A Cherry Blossom - The Necklace

Chapter 1

"Please, stop!" Two of the men had me against the wall, and I couldn't move my arms even when I struggled against the hands that were pinning me by the wrists. "All I wanted was something to eat!"

"If you don't have the money, you don't have the food!" He fished out the loaf of bread from the satchel that my mother gave me so long ago. I sobbed once, and the two men let me go too quick. I fell onto the cement with a thud, and my bag hit my head as the third man threw it to me. "Don't let me catch you stealing again."

I then heard footsteps as the men stomped off to put back the bread for the night. I just crouched there, my face on the ground in hunger and weakness. If this kept up, I wasn't going to make it. The pain was excruciating, my stomach roaring from being so hungry.

Then I heard a different sound of footsteps. They weren't the regular shoes that the people of Castle Town usually wore. They sounded more like high heels. I looked up, wondering who it was.

As soon as I saw her blue eyes, I knew exactly who she was, even though I never met her in my life. I lowered my head again, this time starting to cry. I sobbed as the tears dripped onto the pavement.

The heels clacked closer, and I felt a hand on my back as Princess Zelda tried to comfort me. "You have been in the dark for so long," she said. "It's time for you to become someone who deserves more than this."

I looked up at her then, confused. I managed to sit up against the wall with what little strength I had, and Zelda stayed crouched in front of me. She continued. "What is your name?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but looked away. I couldn't talk to the most powerful person in Hyrule. Especially since I was such a peasant. There was no way she would accept me as someone who could be her friend.

"It's okay," she told me. "Don't think of me as a princess. I am just a regular girl like you." She then smiled, and for some reason, my mouth blurted out my name.

"Sakura," I said in the best voice I could possibly get out. "I'm Sakura."

She gave me a smile of happiness. "Sakura," she repeated. "What a pretty name."

I nodded in thanks, and she then lowered her head in sadness. "I'm so sorry for the way you've been treated. I was watching those men, and they should have never been that way with you. I would expect them to treat my people with much more respect."

I then felt a slight pinch of frustration. If she saw what happened, why didn't she do anything? She could've put all of those men in a rotting jail for all I cared!

"But if I were to punish them for what they did, that wouldn't be the right thing to do." She said, reading my mind. "But I can do the right thing for you. I am in need of a servant." I looked at her in the eyes then, and she smiled. "You could come live in the castle with me. You deserve so much more than this, and are in desperate need of food and shelter."

She held out her hand. "Your life of poverty ends here. Would you please become my servant?"

I didn't know what to say or think. All of a sudden, my life was finally changing from being a helpless weakling to the servant of the most powerful person in the country. I stared at Zelda's hand for awhile, then looked into her pretty eyes. Her blonde hair blew to the right from the slight breeze. The long, pointy ears that she also had added to her beauty as being the princess of Hyrule.

I hesitantly took her hand, and smiled slightly at her. "Thank you," I said softly. "Thank you so much."

"You're very welcome. I know we are going to be great friends." Two guards flanked us as we walked to the castle, hand in hand. I took one last look behind me at the beautiful sunset, then turned back around to face my new life.