Izayoi's P. O. V:
I'm pressed against the wall of a building as Kakashi kisses me tenderly through his mask, gloved hands pressed to the wall beside my head while my hands brace on his chest.
We were in a town away from the Hidden Leaf Village while our Genin are watching the newest Princess Gale movie for our escort mission.
Her actress, Yukie Fujikaze, is famous.
Instead of reading and waiting for our students, Kakashi had decided to start a makeout session.
"... Kakashi... hm," I manage to say between kisses.
"Hm?" He utters, pulling back briefly.
I suggest, resting my hands on his chest, my face flushed, "Shouldn't we go check on the Genin?"
He tells me, "The movie doesn't finish for another hour. We have time, Izayoi-chan."
I nod my head and Kakashi immediately returns to kissing me.
Third Person's P. O. V:
Team 3 and 7 are upside down beneath the balcony in the movie cinema, as they watch the new Princess Gale movie. Their hair is sticking downward due to lack of gravity. For some reason, Kakashi and Izayoi had asked the six of them to check out this new movie.
Naruto watches intensely as the black and white screen before us displays a battlefield with kunai and other weapons strewn everywhere, along with dead bodies. Dramatic, sad music begins playing.
"It's over. We have nowhere left to go," Says Tsukuyaku, Amaya's favourite of the male characters, as he kneels on the ground, injured while resting his hand on his sword which is embedded in the ground, his long dark hair waving in the wind. "This is it. Our road ends here."
Shishimaru says as he lies on his back, "It was a fool's decision. Doomed from the start."
Brit groans as he lays against a tree, "This is the end. We must turn back."
But then Princess Gale rises to her feet, wind tossing her high ponytail and pale green kimono attire. She says, "There is a way! Have faith. I know that we will find it."
"But, Princess..." Tsukuyaku says, trailing off.
The dark haired woman half turns to her cohorts as she says sternly, "You mustn't give up!"
"Princess..." Shishimaru murmurs in astonishment.
Just then, wind blows strongly as a short guy wearing a hat, purple robes and holding a magic staff laughs evilly. "Princess Gale! This is as far you go!"
"Mao!" Shishimaru growls as all three men scramble to their feet and go up to the Princess who remains unfazed.
Tsukuyaku demands, "Don't tell us this storm is your doing?!"
The white haired man just chuckles evilly before an armored soldier rises up with a weapon in hand, about to bring it down on Princess Gale.
Amaya clutches her hands together as she gasps just as Naruto shouts from beside Sakura, Team 3 next to them.
"Behind you, Princess! Look out!"
Gale moves swiftly out of the way and snatches up a sword just before the armored soldier could strike her. Gale brandishes the sword as she whirls around and thrusts it forwards while emitting a burst of wind. The attack blasts back the soldier.
More armored soldiers get to their feet.
Mao calls, "Give up, Princess! Fall to your knees and bow before me!"
"I will never give up," Gale says unwaveringly, back to the evil sorcerer, causing Mao's face to darken. "As long as I live, I will gather my strength, and forge a path for others to follow!"
Just then, her body is enveloped by rainbow chakra.
Shishimaru says in shock, "The Princess!"
Tsukuyaku says, "Her rainbow chakra is ablaze!"
Brit tells them urgently, "Brothers! We must light the flames of our chakras, too!"
"Right!"
"Pitiful!" Mao yells before he raises his staff and swirls it in his hands, summoning more wind to gather rocks around him.
He throws it at the Princess but the attack bounces away as her body, and that of her cohorts, is enveloped by chakra, the sword raised in Gale's hands. Gale emits a war cry before firing a blast of rainbow chakra at Mao.
The attack hits him and sends the old sorcerer flying up into the dark clouds. The light fades to reveal a rainbow arching across the sky.
Naruto giggles before he yells out happily, "Allrriigghhtt!! Princess Gale, you rule!! Good sticks it to evil once again!! Hahaha!"
"Hey! What the heck do you think you're doing up there?!" An angry male voice yells, causing Naruto, who is standing, to lose his footing and crash to the floor.
Sakura, Sasuke, Kai, Hiro and Amaya keep their chakra sticking to the ceiling easily as the security guard rushes over, looking angry.
Naruto grabs the back of his head as jolts up in a sitting position and grumbles in annoyance, "What's the big idea?!"
"Don't play stupid with me! You snuck in here without paying, you lousy, little free loader!" The man snaps.
"Wait! You got it all wrong! We were just getting a little training in while we watch the movie," Naruto tries to explain.
""Training"? For what?"
Sakura, Sasuke, Kai, Hiro and Amaya leap down and gracefully land on their feet, the pinkette and Amaya on either side of him, Amaya's male teammates flanking them, as Sasuke holds up his ticket and says coolly, "We have tickets."
The man asks with raised eyebrows, "Are you ninja from the Leaf Village?"
Naruto proclaims loudly as he jumps to his feet, "You bet we are!" Sakura face palms at his stupidity as Naruto continues, hands on his hips. "You're looking at the next Hokage, a super ninja, pal! Ooohhh, yeah! Naruto Uzumaki, live and in the flesh!"
Naruto spins while pointing his thumb at himself, only for a pillow to meet his face.
"Keep it down!!"
People yell at Naruto angrily as they all start throwing their rubbish in our direction.
Gale says as she throws out an arm, "Come! Let's push on! Our fate lies beyond the rainbow!"
And then my teammates and I get kicked out of the cinema because of an idiotic blonde.
The Genin gather outside the cinema where Sasuke and Kai sit on a stack of metal poles, Sakura and Amaya stand in front of them, and Naruto and Hiro sit on the ground, drooling over the billboard poster of the movie they just saw.
Sakura sighs, "Kakashi and Izayoi Sensei are late."
Sasuke drawls, "So? What else is new?"
Amaya mumbles, "It's not like our Sensei to be late. She's usually right on time."
Kai says with his arms crossed, "Knowing them, they're probably making out behind a building somewhere."
"You're probably right."
"Awe, man! That movie was so cool! I don't think I've ever been so blown away in my entire life!" Naruto says dazedly as Sakura runs up to him, hands on her hips, startling him.
"I don't wanna hear it! You made such a racket in there, we didn't get to see the whole thing!" She then leans back while letting out a dreamy sigh. "I wish we could've stayed a little longer! I could've watched that handsome Michi who played Tsukuyaku all day long." Sakura remembers Sasuke and adds sweetly, blushing, "Oh! Of course, he doesn't compare to you, Sasuke!"
The Uchiha doesn't say anything as he sits beside me silently, his eyes closed.
"Man, I don't know where you got your taste in men, Sakura, but it stinks," Groans Naruto.
Sakura's eyes flash angrily while morphing into animated white triangles as she wrenches her head around to the Uzumaki, growling, "Come again?!"
Naruto immediately shrinks down at this as he whimpers, "I'm sorry, what was the question?!"
"Good," She says in satisfaction before coming back to the poles. Naruto lets out a breath of relief, hanging his head before looking back at the poster. More specifically, Princess Gale.
"I wonder if there's anyone like her out there? I mean, where's my Princess Gale, you know? If I could fight for a girl like that, I'd be on Cloud 9!" Narut sighs dreamily.
Sasuke drawls, "Oh, whatever! It was just a movie!"
Sakura wonders aloud, "It's funny. I wonder why Kakashi and Izayoi Sensei told us to go see this movie together before they gave us our mission?"
The six of them jump away from the fence at the sound of horse hooves thundering toward them.
And then, a beautiful white horse with a beautiful dark haired woman wearing a pale green kimono leaps gracefully over the fence on the other side of the billboard. They seem to suspend in the air for a moment before the horse lands on the ground and smoothly takes off in a fast gallop.
Sakura gasps in shock, "No way! Was that the Princess?!"
They hear more horses thundering towards and Sasuke and Kai move away just in time, but Hiro, Sakura, Amaya and Naruto weren't nearly fast enough. The three of them were knocked to the ground as the large gate swings open. Men in armor charge through on black horses, after the runaway Princess.
"Why, you!" Sakura growls as she, Amaya and Naruto get to their feet.
While Naruto chases after the Princess, Sakura, Sasuke, Hiro, Kai and Amaya go in a different direction.
"Sakura, Amaya!" Sasuke calls.
They both nod but Sakura transforms herself into Princess Gale. She makes a clone and turns it into a white horse before they gallop down the street.
It wasn't long before she's pursued by the men in armor, followed by a man with a gray ponytail on a bay horse.
Sakura gallops down a set of steps, hearing her pursuers behind her. Sakura launches the horse into the air in order to get away faster. However, just as they were coming down, the Haruno sees brown liquid spill right under the horse's hooves.
Sakura cries out when the horse lands and it collapses instantly on the slippery surface, sending her sprawling on her face a few paces away.
That hurt!
"Get her!" Sandayu yells, pointing at me. His men launch themselves at Sakura as the horse disappears in a puff of smoke. Sakura gasps as she looks up at the men falling towards her, her mint green eyes wide.
Before she could move, they had piled on top of Sakura, and she struggles to get free.
"Stay on her! Don't move!"
"I got her!"
"We got you now!"
Sandayu trots up on his horse as Sakura struggles against his men and he says triumphantly, "We've finally captured her!"
"She's a feisty one!" A man says as Sakura sits up slightly and yanks her arm free.
With a grunt, the pinkette slams her fist on top of the man's head, knocking him out. Her transformation disappears with a poof, revealing her angry form. Sakura growls as she holds up an angrily shaking fist.
"Huh?" Sandayu raises an eyebrow. "Who are you?"
Sakura was too busy struggling to answer but she sees Sasuke flicker onto the horse's ring behind Sandayu. Sandayu jerks his head around with a gasp, only to ve knocked out by the Uchiha.
"Where'd the Princess go?!"
There's a thud and they look to see Sandayu having dropped to the stone floor.
With a simple glance from the Uchiha, the armored men instantly release me as they try to get away. But Sakura had already got to her feet and was standing beside Amaya, causing the fleeing soldiers to stop short.
Sakura flashes the men an angry glare. That fall really had hurt! Then these goons had the gall to try and capture her!!
Sakura and Amaya lunge forward strike the armored men, emitting cries of pain.
Once all the soldiers were knocked out, Sakura, Hiro, Kai, Amaya and Sasuke tie up the men.
"What are you guys doing?" A voice asks. They turn to see Kakashi and Izayoi having Body Flickered behind the Genin, on a statue. The silverette is rubbing his head in confusion. He spoke to them just now.
"Killing time," Sasuke says coolly, brushing off his hands.
Kakashi then flickers around the men with Izayoi and untie their ropes, before appearing in front of Sandayu. The redhead gives the man an apologetic smile as she helps him up. "I'm dreadfully sorry about this."
Kakashi gives the Genin exaggerated looks. "This is the gentleman who hired us for our mission today," He explains to all of them.
Kakashi gestures to the man with the ponytail, as he brushes his clothes of dust, much to the Genin's shock.
🗡️🗡️🗡️
Kakashi explains as Amaya sits in a chair between Sakura and Sasuke, backstage as props were being moved around, Hiro and Kai beside them, Izayoi leaning against the wall beside Kakashi, "Our mission is to guard Yukie Fujikaze, the actress best known for her role as Princess Gale. Guard? Well, maybe not guard her, so much as escort her."
Sakura and Amaya gaze around curiously.
A man with orange hair tapping some paper against his shoulder says, "The next Princess Gale movie is the first one we're shooting abroad." He lets out a dramatic sigh. "And, uh, I don't need to tell you our leading lady is a bit of a diva."
Sandayu says, "Sorry! I do apologise!"
A short man with gray hair and a pipe in hand says while sitting in a chair, "I'll tell you, these Leaf ninja are impressive, though. They took care of those stunt men turned bodyguards we hired like it was child's play. And those were some big fellas!"
Izayoi says sheepishly with a closed eye smile, "Oh, well, uh... thank you."
Amaya gazes at some pictures on the wall next to us, most of them of Yukie with people. And her gaze lands on a picture with tall, sheer ice cliffs in a snowy valley.
Amaya says in awe, "Oh, wow. Look at those cliffs!"
"Ah, that's the Rainbow Glacier," Says a familiar voice behind her, making the silverette and Sakura gasp, "In the Land of Snow."
Amaya swivels her head around to see a dark haired man and a bald man. The latter spoke. "You play the part of Buriken!"
"That's where we're all going to shoot the scene's big climatic ending," The ravenette says.
The silverette claps her hands together as she chimes, "You're Hidero! You play Shishimaru!"
"Land of Snow? Long way to go to shoot some scene for a movie," Huffs Kyo.
The redhead says, dropping his arm, "Yukie Fujikaze's manager, Sandayu, over here, recommended it. Apparently, he tells us this Rainbow Glacier turns seven different colours during the spring time."
"No. That's just an old legend," Kakashi speaks up. "The truth is, there isn't any spring in the Land of Snow."
Kai says, glancing at him, "What? Not ever?"
Sakura questions, "Does that mean it's winter all year long?"
"Hmhm. You've got it."
"Kakashi, Izayoi, wasn't it?" The director, Makino, says. "From what I hear, this won't be your first time in the Land of Snow. Is that true?"
Kakashi and Izayoi exchange glances before he answers mysteriously, "That was a long time ago."
"They say that it's a very poor nation, too," Says a man's voice and Amaya starts, feeling heat in her cheeks, when someone places their hand on the back of her chair. Sakura and Amaya turn their heads to be met with a sparkling smile that could put Guy's to shame.
Hearts appear in their eyes as they clasp their hands together and the Ikeda says, "Y-You Play Tsukuyaku! Oh, Michi! You were great!"
Michi says, "Actually, the story is, their Lord had a thing for gadgets. The guy squandered everything the clan had on mountains of useless dodads and gizmos."
Hidero says, "Yeah, well, I just hope they've got central heating! I'm not really all that cut out for the cold."
"Maybe you should run for the hills, too? Just like Yukie," Buriken's actor teases.
The redhead groans as he comes over, face pleading, "Awe, hey! Come on, you guys! That's not even funny!"
Sakura questions as they laugh, "So does that mean, Yukie... I mean, she's not always like this, is she?"
The three actors exchange glances before Buriken says, "Kind of, yeah. Poor Yukie. Hmph. She wouldn't even know the meaning of the words "dreams" or "aspirations.""
"But she's never been one to neglect her work," Makino tells us. "I don't know anything about her personal life, and I don't need to. As long as she's giving her all when the camera's rolling, I won't have any complaints, say what you will, that woman is a born actress!"
"He's right," His assistant says. "Anyway, she only started running from the set after she heard we were going to the Land of Snow."
🗡️🗡️🗡️
Later that night, they find Yukie in a bar, drinking. Sandayu calls her name.
Naruto was there too.
"Yukie-san! Our boat for the Land of Snow is about to sail! Please, we don't have much time!"
Sakura, Sasuke, Kai, Hiro, Amaya Izayoi and Kakashi enter the bar as Yukie slurs, "No, thank you."
"Huh?!"
"I'm bowing out as the Princess," She says.
"Yeah, but—!" Amaya begins as Sandayu cuts in.
"Huh?! What on Earth are you talking about?!"
"Uh, don't worry! It happens all the time, ok?! I mean, lead actresses change from sequel to sequel, come on! Directors change every five—"
"That's enough!" Sandayu says sharply, making Yukie go silent as he flares. "You listen to me! There is nobody on this whole planet who can play Princess Gale other than you—nobody!" Yukie just turns her head away as she takes a swig. "Besides, if you pull out this late in the game, you'll never work in this business again! Do you understand me?!"
"So?" She mumbles unvaryingly. "Who cares?"
Sandayu pulls back and slumps his shoulders as he murmurs, trailing off, "Yukie-san...!"
"Well... guess there's no other choice," Says Kakashi, causing the ravenette to turn her head to him. Only to be met with his Mangekyo Sharingan. Yukie stares into his red eye until she falls unconscious.
Sakura and Amaya gaze at Yukie sadly as Kakashi catches her, picking her up bridle style.
Izayoi gazes at them wearily.
🗡️🗡️🗡️
On the ship to the Land of Snow the next morning, Izayoi leans against the railing with Kakashi and Sasuke, Kakashi is reading his book. She was reading as well.
Suddenly, Yukie bursts out into the deck, in a pair of yellow winter pyjamas.
They look up when the actress yells at the top of her lungs, sky blue eyes wide, "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!"
🗡️🗡️🗡️
The Leaf ninja watch as the men and women set about, getting the next scene set up on the deck.
Izayoi was now reading her romance book but she could hear them calling out directions. Yukie sits in a chair, getting her hair and makeup done.
Sitting cross legged on the floor, Naruto says thoughtfully, "I don't know... I don't think I can deal with this lady..."
Kakashi says, "What are you talking about, Naruto? You have to deal with it—you've just sworn to protect her. Come on! This is an important mission."
"Mission...?"
"Yes—an A Ranked one!"
"This is an A Ranked mission?" Hiro questions with a quirked eyebrow.
Sasuke says, "I don't really think our babysitting a little pampered actress will be all that difficult."
I tell him, "That's not true, Sasuke. Big celebrities are targeted all the time. Besides, it's hard to predict who's after them. So just be on your guard."
I look ahead as the lights come on.
"Lights are set!"
"We have speed!"
"Cameras rolling!"
The director says into his megaphone, "Alright, folks! I wanna get this right on the first take!"
"Right!"
"Scene 23, cut 6! Take 1! Aaanndd, action!" Says the redhead.
We watch in awe as Yukie slowly turns her head to the collapsed Shishimaru and clutches his robes. "Shishimaru! Stay with me!"
"I'm sorry," He moans. "I've failed you, Princess. Forgive me, I beg you...!"
"How can you say that?!" Yukie gasps as she shakes her head. "Without you at our side, we never would've found the courage we need to make it this far!"
"I'd only wish... I'd seen beyond the rainbow..." Shishimaru says sadly. "... with you, Princess..." His head falls onto the deck as his character dies.
"Shishimaru...!"
"She's amazing!" Amaya gasps as Naruto lets out a breath of amazement.
"Whoa! I don't even feel like I'm looking at the same person anymore."
"Ah, yes! That's Yukie for you," Says Sandayu." We look at him curiously. "When the camera starts to roll, she comes alive! There isn't another actress on Earth who can match her brilliance."
Yukie goes to cry but suddenly stops as she throws up a hand. "Hold on a second, guys!"
The crew groans.
"What's wrong?!" The redhead yells, clearly frustrated.
"Sandayu! Bring me my drops so I can cry," Yukie calls, waving him over.
Sandayu hurries over and squeezes a couple of drops into Yukie's left eye.
"Now the other one..."
"Ready?" The director mutters as Sandayu pours some drops into her other eye.
Finished, he scurried back to us as Yukie calls, "Ugh! They're spilling over! Come on, let's do this!"
"Peeps sake! Start with a closeup," The director says in annoyance as Naruto, Sakura and I have deadpan expressions on our faces, our eyebrows twitching.
"Right," The camera man drawls.
"Ok! Scene 23, Cut 6, Take 2! Action!"
"Shishimaruuu!!!"