The team of elite Jounins woke up just before daybreak. They enjoyed their last opulent shower in the royal palace and stepped into their ninja attire. Sakura effortlessly swung her large sword to her back and strapped it to her body, her tigress rested on her shoulders.

They waited for each other in front of their doors, the heiress was the last to leave her room. They headed to the entrance of the palace to meet a young king dressed in his uniform waiting for them. His smile was dashing and his blue uniform complimented his hair and eyes very well. He was definitely very attractive, Sakura acknowledged that much. Her emerald eyes were the first pair he caught.

"Good morning, Your Majesty." Kakashi greeted as the team leader. All of them bowed together.

"Good morning, how was your night?"

"It had been a pleasant night. We would love to stay longer, but we must leave for our country. Please accept our apologies."

King Kazuki raised his hand to stop the silverette. "It's completely fine, I understand. Have a safe trip."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." With a last bow, the team walked out of the palace.

Kakashi was in the lead while the two boys were behind him. Sakura was the last and she stopped in front of the king with a smile.

"Good bye, Kazuki." She said softly.

He placed a hand on the back of her head and brought her forehead towards his lips, ignoring the baby tiger who was staring at him. He gently kissed her forehead and said, "Come back anytime."

The reddened pinkette nodded and quickly caught up with her team. She had acted out of character; perhaps it was the empathy she felt. Even her tigress was purring a little too happily, it was teasing her! Of course the guys in her team noticed the close relationship between the two. While Kakashi only smiled behind his mask, the two heirs weren't so happy about it.

As the boat rocked back and forth, Sakura hugged her little tigress while thinking about King Kazuki's proposal and the exchange of kisses between them.

The Uchiha shyly confronted the pinkette and sat next to her with Aka on his head, clawing at his raven hair.

"Hey."

She looked at him, "Hey Sasuke."

"So.. What happened between you and the king?" He asked.

A light blush dusted on her cheeks and Sasuke frowned at how flustered she was.

"Yeah, both of you seem oddly close." Neji suddenly intervened. He brought in a plate of rice balls and shared it with his teammates.

Although the huge boat Kazuki had prepared for them was stocked with sumptuous foods, they could not allow themselves to enjoy such luxury, it simply does not feel right. Not only did he pay for such high ranking ninjas to escort him to his village, he provided them with upmost hospitality which they truly appreciate. He even prepared a grand boat for them which only carried people of a high ranking status called gozabune[1].

Neji sat in front of Sakura while waiting for her answer. He was jealous and so was Sasuke. He did not want to come off as possessive, it simply disturbed him. All he wanted was a peace of mind.

"Nothing much.." She mumbled.

"Yeah, and it was so normal for a king to kiss the forehead of a girl he barely knew." The Hyuga rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure something happened last night as well, he walked you to your room." Sasuke stated. Of course they would know, Sakura wasn't the only strong ninja. Her entire team are elites. They could feel their presence and especially the king's since he has no knowledge about concealing chakras.

Sakura sighed in defeat. There was no way she could get out of this.

"We had a walk last night, in the garden." She started. The boys were quiet as they waited for more. "He proposed to me..."

"WHAT?!?" They jumped to their feet in shock. Aka slid off Sasuke's head and dropped on the wooden floor. Raimu also jumped back from Neji at his outburst.

The pinkette had expected them to scream, so she was prepared.

"I rejected him though."

The boys exhaled in relief.

"That was very impulsive of him to suddenly propose." Neji stated in which Sakura nodded in agreement.

"It doesn't explain why he would.....k-kiss you." The Uchiha cringed at the word.

Sakura shyly explained, "That was probably because I kissed his cheek las-"

"WHAT?!?!" They screamed again. This time, Sakura covered her ears and Sumire hopped off the pinkette.

"WHY???"

"First, I befriended the king. Second, I pitied him because didn't you see how alone he was?" She sighed. "I moved on impulse. He looked so hurt when I rejected him."

The two boys fell silent. They could not understand what she was thinking and what the king was thinking. It would also be a lie if the envy they felt did not hinder their capability to understand the situation.

==

When they reached their village, the Hokage tower was the first place they went to without dropping their bags or taking any rest. They entered the Tsunade's office after knocking on her door.

"The mission was very successful." Kakashi reported. "We were attacked a total of three times, but all were easily handled without harm on our side. All of them were either assassination or kidnapping attempts on the king."

"Good job, team." The Hokage said and unrolled a scroll. "Unfortunately, I have one more mission for you, an S-rank."

The four of them perked up at the importance of the new mission.

"There is an incredibly powerful person you must assassinate, that is why all four of you are chosen for this mission." Tsunade continued, "The details are highly confidential, even the profile of the victim was not mentioned."

"Then how would we know who to kill?" Sasuke asked.

"The details of where and when to kill the person are listed here. You only have one shot at this. Whether you fail or succeed, you must return immediately."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, it seems suspicious. "Doesn't this sound a little odd? Could it be an ambush?"

"Not likely." Tsunade shook her head. "We were paid handsomely for this mission and the details mentioned about prioritising your safety."

"Alright."

She threw the scroll to Kakashi and uttered, "Be careful and dismissed."

They left her office and headed instantly returned to their homes to bring change the clothes in their bag to clean sets of clothing. This time, they only packed ninja clothes and weapons because this mission would definitely be much more challenging.

Just as Sakura was about to leave her compound, she bumped into her least favourite man in the world.

"Father."

He looked down at her with a gaze she could not understand.

"Another mission?"

"Yes, the Land of Keys." She answered, but was taken aback by her father's expression. One that she has never seen.

He was purely shocked.

"Father?" She called in worry.

He snapped out of what ever thoughts he had and said, "That's very far from here."

She nodded sceptically, "Yes, so I won't be home for sometime."

He only nodded and walked past her without saying anything else. No 'Don't fail', no 'come home proud' or 'don't disappoint' which was odd of him. He never missed a chance to remind the Haruno heiress of her place.

What was that about? She pondered.

They were a complete team again and was ready to leave the gate they just entered. Kakashi sighed at the mission they received without a chance to take a break. Furthermore, this mission sounded much more tedious than the others or any mission they had ever received.

"This is troublesome." He muttered tiredly.

==

Dedicated to DemmheitVoraus for hilarious comments! It gives me a good laugh all the time!

1. Gozabune:

Surprise surprise! If you're an old reader, you would know the second mission was added! The purpose is to slowly build the link to the second season!

If you've read the second season before I unpublished it, you could guess where this is going.

~Joelle

Published: December 2014
Rewritten: 18 May 2018