Different varieties of food were spread across the long table. Yumi smiled and started to cut some meat. "Well? You going to just gawk at the food or eat it?"

"It looks to pretty to eat." Sakura said.

"I'll eat it!" Naruto shouted grabbing a slab of food.

Kiba made a small plate for Akamaru to munch on under the table. He made a plate for himself as well.

Yumi giggled at the sight of Naruto eating.

"Chew Naruto." Shino said taking a bite of food as well.

"I don't need you to tell me how to eat." Naruto said with a mouthful of food. He swallowed a mouthful of food then choking on a few bits that didn't go all the way down. He pounded on his chest with his fist and swallowed hard. Naruto sighed with relief.

Riko giggled and Sakura rolled her eyes. "You should have chewed your food you klutz." Sakura said.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her and continued with his food. Riko looked over to Yumi's plate. "Yumi…" Riko said crossing her arms.

"Oh don't start with me." Yumi said.

"What?" Kiba was confused.

Riko sighed. "Yumi never eats her vegetables."

"They are nasty things!" Yumi argued.

Naruto nodded, he also hated vegetables.

Riko was going to continue with the argument but was distracted by the King entering the room. The group stood up to great Yumi's father. He looked distracted when he took his seat. Everyone exchanged glances and sat back down, continuing their dinner.

"Sorry I was late." He said. "It's just that I have be-"

"Been very busy." Yumi finished his sentence without even looking up from her plate.

"Right…" The king said awkwardly. "I just got the report of that found body in Riko's locker. It seems that he was killed by knives cutting his body all over at once."

"Must you talk about this during dinner father?" Yumi asked still not looking up from her plate.

"I just thought you might want to know." The king replied.

"Maybe I didn't want to know how a person died. And maybe for once we can have a nice talk, something like 'how was your day?' or 'how is your training going?'" Yumi finally looked up from her plate and stared at her father with cold eyes.

The king wasn't too happy with that reply. "Fine then. How was your day?"

"It's too late." Yumi said.

Everyone looked back and forth at the father and daughter. It started to get awkward.

"What do you want from me Yumi? I am trying my best." Snapped Yumi's father.

"Maybe to have some quality time with my father without talking about work or responsibilities!" Yumi shouted getting to her feet.

Everyone starred at the furious princess. She started to calm down. "Please excuse me." She said silently before running out of the room.

The king rested his head on his hand. "That girl…" He said to himself.

Riko got up as well and the rest followed. They excused themselves before chasing after Yumi. They made it halfway down the halls before they have become unknown to where Yumi has gone off to.

"Where did that girl go off to?" Naruto asked crossing his arms. "I never got to finish my food."

"I think you had plenty to eat." Sakura said rolling her eyes.

Riko turned to the group. "We will have to split up and search for her. Naruto and Sakura will go look in the village. Shino and I will go look in the garden and Kiba… you will search the castle with Akamaru."

"What?! I go by myself?" Kiba was hoping to get paired up with Riko.

"You have Akamaru with you." Shino said.

"Why do I have to go with Naruto?" Sakura whined.

"I like the pairings." Naruto said with a big smile on his face.

"Alright…. GO!" Riko shouted. The teams ran in different directions.

Riko and Shino ran towards the garden entrance. Shino looked over to Riko. "You know where she is, don't you?"

Riko smiled. "Since this garden is so big we will have to split up as well. You go up that pathway and I'll go over here." She said ignoring what Shino asked.

The stars were already out and the sound of crickets was heard in every direction. Shino walked down the dark pathway slowly looking back and forth. He walked all the way to a dead end.

There was a tall rock wall that seemed to circle the whole castle. In front of the wall was a row of tall bushes that seemed to have a small enough space to fit a person through at the bottom. He knelt down and looked through the space to see a secret exit through the wall. It was a wooden door hidden behind the bushes. He opened the door and walked through.

In front of him was a hill and at the very top of the hill lying down on her back was Yumi, looking up at the stars. Shino silently walked up the hill towards her.

Yumi sighed as she studied the cloudy sky with the moon and a few stars peeking out. Please don't rain. She thought as she watched the clouds float by but then her view was then blocked by Shino's head looking down at her. "Found you."

Yumi gasped. "Don't sneak up on people like that!" She said sitting up. "You scared me half to death."

"Don't run off then." He said.

"Hmpft." Yumi looked in the other direction. "Go away."

"Can't. It's my job to body guard you."

"Well as you can see I am perfectly fine so your job is done."

"I'm not leaving unless you come with me."

"I'm not leaving this spot." She said stubbornly. "So I guess you have to leave without me."

Shino took a seat beside her. Yumi gave him a strange look. "What are you doing?"

"I said I'm not leaving unless you come with me. So I guess you're stuck with me." He said looking straight ahead.

Yumi crossed her arms and stuck her tongue at him.

"Saw that." Shino said still looking ahead.

"Hmpft." Yumi looked away again.

They both sat there listening to the crickets. Yumi sighed. "Where are the others?"

"We split up to look for you." He answered.

"How did you find my secret entrance?"

"Riko pointed me in the direction."

Yumi tensed up. Dam that Riko! She did that on purpose. She cursed in her mind. She fell back and rested her head on her crossed arms. Yumi looked up into the sky again.

"Why did you run off?" Shino asked.

"It's the only thing I'm good at." She answered quickly.

Shino looked down at her. "Is that so?"

"That's right… When you had to escort me back here before, it wasn't the first time I ran away."

"Why do you run away? You are a princess, you have everything you want here."

"That's exactly why I run away…" Yumi sat up and tucked her knees in and wrapped her arms around them. "You know that it's my 14th birthday in three days. And once I turn 14 I will be crowned Queen."

"Already? But aren't you to young to be Queen?" Shino asked.

Yumi shook her head. "In my family once the heir to the thrown turns 14, they are crowned King or Queen. That means my father steps down and I take the thrown. And the thing is…" Yumi went silent.

Shino raised an eyebrow. He studied Yumi's expression. She seemed to be in her own world, her eyes sparkled in the moons light.

"The thing is I'm frightened." She finally said. "I-I don't want to be a Queen. I will never be what my father thinks I could be. I am irresponsible, stubborn, and not reliable at all. I'm a child. A child who runs away from her fears 'cuz she has no backbone."

Shino was surprised that Yumi was spilling out her soul to him. He barely knew her and she was already so open to him. He listened carefully, taking everything in like a sponge.

Yumi tucked her face behind her legs. "I'm not fit to be the Queen."

Shino looked straight ahead again. It went silent again.

"MAN!" Yumi stretched out her arms. "It feels good to get that off my chest!" She said obnoxiously.

Shino was taken aback by that sudden outburst. "You sure know how to ruin a moment." He said.

Yumi laughed. "Yea well it was getting to dramatic for me there. But…" She looked over to Shino. He looked back at her. Yumi noticed her cheeks were turning red and she quickly looked away. She looked up at the moon. "It's going to be a crescent moon soon."

"Why you say that?" Shino asked.

"No reason." Yumi leaned back on her hands looking up at the sky. She stretched out her legs. Shino noticed a mark around her belly button shaped like a crescent moon.

Yumi noticed his stare. "That's my birth mark."

"Oh." Shino said looking away again.

"Yup strange shaped aint it?" She giggled.

"So you're going to be queen right?" Shino asked looking ahead.

"Yup."

"What if you had a sibling that was older then you… would they become the king or queen?"

Yumi raised an eyebrow. "Yea…"

"Like an older brother?"

Yumi was about to say something before she heard a 'ticking' sound near her. Shino looked down to see a metal sphere between him and Yumi. He quickly caught on.

Shino dove at Yumi at the same time as the little metal sphere exploded into hundreds of kunai knives flying everywhere. Yumi and Shino rolled down the hill.

Shino stopped on all fours looking up the hill. Yumi stopped just behind him on her stomach. "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" She said getting to her feet.

"We got attacked." Shino said standing up as well. He stumbled a bit.

Yumi looked over to see that Shino was injured. He had a deep cut just bellow his shoulder left by the exploding knives. "You okay?" He asked Yumi.

"Don't worry about me what about you?!" Yumi said getting very worried about the situation.

Just then a large man jumped from the top of the hill down in front of Shino and Yumi. The man was the shape of a large ball, he had black spiky hair. He wore green shorts and a white tee shirt with bandages all over his legs and arms. He was missing one of his fingers on his right hand. Yumi looked at the man carefully. No… It can't be him… Yumi thought to herself.

The large man reached back and pulled out a large sword from its sheath on his back. It was as tall as a grown person and as wide as child. He held it in front of him. Shino got into a fighting stance. "Get out of here." Shino said to Yumi, not taking his eyes off the attacker.

Yumi stood there shaking all over. She couldn't move, she was too frightened to. Yumi kept starring into the large mans eyes. They looked so empty, like he was soulless.

The large man took a step towards Yumi, reaching out with his think arms, his fingers like sausages. Yumi stood there frozen to the ground trembling with fear. Shino grabbed Yumi's arm and swung her behind him, out of the attacker's reach.

The large man turned to face Shino, holding up his sword ready to attack. "Go get help." Shino said to Yumi.

She gulped, still trembling. It's not him! IT CAN'T BE! She thought.

The man swung his sword down at Shino. The stoic boy pushed Yumi to the side and dove out of the swords path. "I said GO!" Shino shouted dodging another swing from the giant weapon.

Yumi got to her feet and started to run down the hill. She looked over her shoulder to see Shino jumping out of the way from another monstrous swing. Every time Shino would land he would have to jump again. Yumi knew she had to keep running but she couldn't bear to leave Shino like this. Just then Shino raised his arms up and a dark cloud of insects flew out from under his sleeves. Yumi blinked with amazement.

The insects swarmed the large man. He constantly swung his sword around at the tiny targets. Yumi started to calm down a bit thinking that Shino had everything under control and she was just about to turn back around to go get help before she saw as the attacker threw another metal orb at Shino.

Shino jumped far away as possible before the little sphere exploded into a purple smoke cloud. The insects dropped to the ground. Shino landed on his stomach and struggled to get up, he knew he had breathed in some of the smoke and his vision was starting to blur.

Shino looked up to see the large attacker jump out from the cloud of poison and landed in front of Shino who was on his knees trying to get up. The man raised his large sword over his head ready to swing down at Shino once more. Shino tried to think of a way out of this situation but was unable to for the poison was already to infect his body.

"Summoning jutsu!"

Shino looked over to see Yumi standing nearby holding out her arms in front of her. A small faded orb formed between her arms. Just then thousands of butterflies flew out from inside the orb and flew right at the attacker.

The large man awkwardly swung at the butterflies and was able to slice one in half. Once he did so, the butterfly burst into specs of dust. He sliced more butterflies and the same thing happened.

The dust floated around his round body and landed on his skin. He cried out in pain at the dust's touch. The man clenched his face as some dust got into his eyes hollering in pain before darting up the hill and disappearing into the night.

The butterflies flew back to Yumi and disappeared into the orb. The relieved princess lowered her arms. She looked over to Shino who was on all fours. His breath became labored and his arms wobbly. Yumi rushed to his side and swung his arm around her shoulder, lifting him up to his feet.

Sweat dripped off his face. "I should… be the one… saving you…" He struggled to talk.

"We have to get you back to the castle. That poison has already gotten into your blood and in an hour you will die." Yumi helped Shino walk back to the secret entrance.

"Why do you know what poison he used on me?"

"Don't talk. It only makes it work faster."

On the other side of the entrance stood Riko with a shocked expression. "I heard screaming and I came rushing over… Oh my! What happened?"

"Explain later… just help me… he's heavier then he looks." Yumi smiled.

Riko rushed over to Shino's other side and lifted his arm around her shoulders as well.

They made their down the dark gardens path until they saw Sakura, Naruto and Kiba waiting near the entrance. "You found her!" Naruto shouted.

"What happened?!" Kiba asked rushing towards them.

"I'll explain later. Just get some help." Yumi demanded.

"No need. I'm a specialist at treating wounds." Sakura said rushing over to Shino. She studied his face. "This poison is affecting his blood cells. I have to treat him right away. We don't have time to take him back in… just set him down here."

They did what they were told and laid Shino down on the stone path. Kiba took off his coat and folded it into an affective pillow. He slipped it under Shino's head.

Sakura sat down beside Shino. She turned to Yumi. "Do you have any pod leaves in this garden?"

Yumi thought for a moment. "YES! Yes we do! My mother grew a lot of herbal plants in this garden as well."

"Well bring me two leaves and a rock so I can make a paste." She demanded.

Yumi nodded. "Right away boss." Yumi rushed down another path.

"Who did this?" Kiba asked.

Riko shrugged. "I don't know… It's all my fault too! I shouldn't have just sent Shino up to get her. I should have gone too." Riko looked down at her feet.

"That's a stupid thing to think." Naruto said. "If you went too you would have been poisoned as well. Then there would be two patients."

"Wait… then how come Yumi didn't get poisoned?" Kiba asked.

Riko gulped. "Er… maybe she wasn't near the poison or something…"

"And why did you just send Shino up by himself? Did you know where Yumi was the whole time?"

Riko started to look nervous. She tried to think of an excuse. "Um…"

"Back!" Yumi cried, rushing over with two giant leaves in one hand and a rock.

Riko sighed with relief. "I'm saved." She said to herself.

Yumi handed the stuff to Sakura. "Thanks." She laid the leaves on the ground and held the rock on top of them. She moved the rock back and forth on the leaves, squishing them into a paste.

Everyone watched in silence until Sakura picked up the paste in her hand and held it over Shino's face. "Now open up and swallow this."

Shino did what he was told. He had some trouble swallowing the thick paste though. He sighed with relief, the effect of the medicine was already working. He slowly sat up. "Thank you." He said to Sakura.

Sakura nodded. Yumi looked away, lost in her thoughts. Why… why would he attack us… and his eyes…

Shino clenched his arm in pain. He still had that deep cut in his arm. Sakura reached into her pouch and pulled out bandages. "Take your shirt off and let me bandage that up."

Shino unbuttoned his shirt and turned to Sakura so she could reach his arm. Yumi sighed and looked back over to the group to see what they were doing. Suddenly her face went bright red. She quickly turned back around.

Riko smiled, shaking her head.

Once Sakura finished bandaging Shino's arm up, she stood back up and tucked the gauze back into her pouch. Shino slipped his shirt back on and stood up as well, the medicine seemed to have healed him completely.

"Wow Sakura, you saved the day today." Naruto smiled.

"No biggy. I have delt with worse during my training." Sakura felt proud of her work.

"Now tell us what happened!" Naruto was starting to get impatient. "Who attacked you?"

"I can answer that…"

Everyone turned to Yumi who was still facing the other way. "He attacked us from behind. The attacker was a large man. He threw these balls at us that exploded into thousands of knives… and he had a giant sword."

"Really? I wonder why he attacked you. Do you think he might be the guy who broke into he grounds before?" Kiba said referring to the man who snuck past the walls and was the reason why they were called to protect princess Yumi.

"Who knows?" Yumi said turning back around. She yawned. "Man I'm tired. How about we head back and go to bed… and maybe not tell my father about what happened?" Yumi said innocently.

"We have to tell him." Shino said.

"Well can you just wait 'till morning then? I don't want to deal with him right now." She gave them the 'puppy dog' eyes.

Shino sighed. "Fine. We will tell him first thing in the morning."

Yumi smiled. "Yes!"

"I will be going to bed too then." Riko through a yawn.

"Where do you live Riko?" Kiba asked.

Riko looked over to the walls. "In the village. Not far from the palace."

Yumi looked up to the sky unsettlingly. The sky was getting even cloudier and you could barely see the stars. "So… let's go to bed then okay?"

"Right." Everyone said.