Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Colour of his... eyes? ❯ Chapter 2: The First Glimpse ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: Yeah, I'm putting up another chapter, because I felt like it. -smile- Hope you guys like! Now...
Naruto: On with the story!
Sasuke: Seriously, stop doing that! -smacks-
Naruto: Oww... -pout-
Warnings: More foul language, erm... fluff if you consider the small romantic moment there! xD Squint if you don't understand!

Disclaimer: For the third time now, I do not own Naruto! I'm not even part of Bandai, so lemme alone.

 

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Chapter 2: The First Glimpse

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~*~ Somewhere… somewhere! ~*~

“Sir, have you heard that there will be a ball for Prince Sasuke? Only 100 maidens will be selected for the final dance?” asked a rather husky voice, the man's eyes shadowed as he spoke.
“Yes, I am quite aware. We shall have to do something about that soon, if he marries, it will be near impossible to gain power. Send in Dei and Saso; they'll be good for the job.”
“As you wish Your Imperial Highness,” replied the man again, glasses flashing in the dim candlelight, pale, silvery hair tied up in a medium ponytail. Kabuto was a loyal servant to his master, to Orochimaru; he would not fail this mission he had been set. Stop the Prince from falling in love, at all costs.

Orochimaru simply smiled, his cold, snake-like features twisting into an even more maniacal grimace, giving his face a slightly deranged and malevolent air about it. He would have to get the Prince in his clutches, even if it meant getting him to marry either Deidara or Sasori; he had put too much effort into his scheme for it to be taking away by some dumb bimbo.
The sound of insane cackling came from the chamber as Kabuto exited it, causing the young man to sweatdrop as his teammates all stared at him, as if he was the cause of the snake-man's abnormality.

Shrugging, he simply headed towards his cells, plans and plots, formations and strategies to get the Prince, already forming in his mind. Damned be the bimbo that tried to get in his was of pleasing Orochimaru-sama by making the Prince fall in `love' with them, or vice versa. He would not be stopped. For the second time that day, the members of Orochimaru's courts peered oddly at a wall, the loud sound of cackling penetrating through the concrete. They all sighed:
Like freak and freak alike, eh?

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~*~ The Castle ~*~

He regained consciousness slowly, eyes watering as the bright sunshine penetrated his eyelids, forcing his dark obsidian eyes closed into a squint in a futile attempt to rescue their pupils. However, he soon grew attuned to the light levels in the room and ventured to open his onyx irises, slowly portraying to him the room his had supposedly awoken in that morning.
“Ah, it was all a dream then,” he croaked sleepily out loud, shivering as he remembered the horrible scenes in his nightmare.

He was soon roused out of his ponderings when a small snort sounded from his right and he turned his head so fast in the direction of the snort, he was sure his neck had nearly severed from the force of the whiplash.
“Not quite, little flower,” his brother replied, a rose petal in his hands as he stared at Sasuke's ever-widening eyes with a sadistic glint in his own dark basalt eyes.
“Argh!! No…” screamed Sasuke, voice becoming harsher with so much use. Damn it, what had happened to the times when he could be stoic and ice cool, calm as a slight summer breeze, and not be fazed by anything? Gone now were those days, ever since the mention of his frickin' marriage! Had the whole world gone mad simply because he was approaching his sixteen and a half mark?

It wasn't even as if he was inheriting the company or anything. They just simply wanted to get on his nerves; he knew his parents and his brother took great pleasure in teasing him, but he never knew they would go so far as to make him get MARRIED!
“Ah, so sleeping beauty has finally regained consciousness, came a rather smug voice, the owner of which was soon identified to be Neji.
“Fuck off, Hyuuga,” Sasuke glared, only to find his glare being rebuked by a neutral look from his unruffled cousin.
“Tut tut. No need to be so controversial my dear cousin,” he murmured, placing himself in a spare seat next to Sasuke's bed.

“Why the fuck are you here Hyuuga? Tell me now before I tear you apart… slowly… limb by limb,” Sasuke muttered darkly, scowling at nothing in particular, maybe at the world in general?
“Why, I'm here simply to gawk at you and call you names. I can't believe you fainted because of some girls. How manly Sasuke,” the slightly older Hyuuga laughed, or coming as close to a laugh as he ever did.

Sasuke had to really resist the urge to just wrap his slender fingers around the stupid boy's neck and wring it until the Hyuuga was a spluttering mass of bloodied jelly on his floor, so then he could step on him and get the stable boy to plop him in a bag and mix him with the horse manure and spread him on the worst lawn ever… or maybe just dump him a lake mixed with the horse manure… or maybe-
“Yo, Sasuke! You in there,” a voice interrupted his musings, obviously amused at the boy's inattentiveness, or maybe Itachi just simply knew what he was thinking. Either way, the older man simply got up and walked out, laughing a really infuriating laugh that made Sasuke grind his teeth together.

Oh man, he hated that bastard, and the Hyuuga bastard too. In fact, he hated almost everything about then. Within the next few moments, he soon grew to include poor Hyuuga Hinata in that hate.
“A… ano Sasuke-kun, but your parents want you to make a formal parade round through the main three villages to advertise your ball. I humbly request your presence so I can find a suitable outfit for you,” she stuttered before letting out a shriek and fleeing to the Prince's private rooms as he threw an expensive piece of china at the wall.

Crash!
“I hope you're not going to blame me for that,” Neji spoke aloud, rather dryly, as he surveyed the Prince's rage, “Oh come on, it can't be that bad.”
However, the look on Sasuke's face showed how much he hated the idea, but his fear of what his mother might do to him if he refused spurred him on to new heights of bravery, and a few moments later, a very angry albeit sulky Sasuke stomped into his private quarters ready to be dressed by Hinata.
Hyuuga Neji just stood by and watched, an amused spectator.

-About an hour later-

Finally Sasuke was dressed and ready to go, an ill disposed expression on his face even as he climbed into the carriage. Although he was going, that didn't mean he had to like it, or enjoy himself or in anyway participate in the celebration; he had no reason to celebrate. Why the hell would he celebrate his downfall?

Climbing swiftly into the carriage, Sasuke set off, accompanied by about twelve guardsmen, Neji leading at the front with Kankuro and Shino, smirking every so often at the Prince through the window on the side of the carriage until Sasuke was forced to draw the curtains across, immediately regretting it when the heat took effect and his normally porcelain creamy skin turned a healthy shade of red, still manage to look every bit as sexy despite his obvious discomfort. It had been about twenty minutes since they had set off on the journey and Sasuke felt like he was dying from lack of water. However, due to his stubborn nature, Sasuke refused to ask for any, because it meant asking Neji for something.

Because he was the Prince's most trusted guard, regardless of the fact that they did nothing but argue in each other's presences, that or mock each other, Neji had been chosen to carry the Prince's supplies, meaning whenever the Prince asked for something, it was his duty to give it to him. But of course, not wanting to miss the chance of being in control, every time Sasuke had asked for something, he had been told to repeat ridiculous phrases and the like and had soon realised that it was best not to ask.

Eventually though, the heat had finally gotten through to Sasuke, and stubborn though he was, he did not want to die just because of Hyuuga Neji. Yet as soon as he made to ask for some water, a loud announcement alerted him to the fact that they were approaching the first main city, Konoha City.

The parade crept to a halt and Sasuke was finally let out of his heat prison, gasping slightly for air as he came out, the sun's bright glare also too much from him and he began to feel dizzy. Just as he was about to pass out, he heard a soft, yet boyish sounding voice ask him if he wanted some water. He span around, rather too quickly and onyx eyes met cerulean blue just for a second before a bowl of water was placed in his hands and the person, whoever it was, ran off.

It had been a girl, definitely a girl.
Sasuke sipped slowly from his seat on the floor, ignoring the startled looks from his cousin and his guards. She had been wearing a peach coloured dress with light blue trimmings, and she had the most shockingly blonde hair. Strange marks had decorated the side of her face, accentuating her beauty even more, but who was she?
Slowly rising to his feet, he handed the empty bowl to Neji, staring around him, trying to catch sight of the beautiful maiden, but alack for pity, she was nowhere to be seen.

“Who was she?” he breathed, unaware that he had spoken aloud until a loud, disbelieving snicker came from beside him.
“Oh wow! Has some girl finally caught the Prince's eye,” he snickered, until it slowly faltered as he took in the awestruck eyes of Sasuke, “you're serious, aren't you?”
Sasuke could only nod dumbly as they proceeded on with the parade; unaware that those very cerulean eyes he wanted to see again was watching him from the owner's perch beneath a bush.

~*~ At the Orphanage — Naruto's side of things ~*~

He couldn't believe he was being made to dress up- as a girl! It seriously bit ass! Naruto couldn't remember the last time he had felt so humiliated. Just because he had the most feminine figure out of the bunch, didn't mean he had to dress up as a girl. Fuck that! Huffing, he threw himself unto his bed, hearing the door creak, which signified the arrival of the Inuzuka. Sure enough, a moment later, he felt his bed dip at the side and a sympathetic hand patted his shoulders.

“I heard the news. Tough luck,” said Kiba, not knowing how to relate to his best friends, considering the fact that he had never been asked to dress up as a girl in his entire life. Patting his friend on the back again, he remembered some news that would certainly cheer the blonde fox up.
“Hey, you won't be the only one suffering though. It's been found out that Temari and Shikamaru have been hooked up for an age now, so she can't go for the Prince… so Gaara's taking her place.”

He waited for the explosion that was sure to follow. Never one to disappoint, Naruto shot up and burst out laughing, just imagining the stoic, redheaded, chartreuse-eyed boy vying for the Prince's hand.
“Oh, that is priceless… truly, truly priceless,” he choked out, before bursting into hysterical giggles once more. At least he wouldn't be the only one suffering.

However, he wasn't about to be put out of his misery just yet. He heard Tsunade yelling for him and Gaara and Tenten to come down again, and he figured it would probably be for something like dress fittings. His opinion changed soon enough when Tsunade summoned Kiba and Shikamaru as well. Were they all to suddenly start cross-dressing now?

“What is it Baachan,” he screeched, stomping into the living room, a curious Kiba following behind him, an equally hyper Akamaru not far behind.
“Shut ya trap, you damn brat!” yelled Tsunade, quickly giving him punch before returning to her original task at hand, completely ignoring Naruto's incessant muttering about child abuse.
“Now, the Prince is coming to the town for a parade and most of the desperate female dickheads are going to be sending the girls out for the Prince's first public appearance for near a year.

Now, it would seem strange if you lot were to suddenly appear at the banquet without being seen Prince spotting first, so I need you Naruto, Tenten and Gaara to go out for your debut. However, you are going to need escorts, so I'm sending Kiba and Shikamaru with you. Temari will be going also, but not for the same reasons as you.”

She had said all this clearly, as she didn't want to repeat herself, but even she could see the visible vein growing on the side of Naruto's.
“I refuse.”
“What… did… you… say?”
“I refuse, you old hag! Go watch your face wrinkle and leave me the hell alone!”
That was all Naruto managed to scream in retaliation before and hand came flying towards his face, leaving a rather large indent on the side of his face.

“How dare you say you refuse? Do you know how hard it is looking after you al? If one of you married the Prince, we could renovate the orphanage and make it bigger and better for all those who stay here. We could even finally put up message to find out what happened to Gaara and Temari's brother. This isn't just some selfish request on my behalf, so why don't you think before you open that stupid hole in your face,” she spat out, eyeing him dangerously.

A long silence ensued as the entire group stared shocked at her, her frantic outburst startling them into mutes until Naruto broke the silence.
“Fine, I'll do it, but I won't have to like it,” Naruto grumbled, ashamed that he had just assumed it was just Tsunade acting on her gambling whims again.
“Good. As long as you try your best, Naruto-kun! I'm sorry I lashed out at you, I'm losing the horse races,” she sighed, hugging him softly before turning back to the group.

“Now, Shikamaru, Kiba, Iruka has laid out you outfits for the day on your beds, please go and change. Tenten, Naruto, Gaara, come with me.”
They all went their separate ways to get changed, the only sounds being Naruto's startled yelp at being made to wear some pinky-orange and blue dress, plus a long blonde wig. It was the beginning of something frightening.

- Some half an hour later - ~*~ In the Village ~*~

“Naruto, stop fidgeting so much; it's not very ladylike,” Kiba hissed at the squirming blonde, trying to kick him unnoticed.
“Urusei(1), before I get you into trouble,” Naruto hissed right back, trying to itch beneath the lace trimmings of his blasted dress. That's right… his blasted dress. As in, Naruto, the very much male person, was being forced to wear a dress and marry a Prince. Weren't there laws about this somewhere?

“And just how are you going to do that, Miss Naruko,” exclaimed Kiba, trying to smother a laugh as he used the alias they had come up with for Naruto. In turn, Naruto could feel his eye begin to twitch and kicked Kiba straight in the ankle, causing the Inuzuka to land at an awkward angle on top of him. Once that amazing feat had been achieved, Naruto cried at the top of his lungs in a rather convincing girly voice.
“Help, pervert! You're supposed to be my escort,” he cried, watching as some villager came and shoved Kiba off of him, muttering about drunken teens during the day.

The man looked Naruto over, checking to make sure `she' was all right and that `she' hadn't damaged her dress.
“Are you alright Miss?” he asked, politely offering her a quick bow, before turning back to Kiba, “Make sure you don't try that again sonny boy.” With that, he disappeared back into the still muttering crowd.
“Ah, wait! I didn't even get your name,” Naruto pretended to sigh, knowing that the villagers were still sympathizing with him over Kiba's `attack'.

“His name is Zabuza little one. He is the village blacksmith and just about all the girls who aren't after the Prince, are all after him,” crooned an old woman beside him, who smiled as Naruto looked down at her.
“Thanks baa-ch- I mean, thanks Ma'am!” he stuttered, nervously bidding a hasty retreat, Kiba hot on his trails as they sought out the others.
“Damn it Naruto! What the hell was that stunt,” sulked Kiba, still showing signs of being rather impressed at the trick the blonde had managed to pull off.

“I told you I would get you back,” he chuckled before a small sounding trumpet alerting the villagers of the arrival of the Prince.
“Oh boy, time to go meet your Prince Charming, Naruko,” teased Kiba, earning him a swift punch to the side of the head before he joined in the stampede of people all craning to catch a glimpse of the almighty Uchiha Sasuke. Flocks upon flocks of girls, all dressed in their best, from the prettiest down to the ugliest, all of them were attesting for the chance of the Prince's heart.

Due to his smallness, Naruto soon found himself separated from Kiba and, using his masculine strength, managed to force his way to the front, to avoid being trampled on; a fate he rather thought poor Kiba had been suffered to. Once at the front, Naruto found he had a clear vision of the carriage pulling in and he had to smile as he heard hundreds of females start screaming, obviously annoying all the guards as all of them clapped their hands to the ears at one before one of the heralds actually screeched at them to shut up; Yuuhi Kurenai was not a person to be tampered with when suffering from heat stroke.

Sighing, the crowd reluctantly quietened and an almost audible hush settled over the group as the curtains to the carriage was opened. During the wait for the Prince to come out, all the villagers had been given water to stop them from being parched. Most of the females had either dropped the bowls, or drained them. Only Naruto remained, clutching the bowl as he waited for, as Kiba had so nicely put it, `Prince Charming'.

When the Prince stepped out of the carriage however, although he looked sexy, even Naruto could admit that, he could sense something was wrong. The Prince looked just about ready to faint with exhaustion. Not really knowing why he done it, Naruto found himself moving across the courtyard, ignoring the whispers and mutters and glares, instead, only intent on getting the Prince some water.
“Here. Would you like some water?” Naruto asked, nervously holding the bowl out, now quite aware of the entire guard watching him, as well as the entire village.

The Prince looked up and Naruto felt a sense of drowning, as he got lost in the depths of the Prince's obsidian orbs, feeling a strange fluttery feeling erupt in his stomach.
“Please excuse my boldness,” he mumbled inaudibly before fleeing the scene, a blush tinting his cheeks a darkish red until he reached the safety of a bush and hid himself in it. His heart was beating a mile a minute; what the hell had just happened?

Eventually, the Prince's train moved on, taking the majority of the crowd with it, leaving Naruto enough space to escape by.
`What was that weird feeling,' Naruto thought silently to himself before cursing and heading back to the house, deciding he would rather sleep and eat ramen than contemplate the hidden meanings of the heart; he could always ask Iruka about it later, say, after he had eaten about four bowls of ramen? Yes, that sounded good.

- A couple of hours later- ~*~ At the Castle ~*~

Sasuke was still pondering about who the blonde girl was. All that day he had kept a lookout for her, even asking his guards to look and also, even asking some villagers around as to whether or not they knew the girl or not. It frustrated him to find that not one single person in the whole village seemed to know who the girl was; it was like she had appeared from thin air.

He had returned to the castle dejected and downcast. Did this mean that he was destined to have feelings for a ghost type woman? Just as he was about to sink into his typical teenage angst and depressed-like-whoa mood, Neji came in, a small smirk on his face.
“Oh what do you want?” he moaned, covering his face with his hands, trying to just forget about the events of the day, knowing that he had possibly lost the best thing that had happened to him. He didn't know why he felt that way, but when he had looked into the cyan eyes, he had felt something shift deep inside him, a place where he hadn't even let himself venture into for a long time.

“If you're done sulking and being a general pain in the ass, I came here to tell you that the girl was here with a escort. He was looking for her afterwards; he said her name was Naruko. Apparently she is due for the ball, meaning she will be living in the Palace from next weeks for the challenges, so look alive mopey.”
Looking extremely pleased with himself, Neji disappeared out the door he had arrived in, hearing Sasuke's excited yell and grinned. It was about time that idiot cousin of his got his heart into gear.

Meanwhile, inside the recently vacated bedroom, Sasuke was grinning from ear to ear, suddenly wanting to thank his mother and father for arranging the most wonderful idea in the world. He would soon see his blonde fox again, for he had decided the whiskers made her seem rather fox-like, and when he did see her next, he would make sure she never left his sight.

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A/N: OMGawdz! Another chapter? Whoa, this is like a new record for me! And the chapters will only begin to get longer folks! =) Anywho… as I said, all my reviewers are welcomed and loved with open arms and the ones. Flames keep me warm, but I'd rather just have nice comments. XD
(1) You are loud! — Literally, meaning Shut up! XD