Konoha Corp.
Prologue
"Are you sure I'll be accepted, Mayu?"
Mayumi Haruno glanced over at her niece and shook her head as she watched Sakura wrap a colorful, silk calypso headscarf around her signature pink hair. The gradienting emerald to vivid malachite shades was shot with silver threads.
Although it was one of Sakura's favorite headscarves it was also one that she rarely wore. Normally, she preferred scarves that were myriad of colors-enough to draw the attention of the average of observer, but not enough that anyone would wonder as to the color of the hair that was carefully braided and hidden beneath the scarves.
Mayumi often thought it was such a shame that her niece was half-terrified to step outside of the family estate with her hair exposed.
Sakura had inherited the soft, pink strands from her long deceased mother-the elder sister that Mayumi had wanted to idolize but couldn't. Sometimes Mayumi couldn't help but see her niece as her sister would have been if she had been able to have a thought to call her own. Sakura was strong-willed in ways her sister had never hoped to be, unknowingly resisting her father's will to mold her into a doll-beautiful yet vacant...
Except there were times, like now when her hands fluttered over the looped knot of her headscarf like the wings a bird, that Sakura reverted to the scared little girl that she had been when Mayumi had first taken her under her care.
But that was her brother-in-law's influence after all, so it couldn't be helped.
It had beens years since either of them had seen Sakura's father but always his presence loomed like a shadow over Sakura, and his pointed, clipped letters didn't help matters.
Just a shadow of a presence in her poor niece's life, but still that was enough to upset her.
That was why Sakura had to be accepted.
"Mayu?"
Mayumi shook her head to clear her thoughts. Positive energy. That was what Sakura needed now, even if she couldn't reassure her that she would be accepted as Tsunade's apprentice.
"Nothing's certain, Sakura-chan. Thanks to Shizu's tutoring I think you have a better chance then most. You just need to keep in mind that the Hokage hasn't agreed to apprentice anyone since she took on Shizu when she was twelve, or at least that's what Aku tells me."
Mayumi let out a huff to cover her sigh of relief at Sakura's sudden giggle. The sound was both startling and reassuring that her niece could still laugh at their old joke (even if it was at her husband's expense). If she could find in herself to laugh before her interview then she would have have a better chance.
"And remember."
Sakura turned back to her aunt, her head tilted at a quizzical angle.
"You have one thing that few of the previous applicants had."
"What's that?"
"Shizu's letter of recommendation and a damn mean right hook!"
So my official return to the fanfiction world was supposed to be an "outtake" of sorts for Bound. It's actually not a long piece and is more "WTF?!" than even the omake chapters. I hope to post it soon.
In the meantime it has come to my attention that July is (I think) Sasu/Saku month. So I've been inspired by JinnySkeans' daily update and thought I would try my hand at it by posting small pieces on a daily basis…
We'll see how long that lasts. ^^;;
If you've read some of my other pieces that you know that Konoha Corp. is an idea that I've had for sometime. (Over five years actually…)
I hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think!