Chapter nine: I'll make it work

Hinata's eyes fluttered, her heart racing and skin tingling from the places he touched her. She wasn't in her element, having a gorgeous man carry her in his arms from one place to another. That wasn't something you'd just casually get to experience every day.

Not even as a princess.

The blue haired princess wasn't sure if she was able to breathe yet. She'd felt the tightness in her chest as long as he'd been holding her, but wasn't sure how long she'd actually held her breath. The flashing lights and blurry vision seemed to indicate that maybe for a little too long.

So she deeply inhaled, her lungs filling with the masculine yet oddly sweet fragrance that belonged to the prince currently holding her. The way she was reacting to him was bothering her. He was an absolute stranger AND her mortal enemy by blood. She'd met the guy only a few hours before, talked to him once only after he'd kidnapped slash saved her and then had him comfort her after absolutely just breaking down at the worst time. And now this man – prince – was holding her awkward figure against his chest, because she was too exhausted to be allowed to walk on her own.

Oh great.

She didn't necessarily agree with him, but she did feel weak. So weak that she couldn't walk? Maybe, maybe not, but since she didn't get a single word of protest out of her mouth. She'd just nodded, and he'd walked out of the room. It had been quick and that simple. The situation was bizarre and mind-boggling, but she couldn't exactly complain. He was absolutely gorgeous.

The blue-haired princess didn't know what to feel exactly. Her arms were around the blond prince's neck, the tips of her fingers brushing up against his spiky, yet silky soft strands of hair.

He had chased down in the forest, taken her with him, then comforted her and now he was doing this? But no, what had seemed like a kidnapping had turned out to be him and his friends saving her and her friends, who would've most likely either been killed or taken back to their kingdoms where the consequences were most likely worse than just being killed for money. Added to this, she had run away and was now a traitor. Guess she wouldn't be welcome back for the holidays.

Dear god had she had a strange few days.

"Y-you can put me down now, if you're tired. I know I can be heavy," Hinata quietly murmured, her tone laced with slight embarrassment.

Naruto turned his eyes to her, looking directly into her lavender eyes. "Who told you that?"

"No one, I just.." Hinata tried to say, but was cut off when she saw Naruto raise his eyebrows, clearly amused.

"Your perception of heavy is completely different from mine," the blonde prince chuckled as he carried her down the hallway. Now Hinata was clearly embarrassed. The tops of her cheeks felt hot as she started to blush, her lips pursing together.

"I-I think I can walk now, " Hinata tried again a few minutes later. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the moment. It was the most fairytale princess experience she'd ever had – having her saviour prince carry her down the beautiful hallways of his castle. But she constantly felt hot and couldn't breathe when he held her so close. She felt self-conscious for having him carry her all the way to what seemed to be the other side of the castle. She wouldn't call herself a burden, but that's what she felt like. Then her eyes met with his dazzling blue ones, a small smile curving his lips.

"Nope, you're way too weak and I'm not gonna watch you hurt yourself. Don't worry, we'll be there soon anyway."

Naruto studied Hinata's face, looking for some clues as to what she was thinking about, dragging his eyes down her figure. It was a habit of his. Spending most of the time he had with three guys, from which two were mute and one constantly asleep, it didn't exactly spark a conversation. So studying their movements and expressions was most likely the only way he could see what was going on with them. They were boring, but at least he knew what they were thinking. But her he just couldn't figure out.

Hinata didn't say anything, she wasn't able to. She was mesmerized by the sparkling blue orbs that were locked with her own. Naruto clearly saw and knew that she was exhausted, way more exhausted that she would ever admit.

Then he redirected his gaze from her face to the long hallway he was currently walking in.

"Why are you doing this?"

It was the third time she'd spoken to him after they left the bedroom he'd placed her to wake up in. Her soft voice matched the softness of her other features. Even when all of the muscles of her body were tensed up and she wasn't breathing properly, she still managed to sound and look like an angel to the blonde prince.

"What exactly?" Naruto flashed a grin to the dark haired princess in his arms. Hinata once again felt the familiar heat rise up to her face, so she quickly turned her gaze away, coming to the conclusion that the light coloured walls were interesting enough for her to stare at them.

"You know," she spoke, twirling a strand of hair around her right index finger out of nervousness. Naruto could feel her breathing again, as her chest gently pressed against him.

"Being so nice to me."

Naruto thought about the words that came out of the blue haired woman's mouth. He really had to think about them. There was no real reason for him to act this way. It was a good question that even he didn't know the answer to.

"I had a feeling."

A silence fell between the two. The only sounds to be heard were Naruto's steps on the glossy marble floor and their breathing. And they stayed that way all the way to the same wooden twin doors that all of her friends had encountered before her.

Which Hinata of course wasn't aware of.

Naruto gently laid her feet on the ground, slowly detaching himself from her, making sure she was able to stand. Hinata released her arms from around his neck and looked at the smirk he had on his face. For a man who had chased and kidnapped her, he wasn't half bad. He could've killed her, but he didn't. His actions spoke louder than words, he was gentle and understanding. He wasn't anything like what she'd been told about the royals of the dark side. And since she wasn't leaving any time soon, considering her being a fugitive and all that, she would have some time to figure him out.

That was if her friends hadn't concocted a plan of escaping, of course.

"Hinata?"

The familiar, kind voice snapped her out of her thoughts. He'd apparently been talking to her, but she'd just spaced out and not heard a single thing he'd said. Hinata felt herself tense up again when she snapped out of her thoughts. This wasn't the type of behavior that was tolerated from her at home – ex-home.

"Huh?" she reacted, instantly regretting the unintelligent sounding voice that just escaped her lips.

Her reaction caused the blonde's lips curve into a warm smile.

"I said that go through those doors", he pointed at the wooden twin doors, "and you'll get to a dressing room. Your friends should already be there waiting for you, so just go through the next door, stairs down and you should find them there."

Hinata returned his smile with a shy curve to her own lips.

"Thank you." It was more of a whisper, but Naruto heard it perfectly clearly.

"You're very welcome," he answered smiling. Hinata liked his smile, it was warm and reassuring.

"I'll send someone to give you clean clothes and escort you to lunch after you're finished. But, if you'll excuse me, I have something to take care of before that," Naruto spoke politely, just how he was taught to speak to women by his mother. With his friends it was different, it was casual and not formal at all, but considering the situation, it felt appropriate. Her being a princess and all.

"Princess," he playfully bowed to her again, causing Hinata to quietly giggle and turned away to walk back the way they came. Soon he was out of her sight. Hinata stood there for a while, just going through today's events in her mind and what had just happened.

She then proceeded to slap herself on the forehead. Hard.

"God, Hinata! Why are you like this?" she angrily scolded herself, as she entered the room he had pointed her to.

"Hinata!" three loud voices called out in unison as the blue haired princess entered the garden. She hadn't even got herself out of the doorway before her friends already cheerfully knew of her presence. It was just like Naruto had said, they were all here waiting for her.

With a huge smile splattered across her face she walked over to her friends, who were now all swimming in the warm water.

"Where were you?" Sakura asked after she'd walked over to the edge of the hot spring, resting her chin on her right palm.

Hinata raised a questioning eyebrow. "What do you mean where was I?"

"Ino said you were in the dungeon whatever-place when she and Tenten left, but when I woke up you were gone!" Sakura explained, looking at the now very confused princess, who had no idea what just came out of her mouth.

Hinata just blatantly stared at her pink haired friend. What the hell was she talking about?

"What."

It was a statement, not a question. Hinata did not have any idea what dungeon they were talking about and she sure did not know about being in one. So what was this dungeon they were talking about? She'd blacked out in the forest and woke up in a bedroom. She didn't know anything to have happened between those two points in time. So where the hell had she and her friends been while she'd been unconscious.

The three other princesses blinked at her, not saying anything. A silence feel among the four princesses, Hinata staring down at the ones in the water and all of them staring right back at her. The confused looks on their faces gave away that their communication skills weren't exactly pulling through.

Hinata sighed, kneading her forehead with her index finger's knuckle. She would have to explain this further.

"I woke up in a bedroom and have no recollection of being in any sort of a dungeon. So what the hell are you guys talking about?"

There was another moment of silence, the three princesses now blatantly staring at Hinata with mouths hanging open. Hinata didn't even know what to say, so she just blinked and came to the conclusion that they didn't need to know about anything else, not with the looks they were giving her. So she kept her mouth shut about the rest of the events.

Which was smart because she would feel the wrath of her friends rain upon her.

All of the three princesses started violently splashing water on her at the same exact time. Hinata let out a cry for help as she tried shielding her face with her arms. Even as she tried to move, somehow they still managed to get water all over her. It didn't matter how she screamed or tried to get away from the splashing of water, they still managed to get her.

How could her own element betray her like this?

"You're going to pay for this!" Ino yelled, splashing huge amounts of water in a fit of jealous rage on the poor girl.

"We wake up in a cell and you were in a fucking bed?!" Sakura screamed, fire glistening in her emerald eyes. She'd woken up alone in a cold cell and got harassed while everyone else was either in a pool or a bed. The definition of unfair just got better and better.

Only when Hinata was absolutely soaked, they finally stopped. Water dripped down onto her face from the tips of her hair stands. She was drenched from head to toe, her hair and clothes dripping wet. And Hinata just stood there like the victim she was. What the hell was her day become?

"What the hell guys?!"

Well, eventually Hinata got into the bath too after everything calmed down. They all spent a well-deserved while just soaking in the warm water, breathing in the fresh air and smell of the exotic flowers. Ino had picked up different soaps, shampoos and lotions for them to try out, which eventually worked out great because they managed to get all the blood off of Tenten's body and hair.

The rest of the girls also came to the conclusion that they were also in need of some serious hair therapy, so everyone came out of the hot spring fresh, squeaky clean and smelling amazing. It was a nice change from the sweat and dirt they'd accumulated on themselves over the past 72 or more hours.

They ended up just wrapping themselves in the white soft towels and bath robes, and settled on sitting down on the sofas and armchairs that were neatly placed around the mahogany coffee table.

"Okay so, what the hell is going on?" Sakura was interested to hear what the rest of her friends knew, resting her head against the back of the soft armchair.

"Well the most important thing is that we're not back home," Tenten pointed out, the others vigorously nodding their heads in agreement.

"Yep, from what I was told we're in the Western kingdom of the dark side, in some sort of a diplomatic castle," Hinata told them, tucking a few loose hairstrands back into the towel wrap around her head.

"And they know who we are," Sakura announced, grazing her fingers over the red marks on her shoulders. Now she should have enough energy to take a look at Tenten's injuries and maybe the rest of theirs after that.

Ino's eyes jumped when she heard Sakura. "And is that why they took us?"

"Yup."

"Yes."

"Most likely."

But the fact that they knew who they were absolutely screwed with their plans of pretending to be normal. Nope, that cat was out of the bag and any plans with pretending to not be a princess went out of the window.

"But do we exactly know who they are?" Tenten tried to bounce back from the knowledge that their plans were now pretty much useless.

"Yup," Hinata pressed her lips together, her tone absolutely humourless and trying to hold back any thoughts from before. "The blonde one is a prince."

"And the one with the pineapple hair as well," Ino quickly added, remembering the moment he'd just ever so casually smirked and left her and Tenten just standing there with their mouths open.

"So two of the four are definitely princes?" Sakura clarified, earning nods from the other three. "Well, considering that at least the one I was captured by has powers, he's most likely royal as well. So it would be safe to assume that all four of them are at least royal."

Hinata agreed with her pink haired friend's reasoning, nodding her head as an answer. She clearly remembered the way the blonde prince had talked about his friends just spending time in the castle. The fact that they were all members of the royal families fit into the picture quite well if not perfectly. Just like the princesses were friends, maybe the princes were too.

Tenten sighed. She was laying on her back on one of the couches and stared at the ceiling as if there was actually something interesting to watch. "Well how do we get out of here then?"

Sakura was almost about to answer, but the blue haired princess beat her to it. "We don't."

This got Ino and Tenten to look at her, clearly confused. Sakura was slightly more on top of the situation, as she remembered the remark about there being a prince for their heads.

Again, Hinata needed to explain. "Our kingdoms have marked us as traitors and there is a price for our heads. Knowing my family and yours as well, it is absolutely pointless whether or not we're returned dead or alive. The word has spread on the dark side, so we can't just go about walking away on this side either. Right now, we can't leave."

Ino blinked for a few times, her confusion slowly turning into frustration. "So that's it? We just stay here?!"

The blonde princess had a point. Did they really run away just to be prisoners in another castle?

"Well they did kind of save us," Hinata shyly mumbled, not knowing what kind of a response she would get.

"They knew that if anyone else were to discover our identities, we would've most likely been killed on sight. And since we're on the dark side, and they hold the absolute power here, they have zero obligations to return us," Hinata tried to explain, her eyes drawn to the warm flames of the fireplace.

'Who has a fireplace on in the middle of a summery day?' she thought to herself.

"And I've been promised that we're safe here."

Now Hinata here had some interesting knowledge that interested the other girls.

Sakura raised a questioning brow. "Who promised you that?"

"Uhh.." Hinata's pale skin went from white to a blushing rose in a nanosecond. "O-one of the princes."

"Ooh she's blushing AND stuttering, this is going to be delicious!" Ino squealed and moved closer to the blue haired princess, her eyes glittering from curiosity.

Sakura was also very curious, Tenten didn't care that much but did turn to Hinata for an explanation. Hinata avoided the glances of her friends by staring at and tapping the fingertips of her both index fingers together, which eventually was stopped by Ino, who grabbed both her hands and stuck her face right in front of Hinata's.

"Tell us everything," she ordered Hinata, whose face was now as pink as Sakura's hair.

"I-I.." she hesitated, but couldn't keep quiet while Ino's confronting eyes were right in front of her, staring into her soul.

But before Hinata could even open her mouth, the intense questioning of the blue haired princess was interrupted by a careful knocking on the wooden twin doors that they'd previously entered from. Everyone turned to the doors with wide eyes, surprised by the sudden knocking.

"What do we do?" Sakura quietly whispered, referring to the door that wasn't being opened by them nor by the person or people outside. She didn't know whether to be scared or happy that someone was there.

"Yes?" Ino called out, pulling away from Hinata and walking to the twin doors. Now that the blonde princess took some action, everyone was curious as to who was behind those doors and what did they want.

A quiet, hesitant voice peeped out from behind the doors. "I-I was ordered by prince Naruto to bring you some clean clothes."

Ino cracked the doors slightly. She was met by a short woman with sleek silvery hair, who was basically hiding her face behind a tall pile of clothing. The blonde examined the maid, but her lips curved into a warm, polite smile as she opened the door even more, inviting her in.

"Ah. Please, come in." This was the Ino her friends rarely saw. When she wasn't required to act like a princess, she acted regularly with her friends. That's what they knew, that's what they loved about Ino. Her sass, her attitude and everything about her. But the courteous, princess-y side of Ino was something that they almost never saw. They of course knew that they would've all acted the same way, it was just weird being around other princesses doing the same things they were taught to do. When they were together, etiquette and manners weren't the things they thought about. Their friendship was an escape from their everyday lives.

Hesitantly the maid peeked her greyish blue eyes from behind the clothing pile as she walked in. Ino closed the door after she was inside, but she'd stopped walking when Ino turned back to her. Her body was rigid and she looked uncomfortable.

Maybe it was because she was staring at four girls in their bath robes, who were all staring at her in return. Maybe it was not. Who knew what sort of tension four nearly naked women could cause.

"I-I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I was asked to bring you these clothes.." she stammered, her arms shaking as she held the huge pile of clothing in her slender arms.

Sakura immediately got out of her seat and rushed to the girl, taking as many clothes from the top of the pile as she could.

"N-no, you shouldn't have!" the maid tried to protest, but was met with Sakura's warm smile.

"It's okay, I wanted to," the pink princess calmly told her, laying down the pile of clothing on the dark table. The maid held her head down as she nodded and brought the rest of the clothes onto the table.

For a while their hands ventured in the jungle of clothing, pulling chiffon and silk off of each other to uncover more clothing underneath.

"If this castle is only used by the four guys, why in the world are there this many women's clothes?" Ino asked, lifting up a beautiful jewelled dress from the pile of random clothing items. There was everything from astonishingly beautiful gowns to more casual every day wear to even underwear and shoes.

The maid cleared her throat as she looked at the pile of clothing that was now being examined by the four girls, nervously fiddling the hem of her burgundy pleated skirt.

"They are the only clothes we could bring you. They've been left here by women over the years, so pick out what you want," her soft voice was still quiet and her head was still down, as if she was avoiding eye contact the best she could.

"Why would anyone leave such pretty clothes behind?" Sakura wondered, holding a bundle of fabric that resembled a ball gown in her hands. They were all so beautiful and looked expensive, why would anyone leave such pieces behind.

The maid gulped. "Well, the princes…get around, if you understand."

Sakura knew exactly what she was talking about and instantly dropped the clothing item from her hands, now looking at the large amount of clothes with newly found disgust.

"Gross."

"You're saying these were left by.." Ino didn't even feel like finishing her sentence. But that did explain all the underwear that was mixed in with the clothes.

"Y-yes.." the maid shyly responded. "But I hand-washed them for you so they should be all clean!"

Hinata looked at the silver haired maid, confused. "You washed all of these yourself?"

"Yes," she answered with a small nod, earning the blue haired princess' respect.

It was a lot of clothes.

"Even if they're clean, some these are going to need some serious alterations if we don't want to strut around wearing ball gowns," Ino mumbled, closely examining a white dress in her hands.

"You do remember my deep hate for dresses, right?" Tenten asked, mostly reminding her that she most likely wouldn't wear any of the clothing items that were in the pile.

"Mhm, I do," the blonde princess simply replied, placing the white dress aside from the other clothes. She had a plan, she could make it work.

"I'll make it work," she stated and placed her hands on her hips. Her brows furrowed as she closely looked at the clothes she'd sorted and pulled out of the pile. There were poofy skirts, different colours and something sticking out that looked like the heel of a shoe.

Ino handed Hinata a pair of skin tight black shorts that were used as a shield from wandering eyes if one's dress was excessively flowy.

"You take those aaand.." Ino's eyes were intensely searching through the pile.

"This!" Victory gleamed in her blonde eyes as she finally found what she was looking for and handed Hinata the dress she'd been looking for. Hinata looked at the dress, her eyes gliding up and down the piece of fabric that looked way too long for her.

Ino saw how Hinata looked hesitant and waved her hand as she threw the dress to the girl.

"Don't worry, I have a plan."

Suddenly Ino turned to the maid, who hadn't moved an inch after the last time they'd spoken to her. She stood still with her hands neatly placed behind her back, as if she was waiting to be dismissed.

"What's your name?" she kindly asked the maid, who was very surprised by the blonde princess' question.

"Myra, miss."

"Myra." Ino pronounced. It was a beautiful name that fit the silvery haired girl perfectly.

"Would you be so kind as to getting me a pair of scissors and do you have a sewing machine here?"

❦ Goddess of Glam