A/N: Oh how I love this story. The glory of AU is seeping into my brain! throws out flowers
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But I do own this fanfic!
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Ino was past being scared.
She was way past being terrified.
She was completely, totally, paralyzed with fear. She had lost all control of her limbs, her voice, and if someone had asked her what her name was, she wouldn't even be able to stir up any vague memory for the answer.
After she had lunged at the thing, she discovered that her weapon had basically done nothing, simply bouncing off something metallic.
Just as she had opened her mouth to scream again, she had been grabbed, twisted, pulled and ended up crushed chest-to-chest with something hard and cold. Make that someone hard and cold. She was guessing they were wearing some kind of armor, since her needle had been deflected. Wait…armor?
Before her thoughts could cognate, she was pulled up, up, higher and higher until she was just balancing on her tip-toes, and then up again, so her feet were grazing the ground, and she could feel a cold blade being placed against her neck.
"Now who the hell are you?" growled a deep male voice.
When she only managed to squeak in response, he pressed the flat steel blade ever deeper into her vulnerable neck. All remaining calmness fled, and Ino felt herself panic, tried to fight back but found she could not. Her vision blurred, frightened tears streaming down her face, face contorted in fright.
"Answer me!"
"Please…!" she begged, barely managing to form the single word in her panic.
Fearing for her life, fearing this dark assailant, fearing what was waiting for her after death.
As if confirming her fears of being dead, a bright beam of moonlight stabbed down, illuminating everything with it's watery light. Ino managed to get a glimpse of her attacker's face. A pair of narrow eyes stared down at her for a second, before she was released a second later, miraculously staying on her feet, albeit unsteadily.
"Princess Ino." She heard him whisper in horror, and by the moonlight she could make out the familiar spiked ponytail, the furrowed brows, the armor she had almost recognized before.
"General…Nara?" she choked out, feeling a wave of relief crash down her. Ino lifted her hand to wipe away her tears, but suddenly felt her vision black out and fell down in a dead faint.
Shikamaru caught her before she hit the ground, and set her down gently. He collapsed onto the stone bench, and rubbed his temples tiredly.
'What a fine mess I've gotten myself into.' He groaned inwardly, glancing over at the unconscious princess. Despite himself, he couldn't help but notice the way her loose hair spilled around her, the moonlight turning it into a platinum halo, casting shadows across her face, and her rumpled kimono gaping at the front, allowing him a glimpse of the pale skin which rose and fell in a steady pattern.
Groaning, he snapped his head away. Curse this damned princess for causing him thoughts like that, and curse the army for forcing him to wine and dine with the stiff upper class and pretend like he was interested in their politics!
Scratching his head, he realized that he couldn't simply leave the Princess of Japan out here on the ground, so he picked her up and was about to leave when he noticed her hair pin lying near the trees. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed it, and made his way back to the palace. It wasn't until he reached the sliding doors of the veranda that he paused and thought about how strange this would look.
'Better think of something, quick.'
Shifting his load, he hoped that the Princess wouldn't wake up while in his arms. That could be awkward. Coming up with a sufficient story, he slid the door open with his foot and maneuvered himself through the gap.
"Now what?" he muttered quietly, flicking his eyes around the corridor for anyone.
'I can't stroll back into the dining hall…but I can't go traipsing around the palace looking for her quarters either.'
"Mendokuse…" he groaned, slumping his shoulders in frustration. "This is so troublesome!"
"Ano…excuse me, do you need any assistance?"
Shikamaru spun around, nearly dropping his precious cargo in alarm. Upon seeing a pink-haired maid behind him, he managed to calm down a little.
"Er…well, actually I do."
"Oh my God!"
The maid's eyes widened, as she realized what was in his arms.
"What, why-what are you doing with the princess?!" she cried, her voice turning aggressive.
Shikamaru grimaced, preparing for the worse.
"Well, the thing is…I sort of found her out there…like this." Not entirely true, but a little white lie never hurt anyone.
The pink-haired woman was too busy fussing over unconscious princess to listen however. "She's running a terrible fever." She muttered worriedly, checking for any bruises or scratches.
"Really?" Shikamaru responded uninterestedly. "That's unfortunate. But if you could be so kind as to assist me…?"
"Of course! Gomenasai, please, follow me." She rushed off, and not for the first time, Shikamaru groaned in annoyance. 'This is such a drag, how did my night end up like this?'
"She should be fine now." Informed the maid, emerging from the room.
Shikamaru jolted upright from his sprawl, wiping away any signs of drowsiness. "Um…great. If it's not too much hassle, could you possibly bring me back to the, uh, dining room?"
He was now not only hopelessly tangled in a complicated story of high fevers and bushes, but had been missing for nearly an hour. 'Not looking good.' He mused dully. As they appeared at a familiar set of doors, he exhaled resignedly, submitting to his fate.
"Nara-san, where have you been?" a jovial voice called out as he entered the hall.
To his relief, he found that most of the table was reasonably drunk, and it wasn't too difficult to crash down onto his cushion without answering any questions. He had forgotten about the emperor though.
"May I ask where you have been, Shikamaru-san?"
Immediately stiffening, he looked up into the completely sober face of Emperor Yamanaka. 'Dammit…'
"It's a long story, your majesty."
"We have all night."
Ino woke up with a shocking headache, sore throat and unbearable fever. Coughing weakly, she called for her maid, and was glad when Haruno-san appeared.
"I feel awful."
She was quickly given a cup of barley tea, and a cold towel was placed on her forehead. As she sipped her tea, the events of the previous night swept over her. She thanked the Gods that she was back in her bed again, after her traumatic ordeal.
'Actually…how-?' A thought suddenly occurred to her.
"Haruno-san! What…how did I get here?" she demanded, suddenly frightened. She was surprised to see a gentle smile cross over her servants face in reply.
"Don't worry, princess. Major General Nara found you in the gardens, and brought you to me. Just rest now, you needn't worry. I'll have you healthy again in no time."
Ino didn't respond, but was thinking furiously. 'Found me in the gardens? What nonsense! No doubt he's off bragging about his good deeds to everyone, saving the Princess, hah! What a liar he is!' She mulled over her thoughts angrily, until she fell asleep again.
Next time she woke, she was feeling marginally better, but was in a rotten mood. Oh, if she ran into that no good soldier again, to hell with all pretences of elegance.
'I'll punch his face in!' she fumed. 'Of all the nerve…bursting out of the bushes, attacking me, then having the gall to tell an outright lie!'
"Darling?"
Turning her head, she saw her father standing worriedly in her doorway.
"Good morning Daddy."
"Well, it's actually nearly twelve, so really it should be 'good afternoon'." He smiled, walking over to her bedside and taking her hand. "How do you feel?"
Ino grimaced, answering him without words.
"That bad?" She nodded dejectedly. "My poor flower, lying in bed, riddled with pain! What should I do?"
Ino silently giggled, amused by her father's antics. He was always like this when she fell ill, and it never failed to raise her spirits.
"So, mind telling me what happened last night? General Nara has already filled me in on his part, but I still want to know how you came to be lying in the gardens unconscious!"
Ino felt an angry bubble rise up in her, and was just about to set her father straight when he turned around and gestured for someone to join him. To her exasperation, it was none other than the soldier from last night, slouching into her room and appearing very uncomfortable.
"Come here Nara-san, I'm sure you are curious about my daughter's explanation as well."
Ino allowed herself a brief moment of satisfaction when she saw how the man's gaze jumped to her in panic. 'Let's see how well you cope with the stress, soldier.'
She narrowed her eyes at him, before turning back to her father with a strained smile.
"Well, I'm afraid it will not be a very exciting response. I hadn't been feeling well all evening, and after stepping out for a breath of fresh air, I obviously fainted due to my illness. It is of course, very fortunate that General Nara discovered me when he did." She added slyly, enjoying the discomfort of said soldier.
"I'm afraid I haven't expressed my gratitude properly yet." Ino was sure that he picked up on her silent threat, from the way that he glanced nervously at her father. Luckily the emperor didn't notice her tone of voice, and shortly afterwards he made to leave, indicating for Nara to follow him. To everyone's surprise, Ino stopped him, asking if "General Nara could stay behind for a moment, so I may thank him in private."
Nodding hesitantly, her father exited, leaving just her and the soldier in her room.
"Well, I hope you're happy." She stated icily, glaring daggers at him.
"What?"
"I said, I hope you are happy with what you've done."
When he continued looking at her with a puzzled expression, she exhaled angrily and thanked the Gods that she had a terrifically sore throat, otherwise she would have surely started shouting already.
"You just forced me to lie straight to my father's face! Do you know what kind of trouble I would get into if he caught me?!"
"No one asked you to lie."
His answer shocked her, and she was unable to come up with a reply. What he said was the truth; she hadn't needed to lie to her father, she could have just told him the truth, got the young man fired, and that would be the end of it all.
'But, that would take all the fun out of it.' She reminded herself, trying to compose her scrambled thoughts. Of course she hadn't told her father the truth! Then she wouldn't get the pleasure of punishing the general herself!
Nodding, she prepared herself for another argument when she found herself looking straight into the soldier's eyes. She grimaced, feeling her throat constrict slightly. 'Ow…'
"But I did, and therefore I expect that my kindness should be repaid."
Seeing his eyebrow quirk upwards, she smirked.
"Therefore, you now have the job of watering all my plants until I'm well enough to do the job myself."
The man's brow furrowed in disbelief.
"Excuse my your majesty, but I don't think you realize how difficult that would be for me to do. You see, I simply wouldn't have time to water your," he choked on the last word with incredulity, "plants."
"Make time then."
"Can't you get your servants to-"
"I'm sorry General Nara, I thought I just heard you say no to the princess. Forgive me if I find that hard to believe."
Smiling with fake sweetness, she celebrated her victory silently, chuckling at the general's expression. Oh yes, she definitely would have fun punishing him.
Shikamaru could not believe this.
It was beyond him how the last few days' events had come about. Out of the blue, he had received a huge promotion, wrestled with the princess, and was now standing with a watering can at 12:30 in the morning, trying to 'make time', as she had so eloquently put it.
"Mendokuse…this is the most bothersome thing I've ever had to do!"
For the last five days, he had been getting about 3 hours of sleep, watering her goddamed plants until 1 o'clock every morning, crashing into bed and waking up again at 4 o'clock to supervise the morning training, and start another tedious day of strategising, having heated discussions with his superiors, and waiting desperately for the princess to recover. No doubt she was planning on dragging out her torture for as long as she could, but as soon as he heard she was up and walking, he was never going near the palace gardens again.
It was fair to say that Shikamaru wasn't harbouring many pleasant feelings towards the Imperial family at the moment. Not only was the emperor holding all the troops in the palace grounds because of a recent tip-off that the samurai were going to attack the palace soon, but his daughter was driving him crazy with her long list of chores for him to complete.
Only yesterday he had been summoned with a message that the princess wanted to see him. The result was another list of duties for him to complete by the end of the day, ranging from ordering her a new yukata, picking up her earrings from jewelers, to making sure she got sukiyaki udon for dinner. He swore, if she summoned him again, he was going to tell the messenger exactly what they could do with her letter, and if she didn't like it, well tell her damned father the truth, see if he cared. Grumbling, he continued to pour water over the colourful flowers. He couldn't wait to be out of the palace grounds.
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A/N: I had to stop this chapter before I wrote 20 000 pages! I'm getting so addicted to writing this, it's sad. I'm putting aside my revision and assignments to spend hours writing this every night. It's tragic! XD
Now that you've heard my sob story, don't forget to review!
Tan-chan