Naruto: New Begining

Music and dance, poetry and singing, these were the jewels of a noble woman. It was their honor to be able to perform for their husbands and enchant them with their talents. The noble ladies had to learn these skills along with a plethora of others that revolved around taking care of the household and childrearing.

Luckily when it came to performing arts, even though the noble ladies were expected to learn all of them, they had the luxury of choice when it came to the one they would master.

But that didn't mean the training would get any easier, in fact as the marriageable age drew closer, the training would get even more rigorous as additional subjects would be added to the curriculum, namely, how to please their husbands.

This was just the fact of life and had been since the dawn of time.

Just as her mother and her mother before her, Princess Yukina, the first princess of the land of fire, too had to go through these rituals and with her wedding date drawing ever closer, her studies had intensified. Learning about the wedding rituals from her strict teacher was eye opening, afterall, she had been taught her entire 14 years of life that she must be modest and cover herself from the tip of her toes to the edge of her face. Now she learned that she must throw away all her dignity for a man she has only ever met a few times before, this was a difficult pill to swallow. Nonetheless, she had no choice or say in this matter.

"Why the long face of your highness?" spoke a girl behind the princess as the duo walked from the princess' room to her sister's.

"Nothing Minori, I am just surprised that sensei gave me a day off so easily." Yukina replied in wonder.

"Hahah~ I wonder why too~" Minori decided to look away, hiding her face and the fact that she had lied to sensei that the princess was feeling ill just so Yukina could have a day to rest.

Just as they were walking down one of the numerous hallways, the duo heard giggles and whispers. Curious, Minori pulled the princess to listen in, despite Yukina's protests that it was unladylike but Minori could not be hindered from her search for "juicy gossip".

The two hid behind a pillar as they listened in on two servant girls as they cleaned the rooms while chatting.

"...I know right! He's like soo hot~ I wish I was the princess too~"

"Shush! You wanna get into trouble!"

"Oh please~ Like you haven't fantasized about him at night~"

"W-well…-Wah! Princess! What are you doing here!?" The two maids noticed the eavesdropping duo and bowed towards the princess who just nodded and escaped with Minori in tow, leaving behind two confused servant girls.

After walking a bit, Yukina turned to Minori in confusion, "What were they talking about?"

Minori looked at the confused princess and decided to enlighten her, "they are probably talking about Lord Hirano. He trains with the palace guards in the barracks and some girls sneak in to watch him."

"Watch him train? But why?" asked the innocent princess.

"Well, training can get sweaty so he trains shirtless." Minori replied.

"S-shirtless! How shameless!" Yukina covered her face with her hands, the sensei's lessons still fresh in her mind.

"All the men train like that." Minori waved her off.

"B-but but.. W-what was that about the night?" Yunika stuttered, trying to change the subject but unknowingly stabbing herself.

Minori gave an amused evil grin as she decided to mess with her innocent little princess, "Oh that~ They were just wondering what it would feel like to be held by those big strong muscular arms~" Minori armed her arms around herself and wiggled, causing Yukina go become redder and redder while her innocent mind started to run wild until her release came in the form of a little girl.

"Sister! You are here, I had been waiting, I thought you weren't coming!" pouted the little girl. Minori instantly straightened up as the girl was followed by a few servants.

The two princesses met up and headed towards the palace entrance. It was their rare day off so they had decided to go into the city and do some light shopping and have some sweets away from the judging eyes of their teachers.

When they reached the palace entrance, they saw a few decorated litters surrounded by several armed guards. Yukina recognised most of these guards, after all they had protected her her entire life. However, there was one person who stood in front of the guards that she did not recognise, however looking at his strange black and red clothes and the multicolored cat on his shoulders, Yukina didn't have to think hard to guess who it really was.

"Your highnesses." Shin bowed slightly as the guards followed his lead, "I hope you do not mind me accompanying you today."

"Of Course not Lord Hirano, we are honored by your presence." replied Yukina as she was the older princess and hence held the highest rank of everyone present. Her sister, Princess Youhi however, stole curious glances at Shin, after all the news of their betrothal was public knowledge and the little princess was naturally curious about her would-be husband. Even though she wasn't old enough to know what marriage signified, her sheltered mind simply thought of it as living together in the same palace as she did with her father or mother.

Shin caught Youhi's gaze and gave her a gentle smile which made her shuffle and hide behind her sister while peeking at him.

The two princesses went inside the litter and Pineapple joined them, her presence instantly making the girls excited as they slowly started to pet her. The two were nervous since they had never been allowed a pet but their nervousness soon disappeared due to Pineapple's friendliness.

The two princesses went around the town, visiting high end boutiques to look at the newest trends as Shin stood outside with the guards and Pineapple was forced to dress in small hats and shoes by the girls.

"Lord Hirano, We should stop at a tea house so the princesses can rest." the guard captain suggested.

Shin nodded, "Let's go to the cafe. I'm sure the princesses will enjoy a change of routine."

The guard nodded and the procession was led to a newly developed tea house called "The Cafe" which served strange dark bitter liquid and fantastic cakes and the strange yet elegant dressing of the handsome waiters had quickly made it into a popular spot among the noble women of the capital, naturally Shin owned the place.

Shin sat with the princesses as the servants sat separately and the guards stood outside. They were served by a pretty boy with long blonde hair and dressed in gray pants, white shirt and a gray vest. suit and a purple haired beauty with short hair, dressed in the same way.

Shin ordered for them since it was their first time, seeing their expressions as they tasted the bitter coffee was quite amusing as Shin chuckled at them but the sweet cake brought made things easier, Youhi however decided to abandon coffee entirely and focus of the cake instead.

*crash*

One of the waiter's tripped near them, causing the girls to be startled, except for Pineapple that is. Shin got up to help, afterall it was his own place. He rolled back his sleeves and collected the shards of broken china as another waiter quickly cleaned everything up.

After the little incident, they went on their way as usual. While they were on their way back, they passed by a bedding shop and Shin decided to buy some pillows as he couldn't use Pineapple as a soft fluffy pillow even though he wanted to.

It was at this moment when Shin heard a strange question, "what is that?" asked the young princess Youhi as she pointed at the pillows.

Shin looked back and forth between the little girl and what was most obviously a pillow, looking for a hint of joke or a prank but her face was dead curious. "It's a pillow…" Shin answered in confusion.

"A pillow? But it's so big and soft?" Asked Youhi in genuine curiosity, luckily one of the servant girls, Minori, came to Shin's rescue, "My lord, the princesses use Takamakura, as do most of the nobles."

"Eh? Really? That's so uncomfortable though." Shin commented and after a thought, changed his order of 3 pillows to 5 pillows, 2 of which he gifted the princess.

After Shin dropped the princesses off, he went back home and the princesses sat in Youhi's bedroom, recounting the events of the day, the younger princess simply hugging the pillow in utter surprise at how soft it was, "Ahh~ it's so soft~ I can't believe people use this as a pillow!" exclaimed Youhi.

Yukina also curiously touched the pillow and couldn't help herself from slowly squishing it, bringing it closer and closer to herself. In the end, Youhi gave her the extra pillow and the two princesses went to bed after performing their bedtime rituals.

Laying in bed, with the strangely soft pillow under her head, Yukina struggled to fall asleep. As she was used to the hard and small wooden pillow for years, suddenly getting a soft one made her uncomfortable as she lay awake and her thoughts started to wander.

'Sensei said men are hard, is that why lord Hirano uses a soft pillow?'

'Minori did say that Lord Hirano has big muscles so I suppose using a hard pillow will be painful?'

Her mind wandered to the afternoon at the cafe, as Shin rolled up his sleeves to collect the shards of broken china. Her eyes focused on his arms and the muscles that moved every time Shin turned his wrists or grabbed a broken shard.

'I didn't know there were that many muscles…'

'I wonder how they feel when touched.'

'W-wah! What am I thinking! So shameless!' Yukina sat up on her bed, heaving and panting, trying to cool off her body. 'That Minori! Always say strange stuff! It's all her fault!' She blamed the absent girl. Before falled back on her bed and onto the soft pillow.

'But… I wonder…' she touched her arm, trying to feel the same muscles as she had just seen today.

Alas, it was a restless night for the princess and when Minori came to wake her up, the princess was burning hot which made the girl worry as she summoned the doctor and Yukina got another day off from her studies.