Three, four days back to Konoha and that means going AROUND the Onimori Forest unlike last time even though the dragon could take the ogre if she wanted to. But it's best to just avoid any unnecessary bloodshed. And Itachi is tired to the bone that he just wants the job over with after what he and Naruto had been through. And having a rescued princess in his charge is certainly not going to make it easier...

Chapter Six

The Drifter and the Royals

Man, did his sister really change, but that happened in life as you got older to most people. Not only was she beautiful - and yes, he saw how Itachi looked at her, but the bastard wouldn't let it show - but she had gotten a friend out of the beast who watched over her all these years and ate up fools with less than noble intentions.

Although he wasn't sure he would be able to handle a dragon having her eye on him. A territorial girl whose background I need to know before we get serious. It wasn't like he couldn't handle this, but there was a problem: he was a human, and a prince no less, while she was just a beast of legend. His father wouldn't judge, but he was still the emperor, and their culture had severe taboos unless you had to convince the public that there was no danger, and that was NEVER easy.

And just what he expected: his sister who said he was a man and looked so much like their father falling almost off her feet at the sight of the boy she'd known for some time before Minato shipped her off...and Naruto, the brother, rushed to her side and helped her stand back up on her wobbling legs. Itachi watched with a furrowed brow.

"Well, I'm pleased you are glad to see me again, Princess," he said, "and while I wish we could kick around stories of the old days, we have a long journey around that damned forest -" He nodded at the great length of dark trees beyond them. "- to cover."

Disappointment flashed across Hanaru's face. She let go of Naruto and started towards her champion who turned out to not be the one she waited for all this time. Their father said the one who rescued her would be the one to marry her, but if only it was Itachi and not that - "Why not? Aren't you the one my father chose for me since you came to rescue me? Itachi, we'd known each other when we were children. I clearly remember a boy who didn't talk much and kept to himself, until one day when I gave him a flower I picked myself, I said he was the cutest one I'd seen...and he turned so pink he might as well have been a rose," she said unabashedly. Naruto had to swallow and try not to sink into himself because of what his nee-chan was getting herself into.

Just like that, blunt as ever: "I remember. But I regret disappointing you. I'm not the one your father chose," he said, dropping the helmet and then working on the rest of his borrowed armor, the heavy material hitting the rocks loudly if not enough to alert travelers and bandits in the area.

The prince gulped. Uh oh. His eyes darted back and forth between his sister and her beastly protector as well as his friend - whether Itachi wanted to admit that or not.

There was a hiss from the dragon behind them, and she was in front of him in a flash, tail waving behind her dangerously. "Oh, just like I thought. Noble, my tail; you aren't what you seemed. I ought to eat you myself and be done with it..." But the princess was in front of her again, putting both hands on her friend's snout and begging her to wait. She turned her disbelieved gaze back to him.

"My father didn't send you," she repeated, "then that means Naruto, you came out on your own, too." He nodded. "Then explain, both of you." Oh, she was mad now, knowing how Minato - or having an idea - would deal with them both when they returned.

"I was sent by Lord Danzo." Her eyes widened when Itachi mentioned his old master. "He is the one who wishes to marry you."

The only sign of her reaction was the slight tinge of green at the mention of some old man becoming her husband in her cheeks. "My father agreed to some old geezer instead of you," she stated. "Then why wouldn't he come and rescue me with his men at arms instead of sending someone to do his bidding?" Her lip curled in disgust. "If you ask me, that's a coward's decision!" Her vehemence seemed to amuse the Uchiha, but he gave no hint.

Itachi sniffed. "You can ask him that yourself when we return home." He turned to walk towards Suki who nickered with happiness that her master had survived, but she was wary around the beautiful scaled creature who was several times her size. And Hanaru wasn't making this easy for him.

"But I have to be rescued by someone my father would choose for me, not by someone that an old cur like Danzo Shimura would put out because he is afraid for his own life - especially when it is someone like you, Itachi Uchiha!"

"Princess, you're not making my job any easier than it was before," he said in agitation, turning away from his horse's saddle to scowl at her.

"Well, your job isn't my problem. I refuse to have anything to do with someone who used to be a nice if silent boy and ended up being a man without a care. If you aren't the one I thought I would marry, then don't bother with me. You can just go back to your master and say that if he wants me, then he has to drag his bony tail to properly rescue me without the need to go through the dragon - and I'll wait right here." So she folded her arms across her chest and plopped herself down on top of a large, smooth rock, crossing one leg over the other like a spoiled brat who wouldn't settle until she got what she wanted. Naruto couldn't resist snickering, but the murderous glare from the disgraced Uchiha - which his sister didn't yet know about - made him think twice.

Itachi growled through his teeth and crossed over to stand above her. "Look, Your Highness, I am no one's messenger, and I despise being called a careless bastard. I am the unwilling delivery boy, so I have no choice."

Uh, oh, there was one thing that could be on Itachi's mind, despite Hanaru's snarl of "You wouldn't dare" - and he did just that: he scooped her up into his arms and carried her over one shoulder. It was hilarious but rattling to see his sister's backside and legs in the front of Itachi's body as he carried her right to his horse.

The dragon snarled and bared her fangs. "Oh, you are going to pay for that, Uchiha scoundrel! I'm considering gobbling you after all!"

"Go ahead and try," he challenged over Hanaru's shouts of dignity and suffering of the consequences. He smirked over the other side of his shoulder so she didn't see. "If you swallow me now, she goes with."

~o~

Just her rotten luck: she ends up here on the back of this arrogant, self-righteous bastard who was hired by his master to just go and get her because the old codger couldn't do it himself, wasn't that right? She had never felt so sick in her life.

She had met Lord Danzo only a couple times, because she was just a child, and she wasn't sure she could remember one nice thing her father ever said about him other than wanting nothing but cooperation from everyone so they were in harmony. What she saw this being was the marriage of her nightmares. If only it was Itachi himself instead of that creature...

Something never made sense, and she was too mad at him to even ask him after he hauled her on his shoulder like she was a commoner, ignoring her and even daring to challenge the dragon to eat them both. That was when she decided to say that her friend had a name, which surprised her brother more than her bothersome excuse of a champion whom she couldn't believe was that boy she knew long ago. "Oh, well, then I deserve your name," Naruto said to the miniature version of the beast who took refuge on his shoulder.

The beast giggled and batted her lashes up at him, then licked out with her tongue at his cheek. "It is Hinata."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Hinata, huh? That's a pretty name! You know, I'd say you should be in the sun more than just underwater, if you didn't get away from that temple much."

Hanaru swallowed her giggles. Her poor brother - he had no idea what he was in for if he knew WHAT Hinata really was. But her friend didn't want to reveal anything yet, for her own reasons. Same reason this man whom she rode behind to know hers. With that, she scowled. She didn't want to go to that old windbag, but the sooner this was over, the better. Because he rattled her so much the way she knew she rattled him. So she decided to ask Naruto how home was in her time away.

"Oh, it's beautiful as ever! In fact, I have no idea where to begin," Naruto answered. "And if your little friend on my shoulder would be allowed, she'd love it, too." Hinata tittered excitedly, curling up around his neck like a scarf.

"And Lord Danzo? I only saw him twice as a child..."

Itachi interrupted her smoothly. "Let me put it this way, Princess." He halted the horse they were on, and he jumped off. They had come to a watering hole and a collection of boulders which could be a cave that had been man-made, and left behind a wooden "door" that had come from a tree. Someone must have stayed here and then gone off. This Itachi noticed and hummed, leading the horse towards the water spot with HER atop, and Naruto on his borrowed horse as well as the mini dragon herself right after them. "Men like Danzo are shady and do anything to get what they want, and it's a shame your father might be naïve more than he used to be, or he just doesn't know how to get rid of my master whom I truly hate more than anyone in the world. You are better off knowing less than this."

She narrowed her eyes at the back of his head - and in that moment, the sunlight radiated off those gleaming raven locks which now reached the end of his back. She distracted herself by looking up at the water where she was sure she needed to refresh herself either when the hour was late or early as dawn broke before the boys awoke. Last thing she needed was her brother going blind - or worse: that insufferable Uchiha seeing her.

There's more than he is telling me about Danzo. But she said nothing.

Well, here they were, stopping to make camp for the night because it had been a hell of a long day for all of them. What had been a great relief and excitement for her had turned into the worst of her life. Her old friend from childhood wasn't the man who would be her husband, which would have made things so much easier, but to an old man whom she was sure was worse than spoken of...

~o~

His sister was in that miniature cave with the wooden door for the night, which he thought was unsuitable for a princess, but it was also necessary because of what happened at night. He just hoped Itachi would respect her privacy and just leave her be, but based on what happened today, he doubted that the Uchiha would even want another word with his sister. Although Naruto did, when he did the honors of going out with the dragon and hunting for some food to cook over the fire, and it was a wild rabbit that was roasted and divided evenly.

Hinata went off to pick a living prey for herself, although she confessed she would miss out on the sweet cooked meat he, the scoundrel and the lady would savor. Chuckling, Naruto agreed with her.

He handed Hanaru her portion through the door, telling her to enjoy it, at the same time the sun completely vanished beneath the horizon, and it was then that he quickly hurried back to join Itachi who had been checking on the horses and feeding them some grasses he'd plucked before returning to the fire he'd made while the prince hunted for the meat he was now helping himself to.

Nice way to end an exhausting day. And tomorrow we'll be around this damned forest - unless we can cut through where we are now. I don't think that Kemon would even think to hunt us again in that part. We've gone too far to have a repeat of history.

Although he was sure Hinata could grow to size and take that monster herself, right?

Hinata came back and was tired. Yawning so loudly enough to unnerve the poor horses, she said she was retiring, so she went to curl beside the small "house" where the princess was "sleeping". "That was some meal I had," she said sleepily and smiling, looking at them with one eye opened and the lid drooping. "Hope you boys pass out from yours."

She was out like a log in seconds. He and Itachi had to chuckle together.

Later, when the moon was at its highest and the stars were twinkling, what they did was something that hadn't happened in years like the fishing on his property: he and Itachi lay under the sky, with the Uchiha pointing out the various stars and explaining WHO they were. Just like we used to lie in the opened fields with Sasuke, learning the constellations...

"My parents and Sasuke are no doubt up there, watching over me. Mother and Father used to say that if anything were to happen, they would look down from the heavens like our ancestors before us. And besides that, the stars themselves tell stories. They might be just little dots in the canvas, but some things are more than they appear..."

Just like some people don't know who you really are beneath what that snake branded you as. You're more of a good man than you want to accept.

Naruto yawned and stretched himself out. "Well, what are you going to do when we get home and you get your..." He quickly lowered his voice in case his sister might have awoken up and wouldn't let them know. "You going to just live in that hut for the rest of your life? Don't you miss your old life of comfort, privilege and respect? Want to have real friends?"

A heavy sigh. "We've been through this already. It's not a life I chose on my own, but I enjoy my freedom more than I was ever given. I hate him for what he wanted me to do, took them all - especially my little brother - away and left me with nothing." There was a pause.

"Well, you could have fooled me that time," Naruto said. "You really cut me so deep. I hate thinking of you in those conditions. I wish you'd say I am your friend, because friends look out for each other. Sasuke is gone, and you're what I have left of him...all there is left. I mean, no one wants to spend the rest of their lives alone either."

Itachi glared over at him. "Why won't you let this go, Your Highness? There is such a thing as 'personal demons'."

"Personal in that you deal with it on your own. You know I won't let this go even if you kill me here and now," Naruto challenged, and that was the final nail to the casket.

"Naruto," Itachi said harshly, "you are not worth killing even if I decide that. And this is something you would never truly understand. Your sister was gone much of your life, your mother died the day you were born, but none of it is the same thing as being forced to kill your entire clan and innocent brother - only to refuse and then be left alive, branded as a coward and disgraced in a decade to come. To be made to grow up alone, to work my tail off in day to day life more than I could remember, having to feed only myself and Suki, the only friend I am grateful to have and understands me more than any human would."

This was him trying once more to put distance between himself and the young prince, and the latter wasn't going to settle there. "Well, whether you like it or not, someone is here now and understands you more than you wish." He gazed first at the glittering diamonds overhead and then turned to his left at the man who had more demons in himself than he ever would.

It was then that, for the first time, he saw Itachi Uchiha look at him with a faint but genuine and knowing smile instead of just saying the words "I know".

~o~

Neither that Uchiha scoundrel or her brother sensed she was awake and aware - and heard every word Itachi said about his clan, confirming everything that she suspected.

His clan was destroyed. His younger brother was murdered with them. He is the only one left...and he's a masterless samurai for hire. He's disgraced and fending for himself, just like I had done all these years.

A bubbling rage boiled within her body that night; it was a miracle that she had no real target to destroy in sight. She could have killed both him and Naruto, and Hinata would have just had to finish her off to be safe. Hanaru did the trick of thinking about a nice cool bath in the first crack of dawn, and thinking about a way that she could make it up to Itachi for the bad start they got off to today.

He was made to rescue her by his old master, but that left a couple questions: Why did he pick Itachi instead of one of his own - or more? Was this just to humiliate him in another worse way?

Like he'd said, she could ask Danzo when she met him. And like she said to herself before he and her brother came, she would make the unwanted groom suffer relentlessly if she had anything to say about it. If he whipped her backside or had someone do it for him, the beast in her would lash out. That would make her life more tolerable, then she might become a wealthy widow or something. But that meant she couldn't remarry on her own if she wanted to, unless she could convince her father to find another man for her who was better than Danzo...or if she could think about what a life with Itachi would be...

She had lived in that tower for twelve years, had to work with Hinata to feed herself, clean herself, and had to take care of her own sanitary waste which made her sick.

When dawn broke through the cracks in the makeshift door, she stretched herself the best she could and then crawled over to push it open. As predicted, the boys were still passed out, but Hinata was nowhere in sight. Hunting again, I bet. If she isn't back, I have to look for breakfast somehow myself. We have a big day ahead of us.

She walked over to the small pond, seeing no unwanted filth and life. The sash of her robe was undone, and the fabric fell around her feet so she was naked. That left her in the necklace from her father. In the language of flowers worldwide, the orchid represented passionate love and life. To look upon the painted, blushing bloom with golden leaves at the bottom and centered with a fresh white pearl made her weep inside. Her heart might have torn open on its own and bled a little, so that was why.

If she thought she could even defy her father, she would end up being a shrine maiden or something, and they were considered disgraces to their noble families. And she hadn't seen Minato since he sent her away; she desperately wanted to make him happy and protect their village, but why did it have to be like this?

And WHY did she have to be cursed to become that thing every night?!

The last thing to go, letting her long hair golden as the sun to fall down her back in a silken curtain, was none other than her mother's precious treasure left only to her. The warm honey-toned tortoise-shell comb that was sprayed about with blossoms - the gift from her mother's side of the family, last worn by Kushina herself before she died.

Hanaru laid her mother's comb and her father's necklace down on her yukata before getting into the water.