Alchemy

4,3) THE INEXORABLE NATURE OF CHANGE

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Hinata:

I stood frozen as I saw that it was not a beast but a man––a teenage boy in fact.

My knees threatened to collapse beneath me as I studied his features to ensure I wasn’t mistaken. To ensure that this was indeed him…

The last time I had seen him he was just a child and now he had grown up. But it was undeniably him.  He had soft facial features and characteristic blonde, spikey hair which had growth shaggy since I had seen him last. He wore a black jacket with an orange zipper (which had buttons on the waist and sleeves) over an orange tracksuit pants. He wore no forehead protector to indicated allegiance to any particular village but an armband was worn on his left arm bearing the same red "swirl-like" symbol I had seen outside.

I was sure that it was him.

It was "Naruto?"

I must have said his name aloud because his eyes lit  up in recognition of the name. then for a split second they turned glassy as if he hadn't been called by his name for a long time or that the name invoked long buried and forgotten feelings. 

It seems like we both drifted off into deep thought as we were both catatonically stiff in that moment.

The silence became palpable as I drifted down into an abyss of memory.

Flashback

I gazed in amazement as the snow, rain and leaves collided; taking turns to dance in the wind performing  seemingly choreographed routines as they fell down from the sky. It seemed to be such a shame that there was no audience to enjoy the show––other than me I supposed.

I had always been fascinated  by snow or at least the idea of snow. Where I lived it was always sunny. This was the first time I had seen snow with my eyes.  Naturally this was my first time visiting another country.

The snow was uncharacteristic of this time of year, I had heard from one of the adults. That however didn’t stop me from slipping away unnoticed to enjoy the splendour. I must have dwelled far from the palace grounds by now, I thought sullenly. I was lost.

"Well look what we have here" a voice said behind me.
I turned around to find three, scruffy boys standing behind me.

"Must be one of the nobles," the one who seemed to be the youngest remarked, "There ain't a single hole or spot of dirt on her clothing."

"So got any candy little princess?" the tallest one asked, "If yah don’t I'd advise yah to scram.  

I tried to run but he pulled me by my short hair. I was weak––weak and pathetic . Everything me father had told me was true. Tears pooled from my eyes.

"Hey look at her eyes. They're so creepy." the third one remarked.
I burst out into tears using my fingers to block out their taunt.