A/N: The beginning of the end.


Just before dawn the next morning, messengers were sent through Konoha to alert the townspeople of the wedding once more.

Needless to say, everyone was in an uproar, racing back and forth to get ready for the celebration and to greet their next-in-line.

As Shien watched them run about from her chambers, the bright morning sky still heavy with shadows, she sighed heavily and turned to look at the little packed bag sitting on her neatly-made bed.

In fifteen minutes, Kisame and Itachi would arrive to take her back to get ready for the invasion. In fifteen minutes, her life with Naruto and Sasuke would end.

She didn't think she was ready yet.

She still had to give them a proper goodbye before Tsunade attacked. Sasuke was holed up in a rehearsal with his father (and still a little standoffish due to his stress), and as far as she knew, Naruto would be helping the other servants with some last-minute adjustments to the chapel.

She shuddered. The chapel. She could've sworn that, when she was heading to her room the night before, that she'd seen a shadowy figure watching her from the open doorway. A bright ruby eye had stared at her and had spooked her into running back to her room and holing up in her bed for a good hour and a half before she could finally fall asleep.

She was lucky that the henge she'd cast removed any trace of the scars on her bicep, as well as the tattoo on her arm, one that she'd gotten a few nights after she defected: a black omega with a red circle inside. The end to a bloody cycle. The red sun dawning over Fire. The official symbol of Riot.

She made up her mind, changing into the green qipao fighting dress she'd bought in the village, as well as some black biker shorts. She slipped on some black travelling sandals that went up halfway to her knee, slipped a knife into the holster at her side, got the bag and left.

She walked down to the chapel, rehearsing what she would say. As she rounded the corner, she ran into Kisame (who was clad in a black travelling cloak).

"Whoa there!" He exclaimed, steadying her before she could stumble backwards.

"Kisame, hey," she breathed, looking up into his face.

"You look great, kid. Itachi's finishing up his mission, and then we gotta get you outta here. Riot's going to attack very soon."

"Great, but I need to say goodbye to Naruto first." She nodded firmly, looking past him. "I'll meet up with you near the staircase!"

"Got it! Good luck." He saluted her with a toothy smile and slunk away just as she began running down the hall.

When she ran past the staircase to the base floor, she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of Mikoto near a fallen Naruto. He seemed to be unconscious, and the woman looked far too calmly down at him, her hands on his shoulders. Something in her stance was off; she was too relaxed, almost as if she were a boneless doll.

"Y- your highness," she stammered, taking a step back.

"Ah, Shien." She smiled at the girl, but it was full of hidden venom. "Lovely dress. Where are you off to?"

"T- to the fitting room, to try on the gown," she replied, stepping back again.

"Ah yes, your dress rehearsal is coming up with Sasuke-chan, isn't it." The woman mused, crossing the hallway. "Are you excited?"

"Very much, ma'am." Sakura nodded and stilled her hand near her thigh holster, just in case.

"I was too, right before my wedding day," the queen reminisced fondly. She pulled something from a pouch at her side, and Sakura realized in horror that it was a tranquilizer. "You've felt it too, yes? Riot is going to attack very soon."

"So I've heard," she said as calmly as she could. "Wh- what's wrong with Naruto? Why did you knock him out?"

"I am the protector of this family," Mikoto's voice was vacant, hollow, as if she wasn't herself. (To Sakura's horror, she realized that this was one of her wedding vows.) "When my husband, the sovereign reigning king, is proven unable, I am to take the mantle and do whatever it takes to keep my people safe."

In one flying leap that felt too unnaturally stiff for Mikoto's generally graceful movements, she lunged at the pinkette.

Sakura shrieked and managed to dodge just in time to send the monarch tumbling unceremoniously to the ground, the syringe clattering along the marble.

She was slow to get up, and the cool, logical part of Sakura's brain screamed at her to run. The older woman's eyes were a darker inky-black than usual, and any warmth that was usually there was completely void.

She barely caught a glimpse of a black seal on the back of her neck, just under the back of her shirt. Suddenly, it clicked.

"Where's the puppetmaster? Is this that damned snake's work?" Sakura thought frantically, trying to think of just where Madara's vessel, or her teacher's old friend, could be. "Where is that son of a bitch traitor?!"

Just as Mikoto opened her mouth to say something, the palace rumbled and shook to its foundations as a loud explosion rocked the west wing.


Sasuke was hurrying back to Shien's room, a small handful of flowers in hand.

He wanted to apologize for leaving her out to dry. He felt guilty that he'd even thought about shouting at her for mentioning Sakura - tensions were already high, and she certainly didn't need him making her feel worse about it. Then preparations had separated them for longer than he'd wanted - and if he wanted to smooth things over before the ceremony, this was his last chance to do so.

Just as he turned the corner, he bumped into a stranger wearing a dark cloak.

"Excuse me, young sir," the stranger's voice lilted in a deep tone. He didn't even look at the young prince as he moved to pass him.

"You can't just bump into me without apologizing, sir." Sasuke sternly reprimanded, turning to stare at his back. "State your name and I...-"

As soon as he spoke, the stranger turned, and he could see a faint blood-red pair of eyes staring back at him. The moment he noticed the black ponytail spilling out from under the hood and realized who he'd ran into, an explosion wracked the entire building down the hall, smoke billowing into the hallway as he was momentarily thrown to the ground from the blast.

In one move, his head smacked against the marble and his eyes were rolling into the back of his head, the blinding pain fading away just as quickly as the vision of Itachi did from his eyes. He reached out for him, his brother's name on his lips, before everything went black.


A/N: Please tell me what you thought.