Fate's Toy, a naruto fanfic

Before you read, there must be some things I remind you about:

1. Members of Rookie Nine and Team Gai are twenty two years old in this fic.
2. This is somewhat like a prologue.
3. The pairings are normal het pairings: mainly NejiTen and SasuSaku, little NaruHina and ShikaIno. There will also be little, side pairings, but they'll end up as stated.
4. This might be confusing for a while.

Fate's Toy

I don't own Naruto, so you no sue as well :3.

Dedicated to my loyal readers and reviewers: your supports are intriguing and priceless. Thank you…

Once upon a time, in a far, far land, there stood a kingdom, all high and almighty. It was once ruled by the most adored twenty-two-years-old Prince Uchiha Sasuke, who pathetically happened to be one of the handsomest Princes, one of the walking ice-cubes, one of the coolest men, and one of the not-so-eligible bachelors ever alive. He was cold, he was distant, and he was just so handsome that he had girls ready to apply as his maids - his slaves - if he wills them too.

Now from the little paragraph about how awesome Prince Uchiha Sasuke was, of course everyone would get the impression that he was some faithful and obedient heir of the Leaf Kingdom, but all like hell he wasn't. He wasn't faithful, he was dark - he wasn't obedient, he disobeyed orders and strived for what he thought the best. He was a genius, a little too full of himself that he thought that his choices were the best. It was true.

But if you think that his life was oh-so-perfect with his oh-so-awesome abilities and surroundings, then you are terribly, terribly wrong. He didn't have that advantage. His life wasn't even close to perfect.

When he was a mere six years old child, his older brother Uchiha Itachi (who was formerly the heir of the kingdom) killed everyone in the family but him, promising him that it was all for the best before he left him alone in his room, hurting him emotionally but not physically. He became a cold, closed, dark man after that, not willing to even open his heart to any girl who tried to melt the ice around him. He remained untouchable. The Uchiha massacre was the worst time of his life.

The second worst time of his life came close not long after that, when he was seven. One of the loudest ladies in his court, namely Lady Mitarashi Anko, brought to him an orphaned, pink-haired girl. Her name was Haruno Sakura. Sad, homeless, helpless, and hopeless, Lady Anko brought her into the court and raised her as her own adopted daughter. She was praised for that - little Lady Sakura was clever, strategic, and her points of view were analytical. She brought good fortune into the kingdom with her mind, at eighteen years old being nominated as the personal advisor of the prince, not to mention that it was her luck - she was so in love with the Crown Prince.

From there, Sasuke's nightmare began - for Lady Sakura was the loudest, the most annoying, the most seductive lady he would ever meet.

That excluded her friend the royal dressmaker Yamanaka Ino, also one of the loudest, the most annoying, the most seductive lady Sasuke knew. She moved into the kingdom with her royal family when she was ten, also bringing in her two childhood friends: Nara Shikamaru, the genius of the geniuses, also one of the personal advisors of the Prince, and Akimichi Chouji, the soon-to-be-chef, his cooking skills were to be highly complimented. Lady Ino developed almost immediate rivalry with Lady Sakura, both striving hard for Prince Sasuke's attention, and both failing miserably for it.

From there, the generation also branch to the smaller court in the kingdom, namely the Hyuuga Court. Ruled by small, timid and shy Lady Hinata, she was also one of the faithfulest companions of Prince Sasuke, one of the females he could handle since the shy lady didn't speak much. She was good friends with the Lady Tenten, who was formerly the head of the female knight's division. She resigned five years ago. Though no one knew the real reason why, it was believed that she had some problems. She still brought her sword around, tied to her oh-so-slim gown. The gentle but boyish Lady was also one of the females Sasuke could stand.

Now even after she dropped the rank of the knight's division head, Tenten wasn't only a normal female knight on guard - in actuality, she could handle almost all weapons, but she was most comfortable with the long, two-handed sword. She applied just to be a member of the kingdom knight's division, but soon was raised into the position of the head - her skills were to be admired, and after the resignation, it was still so.

Until now, Tenten was good friends with the not-annoying Aburame Shino, who was the son of the bees' keeper. He was also a knight, a very cool, strong, mysterious one - he was the head of the male knight's division as well, so it wasn't that surprisingly when Shino and Tenten often went out together to have a discussion over their respective divisions. The male head's skills were also to be admired, but his choice of friends was to be questioned.

Shino was very, very good friends with the loud, annoying Inuzuka Kiba, who was the son of the animals keeper of the kingdom, and Uzumaki Naruto, the ultimate prankster of the whole place. He was a very hard, loud man, but surprisingly, he was very timid and shy when it came back to the head of the Hyuuga Court: Lady Hinata.

Now the ultimate prankster wasn't always on his own when he was doing his pranks - oftentimes, he was accompanied by the loud, youthful Rock Lee - who also happened to be orphaned as well as Naruto. They were proven to be very good friends, with a huge number of successful pranks they did together to their utmost favorite victim: Prince Uchiha Sasuke.

And now, you could all see: Prince Sasuke's life wasn't perfect at all.

One: Proposal

.: dedicated to everybody, as a belated Christmas present. Merry Christmas, everyone:.

A girl was sitting on the desk in the library of the castle, on her side a stack of scrolls, hinting that she was researching or collecting information about something. Her claymore was laid just beside her, and she was wearing a peach-colored, low cut gown. She had deep, dark brown eyes and her hair was tied up into a high ponytail, though even so it still reached her waist. She unrolled another scroll and skimmed through it, then sighed as she rolled it and moved it to her left side. Left meant junk, right meant useful. Until now, there were already over a hundred scrolls on her left, while she had none on her right side.

Geez, this whole researching thing wasn't exactly helping.

"You know," Her only companion, Nara Shikamaru, frowned deeply. He was standing not far away from her, looking through the selves. The badge shone on his left chest showed that he was the kingdom's advisor. He piled up another stack of scrolls near her, "I'm starting to think that this library contains nothing but junk."

"Typical, coming from a genius like you." Tenten smiled, though not as brightly as she actually wanted it to be. "I could almost agree." She waved another scroll in front of his face and unravelled it diligently, "Rather than adding up to the pile we both need to look at, Shikamaru, would you just help me skim through the ones we already have right here?"

The raven-haired boy sighed, glanced at her for a while but then returned to the shelves, "I'm afraid I can't, Lady Tenten." He said dryly, "I still need to find which scroll contains our research topic or not. Geez, this must be the most troublesome thing I have to do in a while."

"Yes, sure, but for the last few hours you have been looking for them." She pressed as she threw another scroll to her left side. Really, it wasn't helping. If only they know a little bit more about it, then maybe… "This is really confusing. This all just had to happen right now, when we know nothing abo-"

She was stopped mid-sentence as the library door went open, revealing a woman. She had beautiful, sparkling emerald eyes and slightly pink hair with a reddish hue all around if you really observe. She stepped inside and let out a familiar, sweet smile as she noticed Tenten and Shikamaru. Oh god, she was familiar - they recognized her as the obnoxious, notorious, sexy Lady Haruno Sakura, one of the most talkative ladies from the Uchiha Court.

Knowing all too well that this woman was one of the ladies from the court, Tenten hopped down from the desk and bowed, "Good evening, Lady Sakura." She said, smiling politely. She had spoken a few times with the lady, and despite that they were on the same side, she couldn't bring herself as friends with the lady. It was pretty obvious that Sakura didn't like her that much, too, remembering the number of times she had seen the former knight walking with Sasuke - just the two of them. It was a matter of jealousy which Tenten just couldn't bring herself to understand - after all, the Prince was nothing really delicious.

"Good evening too, Lady Tenten and Advisor Shikamaru." The pink-haired lady said, "I just want to say something... Prince Sasuke summoned you, Lady Tenten." Her voice rose a little in the end of her sentence, as Tenten's brown eyes widened a bit, but then returned to their normal size again. She shook her head and picked up her sword before bidding her companion goodbye.

"Ah, how troublesome." Shikamaru shook his head before piling up another stack of information on the desk, "Go quick and come back quick, Tenten."

"Well, you know if he wants something then it wouldn't be quick." The lady replied, swinging her sword over her back - such a NOT lady-like manner, but did she care? No. She turned towards Sakura and spoke, "God, that prince - if he really needs me he could just come to the library - there's no need to ask you to call me..."

Lady Sakura just smiled a little bitter smile and both women went out of the library, leaving Shikamaru to work alone.

The lazy genius looked at the stacks of scrolls Tenten had left - the useless ones, and sighed before he took a scroll from the 'untouched' pile and began unraveling it.

"Geez." He said to himself as he skimmed through the entry of the scroll before at last he threw it to the left side of him. He took another scroll and began skimming through it once more, but his mind wasn't really focused. Instead, he was thinking of his and Tenten's research topic right now: one man that wasn't mentioned much because he was a taboo - a forbidden topic of its own. This man had particularly done many unexplainable things, including killing the important people of the kingdom and leaving the kingdom. He was unstoppable, and he was a secret, taboo topic.

Shikamaru closed his eyes for a while before blinking several times. Reading various informative entries about the kingdom's issues brought him back to memories. Unwanted ones.

Hyuuga Neji, where are you now?

She knew that it was just beautiful. Simply, amazingly, breathtakingly beautiful.

Lady Haruno Sakura was talking about the crown of the crown princess - or the future queen of the Hidden Leaf kingdom. Her heart gave a leap when she dragged herself closer to the golden crown, laid on a royal, red pillow in the center of the room, boxed in a transparent, glass rectangle box, up in a stalk. The crown was golden, with huge, fine jewelry decorating it. There were at least three purple, crystal clear orbs decorating the front side, with little diamonds circling around it. On the back side of the crown, more diamonds bathed the surface, beautiful and crystal.

The crown just had to be one of the most beautiful things Lady Sakura had seen in her life.

Somehow, she could just imagine herself wearing it on top of her head, walking down to the main hall and summoning the servants just to give her a massage on the shoulders, calling the musicians for her just to listen to some heavy jazz (she always loved jazz), or calling the chef to make her a delicious, wonderfully big batch of chocolate chips cookies or even better: blueberry cheesecake with a cherry on top, accompanied with some cream. She could also imagine herself walking side-to-side, hand-in-hand with the future king Uchiha Sasuke, her being his Queen. Oh, how she would love to...

Sakura froze when she heard footsteps heading towards the crown room. Trying to be soundless, light as a feather, she stepped outside, dragging her feet to move quicker but silently. She went out of the crown room, closing the grand doors behind her and walked towards the other side. The crown room was supposedly a prohibited site to enter - only the main family and his very, very personal choices could enter the area.

Lady Sakura wasn't one of his personal choices, but like hell was she determined.

She was definitely, definitely, definitely going to be the future bride of Prince Uchiha Sasuke.

"You know, you really could've called somebody else if you want this." Lady Tenten said, practically hissing as she watered the flowers growing in the small pots in Prince Sasuke's balcony. "I have my own problems to deal with today. You're the one who told me to go and do an advanced research on Hyuuga Neji and now you pulled me from it, leaving Shikamaru in confusion! Poor troubled boy!"

Prince Sasuke shook his head in disapproval and sat on the bed across the balcony. He liked seeing her mad. "Ah yes, but I seriously need to know whether he works efficiently with you or without you." He replied smugly, "Sometimes you are such a bother."

"Do I look as if I care, Your Highness?" The lady asked, looking at the now wet, freshened flowers as she frowned again. He could really call someone else to water his plants for him, right? There was always that lady Sakura, who will willingly gave him whatever he wanted, and then there was also Lady Ino - she too would do the same. Lady Hinata could also do that too - of all people, why should he choose her? At the time where she was working, moreover!

"Is knowing about him so important to you?" Sasuke asked, a little amusement playing in his dark, dark eyes. "I know that you were involved in some... romantic relationships with the Hyuuga before he goes berserk and kills innocent people..."

"Shut up." Tenten interjected coldly. She just couldn't bring herself to a casual conversation if it involved her first love: Neji. Even after three years of his disappearance, it didn't change. She didn't change - she tried to be the same, and she believed that he has his reasons. After all, Neji wasn't a bad person. He had never hurt her but once - and that was when he left the kingdom, having making some unforgivable sins before - he also left her behind. And with that, he was also trying to be gentle.

"Tenten..." The Crown Prince sighed, and he turned his voice deeper, "I mean, Lady Tenten, you should quit acting like a child and start looking yourself as a woman. You're twenty two. Move on - it has been five years since he left. He's out of your league."

He isn't! Her heart screamed, but she only rolled her eyes, "I don't care." She said coolly, "He's not the only guy I have been emotionally attached to, oh dear Majesty."

"Oh, really?" Sasuke's eyebrows rose in surprise and disbelief. It was almost like he didn't believe that she, of all people, could be emotionally attached to anyone but that Hyuuga Neji. It was such a pity. The first time she tried loving someone, the first time too she got shattered. And until now, Sasuke believed that her wounds hadn't healed completely. She wasn't the bright Little Miss Sunshine he had once known. She was a bitter, sad girl. "Who else, then?"

"It's none of your business." The lady said dryly, watering some more flowers until they drenched carelessly. She was angry, it was shown in her usually calm dark eyes, but Sasuke wasn't going to stop there. Not yet.

"He was my friend." The Prince insisted, "Neji was my friend."

"I don't care." She repeated her remark once more, "Look, Sasuke - I don't care whether you are a Prince or not, but if you try talking about him again, I'll seriously kick your ass. Whether I am or I was emotionally attached to one of the kingdom's enemies is not within your concern, Your Highness."

"Ah." He sighed, "Fine."

The former female knight continued watering the flowers carelessly. She was lost - she was somewhere between being angry and sad. She didn't really know why, too - but the name 'Hyuuga Neji' kind of brought unwanted memories to her head. Just by hearing her former lover's name mentioned so lightly, she could almost believe that he was right here, right now beside her, his touches caressing her, him needing her...

But what left now were memories.

Blinking a few times, she tried to stop the tears from flooding her eyes.

She still loved Hyuuga Neji.

-flashback-

Seventeen years old Tenten fled towards the hallways, heading towards the library. The castle's library was the place where she and the Hyuuga prodigy will share their sweet little dates - since both of them were much too busy to get out of the castles and just have a normal date between teenage lovers. It wasn't such a bad place, really - the library was empty. Always empty - people nowadays were too busy to just catch up with books.

She entered the dim-lighted library, hoping to see Neji almost immediately, but she was faced with disappointment when she saw no one inside. Deciding that she will just wait, she turned to the door and closed it, before walking to the chairs and plopping herself on one of it, in front of a pile of books no one bothered to return after reading. She took a book from the stack and glanced at the title: 'Nosy Shinobies', before returning it to the pile, uninterested.

The female knight glanced over the books and stopped when she found something interesting... Well, at least, something more interesting than the other books in the pile. The title was 'Guides to Dating', and being one that practically lived in the library, she wondered how come she didn't know that this book existed before. But hey, the library contained over than five thousand books, so she guessed that it was normal.

Just as she flipped through the pages, a pair of arms hugged her shoulders from her back, surprising her. She smiled as soon as he got close enough that she could practically inhale his smell - the familiar, ivory-scented face of him. The owner of the arms kissed her cheek lightly before he released her and plopped down on the arm of the chair she was sitting on.

"Neji..." Tenten said, smiling, "You're pretty late."

"I've been doing some important chores." The Hyuuga confessed, his piercing white eyes smiling at her while his lips turned into a triumphant smirk because god-knows-why. Even until they got together, she still couldn't understand him that perfectly. He told her that she was the one who understood him the most, but she believed she hadn't known that much about him. Hyuuga Neji was a mystery, and it remained so.

"Oh?" She tilted her head, confused, "What chores?"

He gave her another smirk and took out a small box, then gave it to her. "I believe today is our first anniversary." He said, smirking triumphantly, "So I went out to town just to buy this for you. Happy anniversary, Tenten."

She was rendered speechless, but then she smiled at him. "Happy anniversary as well." She replied sweetly, taking out a gift and putting it into his arms, "I never thought you will remember... I'm prepared for some rejections..." She threw her head back and laughed, "But you remember! Oh, god, Neji, you're unbelievable..."

"I'll take it as a compliment." Neji said, smirking.

She smiled right back, looking at his eyes before turning to her gift. "So... can I open it?"

He shrugged, giving her a green light.

Tenten opened the box almost immediately, a bit impatient on what her boyfriend gave her for their first year anniversary. It was a silver - maybe not pure, but silver alright - ring, designed plain and simple, just to match her taste. She wasn't one to like complicated, meaningless patterns anyway. "... Neji..." Once more, she was speechless. She thought he would give her something normal - maybe like a necklace or something like that, but this ring was just too... too grand for her. "This is too expensive..."

He pulled her close and kissed her nose swiftly. "Nothing," He said, somewhat arrogantly, "Nothing is too expensive for our little anniversary."

She almost wanted to cry from the sweetness of his words. Of all girls, you'd think that she was the most untouchable one, but actually that wasn't true. Tenten wasn't that hard - in fact, she was really easily touched. Happy tears formed in the edge of her lovely eyes as he continued drawing kisses around her face, and on top of it, pulled her off with a chaste, soft kiss on the lips. This was the first time he had ever let himself kissing her - this was their first kiss.

Tenten took a deep breath, pulled away, and gazed into his eyes longingly. She had summoned up some courage before this, but even with all of her courage, the Three Words were just hard to say. Especially directly to his face.

But Neji knew.

He knew and always wanting to be the incomparable number one, he said it first. "I love you."

She believed him...

-end flashback-

"You do know that you don't look happy, right?" Prince Sasuke asked, coughing loudly to regain back the girl's consciousness. She looked unfocused, so dazed that he was starting to wonder what she was thinking about. Lady Tenten didn't sound like a dreamer - heck, he knew she wasn't just by talking to her. As she remained unfazed, he gave another cough and tried once more, "Lady Tenten?"

The former knight glared at him. "I am fully aware that I don't look happy, Your Majesty." She said flatly, "I am still not accustomed to hiding my emotions that well, may I also state that I am currently pissed off by the most recent incidents with you."

The Uchiha didn't look displeased when she said that. In fact, he threw back his head and let out a little laugh, "I know..." He replied to her at last, "... that you might be angry at me for bringing up your Hyuuga Neji back, but it is necessary to talk about him right now."

"Why necessary?" She snarled back sharply. She didn't care if he was the prince or not. Right now, she just wanted to kill him, strangulate him... anything! Men, they were all crazy, unexplainable creatures. Just when she thought she could believe them, they left her for good. Just when she thought she would trust them, they retreat back and avoid her. Heck, this was the poor, pathetic life of a betrayed, innocent (yeah right) girl like her.

"You know that I need to marry before I reach the age twenty five, right?" Prince Sasuke asked, his eyebrows rising as to acknowledgement. When she simply nodded, he continued, "Well, I've been limiting down to the best choices of bride so that the kingdom will be satisfied with their new queen."

Tenten, despite her anger, couldn't help but gave a little smirk at that remark. If she was in her sane, completely controlled mind, she wouldn't believe that the Prince was consulting his love life with her, but hey... She was one victim of love as well. Maybe it was time to open up and share a bit of her experiences to the prince? "Ah yes." She nodded knowingly, "So what is your problem?"

"Well... despite the number of ladies in the courts we have..." Sasuke's mouth turned dry, "... We also have limited number of good, considerable girls I could marry."

She arched her eyebrows. Weird. If he wanted an acceptable lady to marry him, he could always ask Sakura. Despite her attitude, she was very clever and she wasn't that annoying if you really try to get to know her. He could also always ask Ino - she had a good fashion sense and she won't embarrass him in a party or whatever meeting because, yeah, as mentioned, she had a good fashion sense. She knew what proper wear should you use for this and that - she wasn't the royal dressmaker for nothing.

"I'm not quite getting it." She told him at last, "Your ladies and Hyuuga Neji just didn't make any connection."

"They do." Sasuke said, trying to be casual, "Because I want you to marry me."

.to be continued.

AN:

So what should I say? Ah yes. The main point is that if you are confused, do tell me. I've got some explanations to do since I know it might be confusing as well as weird.

Please review, and thank you!