My head hurts so much, it hurts to look at the screen, but I wanted to update this for you guys.
Love you!
(p.s. Yes, this fanfic is suppose to confuse people, but it will make sense later on. Like Inception, or something.)
=xxx=
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Pokerface
Sasuke followed his target from a great distance, yet still keeping track of where she was going. Only a while prior, with the assistance of Itachi on his cell phone, he had found Terumi Mei inside a floral shop, purchasing a bouquet of red roses wrapped in a white tissue paper. He had watched her thank the elderly man from across the street before exiting back into the crowded sidewalk, having to follow her again. He had done this many times before, but usually with males who lead Sasuke to their boss (which he would kill later upon discovery) - and this made him feel…
'Like a fucking stalker,' Sasuke grouched sourly as he waited in the crowd for him to cross the street with Mei. She hasn't noticed him yet, and he was very thankful to even have a gun hidden in his coat pocket just incase something was to happen. For all he knew, Mei could be very well aware and lead him into a trap and try to kill him...and then he would be late for his dinner with his wife.
Looking at the watch, Sasuke realized that he had about twenty minutes left until he had to go and meet Sakura. He was glad that the restaurant he told to meet her at was in the same city, so he could easily finish his work for today (hopefully get Mei picked up by his coworkers) and enjoy a meal that probably is gross to him, but he will suck it up for the sake of Sakura. Just thinking of his wife made him frown somewhat sadly on the inside, thinking of how this is what he does for work. This job is what causes him to keep secrets from the woman he fell in love with. This job that threatens his life if he is exposed to-!
Sasuke watched Mei take a sharp turn to the left, having someone open the door for her and walk inside the building. Blinking, Sasuke followed her up to the glass window to see that it was a restaurant, a high-class one, with women dressed pretty and men in nice button-up shirts and pants. Looking to the desk, Sasuke watched as Mei handed the bouquet over to the waiter, who bowed to Mei politely and motioned for her to follow to a table. Thinking of a plan, Sasuke thought out to go to Mei's table and get her to leave the building, when he took a step back and looked up to the sign of the restaurant.
Ichiraku Restaurant.
Sasuke froze on the spot, feeling his jaw tighten profusely.
Images of possible scenarios ran through his head: Mei recognizes Sasuke while dining and makes a scene of either remembering him as a bellboy, or an enemy for seeing him more than once. Sasuke walks in and sees Mei dining alone and confronts her, but then Sakura walks in at any given time (if she is not already there) and witness Sasuke with another woman - a typical situation of having an affair, Sasuke noted from watching movies with his wife - or…
"She's a pretty one, I see. Kinda looks like Sakura-chan, if you ask me."
Itachi's voice erupted from all the possible scenarios, causing Sasuke's chest to twist painfully at the memory of his older brother holding up the photo with Sakura up to Mei's profile view. Now that he thought of it, Sasuke almost could see resemblance between the two women, but it still didn't make sense. Sakura, his own wife, being able to kill grown and advanced dangerous men? Was that even possible-?
"Sasuke-kun?" a soft voice made him inhale and turn his head sharply. There, dressed simple but still nice enough for the restaurant, stood Sakura in her maroon-colored coat. Holding a black handbag with both hands infront of her, her emerald eyes blinked at him curiously. "I got off work early and thought about getting a table. Incase the restaurant had a waiting list, you know?"
"Sakura," Sasuke said in sudden relief, making her blink again.
A soft smile spread to her lips and Sasuke could feel his heart patter against his chest in a healthy rhythm. God, he loved it when she smiled. "Did I scare you, Sasuke-kun? I thought I recognized you from behind!"
"Aa," Sasuke somewhat lied. He was nervous a moment before she spoke, but now...he felt better. Much better.
His wife giggled, swinging her hips childishly before looking to the restaurant sign with excitement. "I can't wait to dine here. Naruto-niichan told me that this place has the best food ever! Lets go in before they fill up, Sasuke-kun!" she perked and began walking towards the entrance of the building. "I had a sort've hard day, so I think I'll order some wine. How about you, Sasuke-kun?"
"Matte, Sakura," Sasuke stopped her by taking hold of her coat's fuzzy hood, making her stop and peer to him with confusion. "Are you...are you sure you want to eat here? You know how your cousin gets when it comes to food…"
"Sasuke-kun," she pouted, "are you backing out on me last minute?"
He shook his head. "I'm just thinking that there could be better places to eat. Someplace where I can treat you to a better dinner."
Her pastel eyebrows creased. "But I was so excited to come here tonight, Sasuke-kun. Can we just try this place tonight? I promise I won't ask you for anything ever again!"
"You barely ask me for anything," Sasuke countered with a raised brow.
Sakura sighed sadly and faced him, her head down and eyes staring at the pavement. Sasuke knew that she wasn't happy at all, but she wasn't going to complain. He knew that his wife wouldn't push him to do anything he really didn't want to do, just as he does the same for her… But, then again, he usually sees her sacrifice her time just for him and never ask for anything in return.
Perhaps, if Mei had a private booth…
"Come here," he ordered in a low voice, reaching one hand out to her with a beckoning motion. She obediently took a couple of steps before resting her head on his collarbone, exhaling sadly. He wrapped the arm around her shoulder and pressed his mouth on top of her head. "You really want to eat here?" She nodded against his coat. "Are you sure?" She nodded again. "Well, then…"
Sakura yelped lightly when Sasuke lifted her with that one arm, her feet a couple inches off the ground as he walked casually to the door, ignoring the looks from people in the sidewalks. He smirked lightly when he felt Sakura bury her face into his neck and giggled at his action. He opened the silver door before the employee could open it for him, watching with questionable eyes as Sasuke settled Sakura to her feet, but held her even tighter to him when he met eyes with the deskman.
"Two," Sasuke instructed to the waiter, who picked up two menus and a wine selection before escorting the two over to a table in the far back of the dining area. The waiter pulled out the first chair and gestured to Sakura to take a seat.
Sasuke watched with soft eyes as his wife thanked the waiter and sat in her seat, scooching her chair closer to the table with an adorable blush on her cheeks. He took his own chair and sat down, silently taking the menus from the waiter impatiently, all while his wife was gentle and thanked the employee with a sweet smile.
"Thank you very much, sir," she said sweetly, making the waiter flush a little bit before Sasuke cleared his throat.
The waiter blanched as Sasuke carefully handed his wife her menu, who opened it with a giddy scrunch of her nose. "Are you curious of our specials this evening..?"
"Hai! Can you please tell me about this?" Sakura asked as she pointed to something on the menu, leaving both herself and the waiter distract long enough for Sasuke to look around the restaurant.
The restaurant was quite filled, Sasuke noticed right away, with people dining with their dates or spouses, or even family, but the single sight of an auburn-colored head sitting alone with a bunch of roses at hand did not stick out at all. Sasuke thought she must have joined a table, but her bright green eyes were nowhere to be seen.
"Do you see something, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura snapped him out of his thoughts as he turned his head back towards her. The waiter had left to get their drinks. Her head was tilted with amusement as she smiled at him. "You look like you're looking for someone. Did you invite someone to join us, too? Is it Ita-nii? I haven't seen him in forever, you know!"
"Hn," Sasuke shook his head and swallowed, pulling his menu upwards. He looked over the main dishes, looking for anything that he could properly pronounce or sound appetizing.
"Second page, top right," Sakura said in a sing-song voice to her husband, catching his attention again. "There's a dish that has steak with stuffed tomatoes. It says it has a bit of spice to it, with a healthy side of vegetables."
Sasuke smirked handsomely at his wife, whose' eyes were scanning the rest of the menu with a slow pace. Reaching over, he gently tugged her index and middle finger with his own and pulled her hand into his hold. He watched her amusingly gush but refuse to meet his gaze, but tightened the hold with a gentle squeeze.
"How come you always know what's on my mind?" he asked her after a moment, his thumbs brushing her knuckles.
Sakura shrugged and finally looked up to him, smiling. "I suppose it's my job as a wife. I gotta make sure I take care of you, you know!" she winked with her family's signature catchphrase that seem to evolves from different family members. "So, what seems to be on your mind? You look like you lost your hand, or something." Sakura offered an encouraging squeeze on his palm to try and get him to talk.
Sasuke simply shook his head, finally leaning and resting his elbows on the table and not caring about his manners. "Why don't you tell me what's on your mind?" he countered, seeing his wife scrunch her nose. "You said you had a stressful day."
"Yeah...I had to have a meeting with a little girl's parents," she sighed sadly, looking to their linked hands, her fingers curling under Sasuke's hold. "She needs immediate surgery in her lungs. They're too underdeveloped to keep up with her body growth, and if she doesn't get the surgery she needs...she's not going to make it to her preteens."
"Can the surgery not be performed in the hospital?" he asked softly, and he watched her huff a breath.
Sakura rest her chin on her propped free hand. "If the hospital didn't have me, no. I can perform the surgery just as easily, but the parents have no money to afford it. Their insurance won't support them, and they can't take any more loans from the bank."
"That's not good," Sasuke said honestly. He knew that his wife loved her job as a doctor; Sakura was one of the head doctors and surgeons in a childrens hospital, along with her mentor Tsunade, who Sasuke remembered briefly crying and drinking heavily at their wedding. Every patient Sakura has had, she remembered them and their favorite things. She loved children very much, Sasuke knew…
"Hopefully, the hospital can come up with something to help out. The poor baby is only seven and she has no idea what's going on," Sakura mumbled. "She knows that she can't play with the other children, running and all that, but she's the most sweetest girl. The other day, I visited her room with some paper and we spent the whole afternoon drawing, and she drew me the cutest picture ever."
"It will be okay," Sasuke assured her, pulling her hand up to his lips and brushed them against her fingers. He didn't care at the moment if people could see him. At this moment, he didn't even care if Terumi Mei was in the building. Right now, Sakura was all Sasuke cared about.
As if on cue, Sasuke sensed the waiter coming back with assistance to carry the glasses and wine. He turned his head to silently greet the waiters when his gaze snapped to what his companion was holding.
With both hands, the other waiter was carrying a bouquet of bloody red roses.
"Ma'am, sir," the head waiter bowed his head to the both of them while setting the two glasses onto the clean table. Under his arm was the wine, and he opened the top with ease and poured Sakura's glass first, then turning to Sasuke's.
"Those roses are very lovely," Sakura awed at the sight, making the waiter carrying them notice the sudden attention and blush at the sight of Sakura's sparkling green eyes. "Is it someone's birthday?"
The head waiter stood straight and shook his head to Sakura. "No, ma'am, these are for you," he said with a polite smile, waving his free hand for his friend to scurry over and hold the bouquet out to her. "These are meant for you."
"What?" Sakura gasped and Sasuke snapped. Sasuke's voice was loud, and some diners stopped their meals to look his way. Sasuke kept his eyes to the bouquet as Sakura shyly reached up and grasped around the white tissue paper; he saw the logo of the flower shop on the paper, and Sasuke cursed in his thoughts as he recalled the same shop Mei was in purchasing roses.
"They're so lovely!" Sakura gushed, causing both of the waiters to grin ear-to-ear. She gave them a breathy thanks before gently sniffing one of the roses carefully. "They smell amazing, too! Reminds me of when we went to that gardenhouse, remember, Sasuke-kun?"
But Sakura was too distracted by her gift to notice the haunting look her husband was giving, before snapping his black eyes towards the waiters, who were preparing to leave. The head waiter, stopped himself and slipped his hand into his coat pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper and bowing to Sasuke.
"I almost forgot about this, sir," the waiter said with an apologetic tone. "The receipt for the rose delivery. I'll be back in a moment to take your order - I had forgotten my pad."
Sasuke didn't say anything, but used his fingertips to pluck the paper from the waiter's hand, shooing him away. Once both waiters had left and Sakura was still cooing over the roses with a deep blush to her cheeks, Sasuke slipped the paper to his thigh and looked down, flipping the fold open to read the perfect handwriting in red ink.
Isn't she a pretty one, Uchiha?
Underneath was a black and white scrap of paper, as if torn from a file, and the photo of Sakura standing in a grocery store bled into Sasuke's memory. He remembered that day, the day after the incident at the hotel and Zabuza, he and Sakura took a trip to the grocery store. In the torn photo, he could barely make out his own face, since he was in motion going towards Sakura as she held up a box to him…
He looked up to see Sakura looking fondly to the roses, as if they were the most amazing thing to look at in the whole restaurant. She glanced his way and looked so beautiful to him that it made his chest hurt.
"Thank you, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, hugging the bouquet to her. "I love them!"
=xxx=
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Sasuke hissed into the phone, his voice low so that Sakura didn't hear while she was in the shower. He could hear her starting the water and humming to herself, and he took the opportunity to call his brother. "There's nothing on the security footage?"
"Nope," Itachi whistled on the other line. He had done his little brother the favor of hacking into the security cameras of Ichiraku and play back far enough to see Mei walk inside with the roses. All that was seen was her handing the bouquet to the waiter, escorted to the back kitchen and left with a wave to the waiters, who then delivered it to Sasuke's table.
All caught on camera. Nothing was suspicious.
"I scanned the footage to her profile, and it's definitely Mei breathing and walking around," Itachi said, kicking his feet up to his coffee table. He didn't mind getting a lovely call from his favorite brother in the middle of sleeping; especially when his tone was deadly, Itachi was completely obedient to his brother's demands of investigation. "But I thought you said she left the hotel first while you were playing the part."
"I did. The disguise should've made it impossible to know who I was and I didn't have any identification on me," Sasuke pressed his bare back against the cold wall, staying in the dark hallway downstairs from the bathroom and Sakura upstairs. "How would she have known who I was in the first place?"
"No clue, baby brother," Itachi sighed with his own frustration. "Unless you were drunk on love and proclaiming your life to Sakura-chan's hands while on duty, I couldn't tell you."
Sasuke ignored his brother's tease. "And Sakura has no idea that I didn't order a freakin' delivery of roses to our table. Even after I tried to get her away from that god damn place."
"And why didn't you?"
Sasuke stayed silent, hearing Itachi chuckle on the other end.
"Aww, baby brother. I knew you can never say no to Sakura-chan. She's pretty good at getting what she wants...maybe she can show me how to do that sometime, then I'd get more vacation from Dad," Itachi thought outloud, making Sasuke growl darkly. With a shrug of his shoulder, Itachi hummed and rest his head on his couch. "I'll look more into it and see what I can dig up. In the meantime, keep tabs on Sakura's whereabouts and what she does when you're not around."
"Aa."
"Oh, and don't say anything to Dad about this," Itachi added in quickly before Sasuke could hang up.
Sasuke held still from ending the call before narrowing his eyes. "Why the hell would Father care?"
"He got a call from Boss," Itachi exhaled sharply. "He was asking Dad why you were suddenly so interested in the Harunos."
Sasuke blinked and bit his lip. He wasn't expecting his boss to tap into his computer files and look up what he was searching; for years has Sasuke, Itachi and even Fugaku looked up random cases on the Uchiha computers, and never has the Boss called Fugaku about it. Sasuke understood by Itachi's strict and serious tone, that this meant absolute business.
Because, when Boss is curious, things get messy.
"I'm working from my personal laptop," Itachi went on after a brief moment of silence from his younger sibling. "And I suggest you do the same, m'kay? I already emailed Suigetsu about it, and he's sending me whatever he could download from work without a trace as we speak."
"You said that the Harunos helped the Uchiha years ago, Nii-san," Sasuke spoke, crossing his arms. "What do you know about it?"
"I remember Mom being pregnant with you when it happened, actually," Itachi thought back to when he was young, but very well aware of his father's work. From an early age, Itachi would listen to his father's meetings in their old house. "They had to take out someone...Orochimaru, I think was his name. He was one of the worst criminal mastermind of the time - news headlines would talk for weeks about his murders, and robberies of rich mob bosses. Boss wanted him put down."
"Why?"
"Orochimaru was allied with Hashirama, basically the Godfather of the business we're in today. Hashirama trained the original Uchiha, Haruno and Namikaze, and was the one to have order among the three." Sasuke listened to Itachi stretch and yawn. "This man lived for a long, long time, Sasuke. He was probably in his nineties when he died?
"Anyway, Orochimaru was allied with Hashirama, basically his right hand man and took care of everything when the old fart died," Itachi took a drink. "From what I understand, Orochimaru basically screwed the Uchiha over with income from Hashirama's will that was suppose to go to the Uchiha business. Everything else went to the Haruno and Namikaze, and it left all three to war.
"From what I remember, Uchiha wanted to take out Orochimaru, because he planned on shutting them down for unknown reasons, and they weren't having any of it," Itachi said surely. "They asked the Namikaze for help, but they threatened them and were executed by the Uchiha when they didn't comply. With the Haruno, though, I suppose they struck a deal with them, but they ended up dying to now."
"What was the deal?" Sasuke asked.
"No idea, but either side broke it and it got ugly for one team. Perhaps that's what Mei wants," Itachi suggested. When he heard Sasuke grumble, he hushed him. "No, listen. If Mei's death was played out with a fake body in her place, maybe your encounter with her sparked her to try and get even with the Uchiha. Maybe she blames us for what happened to her husband and probably her baby."
"Is there any evidence of the child that I asked for?" Sasuke butt in.
"No, nothing. All I got from the search was that the corpse was a match to Mei's DNA that the Uchiha files have of her. I'm guessing she planted them in the fake to throw us off; she is a genius after all," Itachi chuckled with a thoughtful nod. "Look, baby brother, I gotta go. You stay on watch tonight and take care of Sakura-chan."
"Aa," Sasuke nodded and hung up. He looked to the dresser decorating the dark hallway and where the flowers now stood in a vase with water. He had inspected the whole bouquet when Sakura wasn't looking, just to make sure that there wasn't anything poisonous or any recording device…
Uchiha Sasuke was nervous.
Leaving his cell on the couch, not caring if it made it to the charger tonight, Sasuke slowly climbed the stairs and went over to his bedroom. He could hear Sakura inside, still humming a song while getting dressed as if nothing was wrong.
Well, she didn't know that there was something wrong.
He saw her when he entered, dressed in one of his old t-shirts that he never wore and her long hair wrapped in a messy bun ontop of her head, still damp from the shower. Sakura was sitting on the edge of their bed, remote in hand and flipping through the channels on mute. It made sense to why he could hear her so easily.
When she noticed him in the corner of her eyes and instantly stopped whatever she was doing, smiling brightly. She got up from her spot, leaving the remote alone on the bed, making Sasuke blink in response as she made her way over to him, holding her arms out to him wantingly.
He didn't hesitate to wrap his hands around her thin waist and pull her to him the rest of the way. He smirked to the reaction of her making a whining squeal and giggling against his chest like an excited child.
"Thank you for taking me out to dinner, Sasuke-kun," she said against his skin. Sasuke could feel her eyelashes flutter as she closed her eyes and snuggled her cheek against him. "It really cheered me up from work tonight. You're the best."
"Aa," Sasuke mumbled when she looked up to him, still smiling that pretty smile. His left hand came up and brushed against her small skin, feeling her blood boil into the cutest blush when he tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. He bent his head a little bit and kissed her hairline firmly before burying his nose into her pastel hair and inhaled her scent.
"I have to get up for work early tomorrow, Sasuke-kun," Sakura finally said after a while of standing there in his arms, a soft sigh escaping her lips when he held her even closer to him. "I bet you're tired, too, hmm? Let's go nighty night!"
It took her a while to drag Sasuke into bed, but Sasuke's body remained tense and alert. Even when Sakura was safely curled at his side, her breathing slow and lullaby-like for him, he couldn't close his eyes. Every little noise from outside their bedroom window, even the house settling made Sasuke's head snap that way and look for any signs of danger. Sometimes he had to rub his fingertips up her spine, just to tickle Sakura in her sleep and remind him that she's still breathing.
Because, Uchiha Sasuke is nervous.
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Born with a void, hard to destroy with love or hope
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Sakura used her hip to open the door to her office…
Well, not really an office. It was more like a hideout within the hospital. It wasn't anything fancy, really, just sound proofed walls, diagram tablets and tons of papers and computers scattered on tables with many women and a few men scurrying around. Sakura carried her stack of files and documents in one arm and her boiling tea on the other; wearing her white doctor coat and her hair down, she practically cleared any cluttered space in her way with the sound of her flats patting the tiled floor.
"Sakura-sama! Good morning, Sakura-sama!" some of her co-workers squeaked as she smiled at them in response. Some of the underleveled ladies blushed at the attention, while the men pretended to be doing something busy, it didn't take long for Sakura to find her twin sister chatting away to herself up the short steps to the higher-ups' section.
"What's with everyone today? They're acting like I'm about to burst, or something, you know?" Sakura nudged Karin's shoulder with her stack of papers before dropping them on the desk. Sakura watched her sister tilt her head up to gaze at her with her fiery eyes.
"No idea, Sakura-nee," Karin shrugged with a snort. "Most of these amateurs don't know left from right when we walk in here in the morning. They're just children."
"Mmm," Sakura grinned and handed Karin her mug when she waved a hand for it. As Karin took long swallows of her sister's peppermint tea, Sakura crossed her arms and randomly looked to the computer screen behind Karin. "Has Tsunade-baasama emerged from her office yet?"
"Nah," Karin huffed and glared to the two black doors that stood against the wall of the upper-level of the office. "She's still looking for targets for your request, from what I remember last night...I didn't see her come in, so I dunno if she even left."
Sakura's eyebrows creased and took a shy glance towards the doors. It wasn't often that Sakura asked her grandmother for something so large as this, but she was more than determined to take whatever Tsunade found and take care of it.
"Hey," Karin muttered and reached with her free hand to grasp Sakura's wrist gently. She offered a soft smile. "It's gonna be okay, Sakura-nee. This is not the first time you've done stuff like this."
"I know," Sakura sighed, slouching her shoulders. "But...ever since that incident with…"
"Sasuke-kun?" Karin whispered when her twin refused to say anything else. "Sakura-nee, you're fine! From the footage of the hotel, he didn't even look like he recognized you for a second! That's the beauty of makeup, you know!"
"It's not that...I just don't think Tsunade-baasama and Kushina-bachan are happy to hear about it. I'm just happy that Naruto doesn't know about it: Can you imagine - " Sakura's emerald eyes snapped to her, worry itching her eyes. " - Naruto-niichan finding out and probably get Sasuke-kun's head on a stake? You know what he said, if-!"
"'If that goddamn Teme thinks he's going to touch one of my precious cousins, I'll personally gut him like a fish, 'ttebayo'!" Karin grumbled in a horrible impression of their beloved blond relative. "Yeah, yeah. I hear that at every Christmas party for the past two years. I swear to God, that boy is gonna freak if his kid turns out to be a girl - that poor baby won't get married until she's fifty, or something!"
"Karin-chan…" Sakura sweatdropped.
"Oi! Where the hell is my sake? I have a migraine, you useless fools!" a tired, gruffed voice of a woman startled everyone but the two sisters in the room, who simply sighed when one of the black doors slammed open.
A tall, fair-skinned woman with sandy-blonde hair marched out. Light brown eyes with the same tint of red as Karins' scanned below the level, striking fear into all of the lower employees. She wore a dark green doctor coat and heels that clacked against the tiles as she made her way out of her office.
"Tsunade-baasama," Sakura greeted her grandmother with a sweet smile, making her stop in her tracks and look to see the two sisters watching her intently.
The blonde huffed and straightened up. She breathed for a moment and barked an "Continue on!" to the underclassmen, who shuddered and resumed their duties with thrice of the effort. The older woman quietly went over to Karin's desk and sat on the other side where the girls were.
"Good Morning, girls," Tsunade hummed in a hushed tone, nodding her head to each of her grandchildren. "I...forgot that you two were coming in today." Tsunade was not one to lose her temper easily infront of the females of her family, and Sakura could just imagine her grandmother attempting to skin Naruto alive if he was here today.
"What's wrong, Baa-sama," Karin chirped with a tilt of her glasses at her, making the older woman (who appeared to be the age of thirty, at least) sniff and refuse to meet their gaze. "Did the search for Nee-chan's request not go too well?"
"Aa, about that," Tsunade gasped with a memory, snapping her fingers and pointing to Sakura with a perfect aim. "I found the perfect one for you to take care of tonight. I had the boys lock him up in one of our places by the docks - Naruto and Shikamaru are with him until you're ready."
"Good. I'll do it now." Sakura wanted to hurry. She wanted to hurry to finish the job and come back with her reward and-!
"No, not now," Tsunade stopped her from getting off the edge of the desk. Both Sakura and Karin blinked in confusion, waiting for their boss to say something else. With an annoyed sigh, Tsunade got up and motioned for follow. "You two, come to my office and you'll see."
Karin looked at Sakura and shrugged, getting up from her chair and wait for her older twin to lead to towards the office. "You two won't believe the night I had. Honestly, I haven't had this much of a migraine since Naruto passed out from Hinata's seduction mission all those years ago!" Tsunade grumbled and rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers. "I was just about to leave for the night, too. You two are lucky to have me as a grandmother!"
"What happened, Tsunade-baasama?" Sakura asked with actual concern, waiting for Tsunade to rip the door open and her emerald eyes slowly shifted to look inside her office. "Tell…"
Inside Tsunade's small, but lavished office, sported with a black desk and a matching plushed-chair. A large screen overtook the whole wall behind the desk, where Tsunade could easily do her work with more space…
But, sitting on Tsunade's chair with her heeled feet crossed on top of her desk, sat an auburn-haired woman with striking emerald eyes and red lips. She wore a deep blue sweater and black pants, her shoes a similar sandal-styled heels as Tsunade - she was smiling at the sight of both Sakura and Karin's stunned expressions.
Mei kicked her legs off the desk and stood up, placing her hands on her hips as Tsunade slumped against the propped door.
"This little bugger right here thought she could pop in and ruin my chance to watch the poker tournament," Tsunade sighed. "And, let me tell you girls, she had a lot to say for the past twelve hours."
"Hey my little tenshis," Mei cooed with a bigger grin when Karin hiccupped a sob. She made her way around the desk and leaned her rear against the edge just like how Sakura does it. "Did you like the flowers I sent, baby girl?" she asked directed towards Sakura, who sniffled a tearless cry; herself and her twin couldn't hold it back any longer.
"Momma!" they both cried out and leapt towards Mei, who opened her arms willingly and accepted both Sakura and Karin as they clung to her and cried out like little children. Mei's smokey eyes softened greatly as she cradled her daughters in each arm, burying her face into pink and red hair.
"I missed you two so much," Mei whispered to their ears, rubbing the backs of their heads soothingly when they hugged her tighter. "You won't believe how many times I asked Mother when you two were coming in."
"Nonstop because I didn't know," Tsunade interrupted with a shrug, making Mei laugh at the obvious smile of joy that her own mother was trying to keep down. Unable to fight it, Tsunade smiled at the sight of her family being reunited like this. "Alright, alright. Enough with the tears, girls - tears are saved for the pillow, remember?"
"Hai!" Sakura laughed with embarrassment and pulled out of her mother's hold, patting her sister's shoulder to get her to listen. She sniffed, smiling brightly to Mei as she reached up and carefully poked her button nose, and soon did the same when Karin wiped her glasses clean from salty water.
"I'm so sorry I didn't send anything about coming home," Mei pouted softly as she tilted her daughters' chins up to inspect them. "I got caught up with trouble in Mongolia, and my communications had to be terminated."
"It's okay, Momma," Karin said. "We're just glad you're finally home."
Mei gave a sweet coo to her daughters, before grasping each of their hands and finally putting on a somewhat serious expression. "Alright, my little tenshis...I really wish I can waste time and catch up, but we will have to save that for later. Sakura - " Mei glanced and gently squeezed her hand, and Sakura blinked with curiosity. " - I just want to say, even though it's a delay...congratulations on your marriage, my baby girl."
Sakura smiled. "Momma-!"
"But why in hell did you marry an Uchiha?"
Sakura paled. 'Shit…'
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=xxx=
AUTHOR'S ENDING NOTE - Hey babehz.
