"I'm sorry could you repeat that?" Kakashi Hatake, sixth Hokage of Konoha sat behind his desk, the only way that anybody could tell that he was even remotely surprised was that his eyebrow had gone up the smallest amount.
Shizune, on the other hand, couldn't help but feel a bit nervous about the matter, she had been Tsunade's assistant for nearly four years, and she had forgotten that oh so very small, but oh so critical clause in Konoha's constitution.
"Repeating it won't make it go away Kakashi," Koharu, one of the village elders spoke softly. She placed a small silver ring on Kakashi's desk and pushed it towards him. "The Hokage must be married in order for you to be the Hokage you must first marry."
Kakashi picked up the ring and examined it slowly like it was some kind of a foreign weapon. "Tsunade didn't have to marry."
"I did actually." Lady Tsunade spoke up from her position on the table. "Married Jiraiya and drugged him enough he thought the whole thing was a fever dream."
If only Lady Tsunade had allowed Jiraiya to remember that, or at least tell him the truth, it was only after his death did she start to wear her wedding ring. She didn't claim any of Jiraiya's wealth either, only a few bottles of beer. Shizune sighed and rose her hand. "I was one of the witnesses for it."
"So, I don't actually need a family or something like that, all I need is someone to be my wife on paper?" Kakashi's eyes flickered darted between the village elders and the Fire Daimyo who sat at the other end of the table.
"That was the case for Tsunade, however," The Lord of Fire folded his hands on the table, a small gesture in the courts that must have meant something. Court politics didn't translate well to ninja politics. "You, are still in your prime, and still at the age where you can have children, it would be a shame for the Hatake line to end with you."
"I see," Kakashi did not look amused if anything he looked very annoyed. It was hard to tell with most of his face hidden behind a mask. "Well, then I guess Naruto's going to be Hokage sooner than we thought."
"Bah, I wish I had your balls Kakashi!" Lady Tsunade laughed slapping her knee. Yep, she was well on her way to getting drunk.
"Naruto is much too young and inexperienced," The Fire Daimyo spoke softly. "I'm certain he would be a fine Hokage, but we would be facing the same problem, he is unwed as well is he not?"
"Oh, I'm certain Sakura would marry him," Kakashi replied smoothly, there was a bit of truth in that statement, Sakura would probably marry Naruto if she had to, but the girl was still heart set on Sasuke.
"He's still too young though." Shizune half mumbled, honestly Kakashi was Naruto's sensei! How could the man just sell off his own student like that? "And surely you must have somebody willing to marry you Kakashi?"
Kakashi examined the ring more intently this time. "Can't you just remove the law?"
The constitution of Konoha could only be changed with the approval of the Daimyo and the Hokage, it was there to stop anyone ninja from becoming a tyrannical ruler and attempt to make certain the Daimyo had some say in the village politics. Much of their funding did come from the man after all.
"I could," The Daimyo shrugged helplessly showing his empty palms to the heavens, probably a way to show that he had no hands on the matter. Or that his hands were tied. "But, honestly Kakashi, would being married really be so bad? Give it a shot you might like it."
Kakashi sighed and looked right at her. Then back in the ring. He repeated the process over and over again. Before he shrugged and flung the ring right at her. "Heads up Shizune."
"Huh?" She caught the ring mostly out of reflex. "Why am I holding the ring?"
"What do you say?" Kakashi leaned back and smiled at her, both of his eyes closed and his mask twitched slightly. "Want to marry the Hokage?"
XXXX
"I can't believe I said yes," Shizune mumbled to herself as she stared at the door of Kakashi's home. It was modest and plain, large yard in the back for his ninken. But she should probably start thinking of it as her new home. She couldn't believe that she signed the paper, that Tsunade had signed as a witness. With that one little paper filed away safely, she was now the wife of the Sixth Hokage, days before his official inauguration.
Rolling her shoulders she picked up her bags and took another step forward. "I suppose this is the second most surprising thing to happen in my life, right after Tsunade deciding that she'd be Hokage."
Might as well get the rest of her life over with. No, not only was she the Hokage's assistant, but she was his wife as well. Hopefully, Kakashi wasn't some kind of crazy closet pervert that had a sex dungeon in his house.
She knocked on the front door and expected the worse when Kakashi opened the door.
It was just awkward really. Here was a man that had been her colleague for years standing in his doorway wearing the standard shinobi sweater with the Uzumaki symbol on the sleeves, he effectively looked the same as he always did spare the jacket and headband. And she was supposed to just walk in here and go 'I live here now'
Were they going to share a bed? Did Kakashi own a bed big enough for two? Was she going to see his face? A million questions were running through Shizune's mind at that moment. But only one made it to the surface. "May I come in Lord Kakashi?"
Her bags were heavy.
He frowned behind his mask and took a step back opening the door further and presenting the inside of his house to her. It was plain. Not plain as in it was neat and tidy, it was plain in that there wasn't enough stuff to make a mess. A couch rested against an empty white wall, a small coffee table sat with the morning paper on it, on the far wall sitting on an empty T.V. Stand was a small T.V. that was several generations to old, it probably didn't even play in color. And aside from the hardwood floor that was it. "You live here now, you don't have to knock. And don't call me lord."
"I don't have a key." Honestly, she barely even knew where she was, the whole last day had been a mess. Why did she agree to this again? Was she so desperate that she'd marry the first man to propose to her? The sad answer to that question was apparently yes.
But as she looked at Kakashi she felt… nothing, no real desire, nothing beyond companionship and friendship at any rate. Nothing like the love Tsunade or Jiraiya described. She was too old to fall in love, and so was he she supposed.
Kakashi smiled and produced a Key from nowhere a bell tied with a red string was attached to it. "Here you go, one key for my wife."
Sakura was right, sometimes Kakashi just made you want to punch him.
Shizune sat her bags down an accepted her new house key. What was with the bell? It was like the bells he used for the bell test. Still, she pocketed the key, to add it to her growing collection of keys. Really in Konoha keys, and doors really were just formalities. "Thank you, Lord Kakashi."
His smile died and he gave her a stiff look. "Look, please don't call me lord, I don't want any of my comrades to, and you're my wife now so please don't."
"As you say Lord Kakashi." Shizune smiled and picked up her belongings once again. Her new husband just groaned at her. It was weird to think of him as anything other than a fellow shinobi. Yet here she was living with somebody that she only knew from work. Not that she could complain, she had been on exactly zero dates in her life. "Now where can I put my stuff?"
"Oh, right. Follow me." He acted like she'd get lost in his home… her home… well, it didn't feel like home, still, it was better than her current living conditions of Tsunade's guestroom, and the staff beds at the hospital. She was going to get a place of her own… eventually, but that ship had now sailed.
"This is the Kitchen." he gestured towards the empty looking kitchen with exactly one dish drying in the dish rack, it looked clean, but again clean as in it wasn't used enough to get dirty. The fridge was probably barren, like a standard bachelors fridge, a few beers, a bottle of ketchup, maybe one or two things to eat.
"The bathroom." The door was shut.
"And here right across the hall, is your room." Kakashi opened the door revealing a decent sized room mostly dominated by the bed pressed against the corner, right next to a window that looked out over the backyard. A desk was in the corner, a fresh set of pens arranged neatly on the closet sat empty, awaiting her things and a new T.v. - it still had the sticker on it - sat atop a dresser.
"My room?" Shizune asked, "Where are you staying?"
"Oh," Kakashi blinked and took a step back pushing open the door at the end of the hallway. "This is my room, right next to yours."
Kakashi's room was unlike the rest of his house… lived in, his closet was open, filled with several copies of the standard jounin attire, several scrolls sat on his desk, and a second plate with a partially eaten sandwich sat on it awaiting his return. Several picture frames also decorated the desk.
Nice to know that she wasn't married to a robot. Still not certain on the android that just liked to troll people part.
"I spend most of my time in there, so if you need anything let me know," He drawled before he walked into his room.
With the door to her room closed behind her Shizune began to unpack. How long were they going to make them put on this charade before they allowed them to return to their lives of solitude? Hopefully, the Daimyo will see that both Kakashi and her simply had no interest in marrying, let alone starting a family.
Once her things were unpacked and the room felt a bit like home Shizune flopped down onto the bed and stared at the slowly spinning ceiling fan. She couldn't even hear Kakashi in the next room, it was almost like she had finally gotten that place of her own.
"I wonder if he would mind if I started to decorate the house?"
AN: I've shipped Kakashi x Shizune for a while, finally thought of a good idea for it. (I was going to write a fic where Fem Naruto needed a husband to become Hokage and have Gaara and Sasuke fight for her... but this idea sounded better to me) I hope you all enjoy this fic!
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