A/N: Chapter fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive! The first thing I've written after a terrible writers block (which is still lingering). Get right into it, kiddo!

--

After a week of lolling about pointlessly, the troops were growing restless.

They had been camped out at the imperial palace for over a month already, and there was no sign of any attacks from the samurai. Once the initial rush of preparations and teaching of new battle plans and defensive procedures was over, the days had started to turn into long, tiring affairs which involved pointless drills and talks.
It soon became clear that the supposed attempt on the castle was not going to happen anytime soon. Unhappy complaints were running amok, and the superiors were at a loss of how to stop them.

"The men want to return to their families." Naruto explained to Shikamaru, his mouth full of ramen that he had convinced one of the susceptible female cooks to give to him. "They aren't happy they're being kept here with nothing to do, sitting and waiting." He raised his eyebrows at Shikamaru with a flick of his chopsticks.
"And who can blame them? I mean…we don't even know of this samurai attack is even going to happen! The royals decided to keep us all here for their own protection, which isn't in any obvious danger! I mean, come on! Isn't that slightly selfish?!"

"Naruto, shut up will you? Of course it's selfish, what did you expect? They're the damn royal family! What else are they going to be capable of?" Shikamaru responded irritably, gazing at Naruto's ramen envyingly.

Shikamaru never understood why women could put up with Naruto's boisterous personality and loud voice. But there he was, eating his goddamed bowl of delicious looking pork ramen. After the first three weeks of activity, life around here had slowed to a lethargic and monotonous pace. Hehadn't been run off his feet for a good four days, which was a relative miracle. As he sat there watching the sky darken, listening to the bustle of people getting ready for bed and Naruto's slurping, he thought about going home, getting out of the castle grounds.

Home to where though?

His only home was with his parents, and he had no intentions of returning to his father's jibes and mother's nagging. He hadn't returned to his childhood home since he had joined the army. He would write the occasional letter and send some money to them, but that was the extent of his filial piety.
'Some son I am.' He smirked. Clambering to his feet, he bade Naruto goodnight and headed to their tent, ready for a good night's sleep.

Shikamaru was jolted awake by loud noises. As he drowsily tried to process the chaotic noises outside, he sprung up in horror when suddenly the tent wall was spattered with blood.
'Shit!'
Shaking Naruto awake quickly, he motioned for him to stay silent, and pointed to the blood on the tent. Once he had Naruto awake, Shikamaru cautiously looked out of the tent flap. The scene before him sent a jolt of horror down his spine.

Tents were burning, men were being slaughtered, and a sea of samurai were trying to force their way through the lines of guards into the castle. Glad of the fact he had been trained to sleep in his clothes, Shikamaru quickly pulled on his boots and grabbed his weapons before crouching and running, ducking from tent to tent.
He had to reach the Ground Chief of Staff and organize the troops into some form of defense; otherwise all the plans he had formulated would be useless.
'Dammit! I bet the samurai purposely waited this long just so we would become slack! Why didn't I think of this before?'

Suddenly, a katana was swinging at his head. Ducking, his body automatically sprung into action, parrying the strike. He hit back, throwing a kunai he had in is left hand. But the samurai was too fast and knocked it aside carelessly with his sword.

"Your puny weapons cannot defeat my katana, boy!"

The man twisted around, unleashing a deadly swing at Shikamaru. Belatedly, Shikamaru realized he didn't have his armour on, and that this second swing would slice straight through his torso.

'Oh…crap.' He closed his eyes and waited for death, but instead heard a gurgling cry and a thump. Screwing up his face, he tentatively peeked out at the cocky grin of Naruto.
"What the hell were you doing?"

"Oh, just enjoying his company. What do you think? Did you have to wait that long before killing him?"

"Of course! Otherwise where would all the fun go?"

Shaking his head, Shikamaru continued to the Ground Chief of Staff's tent. When he reached it, he burst in, nearly knocking him over.

"Gomenasai." he muttered, bowing quickly. "Sarutobi-sama, what is our plan of action?"

"I don't know yet, we have been summoned to the Emperor's office. Come on!"
Moving with a speed that belied his age, the Ground Chief of Staff sped across the campground.

"Sarutobi-sama, wait!" Shikamaru chased after him, fending off attacks and jumping over the spot fires.
'Why are we meeting the Emperor now of all times!' he thought angrily. 'Shouldn't we be organizing a counter-attack?!'

Ino was rudely awoken by Sakura's insistent shaking.
"Princess! Wake up quickly!"

Ino got out of bed, still half-asleep. "What on earth is going on Haruno-san?"

"The palace is being attacked by the samurai, princess! Please hurry! We need to leave!"

Frightened awake, Ino hastily pulled on a haori, a short silk jacket, and was hurried towards her father's quarters. Upon arriving, she immediately noticed the tenseness in the air.

"Daddy?" She squeaked, forgetting to address him formally, she was so scared. "What's happening?"

"Darling, don't be frightened. Everything will be fine." He said, hugging her reassuringly. "I'm sending you and your mother away from the palace for now. You can meet once you're far from the palace grounds, okay?"

Nodding mutely, she snuggled deeper into his chest, not wanting to leave. "What will happen to you?"

"I'm staying here." He said firmly, allowing no room for argument. "And you're not to worry about me either, understood?"

"Yes father."

"Good. Your mother has already left, and you should get going now too. Now, Lieutenant General Kakashi, General Hyuuga and General Nara will escort you. You won't run into any danger with them protecting you."

He motioned for them to move forward. Ino suddenly realized that she was standing in the middle of a room full of men, wearing nothing but a summer dress and a jacket, with no shoes on. Flushing, she tried her best to appear nonchalant, crossing her arms over her chest protectively.

"Are you alright to leave now sweetie?"

"Yes. I'll see you soon, right father?"

"Of course. Now hurry, before anyone catches you!" He pushed her gently towards the door.

Three tall men instantly surrounded her. One of them placed a hand on her arm and guided her as the procession moved forward swiftly. She twisted her head to the side, trying to see who it was. The man had long, dark hair, pulled into a very loose ponytail. He was tall and lean, with pale skin and, she realized with amazement, white eyes. He was decidedly very handsome, and she snapped her gaze forward again, before any telltale pink graced her cheeks.

Ino didn't know why she always blushed around males, but it made her wish that she hadn't led such a secluded life. Perhaps if she had had a male friend when she was young, she wouldn't react so embarrassingly to the opposite gender now. Especially at a time like the present, when she should be far more concerned about her well being, rather than the warmth from his hand seeping through her thin dress.

Suddenly, a deafening bang resounded through the palace, and panicked shouting filled the air. The response from her guards was instantaneous, and she found herself squashed into a wall before she could even react. She squeaked indignantly but it was swallowed up by the chaotic noises of battle.

"The samurai must've broken through the front door." The silver haired man said grimly, looking down the corridor to his right.

"Great. Now what do we do?" drawled a familiar voice from her left. Ino looked up to see a very familiar, very irritating man.

'Oh wonderful.' She silently grumbled. 'How could I not pick up on his name being mentioned? I could have asked for a different guard! Now I've got to let him protect me, of all things. Fantastic.'

"We've got to get her out of the palace, now. Before our exit gets cut off." stated the white-eyed man calmly.

"Can we risk it?"

"We have no other choice."

"I don't know…what happens if they've surrounded us? We'll be walking straight into them. I don't like our chances of surviving that meeting."

"Maybe if you had used your big brain and worn your armour, Nara, you wouldn't have to worry so much."

"Just because I was more concerned about getting to the meeting alive, Hyuuga, rather than spending 15 minutes putting on some stupid metal, doesn't mean that-"

"Excuse me gentlemen, but would you like to move?" Ino interrupted, summoning up her courage. She was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe in her cramped space between them and the wall. They all turned to look at her, before moving out a little.

"Pardon us, princess. We are just trying to decide what the best course of action is."

"Well, I don't think standing here is going to make us escape any faster." She commented bravely, hoping she wasn't pushing their tempers too far.

"The princess is right. We should get moving, if we have any hope of escaping."

Ino looked at General Nara is shock. He was agreeing with her?

"Very well. Let's go."

Ino was pulled from the wall, and rushed forward. She tried her best to keep up with the long strides of the soldiers, taking an odd sort of skip and jog every so often. 'How undignified.' She grumbled, stumbling in the partial darkness. The hard wooden floors were killing her feet. The traveling party stopped abruptly, sending her crashing into the man in front.

"Gomenasai…" she muttered, finding her balance again.

"Hmph."

She bit her lip angrily, trying to stop herself letting a long chain of insults fly at General Nara. 'Curse him to hell for being so aggravating!' she growled.

"What's wrong, Nara?" whispered the silver-haired man agitatedly.

"There are samurai approaching from the west corridor ahead. We can't get out through there anymore." He scrunched his brow up further in concentration. "Let me think…"

"I don't think we can afford much time, Nara!" The white-eyed man said, traces of agitation creeping into his voice.

Ino could hear the footsteps of men approaching, and realized that there was no way out of the palace, without somehow getting into that west corridor…
"Wait! I know how to get out!"

The three men turned to look at her, surprised by her whispered exclamation.

"Follow me!"
Pushing out of their protective circle, she scampered back down the hallway. Hearing them follow behind her, Ino slid open the door and entered the dark room cautiously. As the soldiers hurried in after her, she slid the door shut again and waited for her eyes to adjust.

"What are we doing in here?" an all-too-familiar voice grumbled, clearly annoyed.

"This is the way out, General Nara, and if you don't like it, feel free to leave now." Ino responded angrily, dropping all pretences of sophistication from her voice.
Finding she could see again, Ino quickly made her way across to the large desk on the far side of the room. She dropped down and started fumbling in the dark, disappearing into the leg hollow.

"Princess? What are you doing?"

"I'm trying," she panted, trying to reach her arm further into the narrow gap, "to find the door latch."
Suddenly, her fingers found purchase on a metal latch. 'Yes! Now, if I can just stretch my arm a bit more…'

A muffled snap! came from behind the desk, and Ino scrambled to her feet quickly.
"Alright, help me push this desk away." Seeing that the men weren't moving, she resisted the urge to scream.
"Come on! We don't have much time!"

In a flurry, they all appeared beside her, and before she could blink, the desk was clear across the room.

'Well…it didn't need to move THAT far…'
Shaking her head, she pushed a section of the skirting board away, revealing a square of inky darkness.
"Ok," she muttered, brushing the dust off her hands and turning to her bodyguards. "I used this tunnel when I was little, to sneak into the kitchen's pantry and eat the sweets that my mother wouldn't let me eat. I think it's big enough to still fit through, although it could be a bit difficult for you."

Allowing the three men to examine the tunnel entrance, she glanced nervously at the door. What would happen to her if the samurai caught them?

"I think I'll be able to just fit." She heard general Nara mutter uncertainly.

"Well, I don't."

"Me neither. My armour is too bulky." The pale-eyed man admitted begrudgingly.

"You two go in, we'll push the desk back and find a place to hide. The samurai aren't looking for soldiers, they're looking for the Imperial family members."

"Right. Princess, after you."

Ino's eyes widened. There was no way she was crawling into that tunnel with General Nara. She'd end up killing him herself, never mind the samurai!

"Are…are you sure you two can't fit? I don't like leaving you behind." She whispered hurriedly, hoping desperately they would change their minds.

"Don't worry about us, princess. By the time we get our armour off, the samurai will have found us. Besides, someone needs to stay behind anyway, to move the desk back into place." The masked lieutenant reassured her.

Realising there was no time to stay and argue with him, Ino bit her lip and nodded. Crawling through the dark space, she realised that it was pitch black inside, and very dusty with neglect.
'Great, just great.' She grumbled, moving forward as quickly as she could. After seemingly an eternity, Ino felt the familiar rough wooden boards under her hands and breathed relievedly, knowing they had reached their destination, reaching above her head to push up the trapdoor.
Peering cautiously over the rim, she managed to make out the huge bags of rice and food-laden shelves of the palace kitchen's pantry. Standing up, she scrambled out of the tunnel and stood up, glad of the comforting darkness and quiet.

"Well, that was fun." Someone drawled behind her, and Ino nearly jumped out of her skin. She had forgotten all about General Nara. Turning to face him, she swallowed her laughter, taking in his rumpled appearance. His face was smeared with dirt, and his hair and clothes were disheveled and dusty. Realising she probably hadn't fared any better, Ino self-consciously looked down at her now filthy dress and jacket and sighed.

"Right, after you Nara-san." She said, moving aside for him to leave the huge pantry first.

"Um," he hesitated, causing her to look sharply at him. Now what?

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know where we are, your highness."

Ino restrained herself from slapping her forehead. Honestly, why had her father given this man a promotion? He was completely hopeless.
"We're in the kitchen's pantry, Nara-san." She explained slowly, gritting her teeth with every word. "And we are trying to escape an attack from the samurai. Sound familiar to you?"

"I mean, I don't know where the palace kitchen is in respect to the escape route, your highness." He answered testily, clearly just as annoyed as her. "Which means that I don't know how to escape from here." Ino could swear she heard him add a whispered 'duh' on the end.

"Fine! I'll just hold your hand and lead you out to the corridor, shall I? Then maybe your brains will return to you!" Ino replied, her voice rising to a barely controlled shout.
'Honestly, this man brings out the absolute worst in me!'

"No need to shout." He responded calmly, only serving to anger her more.

Turning, Ino stormed out of the pantry and strode through the kitchen. Bursting into the brightly lit hallway, Ino paused momentarily, blinded by the sudden change of light. Suddenly, someone grabbed her and covered her mouth with their hand. Panicking, she instinctively bit down on the hand and kicked out, while sending her elbow into their gut.
Hearing a muffled 'oof', she struggled from their grip and bolted down the hallway, controlling her urge to scream and draw more attention. As she rounded the corner, she lost her footing on the highly polished floor and felt her ankle twist painfully as she crashed down.

All of a sudden, she felt all her energy and anger drain out of her, leaving her feeling exhausted and scared and alone. Gripping her ankle tightly, Ino dragged herself behind a large pot plant and broke into hysterical tears. Why was this happening to her? Her life had been so safe and unexciting, and suddenly everything was spinning out of her control. Now people were always attacking her out of nowhere, her home was under siege, and her life was at stake.

Ino nearly screamed when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and kicked out at the person, belatedly realising her kick had only made her ankle throb even more painfully.

"Hey, it's just me!"

Looking up, she recognised General Nara's dark eyes, and before she quite understand what she was doing, she had grabbed his shirt and was crying stormily into it.

"Mendokuse…what did you think you were doing back there? Running out like that! No wonder that guy managed to attack you!" he groaned, and Ino only cried harder at the memory.

"I'm s-s-sorry." She sobbed. "I b-bit him and elbowed him, and m-managed to g-get away, but th-then I fell over and my a-ankle really h-h-hurts!"

"You hit him? I was wondering who made my job easier. All I had to do was stick a kunai into-" Ino snapped her head up in shock, and scrambled away from him. That man was dead?!

"Oh, right. You shouldn't have heard about that." General Nara frowned. "What's wrong with your ankle?"

Ino looked down at her foot, and saw to her dismay that her ankle had already started to swell up. "I think I sprained it."

"Dammit." He muttered, taking her foot into his hand and examining it. "It's pretty bad. Do you think you can walk?"

Ino stood up shakily and took a tentative step forward, before a bolt of pain shot up her leg. Leaning against the wall, she forced herself not to cry.
"I don't think so." Just as she finished her statement, shouts came from the hallway behind them.

"Mendokuse…guess they discovered their buddy."

Ino looked fearfully behind her, realising how bad their situation was.
"There's an exit not too far from here, if I can just make a run for it…" she suggested weakly.

General Nara look at her skeptically, then slumped his shoulders in defeat.
"Fine. I guess we don't have any other choice."

Ducking under her arm, he gave her something to lean on. "Ready?" he muttered, checking behind them. Ino set her jaw determinedly and nodded.

"Ready."

Shikamaru felt his arms tire under his load.

Not for the first time, he had somehow ended up carrying the Princess of Japan, except this time he had to try and run at the same time. After the first twenty meters, the princess's ankle gave out, and now he was trying to escape from the castle grounds without running into any remaining samurai.

He noted with satisfaction that most of them were busy defending themselves from the army, who were using the battle formations he had created.
'At least all those days of work were worth something.'

Shikamaru spotted one of the many secret messenger gate exits and ran towards it. While the princess wasn't that heavy, she was no light weight either. His arms where aching as he passed through the gate, and he was immensely glad when he saw his friend Major Inuzuka beckoning him over from his horse.

"How did you know I was going to come out of here?" he panted, putting the princess down on the ground.

"Hyuuga and Kakashi told the Ground Chief where you guys had gone, so he sent me over here to meet you." Kiba looked down at the princess with mild interest. "I can see you've been having an exciting time."

"Best time of my life." Shikamaru grunted, busy stretching his back. "What's the plan now? At least, I'm guessing our plan has changed?"

"Yeah. We're riding over to Shukkei Inn to meet the Empress's party. Going to stay the night and wait for further instruction tomorrow morning. Maybe we're going to come back here, if the army finishes off the samurai in time. Not sure what the orders are after that, though."

"Am I to ride as well?" asked a tired voice.

Kiba looked down in surprise, he had forgotten all about the princess. "I don't think so, your majesty. You can ride with one of us if you like, since I could only bring two horses with me."

"Very well." She sighed, standing unsteadily and taking a hold of Kiba's outstretched hand. "I'm sure General Nara is quite tired of my company by now, I shall ride with you."

Shikamaru smirked, understanding the hidden message of her statement. Just because he had helped her back in the palace didn't mean she had to like him.
"Fine by me." He consented lazily, and swung himself up into his saddle. Soon they were cantering along an overgrown but otherwise well-maintained road.

Shikamaru couldn't help but think back on the night's events as he rode alongside Kiba's horse. He had been honestly surprised by the princess's actions, not only by her quick thinking and her capability to disable her attacker, but also her dropping of her façade. When she had been shouting at him in the pantry and cried into his shirt, Shikamaru realised that it probably been the first time she had exposed her feelings to basically a complete stranger.

'Mendokuse…' he groaned. Despite his sense discomfort, he couldn't help but feel strangely privileged all the same. Glancing over at her, Shikamaru furrowed his brow.

He hadn't really noticed it before, but the princess was truly beautiful. She had a strong profile, with a straight nose and determined chin, but she also carried her features with elegance. She was tall and slim, and even though her face was smeared with dirt and tear tracks, she still looked striking.
Suddenly his brain caught up with his muscles, and Shikamaru snapped his gaze forward, berating himself furiously.

'What the hell was that all about?'

--

A/N: OH! RELATIONSHIP PROGRESS! Hahaha :D Well, this chapter took the longest to write I think. It was all those action scenes. Phew. Well, Ino and Shika have made some progress! (not really) -shot- Ok, ok. Give me a few more chapters, haha. Believe me, there IS point to this! :P Truly, truly.

Until then!

Tangerine-fever