Winter's P.O.V
I walked through the snow laden forest, snowflakes falling softly onto my skin. Each snowflake is unique and different, melting at first contact.
Sasuke allows me to walk out here when it's snowing because my tracks will be covered quickly, no one can follow me. He trusts me enough to have some time to freely roam because I was tired and stressed every minute I was cooped up in his house.
Tomorrow marks 8 months of captivity, personally, I'm glad he hasn't killed me. There's still a chance I can rescue Haku and go home.
I sigh and stretch my arms out on either side of me, breathing deeply and then exhaling, white clouds of warmth escaping my lips. As much as I want to relax, something pokes at the inside of my heart.
Something holds me back when I think about leaving Sasuke, and I don't know what it is.
As I make my way through the trees, I hear a clanging. Ninja. What are ninja doing all the way out here?
Quickly and quietly, I duck behind a tree and peer around it. There are two ninjas against one girl, with an overpowered punch, both the men hit the tree with such force that it breaks their backs.
The girl with pink hair and emerald eyes lands, huffing, and puffing. She has a large gash on her right arm, blood dripping onto the snow. I watch as her left hand hovers over her wound, then suddenly starts to glow green. To my surprise, the gash starts to close.
I leaned back and got ready to leave when I hear the girl call out softly. "You can come out now, they won't hurt you."
Well, I wasn't afraid of them hurting me, but oh well.
I walked up to her casually and gazed at her healing wound. "It's called medical ninjutsu. You aren't a ninja are you?" She asked obnoxiously.
Well duh, I'm not wearing a headband. Even rogue ninja wear headbands but there's a slash across the village symbol, which is stupid because then other people can see that they're rogue. I shake my head and she tilts her face to look up at me.
"Where do you come from?"
I point the direction I came from and then think better of it so I point several other directions and wink at her so she gets the idea.
"Are you mute?" She asks gently like she doesn't want to offend me.
I nod and she gives me a pity look, embarrassed, I look down.
"Do you have a family?" What is this, 20 questions?
I smile at the sad memory as I remember my brother and I playing 20 questions. I would always think of tough things like werewolves and mermaids and he would think of things like grass, or sky. I would always win of course.
I shake my head. I remember that I brought my pad of paper with me and so I write my name on it. She smiles a closed-eyes smile and replies, "My name's Sakura. Winter is a cool name."
I sit down cross-legged in front of her, I'm enjoying this. This is the first time I've had contact with another person in 8 months. I write down on the piece of paper, 'Do you have any friends?'
Sakura, as in 'cherry blossom', nods and begins to tell me about all her friends. "There's this one guy named Shikamaru and we used to all think he was stupid until he beat his teacher at Shogi, which is this real hard mental game, and he comes up with all these crazy strategies when we are in danger and all of us owe our lives to him." She prattles on and tells me about all her crazy and amazing friends and I can't but help to listen to her voice.
I didn't care about how chatty she was at all, in fact, it was kind of comforting to know that I didn't have to try and communicate with her, I could just listen.
Even though it has been an hour, I feel like I know everything about her. She laughs and smiles and sometimes I scribble something down like, 'No way!' and 'She did that?!'
"Then there's the number one knuckleheaded ninja, Naruto. He's this crazy kid with spiked up yellow hair and he always wears an orange jumpsuit, where he got it is a mystery to us all, and I don't even know if he owns two or three pairs, all I know is that he wears it all day, every day! None of us know if he washes it!" I silently laugh as she continues. "But when he wants to, he can be pretty serious. He's made it his dream to be the Hokage of the Leaf Village, that's my village and the Hokage is the leader of the village. But before he does that he wants to... retrieve somebody that we lost a while ago. Someone who was very important to Naruto and me." Her eyes start to water but she wipes them away and keeps smiling. Whoever she lost must have been very important to her.
Curiosity gets the better of me and so I ask her, 'Who did you lose?'
She seems to think it over and then unsurely she asks, "I suppose I could tell you... you're not going to go and tell everyone are you?" Obviously not. I shake my head and she smiles. "His name was Sasuke Uchiha, and he was my comrade, my teammate."
My breath catches in my throat. She knows Sasuke?
"What's the matter? You just went really pale." I shake my head and motion for her to continue. "When I was little I had this massive crush on him, still do actually... Well, anyway, he has a really dark past and he thought that if he ran off with this evil criminal, he would become more powerful. He wants to be more powerful so he can seek revenge on the person who destroyed his life... That's all I can really tell you, but Naruto and I haven't given up on him yet. Someday we'll find him and we'll bring him back home."
I had heard that Sasuke had a dark past, something to do with his clan, but I had never heard about the revenge part. Did he deal in darkness to become more powerful? That revenge must mean a lot to him, I should ask him about it later.
"Are you okay? I shouldn't have told you that much..." She smiles sadly. "But I really like you, there's something about you Winter."
I should tell her I know where Sasuke is.
I should tell her right now that he is only four kilometers away.
But I can't.
Instead, I pull out my paper and write her a message, Sakura peers over my shoulder as I'm writing it, her breathing becoming uneven. I write:
'About nine months ago I ran into Sasuke Uchiha, the one with Orochimaru. I didn't get to talk to him that much because he left, but I know that he's alive and well. He's powerful but he hasn't gotten his revenge yet. I'm sure if you wait it out a while he'll come back to you, don't give up on him no matter what. He could use someone like you.'
Sakura hugs me from behind and she whispers, "Roughly nine months ago we heard that Orochimaru had taken in a girl who was immune to Ninjutsu and Genjutsu..."
She gives me a knowing smile and I write, 'Yes, that was me.'
Her eyebrows furrow together and a confused look appeared on her face. "I also heard a month later, that Orochimaru ordered your death by Sasuke. But you're still alive."
I wasn't expecting that.
Abruptly, I stand up and brush off the snow that had already started to sink into my clothes. Shivering, I wave goodbye to Sakura and awkwardly try to walk away.
Before I get a meter, Sakura grabs my arm, "Please don't go, I didn't mean to scare you off. I won't tell anyone about you, I promise."
I know she's telling the truth, but how can I explain to her everything that's happened to me?
Sakura's face turns into one of understanding and whispers, "Wherever you're staying, are you okay?"
I want to tell her the truth, as she is being honest with me so I scribble, 'I don't know.' and I look at her with uncertainty in my eyes.
"You know where Sasuke is." It's not a question.
'I can't tell you, I'm truly sorry. I can't let you follow me either.' I comb my fingers through my hair in frustration and lean against a tree.
"Then tell me, does he harm you?"
I shake my head, not exactly. 'It's hard to explain, I have to be back soon, I've stayed out here longer than I should have.'
"Promise me one thing." She asks, an unexplainable expression on her face. I nod and she continues, "Bring him some light, in all that darkness he's in, I'm afraid he's going to lose his way."
She walks away and I know for a certainty that she won't follow me. As I walk back the way I came, a feeling of dread settles on me.
Even though Sasuke is getting friendlier around me, he's like a mine. He's dormant, just waiting for me to step on him.
I am Sasuke's light, I always have been from the moment I met him... but it's only a matter of time before he puts me out.
***
I return to Sasuke's house, my tracks covered up by the snowfall. I think there's going to be a blizzard tonight as it is getting harder and harder to see. I storm into the house and slam the door closed, taking in the warmth.
Shivering like someone who had just dropped an ice cube down the back of my shirt, I stumble into the front room where my warm couch sits by the crackling fire.
Sasuke leans against the dining room door frame, watching me. "Where have you been?"
I shrug my shoulders, trying to play off that I lost track of time. The shrugging didn't work, all it managed to do was send another shiver down my spine and my lips turned blue.
Sasuke seemed to dismiss the yelling until later and he gestured to the bathroom. "Go take a warm shower, we'll discuss this later." I made a face at the back of his head and his annoying voice sounded, "I saw that." Woops.
I placed my tongue back into my mouth and grabbed some extra clothes to wear when I got out of the shower.
Sasuke's P.O.V
It's been over two hours since she was supposed to come home. She didn't make dinner so I had to do it, I silently chuckled at her expression when she saw the bread and butter.
Her damp hair cascaded down her back leaving a puddle of water on the floor, could she at least have dried her hair a little better?
Her sharp eyes caught me glaring at the puddle on the floor and she raised an eyebrow. "You're wiping it up later," I mutter as she rolls her eyes.
She holds up her pad of paper, 'Could you at least have tried to make dinner, bread, and butter do not count.'
"Hey, making sure you cut the bread just right and buttering it perfectly takes a lot of time and effort." I joke and she looks away as if to say 'Yeah, three seconds of time and effort.'
I read her scribbles as I'm munching on my piece of bread, 'What did you do today?'
My eyes glaze over and I look at her with a steady gaze, challenging her. "You don't want to know." She looks away, uncomfortable. "What took you so long out there?"
'Just lost track of time. May I ask about your vengeance?'
"No." She smiles and looks down at her plate.
'Well, I tried.' She writes on her paper and I can't help the smirk that settles onto my face.
She never misses a single detail, in her silence, she observes more than a normal person, she takes everything in. I've thought about her staying here and I know she can't stay here forever, but there's something I can't put my finger on. When I think about killing her or sending her away to fend for herself, I can't do it. It's how I came to my decision and I'm ready to tell her.
"Uh, Winter." I clear my throat and she looks at me, observing and thinking, studying my expression. "I've thought about it for quite a while and I know you haven't been sleeping easy... I just wanted to tell you I've made up my mind."
Winter pushes her bread roll away and gives me her full attention.
"I've decided that I'm not going to kill you, you can stay here for as long as you'd like. And, if you want to leave I'll help you, I trust that you won't go back to Orochimaru."
I've never seen a more beautiful smile, it lights up the entire room and something in the depths of my heart pokes at me but I push it away.
She writes down quickly, 'I have nowhere to go.'
I smile and gesture to the couch, "I guess then you'll have to stay here." She silently laughs as I continue, "But you have to work to stay here, I'm appointing you as my official housemaid."
She nods and a part of me wishes I didn't have to keep up this charade with her. As much as I want her to believe I can be light again, darkness is just too much a part of me.
******
Do you think Sasuke will ever change his ways?
What do you think about her conversation with Sakura?
Love, Books4_Ever xx