"Kaka-Sensei!" A flash of orange and a crop of blond assaulted Kakashi's eyes, accompanying the headache inducing yell that infiltrated his ears.
"Naruto, it is far too early for that kind of enthusiasm." He waved a hand sluggishly in his direction, "Keep it to a dull roar, would you?"
"Sorry Sensei" Naruto replied with a sheepish grin. "I am reporting for duty. What boring Hokage lesson do you have for me today?" He plopped himself gracelessly in the chair across from his mentor.
"Forging signatures to begin." Kakashi perked with strained cheer, and gestured to the pile of papers on his right. "Sakura dropped off this pile last night. Have at it."
Naruto turned up his nose, "Heyy, and what will you be doing?" he crowed.
"Oh nothing. Pondering the universe, questioning my place in it, spinning around in my chair. Important Hokage stuff." Kakashi deadpanned.
"Ne, that's not fair!"
"I am the supreme decider of what's fair and not what's not. And this, is fair." Kakashi added with a smug eye-crinkle and a full rotation in his spinny chair. Being Hokage did have its perks.
"You're looking tired sensei." Naruto remarked after a moment.
Kakashi let out a groan. "You and Sakura both with the honorifics. I don't understand it." He muttered.
"Have you been getting much sleep? Sakura-chan is always going on about eating those vegetables and sleeping well." Naruto probed once more, and Kakashi offered him a devious smile.
"Now that you mention it, I've been enjoying the most glorious of slumbers. It usually begins with me sandwiched between two busty beauties and ends with – "
"Alright alright, cut it out Sensei!" Naruto cried throwing his hands over his ears, "You don't need to be such a perv, I'll forge your damn signature."
"Such a good student."
"Shut up."
Kakashi shot him a smug smirk and proceeded to spin himself a few times in his chair, taking great pleasure in Naruto's dramatic eye roll.
"Excuse me Hokage-sama." A polite voice brought the two shinobi's attention to the slender woman approaching.
"Yes, Shizune." Kakashi acknowledged, in his best attempt at professionalism.
"Sorry to interrupt, but is Sakura in here?"
Kakashi and Naruto exchanged quizzical looks, Kakashi answering nonchalantly, "Not since last I checked. Unless she's hiding behind that suspiciously large plant she gave me." He nodded to the ficus growing wildly in the corner of his office and Naruto gave a chuckle at the thought of Kakashi trying to keep a plant alive.
Actually, what happened to Mr Ukki? Naruto's drawing horror was cut off my Shizune's reply.
"Has she visited you at all this morning?" Shizune continued, unamused by his cavalier attitude.
"Was she supposed to?" Naruto piped, shooting Kakashi a quirked eyebrow.
"She missed the start of her shift this morning, I wasn't sure if you had requested her presence for another matter and she'd forgotten to tell me. I called in another medic to cover but it's unlike her to not show up, so I thought I'd check here first." Shizune explained.
A small itch of concern gnawed at the back of Kakashi's mind, as he processed the new information.
"Sakura-chan missing work?" Naruto mused light-heartedly, "If her alarm clock isn't broken, it will be when she realises what time it is."
"I walked her home last night," Kakashi distractedly supplied to Shizune, "I can go check on her now if you'd like."
Before either of them could respond, Naruto leapt from his seat and started at the window.
"Nah nah Kakashi, I'll do it." He volunteered. "You've got important Hokage business to attend to, documents to sign and stuff. Besides, I'm sure Sakura would much rather wake up to my beautiful face than your ugly mug."
"I would rather she punched your face than mine." Kakashi confirmed matter-of-factly.
"See ya 'Kashi. Shizune." Naruto unceremoniously bounced out the window.
"Don't worry Shizune, I'm sure she just overslept."
"Of course, Hokage-sama."
A beat.
"Shizune, do you think I have an 'ugly mug'?"
"I – I wouldn't know."
"Shizune, you've seen me without my mask." He reminded.
"Yes..."
Kakashi raised his eyebrow, and cleared his throat. "Okay. Thank you for your honesty… I think."
With a bow Shizune hurried out the room, and Kakashi shifted his mask a little higher.
Kakashi had made an underwhelming amount of progress on his piles of paper by the time Naruto crashed back through his window, red faced.
"Kakashi you perv!" he accused, earning a wide-eyed response. "What the hell did you do to Sakura-chan last night that made her leave a note for you on her bed?!"
"Excuse me?"
"This was laying on her pillow." Naruto shoved the folded note into his hands, with the word Kakashi addressed on the front.
Thumbing the edges cautiously, Kakashi unfurled the paper to read the four words scribbled across it.
'I decided for you.'
Kakashi's eyed narrowed. "Were there any signs of struggle?" he asked sharply.
"The hell Kakashi? Don't say weird stuff like that." Naruto groaned defensively.
"Naruto." Kakashi demanded sterner, "What state was her apartment in."
Taken aback, Naruto answered pensively, "It was clean and tidy like normal Sensei. Her bed didn't even look like it was slept in…" He quietened, "What's going on?"
Kakashi locked his jaw, his mind racing with possibilities that set his teeth on edge. No way would he be stupid enough. He shot to his feet, "Naruto. Meet me at the gates in one hour."
"Hey, does this have something to do with Sakura's note?" his voice was leeching with concern and he eyed his mentor anxiously.
"It's not Sakura's handwriting." He said half to himself.
"Wha-"
"One hour, Naruto." With a puff of smoke, he was gone sending a flurry of papers flying.
Kakashi stood at the bamboo doors impatiently waiting for them to slide open. He wrapped his knuckles a second time against the frame with a little more force, eyeing his surroundings. A modest house, lying peacefully at the edge of the village; a frosted garden lining the front and naked trees doting the perimeter. It had been a while since he was last here. He just hoped she'd be awake.
The door slid open an inch, and a pair of honey eyes met charcoal.
"I need a favour." Kakashi got straight to the point.
"No." She replied instantly, shutting the door.
"Tsunade. It's about Sakura. Sasuke has taken her."
The door shuddered open with terrifying strength, splintering as it crashed through layers of walls to end on the far side of her garden.
"Tch. That little brat… owes me a door." She spat, "How did he even get past patrols? How many shinobi do we need to fire?"
Tsunade marched aggressively through the house and headed straight for a bottle of sake readily available on her counter top. Thank goodness for her retirement supply.
"Sasuke came late last night to request Sakura for a mission. From what I gather, he was after her unique abilities, although he refused to elaborate further on any details." Kakashi started, watching Tsunade perch the bottle to her lips and swag three long sips.
"I assume you told him no?" Her eyes narrowed at him expectantly.
Kakashi hesitated, "Well. Sakura was present at the time, I didn't want to outright take the choice away from her."
"Idiot. What do you think Hokage's are for?" she interjected gracelessly flicking a loose blonde tendril from her face in a huff.
Ignoring her chastising tone, Kakashi continued, "It got a little… heated. She seemed conflicted." He finished awkwardly.
"You think she left of her own accord with Sasuke?" Tsunade voiced the elephant in the room, knowing full well the answer.
"No." Kakashi replied flatly. "Sakura is loyal to Konoha, her duties as a kunoichi and to her Hokage. She cares much too deeply about her patients and her friends to just up and leave without so much as a warning." Or a goodbye.
"Even for a deadbeat like Uchiha." Tsunade finished bitterly, taking another swig of her sake.
Kakashi swallowed the lump that had been forming in this throat. "She's not a kid anymore. She outgrew her blind infatuation with him long ago." He continued when he received a terse nod in agreement from Tsunade, "But she still cares for him, which I suspect Sasuke planned on using to his advantage." He considered grimly. It frustrated him to have to consider Sasuke in this light once more, after everything they've been through.
He bit the inside of his cheek. Each of his students had become a source of pride for him, watching them grow into accomplished ninja, and saving the world countless times. They had long surpassed his teachings, and became master shinobi in their own rights. And yet a large part of him still carries the guilt of a failed team, too many times shattered and broken for him ever to fully rebuild. He ran a hand through his unruly mane, scoffing at his own short-sightedness to give up on Sasuke, long before the others even accepted his departure.
Sasuke didn't deserve his teammates with the rate he was going again, and maybe he didn't either. But the least he can do is protect them, as their Hokage, and as their friend.
"Her heart always was too big for her own damn good." Tsunade sighed, bringing Kakashi back to reality.
"This note was found on her bed by Naruto this morning." Kakashi offered her the crumpled piece of paper he had unwittingly crushed into his pocket with a little more ire than necessary.
"Cocky bastard." Tsunade clipped as she turned the paper over in her hand.
"No sign of struggle which makes me assume he ambushed her or she allowed her guard down with him long enough to make his play. Sharingan induced genjutsu probably." He added gruffly.
Tsunade rubbed her temples with a perfectly manicured hand, "Do you have any idea what he wants her for? Why he suddenly needs her now?"
Kakashi had been avoiding thinking too deeply about that, but the reality was that it was bound to be unpleasant. Sasuke hadn't updated him in months on his movements. He had no idea where the last Uchiha's redemption journey had taken him; what threat he now deemed too dangerous to face alone. And wasn't that a scary thought.
"Based on the company he tends to attract and the reports he sends, I can say that whatever he has planned will likely include a risk factor high enough to require a personal medic ninja with remarkable abilities." Kakashi admitted, "It worries me that he refused to elaborate on the details of why he needs her. And I simply don't trust that he'd be capable of watching her back and achieving his goal at the same time."
"His one-track mindedness could easily get her killed." Tsunade clicked her tongue in frustration.
It was no secret that Sasuke wasn't her favourite person; a fact which she had been willing to hold her tongue on for Sakura and Naruto's sake. But unlike his former teammates, Sasuke had yet to prove himself a reliable ninja or teammate in Tsunade's eyes. He was simply put, a brat.
"Which is why I wasn't going to approve his request." Kakashi confirmed, "Not without backup anyway, but we both know Sasuke would never agree to that. His trust extends to very few people."
Tsunade scoffed, "So he knew the answer before he even came here." Her question came out more like a statement as they pondered it.
"So it would seem. But why bother with the charade of asking, unless it was part of the plan?" Kakashi's silver brows knitted together as his charcoal eyes focused intently on the faint emerald swirls that patterned Tsunade's carpet.
"What do you want from me Hatake?"
He locked his eyes with hers. "Time. I'm taking Naruto and tracking them down before this gets too out of hand."
"He infiltrated the village and kidnapped a high-profile medic ninja from her home right under the Hokage's nose! It's already out of hand." She reminded irately, slamming her sake bottle to the table in good measure.
Kakashi remained unfazed. "Which is why I need someone to hold down the fort until we get back." He motioned to her, "Given the delicacy of the situation, Naruto and I will be the ones to bring them back and no one else needs to know the true details."
Tsunade clicked her tongue, "So what's the story then?"
"Naruto and Sakura are accompanying me to some diplomatic relationships meeting in…Suna. Something boring." Kakashi waved a nonchalant hand.
"Shikamaru won't buy that. You never do the boring things without him. Yamato will be ropable to find out you left without his escort and protection." She pointed out.
"Tell him what you have to, to make sure he does. Just keep Sasuke's name out of it. After all Sakura and Naruto went through to have him pardoned, I'm not going to let him throw it all away this stupidly."
"Don't let your own sentimentality blind your actions Hatake." Tsunade warned, "He still abducted my apprentice from her home; a kunoichi under your protection. You're playing his game now." She reminded sternly, her signature coarseness sending unsaid threats into the air.
"I know." His voice was a low rumble.
"Just don't let those two kids get caught up in the cross fire again." She breathed softly.
"I won't."
"Bring them home Hatake. That's an order from your Godaime."
A/N: Thank you everyone so far who has read/reviewed! My cheeks hurt from smiling, it really means a lot to me. Your comments and tips are always welcomed. Thanks everyone! :)