Smultronställe

Chapter Two

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He was gone for just a mere couple of hours and without his presence the realm couldn't just function properly apparently. When he was off to the summit meeting of the Big Three, he didn't expect to come out and find that Sakura had crossed the gates.

Sasuke rarely got nervous about anything, but for some reason he couldn't stop his heart from thundering in his chest as his palms grew clammy at his sides. Even at where he was, he could hear Cerberus's loud barks and growls echoing throughout the realm, even more so than normal. Briskly, he made his way towards the front gates. When he crossed into the area, he knew something was up the moment the guards at the borders froze at his presence. Not even bothering to acknowledge their bows, Sasuke brushed passed them and headed towards the commotion near the river bank. The sight that he came to meet with had his blood boiling.

There laying on the ground, cowering in fear, was none other than Sakura herself. His onyx eyes immediately narrowed in on the guard that dared laid his hands on her. He watched as another guard reached out to him, whispering something in his ear. But even at his distance, he heard the words that were exchanged between them.

"Kai, I think that's enough. Cerberus is going to go on rampage, if you don't."

"Like that mutt knows anything."

Sasuke eyes narrowed even further at the guard's offensive comment towards his loyal pet. Unknowingly, his fists began to clenched at his side as he continued his way towards them. He couldn't believe that this lowly guard had the audacity to lay his hands on Sakura first of all. And then comment slurs on Cerberus. That gained him two strikes already.

"But it will alarm the King."

"As it should." Sasuke said icily as he made his presence known as he came up behind them to their absolute astonishment, cutting through the tension in the air.

Immediately, the guards snapped their mouths shut and went into position, bowing lowly at him. But after a second passed, Kai went down on one knee, kneeling at his feet, trembling. Sasuke paid no heed to him though, he would deal with that bastard later. Brushing pass everyone, he came up to Sakura and bent down towards her curled up body. Gently, he picked her up off of the ground and gave her body a quick once over as he made sure that she was stable to stand on her own two feet. As he did so, he watched as her head tilt up at him slowly. Then her emerald eyes widen in shock as she saw who he was and a gasp slipping past her lips.

At this, Sasuke couldn't help but smirk in response, even in their current situation. He was quite used to getting this response from people when they saw him, but coming from her, it was simply adorable.

"Welcome to my home, Sakura."

He watched as she stood there dumbfounded, slowly piecing together the pieces and connecting the dots. As he allowed her to do so, the Grim Reaper that he had encountered with from before, a few years back, came to his side. The Grim Reaper bowed before him quickly before coming to his side, whispering, "... Due to some past circumstances, my Lord…. She is a Lost Soul, therefore she can not cross…"

Sasuke's brows furrowed, his lips pulling into a thin line. "She will cross. That is not a question."

"But, my Lord, she has no soul."

"And that will not be a problem." Sasuke commented sternly. Raising a single brow at the Grim Reaper, he asked quizzingly, "Will it?"

"..."

"Grant her access for the time being. I will handle the rest."

"Yes, my Lord." The Grim Reaper replied, bowing his head at his dismissal.

Sasuke noticed how he lingered around for a moment longer than necessary. And Sasuke definitely did not miss the way that he took a side glance at Sakura before moving away to one of the guards and handing them a white card. But his attention was quick to be averted as beside him, a soft voice mumbled, "Was this why you were so against it?"

Turning to face her, Sasuke simply rested a hand on her back and led her away from the mumbling crowd and wondering eyes. As they walked further away from the crowd and the river, he bent down next to her ear, whispering, "I'll tell you another time."

And just like that, it was the end of that conversation.

.

They had been walking for a while now, and neither of them have spoken at all during their trip. Sasuke was leading the way while Sakura followed closely behind. At first, she found herself struggling to catch up to him and his pace. After a while though, Sasuke began to take notice of her strained effort, and immediately felt guilty, thus slowly his pace down by a notch. At one point, Sasuke decided that she was struggling a little too much for his liking, so he reached out for her and held her by her elbows, much to her surprise. Sakura felt her heart jump to her throat when she felt his other hand settle at the base of her back as he led her forward. His warm hold would sometimes tighten when they had to maneuver around a rough patch of the terrain, and this simply made her blush even harder.

After feeling like as if her heart could explode any time now from their close contact, she was glad to see the outline of the castle come into view. As they came up to the entrance, Sasuke dropped his hands from her. She watched as two guards posted out front bowed to them in greeting, before opening the tall metal gates for them to pass. And as they did, Sakura could barely maintain the gasp that left her lips. It was something that she found herself doing a lot of in this place. But she just couldn't help herself, everything her was just… so beautiful and ethereal.

It definitely wasn't what she had expected.

The castle itself blended in seamlessly with the darkness; if one didn't look for it hard enough, they surely would have missed it. While it held every aspect of grandre of a fairytale castle straight from a children's book, it was chillingly gorgeous. The gleam that came from the castle showed that obsidian and black diamond made up the entirety of the castle, giving a dark elegance to it that she would only expect from Sasuke himself. Almost invisible to the eye, Sakura saw specks of gold woven into the structure. And that was only one small part of the details.

As they approached the front doors, which were massive, even more so than the front gates, she truly saw the detailed work engraved into the manor. Intricate swirls and lines formed exquisite designs, laced with gold. The more she saw the castle, the more it surprised her.

She was so memorized with the beauty of the place that she didn't even notice when they passed the threshold. When they did though, the first thing that she noticed was the gigantic, black fluff balls roaming around in the lobby. Completely taken aback at how something so cute could exist in a place like this, she completely disregarded the alarmed shouts and exclaims all around her as she walked forward to one of them and pulled it to her chest. Sakura couldn't help but giggle softly as it placed a wet kiss on her face as the other ones surrounded her, pawing for her attention as well. As this all unfolded, Sakura then began to noticed how quiet the room had gotten.

Running her hands through their thick fur, she looked up at Sasuke with a small smile. "You certainly have a thing for pets don't you?"

His strained face morphed from what was a look of alarm back to his neutral facade. Clearing his throat, he mumbled, "They're not exactly pets."

"If they're not pets, then what are they?" She questioned, amusement lacing her words as she continued to pet one of them who had made itself right at home in her lap.

"Hellhounds. And they don't normally look this… approachable…"

"Oh, you're exaggerating."

Beside her, one of the maids spoke up timidly. "It is true, Miss. They're not normally like this."

"Well whatever it is, I think they're stinking cute." Making a cute face at one of them as she squished it's cheeks together in her palm, she cooed, "Aren't you?"

Yet, again, to everyone's surprise the hellhound barked back her in response, tail wagging excitedly.

.

It was such a domestic sight, that Sasuke didn't know how to feel about it. Sakura continued to play around with the hellhounds as if they were puppies. Not to mention, his hellhounds hardly ever acted like within his presence, and he knew that they certainly never acted like this around anyone else. As he continued to look on over them, he began to notice a red patch growing in size on the back of her shoulder. Alarmed, he beckoned one of the maids over, whispering orders to her immediately.

Then approaching her, Sasuke said, "Sakura, let's go."

Looking up at him, her knows knitted together in confusion at his sudden request. But regardless, she bid each one of the hellhounds goodbye and stood up, following him out of the foyer.

It was only when they left the foyer completely and began walking down a separate corridor, that Sasuke asked her, "Why didn't you tell me about the injury behind your head, earlier?"

"Huh?" Sakura stared at him puzzled. She was even more so, when he stopped in his track and turned around to face her.

Walking up to her until they were feet to feet, Sasuke reached behind her and brushed his fingers across the nape of her neck. As he did this, he surely didn't miss the way that she shrunk back in fear. To this reaction, Sasuke couldn't help but feel anger towards a certain red head that caused her to feel this way. And he was going to be looking forward to that redhead's time of punishment when the time comes.

Not saying a word, he held his fingers up to her face, dripping in blood.

Gasping, Sakura's hand flew up to the back of head head. Her emerald eyes were wide for a second before a sense of realization dawned upon her. "Oh," she began. "That's probably the reason why I blacked out earlier…"

Shaking his head in disapproval, Sasuke began walking down the corridor again. "You need to be more aware about things like this Sakura."

"I know…"

"Come on," he told her, motioning her to follow him. "I know you have a lot of questions and other things on your head, but we need to heal and clean you up first." As they reached the end of the hall, he stopped and turned to face her again. With a tilt of his, he said, "There'll be a few maids on the other side who will be of your assistance. They will help you with everything as you see need. Do not be afraid, Sakura. You are a guest here. And you are to be treated like one."

Sakura simply nodded her head once in response.

"I've had them prepare a small selection of clothes for you to choose from." He added. Then a little more bashful, to her surprised, he said while looking away. "I wasn't sure what would suit your taste, so hopefully you find something you like…"

Unable to keep her amusement to herself, a small smiled slipped onto her face. Softly, she replied, "I'm sure I'll find something that I'll like. I'm very grateful that you even thought that far and went to such great lengths for me."

"Hn." He coughed, assembling himself back to his normal stoic self. "If that will be all, I'll leave you to it." Then turning on his heel, Sasuke took his leave, only to be pulled back a second later. Turning to look at the tiny hand that held onto the back of his cloak, Sasuke eyes followed to the owner of the said hand. With a single raised eyebrow, he asked, "Sakura?"

Casting her eyes downwards, she mumbled, "Will you return?"

"Aa." He said in response. Taking her hand in his, Sasuke told her, "I have a trial of punishment that I need to address. I will return soon after." Then pushing a familiar lavender into her palm, he closed his eyes, sending a pulse through her hand. Allowing her hand to return back to her side, he watched with satisfaction as the fluorescent lines grew and weaved around her body, lifting all the blood and bruises from her body.

Once more than half of her body was healed, Sasuke finally took his leave. Just as he disappeared around the corner though, he said with a smirk, "It would be rude to not have dinner with our lovely guest, no?"

.

After standing in her spot for a few more minutes and watching Sasuke's retreating back disappear into the darkness, Sakura swallowed and turned back to the door that he had left her at.

Hesitantly, she placed her hand on the brass handle, breathing in deeply. Before she could even brace herself for the entrance, someone on the other side had already pulled the double door open for her. Not expecting this, Sakura completely stumbled into the room, much to her embarrassment.

Immediately, a bunch of hands reached out for her and surprised exclaims sounded off in the room. As they attempted to get her back on her footing, strings off apologies escaped their lips as well as hers.

"O-oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know…" Sakura began, flushing red.

"No, no. Our apologies, Miss." One of the maids that she met from earlier countered, bowing heavily to her. As she did so, the others around her also followed suit, their apologies echoing throughout the room.

Unsure what to do with herself, Sakura simply shrunk back closer to the door, her hands getting clammy behind her back. Stuttering, she said, "Oh, you don't have to do that…"

Ignoring her comment, they continued to keep their heads bowed at her, which began to make her feel even more uncomfortable as the seconds passed. "Really, you don't have to do that… please stop."

"But Lord Sasuke insists that you are to be treated as such and nothing less."

Sighing internally, Sakura bit her lips. Of course it was Sasuke's instructions. She'll have to talk to him later about that. Wringing her hands together, she figured she'll just have to go along with what he had planned then, seeing how the maids were still in the same position.

"I heard that I can get cleaned up here…?" She questioned.

At her question, the maids stood back up and began crowding around her excitedly. "Oh yes, Miss. We've already prepared a bath for you. Would you like assistance or would you prefer your privacy? And would you like any flowers or essential oils for your bath? We have roses, lavender, apple blossom. Anything you wish, Miss."

Before she could even move to reply, another maid beside her asked, "Would you like anything to drink during your bath? Jasmine tea, red wine? Or how about finger foods or desserts? We heard that you have particular love for dangos."

"Oh, no. I'm okay. You don't have to prepare those things for me." Sakura replied back hastily, waving her hands in front of her frantically. "And I can do it on my own."

Nodding in understanding, maid that spoke up from before called for the rest of them to disband as she led Sakura to the room.

Following close behind her, the maid led her deeper into the room. Then pulling the white certain to the side, it revealed a stunning spa in the middle of the room. The size of the bath was enormous, it was what she would honestly consider as a hot tub. Even though she had not requested anything specific for her bath, the maids had gone out of their way and done it anyways. Steam came up from the water, making the room a little foggy and warm. There decorated upon the water's surface was an endless amount of blossoms and rose petals. Memorized by the beauty of it all, Sakura couldn't help but walk forward to the edge of the tub and dipping her fingers into the water. Just as she had expected the temperature of the water was the perfect level of warmth. Swirling her fingers around in the water, she cupped some of the flowers into her hand.

"Even though you didn't request it, Miss, I hope you don't mind that we went ahead and set it up for you. There's essential oils to your left, along with the hair products. Also our chef took it upon himself to whip you up some dangos, we hope it's all to your liking." The maid told her. Then taking a couple of steps back, she bowed at Sakura. And before leaving, she added politely, "If you need anything else, Miss, do not hesitate to call for us. We'll be right outside the door."

Sakura simply nodded in return, as she could barely form any words, still stunned from what was all prepared for her. Never in her life had she experience something as lavish as this. And she was sure that she would only continue to be amazed by acts like this as she stayed her.

Sasuke rounded the corner sharply, coming face to face with the guards posted at the doors of the Hall of Punishment. Acknowledging their presence, he didn't bother to wait a second longer for them to open the door for him as he walked up and threw them open himself. Striding into the hall, his eyes immediately narrowed at the kneeling figure in the center of the room. Just the sight of him stirred up the dormant anger that Sasuke had suppressed.

Taking his seat upon his chair, he looked down that the guard, displeasure cursoring through his body. With a subtle wave of his hand, Sasuke motioned the guard beside him to begin the trial. He listened with disinterest as the guard read off the infringement of the clauses and breach of oaths. When Sakura's name was mentioned briefly though, Sasuke stood up from his seat, cutting the guard off.

"I believe that is enough." He announced sternly, his words slicing through the air. "It has been made clear about what you have done wrong."

The hall remained silent.

Taking Kai's folder into his hands, Sasuke stated, "You are to be stripped of your title as a guard. And you will be exiled to the Ruins of Punishment. But I will not be that cruel and I will place you on the outskirts instead of the core. You are to reflect on your actions and within a year, you will be allowed to come for a request of redemption." Shutting the folder harshly, he handed it back to the guard.

Taking that as a sign that the trial was over the guards at the back moved to take away Kai, but Sasuke held his hand up, faltering their actions. Stepping down from his throne, he walked down the stair to where Kai was kneeling, head bowed, eyes towards the ground. It was pitiful.

"Let this be an example of what will happen if you disobey my orders." Sasuke warned. "In addition to this, I'm sure that most of you are well aware of our new guest. You are to treat her as my equal, nothing less. If I catch word of someone mistreating her, I will make it my priority to hand you a much worst punishment, with no chances at redemption." Eyeing each and every guard in the room, he even allowed his eyes to flicker red for second, to make sure that his point had gotten across. Turning to to leave, his cloak billowing behind him, he added, "The main castle has been notified of this. I expect that you all will pass on the message well."

Wrapping the towel tightly around her body, Sakura couldn't help but almost slap her forehead at her stupidity. She walked into this without preparing any clothes to wear afterwards. Glancing at the pile of ripped and dirty clothes at her feet, she frowned. She couldn't possibly wear the same clothes as earlier, that would have defeated the purpose of the whole bath situation. Highly embarrassed, she crept close to the door of the bathroom and knocked. "Hello?"

A voice responded back to her almost instantly, "Yes, Miss? Is everything okay?"

"Ummm, I guess…?" Sakura began, not really sure how to express herself in her current predicament.

"Miss, are you alright? You sound a little distressed…"

Well, that was because she was. Sakura sighed. Tightening the towel around her body, she cracked open the door a sliver, peeking her head out. "I didn't think to bring any clothes with me…"

As she had expected, they all laughed at her, furthering her embarrassment. Cowering back behind the door, she looked down at the ground, her cheeks burning.

The head maid giggled into her hand for a bit more before waving her off. "That is not to be a concern, Miss. Lord Sasuke has already made sure that that would not be an issue. Do not worry, Miss."

Confused, Sakura's brows furrowed at the maid's comment. Unsure of what to do, she carefully stepped out of the bathroom, holding on tight to her towel and she followed the maid. They came to a stop in front of what seemed like another set of doors. Just as she was about to open her mouth to question the situation, she found herself clamping it shut as her eyes grew in size at the sight that appeared before her.

What seemed like endless rows of clothes were hung with care behind the double doors. Everything she could possibly imagine or dream of wearing were nestled deep into the closet. Luxurious silks, ranging from the softest of whites to the darkest of black, with every color in between decorated her line of vision. Unable to resist, Sakura tentatively reached out and brushed her fingers across one of the silk fabrics. It felt heavenly. Truly fit for someone of a royal status, but definitely not her. As her eyes traveled down further, Sakura almost couldn't hold back the giggle that escaped her lips.

In a section of its own, there hung on the racks were the kind of clothes that she would expect; jeans, t shirts, leggins, sundresses. But when she ran her fingers over them though, she found that they weren't just anything she could have found in her closet at home. No, when she flipped over one of the price tags, Sakura nearly choked on thin air at the trailing zeros she saw.

Noticing her reaction the maid quickly said, "Lord Sasuke wasn't sure what would suit your needs, so we went ahead and prepared everything. And he would not accept anything less. Please do not feel too overwhelmed. Hopefully there's something that fits your taste, Miss."

"A little too late for that," Sakura mumbled quietly and as she continued to shift through clothes. "You guys sure do love being over the top around here…"

"Oh, no, Miss." The maid replied with a smile. "This is nothing compared to the others."

Not believing her ears, Sakura simply shrugged it off as she continued to flick through each garment in the closet. After a couple more minutes, Sakura sighed and looked back at the maid for help. "There's too much to choose from, can you choose for me?"

"Oh, of course! I thought you would never ask!" The maid clapped her hands together happily. "It would be my absolute pleasure to do so, Miss!" She then hurried called out for the rest of the crew to come and smiled. "Don't you worry Miss, we'll have you looking nothing less than perfect for your first dinner here."

.

By the time that the maids had dressed and groomed her to their level of satisfaction, Sakura could barely even recognize her own reflection.

They had scrubbed and polished her face to perfection, and then powdered it until it was seemingly flawless. Not a single pore in sight. They had combed and styled her long flower colored hair into a simple, tight chignon at the base of her neck with a gold Kanzashi through it to hold it in place. They also dusted both her lips and cheeks a soft rosy mauve.

Unable to resist herself, when they asked which article of clothing she wanted to wear, Sakura found herself reaching for the elegant pieces of silk. It was a sheer off the shoulder dress that pooled around her feet in ripples. Tiny, white embroidered flowers cascaded down the front of her dress, slowly disappearing. While they had thrown compliments after compliments at her, she couldn't help but still feel a little self conscious about what she wore. Thus, they gave her a matching cloak.

"Miss, you look absolutely stunning." The maid told her, eyes a light.

"Thank you…" she mumbled back shyly, her eyes still fixed on her reflection in wonder.

"Now that you're all set, I think that it's time for us to show you around. It would be highly inappropriate if we didn't." She told her before adding, "Oh and my apologies as well. I don't think I've introduced myself either." Bowing lowly at her, much to Sakura's discomfort, she said, "My name is Kalon and it is my pleasure to meet you Miss."

Stuttering, Sakura waved her off on the labels of pleasantries. "Please, you don't have to call me that. I'm simply a guest here."

"All the more to call you that, Miss." Kalon countered back with a smile. Raising a single brow, she questioned, "Or would you rather be addressed as Lady Sakura?"

Blanching at the increasingly formal title, Sakura shook her head. "Oh, gosh, no."

Seeing that her point was made, Kalon moved on to introduce her to the rest of the staff as they slowly made it out of the room. And one by one each of them bowed at her presence.

As they made it down the stairs, the maids began to lead her in the other direction but Sakura couldn't help herself as she strayed away from them as she took notice the greenery pathway out of the corner of her eyes. Upon a closer look, it finally came to her realization that it was a pathway to a outdoor garden. Eyes a wide, Sakura found herself stepping out into the soft, green grass. And the sight that she came to meet had her feeling breathless. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought that a garden as lush as this could exist in a place that was called for the death.

Caressing her fingers across the leaves and petals of the plants, she couldn't help but smile brightly out of happiness. For some unknown reason, just being in the presences of greenery made her feel alive. Before she had met Sasori, she had kept a small mini garden in the back of her yard and tended to it everyday. It was the one thing that she would always look forward to after she got out from school or work. It was her baby. Each plant was showered with the utmost care and love. Not to think too highly of herself but Sakura would say she had a pretty green thumb. She had never had a single plant die on her, that is until Sasori killed them all with household cleaners. It nearly killed her when she saw what he had done to them. Ever since then, Sakura hadn't dipped her hands back into gardening again. Oh, how she missed it.

Just as she was about to reach out to smell some of the nearby flowers and voice spoke out to her, startling her in the process. "I wouldn't smell that one, it doesn't smell as good as it looks."

Hands flying to her chest, trying to calm her erratic heartbeat, Sakura flushed at being caught red handed. Looking up from the flowers, words of apologies were ready to escape but the sight that she came to meet with had her swallow her words back.

There standing in front of her was a gorgeous redhead, dressed stunningly is a matching red, strapless dress. Everything about her simply screamed perfection. She was so perfect that as Sakura couldn't help but continue to stand there like a deer struck by a pair of headlights, Sakura couldn't help but feel intimidated by her presence.

She watched as the redhead strut to where she was standing and surveyed her over, from head to toe. "So you're the new guest." Red lips pulling into a tiny smile, she said, "Well, welcome. We don't normally have visitors often here, if any. It's nice to meet you, I'm Karin."

Sakura watched stunned at the redhead's extended hand. Hesitantly, she extended her own hand too. "It's nice to meet you too… I'm Sakura."

"Fitting," Karin told her as she pointed to her rose colored strands. Then turning on her heels, she beckoned Sakura to follow her. "Come on, if you want to smell some good flowers, they're over here."

With no other option but to follow her, Sakura slowly moved from the spot that she was rooted in. Not even bothering to see if Sakura was following her or not, Karin began to make small talk with her. From the distance between them, she could barely hear anything that the redhead said. Walking briskly, Sakura attempted to catch up to her.

"So are you truly a visitor or are you bound here, forever?" She asked very nonchalantly.

The question had taken her so off guard that Sakura stumbled over her own feet. Righting herself, she questioned, "I don't think I understand what you're asking…"

Raising a thin eyebrow at her, Karin repeated herself. "Are you a visitor or a prisoner? Those are really the only reasons that you could possibly be here. And usually it's the latter. This not a place anyone would want to visit, you know."

Unsure of how to answer her current situation, because she, herself, wasn't even sure what was even going on, Sakura simply threw the question back at her. "How about you?"

"Simple. I'm a prisoner, out of my own will."

"What?"

Turning around to face Sakura, she continued. "I choose to be here. No one forced me. I'm a nature nymph. And I'm sure you've heard of the stories about this place that those humans love to make so much about things they don't understand." Waving her hands around, she added, "I ate the forbidden fruit of this place willingly so that I can stay here."

"Why would you do such a thing?" Sakura was astonished.

"Because I love Sasuke. He wouldn't let me stay, so I took matters into my own hands." Karin shrugged as she continued walking deeper into the garden. "Love makes you do crazy things."

"You're insane."

"We're all a little crazy, and life's a little crazy too. And there's nothing wrong with it." Karin said. Coming to stop in front of a set of dark colored camellias, she pointed, "Now, these are the ones you'll want to smell. Aren't they beautiful?"

Ignoring how quickly Karin changed moods, Sakura focused on the batch of flowers in front of her. They were beautiful. Mixed among the dark camellias were also equally red garden roses and carnations. Bringing her nose to them, Sakura sighed blissfully at their wonderful scent, before asking, "You wouldn't mind if I picked a few for dinner would you?"

"No, by all means go for it." Karin waved her hands in dismissal. "They're not doing much purpose here always."

"Oh, don't be too loud. You'll hurt their feelings," Sakura laughed as she began picking them.

"Don't worry, I've said worst. They're used to it."

.

Karin watched with interest as the rosette picked her selection of flowers, the amount in her basket growing with every passing moment. It was a beautiful combination of dark oranges and reds, sprinkled in with some greenery. The girl definitely had an eye for flower arrangement. But what Karin also began to notice was the way the flowers moved towards her. Every time that she would stray away from them, they seemed to lean towards her even more. The flowers were more in bloom than usual. Glancing around, Karin has never seen so many in full bloom before. And she knew many of them were just budding the last time she checked. Surveying the girl with interest, Karin couldn't help but wonder, where did she come from and who is this girl.

When he came back to the main castle, Sasuke found her in the dining hall, standing in the middle of the room, arranging a bundle of flowers into a vase. And she looked absolutely stunning. Her white dress contrasted beautifully against the darkness that he called his home.

As he entered the room, some of the maids came to him, but raising his hand, he waved them off. Sakura was so attentive to the flowers that she didn't even notice his presence, yet. Sneaking up on her, he couldn't help but smirk as he said, "I see that you've found Karin's garden." Just as he had expected, the rosette jumped at his words, whipping her head up towards him.

"Oh, my goodness." Sakura breathed. "What is up with you people and scaring the daylights out of me?"

"You should be more aware of your surroundings." He countered back. Coming close to her, he watched as she sighed and went back to her flower arrangement. After a couple of minutes, he asked, "Have you told the Head Chef what you want for dinner?"

Shaking her head, she said, "No." Then looking at him in embarrassment, she asked, "Was I supposed to?"

"Hn, if you want to actually have something to eat, I suppose." He smirked.

At his teasing, Sakura's face flushed red, her lips clamming shut into a thin line. Even more embarrassed, she flusteredly went back to the flowers in her hand. As she did so, Sasuke took this moment to look at her up closely. The maids had done an exquisite job, the makeup done simply, to highlighted her natural features, nothing too overly done. Her lashes were darken with mascara to emphasize her emerald eyes as her lips were dusted pink. Her rose colored locks were tied up, revealing her slender column neck. And that was his only complaint. Sasuke preferred her hair loose. The tight style that it was in was all too formal for Sakura and her nature.

Without much thought, he questioned her, "Did you ask the maids to do your hair in such a style?"

Confused by his trivial question, Sakura turned to look at him with knitted brows. "No, I did not."

"Do you like it?"

"I do, why? Do you not?"

He watched as she unconsciously reached up to touch her hair, her brows continue to knit further together, but this time with concern. As she did this, he couldn't help but beat her to it. In one fluid movement, he pulled on the ornament that held her hair together in place. Then he watched as her long, pink locks unraveled out of it's tight chignon and tumble over her shoulders freely. Reaching out to touch a strand of her hair, he looked at her, whispering, "I prefer it like this."

The level of intimacy that the moment held was almost too much for her to handle, Sakura could barely breathe as his gaze pinned her down.

Seeing the girl's internal state of distress, Sasuke figured that this would be about as far as he was going to take it with his teasing. Taking a step back from her and giving her some space, Sasuke laid the ornament on the table. Then turning on his feet, he walked towards the kitchen. When she made no move to follow after him, even when he was nearly out of the room, Sasuke called out for her. "Dinner's not going to order itself."

Sasuke heard a startled sound, then a long sigh, before a set of tiny shuffling feet grew louder behind him. As she came nearer, to when she was within his range, he began walking again, this time with a smirk decorating his lips.

{A/N}: Hello, Hello~ Coming at you guys with another long chapter! So hopefully the wait was worth it and this chapter lives up to your expectations. Not all questions are answered yet, and it probably won't until later on~

Also thank you so much for the overwhelming love for this new story of mine! So many of you left reviews or even PM me your feelings. It makes me so happy to know that you all are thoroughly enjoying this story as much as I am writing it. I hope to see many of you again in either the review section or PMs

Thank you to: Lazie Bunny, ILoveSxS, jstasasusakufan, xmysteriousunknownx, Liz is bored, RansomeNote, SakuraDarkside, 7HeartAndSoul7, Fienna, MizuiroNeko, animedude16, Sakura Cheesecake, theselfproclaimedgreatest7, Fluttershy 2059123, Emily da great, Marsmallowa, Riela, thymoondragon, Kaguhana, Izzy, jesteeeyn, and multiple guest anons.