Sakura no Ceres
She was the last hope, he was her love. She needs to erase herself from them, they were her only family when she was alone. He saved her and died, she was yet alone… or not?
A/N: I do not own Naruto. Flames are allowed. Read & review, thank you.
::.. Chapter III: Figuring out..::
Birds slightly chirped as they wake, as the sun rose behind the mountains of the past Hokages' heads.
Just like what Tsunade said, the said group came early and was waiting for the mysterious Princess and the ever so late silver haired jounin.
"I tell you; once I see Kakashi-sensei I swear I'll hit him so hard he'll never see his future anymore!" Naruto, the loudmouth of the group whined as the others sweatdropped.
They stopped their chattering as they saw two figures walking their way, one was hooded and the other, his lower part of his face was masked.
"Yo, I went to pick up Hime-sama from the Hokage," the silver head jounin waved his hand to them as the Princess beside him kept silent.
The teens only had one thing on their minds, 'I think I met her before, but where?'
"Tsunade wouldn't tell me her name yet, but we'll call her Hime-sama for now," Kakashi lied, he and the other former senseis knew who she was but kept quiet about it.
"Ohayou Hime-sama! I'm the future Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto's hand was in front of the cloaked Princess and wanted to shake it with hers as a sign of "nice to meet you".
Sakura's hood covered her upper part of her face, but her pink lips were seen. They saw her lips turn into a smile and shook Naruto's hand. Her silky cloak moved with her arms as they shook hands after that she put them down.
"Nice to meet you too," she said in a low voice, so that they couldn't recognize her.
"Now shall we go?" Kakashi ushered the others to go and ordered them that they, the jounins, will keep her company as they will watch front.
When they were in a great distance with the teens, Kakashi and the others gave Sakura a sad look. Sakura saw this and looked at them through her hood.
"I know Tsunade-sama told you everything... but that doesn't stop me from doing that to them…" Sakura whispered.
"Hime-sama, you don't have to do this, they'll understand." Kurenai used the code name to not give out her name.
"The easy path can only lead to destruction, but taking the hardest and hurtful path is the only way to make sure people you care about are safe…" Sakura walked past the shocked jounins.
"She changed Kakashi," Asuma inquired.
"But the hard path is not meant for you at all, things could be explained to them and they'll understand. You don't have to hurt yourself, Hime-sama." Kakashi spoke up behind his orange perverted book.
This time the teens heard their conversation and came to a halt to see the commotion behind them.
Sakura stopped, and you could see a tear roll down her cheek and she brushed it off and continued walking and she passed her friends.
The confused teens just caught up and guarded the front line while the jounins stayed behind her, quietly.
The walk ended as the moon appeared above them. Tenten and Lee went to hunt food, Kiba and Shino went to get water, Shikamaru and Choji went to get wood for their campfire, Hinata and Ino set up camp; as for Neji, Sasuke, Naruto and their former jounins kept watch of the cloaked Princess, who sat on the log silently mesmerizing the moon.
Neji was eyeing the Princess suspiciously, 'I think I know her, but I couldn't put my finger on whom and where I've met her.'
Sakura sensed this and spoke in a soft manner, "Hyuuga-san I prefer you don't use your Byakkugan on me."
Sasuke and Naruto looked at Sakura and Neji as well as the others in the vicinity.
"Don't worry Hime-sama I won't infiltrate your privacy," with that said, the cloaked Princess only nodded and her lips turned into a smile.
Shikamaru and Choji came back with the said wood in their arms followed by Kiba and Shino with buckets of water. Moments later, Tenten and Lee arrived with two rabbits and fishes. They soon sat around the campfire and waited for their food to be ready.
"I'm Ino Hime-sama, and this is Hinata, cousin of Neji and here is Tenten." Ino smiled at the cloaked Princess.
"Nice to meet you," she replied in a soft voice.
Tenten and Hinata smiled too and nodded.
Minutes later, their food was prepared and they ate silently. Sakura only nibbled on the fish and put it down and walked to her tent.
They watched her dismiss herself without saying goodbye and not finishing her food.
"Ne Kakashi-sensei, why is that Obaa-chan wouldn't tell us her name?" Naruto said while munching on his ramen.
"It's to keep her identity secret from Orochimaru and Akatsuki. We might not know that they're here, but they might be lingering here and once they hear the name of the Princess, they will know who to target next…" Kakashi explained as he glanced at Sakura's tent.
This made Naruto quiet down and started munching on his ramen. Shikamaru was trying to answer Kakashi's reply. 'Hear and know the next target huh?' Shikamaru thought quietly as he positioned himself into his analytic stance, seeing this, Kakashi and the other jounins' brows raised, and the others to look dumbly at Shikamaru.
Shikamaru's eyes shot open and he grinned, "How troublesome."
The jounins flinched and had only one thing on their minds, 'Shit, he figured it out.'
The prodigies saw their reactions and both stood up.
"You knew all along," both Neji and Sasuke spoke.
Kakashi sighed, Gai stunned, Asuma hung his head and Kurenai crossed her arms.
"So what's the name of the Princess, Shika?" Ino asked.
Shikamaru sighed and muttered, "How troublesome."
Getting impatient, Ino stared down her boyfriend, "Nara Shikamaru if you're not going to tell your beloved girlfriend, we're through!"
Shikamaru sighed once more, "I can't tell who she is, let's just wait until she's ready."
With that said, they piped down as they saw the topic of their discussion come out of her tent.
Her cloak was messily put on and you could see her nose clearly. Her hood almost came off when she came out of the tent but put it back on safely.
"I will tell once we arrive at the Palace," she said as she turned her back on them and took off the bottom of her cloak (her hood is still on).
They were cut off guard as she took off the bottom of her cloak, beneath that lavender silk cloak of hers, you could see a somewhat medieval dress. Her white medieval dress had lavender ribbons on her sleeves, ribbons on her waist and a big lavender ribbon behind her. (Think of a maid dress thingy, but this one's prettier) Her pink doll shoes could be seen a little.
"For now, I think I'll take off the cloak… I feel uncomfortable for wearing a lot of clothing." The Princess spoke again and she sat between Neji and Sasuke.
"I forgot to finish my share, I am terribly sorry." She spoke ever so softly and finished her half bitten fish.
Shikamaru eyed Sakura, unfortunately for him, she saw.
"Shikamaru-san, I trust you'll keep this secret." She smiled.
"Don't forget you made a deal Hime-sama, you'll tell everyone once we get to the Palace." Shikamaru stressed her code name.
"I don't break promises Shikamaru-san," then she went back to her fish.
Everything became silent as the air of tension thickened.
"Hime-sama, please go back to your tent as you will need energy for us to arrive at the Flower Kingdom before nightfall tomorrow." Kurenai brought Sakura back to her tent.
"You too kids, we'll do the shifts." Asuma leaned his back to the tree.
Night fell as two cloaked men stood from a faraway tree.
"Tch, we did not even get a single information who she is," a certain blue man spoke as he stood on top of the tree and crossed his shark like arms.
"Hn," came an infamous reply from the black-haired man. They both disappeared as another figure spied on the camp below.
"Master will not be happy without any information about this," he sighed as he fixed his glasses.
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