Her jade eyes trained on the shop before her. She couldn't be the only one to notice the strangeness of the shop. When her eyes accessed her surroundings, she had to bit back a sigh. Apparently, she was the only one. Those who did glance in the direction of the shop were looking past it as though it didn't exist.

Returning her stare back to the shop, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. It was wedged between two towering building, squeezed as if the neighbors were closing in. The signboard was seedy, some old letters had become illegible in the peeling paint but you could make some letters: A...t...er...e...s. It looked ages old. However, the window looked clean, giving a good view of artifacts on display.

Antiques, she thought as she leafed through the items- it was like a medley of different cultures and ancient trends. No theme, no color-coordination; yet the items were artistically arranged. She eyed the book bound in inky leather, full of cracks and trampled corners that suggested its old age. The headline stood out in silver, but in a language that she couldn't comprehend. Complex, and otherworldly.

The 16 years old medic was sure that this shop wasn't here before. She always took this route when returning from her shift at the hospital. It was a shortcut to reach her house. She had crossed the same street yesterday after the completion of her mission in Suna, but this strange shop never had been there before.

In fact, she could chance that it came into existence overnight. Tired or not, she was not one to miss on details. The training she received from her mentor, the one of the great sannin, Tsunade Senju, taught her that.

Strange. The shop had an air of mystery to it.

Especially with that golden Maneki-Neko perched on the middle of the shelf, sticking out from other artifacts like a sore thumb. The blackness of its eyes bored into hers; as though the doll was really looking at her.

She never was a fan of dolls. A cat figurine doesn't make it any less creepy, especially not with a beckoning paw. She actually felt tempted to enter the strange shop.

"I don't think anything else can make this shop creepier," Sakura muttered, her eyes never straying from the figurine.

She had to will herself to turn away from the shop and when she did, she felt a pull. She didn't look at the cat when she stepped forward, fully intended to continue her way to her house and retire for the day. But she didn't need to look at the cat to know that the power it was having over her.

Something in the back of her mind was itching her to go in. An annoying, distorted voice that was unlike inner Sakura's.

'Co...me...in...sa...ku...r...a...' it was impossible for Sakura to hold back her shudder.

"What the fuck?" Her whisper was small and inaudible to all but her. Aghast drove through her veins at how scared she sounded. It was like something from a horror movie, it was happening in her mind and she was hearing it in her ears as though words were being whispered to her.

Then she blinked.

"Woah!" She jumped away from the wooden door, landing a meter or so away from the shop. Heart thudded loudly against her chest, her erratic heartbeats played deafeningly loud in her ears. Shit was happening with her.

"How did I...?"

"Welcome to Afterlives, child," the door cracked open revealing an old lady. At her age, she should have been a foot in the grave. The lines around her eyes sagged and looked heavy when she smiled at the sight of her.

"Um...I...I wasn't..." she didn't want to enter. Not this shop, never this shop.

"Ah, you looked like you were about to," her voice was slow and measured, but shrilly at the edges. Sakura flinched and averted her eyes from meeting the women's grey.

"I...I was, then I remembered I have things to do...I'm sorry, some other day, maybe..." Sakura quickly made up an excuse and turned when the old women chuckled.

"One look wouldn't hurt, dear. Afterlives wouldn't cost you for a mere visit, I promise."

That moment Sakura made two mistakes. One, to look in the old lady's eyes. Two, to glance at the annoying cat who was still looking ahead but yet looking at her.

"uh..." she couldn't bring herself to deny her invitation as much as she wanted to.

"Please dear, be our guest..." She sounded so welcoming, warm...and...

Sakura found her resolve collapse when the women with white hair - or lack of thereof - opened the door for her.

'c...om...e...d...e...ar...' something urged her in her mind. Sakura decided to ignore the voice. It wasn't the first time she was hearing annoying voices only she could hear.

The bell chimed overhead when she entered through the door. Her eyes frisk over to the door over her shoulder when it closed shut behind her. She could smell the mellow aroma of oak in the room, along with the assortment of oils that mixed in the air. It harnessed a soothing excitement that she felt to her bones.

But she needed to stay on her guard. She has experienced oddities since her eyes fell on this shop. Now that she was in it, who knows what wouldn't happen.

"Feel free to browse my treasures. I hope you'll find one to your liking, dear." Sakura startled at the sound. She almost forgot about the old women who could be the reason behind everything she was experiencing. After all, this 'Afterlives' was owned by her. At the desk, behind the counter, sat the said women who beamed happily, her small face reducing to the maze of wrinkles that began from nowhere and ended nowhere.

"O-Of course mam..." with that, the pink-haired teen hurried to take refuge behind the towering shelves that shielded her from the grey eyes.

Sakura rested her back against one of the shelves when she crossed good distance away from the entrance. A sigh left her pale, pink lips. She would take a look at a few things here and leave the place without a second glance.

I guess taking a detour doesn't sound half-bad, she mused to herself with pursed lips.

Antiques crowded as much as little space as it was possible. The low ceiling of the shop was packed with scrolls, hanging lamps, and chandeliers that add to the oddness in the store because of the lack of coordination. It felt stuffy and suffocating, more so with the scent of different flavors in the air. It was almost nauseating, now that she stood further in the shop.

"It should cost a fortune," she ran her hand over the gold edges of the mirror, feeling the ornate carvings that almost seemed to tell the maker's emotions. At the crown of the oblong mirror, also in gold, was a humanoid face bearing a crown, a queen perhaps? "how pretty."

The mirror though was tarnished, either it had been polished a few times too many, or maybe that's just what happened with age.

She was almost at the end of the store. This part of the shop was mostly darkness and sheen of metal from the minimal light. It took her a while to adjust her sight in the darkness. She knew she could always go to the front desk and ask the old lady to turn some light on.

But I'd rather not see her again...no matter her bright smiles and warm eyes, she chose inwardly for herself.

Step. Step. Step. Her footsteps were all that was clear in the room. It elicited a strange buzz in her chest, like a siren call. As if on cue, she heard a siren call.

'c...om...e...t...o...m...e...'

and then her eyes caught the sight of 'them' some distance away from her. Some hundred or so, stacked in neat rows, aligned spine to spine hiding the impression of their torn, yellowed pages from the world. But it made them all more enticing, especially to bibliophiles like her who grabbed and read anything and everything.

"Finally a gem in the sea of rocks," it wasn't like other items weren't precious, although, to her, they were pretty useless. A smile boomed in her lips.

However, when she neared it, her smile waned. She hadn't expected all the dust brimming over them. It looked like the books hadn't been touched for a decade, maybe more.

That explains the darkness, she thought grimly.

She drummed her fingers over the spine of each book, eyes readily drinking the sight of their respective titles.

'Tak...e...me...Saku...ra,' she backtracked and stopped at the book where she thought the voice was more pronounced. 'I...was...waiting...for you...'

"Ah ha! It was you..." Sakura gritted her teeth in irritation. And here she thought the shop was haunted. "What are you?"

'...I...Open...me...I...will...show...you...'

"Ah, you take me for a fool, no? As if I'd release you from you confine, you evil spirit," the teen was clearly enjoying the power she had over the book. Whoever this spirit was, she couldn't force her to read the book.

'...ptff...evil...spirit...yea...you're...clearly... a fool,' Sakura pulled at the book, ignoring her taunt. Her lips pulled into a frown when she noticed the dust covering the vast of its cover. The book looked pretty heavy, but it felt feather light to her.

"I'm not the one who's trapped in a stupid book," she snorted when her eyes leafed through across the words. 'The Land of Tales', the title read in gold. The cover was bound in vermilion leather, texture dried and cracked through and through as she felt it under the pads of her fingers. Shrugging, she went in search for a stand to settle the heavy book. A coffee table.

She dusted her hands off the dirt when she placed the book over it.

Sakura noticed the voice was no longer talking to her. Was this not the right book? Her face contorted in confusion. She gazed fixedly at the book, as though she was trying to peer into its contents.

"...you know that I don't care if you ignore me right?" Sakura was used to talking to herself, well, to inner Sakura. If someone stumbles into her right now, they would take for a retard without a doubt. No one knew of the existence of another soul in her body. "I'm used to hearing voices in my head."

Although it has been a while since she last heard from her roomie.

'...' silence. Her jade eyes crossed in exasperation. She raised a hand to massage the spot between her brows. Maybe she grew tired of her and decided to find another victim, or maybe she realized she wasn't going to have much effect on her so she left her mind.

Sakura shifted from one foot to another. Which one was it?

She was going to lose herself in internal deliberations when words on the book caught her interest. Tilting her head in question, she read it over.

'Experience the world of folklore and fairy tales as your own. Enter the land of tales and let the guardian angel, Shina, lead you on this magical journey where you, the MC, relish the adventures and romances with the familiar faces you meet along the way.'

"Is this a reader insert story or something? I have read tons before...until I decided that I hate them," Sakura pondered to herself absently. A grave expression took on her face when she re-read the lines. It looked interesting, should she risk reading it?

"If I can bear reading Kakashi's Icha Icha, this one should be a child's play," she smirked to herself. Carefully holding the book to her chest, she leaned against the shelf. She might as well make herself comfortable if she was going to be reading some stupid children book.

Cradling the red book in her left arm, she let her eyes skim across its cover. Up close, she could smell it warm and dusty, like the inside of an attic. Smiling, she opened the aged book. The fragile old pages became delicate snowflakes with the touch of her hand. She had enough time to regard the blankness of the page before it faded into blobs of gold in the air.

"What the hell?" she absorbed the moment, almost in a trance, and those gravity-defying golden crystals were the last thing Sakura saw before a flash of the whitest light enveloped her.

Next moment, Sakura found herself in middle of the great expanse of white, in the company of a child who was smiling at her. It was an 'I-won-you-lose' kind of smile.

"I was getting tired of waiting, Sakura Haruno."

If she wasn't wrong, it was the same voice she heard in her mind.

AN: Weekly updates! There will be a maximum of 12 chapters. This is about Sakura who gets tricked into entering a fairytale book. Literally. This is a sakura-centric, reverse harem. Next Chapter will feature our first couple.

Leave me your opinions in comments. Which couple do you wish to see first?

Stay tuned for the next chapter.