"Are you sure you don't want the doctor to check on you?" Her mothers worried face loomed a few inches from her. Sakura was wrapped around with blankets, conjuring a pitiful look on her features which she thought would pass as tired.
"Yes, I just want to lay down. Can Mei stay for company?" Sakura asked in a small voice. Her mother nodded stiffly and departed, Mei bowed as the elder Haruno passed and closed the door gently. Immediately Sakura sat up, fighting out of her blankets and changing into her only pair of civilian close, she had a large amount of pocket money ready to be spent.
"Do be careful." Mei said with a sigh, handing Sakura a spare servant uniform she had nicked out of the laundry. The servants lived on the Haruno's grounds in a series of dormitories near the back, and conveniently, there was a small road that led straight to Konoha from there.
"I'm all about being careful." Sakura smiled as she placed the bonnet over her head to hide her pink hair that was tied into a strict bun at the base of her neck. Mei gave a small sigh and patted Sakura on the cheek before she departed. Since she had spent her entire life in the confines of the Haruno Manor, Sakura knew all of the short cuts and secrete passages, so she did not encounter a soul during her exit.
The stroll across the grounds was pleasant, especially since she was used to body guards popping up at random times when she normally did, this time, no one looked at her at all. When she reached the servants quarters, no one was around and chills swept through Sakura, it was eerie standing in the middle of the square and hear nothing. Once she was well down the road to Konoha, she hid the servants close under a thick growth of bushes and leisurely walked through the gate.
It was a lazy weekday morning in Konoha, most people were at work so those who were out and about were only running errands. Her first stop was to buy the wig, she entered a costume store at random an a half awake worker pointed her to the wig section. Her eyes traveled over bright and vivid colors, until she found what she was looking for.
It was red, a bright faded shade of crimson in short messy layers that would frame her face perfectly. She purchased it and stole around the building to the alley way, curling her nose from the pungent odor that seeped from a near by dumpster. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching and took the bonnet off before throwing the wig on. Checking her reflection in a puddle, she grinned widely, she looked tough and edgy, not at all like the fragile little princess everyone saw her as.
She bounced down the streets now, having fun throwing her hair over her shoulder now and then. Her next stop would be to buy close, and she froze in her step. Now that she thought about it, she had no idea what to get. All of her close had been provided for her since birth, grand and elaborate kimono's that cost more than half of the houses in the village. There were so many styles and fashions popular with Konoha civilians, she didn't want to buy out dated close and have people laughing at her.
Looking around at the different stores, she entered the one closest to her, a frilly little boutique that her mother would probably shop at. Everything was a soft shade of delicate pink and white, she felt like a monster creeping around the store in her black kimono top and pants. It didn't help that a worker eyed her the entire time, always peeking at her around displays to make sure Sakura wasn't shop lifting. Sakura quickly abandoned the place and crossed the street to a modest clothing store that seemed to be geared more toward the everyday Konoha citizen.
She wandered gaping at everything through the store, a majority of the close were basic forgetful close for citizens, but there was a large section for the more fashion conscious Konoha teen and even a large section for shinobi. She meditated between the section for ninja and the rebellious eye catching close for regular teens. She saw a shocking pattern on a pair of pants and bent down to examine it, bending back up and taking a step back to see the red plaid pants in the light she bumped into someone, a hard someone as Sakura felt her back pang with hurt.
"Sorry!" A breathless female voice said and Sakura turned around, staggering and her jaw dropped. A tall busty blonde kunoichi was looking back, clad in a skimpy purple outfit, her hair styled rebelliously around her face.
"It's fine, I wasn't paying attention." Sakura said in a small voice and added a smile.
"Are you a kunoichi? I've never seen you here before." The blonde asked.
"Oh, no I'm not a ninja, I mean, there's nothing wrong with being one, but my parents didn't want me to be one and well." Sakura froze as she realized she had begun to ramble.
"Oh." The blonde blinked once and smiled meekly. "I'm Ino Yamanaka." She held out a hand.
'A Yamanaka! Wow, she's from one of the ninja clans!' Sakura screamed inwardly and was suprised she managed to keep her face composed and held out her own hand.
"I'm Mei Arai."
"Arai? That's a pretty common name. I've never seen a red head Arai before." Ino raised her only visible eyebrow. "I know allot about civilians, my mom runs a flower shop." She added.
"Yeah, I dyed my hair this red." Sakura shuffled uncomfortably. "I've heard allot about the Yamanka's though! That you guys can like, take over a person's body and other cool things too!" She added a little to enthusiastically.
"It is pretty cool." Ino said and puffed out her chest in pride. They ended up talking for another ten minutes, Sakura really clicked with the girl and ended up with a shopping buddy. Ino knew allot about the trends and styles in the village, and helped Sakura pick out a balance between civilian and ninja close, many with shocking patterns and cuts that would cause her parents to fall into seizures of Sakura walked through the door with them on. Sakura left the shop with her coin purse much lighter and several heavy bags loaded with close.
"Thanks for buying me those shoes! I've been saving for ages to buy them." Ino said with a wide ecstatic grin as they strutted down the street to another shop.
"Not a problem, I have plenty of money." Sakura shrugged. When she saw Ino staring longingly at a pair of delicate purple heels, Sakura expected the shoes to be really expensive, but ended up only being a few hundred notes, practically change to Sakura. Ino then turned red and sputtered that Sakura didn't have to buy it, really, why did everyone get so touchy whenever money was concerned?
"Do your parents just give you money?" Ino eyed the girl then.
"Sort of." Sakura looked away as they entered another store. Ino's suspicions that the girl was some sort of thief were forgotten when she came into close proximity of more close, and pretty soon their morning was gone and they were standing at the end of the street dumbstruck as to how four hours flew by.
"I'm hungry, want to get lunch?" Ino asked, shifting her bags to her other hand. Sakura was not as lucky, as both of her hands were clinging onto numerous bags, and she wondered as to how she would possibly be able to sneak them back into her room.
"Sure." Sakura said and Ino led the way, babbling on about a great tea shop that her and her team mates always went to after training. They ducked under a wooden blind in a small doorway and into a small crowded restaurant and waded through the main floor to an empty booth near the windows that looked out onto the now busy street of Konoha, as many were on their lunch break. A waitress appeared and took their orders quickly before disappearing back into the sea of people.
"I know it's a little crowded and noisy, but the food and tea is amazing, especially on the figure." Ino winked. Sakura surveyed the area, the closed pressed bodies laughing and talking merrily.
"I love it!" She said with a spark behind her vibrant green eyes. "Really quaint." She added and settled back into her seat. Their food appeared a few minutes later and Sakura took a sip of the green tea she ordered. It wasn't as sweet or balances as the tea the cooks prepared, nor was her sandwich as rich, but she was charmed by the simplicity of it all and happily ate.
"Oh my god! There's Choji and Shikamaru! HEY!" Ino spotted her friends and began to wave. Sakura looked over her shoulder and spotted two boys as they maneuvered toward them. Both were shinobi as the metal on their head bands winked at her, the taller thinner one had his wrapped around his arm.
"Why do you have so many bags?" He sighed as Ino moved for him to sit next to her and the larger one sat next to Sakura, eyeing the remains of her sandwich.
"We were shopping." Ino said happily and Sakua noticed her blonde friend lean toward him. "This is Shikamaru and that is Choji, they're my team mates. This is Mei Arai." Ino introduced them and Sakura smiled at them both, only for Shikamaru to sigh deeply at her.
"Mei? Do you know Naruto?" Choji turned to her.
"Yeah actually! I meet him at this Ramen stand." Sakura nodded. Ino snorted and rolled her eyes and Shikamaru said something that sounded like 'typical'.
"He wont stop talking about you! Are you his girlfriend?" Choji asked and Sakura turned a faint red at these words.
"Don't scar Mei for life Choji!" Ino laughed.
"Er, no, I mean, I am his friend." Sakura spluttered out and coughed.
"Speaking of Naruto, were is that idiot with Sai and Ayumi?" Shikamaru grumbled then as the waitress reappeared, a little annoyed that she had to go back to their table. Just as Choji finished ordering several meals and Shikamru just a cup of tea, three more people entered the tea shop, one talking at the top of his voice. Everyone swiveled in their seats to see Naruto arguing playfully with a stone faced Sai followed by a small lithe girl.
Sai eyes spotted Sakura at once, and Sakura shrunk back in her seat. She did not like the looks he gave her, as if he saw right through her lies. A small smile twitched at the corners of his lips and Naruto followed his gaze.
"MEI! I didn't know you knew these guys!" Naruto seemed to have teleported across the restaurant, waving his arms wildly.
"I actually just meet Ino shopping and she introduced me to them." Sakura explained, trying to control the grin that always found its way to her face in his presence. Naruto shoved a very disgruntled Shikamaru over, Sai took a seat next to Choji and the girl stood standing up.
"My name is Ayumi, Mei. I've heard allot about you, nice to finally meet you." The small girl, even shorter than Sakura, held out a hand and Sakura took it with a friendly smile. Ayumi had short messy brown hair, her ends dyed a bright yellow with deep blue eyes. She wore a blue qipao dress that was shorter than usual for combat, even though the small girl looked ready for battle something told Sakura that this was the girl's casual look.
Once everyone had their food, talk began at the table in a confusing round-a-bout, half the time she did not know if someone was talking to her, so the conversation got very mixed. She was giddy with excitement, here she was, sitting and having a real conversation with friends, not formal addresses between her parents and servants. A few times when she talked with Naruto, she was reminded of an odd dream she had the other night.
The dream just had her and Naruto sitting in his apartment, talking. She couldn't remember what about, but it had been urgent for her. What was strangest about the dream though was that her hair had been short, stopping just above her shoulders in fact. It probably didn't mean anything, so she brushed it off. What also made her uneasy was Sai's constant thousand yard stare directed at her, his emotionless black eyes burned a hole through her head as she tried to ignore him.
The large group departed, still wrapped up in chatter. Sakura was walking in step with Naruto as he carried half of her parcels.
"Wow, you sure did buy allot." He squinted down at the bags.
"It just happened." Sakura shrugged hopelessly. "What time is it?" She asked then, remembering she had lost track of time back in the shops Ino and her bounced around from.
"Almost one." Ayumi checked a watch at her wrist.
"I have to go home, I told my parents I'd be back around lunchtime." Sakura took her bags from Naruto, her heart raced as she realized she had stayed out way later than she had planned, hopefully the actual Mei was able to cover for her. "It was nice meeting you all!" She said rather quickly as she gave a vague wave to them and dashed away at top speed.
She skidded to a stop in a secluded alley way, throwing the wig off and into a bag before crushing the bonnet back onto her head. Surprisingly she found the bush were she had stuffed the uniform under and threw it over her black outfit. She carefully wrapped all of her new close in their bags and stuffed them under a hallow portion of a tree's roots, throwing dirt onto the plastic bags to hide their color and placing a large branch as a marker for her, she'd send Mei to get the close later.
She made her way back up to the manor, doing her best to avoid people. A few short cuts later and arrived outside her door, a snoozing body guard caused her to freeze in her tracks. She crept closer and eased the door open and slipped inside.
"You're back!" A breathless voice said and she was crushed into a hug by Mei.
"I told you I would be!" Sakura smiled, hugging her loyal servant and friend back.
"Your mother came around again at lunch, I barely managed to talk her into leaving by saying you were asleep." Mei sighed, rubbing her forehead and collapsing down onto Sakura's chair as the Haruno began to change back into the respectful delicate little heiress.
"Thanks, I ran into a few friends of mine and ended up eating lunch with them." Sakura said as she began to brush her long hair. Mei took the brush and styled her hair into it's familiar intricate braid.
"Be careful, you can't go around trusting everyone. There are some bad people out there, even in Konoha." Mei tsked and Sakura rolled her eyes. Even though she trusted Mei, the girl just didn't see the strength that Naruto saw in her. There was a brisk knock at the door as Mei latched the horrid necklace around her. The door swung open and Sakura's mother walked in, a rather sour expression on her face.
"Ah, you're awake." Her mother seemed pleased, and Sakura's stomach dropped as the family doctor strode in. He was a tall man with white hair from age and a weathered face. He wore a bright white doctors coat with sleek leather gloves and matching shoes.
"Mother, I'm fine, I don't need a doctor." Sakura protested, but the doctor pushed her onto her chair and shone a light into her eyes. He poked and prodded her various times, gazing into her ears and mouth, checking her heart rate for an awkward five minutes.
"Nothing seems to be wrong physically." He said gruffly and stood up.
"Could it be stress?" Her mother asked.
"Possibly. Has she been put into any situation that would cause it?" He asked.
"Hm, she did just get engaged," her mother crossed her arms thoughtfully, "but her tutor has been teaching her very complicated matters recently."
"What? No he hasn't! He barely teaches me at all!" Sakura snapped angrily, tired of them talking about her as if she wasn't even there. What infuriated her the most was that they treated her like a little china doll that could break at the slightest touch. Her mothers eyes widened from shock and Mei inhaled sharply.
"Sakura Haruno, you do not raise your voice at me! It is very unlady like to get angry!" Her mother said sharply. Sakura took a few deep breaths until her anger subsided just a little.
"Mother, I am fine. I just wanted to relax for the day is all." Sakura tried to sound calm, but her voice shook. Her mother analyzed her with shard eyes for a few tense moments, then her features relaxed.
"Fine, then. But you will not lay around again like that. Preparations for your wedding have begun and there are still many important events coming up that you shall not be excused from." Her mother said in a crisp tone that let Sakura know that her mother had let her off the hook, for now. If she put one toe out of line again, Sakura would be in for in.
"Yes, Mother." Sakura nodded and bowed as the regal woman left, the doctor strode out behind her. Mei closed the door slowly, and turned to look at Sakura with wide eyes.
"That was close." She said as Sakura let out a long sigh. She told her servant were she stashed her new close and the marker she used, Mei agreed to retrieve them as soon as possible. Sakura's afternoon was then spent with the miserable company with several of her cousins and other noble girls who came to visit. The mostly talked of gossip about boys, who wore what to which party, and gushing over the details of Sakura's wedding. The entire time half of Sakura was still back at the village in the tea shop with her real friends.
sorry for the late and short update, i got very busy and didnt have much time
i wanted to continue this chapter into real-sakura's perspective, but if i did then you'd have to wait several more days for an update, so, the next chapter is going to be much longer, as i want the plot to start picking up, right now its slowly starting to gather lol
as always, leave a nifty little review :) thank you for everyone that does! :D