the fireflies? The durations of time were not the same, but then, time always seemed to slip away whenever they were together. There didn't ever seem to be enough of it, and Hades had started to grow a little perturbed by just how often he found himself thinking of the Spring Goddess in his private musings.

"It has been just over five months, now, has it not?" she prompted.

His eyes traced over the lovely profile of her face. "What does it matter?"

"I…" she began awkwardly, the apples of her cheeks flustered. "I do not want this to be…" she fumbled, struggling to phrase what she wanted to express delicately. Her nerves got the better of her, then, and she blurted candidly, "When I am with you, Hades, you make my body feel like it is burning. But…" she chewed into her lower lip and shook her head. "I do not wish for this to be only that."

She did not want their bond to be centred around physical intimacy alone. They'd had each other as often as time and circumstance allowed, and it suddenly struck him that it did, indeed, seem like their relationship had become centred on lust. Their frequent romps outnumbered the occasions on which they had simply sat like this, revelling in each other's company – but that was mainly because the sizzling chemistry they shared made it difficult for them to keep their hands off one another. Hades understood, at that moment, that her fears were not entirely without foundation. He'd merely been too consumed by the pleasure she gave him to think anything of it, himself.

In response, he reached out and tugged her backwards, so that her back was pressed to his front once again. He felt her tremble, as if she was cold or dreaded his response, and wordlessly unclasped his black cloak to drape it around her shoulders. Kore swallowed when he then intertwined their fingers together, and held them up for inspection before her.

"…" He twisted his wrist to admire the flawless skin on the back of her left hand as he mulled over her words.

Her heart constricted at his silence. She wasn't yet ready to confess aloud that she loved him, even when she had already fallen for him so quickly, so deeply. She'd been halfway there even before they had gotten romantically involved. The love she bore for Hades was like a persistent physical ache that could only be soothed by the solidarity and comfort of his presence. But she had started to worry, that the overwhelming passion they enjoyed would soon fizzle out. That Hades would tire of her, the way Aphrodite had told her so many gods did, once they greedily took their fill of women.

Hades was young, and there was certainly no rush for him to settle for a single goddess, Kore knew. She also knew that she had to be foolish, entertaining such frivolous romantic notions of spending eternity by his side, and his alone. What if he did not feel that way for her? What if he was simply passing time with her? She had been fretting about the true nature of his feelings toward her so frequently, and now that she had intruded upon the subject, her heart could not cease its erratic pounding. What if he did not give her the response she yearned to hear?

Hades, who was wondering why she would even think such a thing, murmured, "Why say this, all of a sudden?"

Kore swallowed. "Sometimes," she confided, "I would just like to talk with you. Or simply sit by your side in silence. But I feel…" her voice tremored. "I feel that this has moved so fast. Sometimes it makes me breathless. I cannot think, and it is like I am being consumed." Her voice dropped to a whisper and she closed her eyes, exhaling shakily. "I ache for you, Hades, all the time. I should not- I should not feel so intensely. I know it is foolish and yet I… I cannot stop it. Sometimes, I am afraid."

He lowered his lips to her hand, brushed them lightly over her knuckles.

"I…" she hesitated. "I am afraid, because we are so different, and yet when I am with you… nothing else seems to matter. There is just you and me. I have never felt this way about anything before, and that frightens me."

He wanted to tell her that he hadn't felt such a magnetising attraction toward any woman before, either. He wanted to tell her that the sparks between them unsettled him, too, and yet he had grown addicted to them, to the rush and euphoria she gave him. But that was certainly not the only reason why he was with her.

He wanted to tell her not to be afraid.

"Persephone," he sighed lightly, closing his eyes as he buried his face into her hair. He could not reciprocate her words. Discussing sentiments – and talking in general - had never come easily to him. But he let her feel his reassurances, in the way he inhaled the floral scent of her water-drizzled, damp locks, the way he brought up his right arm to hold her more tightly back against him.

She bit her lower lip. "Could you just… hold me, tonight?"

He blinked - then obligingly wrapped his other arm around her in response, felt her relief as she relaxed back against him, exhaling as if she had cast a heavy burden off her chest. And from that night onwards, Hades, respecting her feelings, allowed her to choose and initiate when they made love.

He stared at the item she held out to him. It was concealed beneath heavy black fabric.

Lifting his eyes curiously to her, he demanded, "What is this?"

"A gift," she smiled coyly at him, her cheeks tinged that charming shade of pink they always seemed to adopt whenever she saw him.

"What for?" he scoffed. It was not his birthday, and he had not gotten her anything. The ribbon she wore, which he had replaced, did not count.

She exclaimed, "By the gods, Hades, it is impolite, you know, to refuse a gift!"

He rolled his eyes and reluctantly accepted the offering, if only to indulge her. Kore clasped her hands behind her back, rocking impatiently on the balls of her feet as she watched him weigh the mysterious object in his palms, before he proceeded to unwind the material she'd wrapped around the object.

Her heart drummed with anticipation and excitement when he let the fabric drop to reveal a slender, beautifully crafted hunting bow, forged of the highest quality wood.

Hades blinked, surprise visibly etched upon his routinely unreadable features. The weapon felt pleasantly light in his hands, but its expert craftsmanship was obvious. He ran his fingers over the smoothly polished wood. The insignia of his Clan had been engraved and painted on the elegantly curved tips of the bow. Engraved along the slender sides of the weapon's upper and lower limbs were decorative filigree swirls.

Kore's eyes were anxious. "Do you like it?" she questioned hopefully.

Hades's dark eyes returned to her. "Where did you get this?"

"Hephaestus forged it for Artemis, who gifted it to me. I do not hunt, but I know you like to compete with Apollo, so I wish for you to have it."

He hesitated. What if Artemis asked about the weapon? Kore seemed to read his mind, for she waved away his concerns.

"Do not worry. I will tell Artemis that I simply misplaced it, and you can tell anyone who asks you that some hunter dropped it, and you took it as you liked."

That sounded a good enough story to Hades. His eyes lowered to admire the bow once more.

Hephaestus. No wonder the work was of such great construction and durability. Artemis was known to possess the finest hunting bows on the surface. And Hades had always had a soft spot for archery…

"Do you like it?" she prompted again.

"This is high quality craft," he replied, sending a flutter of delight through Kore at the openly impressed tones in which he spoke.

She grinned. "I added my own touches to the wood. Like your family emblem. And…" she added eagerly, "a little secret, if you study the grip carefully…"

"…" Hades gave her a measured look, and tilted the bow so that he could examine the comfortable grip more closely. He missed it initially, because it was so small – but upon second inspection, he found a tiny carving of a blossom flower, with five petals. His gaze lifted questioningly to Kore.

"So you do not forget me," she said, looking away as she pushed a long lock of hair behind her right ear – before turning back to peek a bashful glance at him.

Hades snorted. So he wouldn't forget? He didn't think he could ever dismiss the annoying little goddess from his mind, even if he tried. How sentimental she was. But he did like the gift, very much, and could not wait to go hunting with it.

He did not need to express it, for Kore had already seen his approval.

He held it up, drawing back the tightly wound string, as if to fire an experimental shot – directly at her.

"This will be perfect," he said smugly, "to shoot down a certain goddess, from the treetops where she likes to hide."

Kore bit back a giggle, and held up her hands in surrender.

"But you should not aim at her head, Hades," she chided teasingly.

He lifted a dark eyebrow almost warily. "Then where?" he intoned.

She smiled shyly and reached out to reposition the centre of the arrow rest over her chest. Slightly to the left.

"Her heart," she whispered dramatically, meeting his gaze as she huskily added. "Where you have already pierced her."

"…" Hades blinked, pressed the bow more firmly against her chest, and smirked.

She gasped when he showed up unexpectedly in her temple's bathing chamber one night. His raven hair was even more dishevelled than usual, and there were shallow grazes and grass stains all over his face and arms. The front of his grey tunic was torn, revealing a glimpse of the dirt-stains on his chest. There was a small black quiver strapped to his back.

"What happened?" Kore exclaimed, as he drew to a stop by the altar she had been arranging fresh flowers upon.

In response, he lifted the bow she had given to him, and declared triumphantly, "We hunted down a gigantic wild boar."

Kore rolled her eyes. Another of Apollo and Hades's reckless contests. But she was inwardly thrilled to see that he had made use of her gift.

"You two…" she sighed in resignation. Then, observing him, she fretted, "None of the nymphs saw you, did they?"

"I told you," he replied flatly. "The shadows are-"

"Yours," she finished. "I know." After a pause, she questioned curiously, "So… did he beat you?"

Hades looked offended and released a condescending snort. "Of course I won," he informed her. "That moron is still wailing in defeat, in the field where I left him. Idiot."

Kore giggled, imagining Apollo throwing a hissy fit. When Hades continued to stare at her with those piercing eyes of his, she bit her lower lip. He looked untameable, wild. Proud and fiery and utterly desirable.

The sudden tingling throb between her legs told her that it had been too long since they'd last made love. The episodes seemed much fewer and farther apart. They had been spending more time together simply talking, walking or engaging in other activities. She had enjoyed it, the increased sense of closeness and emotional fulfilment. But she would be lying to herself if she denied just how much she had missed the feeling of him embedded inside her.

She stepped forward and reached up to unclasp the leather quiver strap across his chest. He remained stationary, watching her silently, taking in the sight of her in the dusky pink, full-length chiton she wore. It had slits up to the thighs on both sides, was much more revealing than anything she wore when she ventured out of her temple. Hades liked it on her, very much.

"I can imagine," she said softly, setting the quiver aside as she turned to the belt at his waist, and removed that in turn, before undoing his cloak. She let it fall to the floor. "But look at you," she clucked her tongue disapprovingly. "All this dirt on you. Let me clean you up."

She slipped her right hand into his left and with seductive, come-hither eyes reeled him forward, led him to her circular, white-marble bathing pool just before the raised altar. It was enclosed within four towering, slender columns. Curtains of flowered vines were draped between the columns, and some of the crimson petals had fallen onto the luminous turquoise water's surface. The small waterfall behind her altar flowed down into deep grooves set in the mosaic floor, which refilled the pool continuously.

Descending the three steps that led down into it, she tugged at Hades to join her. The crystal clear waters reached mid-way up his thighs, and just above Kore's belly button. He allowed her to remove his shirt, and stared wordlessly, transfixed, as she reached for the bathing sponge that rested upon one of the shells placed beside the pool.

Dipping it into the water and squeezing lightly, Kore lifted it to his chest, began to wipe away the dirt there. Then she cupped some water and glided a palm over his pectorals, washing him clean, nails scraping lightly against his skin. Her heart quickened as she watched the wet rivulets trail down his toned muscles. How she longed to follow their course with her tongue!

Infernal heat stirred in the pits of Hades's belly as he watched her. It was a most erotic and intimate experience – her water-drenched hands roaming over his upper torso, the way the luminous surface of the pool reflected in her eyes, rendered them a golden turquoise. She was a vision to behold.

Humming sweetly as she worked, Kore took her time to wipe his arms. She scrubbed the slope of his back, his neck. She used a larger, deeper shell to pour water over his head. It dripped off his flattened hair, sprinkling over the top of her chiton in the process. His eyes did not leave hers as she brought the sponge to his face and dabbed gently, tenderly. His fingers itched to touch her, but he practised restraint, keeping his arms by his sides.

When she was done with his skin, Kore palmed citrus oil and massaged it into his hair. Hades exhaled quietly in contentment at the feel of her fingertips massaging his scalp, when she poured water over his bowed head to rinse his hair clean. When she was done, she set the shell aside and applied oil to his bare upper torso. Hades's throat felt oddly parched as her adept palms slid over and rubbed oil into his skin, in dangerously sensual motions.

"All clean," she murmured once she had finished, smiling up at him. Their bodies were now but mere inches apart.

Hades lifted his left hand to trace his fingertips unhurriedly along her delectable jawline. His heart was pounding, blood blistering. Her chiton was now entirely soaked, clinging to her skin and leaving very little of what he had already seen, so many times, to the imagination. He wanted her. So much, so very badly, that it was akin to physical torture to deny his body the life-giving elixir of her touch.

Lowering his face, hair still dripping wet, he nuzzled his forehead into the juncture between her neck and right shoulder, and slipped his arms around her slender midriff, savouring the familiarity of her.

She slid her hands from his oil-slickened shoulders, down his chest, and when they drifted lower, to run over the steely ridges of his abdomen and came perilously close to his lower garments, Hades inhaled sharply, withdrew his arms to grab at her wrists.

"Persephone," he got out hoarsely. He did not think he could hold back this time if she continued to entice him in the water like this, like a seductive siren. "Stop."

But she shook her head and he then realised how foolish he had been to worry, for when her eyes lifted to his, he saw the same, raw hunger in them, saw that her desire raged as ravenously and uncontrollably as his own.

"Don't you want me, Hades?" she pouted, sensually sliding her palms back up to his pectorals again, as she leant heavily into him, tilting her chin up in alluring invitation, in submission. His breath hitched, and his eyebrows drew together - as if pained and crippled by how much he needed her - before he slipped a hand to the back of her neck and bent his head to capture her parted lips in a famished, frenzied kiss.

Kore's breath caught when she felt strong arms suddenly grab her, hoisting her off her feet completely. She was spun around dizzily, and a cheerful voice shouted far too loudly in her ear, "There's my favourite! Kore!"

She squealed and squirmed to get out of his grasp. When Apollo did not relinquish his hold and continued to whirl her, an irritated voice cut in.

"Put her down, idiot."

Apollo laughed, finally relenting in swinging a nauseous Kore about in circles. But he kept his arms around her as he rested his cheek atop her head. "You're just jealous, bastard, because I get to hug her whenever I want, and you don't." To make a point, he embraced Kore more tightly, making her protest at the force of his grip.

"As if," Hades scoffed, closing his eyes and folding his arms dismissively. Kore almost laughed inappropriately out loud. Poor Apollo had no idea that Hades did much more than simply hug her…

The Sun God finally let go of Kore, who smacked him on his arm angrily. "I have told you before not to sneak up on me!" she admonished, jabbing a finger at his chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Apollo waved his hands dramatically. "I can't help it, believe it! You're just so little and light…" he cooed, reaching out to pat her head like she was a child. Kore shoved him indignantly, and he howled, falling immediately to the floor like a comical fool.

Hades cracked one eye open when he knew it was safe to do so, while Apollo remained on the grass, rolling theatrically.

Kore's heart jumped to her throat when Hades then communicated with her telepathically.

'Hn. You never complain when I do…' His words were sly. Infuriatingly smug.

She flushed in the darkness, and turned her face away before either of them could catch her blush.

After he had told her a little more about the Underworld and answered her questions about Elysium, Hades had settled back to lie down on the grass, arms folded behind his head, eyes closed as he enjoyed the stillness and silence of the night.

Of course the peace did not last. It never did, when the Goddess of Spring was with him.

He grunted slightly when he felt her suddenly plop herself atop his stomach, legs straddling his sides.

"You're heavy," he stated flatly, without bothering to open his eyes. He didn't mean it of course; the reality was that he liked it when she sat on him this way. He'd grown to enjoy the view from below, very much – whether she was fully clothed or otherwise.

Kore moped. "Apollo doesn't think so." She fiddled with the crimson sash he wore across his chest, draped over the black tunic beneath. "Apollo thinks I weigh little more than a feather."

"Tch," Hades scoffed scornfully. "Apollo is a blundering idiot."

"But you are still his friend," Kore grinned.

"No." Hades deadpanned.

Kore smiled at his false denial. She found his grumpiness so endearing. Then she frowned. "Am I truly heavy?" she worried aloud. Aphrodite was always teasing her about her weight…

"Heavier than the Kraken," Hades answered sarcastically, and had to fight back a genuine half smile of amusement when Kore released a displeased, childish whine.

"Hades!" she protested. "You have never had any trouble lifting me!"

He snorted in response, chewing absently on the long blade of grass between his teeth.

"Well," she exclaimed casually. "You must be weaker than Apollo, then."

She knew she had immediately struck a nerve, for Hades's eyes snapped open, and he cast a withering, indignant glare at her.

"Take that back," he rumbled menacingly.

Kore folded her arms and sighed, looking away regretfully. "I cannot, for you told me that I am as heavy as the- ah!" she screeched, when Hades abruptly reversed their positions and pinned her beneath him, his movements as swift and fluid as a striking rattle-snake.

She blinked, enthralled by the smouldering sight of him above her.

"Take it back," he snapped, his lips hovering inches from hers.

"You should say please," Kore dared to antagonise him further.

"And you should obey, Persephone," he breathed, dragging the tip of his aristocratic nose down the bridge of her short, pert one. "If you know what is good for you."

"Maybe you should teach me how to be obedient," she whispered, pulse aflutter with anticipation.

"Hn," Hades grunted, lowering his head to run his tongue sensually along her bottom lip. "Maybe I will."

Hades leant back against the tree trunk, observing Kore as she wove a basket that was to be used for gathering crops at the start of autumn. Every so often she would cast a look up at the stars and sigh wistfully, as if she wished she could live up there, amongst the celestial bodies.

She chatted animatedly about the upcoming harvest, how she always felt so sad once the summer was over. Hades listened in silence, occasionally passing her straws from the pile she had brought to the forest with her. She told him about her mother's golden fields of wheat, regretted that they could not roam through them freely together.

As she conversed on, Hades found his gaze fixing on the crimson ribbon she wore in her hair. The one he had given to her, which she wore almost every day, faithfully. She insisted it was because she loved the silk strip so, but he had long begun to suspect that he had something to do with her obsession with it.

"You are quiet, today," she remarked, as she took another straw from him. "I mean," she amended, "more so than usual." Glancing at him sitting beside her, she angled her head questioningly. Hades was rapid to divert his eyes from her. "Is all well with you?"

"Fine," he said. And then, to throw her off his trail, he added, "Anyway. You talk enough for us both."

She giggled apologetically. "Sorry. I do not mean to bore you. I could stop, if it would please you?"

Hades shook his head. He didn't tell her that he secretly liked the sound of her melodious voice. He had grown to associate its euphonic tones with pleasure, with contentment, with peace.

So Kore talked blithely on, and Hades listened intently, even though his mind was burdened with much more troubling thoughts. At length, Kore finished her basket, and after admiring her handiwork, rubbed sleepily at her eyes.

She felt a little guilty. Usually she liked to stay out much later with Hades, but in between assisting her mother all morning with harvest preparations and playing running games with Aphrodite and some wood nymphs all afternoon, Kore supposed that the day's exertions had finally caught up to her.

She stifled a yawn, feeling thoroughly impolite, hoping he would not notice. But he had. His hawk-like eyes were immediately scrutinising her.

"I am sorry," she apologised again. "I feel quite worn out. It must be all this harvest preparation."

"It is late," he agreed, and rose. Kore did too, carrying her completed basket, and they began to walk through the forest together. But she kept rubbing at her heavy-eyelids, and when she practically started dragging her feet, and muttering that her temple seemed too far away, Hades stepped to her, took her basket, and knelt down before her.

"Get on," he instructed. Smiling delightedly, she slipped her arms around his broad shoulders. Hades looped the basket through his right hand, wound his arms under her legs and hoisted her effortlessly up onto his back.

"Mmm…" she rested her chin on his left shoulder, deeply inhaled the warm spice and wood-smoke scent of him as he began to carry her unhurriedly home. "I thought you said I was too heavy?"

"You are," he assured her, without breaking stride.

"Hmm…" she hummed, and buried her face into the side of his neck. "Should… stop eatin… s'much," she mumbled drowsily. Then she sighed, "Thank you," and grew quiet soon after that, assuring him that slumber had taken her.

Hades's eyes lowered, and he swallowed thickly.

Their love-making that night had been surprisingly tender – almost bittersweet - nothing like the explosive sessions Kore had become so accustomed to, but it had been no less passionate, had affected her no less profoundly. If anything, the reduction in pace had rendered it more intense, somehow, gripped her swelling heart with such terrible sweetness that she was certain it had been ready to burst and bleed out her love for him. Hades had kissed her slowly, deeply, paid unhurried worship to her body as if he wished to savour every last inch of skin his lips and fingers touched, to commit and ingrain every part of her to memory. Affection had flowed between them, they'd filled one another to the brim with it, and she had kissed him just as gently, with tremoring hands and quivering lips, as if it had been their very first time all over again.

Afterwards, she slumbered serenely, nestled snugly by his side, all warmth and feminine softness and the things forged of light that Hades had never thought he would ever want, much less have. She slumbered, and so she did not hear his quiet exhalation of breath, did not witness how his head angled towards her, how he watched her sleep for a very long time. How his crimson eyes trailed slowly over her naked form, taking in the love bites his teeth had left on her delicate neck, her shoulders, her breasts, her hips and thighs. The beauty of her features, the radiance and goodness that glowed blindingly from her divine soul, which he had consumed and devoured so greedily, so eagerly.

He gazed at her intently, stern features softened and almost pained, as if he could not look away, or as if he wished to memorise, forever, how peaceful and beautiful she was in sleep.

Or as if it was the very last time he would ever look at her sleeping by his side - because it was the very last time they would ever love one another.

They were sitting, watching the stars, and Kore was telling him about the story of Echo and Narcissus, and what had become of the poor, arrogant fellow. Her hand was intertwined with his, and she leant against his side, far too caught up in the tale she was weaving to notice that his fingers were limp, did not grip hers the way they usually did.

She was far too diverted by her animated retelling of the tragedy of Echo's love to glimpse the flash of guilt in Hades's dark eyes, the tense, almost bitter look he snuck surreptitiously her way, when she lamented that not everyone could be as fortunate in love as they had been.

"It has been almost a year for us," she then declared, leaning her head against his shoulder as she brought her free arm up to cling affectionately onto him. "Perhaps," she sighed dreamily, "we should elope? Can you imagine, Hades," she bit her lower lip, "the fuss that would cause?" Squeezing her eyes shut with delighted contentment, she giggled into his shoulder.

She took his dragging silence to be a normal occurrence, for Hades seldom spoke unless he had something he felt it was absolutely necessary to say, and she knew he did not care much to discuss sentimental matters. Love-struck and blinded by her own happiness, Kore did not heed the warning signs in the way he swallowed thickly, the way he stared so mutely, so blankly at the grass - did not pick up on the palpable tightness in his jaw. She was in ignorant bliss of the internal tension and turmoil that Hades was battling, so valiantly, to keep so carefully concealed from her.

It had been twelve days since he had last visited, and Kore was beside herself with worry. The most he had ever gone without seeing her was a week, when he'd had a perfectly justified reason in being preoccupied with his duties below the surface.

Nearly a fortnight without seeing him had made her irritable and distracted. Where was he? Was everything alright? Kore's eyebrows furrowed together. It had not escaped her notice that lately he had been coming to her much less. She had thought nothing of it, at first, but now that she contemplated it, she realised that they had only met twice in the last three weeks.

That wasn't anywhere near enough for her. Her heart hurt and her arms ached to hold him. She missed his reassuring presence, the feel of him against her side, the dark thrill he sent thrumming through her veins. Without him, she felt stricken, bereft, like she was missing the other half that made her feel complete.

Agitated, she leant back against the tree, fiddling with the garland she'd started to weave in the hopes of distracting herself. It was hopeless. Her creation was anything but inspiring, reflecting her internal distress.

The sudden crunching of footsteps on dried leaves made her whirl around. Her heart skipped a beat. There Hades stood, between the trees. A long black himation mantle concealed his entire body, secured at his left shoulder by a silver and onyx brooch. It made him look more formal, more regal - more distant, somehow.

His midnight eyes met hers and he gave no greeting. Kore's concern escalated. There seemed to be something different about him – but she could not quite pinpoint what. And so she ran towards him, flung her arms around him, and pressed herself closely against his body, hoping that her touch would thaw the frosty air that swirled like a blizzard about him.

"Hades!" Her voice was muffled as she buried her face into his chest. "Where have you been? I have worried so much about you!"

He was silent. It did not escape her that his arms did not return her embrace.

She drew back to look into his face. His handsome, beloved features were stony. There seemed to be shadows in his gaze, that she had not glimpsed before. Kore reached out, and cupped his cheek.

It felt strangely cold, and so were the eyes that stared bleakly down at her.

"What is the matter, my love?" she whispered, thumb caressing his skin. "Are you well?"

When he finally responded, his answer was terse. "Fine."

She searched his face anxiously. "Why have you not come to see me?"

He blinked. Features unchanging, he firmly disengaged her arms from around him. Without a word he stepped around her.

"I have been busy," he answered evasively, and continued to walk on.

She followed him, feeling oddly nervous and intimidated by the heavy silence between them. It lingered on, even as she attempted to draw him into conversation. When they reached the edge of the forest and he did not turn back to her, Kore felt as though heavy rocks had been stitched inside her stomach, were weighing her down. He ignored her calls, stepping out onto the plains where she could not follow, and she watched him leave without a word, her mind spinning with confusion, eyes stinging, throat burning.

The next time she caught him, it was at the outskirts of one of Demeter's woods. She knew it was risky for her to intercept him there, but she did not care. Despair and worry for him was making her lose her glow. Her mother had started to notice how she ate less. Aphrodite, also. But Kore had brushed aside their questions, feigning happiness, even as her heart felt like it was fracturing into a million pieces. For Hades no longer came to her temple. He no longer waited in her forests. They had not kissed or touched for two months, since that beautiful night when he had loved her so sweetly.

Leaping off a branch, she landed in front of him, confrontation blazing like fire in her vibrant irises.

"What is the matter?" she demanded, ashamed to be unable to keep her voice from trembling from the magnitude of her emotions. "Why are you avoiding me?"

He was silent, stared at her with eyes that were far too cold, reminded her far too much of how he had looked so disdainfully at her before they'd known each other so intimately.

She dared to move closer. He watched her with an impersonal degree of detachment that made her feel icy inside. When she reached him, she lifted a hand, hoping again, against hope, that her touch would somehow warm him. That he would let her in, would help her to understand why it seemed like he was pushing her away, all of a sudden.

His left hand was quick to whip up and grasp her wrist in a hold that was almost painful. Kore gasped, alarmed.

"Go back to your temple," he ordered. His voice was hollow.

Tears welled in her eyes. "Why are you doing this?" she got out shakily. "Why will you not speak to me? Is it because of what I said before? About eloping? Did I anger you?" When he did not respond, but continued to grip her wrist, she went on, "I did not mean it, Hades. We can remain as we were- I am happy as long as we are together-"

He released her abruptly, flinging her arm away as if it scalded him. But Kore persevered, stepped forward and before he could stop her, grabbed his face between her palms.

"Tell me what is happening," she begged. "Do not shut me out!"

"Let go." The hardness in his tone chilled her to the bone and Kore could not keep back her tears any longer. They rolled down her cheeks. Hades averted his gaze.

"What has happened to you, Hades? Why won't you tell me anything?"

"There is nothing," he replied frostily, "to tell."

"You are lying," she stepped closer, bridging the remaining distance between them. "I know you are lying to me. I have done nothing wrong. And yet you are casting me aside. Why? Why do you no longer come to see me? Why are you so distant?" She bowed her head, resting it against his chest. It did not heave for her, like it once had. "Where is the love that we have shared?" she whispered, distraught.

Hades was silent. Still.

"Do you pretend that it is gone?" She looked up at him again, words unsteady. "Why would you seek to hurt me like this? Did I not give you everything? Have you-" she felt nauseous voicing her fears. "Have you tired of me? Am I not enough? Is that it?"

Still he said nothing. His expression remained unfathomable.

"Answer me!" Frustrated, Kore's hands lowered to push at him, desperate to get a reaction – any emotional response, even anger. To her despair, he remained infuriatingly callous as she pushed him back against a tree trunk.

She could feel an asphyxiating sense of panic creeping over her. "You can't-" she gulped. "You cannot do this to me! You cannot leave me hanging like this, without reason or explanation; tell me what I have done wrong to injure you, and I will remedy it! Please!" Choking back a sob, she implored, "Please!" Then she stepped closer again, cupped his face again, willing the Hades she had known for the last year to return to her.

"Please…" she whispered tearfully, and resorting to the last thing she could think of to remind him of the passion that had existed between them, tiptoed up to press her lips to his.

Her heart felt as though it was being clawed to shreds, and then encased in thick ice, and her gut felt like it was being hauled out of her by spiked metal hooks, when he intentionally turned his face away from her kiss.

That night, she locked herself in the private chamber of her temple and sobbed until her eyes were red-rimmed from shedding tears, until her heaving lungs were spent of breath and her body exhausted from the shuddering force of her misery.

And it was on that night, that Kore began to realise and accept at last that Hades was slipping through her fingers, that she was losing him – and finally began to understand, far too late, what her mother meant when she'd warned her to keep away from heartless young gods who only wanted one thing from a woman.

She witnessed an argument between him and Apollo from the trees a week later. She had never seen Hades so angry, and it frightened her, to see how changed and dangerous he became when incensed. The darkness surrounding him became so much more potent and perilous, crackling like an ominous, suffocating storm cloud charged with negative current. Apollo seemed taken aback, also, but still he persisted, demanding what was wrong, what was happening to his friend, echoing the very worries that had plagued Kore for so many nights and stolen all attempts at sleeping.

She lifted a shaky hand to her lips, pressing her palm against her mouth to keep the strangled sob from escaping her throat as she watched them fight one another, screaming and yelling, until they were both bloodied and bruised. Her heart pounded hard when Hades then shoved him roughly away and abruptly vanished.

It had been over a month since she had last confronted him. He was surprised to come across her in a forest that did not belong to her, or her mother, or even to Hestia. It was perhaps a cruel irony, a testament of just how far from the path of obedience he had made her swerve.

But Kore stood there without fear of being discovered, for she had somehow anticipated his coming, sensed the route that he might take that night.

Hades, wrapped from head to feet in a flowing black cloak once again, stopped at the unexpected sight of her. She was dressed in a knee-length, cream chiton adorned with flowers. Her body language was closed, her shoulders hunched, openly communicating her inner sadness.

They stared at each other. Kore held his gaze as steadily as she could. Hades blinked, and was the first to break the tense silence.

"Why are your prowling around here in the middle of the night?" he asked, his voice monotone.

She lifted a shoulder, in a half shrug. "I knew you would have to take this path, if you were to head to Apollo's temple, tonight," she answered softly. "So I just waited here…"

He seemed to consider the significance of this. Then he uttered flatly, "This forest is beyond your borders."

The ghost of a tiny, pained smile graced her lips. "You taught me to make my own decisions," she reminded him quietly.

"…" Hades eyed her for a moment – and then lowered his gaze, stepping forward to pass her nonchalantly. "Get out of here," he commanded. "Go back to your temple."

Kore bit her lower lip, listened to the sound of his footsteps as they stepped over twigs and leaves and soil, carrying him farther away from her. Before she knew it, her entire body was trembling, and hot tears were slipping down her cheeks.

It had been his intention for them to part ways without another word. Her voice, however, reached him again. And for some reason, his feet compelled him to stop.

"Why…?" she whispered, turning to cast a forlorn look over her shoulder at his back. "Why won't you say anything to me, anymore? Why do you always keep so quiet?"

"I told you before," he replied flatly. "There is nothing to tell."

"…" Kore's eyes lowered, vision blurred with tears. Her heart was already broken. She wondered whether she had mattered at all to him, whether she had imagined everything, fancifully conjured up the all-consuming, fiery passion that had made them both burn, roaring flames that had snuffed out so suddenly, without any explanation on his part. A glum little smile touched her lips. And still she was the love-struck fool who pined for him, even now. Still she could not let him go.

"…" Hades remained still for another moment. Then he stirred, made to continue walking. Once again, her voice stopped him from leaving.

"You must truly hate me, now," she murmured, turning fully to him. "To never say a word to me."

"…" He did not speak.

"You remember, don't you?" she whispered, still looking at the soil beneath her bare feet. "When we first met alone, in a forest just like this one. You asked me about my gift. You told me death was superior to life. You were so angry when I ran away. Do you remember, Hades?"

A pause. And then, "I don't remember that."

"…!" Her eyes widened and returned to his back. She swallowed thickly, tried to take the blow as best as she could. But it stung. So much. That he had even forgotten the first time they had properly interacted alone, without anybody else around.

"Hah…" she released a weak sound that was a phantom rendition of a laugh. She could not remember the last time she had laughed. Hades had been her dearest happiness. And now he was tearing that joy from her. "I suppose you are right. That was a long time ago in the past, wasn't it?" She shook her head. "That was when it all began, though," she went on, looking down at her hands. How pale and small and fragile they seemed, in the way they finely tremored, despite all the power they commanded.

"That was the first time we were truly alone. And after we started meeting with Apollo, and although his antics almost got us into trouble… I still enjoyed it, the time we all spent together. And then, you and I…" her throat clogged with emotion. She did not think she could talk about the relationship they had shared. It hurt too much to recall it. How in love she had believed them to be.

Was this what it was like, to fly too close to the flame? Was this how the moth felt, so powerless to save itself, when it was helplessly drawn to the very thing that it knew would destroy it? Kore knew she had realised it, too late. It seemed that she had been blind all along.

"I saw you arguing with Apollo," she informed him. "I do not know what is happening between you two, but I know something must be responsible to make you change like this. To make you turn away all of a sudden-"

"I already know," he interjected.

"…?!" Kore exhaled.

"I am different to you both," Hades spoke quietly. "I am an Underworld dweller. My path cannot be the same as yours." He paused, before continuing, "I will never be like you and Apollo."

"Why?" Her voice wobbled. "Why would you bring all of this up, now? The past year that we spent together… have you forgotten it all? Did it really mean nothing to you, Hades? All the nights we shared…" she trailed off, sniffling, fresh tears forming.

"…" He was silent once more. She did not see the way his hands, beneath his cloak, clenched to form tight fists.

"I may have friends and a mother who loves me…" she said. "But without you… it would be as if I am alone! You made me see the world in a different light. You taught me that the night is not to be feared – that there is beauty, too, in darkness! You taught me to believe in myself, to have the courage to do as I please, to think for myself and make my own decisions, instead of being dictated to by everyone else!" She inhaled quickly. "And just as suddenly as you gave that to me, now you take it all away. You do not know," she shook her head, "the pain I have endured without you. Not knowing why you will not speak to me. Why you no longer come to see me. Why…" she gulped back a sob, "you will not let me close to you."

There was another pause. What he said next crushed her heart. Pulverised it into bloody tatters. It was as though he had not heard her poignant plea at all.

"From this point on, you and I will take different paths."

From that point on. The sickening realisation that he was meaning to leave her forever slammed into Kore, left her winded. Horrified. Distressed beyond comfort.

"Do not do this…" she whispered.

"New paths, goddess," he went on ruthlessly, "that cannot intersect."

"Goddess?" she spluttered in disbelief. How cold and formal he sounded! As if they were strangers, as if they had never been lovers! "You will not even call me by my name, now?"

"What did you expect?" His voice was cutting. A knife. As if he had lost patience with her. "That I would indulge your foolish fantasies of romance, forever?"

She gasped, holding a hand over her pierced chest. His stabbing words sliced into her, leaving gaping, weeping wounds that Kore knew would never heal.

"A fantasy?" she repeated shakily. Suddenly, the simple act of speaking seemed an unbearable feat. "Is that- is that all it was to you? Was I-! Was I just a way to pass time? A game, Hades?"

Again, he did not respond.

"You are lying," she exclaimed, feeling hysteria tugging at her fragile composure. "You are lying to me! The Hades I know would never be so heartless-"

"This is what I am," he interrupted pitilessly. "A god born in the shadows. In darkness. Away from the light paths you and Apollo tread. The darkness alone is where I belong."

"No," Kore trembled so violently, she felt sick. "No, there is goodness in you, too. I have seen it. I have known it in your love!"

She did not glimpse the way his jaw clenched. "You have been blind, goddess." He then answered coldly. "I have never had any reason to love you."

Those words were akin to a physical blow. As though he was wielding the sharpest dagger and carving out the chambers of her heart, inch by inch. Kore could feel her breaths growing shallower. She was rapidly losing the will to remain standing as the last frayed tatters of her composure splintered. She was dying. Dying like a flower deprived of the light and warmth it craved.

Dying like a flower wilting in the darkness of the all-encompassing shadows Hades cast.

"You- you do not mean that," she stammered. How could he be so unfeeling, so remote, after everything they had shared? Had she truly been sightless and gullible, fallen so deeply in love that she had not even noticed the warning signs? But Kore was certain there had been no warnings. And perhaps that was what was destroying her the most. He had felt so close to her. A part of her very soul. They had been happy.

And now, all of a sudden, it was as though he was far beyond her grasp. No matter what she did, no matter how desperately she chased him, he remained out of reach.

She sucked in a ragged breath. "Has someone discovered us? Is that why you are doing this?" Unhappily, she cried, "Won't you even look at me?!"

"We are finished, goddess," Hades's voice was mercilessly sharp, ruled with a devastating, unmistakeable line of finality. Still he kept his back turned callously toward her.

Utter desolation and sheer desperation swelled inside Kore's chest. It hurt. It hurt so much, to experience such a grievous loss. The love she had seemingly imagined had made her flourish and completed her, and now his cold-hearted rejection was making her wither. To Kore, it felt like her very essence was being brutally wrenched from her body – like she was losing what had become such a fundamental part of her being.

She could not remember what her existence had been like before she had been with him. She could not even begin to imagine – did not wish to envisage – a future without him.

Crippled by anguish, by mounting hysteria, by the very real terror of being left behind for good and never seeing Hades again, Kore stepped forward, clutching her hands over her shattered heart.

"I…!" She did not want to say the words. To confess. To leave herself open and vulnerable to greater injury, or allow herself to be humiliated any further. But she could not help them from flying from her tongue, regardless. She could not help how she felt about him, even as he wounded her with each cruel insult, each dismissing remark akin to a jagged rock being flung at her.

"I love you so much, I cannot stand it…! I know that if you would only confide in me, if you would only tell me what it is that has made you become like this, then we could find a way to overcome any barriers, to make this work! I know there must be something I can do, to help you! I know this isn't you! I know that you and I… we could not have been a lie!"

A pause. And then, a harsh whisper, "You know nothing."

A broken cry tore from her throat, the naïve, trusting part of her that had fallen so hard, so terribly for him, still clinging onto foolish denial. Her shoulders heaved from the force of the wracking sobs that were assaulting her body. "I would do anything you ask of me, Hades! Anything! There is nothing I would not do for you! So please, stay with me! If you were to come back to me, I swear upon my immortal soul that you will be happy! Every day would be different! I have already given you everything," she wept pitifully. "Everything I have, but I- I will find another way, somehow, to make you happy, again, I promise you! So please…!" she beseeched. "Please, do not leave me!"

An awful, weighty silence followed, punctuated only by her unsteady breaths and shuddering sniffles. Her heart hammered as she awaited his response, and for a long, agonisingly torturous minute, Hades was deadly still.

Finally, he shifted, to angle a glance back over his shoulder. His expression sent the air fleeing from her lungs. It was no longer icy or indifferent, but so heartbreakingly familiar. His half-smirk taunted Kore, reminded her too much of the god who had stolen her heart and made her his, so many times. There were heavy shadows beneath his eyes. His dark eyebrows were drawn slightly together, creasing his forehead. Almost as if he was troubled, or pained.

Almost as if in regret.

"You really are…" he intoned smoothly, "a damned annoyance."

Kore's eyes widened in shock. He did not give her a moment to process the significance or irony of his words, for he then turned his back to her once more and proceeded to walk away again.

No. The echo reverberated deafeningly in her skull, synchronising with the rushing of blood in her ears. No! Her entire world was falling apart. She had never felt so powerless, so out of control.

"Do not leave me!" She shrieked, and somehow, somehow, she forced her quaking legs to drive her forward after him. "If you go, I will scream, and-!" Her breath caught in her throat and her heart violently lurched as Hades abruptly blinked out of existence before her very eyes. Panic-stricken, half out of her mind with sorrow, she thought he had left – when a split second later, she felt the telling shift of air pressure directly behind her, as Hades blurred into being at her back.

Trembling uncontrollably, Kore stared mutely ahead. Shock began to render her numb. She had given her all, tried everything to appeal to him to reconsider.

But it wasn't enough. What more could she say or do? She was feeble. A helpless puppet in his hands, tied to him by a red string of fate that had turned out to be a chained manacle, an ensnaring, barbed wire trap. He had misled her. He had crushed her. He had broken her to fragmented pieces, and never again would she be whole. Her shoulders slumped in open defeat as the tears continued to trail silently down her cheeks.

Around them, the leaves from the trees were starting to fall. Shedding, as if directly affected by their mistress's suffering. As if they, too, were crying.

Kore sniffled quietly, unevenly, as it dawned on her that this was likely to be the very last time she would ever feel Hades this near to her. Near enough for her to feel his warmth and strength, the darkness of his aura, which had seduced her so completely. Perhaps it was that same darkness that had been responsible for clouding her vision, for stealing her mind and senses. For turning her into a fool.

She had lied for him. Gone against her mother's wishes, behind her mother's back. For him. For love. She knew she would never love again. He had been her only. Her everything. She would never recover from such a trauma. Not even Aphrodite would be able to heal her.

"Persephone."

She blinked, too numbed to register that he was addressing her personally again, too inconsolable to acknowledge the gentleness of his voice, so close behind her, so at odds with the harshness of his previous words. With her back to him, she did not see the way Hades hesitated and uncharacteristically faltered. She did not see how he sunk his teeth down hard into his lower lip, as if biting back the things he could not say.

Another lengthy pause ensued, in which she waited for the finishing blow, the killing lunge to her jugular.

When it came, it wasn't quite what she expected.

"Thank you," he murmured softly.

Kore's breath hitched and her eyes widened, her grief-stricken mind struggling to understand the meaning behind his strange choice of parting words. Her gaze fixed onto the twig-strewn, grass tangled ground in muddled confusion, her heart never ceasing in its relentless, erratic racing.

Thank you…? Her tumultuous thoughts were flung into disarray. Why would he express gratitude, after all of the awful things he had said to her? How could he continue to so maliciously inflict havoc upon her overwhelmed emotions?

And yet, his tone…

A falling leaf was the last thing Kore saw before she felt a sudden, stinging pressure at the base of her neck, and then her entire world faded, descended into endless darkness.

After waiting a very long duration of time, Sasuke had finally risked returning her to the Underworld. His heart had pounded the entire time, the very real fear of taking her away from the surface triggering dreadful consequences again, at the forefront of his mind. But perhaps the Fates had taken pity on his plight at last, for Sakura remained sleeping peacefully in his arms. He'd carried her straight to her chamber, tucked her into bed - with an awkwardness that had felt so foreign to him - then proceeded to pace in front of the fireplace for a while in agitation, before he'd finally plucked one of the arm-chairs that rested by the hearth and taken stubborn sentry by her bedside.

Broodingly, he waited for her to wake up. He waited and waited, growing increasingly frustrated and restless with each passing minute. Patience had never been one of his strongest qualities. He wasn't used to being made to wait. And yet here he was. Once again, Sakura was making a complete mockery of his long-upheld values and traditions. But he could not remain displeased with her, not when she remained so disturbingly motionless and silent; the only sounds escaping her were those of her steady breaths. Sasuke's gaze scarcely left her face. Her eyeballs were moving rapidly behind her eyelids, indicating that she was dreaming continuously. The death deity found himself wondering what she was seeing.

When time began to stretch on for far too long, he leant forward to prop his arms upon the bedside. Bending to rest his forehead atop the hands that clasped Sakura's right one, he squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled quietly, as a thousand worries bounced maddeningly around inside his skull. He half wished he could make them evaporate, but they enthusiastically continued to repeat themselves, over and over.

She's never been asleep for this long.

Why isn't she waking up?

Damn it.

What am I supposed to do?

How much longer is it going to take?

"Eheheheh…" a dry, cackling laugh sounded behind him. "What a momentous occasion in history this is, to witness a once fierce and proud king reduced to such a wallowing state of defeated melancholy."

Sasuke's eyes flew open, and his shoulders immediately tensed. Resisting the overwhelming urge to bolt defensively out of his seat, he instead exercised self-restraint and, gritting his teeth, slowly lifted his head. There was no point moving. She had already seen him.

Internally, he was somewhat unsettled by her unanticipated arrival. It had been a very, very long time since Chiyo had visited the palace, and when she last had, Sasuke had not been the ruler of the Underworld.

Without bothering to turn around and acknowledge her – for he had never been one to honour polite formalities - he deadpanned, "Why are you here, old crone?"

"Ever so welcoming," Chiyo clucked her tongue. "Your hospitality would turn your brother in his grave." She seemed to consider this, for she then amended, "If he did, indeed, have one."

Rage flared inside Sasuke. Was she making a joke at the expense of his deceased relative? He disengaged his hands gently from Sakura's, balling them into fists upon the arm-rests as he fought to remain dignified at that.

"I meant no offence," Chiyo noted the way he had stiffened at her words. "Merely that your poor hospitality puts to shame that of your good parents and Itachi."

"Then get out." Sasuke snapped.

"Ohohoho!" Chiyo hooted. "So touchy, little King!" Her tone then abruptly changed, and he could practically feel her glaring at his back. "Hold that impertinent tongue of yours, young Sasuke. I did not come here to suffer your ill-mannered insults." Tapping her wooden staff upon the floor, she finished, "I came here for the girl."

Sasuke froze. His heart twisted violently. Had she come to take Sakura from him?!

"I came," Chiyo clarified, as if she once again sensed his thoughts – something she had always been irritatingly accurate at doing, and not with Sasuke, alone – "to discuss her situation. You have seen with your own eyes, now, the calamitous consequences of keeping her away from the surface."

"…" Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed. "You knew," he accused. "About the Essence."

"I was there," Chiyo agreed, "and I know many things, but it is not my way to speak of them. It is not my custom to interfere with the will of the Fates."

"Then why come here." It wasn't a question.

Chiyo sighed, and he heard her shuffle forward, until he could glimpse her to the right of his peripheral vision.

"Because time is swiftly running out for the child. You know this, Sasuke. Keep her here for another month longer, and mark my words. Her soul shall flee the body you see before you."

Sasuke sat rigidly in his chair. He said nothing to that.

"Her soul," Chiyo repeated thoughtfully. "But perhaps not her vessel. You do not comprehend, I think, what it is you have done."

The death deity was in no mood to tolerate her riddles. "What are you prattling about?" he demanded impatiently.

"I shall speak plainly," Chiyo croaked back. "So that even a child as sightless as you are may understand me."

Sasuke most certainly did not appreciate being belittled. He half wanted to throttle the annoying goddess, but was sensible enough to know that to be a very ill advised move.

"The Forbidden Fruit," Chiyo went on.

His grip on the arm-rests tightened. It did not surprise him that the goddess knew. After all, there was very little her eyes did not perceive.

"Six seeds," Chiyo rubbed at her chin. "They will remain rooted within this body, even if the soul was to depart. So in reality, you have bound this girl's mortal shell eternally to yourself and to your realm. It must always return here. And because of that… if the need arises… you may infuse it with another soul temporarily, to keep it alive."

Sasuke inhaled sharply, rocked by the revelation. He had not… he had not thought that such a thing was possible, but of course, it made perfect sense.

He had the power to return souls to bodies – although strictly speaking, it went against his function. He did not care for that. For Sakura, he would break all the rules, had already discarded so many. And while it was clear that he could not control the unstable Essence, or prevent it from fleeing, maybe there was a way to stop Sakura's present body from being lost forever.

That gave him an unexpected life-line. If the Essence was to leave Sakura's body, then the seeds, which rendered the physical form his property, afforded him the powers to keep the body alive for as long as necessary.

Then he frowned. What use was that, if Sakura's memories and personality would be gone the second her soul departed? Sealing another one inside her would be useless. It would look like Sakura. But it would not be Sakura.

"What good is this physical form, alone?" he snapped.

He did not see Chiyo smile a crooked smile at that. "Ah, little King. There is still much you do not know. If this body belonged to a normal human, and did not house the Essence of Spring, then you would require another soul, yes, to keep it living. But in this case, you will likely not."

Sasuke hated being confused. It was taking all his will-power to not leap out of his seat and try to shake information out of the hag.

"You have doomed this flower, tied her irreversibly to your Kingdom – and yet her curse is perhaps also a hidden boon," Chiyo added cryptically.

"What?" Sasuke's head whipped around.

Chiyo's eyes lit up with mirth. "The mechanism of the seeds means that her body cannot be absorbed back into the pool to which its previous incarnations have returned, because you now hold a degree of ownership over this coil," she explained wisely. "It cannot return to the pool, because it must return to you and the Underworld. And if that is the case, in theory, should the Essence not be compelled to return to this body? In its sealed form, its powers are compromised. It cannot create another, if its previous vessel cannot pass."

Sasuke's heart drummed as the staggering weight of what she was saying crashed into him. Wide-eyed he looked back to Sakura. His mind reeled. Had the seeds he had given her… had they inadvertently turned out to be an unexpected blessing?

Speaking suddenly seemed a laborious task. And yet Sasuke forced himself to get out, "You have seen this happen before?"

"It has never happened," Chiyo answered grimly. "Your meddling will quite upset the cycle. However," she shook her head. "There is no way for us to anticipate the consequences of the Essence returning to a deceased body. No way of knowing whether it can regenerate or whether Sakura's memories will be lost – or even if the Essence will recognise this vessel."

Sasuke glanced back at the sleeping girl.

"It could be," Chiyo contemplated, "that it becomes even more unstable. It could inflict a degree of suffering upon her that we cannot presently perceive. And because the seeds will remain in the body eternally, the cycle of rebirth cannot move on. We cannot know what will happen to her, unless we let it come to pass."

"No." Sasuke rejected sharply, immediately, narrowed gaze darting to Chiyo again. It was far too dangerous. Too unpredictable. The pomegranate seeds were obviously a double-edged sword. Even if they did afford some twisted loophole that allowed the Essence to be cheated out of creating another body and forced it to return to its previous shell, there was no exact way of knowing what side-effects that would have on Sakura.

What had he done? Suddenly he began to rue ever feeding her the fruit. If his actions meant that she would be tormented forever… then it was his fault. He had only wanted to keep her by his side. Not to interfere with the natural order of things. But his ignorance and selfishness had not allowed him to foresee the consequences of his actions.

He did not want Sakura to suffer. She wasn't some experiment. The unexpected hope he had felt crest within his chest diminished, replaced by the same sinking feeling of guilt and desperation. They were back to square one. He could not let her die in the first place – had to find some way to remove her seal completely. Now the need to preserve her life seemed even more urgent.

"No?" Chiyo repeated. "Then there is only one other course to take, in order to avoid this. You know, now, what you must do."

Sasuke's eyes returned to Sakura. He was silent.

"Six seeds," the ancient hag stated categorically. "For six months, every year, Sakura will return here and be yours. She will remain in your Kingdom, by your side. But for the remainder of the time…" her voice trailed off. She did not need to spell the rest of the compromise out.

"…" The death deity's jaw clenched tightly. He swallowed down the unpleasant lump that had formed in his throat. Forced into a corner from which there was no perceivable escape, Sasuke knew he had no choice. He could not think of himself alone, anymore. It was Sakura – and her life – that was the priority.

Something deep inside his chest constricted painfully. The gravity of what he was about to concede and acquiesce to dawned fully on him, at that moment.

But there was no other way. He had to do this. For her.

Sullenly, his gaze finally lowered. In reluctant, unspoken – and angry - surrender.

As the vision faded, Sakura felt herself plummeting, as though she was falling from a great height, with no end in sight. Her heart hurt – a remnant from the harrowing final vision, she tried to reassure herself – but when the pain in her chest did not abate, and she continued to plunge through a shadowy abyss, Sakura began to feel the familiar prickles of panic puncture into her.

Where am I? She worried anxiously. What's happening to me?

Suddenly the sensation of tumbling ceased and she hovered awkwardly in place, before her feet touched solid ground again. But she couldn't see where she had landed. Darkness still surrounded her, made it impossible to make out her own hands in front of her.

Had she woken up? Was she still asleep? It seemed like she was fully conscious of her body. But if she was, then where was Sasuke?

She hugged herself consolingly, feeling inexplicably chilly. The remnants of the dreams she'd had were still so vivid in her mind. For the first time, Sakura found that she could recall some of them with perfect clarity, rather than the obscurity with which she had struggled to remember them on previous occasions.

Something then caught her eye. A glimmer, a spark, far ahead of her. Sakura squinted. It abruptly faded. Just when she started thinking that she had imagined it, it glinted again.

What is that…? She strained to identify its source. Then she heard a fleeting whisper in her mind. Startled, she turned her head, listening closely with her ears.

'Sakura...' the voice was as light and transient as a passing breeze.

"Huh?" she blinked in surprise, but everything was still dark.

'Sakura…' the voice sighed again.

"Who is it?" she called out fearfully, trying to hold herself as still as possible. Her voice echoed in the shapeless shadows. Then a sudden, simultaneous, jagged flash of pain within her mind and chest made her double over briefly. Clutching at her forehead and above her heart, she forced herself to straighten again – to find the glimmering light she'd just seen hovering towards her. It split, to form two separate, sparkling orbs, which in turn split once again to form smaller ones, and continued to do so until there were at least twenty of them.

They were like celestial stars, dazzlingly beautiful, a golden colour that reminded Sakura of the sun, blending gradually to a pale green, then back to gold. The lights seemed to pulsate hypnotically – as if they possessed a life-force of their own. They swirled together before her, spiralling around each other.

To her utter astonishment, the lights then spoke, and she found it was the same, wind-chime voice she had heard in her head.

"Sakura," the voice reverberated. "That was the blossom tree, after which mother named us."

Sakura's mouth hung open in disbelief. "Who are you?" she finally got out.

"Do not be afraid. We are one, you and I."

Sakura shook her head uncertainly. What did the lights mean? Then it abruptly hit her, like a rude awakening. Drawing a sharp breath, she whispered, "You… are you the fragment inside me? The fragment of the Spring Goddess…" she gulped nervously, before finishing, "Kore?"

The voice seemed to sigh. It sounded more like a collection of sighs with the strong echo that followed.

"Kore," it repeated. "Yes. That was our name. Long ago. But no more."

Sakura was stunned. How was it that the fragment could talk? But right then, she could only think of all the pain she had suffered, having this parasite being locked within her. Anger gave her the strength to combat her fear.

She demanded, "How are you talking to me?"

"We are remembering. The more we remember, the more we can listen."

"What do you mean?"

"This vessel. It is growing weaker."

Sakura frowned at this. "Why are you inside me? Who put you here?"

"We did."

"What?" she blinked stupidly. "Who is 'we'?"

"Us…" the lights sparkled.

The voice wasn't making any sense. Growing frustrated, she exclaimed, "I don't understand."

"We are one," it said again.

"No, we aren't." She rejected. "You hurt me. You almost killed me! You show me things I don't want to see. I want you to leave!"

"Leave…?" Now it sounded sad. "We cannot depart this body, until the cycle runs its course."

"What? What cycle?" Sakura asked sharply.

"Rebirth…" the lights swirled. "We are forever bound, to this fate…"

"What do you mean by rebirth? Who is 'we'?!" Sakura probed again desperately.

"Us," the lights repeated. "You and I. Kore, we were called."

Horror washed over her. "I am not Kore," she stated fiercely. "I'm Sakura. I have nothing to do with you. I don't know what you mean, about creating this body! It's mine. Not yours. I don't know why you would choose to exist in me!"

"It is ours…."

"No." Sakura swallowed. "You can't have it!"

Another trembling sigh. "Still we cling to denial. Because we do not wish to remember the truth…"

Sakura listened in dismay. For some reason, she felt the senseless urge to cover her ears. She had the feeling that would do little to prevent her from hearing.

"Because we do not wish to remember…"

Her blood, Sakura was certain, had turned to ice. "What…?" she whispered.

The lights dimmed – as if in mourning.

"Never should we have strayed from our mother's side."

"Stop it," Sakura senselessly covered her ears. "Stop calling us we! I have nothing to do with you! You're just a parasite, sealed inside me!"

There was a pause. Then the lights echoed, with a hint of anger, "More lies…"

"I want you to get out!" Sakura cried. "I want nothing to do with you! Your memories aren't mine. What happened between you and Hades… all your feelings for him - I don't want to know them. Stop making me feel things I don't want to feel!"

"We cannot stop remembering. We cannot stop feeling. Even now, his eyes undo us..."

"No," Sakura trembled. "No, I want you to stop talking to me! You don't belong here, in my head! Get out!"

"I have always been here." The voice finally referred to itself in the first person. It seemed to echo less, grown clearer and closer, and the lights started gravitating together, merging and connecting until they formed an outline that almost resembled a human. Sakura took a startled step backwards. "You have always listened to me."

"No."

"I am your inner voice."

The lights pulsated – and then flared out brightly. Sakura was forced to shield her eyes. When she finally dared to look back again, her heart seemed to stop. Her breath lodged in her throat.

She stared, stricken speechless. The lights had taken a human form that was semi-transparent, not quite fully tangible. Like the souls she had glimpsed on the river banks in the Underworld. An ethereal glow surrounded the spirit-like figure.

She was all shimmering gold. It was impossible to distinguish the precise shade of her hair and eyes as a result. The slender girl gazing back at her had large eyes, framed by lashes so long, they tangled at the corners. Just like Sakura's - but they looked so sad. Her wavy hair was longer, rippled down to her waist. She was a little taller than Sakura. Her face shape was similar, her nose small and pert, like Sakura's, but her soft lips were a little fuller. A diamond mark adorned the centre of her forehead.

There was something so unsettling about her beautiful features. Like Sakura was looking into a mirror and seeing a reflection of what might have once been someone she had once known, a very long time ago – but the reflection had changed far beyond her conscious recognition, and she could not quite match the face to its correct identity.

Staggered, Sakura could only stare at the golden form in muted shock. She felt sick. She did not know why. Her heart-beat was thunderous, frantic.

Finally, she managed to whisper, aghast. "You… who are you…?"

The girl then smiled. "Do you still not recognise me?" she spoke in breathy, sweet tones. The resounding echo had vanished from her voice. "In your heart, you know we are the same."

"Wh-" Sakura floundered. "Wha- no. No. We can't be. I'm human." She remembered everything Sasuke had told her about the fragment. "I'm human," she insisted. "You're just a fragment, living inside my body. You can't- we're not the same. You're the remnant of a goddess, and I'm human, and you need to get out."

But she was shaking violently. She couldn't seem to stop.

Kore's smile became even sadder – as if she knew many secrets Sakura couldn't even begin to fathom, but was forbidden from speaking them. Then it vanished. There was an alarming urgency to her tone when she next spoke. "Our time is ending. We must return to the surface. If spring cannot be fully triggered, we will perish. We cannot allow that to happen. Not this time…"

Sakura gasped, alarmed. "What do you mean, we'll perish?"

"The seal draws me to slumber again. Do what we could not do before. Flee far from him. Do not let the darkness seduce us again. Go back!" Her voice began to echo once more. "Go back, away from the shadows! Away from him! Go back to mother!"

Sakura pressed a palm to her mouth and sobbed without a sound. She didn't understand what was going on. She had never felt so bewildered, so lost. And she didn't know why her heart seemed to hurt so much. Kore's form began to flicker and pulsate, and little orbs of glittering gold started to disperse from her body. In a matter of seconds, she had reverted back to spiralling, shimmering lights.

"Back to the surface…" the voice seemed to reverberate all around her. "Back to the light, where it is safe…"

Those final words seemed to singe themselves inside Sakura's skull. A command, an urgent, undeniable order. Then, as suddenly as they had appeared, the glistening lights diminished, fading out of existence entirely. Sakura was left alone in the blackness, again, the only sound that of her pounding heart and shuddering breaths.

Then the invisible ground beneath her feet gave way, and she was falling, falling, hurtling down into an endless chasm…

Sakura's eyelids fluttered open. It took her several blinks to clear the blur from her disorientated vision, and once the haze had finally dissolved, she found herself staring up at the familiar underside of the heavy, embroidered canopy above her bed.

Her heart was thumping wildly against her ribcage. Her entire body felt depleted of all energy, utterly drained. Her head throbbed, like someone had clubbed it with a sledge-hammer. Wincing in pain, she turned it slightly to the right, her gaze trailing instinctively to the source of light in the dimly lit room.

A figure sat hunched over in one of the arm-chairs in front of the fireplace.

Sakura blinked in sluggish confusion.

Sasuke…?

He was leaning forward in his seat, elbows propped atop his lap. His head was bowed, face lowered, hands raking through his raven hair, fingers gripping tightly onto the fine strands, in a gesture that openly betrayed his inner state of agitated unrest.

She watched him in numbed silence for a long minute. He almost seemed a stranger. For she had never seen his typically collected posture appear so forlorn. So tormented.

Was he feeling like that… over her…?

"Sasu…ke…" she finally managed to muster the strength to speak. Her throat felt dry, lips parched. It suddenly occurred to her how dreadfully thirsty she was.

The death deity's eyes, which had been fixed on the rug beneath his feet, widened at the call of his name. He inhaled sharply and immediately, his head snapped up. In a heartbeat, he was by her bedside.

"Sakura." His voice was quiet – hesitant, almost. Sakura was too dazed to catch the vulnerable flicker of open concern brewing in his stormy irises as he gazed down at her.

"My head hurts," she croaked, closing her eyes tiredly.

A palm pressed to her forehead at once, and she felt cooling chakra seep through her skin, numbing the pain away.

"What else?" Sasuke asked, studying her face raptly, feeling the bizarre need to be attentive, to lessen the hurt in any way he could, even when it went completely against his nature to do anything caring, anything other than destroying and maiming.

She licked her chapped lips. "Water…" she mumbled.

He poured a cup from the jug on the tray that rested on the low table by the bed, and moved to perch on the edge of the mattress beside her. Carefully, he slipped a hand under her head, supporting her as he lifted the goblet to her lips. Sakura drank thirstily, gulping it all down without interruption. As Sasuke lowered her head gently back onto the pillow, he waited for her to tell him what she needed next.

A few more minutes passed in silence. Then Sakura, feeling a little better, stirred to sit up in bed. Sasuke did not object, instead continued to watch her closely. But when her body suddenly sagged in exhaustion and she started to fall back again, he was quick to sit beside her, to allow her to rest back against his chest.

Tears blurred her vision. She closed her eyes tiredly, leaning her head against his left shoulder. "I thought… I was going to die," she confided weakly.

His left arm curved protectively around her, cradling her close. He did not tell her that he had been out of his wits, fearing the very same thing.

"I was so afraid…" she whispered.

"Sakura," he finally compelled himself to speak. His voice was low. Hoarse, almost. "I-" he hesitated. He had no right making promises that he could not keep. But he told himself that he would find a way to fulfil this one. To protect her at all costs. "I will not let that happen."

She slowly exhaled, and opened her eyes. She found herself remembering the argument they'd had, prior to her attack cutting her off short. Clearly her words hadn't had any effect on the death deity. She was still in his palace, in his realm. She hadn't even said everything she'd needed to say, but what was the point? Sasuke had been utterly unapologetic. Unburdened by regret or guilt.

Anger and despair gnawed bitterly away at her, scalding her insides like acid. So Suigetsu had been right about Sasuke not listening to reason, after all…

And yet, the restrained emotion she could detect in his words…

She pushed the thought – and the way it made her heart canter faster – out of her mind. Now that she knew exactly what had transpired between Kore and Hades – it made her doubt - and question - his supposed interest in her.

The lingering grogginess in her head was rapidly chased away by the turbulence of her thoughts. The more she dwelled on it, the more everything suddenly made so much more sense.

Although her body felt far too comfortable leaning against his solid warmth, Sakura forced herself to take back her weight, drawing away from him without meeting his gaze.

"I'm fine," she swallowed. But Sasuke stayed in place, like he didn't fully believe her. He made no move, however, to touch her again.

Sakura tried to make sense of her jumbled thoughts. The death deity had implied during their argument earlier that he hadn't asked for this to happen. And maybe, knowing what she now did, maybe he was right. Maybe it was that he simply hadn't been able to help it.

It wasn't her, she thought, at a loss to comprehend why a lump seemed to form in her throat. It had to be the unknown attraction toward the remnants of a past lover, which had influenced his actions subconsciously. It could not be simply a coincidence anymore, that he had seen her and kidnapped her, when she housed a fragment that belonged to Kore.

Still, it was difficult for Sakura to envisage the present Sasuke she'd come to know pursuing a different girl, challenging for her to digest that he had once been intimate with another. Hard to see Sasuke in such an unfamiliar light, a light that once again forced her to re-evaluate her perception of him. But there was no way, she knew, the visions were figments of her imagination. They had felt so real in the dream world. There was no question about it; Kore and Hades definitely had shared history. Yet for some reason, Sasuke had no recollection of it.

Why? What had happened to make him forget? Had he suppressed it himself? Or had something more catastrophic befallen him?

She recalled the meeting with the golden lights. Regardless of everything the fragment had claimed… she and Kore were not the same. Sakura denied it aggressively, absolutely refused to accept it as a possibility. Because it was impossible. Kore had lived thousands of years prior, in a time long before Sakura had been born. There was no way they could be connected, other than occupying the same body.

She didn't know what the fragment had meant about them being the same, or about a seal and a cycle of rebirth. Sasuke hadn't mentioned anything about that. Surely he would have said something? But of course not. The idea was ludicrous. Insane.

The very notion of them somehow being one, as Kore had insisted, petrified Sakura. She had experienced the memories, like she always did, as if she had been Kore. Which meant she had distressingly seen everything through the deceased goddess's eyes. Known her thoughts and emotions. Felt Hades holding her and making love to her – as if it had been Sakura's body. But it hadn't been – it had been a cruel trick of the mind. But her heart still fluttered, when she remembered the searing intensity of his touches.

Was that what it was like? To be desired by a god?

She could not recall every single moment – some were dimmer than others – but she did know that the passion Kore and Hades had shared had been a volatile, consuming one. It disconcerted Sakura greatly, to think of how intensely they had burned together. It was uncomfortable, embarrassing, and unsettling for her to know so intimately about a past that Sasuke claimed had never even happened. It made Sakura feel tainted. Dirty, somehow, for surely it was not her place to know such private things, and the fact she did only increased her mortification.

Her cheeks, she could sense, were starting to burn. She wished she could forget the snapshots of selected scenes that were still imprinted in her mind's eye, like she always had before.

The orb race. The ribbon. The fireflies. The clandestine meetings. Their first time. Kore giving Hades the bow. The stolen kisses and fleeing Kore's temple secretively at night. Bathing in Kore's sacred pool. Kore's tears as he had abandoned her, so heartlessly…

There had been many others. But it made her head throb to try to remember them all. In a way, Sakura was relieved. Her mind was burdened enough, already.

In the end, it had been a lie anyway, hadn't it? He had left Kore broken-hearted. And if he had done that to a goddess, who was so much more resilient than a mortal, than it only emphasised, in Sakura's mind, that Sasuke was nothing but bad news. She couldn't even begin to think what he might do to her, once he tired of her.

Sakura told herself that she had to forget about the disquieting feelings the visions had kindled into being inside her. They were not her own. It was imperative that she separated and distanced herself from them, and did not blur the lines between her feelings – and Kore's, locked deeply within the fragment.

However, she needed to let Sasuke know about the things she'd dreamt, even if it displeased him to hear it. She could not stay quiet anymore. Not after everything she had been forced to see.

And there was one other thing, weighing heavily upon her. Kore's words about them dying, if they did not return to the surface… she wondered if Sasuke knew anything about that, and if he did, why he had thought of skipping that significant detail.

"You say you won't let it happen, but what if this is something you can't prevent?" she asked, matter-of-factly and without preamble. He had soothed the migraine in her head, but she knew he couldn't remove the heaviness that was crushing down on her chest, nor the agonising ache in her heart.

"No," Sasuke was swift to reject. He moved to sit at an angle where he could look her in the face.

"I can feel it," she informed him, startling Sasuke with the conviction of her tone. Meeting his gaze steadily, Sakura went on, "I can feel it. Here," she raised a hand over her heart. "It spoke to me, you know. Kore's fragment. I met it, inside my mind."

Sasuke stared at her, perturbed and caught off guard by this unanticipated news. He had thought that the seal would prevent such a thing as direct communication from ever occurring, or stop Sakura from remembering, but the fact that she was starting to recall more accurately was a frightening reminder of just how unstable the Essence had become.

How much, he dreaded to verbalise, had it told her?

"It told me that if I don't go back to the surface, I'll die." Sakura stated, forcing her tone to remain level.

"…" Sasuke's eyes slipped guiltily away from her. Damn it. He had wanted to protect her from the terror and pain of knowing that. Her revelation threw a spanner in the works, because it infringed precariously close to the real truth.

He couldn't tell her. He feared what the trauma would do to her. He wasn't sure Sakura could survive an attack as vicious as the last one had been. And yet he could see it written all over her face; she believed he was purposefully withholding information from her because he was seeking to be manipulative.

But that wasn't the case at all.

"Is that true, Sasuke?" she asked softly. When he stayed quiet, a mounting sense of horror began to cascade over her. Suddenly, she felt chilled to the bone. If the fragment hadn't been lying about that, then what was she to make of everything else Kore's remains had said? "What aren't you telling me?" she whispered, feeling another tremor beginning to creep over her.

He stirred, as if to move away from her side, but Sakura was quick to reach out and grab his right hand in her left. Holding firmly onto him, she appealed, "Sasuke. Please."

"Sakura-" he began shortly, and then appeared to seethe at an unfortunate spot on the floor – but let his hand remain in hers.

"Please," she repeated, leaning forward slightly, sensing he needed a further push to persuade him to talk. "I don't know what's going on. What did the fragment mean, about me dying? Please tell me, so I know what to expect. So I can prepare myself."

He closed his eyes briefly, wrestling for control. "You cannot," he ground out through his teeth, "prepare."

Her heart drummed erratically. "What do you mean…? If I'm in some kind of danger, then why wouldn't you tell me?"

"Sakura," his tone was thick with restraint. He didn't want her to get worked up so soon again, but she was knocking incessantly. "Not now."

"Then when?" her voice shook. "When will you tell me? Never? Like how you won't ever admit that taking me was wrong?"

She saw discontent flash across his features. He did tug at her to let go of him, then. Sakura gripped his wrist with her other hand to stop him, although she knew that wouldn't be enough if he really did want to pull away. She felt the palpable tautness of the toned muscles of his forearm as they tensed beneath her touch.

"You can't avoid this anymore, Sasuke!" she exclaimed.

She saw his jaw clench. He was silent for a long time, and made a point of refusing to make eye contact.

"Would that make you happy," he clipped rigidly, at length, "if I did?"

The air in Sakura's lungs stilled. Were her ears playing tricks on her? Was he actually acknowledging that kidnapping her had been wrong? Did he mean it?

Was he genuinely remorseful, or was he simply saying it to appease her, to make her drop the subject? She stared at him in uncertain, stupefied shock. Did he have a conscience deep down inside, as she'd suspected, after all?

Sasuke glanced at her briefly, searched her face for a few seconds – and then looked away again, releasing a low snarl of annoyance.

"Don't look at me like that," he snapped, and finally summoned enough force to yank his hand roughly out of a nonplussed Sakura's grasp. He hated those wide, doe-like, green, green eyes she always directed at him. The way they always seemed to make his resolve falter. He absolutely hated it.

Her throat burned as she watched him rise and move back to the fireplace, his body-language closed. Defensive. His unexpected, uncharacteristic concession was a staggering one – but it meant nothing if he did not take steps to actively rectify the situation.

"Do you mean it?" she whispered. "Are you really sorry?"

He placed a hand atop the fireplace, kept his back turned to her. Stubbornly, he said nothing, struggling to rein in the tempest of his feelings.

Sakura wet her lips. She guessed that was the closest thing she was getting to an apology at present – not that it changed their situation.

It did, however, whisper to her that maybe Sasuke was capable of thinking of others – unlike what Suigetsu had insisted. It was certainly more than what she had gotten out of him when she'd initially confronted him about her abduction.

Still, she could not forgive him. Those words were nowhere near enough.

A long silence stretched between them. Finally, Sakura tried again, hugging herself to keep the tremors at bay. "Is it true? Will I die?"

Sasuke bit his tongue to stop the 'yes' that was dangerously close to articulating itself.

When he said nothing else, did not choose to enlighten her any further, she decided it was time to tell him what she had dreamt about. "I had visions. About Kore. And…" she took a deep breath. "You."

Sasuke frowned as he watched the flames. Not this again. She'd claimed similar things before, and he hadn't liked to hear it.

"Sakura," he began, trying to keep his irritation in check. This wasn't at all what he wanted to talk about. He did not know why he felt so restless and on edge. Perhaps it was that he didn't want to get dragged into another quarrel. Not with the awful way things had ended up, the last time. He didn't want to feel so disempowered, to worry so much about her again. "I already told you-"

Sakura swallowed, but did not stand down, not caring that she was risking his temper. He had to know. And she would be damned if she would let anything still her tongue ever again. "I know you don't want to hear it. But what if I could prove to you that you did know her?"

Startled by this, Sasuke visibly stiffened. He hadn't anticipated their exchange to head in this direction at all.

"What." He inhaled, audibly incredulous.

Sakura pushed back the covers, swung her legs over the edge of the bed which was so high, her feet did not even touch the floor.

"I can prove it," she slid off it and stood, lifting her chin defiantly. "Right now."

He directed a cynical scowl back at her. And just how did she think she was going to do that?

She walked over to him. "Take me to the armoury," she said. At his dubious look, and obvious, standoffish reluctance, she pressed, "If you're so confident that you're right then this request shouldn't bother you. Please take me there."

This was preposterous, Sasuke knew. Absolutely absurd. But determined to prove her outrageous theory wrong, and silence her about the vexing matter once and for all, he reached out nevertheless, slipping a warm palm to the back of her neck. Sakura swallowed, suppressing a shudder as she tried not to dwell on the way his touch sent electrical jolts crackling down her spine.

Jerking her forward, Sasuke growled impatiently, "Fine."

She blinked. A second later, Sasuke had transported them in front of the armoury.

He pushed her – firmly, but not aggressively – toward the door. Sakura's heart raced. It was unlocked. As they stepped inside, she remembered the only other time she had been here. How long ago, that occasion seemed.

Her eyes bypassed the swords and shields, the spears and clubs and other equipment, seeking out the weapons she was looking for. Sasuke followed her inside, arms folded across his chest, watching her like a hawk.

"What are you looking for?" he demanded, when she took her sweet time snooping about.

"They have to be here, somewhere," she answered distractedly. "Where are they- oh, there!" She caught sight of what she wanted, resting against a row of large barrels. She knelt down, and a curious, perplexed Sasuke peered suspiciously over her shoulder.

Why was she so interested in bows, all of a sudden?

Sakura picked up bow after bow, examining them closely. Her desperation began to grow when, after searching through ten, she was unsuccessful. Behind her, Sasuke rolled his eyes in exasperation. He had no idea what the annoying girl was playing at, but he wasn't happy with having his time wasted.

"It has to be here," she said to herself. "Unless you broke it, or lost it…"

"Lost what." Sasuke snapped, reaching the end of his tether. He'd indulged this nonsense for long enough. Whatever she was trying to find was obviously not there, and the mess she was making, casting bows aside left and right, was starting to grate on his nerves.

Sakura shoved another bow aside and it clattered loudly onto the pile, irking the God of Death further. He despised mess of any kind.

"How many bows to you need?" she huffed. Then she remembered that Sasuke's entire family had once lived in the Underworld, and so it made sense that he had so many in his arsenal.

She was just starting to despair - when her eyes were abruptly snagged by a beautifully polished bow, resting far back, close to the end of the collection. She pulled it out, and scrutinised it intently. Her heart leapt when she saw two uchiwa fans painted on the tips of each limb.

Was this it? Others had also had the emblem – but the telling sign was in the secret inscription that rested inside the grip. She raised it closely to her face. And gasped in triumph.

There it was! The smallest carving of a flower.

She jumped to her feet, and whirled victoriously to Sasuke, extending the weapon to him. "This bow!" she exclaimed. "Where did you get it from?"

He reached out and snatched it off her, glaring. Then he looked down – and his eyebrows knotted.

It was undeniably one of his, and had not belonged to another Clan member. Where had he gotten it? His mind, to his horror, drew a humming blank. Hadn't his mother given it to him? No. He couldn't remember. His heart rate began to accelerate when he realised, with a sinking feeling, that he had no clue. He knew only that he had used it often in the past. The feel and weight of it was familiar in his hands, the lustre of the wood unmistakeable.

"It has an inscription inside the grip," Sakura went on. "A tiny flower with five petals. Kore was given this bow by Artemis. She then gifted it to you."

"…" Sasuke's eyes remained lowered as he twisted his wrist to examine the grip. Sure enough, he made out the smallest carving of a flower head that was easy to miss on first glance.

It resembled a blossom.

He swallowed, deeply troubled and disturbed, a confused frown marring his features. How could Sakura know that? How could she possible pick out one of his personal bows? There was no way she could know what he did, no possible way she could accurately identify the weapon out of all the rest.

For it was no ordinary bow.

He recognised it as his favourite hunting one.

"Kore gave it to you," she repeated. "You were together, Sasuke! I don't know how or why you don't remember, but it's true. There's no other way I could know about this weapon!"

Sasuke was silent. But his mind was racing at the speed of light.

"There was something else," Sakura rubbed at her forehead. "What was it…" she strained to remember. Then it unexpectedly came to her. "A flower! A blue flower… one that never dies."

His breath stilled. There were two such flowers, and both resided in his mother's personal garden. He hadn't taken Sakura there, yet.

There was no way she could know about it.

He ran his fingers along the wood as he thought of the flower she had mentioned.

"It…" Sasuke felt oddly winded, like his lungs couldn't catch a breath. He battled to keep his tone as cool as he could. "It is an ever-bloom."

Sakura's pulse pounded. His head was bowed. His voice was so quiet. For once, he wasn't shooting her accusations down.

He was actually listening.

"Yes," she whispered, insides quivering for reasons she could not fathom. Startled by her body's internal reaction, she leant back to sit on one of the barrels. "That's… what Kore told you."

The sickening possibility that his own memories had been tampered with began to creep over Sasuke again. He had always violently rejected the notion in the past. But suddenly, it didn't seem so far-fetched. What if some manner of seal had been placed on him, too? Stunned into speechlessness, he could only stare down at the tiny flower carving in disbelief.

Sakura took a deep breath. "All of this. Being…" she hesitated for only a second, before venturing, "being drawn to me, everything about wanting me with you… Sasuke… can't you see? It all makes sense now! Have you ever thought that maybe…" she gulped. "Maybe it's what I have inside me that made you notice me at the funeral? Maybe it's the fragment that belongs to a deceased goddess who once loved you, that's responsible for all of this- this mess between us! It isn't me you want. It's Kore."

Sasuke inhaled sharply, bristling with anger, an inferno of rage roaring through his body. Her words were a stinging blow, an insult, a mockery of all the suffocating feelings he had for her, all the emotions that plagued and pained him.

It was one thing to imply that his memories had been meddled with. It was another thing for her to accuse him of being attracted to her only because she housed an essence that belonged to who Sakura genuinely believed was another girl he just couldn't remember. Like was not her own person, in her own right, like all the time they had spent together meant nothing because he was pining after a goddess who he had apparently been with.

But she was a fool, regardless. Such a fool, because her argument was completely invalid. She did not know what he did. She did not understand. She did not realise that the very girl she accused him of wanting instead of her… was, in fact, the same entity responsible for creating the Sakura who stood before him.

She did not realise that she was Kore, the Spring Goddess, reborn, slumbering inside another body because her original one had been poisoned beyond healing.

If Sasuke had known this 'Kore' goddess, as well as Sakura was insisting, then it only made everything explode into frightening clear perspective, if it was, indeed, true. Although it enraged the death deity beyond words to think that he, too, might have somehow been manipulated without his knowledge, it definitely accounted for the senseless attraction he'd experienced toward Sakura from the outset. But not for the reason she believed. Not because he was unconsciously searching for another girl he had known in the past.

But because he had been unconsciously searching for her. The same Kore whose memory might have been erased from him.

He remembered Naruto, telling him that they'd met a few times. It couldn't be a coincidence. Could it? How could he refuse the possibility, now? Of course he would be utterly unaware, if his mind had been altered.

The realisation left him distraught, breathless. Sick. Like his insides were being hauled out of his body with metal skewers. He stared at her incredulously, appalled, the closest he could ever come to outwardly gaping, his lips parted slightly, eyebrows furrowed as the suddenly all too real possibility fell over him like a tonne of bricks.

Why had he not been drawn to previous incarnations, then?

He recalled Naruto's words about Sakura being the closest to her original form, in both appearance and personality, and felt even more disturbed.

A knot of dread had formed in Sakura's stomach. There was a knowing glint in the death deity's eyes that she most certainly did not like. A sudden dawning look of understanding that made her edgy. Nervous.

"What?" she forced herself to ask. She could feel ice creeping along her spine. Swallowing anxiously, she said, "Why are you looking at me like that…?"

Sasuke blinked, viciously jerked from the pandemonium of his thoughts by the sound of her voice. Just like that, his expression walled off entirely. Became an infuriating blank once again. Gritting his teeth, he looked down at the bow once more.

The crashing waves of shock had caused his steel-like composure to momentarily slip. He could not afford to allow that to happen again.

Maybe it would make things easier for her, he told himself, to believe in this false theory. Because there was no way he could conceivably tell her what she really was. What it had to mean, if his recollections had indeed been stolen. Not right then. Not when she was so physically vulnerable. He had not even been able to fully accept it or process it himself.

"Nothing." He uttered curtly.

Sakura hesitated. Something told her he wasn't being entirely honest. "But you remember the bow?" she pressed.

His eyes lifted again, and met hers.

"Yes." He conceded quietly, and could not help but stare openly at her again, his eyes taking in every feature intently, as if it was the first time.

"Then…" she stood up again, and clasped her hands behind her back, looking away, feeling peculiarly flustered. The weight of his penetrating gaze was even more unnerving than usual. He seemed to be inspecting her so closely. "Then what do you think? Of what I said?"

The death deity was silent. Inside his chest, his heart was hammering. He could see, from the pulse point in her neck, that hers was doing the same.

Even though he had not touched her. Even though he had hardly said a word to her. He found himself contemplating what this had to mean. Whether, subconsciously, there was even a small chance that she was just as drawn to him, too, but was far too alarmed, far too afraid to admit it, or allow it.

It was his fault, he now acknowledged. Kidnapping her had damaged what slight chances he'd ever had of gaining her acceptance in a normal manner.

He could not change the past, the things he had already done. But he could take control of the future.

"I think," Sasuke replied, his tone terse again, "you are wrong, Sakura."

Her wide eyes flew back to him as he nonchalantly tossed the bow to the ground. Before she could say or do anything else, he turned and slipped out of the armoury, leaving her staring at the discarded weapon on the floor by her feet, unable to comprehend or shift the strange, inexplicable tightness inside her chest.

Author's note

I hope you enjoyed this, everyone. It'd make me really happy if you could take the time to kindly leave some feedback about your thoughts on the past/plot/whatever you like. Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, again. The next update won't be as quick, but should be up before the end of January, hopefully.