Oasis
Chapter One
Author: Ms. Trick
Summary: AU Kakashi finds himself entangled with a queen and in a political snarl. Naruto's just trying to save everyone while reconciling the fact that he's in love with an international criminal.
Main Pairings: Kakashi x Sakura, Sasuke x Naruto
Disclaimer: Insert witty take on the I-don't-own-this statement here.
Note: Reviews make my life. No seriously.
The dawn chorus of birdcalls had reached a maddening volume. It mingled with the cool rushing noises of the river that zipped along, parallel to the shady path.
They were already traveling along it by the time the horizon abruptly burped up the sun. Light had been teasing its way through the high branches and painting the water with bright colours for what seemed like hours to Naruto's grumbling stomach.
"FINALLY," he cried, spinning on his heel to block the procession of his traveling companion.
Hands clutching the shoulder straps of his pack, Kakashi paused in his steps and lazily peered down into Naruto's intense blue eyes from over his mask.
"Finally...?" He drawled.
"The sun's fully up!" Naruto said with a wide gesture towards the sky.
He watched impatiently as Kakashi rolled two gray eyes skywards, as though he had to check that Naruto was telling the truth.
"Huh...it is. So?"
"SO?!" Naruto exploded, speaking directly for his stomach. "You said we would stop to eat and bathe after the sun had fully risen!"
"I did?" Kakashi drawled infuriatingly, bringing a hand up to his chin in a thoughtful pose and ignoring Naruto's enraged huffs. "Ah, so I did."
Even though it was early morning, the temperature was already hot enough to make their clothes cling to them uncomfortably and cause trickles of sweat to travel down their spines.
Kakashi languidly settled down on the grassy bank of the river next to where Naruto had haphazardly dumped his pack and dropped his sweat-soaked clothes, which were starkly orange and black against the lush green grass.
Naruto had vanished from sight and all that could be heard were the cacophony of birds and the river. With an explosion of water, the blond burst upwards through the rippling surface with a great breath of satisfaction. He flopped backwards, folded his hands behind his head and relaxed into the movement of the cool current.
"You should be more careful about baring your stomach," Kakashi called from shore as he pulled out their carefully wrapped packages of food. "We're pretty close to the village of the Wind Palace. It wouldn't do to have you recognized."
"I don't know how you can sit there in that mask in this heat! AHH, the water feels SO good!" Naruto said, his voice infused with a glee that had been absent since he'd woken up.
He ran a hand over the dark markings on his stomach and then clambered hastily back to where Kakashi had begun eating.
Ino sat on her small bed, feet on the smooth sandstone floor, elbows resting on her knees. She yawned and squinted into the intense sunlight pushing its way through the wooden shutters affixed to the window. Pulling herself to her feet, she stretched and absently reached back to smooth out the light blanket she had, sweating, pushed and kicked off of her in the sweltering night.
The door was abruptly kicked open and the small room flooded with hot morning light.
Ino winced but moved towards the dark silhouette of her roommate, who was weighed down by the fat silver jug carried in each hand.
Her long blonde hair had been woven into a braid before bed and it fell over her shoulder as she quickly reached to grasp one of the heavy jugs, pregnant with water. She stood, hugging the container to her chest, trying not to wet her loose nightshirt.
"Why'd you bring me a full jug? Usually you just chuck the empty one at my sleeping self."
"Well, if you woke earlier, I wouldn't be required to wake you up," the older woman said, her voice bland but her dark eyes bright. She lifted the other jug so she could hold it with both hands and turned, stating, "We have to get an early start today."
Ino quickly dragged off the tie at the end of her braid and padded out of the shadowy room after her. The open-air hallway was lined with identical sandy pink doors; most were open and one or two were emitting other handmaids who were straggling this morning.
Feeling her hair unravel at her back, Ino glanced over the elaborately carved stone balcony railing to take stock of all the bustling preparations being made for the evening.
Quick-footed messengers and harried cooks were flitting about the huge courtyard and vanishing through ornate archways. In the centre, a handful of servant girls busied themselves in the Mirror Pavilion, wiping down with wet cloths the white marble floors and the pillars inlaid with semi-precious stones. Had they been able to reach high enough, they would probably have been ordered to clean the mirrors and gems and gold that had been inlaid craftily into the ceiling.
Still trudging along on the marble floor with her heavy jug of water, Ino looked directly across to the corridor opposite theirs, envying the cool shade enveloping the doors and its occupants. Unlike their corridor, which was lined with simple rooms that the handmaids occupied in twos, the other three halls overlooking the main courtyard had only three doors each. And these 9 doors were made of artfully carved sandalwood and had polished brass hinges and handles.
Those rooms were where the queens slept.
The handmaids' corridor was the only lively side of the second floor at the moment, though numerous servants and assistants flew through the upper balconies and pavilions and towers like insects, polishing the gold work and making the marble gleam.
"Ino. Move it," Shizune snapped.
Ino picked up her pace as her taller roommate disappeared up a narrow staircase, lugging her jug of water. The staircase had a small rut on either side of it for water to cascade down. These ruts connected to a series of miniature canals that wound quietly through the upper levels to then opened out onto the highly-wrought gardens, which were meticulously maintained.
The soles of her feet had been warmed by the marble floor in the handmaids' corridor and so the cool, wet tiles of the bathing room were a sudden but not unpleasant contrast. The chatter of the handmaids swept over Ino as she made her way to an empty stool.
"Morning!" a brunette the same age as her chirped from the adjacent stool. Her skin was a warm walnut colour and darker than Ino's, which was pale enough to still occasionally sunburn.
"Morning Ten-Ten," she replied.
She clunked down her heavy jug, then stripped herself of her nightshirt and hung it on a wooden hook nailed into the wall. No shiny brass in here. She gathered her long hair into one hand and kneeled next to her jug in order to submerge her blond tresses into its contents. She stuck her entire head into the cool water and pulled it out when her lungs demanded air.
Refreshed, she flung her head back and sighed. Her long hair clapped against her back, drenching her body with cool streams of water that felt like heaven on her overheated skin.
"I've heard the new one's got pink hair. And she's young," Ten-Ten gossiped as she scooped water out of her jug with two hands and splashed herself. "Younger than the last one even."
"Well, the older they get..." Karin commented from Ino's other side.
"The older they get, what?" Ino asked, distractedly wringing her hair out with both hands.
"You know," Karin said with a smirk while she mimicked Ten-Ten's motions and splashed cool water over her bare breasts.
Ino began to follow suit and clean herself before quipping, "Nope. No idea."
"The older they get, the younger they like it!" Karin shouted over the splashing sounds.
"I've never heard that." Splash.
"Well, it's true." Splash. Splash.
"Right. Screwed a lot of old guys, Karin?" Splash.
"No! But they LOOK and I see them looking and thus I know that old guys like young girls."
"Well, I like to think that not every man turns into a paedophile as soon as he's over the hill." Splash.
"Shows just how naïve you are, blondie." Splash.
"It's not being naïve!"
"You probably think the King chose to marry every single wife he has out of everlasting mutual love." Splash. Splash.
"After listening to my oh-so-eloquent mistress? Hardly."
About a mile and a half from the palace were clusters of buildings, squat and tall, that leaned on each other to keep from toppling into the street, like drunken teenagers trying to return home without incident. Traffic of merchants' carts, bicycles, beggars, and rickshaws squeezed endlessly through the cobbled streets under the unmerciful sun. Crammed into the buildings were offices, shops, elevators, plant nurseries, hospitals, staircases to the roof, secret passages, filthy bathrooms, spotless apartments, and people. An infinite amount of people.
Sasuke had earned a reputation not only of being deadly, but of being ruthlessly persistent.
He had tracked his assignments over continents and had never failed to kill anyone he intended to. And though he was sure he was in the right building, with faded door numbers or sense to the halls and stairs, Sasuke found himself clueless for the first time in years.
You were lucky to find street names in this part of town, let alone building numbers. He stopped in between Room 8278 and Room VXPO-90 in the middle of a hallway with ratty carpeting on the 15th floor of a building the locals called the Jim'n'Sally due to a piece of graffiti above the entrance of a lopsided heart encasing those names.
"Hey you," he said gruffly to an old coffee-coloured woman toddling by with a lilliputian grandson swinging on her arm. "Where is Room 8279?"
"Oh now, child, oh boy, let's see...Oh, I'd never know that. But perhaps you should have a good day! I'm glad I could help such a wholesome young man like yourself," she supplied with a broad smile and continued wobbling down the hall.
"You have to go to the 15th floor in the building connected to this one, Sword-Guy," piped an impossibly high voice.
Sasuke eyeballed the woman's grandson, who was hanging onto her arm and being pulled along. His feet barely skimmed the ground.
"It's next to a guy who sells the best mousetraps. Just look for the cheese!" He squeaked out before they disappeared around the corner.
Deciding that absorbing or analyzing that encounter would tax his brain beyond necessity, Sasuke about-faced and strode towards the stairs. The coffee bean's instructions were surprisingly accurate. In a few minutes he was one building over and, disregarding the door covered in cheese paraphernalia, Sasuke pushed into Room 8279 to find...a waiting room.
Dull music dribbled out of a speaker in the corner. There was a scuffed coffee table with some old magazines stacked on it and a middle-aged man in a suit sitting rigidly on a leather couch. He watched Sasuke enter and when he noticed the sword strapped to his back, he perked up.
"You're here! Great! I was told I couldn't have my meeting with the Lord until he met with his assassin."
"And you are?" Sasuke dead-panned.
"His accountant."
"Ah."
The humid heat was being stirred around the room by a spindly fan and the accountant looked like he was being slowly smothered by his suit and tie. Sasuke seemed unaffected in comparison. Though his clothes were black, they were of a light fabric and hung somewhat loosely on his body.
A plump secretary stuck her head out of the cranny in the wall she called an office and popped her gum loudly before saying,
"Uh...go in?"
Resisting the urge to cram her back into her cramped nook, Sasuke moved towards the opposite door and entered into a somber, dim room, where an imposing figure, rendered anonymous by shadow, sat behind a desk.
A smile snaked its way onto the man's face.
"Welcome. I have set three assassins on this job. Two have been executed and one has backed out due to a lack of spine. But I doubt either will be in your future. I know you have grudges against Wind Country and the Fire Nation. I know your skills and I know your high price, which I am willing and able to pay, so you have very little to say except that you accept."
"We'll see about that," Sasuke responded coolly, he eyes scanning the room now that they had grown accustomed to the dim light. It was bleakly unadorned, like an office that had never been used before or was only used in rare circumstances, like when meetings had to be kept so secret they were nonexistent.
"Kill Jiraiya."
Sasuke paused.
"Ok."
After less than an hour of travel, the path left the riverside and widened. Naruto and Kakashi soon found themselves on a road heavily trafficked by people and vehicles and cows.
Kakashi found his gait constantly interrupted by Naruto, who stopped to stare at new sights and who moved erratically, trying to see everything the crowded little city had to offer.
"Naruto, please don't make it so painfully obvious that you've never walked through a town before," Kakashi said with an aggravated sigh.
The blond pulled himself away from the cages of live chickens and rabbits stacked in front of a meat shop and finally settled into a steadier pace at his mentor's side. His eyes still roamed excitedly, however.
"I've been in a town before," he shot back.
"Oh?" Kakashi responded absently.
"Sakura, Sasuke, and I snuck off one day."
"From what you've told me about Sasuke, he doesn't seem like the type to play hooky."
"Yeah..." Naruto said, hopping over a rancid puddle. "Sakura and I had to nag him, saying it would test his skills if he could get all three of us out and back without being detected. But even after all that, I think he really wanted to go too."
"Excuse me, sir!" A skinny merchant cried, abruptly popping Naruto's personal space bubble. "You want to see my shop? Lovely brass and silver works. Very good quality!"
"Kakashi..."
"No, Naruto. Keep moving."
"But he says it's good quality! And I should get Mom a souvenir."
"Yes, very good quality!" The merchant interjected. "Bowls. Cups. Lovely brass necklaces and silver jewelry. You come to my shop, yes?"
Kakashi didn't respond and simply strode on, his eyes fixed ahead of him.
"Uh...sorry," Naruto stuttered out before rushing to catch up with the masked man whose way people were dodging out of.
"You don't have to be so scary! Anyway, that's why I want to bring Sasuke back."
"What?" Kakashi asked, puzzled and not following Naruto's erratic train of thought.
"Like everyone thought Sasuke only thought about training to be a better fighter and being smarter, but I know he wanted more than that. People just never look close enough to him because he's good looking or dangerous. Or both," Naruto said thoughtfully.
"You want to drag a dangerous criminal back to your home because he's misunderstood?"
"No, I want Sasuke to come home because he belongs there. Everyone just thinks he's this really bad guy."
"He's killed people, Naruto."
"Well so have you! The only difference is you're better at being impersonal about it. Sasuke only kills people who he really doesn't like and they usually deserve to die."
"Paid assassins aren't usually paid to kill bad guys," Kakashi said, ignoring the dirty children sticking their cupped hands towards them.
"Can't we give them something?" Naruto asked longingly. "We don't have to be heartless."
"If you give one of them something, you'll have to give every beggar in the town something and we don't have that much money. All you're doing is creating a dependence."
"...I guess," Naruto reluctantly complied, still keeping up with Kakashi's steady gait. "It doesn't matter about Sasuke anyway since I don't know where he is. That's why we need to bring Sakura back!" He said, eyes glinting with determination.
Then Kakashi heard him mumble softly, "I can't lose her too."
"It's not as simple as just bringing her back to the Fire Nation."
"I know that!" Naruto said, flustered. "I'm not stupid."
"Of course not," Kakashi soothed.
"I'll have to challenge the king to--AGH! What did I just step in?!" He yowled, hopping around.
"...It looks like elephant shit."
The two highest rooms in the palace were actually more like stone gazebos.
They were shaped like cupcakes and had glittering gold roofs that twisted into sky-pointing spires. They were connected by a walkway crested with carvings of leafy, flowery vines that had been bleached pale yellow by the sun. This whole architectural set-up perched at the front of the very top of the Wind Palace--the building's forehead, if you will--so from her place on the floor of the left pavilion, Ino could see miles of the town below.
"I think that's the procession," she muttered.
Still sitting, Chouji shuffled around until he could press his chubby face to the artfully small windows.
"I don't see them."
Shikamaru blew out a stream of smoke and lowered the cigarette. He was gazing at the cloudless sky rather than the busy streets, but he suggested Chouji scan the main road. It was a wide road that ran straight from the outskirts of town through the town's center to the palace's gargantuan doors. It was only logical a procession would follow its course.
"It's an elephant!" Chouji exclaimed, squinting to make out the glittering parade. "Shouldn't you get into position soon?"
Ino snagged the cigarette from Shikamaru's loose fingers and sucked in some smoke before saying, "You just said they put her on an elephant. Do you know how slow those things are? It'll take hours for them to reach us. Besides, you guys are the lookouts. We're all just waiting for you to let us know when they're coming."
Shikamaru sighed and slowly pulled himself to his feet. He stepped out of the shadow and gripped a support so that he could lean out of the pavilion into the afternoon sun.
"Oi, Kotetsu. Izumo," he called to the guards sunbathing on the level below. "The procession's on the edge of town but they've got an elephant, so no rush."
"Gotcha."
His duty done, he gladly resumed his lounging position between Ino and Chouji in the shade. They sat in the comfortable silence of friends. Ino smoked and Chouji pulled out a snack while Shikamaru returned his gaze to the sky in time to see a flock of little green parrots zip by.
"I've heard she's young," Chouji said after a few bites.
"Pink-haired girls," Ino scoffed.
"He likes blondes too. Maybe the King'll add you next," Shikamaru commented, reaching for the cigarette.
Ino pulled it out of his reach and took another sip of smoke from it.
"He likes anything with breasts and a pretty face," she tossed off before taking pity on the lazy lookout and returning his cigarette to his lips. "And unless he's willing to throw off generations of palace symmetry, he won't be adding another wife after this one. There are only nine rooms after all."
"Unless one dies," Chouji proffered.
"Besides, nine queens should be fuckin' plenty to keep him occupied."
"That's what you said when he had seven," Shikamaru mumbled around his cigarette, his arms folded behind his head. "And then he married..."
"My stick-up-her-ass mistress."
"How many nicknames do you have for her?" Chouji laughed.
"That mouth will get you in trouble," was all Shikamaru said.
Naruto had known elephants existed. Who didn't? But nothing compared to being near one, to seeing and feeling its weight move in front of you. A large, graceful specimen moved through the town in the middle of a procession of ambassadors, servants, handmaids, and performers. Its leathery trunk and broad front legs were painted with flowers and patterns in bright colours.
The chair attached to the elephant's expansive back was gaudy and overly-gilded compared to the creature's natural majesty. Underneath the chair's decorated roof sat a slim young woman whose features were hidden from the crowds by the gauzy blue curtains that swept about her comfortable seat.
Out of the way of the pushy swarm of onlookers, Naruto leaned against the side of a small building, his tanned arms crossed in front of him, as he watched the river of dancers and musicians and courtiers flow by in a current of music and colour. Three crispy brown balls on a thin stick entered his vision.
"Dango?"
"Incredible, isn't it?" Naruto said in awe, taking the treat Kakashi was offering him.
"Which part?"
"The elephant! What else? I've seen all the rest of it before."
Kakashi chuckled. "I'll let your mother know what to get you for your next birthday."
Naruto rolled his eyes and resumed staring at the parade in the street. Suddenly, he caught sight of a figure in black clothes with a sword hilt peeking over his shoulder and dark hair and eyes and...he was gone.
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, about to rush forward into the overcrowded street, dango and all.
A strong hand on his shoulder kept him firmly where he was.
"Let me go!"
"You're no good to anyone trampled under a startled elephant," Kakashi said, looking curiously across the busy street to see if he could see what Naruto saw.
Naruto stopped physically straining but his gaze swept the crowds frantically, his very being stretching out in search.
"You're sure you saw him?"
"Of course I'm sure! It's not like I see him everywhere like some celebrity fan who thinks they see their idol on every street corner."
"Ah," Kakashi said. "We'll have to keep alert then."
"You'll really help me find him?" Naruto asked eagerly.
He turned and looked up at his mentor quickly, but the hardness of the older man's eyes doused any sudden flares of hope.
"I meant..." Kakashi spoke slowly. "That we will have to be alert to the movements of a renowned assassin in the area."
The sun was low in the sky and contemplated setting in an hour when the new queen finally walked through the huge entry doors. She would never have made it under the arch in the chair on her elephant without getting knocked off like a hood ornament. So she entered on foot.
The courtyard was full to bursting with courtiers, wealthy civilians, and some servants and pages in the back, who were all sitting on the warm sandstone in neat rows on either side of an aisle that had been littered with frangipani blooms and pink flower petals, which were slowly roasting to potpourri in the strong sun.
A bodyguard, bulky with muscle and weaponry, walked awkwardly down the aisle from the grand entry gate towards the glittering Mirror Pavilion, where the King and the rest of his wives waited to greet the newcomer: his charge and mistress. On his large arm, she seemed as thin and delicate as a paper doll.
She took small, even steps at a regal pace and her less graceful escort stumbled once or twice while trying not to walk too fast. Her pink hair was wound with gold adornments and the tresses fell like embroidered silk to her tiny waist. Her long, flowing dress was an appropriately virginal white and fluttered around her silver and blue shoes.
As the mismatched pair stepped up on the Mirror Pavilion's cool marble floor, there was a hushed shoving and shuffling as all the seated bourgeoisie clambered to their feet and pushed closer to the pavilion's ornate columns. Behind them, even more civilians crowded the courtyard, everyone pushing for the best view they could get.
The king sat on a lush silk cushion in the centre of a semi-circle of jewel-laden women of various ages, who were also seated comfortably. A collective of handmaids and personal assistants flanked their mistresses or master in a loose outer semi-circle, looking well-groomed but not nearly as fancily dressed.
The pink-haired girl didn't look at her bodyguard as he cautiously relinquished her arm and stepped away, leaving her alone in front of the royal family. The mirrors on the ceiling caught the light of the reddening sun and cast diamonds of light over them all. Nine sets of eyes and the diamonds in the crowns above them sparkled. She kept her inky-black eyes on the king's.
The white-haired sovereign leaned forward and gave her a disarming grin.
"You're as pretty as I remember you, Riyo!"
He leapt off his cushion nimbly and approached her, still grinning. His first wife, a busty blonde with a blue diamond inked onto her forehead, gave a disgruntled sigh.
"You could try to keep to the ceremony official," she said.
"Where would the fun be in that?" He chuckled as he drew one of Riyo's tiny hands into the air and had her twirl in place. "Yep, definitely as pretty as I remember. Good thing too, otherwise I would have had to send you back."
"Thank you, your highness," Riyo spoke in a young, demure voice.
The bushy, long hair under his pointed gold crown made the tall king seem like an even larger man next to the girl's petite frame. It was quite the contrast.
"Bah, your highness! Call me Jiraiya," he said loudly, still grinning into her face. He put a friendly arm around her shoulders and meandered towards the semi-circle of queens. "All the other wives do. Can hardly get any of them to respect me anymore."
"Seeing as you had me find you your ninth wife, I wonder why," came the blonde's voice again.
"Damn it, Tsunade! I'm trying to run a ceremony here!"
"Get on with it then," she snapped back.
They scowled at each other and Jiraiya released the girl's shoulders in favour of taking her hand.
"This witch is my first wife, Tsunade. Next to mine, her word is law in this palace," he said, waving a hand at her.
At this remark, the blonde begrudgingly smiled. Behind her, Shizune and the First Queen's other three handmaids sat demurely.
"The snake-like man there is Orochimaru, my vizier," Jiraiya continued. "He takes care of all the paperwork and keeps the city running, but you won't have to bother much with him, eh?"
Hands hidden in his long sleeves, Orochimaru pasted a tight smile on his face and inclined his head towards the bride-to-be. His robe of gray silk seemed to repel the light that everyone else was drowning in.
As Jiraiya was introducing his second wife, the somber Konan, and their two children, Sakura's mind began to wander.
She's really young, Sakura thought as her eyes ran over Riyo's slender figure. I suppose I can't criticize too much as I arrived on my 17th birthday. What was that...a year and a half ago? But at least I had something resembling breasts when I got here.
Sakura scanned the crowd, her cranium familiar with the weight of the heavy tiara. She could tell herself that she was just checking out the crowd, but if she decided not to lie to herself...She sighed quietly to herself. If she didn't lie, she would have to say she was scanning the crowd for Sasuke in a vain hope that she should have quenched years ago.
Although she hated telling herself to let her old crush go, she hated more admitting to herself that it was becoming harder and harder to envision his face. He was fading so quickly, unfairly quickly. She could remember the pieces--his eyes flashing angrily, his mouth in the rare smile, the back of his head--but when she tried to envision his face, the image frustratingly blurred. She felt sick that she was betraying him, that she was betraying her childhood, their childhood.
"And this is my lovely eighth wife, Sakura," Jiraiya boomed, smashing through Sakura's grim thoughts.
"Nice to meet you," she offered with a smile.
She blinked in surprise when she received no smile back. Instead, the younger pink-haired girl coolly narrowed her eyes at Sakura and set her jaw. Unseen behind her, Ino raised her eyebrows.
"What the hell was that?" She hissed under her breath after Jiraiya and Riyo had moved to take their places in the centre of the pavilion.
Sakura held her tongue but Ino saw her shrug her shoulders in response. The young queen ran a hand through her hair and minutely adjusted her crown. Her copper bangles jangled. Riyo looked serene and humble, standing at Jiraiya's side as he loudly presented her to the public that was so eager to see her face. They turned to face a different facet of the crowd, leaving Sakura the dull view of their backs.
She returned her gaze to the people crowded against the marble pillars like children at the zoo and realized that she was being stared at. A man with unruly silver hair had fixed his deep gray eyes onto her instead of the king and soon-to-be new queen, as everyone else was doing. He was the only one in the sea of onlookers focusing on her. It crossed Sakura's mind that this was surprisingly intimate. As though they shared a secret but lived in different worlds. As though they could only communicate with longing stares.
He was older than her, but by no more than ten or fifteen years, and he had a handsome face. His lips quirked into a small smile and Sakura found her gaze lowering out of shyness and heat spread up her neck to stain her cheeks a light red. This was different from the way Jiraiya looked at her. And Sakura had felt the adolescent adoration of Naruto when they were kids. But this was something different.
This was an entirely different realm of feeling and possibility. A realm where she was neither a naïve virgin with a crush nor a politically placed bride, but her own woman. But it was a realm that Sakura couldn't waste time thinking about. It was beyond her reach.
When she raised her head, the sun had slipped under the horizon, the ceremony was over, and the stranger was gone.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called, only to be drowned out by the hoard of people shuffling in and around the palace.
With the light slowly draining away and the constant fidgeting of a sea of people, the two travelers had been swiftly separated upon their approach to the palace's courtyard. Kakashi had managed to ride the waves of people to the front, but the shorter Naruto had been caught in an undercurrent and spent the duration of the ceremony trapped against the far wall.
Now that everyone was trying to desert the courtyard at once, Naruto found himself caught in a surge that propelled him to the marble pavilion, where a couple handmaids were retrieving their mistresses' cushions and other comforts. Jiraiya and the nine queens had retreated somewhere into the palace's mess of passages, chambers, and balconies.
"Hey, you!" A voice hissed from Naruto's left.
"Huh?"
He rotated slowly, trying to find the voice's owner. It belonged to a short boy with scruffy brown hair.
"You need to take this and give it to the blonde handmaid in there," he ordered, holding out what appeared to be a smooth stone that had been painted bright orange.
"What? Why?"
The boy frowned. "Because I told you to."
"So? Who are you?"
"What do you mean, who am I?"
"I mean what 'who are you?' usually means!"
"I'm Prince Konohamaru!"
"...congratulations?"
"I'm the son of King Jiraiya and the fifth quee--"
"Yeah, yeah, look, I'm still not your servant."
The scruffy prince paused and scrutinized Naruto, who was scowling back at him.
"You're...not one of the palace servants?"
"Shouldn't you know everyone who works in your own house?"
"No! Why should I?" Konohamaru scoffed.
"So you don't go around being a spoiled brat to any stranger nearby, maybe?!"
"I'm not being a spoiled brat! I just need you to give this rock to Ino!"
"Why don't you give it to her? She's right there!" Naruto yelled.
"Because only servants are supposed to handle this rock."
"Then why do you have it?"
Konohamaru stared at Naruto with the wide eyes of someone who was just caught. A knowing grin crept onto Naruto's face.
"I see."
"Prince Konohamaru?" Came a female voice.
They had both failed to notice that Ino, drawn by the sound of her name and the loud arguing, had made her way over to them. In her arms was the sky blue embroidered quilt Sakura had sat on for the ceremony and on her face was a bemused expression.
"Uh, well, I..."
She held out her hand and the prince lowered his head before placing the smooth stone in her palm. She eyed its bright colour for a minute.
"Are you sure the rock's for me?" She asked slowly.
He nodded.
"If you're not sure, you need to tell me. You could cause a lot of problems otherwise."
"It's for you. I'm really sure," he said quickly.
"Right...okay."
Although he screwed up his face like he was preparing for a reprimand, Ino turned and walked away without saying anything more.
"Hah! Some prince you are, scared of getting yelled at by handmaids," Naruto burst out with a laugh.
"Shut up!" Konohamaru yelled, his face reddening.
"What's the deal with the dumb orange rock anyway?" The blond asked.
"I dunno. That's why I stole it. I wanted to see if it was something special but it's just a plain old rock that's been painted orange. Just about every day, some random servant gives one of the handmaids that rock, but I can't figure out what for."
"That's weird," Naruto responded. "How did you know to give the rock to...Ino was her name, right?"
Just then, he caught sight of Kakashi's bad posture near the now-deserted entry way in the dim light. He folded his hands behind his head and started wandering towards him. Konohamaru started walking beside him.
"I asked the servant who had it who he was going to give it to. And then I asked to see it and then I grabbed it and ran," the boy recounted with pride.
"Uh huh."
"What's your name?" Konohamaru asked suddenly. "I like you. No one ever really talks to me or argues with me in the palace."
Naruto remembered to give only his first name. He couldn't be sure if the prince would have heard of him or not, but better safe than sorry.
"Ok. Naruto. You have to come back soon, ok?"
Naruto's blue eyes landed on Konohamaru's and while he wanted to vaporize any feelings of loneliness in a little kid, he also couldn't help feeling the heartache his closest friends had caused him over the last few years. He didn't want to doubt the bonds of friendship but it was difficult not to. However, he wasn't about to try and explain that to a little boy, even if he was a prince.
"Definitely," he said with a smile.
After Konohamaru had run off happily, Naruto greeted Kakashi with nary a Hello, but:
"You had your mask off!"
"Hmm...I did?"
"I saw you pulling it back on."
"Right, right. When I want to go unrecognized, I take it off."
"Don't you ever get the feeling there's an easier way to do that?"
"Not particularly."
The orange stone sat heavily in Ino's pocket as she helped Sakura prepare for bed that evening. It was one of Jiraiya's tricks to keep his queens from succumbing to jealousy: he would hand the stone to one of his assistants and give him the name of the queen he intended to see. Then it would pass hands, sometimes as many as twelve pairs, before landing in the palm of that queen's handmaid.
It was up to her to then inform her mistress. If she failed to, out of forgetfulness or spite, her punishment could be as light as being teased or as painful as a whipping, depending on the queen and her whims.
The lamps were lit in their nooks in the walls and flickered merrily from around the room. Having divested Sakura of the flowers that had been braided into her pink tresses, Ino moved towards the silver hairbrush lying on the vanity table.
"Ino," the young queen said, catching her handmaid's eyes in the mirror she was sitting before. "Jiraiya's going to be coming here tonight so there's no need to help me remove my make-up."
Ino blinked in surprise.
"Uh...you're right," she stuttered out, bewildered.
"I guess you're used to having to tell me," Sakura said with a small smile.
Ino smiled and swept Sakura's hair back over her shoulders before she began to brush it.
"How did you know?"
"With the arrival of Riyo, he's whet his appetite for supple pink-haired girls but he'll respect custom enough not to touch her until their marriage on the new moon, which would be in two weeks."
"Makes sense," Ino replied easily. "Still don't know what was up with that look she gave you."
"At the ceremony? Yeah, I know. She's kind of bratty looking too."
"She looked like she thought she owned the place. Honestly, who arrives on an elephant?"
"Show-offs?" Sakura offered. "Got any ideas what I should wear tonight?"
Ino set the brush back down and made her way to Sakura's large dresser. She pulled open the top drawer, the dark wood not making a sound, and a piece of emerald green silk caught her eye. She carefully pulled it out and held up the silk nightdress.
"Green's never failed you before!"
"Good idea," Sakura said, standing and approaching her handmaid.
Ino set her choice on the bed and began undoing the line of buttons resting on Sakura's spine.
"I'm sure the King will appreciate it too," the blond gabbed as her hands worked quickly, familiar with this task. "Of course, it's a shame that you won't be able to wear it for someone younger and more attractive, someone you'd actually want to sleep with. Honestly, I don't know how you can even stand making love to that old guy."
Now laid bare, Sakura's back tensed. She turned and Ino was shocked to find herself under cold green eyes.
"I know how it is, Ino," she stated, ice in her voice. "It's easy for girls in your class to turn down anybody not attractive enough. You can think badly of me because you live in a world where you can follow your heart and your hormones, only risking yourself. You all equate sex with love. Like if he's not my perfect ideal of a soul mate, how can I possibly allow him to touch me? How could I possibly marry him? Well, this marriage was about politics from the start. I'm a small cog in the workings of diplomacy between the Fire Nation and Wind Country and unlike you and most people assume, I wasn't forced into it."
"I--" Ino managed to get out. Her body had gone rigidly still.
"I made the choice to marry Jiraiya and he treats me fine. Even the sex isn't bad, which must be hard for you to believe since he's not young and handsome and devoted to me. But sex isn't everything. So think twice before you draw conclusions about an entire marriage based on what you assume their sex life is like."
Sakura's intense gaze was locked on Ino's. The blond felt small and scolded, like a child. She felt her mistake even keener when the regal girl broke eye contact and with a sigh, said, "You're dismissed for the night, Ino. I can finish dressing myself."
Silent, she left the room and stood in the dark hallway for a minute. Sakura's rant echoed in her head and as she made her way towards the handmaids' side of the floor, she didn't notice the figure soundlessly detaching itself from the shadows.