Title: The Secret Kingdom

Summary: AU Sakura wants answers. Naruto wants to be recognized by his people. Sasuke wants...something. Will they get all that they want and more in a magical kingdom torn by war?

Pairings: NarutoxSakuraxSasuke

Genre: Fantasy/Romance

Disclaimer: I spoke with Kishimoto-san this morning, but he unfortunately wouldn't sell me Naruto. Although, he did send me a basket of tomatoes in apology.

Chapter 1: The Girl with One Wish

Humans throughout history have sought to find answers to our various questions. Thus, in this insatiable quest for knowledge, men have toiled and pondered. In this process we have begun explaining why the sky is blue or why the sea is salty. We have discovered physical laws that enabled us to do what we once thought impossible. Now we fly in planes and connect with another person halfway around the world in the span of a few seconds.

Yes, humanity has achieved so much.

Yet, humanity has not answered every question.

And for Sakura Haruno, this is a frustration.

She doesn't seek to answer why people are alive or why there is suffering in this world. She has a lot of questions like every one else. Her questions are simple but when she asks, the answers are vague and easily dismissed. How come everyone can say what a famous star did the last ten years but no one can tell her who her mother is?

It's not like her father never told her. Kenji Haruno was a handsome man of 44, with deep grey eyes and reddish brown hair. He was a brilliant cardiologist, one of the best in the country.

"Your mother, Haruka, was a very beautiful and kind woman. There's no doubt you will grow up to be just like her."

"But what does she look like?" Sakura, then only six years old, asked him.

Kenji stared at her with a solemn smile. "You have her eyes." And he didn't add anything else despite Sakura's insistence through the next decade.

Sakura tried asking relatives, but their answers revealed nothing new either.

"Your mother?" Her Aunt Reina raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, dear, but I don't know anything about her. All I know is that when Ken returned from medical school, he was carrying you. Heck!" she snorted. "He never even told us he was married! But I bet you got your looks from her. I don't see anything Haruno about you."

Before her aunt would start on some farfetched theories, Sakura hastily thanked her and left. Her father left to study abroad for ten years. He did communicate with is family, but when he returned with a year-old daughter in tow, the family was in uproar. Like Reina, some believed that Sakura was not Kenji's child, but he had showed documents that he was indeed married to a Haruka Senju two years prior, a whole year before Sakura was born. Kenji admitted that he kept his marriage a secret, saying that "the family won't approve." It was one of the little information he volunteered, and his relatives began starting stories that he married a brainless nobody when he is not around.

Sakura heard these stories, however, and of course she felt hurt. There were indeed no similar features between her and her father. But her father loved her dearly, and she could never doubt that he was truly her paternal father. And a brilliant man like him would certainly choose a wonderful woman.

Staring at a mirror, Sakura would sometimes imagine she is looking at her mother. Do they indeed share the same fair porcelain skin? The same straight reddish blonde hair, so light it was almost pink? Her father never told her, his eyes would look alarmingly sad when they talk about her. Sakura did not like causing her father sadness, she loved him too much. They were a team; it was only the two of them for years. But she cannot help but wonder why there weren't any pictures of Haruka Haruno. Other than her mother's neat signature on her birth certificate and her parent's marriage certificate, it was as if she didn't exist at all.

Her obsession with her mother was actually more of an obsession of learning who is. Sakura is a fairly average girl. She is smart but just smart enough to be one of the top students in class. She is athletic but not enough to be chosen to compete in any event. She is well known in her school, but she doesn't have any close friends.

People like her well enough, she is nice and friendly. Her looks, especially her hair and patrician features made her stand out. Boys have crushed on her and some have confessed, but she politely turns her down. Many have attempted to be close to her, but failed. She seemed so shy and usually avoided gatherings. Soon, people just dismissed her as an introvert and left her alone.

But Sakura didn't mean to be like that. She is lonely, she wants to have friends, but she cannot risk them knowing her secret. It was a secret not even her father knows. If people find her weird already, what would they think when they find out she communicates with plants and animals?

Oh, people say she has a green thumb and that animals seem to like her, but Sakura knows differently. She cannot really talk to them, but she could somehow feel them. She can feel moods emanating from the plants while she waters them. She somehow feels how a dog would have his ears scratched. She could call any animal to come to her, and plants seem to bend towards her when she holds out her hand. These are subtle abilities, yes, but that's not all. It began when she was ten years old. For some reason, she found herself floating above her bed when she woke up. She fell immediately with a thud. Once, her classmates were having a water fight. A boy directed his water pistol at her. Sakura was absolutely sure the water hit her, but she found herself completely dry. Thankfully, no one noticed, and she ran home. Other incidents began to follow, objects would move according to her mood, and in an effort to control it, she started the habit of bottling her emotions inside. She knows that she should keep whatever she could do a secret.

Of course she was scared and confused, who wouldn't? After all, these abilities were simply not commonplace. Sakura soon found herself researching on parapsychology. She read myths and fantasies. She surmised that abilities like hers were probably inherited. Her father never showed any strange ability. It could only be her mother, she concluded.

So this was Sakura's life, covertly trying to answer her own questions. But change was coming. Her father married again, to a pretty young high profile lawyer who was divorced a few years before. Megumi had two children, fraternal twins who shared their mother's hazel eyes and blond hair. They moved to a new town, in a fabulously furbished penthouse apartment. But that didn't really change her life. Megumi was a kind and caring stepmother, but like her father, she was extremely busy. Her stepbrother and stepsister were studying college abroad, and although they get along, Sakura hardly saw them. Her life was like before, she was frequently alone and friendless in a roomy house.

Now 16 years old, the teenage Sakura looked around her new room. Her parents were busy assessing the furniture and she decided she wanted to be alone. Her room was situated at the corner of the apartment and was quite spacious. Silently observing her new refuge she assessed her belongings. After a few minutes, she concluded she liked her room. Her bed was slightly elevated and she had to go up the stairs to reach it. The railings on it create an illusion that her bed is another room. She had a small bed full of fluffy soft pillows and a vanity mirror adjacent to it. Under the make-shift mezzanine floor, a large shelf contained her books, and beside it was her computer. On a glass shelf, she gazed fondly at her collection of sea shells. There were two other doors, one led to her bathroom and walk-in closet and the other led to a balcony. She stepped into the balcony and smiled. There was a small garden and the flowering plants were already in bloom. The view was also breathtaking, there was a pool below and just a block away was a hilly park with flowering cherry blossoms.

The blossoms were so beautiful that Sakura reached out her hand and willed the petals to come to her. The wind blew and she caught a petal. Closing her eyes, she placed the petal to her lips.

"I wish to know who I am, to know more about my mother." She whispered.

She gently let go of the petal, and Sakura's gaze followed its direction. It landed on a person. Sakura blinked. The person (she couldn't tell if the person was male or female from afar since she is on a ten-storey building) was crouching on top of a lamppost, wearing a ridiculously bright orange jumpsuit and seemingly talking to a huge lump on his/her shoulder. Sakura saw that there were a lot of people around, but they ignored the strange person. She shrugged, concluding that it was probably not such a weird sight for these people.

"Sakura-chan! Can you come here?" Megumi called.

Sakura sighed and reentered her room.

Spring Grove, her new home was worthy of its name. Its beautiful gardens and Cherry blossom fields was a breather from the tall buildings and highly competitive atmosphere of the place. It was a fairly new town, a suburban area on its way to becoming a city. The relaxing climate has attracted the influx of people, mostly well-to-do. The demand for amenities only cities can bring also invited professionals, and that's why Kenji and Megumi decided to move here.

How ironic that Sakura's last name is similar in nature to the name of the place. Haru. Spring. And they moved in at the season of spring. Spring is said to be the symbol of beginnings and of a new life. Spring can also mean change, and though nothing much will change in the town except its eventual rise to progress, something exceptional will change Sakura's life forever.

Change is indeed coming, something different from moving to a new house or having a new family. The great change in Sakura Haruno's life began the moment she whispered her wish, when the strange blond shook the petal off, and from an opposite building, a pale dark-haired boy stared at the direction of Sakura's balcony.

The said boy placed his hands on his pockets and smirked.

Well that's it, my first fanfic!

Please tell me what you think.

Thank You.