Chapter Two: Women

As soon as the words left Naruto's mouth, he knew he'd made a very grave mistake. The crowd fell into silence and the sound of the vein on Tsunade's forehead throbbing became predominant throughout the room. Naruto immediately began to backtrack.

"W-what I mean is th-that... uh... that is to say that... I'm simply surprised that a female knight could... uhm... overcome the prejudice in the world and rise to such a high position... n-not that I'm surprised because it's surprising you could do it... I'm... I'm humbled by the presence of such a fair knight..." Naruto spoke very quickly and erratically, and then bowed his head to the pink-headed dame.

Sakura blinked several times before she smiled, deciding to swallow the obvious bullshit. "Thank you, my lord."

Naruto raised his head again to see that she was genuinely smiling, he wiped the nervous sweat from his brow and smiled back. He was too afraid to look at Tsunade, who was sure to kick his ass later. He cleared his throat and looked at the crowd who began to applaud. Whether they were applauding Sakura Haruno's accomplishment or Naruto's amazing impromptu speech remained a mystery.

After Sakura took a bow, the crowd began dispersing. Naruto breathed a small sigh of relief, then turned to step down from the podium only to run smack into Tsunade. He jumped a bit and stepped back, "L-Lady Tsunade...?" He offered a smile.

Tsunade no longer looked very angry, more bemused. Seeing this, Naruto cautiously stepped towards her and slipped around her, making it down he assumed he was in the clear. When from behind he was smacked hard in the back of the head; "Think before you speak, fool!" Tsunade growled before turning and leaving.

Naruto gingerly rubbed the back of his head; she was much stronger than she looked! Dame Sakura walked over and bowed her head, "My lord."

Naruto looked down at her, despite the manly armour she was still female underneath. Seeing as she'd played along with him, Naruto offered her his hand. "Congratulations." He smiled.

Sakura stood erect once more, then took his hand. "Thank you, my lord." She said sweetly. Naruto suddenly noticed that she was beginning to squeeze his hand tighter and tighter, and it was becoming quite painful.

"Uh... D-Dame Sakura..."

"Lady Tsunade is right, you should think before you speak. Especially when speaking about those who are supposed to protect you," Sakura's eyes had darkened, their innocent sparkle gone. Even Naruto noticed this as she freed his partially crushed hand.

"R-right... I apologize." Naruto said.

"That goes unsaid, my lord," Sakura smirked, "Now, will you be returning to your quarters to change your clothes?"

"Why would I change clothes? I just got dressed! Is there something wrong with it...?" Naruto said, wondering if as a woman she saw something wrong with his ensemble that he hadn't seen.

"No, not at all," Sakura smiled, "It's just that your pit-stains have become quite noticeable. You sweat a lot when you're nervous?"

Naruto blushed and shot his arms straight down. He was unsure of how to respond to the smirking female, so he simply turned and started back to his chambers. Sakura followed him closely, trying desperately to not go into a fit of laughter.

* * *

The rest of the day was quite uneventful. Much to uneventful for Naruto's liking. Signing documents and talking to old people all day wasn't quite up to snuff for what he'd expected being a Lord to be like. He sat down that evening quite ready to be entertained by the weekly joust.

Naruto sat above the rest of the attending citizens, Dame Sakura sitting quite stoically next to him. She hadn't said a word all day since she'd commented on his sweating. Her presence actually made him feel more insecure than it did safe. Naruto, bored since the joust hadn't started yet, looked at her intently until he captured her gaze and asked, "Why do you so seldom speak?"

"Does it bother you, my lord?" she asked.

"Well, a little." Naruto shrugged.

"It was not my intention," she said, trying her best not to smirk as it had full well been her intention.

Naruto scowled slightly. Why did he have to get such a moody, spiteful, young female knight? It had to be Tsunade's doing. Sakura was so much like her. Naruto had decided firmly that Tsunade and Sakura were in cahoots together and trying to slowly drive him insane all before the joust started.

Of course, when the joust did start Naruto completely forgot about his conspiracy theory. And with all the wine he was bound to consume it was unlikely that he would remember the following morning either. As the first match ended Naruto cheered, he always rooted for the knight dressed in red.

As he sat back down, quite pleased, he noticed that Sakura wasn't cheering for anyone. "Dame Sakura," he said, "Why aren't you booing or cheering? It's a tad eerie."

This time, Sakura's intention had not been to make her lord uncomfortable. It was just a perk. "I don't much care for jousting, my lord."

"But you've done it, right?" Naruto asked.

"Of course; all knights do. But after you've experienced a joust firsthand it becomes much less exciting to watch. You find yourself wishing you were on the horse charging towards your opponent at top speed, poised perfectly for the hit. And it's all the more exciting if you land it!" Sakura explained, then noticed that Naruto had a very glazed over look in his eyes. She scowled, "My lord?"

"I think I prefer it when you were silent..." Naruto said with a firm nod, and then turned back to the field.

Sakura's eyes widened, and her fists tightened. If looks could kill, Naruto would be nothing more than red pulp. She took a deep breath and sighed, mentally reminding herself that it was her duty to protect the lord, not push him from the jousting balcony and claim he fell accidentally onto a well-positioned pole.

Naruto cheered loudly again as his beloved red knight was successful once more. Not knowing the very horrible bloody thoughts his "white knight" was having about him.

* * *

Some time after the joust and about 9 to 15 glasses of wine, Naruto returned to his chambers and sat on his bed alone. He'd been told to sit where he was and wait. Of course, he'd decided to be defiant and moved exactly one foot to the left. Sakura returned to the room with a sigh, seeing her blitzed lord.

"Where do you keep your night robes, my lord?" She asked, walking to his wardrobe.

"I don't have any." He said with a laugh, "I usually sleep butt-naked."

Sakura cringed at the visuals she'd gotten and pushed them out of her mind quickly. "Well, my lord, since I'll be sleeping in that room there I'd appreciate it if you had some made." She said, dreading the thought of getting up to go to the restroom late at night and seeing him naked.

"No, they always chafe my crotch," Naruto slurred.

Sakura sighed, this boy was not ready to be a lord. He was still an idiot. At least his father had been able to control his own idiocy somewhat. "I'm sorry, my lord, but you need to wear night robes."

"I don't want to though." Naruto pouted, hiccupping.

With a second aggravated sigh, Sakura closed his wardrobe and turned to him. "My lord, I will be sleeping right there," Sakura pointed to the room conjoined with his. It was much smaller, and only connected to Naruto's room. "If there is an attack, do you really wish me to charge in and see you naked?"

"What are the odds?" Naruto asked.

"Pretty good if you sleep naked every night," Sakura said, walking towards him.

Naruto did a raspberry and fell backwards onto his bed, he was like a child. Sakura rolled her eyes. How in the world did she get stuck babysitting this clod? It must be that he and Tsunade had paired off against her in an attempt to make her miserable! Sakura yanked off Naruto's boots and took his belt off, then hoisted him onto the top of his bed.

A chambermaid passed by and assisted Sakura in removing such things that could kill him while he slept. The only thing they left were his pants. The chambermaid safely tucked him in and Sakura sighed, walking to her own chambers. She removed her armour for the first time since that morning and put on her night-robes, tying back her shoulder-length hair.

Before crawling into bed, she poked her head into Naruto's bedroom; he was still passed out exactly like they'd left him. She pursed her lips and got into her bed. Some lord he'd turned out to be. He was a stupid teenage drunkard at best. Sakura hugged her pillow to her chest.

She was certain that he'd never be a great lord like his father had been.

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A/N: Wow, this took me forever to update. Sorry for the long wait! I had this chapter finished a while ago but forgot to post it. Stupid me. To make up for it I'll be posting the second chapter right after this. I feel a bit bad since this one is nothing but character relationship development.