AN: I'm so falling in love with writing this fic XD I LOVE fairytales o.o

Anyway, thanks for all your reviews and please continue to do so! I love you all x3

The Prince And The Fox

By SmexLemur

Chapter 5: The Lord And The Fox

The next couple of days, Sasuke pointedly ignored Naruto as best as he could. He gave him assignments that would keep him away from Sasuke or he would order him to go help Iruka or any of the other servants out. He had made a lot of friends through this all, though he'd rather have Sasuke acknowledge him. Not that he wasn't thankful—he finally wasn't alone anymore, but the person he really had wanted to befriend, would always be the Prince.

His new friends were an odd couple of humans.

There was Shikamaru, a lazy guy though Naruto supposed he was really, really smart. He was always playing some sort of game they called Shougi with anybody who was willing to play. Shikamaru had tried to explain to Naruto what the purpose of it was, but the blonde really did think it was boring. The lazy servant was very nice, though and Naruto considered him a good friend, since he was always helping him out even though he called him 'troublesome'.

Then came Choji, a chubby boy and the best friend of Shikamaru. He helped his father, the cook, often in the kitchen (though Naruto didn't know if he really helped him or if he was just there to taste the food). Naruto hadn't really talked a lot to him, but he seemed like a really nice guy, despite the fact he would get furious if someone would call him 'fatty'.

Kiba was the caretaker for all the animals in the castle, though he favoured the dogs. He was loud and obnoxious and slightly arrogant, much like Naruto, but he was also nice and loyal. Naruto had gotten into a fight with him the third day of his arrival at the castle (and had won), but they made peace in the end.

Well, those were the most important ones there anyway. He had also once seen a guy with HUGE eyebrows, who had stated that his name was Rock Lee. He seemed nice, in a creepy way.

"Servant," Sasuke called from his room. Not only did he usually ignore the blonde, but he had also refused to call him by his name. Naruto was getting slightly aggravated by this—Sasuke was acting like a spoiled little brat. "I need you to deliver this message to Hyuuga Neji." Sasuke handed him a scroll and a map, where Neji's mansion was highlighted and a route to it was drawn. "I think even a dobe like you can do this," Sasuke sneered, waiting for some kind of reaction.

He got none.

Naruto had decided after two days of this behaviour, that he would play along with it. Instead of yelling 'bastard!' or something similar to that at him, he nodded and bowed stiffly. Sasuke's eye twitched briefly, before sending Naruto away. He sighed and ran a hand through his black hair, settling himself in a chair near the window. After about ten minutes of looking at the courtyard, he saw a horse being led out to the front gate, followed by a boy with a mop of blonde hair. He mentally asked himself whether Naruto was ready to ride a horse by himself for two hours straight—after all, Naruto had only just been taught how to ride.

Then again, why was he worrying?

Ah, right, the horse could get away and that would mean he had one horse less. Yep, that was it.

It wasn't that he didn't like the blonde, but it was more or less the fact that he did. It was complicated for him—he was scared of the blonde, because he made him feel. He hadn't had emotions, besides anger or annoyance, in such a long time. It was like he had thrown them away, much like a ship throws off all unnecessary items when it wants to sail faster—emotions were unnecessary and kept him from moving on. Naruto gave him feelings he couldn't even identify, things he hadn't even felt before That Night.

He sighed, shrugged and threw away the thoughts before standing up from his chair and heading over to the river. Maybe Kitsune would come to visit him today—he hadn't seen him for a couple of days.

--

--

"You going to be alright, Naruto?" Kiba asked, eyeing him a little worriedly. Naruto nodded, grinning at him. "Well, you've only taken two lessons…" the brown-haired boy trailed off, raising an eyebrow as Naruto climbed the horse effortlessly.

"You sound like a mother, Kiba," he said, grinning a little at his friend. Kiba just stuck his tongue out, before grabbing something from his pocket. "A letter?" Naruto asked, eyeing the object that was being shoved into his hands. Kiba nodded nervously.

"Y—yeah," he said, stuttering and his cheeks turning red. "I was wondering if you could give that to Hinata, you know, Neji's cousin?" Naruto blinked once, before his face broke out in a grin. "I would've given it to someone else, but you're the only one I can trust with this," he admitted, scratching his head. "I mean, I know I'm just a servant and she's like, royalty and stuff, so I don't think I even have a chance, but I gotta try, right?"

"Yeah! I'll definitely deliver this for ya, Kiba!" Naruto gave him a thumb's up. "Hinata seemed like a really nice person," he continued. Kiba nodded enthusiastically.

"Thanks dude," the dog-like boy said truthfully, shaking Naruto's hand.

"No problem," he replied and waved at Kakashi and Iruka, who waved back—Iruka slightly worried though enthusiastic and Kakashi bored and lazy. Naruto rode off with both the letters he needed to deliver safely in his pocket.

The blonde thought this all to be some grand adventure like those stories he had heard from other foxes and people whom he overheard. He had never been out of the forest before and looking at the map Sasuke had given him, he figured he would get to see a lot of new things.

All in all, it went rather smoothly. He stopped occasionally to eat or drink something and for his sore butt to recover slightly. The horse (Rasengan) was very calm and obedient, but Naruto figured that to be because it was an old horse. Kiba hadn't actually said that, but the horse's eyes seemed very old though.

When he was halfway there, dark clouds started to fill the sky. Naruto silently prayed that the rain wouldn't start until he was safely at the Hyuuga mansion, but his prayers weren't heard—when he was about fifteen minutes away from his destination, it started to pour. It wasn't small or short either.

After about a good ten minutes, the storm started to grow heavier and Rasengan became slightly uneasy because of the lightning flashes and the thunder. Naruto was more than relieved when the humongous mansion finally came into sight.

"Just a mile left, Rasengan," the blonde whispered at the horse, whi whinnied in response, still fearing the thunder. Naruto couldn't really blame him—thunder was a scary thing. He had never really liked it either, until about two months ago.

---OMG Flashback o.o (yeah, the line-thingie doesn't work T.T)---

The Prince sat on the dock once more, Naruto noted. Even when it was raining, he would just come out there and stare—Naruto found that humans were odd. Or maybe it was just the Prince? He didn't know.

The loud noise of thunder could be heard again and Naruto jumped up. He was hiding in a bush, because he didn't trust the open right now—who knew what those scary lightning flashes could do? Or the rumbling that came after it? He was surprised when he noticed that the Prince hadn't even moved after the loud sound.

Naruto watched him for another five minutes, until he took a daring step towards him. He made a startled squeak-like noise when a flash appeared in the sky, but continued to walk towards the Prince nonetheless. He somehow just felt safer with him. He quickly sat next to him, as close as possible, seeking shelter from the rain. The Prince looked at him briefly, feeling the small, shivering body against him and a look of pity crossed his eyes.

He sensed the fox, his Kitsune, was scared and so did something he had never done before (at least not with Naruto)—he wrapped his arms around him and pulled him on his lap. Naruto immediately buried his face into Sasuke's chest, trying to shut the sound of thunder out.

"Don't worry, it can't hurt you," The Prince muttered, petting him. The blonde barely heard it though, since he was focusing on that wonderful hand that was caressing his ears, head and back. It was like heaven to him.

Naruto wondered vaguely if it was because the Prince's hands were so good, or if it was because he was being held by the Prince.

---Omg End-flashback o.o---

A smile crossed Naruto's face as he relived the memory.

"Don't worry Rasengan," he said softly, bowing forward so his lips were near Rasengan's ear. "It can't hurt you."

--

--

"Ah, Naruto," a soft and deep voice said as he entered the mansion. Naruto blinked, recognising it instantly. He bowed.

"Lord Neji," he acknowledged. Neji let out a deep chuckle, motioning the boy to come closer to him. The blonde obeyed and followed Neji to what seemed to be the living room of the mansion, or something like that anyway.

"It seems Prince Sasuke has finally taught you some manners," he said, chuckling lightly at the offended expression on the other's face. The blonde pouted.

"You're so mean, just like Sasuke," he replied. Neji stiffened a little, before he let out a small cough.

"Well, anyway," he said. "You can't go back in this storm," he continued. gesturing to the window. Naruto nodded dumbly. "I insist you stay with me for the night."

"O—oh, thanks," Naruto muttered. "But everybody is expecting me back, won't they be worried?" he pointed out. Neji shook his head.

"I'm sure they'll understand when you explain it to them tomorrow," he said. "If you follow TenTen over there," he gestured to a female servant with brown hair who was standing in the corner of the room, waiting for any order Neji would give her. "She'll take you to your room and give you some dry clothes." He eyed Naruto for a moment, who began to grin like an idiot.

"Thanks Neji!" he exclaimed, completely forgetting to put 'Lord' in front of it. "You're so nice, much nicer than Sasuke! He just scowls and glares all the time at me." Naruto gave Neji one of those cute pouts again, which made said boy's pale cheeks blush slightly.

"TenTen, please escort Naruto to his room," he turned to the girl. She nodded, smiling at Naruto who stood up from his chair.

"Please follow me," she said.

"Oh! I almost forgot," the blonde fished out a slightly crumpled letter from his pocket (making sure it wasn't the letter from Kiba at the same time) and gave it to Neji, grinning. The black-haired man gave him a thankful nod in response. "Right! Lead the way TenTen," he said enthusiastically, bouncing after the girl who let out a small giggle at his enthusiasm.

Neji grinned lightly to himself—this boy was very interesting. And from what he could tell, Sasuke wasn't really treating him well.

Naruto was too good for him anyway.