Chapter eight: You're safe now
Sakura followed the dark haired man around the wide corridors. Her eyes were glued to her surroundings, as she marveled at the beautiful architecture of the building. Even the big windows and the astonishing view, the glossy marble floor with a burgundy carpet in the middle of most of the corridors – everything was grabbing her attention and she couldn't even pick where to look at anymore. But for a while now she had been wondering where she was. She couldn't have been in a castle, right? Why would she be in a castle? The architecture and the view, everything was pointing to it. But there was no way. She couldn't have possibly been taken back to her kingdom, could she?
"No. That wouldn't make any sense," she quietly murmured to herself.
"Did you say something?" Sasuke asked her, glancing over his shoulder. This alarmed Sakura, because she hadn't realized she'd been talking out loud, she didn't even think her whisper had been audible.
"N-no, nothing!" the pinkette tried her best to sound convincing, and apparently succeeded since he just turned his gaze away from her, acting like nothing had even happened. Her eyes were now on him. She watched his legs move as he walked, his back and his physique overall. He was tall, well-built and she could occasionally see the chiseled jawline that matched his picturesque features. His hair was sleek and black, but slightly spiked from the back. Sakura had to really distract herself from comparing it to the behind of a chicken. For a while they continued to walk in dead silence, and that was fine with Sakura, until her curiosity got the best of her.
"Umm, now that we're out of that dungeon-ish place, would you mind telling me where I am and where can I find my friends?" Sakura carefully asked, breaking the silence.
"You and your friends are in the Western kingdom of what you would probably call the dark side. This castle is for diplomatic meetings between the four royal families, but we just mostly spend time here," Sasuke explained, keeping his eyes straight on where he was going. "And what comes to your friends, they should be around here somewhere. Shikamaru mentioned something about taking them to the bathing area outside to get themselves cleaned up."
Knowing that her friends were alright made Sakura feel more at ease. She'd woken up alone, in a cell, which lead her imagination to the darkest corners of her mind where she didn't like her thoughts being. Next up on her worry list - she was still on the dark side and, yes she had guessed correctly, in a castle. What was that about? Sakura was very confused by everything going on around her. Who were the people who kidnapped them and why were they in a castle in the dark side?
"So," Sakura tried to keep the conversation going as she had even more questions to ask now. "Is this 'we' you're talking about you and your kidnapper friends who dragged us here against our will?"
Within a second Sakura felt herself being forcefully pushed against a wall with the dark haired man's body just inches away from hers. She had known he was tall, but what she'd thought of didn't match the figure now towering over her. He was overall bigger than her, the muscles in his arms showing through the shirt he was wearing as he pushed her to the wall by her shoulders. He was deeply staring into her emerald eyes with his cold onyx ones, drilling into her soul. Sakura felt like she could've drowned in the blackness of them, even though the rough edges of the beautiful carvings on that specific part of the wall pushing into the skin of her back.
"You and your friends should be grateful. When are you going to get that through your thick skull? If we wouldn't have found you first, somebody else would've and you would've died before sundown. We don't expect you to like what happened, but if you want to stay alive, you shouldn't insult the people who essentially saved your precious royal asses," Sasuke angrily hissed to the girl, his face only inches away from hers. In the heat of the moment he hadn't realized exactly how forceful he'd been with her, holding her tightly to the wall. He quickly composed himself, pulling his hands away from the girl. Good thing she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, because he didn't want to see the marks he'd unintentionally left on her body.
"Let's go," he coldly spoke and started walking, trying to act like that moment never happened. He didn't want to think about it, he'd lost his temper and Sasuke Uchiha never lost his damn temper. The fact that this ungrateful princess managed to get such a reaction out of him was bordering on humiliating. And even still, a small part of him felt bad for hurting her even if he hadn't meant to do so.
Even when he let her go, Sakura had a hard time just bouncing back from the situation that had just happened. The rush of emotions she'd gone through in that short amount of time had her holding back tears. It wasn't that she was seriously injured, it was more the confrontation. She hadn't meant to be malicious or greatly insult anyone, but the reaction she saw was that he interpreted it in a way she hadn't meant it. But ultimately he was right. If things were as he said they were, he and his friends, even if they did chase them down and kidnap them, they did save them from potentially even more lethal threats.
Sakura gently rubbed her shoulders. Even though the adrenaline rushing through her veins took some of the pain away, but she would be sore for a while. She pulled the stretchy fabric of her neckline upwards and away from her body, before having a peek at her left shoulder. She had red marks and some bruising, but nothing too bad. It would definitely hurt more and look worse by the end of the day. Sakura lifted her gaze up and searched for the dark haired man, who was already way ahead of her.
'Damn, he's fast,' Sakura thought while sprinting in an effort of catching up to him.
"Go wash up, you look horrible," Sasuke spoke out to the princess, looking at her for the first time since the little event between them occurred. They had been absolutely silent after that, neither of them saying a word. He pointed her to the wooden doors that lead to the bathing area outside, not explaining it any further. When he saw Sakura glance at the doors, he came to the conclusion that she was fine on her own and walked away from the girl.
Sakura stayed put. Only after he was completely out of her sight did she have the courage to move away from the spot he'd left her in. Carefully she tiptoed to the doors and hesitantly opened them, not sure of what to expect. She was met by a pleasant, warm looking room and the distant sounds of females speaking sparked hope inside of her chest. She quickly entered and had a look around the room, scanning it through. It was a mix between a lounging area and a dressing room, but after everything she'd been through within the last 72 hours, she didn't find herself giving a flying fuck about the décor of the room whatsoever.
The voices got louder the farther she walked into the room. Her eyes were fixed on the closed twin doors that were straight across the room from her. She was absolutely certain that was where the voices were coming from. But even if she was certain, she carefully walked across the room, as if she was afraid that something would jump at her. She didn't hesitate to push the twin doors open, breathing in the fresh air that greeted her. She was almost relieved to get out of the room, even if wasn't anything there
The steamy, humid air warmed her skin. It was a nice, fresh change from the stuffy air inside and immediately lifted her mood. She felt at ease, her body relaxing part by part as she breathed the fresh air. Next her emerald eyes were on the small staircase that lead down to only what she could describe as a secret garden. The tropical colourful flowers, the fauna in general and the humid air excited Sakura as much as they confused her. Why were they there? She hadn't ever heard of such a climate existing anywhere in Quifilia.
She spread her arms wide, bathing in the sunlight and letting it hit her face. The sky was blue again, not a single cloud anywhere to be seen. Everything around her was absolutely gorgeous and she hadn't even gotten into the actual garden. She brushed the tips of her fingers against the waxy leaves of a large bush covered in delicate white flowers that climbed up the wall next to the staircase. The sweet scent of the flowers filled her nostrils, intoxicating the pinkette even further. For the first time in a long time, she was relaxed. She felt at ease. In that moment, everything was fine again.
Now she had the capacity to turn her attention into the garden itself. Her green eyes brushed over the amazing view, settling into the sparkling blue water that tempted her to get in. When she suddenly spotted two familiar faces in the water her eyes sparkled out of joy. She kicked off boots, leaving them behind as she swiftly descended the staircase and sprinted towards her friends.
"Sakura!" Ino gasped in surprise, her face instantly brightening from the happy reunion. She was in the pool with Tenten, trying to wash all of the blood off of the poor girl's skin. Well, it wasn't exactly a pool. It was somewhere between a hot spring and a pool, but the definition of a hot spring seemed more appropriate.
"Ino! Tenten!" Sakura felt so happy she could've cried as she reached the end of the cut grass, Ino reaching to touch her hand from the pool.
Suddenly the skin between the pinkette's brows wrinkled. "You're in a pool?"
She was alone in a dungeon while they were here relaxing and bathing in this gorgeous garden? That would be the definition of unfair.
Ino rubbed the back of her neck, awkwardly trying to smile. But the pinkette's jealousy only lasted for a couple of seconds. When she saw Tenten all of her other thoughts vanished. The girl was in a bad condition. She was in the shallower end of the hot spring half sitting half floating. But even if she looked bad, it still wasn't the worst Sakura had seen of her. She was bruised all over and had some shallow looking cuts on her arms and torso. Her hair was down, it was all tangled up and had dried blood on it. Yummy.
Tenten saw the worried, analyzing face Sakura was making while looking at her and waved her hand like it was nothing.
"I'll survive. It's not like I haven't been through worse," Tenten reassured, smiling to the pink princess. It was true, she would be banged up for a while, but the damage was mostly cosmetic.
Sakura felt a faint smile forming on her lips. "I'll have a look at you later and we'll see what I can do."
Now it was Ino's turn to face Sakura. Her eyebrows were back to being furrowed, her both hands resting on her hips. She wanted an explanation from the blonde, who firstly owned her one and secondly knew more about what was happening than her.
Ino noted the questioning look the pinkette was giving her. "After we woke up in the dungeon place, one of the guys, the pineapple-haired one, led us here and said that we could get Tenten cleaned up. We haven't been here much longer than you, somewhere around half an hour," Ino explained, pointing to the girl who still had smeared blood on her skin. "BUT we've only been in the pool for like ten minutes."
That addition was very much necessary.
"Leave your clothes inside and get in," Ino encouraged her friend, motioning her to go inside. She was holding a small sponge that she'd used to clean blood off of Tenten's skin. It was now a deep cardinal color, but she was going to need help if they were going to get the rest of the blood off of her plus her wounds cleaned.
Sakura nodded in response. The relief and happiness that reuniting with her friends brought her gave her new energy. But before she went back inside, she looked around her. She felt something missing from the situation. Something was missing and she just couldn't get what it was.
And then she finally realized.
"Where's Hinata?"
Hinata felt like she'd woken up from a terrible nightmare. Her eyes shot open and she instantly jolted up from laying down into a sitting position. Her heart was racing a mile a minute, her body ached and she had no idea where she was. She was completely drained of energy and it was a miracle she was even up and awake after the day she'd had. Her vision was blurry and a pounding head ache rippled through her skull.
Her blurry eyes slowly started to see things, the first thing she could focus her gaze on being her feet that were neatly laid next to each other on a soft bed. She felt slightly fuzzy, like her mind was clouded and she couldn't get her thought process started. In her dazed state she stroked the velvety fabric of the duvet that covered the large bed she was sitting on. Slowly her vision and mind started to sharpen and she started to look around the room she was in. Deducting from the bed, it was a bedroom. Quite a large one in size, much like hers but obviously not hers.
The high ceiling had a bright, sparkling chandelier dangling from the middle of it. Most of the lighting in the room came through the giant windows almost taking up a whole wall and bounced off from the cream coloured walls. The marble floor had an enormous royal blue carpet in the middle of it and blue theme was continued by matching drapes. Overall the room was full of light and well-decorated, with an intoxicating smell lingering in the air.
Then she was met with the most dazzling blue eyes she'd ever seen. Hinata blatantly stared at the man they belonged to. His perfect complexion and shiny blonde hair, his effortless position. Even the light coming from the windows behind him gave him an angelic glow. He was sitting in an armchair not too far away from her, his chin resting on his palm and his eyes on her.
"You woke up," he spoke calmly, careful not to spook the just woken up princess since she was obviously not feeling the best. "Are you feeling alright?"
Hinata didn't know what to say. Hell, she couldn't even get a word out of her mouth. She was completely overwhelmed by the situation she was in. The last thing she remembered was running for her life and then after being captured just blacking out. And now she woke up to this? With a gorgeous man softly speaking to her who most likely was the one person she was trying to run away from? Not the easiest thing to wake up to.
"Uhh.." she managed to get out of her mouth.
The man smiled at her. "Just calm down, it's okay."
Hinata drew in a breath and closed her eyes.
"I'm exhausted, absolutely terrified and in a room with a person who previously tried to kill me. But other than that, I'm doing just fine."
Apparently Hinata was still feeling a little foggy, because even she was surprised by the words that came out of her mouth. She rarely ever was that straight forward with anyone ever, and the fact that she blurted out such a thing in a situation like this was unheard of for her.
The blonde man was not expecting to get such an answer from the girl's mouth and didn't know any other way to answer it but with a nervous laugh. He kneaded the back of his head, not really knowing what else to answer to her.
The blue haired princess looked at his sheepish expression. Was this really the same guy who'd chased her in the forest?
But before she could get an answer from the man, realization hit her.
She gasped, her eyes widening to the size of dinner plates. "Where are my friends? Are they okay? Oh god I have to find them!" Hinata abruptly threw her legs off of the bed, trying to get off as quickly as she could, but the second her feet touched the ground all of the feeling in her legs was gone. She let out a whimpering 'yelp' as she watched the world around her spin.
"Don't!"
The blonde launched into a sprint when he saw the girl on the bed move and caught her before she could hit the floor. He held her his arms like a delicate flower, carefully laying her down back on to the bed as if she was going to break.
"You shouldn't be moving this quickly, you still need to rest for a bit more. Your friends are okay and safe, they are here and being taken care of," he tried to calm the poor girl down the best he could. Slowly her body relaxed and her breathing slowed down. Thank god her friends were okay. She wouldn't know what to do without them.
The blonde sat on the bed beside the blue haired princess, but was careful not to touch her. She was clearly confused and scared, and after what had happened, what she had made happen, in the forest he didn't want to get on her bad side.
"I'm not going to hurt you or your friends, I promise," he reassured, gesturing her to lay back down. "And I never break my promises."
Hinata slowly nodded to him, as if she was capable of giving a better answer to him. She didn't move away when he sat down next to her on the bed, and even if she'd wanted to she wouldn't have had the strength to do so. Now he was way closer to her than before. She breathed in the intoxicating smell and cursed in her mind. It was his scent.
'Why does he have to smell so good..'
"I'm sorry that I scared you before," he tried to apologize to her, not really being able to look her in the eye and avoiding her gaze. "It's just that if we wouldn't have found you and brought you here, you would've been found by somebody else and that would've been very bad for you.."
Hinata stared at him, confused by his words. "Why?"
Now it was his turn to look into her eyes. From up close he could see that they weren't only pearly white, but had an unusual hue of lavender that complemented the dark blue tone of her hair. For some reason he just couldn't stop looking at her. Even if she looked slightly disheveled, he would've been lying if he said that she wasn't one of the most gorgeous women he'd ever seen.
It wasn't easy for him to tell her why. He found himself holding back the words, but he wanted her to know the truth why they took them out of the forest.
"Because we know who you are," he admitted, letting the words just fall out of his mouth.
Hinata was completely surprised. This person whom she'd never met before knew who she was. She could feel her heart beat faster and she quickly drew in a breath, knowing that she was now completely exposed. The slight protection that hiding her identity had given her was now gone.
"S-so you know I'm..." Hinata stammered, trying her best to get the words out of her mouth and terribly failing at it.
"A princess, yes," he finished her sentence for her. "Your kingdoms have announced you as fugitives and there's a price on your heads. If you're returned alive, you would suffer the consequences of treachery back in your kingdoms and most likely face whatever you ran away from in the first place."
Tears pooled in her eyes as she listened to his words. Something inside of her that had amazingly kept her together until now just snapped, tears falling down to her cheeks. She felt exposed, she felt broken. Her family first wanted to force her into something she didn't want and had now disowned her for doing the only thing she could to rebel against that. They would get her back and force her into a marriage even if there was a chance that she was killed in the process.
He saw her slowly break down, and without thinking much about it he wrapped his arms around the slender girl. "But because you're here with us on our side, we have no obligations to return you."
For a second Hinata thought about pushing him away, but the warm embrace left the girl in such a shock that she couldn't move. More tears fell down her fair cheeks, she had entered a state of mind where she didn't care anymore.
He didn't expect her to lean against him, burying her face into his chest. He could head soft sniffles as she quietly started to sob. He understood the girl, he'd seen the hurt in her eyes that explained her pain to him better than she could with words. He instinctively held the fragile girl in his arms, as if she was made out of glass and would break if he touched her the tiniest bit too roughly.
Hinata let tears stream down her face, choking down the desire to just scream. Muffled cries filled the room as she clung to the only material she could, which was the shirt her face was pressed up against. She looked like a mess, she felt like a mess and was completely messed up in every other way possible. The fact that she was being comforted by an absolute stranger didn't even cross her mind anymore. She only felt the comfort that the arms wrapped around her gave her.
The blonde rested his chin on the top of her head and quietly hushed her soft cries. One of his arms was wrapped around her sobbing figure, while the other one softly stroked her back. He was as baffled by the situation as much as she was, but he understood that the most irrational things could happen when females were upset. He closed his eyes and patiently listened to the upset girl.
"It's okay, you and your friends are safe now. No one can find you here, you'll be safe here. Nothing can hurt you here and anything like that will never happen to you again, I'll make sure of it," he comforted her in a hushed tone, her cries quieting down over time.
She felt broken. She was exhausted, alone and scared. But in this odd situation, he was making her feel better. He, who chased her in the woods. He, who she was sure was going to kill her. And apparently by kidnapping her and her friends, they had actually saved their lives from getting killed or taken back to their own kingdoms.
They stayed like that for a while, Hinata just resting herself against his chest and having his arms wrapped around her. She didn't mind him being so close to her anymore. She breathed in his scent every time she took a breath, which started to feel comforting. Finally she parted her face from the soft fabric of his shirt, looking at the darkened spot on his shirt that was now dampened by her tears.
"I'm sorry.." she quietly whispered, ashamed of herself. She tried to back away from him, but he held her in place and looked down at her.
"It's okay," He kindly smiled to her. "Nothing to apologize about."
Everything that he'd said he'd meant one hundred percent. He'd assured her that she was safe, but where exactly was she safe? And who was this person who made her feel safe, who comforted her, and absolute stranger, when she broke down.
Hinata took a while to gather herself, wiping tears away from her eyes and face. He brushed the stray blue hairs away from her face, looking at her. She felt captivated by the pair of azure orbs staring into her lavender ones, like she could drown in their blueness.
"Are you feeling better?"
Only after she'd answered by a nod did his arms entangle from around her and pull away. She almost missed the warm embrace, but was met with an equally warm smile that made the skin behind her neck tingle.
"Where am I?" Hinata's hushed voice peeped out. Her eyes wandered around the decorative room.
He knew that question was coming based on the fact that he stood up from the bed in all his glory and his lips curved into a slight smirk.
"You are in the Western kingdom of what you like to refer to as "the dark side". This castle was built for the diplomatic meetings between the four royal families, but since there is never any need to use it for diplomatic purposes, me and the guys just stay here."
Hinata looked around. That would most definitely explain why the room she was in looked like this. So she was in a castle, that was nice. The fact that there were only a handful of people who were allowed access to this castle made her feel slightly more comfortable, safer in a way. But who in the world was he then?
Before she could even open her mouth, he knew what she was about to ask.
"And me? My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I am the crown prince of the Northern kingdom, milady," he revealed, playfully bowing to her.
Hinata was shocked to say the least. If she wasn't so surprised, she would've probably laughed at his playful formality. So the person who had kidnapped slash saved her and then comforted her, was basically the last person whom she'd ever thought would do that. He was her mortal enemy, but didn't match anything that she'd been told about the royals of the dark side.
"Prove it."
Naruto decisively sat back down onto the bed and turned around so that she could have a clear look at the back of his neck. Hinata was amazed by the completely black, delicate birthmark that decorated his skin. Every royal in Quifilia possessed a mark, it was the mark of royal blood.
Hinata reached out to trace the small star with her slender fingertips.
So he was cute and a prince. Dang.
"I guess you looked at mine too?"
Naruto sheepishly nodded, turning so that he was facing her again. In a way Hinata felt violated, since the mark was something only to be seen by your immediate family and no one else. It was something personal, something that would only have meaning to the person who carried it. But she understood, it was the only way to actually confirm the identity of a royal.
"It's a water droplet," he spoke out, lips curving into a smile. "The only difference between ours is that while our marks are completely filled in, yours are only outlines of things."
In Hinata's mind it made sense. Black and skin coloured, dark and light. There was a divide between the royals just as there was divide between the nations.
"Now, if you don't mind me asking, what is your name? You know mine so it's only fair if I know yours," Naruto grinned, brushing his fingers through his spiky blonde hair. The warmth of his expression caused Hinata's lips to curve into a soft smile. It was the first time he'd seen her smile.
"Hinata," she answered, her mood slowly being lifted by the blonde prince.
"Well in that case Hinata," he started his sentence and did something that Hinata did not see coming. He lifted her up from the bed, one arm supporting her back and another one behind her knees. Once again another yelp escaped the princess' lips and she was startled by the sudden lifting. She didn't know what to say or how to react exactly.
"We should probably go and find your friends so that you can make sure everyone is okay."
Hinata nodded to his proposal, agreeing to it. The sudden closeness of their bodies caused her normally pale cheekbones to be dusted with a rosy tint. She felt the heat on her face and tried to look away from his well-framed face.
Naruto looked down at the girl who was persistently trying to avoid his gaze. He smirked at the girl's reaction when he caught a glimpse of her flushed skin. She was no doubt surprised by his actions, but he couldn't let her walk yet. She didn't have the strength or energy to walk, so if he carried her there would be no need to worry about that.
"You can wrap your arms around my neck for support, if you want to," Naruto added as he walked out of the bedroom, holding Hinata in his arms. Quietly her slender arms sneaked around his neck and Naruto smiled when he felt her body slowly relaxing. Shikamaru had said something about getting the hurt girl washed up and he'd seen him take the girls to the hot spring outside, so that was where he was headed.
❦ Goddess of Glam