Sakura Hime Kaden

Japanese Title: 桜姫華伝

English Title: Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura

German Title: Prinzessin Sakura

Chinese Title: 櫻姬華傳

Plot
The story follows Sakura, a 14 year old princess who'd rather marry for love and make her own choices in life than be married away to someone she's never met. Her best friend is Asagiri, a cute female Mononoke (a tiny spirit) who she once saved from a life of slavery (unbeknownst to her, Asagiri is really a Yuki-Onna). Since birth, she's been engaged to Prince Oura. Not wanting to marry the prince after a precarious argument with Prince Oura's messenger, named Aoba, Sakura runs away but gets lost and accidentally looks at the full moon, which she was warned to never do. A man-eating demon arrives, referring to Sakura as "Princess Kaguya" and nearly wounds her, but Aoba and a priestess that Sakura knows named Byakuya arrive. Priestess Byakuya tells Sakura that she is in fact Princess Kaguya's granddaughter and is the only one able to destroy the demons. By drawing a pair of back-to-back crescent moons on her palm, she is able to summon the mystic sword Chizakura and kill the demon. She also discovers the word “destroy” is actually her Soul Symbol (a symbol each person possesses that best represents his or her true nature). Soon after, Sakura, Asagiri, and Aoba travel to Prince Oura's estate, where it's discovered that Aoba actually is Prince Oura, explaining that he wanted to be mischievous. Of course, the two don't get along from then on, until finally while relaxing under a tree, the two finally seem to come to an understanding, and do appear to be finding the silver lining in their arranged engagement. Unfortunately, she is soon under threat of execution, as Aoba turns on her, as he's afraid that she will eventually become a demon herself, like her mother and grandmother before her. Aoba shoots an arrow through her chest and Sakura falls into a river, only to be found by a cute and sassy young ninja named Kohaku and her childhood friend Hayate, who used to be human but was accidentally turned into a frog by Kohaku (although he regains his human form during the full moon). While with Kohaku, the two form a nice friendship, and Sakura reveals that she is being hunted by Kohaku's master, who just so happens to be Aoba. Hokaku though in return admits already knowing this, and tells that she doesn't wish to harm her, and wants to protect her. The two, along with Asagiri and Hayate, soon encounter Aoba and his men, and Volume 1 ends with Sakura being affected by a youko whistle that Aoba has.

As the story progresses, Sakura wishes to find a way to help all her friends, as well as those who have had their lives twisted due to the rivalry of the demons against humankind, and to save Aoba and Asagiri from the curses which are killing them.