[Fic] "Office Duties" (1/4)
Title: Office Duties (1/3)
Author: a_lifestyle
Fandom: Naruto (Kakashi/Sakura)
Rating: R (language? I still can't get over cursing being such an offense. Anyway, this will probably change, because, you know. They get it on at some point, of course.)
Words: 2,790
Summary:
A/N: Also not beta'd. So, any help in that area would still be very much appreciated!
This is part one of three, and was very fun to write. Unfortunately, I've run out of a lot of time to write fic, but hopefully I can go through and make my edits in a timely fashion. Enjoy!
Office Duties
When Naruto became Hokage at the ripe age of twenty-four, Tsunade gave him her blessings, a tour of the office, and a few reassuring pats on the back. Many “I’m too old”s and “Your generation is blossoming”s and “Piece of cake”s were offered. She even shut down the entire city of Konoha for three days dedicated to festivities that would declare Naruto as the new Rokudaime, the youngest and most spirited in history. There was food, hot women, dancing, hot women dancing with food. It was quite a spectacle, and the whole town roared with cheers when Naruto’s proud face was revealed on the mountain alongside his father’s and the leaders of the past.
Sakura was probably the loudest and most earnest among the crowd. For one, the celebration meant three whole days off before she had to reinstate her position as the Hokage’s assistant (Naruto wouldn’t have it any other way). This also meant that because she was not working, she was engaging liberally in her shishou’s favorite pastime; the one that wasn’t gambling.
So, it was no surprise that when the festivities were over, Sakura sat up straight the next morning, jumped out of bed and dove headfirst into the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach over the past three days of being perpetually sloshed. She somehow maneuvered her body into the shower, managed not to drown herself, got dressed with all her clothes right side out, and downed an entire pot of coffee before making her way to work. The day was warm and sun-shiny, and she cursed the sun for being so damn bright and the neighborhood children for playing so damn happily. And loudly.
Her salutation to the guards at the Hokage’s office was something between a growl and a cough, and she pushed past them to get to her desk.
She was greeted to the sight of Naruto and half the population of Konoha passed out in the middle of the room.
“Oh, come the hell on,” muttered Sakura warily. She tip toed over Chouji’s hand (still holding half of a fried pickle) and shimmied past Kiba and Shino (who were…cuddling? Don’t ask, don’t ask…) to crouch down in front of Naruto, shirt up to his armpits and exposing his belly. It was kind of cute. In a way.
She shook his shoulder. “Naruto,” she whispered fiercely.
“Uumphhhh, I love you, Pakkun…” he mumbled.
“Naruto, seriously. Wake up. You’ve got a lot to do today; you have a meeting with the elders in three hours, and then we have budget meetings with just about every-“
He lifted his head from the desk to look at her, smiled, then threw up on her shoes. The nice red ones Ino gave her for her birthday last year.
Fantastic.
She commended herself for her composure as she smiled curtly, clearing the room (forcibly or not) of everyone except for the Hokage himself who she managed to clean up a bit and sit upright at his desk. She put on the extra pair of rain boots she kept in the office for emergencies (she supposed this was one of them), and addressed the new all-mighty leader of Konoha, who was putting on a very convincing guilty face.
“Sakura-chan, I’m so sorry about your shoes-“ he began.
“Don’t worry about it, Naruto,” she said, smiling as sweetly as possible. Good god, her head.
“Well, I’m the Hokage, I’m probably kind of rich, right? I’ll buy you a new pair of shoes, okay? I could put it in the budget…thing. That’d be good, right!?”
She opened her mouth, then, closed it. She knew that Naruto knew little about money beyond that having it was good and not having it was not as good, but as it was, it appeared he needed more help than what she could offer. She had become quite the expert at abbreviating paperwork with tiny copy by the time her shishou had retired, but that was because Tsunade was purely lazy; Naruto, however, just seemed to not…know. At all.
Her eyes scanned over the numerous budget proposals from different departments within the system, mission scrolls, follow-up reports, accounting records, invoices-all scattered across the desk like playing cards. Really, really important, official and future-determining playing cards. And Naruto was that one odd man out that you get to play solely because he’s gullible and all his money is in your pockets by the end of the night.
Sakura sighed. “I think we might need to hire some extra help. Just to start. And yes, you have the money to do that.”
“I can do it, Sakura!” Naruto assured, his eyes opening fully for the first time that day. “I can find someone! So you don’t have to worry about it. We just need someone who’s good with numbers and stuff, right?”
“Experience preferred, but not necessary,” she said. At this rate, anyone, really. “I’m going to go downstairs to get some coffee, you want any?”
“No, everybody says I don’t need any-“
“Right, right. Back in a minute.”
Morecoffeemorecoffeemorecoffee…waking up for Sakura was becoming increasingly difficult because of the jackhammers that resided in her temples. She drudged up to the kitchen and poured half the (probably expired) coffee into the filter. As it dripped (too, too slowly) into the pot she felt a brief pang of sadness in her chest…she missed Tsunade.
She then remembered that shishou was tanning her retired ass on some glorious deserted island with no one to tell her where to or why for, and that sadness quickly reverted itself into resentment.
Genma strolled into the kitchen as Sakura began stirring the cream into her coffee. Vigorously.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” he greeted, using one arm to hoist himself onto the counter.
“Good morning, Genma,” she replied. “Want some coffee?”
“Nope, don’t think that’d be a good idea.”
She scoffed and turned to him. “Why noooooooohhhh my god!”
Gemna smiled at her, his teeth a pale pink, most likely because both lips were split down the middle, bleeding into his mouth and down the front of his jounin vest. Although grinning like an idiot, the hand holding his equally bloody side was shaking in pain. To her additional horror, his signature senbon was still in place at the side of his mouth.
Sakura grabbed some napkins off the counter and moistened them under the sink water. “You look like some kind of busted jack o’lantern. Tell me what happened and why the hell you’re not at the hospital right now!”
“Well, we were coming back from Suna after delivering a message for Gaara-sama, and I guess some rogue nin decided to shoot the goddamn messenger. Gave us a little trouble, but we made it back in all right shape. The air’s humid as hell these days and we had to move around a lot, so the blood hasn’t been clotting too good, I’m afraid.” He leaned back as Sakura dabbed at the dried blood on his lips. Genma grinned.
“Don’t be expecting to get a little rowdy just because it’s my lips that need fixing,” he said with a smirk.
Sakura rolled her eyes. “I’ll try to restrain myself.” She unbuttoned his vest. “Arms up, and stop smiling like that, asshole.”
Genma complied, pressing his lips together, his eyes shining. “I don’t know what you’re talking about-goddamnit, what did you just do?”
“I just touched your ribs, of which three are fractured. Go to the hospital. And get that stupid thing out of your mouth.”
“But can’t you just do your magical glowy fingers jutsu and-“
“Genma, I’ve got other things to do before my shift at the hospital. I’ll be there around four at the clinic if you want to wait, but I don’t see why you should when there are plenty of other doctors who can do the procedure just the same.”
“But, none of the other doctors are so cunning and charming to this poor old man.”
“That’s because they know better. Now get the hell out. And be sure to get your mission report in asap.”
She helped him lower himself off the counter. He took a moment to rebalance his weight before hobbling over to the elevator.
“Oh, who was with you on the mission?” Sakura called after him, taking the first monumental sip of her coffee.
“Who else? The only other one who won’t go to the goddamn hospital. He’s gonna be pissed when I tell him you won’t fix us-”
By the time he turned to her, she was already halfway down the stairs.
“Oh, are you serious?!” he yelled after her, exasperated, but she was flying down the stairs, three at a time.
When she reached the bottom level, she bolted out the front doors, expecting something akin to a large pool of blood and random severed body parts, but instead found nothing but a few groups of people staring at her like they’d just seen a ghost.
“What, I got up late this morning! Go on, then!” she yelled. Her gawkers scampered away, and she huffed, cocking her hip to the side and smoothing her hair with her fingers.
“S’like people’ve never woken up on the wrong side of the bed before,” she muttered to herself.
“Yeah, but not many of them have blood across their blouses or wear rain boots in June.”
She turned at the familiar impassive voice and found Kakashi leaning heavily on the front of the building. In a glance, she assessed his physical condition, and immediately bent down in front of his broken leg.
“Sakura, I think this is a bit inappropriate, out in the open like this-“
“Can it, sensei. How the hell’d you make it back with your leg like this?” Her fingers tingled as she molded chakra carefully, rebuilding the bone particles in his thigh.
“Oh, well, you know, I had Genma to sort of lean on, and of course we don’t get any strange looks being two men, one carrying the other princess-style through the gates...”
She snorted. “Was Kotetsu up there?”
“I had the pleasure of both Tweedledee and Tweedledum making an appearance. The part where Genma mentioned we’d had a ‘rough night’ was surely not ammunition for blackmail or anything.”
“I’ve seen you take a freaking knife to the chest, but it appears that you, sensei, are a little weenie when threats to your sexuality arise.”
“Don’t use the word ‘sexuality’ and ‘sensei’ in the same sentence ever again, please. Makes me feel like an old pervert or something.”
“Well, if the shoe fits.“
“Ah, I guess I left myself wide open on that one.”
“Just hold still a minute, I’m almost done.”
“Shit!” he shouted suddenly, jerking his leg away.
“What??” she gasped, jumping back.
“That fucking tickles-"
“Oh, stop it, I am almost done!” She held his leg in place with one arm wrapped tightly around it, and she spun chakra with her other hand, fingers lightly tapping against his (very, very sensitive) thigh.
She worked quickly, but not too quickly, for moments like this happened so rarely. Time stopped when she wasn’t thinking about texts or research or deadlines and she had a normal conversation with someone who could finish her sentences so she didn’t have to think too hard. Kakashi had been her mission partner for years before she officially took the position as the Hogake’s assistant, and she missed the camaraderie and closeness she’d felt as part of a team.
In thinking about it, she supposed this was the first mission that Kakashi had taken without her or Naruto in quite some time, and she wondered if he felt like they had abandoned him.
“You’re pretty serious all of a sudden,” he said, his voice seemingly flippant. But, by now, Sakura could look underneath the underneath and see the layers of concern and unease in his statement that only two people can sense from each other when they’ve witnessed one another’s lowest.
“Just thinking about things.” She stood and released his leg, standing to check the rest of his body. She poked around his ribs, as he automatically lifted his arms.
“Hm. That’s not vague at all.”
“How’s your eye doing?” she said, pulling a flashlight from her shirt pocket and shining it in his normal eye.
“Well, it burns a bit now-“
“Your other eye, smartass.
“Same as always.”
“You would tell me if it was giving you problems, right?
“Yes, dear. Can I put my arms down now?”
“Yeah, you’re done.” She playfully patted his stomach twice (a little too hard-his arms came down quickly to grasp his abdominals) and admired her handiwork. “Leg feels good?”
“Dandy,” he replied, applying weight to his newly healed leg. He leaned back against the building for support. “How’s Naruto doing up there?”
“Well, so far, he’s proven that he can’t hold his liquor and he has no concept of money. I guess it could be worse.”
“Ah. Well, you’ll set him straight up there.”
“We’ll see, I guess. It is only day one.”
There was a pregnant pause, and the wind started to pick up, relief from the heat. Sakura pulled the hair from her face and they enjoyed each other’s company in silence. Kakashi looked down at her and noted the tender signs of aging across her face, which he decided was both a little sad and really quite lovely. She was ten years too young for stress headaches and dark under eye circles. But he looked at her now-tired eyes, a white streak in her hair, stained baggy clothes, and odd footwear-and saw someone stunning.
But, he was ten years too old to love her, so he said nothing, observing in the quiet.
“I think I miss doing fieldwork,” Sakura said, twisting a piece of hair between her fingers thoughtfully.
“Hm,” replied Kakashi, ignoring the fluttering in his stomach. “I could use a medic, you know.”
“Obviously,” she muttered under her breath.
“Oh, what was that?”
She grinned. Her headache was starting to face. “Not yet, though. Naruto’s in big trouble if we don’t find some-“ She paused and stood straight, smacking her hand to her forehead (in turn, bringing her headache back full force). “Shit, I asked Naruto to find some help. God knows where he’s off to by now-”
“Goddamnit, I cannot believe you did your glowy fingers on Hatake and I’ve gotta hobble my gimp ass all over the damn city,” Genma shouted at them, emerging from the front doors.
“Come on, sweetheart, let’s take you to the doctor and get you a lollypop,” Kakashi said, offering his shoulder, over which Genma shot Sakura a sharp glare.
“You can take that lollypop and shove it up your-“
“Good-bye, lovebirds!” Sakura called out after them, this time earning her twin glares of death. Inner Sakura cackled away as she walked back into the building,
Her spirits were high as she pushed through the doors of the Hokage’s office to find her desk moved to the dark corner of the room, and a brand new desk sitting directly next to the Hokage’s. And, behind it, a brand new…very attractive woman.
Oh, God, Naruto.
Sakura’s eyebrow began a familiar twitch, and the aforementioned jackhammers were replaced by volcanoes. Several volcanoes erupting simultaneously. On top of jackhammers. She scoffed, looking the abomination across the room with disbelief. She probably wears the suit and glasses so people take her more seriously, Sakura thought.
“You know, I usually wear a suit and glasses so people take me more seriously,” said the nameless woman to the Hokage, who was currently taking an interest in her rather large chest, in said suit.
Sakura’s fingers immediately reached for her face to massage her sinus areas, under grave pressure. Her shishou always made the best decisions, and making Naruto the Rokudaime was definitely one of them. She hoped to god.
“Oy! Sakura-chan!” Naruto called to her. She was amazed that his eyes unstuck themselves long enough to notice her entrance.
“Good morning. I see you found us some help?”
“Rika-chan works at the takoyaki stand next to the tea shop!” said Naruto, excitedly. “So, she handles money all the time!”
“Right,” said Sakura. “Great.”
“I have to keep everything really organized!” piped up Rika, eyes bright and vapid. “The takoyaki sticks are on the left, and the money is on the right! Or…maybe the sticks are on the right…and the money is even more on the right-“
“How about we show Rika how to process the mission reports?” Sakura suggested quickly.
Naruto nodded with vigor. “Whatever you say, Sakura-chan!”
It was the smartest thing he’d said all morning.
tbc
Author: a_lifestyle
Fandom: Naruto (Kakashi/Sakura)
Rating: R (language? I still can't get over cursing being such an offense. Anyway, this will probably change, because, you know. They get it on at some point, of course.)
Words: 2,790
Summary:
A/N: Also not beta'd. So, any help in that area would still be very much appreciated!
This is part one of three, and was very fun to write. Unfortunately, I've run out of a lot of time to write fic, but hopefully I can go through and make my edits in a timely fashion. Enjoy!
Office Duties
When Naruto became Hokage at the ripe age of twenty-four, Tsunade gave him her blessings, a tour of the office, and a few reassuring pats on the back. Many “I’m too old”s and “Your generation is blossoming”s and “Piece of cake”s were offered. She even shut down the entire city of Konoha for three days dedicated to festivities that would declare Naruto as the new Rokudaime, the youngest and most spirited in history. There was food, hot women, dancing, hot women dancing with food. It was quite a spectacle, and the whole town roared with cheers when Naruto’s proud face was revealed on the mountain alongside his father’s and the leaders of the past.
Sakura was probably the loudest and most earnest among the crowd. For one, the celebration meant three whole days off before she had to reinstate her position as the Hokage’s assistant (Naruto wouldn’t have it any other way). This also meant that because she was not working, she was engaging liberally in her shishou’s favorite pastime; the one that wasn’t gambling.
So, it was no surprise that when the festivities were over, Sakura sat up straight the next morning, jumped out of bed and dove headfirst into the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach over the past three days of being perpetually sloshed. She somehow maneuvered her body into the shower, managed not to drown herself, got dressed with all her clothes right side out, and downed an entire pot of coffee before making her way to work. The day was warm and sun-shiny, and she cursed the sun for being so damn bright and the neighborhood children for playing so damn happily. And loudly.
Her salutation to the guards at the Hokage’s office was something between a growl and a cough, and she pushed past them to get to her desk.
She was greeted to the sight of Naruto and half the population of Konoha passed out in the middle of the room.
“Oh, come the hell on,” muttered Sakura warily. She tip toed over Chouji’s hand (still holding half of a fried pickle) and shimmied past Kiba and Shino (who were…cuddling? Don’t ask, don’t ask…) to crouch down in front of Naruto, shirt up to his armpits and exposing his belly. It was kind of cute. In a way.
She shook his shoulder. “Naruto,” she whispered fiercely.
“Uumphhhh, I love you, Pakkun…” he mumbled.
“Naruto, seriously. Wake up. You’ve got a lot to do today; you have a meeting with the elders in three hours, and then we have budget meetings with just about every-“
He lifted his head from the desk to look at her, smiled, then threw up on her shoes. The nice red ones Ino gave her for her birthday last year.
Fantastic.
She commended herself for her composure as she smiled curtly, clearing the room (forcibly or not) of everyone except for the Hokage himself who she managed to clean up a bit and sit upright at his desk. She put on the extra pair of rain boots she kept in the office for emergencies (she supposed this was one of them), and addressed the new all-mighty leader of Konoha, who was putting on a very convincing guilty face.
“Sakura-chan, I’m so sorry about your shoes-“ he began.
“Don’t worry about it, Naruto,” she said, smiling as sweetly as possible. Good god, her head.
“Well, I’m the Hokage, I’m probably kind of rich, right? I’ll buy you a new pair of shoes, okay? I could put it in the budget…thing. That’d be good, right!?”
She opened her mouth, then, closed it. She knew that Naruto knew little about money beyond that having it was good and not having it was not as good, but as it was, it appeared he needed more help than what she could offer. She had become quite the expert at abbreviating paperwork with tiny copy by the time her shishou had retired, but that was because Tsunade was purely lazy; Naruto, however, just seemed to not…know. At all.
Her eyes scanned over the numerous budget proposals from different departments within the system, mission scrolls, follow-up reports, accounting records, invoices-all scattered across the desk like playing cards. Really, really important, official and future-determining playing cards. And Naruto was that one odd man out that you get to play solely because he’s gullible and all his money is in your pockets by the end of the night.
Sakura sighed. “I think we might need to hire some extra help. Just to start. And yes, you have the money to do that.”
“I can do it, Sakura!” Naruto assured, his eyes opening fully for the first time that day. “I can find someone! So you don’t have to worry about it. We just need someone who’s good with numbers and stuff, right?”
“Experience preferred, but not necessary,” she said. At this rate, anyone, really. “I’m going to go downstairs to get some coffee, you want any?”
“No, everybody says I don’t need any-“
“Right, right. Back in a minute.”
Morecoffeemorecoffeemorecoffee…waking up for Sakura was becoming increasingly difficult because of the jackhammers that resided in her temples. She drudged up to the kitchen and poured half the (probably expired) coffee into the filter. As it dripped (too, too slowly) into the pot she felt a brief pang of sadness in her chest…she missed Tsunade.
She then remembered that shishou was tanning her retired ass on some glorious deserted island with no one to tell her where to or why for, and that sadness quickly reverted itself into resentment.
Genma strolled into the kitchen as Sakura began stirring the cream into her coffee. Vigorously.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” he greeted, using one arm to hoist himself onto the counter.
“Good morning, Genma,” she replied. “Want some coffee?”
“Nope, don’t think that’d be a good idea.”
She scoffed and turned to him. “Why noooooooohhhh my god!”
Gemna smiled at her, his teeth a pale pink, most likely because both lips were split down the middle, bleeding into his mouth and down the front of his jounin vest. Although grinning like an idiot, the hand holding his equally bloody side was shaking in pain. To her additional horror, his signature senbon was still in place at the side of his mouth.
Sakura grabbed some napkins off the counter and moistened them under the sink water. “You look like some kind of busted jack o’lantern. Tell me what happened and why the hell you’re not at the hospital right now!”
“Well, we were coming back from Suna after delivering a message for Gaara-sama, and I guess some rogue nin decided to shoot the goddamn messenger. Gave us a little trouble, but we made it back in all right shape. The air’s humid as hell these days and we had to move around a lot, so the blood hasn’t been clotting too good, I’m afraid.” He leaned back as Sakura dabbed at the dried blood on his lips. Genma grinned.
“Don’t be expecting to get a little rowdy just because it’s my lips that need fixing,” he said with a smirk.
Sakura rolled her eyes. “I’ll try to restrain myself.” She unbuttoned his vest. “Arms up, and stop smiling like that, asshole.”
Genma complied, pressing his lips together, his eyes shining. “I don’t know what you’re talking about-goddamnit, what did you just do?”
“I just touched your ribs, of which three are fractured. Go to the hospital. And get that stupid thing out of your mouth.”
“But can’t you just do your magical glowy fingers jutsu and-“
“Genma, I’ve got other things to do before my shift at the hospital. I’ll be there around four at the clinic if you want to wait, but I don’t see why you should when there are plenty of other doctors who can do the procedure just the same.”
“But, none of the other doctors are so cunning and charming to this poor old man.”
“That’s because they know better. Now get the hell out. And be sure to get your mission report in asap.”
She helped him lower himself off the counter. He took a moment to rebalance his weight before hobbling over to the elevator.
“Oh, who was with you on the mission?” Sakura called after him, taking the first monumental sip of her coffee.
“Who else? The only other one who won’t go to the goddamn hospital. He’s gonna be pissed when I tell him you won’t fix us-”
By the time he turned to her, she was already halfway down the stairs.
“Oh, are you serious?!” he yelled after her, exasperated, but she was flying down the stairs, three at a time.
When she reached the bottom level, she bolted out the front doors, expecting something akin to a large pool of blood and random severed body parts, but instead found nothing but a few groups of people staring at her like they’d just seen a ghost.
“What, I got up late this morning! Go on, then!” she yelled. Her gawkers scampered away, and she huffed, cocking her hip to the side and smoothing her hair with her fingers.
“S’like people’ve never woken up on the wrong side of the bed before,” she muttered to herself.
“Yeah, but not many of them have blood across their blouses or wear rain boots in June.”
She turned at the familiar impassive voice and found Kakashi leaning heavily on the front of the building. In a glance, she assessed his physical condition, and immediately bent down in front of his broken leg.
“Sakura, I think this is a bit inappropriate, out in the open like this-“
“Can it, sensei. How the hell’d you make it back with your leg like this?” Her fingers tingled as she molded chakra carefully, rebuilding the bone particles in his thigh.
“Oh, well, you know, I had Genma to sort of lean on, and of course we don’t get any strange looks being two men, one carrying the other princess-style through the gates...”
She snorted. “Was Kotetsu up there?”
“I had the pleasure of both Tweedledee and Tweedledum making an appearance. The part where Genma mentioned we’d had a ‘rough night’ was surely not ammunition for blackmail or anything.”
“I’ve seen you take a freaking knife to the chest, but it appears that you, sensei, are a little weenie when threats to your sexuality arise.”
“Don’t use the word ‘sexuality’ and ‘sensei’ in the same sentence ever again, please. Makes me feel like an old pervert or something.”
“Well, if the shoe fits.“
“Ah, I guess I left myself wide open on that one.”
“Just hold still a minute, I’m almost done.”
“Shit!” he shouted suddenly, jerking his leg away.
“What??” she gasped, jumping back.
“That fucking tickles-"
“Oh, stop it, I am almost done!” She held his leg in place with one arm wrapped tightly around it, and she spun chakra with her other hand, fingers lightly tapping against his (very, very sensitive) thigh.
She worked quickly, but not too quickly, for moments like this happened so rarely. Time stopped when she wasn’t thinking about texts or research or deadlines and she had a normal conversation with someone who could finish her sentences so she didn’t have to think too hard. Kakashi had been her mission partner for years before she officially took the position as the Hogake’s assistant, and she missed the camaraderie and closeness she’d felt as part of a team.
In thinking about it, she supposed this was the first mission that Kakashi had taken without her or Naruto in quite some time, and she wondered if he felt like they had abandoned him.
“You’re pretty serious all of a sudden,” he said, his voice seemingly flippant. But, by now, Sakura could look underneath the underneath and see the layers of concern and unease in his statement that only two people can sense from each other when they’ve witnessed one another’s lowest.
“Just thinking about things.” She stood and released his leg, standing to check the rest of his body. She poked around his ribs, as he automatically lifted his arms.
“Hm. That’s not vague at all.”
“How’s your eye doing?” she said, pulling a flashlight from her shirt pocket and shining it in his normal eye.
“Well, it burns a bit now-“
“Your other eye, smartass.
“Same as always.”
“You would tell me if it was giving you problems, right?
“Yes, dear. Can I put my arms down now?”
“Yeah, you’re done.” She playfully patted his stomach twice (a little too hard-his arms came down quickly to grasp his abdominals) and admired her handiwork. “Leg feels good?”
“Dandy,” he replied, applying weight to his newly healed leg. He leaned back against the building for support. “How’s Naruto doing up there?”
“Well, so far, he’s proven that he can’t hold his liquor and he has no concept of money. I guess it could be worse.”
“Ah. Well, you’ll set him straight up there.”
“We’ll see, I guess. It is only day one.”
There was a pregnant pause, and the wind started to pick up, relief from the heat. Sakura pulled the hair from her face and they enjoyed each other’s company in silence. Kakashi looked down at her and noted the tender signs of aging across her face, which he decided was both a little sad and really quite lovely. She was ten years too young for stress headaches and dark under eye circles. But he looked at her now-tired eyes, a white streak in her hair, stained baggy clothes, and odd footwear-and saw someone stunning.
But, he was ten years too old to love her, so he said nothing, observing in the quiet.
“I think I miss doing fieldwork,” Sakura said, twisting a piece of hair between her fingers thoughtfully.
“Hm,” replied Kakashi, ignoring the fluttering in his stomach. “I could use a medic, you know.”
“Obviously,” she muttered under her breath.
“Oh, what was that?”
She grinned. Her headache was starting to face. “Not yet, though. Naruto’s in big trouble if we don’t find some-“ She paused and stood straight, smacking her hand to her forehead (in turn, bringing her headache back full force). “Shit, I asked Naruto to find some help. God knows where he’s off to by now-”
“Goddamnit, I cannot believe you did your glowy fingers on Hatake and I’ve gotta hobble my gimp ass all over the damn city,” Genma shouted at them, emerging from the front doors.
“Come on, sweetheart, let’s take you to the doctor and get you a lollypop,” Kakashi said, offering his shoulder, over which Genma shot Sakura a sharp glare.
“You can take that lollypop and shove it up your-“
“Good-bye, lovebirds!” Sakura called out after them, this time earning her twin glares of death. Inner Sakura cackled away as she walked back into the building,
Her spirits were high as she pushed through the doors of the Hokage’s office to find her desk moved to the dark corner of the room, and a brand new desk sitting directly next to the Hokage’s. And, behind it, a brand new…very attractive woman.
Oh, God, Naruto.
Sakura’s eyebrow began a familiar twitch, and the aforementioned jackhammers were replaced by volcanoes. Several volcanoes erupting simultaneously. On top of jackhammers. She scoffed, looking the abomination across the room with disbelief. She probably wears the suit and glasses so people take her more seriously, Sakura thought.
“You know, I usually wear a suit and glasses so people take me more seriously,” said the nameless woman to the Hokage, who was currently taking an interest in her rather large chest, in said suit.
Sakura’s fingers immediately reached for her face to massage her sinus areas, under grave pressure. Her shishou always made the best decisions, and making Naruto the Rokudaime was definitely one of them. She hoped to god.
“Oy! Sakura-chan!” Naruto called to her. She was amazed that his eyes unstuck themselves long enough to notice her entrance.
“Good morning. I see you found us some help?”
“Rika-chan works at the takoyaki stand next to the tea shop!” said Naruto, excitedly. “So, she handles money all the time!”
“Right,” said Sakura. “Great.”
“I have to keep everything really organized!” piped up Rika, eyes bright and vapid. “The takoyaki sticks are on the left, and the money is on the right! Or…maybe the sticks are on the right…and the money is even more on the right-“
“How about we show Rika how to process the mission reports?” Sakura suggested quickly.
Naruto nodded with vigor. “Whatever you say, Sakura-chan!”
It was the smartest thing he’d said all morning.
tbc