Additional Notes: Sakura's "inner self" will have a small part in this story, much like the series. But in opposition to the Naruto series, she will be telling Sakura to be rational, instead of being her irrational and crazy side.

Author's Notes: I got…well…I didn't get any reviews last time. I got a few hits, but it would mean a lot if you would review. Just take the time to tell me to…hurry up and update…or…tell me you like it, whatever. Reviews are appreciated.

Also, I typed this one up quick while my train of thought was still rolling down the tracks. Unfortunately, all updates will not be this quick, because the train get's derailed quickly, and is difficult to get back on track.

Well hope you enjoy reading as much as I do writing! Thanks!

Chapter 2

Naruto put his head in his hands and moaned. He was hungrier now than if he had just stayed in his room. Of course he couldn't go back now. Not without embarrassing himself again. Especially if Sakura was there. What was it about her? He had met plenty of other girls before princesses and servants alike. There was nothing that special about her. . . or was there?

It didn't' matter though. On his sixteenth birthday he would be married off to some stuck-up princess of some other castle. Yep, that is pretty much the life of the king's oldest son. Sometimes he wished he was a girl. He was actually the fourth sibling of six.

He had three older sisters, one younger sister, and the youngest was his eleven year old brother. Being a girl wouldn't really solve his problems though. Then he would just be sold off to some prince of another castle. That is what happened to his older sisters and what his younger sister is in the process of doing. That is royalty for you. Everyone else choosing what your life is going to be like. He wanted to be his own person who made his own rules.

"I wonder what it would be like to be a servant. . . " Naruto pondered. Sure you had to work, but there were no lessons or formal balls to go to. He shuddered at the thought. There were no duties to be preformed, no table manners, and no ceremonies to attend. Also he was quite sure servants could choose who they were going to marry.

Naruto shook his head again. He was thinking too fast. Sure he was almost sixteen, but marriage still seemed so far off. There was nothing he could do about it though. He didn't get to choose his destiny.

Naruto stood up and took a deep breath before plodding up the rest of the stairs and sneaking down the hall and into his room, locking the door behind him.

Naruto sighed as he glanced around his giant room. The room was pretty much decorated with every expensive thing imaginable. Red rugs adorned the floor, tapestries hung on the walls, chests and several dressers of the finest craftsmanship lined the walls, a brick fireplace against the right wall, his giant bed with ten feather pillows in the center of the room up against the left wall was perfectly made, and he even had an adjacent room with a bath tub. He never really liked any of it. Suddenly there was a ruffling sound and a small coo from the corner of the room. Oh, yah. There was one thing he liked.

"Bisu!" Naruto exclaimed as he ran over the corner of the room. He nearly forgot about his feathery friend. The full-grown white owl ruffled its feathers inside the elaborate gold and silver bird cage on a stand in the corner of the room. Naruto opened the cage and gave the bird a short pet.

He couldn't believe he almost forgot about his friend. The owl gave a soft coo and then settled back down to continue her nap. Naruto laughed softly and closed the cage. Owls were very rare, especially white ones, he was lucky he got one. But he was a prince.

He paused for a moment watching the owl fall asleep once again, and then went in search for a dry pair of clothes. He went over to one of the chests by his bead and groaned when he found nothing inside. After a moment he reluctantly went to one of the dressers and opened it. After a few minutes he managed to choose one of his 'princely' outfits and promptly put it on. He went into the adjacent room and tossed his soapy clothes in the tub, and glanced at himself in the mirror with wide cerulean eyes. He defiantly looked like the king's oldest son now. He gave a sigh and combed all the ruffled blonde knots out of his hair only adding to the royal affect. He hesitated another moment to gaze at himself in the mirror.

He looked foreign to himself. There was no other way to explain it. He didn't look like himself. He thought he looked like some fancy puppet all dressed up just so someone else could show him off. He kinda felt like it too. Just then Naruto's stomach grumbled again and he sighed.

Then Naruto heard the door unlock from the outside, and he flinched. It could only be one person. "Naruto?" a deep voice called. Naruto took a deep breath and went to go greet his father. Naruto turned the corner and bowed deeply. "You can rise," the king said after a moment. Naruto stood up straight, but kept his head to the ground, not once looking up at the king. "Have you thought about what you have done?" Naruto's father asked.

Naruto nodded slowly and replied quietly pretending to be ashamed of himself, "Yes, sir." The Usumaki king nodded slowly for a long time, satisfied. Then suddenly Naruto's stomach gave a loud groan. Naruto flinched. The king frowned. "You are still not permitted to leave your room, but I will have a servant bring you up some food. I must go back to my duties now."

Naruto nodded again and bowed. "Thank you very much, sir." His father nodded again and without another word, left the room. As the door shut, Naruto gave a sigh of relief. Then he heard the door lock. He sighed again.

Naruto flopped onto his bed and buried his head into one of the pillows nearly falling asleep on contact.

Sakura finished the kitchen 4 minutes earlier. She grinned to herself and jumped up, carefully wringing out the towel and placing it in the sink. She walked over to the table and sat down in the chair, putting the bucket on the table and admiring her work. She smiled and nodded to herself.

"Sakura once again has victory over the kitchen! The score is tied, demon floor!" She said in a low voice before bursting into giggles. 'Stop goofing off!' Her inner self demanded. She put a hand over her mouth to stifle the giggles and calmed herself down. She grabbed the stray loaf of bread and began too much on it contently.

Sasuke walked hastily own the corridor to the kitchen and walked through the opened doors, to see Sakura munching on a small loaf of bread. He stopped for a moment. She looked really….adorable. And she was talking to herself again. Sasuke smiled. He thought it was so cute when she did that...no! What was he thinking?! Both peasants or not, he was still higher than her. He just had to be careful to achieve the bare minimum so he wouldn't get ranked up...at least until she turned 16...He blinked and took off the smile from his face, walking in.

"Finally done Sakura?"

She let out what sounded like a little growl. "Sasuke! I got it done under the time you gave me!" She stuck out her tongue. "Even though you gave me less time than it would usually take to get it done..." She muttered under her breath so he could barely hear. He threw her a stern look and she squeaked before mumbling a quick, "Sorry sir!"

He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. Oh right, the chore. He coughed. "Sakura, it seems the," He coughed again. "Oldest prince has been grounded for a few hours now..."

She gave him a look that said showed she had no clue what the heck he was talking about and he sighed and continued. "And he's hungry." She stopped nibbling on the bread and blushed uneasily. Putting the bread down and fiddling with her dress. "So, the king asked me to send food up to his room. Some bread and cheese or something should do Sakura."

Her jade eyes widened. "You want me to deliver it?"

He rolled his obsidian eyes. "No, the other Sakura."

She looked confused for a second so he sighed. "No, you Sakura."

She made and 'o' shape with her mouth and he sighed. He was kind of peeved.

He'd like to do it himself, but other duties call. He didn't trust that prince at all. Sakura had stopped fiddling with her dress and stood up to gather some food from the pantry.

"I don't know...where his room is Sasuke."

For a moment he felt sorry for the girl. She'd never been into the royal chambers.

He sighed. "Take the maid staircase up to floor 2, left spiral to level 5, and his room is the fourth to the right."

She nodded. He nodded back curtly. "That's all." He left the kitchen.

Sakura gathered up some food and placed it on a tray while mumbling to herself, willing herself not to forget. "Maid staircase, floor 2, left spiral, level 5, fourth to the right." She finished putting the food on the tray and walked up the maid staircase while still mumbling.

Over by the stable Sasuke smacked his head, just recalling something. Sakura plus stairs plus food equals disaster! He sighed. He'd have to check that after he was done with the horses.

"Maid staircase, floor 2, left spiral, level 5, fourth to the right. Maid staircase, floor 2, left spiral, level 5, fourth to the right." She got to level two and started up the spiral staircase, starting to get lost in her thoughts while still mumbling the directions.

All of a sudden she felt her foot trip on a tassel at the edge of the wall. Her eyes widened as she prepare to fall. She was such a klutz! Wait. No. Not this time! She slowly bent forward regaining her balance and stood up. She sighed in relief starting up the staircase again, with more determination than ever.

She continued up the stairs until level 5. "Ok, fourth to the right, fourth to the right, fourth to the right, ah, here it is!" She stopped at a redwood door and knocked twice.

Naruto jumped as someone knocked on the door. He took a few moments to regain his princely composure. He got off of his bed and straitened his hair. Bisu also gave a squawk of protest as she was also roused from her slumber. Not really feeling up to standing, he sat down on the bed and waited.

"Come in," Sakura heard a shuffling sound and then the prince's voice telling her to enter. She sweat dropped as the tried to balance the tray of food with one hand while opening the door with another, only to find it locked. She sighed. This was not her day. She slowly and carefully placed the tray of food onto the floor outside the door and turned to unlock and open it.

Just then Sasuke came rushing down the hall and almost crashed into her. He stopped and said hurriedly "Where's the mess?" while looking around.

Sakura sighed. Was she really that klutzy, and...undependable? "There isn't any Sasuke."

He stopped and stared at her before blinking a couple of times. "No...mess?"

She shook her head and grinned. "Nope, no mess!" She jumped up. "I made it all the way up her without tripping-" She tripped on a rug and fell over on the floor next to the food. She sighed. "Never mind..."

Sasuke had to stifle a laugh. He very deliberately calmly said. "Oh okay, good. I'll see you back downstairs then." Before hurrying off. When he got down the second stairwell he burst into sly laughter. Naruto paused for a moment as he heard talking outside and sighed.

Sakura stood up and brushed some dust off her skirt. She heard laughter from the bottom of the stairs and huffed. "Stupid Sasuke..."

She turned her attention back to the door and unlocked it, picking up the tray and stepping in. As soon as she stepped in her green eyes widened as she gasped. She had never seen so many nice things before! Realizing what she was doing she stopped herself and blushed.

"Uh...here's your food..." She walked over to the bed where he was sat, trying not to gape at anything, but was having a hard time because even the floor was decorated with extravagances.

He glanced up and nearly gaped as Sakura walked in, her long pink hair falling after her. He caught himself in the act though and smacked himself in the head. "Stop it!" he thought to himself. "What is wrong with you?! Keep a level head.

Only a servant. . . She is just a servant. . ." No matter how hard he tried, though, he couldn't stop himself from staring at her. She was so amazed by everything around her, the things he took for granted every day. That brilliant shine in her gorgeous, yet innocently green eyes.

It was blatantly obvious she couldn't tell he was the boy who just slipped in a puddle of suds in the kitchen. He was mostly jostled from his thoughts when she put down the plate of food and the smell hit his nostrils. After a moment he realized his mouth was open and his tongue was out, ready to devour the simple meal and he promptly shut it, his face turning a little pink.

He looked down at the ground pausing for a moment and then the familiar voice quietly said, "Thanks, Sak-" he caught himself and mid act and slurred his words to change the sentence, "-Sank you for the food." He inwardly cringed noting how stupid he sounded. His eyes wanted to look up at her, but they stayed locked on the ground.

'What are you saying?!' He yelled to himself in his mind. 'You imbecile! You can't even think straight!'

Ah, forget good manners! Her eyes traveled among all the room, as if they were trying to suck in every detail of this extravagance. Her jade green orbs jolted upwards to the prince as she thought she heard her name being called, but realizing he was only thanking her for the food, she glanced away and blushed red.

She could've sworn...she looked back at him. He looked familiar...she couldn't quite put her finger on it though...all of a sudden she heard a screaming voice in the back of her mind reminding her not to stare at royalty. 'Cha Sakura! Be proper! Stop staring!' She heard the voice say…loudly. She looked away, but then realizing his eyes were glued to the floor, she studied him. He did quite look a lot like that boy in the kitchen! Although she couldn't be sure...and it would be rude to ask...but before she realized it a few words had slipped out of her mouth. "Do I know you?"

Realizing this she gasped slightly and covered her mouth, muttering apologies. "I'm sorry, so sorry sir." Her whole face flushed a deeper red. Her and her big mouth!

Before he could stop himself, Naruto's hand twitched slightly. Sakura shuffled her feet away from the bed, slowly moving backwards, and her whole face bright red. "Sorry! Sorry sorry-whoa!" Sakura tripped over a tassel on the rug and fell over.

All her attention turned to the rug. "Ack! Stupid, stupid rugs! I've tripped on two already! TWO! Almost tripped on one on the stairs...argh! Stupid, deceiving, evil, demon rugs-"

She looked up from her spot on the floor and remembering where she was, her blush reappeared. Congratulations ladies and gentlemen, we have a new shade of red!

It took Naruto a moment to realize what happened, but he jumped up from the bed and went over to her. He wasn't laughing. Sakura sat on the floor blushing like crazy.

"Are you alright?" he asked quickly. There was only concern in his voice and eyes. "Here, let me help you up. . ." he reached out his hand to help her up. She took it daintily and stood up.

"Thanks." she said, still blushing slightly. Seeing the concern in his eyes she felt more at ease around him. "I'm okay." She giggled softy. "I've tripped over two rugs since I've gotten to your room. I'm a bit of a…klutz." She bushed some dust off her sleeve. "I'm sorry, I kinda...yeah." She felt at loss for words. She sighed. "I thought I recognized you from somewhere."