Ｓｅｌｆｉｓｈ Ｐｒｉｎｃｅ

XI

It was unbelievably late by the time Naruto had finally gotten home. On purpose, he had trecked his way through the woods in hopes of losing the men after him. He wasn't sure if it had worked or not, but judging by the fact that he himself wandered around to find an exit, he was more than confident to think they'd lost track of him. 

Still, even as he was finally out of those dark woods, he remained cautious and made his way home—every step of the way looking over his shoulder to make sure no one suspicious was following him.

As soon as he stepped inside his own door, the faint smell of buttered popcorn invaded his nostrils and his stomach made a loud grumble. 

"You!" Kiba leaped up from a bean bag chair. "You bailed on us!"

"Actually, I can explain. There were these two dudes and—"

"Save it! We had a thing planned!" Kiba interrupted, all the while Shikamaru lazily walked towards the two by the door.

"Guys, it's late," Shika said with a yawn. "Can't we talk about this tomorrow?"

"Fine, but your explanation better be good," Kiba warned the blond, aiming his pointer finger at him. Naruto only gave a wry smile and nodded, wishing Kiba wouldn't ask too many questions when the time came. Though... now that he thought about it, perhaps he wasn't safe here either. The men had waited outside his apartments, after all.

"Something worrying you?" Kiba asked, grabbing pillows from the couch and throwing them on the floor where he joined Shikamaru. It wasn't odd for the two to sleep over every once in a while, and though Naruto hated it because he never had any good furniture for them to properly sit or rest on, hence why the three always slept on the living room floor. "Naruto?"

"Hm? Oh... nothing, I guess." 

Perhaps he should've listened to his thoughts and told his friends about the possible danger there was if those two men somehow managed to make it here. Perhaps he should've alerted the authorities, but... the Prince had sent his guards after them, no? He doubted that anyone uninvited to the royal palace and cause possible harm to the royal family got away with it that easy. Heck, those two thugs were probably captured by now.

He wondered if he was putting too much faith in the royal guards.

"Naruto," He heard Kiba grumpily mumble.

"Alright, alright," The boy gave in, kicking his shoes off and grabbing a glass of water to satiate his hunger before joining his friends in the living room.

Back at the palace, Sasuke had finally begun to grow tired from all the worrying as the guard kept giving him the same news every ten or so minutes: there was still no sign of the boy anywhere.

With the party over and done with—a few people scattered about either getting ready to leave or staying in one of the many guest rooms available—Sasuke found nothing else to occupy himself with. Deidara and Tobi had gone up to their guest rooms—which were more like their permanent rooms by now—and Pein had left earlier due to work, meaning his friends were gone and with them gone, he found it hard to keep himself entertained and awake. 

"Still no news, your Highness. Please, you really should be going to sleep. Let us handle this situation," The guard, familiar with the young Prince, patted Sasuke on the back and only walked away as Sasuke nodded.

"Don't hesitate to wake me if anything changes, alright? Anything."

"Of course," The guard placed his hand over his chest and bowed before walking away.

Sasuke walked up to his room but as tired as he was, once he walked in, he found it hard to fall asleep. His mind was clouded with worry and the only thing he could think about was what could Naruto be doing at the moment. Was he alright? Were those two men captured? What could they want from him?

Four in the morning rolled around and Sasuke still lay awake, eyes heavy and dry. At some point he had grown irritated with himself and walked around, mainly by the large window looking out into the many acres surrounding the palace.

He really hoped Naruto was okay.

Three hours passed and when the boy had finally laid down and found a comfortable position to be in, mischief began.

Ever the pranksters—even in times of worry or distress—Tobi and Deidara took their respective roles of cheering everyone up and devised a plan to mess with Sasuke, at least to take his mind off things. Sasuke's room was a technological threshold; everything was modern and therefore easy to take over—including the very loud speakers.

In the span of ten seconds, Sasuke finally managed to close his eyes, find comfort in his own bed, and drift off in peace before it was all thrown out the window as heavy metal blasted through the speakers in his room.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" He shouted, more confused than anything. Covering his ears, he looked around on the bed to make sure he hadn't accidentally been laying on the control. When he couldn't find it, the boy got up out of bed and ran outside the room to only find Deidara and Tobi laughing on the floor. "YOU GUYS." He darted towards them, intent on getting back at them but only failed as Tobi grabbed his ankle and he stumbled to the floor.

"You should've seen your face!" Deidara laughed, now kneeling on the floor to hold his stomach. Tobi laughed along, wiping tears away while Sasuke discovered that his phone was the one connected to the sound system and shut it off.

"Are you guys crazy?!" Sasuke shouted, "Itachi's right next door!"

"Don't be so whiny, Itachi went out to a meeting ages ago." Surprising all three with his appearance, Pein revealed himself and smiled as he showed his phone screen, a video of Sasuke throwing his doors open to escape the heavy chords blasting from his room, Deidara and Tobi dying of laughter even before they had put their plan into action. "Also, Yamato still has no word on your boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Tobi and Deidara asked in unison. "Seriously?"

"No, you idiots, we just met!" Sasuke frowned, "Who becomes a couple after a day? That's crazy." And although he said this, Sasuke had crossed his arms and pouted, looking away from the other three as they looked at him in question.

"So... you're not denying that you'd ask him out?" Tobi asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

"What? No, I'm just saying—"

"Its fine, really. I can see it happening," Deidara scratched his neck. "You easily get attached to people so I wouldn't be surprised if you liked him. Plus, it would be funny to see their reaction, you know, Sakura and all her stuck up friends."

Both Tobi and Dei chuckled at the idea before becoming serious, which, in Sasuke's experience, was never a good thing. This only meant the two had come up with some ridiculous idea and judging by their streaks, things probably wouldn't end well.

"Alright then," Deidara began after Tobi gave him an approving nod. "I think I have a plan on how to find your Naruto."

"Um, whatever works, I guess," Sasuke eyed the suspicious grin on his friend's face. "What's the plan?"

Deidara smiled mischievously, "I call it: the Cinderella plan."