Our story begins on the first day of the cool season. For the commoner children, it meant it was time to pack their warm clothes away and further their educations.
But this was not that day for a certain 8 year old boy. Today was the day he would bring a girl home to be his own personal... assistant.
Sasuke Uchiha was the younger of two children belonging to the legendary Uchiha family. It was on this day that he would choose one of the children from the nation's poorest families to bring in to his home. Since he was a child, he'd been taught how to be a gentleman. Intelligent, suave, confident. All the qualities necessary of a future leader. Now, Sasuke was the younger child, so he wouldn't become the leader of his family. But he still had high expectations and a reputation to uphold.
The boy walked alongside his elder brother, Itachi, and the young girl on his brother's other side. Following his brother, the young boy was lead down a narrow alleyway, dark and wet.
"Nii-san! It's so gross out here! Why do we have to go through here?" He complained. Itachi dragged Sasuke through some puddles and in down a steep hill. A small crowd of girls and boys sat waiting patiently on the ground. They each wore rags of varying colors, patches sewn in different spots on every one of their clothes. Their parents stood behind them, almost as sickly thin as the children. Itachi walked in on them with Sasuke in tow, stopping on the damp asphalt. The young girl stood just behind Itachi, a warm smile on her face.
"Sasuke, this is where I chose Izumi when I was your age. Now it's your turn. An older man, clearly Izumi's father, looked at her with shock and joy. He didn't know exactly what had happened between his daughter and the one and only uchiha heir, however he didn't care. His daughter hadn't looked so happy in her entire life.
The children on the floor ranged in ages between 5 and 9, a healthy mix of boys and girls. Sasuke looked at them. He didn't want somebody too young, but he didn't want somebody older than him. At least not significantly older. He wanted a girl, he knew that much. There was a slight feeling of power that washed over the boy for the first time in his life. Sasuke soaked in the feeling now, he loved it. As he scanned the ground, one of the smaller girls caught his eye. She was clearly one of the weakest sitting in the group, her green eyes were sunken in her round face. Strands of pink hair were stuck across her forehead, cheeks and neck. She'd clearly been out in the rain for days now.
"You." He said. He spoke assertively, his young voice was terrifying to the children. The pink haired girl squeaked.
"M-Me?" He nodded and she stood up.
"What's your name?"
"Sakura…" She replied quietly, keeping her eyes down. Sasuke tipped his head, pink hair and named Sakura. A bit predictable. He looked at his brother, how did he tell this girl and her parents, whichever two they were, that he was going to take their daughter away and turn her into his own personal servant? He was sure he'd been taught the appropriate way to go about it, but now his mind was blank. Itachi stepped forward.
"Sakura, then you'll come with my brother. You'll have a good life with him." Luckily, Sasuke quickly caught on.
"Y-Yes. She'll be cared for very well. You will be given time to learn your responsibilities and the expectations and we'll have time to get to know each other better…" He stumbled over his words, thinking if there was anything else he needed to add. He couldn't think of anything, so he simply reached out to take Sakura's frail hand. Two adults behind her, her parents, he assumed, looked torn inside.
On the one hand, Sasuke thought, I'm taking her out of this awful life… but I'm also taking her away from her family
But alas, that was just how life worked. He held her hand and led her back to the complex that was his home, looking at her reaction. She stared in awe, dumbfounded by the sight before her.
"Please, come in Sakura. Welcome to your new home." Izumi greeted her with a small smile. "You'll sleep with me in the- assistant's, room." She looked up at Itachi, her eyes lids fluttering. He simply nodded. "You'll want to rest as much as you can while Sasuke-san is training you." Sakura nodded, holding her arms around her chest. She was clearly nervous.
"I'll show you to the assistant's room. Get adjusted. Tomorrow we'll spend the day getting familiar with each other and I'll show you around the complex." Itachi was proud of his brother at this point, he remembered fondly being nervous to bring Izumi into their home. But he was being very responsible and doing everything as he'd learned. The little raven-haired boy took his new little friend to the assistant's room, showing her to the empty mattress that lay on the floor. The room was large, but didn't hold many things in it. There was a dresser shoved up against the back wall with 6 drawers in it, the top 3 with labels on them reading IZUMI in bright red letters. Sasuke led her to the drawers and opened the top one.
"You'll be given 3 separate drawers to hold your clothes. The top is for your.. underwear." He hesitated, talking about a girl's undies- he never got used to that no matter how many times he rehearsed it. And he rehearsed it a lot
. "The middle drawer is for your every day clothes.. you'll have 4 shirts and 3 pairs of pants and a dress. The bottom drawer is fancy clothes." Sakura simply nodded in understanding, trying very hard to listen to what he said. She'd do her best to be a good assistant, he'd chosen her after all. She didn't want him to regret it. Turning around, the two children faced away from the dresser. To their left was a twin sized mattress with a single pillow on it and a bright red blanket folded perfectly at the end, the white sheets looked crisp and brand new. Sakura had a feeling in her gut that they were not in fact, brand new. Sasuke turned his head to the left. Sakura followed. Mirroring the red bed was an empty mattress with an uncased pillow on top, and fresh white sheets folded neatly on top. "This is where you'll sleep." He told her, walking to it. "Your first task is to make up the mattress just like Izumi's is done." She nodded, crouching down onto her knees. She truly had no idea how to make a mattress look as professional as the red one, but she knew she had to try. She unwrapped the sheet and put it over the corners, tucking it in tightly. Then she shimmied the pillowcase on and positioned it at the top of the mattress, trying to center it. She was painfully aware of Sasuke's judgemental eyes staring down and watching her every move. She kept her head down, waiting for his judgement. "Have you made a bed before, Sakura?" She shook her head. "Then it's not bad for a first try. Dinner will be in 3 hours. Starting in 2 days you'll assist Izumi in preparing meals." The boy left, leaving Sakura to sit on her new bed and wonder about what life would be like, serving Sasuke Uchiha.