Love Royally

By Anzia

"We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace."

-William E. Gladstone

Disclaimer for entire story: I do not own Naruto or any of the Naruto characters.

Pairings: NarutoxSakura SasukexSakura Perhaps minor other pairings.

Rating: T, only because that is what Naruto is rated, and just to be safe.

Notes: This story is set in the medieval European times, with princes and kings, servants and whatnot. Naruto is slightly more mature and well behaved in this story, because of his upbringing under royalty. Sasuke and Sakura are also slightly out of character.

Chapter 1

Sakura threw the towel down on the floor and pushed her long pink hair behind her ears in frustration, her jade green eyes ablaze in fury.

"You STUPID, ignorant, pathetic excuse for a bucket!"

She kicked the poor defenseless bucket, causing it to shoot across the room and slam against the wall, spilling more soapy water onto the floor.

"BUCKETS are for HOLDING water! Not leaking it! But nooo...you didn't get the notice, you stupid BUCKET!" She screamed at the inanimate object, flailing her arms around to portray how very frustrated she was.

She ranted and raved at the bucket that just lay there further spilling contents onto the now soaking wet kitchen floor. If the bucket was alive it would be screaming 'Oh my god she's going to kill me! I'm too young and wooden to die!' But it wasn't alive, so it just lay there.

Sakura stopped and stared with wide jade eyes at the now soaking kitchen floor. A leak had caused a tiny bit of water to spill onto the clean floor. A spilled bucket had SOAKED the floor. She sighed.

"Here they come, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

"Grr. . ." Naruto grumbled as he stomped through the castle halls with his blonde head down to the floor in frustration.

"I can't believe it! It was only supposed to be a joke. Grounded, bah!"

Sakura's head quickly snapped around as she heard footsteps. Expecting to see the king she stood at attention, he was a pretty scary guy, but seeing it was only a price she sighed.

Naruto quickly turned the corner to grab a snack from the cupboard to satisfy his grumbling stomach, when his eyes went wide as he slipped on the wet floor. Naruto was completely taken off guard, and he fell backward while his momentum carried him quite quickly forward.

Sakura's eyes widened as the blond boy slipped on her mess and her reflexes kicked in as she dived to the floor beneath him, breaking his fall. She would rather be in trouble for the kitchen being wet than be in trouble for the kitchen being wet and someone being harmed as an effect. Bah, stupid royalty. He crash landed on top of her and she winced, barely shielding her self with her arms, feeling the wind being knocked out of her.

Naruto braced himself to hit the floor, but he had a much softer landing than he expected. Never the less, he landed with a grunt and his face began to turn a slight shade of pink. Naruto hesitated a moment as he regained his bearings, then he realized what had saved his fall. He scrambled up to his knees sliding around on the floor a bit and quickly turned to see if she was alright like any proper prince should do. By now his face was a deep cherry red.

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked hopelessly. First he gets grounded for playing a prank, and now he falls on a girl. He didn't want to contemplate what his parents would to him if they figured out he hurt a princess. . . Wait. . . Naruto frowned slightly. It wasn't a princess. It was a servant. Naruto shook his head wiping the frown off his face. Who cares who it was? He had fallen on top of her. The least he could do was to make sure she was ok, and then. . . apologize.

Sakura took a breath and sat up, brushing the dust off her skirt. She blinked a few times before realizing the prince was talking to her. She nearly fell over in shock but gained her composure quickly.

"Oh yes, yes," She said hurriedly. "Sorry about the water...the bucket... um... leaked." She faked a smile and blushed a tiny bit. "I'm fine, are you okay Uzumaki-sama?"

Naruto blinked as his face lost a little of the red hue. "I'm alright. . ." he told her. Naruto glanced around at the wet floor and his gaze paused for a moment on the bucket. Then he turned again and looked down at himself.

"A little wet. . . but I'm alright." Naruto glanced up at her with a joking smile which quickly faded as his stomach gave a loud grumble and his face turned back to being cherry red. She giggled quietly then abruptly stopped herself.

You can't 'giggle' at royalty! Though this boy was awfully nice...she cleared her throat and sat straighter. "Well that's a relief Uzumaki-sama. Um...can I get you anything to eat?" She smiled knowingly. "I'll clean this up later." She slowly stood up and made her way to the cupboard.

He paused for a moment as if trying to analyze her behavior. He shook his head again to clear his thoughts and slowly pushed himself up. He nearly slipped again, but managed to regain his balance. As soon as he was standing strait he shuttered slightly.

"Please. . . err. . ." he fumbled his words not quite sure what to call the girl. It didn't seem right. Certainly she wasn't royalty. . . she was in servant's clothes and she was far too nice to be royalty. She had to be a servant, but she was pretty enough to be a-…

Naruto gave his head a violent shake to knock the thought from his mind. He attempted to cover it up by pretending to get some soapy water out of his ear. It didn't work very well. Actually, it got soapy water in his ear.

"Don't call me 'Uzumaki-sama,'" Naruto stumbled. "I hate it when people call me that. Just call me Naruto."

Sakura stood there for a few moments, perplexed. She didn't really know what to say, you just don't call royalty by their first names. Heck, you rarely got to have a conversation with them!

"Uhh...oh...kay...um...Naruto." She said uncomfortably as she almost forced the words out of her mouth. She twiddled her fingers nervously. She really didn't want to get into any trouble.

"So Uzum-...Naruto...what would you like to eat?" She asked uncertainly.

Naruto frowned slightly as he realized the girl, whoever she was, was uncomfortable. He tried to stand up straighter and make himself look as princely as he could.

"Umm. . ." Naruto pondered. What did he want to eat? He nearly forgot he was hungry. "Is there just some extra bread or cheese somewhere, or ramen?" He asked awkwardly as he wiped some of the soap suds off his trousers.

Sakura pushed away her thought of uncertainly for now. She had to at least seem confident in Naruto's, presence. She'd deal with those feelings later...

"Oh sure. Hold on..." She turned around to face the cupboard and pulled out a loaf of bread. "Um..." She hesitated. "Here you go...Naruto. Would you like to sit down or something...?" She asked absently, completely lost in thought again. Naruto accepted the loaf of bread and opened his mouth to speak.

Before he could answer, Sasuke, a boy with spiked ebony hair ran in. He was a servant, but seemed to be Sakura's superior. "Sakura you didn't mess up the kitchen again did you!?" As the other boy entered the kitchen, Naruto closed his mouth and stared at the boy as if absorbing his words for a moment. Sakura jumped at the sound of Sasuke's voice and slipped on the soaking wet floor, descending to the floor between the two boys.

Then as Sakura jumped and slipped, Naruto blinked quickly. With amazing reflexes that you would never expect someone to have who just slipped in some soapy water, Naruto dropped the loaf of bread and grabbed onto Sakura's shoulders with a firm grip in an attempt to keep her from hitting the ground and to help her regain her balance.

Sakura felt she was falling and braced herself for impact against the floor before she felt a pair of strong hands grab her shoulders, keeping her from falling. She stumbled up before realizing that a prince was touching her. She felt her whole face heat up and tried to cover her blush. She looked away nervously and mumbled a small thanks.

Sasuke growled quietly, barely audible. Sakura was blushing because of the oldest prince! And she's known him for what, four minutes? He pushed away his rage and sighed, turning to Sakura, who was blushing like crazy. Either because of the Prince, himself, or almost falling in front of both of them, he didn't know. But she looked really embarrassed.

Sasuke sighed. "Sakura...you can be such a klutz. Sorry for scaring you." She looked away and mumbled. "It's okay." before smoothing down her dress.

He shook his head and turned to the prince. He bowed. "Sorry about the mess Uzumaki-sama. Sakura can be a little...um...absent at times." He glanced at Sakura who had just turned another shade of red. He ruffled his hair. "We'll have this cleaned up in no time...won't we Sakura?"

Naruto's hand twitched slightly as Sasuke called him 'Uzumaki-sama.' He blinked when Sakura blushed. He didn't think anyone could turn as embarrassingly red as he always did. He was known by some of the royalty as 'Prince Cherry.' Mainly by most of the older princesses for…obvious reasons. Actually he thought it was kinda cute-

"Yes Sasuke." Sakura mumbled. Why did she have to be at the bottom of the food chain here? Stupid higher uppers than her...think they're so cool because they're just...she sighed...higher up.

Naruto turned his head away from Sakura and gave a sharp nod to the new boy to agree with what he said and to knock his thoughts back in order. He was a prince. He shouldn't even be talking to servants unless he was giving them orders for something or another.

"I expect nothing less," Naruto improved to the new boy who was obviously Sakura's superior. "Someone could crack their head open if they slipped on that mess." He tried to brush some of the water off his clothes as if to emphasize his point. Within a short moment Naruto frowned and gave up on his futile attempt.

He looked down at himself in disgust. "This will take forever to dry," he groaned. Naruto quickly made his way to the kitchen entrance, avoiding the puddle and left the kitchen to go change before someone could say another word. He left his loaf of bread sitting on the ground behind.

The two stood in silence as the prince made his exit. After a while Sasuke turned to Sakura. "Sakura..." He sighed. "Again?"

She frowned and picked up the bread before placing it on the table. It was a waste to throw it away, no matter how useless it may seem to the royalty.

She sighed. "Sorry Sasuke...it won't happen again."

Sasuke ruffled his ebony hair again, it was his nervous habit. "Umm...ok." He coughed uncomfortably at the heavy tension in the air. "So...you clean this up Sakura...I'll come check back in an hour. I doubt you have to clean the floor now, and luckily for you, no one was hurt." He said curtly and walked out the door.

She glared at his retreating back before flopping down on the floor. She rolled up the sleeve on her left arm and uncovered a huge colorful bruise. She winced and mumbled. "I guess that makes me a no one." She sighed and rolled her sleeve back down, making a mental note to put something on that later.

She surveyed the kitchen and sighed yet again. This would take more than an hour to clean up. She glanced at the clock. But that's all the time she had, so she better get started. She grabbed a towel from the table, sighing in relief when she found it was still dry, and grabbed the now empty bucket. "I'll have to fix this later..." She mumbled to herself.

As she absorbed the water in the towel and wrung it up in the bucket she mumbled to herself. It's not like she had anyone else to talk to, but Sasuke, who was probably off doing something more exiting than cleaning a kitchen floor. She sighed for the umpteenth time that day. She worked a little faster while talking to herself.

"Oh sure...leave the peasant girl to clean the floor...just because I'm lower than him...can't help a girl out. It's not like I chose to work here, like Sasuke...it's not like I get paid..." She rolled her deep green eyes. "Oh no, he think that's a burden. Getting paid to work. Me? I'm obviously no one. No one. My parents in debt to the king...died...and the only thing they left me is their debt...how very kind of them..." She muttered. "Why, I don't even remember my parents! I just remember growing up in the cellars here, raised part-time by mother Tsunade. I just gotta hold on...'till my 16th birthday. Then I can get paid for my job." She smiled to herself. "And I won't be lower than Sasuke!" She stopped and paused, then sighed. "Unless he moves up in the ranks. Well...I'm going to celebrate my 16th with a cake! Yes, I'm going to bake myself a cake! Only 2 months left!" She grinned and begun to dry the floor with more determination than ever.

Naruto quickly walked/jogged through the smaller passageways of the castle that he knew so well. He took all the paths he knew no one ever used 1) because he had been embarrassed enough already today and 2) he was grounded and wasn't even supposed to be out of his room. About halfway to his room he paused for a breather on some winding stairs in one the towers. He sat down on a cold stone stair. He hated stairs. Especially the ones in the towers, but this was the price he had to pay for not getting into any deeper trouble. He didn't know why he was so tired though. He usually didn't have to take a break. Grumble. Naruto groaned. He forgot the bread in the kitchen.