Scenario Nine: In the Universe of Fairytales II
Snow White AU
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Sakura did not think herself beautiful, but apparently the wicked Orochimaru did not share that belief.
"If anything Sasuke is way prettier than me," Sakura muttered as she marched through the forest with just a small pack of food and essentials.
While it had been hard to say goodbye to her parents and friends, they understood that when the leading evil sorcerer was after your face, you typically went in to hiding. And the forest was convenient, there was food to hunt, and Sakura could just wait it out until she got older and potentially uglier.
One could only hope.
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Expecting to find only trees in the woods, Sakura was pleasantly surprised to find a cottage beside a stream. She noted the split-in-two door, and crawled through the open lower half when no one answered her knocks.
"These beds are really weird," Sakura declared as she looked down at the eight round pads of various sizes.
With a shrug Sakrua hauled them all together in a big pile and went to sleep, because running for her life was a little tiring. So tired, in fact, that she seemed to have forgotten all her basic manners. Like not breaking and entering.
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"What do we do?"
"The boss is away, and there's an intruder!"
Sakura awoke to loud voices and blinked up at all the furry faces eclipsing her vision.
"Good afternoon," a pug said with a nod.
Scrambling to sit up, Sakura fisted her hands against her vest in defense.
"We don't want to hurt you," a dog the size of a pony rumbled. "Do you need help?"
"I could use a place to wait out Orochimaru," Sakura admitted.
"Urgh, that snake? Stay as long as you want!" one with dark circles around his eyes yipped.
"Yeah, yeah!" they all chorused.
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Sakura was best at punching and potions, but she could do household chores as well. So she agreed to clean, cook and force the dogs to take baths in return for the safe haven.
Everyday as they went off to survey, Sakura sent them off with a friendly pat on their heads. Sometimes Pakkun tried to circle around for a second go, but the others always caught him before he could.
It was a tad boring, but Sakura enjoyed the company and all the time she had to read. Whoever their master was had quite some interesting taste in literature.
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After a week of domestic bliss, someone knocked on the door. Seeing as the dogs just entered, never even bothering to lock the door, Sakura knew it was a stranger.
As the old woman spoke promises, all Sakura heard was the underlying hiss.
Knowing better, she rudely ordered: "Go away, Orochimaru."
Of course Orochimaru was not going to give up that easily, and simply sent an intruding snake. Sakura easily cut off the forked-tongue head, but unfortunately had not accounted for it moving after its bloody separation.
"Gross," Sakura said when she felt the fangs sink in to her foot.
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When the cheerful dogs came back from their patrol to find their newest friend deathly still, they howled in loss.
"A snake- she was poisoned!" sleepy Guruko cried.
"What do we do?" big Bull rumbled.
"She's dead!" savage Urushi exclaimed.
"We thought we'd found the perfect one for boss," calm Ūhei whined.
"Now all we have is a dead girl who was as sweet and savage as can be!" brash Shiba snapped.
"She gave the best head scratches," cool Akino commented.
"And made the best biscuits!" small Bisuke yipped.
"This is the saddest day of my life!" wise Pakkun mourned.
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Kakashi shuffled in to his hidden home after another mission. He was surprised to not be immediately swarmed with piles of fur and deafening barks from his dogs. Instead it was eerily quiet except for the occasional whine, and they were all gathered to stand guard over something hidden by their slouched bodies.
"Yo...?" Kakashi drawled out.
"Boss!" they all cried as they turned. "You have to help Sakura!"
Frowning, Kakashi walked forward before crouching down to get a better look through one eye at the prone, pale young woman.
"I see you've all managed things well in my absence."
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Despite being a genius, Kakashi was totally stumped on how to bring someone back to life. But then he remembered something abstract: an ancient, farfetched remedy.
"Maybe if I kiss her?"
The dogs nodded, obviously desperate. Truly Kakashi felt bad, as this lady was quite pretty and young. So with a sigh, Kakashi leaned down and curled his fingers around the edge of his mask to pull it down-
But it was not meant to be, as Sakura awoke with a gasp. She cracked her forehead against Kakashi's, just as he was thinking of how lively her green eyes were.
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"That was a little tricker to counteract than usual- oh? Who's this?"
Kakashi remained splayed on the ground with a spinning head. He deserved it, thinking that 'True Love's Kiss' would actually work.
"People say I'm hardheaded, but you're making me feel bad," Sakura informed.
This time Kakashi managed a week groan. Frowning, Sakura pushed aside the tail-wagging dogs to get to the mystery man with silver hair.
"You have the biggest forehead I've ever seen. And maybe it's the concussion talking, but I think I love you."
The dogs began howling again, but this time it was in victory.
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Sakura attended to the man's accidental injury as the dogs giggled. She found herself blushing not from his bold declaration, but at the steady way his sole eye studied her.
Of course Naruto decided to interrupt by kicking down the door and declaring: "Sakura-chan, I've come to welcome you back! Sasuke killed Orochimaru and replaced him as fairest in the land. He promises not to kill you even if you're a threat!"
Naruto's smirk diminished momentarily before he exclaimed even louder: "And what are you doing with the heir to the throne?!"
"You're a prince?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi shrugged helplessly.
Word Count: 100 words each; 1,000 in total
Posted: 11.20.2014