A Monster Banished.
By Chica De La Luna Fantasma.
This is dedicated to my friend Winter Ashby! Keep the KankuroSakura love flowing strong with that wonderful art.
To begin anew. To leave the past. To confine the fiends in our souls.
She knew that it was a big decision she was making.
But still she promised herself that there would be no turning back. That she wouldn't cry. That she would never regret it.
She loved him.
And so she would do as he asked.
He reprimanded himself for feeling what he was feeling.
Guilt.
He felt it because he had gone to the very extremes to get his lover to agree to come home with him. To leave her own.
Because he knew she would hurt. Because he was aware that she would deep down resent him. Because she already did.
He felt like a monster.
She was almost finished with her packing. And was astounded at what she had found.
It was a photo album.
The one that she had been searching for what seemed like an eternity.
She held it to herself.
She was apprehensive. Because she had been secretly glad that she had lost it. Because she wanted to open it but was afraid of the memories she knew would rekindle.
She sat at the edge of her sheet less mattress.
She lifted the cover.
He stood at the gates of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Waiting for his other half.
She was late.
He wondered to himself if she had changed her mind about following him.
He sighed softly and bowed his head to the ground.
He had told her that he wouldn't bother searching for her if she didn't show up at noon.
He raised his face to the sky as startled birds flew over him.
They had taken flight at the piercing resonance of the village's clock.
The chime that signaled midday.
There was a photograph of her. Showing her in the arms of a chocolate haired man.
She was smiling. He wore a content smirk.
The next was of him holding a small red bird.
She remembered that he had somehow called it to him.
"So you could look at it," he had explained.
The following page held a letter.
The one that he had written to her the day that he had asked her to be his.
'Meet me at training area seven. I need to tell you something I've hidden for far to long'
She strained her eyes. Willing herself not to cry.
She promised herself that she would look through all the photographs and letters without any tears. That she would finally move on.
He shook his head sadly.
Then turned to make his way away from his lover's home.
It would still be her home at the end of the day.
She had chosen to stay.
Stay and forsake him for all time.
He felt it again, then.
Guilt.
And then remorse.
If only he hadn't made her choose between him and her home.
Perhaps then he wouldn't have lost her forever.
She closed the album.
And cried with dry eyes.
She picked up her bags and strode from her house to leave her home.
She knew she was late.
She knew he would keep his word.
She knew she would have to hurry to catch up to him.
She didn't want to be alone. Not again. She wouldn't loose him.
He walked with her next to him.
Her bags slung across his lean back.
He wondered why she in the end decided to come with him.
He resolved to ask.
"Why did you decide to come?"
He halted when she did.
"You make it sound as if you think it ever crossed my mind to not follow you," she whispered.
He felt it once more.
Guilt.
"Did it ever occur to you that I might have just been late?" she continued.
It grew steadily. The sense remorse.
"I'm sorry," he whispered ashamedly.
"I shouldn't have doubted you."
He felt like a monster once more.
She closed her eyes as he hovered over her.
Her frame melted into the feather soft mattress.
Pinned by his lean frame.
She responded as he embraced her lips with his own.
Didn't refuse as his rough hands began to wander.
She loved him. She would do anything for him. Anything he asked so long as he didn't leave her.
Her bargain with a monster.
He stroked her soft hair as she slept.
Smiled when she whispered his name in her dreams.
Frowned as tears cascaded from her eyes.
"Don't leave. Please…Don't go," she uttered aloud.
The words escaping through an ill healed tear in her soul.
She gazed softly at him as he leaned in for the kiss that would bind them together.
"I'll never leave you," he whispered into her ear.
"So don't be afraid."
She smiled.
He had healed her.
He grinned as he held the small boy in his arms.
He had caged his guilt. The monster. The remorse.
He looked up at the call of his name.
Tawny brown met beautiful emerald.
"Are you ready to go, love?" he asked.
His lover smiled.
"Yes."
KibaSaku is next.
-cf-