A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, alerts, and favorites for this story! It means a lot! XD
Disclaimer: In a wrestling match with Kishimoto I turned out victorious but the sneaky bastard stole Naruto while I was gloating about my victory.
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In the past week since Naruto had been forced to live in the palace he had attempted to escape 134 times. Each one failed and the closest he got was hiding in one of the villagers' delivery baskets and waiting for the man to carry him outside. The only problem was just as they reached the gate the basket broke and Naruto fell out. He was then jumped by Kakashi and locked up in his room for most of the day.
What was he doing wrong?! It's not like his plans were terrible…okay maybe they weren't the best especially since he seemed to keep falling off of high places only to be saved by falling on someone. Even Naruto had to admit that that was just plain weird, but besides that his plans were fool proof! He was a thief damn it! He was supposed to be able to escape from anywhere and yet somehow he couldn't escape from the stupid damn palace!
What was so special about this place anyway!? It's not like he was guarded 24/7, so why was it impossible for him to escape?
"Dobe." Sasuke flicked Naruto on his forehead, which immediately drove thoughts of how escape was impossible from his head.
"Ow! Don't do that teme!" Naruto growled rubbing his forehead soothingly.
"Hn." Naruto also hated these one word answers, was it too much to ask for two words!?
"What do you want?" Naruto asked coldly. He had been sitting in the enormous library waiting for Shikamaru to show up.
Shikamaru was about the only person he actually liked in the palace, well Kiba was getting better but he kept talking about his stupid mutt (1) too much. Shikamaru was quiet and even though he pretended not to listen to Naruto when he complained he always answered him when he asked questions. He even gave him some advice on how to escape one time (the basket idea). Shikamaru didn't question Naruto about the necklace, he didn't prod into why Naruto was a thief and he certainly didn't care when Naruto went off into rants about how stupid the teme was. Yeah Naruto can say that he really liked Shikamaru.
"I'm going into town today."
"So?"
Sasuke sighed, "So you're coming with me."
Naruto blinked. Did he hear right? Did Sasuke just say that he was taking him into town?
"Aren't you afraid I'm going to run off?" Naruto really had to work on controlling his mouth sometimes, he had just told Sasuke his plan. He even began to formulate his escape route.
"No." One-word answers seriously needed to be destroyed.
"Why?" The blond rolled his eyes. This guy was so hard to actually have a conversation with.
"Because." See? Say why you damn emotionless bastard!
"Because why?" Naruto snapped.
"You'll see." Two words, Naruto felt honored. Yet the smirk on his face didn't ease Naruto at all, actually his stomach twisted in fear of something that was too horrible to imagine.
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"You know I was expecting that when I finally got back into town I was just going to run around and everything would be back to normal but this…oh this is not what I had expected." Naruto mumbled to himself as he pulled on the rope lamely.
Sasuke had fastened a rope around the blonds middle and was literally dragging him throughout town. Naruto had never been so embarrassed in his life, especially when little kids called him a pet fox. He was not a damn pet! He was a human being with feelings and had the right to kick the teme's ass for doing this to him!
Naruto didn't even have a chance to try and untie the rope because the teme was walking too swiftly and Naruto had to stumble just to keep up with his long strides. Damn him for being short!
"Haha! Look at that blond fox! He's the prince's pet!" Yet another little kid laughed at him.
Naruto whipped around and started running full force at the kid, the intention to kill was definitely sensible, and he screamed in terror. Just as Naruto was about to ring his hands around the kid's throat the rope pulled him back and he came crashing back to the ground.
"Say that again and I'll kill you, you little brat!" Naruto screeched, tugging on the rope as if he was a dog chained to a fence and trying to chase a person down the street. The cild ran away in sheer terror and Naruto huffed.
"Dobe." Sasuke flicked him on the forehead again.
"Teemmmeee." Naruto whined. "This is embarrassing."
"Good." Sasuke smirked.
"God if you really do exist, please smite a certain teme for me." Naruto pleaded inside his head, even clasping his hands together in prayer.
"Hurry up." Naruto yelped when he started being dragged through the dirt on his ass. He quickly clambered to his feet and hurried after the bastard.
More people snickered at Naruto's predicament but lots of people were surprised to see Naruto, the thief, still alive after stealing the prince's property and being with the prince no less. Rumors began to spread like wild fire that Naruto was just the prince's sex toy and that's why he was tied up. Luckily the blond in question never heard these rumors or he would've killed them all in a heartbeat.
Finally the duo entered a store and Naruto saw his chance. He quickly started trying to untie the rope but it seemed as if it was clasped together by molded metal.
"What the fuck teme?!" Naruto screeched and Sasuke just glared at him for speaking so inappropriately in a store, but the owner wasn't there at the moment so it was okay.
"I told you I wasn't worried about you escaping." He smirked making a vein pop out of Naruto's forehead in fury.
Naruto quickly scanned the shop to see if they had a torch so he could melt the damn metal right off of the rope but saw only jewels instead.
Then it hit him, this was the jewelry store that Naruto had stolen from.
"Er… I don't think I'm welcome here." Naruto told Sasuke a little nervously. Who knew what the shop owner would do if he spotted Naruto here.
"Don't worry about it dobe." He flicked him on the forehead again but it seemed to be more comforting than insulting.
"Ah Prince-sama, how are you doing?" A kind voice spoke behind the counter. It was the shop owner's daughter Ayame.
"I'm good Ayame. How's business been going?" Sasuke spoke politely.
Naruto pouted a bit, why was it that the teme offered more than one word answers to other people and not him?
"It's been going good, we just sold a bejeweled sword to a very handsome man." She giggled a bit at the thought of the man and a light flush graced her pretty face.
"That sounds good. Is your father around right now?" Sasuke changed the subject.
"No, he's not. He's traveling to Suna to deliver another crystal necklace. Somewhat similar to the one you were going to buy but was stolen. I apologize about it being stolen again, Prince-sama."
"No need to worry about it Ayame. I got it back with an added present as well." Sasuke smirked at Ayame's confused face. He grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him forward roughly. Naruto let out an unjustly yelp and a low growl when Sasuke clutched the necklace around his neck to show Ayame.
She gasped at the sight and then asked quietly, "The thief?"
Sasuke just gave a slow nod and if Naruto didn't know any better he would say that the smirk on the teme's face was actually a smile.
Naruto could see the curiosity burning behind Ayame's eyes but she didn't question Sasuke about it, knowing it was disrespectful to pry into the prince's business.
Naruto jerked the necklace back, muttered something about assholes, and crossed his arms over his chest with a cute pout on his face.
"So what do you need from my father prince-sama?" She turned her attention back to one of her most important clienteles.
"I was just wondering if he heard anymore about the bandits." Sasuke whispered, Naruto had to perk his ears just to hear the teme.
"I'm not sure. You'll have to ask my father when he gets back, he should return in about 4 days at the least." She gave a sad smile, knowing she couldn't help the prince.
"I'll be back in 4 days then. Thank you for your time Ayame."
"Always a pleasure, prince-sama." She curtsied before returning to the back of the room.
Sasuke walked out of the store briskly, dragging an irritated Naruto with him. So that's all the teme wanted to do?! Just talk about bandits or some shit like that! Why'd he even bring him?! It was pointless!
Naruto grumbled to himself the whole way back to the palace and didn't even notice when the rope was removed from him. (how they got the metal off without him knowing was beyond Naruto's fragile comprehension).
The blond stalked to the library, planning on ranting to Shikamaru and was surprised when he saw two girls sitting there with the lazy-ass in question discussing something. Shikamaru was even writing something down! What had the world come to?
The first girl was extremely pretty and Naruto had to work hard to fight down the blush he knew was coming on. She had long pink hair and the most amazing emerald eyes you've ever seen. Her features were soft but you could tell from the fire in her eyes that she was very independent.
The second girl had short dark blue hair that almost seemed black and blank white eyes that weren't as scary as they sounded, she looked shy and was tapping her fingers together a lot.
Whatever they were talking about seemed very important because Shikamaru was actually listening with mild interest and any form of interest in the boy was definitely amazing. Naruto tried his hardest not to make any noise as he snuck out but someone up there definitely had him on his hit list. He tripped on absolutely nothing and let out a string of colorful curses.
The three immediately spotted the boy and the pink haired girl was the first to come to his aid.
"Oh my gosh, are you alright?" She asked kindly, helping him stand up. Naruto couldn't tell whether his blush was from embarrassment, anger, or just simply because the pretty girl cared about him.
"I-I'm okay." Naruto smiled and she smiled at him too.
"Naruto, what are you doing here?" Shikamaru sighed.
"What I usually come here to do." Naruto grinned cockily.
"Troublesome…" He sighed again, stuffing his hands into his pants pockets.
"Oh so you're Naruto! It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Sakura!" She smiled brightly and shook his hand.
Before Naruto could even think of how to reply to that, Sakura dragged him to come sit at the table with them.
"This is Hinata, she's my royal advisor." Sakura introduced the now very beet red girl to Naruto.
"Nice to meet you." Naruto said respectably.
"N-Nice t-to m-meet y-you." She stuttered like crazy and Naruto's accusation that she was shy was dead on.
"Royal advisor?" Naruto turned his head to Sakura and wondered why the term sounded familiar.
"Oh yes, my apologies. I'm actually the princess of the neighboring country and Hinata here is my royal advisor. She basically just comes along for the ride." Sakura grinned a little goofily.
Now Naruto blushed even harder for being so informal to a princess, the teme didn't count because he was a teme.
"Oh I know that look. Don't start calling me your highness or crap like that. Just call me Sakura." She stated proudly, her emerald eyes glowing.
"Okay." Naruto nodded, liking the very straightforward girl already.
"So why are you guys here with Shikamaru?" Naruto questioned, falling into ease with the two new comers. At least they didn't treat him like a fragile object that was very annoying because it was so breakable.
"Because I have to record their journey down." Shikamaru answered, starting to write on the piece of parchment again.
"It certainly was a long journey, nothing much happened so I don't see why we have to record anything." Sakura huffed annoyed.
"B-because it's i-in the rules." Hinata answered Sakura's rhetorical question.
"I know Hinata, it just sucks." For a princess Sakura wasn't very lady-like and her royal advisor seemed to be more lady-like than her. Naruto decided he really liked her she wasn't like most girls. Most girls were prim and proper and never did anything out of character, but Sakura was out of there. She seemed to fall into ease with most situations and take charge easily. That's what a true leader should be like, although princesses couldn't become leaders which Naruto thought was completely ridiculous after meeting Sakura.
"Are you guys here to visit the teme?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Who?" Sakura countered his question with a question of her own.
"Sorry I mean the prince…teme." Naruto muttered the last part under his breath.
"Oh yes! My father sent me to look for a suitor and Prince Sasuke was the first I thought of." She giggled a little girlishly, which threw Naruto off a bit.
"H-He's said t-to b-be the b-best p-prince f-for his p-people." Hinata added.
Naruto snorted but said nothing more than that.
"So Shikamaru told me about your situation Naruto." Sakura said excitedly while Naruto just glared at Shikamaru who gazed off into the distance uninterested in the conversation going on.
"Really? What'd he say?"
"He said that you stole from the prince, although I don't agree with that, but the prince was kind enough to give you the necklace and let you live with him. He's so sweet!" She squealed.
Naruto gaped at the information Shikamaru provided. Why would he lie like that?! Unless… unless it was to make it seem like the teme was actually better than he was and to get Sakura to like him even more. Naruto smirked to himself evilly; he was going to ruin Shikamaru's plans.
"No that's not exactly true. I stole back what belonged to me and the teme would only let me live if I stayed in the castle with him forever." Naruto grimaced.
"But he let you keep the necklace." Sakura stated without hesitation.
"Huh?"
"He didn't take it back like he could have and he could've just as easily killed you but he didn't." Sakura said deadpanned.
Naruto blinked at the girl, he never thought of it that way. He always saw himself as the victim that was just being punished but in actuality he was lucky to be alive. He didn't have to appreciate the fact but he could at least acknowledge it.
"Trying to use logic with him is like trying to get Kiba to stop talking." Shikamaru stated lazily.
"Oh shut up!" Naruto snapped while Sakura giggled.
"I like you Naruto! I can't wait to spend time with you when I live in this palace." She said a little dreamily and Naruto could see the hearts floating around her head mid-air.
"You don't care that I'm a thief?" Naruto asked barely audible.
"Hell no, you were probably just stealing in order to stay alive. I don't identify with that too well but it's understandable." Naruto absolutely loved Sakura now.
She was one of the first people not to judge him for being a thief and even understood it. She really was perfect.
Naruto smiled genuinely and was a tiny bit glad that he didn't run away from the palace just yet because he would've missed the chance to meet Sakura and Hinata seemed very nice as well.
"Thanks Sakura." He beamed.
"No problem… are we done yet Shikamaru?" Sakura asked impatiently.
"We're done." He rolled the parchment up and placed it on a shelf for safekeeping.
"Okay Hinata, we probably should go meet Prince Sasuke." She almost squealed again in excitement.
"R-Right." Hinata bowed respectably to both Shikamaru and Naruto before running after the ecstatic pinkette.
"So what was it that you wanted to rant about Naruto or are you going to allow me to take my nap?" Shikamaru yawned as if to prove his point.
"Oh yeah! The teme dragged me to the damn jewelry store I stole from and all he wanted to ask was something about bandits! I don't understand why he even brought me and he tied me to a rope and I looked like his stupid pet!" Naruto breathed hotly.
"Your skull is as thick as ever." Shikamaru sighed before bonking Naruto on the head lightly for being such an idiot.
"What?"
"Sasuke brought you there to take you outside the palace." Shikamaru said slowly.
"That's obvious because I was outside." Naruto rolled his eyes at Shikamaru.
"What I mean is that he noticed how desperate you were to escape to the town so he brought you there." Shikamaru sighed and mumbled something about troublesome blonds.
Naruto blinked. Was that true? Was the teme really thinking about him when he dragged him around town or was he doing it for the sick satisfaction of humiliating him?
"Don't think about it too hard, you're head might explode."
"Shut up!" Naruto flushed but agreed with Shikamaru. It wasn't something he wanted to think of. He didn't want to find the reason why Sasuke was trying to be nice to him in his own weird way.
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1)- I don't hate Akamaru! I love him actually, but Naruto doesn't like him because he's scared of him. XD
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A/N: Whew! Done! So I finally introduced Sakura to the story, yay! I know she was a bit out of character but I like her like this and yes she fan girls over Sasuke a bit but don't worry she'll get over it. =P
Thanks for reading! Reviews and whatnot are always welcome!