Episode One

Mission, Missing, and Marriage?!

The sun beat down relentlessly onto the entirety of Konoha, a great village fit snugly and hidden in the depths of an even greater forest. The sun didn't discriminate; even the sturdy buildings of Konoha seemed to wane and grumble under the heat of the summer afternoon. Most of the villagers were out of sight today, as indoor air conditioning seemed to be more appealing, and the few people who were out running errands were hurrying along, desperate to finish their businesses and return to the cool indoors. The streets were quite, save for the cicadas, and even then their chirping lost their usual pep.

However, inside the renowned Rokudaime Hokage's office, the heat happened to intensify tenfold... in the form of an argument.

"So basically, Sakura-chan's gonna pretend to be some missing chick, get hitched, then ride off into the sunset with the Wind Daimyō's son? That's... that's sacrilege!" A blonde man roared in outrage. A bead of sweat rolled out from under his dark forehead protector and slid down the side of his head. He vigorously wiped at it.

"Naruto," the said woman growled and knocked the twenty-year-old blonde upside the head with closed eyes and an exasperated sigh, "I can speak for myself! But," she looked up at the weary Hokage with narrowed eyes and jabbed her thumb in Naruto's direction, "what he said."

"I can already sense the 'troublesome' in this mission," the voice next to Naruto and Sakura muttered. His usual dark perky ponytail seemed deflated, heavy with the hot humidity from the air. He would have been fanning his face just like the Hokage was doing in front of him, but he deemed the extra arm movement a waste of energy and settled for pretending he was at the sauna fully clothed. Out of all the rooms in this whole village, of course the air conditioning in the esteemed Hokage's office is the one that breaks, he darkly thought.

Naruto turned to him in genuine confusion, "You have 'troublesome' senses, Shikamaru?"

Sakura had no qualms about giving him a piece of her fist again, with an indifferent expression.

The other young adults in the room were just too uncomfortable from the heat to either comment or care. A blonde beauty, Ino, slouched next to Shikamaru and fanned her face with her hand. Next to her stood Naruto's wife, Hinata, who held impeccable posture albeit being the shyest woman in all of Konoha. The latter's lips were pursed into a nervous line, her two forefingers playing with each other out of old habit. Kiba, an unruly man and Hinata's old teammate, was nearly panting next to her, just as his huge white dog was at his feet. The final member of their impromptu squad was Sai, who hadn't stopped smiling since he entered the room.

Hatake Kakashi, the Hokage who sat in front of this team, sighed and decided to review the mission one more time.

"She's not just 'some missing chick,' Naruto. She's the princess of the Peony Kingdom from a faraway country called the Land of Spring. She's not 'getting hitched,' she's marrying the Wind Daimyō's son to finalize a political alliance and establish secure commerce between the two countries. And I don't think you used that last word correctly..." Kakashi absently trailed off while fanning his face with a stack of papers, not particularly caring if they were important documents or not. They were currently more useful as a fan anyway.

"Tell me exactly why she's missing again? Don't you think maybe she ran off because she didn't want to do this anymore?" Kiba's tone was laced with irritation at the weather but also with obvious restraint out of respect for the Hokage. He fanned his face like his life depended on it, as his hair matted against it from his sweat and his eyes drooped.

"I actually don't know the reason for her sudden disappearance, but it's no secret that she's actually quite smitten with the Wind Daimyō's son. She definitely wouldn't back out of the marriage of her own will. Which is why my intuition tells me that something else happened... something bad. But whether it was a kidnapping or what, I'm not sure."

"You and your intuitions..." Shikamaru groaned.

"They're usually right though," Kakashi reassured.

"Buuuuut," Naruto dragged, "I still don't see why Sakura-chan has to pretend to be this princess? Why couldn't Gaara handle this mission anyway? This mission should probably be under Suna's jurisdiction!"

"Sakura is the best person to do the job of impersonating Hanaharu-hime, so the Kazekage has entrusted us with this and forwarded this mission to me by messenger hawk, which I just received not even an hour ago. Here, have a look." Kakashi snatched a folder from the top of his pile of work and pushed it to the edge of his desk so the younger ones in front of him could see the picture of the lost princess.

All seven loomed over the opened folder and peered at the picture. Kakashi mentally counted down: three... two... one...

"EEEEEEH?!" Naruto's, Sakura's, and Ino's jaws dropped simultaneously, Shikamaru lazily picked at his ear, and both Hinata and Sai blinked.

The lady in the picture possessed pastel pink hair and jade green eyes, just like Haruno Sakura. The girl in the photograph innocently stared back at them, not frowning but not smiling either. Her hair flowed in loose curls past the frame of the picture, indicating relatively long length. Her eyes were wide and round, long lashes sweeping upward. Her plucked eyebrows were neutral, contributing to the expressionless face. Her snow-white, unmarred skin was flawless. Overall, this princess looked like... a doll.

"Hmm... the coloring is similar, but the difference is quite obvious," Sai remarked. The attention of the whole room fell on him. He continued cheerfully, "Sakura is much uglier than the girl in the picture!"

Naruto easily grabbed a hold of Sakura's arms as she lunged for the carefree male in rage. Everyone else, very much used to the violent antics of this team, drowned them out.

"SO," Ino loudly interjected, and then Sakura composed herself, straightening out the collar of her short red dress with a forceful cough. Ino continued, "why couldn't Gaara just send a Suna nin with a henge or something? Why go through the trouble of finding an actual look-alike?"

"Because," Kakashi stopped fanning himself and looked at the group with serious, hardened eyes, "this marriage is so important to the Land of Wind, that many, many people are going to be in attendance. Including many skilled shinobi who can easily detect illusions and jutsu. This is also the reason why the date of the wedding couldn't be postponed, as the princess went missing two days ago and the wedding's in a week. There's simply not enough time to notify the massive audience, and so a similar-looking person is the most fitting for this job. Remember, nobody besides us and the Kazekage know of Princess Hanaharu's disappearance. You absolutely must. Not. Be. Found. Out. Otherwise you could put the alliance between the two countries at stake."

"This is a Very Important Mission, got it," Naruto energetically nodded his head in affirmative and with a salute. Everyone could tell he was excited for some adventure.

Kakashi tossed the mission scroll to Shikamaru, who made even one-handed catching seem lethargic.

"The wedding is in seven days, and it will take about six to travel to the location in the Land of Wind. While Sakura is impersonating the princess on the wedding day, Shikamaru is going to lead the rest of the team in investigating and retrieving her. I chose you seven because you have the skill set to find her. Use your abilities well. You must find her before the ceremony is over, so that she and Sakura can switch places. In the end, the princess has to be the one who completes the marriage vows, not Sakura. Understood?"

"Hai!"

"Alright. Gaara will greet you once you arrive—"

"—Gaara's gonna be there?"

"Naruto, of course the Kazekage is going to be there. Anyway, the map is in the scroll, Shikamaru. You must all leave within the next hour. Dismissed!"

With a blur, all seven figures flashed out of the room.

Sakura lightly but swiftly hopped across the roofs of the village in the fastest route toward her apartment. She was deep in thought.

A missing princess who looked like her? She scoffed. It wasn't like this was some prince and pauper tale—or well, princess in this case. She was actually kind of irritated that she had such a passive role in this mission; she'd much rather be using her intelligence and strength to help find the girl and take out whoever did it. But she supposed that her role was a crucial one too, since only she could pull it off successfully because of their likeness in looks.

Landing on the railing of the fourth floor of her apartment complex, Sakura wrenched open the door. It was hot outside. Her stomach churned at the thought that it would be even hotter in the desert of Wind Country, and she let out a resigned sigh and quickly walked across the living room and into her bedroom.

She went on too many missions to Suna to count, so she understood both extremes of the weather pattern there very well; blistering hot days and biting cold nights. Sakura stuffed extra underwear and a change of clothes into her pack and an insulated canister of ice-cold water.

In a sealing scroll, she sealed a thick sleeping bag, a warm blanket, some military-issued rations and provisions, and extra canisters of water.

Sakura glanced at the time. Only twenty minutes had passed since Kakashi had dismissed them from his office, but she knew everyone wanted to leave as soon as possible. She threw on her traveling cloak, shrugged on her sandals and stepped out her door. Locking it, she threw her keys into her pack and jumped off the railing.

She jogged to the village gates at the same time as Sai and Ino, who came from her opposite direction. Sakura eyed them suspiciously but chose not to comment, saving embarrassing Ino for another time.

Shikamaru, Kiba, Naruto, and Hinata were already there. Naruto and Hinata, of course, were married, so naturally they had arrived together. Hinata waved with a smile at Sakura, who greeted back with a grin of her own.

"Yosh! Is everyone ready?!" Naruto cheered.

Shikamaru sighed, "Naruto, I'm the leader."

"Right, sorry, heh."

"Okay, everyone good?" Affirmative nods. "Let's go!" And the seven of them shot out of the village into the thick Konoha forest.

The group traversed the forest, branch hopping at maximum speed for a peaceful four hours before Naruto decided that he was bored.

"So why 'Peony Kingdom' and 'Land of Spring' anyway? That's like just as bad as 'Land of Butterflies' or 'Kingdom of Rainbows' or something," Naruto commented conversationally. He had been stationed just behind Shikamaru's lead in the front along with Hinata, so that she could scout for any potential enemies and he could powerhouse through them as the first line of defense.

Hinata giggled, "I think it's rather cute! I heard it's spring all year-round in that country. It must be so beautiful, with all the flowers blooming and such. Too bad it's so far away, I would love to visit one day," her eyes softened dreamily.

"I wouldn't," Kiba called from the back. He, Akamaru, and Sai had been positioned at the anchor in order to cover for the Byakugan's blind spot and detect enemy presence from behind. Akamaru barked in agreement, "Think of all those pollen allergies..." He shuddered.

Naruto pointedly ignored him and said loudly, "Don't worry Hinata! Even if I won't be able to take you there, I'll get you flowers every day so our home feels like spring all year-round too!" Hinata blushed in response and a rather pleased smile spread across her face.

"Ugh, please save your married lovey-doveyness for when you're not in front of poor single women," Ino complained behind him. "It's way too hot to be hearing this right now. Plus, I'm not gonna give you flowers every single day for free you know!"

"Yeah, blame your lack of love life on the weather," Kiba muttered.

Ino's head whipped around behind her, eyes flashing, "What did you say?"

"Guys," Sakura reprimanded from her place next to Ino, exasperated. "We don't have time for this. I think we should start planning out exactly what we're going to do."

"Sakura's right," Shikamaru spoke from the front, head still faced forward, "we're going to need some ideas on how to track down the princess, and we need to get there as soon as we can. We have no time to waste."

Ino cleared her throat, "Right. About that," she turned to Sakura, "how in the world are you going to copy her hair? Yours doesn't look nearly as soft, long, or bouncy as hers. And I'm basing this off a picture."

Sakura shrugged. "I'm sure they'll have something ready for me. And if anything, I could always say I chopped it off due to stress."

"Alright..." Ino said, uncertain.

"Well whatever she does, Ugly will have to pull it off otherwise we're all in trouble," Sai cheerfully quipped. Sakura threw a half-hearted glare behind her. She knew that! He didn't have to point it out...

"Don't worry Sakura-chan! I'm sure you'll do great and kick ass even in a wedding dress!" Naruto flashed a grin and a thumbs-up over his shoulder. Sakura's lips tugged into a smile. Count on Naruto to cheer her up. Hopefully there wouldn't be any fighting during the ceremony though. Saving innocent bystanders was always the worst job.

"Do we have any leads?" Hinata asked worriedly.

Shikamaru sighed and wiped his sweaty brow.

"The only clue was found a little ways outside of the Wind Daimyō's palace, where she had been staying. The search team found a ripped piece of her dress buried under the sand."

"Did they try using hounds?" Kiba asked.

"Of course. But the trail just completely vanishes not far from the spot."

The group continued on, hoping to make it out of the forest into the Land of River by the end of the day. Shikamaru called for a ten minute break only once, so that each person could gather and seal firewood into storage scrolls in preparation for the cold, grueling desert nights ahead of them. The rest of the time was spent running at full speed and discussing how each member of the team could put their abilities to use in the investigation.

At the last rays of sunlight, the temperature had cooled considerably and the team had fortunately reached Tanigakure. Shikamaru decided to stay at an inn in the village, and Sakura was grateful that they didn't have to camp out that night.

The moon hung high and and the scattered stars shone brightly in the evening sky by the time they had settled into their rooms. Shikamaru rented out two, and they had separated by gender.

Sakura hugged her pillow tightly against her face and let out a muffled groaned. Ino had decided to pester Hinata about "married life," which included some very private and nosy questions. Seriously, one would think she'd get tired after an entire day's worth of running...

"Pig, if you don't shut up and go to sleep, I'm going to push you off the bed!" Sakura threatened. She never knew why she always agreed to share a bed with Ino of all people on missions like this.

Ino dismissed her with a wave of her hand and continued her shameless objective in bothering poor, embarrassed Hinata. Sakura didn't know whether to be impressed with Ino's straightforwardness or abashed at her tactlessness and decided to quietly slip out of bed.

"I'm going to the bathroom," she muttered, and silently left the room.

Sakura, in her plain white t-shirt and shorts, headed down the dimly lit hallway and down the stairs to the tavern, lit solely with candles. The night was still a bit young, so the room was nearly full, mostly with men, and bursting with lively chatter, vulgar jokes, laughter, and crassness.

She made her way to the bar and sat down on a stool. The tough-looking middle-aged woman in front of her wiped a beer stein clean.

"Anythin' fer ya, young lady?"

Sakura smiled, "If I could bother you with a glass of water, please."

"Sure thang," the thick accent boomed with hospitality. Setting down a glass of water, the woman said, "I suggest not stayin' here too long, missy. Those men can be real dogs, ya hear? Especially if a pretty one like ya is hangin' 'round."

Sakura nodded, "I understand, Ma'am." There was no use in trying to explain or prove herself as a capable kunoichi, so Sakura just went along with the older woman.

Her ears perked up when she caught a conversation happening at a table behind her from two townsmen.

"Hey, did ya hear?" The first man woozily inquired, taking a long swig from his stein.

"Whaa?" The second man replied, equally drunk.

"Apparently, Uchiha Sasuke took down an entire gang of nasty crooks like, not too long ago! Maybe like, a few weeks ago?"

Sakura froze at the mention of Sasuke's name and turned her head to look at the two.

"Hasn't he done that like, I dunno, a bazillion jillion times?"

"Well, ya, but, this gang was like, huge. And when I say huge, I mean huge. They were probably like, the biggest criminal organization formed in Earth Country after the war! Probably like, more than three hundred members and full of ex-shinobi and Iwa nukenin. And the best part of it all, is tha' he didn't kill any of 'em! Jus' like, knocked 'em out ya know? And they like, promised ta be good, ya know? HAHAHA!"

"Whaa! No way man! How did he do it, do ya know?"

The first male abruptly stood up and almost toppled over. Catching himself, he swiped at the air with a right hook and kicked with poor form, "Like BAM, and like WAM, those dudes stood no chance, man! BAM!" Pretending to punch again, the man accidentally did punch a neighboring person, who punched him back in return. Soon, the two began a full-out brawl and a circle appeared around them as tables were pushed back to make room, and cheers erupted from the crowd.

"HEY ya mangy animals, stop this nonsense at once!" The barmaid stepped out from behind the counter and joined the fray, rolling up the sleeves of her buff arms.

Sakura turned back around to her glass of water and smiled, completely ignoring the destruction happening behind her. So Sasuke was continuing to do a lot to help this world in his own way. She couldn't help but feel nothing less than pride for him. She sighed. But as long as there were bad people doing bad things out there, he probably wouldn't ever come back home...

Sakura shook her head. No Sakura, think positively! You have to be ready to welcome him home with open arms if... when he decides to come back. You of all people can't be the one to give up on him!

"Hey, pretty lady, why're you up so late? Are you looking for some fun?" A raunchy voice slithered into Sakura's right ear and a lanky arm hooked around her shoulder. Sakura closed her eyes. Her patience was tested way too much today.

Cracking the knuckles on both of her hands, Sakura looked up at her harasser and grinned.

The piercing call of a hawk filled a brooding figure's ears, dark hair whipping as he faced the direction of the sound's origin. The fierce avian animal flew straight toward him from the canopy of the forest, and his right arm stretched out from under his black cloak as he felt the sharp claws dig into the heavy fabric of his sleeve. A little pouch was attached to the bird's leg, and he unfastened it and took out the two folded papers inside.

He knew this letter was from Naruto immediately after seeing the messy chicken scratch of his dear friend.

Hey Sasuke!

Hope this reaches you fast, wherever you are this time. Anyway there's big trouble! Come quick to the location on the map I attached...

If you want to save Sakura-chan from her wedding! I won't allow this to happen, you two are my one true pairing after all~ -cries-

-Naruto

P.S. The wedding's in exactly one week. Hurry!

"Save Sakura from her what," Sasuke growled. What had been going on while he was away from Konoha? Naruto had written "big trouble." Damnit, what had they gotten themselves into this time?

Naruto was lucky Sasuke was currently in the Land of Tea. Based on the map he received, it looked like he just needed to cross the ocean into Wind Country.

Sending the hawk off, he briskly set off, aiming to find a nearby port.

A hurried walk gradually turned into a full-fledged sprint.

The Konoha group traveled rather peacefully for the next five days after that. After leaving River Country, they deviated from their usual route to Sunagakure by heading even more southwest. Sakura spent most of her energy trying to survive through the harsh desert climate and getting into the character of her role.

The mission scroll had stated that Princess Hanaharu was a quiet, soft-spoken girl, but not timid or shy. Sakura had to learn how to "carry an authoritative and independent aura about her but still remain completely submissive to her parents, the King and Queen." She addressed her parents, fiancé, and the Wind Daimyō with "-sama," and everyone else without any honorifics.

She had a puppy that she absolutely adored, a baby white toy poodle named Miruku.

Princess Hanaharu had no knowledge in the ninja arts, or even fighting in general. But it seemed that she was an expert with embroidery and sewing. She was "a lovely singer, and an even lovelier ballroom dancer." Sakura blanched. She had no idea what embroidery even was, and her voice wasn't the best in the world. Sakura could do as many backflips as she was commanded to do, but definitely tripped over her own two feet every time she attempted to dance. As Sakura read further into this princess's description, she slowly felt her confidence waning.

How could two women who looked so similar be so different?

One day. She needed to successfully fool the eyes of only thousands for one day. Only. Yup, she was totally screwed.

"I see the gates!" Shikamaru called, picking up the speed. After toil and exhaustion from running in sand, all seven of them had finally made it to the Wind Daimyō's palace in the late afternoon on the sixth day. As they approached the glimmering, towering gates, a red-headed figure in familiar blue and white robes stood at the entrance.

"Gaara! Gaara!" Naruto exclaimed, and sprinted ahead of the group, excited to see his old friend.

"Well done in arriving quickly. I trust nothing went wrong?" Although Gaara was the same age, if not younger, than everybody else, he presented a mature air that made him appear quite older. He was truly fit for the role of Kazekage, even when he first started at such a young age, Sakura marveled. Everyone had caught up and bowed in greeting and respect to the leader of Suna.

"Everything's peachy keen! Though we are kind of tired from running so much," Naruto admitted. Gaara nodded.

"My apologize. Go inside, settle in, and take a quick rest. I will catch you all up on details in an hour."

"Thank you," Shikamaru gratefully said, breathless. "I would have liked to begin the investigation immediately, but I think my team really needs this short break."

Gaara nodded, "No worries. I shall see you soon."

One by one, the group filed past the gates.

"Ah, Sakura," Gaara stopped Sakura with just his voice. She turned and stood in attention.

"You are to come with me." Sakura curiously tilted her head in question, shot a glance back at the rest of her team, then shrugged and trailed after him.

At the grand entrance to the actual palace, the rest of the group ran into another familiar face.

"You... why are you here?" Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched. A troublesome person had shown up.

The woman he addressed crossed her arms and smirked, "The same reason you are. It's been a while, all of you."

"Hey, Temari!" Naruto grinned. She waved back.

"I'm here to show you to your rooms. Follow me." Temari turned around and pushed open the gigantic grandeur doors, swinging wide open to reveal a marbled archway.

"Wait, we're not going to greet the Daimyō or the King and Queen?" Ino asked, hand on her hip and eyebrow raised. "Isn't that a bit rude?"

Temari looked over her shoulder and her lips molded into a devious smile.

"Gaara decided that in order to completely and successfully fool an audience of over thousands at the wedding, the Daimyō, his son, and the King and Queen must truly believe themselves that Princess Hanaharu has been found, lest they accidentally give anything away. This is why he greeted you personally at the palace gates, and this is why you don't currently see any guards around."

Shikamaru slapped a palm to his forehead. Now they had to carry out this search and rescue secretly?

Great. Just great.

"Uh, Kazekage-sama, where are we going?" Sakura managed to ask. His strides were long and quick, and Sakura lightly jogged to catch up to his side. Gaara eyed her without turning his head.

"Please, just 'Gaara' is fine. We're headed to your room."

Sakura blinked, "My room?"

"Princess Hanaharu's room."

"Oh. I see." It seemed the Daimyō provided Peony's royal family with an entire wing of his palace to stay for the duration of the wedding.

They walked in silence for a few minutes. The palace was truly enormous, comparable to a fourth the size of Konoha itself. The complex was traditional in stature, but also incorporated towers that kind of reminded her of the castle she saw in a picture book once, titled Arabian Nights or something of the sort—she received it as a gift from helping a merchant who visited Konoha from the far west of Wind Country.

The palace itself seemed to shimmer and gleam with gold coating here and there, and Sakura couldn't help but ogle in awe the glamor her eyes took in from all four directions.

"Sakura," Gaara intoned. Sakura's attention was piqued.

"I can't thank you enough for your acceptance of this mission. You have my gratitude. If you need anything at all, please just tell me, and I will do my best to get it for you."

Sakura flushed in embarrassment. What was this, all of a sudden? It was odd to hear such words from the usually stoic Kazekage.

"N-no! This is the least I can do to help, hahaha," she nervously laughed.

"...Sakura, I didn't mention this in the mission scroll, but I believe it would be best if you could fool the eyes of your—Princess Hanaharu's—parents, the Daimyō, and his son," Gaara's voice lowered gravely. "We never know who could be in on the princess's disappearance."

Sakura gulped. "You want me to what?" She squeaked. "Her parents even?"

Gaara nodded, "Everybody. The only people here besides us who know are your team, Temari and Kankuro, and," He nodded his head toward the short girl they were approaching, who was standing by an inconspicuous wooden entrance, "the princess's personal handmaid."

Sakura didn't have time to panic, as the aforementioned servant grabbed her by the arms and tugged her into the palace.

"Quick, my lady! I need to get you ready in time for dinner, and so that Kazekage-sama can announce your return to His and Her Highness!"

Sakura yelped.

"I'm counting on you, Sakura," were the last words she heard as the door closed behind her.

Sakura was dragged into a grand room by the younger girl. The maidservant was sunny in both disposition and looks, possessing short sandy-brown hair framing her round face and caramel-colored eyes. Freckles scattered across her nose. She wore a simple white dress with frilled sleeves and a tight brown bodice.

The girl began shrugging off Sakura's mission gear.

"H-hey!" Sakura precariously protested.

In no time, she had Sakura take a quick bath and changed her into a beautiful sky blue evening gown, with a dangerously low neckline and flowing translucent sleeves.

"I don't even know your... n-name!" Sakura choked, as she nearly passed out from air loss when the corset was tightened at her waist.

"Hmm? Oh, it's Mitsu. Sit here," Mitsu pushed Sakura in the seat in front of a regal vanity. She pulled out a wooden box from under the bed.

"What's that?" Sakura cautiously asked.

"Hair extensions!" Mitsu quipped, prying the lid off the box to reveal long, perfect pink curls of hair. "They are the princess's."

"And why, exactly, does she have hair extensions...?"

Mitsu tugged a brush through her damp hair. "Oh! That's because..." she forced the brush through a particularly persistent knot. Sakura winced. "Hime-sama has short hair too!"

"..." Sakura blinked twice, processing what she just heard. "Eh?!"

As Mitsu worked on her hair, she explained, "Hime-sama's relationship with her parents aren't the greatest in the world. She feels oppressed by them, you see. I believe she chopped off her beautiful locks as an act of rebellion one day. She often goes out into town back home as well, to experience the life of a commoner, so her short hair makes her stand out less. She loves sneaking out, for some reason... always sending me in panic, that girl. I could really lose my job some day if I don't look after her properly. Anyway, Hime-sama wears extensions in front of His and Her Highness so she isn't found out. You're lucky I'm used to doing this, or else we would have had to lie about your hair!"

"Alright, now for the make-up..."

Mitsu ushered Sakura down the spacious hallway. Sakura's red velvet heels clicked and clacked on the marbled floor. They halted in front of two heavyset doors, this time with guards stationed on either side.

Sakura heard Gaara's voice from the other side, although it was muffled.

"Your Highness. Princess Hanaharu has been found."

As if on cue, the doors slowly swung opened, revealing a great hall. The king and queen Sakura saw from pictures during the mission briefing sat on elegant chairs at the end of the room, almost as if they were sitting on thrones. She nearly scoffed. It didn't feel like they were still in the Daimyō's palace.

As she approached the figures on the opposite end of the room, she caught with her trained eyes the expression of the King and Queen. The old, grey man's eyes widened in shock, briefly narrowed in something akin to suspicion, then relief played over his features. The weary woman next to him nearly mimicked his reaction. Sakura noted this strange response.

"M-my love! You're safe!" The old king's voice boomed.

"Yes, Otou-sama," Sakura flatly replied in monotone. Hopefully she'd be able to stay in character...

"Where have you been? Do you know how much you've caused everybody to worry? Especially with the wedding tomorrow!" The queen reprimanded. "This is an extremely important marriage for the benefit of the kingdom, have you forgotten?"

"My apologize, Okaa-sama. I just... needed to cool my head and prepare myself for the wedding. I didn't mean to make everyone worry."

The queen sighed, "Very well. At least we can proceed without anymore problems."

"Your Highness, allow me to introduce the team that found the princess," Gaara interrupted.

Sakura's team was led into the great room by a couple of guards, in front of the royal family.

"Oh! Hey, it's Sa—mmff!" Kiba clamped a hand over Naruto's mouth and hissed in his ear, "Shh!" Hinata's brows knitted together in worry.

"Your Highnesses!" Ino dramatically bowed to the floor to gain everyone's attention in order to cover for Naruto's slip of the mouth. She threw a glare at him. He sheepishly laughed behind Kiba's hand.

"So, you're the team that found my daughter?" The king questioned authoritatively. Shikamaru stepped forward and bowed deeply.

"That is correct, Your Highness."

"Well, done. How would you like me to reward you? You must want something in return. Gold? Silks?"

"That won't be necessary. If you would allow us to turn in early, that would be more than enough," Shikamaru prompted, eager to get the actual investigation going.

"Turning down an offer off a reward? How intriguing," the king said, genuinely surprised. "Very well. If that's what you really wish for, I guess..."

The queen stood up. "It is just about dinner time. Darling," she urged. The king nodded and stood up as well.

"Come, Hanaharu, Kazekage-san."

"Yes, Otou-sama." Sakura walked past her team and spared Naruto a nervous glance. He smiled back in reassurance. You got this! His eyes screamed.

She wondered if she had as much confidence in herself as Naruto had in her.

Sasuke let out an irritated sigh as he jumped off the edge of a ship and landed on the docks at a sparkling port city in the Land of Wind. He had finally made it, after a storm caused a few days of delay at Tea Country. Still, it had been faster by waiting and then traveling by boat across the body of water that separated Wind and Tea, than spending even more time detouring around Tea into Fire, River, then Wind on foot.

He had spent the past few days on the boat reflecting on Naruto's message.

There had to be a reason for all of this. It just didn't make sense.

Sakura's past letters hadn't mentioned anything about a... a boyfriend. In fact, she always made sure to imply that she was uninterested in that kind of thing for now and was just waiting until he returned to the village so she could welcome him back.

Sasuke didn't want anyone to misunderstand, though! He was just checking up on her because she was his precious... friend.

Yep, friend. The churning of his stomach that he felt when he read Naruto's untidy writing was just worry for his friend. He was sure of it.

Sasuke knew there just had to be more to what Naruto sent him, and he would find out what. He vowed to.

His lips set in a grim line, and he took a step forward.

The so-called wedding was tomorrow, after all.

Author's Note: Hello to new and old readers! Thank you for stumbling upon this fic. Outfits are the same as from The Last/blank period. I always find it hard to write descriptions of people's appearances into the story... lol.

Since TFG is a long-running serial, I couldn't wait to explore some of my other plot bunnies before my winter break ends, hehe! I find myself only writing adventure-romance... hahaha

This won't be that long of a story, maybe like three long chapters. This is the first of a few in my Naruto Gaiden short canon fanfiction (gaiden = side story). Forgive the title, I just wanted this to seem like it would fit with those silly titles in the actual Naruto series LOL

Btw I love jealous Sasuke tehe.

Tell me what you think~

NEXT CHAPTER: Sakura postulates her own theories about the missing princess while doing her best to fool everyone, Shikamaru and co. do some detective work, and Sasuke runs into some enemies?!

Please leave any comments or criticisms. All are welcome❤

P.S. I like actually ran out of fics to read... ugh, can anyone recommend any good SasuSaku where Sasuke is really really well written and in character? Thanks!