A/N: Wow I haven't up-dated in a while. Well I really really hope you enjoy!


Chapter four: My knight and shining armor

The silence was unbearable…

Although his teammate had been gone for three minutes, Naruto would have guessed it to be three hours. He felt tense. It was not because the indigo-eyed girl was staring at him.

The blonde moved toward the edge of Sasuke's bed and sat down. The constant chirping of crickets annoyed him to no end. Further more he was concerned for his pink-haired companion. It wasn't the fact she was missing. What worried him was when Sasuke would find her. The Uchiha, after all, had a knack for telling Sakura off. Maybe it was Sasuke's brotherly instinct to scold his little sister, but Naruto didn't really know how the rules of siblings went.

" I am really sorry," Uzumaki Naruto looked at the young woman who was still standing. Once she noticed she had his full attention she bent her head, " I- I'm sorry I have to be your burden. If it was not for me you could have gone with your teammate."

" Sasuke can handle himself," Naruto leaned back and grinned, " besides it's not everyday a ninja spends time with a princess." Inwardly he congratulated himself. He also thanked the photo of the princess, which was in the information folder…

" Thank you," she giggled. It was not the expression Naruto expected nevertheless it didcheered her up.


The wind roughly blew against her dangling body. Her one hand firmly held onto the edge of the balcony, the other clutched her kunai's handle. The more she moved the deeper the weapon buried itself into her.

Another gust of wind hit her causing her hair to fly vigorously around. She had to pull the Kunai out before it pierced into any vital organs.

Saukra had two choices: Use all her chakra to get herself safely into her room, but she would have nothing left to heal the wound.

Bleeding to death was not an option.

The second choice was to heal the injury from where she was hanging followed by waiting for someone to find her, except exhaustion would soon take over her then leading to a death by fall.

She swore under her breath. Her eyes wondered downward. The pitch-blackness illustrated how far the drop was. Sakura could distinguish the outline of the dead body on the ground.

After she had clasped onto the mysterious ninja they both plummeted down. Auspiciously for her, her free hand decided to work on its own taking hold of the balcony's rim, before she could trail her assailant's fate.

Sakura tightly shut her eyes and leaned her forehead against her outstretched arm. Why didn't she notice him? Why did letting her hand go feel like such a good idea?

The Kunoichi tautened the handle. She clenched her jaw. Slowly Sakura pulled at the kunai that was embedded in her stomach. Her jaw quivered uncontrollably. She was not going to scream.

Finally the sharp edge came out and Sakura exhaled in relief. She gathered all her strength and tossed the kunai over the half demolished railing. Hopefully she threw it near the entrance, leading to somebody finding her.

She placed her hand over her wound and concentrated her chakra. A rush of heat cascaded through her abdomen. The pain vanished and numbness took over. Sakura supposed it to be from the cold. She looked at the luminous moon. The sun would most likely rise in a couple of hours. Could she wait that long? T

he pink-haired girl let out a sigh.

Her arm ached from the continuous clinging.

A second past and Sakura felt her limb start to throb from the weight. She gazed upward. To her horror Sakura observed each finger begin to slip. She gawkily lifted her other hand, attempting to grab hold of the edge, but failed.

Her mind screamed as she dropped. Several emotions passed through her. Mostly fear.

Sakura was to busy regretting her choice to notice a hand seizing her wrist. Only when her feet stood on hard ground did she open her green orbs and recuperate her racing thoughts. She fell against the person, causing them to both to descend backwards onto the balcony's concrete floor.

"Sakura?" Sasuke had no idea on how to handle the girl in his arms. Her shivering caused the panic in him to spin faster, " Sakura, are you okay?"

"Sasuke-kun?" her voice trembled.

"What happened, Sakura?"

" A Shinobi came… we fought, I got pushed," the Uchiha frowned. That explained what was written on the paper. The big question was why. Sasuke stood up. He lifted Sakura up onto her feet and noted her bloodied palm.

"You're hurt," looking into his mysterious orbs for moment, she blinked and scowled.

"That bastard tried to kill me!" Sasuke was taken aback. Never in his life had he heard Sakura pronounce something so unfeminine like and not blush. He shook his head and turned around, still holding onto the girl's wrist.

"Come," he said, pulling Sakura toward the door with him.

"Where are we going?"

"To my room," her face shone bight red after she thought more on the statement.

"S-Sasuke-kun?"

" Naruto is there, with the princess. If it wasn't for her you'd be dead."

" Oh… Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"I need to get new clothes,"

"I'll send the Dobe to get them later,"

"Sasuke-kun?"

"What?"

"Thank you…"

"…"


The door clicked open and Naruto jolted up. Sasuke burst into the room with a dazed looking Sakura.

"Sakura-chan, are you all right?" the blonde raced to his female teammate. His blue eyes sparkled with genuine concern.

" Yes Naruto, thanks," Sakura felt at ease knowing that somebody still cared if she were dead or living.

"Oi Sasuke-teme!" Naruto shoved his index finger at the Uchiha's face, " I hope you didn't hurt Sakura-chan!"

"Naruto, that's enough. Sasuke sort of saved me," Sakura said, trying to prevent a fight from breaking loose.

"Here," the black-haired boy pushed a piece of paper against Naruto's chest. The blonde took it and leaned in the direction of the light to read what was written on it.

Target: H. Sakura

" Is this a joke?"

"I was really laughing when I was hanging 100 feet from the ground," Sakura replied.

" If I hadn't seen the kunai being thrown at me I wouldn't have bothered checking over the edge," explained Sasuke.

"Um, I was trying to use it as a milestone," a flushing Sakura said.

"Hn…"

"It must have been Ujani…" Team seven forgot about the extra person in the room and all head turned in surprise when she had spoken.

" Iyumi-sama," Sakura curtsied.

"Please, there's no need for formalness," the girl smiled.

" But I owe you my gratitude."

"Really Sakura-san, the one you should be thanking is the one who actually saved your life. In any case I came to tell you about tomorrow…"

"Tomorrow…" Sakura's voice told the princess to continue.

" Tomorrow evening is the ball before the coronation," Iyumi explained. " It is tradition for the new elected princess to meet with her court council as well as the important citizens. I trust you studied your history in the file well?"

"Yes, but how come we didn't know anything about this ball?"

" I do not know,"

Sakura bit her lip in contemplation, " well I guess tomorrow is going to be an eventful day."


A/N: This story is getting to be a weigh down for me, because I've been more interested in my group story, most of you know about it. However I will do my best to please the readers. Until next time!