Chapter 2

The Girl by the Fountain

Naruto made her way through the crowd that was composed mainly of mincing nobles and priggish snobs. She felt so painfully short on breath that, despite the rules of secrecy she had bound and obligated herself with, she removed the porcelain mask that covered her face. It made little to no difference. The wedding orchestra muted the sounds of the nearby conversations, but surprisingly, despite the thumping in her ears and the fact she was almost running, Naruto could hear every single word.

She could even hear the dangling and jingling of the groom's heavy rings and bracelets as the man swayed his massive arms around and smugly explained how big his forth house was to a group of seemingly interested bootlickers.

Naruto, apart from her presently arising problem, wasn't so sure if she'd manage to last until morning without hitting anyone of those pompous fatsos. It wasn't just them that pissed her off - it was the fact that the bride was forced to marry one of them. The worst of them all, actually.

Taking a mission to guard the wedding of the Fire Daimyo's daughter and getting to spend a whole day around her, Naruto had her down as the sweetest girl alive. Princess Yumi reminded her so much of Hinata - the sweet, gentle Hinata, that the blonde more than often caught herself clenching her fists in rage. This was so unfair. Naruto couldn't help but imagine herself in princess Yumi's place. The mere thought of the likes of such a person, a stranger at the least, sleeping beside her, touching her, made her sick to the bones. Marrying some random fatass in order to please who? The Daimyo? The village? Like hell she would. That would cut her off from any possible way of finding her own true love because, even though she hadn't seen much of it throughout her life, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto believed in true love.

And she would not let anyone ever take it away from her.

A particularly hard thump and the sight of the exit had her abandon her thoughts and wish more than ever for some fresh air. The "Are you alright, Naruto?" that came from a fellow shinobi fell on deaf ears as she passed by in complete concentration directed towards finally reaching the exit. During any other circumstances, she would've laughed at how she completely resembled a prisoner wanting to break free.

At last, with a trembling hand, she slid the door open and then closed it just as shakily. The air should've been cooler, she thought and winced desperately. Now that she had no distraction and silence engulfed her, she felt the full impact of the heat that nested within her. On a nearby terrace, a woman wrapped her coat tighter and as she shivered, she headed back in. Her breath was visible as she exhaled. Naruto's own breath was visible. So why was she taking her jacket off now?

What was this heat that made her body shake and demand something she had no idea about so suddenly?

Her sandal tangled in a garland. Naruto cussed inwardly, simply because she lacked the needed amount of air within her lungs to voice her irritation. She kicked it away. Faint lights coming from the mansion behind her let her see where she was going as she continued stumbling forward.

The fingers of her right hand curled and uncurled a few times. She realized she had dropped her mask. The blonde would have been worried about it if only a second later that very hand hadn't shot up to clutch her chest. Her lungs burned and the girl made a few more weak steps to reach a fountain with sweet little angels with bows and arrows in their arms and cute tiny smiles. As much as her current state let, she glared daggers at them. Those little flying bastards, were they mocking her pain?

Supporting herself, Naruto sank a hand in the water. The hissing sound of hot iron being sunken into cold water was momentarily followed by the water starting to evaporate.

Silence.

"EEEEEEH?!" Naruto exclaimed with her mind refusing to believe it. Was she having hallucinations now? Both hands gripped tightly onto the marble (that should've felt cold, by the way), and sank her head to her shoulders in the water.

It felt…Hot. Naruto came out and immediately began coughing, she spat out the water that had gotten in her mouth. It was hot like tea. She turned around and a particularly hard thump from her heart caused her to slide down.

Naruto, yet again, clutched her chest tightly and gritted her teeth. Just a little more, she told herself, just a little bit more and it'll go away. A sudden shot of pain, however, made her let out a cry and shut her eyes closed tightly. Playing the game of a puppet and a master puppeteer, her body now demanded for her to draw quick, shallow breaths that made her throat go painfully dry and wish for the tea-like water of the fountain.

Naruto wanted to escape.

How do you escape your own body, though?

Hollow echoes rang through her ears and there was a faint sense of touch that tingled on her skin. It took Naruto some time to realize that something, no, someone, was before her, talking to her. A beat of sweat which was soon followed by another rolled down the side of her face as she parted her eyelids, a blurry version of a very worried Shikamaru came into view. He was kneeling in front of his comrade, at her current level of height. The alert and concern that shone in his wide eyes made him look unnatural and uncharacteristic compared to his usual persona of a lazy genius with no concern of what was going on whatsoever. This just made Naruto imagine how critical she must be looking.

"I'll go get some help!" He said hastily and was just about to shoot up when suddenly his wrist was trapped within an iron grip. Surprised, Shikamaru looked at her, then shot a tentative look back at the mansion. A particularly tight squeeze on the wrist made him look back at her. The genius must've spotted something in her eyes that begged for him to stay, to be by her side right then and there. He swallowed nervously. Placing a hand over hers, he tried to give himself a calm expression.

Naruto's chest rose and fell so quickly that it was impossible to count. The grip on Shikamaru's wrist was so tight that it threatened to cut off his proper circulation. It hurt him, but he didn't say anything, he was just looking at her reassuringly and she was more than grateful for that. The only thing Naruto could hear was the inhuman beating of her own heart and the boiling blood thumping in her ears. But nevertheless, it was her ninja instinct to read lips that helped her understand what Shika said, but she never heard it – "Hold on, Naruto".

Is this the death of me?

And then, all of a sudden, as if the time had stopped or as if someone had pressed the stop button, it all started slowing down. Naruto's breath stuck in her throat… And then she exhaled slowly as if for the first time in her whole entire life. Lids dropped shut on their own accord and her head swiped back in relief.

Naruto let go of Shika's hand, but did not miss him attempting to cover the redness that was left on his wrist with the black sleeve. It would surely leave a bruise. She wanted to apologize, but found no strength to do so.

"Che, you're so troublesome," Shikamaru said after a few moments of silence. He rubbed the back of his head in an uncaring way, but managed to sneak a look of concern towards her.

There, by the fountain, a girl lay.

And after all that, the girl reached into the thin air to caress the cheek of a man.

A man with sea-foam eyes.