Itachi was as pale as a ghost when his new lord sought him out a few hours before dawn and woke him up with a firm, almost painful kick to his shoulder. He looked over his shoulder at the man and groaned, only half expecting Naru to be standing there like she usually was, and had to remind himself that Naru was currently indisposed due to a serious wound. But that didn't mean that he was any less irritated even as he glimpsed his new lord standing next to his bed looking like he was about to call down the wrath of the heavens down upon his head.

Lord Kakashi stood there in the half shadows next to his bed wearing a royal blue tunic and dark leather pants with lace up boots, his sword hanging from the snug leather belt slung around his hips, his expression dark and murderous as he glared down at Itachi in obvious disgust. "My lord?" Itachi said stupidly as he slowly sat up and rubbed his face with his hands in an effort to wake up. He needed to be clear minded when dealing with this dangerous man, or Naru may suffer his wrath.

And in her current condition...well, she might not survive his lords wrath.

"Tell me Itachi- That is you're name right?"

"Yes...my lord." Itachi said after a second or so of hesitation, his voice and expression wary. As well he should be. Kakashi thought darkly as his rage churned with in his chest. What the hell kind of man allowed a mere slip of a girl to run about the country side dressed as a man and stealing from murdering bandits?

"What the hell kind of man are you to allow your lady to place herself in such danger? Dealing with the likes of bandits, murderers and thieves." Kakashi growled at the dark haired man as he folded his arms across his chest.

Oh. Oh.Now Itachi understood why his new lord had come seeking him out. Naru must have gotten a fever and mentions some of the happenings in her delirium. No wonder his lord looked so angry. "Well, sire in my defense...there isn't a man, woman or child in the castle that would dare to try to stop her." Itachi admitted feeling more than a little angered himself by his people's disloyalty to their lady.

They wanted her to die far too much to bother trying to save her from her foolish endeavors. Hung unsaid in the air between himself and his gnashed his teeth so hard that his jaw ached. "That-boy, is no excuse to let her endanger her life." Kakashi said angrily, his mis matched eyes smoldering with barely suppressed rage.

Did the man really think that he hadn't tried to stop Naru's foolishness? He had. He had tried to stop her every time she decided to leave the castle, almost every night since the death of her parents. He knew all too well what dangers were lying in wait for helpless little girls without a shred of survival instinct.

But Naru was more armed against those dangers than his lord realised.

The woman had an uncanny ability to spot danger, and an even more uncanny ability to escape relatively unscathed. To put it rather bluntly, Naru had more lives than a bloody cat. She could out ride, out fight, and out wit almost anyone who tried to hurt her.

"You are right, my lord. But lady Naru is a very difficult woman to reason with. She see's what she wants, and she covets it for herself. And my lord, she wants this castle and it's people...badly." So badly that she was slowly killing herself in an effort to claim them.

Kakashi shifted slightly on his feet, debating with himself on if he should hit the man in front of him for not protecting Naru better, or if he should send him away altogether.

The only thing stopping him from either one was that it would distress Naru, and he knew he was going to have enough trouble out of the willful little witch than he would know what to do with, and so stopped himself. Figuring that he could come up with a much worse punishment for the man's failure to protect his soon to be bride.

Like making him the nurse maid to his and Naru's future children. All of them since he was feeling vindictive and caring for one child would simply be too easy for the man. No, he would have Naru bear him several. And if the good lord was willing, they would all be stubborn, willful, angelic little monsters. Girls, the whole lot of them.

Yes. That would please him greatly.

To have several little blond or silver haired girls running about the castle, laughing and playing, and at night he could sit down with Naru and sit one or two on his lap and tell them bed time stories. But first thing was first. He would have to nurse Naru back to health, marry her, then start building his new life with her.

He pulled a piece of parchment from a small pouch attached to his hip and carefully unfolded it and thrust it into Itachi's face and growled. "Show me where the bandits are." So that I might find and repay the one who had harmed my bride.

He thought darkly as Itachi pointed to a secluded area just five miles from the castle. Kakashi stared at the place that the man had pointed too and with a low feral sounding growl, turned on his heel and walked out of the bedroom as quietly as he had come in.

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Midday-

After leaving Itachi's chamber, Kakashi had appointed Asuma and two others to guard Naru while he was away and had rode out of the castle with twelve of his men, all of them decked out in armor, and killed every bandit that they came across and returned to the castle bruised, and bloody with several large chests full of gold, silver, and gems. After storing the chests in the cellar of the castle, Kakashi had ordered a bath to be drawn for him and had ordered the guards away and bathed in the room attached to Naru's just in case she might wake up needing something.

He had just finished his bath and pulled on a clean pair of leather pants and walked through the open door to Naru's room and found her sitting up in bed looking around with a frown on her pretty face. "Ah. You're finally awake-" He said almost cheerfully as he walked over to the bed and stood where she could see him. "And how are you feeling this fine afternoon?" Kakashi asked as he moved around the foot of the bed to the side so that he could see her better in the sun light streaming through the window.

She blinked and tipped her head back to look at him as her breath caught in her throat. Oh dear lord, this knight had to be one of the most savagely angelic looking men she had ever seen. The man was taller than her by a good three feet, his face was so sinfully beautiful that it was almost too hard to look at him, his skin was smooth and unblemished aside from a scar that ran down his left eye lid, along his cheek.

His long silver hair hung well past the middle of his back, some of the damp strands slipping over his broad shoulders as he stared down at her. Naru's mouth opened, closed, opened again, then snapped closed with an soft audible click of her little pearly white teeth as she stared up at him in wide eyed shock.

What was going through her mind? Kakashi wondered as he studied her as brazenly as she was studying him. His eyes drinking in her almost other worldly beauty, the rapid beating of her pulse in the base of her throat, a slow smile curving the corner of his lips. My, my, his little bride to be looked like she had just been stuck by lightening. Did he really look so different in the light of day?

Naru's mind was out of control.

Not surprising considering the closeness of the male standing by her bed. She doubted that she had ever felt so over whelmed by one of the opposite sex before. But she was feeling over whelmed now. This man was simply too big, too muscular and strong and beautiful for her liking. He was intelligent, perhaps even more cunning than she was, capable of leading soldiers and fighting in wars.

Oh she hated this man! He was going to ruin everything that she had worked so hard to accomplish, she just knew it.