Kimiko's P. O. V:
Later that morning, my teammates, the soldiers, Hikaru and I hide out in the woods, my Byakugan activated in case of an ambush. The young Prince sits in a patch of sunlight with his bent knees pulled to his chest and arms folded atop them while his face is buried in them.
I sit beside Sakura, Naruto and Lee as we wait for Kakashi to return from his scouting mission. I'd sent Shin back awhile ago.
I see Kakashi return long before the others do. We look up when there's a rustle of bushes, to see the silverette beside me.
I ask, "Kakashi, how'd it go?"
He responds, folding his arms over his chest, "The security's too tight; I couldn't get close. One thing's for sure: time is running out." We all let out heavy sighs of defeat.
The soldier leaning against the tree suggests, "Maybe... Maybe we should surrender after all." Hikaru presses his face further into his arms.
Another soldier jumps to his feet and grabs the first by the front of his jacket, demanding angrily, "Coward!! What are you talking about?!"
The first soldier shoves him back as he questions hotly, "Well, what do you suggest, then?! Look at us!! How few of us there are!" He throws his arms outward before gesturing to me and my teammates. "I don't care how strong these strangers are! It's hopeless!" The man shakes his head as they all look down.
The bald man murmurs, looking to the boy, "At least... we must get Hikaru-sama out..." Here, Hikaru begins sobbing, making the soldiers gasp.
"I want my father...!" Hikaru cries as he wipes the tears away from under his glasses.
Hikaru keeps crying as Naruto gets to his feet. We fiancé at him as he says decisively, "Well, ok then. Let's go get him!"
The bald man says, "But it's impossible!"
Naruto retorts determinedly, "We can't just do nothing! We gotta try!"
"It's too late!" Hikaru exclaims, shaking his head. "You heard them: it's hopeless. My father will be killed! It's too late to save him now!"
Hikaru falls forward and cries into the grass. Naruto walks towards Hikaru and stops before him.
"Hikaru," Naruto addresses, but the boy doesn't look up. "Hikaru!" Hikaru hiccups. Naruto bends and picks him up by the front of his shirt, as the rest of us stand up, tensing. Hikaru seems to brace himself. "Are you just gonna... throw everything away again?" This causes the boy to snap his eyes open with a gasp. He turns his head to the blonde. "Is that it?! You're... You're just gonna abandon him?!"
Naruto releases Hikaru so he slumps on his knees on the grass. "What happened? Was I wrong? I thought... you were better than this! You'd just let it all go? Your father?!" Naruto waves his hands about as his eyes begin to get wet. "Even your courage?!" Here, the Uzumaki squeezes his eyes shut briefly. "The promise we made each other...! You'd throw it all away..." Naruto gazes down at a stunned Hikaru with saddened eyes. "You still don't know... what really matters!"
Naruto's tears drop down the hazel brown eyed boy's face. Then his mouth sets in a firm line before a spark of determination lights up in Hikaru's eyes. He slowly gets to his feet.
Hikaru declares, "Alright, let's go! I'm ready! Let's go save my father!"
Naruto grins, happy with Hikaru's decision. "You're on!"
The bald soldier reminds Hikaru as he stands up, "Hikaru-sama! Don't be hasty—!"
"Relax!" Naruto interrupts, a hand on Hikaru's shoulder. "Don't worry. He'll be okay! No harm will come to him!" Here, the blonde turns to the soldiers, a fist clenched in determination. "I'll see to that—trust me!"
"Count me in!" I say with clenched fists.
"Same goes for me!" Sakura adds.
"Let us be off!" Lee chimes, throwing out an arm dramatically.
Kakashi asks as he approaches the soldiers, hands in his pockets, "Are we gonna let these kids show us up?" He glances to them. "I think we all made a vow to the late king, didn't we?" The soldiers nod their heads in agreement. Kakashi gives a closed eye smile.
I tense as I whip my head around, seeing new figures heading our way. Kakashi glances to me questioningly, while whipping out a kunai and spinning it in his fingers. We all relax, however, as a familiar gray furred sabertooth tiger with a monkey on his head steps out of the trees.
Kiki squeaks happily at the sight of us as we breathe in relief.
"Chamu! Kiki!" Hikaru exclaims as he runs up to them, smiling. Hikaru laughs as he hugs Chamu's head, the sabertooth tiger licking the boy's face.
"Heeeyyy!! Chamu!" Calls a man's voice.
"Where is that cat?!" Another asks, as two men appear from behind trees. They stare at us in surprise. "Well, whaddya know! It's you guys!" He adds, tiling his hat.
"So I thought it was strange, the Prince's coach taking off like that. So I went to the palace to see what was up," The showman was blabbering to the Crescent Island soldiers, as he waves his hand. Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto, Lee and I stand behind the showman, watching the scene before us, my Byakugan deactivated. All the other circus guys were milling about as Hikaru cuddles with Kiki and Chamu.
"Ooohhh, wouldn't even let me in the door. They threatened to arrest us!! We thought they were gonna slaughter us all, so we got the heck out of there and hid in the forest. What's going on?! This wasn't our deal! When do we get paid?! We should never have come to this stupid island." I hear the silverette hum in thought. "Listen here!! I'm not running a charity; I want my money!! Who's in charge here, huh?!"
"You're right, you're right!" Kakashi cuts in, approaching the showman and making him turn around. "I don't blame you for being upset. Hey! You were promised payment, you should be paid, right? Let's see if we can't do something about that?"
"Huh?" The showman utters, raisiny a blonde eyebrow. Then we gather around to form a plan in order to sneak into the palace.
🗡🗡🗡
I walk next to Kakashi at the front of the circus crew dressed in my disguise as the music plays and we approach the palace gates, the crescent moon high above us. Our plan was to use the circus to distract Shabadabadoo, as I like to call him, so Naruto, Lee, Sakura, Hikaru and the Crescent Moon soldiers could get in while Kakashi and I distracted the guards.
I was wearing an off the shoulder pink dress with a couple of necklaces and my blonde hair tied back in twin ponytails with pink ribbons.
Kakashi simply wears a sleeveless brown leather vest over his long sleeved black shirt and pants, and his has an eyepatch over his left eye in replacement of his Sharingan.
"Hey, you!" The guard on my right demands, stopping us. "What are you doing here again?"
"Uh, well, you see, I...!" The showman splutters nervously.
"Get out of here!" The guard snaps, pointing his spear at the showman who throws up his hands in surrender.
"Not good," I hiss to Kakashi. "Do something!"
"Whoa, there, brother!" Kakashi calls as he pushes past the men at the front, a closed eye smile on his face. "We were summoned by your boss for a command performance."
"I received no orders," Says the guard.
"You didn't?!" Gasps Kakashi in feigned shock. "Are you sure about that?" Kakashi raises his hand to his eyepatch and his Sharingan swirls into motion. Afterwards, we were let in.
Some circus men and women dance around me as the girl back flips onto the elephant. I see Michiru on a wooden plank by the balcony with his hands bound behind his back and a noose around his neck, Shabadabadoo, as I like to call him, his assistant and an old man behind him.
As Chamu leaps through hoops, people pour out of the palace.
I hear through my earpiece from Sakura, "We're ready, Sensei, Kimiko!"
I meet the silverette's eyes and he and I exchange a nod. I say, "Alright. Let's get this started."
I stand beside Kakashi in front of the fountain. He says while holding out his hands, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the grand finale! So sit back, and enjoy!"
Kakashi reveals his Sharingan as I do the same he and I do hand signs. A water monster in the form of a ninja hound and wolf forms behind us as; Kakashi's Jutsu sprays water while mine charges through the crowd.
Kakashi rips off his disguise while mine disappears with a poof of smoke, revealing our shinobi attire.
I hear Shabadabadoo yell angrily, "ISHIDATE!!"
So that's his name. The three mercenaries run back inside to intercept our comrades as I bite my thumb and do swift hand signs.
"Summoning Jutsu!" I slam my hand on the ground and my wolves appear. "Sick 'em, my pretties!!" I order while throwing a finger towards the soldiers, a maniacal laughter escaping me.
My wolves and Chamu let out fierce roars before launching themselves at the men.
A girl and guy had pinned a soldier to the floor while another girl rides the elephant right through a group of soldiers, cheering.
The showman and a couple of men were being pursued by the soldiers as the blonde says fearfully, "If I'd known it was gonna be this dangerous, I never would've come!!"
Meanwhile, the two kangaroos punch out at a couple of soldiers. Others are being surrounded by four polar bears. Chamu and my tigers keep knocking down soldiers while the zebras chase other soldiers.
As I clash a katana with a soldier, I notice Chamu gazing up towards the palace.
The sabertooth tiger appears grateful before taking off after Hikaru, while the rest of my tigers remain here.
I deflect the sword and the man swings low, landing a deep gash across my thigh. I hiss at the pain. I deflect another couple of blows before the soldier slashes deep across my other leg, causing me to stagger.
I look up as he's about to strike me again but Ace calls, "Water Style: Raging Waves!" Water blasts towards the man and hits him from behind, knocking him to the ground.
"That's what you get for attacking Kimiko-sama like that," Ace growls before his blue orbs switch to me, worry glinting in them. "Are you alright, M' Lady?"
I nod gratefully as I say, "Yeah, thanks, Ace." I look up to see the Prince had been freed from his noose. It was either Naruto or Hikaru.
As Kakashi's Water Beast sprays water and dies down, I see him drop to a knee, breathing heavily.
I gasp worriedly, "Kakashi! Are you okay?!"
He responds without looking, "I must've overused my Sharingan..." He and I both look up as more soldiers pour into the yard. The Hatake forces himself to stand as I appear next to him, brandishing my swords and getting into a stance.
I say with a light joking tone, "Get up, old man! This is no time for complaining!"
Kakashi sweat drops as he mumbles, "I'm not old, Kimi-chan..."
Momo fires her poison needles at several men. Jet unleashes his Water Dragon Jutsu while Akai summons a long sword to attack soldiers with. Scar and Takeshi lash out with their paws, kicking and punching or using their tails. Ace unleashes his Fireball on a few men and Shin makes men think they're seeing more of him with his Wolf Mirage Genjutsu.
I clash my sword against three others and deflect them as Kakashi engages his own opponents. When I feel a blade stab my right arm and another my left leg, above my knee, I hiss in anger before I jump back a little.
I do swift hand signs. "Genjutsu: Hellfire Dance!" The men freeze as they're trapped in my Genjutsu before they all start screaming in pain. Then they collapse.
As more men charge at me, I do more hand signs. "Lightning Style: Horse Power!" I send electricity to the water covered ground and it flares up, in the form of ten horses with brightly glowing eyes, crackling wildly due to the water, and races towards the men. They scream in pain as they're hit with lightning. I do more hand signs as I'm swarmed by more soldiers. "Lightning Style: Thunder God's Palace!"
Orbs of electricity gather around the men before firing several bolts of lightning at them. Eventually, they collapse to the ground and groan in pain.
"When will this end?!" I groan, seeing more men pour out of the palace.
"No time for complaining, remember, Kimi-chan?" Kakashi teases me, and a tick mark forms on my forehead at the sound of a smirk in his voice.
"Oh, shut up, Scarecrow! Lightning Style: A Thousand Thunderclaps!" I slap my hands together and a thousand bolts of electricityshoots for the soldiers, taking down a good lot of them. "Okay, this ends now! Wind Style: Dragon Fang Jutsu!"
With one katana in hand, I swing it outward and send out a massive chakra infused arc of wind. It slams into a row of men, taking them out.
I breathe heavily as Kakashi pats my head and praises, "Good job, Kimi-chan." I gasp as he suddenly collapses in front of me.
"Kakashi...!" I sheathe my katana. I drop to my knees, ignoring the pain, and pull Kakashi into my lap, my left hand resting against his head. Sakura approaches us then, all cut up from her fight, and kneels over the both of us, arms on her knees. "Are you okay?"
Kakashi responds with a hint of sarcasm, "Sure... nothing a couple of weeks of intensive care won't cure,"
This. causes the Haruno to jump up while fist pumping the air and cheering, "Yeah, alright!! That means we've gotta couple of weeks of vacation duty!!"
I say quickly, fist pumping the air also, "VACATION FOR TWO WEEKS!!!"
"Huh?" Kakashi and I say before he and I burst into laughter.
I laugh along with Sakura.
Kakashi soon joins in on our laughter.
🗡🗡🗡
We spend the next two weeks on the Land of the Moon, so that we can recover from our injuries. Kakashi had spent those two weeks in the hospital.
Kiki would often sit on Ace's head whenever I'd summon my wolves, much to my wolf's bemusement. Takeshi would always mock him about it.
Shabadabadoo got defeated when he'd annoyed Ishidate to the point the man had turned Shabadabadoo to stone. Naruto had then used his Rasengan to finish off the mercenary. Sakura and Lee had also successfully defeated their opponents.
As it turns out, Karenbara was actually 22 years old, instead of something like 15 or 18. Huh, I never would've guessed with her young appearance. All three mercenaries also had wigs on top of their natural, thin hair.....
My teammates and I explored every inch of the island in those two weeks, and we were there the day of Michiru's coronation to King, and Hikaru's to Prince, which were the same day.
It was a lot of fun, but then we'd had to return home.
But Naruto, Sakura, Lee and I made a promise to Hikaru that we'll never, ever forget him and that we'll be friends forever.
No matter what.