"Ano" Both Naruto and I got surprised and looked at the door where the young and careful voice came from.
"H-Hanabi…" In the door stood my younger sister with two guards at her side. I was old and responsible enough to not go with any, as long as I was inside the castle gates. Besides, I knew that there were guards everywhere, even outside my own room! It's not always great to be a royal. In fact, I even hate it sometimes.
"Hanabi-hime!" Naruto-kun started.
"What do I have the honor of your visit to the stables?" He bowed with his one foot in front of the other and his arms spread to the side, kind of as a friendly tease, and it worked. Both my younger sister and I giggled as he bowed and smiled.
"Actually Uzumaki, I am here to get my sister" I looked surprised at her
"Huh? M-Me? What for?"
"I don't know, but father wants to see you"
"Father? I see…" I turned to Naruto-kun
"I am sorry Naruto-kun, but I-"
"Hey, don't think about it Hime"
"huh?"
"I'll wait right here for as long as it takes"
'shoot, there is that smile again. How can anyone resist it?'
"A-Arigatou Naruto-kun. I will hurry back" He bowed teasingly before me and I couldn't help but curtsey back with a smile. We locked eyes for a few seconds, giving my cheeks a hint of pink colour, before I went to Hanabi's side. As we walked away she asked me
"Hey Onee-san, is anything going on between the two of you?" She has the cutest smile as she asked me the embarrassing question.
"W-WHAT?! N-NO! H-He is just a good friend, that is all…" as if my face wasn't red enough, it only became worse as an image of him and I appeared in my head
"You just had an image of the two of you on your mind, right?"
"N-no…" My face' red colour did not exactly disappear as the continued to talk about it, but I had
an excellent comeback up my sleeve
"So, Hanabi…"
"Huh?"
"Should I tell father about Konohamaru-kun?" She turned to me completely red from embarrassment
"D-Don't you dare!"
"Hm? Really?!"
"Onee-chan!"
I watched as Hime and her younger sister walked toward the main castle. Suddenly Hanabi turned to her sister, she looked… embarrassed? I wonder what happened. However, as I saw the Hime laugh, I knew I had nothing to worry about. It was nice to see her laugh, and by the looks of it, it seems as she shares a great bond with her younger sister. I wish I could have such bond with someone special to me one day. I know that I have Kiba and Shikamaru, but it just feels like something is missing. Oh well, I am glad where I am now. If I could keep this job, at least until the Hime becomes the Queen, I won't complain. When the two princesses were gone from my sight I walked over and took off the saddle of Blaze.
"Sorry pal, have to wait until later" He didn't seem especially happy about that
"Hey, 'not my fault…" I looked towards the castle and let out a sigh
"King's orders…." Not long after Hime left with her sister, there was a new person who stood in the
door
"Uzumaki!"
"Hm?" I looked over at the person who spoke
"Oh, Neji" Funny thing how he calls me by my last name. Most guards at this castle calls me things like Scum or Loser, some however just called me stable boy.
"So, Captain, what brings you to the stables?"
"Can you fight?" he asked me. I looked confusingly at him
"E-Excuse me?" He began taking steps towards me
"I asked, if you can fight?"
"Y-Yeah, why?" he smirked as I finally answered his question.
"Come with me then" I followed his orders and was now walking towards the training grounds with him. When we arrived he threw me a sword.
"Hey, what am I supposed to do with thi- WHOA!" I just barely blocked the sword coming right at me, but I was unprepared and fell to the ground.
"Oi! What the hell was that about?" I asked him rather angry and confused.
"Get up" was all he said as he prepared himself to attack again. I stood up and prepared myself for whatever was coming.
"What the hell is all this for?" I asked him again. He didn't answer but decided to attack we instead. Luckily I was more prepared this time, and was now blocking his sword with both feet on the ground. I took a tighter grip on my sword as I blocked his attacks coming from all sides.
'Damn, he is fast' I thought to myself. What I wasn't prepared for was his fist coming towards my chin. I fell to the ground. I stood up again but I just ended on the ground again every single time.
"Again Uzumaki"
'What is with this guy?' I thought to myself
"Come on Uzumaki, attack me!" Neji didn't say it in any teasing way, but he was somehow serious. I took a deep breath and thought
'Come on Naruto! You've won all your previous fights while living in this city, this one is not any different' I ran towards him ready to attack. I even tried to mix in some martial arts in my attacks but he dodged them every single time. I didn't give up that easy however. As I continued to attack him, I noticed that he began to look slightly nervous. It wasn't anything that was visible by first eye cast, no, you had to look directly into his deep white eyes. By the time I noticed I couldn't keep attacking him anymore, so I jumped back, creating a distance between us, and tried to catch my breath. Neji put his sword back into his scabbard.
"Meet me again here tomorrow, same time"
"Neji! Why are you doing this?" I yelled as he began to walk away. He stopped and there was a brief moment with silence before he spoke
"Keep the sword, I will tell you when the time is right" He began to walk away again.
"Oi! Neji" I yelled again, but he didn't stop.
I stood outside my father's office with Hanabi. We both took a deep breath before we knocked on the door.
"Yes, come in" We opened the door and walked over to our father who stood looking out the big
window that filled most of the room.
"You wanted to see us, father?" I spoke
"Yes. In forty days' time, we will get important visitors from one of our neighbour kingdoms, and I want you to be on your best behaviours" He turned his head and looked at me
"Especially you, Hinata"
"Huh? Why especially me?" He turned his head towards the window again.
"I will tell you when the time draws closer. Now, you are dismissed"
"Yes, father" Both Hanabi and I said. As we left the room a lot of questions ran through my head. Who could these visitors be? And why was my behaviour especially important?
"Onee-chan, are you alright?" Hanabi asked me
"huh? Oh, yeah… I am fine. I have got to go back to the stables, see you at dinner Hanabi" I began to walk away from my sister
"Oh, and Hanabi?" I said as I stopped and looked at my sister
"Hm?" She looked questionably at me. I put a finger up to my mouth and smiled
"Don't say anything to anyone… got it?" She did the same thing and smiled back
"Hai"
'I hope Naruto-kun hasn't been bored while I was gone' I thought to myself as I unintended sped up the pace I was walking in. As I arrived at the stables I looked around to see if I could spot him.
"Naruto-kun?"
"Yes, m'lady?
"Eep!" I jumped as I heard his voice. When I looked at him he had a big smile on his face.
"You startled me"
"I am sorry Hime, but the timing was just perfect" he laughed
"Can you ever forgive me?" I suspected a little bit of tease in the way he spoke.
"Ha ha, very gunny, hey… what happened to your face?" I noticed several small bruises on his face
'Oh no, not his beautiful face' I thought to myself
"Oh… this?" he said as he brushed his fingers lightly over his bruises
"It's nothing, don't worry about it Hime" He smiled at me, making me relax. Even though he left me with many questions.
"Shall we continue where we left off?" Somehow, the way he asked me the question embarrassed me slightly. I stood there, not knowing what to say.
'What is the matter with you Hinata! He is just like any other human being' I began arguing with myself. Naruto-kun is not like any other human person, there is something about him, something that makes him stand out from any other man I've ever met. Finally, it hit me.
'Am I really falling in love with the stable boy?'
Hinata suddenly stopped talking, as if she had an inner dialogue with herself. It even looked like she had stopped breathing. I waved my hand in front of her eyes to get her attention. The only result, was her blushing like never before.
"What is wrong with this girl" I said quietly to myself. It frightened me when she suddenly looked me directly in my eyes with a surprised look, as if she had just learned something frightening. I guess she came to her senses as she said
"S-Shall we go on?" I looked at her with a curious look
"Yeah, I just asked you the same thing, but then you speaced out" She was surprised and began to blush even more.
'She is pretty cute when embarrassed, actually, she is cute no matter what she does' I mentally slapped myself.
'No Naruto! Bad boy' I began to correct myself the same way Kiba always correct Akamaru
'She is the princess, you can't begin to have feelings for her- Wait a minute, did I just say, Feelings for her?' Oh no, this can't be happening