Sasuke had seen so many beautiful things in his life. Like the kingdom, he ruled, or the Palace garden, or even his mother. Then there were the people of his kingdom, and there was that forest he met Sakura in. But there was something that had surpassed every beautiful sight he had ever seen. And that sight included a pink hair clad angel.
"Sakura…?" He wasn't sure if he was seeing things. There, right in front of the doors to the Palace, was Sakura. By the looks of it, she had just arrived since she was in a small group with some other girls. Sasuke recalled each of the girls around her. The Blue-black haired girl was a Hyuga from the Village hidden in the Sky. And then there was the brown-haired, energetic one, a Surudoiha if Sasuke recalled correctly. Not a prestigious family or anything, but still quite wealthy, from what Sasuke had heard. And then there was the read-head. From the looks of it, she was an Uzumaki, like the dobe. Naruto had been a general in the Palace for so long, Sasuke couldn't even remember the first time they met. Although, he was kept here anyway because of the whole nine-tails thing too. But aside from that, the Uzumaki girl didn't give off a very nice aura. From what Sasuke could tell, her chakra looked pretty riled up, in in some way, mean. And then looking back over to the Hyuga, there was Sakura.
"Hey, did you hear something?" Sakura broke off from the others and headed over to the hallway Sasuke was peeking at them from. Panicked, Sasuke made a mad dash into a nearby closet, closing the door just as Sakura rounded the corner.
"What's wrong, Sakura?" One of the girls asked her.
"Hmm, I thought I heard something…" Shaking her head, she went back to the other girls in the lobby. Sighing, Sasuke stepped out of the door and into the hallway again, watching the proceedings.
"What are we supposed to do?" The Surudoiha girl–Tenten–asked Sakura and the Hyuga– Hinata.
"I think we're just supposed to wait here…?" Sakura thought aloud. Technically, Sakura was from the Hidden Leaf village, so the other girls must be from the villages hidden in the Light, Sky, and Steel, so they would be the first to arrive of course. Those villages were the closest to the Palace. The other girls should be arriving soon enough.
"So this is the Palace?" Someone else who had just walked in the front doors. Sasuke stuck his head further out of the hall. There in the lobby was a rowdy looking girl with four pigtails on her head. Sasuke didn't even know you could have four pigtails in your hair until now.
"Hn." A purple haired girl eyes everything, as if she was suspicious this was a set-up or something.
"You don't talk much do you, Konan?" Sporting green hair with some orange tips, the girl named Pakura Kogeru asked Konan.
"Hn." From the looks of it, Sasuke was going to at the very most, get along with her.
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"Alright, Ladies, come this way." It had been a little while since Sakura had gotten to the palace, and by then the rest of the thirty-five girls had made their way in too. From their looks, Sakura could tell they were all of higher caste than her. The lady who had just told them to follow her, Professor Kurenai, lead the large group of girls to what looked to be a parlour. The parlour for some reason was also called the Women's room, probably for the sake of the women who try to have some privacy from prying men.
"Sit wherever you want, I'll just need your attention for a moment," Professor Kurenai instructed, and all the other girls began sitting wherever was nearest. Panicking, Sakura just sat down in front of Hinata. On the floor. In front of the chair. With all the other girls staring strangely at her.
"Umm, Miss Sakura, are you alright there?" Professor Kurenai asked Sakura concerned.
"Yes, I'm fine," she replied casually. If she was forced to be here, Sakura might as well make it loud and clear that she wasn't Princess material. Heck, Queen material. Not even for Sasuke. Well, maybe a little bit for Sasuke. Besides, Sakura didn't have much of a future back at home. Other than performing forevermore.
"First off, I'd like to introduce myself. Formally." Professor Kurenai began. "I am Kurenai Yuhi, but now I'm Kurenai Sarutobi. You may address me as Professor or Lady." So this lady just wed? Sakura though in a daze. "Since some of you haven't had the chance to practice proper etiquette–" Professor Kurenai glanced over to Karin, who was slouching lazily in her seat, "–I will be here to teach you. I will also teach you subjects such as Social studies, and the visual arts, and such others. Do you understand?" A chorus of yeses and nod's around the room.
"Hey, when are we going to meet Prince Sasuke?" She asked snobbily. Professor Kurenai's lip curled in distaste.
"Girl, at least raise your hand before asking me a question," she snapped. Karin only rolled her eyes.
"Why do I have to? You're just a lowly three," Karin retorted. The Professors' eyes blazed with annoyance.
"You shouldn't talk to your teachers like that, you know," eyes turned to the floor. Rather, the girl sitting on it. "It's disrespectful." Sakura finished, looking up out the window.
"Don't you dare speak to me like that you five," Karin threw a fist at Sakura's face. Collectively, Sakura blocked with a single hand. Karin's fist met her palm, and Sakura grabbed it.
"I thought the selected weren't allowed to physically hurt each other. Isn't that right, Professor Kurenai?" Sakura's head lolled on her shoulders, looking directly at the Professor.
"That is correct, and for that, Karin could very well be sent home this very moment. That is unless you are willing to accept a deep apology, Lady Sakura?" Sakura nodded calmly. After all, it would be a shame if one of the selected were sent home already.
"Then apologize, Karin."
Professor Kurenai looked Karin dead in the eyes, and Karin's deep angry, ragged breathes slowed. Her eyes were wild with rage, like a primal animal.
"I'm… Sorry…" Karin hissed under her breath.
"Now that that's all been cleared up–" Professor Kurenai glared at Karin for a second. "–I will now show you to your rooms."
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Down another twist of hallways dotted with doors, Sakura and the group of girls dwindled, each girl being sent off into a room in one wing of the Palace.
"In here," the professor pointed at another one of the many bland doors, Sakura cautiously stepped in. It wasn't like she was expecting a trap or something, but she wasn't expecting nothing at the same time. The room was one of the most elegant ones Sakura had ever seen. Relatively small, the queen sized bed was crowned with a pink headboard lined with what looked like pure gold. Everything, from the white lavish vanity to the window seat was lined with gold, displaying the wealth of the Uchiha family like a cloud on a clear sky.
Stepping back out into the plain hall from what Sakura thought was something akin to paradise, Professor Kurenai addressed them.
"You will be staying in these quarters until the Selection is done and over with." Her voice boomed about the hall, passing maids stopped to whisper. "Get used to your rooms, and get used to the people you're competing against. Flouncing around and looking pretty won't make you a queen." The skirts of her white-lined red gown whipped around her as Professor Kurenai left. She walked like a soldier, but with the grace of a Queen. She should just be Queen if anything, Sakura remarked to herself.
"Also–" The professor threw her mane of hair behind her to look at them. "–dinner will be served at seven, and the report will be at nine. Dress yourselves, and don't be late."
"Yo, Sakura! What you gonna wear?" Despite what Professor Kurenai had said, Tenten's electric attitude stuck. She wasn't about to turn on other girls for a boy. Sakura could already hear Tenten rummaging through her closet, looking for a dress.
"I haven't even seen my closet yet," Sakura leaned on the door to Tenten's room. It looked like a colour bomb had gone off because there were dressed and jewelry everywhere. "Tenten, do you have something in mind?" Tenten at the moment was inspecting a simple scarlet sundress with little ruffles on the bottom. "Are you going to wear that?" Sakura couldn't help but cringe a little. She didn't know much about fashion, but Sakura knew enough that to appear in front of royalty for the first time, and on the Report, in a sundress, wasn't the best choice.
"How about this one?" Sakura spun around, not expecting the shy Hyuga girl to be holding up an elegant scarlet flowing gown. It's shoulder sleeves lay floppily in the air, the only thing holding it up was the tight fitting shoulder band. "Would this be to your liking?" Hinata held the dress to her chest, and Sakura took it from her gratefully.
"I'm not so sure, but it should work, right?" Sakura, of course, didn't know much about fashion and the latest trends, but she knew enough to realize that the dress she held cost a fortune. "Thanks, Hinata! I owe you one," Hinata grinned thoughtfully, before skipping to her own room.
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The halls were as quiet as a graveyard. All the girls stuck with their own small groups. The guards at the front and back of the pack conversed quietly. The winding and twisting halls made Sakura's head spin. Loud clamouring from outside made Sakura glance out the nearest window. Leaning out, the light summer breeze whisped across her flushed cheeks. A glance down, and Sakura could spy numerous people in the courtyard, in a big grassy clearing.
"What're they doing?" Tenten stuck her head out the window beside Sakura, her white and sakura blossom flowy dress flailing around her.
"Training…?" Sakura contributed to their confusion.
"Those are the new recruits," Hinatas' hands clasped themselves politely in front of her. Her lavender ruffles layered perfectly to her body, the intricate looking diamonds covered her chest. "They just came in this morning."
Sakura's melted into a frown. She didn't like the draft. Nobody did. Especially the ones who were picked. It wasn't like they were treated badly, but they were sometimes sent far away from home, from Konoha. Sakura didn't know what it was like for the other provinces, but it was probably something like that too.
"Why do we need so many guards, anyway?" Sakura asked, mostly to herself. A flitting movement from the corner of Sakura's vision made her roll her eyes in their sockets to see a small paper man. Floating in the air, the pure white paper stood on the window ledge, watching the men below, training. "What's this…" Sakura reached her hand to pluck the paper man from its perch, but another hand got to it first.
"Hn."
