Getting Lost on the Roads of Life - a KakaSaku Story [CONCLUDED]

Genjutsu

"Sakura," Tsunade smiled sweetly behind her large desk. Too sweetly. She wanted something from her and was anticipating she would say no.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama?" Sakura smiled just as sweetly.

"Are you very busy at the hospital?"

Well, that was obvious, wasn't it, they were always busy because there was not enough staff. Besides, Lady Tsunade was the one overseeing the rosters, so she most certainly knew Sakura was working much more than she had to. For not enough pay. But now was not the time to complain.

"Yes, very busy, Hokage-sama," Sakura replied politely.

"How is your... family life?"

Seriously? Sakura scowled. Tsunade had to know Sasuke was still not back from wherever he went to for months and months.

"Any plans for... children?"

Was the Hokage drunk again? Sakura sniffed the air inconspicuously. No, not more than usual.

"I am thinking to pass a law that every able bodied couple has to have at least three children," Tsunade mused.

"Excuse me?" Sakura exclaimed in disbelief.

Tsunade sighed. "Not enough? Should I make it four?"

"Hokage-sama!" Sakura scolded her, "you cannot force Konoha's citizens to have children if they don't want to!"

"Says who!" the Sannin said angrily. "I'm the Hokage! And I am thinking to put an aphrodisiac into the water supply for a start. It's spring. Nobody will notice."

Sakura gasped for air. She was not seriously having such a conversation, was she? She had better things to do.

"If you do that, with all due respect, Tsunade-sama, I will make sure the council stops you."

Tsunade scowled at her angrily. "Haruno, you are just too... rule-abiding."

Since when was that a bad thing?

"Shishou," Sakura said, "I do understand your worries. The death toll during the war was horrific. Our numbers took a severe hit and the population is continuing to drop instead of going up. And yet...," Sakura took a deep breath. Who would want to bring children into a world as insecure as theirs? She knew from Naruto how many holes there were in their defences. The outside world seemed quiet enough at the moment, but it was a very uneasy peace. "...people will become more hopeful again with time," she said, trying to sound more confident than she felt.

"How much more time?" Tsunade sighed. "It's been almost a decade."

"Another... decade?" Sakura ventured to guess.

"I am worried, Sakura," Tsunade admitted and for a moment, she sounded as old as she was. "I need more Shinobi."

"Is there something I can do to alleviate your worries, Shishou?" Sakura asked. Except conjure up well trained Shinobi from thin air.

"Yes," the Hokage nodded and her hand snuck over to the bottle on her desk, only to hesitate in the air. The hand sunk down and Tsunade sighed again, more heavily. 

"I have a problem," she said, her face darkening, "but I trust you are discreet enough to handle it well."

"Yes," Sakura replied, standing straight, "you can trust me."

"What is your relationship with Hatake Kakashi?"

What?

"My Sensei?" Sakura asked dumbfounded, though she had never heard of anyone else with that name.