Chapter 13
The next day, Sasuke woke up feeling unhappy, due to Sakura's not sleeping by the cot next to him at night. He feels like something is missing, resulting in a passive temper tantrum that has everyone in a fright this morning.
As he was eating breakfast he was contemplating on whether or not to call Sakura up and yell at her some more today, news came that the Emperor is announcing an informal visit to Uchiha Manor immediately.
Sasuke was immediately distracted and changed to a more formal robe before going to the front gate to welcome his brother.
Even though Itachi is the Emperor, he still cares about his twin brother very much, and dotes on him constantly. Occasionally he leaves the busy political business alone and visits his brother in his home. This is one of those times.
The Emperor, while dressed in plain clothing, still has embroidered bright golden silk lines on his robe. This color is the color of royalty, and only the Emperor can wear it. The rest are simply wearing some variation to this color. If anyone was caught with this color, the fault is contempt of court and punishment is execution.
Sasuke knelt on the ground and waited for his brother's arrival. When Itachi entered, everyone knelt down deeply down onto the ground, and Itachi took no notice except to help Sasuke up.
"Brother." Itachi addressed, and quickly waved away the formalities, "lets go to the courtyard."
Sasuke nodded and followed closely behind him.
The courtyard was already ready for guests. As it is very hot in the summer, huge blocks of ice were taken from underground basement and placed next to the chairs. Temporary tables and curtains were placed with delicate little afternoon snacks and tea. Both men sat right in the center across from one another, and begin playing chess while talking and enjoying the snacks.
Itachi begin, "Jiraya-sama outrightly accused Orochimaru-sama's involvement in embezzlement of charity funds today."
"Interesting." Sasuke replied boredly, "I'll be surprised if one day they actually got along peacefully. What did Orochimaru say?"
Itachi pondered for a while and reply, "I don't think he denied it. Instead he listed all the refugees that were alive because of him."
"You should make him donate half of his savings to the refugees. Don't you think it'll just kill him?"
"I think it'll kill me. Imagine finding out a court subject has hidden more funds in his house than the bank of our country."
"Hahahaha..."
Meanwhile, Sakura is curled up in that wood shed, and she heard a whisper coming from the windows.
The window is made up of bars, there's only one small window up above, and Sakura's face could barely reach it. She stood up and saw Tenten's friendly face and her hand extended out with meat buns.
"You saved my life, the least I could do is to sneak you some food!" Tenten said.
Sakura was too busy to cry because she was wolfing down food. She had to drink water from Tenten's hand because the bars were too thick to fit through a bowl.
Then Tenten begin, "I don't exactly know what happened, but did you really hit the master?"
Sakura finished gulping her latest mouthful of food before saying with agitation, "I didn't mean to. But the whole thing went down differently than I expected. I don't know what's going on with our master, suddenly he dragged me into his chamber in front of everyone. I was utterly humiliated! He's going to do.. that.. to me, in front of everyone! Can you hunk if anything more degrading than that?"
Tenten smiled bitterly, "dancing in front of court officials and open my legs in front of them whenever they declare it?"
Sakura sobbed, "I.. I'm..."
"I know this isn't some kind of comfort," Tenten sighed, "but at your age, you're kind of lucky, in a way. You're officially his concubine which means other people can't touch you if he doesn't allow them. I'm already ruined.. I've past my life of a naive young little girl hoping to marry off well. All I want to do is to wait until I'm older and can't dance anymore, then the manor will have to buy new girls to replace us, and I'll marry a farmer who works hard and treats me well...life is hard, Sakura-chan. It always was for us. We need to make the best of it. You shouldn't have slapped him, poor dear.."
Sakura could only sob some more, "I.. I can't take it.."
Tenten comforted her some more before leaving. Sakura stood in the shed alone, and for once in her life. She decided to stand up against her fate and make some thing of herself. She decided to take control of her own destiny by-escaping.
And so she did.
She first took off her sash and fold it into a arm length strong band, then she begin to wrap the band on the door handle on one end, and the other on a piece of fire wood, and start to turn the firewood until the band became so tight with twists. Then she tried kicking the door, it became a bit loose. She she twisted with all her might and kicked as hard as she could, and the door opened with a loud bang sound.
But not so loud that people could hear it and come rushing over. Sakura quickly closed the door behind her, and made sure to cover her tracks, and walked nonchalantly away. She first hid behind a rock in the gardens to do her hair neatly, then splashed some pond water on her face and wiped herself clean. Then she turned her clothes inside out so the better clean side shoes, and she walked on.
She was fairly successful at first, when some people don't recognize her nodded and walked on. They were so busy themselves serving the Emperor and the Prince that they don't have time to do dilly dally, and the entire atmosphere was filled with busyness and tension. Sakura noticed it too, and she tried to make her way towards the front gate. To do that she has to go through the kitchen.
The kitchen is busier than ever. She sees a lot of people hustling around, and suddenly she saw a familiar figure. Riku-san, who was holding a tray of food, was standing in front.
Sakura quickly took a quick left turn and walked down a quiet narrow pathway through the gardens.
Two soldiers came by and saw Sakura. One of them was suspicious, "what are you doing?" He asked.
Sakura replied with confidence, "I'm going to get tea for the guests."
The soldiers nodded and let her through.
Then suddenly the other soldiers remembered and turned, "but the tea was already served, the master was just ordering some more crispy desserts just now."
Sakura went pale, and she ran.
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A/N: sorry for the late update! More reviews will make me so happy and write more!
