Sakura groaned as she regained consciousness. She was confused, dizzy, and scared because her entire body was in pain, specifically her neck.

'...What happened?'

One moment she was getting some fresh air on the balcony of the palace, and then she heard a scream before passing out.

Green eyes crept open slowly, only to widen in surprise. There was nothing in the small, dark room but a worn table and chairs set. The woman was on the ground in a heap with her wrists tied together in front of her body with rope. When she struggled to sit up, she hissed and brought her bound hands to her neck, where she felt the familiar sticky sensation of flowing blood.

'I'm injured! Have I been bleeding all this time? How long was I unconcious?' Indeed, she felt light-headed, but not so much that she would immediately faint from the blood loss.

It was nighttime. There was little to no light in the tiny cabin, just a bit of moonlight that shone through the one window.

Wincing, Sakura managed to get to her feet, stumbling to the side before catching her balance and taking a calming breath. That was when she finally noticed a figure across the room. 'Is that…a man?' Careful to not make any sounds, she crept forward until she could confirm that it was, indeed, a man. He was dressed all in black with a mask covering his face. He was sitting cross-legged against the wall with a sword lying across his lap while he slept.

'Is he supposed to be keeping an eye on me and fell asleep on the job?'

Glancing at the door to the cabin, she frowned. She wasn't sure what to do. She could try to just sneak out now and hope there was no one else outside to witness it. She could attempt stealing that sword, kill the guard, and take the weapon with her on her escape for a better chance of defending herself. Lastly, she could stay put and hope that help was on the way. The third option was her favorite, but she shook her head to rid of it when a wave of nausea washed over her.

'It won't be long before I pass out again from losing too much blood. If help is on the way at all, they might not arrive in time.'

Sakura had very little hope that anyone would come looking for her because there was no reason for it. Sure, she'd volunteered to help rid the second prince of his curse, but he could always find someone else. There was nothing special about her. Despite her depressive thoughts, something had changed in the Haruno woman over the past month. Before, she might've sat and accepted her fate because there was so little to live for, but now an unseen force drove her to fight, to not give in to the terror.

So, Sakura tiptoed closer to the guard, staring unblinkingly for any sign that he was only pretending to be asleep. 'Once I grab the sword, I'll have the tiniest moment to kill him before he kills me.'

Taking someone's life was something she never wanted to do, but this person was obviously going to do the same to her if she didn't try to stop it. Even if they were paid to do it, that meant they weren't a good person. The logic did little to stifle her self-disgust.

She took a slow, quiet breath before latching onto the sword's hilt with her bound hands. The man's eyes opened. A choked sob left Sakura's mouth as she plunged the blade into his stomach. He grabbed onto her throat with both hands, squeezing tightly as a gurgling sound met the air. She gasped, releasing the weapon and trying to pull away as his fingers dug into the wound already marring her skin. Tears ran down her cheeks as she clawed at his hold. It got to the point that she was seeing stars before he finally died from the stab wound.

The poor woman fell onto her bottom, coughing as she finally inhaled. Her vision was flooded with black blotches, and her head was spinning like crazy. In her delirium, she managed to think, 'I have to move. There's no time to waste!'

After using the sword to free her wrists, Sakura peeked through the tiny window to check for additional guards that might be outside. When she saw nothing but a dark forest, she opened the door as quietly as possible. She paused to listen for movement. The only sound was a strong wind blowing through the trees.

'It's getting ready to storm,' she thought, crouching while looking around, 'That might actually be helpful in covering any tracks I leave.'

Just as she suspected, before she could take five steps out of the cabin, thick and heavy drops of rain began to plummet the ground from the now-pitch-black sky. Sakura wandered cautiously, bloodied sword at the ready, until she came upon a severely worn trail in the forest.

A sigh of relief passed her lips, 'If I follow this, it's likely I'll find the forest's edge.'

"Hey! What are you doing out here?" A low, raspy voice bellowed from nearby. Sakura's eyes darted in that direction to see two more masked men swiftly approaching, obviously to apprehend her. She turned tail and began running as fast as possible into the forest and away from the trail so the men might lose sight of her.

"Stop, Wench!"

She heard them yell something about splitting up to one another but was too terrified to look back. Her shoes became stuck in the muddy forest floor as the rain continued to fall in heavy curtains.

Now barefoot, the woman tripped over an uprooted tree and rolled forward. Desperately, she kept ahold of the sword because it was all she had to defend herself. Once her tumbling came to an end, she rolled onto her back just in time to lift her weapon to clash against one of the attackers'. They struggled for nearly a minute before she was disarmed.

She lifted her hands in defense, "Please!"

Odd, pinkish-purple eyes shined down at her from the masked man, and they seemed wild with excitement as though he enjoyed the torment. He lifted his sword above his head in preparation to bring it down and end her life. Sakura couldn't tell if it was the massive raindrops hitting the forest floor or her frantic pulse pounding in her ears. Whichever, it was deafening, though not enough to mask the borderline maniacal laughter coming from the man standing over her trembling form.

Just as he began to swing the sword, a blade shot through his chest. The air in Sakura's lungs dissipated as she saw the second masked man behind him, a massive person with gray eyes.

"What-!" The woman's mouth clamped shut when the first attacker's grip on the sword loosened, and the weapon fell. Fruitlessly, the larger man reached forward to grab it but was too late. Agonizing pain shot through the right side of Sakura's ribcage.

"You prick! I'll murder you! Get your filthy fucking hands off me!" The primary attacker, the one with a blade through his midsection, suddenly yelled, pulling himself off the weapon.

"Run! The prince is searching for you," the bigger man barked, his voice nearly inhuman.

Sakura cried out while stumbling to her feet, the weapon falling next to her abandoned one on the muddy ground. Pain akin to lightning shot up her body, stealing her breath, but she willed her legs to move. She ran and ran and ran, ignoring the fading sounds of the two attackers fighting because her life literally depended on it.

'Who are those men? And why did they kidnap me?'

She wasn't thinking clearly enough to do anything but continue moving, though her pace gradually slowed as her energy faded with the blood. She continued for so long that the sun began to rise. When it was on the horizon, Sakura could barely stay upright.

Her bloody hands grasped onto the nearest tree. The air was filled with her labored, slow breaths. The bottoms of her feet were probably covered with cuts from being shoeless in this forest, and the cuts on her ribs and neck were still untreated.

'This is it,' she hazily thought, 'This is where I die.'

The rain still fell, though not as heavily as earlier. Her hair was dirty and stuck to her cold, pale skin. When she reached for the next tree in an attempt to keep moving forward, her legs gave out, and she fell to the ground in a shivering ball. Groaning, the woman rolled onto her back with a hand to her midsection's injury. Emerald-colored eyes stared half-lidded at the cloudy sky.

'I fought much harder than I thought I was capable of. I shouldn't be ashamed.'

Sakura tried to tell herself that in an attempt to rid of this bitter taste, but it did nothing. Tears rolled down the sides of her face to mix into her wet hair. She pictured Prince Sasuke's face last night when he was reassuring her before the engagement party. For some reason, a pain rose in her chest that hurt even worse than the stab wounds.

To nobody, she spoke in a weak and unintelligible voice just because she could, "I want to see him again."

In her ears, the sound of her gradually slowing heartbeat overwhelmed the sounds of the forest.

Sakura was sad. She thought she was ready to greet death, but she'd been mistaken. The life she'd known in the past month was more wonderful than anything she ever thought she'd experience. The woman selfishly wished to enjoy it longer.

She wanted to have tea with the prince. She wanted to listen to Ino gossip about the manor's other staff as though they'd been friends for years. She wanted to read all the books in the library, to soak in all the knowledge they offer. Hell, she even wanted to listen to Akuma boast about how great and powerful he was.

"..ak…ra…!"

Lady Haruno lost the energy to even cry, but it was fine because the raindrops rolled down her face in their stead. Desperately, she fought to keep her eyes open, '…I'm so scared….'

"Over here!"

Muffled words fell absently on Sakura's ears. She was so far gone that they seemed like a hallucination. One moment her vision was gray, and then someone blocked the sky. It was blurry, but they had dark hair and eyes. "Sakura! Sakura, look at me! Wake up!"

Trembling, calloused fingers touched the side of her face, and then she lost consciousness.