And the Rain keeps Falling
Naruto was tired and weary. His eyes ached with the constant parade of papers passing before him. The pounding rain did not help his mood. It made the usually hyperactive young man want to go back to his two-bedroom flat and drink a warm mug of Hibiscus tea. Yet here he was, seven hours later, drinking coffee instead of tea, and he was not even half way done. There was the Hokage evaluations of the Leaf jounin to be written, not to mention the growing stack of D-rank missions or the new Genin team assignments. (There were 36 new Genin candidates, the largest graduating class seen since who knows when.)
"Good training, she said. It'll help you be a good successor, she said." He mumbled angrily as he stamped approvals, painstakingly looked at each Jonin file, and wrote what he thought were accurate summaries of their strengths and weaknesses from the past year.
They were arranged from oldest to newest jounin with each year's academy graduates grouped together. Within each year, the jounin were ordered alphabetically. Naruto was finally approaching the latter half of the personal files; The Konoha 13.
"Let me see. This is Aburame, Shino. "A large Cheshire-grin split his face as he wondered at the delicious secrets that this file could hold. What embarrassing things could he hold over his taciturn friend?
"…blah, blah…uhh…GAAAH!?"
He quickly shut the manila folder closed; rubbing his eyes to erase the memory of what he had just read. Some things were simply meant to remain a secret. Quickly, he penned a positive report on Shino's proven tactical skills and vastly improved taijutsu. (He had experienced this first hand.) Then he placed the file on the completed stack to his left. He continued this process, grinning at his comrades' accomplishments and strengths.
"Haruno, Sakura." He read out loud, looking wistfully at the picture of his teammate.
She was very pretty, to say the least. Her face looked at the viewer full on, her small smile exuding a confidence and joy in her own being that so many found attractive. Her soft cotton candy hair fell in tufted tendrils, framing her face and large forehead boldly. She was shining with an outer radiance so delightful that it had caught Naruto's attention at a young age. But now he found himself admiring her for her skill and her character, fearing her violent corrections, yet fondly caring for her, due to their experiences together.
However, it was a different kunoichi who now flitted in between his thoughts, at inadvertent times.
Once finished with Sakura's evaluation, he hesitated moving her file, knowing as to whose was next. His heart thudded as he prepared himself to see the image of someone he hadn't even looked at a picture of for the past five years. 'Is she still the same?'
An image of a broken, white umbrella in a soiled puddle flashed in his thoughts. He gripped his head, knowing it would do him no good to bring back those emotions. Quickly, he placed Sakura's file on the completed stack, and hurriedly leafed through the folder under it, finding the evaluation space. He quickly wrote 'Report pending', not even glancing once at the name nor the picture. Fate it seemed had its own plans as a bird suddenly hit one of the large windows of the Hokage tower. It startled him so much, he knocked over the stack of files, flipping open Hyuuga, Hinata's folder to her ID picture from just before she left.
His gaze was drawn irresistibly towards the pale face. Its porcelain façade was bereft of any blemishes or color. Her large, lavender eyes gazed out, shining with so many secrets and burdens. She looked so tired and weary, dark circles forming under her eyes. She seemed so melancholy and she looked so...trapped.
Unknowingly, his calloused fingers gently caressed the figure, marveling at how young she looked with the short bobbed hairstyle. She had gotten it cut just weeks before her departure.
"I w-wanted to start over." She smiled a bit hesitantly, her eyes pleading for him to understand, though at the moment, he just couldn't. He diverted his gaze towards the blue sky, hoping she might drop the subject.
She shifted nervously; one arm crossed her chest and held her other arm in a gesture of insecurity. She lowered her gaze, hiding pearlescent eyes behind heavy indigo bangs. Her side tails had remained to gently curl around her small face and delicate features, but her shoulder length hair was gone. Instead there remained feathered strands, which were somewhat reminiscent of her hair from her genin days.
"It-It looks…cute, Hinata."
Somehow that didn't seem to be the right thing to say as her face fell slightly, only for her to cover it up with a forced giggle. Naruto didn't want to push the subject further, so he decided not to comment. They walked in awkward silence for several minutes before…
"I guess short hair looks better on Sakura, huh?" she whispered quietly, so quiet, he almost hadn't heard her question. She fidgeted with the hem of her green Chunin vest.
He almost couldn't believe it. Kind and shy Hinata had said something so…so…jealous and so full of envy. His eyes darkened in annoyance, and he walked ahead of the girl, oblivious to the silent sounds of her breaking inside.
But then again, he had been oblivious to many things prior to Hinata's departure. Things he wished he could have noticed. His attention was again caught by the sounds of something tip-tapping the window; something that was definitely not the rain.
It was the same bird from before. A large, pale gray albatross with a black as night glower observed the astounded male. It was completely unfazed by the rough winds and torrents of rain buffeting its feathers. It had stopped its incessant tapping as soon as Naruto had come to the window, somehow knowing it had reached the right place.
He quickly opened the latch, pushing the glass outwards. The albatross side stepped and hopped around the pane, making its way inside the office. It quirked its head at its strangely quiet host, almost inquiring as to what it should do next.
"What? Are you a messenger bird or something?" Naruto queried, chuckling.
The albatross affectionately tugged at the long sleeve of his dark shirt, grabbing his attention. It then lifted one of its bright orange legs, showing the hidden scroll tied by a pearl-colored ribbon. On the outside of the scroll was written 'To the Hokage' in a delicate, widely looping scrawl. Very feminine writing, he noted absently.
He gingerly freed the message so as not to jostle the oddly friendly bird. It was patiently standing stock still, trying to make it simpler for him.
"Got it!" He shouted triumphantly, and grinned at the bird. It slowly blinked up at him, then nuzzled its head against his arm. He softly patted the white feathers on its head.
"It's raining really hard outside, it's probably better if you stay in here for the night."
Holding out his arm, the albatross gleefully stepped up onto Naruto's nest of hair. He sighed and slowly walked towards his bag. Pulling out a spare orange jacket, he carefully arranged a sort of bed for the bird atop a small filing cabinet. The albatross fluttered down, its large wings nearly beating Naruto's head to oblivion. Finally it was settled in its makeshift nest, and had fallen asleep in moments.
Naruto resumed examining the outside of the scroll near his desk, wondering if he should open it. He was the Hokage successor after all…
"Granny Tsunade isn't here today, and I am acting Hokage when she's not, so…"
Throwing caution to the wind, he delicately unwound the silky ribbon, and carefully placed it on the desk. A pleasantly familiar cinnamon and vanilla scent floated from it as he untied it. His heart raced in anticipation.' It smells like her.' He tentatively unfurled the tightly wound paper, bit by bit…finally it was-
He was unfortunately interrupted by a series of loud bangs on the door.
The loud raps had made him drop the scroll and knock over his cold coffee, smudging any discernible text that may have existed previously. His albatross friend was wide awake and beating its wings nervously. He quickly and somewhat angrily opened the door.
"What is it?" he growled at the visitor. His scowl deepened as he saw a vaguely pineapple shaped head and a tall slim form wearing the standard Chunin vest. It was only Shikamaru, the appointed future Hokage assistant and tactician. "What do you want?"
Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow at the flustered Naruto, wondering what could have caused him to be so uncollected at the moment. This was not the post war Naruto that many had come to know. The post-war Naruto was still kind, with a certain hardness in his eyes that hadn't been there before.
The post-war Naruto was confident, never faltering and was a known ladies' man. (Actually that may have been post Hinata, but who was really paying attention.) The point was that Naruto was not the same boisterous Naruto he had been years ago. And so, Shikamaru was both confused and pleasantly surprised to see this unguarded side of his friend.
"I'm just here to tell Tsunade-sama that our global ambassador's coming back from their mission."
"Oh."
"Troublesome…What's with the bird?"
Shikamaru didn't even have time to blink before the door was slammed in his face. 'That was her summon animal.' He mused, silently chuckling at the irony of it all.
Smirking, he headed down the hall to look for Tsunade.
Back inside, Naruto scrutinized the smudged mess that was once a letter. Regretfully, he wiped down the coffee and disposed of the wet scroll. He stopped completely when he saw the discarded ribbon. Enjoying the soothing scent, he picked up the silky material and went back to the jounin files, unknowingly placing it next to the very file he had wanted to ignore.
The heavy rain continued to fall and the albatross calmly scrutinized its franticly working host.
A/N: Hahahaha! I guess we all know who the scroll is from, but Naruto doesn't! Hahaha! Sorry if this chapter was kind of slow or not up to par. But then again, let me know what you think! Please review.
