If the lonesome traveler were to ask the poor woodcutter how the night at the Magical Kingdom looks like, the woodcutter would gaze up at the sky and give his very normal answer, "You see, that is black silk our queen weaved and sent up to the skies and the stars are shimmering pinheads of bright white light."
But the night tonight was red, not from scarlet fireworks but fire. The War and Magical kingdoms are at war and the cherry blossom trees, their white petals splattered red with blood, are being consumed in the blaze. The soldiers have invaded the Magical Kingdom and its defenses are rapidly waning against the fierce onslaught of the attacking armies lead by Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha, princes of their own kingdom and brothers.
The towering white royal palace seems exceptionally beautiful tonight against a background of hazy red. Sasuke stopped in his steps to admire it, his handsome face expressionless. Roars of victory from Itachi's side of the battle told Sasuke that the Haruno kingdom's ruler had fallen and turning his head back to the palace, Sasuke decided that the time had come for the royal palace to as well.
The castle was empty with everyone, from the butler to the lowly gardener evacuating the palace grounds but still met with their demise as the soldiers charged in. Despaired and devastated by the death of the king, the queen had consumed lethal poison, wanting to follow her beloved in death.
Sakura lay on the cold floor curled up in her mother's side. She covered the light blue of her gown with the deep purple of her mother's skirts and she moved her mother's arms to cradle her own head as Sakura cuddled as close as she could to her mother in a desperate attempt to put some heat back into the cold arms by means of using her own body temperature.
The princess knew that they were at war, and she also knew that her father had died by the enemy's sword and her mother was dying. Her green eyes were shining with unshed tears threatening to fall whenever she tried to imagine how her father died, sorry that he couldn't protect those precious to him and when Sakura pressed the top of her head to her mother's throat and felt the weak tremble of life pulsating give, everything in front of her became a silvery blur as the tears fell.
Sakura never truly knew the woman who gave birth to her. Her mother never spoke and was quiet all the time and she never loved her daughter as she only loved Sakura's father. Sakura loved her mother dearly even though she was always so cold to her, but she was dead now.
Sakura reached for her mother's hand, wanting to will the warmth back in the porcelain white hand but she was stopped abruptly when a strong arm suddenly gripped her upper arm. Sakura was roughly pulled to her feet and then she found herself face to face with the handsome face of Uchiha Sasuke.
'Get in the palace, find the queen and princess and kill them. Although, I would be quite surprised if they haven't got around to killing themselves yet, at the hopelessness of their situation,' Sasuke remembered Itachi's cutting words and his cruel laughter as he gazed down at the dead body of the queen and his onyx eyes drifted over to the empty, crystal bottle, which once contained poison.
Sasuke felt insulted at the way the princess struggled frantically against him to relinquish his hold on her. Surely she didn't think he was weak, after seeing for herself the amount of blood staining his sword and his blood-drenched hands? He had found her concealed behind her mother's death and he would have turned and walked away without knowing she was there if she hadn't been crying at her mother's sad ending and a tear reflected on the necklace she wore. Sasuke tightened his grip on her and he pushed her away from him hard, causing her to stumble.
"You killed my father and mother." Sakura whispered dully. She stood a head shorter than the dark figure clad in black, with the red hands and red sword. Sasuke lifted the arm gripping his sword and he pointed its sharp tip at Sakura's throat. "Yes,' Sasuke said evenly, looking frighteningly passive on his pale and handsome face. "And I am going to kill you too."
Sasuke couldn't help feeling impressed at the girl a little. She did not fear death when their bravest general screamed and squealed like a pathetic swine, pleading shamelessly for his life before Itachi, after finding no amusement in it anymore, easily decapitated him. But the coldness in his eyes returned as he pulled the sword away from her skin to drive it mercilessly through her heart when suddenly he caught sight of a flash of silver too late and a burning fire at his wrist told him that her dagger had drawn blood.
Furious with his carelessness that actually allowed that wench to wound him when his guard was let down, Sasuke clutched his bleeding wrist and looked around wildly for the girl. He saw the elaborate jeweled dagger used to slash his wrist abandoned on the floor, a foolish mistake once he would catch up with her. He turned his head to the left of the room and saw the hem of her skirt quickly whipping out of sight.
Sasuke picked up his sword and immediately gave chase after the princess. He had let her get away and he would never be able to live it down until he had captured her with his own hands and ended her life by his own sword. Sakura was running without knowing where she was going.
Enemy soldiers are charging in wave after wave but Sakura had no idea what awaited her at the topmost towers of the royal palace. Only one thought was etched in her mind as she ran and that was to get away from Sasuke, whom she had a dreadful feeling that he would not let her off for that cut she gave and she was right for he had appeared at the top of the staircase as she was halfway down the corridor and he was catching up.
Sakura screamed when she saw him still quite a distance away from her mere seconds ago when he came up the stairs but now he was so close and getting closer and closer to her still. Sasuke narrowed his eyes locked on his pink-haired prey, who had suddenly slowed down to hop clumsily on the spot and she was reaching down to her foot.
Something solid flew straight in his direction and hit Sasuke on his face. He pressed the back of his hand to his sore cheek where the high heel had hit him and lifted his head to glare angrily at the retreating back of Sakura. The nerve of that girl! She had thrown a shoe at him! Now even more determined to find the girl and avenge the humiliation he had suffered at her hand, Sasuke gave chase after her with fiercer vigor.
Sakura was having a hard time running with one foot bare with the other still wearing the slipper and soon she quickly removed her other slipper from her foot as well. The third time she turned her head around to check, Sasuke was behind her and hot on her bare heels already. The high heel she'd thrown at him had only managed to stall him for a while and he looked murderous.
Really panicking now, Sakura haphazardly flung her other slipper over her shoulder at Sasuke, who blocked it with his sword and crushed it under his foot as he stepped on it after her. Sakura increased her speed even more and went to hide behind a corner, trying not to breathe too heavily for him to discover her. She grabbed a weapon soldiers had dropped and when Sasuke came around, tried to hit him with it but failed.
The stick fell from her limp fingers as Sakura stared straight in front of her over Sasuke's shoulder, her face deathly pale and her chest rising erratically. The silver strand stringing a number of softly glimmering pearls together to form a necklace broke when Sasuke pierced through the string into the wall with the tip of his sword, right beside Sakura's slender and white neck .The sound of pearls falling to the floor sounded strangely loud amidst the noises of battle.
A thin line of blood trickled down the length of her neck. 'Find the princess. Kill her. We do not need any hostages.' Itachi's order resounded in Sasuke's head and in one swift and heavy movement, Sasuke pulled out his sword from being embedded in the wall and was about to pierce through her heart when he stopped abruptly.
The emerald eyes staring at him were angry. They were full of sorrow before when the queen died and then of panic when he was chasing after her and now, the green color of her eyes were practically crackling with unspoken fury as Sakura glared straight into the onyx of his.
Sakura fainted with a sudden and powerful backhand dealt right to the nape of her neck. Sasuke watched as the girl crumple to the floor, unmoving, his hand still suspended in the air from the backhand he just gave her, rendering her unconscious. Sasuke had no idea why he did it when he was given orders to kill her but he decided that when he is giving Itachi a blow-by-blow account of what had happened, he would leave out the part where he was hit by a flying high heel.
A/N: Well, after much deliberation, I finally decided to post this first chapter up. Reviews make my day...!