Chapter 2: Sneaking In
The day of the opening ceremony arrived all too soon for Hinata. She was, at the moment, making some last minute fixes on Naruto's ornate garb. Well, she liked to think it looked ornate, but making nice clothing with the odd scraps and pieces of cloth that Naruto found was rather hard.
"Stand still, Naruto. Or else your shirt-sleeves will be two different lengths," said Hinata as she continued hemming the frilly white shirt he was wearing. Naruto was standing with his arms out-stretched and an impatient expression on his face. He was wearing khaki pants with black leather tall boots that they'd found and managed to clean up with some polish.
"Hinata. I really need to get going," Naruto sighed.
"I'm sewing as fast as I can! Do you want to look like some half-witted derelict?" Hinata snapped.
"No..."
"Then shut up!" Hinata felt a little bad for being mean to Naruto, but she had been working nights planning and preparing for Naruto and was beyond tired. Infiltrating a royal event as a fake prince was risky, and could end badly if it didn't work out right, so she was extremely nervous too, which just added to her short temper. Why she did so much for Naruto, she'd never know. "Alright-" she tied a knot and cut the thread-"I'm done!" Hinata then stood up on her toes and reached up with her hand to smooth down Naruto's unruly hair. Naruto looked down at Hinata with his blue eyes. Her face looked a little bit flustered. Her dark eyelashes fluttered a bit around her ivory eyes as she concentrated on trying to flatten Naruto's hair, which was not complying. Hinata stepped back. "Go, get a move on!" She pushed Naruto out of the servants quarters as he slipped on a dark navy blue cape. She watched him as he saddled his large, stocky horse, Gamabunta. The late morning sun shined through Naruto's unruly, blonde hair, making it look almost golden. He hopped on Gamabunta and gave Hinata a little salute.
"Later, Hinata!"
"Later," Hinata smiled. "Try not to do anything too dumb."
"Aw, have a little faith in me," he said laughing and then swung his horse around, cantering out of the stable yard.
"Remember: if you're caught, you'll surely loose your head!"
The plan was for Naruto to ride down the steep hill behind the castle, cross the river, and ride for about ten minutes south-east away from the castle through the woods. Then he would reach the main road, which he would follow back to Uppperton Castle and enter through the front entrance with all the other contestants.
Naruto reached the road and trotted along it until he reached some other travelers.
"Hey! You on your way to the castle too?" Naruto said jovially. The man at the front of the group turned around in his horses saddle and looked at Naruto. He had dark brown hair and red triangle tattoos on his face. He lifted his hand up in a little salute.
"Yep."
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! At your service!" Naruto trotted Gamabunta up to the other man's horse's side.
"Kiba Inuzuka...not at your service." Kiba prodded his white horse forward, trying to make some distance between him and this new, chatty person. Kiba glanced to his right. Damn! Still there. "What do you want?" Kiba pursed his lips, aggravated.
"Nothing." Naruto said and stuck his jaw out looking straight ahead. Entering the castle in a group would attract less attention to himself so it was important to keep up with this Kiba Inuzuka.
"Then stop following me!"
"I'm not following you. We just both happen to be going in the same direction. Towards the castle..."
In reply the Inuzuka began grumbling lowly about stupid looking people following him around everywhere and giving him a bad image. "Just keep your distance when we get there. Okay? Comprendo?"
"Alright. Don't be so touchy."
The group rode along in silence up the wide dirt road, over a grand stone bridge and to the even grander entrance to Upperton Castle, where various noblemen where queuing up.
"Well, this is it." Naruto said as he hopped off his horse and entered the line behind Kiba, who shot him a glare and mouthed 'Don't talk to me.' Naruto dragged a hand through his spiky hair. So far things were going swimmingly!
If you're reading you should also be reviewing! Flames, comments, questions, advice, and of course praise (haha!) are all welcome. Thanks for reading!
Special thanks to Snowdoll18 for reminding me to keep on writing this story! Thanks :3
-Harri The Celery
P.S. What genre do you think this story should be? Cause at the moment I have humor and adventure but, there will eventually be romance too. Your thoughts?
