Chapter 12 - chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto!

‘This is going to be such fun.’ Sakura thought, which was draped with a certain sarcasm. She very well knew that this wasn’t going to be fun at all.

“Princess, the Prince is here to see you, as well as Sasuke.” Hinata said as she stepped into the room.

“Thank you, Hinata.” Sakura said as she got up, dreading what was to come.

When she stepped out into the entrance room, Gaara bowed and kissed her hand. “Princess.” Sakura curtsied in response.

“Your highness.” Sasuke said as he bowed to her. Sakura had to keep herself from laughing seeing Sasuke address her like this. She nodded at him, and they exited her room. Once they were out of the castle, Gaara spoke up. “Which way are we supposed to go?”

“Oh, this way,” Sakura said as she led them in the proper direction.

“Ah, ok then.” Gaara said as he walked in step with Sakura, Sasuke trailing behind them.

“So, Princess, how have you been the past couple of days?” Gaara asked her.

“Oh, I’ve been wonderful, thank you.” Sakura replied. “How have you been?”

As Sakura and Gaara chatted on, Sasuke thought to himself, ‘Sakura is really good at this pretending thing. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she wants to marry this guy.’

“You, behind us.” Gaara said in a tone that snapped Sasuke from his thoughts. He contemplated glaring at the guy, but decided against it.

“Yes, your highness?” Sasuke said with a small hint of bitterness showing in his voice, despite his attempt to hide it.

“Go scout out the area ahead of us; make sure there’s no one up head.” Gaara ordered.

Sasuke looked at Sakura, and saw a look of panic come over her face, but it was quickly replaced by her calm expression. Although it didn’t cover the fear in her eyes. She was still unsure if anything would happen to Sasuke or not. “Yes, your highness.” As Sasuke passed Sakura he gave her a look that said ‘Be brave, I know you can do this.’ Sakura gave a slight nod, showing that she understood.

As Sasuke walked ahead of them, Gaara slowed down just a bit, making Sakura slow down as well.

“Princess,” Gaara started, “you know that an alliance has been formed between our two kingdoms. And I’m sure that you also know how happy this makes the kingdom of Suna. Throughout the time that I’ve been here, I’ve noticed what a lovely person that you are. I know that a marriage between us would make our fathers very happy, so, Would you marry me?”

‘NO! NO I WON”T MARRY YOU!’ Sakura wanted to scream, but she knew better than that, she knew what she had to do. “Yes, Gaara, I will.” She said with a very emotionless face. It was actually quite paler than it had been earlier. Gaara slid a plain silver band onto her finger, and they continued their walk, although it was rather silent now.

When they had finally caught up to Sasuke, he noticed the silver band that sparkled on Sakura’s finger. Very plain, and very unlike the princes that was wearing it. But then, maybe that’s how things were done back in the Middle Ages.

“Well?” Gaara asked, annoyed at the failure to report promptly what had been seen.

“Everything’s clear.” Sasuke said.

“Good.” Gaara replied.

“Thank you, Sasuke.” Sakura said, and Sasuke knew that she didn’t just mean for scouting out ahead. She meant for being here now, when she needed him, even though he couldn’t do anything.

“You’re welcome, Your Highness.” Sasuke said with a bow. Sakura smiled at him. Gaara glared at him. Sasuke resisted the urge to smirk.

“We’re almost to the dog cabin.” Sakura said, more to herself than to her companions. Her statement was true, you could already hear the dogs barking, as well as hear Kiba’s voice while he tried to get them to quiet down. When Sakura thought about it, maybe she should’ve sent word to him that they were coming. It was too late now.

“Kiba?” Sakura yelled. “Where are you?”

“Princess! What a surprise! Have you come to visit your dogs? Or to see the new litter of puppies?”

“There’s new puppies?” Sakura asked, her face lighting up.

“Of course, I sent word for them to tell you about them so that you could come see them.” Kiba said, sounding a bit confused.

“Oh, they never told me.” Sakura said. Sasuke made a sound and Sakura quickly realized why they were here. “Oh, Kiba! How incredibly rude of me! This is Gaara, Prince of Suna.” Sakura said as she introduced the red head to her friend.

“It’s nice to meet you , Your Highness.” Kiba said with a bow.

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you too.” Gaara said. “My fiancée was telling me that you’re the best dog handler in the kingdom of Konoha. I’ve come to see your dogs.”

Kiba gave Sakura a look. And mouthed, “Fiancée?” Sakura just shrugged back. She couldn’t explain to her friend now, not with him standing right there. Kiba turned back to Gaara, “I see the princess has again been exaggerating about my abilities.”

“Oh, Kiba! Stop being modest! You very well know that you are the best! And all of your dogs are exquisite!” Sakura exclaimed.

“Well, since you’re here to see my dogs, I won’t keep you waiting any longer. Princess, will you be joining us? Or would you rather see the puppies?” Kiba asked.

Sakura nearly jumped for joy at the option. Gaara could do nothing about it because Kiba had decided he was getting a tour through the kennels, and there was no stopping a determined Kiba, as she had found out from the diary. “I’d like to see the puppies. You two go ahead on your tour. I’ve seen it all so many times.” Sakura said with a smile. Kiba nodded and steered Gaara away towards the kennels.

Sakura then turned towards Sasuke. “Well, let’s go see the puppies!” Sakura exclaimed as she turned towards the little house, Sasuke trailing behind her.

Once they were inside the cabin, Sasuke spoke. “I’m sorry, Sakura.”

“Don’t be. I’m glad that you could come and just give me some support.” Sakura said with a meek smile as she walked over to a corner where some little puppies were sleeping on a bed of rags next to their mother.

“Well, I couldn’t do more than that for you. I wish I could get you out of this mess, but I have no clue how.” Sasuke said as he stood over the puppies and Sakura who sat next to them. The mother dog obviously new Sakura, and Sakura guessed this was her ancestor’s personnel dog, Ayame.

“Don’t worry about it, really Sasuke. We’ll all figure a way out of this together. You, me, Naruto and Kakashi-sensei.”

“Yea, you’re right.” Sasuke said. Sakura picked up one of the puppies.

“Look how little she is.” Sakura said as she cradled her in her arms.

“Yea, she’s really tiny.” Sasuke said, looking at the little dog that Sakura was holding.

“Here, you hold her. Ayame won’t mind, isn’t that right girl?” Sakura said as she stood up, handed the dog to Sasuke, then sat back down to pet Ayame. She smiled up at Sasuke who was holding the little dog in his hands. She looked even smaller now. Sakura giggled a little bit. “She’s, adorable, isn’t she?”

“Hn.” Sasuke replied as he set the puppy back down with her brothers and sisters. Sakura stood up again and hugged Sasuke. “What’s this for?”

“It’s just because I can.” Sakura said as she smelled his shirt. He smelled so good. Sasuke buried his nose into her hair, thinking the same thing. They stayed like that for what seemed forever, until Ayame began to bark. Sakura then reluctantly pulled away and then quickly sat back down next to the puppies. Just at that instant, Kiba and Gaara walked in.

“See, your Highness, I told you she’d be right here.” Kiba said to Gaara.

“Hn.” Gaara said.

“And Sasuke is right here protecting her from anything that could harm her.” Kiba added. Gaara scowled a bit at this.

“Well, Kiba, thank you so much for the visit. And Ayame’s puppies are wonderful. I’ll come back and visit soon, I hope.” Sakura said with a smile.

“No, thank you for visiting, Princess. It’s always a pleasure having you down to visit.” Kiba said with a small bow. Then he turned and bowed to Gaara, “It was also a pleasure meeting you, your Highness.”

“Hn, Yes.” Gaara replied as he put his hand under Sakura’s elbow and escorted her out of the cabin.

“Sasuke?” Kiba said be fore the knight left.

“Hn?” Sasuke replied.

“Watch out for her. She defiantly would have been better off with you in my opinion, that guy said some scary things on our tour, and I don’t want him hurting her.” Kiba replied to his friend.

“Don’t worry, I will.” Sasuke said as he followed the couple back to the castle.

A/N: I had a lot of trouble with this chapter. I don’t really like it, and it was hard for me to write. I don’t really think it’s that good…Also, for everyone who helped me get through the couple of weeks after my cat Zoe died, I’d like to let you guys know that my family went to the animal shelter yesterday and we adopted a cat. She’s around two years old, and we named her Isabelle, Izzy for short. We pick her up from the vet tomorrow. She’ll never replace Zoe, but I’m glad that we can make another animal a part of our family. ^-^

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