I've had this idea for a while now of starting a Sasusaku series where they're inside the story of, "Snow White with the Red Hair '' since I found quite a lot of similarities between them both. However, only the beginning bit will follow the main story. After Zen's and Shirayuki's encounter with Raj, the story will divert into its own plot. If you haven't heard of "Snow White with the Red Hair," go read/watch it right now! Just a heads up, there won't be any characters from that show itself making an appearance here.

Disclaimer: All characters, places, things and any ideas used in this fiction belong to Masashi Kishimoto. While the plot idea and the names of towns used belong to Sorata Akizuki.

Chapter 1 - The Girl with the Pink Hair

The sun beamed down brightly through the cracks of the windows, while the sound of birds could be heard chirping about. The bright light from the outside causes the girl to throw the covers over her head, blocking out any light from ruining her sleep.

Suddenly, the sound of knocking could be heard coming from her bedroom door.

"Sakura, it's time to wake up and tend to the pharmacy!"

Sakura became still underneath the covers before jolting upright, turning to the side to look at the clock.

"I overslept!" Sakura exclaimed.

She quickly jumps out of bed and runs into the bathroom to wash up. Looking at herself in the mirror, she then dashes out from her bedroom and downstairs, where the pharmacy was situated.

Once walking in, she looks around to see no patients in sight, only a blonde-haired girl sitting near the counter while looking through the newsletter.

Sakura was a pharmacist who ran her own practice in the small village of Tanbarun. It used to be her grandmother's but after she passed away from an illness, she decided to take care of the pharmacy on her own, with the help of her friend that is.

"Ino, if there weren't any patients here then there was no point in waking me up," Sakura groaned while walking towards the back to check for any requests.

"Yeah but it's fun watching you panic for no reason," Ino laughs, placing the newsletter down in front of her.

Ino was her childhood friend whom she met when she was just 4 years old when she was getting bullied and Ino came to the rescue. They instantly clicked the moment they met and began to hang out more often as the years went by. But after Ino's parents passed away mysteriously a couple years later, Sakura invited her to stay with her until she was ready to live on her own. A year later though, Sakura's own parents passed away from an illness that was going around the village at the time. With just the two of them remaining, they both stayed with Sakura's grandmother at her pharmacy, promising one another that they would alway stay together, never losing sight of the other.

it was also where she was able to learn more about becoming a pharmacist.

Sakura busied herself with reorganizing the shelves while Ino grabs something from the counter before making her way over to where Sakura was situated.

"There was a letter addressed to you," Ino says as she passes it over to Sakura.

Sakura looks up at Ino before taking the envelope from her. She then looks over the letter to notice the way it was inscribed and the type of envelope it was placed in. It definitely wasn't from someone asking for a simple prescription, no. It had to have been from...

"It's Prince Neji again, isn't it?" Sakura sighs before shoving the letter back to Ino.

"I've declined multiple times yet he still doesn't take the hint?"

Ino remains quiet as she continues to stare down at Sakura, watching her resume with looking through the different herbs. Noticing her staring, Sakura pauses to look back up at Ino.

"You're hiding something aren't you?"

"What?!" Ino yells before saying, "what would I be hiding?"

The room becomes quiet with the both of them continuing to stare each other down until Ino sighs, "Fine, I looked through the letter."

Sakura slowly gets up from where she was crouched, "you what?"

"I just wanted to see what he was asking this time?"

"And?"

"He said..." Ino looks to the side, not wanting to continue on with the conversation.

Not able to take the silence anymore, Sakura reached out and grabbed the letter from Ino. She ripped open the letter without any care and read the letter. Only instead, her eyes widened with what the final sentence said.

"If you don't accept my wedding proposal by tomorrow, you will be met with dire consequences."

Ino noticed her body language and quickly snatched the letter away, "I told you not to read it."

Out of the blue, Sakura grabs a strand of her bubblegum-coloured hair, observing it with keen eyes. "It's all because of my pink hair," she mumbled.

Ever since she was born, Sakura was the only one out of everyone in the village to have been blessed with pink hair. No one understood where it came from since her parents both had average-coloured hair. Many people in her village were fascinated by it, while some loathed it, giving her the nickname 'The girl with the pink hair.' One however, became captivated by her, mainly because of the unique hair colour she owned, going as far as wanting to take her in as his concubine. Yup, Prince Neji that is. He's been sending her letters every day, asking her to become his concubine. But Sakura would decline each time, saying she would rather focus on her career than be married.

This probably infuriated him, causing him to send her a threatening letter. Sakura had less than a day to act fast. Ino watched as Sakura released her grip from her hair and walked over to one of the drawers.

"What-" Ino pauses as she watches Sakura pull out a pair of scissors. Her eyes widened as she quickly tried to stop her, "what are you doing?!"

"If he likes my hair that much, I might as well just gift it to him," Sakura grabbed a fistful of hair, not caring about what the final results would look like, closed her eyes before trimming them off.

Silence.

Sakura slowly opens her eyes to take a peek at Ino's reaction, noticing her mouth was wide open as she stared back in shock, not sure how to process what had just occurred. Sakura proceeds to pick up the hair trimmings, tied them up with one of her ribbons before placing them by the nearest windowsill.

"He can pick it up as a goodbye gift," Sakura murmurs before making her way upstairs, "pack your things, we're leaving."

Ino continues to stare at the bundle of hair, lost in her own thoughts before registering what Sakura just said, quickly shaking her head to look back at Sakura, "What?!"

Sakura remains silent as she grabs the nearest suitcase and proceeds to fill it up with any necessities. Ino barged into the room, noticing Sakura was busy packing her things.

"Why are we leaving?" Ino yells back, not understanding what Sakura was thinking. Tanbarun was the place they both grew up in, a place where they were able to better understand one another. It was a place that held sentimental value in which was filled with many cherishable memories. Ino had thought that they would both be able to grow up together while watching over the pharmacy and hopefully getting married together at the same time. She wasn't ready to leave her hometown and everything she's ever loved behind.

"Don't you get it?" Sakura says while grabbing the suitcase to take downstairs, "If we stay, I might get married off to some freak of a prince that clearly has no manners whatsoever."

Ino flinched as the last words hit, realising what that may mean for her. All those dreams she's had of wanting to be next to Sakura, smiling alongside one another while watching over each other is the one thing she didn't want to lose. Tears began to prickle her eyes as they then streamed down her cheek. She quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand.

"Let me fix your hair," Ino smiles back, slowly approaching Sakura, "I am not about to walk around with your hair looking like that."

Sakura blinks before a smile emerges on her face, "That would be nice."

Sakura takes a seat by the dresser while Ino lightly grabs a couple of strands and begins to trim away the uneven ends. She watches from the reflection of the mirror as Ino begins to hum to herself while continuing to cut away the bits of hair. It reminded her of the times when they were kids, they'd often give each other haircuts whenever they were bored. Although it would end with them being yelled at by their parents.

"Remember when we were kids, we'd always give each other haircuts like this," Sakura says while looking at Ino.

Without looking down, Ino murmurs, "Yeah and it would end with us being yelled at."

Sakura hesitates before asking, "Do you think we'll be able to run away?"

Ino flinched, placing down the pair of scissors onto the dresser. "All done!" Ino exclaims.

Sakura grabs the loose ends of her hair, noticing how her hair now reached up to her shoulders. A smile suddenly emerges, "It's wonderful!"

Ino clasps her hands together, "Great, let me go pack my things real quick!"

Nodding her head, she watches as Ino dashes out the door to pack her things. Sakura turns around to look at her bedroom, wanting to look at it one last time before saying goodbye. She then notices a portrait that sat neatly by her dresser. Sakura walks up to it, picking it up to admire it. The picture was taken many years back, with both her parents proudly carrying her while smiling happily into the camera. It was a time when Sakura was found to be the happiest before an illness began to spread, ending up killing both her parents. She slowly traced her hand over the faces of her parents, until a teardrop suddenly landed on top of the portrait. Sakura blinks before slowly wiping her eyes with her hands.

"Sakura, let's go!" Ino suddenly yells from downstairs.

"Coming!" Sakura yells back before mumbling, "Watch over the house for me, kay?" while giving a small kiss to the both of them. She gently places the frame back onto her dresser before running out of the room, suitcase in one hand. As she made her way downstairs, she saw Ino casually waiting by the front door with her own suitcase in her right hand. Confused as to how she was able to pack so fast, Sakura decides to pay it no heed as she then says, "Give me a moment to prepare medicine for the regular customers. Some of them need replacements."

Ino begins to frown, "Fine but hurry up, they may show up any time now," while taking a seat on the nearest chair. Sakura sighs before making her way to the back to prepare the different medicines for 5 of her regular clients. Once she was done, she placed each one into an envelope before placing a note for each on how to use them. Sakura then grabs the envelopes and places them by the front before making her way to where Ino was casually chilling by the chair. Noticing that Sakura was done, Ino quickly got up and grabbed her things.

They both made their way outside and to the front of the pharmacy before simultaneously pausing by the gate. They turn back to observe the place once more.

"I'm going to miss this place," Ino says.

Sakura nods her head, "yeah."

A couple of seconds later, they turned back onto the pathway and began to start their new journey.

The main part of Tanbarun was quite lively, bustling about with food stands here and there. Children could be seen running around chasing after their friends. The smell of mouth-watering food could be smelled in the atmosphere, causing their stomachs to rumble.

"Can we pause to get a break? I'm starving," Ino whines.

"We can't," Sakura says, dragging Ino away from one of the nearby food stands she was drooling over, "We have to find a carriage before sundown."

They have been walking around for a while now, looking for any sort of transportation that'll lead them out of Tanbarun. Although their search was futile with many drivers not accepting people at the moment. So far, none of Prince Neji's guards came looking for them as the atmosphere seemed a bit too peaceful, as if they were giving them a head start. Something in the back of her mind was telling her that they should hurry up and leave Tanbarun as soon as possible.

Out of the blue, Sakura noticed from the corner of her eyes a group of people asking someone if they've seen a pink-haired girl. Sakura's eyes widened, quickly picking up the pace while holding onto Ino's wrist.

"Woah, slow down you're going too fast," Ino yells, trying to yank her arm back.

"They're here" Sakura blurts out.

Ino becomes confused, "Who's here?" before realization hit. She began to scan the crowd, looking for anything suspicious, until her eyes landed on someone pointing towards them.

"Um, Sakura?" Ino questioningly asks.

"Not now Ino, I'm trying to lose them," Sakura says, trying to avoid the oncoming hoard of people.

Ino watched as the now group of people begin to make their way towards them, watching them with hawk-like eyes. Ino gulps before yelling, "They found us!"

Sakura hesitates before looking to see where Ino was observing, only to notice the same group of people slowly approaching them through the crowd. She accidentally makes eye contact with them before quickly averting her gaze and turning around.

"Why are we going back?" Ino yells out, not understanding why Sakura was making them look more suspicious as is. Since they were already wearing large robes, it easily hid Sakura's pink hair, averting her from everyone's attention. Ino takes a peek behind to see them closing in on them.

"You better have some sort of plan," Ino says before squealing as Sakura pulled her into the alleyway, trying to run as fast as she could to the other end.

The sound of running footsteps could be heard from behind them.

"Stop right there!" they yelled.

Sakura paid it no heed as they turned to the left, noticing the path leading up to the main road. She takes a quick peek behind only to look back forward, noticing that they were right behind them.

Ino suddenly points out, "Look, it's our way out!"

Sakura looks up, detecting a carriage full of people slowly making its way through the road. If they run fast enough, they might be able to make it. Only the problem was, they had to get the guards out from their sight. Sakura quickly increases her pace, pulling along a frantic Ino behind her while looking for any ideas. She then notices a stack of carts stationed on the side, to which she quickly grabs and throws them onto the pathway.

"That'll buy us some time," Sakura says, smiling as she then hears the sound of people falling behind onto the floor.

Paying it no heed, as they made it to the end of the pathway and out from the darkness of the alley, they hurriedly looked around for the carriage, noticing it was not that far down the road. Without hesitation, Sakura runs towards the carriage, jumping up onto it before pulling Ino up. Luckily there were only a couple of people on board, which were giving us odd looks, while others began to scream out in terror.

Sakura quickly turns around to face them, "It's not what it looks like, we're just hitching a ride."

Ino breathed a sigh of relief as the driver didn't bother looking to see what was going on in the cart, "I don't get paid enough for this," the driver mumbles while continuing to drive the carriage. They both gasp as they hear the guards yell out, "where did they go?"

Without hesitation, they both ducked behind one of the nearby boxes when the guards looked their way. Once they felt that the close was clear, they both poked their heads out, noticing that everyone on the ride was staring at them, continuing to give them questioning looks.

"Um," Sakura stutters, not knowing how to explain the whole situation.

Ino on the other hand casually gets up and goes to take a seat by the far end of the ride, not bothering to care about all the attention she was receiving. Which was typical for someone like her, since she enjoys being the center of attention. Whereas with Sakura, she quickly got onto her feet before waving her hands around embarrassingly, "Ignore what you saw, it was just um… us trying not to miss the ride…" before hurriedly covering her face and taking a seat beside Ino, who was casually looking out at the scenery.

"A little help would have been nice," Sakura murmurs before turning her attention to the outdoor scenery. It's been years since they last ventured out beyond the scopes of their neighbourhood, with herbs and tall trees splattered about by the pathway and out beyond the forests. Poking her head out of the carriage, she notices that the sun was about to set, meaning they had to find a place to stay for the night.

A vent of air suddenly whips past them, causing the hood covering Sakura's head to slip off. She quickly grabbed onto the hood and pulled it back up, hoping that no one saw her hair colour. A kid sitting in front of her begins pointing at her, "Mommy look, that girl has pink hair!"

The mother regards her for a moment, while Sakura gives her an awkward smile before turning back to her kid, "There's no such thing as pink hair honey."

"But mom, it's true!" the kid begins to whine.

The mother turns back to Sakura, "Sorry about that," she says before turning to her child and beginning to scold him. Sakura watches as the kid continues to stare at her, wondering how someone could have pink hair. She then decides to talk to the child, hoping to ease him a bit, until suddenly the carriage comes to a stop, causing Sakura to stumble to the side.

"Sorry folks, but there seems to be a problem with one of the wheels, we'll be back and at it in about an hour or so." The driver says from the front.

Both Ino and Sakura stare at one another, not knowing what to do now. They can't just wait around for them to fix the wheel, and it was going to become dark soon. Sakura looks out towards the forest before pulling Ino out from the carriage.

"Where are we going now?" Ino asks, unsure of what Sakura's plan was since they were in the middle of nowhere. The only thing they could see were many trees by the path as well as the sun with the only source of light.

"We'll take a shortcut since we don't know if they'll catch up," Sakura says while walking down towards the forest, leaving a nervous Ino behind.

Ino takes a peek at the forest, noticing how dead silent it was. Not to forget the many shadows looming over the whole thing, making it seem as though it was always night there. Ino takes a nervous gulp before following behind Sakura, grabbing onto the back of her shirt for support.

They began to walk into the forest, realizing that there was only one path leading far into the vast amount of trees. Sakura takes a look at her surroundings, pausing to notice the many types of herbs growing all around her. They even had herbs that were never sold at local herb stores, including those that she's been yearning to test out.

"Give me a moment to grab some herbs," Sakura blurts out before running over to grab a handful of them. Ino watches as Sakura begins cutting away at the herbs before placing them neatly into her bag. The sound of birds passing by could be heard from afar, causing a chill through Ino.

"Maybe we should find a place to sleep for the night," Ino suggests before continuing, "I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

Sakura pauses to look up at Ino's face, noticing the fearful look in her eyes. Sighing, Sakura stands up and places her things back into her bag along with the herbs. "Fine let's keep going then,"

The both of them continued to walk for what felt like forever, while the sun was halfway to disappearing, giving them the bare minimum of light possible. They began to lose hope of finding their way through the forest when Ino suddenly yells out, "Look over there,"

Sakura pauses to look at what Ino was pointing at, only to gasp in surprise. About a kilometre away stood a small cottage with no lights turned on inside. Sakura smiles in excitement before running up to get inside as quickly as possible, praying that no one lived there. Once they got close enough to view the cottage, they both gasped in surprise.

The small cottage had an entire garden laid out in the front yard, with a small pathway leading up to the front door. The cottage was well kept, with all of the flowers looking potent and healthy while the house looked as though it was just made. They slowly made their way over to the cottage while admiring the house before knocking on the door a couple of times.

No response.

"Try again?" Ino asks, hoping that whoever lived inside just didn't hear it.

Nodding her head in agreement, Sakura knocked on the door once more.

Silence.

The both of them stared at one another not knowing what to do. "What should we do?" Ino yells out in surprise, "It's almost night and we have no place to stay!"

"Calm down Ino, I'm sure we can sleep out tonight," Sakura suggested before scanning her surroundings. To be fully honest, Sakura was not in the mood for sleeping out, just the thought of bugs crawling up her face horrified her. Shaking her head, she makes her way over to the side of the house, where there was a small roof that could shield them in case it rains during the night.

"Let's sleep over here," Sakura says, stretching out before leaning down against the side of the house. Ino watches as she then pulls out a blanket and lays it over her.

"Are you being for real right now?" Ino asks.

Sakura looks up before yawning, "Yes Ino, unless you want to stand watch for the night. By all means, I'm not stopping you," laying her head against the side of her bag she instantly falls asleep.

"I am so going to take a bath once this is all over," Ino mumbles before taking the spot beside Sakura, laying her head by her bag and trying her best to let sleep take over.

'This is going to be a long night,' Ino sighs before falling asleep beside Sakura.

Sakura was the first to wake up.

The bright sun was high in the sky, causing Sakura to force herself to get up and see if anyone returned home last night. Removing the blanket from her figure, she slowly got up and made her way around the house and to the front door, knocking on it a couple of times.

Surprisingly not, no one answered the door.

"Probably an abandoned house," Sakura says while trying to take a peek through the window. She notices that there was barely anything inside with only a couple of pieces of furniture here and there.

"Now this house was definitely abandoned," Sakura sighs, deciding to leave the house be and go scout for anything to eat. Going back to where Ino was situated, she grabs her bag of things, trying her best to not wake Ino up and walks towards the nearby herbs. Sakura crouches down to get a better look, noticing it was the ones that helped with treating cuts. She takes out her utensils and busies herself with trimming each and every one of them.

Suddenly she picked up the sound of voices that were definitely not Ino's.

"I'm going to go on ahead."

"Wait for us!"

Sakura's eyes widened, slowly turning her head towards the cobblestone wall, watching as a boy leaped over the wall, only to make eye contact for the briefest of moments as he then placed his foot in the wrong spot, causing him to stumble towards the ground below.

Sakura's pharmacist instincts went on high alert as she quickly got up to help him out.

"Are you alright?" She asked, reaching out with her right hand. The boy merely looked up before sheathing out his sword and pointing it towards her, "Who are you?" he asks.

Although the boy was a bit rude, she wouldn't be lying if she said how good-looking he was. The boy had on a white robe that seemed expensive with his sword placed neatly on the side of his hip. He had smooth black hair that only went past just under his ear, while his skin was pale white as though he barely goes out. Black meets green as Sakura then realizes how long she's been drooling over him.

"I'm so sorry, It's just that… I've never seen people like you around," Sakura blurts out. She technically wasn't lying since the place in Tanburn she lived at barely had rich customers walk in, and he did not look like someone from here.

The boy merely regarded her for a bit before wincing in pain, causing him to drop his sword as he then quickly grabbed onto his wrist to ease the pain. Sakura could tell right away that he landed on his wrist weirdly, causing it to bruise, and if not treated properly can begin to swell up.

A sudden idea pops into her mind, as she then grabs her bag that was leaning by the wall and searches for a specific medicine she brought along for emergencies like these.

"Stop wandering ahead of us," A masculine voice says from behind.

Sakura looks behind him to see another boy who also had on a white/grey cape. Although this time he had short white hair and purple eyes. He also had a sword stored away by the side of his hilt, ready when needed. He notices Sakura's hair, to which he whistles, "Damn, I've never seen someone with pink hair," causing Sakura to pull up her hood in embarrassment, trying to hide away her pink locks. Shaking her head, she grabs the cream and walks over to the black-haired boy.

"Here, use this to treat the bruise," Sakura smiles.

The boy looks up at her before turning his head to the side. The white-haired simply looks between the both of us before blurting out, "Did I miss something between the 10 seconds I lost sight of you?" before continuing, "And this is why I tell you to stop running wherever you feel like it."

The black-haired boy frowns up at him before turning to Sakura, "For all we know that could be poisoned," he says. The other boy continues to look between the both of us, unsure of what to do about all this. Sakura on the other hand didn't know how to process all this. How was she supposed to gain the trust of him who clearly had trust issues? An idea suddenly pops in mind as she then walks up to the white-haired boy and points to his sword, "May I?" she asks.

The boy simply smirked, "by all means." Taking that as a yes, she takes the sword and slams the hilt of the sword against her wrist.

"What are you…" The black-haired said wide-eyed, unsure of where this was all going.

Sakura decided to ignore their questions as she then grabs the same cream and begins applying it against the wound she created, before wrapping it over with a bandaid.

"See?" she says, showing them the now wrapped up bruise, "I'm still alive meaning it's not poisoned."

The both of them look at one another before turning their back my way. Sakura watched as they then began to discuss among one another, unsure of whether or not to trust her. "Oh come on, I literally showed you it's not poisoned." Sakura sighs.

"Where the hell did the two of you run off to?" A third voice yells out, jumping down from the same cobblestone wall. Sakura watched as the girl joined up with the other two, whipping her silky red hair behind her. She was also carrying a sword by her waist, which meant that all three must be some sort of knight, but for what? Her ruby eyes turned around to analyze her before turning back around to discuss something. It was hard to pick up on what they were talking about since they were all whispering to one another.

"What?!" The red-haired yelled out, causing the white-haired to quickly cover her mouth to shut her up.

Sakura watches as they then all turn around, with the redhead glaring back at her.

'What's her issue?'

The black-haired boy approached Sakura before extending out his bruised wrist. Sakura looks down at his wrist before up towards his face, not understanding if he wanted her to apply the cream or not.

"Oh for the love of God, he wants you to wrap up his bruises," the girl from before yells out. The white-haired simply looks over at the girl, "Calm down, Karin I think she knows," he says. Karin huffs out a breath of annoyance before stomping to the side.

Sakura hurriedly grabs the cream and lightly applies it, not wanting to annoy him any longer. Once that was done, she then carefully wraps it up with a piece of cloth, allowing the cream to stay in place.

"It'll take a couple of days for that to fully heal up," Sakura suggests.

He simply looks over the wrapping, inspecting for anything wrong with it. Sakura awkwardly stands to the side, unsure if she should slowly walk away or stay put.

Contemplating, he looks towards the cottage behind her, "Thanks," he mumbles before slowly walking past Sakura, and towards the house itself.

'So he must live here,' Sakura thought as she then watched the other two run to catch up to him. The black-head pauses by the door, tilting his head her way, which causes Sakura to quickly avert her gaze. How many more times was she going to get caught staring.

"You can come in if you'd like," he simply says before walking right in. Sakura flinched, turning back to see Karin frowning down at her, before turning around and walking inside. While the other boy simply winked at her and followed behind. Sakura paused before realizing what that meant, to which she quickly ran to where Ino was casually dozing away, free from the embarrassment Sakura had to go through.

"Ino, wake up," Sakura says, trying to shake her awake.

"Hmm…?" Ino questions, turning the other way to continue sleeping.

"The owner of the house is here," Sakura says, which causes Ino to fully jolt up.

"They are?" Ino asks as she begins to pack her things and eagerly runs towards the front.

"Wait-" Sakura yells out trying to catch up, not wanting her to further embarrass herself as she did. As she neared the front, however, she noticed Ino was awkwardly standing near the front door before quickly whipping back around.

"You didn't tell me they were all hot?" Ino mouthed.

Sakura sighs before pushing Ino into the house and closing the door behind her. She noticed that Karin was seated by a chair, the black-haired was leaning against the doorframe, and the white-haired was seated by the stairs. All three whipped their heads around to see who the newcomer was. Noticing the staring, Sakura quickly replies, "She's just a friend who came along with me."

"Hey!" Ino waves, to which she received no reply at all.

An awkward silence ensued.

They both looked at one another, deciding on taking a seat by the couch. Once they did, however, Karin walked up to them, "who are you guys and what are you doing this far into the forest?" she demands.

"Oh come on Karin, they already proved to not be a threat." The white-haired says while walking up towards them.

"For all we know they could be carrying a weapon somewhere!" She yells back.

"Yeah? Do they look like they could-"

"Could you shut up for a moment?" The black-haired boy blurts out, causing the two to instantly stop fighting and minding their business.

He then casually strolls up to the two newcomers, observing the two before slowly taking a seat on the other side. As if on cue, the other two run to take a seat on either side of him, as if he's their boss or something.

"Who are you guys?" The black-haired questions.

"I'm In-" Sakura quickly covered her mouth, stopping her from exposing their identities. He merely raises a brow wondering why she did that.

"There's no need to know who we are since we're only passing by," Sakura says before continuing, "thank you for your hospitality."

Ino glares up at her, wondering what the heck that was for. Sakura ignores her and instead pulls her up and begins walking towards the exit. As they were nearing the door, however, the sound of knocking could be heard, causing the both of them to flinch in surprise.

"They found us this fast?" Sakura whispers while slowly backing away from the door. Ino worriedly looks from the door and back to Sakura, unsure of how to get away from a situation like this.

"Suigetsu, check the door."

"On it," Suigetsu says while hopping over the couch and running up to the front door. He takes a quick peek behind to notice our scared expressions before turning back around and opening the door.

A few moments later, Suigetsu is seen carrying a basket full of apples and a note placed in between them. Sakura gasps in surprise, noticing her ribbon that was left with the bundle of hair was neatly tied up on the side, realizing who must have sent the basket. She watched as Suigetsu placed them in front of the black-haired before taking a seat in his usual spot.

The boy examines the basket full of apples, looking up at the two girls huddled together in the corner. He takes out the note, reading the front before asking, "Is there a Sakura here?"

Sakura flinched before awkwardly raising her hand. The boy looks for a moment before opening up the letter, quickly scanning over what it said. Sakura watched as his eyes widened for a second before returning to the same impassive face, watching as he then tossed the letter her way. Sakura quickly grabbed it and looked through the contents while Ino observed over her shoulder.

"When the shining sun sets into the horizon, I shall appear before thine eyes, I will await you at the border, my request is that you begin to make your way there." - An Acquaintance.

"Ew, it sounds so cheesy," Ino whispers.

"Is this really an acquaintance of yours?" He asks.

Both Sakura and Ino looked at one another before taking a seat across from him once again, deciding on telling them the full truth with the hope that they could somehow help them out. While Karin and Suigetsu took a seat near the table, quietly observing our conversation.

"Well, to be honest…" Sakura mumbles, "I- well, we ran away from home because there's this someone who wants to marry me…" while quietly looking down at the basket full of apples.

"Pffft, who would want to m-" Karin stops as Suigetsu quickly covers her mouth, "Just ignore her."

Ignoring them, Ino then adds, "Yeah for some reason the first prince of Tanbarun wants to marry her, which I don't see why they would," to which causes the boy on the other side to abruptly stand up, "You mean, Neji!?" he yells out before clearing his throat, "was the first name… of that idiot prince, wasn't it?"

The both of them quickly nod their heads, "Yeah, so we ran away hoping that he'd forget about us…" Sakura says before reaching out to grab one of the apples, looking it over, "Although clearly, our running was futile."

"He probably ordered a full search, including a check of the border crossing records, it would be impossible to escape through the border,"

"He would go that far, huh…" Sakura sighs, unsure of how to process all this.

Sakura looks over at the apple in hand, noticing how it was starting to rot up, "it seems as if this apple is starting to go bad…maybe no one would want me too…" she mumbles, only to gasp in surprise, realizing all eyes were on her, "I mean that was all a joke, no need to take that seriously."

Ino worriedly regards her, wondering why she would say something like that. While the boy slowly gets up and walks towards where Sakura was seated. Out of the blue, he grabbed onto the wrist which held the apple and extends it towards his mouth, taking a small bite from it. Sakura's eyes widened while Ino just gaped up at him in surprise, wondering what he was doing.

"That's so impolite, you have hands for a reason Sasuke," Suigetsu sighs from where he was seated.

Sasuke looks over at him before blurting out, "No one asked you," coughing a couple of times.

"Eat first, talk after or else you're going to end up choking yourself to death." Suigetsu laughs out while Karin glares at Suigetsu.

Sakura quietly observes the now eaten part of the apple, before blurting out, "I said something stupid, sorry…"

Sasuke looks behind to regard her, before saying, "Sakura, don't eat that apple," before slowly stumbling from where he was standing. "Suigetsu, Karin… don't… get mad…" while slowly falling to his doom. Suigetsu and Karin quickly stands up and rush over to Sasuke, catching him in the nick of time.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" Karin yells out worriedly.

Sakura rubs the side of the apple against her bandaid arm before smelling it, only to gasp in surprise. All eyes turn her way as she then yells out,

"The Apple…it was poisoned!"

Author's Note:

Some of the scenes were changed so that they sounded better. I decided to make Prince Raj as Neji because I had a small idea for his family, regarding the Hyuga that is. The contents of the letter were written exactly the same as from the anime, so not my idea! Also, let's pretend that the colour red is somewhat common in this story while pink isn't. And for those who've already seen the original anime, you probably have an idea of what's going to happen next. I hope you enjoyed this and please do leave a review to let me know if I should continue this or not.