Chapter 9 - chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto!

‘Was it something I said?’ Sakura thought, ‘Or was it what Kakashi-sensei said?’

Sakura quickly forgot about her thoughts, though, for soon Ino came back in.

“Princess?” Ino said.

‘Why is Ino being so…formal? Is something wrong?’ Sakura wondered

“Are you ready for dinner?” Ino asked as she entered the room and bowed to Sakura. Something none of the maids did, her ancestor had really hated formalities.

“Yes, Ino, I am.” Sakura said. Her eyes sent a questioning look in Ino’s direction. Ino just looked behind her through the doors. There was obviously someone there that Sakura couldn’t see.

“There’s someone here who wishes to escort you to the dining hall.” Ino said as she stepped aside to allow Sakura to pass.

“Thank you, Ino.” Sakura said as her friend mouthed the word Gaara. Sakura paled at the thought of him proposing to her tonight. She walked through the door and saw Gaara. She curtsied to him while she addressed him. “Prince Gaara.”

He bowed to Sakura as he took her hand and kissed it lightly. “You look lovely tonight.”

“Thank you.” Sakura said.

“May I escort you to dinner?” Gaara asked.

“Yes, of course.” Sakura replied. If she had any doubts at all, she certainly didn’t show them. And doubts were definitely flying through her head. ‘I just have to keep conversation away from weddings and such. How hard can that be? The dining hall can’t be that far from here.’ But it proved to be very hard, indeed.

“So, what have you thought about the weather lately?” Sakura asked.

“It’s been nice, I guess.” Gaara replied. “Perfect for hunting.”

“Yea, it has been.” Sakura said. “Kiba’s been kept really busy with the dogs lately.”

“Is Kiba your dog handler?” Gaara inquired.

“Yea, he is. The best in all of Konoha.” Sakura said. She hadn’t actually met the guy yet, but that’s what she had heard from her maids.

“Oh, really? I would like to see his dogs then.” Gaara said.

“You should go see them while you’re here.” Sakura replied.

“Maybe you’d like to come with me tomorrow?” Gaara asked her.

“Well, I’m not sure. It’s all the way across the grounds; you can’t even see the castle from there.” Sakura said. She so did not want to go there with him, what if he proposed?

“Maybe you could bring a body guard.” Gaara suggested.

“Yes, Sasuke would be perfect for the job. I suppose we can. I’ll send him a note when we return.” Sakura said, knowing that choosing Sasuke wasn’t the smartest thing, especially by the way Gaara’s face darkened when she mentioned his name.

“Yes, I’m sure he would be happy to assist you.” Gaara said, the displeasure apparent in his voice. “So, Sakura, what do you think of Suna? From what you’ve heard?” Gaara asked, switching the subject.

“Well, it’s definitely not as vegetated as Konoha.” Sakura commented. ‘Oh, no! He’s switching the subject! To what I think about his village of all things! I have to change the topic!’

“Hm, yes, but we have a lovely palace garden.” Gaara commented. “Almost as lovely as yours.”

Sakura laughed nervously. “Really? Well, I can’t imagine anything lovelier than my gardens. You know our gardeners are selected from only the finest in the land. Our head gardener Shino can make the most amazing plants bloom!”

“Really?” Gaara said, clearly uninterested. Sakura nodded her head, and then started rambling on about the gardens, not giving Gaara a chance to speak until they arrived at the Dining Hall.

“Thank you for escorting me to dinner, Prince Gaara.” Sakura said.

“It was my pleasure.” Gaara replied, bowing to kiss Sakura’s hand again. They entered the dining hall, and Sakura noticed Sasuke sitting at one of the long tables, obviously away from the direction Gaara was taking her in. He saw her and lifted his chin in acknowledgement. Sakura looked around and then found Naruto sitting next to Iruka, an obvious pout on his face. She made a mental note to visit the stables soon, maybe after dinner. She looked to the table that she was expected to sit at, and saw Kakashi at the end. Unfortunately, it was the opposite end of where she was supposed to sit. Sakura then saw her empty seat, right next to her father, with Gaara across from her. Sakura sighed mentally, ‘This is going to be a long night.’

Once Sakura had finished her meal, and people were starting to leave, she stood up, said goodnight top her father, and caught up with Sasuke on his way out.

“Sasuke, will you please accompany me to the stables? I have a request that I would like to ask of you.” Sakura said, not wanting to reveal his job around all of these people. She knew she was breaking Kakashi’s rule, but she had to talk to Sasuke, so why not visit the stables as well?

“Hn.” Sasuke replied as he walked next to Sakura as she led the way to the stables.

When they were inside Sakura greeted Iruka. “Hello, Iruka. I’ve come to visit with my horses, would you please give us some time to ourselves?”

“Of course, Your Highness.” Iruka said as he made a motion to go and grab Naruto, but Sakura shook her head no. Iruka bowed to her and exited the stable, closing the doors behind him.

“So, Sakura, what was it you wanted to ask me?” Sasuke asked his friend.

“Well, you see, Gaara wants me to go to the dog pound with him tomorrow. Since it’s all the way on the other side of the castle grounds, I told him that I feel uncomfortable going all the way there since we can’t see the castle. He suggested I bring a body guard, and I chose you to come.” Sakura said.

“Sakura, you know that you shouldn’t have done that, but I guess I have no choice. I can’t defy the Princes. That could cause trouble.” Sasuke said as he ran his hand through his hair.

“Thank you , Sasuke!” Sakura said as she threw her arms around his neck. Sasuke didn’t object until Naruto looked wide-eyed at him. Sasuke never let Sakura hug him. Once Sakura had let go of him she said, “I really just don’t want to be alone with him. He won’t bring up the subject of marriage if there’s someone else with us.”

“Hn.” Sasuke said.

“Naruto, I saw how you looked unhappy at dinner, what’s wrong?” Sakura asked.

“It’s no fun.” Naruto said. “All I do is work, and then I see teme out on that field with the other knights, and he gets to fight, and then you and Kakashi-sensei get to sit in your castle all day and you get to do whatever you want.”

“Naruto, you wanna know something?” Sakura asked her friend.

“What?” Naruto asked.

“If I had a choice, I’d switch places with you. I mean, I’m about to be proposed to by a physco. Do you really think that all we do is sit in the castle and do whatever I want? What we do is think of ways to get out of here, what I’m going to do when he proposes, and a whole bunch of stuff that I wish wasn’t happening to me.”

Naruto just looked at her while Sasuke said, “Sakura, calm down. Naruto, can you lay of, Sakura’s really stressed right now.”

“When did you start siding with Sakura?” Naruto asked Sasuke. Something was up with him.

“Since I thought she was right, dobe.” Sasuke replied. Naruto thought about this and then decided that Sasuke’s reasoning was good enough for him.

“You know what really sucks?” Naruto asked his friends. They shook there heads no. “This place has no ramen! I mean, how can they not have ramen!”

“It wasn’t invented yet, Naruto. It probably won’t be invented for a couple hundred of years at the least.” Sakura said.

“But I miss eating ramen.” Naruto said.

“Well, as soon as we can figure out how to get home, you can get some, Naruto.” Sakura said, her mind was now elsewhere. Naruto went on babbling about how he missed ramen as Sasuke sat there looking bored. ‘I’ve really missed their company, and what, it’s been two days? What am I going to do if we can’t figure out how to get home? There has to be some way, I’m just not sure how.’ Sakura went on to think of some possible way that they could get themselves home.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Naruto waving a hand in front of her face and Sasuke looking at with a concerned look on his face. “Sakura? Heellooo? Are you there?”

“Sorry, what did you say?” Sakura asked looking at her blonde friend.

“I asked you what you’re going to do tomorrow. You know, with the prince and all.” Naruto said.

“Sakura, are you okay?” Sasuke asked her.

“Yea, I’m fine. I’m just worried.” Sakura said.

“What are you worried about?” Naruto asked curiously.

“Well, about you guys. And me. What are we going to do? It’s already been two days, and we’re not any closer to getting home than when we first tried.” Sakura said, looking perplexed and upset at the same time.

Suddenly she felt arms wrap around her and she looked up to find both of her friends hugging her. “Don’t worry, Sakura, we’re going to get through all of this together.” Naruto said.

“He’s right.” Sasuke said. “Even if you have to marry that guy, you’re allowed to take a small group of choice people with you. I remember learning that somewhere, we won’t let anything happen to you.”

Sakura’s eyes started watering as hugged her friends back. “I don’t know what I would do without you guys.” Naruto released Sakura from his grip, but looked over at Sasuke and saw that he and Sakura were still holding on to each other. They didn’t even seem to realize that Naruto had let go.

“Are you two not telling me something?” Naruto asked his friends.

“Wha-what?” Sakura asked as she and Sasuke immediately let go of each other. “No, we’re all just friends. And I’m glad that I have friends like you guys.” Sakura looked over at Sasuke. He had just been trying to comfort her, right? That was all it was. But then, why hadn’t he let go at the same time as Naruto?

A/N: Ok, so this is my longest chapter yet. Almost 5 pages on Microsoft Word! And yea, I know that Sasuke’s a little OOC in the stable, but it’s kind of hard with him. Also, it’s obvious why Kiba’s the dog handler, but Shino’s the gardener because when I think of planting things, I immediately think of bugs. *shudders* Well, reviews are much appreciated!

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