The Lady of Konoha
By Leanne Ash
Chapter 2
Sakura lifted the heavy hood of her burgundy cloak to get a better view of the towering gates before her. The falling snow tickled her cheeks as she exhaled in awe of the vast sight, breath visible in the cool evening air. The cream-coloured horse she rode upon seemed to snort with disapproval.
Sasuke, who had remained on foot at her side, scanned their surroundings for any sign of foul play.
Oni was indeed protected by the outside world, literally, by an uninviting wall that stretched as far as the eye could see.
"Don't let your guard down," Sasuke murmured.
The disguised kunoichi laughed humorlessly. "Why should I? I'm just a lady, remember?"
"You know what I mean." He stepped forward, obsidian eyes shifting disinterestedly to the shinobi watching from the lookout post above the entrance gates. Not in the mood to speak more than he had to, he hoped their arrival was to be expected.
"State your business!"
Of course that would be wishful thinking.
Sakura cleared her throat and unabashedly returned the man's scrutinizing stare. "We've been summoned by the royal family of Oni. I'm a healer from the Hidden Leaf Village."
The man above sneered, casually leaning forward over the railing to showcase an obvious disrespect for her arrival. "I'm asking the boy," he said simply, inciting an immediate glare from the pink-haired girl. "If I need you to speak I'll tell you to. Now," he nodded toward her escort, "state your business."
"You heard her," Sasuke snapped darkly. He made a mental note to smack the back of Kakashi's head later. If there were any doubts his presence was needed during this mission, they were shattered quickly. No matter how headstrong and confident Sakura could be, this mission would not have been easy for her to do alone. Not if this asshat was any indication of what the other men were like.
"Open the gate," Sakura practically snarled. She was already livid, but thankful for Sasuke's support. Although she was too enraged to show it on her face. "Now."
"Feisty," the man remarked dryly as he gestured to someone behind him. "Can't wait to see more of that."
It was then Sasuke debated whether or not he should activate the Sharingan and Rinnegan of his eyes to send the man careening to his death. It wouldn't be hard to explain – he wagered the walkways were probably slippery.
The gates began to open and Sakura released a sigh of relief. "It's fine, Sasuke-kun..." she whispered, distracted from her own rage as she noted the sudden fierce grip the Uchiha held on Kusanagi's handle. Sometimes the faintest hint of him looking out for her was enough to warm her heart in an instant. He eyed her questionably as they began to move forward. "Don't kill anyone yet," she added playfully.
Never to promise anything, he smirked in response and kept his gaze forward as the opened gates revealed a snow-covered pathway lined with guarded looking Oni shinobi and civilians. Sakura inwardly cringed – to what extent would they respect the traditions of this sad little community?
They passed wearily through the gates and took in their surroundings. The village of Oni had been wisely constructed for freezing temperatures. Smoke coiled from the chimneys of every log-built structure and small wood fires were placed sporadically at every corner. The village seemed dated compared to Konoha, and the falling snow did little to add magic, only a feeling of dread and desolation.
The shinobi all seemed to fall into the same structure: burly, grumpy, and wrapped in frost-covered cloaks that hid their armour. Some glared as they approached, others seemed to undress Sakura with their eyes much to Sasuke's immediate disapproval. The civilians were no better: shabby, drunk, and sharing a similar contempt for her arrival. There were no women in the area as far as Sakura could tell.
They stopped just short of the crowd. The stares were beginning to feel heavy on Sakura's shoulders as she prepared to drop down from her horse. Sasuke caught her eye however as he halted her with a hand raised expectantly. At first she wasn't sure what he was trying to do, but eventually caught on to the meaningful look in those stormy black eyes.
"My lady..." he drawled, but there was a hint of a reminder in his voice.
Sakura was indeed a 'lady', and a frail, fragile one, supposedly. Sasuke was suggesting they remain convincing of this fact to the untrusting crowd. It was in their best interest to avoid any additional grief. She bit back oncoming sarcastic remarks and facial expressions that threatened to escape and tentatively placed her hand into Sasuke's. She shifted to fully face him and he placed his other hand at her waist to support her. Her small hand grasped Sasuke's broad shoulder as he easily lifted her from the horse and onto the ground. The front of her body pushed into his as a result, the warmth of it spreading to him like wildfire, and he found himself clutching her longer than intended.
He hadn't held Sakura since they were little more than children, and only under dire circumstances when it meant saving her life. Now, the contact was oddly foreign and familiar at the same time. It was obvious the curves of her body had changed, but she was still so svelte, so feather-light... it surprised him how delicate she seemed given the fierce amount of strength she harboured.
Sakura pulled back after an awkward pause, cheeks flushed at their close proximity. She opened her mouth to question him but he had already released her and stepped aside. The cold air sliced between them and she reminded herself to breathe.
Heavy footsteps treading on snow was quick to steal back their attention.
"That's close enough," Sasuke growled, sword unsheathing as a core group of Oni shinobi approached.
The three men stopped in their tracks, eyeing the menacing sheen of the Kusanagi.
"We're to take the girl to see the Prince."
Sasuke merely tilted his chin in their direction. "Then lead the way."
The men exchanged amused glances. "We're to take only the girl."
"Forget it," Sasuke snapped, stare hardening. "I go where she goes."
"Watch it, boy. You're one man," the shinobi in the middle scoffed, "against the hundreds of us."
Sakura couldn't help the smug look on her face as the entire crowd stepped back suddenly, knowing the Uchiha had activated the foreboding power of his eyes. There was no need to look at him, she could see the red and purple glow reflecting off the nervous faces of the surrounding men. Whispers were passed, and even a village cut off from the outside world knew to fear a prodigy of the legendary bloodline.
And it was definitely not wise to call that prodigy 'boy'...
"Uchiha-san is my escort," Sakura announced sternly. "He'll do a world of damage if I ask."
Baffled, they looked from Sasuke to Sakura and back again, seeking some kind of explanation. It was unfathomable that the last legendary Uchiha, with all his infinite power, with his preceding reputation as one of the strongest shinobi in all the world, would take orders from a woman.
He answered their confusion with deafening silence, indicating that the lady beside him was not wrong. They were being generously warned not to take her or her protector lightly.
"Please lead the way," Sakura suggested sweetly.
Brushing a lock of hair out of her face, the pink-haired kunoichi scribbled feverishly into her notebook. It was late in the evening, and after spending several hours at the Prince of Oni's bedside, she was already developing an intensive treatment plan.
Sasuke watched her wordlessly at the other side of the room. They were sharing a cabin suite close to the royal manor grounds, and because he had stubbornly rejected all other forms of protection from Oni's so-called shinobi, he stood leaning at the frame of one of the windows keeping watch. At least he was for the most part. Occasionally he glanced at his teammate who seemed like a woman possessed as she poured into her work.
Her slender hand raised absently as her eyes stayed with her notes. Chakra began to pulsate from her fingertips – her mental run-through of how she planned to expel it throughout the Prince's immune system. Such meticulous chakra control was beyond what Sasuke was capable of. It secretly fascinated him to watch the pink-haired kunoichi in her element.
That aside, he was hoping her talent would get them out of the decrepit village as soon as possible.
The Prince of Oni was only ten years old, but already regarded Sakura like an object sent for his entertainment.
"You're beautiful," he had sighed through his delirium, wrapped in blankets upon his gigantic four-poster bed. "Like a bird... I'll put you in a cage and never let you leave. You'll be my pet princess... You have to stay with me forever, okay...?"
Sakura nodded along, completely ignoring the conversation as she checked his vitals. Sasuke, knowing he had a whole ten years on the kid, still felt the slight inclination to condemn him for such blatant idiotic thoughts. He quickly thought better of it. Rather than interrupt Sakura's concentration, he chose to glare openly from his post instead, arms crossing impatiently.
"Who... who's that scary man?" The Prince asked as he looked past Sakura.
She grinned then, sensing the shift in Sasuke's mood. "Exactly that," she murmured quietly as she placed a damp cloth on the boy's sweltering forehead. "A scary man."
After they left and got their accommodations sorted, Sasuke never bothered to ask Sakura about her diagnosis. It wouldn't have made a lick of sense to him anyway. If she offered he'd listen, but she was already too grossly absorbed as she sat scribbling at the desk in their cabin.
He watched as Sakura paused to rethink something in the midst of what he could only image was pure mental chaos. She thoughtfully chewed her bottom lip as her hand reached behind her neck to push all that curled, troublesome hair to one side.
The shift of that pink hair sent the faintest hint of vanilla in Sasuke's direction.
His jaw instantly clenched. It didn't help that Sakura's new dress exposed her shoulders. It also didn't help that, with her hair to one side, the skin of her neck now joined in. And it certainly didn't help that everything being showcased was smooth, creamy, and pure as the goddamn driven snow.
She was so annoying...
"When are you going to figure out that it's not just loyalty that keeps you so close to her."
And Naruto was equally as annoying without even being in the same continent.
Fine. There was more to this. Whatever 'this' was. He wasn't fucking stupid. Sasuke knew, deep down, something was perilously shifting within him every time Sakura came into his field of vision. When she was close he stuck around a little longer, watched a little closer, tried a little harder... But the battle to be honest with himself fought for alternative solutions: he was trying to be a good friend. He was trying to earn forgiveness. And it didn't matter that she already said she'd forgiven him, or that she openly declared he was a close friend; he would keep trying until he felt redeemed. That's why he was so devoted, so protective... his cold, calculated misery would not allow him to think otherwise – a battle it was starting to lose.
And now here the proud Uchiha was: alone on a mission with Sakura Haruno, his precious teammate, wrapped in finery that made her the most annoyingly beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his entire life, using her spectacular brain to save the life of some shitty kid who probably didn't deserve it. Because that's the kind of person she was.
He knew Naruto was right. It was more than just loyalty. He couldn't describe it. He couldn't explain it. It simply was what it was called... more.
And all he wanted to do in that moment, with complete reckless abandon of his legendary rationality, was see if she tasted as good as she smelled.
Sakura hummed thoughtfully as she opened one of her bigger textbooks, unaware of the hailstorm of frustration across the room. She looked up at him then, eyebrow raised questionably.
"Did you-You didn't feel that?"
The Uchiha was snapped back to life from his rampaging epiphany. If Sakura noticed he was burning a hole into her, she didn't show it. "I think someone's outside," she clarified in a whisper, surprised that Sasuke hadn't picked up on the hint of chakra treading softly nearby.
He angled his head, using all his senses to pick up on the ebb and flow of the energy skulking around in the darkness. Once pinpointed, he unsheathed his sword and exited quickly out the front door. "Stay here," he ordered as the door slammed shut behind him.
That was her intention of course, as Sakura tapped her pencil anxiously against her medical textbook. After several minutes of pained grunts and groans followed by the reassuring sound of bodies hitting the ground, Sakura couldn't help feel a bit sick at the sheer number of men that were trying to catch a glimpse of ...whatever it was they thought she'd do. There was probably no law that protected woman from being spied on at night, or worse...
Her attention darted at the sound of a minuscule creak at the window on the opposite side of the cabin. She saw nothing through the gauzed curtains and could sense no trace of a chakra signature. It was a either a civilian, or a shinobi with a very precise amount of chakra control.
"You've gotta be kidding me..." she huffed and charged outside through the backdoor.
"That-" could've gone better was what she had meant to say if not for the sudden death grip Sasuke had on her elbow.
"I told you to stay put," his infuriated voice chastised. He did not look pleased. For a moment, she felt two inches tall from the way Sasuke glowered at her from his unfair height advantage.
A rather large civilian had so brazenly confronted Sakura just as she stepped outside the cabin. The smell of heavy liquor was almost daunting. He'd managed a few disgusting remarks campaigning his desire to tear her clothes off before she marched forward and broke his nose. Satisfying as it was, his sputtering of "Who the fuck do you think you are?" reminded her that she was not a kunoichi in this warped, backwards village.
Now she had to play helpless. She stepped back, watching with hardcoded expertise as the inebriated patron reached forward and grabbed her neck. He slammed her against a tree, chocking her, while his other hand roughly travelled up the side of her body.
"You think you can get away with hitting a man, you stuck-up whore?"
Sakura couldn't answer with his giant hand wrapped so tightly around her throat. She only glared with frustration as the man reached back to strike her across the face. Her sharp reflexes twitched and she decided, with great reluctance, to let it happen. She'd let him have one. And then she'd use her medical chakra to disable him. No one would argue she wasn't allowed to be capable of that given her field of work.
She waited for the sting, but of course it didn't happen. Not with Sasuke around.
"That asshole could've done anything with you having to stand there and take it," the Uchiha continued angrily.
Sakura scoffed. "I was seconds away from dismembering him. You just happened to interrupt..." she paused to rewind the events, "...and you didn't even leave him in one piece!"
"Why would I?" Sasuke hissed, unperturbed. "He got what he deserved."
"You think I don't know how to break a guy's arm?"
"That would've asked for more trouble than he was worth. You want the whole village coming after you? Because they will," he seethed, "And they'll set you on fire using Konoha's shredded contract as kindle. Get over yourself, Sakura. Use your fucking head." He released her arm in exasperation.
Sakura was instantly taken aback. With years of practice she had perfected the art of filtering Sasuke's biting reprimands, though this time his disposition was more savage than usual. "You're mad," she stated with hinted ridicule. "Why are you mad at me?"
"I'm not," Sasuke ground out, noticing how Sakura's breathing was visible in the freezing night air. He unclasped his cloak and swung it over her shoulders. "Go back inside," he ordered as he brushed past her, intent on patrolling the area.
Sakura stood her ground, as expected. The warmth of the black material sent a blush to her cheeks but she carried on despite the distraction.
"Yes, you are. You're mad at me," she fired back, emerald eyes sparkling with resolve. "Because I wanted to help lighten the load of perverts you have to beat up?"
"Sakura..." he warned. He was eager to find someone else lurking so he could pulverize something.
"Look, I'm sorry, I... just went on auto-pilot. I should've stayed put. But do you think I like having to stand aside so you can fight all my battles for me? Like I'm twelve years old again?"
Sasuke's patience was wearing thin as he internally fumed. "That's enough." I'm mad because that asshole laid his hands on you. I'm mad because you didn't think to rely on me. And I'm mad because everything about you lately is fucking with my head and you have absolutely no clue.
"Come on," the kunoichi persisted, voice calming to a more reasonable octave, "Really. You're just going to yell at me and then walk away? I thought we were friends, Sasuke-kun..."
"We are." he snapped, with an obvious tinge of annoyance: annoyed that she'd think they weren't; annoyed that he'd fallen out of favour for anything otherwise.
Sakura watched with growing concern at the tension pouring off her teammate in waves. He turned back to face her, handsome features regarding her with a notorious level of disdain that both challenged and discouraged. His immediate reply had been comforting, but Sakura was quickly intimidated by the way he stalked forward. She still, always and forever, would forget to breathe when Sasuke Uchiha came too close. He seemed to cock his head at her sharp intake of air.
"I'm here to look out for you," he told her meaningfully. "So just let me."
She bit her lip. Temporarily held captive by the commanding look in Sasuke's midnight eyes, by the oddly warming tone of his words. Sakura nodded curtly, now mad at herself. And she hoped he didn't notice how hard she was staring.
Author's note: Thank you for all the great encouraging reviews! Kazai: I truly appreciate the suggestion, but I'm not feeling the whole 'pretending to be married' thing – I personally feel like it skips the young romantic game of "I like you, you like me..." and forces them right to the end goal of marriage, even if it's for pretend, and then you know a potential relationship is staring them in the face constantly. I also feel like Sasuke and any world of weddings/marriage/wife/husband/kids/etc bundled together is a tad awkward for me to write, as well as read. So far that reason, you'll probably never see anything of that nature in my work. It's my own personal opinion.
That being said, just a reminder that the pace of this fic is meant to be going pretty fast because I want to knock it out of my system after 3 (or 4) chapters. Please review! Thank you all xoxo