'('_')/
Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in his office crouched over his desk going over one of the never-ending mission reports. He was artfully framed by four stacks of the infernal documents that was brought in recently by the paper ninja working in the Hokage Tower. His back was aching as if the Shinigami itself had taken to slipping its ever-present knife into his spinal column.
He cursed silently to himself as his back pain steadily worsened, no doubt sitting behind this accursed desk crouched over paperwork all day did nothing to help his situation. He bemoaned the fact that Tsunade was still refusing to come back to the village and take the reins of the hospital management. The current medic-nins could do nothing for him besides ease his back pain for short periods of time.
He suddenly leaned back from his desk pushing the papers in front of him away.
I can't take this anymore, I'm going to visit Ren. I can't believe I waited this long to go visit her he grumbled internally silently to himself. And with that the God of Shinobi got up and quietly exited his office.
The pitter-patter of tiny feet could be heard coming down the hall, the sound of those tiny footsteps seemed to chase away the cavernous silence that seemed to settle upon the house in the early hours of the morning.
The door to my bedroom….or was it our bedroom?…was wrenched open unceremoniously and aforementioned footsteps halted for a split second before hurrying towards me where I lay in the bed. My blanket was pulled up to my face covering my nose and mouth to ward off the chill. The owner of said footsteps lifted the topmost layer of my blanket and wiggled his tiny body in between the blanket and sheet to snuggle up as close to me as possible. I felt him press his face into my neck and inhale my scent.
For some unknown reason Naruto had begun this morning ritual a week after I had begun caring for him, I suspected it was to remind himself that I was still here. I knew I wasn't going anywhere, but his childlike mind needed this daily reassurance so instead of calling him out on it like I may have done an adult I feigned sleep and waited until he patted my cheek to wake me. Which would then lead to me pretending to stubbornly refuse to leave the comforting warmth of my bed.
"Ka-chan, wake up," he whined.
I cracked one eye open, "I dun wanna."
"But I'm already awake, " he said exasperated.
"Who gave you permission to wake up, " I grumbled mutinously.
"But I'm hungryyyyy..." he whined.
"Then you'll just have to cook me and eat me, won't you? "
"Ewwwwww don't be gross you'll probably taste yucky," he said scrunching up his face in disgust.
"How dare you, I'll have you know that I taste delicious, " I said in mock outrage.
He leaned in, then opening his mouth ridiculously wide and baring his teeth as if to take a chunk out of my shoulder.
"Wait a minute did you brush your teeth? "
He shook his head.
"How dare you try to eat me with those un-brushed teeth. Go brush your teeth right now young man or I'll exile ramen from this house. "
"Okay," he said grinning, and scampered away.
"And set the table when you're done, " I shouted to his retreating back.
"Okay, " he shouted back energetically.
I rolled over and faced my bed partner, his stunning blue eyes, blonde hair in disarray. His silence throughout our morning ritual was troubling, I can't force them to interact with each other, Naruto at first had accepted the idea of having a father suddenly injected into his life. Then when he realized he was being weaned from sleeping in my bed with me he became, for lack of a better description, sullen and resentful.
Minato and I both separately and together explained the why's and wherefores' of his exile from my bed but his attitude towards his father remained indifferent and distrustful.
My poor baby was under the impression that his daddy was stealing me from him so he began to reject his presence in our home by pretending he wasn't there as a silent rebellion. He is currently treating his father like the villagers treat him and Minato was hurting because of it... he is occupying my bed due to our pre-arranged agreement after all.
I was going to wait for things to work themselves out, but seeing the silent pain in those beautiful blue eyes, I decided I would talk to Naruto today about the treatment of his father.
Uchiha Itachi the revered child prodigy of the Uchiha clan and Konoha sat on the back porch of his current semi-permanent client's house gazing at her garden. It was quite elaborate even by his family's standards, the sakura trees were in full bloom yet strangely no flower petals littered the compound, the surrounding areas were littered with decorative shrubs, patches of flowers and herbs. It was calming and peaceful to him here, although his supposed job was to guard the jinchuuriki and make sure his self-appointed 'caretaker' had no ulterior motives, he was so relaxed in proximity to her that he found himself dropping his guard. It was like he could let go of all the worries and inhibitions that came with being the 'Uchiha heir' and just be himself without having to map out the thoughts, actions, and reactions of others. He didn't have to live up to the ideals and expectations of his clan here.
He was honestly expecting a tedious route of thwarting a kidnapping of the jinchuuriki every other day and sleeping with one eye open. As time went by and nothing happened he began to wonder if he was inadvertently being given a vacation from the back to back missions that his father and the council of elders seem to think he should be running as some kind of training for his future of taking up the mantle as clan head. The Third Hokage was known to rearrange the ranks like that if he noticed in time one of his shinobi was close to burning out.
Itachi had been running high level missions for nine months straight without pause, no doubt it didn't go unnoticed by the third if he was here.
His father must have been furious that he had been out of contact for so long, no doubt worried that he was dead, or not keeping up with his training. Kanzaki-san had told him he could train in the forests of the compound, it was surprisingly extensive and she had given him permission to set up a obstacle course, traps and target practice areas as needed. When he had set up the target practice and informed Kanzaki-san politely about where it was, he was waved off after she informed him that he could burn down the forest if he so desired, apparently, he had full leave to do whatever he wanted without asking for permission and informing her of every little thing he did.
He laid back on the porch with his feet dangling off the edge at the knees and wondered if Sasuke would like it here as much as he did. Here felt like home more than his home ever did, and he wondered how much longer he could get away with babysitting duty before his father caused a ruckus and petitioned the Hokage for him to return home.
He sighed,"Just a little longer," he said softly under his breath.
As Hiruzen discretely made his way towards my home I was busy making breakfast. Naruto had the stomach capacity of an Akimichi and there were two other mouths to feed besides him. While the miso soup was keeping warm on the stove-top I whipped up a bowl of eggs for tamagoyaki, and dropped a dozen sanma in the oven to grill. I then put a large frying pan on the stove and added sesame oil to cook the large eggplant that I had sliced up previously, after this was cooked I plated it and put it in the fridge.
Green beans were next I stir-fried them in sesame oil then took the pan off the stove and stirred in soy sauce, plated it and sprinkled sesame seeds on it.
Naruto came in and dutifully clambered up on the stool on the counter to begin juicing the basin of oranges I had waiting for him. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as I began making the tamagoyaki, he carefully cut them all in half, then began pressing them in the juicer. His cute was face scrunched up in concentration as he took his part of making breakfast seriously.
Itachi walked in not long after Naruto began the juicing and quietly began rearranging the table settings, he then put on water for tea and quietly stood against the wall observing us.
After Naruto filled the large pitcher with freshly squeezed orange juice, he carefully carried it to the table and set it down. I had finished the tamagoyaki by then and bent to pull the tray out of the oven. I set it all out on plates and my sweet guard-weasel stepped forward and took them over to the table.
"Itachi be a sweetheart and set the rice cooker on the sideboard , will you?"
"Hai," he said in his soft soothing voice as he moved.
I looked around and realized my blue-eyed bed-mate still wasn't here, "Minato food's done, get in here already." I called in a raised voice.
A minute later footsteps were heard and he appeared in the doorway, his hair damp from the shower.
"Honestly, take this over and go sit and eat with the boys,"I said handing him the sauce for the eggplant.
"Hai-hai, thank you for the food. "
Sarutobi Hiruzen alighted before the gates of Kanzaki's home barely stifling his whimper of pain for his injured back.
Ren appeared at the gates to her home as if she sensed his presence, it was one of the more mysterious things that she does that he no longer questioned.
She looked at him questioningly.
"Ren-chan I came to visit with hopes that you would pity this poor old man and ease his pain," the Sandaime said congenially.
"Hiru-chan, Gods and goblins are always welcome in my home, please come in," she said smiling wide enough to produce dimples and stepping to the side to usher him in.
"Will you allow my guards in?…I fear they will react badly out of concern given my current disadvantage," he requested resignedly.
She arched an eyebrow, "Line them up let me have a look at them," she replied.
I signaled them discreetly with a nod being fully aware that they heard every word of our conversation. They lined up instantly before the compound gate appearing as if out of thin air.
"I would like each of you to take turns stepping forward, please hold out both arms to yours sides parallel to the ground and turn slowly in a circle," she said pleasantly.
They stood before her unmoving.
The operatives of ANBU was strictly under the Hokage's command, they take orders from no other.
I nodded to signal it was acceptable to fulfill her request, and one by one they complied gracefully turning in a slow circle with their arms out as requested by their soon to be host. I looked at her while she scrutinized them carefully wondering at the purpose of this request. It served no purpose as far as I could discern, civilians were not skilled in profiling shinobi of this caliber as far as I knew.
When all of them had a turn at it she closed her eyes for a few seconds then opened them and smiled brightly, "You have my permission to enter this compound."
Guys I sincerely apologize for dropping the ball on this story. I started college and was overwhelmed by homework. Honestly it's scientifically proven that homework is pointless. It was all I could do not to flounder and drown with the endless projects. I mean seriously whyyyyy?
Anyways chew on this while my muse leads me around by the nose. To any new readers I will warn you Do not look for a plot here.
Please review or drop a line it's very encouraging. (^^)/
Sincerely,
Beautiful Death
