Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto-sensei does… hey maybe I can buy Kakashi from him…

The Princess and the Rogue – His and her fairytale

I love Kakashi – normal

I love Asuma – Kurenai thinking (italics) I love Kurenai – Asuma thinking (bold)

Note #1: The italics and bold on the legend doesn't show up for some reason sometimes so just look at he stuff in the brackets if it doesn't. Gomen ne!

Note #2: For this story, the Hyuugas are a normal, everyday family and they are related to…

Chapter 4 – Encounters

Asuma woke up at the crack of dawn. The sun was starting to peak out from the horizon, but all of his men were still asleep. Good time to start planning this out… He walked carefully to the door, trying not to step on anyone. He grasped the doorknob but stopped as he heard his name called. He looked back.

"Good luck, and make sure you bring some of the treasure back for us." said Kakashi.

"Sure thing." he replied and with a wave, he stepped out of the room.

The crisp morning air filled his lungs as he stepped outside. He started towards the woods until the green mass was right in front of him. It didn't look that tall when we were looking at it from the inn… Amazed, he stared at the green mass. Now, to test the briars… He drew his index finger touched one of the briars; the sharpness of the thorn sent pain shooting down his finger as it drew blood.

"Whoever built this wall didn't want anyone to come in and he really made sure of that." he said out loud. So, how am I supposed to climb this thing then?

A dry cackle made him turn around to face an old lady in a black robe.

"So… another adventurer wants to attempt to climb the wall to see the treasures inside." she said. "Many a man hath died here, are you sure you want to risk your life climbing this wall? I can show you the bones of the ones in the past who tried to get in but never did."

"Um… I'll pass. But dear lady, do you know why this wall was built?"

"Yes."

"Could you tell me why then?"

"At a price I will."

"Then name your price dear lady."

"My timid little granddaughter has her eye on that blond boy of yours, although she's too shy to admit it. If I help you, I want you to introduce this boy of yours to my granddaughter."

Is she serious? This is the easiest deal I ever had to make! I'm sure Naruto would enjoy himself… I'll just make sure he's nice to the girl.

"You've got yourself a deal."

They shook hands and the deal was set.

"So… how are you supposed to help me?" asked Asuma.

"With this."

The old lady pulled out a broomstick from her robes. She looked at Asuma who had a surprised look on his face.

"Are you some sort of witch or something?"

"Witch? I'm a soothsayer can't you tell?"

"Then why do you carry a broom around?"

"Oh, well… my cousin's nephew's mother's husband's stepfather's uncle's grandmother's….

(Five minutes later…)

"…dog's neighbour's midwife's husband's cousin's aunt is a witch and she gave this to me to help travel with my weary back.

"Umm… okay." Asuma muttered, regretting that he ever asked the question.

"Now, listen closely, I don't want any accidents with this broom, and you still need to introduce that boy to my granddaughter so… To make the broom fly, you hold on to it with one hand and tap it with the other and say hover."

Asuma felt a bit stupid and did what the old soothsayer said. Sure enough, the broom was hovering a metre off the ground as he was holding on to it.

"Now, don't let go or it might fly off on you. Mind you, that happened to me once and I couldn't find it for days and it ended up near an active volcano. Now, climb onto the broom and tell it to fly. It will shoot straight up until you tap it again and then you steer simply by turning the handle towards where you want to go. Easy enough?"

"Yep!" he yelled at he was already many metres off the ground. He waved and flew off.

"Idiot." muttered the soothsayer.

Asuma was rising higher and higher and he was quickly reaching the top of the wall. This is nice but I better not look down… if anyone sees me, I probably look like an idiot.

When Asuma was slightly past the top of the wall, he steered the broom towards the middle of the enclosed space. He saw some of the forest that was not unlike the part of the forest outside the walls, and a part where all the trees were cleared. At the edge of the clearing, close to a part of the walls, was a pretty big mansion-like house. A garden replaced the once tree-filled part of forest; specks of bright colour proved that many flowers in the garden were in bloom. This is odd… he thought as he saw that the inside of the wall was also covered in the thorny briars that covered the outside of the wall. So whoever built this probably didn't want anyone or anything to come out either…

Asuma circled the enclosure one more time to look for a place to land. He decided on the clearing near the house. Maybe he'll find someone who lives inside the walls and give an answer to his many questions. And then… Wait! How the heck am I supposed to land this thing? Great, why didn't I ask the old windbag how to land before I took off? Baka… Well, I have to land sometime so I guess it's now or never… Asuma tipped the broom handle downwards, towards the middle of the clearing. With his fingers partially crossed, he hoped that he won't be injured… much.

The broom was flying downwards at a breakneck speed and Asuma used all the strength he had to hold on. The broom kept flying until it was a couple of inches from the ground, stopped and tipped over, tossing Asuma towards the wall of briars. Asuma tried not to fall into the wall. He stopped himself just in time but unfortunately, his shoulder fell into the briars and he had received a deep cut.

"Stupid broom." he said as he kicked it against the wall. It bounced off it and fell on the grass beside the wall.

Kurenai woke up from under the tree to strange noises. What on Earth is going on? Still groggy from her nap, she got up to see what was happening. Walking towards the house, an odd sight befell her. Could this be some sort of dangerous person? Shizune and Tsunade's lessons started to come back into her head. She quickly hid in the closest tree to spy on the newcomer. He was holding his shoulder, which was bleeding profusely. How did he get in? After a couple of minutes of surveying his surroundings, the stranger set off for the house. This is where I come in. Leaping from the tree, she jumped and landed right in front of him. Taking a kunai from her sleeve, she held it up.

"What are you doing here? How did you get in?" she demanded.

Little did she know that the stranger in front of her was going to change her life… completely.