Well, this idea popped into my head a few days ago and here it finally is. I really hope you like it! Oh, and in advance, sorry if your favourite couples aren't in there, but this is just how I imagine them. ^^
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Naruto-characters
What's best about being Hokage
You know what's the best part of being Hokage? For me, it's first of all to see the new generation grow up: From a little boy to a strong man and from a shy girl into a confident young lady.
However, there is something I like even more… and that's to see love blossom between them. I consider all those kids as my own and I can hardly wait for the day when the first couple will become parents on their turn... Well, maybe I'm going a bit too fast! First they'll have to get married and that, I'm absolutely sure, is the best part of being head of a village: the weddings! And of course the parties afterwards with a lot of good old sake! Hehe!
Sadly, the last wedding we had was the one of Asuma and Kurenai, which was already quite some time ago… much too long for my liking anyway! However, I wonder how long it will take for the first couple of the new generation to vow each other eternal love and loyalty.
Well, I hope it won't take too long anymore. On the other hand, if I think back, that day could be closer than I expect it to be. The young shinobi are recently making great progress at that area and more and more of them are starting to go out.
Shikamaru for once came to see me a few weeks ago to announce that he would change his address and oh wonder, so did Temari the same day, if you know what I mean...
Not so long after that, Naruto asked Hinata if she would accept him as her husband if he would become Hokage one day. The poor girl nearly fell unconscious at Naruto's sudden question, but managing to nod her head, Naruto –also red by the way, but not nearly as tomato-coloured as Hinata- had hugged her and spun her around in joy. Yeah, he sure had become a man in the meantime! And now, he and Hinata were as good a engaged. They just had to talk to Hinata's father first, but Naruto was still a bit too chicken to ask the head of the Hyuuga-clan for his daughter's hand, which I can't hold against him. Hiashi is going to be tough… Well, but I guess he still has some time, since I don't intend to surrender my title to him so soon!
The next couple on the list would be Hinata's cousin Neji and Tenten. Both are already going out secretly for some time, but they made their relationship public, when they noticed a) they can't hide it for much longer, b) their other friends are going out as well and c) Hiashi caught them kissing! Hehe! The bright side is that they had a talk right away and when Neji explained that he intended to marry the chinese girl if she accepted a life by his side, they got Hiashi's blessing. Who knows, they might be the first ones to marry…
That leaves Choji and Ino, who are as good as together, but Choji still didn't have the guts to confess the blond hothead and well, I guess Ino's waiting for the poor guy to make the first move. However, ignoring the fact, that they never spoke the words out loud, they already act like a couple.
And as it seems, Ino's eternal rival Sakura slowly starts to notice that maybe, just maybe Sai could be the right guy for her and not Sasuke. Recently, they are hanging out a lot together… However, since Sakura was so long in love with Sasuke, she's still a bit hesitant and Sai isn't very good at expressing his feelings the right way, but other than that they are fine for the moment.
In fact, even those that I never expected to see on cloud nine –at least not in the near future- keep surprising me one by one.
A prime example:
Shino Aburame. Yes, fellows! THE Shino Aburame, with the bugs, sunglasses and mummed as no other! He confessed that he had fallen in love on his last mission and that now, his girlfriend would move to our wonderful village. Naturally, this was THE big surprise and THE big news of the following couple of days. Shino having a girlfriend spread like a wildfire and lots of rumours emerged, but meeting the slender girl, everybody immediately understood why Shino had fallen in love with her and she seemed to especially like bugs. Perfect couple! Fufu! Although I was even more surprised when I found out that she had fallen in love first…
Well, the surprises didn't stop there. Already the day after that, Kiba came bursting into my office to announce that he had fallen in love as well, which as such wasn't that odd. Kiba was more interested in girls than most of the boys. Sadly, until now he hadn't found the right one and all his relationships didn't last for very long, but this time he swore it was the right one. He literally begged for a few days off to find her, which he did and I'm glad that he succeeded. I have never seen him happier than the day he proudly introduced her to everyone he met on the streets.
The next one is probably even more unbelievable than Shino is our beloved handsome beast from Konoha, no other than Rock Lee! Yeah, I know, it's quite a shock and honestly, I still haven't figured out what happened there… BUT, fact is he has a girlfriend now! The story went somewhat like this: Lee sees nice, small girl (obviously new in Konoha); Lee approaches girl, gives her his famous bling-smile and says the words "I'm Rock Lee and I'm going to protect you with my life! Blablabla…"; girl immensely pleased and accepts. Crazy right? Don't get me wrong, I am glad for Lee, but still it's crazy!
Well, and last but definitely not least, someone that during his whole life showed no sign or whatsoever of interest in the other gender. I was able to cope with Shino and Lee, but I'm not sure about this one… It's just so FREAKING UNEXPECTED! ALL of it! This is what happened yesterday:
In fact, it was a day like any other. It had rained all morning long, but around noon, the sky had cleared up and around two o'clock, the sun was shining all over the place. It reflected beautifully in the many puddles and sometimes, depending on the light, you could see the various colours of the rainbow. It was, all in all, a calm and uneventful morning and so far, no one had noticed the two wanderers that crossed through the streets of our peaceful village.
Wearing long coats with deep hoodies, which hid the upper part of their faces, they didn't raise any attention at all thanks to the rainy morning. They had come from far away to visit Konohagakure or so they said as they passed the entrance of this building.
Well honestly, at the knock on the door to my office, I was at first more than relieved to get distracted from that stupid paperwork that unfortunately is also part of my job and has to be taken care of from time to time, as much as I hate it…
Gladly, I called them in, but the ones who entered made me suspicious after all. Still wearing their hoodies pulled deep into their faces, covering every sign of recognition. Their clothes were completely normal for the weather outside, but since they still hadn't taken them off now that they were inside, I didn't quite trust those two figures. I jumped up in defence, but on my call to who the heck they were, they didn't answer. Only a soft chuckle made me stop in my track as I surrounded the desk, on my way to find out myself.
That voice… I recognised it instantly. There was no way I could be mistaken, but…
My face must have showed my shock as that pale hand reached up to shove the damn texture behind and revealed the face to match with the earlier voice. A face I honestly had lost all hope to see return into this village. A face I had never in a million years expected under that damn coat… And now that he just stood merely an arm's length away from me, the whole situation seemed just so unreal! For a split second I even started to think he was nothing more but a hallucination. However, then he chuckled at my confused face and started to talk: "Hello, Tsunade…"
"Wha- Sasuke? What are you… How did you…" I managed to mumble, but I wasn't sure on how to phrase my question and trailed off. Sasuke gave me a small, sad grin, before answering: "I… Where should I start…" He trailed off as well and the more he struggled to find the right words, the more his determination seemed to falter.
I stared at him. I know that was probably not helping the situation, but I just couldn't stop myself from doing so. I had never seen Sasuke like this…
Meanwhile, the strong and deadly Uchiha was helplessly scratching the back of his head in an attempt to put the right words in one phrase. It was obvious that he was unsure of what to say and of how I would react to whatever he wanted to tell. He was uncomfortable and started to glance around nervously, not daring to look me in the eye and then something unexpected happened again.
He looked back over his shoulder to the person that stood behind him and which I honestly had completely forgotten already. Sasuke's companion hadn't said a word or even moved a muscle, since he and Sasuke had entered this room. Curiously, I watched the scene in front of me: Sasuke looked at his friend like he was searching for help, for support and even though the other still didn't raise his voice, Sasuke let out the breath he was holding, I could only guess relieved that he wasn't here alone. Then his lips curled into a smile and his eyes softened. He seemed comforted by only looking at the still hidden face and for a moment, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He gave the figure a last glance, before turning back to me with a newfound courage and determination.
Okay, now I was seriously curious. What was going on?
He gave me another of his aslant, confident grins and continued where he had stopped before: "Tsunade, I'd like to introduce someone to you." He turned around the second time and gracefully stretched out his pale hand towards that person. It looked almost like he was about to ask for a dance, but he only gave the figure a warm smile. One that I had never seen crossing the Uchiha's face before, not even close and it looked so wonderful… His companion seemed a bit taken aback at first and hesitated, but at Sasuke's short nod, he gave in and softly slipped his own slender hand into Sasuke's. The latter softy curled his fingers around the small hand and gently pulled his friend in front of him. Then not letting go of the hand, he used his free one to pull back the hoody, while presenting: "This is Yasue Kimura. Yasue, this is the fifth Hokage, Tsunade-sama."
I couldn't believe my eyes, the other person wasn't a guy. It was a girl! Never in my dreams would I have expected Sasuke to bring a girl along with him! He had never been interested in the other gender, always shrugging the poor girls of his secret fan club off. If anything they had annoyed him to no end and now… But in fact, now everything made a bit more sense… The shared looks, the affection with which they had taken each other's hands and that they still held onto each other… ARG, but still this was Sasuke Uchiha, right?
The girl -what did Sasuke say was her name? Yasue?- studied my face with an incredible honesty and amusement, before granting me a wide smile of her own: "It's an honour to meet you. Sasuke told me a lot about this village and I'm happy to finally see it with my own eyes!" All I could do was to give a simple nod of acknowledge. Then I turned my attention back on Sasuke as he chimed in again: "In fact, the reason why we're here, why I'm here is this: I'd like to return to Konoha. I know that I betrayed the village and that I did a lot of things that were wrong, but like Yasue told me: the past can't be changed. The only thing we can do is to live with it and that's what I intend to do now! I want to put my strength to Konoha's disposition and correct my mistakes as good as possible. I apologize for all the wrong I committed." At that he bowed his head deeply and added remorseful: "I spend a lot of time thinking during the past month and I'd be really grateful if you'd allow Yasue and me to stay here."
Around the time Sasuke apologized, my eyes threatened to pop out of my head any moment and when he finally finished, his head still lowered, I gasped. This was impossible! I must be dreaming! A choked laughter escaped my throat. Then, I slowly started to get moving again, leaving my shock state behind in a jolly laughter. "I'm glad…" I confessed, whipping away a tear of joy: "I thought you would never return home… Of course you two can stay!". Sasuke sighed in relief and Yasue wrapped her free arm around his neck to pull him closer and gave him a peck on the cheek. Then her forehead pressed against his neck, she mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like a "See? That wasn't that bad. I'm proud of you…" Sasuke only replied with a grateful smile.
Like it seems he had been even more nervous than he had appeared to be. Yes, to all likelihood, Sasuke was a changed man… Gently I smiled at the sweet couple in front of me. I wonder how they had met…
"And what do you two intend to do next?" I asked carefully. Sasuke looked up for the first time since he had poured out his heart and explained: "Well, the first thing I had in mind was to go visit a certain blond idiot. Do you know where I can find-" footsteps were storming down the hallway, getting louder by the instant and the moment Sasuke spoke Naruto's name, the said person banged the door open with a little more force than necessary.
Speak of the devil...
He stood there panting heavily and stared at his old friend with huge eyes. Hinata appeared shortly afterwards behind her boyfriend and gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth in surprise. However, Sasuke didn't even seem to notice her presence yet.
Both boys stared at each other intensively, until finally Naruto's ditched features pulled into the small trace of a smile, trying to realise that his best friend, whom he even considered a brother, was standing right in front of him… in Konoha!
Meanwhile, Sasuke was more composed and after a moment of studying the blonde's face, he granted him one of his amicable grins. When Naruto saw this, he froze for a split second, before joining his friend with a wide, toothy smile and a happy chuckle. They didn't say a word and they didn't seem to need any to understand each other as Sasuke slowly raised his arm, outstretched in front of him and his hand forming a loose fist. Naruto raised his own hand as well. Then they punched them together, not hard though and remained that way for another moment.
Well, they would probably have stayed that way longer, if it wasn't for that rapidly closing-in noise, which sounded like a whole drove was dashing down the hallway. Curiously we all stared at the open doorframe, in which only a nano-second after this, a seriously confused Sakura appeared with a half-dead looking Sai waving from her hand. I felt quite sorry for the poor guy as I noticed his hand being crushed under Sakura's murder strength, but I was soon distracted again, since one by one all the others came rushing in: the remaining members of Team 8, Team 10 and Team Guy, plus Kakashi and Guy himself. They filled the office within a simple blink of the eye and as soon as they saw their for-so-long-missing friend, they stopped dead in their tracks. Obviously the news of Sasuke's arrival had travelled around the village at the speed of light and caused quite a stir.
Amazed of how all his former friends had immediately rushed to see if the rumour of his return was true, he looked at them. One by one, he locked gazes with them and when he finally finished the round, when he was sure everyone was present and listening to what he had to say, he raised his voice so that they would all understand what he had and wanted to tell them.
"It sure has been a long time, everybody… I'm… sorry for the troubles and worries I caused you, but now, I'm back." He declared and that was all it took. Tears rolled or sparkled in their eyes, while the tough ones only smirked.
Naruto was finally the one to reply for all of them: "It's good to have you back, buddy!" He whipped a tear from the corner of his eyes with his sleeve.
Yeah, that sure was the biggest surprise Konohagakure has seen so far, but come to think of it, I seriously don't know what shocked the others more: that Sasuke had finally returned or the fact that he was smiling so warmly –this time not his famous grin, but an actual, real smile-. Maybe it was also when he took a step to the side to reveal Yasue and introduced her: "Guys, I'd like you to meet Yasue Kimura, in some sort my psychologist and future wife!"
Well, to be honest at that announcement, even my jaw dropped unto the floor for the third time that hour and the "WHAT?" was probably audible in the other four great nations…
However, all in all, if you ignored the annoying beeping noise that refused to go away for countless hours, this was the day of a great new beginning for the whole room!
…
Well, except for the office door… For that good old piece, it was more like the end of its best days…
I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, PLEASE review! That would make me sooo happy! XD
Oh, and I intend to write the stories of some of the different couples. I think I'm first going to do Shino or Kiba. Maybe I'm going to do a short one for Lee too, but I'm not sure yet... So please tell me if you want another couple or if you have any suggestions. They are always welcome! As are encouragements! Sadly, I have a habbit to loose my motivation rather soon, but I swear, I'll do my best to keep going! ^^
Anyways, thanks for reading and many, many thanks to those who review! =D
