Alchemy

7,1) DULLED HATRED

[A/N: Here's first Sasusaku chapter in quite a while. It's sort of a slow burner. Just to get you up to speed on what they've been doing and how their relationship dynamics have been progressing since you last saw them.

The main plot will progress soon. Enjoy☺]

⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️

Sakura:

I shivered. The leather of the horses saddle was colder and stiffer than usual.

I kept my mouth shut even--keeping any complaints I might have had to myself--despite the fact that I had become blatantly uncomfortable.

I had learnt that it was better that way with the prince.

Fog stole any glimpse of scenery I might have had with its wispy white haze. The sheer black of the moonless sky acted in coalition with the fog.

I couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

While few in my village had ever dared to travel outside of its walls, let alone outside our country, many merchants and mercenaries had whispered tales of the breath-taking scenery of the Land of Whirlpools especially the breath-taking views of its border with our own country.

Tales had passed from pair of lips to another until even those who had never laid their eyes upon the monument, fiercely proclaimed its beauty.

To get to the neighbouring land one had to travel over the jagged peaks of the tall mountains that separated the two nations and then cross the bridge over the water-filled cliff known to all as the Valley of the End.

It was a place of great historical significance, if it existed outside of legends and ballads that is.

It was here that the first King who ruled both the Land of Fire and the Land of Whirlpools, Hashirama Senju fought against the first head of the Uchiha clan, Madara Uchiha.

For nearly a decade Madara had served as the Kings right hand man but he had grown envious of the king's power and sought to steal Hashirama's crown.

The traitor lost but generations later the Uchiha clan had gained power over the Land of Fire and the Senju Clan had combined with the Uzumaki clan, the distant relatives, and had moved to the Land of Whirlpools.

It is said that carved into the stone of the waterfall itself are massive statues of Madara and Hashirama.

Through the haziness of the fog and mist I could see a bridge ahead. A few paces ahead of me; Sasuke rode on his stallion. I watched as he signalled for me to draw nearer to him.

At his signal we both dismounted our horses and walked onto the bridge, constructed with concrete and wood, leading the horses the rest of the way.

I was relieved to notice that despite its age the bridge was fully intact and wasn't rotten or rickety.

We stopped hallway. And Sasuke stepped forward, bracing his elbows to lean onto the bridge.

"Why did we stop?" I asked.

"Don't you want to enjoy the scenery?" he asked his left eyebrow arching slightly as if putting emphasis on his question.

"Wouldn't have pegged you as the type to enjoy such a thing," I retorted, while relaxing my body so that my hip leaned against one of the bridges many supporting pillars.

He snorted.

"Besides I can't even see a damn thing throu--" my complaint was shut up as Sasuke nodded his head in the direction of the horizon behind me.