Disclaimer: Naruto is the property and creation of Kishimoto Masashi. I own none of the characters or the places mentioned in this story. And let's just say I'm not responsible enough to own something as great as Naruto.

It was love at first sight when he saw Persephone. Using his divine powers, he opened up the earth beside her, seized her and dragged her down to the depths of his gloomy realm.

Until she saw the glint of eyes in the firelight, she had thought they were all asleep. He was watching her again. The other had stared- at her pink hair, her green eyes, her pale skin. He watched. She shifted against the tree trunk behind her, trying to find a place where the bark did not scrap into her spine. She was far from them as she could get, as close to fresh air as he would allow, unable to bear the claustrophobia she felt in their presence.

Distance from them, however, also meant distance from the only source of heat. After four nights of this, one would think she would stop being so childish. She was cold. She needed warmth of the fire. It occurred to her that this was a ridiculous time to develop a phobia.

What was happening to her was real now, all the time, not just in spurts. The cold was a fact, and her weariness, and trying to keep down the food they gave her. She supposed she was lucky they shared their rations with her at all. Cold, exhaustion, stomach cramps. Those things were real. She did not how far they were from her village.

The first two days were had been real only in sharp jolts like pricks of a kunai, and now that she had thought back on them she knew what a fool she had been to succumb to shock. She was a physician; she knew the symptoms, so she should have recognized them and dragged herself out of stunned lethargy.

She had not though and now she only had the vaguest idea of where she was. Twenty, fifty, a hundred measures in any direction from the village of Konohagakure, not that knowing her location would have done her any good. She was not afraid of him- of either of them. They had not touched her, had almost been polite. They gave her food and water, allowed her decent privacy to attend her physical needs.

That was the only time he did not watch her.

The other only looked, fascinated by her strangeness. He was the one who searched beyond the color of her eyes to see what might lie within. He was doing it now- catching her gaze, trying to reach into her. She bore it as long as she could then turned her head away. She did not dare close her eyes, even to rest them, which proved a difficult feat. She blinked her eyes and sniffled. Her eyes stung and the headache she felt was like a war hammer smashing into her skull repeatedly.

They both were the only two awake until early dawn. As the fire died, he lifted from his seat on the moss-covered log and headed over to the sleeping man at his side, "Juugo! Wake up." The other man rose from his resting place on the other side of the fireplace, rubbed his eyes, and stretched before standing. "We're moving. Come on." Levering her chilled body upright, a hard hand grasped her elbow- the first time any of them had touched her since they had seized her from the Hidden Leaf village.

"Let me go," she said without fear, and tried to shake him off. Nevertheless, he hauled her through the forest. Only when they reached the border of Otogakure did he release her, by then it was early afternoon. They brought her to an elaborate palace with jade roofing and alabaster walls. They led her inside. The halls were extensive and cool, keeping her skin chilled.

She remained quiet as they escorted her to a room and allowed a few moments' privacy to wash away some of the dirt and stink of the road. The cursory daubing with cloth soaked in scented water only made her long for a real bath. The impatient knocking brought her back to her senses. More so, why she was with these men in the first place, she returned to them, feeling better, a state that lasted only until she reached the throne room. Fingers sweat-moist and shaking, she remembered again why she had allowed these men to take her. The journey and the stares had rattled her, but she must not be afraid, not in front of the enemy.

They pushed her through the big doors and she nearly tripped over her own two feet as the door closed behind her. The room was dark, lit only by torches at each corner of the room. The floor was a black marble and the ceiling gilt, in the middle of the throne room was the throne seated on a small platform, embellished in reds and gold. A single stool was seated a few feet from the throne, it was not until she turned did she notice the two guards standing at the large doors she had been pushed through.

She did not know how long she had been standing there, but she stood quietly by until another door stationed at the left of the throne room opened. A tall, lean-limbed man walked in, and she thought he was the type of man not to be terrified by anything. Perhaps she had expected him to be striding around like the conqueror he had come to be, snarling commands and ordering vicious punishment for the slightest infraction of warrior discipline.

Perhaps she thought he would be fierce, or fiercely ugly with eyes that even the harshest of villains would cringe to meet directly. Whatever she may have anticipated, it was not this darkly elegant man, no older than twenty-five, whose black eyes held both sharp interest and sardonic exuberance and whose face was as clean-shaven as on the day of his birth.

He had height on her, but his shoulders were not much broader. His body was slimmed-hipped, lean as a rapier, and he moved with a lazy ease that suggested he possessed a formidable strength. He was beautiful like a dark angel or a shinigami. "Welcome," he said, his voice deep and sonorous. "Lady of Konohagakure." he added wryly. He stopped a few feet in front of her, dark eyes like obsidian boring into her. He gestured and spoke a single word that she did not understand. The guards bowed and left the throne room.

She could kill him now and it would all be over, but she did not have any weapons on hand and she was no match for him. "Please sit," her host invited, indicating to the stool behind her. "I'm sure you're tired from your journey from Konohagakure to Otogakure. Sit and rest. Wine for your thirst?"

She neither spoke nor moved.

The Otokage smirked, revealing that he was also a man that did not laugh easily or readily. "Lady, a woman of your stature sits in the presence even of enemies. I ask, please sit." When she remained standing, he shrugged and turned, walking over to the throne to take his ease. He made himself utterly at home in front of her. "I've recently captured a regiment of Konohagakure soldiers. Did you come to beg for your husband's life?"

He was wrong; he had not captured her husband, but her intended husband: Hyuuga Neji. A man whom she had come to care for even though they were still strangers, she had risked herself for him, wandering willing with enemies for a chance to speak with this man here. Leaning forward, he propped his elbows on his knees, hands clasped loosely between them, and scrutinized her face in turn.

He lifted a hand, his sleeve falling back from a broad, shining armguard, to brush back solid black forelocks, a black that had blue highlights in the torchlight. "Let him go," she demanded, knowing well enough that she was in no position to be making demands. "Leave our lands in peace, haven't you killed enough?" She hated him, she hated him with her entire soul and never had she hated anyone before.

He sat forward, hands fisted on muscular thighs and he pushed himself up, standing again. He came down the steps and circled her. "If I let him go…" he observed her, his hand reaching out, but falling back as he came to stand an arms length in front of her. "What's in it for me?" he continued in a low, lethal voice. There was a black fire in his eyes. After a moments' pause between them he whispered in another venomous tone, "You have nothing, go home and mourn your husband's death." He turned to leave and she took a step forward, stopping as her heart began to beat frantically like a trapped thing. She was panicking; she had to think of something.

"Wait!" he slowed to a stop, but did not turn to face her. "Take me in his stead." He turned his head and looked at her over his shoulder before veering around completely and walking back over to her. This time when he reached for her, he took her hair between his fingers. She was beautiful. Her long strawberry blond hair was finer than any silk he had ever touched, glossy and scented with vanilla even after her long journey.

Her skin was a milky white and shaded like gold and her makeup was so light and so skillful that he first thought she was not wearing any. The bones of her face were sculpted and lovely, and the eyes were a startling, drowning emerald. He was fascinated with her beauty and her courage. It was a fine trait. "What's your name?" He asked in a soft tone, still mesmerized by her face.

"Sakura." she replied laconically, he did not deserve to know her surname. Each dark brow rose and he let her hair fall from his fingers. He was about to introduce himself but she interrupted him. "I know who you are, Uchiha Sasuke. So will you free him?" This time when he stared at her, it was with narrowed eyes. He repeated her name, it rolled off his tongue effortless and she thought her name had never sounded so beautiful, she hated this man, he made her feel beautiful and disgusting all together.

"Done…!" He stormed past her and out of the door the guards had used. She whirled around and followed him, but he slammed the door shut and she looked around, when she pulled the door open a guard was standing in front of the door with his back to her. She took a bold step outside and the guard shot his arm out, preventing her from leaving. She found him with her eyes and glared at him. He paid no attention, Kami, how it made her angry.

Sakura closed the door and whirled around angrily, her tattered skirts hissing across the floor. She spotted the other door Uchiha Sasuke had first walked through and she hurried over to them. Not even an instants hope heartened her, she pulled open the door and just as she opened it, there was a guard standing there, just as she suspected. She threw the door closed and hit it with her fist, cursing heatedly.

"NO!" she screamed, slapping her hands against the door again. "Neji-kun!" she sobbed as she fell to the floor, her hair spilling over her shoulders as she wept in her hands. He did not even let her say goodbye, she just wanted to see Neji one last time, kiss him one last time. She cursed the war, spat on it and hated everyone here and she hated Neji most of all for even getting involved in the war and she hated herself for throwing away her freedom.

Minutes… hours maybe, passed. The door opened again and she looked up from her spot on the floor, into those deep obsidian eyes. He extended a hand to her and she glared at him, wiped her eyes dry and got to her feet by herself. They walked down the long hall lit only by torches evenly spaced along the stone walls. She followed him with angry tears in her eyes as they climbed up the stairs, higher and higher. Down another corridor until they reached a room with white doors and silver handles.

He pushed open the door and gestured for her to enter. She stepped inside then whirled around to ask about the man she had thrown her life willing away for but he interrupted her rather brusquely. "There aren't too many women here, but you'll be safe and I'll have clothes sent up to you and food." After that, he shut the door and she felt her anger rise again. She pulled open the door and found a guard stationed at her door, of all the nerve!

Closing the door again, she turned to observe the room he had chosen for her. The bed was a canopy with sheer white curtains with embroidered bed sheets and thick feather pillows. The room was beautiful, there was a Hepplewhite cedar chest placed at the foot of the bed holding extra down comforters, just in case the two Egyptian cotton duvets on the bed weren't enough. Layers of opulent lace billowed around the windows, streaming over a velvet-covered window seat.

The walls were pale pink, trimmed with pearl white. Across the room was a huge carved oak vanity, with a floor length silver mirror and white vanity set. Sakura walked across the cold marble floor towards the throw rug then headed to the window seat oversaw the cherry trees that had been blossoming just below the gilt framed window. She shut the curtains, walked over to the closet, and opened it, surprised to find that it was not a closet but a bathroom, a beautiful bathroom of white tiles and a claw-foot bathtub.

Sakura walked over to the sink, looked into the oval gilt mirror, and stared at her reflection. Sakura closed her eyes and fell to the floor tears swelling in her eyes for the second time as pressed her head to her knees, hugging her stomach, crying her eyes out. It would be the last time, after today, she would never cry again. Another hour passed before there was a knock on the door. Sakura dried her face with a white hand cloth and went to answer the door.

A woman with long white blond hair and baby blue eyes was standing at the door with a beautiful silk kimono draped over her arms and holding in her hands a tray of food. Sakura allowed her inside and the woman introduced herself as Yamanaka Ino. "Here, eat this and I'll go get you some water for your bath, you're a mess." she stood up, dusted off her skirts and left the room. Sakura looked at the food and dug in, indifferent to etiquette; she was a prisoner so she used fingers and ate greedily and quickly as if she had never seen food before. She drank down the wine and devoured the grapes after the bread, fish and cheeses.

Sakura wiped her hands on the skirt of her dress and peeled off the soiled dress, leaving her in the silk slip. Falling back against the soft mattress she just about closed her eyes when the door opened with two women carrying two buckets of hot water to fill the tub. Ino walked over and picked up the dress Sakura had removed minutes ago. She looked at it with disgust. "This will be burned immediately. Along with that slip your wearing, your bath is ready."

Sakura moaned begrudgingly and Ino tapped her arm, flicking her ear. Ino pulled Sakura up and she went to the bathroom, removing her slip as she did. Ino picked it up and turned. Sakura dipped into the hot water when she was alone in the room; there were cherry blossoms in the water. Sakura lolled back in the bath, closing her eyes. This was just what she needed to soothe all her aches.

She thought about Neji as she watched the stream roll of the water's surface, and the time she had spent with him, learning to know him. He was a wonderful man, with tender kisses and embraces. It hurt to think that she would never see him again that she traded her freedom for his. It was a wonderfully, stupid gesture, he would have forbidden her to give her freedom up for his, he was a man after all. Sakura refused to cry, having had made a promise earlier to herself.

When Sakura came out wearing the new slip Ino had brought her. Ino quickly set to work brushing her hair until it was dry and free of tangles, smelling like the flower her parents named her for. Sakura sighed and closed her eyes, she had not slept since she left her village, the hot bath and meal only coaxed her further towards sleep. Her eyes were heavy. Ino sighed and sat up. "Sasuke-kun wants you to come down later for dinner with him."

"No…"

"What…? What do you mean no, any woman would die to dine with the Otokage?" Her eyes glossed over as she clapped her hands together, close to her heart. "Oh, he's the most handsome man in the all the lands; you'd have to be crazy not to want to be graced with his presence."

"I'm his prisoner." Ino seemed taken aback further by that then her not wanting to share a meal with the ruler of Otogakure. She started asking what she meant by prisoner. "My village is Konohagakure and my betrothed is Hyuuga Neji, he is the Hokage's Battle Commander, so he, of course, was sent to fight, but I received word of his capture and… I've come to care for my betrothed in a way very much close to love so I chose to negotiate with the man who imprisoned him, but ended up exchange my freedom for his."

"Ah! That is love, beautiful love." Ino said, swooning. Sakura smiled thinly nodding and lifting the chain around her neck, showing off the opal ring too big to fit any of her slender fingers. "Oh, that is exquisite."

"Neji-kun gave it to me before he left, promising that he would come back for it. It belonged to his late Otou-san." She lowered it and bowed her head, feeling sad. "I suppose he'll never get it back now. Not while I'm a prisoner here." Ino did not say anything; the mood had been darkened and after a few minutes ticking by, Ino excused herself and left the room. Sakura crawled under the blankets and fell asleep.

A/N: So tell me what you thought, good… bad, liked it, hated it… oh, no, don't hate it. Thank you, for reading and I hoped you liked it.