Disclaimer : I own Naruto? How's that possible? ( If simple people do not understand that. It basically means no...)

Chapter 3 : A falling Princess

As Sakura ruffled her damp hair with a dry towel she gazed around the over-sized bedroom. The four-posted bed was opposite the bathroom door. Two cream-coloured couches were positioned near the opened doors that led onto the balcony. Opened?

Sakura moved toward her backpack where she had stored her weapons during her bath. She grabbed a kunai and took a deep breath. Your being paranoid, Sakura told herself. There were no signs of unknown chakra.

Approaching the balcony cautiously, she held the blade in attack position. A Cold breeze hit her already sweating face once she reached the doorway leading to the terrace. It felt refreshing.

Adrenaline was pumping through her veins and Sakura felt more awake than when she came out of the shower. Another draft came, making the curtains rustle in complaint. The Kunoichi saw movement outside. This was the time to attack. She jumped out and pierced the moving object.

It was hard to see and the only light came from a luscious, full moon. It took a minute for Sakura to register what she had just stabbed… nothing. The frown she showed was one of confusion. She brought her outstretched hand- with the kunai- toward her. The pink-haired girl had hit something. She slipped the piece of paper off her weapon and held it upwards, reading the word that was written on it by help from the moonlight.

Her eyebrows furrowed. She tightly clutched the rice paper and moved to the edge of the cement balcony. Sakura leaned on the stone railing and gazed down at pitch-blackness. Her eyes widened in realization. Her hand felt empty. She spun around, but it was to late. Pain seared through her abdomen. Her own kunai was plunged into her stomach. Sakura choked out a breath and looked up.

The assaulter was clad head to toe in a black shinobi outfit. The ninja moved forward and Sakura recoiled backwards. Her back collided with the balustrade. She was cornered the throbbing made it hard to focus. She could only do one thing; Sakura her fisted her hand and drew chakra to it. She lunged forward to punch him, however he grabbed her wrist before she could have made contact with his face.

The man rammed his free hand at the side of Sakura's head. She let out a raucous yell and regressed. Sakura thought the railing would block her from plummeting over the edge, but she was wrong when she fell and did not stop. Sakura reached out to grab anything, but what she got was not stable enough and the object cascaded down, screaming, with her.


Sasuke woke up with a start; he had an uneasy feeling floating in him. It was not the nightmare he had just had, but something he could not quite place.

He rubbed his tired face and fell back onto his pillows. If he did not know better Sasuke would have thought it day, because of the moon's illumination. He scoffed; a whole night of not waking up sweating and breathing heavily was not possible for the Uchiha.

Glossy dark eyes scanned the bed's curtained cover. Why anyone would put a roof on a four-posted bed was beyond him. Well it was better than sharing a room with Naruto. Sasuke would rather choose the nightmares than him.

He turned on his side still wide-awake. The real problem however was going back to sleep again. Sasuke closed his eyes, but immediately opened them when he heard a rustle of cloth near his bed. He grabbed the kunai he slept with and in a blink of an eye was behind the cloaked-person holding it to their neck.

"Who are you and what do you want?" the question was sharp and demanding. Silence was his answer and he drew his Kunai closer. Almost threatening without using words.

"I'm going to remove my hood," the girl's voice startled Sasuke, but his grip did not loosen. She moved to take away the dark cloth that was covering her face. She had a unique face; one would say it was classic beauty. Sasuke noted the dark, untidy, violet hair. Her eyes, which were indigo, showed intent to kill; however it was not as strong as Sasuke's. She spoke again, "My name is Gadeko Iyumi, the real princess of the rice field country and you must be one of the ninja from leaf?"

Sasuke slipped the weapon back into his holster, " I know," was all he said.

"You do? I suppose Konoha Shinobi's aren't that stupid."

"With an exception of one," Sasuke mumbled

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind, why are you in my room?"

" I came her to see your teammate, I believe her name is Sakura."

"Why would she be in here?" Sasuke looked skeptically at her.

" She was not in her room, so where else would she be?"

"Not here," the Uchiha responded, " wait you said she wasn't in her room?"

" Yes," Sasuke bolted for the door. He saw Sakura go into her room and scouted the hallway before he went to bed. She couldn't have gone out on her own, Sakura was not that stupid? "Where are you going?" Iyumi's voice penetrated through Sasuke's thoughts.

"I'm going to found out where she is," he stopped before the doorway and turned around, " Are you coming or not? I don't know the palace that well, but you with me I have an advantage."

" I cannot go out there…"

"Why not?" Sasuke asked, his tone hinted a little annoyance.

" They thought I left the country, that's why they called Sakura."

" Fine. Wait here, I'm going to go get my other teammate to stay with you," with that said Sasuke left.


Naruto awoke from his sleep by an unpleasant noise. Loud banging was not the best alarm a person could ask for.

He yawned and gave a muffled " I'm coming". The leaf-nin strode lazily toward the source of the racket and placed his hand on the door's handle.

"Sasuke…?"

" Naruto, Sakura's missing, I'm going to look for her."

"Sakura-chan's missing? How? When?" The blonde was now awake.

"There's no time to explain." Sasuke grabbed Naruto's shirt and dragged him to his room. Naruto, now disorientated, found himself in his teammate's room staring and a tense looking female. He grinned and scratched behind his head. Naruto did not notice the door clicking closed.


Sasuke opened the double doors, and examined the area; the bed was made, the lights were still on. He ambled, cautiously further into her room and made his way to the restroom.

The bathroom was steamy and humid. Sakura's daytime clothes lay crumpled on the bathroom floor. Sasuke crouched to pick it up when he heard a flapping sound. He stood and was in Sakura's bedroom once again.

The din was coming from a piece of rice paper that was caught on one of the white couch's legs. It nearly seemed like the paper was struggling to escape the piling's clutches.

Sasuke bent and unhooked the paper. He stared at it for a while and read what was written on it.

His head instantly jerked up to the direction of the terrace. Sasuke crumpled the manila, notepaper and darted toward the balcony.


A/n : My friends this is what I call a nasty cliffhanger, hehe. Hope you're still enjoying it though plz review. I also trust you guys love Masquerade. If you haven't read it shame on you... ok well see you soon.