Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't updated sooner, but as I said I am back in school and you shouldn't expect me to update especially fast. I will try to update once a week, but we'll see how long that lasts. Okay quick sum up of the story till now, Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi went on a mission to be bodyguards for a man called Takashi Hakane, but as it turns out Sasuke was sent by Orochimaru to kill the same man. He succeeded too. What he didn't expect was that his former teammates would show up. Akari was Takashi's granddaughter and was also living with him. Fortunately she survived and our favorite leaf shinobi decided to take her back with them. Now they have all finally returned back to Konoha…

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Chapter 10: Adopting Akari

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Sakura woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. For once, Sasuke wasn't the first thing she thought about when she woke up. Actually, it was Akari who was on her mind. She had thought long and hard about what would happen to her little friend and she came to a decision that she would take her in herself.

She thought that it would be really nice for her and Akari, since the little girl seemed to like her. Sakura knew Akari didn't deserve to live by herself for the rest of her life. She would be the outcast, the one everyone else made fun of. Sakura had experienced that and she knew that Naruto had been alone for a good ten years of his life… with no parents or anyone. Basically, it sucked. No one should have to deal with that loneliness.

The only problem with that was getting Tsunade-sama to agree.

She ate a quick breakfast and was about to head out when she heard a knock on the door. She quickly went to answer it.

"Oh, hi Naruto," she said greeting her blond teammate at the door.

"Hey…Sakura…," he replied while breathing heavily.

"Did you run all the way here?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said and grinned.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"So what's so important that you had to run all the way here and tell me?"

Naruto blinked.

"Oh, right. Granny Tsunade wants to see you. She told me to hurry, so I did."

"That's good. I was just about to go see her."

She turned around and locked the door. Naruto followed when she said good-bye and started to walk away.

"I'll come with you," he offered.

"Oh no, that's okay. You have more important business to attend to."

He gave her a blank stare. Sakura sighed and shook her head.

"You have a girlfriend, remember? I'm sure Hinata will want to see you."

"Oh, right. I said I would tell her when I got back…"

"And that was yesterday," Sakura finished.

"Right, I totally knew that. I'll see you at ten then?" he said and veered off in the opposite direction.

"Yep."

Whew. That was a close one. She had decided that she wouldn't tell Naruto or Kakashi-sensei until after she had adopted Akari. They would probably only discourage her and she didn't know if it was a possibility that Akari could come live with her. First, she would get permission and then tell her friends. No sense in giving herself false hope. She tried to think of what she would say as she headed to the hokage's office.

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Knock, knock, knock.

"Come in," said a tired voice.

Sakura pushed open the double doors that led into the hokage's office and stepped inside. The hokage did not look up and greet her however; she was pouring a cup of sake from a small bottle on her desk.

Sakura could see why she needed it. There were also stacks of paper, piles of scrolls and other documents on the cramped desk. Tsunade was scribbling something on a piece of paper and didn't bother to look up when she spoke.

"Gai, I will look at your mission report later, but I'm busy right now. Just give it to Shizune and please leave," she said slightly annoyed and glared at her newcomer.

Sakura smirked amusedly at her teacher. How could she confuse her for Gai? That was weird. Tsunade quickly realized her mistake and changed her expression to a small smile and even chuckled a little.

"I apologize, Sakura. It's been a long day," she said tiredly.

Sakura nodded slowly.

"But it's not even ten-o-clock in the morning," she said confused.

"Exactly," Tsunade grumbled.

Sakura smiled and sat down in a chair near the desk. She turned to her sensei.

"What did you want to see me about?"

Tsunade sighed. She crossed her arms and observed her student carefully with a frown on her face. She didn't say anything for a long time.

"Um…sensei…What are you looking at?" Sakura said nervously, "Is something wrong?"

"Well, Kakashi handed me your mission report yesterday after you came back and I looked at it very carefully… Honestly, I'd thought you'd be an emotional wreck."

Sakura looked behind Tsunade, out the window.

"You know everything then?"

"I know that Sasuke Uchiha killed the man you, Naruto, and Kakashi were assigned to protect and that you successfully knocked him out before he and Naruto killed each other."

Sakura mentally breathed a sigh of relief and for once thanked her old sensei for being so secretive. She didn't want anyone else to know what had happened between her and Sasuke and she probably wouldn't tell anyone either.

"What I want to know, Sakura is, are you okay?" Tsunade asked snapping Sakura out of her thoughts.

"…I'm fine," she replied.

"Good. That's all I wanted to ask. You may leave."

Sakura clenched and unclenched her hands nervously.

"Um actually, Tsunade-sama, I also have an important question for you… and it's going to sound weird."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"Shoot," she said and turned her attention to a scroll.

Well, you remember Akari right? The little girl we brought back with us?"

"Yes," Tsunade said slowly, not quite sure where this was going.

"Well, I was wondering if she could come live with me."

Tsunade's head snapped up to focus her attention on her student again.

"Are you serious? That's a big job."

"I am perfectly serious, Tsunade-sama."

She looked her sensei straight in the eye and tried to keep from smiling.

"Okay."

"That's it?"

"Yep. I know you well enough to say that you are capable of this. Would you like me to say no?"

"Of course, not! I just thought it would take more convincing than that."

"Here."

Tsunade handed Sakura some documents that she filled out saying that she was now the legal guardian of Akari. It took her a while to read through everything and sign it, but it was a big stack of papers.

"Can I see her?"

Tsunade nodded. She called for Shizune and told her to retrieve the little girl. A few minutes later Shizune gently pushed in a nervous Akari. The little girl turned around and Shizune gave her thumbs up and then she closed the door. After she left, to Sakura and Tsunade's surprise, Akari turned to Tsunade and bowed low. Tsunade widened her eyes. No normal four year old would show that level of respect.

"My grandpa told me I should respect my elders," Akari said quietly.

Sakura smiled sadly. Akari noticed her just then sitting in the chair. Her eyes lit up.

"Oh, hi Sakura-chan!" she said happily.

"Hi, Akari," Sakura replied equally happy. "Do you know why you're here?"

"No. That nice lady just told me I was going to see the hokage," her eyes drifted over to Tsunade for a second, but then she looked back at Sakura.

"Oh."

Sakura looked at Tsunade for a little help, but Tsunade just raised her eyebrows, motioning for her to go on. Sakura got up out of her chair and walked over to Akari. She kneeled down in front of her. Akari watched her curiously.

"Akari, you're going to come live with me now. Is that okay?"

In response Sakura saw the hugest smile she had ever seen spread across the little girl's face. She jumped on Sakura and hugged her while laughing. Sakura actually fell over.

"I guess I'll take that as a yes," she said.

Tsunade smiled.

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Naruto and Kakashi sat waiting on the grass for Sakura to arrive. She was really late. Yes, even Kakashi had showed up before her… that's how late she was. Naruto got up and started target practice to pass the time. He thought he might as well get something done.

"This is really unlike Sakura," Kakashi stated.

"Yeah. The last time I saw her was at around 9:30 this morning. She was going to see Granny Tsunade."

"About what?"

"I don't know. I told her to go to the hokage's office and she said that was good because she had to talk to Granny Tsunade about something too so then she left."

"I see."

Kakashi looked up and saw Sakura running toward them. 'Well, what do you know…'

"Hi guys!" she yelled unexpectedly happily.

"Geez, Sakura it's about time," Naruto said with a frown on his face. "I still can't believe you're later than Kakashi-sensei!"

"Oh, uh, sorry. I was talking to Tsunade-sama."

"What were you talking about that was so important that you ended up being a whole hour late?" Naruto pressed.

Sakura got an oh-crap-I-can't-keep-this-a-secret look on her face.

"Well, I actually wanted to tell-"

"Wait a second," Kakashi interrupted.

Naruto and Sakura both looked at him with annoyed expressions.

"We aren't the only ones here," Kakashi said quietly.

They all heard a rustle in a nearby tree. Naruto and Sakura backed up a little, obviously expecting someone to jump out at them. Kakashi just sighed.

"Come out, Gai. I really don't have time for this today."

Right on cue none other than Maito Gai jumped out of the tree and landed in front of his "eternal rival" and gave him that weird smile with the sparkle thing.

"Hey there, Kakashi! I finally found you," he said triumphantly.

Naruto and Sakura sweat dropped. This guy was just too weird.

"What is it this time?" Kakashi asked with a bored expression.

"Well, I would challenge you, but the hokage wishes to see you at the hospital."

"What for?"

"I don't know," Gai's face turned from a smile to serious. "Apparently it's important."

"I guess I have no choice, then," Kakashi got up. "I'm sorry Naruto and Sakura, but training is cancelled for today."

"What?!" Naruto said in exasperation.

"We'll go extra long tomorrow," Kakashi said with a wave and started walking towards the hospital leaving his students and Gai with curious looks.

'I hate hospitals. Why in the world would she want me there? I hope I don't have to identify someone. Something tells me this isn't going to be easy…'

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When I said "Guess who's coming in the next chapter…" I lied. That person will be in the next one I promise. You'll notice than I will occasionally add the Japanese endings on some people names like Tsunade and Sakura, but I'm too lazy to do that all the time, so yeah. As you can see this chapter took me twice as long as it would have during the summer, but I will update asap. Please R&R!!