Pastel

SakuIno Challenge response to the Narutoyuri lyric wheel They were going to be 'friends forever' but somehow, forever got lost along the way...

A/N: Forgive me if it seems to have gone in a different manner than it was intended to - I didn't mean it to, and I wished to write another one, but ran out of time.

I don't know if I'm supposed to say the title of the song, but the line used was "an infinite of time" ;

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Dawn peeked over the craggy peaks that surrounded Hidden Leaf village, hints of pastel creeping over the trees. Fragments of light encapsulated in the morning dew, sparking for a brief moment, momentary diamonds.

Pastel dew meeting pastel trees and pastel stone grazed by a pastel winds in a vision worthy of a painting, a mosaic, set in soft pastel .

She watched this, her own pastel cherry-blossom tresses caressed by the light breeze.

This beauty, all beauty would be only momentary, a mere fleeting moment then back to the point of fading. (Pastel memories...)

This was forever, as in the same forever of young girls promising each that they will always be together - 'friends forever'.

An infinite of time seemed to have passed from then, till it was nothing more, a period of dreaming. The flowers were the same, unchanging in their pastel hues and prostrate bodies graced by the wind.

To her, the memories have a golden sheen, a blurry pastel quality. Perhaps they were, as memories tend to, forgetting most mistakes, until it became a flawless version, only the final closing fight remained. And this mistake burned upon her mind, always just below the surface what she'd throw away to go after the person she thought was so dear to her heart.

Someone who'd been there, remembering the times of friendly walks and when things were simple. Hand holding, skipping, spending time together as friends. All this, lost.

Somehow, an accident had happened. A secret kept between them, a hesitant pressing of lips upon lips under moonlight and gentle whispers of breathing. They'd never spoken of that night. Though she could still remember it, the radiance of the clear night sky filled with stars, the gentle fragrance still lingered in her mind.

Last night she had relived that moment, even knowing the way it had ended, the eventual crushes and the end of their friendship. It turned to rivalry, a bitter end to such a precious thing.

She remembered how it used to be before, when things were simple, before the moonlit kiss, before crushes, before duties.

"But... I still love you" she murmured softly. "And I never wanted to lose you.... "

The wind caught her breath with a gust of surprising force, taking the words and making them dissipate, disappear into nothing. Meaningless, but it seemed a nice tribute.

She noticed a small flower, a light pastel yellow, like Ino's hair, beside it small pink flower had begun to bloom, petals reaching out, trying as hard as possible to break out, to grow, become something

You're not a flower... you're a bud

A bud, a beginning. The trail split at this point, but she knew it would return, someday.

Verdant, blooming, the trail was laced with a hint of sorrow, she continued on down to the village.

"Someday" she said aloud. "Someday, we'll be back here, and this time, It will be different."

Smiling to herself, she continued on, blooming, becoming.

Knowing that this love would not be unfulfilled. No, not this time.

-fin-