A/N: Please help! I need to know if I'm doing the characters any justice.. I need some feedback.. I mean I want to at least know I'm doing a good job. :] Sorry for the wait, schoool..
Ps: Thanks for the alert Galaxy-Monarch Frosty10001. Yay! Somebody's reading this! :D
The sky got dark over the Hidden Leaf Village and the paper lamps hanging over the now bustling streets lit up. The evening air outside the small sweet shop seemed to glow with the soft lamplight. Ayako marveled at the amount of people still roaming the street. By this time the people of the Sun Village would be in their homes, sharing dinner with their families, but this night life was fascinating.
"This is so different then The Sun Village.." She said to herself.
"What was that Princess?" Lee asked, leaning over towards her. He had been being so quiet while she observed the street that she had forgotten he was sitting next to her. He had been watching her carefully as she observed the street.
She smiled and turned to him. "It's just that this place is so much different than the Sun Village. Where I come from its always very quiet and peaceful. We don't have nearly as many people as you have living here and there's definitely no night life."
He nodded thoughtfully, then took a bite of his dumpling and glanced around at the bustling crowds. "It is pretty crowded. I grew up here so I do not notice as much as an outsider would I suppose." He said with a friendly smile.
Ayako took a breath and let her gaze fall to her hands. "You really have no idea how much you, Naruto and Sakura volunteering means to Haru and me." She said after a moment.
"Part of being a shinobi is reaching out to those in need of our help." He watched her expression closely.
"No but its more than that." The princess insisted, peeking up at him through her eyelashes. "Shinobi get hired and assigned to jobs. You guys volunteered to help us, despite the lack of information and the amount of danger you're putting yourselves in for complete strangers-"
"You are hardly a stranger Ayako." He cut her off with a smile. "True I don't know much about you, but let us clear that up now shall we?"
She was taken off guard for a moment, before she laughed then nodded. "Alright. My name's Ayako Miyake, fallen princess of The Sun Village. My parents were slaughtered by the man Takeshi, who's now in charge of my village. Haru is my closest friend and practically a brother to me. His family was killed as well so we consider each other family. I'm one of the last ninja in my village and my dad taught me how to use most of the light style techniques, attacks special to our village.." She trailed off. "And that's about it I think." She finished with a soft smile.
"My turn. My name is Rock Lee of the Hidden Leaf Village. I am a taijutsu specialist, as that is all I have. I am not gifted with ninjutsu or genjutsu, but that is alright. I used to think it was a curse, but now I see it as a gift. I do not let my disability stop me and I have worked hard to be the best at taijutsu as well as the fastest ninja in the Leaf."
"I am thoroughly impressed Rock Lee. Still, that must have been hard." She said after a moment. "But I'm glad you saw the good in it."
He blushed and looked down at his hands. "Oh well thank you Princess. Though it was tough to begin with, it is what set me apart from the other ninja and made me special. And it was during the toughest times that I realized, nothing is ever gained from a negative attitude."
"I wish I would have known that when things got rough for me. After my parents were killed, a lot of the blame was turned my direction. I didn't know how to handle it. I broke down. Haru said I became a cliché."
Lee quirked his head to the side. "How so?"
Ayako met his gaze with a smile. "You know. A brooding member of a fallen royal family, doomed to a lifetime of revenge and angst." She said dramatically.
He made a face. "Oh well.. That is.."
"I got over it don't worry." She laughed as he relaxed and laughed too. "For a while though I didn't know what to do. I felt like that was my only choice. I realized that I was miserable trying to play the brooding princess pretty quick though. I don't have the personality for it. I have too quick a temper and I think I'm too nice to be focused on revenge. That doesn't get you anywhere anyway."
He nodded. "You must remain positive. Everyone has dark moments, but if you are strong you can rise above even the worst of times. What is in the past cannot be changed, but with every action we shape our future."
Ayako searched his face with soft smile on her lips. "Where have you been my whole life Lee."
A little flustered, he cleared his throat and struggled to hold her gaze. "Well you have me now and I am here to help you and Haru in whatever you need."
The fallen princess looked back at her hands. "Thank you from the very bottom of my heart. You can't possibly know how much it means to me."
"Let me walk you back. It is getting late and we have a long day ahead of us. You should rest up."
"You're right, thanks for taking me out." She said as she packed a few of the baked goods into a bag for Haru.
"It was nothing." He responded with a slightly embarrassed smile. He offered her his elbow and she took it. "It isn't a long walk from here."
"Couldn't you have left the light off at least?" Haru groaned as Ayako switched the light on in the tiny room. He looked up at her with one half closed pale green eye.
"Sorry.. I brought you some food." She turned off the light and sat next to him on the bottom bunk. She he held up the bag.
With a sigh, he sat up. "How was your date?"
She narrowed her gaze as he began to eat one of the dumplings. Instead of arguing she decided on "It went good. Lee is different than anyone I've ever met before."
After inhaling too fast and choking, Haru apologized and Ayako climbed up to the top bunk. A moment of silence passed between the two of them before he spoke.
"Do you think they can defeat Takeshi?"
Ayako blinked up at the ceiling. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't worried. She was sure Takeshi had noticed long ago that she and Haru were gone and if he wasn't looking for them already then he would be soon. She was well aware of the danger she was leading Lee, Naruto and Sakura into, but she would do everything in her power to keep them safe. With the help of their new friends, there would be no reason to fear Takeshi or his shadow powers. But there was still that slight chance that things could go wrong.
"Stay positive Haru. Everything will be fine, I promise."
"Lord Takeshi." The shadow ninja appeared behind the large man and bowed. "The princess and the boy Haru are gone, as you suspected. Should we pursue?"
Takeshi sighed, tapping on the desk with his fingers. His eyes opened slowly and he smirked. "No leave her. She's mounting some sort of attack no doubt."
"My lord, shouldn't we stop her?"
The man chuckled then stood and strode to the window. The sky was dark and there was no moon. "No. No. Let her play her games. When she returns we'll just kill them all."
"Even the Princess my lord?"
"We'll leave the Princess." He closed his eyes and chuckled a second time. "Stupid girl. I'll show you how worthless you are."