Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto and all the characters

Chapter One: Bye Bye Sun!

Once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away lived a king. He was a strict ruler and a powerful warrior, but in spite of that the folk loved him. The king had three children. The eldest was a fair maiden, called -

Oh, cut that crap!

But I -

Nobody wants to hear that, okay? All this once-upon-a-time-blablabla-crap is boring. That's for little kids in diapers who should just fall asleep. Just read the words "once upon a time" and they fell asleep immediately. Why do you thing every bedtime story starts with these words?

It's the usual way to start a fairy tale.

Is this a usual fairy tale?

No?

No, it isn't. So don't you dare to tell it like that. And for the record, I take it as an insult if you call me a fair maiden again.

Yeah, feisty witch would be more specific.

Oh, shut up, Kankuro! I'm not a witch!

You're right, sorry, my fault. I mistook w for b. Silly me!

…

Ow! Damn, Temari! Why did you hit me?

'Cause you're talking bullshit again.

Can I please continue to do my job now?

No, you're fired.

What?!

You heard me. I'll tell the story. Now piss off, will ya?

Please Temari, don't do it. It should be an interesting story, not plain boring.

Can't you just shut up and sit in a corner like Gaara is doing it?

No. I'm far too handsome to be ignored.

You mean far too stupid and annoying. Now go away and play with your dolls, will you? I'm kinda busy telling an awesome story. And don't you dare to make any comment!

So, let's start for real now!

I love the sun. Not because it's warm and bright – seriously, I live in the desert, the heat is nothing we seek here – but because it's powerful. It's the center of the solar system and without the sun we would all die. On the other hand, it can destroy us all when the sun is swallowing the earth. As you see, the sun is pure power.

I always wanted to see myself as the sun, metaphorical speaking of course. A source of light, warmth and power for the people and kinda inapproachable, because if you are too close, I would destroy you. But if you turn away from me, you will be doomed too.

Sadly, I wasn't the sun.

My father was.

My father: the Yondaime Kazekage, better known as the king of Sunagakure. Or as I like to call him: the biggest douchebag ever.

Sure, he was the most powerful man in the country and all – never made an exception, never made a mistake and even if he made a mistake, he took full credit for it and did what has to be done. Since the country hasn't gone bankrupt until now, I assume he did his job well. Didn't change the fact that he was a douchebag.

His priorities were clear. First: the power of the country. Second: the common good. Third: his image. Fourth: Money. Fifth: … I don't know, probably to have a wrinkle-free suit.

What? His children weren't in his Top Five of his priorities? Gasp. I'm shocked!

No, not really.

You see, the Douchebag wasn't always like that. There was a time when he was actual like a almost loving father. But then mom died and everything changed.

Enough of that. Don't want you all to be super depressed, so let's move on.

I was lying on my balcony, enjoying the sun. Since I couldn't be the sun, I could at least absorb all her warmth and power. One of the things I love about Suna. There is always sun.

The last days had been stressful. School – yes, even though we are royal we have to go to school. It. Sucks. – started again, we had to attend some fancy balls that were held for the honor of Suna or an ambassador or insert-reason-here and we had our martial arts classes. Yeah, we're all doing martial arts and we are even able to use a gun, although the Doughebag didn't allowed us to have a gun. He said it's important for us to protect ourselves. I'm sure he just wanted to save the money for too many bodyguards. But thanks to that we can kick every ass we want – and that is a damn good feeling.

But now it was Sunday, our usual day off. No homework, no classes, no royal-duties. And usually no Doughebag, since he had some much work to do. Just the sun, my sun lounger, the music and me. It. Was. Perfect.

As always, moments like these didn't last very long.

"Temari," a voice behind me said. I turned the volume down and looked over my shoulder to Baki, our girl-for-everything. He isn't our Butler or anything, in fact he is the chief of our security, but he had been around us for like forever. He taught us our first fighting moves, helped us with our homework, practiced with us for our driving licenses and inspected and frightened the boys who wanted to go out with me. He even tried to help with my … you know, special girl problems, but since it was deadly embarrassing, we both agreed to never talk about it. To tell the truth he was more like a father than the Douchebag could ever be.

Baki was in his mid-thirty's, tall and had a tanned skin and a bald head. A little button was plugged in his ear and you could see the wire disappear in his collar. He was dressed in a simple button-up shirt that wasn't stuck in his dark pants; he wasn't a fan of those dark suits the security has the wear, so he preferred something more casual when he didn't have to attend to anything fancy.

"What's up, Baki?" I asked.

"Dinner starts in fifteen minutes. You may want to change into something more … suitable."

I looked down at me and my dark purple bikini. What? If you want to bask in the sun, you can't wear a pullover and long pants. "I think I'm looking very suitable, thank you very much," I said, pushing my sunglasses from my head on my nose. "It's not like my brothers haven't seen me wearing a bikini before."

"The king will be part of the dinner. I'm sure he would be more than pleased if you would wear something more than … that."

"WHAT?!" Immediately I was at my feet and looked at him, shocked. Baki just stared back. "Why is he having dinner with us? It's Sunday! He isn't suppose to have dinner with us! He is suppose to be in his office, behind his table, having a lot of paperwork and not giving a damn about us!"

"He said there are a few things to discuss."

Oh, that weren't good news. If he joins us to dinner because "there are a few things to discuss" it's a nicer term for "someone of you did something really bad that affected me and now all of you have to pay".

"What are these … things?" I asked, hoping I could figure out who caused the trouble. I can't remember doing anything that concerned him. At least not in the last seven days.

"I'm not familiar with the details. Please, Temari. Just change your clothes and behave yourself, okay?" He seemed kinda tired. I bet he knew what all this was about, but he didn't want to tell. I nodded nevertheless. "Thank you," he said relieved and left.

A sigh escaped my lips as I walked inside. That would be a really difficult and annoying dinner …

Living in a the royal palace definitely has it's benefits. Having your own big bedroom with everything you need, a private balcony, a large walk-in wardrobe – actually it's more like a dressing room – and your own bathroom, which is probably the most valuable one. Just the thought of sharing a bathroom with my brothers sent me cold shivers down my spine. I'm pretty sure they're feeling the same way.

My bedroom was decorated with fans. I just love fans and I'm collecting them since I'm seven years old. After all this years I stopped counting them, but I have them all: large ones, smaller ones, blue, red, green, purple and from every region of the world. Can't say why I love them so much though.

Ten minutes later I was on my way to the dining hall. Like Baki asked me to, I changed into something that shows less skin. If you're thinking about one of these ball gowns all the disney-princesses are wearing with a lot of quillings, bows and all that stuff that little girls love, then I'm really sorry to disappoint you. Just because I am a princess doesn't mean I act or dress like them. Thought you figured that out since I'm taking martial arts classes. Plus leather jackets just suit me too damn well. I settled with a pair of dark jeans and a purple tank top.

One of the employees opened the door to the dining hall for me. Sure, at first it was kinda fun to have everyone doing everything for you. Now it's only annoying. I'm nineteen years old and, yes, I'm able to open doors on my own, for Kami's sake!

Like always I was the last one to arrive. In my defense I want to note that I was on time. The other ones were just earlier.

The other ones. That were my two younger brothers and the Doughebag himself.

Kankuro sat on the right, wearing his black sleeveless shirt and dark pants. Even though he was only a year younger than me, he was taller than me and that annoys the hell out of me. He had an unpleasant expression on his face – probably because of the "few things to discuss". His face was painted with purple tattoos by the way. Yes, tattoos. In the face of a prince. The Doughebag had been furious as he saw it, but we all got one. Kinda like a … sibling-thing. Sadly it's the only thing we did as siblings – if anyone of you tell them I said that, you're dead! His brown hair was messy and his dark eyes shot me a nonchalant look.

While I was the lucky one who has the looks of our mother, Kankuro was the one with the looks of the Doughebag. Maybe that's why he got the tattoos in his face. The king sat at the end of the table, sitting perfectly still in his wrinkle-free suit. His hair was a bit lighter, but otherwise he just looked exactly like Kankuro. Or Kankuro looked like him – whatever you want to call it.

My other brother, Gaara, was sixteen years old, a redhead and had light green eyes. Like Kankuro he chose to have his tattoo in his face. On his forehead to be exact. It has the same color of his hair and was the symbol for love. No, not the heart, that would be ridiculous, but the Japanese symbol. By the way, my tattoo isn't in my face – just in case you were wondering. Although we live in the desert, his skin was really pale. Well, it's not like he is much of an outside-person. He was kinda … weird. Or messed up, that works fine too. Under his eyes were dark circles from his insomnia and he was kinda gawky. Two weeks ago he shaved off his eyebrows and they did grow again until now. Don't ask me why he did it – Gaara does a lot of weird things, but we didn't question it. After all he'd been through, he is allowed to do some weird things.

All in all you can say, we aren't the kind of princess and princes you might imagined.

"Temari," the Doughebag said and gestured me to sit down. "Please. We want to start dinner."

I sat down next to Kankuro, who didn't even looked at me but just stared at his empty plate. As soon as I sat, we got our food served. Looking back I couldn't remember what we were eating. I didn't had much of an appetite either. All my thoughts circled around "a few things to discuss". It wasn't until the dessert that the Doughebag decided to induct us into "a few things to discuss."

"There is a reason why I am having dinner with you today," he said. Kankuro still looked angry and Gaara was wearing his emotionless-mask. It works even better on him since he has no eyebrows. "It concerns all of you, but especially you, Temari. And let me tell you this right from the start: I do not tolerate any mistakes or disagreement."

"Just say it," I said.

"You are going to marry the prince of Konoha."

There were several things in my head which I could use to reply to that. However I didn't know where to start. Gaara and Kankuro exchanged looks before they both looked to me. The Doughebag noticed my loss of words and used that chance – really rare chance – to start talking again.

"I want to form a permanently bound between Suna and Konoha and the easiest and most effective way is a marriage. I assume, you know who the prince is, right?" A picture of spiky hair appeared in my head. I read an article about him a few weeks ago, but I couldn't remember any details. I shrugged. "Good. Next week we will fly to Konoha to meet him. You will attend a school there and - "

"Whoa, take a step back, will ya?" I said, finally organized my thoughts. The Doughebag looked angry, but I ignored it. Hell, I was angry myself. How could he dare to do something like that?! "You can't just marry me off to some guy! We don't live in the fucking middle age! I can marry whoever I want!"

"No, you cannot," he said without any emotion. "You are the princess of Suna and you have your duties. One of them is to care about the common good and forget about your own, selfish wishes. A bound between Konoha and Suna will increase the economic status of our country a lot. Do you want to see your subjects starving and losing their jobs because you want to marry some guy you have not even meet yet?"

"I'm sure there are other ways to form a bound without me marrying this weird prince-guy."

"As I told you, I will not tolerate and disagreement," he said. "Besides I already had a conversation with Konoha. They agreed. We will leave next Friday."

"I don't want to!" I screamed and smashed my forge in the table. The Doughebag just took a sip of his wine and ignored me. Furious I looked at my brothers, but they seemed to have a silent conversation with their eyes. "Are you just going to sit around and don't say a fucking word?"

"I have something to say," Kankuro said. He shot me a look before he looked to our so called father. "Why do Gaara and I have to attend a school in Konoha, if Temari is the only one getting married."

"Is that all you care about?" I screamed and got up so abrupt that my chair felt over. "I – your only sister – am forced to getting married and you don't want to go to school?" He shrugged. "A bit support once in a while would be more than welcomed, thank you very much!"

"Temari, calm down and sit down," the Doughebag said.

"I DO NOT WANT TO CALM DOWN! AND I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WANT TO MARRY THE PRINCE!"

"Temari," a calm voice said. It was Gaara who looked at me. Suddenly all my anger was gone and was replaced by … well, it wasn't fear. But something similar, something uneasy. "Sit down, please. I want to know what our father has to say."

I sat down really slow. If anybody else would have asked me to sit down, I would most likely have thrown the knife in his face. But it was Gaara and Gaara was … well, you don't want to start a fight with him. The Doughebag watched me with a smirk on his face, but didn't even once glanced to Gaara. Their relationship was even more messed up then mine and his.

"You all will attend a special privat school in Konoha," he said. "Every child of every man who is even a bit important in Konoha goes to that school. On the school grounds is a college, too, so Temari you will not be the oldest. I expect from you to socialize – you do not know who might be the heir of a worldwide company or a future ambassador. But at the end of year, I want to know every little detail about everyone."

"You want us to spy on those kids, so you'll have some connections in the future?" Kankuro asked.

"Exactly."

"We are not doing it!" I said. "I'm not marrying that prince!"

"I don't play friends with some punks I don't even know!" Kankuro said. "I don't even know why you want all these connections. You are the king, not a businessman."

"It is always good to have some connections. You do not know when you need them," the Doughebag said.

"That's all bullshit! I don't want to - "

"I think it would be fun." I fell silent and looked at Gaara. He sit there, looking kinda stiff and not meeting any of our gazes. "I never had been in Konoha. And we can make friends and learn something about the culture. It would be interesting."

Of course Gaara would like it. He hasn't got many friends here in Suna. In fact, he has no friends. Everybody knows about him. They didn't bully him though – him being the prince and a talented martial artist – but they just … ignore him. Though he never said anything you can clearly see it's bothering him. Nobody likes to be treating like that.

But us going to Konoha would be a new start for him. They don't know about him and his past and his … problems. Maybe he can even find a few friends. It was a once-in-a-lifetime-chance for him and he knew it. The Doughebag would never allow Gaara to go to Konoha by himself.

Kankuro's eyes were on me. I knew he had the same thoughts as I do. He was willing to go to Konoha – for Gaara's sake. I was the only one making problems.

Hell, I didn't want to marry the prince! He is probably some kind of lazy, arrogant, sexist jerk or anything. I'm not exactly the reason for the sleepless nights of every boy in the world, but I know I could do better than that.

But Gaara … I wasn't an evil sister despite everything you may think. I do care for them. I looked at my youngest brother, whose eyes met mine. There was a glint of begging in them. He wanted to go.

Ah, damn. Whoever this prince was, I could deal with him.

"Fine," I said through my teeth. "I'll go to Konoha."

"Good," the Doughebag said with a complacent smile. "Since you agreed to come with us by choice" I snorted, but he ignored it. "It will make things so much easier. I expect you all to be ready on Friday." Then he rose and left the room. No good night or it was nice having dinner with you or anything else. He just left.

For several minutes, we sat there in silence. I was still beyond furious and I hated the idea of going to Konoha. I looked at Kankuro, who was still mad that he has to go to a new school, but neither me nor him said anything. Not as long as Gaara was in the same room.

"Thank you," Gaara said and rose from his chair. "I know you two don't want to -"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kankuro interrupted him. "We want to go to Konoha. Right, sis?"

"Yeah," I said. "Totally. Will be so much fun." I didn't even try to sound excited.

Gaara did something that may could have been a smile, nodded goodbye and left. We waited until the door was shut before we sighed.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Kankuro said.

"You? You think you're the one who did a sacrifice?" I asked.

"Uh, duh? I have to go to school there!"

"So do I. And I have to marry some guy or did you forgot that little detail?"

"Temari, shut up, okay?" Kankuro sighed again and got up. He stretched his arms before he decided to leave too. "As soon as this prince sees you, he will call off the wedding. I give him three days at the most. You are such a pain in the ass, he doesn't want to marry you."

"Thanks so much, dear brother."

"You're welcome. My point is: If Konoha calls off the wedding, they have to come up with a new plan for this permanently-bound thing. We can go home and everything will be like always." Without another word he left.

I was sitting at the table alone. Maybe Kankuro was right. If I'll get this prince to run away screaming, everything will turn out well. And I'm very good at annoying people, so that shouldn't be a problem. Besides I've never been in Konoha before.

This could turn out to be fun …

Friday

We were sitting in a black Bentley, looking more than annoyed and were on the way to our hotel. In the morning we left early to take the plane to Konoha. It was something in the afternoon now, but it felt like midnight. The Doughebag hat his own Bentley, while Kankuro, Gaara and I had to share the back of the car. Baki was in the front, next to the driver.

"When do we arrive?" Kankuro asked – for the fifth time in the last ten minutes. I could rip his head of his shoulders and Gaara almost growled.

Our mood wasn't good. You may have noticed it. Nobody of us was a morning-person and the flight had been boring and exhausting. Sharing so little space with my brothers for such a long time isn't an easy task. Hugging the sun would be easier. The thing I wanted the most now was a bit of privacy, but I would have to wait until we arrive at the hotel.

"We'll be there in a few minutes," Baki said.

"But -"

"Kankuro, shut up," I said. "You're damn annoying, you know that, right?"

"You're such a bitch, Temari."

"And you're an asshole."

"Temari, Kankuro, stop," Baki said and shot us a glare. "I know it was a long and exhausting day, but we will arrive in a few minutes. Wait until we are in the suite before you kill each other, okay? We don't want to cause an accident on our first day in Konoha, do we?"

"Fine," Kankuro mumbled.

I looked out of the window. Konoha was so … green and fresh. And that was not a compliment. I expect that Konoha would welcome us with rain or a storm – something that was so rare in Suna that I never seen that – but it didn't rain. It wasn't sunny neither. The sky was covered with thick, dark clouds and it wasn't as dry as in Suna. You could practically feel the moistness on your skin.

I already missed the sun and her heat.

Suddenly a familiar logo caught my eye. Oh, that would help to make my day better!

"Stop," I ordered. The driver shot Baki a questioning glare, but didn't stop. I rolled my eye and had to remind myself to stay calm. Baki was right – I didn't want to cause an accident right from the start. Wouldn't make a good first impression. "Just stop the damn car. I want a coffee, is that too much to ask for?"

"Oh, I want a coffee, too!" Kankuro said. "Please, can we have coffee? We hadn't had any good coffee since the morning." He was right. The coffee in the plane had been awful, apparently the Doughebag wanted to save money by buying cheap, bad coffee.

Baki sighed, but nodded. The car stopped and I jumped out of it. Just as I expected, the air was kinda clammy and it was cold. I snuggled deeper into my jacket as I crossed the street. Baki didn't follow me and I was really grateful for that. It was just a coffee shop and he knew I was able to handle myself. Beside, I didn't even know if anybody knew who I am.

A little bell rang as I opened the door and entered the shop. It wasn't big, but it was nice anyway. Kinda gave you a cozy feeling. There were a few tables where some customers were sitting and sipping at their drink. Some read some newspapers, some ate a piece of cake and some talked with the person sitting next to them. Not even one payed me any attention.

I made my way to the counter. A boy around Gaaras age stood behind it, looking extremely bored. His black ponytail made his face look like a pineapple and he had brown eyes. I wasn't sure if they worked though, since he didn't looked at me once, even as I stood right in front of him. From this close range I noticed that he was several inches taller than me. Not as tall as Kankuro, but still tall.

The boy still didn't looked up. Impatiently I tapped my nails against the counter, cleared my throat and shot him evil looks.

I was never the one with a lot of patient.

Finally he looked up. He even got the nerve to sigh! This boy! I gnashed my teeth. "Yes? How can I help you?" He sounded even more bored that he looked. Didn't think it was possible until now.

I stood with my hands on my hips and looked at him. "First of all, how about a bit more enthusiasm? Maybe then I would be in the mood to actual order anything."

"Since you came here, I assume you were in the mood to order something nevertheless. So just do it and don't complain about my mood, woman."

"Woman?" I screamed. Some of the customers looked up, kinda amused. Oh, I would show them just how amused I was. "Listen -" I looked at his name tag. "Listen, Shikamaru. You don't talk to me like that, did you understand me? You don't even know who I am, so if I were you, I would be more careful. Don't you dare to call me woman again. Ever."

"But you are a woman," he said nonchalantly. "You can't deny that."

This smartass. Of course I am a woman, but that wasn't the point! How could I ever thought this could make my day better? I should have sent Kankuro to get the coffee.

I opened my mouth to start the next lecture, but he interrupted me. That surprised me, to be honest. I didn't thought he would actual came up with the energy to do that. "Are you done now? Just order and leave. There are other customers who want to order."

I looked around, just to see nothing behind me. I was the only customer. As I turned back, I saw a mischievous glint in his eyes – no, that had to be a mistake. Boredom was the only expression this guy knew.

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Baki. He stepped out of the car and looked in my direction, wondering why I was taking so long. Right, I had no time to fight with little boys who didn't even knew who they are messing up with. Besides it wasn't like I was going to see him another time. All I had to do was not visiting this shop and everything would be fine. Konoha was big enough.

"Give me a simple black coffee, a Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte, a White Chocolate Mocha, a Espresso Macchiato and four blueberry muffins." While the guy took my order, I fished a few dollars out of my purse and smashed them on the counter. He didn't blinked with an eye and started to make the coffees and gathered the muffins. As I left he didn't wished me a goodbye. Not that I expect anything else.

"Is everything alright?" Baki asked as I arrived the car. I nodded and handed him his Espresso Machhiato and a muffin. He nodded me thanks and took a sip.

"Yeah, sure," I said. "Just some annoying, disrespectful guy who didn't know who he was talking to. Nothing I couldn't handle."

"Okay." He sounded not entire convinced, but didn't said anything else and just opened my door. "Get in, we should start driving again. I don't want anyone recognize you before we arrive at the hotel."

I climbed in the car, next to Kankuro and Gaara. Kankuro took his Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte and I handed Gaara his White Chocolate Mocha. Yes, the black coffee was mine. I like them simple.

While we drank our coffees and ate the muffins, I looked out of the window. Back in Suna I did some research about the prince. His name was Naruto Uzumaki and his parents died shortly after his birth. The teacher and a supposedly a good friend of the former king took care of the throne and the business until the prince had the legal age to ascend the throne. There were a few articles about the prince causing trouble and what not, but I didn't payed much attention. I wasn't going to marry that guy anyway.

It started to rain. Gentle drops crackled on the roof of the car, wrapping us in a somewhat cozy atmosphere.

Damn, I miss the sun.

That was the first chapter! Hope you had fun reading it :) So you liked it? Hated it? Leave me some reviews! :)

Next chapter will be Shikamaru's POV!