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Love is the joy of the good, the wisdom of the wise, the amazement of the Gods

Plato

Prologue: Tell me which of them first came to Be

Beyond the bounds of Gaea, and Aether who filled the misty expanse, and the dome of Ouranos that overshadowed all, was the Void wherein Khaos slept.

Into this void walked the god who was named in his own tongue Indra, and so was called by his immortal kin. The mortals, however, named him Astraios, the god of the stars and the planets, father of the Anemoi, the Four Winds, and the husband to the rosy-fingered Eos, goddess of the Dawn.

He came often, for without the dome of Ouranos dwelt Indra Astraios' other children, the stars. Eos his wife—who among the gods was known as Mikoto—worried often for her children. So it was that he wandered amongst the void of Khaos Kaguya, and his children flocked to him and begged of him stories of their elder brothers.

He told them stories of Boreas Madara, the fierce and cold North Wind, his eldest son, who roared with fury down from the mountains when autumn passed. Next was Notos Obito, the South Wind, who brought the warm winds and rains and storms of summer up from the sea and the south. Last of all was Zephyrus, the gentle West Wind, who coaxes brings forth life from the earth in spring.

When he had bade all his children farewell he ambled back, intending to return home to bring good tidings to his wife, but this time his wandering steps brought him a little farther out than he had ever been before.

It was then he found it.

It was the essence of a god, but it was nebulous and unformed, swirling about in loose distress.

Indra Astraios stopped and stared at it, wondering where it had come from. He bent his mind on it, seeking out its purpose and origin, and after a moment stepped back in surprise.

Indra himself was the son of the titan Krios and his sister-wife Eurybia, who were in turn the children of Tsunade Gaia and her consort, Orochimaru Ouranos. He was born long after Khaos had birthed her children Erebos and Nyx and went to sleep in peace, so he had not been there when the Four Primordial Gods had come into existence. First had been Khaos Kaguya, and she had dwelt awhile alone, before she was joined by three others: first, Tsunade Gaea, the Earth, and Danzo Tartarus, the Pit.

And last of the First Four was Eros, Love. It was not a god, not yet, at least. It was merely the overwhelming force of love, which had seeped into the foundations of the world at its very beginning. But the world was now firmed and structured, and love was no longer merely a mysterious force.

Eros was crying out for form, in order to spread its love amongst god and man.

Indra narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. He was the god of Stars, of Planets, and the gift of making life was not his strength. However, he knew one with whom it was second nature.

He strode back to the rim of the Ouranos, and called out with his mind, summoning his son to him.

Zephyrus answered with all the speed of the wind, and soon stood before his heavenly father.

"You called for me?" He asked, his voice low and smooth, his dark eyes sharp and curious.

"I have need of your gifts, Itachi my son." Indra said.

Zephyrus Itachi narrowed his dark gaze, scanning his astral father curiously. "My realm is within the bounds of the earth—I cannot command great winds without, here amongst the stars."

"I have no need of great winds," Astraios his father said. "Only one. Come with me and I will show you."

Perplexed, his son followed him, out beyond the regions of the stars, until they came upon it. The entity of Love, lost and without form. Zephyrus Itachi looked at it, and his dark eyes softened in warm compassion.

"And what do you plan to do, Father?" He asked.

"You are Zephyrus, the fertile west wind, who brings forth life from the earth." Indra Astraios answered. "If we put our skill and might together, we may be able to grant this love a form, that they may join the host of the Gods and govern and bless the mortals.

Itachi looked upon the swirling essence of Love, and nodded once in consent.

Together those two bent their cunning skill and power upon the essences, gathering them together and binding it into a form, such as those bourn by the gods. And in the end Zephyrus sent his wind into the form, stirring it with life.

There was one moment of silence, and then the tiny form in Zephyrus Itachi's arms opened its wide eyes and stared around at the world.

"What shall we call him, Father?" Itachi asked, and Astraios shook his head.

"That is for you to decide. I merely found him, and aided your efforts. All the great part of the binding and the forming belong to you, and that has carried over into its form. Give him his name, for you are the closest thing he shall have to a father."

Zephyrus Itachi looked down at the tiny form in his arms, who was staring up at him in wonder, black eyes wide. Then the infant god smiled, and Itachi smiled back.

"Sasuke. I will call him Sasuke." He said, and the boy-child laughed.

So it was that the God of Love was born, he who had been born alongside the four primordial gods, who had existed before the Day and the Night and Ouranos himself. Amongst the Gods and Immortals he was called Sasuke, but in the speech of man he was known as Eros, he who caused even the gods to tremble in fear.

~0O0~

"He is a very pretty child, is he not, my husband?"

Zephyrus Itachi glanced at his wife and raised an eyebrow. "Were you expecting anything less from the God of Love, Izumi?"

Iris Izumi shook her head. "No, I suppose not." After a moment she began hesitantly, "Speaking of his status… I wished to speak to you."

Itachi looked away from the infant god, who was struggling to make his wings lift him up from off the ground. "What is it?"

"As you said, Sasuke is the god of love." Izumi said. "Do you not think it best if he is trained on how to use his powers by one who would be familiar with them?"

The God of the West Wind frowned thoughtfully, staring off into the sky. "Perhaps… do you wish for me to speak to Aphrodite then?"

"If she helped raise Sasuke, I am sure it would benefit him. She after all has her own son, Gaara Himeros, and she is said to be a doting mother." Izumi said cautiously.

Her husband considered for a while. "If you would think it wise, then I shall take Sasuke to Kythera tomorrow, and until he is grown he will split his time between us and Aphrodite." He saw a smile brighten upon the Goddess of the Rainbow's face, and he smirked. "Did you think I would let her take our son away from us?" He chided. "Nay, Sasuke is ours, and will remain so."

Iris Izumi smiled back, and then lifted one hand, sending a stream of rainbow-colored light to dance around the child. Sasuke shrieked in delight and reached out with pudgy infant fists, trying to catch the refracted beams in his hands.

"I wonder what he shall be like, when he grows up." She mused thoughtfully.

"He will be strong," The West Wind said, his voice confident. "He is one of the four Primordial Deities, even if he does not look it now. And besides, Love is a power that can even bring the Gods of Olympus to their knees. Yes, he will be strong indeed."

~0O0~

~0O0~

Author's Note:

Hello! Welcome to my first story! It's going to be a retelling of the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche, one of my personal all-time favorites. I dearly hope you all enjoy it!

As a note to those who might wonder, I have been and will continue to do research into my source material, and every decision I made when fitting the Naruto characters into the world of the Ancient Greek Myths was carefully and meticulously thought out. Of course, in order to find characters that best fit the deities they would be replacing, I was forced to juggle around family ties from the manga. For instance, here, Itachi (Zephyrus, God of the West Wind) is the son of Mikoto (Eos, Goddess of the Dawn) and Indra (Astraios, God of planets, stars, and the art of Astrology), instead of Mikoto and Fugaku. And, as I mentioned briefly, Gaara (Himeros, God of Desire) is the son/brother/whatever of Aphrodite who is... complicated. But she's definitely not Karura.

Greek mythology, of course, isn't making this any easier. Eros, for instance, is listed as having multiple origins. Since I'm using Hesiod's Theogony as my baseline (in fact, the prologue title is a quote from thence), I felt it necessary to have Eros be one of the four primordial deities. However, his relationship with Aphrodite is necessary to the plot of the story, so I had to figure out the best way to make both work. My bridge between the two came in when I discovered Zephyrus and his wife Iris (Goddess of the Rainbow) were also listed as Eros' parents in a version of the mythology. Since I had already decided that Itachi would be Zephyrus... well, everything kinda fell into place. I hope it makes as much sense as I think it does!

Anyway, for those who are wondering, this is going to be a Sasuke/Sakura fic. The other pairings which impact the story will be Itachi/Izumi, Kakashi/Rin, and Ino/Sai. But a lot of Naruto characters and their respective gods will be making appearances, so the casts won't be restricted to them.

I hope to have the next chapter up soon, in which we will be introducing Sakura! I can't wait!

See you then!

3

~0O0~