AN: I finally found out how to reply to reviews, so I'm not as big an idiot as I was five seconds ago, yay me! Anyways, I'm glad someone liked my Sai, I was so freaking scared I messed up his personality. He's just too awesome for me *shoot*. Anyways, as I promised, here's the next chapter. Thank you everyone who's reviewed and favourited, and finally you'll get a proper reply.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

When Isamu finally made it to his office, he was shocked and angry to find his endless stacks of paperwork in the strangest of places. Like the ones on the walls, and the ones hanging from the ceiling, and, horrifyingly enough, in the fireplace. It was almost enough to send him into an enraged fit; whoever vandalized his office was going to pay severely. Having just finished returning from a weeklong journey with the most antisocial girl in the world didn't help his mood either.

His mind was running through the possible culprits when his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Kiria's cries from the other side of the door. The only thing keeping him from venting all his anger out on the man was their close friendship, and the replying voice, meaning Kiria wasn't only doing it out of sheer stupidity. It was probably another protestor; a noble angry that he had not chosen their daughter, or that he had chosen a girl from a country they had just made peace with. Then again, as great a person Kiria, he was unbelievably lazy and didn't enjoy raising his voice expect around those he desired to show off his stature, and there was only one person in question he needed to do so around…

He opened his door too quickly. He should've waited to collect himself before coming face to face with what could either be his greatest ally or worst enemy. He shouldn't have let the brat know how desperately he needed him for his plan to work, how much the boy could manipulate him, how easily he could break him and all his plans. He realized his mistake a moment too late; however the boy seemed too angry to notice. It was a small blessing, but a reassurance that the gods were on his side.

"Let him in," Isamu announced as he stared into the teal eyes of his visitor. Kiria nodded; too surprised by his friend's uncharacteristic actions to do so grudgingly. The boy on the other hand entered without acknowledgement. "Were you the one who did this?"

"Glad to know you haven't rusted," came the reply. No emotion came with the statement; none but suppressed anger. A smile crept to Isamu's lips despite his mood.

"Paperwork is hard enough without having to scrape it off the walls and ceiling," Isamu said as he made his way to his desk chair. He sat only to find it frozen stiff, most likely another one of the boy's tricks.

"I don't plan on taking any jobs that require such work," he growled, and Isamu knew he was barely holding back his temper.

"It's been awhile Shiro-chan," he said, using the dreaded pet name he made for the boy. "How have you been?"

"Cut the crap; you know what I'm here for!" he cursed, raising his voice to just below a yell. Good old Toshiro, always losing to his short temper. "What do you mean you're cutting my funds? That's the only thing paying for mother's medical bills!"

"You were given a three month pension, and it's already been double that," the man replied casually as he leaned back on his chair, trying his hardest not to show his discomfort. That brat always found a way to ruin his day. "I can't waste my country's funds on unemployed shinobis."

"It's not a waste, it's saving a life!" the boy retorted, this time not holding back on the volume. "How could you be so cruel? She's family!"

"No Toshiro, you're family!" Isamu returned, raising his voice so that he appeared to be losing his temper. Quite the contrary; he was enjoying every minute of this. "She was Takeshi's mistress! That's not family. That's a disgrace!"

He watched the fire burn behind his nephew's eyes and he knew he won. Toshiro was demanding and he could be hot headed, but he wasn't an idiot. Insulting his employer wouldn't get him anywhere, so instead…

"What do you want me to do?" he sighed, giving in completely. "It's an S-ranked mission only I can do isn't it?"

"Something similar," his smile only grew with every word. "You see, it's about my fiancée…"

A shiver ran down Hinata's back as the cold air wrapped around her petite frame. When she first saw the ice castle, al she could think about was how beautiful and majestic it looked; now all her mind thought about was how cold it was. She had first thought the ice hallways were just for show, but now she was starting to wonder whether it was real…

"You'll get used to it," the man escorting her said as he watched her wrap her arms around her. "The rooms aren't nearly as cold as the halls either; we coat them in ice as a form of defence." Hinata's interest perked at the mention of the castle's unique defences. The man smiled, clearly pleased to be able to show off his knowledge to the new princess. "The ice makes it hard to keep your footing unless you're walking slowly or have been practicing for awhile. Invaders usually haven't stayed in the castle long enough to get the hang of it and they don't tend to enjoy taking things slowly, so they'll clearly use their chakra. Now the ice is similar to shinobi insects in the sense that it eats at chakra, so the slightest use of it could leave you dry. Our shinobis have trained in combat without using chakra, so we are also better at fighting in such conditions."

Hinata looked at the ice at her feet in a new light. Who would have thought it could be so amazing? The desire to use her Byakugan to be witness to such impressive chakra networks was almost overpowering, but she held it down. She wouldn't want to faint after arriving; especially not after she had just been warned.

"This is your room," the man announced as he opened the large white doors leading to a large, nicely decorated off white room. A large king sized bed was the centerpiece where two men who looked unbelievably alike sat, one on the bed itself, the other by his feet. They both had long black hair and dark skin, and the only difference in appearance she could find were the burn marks on the left side of the man seated on the floor. A woman a few years older than the men leaned against the vanity table; they all seemed to be waiting for her.

"Hyuuga-sama," the woman acknowledged once the escort left. She, like everyone Hinata met from the country so far, kept her brown unmanageable curls long so that it covered the majority of her back. She had probably been gorgeous in her prime, but her prime was not now. "My name is Ogata, Rode, and these are my comrades Ninshi Shun and Tsubasa. The four of us have been assigned your guards from now onwards."

"T-there's four of you?" Hinata hesitated, not sure whether or not it was a good idea to point out her mistake. In title the country may belong to her, but inside she felt like nothing more than a visitor; an outsider.

"Don't fret; we're Numbers, similar to what you Konoha shinobi call A.N.B.U," Rode replied innocently, not quite catching what her princess was asking.

"I think she meant 'where's the fourth?'" the man on the bed stated, catching her look. "I'm Shun," he added, answering the unasked question. "As for the captain, he'll be here when he gets here. Hitsugaya-sama should be informing him of his new position any minute now."

It took five minutes for him to come, this said captain, and in that interval no one spoke a word to her, while Tsubasa didn't seem to speak at all. His gold eyes rested on her the whole time, innocent curiosity taking in everything she did. It made her uncomfortable, though unthreatened. She wondered if the captain felt the same way when she gave him similar treatment.

The Ice country's Numbers were well known and if what rumours said were true, then Rode's summary was an understatement. These Numbers came in groups of four and each group was said to be equivalent to the strength of a Kage; it was the country's way of making up for not having a Kage. Though, as great as the Numbers were, there were very few of them, only two dozen. The six captains of the Numbers were supposed to be demons while fighting and were by far the greatest of this country's shinobi, so it only made sense that they were well aged.

Yet the captain of this squad was different from anything she would've imagined. He simply looked unfit to carry such a title; his garb slightly loose as though they had none in his size, his sword strapped to his back so that it wouldn't drag against the floor, and if anything he looked younger than her!

"I've been assigned captain of your guard," he announced as he stared her in the eyes, have to incline his head ever so slightly to do so. "I'm Hitsugaya, Toshiro, welcome to the Ice country."

AN: Okay, so they met, finally. Hope you liked the chapter, and just a heads up; they're not exactly going to like each other right away, so don't expect any major developments in their relationship now that they know who the other is.