Author's Note:

Okay so i guess you're wondering why am i starting a new story. Well, i'm actually taking a small break from SFE (please dont kill me!) So i decided to write at least the first chapters to my other fanfics that i have written in my profile. I hope you'll enjoy them. So i bring to you know my second mega fanfic, A Princess Amongst Thieves

A Princess Amongst Thieves

Chapter 1: Midnight Rescue

It was very dark thanks to the heavy rain; dark enough that one could barely see the light coming out from the buildings of the village. Besides the pounding of the rain, the village was completely quiet. Then a loud slam was heard from a local tavern where someone had been thrown out landing in the mud. From the open tavern doors stood a tall man with massive muscles with no hair on his head and covered with scares. Smoke oozed out from his mouth and he fumed in anger.

"If ya ever pull that stunt again in our town I'll kill ya boy!" he shouted before turning his back to the man covered in mud. The man sighed as he rose to his feet.

"Perfect. I had just had to piss him off" he grumbled but he smiled. From his long muddy sleeve he pulled out a small sac filled with gold coins, "At least I still got what I came for." Just before he had been thrown out of the tavern, the man had won a large pot at a game of cards. But when he tried to claim his winnings, the tall man who had thrown him out accused him of cheating and attacked him. Knowing that fighting here would only give him trouble, he evaded the first attack and hit a bystander tricking him that the tall mad had done it.

In a matter of seconds the tavern erupted into an old fashion salon fight. The man quickly grabbed his money and slipped it in his deerskin coin pouch and hid it in his sleeve. But when he tried to escape, the tall man grabbed him by the back of the neck. The young man was spun round facing the fuming tall man.

"Where the fuck ya think yor goin'!?" he spat. The younger man cringed as he could smell the mans alcohol breath.

"Well it's getting late…" began the young man but the drunken man didn't wait for an answer and punched him in the jaw sending him flying backwards. Before the young man could catch his wind the tall man grabbed him by the shirt with one hand and the belt in another raising him above his head. He then hurled the young man through the doors crashing into the mud.

And that was basically what happened. The young man shivered as a cold wind blew through the storm. Water and mud was getting through his old tattered leather boots soaking his already ruined socks. Even though he had his hands in his pockets they weren't getting warm. On top of that his leather hat had a hole in the side letting the rain in. All he wanted to do was have a warm meal, clean himself off and hit the sac.

"No…stop!" came a voice from an alleyway. The man stopped to listen and heard the voice again. It was barely audible due to the rain but there was defiantly someone calling for help. He rushed to the alleyway where he saw a young woman around his age beginning pressed against the wall of a building by a large man grinning as he tried to kiss her.

"Common lass, let's have us a kiss" he said trying to get his face near hers. The girl managed to her one hand free and slapped the fat man across the face. He growled in anger and slapped her with the back of his hand knocking down where she hit her head knocking her unconscious. Angry at her disobedience he began undoing his belt and was about to lower himself on his "prize" when a knife came flying past his face embedding itself in the wooden wall of the building. The man spun around.

"Who they fuck arr ya?" he shouted. The young man walked into the alleyway with a look made to freeze lava.

"You tried to rape that girl," he said coldly, "Prepare to die." The fat man roared and was about to charge at the young man but he had already sprinted to ward him and brought him his right fist in a massive upper cut. The large man was knocked out before her could feel the pain of his broken jaw as he crumbled to the wet ground.

The young man grabbed his knife was about to cut out the unconscious mans black heart when he noticed the young girl was shivering. He knew she was going to get sick if she stayed out here much longer; and he for that matter. He quickly put his knife back in its sheath on the side of his left boot and scooped the girl in his arms bridal style. He decided to place his hat on her head trying to give her some relief from the cold rain. He ran briskly toward an old barn and used his foot to open on of the doors.

"Yo I'm back" he called. Inside the barn was a group of four people plus on large white dog around a small fire. Behind them was a caravan with three horses resting and eating hay. One of the group members looked up at him.

"Yo Naruto" he said. He then noticed the woman in his arms, he whistled "Whoa ho, did you buy yourself a woman?" he said grinning. Naruto used the tip of his boot to press on the back on his boot heel too loosen it enough to kick his boot at his friend; hitting him square in the face.

"Shut up Kiba" Naruto said placing the girl in a pile of straw and reached for a blanket to cover her. It was then he noticed her face, her very beautiful face.

He blushed slightly but decided it was best not to stare. He walked over to the fire where a pot was being suspended keeping the stew hot. He took a bowl and used a ladle to pour in the thick beige soup into it then sitting next to the fire. He took a sip of it.

"Ah good ol' gruel. Thanks Choji" he said to a large built mad with long spiky read hair.

"Well if I had the right ingredients I could you make us something decent; even your favorites" he shot back frowning. Naruto's mouth drooled at the thought of Choji's top cooking. He used one hand to reach into his sleeve to pull out the sac of coins and whipped it at a young man sitting at a make shift desk with long spiky black hair tied in a ponytail and a pair of glass at the base of his nose. With out taking his eyes off his reading, the man caught the sac and gave the sac a squeeze. He then let it fall onto the desk.

"150 gold pieces. That's all?" he asked, again not shifting his eyes.

"It's all I could get" said Naruto putting down his bowl and folding his arms, "One of the bastards I was playing with called me a cheater and started busting the place. I grabbed what I could from the pot and ran, but the son of a bitch punched me!" he shouted point to his now bruising jaw.

"Are you alright boss?" asked a young man roughly Naruto age. He sat with his back against the barn wall cross legged and his armed folding across his cheat with a long sword resting inside his arm against his chest. He wore a read bandana across his forehead letting his black hair spill over it with a matching red cloak buttoned at the throat (a/n: he basically looks like Vincent Valentine).

"Ya I'm fine Sasuke" he said talking off his fingerless leather gloves that went up to his elbows and his muddy shirt revealing his toned body. He stood up and walked over to a rain barrel and dunked his head in washing out the mud revealing his long spiky blond hair.

"Thank you for ruining our drinking water!" snapped Choji seriously considering stabbing his friend with his cooking knives.

"Oh common it's raining we can refill it latter" said Naruto nonchalantly as he shook the water out of his eyes and hair and sat back down to his meal.

"So, are you going to tell us about that?" the man with the glasses asked pointing at the unconscious girl without lifting his eye from his newspaper. The rest of the group then turned to take a good look at the girl. And what a view it was.

Kiba whistled, "Whoa she's hot! She damn cute too." The others couldn't help but agree. With a perverted grin on his face Kiba made his way to the young woman but Naruto waked him in the thigh giving him a Charlie horse.

"Oi what the fuck was that for?!"

Naruto grunted in his stew, "You can't score on conscious girls so you're going after unconscious ones? That's a new low Kiba." Fuming Kiba sat back down.

"I wasn't really going to do anything" he mumbled. At this point, the man at the desk decided to look up at the girl. He froze.

Sasuke noticed this, "What's wrong Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru's glasses slide a little father down his nose, "Guys…you might want to check this out." The others walked over to Shikamaru and looked at his newspaper. On it was a picture of a beautiful young woman with long indigo hair and pearl white eyes.

"Hey it's her" said Choji pointing to the unconscious girl.

"That's not all" Shikamaru said pointing to the bottom of the picture, "She's the princess of the southern kingdom. Naruto and his crew snapped head from the picture to the girl.

"How can we be sure it's her?" asked Sasuke.

Shikamaru read the bottom of the portrait until he found something. "It says that she has a birthmark bellow her right shoulder-"

"Yosh I'll take care thi-" began Kiba but was elbowed in the ribs by Naruto.

"Now what the fuck was that for!!"

"I'll do it."

"What!?"

"I found her I'll do" replied Naruto.

"What you mean you found her?!" shot back Kiba.

"I saved her from some fat ass trying to rape her. To the hero go the soils" he said walked over to the princess and genteelly pulled off her blanket leaving her top half exposed. He slowly pulled down the left shoulder strap of her dress revealing some of her ample bust and was about to see her birth mark when he felt a huge amount of pain.

"AHHH HAHA!" he yelled clutching his groin. The other looked at him in surprise and began to laugh when they saw that the princess had awakened and kicked their boss in the groin. Their laughter died down when they noticed there was a knife in her hands. Naruto raised his head and saw the knife. He glanced at his boot; his knife was missing.

"Oi your highness, there's no need for violence" he said standing up and looked down at her; he was a good head taller than her.

"H-How did you know I'm a princess hentai!" she demanded. Though she was angry, she had a very nice voice.

"It was in the papers" said Naruto, "And I'm no hentai. It says you have a birth mark on your shoulder. I was just making sure it was true. If anything Kiba's the hentai."

"Oi teme!" shouted Kiba. The princess then looked around her.

"W-Where am I? What happened to-"

"The fat bastard? I took care of him after he knocked you out. He's taking a nap in the mud the swine."

The princess relaxed a little, "You…saved me?"

"Yup" smiled Naruto warmly, "Now give me the knife."

The girl tensed again bringing the knife up with both hands, "N-No! Stay back!"

Naruto took a step forward, "Girls shouldn't be playing with knives."

"I-I'm warning you!" threatened the girl but Naruto saw how she was shaking that she wouldn't stab him. He then grabbed her wrists and forced himself on top of her causing them to fall on the straw. The princess tried to break free or at least stab Naruto but he quickly let go of her hand not holding the knife and twisted the knife out of her other hand.

"Now then," he said tossing the knife to the side, "Why don't you be a good princess and stay quiet and ladylike so we can figure out what we're going to do with you." She was about to protest when Naruto cut her off, "Or you can go back outside in the rain an either end up dead in a ditch or looking after a couple of kids long before your daddy's armies get up here. Your royal blood means shit in these parts. So take your pick." That made the girl stay quiet.

"OK," said Naruto standing up, "Now first things first, what your name?"

"Hyuuga Hinata" she replied.

"There was that so hard? Now then, how bout you tell us how you got all the way out in the Northern Dragon Scale Mountains?"

This time Hinata stayed silent. "Look," said Naruto squatting down so that their eyes were level, "I saved your virginity, the least you could do if tell me how you got in this mess." Hinata blushed at the mention of her virginity but decided to answer the blond.

"There was a civil war a few months ago. I suppose you haven't heard of it?" Her mentioning the war caused the others to tense up but Naruto remained calm.

"Nope. Even we mountain boys heard about that. Those thieves creamed your daddy's armies real good" said Naruto.

Hinata frowned, "There were heavy causalities on both sides yes but we still forced the thieves' army into a retreat. That's the reason I'm here. To keep me safe my father had me sent to a powerful friend in the east to watch over me."

"This friend in the east, it wouldn't happen to be the Dragon of the East now would it?" asked Shikamaru.

"Yes but my transport was intercepted and I've been traveling on my own since."

"Uh huh" said Naruto, "Well thank you for that your highness" he said taking a gentleman's bow, "My colleagues and I have to discuss a few matters. Excuse me." He turned round and walked to the pot and filled a bowl with stew and handed it to Hinata. She looked at if with disgust. Naruto laughed, "Eat. You'll feel better" he said before turning to his friends where they huddled together.

"What are we going to do with her?" asked Choji.

"Keeping her with us is dangerous and too damn troublesome" said Shikamaru smashing his fist on the table.

"Well we can't just leave her here" said Kiba trying to sound sincere.

"Shut up! All you want to be is get in her dress" snapped Shikamaru.

"Oh like you don't" shot back Kiba.

Shikamaru pulled off his glasses, "Yes I don't because I have dignity and self esteem!"

"Dude you hang out with us you don't have self esteem" added Naruto with a smirk. Kiba laughed and was about to get punched by Shikamaru when Sasuke spoke up.

"Enough! This is a serious matter" he said turning to Naruto, "Sir, though it's not right to leave a vulnerable woman like her out here, I agree with Shikamaru that her traveling with us is both a danger to us as it is to the plan. She already knows too much and she's bound to find out more."

"I know" said Naruto. He looked over his shoulder to the princess. She took a sip of the stew and made a face due to its bitter taste. When she opened her eyes he saw that she as scared, terrified even. There was pain and loneliness in there too. Feelings Naruto knew all too well. He sighed, "Alright."

"Your ladyship," he said getting Hinata's attention making her put down her bowl. "We've discussed the matter and have come to the conclusion that we…" he paused for effect, "…are to escort you back to the Southern Kingdom."

"WHAT!!?!?!" shouted his crew. Hinata looked up with renowned hope in her eyes.

"Th-Thank yo-" she began.

"However," he said bringing his right index finger, "When we return you to your lovely castle, we want full compensation for our services. It is a long way down and we are bound to meet thieves, barbarians, monsters and so forth. Not to mention another mouth to feed. So, do we have an accord?" he said holding out his hand.

Hinata looked at his dirty hand with hesitation. But knowing her options there was nothing she could do. She shook his hand.

"Excellent! Now eat" he said lifting up her bowl. He laughed loudly as she wrinkled her nose.

so here it is hope u guys like it cuz it was a pleasure to write