Disclaimer-I do not own Naruto! I only love the story!
Chapter Two
The six shinobi and two representatives arrived in Fuyuharu-shu within four days after they set out from Konoha. During their journey, the two reps never really spoke much to their fellow ninja companions but to each other. The worry look in their expressions showed how much they fear for their country's monarchs' safety.
"Ano, how about you guys fill us in some basic information about your rulers? Since it's such a dangerous situation now, we might be asked to protect them." Asuma spoke up lazily. The two reps looked at each other for a moment before answering them. It was really creepy when they do that because it was as though they were speaking to each other's minds.
"Very well, our king, Kazuhiko-sama and his queen, Miyuki-sama have three sons and a daughter. The eldest son is the crown prince, Akito-sama. He is twenty-five years old and is the most important person in the kingdom because he controls half of the nation's guards and is a very good general. His younger triplet siblings are only six years old and are typical spoilt-brats. Other than that, they get on very well with the Fuyuharu royal family." Takumi shrugged at the last part.
"Wow, triplets? That's really rare. Your king is such a youthful man, Takumi-san!" Gai exclaimed passionately. Everyone habitually ignored him.
"Well, basically Queen Aisha is a gentle queen but she's good in politics. She has two daughters, Crown Princess Lugia-denka and Lurin-dono. They are half-sisters because the queen married twice but both prince consorts are dead when they were very young. Lugia-denka is uninterested in state affairs and always disappears from her lessons. She's such an irresponsible child; she's going to be fifteen years old soon but she still behaves like a baby. Lurin-dono on the other hand is very mature for an eleven year old girl. She is the one who sits by the queen's side in court and learns from there." From Kirei's tone, it was obvious she did not like the crown princess much.
"Well then, it looks like we have a troublesome girl is our hands, ne, Kakashi-kun and Gai-kun?" Shinichi smiled and asked. Kakashi looked impassive as ever while Gai was very emotional as usual.
"Well, then we'll part here. Our respective states are at different routes. Until we meet again Kirei-san. Good luck to all of you, Shinichi-san, Kakashi-san and Gai-san." Takumi-san bowed and walked off. Jiro, Asuma and Genma gave a small wave before following after him.
"Well then, a few ground rules before we enter the city. No peeking in women's changing rooms and bathrooms. Always knock before you enter someone's room, not spoofing in as you ninjas normally do. Behave like a gentleman at all times and don't make any lewd or crude jokes at our women, they have the right to castrate you on the spot if it's a serious thing. Any other questions?" The three shinobi shook their heads while sweat-dropping.
"Good. I will take you to your rooms once we entered the palace. You'll have an audience with her majesty tomorrow morning and be given your instructions." Kirei said and then led them towards the city where the grand palace of the queen of Fuyuharu was.
"It's so quiet here." Kakashi observed as they walked past nearly empty streets. It was late in the afternoon but there were not many people on the streets.
"It's because the war could happen here anytime. The queen has ordered that the citizens of the city to be evacuated to another safer place. Those who stayed behind usually know some form of self-protection. Hurry up; we must be in the palace before sun down!" Kirei said stonily.
'She will not make a very pleasant tour guide with that attitude.' Kakashi thought privately. The shinobi quickly scanned the area stealthily to check for any unusual signs of enemy ninja who might lie in waiting for them.
When they arrived at the main entrance to the palace, the grim-looking guards were surprised to see Kirei and greeted her politely. After showing them the passes from Konoha, they let them in. Kirei said that she will show them to their rooms first to freshen themselves up before dinner. She will send an escort to show them the way to the dining room. They will not meet with the queen until the next morning as it was stated earlier.
The three Konoha shinobi each had a luxurious room with a large private bathroom. Kakashi turned on the hot water for the bath, filled it with liquid soap and gratefully stripped his dirty uniform. Days of traveling without proper sleep and bath were enough to make him appreciate what he have for now. He sank into the bath with a content sigh. He washed his silver hair and scrubbed his skin clean before stepping out of the bath to take an equally refreshing shower. He had just finished dressing up when there was a knock on the door. He opened it and saw that it was a young and pretty maid who was in charge of escorting him to the dining room. He was also not surprise to see Shinichi and Gai waiting for him together outside. They were pleasantly surprised to see him on time for once.
The meal was delicious and the maids who served them were very attentive and polite. They were also excited to see real ninjas and eagerly asked the three guys all kinds of questions relating to their duties and responsibilities. Even though the guys obviously enjoyed getting all the attention from the opposite sex, yet they answered their curious questions as vague as possible. It was dangerous to give away too much information and endanger Konohagakure.
Kakashi mentally noted that one of the young girls who looked about fourteen or fifteen was exceptionally cute. She had a small pert nose and large innocent-looking silver-grey eyes framed with thick dark eyelashes. Her small face with its smooth creamy complexion was slightly rounded due to her youth. Her honey auburn hair was braided simply and hung from her back. She wore a dark green uniform with a slightly different design compared to other maids who wore standardized pale blue uniforms. The uniform consisted of a square-neckline (colored) dress with puffy sleeves and a wide pleated skirt, a white apron and long white stockings with black shiny shoes. She was the only one who did not join in the conversation. Instead she focused more on the dishes that she carried and carefully balancing them each time when it was her turn to serve them. She only made eye-contact with Kakashi once but lowered her eyes diffidently. The other maids ignored her and did not seem to be concerned much about her. She was probably new to the palace, he guessed.
By the time they finished their meal, Kakashi noticed that the girl was gone. She did not even appear to collect their empty dishes unlike the other girls. His single visible eye narrowed in thought of the probability of her being a spy for the enemy. He must find her as soon as possible to make sure that she was not a threat to this state. Then he chided himself, she probably had other chores to do and that he was getting paranoid. Perhaps he had spent too much time in Kirei-san's company. She really was such an uptight and paranoid bitch.
Lugia heaved a sigh of relief in her rooms she undressed. Tomoru-san was kind enough to let her off earlier today than what was ordered by her mother. She scowled at the thought of having to waste her precious time by having to serve their foreign shinobi guest when she could have done something much more interesting. It was all that bastard's fault!
'Damn Itsuko for ratting on me.' She snarled mentally. Her latest tutor was really a goddamned son of a bitch with a stick shoved up his ass. He took sick pleasure in making her miserable in lessons by forcing her to memorize all the shitty stuff that children of Shiki-kuni learnt in grade school. He had been displeased when she missed lessons this morning and reported her to her displeased mother. As a result she was ordered to serve in the lesser dining room for half a day as punishment. On the bright side, at least she now knew who were the foreign emissaries from Konoha and made several sharp observations.
She bit her lower lip and thought of the young silver-haired shinobi. She was shocked at first in seeing how young he was. He was probably about her age or slightly older. She noticed that his ninja headband pulled down to cover his left eye and his dark blue mask covering the entire lower half of his face. He wore a green vest that she recalled reading from one of her books which mentioned only chuunin-level and above ninjas wore.
'That kid must have caliber to be sent here from Konoha, or is Konoha currently too weak from the damaged done by Kyuubi that they have not much ninja to spare?' Lugia thought grimly as she changed into a lavender nightgown and got ready for bed. Tomorrow's first meeting between the queen and the shinobi will be very interesting. Too bad she had too miss it because of some important matters to be taken care off, mainly a man name Itsuko. It looks like she was going to need a new tutor again.