The sky had gotten clearer and the sun had risen, it has been five hours since the group set foot to The Land of Flowers, they didn't encounter any danger yet but everybody was on their guard, except Kumiko of course how sat comfortable in her carriage.
They stopped a couple of times for the horses to have a break and drink some water and then went back on the road. Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were on a constant lookout, just like all ninjas. Their eyes scanned everything around them, looking for any sort of clue of danger, even a little rustle in the bushes could be a sign on an attack.
Thesun was setting and the sky was getting darker, Kakashi looked over at the guard and notice little droplets on their forehead They must be tired after traveling for this long with only a small water break he thought, unlike them ninja's are trained to survive long conditions of whatever situation they were in, weather, environment, pain and more.
However Kakashi thought as he looked to the right to see Naruto who was looking tired by the minute all ninja's aren't the same
Kakashi stopped halting the bodyguards, carriage and his pupils, they looked at him in confusion.
"Kakashi-sama?" the blue haired male bodyguard spoke
"What's wrong Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked
"Forgive me but it looks like the the Highness bodyguards are getting worned out by all this traveling" he said as he turned around to face them "How about we camp in the forest tonight? We can get a good number of hours rest and get back up in the morning" he suggested, the guards looked at each other before the purple haired female bodyguard stepped out of her line.
"I will ask her Highness" she replied, Kakashi nodded and watched as the woman knocked on the carriage door, for only a second late Kumiko opened it.
"Your Highness, Kakashi-sama has suggested that we camp here in the forest for tonight to regain strength for tomorrow, do you accept?"
Kumiko nodded at her and (with the help of her bodyguard) stepped out of the carriage and walked to Kakashi.
"I agree with your suggestion Kakashi-san" she looked at her bodyguard and nodded at them, they relaxed their shoulders and pulled the carriage off road into the forest, Sakura along with her two teammates helped them moved it and place it in a good area where a traveller won't see it, Kakashi and Kumiko followed them.
They all sat around the carriage with a fire in the middle to keep them warm, Naruto has gone to refill his teammates water bottles up by a nearby river while Kakashi and Kumiko's guards did some checks on their surroundings, looking for anything for traps or enemies. Sakura had looked through her bag and checked her items and paid the utmost attention on her medic supplies, even though she was the most powerful medic in the ninja world she still carried all sorts of medical herbs and ointments with her incase she couldn't heal them with her chakra.
Seeing as her blonde teammate was taking too long to get some water Sakura when to find him, muttering of how long it takes him to refill their bottles up.
This left Kumiko and Sasuke in their little camp, currently Sasuke was laying down his sleeping bag, adjusting the pillows to make sure that they were right enough to sleep on. Kumiko watched as he took off his cloak, revealing his all black outfit (he is wearing the outfit he wore when he left the village when he got pardoned) and some small action around his neck due to the small v-neck.
She could see an outline of his muscles under his clothes, now she could see the size and she was impressed, then again this is the man who helped saved the world, he was bound to have some muscles. Thanks to the small v-neck she could also see a bit his collar cone, every time he moved they would as well, the skin getting deeper and showing more of his bones which made him even more handsome.
Sasuke knew that she was staring but didn't do much of it, he was used to girls staring at him, he sometimes cursed his good looks. He started to get annoyed with feelings her eyes watching him and turned to her, Kumiko jumped and her cheeks turned pink, she was caught and she didn't like it, but she wasn't going to back away, it would be a bad image for a princess.
Kumiko coughed her embarrassment away and looked at the man with confidence "So, you are Sasuke Uchiha? The last survivor?"
He tensed for a moment as he heard the word 'survivor', it didn't sound right, in fact it sounded horrible. However he could not act bad in front of a princess, so he nodded "Hn"
Kumiko was a little disappointed as his lack of words but didn't show it "I heard of you helped saved the world along with your teammates"
"They're not teammates" he argued "They're my friends"
"Ah, yes they are, sorry" he shrugged and she continued "You and your, friends, are highly talked about in my land, your basically celebrities"
"Your not going to ask for my autograph are you?" was that a tease? It made her all giddy inside, she giggled.
"No, no I'm not" she did think of other stuff she wanted from him, all are not for kids, she continued to talk to him "However I can't speak for the people of my land"
Sasuke hummed and pulled out a small black box from his bag and opened it, revealing food that made his stomach rumble, he wasted no time and digged into his meal. Kumiko was once again saddened that now he was eating he won't answer to her, she stuck to watching him but avoid his eyes when he looked at her, not wanting to get caught again.
A few minutes later the two heard footsteps and Kumiko was on her guard, she looked at Sasuke who still ate, wondering why he was still eating when people were approaching. It was only until the footsteps came closer till Kumiko knew why, it was Naruto and Sakura.
"Sorry for the wait, Naruto got loss" Sakura apologized as she handed Sasuke his water bottle, giving her a nod and thanks and went back to his meal while Sakura set up her bed.
"Sorry Sakura-chan" the blonde grinned sheepishly "But the forest is huge! How do you expect to not get lost?!"
"By using your chakra to track us dobe" Sasuke told him as he finished his meal and put the box back in his bag "Thanks for the food Sakura"
Sakura smiled at Sasuke "Your welcome Sasuke-kun"
"Oh yeah, Sakura-chan made us food!" Naruto said excitedly as he rushed to his bag and got out an orange box which was filled with food made by Sakura, Naruto took a bite of chicken and rice, enjoying the taste "It's so good! Thank you Sakura-chan!"
Sakura giggled at Naruto "Your welcome as well Naruto" Sakura sat on her finished bed and pulled out her pink box from her bag and began eating.
Kumiko sat there in jealously, Sakura, the pink haired girl made lunch for her Sasuke? How dare she? Kumiko made a note to keep an eye on Sakura and not let her get near her future husband.
Kakashi and Kumiko's bodyguards came back just as the three finished eating, they told their princess that she needed to sleep in her carriage now for the early morning when they will move again. Kumiko didn't want to go to her carriage but with her duty as the princess she needed to, and so went in and went to sleep while her bodyguards and the ninjas took turns for watching while the others slept.
The sun had barely risen when they were on foot again, well not for Kumiko but for the rest they were. She was woken by the knocking on her door and telling her that they were now moving, she took a little rest while on their way and was now fully awake, and fully bored.
There was nothing to do in the carriage, she brought books with her but she had finished them all. Kumiko sighed and listened to the footsteps of her companies, she pushed the curtains away from the window on her right. Kumiko saw that Hana, one of her female bodyguards was walking on the right side of the carriage today, it looked like that they changed positions from the day before but Kumiko didn't care.
Kumiko unlocked and opened the window "Good Morning Hana" she greeted, Hana turned to her princess and smiled.
"Good Morning your Highness" Hana greeted back to her, the moonlight shined on her purple hair, making it glow beautifully.
"How far away are we from home?"
"About two days your Highness, thanks to Kakashi-san's suggestion we are ahead of schedule" Hana informed her, Kumiko wasn't impressed by this as it was the famous Kakashi Hatake.
"How is everyone? Are they doing alright?"
"Yes your Highness, we along with the ninja's are doing just fine" Hana smiled and Kumiko smiled back, it was nice talking to someone while on a long trip, Kumiko was thankful that she had Hana and the others by her instead of cold people.
They continued to talk as they traveled while Kakashi and his team kept aware of their surroundings. Two hours past and the sun was beginning to rise, and that's when the ninja's heard something, a rustle in the trees. Kakashi stopped and held out his hand, being in the front again everyone followed his command.
"Kakashi-san?" The blue haired male asked, confused as to why they were stopping again.
"Quiet" he commanded, all was silent for a few seconds before he spoke again "Your Highness please lock your window"
"Why?" she asked confused, suddenly a whizzed noise was heard from the right, making them look in that direction. Kumiko looked to see the source but found nothing, all of a sudden a hand was in front of her and an arrow appeared, the hand clenching it and the tip of the arrow touching her nose. Kumiko's body was shaking as she looked down to see that Sasuke had caught the arrow, the heart started to beat fast and her cheeks were hot.
"Come out, now" Sasuke demanded his voice made Kumiko quiver in lust, she quickly got rid of those thoughts as there was an enemy who almost shot her.
There was another rustle in the bushes, three different figures jumped out and landed a few feet before Sasuke. All were dressed in dark clothing, simple trousers, long sleeved t-shirt and boots, they also wore masks from their nose downwards. One of them was tall and muscular, another was was slim and had white bandages on his head along with a scar across his nose. The last was slimmer than the other one but had a more firmer build, they all held out their kunai ready for attack.
"Well well well, if it isn't the one and only Sasuke Uchiha" the tall one said, it had a rusty voice, a sign that it was a male and had mocking black eyes.
"Not only him, but we got the whole team" the slimer figure said, by the sound of the voice it belonged to a female, her blue eyes looked over the team as Sakura and Naruto were by Sasuke's side.
"Just give us the princess and we won't have to kill you all" the rusty voice said, the guards glared at them and Hana stepped forward.
"You'll never have her"
"Looks like we're gonna have to kill them" the figure said with the bandage head, it was a man but younger than the other one. The figures ran to them and collided with team 7, Sasuke took on the tall and muscular one while Naruto had the one with the bandaged head and Sakura was against the female.
"You lot stay back" Kakashi said the Kumiko's bodyguards, "If you charge after them then it could lead to injuries, we stay here and protect the princess this way" the bodyguards looked hesitant but listened to the silver haired man and watched as his team take on the enemies.
Sasuke evaded the kunai aiming to stab his arm (remember he has one now :( )and thrusted his elbow onto the man's arm, causing to to bend and push the man downwards, Sasuke then kicked the man's head making him fall backwards on the ground.
Naruto dodged a punch from his enemy and gave it back to him by punching his gut, the man coughed and was sent a bit backwards but landed on his feet, he charged for Naruto and the two entered a hand combat battle, with kunai's deflecting each other's.
Sakura had punched her enemy back towards a tree making it snap in two, the female jumped back at Sakura but Sakura put an arm above her head, making the female land on her arm. Sakura used her other hand to grab onto one of the female's ankles and throw her onto the ground.
Kumiko watched the fight in fascination, she had never seen ninja's fight before and didn't think she would want to, but now she couldn't take her eyes away. The way they moved and avoided each other's moves were amazing and timed perfectly, she also noticed that their eyes moved fast to see their enemies moves.
However she focused all of her attention on Sasuke, the way he turned his body to avoid attacks and fight was amazing, the way he watched closely with his eyes had her dreaming of those eyes watching her.
"I kicked his ass Dattebayo!" Naruto suddenly yelled as his enemy was on the ground, not moving at all, the bodyguards were wondering if Naruto killed him.
"Don't worry, they're not dead" Kakashi told them as if he could read their thoughts "Naruto doesn't kill"
"SHANNARO!" they heard a yell and turned to see Sakura punching her enemy and slamming her down on the ground, creating a small hole and cracks in the ground, the bodyguards looks in shock as they saw her have so much strength.
"Yo Sasuke! Hurry up!" Naruto yelled at his teammate, Sasuke huffed and ducked as the man tried to stab him, Sasuke gave a very harsh punch on his stomach and then hit him hard on the neck, knocking him out and falling onto the ground.
The team came together with their enemies who were now knocked out and removed all of their weapons before tieing them up.
"What shall we do with them Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked her teacher, Kakashi thought for a moment.
"Let's just leave them there, they're knockout and without weapons, plus they didn't put up much of a fight did they?"
"No" his students answered.
"Ok, we'll leave them here" they nodded and put the tied up enemies in the middle of the road, easier for someone to spot them and take them to prison.
"Ha! Take that Sasuke! I beat you!" Naruto excitedly yelled as he put an arm around Sasuke's shoulders, who made to move to remove Naruto's arm.
"Mine was just tougher than yours" Sasuke smirked.
"Hey I almost got stabbed!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Naruto, we all did"
"Oh"
Sasuke rolled his eyes at his blonde teammate, although he might be powerful he was really dense.
"Sasuke-kun your bleeding!" Sakura interrupted, Sasuke looked at her in confusion, Sakura walked to him and held out his arm, there was a blood stain on the clothing, she pushed it back to see a bleeding cut on his arm.
"Ah, he must of managed to cut me" Sasuke said, Sakura put her hand over his wound and her hands turned green. Kumiko and her bodyguards watch in shock as the cut on his arm quickly went away, until you couldn't tell that it was there.
Sakura pulled away and smirked at him "Be careful, we don't want you dying on us" Sasuke smirked back and patted her arm.
"Ah"
Kumiko watched their interaction with furying jealously, not only did Sakura healed him but touched him as well! Sasuke even touched her back! She glared at the two smirked at one another, they acted like they were...a couple?
No! Kumiko shook her head They're not a couple! Sasuke hasn't even had a girlfriend! And if he did it would be me instead of that pink bimo! They're just teammates, nothing more!
Everyone got into their positions and the journey started once again, Kumiko locked her window and pushed her curtains to block out the sunlight which was rising. She out her hands together and started to think.
I've got to be more active, If I don't then he'll never become my husband! That very thought saddened Kumiko, she let out a groan and fell on her long seat in her carriage, laying down.
I need to keep that pink haired bimbo away from him, but how?
Kumiko began to think carefully, and come up with a plan to keep Sakura away from Sasuke, and to get Sasuke to marry her.
AN: Here's the second chapter! I'm sorry for the wait and for how short this chapter is, I'll try to make the next chapters longer and better.
:)
