8/10/2014
Once Upon A Time
Chapter 2
There's chaos everywhere.
She's hiding inside her closet, and she can still hear it. The screams that have illuminated the yells of mercy throughout this bloodstained night.
She tries not to whimper as she hears footsteps coming toward her room. She scrunches down into a ball of fright as she lets her long rosy locks fall down her face, covering her away from the inevitable, covering away from this forsaken night and her inescapable death.
She covers both her ears with her hands to escape the piercing screams of the slaughtering that is occurring outside her room. It is in vain because although the terror of the noise has reduced she can still picture it in her mind.
Her home burning just as darkness fell over. The screams of shock and agony, only then just beginning. Her people being burned alive murdered without mercy. Hundreds of men dressed in black and weapons never seen before marching down her lands setting her home on fire and slaughtering all her people. She was ushered into safety by one of her loyal servant because there is nothing an eight-year-old girl can do but hide regardless of any royal status. Death doesn't care who you are.
She holds a muffled cry as she hears her door forced open and slow footsteps ascending toward her hiding spot.
"Sakura, where are you"
As soon as she recognizes the whispered voice the said little girl lunges out of her closet and into the dark room only illuminated by the reflection of the bright moon creeping through her window.
Her eyes scan the room once over and immediately recognizes the dark figure standing near the doorway.
"Papa", she whispers in an almost silent gasp as she gets closer and finally sees him.
There standing is her father, Kizashi Haruno.
Where there once was the glorious king of land of the sea only stands a wounded older man covered in crimson barley supporting himself upwards as he clutches his chest that Sakura finally realizes is pouring out all the blood.
His legs give out and Sakura only has a millisecond before clasping his body before his whole body gives out as well.
She forgot how rather small she is for her age as she is only able to support him slightly enough so his body doesn't touch the ground. A king is never to touch the ground he rules solely from above and a fallen king is no king at all. Even with death knocking at the doorstep she will see to it that he always remains king, her king.
"Pap—", before she has time to continue, her father coughs out the crimson fluid and then after covering his mouth kneels right in front of her, looking straight at her, emerald eyes versus emerald eyes.
He reaches out to her, grabs her thin frail body, and embraces her, "My Sakura, I'm sorry it had to end like this, it was not suppose to turn out this way, my ignorance led to our demise."
Sakura does not understand anything but becomes aware that her father is crying. She has never seen him cry, not even when her mother passed away.
"Listen to me closely Sakura, everything I did was for our family, for my people, for my legacy—for you," once again the fallen man begins to cough up more blood.
After he regains his breath, he bends forward and takes off his gold pendant from around his neck and puts it around her small head onto her neck.
Before she has time to protest he silences her, "From today on forward you are the queen of the land of the sea. Be good my cherry blossom you will be the future of the new age I could not get to see-"
"Stop Papa, lets get out of her-" before she has time to go on, her father's body finally gives out as she catches him cushioning his fall to the ground as his final breath finally leaves him.
Her eyes instantly open as she gasps for air ridding herself from the nightmare of a night that keeps haunting her.
Green emerald eyes scan over her surrounding as her breathing returns to normal and notices a silver platter filled of food resting upon her table stand.
She looks out toward the window to see rays of sunshine slipping through signifying that she must have overslept and one of the servants came in while she was having her turmoil.
"At least they wont leave me to starve", she mutters to herself as she glances over her isolated chambers that seem more than a dungeon to her than anything else.
She leans back onto the velvety fabric that makes up the king sized bed and grabs the sheets with her hands but soon regrets it as another memory—her wedding night hits her like a whirlpool.
She immediately sits up and wishes that she could erase that memory from her mind she doesn't know why his touch from that night is affecting her so much.
How she can still trace the patterns of his hands as they moved throughout her body as if it happened moments ago.
Sakura shakes that memory away once more.
She knew what was to happen that night as she walked down the isle but was dumbfounded how fast her body reacted and melted to his touch.
She didn't want to think about how that night made her feel—how he made her feel.
He—his people—this whole country destroyed and burned her whole kingdom. Left her orphaned at the mere age of 8 left her to live only because she was worth more alive then dead.
They took her from her homeland and left her to live up north far away from anything she had ever known only to be prized off to one of the kingdoms once she turned the age of maturity.
And now—now she was nothing but a trophy—a trophy for the Uchiha kingdom—the land of fire— she was a queen unable to rule.
And now a week after her wedding she was the trophy tossed aside, she had no more use to them except to represent what they had won.
He wasn't even there in the morning afterwards; she awoke bare and alone feeling a sense of dejection.
He, his father, their whole kingdom had obtained what they wanted from her, taken her power and now riding towards to her forgotten lands and supporters to reconquer what they had always been craving for.
Because now they have a right, now everything that has been hers all along is theirs; and in this sickening world people abide by the rule of royalty where what belongs to a king or queen can only be handed over not taken away—that is why her father had to be taken down, because he was taking the power away from the royals, from the five kingdoms, and they did not like one second of it.
And now she was forced to hand everything her father left her to the Uchihas' and left with people who she doesn't trust and don't trust her.
She crosses the hallways of the enormous Uchiha palace only to be presented with unwelcome stares and forced service—because in the end she is still a queen and they still have to abide by her wishes and that is perfectly fine with her she is not seeking to form any false friendship with any of these people.
One thing that she learned as she walks among these people, most of them dark haired and dark eyes, where she instantly feels misplaced, is that they have this ruthless and merciless presence surrounding them that only Uchiha people can have.
And they are wary of her as she is of them.
The troopers who guard this palace are rigid in their place and only nod their heads in her presence.
The maids on the other hand barley hide their contempt—but today she does not wish to walk around these aimless hallways where she is scrutinize every step she takes.
As the sun is starting to set she heads past the vast gardens and heads out toward the stables, where she has found seclusion with creatures that cannot judge her and are the only company that she needs to keep her sanity.
Only a small amount of time has passed when she hears the heavy door of the stable being shut and as she rushes toward the entrance she hears giggles of group of girls as footsteps are being hurried away.
In the pit of her stomach she feels anger and alertness settle in.
She tries to open the stable doors only for them to be locked. She feels fear creep into her as she starts banging on the wooden doors. She begins to yell for help only to hear giggles far in the distance—she abruptly stops.
They planned this!
Those deceitful maids are playing with her, well she will not let them win she decides.
She stops her cries of help and sits on one of stools, regardless of everything she is still a queen and she will not lower herself to the petty schemes of foolish servants. She believes that the guards will soon notice her presence gone and come find her.
The sun has completely been replaced by the illumination of the moon that is now the only thing- beside a small candle- that is allowing her to see in the dark.
"I am not scared, I am not scared, I am not scared", she keeps repeating to herself in a chant as the cries of the animals whom she found a sense of companionship are now giving her a sense of displeasure.
They all must have been part of this scheme.
She cannot believe that no one has come looking for her. It has been hours and she has lost hope of anyone finding her by tonight.
She has not felt this alone in such a long time she believes and fails to hear a pair of footsteps coming closer as the wooden doors are abruptly pushed open and the room is filled with beams from the bright moon.
She gets up and there in all his glory is the man that has been intruding her dreams there is the man who left his mark on her oh so many nights ago.
There standing in the doorway looking imposingly striking as the effect of the moonlight only enhance his aristocratic and almost perfect features is her husband, in his breath-taking regalia, the one and only Uchiha Sasuke.
Author's Note: Review if you want this story to continue. Thank you for reading!