Title: The corncockle

Genre: Romance/General

Pairing: Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha

Rating: T

Word count: 3072

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Summary: Like corncockles, they had been concealed behind deceptive masks, attacking once everyone had been lulled into safety. Now, the loyal citizens of Konoha are rising up to take back what's theirs, and Sakura is the hidden key to victory.

*** Corncockle - an attractive, delicate-looking plant with a large, purple-pink flower that grows on a single stalk. However, its beauty is deceptive, for every part of the plant is filled with poison that can even cause death.

Dedicated to Marija and Mateja.

Enjoy! ;)

She closed her eyes enjoying the light breeze that swept her long, blonde tresses from her face, her smile widening as she heard its whispers and secrets in lowest of hums. The rhythmical stride of horses and the occasional whooping of distanced owls hidden deep within the forest were only other sounds disrupting the, otherwise, tranquil nature that surrounded her. Deciduous, green trees on both sides of the winding, dirt road they followed, made odd shapes out of shadows that changed their form as the branches swayed on the wind. She looked at the sky and frowned at dark, ominous clouds obstructing the red and gold colors of the setting sun that burned the high treetops.

''We should better hurry, m'lady.'' she heard from her right. ''We wouldn't want you to get wet and end up with a cold."

The white haired man beside her was, too, stretching his neck upwards, glaring with his uncovered eye at grey mass over their heads. He was clad in a brown long-sleeved shirt and sweatpants with three leader belts tightened across his torso, a black holster with a heavy sword in it dangled from his hip and a long cloak made of thick, dark fabric was tied around his shoulders. His face was hardly visible as he wore an eyepatch and a scarf around the lower part of his head that gave him a somewhat sinister look.

"Lead the way Ser Hatake." she let the reins with one hand and gestured to the muddy road ahead of them. The man stirred his horse and hastened forward, the girl following quickly behind.

"There's a cozy inn just a few miles ahead." he said over his shoulder. "I'm afraid it's no palace, but it will do the job for the night."

She absentmindedly mumbled in response as she rubbed her droopy green eyes, smothering a yawn with her left hand. She didn't get much sleep the night before even though she was so very tired from her long journey. An old friend begged her to come and check on his pregnant wife as there was no good enough doctor living nearby, and she couldn't very well ignore his plea when he was just trying to take good care of his small family.

Her councilors had advised her against it since she had to travel to an entirely different country and pass through thick forests full of bandits and outlaws hungry for the money, and what would happen if they somehow found out who she was? She stayed firm in her decision despite their constant nagging and eventually they had no choice but to comply, bowing in their waist under the stern look of their young princess.

After a lot of quarreling, it had been decided that she would go as an imperceptible woman dressed in plain gray clothes, visiting her dear friend with her most loyal knight acting as her older brother. She had even changed her hair color, for her natural pastel pink tresses attracted way too much attention wherever she went and made her stick out like a rose in a garden full of weeds. The green diamond on her forehead that marked her as a royalty was covered with skillfully applied thick liquid powder in the color of her pale skin.

Sakura had been excited to, for the first time in her twenty years old life, depart from the great walls of Konoha on her own and travel without the watchful eye of her family following her every step. Going with her full escort would've been as if she had strewed herself with gold and hence only one guard. She'd chosen Kakashi as her companion, for he was her most trusted watchman and someone akin to a teacher ever since her early childhood. He had taught her, not only valuable life lessons, but the art of swordsmanship and archery.

Sakura smiled fondly as she remembered the first time she took a bow in her small, weak hands, struggling to pull the string back.

Every morning she would climb on top of the bench standing beside her window and then watch the men practice under the scrutiny of Ser Hatake, wishing she was one of them. But, being the princess, she hadn't been allowed anywhere near weaponry.

That day she had woken in the bright, golden rays of dawn and headed straight for theweapons chamber where she had took a quiver with a few arrows in it and a long, wooden bow. She had snuck out to the training ground where she'd tried again and again, with little success, to hit a target from twenty yards distance like she'd saw soldiers had done.

"M'lady, what are you doing?" she'd heard a familiar voice and quickly turned around, hiding the bow behind her back and dropping the arrow in the process.

Ser Hatake had raised a brow at her and she'd bit her lip.

"When shooting a longbow, which you're currently holding," she had guiltily averted her eyes to the floor as he'd nodded significantly, "the bow has to be held at a forty five degree angle."

He'd took a deep breath, furrowed his eyebrows, then said: "I could teach you how to do that, but since you are a beginner, I suggest you take a recurve bow and get at five yards distance for a start."

Sakura had blinked at him for a few seconds, not comprehending what her guardian had meant, but then opened her mouth as though imitating a fish when realization had suddenly struck her.

"Really? You'd really do that?" she had squalled jumping up and down.

Kakashi's eyes crinkled, "Really, I'd really do that."

Ever since then, she would wake up before the other residents of the castle and run to the training ground three, imagining she has wolves at her heels, laughing with mirth, her long hair trailing behind her like a pink cape. She would take a bow and practice her stance while waiting for Ser Hatake, as he was never known for his punctuality.

Biting her lip, she'd placed the back of the arrow on the string first, then the front of the arrow on the arrow rest, aimed, her brows furrowing in concentration, released the string and then watched as the arrow missed the target entirely.

"But how?!" she'd stomped her foot, "I was in a proper stance! My left arm was bent sideways and my elbow was lifted! I did everything by the book. How come I missed?" she'd screamed, flapping her hands this way and that.

"This thing is stupid!" she had shouted before throwing the bow across the lawn, then stubbornly crossed her arms.

"M'lady, accuracy does not apply to the bow. The bow is always accurate." Kakashi had said in a patient voice, "It applies to the person shooting it, in this case, you."

She hung her head low, her cascading hair hiding her face in shame.

"In order to become accurate, you have to practice, and only then will you be able to hit the bulls eye. Am I understood?" he'd wanted to know.

She'd nodded her head eagerly, glad that he hadn't scolded her.

"Now go pick up that bow, and don't do that ever again."

Sakura shivered as a cold rush of wind flew by, crawling under the thin material of her dress and bringing her to reality.

"Would you take my cloak, m'lady?" asked Kakashi without turning to look at her.

"N-no, thank you." she said through gritted teeth, hugging herself tightly.

Kakashi stopped his horse, unfastened his cloak and handed it to Sakura with a shake of his head. She smiled apologetically and leaned forward with her arm outstretched.

Her fingers barely touched the material when she heard something whistle through the air, just a few inches behind her head. She froze, her eyes instantly finding Kakashi's hard gaze.

His hand already clenching the hilt of the sword, he said, "Run."

Sakura ducked low as another arrow flew by, "I can't just leave you!" she screamed.

"Go, m'lady, go to Konoha, I'll hold them back." said her guard, grabbing the reins with one hand, the other skillfully wilding a long, heavy blade made of Damascus steel.

"Now!" he shouted.

Sakura lingered a few more seconds watching with wide eyes as six men, all riding horses and heavily armored rushed out of the wood, weaving their large weapons like they were sticks. Another arrow sliced the air too close for Sakura's comfort before she finally snapped out of her reverie and stirred her mount into the thicket. She threw one last, fleeting glance at Kakashi, seeing him clash swords with one of the attackers, before branches hid him from her view.

"Ha!" she gripped the reins hard, pressing her steed's hips with her legs and lowering her torso so that she was almost lying on his back.

Sakura closed her eyes tightly as leaves and branches whipped her across her face imprinting red, angry marks that scratched and burned as if someone scrabbled her cheeks and forehead with a sharp knife. Undergrowth and twigs cruelly pulled at her hair, tangling it into a dirty blonde mess that looked like an old, bird's nest. She was sweating profusely, her wet dress uncomfortably sticking to her like a tight glow, a few drops rolling down her face living wriggly traces in their wake.

The girl expertly steered the horse between trees, her heart caught in throat, rapidly beating, almost as if racing some invisible clock, for the forest seemed ticker and ticker to her frenzied gaze, gripping her with its strong, gnarled arms in an attempt to squeeze the air out of her cramped lungs. Sakura squinted through her eyes, not seeing clearly where she was trending because of the green rooftop hiding the sun, which made every span of forest look the same.

Suddenly, she heard a loud neigh behind her, and her breath hitched as she realized that her attackers were getting closer.

"Faster, faster!" she desperately urged her mount, stabbing his hips with her heels. "Come on, boy, come on!"

The imposing animal threw back his head after jumping over a log, his long black main falling into Sakura's eyes, making them tear at the corners.

Curtain of greenery concealed her from the view of her foes, but she knew by the rustle of leaves that they were fast approaching.

"Aaah!" she screamed and jerked the rains as the sharp arrow was hammered deep in the bark of the tree right next to her, its gray-green fletching shaking from the force of the hit.

"Please, plee, please...plea-see..." she was mumbling incoherently, praying to every god she knew of, that the pointy weapons will miss their target.

Suddenly, golden rays of sunlight blinded the girl as she rushed out of thicket into the clearing.

The hasty torrent hampered by rough, slippery cliffs flowed ahead, preventing her from continuing forward. Nothing could be heard over deafening sounds of hopping waves colliding with dark, rough rocks, but Sakura knew she didn't have much time. She directed her horse to the right, following the stream as she looked for the safest way to cross the river. Quickening her pace, she threw glances behind her back every few seconds, for she couldn't rely on hearing to know where the attackers were, and she didn't want an arrow as a warning.

The water was muddy, as it scraped away the earthy riverbed, tirelessly whirling its way through the rocky terrain and sanding large droplets everywhere while cascading and traversing the spiky cliffs peeping out from the surface.

Finally, she noticed the widening of the stream where flow was slightly slower, and she impelled the reluctant stallion to step in it. Cold waves instantly hugged his legs, darkening their natural, warm brown, into a murkier, almost black shade. Sakura felt the steed's muscles tense, as he fought against the onslaught of rapids, threatening to sweep him of his feet and swirl him downstream like a bulky tree trunk.

Already soaked to the chest, the girl gritted her chattering teeth, straining to stay on the back of her mount who, snorting, lifted his head over the surface in order to breathe. Together, they pushed through the freezing river to the opposite shore, the water level gradually lowering with every step they took.

Just when she thought that the hard part was over, an arrow flew by, and she turned to see three horses stepping into water, their riders, all holding bows, aiming at her with grim looks on their faces.

Sakura gasped, for her companion propped on his back legs when an arrow thrust into his rear, and the unrestrained torrent, like a wolf hidden in a bush waiting for its pray to relax, pulled them along the second they lost footing.

The girl screamed when rapids pulled her away from the animal and under the water, rolling her like a lifeless doll. She tried to swim, but soon realized she wasn't strong enough to resist the whirlpools' untamed force that unmercifully tossed her limbs in every direction. Her lungs were filled by water and she spat and coughed when above the surface, gulping the air, before being, once again, dragged under, like a small, round pebble.

Arrows were flying around, as her attackers galloped in the shoal of the stream, trying to catch up to her, but she paid them no heed once she noticed a line of rough cliffs jutting out from the both sides of the coast, shaping a narrow passage in the middle through which the foaming river churned, only to disappear beyond it as if someone made a vertical cut with a knife, creating a waterfall.

Sakura knew that the pressure of cascading water would push her into depths from which she wouldn't be able to surface, unless she managed to hook herself onto a rock, so she invested all of her strength into swimming to the right, her arms and legs numb with pain.

The water was passing through the rocky canal as if through a funnel, carrying the girl in its claws. She reached for a smaller cliff, but the tiny algae made the stone slippery, and the river dragged her away.

Sakura noticed the waterfall getting closer and desperately swung onto another stone, the air knocked out of her lungs as she collided with it, but she held onto it with all of her might, her arms and legs encircling it. Then, gathering what was left of her courage, she carefully climbed the rocks and seized the safety of the land, hugging herself tightly as the cold wind enveloped her dripping body.

She looked over her shoulder and saw her pursuers not far behind, jumping over the small channel, their horses left on the opposite shore.

She whimpered, her legs trembling from exhaustion, but she started to run again, cannoning herself into the woods like a bolt, arms placed in front of her face so as to protect it from any new scratches.

Her surroundings become blurry as she tripped and staggered through bushes, her breath coming out in short puffs. Arrows and branches couldn't be distinguished one from another, sounds seemed distant and low, overpowered by the drumming of her pulse, and her vision swayed from side to side as she tiredly pumped her legs.

Sakura didn't know how much longer she would last, for her limbs seemed like heavy load cooperating with gravity in order to pin her to the ground.

She ducked behind a tree to avoid an arrow but her foot stuck under a root and, as tired and as uncoordinated as she was, she lost her balance and rolled down the hill like a ball, ending up in the soft blanket of moss, surrounded by tall bushes. She laid there, with her cheek pressed into the natural rug, caressing the short, dark green strands that lulled her into sleep, her dress torn up, her skin blue from bruises and colored in blood.

She heard voices getting louder, but couldn't bring herself to care anymore, so she just took deep, even breathes and gave in to the darkness that was, like a mist, slowly spreading through her mind devoid of all thoughts.

She sighted contently, her lips stretching into a small, serene smile, when something disrupted her peaceful oasis, as if a rock was thrown into a still water, causing waves to appear and spread in circles, except this formless intruder continued to poke at her protective bubble, not unlike a nagging itch.

Sakura groaned as the itch became more apparent, ignoring her wishes by cruelly pulling her into reality.

"Come on, get up!" she thought she heard, "They are still searching for you!"

Her eyes opened lazily to a pair of dark, horse's hooves, an arm's length from her face. She blinked a few times, adjusting to bright light that beamed through treetops, as gears in her head started to turn again.

Suddenly, she clumsily scrambled to her feet with a surprised scream.

"Crap! Now they know we're here." the tall man standing in front of her said, wincing when he hit himself in a thigh with a hand clenched in a large fist.

"Come on, we gotta go!" he said, skillfully mounting his steed.

Sakura watched him silently, with wide eyes, as he offered her a hand from his place on the horse, her gaze traveling from the tips of his callused fingers, over his long, outstretched arm, to his face and back. With his sword still in its sheaths and a bow nowhere in sight, he didn't look like he belonged to the group of her pursuers.

For a second she just stood there, as if she grew roots that attached her to the ground, but then turned to flee, only to notice a man appear on top of the hill, his gaze locking onto them.

"Here she is!" the man shouted, drawing out an arrow from his quiver.

She whirled around and quickly jumped into the saddle, two more man coming into view.

"Go, go!" her arms instantly wrapped around the newcomer's torso, and he hurried the steed into a run, the rain of pointy arrows barely missing them.

Sakura tightly closed her eyes, fisting her hands into material of his shirt and praying that her hasty decision to trust him won't turn out to be a wrong one.

Note: So, um...hi! :) This is my first attempt at writing funfiction..(Hope it's not too obvious..)

You can probably notice that English is not my native language, so, if you want to review (It would mean a lot..wink, wink..) be kind, please. But do feel free to leave a critique.. Tell me if you liked it, and if not, why? Everything's acceptable, desirable even...as long as it's not flaming.. You would be wasting your time anyway! ;)
You can even point out grammatical mistakes if you notice any..really..xD

...that's all, I guess..hope you enjoyed!

Till next time! :)