Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of characters. I am making no profit off of this and am only writing it for my entertainment. The same goes for the story Anastasia.

A/N: I'm a couple days late for this SasuSaku Month prompt (In Another World), but it's gotten a lot bigger than I expected—like turned into a multi-chapter fic big. And I promised myself I wouldn't let myself do a multi-chapter so soon after coming back to writing fanfiction, but the idea wouldn't leave me alone. I've been listening to the broadway soundtrack of Anastasia and can't get the idea of Sasuke as Anastasia and Sakura as Dimitri out of my head: Thus my Anastasia inspired AU was born. And just to make it clear, it is an Anastasia inspired AU so it's inspired by both the movie and the musical, and it will follow the formula, but it isn't going to be a complete copy of either the movie or the musical with just names being swapped out. I'm taking some liberties and adapting it to the characters and telling it in my own way. That said, I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

Since Anastasia has the alias of Anya, I had to come up with one for Sasuke and chose Hiei since Kishimoto said Sasuke was inspired by a character named Hiei.

Unbeta-ed.


The Land of Fire was but a shadow of what it had been a mere decade ago. Sakura had only been a child when the Otogakure regime had taken over. There wasn't much she remembered from before, but the night the Uchiha Monarchy was executed was seared in her mind. She remembered taking shelter in an abandoned shop and praying that no one would find her. People were reckless and there were many who had joined in the violence simply for the sake of violence. The gunshots, the clang of metal against metal and the stench of smoke had permeated the air the entire night. The small had even stuck around for days after. It was the night everything had changed.

Life on the streets had never been easy, but the new regime didn't make it any easier. Their new ruler claimed that everything would be equal under his rule, but everyone just seemed poorer instead. The ambitious and unhappy were dealt a swift and harsh punishment, and anyone who so much as stepped out of line risked disappearing. As she grew, Sakura learned to circumvent the Sound shinobi posted around the city. She had tried being a good and loyal Otogakure citizen, but devotion to the state didn't fill her stomach. She had to resort to stealing and bartering for whatever she needed to stay alive.

She was heading back to her current place she'd been squatting for the week with a still warm loaf of bread beneath her oversized and ratty jacket when she found him. He was a pale young man in clothes as worn as hers. The dark bags under his eyes stood out as much as the dark locks of hair on his head against his ashen skin. He seemed to be walking in a daze, and Sakura's heart reached out to him. Yet another poor victim of the new way of life no doubt. The man could barely keep his eyes open. Before she could pull her gaze from him, the loud pop of a truck backfiring had him on his knees with a startled yelp, and Sakura was over to him in a matter of seconds.

"Hey!" She rushed to his side, arms already around him to help him up. "It was just a truck. You're fine." He looked up at her dazedly, eyes blinded by the bright winter sun reflected off the dazzling snow. His expression was a mix sheer exhaustion and fear, but even he took a moment to marvel at the sight in front of him. Pink hair? The regime he'd grown up in had always seemed so colorless. It drained the life out of everything. It must have been a trick of the light.

Against his better judgement, he slumped against her, finally allowing his body to give out on him. He was so tired, he simply had to trust that this person wasn't going to turn him in to the nearest guard.

Sakura pursed her lips together and hauled his arm over her shoulder. She couldn't leave him here, and it was more than clear to her that the stranger needed food and a safe place to rest for the night. With a grunt, she began to half drag him to the abandoned palace she and her friend had made their temporary home. Mentally, she berated herself for her habit of picking up strays when she could barely manage to feed herself.

By the time she'd gotten him to the worn-down room she and Naruto had been calling home, the stranger was out cold and Naruto was scrambling over to her.

"You're late! Where have you been? The city guards have been out for blood today, and—hey, Sakura…who's that?"

"I've been a little busy," she huffed and motioned for him to take the stranger. "I don't know. I just found him like this." As soon as the man was taken from her, she moved to grab a dusty pillow from a formerly extravagant divan. She gave it two pats to rid it of dust and set it on the floor near to the fire. It wouldn't be comfortable, but she figured heat was more important. "Set him down here," she instructed, shrugging off her jacket and laying it out for him on the floor.

"Sakura, you'll never guess what I heard today," Naruto gossiped while he laid the stranger down.

"I hope it's about some magical surplus of food." Sakura pressed a hand against the unconscious man's cheek. His skin was cold to the touch. Taking a long stick she'd brought in days ago, she poked the fire to urge more heat. The wrought iron fire poker that had accompanied the hearth once upon a time had long been stolen along with most objects of worth in the palace.

"I'm being serious! Haven't you heard the news?"

Sakura merely shot Naruto an exasperated look from her place on the floor by the fire and took the bread from inside her jacket. Ripping it into thirds, she tossed one over to the blonde man. Naruto returned her look with a cheshire cat grin. "Don't tell me you were gossiping instead of finding us food," Sakura sighed tiredly.

"No, but Sakura! It was worth it this time!" He scooted closer and cupped his hands around his mouth dramatically, whispering in her ear. "Word on the street says the Uchiha princes somehow escaped the massacre. There are whispers of the Crown Prince surfacing after all these years in Tsukigakure, and his brother is still on the run somewhere. That's why the guards have been so brutal, they're making an example of anyone who so much as implies the Uchiha could take back the throne. Orochimaru is scared." If possible, Naruto's shit eating grin only grew. "They're hunting down anyone who even remotely looks related to the Uchiha line or has anything to do with them. People are just disappearing! I can't believe Orochimaru was so sloppy."

Sakura's green eyes widened at the news. It was too much to take in at once, but one thing was certain. They couldn't stay there. She stuffed the rest of her bread in her mouth and began to spring into action.

"Naruto, you idiot! This is nothing to smile about! Where do you think we are? What do you think they'll do to us if they find us squatting in the royal palace? We'll look like sympathizers to the crown!"

Immediately, Naruto's face fell.

"Shit."

The stranger woke on a hard ground to the sound of fire crackling, the low hush of hurried voices, and the rustle of movement around the room. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, children's playful laughter faded away and his mind jumped into consciousness. He sat up with a bolt and looked around him, ready for a fight. Instead he was met with an old, poorly kept room and two strangers staring at him.

"Who are you?" he snarled, hands reaching for anything he could use as a weapon, but the place had obviously been looted over the years, and there wasn't much to be found. If looks could kill, his piercing eyes would have them both dead twice over.

"If anyone should be asking that question, it's us," Sakura snorted. "You're the one who fainted in my arms." Naruto sniggered half way through stuffing an old shirt in a bag, and Sakura nudged his side in reprimand. "Here," She tossed the last third of the bread to the stranger who caught it deftly. "You look like you need it." She only just resisted pestering him for a thank you, but the sharp look in her eyes got the message across.

The dark-haired man stared down at the bread then back up at the pink-haired woman—so he hadn't been hallucinating—who was looking at him expectantly. "Thank you," he grit out before tearing into the bread with his teeth. He still didn't trust her, but he was famished and wouldn't turn away the food.

"Sakura," the pink-haired woman pointed to herself then back to the blond, "and Naruto. You're welcome."

"What's your name?" Naruto questioned, abandoning his packing to come closer to the mysterious man. The mysterious man who proceeded to ignore the question and glance around the room instead. Again, childish laughter and footsteps rang in the back of his mind.

"Hey!" Naruto barked, glaring at the man. "The we fed you and gave you shelter, the least you could do is tell us who you are and what happened to you!"

The man returned Naruto's glare and intentionally stuffed the rest of the bread in his mouth, taking his time eating it, before he finally gave his answer. "Hiei. I'm called Hiei." He glanced between the Naruto and Sakura who had returned to her hurried packing. "And I've been running from Oto shinobi for the past week. They've been chasing me non-stop." Every town he'd stopped in, arrests were being made, for what, he didn't care enough to stay and find out. He'd been unlucky enough to be spotted by an especially persistent soldier.

Green and blue eyes met briefly before Sakura turned to address Hiei fully. "My coat, if you please." She pointed, and Hiei looked down to find a long brown coat bunched up beneath him.

"Hey, Sakura. Don't you think he looks like the prince?" Naruto whispered, hand to her ear while Hiei handed over the piece of clothing. She glanced at the picture of the Royal family on the wall behind Hiei. She couldn't deny that there was a resemblance, but she couldn't think about that now.

"Just leave it Naruto. It's just a rumor." And yet, it was a rumor that could get all of them killed if they were found. It didn't take a genius to guess that Hiei was being hunted for that very resemblance as were many unfortunate citizens of the new regime.

"But Sakur-"

"Look, Hiei," Sakura interrupted the blond, "The two of us are getting out of here. You can come with us, or you can go your own way, but I'd advise you not to stay here either way."

"Why would I go with you?" Hiei scoffed. "A large group of us would just attract more attention. Neither of you look like you'd blend into a crowd well."

"Fair enough," Sakura shrugged. She couldn't fault him for his logic. "We'll let you see yourself out." She grabbed Naruto's bag and pushed it into his hands. "Let's go," she gave the blond a stern look when his blue eyes trailed back to the portrait.

Hiei watched them leave before pulling his coat tighter around him and turning to look at the portrait that had transfixed the blond so much. He was met with multiple ebony gazes staring down at him. It seemed to be a likeness of both the royal family and the extended family. Every single person in the frame had raven hair and pale skin. It wasn't a combination that was entirely uncommon, after all he had similar features, but it was the eyes that paralyzed him and held him in his place. There was something…familiar…warm about them.

The roaring of the fire in the hearth suddenly sounded much louder in his ears. It's heat against his skin was no longer comforting, but scalding. The laughter that had been ringing in his ears morphed into screams, and he was frozen to his spot as the eyes bore into him.

He could have been standing there for seconds or minutes, he didn't know. A loud thud rang throughout the palace and jolted him back to the present. Soldiers' stomps echoed down the hallway as voices approached.

"We've got intel that some girl was seen dragging him through here. Check every room. We'll get him this time. He can't run forever."

Hiei grit his teeth. Yakushi Kabuto. The man had been chasing him throughout the all fire country since he'd been found passing through a small village by the border. Hiei didn't know what the Oto shinobi wanted with him, but he knew better than to be caught. He would not be one of the many that had been made to disappear.

"Should we really have left him there all alone? I mean if it was bad for us to be caught there, imagine if someone found him there, looking like he does." It had been thirty minutes since the two had abandoned the palace, and Naruto's thoughts were still with the stranger. Sakura wouldn't deny that hers were too, but she knew she had to be the responsible one between the two of them. She had to be the one to get them out of the country before they were stuck there forever.

"I don't know what else you expected me to do. It was his decision, and he was right. We're more likely to get into trouble together, especially if he really does have someone on his tail," Sakura murmured as they made their way to the black market. Konoha—or rather the newly named Otogakure—had been their home for a long time, but enough was enough. It was almost impossible to keep themselves fed, and with citizens getting attacked, there was no safe option but to leave the place. Of course getting out was easier said than done. Borders had already begun to close. "We have to look out for each other, first and foremost." Her voice wasn't without remorse. Life had toughened her and made her a realist, but that didn't mean she didn't wish there was something she could have done to help the stranger.

"But you've gotta admit there's a resemblance," Naruto persisted in a low voice so as not to be overheard. He may be naturally loud, but even he knew better than to be caught talking about treason in public. "What if Hiei is…him? What if his brother is really waiting for him in Tsukigakure?" Growing up on the streets as an orphan, Naruto had always dreamed of what it might be like to be reunited with his family. Even if the opportunity wasn't possible for him, he felt compelled to help anyone else presented with the same opportunity.

"Then he's probably already been caught and taken in," Sakura frowned, trying not to think too hard about it. She tried not to feel guilty for leaving him there against her better judgement, and she tried to ignore the inkling of a feeling that she'd seen Hiei somewhere before. "You know the soldiers weren't far behind us, and you know what kind of shape he was in when I found him. It would have taken a miracle for him to get away. Now stop thinking about it and help me track down some exit visas. We can't stay here." She offered him a grim smile.

"But what if he did get away? He could have a family waiting for him. Don't you believe in happy endings?"

"Once upon a time I did. Then I grew up." Sakura felt bad for putting Naruto down. He really did seem excited about the prospect, but he couldn't go believing that every dark-haired, pale boy was the lost prince.

"I bet his brother would pay a pretty penny to have him back," Naruto tried a different tactic, "We'd never have to scrounge for food 'd never have to be cold again."He could see that he'd captured Sakura's attention. "And I've heard Tsukigakure is like a paradise compared to this place. Imagine the beaches. Imagine being warm."

She bit the edge of her lip in thought for a moment then shook her head to rid herself of the paradise she had already begun to imagine. "It's too late. Even if we did go back, he's probably long gone. Try not to think about it, okay?" She patted his shoulder before starting off to hunt down visas. "Now get looking. I'll meet you back here."

She walked away from her friend and was soon distracted by shouts from people peddling their wares. They tried to entice her with fur coats and royal antiques left behind during the siege, but she was single minded in her search.

She had to have only been away from Naruto for ten minutes when she heard the commotion. Screams rang out, and in the blink of an eye, people had begun to grab their products and run. Sakura cursed under her breath. First they'd been run out of their shelter, and now they could be caught buying from the black market. It was just their lucky day. Quickly, she pulled up her hood to hide her recognizable hair, and began to weave through the masses. Screw exit visas, they'd get out of that damned country any way possible.