Alone (Sasunaru)

Chapter 23

Shikamaru suddenly burst through the door and his eyes laid on the Hokage. He started blushing and inspect the figure in front of him.

"Naruko...?!"

-----------------------------------------------

Naruko looked up in a confused face. She walked up to Shikamaru and slapped him on the face.

"What's wrong? Snap out of it!"

Shikamaru broke away from his thoughts and shook his head. He then took another look at the Hokage who was a few centimetres shorter than he was. Honestly from a third person view this was pretty funny.  Shikamaru calmed down and sighed. He closed the door and slid down leaning on it. 

"So the rumours were true then.. But what changed your mind?" Naruko sighed and shoved a paper into Shikamaru's face. 

"What is this?! How did this happen?" Shikamru took the paper from Naruko's hands and read it.

REQUEST FORM
Date: 23/02/XXX
Description: Plan a wedding ceremony for the Uchiha family. Details when summoned.
Request by: Sakura Haruno/Uchiha

"Listen, Naruko..I don't file these out. Plus, why don't you want Sasuke and Sakura to have a wedding? They're practically already husband and wife. They have a daughter!" 

Naruko snatched back the paper and slammed it onto the desk. She sat back in her chair and bit her thumb nail. 

The results aren't going to come out anytime soon for Sarada's gene test. Yet, she wants to hold a wedding?.. Now? There's a crisis going on and...No. Calm down Naruko... 

Naruko truly wanted Sasuke and Sakura to be happy together but the risk was too high. If Sasuke were to find out Sakura had been cheating on him, he would've been devastated and maybe leave the village....Again! But Naruko thought that if it was his child, then....

Wait...why didn't Naruko want Sasuke and Sakura to get married...? Was it because of Sarada?...Or was it because Naruko finally noticed that she had harboured funny feelings for a certain raven? No, but he was her best friend and rival! He had a daughter! Naruko knew she was lying to herself and had to find someone else to look up to. Itachi! That's it! Naruko signed the form and stamped it, allowing the Uchiha family to book a venue to have their wedding. A church would be fit! She then gave a scroll containing the details of the wedding to Shikamaru and then him delivering it to the communication unit, where they dispatched messages personally from the Hokage to their destination.

Naruko turned around in her chair and looked out of the window and slumped into her chair. She then let all her stress out by yelling and scrambled up her hair. After a few minutes she calmed down and started finishing all the paperwork left for her after these past few days. She wasn't bothered to go check-up in the hospital in the wound. It was a small one anyway. 

Brat..You should take care of yourself more often you know...Your disease is growing worse.

"Kurama, I can't neglect my duties as the Hokage for some petty wound. Plus, I need to file these reports so I can make sure there aren't any suspicious activity going on around the village.. For all we know it could be the great danger that old man Six Paths mentioned since Itachi had awakened. But then again, maybe Itachi waking up could be a mistake on my part for not being not cautious enough....AARRRRGGGHHH! This is so confusing!" Kurama decided not to agitate Naruko even more. She was stressed enough with all this paperwork, from being Hokage and then there's this other matter with the Uchiha girl, being the daughter of something else. If onlt Naruko wasn't this nice. She opens up to everyone so easily. Kurama decided to take a nap and watch fate unfold right in front of him. 

Naruko walked outside to take a break because her advisor wouldn't stop pestering her to take a break. It wasn't good for her health. Naruko went out to the front of the Hokage building near the gates to the building and looked at the dead tree that survived from the war and what Pain did to the village. It must've been a strong tree to survive all that. And even today it stood tall and proud. Naruko felt a presence behind her and recognised the chakra signature. 

"How are you feeling?...Busy?"

"Yeah. I'm only out here because Shikamaru told me to."

"Oh....This tree.. I recognise it. From my ANBU days. Brings back memories. Though it looks a little different now."

"Pffttttt....A little is an understatement. I used to play here as a kid. You know, with the whole Nine Tailed Demon conspiracy. The old man let me play on the swing all the time. He was very kind. You should know, right Itachi?.." Naruko and Itachi looked up to the towering dead tree. It held many very fond memories to both of them. 

"Yeah...He was a very kind Hokage.." Naruko started tearing up inside and held up a facade to hide those feelings. It also made her heart hurt because it reminded her of her times with Team 7, especially Sasuke. Naruko couldn't take it anymore. She wanted throw away these...feelings for her teammate. Her best friend. Her rival. Naruko turned around to Itachi and faced him. She looked directly into Itachi's eyes.

"Make me fall in love with you, Itachi.." Itachi's eyes bulged out. Did he hear her correctly? Itachi got flustered. 

"Uhh....Ahem! Excuse me, but what?! Did I hear you correctly?"

"Is that not...possible?.." Naruko said in a small voice looking down to her feet. 

"No, no, no... but why me..?" Itachi did harbour feelings to this fluffy, light blonde, but was it that obvious?

"I want to forget my feelings for another person." Itachi's heart shattered. She liked another person?... But who? Itachi didn't want to dig into personal territory so he gulped and agreed. 

"Yeah, I'll help you fall in love with me. And I'll love you back as much as well." And with that they agreed. 

"Well, I guess we're dating then.." Naruko said while smiling at Itachi. And with that she gave Itachi a kiss on the lips and they left their own seperate ways. Itachi was left in front of the tree kneeling down with his head buried in his knees crouching down, trying to hide his blush. He traced his lips with his fingers and brushed his hair out of his face.

"Oh, Naruko...What have you done to me?..."