Some Fall By Virtue

Chapter Six: 'cause all the hate you ever spewed

She threw up on her soulmate's boots. She threw up on her soulmate's boots. She threw up on her soulmate's boots. She HAD thrown up on her soulmate's boots—

Sakura whimpered, head pounding as she skulked in the bushes around their recently relocated campsite. They were now apparently sharing with the elves who had apparently joined them in their apparent quest to slay the dragon which had ruined her home. Really, she wanted to crush the dragon into itty bitty pieces, possibly with a side of pyrotechnics. But she had self-control. Added to the fact that her soulmate was there in person...

It was safe to say her stomach was a mess, and her thoughts were worse. Aravir was seemingly saving her some of the rations from what she could tell from her perch, and dimly, some small part of her was extremely grateful to the man. Another part of her cursed her misfortune, because he had brought her into contact with elves. With her soulmate himself.

He probably hated her, what with how she'd upchucked the contents of her stomach onto his pristine boots. She definitely deserved it. He couldn't love her. He probably would never be able to. After what she had done, how many lives she had taken... Her stomach rolled yet again, and Sakura hid herself amidst the branches of the tree she had climbed up to escape the hubbub below.

Glorfindel had vanished at some point – what for, Sakura hadn't the slightest idea. She tried to convince herself she didn't care about him. She couldn't. He would never be hers, no matter how much she wanted to claim him as such. And sleep atop him as dragons were wont to do with their hoards. Her skin wanted to roll, change, and Sakura was careful to keep herself from looking towards the camp in case her eyes were doing something funny. Like turning reptilian in nature. Like turning into a dragon's eyes. Those were what would give her away, and Sakura had no desire to be ousted. Especially not when they were going off to hunt and slay one of her kin.

Besides, there had been a hint of worry in those unfathomable grey eyes upon her divulging the contents of her stomach on his footwear. Sakura was selfish. She didn't want that worry to turn into pure hatred. She was anything but clueless as to the elves' hatred of all things Melkor. And Sauron now, too.

She deserved it.

It didn't mean she wanted it. She had never asked for it – never asked for her soul to be the one plucked from its natural course and twisted into something it wasn't meant to be. But what was done was done, and there was no going back from that. She was a skin-changer. She was a dragon. She couldn't call herself human anymore.

It wasn't as though anyone had outright asked her whether or not she was human. Whether or not she could call herself one of the edain. So technically she hadn't lied to them. They had just assumed she wasn't a monster, because her form so closely resembled them. A wolf in sheep's clothing. Sakura wrapped her arms around herself.

Her stomach twisted, and Sakura jumped down from the tree she had claimed in order to find the nearest river and splash her face with it. As much as she would have loved to dunk her head in, sadly she didn't want to have to find the time to reapply the coating covering her horribly pink locks. She had limited supply now, and she would probably have to make some more as soon as she was able. That was right. It was better to think of doing mundane things like that than worrying about her soulmate. She could avoid him easily enough. She had already troubled him enough by vomiting on his boots.

Sighing softly, she wandered towards the sounds of water she could hear, chakra coating her feet as she did so. She didn't particularly want to encounter any nosy, but well-meaning elves. It was fairly well noted she had thrown up on their leader's shoes, and Sakura had to deal with many a looks of pity and disgust being thrown her way.