Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Prologue

March 27th, 1775, France, Paris.

A carriage pulled by two beautiful white horses passes a row of small, filthy cottages in the town. On the other side of the road, there's a beautiful, much larger cottage that looks far cleaner and wealthier than the ones opposite it. The carriage comes to a halt in front of this cottage, and a tall man with brown hair and moustache, dressed as the duke he was, came out of the white carriage, straightening his dark green coat. On the other side of the carriage, the door was opened by a young man dressed in red clothes, who had been sitting in the front of the carriage, his only duty being opening and closing the doors for the noble people that were sitting in the carriage.

Out came a little girl. Her emerald eyes looked around at her surroundings with interest and curiosity that increased more and more for every second that passed; her short pink hair had a red ribbon attached to it, and she was wearing a gorgeous red dress.

'Sakura,' the man said patiently, turning to the little girl who was smiling brightly.

'Yes, daddy?' she replied gleefully. 'Is this the place you talked about taking me to? It looks real fun, daddy!'

The man exhaled sharply. 'Sakura, don't call me "daddy". It's vulgar. You should call me "father". Do act as a future duchess, Sakura.'

Sakura heaved a sigh. 'Yes, father.'

'Good child, Sakura,' the man smiled. 'Well, Sakura… I've some duties to do.'

Sakura's smile faded away at once. 'But daddy – I mean, father! You said you were going to take me to a special place today! It's my birthday.'

'I know.' He sighed. 'But unfortunately, the plans are cancelled, Sakura. This is very urgent. But I promise that once I'm done, I'll take you to the theater, alright? Don't you want that, huh? A theater visit. Or a birthday ball?'

Sakura pondered the thought for a while and beamed. 'A birthday ball would be lots of fun, daddy!... I mean, father. But how long are you going to be in there? Can I come with you?' she added hopefully. She knew her parents were important nobles, and therefore they came to special meetings from time to time, having a saying in the running of the country. Sakura had always imagined it was an adventurous, action-packed place her parents went to – she had no idea just how much it'd bore her if she had really been there with all the ladies and gentlemen that were talking about politics – but she was always hoping her father would take her along someday.

'No, Sakura. It's no place for a child.'

Sakura put on a pout and crossed her arms. 'Alright. But what am I going to do in the meantime?'

The Duke of Haruno looked around him helplessly. 'Well, I hate to say this, Sakura, but I'd suggest you explore this place. It's no proper playground for a noble, but getting to know your future servants is no bad thing. You,' he added, giving a menacing glare at the nervous servant dressed in red clothes, 'you better watch her closely. If anything happens to her, you know what punishment you'll get.'

'Yes, sir,' the servant gulped. 'I'll take care of her, sir.'

The Duke nodded. 'Good for you.' Then he turned to Sakura. 'Now you be careful, okay? I don't want you getting any bad habits or run off with some peasant boy.' Sakura laughed at this remark. Her mother had never been fond of the peasant boys and always warned her of them.

'I know, father,' she laughed. 'Mother hates peasant boys. She says they're horrible. I know I'm not allowed to play with them. How long will you be gone, father?'

'A couple of hours or so. Now you better be careful!' he warned her as he walked into the building. Sakura turned to the servant as soon as he was out of sight.

'Can't we go to one of the cottages?' she suggested happily. 'I wonder who lives in them. Maybe there're only rats. It's so dirty, anyway.'

The servant frowned. 'No, mademoiselle. I think that people actually live in there.'

Sakura's eyes widened. 'They do? In these small, dirty places? Don't they have any servants to clean the place for them, and don't they have a bigger house?'

'No, mademoiselle. Not all families are wealthy, like yours.'

Now even more curious than before, Sakura approached one of the cottages. Just about to turn the doorknob to enter the house, she felt something hit her leg. Spinning around fast, she suddenly stood face to face to a threatening-looking boy about her height and age, with raven hair that was spiky and obsidian eyes. And… she looked down at his clothes. He wasn't even dressed like her servants! He was dressed in some filthy robes that looked like those Sakura and her other noble friends used when they played peasants.

'Bonjour, monsieur,' Sakura said politely, but her eyes were certainly not polite. They eyed him up and down, taking in every detail carefully, memorizing them.

'What,' he hissed, 'the hell are you doing, trying to get into my home? Are you a thief?'

Sakura put on a frown. 'Don't call me a thief, monsieur! That's highly degrading.'

'Degrading?' The boy's eyes narrowed. 'What the hell are you talking about, anyway?'

'Don't use such bad language!' Sakura scolded. 'It's not suiting for a to-be duke. Or count. Or… are you a prince?' she asked excitedly.

'I'm not a duke. Or a count. Or a prince,' he snorted. 'I'm me. I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I live here.'

Sakura dropped her jaw. 'You… you're a peasant? You're… poor?'

'Yes.' Sasuke's eyes were as hard as stone. 'Yes, I am. I am poor, unlike you, mademoiselle I've-never-met-a-peasant-before.'

'It's not my fault!' Sakura looked hurt. 'I… my father… oh, just forget about it. I'm really sorry. Goodbye.' She was just about to turn tail and leave, when she twirled around again, surprising him. He flinched as he saw her green eyes filled with tears. 'And oh, I'm sorry if I insulted you. And by the way, I'm not 'mademoiselle I've-never-met-a-peasant-before'. My name is Haruno Sakura. Bye.'

She was just about to leave again, when she felt Sasuke grab her arm. Whirling around for the third time, she looked at him with a face expression of pure astonishment, and was more than surprised to see him smirking. 'Hey,' Sasuke said. 'You wanna play?'

oOoOoOoOo

'Father!' Sakura squealed when the Duke finally came out of the building. 'Father, you're back!'

'Yes, I am.' The Duke wrinkled his forehead. 'Sakura, what've I and mother told you about making noise?'

'I'm sorry, father, but I've had such a wonderful time!' Sakura's smile was so broad that it felt like her cheeks were going to explode. 'It was fantastic!'

'Oh, really?' He smiled. 'Did you learn much about the farmers and how you've to treat them as your servants?'

Sakura stared at him. 'Father, I don't understand.'

The Duke frowned again. 'I'm the one not understanding. What are you talking about, Sakura?'

'Well, I met this boy, Sasuke, and we played all day, and it was so fun! Father, can we please come here again? Sasuke is way funnier than all my playmates and ladies in-waiting put together! Honestly!'

'A boy?' The Duke narrowed his eyes just the way Sasuke had done hours ago. 'Did I understand you right? Did you meet a… peasant boy? And you like this boy?'

'Well, he…' Sakura paused. And swallowed. 'No, father, I don't. I… I hate this boy. I… I will never come back. N… never…'

'Good child, Sakura.' The Duke's frown disappeared slightly. 'I knew you'd not do such a ridiculous thing such as run off with a peasant boy.'

'Y… yes…' Sakura tried hard not to cry. Her father would never let her come back if he knew how close friends she and Sasuke were. Then she remembered something Sasuke had said. 'Father… father, do you've any paper I can write on, please?'

'Yes.' He looked surprised. 'Why?'

'Oh… well. It's just that… I wanted to write down what I learnt today. About… about servants.'

'What a waste of ink.'

'Father, it's my birthday! Just this once, please?'

'Fine, fine.' He sighed and pulled out some paper, a pen and a bottle of ink from his coat. 'Here you go, Sakura. You better be quick, I want to have this ball as fast as possible before your mother wants to invite the King and Queen for dinner.'

'Alright.' Sakura sat down on the ground and put the paper on her knee, and began writing.

Dear Sasuke! March 29th, 1775

I know you can't read, but one day when you learn how to, please read this letter. My parents won't let me come and see you. I'm so, so sorry, Sasuke. I hate this too! I want to come and see you everyday and play with you everyday and I don't… I really don't want to say goodbye forever this quick. But I know I'll see you someday again, right?

I know you can't read, but you said you wanted to learn, right? So… so if you ever learn how to, please read this. I'll be waiting for you. Until then… I'll miss you. A lot! Come and visit me soon.

I know I'll see you someday, so I won't worry about saying goodbye forever. France isn't such a big country. I keep meeting the same people at parties all the time. Come to one of those parties one day, okay? Without you nothing's fun. I'll miss you so much. I'm so sorry, Sasuke…

Love,
Haruno Sakura

She crumpled the paper and then looked back. Her father was talking to the servant, and she quickly ran off, sliding the paper under the door to Sasuke's house. Hesitating, she thought of leaving a gift. She looked down and saw her necklace. Her most beloved necklace, the one with pink crystals and emeralds, the one she had received the very same day and the one that was her most precious possession in the entire world. She gently took it off, took the paper back and rolled it into the paper, and slid it under the door again, only hoping Sasuke would be the one finding it first. Then she turned, and ran back to the carriage, suppressing the tears that were about to fall from her eyes.

Tsukiko: And the love story has begun!... Well, hardly. This was just the prologue XD; But the next chapter is coming soon :D I can't promise quick updates, though. I'm having some issues with my personal life at the moment and am also having some trouble with This Is Not My First Time and the promised bonus chapters might be more late than I'd have thought.

Sneak Preview of Next Chapter: When Fate Plays With You

"What in God's name are you doing?" she hissed.

"Shut up, I'm holding you hostage," he snarled in a low voice back. "That way they won't hurt us."

"Why are you taking ME hostage? I'm not even the bride!" she snapped.

He blinked. "You aren't?"