Chapter seven: The last one

The sounds of distant footsteps filled the silent castle's corridors as they bounced off from the high ceiling. Everything was absolutely gorgeous from the clean white walls, to the marbled pillars with golden accents. What really drew attention to themselves were the large windows letting in sunlight and illuminating the whole palace, displaying an even more amazing view of the outside. Every once in a while there would be a humongous chandelier hanging from the ceiling, that would be the source of lighting when the beautiful sunlight couldn't illuminate the whole palace. Shikamaru wasn't even bothered to look around, the girls on the other hand were amazed by their surroundings. They were in awe as they walked, taking every little detail in.

But they were also confused by a lot of what was going on around them. Most importantly they needed to know where they were and why the hell did the place their kidnappers had taken them to look like this.

The girls had let Shikamaru walk ahead of them for a few reasons, following him a few steps behind. Number one being that he actually knew where he was going, unlike the two girls who looked like they hadn't faced proper civilization for a few months, just gawking at everything.

Number two was that if he actually was trustworthy, he'd escort them to a place where they could clean themselves and possibly even get patched up until Sakura could take a proper look at them. That was if they would ever see the pink haired princess again.

Reason number three was that they couldn't possibly hold up a pace that would keep the bored out of his mind Shikamaru behind them. Tenten was limping, Ino was supporting her body and that combined didn't result in an amazingly fast speed. It wasn't bad, but the process of moving forward wasn't as swift as it would've been if Tenten could've walked on her own. Now that didn't mean that they were slow, they did keep up with their "escort" quite nicely, but their average speed was slower than a normal person's walking pace.

The last and probably the most important reason for them to stay slightly behind was that IF things were to go wrong, they would at least have a small head start or they could slip into another corridor and hide. Of course this plan was flawed and was only to be used in the case of absolute emergency. They did leave Hinata and Sakura laying unconscious in their cells, where they were not only defenseless but also locked up. So because they could be potential hostages, black mail or dead, the smartest thing to do was to act nice before they could all figure out a plan to get out together.

Suddenly Shikamaru stopped after what seemed like a forever of walking around the castle and pointed them to a wooden twin door that had a beautiful carving of a tree.

"That takes you to the bath area. You can clean up over there. There should be a bell on the right side of the door if you need any help from the maids," Shikamaru apathetically instructed and turned away from the girls, walking away from them. Now they were left confused AND alone, great stuff.

"B-but hey! Who even are you?!" Ino managed to get out of her mouth, watching the man walk away from them without any further explanation or detail.

This caused Shikamaru to stop and turn around. His lips were curved into a smug smile and he folded his arms over his chest. Ino saw his body language change, he'd expected her to ask that.

"I am Shikamaru Nara, the crown prince of the Eastern kingdom."

This left both of the girls completely silent. Ino stared at Shikamaru with wide eyes, jaw almost to the ground. That pineapple haired guy, who had chased her in a forest for god knows how long was a fucking prince from the dark side of Quifilia. He was her sworn enemy and there he was, telling her were she could clean herself up.

'No fucking way..' she thought as she watched him walk away from them.

It took Ino a hot second to take everything in. She was so baffled by the information she'd just been given that she could've just been done with everything. There was no way that any of this was real.

"What. The. Actual. Fuck!" Ino blurted out, especially emphasizing the last word of her sentence. The guy who kidnapped her was a prince? An annoying, slightly cute, but still very annoying prince?

What had her life come to?

"Let's just go.." Tenten sighed, as confused about the whole situation as Ino. Together they made their way to the door they had pointed to. Ino pushed one of the doors open and they both walked in, the door closing behind them by itself.

Hearing the wooden door shut behind them made Ino a little more at ease. Her life was so upside down right now that she hadn't even realized that she hadn't been breathing for a a while. She inhaled air through her nose and exhaled through her mouth, trying to calm herself down after everything that had happened. Everything was relatively fine now, she was somewhat safe and she and Tenten were alone now. After Ino calmed herself down, she finally focused on where they actually ended up after passing through the doors.

They had ended up in a medium sized room that essentially looked like a dressing room. It was a rectangular shaped room with a very high ceiling and a bright crystal chandelier hanging from the middle of it. Another source of light in the room was a lit fireplace on the right side of the room. In front of it was a set of furniture; two sofas and armchairs with a mahogany coffee table in the middle of them. There was a beautiful bouquet of purple and white flowers in the middle of the glossy table and the intoxicating smell of them filled the room completely. There were two tall windows with burgundy drapes overlooking a gorgeous view of the castle's garden. Ino's attention was drawn towards two paintings that decorated the walls. There were a few shelves filled with rolled up towels, soaps and all that kind of stuff which indicated that they had ended up in the right place.

"Where's this "bathing area"?" Tenten wondered, looking around herself. They were definitely in some kind of a dressing room or whatever lounging area, but where were they supposed to go? Ino helped Tenten into one of the velvet covered armchairs, who then just let her body sink down into it. She was so exhausted that she could've just fallen asleep there. Even when they'd been unconscious, it wasn't exactly sleep. It wasn't rest, it wasn't peaceful - it was like her consciousness had been separated from her physical being. Ino searched around the room, inspecting the array of different soaps and grabbed a basket for them to put Tenten's ripped and bloody clothes in.

There was one door, a similar twin door that they'd entered from, on the opposite side of the room. Ino carefully twisted one of the decorative door handles and pushed it open, just a little bit so that she could peek inside. Ino was greeted with a warm misty breeze hitting her face. From the crack she could see delightful green plants and the smell of flowers was inviting her to have a closer look. Now she was really intrigued and pushed the doors wide open, revealing the beautiful scenery that awaited them.

It was like she had walked into a garden. There was a short curved staircase that lead to what Ino could only describe as paradise. The area was lined with a rock wall that had vines and plants growing against it. The whole place was filled with exotic plants that Ino had never seen before in her life. From the corner of her eye she could see a small pool filled with steaming hot water that called out her name. The pool was surrounded by a few rocks and flowers, with a small stream of fresh water bubbling to it from the far corner.

Ino's eyes glistened as she breathed in the humid air. She was in total awe of this "bathing area". It was like a secret garden of some sort.

"It's over there," Ino excitedly told Tenten when she returned inside. "And it's absolutely gorgeous," she admitted, closing the door behind her.

"Okay, let's get your out of those bloody clothes."

Naruto peeked from his hiding place. He'd been hiding behind a pillar not too far away, from where he'd watched Shikamaru take two of the girls to the bathing area outside and then proceed to leave them. When Shikamaru had left and the girls entered the door they'd been pointed to, the route was finally clear for him. He could now head over to the southern end of the castle undisturbed without anyone getting in the way.

He was about to do something that he could probably get scolded for, but maybe if he was sneaky enough nobody would know.

On his way he passed several maids and greeted them politely, before slipping into a small corridor that lead him down a spiraling staircase. He ended up in front of a big wooden door, which at first he didn't open. He stood there, staring at the dark wood.

'Am I really doing this?' he thought, pressing his palm against the smooth surface of the door.

For a minute or two he stood there, doubting himself and his actions. He breathed in and out as if preparing himself for something. And that something was something extremely stupid.

He pushed the rather heavy door open and was instantly greeted by the darkness of the room. A few cells revealed themselves from the darkness, his heart sinking as he watched the rusted metal bars. They trapped two unconscious girls laying on the stone floor that Naruto looked with cold eyes. He entered the room and heard the door silently close by itself after him. He almost wished that the door would've made some kind of a louder sound, because it would've made the silence that fell much less oppressive. He was in a room with two unconscious girls, who weren't there exactly willingly and where he wasn't even supposed to be in the first place.

Naruto slapped his forehead and dragged the hand down his face. "What the hell am I doing?"

He dug a pile of keys from the pocket of his pants and opened one of the two cells. He stood in the doorway of the cell before entering it, questioning whether or not to enter. He just couldn't stop staring at the dark haired girl, lying on the ground. Her hair was luscious and long, the blue hues of it making it something he'd never seen before in his life. It looked soft and silky, Naruto had to really restrain himself from just stroking the girl's hair.

Slowly and he hesitantly entered the cell and picked up the girl in his arms. She was still calmly sleeping, which in turn calmed Naruto down. It would've been really awkward if she were to wake up right there and then. Carefully Naruto lifted her up, her face falling to rest against his chest. This caused the blonde's heart to race, having the girl literally pressed against himself. He had no idea why he was doing this in the first place, but the though of having her wake up all confused on the cold hard floor of a cell made him feel uncomfortable.

He stood there for a while, marveling at the girl's beauty.

"Shikamaru's powers are still working I see.." Naruto whispered to the pale girl, holding her in his arms. Eventually he had to leave and stepped out of the tiny cell. He glanced at the other unconscious girl, who was curled up on the floor in the farthest cell.

"You'll be fine. I promise that someone will get you soon," he whispered, as if she could hear him. He really didn't know what he was doing, but he felt quilt tugging at his heartstrings for leaving the pink haired girl there. He just had something inside of him that pushed himself into making some very dumb decisions that included this girl in his arms who was an absolute stranger to him and whom he shouldn't have any thoughts or feelings about. They were essentially enemies, but Naruto couldn't bring himself into thinking that the girl in his arms could be anything like what he'd been told.

And then he carried Hinata out of the room, leaving Sakura there now all alone.

The familiar large wooden door swung open once again and hit the stone wall next to it causing a loud banging noise. A dark haired figure entered the room, the only sounds in the room being the breathing of two individuals. His eyes were on the unconscious girl and for some reason he couldn't take them off of her. There was something intriguing about her, something that bothered him so hard that he just had to come see her.

Sakura's consciousness was woken up by a distant sound of keys clinging against metal. She was floating somewhere far away, her mind and body disconnected. Everything going on around her was a blur, everything got to her with a slight delay. Then she felt something. It was a light touch, lighter than she'd ever felt before. Her skin felt warm against that cold touch. It traveled across her face, behind her ear and down her neck, tickling the most sensitive parts of her skin.

Then that magical touch tingling her skin disappeared. Sakura's inner self panicked as that soft and gentle touch disappeared, wondering if it'd been just her imagination.

Sakura's eyes slowly fluttered open as she finally regained consciousness. She couldn't really move, she felt groggy and stiff like a statue, her body still trying to process what had happened to her in the last 72 hours.

"What the-" escaped from her lips as she tried to make sense of the situation and the place she was in. Everything was dark and she couldn't see much with her vision being as blurry as it was. Her eyes were drawn to the slightly out of focus metal bars that stuck out from the ground.

When she finally did move, to brush her pink locks away from her face, she saw a figure from the corner of her eye.

'Oh there's someone here. That's great, I guess..' Sakura thought to herself, before her thought process really had time to catch up with the situation.

"Rise and shine."

The deep masculine voice made Sakura's tired eyes fly open. She subconsciously sucked in air and turned to the person who was standing right outside of her cell, leaning against the bars of the doorway with his arms folded over his chest. Her eyes slowly focused on the figure, whose voice she instantly recognized, her heart pounding deep inside her chest. She pushed herself off of her stomach, lifting herself up into a seating position even though every joint in her body screamed not to move one bit.

"Did you sleep well?" Sakura was almost disgusted by how calm his voice sounded, how he just casually looked down at her. The mix of terror and wrath churned in her eyes, where she couldn't necessarily choose whether to cry out of anger or fear.

"Where the hell am I and what did you do to my friends?" Sakura demanded to know. She felt awful, but there was a fire inside of her that made her forget all of the physical pain she was in.

Sasuke didn't answer. He stepped inside of the cell, causing Sakura to back away from him as far as she could, which didn't turn out to be that far since the cell was smaller than the average closet.

"You won't get away with this." Sakura growled, her piercing gaze meeting with his. "What have you done with my friends?"

Now her voice was more on the level of lowkey screaming. Her fury filled eyes gave away more than she could've possibly told in a thousand words. Her head was starting to clear up and her thought process to return back to it's normal speed. Rage was basically oozing out of her, she was boiling on the inside.

"Get away with what?" Sasuke impassively asked her, tilting his head to the side. "You know nothing of what I've done."

"You have no idea what you've done." Sakura's emerald eyes narrowed. "You're bringing yourself a war."

The girl's words caused Sasuke to genuinely laugh. He was amused by how little this girl knew, the fiery look in her eyes just adding into it. He stepped closer to the pinkette, kneeling in front of her which caused her to back away against the wall of her cell. Her body tensed up, her breathing hitched as he got closer to her. He could see her moving wasn't relaxed nor natural just yet.

"I know exactly what I'm doing." He smirked. "And if you want to live, this is the only place you'll be safe in."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Sakura snapped, her eyes staring into the black ones right in front of her. She felt like she couldn't breathe properly, not when he was that close to her. Her words caused him to sneer, which confused Sakura.

"There's a price on your head. All of your heads." He brushed his fingers through his dark silky hair. "You would've been dead by sundown."

The silence and the shocked face of the girl in front of him indicated that she had absolutely no idea of what he was talking about. She was frozen, her heart sunk and there was suddenly a hole in the middle of her core just sucking her in. She couldn't believe what he was saying, he had to be lying. Right?

"And you didn't even know?" Even Sasuke was slightly surprised. "You've really gotten yourself into trouble, princess."

Before she'd even managed to register what he'd called her, Sasuke reached his hand out and roughly pushed her neck to the side. As her pink locks moved, they revealed the tattoo-like birthmark that she'd hid her whole life. Emerald eyes glistened as someone outside of her immediate family caught a glimpse of her most precious and private marking. He graced the mark, tracing the outline with his index finger. It was shaped like a flower and the way it suited her was absolutely mesmerizing.

Sakura flinched when he touched her. She violently shook her head and pushed him away. "You're lying."

Sasuke smirked at the girl's reaction, but pulled his hand back from her neck. "I have no reason to lie, just as you have no reason not to believe me."

The pinkette raised a questioning brow. "So getting chased, kidnapped and beaten up aren't good enough reasons?"

Sasuke had to admit, the girl did have a point.

"And you tried to kill me," Sakura said accusingly, just adding to the list of reasons why not to trust strangers.

"You attacked first, so that's on you," Sasuke shot her accusations down with a shrug. "And I wasn't trying to kill you. If I was, you wouldn't be here sweetheart."

"Well if you know who I am then release me," Sakura demanded, bluntly staring at him. She knew that there were little to no chances of getting out now that she'd basically screamed at him and looked like a total idiot, but eh, it was worth a shot. What else could she have said in her situation?

Sasuke immediately stood up and walked out of the pinkette's cell, leaving the door wide open. "Well get up then."

He walked a few steps outside of the cell and looked over his shoulder if she'd follow him. Sakura on the other hand was absolutely baffled that he'd just complied to her demands, he just walked out and let her go. Her legs trembled as she tried to stand up.

"Why should I trust you?"

"You shouldn't," Sasuke coldly answered. "But you should know that we have no intentions of giving you precious little princesses back, so the only safe place for you is here."

And with that, he turned away from her and walked over to the door. Only in the doorway did he turn around to look at her again, not exactly surprised to see her standing in the very spot she'd been standing before. The fact that she was actually standing however did surprise him. Her body was shaking as she was feeling the aftermath of everything that had happened to her. Sasuke was almost impressed by her willpower.

"Or if you want to stay here I can lock the door again and have someone bring you food every now and then," Sasuke shrugged, intentionally teasing the pinkette. "If you'd like that more than washing up and changing clothes."

"I didn't say that." Sakura was just plain pissed now. She marched past him, her legs shaky. The arrogance of just this one person had her boiling inside, which is probably why she wasn't focusing on looking in front of her and tripped on the first step of the staircase she oh-so confidently had marched in. She closed her eyes and inhaled quickly, her body awaiting for the impact. Suddenly feeling pulled back, she realized that he had actually grabbed her arm and pulled her back to her feet.

"Could you not be such a clutz and just walk up the stairs please. It would be unfortunate if you died before giving anyone the chance to kill you because you managed to snap your own neck first," Sasuke said. He brushed up against her body as he passed her in the narrow stairway, continuing his way up the stairs and leaving the pinkette behind.

"Hey! Don't leave me here!" Sakura yelled, clearly annoyed and sprinted up the stairs hoping that she wouldn't actually fall and snap her neck.

The bastard would have a field day if she did.

❦ Goddess of Glam