A/N: So, this chapter shifts between Kazue and Jun's situations, seeing as it's my way of attempting to let you know what's going on in both places. *nods* Hope it doesn't come off as too awkward. Oh, and if you hadn't figured this out yet, for the main point this mission arc is a filler arc. But like with most filler arcs, there are a few details that are worthwhile if you pay attention for them. :3

By the time they'd almost made it to the Daimyo's mansion, Kazue was already wishing to be done with the mission. The Moon shinobi had decided that a simple wig would not do and had brought out some hair dye that they swore would wear off within a week or two. Kazue- suspicious but seeing no real way to argue without accusing the shinobi of lying- reluctantly agreed to let them use it. After a mess of curlers, horrible smelling chemicals, scissors and foil, her blonde hair had turned pitch black and was neatly trimmed to chin length. As she stared into a hand mirror and examined it, she simply shook her head in distaste.

"You're preventing two countries from hating each other," she reminded herself aloud. "It's worth sacrificing your hair for a few weeks... or longer." 

Even with those words said, she brought her face closer to the mirror and frowned at it. Did the black color wash her out? It looked like it did. Then again, it wasn't like she was a pale person. She would be able to handle this for a short time, it didn't look horrible. 

It just didn't look like her. 

A thought suddenly occurred to her, causing her whole frame to go tense as she examined the mirror again. Black hair.... yet her eyes. Is this what a kid of theirs would look like if Neji and her were wed as their clans planned and eventually had kids? After-all, his hair was a rather dark shade of brown, almost similar to black. A second later, she shook her head and stood as the caravan came to a halt, indicating that they'd arrived. 

No, she wouldn't think about that now. There was plenty of time for their families to change their minds, as unlikely as that idea seemed. 

"Ai-sama," the blue-haired shinobi, a man by the name of Sadou she'd learned, greeted as she stepped from the caravan door. 

Almost instantly he'd offered his hand to help her down, whether it was from custom or to keep her from falling and making a fool of herself, she wasn't certain. Not about to complain, she took it and allowed him to help her make a more graceful descent to the earth beneath the caravan than if she'd done it herself. At the same time, she allowed her gaze to shift to the figures gathered just a short distance away. At the foot of the mansion entrance way stood three figures, one she could instantly recognize as the daimyo from photos and the dark-haired, slender figure standing next to him she assumed to be his son. Then the third figure waiting, a taller, elder man, she could easily assume to be an advisor of sorts, just like Sadou was for the princess. 

For a moment, she focused her attention on the son, the one she was supposed to pretend to be engaged to. His dark hair hung in well maintained locks to his shoulders, casting an almost envious feeling through her. How was it that the man Princess Ai was marrying had longer hair than the princess? His age, if she had to place it on looks alone, would have been about seventeen. She was well aware, however, that he was only two years older than her. His eyes were a matching dark, charcoal shade, and his skin a pale tone that betrayed his origins. Why would he have a reason to be tan, after all? There was no need for him to work, with his heritage he already had everything he needed. 

As she tore her gaze away from him, she picked up on the Neji and Gai, along with Raiden and Kaede, had gathered to the side and were talking quietly among themselves. 

"Ah, the trials of youth! No wonder the-"

Well, most of them were, she corrected herself as she watched Neji slap a hand over Gai's mouth, cutting off the shinobi's loud exclamation. 

Sadou nudged Kazue from behind, reminding her that she had a job to do. Pasting on a polite smile she began to cross the open space left between her and where the three daimyo mansion members stood. Almost instantly, with a nudge from his father getting him started, the long haired boy started forward as well. They met in the center, both offering the other a polite smile. Almost instantly the boy raised a hand to rub the back of his head, then paused, dropping the hand with a sheepish smile. 

"I...uh..." he began. "I'm happy to..."

Kazue's eyes widened in surprise at his attempt to greet her, noting that as he fumbled over his words, his face slowly flushed a deep, embarrassed shade of red. As if it'd only then become apparent, she also began to pick up on the nervous tremble to his hands as well as his rather stiff posture. 

"I'm... glad you've come and uh... it's a pleasure to meet you... I'm uh Noaki, I hope you've had an um... pleasent trip, Princess Ai." 

When he'd finished speaking, the expression on his face seemed so relieved that Kazue had to suppress a giggle by covering her mouth with one hand. For some reason, his fumbled nervousness was actually rather endearing despite the fact that it was a stark difference from the letters she'd been shown. In them, he'd come off as a rather self-assured person and then there was the fact that she'd just assumed that the son of a high-ranking official would be a bit more... confident. Perhaps he simply found writing to a princess easier than speaking to one. Dropping the hand, she lightly grasped the sides of her kimono with her hands and dropped into a shallow greeting courtesy worthy of their ranks.

"The trip was wonderful," she replied simply. "It was nice to get a view of the Fire country's countryside. Although, I am happy to finally get to meet you."

Like she'd anticipated, the words worked like magic. Not only did his face turn red, but it turned red all the way up to the tip of what was visible of his ears. This time she couldn't suppress the giggle, which only seemed to embarrass him even further. Rather flustered, he shakily offered her his arm, his eyes looking anywhere but her. 

"You m-must be tired... I'll um... I'll show you to your room so you c-can freshen up b-before dinner," he mumbled. 

Perhaps, Kazue mused to herself. This mission wouldn't be as annoying as she thought. 

___________________________

"Did you see that?" she announced. "He's so adorable. He's like... he's like a little puppy." 

Unamused, Neji simply regarded her with an even expression. 

"You're going to mess up your kimono." 

Dismissing the reproachful words, she simply rolled onto her side on the bed she'd been given and propped her head up on her hand. Spurred on by her sudden good mood, Kazue offered him what she deemed a rather cheeky grin worthy of Jun's praise.

"What, you don't agree?"

"I wouldn't know." 

"It's a shame, it'd be nice to be engaged to someone adorable like him." 

Neji stiffened. Kazue's brows lifted in surprised, not having actually expected to get a reaction out of him. A second later she knitted them thoughtfully, wondering if there was a chance that she could push him further. After all, it'd be strange if she could manage to get a rise out of the guys around her, yet nothing out of the boy she was technically engaged to. 

"Hey, what do you think about all of this?" she questioned. 

He turned what was rapidly becoming an irritated expression towards her. 

"What?"

"All of this," she repeated, gesturing towards the room around them. "My being 'engaged' to that guy for a day or two? Who knows, I might actually have him fall for me. Perhaps he'll want a kiss, he does think I'm his future wife." 

Neji- his expression carefully even- simply shook his head and turned his gaze towards the doorway. 

"I doubt he'll want a kiss," he retorted. 

Stung, Kazue scowled in his direction. 

"You don't know that!" 

His lips twisting up just the slightest degree, Neji turned his attention back to her for a moment, making his scrutinizing gaze obvious as his eyes swept over where she was sprawled on the bed. A moment later, he shrugged, and regarded the door once again. 

"I am rather certain I do," he replied calmly. 

"He face flushing red, she snatched a pillow from the head of the bed and chucked it in his direction. 

"Go to hell!"

Easily catching it and dropping it to the floor, Neji simply rose a single, challenging brow. 

"You don't like honesty?" he questioned. 

"... I don't like you! That's what I don't like!" she snapped. "Rude... arrogant... jerk!" 

"And I don't like childish brats," he retorted evenly. "Looks like we're in agreement." 

'Bastard,' she retorted mentally, an irritated snort leaving her instead of the exact word as she threw herself backwards on the bed again.

"I'm not childish."

________________________________

Dinner with the Fire Daimyo and Naoki was a rather formal affair. Kazue, much to the surprise of the majority of those who knew the truth of what was going on, handled it without any problems. To her, it was much like the dinners her grandfather held when entertaining guests from other clans or villages. She'd learned at a young age how to act at such dinners, making this one a piece of cake considering that since she was at the Daimyo's instead of her grandfather's, she didn't feel like everyone was waiting for her to make a mistake. Instead, the two strangers expected her to be able to handle herself. 

She could used to this, Kazue mused to herself. 

Naoki, much to her amusement, spent the majority of dinner fumbling over small-talk and turning red anytime she turned a compliment in his direction. Her initial impression that he was much like a puppy hadn't faded, instead it'd only grown stronger. Neji, who'd been introduced as a temporary bodyguard while Saichi was away on "business" stayed to the back of the room, his expression unreadable. If she was being honest with herself, Kazue would have admitted that several of her more flirtatious comments- she'd learned from the letters and from those she'd talked to that the princess handled boys with ease and perhaps a certain degree of amusement- were spurred by the fact that he seemed unable to care any less about the situation than he did at the moment. 

Sure, they weren't actually a couple, but could it have hurt him to be a least a little unnerved by the prospect of his fiance flirting with another guy? Instead, whenever she would check for his reaction to a comment, if he caught her looking he would just get this almost unnoticeable smirk on his lips, which only served to irritate her.

Perhaps this was why when dinner came to an end and Naoki nervously asked if she'd like him to show her around the grounds, she accepted, tossing in a comment that if he was by her side, than her bodyguard was unneeded and he could just go back to her bedroom and wait for her. Neji, having no way to argue the point seeing a by the view of the two important ones around them she was a princess and therefore at a rank to order him around, reluctantly followed the instruction and departed. Kazue, rather pleased with herself, hooked her arm around the red-faced Naoki and allowed him to escort her from the building. 

Instantly upon their exit, her eyes flew wide-open. The garden that made up the back of the mansion was stunning on it's own, each flower perfectly cared for and placed next to another that complimented it perfectly. What had caught her attention, however, was the rose hedges rising far above their heads, spreading out from the yard in a strange design. When she shot a questioning, wide-eyed look to Naoki, he grinned, his entire frame relaxing. 

"It's a m-maze," he explained. "My father... he um... he gave me free reign with the garden after he figured out I was better with plants than people. The first part is only roses, but as you go further in, I've integrated other species of flowers from abroad. The practice of flower mazes isn't as popular here as it is in further, foreign countries. It's a shame, really, because as you can see..."

"It's gorgeous," Kazue finished for him. 

Embarrassed, he raised one hand to rub the back of his head, but at the same time gave a firm nod of agreement. 

"Exactly." 

"Shall we explore?" she questioned in turn. 

He nodded, escorting her with his arm still tucked around hers, through the closest entrance into the maze. As they walked the buzz of the city around them died away and it was almost easy to believe that instead of at the daimyo's mansion, they were in the countryside. 

"So you like to garden, I don't believe that ever came up in our letters," Kazue commented, pulling up the ones she'd read in her mind. 

He shook his head, a faint, embarrassed expression once again crossing his face. 

"Of course not. It's not exactly as much of a guy-like hobby as say... swordplay." 

Kazue shrugged in turn, a smile playing on her lips as she reached to touch one of the roses as they passed, the petals as soft as she'd imagined they would feel. 

"Perhaps, but that doesn't make it any less amazing. You've done a great work, here." 

His eyes brightening, Naoki tightened his grip around her arm as she released the rose. "You really think so?" 

"Of course," she replied, eyes flickering towards him. "Why wouldn't I?" 

 The smile that appeared on his lips in that moment caused her breath to catch, eyes-widening once again. The adorable little puppy boy could be rather cute when he wanted to be.

"I... no reason," he assured her, turning to face the walkway before them as his face flushed bright red. "Let's hurry, if we want to reach the center and make it back before nightfall, we need to pick up our pace."

___________________________________

Their job tracking down the princess hit a small snag the moment they'd reached the first village the trail disappeared into.

"How exactly are we supposed to find her?" Jun questioned. "Even Kiba-kun will have trouble locating her around this many people after it rained all morning."

Kiba, reluctantly nodded his agreement, his nose twitching as he cocked his head back to sniff the air. As they'd traveled that morning, it'd started to downpour, helplessly soaking the genin and washing away a rather decent amount of the scent trail they'd been following.

"We'll ask around." 

Kiba snorted and Jun had to agree with his skepticism.

"She's black haired with blue-eyes... not exactly that uncommon," Jun pointed out, gesturing to himself as if to back up his words with evidence. "What exactly is supposed to make people remember seeing her?"

Saichi shrugged, his eyes sweeping over the small village town that spread out before them. They'd arrived only moments ago, Saichi declaring that they'd split up to search after Kiba had irritably admitted he couldn't smell her anymore. 

"They'll remember," he promised. "She's not someone you forget meeting." 

With that, the Moon shinobi took off through the streets, almost instantly disappearing into the midday crowd. The two leaf genin exchanged glances before splitting up as well, having decided to meet back in the same spot in a few hours if nothing came up. As Jun questioned villagers, however, he began to realize that Saichi was right. There was a surprising number of them who could remember seeing her, even if they didn't know where she'd gone. 

"There was an air around her," a shop-owner announced. "That's why I remember. She wasn't the sort of person you forget, as strange as that sounds. And not a bit homely, just so you know. Beautiful she was with a presence that made you wanna look at her." 

After sometime, Jun managed to narrow down a general path, and was about to go back to meet with the others after asking the one person ambling down the road that he'd yet to get through. It'd be a waste to miss someone and then figure out later that they'd actually seen her. As such, he waved the man down and offered a grin. 

"Hey, sorry to bother you, but I seem to have gotten separated from my sister. She's about this height," here he paused and gestured to indicate the princess's height. "With black hair and-"

"Your sister you say. She wouldn't happen to be younger, would she?" the guy interrupted, studying Jun with a thoughtful expression. "I think I seen her. A little thing with dark green eyes, right? Looks exactly like ya if ya overlook that little feature. She passed thataway about a half-hour ago." 

Jun shook his head, sheepishly scratching the side. 

"Sorry, blue-eyes is what I'm looking for and just a bit older than me." 

"Eh?" 

The man frowned, then shrugged as he began walking again. 

"Ain't seen no-one like that. Coulda sworn that girl looked just like ya, though, even if she was a bit scrawny." 

Jun waved him goodbye, a thoughtful expression coloring his face. Something about that girl the man had described... something about it bothered him. 

'Green eyes and younger than me...'

"Jun, there you are!" 

Jun glanced up when the voice hit his ears, spotting Kiba standing atop of a shop and waving in his direction, Akamaru perched on the boy's head. 

"We've caught her scent at a hotel, she left after the rain stopped! Come on, if we hurry we can catch her!" 

He simply nodded. launching himself onto the roof and starting in the direction Kiba took off in. A second later, however, he froze as he realized with sudden clarity why the idea of that girl the villager had described was bothering him. Without hesitation, he spun around and darted back to the street, his eyes scanning for the man. 

It was empty beyond a few children playing tag. 

"What is it?" Kiba called down. "We're gonna lose her!" 

Jun hesitated for a moment, an uncharacteristically bothered expression crossing his face. A second later he shook it off and joined Kiba on the rooftop again. 

'What are the chances? I'm grasping at straws is all. There's no way she's somewhere so close to Konoha,' he berated himself. 

As soon as the two genin were out of sight, the rusty-haired man stepped from the shadows, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully as they studied the direction the two Leaf shinobi had gone. When he was certain they'd left for good, he turned and started down the street. It was only a few moments before he ducked out of it once again, this time into a small ramen shop where he dropped down in a booth across from a young, black-haired girl. 

"Did you catch-up to whomever it was you wanted to speak to?" she questioned, turning her dark-green eyes from the bowl set before her. "Was it the right person?"

"Yeah to both questions," he replied, glancing down at his own bowl then shoving aside, his appetite having disappeared the moment he'd laid eyes on the black-haired genin passing the shop.

'I'd recognize the feel of that chakra anywhere. It was faint, but there. I'm certain that was him.'

"Come on, Jin. Finish-up. We need to make it to Konoha by this evening."

A/N: One more chapter before we head into the final arc! Which means there are only about five, maybe six chapters left in this story! :D