The Rokudaime Hokage

Six people stood before the room in which shortly the Rokudaime Hokage would become instated. Five of those six people had silver hair, the sixth having bright pink hair. Four of them shared the same hairstyle, where it lay flat and longish, as opposed to the windblown tangle of the other two. *Three of them (well, three out of the four children) wore pretty party dresses, the fourth child wearing her preferred skirt and blouse. Two of them were wearing masks over the lower half of their faces, much to the annoyance of the pink haired woman. One of them was about to become Hokage.

For the entire of the previous day, wherever Kakashi had gone people had patted him on the back and wished him luck. Kakashi had smiled and nodded, but inside he was cringing away from all of the attention. He still wasn't quite sure how he had been conned into being Hokage, and why he hadn't managed to duck out of the position. He supposed that he was hoping for something to come up and save him. But now, with thirty minutes to go before he was officially Hokage, he knew that no one was going to turn up now.

Tsunade appeared inside the room along with Naruto and Hinata, all of whom were smiling. Hinata held out her hand and took Sakiko, Kaminari, Oka and Ouka out of the room to go and wait outside for their father, and Tsunade looked at Kakashi.

"It's nearly time. I have to go inside now. See you soon!" She disappeared inside the room where the council was, leaving Kakashi with Naruto and Sakura. The old team smiled at each other, Sakura reaching out her hand to squeeze Kakashi's.

"You nervous?" asked Naruto, his eyes sparkling but his tone serious. Kakashi was silent.

"What's the worse that can happen, hm? Everyone in the village knows you, and trusts you. And, if they do all end up hating you, then you've always got me, Naruto, Hinata and the kids." Kakashi nodded.

"You'll be fine. I'll see you later!" Naruto left, going the same way that Hinata had gone.

"Come on, you'll be fine."

"Sakura, I couldn't even get Sasuke to stay. What makes you think that I can lead the entire village?" Sakura sucked in a breath. They hadn't talked about Saskue for several months, when they had received the news that he had been killed in a fight, alone and blind, twisted by his desire for revenge. Sakura exhaled slowly, and placed her lips briefly to Kakashi's masked ones.

"Sasuke… was Sasuke. He would have gone, no matter who his leader was. Don't blame yourself. You weren't the cause for him leaving. And, that was just one person. The fact that he stayed as long as he did is a miracle, I suppose. So promise me that you aren't going to dwell on that, because it wasn't your fault, Naruto's fault or anyone else's. He chose his own path; you didn't force him to leave. He made that decision." Kakashi nodded. "Right then. Get into that room, and don't come out again until you're wearing the Hokage hat." She kissed him again, and turned to go after Naruto.

"Wait! Sakura… I love you." Sakura smiled.

"I know. I love you to. See you soon!" Kakashi nodded, and went into the room. Sakura watched him go, before hurrying to the balcony where Naruto, Hinata and the rest of her family was waiting which overlooked what looked like the whole of the village.

"Is Kakashi all right?" asked Hinata. Sakura nodded, smoothing down the top of Kaminari's hair which stubbornly refused to lie flat, instead sticking up at the same angle as Kakashi's did, although Kami could pull hers back into a ponytail as she often did.

After what felt like an eternity, the doors opened and Kakashi came out, wearing the Hokage hat as promised. He had adamantly refused to wear the Hokage robes, and had forced the architect who was carving his face in to the Hokage Monument to keep his mask on. He had argued that it was as essential as Tsunade's purple diamond on her forehead.

When Kakashi saw his family, his eye crinkled up into the half-moon of his smile, and headed over to them immediately. He was treated to several hugs from his children, before he snaked an arm around Sakura's waist.

"How was it?" Sakura asked, as they approached the edge of the balcony.

"Ugh, remind me to never accept the position of Hokage ever again." Sakura chuckled at the same time as catching the back of Ouka's dress as she toddled close to the edge.

0o0o0o0o0

Sakura sighed as she put newly washed dishes away in various cupboards, her light footsteps barely making the faintest creak on the wooden floor. Kakashi was slumped asleep in the living room, and every other occupant in the house was in bed. It was late, but for some reason Sakura couldn't sleep, and so instead found herself in the kitchen clearing up from the previous few days. She turned back round to grab the next pile of plates, and found herself face to face with a bone white ANBU mask. She shrieked and the plate in her hand fell to the floor. The ANBU picked it out of the air before it could smash on the floor, and handed it back to Sakura. Sakura took it, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Can I help you?" she asked. Her previous experiences with ANBU were not joyous occasions. When they came for Kakashi it usually meant the next few days sitting at home and biting her nails whilst waiting for him to get back from whatever deadly mission he was on, or it meant patching them up which was worse than treating Sai, Naruto and Kakashi all at once.

"Hatake-sama. I have been assigned to guard your home." Sakura frowned at his words.

"I can assure you that my home does not need guarding."

"Hatake-sama, my orders are to guard your home. It is important for any Hokage to have ANBU guards keeping watch around them at any time in case of attempted abductions or assassinations. "

"WHAT?!"

"Hatake-sama, let me assure you that it has never happened before, and is unlikely to happen, but we have to guard in case of possible future attempts."

"Stop calling 'Hatake-sama'. And where are you planning to guard anyway? Inside, outside, underground?"*

"Sakura-sama, I am not authorised to tell you." Sakura 'harrumphed'.

"Fine then. Go and guard." She turned to go into the sitting room, but then a sudden thought struck her.

"Um, hey, if you're hungry or thirsty then just help… yourself," she finished quietly as she saw that the kitchen was empty.

Shaking her head she went into the sitting room were Kakashi was slumped over the coffee table. She gently took the Hokage hat which had been placed next to Kakashi's elbow, and carried it into the hall to hang on Kakashi's peg. The pegs were one of the necessities in the Hatake household, a peg for each member of the family where coats, cloaks, mission packs and medical kits were hung up, with stacked cubby holes underneath which held various shoes belonging to each person. Sakura gently placed the hat on the correct peg, then turned around, letting out a startled little 'eep'. Kakashi stood in the doorway to the living room, his lone grey eye looking tired and his Hokage robes slightly crumpled, his arms open in an invitation.

"Did I wake you?" asked Sakura as she snuggled into Kakashi's chest.

"No." They were silent.

"Kakashi… our new guard visited just now."

"Oh?"

"Mhmm. Apparently they have to stay, unless you tell them to go."

"And this is a problem?" Sakura thought about it.

"I guess not. It's just… well… it just feels as though we aren't going to have any more private time. I mean, they're always going to be here, aren't they?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that they'll know what we're doing. The walls are sound proof, so they won't hear any arguing, they're meant to be guarding from intruders, not from the people inside, and anyway, we still have our garden. Not even the kids know about that." Sakura grinned.

"No, they don't, do they?"

"Would you like to visit the garden?" Sakura nodded against his chest. Taking her hand Kakashi led Sakura out towards the garden. The moon bathed the flowers and pond in a slivery light, the warm air rendering the need for a coat useless and the cicadas provided a chirruping melody. Kakashi pulled Sakura back into a hold and they danced under the moonlight. And, from the shadows, a masked ANBU member discreetly turned his back, allowing the Hokage and his wife have the moment together.

A/N: This took ages to write. I had an idea, then forgot it, then got another, then forgot that one. It was really annoying. Anyway, for the end of this chapter one of my new kittens kept sitting on the keyboard. She really, really likes my laptop… But I think she thinks that there are tiny people living inside when she watches youtube videos! XD

Anyway, Please Review!

Fallen Quills