Hi guys, a compartatively short one this time but I felt it had to end where it does :) I'm almost done with uni now so will be able to update about once a week soon hopefully!
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"Kakashi..." I began. "I think we need to talk." He turned to look at me with lowered eyebrows, and I got the distinct feeling that he'd deliberate,y turned the conversation this way. "We need to talk about what's going to happen when my house arrest is lifted."
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Naruto scowled darkly, head down and shoulders hunched in the corner of Tsunade's office. At the desk, the Hokage spared him a glance before returning to her mission requests. The weather had turned chilly recently, and the sun that lit the office was amber with the season.
"Granny it's just taking so long to get everything done! How can you stand it?" The ANBU elite pouted, rolling onto his side, curled into the foetal position on the floor.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "These things can take time." Tsunade signed her name. "We can't spare the manpower to search all of the ninja nations at once, no matter how much personal interest we have in the situation." She frowned to herself as Naruto got up -again- and went to check Sakura's house from the window. "I swear the carpet over there will be worn to the floorboards soon enough."
Naruto simply turned imploring puppy dog eyes on her. Frustrated, Tsunade tapped her pen on the desk.
"Tsunade-sama." Shizune called softly from the doorway. "Kazuya-sama to see you about the citizen papers for Mai." Naruto's head perked up instantly, and Tsunade nodded to Shizune. As the door closed behind the assistant Tsunade turned sharp blue eyes on Naruto.
"Not a word."
"But Ino said..."
"I don't care what Ino said." Tsunade's voice was cold with authority. "Ino doesn't know exactly what Hanako looks like and neither do you. The only people who do know are Sakura, who is considered an unreliable source, and Kakashi, who is out of the country investigating other areas of interest right now."
It had only been a few weeks ago that Kakashi had come to her office, face pale, asking for a long term mission. Tsunade hadn't asked, and when she had visited Sakura the girl had been overly cheerful and hospitable. If Tsunade knew anything about her former student, it was that an overly cheerful Sakura was only ever the calm before the storm.
Naruto was stood upright and formal in a flash as the door opened to reveal a young, dark haired man in a dark suit. Beside him was a young girl of about twelve, with big dark eyes and a wide forehead.
Naruto went stiff as the girl clung to Kazuya's sleeve, and the two young men shared a glare. Tsunade simply held out her hand, and Kazuya presented the scroll to her. "You say the girl is from.."
"Tsunade-sama." Sai said, entering the office. He glanced to Kazuya briefly and bowed, then did the same to the girl. "Pakkun has tracked the intruder from the Taniyama hot spring and has sent news."
Tsunade nodded to Kazuya by way of apology, and turned to Naruto. "Naruto, could you deal with the adoption papers while I see to this?" In an undertone, she muttered "And please be professional." before sweeping past.
Once in the corridor, she smirked at Sai. "I'd wondered how you were getting on. You and Ino have been leading quite the double lives recently."
Sai bowed. "I apologise, Ino felt it important to visit Sakura before reporting in. Kiba's team rendezvoused with Pakkun when we came across them on their journey from the North."
Tsunade nodded, opening the door to one of the smaller offices. "And the men you found at the resort?"
"Actually, it was just one person, a woman. Well, a girl. She claims to be a friend of Kakashi's, but Pakkun said he'd never seen her before."
"You didn't capture her at the time?"
Sai bowed. "She got away."
Tsunade's deep frown made the pale young man gulp hard. "Sai, you know the reason I let you take that mission was because I trusted that you two would be capable..."
"It was unexpected." Sai said softly. "She knew our names, she knew our abilities, and she knew about Hanako, however it seemed as though she was searching for something, rather than covering her tracks. Interestingly enough, it seemed she knew very little of Sakura herself."
Tsunade bit her thumb, deep in thought. "Perhaps it's worth interrogating Kakashi further. You say Pakkun tracked her scent? Where did she go?"
Sai's face grew sombre. "That's the worry. She was tracked to Suna, and then towards Konoha, but her scent disappeared halfway."
"Is Pakkun that reliable? This is the second time he's lost the scent of a girl near Konoha, and please don't make excuses. This one can't be pregnant as well."
"Well she could be." Sai pointed out, but Tsunade's glare forced him to avert his eyes. "You're right. It's inexcusable. I apologise."
"Don't waste your breath." Tsunade snapped. "Send an ink bird to Kakashi. Tell him that he must return as soon as possible." She nodded to herself. "Kiba's team will meet up with Hinata and her students, then they can continue the search for Hanako outside of the village."
"And inside of the village?"
"You let me worry about that."
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In all honesty, Tenten had never really considered Sakura as a friend, or even a particularly nice person; Tenten was a woman who prided herself on honesty and dedication, and she had never had much to do with the pink haired girl when they were younger. Her first impressions of Sakura were that she was vain and stupid, and although those traits disappeared as she grew older, the girl had no qualms about lying to Naruto to trick him out of chasing Sasuke, and she'd even shacked up with her former teacher.
No, in all honesty, Sakura had never seemed the straightforward kind of girl Tenten respected, and in Tenten's opinion she had become a ninja for the wrong reasons entirely.
So being asked to visit Sakura to check up on the progress of the clinic was a little inconvenient, even though Tenten would never dream of revealing it to the woman herself.
So she observed Sakura's work as asked, and discussed various poisons and antidotes as she wished, and when Sakura offered her tea and lunch, Tenten had no reason to refuse.
And this was how, on the day that the Autumn leaves started falling, the weapons mistress was sat eating lunch with the gloomy looking medic. Sakura had not changed out of her medic's tunic, and had simply kept her hair back with a plain white headband.
Tenten had little to say beyond a comment on the weather, and Sakura seemed more disposed to be silent herself.
"I hear that Kakashi-sensei should be returning soon enough."
Sakura said nothing.
"Though his mission was meant to be long term, it seems the search for Hanako requires him to be on hand for a while instead." That got a reaction, and Tenten frowned as Sakura's eye snapped to hers startled.
"There's progress?"
Tenten bowed in apology. "I'm afraid I'm not privy to details."
They fell silent again, and Sakura seemed to deflate. Wary, Tenten looked away. In truth, she still had doubts that there was a child, or if there was, that it was even Kakashi's. Quickly chastising herself for thinking such dark things, Tenten began clearing away the plates.
"There's no need..." Sakura began, snapping to attention again, but Tenten silenced her with a smile.
"It's no problem, Sakura-san. I didn't mean to upset you, so this is an apology."
Sakura paused, but nodded and simply crossed the room to sit at the window. "I'm sorry that you feel uncomfortable here, Tenten. I'm just finding it difficult to be a good hostess at the moment." She sighed, heavily, and Tenten found herself watching the young woman with keen eyes, analyzing each sigh and crease of the brow. "I wish I had more of a view than the Tower walls."
"That's..."
"I know." Sakura cast a sad smile in Tenten's direction. "I'm a criminal, so it's impossible."
The guilty feeling in Tenten's chest only worsened as the day went on.
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I knew, I just knew that I shouldn't be behaving like this. Tenten had never done anything to me and here I was making things awkward for her while she was under orders. I was despicable, holding onto the silence this way.
First Hinata, now Tenten... it seemed as if I was determined to make all the women around me feel awkward in my presence. Maybe I should complain about being without my child in front of Ino some more, so that she felt guilty for having her two so happy and healthy.
I bit my thumb absent mindedly, watching from my window as a couple of village children played on the grass by the Hokage tower. The children played further and further away from my house with each day, warned away from the "criminal's house" by their parents and other passing, law-abiding ninja.
It made sense, and I appreciated that. It was the same as how I'd been warned away from Naruto as a child; too young to know better, I'd done as I was told out of respect for my elders.
It was understandable.
It wasn't done out of spite.
It was expected.
It still hurt, though. I watched as a young girl was escorted from the Hokage tower by a young man with dark hair, his hand on her shoulder, pushing her gently onwards. Though she looked over at the children around her, she was urged onwards without choice.
She was older than Hanako would be, but the two still stirred that all too familiar feeling of jealousy. If my child was gone, if my child was in danger, what right did these people have to parade their happy, healthy children around in front of me? It made me sick.
The loneliness was the worst; living with Taniyama and Hanako I'd never been far from an understanding ear. Even if no one knew my secrets, they were kind and trusting and I found that it didn't matter that they didn't know the 'real' Sakura because the woman I'd become was easy and fun to be.
When Kakashi had left, pale faced and determined after our 'talk', I'd curled up in a ball on the floor and cried my tiny stone heart out. Today it was still too raw, too much to watch the people I'd once trusted with my life going about their business.
The people who'd never met me before in Sand country suddenly seemed so much more like home than the people I'd grown up with. The people of Konoha knew what I'd done, knew how I'd lived before Taniyama's hot spring, and they hated me for it. Tenten, who would always try to be kind to me, was the same.
I was a criminal, and a deserter, and I'd broken my entire team apart every single bit as much as Sasuke had before me... but I was even less forgivable because the general opinion was that there was no reasoning for what I'd done.
So what if I'd lost my child? A child raised on the run would have to be every bit as bad as her mother, and besides, even if it was true about Sasuke, I'd abandoned everything Konoha stood for. I deserved it.
I needed to stop dwelling on this. It did me no good.
I generally got one social visitor a day, but no one could stay longer than an hour or so because they had lives out there.
Even Naruto, who always made that extra bit of effort with me, couldn't neglect his other responsibilities. He also had Hinata to take care of; no man should spend more time with a past crush than his girlfriend, even Naruto understood that much.
It had been Kakashi that was always around, easing some of the loneliness.
How long had I been here again?
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"How long have you been here?" The little boy asked, back against the wall as the girl in the cellar reached out of the window, playing with the grass.
"Don't know." Miku sighed, and Yoshio passed her a fluffy white dandelion to play with. "I don't like it here. Dad and pooface aren't as nice as my mum." She glanced behind her quickly, then frowned. "Mum doesn't like me calling people names."
"Where's your mum? Why doesn't she live with your dad?"
Miku looked at him stangely, as though he'd said something totally unrelated to the conversation. "Why would dad live with my mum?"
"Well children are made when mums and dads marry each other." Yoshio said, turning to lie on his belly, facing her. "So your mum and dad must have loved each other."
Miku's face scrunched up, thinking it over. "But my mum and dad don't know each other."
"Don't they?"
"Miku!" The girl's face blanched and she disappeared from the little window. Crawling closer to the window, Yoshio looked through, curious. At the bottom of the stairs in the cellar, a tall, dark haired man stood with his arms folded, telling Miku off.
"I might need to leave for a while, but knowing that idiot wife of mine she'll probably..."
His voice faded to an indistinct mutter, but Miku's face changed, brightening slightly. He must be Miku's dad, Yoshio thought, but then his voice raised again.
"So the wig is no good anymore. We need something more permanent."
He reached down and seemed to take away all her black hair, revealing a shock of bright bubblegum pink. Then he held up two fingers, the way Yoshio's parent sometimes did when they were sparring, and Miku's bright pink hair seemed to fall away, replaced by shaggy black tresses.
"Woah." Yoshio's mouth fell open, watching as Miku held her hair out with her hands, staring at it in horror. Miku's dad looked up at the sound of Yoshio's voice.
His eyes were red. How could they be red?
Yoshio jumped up, driven by some instinct that he didn't know he had, and ran home.
"Mum! Mum!" He called, desperate as he entered the door. He ran straight into his dad, who was wearing one of the Yamanaka flower shop aprons on top of his black ninja clothes.
"Yoshio?" Sai frowned as his son threw short arms around his legs and buried his face in the apron. "What's wrong?"
"Red eyes!" Yoshio said, shaking his head. "Miku's dad has red eyes and he made her hair strange!"
Sai lifted his son up, looking intently over his face. "Are you hurt?"
Yoshio shook his head, and Sai brought him into his chest, sliding one arm under Yoshio's bum to hold him stable, and the other round the back of his head, holding his distressed child close as he walked through into the kitchen.
Setting the boy down on the counter, Sai stroked his hair gently, and prepared a glass of milk. "What happened?"
"I was visiting Miku..."
"Miku?"
Yoshio nodded. "She lives in her dad's cellar." Sai's face creased, but then quickly smoothed into that neutral expression he used when he was being patient.
"Yoshio, now listen to me; this is very important..." He took a deep breath. "You have to tell me absolutely everything you know about Miku."