Chapter title comes from an old movie I hadn't seen, but only the title, on the TCM channel, "The Lady Refuses".

During this first scene, discussions about women in this time happens to be the same monologue in the 1987 movie.

Chapter Three

The Pink-Haired Lady Refuses

There was nothing better than a wonderful horse race with Shisui - and he was beat this time, after more wins than his cousin, but there was no malice in their competition.

Now they walked over the bright red bridge from the stables and the track grounds back to the manor and its lush gardens, the water calm but illuminated by the shining sun overhead. The snow had long since melted, though the cold lingered, and the gardens were dead at the moment. But it wouldn't be long before the plum blossoms would arrive...

The talk was the usual about women: it was always difficult to find the ideal wife, when there was no such thing as complete perfection even if you made yourself look so on the outside.

Here was what Shisui had to say: "If I could give what little experience I have -" Which was a boast, of course, in contrary to what was really factual. "- it is nice to watch upper-class women grow up pampered by attendants, but then you know they lack personality if you are acquainted further," he finished with a scowl.

Itachi agreed and disagreed at the same time. Izumi did grow up pampered as his cousin said, though she wasn't selfish or lacked personality as mentioned. She was the kindest woman he'd met that she could have been mistaken for his mother whom he faintly remembered as a child. So had Hikaru before she died shortly after he married.

"Yet," Shisui added with a coy twinkle, "some people of humble status could also be suspect. There might be a chance I can find myself a good girl from a quiet, middle class home and be the happiest man in the world. With these girls, you can find that the unexpected sharpens your interest in her."

The unexpected sharpens your interest in her...

Just like a certain rosette he knew he had to one day have since it wasn't frowned upon in this society, though his mind at the back reminded him that his wife adored her chief handmaiden as a true friend. Which was why he intended to find out if Sakura was willing to accept him or not.

It was cruelty, if you asked him, to not consider the woman's feelings, since his side might have the right to have more without fear of the consequences, but even that could go too far. If anyone heard Itachi Uchiha say so, he was in deep with the fishes.

In the meantime, he and Shisui went on about how women who were too kind made their husbands faithless far too soon, but strong-minded women forgot their charms.

Sakura was strong-minded, he was told. Though he would see if he could get her to melt that structure down bit by bit if it could be just the two of them...

~o~

The plum blossoms would soon be in bloom, perhaps in a few days before the new season would begin. She could hardly wait, but the viewing of the cherry blossoms would always be the best time.

When the ume flowers would arrive in shades of pink, white and yellow even, it would mark the end of the brutal, deadly winter and the beginning of new life. Such was the transience her people obsessed and mourned over, but she did her best to ignore such things and make the best of it all. Just like her mistress tried.

That husband of hers, no matter if he was the Crown Prince or not, had been away since winter began. Sakura understood why the avoiding, no matter the norm, but he could have at least stayed with his wife he claimed to care so much about. There was just something about a man having more than one woman that just made her so uncomfortable, but it wasn't like she had the right to tell anyone - not even Princess Izumi.

Prince Itachi was the most handsome, most beautiful man ever seen that women swooned over him. And many of them claimed it to be love since their hearts were uncontrollable; she remembered feeling that way with Prince Sasuke when they were children, before he died. When the epidemic took him, her heart had shattered beyond repair, and for some months before her family left the Imperial Court for the Miyazaki household, she left flowers she picked to place at the young prince's tomb...

...and the very first time she did that was when she met his older brother, the heir himself.

Sakura had been intimidated by him, but when she left, she was haunted by him and had no idea why. She eventually dismissed it as foolishness and went on with her life; to become then Lady Izumi's servant was a nice change that helped her rise to the position she was now, as her chief lady-in-waiting. Hard work since childhood, including the medicines she learned to create from under the tutelage of the head physician, paid off. Making medicines and music, too, were her greatest passions above everything else.

In fact, in the present, Princess Izumi was just talking to her about what they all could do when her husband and his entourage came to visit them. The thought of the prince, whom she encountered occasionally but never had longer moments with, coming here made something inside her excited in a way she couldn't understand. Perhaps it's just because...

"I look forward to it, Sakura," her lady was saying as she helped the older girl prepare that morning, first helping her into the brand new, simple purple kimono lined inwardly with pink. "The sweet ume with their uplifting perfumes, their purple leaves...even those delightful fruits."

And those fruits not only sumptuous to have with rice, but to make the best wine there is.

It was a shame that there were some parts of this country who considered plum blossoms a bad omen and therefore placed them near the "Demon's Gate", in the northeast where evil in every form lived. This innocent flower had NO right to such misunderstanding...but if you stopped to pay more attention, you would see it was meant to ward off danger, not to attribute to the fact.

Before now, she'd been informed the prince arrived, and she had to go out and greet him as per custom by kneeling before him, well aware his eyes were intently on her and did her best to ignore it.

He was gone then, thanking her and asking her to tell her lady he was here, while on his way to seek Kazue Miyazaki, Izumi's great-aunt who was still alive even now, which was odd compared to the longevity of the average woman. The same could be said of his grandfather, Emperor Madara.

Sakura now was done readying the princess after brushing her hair with this magnificent comb that her mother left her before she died: butterflies and flowers carved into the delicate, fair wood while there was an inlay of pearl from the seashores.

She had to ask her mistress when they were finished. "You are not still ailing, are you, my lady?"

Izumi laughed and picked up her comb, fingering it mildly. "Not at all. Even if I was truly ill from worrying so much, your herbal remedies work wonders."

"...an ingenious hand it is to keep you alive and well before my arrival, my dearest wife."

And there indeed was the man himself, outside the screen door, but Sakura avoided looking at him altogether. She knew what the man's intentions were without words exchanged, but if her mistress noticed, she said nothing. "I shall leave you be, my lady," she told Izumi, bowing her head once and then getting up to open the door, quickly slipping past him despite the heavy layers of her kimono. Anything to get away from you.

He never did anything TO her, but the fact she had no desire to be a concubine was what controlled her actions. If anything, she'd rather have an honorable marriage and thus ensure security.

If she had anything to say about it, she would tell him herself.

"It's been too long, wife," she heard him say, then peeked around the curtain by a little to see him close to her, holding one hand in his. Izumi leaned her head into his shoulder, then closed her eyes in content, savoring the closeness. "If only the winter wasn't so dangerous, and then I would have come here and stayed before the storms began. If only my duties..."

The princess shushed him, rocking into him. "You're here now. That's more than enough for me...except for some reason, I don't feel any warmer than I wanted to be. There is something troubling me," she confessed, and only Sakura knew what it was, since she was the only real friend her mistress could confide in. The thought in the maid's mind came out through the lips of the prince's wife.

"Itachi, rather than only enough...when are you going to open your heart all the way?"

But Itachi said nothing to that, the guilt present in his eyes.

Somehow, a little bit of Sakura softened at the sight, knowing a tiny fragment of WHY he was the way he was.

~o~

Since winter ended in the following month, the ume blossoms graced the lands with their sweet beauty before the new season, and that was more than enough of a blessing.

All the more reason to enjoy the purple leaves attached to close-petaled flora in shades of pink, white and sometimes yellow, which informed all that spring came sooner as a sign only. And for it to be a symbol of protection of every wicked form, like demons.

But note this: health was another factor, to which this flower would work as means to help all men and women start their lives over in a much better way. Simply put, it was a good luck emblem.

It's a sad shame you can't find plum blossoms everywhere like you can find cherry blossoms.

The weeks that followed were spent with prayers to the gods and games played as well as the finest sake served. Music filled the air. There was never one dull moment. It was Itachi's time to show off amongst the archers, showing all that he wasn't yet rusted as an old sword. When the winds were calm yet the air still a bit cold, their joyful spirits weren't dampened. The sun was shining so that nothing was grim and dark anymore, until next time.

It was then that he found himself looking first at his wife, smiling at her...but then it shifted - briefly - to the sweet woman behind her. Beneath that he was sure lay a core of steel swords were forged from. If this event means that we need all the luck and fresh starts we can get, then I'll be needing it...

Vibrant grass-colored eyes were the first to break contact with his so to avoid tongues wagging if anyone noticed. Disappointed, Itachi returned his focus back to the tournament.

Later on, the tea ceremony was held outside, so to engage in conversation from all sides, as well as to read verses and play music...and this was when Izumi announced that while she had a poem of her own, Sakura had a song to play.

It was something she concocted together and had another handmaiden join in - this one being blonde and blue-eyed, apparently close to Sakura than any of the others - and was composed of the flute held by the girl and Sakura's koto, as well as the one instrument his wife could play: the drum.

I feel...at ease listening to a song of the ume blossoms.

Knowing SHE wrote it made all the difference, paying tribute to the ever rising desire in his body which was the most natural thing in the world. It was then he decided that when night came and it would be the two of them, he had to be the man who went to her. There was no telling if it would work or not.

And when night fell, he chose to let his long hair out of its tie so that she would find him irresistible just as he found her to be.

The chief lady-in-waiting had a room of her own, and he was making way for that destination as soon as there were no other servants around - and ensuring his wife might not need her for the rest of the night.

~o~

Playing her music always made her feel good about herself, but so had her mistress' poem. The words seemed to rapture her husband.

"From weeping branches in the dead of winter, I sober and awaken. Sweetest fragrance, sweetest hue, I am yours until the singing birds of spring. Have me while I last, for the unforgiving cold ought not kill truest joys..."

To another's ears, it would seem like Izumi was telling her husband that he should start taking advantage of their marriage more often than he used to, and that would mean learning to finally let go of his past. Because that was what Sakura knew better than anyone else. As far as I am concerned, I'd say His Highness is still stuck in the past despite living in the present. And the princess has done enough of what she could.

The sad truth was that while women were entitled to enough rights, they had no willpower to fight back if their lovers made them unhappy in any way, if they chose to go back to their wives. Which was also why she refused to become the prince's mistress, if those were his intentions...

That night after the festivities were done for now, Sakura retired to her chambers, but for some reason, she couldn't sleep. The reason she was here, and still dressed but settling on reading some scrolls written by known authors for the sake of it, was due to the fact Prince Itachi insisted on giving her the night off so he could take care of his wife for her.

The rosette tried not to get angry, only hoping he was following through on any of his promises to Izumi...but she should have expected there had been another reason behind it.

She sat behind a screen of gold, painted with a graceful dark tree branch sprouting all over with the blossoms she was named for in shades of red and pink. But her attention was shifted away at a noise that caught her attention. Jerking her head behind her, Sakura saw the person who intruded on her private space - and gasped sharply when she saw HIM standing there. And with his long hair down which she tried not to be distracted by...!

"Your -!"

He cut her off with a simple finger to his lips, and she fell silent. Not because she didn't want anyone to know Princess Izumi's husband was in her rooms, but she didn't wish for any malicious gossip to spread about herself.

She made the mistake of looking into his eyes and seeing the smolder in them, like coals within fire. He was still in his kimono of maroon over black, and he took in her in cream over green matching her eyes, and lush red trousers. It was THE worst mistake of her life, for he was heading her way, and she quickly stood to get away from him.

She should have counted on the fact he was stronger than her, for his hands first grabbed her and turned her back around to face him...and smashed his lips down onto her.

Despite the bruising force, there was a warmth that made her feel tender and safe, reassured, but it couldn't happen. Sakura managed to break it off and turned her face away, then her body, but that got her cream-colored layer off easily, and next to come as she made way for the outside of the so-called protective screen was the shirt - which ended up exposing her breasts which she had to turn away as quickly as she could.

But when they ended up on the floor, she felt the rest of her clothes torn from her body and had never felt so uncomfortable and ashamed. This man must have forgotten his morals, if he ever had any!

"STOP!"

The word hadn't awoken anyone, but she hissed it aloud in hopes of getting him to stop, and he did. He just stayed there, some feet away and holding the last of her wardrobe in his hands, breathing heavily and impatiently...but there was also a lost and confused aura now. She refused to let her guard down.

Sakura's long pink hair covered her in the back, but she had to bring both her legs over to hide that sacred, unspoken part as well as cover her naked breasts with both arms. "You...shouldn't...be here. I won't become your lover, Your Highness."

"I couldn't stop thinking about you," he rasped out, desperately. "I had to know if you felt the same way as I do."

She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. He was trying to tell her the depths of his heart, but it wouldn't work that way. The kind of love described in the great stories and poems was longed for but carried great risk, as did real life. It was exciting but also threatening. If she were to ever have a man, it had to be honorable.

Itachi was close behind her now, but he didn't touch her. "Your hair...it's enchanting. I detect roses and pears, but what else?"

He was trying to change the subject, but also trying to ease the constriction between them. "Don't change the topic, Your Highness."

"Itachi. Please, call me just Itachi."

"Itachi," she repeated, wishing she could shrink, "don't bother tormenting me now. I love your wife too much to betray her, and I can't forsake my honor by becoming your concubine. There is nothing gained out of it, except an uncertain future afterwards." Since saying those words made her regain some of her dignity back, she found the courage to open her eyes and look over her shoulder to meet with him.

"Please, understand: I want a solid marriage and nothing uncertain. I can't betray the princess just to satisfy you, my lord."

He now appeared to be more wounded than before, which was not something everyone in court saw everyday, but he wouldn't be the only one. In public, you always had to suppress your emotions. But here he was so vulnerable and lost...

"And cherry blossoms are in my scent," she told him, just to try and make him smile a little, though it didn't seem to work. He just nodded once.

"Forgive me, Sakura. I sometimes don't know myself as well as I thought I did. I used to hold back my feelings, but it seems I no longer can." He looked her square in the eyes. "You remember that day we met...at Sasuke's grave. I wasn't enraptured by you at first, but you intrigued me because I have never known a woman like you. There aren't any others like you, none who can stand out with your knowledge of herbs besides music..."

That was the first time a man - a real man - ever spoke to her like that and meant it, but why did it have to be like this? He couldn't stay here, even though she wanted to talk to him more. She needed her clothes back, her pride back, and she needed her sleep.

"Just go...before someone sees you here. Go back to my lady."

Itachi backed away without a fight. She won the round, but there were many more to come, and she knew it. She just wished it wouldn't end badly, though it wasn't guaranteed. And if her mistress ever found out, there was no telling what their friendship and trust would become.

Before departing, the prince handed her the robes he forcibly removed from her, no longer looking at her, but off to the side which was where the doorway was. "...forgive me the next time we are alone."

The fact is that despite the fact plum blossoms today are regarded (if not as highly) as favorably as cherry blossoms, they were planted near the so-called Demon's Gate mentioned in order to warn of dangers if you crossed it.

The song Sakura, Izumi and the blonde handmaiden (Ino, though not named) was "Plum Blossoms" by Derek and Brandon Fiechter. :'D Take a listen on YouTube!

I've also been...hesitant when bringing the moment between Itachi and Sakura to life. Like I said, it's hard to grasp in today's standards, but remember it was NORMAL in those days, and readers of Genji as well as viewers of the media versions called it romantic and a "gentle rape" at the same time. Though no sex has taken place between these two here, I promise you. (two fingers crossed)

Reviews are much loved in great detail - but NO flames. :O