Reconsidering Bachelorhood

Settling In

Kakashi was taking a detour back to the office. After mindlessly filling out paperwork for the whole morning, he was mentally done. The long route back to the office was to give himself some time to read his favourite book and to figure out how he will apologize to Shikamaru for sneaking out.

Kakashi was about to be done re-reading his book for the 100th time when a loud scream caught his attention. He glanced up from the pages of his novel and noticed he was passing by the hospital. He saw a figure jumping up and down in what looked like a celebration dance...a very awkward celebration dance. His book was forgotten and placed in his pouch. This particular woman's excitement piqued his curiosity so he decided to approach her.

"Good afternoon, Mizuki-san. May I ask what has got you so excited?" Kakashi asked with a smile when he got closer to her.

Mizuki stopped her jumping and turned towards the voice with a face of utter horror. Kakashi laughed under his breath; it seems his appearance had caused the woman a great deal of embarrassment, apparent by her bright red face. It reminded him of the way Hinata looked in her younger years whenever Naruto talked to her.

Mizuki squeaked. "A-ah...H-Hokage-sama. I-" Mizuki felt at a loss for words. It seems every time she saw the Hokage, she would put herself in an awkward situation.

"Well Mizuki-san?"

"Oh um...it's nothing special. I-I just got a job at the hospital, that's all."

"Ah, I see. Well, congratulations. I'm glad everything is working out for you. I must be getting back to the office now, I just wanted to make sure everything was okay when I heard your scream. Have a nice day." Kakashi gave her one last smile before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Mizuki facepalmed and thought, 'He definitely thinks I'm a moron now.'

After that embarrassing public celebration, Mizuki thought it would be safer to finish her celebration at home. A couple days ago, Tsunade had administered the tests to the successful stage 1 applicants, her being one of them. A group of about 20 hopeful medics gathered in one of the empty conference rooms in the hospital. One by one they were called into one of three rooms to be tested by the proctors. It was either Tsunade, Sakura, or Shizune that they got matched too. Mizuki was grateful that she had gotten Tsunade, it relaxed her but it didn't mean she took for granted her relationship with Tsunade. She still took things seriously and didn't think she was more entailed than the other applicants for a position at the hospital.

Apparently each test was different so everyone had to be ready for anything. Curiously, the test she had was very unique to say the least. A staff of the hospital had brought in a lizard and placed it on the metal table centered in the room.

Tsunade thanked the young worker and once they left she walked to the table, gesturing for Mizuki to follow her. Mizuki approached the table and let out a startled cry when Tsunade suddenly shouted and slammed the table. She was about to open her mouth to ask why she would do that but stopped when she saw the reaction from the lizard; It had shot it's tail off. Mizuki had known that some species of lizards can shoot its tail at a target if it feels threatened because of their incredible regenerative powers. It was still a shock to her to see it happen in person and she wasn't expecting Tsunade's actions either.

Mizuki was slightly apprehensive now, because she had no idea what was in store for her. She silently watched Tsunade inject something into the lizard.

"It's a sedative." Tsunade explained seeing the concerned look on her face. "Alright, are you ready for your test?"

"S-sure."

The test began and let's just say Mizuki cried when she got home thinking she had failed. When Tsunade had instructed her to reattach the tail nerve for nerve, she wanted to throw up. It was just her luck that Tsunade had decided to choose a procedure that gave her nightmares. In working on her new technique she had failed countless times, with some small improvements here and there. She was sure she had failed despite Tsunade telling her she did a good job. After that she rushed out of the hospital and ran home. She spent the next few days sulking about how she blew her chances.