KairaKi: Welcome to my first One-shot! Yes, I know, I should be updating other things... And I will! Soon... Maybe... Anyways about this One-shot, you can take this either SasuHina or NejiHina I guess. Depends how you look at it I suppose... Any ways, enjoy!

R&R

The Moon Princess is trapped in the darkest tower within the village walls. No light ever shines from the window, but that matters not. Everyone knows that the Princess does not need the sun to see, she is a child of the Moon, and therefore, she is blessed with the Moon's gift of sight.

The Princess is guarded by five stages: Belief, First Guard, Wit, Strength, and Last Guard. To reach the princess you must first pass Belief and face the First Guard, then you must battle Wit, and prove your Strength, lastly you must face the Last Guard, the strongest of all the Princess' protection. Once you beat the Last Guard the prize is yours; the love of the Moon Princess...

"Sasuke-teme, we're going to rescue the Moon Princess!" Naruto yelled dragging the other boy by the collar and towards the attraction.

It was a bright, sunny, festival day and there were many sights to see and foods to taste. The flyer that Naruto was waving around in the air depicted a starry night sky with a castle and a princess leaning out the window. Sasuke snorted, it sounded like something Naruto would be interested in.

"Dobe, why would I want to do something as stupid as that?" Sasuke demanded, pulling himself away from Naruto's hold. "It's stupid and a waste of time."

"You're just saying that because you know you can't complete the quest!" Naruto taunted. "Watch me, I'm going to beat you and win the love of the Moon Princess! But most of all I'm going to beat you!"

"You can't even fight your way out of a wet paper bag! How can you beat me, Dobe?!"

"Just watch me, Sasuke-teme! I'll prove to you that I'm better than you! And I can so fight my way out of a paper bag! It just takes me some time, that's all!"

"Yeah right!"

"Let's have a contest then! Whoever gets to the Moon Princess first wins!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

And that was how Sasuke found himself sitting in front of a very disturbingly dressed Gai having a staring contest. Honestly, how did Naruto get him to agree to such a stupid thing anyways? He could have spent the time it took Gai to 'determine' whether his 'belief' was strong enough to rescue the 'Moon Princess' to get some training done.

"I have decided!" Gai boomed as he pulled the fabrics of his kimono up as he jumped to his feet. Yes, Kimono, as in the traditional Japanese outfit for women. "Your youthful spirit is great! Proceed ahead to face the First Guard!" Then he picked Sasuke up and, literally, chucked him into the next room.

When he was done with this, he was going to kill Naruto.

The next room, luckily, was filled top to bottom with pillows. Sasuke thanked whoever had the genius idea of putting pillows in the room; it saved him the trouble of back pain.

"Ah, Sasuke, what's up?" Kakashi asked from atop a tower of pillows.

"Kakashi?" Sasuke moved into a fighting position.

"I never thought you'd actually do this sort of thing, Sasuke-kun." Kakashi teased he spared his former student a glance and then promptly returned to his book. "The next door is that way." Kakashi pointed behind him.

"I don't have to do anything?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

"Nope. Tsunade-sama threatened me into this, and I think seeing Gai in a.. Kimono is torture enough." Kakashi shivered at the thought. Sasuke silently agreed.

"Good luck." Kakashi called as Sasuke exited out the door and into the next room.

The next room was large but devoid of anything except for a shoji board in the middle of the room and one Nara Shikamaru. "So you're the next one?" He asked. "Tch, how troublesome. Okay here goes, you have to answer these five questions correctly before you can pass."

Sasuke nodded.

"What's the color of the sky?"

"Blue."

"What color are Ino's eyes and Shino's hair?"

"Blue and brown."

"How many girls are there on the Rookie Nine."

"Three. Four counting Naruto, and maybe five if you want to count Sai too."

"I'll take it. Next question, what's your name?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"What's Kiba's dog's name?"

"Akamaru."

"Okay you move on, door's over there."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and moved on. This was easier than he thought.

The door turned out to be a long corridor that led out into a training room. The room was in shambles, with craters in the walls and pillars of floor jutting out; it was amazing the room hadn't collapsed yet. But then again, Sasuke mused; the Hokage must have laced the room with chakra to prevent such a thing.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, looking over her knees to see her teammate nonchalantly looking around. "What are you doing here?" Is he searching for the Moon Princess too? No! Sasuke-kun would never do that! Then why is he here? Ah, I wish I were chosen as the Moon Princess!

"Baka, why do you think I'm here? For the Moon Princess of course." Sasuke scoffed. "Did the Dobe pass through here yet?"

"No, he probably went through another route. You got sent to Gai-sensei, didn't you?" Sakura grimaced. "This is the easiest route 'cause Gai sends everyone in, and Kakashi lets everyone through, and Shikamaru-kun doesn't care, but, no one has gotten passed me yet." Sakura pulled on her gloves. "I'll stop you no matter what, Sasuke-kun!"

Sakura came at him suddenly, but Sasuke dodged it easily. He took refuge atop one of the many pillars of floor. Sakura grinned before charging again. Sasuke dodged the kunoichi's punches easily, this time, however, instead of moving away, Sasuke backtracked and grabbed Sakura's leg, flinging her across the room. Not missing a beat Sasuke sent a ball of fire her way. Sakura had no time to dodge.

"Okay, okay, you pass." Sakura said, coughing up the smoke. "Tsunade-sama said to allow whoever managed to hit me to pass. The door's over there." Sakura motioned behind her as she healed herself. "Good luck Sasuke-kun. I think you'll need it."

Sasuke scoffed before moving on. He didn't need luck to win.

The next room was bare, much like the third room, except the occupant was nowhere to be seen. Sasuke knew not to let his guard down as he cautiously moved forward.

"Sasuke-teme!"

Sasuke ducked and Naruto, who was planning to tackle the dark haired boy, was sent flying over him. "Baka, what are you doing here?" Sasuke asked coolly.

"Teme, I'm here to rescue the Moon Princess!" Naruto stated proudly. "What are you doing here?"

"Tch, you're the one who dragged me into this!"

Naruto laughed sheepishly. "Oh yeah! So, what are we suppose to do now?" He looked around the room. "Are we supposed to fight someone?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"You did well to make it this far, however, only one may pass, and I do not plan on letting neither of you through." The voice came from the left

"Ah, it's Neji." Naruto said happily. "What are you doing here?"

Neji, who was standing in the typical Hyuuga fighting pose, answered haughtily. "I am the Last Guard. The final stage before you may reach the Moon Princess."

Naruto grinned. "I'll beat you again, Neji!" The blond hair, loud mouth boy, cried before launching in a full frontal attack. Sasuke sighed tiredly; he'd watch from the sidelines for now. Maybe they would forget all about him and he could sneak pass the next door without any hassle.

His time came when Naruto used his Kage Bushin no Jutsu and dog piled Neji. There was probably four seconds until Neji could break out from underneath the Narutos. Just enough time to get passed the door...

Mission accomplished!

Sasuke refrained a chuckle. Naruto was good for something after all. Sasuke looked around, this room was dim, but bright enough so that Sasuke could see fine without using the Sharingan. "Is anybody here?" He called out, he felt stupid afterwards. Of course there had to be someone here.

"A-ano, congratulations for m-making it this far." A voice squeaked. Sasuke could make out a figure by the window, her facial features, however, blurred slightly with the darkness.

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded.

"I am th-this year's Moon Princess, Hyuuga Hinata." The figure bowed.

So that was why Neji was guarding the door, thought Sasuke. It made sense. "Do I get a prize?"

Hinata mumbled something.

"Speak up, I can't understand you." Sasuke order annoyed.

"A-ah, ano, can you come here?" Hinata motioned for him to come nearer. Sasuke reluctantly obeyed.

"So?" He asked again, trying to hide is annoyance, and eagerness to leave.

Hinata was silent for a moment before standing up on her tiptoes and...

"Hinata-sama! Step away from her!" Neji barked, appearing out of nowhere. He pulled Hinata away from Sasuke with a forceful tug. From the light that poured through the now open door Sasuke could make out that the Hyuuga girl was blushing furiously. "Did he do anything to you, Hinata-sama?" Asked Neji.

Hinata buried her faced in the sleeves of her rather extravagant kimono. "No." She meeped.

"No forcefulness?"

Hinata shook her head.

"No inappropriate behavior?"

Hinata shook her head again.

"No groping?"

"No!" Hinata said, horrified.

"I have had enough of this. We are going to speak to Tsunade-sama about this... attraction!" Neji said the word with disgust as he dragged Hinata away.

Hinata was still a bright red. "Nii-san!" She cried. "It's o-okay, I don't mi-mind!"

Neji let go of Hinata's arm. "Hinata-sama, as your guard I cannot allow such behavior. It is unforgivable! Hokage-sama is abusing her power by forcing you to do this!"

In the background Sasuke wondered what happened to Naruto. The loud mouth hadn't made an appearance yet... Maybe Neji killed him? That would save a lot of my time. Sasuke mused.

Neji dropped down to one knee and took Hinata's hands. "I have sworn to protect you, not only from death but also from harassment of all kinds. I believe kissing Uchiha is one of them."

Sasuke heard Hinata stutter out a weak defense, but his mind had already blanked out. Wait. Kiss? Hell no! He wasn't going to kiss any one! Naruto already ruined that experience for him!

"Is there something wrong with kissing Hinata-sama?" Neji growled. Hinata shrank beside her formidable cousin.

"Nii-san." She pleaded weakly.

Sasuke cursed himself for speaking out loud. "What if there is?" He asked coolly

Hinata was clutching her cousin's shirt now, vainly hoping that he wouldn't resort to physical violence. Neji was a prodigy, a genius in his own right, but he was also a guy, and guys tended to resort things physically. "Neji..." Neji relaxed slightly, but his body was still tense as he glared at the Uchiha. Was it her, or did the room suddenly get colder?

Suddenly the wall beside the two Hyuuga's exploded and Naruto came stumbling in. Neji shielded Hinata protectively as he prepared to fight.

"Teme! That was a dirty shot!" Naruto whined.

"You should have been prepared." Neji answered. "It is your own fault that you were unable to dodge."

Naruto grinned, forgetting the true reason he was participating in the 'quest'. "I'm not done yet, Neji!" He yelled before charging. Neji managed to deflect Naruto's charge, but had not foreseen the fact that Naruto would use his own defense against him and flip over his shoulder. Neji's first thought went to the Moon Princess.

"Hinata-sama!"

Confused, Naruto looked below him and sure enough Hinata was standing below him. "Hinata-chan?" Was all he managed to ask before gravity pulled him down.

Hinata, being a trained kunoichi, dodged Naruto's flailing body, but kimonos were not made for moving about swiftly in so her sudden movement caused her to stumble on her absurdly long obi and she lost her balance. Hinata twisted her body so that she could brace herself for the fall but instead of hard rubble, she fell on something softer than ground, but was still hard.

Sasuke had no intention of interfering with the Dobe's stupid war declaration. He was actually hoping he could escape before the fearsome Hyuuga prodigy noticed him again; it would save him the trouble of punctured organs, at least for a while. But just as he was about to dodge his way to the door (Naruto was still blocking the newly made gape in the wall and he didn't feel like making his own) the idiot charged. The fool didn't even notice Neji turning his body to protect Hinata (hell! He probably didn't even notice her!) as he vaulted over.

Sasuke, not really wanting to play Knight in Shining Armor, watched quietly from the sidelines. Hinata managed to dodge, but ended up falling anyways. Before she reached the ground, however, Sasuke found his body moving on its own accord and slid under the heiress, cushioning her from a hard impact, and, like only in manga or romance stories, his lips met hers' in a rather painful impact.

Hinata squeaked as she felt two strong arms around her waist. "N-nii-san!"

Hyuuga Neji lifted his cousin off of the Uchiha, and would have kicked said Uchiha if he had no saved his cousin from falling. He contemplated for a moment though, that since Sasuke had stolen Hinata's first kiss it was agreeable that he was allow to cause him bodily harm, but Hinata was holding onto the sleeve of his shirt and looking up at him in such a way that said if he were to do anything to hurt the Uchiha, she would never forgive him so he decided to spare the boy.

"We are leaving now, Hinata-sama." With that Neji led Hinata away, one arm slung over her shoulder, protectively if not possessively.

"Wow, Sasuke, I never knew you liked Hinata!" Naruto commented.

Sasuke punched the blond before stalking out of the room. He would not set anything one fire. He would not set anything on fire. He would not give into his pyromaniac tendencies...

That day the Hokage had to call off the festivities due to the huge fire that had started at the Moon Princess attraction. The odd thing about it was that the blaze had been started at opposite ends of the building at exactly the same time, by two different means.

"Isn't it horrible, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked the day after the fire was put out. "Who would do such a thing?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"Sakura-chan!" TenTen jogged up to the medic-nin. "Do you have any salves for burns? Neji-kun seems to have hurt himself the other day."

Sakura nodded and handed the weapon's mistress a small jar. "Make sure to wrap it securely and not get it wet. Tell him he can remove the bandages after fifteen minutes."

"Thanks!" TenTen waved before running back to her teammates. Sakura waved back.

"And that baka Naruto got caught dead center of the fire! It was lucky that Neji-san got Hinata-chan out so fast!" Sakura added after TenTen left

Sasuke shrugged again.

"Ne, who made it there first? You or Naruto?"

Sasuke turned around abruptly and started walking in the other direction. Sakura stood confused as she watched her teammate saunter away. Was that a blush on his cheeks? "No way!" Sakura cried. "You kissed Hinata-chan!"

From that day on Hinata needed to be guarded from rabid fan girls twenty-four seven and Sasuke was moved to the top of Neji's hit list.

It was the start of a blossoming romance.

KairaKi: Please tell me how I did!