Love of the Samurai

"Sakura..." Gaara whispered. He had been lying on the bed next to her as the morning dawn slowly began to creep across the desert dunes and the entrance of Suna. The sunlight hadn't reached their bedroom window as Gaara brushed Sakura's cheeks gently with his stray fingers. "Sakura..wake up..." Sakura smiled in her sleep and snuggled closer to his chest to go back to her comfortable sleep. "Nope." she giggled into his chest. She felt his beating heart, and the strength of his lungs breathing against her right cheek. "Sakura..." he breathed. She could smell the chukra sand circle around her blankets and shoulders. "My love...wake up."

She opened her eyes to pitch black. Everything was coming back to her. Three other bodies were breathing against her own and felt soft. As if there weren't any clothing. She tried to move her hands but something was binding them. Then the panic grew through her lungs and ribs. "Gaara...GAARA!" she shrieked. She struggled with the rope tied around her wrists and ankles. Her body shook and she still couldn't see anything. She felt the roughness of a bag around her head. It didn't resemble anything like Gaara's chest. "GAARA!" she screamed. She couldn't think straight or realize what was going on. Where is Gaara?

"Hey one of the girl's is freaking out! I gotta drive this cart! Go hurry and get her to shut up." a male voice snarled. She could hear the sound of a man crawl over something then grabbed the sack that covered her face and untied the cloth covering her eyes. He crouched in front of her and looked into her eyes. "Would you keep your mouth shut." His raven black hair swooped back over his shoulder and stuck up in the back. His bangs flowed past his left cheek and close to covering his eye. His eyes glowed a sharingan red. It was a whisper of the truth to her eyes. "You.." she breathed. He held one finger across his lips. It was a sign of "shhh." "Sasuke?" she mouthed. He shook his head no. He had a small smile crawl past his lips. "Uchiha Madara...now keep quiet." he breathed. She nodded as he tied the cloth around her eyes and placed the sack back around her head. Then crawled back towards the other male's voice. "There she's quiet." he muttered.

--

Kiba had awoken as well and sniffed the air around him. The winds were swirling as he caught a few scents. Two males sat on the bench above their heads in the oak wooden cart. One horse was pulling the cart towards a very strong mixed scent. He felt it was wheeling towards a town covered by trees. He sniffed again. There were mountains still frosted by the winter snow. Even wild animals were living in the forest around them. But what sort of forest were they in? Something felt strange, the trees changed from bamboo to thicker and larger trees...but what were they? He sniffed the surroundings again. Tenten and Sakura were completely naked. Shikamaru had a cloth wrapped around his waist as well as himself. He knew full well everyone was covered by a burlap sack and tied by rope around their wrists and ankles. There weren't any weapons and for some reason he couldn't smell Akamaru anywhere nearby. "Akamaru.."he whispered. He kept sniffing and couldn't catch any trace of his beloved dog. "You're dog is tied up and being beaten. They're taking him to Konoha so your friends will stop trying to track us down. And you're dog will look like he defended you all in some epic battle. His blood is covered all over the forest to make your friends think you're dead." said the mysterious male voice. Madara looked over his shoulder down at them and saw Kiba's body was shaking.

"One of the boy's is crying." he muttered. Kiba clenched his teeth in anger. He had to restrain himself. Akamaru was hurt. And he kept thinking of Kankuro coming to save them. His friends would be right behind him and tracking their whereabouts...he was praying and hoping this would be true...

--

The cart suddenly stopped for what seemed like hours of wheeling around in zig zags. The two men carried the girls gently in a hurry towards a small hutt hidden in the bamboo trees. An old women stepped out and lead the men towards a room to place the girls in. She untied their bindings, as the men left and hurried to grab the boys from the cart. When they came back to the old women they threw the boys to the ground. "We have to leave. You know the rest, granny." Said the mysterious man. Madara looked at the two girls being forced into kimonos' by the old woman's granddaughters. Granny nodded her head and helped the bindings off the boys as she watched both men leave her hutt.

Shikamaru stood up immediately. He looked around his surroundings ready to attack but the old woman stood still and stared at him. They were in a bamboo made hutt, and the wood floors weren't the greatest comfort to his feet as he took a defensive stance. "You're a ninja as well. Your chukra doesn't work here. No one can leave this place but Madara. So young man, you can quit your stance and find you and your friends a place to survive in this town."

"What do you mean our chukra doesn't work?" Shikamaru questioned. He turned to face her as Kiba found some clothing. "This town was created to defend against intruders. More than most of those intruders are the likes of you shinobi. Madara founded this town when he retreated from Konoha less than a century ago. No one knows how he has lived for so long, but he resides here to hide from your kind. Now you and your friends are stuck here for life." she lectured.

The old woman left his side and helped to dress the girls. Kiba stood up and handed Shikamaru a dark green kimono. He himself was arranging his kimono in it's final touches. He had been wearing a red kimono. "What do we do now?" he asked Shikamaru. "The old lady may only have a little amount of knowledge on this town. We gather information as much as possible. Let's just hope she doesn't know a whole lot." Shikamaru pulled on his kimono and walked over to where the girls were standing.

"Sakura, why were you screaming for Gaara?" Tenten questioned. She had just gotten her obi tied around her waist by one of the grand daughter's. Sakura looked up at Tenten and blushed. "I was dreaming about him...it felt so real." she whispered. Sakura was wearing a full kimono now. The granny opened a small box containing white paint. "If you are trying to blend in, then I will aide you." She sat the girls down and told them to not speak while applying the white paint across their skin. "You're turning them into geisha?" Kiba was appalled. "Yes, this village is filled with legendary samurai and geisha. It is the best way for you and your friends to make themselves accepted or else starve." she explained as she lifted the brush from the white box.

This made him smile a little when he looked at Shikamaru, "So are we going to be samurai then?" he joked. Shikamaru just glared at him and muttered, "You'd never be a samurai Kiba. You don't have the patience. If anything you'd be a...shudō ." after saying that last word he stepped back a few feet expecting a blow to his face. Kiba stood still in a very confused manner. "What? What's a shudō? Are they street fighters?" Kiba grinned. Sakura turned bright red while Tenten pinched her to not say anything.

From hearing Kiba's words, Shikamaru stepped away even further and whispered, "it's like a sex slave to samurai dumb-ass" In reaction Kiba clenched his fists and began to growl heavily. "What!? Look I'm not going to be your sex slave. I don't even want to be a shudō you jackass!" he snarled. Shikamaru held his hands up in the air protecting himself, "Wait calm down! I don't want you as my sex slave! I'd throw myself to Temari's wind jutsu's before that would ever happen!" Granny glared at the both of them and barked, "The tradition of shudō is not a sex slave, you disrespectful brat! It is like a geisha tradition for young men. It is to be a lover for a warrior's heart. It remains one of the fundamental aspects of samurai life! It has the emotional and sensual bond that cultivates between an older warrior and a younger apprentice. It is 'the love of the samurai' and our greatest moral aspect in life. So you will do kindly to respect the shudō!"

Kiba stood still. He didn't make a move to harm Shikamaru, but felt overwhelmed and scared. He belonged to Kankuro. And only Kankuro. This would be the hardest thing to do for him. The old lady walked slowly towards Kiba and placed her hand on his shoulder. "It will do you and your family a great honor young one. You must remove yourself from all loved ones in your homeland...I will help you find a samurai who will not take advantage of you young one." she reassured.

Author's Note:

Reference to Shudō

The samurai often called it bi-do, "the beautiful way", and guarded the tradition jealously. Ijiri Chusuke, in 1482 argued:

"In our empire of Japan this way flourished from the time of the great master Kobo. In the abbeys of Kyoto and Kamakura, and in the world of the nobles and the warriors, lovers would swear perfect and eternal love relying on no more than their mutual good will. Whether their partners were noble or common, rich or poor, was absolutely of no importance… In all these case they were greatly moved by the spirit of this way. This way must be truly respected, and it must never be permitted to disappear.

The Japanese as well as the Greeks equated the love between a man and a beardless youth with all that was best in human nature, seeing it at times as the path to such ideals, and at other times as the goal itself. Simonides, in a famous drinking song from the fifth century BCE declares:

"Hear the four best things a man can ask of life:
Health unmarred lifelong, beauty of form and act,
Honest gain of wealth, and while one is still a boy,
To come to brightest bloom among heroic lovers."

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