The Lady of Konoha

By Leanne Ash

As controlled as Sakura Haruno could be with her facial expressions, having large green eyes that openly displayed her emotions was never the most helpful. Cynicism, in this case, was practically sparkling.

"So what you're saying is... this village..."

Kakashi Hatake, her former sensei, now the Hokage of Konoha, nodded. Watching with a guilty-half smile as Sakura absorbed her mission briefing.

"...has a prince... whose illness needs my attention."

Kakashi nodded again.

"But," Sakura continued slowly, "this village... a village of arrogant, fuck-headed-!"

"Sakura..." the silver-haired man warned.

"...ASSHOLES, have banned their women from becoming kunoichi? And have forbidden the entry of any kunoichi into their village!?"

"Yes. Unfortunately."

Professionalism be damned. Sakura's internal rage began to surface across her face as she dead-panned at the irony. "And you're sending me?"

Me, she wanted to reiterate, probably the best kunoichi you have at your disposal today!? Sakura rose from her chair in the Hokage's office, splaying her hands on the desk before her to remain grounded from her rising tantrum.

"Yes," Kakashi said with notable bravery, eyes rolling thoughtfully to the ceiling with a tilt of his head. "Again, most unfortunately. They've requested our best medic. And you are."

Her mouth hung open in disbelief. "And I'm a kunoichi. Won't they know who I am?"

"Oni is very cut off from the outside. Hence why their traditions remain other worldly. But they've a large army of shinobi not to be taken lightly."

The third party in the room, who remained silent from his leaning position against a wall, chose to speak up then: "I've heard stories of Oni during my travels years ago," Sasuke Uchiha informed with his usual air of uncaring confidence. "They don't take to outsiders."

Sakura glanced back at her teammate. "And their stance on women?"

"Women," Sasuke intoned, "have very specific and limited roles. Kunoichi are a ridiculous foreign concept."

Their Hokage agreed sombrely. "They would execute a kunoichi on sight for..." he hesitated, "not knowing her 'place'..."

The resentment on Sakura's face was palpable. That this very notion even existed made her want to smash the office furniture and destroy the misogynistic village using the resulting splinters. No one would argue that she wasn't capable of doing just that.

"So that being said," Kakashi continued, "Sakura, this is your mission: you are going to Oni, as a healer, and as a lady of Konoha."

"For fuck sake..." the proud kunoichi muttered.

"And you're going to attend to the Prince of Oni until he's on the mend. Do not reveal yourself unless absolutely necessary."

She raised an eyebrow. "At what point would it become absolutely necessary?"

Her former sensei cleared his throat uncomfortably. "The men of the village are known for their, let's say, degenerate way of life. If you need to defend yourself, don't hesitate. But let's hope it doesn't come to that. It shouldn't. The Prince will see to your protection."

"How could he," Sasuke frowned, slowly sharing in Sakura's skepticism, "while dying and bedridden?"

"We have to hope for the best," Kakashi answered solemnly. "Their royals are paying a lot of money for Konoha's help."

With the slow drum of her nails on the desk's smooth oak surface, Sakura began to concede. "I guess... I'll have to hope for the best too." She glanced down at her attire. Her usual red kunoichi ensemble, baring her family crest and laden with weapon holsters. "And probably get a whole new wardrobe."

"Thank you for understanding, Sakura," grinned the Hokage with relief. Capitalizing on that note of compliance, he handed her the mission scroll.

With a sigh, Sakura accepted the scroll and plopped back into her chair. She began reading the detailed brief, strategies already churning through her head as she waved absently to where her teammate stood in the room. "Your turn," she mumbled.

"Ah, Sasuke!" Kakashi nodded, gesturing to the empty seat beside Sakura. "Thank you for waiting. I have your next mission ready. You'll be-"

"I'm going with her," Sasuke interrupted.

Stunned, the older man stared blankly in confusion. Sakura looked up from her scroll, eyes wide with equal surprise. After a quick recovery, they both began to sputter at once.

"Sasuke-kun, you don't—"

"That's not—"

"You're sending her to a male dominated village as a lady," Sasuke overruled with clear distaste. "Unarmed, and with the condition she hide the fact that she can defend herself."

"She wouldn't need to be unarmed-" Kakashi began.

"They will check. It's naive to think otherwise. I'll go as her escort."

Sakura, half touched by Sasuke's increasingly protective mannerisms as of late, but half insulted that he couldn't just leave her alone to complete what seemed like a simple solo-mission, chose the latter to argue her independence.

"It'll be fine. I can handle myself," she said with annoyed earnest. "And if the royals want their prince healed they'll have to give me protection."

The muscles in her teammate's jaw clenched, implying that entertaining her with a discussion on the matter was not something he was up for. She was probably right. She could handle herself. She would probably even be assigned her own bodyguards by the village royals. But that didn't mean that even they could be trusted. The primal instinct Sasuke secretly harboured when it came to his pink-haired teammate was not about to let her walk into depraved territory, not without him in close proximity. This instinct often puzzled him with its increased frequency, but he saw no reason to suppress it. "She is not going by herself," he asserted. The Uchiha's black eyes remained averted from Sakura's, staring ahead with absolution.

Livid by his blatant dismissal of her assurance, the kunoichi rose from her chair and prepared a verbal lashing just as Kakashi cleared his throat. "He does make a good point, Sakura."

"He... WHAT?" she blanched openly.

The ghosting of an arrogant smirk hit the corner of Sasuke's mouth.

"Calm down," Kakashi sighed, "With him around it'll be easier for you to maintain the facade. I'll allow it."

"But-!"

And with that, the smug prodigy casually snatched the mission scroll from Sakura's hands.

"Remind me again why I'm stuck doing your boring surveillance mission because you insisted on following Sakura-chan around?"

The other annoying member of team 7's teasing remarks continued to poke fun at Sasuke well after they had departed the gates of Konoha several days ago.

Sakura and Sasuke had travelled tirelessly on foot toward the northern mountains hiding the isolated village of Oni. They had mostly travelled in silence, as they normally did, racing through miles of forest, pushing past the increasing wind and dropping temperatures.

They communicated through fleeting glances and hand gestures, stopping only once at the closest neighbouring town to Oni so they could prepare for the looming mission.

Sakura, though initially annoyed with Sasuke's insistent participation, eventually accepted what she couldn't change and begrudgingly cooperated. After reading up on the village's traditional ways and cultural norms, she decided it would in fact be easier if Sasuke was around to make the mission go as smoothly as possible.

The way of Oni was as follows: women were raised as fragile, dainty specimens that stayed indoors and looked pretty until a husband was chosen for them. Objectified and easily defiled, they rarely talked or made eye-contact with males: superior beings raised to protect the village from the outside world. The vast majority of their society was made up of strong, confident shinobi and only a small handful of soft, fearful women.

"Bull. Shit." Sakura had all but chanted. The quicker they were out of there the better.

In stark contrast to the fallen snow, Sasuke's black cloak moved in waves amidst the biting wind as he stood waiting patiently for Sakura. The cold wasn't bothering him really, only the annoying insinuation of Naruto Uzumaki's words:

"When are you going to figure out that it's not just loyalty that keeps you so close to her."

He began to pace, black gloved hand gripping the hilt of his sword. Of course it was loyalty, Sasuke thought fiercely. He had an obligation to Sakura as her teammate. He was never going to let anything bad happen to her, whether she liked it or not. That was a given.

Several years following Sasuke's quest for clarity and repentance, he had returned to Konoha as promised with his own personal mission to do right by those he had wronged. Sakura was a big part of that mission. He had felt validated by Team 7's forgiveness and would be forever grateful for their continued friendship, even if he rarely showed it. But there was something about Sakura that felt brand new to him as she smiled with tears in her eyes upon his return. She had matured, grown wiser, grown confident, grown far from the young annoying girl that pined for his attention.

And she had grown away from him.

The proud Uchiha, often so sure of himself, was wholly uncertain as to where he stood in Sakura's busy world. She was a teammate, that much was clear, but he wondered if she still needed more. The briefest touch to her forehead before he left had spoken volumes to him even if it didn't to her. It was a promise that when he returned, he would be someone she could count on again, someone worthy of her friendship. And maybe someone...

Maybe what? Sasuke's thoughts ridiculed. What the fuck are you even thinking?

True to his self-imposed defence mechanism, an immediate cleanse passed through his mind at rapid speed; wiping out useless curiosities and leaving a cold, mental preparedness for the mission ahead.

Which is where Sasuke found himself now: pacing the wooden patio of a small dress shop as Sakura tentatively tapped his shoulder.

He turned, thinking he knew what to expect, and thanks to years of halting emotion from ever showing on his face, managed to mask his incredulity... kinda, sorta. What should've been bored indifference came out as an awkwardly blank stare. A little too blank.

Sakura was wearing a long-sleeved flowing dress, akin to the traditional gowns worn by maidens residing in the colder northern part of the world. The neckline wrapped low below her petite shoulders, showing a hint of cleavage Sasuke tried his best to ignore, almost resenting its presence when he thought about the attention it would be demanding. The dark maroon dress however, was easily out-shown by the way Sakura's pink hair radiated against it: curled, and swept to one side with a jewelled clip at the side of her head to hold it. The coiled waves of her hair cascaded down her back and shoulder. Thick strands flowed softly, the surrounding wind only adding to her magnetism.

It was almost debilitating seeing her like this...

She was... She looked-

"Sorry," Sakura laughed sheepishly, referring to the way she had found Sasuke pacing, "I didn't think it would take so long to make me presentable."

Her voice made Sasuke shift from his revere. He cleared his throat, using the action to tear his eyes away from his teammate. "It didn't," was the only thing he managed to grunt.

"Oh," she replied with forced lightness, trying to hide the disappointment that Sasuke's reaction to her makeover was in the neighbourhood of how he regarded the weather. She had almost seen a flicker of something in those black eyes, but figured it was her imagination playing tricks. "Listen," she continued after a brief pause, "I've just got to get a cloak for this weather and I'll be done. You might want to get me a horse. Wouldn't make much sense if a lady had ran all the way from Konoha, you know?"

Sasuke nodded, oddly relieved that she would be covering up. "I'll take care of it. Don't go anywhere until I get back."

She rolled her eyes into his retreating form. "We're not in Oni yet..."

Author's Note: This started out as a one-shot for my drabble series The Prerequisite Heart, but I'd like to explore this a little further. Let's call it a three-shot and because it was originally meant to be short I didn't go into detail explaining the Naruto universe or who's who and what's what. Ya'll know what I'm talking about and what's going on. Just enjoy the speedy ride. Review if you like where it's going or if I've lost my mind. Rating may change later.. because you know.. smut!