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lavendereyedassassin · 2 years ago

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Cursed Kisses - Chapter 5: The Request

Sorry I forgot to post this last week so chapters 5 and 6 are out of order! :S

Chapter 5: The Request

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Sehnsucht (German): “Painful desire for that which can and will never be.”

SH Month Day 19 Prompt

Shinobi naku (Japanese): “Silent tears.”

SH Month Day 20 Prompt

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Upon entering the pagoda, the couple were immediately taken to the temple elder. His head was shaved to the skin, and he had thick gray eyebrows set over heavily hooded eyes. His wizened face was friendly with laugh lines extending from his mouth and eyes, yet the depth of his gaze and deliberation of action demonstrated wisdom and authority. He was draped in heavy black monastic robes with an additional orange layer slung over one shoulder. His feet were bare and he kept a gnarled but sturdy wooden cane nearby to assist his stride.

When Hinata presented the artifacts hidden in the scroll to him, the light of understanding flickered on his ashen countenance. Flat on his burned cedar desk, she spread out her collection: the clover from the Land of Ire, the golden toad from the Land of Porcelain, a horseshoe from the Western Lands, the elephant figurine from the Land of Indus, the hamsa from the Middle Lands, the gris gris from the Land of the Sun, a bundle of bamboo stalk from the Village of Feng Shui, the dove shaped milagro from the Land of Wind, the ancient coin from Lake Trevoli, and a Leaf from Konoha. Altogether, their journey took nearly three weeks to complete.

With her head bowed and posture bent in deference, she softly voiced her request. “I offer these spiritual totems to you, Great Elder, in exchange for a Nozomu.”

The old man watched her with sorrowful eyes as she took a shuddered breath before explaining further. “I’d like to bring my cousin back, please. Hyuga Neji was a brave and talented young soul who did not deserve his fate. He died a hero in the last ninja war. Please… return him to me.”

Standing closely behind Hinata, Sasuke turned rigid at her words. His eyes grew wide with concern and they swarmed over her appraisingly. He did not realize this was what she wanted. Had he known from the beginning, he would have advised against it.

The Elder turned his cloudy vision to the graceful figure before him and gently responded, “My dear child… there are many things I have the power to grant. I can cure disease, bless a life with success and happiness, provide wisdom and clarity... but I cannot bring back a life.”

He stood then, walked around his low desk, and placed a pale wrinkled hand on her shoulder. “I am sorry for your loss. Please take this with you for your troubles. May it bring you the life you deserve and the healing you require.”

Moving his hands over hers, he squeezed them tightly before disappearing down a dark, candlelit corridor.

Hinata opened her cupped hands, staring numbly at the acorn she received. She blinked away the wetness in her eyes as best she could, but it only blurred her vision more. Her lashes clumped together and the tears silently streamed down her pinkened cheeks onto the small brown nut.

Sasuke felt the hot, sharp knife of shared pain slice through his chest cavity, leaving him breathless. He stared helplessly as Hinata’s shoulders began to shake violently. Her fist closed tightly around the consolation prize. She made no noise as she despaired, which he had no doubt came from years of practice. Witnessing her fresh remorse was a harsh reminder of his own departed brother and the torrent of emotions that swiftly devoured him.

Reaching out for her, he softly murmured, “Hinata.”

Without apprehension, she spun around and buried her head into his chest. Clenching his cloak tightly with one hand and soaking it through. Her breathing turned ragged. He rubbed soothing circles on her back before clasping her chin between his thumb and index finger. He tilted her head up and implored, “Talk to me.”

Stifling a wail in her throat, she bit her lips and sniffled loudly. “I-I-I j-just don’t understand. This should have worked. This was supposed to work. It’s all my fault. I must have done something wrong. I did do something wrong. Neji never should have died! It should have been me!”

She was rambling in her desperate spiral. Being a logical man of action, he knew the only way to help her was to understand her thought process. “Hinata, you did nothing wrong. This…” he held out his arm to the relics still laid out on the table, “…never would have worked. Why did you think it would?”

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously and she pushed herself away from his embrace. Reeling from the failure, she became defensive. “What do you mean? I didn’t just make this all up! It’s all written here, in this book.”

From a pouch resting against the small of her back, Hinata recovered said book- the same one he recalled her reading when he kissed her outside the coffee shop.

Taking it from her hand, he read the title- The Terrific and Terrible Tales of Totoro the Timid.

He couldn’t believe it.

For the past three weeks they traveled, battled beasts, committed crimes, suffered impossible odds, and fought through blood, sweat, and tears to get here… all because of a fairytale. Slowly, incredulously, his eyes travelled upwards, seeking out Hinata’s face, her attention, her rationality.

Unprompted, she was now rapidly defending her idea in a garbled argument. “This isn’t the only book that spoke of the power of these objects. I’ve researched for months and there were other sources. Dignitaries from all over the world would visit my father and share the true stories of people they knew that experienced their miracles firsthand. Some even shared scientific papers on necromancy!

“This book is based on eye witness accounts and written testimonies. There was a good chance that the tale held some truth to it!”

Beseeching her to see reason and end this journey of guilt, he spoke as if he were cautioning against some dangerous object to a child. “Hinata. This is a fairytale. It’s not real.”

Throwing her arms down at her sides, tossing the acorn to the ground in the process she yelled, “I KNOW THAT!”

Her eyes began to lose focus and she stared into nothing as she whispered between quivering lips, “I spent so much time… believing this would work. I knew it was a fairytale and that I was taking a chance. But if I only had this chance to bring back Neji, I had to take it.”

Downtrodden and completely exhausted, she resolved to press on in the default way she’d been trained since childhood. Swallowing her emotions, red nosed and puffy eyed, she lengthened her spine, and held her head high with the grace of a true heiress. Emulating her learned behavior of interacting with noble emissaries, and not the man she’d spent nearly a month with, she met his stare and despondently remarked, “Sasuke, please send me home.”

The ache sluiced through his chest a second time. Sasuke bit down hard, flexing his jaw with the movement. Trying to gauge her level of commitment, he supplicated with one word. “Stay.”

“Sasuke… please. Send me home.”

He watched morosely while her eyes flooded again with liquid crystals over pearlescent orbs. Although his heart sank and his breathing faltered, he honored her request and opened the final gate for her to cross. As she began to walk towards fissure, and Konoha on the other side, Sasuke halted her departure. “Wait.”

Her attention flew up to his face, then traversed down the length of his arm, where he was holding out the tome that incited the problem.

“Don’t forget your book.”

Switching her concentration back to her current destination, she solemnly replied, “Do with it as you please. I no longer have any use for it.”

With violet-colored chakra fueling her departure, she made an elegant leap through the rip in space. The hole sealed, and she was gone.

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“Where is she?”

The monk stared back with terror at the raging Uchiha. The monk stammered out, “Who?”

“The witch,” he spat. “Ririka.”

From the entrance of the pagoda in which he was currently standing, a familiar cackle made itself known.

“Uchiha Sasuke, you devil. You came all the way here to visit this unworthy priestess? My, my. Should I be flattered?”

Leisurely turning to face this female nemesis, Sasuke sharpened his sight with spinning tomoes in glowing red orbs. The intimidation factor was a bonus. In a flash, he was standing in front of her, holding the sharp end of Kusanagi to her throat. “Witch. Undo the curse.”

Her eyes grew as large as saucers. Instead of the usual terror, the woman started laughing… again. Ririka laughed so hard she gently, carelessly, pushed away his sword, and began to cough in her other hand.

Out of confusion, Sasuke allowed it. He sheathed his weapon and impatiently waited for her fit to die down.

“Oh, Sasuke. You poor fool. There never was a curse,” she explained with an amused grin.

“What about Naruto?”

“Manifestation.” She waved a hand dismissively.

“The dog?” he continued to press.

“Dog? Pfft. Coincidence.”

“My fan club.”

“Ahhhh!” Her eyes lit up impishly. “Well, that? I may have tipped them off and offered a reward to make you believe in the curse for a while longer.”

She rubbed a stray tear from her eye. Her smile widened at recalling her foolhardy misdeeds.

Unable to help himself, he inquired, “What reward?”

“A life-sized body pillow in your image,” she happily responded.

Now it was his turn to cough.

She added, “I don’t actually have one but I never thought they’d get close anyway. Although some young girl did write to me claiming success. Was that true?”

When he shot her the harshest glare he could muster, her brows lifted towards her hairline and she muttered to herself, “I suppose I’ll need to order a pillow.”

Finally, gathering his wits, he summarized, “So, there never was a curse.”

Ririka scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I’m a holy priestess, not a witch. People are so gullible.”

Sasuke’s oppressive presence filled the room as he stewed in the revelation of his curse. He roared, “What about Hinata?”

She stilled in her movements and tilted her head to the side, her curiosity piqued. “Is she the Hyuga you arrived here with?”

The emptiness that gripped his insides continued to suffocate him at her mention. It was slow torture. Shutting his eyes and breathing deeply, he exhaled, “Yes.”

Placing a slender hand on her chin, Ririka thought aloud, “It seems to me that you should be asking her that question.”

When the Uchiha simply stared and made no move, the priestess snapped her fingers and hollered, “What are you still doing here? Go!”

Sasuke blinked severally when her words sank in. He didn’t want to admit it, but she was right. What was he doing here instead of going after Hinata?

Without a word, his rinnegan activated and the shimmering portal popped open.

“WAIT!” Ririka called out.

Snapping his attention to the slender female, he watched as she darted to the center of the room, picked up something from the floor, and ran back towards him. Once close enough, she placed the item in his palm saying, “For luck.”

It was the acorn that Hinata discarded. Tucking it away, he pulled a note from the same satchel and peered at the smiling priestess. “For you.”

Ririka accepted the paper. By the time she finished blinking, he was gone.

Unfolding the letter, she read, “Golden Toad: Peach Grove Monastery, Land of Porcelain; Golden Dove Necklace: Carlos d’Oro, Land of Wind… WHAT IS ALL THIS?”

She quickly scanned the inventory list from beginning to end, her anxiety building with each item. Reaching the bottom, in neat writing it stated:

Ririka,

I’ve taken the liberty of notifying the owners in these lands that you needed to borrow their sacred objects for Temple duties and would return them in a fortnight. Please do hurry as the Temple and our Country’s honor is at stake. I’d hate for anything to happen to you should you fail.

S. Uchiha

Her nostrils flared as she read the contents over and again. Surrounding birds scattered at hearing her screech at the top of her lungs. “DAMN YOU, SASUKE UCHIHAAAAAAA!!!”

TO BE CONTINUED...

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A/N: Nozomu in Japanese means “wish.” In this fic, I am using the term to signify an religious submission for a ceremonial request, but it is entirely made up for the plot. Also, I would like to take a moment to defend Hinata’s sanity and IQ in this story. Yes, she may have taken the words of a fairytale a bit too seriously, but even the smartest people can fall victim to their emotions and desperation. After all, there’s a direct correlation between the love you feel for a person and the foolish things you’re willing to do for them.

Moving on…

I love how many of you guessed the locations correctly! Some were more ambiguous on purpose. I wanted some real-world countries to translate to a larger area in the Narutoverse. Because of that, it was difficult for people to guess where the Land of Wind is located in our world. It represents the regions in South America and the Iberian Peninsula where Milagros are prevalent.

I’m sorry for the two heavy chapters in this fluff crack fic. Like I said, this was only supposed to be one chapter and it got away from me. I hope you still enjoyed them. Happy ending coming next. Thank you for following and reading!

#shmonth2022 #sasuhinamonth2022 #sehnsucht #day19 #shinobi naku #day20 #ratedt #fanfiction #fanfic #cursedkisses #lavendereyedassassin #sasuhina

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