Predecessor

Apparition

Anko lets Sakura tag along with her to the T&I Office early one morning.

It's a building located on a more isolated side of the Hokage Monument and is more than two stories high. At the entrance is a sign similar to the one at the hospital that reads: 'Torture and Interrogation'.

From what Sakura knows, Anko wants to accept a short track and interrogate mission that will last as long as four days, maximum. There's a suspicious unidentifiable rogue nin making his way through the surrounding allied civilian villages and his activity hasn't gone unnoticed by the Hokage.

And besides, domestic jobs only pay so much. Anko needs more than just a few ryo to sedate her dango addiction. Not to mention the bar tab with numbers that keep seeming to accumulate higher and higher.

Ibiki is in the foyer when they arrive. He's leaning against the wall with a Manila folder in his hands and he looks up when he hears the door opening.

"Nice to see you're still alive, Sakura," chimes the Morino with a shit-eating grin.

Sakura stifles a giggle. While her life is really a laughing matter, they make it a joke to poke at Anko's inflated ego. The Mitarashi scowls and rolls her eyes when Ibiki shoots her a smug smirk.

"You too, Ibiki-san," Sakura says.

"Can't a guy be impressed the great, untamable Mitarashi Anko can raise a child on her own?" Ibiki laughs when Anko flips him off.

She snatches the mission report out of his hands and makes a rude face at him. "Shaddup, old man. I'll have you know that I'm an amazing parent. Aren't I? Sacchan?"

Anko puts one hand on her hip and looks at Sakura expectantly who feigns fear.

"Anko left me in the Nara forest again," she whispers to Ibiki with a shudder. This earns her a bellowing guffaw from the Morino and a scowl from her legal caregiver.

"You're both idiots."

In her defense, Anko is a good guardian. Not the worst and not the best either, but she's enough. The Mitarashi, too, had shared a somewhat similar fate as Sakura. Konoha's orphanage system isn't exactly perfect either, in fact it's in shambles.

Anko's eyes scan the first few summarizing sections of the report. At one point, she completely freezes and then she suddenly flips through the pages like a dart.

When she reaches the end, her eyebrows furrow in disappointment and she presses her lips into a thin line. Her eyes slowly roll up to Ibiki.

She holds up the file. "Is this...?"

Ibiki nods. "It is."

"Ank-" Sakura reaches up to tug on the hem on Anko's shirt but her fingers barely touch the air when the woman is at the door.

"Do me a favour, old man, and look after Sacchan," Anko grins. "I'll be back in four days. Maybe five, 'cos I heard there's a new flavour of dango coming in from the sea."

Ibiki has a dumbfound look on his face. "What?" he asks as if he's heard wrong. He hasn't.

"Don't go to bed too late Sacchan, Magire will have my ass on a plate if you're even the least bit distracted in his God awful sessions. Ja!" Anko tosses a wave over her shoulder and then she's gone.

Ibiki staggers forwards, absolutely perplexed, and then inhales deeply. For he, Morino Ibiki, has never babysat in his life. And Anko has just dumped her kid on him.

He takes a moment to consider his options, reevaluate what he can do and then turns to face the tiny pinkette. Instead of seeing a teary-eyed mortified expression as he expects, Sakura has begun to count ryo from a pouch hidden in her shirt.