A pretty royal purple color filled her vision as Sakura's emerald eyes slowly fluttered open
A pretty royal purple color filled her vision as Sakura's emerald eyes slowly fluttered open. Sakura's long, candy-colored hair fanned out on the pillow behind her head as she stared at the ceiling and blinking dazedly. She had been used to waking up to the four stone walls of her cell that being in an entirely different surrounding when she woke up this morning made her wonder if she was in heaven.
Her body and delicate bone structure was used to a princess's life back in the royal palace before it was razed to the earth. But after her life was thrown into chaos and danger upon the destruction of the Magical Kingdom and she was taken captive by the enemy, Sakura had suffered and her limbs felt battered and weathered in the three days in the dark and gloomy dungeon.
Sakura managed to weakly push herself up to sit up in the comfortable queen-sized bed, her long, pink hair spilling over her bare shoulders like a waterfall as she sat up. She was no longer wearing the sapphire gown she had worn for three days since she was captured, but a peach-colored off-the-shoulder silk nightgown with its sleeves bunched up at her upper arms. A confused expression surfaced on her weary face at the sudden change in the situation.
Yesterday's events slowly came back into memory fragment by fragment and Sakura buried her face in her hands. The worst would have happened, had the Queen herself not been able to arrive in the nick of time to save her from falling into dangerous waters. She decided she could feel thankful to the enemy, for once, before returning to loathing those murderers again.
The door opened soundlessly as the maid entered. Sakura looked questioningly as the maid, looking about the same age as her, walked up to the bed. "You are awake now. The bath is ready, please proceed there with me. The Majesties have required your presence in the royal study and you must be made presentable." The maid had short, black hair and sometimes spoke with a stutter and she had a pair of white eyes Sakura found very familiar but could not quite place her finger on it.
The maid, whose name Sakura was told to be Hinata, dressed Sakura up in a cream-colored gown, which bared her shoulders also and had similar bunched-up sleeves at her upper arms. Hinata tied her long hair up in a simple half-ponytail and Sakura was treated so well in the bath that she wondered if the girl actually knew she was a prisoner here in this palace and not the princess she once was.
"This is the standard procedure here, prisoner!" One of the two armor-clad soldiers standing guard at the doors to the royal study tied a thick rope woven from genuine gold threads around Sakura's wrists in front of her and said gruffly. After going through that procedure to ensure the royal family's safety, Sakura was allowed to enter.
Tension billowed in the study room once Sakura entered. The marks from the metal chain on her ankle had faded within a night and her wounds she'd suffered were gone overnight as well. Fugaku smirked to see Sakura. "You who hold the royal blood of ancient magical lineage, I am impressed." He said coldly. Sakura returned the man a smile colder than ice itself of her own. "Do you desire it?" She mocked.
"A prisoner like you will watch your tongue in this palace." The corner of Fugaku's lip curled up in a cruel smile. "Now that I have seen you in person, I have another reason to keep you alive, other than the whereabouts of that precious jewel, the blood diamond... That coveted ability to heal and be able to heal… I will take your blood and then my kingdom will become invincible!"
Sakura glanced at the Queen sitting serenely at the side out of the corner of her eye and then, casting her aside, turned her attention back to Fugaku again and smiled sickeningly sweetly. "I would rather pour my blood down a drain, than give it to a murderer like you, Your Majesty!" Every word falling from her full lips were dripping with sarcasm. "You wench-"
"Fugaku," Mikoto finally spoke up quietly when she had been keeping silent by the side all the time. "Itachi is waiting outside." Fugaku postponed his anger toward Sakura at the mention of his elder son and Uchiha Itachi walked in. This was the first time Sakura was seeing the first Uchiha prince up close and he and Sasuke bore an uncanny resemblance to each other, except that Itachi was taller and had long, black hair which he tied back in a low ponytail.
"Father, I've come." The expression on his handsome face was that of severity unlike Sasuke, who looked passive. Itachi glanced at the princess out of the corner of his eye as the maid came in to lead her out. The doors slowly swung shut, blocking out the small margin of shoulder and arms her long waterfall of pink hair to her waist did not manage to cover.
"There's a garden!" Sakura had not truly smiled for days since the series of unfortunate events took place and her face split into a wide, delighted grin when she caught sight of the sea of colorful flowers between tall, white pillars and smelt the fragrance as she and Hinata were walking along the corridor to whittle time away. Sakura would never have thought a harsh and strict-looking palace would have such a lovely and quaint garden hidden behind the walls.
"Hinata, do you think we can go into the garden for a while? There won't be any harm done, right?" Without waiting for a reply from the black-haired girl, Sakura happily ran out into the warm sunlight before Hinata could react. "Wait, Sakura- Your Highness!" Sakura turned around, wearing a somewhat wistful smile on her lips. "Hinata, I'm not a princess here anymore. My kingdom's dead. Now I am just a prisoner here, but I won't stay as one for long so just call me Sakura."
The sound of streaming water indicating a fountain nearby lifted Sakura's spirits and she wandered deeper into the garden with Hinata following behind, trying to stop her in vain. Sakura noticed there were no other flowers planted in the garden, except roses in seemingly every color in existence. Sakura had great delight walking past the rose bushes and her smile grew wider with every new color she discovered.
Mikoto heard distinct singing coming from the garden and she gazed out of the window to find their prisoner frolicking happily amongst the rose bushes. A pair of cream-colored high heels lay on the grass as their owner danced around barefooted, not caring if the soil got to her feet or dress. The cream color of her gown added more color to the flowers and her long, pale-colored hair flying in the wind created the illusion of cherry blossom petals floating in the air.
Fugaku had sent the guard to fetch Sakura after he and Itachi were done with their important discussion. Mikoto stood up silently to walk to the window to see more. She noticed that Sakura's presence had made the roses fuller, the red, pink and orange colors of the petals brighter and more vibrant and suddenly, even the water from the fountain seemed to be a even more sparkling blue than usual underneath the golden sunlight.
And then, Sakura entered the room with her hands bound in front of her once again to prevent any attempts of assassination. Mikoto sat down in her chair again, arranging her shawl around her shoulders demurely. Sakura's face had lost her cheerful smiles from just now and her expression now was cold again.
"Tomorrow, I will have the guards show you around the palace. In order to be able to obtain the magic from your blood when it's at its highest and most powerful, I can't have you suffer in the dungeon." Fugaku told her. Sakura smiled that sickeningly sweet smile of hers again. "I will take pleasure in tomorrow, so that one day I will be able to cut my wrist in front of you and have you watch that blood you so desire flow away and waste!" She declared.
A/N: Here's another chapter!