Chereads / After The Last / Chapter 7 - Chapter Six

Chapter 7 - Chapter Six

"The Crescent Moon Prince"

The sun rises in heaven showering its light to the withered fields of the Blue Moon Kingdom. People living their daily lives with pain and hunger due to sudden and extreme poverty. Children were starving and malnutrition covered the whole kingdom.

Hinata was dressed up in an elegant and sparkling gown. It was Selene's gown. Hinata agreed on pretending to be her just for the sake of the Kingdom's future. She had her soft heart for the people of the place. She knew how Selene feels about the situation and how she wanted to change it under her rule as their leader. The old woman smiled at her upon seeing her dressed up like their Princess. Hinata was entitled as the Byakugan Princess by Hamura Otsutsuki and nobody knows about it.

"Lady Hinata, we owe you our lives for accepting our request." The old woman told her with a teary-eyes. Hinata shook her head as a response to the old woman's statement.

"I know what Selene feels right now. Her heart is in here. I think this is the only way I could help you." Hinata muttered. They nodded as a response to her.

"Madame, the Prince is here." The young attendant approached them from outside. Hinata felt nervous. She was thinking that she would mess this up but, she should not. 'I wonder what Naruto might think about this but, this is urgent he might understand' she thought.

The Princess' attendants assisted her to the sacred room. The Prince was waiting for her already. She stood up on the stage where they first met Selene. The Prince was stunned by Hinata's beauty. He was accompanied by some of his bodyguards. The Prince slowly climbed up the stage trying to get close to her. Hinata suddenly felt anxious. She was also thinking about how to explain things to the Prince if the real Princess came back.

The Prince kneeled his right leg and puts his right hand on his chest while bowing his head as a sign of respect and his sincerity for the Princess. This must be Selene and the Prince's first meeting if she was never kidnapped. The Prince took her hand and kissed the back of it. Hinata was surprised and gave him an awkward smile. He then stood up and introduced himself.

"Your highness, my name is Hikaru. I am so pleased to meet you. May I know your name?" He spoke for the first time. Hinata gulped and she was a bit shaky.

"M-my name is Hin-Selene. My pleasure to meet you." Hinata replied almost messed it up.

"What a beautiful name, as beautiful as you," Hikaru said.

"Tha-thank you." Hinata slightly blushed and looked away. Hikaru smiled at her.

"So can we start today's agenda?" Hikaru asked. Hinata nodded. He escorted her towards the dining table. The marriage meeting was about to begin.

***

"Damn it! We've been searching for years, I guess." Kiba complained.

"You're exaggerating things Kiba," Shino replied.

"I wonder if the marriage meeting takes place," Naruto muttered. They looked at him.

"I think it did not. We haven't found the Princess yet. Damn those bastards where did they take her?" Kiba showed his disgust.

"Let's get going. I feel something strange from a distance." Shino said. Naruto and Kiba seriously looked at him.

"What do you think it is?" Kiba asked. Shino shrugged his shoulders as if to say he had no idea. They kept on jumping off trees.

Akamaru barked all of sudden and Kiba got confused about his strange action. A worried Kiba did not notice the thread on his foot. A trap. And a big explosion happened.

"Kiba!" Naruto screamed.

"They had set up some traps. Kiba's not careful." Shino muttered.

"Damn it!" Kiba blurted.

"Are you okay, Kiba?" Naruto rushed towards him. Akamaru followed Naruto.

"I'm fine. Damn that trap." Kiba replied with a disgusted face.

"How long do they want to play with us?" Naruto said.

"It's getting annoying," Kiba muttered.

Shino remained silent. After some time, Shino started moving towards the bottom of the forest.

"Hey Shino, wait for us!" Naruto told him while following him.

"Hush!" Shino replied. They hid behind trees.

"I can smell something," Kiba said.

"Is that the Princess?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm. I can't confirm it just yet. Need to get closer." Kiba replied.

"No doubt, the Princess is nearby." Shino declared.

"Are you sure, Shino?" Naruto asked. Shino was silently talking to his insects. Naruto gave him a weird face.

"Is he seriously talking to them?" He unconsciously asked.

"What should we do now?" Kiba asked.

"There might be enemies guarding the area. It's not easy to get close to them. We need to be careful." Shino replied.

"It's really hard without Hinata here," Naruto muttered.

"Exactly! Her Byakugan is much needed in a situation like this." Kiba replied.

"Yeah, when you are tracking down enemies. I wonder what Hinata's doing right now." Naruto unconsciously muttered. Kiba teasingly looked at him and he got suddenly embarrassed.

"Wh-what?" Naruto was flustered. His face was red.

"Were you two going out?" Kiba asked with a serious face.

"Ha-huh?" Naruto stuttered and got a tomato red face.

"You sound like a jealous idiot Kiba." Shino interfered.

"Shut up Shino, you know nothing. You're single, got a boring life." Kiba shouted at him.

"Idiot! Lower your voice or the enemies might attack us unprepared." Shino replied.

"You two cut it out." Naruto stopped them.

"You never know what dating is like because you're busy talking to your bugs that girls hated the most." Kiba's raging like a volcano.

"I'm not interested in girls at all. I don't want the quarrel all the time commitment because I am a dog lover while my girlfriend preferred cats." Shino sounded like picking a fight with him. Well, that's normal between Shino and Kiba.

"I said stop it." Naruto was scolding them.

"Let's get close to them," Shino said and he moved closer to the target location.

"Let's go Kiba," Naruto told Kiba who was still sulking.

***

"I would like to tell you this very important thing, Princess..." Hikaru spoke to Hinata while facing each other. They had settled in front of the table having some good meal.

"What is it?" Hinata's quick reply.

"I would like to ask you if we can get married as soon as possible. I have urgent business trips to different villages." Hikaru explained.

"So when do you want the ceremony to take place?" Hinata asked.

"If you don't mind, can we get married tomorrow?" Hikaru declared. Hinata was shocked at his statement.

"To-tomorrow? That's so sudden." Hinata stuttered.

"I know but if we won't do it then, we might take months until the ceremony happens. I know the situation here Princess and I really wanted to help you. Two kingdoms will merge as one after our marriage. My father will be here by dawn and will help you with your problems after the marriage. On the next day, I'll be going to the Village Hidden in the Stars for business then I'll be traveling to different villages for another business." Hikaru explained.

Hinata wanted to protest. Selene and her friends were not here yet. She was thinking of telling Hikaru the truth but she had a thought that the Prince might get disappointed and refuse to marry Selene. 'But we couldn't stay like this forever, I am not Selene' Hinata thought. Her mind and heart were fighting. She did not want to lie to Hikaru but she did not want the Kingdom to be doomed as well.

"I see. I understand." She replied.

"I guess we're settled," Hikaru muttered.

'Naruto, please forgive me. Naruto, please come back soon.' Naruto's face invaded her mind.

"May I excuse myself if you don't mind?" Hinata asked Hikaru.

"Sure, Selene. Have enough rest and prepare for the wedding tomorrow." Hikaru said while smiling. Hinata smiled back. "Thank you. You should rest too." Hinata said then stood up from her seat and left the Prince.

"Lady Hinata, so what happened?" The old woman approached her.

"Let's talk in my room," Hinata told her and the old woman followed her.

Upon entering the room Hinata spoke to the old woman.

"Tomorrow? That's so sudden." The old woman was shocked as well when she heard everything from Hinata.

"Please prepare everything for the wedding," Hinata asked the old woman.

"Sure lady Hinata. We owe everything to you. How I wish Princess Selene was fine right now and hopefully they'll get back as soon as possible." The old woman said. Hinata nodded.

'I was hoping for that too.' Hinata thought.

***

"I can sense her!" Kiba declared.

"Really?" Naruto asked confirming the situation.

"She's inside that old building!" Shino muttered.

"An abandoned building in the middle of a forest? That's strange." Naruto said.

"Hush! Enemies approaching. Prepare yourselves for battle." Kiba said.

"They sensed us," Shino said.

"Show yourselves fools! We know you are there!" A man spoke and chuckled.

"You want the Princess? Then come out and fight us." He added.

"He's full of himself. Is he underestimating us? What a jerk!" Kiba muttered. Shino revealed himself to them. He saw multiple people behind the man.

"Oh? Leaf Ninjas." The man muttered and gave him a smirk. Kiba then revealed himself.

"How many are you?" He asked.

Naruto then revealed himself.

"Just the three of us and you all are going down!" Naruto said showing them off his reversed thumb.

"Wait.. you are... Na-Naruto Uzumaki.." the man said with a shaky voice. Naruto and Kiba gave them a smirk while Shino did not show any emotions.

"Yosh! Let's get ready to rumble!" Naruto said while his left hand clenching his right fist showing it off to them.

The New Team Eight was ready for battle!