Thank you for reading my first story posted here at FanFictionNet. Please tell me what you think.
-Yamari
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Watashi no Yume
Chapter One
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The sun rose on another day of the world. The light peered over the distant mountains into the village below. It was a town of prosperity and peace. The first building the sun shined its gaze through was the beautiful castle at the head of the town. Inside, there was hardly a soul moving other than a group of young girls located on the bottom floor.
They hurried to get dressed, knowing that if they were late to take care of the castle that morning they would disappoint the King and Queen. One of the girls, however, had not awakened yet. She stirred under her blankets whenever the sun hit her eyes and she turned over away from the small window. Her eyes opened slightly, the green irises not really absorbing that it was morning. Across the room, the door opened and someone peeped in.
"Sakura-san…are you awake? We need to get going." The feminine voice said as the girl came completely into the room. Her long black hair reached to the middle of her back. She was dressed in the traditional maid outfit, except the colors were blue and white instead of the usual black and white. She walked across the room and gently shook the girl in the bed. "Sakura-san…it's morning. We need to go before Kamiya comes to punish us…"
Sakura stirred again and sat up. Her pink hair was in a big knot and she seemed to stare without realizing what time it was or what she should've been doing. "Oui…Hinata." She said, dazedly. "What time is it?"
"It's…six-thirty." Hinata said. Her voice was soft and she looked at her watch again. "We were supposed to meet with everyone in the main room an hour ago."
Suddenly, with that one sentence, Sakura was wide awake and dashed into her closet. "Crap, crap, crap, crap…" she kept whispering to herself as she pulled her clothing over her head. She brushed her pink hair down and out of the knot while grabbing her bag of cleaning items. "Hinata, did Kamiya send you down here to get me?" She asked as they walked down the hallway toward the main room.
"Um…yes." Hinata said, poking her fingers into each other. "She was really angry so I offered to go and get you in her place."
"Damn it." Sakura said under her breath as they arrived in the main room.
The group of girls in the room turned to Sakura and Hinata and began whisper amongst themselves. Standing at the head of them was a tall girl with long, braided brown hair. Her maid outfit was the same as the rest of them but she wore a golden hat on her head to signify that she was the leader of this group of maids. Their job was early morning from five-thirty to twelve – cleaning up the living room where the princes of the castle stayed all day. This included their bathrooms, closets, kitchens and playrooms. With only six and a half hours to clean all of the rooms and then prepare lunch for the princes as well, it took every minute.
Kamiya stood with her hands on her hips and her foot tapping the floor. Sakura met eyes with her as she took her spot in line next to Hinata. The rest of the girls turned to be in line, still whispering about Sakura being late. It wasn't the first time Sakura had been late and Kamiya had threatened to turn her into the King and Queen the next time it had happened.
"Haruno Sakura." Kamiya's voice said sharply. Sakura stared at the girl. She couldn't stand Kamiya at all. She thought that she was so beautiful and the most attractive of the girls. "Why were you late again? I told you the next time it happened, I'd turn you into Minato-sama, didn't I?"
"I'm sorry, Kamiya-san. I didn't get to sleep that early last night." Sakura explained. It was true, for the most part. "It won't happen again."
"It had better not. I'm not kidding the next time. We have to make sure that Sasuke-sama and Naruto-kun's rooms are cleaned in time for them to arrive for the day." Kamiya picked up her bag, looking out into the group of girls. "We'll split into the normal teams. Head out! We don't have as much time as usual this morning!" She clapped and the girls dispersed out of the room.
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On the opposite side of the castle, a young blonde haired boy sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes. He yawned loudly and stretched his arms out. He looked across the room to see his step-brother still asleep. He looked to the clock to see it was only seven 'o clock in the morning. He crawled out from his bed and walked into the bathroom. The young boy didn't bother with his hair, but he brushed his teeth and got dressed in his casual attire. It consisted of an orange blouse with a black buttoned down shirt over it. Black slacks covered his legs and he chose to go without shoes for the moment. He finished cleaning himself up so he headed back into his room.
When he arrived back into the room, he noticed his brother was gone. He headed out to the balcony to see him standing there, looking out over the railing to the quiet town below.
"Sasuke? What's up?" he asked, coming up next to the dark haired boy.
Sasuke didn't say anything but sighed deeply. "I've…been living here for a long time but it's still weird to wake up here everyday. I remember being down there, waking up with my mother, father and my onii-san. Now I wake up in a beautiful room with everything I could ever want. I don't know if it'll ever feel right, Naruto." His black pajamas blew in the wind and he walked back toward the room.
"I know it's hard to get used to, Sasuke but you belong here." Naruto grinned at him. "Get dressed and let's head to the library. I wanna hear more about that legend you're so interested in."
Sasuke looked back at his step-brother and grinned back. "Alright. Go ahead to the library and I'll meet you there." He headed into the bedroom and into the closet to pick out his attire for that day.
To Sasuke, it was still amazing that he had so many things. He was used to wearing the same thing everyday, going out with his brother to pick fruit for breakfast in the morning, helping his father with the house repairs and helping his mother with the chores. But in this castle, everything was done for him. He didn't even have to clean up after himself if he didn't feel like it. Of course he did though. He hated having others clean up after him – even if it was their job. After looking at his clothing selection, he chose a black t-shirt with the symbol of his clan (a red and white paper fan) on the back. His clan, the Uchiha, had been one of the most prestigious clans in the entire village before most of them had been killed in the last war. His family had been the last of the clan…before they had been taken away and brutally murdered.
Sasuke quickly wiped the memories from his mind before they started to effect him and headed out of the closet, fully dressed. Heading down the hallway, he arrived in the library to see Naruto lying on the ground looking at a book. He flipped the page before looking up at Sasuke.
"Oui! Sasuke, I can't find that story. Didn't you say it had something to do with a nine tailed fox?" Naruto said, looking back down at the book.
"Yeah, yeah. It's near the end of the book. Keep flipping." Sasuke sat down next to him with his legs crossed.
Even though Naruto wasn't Sasuke's real brother, being around the blonde boy made Sasuke feel like he belonged somewhere. For someone who didn't have a home or a family, he was a good feeling to have.
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Sakura took her group of girls to the princes' living room to clean up from the day before. Her group consisted of her friend from that morning, Hinata and several of her closer friends of the maids: Ino, Tenten and Temari. They worked best together and could actually tolerate each other for longer than most of the other girls. Sakura took Hinata to clean the sitting area. Hinata took the dusting rag and began to clean the shelves behind the chairs while Sakura straightened up the magazines and books sitting on the table.
As she cleaned, she couldn't believe that both of the princes' had been right here the night before. She always thought that. When she was young and lived in the town, she dreamed of being in the castle. It was such a fairy-tale dream, but when she turned of age and was able to be a servant to King Minato and Queen Kushina, she couldn't have asked for more. Being an orphan, there wasn't much else for her in the world. Here she would be able to serve the people who had protected her as a child, along with see the person that had been her obsession since the first time she had laid eyes on him.
It felt like it was almost yesterday when Sakura first saw Prince Sasuke, standing on the balcony of the castle next to his half-brother, Prince Naruto and heir to the throne. Sakura couldn't take her eyes off of him at first. He was very handsome, but something hinted that he wasn't very happy.
Sakura thought living in the castle was everything everyone dreamed for, but Sasuke-sama didn't seem like he liked it at all. Sakura wanted to talk to him. Someone needed to. But she knew she would never get close enough to talk to him. Even after being accepted as a servant to the King and Queen, she had only seen Sasuke from a distance. He never seemed to speak and her ears desired to hear his voice. She wanted to help him. No one deserved to be that lonely when he had so much to be happy for.
Kamiya was the only one to talk or be with Sasuke when it came to the maid girls. At lunch, the princes' chose one girl to serve them the rest of the day with whatever they wanted to do. Prince Naruto was fair and went in order of the girls. Sakura had served him several times and he was always fun to talk to. He was very friendly and didn't let his money or fame get in the way of being fair to everyone. Prince Sasuke, on the other hand, didn't seem to care who served him and always chose Kamiya. Every day it happened, Sakura's blood still boiled at Kamiya's expression. It was always smug and she acted like such a princess, for lack of a better term. She was acting so perfect and sweet when all of the girls knew she wasn't really like that.
Still, no matter what Prince Sasuke did, nothing could deter Sakura's love for him. He was amazing in every way and she only wanted to help him out of his shell.
On the other side of the room, Ino and Tenten worked hard on the bathroom while Temari cleaned out the closet. It was tedious work, but someone had to do it.
"I can't wait to get out of here and go be somebody." Ino said casually to Tenten. Tenten looked up from the sink into the mirror, looking at Ino's reflection that was cleaning out of the bathtub. "I want to be a model, a beautiful girl that every man wants to marry."
Tenten's face scribbled into a confused look. "Why would you want men at your feet like that? If I wanted to marry someone, I'd want it to be for love." She scrubbed the sink and then rinsed it out.
"Well…I know. I just want to be a person that everyone else looks at instead of being cooped up here in this castle. At least there's one good thing." Ino smirked at her last sentence.
Temari poked her head into the bathroom and sighed. "It's the twenty billionth time you've said that. Yes, Sasuke-sama is handsome and you want to get with him. Geez, not only is that not the first time you've said that, it's never going to happen either."
Ino put her rag down and locked her hands together. She looked like a sleeping person, except she was smiling brightly. "Doesn't everyone need a dream though, Temari? What about you and that boy from the other side of the castle? That one servant? You too, Temari."
Both girls in question flushed. Temari fled back to the closet to get away from anymore questions when Tenten had no choice but to stay in there because she had to clean.
"So…Tenten, have you asked him out yet?" Ino inquired, smirking.
"Um…no." she said, defeated.
"Why don't you ask him? He's really cute and I think you two would look really cute together." Ino said. "What was his name again? Neji, right?"
Tenten nodded. "I've known him for a long time, even before we came to work in the castle. He used to live next door to me in the village." Tenten smiled at the memories that returned to her in that instant. Reminiscing made her long for that life again so she quickly brushed those recollections away. "But I don't think he likes me that way."
"Oh, so every time I see you two staring at each other from across the dinner table at night is just you guys daydreaming then?" Ino said, sarcastically. Tenten flushed a bright red, wishing that Temari was still in the room so she could be interrogated too. "That's what I thought. Oh, Temari…!" Ino called out. "I know there's something between you and that Shikamaru guy too, so I'm not going to leave you alone either."
A low groan was heard, along with a quiet curse before all was silent in the room again with the girls. Sakura had heard most of the conversation between her closest friends and couldn't help but smile. They all had people they cared for and dreams they wished to achieve outside of this castle. They were just like everyone else. Sakura looked up to Hinata who had been quiet the whole morning.
"You okay, Hinata?" Sakura asked. The girl in question jumped slightly but nodded.
"Y-Yes. I'm okay, Sakura-san. Why do you ask?" Hinata asked, continuing to dust the top shelves of the bookshelves.
"You just haven't talked this morning, that's all." Sakura said. "And it seems like everyone else is talking about the people they have a crush on." At Sakura's words, Hinata's face blushed a bright red. "Ah, so you do have a crush on someone!" She grinned and Hinata shook her head quickly.
"N-n-n-n-n-no, I don't! Don't say things like that, Sakura-san!" Hinata wiped the shelve faster and more swiftly.
"So who's the lucky guy?" Sakura asked, ignoring Hinata's stammering. Hinata only shook her head 'no' again. "Aw, come on, Hinata. You can tell me. I'm your friend, not your enemy."
"………" Hinata said something, but it was so soft that Sakura didn't hear her. She stood up and walked over closer, pulling her ear closer to Hinata. "I like…Naruto-sama."
Sakura gasped and fell backwards onto one of the leather chairs. "Hinata, are you serious? That is so cute. You two would make a cute couple."
"Do…you really think so?" Hinata said softly, smiling. "He's always so nice to me whenever I'm serving him. He never has me do anything other than get things for him that he can't leave the room for."
Sakura smiled and put her hand on Hinata's arm. "Yeah. You should tell him you like him someday. I bet he'd return your feelings."
Hinata shrugged and continued to clean. Sakura went back to cleaning as well. Sometimes she wished she could practice what she preached.
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Naruto leaned over the book that told about the legendary nine-tailed fox, known as the Kyuubi. It was a dangerous, demon fox that terrorized villages all over the country. It had powers beyond those of recognition and destroyed many villages and killed many people before it was finally captured by the leader of one of the villages. Of course, it was only a legend, even if it was a more recent one. No one really had any proof it existed except for those who claimed to have their family killed by the beast.
"When did you come upon this story, Sasuke?" Naruto asked of his sibling.
"I don't know. It wasn't that long ago. It was a new book I decided to look at and it seemed pretty interesting. The book also has a lot of cool things called kekkei genkai or bloodline traits that use to exist a long time ago." Sasuke explained, flipping a page in the book he was looking at. "My personal favorite is the Sharingan. It sounds pretty interesting. It's a trait of the eyes that allows you to see a person's moves – almost like a prediction."
"Kekkei genkai? Interesting." Naruto flipped the pages back to the index and looked up the bloodline traits. He looked to the clock on the wall and sighed. "Sasuke, it's time for breakfast. Ready to go? The servants are probably already lining up to welcome us."
Sasuke closed his book and sighed too. "Yeah, I guess we should." He sat the book on the table and got up. He looked in a mirror across the room and fixed his clothes. Naruto left his book on the floor and followed Sasuke out the door. "So…we have to choose another girl today don't we?"
Naruto followed Sasuke down the pathway to the main hall. "Yeah. I believe its Hinata's turn for me. Who are you going to choose today, the same girl?"
"Probably. I don't really care who it is that serves me. I hate having them there anyway." Sasuke replied, buttoning up his shirt. "All this girl, Kamiya, does is stare at me, like she's expecting me to do something."
"Then why don't you talk to her instead of ignoring her? Spark a conversation. It might not be so boring after that." Naruto suggested. "These girls really admire us for being royalty. I know you don't like having that title, but Sasuke, you are a prince. Admiration comes along for the ride." He placed his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "You understand, don't cha?"
"Yeah, Naruto. I do." Sasuke said. They arrived to the door that lead to the dining room. Sasuke leaned against the door. "They're still talking, so I guess they're not ready yet."
"I guess we wait then. No big deal." Naruto replied casually. He leaned against the wall, ready for the wait.
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Sakura hurried Hinata, Ino, Tenten and Temari to the main hall. The girls had lost track of time cleaning the day dining room and had to hurry to meet the rest of the maids and servants to welcome the princes' to the Day side of the castle. Hopefully, Kamiya's group had been able to finish the breakfast without their help. Not that Sakura cared about Kamiya getting in trouble, but she wanted things to be perfect for Sasuke, no matter what.
They arrived to see their fellow maids and friends already lined up from the door to the kitchen in which Sasuke and Naruto would soon walk to. Sakura and the rest of her group forced their way into the front of the line. Personally, Sakura hadn't ever stood in the front of the line. She had only seen Sasuke's face through the gaps between people's heads. But not today. Today was going to be the day she actually saw Sasuke and showed him the respect he deserved. It seemed like all the girls giggled when they saw Sasuke and Naruto, but Sakura was going to bow properly and show not only Sasuke deference, but Naruto as well.
Kamiya stood at the door, as she always did and quieted the girls who were all too excited to see the princes' again. She waited until everyone was silent before opening the door.
Sasuke was standing there with his hands in his pockets while Naruto was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He opened his eyes when the door unlatched. Naruto looked at the girls and smiled. "Good morning, ladies! Nice to see you all here again."
The girls squealed at Naruto's cuteness as he walked down the hall. Sasuke rolled his eyes and followed his step-brother down the path. The girls began to bow as they passed, but they still giggled and whispered to each other about how cute both boys were. Sakura saw them in the distance and simply bowed. Hinata started to blush as Naruto got closer and twitched her fingers. Sakura placed her hand on Hinata's nervous ones and smiled.
"Just be calm, Hinata." Sakura whispered. "Be confident in your love for him."
Hinata didn't respond but smiled to her closest friend. The two boys got closer and walked slowly. Naruto thanked almost each girl for what they did everyday, while Sasuke had his hands in his pockets and walked silently down the hall behind his sibling. Sakura stared at Sasuke and could only imagine what was going on in his mind.
Sasuke looked at the girls and it almost embarrassed him. They admired him for being a prince when in reality; he wasn't supposed to be one. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and stayed to himself. Not only did he feel uncomfortable, he felt almost annoyed at the girls love for him when they didn't know anything about him.
As he looked at the girls, he spotted one girl who wasn't staring at him with a loving look. She was simply smiling at Sasuke and Naruto and bowing in respect. She was the only one who didn't seem to be whispering about how amazing both of them were. This girl was honoring them for who they were, not for the title they held. He smirked, but quickly wiped it away.
"Thanks for coming again to see us again today, girls!" Naruto said when they arrived at the door to the breakfast dining room. "So, as you all know, me and my brother, Sasuke will now each choose one girl to stay with us today as our personal maid. In the order that I usually choose, today's choice will be…Hinata."
Sakura turned to look at Hinata and realized why the girl had been so nervous. She had known she was to serve Naruto that day.
Hinata stuttered over her words but bowed. "T-t-t-t-thank you, Naruto-sama. I'm honored to help you today." She walked over and stood next to him.
Naruto looked at Hinata and smiled. "Okay, Sasuke, who's your choice?"
All the girls started to murmur and giggle. Even though for the past three years, Sasuke had chosen Kamiya, the girls still got excited. Sakura blamed it on the optimistic outlook most of them had. Sakura herself though didn't put too much money on the point. Sasuke always chose Kamiya because he didn't really seem to care.
"I guess since Naruto always chooses someone different…" He started and all the girls turned to stare at him. Even Sakura raised an eyebrow at his comment. He hardly said two words to the girls much less a sentence to them. "…I should too. Today…I'll choose you. The girl with pink hair."
Sakura's eyes widened as every girl turned to stare at her, including Kamiya. If looks could've killed, Sakura probably would been dead ten-times over. Sakura pointed to herself and tried to say something, but it came out only as a squeak.
"…me…?" Sakura asked. It was a stupid question and Sakura realized it right after she said it. She was the only pink-haired girl of the group.
Sasuke smirked. "Yes, you. What's your name?" Sakura began to melt at his voice talking right to her. As much as she hated to admit it, she was turning into one of the girls in the group.
"Um…Sakura." She said finally.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Sakura. Will you come over here?" Sasuke asked, stretching out his hand to her.
Sakura could feel the glares made of daggers on her back as the rest of the girls stared at her. Even though Sakura could feel them, she didn't care. She was about to spend the whole day with the person she admired. She stepped toward Sasuke and took his hand.
"Yes, Sasuke-sama. I'll be more than glad to."
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I hope this was a good start. Please tell me what you think. The main pairings for this series are Sasuke/Sakura and Naruto/Hinata. There are subtle pairings that will be hinted on in certain chapters such as Neji/Tenten, Shikamaru/Temari and eventually Sai/Ino. (Sai just hasn't shown up yet, haha.)
Thanks for reading and please review. I hope all characters were in some character. It is AU, so don't forget that.
Yamari
