Sakura was having a hard time controlling her laughter.

"Will you stop?" he growled at her, though his voice was muffled by the bag covering his head.

"What? I'm not doing anything." Even as she said that, she bit her lip to keep her chuckling in check.

"I'm right behind you on this bloody horse. I can feel your shoulders shaking, woman!"

She snickered. "Learn to hold your tongue, princeling, and you might save yourself from any more bags over your head." She nudged him with her elbow, earning a grunt from him. "You don't mock the people that put their heads on the line for you."

"Bloody hell."

"Oi, quit it you two! Even if King Vortigern hasn't heard you yet, the rest of the damn kingdom has."

Sakura looked ahead and a little to her right where Bill had turned in his saddle to look at them disapprovingly. "It was your brilliant idea to have him ride with me. What you sow is what you reap, good sir."

The older man scowled at her. "Watch it lassie. The next bag might be going over your head." He turned to Bedivere. "I told you, we should have left her there while we had the chance."

Sakura shot him an annoyed look. "I can hear you, you know."

"That's exactly the point lassie."

The woman huffed and the beast beneath her snorted, almost as if the dapple-grey gelding was laughing at her. She clicked her tongue, slapping the horse's muscular neck lightly. "Traitor."

The man behind her chuckled. "Ah, sweet revenge."

She threw him a look that he couldn't see over her shoulder and smirked. "Is that so?"

Without a warning, she nudged the gelding's sides, making the beast leap forward. Arthur, with his hands bound and his head covered by thick fabric, slipped off the horse's sleek back, landing on the ground ungracefully.

"What the bloody hell, you banshee!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Your Majesty, I didn't see you there."

The man growled at her, though that only made her smirk wider. "You are lucky I don't brawl with women."

Sakura cackled. "This woman knows how to break every single one of your bones. I wouldn't try anything if I were you lad."

She turned to the rest of their party who had stopped to watch the scene. Once more, the dark-haired woman was looking at her strangely and Sakura fought down the urge to shiver. The Mage, Bedivere had called her. No name, just the Mage. The woman had an unnerving stare, and eyes so dark and soulless that Sakura couldn't help but wonder if there was anything at all behind that gaze. To an extent, she envied the woman. She hadn't met another person so composed in all her years.

"Go on ahead. I'll get the princeling back on the horse and catch up with you."

"And leave him alone with you? Not a chance."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at Bill. "Any particular reason for that?"

"I don't trust you, plain and simple."

Oh, for the love of every God out there…

"Don't you think I would have killed him already if that were my objective? He's been riding behind me for hours."

"Don't test my-"

"Enough!" They both turned to look at Bedivere, who looked more than a little annoyed. "Get him on the horse. Rubio, stay with them. We'll go up ahead to scout the area. Catch up quickly." Without another word, the man turned his horse around and started trotting away, followed closely by Bill, Percival and the Mage.

"Alright children, chop chop!"

Sakura rolled her eyes at Rubio's cheerfulness and jumped down from her gelding. Walking over to Arthur, she bent down and pulled the bag off his head. She smiled widely at his scowling face. "Behave now, will you?"

"Better keep my hands bound otherwise they might end up around your little neck."

The woman's smile widened. "Now, you wouldn't hurt a lady, would you?"

The blond man snorted. "Good thing you are anything but that then."

Cheeky bastard…

She pulled him up by the front of his shirt and helped him up on the horse. She followed suit, making herself comfortable in the saddle in from of him. Nudging the grey gelding forward, she looked at the man over her shoulder. Seeing as she hadn't put the bag back over his head, his blue eyes clashed with hers.

So, so different from Naruto's…

Her gaze fell on the bruises marring his face. They were still dark, and she guessed quite painful too. She scolded herself for not tending to them earlier. She nudged him lightly.

"Will you let me take a look those when we get to wherever the hell it is we are going?"

"What are you, a physician?"

Sakura shrugged. "I know a couple things about medicine, is all."

He stared at her for a few seconds, then turned his head away. "I'm fine."

"Really now…" She poked him in the cheek and rolled her eyes at the way his body jerked. You men and your damn egos…

"Ouch! What the hell was that for?"

The woman sighed for what seemed like the tenth time that day. "Just let me take a look at those bruises, Arthur." She turned to her left where Rubio was. "Help me out here." The man snickered and held his hands up in mock surrender before starting to whistle a merry tune.

Sakura scratched her horse's neck. "You're the only sane one in this group, my handsome boy." The beast snorted, delighting in her touch and she smiled. Even though she rarely ever got to see horses back home, she'd always had a soft spot for them.

How times have changed. I have a horse now but no home…

She looked down at her hands delicately holding the soft leather of the reins. She could still feel the residue of her chakra at the tips of her fingers and if she concentrated hard enough, she could almost hear the hum of it right beneath her skin.

It's been too long. What would Tsunade say if she were to see me now?

She looked up at the sky. It was cloudy but judging by what little light could pass through, night was fast approaching.

Are you watching from above, Naruto? And I doing the right thing?

She lowered her gaze and focused on the path ahead of her. The road wasn't too wide, just broad enough to fit a pair of horses walking side by side. Even though there were mountains all around and clusters of trees to their right, the area to their left was relatively open and that made her feel a bit uneasy. She stole at glance at Rubio and took note of his relaxed stance.

Well, he seems perfectly content. I'm probably worrying over nothing.

The ride was quiet, and her grey gelding was sure-footed with a smooth stride. The rhythmic movement of his shoulders as he walked was soothing and she allowed her muscles to relax a bit. They shouldn't be far away from the rest of their party anyway.

I might as well enjoy these short moments of peace now that I still can. She tried to steal a glance at the man behind her without being noticed. How do I always manage to get myself involved in situations I shouldn't? This is such a mess…

She thought of the conversation she had overheard that fateful night on the roof. What am I supposed to do now? I've done my fair share of unpleasant things in life, but help a group of rebels overthrow a King? Iruka-sensei definitely didn't teach us that…

She sighed. I wish you were here, Kakashi-sensei. You'd know what to do.

XxxOxOxOxxX

Through half-lidded eyes, Arthur examined the woman, listening to her sighing, though he suspected she did it without realizing. He was good at reading people, he had been doing that all his life. It was one of the reasons he had survived for as long as he had.

Well, today sure as hell taught me something about that…

But even with his sharp eye, out of everyone in this group of misfits, she was the hardest to figure out. Even the other woman, the Mage, seemed easier to understand. She was one of the magic folk, and it was a well-known fact that King Vortigern despised her kind and had hunted her kin down, driving them to the point of extinction. She had every reason to want to see him on his knees.

But what about this one?

He shifted his gaze elsewhere, focusing his eyes on the hills in the distance. What a mess…

He wondered how the girls back in Londinium were doing. If Back Lack and Wet Stick were looking for him, if they had heard about this whole ordeal. He doubted they hadn't. Hell, the whole Realm had probably heard about it. He had no delusions about what would happen if anyone got wind of him. They'd hand his head to King Vortigern on a silver platter.

To Hell with this…

How his life had changed in the span of a few days. He missed the days when unruly Vikings were his biggest problem. It almost seemed like a lifetime ago.

Look at what they have dragged me into…He snorted to himself. Born King and all that horseshite…Joke's on them, they have the wrong guy.

The woman in front of him shifted in the saddle, bringing him back to reality and recapturing his attention. Her clothes were far too big on her and her hair, reaching a bit below the middle of her back, was a tangled mess, covered in dust and still slightly damp from their dive in the river. He still hadn't decided whether her presence was a good thing or not. If anything, she only added to the plethora of questions swimming in his tired mind.

What the bloody hell am I getting into-

Abruptly jerked out of his thoughts by a pull at his bounds, he looked down to see the woman's hand holding a strange blade and cutting through the rope.

"Finally came to your senses and-"

"Keep it down." she shushed him, and he immediately sobered up at her tone. He straightened his spine and made to look around, but she clicked her tongue to stop him.

"Don't. Let them think we haven't noticed yet."

Arthur forced his eyes forward, resisting the urge to search the surrounding area. He leaned closer to her ear as subtly as he could. "Them?"

She nodded curtly. "Riders. At least six."

"Fuck." he cursed under his breath. "Where?"

"Don't look. They're hiding in the trees. Right side. I briefly saw light reflect on a sword. That's how I noticed them."

He nodded and, though she couldn't see, he knew that she had felt it. Six riders. For how long have they been following us?

"We need to inform him." He motioned to Rubio. "We all need to be alert." She nodded curtly at that and he felt her shift her weight in the saddle, as if she were reading herself for something.

"Oi, blondie!" she called, and Rubio immediately turned to look at her. "How long do you think it's going to take the others to get supplies from the town?"

Arthur stared at the back of her head. What is she doing?

"We've been following this road for hours. It's going to be pitch black soon and without any light passing through those trees on the right, we might get lost."

Realization dawned and he fought the urge to smirk. All three of them knew that the others weren't anywhere near the town and her blatant lie would tip off their companion that something was amiss. It was all there in her words. Pitch black, trees on the right, following…Smart woman…

Judging by the look Rubio sent their way, he had gotten the message. He smiled widely at them, playing along. "We'll meet them later, lass. For now, we need to keep heading north. Following the tree line, ya know?"

"Aye, let's do that." She leaned back to the point that her back was resting against his chest. "Do you have any weapons on you?"

"Bedivere has the sword," he whispered in her ear, "so I'm afraid I don't."

Using their bodies for cover, she took something out of her pouch and pressed it in his hand. He subtly looked down to see a dagger. It looked old and he wasn't sure what kind of protection it would offer, especially if the riders tailing them had any archers among them, but it was better than nothing.

He nodded his thanks. "We need to do something about them."

"I know. We can't lead them to wherever it is we are going. We follow Rubio's advice and lead them north and I'm guessing away from our real destination."

Humming in agreement, Arthur slipped the dagger in his sleeve. Despite the danger lurking a short distance away from them, he couldn't help but wonder about the woman in front of him.

How does she know all this? For a woman's mind to be working like that…Who is she really?

The rustling of leaves on their right broke him out of his thoughts and he involuntarily turned to look. He saw nothing and for a moment everything was silent.

And then it wasn't.

They barely registered the sound of a bow string being pulled before an arrow flew past them, barely missing his head. The horses snorted in agitation, noticing the change in the air. Rubio whistled to get their attention and pushed his horse into a gallop.

"Hold on!" Without missing a beat, the woman dug her heels in the grey gelding's sides and the horse took off at a surprising speed. He barely had the time to grab her waist to keep himself from falling off.

The thundering of hooves behind them alerted them that their pursuers were no longer hiding. Arthur looked over his shoulder and managed to count half a dozen riders.

"There's six of them!" he called and stole another glace at the Blacklegs riding behind them like madmen. The one at the front had his sword drawn. "We need to lose them!"

"We can't! If even one of them returns to the King, these woods will be crawling with Blacklegs before dawn!"

Cursing but knowing that she was right, Arthur looked back at their pursuers to notice that they were getting dangerously close. Fuck, they are nearly upon us!

"They're getting closer!" He looked ahead to see Rubio pressing his horse forward, the distance between them increasing.

Wait a minute-

"Why the hell are you slowing down? Are you fucking crazy? You are going to get us killed!" he barked at her and found himself at a loss when she smirked at him over her shoulder.

"Hold these for me, will you, princeling?"

Taking the reins from her, he watched in astonishment as she effortlessly climbed over him and, bending down, balanced herself on the horse's buttocks. He got in the saddle, tightening the reins to keep the gelding from getting out of control. Looking back, his eyes widened when he saw her leap from the horse's hind quarters and expertly land on the back of one of the Blacklegs' mounts.

What the hell!

Catching the rider in a headlock from behind, she hauled him off the saddle and right under the hooves of the horses. Grabbing the reins of the bay mount to keep it in its course, she jumped to avoid the swing of a sword and kicked the armored guard in the head. Arthur wasn't sure whether it was the guy's neck or his spine that broke first.

Am I really seeing this?

Forced to look ahead in order not to crash into a tree, he noticed Rubio too had slowed down and was observing the scene with wide eyes. Turning to look at the woman once more, he caught her just as she was pulling a Blackleg's own blade from the middle of his chest. The man immediately went still and met the ground with a loud 'clang' as parts of his armor banged together.

The fourth Blackleg tried to shoot an arrow through her neck, but she used the bowstring of his bow to strangle him. Grabbing an arrow from inside his quiver, she let his body slide off the saddle and quickly stabbed the fifth guard in the heart. Her deadly precision made Arthur shiver.

With one last guard remaining, she made quick work of him before he could escape. Jumping behind him on the back of his mount, she twisted his neck in one swift motion. The body of the man hit the ground moments later. She got in the saddle and urged the black beast forward to catch up with them.

Noticing that Rubio was slowing down, Arthur pulled on the reins of the grey gelding to turn him around and bring him down to a trot.

The three horses stopped a short distance from each other and for a moment, the three riders remained silent, exchanging uncertain looks. Arthur's blue eyes focused on the woman who shifted under the scrutiny she was probably receiving not only from his but from Rubio too.

Scratching the back of her head, she chuckled nervously. "Umm, hi there."

Arthur just stared. Bloody hell…

TBC

Aaaand…there you have it! Chapter Two is here and I hope you enjoyed it! I know, I know, it's shorter than the first chapter but that one mostly an introduction and I wasn't even sure I'd continue with this story when I posted it.

Having said that, I'm super thankful for your lovely reviews! I was really surprised by the interest shown in this. It really wasn't what I expected. Needless to say, I'm really excited to see where this goes.

Soooo, it's about time I stopped rambling. Once again, I sincerely hope you enjoyed the chapter.

I'd love to hear your thoughts so, if you'd like, please take a minute to leave a review!

Until next time,

Lots of love!