The Willow Maiden [Naruto]

{16} Off To The Land Of Snow

Naruto and Ruka slept in the forest together all night since Ruka refused to go home. Naruto didn't mind staying with her because he cared so much about her. It was morning and Ruka was up before Naruto, stroking his hair as he rests his head on her lap. 

Ruka couldn't help but smile at the blonde boy while he slept. Seeing him sleep so peacefully made her feel calm. 'Just look at him, mama. . . He's so warm, gentle, and has a kind heart. . . No matter what I do he is always forgiving. . . He is. . . my light.' Ruka thought with a gentle smile. 

Naruto began to wake up and yawned as his eyes began to open. The first thing he sees is Ruka's beautiful face looking down at him. "Huh? . . . Gah! Ruka!" He shouts and sits up from her lap. "What happened!? Where are we!?" Naruto looks around, considering he doesn't remember that much. 

Ruka giggles and says with a charm smiling, "Ohayo, Naruto. We slept here in the playground all night, remember? You showed up and took me to the forest, and comforted me when I was feeling uneasy. Thank you." Ruka bows her head. 

"Oh, yeah. You were acting kind of strange last night and you told me that you did a horrible thing, but I didn't understand what it was. But, hey, if something goes wrong, you come straight to me, got it?" Naruto smirks and points to himself with his thumb. 

"Hai." Ruka smiles once more as she nods her head. 

"There you guys are." Kakashi speaks from a distance. Ruka turns to her left to see Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke walking over. She frowns when she sees Kakashi and Sakura, remembering what she did to them last night. 

'With the flower dust, they shouldn't be able to remember what I did to last night. . .' She said within her thoughts. 

"What are you two doing out here?" Sasuke asks them both, but looks at Ruka the whole time. 

"Ruka wasn't feeling well last night so I took her here to cool off, you know." Naruto grins when he says this. 

"Did she now. . ." Sasuke continues to eye Ruka. 'Why didn't she come to me when she was feeling like that? And why the hell was Naruto near my house?' 

"Well, I'm glad to see you two are alright. We have mission today." 

"Alright, another mission!" Naruto jumps in the air. "What's the mission today, Kakashi-Sensei!? I'm so ready! Lay it on me!" 

"Now calm down. I'll explain on the way. Just go get ready." The squad walked out of the forest and got themselves ready for the mission. Once they were ready, they left the village and was on their way to a theater. 

"I don't understand. Our mission is about a theater?" Sakura says with confusion when they arrived to their destination. 

"You all will be staying here while I go have a chat with someone. I took the liberty to get you all movie passes so you won't be bored while we're here. Try not to cause a ruckus while I'm gone. I'll back as soon as I can." Kakashi hands the kids movie passes before disappearing in a puff of smoke. 

Ruka stared at the board of what the movie was playing right now. 'A princess. . . ? Mama explained to me once that it is a daughter of a monarch, the wife or widow of a prince, and spoiled or arrogant young woman. . . How distasteful. . .' She frowns in her thoughts. 

"Ruka, are you okay?" Naruto notices the frown. 

"I am having a hard time understanding this movie genre. . . A princess and a battle of clans. . . It is meaningless in my opinion. . ." Ruka replies. 

"Don't look so down about it. This movie is going to be so romantic! Let's go inside!" Sakura squeals and runs inside the theater. Naruto follows her, and as does Sasuke, but he looks at Ruka as she continues to stare at the board. 

"You coming?" He questions. 

Ruka looks back at him and merely shakes her head, telling him no. "I have never watched a movie before, and since this is a romantic movie, I see no meaning of watching it." She replies. 

"First time for everything." Sasuke holds out his hand and smirks at Ruka. "Come on. You might like it." 

The Maiden looks at his hand, then back at him, before grasping his hand with hers. "Alright." She says with a nod and enters inside. As the movie plays,  Ruka tries her best understand the meaning behind the movie, but she fails to understand. 

She doesn't understand the meaning of romance because she has never experienced it before.

Naruto decides to interrupt the movie by shouting to a scene of the movie. This made the audience angry and they were kicked out. Sakura complained to Naruto about being thrown out while Sasuke and Ruka stand beside each other. 

"I wish we could stay a little longer. I wanted to watch that one actor. He's so charming~" Sakura gawks at the poster, already having daydreams of her favorite actor. "Oh! But, he's nothing compared to you, Sasuke." She blushes as she turns her attention to the Uchiha. 

"I don't see your taste in men, Sakura." Naruto mutters. 

"What was that?!" Sakura turns to Naruto with a death glare. 

"I'm sorry, what was the question?" Naruto is quick to change his response before sighing to himself. "What did you think of the movie, Ruka? Wasn't it great?" 

"I did not understand the whole plot of it. It was about a fight with two clans who couldn't cooperate with each other and went to war where blood is shed, and there is no victor in the end." Ruka speaks her mind with an emotionless expression. 

"How could you say that?!" Sakura exclaims. Ruka decides not to answer, so she returns to staring at the movie poster. Now, her mind was fixated on the meaning of romance. She is now curious about it. 

Coming to her senses, she feels something rumbling within the earth, causing her to pull Naruto and Sasuke away from the doors. Right on que, the doors flew open with a runaway girl riding on a white horse. 

The squad sprung into action and did what they could to protect the girl from the movie. As for Ruka, she stayed behind and continued to look at the poster. 

While the team was protecting the 'Princess', Ruka took her time to meet up with squad. But, she followed Naruto and caught the princess with her thorns. Since she was playing hard to get, Ruka thought it would be a good idea to wrap her in thorns so she can stop acting like the arrogant woman she is. 

Meanwhile, Kakashi told the group, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, about the mission, Kakashi noticed that Ruka wasn't around. "Where is Ruka?" He asks them. 

"Oh, yeah. She told me to go back to the team while she went to handle the runaway princess." Naruto answers. 

"And you left her alone!? How stupid can you get, Naruto!?" Sakura shouts at him and hits him over the head. 

"Ow! She said she would handle it and I'm taking her word for it, okay!?" 

"And I did handle it. . ." Ruka casually walks backstage to meet up with everyone. "Is this the so called Princess you were talking about?" Ruka looks behind her as the thorns, dragging behind, lift up a certain woman. 

Koyuki Kazahana. 

"You found her?!" The director, also the man who needed their help in the first place, exclaims. "H-How did you!?-" 

"Oh, that's right. I forgot to mention our newest member of the team during our conversation about the mission." Kakashi looks at the director, then back at Ruka. "This is Ruka. The Willow Maiden of the Willow Forest." 

"N-Nice to meet you! And thank you for returning the actress to us!" The director bows with a tint of blush on his cheeks. 

"She is stubborn as a child. . ." Ruka sighs, having to go through the trouble to capture a runaway woman. 

"Put me down right now! Do you have any idea who I am!?" Koyuki shouts at the maiden as she struggles against the thorns. 

"No." Ruka looks back at the woman when answering. 

"U-Uh, let's get ready to leave. . . I will explains things further on the way." The director sweat drops before going on the boat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~