New story after ages.
SasuSaku, AU.
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Sakura
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She was a child of spring, born and named after it. She was a child of Riverland and Haruno, and there was a myth amongst the people of Springfield that the Harunos were part fair-folk for they had the most queer of hair-colours. She had inherited that trait, although Haruno Sakura was yet to discover any hidden powers she had inherited from the fair-folk.
She had grown up in the Springfield for a time, where spring had a stronghold and flowers blossomed six moons a year. Autumn was short and warm, and winter shorter still.
As the daughter of Lord Haruno Tekushi, heir of the eastern riverlands and tenth in line to the throne, Sakura had been born in the Springfield castle, and was spoiled and fussed upon until, on her sixth year, her mother, the beautiful Lady Haruno, took fancy to a passing knight and he got her with child, a scandalous tragedy for the entire House of Haruno. It might have been quieted down and swept under the rug as these matters often were where highborn ladies were concerned, had the Lady not proclaimed her love for the knight infront of Lord Haruno himself. Later, in the shadow of the night, she galloped off with her lover, never to be heard from again.
So at six years and four moons, Sakura woke up to find her mother gone and her father angrier than she had ever seen him. For a time, she was raised by her matron, who had been there since she was little. Sakura missed her mother, but it wasn't terribly so; since she could remember, she had been cared for by matrons more than her own mother.
She was short of two moons to her eighth nameday when her father announced that she was to be sent to Rasengan, the mighty castle of House Uzumaki.
"There are no children here," her father said one day, "and Lady Uzumaki has graciously agreed to take you in until a proper apprenticeship can be arranged."
"But father! I do not want to go," Sakura said sullenly, pouting her lips. "The Uzumaki boy is stupid and loud."
"My darling child, it is not fair for you to grow up here all alone, without a proper lady to teach you how to behave. Besides, when you come of age, you are to marry the young Lord Uzumaki. This is a chance to get to know him my princess."
"I won't go," Sakura glared at her father, "You just want to send me away, but I won't go."
But when the time came, she was carried off in a horse-drawn carriage, crying and kicking. Her matron went with her, along with fifteen of her father's men.
Naruto was as loud and irritating as Sakura remembered. But his mother, the Lady Kushina was even more beautiful and graceful than they said she was, and Sakura aspired to be like her. She combed her own hair thrice everyday in hopes that one day, she too, would have hair as long as the Lady. She tried to spend as much time as she could with Lady Uzumaki, although it wasn't much, as the Lady was often busy and away on business or meeting with important people. So most of the time, Sakura was stuck with her loud and impossibly cheerful son.
Lord Jiraiya, Naruto's lecherous Uncle, came by to visit sometimes, and although he disgusted Sakura, Naruto adored him. They were taught by Master Kakashi, a grey-haired man with a mask covering most of his face. Sakura much preferred her old Master back at home.
There was one other person in the Rasengan that Sakura adored even more than she did the Lady Kushina. And that was none other than Lady Kushina's young ward: Uchiha Sasuke.
To Sakura, Lord Sasuke was everything Naruto was not. He was incredibly handsome with huge dark eyes framed by jet black bangs and a gaze that pierced her very soul, young as it was. He was a sullen boy who seldom smiled and his words, when he spoke at all, had a biting edge. Even so, Sakura hung onto his every word. Sasuke proved as smart and skilled as Naruto was idiotic and clumsy, and he scored the best grades out of the three of them (Although, to be fair, Sakura sometimes made deliberate mistakes in order to let him score the highest. It was a smile price to pay, as it was one of the few things that made him smile, and his smile made Sakura very happy). Outside of her lessons with Master Kakashi, Sakura spent the rest of her time trailing after Sasuke, who did his very best to elude her.
It was rather comical for the rest of the castle because, while Sakura trailed after Sasuke, Naruto followed her like a puppy, and more often than not, it ended up in loud childish brawls of name-calling and fist-fighting. It would start when Sasuke called Sakura something along the lines of a 'weak annoying little worm' and Naruto, furious that his future wife had been insulted, lashed out at Sasuke, and Sakura, furious at Naruto for harmingher love, would punch Naruto. Neither boy would lay a hand on Sakura, and Sasuke would punch Naruto for punching him, and Naruto would punch him back, and Sakura's earlier punching of Naruto's face would be forgotten as the two boys fought it out. It usually ended with Sakura screaming at Naruto for leaving her out and treating her like such a girl.
Life in Rasengan continued as such, and as time passed, Sakura grudgingly admitted to herself that Naruto wasn't as bad as he seemed at first; it was kind of fun sneaking into the kitchens and mixing labels, or adding sugared strawberries to the beef stew. There was a particularly hilarious event in which the cook opened the oven to find that her freshly baked pumpkin pie had turned into a sand pie stuffed with worms. Even Sasuke, who usually did not take any active part in their plans, joined them under the stairs to enjoy the smuggled pie.
Outside of their daily school lessons, the boys practiced sword craft and archery everyday while Sakura was expected to attend dance lessons and sewing classes where her matron tried to teach her the art of embroidery. True, Sakura did love to wear beautifully embroidered gowns and she very much liked to be treated as a lady(if only Sasuke would realize that), but it was dreadfully boring to actually make stitch after stitch. Dance classes were not as bad, and she enjoyed dancing with the delightful Master Genma, who was handsome but so very old. But most of all, Sakura wanted to join her boys in their archery lessons and show them she could hold her own with a wooden sword.
It was almost a year after she came to the Rasengan that Sakura finally mustered the courage to ask Lady Kushina if she might exchange her embroidery and dance sessions for archery and sword craft. Lady Kushina was having her afternoon tea in her chambers when the maid led Sakura into her rooms.
"Come my darling," said Lady Kushina when Sakura entered. "Mikasa says you have some matters you would like to address. Come, child. Sit down beside me and have Mikasa pour you a cup of tea. Or would you prefer juice?"
"Juice plese, my Lady," said Sakura as she tried to demurely set herself down on the chair beside Lady Kushina. Today, the Lady was dressed in an emerald gown made of velvet and embroidered with fine silver threads. Her long auburn hair was pulled into a intricate braid on the top of her head with a few strands left loose to frame her face.
She looks like a queen, thought Sakura, smoothing her own pink locks which were short and straight and did not have anything more than a flower-shaped hairpin.
"So Sakura, what did you want to talk about?" Lady Kushina's voice brought her out of her thoughts and Sakura swallowed, straightening up.
This was time to speak up.
"My lady," she began timidly. "would it… would it be alright for me to have archery and sword practice lessons? I would very much like to learn and I .. I don't much like embroidery .. all my gowns are made by other people and—and Master Genma says I can already dance beautifully—I mean, I can dance alright, I wouldn't embarrass myself or your ladyship if I were to dance and I would really very much like to learn to defend myself because I-" Sakura desperately wished she could stop, but the words came in a gush and she was rambling. She had all but forgotten the well rehearsed speech she had practiced infront of the mirror for days.
"Sakura," Lady Kushina spoke, and Sakura slammed her mouth shut, stopping mid-sentence. There it went. She had ruined her chances of practicing with the boys because of her stupid, blabbering mouth, and she had probably ruined the reputation she hoped to build up in the eyes of Lady Kushina by bragging about how good she was at dancing.
"Sakura," Lady Kushina continued. "Ofcourse you may take up sword craft and archery."
"Wait, what?" Sakura hadn't meant to say that, but she was too shocked at Lady Kushina's reply to stop the words from coming out of her mouth.
The Lady smiled and leaned over to ruffle Sakura's hair. "You are free to study what you want here, Sakura, as long as you do your school work and what you learn is of benefit to you. And I daresay, in times such as these, learning to hold your own against an enemy is much more important than learning how to stitch flowers and twist up your hair. You will join Naruto and Sasuke in their lessons in academics as well as their lessons outside the classroom. I shall write to your father and inform him of this. However, he left you in my care to be raised as I will, so he should be happy with my decision."
And, as simple as that, Sakura joined Naruto and Sasuke in the small courtyard the next afternoon, much to their surprise. She was given a wooden sword(which was heavier than she expected) with which she took a swing at Naruto when he told her she should not be fighting.
For the first month, Sakura was not allowed to actually fight with anybody, but made to do tedious exercises with and without her wooden sword. Archery was even worse. She was made to run around the perimeter of the courtyard ten times everyday, followed by twenty push-ups, and then watch as Naruto and Sasuke handled bows and shot arrows while their instructor screamed at her to stretch her arms or legs or do more push-ups.
By the time her first day was over, Sakura was aching all over and she could not walk without wincing in pain. The following days were much worse, and by the end of the third day, her calf hurt so bad Sasuke had to support her up the five flights of stairs to her room, and to her horror, she started tearing up halfway up because she was mortified that she was so weak and because every part of her hurt so much. She was glad when Sasuke pretended not to hear her sniffles and ignored her the next day instead of smirking like he usually did.
Every night, her matron made her sit in a tub of steamy water and rubbed oil on her cramped muscles, all the while muttering about how much she disapproved of Lady Kushina's decision to let Sakura run about like a wild child.
Nevertheless, as her training continued past one month, Sakura found that her arms were less easily tired when she swung her sword—infact, the sword seemed lighter in her hands than she remembered-, and that she could run ten times around the courtyard without fighting for breath. The pain she felt at the beginning of her training lessened and Sakura started to feel much more cheerful about her training. Eight weeks after she first started, Sakura was finally allowed to hold a bow and shoot at the target alongside Sasuke and Naruto. A few days later, Master Sakumo allowed her to spar against a real person.
As lessons continued Sakura learned that she could hold up her own against the boys in Archery, but it was hard to get a grasp of her level as swordsmanship because neither Naruto nor Sasuke took her seriously when she was paired with them to spar.
Life at Rasengan was peaceful and quiet as can be, but not completely without outside influence. It was three summers after Sakura first came to live there that a horse from the King's court arrived, galloping through the castle gates with a man sprawled across its back. The man was alive, but barely so, for there was an arrow piercing through his abdomen and coming out of his back, with a folded note impaled in it. Lady Kushina had been informed at once, and the note bore the gravest of news.
Or so Sakura heard from the servants.
It wasn't until she and Sasuke were summoned by Kakashi did she realize that something indeed was horribly wrong.
"We are officially at war with Orochimaru's forces," Kakashi informed them. "The servants are packing your things as we speak. You will only take the one bag given to your by your maidservant, and we will meet back here in fifteen minutes, do you understand?" He informed them as he stuffed several scrolls into the half-packed bag on the table.
"What.. why? Are they.. wouldn't we be safer here? Where's Naruto?" Sakura found herself trying to ask all her questions at once, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Kakashi sighed. "No questions nibblets. Get your things and meet me back here."
"No," it was Sasuke who spoke up this time, glaring at Kakshi. "We are not leaving until you tell us what is really going on. Like Sakura said, it would be safer if we stayed in the castle."
"Listen you little smartass," Kakashi slammed the book he'd been holding on the desk with a loud bang and rounded on them, glaring at Sasuke. "Orochimaru's men have surrounded the Rasengan. They have specifically asked for your head by means of the king's messenger, who they murdered and put on a horse with a note attached. And that note demanded you Sasuke. So unless you want to die a slow and painful death, I suggest you get your bag and meet me here in – " he looked at his watch, "—ten minutes."
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