Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I am just borrowing them.. and I promise to clean up my mess when I am finished.
Wednesday, February 6th at 1 am
After a two month mission of sleeping out in the cold forest, Hatake Kakashi was ecstatic to bury himself under the heap of blankets on his own bed. Leaving the fireplace burning in hopes of thawing out the chill in his bones that had settled there weeks ago; he turned out the lights and worked himself into the familiar niche he had worn into his mattress. Thoughts of the treacherous mission passed through his mind although he wanted nothing more than to forget about it all.
It was supposed to be a simple one man scroll exchange, yet the other party was not savvy enough to hide their tracks well. He had been aware that they were not alone, yet the contact was not taking the hints he had been dropping within their conversation. They had been followed and at the moment the exchange took place, they were ambushed and his contact was killed . Luckily he was able to recover the document and narrowly escape the same fate of the other ninja.
He immediately sent a report with one of his nin-dogs back to Konoha; requesting more time and some back up. It was now up to him to deliver the scroll or the mission might as well be called a failure. Delivering the hitai-ate of the fallen contact to his home country would clear the shinobi of Konoha; leaving them with their good name... and it was the least he could do for a fellow ninja.
Between the wait for his comrades, the poor weather and the occasional enemy nin, he had little time to fuss over an elaborate dwelling every evening. In an effort to remain hidden, he had even forgone the much needed luxury of a warming fire. After seeing the result of carelessness, he was not willing to compromise his own life to report the death of another.
It was all behind him now that he was laying on his side in bed. He rocked his body back to tuck the down comforter under his belly and then did the same for his back. Peering out of his right eye, he admired the flames dancing around in the fireplace until sleep would let him watch no more.
At 2am, Kakashi found himself awoken by the loud banging on his front door. A visitor at this hour, when none of his friends knew he was home yet, could only mean one thing - another mission.
Stumbling across the cold floor with bare feet, he switched on the lights before fumbling with the locks to see who had the honor of delivering such a task at this hour.
"Sorry to have awoken you, Hatake-san. The Fifth insisted you receive this..." He sleepily looked up to the man clad in a dark cloak with his face covered in a red and white striped tiger mask. His gloved hand was extended, holding a sealed envelope with his name on the front. "She said it couldn't wait until morning."
Kakashi ripped open the letter and rolled his eyes at what he was reading. "Does she realize that I just got back in town a few hours ago?"
"Yes. She knows from the front gate registrar." Kakashi shook his head. He had contemplated sneaking around the front booth, just to be able to get one night of rest before being called away so soon. "She realizes you must be exhausted and therefore she expects you to comply with the letter no later than noon."
Kakashi had made a deal with the Lady Hokage several months ago. He promised to answer her call whenever she needed him. In exchange, she would allow him 48 hours between missions, unless there was an emergency. Apparently, this was one of those emergencies that just could not be helped.
He dismissively waved his hands at the ANBU Black Op standing in front of his doorway. "Fine. Let her know I will fulfill my end of the bargain... When I have gotten enough sleep."
The mystery ninja spoke before taking his leave. "She was pretty stern about being no later than 12 o' clock."
"Understood." Was his reputation for being late a secret to anyone? "You have a good night." Kakashi nodded to the man and shut his door.
Making his way back into the bedroom, he read the letter over once more. Each and every word burned deep into his mind. Silently he cursed himself for making such an agreement with Tsunade. A mission like this would surely cost him... and he knew the ramifications would be difficult to live with.
He tossed the letter and the envelope onto the smoldering log, watching the flames consume it's secret. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, he slid his eyes shut and prayed for God to have mercy on his soul.
Wednesday, February 6th at 2am
Across Konoha and hidden within the confines of the hospital basement, Tsunade watched over several pensive research assistants gathering endless amounts of data from a variety of samples collected throughout the village. Silently, she approached one of her assistants and placed her hand on her shoulder; causing the young woman to abruptly jump up from her work.
Seeing the telltale dark circles under the young medic's eyes, she spoke firmly. "You've been here since yesterday morning. Go home, Hinata."
"But, but Tsunade-sama" The Hyuuga heiress was never all that great when it came to words. "I have about fifteen minutes before all the information about this sample comes back. I promise, I'll leave as soon as it's done."
"Very well. But I don't want to see you back here until tomorrow- I want you to take today off. "
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama" The white- eyed young woman truly was thankful. She had found herself nodding off several times within the last few hours, but did not want to be a disappointment by not finishing her work. The written orders for all this testing were very specific, calling for chromosome charting on each sample. Hesitantly, she raised her vision to meet her leaders. "If I may ask, what exactly are we running these tests for?" It wasn't an odd question to ask, considering the urgency placed on its completion. It wasn't often that she found herself stuck in a research lab from sunrise well into the wee hours of the next morning collecting data from DNA samples.
If she was annoyed, Hinata would not have known it from her expression, though her tone proved her otherwise. "You don't need to know, as of now. I assure you this information will prove to be detrimental to the future of this village if we are to remain one of the strongest hidden villages. As with all work done here; the results and purpose are to remain confidential."
"I understand, Tsunade- sama." But in reality, she didn't have a clue other than that the lady Hokage was quite serious about it being secretive.
The sound of the printer on the desk behind Hinata got the attention of both women. Paper after paper streamed out from the front of the noisy mechanism until a neatly stacked pile was formed.
"The results are back." Hinata spun around in her chair and picked up the pile to hand over to Tsunade. "Is there anything else I can do for you?" she asked.
She placed her thumb mid stack and used her nail to flip backward through the papers; stealing glances at numbers and figures only a trained medic could decipher. She stopped on other pages to analyze the meaning of the otherwise cryptic numbers. "No, thank you. This is good enough. Have a good night, Hinata."
Hinata bowed deeply, "Thank you, Tsunade- sama. You have a good night as well." And then pulled her sweater from the back of her chair before exiting. Surely at this hour the air would be too cool to forgo some sort of outerwear.
She navigated through the dimly lit halls until she reached a set of elevator doors. Not a soul was in sight and rightfully so. This was the basement of basements in the hospital, known as SART- which stood for Secured Area of Research and Technology. In order to enter this floor, a key was required to have the elevator go down to it. In addition, all ground floor elevators and below had a hand pad for identification purposes. Those allowed to come and go from SART had to place their hand on these pads to allow the fine lines on their palms and fingers be read and matched up.
Hinata was the only one of the rookie nine with access to this secretive wonderland so vital to the well being of Konoha.
As she began the sequence of turning the key and placing her hand on the pad to retrieve an elevator up, she found herself wondering what the most recent string of testing was for. Of course all things done within SART were to remain strictly confidential and secretive; even to those that worked within the lab. But, there was nothing anonymous about the single strand of pink hair she had just processed for her Hokage.
The strand belonged to none other than Haruno Sakura- a long time friend as well as a fellow kunoichi and medic. Let's not forget, also the beloved apprentice and single best doctor aside from the Hokage herself. What could Tsuande hope to find out about Sakura?
Hinata stepped through the elevator doors that finally arrived. Was Sakura secretly ill with some sort of never seen before disease?
No. That couldn't be it. She knew this to be factual due to number of other samples she had processed throughout the day- and night. If Sakura was sick, not only would she not be allowed to work, but samples belonging to other villagers would be sick too. Besides, Tsunade would have ordered more than just genetic mapping if any of those people were ill. If that were the case, there likely would have been urine and blood samples to be processed as well.
Too tired to think further about it, Hinata waited patiently for the elevator to halt and the the doors to open. She had to stop at the third floor nurse's station to pick up her lunch bag before exiting the building.
Stepping out of the doors and into the third floor, Hinata could overhear the conversation at the nurse's station. Clearly it was Ino talking the ear off of some poor soul at this ungodly hour. Silently, she listened to what the flamboyant blond had to say as she approached her from the side.
"You have no idea how exasperating it has been." Getting closer, Hinata could see the blond sitting on the counter top of the nurse's station, waving a tweezer in her hand while speaking. "I've been keeping track of my cycle and still nothing. As a medic, I know the exact moment I ovulate- Poor Shikamaru. He wants this as badly as I do, but it's hard to 'get in the mood' when he has to deal with me crying, 'We have to do it- right now!'."
Hinata was able to see the blond's other hand come up holding a mirror. With her legs crossed, ever so ladylike, on top of the counter; Ino proceeded to pluck her eyebrows while shaking an annoyed leg. "I don't even feel like I am making love to my husband anymore... It feels like we're two animals- breeding for the sake of reproduction."
A voice, all too familiar, rose up from behind where Hinata could yet see. "Ah Ino, you shouldn't try so hard. You should be enjoying the time spent with your husband- because before you know it, you won't have that sort of freedom to 'do it' once you have a little one screaming to be fed at all hours of the night."
Ino sighed as she adjusted her mirror and saw Hinata's approach from the corner of her eye. "Look who's burning some midnight oil." She turned her head to regard the Hyuuga heiress with a keen smile.
From behind the high counter top, the very head of pink hair she was just musing over popped up. "Wow, Hinata. I haven't seen you here this late in ages. Did Tsunade- shishou give you an unreasonable amount of work again?"
Hinata blushed as she so often did, while bowing a 'hello' to both young women. "No, no. The work I was doing just took some extra time." And that work was all about YOU, Sakura. "I couldn't stop once I started."
"Quitting time is usually 5 o' clock for you-" Ino and her perfectly shaped eyebrows acknowledged. "must be some serious research if you're just finishing at two in the morning." She raised one of the said eyebrows inquisitively, which seemed to scream "Tell us exactly what you were doing."
At this point, the shy, white- eyed woman felt very put on the spot. Everyone in the hospital knew that anything done within SART was highly classified. Damn that Ino for trying to get any information out of her.
Like a guardian angel watching over her, Sakura chimed in at the perfect time. "It really is late, Hinata. Would you like me to have one of the hospital guards escort you home?"
Hinata took Sakura's suggestion as her being polite and saving her from further interrogation. Sakura knew well enough that she was an able kunoichi who could make her way home at any hour of any day.
"That won't be necessary, but thank you."She grabbed her lunch bag out of the refrigerator. "Well, I better be off now. I called my father hours ago to tell him I'd be late. I'm sure he's pacing the floors by now. Have a good night, you two."
"Sleep well, Hinata." Sakura called out after her. Ino just smugly nodded her farewells and went back to plucking.
Wednesday, February 6th at 12:24pm
Kakashi wasn't quite sure if the Hokage seated behind her desk had given him the correct mission scroll or it was all a cruel joke being played on him for being late- as per usual. A nervous twitch formed at the right corner of his mouth as he repeated a mantra of , "It's just a joke.", in the forefront of his mind. In the event that it was a legitimate mission and by some twist of fate it did not belong to him; he still found it to be a rather odd, yet overly personal task to ask of someone.
The firm expression planted on the woman before him hinted that it was a rather serious request- though with a history of gambling, one could never tell if Tsunade only had perfected her poker face.
"Are you going to say something?"
Nodding his head down and feigning a cough into a gloved fist, "I can only say that I will do my best to be more timely next time you need me." He spoke clear and slowly.
"Hmpf." A few audible creaks sounded out as she leaned her weight back in the chair and crossed her legs. "You seem to believe this is a form of punishment for your tardiness?"
"Have you read this scroll? There must be some sort of.."
Cutting him off quickly, she refused to have him question her authority. "Of course I have read it! I'm the one who wrote the mission in the first place."
"How can you call this a mission?" He waved the scroll in front of her face. "If it is a legitimate mission- classify it!"
"It's unclassified. You will be paid accordingly, as if it were an S- rank mission."
Kakashi simmered down some. What he had to say next would defy everything he has ever done for his village. "What if I refused to take it?"
Returning the same subdued tone, "I'm afraid that's not an option, Kakashi. I'm sorry."
Disappointed, Kakashi closed his one visible eye and turned his head away from her. "Could you at least tell me why I have to do this? Spare me some dignity, please."
"You're not the only one being asked to do this. It's become standard- for testing and health reasons."
Somewhat satisfied with her answer, he reminded her of their deal. "What about our deal of 48 hours between missions?"
It was obvious he was pulling at short straws to delay the inevitable and so she gave him that, just to uphold their bargain.
"Very well, you are to complete this in 36 hours from now being you already had twelve hours of rest." She curiously tilted her head his way, to see if he would argue the terms. Seeing as how he appeared relieved by her presentation, she continued. "Before you do this, I want you to report to the third floor of the hospital for a post mission exam. You'll have your choice of Ino or Sakura to conduct the physical."
His eye creased as if he were scowling behind the mask. "Sakura will be fine." The idea of Ino doing anything correct that did not involve herself seemed beyond imaginable. And anything that might fuel the gossip fires was strictly an 'no go' for someone as private as himself.
"Very well. I will let her know." Tsuande then paused to scribble down a reminder on her notepad. "After Sakura is finished with you, have her page me. I will then meet you on the ground level ."
Kakashi ran his hand through his hair. "Hai." He bowed his head in understanding. It didn't mean he liked the idea any better, he was just acknowledging that he understood and would follow orders... even if it killed him to do so.
Upon his exit, Tsunade opened the top left drawer of her desk and retrieved a pair of rubber gloves, a petri- dish and a pair of hemostats, hygienically sealed in plastic. The piece of hair that fell from Kakashi's head when he bowed did not go left unnoticed and there stood an opportunity she was not going to miss.
A/N: So, here it is... the first chapter of what I hope becomes a promising story. Just what could Tsunade be up to?
The updates for this story will be slow in the coming. I am taking my time writing this so I do not find myself caught up in losing direction as to where the story needs to go. I hope you enjoyed it!