Sakura and the Prince of Flowers
By Angel Maxwell

Author's note- I realized this chapter would run too long so I decided to split it up into two chapters. I hope nobody minds an extra chapter of 'Sakura's Adventures in Sand Land.' Please tell me what you think. As always, thank you to everyone who reads my stories.

Chapter 11: "She's Our New Maid"

The morning of Sakura's first day of work found her wrapped around a toilet, her mop and bucket abandoned in the corner of the bathroom. She had already puked up everything she'd eaten for breakfast, but continued to wretch miserably, clinging onto the porcelain fixture just in case. Morning sickness was something Sakura knew she would have to just accept, but still she couldn't help thinking: If Lee loved me so damn much, how could he do this to me?

"Jeez, Pinky, are you okay?" Lifting her head, Sakura saw that the speaker was Temari framed in the bathroom doorway. "I got a little worried 'cause it sounded like you were barfing up a lung in here."

"I'm sorry," Sakura replied nervously. "I didn't mean to put off my duties, and on my very first day… I just got a little sick on my stomach. I'll get back to work in just a minute Miss Kazekage."

Temari rolled her eyes. "Okay, first of all, you have to cut out the Miss Kazekage crap. Just call me Temari, okay? Second, you've been throwing up for like an hour. You're obviously sick, and I'm afraid you might have to miss your first day."

"I'm not sick," Sakura protested. "Just let me work, please."

"Not sick… So then what gives? Are you pregnant or somethin'?" the blonde joked. The girl on the bathroom floor turned red-faced and didn't deny what Temari had asked. "Oh my god. You are pregnant."

"Please don't make a big deal out of it," Sakura spoke calmly, but the older girl was now very curious.

"This has to do with why you left the Leaf, doesn't it?" she asked eagerly. "So what happened, you sleep with Naruto behind pretty-boy Uchiha's back?"

"Um, no…"

But Sakura's short reply didn't satisfy Temari. "So then it was Sasuke that knocked you up, eh? Maybe you got pregnant on purpose to try to rope Uchiha into marrying you? That would explain what you said about doing something you're not proud of. So, am I getting closer, Pinky?"

"Not by a long-shot," Sakura huffed. She had decided in that moment that she didn't much care for Temari, and would probably be counting down the days until Gaara returned. He was scary, but at least he minded his own business. "I told you, I don't want to talk about it."

Evidently, Temari had noticed the irritated tone in Sakura's voice and took a step back. "Whoa, didn't mean to piss you off. Just curious is all. You don't really seem like the unwed teenage mother type to me. But hey, no matter what the situation is, it can't be that bad. At least the father isn't some weirdo… like that freak with the big eyebrows. I mean… not to be rude or anything, but I think it might be better that the guy bit the dust before he got the chance to reproduce. 'Cause, man, those would be some butt-ugly kids…"

"Temari, please!" Sakura stammered, shocked at the blonde's audacity. "How can you say such a terrible thing about someone who's deceased? He was your brother's friend, Temari!" As she glared at the Kazekage, she had to bite down on her lip to keep herself from yelling out what she was really feeling. Her inner Sakura was roaring. How dare she call my baby ugly! I ought to whup her ass into a bloody pulp!

As soon as Sakura realized that she was having her first protective maternal moment, her face turned pink with embarrassment. It was an almost imperceptible reaction, but Temari's keen eye noticed. She let out a gasp of disbelief.

"No way! You and the eyebrow guy! Eeewwww! That is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard! I can't believe you humped that guy! Man, I thought you had better taste than that!"

Sakura pulled herself up to her feet. Her empty stomach was now filled with utter revulsion at her host and it felt hot and painful. Still, she kept her feelings inside. "I have work to do," she growled. And as she shoved roughly past Temari she added one last statement. "I wouldn't expect you to listen to any suggestion I give, but if you actually have a heart in that hollow chest, would you please keep what you've just learned to yourself?"

For the rest of the day, the young maid carefully orchestrated her cleaning of the Kazekage's palace so that she was never in the same room as Temari. She couldn't remember ever taking such an immediate dislike to anybody before. Even Naruto, who in his younger days had annoyed Sakura to no end, could not compare to Temari in shear insufferableness. As she moved from one huge, seemingly useless, room to the next, dusting, waxing, and scrubbing, she began to formulate an escape plan in her head. By the time she had finished her work for the day, the captive woman had made up her mind to get the hell out of this place.

Her quarters were in the basement, just a tiny, stuffy room with a stiff, uncomfortable bed to sleep on. It was already past midnight when Sakura returned to this room, but she had other things to attend to before she went to sleep. After Temari had been so rude to her, the maid didn't feel much guilt about raiding the supply closet on the third floor. Now she sat, clutching a mortar and pestle, angrily grinding some dark brown tree bark into powder.

"I just hope this stuff works for dying hair," she grumbled. "I gotta disguise myself if I'm going to get outta here. Ugh! This stuff smells awful! Of course, I wouldn't be stuck here with that troll, Temari, if it weren't for the so-called 'Prince of Flowers.' That couldn't have been him… The little boy in my dreams was kind and gentle. He never would have led me into a trap and gotten me stranded in Suna. Yeah, that was probably just some prankster from the village. After all, my 'Prince' isn't real… just a dream."

Some thirty minutes later, the results of Sakura's hair-dying experiment were less than gorgeous. She had succeeded only in turning her lovely pink rose-colored hair a murky, splotchy brown. Even worse, her hair now stank like wet, molding wood. But, it was the best she could do in so little time, and she wasn't going to let her rather unappealing disguise keep her from her great escape.

She stalked catlike through the darkened palatial hallways, pausing every time she turned a corner to make sure the coast was clear. As she neared the decorative carved wood doors of the master bedroom, Sakura was particularly cautious. Inside this room, Temari was fast asleep, taking full advantage of her brother's exquisite bed. She was about to tiptoe past but was frozen in place when she heard voices behind the doors, two of them.

Shit, she thought. I'm busted! As she listened closer, however, Sakura realized that wasn't the cases. The voices didn't sound angry. They sounded… amorous? One of the speakers was clearly Temari, but the other, a male voice, sounded very familiar as well. Unable to help herself, Sakura stood there eavesdropping as opposed to escaping.

"Mmm… Bambi, your lips are so soft," Temari cooed.

"Trying to sweet talk me, eh?" her companion replied. "Troublesome woman. Mmm.. But you are a damn good kisser."

"Hell yeah! So, what excuse did you give your teammates this time?"

"Just the truth. I told them I was working on 'ninja relations with the sand.'"

"Well, I guess that's one way of putting it. Now come 'ere and let me show you how we do it in Suna… Mmmm…"

"I think you've already shown me everything, Miss Kazekage. Mmm… but I could use a refresher course. Uh… Say, I don't want to kill the mood, but should we really be doing this in your brother's bed?"

"He won't find out about it. I told you, Gaara doesn't know about us. And he never has to. Now, let's get you out of those pants…"

But the young man now seemed irritated. "Temari, we'll have to tell him eventually."

"Why?"

"Why? Because I'm tired of sneaking around like this! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want to have a real relationship with you. So let's just tell everyone we're dating and get it over with!"

"You don't know what Gaara's like! He… he hasn't been normal since the incident with Akatsuki. If he found out we were seeing each other… Who knows what he might do? I don't want you to get hurt!"

"Well, what if I don't care? Jeez, woman! You're twenty years old and you're scared of your little brother! If you're not grown-up enough to face him… then I don't think you're grown up enough to have a relationship. Now, where's my shirt? I'm leaving."

"Wait! Don't leave! Shikamaru!"

Temari's pleas were too late, though, and Sakura realized that she'd missed her best chance of escape. The bedroom doors flung open, sending a column of light into the hallway and the young made had to flatten herself against the wall to avoid being seen by Shikamaru as he stomped down the hallway.

"Wait!" Temari cried from the doorway. Her face looked sad and desperate, emotions Sakura didn't know the Sand ninja was capable of. "Just give me some time! I will tell him eventually!"

'Yeah, well call me when you actually do!" her cranky lover shouted back before vanishing into the end of the darkened hallway.

As the jilted Temari appeared to have slunk back into the master bedroom, Sakura decided to make her break. Yet she couldn't seem to get Temari's heartbroken expression out of her mind. It seemed almost like fate, therefore, when she turned around the corner and found herself face-to-face with the blonde.

"Sakura," Temari squeaked through a face full of tears. "What are you doing up so late?"

"I couldn't sleep," the Leaf nin lied. "So I was just taking a walk. Temari, are you okay?"

The older woman shook her head. "No, I'm not okay. Oh Sakura, I'm such a moron!" Then she did something that utterly shocked the young maid. She collapsed against her, sobbing, and then wrapped her arms around her.

Is… is she hugging me? Sakura wasn't even sure how to react.

"Sakura, what I said to you this morning…" Temari cried. "I don't know why I said those things. I know nothing about relationships… about sex… about love… I'm in no position to criticize anyone else's decisions. I'm so… I'm so…"

Sakura was baffled. Oh my god! Temari is hugging me! And now she's… apologizing? She's become a totally different woman from earlier today. The pink-haired girl held her breath, anticipating the apology she felt she deserved.

"Sakura, I'm so sor… Did you dye your hair?"

Miss Haruno had already begun to respond when Temari changed the subject. "Apology accep… Whuh? Dye my hair? Oh, uh… yeah, I colored it. I wanted to look different while I'm staying here. Why? Does it look bad?"

"Terrible," the older girl replied. "But I'll help you fix it tomorrow. You need to use blackmallow powder. It's the best hair dye you can find."

"Th-thank you," Sakura answered softly, caught off guard by the Kazekage's sudden niceness. "Temari, would you like to talk about your problems? I'll listen."

Temari straightened herself out and wiped her face with the silk sleeve of her pajamas. "Don't worry about it. I'll be okay. It's late. You should try to get some sleep, what with the little one and all."

"Alright," she whispered. "Goodnight, Temari." Then she walked back in the opposite direction than she had previously been going, returning to her stuffy little room and curling up in her stiff bed to go to sleep. In the morning she found two small jars placed outside her door. One was filled with blackmallow and had a note that said, 'for dying hair.' The other jar contained some sort of ginger blend and the note read, "for morning sickness.'

Although Sakura had temporarily shelved her plan to leave Suna, she decided to go ahead and use the blackmallow to color her hair, if for no other reason, than to cover up the atrocious job she'd done the night before. With a little water, the dark powder was able to stain her hair a rich mars black. Better still, it covered the previous dye's stench with the sweet smell of black licorice, just like she had smelled that night in the woods. The smell must have been from one of the guards who captured her that had dyed his hair and not from the little boy after all.

When Sakura entered the Kazekage's office to clean it, her blackened hair pulled back in a sloppy ponytail, she felt uncharacteristically shy around Temari. There were so many things she wanted to say about what had happened yesterday, but a quiet "hi" was all she could muster. It was still early, though. She figured that as the day wore on she would find her voice, and went about dusting the mammoth bookshelves that covered the office walls from floor to ceiling. Nothing could have prepared her for what happened next.

"Lady Kazekage," the administrative ninja said, poking her head inside the door. "A Mister Uzumaki Naruto is here to see you. Shall I let him in?"

"Go ahead," Temari replied, shooting her maid an odd look.

Sakura's heart was pulsing loudly. Naruto is here? Why? Why is Naruto here in Suna? No time to leave the room either! He'll see me! Her panic was slightly lessened when the scent of licorice reminded her that she had colored her hair. As long as she kept her face towards the bookshelves, she'd be fine. But why didn't she want him to find her? Didn't she want to get out of here? Sakura was sure that if anybody could get her out of Suna fast it was Naruto and all she would have to do is yell out to him when he stepped into the room. But when he entered the Kazekage's office, she remained silent, even as he desperately told Temari about his search for his runaway teammate. She just kept on dusting, trying to seem inconspicuous. Somewhere in her heart, she realized, she wanted to stay in Suna. There must be something she needed to accomplish here.

After Naruto left, Sakura still didn't say anything or turn around until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You okay there, Pinky?" Temari asked. "You seemed pretty uptight the whole time Fox Boy was in here."

"I'm fine," Sakura breathed. "But thank you for not ratting me out… and for the stuff you gave me this morning. Does my hair look better now?

The blonde girl gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up. "Sexy dynamite, babe. But I'm afraid I'm still going to have to call you Pinky." She paused and scratched the back of her neck somewhat nervously. "Err… I forgot to say it last night… But about the things I said about the eyebrow guy and about you… I was totally out of line and I'm truly sor…"

CRASH!

Temari's second attempt at apologizing was violently interrupted when the doors to the office flew open with crash. The quake knocked several books out of the bookshelves and onto the floor, and Temari and Sakura had to duck and cover their heads. When they looked up, a dark figure in a black hood and red face paint was standing in the doorway, fists clenched in anger.

"He left you in charge?" the young man roared. "I can't believe it! I'm gone for four days and when I get home this is the news I have to hear! That Gaara's gone off to god knows where and he chose you, of all people, to stand in for him!"

"Get a grip, Kankurou," the older sister urged. "You weren't even here, bro. I'm sure if you were, Gaara would have picked you."

"We both know that's not true!" Kankurou spat. "Gaara's always favored you over me, even though I'm just as talented a shinobi as you. Probably even better! But you, you're just a little kiss-ass! It's because you always mollycoddled him! I'd be a much more competent Kazekage than you!"

"Oh, shut up you dumbass!" Temari screeched. "For one thing, I'm older than you. Ever think that might be why Gaara trusts me more than you? And another thing, I am a way better shinobi than you puppet boy, so don't even start!"

The siblings growled fiercely at each other, and Sakura got the distinct impression that this sort of fight was commonplace between them. Still, she didn't want to have to see them rip each other's heads off, and, although it was a dangerous decision, she stepped between them before they could actually come to blows.

"Stop it! Both of you!" she stammered. "You're brother and sister and you're fighting about… about nothing! Is this how you always act?"

A significantly calmed down Temari shrugged. "Pretty much."

Kankurou meanwhile was more confused than placated. "Who the hell is this?"

"You remember Sakura, don't you?" his sister informed. "She's our new maid, I hired her this week. But you can't tell anyone she's here, kapisch?"

"Oh, so now you're just hiring people on whims?"

"Go play with your dolls!"

As the two sand siblings resumed snapping viciously back and forth at each other, Sakura got a tight, uneasy feeling in her chest. She'd decided to stay here in the palace in Suna, but was it the right decision? Could she really handle living with this dysfunctional family? And Gaara hadn't even joined them yet.

What have I gotten myself into?

To be continued…