Chapter 2 =)
My wonderful Beta is Flawless_Beauti from livejournal. check her journal she writes amazing stories =D !
End of chapter 1 :
Chewing her lips nervously, Narue waited for her name to be called. She almost forget it was supposed to be Naruto and the man had to call her twice before she reacted. Once the unlucky candidates had left, the scarred man cleared his throat again.
"You will now be paired by two and will fight against each other. The Prince will watch closely each fight and choose who will have the honour to protect him"
Chapter 2 : Konoha's Prince
Narue's partner was creepy. It wasn't like her to judge people without really knowing them, but when someone asks you about the length of your penis before asking your name, he can be considered as creepy without further judgment. Only Kyuubi seemed to find the whole thing very funny because well, she didn't have a penis. Narue wasn't laughing at all though because now everyone was convinced she had a short penis and it was kinda embarrassing. Why were guys obsessed by that anyway?
Fortunately for her, the Prince decided to show up (at last). He wasn't exactly like she had imagined: he was young (around eighteen, barely older than her), and not nice at all. The first words he said to her were:
"What are you looking at, moron?" with an arrogant smirk.
What a bastard.
Narue watched the fights with interest. Some ninjas were really strong, others not, but it looked like it would be hard to get noticed.
"I don't think it's wise for you to use my chakra, the changes in your physical appearance might attract unwanted attention." the Fox said and Narue nodded in agreement.
The next fight was between her and Sai. She discovered very quickly that not only he was creepy, but he was also a skilled ninja. Fast, unpredictable, he almost didn't leave her any chance to attack even if her Rasengan proved to be very useful against his ink clones. The bell rang after ten minutes, indicating the fight was over since there was no winner yet.
"You're really rusty Naru-chan" the Fox sniggered. "I should really not give you chakra that often."
It was true, she noticed with disappointment, and he didn't even look tired.
"Nice Justu," a now familiar voice whispered. "Where did you learn it?"
"Rasengan? Ero-sennin taught me!" She grinned. "He's a family's friend."
They watched the last fight together in silence, until someone behind them cleared his throat. It was the Prince.
"Uzumaki Naruto?"
She nodded.
"You're taken, give me your identity papers." he said with a cold voice.
Oh crap, that's something she had completely forgotten. Every ninja had identity papers giving basic information like age, sex, name, etc. the numbers of missions they had done, and so on. She had of course, papers about her but none about Naruto.
"Ha-ha! Well I forgot them at home and I realized it too late!" She scratched the back of her head, a habit when she was nervous.
The Prince rolled his eyes and sighed.
"I'll send a messenger then, moron. Where do you come from?"
What a bastard. Narue gave him the name of a small village near the border of the Fire Country she had crossed four days ago. It was far enough to give her a full week, unless said messenger was a bird. In both situations she had a very short time; she could only hope it would be enough to unlock the Fox's memories. The Prince looked satisfied.
"Fine. And by the way you have to address me as Sasuke-sama." he added as he left.
Several hours later, Narue was trying not to fall asleep, guarding the Prince's bedroom. Her shining new Anbu uniform was scratching and her left arm was painful because of the Anbu's seal. It wasn't a tattoo, like she had first thought, but a seal to prevent them from betraying anyone from the royal family. This measure had probably been taken because of her father, and she didn't want to imagine what would happen to the traitor. Paralysis? Painful death?
"We'll never going to see the end of this mess" the Fox giggled. He loved being in trouble.
Narue sighed, the situation was getting desperate and not a single one of Kyuubi's memory was back. Kakashi had shown them a few rooms of the palace, including the throne room but the demon hadn't recognized any one of them. Would he ever recover his memory?
The sound of footsteps coming interrupted her thoughts. She raised her kunai but only saw Sai's face appearing in the poorly lit corridor.
"What are you doing here? It's not your turn yet. "
They were supposed to guard Sasuke's bedroom three hours each so that the precious Prince could have nine hours of sleep perfectly safe.
"I couldn't sleep" he explained. "Do you want some company?"
Being there was kinda boring, so she nodded. She stayed silent for a while, not really knowing what to say. He was looking at her with a strange emotionless face (which, Narue suspected, was his usual face) that made her very uncomfortable.
"What are you looking at?" her voice was higher than usual.
He didn't reply but she felt an arm around her waist.
"What are you doing?" She screamed, freeing herself quickly, mildly panicked.
"I think it's pretty obvious" the Fox snorted.
"I want to make friend with you" Sai replied, looking confused, and maybe disappointed?
"Oh... Wrong guess"
"Ahem, it's not really the right way to do it, it's better to talk." Narue said nervously. This guy was weird.
Sai looked like he had understood something very complicated, which did not really reassure her, so she started to talk. She talked about the pranks she played on people, about ramen, about the shape of the clouds, and he was listening carefully.
"That guy is weird, he's the only one who can stand your babbling" the Fox said sleepily.
Bodies everywhere, ruins. Taste of blood. Spinning red eyes. Yellow flash, white mask, blue eyes.
"Naruto!"
Narue woke up from her nightmare, sweating and panting, surprised she had fallen asleep. The nightmare had never felt so real before and she had seen something new for the first time. Kyuubi's memories were starting to come back. At last.
"Naruto?" Sai demanded.
"I'm fine" she replied with a forced smile. "Just a nightmare! How much time did I sleep?"
"I don't know but you were drooling on my shoulder"
"What?" Narue's face was on fire.
"Just kidding." He smiled. It was not his usual creepy one but a real one. And he looked rather cute.
"Naru-chan is falling in love!" the Fox giggled.
Sometimes she really hated him.
"Good morning!" Kakashi happily said to his tired students. The three of them had dark circles under their eyes, especially Sai.
"You're late" Narue whined.
"I had to save a dolphin from drowning" their teacher smirked, turning a page of his orange book. It was the Yaoi edition.
The students snorted, that was the most pitiful excuse ever. They had a very precise schedule to respect and could only train when Sasuke was with his advisers.
"Why are you not wearing a mask?" Narue asked, curious.
She had seen a lot of masked Anbu guarding the walls and was wondering why the man wasn't wearing his at all.
"Only personal guards wear masks because they're very close to the Uchiha, but I'm only a teacher now."
"Why now? Does that mean you were ...?"
"I used to be one of them, yes, but things became different."
"Different?"
Sakura smacked the back of Narue's head in an attempt to shut her.
"Personal guards have to be ready to sacrifice their own life to protect the Uchiha, you can't make your job properly if you care about someone." he sighed.
This time it was Sakura's turn to ask questions about his fiancée, but he didn't even reveal her name.
"I think it's time to train" Kakashi smirked. "Try to catch the bells I'm holding in my hands."
"Wait! When are we going to wear a mask?" Narue asked.
"You will have to earn it" the man laughed. "One doesn't become a personal guard so easily."
Two hours later, Narue was forced to admit she was far to earn the right to wear a mask, at least without Kyuubi's help. She was lying panting in the grass while Kakashi was reading his porn novel, shaking the two remaining bells. Sai, who had already caught his, was drawing in his corner.
"Is the training over?" a lazy voice asked.
It was the Prince, wrapped in a ridiculously expensive-looking scarlet cloak. Kakashi nodded.
Narue undressed in a hurry. The Prince had given them twenty minutes to shower and dress before lunch and she had had trouble locating her room due to her defective sense of orientation. When she had found it at last, most of the time was over. She showered quickly and get out of the tub, looking for the towel she had left on her bed. Swearing, she was exiting the bathroom when the door of her room opened. It was Sai and she was only wearing her necklace. They both froze. How troublesome.
"Looks like he appreciates the sight" the Fox giggled.
That night, there were no moon, no stars to light the sky. Everyone was asleep, except for a dozen men inside one of the many palace's secret underpass. There were making a circle around two men, one of which was kneeling in front of the other who looked like he had just left a battlefield: his right arm and right eye were bandaged.
"Are you sure this is Minato's daughter?" the bandaged man asked.
"I am, sir. I saw the seal on her belly." the last words were said with hesitation.
"When?" There were sniggers following the kneeling man's embarrassed silence. "I don't mind as long as you have the information, but I never thought you would go that far."
The kneeling man muttered something unintelligible, causing more sniggers.