Chapter 2
The prince was angry. He didn't want to stay in this cave forever. But what now? Naruto reached out and tried to break the wall but in vain. Although it did not seem so, the sand wall was as hard as stone. And even if a small crack or hole appeared in the wall, it repaired itself automatically. That bothered him. He got angry, kicked at the wall, shouted a few swear words at her, and finally went back to the bowels of the cave where he sat bored on the ground. He put his hand under his chin and wondered how to get out. Doing nothing and eternal silence was slowly killing him.
„Ahhhhh, I'm going crazy!” he shouted out of nowhere and grabbed his head. „Think! You have to get out of here. You got out of a worse situation!” he told himself, jumping to his feet and setting out to examine the cave in detail. His enthusiasm gradually died as he found nothing useful at all. Only gold, jewellery, a few pieces of armour, bones and burns on the ground. He was bored again.
A noise at the entrance to the cave tore him from his boredom. He looked around and picked up the first thing he found. A golden pan studded with gems. With that as a weapon, he was ready to detect the noise. He walked up to the wall and realized it must be a day. There was much more light shining through the wall. However, the wall didn't appear to have been broken and he could see nothing else around him.
Although he had no idea why he breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to return and froze in surprise. In front of him stood a person with his back to the prince. He'd suggested it was a boy. The person had red, short messy hair and very fair skin. He wore an equally red long sleeveless coat with a white shirt, which he thought might once have been white and whose sleeves were rolled up over his elbows.
„Who are you and what do you want?!” Naruto shouted at him, ready to defend himself at any time. The redhead turned calmly and fixed his icy eyes on the prince who froze under his gaze.
But Naruto admired his eyes. He liked their light mint colour. But the boy had no eyebrows and a red mark over his left eye. He wanted to know what it meant, but he didn't want to ask. Rather, he should have paid more attention to his studies. Well, that doesn't change anything. Otherwise, Naruto was enchanted by his appearance, but not enough to be kind to that stranger.
„Hey, I asked you a question, dattebayo!” he shouted at him again.
„No one,” he replied calmly and monotonously.
„No one? You have to be someone! And how the hell did you get here?!”
„I know many ways to get back and forth.”
„You're a thief, aren't you, dattebayo?” he asked suspiciously. The redhead didn’t answer, and instead turned and went deeper into the cave. „Where are you going?! I'm not done with you yet!” he shouted at him and followed him. What if the dragon returns, gets angry and burns him to ashes? he thought.
„You have nothing to fear. The dragon always returns at sunset,” said the thief out of nowhere without turning to Naruto.
„And you know this how?” he asked suspiciously.
„I just know it. If he caught me, I wouldn't be here anymore,” he replied, settling down on a pile of gold as if it belonged it to him. Naruto sat across from him, keeping his eyes on him.
„Who the hell are you? You look like a thief, dattebayo,” the prince muttered under his nose.
„I'm nobody,” the thief sighed, apparently tired of Naruto's constant mumbling.
„You have to be someone! What's your name!” Naruto said.
„Don't run from the dragon next time, it may not turn out well,” he said after a long time as if he hadn't heard his previous question.
„I wasn't running, dattebayo,” Naruto defended himself, and the thief raised an invisible eyebrow, and it looked as if he had a slight twitch in the corner.
„Just, don’t do it next time.”
„Sure,” he muttered to himself.
Once again, a deafening silence flooded the cave.
„Are you from the castle? You look like a prince,” after a long time, the thief broke the silence.
„I don't know what you're talking about,” he didn't like when someone called him a prince. That's what everyone called him, except for his friends and he didn't like it. As a result, they looked at him in distortion.
„But you know. Your clothes betrayed you. You have the symbol of your kingdom on it. So these clothes can only be worn by members of the royal family. And your reaction shows that I have a hit, Your Highness.” that was the longest sentence he had ever heard from a thief, but it still bothered him.
„Okay, you're right… Just don't call me that! I'm Naruto. Na. Ru. To. Dattebayo.”
„Of course Your Highness.” it boiled in Naruto. After a short moment of suppressing his anger, he calmed down and tried to get some information from the thief.
What seemed like a long and boring day at first turned out to be quite pleasant for the prince. At first, it was a bit boring, because the thief didn't want to answer easy or difficult questions, but after a long time the atmosphere relaxed a bit and in the end, they talked almost about everything. But of course, Naruto spoke the most. The thief preferred to listen to the colourful stories of an energetic young man. He even caught himself as the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. That I could smile? The thief thought about himself.
„Hey, are you listening to me? Dattebayo," the prince said to the thief, noticing that he didn't seem to be listening. The thief just nodded. He felt normal for a moment.
The silence that followed disturbed the prince's stomach growling.
„Well, that didn't sound very good," Naruto laughed. „Hmm, I'd like ramen," he dreamed.
„Ramen?” he asked incomprehensibly.
„Ramen is the best food in the world. And they have the very best in Ichiraku shop. Mmm, ramen,” he began to drool at the thought of the delicious meal. The thief looked to the exit of the cave. The sun was slowly setting down, threatening to set at any moment and cover the land in the dark.
„I'll have to go...” he said and stood up. „... I don't want the dragon to find me,” he added, heading for the exit.
„Sure, see ya later,” the prince said with a smile.
„Goodbye, Your Highness," the thief smiled weakly and left the cave.
„I heard that! Dattebayo," Naruto exploded, settling on a pile of gold and watching the fiery disk fall wearily to the ground. Or at least what could be captured through the sand wall.
Slowly, his eyelids began to fall as the sand wall fell apart. The prince raised his head slightly. The dragon entered the cave and carried the corpse of a deer in its mouth. Blood was still dripping from the venison.
The lizard walked over to the prince, who didn't even bother to back away. He just stared at the dragon with stern eyes. The dragon placed the corpse in front of Naruto and watched what he would do. The prince first inspected the still-warm carcass, then looked incomprehensibly at the dragon. The dragon poked its nose impatiently into the deer, pushing it toward the young man. Naruto fell ill from the view of the corpse. The dragon growled at the prince.
„Never!" he snapped at the dragon and walked away from the carcass. The dragon growled again and pushed the venison closer to the prince again. However, he again withdrew from the carcass and had to do something to keep the contents of his stomach in place. The sight of a torn, bloodied body did him no good. The dragon was angry and black smoke billowed from his nostrils. Naruto was startled and swallowed hard. He had no idea what to do. He realized that he was teasing the dragon with this behaviour, but he wasn't feeling well about the corpse.
„I-I can't eat this. I'll be more than happy to leave it to you. I'm not even hungry..." the prince muttered, but his stomach betrayed him and made a loud growling sound that resonated throughout the cave. He just smiled nervously, as the dragon studied him with a raised eyebrow. Or so it seemed.
„It means nothing!" Naruto shouted, turning his back on him and playing offended. The lizard chuckled, lay down on a pile of gold, and watched him with one golden eye. Naruto glanced behind him but immediately turned back again.
„I'm going to sleep!” he yawned falsely and hid behind a pile of gold, where he found a piece of pure land with no gold on it. He lay down and closed his eyes.
What's next? I should get out of here, but how? The dragon doesn't take his eyes off me and when he's gone, he'll create a wall I can't get through. Will the thief come again tomorrow? How did he get here? I should ask him about it... the re-growling of his stomach tore him out of his thoughts.
„I'll starve to death sooner,” he muttered, trying to fall asleep. The ground was not warm at all and was mainly hard and uncomfortable, but much better than gold. In the end, however, the fatigue won and he fell asleep.
The next morning he woke up when the sun was already up. He stretched his aching body and sat down. He didn't see the dragon anywhere. He got up, stretched his legs, and headed for the exit. He was again blocked by a wall of sand. The prince sighed and returned to the pile of gold. He sat up and rubbed his belly, which growled loudly.
„I'm going to starve to death," he whimpered.
„We mustn't allow that," said the thief's voice. The prince immediately jumped to his feet.
„Where are you?” he asked because he didn't see him anywhere.
„Behind you, Your Highness," there was a hint of amusement in his voice. Naruto turned and stood face to face with the thief. A delicious smell hit him right in the nose and he began to drool.
„Whatever it is, it smells like ramen," he said and licked his lips. His eyes glowed with excitement. The thief only nodded in agreement and handed him a bowl with chopsticks.
„It's not the best breakfast, but it's better than nothing,” said the thief. The prince didn’t wait and began to eat.
„Itadakimasu!” he said enthusiastically before eating. The thief sat across from him and watched him with interest. He never had much need to eat himself. „Aah, that was delicious,” he smiled, „thank you so much.”
„It's okay,” he replied simply.
„You don't talk much, do you?” silence flooded the room again.
„Gaara,” the thief said suddenly.
„Hmm?”
„My name. You asked my name yesterday.”
„Nice to meet you, Gaara," he smiled and held out his hand. Gaara looked at it and slowly handed him his own. Naruto squeezed it and his smile widened even more. „What are you doing here in the woods?” he asked.
„I live here.”
„And why don't you live in the city?”
„I can’t.”
„Why not?”
„That’s a long story.”
„Ah,” he replied dejectedly. He knew that pushing the subject wouldn't help him anyway. So he just lowered his head.
„Do you have a family?" Gaara asked. With this, he revived Naruto again.
His eyes twinkled and he cheerfully began to tell a colourful story about his family. He first described to him his parents, how good his father was and a good king, and how beautiful his mother was and how she could get angry and how it was scary, and how his brother made all the jokes and pranks. Although he didn't like that his brother was too overprotective of him. He also complained to him about his parents' stupid plan to marry him. He also incorporated into his narrative a quick, colourful description with great exaggeration of choice, during which he scattered and pointed with his hands. The thief listened to him very carefully, and sometimes a fleeting smile flashed across his face.
„... it's awful. I had originally planned to run away, but instead, I'm here,” he finished his story. Someone would wonder if his mouth didn't hurt from all this talking. „What about you? Can you tell me something about yourself? Where you come from? What about your family? Do you have siblings?” he asked.
„My story is not nice at all and it definitely doesn't have a happy ending, "he replied after a moment of silence.
„How so? What happened?” Naruto's curiosity only grew.
„Do you really want to know?” he asked. There was a hint of pain and sadness in his voice. Naruto nodded in agreement. „Well, I was born in the land of the wind, in a kingdom hidden in the sand. My father was a very influential and powerful man. My mother died during childbirth… I have or I had two siblings. Older brother and sister. Blood bound us, but we were not a real family. I have no idea why, but everyone in the kingdom was afraid of me. They looked at me like I was a monster… Although my father was a big man, everyone else looked at him just like me. One day a group came to the kingdom. They called themselves Akatsuki and provoked a revolt. They captured my family and tortured us. My father was finally executed in front of everyone's eyes...” Gaara paused, „My siblings were released and I was sent into exile. I left the kingdom and ended up here. I had to learn to survive here. That's the end of my story,” he finished.
Naruto was silent all the time, devouring his every word. When the thief finished speaking, tears welled up in the prince's eyes. „I'm so sorry,” was all he could get out of himself. Naruto leaned over and hugged him. „I'm sure it will be good,” he added, not planning to let Gaara go. The thief was overwhelmed by a strange, warm feeling. But he didn't understand why.
Naruto finally pulled away and smiled soothingly, or rather, encouragingly. It warmed the thief's heart. The prince then invented all sorts of jokes, questions and light games. He tried to make Gaara laugh and learn more about him at the same time.
In the end, they spent the whole day together and completely forgot about time. Suddenly, Gaara grabbed his hand, which went through incredible and familiar pain. He had it on fire. Through the slit between his fingers, he saw the scales begin to form. It was clear that the sun would soon set. That meant waking the dragon. He had to go.
„I have to go. The dragon is returning with the sunset,” he said hurriedly and stood up.
„Will you be back tomorrow?" Naruto asked, grabbing his hand. The redhead jerked as if he had an illness and nodded in agreement after a short period of silence. In return, Naruto gave him one of his bright smiles.
Gaara left, and the prince settled on a pile of gold. It wasn't comfortable, but he was slowly getting used to it. Before the dragon returned, the prince hid in his place behind a pile of gold and curled up in a ball. The dragon returned late at night when the prince was already asleep.