Wasureru – To Forget
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...
…The two made-up characters are all mine, though.
This is my first try at writing a fan fic, so I would really appreciate reviews and some constructive criticism – meaning, what do you like about it, what's wrong with it and how do I make it better? You don't have to, but I can't make it better if I don't know what's wrong with it.
The pairing is Itachi and a girl I made up. I'm not intending to write lots of…adult scenes, so if you like lots of Lemon, sorry to disappoint. I would say that it's going to be more 'fluff' but that's not quite what I'm going for, either…Somewhere nicely in between, maybe…
Anyway, hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think!
Chapter 1
The sky was a clear pale blue expanse, empty apart from the sun which hung in the sky like a golden ball of fire. It cast its light and warmth over the lush green grass below, which wavered gently in the soft breeze. The birds sitting high in the trees, sang their sweet tunes to the beautiful day and flew through the sky in small groups, chasing one another.
Two young girls, who were also enjoying the wonderful weather, ran happily down to the edge of the forest. They had no intention of entering at that point, but were headed towards their favorite Sakura tree, which stood a little apart from the rest. It was currently in full bloom, its soft pink blossoms swaying gently. It provided a cool web of shade below its branches, where the girls liked to sit, reveling in their freedom.
As they sat they talked and laughed, and occasionally began singing at the tops of their voices. The songs weren't important, nor were any of their conversations – which consisted mostly of talk about nice young men who had caught their eyes, but that was to be expected of teenage girls – the important thing was that they were enjoying themselves. Sometimes it can be a while before another chance for good memories comes around.
It was halfway through the afternoon, during a lull in conversation, when one of the girls got to her feet and moved towards the forest. She was a little short for her age but had plenty of energy and enthusiasm to more than make up for it. Her eyes were grey, more than blue, and they shone like silver when she smiled in the sunlight.
Giggling mischievously she looked back at her friend, her short, wavy hair swung over her shoulder as she did so. Usually her hair just looked blonde, but caught in the light it had natural streaks of browns and tints of red, here and there.
"Hana-chan," her friend called after her, getting smoothly to her feet, "Where're you going?"
"In there," Hana replied, pointing towards the depths of the forest before her, "We've always wanted to go for a wander in there. So let's go!"
"We always agreed we wouldn't unless we had a map, or something to guide us. What if we get lost out here? We could be stuck in there for weeks having to live off weird looking plants and fungi…"
"Amaya-chan, you shouldn't deny your adventurous spirit, y'know," Hana told her, pretending to be stern. Amaya tried to keep a straight face but she knew that Hana was telling the truth, "Come on! It'll be fun! You know it will! Let's go exploring!"
They'd been close friends since they were four and knew each other inside out, and when it came to things like this, Hana always won. Especially when she was wearing that cheeky you-can't-say-no-to-me smile of hers!
"Hana-chan, why is it I can never say no to that face?"
Hana shrugged her shoulders and accompanied the movement with another little giggle.
"Because I'm always right. Anyway, we won't get lost - this forest can't be that big," Amaya opened her mouth to point out that it was stupid to think that way, but Hana carried on, "we won't be kidnapped or attacked, and there won't be any monsters, vampires, werewolves or giant man-eating spiders." There was a pause.
"I was going to say, we haven't eaten since this morning, so maybe we should have lunch first," Amaya replied, having one final try at persuading her friend, knowing how this would turn out.
"Oh, come on! I promise we won't be too long..." Hana put on her most pleading and innocent face.
Finally giving in, Amaya fished in her pockets and pulled out a silky black ribbon. She used it to tie back her long, dark hair which fell in bouncy curls to just past her shoulders.
Sighing, she thought that perhaps this was the reason for that bad feeling she'd had all day? Maybe something was going to happen while they were in the forest.
Telling herself that it was probably just her worrying too much, she shook it off and began to walk beside her friend, enjoying the fresh smell of the trees and plants around her.
"That's more like it, Amaya-chan!" Hana said happily; she was glad to see a familiar sparkle in her friend's blue-green eyes, "So…Your dream guy? What would he be like?" She asked, continuing their previous conversation.
"My dream guy? Well, he'd be tall and handsome with dark, dreamy eyes. Of course, he'd have to be kind, caring, sweet and strong, someone who's willing to protect me and stand up for me, you know?"
"Heh, I could have guessed you'd say that, Amaya-chan. For me he'd have to be similar except he'd have to be loud and energetic like me…Maybe with a bit of a naughty streak, though. You're guy sounds too boring!"
They laughed and Amaya gave her friend a light shove. Walking at a leisurely pace they trudged through the undergrowth, pointing at squirrels and birds nesting in the trees, or at brightly coloured plants drinking in the sunlight which slipped through the canopy above.
Absorbed in their surroundings, the sudden sound of Hana's stomach rumbling in the silence was a surprise.
"It's been two hours, already!" Amaya said, glancing at her watch, her eyebrows rising.
"Time flies when you're having fun!" Hana smiled back.
"I guess. Come on, we should go home," Amaya turned as she spoke. Hana nodded and followed her friend, thinking of what she would have to eat once she got back home and thus provided the next topic of conversation.
The thing is, they hadn't exactly been paying attention to where they'd been walking, there was no path in sight, and people don't usually walk in perfectly straight lines…So, another two and a half hours later, they were still wandering 'back the way they'd come'.
"I'm so tired and hungry!" Hana complained as her stomach rumbled loudly; again. "Does this forest ever end?"
"Told you we should have eaten beforehand and this forest must end, 'It can't be that big'," Amaya replied, mimicking her friend.
"Oh, alright, so we are lost, and we are hungry but at least we haven't been attacked or kidnapped or bumped into any vampires, werewolves or giant man eating spiders."
"Yet," Amaya said dryly.
"We'll be alright. I bet there's no one else in this whole forest! There's nothing but bugs and trees all around us!"
"That's supposed to be comforting? We're lost. If there's no one else here, there's no one to help us."
"I…I hadn't thought of it that way…" A look of worry flashed across Hana's face, before being replaced once again with her smile, "Look, I remember seeing that plant before! We must be going the right way."
"Yeah, we must be going the right way…Just the same as we were going the right way the last four times you've pointed it out! We're going around in circles…This is hopeless."
Hana poked her friend in the arm, "We'll be okay, it's just because it's getting dark and we've been walking for hours that we can't find our way back. In the morning we can start walking again." She looked towards the sky, "Well, it looks like we'll be sleeping outside tonight…I've always wanted to go camping."
"Hana-chan, when people go camping they take a tent, food, water, clothes, a phone and all the little bits and pieces that they might need. They know where they are, and where they are going. I would hardly call us curling up under a tree in the middle of Kami-sama-knows-where, camping."
Giggling, Hana insisted that it was still camping, in a way, and flopped down at the foot of a wide tree. Amaya sat beside her friend and leaned back against the tree trunk, watching the slowly fading light.
"Amaya-channn…" Hana whispered.
"Mm?"
"Sing to me."
"Huh?"
Of all the times and places… Amaya thought to herself.
"Sing to me, I can't sleep..."
"So, what? You want me to sing you a lullaby?"
"Not a lullaby! I'm not a baby. It's just…You have a lovely voice so I thought it might help me sleep."
Staring at her friend in the darkness for a moment, Amaya sighed, "Okay…Just one song, though. I'm not staying awake all night singing you to sleep."
Nodding, Hana shuffled to make her self more comfortable, slowly drifting off as Amaya's sweet, soft voice seemed to make the darkness recede a little.
Amaya had always had a lovely voice. She hit every note perfectly and always seemed to put her feelings and her heart into her songs. Sometimes if she couldn't find the right way to say something she would sing it instead. It was a habit she had developed sometime when she was young.
When the song ended Amaya looked over at her peacefully sleeping friend, who she could just about see through the fading light, and smiled. Hana looked so innocent when she was sleeping. Then again, didn't everyone? Amaya had always found it interesting how peoples sleeping faces, could be so different to the face that they wore during the day.
There seemed to be clouds filling the sky now, blocking out most of the stars. The moon was barely visible, yet some of its silvery light still managed to creep its way through the trees and onto her pale form. Amaya's breathing slowed as she fell asleep, enjoying the soft breeze which played across her skin. She still couldn't shake off that feeling of foreboding, though.
She hadn't been asleep for more than ten minutes when she woke. She suddenly sat bolt upright. Immediately she could feel eyes watching her. She turned her head slowly. Red eyes stared at her from the darkness. For a moment she was still and silent.
R-Red eyes? They can't be human… Can they? Humans don't have blood red eyes... If…they're not human…then…
"Ahh! It's a monster," she cried, jumping back on Hana, who came awake with a start.
"What? Where? Help, it's going to eat me!"
They tried to get to their feet, tripping over each other in their haste. They both froze, when a rough hand grabbed one of each of their arms.
"Waa, there are two of them!" Hana whimpered, now wriggling against the hand, in a vain attempt to get free. Amaya didn't bother. It was clearly not working so she just stood, watching the red-eyed 'monster' coming closer, her mind racing to think a way out of the situation.
"We won't be attacked or kidnapped, huh?" She muttered angrily.
"Gomen, Amaya-chan… Sometimes I really wish I'd listened to you."
"So do I," Amaya whispered.
She wasn't really sure why she whispered it, but she got the feeling that these were two monsters she did not want to make angry. Of course, now that she had got over the initial shock of those eyes, she knew that they weren't really monsters…but it seemed that Hana hadn't quite worked that much out yet.
"Stop wriggling," growled the person holding onto them, in a deep, rough voice. Hana froze.
"It spoke." She said, looking upwards at the person holding her, a rather stupid expression her face. "I never thought monsters would speak…at least, not so that we could understand…"
Amaya hung her head. "Baka! They're not monsters." A look of understanding spread slowly across Hana's face and her mouth formed an 'o'.
"But…? How…? Red eyes? They're not human!" She squeezed her eyes shut so that she couldn't see the red ones coming closer, but had stopped wriggling.
Her mind seemed to come across something and Amaya formulated a simple plan, if you could call it that. She remembered something vaguely about self defense. She was sure that she had never had self defense lessons, but she knew…something. Hopefully, if they were lucky, this would work, but she'd have to move quickly.
Please go according to plan!
Taking a deep breath, she quickly raised her knee, so that the downward force would be greater. With all her strength she slammed her foot down, in the general direction of where the feet of the person holding them should have been. She was glad to find that her foot collided with his.
Yes! Hit!
Letting go with a grunt of surprise and pain, the man took a step back, clutching his foot. Amaya had no time to sigh in relief at the fact that it had worked just the way she had wanted, as it wasn't over yet. Taking advantage of the situation she had created, she grabbed Hana by the wrist and ran as fast as her legs would move.
She ignored the plants and tree roots reaching out of the ground, trying to snag her legs and trip her up. Occasionally they almost bumped into a tree, it was so dark, but they kept running. Branches caught on their clothes and scratched their skin but they kept moving. They didn't dare stop.
"Amaya-chan… You're so brave…" Hana panted, as she ran along side her friend.
"Be quiet," Amaya replied, listening carefully. She couldn't hear anything besides their foot steps and their heavy breathing, along with the cracking of twigs beneath their feet. Perhaps they weren't being followed?
Even so they kept running, Amaya no longer holding onto her friend so that they could both run easier. Her legs were beginning to ache but she ignored that too, thinking about getting away and only that.
They started to get tired as the adrenaline subsided and their breathing became heavy. Feet dragged and arms stung with small cuts. They slowed down but stumbled onwards.
Amaya heard a squeak of surprise from Hana behind her and turned, expecting her friend to have fallen over, or something of the sort. She hadn't though. She had disappeared.
Turning in a full circle Amaya searched for her friend in the darkness. She would have called out, but had no desire to give her position away. Listening hard she could only hear her own breathing and blood pounding in her ears.
Everything was still. There was hardly any light here. The small slithers of moonlight seemed to create an eerie affect. Shadows seemed to creep closer and closer. She thought she saw something move. Her breath caught in her throat.
After reassuring herself that it had been her imagination she slowed her breathing and closed her eyes, trying not to think about how dark and creepy the forest around her was. Instead she focused on the sounds. An owl hooted somewhere off to her right. A twig snapped to her left, followed by bushes rustling and a growl. It was probably just a fox or something.
Barely audible footsteps came from behind her, making her hold her breath. The feeling of eyes on her back made her stiffen, her own eyes snapping open. She was about to turn when she felt warm breath on her neck. Her mind was racing again, wondering what was planned for her.
"Too slow," a deep voice whispered softly into her ear. It sent a shiver down her spine and she spun around.
Taking a step back she stared up at red eyes and made herself breath slowly, doing her best not to panic. She tried to hold the man's powerful gaze but found that she couldn't help but look away. In the darkness his face was covered in shadows but she had the feeling that he could see her clearly.
The silence was suffocating and the darkness seemed to cling to him and yet, his eyes pierced through the darkness, watching her. If he was going to do something why wouldn't he just get on with it? All this waiting was just making her want to be swallowed up by the ground beneath her.
As if she had said it aloud he moved forward and reached out towards her face. Amaya moved back but he brushed her cheek with his thumb, wiping away a small trickle of blood, from where she had been scratched by a branch earlier.
Startled by his unexpected and seemingly gentle act, she looked up at him. The corners of his mouth twitched with a smirk as she limply fell forwards into his arms, a look of surprise momentarily gracing her soft features.
How…did he…? He barely…touched…me…?
Phew...Over at last
Just a few Japanese words in there…I'm sure you probably know what they mean, but just in case:
Kami-sama - God
Gomen - Sorry
Baka - Idiot
I hope it wasn't too long or boring. A slow start, I guess, but I needed to introduce the main characters and such…
If anyone out there has read all that and is still awake, well done, and thank you and I'd love it if you'd leave me a review…
If someone likes it I'll post another chapter in about a weeks time…Unless I get lots of reviews before then, in which case I might just be persuaded to post a little sooner -hint hint-
Well, thanks again…