Chapter 6
At dawn, our game shall begin …
How was she supposed to know when dawn was in the underworld? The grey skies never darkened and they certainly never got any brighter. Clouds of grey, toiling with the threat of a violent, distant storm, remained in the sky over the palace. The only change in the light Sakura could see out of the narrow window in the room she had been given came from the bolts of lightning that lit the clouds from the inside every few seconds.
For hours, she had laid in the bed-her new bed-and stared out at the sky from her pillows, waiting for the dark of night that never came. It was frustrating. She wanted the cover of darkness to perhaps explore a bit of her surroundings, though stumbling into that room with the portrait should have convinced her that wandering around a strange palace was not the best idea. Just as it was with everything the dark god had to do with, the lack of night was annoying. And even if she could sleep, she doubted she would stay that way for long.
The rules he had set for them in the game she had proposed had been haunting her. Even playing with a handicap, she knew enough about the gods by now to see his trap. His riddle, whatever it could be, wouldn't be easy for her. In fact, she expected something impossible, something truly beyond her capabilities to figure out.
Hours after she had been locked in her bedroom, with the night no closer to falling, Sakura had thrown the sheets from her legs and paced the length of the floor in front of her bed. All her life, her parents had told her she was far too clever for her own good, always figuring ways to get around their rules. Surely she could do the same with this god.
This god that she couldn't even bring herself to think his name…
Was she truly still that frightened of him? Yes. The answer to that was easy to come to. She was terrified of him and his powers, but more so of his intentions with her.
If he wanted her body, there'd be little she could do to stop him. Gods and goddesses that set their sights on a mortal didn't chase them for long. They had them when and where they wanted, no need for games and riddles, so why was this god so different from all the stories she'd heard her entire life?
What else could he want from her?
The question was almost too much for her to dwell on, especially when she had other things to worry about. The most important one being the riddles she would have to outwit him with. He had given her two weeks to think them up but would he take two weeks to answer them? If that was the case, then she needed to be quick about it. Then again, how was she supposed to construct a riddle so clever to outwit the god in such a short amount of time?
Sakura paced the length of her room and worriedly chewed the corner of her thumbnail as all the questions she would never find the answers to plagued her mind. Either way, she chose to answer them, the fact remained that it was up to her and her alone to outwit the god. With defeat weighing her down all of a sudden, she turned on her heel and let her body fall back onto the mattress.
As a curtain of hair settled over her face, Sakura blinked up at the ceiling and let out a sigh. The only riddles she knew were the ones that her peers used to ask one another when they were children. Surely a god that was powerful enough to appear and disappear in bolts of lightning could see through a childish game. Unless she made it impossible for him to solve.
Sakura blinked and sat up on her elbows, the wheels and cogs of her mind finally starting to turn easier. All the worry and fear that had kept her mind shrouded in a fog was starting to lift and she stared into the grey, dim light of her room as a devious smile curled the corner of her lips. He never said the riddle had to be solvable. All she had to do was stall him for as long as she could until the game was up and she was free.
That , she was clever enough to do.
A plan was slowly starting to piece together in her head and she came to a decision. For the first two riddles, she would make them easy enough. The kind of questions children would ask one another in the village and spend all day thinking about. To a god, it would be nothing. He would grow confident in her inability to think of something and let his guard slip. In that case, it would be more beneficial to her to drag out the time as long as she could between each riddle until the final one.
In the back of her throat, a bubble of laughter rose and she had to clamp her lips shut to keep it quiet. Oh, how her family and friends would be shocked to learn she had outwitted a god when she returned home! She could almost picture the looks on Naruto and Sasuke's faces when they saw her again, strolling in through the gates with her head held high. They would never believe it-no one would.
Sakura fell back against the bed once more and for the first time since she'd been confined to her prison in the underworld, found herself smiling. Perhaps she would be the first mortal to match wits with a god and win. It was a satisfying thought, one she held close as she finally drifted off to sleep. Her dreams did little to give her rest, filled with the man from the portrait standing before her with the god she knew on the other side. Both of them tried to feed her bites from a table full of rotting food and no matter how much she refused, she couldn't escape them.
It wasn't until the soft sound of her bedroom door opened did she finally wake. A sharp intake of breath pulled her out of her dreams and she sat up on the bed, clutching the sheets around her chest as she fought to steady her pulse. At the door, through the narrow crack as it opened, the glow of a lantern shone and she held her breath.
Had he come for her? Was it finally dawn?
But no, it wasn't the god.
The same lantern that had led her through the palace the day before had returned, bobbing slowly as it floated into her room. Sakura dropped her arms and let out a sigh, shaking her head at the disembodied lamp. "I suppose no one around here knows to knock."
As if ashamed, the light dimmed slightly and lowered in the air as if it were hanging its head. The sight of it pulled the corner of her lips up in a smile and she slid to the edge of the bed. "Do you understand what I say?"
The lantern brightened, lifted in the air and Sakura stood with her hands on her hips.
"Blink your light twice if you can."
It did exactly as she said before glowing as brightly as before. Well, at least she wasn't completely alone, but it didn't make her feel much better about bathing in front of the lantern the day before. Not waiting for her to speak, the light pulsed and backed toward the door, slipping back out in the hallway.
"Am I to follow you?"
The light blinked twice and she pursed her lips, looking down at herself. All she had to wear was the nearly sheer chemise that had been given to her after bathing. The robe that had been provided was laying in a wrinkled heap beside the bed but Sakura refused to traipse about in the underworld in something so revealing. She snatched the robe and pulled it around her, cinching the waist tight. Once she was sure nothing too risque was exposed, she followed the light out into the hallway and pulled the bedroom door shut behind her.
"Where are we going?" Her voice wasn't near as sure as it had been in the safety of her room. It was barely a whisper now and she darted her gaze to the light. This time, it didn't blink and she frowned. Oh, yes. She had to word her question in a way it could answer.
"Are we going to see...him?"
Two blinks of the light and her stomach clenched as tight as the sash around her waist. She put her hand to her belly and took a step, her foot catching on a loose part of the tile beneath her. The sudden sting of pain in her heel knocked her off balance and she wobbled to the right, her shoulder bumping into something solid-something just behind the lantern. The ghost touch of a hand on her elbow drained the blood from her face at once and she quickly whirled away.
Sakura sucked in a breath and retreated to the opposite wall, wincing from the pain in her foot but ignoring it for the moment. Her eyes went wide as she stared at the air around her. There was nothing. Nothing but her and the floating lantern and light within yet...she was sure she had touched something, sure that there had been a solid enough body to keep her from falling. Now that she stared at the empty space around her, seeing only the walls and broken tile of the floor, she was filled with doubt. Had her lack of sleep made her imagine something that wasn't there?
Glancing warily at the lantern, Sakura folded her arms around her waist and cleared her throat. "Right," she mumbled quietly. "Lead the way."
As if it hadn't noticed her sudden apprehension, whatever was holding the lamp pushed on and the light bobbed gently as it moved. She followed behind, keeping her eyes on the space just behind the lantern, exactly where she had felt the hand on her elbow. Absently, she rubbed where the ghostly fingers had touched her skin and wished the robe she wore was thicker. The sudden chill rolling up her spine sent a shiver over her body.
Together, with no more questions or bumps into imaginary bodies, they continued on through the palace. Every twist and turn, every corner they rounded, only confused Sakura even more. The previous night, she had been shown to her room and it had seemed close to the chamber with the portrait and table. Now, she wasn't so sure where in the palace they were heading.
Almost as if it changed each time she left a room. Through her limited experience in the underworld, she wouldn't put it past the god to ramp up the confusion. It would certainly match the theme he had going around here.
By the time they emerged from the labyrinthine halls, Sakura was tired and regretting her choice to pace her bedroom and not get any rest. She stifled a yawn behind her hand as they stepped through a wide entry. From here, the natural light, what little of it there was anyway, filtered in from outside and Sakura could see the enormous columns that surrounded the palace.
Were they heading outside?
She had just opened her mouth to voice the question to her lantern friend when another presence, sudden and dark between two of the columns close by, startled her. Sucking in a breath that nearly caught in her throat, Sakura retreated two steps and blinked up at the god in surprise. He stood as still as one of his broken statues, his eyes dark and fixed on her and she suddenly felt as trapped as a moth in a spider's web.
"Come," he spoke, startling her once more. As he turned away from the palace to face the underworld, she thought she caught the faint trace of a smile curling the corner of his pale lips.
Sakura scowled and turned to look at her invisible companion only to find the lantern bobbing away, back the way it had come and she was left alone in the breezeway. There was no choice for her but to follow the dark god. With a roll of her eyes, she dropped her hands to her side and moved through the columns, following him to a part of the palace she hadn't seen yet. If she had to guess, she'd say she was at the back of the structure. The swamp, with its twisted, dead and decaying trees, she had landed in was nowhere to be seen.
Far beyond the palace was a wall, towering around the edges of the underworld, and even from so far away and the fog clinging to the ground, Sakura could see just how tall it was. It made the gates of her village look like children's toys.
Hurrying down a set of wide, short steps, she followed the god but kept distance between them. He may have left her no choices to make of her own, but she didn't have to follow him like a helpless puppy. Besides, from this far back, she could stare at the back of his head without him turning quickly to catch her.
The storm in the distance raged on, the black clouds roiling with constant bolts of lightning racing between them. Contrasted against the depths of the darkness, the god's silver hair seemed brighter than it had in the dim palace. Out here, it nearly glowed and she couldn't deny that she was transfixed by the sight. It was just a glimmer of the man in the portrait but it ensnared her attention and held it so tight that she hadn't noticed him turning to glance back at her until his dark eyes met hers.
Instantly, she cut her gaze away and cursed the swell of warmth to her cheeks. He had caught her staring after all. Great.
"Have you thought of your first riddle?" His question nearly stole another breath but she held it tight and pursed her lips. She still hadn't made up her mind about waiting as long as possible to ask him her first question or not. She truly wanted to get it all over with as quickly as she could though she knew a game of wits would take strategy and guile.
"I'm still thinking," she admitted quietly. Either way, it bought her some time. At least until she found out what riddle he had prepared for her. Frowning, she looked back at the god ahead of her, moving at a leisurely pace down another set of steps. At the bottom of them, he turned to the left and Sakura looked out at the landscape before them. There was a knoll ahead covered in dead leaves and grass just like the rest of this place and she frowned at the sight. "Where are we going?"
"Not far." His response wasn't an answer to her question, she realized with a roll of her eyes.
The knoll was exactly where he led her and Sakura tried to hide her labored breath as they neared the crown of the hillside. Her bare feet crunched through the scattered leaves and she winced as a bramble of thorns caught on her heel. She swatted it away and stumbled to regain her balance as the god stepped into the center of the hilltop and faced her.
Lifting one hand, he curled two of his fingers back toward him, beckoning her near and Sakura swallowed tightly. The thorny leaves and dead trees had nothing to do with her inability to move toward him. She pinched her bottom lip between her teeth and forced herself to take a step. Slowly, one after the other, she inched forward until she was standing before him, close enough that she could reach out and touch his chest but far enough away for her comfort.
The god peered down at her with a quiet hum, his eyes narrowed but not out of malice or annoyance. He was studying her, his gaze dropping to her lips down to her chest and back up to her eyes before she could draw the edges of her robe closer together. Against her will, a shiver rolled down her spine even though it was plenty warm on the hill.
"Give me your hand." The demand was quiet but echoed through her head as if he had shouted. In an instant, her eyes widened and she stared up at him, unable to stop herself from responding.
"Why?"
His eyes darkened and narrowed. Long gone was the quiet pensive look, replaced with one of displeasure. "Because I asked for it."
It was her turn to glare up at him and she crossed her arms tightly over her chest. Once more, she ignored the voice of reason trying to talk some sense into her head. "You didn't ask me. You demanded it."
"And it would do you well to please me and do as I say, Sakura."
She hadn't been expecting to hear her name spoken that way, so rich and silvery that it nearly made her knees buckle. Blinking away the sudden warmth filling her belly, Sakura shook her head and swallowed tightly, searching once more for that fire and anger. "I'm forced to be here, forced to do as you say, and yet you're still demanding things of me. I deserve to be treated with respect. Hasn't anyone ever told you that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar?"
To her surprise, the god took a step forward. His sudden nearness left her frozen to the spot and stole her voice and breath away altogether. The brush of his robes over the tops of her feet sent warning bells ringing through her head but she was powerless to move away from him. All she could do was tilt her head back to blink up at him, wanting nothing more than to stand her ground, hold the glare in her eyes so he would see how unafraid she was.
But it would be a lie. She was terrified.
The god searched her eyes before his gaze fell to her lips and lingered there. Between his horns, the storm clouds roiled angrily and lightning sizzled through them like raging rivers of energy and light. "If you want respect, then perhaps you should act less like vinegar and more like honey ." He said the word as if he could taste the sweetness of it on his tongue and Sakura's eyes fluttered at the sound of it. "Your hand, please."
Even if she wanted to, she couldn't deny him. He was too close to her, his power too dizzying, too electric for her to think straight. Shakily, Sakura pulled her right hand away from her chest and held it between them, so close that she could feel the brush of his robes against her thumb. When his fingers curled around her wrist, cool to the touch but firm in their grip, Sakura sucked in a breath and closed her eyes.
The god slid his fingers into her palm and pressed something there. It was small, nearly the size of a pomegranate seed, and her brows pinched in a frown. As he closed her fist around the object, Sakura opened her eyes and ducked her head to watch his fingers fall away from her hand. She wished he would take a step back to give her space to breathe but he remained where he was, watching her.
Slowly, she opened her fist and stared down at three black pebbles, barely bigger than apple seeds in the center of her palm. Confusion pinched her face and she looked up at the god staring down at her. "What are they?"
"Your task. Plant them, make them grow, and if they do before the end of our game, you're free to leave the underworld."
All of the air left her lungs at once and a gnawing sensation twisted through her belly. The moisture had been sucked out of the air all of a sudden and she glanced around the knoll they stood atop. In all directions, dead trees, barren landscapes, and a void of life surrounded them, stretching from the four corners of his realm.
How was she supposed to make something grow in such a desolate, miserable place?
Sakura dropped her gaze back to the seeds in her palm, fighting back the burn of tears in her eyes. How foolish she had been to try to match wits with him. Even with the gift Tsunade had given her as an infant, there was no hope. Bringing dead grass and butterflies back to life in the mortal world had taken years to master and she had never been able to accomplish much more than the simple trick of restoring life to insects and flowers. In a realm where there was no life, where death reigned and surrounded her, she was powerless.
Lifting her gaze to the god, she clamped her hand around the seeds and cursed the tears welling up in her eyes. As utterly hopeless as her situation was, there was still a glimmer of hope. If he couldn't solve her riddles, she was free to go. That had been their deal. There was still a chance, no matter how slight and fading it was and Sakura would hold onto it as tightly as she could until the end.
"Fine," she whispered. Despite the press of a lump in the back of her throat, she shook the hair from her face, held her chin high in defiance, and looked the god in the eyes. If he wanted to play their game dirty, she was prepared to do the same with the impossible-to-solve riddle up her sleeve. "Is that all?"
"For now." A ghost of a smile touched the corner of his lips, drawing Sakura's eye down to it and she hated that she didn't particularly hate the sight of it on him. "You're free to do as you please for the day but you will have dinner with me tonight. And it isn't a request."
"I wouldn't assume it was." The words were cold but her voice was meek and quiet, nearly frightened to even appear. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'll get started on solving your riddle."
This time, that ghost of a smile was clear to her and the rush of butterflies in her midsection was hard to ignore. They fluttered wildly, leaving traces of warmth where their wings brushed against her insides and Sakura pursed her lips, trying with all of her might to force them away. It was an impossible task to begin with, but there was no hope for them as the god lifted his hand and curled a finger beneath her chin. He forced her head to tilt upward and her eyes darted to meet his, her breath hitching in surprise and butterflies tripling inside her belly.
"Good luck, little mortal."
The sound of his voice, soft and sensuous to her ears, and the cool touch of his fingers left her all at once and she stared into the space he had just stood. Her pulse raced out of control and even as she pressed a firm hand to her belly, the butterflies within continued their wild dance. Sakura swallowed tightly and turned before she could stop herself, watching the god walk back down the hill. Before he reached the bottom of the slope, fog curled around his feet, lifting from the ground to envelop him completely and when it dispersed in the breeze, he was gone.
In his absence, she let out the breath she had been holding and blinked herself out of the daze she had been left in. Don't lose your head, Sakura , she told herself with a scowl. Just because he's handsome doesn't change anything. He's an insufferable, disrespectful, hot-headed jerk.
Even as she said it, the places he had touched on her body, her palm and wrist, her chin, tingled from the memory of his fingers. Sakura shook the thoughts from her head and sank to the ground, sitting on her knees as she opened her hand once more and stared at the seeds. She glanced around at the lands, seeing no signs of life, no color aside from the drab brown and grey. But surely there was a place that could support life.
If she planted the seeds in three different areas, the chances of at least one of them sprouting would be higher. With a nod, she used her free hand to claw at the leaves on the ground in front of her knees. It didn't take long for her to reach the cold soil beneath and she dug a hole as deep as the length of her fingers. She'd seen her mother and the other women of her village plant flowers near the temples and vegetables in the gardens each spring. With the right soil, sunlight, and water, the seeds would come to life each time.
She tried not to think about the lack of proper sunlight in the underworld and instead chose to focus on water and the soil. Tilting her palm, she let one seed drop into the hole and quickly covered it back up. It took a few minutes but she found enough stones on the hillside to construct a circle around the patch of dirt, to both mark where it was and hopefully protect it from the elements.
Standing, she brushed the dirt from her hand and stared out at the landscape. The palace sat to the west, the wall stretched on into oblivion to the east, and just south of the palace steps was the swamp. The goddess she had encountered, with the vines of rich green leaves curling around her neck and wrists, could potentially help her grow the seeds. Perhaps she knew a good place to grow herbs in her swamp.
One seed beneath her, another in the swamp, and the last would be planted in the fields to the North of the palace. Sakura stood on the knoll, the storm at her back and thunder rumbling overhead, and nodded. The sense of hopelessness was fading. Whether that was because there was a chance she could accomplish the task he had set out or she was just trying to convince herself it could work, she wasn't sure.
Either way, she held onto the hope that it would, and knowing the god wasn't the only one with a trick up his sleeve helped lift her spirits. She set off down the slope of the hillside, heading to the swamp and kept her head high just in case he was watching from somewhere she couldn't see. The thought of it was both terrifying and...she wasn't sure.
It left her feeling just as flustered and warm as the smile he had given her earlier had. And while she repeated her words earlier to not lose her head over the handsome yet frustrating god, Sakura couldn't deny that she almost looked forward to seeing him again
