46 Travelling to the Land of Snow

"Hey beautiful! How are you doing?" Shiki greeted the princess with a casual smile.

Although she was surprised at first, she quickly recovered her expression as the talented and experienced actress she was. Even Koyuki's initial expression of surprise was not that noticeable if one was not paying attention. And so, she calmly retorted Shiki's greeting.

"And who might you be?" Koyuki gave a strong front despite being in a deserted alley with someone she knew would be able to do anything he wanted with her.

Shiki just smiled deviously, making her more and more nervous as the silence continued even if she didn't show it. Unfortunately for Koyuki, he could read her mood with his White Eye of the Kagura quite easily so she couldn't hide such things from him.

Deciding he had teased her enough, Shiki finally revealed his identity.

'The name is Uzumaki Shiki. I'm the captain of the shinobi hired by your manager to protect you during the movie's filming in the Land of Snow. It's a pleasure to meet you.'

Koyuki knew her manager had hired shinobi to guard her so the boy's story made sense allowing her to recover her confidence which although she hadn't showed it on her face, had dropped by the previous tense silence but as she noticed a teasing expression on Shiki's face she realized the boy had done it purposely to mess with her.

'What kind of bodyguard blatantly teases his client!?' She thought as she spoke to Shiki.

"What a shame then! I will never be setting foot on the Land of Snow!" Koyuki declared.

"Hahahaha!" Shiki laughed in response.

"What's so funny!?" She asked, a slight bit of her anger creeping into her voice even if barely imperceptible.

'Wow! This woman sure has a tight control over her herself not to show her emotion despite my prodding. I can only see the visible cues of her emotion due to already knowing what she is feeling in detail due to my sensory abilities' Shiki thought before answering.

"Funny, is the fact that you believe it's up to you!" He exclaimed with a bright smile as Adamantine Sealing Chains wrapped Koyuki up, SM bondage style. the chains holding her up in the air.

Despite her acting abilities, being tied up by chains in such a suggestive way left the princess blushing as she demanded Shiki to release her.

"Release me this instant!"

"Sure thing! . . . If you agree to go to the Land of Snow. Otherwise I'll bring you around town like this and onto the ship anyway."

Koyuki immediately shut up at Shiki's words but still refused to accept his deal, looking at him as if daring him to do something like he mentioned.

"Look beautiful, either I forcefully bring you to the Land of Snow in chains . . . Or you could come along willingly, making everyone happier and yourself a little less unhappy!" Shiki addressed her with a bored tone as if he was tired of dealing with her. All the while, his eyes carefully roamed her tied up body which only added to Koyuki's embarrassment.

"Fine! I'll go along quietly . . ." She said in a low voice.

"Excellent!" Shiki said while freeing her from his chains. She was up in the air and so immediately fell down landing on Shiki's arms in a princess carry. Of course, Koyuki wasn't a little girl and since she acted in movies before, it's not like it was her first time being carried like this, as such, she did not even blush slightly as Shiki caught her and let her down.

'I'll have to find way to sneak out. Right before the departure so they can do nothing about it by the time they find out' Koyuki planned but as if reading her thoughts, Shiki commented.

"By the way! I'm a sensory type shinobi that can grasp my surrounding perfectly in the radius of a few km so it's pointless to try and escape."

'Actually I can do a lot better than a few km but she doesn't need to know that.'

This immediately crushed Koyuki's idea and so she simply resigned herself to go to the Land of Snow regardless of how much she didn't want to.

They started walking back to the movie set but midway, Shiki started to get impatient.

'Walking at this slow a speed, all the way back to the set? Nuh uh. No way.?

As soon as this thought came to his head, he turned around and picked up Koyuki in a princess carry once again.

"What are you doing?" She asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Expediting our way back." Shiki answered as he leapt to the top of a nearby building and started leaping at great speeds in the direction of the set.

Koyuki just held on tight as they traveled in the air but despite remaining expressionless, she was actually enjoying the ride until they arrived.

Her manager Sandayu was more than surprised when a shinobi dropped down from the sky carrying his princess but he quickly approached.

"Yukie-sama! Are you okay!?" He inquired with worry.

"I'm fine Sandayu." She answered uncaringly. "This shinobi was merely helping me get back faster." She added.

"I-I see . . ." Clearly Sandayu was not fully satisfied with such an explanation for a man carrying the princess in such an intimate way but alas, both his opinion and capability were quite worthless.

Some time later, Shiki, Team 7 and the film crew were all on the ship heading to the Land of Snow while some of the filming was already being undertaken on the ship itself. The young shinobi watched the process with interest, Shiki included as he observed how quickly and flawlessly Koyuki could shift her apparent mood and expression. It was truly a work of art.

But a while into the journey, they came across an iceberg that wasn't in their maps. The movie director seemed to think of it perfect for filming some nice scenes but Shiki was honestly dumbfounded how neither Kakashi nor the rest of the team found an inexplicable iceberg where it wasn't supposed to be, at least, somewhat suspicious.

'I mean come on! It's a giant piece of ice the size of a small island, smack in the middle of a well known maritime route, who no one seemed to have come across before! Don't you think that's a little fucking suspicious!?' He thought with exasperation.

'Damn Kakashi-san, I know you've gotten a bit rusty since leaving the Anbu but you're still a war veteran who has been to the Land of Snow before and experienced their tactics! I honestly expected better!' He continued to rant in his head as he shouted towards the sailors.

"Hey! Stop the ship!"

The sailors listened to him and started preparing for a stop but the director was having none of it.

"What stop!? I'm the one who hired you all and I say port on that iceberg!" He shouted.

Although everyone seemed to be troubled on whose words to follow and wanted to smooth over the conversation, Shiki was not bored enough to humor them.

"Listen up fools! I'm in charge of protecting you all" 'Not really, only Koyuki but who cares.' "So when I say stop! I probably have a good, fucking, reason! Unlike some idiot who does not even know what situation he is in. Okay?"

After Shiki's little speech, the sailors obediently stopped the ship while the other members of the film crew attempted to pacify the director. Kakashi then approached Shiki, along with his team, with a question. Naruto, Sasuke and even Sakura were quiet because they knew that Shiki always had his reasons for doing things and he had almost never gotten it wrong before.

"So, Shiki-san . . . Why did we stop?" Kakashi asked making Shiki sigh.

Seeing his expression and sigh, the gennin trio all thought in tandem.

"""Lecture incoming!"""

"Tell me, Kakashi-san . . . Don't you think, a giant, fucking iceberg, coming outta fucking nowhere like an RKO, is a little, fucking, suspicious!?" Shiki started surprising his audience.

'What the hell is an RKO?' Was the question in everyone's mind but they correctly thought it was not a good time to ask..

Shiki then went on a rant about preparedness and how one should scout an environment before bringing the target of theri protection onto it, specially when it was an obvious trap or ambush spot like the one in front of them. Shiki also mentioned the lax attitude despite being on a mission and other less important things as Koyuki and Sandayu listened from the side.

The princess seemed mildly surprised over the youth's words since they communicated the experience of a veteran, truthfully, even though Shiki had never gone on high risk mission other than the protection of the village during the Crush, the Reaper had a wealth of experience as an Anbu operative and the way he did things there, carefully and methodically, seeped into his more normal missions as well.

But after the lecture, Kakashi came with another question.

"So, why are you here?"

Shiki showed a confused expression.

"?" "'Cause i took the mission?" He said as if looking at an idiot.

"No. no! I wanted to ask why you took it and why are you taking the protection of an actress so seriously?"

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read one week ahead but I'll still post here.

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.