Author's Note: Yo Sorry I couldn't update very fast, maybe because school is nearly here…

Bloody Knives

Chapter 4

Recap:

The masked white haired man sighed. Kakashi was definitely not the sympathetic type of person, or the comfort type either. He awkwardly patted her back as Sakura flinched from his light touch. Hatake finally took his leave, but before he left he gave her one of his special wrinkling eye smile and said, "Sakura, you and I would get along just fine then."

This left the girl curious and brought her to stop sulking in her sorrows and brought her to curiosity. Though, just as Sakura was about to take a short noon nap, she didn't notice strange eyes staring at her through the crack of the door.

End Recap

A blue jay could be sighted near the cherry blossom's balcony as it sang its beautiful song of the day to wake up the sleepy, and maybe even the deads' sorrow might just lift away because of its lovely melody. Just as the blue jay took in breath to begin whistling a yawn could be heard. This startled it and flew off towards somewhere more quiet.

Sakura rubbed her emerald eyes before slowly blinking and staring at the world from beyond her "prison" as she would call it. Heaving a great big sigh of disappointment that she didn't wake up in the presence of her old room, she hopped of her bed to find different kinds of clothing set out for her already. They were mostly bright colors, which made her sensitive eyes blink a couple of times before adjusting to the vividness. She frowned. Despite her soft pastel pink hair, she still didn't like bright colors as much.

Still staring at the first pile revealed a well decorated dress of royalty (or so it seemed to Sakura). The colors were a pastel blue and white. It had designs of snowflakes in blue all around the dress while designs of icicles wrapped around her shoulders and waist.

Not liking that dress, she looked at the second pile in the middle. It consists of a hot pink shoulderless dress with no designs, but a dark pink ribbon at the end. A pink amulet was also included with the set.

Finally deciding to choose the last of the sets, she quickly put a shiny crimson red dress that had white lace on the bottom and at the shoulders and collar. It was simple, and Sakura couldn't complain much. Though, the only thing that annoyed her was her hat was gone. Letting out another sigh, she puts on her shoes and fashions the laces.

The faint clicking of her heels made quite a lot of sound in the large halls. She never got a tour around the royal castle so her instincts told her to find someone for help. As she wandered around the halls for quite a couple of minutes, she accidentally landed into a chest.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry…" Sakura rubbed her nose from the crash. Looking up, she saw the familiar masked face of Kakashi.

"That's a nice 'Good morning.'" Kakashi replied sarcastically. "I assume that you are lost?"

"Of course." She held in a scoff. "I never got a real tour…"

Kakashi gave her a crinkled eye, "Well, I also know that you're hungry despite the attitude you're giving me, so I'll show you to the dining room. Her Highness is awaiting you already." He soon walked off, signaling Sakura to follow. "The bathroom," he pointed to the left. "The sitting room." The right. "The library." He pointed to the right. Just as we passed the library, it took a while to get the dining room since the halls just seem to go on and on forever. "And finally, the dining room. The kitchen is farther up ahead the left, up more farther is another bathroom to the right."

"Thank you." She gave a curt nod and a small smile as she opened the large doors.

"Ah, good morning Sakura!" Tsunade seemed to be a pleasant mood. To her surprise and relief, the table was not those long ones that really bothered her. This table was simple and the chairs were cushiony and extra comfortable to sit in. "As I was saying yesterday, the Hyuugas were joining me for dinner the other night and unfortunately you could not join because of… short notices." She put it sincerely. "They are joining us for breakfast. Last night their son, Hyuuga Neji stopped by your room and curiously inside. He questioned me about it, and truthfully I grew a bit nervous. Though, the Hyuugas are willing to meet you. I must warn you, you must treat them with the most—Good morning Hiashi-san!" Tsunade cut off just as an older looking Hyuuga came into the room with two others following him.

One of them seemed a bit younger than Sakura, probably twelve? The second was no doubt about it the person who questioned about Sakura and seemed one year older than her, maybe sixteen.

At their entrance, the pink haired girl stood up immediately and gave them a graceful curtsy and bowed her head low, "Good morning Hyuuga-sama." She politely waited for them to sit down first then herself. As she sat down Tsunade held in a sigh of relief that the girl knew her manners.

"Good morning…" Hiashi was a bit alarmed at her immediate politeness. "I assume you are Haruno Sakura, correct?"

Sakura answered, "Correct."

The boy with long dark brown hair couldn't help but look up at Sakura steadily and cautiously as if she were something dangerous, "Hyuuga Neji." He sat next to her and held out a hand.

"My honor to meet you Hyuuga-san. Haruno Sakura." She gave a firm shake. 'Thank goodness she knows her manners… But the table manners…?' at this the Queen gulped down regret.

Just as the food was served, everyone looked at Sakura as if they waited for her to eat. "Why don't you eat first?" the Hyuuga girl was also testing her.

Sakura gave a fake, but reasonably realistic smile, "Thank you Hyuuga-san, though it's best if the eldest eat first, then the young." Tsunade let out a sigh of relief as she started helping herself to some bread. Just as she took a bite Hiashi started, and then Neji. Hanabi, the girl, stared at Sakura as if to tell her eat food or else I'll starve to death.

"You can eat first Hyuuga-san." Sakura stated out loud. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Sakura as if she were a mad woman lost from an asylum.

Hanabi stuttered out from shock, "W-Why?"

"I only think it's right because you are so young. I hated the fact that I always had to eat last at the dinner table, and I know how much you loathe it as well. Go ahead, I'm sure Hyuuga-sama won't mind, just this once." Sakura glanced at the father.

He shook his head and gave a small smirk, "Go ahead Hanabi." Tsunade smiled as Hanabi slowly started grabbing a hot bun, still unsure if this was the right thing to do. Just as the little girl bit down into the steaming bread, she gave a wide smile towards Sakura as a thank you.

"You're very welcome." Sakura started helping herself to orange juice and fresh eggs cooked sunny-side up. She tried her hardest ignoring Neji's stare as Hiashi, Tsunade and even Hanabi talked a bit noisily for them not to notice Sakura and Neji talking.

"You are a strange girl Haruno Sakura." Neji declared.

"Touché, though vise versa on the names." Sakura smiled. This made Neji nearly choke.

"Did you just call me a girl?!" he shouted. Everyone looked and glanced at Neji. Hanabi couldn't help but have a chuckling fit. It was a bit hard to get Neji to crack like that.

Sakura took a sip from her water then glanced at him, "I suppose I did. And, you are a very pretty girl too, don't you think so to Queen Tsunade?"

The blonde couldn't contain her giggles and nodded as an agreement. Hiashi smirked and chuckled a bit as well.

Sakura: 1 – Neji: 0

The Hyuuga prodigy seemed a bit frustrated, (A/N: A bit?! Psh, like Hell) after the agreements and laughter. After breakfast was over, the Hyuugas disappeared somewhere into the castle and all was left was Tsunade and Sakura inside the sitting room Kakashi showed her earlier.

"You tell me you hate royalty. And yet, you know the rules and manners of royal blood. I'm dying to know whoever taught you." Tsunade smirked as she rest her left cheek on the knuckles of her left hand.

Sakura sat down a bit tiredly, "You remember the old Kaguya kingdom?"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes a bit, "Yes, the Oto kingdom took them down, and now there are no more Kaguyas that I know of."

Sakura nodded, "When I was extremely young, sometimes the Kaguyas would come over the our village and I befriended a boy named Kimimaro. He was apart of that kingdom. He taught me about royalty while I taught him about freedom. He grew more and more fascinated by roaming free without guards or protectors by his side. Sooner or later, he went missing I never saw him again. A year and half later, my ears caught the words, 'Kaguya kingdom, assassinated, Oto kingdom, and no more.' I knew then that the old empire was now in ruins."

Tsunade nodded slowly taking in Sakura's information, "Well, why don't we start our studies today? Today, I'm going to see how much you know about chakra and how to use it well."

Sakura quickly answered, "Chakra is an energy located within your body, otherwise known as spiritual energy within you. You are able to use chakra for many spells and sorcery. Some use it for good, some bad."

"Does everyone have chakra?" Tsunade tested her.

The cherry blossom gave a nod, "Yes. Though, mostly it is very weak and very little. Without chakra in a human body, the body wouldn't be moving."

The blonde haired queen smiled happily, "Very good… Now, I want you too—"

CRASH! The window from up above suddenly shattered, and created glass shards of many colors to fall like raindrops would on the cobblestone streets of Konoha. Suddenly, a man with raven black hair gracefully dropped into the room, alarming Sakura and Tsunade both. He opened his eyes… revealing his Sharingan eyes.

Author's Note: I found the conversation Sakura and Tsunade had sort of boring… I know some of you like to skip conversations and into the action parts sometimes… So, ta-da Please read and/or review!