AUTHORS NOTE: But the blonde just smiled, turning for the door, "I'm going to make Genma and Raidou's day a little worse, you just rest up, okay?"
The two friends get a new job assigned to them. How did that go?

I will take request for side notes throughout the main story, if there's a moment you feel like you've missed, let me know in either the reviews of by dropping me a note. I make no promises, but I'll consider every prompt ^.^

XOXOX

Side notes to
Hidden Feelings, Hidden Lives

XOXOX

Addition to chapter 78: Friends Matter
Drabble title: That's Not In The Job Description!

XOXOX

Genma relaxed, leaning his elbows on his knees he leaned over a little so his hands – and by default the piece of wood he was working on – hung over the small bucket he used when carving inside, "You know Rai… This might be the best idea you've ever had…"

Grunting something, the older man reached behind him to grab his coffee off the shelf. There was a small smile on his face as he leaned back and took a sip.

XOXOX

"Shikaku!" Tsunade called after the man disappearing around the corner. Frowning lightly, he doubled back, shooting her a confused look. The blonde smiled a little tiredly, "I'd like you to take over the communications with ANBU."

"So," He chuckled humorlessly, "Shizune's finally admitted she can't do everything by herself anymore, huh?"

"Yes," A small sigh escaped her and she wiped a hand over tired eyes, "I should've known you'd realize… But actually, I was kind of looking for Genma and Raidou. They're not in their usual spot."

"Tried the break room on the ground floor yet?"

"Shikaku…" Chuckling lightly, Tsunade leaned against the wall, "Their usual spot is any and all break rooms, empty offices and the bench outside. They're nowhere to be found…"

He chuckled along for a moment, mirroring her position against the wall, "Why do you need 'em anyway?"

"To dump the Citizen's Complaints on them," A wicked smile spread across her face, "It's about time those two started earning their keep, don't you think?"

"You mean them being on the Guard Squad, Genma keeping up the spirits of most of the – well, I guess female – clerks, Raidou always being around to carry anything even remotely heavy, their training and all the little things they do in between, making time for just about anyone who needs a hand… That's still not earning their keep?" Cocking his head, Shikaku smiled softly, "I get that it seems like all they ever do all day long is lounge around and drink coffee but please keep in mind that you're sitting in an office all day signing paper work. You don't really look to be doing much of anything either. But still, if you need to find 'em… There's an office up on the fifth floor that used to belong to Hayate. It's basically a shrine of sorts nowadays, lot's of guys go up there to reflect on what they're doing with their lives. Good chance you'll find 'em there. Those two are the ones that keep the place clean," There was a slightly annoyed look on the Commander's face as he pushed off the wall. Continuing his way, he called back over his shoulder, "Really Tsunade, if you wanna find a guy that needs to start earning his keep, I suggest you start looking for Iwashi instead."

XOXOX

"Think this is okay though, Rai? We've been up here for almost an hour already…" pulling a little face, Genma meticulously carved off a millimeter of wood before turning the little piece around in his hands to check for any mistakes.

Shrugging, the other man leaned back against the wall, "Need to recharge, Gen. Both of us. Done nothing but run around for weeks now. I don't care if they need us to carry another box, it's not gonna happen today."

"Yeah… You got a point. But –"

"Not even our job, Gen."

XOXOX

"Hey," sticking her head into the umpteenth office, Tsunade only barely held back a sigh.
What's with all the shocked expressions every time I pop my head in? Is everyone here scared of me or something?
"I'm looking for Raidou and Genma, have you guys seem 'em?"

"Eh… No, Lady Hokage," the man swallowed hard, holding up a file almost as if to shield himself, "Last time anyone saw them was around lunch."

"Yes," his colleague interjected, "They were logging some boxes that needed to go down to storage…"

Tsunade blinked, "What time was this?"

The woman leaned against the edge of one of the desks, "I think around… Twelve-thirty? There were around fourteen boxes and they'd gotten through I think… Half of them?" she looked over at her co-worker for confirmation.

"That was just when they started though… People always keep adding more once those two agree to carry something. Think the other departments all added their own boxes too… By the time I passed the pile on my way back here there were at least thirty boxes there. And I got back around twelve-forty-five, so…"

Tsunade sighed. This must've been the tenth story she heard about those guys doing other people's job's. And that was just today, "Well, thanks anyway. If you catch them, please tell them I want to see them as soon as possible, okay?" without waiting for a reply, the Hokage left again. Continuing her search for the two special jounin she'd always thought were just lounging about all day long.

XOXOX

"Another squirrel?" Raidou frowned lightly, "All you ever do is squirrels these days…"

"So? I like squirrels. I'm making a family of them."

"Extended family, right? Or a clan?" Raidou chuckled lightly, "And where are you gonna leave 'em when you're done? Think of that yet?"

"Not really… I guess I can put them in the guest room…" Genma's tone was a little unsure. After all, his guest room was starting to look like a woodcarving museum by now, "Or maybe I'll just give 'em to someone…"

Another chuckle sounded from the older man, "Who's gonna wanna have twenty wooden squirrels, Gen? You know as well as I do that you're never gonna be able to break the family up…"

For a while, the brunette didn't reply. Putting the finishing touches on some details on the tail of what was gonna be 'Uncle Squirrel'. Eventually though, he looked up. There was a slight frown on his brow as he muttered, "Give it a rest, will ya? I'll find some way to get rid of them, I just don't know how yet."

"It's fine, Gen. You do you," shrugging he reached for the coffee pot, "You want some more?"

XOXOX

Not here either… Where the hell could they be?
Leaning her tired body against the wall for a minute, Tsunade pondered the possibilities. She'd gone through Hokage Tower floor by floor, room by room, and yet Genma and Raidou were nowhere to be found. No-one had seen them since around one-thirty. And no-one knew where they could be hiding right now. Standing in the hallway on the top floor of the Tower, the blonde had to admit that they were either really good at hiding, or –
Or they've sneaked off and gone home already… Technically their shift is over by now. But everyone I asked seemed to agree that they're usually here till deep in the night. No wonder they're always late in the morning!

Suddenly, the blonde froze on the spot.
Did I just hear someone laughing? From… Up there?!
Looking up at the ceiling she wore a confused expression. Biting down on the nail of her thumb, Tsunade had just about convinced herself she must've heard wrong when all of the sudden the sounds coming from just above her head were so clear she couldn't deny it any longer: Genma and Raidou were in the attic!

"No seriously, Rai! That was what he said! Back alley hotel room or no deal!"

Listening intently, the blonde could just about make out Raidou's response, "You didn't honestly consider that, did you?"

It was quiet for a few seconds, and Tsunade guessed that Genma's reaction was just too soft to make out because the next thing she heard was Raidou laughing again. Chuckling a little, she opened the door to her left very quietly, rushing up the ladder without a sound until she could see the two men sitting on crates in the cluttered and dusty attic. Unable to contain her excitement, she pointed, "Found you! Finally…"

Completely stunned, Genma turned his eyes on the blonde that had seemingly appeared out of thin air. The hand holding on to his coffee mug trembled a little from pure shock, the other already this close to hurling a senbon at the Hokage's face. Taking a shaky breath, he lowered the weapon, his words coming a little slow as he tried to wrap his head around one of the strangest situations he'd encountered in years, "Lady Hokage…? What… are you doing here? Wait, is something wrong?" setting his coffee aside, he rose to his feet, muttering a curse as his head connected to the low ceiling. Seeing the woman calmly lean her arms on the floor surrounding the hole the ladder came up through, he sat back down again. Rubbing his aching head, Genma frowned in confusion, "There's nothing wrong, is there…?"

"No… Unless you count the fact that the two of you seemingly disappeared of the face of the earth for an entire afternoon…" pulling herself unto the attic, she sat down on one of the empty crates, motioning to the coffee maker Raidou had 'rescued' from the scrap pile. The pot was slightly cracked, and there seemed to have been some repairs done to the machine itself, but apparently it worked just fine as both guys were drinking coffee, "Any chance I could have a cup?"

"Sure," Reaching somewhere behind him, Raidou pulled out another cup, pouring her coffee as he spoke, "No milk here though… And if you want sugar, I'm afraid we only have one spoon," Smiling softly, he handed the cup over to the blonde.

Accepting the drink, she instantly noticed the small cracks in the cup, a careful look at Genma's and Raidou's cups revealed they looked the same.
So these are old ones, probably were about to be thrown out…
"So tell me… Why are you two hiding up here?"

Genma looked away uncomfortably while Raidou only shrugged, "Needed a break."

"There's about a dozen break rooms in this building, Raidou…"

"And everyone knows where they are," Genma sighed, picking up his coffee cup once more, "Means that wherever we sit down, best we get is five minutes before someone needs us again. Hauling boxes around, delivering paperwork or messages, checking to see if someone's left yet –"

"Picking up the slack from people who are out sick or just didn't do their job right," Raidou interrupted, before Genma interrupted him again.

"Getting coffee for the entire floor because we're on our way to get some for ourselves, then having to clean up behind whoever got coffee last cause they left a huge mess…"

Sighing, both men stared down at their coffee, a defeated look on both their faces. Tsunade blinked, taking a small sip of her own coffee before raising her eyes to look at the two tired men once more, her tone soft as she all but whispered, "So Shikaku was right… You two've got way too much work on your shoulders…"

Shrugging, Genma threw her a glance, "It's not all that bad, really. Just needed a little time to recharge, I guess. We'll get back to work after this cup…"

"No…" Tsunade's tone was thoughtful, "You won't…"

"Lady Hokage –"

"No Raidou, let me finish. This," she gestured to the tired form of Genma, "Has got to stop. I'll find someone else to play errand boy. I need you two for something else. So starting tomorrow, it's a new deal. You are still going to be two-thirds of my Guard Squad, but aside from that and the duties connected to it, you only have one other job: You two are the new Citizen's Complaints Committee."

"We're the what now…?" throwing the woman a confused look, Genma instinctively reached for his wood and kunai.

"The Citizen's Complaints Committee. Shizune used to be the one to handle that, but she's gotten in over her head. I needed to relieve her of some of the responsibilities and this is something that basically anyone can do."

Raidou frowned lightly, "Then why are we doing it?"

Sighing softly, Tsunade took another sip of her coffee, "Because I can trust you. Because Shizune getting overworked is my fault, yet at the same time… it's non-discussable right now. Aside from that, you two have remarkable problem-solving skills, social skills and connections around the village. Despite it not being anywhere in your job description, you guys help people out whenever they need you to. That's admirable…" Tsunade took a deep breath, "But it's gotta stop. You're both going home, get a good night sleep. Tomorrow you report to my desk at nine-thirty. That's when your shift starts. I will find you an office, it's up to you how you decorate it. Shizune will explain the proceedings to you, I think it involves meetings with Shikaku and a few other committees and a lot of paperwork amongst other things. And you clock out again at six-thirty at the latest. Do I make myself clear guys?"

"Yes ma'am," looking up from his woodwork for a moment, Genma gave her a weak smile, "But what about all the hours that're gonna be filled with absolutely nothing? If Shizune did this as a side-job…"

"Shizune only accepted the complaints and redirected them to different departments. You will solve whatever you can on your own before delegating the stuff you can't do anything about. If you really do have time left, go see Shizune and ask what else you can take off her hands, but for now this is all you're gonna be doing. I've seen burnouts before Genma and you are both heading straight for one. And I really need you both in good health. I'm getting old here, I need the protection of my Guard," she winked, emptying out her cup before handing it back to Raidou, "I'm going to see about that office space. You two get your asses home already, it's almost eight."

After the woman had left, the two friends looked at each other for a few long seconds before simultaneously drinking the last of their coffee. Getting up, they left without another word. Tomorrow was going to be a strange day indeed…

XOXOX

"We were told to report here…?"

Shizune looked up from the papers she was laying out on the Hokage's desk, "Ah, Genma and Raidou! Perfect timing," Smiling wide, she picked up a huge pile and extended it to the two men.

"Also, we were kinda told we're not allowed to play messenger anymore…" Biting down on the senbon in his mouth, Genma took a small step back. He felt a little unsure, it wasn't anything like him to refuse to help out like this.

But Shizune only smiled, "I know, these are the complaint forms from this morning," Urging the man to take the stack, she cocked her head a little, "It's not too much today…"

"This… Is not much?" Blinking, he accepted the stack, "Every one of these papers is a different file, right?"

"No… Some complaints require some additional paper to write them out thoroughly," Her smile turned wry, "According to some people at least…"

"Right…" Raidou took a step forward, taking about half the pile from his best friend, "There was an office to go through these, right?"

"Several, actually. You get to choose," Shizune leaned against the desk, counting on her fingers, "There is one on the ground floor –"

"No thank you," Genma pulled a face, "I eh… There's only one hall with offices there, and… Well, an ex of mine works there. We didn't exactly part on a happy note…"

"Alright, then there's the office on the fifth floor –"

"Hayate's place?" Raidou frowned, "That's supposed to stay untouched."

"Alright…" Sighing quietly, Shizune shook her head a little, "Then we have one down the hall from here, and another one floor up. Honestly, I'd rather have you down the hall here, but the other one is slightly larger…"

They looked at each other for only a second, Genma nodded. Raidou smiled softly, "Down the hall it is."

XOXOX

Walking into the office, Genma groaned, "You've got to be kidding me!"

"What's wrong?" Quickly pushing his friend aside a little to get a better look, Raidou sighed, "Well… Looks like we've got some cleaning up to do first…"

"Who left the bloody window open…?" Sighing, Genma turned to his friend, dropping his load on top of Raidou's before walking over to close the window. On the way over, he kicked the desk that was sitting in the middle of the room. A horrible noise sounded and the leg Genma had kicked against broke away from the rest of the desk causing the entire thing to collapse into a heap of dust and wooden parts. Genma sighed once more, muttering, "Just what I thought… Rubbish."

In the doorway, Shizune pulled a face, "No-one's actually been here in a long time, Genma…"

"Clearly…" pulling on the window to close it, the man instead realized that it had rusted in the position so bad there was no way he was going to be able to shut it, "Look, Shizune… I get that all that stuff needs to be done. But first we gotta make this place suitable to work in," turning back to the door, Genma glanced around once more, "I'm pretty sure we can fix the window ourselves. The file cabinet and the desk are both history. The chair is…" he leaned over for a moment, chuckling, "Yep, home to a family of mice. The walls need a fresh coat of paint because this just looks horrible, the floor needs some love…" he pulled a little face, "Excluding furniture… Give us two days to fix this up. Think I even got most of the supplies at home…"

Nodding, Shizune smiled, "Just let me know what you still need to buy. Or, if you can, just go and get it and give me the receipt. The Citizen's Complaints have been kind of neglected recently anyway… I'll help you get the whole thing back on track once you've got a place to work. In the meantime," she turned to Raidou, extending her arms, "I'll just take those back. I really didn't know it was so bad here, I'm sorry…"

"It's… fine… We'll, eh… we'll manage," before he managed to squeeze out any more words though, the woman had already left. Defeated, he let himself fall back against the wall, "So we're down the hall from her now… Great. Any ideas on how to talk to her?"

Genma chuckled, gently pushing the chair to the far corner of the office until such time he had figured out what to do with the family calling the chair 'home', "I dunno. Got something to do with vocal cords or something I think…"

XOXOX

Genma let out a deep sigh, looking around the office that had looked completely uninhabitable only two short days ago. Short, because Tsunade had insisted they clock out at six-thirty and not start even a minute before half past nine. It was a new experience, but he couldn't say he minded. For the first time in years, even though he'd been working hard, Genma didn't feel exhausted.
Probably because I'm getting enough sleep now…

"That's the last of it, Gen," Raidou smiled at his best friend, "Now all we need is some furniture and we're good to go."

"Did I hear someone say 'furniture'?" popping his head in the door, Shikaku chuckled, "Looks like I got here just in time then. I ordered two desks, four chairs and a file cabinet. There's also a bookcase if you want it. Could be useful…"

"Only if you have the books to fill it, Shikaku," Genma chuckled, "We don't all have a collection like yours, you know…"

Shikaku Nara pulled a little face, "You realize you're going to have to familiarize yourself with a lot of different topics, right? There's a couple books that you can use, yes. And given that there is now an actual Committee, you better keep some info handy. Contractor fees, blueprints… Whatever you feel you need. And you need somewhere to keep the law books. There's about six of them. You may not need them much, but you need to have access to them at all times."

"Alright, fine… A bookcase it is…" Genma took a few steps back, leaning his ass against the window that took up most of the far wall of the office, "I say we put our desks here, one side against the window so we both have our own side."

"You wanna be on the left, huh?" Raidou, standing next to the door, chuckled, "By the open window there."

"Please," he nodded, "File cabinet on my side, bookcase on yours? You're a little broader, so it'd be easier to pass that way…"

"Yeah…" looking around once more, Raidou chuckled, "Gen… What do you say about a little plant on the top of the bookcase?"

"What do I say to that indeed…?" he pretended to ponder the question for a few seconds, "I say that I will most likely kill it if you leave me in charge. But if you're okay with taking care of it yourself, I have no objections…"

"Hmm-mm… I got a couple to choose from…"

"Rai…" Genma sighed dramatically, "You got an entire apartment worth of plants to choose from…"

Shaking his head just a little, Shikaku decided to remind them of the desks that were currently taking up most of the space in the entrance hall. The plant could wait.

XOXOX

"So this," Shizune waved another form under their eyes, "Is gonna go straight into the trash. There is no way we can transform the warehouse into a mall, simply because we wouldn't have another place to store the shinobi tools. The complaint comes in every couple of months, and I've been trying to make the Committee of Merchants see, but…" She sighed, sinking down in one of the chairs beside the guys' desks.

"Right, we can try again. What about this though? Paving the roads seems reasonable enough…" Genma picked up another piece of paper, dropping it again at Shizune's humorless chuckle.

"Sure… You go get a price estimate and I'll show you the budget, okay? If it's somehow magically possible all of the sudden, we'll definitely pave all the roads in Konoha…"

XOXOX

Sitting down at the long conference table, Raidou frowned.
So many people here… So this is what the committee meetings are gonna be like? I'm already not pleased… Gen's the social one, not me…

As if his best friend had heard his thoughts, the younger man gave him a quick and easy smile. Over the years they'd gotten so close to one another that they really did know each other's thoughts most of the time and Genma understood all too well how nervous his best friend was right now. Looking around the table himself, he wasn't too happy either though.
So… Shikaku I get along with, Kurou is okay too. Makato… Well, he's easily ignored. But I'm really not too happy about Minoru being here…
His tongue teased the tip of his senbon a little nervously.
I knew dating co-workers was gonna come back to bite me in the ass someday!

At the head of the table, Shikaku rose from his chair and cleared his throat, "Welcome again to the Joined Committee meeting. I hope we can get this over with a little quicker than last week," a soft sigh escaped him, "It's Friday people, we all wanna go home… That being said, the Citizen's Complaints Committee has been taken over by Genma Shiranui and Raidou Namiashi. Please be nice to them the first time around," he waited a few moments to allow a few welcoming nods and smiles to be passed around the table before picking up the paper in front of him, "Very well. First order of business…"

XOXOX

"That wasn't so bad," Genma sighed as he allowed his body to fall into his desk chair, "Woulda thought that meeting would take up all afternoon, but it's only been three hours…"

"Three wasted hours," Raidou muttered as he sat himself down as well, "All they do is complain about how other people aren't doing their jobs…"

"Welcome to bureaucracy, my man…" quickly gathering his things, Genma rose to his feet again, "What do you say to a quick dinner?"

"What's the rush?"

Genma's smile widened a little, "I have some plans for tonight…"