Chapter 18: Royal Consort, Part III: Marriage Ceremony
Naruto tossed and turned in his sleep. Sakura could hear the sheets shift and the bed frame creak with his every move. She knew that something was wrong. But the one thing she couldn't do was read his mind and experience his dreams for herself.
But there was one person who could do it: Ino. Sakura stood from her bed and exited the room with haste. Naruto could awaken at any moment, and the chance to figure out what was haunting him so much, would be lost.
She slowly opened the door to Shikamaru and Ino's room.
"What is it?" Shikamaru's voice echoed from the room. "What's wrong?"
"I was wondering if Ino could take a look into Naruto's mind. He isn't sleeping well."
Shikamaru sat still for a moment, shrugged, turned around, and gently shook Ino's arm.
"Ino, wake up." She opened her eyes at her urging.
"What is it, Shikamaru?" She asked in a slightly annoyed voice.
"Sakura needs your help with something. Let's go."
Ino yawned and stood up. She wrapped herself in a white robe, and walked towards the door.
"Explain to me on the way there."
They entered Naruto's room to find him still tossing and turning in bed.
"Okay, Shikamaru, Go." Ino whispered.
Shikamaru clasped his hands together.
Kagemane no Jutsu(Shadow Imitation Technique) His shadow shot out in a spike, merging with Naruto's.
"Shadow Possession, success." He whispered. Naruto stopped moving, and laid flat on his back. Ino stood next to him, she grasped his head, placing her fingers on his temples, and bent over, placing her forehead onto his.
Naruto was experiencing a dream that was cloaked in a light veil of black and grey. Ino focused her eyes slightly and saw Naruto standing in front of her, staring blankly at a figure that stood in front of both of them.
The image was almost fully formed, but the visuals that assaulted his mind were incomplete, dreams never seemed to be a stream of continuous thought, more like stitching together pieces of ripped cloth. She focused in, and began to hear a voice.
"I…wi-…tak-….every-….fro-….you…"
"I…wi-…destr-…every…yo-…hold…dear"
"Every…on-….love…wil-….die."
Ino was assaulted by a feeling of sheer terror, the fear rushed through her body, leaving her motionless. In his mind, she was being pulled into a vortex stained in a dark violet. She was being pulled into a dark hole that formed in Naruto's mind.
Thinking fast, she formed a seal with her hands.
"Release!"
Ino's consciousness rushed back into her own mind. She was forced back and fell over onto the ground.
"Ino!" Sakura whispered when she saw her best friend fall to the floor. "What happened?" Ino sat on the floor; taking in deep breaths to calm down her nerves.
In the calmest tone of voice she could manage, she explained the dream to Sakura and Shikamaru. They were both shocked by both the dream itself as to why the dream was occurring.
"We don't know. But let's try not to worry too much, we still have a mission to finish. For now, Sakura, get some sleep. A nightmare isn't going to kill him." Shikamaru ordered. Ino and Shikamaru left for their room. Sakura walked over and placed her hand on Naruto's arm.
"its okay, Naruto. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."
…
The next morning, Naruto opened his eyes as the sun's rays hit his face. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, then took his right arm and rubbed his eyes.
That was one crazy dream.
He sat up and scanned the room, but found no sign of anyone. Sakura's bed was made, the entire room seemed as if it was just cleaned. Then, he heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." He said. The door opened and Sakura stepped throught the dorrway. She was dressed in a red robe, and held in her hand some other articles of clothing.
""Hey, Naruto, are you up? We're taking off to the Prince's marriage ceremony today."
"Sakura-chan?...Why aren't you in your usual clothing?" He asked.
Shikamaru's voice came from behind her.
"Because, we're here to protect the Prince, but it's also a secret mission, so even he doesn't know we're there." He explained.
"That's right, so you'll need to pack up your clothes and change into these." She handed him the black robe from her hand.
"Of course, that means that we also can't wear our headbands or anything that signifies us as Shinobi from Konoha." Shikamaru held up a bad that clinked when he moved it. "Drop yours in here, I'll keep 'em safe."
"Get dressed as soon as you can." Shikamaru ordered. "We leave in an hour."
…
The team walked further down the road until tey saw a large feudal castle looming in the distance.
"That has to be it. Let's get going, the sooner we get there, the better. Shikamaru noted.
The palace began to duck behind the large hills that they walked through; from the same direction, they could hear music and people.
"A festival?" Naruto asked while glancing over at Shikamaru.
"Well, what did you expect? The Prince of the country is going to get married, if the entire country isn't excited for him, at least the populace that live in the royal city would be able to celebrate." Shikamaru replied. "But since we're here, let's relax until the actual ceremony starts."
Naruto, Sakura, and Ino cheered at his suggestion. Shikamaru dug into his pocket, pulled out his hand, and opened his palm. In it he held four sets of headphones.
"We'll use these to keep in touch; we should all be able to communicate within this area."
Each one took a headset and put it on.
"Enjoy yourselves." was Shikamaru's last command before the couples split up into different directions.
…
There was a loud gong that interrupted the festivities of the populace, every person who was in the streets of the city stopped and turned towards the Great Palace.
"That's our cue. Get into position, make sure you're stationed in the front, so we can see any suspicious activity." Shikamaru ordered as the sound of static ended his sentence.
"Understood." Every else added.
The team managed to reach the front of the crowd, facing the giant palace as the monumental scarlet doors began to open. Two lines of seemingly limitless guards stepped out in single file, all cloaked in black uniforms.
At the end of the line, stood a man with long black hair and a pale complexion.
"That's him. The guy at the very end, he's the guy we're here to protect."
The uniformed bodyguards stepped aside, forming a line on each side of the Gigantic doors.
"I thought you said that this guy didn't have any guards." Naruto complained.
"Apparently our Intel got it wrong. Be on the lookout though."
Behind the Prince emerged a tall man with a long, drooping face, wearing a decorative ceremonial headdress and holding a fan. He signaled with his hands and the crowd immediately became quiet; not even a cricket made noise.
He stepped up to a podium equipped with a microphone.
"People of the Land of Fire. Today is a momentous occasion, the day that you are presented with the grand ceremony of my only son, and the choosing of his wife. Be joyful today, for today is the day that we see the future that will rule this beautiful country, and bring us into a new era of peace and prosperity!"
The crowd cheered. He lowered his hand, and the crowd quieted down once more.
"And now, bring out the bridal candidates! Those women deemed worthy of becoming the new Princess!"
Just a few feet away from them, twenty-four men emerged from the crowd, carrying six carriages, the marched in unison towards the middle of the courtyard and dropped the carriages.
Naruto could see the fabric that draped over the carriages lift up, and then fall down. The carriages were then picked up once again, and the men walked back into the crowd.
In front of the Prince stood six women dressed in ornate ceremonial robes. The people cheered as they came into view. Sakura glanced at Naruto with worry in her eyes, but noticed that he didn't seem surprised or interested in them.
His lack of reaction to them caused a smile to stretch across her face.
"Now, My only son. Choose which one of these women will be your bride!"
The Prince walked up to them, meticulously looked at each one of them. He raised his eyebrow for a moment, then walked pass the six of them.
His eyes met with Sakura's.
"I choose you."