.
The Council meeting
.
I have some good and some bad news for you:
First and best news of all: My significant other proposed! We are going to marry!
Second, the decision has been made, there will be no more sequel, but I've finally started with the novel series.
Third, we've recovered. I have never been tested positive, but I had the same symptoms, just a little lighter than my beloved man. Sadly I'm still dealing with the loss of gustatory sense and olfaction. It's unnerving and frustrating.
Fourth, part of my family cut contact thanks to our profession during the pandemic.
Fifth, I decided to focus more on diet, nutrition, workout and selfcare. I haven't found the right work-life-balance that fits me right now, but I keep it up. Don't forget to be kind to yourself.
Sixth, 2 more weeks until our holiday!
Seventh, I finally confessed to my best friend about our hidden kinky lifestyle and she took it so well. I feel so relieved.
Ok, now two more chapters, let's go!
SquaMata
.
.
Something soft and cold nuzzles her arm, sighing she pulls her arm quickly back underneath the blanket. The something has left an unpleasant trail of sticky wetness.
"Pinkie?"
Sakura discards the blanket and whips up from bed, "PAKKUN!"
.
The pug smiles warily at her and welcomes her from a distance, "Good morning, Pinkie!"
Why is he not coming up for belly rubs?
Probably he needs some time.
.
The pinkette sits down on the floor leaving two meters in between them, "How are you? I haven't seen you for so long."
The joyful pug with his tongue out relishing in her strokes warms her heart. She has missed this little ball of fur indeed.
"I'm sorry, pinkie. Boss did not want me to accompany you."
.
"I'm back now, so prepare for this!" she rubs his belly and his tongue sticks out in pure bliss.
"I missed you, pinkie! And so did he! Please never leave again."
.
"I promise!"
"Good, I'm glad that you're back. I was worried about boss."
.
"I won't go anywhere else."
"That's good. Boss has got to leave early, he has to meet his consultants and prepare for the upcoming meeting."
The meeting.
In an instant her face turns white.
"Come on, pinkie! You look like you need something to eat. I want some raw veal liver, I hope boss hasn't forgotten." The pug wiggles into the direction of the kitchen followed by Sakura.
.
.
While the cute pug is delving into his silver bowl on the floor, Hoshi bears the pinkette some company and they sit down at the table. The personal guard serves her favorite tea and a wooden bowl of buckwheat porridge with fresh berries and almond butter for Sakura.
Oh my God, this is delicious!
Pure bliss!
.
Hoshi smiles at her, apparently he has noticed that his cooking skills fit her breakfast needs.
She returns his smile, "Thank you, Hoshi. Don't you want to have breakfast?"
Shyly his brown eyes met her emerald ones, "I'm sorry, I already had mine and… also, it seems uncommon." He grabs a glass of orange juice and joins her at the table. "But I would be lying if I told you I never had breakfast with the hokage before."
Both chuckle and Sakura feels relieved. It's easy to adapt, she is very welcome here, as it seems.
.
The pinkette points at her bowl, "You have to tell me your secret recipe! I'm sorry, I mean that is if you want to." She sighs in embarrassment, " I'm not used to this."
The personal guard smiles kindly, "Me neither, but sure. It's nothing special, but I'm glad you like it. Do you want some more berries?"
.
"Thanks, I think I had enough fruit. Is there cinnamon in there?"
"Yes, and freshly grated tonka bean. There was no vanilla left."
.
"Ah, that's the distinct note! Awesome, Hoshi-san!"
He smiles proudly. "Thank you."
.
She sets her bowl aside and takes a sip of the steaming cup of tea. Humming in approvement for the choice of tea she asks, "I was thinking about how you survived the attack at the hotel for some time now? I mean, when I got my memory back, I could remember a lot of things, but I was unable to tell what happened to you during the hijack."
He takes a sip of his orange juice and gulped carefully, as if the remembrance is too painful. "I can vaguely remember, I was securing the area outside your cottage and all of a sudden I felt a hard blow on the back of my head, then everything went black. I feel deeply sorry, that I wasn't able to detect them, nor that I could warn you. It happened so fast."
.
"Did they use poison on you, too?"
"From what they told me later, I had been knocked out and my head was injured."
.
"Have you been at the hospital?"
"Yes." He smiled shyly.
.
"For how long?"
He avoids eyecontact. "Quite some time."
.
"Hoshi?"
"I spent one month at the hospital."
.
She puts her hands in front of her lips, "I'm so sorry, Hoshi, I never meant to…"
He cut her off, "You don't need to. It comes with the job, being the hokage's personal guard is dangerous sometimes and I am aware of that. I have to apologize, because I did a lousy job that morning. Tatsuo was securing you inside the cottage and he was... kill- I mean taken out. Kakashi testified in front of the council. That's the only reason why I was able to resume the job."
.
Sakura remembers what Kakashi had told her about the suffering when Tatsuo died. She can only imagine the state he had to be in and still he did manage to find her and get her out of captivity. And somehow he even managed to rescue Hoshi during all that chaos. Kakashi has a big heart and will never let his people down, that she has always been sure of. Sometimes he could be stubborn and run away from his feelings, but deep inside he is the most pure and caring person she could think of.
Hoshi smiles at her and she notices the scar on his face. It must start on the back of his head and lead to his right temple and malar. It had to be a horrific injury back then.
.
"Please let me help you in return. As a skilled medic I can lessen the scar tissue."
Hoshi laughs it off, "Sakura-hime, thank you very much for your kind offer, but do you know what? Now I've got a visible scar on my cheek to impress the girls. You must know it's called the Hatake effect."
The pinkette joins his heartful laughter, then he stands up and tells her about the special guest that has finally arrived during the night. His amused look makes her curious, he leaves the room and re-enters it with a cage in his hands.
.
"I have no idea where she came from, nor why she was that late."
Hoshi hands her a tiny scroll.
.
Code 4 became valid, mission implemented.
.
The scroll is intact.
The bird chirps happily in its cage.
"Chibi." Sakura sighs. "That's the reason why no-one knew about our arrival."
Hoshi laughs, "Probably. Hokage-sama especially chose her because he was hoping that you will remember her. I guess the sender did not know she is not a reliable messenger bird at all. I guess sadly that information was not shared between Suna and Konoha."
.
Sakura laughs, "I'll get her some millet."
Pakkun, "Don't reward her for lousy work!"
Hoshi can't hold back his laughter anymore and Sakura joins in, even Pakkun has to giggle, which sounds more like a deep bubble grumble and amplifies their joyful laughter.
.
.
In the afternoon the renowed medic-nin has never felt more nervous than before. She is sitting in the waiting area in front of the council room and her fingers are worrying the hem of her flak vest.
Has the clock always been ticking that loud?
I can't remember.
Until now she thought it would be best if she will show up in her formal uniform, but at the moment she wishes she had gone for her favorite and significantly innocent skirt and blouse instead. The door swings open and Shikamaru leads her inside with a cautious smile.
She shyly returns the smile and enters the room, Kakashi and the council are already there and the tension is palpable. In an instant his bare presence calms her down, their eyes meet briefly and she knows she is not alone with this situation.
.
"Haruno-san, have a seat."
The pink-haired kunoichi shudders inwardly as she notices the wooden chair standing in front of the council. It looks cold, unwelcoming and uncomfortable, as if this was an interrogation. "Good afternoon, it's a pleasure to meet you." She tries to sound as composed as she could, although she almost feels the blood in her veins freeze and sits down on the interrogation chair.
.
"How and when did your affiliation with the hokage started?"
"To be honest it somehow the feelings began during our mission training, but we acted professionally and set them aside for the sake of the mission, for the sake of Konoha."
.
"How long are you hiding your relationship?"
"Nothing happened until almost two years after our return to Konoha."
.
"Why did you go back to Suna?"
"When I got injured during the ambush I almost died. Without the persistent help from the hokage, Tsunade and the kazekage, I would have died that day. They saved my life, but I had lost my memory completely. I could not remember anything that had happened in said two years."
.
"How did you get your memory back?"
"It took time, but at some point it all came back at once."
.
"Did you have a romantic relationship with the current kazekage?"
"It was part of the mission."
.
"What about the relationship with the ANBU that you had before your second move to Sunagakure?"
The hokage stands up and walks over to stand in front of the council. "This will never leave this room. This is classified information."
In a puff of smoke he changes his appearance into an Anbu. Then he takes off his Anbu mask and shows them his face as Tatsuo. "Let me introduce you to my secret jutsu. I have practiced and perfected it over many, many years. Tatsuo can act as a perfect henge as you can see, but also…", he changes back into his own appearance and Tatsuo the clone pops up next to him, "...I'm able to create this clone that can act completely on his own. He is the perfect weapon." Kakashi starts explaining the functions and abilities of his secret jutsu and the council seems astonished. They agree it will stay a state secret, but he will have to record it and find someone worthy enough to pursue it for the future.
The great copy-nin gives her a reassuring eye-crinkle and returns back to his own seat.
How can he be so eased up right now?
I bet he isn't, but he tries to be - just for you.
The pinkette musters up all her fortitude and smiles at him with confidence.
.
"To make one thing clear: Due to your official affiliation with the kazekage two years ago and your fairly known relationship with an ANBU you seem volatile and young. To protect the reputation of our dear hokage and Konoha, a wedding in the near future is necessary."
Her eyes turn wide, she desperately seeks for eye contact with him, but he is just shoving his chair back to sit down in the middle of the council. He halts for a moment, tall and powerful he listens to their condition, then he just shrugs nonchalantly and sits back down on his own seat. "We will talk about the terms later."
.
"What about offspring?"
Embarrassed, she tells them the truth of the effects of Sasori's poison attack and furthermore how Gaara's chakra had saved her life in return when she had almost died.
.
"Is your infertility the real reason why the kazekage had ended your relationship or fling or whatever you may call it almost three years ago?"
"It was mutual." The bitterness in her voice is clear, the strong medic-nin is not prepared for that insensitive question.
.
Kakashi steps close to her side and sets an arm loosely around her to emphasize his supportive attitude. We'll get through it together.
In his infamous teacher manner he speaks up, "Relationships do end from time to time."
"Make sure that yours will not. After your wobbling around you will have to cement ties eventually. This bears a great responsibility. We will put it on the test until Memorial day. If your relationship lasts until then it will be officially declared. Until then you will contain it properly, another incident will not be tolerated. Haruna-san you are dismissed."
.
Relief and panic wash over, she has no idea if she did well or if she had fucked up. Shikamaru walks her out of the room. Before he closes the door he smiles at her again, this time it is more heartful and sympathetical.
.
.
In the evening there is a welcome home party at Naruto and Hinata's house for Sakura. Kakashi and Sakura show up together, he holds the door open for her and leads her inside. This change of behavior will not go unnoticed, but both of them don't even care. The rumors have already spread, although nobody dares to bring it up. Everyone seems to be happy that Sakura is back safe and sound.
Everyone is there, except the last Uchiha.
"Where is Sasuke?" Sakura asks Naruto.
"Gaara had regained his memory at the same time as you, Sakura. Sasuke offered to stay in Suna for a while to help Gaara and Kankuro with the council as an official ambassador of Konoha for the alliance." According to his nervous babbling she is sure that there was more to tell, but she is not pushing him. Instead she can put the cards together herself. The pinkette feels happy for Gaara and Sasuke, they both deserve delight.
.
Karin conveys her apology, she is still working on the poison and Orochimaru's secret jutsu together with Tsunade. Both will work with Sakura in the future to use it for beneficial medic usage. The three are making plans and comparing their work shifts until Naruto and Hinata disturb them with an impressively huge plate of cake.
After delving into four different kinds of cake, lemon cheesecake, blueberry cupcakes, strawberry cream sponge cake and triple chocolate tart, Ino leads her to the terrasse. Apparently she needs a moment to talk alone.
.
"I'm glad you're home again."
"I missed you too."
.
"Sakura, I need to know. I… I heard rumors about what happened in the tower." Her look turns serious, "What about Tatsuo?"
The pinkette smiles reverently, "Tatsuo had never returned back from a cruel mission. Kakashi was there for me."
.
Ino wondered about the feeling in her gut. Sure. "Then tell me why Sai told me he had returned and is one of the hokages personal guards?"
Sakura bit her tongue, "Really? I didn't know."
.
Her voice is a bit too high pitched for Ino's taste, also she has noticed the not so subtle glances that flow in between her pink-haired best friend and a certain silverhead since they have arrived.
"Sure, forehead. Tell me when you two have balanced your stories. Anyway, I'm happy for you, Sakura." She laughs and Sakura joins her. Someday you will tell me anyway.
.
.
Later as everyone has already left, Hinata hugs Naruto and says happily, "Finally they can be together for real!"
Naruto looks at her with incredulity and astonishment. "What do you mean?"
.
Her look says it all. "Sakura and Kakashi."
"You know?"
.
His charming wife confesses that she knows everything. A long time ago she accidentally saw Sakura and Tatsuo with her byakugan, as they walked down from hokage mountain which looked like they were on a date. Also she knows about Tatsuo from the day she had been waiting for Naruto in front of Anbu headquarters. "I owe Kakashi a lot because he is always watching over my precious husband and therefore I will keep it a secret as long as the couple wants it so."
The blonde jinchuuriki pulls her close and leans in for a loving kiss.
.
.
.