It doesn't make any sense.
The letter in her hand remains folded and closed, crumpled at the edges and slightly damp from her sweat.
It shouldn't make sense.
"Does it make you uneasy?" The woman across her asks.
"No." She hesitates. "Just…Unsure."
"The position will not remain open for long." The woman explains. "If you refuse or if you are unable to give an answer in time, it will be given to someone else."
She remembers that the woman before her is the Hokage, the leader of the village, of the nation even, and feels slightly unworthy of being able to speak with her face-to-face. She is not yet officially affiliated with the village, and given her adamantly neutral position, she should be seen as a potential threat than an ally, but these people are different. They welcome her and call her friend just for the reason of her fighting alongside them in the war. They call her friend because she chose their side. If anything else, would they call her enemy? Strike her down like everyone else?
She lowers her eyes and replies, "I understand."
The woman sighs. "You were recommended."
"I was." She echoes.
"The position would be of great benefit to you and the village."
"Yes." She agrees.
The silence that follows is uncomfortable, and the woman sees it as the opportunity to say this, "I have come to know of your late mother."
Amakuni Sumire, or more known as her maiden name, Kotowari no Sumire, was one of Hagakure's best teachers, having masterfully created the Yatagare-ryu, where an opponent is taken down in eight movements (not strikes) or less, which included the drawing of the sword and every step the attacker makes. It was one of the styles unique to Hagakure alone, and one of the styles that will soon lose its status if she would not teach it to others.
"She was a teacher." She intones. "One of the best."
"And we consider you to be one of our valued allies, even after the war."
She thinks of the woman's words as an utmost compliment and tries not to smile.
She meets the woman's eyes levelly. "How much time will you give me?"
"How much do you need?"
"Not less than a day." She says immediately, though honestly thinking that she would need more than that.
"Two days." The woman concludes. "Until then."
She bows deeply in respect. "Of course."
The letter in her hand is crushed in between her fingers and her palm. She refuses to open it, even after she has exited the Hokage Tower. She had already considered the possibility of an offer to teach kenjutsu to the shinobi, and can't help but think of the irony. Kenjutsu was supposed to be unique to the samurai to counter ninjutsu. It was a refined art of controlled impulse and deliberate movement in contrast to ninjutsu's unpredictability and instability. Allowing shinobi to learn, maybe even master, the art would be something akin to sacrilege.
She would never allow herself the sin.
"You refused?"
He enters her apartment in the late afternoon and frowns at her current disposition towards him. She is seated on the couch, one leg tucked so that her chin rests on her knee and the other stretched out before her. The letter, now crumpled and flattened thrice over, sits on the low table beside her.
"I have three choices." She tells him.
He sits on the armchair facing her without permission and fears that she will strike him.
"I could accept." She says and sees his face brighten up, if only a little, "I could refuse." She continues, "or I could leave."
Her answers are blunt, and completely acceptable, but he thinks that she is forgetting another option.
"There is another option." He tests his luck. "You could just stay."
It honestly sounded better in his head, now that he's said it it's as if he's told her that he loves her.
He waits on her reply half hoping and half afraid that if she does get that meaning…
"And do what?" She asks.
Dense as ever.
"Stay. Relax. Eat ramen. Buy flowers. Collect knives. Go on missions. Live a life after the war, after all the fighting."
With me.
"You recommended me." She says. "Why?"
Because I want you to stay.
"Konoha needs someone like you." He replies. "Who knows when the next war might come around and when we would need a samurai in our ranks."
"Tetsu no Kuni has an abundance of them, if you haven't noticed."
"But they're not you." He blurts out, to which she tilts her head in confusion. He quickly adds, "That letter details my experience in working with you and that also explains why I would recommend you for such a position."
"The Hokage said it herself." She pushes the letter towards him. "I have no need for this, but thank you."
He wants her to keep it because it's not a recommendation letter, it's a love letter written on impulse after going on a night out for drinks with his senpai.
"If you're still having trouble deciding, you can read it, or if you've already decided you can throw it out."
Surely she isn't that heartless, is she?
But it is later in the night that she does decide to open it, only to reveal an unreadable message written with a dry brush.
"Is this a joke?"
The next day he curses himself aloud as he reads the note attached to the letter he gave her.
Your haiku could use more work. Try writing with ink next time, not gin.
He then finds his actual letter in the bottom drawer of his desk with a note from his senpai:
Haiku. Bad haiku. At least this gives you the chance to actually woo her.