A/N: Yeah, yeah. I'm uploading two chapters in one go. Not than anyone who is reading will mind. Ah well. I have chapter 2 written, too, but I'm not posting that quite yet. Heheheheheheh. Anyshways. I forgot the disclaimer on the last page, so I'll do that now. Right. And please excuse me if there are any grammar mistakes. I try not to, but some still slip through.

Disclaimer: I, under the penname Sniper Hawkeye, do not own any of the Naruto Characters and/or related indica, all of which are sole property of Masashi Kishimoto and his affilliates. Thank you.

1 - Tessen

"Mama, I can comb my hair myself! I'm old enough!" a little girl protested as her mother brushed her hair distractedly. She couldn't have been a maid of more than ten, dirt smudging her face and green eyes glaring at anything that moved, her armed crossed in a pout. Unnatural-looking pink hair cascaded from her head, ending just below her chin. It seemed unnatural, but it had always been that way, for as long as she could remember. Her mama had told her that when she was little, her hair had been white, but it had changed color as she had aged. Her mum said that that was why she had named her "Sakura".

"For your pretty pink hair. Like flowers my mother told me stories about."

They lived in a small, one-room apartment in the Twilight Level, living from one paycheck to the next and never knowing where their next meal would come from, but nonetheless, they were happy. So, so happy. The Twilight Level wasn't exactly a hospitable place. Legend said that a thousand years ago, there was a great war, in which the gods themselves grew angry and scorched the earth, wiping it of life and greenery. The legends then said that the survivors then built the City - a city whose name no one remembers and the builders everyone had forgotten. It had three levels, nicknamed Day Level, Twilight Level, and Night Level. The Day Level, Sakura had never seen, but was told stories about from her mother, who had been there once. Why, she had never told her. She said that it was a gleaming white, filled with people dressed in clothing that could sell for more money than they spent on food for a year.

"They all looked so glamorous, so beautiful. Like they were angels who lived among the clouds, too high up and too glorious to be touched by common people like us."

In a way, they did live amongst the clouds. For the City was built with the Night Level beneath the ground, never seeing the light of day, the Twilight level was situated on the ground, with the feel of dirt underfoot and the sunlight streaming through the area between the walls and the bottom of the Day Level, giving it a feel of eternal twilight, hence it's name. The Day level was a level above the Twilight, making a ceiling of sorts hundreds of feet in the air. It was among the clouds, surrounded by pure white mist. Mama said that she saw over the edge of the Day Level when she was there, and the clouds parted as if by magic.

"I'll never forget what I saw," she said, "Green, green grass as far as you can imagine. Like we've heard in stories, only better. And there were big things that I think are called trees! They had big brown arms and green, green leaves sprouting from them. It was so pretty, but as soon as the gods had gifted me with that sight, they took it away again, shrouding the sight in mist again."

Each level was "ruled" by Houses which made a political system of sorts. The six great Houses were the House of Uchiha, the House of Hyuuga, the House of Sabaku, the House of Nara, a group called Akatsuki and a group led by a man named Orochimaru. Two for each level. For the most part, one hears stories about the 'reign' of each House. Orochimaru and Akatsuki's monopoly on the immense Night Level was unparalleled. In fact, the Night was so immense that its population would parallel that of Twilight and Day combined. And even then, it was at an advantage. Akatsuki and Orochimaru held no rules, no punishments as long as you obeyed them unconditionally and without question. But of this, Mama and Sakura never spoke. The girl was too young for such things.

"Mama!" she protested again, but this time quickly shushed by her mother.

"Hush. If I don't comb it, you certainly won't, no matter how much you say you will," she argued, "And you really need to stop rolling around in the dirt, Sakura. No one will ever choose you for their entertainer if you look like you rolled out of a pig pen."

Sakura scowled, still pouting, "Who said I even wanted to be an entertainer," she grumbled. But the grumble did not go unheard.

"I did," her mother growled, "Because you will live a far better life than I ever did. Even if you were chosen by one of the Night Level Houses, you would live like a queen."

Hearing the faint sorrow in her mother's voice, Sakura let her arms fall into her lap and chewed on her lower lip guiltily. Her mama only wanted what was best for her and - even though she tried to hide it from her daughter - went so far as to take money from herself to save for proper entertainers' clothing when this young rosette beauty was old enough to take part in the competition. In the world Sakura and her mother lived in was not exactly hospitable, as mentioned before. The women had three choices, become housewives, workers or entertainers. Most girls were raised to be entertainers, however, there was an annual "competition" of sorts where the six families would choose a girl each from the masses. Girls from every level of the city competed for the House Heads' attention, wishing to become entertainer for the Houses - a position which promised great prominence and wealth. A life that most girls could only dream of. The trick, was that of the hundreds that participated, only six would become entertainers. And girls could only compete once. Some from families too proud to bear a child who lost would commit ritual suicide in the middle of the competition room. Others would go back to their homes and pursue other means of living, their hopes crushed. The men, however, could work, become a guard for their respective House or be lazy drunkards who wasted their life and livelihood away on a barstool. Quite a few chose the third of the three options.

"Now, Sakura, try not to cover your hair in dirt anymore, or we'll have to cut it. You KNOW that that would weaken your chances later in life. Entertainers are supposed-"

"To have long hair, I know. Something about the men liking long hair."

Her mother laughed silently to herself. Such an intelligent girl. She remembered almost anything that was thrown at her. Maybe the Houses would like that. Placing the brush on the ground beside her daughter, she smiled, "There. The torture is over, you little heathen. Now go wash your face and practice your dance, okay?"

Sakura crouched in front of the water, rubbing her face, a blonde girl skipped over and collapsed in the dirt beside her, smiling broadly.

"Forehead!" she chirped.

"Ino-Pig!" Sakura chirped back with a slightly sarcastic tone. They scowled at each other for a bit before both grinning. The pink girl was accustomed to her best friend's constant taunting of her slightly large forehead, the part of her body she was most ashamed of. As Sakura rubbed her face, her and the Ino girl chattered to each other, proving the young blonde to be quite the talkative one, and confident in her endeavors.

"Sakura, when we make entertainers, which House do you want to choose you?" Ino grinned mischievously. Sakura shrugged.

"I never really thought about it, I suppose. I'd settle with anyone at this point."

The blonde poked her best friend, "Even O-ro-chi-ma-ru," emphasizing each syllable with a poke.

"Eww. No. He's gross," the girl spat, "And I can't tell if he's a boy or a girl." Ino just laughed.

"So you DO care!"

"Enough to know that I DON'T want him. But what about you, Ino? You obviously have a House in mind."

Ino got a dreamy look on her face, "Yeah..." she said softly, trailing off. Sakura had to poke her to get her back on track.

"Well? Who?"

The girl bit her lip and blushed softly, "Well..."

"Spill!"

"I saw a picture of the boy who is our age from one of the Houses and he's so cute!" Sakura's friend nearly squealed.

"Come on!"

"Uchiha Sasuke..."

Sakura had to try hard not to laugh at that comment. She didn't want to receive a smack upside the head for what she was thinking. Ino had to be crazy. Of all the Houses, the Uchihas were the pickiest about their entertainers, matched only by the pickyness of the House of Nara. She could only shake her head and take a deep breath.

"Well, good luck with that one, Ino. You know how picky they are. Besides, they like instrumentalists, not singers. Or so I've heard," the girl shrugged again. Ino huffed and crossed her arms defensively.

"Well, I'm just going to have to prove them that singers are better than instrumentalists by surpassing them all!" she cackled confidently. Sakura smiled at her friend, still shaking her head at the confidence that exuded from all aspects of the Great Ino. Sighing and getting back to her feet, the pink girl said her goodbyes to her friend and rushed back to the house to start practicing.

Her mama had brought out two heinously expensive-looking silver-plated fans which she had kept from something-or-other years and years ago. It had been her mothers' - she said. The silver outer plates were engraved with swirling flower designs inlaid with a pink mineral neither Sakura nor her mother could name. It seemed almost to change color in the light; from pink to white and sometimes a sliver of green wrapped around like tall grass. It gave the flowers seem as if they were really there, instead of merely worked into the silver. The inner spokes of the fan were steel, polished until they looked like the silver on the outside. Instead of cloth spread across the spokes of the fan, it was gold plating edged in steel and decorated with curving Sakura trees. The branches bore pink flowers of the same mineral that decorated the flowers in the silver. The unique thing about the fans were, however, the fact that the steel edging of the gold plate was razor sharp - lethal. Tessen, her mother had called them.

The young girl sat on the dirt, barefoot, picking up one tessen gingerly in her newly-cleaned hands, tossing it from palm to palm and accustoming herself to its weight. She had started practicing with the tessen when she was six, quickly mastering her own unique style of using it. Picking up the latter of the two fans, the girl checked her position before snapping them both open with one flick of her wrists. She still had quite a ways to go, however before she was worthy of competing. The rosette-haired girl still tripped during some of her dance steps, falling flat on her face. The only reason she hadn't died yet from the edge of the fans was for the fact that while she was practicing, she coated the sharp edge with wax. It protected her from what would normally have been nearly fatal slices.

"Alright," her mother sighed, running a hand through her brown tresses, "Let's start from the beginning, shall we?" Sakura nodded and her mother placed an ancient-looking violin to her shoulder, slowly beginning to play the song that her daughter danced to. It was slow and it was sad, but slowly picked up in speed, seeming to flutter around like the wind. As the song picked up, as did Sakura's dance, humming the tune to herself as she twirled, snapping the fans this way and that, tossing them into the air and catching them, giving her mother a confident smile. She dipped and tossed and spun in a dance that focused on the fans. It was perfect... and then, the unthinkable happened. She tripped, falling flat onto her face once again. She gritted her teeth in pain as the fan cut a long slice down her chest as it fell. The pink-haired girl curled into herself as if the motion would ease her pain. Her mother quickly set the violin by her side, rushing to her daughter.

"You poor fool," her mother chided gently, surveying the damage done to her daughter, "You wavered your attention from the tessen to me. Never do that, remember? They demand attention like small children."

Sakura nodded numbly as her mother left to find the bandaged that she used whenever the girl cut herself. They were stained in places where her mother had washed out the blood. The woman skillfully wrapped the bandages around her weeping daughter's chest, careful not to aggravate the cut skin.

"At least it's a clean cut. It should heal without a scar. Only the Gods know what would happen if it scarred. Now that would lower your chances."

Sakura spun around to face the woman, who had been tying the bandages on her back. Tears were still running down her cheeks, but her eyes were fierce and angry, "Is that all you care about?" she cried bitterly, "My chances of being chosen for entertainer of a House?"

Her mother searched the smaller face with her eyes before turning an angry shade of red, "I'm just trying to make sure you live better than most girls your age."

"All I ever hear is 'entertainer' this and 'lower your chances' that. I hate it! Besides, no one would pick me anyways! I'm too weird!"

"Sakura!"

"It's true!" she cried, pinning a pink tress between her thumb and forefinger and brandishing it before her mother, "Who in the world has pink hair? I'm a freak!"

Her mother's eyes saddened at this, "Sakura, you're beautiful," she said softly.

"No I'm not! I'm an ugly girl with weird hair and a big forehead!"

"Houses like girls that look unique."

"There you go again!" the girl yelled, throwing her arms up as more tears coursed down her cheeks. She winced slightly from the pain as the skin pulled around her cut, "Entertainers again! For all I care, this ugly, freakish girl will go to the Night level and become a boiler woman. Then I'll be happy because I won't have to worry about being perfect! I can just rot in my ugliness!"

She stood and glowered bitterly down at her mother for a moment before stalking off to her mat on the floor, crawling underneath the sheets and covering her head, sobbing from the pain and the bitterness. Her mother hung her head, sighing. She shouldn't have pressed the girl so much. Sakura was doing so well, even though the woman didn't seem to act as if it were so. She stood slowly and collected the beautiful tessen which lay unattended and forgotten on the dirt ground, folding them both into closed positions and resting them in her palms. She ran a finger along the pink mineral flowers, lovingly tracing where pink met silver. She smiled softly to herself as she stared down at it. Hearing the tune play softly in her head, the woman mentally mapped out her footing, following it with a dancer's grace as she snapped the fans open, twirling them and tossing them just as her daughter had done minutes before.

Sakura lay on the floor with her eyes buried in her arms, quilt over her pink-tressed head. She hated it – only ever hearing 'entertainer' from her mother's lips – always being criticized. She hated it – her pink tresses and large forehead – always being made fun of for said pink tresses and forehead. It wasn't fair. She was a small girl, not exceptionally pretty and not exceptionally talented, the complete opposite of her best friend. She was so jealous of Ino. That girl was always getting the compliments, she could get away with anything, and she could make friends with nearly every one. Unlike timid, ugly, sore-thumb-ish Sakura. Sniffing and wiping her eyes, she figured she should go an apologize. She was still angry, - angrier than she had been in a while – but she couldn't stay angry at her mother. She was all the girl had. She figured she should go and apologize. She'd been a bit harsh. Her mother was just looking out for her best interests. She would still be angry and bitter, yes, but not at her mother. Never at her mother.

Sitting up from the floor, the quilt falling around her shoulders, she wiped her eyes with the back of her arm, sniffing again. Taking a deep breath, she stood and started walking back to the dirt area outside.

"Mama," she called, her voice still choked from tears, "I- I'm sorry. I shouldn't… have… " she stopped as she got to the doorway, watching in awe. Her mother had her eyes closed, her mouth curled in a small smile as she spun around, twirling the tessen like Sakura had tried to do earlier. Her mother didn't make a mistake, though.

"Mama!" the girl whispered in awe. The woman opened her eyes and, seeing her daughter, caught the fans she had tossed in the air, snapped them shut and smiled.

"Sorry," she said lightly, "I had a moment of weakness. I just had to."

Sakura shook her head wildly, anger gone, a grin spread across her face, "No! Mama, that was amazing! You never told me you could dance with tessen!" then, a thought hit her, "Mama, were you an entertainer?"

The woman sighed, smiling, "I guess I have some explaining to do."

Sakura nodded.

"You really do."

"As you know, when a girl who wishes to compete turns 19, she registers for the competition and is given a pass for the Lift to the Day Level. So, like a lot of girls my age, I wanted to show off my skills to the Houses and maybe get a job as an entertainer. I could dance with the tessen that my mother had given to me before she died. The tessen that you dance with now, might I add. But that's beside the point.

"I got my pass and traveled up the lift to the Day level with hundreds of other girls looking to do the same that I did. The Day level was glorious, like I've told you. It was like the House of the Gods. That's where my stories come from. We were led to an immense building in the very centre of the Level – a building covered in green marble. It was a splash of color in amongst the bright, gleaming white buildings surrounding it. When we entered, it was amazing. The inside was all white marble tile and limestone pillars and ivory ornaments. Even the spaces between the tiles were gold instead of grout. Girls wearing colors from all ends of the rainbow lined the walls, some holding instruments, some holding dancing ribbons, others holding nothing at all – but all dressed their finest. At the very end was a great, stone table with six people sitting in chair behind it. The six House Heads. Uchiha Fugaku, Hyuuga Hiashi, Nara Shikaku, Sabaku Yashamaru, the Head of Akatsuki and finally Orochimaru. They sat there in their prestige and glory.

"One by one, we all displayed our talent before them and then, there were only six of us left, myself included. I was chosen by the House of Sabaku to entertain and accompany them during gala events and the like. I served for eleven years, more happy than I had ever been in my life. I was treated well, given a room in their home, treated like one of the family. At the end of the eleven year term, I was given the choice of going back to my home here, or staying there as a concubine to the Head, as I was one of his favorites. I graciously took up the offer of coming home, for I had fallen in love with one of the guards. They granted my request only after much argument, a fact that I find quite flattering.

"I never told anyone. Not even your father, rest his soul. Such a pity he died when you were so young. You would have loved him. You get his stubbornness from him, you know," she cleared her throat of the tears that had started to well up, "The rest was – as you say – history. But deep down, I guess I'll always be 'Lady Haruno, entertainer of the House of Sabaku'."

Sakura just stared, mouth slightly open. "Mama," she started, leaving a long pause between words, "You're amazing!" She threw herself at her mother, wrapping her arms around the woman's waist. Her mother blinked for a moment before hugging her daughter back. "I'm sorry I yelled. I was frustrated."

"I know." her mother crooned, running her fingers through her daughter's rosette tresses, "I know. It's hard. I shouldn't be so pushy."

"No, you shouldn't."

Her mother laughed, smiling down at her daughter with her green eyes, "You still need to practice."

Sakura pulled away and nodded her head wildly, her eyes alight and a smile on her face, "I'll work really hard! I promise! I want to be just like you!"

Her mother smiled to herself.

She'll do just fine. I know she will.