Masked Love

Edited 25.8.2017

Prologue

She sat there, in her new office, with a small –but still there- frown on her young face. The white and red fabric felt heavy on her shoulders, the responsibility that it signified substantial on her small frame. The hat was sitting on her right and there were a few unopened scrolls on her left.

The Elders, Danzō, Homura, and Koharu, were standing behind the massive desk, their expressions were downright gleeful.

They kind of reminded her of a cat that got the cream and enjoyed it.

'Deeply so,' Sakura thought sourly.

"Rokudaime-Sama," it sounded so wrong when directed at her, it should have been Naruto sitting here, not her. "We are pleased that you took the position like we hoped you would-" like she had a choice! "-now that Tsunade is… unable to fulfill her duties," Danzō said.

"It is an honor to serve my village," Sakura said and smiled –forcedly- slightly.

'You old bastard! You only wanted the position for yourself!' Sakura fumed but kept her expression mostly neutral. Just like Tsunade told her to do when dealing with the Elders; remain calm, collected and keep on nodding when it feels right. She was lucky to have been Tsunade's apprentice for so long before she left after Jiraiya's death with Shizune.

'Five years,' she corrected herself sadly and listened with half an ear what Danzō had to say.

"-And I am sure you will fulfill your duties to the point. In the meantime, I will see to your personal Anbu and make sure that they are ready to serve under you, Sakura-Sama," Danzō said with a –creepy- smile.

"My… personal Anbu?" Sakura asked, uncertain. Was she to have her own platoon?

"Of course! We cannot have our new Hokage walking around without any protection," Koharu scoffed from her spot, making Homura nod in agreement.

"I have a few good candidates in my own ranks if you would go over them to see if they please you. In the meantime, I will be there for you, Hokage-Sama," Danzō said.

'That… sounded so wrong. I don't want him anywhere near me!' Sakura thought but kept the frown away from her face. He was clearly hoping that she would choose one of his emotionless ROOT members as her personal guard. The only one she would even consider was Sai!

"I will think about it, thank you Danzō-San," Sakura said and nodded.

"Good, we will leave you now Hokage-Sama. Official scrolls will be taken care of and the public speech will be scheduled when you have settled down properly," and then –finally- they were gone.

Sakura visibly sagged in her seat and covered her face with her shaking hands.

'What am I going to do? I am not fit to be a Hokage!' Sakura thought tiredly and leaned her head on her table.

The dark, cool wood felt good on her tired features.

After Naruto left to look for Sasuke and Tsunades emotional breakdown, she just had to be the one that the elders chose. The village was full of ninjas that could have been better for the job, but she could see where the Elders were coming from. Sakura knew how to run a village, after being Tsunades apprentice for so long. It was her, or Shizune, who took care of the paper work and mission reports. But she was afraid of those bigger decisions that were no doubt waiting for her around the corner, the ones that would make her either a good -or bad- Hokage.

"God, I need sake," she murmured tiredly.

"My, Sakura-Chan, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you are Tsunade in disguise," a way too cheerful voice said. Sakura looked up from her desk and frowned –for him, she was allowed to- at Kakashi.

"Now, now Sakura-Chan, don't go glaring at your poor old Sensei," Kakashi chuckled and stepped down from the windowsill.

"Door is that way, Sensei," Sakura murmured and laid her head back down.

"I know, but the window is faster," this made Sakura snort in a very unladylike manner.

"When did you ever worry about being in time?" Sakura asked skeptically, but Kakashi only hmned and walked up to her desk.

"Kakashi… what am I going to do?" Sakura asked tiredly, pretty much sounding like a lost child, even though she didn't look like the part at the moment. Wearing the Hokages clothes kind of did that to you, not to mention the Jōnin uniform underneath.

"Sakura…" Kakashi sighed.

"Why did they have to choose me?" Sakura's voice cracked, she was clearly tired, if the dark bags under her eyes were anything to go by. Kakashi placed a warm hand on her left shoulder and squeezed gently.

"Sakura, I will be here for you, you know that, right?" Kakashi said quietly and pushed some of Sakura's hair behind her ear.

"Even though you always come late?" There was a small smirk on her lips; he could see it from this angle.

"Brat," Kakashi said and tousled her hair.

"Careful Kakashi, your bones get weaker as you age," Sakura joked and finally lifted her head from the table.

"Well, it's a good thing that I have you to take care of me, isn't it," he said cheerfully.

"I should probably give you only D-ranked missions from now on, you can't be too careful when dealing with older people," Sakura thought and tapped her chin. She watched with a grin as his smile disappeared.

"You hurt me Sakura, right here," he said and placed his left hand over his heart.

"Heart problems come with age, I'll have to give you a physical soon to make sure there is nothing wrong," Sakura said with a straight face, but her lips started to tremble as she tried to hold in her laughter.

"Very funny," Kakashi grumbled and crossed his arms.

Sakura giggled and stood up from her over-comfortable chair. She patted Kakashi's shoulder as she walked past him towards the big windows. Sakura looked down at the village –now hers- and watched as the morning sun shined over the town. The people were already waking up and the streets were filling with laughter and gossip. The sight was beautiful to her, something that she wanted to protect with her life.

"She is beautiful from up here, isn't she," Sakura whispered and smiled at Kakashi when he walked to the window to stand next to her.

"She is," he agreed quietly and placed an arm around her shoulders. She didn't even notice it when she leaned into his embrace.

Somehow, her duty as the Hokage didn't sound as frightening anymore, because she had Kakashi right there next to her.

...

This has been in my head for a long long time and now I finally got it out.

Please let me know if you think it is worth continuing.

I will be updating this and Courtship whenever I have the time.

And as always, thank you all for reading and have a nice day!

R&R

TY

-Hana