One Flower
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By FlightAngel
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Disclaimer: The story is owned by me but the characters' and their backgrounds do not. Enjoy.
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Chapter Two: Messenger
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The Honorable Fourth King of Konoha Arashi wanted to take the nearest torch and chuck it, rather unceremoniously, at the Captain of the Royal Guard.
Never mind the fact he was one of the best soldiers in the all the kingdom, never mind the fact that he was currently dating the Head Librarian who, though quietly, ran everything that went on in the palace, and definitely never mind the fact that he was his old student and killing old students was not on the "Good King's List to Do".
"Kakashi," he managed to get out between tightly clenched teeth, "can you please refrain yourself from reading those novels in front of the entire Suna Representatives?"
Said Suna Representatives looked at the silver-haired guard expectantly.
Hatake Kakashi peered at them above his orange-jacket book. "…no."
The king gave up.
"My," murmured the neighboring King of Suna, Gaara, who had been sitting quietly at the other end of the table the entire time, "you have such odd guards here, King Arashi."
"Oh," fake it, he thought to himself desperately, fake it, "Yes, Kakashi's always been like that. Anyways, we were discussing your help in searching for my sister…?"
The redhead glanced to the side at his siblings and advisor.
Arashi remembered them all—Gaara, the youngest, but strong, led the powerful Suna people just north of Konoha; Kankuro, his brother and a master actor and puppeteer, and his sister, Temari, often accompanied him wherever he went. Shukaku, his advisor, also slinked behind them every so often, never saying a word, though sometimes drooling at Kyuubi a bit.
Arashi had always felt his overprotective brother senses bristling.
He'd known about the Sand's visit beforehand and had hurriedly sent his brother out for some pre-searching before he could find out about the meeting… Shukaku looked rather depressed that a certain fiery-headed prince wasn't attending.
"Why," Gaara responded coolly, "should we assist a country we barely get along with? What would we receive in return?" Temari and Kankuro's faces remained cold and indifferent as they intently eyed the other king expectantly. Arashi drummed his fingers against the varnished wooden table; he'd already planned his persuasive speech a week ago, taking three hours instead of one as Kyuubi had just then decided to make his brother's life a living hell by trying to steal his papers.
He'd practiced this. He could do this.
"After searching on our own for almost eleven years," he began, "we soon discovered that the person responsible for our sister's kidnapping was Orochimaru." He looked into each of the three (or four, if he counted Shukaku, whom he doesn't because that guy was just too creepy for his own good) faces, determined. "I know for sure that Orochimaru was the one that caused chaos in your country. He killed your previous king, yes?"
A flinch. That was good.
"If you help us retrieve the princess, there is the without doubt the consequence of punishing Orochimaru. To find her, we must track down this Orochimaru character and try to eliminate him. We get the princess and you get your revenge."
The Suna Representatives were silent for a bit, thoughtful. Finally, the advisor, Shukaku, leaned down to whisper into his king's ear: "Sir, I do not think this is a bad plan at all. We both get equal amounts of reward and, by helping them, strengthen our bond with Konoha. They are a powerful country and will be helpful if they are on our side."
Gaara looked slightly considerate, though his lips pursed when Shukaku first spoke. Temari and Kankuro glanced at each other from behind the two's backs. Finally nodding to himself, he faced the other king.
"…I see the point on your argument. Alright, Suna will accompany you on this… search. But," his cyan eyes clouded in anger, "you will hand Orochimaru over to us after he is captured so we can… deal… with him."
Arashi nodded, pleased that he had won. They spent the next hour or two riffling through the paperwork and contracts, sometimes sending Kakashi down to the Library to retrieve some documents they needed, and finally finished up the negotiations. Carefully standing up from where he had been seated, he and Gaara exchanged polite bows and went their separate ways. Well, almost went their separate ways.
Shukaku, that awful little fat thing, turned around and quietly addressed the rather perverted Head of the Royal Guard.
"Hatake-san… can you give this to Kyuubi, please? When he comes back?"
Kakashi took the flimsy paper and stuffed it into his pocket, never once looking from his orange book. "Yeah, sure."
Arashi turned white with fury.
Damn advisor. Wish he would jump off a cliff or something.
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Kiba could not possibly think on how the day could get any better. First, when he'd awoken, he'd found out that there was still some of yesterday's meatloaf left in the icebox. After that, he and Akamaru had a splendid time in the Inuzuka Meadows, which was white with snow, romping around and catching winter butterflies. There was that one Aburame boy—Shino—wandering around the land, as the Aburame Family and the Inuzuka Family had a contract of property, who would occasionally come by and try to stop him from crushing the butterflies to death.
"You're a grown man, Kiba," the other man would say stiffly, adjusting his glasses, "who hasn't the time to spend dawdling about the meadows."
"Oh, shut up," he'd whine, crossing his legs, "I'm only sixteen; give me a break!"
Personally, the Inuzuka thought that the age limit of Konoha—sixteen—was just complete bogus. Sure, he had the luxury of being able to drink the finest wines, drive the best coaches, start owning land and getting married, but did it have to come to him so fast? Sometimes he just wished he could crawl back into his mother's arms and fall asleep… not like he'd ever done that, as his mother would have promptly kicked him out of the house.
But beside the whole Shino-and-the-butterfly thing, everything was going splendidly. He didn't have to pay the rent or do any chores, he'd eaten some well-deserved pudding for lunch that rivaled even his mother's, and just found out he'd be going to visit his favorite Hyuuga Girl this afternoon.
"Really?" He said, quite astonished when Hatake-san handed him his new order from the king, "So King Arashi's really going to go after that Orochimaru guy?"
The Captain just shrugged, pulling his armor off while somehow keeping a hand on his orange book. "He'd been wanting to go after him for years, you know. The only reason he hadn't gone was because—"
"—he needed backup from neighboring kingdoms just in case other kingdoms decided to try and conquer Konoha while he's gone, I know, I know." Eyes bright with excitement, the Inuzuka was eager to go out of his way to visit his—ahem, perform his Guard duties, and rushed to pull on his armor.
After being forced to get a "real job" (evidently, his mother didn't seem to think that being a clerk was a real job), he'd finally decided to join the Royal Guard, as most of his friends were there already. Some of the said friends accompanying him to visit his sweet, quiet, shy Hinata-chan… er, Hinata-sama. Yeah. Heh.
Hatake-san, completely out of uniform and looking like just any other peasant out in the streets, consulted his watch. "Okay, okay, the assignment was to get to the Hyuuga Household by at least seven at night… consult with Neji-san about sending some of their family to help with the rescue… possibly go over the Uchiha estates and consult about the same thing with Itachi-san… and come back at at least four o' clock tomorrow morning. Got that?"
"Yes sir." chorused most of the five messengers, along with a couple of off-beat "Yeah" and "Uh-huh"s. Hatake-san gave them the salute and immediately the men went to their stations.
Soon, five black stallions made their way out into the snow and up into the hills leading to the Hyuuga Estate.
Five men: Kiba, who was in a good mood, despite the whipping snow lashing at his face in cold drifts; Shikamaru, who just looked tired, kept mumbling about how he didn't want to see Neji after being beaten by the Hyuuga in their last game of shogi; Chouji, who wanted food; Shino, who, despite not being part of the guard, tagged along anyways because he didn't want his friend (yes, he considered Kiba his friend… an annoying, smelly friend, that is) to openly molest the poor Hyuuga woman too badly; and Sai… who was just there.
"I hate snow," Shikamaru mumbled to himself as he was slapped—once again—by a mound of the white stuff as it detached itself from the branches of the tree and collided into his cheek. "My jacket's all wet…"
"I just want food," Chouji whined as he clamped down his struggling stallion, who looked seriously strained from carrying so much weight at once, "I'm really, really hungry… do you guys think Neji-sama would have some food? 'Cause I want food…"
"We know." Shikamaru replied dryly.
Shino just said nothing, just adjusted his glasses and effortlessly lead his stallion on front of the others. Sai… just disappeared. Somewhere. Kiba reasoned he'd fallen into a ditch and didn't think about it too much.
"Light!" Chouji called out, suddenly pointing a chubby finger ahead, where the shape of a vaguely lit mansion came into being, "We're almost there!"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Shikamaru slid his stallion in front of the others and everyone in the messenger party came to a sudden screeching halt. "There's someone there!"
Kiba squinted in the distance.
Indeed, a shadowy figure was treading through the snow in a monotonous pace. He was close enough to see that the figure had ruffled blonde hair and an ashen face. No wonder. The man was wearing nothing but a thin night-gown and white pants!
"By the Gods," Shikamaru cursed to himself as he lowered himself from the stallion. Trying to stand against the billowing snowstorm, he shouted at the man: "What the hell are you doing? Do you want to freeze to death?" The wind blew his words across the snowy plains, echoing them back and forth. Death, death, death, death…
They watched a moment as the figure came closer and closer, until he was only a few steps away from them. His lips were a shade of unsettling blue, deeper and more purple then his lost cerulean eyes. Stumbling into the closest messenger he saw—Shikamaru—he whispered, "Where am I?"
No answer.
Again, he whispered, "Where am I? Who… am I? Who are… you?"
"What do we do?" Chouji whispered loudly at Shino, who just looked irritated. Shikamaru, who knew the signs of frostbite and such by heart, hit the figure hard in the stomach. He dropped like a stone.
"Shikamaru!"
"It was the easiest way," Shikamaru muttered under his breath, effortlessly lifting the blonde onto his horse. "He was disillusioned and might have suffered from hyperthermia. We'll bring him to the Hyuuga Household when we get there… actually, seeing as he was so close to us, he might have come from there for all we know. Anyways, we'll get there, into the warm cozy fire-lit house, and discuss it when we're sane again, alright?"
The three other men exchanged glances and nodded, agreeing.
They set off again… five, except the fifth was unconscious while their real fifth wondered why everything had turned to cold…
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Hyuuga Hinata was surprised the first time when the blonde man came into her hands, battered and bruised. She was horrified when he was brought in a second time, shivering and possibly suffering from hyperthermia.
"Fire!" She had actually screamed at her maids, who had all jumped at least three feet in the air, "Right now!"
"But my lady!"
"Now!"
Meanwhile, in the other living room, Neji met up with the five messengers.
"Of course," Neji answered the messengers breezily, cocking his head in an informative way, "the Hyuuga Family will be flattered to help assist the king in his search. Being that we Hyuuga have faithfully served the kingdom of Konoha for generations… I think it is only proper if I assist you."
"Hyuuga-san!" the two maids behind him gasped. "B-but—what will the Hyuuga Mansion do without you?"
Neji responded by turning towards the door.
"HINATA!"
"Yes!" The woman appeared almost instantly at the doorway, "Neji-niisan!"
"I am going away on order of the king." He swiftly turned towards her, all business. "You, on the other hand, will stay here and take my place temporarily while I'm off. Be sure that the Hyuuga Estate does not fall into wrong hands. Also—what are you doing? Take a notebook out and write this down, woman!"
Kiba's eyes narrowed at the elder Hyuuga's treatment of his one and only beloved Hinata-chan, who look harried and scared to the bone. Of course, Shikamaru had taken a good hold of his wrists so he wouldn't be able to lash out at such a high ranking noble as Hyuuga Neji… not that he wanted to. No, really.
"—after the ambassadors from the Mikuzi clan come, try and tidy up the farmlands: we don't want to look like a bunch of primitive beasts. Afterwards, make sure the front door is always barred, because those damned robbers keep crawling up in the night, and whatever you do, do not attempt to hand this duty to someone else." Hinata looked up long enough to see Neji's creepy if-you-dare-something-bad-will-happen grin. "Or else there will be… consequences."
She gulped.
"Y-y-yes N-Neji-niisan!"
"What's going on here?"
The voice was demanding and sharp, drawing everyone's attention to the long, spiraling staircase that led to the Hyuuga Guestrooms upstairs. Cool and elegant, one Uchiha Itachi glided down the steps dressed in a dark blue night robe, irritated. Behind him trailed the less graceful, sleepier Uchiha Sasuke, looking tired, and wearing a white Hyuuga robe he'd borrowed from a maid because someone had taken his own.
When no one answered, Itachi demanded again. "What's going on here?"
"M-messengers from the King, Itachi-sama!" Hinata squeaked and Kiba very casually held her hand for reassurance. She gripped it with a grip that could rival steel.
Neji looked slightly ticked off.
"The King?" Itachi's eyes drifted towards the five…er, four messengers. "What does his majesty want with the Hyuuga and not the Uchiha?"
Shikamaru coughed. "Actually, we were informed to let you know that the King requests the Uchiha to send men for the Princess Naru's search party as well. It is so… fortunate that you are here as well. Kills two birds with one stone."
Itachi sniffed. "Don't say that. I like birds."
"My deepest apologies."
"Brother…" Sasuke still looked rather out of it, rubbing his eyes in such a manner that even the coldest villain would say "Aww…" "Brother, what search party?"
Itachi, who was used to his brother's disillusioned state whenever he was sleepy, petted the younger man absently on the head, "The party that's going off to look for the missing Princess."
"…" The young sixteen-year old stared at him a while, before declaring, "I want to go!"
"What? The Uchiha Brothers too?" The maids started to chatter among themselves top-speed as Sasuke looked at his brother with a dazed expression on his face.
"Why's that, Sasuke?" Itachi said slowly, as if talking to a child. Sasuke giggled (giggled!) and poked his brother in the arm.
"That way… I won't have to be there when Mother finds out I dyed all her panties black! Ha!"
Everyone stared at the man as he turned away and trudged down the hall in the direction of the medicine room, then turned their attention back to Itachi. He coughed. "Please… excuse my younger brother. You can tell he isn't exactly right-minded when he doesn't get his sleep."
Neji nodded, understanding. Shikamaru and Kiba exchanged glances while Shino and Chouji stood in the background, nonchalant.
Itachi coughed again, "Anyways, the Uchiha are honored to send men in to help search. As there are those troublesome bandits going about these days, I'm afraid I can't personally go along with you. However, I will take up my brother's offer—whether he really meant it or not—and send him with you. That'll suffice, correct?"
Shikamaru nodded.
"Alright, then." Itachi lost his cool demeanor for a moment and scratched his head, face suddenly deterring back into one of tiredness, "I'm gonna get some coffee…"
"I think we all need some," Neji said dryly.
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Naruto was confused. And cold. You can't forget that damn cold—the kind that froze you from the toes up and made your fingers go all numb. He didn't know anything… his brain was like one of a deep, dark void… the least he could come up with, the only memory he remembered in that void was a slithery voice calling out—"…and you shall be Naruto, little one…"
Thus, the name.
Unfortunately, his name was the only thing he had left with him now.
Groggy and feeling quite heavy all of a sudden, he frowned and opened up his eyes. White. A white room. Where was he? Wait… he was here before. The first time he'd opened his eyes, he'd panicked and attempted to—escape, get out, no, no, no, let go of me, I want to go home, stop, don't touch me there—run away, somehow ending up in the snow.
After pain, he'd woken up again in the same room. Slowly sitting himself up in the layers of soft, velvety blankets, he peered about, this time intent on trying to get to know his surroundings. He didn't recognize what was covering him, nor the thing he was sitting on. The walls—he knew they were walls, at least—were bare and white, and there were weird… boxes with wheels set everywhere with more little boxes on top of them.
Everything was foreign. Everything was new.
A large door opened and a man… with a large chest entered. "Hello?" He called out towards Naruto, who shrank away in horror, "Are you awake?" His voice was high—higher then what Naruto could remember. He was dressed in an odd piece of cloth with weird designs and had on chain-like linen strapped to his ankles. Naruto had never seen anything more terrifying.
"A-ah—" The poor blonde scrabbled at the white blankets and did the only thing he knew he could do when his memory was at such a primitive state: "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"What the hell?"
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Sasuke was not in the best of moods. After being awoken from his sleep because he was a rather light sleeper by the muttering voices from downstairs, he had gone through all of what Itachi called the "Sasuke-moods".
First was ecstasy, or the feeling of being high. After that, nausea, which usually caused him to heave up his breakfast or dinner or whatever he'd just eaten if he tried to walk. Finally, moodiness and an altogether unpleasant demeanor. Which he was in now.
After having his already aching head pierced by what might be considered the loudest scream to walk on the face of the earth, he wasn't happy, to say the least. Intending to give whoever had emitted the scream a piece of his mind, he opened the door purposefully.
Whatever he had just wanted to say died his mouth the minute he saw whoever was screaming. It was the blonde man… but much cleaner. And… prettier. Definitely prettier. Blonde hair poking in every which way, large blue eyes and pouty pink lips… which were pulled apart in another ear-piercing scream.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
The maid, who looked horrified and scared, took one look at the Uchiha's face, squeaked, and fled.
Once the maid was gone, the blonde stopped his screeching and calmed down, breathing hard and face slightly red from the effort of screaming for so long, eyes darting and suspicious as they latched onto Sasuke. He attempted to hide himself in the blankets.
Sasuke's mouth was dry. Maybe it was because it'd been open for so long. Clamping it shut, he finally managed to say, "Uh… ok? Is something wrong?"
Silence. The man—who looked about sixteen, Sasuke's age—looked terrified, confused, and angry at the same time, curling up in a protective ball and looking at the Uchiha behind the protection of his arms.
"Where…"
Sasuke looked at him as the blonde attempted to find words. His mouth worked awkwardly; it was as if he had not spoken for a long time. Heck, it was like he hadn't been exposed to anything in a long time, like he had been trapped in a closet all his life or something.
"Where… am… I?"
Sasuke just couldn't resist.
"You… are… in… the… Hyuuga… estate…" he answered mockingly, speaking as if to a toddler. The man looked confused before an angry look flickered upon his face.
"A-are you making fun of m-me?" he demanded in a shaky, unsteady voice. His voice was melodic, and Sasuke realized that the combination of male and female organs must have given the man his neutral type of voice.
"No… not really. What's your name?" The blonde didn't reply, just stared at him hollowly. Sasuke felt tired. Very tired. "Okay, okay, I'll go first, idiot. I'm Sasuke… the second son of the Uchiha Estate. As you can see, I am not as treasured, per se, as the first son, my brother, Itachi, in my family. We—Itachi and I, that is—brought you here when visiting the Hyuuga."
The man paused. He was, to say the least, looking very confused. Sasuke admitted that he found the man—hermaphrodite, that is, but he appeared to have the face of a feminine man, so that is what he called him—rather attractive in his own way, which caught him by surprise.
Unusual.
"N-Naruto…"
"Naruto?" he asked blankly, sidling up him casually, "Isn't that a type of fish bento or something?"
The other man just stared at him.
"…I don't know."
Did this guy know anything?
Sasuke sighed. It had been a long time since he'd attempted to court a woman… man… woman-man-thing… if he'd ever done so. Especially not woman-man-things that have no recollection of their past and could barely speak.
Yeah, this was going to be hard.
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AN: Haven't updated for a while... because I have gotten myself engrossed into Sims2 again XD. Sorry for the delay! I know it kind of skips and I have some holes everywhere, with all the technology limits and stuff, but hopefully, everything is moderately making sense. Please R/R and thanks for all my reviewers! Yes, I will update! I mean, half the reviews I get are 'update'! so what else do I say...? And thank you for the reviewers who thought my writing was decent. Yay! Also... the flamer, go jump off a cliff and die. Hahahaha... like Shukaku. But I like Shukaku, so he gets to live.