Title: The Secret Kingdom

Summary: AU Sakura wants answers. Naruto wants to be recognized by his people. Sasuke wants...something. Will they get all that they want and more in a magical kingdom torn by war?

Pairings: NarutoxSakuraxSasuke

Disclaimer: For my birthday, I asked Kishimoto-san to sell me Naruto, and he sent me a Naruto action figure with a bill. But as for the manga and anime, still no luck.

Genre: Fantasy/Romance

Chapter 7: The Court of Secret Intrigues

Fukasaku stood proudly in the middle of the room to face the council, but he was secretly glad that Jiraiya chose to stand beside him. It has been three days since he left the human world. The moment the Osume prince took Sakura, he was in panic. Naruto was in a serious state and he had no idea what to do. To his surprise, a portal opened and the both of them were rescued by ANBU, the elite sorcerers under the Hokage. After a few hasty explanations, the Hokage called for a meeting among the elders and all the heads of the Raicelli and Noble clans. Now, the old toad cleared his throat, and told the story of the Osume that they met, and the mysterious Raicelli girl they met. After his report, the council became silent for a while before someone finally spoke up.

"The girl," Everyone looked up, surprised that Hiashi Hyuuga, usually so stoic and quiet, decided to speak. "Did those Osume really say that she is Haruka Senju's daughter?"

"Yes, Hyuuga-sama." The toad nodded. "But I have not confirmed if it is really true."

"But Tsunade-hime is the last Senju!" Inoichi Yamanaka, a blue eyed noble spoke up. "Does this Haruka Senju really exist?"

The glare Hiashi gave him was so intense that Inoichi shook. "Haruka Senju is the only child of Nawaki Senju and Shizuka Sabaku."

"Wait a minute!" A pigtailed blonde stood up. "Are you saying this girl kidnapped by the prince of the Osume is our cousin?!"

Fukasaku stared at her and her two younger siblings. They were from the village of Suna, and the youngest among them was said to be a fierce and powerful sorcerer.

"What are the color of her eyes?" Hiashi inquired.

"Sakura-san has green eyes, Hyuuga-sama."

There was a strange glint in Hiashi's eyes at the mention of the name, then he turned to Temari. "I'm sure that she is Haruka's daughter, Temari."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Green eyes run in your family." Hiashi glanced at her youngest brother. "And Haruka always told me she'll name her daughter, Sakura."

"May you please tell us how you knew about this Senju and why we do not, Hyuuga-sama?" A heavily bandaged old man said politely.

"If I may answer Danzou's question, Hyuuga-sama?" Sarutobi bowed his head to the Hyuuga's direction, ignoring Danzou's indiscreet glare. "Haruka-hime's mother died in childbirth, and her father died in the wars before she was born. She was born sickly, so she was watched over by Tsunade-hime frequently. She was formerly engaged with Hiashi Hyuuga-sama."

There was a collective gasp and some started whispering to each other.

Clearing his throat, the Hokage continued. "Tsunade-hime requested me to keep her identity a secret for fear that her life is in danger, and true enough, she was kidnapped by the Osume. A retrieval squad was sent, led by Tsunade-hime herself, but they unfortunately failed. A Raicelli cannot live long in Osume territory, we feared that with Haruka's fragile condition, she may not have survived."

"But she did, and presumed able to escape to the Human world." Hiashi nodded.

"There had been records of Raicelli marrying humans before, but none ever had children." An old woman read a scroll. "But all marriages were to female humans, so it could be possible that a female Raicelli could give birth to a Raicelli child from a human father."

"If that is the case, we must retrieve her!" A noble stood up. "We need the Senju more than ever!"

"Then send me!"

Everyone turned to see a heavily bandaged Naruto dragging himself into the room, with a sorcerer failing to restrain him.

"Take the Ilasu out!" Danzou commanded, with agreement with several others.

"Send me!" Naruto stared at the Hokage. "Please let me save Sakura-chan!"

"Allow him!" The nobles shuddered at the addition of a new voice.

"Gaara!" Temari stared at her youngest brother, she knew that he and the blond were close, having experienced a few scuffles together.

Hiashi nodded in agreement.

Since the Raicelli were all in accord, no one could protest anymore.

"We must assemble an army." Danzou said. "To retrieve the Senju princess"

The nobles nodded and began offering their sons and daughters to join the retrieval team. Naruto grinned with determination. He will save Sakura from the Osume, after all, he promised Sakura he would protect her, and the man who will one day become Hokage will always keep his promises.

In the village of Oto, in Osume territory, a sickly pale man stood in a balcony, looking at the army assembled below.

A man with glasses bowed and joined him. "Orochimaru-sama."

"Kabuto." Orochimaru grinned. "How's our little princess?"

"She's fine, my Lord. As expected, her Raicelli nature made her weak, but her human side makes her capable of surviving here."

"Good, good." Chuckling evilly, Orochimaru turned to face his subordinate. "If the theories are correct, she, being neither human nor Raicelli, would be able to bear our dear prince an heir. After that, we no longer need the Raicelli and our race will rule Asantia."

"I was surprised that Sasuke-sama agreed." Kabuto added. "He usually is so stubborn."

At that, Orochimaru licked his lips and grinned. "Yes, he certainly is stubborn, but he knows he needs me for power! If there is one thing I know about our Sasuke-kun, he will do anything to defeat Him."

Breathing deeply, Sakura struggled to stand, but collapsed again. She held her head, which was aching so badly. There was a deep feeling in her chest, a longing feeling for anything living, and it was starting to drive her insane. She was never in a place so devoid of life and understood that her energy was waning. She knew that it wasn't exhaustion that was making her sick, but the Raicelli need for spiritual energy from living creatures. Sakura knew that she was having a symptoms of a panic attack, but she doesn't know what to do about it.

Ever since Sasuke brought her to Oto three days before, she had struggled to find a way to escape. He had taken her to a beautiful room and would usually join her for meals and stayed with her for long periods at a time.

She asked him a lot of questions, most of them were not answered. But he at least explained some things. Sasuke told her that the Osume that attacked her were rogues and were not under his control. He told her that now those rogues, called Akatsuki, found her, she is no longer safe in the Human world.

Sakura scoffed at his answer and yelled at him several times for kidnapping her and demanding him to tell her how he knew about her.

"Hn." Was his frequent reply and this just frustrated her even more.

She met only a few people, one of them the viceroy, Orochimaru, who somehow Sakura found creepy, and the other was, as he introduced himself, Sasuke's mentor. Kakashi was quiet, and was reading most of the time, but Sakura felt an ease in his company.

"Osume vary, like humans" He told her. "And Sasuke's not that bad as you think. He just has a different way of showing he cares."

Finally giving up trying to walk to the door, Sakura decided to just crawl. She really had to get out of the place soon!

The door opened, and her face met the smirking face of the Osume prince.

"It's not safe for you out there, Sakura." He led her back to the bed. "You must stay here, until I say so."

"Why are you doing this?!"

"Hn."

"You Jerk!" She pulled herself away from him, tears in her eyes. "I want to go home!"

Sasuke sat beside her, and placed something on her hand. All of the sudden, the panic symptoms disappeared. Blinking, she stared at the object in her hand. It was a glass orb, and inside was some soil an a plant was growing.

"It doesn't need much sunlight." Sasuke explained. "So it will survive here."

She looked at him, and Sasuke wiped the tears off her face. Then, with a nod, he left the room. Upon closing the door, he felt a presence.

"Kakashi."

"Does she love you yet?"

"Hn."

Kakashi placed down his book and stared at the young boy. "You have to tell her soon."

"I know."

"Orochimaru's attacking Konoha."

"Let him do what he want." He walked away, but Kakashi frowned and stared at the room his student just left.

"Everyone should be free to decide what they want!" A woman with long cascading reddish blond hair clutched a small glass sphere and gave a huge smile.

The silver-haired man smiled, and resumed reading his book as he walked away.

Inside, Sakura stared at Sasuke's gift and slightly blushed.

"He's an Osume, an enemy."

"But he said he's protecting me."

"But from what?"

"What does he want?"

Sakura held the sphere closer, and as her headache ebbed away, she fell asleep.

*sniff* I feel a bit sad that no one reviewed my last chapter, I was hoping someone would, I really need feedback on the fighting scene, but can anyone tellme how it was?

Anyway, I hope everyone likes this chapter, it's a bit shorter than the others, but I'll try to make a longerone next time.

How do you like Sasuke here?

Questions to ponder:

Who was the person Kakashi was thinking about?

What is Orochimaru planning?

Why is Kakashi asking Sasuke if Sakura loves him?

Please give me your feedback, and reviews inspire me, I've been a bit down lately.

Until next time,

Chantrea Moonbeam