Chapter 2: A new chance and a Goddess

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Kishimoto-sensei in any way and form, and I do not own the few Latin quotes that will pop out here and there. I however own the plot and the Ocs, as well as the description of some places and the characterization of some less-known characters in the original anime/manga.

Updated: October 31 :) Happy Halloween~

I'm sorry if the story doesn't follow the same style in the next few chapters, I'll try to edit them as soon as possible :)

Fate is something set in stone, born with one's soul and changing, twisting until it can flow between all the cracks and crevices of one's existence. It remains unchanged like a fleeting word, unseen and unheard yet existing. It is like the red strings dangling from a puppeteer's nimble fingers, pulling at some places and crisscrossing at others, unpredictable yet awfully consistent. Fate is always set in stone for the living and the dead, unless the puppeteer's cruel fingers allow otherwise.

At first there was the One.

No color, no smell, no sensations.

It was the original, it was all and none. It was the world.

It was a cluster of white, red, blue, black and everything else, but it was none, blank because there was all.

Then the world split, into twins, then into three, and so all that was left of the One was...

A white world.

But then, in one instant, in this world with no beginning and no end, a small sparkle arrived. It was small and insignificant in the endless horizon, but it was there and what was blank and empty suddenly wasn't anymore.

And so the world exists.

XxXxXxXxX

An insignificant flutter.

A twitch, the flicker of light over closed eyelids, and they blinked open.

Endless and hazy sea blue orbs stared at the One. And it stared back, blank, silent, observing.

Suddenly half of the One became sea blue, deep and mesmerizing, and so a sky exists.

The One laughed, rejoiced in silence, for It did not have Sound. But it had Joy and Surprise, collected from the existence, and so the One was happy. Finally it wasn't blank, finally it existed.

The existence blinked, slow and sluggish, as if it was in a deep sleep.

The One moved. The world moved. A slow step, an uncontrolled and hesitant rumble.

The existence heard. It heard a rumble, slow and lazy, a bit clumsy.

Then it felt. It was comfortably warm, almost luring it back to sleep.

It smelled, and it smelled of something new to his senses but older than time, pure yet tainted, something that smelled like water and air and burning flowers.

And it saw.

Chakra.

Pure, unfiltered raw chakra, seeping from everything, the air, the sky, himself. Swirling, bunching up as a light satin cloth would, flowing yet solid, in, out, in, out.

Everywhere.

And the existence was.

It remembered.

It was pleasantly warm.

Naruto thought as he curled into himself slowly, unaware and relaxed.

It was different. From... he frowned. That something, that was pushing at the back of his mind. He didn't want to think of it. Even though he didn't know what it was, it definitely was something he'd rather not think about. It was cold, dark... he felt good right now. If only he could always be like this...

But it was wrong.

He knew.

He knew that a second ago he was...

He was somewhere, that wasn't supposed to be warm.

The cold seeping through his tattered clothes, numb fingers reaching out, cold blood running through his body, colder and colder... until even the dull ache of the wounds was gone, and the heat of the sun just out of reach. The empty and mad laughter that wrenched his heart, echoing, far, far away in the barren lands... until he realized -

Naruto jolted and sat up.

And blinked.

'Where the hell-?'

He was moving.

Alive.

'What is going on?'

The war. Madara. Naruto's eyes widened as he looked around frantically, only for his vision to blur, leaving nothing but dancing white and black dots before his eyes.

'Gh-! Ouch, headache.'

He crouched, gripping his hair, his almost claw-like nails digging into his scalp as he blinked furiously for a few seconds. Madara. Sasuke.

Madara was dead.

He almost felt like cheering, but then found he couldn't move as the next sets of memories crashed down harshly, blurry images appearing in his head. People, moving, fighting, crying out as they were savagely impaled... He remembered, suddenly, and he almost didn't want to. Endless bloodied lists, names, causalities written in black ink and smeared on the torn papers... going on and on and on like a tape, and came last the feeling...

And then he couldn't stop his legs from giving out, couldn't stop from bending in two because the weight was too much to bear. The cries of anguish, despair, anger and the mourning, every second, every hour that reeked of death came back.

It was unbearable, it was...

A sea of black, soulless flames, twisting and raging as it came toward them, the cries of 'Look out!', before it disappeared. Only to reappear within enemy ranks, ravaging their troops as sighs of relief ran through the allied shinobi. Only a select few saw a silver-haired man collapse, worn out, a wry smile behind his mask as blood dripped down his chin.

'Kakashi-sensei!'

Grief.

A bloodied scroll in his hand, he looked down, the smile of the man burning into his mind as he contemplated the picture one last time. Next time there will only be a name left on a stone that will one day fade into nothingness.

Iruka-sensei...

Anger.

A flash of deep lavender, silky yet dirtied and sticky with dried blood, before a burst of color and a silent scream-

'Hinata!'

Sorrow.

And it was much more.

"It is time." It was the soft murmur of a woman, burning words of petals and red ink on blank canvas, that awakened something from its slumber deep within him.

Time, it echoes, calling from the deep of his heart, twisting and growing to fill in a blank space that he had never considered. Time, and his mind jumps, rejoices at the sound.

"It is time," he repeats into the crook of his arms.

And what was set in stone began to flow again.

"You seem to be in a great amount of pain, young one."

Naruto startled, broken out of his trance. The melodious voice was calm - calmer than anything he'd heard before - and Naruto knew that voice. He hadn't heard it, never even felt it, but he knew, somewhere deep, that it was close - very close to what he was, closer to his essence than anything could be - and it was home.

It was thin silk wrapped around soft alabaster skin, an exquisite and translucent fabric over a hint of red and yellow blooms. It coaxed him with a silent order, unspoken with a hardened edge hidden behind a veil of curious blank dignity.

He nodded, and that was all the answer he gave away.

A feathery touch, barely there, fluttered across his back to his shoulder. It disappeared for a moment before coming back, this time tracing the contour of his jaw to under his chin, impossibly soft skin pressing down lightly. It was hardly anything, but he leaned forward anyway, following that finger and shivering as it left his skin - refusing to think of that one person who used to do the same under blinking stars, pushing away the flowery scent that used to explode into soft specks of lavender behind his eyelids - and tilted his head, slowly, letting something other than need and hate guide his movements.

"Ah... you have a weary soul for one so young, dear one."

Naruto smiled, a small, noticeable bitterness that tasted of sweet tears never shed.

"A soul? Oh, I had let it go already... I had let it go at last when all but that alone was lost, isn't it enough? There isn't anything to give anymore."

He was met with silence, but the finger lingered on his face, lazily tracing his whiskers as the silky material of a white embroidered sleeve brushed his cheek.

"This sadness grows roots deep in your heart, and for that I am saddened. Fate has toyed with you many times, child. But I wonder..." she began, stroking calmly under his eyes as if brushing away tears, "Why is it your fragmented mind stays so strong?"

There was something in that voice, in that tone, that made Naruto swallow and pry open his eyes. He was met with bright light, blinding him for a moment, his dilated, darkened stormy blue pupils reflecting the bright shine of the Sun. There was a chuckle from within the light - deeper, almost as if resonating like a growl - but it remained soft, and strangely Naruto picked up the scent of fireflies and warm fur. Another small laughter, this time lighter, almost flying, and his eyes caught a shape he hadn't noticed before, dark against the white powder-like ground.

"I thought you might appreciate the surprise."

A tantalizing smirk, and his eyes barely caught the movement of thin, pale lips before his entire body froze.

"Dobe."

There was a sharp cry, distant in his ears as his body leaped into motion faster than he could think, and his arms sneaked around a narrow waist as he nuzzled the other's neck.

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed, golden sun draped over dark midnight, and strong arms rose beneath him to circle his shoulders.

He almost missed the shy murmur, but his sharp eyes caught it, and his heart reveled in those words.

"It's fine."

And he let it go, already missing the feel of soft scarred skin under his calloused fingers, the rich taste of tangy blood on his tongue as his fangs bit into a pale shoulder.

The man under him grunted, heavy and annoyed with the undertone of amusement, yet his arms tensed in that familiar way, pulling Naruto closer still.

"Don't mark me by accident, dobe." Never missing a beat as he threw that snide remark, and Naruto had to hide his smile as he bit down harder, earning a gasp from Sasuke.

"Damnit, dobe, I'm not lunch." At that Naruto had to yield, releasing his hold and muffling his chuckle into his friend's clothing.

"Sorry, just... I just had to make sure." The 'alive' was left unspoken but Sasuke understood anyway, understood that Naruto was wild and perhaps will always be more of a beast than a human; he understood since the day he had stepped into a messy and beaten apartment and golden eyes with flecks of crimson peered at him, nine tails tipped with white draped over orange tangled bed sheets. Sasuke could have ran away, could have left and never come back the moment white sharp canines sank into his flesh, pears of blood dripping as his nerves sent jolts of pain up his neck, but he didn't pull away, never did because Naruto hadn't.

Since then it was a thing between them. Others never understood, shied away from the sight, but it never bothered them anyway. Sasuke probably didn't understand fully Naruto's urges either, yet at the same time felt it, the electricity between the gasps and the blood, the relief that seeped through the numbing pain. And a little bit, just a little bit, even if Naruto would hit him on the head and call him stupid, Sasuke wanted to repay him.

So he didn't mind.

He pushed Naruto off him and the blonde rolled away with a chuckle, and Sasuke yanked on his jacket, covering his wound that was beginning to slightly swell. He huffed in annoyance as Naruto sat up and knelt in front of him, watching him with a frown.

"Let me take care of that."

"Tch, it's not the worse I've had - you haven't even bitten through."

Naruto winced at the memory but reached forward and grabbed a surprisingly thin wrist, prying it away as his other hand pulled the jacket down over the wounded shoulder. He leaned forward, a bit mesmerized by the sight of streaks of scarlet over white skin, but quickly shook his head and began licking at the wound. Sasuke almost hissed, but Naruto ignored him and continued tending to the small puncture wounds, his hands gripping Sasuke's arms tightly as the raven struggled in his grasp. He only let go when soft pink skin stretched over newly closed wounds and the blood was cleaned away, and Sasuke slapped his hands away with a growl, pulling up his jacket again.

"That was unnecessary, you idiot."

"Bastard."

And Sasuke had to turn away to hide a smile at the familiarity of it all.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I fear there is more important matters at hand."

Naruto turned his head calmly at the source of the voice he hadn't seen yet, sensing Sasuke tense beside him. He laid a hand on the other's knee to convey his trust in the approaching figure, and the raven relaxed, slightly confused and wary of the arrival.

Glistening amber orbs focused on them as light danced around them, almost playfully, pristine white fur shining with stripes of red tracing the taut muscles as the gigantic beast moved. Orange and blue flames flickered around, ethereal in their appearance and scorching hot, creating shimmering embers as they burned and heated the air. It was almost suffocating, yet Sasuke couldn't find the will to move away from the silky white heat, the scent of wild red, yellow blooms and warm fur oddly comforting and familiar to his senses.

He tells himself it's because of the crinkling of lightning around his arm while the Chidori crackles, because of the hellish flames of Amaterasu as it burns away at the battlefield, but he couldn't and wouldn't believe it, not while his heart speeds up in a feeling he hadn't known after Itachi, after Naruto, and perhaps after Sakura.

The sudden shift of his companion startles him and Sasuke jumps a little. He watches as Naruto stood, his head barely reaching the beast's shoulders yet never looking any smaller, and stops, because it wasn't, couldn't -

Because Naruto mutters, and the sound is amplified, echoing in the barren landscape, impossibly true, "Amaterasu."

The divine beast chuckles, light as a feather even as it creates a deep rumble in its chest, and sits down, lowering its head so it can look at Naruto's cobalt eyes.

"I didn't expect you to remember, young one. No... You are indeed young, but your soul is old, old and wise enough to recall its creator, and, by extension, me."

The voice was of thin silk draped over hard burning metal, an exquisite and translucent fabric over the burns and scorches of ethereal fires.

Sasuke's eyes widened as Naruto smiled, not one of those exuberant smiles that reaches his ears and closes his eyes but one of those that are rarely seen, small and genuine, laced with mischief and soft fondness. Sasuke had seen that smile only, only when Hinata was still alive, on that secret star filled night, under the moon shining a pale violet where he promised them to be the keeper of their eternal vows.

"I don't think I can ever forget a being quite as particular, Amaterasu, or shall I say Raise?"

"Raise is quite fine, chosen one."

"You spoke of important matters, I believe?"

"Indeed I have. But it's more of an offer than a discussion, I am afraid."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this. "An offer? What deal do you have to propose, Rising sun?"

The beast stood, shifting, and began circling around Naruto and Sasuke, awe-struck and still sitting.

"It was Mother's decision. There is actually not much of a choice to make - you accept and the process will be comparatively less brutal, but refusing will not change much."

Sasuke contemplated these words carefully, but seeing no response from Naruto, asked, "And what is this 'deal', exactly?"

Amaterasu grinned, a row of sharp fangs showing as she answered of her melodious voice.

"I will send both of you back."

She chuckled, her tongue darting out to wet her muzzle, and Sasuke almost shuddered. He had a bad feeling about this.

"Go to sleep and awake in a new world, chosen ones."

"It's time."

The world suddenly was engulfed by white - and all faded into black.

And what was set in stone, flowing and twisting, gave a mighty pull - and all was reset.

Another chapter! Next chapter, team hummingbird! Please Review! *bow*