Not a soul in the castle questions the hurried footsteps of the strawberry blonde princess as she checks every single room for her younger sister. Frustrated, Arianna growls and, in a single movement, catches a servant boy by the collar as he rushes by. She takes a deep breath before speaking. "Have you seen Mayuri?"

"Y-yes ma'am." The boy toys with his fingers as Ari lets go of his collar. She waits, hands on the hips of her icy aquamarine gown, and stares down the kitchen hand.

"Well?"

"…She made me promise not to tell anyone where she went." The lad won't look the eldest princess in the eyes. "She said especially not to tell you."

Arianna releases an exasperated sigh and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Of course she did." She suddenly gets an idea and smiles at the boy. "How about this: can you tell me the places she's not?"

The servant, happy to be out of trouble with the princess, nods eagerly. "She's not in the castle and she's not in the village."

That left the castle grounds, which were acres and acres of land. That didn't exactly narrow things down. Arianna sighs and pats the boy on the head. "Thank you. You may go."

The boy scurries away and out of sight around the corner as Arianna racks her brain for the possible locations of her run-away sister.

"Princess?" Ari looks up to see the boy sheepishly peeking his head around the corner. "The princess Mayuri has taken to the daffodils blooming in the gardens outside her room…"

The gazebo. It's not easily seen from anywhere on the grounds and it's surrounded by flowers. Ari smiles at the boy before hitching up her skirts and running, well as much as her high heels would allow, in the direction specified.

~ view change ~

Mayuri sits on the bench in the gazebo, delicately running her fingertips along the petals of the daffodil in her hand, and sighs. There was a ball going on inside and here she was, avoiding it. She didn't want to go inside, the party was in honor of her sisters wedding and, not that she wasn't happy for her sister, but she wasn't too keen on celebrating her sisters eventual move to the desert.

She sighs and closes her honey-colored eyes as the sound of irritated footsteps reach her ears. Mayuri winces as her sister taps her foot on the painted wooden floor of the gazebo. "…Hi Ari."

"Mayuri, what do you think you're doing?" Arianna narrows her eyes at her sister and folds her arms. "We're expected at the party in less than five minutes and we don't have time to play hide-and-seek."

"Yeah well, I have nothing to celebrate." Mayuri meets her sisters gaze and everything goes silent for a moment. "Yeah, I'm happy for you and Gaara but that doesn't mean I have to celebrate it. You're going to leave for his castle in a week and leave me here all alone."

"Is that what this is about?" Ari smiles and sits next to her sister. "Mayu, you know you can always come visit me and Gaara adores you."

"Well yeah but I can't stay with you all the time." Already won over, Mayuri looks down at the daffodil in her lap. "I'll be here all by myself a lot of the time. And you know what happens when I get bored."

"Well why don't we go inside huh? You can always meet someone you can be friends with." Ari stands and helps her sister into her heels before leading her back towards the castle. "You might even meet Prince Uchiha."

Mayuri recoils and gives Ari a look of incredulity. "That self-absorbed, power hungry jackass? No thanks. He's creepy."

Arianna laughs and links her arm through her sisters. "Come on, lets go inside."

~ view change ~

A blonde haired peasant eyes the party through the big windows on the east side of the room and slips on a wicked smile. He retreats back into the bushes and rights his outfit before slipping on a black mask and heading into the party.

He ducks through the guards in a crowd of posh party guests and slips into the grand hall. He smiles smugly to himself as he heads over towards a darker corner of the room. Kiba owed him dinner for a week. He snatches a thin glass of alcohol from a wandering servant and sips it, relishing in the light bubbly flavor as fanfare catches the attention of the guests.

"Announcing the newlywed Prince Gaara and Princess Arianna."

Naruto's blue eyes glance up in time to see the ginger-haired prince escort the elder princess down the stairs and onto the marble floor. He shrugs and goes back to his drink, the eldest princess was nothing he wasn't used to. Often alluded to the brightness and joy of the sun, she often rode into the village and Naruto adored her sorrel steed Mischief, correctly named for the trouble the horse was often in.

"Announcing Her Highness Princess Mayuri."

This time, Naruto's eyes darted swiftly to the staircase. The younger of the sisters was rumored to be the moon incarnate, luminescent and cold. She didn't often leave the castle and this was a rare occasion that she actually showed up for a party. He very nearly dropped his glass.

The fair skinned, silver haired princess looked out at the crowd and even from this distance Naruto could see her sigh, not bothering to contain her dislike for the event. She dressed in an ocean blue color with sparkling silver trim and has a black ribbon holding a crisp daffodil in her hair. She descended the steps and slowly the chatter and music starts up again. For some reason, Naruto iss mesmerized by the younger princess.

He makes his way over towards the family, knowing that since all the men are wearing masks he could easily be mistaken for a lord or something. To his dismay, someone got there first. Naruto watches in disappointment as Prince Hyuga whisks Mayuri onto the dance floor. Sighing, Naruto moves back to his corner, downing the rest of his drink and getting halfway through another before a pink haired lady asks him to dance.

~ view change ~

Mayuri slides on a smile as Prince Lee steps on her foot for the hundredth time. Though, honestly she had no idea how he'd managed to step on her THAT many times, she'd only been dancing with him for a minute.

"You're a wonderful dancer Princess!" Lee lifts her into the air on a spin as per the dance and smiles at her brightly. "I could dance with you all night!"

Unable to really be upset with him, despite her possibly broken toes, she smiles back at him as she steps into the next phase of the dance. "You as well Prince Lee."

Mayuri twirls away from the prince as the music restarts and into the arms of her least favorite bachelor: Prince Sasuke Uchiha. Not even bothering to hide her distaste she narrows her eyes but continues to dance with him. "Prince Uchiha."

"Well if it isn't the beautiful princess," Sasuke smiles at her and pulls her closer to his torso. "Right in my arms where you belong."

"Excuse me?" Mayuri, afraid to tip off her sister, continues to dance with the letch as his hands slide down her waist.

"Well now that your sister is married, it makes sense that you would be next in line." Sasuke smiles at her and Mayuri has to concentrate to restrain herself from punching him. "I, of course, am the best bachelor. Don't worry, you'll enjoy being my wife."

"Oh really?" Mayuri slides on a sickly sweet smile as the music begins to die down again, signaling another partner change. Mayuri stamps as hard as she possibly can on his foot and he has to bite back a curse because Mayuri is twirled out of his arms and into the arms of a masked blonde with eyes the color of the ocean. "…Hi."

"Hi…" He smiles at her as they fall into the last part of the dance. The dashing smile and confidence has Mayu quite entranced and he is, by far, the best partner she's had all night. He twirls her around as the music ends and lowers her into a deep, graceful dip. Their eyes lock and Mayu finds herself unable to speak.

They share a smile as he brings her back to her feet and the music completely dies out. Mayuri doesn't move from his embrace and he doesn't let her go. "I'm Mayuri…"

"I know." Another song starts up and he brings the back of her hand to his lips. "May I…?"

She nods and he swings her back into step. Mayuri, so enraptured by the masked debonair, doesn't notice everyone staring at them, whispering about the unknown identity of the man who's captured the princess' attention.

They swirl around the dance floor, everything outside their little sphere melted away until they find themselves outside on the terrace without knowing how exactly they got there.

"Oh my…" Mayuri steps back from him but not out of his arms and smiles, slightly embarrassed. "I wonder how we got all the way out here."

"I don't mind." The masked blonde places her arm through his and leads her towards a stone bench at the edge of the terrace. "I like spending time with you."

Mayuri blushes as they sit down and slip into conversation. For once, Mayuri feels largely at ease with someone who isn't her sister. Even around her own father Mayuri was nervous and stumbled over her words. But this man, he made her feel relaxed and comfortable enough to smile and really be herself. He was just so… wonderful.

The clock bells ring out, startling the couple who were previously unaware of the time. "I'm sorry my princess, but I must go." The masked man stands and looks back towards the party, then back at Mayuri. "I've had the most amazing of nights Princess." He gets down on one knee in front of her and envelopes one of her hands with both of his. "I'll never forget tonight. Never."

"Can't I at least know your name?" Mayuri reaches up and removes the daffodil from her hair, holding it out to him in exchange. The man takes the flower from her and smiles, leaning up and kissing her cheek as he whispers in her ear. Then, just like that, he steps away and disappears into the night, leaving the star struck girl out on the terrace alone with nothing but a name.

"Kit…"