Chapter 19: Questioning royalties

Me: Well I guess chapter 19 is here.

Gaara: What do you mean 'you guess'?

Me: Oh! I haven't seen you around lately Gaara!

Gaara: Answer the question!

Me: *pouts* Fine. It's only that I am thinking while I'm typing. Which is not helping at all. It's really hard to just think and type, think and type, think and type…

Kiba: We get it already! No need to go into detail.

Gaara: You got that right.

Hidan: WHERE ARE YOU FUCKIN' SHRIMP!

Me: Damn! Here comes Hidan! Where is Sai? *looks around*

Sai: Right here.

Me: Quick do the disclaimer! I don't want to talk to Hidan!

Hidan: FUCKIN' SHRIMP WHERE ARE YOU? WE HAVE A SCORE TO SETTLE! DON'T TELL ME YOU FORGOT!

Sai: I see, well Peru doesn't own the Naruto manga/anime or verse for that matter. If she did, she'd be considered as a God but I'm pretty sure she isn't. *sees Peru stuffing herself with food* Yeah, she's not God.

*a frog hops along and stops in front of Sai, facing the readers*

Frog: Ribbit ribbit crooooak croak riiiiibbit croak ribbit. (Peru has one more thing to say, this chapter will start with Kuro but she will inject others into this as well.)

\(0.0")/=3=3=3=3=3

Kuro's POV

I was still wandering around my spot, trying to find the guy who took Gami. Ya, he showed himself accidentally and I caught a glimpse of him, he had bronze hair and his eyes were closed. 'Just like a fox.' I thought grimly. I sighed wearily as I leaned against a tree hanging my head. 'What a horrible time to get caught in this mess! I have to find my way to the palace.' I closed my eyes and some hands had appeared again. 'those hands are here again! What are they going to show me?'They started moving real slow then picked up speed, all the while I took this information in my head. When the hands were finished with the jutsu they disappeared.

Opening my eyes I started the jutsu. 'I just hope this works.' I picked the pace up and completed it. For a few minutes nothing happened, and I was about to lose it when I noticed a bush glowing. Before going over, I stood there just staring at the bush thinking how impossible it is for something to start glowing out of the blue. I finally went over and peeked over it. There sitting was the guy who catnapped Gami. Gami himself was in his arms, unconscious. I smiled slyly as I withdrew, I started planning an attack on him. 'He's going to pay for taking Gami away from me.'I did a clone jutsu and made him stand where I was a moment ago looking confused. While I did another jutsu that I recently learned, one that assassin's used: to blend in ones surroundings. I moved swiftly behind the bronze hair dude, stopping short when he lifted his head to take a look at my doppelganger.

He looked back down at Gami, a look of frustration was clearly plastered on his face. "Is he really that valuable? He can't even find me!"

I listened to what he said. 'What does he mean by that? Ah well, I have to put him out and get on with my mission. No time for questions.' I hit my elbow on the baseline of his skull, and he fell unconscious. 'Success! Now off to my mission, and I'd better hurry before he wakes up.' I picked up Gami and carried him. 'Oof, he's getting heavy.'Once I got him into a comfortable position; I started walking. Holding the map in my mouth.

Sinitria's POV

We walked all the way into the middle of the forest and yet we couldn't find Kuro. I was eating one of my sweet buns, very, very slowly. "You think we're walking too fast?"

"That guy walks faster than us. He wouldn't lag behind." Kiba huffed. Shikamaru kept quiet this time, and Hinata was her usual. Asuma ditched his smoke and began to think about some plans that would help us reach Kuro faster.

'I wonder how he looks like…'I trailed off in my thoughts as a new voice broke out. I dropped my bun, which wasn't finished at all. I stared at it while the new voice talked.

"Kufufufufu, looking for a friend of yours? Or should I say a royalfriend?" All I could tell was that the new voice broke from the trees. I didn't look up because I was too busy staring at my dropped bun.

"Who are you!" Asuma yelled at the guy. Kiba and Akamaru started growling, Shikamaru kept his poker face (at a time like this he must be really good not to show questioning glances). And Hinata,… well let's say that she was her usual self. But I never took my eyes off the bun I dropped.

"Oh I'm just a traveller in these parts of town." This time I looked up and saw a red head with gold eyes. 'What strange eyes.' I looked over at Shikamaru who went to whisper something in Asuma's ear. Asuma's face didn't change nor turn away from the red head, in fact he gave no sign that he had heard Shikamaru at all. 'Now that's what I call a skilled shinobi.'Then something occurred to me. I turned back to the red head.

"What do you mean about a royal friend?" I asked him. "Do you even know what we're doing?"

He chuckled. "Of course I know what you shinobi are doing. Simply put; we are taking your little friend captive, that Kuro Shinigami."

He smiled a sly grin that most thieves have. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. 'He's after Kuro? What does he mean by royal?'I turned to Kiba and whispered to him. "Hey, is Kuro a royal guy?"

Kiba looked doubtful. "I don't know. I never heard of him being a royalty. And I wasn't told anything other than him being some boy with a huge chakra reserve."

I looked back to the red head. "Can you explain a little more? I think I'm confused."

He just looked down at me, his expression was unreadable. He then smiled. "Sure, why not? Since you all are going to die here anyway, might as well as to spill the beans on this objective mission."

He hopped down from the tree, and landed nimbly on his feet. His legs didn't quiver from the impact, as if they were made out of stone. "Now where should I start? Hmmm… I think explaining your friend should be a good place. You see the princess of the Palace of Flames went missing a long time ago. Nobody knew where she went, but there was a rumor on how she escaped with a man that day. And ever since then she was said to be dead. But times have changed now and when the Princess had come back there was a break in the frequency of life. This happened quite a few times. But the strangest frequency disruption belong to the Prince,-"

"But that doesn't explain his Royalty lineage, and the reason your after him." Kiba interrupted. The red head glared at him but continued to explain why.

"Well, as I was saying, Kuro-kun here is part of the royal bloodline. And in the royal bloodline there were kings or queens that were kidnapped, that's where we come in, us bandits. We take the kidnapped royal family to make money, how we do that is different among us. But me and my partner want money, and to do that we need one of the royal family. Get the point?" He asked. We just looked at him before Shikamaru put in his thoughts.

"What exactly will you do to him?" His poker face played it's role and was a huge success.

"What a good question! It brings tears to my eyes!" He wiped away his imaginary tears, and smirked at us. "That my dear friend is classified for us bandits, we keep it a secret. Now my partner should be done taking that little boy in his clutches."

At that moment the bushes began to tremble, and out came an eight year old boy, carrying a panther on his back, with a piece of paper in his mouth. His face was contorted with concentration on carrying the panther kit. Everybody was watching him, and he didn't notice any of us. He was just walking in concentration. But he didn't get very far, when Kiba broke the silence.

"Kuro?" He questioned the eight year old, who in response jolted at his name, dropped the piece of paper but managed to keep hold of the unconscious panther. His face relaxed when he saw Kiba and team eight, and when he looked over at me he was surprised. But quickly regained composure. I looked him over. 'So this is the Kuro I've been hearing about? He doesn't look like he's from the royal bloodline. Cause I don't think that royal people wear a GAP sweatshirt and sweatpants… and only socks for that matter.'I looked down at his feet. His hair and eyes were a pretty dull color, but it did look good on him.

Kuro's POV

I was concentrating on walking with the dead weight on my back. 'Gami you're going to pay for this!' I was also trying to read the map but that was a failure. 'What a pain! I'll just have to start walking and hope I get there on time.' But when someone called out my name I jolted and looked up to see who it was. It was Kiba, I looked around slowly and recognized team eight. But there seemed to be one more person, I turned to look and was surprised at how casual she wore her clothes. 'Just like back home.'I regained posture and turned to face Kiba.

"Yo, wat's up?" I smiled at him. It irked him, and I sniggered at his reaction. "Don't be so uptight man, I just came through the bushes over here."

I indicated my entrance. Kiba just growled. "How come you were behind us? We thought you were well on your way to the palace."

"Hmmm… interesting news to hear, but I was caught up in beating some guy in a game of hide and seek. Now if you'd take a look at the map there should be some little x's on the far village." I smiled sweetly, before a guy came into my view. "Hmm… and who are you?"

This red head looked sly. 'Let's see who is the more sly person. Him or me.'"And you must be Kuro Shinigami-kun. Nice to meet you."

I raised my eyebrow. "I don't remember giving my name to a pair of gold eyes."

He laughed it off. "Forgive me, I wasn't supposed to reveal information to the victim himself."

"Oh really~?" I smiled as innocently as possible.

"Yeah, we can't tell the victim that we are about to rip apart in ten minutes anything. You know, the top secret missions of the hidden terrain in the land of sand. The HQ is pretty classified. Torino wouldn't be too happy if you guys knew about it." He spilled everything, not knowing on what he was saying and in front of who. Not until it was too late.

"Hmm… it's not bad to tell your victim about that." I nodded my head, going with the flow. Then looked back at him, his face was frozen with surprise. "Well you did spill everything, in front of the me. Your face expression is appropriate, I guess."

There was a moment of silence, where team eight just stood there and their new member. And where the red head was narrowing his eyes at me. 'Man the air is so uptight here.' Just then, he came at me with a kunai in one hand and a dagger in the other. I dodged his attack by moving backwards. 'Good thing I practiced this move. If I didn't then I wouldn't be the best person who moves backwards. Huh, what am I even saying. It doesn't even make sense to me.'I side-stepped to my left, avoiding the dagger that was currently stabbing the ground. I looked at the withering flower near it, and looked back at the attacker. "Now that's not fair. Having a poison filled dagger that causes death immediately. Just not my fighting style ya know? Oh which reminds me, what's your name? I didn't quite get it in our little introduction, back then."

He gritted his teeth and charged at me with the kunai. I tutted him. "Where are your manners? Don't all introductions need both sides introducing? Am I wrong?"

Sinitria's POV

Both the red head and Kuro moved swiftly. Not one of them faltered. 'This is epic! Nobody in school would move like this at all. Well maybe that one retarded kid at school, he can do anything impossible.' I watched on how the many swift moves clashed with impact. '… Wait. Clashed with impact?' Looking on closer inspection, there was the imposter (red head); and a hot looking demon guy. I shook my head. 'Where's Kuro? Did he escape the battle? But how?'I glanced at the others, and they were just as confused as I was. And I couldn't take it anymore! And eventually snapped. "HOLD UP!"

Both attackers stopped and looked in my direction. Puzzled. That was also when I noticed the sword, that the beast boy was holding. 'That's a pretty good looking weapon.'That thought aside, I continued my ramblings. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING? DON'T EVEN ANSWER THAT QUESTION! IN FACT I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO KURO! AND YOUR NAME YOU JUNKIE RED HEAD!"

I panted once I ended my screaming ramble. There was silence for quite a while, before 'beast boy' here tossed his sword away. 'WHAT? HE JUST THREW HIS WEAPON AWAY?' I gaped even more when his sword turned into a stone in midair. 'Note to self: Check that stone before leaving.'

'Beast boy' here started shrinking, to an eight year old sized kid. He wasn't hot anymore, but was really cute. He then scurried off to a fallen book and tied it to himself, he then made his way to the panther kit (that I didn't know on how it ended up on the ground). He started carrying it, and I noticed that little 'beast boy' didn't have his tail or ears anymore! Instead he was Kuro. 'I think my head's imaginary department, is playing with my eyes.' I rubbed my eyes and looked once more. 'Nope, it wasn't toying with me after all. It's just plain weird.'

Kuro turned to face the imposter, smirking at him. "Well then Sakuna, it's best if you leave. Well meet again and that is when we will continue our little brawl. Tata~."

He then turned to us. "Don't ask questions, just follow me and well talk about that later."

Kuro then left, with me staring at his back. 'How the hell did he know the imposter's name?'Nonetheless I followed him and team eight. Hearing what Sakuna mumbled last minute before I left. "Fu~. You can't expect any less from prince. It's going to become quite a big game."

~~~A while later~~~

"Hey can we talk?" I matched my pace to Kuro's. He stopped and looked back with curious eyes.

"Do you need something?" He cocked his head with a smile. I had this urge to suddenly hug him, but I managed to contain it.

"Yeah, it's just that I heard about you all this while, and yet…" I trailed off in my answer. Looking sheepishly at the ground.

"And I don't seem to meet your expectations?" He chuckled. I looked back at him and nodded. "Well that's fine with me. Now I have a question for you too."

He lowered his voice and came closer so only I could hear, on what he was saying. "Did you come from Earth?"

I was startled by his question, and seriousness. Never heard that much since the time with Oolong. It felt so long ago, yet it was only a day's span. It's hard to believe that I only came here recently. "Yeah, I just came here recently. Somehow I fell in a hole, and felt like Alice in "Alice in Wonderland" for a split second."

"I see, so you're like me. Then tell me your true gender." I was baffled by his straight forward question, but his eyes didn't waver.

"I'm a girl." I looked down and, blushing slightly as I told him.

"Really? No switcharoos?"

"Nope."

"Then how old are you?"

"14."

"So not all the people that are dropped here, are changed completely…" He trailed off. I was about to ask him another question, but we were interrupted by Kiba telling us to hurry up. "I guess we'll have to continue this in the palace. But for now let's concentrate on getting there."

He gave his sweet smile before turning around and jumping off into the trees. I sighed. 'I still have a long way to go if I'm going to learn more about him.'I followed the group quickly, whislt eating another sweet paste bun (I swear these things are good, you can't stop eating!).

~~~Meanwhile at the other end of the forest~~~

Sakuna's POV

"Kotaru!" I shook the bronze head, yet he still didn't wake up. I finally gave up and sat done, taking out a smoke in doing so. I took a few quick puffs of it before disposing it. "Man, didn't expect the price to be so young. Thought he would at least be in his rebellious age."

I looked down at Kotaru, and smiled. "And he is a quick witted one too. This is gonna be one fun game of hide and seek~"

Me: Yes! Finished! *does a happy jig*

Naruto: I never seen Peru dance before…

Kiba: Me neither…

Me: Oh yeah! I just remembered something! You, my dear readers, I have something to tell you: Did you ever have one of your stories completely erased? If you have, then go and check out the "Anti Critics Union". You may find it helpful, you may not, it depends. Besides it is still growing, the description is posted there, so be sure to go check it out! For me, pretty please with a cherry on top? *does puppy dog eyes*

Naruto and Kiba: … .…

Kuro: What did I miss?

Sai: It seems that Peru is trying to recruit people to some group, she has with her friends.

Kuro: I see… wait so this whole a/n is nothing but recruitment?

Ne: It'll just be this once, or maybe not.

Kuro: Who're you?

Ne: It's me Peru!

Kuro: Peru doesn't use "Ne" to refer to herself.

Ne: Oh! Shiz! I made a typo!

Kuro: What the hell?

Me: There that's better. Now who's going to close this a/n? I've got work to do, and studying is one of them. The stupid exams are coming up. I feel so drained! *wails and falls asleep*

Everybody: *sweatdrops*

Sai: Ahem, I guess I'll do the ending for her. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and don't forget to review. And, for Peru's sake, check out the Anti Critics Union, if your story has been erased once, or more than once. Then again, see you in the next chapter!