My breath hitched in my throat as his glowing eyes locked onto my own terrified ones. His hand tightened on my shoulder, but he seemed to hesitate for a few moments. I took advantage of that hesitation and wrapped my hands around his wrist and attempted to appeal to whatever humanity he may possess, "Please don't! I know you can control it."
His eyes danced shakily down to my neck for a moment before he squeezed his eyes shut and shoved me back onto my bottom before forcing himself to take a few steps away. I took a moment to calm my panicked breathing before looking back up at him. He was staring down at me with a confused look on his features. Luckily, his eyes had returned to their pretty clear seafoam green.
He turned his back to me after a moment and spoke in his usual gravelly voice, "If you tell anyone, even the Uchihas, about me obeying your wishes, I will drain you." My blood ran ice cold, but I nodded in acknowledgement despite knowing he couldn't see me.
As if on some kind of queue that I wasn't able to detect, one of the muscular armed guards from before entered the room and pulled me to my feet with a hand wrapped around my upper arm. I turned to catch one more glimpse of the Sunagakure kings back before I was pulled past the green curtain and led through multiple winding halls, once more. _
Sasuke shot the guard an angry glare as soon as he lay eyes on the man's hand still wrapped around my arm, "I suggest you take your hand off of her before I remove it for you." I looked at him in shock as I felt the guard's calloused fingers leave my skin. The man spoke in an emotionless voice as though he hadn't just been threatened, "The Subaku family wishes for you to do as you please until dinner time. The king will send for you at six in the evening." He turned on his heel, then, and left the room without another word.
Sasuke didn't miss a moment and quickly scanned my body for any marks, holding my arms away from my sides with his hands, "What did they do to you?" I felt my face start to heat up under his searching gaze and decided it best not to tell him about Gaara almost attacking me, "Nothing. They just gave me some clothes to wear for the day."
I felt the last bit of anxiety from being in the king's presence leave my body as I pulled my wrists from his hands and bravely wrapped my arms around his torso, burying my face in his thin white shirt. He seemed taken aback by my actions for a moment, but soon gently reciprocated my embrace. I let his attractive scent soak into my senses for a moment before realizing he'd probably start to worry that something truly was wrong if I stayed like that for too long.
When I pulled back, he studied my face for a moment before surprising me by slowly glancing down at my lips as though he was planning on kissing me. I was about to act on that notion when suddenly Ino and Sai burst through the doorway. I jumped out of the prince's arms with a red face, but he simply glared at our visitors. Ino did not wait for us to greet her, "Let's go explore the town! Kankuro said that the festival doesn't start until after dinner, but we can still go for a walk." I looked over at Sasuke to see his reaction and he simply followed the couple out of the room without a glance in my direction. I bit back a sigh of defeat before joining the group.
Ino and Sai chatted away with each other as a different guard led the way through the halls and Sasuke and I walked behind them in silence. Sai seemed to be absolutely smitten with her new look and repeatedly told her so. A small part of me felt sad that Sasuke hadn't even seemed to notice my different attire, but I also knew that he wasn't the type to shower anyone with compliments.
When we finally made it to the outdoors, the wave of dry heat from before hit me like a ton of bricks and I pushed my hair out of my face. The guard proceeded to lead us about the town for the next few hours, occasionally giving us some information on historical locations or statues. Just as my feet were beginning to hurt from walking around and my stomach was beginning to growl, our guide let us know that it was time to head back to the castle to freshen up for dinner.
The sun was just starting to set when we arrived. I felt positively worn out and gross by the time we arrived back in Sasuke's room. I'd been sweating out in the sun for hours and wanted more than anything to just take a bath and go to sleep. Sasuke immediately began pulling his shirt off over his head, tossing it into the awaiting basket in the corner of his room. He glanced at me before wordlessly motioning for me to follow suit. My face burnt bright as I slowly did as requested.
I turned my back and squeezed my eyes shut when he started unbuttoning his pants and pulled the mesh shirt off over my head. I heard his footsteps against the stone ground wander through the other doorway in the room and the water turn on. My heart was beating so loudly in my ears as I tried to untie the silky cloth around my waist with shaking hands. Why am I so nervous to just bathe with him when we've been through so much more than that together?
Moments passed with the running water in the other room being the only thing I could hear before I felt hands suddenly clasp over my still fumbling ones from behind. I could feel Sasuke's muscular body against my back and froze. He gently pulled my hands away from the cloth and slowly untied the skirt for me. It fell lifelessly to the floor around my feet and I struggled to think of how I should react to him. He gently pressed a kiss into my bare shoulder, causing chills to run up my spine.
I turned my head slightly to meet his guarded eyes and before either of us could do anything else, a brunette young woman flounced into the room with a basket of clothing. A startled cry slipped past my lips and I rushed behind Sasuke's much bigger body with a bright red face. The young woman offered both of us a casual smile, "Here is a change of clothes for both of you. You will send someone for you in about an hour for dinner." She then turned on her heel and left the room as though she didn't just walk in on two completely naked people having a moment.
Sasuke turned to look down at me and I made sure to keep my gaze on his face, too nervous to look at his body. He, to my surprise, let out a short laugh before pulling me by my hand into the bathroom with him. We both slipped into the steamy water inside the extremely large tub. Eventually, I felt my awkward energy melt away and we shared the bath in a comfortable silence.
Once we were all finished cleaning ourselves and getting dressed for dinner, the same young woman from before pushed the curtain to our room aside and motioned for us to follow her to the dining hall. The outfit that she brought to me was still quite revealing. It was made of an opaque white cloth that wrapped around my neck to curve down and cover my breasts and then wrap around in an elaborate knot at my waist, leaving a long train of cloth following behind me as I walked. I'd started out carrying the extra fabric in my hands so it wouldn't get dirty, but our chaperone shooed it out of them and ensured me that it is meant to trail behind.
When we arrived in the dining hall, I was placed right next to Gaara and across from Ino. Sasuke and Sai were at the other end of the long table. Kankuro was seated next to Ino and Temari was across from him, next to me. Itachi sat at the opposite head of the table with Sasuke and Sai on either side of him.
Gaara seemed unfazed by our brief meeting earlier and was back to shamelessly staring at me as I chewed in silence and stared down at the table. Ino'd given me a covert look soon after we'd been seated and motioned towards him. She obviously wanted to know if something had happened after she was taken out of the room earlier. I shook my head at her and she visibly relaxed and returned to exchanging glances with Sai.
The meal was silent and uncomfortable for the most part, but the Subaku King finally spoke as dessert was coming to a close, "May we venture together to the festival." The same brunette from before was helping the other women clear the table and she reached to pick up the plate from in front of me when suddenly the plate was no longer in her hand and was face down on my lap. I shot to my feet in surprise, "Oh!" and managed to catch the glass dish before it hit the ground.
The young woman bowed quickly, "I am so sorry! Please forgive me!" I placed the plate back on the table and waved my hands, "No no! You don't have to-It's fine! Don't worry about it!" Gaara rose to his feet calmly, but the look on his face was terrifying as he glared at her, "Matsuri. See to it that Miss Haruno is given some new clothes to replace the ones you have ruined." The woman, that I now know is named Matsuri, bowed again in his direction with tears in her eyes before silently leading me out of the room and towards what I assumed was a room that I could change into a different outfit in.
Once we were behind the curtain of the room and I was stripped of my ruined dress, Matsuri helped me into a completely see-through dress that was nearly the same color as the king's eyes, only a white piece of cloth and a pair of very short shorts underneath it to cover the necessities. I was incredibly grateful that we weren't expected to show every inch of our bodies like a lot of the locals do. As I slipped my sandals back on, Matsuri spoke in a slightly quieter voice as though she thought someone might overhear us, "What did you do to him?" I looked up at her before coming back up to stand, making sure my dress wasn't caught under my shoes, "I'm sorry?" The woman's brown eyes were tearful and she seemed to be trying very hard to control her emotions, "What did you do to Gaara? He has done nothing but stare at you all night." I didn't say anything in response because it honestly seemed to me that she didn't want to hear a response no matter what it was.
She continued, as I expected she would, "I've been his favorite for months and suddenly you come along. Just now when I spilled food on you is the first time he's looked at me since your arrival." I struggled to empathize with her and hesitated for a moment before laying a comforting hand on one of her shoulders, "I don't know what he wants with me, but I can assure you that I am not interested in taking him away from you, okay?" She searched my face for what I assumed to be dishonesty and finally offered me a small smile, "Okay."
We rejoined the group in the dining hall and then we were headed off to join the town's festival. Once we got outside, we followed the royals to a small stage above the colorful town, lit only by an array of lamps and bulbs that gave everything a tanned hue. The bustling streets quieted on their own as their ruler stood in silence and looked around at the many stalls and decorations.
Finally, after a few moments, he spoke to his subjects. He kept it short and to the point, as I've learned he usually does, "Please welcome our guests from Konoha and enjoy the festival." The crowd erupted into a thundering applause for a few moments before things slowly melted back to how they were before we arrived.
I glanced around eagerly as I tried to stay as close to the group as possible, scared to get lost in the sea of people. Gaara and Temari were leading us around, multiple armed guards following us loosely with blank looks on their faces. I felt Sasuke's hand slip into mine and I looked over to see him still facing forward like earlier and smiled to myself. Since Madara and Obito weren't here to put me in any danger, perhaps this would actually end up being a nice little break from my duties in Konoha.
