Naruto: Chosen

- Let her go immediately.

The impatient guard looked at me as if I were a ghost. When I demanded things, he looked like my grandmother: eyes clenched, lips compressed, not a millimeter to bargain or explain.

Sakura freed herself from the grip on her wrist and ran to a bench in the garden. Her chest was heaving uncontrollably, her hands were shaking, sweat was pouring down, her face was pale. Didn't the damn men realize she was having a panic attack?

- Get away! - I ordered, walking over to the bench.

- I'm sorry, Your Highness. But the Queen... - the impatient man began, and I read "Kiba Inuzuka" on his ID.

- Private Inuzuka, get out of here, because I'm ordering you to.

It was as if he miraculously became aware of who I was, that Sakura was mine, and that touching her was a crime against me. They left without another word.

Sakura Haruno had lengthened her hair. If she hadn't been irresistible before, she was even more so now. Her thin, dark green sweater contrasted with her porcelain skin. If there was a more beautiful girl in the whole country, I didn't know it.

I crouched down to be at her face level. Tears flowed from her eyes and I took her trembling hand in mine.

- Are you all right, darling? - I asked softly.

- I'm not your darling. - She raised her head to face me. I felt intimidated by that look. Suigetsu was wrong, Haruno Sakura didn't have doe eyes.

- What did I do to offend you? Didn't I release you, just as you wanted?

I won't lie: I was upset with her. Wasn't that what I expected - a scathing response after defending and protecting her like a true prince of stories?

Her gaze softened, and for a moment, she almost looked like a doe, vulnerable and delicate. A tear was slowly trickling down her cheek, and without thinking, I reached for it, gently wiping it away before it made its way to the end of her face.

- Don't cry, darling.

She pushed my hand away brutally.

- Don't call me that! I'm no dearer to you than the other thirty-three strangers you keep in this cage.

Haruno had brute movements for a girl and seemed incredibly comfortable with offending me. She was half-naked, but she didn't cover herself before my gaze. If my position in the hierarchy didn't scare her, my gaze didn't intimidate her either. She did all this to me.

- Your claim is false. - I finally said, and she frowned. - All of you are dear to me, I just have to find out which one is dearest to me.

Suddenly, my position began to bother me, and I sat down next to her on the bench. She didn't look at me.

- Do you really want to fall in love like that? - she asked, and I realized that no one had ever asked me that.

- We princes don't have much choice in the matter. I haven't met many girls in my life. My mother and father met this way, and before them, my grandmother and grandfather, and they were very happy. I'm ready to find my wife, someone my family and my people will love, someone to help me welcome the leaders of the other nations... God, how tedious they are, so it's going to have to be quite a woman.

I managed to make her smile.

- Do you really think this is a cage?

- Yes, I do. - Her voice came out calm. - Your Majesty," she added when she remembered, and I laughed at her embarrassment.

- But it's a beautiful cage. I've been trying to add a pool for years, but my grandmother thinks it's a stupid idea.

- A pool would be nice," she said, laughing.

The tears had dried and the shaking had stopped. Her skin was pink and healthy again, and I was close enough to count the light freckles she had on her nose and cheeks, so subtle that I only just noticed them.

- I like your hair," I complimented, and she blushed a little.

- May I ask you a question, Miss Sakura Haruno of the Tea Village?

- Of course you can, Prince Naruto Senju Namikaze of Konoha.

I let myself smile for a moment.

- Are you here for the man or the crown?

Man, or crown? Girls used to get confused and think that the two were just one. Fighting for the prince's heart and, in the end, getting the tiara and a life of luxury forever.

- I'm here by mistake. Well, it's a long story... I'm here. And I'm not fighting. My plan is to enjoy the food until you kick me.

I laughed so hard that I leaned back.

- I guess I wasn't very nice to you," she said, fixing her hair. - Sakura Haruno, and it's a pleasure.

- Naruto Senju," I replied, and took the hand she held out to me.

She stood; her body framed by the thin sweater.

Sakura's reply was direct, cutting, but with a touch of teasing that somehow made me smile.

- Sakura, my dear, I really hope you find something in this cage worth fighting for. After all this, I can't help wondering what things would be like if you really tried.

She looked at me over her shoulder, her corner smiling defiantly, and my expectation of a softer response soon dissipated.

- I'm not your darling, Prince Naruto," she said, her voice firm and without hesitation.

I watched her for a moment, trying to understand the truth behind that defiant stance, but at the same time, a sense of respect for her courage and the way she stood her ground, even in the face of everything, began to grow inside me. She didn't need my compassion or protection. She just wanted to be herself.

And that, for some reason, fascinated me.

The next morning, I wasn't woken up by the entrance of the maids - they were already there - or by the sound of water being prepared for my bath - which was already ready.

An annoying, persistent little tune played in my head like some sticky commercial. Naruto Senju, Naruto Senju...

I tried to ignore it, but it was impossible. That voice, that name echoing over and over, like some kind of condemnation that stuck in my mind, constantly reminding me of the weight I was carrying.

I got out of bed with a feeling of tiredness that had nothing to do with sleep, but with everything that had been accumulating over the last few days. The burden of expectation. The national team. Those girls. My duty. Sakura.