A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update but I wasn't at home for the last three weeks and i'll be off again in a week. But i'll continue writing while i'm in vacations so i'll update again when i'll come back, I promise.

Chapter 1: The letter

Four years has passed since that awful night. Sakura, now ten years old, was staying at the Yamazaki house and being with them for so long, the servants began to treat her as the daughter of their master. Only the count and the countess Yamazaki and their oldest servant George knew the real identity of the girl, not even their son Takashi. Yamazaki Tsujiai was in his study, remembering the day he accepted to shelter the emerald eyed princess. It has been a great surprise to him when the court's magician showed up late one night with the girl in his arms but regarding the situation more closely, he had no doubt as to why he was the one chosen to protect Sakura.

His county was on the border of the two greatest kingdoms, the Kinomoto and the Li clan. If there was trouble in the kingdom, the only place the king could have sent his daughter is to his ally, the Li kingdom. Being the subject of Queen Yelan and being so close to King Fujitaka, the count earned the respect of both kingdoms. The only thing that bothered him was the unanswered question as to why send her here rather than the Li castle? After all, the King did send him a few letters telling him that dark times were coming and that she must be kept safe at all cost. A scream suddenly broke his trail of thoughts. He smiled recognizing the voice. Glancing at his watch, he confirmed his suspicions. Takashi, probably tired to wait for Sakura to wake up obviously played a prank on her. It was starting to be a habit. Oh well, he thought, it brings life to the house. Shaking his head lightly, he went back to work.

Sakura was having a fantastic dream. She was finally passing the ultimate test for knighthood after years of training. Slowly, she passed a great door when a ghost appeared from nowhere. She sat up straight, wide awake, when something started crawling up her leg from under her bed. An ear-piercing scream escaped from her lips when she realized with horror that the ghost had followed here from her dream into her room.

"Help! Somebody help!" The little girl yelled out, shutting her emerald eyes not wanting to see the creature in front of her and curled into a small ball with her coverts over her head. She waited fearfully until the ghost suddenly…laughed? Sakura stood up angrily to face her friend and brother.

"Yamazaki Takashi! How dare you scare me like that, you beast! I could have died and…and…" But she stopped when she saw him hunched over in laughter tears in his eyes and decided to stomp on is foot with all my strength instead.

"I'm sorry cherry blossom, but it was just so funny and I know how scared of monsters you are." He said calming himself with great difficulty. The auburn haired girl noticed that he used her nickname to try to soothe her anger but she wouldn't let that happen.

"You just wait until I tell what happened to Chiharu." She said menacingly and seeing the disbelieving look he gave her, and she smiled with satisfaction knowing that she won. Mihara Chiharu was a nobleman's daughter and has known Takashi since they were four. Although they always bickered, they loved each other for as long as she remembered and were recently betrothed. Chiharu was also the one of the only person that could keep Takashi under control and Sakura knew that she wouldn't let Takashi go unharmed after what he just done to her.

"Well you see Sakura, the thing is that I came in to see if you were alright when I heard a noise from under your bed. Concerned I wanted to see what it was when you woke up. I wanted to make sure that the monster wouldn't harm you. By the way, did you know that humans and monsters coexisted before? In fact, humans…" But he was cut of by a hand grabbing his ear.

"How many times I'll have to tell you to stop lying!" A girl with long brown hair exclaimed, her brown eyes glaring into Takashi's black ones. The boy gave her an innocent look.

"What are you talking about Chiharu? I was telling the truth!"

But his fiancée didn't let go of his ear and dragged his out of Sakura's bedroom, leaving the other girl confused. He was lying? Shaking her head angrily at herself for believing his stories once again, she dressed quickly and ran to join the couple.

The three of them were playing in the gardens by a lake when George, an old servant that Sakura adored, brought a letter to Takashi. It seemed like a very normal letter but that letter changed our lives.

The raven haired boy read it in silence for a moment and then let out a loud whoop.

"It's an invitation to the Li kingdom to train at the castle to become a knight! I have to leave tomorrow morning to arrive there for the opening ceremony in the evening." He cried jumping up and down.

Sakura knew that she should be happy at the moment and congratulate him but she couldn't. He just obtained what she secretly hoped for all her life, the chance to become a knight. Giving a weak smiled she excused herself and walked away, not noticing the worried looks the others exchanged. She felt horrible. She always trained with Takashi and followed all his classes with his weapon master. He always complimented her and regretted that she wasn't a boy because apparently she had a talent in the art of combat. She even got her own staff and dagger and her very own padded suit! But what was the use of that if she couldn't have a real training! To top it all, the Li kingdom was renowned for being the best in the way they train there knights. A sigh beside her caught her by surprise. Turning her head she saw George walking by her side.

"What is it little princess? It's not like you to look sad, you're usually the one that tells everyone to be happy." The kind old man said gently.

Tears started to blur her vision and soon she was crying her eyes out, telling him everything and how she sometimes dreamed that she was a boy and was being named a knight. After her story they stayed in silence for a long time when George finally spoke.

"Is it really what you want?" He asked hesitantly. Sakura nodded, unsure of what was happening.

"Then I'll have to talk to my master." And with that he left.

The ten year old girl didn't move for what seemed an eternity, trying to understand what he meant. Giving up, she walked back towards the house. She was almost there when she changed her mind and went towards the stables instead. She went straight away to a lovely honey colored mare with a white spot on her forehead. It was her favorite of them all for she was calm, gentle and very beautiful. The family got her when she was a little foal and Sakura named her Moonlight. When she was with her, she always scolded at herself for being afraid of heights since she really wanted to ride her but never managed to put her courage together and learn. Sakura started grooming her, patting her soft white mane trying to forget why she felt so down. It was so egoistic of her! She will go to the house and be happy for Takashi and wish him luck. Determined she got up, and kissed the nose of the lovely horse.

She was only half way when she saw Takashi walking towards her with his father Tsujiai. The later looked at Sakura and with a gesture of his hand dismissed Takashi making it clear that he wanted to talk to Sakura alone. He led her to the gardens and sat on a bench, indicating the place next to him and waited for the girl to do the same.

"George told me everything." The count simply said his eyes meeting hers. She hung her head, a little ashamed of the scene she made earlier.

"I'm sorry if George bothered you before because of me." Was all Sakura managed to say. The count chuckled lightly causing her to raise her head.

"You should have told me all that before. I always knew you liked to train but not that much. George convinced me this morning to do something I would never have dreamed to do, but since being a knight is so important to you, I will do it. I will send you with Takashi to the castle to become a page." He paused, waiting for her to object, saying it was impossible but she only stared at him open-mouthed so he continued. "We will have to cut your hair though and buy you clothes. You will have to be very careful too and try to act like a boy or it won't work but still act casual so it won't look to suspicious…" He continued for a while but Sakura wasn't listening.

Her wildest dream was taking place! She will have to work extremely hard but it was possible! She hugged her foster-father cutting off his breath and ran to the house to tell everyone the good news and to thank George for what he did for her. What seemed to be the worse day of her life turned out to be the best of them all!

Well that's it for this chapter!

Thanks a lot to:

dbzgtfan2004, f-zelda, Snowy Azn Angel and ImperialGuardian09 for reviewing it's very encouraging!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter And enjoy your holidays!