CHAPTER 2: Camp
At an unknown camp (Noon)
Lacus awoke from her unconsciousness and looked around the small tent she was in. It was unfamiliar to her and remembered that she had been kidnapped by the shinobi who attacked her earlier. She tried to sit up slowly with her arms and legs tied up with ropes, the blow that the shinobi inflicted upon her back still hurts. She then heard two men talking outside the tent.
"What's with that girl you captured? According to Lenore-sama, we supposed to kill those Iga shinobi"
"What's the hurry? We still have time to get them again anyways"
"But with the ambush on them earlier, they would be more on the lookout now, and this makes the mission even more difficult to handle!"
"Even when that happens, we can come up with another strategy to get them"
Lacus became afraid. She remembered her father telling her that Lenore was the Mizukage of the Kouga tribe. She was a fierce shinobi who kills her enemies without showing any mercy. What's worse, Lacus was the daughter of the Hokage of the Iga tribe. Both tribes had been enemies for many generations and war often broke out whenever the ninjas of both tribes meet. Luckily in her opinion, the Kouga ninjas that kidnapped her must have not known that she was the princess of the Iga tribe, or they would have killed her without delay.
She was broken out of her thoughts when those two men entered the tent. One of them had yellow-orange hair and wore green clothes. He looked very mature and commanding, so Lacus presume that he must be the leader of those shinobi who attacked her earlier. The other one had dark-blue hair and he looked very young, probably only 16 years old. They looked at her for a moment before speaking.
"I'm going out for awhile at the meantime, you're to stand guard here and make sure she doesn't escape Athrun"
The young boy nodded his head.
"Understood, Mwu sensei" ('sensei' means 'teacher' in Japanese)
After Mwu left, Athrun looked at Lacus and gave her the 'don't you dare escape' look. He then exit the tent and sat down at the entrance, guarding. Lacus lie down on the ground and eventually fell asleep.
At the Iga tribe village
Yunna reported the incident to Siegel Clyne, regarding his daughter's capture by Kouga shinobi. Siegel was upset and slammed his right hand on his desk. Obviously he was angry that Yunna and his men were not able to give his precious daughter much protection.
"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, I was too weak to do anything to protect your daughter" Yunna apologized "I swear that I'll bring her back safely, along with the heads of those Kouga shinobi who kidnapped her"
"You better make sure you're able to, if you fail me …"
"I shall not fail you sir!"
With a determined look, Yunna left the Hokage's office, planning his next move to rescue Lacus
At an unknown camp (Evening)
Lacus woke up from her sleep a few hours later and realized that the sun has set. She sat up and felt very weak, since she had not eaten since morning. Athrun entered the tent and walked towards her with a knife in his hands. Lacus tried to back away from him as Athrun approached her. Athrun then used the knife to cut the ropes which tied her legs; however, he didn't do the same thing with the ropes which tied her hands. Lacus looked at him, wondering why he was doing that.
"Come on outside, we're not going to starve you" Athrun told her and walked out of the tent.
Lacus stood up and exit the tent. The camp was near the base of a waterfall and all the campers seemed to be ninjas in her opinion. She looked around for Athrun and saw him by the fire. She approached him and sat down on the ground near him. He gave her some food, which was cooked over the fire, in a bowl, which she ate all quickly and politely.
"ATHRUN!"
Stunned by the shout he heard, Athrun looked up and saw a girl with pale yellow hair approaching her.
"Oh, what's wrong Cagalli?" Athrun asked
"What's wrong? You're the problem!" Cagalli exclaimed
Athrun looked at her feeling surprised as they both left the area to talk in private.
As Athrun walked away from her, Lacus placed the empty bowl onto the ground and stood up, for a drink at the waterfall. There, she scooped up some water and drank it from her palm.
When she looked up, she noticed a boy sitting a few metres away from her at the side of the waterfall, looking up into the starry sky. He has brown hair, beautiful purple eyes and seems to be of the same age as Athrun.
