Hasty footsteps echoed down the corridors towards the queen's chambers. The pinkette reached the fine-crafted wooden door of the room and opened it in barely controlled fury. As she entered the room, she slammed the door with a ridicusly great force for her dainty figure, thus cutting Menma off from following after.
Ever since her return to the castle upon that morning, Sakura had seemed very upset and so the maid had been trying to catch up with her, slowly chasing after her mistress alongside the long and mundane corridors.
She had known the pinkette for a very long time,- she had practically raised her and thus she was able to read her like an open book. She knew when she was seriously upset and when it was not something serious . And this time, her mistress seemed genuinely disturbed.
As the door shut with force right in front of her , Menma frowned in annoyance. The pinkette had started behaving very weirdly lately, in contrast to the tranquil and kind Sakura that she had grown used to. But that could only mean that there was something important troubling her mistress and making her act so unlike herself. That's why Menma was willing to press for answers if that meant she could find a solution.
"Sakura..."Menma adressed the girl on first base, as the pinkette had often asked of her, in an attempt to make the well-meaning approach smoother.
The maid's tone was calm but determined. A brief, pregnant silence followed after. Menma was ready to repeat her notion when Sakura finally answered.
"Just go away!" she shouted, giving an end to the silence. Menma could almost feel the anger and dissapointment vibrating through the young girl's tone on her skin.
She wanted to press until she got a different, more helpful reply from her but she had suddenly lost all of her confidence.
Even though, Sakura had barely ever made her feel like she was nothing but a mere servant with no rights but only obbligations towards the queen, Menma was too much of a realist to allow herself to think she could trully be anymore than that.
Before becoming Sakura's nanny and -later on- personal maid, she had belonged ever since she had been born to a wealthy feudal lord and had worked hard for him and his family from her 5th to her 16th years, after which she had been sold by the lord himself to the local slave market. Somehow, she ended up being bought as a slave for the palace.
And even though she hadnt had to put up with her old master's and his family's inhumanly demanding and sadistic whims for 11 years now, she was still carrying the wounds that her old harsh experience left inside her. Even so, she knew she had been incredibly lucky, considering how she had started out. She became a royal slave who was serving a kind and usually gentle to her queen, a thing that most slaves wouldnt even dare to dream off! But she knew when to not push her luck, and this was one of those times.
With her head leaning to the ground, she stepped backwards slowly, till she suddenly bumped against something thick.
"Watch where you're going, you silly wench!" an angry voice filled her ears: Menma recognised it was lord Manemour.
With her heart beating fast in shock, she quickly turned around and bowed in respect. The man snorted and kept glaring at her annoyed, until she dissapeared from his range of view.
The elder sighed and stared at the pinkette's door. Hesitantly, he went closer and knocked firmly on the fine wood twice.
Sakura, who had heard the man's angry outburst before, was in no mood to face him at the moment. All she wanted was to stay alone, finally.
"My lord, unless you want your head severed and served to the royal dogs in a golden plate, please refrain from disturbing me for the rest of this fine noon." she said, surprised at her own aggressiveness.
She didn't mean her threats, if anything, she was only being sarcastic. But she couldnt help but let her bitterness show as she still was upset with how the council had behaved during the welcoming ceremony.
The picture of them laughing mockinly amongst them together with the crowd's enthousiastic cheers had been stuck in her head and was randomly but persistantly surfacing in her mind every now and then.
Lord Manemour flinched, then raised an eyebrow in annoyance.
"My queen, may I remind you that you're not the 6 year old child anymore that used to mock the lords and terrorize the staff with vulgar absurdities?"
"My lord, if I were you I would not test my patience for I may not be as harmless as I may seem to you."
Something vaguely but certainly threatening in the tone of her voice had him thinking she was actually being serious. The old man couldnt help the sudden shiver that ran through his spine. But he regained his composure just as fast. He was too old and experienced to let a foolish young girl scare him off like that. He had known her ever since her birth, he knew she was nothing but words. She simply didn't have it in her to be evil.
"I never implied such a thing, my queen. Allow me to be brief: This evening's the dinner with the future and the past mercenaries and you have to be present...As the queen. Tomorrow, you will have to personally go through the new applicant mercenaries and..."
"Accept or decline the ones I judge as proper. Of course, proper means the noble lords whom the castle is in good and powerful relations with and benefit my majesty and the palace's own interest through their reputable name and legacy. I know, I know, my lord. It is always the same thing. " Sakura said in a bored tone.
The procedure was, as always, typical.
Every year, the council gave her a list with the names of the nobles whom they judged proper in order to be accepted as mercenaries. It was always spawns and relatives of noble feudal families that the council was in good terms with and that helped each other for the common good of their personal interests.
The said families were always insanely wealthy and with a very well known name around the kingdom, which was, more often than not, not a very good one. The commoners and the middle class generally thought of them as a bunch of rich arrogant pricks who did nothing but parasite the castle's bugget with their exploitative mercenary duties and inhumanly mistreat the poor peasants that happened to be working in their fields and for them, often not even paying them for months at all, despite the law.
Yet the council insisted on keeping them satisfied in various ways, such as enlisting them in the mercenary duties, because with insane amounts of gold and power which those feudal lords had obtained through the years, they were capable of anihilating the council should the later not favour and assist them, whenever possible.
Becoming a mercenary was basically allowed to any class and caste but because of the council's doings, rarely ever anyone not rich and noble enough got their chance at it.
And that's why Sakura didn't understand why Lord Manemour was now trying to explain the procedure to her. Everything had already been chosen regardless of her own will or consent and all she had to do was to fake that it was her who made those decisions and transfer the news on to the applicants.
The old man was initially taken aback by the girl's sudden reaction but recovered fast.
"Indeed, you do, your majesty. I will be looking forward to tonight's buffet." he said, slowly retreating.
"So will I." Sakura whispered ironically.
She walked away from the door behind which she had been standing all this time. She had finally been left in peace. She didn't want to think about the mercenaries or anything else for that matter, for the moment. There was no point. Sasuke had taken up all the space in her head, filling it with unsolved questions and confusing angst.
She knew she was overthinking it and that she shouldnt have given such importance to such a trivial matter.
Would it have mattered the same to me if it had been someone else instead, doing what he did?
…
No.
…
Damn, where's your pride, young lady? Forget about that man! He abandoned you when you needed a friend the most. And when he finally came back, he didn't even spare you a second glance! It's over, forget him... He's come and gone. He'll just fade again in time, like those distant memories of your childhood did.
But...it's him.
HE ABANDONED YOU!
...He was only a child!
HE ABANDONED YOU!
No.
YES!
YES!
As Sakura was attempting to get herself together, the council was in amused delight.
"If the king had been alive, not even the old lord Uchiha would have dared to disrespect him like this! And the young one wouldnt have dared to show his face at us."Lord Manemour said in an offended tone.
"Well, we might detest the kid, but we gotta admit, noone really views her as a queen. She's just too young and naive. At least, the Uchiha boy had the guts to not feign respect to her like the rest of them did."
"Pfft, an Uchina spawn can be anything but honest, Cheryl! He's simply an arrogant brat, just like his father was. But it was refreshingly entertaining to see that joke of a queen, being put in her place like that." Manemour said.
"Meh, ...she does need a harsher reality check in order to learn her place. But, let's not forget that it's best for everyone if she kept on thinking of herself as a real and proper queen."
"Say that again. She can keep on sleeping her peaceful sleep while we are being the ones pulling the strings."
"I know, but what in case...she ever wakes up?" lord Cheryl said questioningly.
"Implying otherwise is giving her too much credit, Cheryl. I'd think you know her very well." Manemour said, grinning amused at the other lord's foolish question.
The other man nodded in a hurry, in fears of being considered dim. Lord Manemour was many things, but naive wasn't one of them.
"Don't we all?" he added.
The day passed by slowly for Sakura. Menma went in and out her chambers costantly, serving lunch and cleaning up, then preparing a warm bath for her and, finally, brushing her hair. The maid said that she wanted to make her look beautiful for tonight, but Sakura herself didn't care a lot about it. She was rather absent minded, thinking of various things except the ones she should have been thinking instead. Thus, she just let Menma do as she knew best. She almost enjoyed the silent company.
Menma gently comb dried her long pink hair and fastened it in a braided bun, leaving enough soft tendrils of hair around Sakura's forehead and each side of face.
The hairstyle seemed formal and elegant. Sakura gave an uninterested look into the mirror placed in front of her. Her eyes widened slightly in contentment. As much as she hated to admit it, she felt nice looking pretty and feminine, every now and then.
The cheerful maid, then, helped the her put on a beautiful gown that hadalow and square neckline, a tight-fitting bodice, and a full skirt gathered to the waist. The gown was coloured in tones of green, silver and black, with the first and last of the colours making most of it.
The green one was very much similar to the emerald of her orbs.
"Oh my god, your majesty, you look so pretty!" Menma cheered, while inspecting her work.
Sakura smiled sadly at her.
"Who cares, it doesn't change a thing in the long run, does it? But thank you, Menma." Sakura said in a lazy tone, yawning deeply.
The night was still very young and she had already began feeling deadly bored.
Menma gave her a questioning look. She didn't quite understand the significance behind the girl's words but decided against asking her whatever she meant as Sakura's nerves weren't in a good condition recently.
"You may leave, now." the pinkette said, looking softly at the maid.
The older woman smiled and bowed softly before exiting the royal chambers.
When Sakura stayed alone in the room, she finally let a deep sigh escape her lips. She felt like ripping that perfect make up and outfit of hers and kicking away her perfect velvet latchet shoes. She didnt feel like attending that boring dinner, especially when she played no role at all in the actual management of the mercenaries.
She couldnt bring herself to sit on that long and narrow table, knowing that all the poor and unfamed aspirant mercenaries would be purposedly left out from the event. She had to do the council's dirty job. And what was worse was seeing the self-assured, cocky smirks of the "noble" brats who occupied the table and knew they had been the only ones considered from a vast multitude of other applicants.
Not all of them would have been entitled to the privileges and the duties of the mercenary by the next day, but a good deal of them would. It couldnt happen otherwise. And Sakura knew it. She knew she didn't have the power to change that. And that's what appaled her the most.
"Gentlemen, I welcome you to the official royal dinner especially organized for all you as a humble expression of gratitude to all those who possess the noble intentions and skills such as worthy of a future mercenary. I hope you will particularly enjoy this night together with me. The queen salutes you." The short servant that stood beside Sakura announced slowly and clearly. Once he finished the brief speech of the queen's greeting towards the nobles, Sakura smiled faintly and bowed lightly at them. All the men that were around the long table immitated her almost immediately and soon after she sat down on the velvet invested chair behind her. Everyone did the same and the announcer parted.
Sakura had nothing more to say to them, either way. She wasnt there to chat. She was there to pretend she welcomed and aknowledged them but it was a purely typical event. Besides, even if she wanted to chat, it'd be an impossible for her feat, with the table being extended that long and the amount of people already chit chatting amongst them, creating a hazy fuss.
The only people she had decent chances of talking properly with were members of the council, who were sitting at the first left and right of her post of the table each.
The room was vast , plain at some points but full of beautifully crafted but small decorations at some others. Candles imprisoned in their impressive candle holders gave off a soft light towards various directions , sometimes discretidly painting the walls with their light and other times gifting their warmth to the table they were placed on. Some of those candles were generations old, covered with pure silver or some other expensive metal, even for the standards of the era, thus gifting an aristocratic and wealthy tone to the overall decoration of the dining room. Observing around, Sakura was thinking about how many things she could buy for the army if she sold some of the stuff that were lying in it. Either way, whether something was of high value or not, castle property always sold for good money at the free market.
Persistant and nagging thoughts that she had resulted at that kept respawning in Sakura's mind, making her feel bad for even thinking of doing those things. But, with the poverty that was drawning her kingdom, it was time for drastic measures. The repeated war and the mercenaries, who offered back less than the 1\10 of what they were given from the castle, had impoverisced the once truly prosperous country. The people couldnt be taxed more than they already were, they barely paid the current taxes as it was. To her, now, it seemed that the only decent sources of gold inside the kingdom belonged to the palace and the feudal lords.
She gave a hurried glance at the people choking the room.
She vaguely recognised some of the faces and some of them merely belonged to the old council lords. And, as every almost passing year, she saw a bunch of unknown faces. She averted her gaze from the crowd and focused on her empty plate. She was looking forward to the food. At least, eating would give her something to do, as she had already began feeling uncomfortable under the curious gazes of that suffocating multitude of males.
After a while, servers started bringing trays carrying plates filled with food , left and right, placing the dishes everywhere on top of the vast superficies of the outstretched royal dining table.
Seemingly, the first course included Pears in Confyt and Buttered Worttes. Sakura could recognise them by their characteristic, biting scent. Luckily for her, she liked, at least, one of the two dishes and it wasn't the later.
People started eating greedily and consuming red and white wine. Sakura wondered what she was still doing there. She felt as if everyone ignored her presence, whether she was there or not did not matter. The men were men. They behaved their table manners vulgarly without considering the presence of queen amongst them.
The presence of a female.
Sakura sighed softly and looked at the dish. She took a tiny bite and started chewing slowly. But there was this weird feeling of being stared at that kept bugging her.
Every time she raised her head to take a look at the people, she always saw them eating and talking deliberately with each other, too lost in their own conversations to notice her.
She wasn't even remotely hungry. This evening seemed painfully pointless to her. She grabbed a piece of pear with her tiny silver fork and shoved it lifelessly in her mouth, trying to fool her boredom.
-"And what's your opinion about the peasants working in the feuds, Lord Uchiha? Should they continue to get paid, considering the tremendous economic crisis that we are undergoing?"
-"Heh...They should be thankful for even having a land to stay in, these days! "Another man added heatidly.
Sakura's heart started beating fast. It was like a lightning had hit her when she heard that name being spoken. She hadn't noticed nor had she been able to make out any coversations among the people before but for some reason one of the council members had decided to raise their tone all of a sudden.
Immediately, her eyes started searching fervently to spot his face among all those people but to no avail. Inwards, she desperately cursed the wide crowd that made it hard for her to focus.
Finally, when he started speaking, her emerald orbs, almost automatically, fell on him and her heart skipped a beat.
-"If the feudal lords don't wish to pay them, then they should let them free to leave their land and make a living elsewhere. The peasants aren't our slaves."
The scarse but intense light that was falling on his face gave him a mysterious feeling. His seat wasn't too far or too close to hers. It was somewhere in the middle of that.
Big magnetizing ebony eyes, snow-white skin and scalled raven hair that seemed to be made of pure silk under the scarse light that rolled pleasantly on them.
He was eerily beautiful. His voice brought her back to reality, rather abruptly.
She felt as if she had been released from a sultry spell.
-"This seems to be some kind of unprecedented opinion, for someone who's leading a feud himself."
-" I know many lords who agree with me. Even the conservative kind. Someone who's isolated from the rest of the world wouldnt know that, of course." Sasuke said.
Sakura felt deeply intrigued by his words. Normally, she couldnt stand to hear people talking about politics or anything remotely similar, -she had to put up with it every time she participated in the everlasting councils that the elders forced her in and thus she thought they had exhausted all the points that could be said on the matter.
But she felt as if he brought something new, something refreshing to the picture. Surprised as she still was by his unexpected presence, she tried to calm herself down and make something out of the heated conversation that was unfolding between him and some of the council elders.
-"Are you implying that we keep no account of what's going on in our kingdom? That's too bold of a statement, young man!" Lord Manemour said, in a scandalized tone.
-" As far as I'm concerned, I didn't point any fingers. I'm speaking in general." Sasuke said, with an ever so slight hint of irony in his voice.
Sakura was silently staring at him, in full attention.
Sasuke suddenly gave her a quick knowing look that lasted for 2 seconds. And then he averted his gaze from her and focused back on Manemour just as fast.
Sakura's breath came at a sudden stop. Then, colour rose to her cheeks, in the shades of anger.
Now that her initial shock had begun to fade, she remembered his derogatory behaviour at the welcoming ceremony and she felt her cheeks flashing in irritation. Who did he think he was to come to her own territory, to her own habitance and behave like a spoiled brat, throwing hints so shamelessly at her? And she wasnt even sure if he had meant it for her because his behaviour was so confusing.
-"Is that so?" Lord Manemour countered him with overt disbelief.
Sasuke looked at him for a while with an unreadable expression plastered over his motionless face, then decided to ignore him. He threw his piercing gaze back at Sakura.
Under the table, her hands on her lap were shaking in anger but she forced herself to stare at him, with fake confidence.
-"Would your majesty like to share her views with us?" the raven asked her, while giving her a curious look behind the metal glass he was sipping wine off.
The first feeling the pinkette experienced at that very moment was a weird dissapointment secretly washing all over her.
It was the first time that he hadn't call her by her name. Of course, it'd be considered disrespectable if he had adressed her with her first name in front of everyone present in that room. She was a queen now. But it still felt plainly weird, contrasted with her childhood memories in which they simply handled each other on a very familiar first base. She realised that any familiary between them had dissapeared, leaving no traces behind...
All that time he had been away, she was free to still hope that their bond hadn't dissolved in thin air. But now, he was there, in the very same room, observing her with emotionless eyes and talking to her as if he was just someone else to her, as if she was just someone else to him. This realisation left her numb and cold.
The second feeling that Sakura had was that he was testing her, even though his expression had remained serious.
Once, she realised she had stayed silent for more than would have been considered normal so, she rushed to give her opinion.
-"I agree with you on that matter." she said, feeling that it had been the most diplomatic answer to give. Besides, she really did agree with Sasuke's views, either way.
He left his glass back on the table.
-"On which matter?"Sasuke asked, raising an eye brow.
A pazzled look unwantingly spread on her delicate face.
-"Excuse me?" she hurried to ask, not understanding very well.
-"I said, which matter do you agree on, the peasants' arguement or the one about isolation and ignorance?"
It hit her like a flat wall with full force. Her fingers gripped the foddles of her dress hard as she was trying to remain collected.
This was his way to make it more obvious to her that his accusative hints had been directed towards her or that's what she could make out.
She counted her words for a brief moment. What if it was unintentional from his part?
The raven's lips turned into a soft teasing smirk.
Every chance that it could have been a misunderstanding was now gone from her mind.
She was sure he was now mocking her, playing word games.
In short, he was subtly but obviously calling her ignorant and indifferent towards her people.
-"I don't know about the later but I do know that according to the Law the peasants must be monthly paid by the feudal lords to whom they offer their services."
Sasuke leaned his head slightly forwards as if he was focusing harder on her.
-" Law is law. What do you think?"
-"I think that the peasants aren't anyone's slaves." she finally said, looking at him with collected confidence.
She wouldn't give him the satisfaction to know that he had got under her skin so early on.
Sasuke kept himself back from smirking. He hadnt expected to receive that kind of answer, but he was glad he did. He kept his stoic expression, giving her an unreadable look. Then he returned his gaze to one of the lords who was saying something that the pinkette couldnt hear.
She stared at him for a while then quickly focused back on her plate, pretending she was picking her food out. Her cheeks were on fire. She wondered if it was apparent how agitated she was feeling inside her.
Her heart was beating fast and her breathing rate was increasing by the second. She wanted to run away and hide herself but she knew she would rather die than embarass herself like that.
Was it the food, the people, the place or the music? What could have possibly upset her this much?
Even though her mind had slowly started to grasp the truth, an intense fear that wrecked every feeling of balance in her kept pushing it back to the shadows.
Because no...There's no way he can still affect you like he did...
Yes, you're over him. The past...
The dinner had lasted for four painfully long hours, after which every participant had retreated to their private places, some of them had been accomodated in the numerous guest rooms of the castle and some others had done their own arrangements outside, -in the town.
Sakura laid on the big king-sized bed, staring at her hands, crossed on top of her chest that was heaving up and down in a regular pace. She had calmed down considerably but her unexpected meeting with Sasuke and their small but weird conversation kept wandering in her head and didn't let her sleep.
His presence in the dinner could only mean one thing...and that was that he wanted to be a mercenary. But would his name be, in the list, with the rest of those that had been approved? Judging by the not so good past between his father and the royal council, that seemed highly unlikely. But what created even greater confusion to her was the reasons for which he'd want to become a mercenary.
A long time ago, or so she had read in the old books lying forgotten inside the royal library, the mercenaries had been one of the biggest sources of strength and pride of the kingdom. They were noble men with great qualities who gave away all their belongings and very lives in the altar of the war and the protection of the country and asked very little if nothing in return from the king.
But nowdays, being a mercenary was anything but noble. Sure it was "nobles" who went after it, but it had become a synonym of greed, corruption and exploitation. Sasuke was no fool, he surely knew all that. It was no time for heroes.
On top of that, he did seem to have, from what she had gathered sparcely through the years from scattered rumours, rather impressive enough amounts of gold and property of his own in order to not ever need to seek for more.
If all of that was true, then why had he come back to where everyone thought of him as a traitor?
R&R?
If you want this story to continue, please do leave a review\critique\whatever you feel like. Is there something about the way I write that you don't like? If yes, please do say so(in a civilized way whatsoever). I want to know how weak/strong I am.
Note: English is not my first language. Just a thing to keep in mind for those who'd like to make a judgement.
Sorry if this chapter is short again, I'm just busy with exams and such, plus there's really not much of a motivation for me if barely anyone comments on this.