Disclaimer: I do not own anything having to do with the Naruto merchandise and I do not own its characters.

Summary: Sakura always had a busy life and found that she never really believed in the tales she heard as a young child. Now that she has a book of them she will find how real they can be. How possessive the characters are and how scary the stories could be. Sakura begins to live through the tales and the thin line between reality and fantasy has been shifted. Sakura begins too fear it may just fade away, leaving her with some real admirers. SakuxMulti AU

Grimm Days for Fairytales

Chapter 1: Once Upon a Time, a Girl Opened a Book

Sakura never had time for fairytales.

She was busy for that. Not when she was working her way up to head doctor at the emergency hospital where she worked as an intern. She was constantly working to help people and save lives. When she wasn't working there, she was making sure that her home stood out in a perfect manner. Some may have called her a perfectionist but she didn't care.

Obviously, because she never had the time to think about it.

…

Oh the irony.

A young girl yawned as she walked down the clean, white halls of Kohona Emergency Hospital. She had just worked a seemingly long triple shift and was about to head to the staff room for a quick power nap. She had covered for a couple of her fellow workers so that they could go to lunch and Sakura was now at her working limit of 6 straight hours. Plus, she had to do paperwork for a couple of doctors who she knew from around the building. Working with all of these people often became tiring for Sakura but she still enjoyed her work. Then again, people often told her she would work herself to death but she never truly listened to those guys. She was happy with the routine of her life.

"Sakura Haruno, would you please come to the main office." Tsunade, the head doctor's voice boomed loudly out of the intercom. Sakura flinched at the sudden noise before heading toward the office.

Sakura sighed loudly, so much for that nice nap.

When Sakura finally arrived at her destination, she opened the door quickly. She was excited to hear what the news was. Perhaps she had gotten some type of recognition from the high ups. She hoped so, she really wanted to become successful. Sakura walked into the quiet room with a hardy smile, greeting Shizune as she walked past her with the slight nod of the head, a normal gesture. Everything seemed perfectly normal and calm. Sakura felt relieved, although she greatly wanted it to be good news, she could never rule out the fact it might be terrible. Sakura stilled at the thought before turning to Tsunade with a collected smile.

"Hello , what is this meeting about." Sakura breathed out, twiddling with the edge of her scrubs. She couldn't deny that she was a tad nervous. "I can't say I am not curious.

"It has come to me attention that you have been working a lot more shifts than others." Tsunade frowned as the words left her throat. She the smirked as if she knew something Sakura didn't. "So you will be taking a mandatory leave of absence."

Sakura smiled faltered as her eyes grew large and wide. Sakura's mouth began to run dry and quiver. Sakura stuttered as she stood in a confused and shocked stage of mind.

Why were they giving her a break when she was working so hard?

"B-bu-but why?" Sakura stuttered out as she took a step forward.

"You are beginning to over exert yourself and it is not good for your health." Tsunade replied hooking one arm under her chin. She had a feeling that Sakura dislike this vacation.

Shizune began buckle and a laugh nervously as Sakura looked at Tsunade with pure poison in her eyes.

Tsunade practically had Shizune shove her out the hospital doors, much to Sakura's dismay. Sakura made her way to her cozy apartment. She raised the temperature as the winters chills had seeped into her home. Sakura pondered what to do now that she had all this free time to herself. She had loads of time, a month to be precise.

The first few days were spent with Sakura catching up on her house hold chores and shopping for the rest of the long week. She experimented with new recipes and crafts. She managed to read and empty out completely three bookshelves at the local public library of Kohona.

After three long days Sakura felt bored, there was nothing left to do anymore.

Sakura had finally decided to visit her friend Ino, she was a famous model now and they were friends since birth.

"SAKURA IS THAT REALLY YOU!" Ino screamed at a high pitch. Sakura grimaced slightly, perhaps this wasn't the best course of action.

Once Ino had finally settled down, they went to a quiet restaurant for lunch. They reminisced about the old days and how they used to spend hours reading a big, old book of fairytales called A Grimm Day for Fairytales. They even wrote their names in it to know it was theirs. It was one of a kind and they loved that book. They would cuddle under a big blanket and read the stories out load to each other. Ino dreamt about meeting her prince charming like in Cinderella, while Sakura loved the more devious tales of trickery like the Scorpion and the Frog.

"Come on lets read this one, Sakura." Ino childishly pulled Sakura's left arm in order for her to stay in her grasp. Ino's short figure jumped onto the bed and started reading while Sakura sat on the floor.

Not that Sakura minded.

She loved these stories and would do anything to hear them.

"Alright I'm ready." Sakura said, she was excited because they had just gotten the book, it was a brand new story!

"Okay, once upon a time..." Ino had started.

It had started, because when the right person reads a story, it can come to life.

Sakura was devastated when Ino had told her that their childhood treasure had been sold off by her mother when Ino went to pursue a career in modeling. Even after she had bid Ino a good night she thought of the book. She then rationalized that she was probably never going to see it again so why should she bother caring for it.

After all, those fairytales aren't real.

Sakura walked up the winding stair of her apartment before she walked to her door. It had been a long day and she still had to cook diner for herself. Sakura's feet made a low creaking sound as she walked on the wooden floorboards. Suddenly there was sudden rush of cold wing to her face, apparently a window was open.

'I thought I closed that.' Sakura mused as she closed the window and locked it. Sakura could have sworn she had closed all of the windows before she left her apartment complex. Sakura looked at the window once more, it was strange after all. She slowly turned around before flinching back. There was package sitting outside her door. That was extremely odd and strange. Sakura thought she would have at least heard a person dropping it off, it wasn't there before. Sakura sighed as she lifted the package from the snow.

There was note and it had written on it:

Dear Sakura,

I found this item and bought it just for you. It has a few new, accompanies. I hope you enjoy it.

Love, your Grandmother.

Sakura looked at the short note with a raised eyebrow before placing it on a table and opening the package. There it sat, her childhood treasure, the book of fairytales. Sakura's eyes lit up in delight as she gently took the book off from its cage of a box. She smiled warmly as she found that it had Ino's and her messy signatures inside, or children's chicken scratch. The rotten binding had been replace and the cover was polished to the finest.

So this was what grandmother meant. Sakura made sure that she would visit her the next day.

Sakura happily plopped down on the comfortable and warm couch and opened the newly furnished book up to a random page. Sakura had found that she had opened up to a page of the story, Little red Riding Hood, a true classic that is revered all over the world and teaches us a valuable lesson. Sakura's eyes shined as she flipped to every next page in the story.

Finally, Sakura sighed in content as she closed the book with a solid snap, only reading one story. Sakura figured she wanted to read one every day, so that she would end each night in blissfulness.

Sakura hoped that every day would be as peaceful as it was today. It had been so well-earned and Sakura began to like this "mandatory leave of absence" vacation. She might even enjoy it to it's fullest.

Sakura looked out the window into the stillness of the bitter cold night .Snow had not fallen yet, as it was still late fall. The streets were being blown by a gentle but cold breeze and Sakura slowly began to turn to her bedside. She got into her warm bed and slept peacefully. She would have to bundle up tomorrow for her visit to grandma's.

As she slept, unknown to her knowledge, the book of fairytales began to glow in a eerie shade of red.

Tomorrow would be eventful indeed.

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