Ok, yeah, so I've been working on how to continue this story for the past 1,5 years apparently. Seriously, I didn't realize it had been THAT long. 1,5 years? I could've sworn I updated this like 6 months ago. For everyone who thought I was discontinuing the story, I'm so sorry, and here's the next chapter. I will 100% be continuing this and I know what direction the story is heading but I'm still kind of in the middle of putting all my ideas and thoughts into words and compiling them into sentences that aren't a total mess.
Cheers friends, let's continue the journey.
Chapter ten: For as long as we have to
"Oh my god," Hinata breathed as she looked at herself in front of the mirror, bunching up the silky blue fabric in her small hands. It was probably one of her favorite dresses ever, which was odd since the dress Ino had made it from was far from her size and liking.
"You look amazing, Hinata. Wow Ino, I had no idea you're such a seamstress."
Ino smiled contently at her work and nodded a thank you to Sakura. Even though she would get dresses and clothes made by the best from the finest fabrics in the realm, she still liked the art of making clothes. It was her secret hobby. She'd finished their dresses, constructing masterpieces from the pile of clothes Myra had provided them with. Just a couple alterations, a few ripped hems and a complete transformation later, she was finally pleased with the results.
Hinata let her fingertips dance at the high neckline of her midnight blue dress with. It had previously had poofy sleeves that Ino ripped out of the dress in less than two seconds. Now the dress was completely sleeveless and flowed down her petite body, showing off her tiny waist. She had brushed her hair down. Now looking at herself in the mirror it was weird seeing herself without a crown. If she wasn't wearing her tiara she'd usually have some sort of a headband or an accessory in her hair, but now her hair cascaded down past her shoulders without any shiny rocks glittering on top of her head.
"I have no words. Thank you so much," Hinata said, turning to her blonde friend.
Ino waved her thank you away. "Let's get everyone dressed now. Even if our lady's maids were left back home we shouldn't be late."
"Yeah right." Sakura rolled her eyes. "As if people who kidnap other people care about being late."
Sakura picked up the outfit Ino had pleaded to pick for her and looked over to Tenten, who was staring at the neat pile of clothes. She wasn't moving or saying anything, which made Sakura raise a brow at her. "What's up Tenten? Princess-kidnapping prince got your tongue?"
"I'm not wearing that." She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'd rather wear my clothes from before than walk around in that."
Suddenly Myra drew a breath a little too quickly and a little too loudly. Everyone turned to look at the tiny girl, who looked like she was almost shrinking down to the ground.
"I-I didn't.." She stuttered, not being able to get the words out of her mouth at first. "I took out all of your old clothes. They were bloody and ripped so I figured that you wouldn't need them anymore. I'm so sorry, I'm going to get into so much trouble.." The tiny girl tried to explain, hiding her face behind her palms.
"It's alright, Myra. It was an honest mistake, nobody is getting in trouble," Ino calmly said, a smile on her lips. Myra looked more than surprised by the calming smile, as if she expected to be yelled at.
"Tenten just is like that," Sakura explained and got a mean look from Tenten, to which she responded with narrowed eyes.
"Suck it up. You're a princess. For once, act like it."
"And what were you going to do with them exactly?"
Sasuke ignored Shikamaru, who was staring at him impatiently, hands on his hips and a disapproving look on his face. The pineapple-haired man had been sternly questioning his decision of bringing the girls into the castle ever since they got there.
"Hn."
"This is a bad idea and you know it."
No response.
"What were you thinking?"
"Aa."
Shikamaru sighed in frustration. He was standing between Sasuke and the window he was staring out of, not even looking at him. The brown-haired prince could see that his thoughts were beyond the castle's walls, he was clearly thinking about something and he obviously wasn't going to share it. He was growing impatient and was just about done with Sasuke.
"We both know this has nothing to do with your benevolence," he finally said after a moment of silence. "I know you could care less about them, what would've happened to them. And still we took them. What on earth were you thinking?!"
Sasuke remained silent.
"Do you understand what you're doing? This could start a war between our side and theirs."
"Well it's about goddamn time," Sasuke finally grunted and rose to his feet. "In case you haven't noticed, nobody apart from the few scouts we've sent has crossed the border between our side and theirs for hundreds of years. And now the first people to come through are four weak little girls, running from something that seemed to scare them more than death. Princesses. Basically just stumbled right to us. Why do you think princesses, people who are in line for the throne, would run away and leave their own kingdoms?"
Shikamaru couldn't answer his question, so Sasuke answered it himself. "You've probably heard of the situation on their side."
Shikamaru lifted one of his eyebrows. "Yeah, it's not looking too good."
A dry, humourless laugh escaped the black haired prince's mouth. "From what the scouts on the border have been able to gather, it's worse than that. The kingdoms are getting ready for war and eventually that will affect us, our side. War is inevitable."
Then Sasuke looked straight at Shikamaru, for the first time during their conversation. "And we will need to make the first move."
"But what do they have to do with anything? It's not like they're warriors that would hurt our chances of winning a war. They're just a bunch of girls that are of no use to us." Shikamaru crossed his arms over his chest. Sasuke clearly had a plan but why shelter a bunch of girls, princesses or not.
"They're more valuable than you realize," Sasuke calmly said.
Shikamaru was baffled. "Valuable? They're clearly untrained and weak. They're not of any use to anyone."
"Possibly. But that doesn't mean they won't be of any use in the future. There's already a price for the traitor princesses' heads."
Shikamaru looked at Sasuke. "What do you mean in the future?"
Sasuke brushed his inky locks away from his face as he turned away from the window he'd keenly been staring out of.
"I always knew we'd need some kind of leverage to even out the playing field. We will win the war no matter what happens, but the question is will we end it within the first day or will it drag out and take more of our troops."
Realization slowly hit the brown haired prince. "And now we have that leverage. The princesses."
"Exactly. But this is different. They're not exactly prisoners of war, not yet anyway. They showed their true identities the minute they showed their powers. Members of the royal families, of different kingdoms too I'm guessing." Sasuke explained.
"Yeah, I wouldn't call people who get to roam around the castle and its grounds prisoners," Shikamaru said.
"Well we're letting them think that we're protecting them from their kingdoms and ours." Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "Let's keep that up."
Shikamaru stared at the ground as he thought through Sasuke's plan over and over again. "I'm assuming that you intend on keeping this from everyone. How are we going to keep them a secret? For how long?"
Sasuke let out a sigh. "Well first of all we need to keep them from the king and queen."
"I'm guessing that doesn't just include your parents," Shikamaru sighed tiredly, thinking how troublesome keeping the four girls a secret would get.
"And even if the word about the price on their heads spreads?" Shikamaru asked.
Sasuke shook his head. "As long as we're able to keep their presence a secret, it's not going to be a problem. Nobody cares about a few rogue princesses on the other side. The story would be a whole lot different if they were discovered on our side."
After a while of silence Shikamaru finally realized what Sasuke was really getting at. "You think this will better your chances of being king."
The raven-haired prince knew well enough that if he shared the news that he and the other princes held four princesses of Quifilia's western side practically hostage, everyone would come rushing to look at the extraordinary beings from the other side of the border that hadn't been crossed in hundreds of years. For his plan to work, he needed to present his father and the council of the four kingdom's leaders the key to ending the inevitable war when they most needed it, and that meant keeping them a secret a while longer.
"It's not like my big brother has ever shown interest towards the crown." Sasuke's eyes flashed with bitterness. "He is unwed and would need a queen by his side to ever succeed my father. If I were to gain an advantage that would help us win a war and conquer their side for good, I could change the line of succession and be the next successor to the throne."
"Always playing the long game," Shikamaru said, almost amused by the cunningness of his friend. Only Sasuke would be able to concoct such a plan. It was true that Itachi, even if the king and queen's first born son, wasn't the best choice for king. He showed no interest in life at court unlike his younger brother who was born ready to be king.
Shikamaru decided to get back to their original subject. "How long do you think we can keep them hidden? It's not like we can just hide them from the servants."
Sasuke thought about it for a while. "We'll keep quiet about them. It's possible the rumors among servants have already spread, but as long as we keep them inside the castle everything will be fine."
"And how long do you think we'll be able to keep them here?"
"For as long as we have to."
"This is too weird," Tenten said.
The four princesses were walking down the empty hallways of the diplomatic castle in full silence. Myra was walking in front of the group while the four girls stayed behind. Tenten had finally agreed to put on the simple red dress with very subtle golden embroidery on the bottom. It was simple, it was classy and it fit Tenten like a glove. She might've hated dresses but the girl could wear a sheet with a belt and her body would look amazing.
Sakura shot a questioning look towards the brunette princess, urging her to just keep walking. "What do you mean? It looks great on you."
"What? No, I don't mean the dress," Tenten said, coming to a full halt. She glanced at Myra, who hadn't noticed her stopping and continued to walk. "I mean this whole thing. What the hell are we even doing here?"
All of the girls had to admit, she did have a point.
"This whole thing is insane," Tenten half-whispered. "We're fugitives and can't go back home, but we were also brought here against our will which would technically make us prisoners. We can't exactly leave either, so what are we doing here? Shouldn't we be back in the dungeon?"
The group had somewhere in the middle of Tenten speaking stopped moving and were now standing still in the middle of the hallway.
"It's true. They aren't exactly holding us prisoners even though they abducted us," Ino agreed, nodding her head.
"But it what they're saying is true, everyone outside this castle wants us. Dead or alive," Sakura grimly added, which sent a shudder down the pinkette's back. She didn't know which one was worse; going home or being killed and then being taken home.
"I doubt we were brought here for the goodness of their hearts," Ino's eyes rolled but then they seemed to get attached to the ground. The whole situation was a big mess.
"We're not going to stay, right? I mean, we have to leave right away," Tenten's voice was strong, but quiet. She was serious about leaving.
Ino quickly grabbed Tenten's hands and looked her straight in the eye. "But that's just it. We can't leave. Not right now. We can't go home, because even if weren't considered traitors, we'd just end up in the same situation that we ran away from. We can't go back into the forest, because now that's a sure way we'll end up murdered. The only place that's left, and also the only place where people aren't going to murder us when they find out who we are, is here."
"Ladies, are you coming?" Myra's distant voice called out, which snapped the four princesses back to reality. Myra was already standing at the end of the hallway and far away from them, too far to hear their conversation.
"Yes, Myra. We are," Ino quickly responded, flashing a smile to the servant. She then urged everyone to just keep on walking. With a quick glance she saw that Tenten was looking bothered. She didn't like the fact that they weren't able to leave, and she definitely didn't like the idea of being a caged animal. Or well, a caged princess, the cage being a castle.
Oh boy, it was just like they were back home.
"We can't leave right away, but that doesn't mean we're not getting the hell out of here ever," Sakura muttered under her breath.
Myra lead the four girls in what seemed to be a labyrinth. For a diplomatic castle, whatever the hell that was or meant, it seemed to be huge. There were endless amounts of the same large hallways with large windows that displayed the beautiful grounds. It was sunny outside, which meant that the insides of the castle were filled with natural light. It bounced off the walls and warmed the skin of whoever passed by the windows, which seemed comforting to the princesses.
At least some things were like back home.
Myra was taking them to eat. Apparently they had been invited to have lunch, which was weirder than any of them could imagine. Issue number one of the situation was that they'd been running for their lives and living in the wilderness for the past few days. That had meant living with basically no food or water and none of them had had a good night's sleep ever since they'd ran away. Bouncing back to royal life, or whatever the hell this was, from that was more than weird.
Issue number two was that they were invited to have lunch with people who'd basically kidnapped them. To add to the weirdness, they had also been told that if they decided to leave, they were most likely going to die. If that didn't take away someone's appetite, what would?
Issue number three was that the people that had kidnapped them were from the dark side of Quifilia. What was even weirder was that at least some, if not all of them, were princes of the dark side. That made them the girls' mortal enemies. The people they were told horror stories about and made to hate from the moment they could comprehend words. And now they were going to have lunch with them. How fun.
And now that they actually thought about it, nobody had ever really talked about the dark side to them. Even the small things they'd heard were ghost stories that were told to scare kids and keep them from acting out. Be nice or the monsters will come and take you away. But for sure none of the stories ever mentioned handsome princes or a beautiful castle, that was new.
"You don't really think they drink blood, do you?" Hinata suddenly whispered to Sakura. "At least that's what I've heard."
Sakura took a while to answer her question. She too had been told stories from the other side. As far as they knew, nobody had crossed the border for centuries. Nobody knew what was on the other side. So people started talking, naturally.
She knew the tales. They were horrible. It'd be foolish not to admit that she'd been afraid to cross the border, but what she'd seen so far was nothing like the stories that circulated among the people. She'd expected dead nature and monsters roaming around in the forest, but she'd quickly noticed that her expectations were all wrong.
"I don't think any of the stories are true, Hinata," Sakura whispered back after a while and noticed the blue-haired princess' relief.
The group carried on in total silence for a moment longer, until Ino finally spoke up, disrupting the silence.
"Uh, Myra?" Ino tried to get the servant girl's attention and sped up her pace to walk beside her.
"Yes," Myra politely responded.
Ino hesitated before continuing, thinking whether or not to ask Myra what she'd wanted to know ever since they arrived to the castle.
"Do you know.." Ino started, hesitating in the middle of her sentence.
"Do I know who you are?" Myra repeated Ino's question, filling out the rest of it that left the blonde princess dumbfounded. Myra stopped walking and turned around to face the group of girls all at once before answering.
"I'm pretty sure I do."
Myra's answer left the four princesses confused. "Pretty sure?" Tenten inquired.
"Yeah, what does pretty sure mean?" Sakura joined in.
The silver-haired maid seemed to get nervous again. "Well there has been talk ever since the princes were seen bringing you to the castle."
"Could you tell us what happened," Ino asked Myra, who nodded in response.
"The princes left the castle to go hunting yesterday morning," Myra started explaining, but was interrupted by Tenten.
"Princes? You mean all of them are princes?"
Myra nodded. "The crown princes of the four kingdoms. Prince Shikamaru of the eastern kingdom, prince Naruto of the northern kingdom, prince Neji of the southern kingdom and prince Sasuke of the western kingdom."
The girls somehow weren't that surprised by the information. They'd already confirmed that two of the four were in fact actually princes, and the third that Sakura had met had been acting way too cocky to be nothing more than royal by blood. The fact that all four of them were royal made sense.
"Continue, Myra," Ino said. "The princes went hunting."
"Yes. The princes went hunting in the morning and returned a few hours later, around midday. Everything seemed normal at first, but instead of returning with animals, they returned with four girls, bound and conscious. You were taken inside the castle quickly after that, but you weren't seen for the rest of the day. A few maids were asked to prepare four bedrooms and the guards were alerted of visitors, but that was about it," Myra explained.
"So we've been here since yesterday?" Sakura asked, which Myra replied with a firm nod.
"But how do you know who we are?" Hinata joined in on the conversation. "If nobody saw us after that, how would you know who we are?"
"My good friend Maya was working in the stables when you were brought in," Myra explained. "When she was taking one of the prince's horse inside the stables, she saw a mark at the back of one of your necks."
"And only royals have that kind of marks." Tenten quickly continued, knowing how the story was going to end.
"Which means that at least one if not all of you are princesses from the other side of Quifilia," Myra finished her explanation. "And I heard you mention the word princess among yourselves before which confirmed my suspicions."
Then a silence fell amongst the group. Ino wanted to slap herself for making the "princess-kidnapping prince" joke in front of Myra. Sakura felt her heart pound and breath quicken at the thought of calling Tenten a princess in front of Myra without even thinking about it.
"Myra," Sakura broke the silence after a while. "I need you to tell us who else knows who we are?"
The silver-haired maid didn't take long to answer. "Maya only told me, so just the two of us I think."
Sakura knew that if their identities became common knowledge, they wouldn't ever be able to escape. For now, only the four princes, Myra and her friend Maya knew their identities, which was good. It was better to keep it that way, at least for the time being.
Sakura exchanged looks with the other three girls. "For now, let's keep this a secret between us. Don't tell anyone who we are. Tell Maya to tell no one, okay?"
"Okay."
Myra lead the group through a few more corridors until she stopped in front of a pair of large, white doors with guards standing on both sides of the door. The silver haired maid greeted the guards with a polite nod, which the guards returned and turned to open the closed doors.
Then she turned around to smile to the four princesses.
"This way, please."
The four girls, urged by Myra, slowly entered the room. It was very similar to the rest of the castle they'd seen. It was a rather large room with a high ceiling, the same white colouring to the walls with gold accents sprinkled here and there. Huge windows lined one of the walls, illuminating the room with natural light.
In the center of the room was a rectangular, long table with eight seats around it. At the table sat two figures, both of whom quickly rose to their feet and walked when the four girls entered the room. Myra followed them and hurried off to their side, bowing her head and curtsying.
"The ladies are here, my princes," She introduced the girls.
"Thank you, Myra."
Hinata quickly drew a breath in when she recognized the prince from before. The doors to the room were quickly closed after Myra exited, leaving them alone.
There was a quick stare down of the two groups, both examining each other. The princesses didn't curtsey or bow even if they had been taught their whole life to do so.
After a few seconds of silence, Naruto bent down to a slow and respectful bow before the four girls. "Princesses," he started. "I am Naruto, the crown prince of the Northern kingdom of Quifilia."
He allowed a smile rise upon his lips before turning his attention to his silent friend that was standing on the other side of the table from him. "And this is crown prince Neji of the Southern kingdom." The other prince seemed hesitant but followed Naruto's example and also bowed before the four princesses.
Sakura managed a nod but couldn't get a word out of her mouth so Ino, knowing full well that the introductions had to be made if they were ever going to stay at the castle, took to the spotlight.
"My name is Ino and I-" Sakura could see the shift in Ino's eyes as she hesitated just for the quarter of a second.
Sakura knew exactly why she hesitated. She thought about her title. The title she'd carried with her since the day she was born, the title that made her who she was. The title that she would always attach to her name whenever she was being introduced or when she introduced herself.
"And I am the crown princess to the throne of the Eastern kingdom of our side of Quifilia. And these are my friends princess Sakura of the Western kingdom, princess Hinata of the Northern kingdom and princess Tenten of the southern kingdom."
Ino gracefully bowed her head and curtsied before the princes, her friends following her closely behind. They already knew who they were so why try and deny it or try and downplay their titles when they could embrace them.
And then followed the most awkward lunch the land of Quifilia had ever seen.
Goddess of Glam ❧