After a long, grueling day of training and missions with Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei, all Sakura Haruno wanted to do was take a hot shower and sleep until noon the next day. As usual, Naruto had invited her and Sasuke to go eat ramen at Ichiraku, but she had politely declined, complaining of desperate need of sleep, and had left Sasuke and Naruto arguing about who was buying.
After entering her house, Sakura lazily made her way up the stairs and into her bathroom to take the well-needed shower she deserved. As the steam circled around her and the hot water poured over her body, Sakura went over the events of the day.
Team 7 sat silently as the Hokage, Tsunade-sama, went over the devastating report of the last S-Rank mission to be assigned. Two of the best ANBU Konoha had ever seen were assigned to track the movements of the Akatsuki as they headed for the Lightning Country.
After ten months without contact to the village, a message was received stating that they would be coming home in the next few days. Tsunade was petrified when she later received a package with the heads of the ANBU inside.
"This is the reason I have called you here. I am putting your squad on a C-Rank mission, Kakashi. I want them to scout the surrounding areas for any more clues of Akatsuki activity. This package wasn't delivered by mail; it has no stamp. They must still be in the area if they had had the pleasure of hand delivering my 2 best ANBU back to me. If you find anything, report back to me with your findings. I will give you further instructions afterwards."
"Hai, Hokage-sama," the silver-haired jounin replied, and he disappeared in a puff of grey smoke. After scouting the woods surrounding the village, Team 7 returned to the Hokage tower, bearing nothing but some kunai and shuriken from a few tree trunks.
"So you didn't find anything?" Tsunade asked when they returned.
"No, only some kunai and shuriken. Was there something in particular we were looking for?" Sakura asked her master.
"No, Sakura, except one thing. In the message I received, Mitzuki mentioned bringing home an extra person, but it wasn't a prisoner. I was hoping your team would find evidence of who the person was. But the Akatsuki must have taken them hostage after attacking Mitzuki and Ronin. For now, you're dismissed. But expect to be called in if and when we get new information."
"Hai," the four chorused and excited the room, as the distressed Hokage gave a loud sigh.
The rosette-haired girl stepped out of her shower and wrapped her towel around herself. After towel-drying her hair and dressing in her green pajamas, Sakura waltzed into her kitchen in hopes of finding something to eat. She was mid-way into her miso-ramen cup when a rustle from outside startled her.
'This better not be one of Naruto's practical jokes,' Sakura thought. If it is, the bastard's gonna be 6-feet under! Just for protection, the Haruno whipped out a kunai and silently crept to the door. As she got closer, the girl could have sworn that she heard a baby crying. Yanking the door open, almost off its hinges, Sakura glanced around for any enemies. Once she had confirmed that it was safe, Sakura put the kunai away and relaxed a little. That is, until a very loud wail came from her feet.
She glanced down, finding a basket containing some wrapped up blankets and a letter. Sakura snatched the letter and jumped back, fearing the basket to be a trap, possibly rigged with explosive notes. When the basket didn't explode or emit any poisonous gases, Sakura thought it safe to open the letter. She slowly opened the letter, and taking out a small piece of paper, she gasped. On the paper were 11 words Sakura never thought to be there.
"Please take care of Kiyoshi. The Akatsuki might come after him," she read out loud. Realizing the meaning of the words on the page, Sakura rushed over to the basket. She moved apart the blankets, and staring up at her with the biggest dark blue eyes she had ever seen, was a baby, looking only a year old, if not a bit younger.
Sakura blinked, and Kiyoshi blinked back at her. The two stayed there for a moment, just blinking at each other. And it would have stayed like that, if it hadn't been for Kiyoshi's newfound fascination for the color pink, which just happened to be Sakura's hair color. A sinister smile spread across the infant's face, and in what seemed to be one motion, had latched himself onto Sakura, and had begun to play with her hair.
Ouch! That hurts, you little brat! Sakura, get that kid off our hair! 'Oh, how I wish I could.' As Kiyoshi continued to yank Sakura's precious pink hair, she picked up the basket and the blanket and carried them inside, along with the sandy-haired infant hanging from her head.
"Ouch! Now I have to call Tsunade-sama, so you stay right here, um, Kiyoshi. Here, play with this while I make this call," Sakura said after setting Kiyoshi down and handing him a little doll. She then picked up the phone and walked into the kitchen, but still kept an eye on the baby as she dialed the Hokage tower's number.
"Hello, thank you for calling the Hokage. How may I help you?" a woman answered.
"Shizune, it's Sakura. I need to speak with Tsunade-sama. I think I might have found the extra person Mitzuki was talking about in the letter," Sakura replied exhaustedly.
"Okay, Sakura, let me transfer your call," there was a click a moment later and the voice of a drunk Tsunade answered. "Hello?" she slurred. 'Great, she was sleeping again,' Sakura thought, slightly losing her train of thought.
"Tsunade-sama, I think I might have found the person Mitzuki was talking about in her letter. I'm going to bring him over to you right now."
"Alright, Sakura, and I'll call your teammates and inform them right away." And with that, the pink-haired shinobi hung up the phone and backed into the wall. With a sigh, she slid down onto the floor and hung her head.
"How am I going to explain this to Tsunade-sama? Maybe I can tell her, 'Oh, I found a baby inside a basket on my doorstep with this weird note inside. Whoever put the baby here must be running from the Akatsuki and couldn't take care of him because they hated kids!' No, that's not good," she sighed again. Sakura was pulled out of her thought when she felt a slight tug on her shirt. It was Kiyoshi, staring up at her again with his big blue eyes, obviously asking for something. But he looked sad, and when she glanced down at what was in his hands, she laughed slightly. The doll she had given him lay in his hands, in pieces.
"What is it? Do you think it's broken? Well, silly, it's not, see. You just press the button right here, and he's all back to normal. That's the magic of this toy; it can never break!" she said, giving him a pat on the head and demonstrating how the doll comes apart and back together.
Kiyoshi just sat and stared at the toy, amazed at how it worked. Then he put out his hand, as in a way of asking for it back, and tried it out on his own. When he hit the button, the toy fell apart, but when he released it, the little man came back together. And with a loud scream of joy, he hugged Sakura's leg and crawled off to play with his new friend.
'Hmm, maybe finding him wasn't so bad after all.' Oh, yeah, if you don't count the constant screams of joy the kid has every 46 seconds.
