Well here we are Chapter 2! Thanks to mun3litKnight and guest for reviewing and Foxy3000Kitty, SakuraXMulti, delilah-smurple, uchiha miyo and DeadlyDarkAngel for the follows and favourites! I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.

Chapter 2

Summer was once again coating the Fire Nation with its warmth. The sun only seemed to climb higher with each passing hour, it was this time of year that really defined the Hidden Leaf village. With the start of summer it meant festivals, holidays, neighbouring foreigners visiting. They could never rival the Wind Country with their extreme heat, but the Fire Nation had its lush green forests and breath taking hot springs. The Kazekages' thoughts ran wild as he raced through the forest leading to the Hidden Villages' welcoming red gates. It had been months since his last visit and here he was again, on a 'business trip', work always came before everything else when you were in charge of a village. He rolled his eyes at the thought of more work that needed his eyes to go over. It was a shame he couldn't take a holiday every now and then, but he needed to work to better his position and improve his village and provide for his people. It was all worth it in the end. It seemed that the only severe downside was the two bodyguards that wouldn't leave his side at all. He glanced at them, one running at each of his sides. He thought with someone as powerful as he was, did he really need protecting, it was obvious his village were not willing to chance anything happening to him. It was just a good job that he was too fast for them and could loose them at any point he wanted to, or trick them with one of his very convincing sand clones. This thought made him smirk as he got to the entrance to one of his favourite villages. He would need to make sure his work lasted as long as possible, he wanted to spend as much time as he could afford here.

"Oi! Kazekage!" Kouetsu stood at the gates grinning, "Couldn't keep you away could we?"

Gaara nodded at him, "By yourself today? Now that is a rare sight". Gaara was still, what most people would consider, 'socially awkward'. Over the years, however, he had made attempts at communicating with villagers and he was getting better at. It was, after all, impossible to be a village leader if you held no people skills.

"Ah you noticed", Kouetsu scratched the back of his head and laughed, "It seems the Hokage is pulling all the extra hands she can get, something big is happening soon and you only need one person at this post".

"Something big?"

"Some big important visitor from another country or something, who knows", Kouetsu grinned.

Gaara nodded, "I'll be on my way, can't keep the Godaime waiting".

"So very true! Damn that woman has a scary temper"

Their goodbyes were short as they parted ways. Gaara knew he didn't want to be on the receiving end of the Hokage's' temper, the woman was know to have very little patience. He wondered how her nerves were holding if she was preparing for a guest of high importance. There was nothing worse than having someone important visit your village, everything had to be perfect. Gaara recalled a few memories of visiting Kages' and royalty, everything was scrutinised. He hated it.

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The Hokage's office was silent as she sat there, watching the sun try to find a spot in the sky to settle. Her breathing was kept steady, her hands clenching and unclenching the scroll caught between her fingers. "Hokage-Sama?", the question seemed to hang in the air. She glanced over her shoulder at the messenger nin, giving the boy a lazy glare. "Leave." The nin didn't need telling twice and was gone in an instant.

Tsunade sighed, placing the scroll in her desk and rubbing her temples with her thumbs. She reviewed over all her preparations and everything seemed to be in place. Her village was always in shape, but on this occasion it had to be pristine, nothing could be out of place, her title of Hokage was on the line, well it was to her. She could handle visiting Kages', they respected the foundation of the village and the strength and effectiveness of the ninja. On the other hand, visiting Royalty, they looked down their nose at everything, the village people, the lifestyle, the housing condition, the trading standards ect ect, the list seemed to be endless. Tsunade rubbed slightly harder at her head, she wanted this day to be over.

Knocking at the door broke her from her thoughts, a glare plastered across her face as she attempted to stare down the door. "Tsunade-Sama", Shizune's voice sounded from behind the door, "The Kazekage has arrived".

The silence seemed to suffocate everything in its path, surrounding, twisting, squeezing everything in the room. Tsunade closed her eyes one final time, "Enter", her voice strong, breaking the silence, crushing it down until all that remained was the vibrations from the sound of that one word. She watched as the door opened, Shizune in sight for a few seconds as she allowed the red haired sand master to enter, before disappearing behind the door. "Kazekage", her greeting was simple and no emotion hung from it, she was in no mood to deal with Sabaku No Gaara, she already had enough on her plate.

"Surely we should be on first name basis by now Tsunade-Sama", Gaara smirked as he moved towards her desk and made himself comfortable in the only available chair. "It would appear that you're stressed about something". He reclined in the chair, arms outstretched on either side of where he sat, his smirk smothering his features.

Tsunade raised her eyebrow, it would appear he was trying to make her feel better, in his own messed up little way. He was a boy and a half, "You're correct enough boy," Her thoughts were voiced, "We have known each other long enough Gaara, but, as you may have guessed, I am in no mood to deal with your childish ways". Her words were final, or at least that's how she felt until he seemed to smirk wider, she felt her eyebrow twitch at his actions, he really was preparing himself for a beating. "Something else to say, Kazekage-Boy", it wasn't a question.

"Forgive me", he seemed to smile a little, "Its just been a while since I've seen you like this Tsunade, might I inquire what it is that's happening to make you so…on edge?"

For a kid he really was mature, it was something Tsunade couldn't stand about him, where did he come from to go acting like that, he had nowhere near the same amount of years on her. However, she did find herself grinning, "You may be young, but you at least understand some things. I'm expecting the...Daimyo of Shimogakure at any point today".

Gaara raised his brow, "Really? Its very rare for the Land of Frost to contribute to any other villages, including visiting".

Her hand seemed to find its way to her forehead again and a sigh escaped from her lips, "That may be true, but, we have a…history with Shimogakure".

"Now that is something Tsunade", he smirked, "For once you have managed to surprise me. And here was I thinking I knew all of the Hidden Leaf, secrets and all".

Now it was Tsunade's turn to grin, "We still have tricks up our sleeve young one, you're one hundred years to early to consider yourself on par with our village!"

In turn Gaara grinned, a very rare sight for him, but he felt he had at least accomplished something, Tsunade seemed to be in brighter spirits. "Well at least you have that on me, Hokage-Sama, but trust me, I could still beat all your ninja, hands tied behind my back".

"And I could beat you blindfolded", her whole hearted laugh filled the room with a certain warmth. "Don't get ahead of yourself Kazekage, beating me isn't that easy", her grin reached ear to ear, "I was not titled a Legendary Sannin for nothing".

"Very well, we will have to test this theory at some point, village leader vs. village leader. I'm sure crowds would gather far and wide to see it, the Legendary Sannin Hokage against the youngest village leader in the five nations, a test of skill, endurance and power".

"It would be a sight to behold!"

"That it would", he returned to smiling, "And yet it will have to wait seeing as we are both busy people".

Tsunade smirked, "Trust you young ones to focus on work, work, work. Very well, shall we continue with our business".

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"Kaka-Sensei!", Naruto's voice rang, loud in the morning quietness of Konoha, "Why are we just waiting here, it's so boring".

Naruto's blonde hair made him obvious to all in the Hidden Leaf village and if you couldn't tell who he was by just that, his whiskers or the fact that he refused to stop wearing his trademark orange through his ninja gear was a dead giveaway. He had gradually lessened the amount of orange he wore over the years, but, no matter how much he got rid of, he still had it lurking somewhere on his person. After passing the Anbu exam he settle for the normal uniform for a while before changing the grey jacket to a black one with orange lining and his mask was obvious an orange fox mask, it took him weeks to get over how perfect it was.

"Shut up dobe", Sasuke sent him a glare to silence him, but awaited his rebuttal momentarily.

Sasuke had to be almost as noticeable as his blonde counter-part, his dark midnight blue hair and onyx eyes, red sharinngan when fighting, all clear Uchiha traits that he wore proudly. The fact that he always wore the Uchiha symbol on his person, his symbol of pride, told everyone who he was. His only other obvious trait that Sasuke had held since his teen years was an arrogant smirk that always held on his features no matter what trouble he got himself into. He wore a long black sleeveless jacket with his anbu uniform, Uchiha symbol in the centre of the back of it and his mask was that of a Hawk, an animal that seemed to be a reminder of his past.

"Boys", the stern voice radiated from their sensei who leaned against a tree, preparing himself to stop their arguing as soon as it began.

Kakashi Hatake was the same presence he was when he had became their teacher seven years ago, he kept his jouin uniform, his gravity defying hair and choice of literature all the same. He often donned his anbu uniform with the boys for missions, his wolf mask and uniform were kept together, he always thought he would never wear them again, but life works in mysterious ways. Just when you think you've given something up, you pick it up again, like a bad habit.

"I have to ask though Kakashi," Sasuke directed his attention to his sensei, "Why are we waiting, surely if we are escorting anyone we should have a time to meet them, not standing around all day".

If it was a normal day Kakashi would have had to look over his book, but, Tsunade had threatened him very severely to keep the book at home on this mission and the threats that came from her mouth were just plain terrifying. Instead of one of his usual gestures, he pushed himself from the tree he was leaned against and eyed them both, "I'm warning both of you now, yes warning yous. You must not screw up or jeopardise this mission".

"Kakashi that's no-"

"I know what you asked Sasuke", Kakashi held a stern tone, "But, I'm telling you this before hand. We are waiting for a very important person, the Daimyo of Shimogakure. Due to his high importance to his own village and our own we aren't sure what time he will arrive, thus we will wait".

"I hate Royals", Naruto grumbled his annoyance, "So up themselves".

Kakashi shook his head and moved towards the gate, "It's their nature Naruto, deal with it".

Sasuke rolled his eyes and he followed behind Kakashi, Naruto following suit, "So no rude remarks, accidental tripping or teasing of this VIP, sounds easy enough, I suppose".

Their team leader's chuckle didn't go unheard by them, "This one may surprise you, The Daimyo is supposed to be a very kind man as far as I'm aware. Then again", he paused slightly as he caught sight of two anbu making their way towards them, "Royalty is royalty".

"Kakashi-San", the eagle masked anbu spoke first, "The journey was rough, it would seem that someone has put a price on the head on the royal. The amount of rogue nin and mercenaries we came across was astounding".

"Report to Hokage-Sama and we shall take it from here", Kakashi hm'd.

"Very well, arigato", with that said the took off towards the Hokage's office.

"It would seem that our mission wont be easy boys," Kakashi watched the horse drawn carriage steadily come closer, the design of the carriage was simply beautiful, ice blues and little pink and silver colours decorated it in the form of flower designs. He noted the foot escorts, three on either side, two manning the horses and one walking apart from slightly. It was time to greet them none the less. He cleared his voice, "We are the anbu nin that shall escort you from this point forth". He bowed his head, Sasuke and Naruto quickly followed suit.

The short man who walked apart from the other men, who stood in formation that boxed in the carriage, spoke up, "Another change, how dreadful, can't you be more organised?!", his voice pivoted in pitch, clearly showing his upset towards the three nin, "How dreadful indeed. For visiting royalty to be treated in such a way is simple outrageous! You should all be on your knees begging forgiveness in front of the royal carriage!"

Naruto's teeth gritted and he glared at the balding man, giving him a once over. 'Stupid little pompous prat! How dare he, look at him, little podgy midget in his silly blue suit', his thoughts ran away from his brain to his mouth, "How-"

"Sachi", the voice silenced all of them, it allowed Kakashi to glare at Naruto in warning. "You will not speak to our protectors in such a manor" the voice was soft with a slightly husky tone to it, it gave the image of dark silk. The three nin watched the royal carriage where the voice originated from.

'Sachi', the man who had previously spoke down to him started twitching in embarrassment, "I apologise profusely your majesty, it wont happen again!", he stammered slightly as he moved to the side of the carriage, "I just fear for you, with so many changes do we know them capable of protecting you?".

A noise came from the carriage and at one side of the carriage three of the men swiftly moved out of the way, one gathering a small set of steps from the back of the carriage. He placed them in front of the carriage and moved the silk curtain of the carriage back.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and looked at Kakashi, giving him a 'see what I mean' look. Kakashi glared and focussed his attention back on the carriage, he needed to be prepared to deal with not only the Daimyo, but possible his wife as the female voice had suggested, this would be just great, two pains for the price of one.

"Majesty!", Sachi's voice squealed, "You must soil your feet with the dirt of this village". He rushed to the side of the carriage.

Naruto growled quietly as he waited for the royalty to come out, how he wanted to punch the stupid idiot, how dare he talk about his village like that. Naruto wouldn't lower himself to talking about another village like that, ever!

A figure dressed in pale purple exited the carriage, "I need to stretch my legs, I shall walk from here", her voice lifted lightly from the figure that now stood at the side of the carriage amongst the men. It was obvious it was a women straight away, she was dressed in a pale purple kimono, silver outlining flowers over the body, with a darker purple edge to the fabric, with matching obi wrapped around her waist. The curves stood out, Kakashi noted this, however her head was hidden behind a hooded hat with a veil at the front that only showed her eyes, the colour was hard to see since the fabric was colour purple, thus it made her eyes look purple.

Kakashi blinked a few times, "Excuse me", he moved forward, "We were expecting the Daimyo. Please excuse my ignorance, but, could you clear this up for us…?"

"You will refer to her majesty as Hime-Sama! Such insolence", Sachi spoke up swiftly.

"Sachi", the princess sighed, "enough. Anbu-san, I am the princess of Shimogakure, I am here in place of my father, the Daimyo. I am enough for this trip, thus my father needn't be bothered from his duty", she moved gracefully towards the three nin, "Please watch over my men and I, we are in your care, good sirs".

Naruto and Sasuke looking between each other and then to Kakashi. This was not what they were expecting at all, they had dealt with royalty in the past, they were all horrible and up themselves, until the saved them and they changed to nice people. But, this princess was lovely to them straight away, it made no sense.

"And to you Hime-Sama", Kakashi bowed, "We are in your care. We shall lead you towards Hokage-Sama's office before our trip really begins, follow us". Kakashi nodded at the boys and they formed a triangular shape around the princess with Kakashi in front. He was a little taken back, he had to admit, when he saw her come out of the carriage, he knew straight away that she was not the Daimyo's wife, clearly far too young. He had not expected the Daimyo to send his daughter for business, in royalty it was always the males duty to deal with the business side. It would appear that Shimogakure had a different culture from other villages.

"The rest of the men will wait here, Sachi, you alone shall follow", the princess commanded softly as she began walking, allowing Sachi no time to argue back.

They moved in silence towards the Hokage's office, many villagers stopped and stared as the five walked effortlessly in formation. However silence was never a strong point and Naruto was always the first to break, "Ne Princess", he coughed slightly, "Why is your face hidden?". He had be curious about it from the moment she left her carriage, plus he was wondering if she was a really cute princess. Both of his comrades looked at him in slight disbelief, considering they had be wondering the same thing.

She paused for a second, considering her reply, "It is a Shimogakure tradition for all female royalty. It is said that Shimogakure women are the prettiest woman in the land, men used to travel far and wide in the days of old to catch a glimpse of woman, baring against the arctic conditions of our country." She spoke with a light tone, conveying the story pleased her, "Centauries ago, in an age filled with more culture, tradition and honour than we have today, a traveller came across a woman from Shimogakure. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid his young eyes on, he almost didn't believe her to be real, thinking he had possibly died and lay in the company of an angel. The woman laughed, her voice so angelic, he couldn't believe he was still breathing, and informed the traveller she was very much real and no angel. The pair fell in love with one another, however, their relationship had to be kept secret for she was the daughter of the great village leader and it was forbidden that a noble of her stature could marry a clan less traveller. This forbidden love raged on non the less, not allowing anyone to know of their secret." The princess sighed, moving her hands beneath the long sleeves of her kimono, "They were eventually discovered. The princess was supposed to be getting married into a political marriage with a noble from a neighbouring village. The lovers couldn't stand to be apart and planned to run away the night before the wedding, prepared to give up everything for each other. Alas, the traveller was caught sneaking around the castle gardens where they had planned meeting. They had been discovered. The Village leader was furious, cursing his daughter and the traveller, he sentenced the young man to death. The princess was left heart broken, living her life forever in confines of a loveless marriage. It was soon decreed that no female royal would ever be allowed to show their face, unless to their husband or until they are crowned Queen."

The boys felt tense as they heard the last of the story. What could they say to someone who was cursed to live with their face hidden. Naruto managed to mumble, "Sorry", before keeping his head down. He was trying to hide his disappointment, it was obvious he wasn't going to see if she was cute or not.

"Don't be", she laughed slightly, "It's romantic, a tale of love and tragedy, plus it is history, which I find interesting".

"I'm glad that these two have not managed to put a dampener on your mood Princess", Kakashi spoke before Naruto could say anything stupid to further annoy him, "Just up these stairs and at the end of the corridor lies the leader of our village".

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"You accept?", Tsunade's voice was stern.

Gaara closed his eyes, it seemed his 'holiday' had been cut stupidly short. There was no chance dragging out his business trip now that he understood what the business was. "You kill me sometimes Tsunade", he opened his eyes, "Here was I thinking I could have skived a few days".

She chuckled darkly, "You need to learn young one, there is no skiving in this business".

"You don't need to tell me that", he smirked, "Do I at least get to rest before heading back out?"

"Tsunade scoffed, "Of course! What am I, a slave driver? You're not the only one who has had a long journey. You will have your choice of hot spring, on me. And we shall discuss with the royal when she arrives".

"You seem nervous", he raised his eyebrow, smirk straightening.

"I wasn't expecting this", Tsunade sighed, "We have a history with the princess, I just need to prepare myself. And before you ask, I'm afraid its top secret, thus when she arrives in this office I will speak to her alone first".

"As you wish", His short break had turned into a long mission, yet he smirked still the same.

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Well I hope this was worth the wait. Was doing a little writing of one of the future chapters, setting up pairing possibilities is rather fun, but still struggling for who to settle on. So go on, give me a hand! Also noticed after I posted this I had spelled Tsunade's name wrong T.T So I had to replaced the chapter xD

KunochiGeek