Dark eyes looked with disgust from afar at the pink haired woman who sat on a stone bench inside the garden. She was reading some kind of book, completely oblivious of the person's hateful gaze from the window behind her back.

The person couldn't even count on their two hands the reasons why they felt such negative emotions towards this…this girl. At the age of twenty, Haruno…no, Hatake Sakura couldn't even be called a woman yet. So who in their right mind had the brilliant idea of actually crowning her as the queen of one of the most powerful countries on the continent? It was absolutely ridiculous.

She wasn't even the descendant of a truly noble lineage. The two big clans of the Land of Whirlpools were the Uzumaki and the Senju, the current and former rulers of the small country were descendants of Senju Hashirama and Uzumaki Mito. Henceforth, only the members of these two families could become leaders of the kingdom. The Haruno clan was a side branch of the Uzumaki, but they became so distant from one another during these centuries, that they became a whole other clan in the end. And whilst the Uzumaki's were idolized by the occupants of the small island, the Haruno's became an ordinary family; they couldn't even be considered nobles. Their wealth wasn't vast, but they were still situated above average.

Hatake Sakura's father was the youngest nephew of the clan head and when the time came, instead of choosing the daughter of a noble clan, he wed a shop owner's daughter. Haruno Kizashi became a diplomat, often leaving the island country in order to strengthen or establish diplomatic relations with other nations. After a series of unfortunate events Haruno Sakura became an orphan, but because of her father's good relationship with the queen, she adopted her soon after.

After the adoption, the girl became royalty and because of her kindness the people of the country loved her. They even forgot or ignored the fact that she didn't have royal blood in her veins. Fools.

…

Kakashi looked at the clock on his office's wall, noting with delight that lunch would be served in half an hour. After his trip with Sakura almost a week ago, their relationship changed. For the better. She wasn't as hostile towards him as before, and they both tried to share at least one meal each day. And what was probably the best aspect of their meetings: they talked. Sure, they didn't talk about really serious things, but even a small talk could be considered a huge advancement in their case.

He stopped his writing when someone knocked briefly on his office's door. It must've been Sakura, maybe she came to tell him that she finished with her work.

"Come in." He said, putting away his pen and organizing the stack of papers in front of him.

"Your Majesty." To his disappointment the person who entered wasn't Sakura, it was a much older and uglier woman. Koharu.

"Koharu-san. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Your Majesty, there are a few issues that need to be urgently discussed."

"Yes?"

"According to my information, your marriage has yet to be consummated." The woman said, with a hard look on her face, Kakashi's eye narrowed. This was definitely not something that he wanted to discuss with the old hag.

"I believe that this is something you shouldn't be concerned about."

"And I believe that I should be-"

"It's none of your business!" Kakashi raised his voice, startling the woman.

"None of my business? You forgot that as a king, you have certain obligations towards the Council and the nation. It is our duty to make sure that you'll have an heir."

"Heir? First, you talk about me taking her innocence away, and now about making her bear my offspring? She's just a child!" It took all of his willpower not to shout.

Koharu didn't seem to care about his state as she continued on. "She's not a child anymore; she's a woman and your wife."

"I'm not some kind of monster, who'll force himself on her. I might as well rape her while I'm at it, don't you think?"

"You need an heir. This country needs an heir. If you die without one, then the whole ordeal we had after the Uchiha massacre will be repeated. And to be honest, I don't want that to happen, and you shouldn't want that as well."

"I don't care." He gritted out.

"What?"

"I believe that you heard me crystal clearly." He stood up, having enough of this ridiculous conversation. "Now, lunch is about to be served, so I have to leave now."

"This problem cannot be ignored, Your Majesty." The woman glared at him.

"It most definitely can. Look and learn." He left the room with an eye crinkle.

Here goes his plan of having a nice day without stress and anger. The old bat always had a knack for bringing out the worst qualities of a human being. In these times when Kakashi regretted not having any power over choosing who the members of the Council were. Not to mention, that the title was for life, and the members were only changed if they committed felony or something else that damaged the country's power and prestige.

Much to his disappointment, the dining room was empty. Sakura always arrived earlier than him, though that wasn't saying much. He instantly noticed that the table was set for only one person, which meant…

…

A paint can almost hit Sakura in the head, its white contents spilling on the tiled floor. Had it not been for her good reflexes, she'd have passed out for God knows how long. She looked up at the sheepish looking painter and sent him a murderous look, being far too busy to even start arguing with him about work safety.

With the grand opening day of the hospital getting closer with each passing minute, saying that the building was in chaos was an understatement. The majority of the supplies had yet to arrive, not to mention that renovation wasn't even half done. Had it not been for Shizune's help, the pink haired woman would've already gone insane.

She quickly pulled out her to do list from her pocket. Sakura resisted a groan when she saw the amount of work she still had to do. She's been running around since 7 in the morning, and it seemed like she barely put a dent in her chores. Her stomach started to grumble, reminding her that she hardly ate anything since the morning, and it was well past lunch time. She brought some food with her when she left the palace, and even told the cooks that she won't be returning for lunch. The food was on her desk, in her office, but since she had a meeting in 10 minutes, she opted on leaving it for later.

The news of a hospital opening in Konoha spread like wildfire throughout the country, catching the attention of many people. It was good, since in a matter of days they had hundreds of recruits to choose from. But as everything, this had a throwback as well: the so called healers of the country got worried, they were afraid that they would lose their clients and go out of business. So, as seemingly everything nowadays, they had a syndicate, which pretty much demanded an audition from her. She was already preparing herself for a pretty nasty argument with them.

Three middle aged men were waiting for her inside a reasonably renovated and furnished room. Though they showed her their obligatory respect, it was obvious from the look in their eyes, that they were not pleased with her.

"I'm really sorry, but I only have a limited amount of time. I believe your reasons for our meeting have not changed."

"No, Your Majesty." Tachibana, the president of the syndicate spoke up.

"Gentlemen, I can assure you, that you won't go out of business with the opening of the hospital. Your clients have always been the rich, while this institute would mainly focus on the average citizens."

"There's no guarantee that our current clients won't turn to your…" It seemed like he was carefully choosing his next words. "…services."

The way he acted and spoke his words angered her. It seemed like he viewed the hospital and its future employees a nuisance. Like the form of medicine she represented could be considered inferior to what they, the great healers of the Land of Fire could offer. Just because they've been in business for decades and managed to cure a mere cold here and there did not mean anything in her eyes. These people only cared about the rich and their money, and now that they might lose their job, because a new, more efficient way of healing surfaced in their country, they became worried.

"I'm sorry, but I do not understand your concern about this. If your clients are not satisfied with your services, then it's natural that they would want to use better ones." The three men looked at her like she grew a second head. It seemed like they were not used to people speaking up to them.

"Hundreds of people would lose their job, if this hospital opens."

"Yes, and it'll save thousands. Look, Tachibana-san I already proposed a training program for you. Your help in building this new healthcare program would be invaluable."

"I'm sorry, but we cannot give up our traditions." The man straightened in his seat, raising his chin.

"Then I can't help you." Sakura pushed her chair backwards, preparing to leave.

"You can't just leave us like this." The older man raised his voice slightly.

"I'm not leaving you like this, Tachibana-san. I offered you a solution, but you refused to accept. I understand that it is really hard to change methods that are so embedded in one's profession, but sometimes progress is the only way of survival." The calmness in her voice surprised her. Right now Sakura wanted nothing else than to smack their faces. "I'll give you a week to reconsider my proposal. See you later."

With that, she stormed out of the room, leaving the three men behind. Sakura patted herself on the shoulder for how civil and calm she showed herself to be. Though she was head of the biggest hospital in the country back in Whirlpool, she never had to attend meetings with people like Tachibana. Her generation has already gotten used to the new ways of medicine. But, Tsunade a few decades ago was in the same shoes as her right now. It took the blonde years to make people comfortable with using the new, more effective methods and leave the old, much harmful ones behind. She prayed that these people were more open.

…

Shizune was in the midst of explaining the different steps of processing blood samples to the future nurses of the hospital, when she heard a giggle from someone in her audience. Though it was barely discernible, her sharp ears caught it immediately. Two of the new nurses were whispering something to each other, while looking out the window facing the hallway.

She followed their line of vision, her annoyance intensifying tenfold. There, on the hallway, leaning against a wall was standing Shiranui Genma. He had his hands in his pockets, the senbon lazily hanging in his mouth. Their eyes met in that exact second, Genma sending her a wink. The two girls emitted another giggle, further annoying the older woman.

"I'll give you ten minutes of break." The brunette stormed out from the room, stopping in front of the man. "Shiranui-san, can we have a talk?"

"Of course, Kato-san." He smirked, following her. Since most of the rooms were being painted or furnished, she took him to the roof.

"I would really appreciate if you wouldn't follow me around, Shiranui-san." She stated calmly, trying not to say anything harsh.

"I've been asked personally by His Majesty to make sure that you are safe."

She spread her arms, turning around in front of him. "As you can see, I'm perfectly fine, not even a scratch."

"I can see that." He looked her over with a wolfish grin. The woman could still improve on her closet, but at least the trousers showed her really nice butt. "But it is still my job to make sure, that nothing would happen to you in the future."

"Oh, and the captain of the Royal Guard is ensuring my safety. What an honor." The sarcasm in her voice could be hardly ignored.

"Yes, it is."

"Look, Shiranui-san, I really appreciate your work and all, but you are seriously distracting my students with your presence."

"Really?" He chuckled. "Well, I'm not surprised at all." It seriously surprised Shizune that his already big ego could grow even more.

"As I mentioned a few weeks before, I can protect myself, so your services are not needed."

He looked her over once again, trying not to laugh at what she said. The woman was so petite, that he was sure her arms could break the moment someone grabbed her arm with a bit more force than usual. Heck, she didn't even reach up to his chin!

"I highly doubt that." His words and that complacent look on his face sealed the deal for Shizune.

It all happened so fast. She threw the man over her shoulder, and onto the floor in the split of a second. His yelp, which was probably as manly as a newborn could manage, was most certainly the highlight of her day. And no, she wasn't a sadist. It's just that frustration always brought out her bad side.

"As you can see Shiranui-san, I can perfectly take care of myself." Shizune stated breezily, looking at the gawking man. "And if you have any more doubts, I can surely further demonstrate my capability."

The creepy smile on her face made him gulp. Gulp. Like honestly, the last time he felt so petrified by a woman was in elementary school, and that was only because his teacher always spanked him for flying paper planes during class. The brunette flicked her wrist, looking at her watch.

"As much as I'd love to continue our conversation, I have to go now." She turned on her heels and left him, still laying on the floor. Genma was livid. He's never been treated like this by a woman in a looooong time.

If the damn woman wants war, then she might as well get it.

Update? So early? Yes :D

There isn't any interaction between our favorite couple, but the next chapter might hold some surprises :)

Thanks to all who reviewed, followed and put the story in their favorites.

See you soon!