The Kidnapped Beauty [S. UCHIHA]

Part 4

The gray-haired jōnin held the unconscious girl in his arms tightly as he ran away from the castle.

"Hey, Kakashi Sensei, don't you think we'll get in trouble for stealing the princess?" Sakura questioned between pants.

"No, I've already contacted Lady Tsunade about the situation. It was under her orders that we are taking Minnow back to Konoha." Kakashi said, leaping from tree to tree.

Suddenly, Naruto yelped, "Ahhhh! Someone's attacking us!"

Kakashi turned to Sasuke and gently transferred Min to his arms.

"Sasuke, protect her while I take care of the people chasing us," Kakashi said as he ran off to Naruto's side.

Sasuke and Sakura sat underneath a tree while they watched Kakashi easily knock out the palace guards who were chasing them.

Sasuke glanced down at the beaten and bruised girl cradled in his arms. His eyes traveled over her scratched and bloodied skin. Sympathy overwhelmed him, which was something he was not used to, as he carefully brushed some of the girl's hair out of her face and began tending to her wounds gently.

As Sasuke was working on her wounds, her eyelids started to flutter. Sasuke's hand hovered over her face as he held his breath, hoping she would wake up.

A couple seconds later, her dark eyes fully opened and she stared off blankly into the sky.

As she began regaining more and more consciousness, her eyes began to take in her surroundings, finally landing on Sasuke, who still had her in his arms.

"Where am I? Is this a dream?" She whispered softly.

"No, this is not a dream. We've saved you from the King and Queen. We're taking you back to the village," Sasuke's smooth voice said gently.

"You... saved me? How did you know..." As she was speaking, a coughing fit overcame her.

"How did you know," she continued, "That I was kidnapped?"

Sasuke's eyes slightly widened but he wasn't very surprised. It made sense that she would be kidnapped. Ignoring the fact that she looked nothing like the King or Queen, no one in their right mind would treat their daughter like that.

"We didn't know that." Sasuke said softly, resting his hand on her cheek gingerly as a way to soothe her.

The girl drowsily leaned into his touch, "thank you, leaf village shinobi. They probably would have killed me if I stayed there any longer. I owe you my life."

Before Sasuke had a chance to respond, Kakashi and Naruto had come back to join them.

"Oh I see she's awake now. How are you feeling, Min?" Kakashi asked, kneeling down beside her and holding one of her hands.

"Well besides the fact that almost every square inch of my body had been nearly torn apart, I'd say I'm pretty good." Min said with a small smile.

"Well at least you still have your sense of humor." Kakashi chuckled.

"Sasuke you don't mind carrying her for the rest of the way do you?" Kakashi asked.

"No! You don't have to, I'll run on my own." Min interjected before Sasuke could say anything.

She sat up in Sasuke's lap and placed her hand on the tree behind him to steady herself. She slowly raised herself onto her feet. She stood for a second before her legs gave out and she fell onto Sasuke, who let out a soft grunt at the impact. She sighed deeply and rested the back of her head on Sasuke's shoulder briefly, "I'm sorry."

"Min, I'm going to carry you, you're in no condition to walk on your own, let alone run." Sasuke said sternly, wrapping her in his arms again and standing up.

"Perfect now let's move out. If we run we can make it back to the village in 3 hours." Kakashi said as he began running, with the rest of the team following suit.

Sasuke periodically looked at the girl in his arms, making sure she was okay. It was obvious she was in a lot of pain. Her eyes were closed as she pressed her head against Sasuke's chest and tightly gripped onto his shirt with a slight grimace on her face.

"Min, if you don't mind me asking, why did the King and Queen hurt you so badly? Why were you punished?" Sasuke asked.

"If I'm being honest, I don't know. It's just something that they've done every month. I think they wanted me to be unable to escape the palace." She said weakly.

"This poor girl," Sasuke couldn't help but think to himself as she fell asleep against his chest.