WARNING(S): N/A

A/N: Much like mythology, I'm a real sucker for Fae!SasuSaku. I adore the trope of "well here's this strange kid who wants to be my new best friend, now I've grown up and oh no! he's a hot man now!" and vice versa.

The jeers at her back made her tiny legs pick up their pace, barely managing to dodge a thrown rock at her shoulder.

Little Sakura panted hard as she escaped into the underbrush, her little body barely snagging on the underbrush as she squirmed her way through. The girls chasing her seemed to fade from earshot as she struggled to her feet and kept running, not trusting herself to look back.

As soon as she deemed herself safe enough, she curled into the side of a tree and began to cry, sobs wracking her entire body as the cool wind made the little cuts on her knees and arms sting.

Today had seemed like a good enough day; her mother was in a good mood for once and her father had a day off from work. They'd had her favorite breakfast, and her mother had even called out to have a good day as she ran out to play.

And yet something had to go wrong. While she was sitting in one of the fields on the edge of the village, a couple of older girls began bullying her. She was content to ignore it, but then they started pulling hair. And then they started pinching cheeks.

She cupped a hand to her sore face, feeling the divots where their nails had dug into her face. She sniffled pathetically and wiped her running nose on the sleeve of her sweater, staring up into the canopies of leaves above.

The trees grew abnormally thick here, the forest floor dark despite the bright sunny day above. Roots snaked along the ground, threatening to trip up any who trespassed. The trunks were lithe and curved and some were stout and chipped from nature. Ominous chattering and bird calls echoed across the air.

Sakura shivered and curled even tighter around her legs. "I… I shouldn't have come here…"

"I miss Daddy… I wish Mommy would come save me…" Closing her eyes, she rested her forehead against her knees.

…

When she opened her eyes again, the first thing she noticed was that it was oddly silent.

Blinking, she looked around the dimly-lit forest and her bottom lip trembled. The bird calls were gone.

"H- hello…?" She called.

There was no answer.

Struggling to her feet, she dusted off her legs and braced herself against the trunk with her hand, clasping the other to her chest.

"Hello?" She tried again.

Soft footsteps crunched on the mossy ground.

She blinked, and all of a sudden a boy peeked behind a tree, a curious expression on his face. He seemed about her age, with unruly midnight hair that fell about his pale face.

"I heard you yelling," he said plainly, pushing away from the tree trunk and coming closer. Sakura instinctively moved backward. "What are you doing here?"

"I- I'm hiding," she meekly answered, ducking her head. "What are you doing here?"

The boy puffed up his cheeks and turned away with a pout. "I'm also hiding - my stupid older brother is too busy with training to play with me."

Then he turned his gaze on her, and a smile spread across his lips. "Hey, you wanna play with me instead?"

"U- uh…?" She squeaked as he grabbed her hand.

"I'm Sasuke," he told her.

"S- Sakura…"

"Just like your hair, right?" He pointed to her baby-pink locks. "Okay, Sakura, let's play! I know the perfect hiding spots…"

Fifteen years passed by in a blink.

Sakura's family had packed up and moved away within a year, leaving the bustling village behind for a quieter life in the countryside. She grew up helping her father farm crops for a living, and finally she decided she wanted to move back to Konoha to start her own life anew. Her father had been sad, but her mother encouraged her independence.

So now here she was, twenty and staring at the old family home she'd lived in growing up. Miraculously the couple who'd been living in it were eager to sell it to her for a good price. After a week getting set up in the new place and securing a job as an intern at the local hospital, she decided to take a walk around the town for old time's sake.

It had sure grown since she left. Her old family friends had all grown and led their own lives, the few friends she'd made she hardly recognized, and her old bullies had all left the village years before. Despite the new buildings and urbanized areas, the forest she'd played in so many times before had remained the same.

Before she knew it she was crawling through that same bush (now overgrown and flowering in the summer weather), and the sunny skies above vanished in the canopy of thick branches and leaves.

Sakura took in a breath. It still smelled of dampness and fresh oak. With a content sigh, she began her walk.

"The memories," she mused to herself as she trailed her fingertips along the trunk of a certain tree. This one had some irregular notches carved into its side, along with the words "Summer 19XX" written below them. That was the summer she and Sasuke had marked their heights and promised to be friends forever, she realized with a forlorn smile. That was also the summer when her father told her they'd be moving away by autumn, forcing her to leave her new best friend behind.

So lost in her own thoughts was she that she hardly registered the soft crunching of footsteps behind her.

As she looked around, she started to realize that the chirping of birds was gone, as well as the buzzing of cicadas. With a frown, she turned.

"Sakura," a deep voice greeted her, and she jumped as she spotted a young man with longer hair standing beside a tree.

Her eyes widened. Though time had matured them both, she knew those dark eyes and handsome features when she saw them.

"Sasuke," she breathed, rushing to hug him. "Sasuke, it's been- such a long time, look at you! Look at your hair! You're all grown up!"

He caught her easily, holding her at arm's length to study her. With a soft chuckle, he responded, "So have you. You're almost to my chin now."

Rolling her eyes, she pulled him in for a hug. He still smelled like smoke and pine, and his touch was warm as the rays of the sun as he hugged back.

"I'm sorry I was gone for so long," she murmured into his shoulder before pulling away.

"It was lonely without you." With a frown, he cupped a hand to her cheek and leaned in to search her face. "You finally got away from your parents?"

There was a delightful shiver that went up her spine at the intensity of his eyes. "I decided that the agricultural life wasn't for me."

He made a noise of agreement before letting go, taking her hand instead.

"Many things have changed since you moved," he commented as they walked through the trees. "Konoha isn't the small village you remember. Now it's a city."

"I've noticed," she mused, squeezing his hand in hers. "Yet this forest has stayed the same. I wonder why…?"

"Well, that might be because of me."

Raising a brow, she turned to look at him.

"I begged my father to keep them from bulldozing our forest when I was young. Somehow he got the council to agree to leave it - I still don't know how he managed, yet here we are." He shrugged and met her eyes. "I didn't want you to come back to an empty lot."

Her heart warmed at the soft smile pulling at his mouth, and her cheeks flushed pink. "Well I'm glad you got to keep it the same," she responded.

"Me too." Squeezing her hand, he stopped beside a tree. Sasuke turned with a mischievous gleam in his visible eye. "Hey, why don't we play again? Like we did when we were children?"