Chapter 8
It's been a while since Hatake Kakashi and Haruno Sakura have made a public appearance together, bringing many to believe that their love fizzled out before it even had a chance to grow. However, anonymous sources have confirmed that in recent weeks the pair have been seen entering the Hokage Building everyday around midday in lieu of their previous favorite meeting spot, Ichiraku Ramen.
However, Teuchi, owner of Ichiraku Ramen, stated that he has not lost two of his favorite and most famous customers (next to our very own Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, of course). Teuchi states that he still sees Hatake Kakashi everyday with him stopping by to purchase two cups of ramen to go, which brings one to speculate that Hatake Kakashi is bringing the second cup of ramen to none other than one Haruno Sakura.
Upon further investigation, a representative for the Hokage has stated that the Hokage himself hired the pair to relieve his regular guards during their lunch breaks, but one has to wonder..Is there more going on than meets the eye, and right beneath the Hokage's nose, too?
It seems that although our two lovebirds have gone into hiding, their love for each other has not fizzled out. Instead, it seems to be steaming up! After all, what have these two actually been up to behind closed doors? Is there the possibility of the pitter patter of little feet not long from now? Guess we'll just have to wait and see!
"What is this? Dattebayo!" Naruto shouted, throwing the tabloid paper violently on his desk.
On the other side of his desk stood Kakashi and Sakura, looking both shocked and terrified.
"Naruto, let me explain-" Kakashi began.
"Are you sleeping with Sakura-chan? I'll kill you!" Naruto said, quickly jumping over his desk to make a grab for Kakashi.
Sakura shot between them and spread out her arms in an attempt to protect Kakashi.
"Naruto, listen!" Sakura shouted, but Naruto was currently ducking right and left underneath her arms, trying to take a jab at Kakashi. Meanwhile, Kakashi was ducking right and left behind Sakura, trying not to get hit.
"Naruto, stop!" Sakura tried again, but Naruto was too intent upon murdering his former teacher to hear her.
"SHANNARO!" Sakura shouted, grabbing Naruto by the collars of his Hokage robe and slamming his back against a wall, which immediately cracked into veins from the impact.
"Will you just listen to me, Naruto? There is nothing going on between, Kaka-sensei and me! I swear!" Sakura shouted inches from Naruto's face, making him wince.
Then, the door to Naruto's office suddenly flew open, and several of Naruto's guards came storming in.
Sakura and Naruto froze in place, looking wide eyed at the intruders.
The guards looked wide eyed at the scene of Sakura holding Naruto up against the wall.
Behind Sakura, Naruto, and the guards, Kakashi did a facepalm. Such threats against the Hokage were exactly the kind that he and Sakura were supposedly trying to protect Naruto from.
"Hehe." Naruto laughed in embarrassment, smiling sheepishly at the guards. "It's okay, guys. I'm okay. Sakura-chan and I were just talking, right, Sakura-chan?"
"Ahaha! Right!" Sakura laughed, immediately letting go of Naruto and letting him fall into an unceremonious heap on the ground. "We're just old friends having a little chat!" Sakura said, giving them her most winning smile.
The guards looked skeptically between them, but then Kakashi spoke up behind them.
"It's okay, guys. Good job on the immediate response. I'll take over from here," Kakashi said with all the authority he could muster.
"Hai, Kakashi-sama!" the guards replied, bowing in respect before filing out one by one.
Once the door was shut and it was again just the three of them, Kakashi turned to Naruto and Sakura.
"You two seem to have forgotten that you are no longer children and that your actions now have major consequences. Do try to be more careful, will you?"
"Yes, Kaka-sensei." Naruto and Sakura both mumbled in shame.
"Good." Kakashi said. It pleased him that even though he was talking to the current Hokage and the Fifth's former apprentice, that he was still able to pull rank on them. "Now will you please just let me explain?"
"Okay, fine, but it better be good!" Naruto said, crossing his arms tightly in front of his chest and frowning at Kakashi.
"First of all, I am not sleeping with Sakura."
"Definitely not!" Sakura chimed in.
"Second of all, don't listen to everything this paper has to say. It's a tabloid paper. The writers like to twist reality so that people will become so intrigued that they'll want to buy the paper."
"Yes, exactly! It's all lies, Naruto!" Sakura said, nodding emphatically.
"And third of all, there is nothing going on behind closed doors except Sakura and I having lunch together and talking. That's all we've ever been doing, but no one believes us, which is why I asked for the guard duty in the first place...So that we could get away from it all."
"That's it? You swear you're not sleeping with Sakura-chan?"
"I swear," Kakashi promised.
"So why does everyone think that you are?"
"I don't know!" Sakura said in exasperation. "According to Ino it's because Kaka-sensei is the world's most eligible bachelor and I'm the most eligible bachelorette, so everyone just naturally wants to put us together."
"But he used to be our teacher."
"Yes, I know."
"But he's old enough to be our dad!"
"Yes, I know."
"Wait, what? No, I'm not," Kakashi interrupted.
Naruto and Sakura both turned to look at Kakashi.
"Well, I'm not," Kakashi insisted. "I'm fourteen years older than you. That doesn't make me old enough to be your father, unless I had you when I was fourteen, which would make me a really, really young father."
Naruto and Sakura still stared at him.
"Oh, never mind." Kakashi said crestfallen.
"Regardless," Sakura said, turning back to Naruto, "None of it is true. It's all just empty rumors."
"But why? Why this rumor?" Naruto persisted.
"I don't know," Sakura said, truly perplexed. "Maybe because the wars are over and people are bored and need something to amuse themselves with? It doesn't help either that our old team is so famous. This rumor just adds fuel to the flame."
"So what are we going to do about this?" Naruto asked. "I can't just let you two keep coming here if it's going to cause this much trouble."
"Can't you make some sort of statement clarifying that Kaka-sensei and I are most definitely not in a romantic relationship?"
"I can try."
"Then let's try. The people trust you, Naruto, so they'll believe you."
"I can't believe I actually have to make a formal statement saying that you two aren't sleeping with each other. Who comes up with this stuff anyway? As if you two could ever be interested in each other!" Naruto laughed.
Kakashi looked at Sakura right when she looked at him, then they both quickly looked away, their faces heating up in embarrassment. Fortunately, Naruto was too busy trying to find a blank scroll and something to write his statement with to even notice.
To be continued...
Thank you to Illuminated for your review. I vaguely had an idea of what I was going to do with this chapter, but your comment about how Naruto might react made it all come together, so thank you! =)
