Chapter three: Get them

The sun hit Quifilia quite early since the spring was slowly turning to summer. Slowly flowers started to open up their petals when the first rays of sunlight hit the ground, warming its surface after the chilly night. Morning dew left the thick forest slightly damp and misty as it started to vaporize caused by the temperature slowly rising. The forest was quite beautiful in the morning. The vibrant shades of green were highlighted by the contrast of the slightly orange-toned morning sun. Little drops of morning dew still on the ground sparkled when the sunlight hit them, making it look as if the forest floor was scattered with diamonds.

After traveling the whole night on foot, never stopping for a drink or to take a breath, the girls were exhausted and had to rest. Determination was what kept them going the whole night. They barely even thought about avoiding wild animals or seeking a water source. The only thing that mattered was finding a way to get out of the reach of their kingdoms.

They were lucky enough to find a nice small cave where they could rest for a while and still stay hidden. It was risky, but Tenten decided to light a small fire to keep them warm in the cold and slightly damp cave. She was the only one that could. After that it didn't take long for all of the four princesses to fall asleep. Exhaustion had really taken its toll on the girls and it showed.

The girls managed to get a few hours of sleep before the sun was high up in the air, the amount of light making it difficult to sleep. They were all curled up together with their cloaks as blankets for that little extra warmth and comfort. They were royals after all and most certainly not used to the conditions they were currently in.

Hinata was the first one to wake up. She had always been the only morning person in the group and there were no exceptions made even when they were on the run. She stretched her whole body, noticing a few sore spots that most likely resulted from all the walking and sleeping on the hard cave floor. But now it was the morning and they had to move, there was no time to fuss about sore muscles and stiff shoulders. The blue haired princess then proceeded to carefully wake up the others and they prepared themselves for another day of traveling. Their journey seemed endless. They didn't really even know where to go, and the hopes of actually being able to make it somewhere where they could all safely live were pretty low. None of them knew if there even was anything outside of Quifilia, but they would sure go and find out if that was the only option they had.

"We're not far from the border to the dark side," Hinata suddenly whispered after maybe an hour of moving. The princesses exchanged looks. Hinata was right, the forest was starting to get darker and the amount of walking they had done would put them somewhere near the border. This resulted in all the girls tensing up. All of them had very little knowledge of the dark side and what they had heard wasn't good.

They couldn't exactly just stop there, but nobody really wanted to get closer to the border.

Ino crossed her arms over her chest and turned to face her friends. She was clearly getting nervous, just like the others. "Sooo, what do we do?"

The girls hadn't really thought about crossing over to the dark side, but now that they were in the situation where they had to think about it, they couldn't exactly avoid it. Surely they could try and get to the end of Quifilia without crossing over, but traveling on the light side now that they were on the run was just as dangerous as anything they would face on the other side. The only distinctive difference between the two options they had was that they didn't really know what was on the other side. Not that it made them worry any less.

"We have to go to the other side," Tenten quietly said after a moment of tense silence. "Since we don't know anything about the dark side, the people living there most likely know nothing about us either. Of course we have to avoid being seen since we don't know if anyone will recognize us."

The other girls agreed with Tenten's reasoning. They didn't really have any other choice since they couldn't risk being seen. Walking along the border wouldn't do either since someone would eventually notice that they were gone and there would be hundreds of soldiers scouring through the woods looking for them. Their disappearance would most likely cause a hassle on the light side, but if they made a small short cut through the dark side forest, they would be long gone before the first soldiers made it to the border.

And so they proceeded across the border and entered the dark side. They didn't want to go far deep in the enemy grounds, but they also had to stay pretty far from the border of the light and the dark side just in case someone was there. Sakura used her powers to cover up any markings they left behind in the nature when passing through and Ino covered their scent by causing a small breeze to scramble all the scents in their vicinity. That way there was not a single piece of evidence that they ever even crossed the border. It finally seemed like they could breathe, but the thought of being on the dark side still intimidated them.

Suddenly the calmness of the forest seemed to die down and the girls could feel the change in energy. It was like the whole forest was curling inwards. The birds in the trees stopped their chirping, the calming breeze flowing through the woods died down, and even though the difference was very subtle, the girls knew something was going on.

Tenten had taken over the role as the leader of their group, not that it meant much. She basically just walked a few steps ahead of the others, made sure the coast was clear and lead them to the right direction, since her sense of direction was the best. Well, depends how you define having a sense of direction, because the other girls had none. Zilch. Nada.

Not too far away from the border and the girls' location galloped four large dark horses that didn't seem like they were going to stop for anything. Their speed was unreal and in some ways even captivating. There were times when they looked to be flying through the woods rather than running and jumping over fallen tree trunks.

The occasional yells of the riders of these horses echoed in the forest, and the pounding of the hooves could be heard from a far. The wildlife of the forest steered clear of these four dark figures, which was probably the smartest thing to do.

Tenten silently stopped the small group with a hand signal when she heard the pounding get closer. Everyone's senses suddenly spiked and they were all on the look out for movement. It didn't take verbal communication for the four girls to know what was going on and what they needed to do. They were all risking their lives just being there and they all knew what was at stake. They couldn't be seen, and avoiding everyone and everything was something that they not only needed but had to do.

Soon Sakura saw a flash of dark in the corner of her eye. Her emerald green eyes widened in shock as the figures started to look like they were getting closer to them. After letting out an alarmed hiss, she immediately grabbed the nearest person to her and pulled her to the ground, covering the mouth of the certain blonde who was prone to screaming when startled. Tenten did the same to Hinata, but she was very aware of what was going on and had no intentions to make a sound. They weren't exactly out of sight in their current location, which was only shielded by a small bush and a few medium sized rocks. If anyone got close enough, they would easily be spotted. The girls could only hope that the riders would just pass by and leave them far behind.

Well, today was not a lucky day for anyone who was a fugitive princess on the run and currently hiding in enemy territory.

"We'll hide here until they pass," Tenten faintly whispered, trying to make as little sound as possible.

When the horses one by one reached a small pond, they stopped to drink and the figures dismounted their methods of transportation. This wasn't very far away from the girls, which was obviously very unsettling, but by the looks of things nobody noticed their presence. But this didn't make anyone's unease go away. They wouldn't be able to move from their hiding place until the riders left, but at least they had a good view to see what the hell they were doing out here in the middle of the forest.

"Now didn't I say I'd beat all of you in a race?"

The arrogant tone of the rider that reached the pond first seemed to be annoying the one that was just a second or two behind him. His smile was just as cocky as the tone of his voice, and it was really pissing off the other guy.

"Shut up, Naruto. You won because of your unfair head start," The other rider grunted and proceeded to smack the back of the blonde's head. "I would've beat you otherwise."

The pinkette carefully examined the two figures. The one referred to as 'Naruto' had spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was medium height and build, almost exactly like his dark haired companion. Sakura noted the weird marks on his face that resembled whiskers, but found the image of humans having whiskers really odd so she chose to ignore that detail. His presence was very cheerful unlike the dark haired one's, but he was clearly annoyed so that was easily explained. Sakura's eyes went almost straight to the weird shape his hair was styled in. If she could've laughed, she would've.

'Who the hell wears their head like the butt of a chicken?' Sakura though, trying really hard not to actually snort or laugh.

"You're such a sore loser, Teme!"

"And you're such an idiot."

"Oh so we're playing that game now, huh? Well, fine! I can be just as grumpy and rude as you-"

But two horses now arriving to the pond seemed to stop the agitated yelling of the one called 'Naruto'. Sakura was obviously very unsettled by their current situation, but being as curious as she was, she was very grateful of being able to hear what they were discussing.

"Naruto, calm down," The newly arrived riders said in unison. Sakura noted the tiredness in their voices and watched as they also let their horses to go and have a drink from the pond.

One of the newly arrived riders laid down onto his back with his hands behind his neck and sighed.

"Troublesome. The horses are obviously tired and need a break. You were the one who wanted this childish 'who's first' race in the first place so at least try not to be so annoying."

'Great. Guess we're stuck here until they're done with their break,' The pinkette thought to herself.

"You gotta admit, that one with the pineapple-ish hair is kinda cute," Ino half-whispered, but she didn't expect the response to be angry hisses and hushes. It was true that her immediate attention got caught up in the drama that they were watching, but the intense glares her friends were giving her indicated that commenting was a no-no.

Sakura felt her breath hitch when one of the rider turned his head towards them. She felt her heart almost stop the moment the pearlescent orbs brushed over the bush that they were hiding behind. It was almost like he looked her straight in the eye, but after a few seconds of intense staring he seemed to shrug it off and turn his attention back to the blonde who was seemingly agitated.

Finally she could breathe again.

Naruto was clearly not happy with them trying to quiet him down. Sakura could clearly see the glare the blonde was directing towards the black haired rider whom he'd referred to as 'Teme'. Initially she'd thought they were some kind of rivals, but now she was all confused by the situation and the interaction of the two. Who were these people anyway and what were they doing here?

Naruto started pointing his index finger at the silent but clearly annoyed dark haired boy. "What? He started it!"

"Well at least I didn't let that bird get away after calling myself the greatest archer in the whole wide world." Naruto's piercing blue eyes widened and a slight red of anger and/or embarrassment was visible on the tops of his cheekbones.

Now it was the black haired one's turn to be tiredly told off. "Sasuke, give it a break."

It was visible to everyone, including the girls, that these attempts of calming the two down weren't going to work. The blonde boy huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, ignoring the tired attempts made by his companions. "Like you could do any better."

Sakura watched as the one called Sasuke curved his lips into a mischievous grin. Within a heartbeat he was gone and alarm bells started going off in Sakura's head. Her emerald orbs jumped around trying to locate the now missing figure. Judging by her friend's alarmed faces, they were also very surprised by the sudden disappearance of one of the riders.

Then suddenly their all attention was drawn to the small bird that landed with a thump to the feet of the now surprised blonde. Naruto alternately stared at the small dagger that was thrown at the bird with ultimate precision and his friend, who reappeared a few meters away. Sakura and all her friends were panicking by the sudden closeness of the rider, who wasn't that far away and could possibly detect them if he paid enough attention.

'How is he so fast?' The pinkette wondered and closely watched the dark haired figure.

The blonde was at loss of words. He'd just lost the competition of who is better and it showed on his face.

Sakura had almost forgotten the presence of the boy Ino called cute until he suddenly spoke out after seemingly taking a nap. "Wow Sasuke, you just had to show off."

It was clear that Sasuke enjoyed the moment. It might've been because he 'won' a competition or that he just liked proving his blonde companion wrong. Or maybe it was a combination of the two. Sakura wasn't sure, but she was relieved to see him walking back towards his friends and further away from her and her friends.

Sasuke brushed his fingers through his spiky dark hair. "We should go. This break has lasted long enough and we have a long way back."

The newly made suggestion of leaving caused the riders to walk back to their horses.

"Let's see if we see that same heard of deer on the way back. We haven't had one for dinner in ages," The one with pearlescent eyes commented as he caringly patted the side of his dark horse before preparing to leave.

Naruto was still annoyed with Sasuke's unneeded showing off. He decided to thrust all his remaining frustration into a small rock that he forcefully kicked and then turned to head for his horse that was waiting for him.

"Ow!"

Well that was something Naruto didn't expect to hear. Neither did his friends by the looks of their confused faces.

Sasuke raised a brow. "Naruto?"

The flustered blonde shook his head. "No way, wasn't me."

"A moose?" The one with the pineapple shaped head suggested, but Sasuke quickly waved the idea away.

"No, if it was a moose we would've seen it."

Tenten had her hand over Ino's mouth whose forehead had made direct contact with the flying rock. For a second there the girls still had hope. There was a chance that the riders would just ignore Ino's yell and discard it as a weird noise of a bird or something.

'This was such a mistake..' Sakura cursed in her mind.

But when the figures started to slowly step by step get closer to them, Sakura knew they were doomed. They'd already lost the game of hide and seek so they didn't really need to stay hidden anymore.

Naruto's eyes widened. "They're-"

"New plan: RUN!"

Tenten's sudden scream interrupted Naruto and took all the boys by surprise as they watched the four female figures dash away and run as fast as they could. It took the four boys a few seconds to process what just had happened in front of their eyes.

"Definitely not a moose," Naruto commented and managed to get smacked by Sasuke once again.

The figures of the running girls were getting further and further away, but nobody really knew what to do. They all looked at each other in confusion and tried to make sense of the situation. Soon it became evident that not everything was as normal as it might've seemed. There was something weird going on. Not only was it odd for the girls to run, but they shouldn't have been in that part of the forest anyways.

"They shouldn't have been here. Everyone knows th-" Sasuke's pondering suddenly stopped and he turned to the direction where the girls had run off to. His whole body tensed and his face went from confused to serious. There was something weird going on and they were going to stop it and find out what's going on.

"Get them."

Stay tuned for the next chapter because I have a feeling it's gonna be an intense one (please don't quote me on that later on). If you've enjoyed the story so far please leave reviews cause I'd love to know your thoughts on the story itself and they give me so much inspiration to write more!