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Chapter Text

She knew hers was different the moment it bloomed to life on her skin. Golden lettering woven across the skin of her arm which gleamed slightly in the sunlight. A soulmark. Practically everyone had them, it being rare one was left without a marking of some descriptor. It wrote the name of the one you were destined to be with. There was just one problem with Sakura’s.

Nobody could read it for the life of them.

The letters were strange, nothing like that of the sole language across the Elemental Nations. Even the scholars and historians who’d studied ancient, long dead texts couldn’t shed light on her situation when her parents took her to visit them in a search for answers. Soulmarks were important, binding together future partners in an unspoken vow, while the unmarked could find happiness between themselves, soulmates were drawn to one another. Having an unreadable soulscript was unheard of.

And a five-year-old Sakura didn’t know what to do with that.

Ino had told her she didn’t have to find her soulmate – that she could settle for somebody else – but she wasn’t so sure about it. How was one supposed to deny the one meant to match them? The one who completed them?

So Sakura waited.

She ignored the teasing from Ami and her other bullies, staring down at the golden writing on her arm, silently mulling over what it meant, of what name it spelt out, and how they’d meet. Maybe some prince from another land would come, and they could ride off into the sunset together, like in all those romance novels she’d taken to pouring over. They always had happy endings, and Sakura sorely wished she’d be able to find hers. She hated the uncertainty.

Maybe it’d have been better if she was just unmarked. That way she’d have at least been able to find some comfort in knowing there was nobody out there to complete her – that she was better off on her own. But apparently she wasn’t. There was someone out there with an unreadable name who was no doubt waiting for her. She just needed to wait patiently.

Her own name might’ve even been unreadable to him. And Sakura was fairly sure it’d be a him. She wasn’t attracted to girls as far as she could work out. Her soulmate might not know her name either. Wasn’t that a thought? Sakura bit her lip, tapping her pencil against the desk as she listened to Iruka’s lecture, thoughts playing about in her head all the while.

She wondered why her script was gold, especially when everybody else’s seemed to be black or some other dull colour. Yet another thing which made her a freak in Ami’s eyes. Sakura tried to ignore the words and how they seemed to rip into her very being. Tears bit her eyes. It wasn’t like their words could do anything to her.

Her soulscript was beautiful, just like her mother enjoyed reminding her. It was unique, just like her, and Sakura clung to those words, ignoring the slight ache in her chest whenever she looked at those unreadable golden letters.

She was eight years old when she felt the first burnings of jealousy, watching yet another pair of soulmates meet thanks to the marks they could read. They looked happy, ridiculously so, and Sakura scowled. Ami was still there, in the same class, looking back at her smugly, her own soulmate seated next to her as they waited for Iruka-sensei to arrive.

Why couldn’t her soulmark have been simpler?

Her teeth ground together. Maybe she was meant for greater things? A snort escaped her lips. As if. Ami liked to remind her she was a nobody. Just another clanless brat, hoping for some scrap of approval and affection. She certainly wasn’t unique or special – yet another face in the crowd.

Blood filled her mouth, her lip bleeding from where she’d bitten down too hard. She’d find her soulmate one day. Fate always brought them together. Sakura only hoped it wouldn’t be too late for her by the time they met.

When she was twelve, she was assigned onto her team – both of them soulmates with the other, and Sakura felt her jealousy flare again. It was unfair. Why did she have to watch everyone else falling in love with their soulmate while she was left without one? It wasn’t like she was unmarked. She was meant to have one. So why hadn’t he found her? Why hadn’t she found him? Part of the reason she’d wanted to be a ninja in the first place had been so she could look for him all across the Elemental Nations.

“Don’t worry, Sakura-chan!” Naruto beamed at her when she grumbled about her missing soulmate. “You’ll definitely find him someday, don’t you worry.”

She resolved to hate him slightly less from that day onward.

“Hn.” Sasuke nodded, glancing over at her from behind his soulmate with something akin to approval in his eyes.

Her shoulders sunk. That was probably as close to acknowledgement or ‘you can do it’ as she was going to get from the sullen, brooding Uchiha who was always so obsessed with surpassing his brother and claiming his father’s attention.

Kakashi looked over at her. “You know, they say the flowers that bloom last are the most rare and beautiful of them all.” His hand on her shoulder was comforting, even when he greeted Obito with a kiss to the cheek, making her heart clench whenever she witnessed the small act. “You’ll find him someday. Don’t give up.”

She loved her team, not that she’d ever admit it to their faces.

Thirteen was when she stood in front of Tsunade of the Sannin and demanded to be made her apprentice. “Sakura, right?” she asked, staring at her with hazel eyes that seemed to bore into her very soul. “The girl with the unreadable soulmark…”

Her hands curled into fists. Why was that the only thing people seemed to know about her? She shook her head. “No. I’m the girl who’s going to surpass you.”

Tsunade’s lips twitched up into a wide grin.

She wouldn’t just be written down in history as the girl with unreadable soulmark. She was going to be part of the next generation of Sannin, with Sasuke and Naruto training under their respective tutors. She wouldn’t be left behind. Never again. She had a soulmate to find.

Sakura was sixteen when the war hit them, and it hit them hard. Her curiosity about who her soulmate was had to be shoved to one side to make room for all the medical facts that needed to be crammed inside her brain. She had more important things to be worrying about rather than the colour of her soulmates hair and the like. They were at the back of the battlefield, tending to all the injured. More were rushed there every day, each more injured than the last. She didn’t have time to waste on a silly fantasy.

But in war, medics were a precious commodity, and were thusly targeted first. As soon as the enemy had caught wind of their location it was over. There weren’t enough guards to keep them all safe, despite the respectful number deployed. It was an ambush, an unfortunately successful one, and as a Front Line Medic, she was duty bound to protect the nurses and patients under her command as they fled from the base they’d been at for months.

Tsunade had taught her well, and she was anything but helpless in the face of a small army. The Yin Seal on her forehead proved that much, and she was practically invincible with chakra still left in her body.

“Bring it,” the words were growled out, her fists slamming into warm bodies, bone and skin rupturing under her heavy blows. She grinned darkly, chakra being drained that much more with every blow she struck, but Sakura wasn’t her teammates. She didn’t come from any sort of Clan, or even two ninja parents, meaning her chakra reserves weren’t all that impressive despite the work she’d put into both them and her seal. There were too many enemies for her, and eventually she was overwhelmed.

Her enemies didn’t let her die slowly, either, exacting revenge for all their fallen comrades. Sakura didn’t quite understand that – they should’ve been prepared to throw away their lives – it was war. She was sixteen when she died, her heart slowing to a stop, pain exploding across her body as her vision darkened, and then her soulmark started to burn.

She really wished she could’ve met them.

She was still sixteen when she woke, in mental age at least, though her body was far shorter than she remembered, looking at most like an eight-year-old. Her throat was dry, tears in her eyes, grass under her hands as she sat there, shaking. What was going on? She’d just died. The pain had branded itself onto her very soul, and it ached. The forest towered over her, sunlight peeking through the gaps in the leaves. Fear made her stumble to her feet, eyes roaming over the few scrapes and cuts she seemed to have from her arrival. Her blood stained the white cotton shift she wore red, her feet bare and scratched as she walked towards the sound of water trickling by. Finding a water source was a must, especially in an unknown land.

Glancing back around the area she’d woken up in, she nodded solemnly. She needed to move and find some sort of civilisation, if only so she could figure out what was going on. Pain in her arm made her pause, eyes falling onto the silver bracer wrapped around her arm – concealing her soulmark from view. Strange, but then what hadn’t been? She’d died. She’d been tortured to death. She shouldn’t have woken up. Yet she had.

Swallowing back her apprehension, she stumbled forwards, eyeing her reflection in the rippling water. Pink hair fluttered behind her, falling to her waist, longer even than she’d had it as a genin. Her eyes were the same green but her skin was paler than she remembered, almost seeming to glow as she walked through the forest. It would’ve looked beautiful, were it not for the numerous cuts and grazes marring it. There was even one on her face – an ugly red line slicing diagonally across her cheek. She could still remember the knife which had done it, the wound aching even as the blood clotted over. Clutching her soulscript to her chest, she stumbled on, biting her lip at the sheer expanse of the forest she was in. She’d been walking for hours, and there still wasn’t any difference in the trees. If anything, they’d only seemed to get denser. Her footsteps were oddly light, her movements practically soundless despite her apparent lack of chakra. She’d have already healed herself if she could’ve, but she couldn’t.

Her ears twitched all of a sudden, catching the sounds of movement near her, fear pounding in her chest as she realised how close the other beings were to her location. What if they weren’t friendly? She gulped, glancing around in vain for anywhere to hide, but she was by the water. The only place she could’ve hidden were the bushes where the sounds were coming from. It’d be better than nothing, or so she told herself as she darted into the cover of the leaves, only to smack right into something warm, hard, and vaguely leg shaped. She landed on her rear, wincing at the slight pain before looking up at what she’d bumped into.

“A child…?” Blue eyes stared down at her enquiringly, and then Sakura found herself lifted off the ground, much to her own confusion. “Haldir!”

They were met with a similarly coloured… man? Sakura blinked, staring at their pointed ears. She’d never heard of a clan with pointed ears. Her small hands curled in the stranger’s grey cloak, throat horribly dry as she stared at the two other similarly dressed people. Where was she? Who were they?

“What’s a child doing wandering in these parts?” one of the other two asked, staring at her curiously. “Surely humans aren’t so cruel as to abandon one of their own…”

Sakura stared between them, curious, blinking as the third one started speaking to her in a completely different language she couldn’t make head or tails of. “Um…” her voice rang out like a bell, the silence that fell eerie as she asked the question that’d been burning at her since her arrival. “Do you think you could tell me where I am?”

“Sindarin?” the one holding her hissed, breath catching in his throat, as his brother – they looked too similar to be anything but – reached towards her slowly, amazement and disbelief written across his face. “Orophin, what are you doing?”

The answer soon came in the form of her garishly pink hair being tucked behind an ear. A pointed ear.

“An elfling,” Haldir murmured, turning swiftly on his heel, worry knotting at his brow. “Come,” he ordered. “Lady Galadriel awaits us.”

Chapter Text

Sakura was confused at first and amazed only seconds later as the city came into sight. She peered out from where she was tucked against Rúmil’s chest. They lived in trees, and as a ninja from Konoha she fully approved. Though she was more worried about where exactly Konoha was in relation to her. She’d died, and it had hurt. She could still feel the scars of it. They’d followed her through her unexpected trip. Wherever she was, she doubted they knew anything of Konoha. That was the impression she got, especially with the sorrowful gaze the pretty golden-haired lady gave her. If there were any doubts on how far away from home she was, they were erased with the lady’s next words.

“Little one, you’ve travelled far…” she trailed off, encouraging her closer as Rúmil set her down on the ground. “Come. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Sakura swallowed back her protests, dutifully walking over to the strange woman, allowing herself to be scooped back up and carried further into the heart of Lothlórien. It was an odd place, but everywhere she looked was seeming to be that way. Especially considering she was no longer human. She was an elf, apparently. The weirdness didn’t stop there either, because she was no longer on the same continent, let alone the same planet. Part of her had known deep down from the moment she’d arrived in that forest – she had just died after all.

“Middle Earth?” The words sounded strange on her new tongue as layers of grime, sweat and blood were scrubbed off her by none other than the Lady of Lothlórien herself. “Lothlórien?” Ointment was spread over her injuries, her ruined white dress replaced with a better quality green one.

“That’s correct, little one,” Galadriel said, taking her tiny hand in her larger one.

Sakura blinked, eyeing the soulscript on her hand, scrawled in a silvery lettering, the shape of the letters looking awfully similar to her own. “What’s that writing on your hand?” she asked, ever curious. “What does it say?”

“That’s my soulscript,” she explained patiently, fingers tracing over the silver bracer concealing her own golden letters. “As for what it says…” She pushed open a door, leading them to a small dining table of sorts behind which a man – or should she say elf – sat. “This is my soulmate, Celeborn.”

She clutched at Lady Galadriel’s dress, half hiding behind the taller elleth as she peered curiously at the elf. He was ridiculously pretty, as she was learning all elves were. “Hi,” she squeaked, feeling oddly reminiscent to Hinata. She didn’t do well with talking to pretty, confident people, unless they happened to be Ino, and Ino had nothing on the beauty of her new kin. All the remarks about her big forehead had cut deep, and the wounds were still there, much like her more recent ones.

“Well met, little one, and welcome to Lothlórien,” Celeborn said, smiling softly as he looked to where she was, half hidden behind his wife.

“Have a seat.” Galadriel pulled out the chair between them, patting the seat for her to sit. “We’ll discuss the consequences of your arrival over our meal.”

Sakura swallowed, her throat dry as she sat between the pair, eyeing up the bowl of creamy soup placed in front of her. “Consequences?” she asked, nervously biting at the spoon she’d been given. “What consequences?” Her heart thudded in her chest, nervousness taking over the hope which had begun to bloom. “I… couldn’t help it.”

“Hush, little one.” Fingers wove through her silky tresses, the touch comforting and dare she say it, motherly. “No one wishes you any harm. You are of elf-kind – one of our kin, and long gone are the days where you would be in danger from us. Merely, the issue is that none of your family reside here, and as such there are many different options open to you.”

“Sakura,” she said, chewing on her lip, tired of being called ‘little one’. She’d had to put up with years of being the shortest out of her friends. “My name is Sakura.”

Lady Galadriel smiled, and it was the most beautiful thing Sakura had ever seen. Pretty boy Sasuke eat your heart out. “Well met, Sakura.”

Sakura smiled hesitantly back. How could she not?

“It has been many years since an elfling has graced our halls, and even longer since our daughter left to marry her beloved…” Grey eyes bore into her own with a hesitant intensity.

“And?” Her voice was small as she stared hesitantly up at the older elleth, hope and worry clawing at her chest. She was all alone in her new world – no one to rely on – some small part of her missing her old home, no matter the apparent beauty of her new one.

“It would be an honour to welcome you into our household, you with no place to return to…” Galadriel spoke, and Sakura’s stomach twisted. There was no going back. She’d known it deep down. She’d died. There was no way she’d be getting back to Konoha… back to her friends. Hearing those words spoken aloud however, was the final nail in the coffin. Tears pooled in her eyes, and Sakura found herself swept into a warm embrace. “I will never be able to replace your original mother, but I can become a new one to you if you should wish it so.”

She gulped, shrinking slightly under the intent gaze of the elf who wished to be her mother in the strange new world she found herself in. She missed her old world dearly, missed her old friends… was it alright just to throw them away and never think about trying to get back to them? Teeth bit into her lip. She was dead to them though, wasn’t she? Plus the script on her arm… it belonged to this world. She’d always felt out of place in Konoha – in the Elemental Nations in general – but that odd sense of unease had vanished upon her arrival. Her hand fiddled with the bracer attached to her arm. She was always meant to come here. She would’ve no matter what happened nor when she died. Her soulmate was somewhere in this world.

“We won’t press you for an answer—” Celeborn said, cut off hallway by the answer which came tumbling out of her mouth with barely a second thought.

“Yes.” She nodded. “I’d like that.”

“So that’s what my name would look like in Elvish?” she asked, peering at the unfamiliar arrangement of her name. “Cool.”

Galadriel chuckled. “But while we’re on the topic, I think I ought to give you another name…”

“Why?” Sakura stared at her in confusion. She liked her name, and she didn’t particularly want to change it just because of her new race’s customs and naming rules. So what if it was unusual and unique? She liked it the way it was. Huffing, she folded her arms, ready to argue, but her nana cut her off before she could even begin to build up any steam.

“Sakura, dear, I think you’ve misunderstood my reasoning,” she said, brushing her fingers through her silken pink mane. “All elflings receive at least two names. The one given to them by their parents at birth, and the one given to protect that name.”

“Protect?”

“As long as Arda exists, as will we… and because of that, there can be a number of years between you and your soulmate – as I imagine is the case for your own,” she explained, glancing curiously at the arm which had remained covered since her arrival in the forest city. “So until you come of age at fifty, it’s a given you need another name. You don’t want to meet your soulmate until you’re both adults. It’ll be less embarrassing that way.”

Sakura blinked. That made a surprising amount of sense. “Oh… OK then.” She turned her pleading eyes on the mirthful grey ones which could see right through her blatant manipulation attempts. “Make it a cool one, please.”

“I think Lothien would suit you,” Galadriel said, tucking a stray lock of hair back behind her ear. “Would you be alright with being called that in public?”

“I can go out in public now?” She perked up where she sat, her new mother having finished braiding her hair. “Really? Can I?”

“Haldir will accompany you.” Her finger tapped against Sakura’s button nose. “And you must stay within the borders of our forest… not that you’d get far. Everyone wishes to meet you, so I think your hands will be full for the next few days.”

“ELROND!”

The door to his office slammed open, and the Elf Lord looked up from his paperwork to find a nervous and somewhat excited Glorfindel in front of his desk. “I take it this isn’t about the reports of orc sightings in the west…”

“My soulscript changed.”

His eyes narrowed, blinking placidly as the black writing scrawled across his seneschal’s waist. It had indeed changed, from the foreign writing nobody had been able to identify to the clear elvish script easily readable even in the dim light. “So it has,” he mumbled, tilting his head at the foreign name. “I don’t recognise the name though. It’s certainly not elvish… perhaps one of the Dúnedain or…” He bit his lip, suddenly reminded of all the paperwork he needed to complete. He didn’t have time to theorise different possibilities about his old friend’s soulmark unless he wanted Erestor on his case. He was a literal balrog when it came to paperwork, not that he’d mention the b-word around Glorfindel. That was a subject he didn’t want to touch with a ten foot pole in front of the other elf.

“Sorry… This was a bad time, wasn’t it?” Glorfindel sighed, stepping back. “I suppose this means I’m just that much closer to meeting my soulmate.”

“Most likely.”

“Big brother Haldir?”

A loud sigh echoed around the room.

“Big brother Haldir?” she called, an impish grin on her face as the familiar figure materialised out of the shadows, taking a seat beside her bed.

The elf looked pained. “What is it, Lothien?” he asked, well aware she knew how much he disliked it when she called him by that title. He was a stickler when it came to any form of endearment or proper ways to address one’s elders, and he was in no shape or form related to her in any way.

“Could you tell me a story?” She stared up at him, using her big green eyes to the best of her ability. Haldir had a strange weakness for puppy dog eyes, and Sakura used it to her full advantage. She wouldn’t be able to pull off the adorable child look forever.

Haldir sighed once again. “How about one about a golden-haired elf who slayed a balrog?”

Sakura glanced at him before smiling as she chirped, “Sure!”

“So that Glorfindel guy is alive then right now?” she asked, staring at one of her favourite elves. “That story was true?”

“Yes. Yes. Now get to sleep,” Haldir muttered, pulling the covers up to her chin, switching the lights out with a quick flick of his wrists. “I swear elflings have far too much energy to spare…”

“I heard that.”

“Get to bed already!”

Sakura fiddled with the bracer around her arm. She was no longer the baby elfling that’d wandered into Lothlórien. She was sixty three, and just about classed as an adult to the elf world. Sighing, she hurried over and kissed her ada and her nana on the cheek, waving over her shoulder as she clambered onto her horse. Her bow was slung across her back, arrows firmly packed in the quiver she carried. Twin swords were fastened to her waist, her saddle bags packed full – ready for the journey she was going to make.

“Lady Lothien…” Haldir rode up beside her, his own bags packed for the journey. “Are you ready to depart?” he asked, glancing at the company that’d be escorting them to Imladris.

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Say hello to your sister from me, little one,” Galadriel said, smiling at the twitch that crossed her face at the name. Her nana knew she hated it too.

Even for an elf she was alarmingly short, much to her own annoyance, though it didn’t mean she was any less of a fighter. She’d trained enough over the years, both with the bow and her swords – staple weapons of the elves. The warrior side of her training only needed more time and experience to grow. Her healing skills, on the other hand, were exactly what she was going to Imladris for.

It didn’t have anything to do with the name written under the thin sleeve of metal guarding it from sight.

Her stomach had been rolling in knots ever since she’d glimpsed the name with her newfound knowledge of the elvish scripts. It was Sindarin, and it said a name she knew incredibly well, if only from bedtime stories from the wonderful ball of joy that was Haldir. The name was known to all of elf kind, as was the fact he had yet to find his soulmate. She’d heard people talk about it before, about who on Middle Earth could be the other half to such an incredibly noble warrior. One who the Valar themselves had noticed and sent back to them.

They were expecting some great things from Glorfindel’s soulmate. Sakura didn’t know what he was expecting from her though. The same things as they did? More? Her hands clenched into fists, gripping the reigns tightly as they began their journey out of Lothlórien.

She hated trying to live up to people’s expectations.  

She hated it even more when she couldn’t.

Sakura wasn’t a noble warrior. She’d been a ninja – a mercenary – one who killed people for money. She’d killed her own kind, covered her fists in blood, died and gotten resurrected. She swallowed the lump in her chest. Whatever Glorfindel was expecting, she doubted she was it.

And that thought burned her to the core.

Chapter Text

Imladris was just as beautiful a place as Lothlórien. All elvish settlements were seeming to be that way, though she had yet to visit the Grey Havens or Mirkwood. There was something about the elves, especially when compared to men, that just made the places they built that much more beautiful. Not that the dwarves would agree. Then again, beauty was apparently in the eye of the beholder. Sakura wasn’t all that fussed about beauty. She was far more interested in healing rather than a certain golden-haired elf who dwelt in the valley. Absentmindedly, she traced the letters on her arm, the thin sleeve of metal hiding the damning name from sight.

They were greeted by the sons of Elrond, a pair of twins by the names Elladan and Elrohir, their wide smiles reminding her faintly of Naruto despite their dark hair. Her memories of the Elemental Nations were fading over time, the sharper memories of Middle Earth outweighing the scant sixteen years she’d spent in her old home. It was slightly awkward to meet them, considering she was their aunt, if only by technicality, and she was younger than them by far – but they took it in their stride, and she felt welcomed.

Celebrían was beautiful, silvery gold hair cascading down her back, her eyes clear and full of wisdom as she stared at Sakura. She felt inferior in every way, but the older elleth soon set her straight, just like the mother they shared always did. “Well met, sister,” she said, voice ringing across the distance between them. “Our mother told me much about you in her letters.” 

“Oh.” She fumbled at the covering on her arm, because somehow her mother seemed to know everything that went on around her. She probably knew who her soulmate was, not that she’d shown her the mark. He was her soulmate, and she was allowed her privacy. Not that it probably did all that much. Her nana was wise and had a way of knowing everything about her seemingly. It was probably why she’d grown to love and trust the older elleth as quickly as she had.

“Come, sister,” Celebrían said, smiling patiently at her, oddly reminiscent of their mother. “Your journey has been long, and the dinner bell is not too far away. Best to get cleaned up before then. Many of my kinsmen wish to meet you.”

Sakura blinked. “Why?”

“You still go by your second name – Lothien – and a small number have yet to find their soulmates. Can you blame them for being interested?” she asked, guiding her away from prying eyes, steering her towards the rooms she assumed were to be her own throughout the duration of her stay. “I’ll leave you to your preparations. There’s a dress laid out inside which should be suitable.”

She blinked again, staring at the doors to her room, hurrying inside, if only so she could bathe and change before being forced to interact with other elves. It felt wonderful to scrub off all the grime and dirt that came from travelling, and Sakura felt much more like an actual elleth after her bath. Braiding her hair came naturally to her, Galadriel having taught her numerous styles of their kin, telling her all the while they would go wonderfully with her unique hair colour. Pastel pink. It was a clear enough colour that it always turned heads should she venture some place new. Nobody had ever seen hair that colour, not even on an elf before she came along. Lothlórien had been awash with whispers once she finally came of age – whispers of her beauty, and how it was comparable and yet different to her mother’s. It had given her back her confidence those childhood bullies had ripped from her all those years ago. She was one of them. She was an elf… and with that came the inhuman beauty she’d have been sorely jealous of before.

Sighing quietly, she pulled on the silken dress, one she knew Galadriel had to have sent on somehow. It matched her eyes. Celebrían and Elrond were wonderful to have thought to set it out ready for her. It was a good decision to come to Imladris. Sakura smiled, pausing at the firm knock on her door.

She opened the door, blinking in confusion at the sight in front of her.

The golden-haired elf smiled at her. “Well met, Lady Lothien,” he said, and Sakura felt a sudden sensation of dread. “My name is Glorfindel, and Lady Celebrían wished for me to escort you to the dining halls.”

Sakura swallowed, her throat dry all of a sudden as she stared up at her soulmate, accepting his proffered arm so as to keep herself from running away screaming. It wouldn’t do to arouse suspicion. The vaguely shinobi part of her whispered that, growing fainter by the day as the elvish part of her only grew.

Celebrían had the gall to wink at her when she arrived.

“Dear,” Celebrían said, looking out across Imladris from her husband’s office, having finished reading the letter her mother had sent both of them. “About the letter…”

“Lady Galadriel wishes for us to give them a little nudge, doesn’t she?” Elrond tilted his head, steepling his fingers under his chin. “Lady Sakura has been with us for… six years now, and she still has yet to make a move on her soulmate.”

“Nana recommends sending her out with Glorfindel’s patrol… especially seeing as we’ve seen a growth in the numbers of orcs and their passageways in the mountains,” she mumbled, wind rustling through her silvery locks. “My sister is a fine warrior. I’ve seen her train. She won’t be in any danger she’s not accustomed to already.”

Elrond grinned. “I’ll arrange it so.”

Celebrían’s answering smile was breath-taking… if slightly terrifying.

“Ah,” an all too familiar voice sounded next to her. “Lady Lothien!”

Sakura paused midstride, turning to face her soulmate. “How may I help you, my lord?” she asked, staring at his levelly, still determined to give nothing away, even after all the years gone by.

“I thought Lord Elrond would’ve informed you, but you’ll be accompanying me and my patrol around the mountain pass,” he answered, and Sakura felt her stomach drop like a rock.

Her eyes narrowed into slits, her head cranking around to the balcony by Elrond’s office, outright glaring at the beaming couple staring down at her. She was so totally going to murder them and their meddlesome ways one day.

The tunnels in the mountain were dim and shoddily built. Nothing like the few examples of dwarven workmanship she’d seen, but that was only to be expected. They’d been made by orcs, after all. They were ugly, but they carried out their purpose – just like she was carrying out her purpose by eliminating all the orcs hidden in there. They were too close to her home, and far too large in number. Rickety wooden bridges wobbled under the weight of all of them, both the living and the vast number of dead orcs slayed by elvish blades and arrows.

In hindsight, she probably should’ve considered the possibility of one of the many bridges breaking and sending her careening down into the darkness below. As luck would have it, she wasn’t the only one who’d gotten caught up in the fall either. No. Glorfindel had as well – far too focused on keeping all of them safe to worry about his own safety.

She woke up to his face, hovering over her worriedly after their plummet to who knew where… “Lady Lothien,” he breathed, sitting back in relief. “I’m glad you’ve awakened.”

“Where are we?” she asked groggily, reaching to rub at her pounding head, silently taking note of the bandages wrapped around there. No wonder her head was hurting. She peered upwards, noting the dim light of torches above them. But they were a good distance away. They’d fallen far.

“At the very bottom of their tunnels. Come.” He offered a hand, and without thinking, Sakura took it. His intake of breath was sharp, and Sakura realised her mistake almost immediately. Elf eyes were sharp, even in dim lighting, and her bracer was gone and her sleeve torn. His grey eyes snapped to hers almost instantly, an unreadable emotion in their depths, before he turned away. They needed to get out of the tunnels as quickly as they could. “We should be going.”

Her eyes darted down to the sheen of metallic coloured script on her arm. It really did catch in the light, no matter how dim and far away it was. She clutched her arm to her chest, cheeks reddening in embarrassment as she trailed behind Glorfindel. Her soulmate. And now he knew he was too. Silently, she cursed her life, praying they’d reach an exit soon and that the awkward silence between them would vanish.

Both of her prayers were soon answered.

“A few years are but the blink of an eye to an elf,” Glorfindel mumbled, staring out across the forest into which they’d emerged. “I don’t expect anything from you… but I would like it very much if I could see you more often.”

Sakura blinked, an odd feeling of relief surging through her, worries vanishing on the light breeze whipping her hair around. He wasn’t expecting anything from her. Nothing that she wasn’t willing to give. A smile pulled at her lips, and she didn’t know whether it was a consequence of her injuries, the sheer relief she’d just found from the worries which had plagued her for years, or the alarming shade of red her face was turning, but her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell to the ground in a dead faint.

Glorfindel caught her before she hit the floor.

Celebrían smirked as her husband returned from the Halls of Healing. “He’s fretting about her like a mother hen, isn’t he?” she queried, already knowing the truth. She’d known the golden-haired elf for long enough thanks to her husband.

“Very much so,” he said, smiling wryly. “Your sister will be fine. Her injuries were mild. Glorfindel is just being his dramatic self.”

“So everything’s going according to plan then?”

Elrond nodded. “We can send Lady Galadriel the good news.”

Sakura stared at the bundle of flowers left just outside her room, face reddening at Celebrían’s knowing look. She hardly needed three guesses to figure out exactly who’d left them there.

“Don’t leave the poor elf waiting too long.”

Sakura huffed, yanking the flowers inside to place them on her bedside table, glaring at her sister all the while.

“Sister!” Sakura skidded to a stop by her sibling’s side, clutching at her arm. “You have to help me,” she muttered, face flushed and bright red. “He’s everywhere!”

Celebrían paused in her reading. “What’s the matter exactly?”

“He keeps smiling at me!”

She smiled wryly. “I don’t think that’s cause for concern. He’s just happy to see you.”

“But—”

“Oh look,” she said, waving Glorfindel over. “Here he is now.”

“Lady Celebrían, Lady Sakura.” He nodded at them, eyes lingering on her just a few seconds longer. “How may I help you?”

Sakura shook her head frantically.

Her sister paid her no heed. “I think my wonderful sister could use a nice quiet walk in the gardens,” she said, eyeing the setting sun. “Perfect time of day for it, really.”

Glorfindel smiled, offering his arm out to her, and Sakura couldn’t refuse him. And not just because of the pointed look her sister threw her way.

“Do you not enjoy my company, Lady Sakura?”

The question made her squirm, teeth sinking into her lower lip. It wasn’t that she didn’t like him. She did. He was just a bit intimidating, well, his legend was anyway. He’d slayed a damned balrog for crying out loud, and she told him just as much.

“Fate works in mysterious ways,” he said, fingers tracing the golden lettering along her arm. The letters which spelled out his name. “I doubt it would have paired us together if we were incompatible.” He smiled softly. “There’ll be at least a few things we have in common – things we can bond over. There’s no need to worry about all our deeds. It doesn’t matter to me whether you’re some sort of legend or not.” His thumb trailed across her cheek.

Sakura chuckled, albeit a bit bitterly. There was one glaring thing they definitely had in common. “Death sucks, doesn’t it?”

Grey eyes fixed on her so quickly it made her head spin. “Oh,” he whispered, his gaze falling to the ground in seconds, his hand slowly finding its way into hers. “Yeah,” he mumbled, squeezing her hand gently. “It does.”

Somehow evening walks become part of her routine – the other half occupied by practicing with both her bow and her swords under the eye of her number one admirer. He nudged his way into her life slowly but surely, consuming just a bit more of her time with every passing month. And then one day she realised he was no longer Glorfindel the Balrog Slayer. The elf she’d heard about in her bedtime tales. He was Glorfindel, her soulmate. The elf who laughed alongside her, and sometimes drooled in his not-quite sleep.

She knew of Gondolin. He knew of Konohagakure. Both of which made for some interesting conversations, the tangle of strings holding them together only increasing in number, reeling her ever closer to him. He knew her. He’d accepted her, bloodied hands and all, so when he invited her back to his rooms late one night, she went gladly, and when he asked her in the privacy of the cosy little room the question, she said yes.

Celebrían smiled widely at breakfast the next morning. “Nana sends her congratulations,” she said, holding up the letter which should’ve taken days to reach them. “As do I.”

Sakura blinked, silently wishing she could sink into the ground like she used to be able to. “How?” she muttered. “It was last night!”

Glorfindel chuckled from his seat next to hers. “That’s Lady Galadriel for you…”

“I’m honestly surprised it took you this long,” Elrond said, and Sakura groaned, her face bright red. She really hated nosy busybody elves and their meddling ways.