(BRIEF EDIT, JULY 2015: I am 22 years old and I wrote this when I was 14 and it is the most embarrassing piece of "work" on my profile yet. Guaghhh.)

Cheer and rejoice, as I'm skipping reviews for this story, as in I won't be typing everyone's name and replying to whatever they said. I have to get to writing before I lose my inspiration and get the "ehhh why am I writing this bizarre stuff" feeling again. Well, I warned you of OOC-ness before, so be prepared to see Sasori's character slaughtered good and bloody. Good day.

May 7th, 10:23 AM

A parent usually doesn't feel too cheery when their child utters their first curse word, even if that child is innocently asking the meaning of the word without using it as a curse. The case was the same for felis parents. And Tsunade, Sakura's mother, was thankfully not here to bear witness to young Sakura's first curse.

You see, when an adventurous and curious felis kit likes Sakura sees her first colorful, populated and busy city, especially one like Suna, said kit may either go crazy trying to see everything at once or be struck dumb and speechless, only offering scant remarks to the things they see. Sakura was stuck in between these, despite the admiring remarks and looks that were thrown in the prince's direction every five minutes. It wasn't that rare in Suna to see the prince of the country walking about for no real reason. It was a practice of calming. When one has a hundred political and nationwide issues on one's shoulders per day, a walk around the block can clear one's head and help one think.

Sometimes she would dodge behind Fell's handsome prince to get a close-up eyewitness of some vendor or shop or even a person on the street, or one of the intricate pastel paintings that livened the stone wall surrounding the city. Sometimes though, she would also catch sight of some magnificent church or mansion (for it was common for small cottages and enormous aristocratic mansions to sit next to each other and be neighbors) and stare in silent awe.

The city of Suna was little, though, compared to the castle that sat snugly in its middle. If the three black, soaring towers tipped with red flags weren't enough for one's eyes, the central structure between them added to the wonder. In the middle of the three towers was a low, cylindrical structure, large enough to contain dozens if not hundreds of rooms, possibly more in dungeons below. Then again, the interior of the place was what I'm really trying to get to here, so let's get on to the point, yes?

Sasori had saved his castle's interior for last, knowing well just how visitors, and the little kit, would react to the sheer magnificence and brilliance. It was much lacking in the stereotypical paintings of lords and ladies gone past, these being replaced with pastel and watercolor paintings and threadings hung on the walls, portraying the most beautiful and rare scenes of nature and battle and dreams and anything divine and perfect an artist could create.

So, our lovely prince had just begun showing his kit to the inside of the castle as we focus in on a certain point of our tale. He had just opened the set of steel double doors, metallic structures taller than any man, and the first thing Sakura set her wild eyes upon was the meeting room. The meeting room, as one might guess, was where aristocrats and politicians gathered for elegant balls and dances, and was almost always decorated for that occasion.

What with a room with a ceiling practically soaring to the sky and walls draped in the finest of artistry and the room itself seeming to breathe the word "sophisticated," it was almost no surprise what seven-year-old Sakura said in response.

"Oh my GOD, it's huge!"

Thankfully the echo of the huge room wasn't quite enough for Tsunade and Shizune to hear a mile or so outside the city walls in their cottage.

Without thinking he purred and flicked his tail over her pink felis ear—he'd noticed at her old farm home in the Wide Plains, she didn't even let her mother touch her feline ears, and took pleasure in knowing that she allowed him. Sakura was careful to walk only on the red silken rug running straight through the room. She was wearing the same scuffed black boots she always wore, the same boots that had taken her all over the rolling hills in her old home and stepped in mud and lakewater and probably squished a good number of bugs, as well. Sakura had never blushed before in her life, but found herself dangerously close when she realized that she was walking in a prince's castle with dirty boots of all things to wear.

Together, with occasional, somewhat strange conversation concerning classical music and the importance of violins, Sasori gave the felis kit a grand tour of his home, from the kitchens—he was delighted to let her taste the red velvet cake—to the library—Sakura tried to subtly ask if she might borrow a copy of War and Peace, at which Sasori chuckled—to the personal chamber of Deidara, his self-appointed-and-named "slave-slash-messenger" and best friend.

Sakura asked if Deidara thought it would be allright if the prince intruded on his room when he was absent, but Sasori's reply was that Deidara couldn't do anything about it anyway. Sakura, intellectual child as she was, could hear the brotherly tone of his voice and understood that if Deidara got mad about it he would easily forgive Sasori. She didn't notice the look of contemplation the prince watched her with when her back was turned; he was still getting used to the fact that the kit had an intellect that was several years beyond his age.

Within three or so hours they were walking back through Suna, tails loosely twined and, what with spending the last two days or so near each other, their scents slightly mixed. The kit, having no knowledge nor interest in the subject, would not understand that this was an obvious sign of bonding (among other things) in the felis species.

The conversation of classical music continued almost all throughout those three hours: "But 'Ye Sorrowful Sea' sounds just like ocean waves to me. Yehh, I never saw the ocean before, but the song goes up and down all the time, speeding up, slowing down at weird times you can never guess, so, yeah."

"No, no, it's meant to symbolize a human's life. Birth is content, calm; childhood and adolescence are much more upbeat times in one's life. The rhythm must follow this—"

"But a person's life isn't always as crazy as an ocean wave, so the rhythm shouldn't be, either! That's like an insult to the calmer humans who actually know what they're gonna do in life!"

It went on up until they had crossed the mile or so distance across the green fields to Sakura's home. When they were twenty yards or so from the house Sakura felt a memory rush back to her of the carved blackbird she'd left sitting in the windowsill flowerbox by the door, and, acting upon impulse as she often did, tried to dash towards it and get the carved bird. She squeaked when she found the prince wouldn't unwind his tail from hers.

However bright a seven-year-old is, they can't possibly understand the complexities and various forms of love other than the type received from their parents, and a kit can't possibly understand the feeling their future life partner would have for them when said life partner is much older and wiser. It only made sense that the morose look in the prince's eyes confused Sakura. She confronted this unknown thing like she did most other unknown things: staring it down, determined and hoping to win, until Sasori's tail did loosen enough for her to leave.

"Stay here!" she called when she opened the door and shut it again. In the twenty seconds or so she was in the cottage, Sasori's eyes were caught by the movement in the corral near the west side of the cottage. He spotted the two brown draft horses Renee and Ruki bobbing their heads in his direction, as though saying hello.

Then the square window at the top of the house, likely the attic, opened up and Sakura's pink-kitten-eared head popped out. "Catch this!" In her left hand she held an old piece of rolled-up paper, tied with a fine piece of green string, and she threw this ancient document out the window quite carelessly. There was a flash of anxiousness in the prince's chocolate eyes but he caught the paper single-handed and without any trouble.

Sakura leaned precariously out the window and said, "I found that in my room last year, under the floorboards. Tsunade thinks the people who lived here before left it behind. Untie it." Sasori did so with an effortless flick of his claw, unrolled the paper, and saw a faded ink drawing of a Versace, an ancient type of violin, known for the fact that even in the poorest conditions it always had a fine polished sheen.

"I want to be a musician when I'm older. Probably a violin-player." Sakura said quietly, just loud enough for another felis to hear. "And also, Tsunade said there's something wrong with the picture, and she wanted to figure out what someday. So I kept that picture." Sasori had his head cocked and was staring intently at the drawing. A flick of his long tail was the only warning Sakura got; in the next second the redheaded felis was balancing on her windowsill, still looking at the picture. She yelped and staggered back, nearly knocking over the stack of little brown boxes at her feet.

He turned the picture over and let one leg down over the windowsill, so that he was more or less sitting down. "Do you know what this is?"

"A Versace." He was surprised at the perfection and precision with which the kit said that name, as though she'd known the word from birth. Sasori gestured with two fingers for her to come closer, and put a hand on her shoulder when she did. He pointed out the middle of the instrument, where it curved inward like an hourglass.

"The waist is much too thin. Anyone carrying this instrument could have snapped it in half. A Versace is not supposed to be made this way. Yet there was one made in this way, made for a person who knew how to carry it gently enough not to break it. This was my grandmother's."

The first thing the kit comprehended was that there were two things in existence older than the prince of Fell: his grandmother, and the grandmother's violin. But she knew better than the say this out loud. "This is a drawing of your grandmother's violin?"

"It is."

"Then take it back to your castle or something. Shouldn't you frame it? Or give it to your grandmother?"

"I'm almost certain she's dead. She left Suna centuries ago, and boarded a ship to Noriker. It sank. Some passengers survived, some didn't."

Not really knowing what else to do, and forgetting to use her tail, she gently grasped Sasori's red feline tail in her hand and squeezed it. The tail curled around her wrist fondly. "Your parents, then?"

"Fell has no king or queen. I was perhaps five years older than you when they died of black fever." Sakura's tail twitched uncomfortably; her mind immediately drew up a story she'd heard many times before, of a felis man her mother had known, Orochimaru, who had been hailed as one of the strongest and most intelligent of his species, and had died of black fever within a week of being infected. He'd become as frail, sick and feeble as any infant before dying.

A seven-year-old speaking of death, fatal fever and lack of family probably has little idea of how to be gentle or subtle in her words. "I know someone who died of that, too," was the best she could come up with. "Tsunade says a lot of people do." Sakura's pink feline ears perked and pointed straight up. She glanced quickly, bird-like, out the window. Her superb sense of hearing was something her mother and aunt had neglected to tell the prince, to it mildly surprised him that the kit heard the oncoming horse before he did.

They looked out the open attic window and saw a blonde man in a blue tunic approaching the Hokage family's cottage on a fine white stallion. His hair was done up in the most ridiculous of styles. The prince and the kit could barely tell that he was a felis. Like Sasori, he was one of the rare fellows who was born with the feline tail but no feline ears on his head.

The man jumped, yes jumped, off his horse and waved up at them. "Hey, Mister Majesty! They need you at the castle!" Sasori made an irritated noise in his chest, growling with an annoyance that darkened his eyes. "Deidara…" They lightened when he looked at Sakura again, who was looking down at Deidara, puzzled. "Was he with us when Tsunade, me n' Shizune came here?" He grunted a confirmation. "And did he talk a lot?"

The blonde felis on the hill was still waving and babbling. "He can't make himself shut up. He as talking at least half the journey to Suna. Why?"

"I had a dream on the way here, about these two dogs trying to get out of a big mansion. They kept hearing a voice behind them saying stupid stuff like 'lacking in political prowess' and 'fireworks next Wednesday for me.' I think he was talking so loud that I heard him in my dream."

"I'm sorry. I would enjoy muting him myself but…some others wouldn't appreciate it. Stupid and loud as he is, Deidara is well liked in this city."

"Why?"

"God only knows."

"What if god doesn't know?"

"Majesty would you come down here now? It's been like five minutes!"

Sakura's lips curved up in a smile at the eccentric man below but her ears curled down in distaste of the loud sound. "If he's here for the reason I believe he is, I won't be able to come back for several days. Will you be unpacked by then?" But by the end of his sentence the pink-haired kit was using her little claws to open a box marked "birds" in crude, cursive handwriting. "You need to teach people some 'political prowess or something, yeah?" she kit asked, pulling little carved creatures out of the box. "Yes. Stupid politicians often come to me to learn."

"Do you have a prowess that you can give them?"

The prince chuckled and ran his tail over hers. Sakura appeared not to notice and was arranging the wooden birds in a long line. "I do, Sakura, and others think it fantastic. I'll be lucky to see you again in less than ten days." Sakura's mouth twitched uncomfortably. Ten days, to her especially, was a long time, but she grinned again when she realized she'd have nearly all that time to explore the city and the surrounding hilly country, find out special, secret routes like she'd had in her old home.

Hoping he hadn't picked up her devious plans, she said, "Well that gives me a whole lot of time to learn to stars here. I knew the names of the ones in my old home. I could connect the dots. And in the daytime the horses need to learn the country around here. I can help 'em with that."

She'd cleverly thought of all these things off the top of her young head, and knew her voice could easily disguise her true intent with innocence. She also was clever to hide the slight fear she was feeling. After all, if she discovered some secret way into the castle or upset some royal official, Sakura knew how liable she'd be to be given a royally horrible and nightmarish punishment from the prince himself.

"MISTER FREAKING MAJESTY WOULD YOU PUH-LEAZE—"

"Shut up, I'm coming!"

Sakura's eyes brightened jovially and she giggled, "I think I do like him." Sasori sighed and touched the kit's furry, pink ears once more before bidding her farewell and jumping out the window to meet his "slave-slash-messenger."

Her back had been turned on him since the prince had asked if she'd be unpacked by the next time she saw him. Now Sakura rushed to the window and stared with unnaturally keen eyes as the blonde felis mounted his stallion and the prince walked along with him back towards Suna and the castle. Sakura thought she heard Tsunade and Shizune downstairs conversing about the strange blonde felis who was now walking the prince home. Shizune was walking up the stairs to the second floor, and then up to the attic, to see if Sakura was there.

While she still had a few moments to herself, the kit curled her tail distastefully and glared at the retreating royalty. Sure, he was wise and knew a great deal about music and most everything she wanted to know, and sure his purr was nearly as soothing as her mothers, but the way he constantly touched her felis ears was a little annoying.

One of her prime goals of living in this new, exciting place was to make sure the prince knew he was not allowed to touch her ears.

Another was to get some more of that red velvet cake she'd tasted in the castle kitchens.

May 7th, 12:04 PM

Sakura's goal of keeping Sasori's hands and felis tail away from her ears slowly became less and less of a priority as the day went on. She unpacked her three boxes' worth of toys and knickknacks and set up her room in the attic, where she could stargaze in comfort all the time.

Shizune and Tsunade helped her connect the pieces of her bed and put the mattress on it, and within two hours or so Sakura's room was complete, strangely organized for a seven-year-old and sporting some strange things a seven-year-old usually wouldn't have: an ancient mammoth tusk, a painting of Evrae, the mythical, god-like horse, a book of the sonnets and ballads of Noriker, and a pair of reed whistles that looked bloodstained. Sakura was a curious child in all ways and she knew it well.

The first thing she did after packing was have a lunch smoked salmon that seemed too big for a child, much less any one single person, and then offered to take her mother and aunt into Suna and show them around, because she felt she knew the city inside and out already. Tsunade and Shizune, only halfway done with their own unpacking, agreed it would be a fine break and followed the child down the path through the hills to the city. All the while she hummed and purred a piece of music celebrating Konik's nationality: "Great Red and White." This was a song Sasori had taught her that morning.

The gates to Suna were open till an hour after sunset on an average day and everyone was allowed in and out whenever they pleased. Shizune soon had to hold her older sister back when she was playing roulette in a modest café, making the place look quite dirty what with the way she swore at losing two-thirds of the time. While her mother and aunt were busy with each other Sakura snuck deviously away and jogged a few streets away until she was sure she was far enough away.

This street was mostly lined with homes, ranging from little cottages to modest houses and insanely large mansions (in Suna large and teeny houses sat next to each other and no one commented on the weirdness of it). As though on cue, a leathery, bouncing gold ball hit her in the back of her knees.

She was much too tough for something like this to knock her over and too proud to let anyone know it had startled the living daylights out of her. She picked up the ball and looked up to see two children coming towards her. Their legs were covered in scrapes and their eyes were bright with playfulness. Sakura liked these two already.

The first of the children looked oldest. He was a normal felis kit, with ears and tail both, of average height, meaning taller than little Sakura. He was a brunette and his big felis ears and twitching tail were just as brown. Strange fang-shaped tattoos were stuck onto his cheeks and his eyes were like a wildcat's. The boy was wearing a thin, blue jacket.

The second was shorter, nearly Sakura's height, and was also a felis. Her ears and tail were just the same shade of violet as her hair, and her eyes were as pale as her skin. The cream-colored sundress she wore only seemed to make her more timid than she naturally looked. This purple-haired kit spoke first. "Hey, uhm…do you want to play with us?"

Sakura blinked, and quickly assessed herself. In plain white shorts and a solid blue shirt that had taken her through many thorny bushes and saved her from getting many scratches on her arms, she was well dressed for play. "Yeah, yeah! Where you just playing catch?"

"Not really. We're trying to kick the ball past Ino. She's over there." The brunette boy pointed at a third child, standing in between the two fence-posts that made the opening into a cottage's garden. Her hair was short and whitish-blonde, and was a half-breed. She had felis ears but no tail, but it was not this that gave it away, but mere instinct that told Sakura. The pale blue riding habit she wore—a garment something like a dress—was not at all suited for play, but she looked happy enough to be there and participating even though the hem of the dress was dirty and dusty.

"Did you move here? I lived here all my life but I never saw you before." The brunette boy scratched his chin. Sakura bounced the ball on the ground and while doing so said, "Yeah, I came here just this morning. I'm Sakura."

The boy smiled. "Sakura, huh? You're pretty." Sakura smiled appreciatively; it was different when someone besides her family said it, and she'd heard it said often.

"My father says not many people move here. He doesn't know why." The kit with the purple hair said, and flinched when the other two turned their eyes on her. "Oh, uh, uhh, I'm Hinata. So how come you came?"

Sakura twitched her tail carelessly, still bouncing the ball. "The prince said he had a dream I'd be his mate when I'm older. So I had to move here from the Wide Plains. My mother and aunt came too." The two kits' eyes went wide, and the third, Ino, started walking over from the cottage where she stood.

"The prince? Akasuna no Sasori?" the boy said incredulously.

"Yeah, is there another one?"

"No, he's—you're like famous! He dreamed about you years ago! On the night you were born he dreamed about you, that's what my sister told me. Man, you're gonna live the life!" Sakura's bright green eyes darkened. "I don't want to live the life! I want to live a normal life. I live in a cottage outside the wall with my mother and aunt and horses and I got my own room in the attic, and I like it! I want to live that life, not the life."

The blonde half-breed felis, Ino, gasped and put her hands up to her mouth. "Why wouldn't you want to live in the castle?!" she gawped. "That's the best place in Fell! The whole world, probably! And you're gonna be queen one day!"

Now it was Sakura's turn to gawp. "Queen? Wh—Huh?" Hinata looked away nervously and said, "Yes, you're his chosen. You're gonna marry him when you're old enough. That's the rule."

"I have to marry him and be his mate?!"

"Yeah, it's…kind of a two-for-one."

"Yeah, for every felis, not just princes, ya know. My momma married my papa and she's his mate, too."

Sakura's eyes brightened with a great calculation the other children gazed at curiously. "Then I have to make him change his mind. I meant to do it before, I forgot. How much time do I have before I marry him?" Hinata looked about to answer when Ino said, "Uh…I think whenever he wants you to, but I remember my momma telling me a story once, it was just like this…. Yeah, it's an old story about a felis prince who has his dream about the girl who's gonna be his mate, and the day she turned sixteen she married him. Or maybe it was seventeen."

In the few minutes she'd known these children, Sakura's mind decided, in its usual perfect and sure way, that they were trustworthy, friendly and mostly reliable. The blonde one was questionable, but she liked them all already. So she said, "Would you guys help me change his mind? Find another girl for Sasori?"

Hinata and Ino were dumbstruck that the new girl would so easily call the prince by name. But the boy answered easily, "Well, depends what we'd have to do…would it be dangerous?"

The pink-haired kit's tail curled delightedly. She liked this brunette felis quite a bit. "Heck yes, it would! I don't think I'd do it if it wasn't dangerous. I did dangerous things all the time in my old home. Sees, there's this town a couple miles from my old home, and it's called Fjord. But once I took my horse Foxtrot and rode him all the way to the next town! Perchin! That's like ten miles away from my old home and it's so full of Percheron draft horses you wouldn't believe it. And Tsunade and Shizune—my mother and my aunt—they never found out! I told Sasori, though."

"That is AWESOME!" The boy screeched, causing a trio of human women who were walking by the stare at the kit oddly. "I like you, Sakura! Tell me another dangerous thing you did! You did do more dangerous things, right?"

"Lots! Tons! Hey, what's your name?"

"I didn't tell you?"

"Nope."

"Oh…well, Kiba. And this is Hinata and Ino. Ino and me live on this street. Hinata lives on the other side of town. So, do you want to play now? I think better when I'm on my feet doing stuff."

"Yeah, me too. Can I guard the goal with you, Ino?"

"Uh-huh, I need the help really bad. Hinata's being really evil today! She keeps kicking the ball at my feet and making me trip and I got my riding habit all dirty! It's not my best one, so I'm allowed to play in it, but I hate the dirt and the dust on it anyway!"

And so during the game which was something like soccer, in which Hinata and Kiba tried to kick the silver bouncy ball past Ino and Sakura who guarded the gate to Ino's garden, the children learned about each other. Within five minutes or so, and after her mentions of Noriker sonnets and types of wild tapirs and names of star constellations, the three Suna children learned that

Sakura was intelligent beyond her years. Sakura took great joy in knowing that she wasn't the youngest of the group: though they were all coincidentally near seven or eight years old, Hinata was younger than Sakura by about nine months. Ino was oldest though her loud and whiny behavior didn't show it, and Kiba second-oldest.

They found it easy to talk and kick the silver ball and block it and retrieve it when it went too far all at the same time, and did so for nearly an hour. When Ino tripped over the ball and then said that her parents were florists, and that they owned a pet parrot named Luigi, Sakura laughed so hard at the ridiculous name that she didn't care when Kiba's kick sent her flat onto her back.

Hinata and Kiba fell into laughter with her, rolling on the ground, and only Ino stood, with her delicate hands on her hips and commanding the "youngsters" to tell her just what was so funny. At this point Shizune came running down the street, shouting Sakura's name worriedly. Her dark-grey robe was wrinkly, probably from trying to pull and pry her older sister away from gambling games, and she looked exhausted.

She approached the children somewhat wearily, holding herself up by putting her hands on the fence-posts of Ino's garden fence, and watching the children laugh up a storm. Seeing her neice having fun with other kits, perhaps for the first time, was a sight that took a good portion of the worry out of her. Still, she said firmly, "Sakura! I've been looking all over for you."

Still laughing but trying to stand up, the kit deftly lied, "I'm sorry, Shizune, I'm sorry, I just wanted to find the antique store me and Sasori walked by earlier, and I found them playing with the ball and they asked if I would join, so…" She broke into laughter again, with one hand poorly supporting her on a fence-post. Tsunade appeared out of nowhere, clothes rumpled like her sister's but with happiness written all over her face for her daughter.

And thusly Sakura made her first friends.

She and her mother and aunt left promptly after goodbyes were said to Kiba, Ino and Hinata and light bandages were applied to cuts and bruises made from being repeatedly hit with a hard bouncing ball and falling on the ground. They continued their tour of Suna, ate at a fantastic restaurant serving famous, spicy Konik dishes, and went home with full bellies and cheery dispositions.

Tsunade and her sister walked Sakura back to Suna sometime later to see her friends, and they played the same game as before and in the same place under the supervision and chatting of Shizune, Tsunade and Ino's father, Inoichi Yamanaka. This went on for several hours until just around twilight, the children never tiring out until the last minute when a joke from Kiba involving chickens and three-legged felis made them fall to their knees with laughter, so much laughter that they found they could barely stand when they were out done.

"Okay, I'm done!" Ino called with exaggerated tiredness. "I wanna go to bed now, Papa. Carry me?" Inoichi sighed and smirked. He waved goodbye to the sisters before picking up his exhausted daughter and carrying her inside his two-story cottage. Kiba walked off after slapping his tail on Sakura's hand and letting her slap her tail on his own hand, in a goodbye gesture the two of them had made up that day. Hinata bowed formally before walking off down the street towards her own home.

Sakura was carried out the Suna gates on Tsunade's back, her clothes scuffed, short hair ruffled and dirty and her small body weary and bruised, but her eyes as vivid and sharp as ever. These eyes were sharp and vivid until her mother set her down in her bed and they closed. Tsunade took this opportunity to lick her daughter's pink ear quickly, and then drew away, closing the door slowly.

Sakura's left eye was open the second the door closed, but she waited another five or six minutes before getting up out of bed and sitting on the windowsill. The stars were out now. And she loved to stargaze.

At The Information Vault

At this point in the story, I, the narrator, shall summarize a bit, for there are many adventures going on in the ten days that Sasori is off in his castle speaking to politicians from Saddle, Caspia's capital and we plan to focus mainly on the last of these. Not even moving from one home to another could keep Sakura down for long. On her second day of living outside of Suna, Fell's capital and royal city, she immediately went to her mother, who was still asleep and in bed, and asked to go see her friends in the city. So tired was her mother that she said yes and demanded to be left alone.

Suna's gates were already open even though the sun had risen but a half hour ago, and the guards cheerily let Sakura into the city. Her arrival had sparked a certain happiness in the city residents, as well as in the prince himself. Humans and felis alike seemed to smile at her as she dashed by, not only because she was the prince's chosen (things like "his ward" and "his kit" were also being passed around) but because she emanated energy and spirit, which was only natural, pardon the pun, because she had come from nature itself. Nature could be both her mother, and her father, because she had none.

The fatherless kit was overjoyed to see Ino and Hinata sitting on the front steps of Ino's cottage, plucking honeysuckle and sipping its nectar. Sakura's vast mind briefly recognized that the kits' parents probably were still asleep, and it was just as well: the adults would probably pass on their plans to the prince, and that was the last thing they needed.

When she approached Ino and Hinata she was surprised to find Kiba dash out from behind a patch of garden radishes, and with a quick, "Hey, you wake up super early, too!" they dashed off into the street, plotting their matchmaking games.

Now, once they'd been wandering the city for well over two hours, and the city was awake and bustling and they'd fetched a snack from Kiba's home, the kits found they had about ten plans between them. Most seemed either too impossible (stowing away on a ship to the farthest northern reaches of Konik) or too stupid (asking Sasori to choose another girl outright) and there was only one that made sense and sounded like a grand time.

This plan had been thought up by Ino, to the other kits' surprise—Ino was not usually very bright—and it was something along the lines of "convince Akasuna no Sasori that Sakura is such a troublemaker that she's not worth mating or marrying and he'll demand that she and her family leave like, now."

This plan was the only one that made sense because it was doable in their eyes, not impossible at all, and it sounded like a grand time because it was true. In certain ways, Sakura was a troublemaker: in her old home, she'd frequently snuck away to go swimming or climb trees in the night, and in the daytime when her mother and aunt weren't looking she had a habit of being fascinated by and going towards the more dangerous areas like spider nests and dark, smelly holes in the ground.

This, combined with Kiba's "super awesome" knowledge of the city and it's secret routes, would be perfect for finding and making trouble in the best spots. The prince would soon be wishing he was the type of felis that had feline ears, for he'll be wanting to rip them off.

Eight days passed. Kiba, with Ino and Hinata helping, taught Sakura the layout of the city, which streets were best for running freely and not bumping into anyone, which led to candy stores and antique stores, which turned back on each other like mazes, which were best for losing someone who was on your tail. Kiba even knew three or four ways, using windowsills and other platforms, to get on top of roofs. On the sixth day of Sasori's absence, in fact, the kits had a picnic on top of a weapons storehouse that was so near the castle a person could have thrown and object and hit the castle's wall with it.

During this time, Sakura also taught her new friends everything sly and intelligent she knew: the names of constellations and music composers and artists, the many kinds of birds of prey, how to fake sleep and then sneak away when one's parents weren't looking or listening, exactly what lies were best for what situation. This training helped all the kits. On the tenth day, they put their plan into action.

The first step was for all the kits to be in Sakura's home, hiding out of sight of Tsunade and Shizune. Sakura herself would hang about in her room in the attic till Sasori came by. When he arrived, Sakura would drop some object and it would hit the floor. At this signal, the other kits downstairs would startle the Hokage family horses, and the corral gate, oh-so-strangely left open, would let the horses run amok in the fields surrounding Suna.

The horses had also been given gret peppers in their feed, obtained secretly from Hinata's mother's garden. Gret peppers, named for the sound most people made when choking on them, induced irritation and rage in horses and people, and by the time the kits startled the horses the peppers would be well into their system and enrage them. When Sasori went to fetch the horses, sweet soul that he was, he'd probably take a hoof to the chest. This could kill a human but only cause pain to a felis, and certainly Sasori wouldn't want a mate who owned raging, wild horses, yes?

So far, everything was going fantastically. The kits had been hoping Sasori would come in through the window, but had been prepared for him to use the front door and ask her aunt and mother if he could come in. This is what happened, and after the two adult felis women bustled around quite foolishly trying to hide dirty dishes and straighten out-of-place furniture, Sakura's keen ears picked up the sound of Sasori coming up the stairs. She had her carved birds lined up in front of her and was pretending to rearrange them on her dresser.

The door opened. Sakura meticulously aligned the mockingbird, Mercutio, with the little blue jay, Yang. She had Croissant the cardinal in her hand when Sasori took a step into her room. Turning, the kit gasped in surprise and dropped Croissant. The wooden bird bounced once and rolled a bit before stopping. "Ca…Can you knock, please?" she cried, shaking her head with distaste. "You think being the most royal person in the world excuses you from manners? Gosh! Aren't politicians supposed to have manners? If you train politicians, then—don't put your tail in my mouth, dude! That's weird!"

Sasori's eyes were positively glittering. "Forgive me. I have something to tell you. I was merely wanting the opportunity to tell you faster."

"Since you said forgive me…" Sakura picked up the cardinal and set it in line, not a millimeter off track from Yang the carved jay. "I'm listening."

"Deidara's reminded me that when he was a kit, he was masterful at playing the sitar. I told him you were highly interested in music—"

"Nhhr-heeeeeeeh!"

Ears pulling back to her skull in distaste, Sakura frowned. She knew the horses would whinny in surprise, but she'd never heard them make such a sound before. She couldn't even tell which horse was making the noise. She noticed with curiosity that Sasori's hand was on her little, skinny shoulder immediately—his claws were painted black!—and when she went to the window to see what was going on, he went with her. Hinata, Kiba and Ino were out of sight just like they'd planned, to make it seem like the horses were going insane and no kits were annoying them.

The wooden corral gate was wide open and all the horses were rushing out of it. Renee and Ruki, hefty, big draft horses, were bucking like wild bulls and their back hooves hit the ground hard enough to rip up the dirt. Sweet and gentle Maraconn was leaping every which way, foaming at the mouth and screaming. Foxtrot and Camille were no better off.

"My horses! My horses!" Feigning horror and shock, Sakura made to jump out the window—she was willing to do so to make their plan work—but found Sasori's hand grasped her arm before she could get halfway out. With her in tow and worriedly grasping his cloak, the prince jumped out the window and landed soundlessly, running nearly upon hitting the ground. He'd gone about a hundred yards when Ruki and Camille came rushing up to him, lips drawn back and heads bowed as though prepared to skull-bash him.

If Sasori didn't move, Sakura would be directly hit by the mare Ruki. It took the large portion of her seven-year-old will to keep from shivering too horribly much. She did, however, dig her little claws into Sasori's arm, and whispered alarmingly, "Why are you just standing here? They're going to smash us…" she trailed off when Camille, apparently choosing to avoid them, swerved away from Sasori and Sakura and trotted away, calming down. But Ruki was still coming at them full force.

She picked up her worry again. "Move! Move! Ruki's coming!" But the prince didn't move. No, it wasn't until Ruki was ten feet or so away that he moved. The big brown draft kicked off the ground and her front hooves were pointed straight at her victims, as though they meant to strangle or maim. Sasori lifted a hand and flicked two fingers…and Ruki stopped in mid-jump.

The mare was floating. Staring, not saying a word, Sakura was frozen and stayed frozen until Sasori gently let her down from his arm. She stood next to him, tail drooping in a dead manner, normally vivid and clever eyes devoid of emotion. Ruki was panting in mid-air. Calming. Still floating.

The prince flicked his finger downwards…what was that little blue string in the air, Sakura wondered? Ruki swerved in the air and her muscular legs lowered towards the grass. The mare caught herself before she could fall over from the strange sensation. Nickering confusedly and looking about her, Ruki appeared totally calmed now and stood before the pair in the middle of the field as though nothing had happened. Vaguely Sakura recognized the voice of Shizune scurrying towards them with a speed that only a felis could manage.

Sakura turned her head up to the prince, who seemed ridiculously tall at that moment. Flatly, confusion in her eyes, the kit asked, "Are you god?"

She suspected he would grasp her hand or her tail, but Sasori merely looked down at her, fondly per usual, and moved his fingers once more, in a strange pattern. Ruki neighed with alarm when she suddenly was lifted up into the air again, no more than a few inches off the ground, and floated three or four yards away before being let down again. Again Sakura saw a pair of blue strings lashing around in the air before dissipating out of existence.

"If you're god, you should tell me. I would probably embarrass you in front of your angels. Shizune's more...fancy and stuff…than me."

"I'm not god, little one. It's not uncommon for a felis to be able to do something…strange. This is my ability. It is puppetry." Then, apparently not wanting to go any farther on that subject, the prince said, "Were you behind this? I heard other kits downstairs, but it appeared your mother and your aunt didn't. And this horse's breath reeks of gret."

As she often was, Sakura was hit by an impulse. An impulse to tell Sasori, again, that she was not suitable for him. "Yeah, I was. Why would you want a mate who has crazy horses that spit foam and skull-bash people? And I can't remember…when was the last time I said you're too old for me?"

He cocked his head, chocolate eyes darkening in mock pain. "Mmm? You don't like me, is this it?" Sakura made an expression that seemed to question the man's intellect. "Don't like you? No way, I just don't want to marry you or mate you. I like being just your friend, like right now."

The prince's red tail swept left and right musingly. "This is not something you can fight."

"I'm trying anyway." the kit insisted. She did not know exactly what she was saying. Sakura was suggesting she could keep nature from taking its course, and though nature, loving nature, made exceptions for her, it would not shield her from a path that had been lain for her since birth, that many felis before her had taken and she was taking even now.

He bent down to her level and leaned his forehead against hers. Sakura felt very small in comparison, more than usual, and put on an irritated sort of expression that made her eyes turn fiery and determined. This in turn reminded Sasori of his dream of her, seven years ago, and his heart soared with the past memory and the present sight.

"It doesn't matter. You're mine, little one, and try as you might, nothing is going to change that." Harshly, almost rudely, she wrapped her tail around Sasori's and pulled.

"You wait." she said warningly.

Ruki nickered, seeming to grin.

Well, it's late on a Sunday night, and I don't have time for many comments. Gotta go to bed soon. I'll do this quickly: I thought this story would be only three chapters, but currently it's leaning towards five or six, this is quite short at fifteen pages, next chapter will be more childhood adventures with Sakura and her pals. You know, childhood adventures: scaring and irritating world-influencing politicians, breaking/destroying holy artifacts, making a fool of the most powerful man on the planet. All adventures we had as kids. Imagined or otherwise.

Sakura wanting to be a musician when she grows up may or may not be a big plot device later on. I took a trumpet class in sixth grade, but I daydreamed once and missed the teacher's instruction on sheet music, so because of that one little screw-up I can't read it for shit. I have no idea what note-picture-thing corresponds to what button on the trumpet, and my knowledge of playing instruments is zero beyond making noise on a trumpet, so yeah aren't I the perfect person to write about a character who wants to be a musician?!