"Welcome lady Sakura," about twenty guards greeted her at the entrance of the Raikage's home. She was led down a long hallway to the Raikage's room, where she had gone with Tsunade previously. She immediately realized a major difference between the two villages was that in the Cloud Village the people treated the Raikage like royalty. The Raikage, sitting on his "throne," was being served by several servants as he looked up and saw Sakura enter the room. He saw her formal attire, which brought out her beauty even more. He sneered and said, "ah, my wife to be."

He gently got up and walked up next to her. He kissed her hand and said, "welcome to your new home."

Sakura just looked down silently and bowed.

"Ah, I see, your putting the submissive wife act on. Very cute, I must say. I hope you'll keep that respectful attitude towards me in the years to come."

Sakura quickly shot him an angry glance and looked away. "Sakura!" exclaimed one of the two people from the Leaf Village that accompanied her. "Chill guys," the Raikage smiled taking Sakura's face in his hand. He looked into her eyes and sneered, "that kind of attitude turns me on."

Sakura quickly backed away. The Raikage just stood where he was and laughed. "I'm going to enjoy you," he said, "taker her to her room."

Sakura walked out of the room as quickly as she could. She had to get out of his presence. She didn't know why, the minute he touched her she felt her spine tremble. She felt the same way as her first encounter with Orochimaru, although she knew this was a completely different situation. It was a mixture of fear and loss of hope at the same time.

Her room was, in one word, beautiful. There were drapes of all different designs and colors, and she had the most comfortable looking bed in the world. Her dressers were full of all of the clothing a girl would ever want, and there were perfumes of all types surrounding her mirror cabinet.

"Dinner is at six," informed her guard. "If you want anything we will bring it to you, just call us."

He then closed the door and left Sakura sitting on her bed contemplating her room. "If I want anything..." Sakura muttered looking at a neclace that lay on her cabinet. It was made of extrememly expensive looking stones, obviously the Raikage intended for her to wear this down to dinner. She put the neclace around her neck and looked at herself in the mirror and said to herself blankly, "I have everything I want."

She opened her first bag and began unpacking stuff. She took out her old books, her diary dating from the day she entered group 7, the ribbon that ino gave her, her head protector (which she took off because she was in formal attire). Then she paused when she came accross the most recent photograph of group 7. The day after Sasuke came back, Sakura remembered that she forced their group to get their picture taken. When Sakura ran up do Sasuke's house and said, "Sasuke kun, lets go take a new group picture!"

Sasuke looked down at the girl and said, "I have too much to do, I have a penalty for being a nukenin you know." He looked sadly away and was about to return inside his house.

Despite Sasuke's rejection Sakura forcefully pulled him outside the door. "Sakura, what are you doing?"

"The picture we took three years ago is old now," Sakura said pulling on his arm. "You're back now, so we can finally take a new one."

Sasuke immediately knew what Sakura was trying to do. She was trying to convince him that he was still a part of their group, even if he'd left them for so long. It was her way of saying, "this is your place." When he realized this Sasuke decided that he couldn't resist. He just smiled and said, alright, if we'll be back by noon.

Sakura went red when he smiled like this. She stopped pulling on his arm and just stared at him for a second. Sasuke was perplexed and asked, "huh? did I do something wrong." Sakura smiled and said, "everything's fine, lets go!"

Unlike the old picture, in this one Sasuke was sneering. Sakura was in the middle, like before, and Naruto had a gigantic smile on his face. The picture had a sense of unity to it. It was deffinitely a group of people that cared about each other. Sakura took the photo in her arms and said to herself, "I am fine, I don't need anything. I am fine, I don't need anything."

She fell asleep on her bed while saying this to herself. She was woken up by a maid who said, "dinner is in thirty minutes, I'm here to help you get ready." Sakura placed the photograph on her desk and replied, "I'm ready."

-To be Continued-