Forced Hand

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.


Forced Hand
By 11


Chapter 01


Konoha kingdom, it is a well-sized and peaceful nation with abundant crop and water sources, and hunting had been going well for several years. If there had been a king or prince presiding over the domain would have been littered with wars of who actually held the power, and the rulers might change within days. But currently there is no need for someone to usurp either a prince or king.

No, the big battle instead is to win the hand of the current princess…

“Princess Naruko, please, at least accept these flowers!”

The girl rushed away, heading up the steps, a grimace on her face. Should have figured, her old friends are now coming back to visit her, but they also want something more than just to see her. No longer being a child was starting to complicate things…

“I’m sorry, but please stop chasing me. You’re not my type,” she called, glancing back at yet another crestfallen suitor, yes probably shocked, oh well, they’ll get used to it.

“Now princess, that’s no way to talk to the neighboring prince, he came all this way to see you for your birthday!” a blue eyed girl said grabbing onto Naruko’s arm. Stopping her in the doorway before being able to enter back into the ballroom, and step within the relative safety of other people.

“But Ino,” the girl whispered at the platinum blonde girl, annoyed, “He intends to propose to me! There’s no way!”

“Well of course not, you’re far too young for that, you’re only just 14 after all, two more years and maybe then…” Ino said thoughtfully.

“You know that’s not why…” Naruko hissed, her temper starting to show through.

“Yeah I got it. Come on in, there’s some other people arriving to see you,” Ino told her teasingly releasing her to let her mistress go back to the ballroom. Scanning the room briefly she did note that more people had arrived, and among them, one that made everything in the room seem brighter.

“Oh, Princess Naruko, please accept these flowers.”

Long pink hair fell over her shoulder’s, her pale creamy skin set over a soft featured face inlaid with aquatic eyes the color of turquoise blue-green. “Uh, thank you,” Naruko said accepting the white lilies, though she hardly paid attention for the girl before her. “You are Sakura Haruno aren’t you? We met a couple weeks ago at the autumn festival, I remember.”

“Oh, you remember,” the girl’s eyes lit up, “I’m so glad. That’s right, I’m Sakura. I wanted to wish you a happy 14th birthday, princess,”

“Call me Naruko, it’s fine,” The blonde girl said waving aside the formality. “It’s good to see you again though, how have you been?”

“Princess Naruko!” a cry interrupted whatever the pink-haired girl had been going to say. “You look more beautiful every day!”

“Oh not again…” the princess muttered to herself. “I’m not feeling well, please leave me alone.” She called as they approached. Gods she was sick of all these guys.

“Thank you for the flowers Sakura,” she said briefly turning back to the aqua eyes girl, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, slightly startling the other girl, before heading off. “I’ll see you later!”

Sakura waved back with a smile before Naruko disappeared up the stairs and hopefully into the safety of her own chambers.

“Ha!” the guys laughed as they stopped their pursuit nearby to the pink-haired girl. “You know when the princess Naruko was little she would only play with boys.” One mentioned.

“Now it seems she’s avoiding us.” Another pointed out.

“It probably because she’s ready for love she’s embarrassed to be around so many attractive guys like us,” another said prodding Sakura a bit, “isn’t that right, miss?”

“Yes, of course, that is most likely,” she agreed readily before slipping away back into the crowd, poor Naruko, if she was constantly getting these conceited guys everyday, she must be so sick of it.

“Long time no see, Sakura.” A voice said behind her.

“Ino?” she looked over, “I didn’t even see you there! How have you been? I just saw princess Naruko, are those men around like this a lot?”

“No, this is an excuse to come in without being thrown out when Naruko calls for help.” Ino told her with a smile, “I’ve been doing allright, as Naruko’s lady in waiting I can’t complain, never boring. What about you?”

“Me? Lately I’ve just been taking care of my family, I’m working at a tavern currently during the evenings, but…” she paused.

“But?” Ino pressed.

“Oh nothing really, I actually just forgot what I was going to say,” she laughed, “If it comes back to me I’ll tell you though.”

Does Sakura even know what she does to some people?

`

“Ugh!”

Naruko cried in frustration after plopping down on her bed, “How frustrating, I was finally getting a chance to talk to Sakura, and then those weirdo’s show up.”

“Then again, it’s not like I can tell her how she feel…” Naruko lamented, lapsing into a moment of sulking with her head face down in her pillow.

A sudden force of four points pressing down on her head, caused her to yelp, but the sound was muffled. “Kyuubi…” Naruko growled recognizing the four paws, now massaging in her skull, kneading it as if to decide whether to sit forever or go take a nap elsewhere. “Do you know where you’ve landed?”

The fox edged back onto her back, the paws poking into her vertebrae. Turning her head she glanced back with an annoyed look at the red fluffy creature, a brown fluff of wing caught in it’s mouth, “Oh you caught a bird, good foxy, strong foxy… now get off.”

The fox bounded over to the edge of the bed before sitting down to tear its meal apart and eat. Naruko watched with slight disdain, the sheets would need washing later if the fox ate here, but she didn’t much feel like making it leave, who really cared, not like she did the washing around here anyway.

“Those men you hate so much have a point though,” a voice interrupted her thoughts, “You truly do grow more beautiful every day, Prince Naruto.”

At the last two words the blonde spun shooting upwards to glare at the person who dared invade the privacy of her room. Looking towards the foot of her bed, she wasn’t as surprised to see what she saw as anyone else in her place might have been.

Red eyes locked with blue; red eyes belonging to a naked boy now sitting on Naruko’s bed. One knee was propped up and the arm holding the dead bird resting against it, as he regarded the ‘girl’ with amused eyes.

“Ugh… put some clothes on when you do that.” she said turning away from the boy and back to some perspective moping topics.

Kyuubi wasn’t just a fox, he was a demon and could change into human form whenever he wanted. The annoying part about that was that he preferred to use Naruto’s body for transformation, and he always appeared naked. Not that foxes wear clothes, but still.

“Are you okay?” the boy asked tossing the bird aside in favor of crawling up to lay beside the blonde ‘girl’. With a sigh she propped her chin up on her folded arms turning her face to the side to talk more directly to the fox.

“Yeah… I’m fine Kyuubi. But I got to talk to Sakura,” she told him, “and then there were those guys and I had to either run or get proposed to.”

“It sucks, don’t it,” Kyuubi said grinning slightly, wrapping an arm around the ‘girl’s waist holding onto her lightly, “Poor Naruto…”

That was right. Naruko wasn’t actually her name, in fact the use of ‘her’ or ‘she’ in regard to the person known as ‘Naruko’ was all wrong. Naruto was _his_ true name. Since he was born a boy, and both his parents were dead, his father before hand, and his mother during birth the country would be at risk if it was known that there was a male heir to Konoha. Because of that the steward of the castle along with the council had decided that Naruto would be raised as a girl and called Naruko. If it hadn’t been done he would have been challenges as a male leader for control when he was very young, and even the possibility of assassination wasn’t out of the question.

It’s not like I’m a transvestite darn it… Naruto thought sullenly.

“At least it’s not permanent, though, right?” Kyuubi reminded him in an attempt to brighten the blonde’s mood. Sure, he was told that when he was deemed older enough he could assume control of the throne as a man, finally… but before that could happen… if he got engaged…

“Oh god!” Naruto growled burying his head back in his folded arms. If he actually managed to get engaged before he was deemed old enough he may as well have been assassinated!

“But you make such a pretty girl, it’s okay,” Kyuubi told him, chuckling at the typical teenagers response.

“Don’t call me pretty.” Naruto growled, though it didn’t have the same effect as it might have. Since it was muffled by him still being buried in his arms.

A gentle knock impacted against the back of the door before it slowly swung open, a timid gesture, Naruto already knew which of his ‘handmaidens’ had come to fetch him. The soft swish of air next to him let him know that Kyuubi had returned to human form fast enough that the girl hadn’t seen anything.

“Uh… excuse my intrusion…” the soft girl’s voice said as she just edged into the room a tiny bit. Naruto lifted hi head to look up at her. Hinata, the exact opposite of his other handmaid Ino, she was so shy about things, and quiet. “I wanted to make sure you were feeling alright… you left early so…”

“Yeah, I’m fine Hina,” ‘Naruko’ told the girl. Noticing the pretty blush that colored her pale cheeks at the nickname, she was just too easy to tease. Hinata bowed her head, her short dark hair falling forward to hide her eyes while she spoke again.

“I’m glad… but everyone is expecting you… since it’s your party…” Hinata told ‘Naruko’, “Your aunt and uncle are down there too… they’re expecting you. Maybe if you just came down, just for a bit… I’m very sorry… but it’s necessary…”

“Alright then,” ‘Naruko’ agreed, “I’ll be down in a bit. Don’t wait for me, it’s alright.”

Hinata nodded, and mumbling another quick apology for disturbing her, she left. Naruto sat up and tossed his legs over the side of his bed, he was going to get up except that he was now being held from behind. Kyuubi’s arms wrapped loosely, one around his shoulder, the other around his waist.

“If I went down instead of you, then you could go do something… it’s your birthday, you deserve a break,” Kyuubi offered, “You wouldn’t have to worry about it, I’d take care of everyone.”

“No way!” Naruto refused vehemently, pushing the fox’s arms away, and looking back at him irritated, “You’d ruin my rep.!”

“No… I’ll be nice to Sakura and to people, and I’ll make sure you don’t get proposed to.” Kyuubi promised, “You’re not really up to it anyway, are you?”

“No…” Naruto answered truthfully. He had had about enough of all those people and walking around in this stupid dress. That and he couldn’t be even half romantic with Sakura without her thinking that ‘she’, Naruko, was weird.

“So how about it? You know my promises are good,” Kyuubi pressed, then adding on as an afterthought, in case Naruto decided to challenge that claim, “after all, we are linked.”

Geez, it was such a difficult decision, go to the party and get hounded, or don’t go and let Kyuubi as him get hounded, and the fox could probably handle it for another hour or so. And Naruto wouldn’t take long, just enough to get away for a while and come back to put on the dress and act all fine over it. Yeah, he might have to debate this issue for the next hour.

“Okay…”

`

With a sweep of her gown the girl with the bright golden hair re-entered the ballroom. Momentarily drawing everyone’s attention towards her, light itself seeming to emanate from her, bright blue eyes the color of a sky on a cloudless day, slender and without as much shape as several girls and women in the room, but such a face more than made up for that fact.

Her eyes scanned the room and settled on an elderly pair, a woman with long faded wheat blonde hair, a turquoise diamond decoration over her forehead and violet brown eyes that watched the girl like the man beside her. The man had long mussed white hair, and dark marks that trailed down under his eyes. She crossed the room towards them walking with a purpose. A few people had turned away back to their own conversation, but Naruko still undoubtedly always made an impression upon entering a room. Like you were living in the dark until she walked into the room suddenly introducing you to sunlight.

“Uncle Jiraiya, Aunt Tsunade,” Naruko acknowledged as she stood before them. Jiraiya and Tsunade weren’t married, in fact they weren’t even related to her or each other. Tsunade was the official steward of Konoha, and Jiraiya was her top advisor who went with her everywhere.

“You look wonderful, every year it seems you become more lovely.” Naruko smiled accepting the compliment gracefully, though truthfully who knew how often she had been told such a thing.

“I have a present for you this year, Naruko,” Tsunade told her gently, taking her hand and guiding her a few steps away from Jiraiya. She took a box out from the folds of her gown and opened the small white box presenting the blonde with an ornate silver pendant in the likeness of a blade of sorts.

“I thought you might like it,” Tsunade said, the act in and of itself letting Naruko know that Tsunade did still remember Naruko’s true self.

“It’s beautiful.” Naruko stated smiling at the woman, “Thank you, aunt Tsunade.”

Taking the silver ornament and putting it around her own neck, she smiled at her guardian, “I must go greet the guests, thank you so much.”

Tsunade nodded, and allowed Naruko to drift away through the crowd to greet her guests politely, as status demanded. Glancing towards the shadows, Naruko’s eyes momentarily flashed red cat pupils slicing her pupils in half as her red eyes locked with the true blue color of a flatchested girl with long blonde hair standing just outside of the light. A silent smile passed between them before Kyuubi forced his eyes back to the same stunning blue as it’s true owner.

After receiving the affirmation from the fox the long-haired flat-chested blonde girl in loose shirt and pants turned and dashed out over the lawn walls and headed towards the forest, a silent thanks whispered to Kyuubi.

Unfortunately Naruto would be unable to cut his hair, but he could sneak out to the woods behind the castle for a while and try to copy the practice movements he watched the knights in the courtyard constantly performing. Watching enough time he thought he had gained a fair understanding of swords skill, but then he had no one to practice with and no one to tell him when his form was off, if he did he would be betraying everything. He had to wait, unless he wanted to be killed by some weirdo king who saw his being a male ruler a threat so that thye could take over Konoha. He couldn’t let that happen, and so he went through with it, no matter how much he hated it. Even in boy’s clothes now though, he looked so girly, just a flatchested girl with broad shoulders, a very unfemmy girl, that was all.

“Damn it!” he cursed tossing the sword he had previously been swinging in the same trained movements he had seen into the ground. “… hate being a girl…” he muttered under his breath.

The smell of fur was what first alerted him to picking up his sword, it was only when he heard the growls and saw the dark hairy beasts creeping from behind the foliage towards him that he actually knew what he was up against. Somehow a pack of wolves had caught his scent and come here looking for a meal.

Naruto glared at the beasts, but they were keeping their distance, circling around, but that’s wasn’t too good, then they could attack from any side and if he defended one he left the other open to attack. Instead of waiting, Naruto decided to take it head on, dashing towards a single wolf where the line seemed fairly weak, his sword sweeping in front of him and cracking into the beasts legs, not expecting the blow.

He heard the whimper behind him, but it was quickly drowned out as the other’s in the group pursued. When they were close enough one leapt upward aiming to bury its jaws in his shoulder, he moved to the side. He turned just enough to lash out the steel blade to slice at the furry animal’s midsection, the same whimper followed but there were more, and his legs were starting to hurt and slow him down.

A second wolf had gotten close enough to attempt a jump, Naruto swung from the opposite direction to slash the blade across the canine’s muzzle, but while doing so didn’t see the jutting tree root in his path that sent him to the ground instantly. “Damn!” Naruto hissed getting up, holding onto his sword, but the wolves had already surrounded him, were there always so many? Had more joined their pack while they were running? Where were the deer this time of year, why were they attacking him now anyway?

A wolf leaned in biting at his leg, Naruto let his blade slash at the creature’s neck but the fur-ball was just close enough to avoid the blow. Naruto struggled to stand as the wolves circled closer, he legs still hurt but she had to run somewhere, keep running somehow. Aiming for the nearest wolf he swung at it, but it jumped at him, Naruto knocked it to the side but not before it managed to leave it’s claws marks on his arm, they were light wounds but they still stung like heck as he took off running again.

He couldn’t’ run forever, he knew that, but maybe if he ran long enough he could find a better place to defend himself from. Just maybe… what a combination his idiocy and his bad luck was…

Suddenly, a harsh gloved hand closed around his side yanking him up to a faster moving level, which he realized after his feet left the ground was a horse. A dark colored horse too, and the person who held him wearing dark leather gloves pulling him up onto the front of the saddle, his back resting against a firm chest. A man, a hunter maybe?

“Do you understand nothing about pacing in a fight?” the stranger’s low voice asked, from behind him. “Against so many you would have done better to lead them through the woods to a clearer terrain.”

Naruto twisted his head to look up at his savior, the horse still being guided through the forest. The man looked back at him, “Or just not go out along like that.” He offered. Naruto found it hard not to stare, he’d never seen such pale skin, and his hair was so dark in contrast along with his clothes. It was pretty dark out but Naruto could still tell that this guy was drop dead gorgeous. Course, where did that come from? Well… he could identify an attractive member of the male sex just as much as a girl can tell which other girls are beautiful. Yeah, of course, duh… he just acknowledged that this guy was gorgeous, that’s all.

“What…?” Naruto asked, then sudden anger filling him at the words. Of course, like this, even with a sword and a flat chest, he still looked like a girl didn’t he. “What do you know!”

Damn it! Even now he still looked like a helpless little girl to everyone! Maybe he wouldn’t have been if anyone had taught him to fight, but not that anyone had, it wasn’t his fault! He came out here to vent some steam and get away from people who looked at him constantly like a girl, leering sometimes, flirting at other times, and then looking at as something weak and not worth a second look… he did not need this now. When he was a boy again, he would never do that to girls.

He almost didn’t realize he was starting to cry, or maybe it was just the wind gathering liquid at the corners of his eyes, yeah, that was it. They were riding too fast anyway, stupid guy in black who saved his life.

They neared the edge of town, this was still Konoha, the castle was only a ways away now. Peachy, he had to get back there anyway. The guy stopped his horse on the outside of the town, “I have to let you off here.” He spoke matter-of-factly, Naruto nodded and slid off the saddle. They were in town now, he could walk the rest of the way without trouble probably. “I have to go meet up with my group, otherwise I’d take you to your home, but I’m sure you can find it from here, right.”

“Right.” Naruto nodded, not like anyone could miss the gleaming white castle at the center of the city, but like he’d tell this guy that. He’d probably get weird like everyone else did.

“I’m late now, because of you, you realize that?” he asked, as he rode his horse past her.

“Good for you,” he bit back sarcastically, “I have somewhere to be anyway.” Naruto said walking off down the road, ignoring the dark-haired man after that. Not like she’d probably ever see him again. He was a jerk anyway. Stupid, but he acted like he knew about fighting… hmph. Like it mattered, Naruto couldn’t learn anyway, he was a ‘girl’ after all.

It didn’t take all that long in his opinion to get back and enter through the back, catching Kyuubi’s eyes to call him back upstairs so they could trade places again. But that stupid guy! Jerk! Who did he think he was anyway? What was he doing out there if he had somewhere to be? Weirdo. Naruto forced himself to take a calming breath as he entered his room again. He wouldn’t see the guy again anyway. So what did it matter? It didn’t.

“You okay?” Kyuubi asked entering the room and walking over to Naruto, his eyes changing back to red and locking on the flesh wound where the wolf had managed to get his claws into the blonde boy.

“No. I got attacked by wolves, a jerky guy saved me, much to my displeasure,” Naruto summed up in a sentence all that had happened, as Kyuubi sent some chakra into Naruto’s arm to heal up to flesh wound in a matter of seconds.

“Jerk? How?” Kyuubi asked as he shed the ball gown and handed it over to Naruto to change into.

“He just said something that made me mad. Even when I’m in guys clothes I look like a girl,” Naruto growled, “he acted like I was so weak, that I didn’t know anything about fighting or common sense, and that I should have stayed home! He had a horse too, and this superior air, like he was so much better than me!”

“Hmm… sounds hot.” Kyuubi commented, earning a glower from Naruto, “Sounds like a tasty human.” Kyuubi only grinned more at the blonde boy’s scowl as he pulled the dress on. He already knew the human was seeking support, but he wasn’t getting it. Naruto really didn’t know anything about fighting, not that it was his fault, but still.

There was no knocked this time, but Kyuubi had known the girls were coming apparently because he managed to change back the second both Ino and Hinata opened the door to Naruto’s room and entered.

“Sorry to bother you again, Naruto,” Ino explained, “but there’s one more guest that’s arrived and you need to at least come down and greet.”

“Okay, fine.” Naruto agreed, “Boy or girl?”

“Sorry, boy, but he’s cute!” Ino told him. Naruto arched a brow as if to ask why that would make any difference to him, but still followed the two girls out of his room as the three of them headed downstairs Kyuubi would probably be resting for a while since he had to play Naruto for a while.

Who was this last guest anyway then?

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