A/N: Welcome to Leaf Love!
Semi-AU. Pro-Sakura. This idea came to my head and I tried typing it out, so here it is now. It doesn't have a particular genre since I plan this to be random, but expect romance to develop. If you read it, don't forget to review too.
I decided on NejiSaku and ShikaSaku… they need more love.
DISCLAIMER: You know the sheesh kebob.
KONOHA AI
Doctor Meowzie
It was quite a beautiful and peaceful day in Konohagakure; as the wind blew gently westward and the birds chirped merrily until forever, a pink-haired kunoichi lazily walked along the village streets, carrying a pile books on the palms of her outstretched arms.
She sighed; this day was as boring as usual, her shift at the hospital has just ended an hour ago, and no missions were assigned to her as of yet. The Fifth Hokage had ordered her to bring her some books that contain the record of the hospital's past patients and that she needed them. Why so, she doesn't know. All she knew about the matter was that her shishou was always the busiest person in the village, and that she couldn't complain, what with Tsunade's bad temper and all.
That was not the only thing that made her day boring, though. Naruto, with Kiba, Shino and Hinata, was on a mission to Kusagakure and had been away for two weeks already. His presence was never boring, she thought, and he was good and cheerful company that has never failed to brighten her day. Today, he was in a faraway village, so he won't be able to do that.
Yamanaka Ino was out on a B-rank mission with Asuma and Chouji too (Shikamaru couldn't go, though; he was busy with the incoming Jounin Exams). They had just left early this morning, about two hours ago, and there was never a B-rank mission that lasted for less than two hours, so Sakura knew better than to hope her loud friend would be there to spend the day with her leisurely.
Rock Lee was on a 'super-duper ass-kickingly hard and special' new taijutsu training program (Sakura wondered if her memory got the lame adjectives right) which his sensei has recently devised. Tenten told her that when she had asked, so Lee and Gai were off, training off in God-knows-where.
Sigh.
Her only option was to train. Not that she hated to do so; she actually loves breaking rocks and things (admit it, you'd love to do that too) and warm up with her jutsus, but she just felt like she wanted some company for this day.
An inevitably boring day.
When she arrived at the entrance of the Hokage's tower, she suddenly felt her arms ache. She didn't lay any chakra on her arms since she deemed the work to be easy even for normal strength. Her expression dimmed considerably; now she knew what Kotetsu and Izumo, who were always ordered to carry stuff, felt. She always hears them complaining under their breaths about it when she passes them in the tower.
Since she was fully loaded, Sakura couldn't knock on the door of Tsunade's office, so instead she yelled to the other side of the door, "Shishou! I have the books you need, and I can't knock---!"
She stopped in mid-sentence when the door opened for her to enter. When she had set foot in the room, her green eyes scanned the area.
Shikamaru stood near the door; one hand in his pocket, the other grasping the door knob; clearly, he was the person who had opened the door when she arrived. He nodded in greeting to her, which she replied with a nod as well, plus a small smile.
He turned his head to the Hokage, who sat behind her desk and was submerged in books and paperwork, and spoke coolly, "I'm off, Hokage-sama."
"Ah" was the blonde's reply as Shikamaru walked off. She then said to her apprentice, "Thanks for bringing the books; place them there…" She pointed to another table beside Sakura.
Nodding, Sakura placed them on the table, producing a soft 'THUD.'
"Tsunade-shishou… I'm going now…" she said softly, glancing at her mentor.
Without looking at her direction, Tsunade continued to scan an opened book on her desk and said, "Hm? Oh yes, thank you, Sakura…"
When she closed the door so quietly that it didn't make even the slightest of all sounds, Sakura can only sigh. She wanted to help her shishou badly… well, the errands thing is part of the help she can give, but Sakura wanted to help her in the documents she so often scans. It looks like the blonde was serious enough in her Hokage's work to even let others help her, but she's always busy, and no one would want to disturb busy people.
Thinking it won't do any good to think about it further, the pinkhead began walking towards the doors that serve as the entrance and exit of the Hokage's tower.
Hours had passed dully after Sakura had brought her the documents she needed, and Tsunade could only rub her forehead with her palm in uneasiness with all the stuff she has scanned.
When her hazel orbs seemed to see double vision already, she closed her eyes and sat with her back and shoulders relaxed as she took in a deep breath of oxygen. It was good that the day was as peaceful as it could get… no rain, no alien invasions, no loud mouths and disturbances, no wars… yet…
Ever since word has reached her that Grass may be planning to wage war against Leaf, she could only get more wary and do her own 'little' research with the matter at hand.
When Neji's jounin platoon (which consisted of him, Aburame Shino and two other random guys) had arrived weeks ago, they were badly beaten and so covered in their own and their enemies' blood; each had at least five broken bones and had to stay in the hospital for at least one week for recovery. They had been sent on a mission to guard some VIP dude out there and while they were at it, they took the chance to collect a scroll that held confidential Hokage secrets; apparently, someone from Grass actually had some stinking guts to steal it from its hiding place somewhere near the Leaf's forest boarders, where it had been hidden for decades already.
Getting the needed scroll had been easy for the platoon, but they found two other scrolls (which were hidden near the location of the first scroll, Neji spotted using his ever-so-worth-of-envy Byakugan), and thought it best to include those too. So, they had arrived in Konoha with three scrolls at hand, which had Tsunade raising a brow in interest. Upon receiving the other two extra scrolls, she immediately read them, and after doing so, Tsunade could only go 'WTF!' with the new information that they were able to unearth.
The second scroll contained Grass' war tactics against their own village while the third scroll had the names of the attack's leaders written on it.
She grit her teeth at the thought. Allies, my ass…
As she had scanned the more than twenty names that were listed on the third scroll, one name had specially caught her attention.
Okama Hatsuki.
It was a strangely, vaguely familiar name.
Deeming that she shouldn't rest too long, she opened her eyes wearily and went back to scanning a record of the hospital's past patients. When she turned the page…
BINGO.
Hatsuki's page had a picture of himself, the times he had checked in and out of the hospital, and a thorough list of the injuries he had acquired. There were quite a number of records for him though… must have been on missions frequently…
She pondered even more deeply. Ah, yes… this man was an acquaintance of her now deceased friend, Hatake Sakumo. She had seen this man a few times before she had left Konoha. So… if Okama Hatsuki's name was in the list of the hospital's past patients and was also found in the third scroll of the list of leaders for the planned war…
No doubt about it, this man's a traitor of Leaf.
As a silent question ran through her head, Tsunade reached for a book at the edge of her desk. It was an old book, one of the many tomes which contain information and profiles of all Konoha shinobi. She opened to the middle of the book, and after turning a few pages, she finally reached Hatsuki's profile.
The record held the ages he became genin, chuunin and jounin, the number of missions he had accomplished, a graph of his skills, names of his teammates and such. Based on it, she came up with the most salient conclusion on the information: he wasn't an outstanding ninja.
It also stated that most of the A-class missions he had had were in Grass Village, then he would end up in the hospital after the mission was over. Tsunade sweat-dropped at this and thought it better not to openly comment, just so as not to ruin the mood at the time.
'If that's so, it's possible that he's had negotiations with Grass during missions he was there. Grass hadn't even declared themselves allies of Leaf as far as I can remember. Maybe this man offered his service to Grass when he had a chance, and the Grass didn't trust him so they torture him instead, sending him to the hospital. And with the rest of the information we got, surely he had succeeded in persuading Grass. Tch.'
Right after she had figured things out (or rather came up with a conclusion), a loud knock came from the other side of her door, sounding in her ears. Sighing irritably, she yelled out, "Enter!"
Shizune burst through the doors hastily, clutching a piece of paper in her right fist, and panting for breath before saying in a serious tone, "Tsunade-sama, here's a note for you. And it's… it's…"
Obviously, Shizune had read the note. Tsunade reached for the note and read its contents immediately. Her eyes moved from top to bottom before narrowing dangerously.
"Damn it…" she cursed.
"Tsunade-sama, will you… comply…?" Shizune inquired slowly.
The blonde whacked the piece of paper on her desk, not too strong to break it in half. She placed her elbows on her desk and the fingers of both her hands met, where her chin sat. This was NOT good…
She had more things to think over. Not that she was indecisive; there were just too many things to consider, all for the welfare of Konoha.
'That's why I don't like office work, especially that of a Hokage's.'
Shizune stood there, waiting for the Fifth, who was discerning the matter so deeply. Silence rang through the room and both women were motionless for quite a while, before Tsunade furrowed her brows, cursed under her breath, leaned back, and said with a strong voice fit for a Hokage, "Call Hyuuga Neji, Nara Shikamaru and Haruno Sakura. Tell them to come here immediately."
Standing straight, Shizune bowed to the Hokage and walked briskly out of the room.
'Wrong timing… Orochimaru.'
At least Akatsuki was not part of her list.
Sakura had just chowed down the last of her Ramen when Shizune had come up to her and told her that she needed to see the Hokage immediately.
"Why, Shizune-san? You look… tensed…"
"Tsunade-sama can answer that question. You should go now."
She nodded obediently and placed her bills on the table, beside her empty bowl, and walked off towards the direction of her mentor's office as Shizune followed her wake.
Inner Sakura sprang to life and declared, "You rock dudette! A mission must be waiting for us! Can't wait, can you?"
'You bet', Sakura thought in reply to her Inner self.
As she stepped in the tower of the Hokage's office, Sakura suddenly thought that she must be getting her hopes up into thinking that she would be assigned a mission, when Tsunade might just be asking her assistance to research for something.
'Even so, at least I can help.' She thought dismissively.
Her uncertainty cleared when she opened Tsunade's office door to see two other comrades standing in front of the blonde's desk.
Nara Shikamaru, with pocketed hands, and Hyuuga Neji, with crossed arms, looked over their shoulder at the newcomer who nodded to them in greeting. They nodded as well.
"This will definitely be a mission!" Inner Sakura cheered happily.
She silently made her way to stand in front of Tsunade's desk as well as Shizune closed the door and stood behind the three jounin.
"Now that all of you are here," Tsunade spoke calmly, a sense of authority present in her voice, "let's start. I am sure you are aware of Grass' desire to wage war against us; word of that has got out a week ago. Hyuuga, you had given me two other scrolls aside from the one that was needed --- the second scroll held their tactics in attacking our village, while the third was a list of names of the so-called 'leaders' of the planned invasion."
Neji nodded, and then the blonde continued.
"A man named Okama Hatsuki has his name written on the third scroll, but as I scanned information on Konoha ninjas, his profile was present as well. Clearly, he had betrayed Konoha for Grass and is now a missing-nin. Now he's helping Grass' in their attempt to destroy us."
"So… is our mission to spy on Grass?" Sakura inquired softly.
Tsunade smiled somewhat slyly at them before replying an answer they did not expect.
"No."
They were somewhat taken aback, judging by the slight twitch of their eyes, while Inner Sakura had her world crushing down on her. "WHAT THE HELL?"
"Because it looks like Orochimaru" --- Sakura jerked slightly --- "has plans. This information is highly confidential, and I'm telling the three of you because you will be of help. Once Naruto arrives, you can tell him, but still be discreet on this…
"Apparently, he wants me to meet him. Why, I don't entirely know, but he told me that before he decides to help Grass destroy Konoha, we need to meet. I'm taking Shizune with me."
Shikamaru spoke in a lazy yet attentive tone, "Wait, Tsunade-sama. You said you're meeting him. So you mean…?"
"Yes. I'll be leaving."
Their eyes widened in shock. Tsunade will be leaving at a time Konoha is under a threat and would soon fall on the hands of grass-nins?
"Bad timing, but I had no other choice. Orochimaru has something planned, I'm sure of it. And when I see that bastard, I'll kill him," the Hokage said in a soft voice etched with deep hate and resentment.
Sakura watched her mentor in concern. At least she will be of big help to her mentor. She then said, "So… what can we help you, Hokage-sama…?"
The blonde smiled yet again as she spoke strongly in all her Hokage power to the three jounin.
"I'm leaving the village under your care."
She then stood up from her seat behind the desk, shooting to her full height, and ordered, "I'll be leaving tomorrow and I'll be away for about a week. I want the three of you to lead the village; you will protect the village and watch over it. For this S-Rank mission, I want not only your cooperation, but also something which the three of you posses: intelligence. Sakura…?" she added, looking at the pinkhead who was listening attentively.
"Hai?"
Tsunade smiled warmly at her, the way a mother does to her child.
"Take care of the village."
TBC
A/N: I guess you know what Tsunade implied there. Anyway, if I don't get enough reviews, I won't update. You can tell me who you want Sakura to end up with.
'Okama' means gay, I think. It's an offensive word though.