I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Away
Ryuu sat down heavily, staring at the floor for several moments before lifting his eyes to the blonde sitting behind the Hokage's desk. Tsunade. She was supposed to be in her eighties, but looked to be in her late twenties at best. She was wearing a green haori with a grey gi under it, the gi open enough to expose her ridiculously large chest a good deal. Under the desk, Ryuu could see her black sandals and the grey bottoms of mid-shin length pants pants.
"Lady Tsunade, this is Ryuu Uchiha," Yugao said from behind Ryuu and Fu, who was seated beside him. "And this is Fu."
"It's a pleasure to meet both of you," Tsunade smiled before looking to Yugao again. "I assume there's a reason why the first thing I have to do as Hokage is meet them off the record."
"You remember Danzo Shimura, right?" Yugao asked.
"Of course," Tsunade nodded. "Don't tell me that snake is still causing trouble."
"He's tried on two separate occasions to kidnap both of them," Yugao said. "Both times it ended with a public fight between Foundation ANBU under Danzo's control and these two along with Sasuke Uchiha, myself, Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, and Kurenai Yuhi."
"He what!?" Tsunade demanded. "What the hell for!?"
"With Ryuu, it's because of his Sharingan," Yugao said.
"Has Danzo tried to kidnap Sasuke?" Tsunade asked.
"No," Yugao said. "It's Ryuu's specifically that Danzo wants. Ryuu is Shisui Uchiha's younger brother."
Tsunade's eyes widened and she nodded, remaining silent for a moment. "And Fu?"
"Fu is a transfer from the Hidden Waterfall Village," Yugao said.
"I fail to see the importance of...wait, isn't the Hidden Waterfall where the..." Tsunade trailed off, staring at Fu.
"That's right," Yugao nodded. "Fu is the Jinchuriki of the Seven-tailed Beast."
Tsunade nodded slowly, before sitting back and sighing heavily. "Day one and I already have to deal with Danzo. Alright. I'll make him leave them alone. In the mean time, it's probably best to get you two out of the village for a while. I'm going to send you two on a mission with Naruto's team. Here, these are the details of the mission." She held a scroll out to Ryuu and he took it, his hand falling limply back to his lap with it, Tsunade watching him, concerned. "Are you alright?"
"Nightmares," Ryuu said. "I haven't slept well the last couple of nights."
Tsunade nodded and Ryuu and Fu stood, bowing, before leaving the office, finding Kakashi training his team in the Third Training Ground. As they landed, Kakashi turned to them, smiling.
"Hello Ryuu, Fu, how can we help you?" Kakashi asked.
"We're attached to a mission with your team," Ryuu said, walking over to them and handing Kakashi the scroll.
"I see," Kakashi nodded, reading it quickly. "Well, it would seem that we're heading for Crescent Island."
"When?" Ryuu asked.
"Tomorrow morning," Kakashi said.
"Then I'm going to sleep for the rest o the day, I hope," Ryuu said. "You can all fill me in on the way."
"Shouldn't you stay and hear the details now?" Sasuke asked.
"No," Ryuu said. "I should get some sleep so that I'm not too exhausted to travel tomorrow. We have a long trip ahead of us. You can just fill me in in the morning."
"Alright," Kakashi nodded. "I hope you get a good rest this time."
"So do I," Ryuu said.
He turned, walking away and Fu followed, slipping her hand into his, Ryuu smiling at her before they both left with the Body Flicker Technique. As soon as they were in his house, they headed for his room, both stripping to their underwear and climbing into his bed, pulling the sheets and blanket up over them and passing out into a blessedly dream-free sleep.
Ryuu watched the heatwaves in the distance, sweat running down the sides of his face. Beside him, Fu was hovering along seemingly effortlessly using her wings, not a drop of sweat on her. To his other side, Sasuke was in about the same state he was. Both of them were wearing their normal outfit of high-collared tee-shirt and shorts, Ryuu sincerely regretting only owning black now, and both were bearing with the heat better than the others. Sakura was doing fairly well in her new summer outfit, consisting of a red short-sleeved belly shirt, a very short red apron skirt with tight black shorts under it. Naruto, on the other hand, looked like he was practically dying. His was a bright orange vest over a sea blue short-sleeved tee-shirt, bright orange shorts, and open sandals. The only one fairing almost as well as Fu was Kakashi, who was wearing his usual uniform, except with short sleeves.
"It's so hot!" Naruto groaned for the millionth time.
"Oh shut up Naruto!" Sakura snapped. "We've got our new summer uniforms so what more do you want?"
"The temperature in the sixties would be nice," Ryuu interrupted as Sakura opened her mouth to continue. "Or wings so I could just float along like Fu."
Fu smiled widely, opening her arms invitingly and Ryuu sighed, waving his hand dismissively.
"The rendezvous should be just up ahead," Sasuke said.
"This person we're supposed to escort, he's important, right Kakashi Sensei?" Sakura asked.
"He's only the prince of Crescent Island," Ryuu said. "Otherwise known as the Land of the Moon. No one special."
"You just said he was a prince," Sakura said.
"Sarcasm," Sasuke said, stopping and sighing, wiping the sweat from his eyes. "We're here."
Just then, Yomo cawed loudly, circling down to land on Ryuu's shoulder, receiving a scratch under the beak as Fu landed beside him, her wings fading. Ahead of them, a convoy of wagons trundled along, heading directly for them. Ryuu smiled holding up a special food pill he had designed for Yomo, the bird eating it happily. A couple of minutes later, the convoy began to pass, one wagon stopping.
"Is this really all for one person?" Sakura asked.
"All these wagons, what the heck are they all for?" Naruto gaped.
"My shopping," a pleasant voice said as a fat man about Kakashi's age squeezed his way out of the wagon. "I saw so many wonderful things in all the lands we visited, I had to have them."
They turned, taking in the sight of the man before them. He wore shinobi sandals, grey pants, a blue shirt under a thin blue vest, a blue and white sash around his torso, the colors separated into alternating triangles, one necklace of a variety of rectangular stones, each a different color, a string of red pearls, a pair of thin silver bangles, a red bandanna with a white feather hanging from the back, and had shoulder-length brown hair.
"I kept buying and buying and pretty soon I ended up with all this," the man continued. "I am the Prince of the Land of the Moon. I'm Michiru. And you, I take it-"
"-are from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Your Majesty," Kakashi finished for him. "I'm Kakashi Hatake, I'm the Squad Leader." He gestured to each of them in turn. "This is Naruto Uzumaki..."
"How do you do?" Naruto greeted politely.
"...Sakura Haruno..."
"Pleasure's mine," Sakura smiled.
"...Sasuke Uchiha..."
Sasuke simply nodded once.
"...Ryuu Uchiha..."
"At your service," Ryuu said, bowing slightly.
"...and Fu," Kakashi finished.
Fu bowed low, then stood and smiled brightly.
"The six of us are your escort," Kakashi said. "We're here to see you safely home to your kingdom."
"Well, I can see I'm in good hands," Michiru smiled before walking forward, stopping in front of Sakura and Fu. "Well, aren't the two of you awfully pretty. Far too pretty to be Ninja."
"Don't be deceived," Kakashi said. "They're well qualified."
"You don't say," Michiru said. "Thank you for coming." He held his hand out first to Fu then to Sakura, both shaking his hand in turn.
As both did, however, he laughed to himself for a moment, his freehand rubbing the back of theirs for a moment, a slight blush on his cheeks. Ryuu felt his eye twitch, seeing Sasuke having a similar reaction as Naruto openly glared at him. Then, Sakura squeezed his hand so tightly that Ryuu could hear the bones grinding and threatening to snap as Fu bent his other wrist almost out of socket, both girls smiling sweetly as Michiru shouted in pain, trying desperately to free himself. Finally, both released him. Naruto snickering into his hand and Ryuu and Sasuke both grinning.
"Like you said," Kakashi said. "You're in good hands."
"Uh...that's...very impressive," Michiru stammered just as a suction-cup-tipped arrow hit Naruto in the forehead protector, knocking him over.
"Defensive positions, take cover, we're under attack!" Naruto said as he jumped to his feet, kunai in hand and looking around wildly.
"In real life you'd be dead," a young boy said as he walked out of the same wagon Michiru had been in, toy bow in hand. "Father, are you sure about these people? They don't really look like much of an escort. Especially not the short one." He stopped, eyes scanning over them again, hovering on Fu for a moment before returning to his father.
The boy wore a white shirt, poncho, a white skirt-like cloth, and blue pants under it, all of the white clothes with blue triangles along the edges. He had a quiver on his back with his toy arrows inside and his bow was tucked unto his brown belt as he walked forward.
"Hey, wait just a minute there ya little-"
Kakashi caught Naruto as he walked forward, placing a hand over his mouth.
"I hope you'll forgive my son Hikaru," Michiru said, setting a hand on Hikaru's shoulder. "He's in that mischievious stage that boy's go through."
No, he's a spoiled rotten little brat, Ryuu thought, watching Hikaru again look to Fu like she was his property, adjusting his glasses.
"Nice to meet you, Hikaru," Kakashi said, still restraining Naruto.
"Well then, shall we be off?" Michiru said, he and Hikaru heading back toward the wagon.
"Just deal with it," Kakashi said, releasing Naruto. "Remember what I told you. If any harm comes to the prince, we'll have an international incident on our hands."
Naruto sighed and Ryuu turned to Sasuke.
"That brat lays one hand on Fu, and the hand comes off," Ryuu whispered, Sasuke smirking and nodding.
"Um, excuse me!" Michiru called from the wagon. "I hope it's not too much to ask, but Hikaru would like the green-haired one, Fu, was it?, to ride with us!"
"No," Ryuu said.
"Of course!" Kakashi called back, earning a death glare.
"I'll be okay, Ryuu," Fu said. "He's younger than we are and he's just a spoiled brat. What could he possibly do?"
"I don't want to find out," Ryuu said.
"It's fine," Fu smiled, kissing him before walking away. "I'll see you when we get there."
Ryuu grumbled several strings of curses under his breath before walking after her, taking his place to the left of Michiru and Hikaru's wagon. After another minute, they all began to walk, keeping pace with the convoy as they headed south. They were attacked a couple of times, but dealt with the bandits easily, Ryuu never getting more than a hundred meters from the princes' wagon. Then, finally, as the sun was setting, they stopped, setting up camp for the night.
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