Unmei: Only 12 reviews… was it really that bad? I know it's more than I usually get and I should be grateful, but I really thought I would get more b/c well, I thought it was pretty good actually… unlike my other fics. Well, I can't be greedy and should be happy that I even got that many, ne?
Disclaimer: If my imagination was better I probably could think up of better stories without having to base it on something that already exists. Oh, yeah, and I don't own Naruto or Goong (a.k.a Princess Hours), the Korean drama I'm basing this fic off of.
Unmei: Well, onto the second chapter!
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Princess Hours
Chapter 2: Engaged…to him?
Unmei no Hana
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(Konoha High School Entrance)
Crowds of boys and girls crowded around the entrance of Konoha High School to bid farewell to the Prince. Screaming and pushing one another, they hoped to gain his attention. As in the morning, guards were surrounding the Prince, clearing the way for him and pushing fellow students out of the path of the cars. However, Sasuke paid no heed to them, not evening sparing them a disgusted look. Instead, his face held a downcast, sad expression. Slowly, he entered the car and drove away. As he left, the crowd of fans ran after his car. Tenten and Ino were screaming after him as well, but were prevented from running after the car as well, for they were being held back by Hinata, Sakura, and Temari. When his car was finally out of sight, they collapsed onto the steps.
"Oh! I think I'm going to faint!" Ino said, falling backwards onto Temari slightly.
"I wonder who's the girl the Prince is going to get married to."
After Tenten said this, Sakura motioned her friends to gather around her. Whispering, she told them,
"Hey you guys! Do you want me to tell you whom he's getting married to?"
"Marry? Who's the girl? She's dead!"
However, Temari butted into their conversation at that moment.
"Hey, Haruno, how would you know?"
"Well the thing is…I've heard and seen some things…" She told them rather reluctantly after remembering the private conversation she accidentally eavesdropped upon. Ino and Tenten huddled closer to her, shaking her by the shoulders slightly in an attempt to squeeze more information out of her.
"What is it, Sakura? Tell us."
"I want to tell too, but…"
Getting uncomfortable Sakura jumped onto her bicycle and cycled away, leaving a disappointed Ino and Tenten behind.
"Sakura!" They whined after her.
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(Downtown Konoha)
Sakura biked around Konoha, admiring the scenery. She stopped by the flower shop, greeting the owner, who happened to be Ino's mother. Unbeknownst to her, Sasuke was reading the newspaper in the car that had stopped at the light in front of the shop. Sighing from boredom he folded up the paper and looked out the window. He saw Sakura on her bike talking to the owner of the store as well as other students returning home from school. At first he paid no attention to Sakura until he realized she was wearing gym pants underneath her uniform's skirt.
'She's wearing gym pants… and that pink hair of hers. She has to be the one.'
As he was bout to exit from the car, the traffic light turned green and the car began to drive forward. However, much to Sakura's great misfortune, although she didn't know it yet, Sasuke commanded the driver to stop. Obeying the Prince's command, the car pulled into a side street and stopped for him. Sasuke stepped out of the car, calling out to Sakura.
"Hey, you. Gym pants!"
Sakura had begun to bike down a narrow alleyway, having said goodbye to Ino's mother, but hearing that ever-familiar voice, froze. Hesitantly, hoping to be imagining things, she turned around. But when she caught sight of Sasuke walking towards her, she immediately turned around, scolding herself mentally.
'Sakura, you're so stupid, why did you have to turn around? You should have kept on going and not stopped.'
Sasuke walked in front of Sakura, turning to face her. She was not looking at him, but instead at the ground, hoping he would go away soon.
"I didn't tell anyone…if you're wondering." However, Sasuke paid no regard to what she said, and instead replied,
"It may be gossip to you, but it's serious to me."
"What's wrong with you? I told you I didn't tell anyone." She told him, looking up at him crossly.
"So that means you did hear something." Sakura realized her mistake after he said that and looked down at the ground again. "Anyways, listen carefully," Sasuke continued, "If you spread false rumors then not only I, but you as well, will be in danger."
He was cut short when the pair heard the click of a photograph being taken. He turned around and saw a couple of photographers raise their cameras and continue to rapidly take photos of the two of them. Sakura, curious as to what the sound was as well, looked past Sasuke, but stopped when Sasuke suddenly slammed his hand onto the wall next to her, concealing her from the view of the cameras. As he did that, several guards ran up to the photographers.
"Hey what are you doing? You can't do that!"
They wrestled the cameras out of the hands of the photographers. Sasuke, when he was sure the situation was cleared up, turned back to Sakura.
"I'll leave first, then you leave a little later. And—I'm warning you—if you spread rumors, you will endanger yourself."
He then turned away from her and walked back to his car. As soon as he had left, Sakura slumped down on her bicycle, sighing.
"Mou, what is with that guy? He's so demanding, just because he's the prince."
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(Hi no Kuni Palace)
"Yoshino-sama, Mikoto-jyou-sama (1.) has arrived."
Yoshino-sama looked up from the calligraphy she had been previously doing and saw her daughter-in-law walk in, a gloomy look upon her face. Anxiously, she asked her,
"How is the king feeling?"
"He is…okay."
"Why is your expression like that if he is okay, then?"
"The king wants me to bring word to you that he is feeling okay. However, things… are not looking good."
Yoshino-sama wearily closed her eyes for a moment, as if attempting to absorb all the news she had just received. When at last she had re-opened her eyes, she nodded slightly to the maid who was standing near them. On cue, the maid picked up a scroll and presented it to Queen Mikoto. Hesitantly, she took the scroll from the hands of the maid and slowly unrolled it. As she read it, Yoshino-sama explained to her,
"There are some important aspects of preparation for the crown prince's wedding. The king has already assigned the positions. You will have to cooperate as to prevent any errors from occurring."
"I understand." Mikoto-sama replied. However, she was not able to conceal the reluctance in her voice from Yoshino-sama.
"You are feeling that this entire wedding is being forced upon him, am I correct? And why everything has come down to this, right?"
"I…can understand why." Although she was not satisfied with this answer, Yoshino-sama knew better than to question further. Instead, she chose to change the subject to something else.
"The wedding is on the way and there's still no news of Sai and his mother who went to Kiri no Kuni?"
"I am sorry, but there is not any news."
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(Kiri no Kuni)
A young man lied sleeping upon a couch, a book clutched tightly in his hand. He had raven black hair that fell carelessly around his face. Sunlight poured through the open windows as he peacefully slept, oblivious of the door opening. A beautiful woman in her mid-40's entered. She took a glance at the boy sleeping on the couch before she muttered,
"Ara, ara, what is this? Sleeping here again." She sat upon the couch as well. Bending over, she gently pried the book out of the boy's hands. "Reading books overnight again?" She smiled and leaned over, placing a hand upon the boy's hand that was now empty. "Sasuke is getting married." This comment seemed to wake the boy up instantly. Groggily he fluttered his eyes open, revealing coal black eyes.
"Eh? Really?" The boy placed a hand upon his head as he slowly lifted himself to a sitting position.
"Yes, it's true. The wedding is very sudden. I have no idea, but there must be something going on in the palace to have made them make such an abrupt decision." She paused a while before continuing. "You will return to Hi no Kuni first. I will settle matters here first and return as well." The boy still did not reply, but instead gazed off to nowhere. The woman looked down to her folded hands before she once again continued. "It's been 14 years already. It's time to take action."
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(Hi no Kuni Palace)
Sasuke lazily sat upon a chair, his body posture showing his boredom.
"So have you decided?" He turned his head towards the origin of the voice, replying,
"Decided what? What do you mean?" Present with him in the room were Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto, king and queen of Hi no Kuni. Queen Mikoto was dressed in traditional Hi no Kuni clothes, in a beautiful shade of wine red with gold embroidery. In contrast, King Fugaku was dressed in a more modern suit. Fugaku promptly answered his son's question.
"About getting a wife." Sasuke carelessly sighed and looked away from his parents defiantly.
"What has that got to do with my decision?" When his parents did not answer, he grabbed a packet from the table before him, flipping through the pages. "What kind of friendship is this to have made them make such a promise?"
"It is a promise between your grandfather and his only true friend," Queen Mikoto replied for her husband.
"You mean a king can have a true friend?" Sasuke asked cynically. King Fugaku abruptly placed the cup he had been drinking from back onto its saucer. Taken aback, Mikoto reprimanded her son.
"Ouji-sama (2.), what kind of attitude are you showing your father?" To further show his defiance, Sasuke refused to look up at his parents, but instead fiddled with the sleeves of his suit, as if showing that he was ignoring them. Mikoto took a deep breath, ready to continue when Fugaku interrupted.
"Yes. Like you say, the role of a king is lonely and isolated. So that is why it is necessary to have a true friend who understands. Your grandfather is lucky to have such a friend and wished to repay his friend with a present." Sasuke snorted in contempt at this comment. Ignoring this, Mikoto continued on for her husband.
"That is why he had the ring and token sent to his friend, along with the letter in your hands." Sasuke once again picked up the letter he had previously discarded.
"This is funny: 'The engagement of the Prince and the granddaughter of my royal friend.'" He read in a mocking tone. "And you're saying it's me, right?"
"To be precise, it isn't. I'm just saying, it wasn't then." Fugaku clarified when Sasuke shot a questioning glance at him. "As you know, when the agreement was made, Masao-nii-sama was still the king and the grandson in line for the throne was not you, but Sai. Since the death of my brother and the banishment of his wife and son, the contract now applies to you." Fugaku paused. "Anyways, what's important is how you feel. I won't force you to do things that you don't wish to do."
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(Haruno Residence)
Sakura entered her house, fixing her hair in the mirror. Once she was satisfied she took of her shoes and entered the main portion.
"I'm ho—."
She stopped halfway, looking at the scene before her. All of the furniture was turned over, drawers were pulled out and all their contents were spilled out, cups and plates were thrown from the cupboard, items on shelves were discarded. All in all, the place was a mess. Slowly, Sakura made her way through the clutter of the front room and made her way into the living room.
"Why is the house in such a mess? What is all of this? And mom says my room is messy…"
She began to call out for her parents again until she noticed a stack of papers and envelopes. Making her way over to them, she curiously picked them up and read their contents.
"Variation of property? What is this?"
Sakura ran out of the house and into her backyard, still clutching the papers in her hands. There she found her mom sitting on a bench, a look of great distress upon her face. Atsumi looked up and when she saw her daughter approaching with the papers in her hands, let out a sigh and looked away from her. Sakura sat down beside her mother and attempted to look her in the eye.
"Okaa-san, do you want a divorce?" When her mom did not reply, she continued. "Don't. Everytime time you do this, I get hurt emotionally." Sakura leaned over and gave her mom a great hug, collapsing onto her causing the Haruno matriarch to let out a grunt.
"I am very tired, and you are very heavy."
Satisfied that her mother finally had said something, Sakura, with a broad smile on her face, let go and sat back. She then looked at the papers once again.
"But what is this? Legal cooperation?"
"The loan sharks are hounding us again. Don't worry about it." Atsumi once again placed a gloomy look upon her face. Sakura, saddened by this, put on a brave face and took her mothers hands.
"Okaa-san, when I am successful I will put an end to all of this. There will only be happy days for all of us. Please, believe in the eldest daughter!" Atsumi looked skeptically up at her daughter.
"Then Princess Sakura, how are you going to succeed?" With a noble look upon her face, Sakura replied,
"Medic. The best medic of all time." Atsumi rolled her eyes and told Sakura,
"Stop talking nonsense."
"Yes." Sakura replied obediently. Then, she asked her mother,
"Okaa-san, can you please buy me that medical book? Please!"
"Look at this house. I am stressed enough already. Please, do not stress me further." Sakura was about to reply when her mother's cell phone went off. Hurriedly, Atsumi reached for her phone and opened it.
"This is Haruno Atsumi, how may I help you?"
Dejected, Sakura made her way back into the house. Looking out the window, she heard faint noises coming from her parents' room. Curious as to what they were, Sakura went to her parents' room and stopped outside the open door, peering inside. The room was a mess resembling all the other rooms in the house and, sitting in the middle, seemingly the origin for the mess, was the Haruno patriarch, emptying a basket full of papers.
"Is it here? No… How about here then?" Sakura crept up behind him, curious as to what he was searching for.
"Dad?" Keito, startled at her sudden comment, jumped up and turned around.
"Ah! You scared me!" However, once he had said this, Keito turned back to the already messy and room and proceeded to continue emptying out various storage items. Sakura came up behind him, wondering as to what he was looking for. Inquisitively, she asked,
"Are you looking for a friend?"
"No, no, looking for a treasure." Keito told his daughter, not even sparing her a glance. Frustrated, he threw up his hands. "I really can't find it."
"Why? Did you lose something?"
"Yes. A ring." To emphasize his point, he gestured at the wedding ring he was wearing. "Your grandfather left it to us when he passed away." After he told Sakura that, he began to throw a slight tantrum, muttering things to himself and throwing items around even more. Ignoring her father's childish behaviors, Sakura contemplated for a moment before a bright look appeared on her face.
"Oh, that!" The Haruno patriarch stopped his whining and looked up at his daughter.
"Huh?"
"You do mean the one we placed over there when we moved, right?" Frantically, Keito asked his daughter,
"Where?" Sakura led her father out of the room he had completely destroyed into what remained of the kitchen. She crouched down and peered at the bottom of one the kitchen table's legs. Spotting the ring, she exclaimed,
"There it is! Lift up the table." Clearly out of shape, Keito attempted to lift up the table, failing miserably. At last, after much encouragement from his daughter, he was finally able to lift it up far enough to enable Sakura to retrieve the ring.
"Tada!" She began to ramble off about it when Keito seized it from her. Holding it up to the light in order to inspect it better, a goofy grin appeared on his face. Turning to a daughter, he hugged her, screaming out,
"Yes this is it! We found it! My wife! We have found it!" Atsumi immediately rushed into the house when she heard the uproar caused by her husband. She too, after seeing the ring, began screaming rejoices and jumping around.
"Yes! Happiness is finally here! Banzai!" Sakura's parents, so overcome with happiness, began to scream even more, throwing their hands up into the air.
"Banzai!"
"Banzai!" Uncertainly, Sakura also lifted up her hands, unsure as to what sparked her parents' sudden reaction.
"Banzai?"
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(Hi no Kuni Palace0
Unaware of the happiness occurring in the Haruno Residence, Uchiha Fugaku held out picture in front of his son, Uchiha Sasuke.
"This is a picture of the girl you are going to marry. For some reason, whether it is by fate or coincidence, she happens to go to your school."
"What? She's from my school?"
"Yes, from the science department." Sasuke grabbed the picture, trying not to seem too curious. After close inspection, his eyes began to grow wide and bulge out of their sockets. Staring at him with a huge smile upon her face, sat Sakura holding out a "v" sign.
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(Haruno Residence)
"THIS IS NONSENSE! Give me the ring and the token right now. I'm going to return everything to them." A very distressed Sakura screamed. As she continued her tirade, her parents frantically shoved the ring and token into a ceramic container. "Which bus should I take to get to the Palace?" Her younger brother, Haruno Shouta, looked up from the TV and told her mockingly,
"You can't do that, future crown princess."
"Yes. That's right. Don't you agree husband?" Atsumi agreed with her son.
"Of course!" Hysterical at her family's lack of support, Sakura whined,
"What are you all talking about? I'm throwing this out right away." She seized the container and headed towards the door. But, her father, who happened to stand in her path, reached out and held onto the container as she passed, attempting to tug it from her.
"Wait! You can't do that; give it to me." Shocked at her father's mild, yet firm, demand, Sakura stopped struggling. Protesting, she asked her family,
"What century are we living in for me to have such an old-fashioned engagement? How old am I? I'm still a high school student!" Getting up from her seat, Atsumi walked over to her daughter, attempting to comfort her,
"Sakura, I will you buy several new medical books." A happy grin began to appear on Sakura's face before being replaced once again by one of distraught.
"Now is not the time to be discussing about medical books!" Closing her eyes in frustration, Sakura sank onto a chair. "The Crown Prince is going to marry a person like me? That's ridiculous!"
"What are you talking about?" Haruno Keito asked his daughter. "Didn't you hear the phone call from the palace?" Keito put on a very smug grin before continuing. "The Prince is willing to accept this engagement." However, this did not comfort Sakura one bit.
"I don't want to! I have no idea why he agreed to this. He has a beautiful girlfriend." At this statement, all the head's of her family turned to her in shock. Sakura ignored them. "And I saw him proposing to her."
"What? Who?" Shouta asked dumbfound.
"What? The Crown Prince?" Keito inquired surprised.
"Propose to whom?" Atsumi queried, clearly shocked.
"She is from our dance department," Sakura told her family grudgingly. "She is from a wealthy family and is the only daughter. She is beautiful and does ballet very well. He must've lost his mind momentarily when she rejected him."
"He got rejected? Who? Who got rejected?" Shouta asked, more so to himself than anyone else, clearly still confused.
"Anyways, this engagement is hereby voided. You people can forget about this." Sakura stomped to her room, shooting her family a dirty look.
"Wait. Sakura…" Atsumi called out to her daughter. She turned to Keito, who still held the container in his hands, inquiringly.
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1. Mikoto-jyou-sama: Queen Mikoto (Jyou-sama: Queen)
2. Ouji-sama: Prince
FYI:
Ou-sama: King
Oujyou-sama: Princess (synonym of 'hime')
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Once again, who is this mysterious girl that Sasuke proposed to? Why did Sai and his mother move to another country? Does this mean he and Sasuke are cousins? And is Sakura finally going to accept the engagement?
Next time, Chapter 3: Raison d'être
"Because you will be part of the Royal Family, you're family will receive things to secure your household's reputation."
-Uchiha Mikoto
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Unmei: Whew, finally done. I can't believe I've written two chapters and I'm not even done with covering episode 1…out of 24 total episodes! Boy, either this fic is going to be very long or I'm going to have to cut some parts out… but I'd rather not do that.
Anyways, time for some explanation time, first off, yes I know Sakura is an only child, but for purposes of sticking fairly close to the drama I gave her a younger brother. Also, so you're not confused, Yoshino-sama is the mother of Fugaku-sama, the king of Hi no Kuni. In addition, when Atsumi calls Sakura "Princess Sakura" it is not because Sakura is princess-to-be, but because as Chaegyung states in the original drama (and which I left out), she is "treated as a princess at her house." And, lastly, thank you to all my WONDERFUL reviewers—I don't know what I would do without all of your support!
Justine Nicole: Hopefully this was fast enough updating for you. Yes, there will be slight Sasuke x OC, but no need to worry; this is truly a SasuSaku fic in the end, with many love triangles, of course. Thank you for all your support!
everlastingxwish: Haha, yea, I can't exactly imagine Sasuke saying "halt" either, but oh well. I find Sakura's family very hilarious throughout the course of the whole drama, although you see less of them as it goes on, unfortunately. Thanks for reviewing and giving me support. Hope you continue to read and review!
xox.Annie Potter.xox: Meh, good point, biology would've been much more helpful to Sakura. Apparently, I subconsciously didn't want to think about it (having just taken the final). Heh, oh well, I'm sure chemistry can help er… some? Anyways, thanks for reviewing! Hopefully you'll continue to enjoy the fic.
aznmelon: Yes, I did "rip" this off of Goong (a.k.a. Princess Hours). But, just so you know, I did acknowledge that in my disclaimer, so no, I'm not trying to claim its storyline for my own original idea. Hope you'll continue to read and review!
And to saki, 1taCh1's GuRLie, animemanga-luver-4ever, ShamanShadow, clearsunrise, Diana-san, chie, and last, but certainly not least, Silver Spirit, thank you ALL for reviewing. I LOVE all of you soo much! Please, keep on reading (and of course reviewing!) This is Unmei no Hana signing off. 'Til next time! Ja ne!