Live like there's no midnight

-Cinderella

White.

The emerald eyes gazed up at the achromatism of the sky. Everywhere she turned and looked, only the expanse of colorlessness stretched as far as distance obscured. White sky. White ground. White everything.

She was caught in the world of white. Her automatic response was to form a hand sign.

"Kai," she uttered.

Confusion plowed her brow. Illusion didn't break. Could it be that she was trapped in a high-level genjutsu? She couldn't see an opening too.

"I was getting tired of waiting, Sakura Haruno," a voice said. It was the same voice she heard in her mind; before it had been whispery and distorted, now it seemed clear and young. She glanced to her right.

There stood a little girl, facing her with a bright, triumph grin on her childish face.

Trapped with a kid... she mentally corrected. Sakura was not tall like Ino was, but this kid could hardly make it to her waist. She could only pass for an academy student.

The medic studied the kid with a piercing scrutiny. Her eyes narrowed in skepticism.

However, this child was the one to cast this complex genjutsu: one even she couldn't break through. Genjutsu wasn't Sakura's expertise, but she considered to be pretty good at sensing and breaking herself from clutches of illusory techniques.

Her snowy white, unconquered curls sprang loose to the small of her back. Her eyes-so striking and bright-were electric blue. Her skin looked dusky and scarred with strange purple tattoos 'shackling' her slender arms. Her attire, simple with only a white sundress, blended her in the background. If it wasn't for her skin and eyes, her camouflage was perfect.

"You're the one behind this," Sakura said this with a deadpan look on her face. The girl's smile widened and she crossed her arms over her chest. Pride brimming her eyes.

Sakura nodded mutely, contemplating her body language. The white-haired girl looked pretty relaxed (and young) for an enemy (if she was one) and she didn't appear to be looking for a fight either.

While it was a good news...

Green eyes sagged disappointedly. She didn't expect a kid of all things. Maybe an evil spirit or a god.

"For a kid, you are quite capable." Sakura acknowledged with an 'I-find-it-hard-to-digest' look. Her emerald eyes watched on as the little girl's body trembled at her words. Her blue eyes were screened behind the veil of her snowy bangs.

"...At least I don't stand out like cotton candy." Her reply came late but when it did, Sakura gasped incredulously. Placing a hand over her hair protectively, she threw a sour look at the girl. This girl had no idea who she was talking with.

But then again, so didn't she. If the girl's powers were anything to go by, she was unlike others she'd ever met. Wherever she was, her only escape key was this kid. Sakura mentally willed herself to stay calm.

Exhaling through her nose, she tried to flush out her malevolent feelings for the kid.

"Okay...How about you tell me who you are and where this place is?" the pink-haired medic tried it polite and stoic with her. She had no intentions of befriending or defriending the little one. The girl understood her intentions and smirked triumphantly.

I can always kill this brat later, Sakura noted to herself.

The girl chuckled mysteriously, never prying her eyes off her emerald ones. Suddenly, with a light hop of her feet, Sakura watched as the girl began to float.

'A Kekkai Genkai?' her eyes widened in amazement when she floated about the air effortlessly as though she was dancing. Sakura reached out a hand to touch her when the girl spoke, her dazzling eyes leveling a look in her own greens.

"I'm the spirit of this book. A protector, you can say. My name is Shina," she revealed.

'No wonder she looks cool like that,' Sakura thought reluctantly. She shouldn't feel impressed with her. A spirit. Breaking their eye-contact, her emerald eyes turned heavenwards in wonder.

Shina, it connected the dots. She remembered reading that name on the cover of 'Land of lost tales'. That means...Jade eyes widened in realization, she was inside a fucking book.

That explains why it was so...clear in here, she surveyed her surroundings. The book turned blank when she opened it.

"You're the guardian," a nod.

"Okay...and I'm here because...?" Sakura stressed expectantly, gesticulating Shina to explain.

"Because I was bored." To Shina, Sakura was like an angel descendent from heaven. Not literally.

"You what?" Her jade eyes lowered disbelievingly. Shino noticed the slack-jawed expression on her heart-shaped face.

"Well, I've been alone for more than a decade now... I felt your presence so I called you. I was... I was lonely." She lowered herself to stand on her feet. Shoulders sagging, eyes downcast, she bit her lips.

She was trying to bait a bleeding heart that was Sakura. It was times like this when her childlike appearance helps.

"I...I..." Sakura was gathering her words when Shina looked at her with lonely eyes. Something flashed in her mind, a face. Those eyes, she could tell them anywhere. "I'm so not gonna fall for that, brat."

"What? you think I'd joke over something like this? you're so cruel..." Shina gave her a long, hurt look as if to test her defiance. Sakura returned her look with stony eyes.

Time rolled on but she saw no change in her countenance. Then she sighed, breaking their eye contact.

"That sucks...I thought I had perfected it..." The blue-eyed girl mumbled quietly to herself, grimace on her small face. However, Sakura who heard it loud and clear resisted beating the daylights out of the spirit.

Why weren't her shinobi senses reacting to this weirdo? Sakura thought grimly.

"How do you know my name?" Sakura didn't like the smile she sported.

"I know more than you give me credit for," Shina winked and turned. "I wouldn't tell you though."

"Why? I deserve to know, you've held me captive here." Sakura was forced to walk when Shina began to fly off somewhere, deliberately slow.

"Not really, anyone who'd have opened that book would have ended up here." Shina shrugged without facing the girl. "I'm a guardian angel. I can only lure people...and trick them."

Translation: It was Sakura's own damn fault.

The pink-haired girl didn't have to look to know that she was smirking. Every word, movement, and breath Shina performed seemed infuriating to her to no end.

"Fine. How do I get out of here?" Promptly the guardian crossed one leg over the other and leaned back as if to relax. Sakura stopped a foot behind her, not understanding where the shit was going.

If she makes up another story, she's going to taste my fists, the medic decided, studying the floating girl with piercing scrutiny. She was taking more time than should be required to answer such question.

"How about I show you?" The white-haired spirit offered, her voice velvety and effervescent. Pink brows knitted in a frown when Sakura parted her lips to ask what she meant, but her words died on her throat when the silver-haired girl continued, "Hint: figure out the tale and be in your character. Not all tales really are as they are told, so don't mess up."

With that, she glanced back at the stunned teen and flashed a 'make-me-happy' smile.

A beat later silver-haired girl disappeared into flecks of gold; just as the words had vanished into the air.

Sakura had her mouth gaped open when she distinctly heard a click of fingers from somewhere. Bewilderment coursed through her veins as she watched illusion disrupt around her.

The white landscape dissolved into a darkness where she wasn't sure if she had eyes.

When Sakura began to regain her sight, she only saw blotches of colors; lots of browns and violets. It started slow and agonizing. Her eyes felt violated, even the little light pricked and gnashed at her sensitive orbs in a way that made her think she was experiencing eye-rape.

Soon her vision cleared and she found herself in a dingy room. It looked like an attic. It was roomy; the ceiling was low, and the windows had thick panes; the walls and floors were built of heavy timber. The room was as cold as ice, mostly because it was empty aside from a bed that sat at the corner and bunch of boxes that piled the other side. As she took a step forward, the floorboards creaked, indicating its old age. There was dimness in the room; she bumped into something, a box. When she peered into its contents, she saw clothes.

Next, she glanced down at her own and grimaced. She was wearing rags with loose stitches at her side and at the hem. Was she a maid?

"Well, well...could it be my room?" she guessed aloud, displeasure in her eyes. Only silence replied back until it broke by a chime. The old father clock in the corner of the room, beside the window, signaled the midnight.

"Where the fuck am I?"

She walked over to the small window and wiped the slight dust away for a better view. She was on the third floor of the mansion. Even as the night had spread its blanket over the world, she was able to make out the landscape under the moonlight. Her gaze prolonged at the fountain and the angel statue that sat on the pedestal. It looked like it was made of marble.

'That looks expensive. Her master is rich, eh...' she wondered inwardly. Throwing one last look at the outside world, she turned away and decided to check out other rooms of the building. It would be a waste otherwise, moreover, she needed to know what role she was playing.

"What's a better time than now for observation? No one will ever know," she gently pushed the door back by her hip. It closed with a loud, squeaky noise. Sakura cursed and held her breath. She hoped it didn't wake up anyone.

She peered in the dark, there was not a bit source of light; only pitch darkness. With her shinobi senses dead, she had no choice but to rely on her natural instincts. She moved her arms in hopes to find the hands sill as she cautiously took a step forward. There got to be a staircase around here somewhere.

"Ah Ha!" she cheered when her hands touched a familiar beam. Soon she found the staircase leading down. The rest of the journey to the ground floor was simple. Just because she had lost her chakra enhanced sight and power, she wasn't useless. She relied on her logic and darkness hardly bothered her.

The corridor was lit with candles; some extinguished and others full of life. But it was enough to see details in the room. She wasn't wearing socks so she managed to keep silence in her steps.

She passed by the arrays of photo frames. Paintings, one prettier than the other, looked realistic. She wondered if someone from the household painted it themselves when she touched the fabric on which painting had been done. It was the painting of a mansion.

Maybe it is this house? she eyed the fountain that was drawn in the picture. It resembled one she was from her window.

She was never interested in art so she only took a gander at the pictures lazily until one particular picture a little ahead in the corridor caught her eye. Quickening her pace, she approached with an inquisitive look.

It was a portrait of a family. A man, woman, and their child.

She's so beautiful, Sakura couldn't help but gape when she noticed the man beside the beautiful woman. She couldn't recognize the red-haired woman but the man...

"Kakashi? he's the owner?..." She trailed off, there was only question in her voice. She didn't know why the silver-haired man was part of this tale, whatever-tale-this-is. She raked her eyes down the picture and couldn't help a crooked grin; he looked like an aristocrat. That wasn't like him at all.

"Interesting." The pink-haired girl giggled.

When she glanced at the baby held close by the woman, her giggle hung at her throat. No way, it was clearly her, with the bright, verdant eyes that she was so proud of.

A woman she didn't recognize, a man who was her teacher but apparently her father in this world, and she their offspring; all three of them dressed like nobles.

Then what had led her into living a life in the attic? Or a better question, in which story does the MC degrades from the heir to servant?

"I never read fairytales all that much...but I guess it is snow white?" Was she the snow white? She glanced at the window as she passed by it. Her image reflected back; Her long pink hair was braided but looked unkempt and rough at edges. Her brown colored dress was dirty and torn in places.

She wasn't the definition of snow white at all.

"Daughter of the head to a maid... will I get a happy ending?" she entertained the idea in her mind with a pout on her lips.

"You will, Sakura. If you return to your quarters." Her body froze when a cold voice spoke from behind her. How could she forget? She was supposed to be quiet, not talking to herself aloud at the dead of the night! Obviously, someone would come to locate the sound.

Crap...I'm so done... stupid sakura! she mentally rebuked herself. Slowly she turned to the source of the voice. When she looked at the newcomer who was holding up the candle and looking at her with dispassionate green eyes, Sakura felt life return to her.

She felt like she was home.

"Oh, it's just you..." she mumbled to herself inaudibly, released a sigh and smiled. Mebuki's eyes, resembling her own, met her with an assessing look. Her dark blonde hair looked trimmed and proper even at this time of the night. She looked rich, just as she was.

But who was she in this story?

"What are you doing here at this time?" she tipped her head at her. There was a characteristic frigidness in her voice that was unlike the women she knew. She sounded distant and smelled of hate.

"Uh...I was..." Sakura gaped, not knowing what to say. Her eyes, helter-skelter, looked everywhere but at the women. Gulping, she decided to go with the most basic response. "I...I kinda lost my way to the kitchen. I was feeling thirsty,"

Mebuki didn't seem to buy her excuse and honestly, even she wouldn't if it had been her in the older woman's place.

"And since I lost way, I just..." Sakura gesticulated at the photo frame. Mebuki glanced back at the portraiture of Sakura's family and then the one the younger women was motioning. From what she could make it, it was a landscape of hills.

"It's down the hall to your right." Sakura blinked owlishly at her words and then flinched back when Mebuki took a step forward and leveled a glowering look.

"And next time I catch you playing around, I wouldn't be as nice. Now leave." Her words rang in the air with a sinister promise. It didn't sit well with the pink-haired girl.

"I...of course," she faltered when the woman passed a glare and turned away, walking away.

Sakura, too, took off to the kitchen, suddenly thirst getting better of her.

"Sakura! get your ass out here right now!" the continuous banging at her room started her out of her slumber.

"urgh...I didn't know it was this irritating for Cinderella every day," the pink-haired maid grumbled irritatedly, raising her head from her hard pillow begrudgingly to glare at the door. Or what was behind the door.

"Coming!" she shouted back.

"You better not make us wait, we have a ball to attend unlike you," came an order. She was used to the voice bossing her around for years so it didn't feel strange to her.

It was the third day of her stay at the foreign place and she learned many things. One, her real mother was her step-mother in this world. Two, Ino was one of her step-sisters. There was one more girl that she didn't recognize. Three, her red-haired mother died, and her dad, Kakashi, married her real mother and had Ino and Karin. But when she was 12, Kakashi died too and that dropped her to become a slave at her own house.

Her step-family didn't like her all that much, especially not her greed-ridden mother, Mebuki Hatake.

While it came off as a big shock to her initially, she reassured herself that it was only a play. One, she guessed she will need to complete to leave the horrid book. With the knowledge that she was playing the role of Cinderella, she was confident that she will easily crack the fairy tale.

"...and if all goes well, I will leave for the ball tonight." Sakura nodded to herself, faith in her voice. Tonight would be the fateful night where she'd meet her prince charming and fall in love.

'Who'd fit the role of prince charming other than Sasuke-kun?' Sakura felt heat rise to her cheeks when a picture popped in her mind, of him dressed in royal

With that, she began to get dressed for the day and left her chambers.

"How can I help you, Ino?" her green eyes lowered disinterestedly as she watched the siblings fight among each other over the beautiful, silk dress. At first, it was amusing to watch her sisters play cat-fight over silly things; Ino's distraught expression especially entertained her as the other girl, Karin, being the older of the two, always gained the upper hand in the fight.

Her offer fell on deaf ears.

"Let go, I saw it first!"

"Shut up, pig! I will look better in that dress, it's mine!"

"No! mine, its color complements my eyes, you take that red one!"

"You go for red, it's sexy color after all!"

"If you think so, then take that, shithead! leave this to me!"

"No, I will have it! get your hands off it!"

"Karin!"

"Ino!"

The siblings glared at each other with murder in their eyes. Sakura sighed, already knowing how it will end when she felt a presence behind her.

"Ino, let Karin have it. Red will suit you beautifully, I brought it thinking of you." Mebuki's commanding voice boomed in the room, successfully silencing the bickering girls.

"B-But!" Ino began to protest but sharp, green eyes stopped her from uttering one more word. Mebuki was scary when she wanted to be.

"Sakura, prepare tea for us. You know what day it is," when green flinty rocks turned to her, she felt her body freeze. She could recall her first night at the mansion, Mebuki hated her but she never voiced it. It was obvious in her actions.

"Jasmine," she remembered. The older women nodded inattentively.

"Try to only concentrate on your job. Can't have another teacup to go to waste," the woman had thrown the teacup at her face (which she dodged) the other day; it broke into million irreparable shards of porcelain. It happened she refilled her cup anew because it was too watery.

Green tea was her forte, and they insulted her tea-making at her face. That moment, she wanted to murder the family.

"Yes, mother," she said and left the room without another word.

"I wonder if poisoning them will ruin the story?" she wondered aloud when she was out of the earshot from the three women.

Whenever she would talk to herself, she half expected the guardian spirit to intervene with something offensive sounding. It appeared like she was gone and she was on her own. Wasn't she the one who was desperate for entertainment?

That reminded her, exactly how old Shina was?

"Can't I come too?" Sakura asked obligatorily. She knew the absurdness of her request, but if memory served her right, Cinderella had begged her step-mother to take her with them to the ball. They had agreed and betrayed her at the final moment.

If she were to be in her role, she might as well play along.

"You to the ball?" Ino was the first one to react. Sakura turned from stoic Mebuki to the blonde-haired woman. She had to admit, Ino looked like a princess. Her stepsisters should have been ugly but before them, Sakura felt inferior. Should MC feel second-rate to her enemies?

Dressed in red carpet gown that accentuated her curves and platinum locks tied in an elegant bun, Ino rocked the look. Beside her ex-best friend, Karin wore the blue dress that brought out the color of her hair. She looked royal in more ways than one.

"Have you looked at yourself?" Karin smirked, eyes shone brightly in the gleam of deviltry.

Glancing down at her own self, Sakura grimaced at the filthy peach dress that stopped at her knees. She looked worse than a beggar, but it was all she had. The pink-haired girl resisted glaring at her mother.

"There's still time before the ball begins! I can get ready in a minute," she insisted firmly, not wanting to be cast aside. According to the notice from the king, all maidens must participate in the ball. They didn't show her, Sakura sneaked a peek when they were busy with their makeup.

"Sakura, do you even have something nice to wear?" Mebuki inquired with a concealed facade. But Sakura knew better, she could imagine gears in her head turning to find ways to keep her busy at home. Sakura accepted the challenge.

"I don't but the invitation didn't say anything about a good dress. All maidens should come," Mebuki's eyes narrowed.

"How do you know about the card?" Karin demanded.

"I heard women talking about it in the market. I asked them for details," Sakura lied smoothly, her face not deceiving any emotion but innocence.

"Regardless, it would be like dishonoring the royals if you turn up there looking like a peasant," Mebuki reasoned, her pointed nose up in the air. The air of finality filled the air, but Sakura held her ground.

"Can't my dear sisters here share one of their old dresses?" Sakura knew Ino loved her outfits dearly. Her room was the biggest in the mansion, most of its space consumed by the wardrobes. "I'm sure Ino has plenty,"

Ino looked flabbergasted at the implication. Sakura knew she'd shook her head which she did.

"Why should I be the one to give up my treasures to you!? Karin, being the oldest, give her one of your own." Ino turned to Karin and tipped her head at expectant Sakura. The red-haired woman looked back and forth between the two and scowled.

"No way in hell! Unlike you, I don't collect rags in my room. You give her one of your own,"

"I have chest unlike you. Yours will fit her right!"

Karin gasped and glanced at Sakura's chest. Ino was right.

"How dare you!" Karin growled when Ino leveled a crudely insulting stare at her.

For another time of the day, the siblings began quarreling. Sakura didn't know if she should feel surprised that Mebuki didn't order them against providing her any. But she knew that the older woman would take this excuse to keep at her home.

Sakura smiled a self-criticizing smile when a hand rested on her shoulder.

"See, they aren't ready to give you theirs. We'd love to take you along, but circumstances aren't favorable at the moment." Mebuki sympathized. She sounded like her mother back at her home, but she was being all but. The mother she knew and loved was dead in this world, in her corpse resided the soul of a tyrant.

"I understand," she gave in.

"Bye! we'll enjoy the share of your food as well, don't feel bad," Karin chuckled when she passed by the still form of the pink-haired girl. "Prince wouldn't have chosen you in the first place anyway."

"My room is messy, clean it up while you're at it. I want it clean tomorrow," Ino left with a glowering look. Her glacial blue eyes looked mocking.

"Sakura, have a good night." Mebuki was the last one to leave; when she did, only her hypocritical greeting echoed in her ears.

Sakura vaguely heard the front door shutting behind the three. Their animated chattering diminishing as the distance grew between them as they entered the carriage of their own.

It was going to be a long night for Sakura. A chuckle left her lips, echoing eerily, breaking the silence that took place in the mansion.

"Good night? oh yes," she brushed her bangs away from her face and whirled around to the door. "Its time to have a night out."

Sakura's smile was one of gaiety that complemented the gleam of victory in her beautiful, verdant eyes.

She waited and waited but no one came. It was going to be through 9; signaled by the clock in the living room, but there was yet to be any sign of any fairy.

Sakura whined impatiently when she heard another one of the carriages taking off to the castle.

The royal building, she could see from the garden, stood proud and high in the hills. The palace from a distance looked to be made entirely of ice, but she knew better. The path to the palace was lit up in golden string lights. Everything about tonight seemed dazzling and spirited from here.

Alas! she was still stuck within the confines of her building. Sakura needed to get out and make the prince fall for her. But how would she do that if not with a beautiful gown that will put everyone else's to shame?

"Man...this sucks...what should I do now?" She slumped the bench in defeat. Sakura was tired from all the work she was made to do all day so when a yawn left her, so did her tears.

Silence became overwhelming and it lured her to sleep when a voice chirped in to jolt her out of her nap.

"Finally my role!" Her head snapped up and she found herself on the ground; eyes wide, heartbeat erratic and perspiration lining her forehead.

"S-Shina!" Sakura uttered in surprise. She didn't expect to see the spirit of all people. Maybe Naruto, he could pass for a fairy godfather. "What are you doing here?"

Shina shot her a disgusted glance when she drank in the sight of her. The medic didn't want to be told that she looked revolting even if she was. Sakura grimaced when Shina took a seat on the concrete bench, legs crossed and fingers intertwined over one knee. She leaned forward and met her scrutinizing gaze on the ground. The spirit looked same as she saw her before; as though she just directly transported to here.

"Why am I here? I'm your fairy godmother, sweet. You cried for me, you need me." Her overbearing giggle fuelled irritation in the shocked looking girl. That was the exact reason why she hated the little brat; she thought she was the superior one out of the two.

even if she kinda was, I don't have to like it... Sakura admitted begrudgingly, recollecting her predicament. She stood up on her feet.

"I wasn't crying for you," the green-eyed girl deadpanned. Wordlessly, Shina threw her a contemptuous look before reverting back to her persona of the fairy.

"My child, tell me your worries and I will clear them away with a flair of my great wand," the silver-haired spirit-now fairy- brandished a golden wand. Sakura had seen the impressions on the wand, back in the shop, on the edges of the vanity.

"Out of two of us, the only who resembles a child is you," Cinderella-of-the-story snorted at the irony.

Her azure eyes lowered to a flat stare at her comment. "I'm over 400 hundred human years old, Haruno."

"Are you?" Sakura dragged her hawkish gaze down at the little girl.

"My appearance has nothing to do with my age, it's just my wish." A frown marred her visage.

"This is not how you really look?" a nod.

"In that case, no one can fit the role of fairy godmother better than you," Sakura, the younger one of the two, laughed at her chagrined expression.

"Quit it, kid."

"So, my worries you asked. Take me to the ball and give me the finest of the gowns in the country to wear. I want to bedazzle my Sasuke,"

Shina cocked a brow at her request. "What makes you think your prince is this...Sasuke?"

"No one in the land is as charming as that man," was Sakura's confident reply. The white-haired fairy smiled a smile that told her she was wrong but she allowed her to get away with it.

"If you think so."

"What does that mean?" Sakura narrowed her eyes, brows furrowed quizzically. She only received an impassive shrug in response.

"you..." she wanted to say something but decided otherwise. She needed to get to the ball soon and return before the clock strikes 12. "Anyway, give me the dress and arrange a carriage! I'm late already,"

"You know how Cinderella goes," Shina passed a subtle wink. "Watch for the midnight, princess."

"I will." Sakura nodded with a grin. The best part of the fairy tale begins from here. She felt giddy with excitement. She wanted to run, to shout, to tell everyone what was going to happen...but she had to wait. Excitement gushed inside her as her fairy godmother chanted the magic words and twinkling lights surrounded the area out of nothingness.

Put them together and what have you got Magic is real, believe it or not, But it's the precious wand that does the job Now you put them together and what have you got

Sakura just had a good feeling about the night, nothing that felt this right could possibly go wrong. It just couldn't.

"Well...even basic teleportation do a job," Sakura supposed when she looked at her surroundings and what caught her attention was the main building itself. Now that she took a closer inspection, she could see that the towering structures around her were made of crystal. She knew the fact from the story books but seeing it in person was an experience she would never forget. It seemed to grow right out of the ground like a glacier and it reflected the light like many shards of glass under the pale glow of artificial lighting that bound the building. The strong scent in the air was a dead giveaway of her location. A garden or, she looked at the bushes where the lantern post was casting its light, a white rose garden.

Shina directly teleported her to the castle. When she had said to take her to the ball, she had meant through some transportation. While it reminded her of her good shinobi days, a carriage would have been more appropriate to bring out magical, princessy feels.

There was one more concern, still.

"How will I return if there's no carriage?" she contemplated. She shifted her weight to her other leg when she realized the weight on her body.

When Sakura glanced down, she bit back her gasp. The dress that shrouded her body was the most beautiful ball gowns she has ever seen. The creamy sheets of the red silk left her shoulders bare but wrapped off-the-shoulder sleeves accentuated her lean arms. Her fingers were delicately covered under white opera gloves with gold patterns she had seen many times now. When she moved, she felt the weight of her dress. It was a floor-length silken dress that flared around her, beautifully flattering her lean form.

Her hand reached to graze at her pink hair and she instantly knew she looked like a princess herself. Her hair bun felt beautiful under the pads of her fingers, surely it looked as well. There was no embellishment on her hair.

She wanted to look at herself so badly.

"It's way better than Ino's," Sakura giggled as made the comparison. With her lovely sisters around she doubted she'd have many benefits of gaining prince's attention, but the dress was loud even if for only a few moments. Shinobi are taught her to never let an opportunity go wasted.

Once she was done gushing over her beauty, she began to roam around the garden, set to find an exit. Sakura had an hour or two at maximum, and while it was definitely not enough to make a man fall in love with someone like her, she would try. First, she needed to reach the ballroom and then she would devise a plan.

"There should be a guard around here..." she mumbled to herself as she crossed the maze of the rose garden and found an opening that led to what appeared like a resting area. It looked like something straight out of a fairytale, which it was.

There was a fountain in the middle of the space. The sculpture of a bird was set on pedestal amid the water of the fountain. She neared it and leaned over to gaze at her reflection. A complete stranger looked back at her. It was only her, yet it wasn't. Her rosy eyeshadow brought out the color of her eyes and her locks framed her face in a right way.

Sakura didn't know if she could ever look any better than this. She was so lost in her internal debate that she missed the closing footsteps of another presence.

"Hey," it was when she felt a breath hit her neck that she recoiled in surprise. In the hastiness that she turned, she lost her footing when her calf hit the back of the basin.

No-no-no! this can't be happening, she thought, panicked to bones, eyes shut closed. When her body tipped over, ready to take a leap into the waters that would ruin her night completely, she indefinitely decided to cease wearing stilettos. She feared for many things at that one second, that was until a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her out of her despair.

A distinct cologne hit her like a wave when she flushed against a body that belonged to a man. He smelled of fireworks and a tincture of gunpowder, a smell that took her back to every bonfire night she went to as a child. She softly inhaled the scent, trying to inscribe it to her memory.

"My, my," A smooth, honeyed chuckle caressed her ears like soft silk. Whoever the stranger was, he had one hell of a husky voice. "Wouldn't that have been a nasty fall, yeah?"

Sakura stilled when his one hand rested at the small of her back. It was then that he stepped back to give her actual air to breathe in and not in his natural scent. Sakura felt her ears burn when he let out another chuckle when he saw her face. She probably looked shaken and...well, embarrassed.

"Are you lost, miss?" the stranger joked. She didn't need to look to know the man was amused at her and knew she was lost if he had been here for quite some time.

She didn't reply and he continued.

"If it's ballroom you're looking for, it is that way."

She heard ruffle of his clothes and dared open her eyes to quickly look at the direction he was pointing at without having to look at the stranger himself.

"Where?"

Behind her, she heard him cackle when she turned. She realized why when she found herself facing the bird on the fountain.

Sakura closed her gaping mouth and gently closed her eyes to calm her nerves. She could feel the heat growing in her cheeks. By now they must be beyond an attractive rosiness.

He was toying with her.

"Have you enjoyed enough, mister?" Sakura sighed irritably. Then she finally turned back to him and opened her eyes. She saw blue; Naruto's jovial blue and more. The complexion of his skin complemented his ocean-like eyes. His lustrous, flaxen hair dripped over his right shoulder like honey, bouned in a loose braid. A beautiful face. Well defined, with a sharp jaw and angular cheekbones. He had the kind of face that would stop you in your tracks. The man, taller than her by a head, towered over her.

And although his handsome look should have made butterflies flutter in her stomach, she only felt it drop into the abyss. The dread crept over her, numbing her brain. In her frozen state, only one thought hit her like kunai through her heart.

"Have you?" he asked back and the left side of his faint red lip tugged upwards creating a sinister smirk on his god-like face. He was referring to the once over she gave him without knowing. His light grip on her back became more prominent and she felt the heat of his touch soaking through her dress.

Blood flow seemed to die at her throat as her whole face paled at his implication.

Why in the world did she happen to cross paths with an Akatsuki member? Not just any member but that one partner of the man whose heart she crushed with her own hands.

Iwa no Deidara.

TBC in part 2

AN: I realized retelling a fairytale was better said than done. Also, I had participated in speech competition at college so that's why the update saw a delay. The first story is Cinderella! Let's assume Sakura haven't met Karin in the real world yet.
Does that mean Deidara is the prince charming? stay tuned for next episode.
I hope you like it.

Thanks for all your support!