Sorry for the wait guys! I hope that if you've read to this chapter that means you like the story, ne? ^^
Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews, everyone! It really helps spurr me on to write faster :3
~on another note, if you like my writing style, or hate it and just like Sasori please check out my new story A Renaissance Affair, and let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
Aoba perched on the edge of the stable loft, chewing a piece of straw and waiting. Soon enough, Shikamaru tucked discreetly through a side door and gave a slight whistle that brought the horse-lover down.
"Gotta give it to him, the boy sure is tough." He drawled with a slight accent. "So what lie is he spouting?"
Shikamaru sighed, "The little brat is trouble. He'll only say that he fell down. Why didn't you do anything?"
"Rogue rules," Aoba said simply. "We don't get in the middle of the noble's fights."
The taller boy digested that, and then asked, "So what happened then?"
"Tyke didn't even stand a chance. Master Suigetsu thrashed him a good one, and then thrashed him some more until the poor thing was beaten unconscious. Although I'll admit I was mighty surprised when shorty rammed him hard in the jems. I'd say it started the whole fight, but we know the older boy was looking for one anyway. I like to think Master Sakura just took to the element of surprise. Our king would be proud, and yes, Kakashi's that fond of him."
Shikamaru nodded in agreement, and thanked asked him to keep an eye out for any other fights.
"Oh, and Master Shikamaru? The palace may be your grounds, but if he ever leaves the city a clean wealthy man, Kakashi will have our eyes. 'Rob them blind or I'll blind you' he says to us."
Shikamaru chuckled, "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. I'd best be going, and thank you Aoba."
"Good night then, Shadow master."
He looked at Aoba, confused.
"Kakashi called you that. Says you move like the shadows, quiet but wise. He's rather fond of you too." Aoba searched for a way to describe his Kings odd habits. "He has a penchant for nicknames."
Shikamaru shook his head bemused as he left, and returned to tell the prince what really happened.
The next afternoon Sasuke beat the living daylights out of Suigetsu. He had been waiting for a good reason to cover that snow white hair in blood, and knock some of those creepy teeth out, and he found it. He realized the satisfaction was even better, because he even liked the boy Sakura a little bit. Sakura had such a backbone it was hard to ignore, and Sasuke couldn't sit around watching him get pummeled into a pulp.
Well, part of him also enjoyed the fight, but he didn't like to use that as a justification.
Itachi called him into his office later that day, and Sasuke had to wonder what his brother wanted from him. However, when a bruised and bloody, butt-ugly Suigetsu sat quietly in the side chair, Sasuke knew. Suigetsu had broken the first rule of fighting. Don't fight, and if you do, don't tell, even when you lose. Suigetsu had gone to the Duke, knowing that even if it was his brother, he would have to punish him.
It's kind of like chivalry. If two pages or squires fight, never tell. Take what you get, and deal with it. If you can't handle your own fights, and you tell, people will lose their respect of you. Remember that, Sasuke, honor is more important than a few bruises. Sasuke remembered, and noticed how his brother wouldn't look Suigetsu in the eye. Only once did his eyes wander, and the look he gave was reproachful and full of disappointment.
Sasuke was given punishment work, and a long lecture, and he took it without complaint. Suigetsu was also punished for having participated in the fight, which was something he felt particularly outraged about because he really hadn't gotten a change to so much as touch the other boy. Over the next few days, Sakura had the prince and the group keep a close eye on the two of them. When Suigetsu was in a room they were in, the group would leave. Suigetsu also avoided Sasuke.
That didn't mean he was avoiding Sakura. One night he caught her in the library, engrossed in a book. Silently, he stalked up behind her, and reached out a hand, which grasped her hair and yanked with might. Sakura's jade eyes flew wide open and she screamed out in pain as a chunk of her hair came lose and fell to the floor. Blood dripped on her scalp and felt oddly cold.
Quickly, she stood up and forced the chair from beneath her and into his knees, knocking him backwards. While he was unsteady she looked for the exit only to find it blocked by his path. With trepidation she took steps backwards until she was up against the wall. Suigetsu had recovered himself and was now advancing himself on her.
She willed her body to move, to work, to do anything, and finally when he was almost on her she formed a fist and drove it in an uppercut that broke his nose. Blood tricked down his jaw and dripped on the carpet. She stared at it, slightly horrified of what he was going to do to her. Her punch had done barely any damage, she was at his mercy.
He grinned crazily, and held up one hand that fisted a clump of pink hair; her hair, and then brought that hand back only to slam it into her eye. He re-blackened it, since it had only healed days ago. When he aimed for her other eye reflexes finally obeyed, and she brought her arm up. His fist pounded hard into it, and his other hand grabbed the hand attached and twisted hard. Sickening crunching noises came from the bone and pain lanced its way through her wrist and into her arm. The sudden pain made her sick, and she threw up her dinner on his shoes. Red traced the outline of her field of vision, as she became outraged that he would do this to someone so much smaller than him.
Anger beckoned, and she let it in.
When her vision cleared, she realized she had sunk her knee deep into his groin, and he was swearing lividly.
"Good luck having kids, sicko." She leaned into his ear, and whispered, before beating a hasty retreat. She could still hear his pain induced-helium pitched voice, shouting at her from the room down the hall.
Each talk with Duke Itachi seemed to be worse than the last. Once again, she stood in front of him, busied to a finite pulp. Once again, she stood in front of him, and lied about the fight, and again she took her punishment. This time, though, she was in a sling, with her wrist and lower arm fractured.
"I fell down, your Grace."
"Gods, child, don't you have any more inventive excuses?" Itachi asked wryly.
"I feel I've started a tradition, it would be in bad taste for me to stop now."
"Don't take credit where it's not due," the Duke replied amused. "I've been fed that line every year by every single page that's ever been in a fight; although perhaps not all of them." His mood darkened considerably as he thought of Suigetsu.
Sakura's jade eyes caught and held the famous Uchiha onyx orbs, and at last she replied.
"Well, sir, here's the way I see it. You don't believe me, and I know you don't believe me. You're going to punish me, and I'm going to take it. But all prides are satisfied, no?"
Itachi had to hide his smile. The young boy understood the code of chivalry much better than most of the boys his age did, and even many of the knights. "For being pert and for fighting, you're to do an extra hour of mathematics for the next two weeks. You may go."
As Sakura reached for the door handle, Itachi called out, "I wish you'd thrash him back already."
"Me too sir" She hid her blush with her bangs, as she looked at the floor.
"I'm getting tired of falling down."
After that Suigetsu stuck to smaller punches and jabs, knowing that if they weren't visible, no one would know because she didn't complain. She had to be careful around her friends of how far she rolled up her sleeves, or let her tunic ride up, so they wouldn't see the bruises she was collecting. She currently looked like a piece of abstract artwork.
However, this was her fight, and she was going to face it alone. She had things to prove, to herself and to her friends.
That night, she went to Yamato and asked for his help with extra training. He set her to work on learning boxing and wrestling, and was a good hard teacher. Back in Haruno, he had never gone easy on her, and he didn't here either. Each night for an hour before bed she practiced, and then slept like the dead, only to rise again at dawn for another hour's practice before breakfast.
A splinted arm soon turned from tedious to advantageous, since while she found her blunt force weapon-slash-arm a useful weapon, she was also forced to relearn everything with her left hand. She had to write with her left hand, practice with it and punch and fight and wrestle with it too. It was the first hand she truly learned how to fight with.
She dedicated herself to building her upper body strength, and although one of her arms hindered her, Yamato taught her other ways to exercise than just the drills they did at practice.
She was determined to beat Suigetsu, to restore the pride that she had lost. It was more than that, though. She had to prove to her friends that she could hold her own, and most important, she had to prove to herself that she was as good as any boy. If she could beat him, then she would finally be able to take her place as one of their true friends.
In mid-October when the healers removed her splint, they had to hide their surprise that it had healed so fast. Shizune had wanted Sakura to heal as much as she could, but she didn't know if she should use chakra for simple things like impatience, and thus didn't want to explain it to anyone. Giving her thanks, she rushed out of the room.
That night, she waited until she heard Yamato snoring in the other room to get out of bed. Slowly and quietly, she drew own black cotton breeches, a grey tunic, and wrapped a black headscarf around her pink hair.
Looking into the mirror, she smiled, pleased that she could barely see herself.
"Where might the Lady be going at such an hour?" Yamato asked from the doorframe.
Sakura marveled at how he had so quietly moved from his bed to his perch now, and wondered why she didn't hear him.
"I can't tell you. That way, if they ask you, you won't be lying when you say you don't know."
Yamato knew she would do as she liked, no matter what he said. She had always been that way.
"Alright, I'll keep the door unlocked. You know it's restriction to the palace if they catch you out. And Lady? Be safe." With that he walked back to his bed and crawled in.
Sakura smiled in his direction, grateful to have someone like him in her life. What he was teaching her now would no doubt help against the snow haired boy, but she still worried. Suigetsu was a squire, and he already knew the fighting arts. Sakura needed something that would give her an advantage, an edge against the older, stronger and more experienced boy.
With that she slunk silently down the servant's quarters and slipped onto the main road, through the palace gate, and into the city. She wondered briefly if she should be alarmed at how easy it was for her to leave undetected, but quickly became distracted by her surroundings.
Once in the crowd, she removed her headscarf and tucked it into the inside of her tunic and headed in the direction of the only place she knew.
Ichiraku was bustling, and music and laughter spilled from the dimly lit door and windows. Sakura thought for a moment about turning back, as sweat formed on her palms and she worried about the kinds of people that were in that building, but shoved that fear aside. It was more important to beat Suigetsu.
Sakura entered the building and bumped into a voluptuous woman with striking black hair that looked almost purple in the light. Pieces fell around her face and bangs framed her eyes, as the rest was pulled back into a loose ponytail. Rich deep brown eyes, set in almond shaped frames looked at her intently.
She was wearing a deep purple skirt and black boots, and a cream blouse that didn't button very high. Underneath was a sort of fishnet armor that looked very thin.
"Aren't you a tad bit young to be here, boy?" The woman asked her.
"I'm looking for Kakashi; he said I could find him here."
"Just like that rat-bastard, to go around telling little boys to come to brothels in the middle of the night." Her brows furrowed in irritation.
"Well, to be fair I don't think he was expecting me at night." She confessed.
The older woman digested that, and then laughed heartily out loud. "Kakashi, you dolt! You have a wee guest!" She shouted as she led Sakura over to a hearth where a table was set, with Kakashi sitting at the head. His silver hair set him out from the others immediately.
He stared at her with an odd look in his eye, and then looked to the rest of the room. "This is Anko, Queen of the women of the Rogue. They follow her, and she follows me. I'm lucky, as the women would never follow me without her support."
Anko snorted, "Yeah, sure your Majesty, you'd still be begging on the corner."
Kakashi's hand moved towards Sakura. "This is Sakura- a friend of mine from the country." He looked toward her and she nodded along with his improv.
"Jiraya, you old lech, get this boy a drink! Can't you see he's parched from his walk?" An old man with extremely long hair ambled over and handed her a pitcher of lemonade.
Anko walked back to her friends, and left her in front of Kakashi, who was still staring at her oddly. She was confused by his treatment and started to feel very uncomfortable.
"Having trouble with Suigetsu, I see."
"I suppose that's one way of stating our relationship. May I sit?" Sakura's cheeks blushed now, feeling the heat of the fire, and everyone's eyes on her.
She mentally scolded herself and stood up straighter. "Actually, could we talk in private, perhaps?" She hated asking for things, and for not being more self-reliant. "I-I need a favor."
He nodded and led her to the side of the room. "We'll go to my personal chambers, upstairs." He nodded to Jiraya, who rapped twice on the wood in reply. "We won't be disturbed."
As they made their way up a set of stairs, she looked at him confused. "Anko called you 'Majesty'?"
"My people wouldn't give that man atop of that silly hill the time of day, but they will follow me until death. I am the King here, so why not?"
"Touche." Sakura replied, slightly miffed.
Kakashi unlocked several bolts, and then led her into a small but comfy room. It smelled woodsy for a city room, and she noticed the queen sized bed was made out of pine. She also noted that the candle holder was made of silver, and the mirror frame pure gold. These were surely worth a lot, and most likely stolen, not that she really cared. There was also a small stack of books on the nightstand with orange jackets.
Interested, she went to open one up when Kakashi set his hand on hers, and closed it. His hand was a nice warm in comparison to the cold and she looked up at him as to why he stopped her.
The corners of his eyes crinkled slightly, "You're too young to read these, but I'll let you take a peak when you're older." Sakura immediately blushed, having a good idea what he was talking about.
"So what type of favor would you like," he asked, returning to the main problem. His voice had gone flat. "Would you like him killed, or raped perhaps? Or just rustled up a good bit?"
Sakura stood up from the chair she has sat down on, and shoved it back as she went. The surprise and indignation was apparent on her small pink framed face. "If that's- I-you think I would ask that of you!" She shouted, angry and upset all at once. She felt ten times the fool for coming. How could he think she would do something so disgraceful? "Well, I'm going then."
"Wait, Sakura. How was I to know you didn't want to take advantage of me?" Kakashi had softened his voice and his eyes. He felt bad now, for having made the assumption, but so many nobles he'd befriended had come to want a 'kept thief' that over time he just fell into defense mode. "Easy, there, I misjudged you. I'm sorry, I won't do it again." He slid the chair towards her again.
"What do you mean, advantage?"
"Nobles who think that because I am their friend, I should do them favors like that." He looked disgusted. "But you obviously hold the same view as I."
She sighed and sat back down. "Suigetsu needs a beating, sure. But I need to do it."
Kakashi looked more interested, seeing where this was going.
"Suigetsu knows boxing and wrestling, and he's a squire. I need an advantage…"
"And you thought I could help teach you hand fighting?"
Sakura nodded, and Kakashi smiled, offering out a hand.
"I like the idea. The first lesson starts now."
Sakura rolled into bed and attempted to savor the two hours of sleep she would have left again before she had to next wake up. Kakashi had shown her kicks and punches, japs and whacks that could numb body parts, and spike nerves. As such, her body wasn't currently in the best shape. She could barely feel her left side, and her right elbow was on fire. Even so, it would be worth it.
Sakura slept like a baby that night, and while Yamato still didn't know where she had gone, he was glad she was finally smiling. In her sleep, she wore a toothy grin that spread from eye to eye, and she seemed so genuinely happy that he was hard put to wake her.
