Characters: Tsunade, Hiashi
Summary: Tsunade has something she wants to discuss with Hiashi.
Pairings: None
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Hyuuga Hiashi is a proud man, but he isn't too proud to bow deferentially when he enters the Hokage's office—she is the ruler of Konohagakure now; the fact that he's a clan head and a member of the shinobi council doesn't enter into it, even if certain personages (the mind immediately jumps to Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura; Shimura Danzo's being smarter about things) seem to have forgotten that.

Tsunade looks a little tired—no wait, very tired—but that's normal. What could account for the fact that she seems more tired than usual is that Shizune has quit in protest of Tsunade's drinking, gambling, irresponsibility and the fact that she never does the paperwork herself. For the third time this week. She'll be back; she always comes back. Shizune cares too much about Tsunade (even if her mistress does seem to be actively trying to drive her insane) Everybody knows this, including Hiashi and Tsunade, but until then the paperwork has to be done and Tsunade's feeling the strain.

As it is, the desk isn't completely swamped under with paperwork. Hiashi's surprised—and impressed; the whole reason he refused to become Hokage himself was because he knew about the paperwork when he was approached, all three times. There's only one manila folder there, and Tsunade has it open, flipping through it with a pensive expression.

"Hokage-sama." The polite clearing of his throat is necessary to get her attention; whatever she's reading, it's probably not paperwork if it's so capable of holding her attention. Hiashi would activate the Byakugan, but that simply wouldn't be polite. Not to mention that he can distinctly remember something about it being illegal to use jutsu within the Hokage's office. That would be bad.

"Hiashi, please sit." She absently gestures to the chair, still reading out of the manila folder.

Hiashi does, and, forcing himself to be patient, waits for her to finish reading. Others might interrupt and say "You wished to see me, Hokage-sama?" but Hyuuga Hiashi is not other people.

Finally, Tsunade meets his gaze with her slightly bleary amber eyes and puts the manila folder on the desk, where it can still be seen clearly. She props her chin up on her hands, likely to keep it from falling on the desk. "Hiashi, I wanted to talk to you about your involvement with one Uzumaki Naruto."

The Hyuuga clan head tilts his head to one side, surprised. "What about it, Hokage-sama?"

He remembers Naruto. A boy cast in the very image of his father, though to anyone who knows him and his parents they'd say that he's more the spitting image of his mother in her early years than anything else. Blond hair, blue eyes and scars on his cheeks forming the pattern of whiskers. A notorious prankster. Beat Neji. His elder daughter has been fostering a crush on him for years even though, with only a few exceptions he doesn't seem to know she exists. As Hiashi understands it, he's currently out of the village with Jiraiya.

"You're paying his rent," Tsunade says flatly, her eyes narrowed.

Hiashi's eyebrows rise as though this is surprising. "Yes… I suppose I have been."

"Do you mind telling me how this came to be?"

"As I seem to recall, as of Naruto-san's fourth year his behavioral issues, prank-pulling, I'm told, became too much for the Orphanage and they demanded to Sandaime-sama that he find another place for the child to be put. The Sandaime couldn't support Naruto-san; he couldn't afford to be seen as being biased towards one orphan out of hundreds." Hiashi's eyes narrow. "However, the shinobi clans have been known to sponsor orphans from time to time. Sandaime-sama asked Uchiha Fugaku if he would be willing to support Naruto-san. Uchiha-san refused because… well, because it was Sandaime-sama who was asking; I don't think he even let Sandaime-sama tell him whom he was supposed to be supporting. I was the clan head Sandaime-sama went to next."

Tsunade's narrowed eyes become slits, and she winces as the sun starts to peak over the horizon. "And you agreed, Hiashi?"

Hiashi nods firmly. "I don't think I would be paying Naruto-san's rent if I hadn't, Hokage-sama."

"Uh-huh. As a matter of fact, Hiashi, your paying Naruto's rent was part of the reason I called you here." The manila folder is plucked up by manicured, red-lacquered nails. "Hiashi, are you aware of the sort of apartment in which Naruto has been living?"

Oh dear. As a matter of fact, he isn't, and Hiashi gets the feeling, from Tsunade's tone of voice, that he probably doesn't want to know. "No, actually, I'm not." Hiashi resists the urge to squirm; he is the head of the Hyuuga clan and he will not squirm, not even when Tsunade's looking at him like that. "I was told that an apartment had been found for Naruto-san and that all that was needed was a clan head willing to support him."

The look that comes over Tsunade's face is an understanding one masked by a face that is anything but understanding. "Ah." She hands the folder to Hiashi. "I thought you should see this, then. Go on, enjoy."

Assuming that inside is information on Uzumaki Naruto's apartment (it's the only thing Hiashi can think of that would be relevant to their conversation), Hiashi, somewhat apprehensively, opens the folder and looks.

Immediately, his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline.

"Hokage-sama," Hiashi says slowly; Tsunade is smirking nastily now. "I was under the impression that I was paying rent for Naruto-san's apartment, not paying rent for him to be living in someone's attic."

Tsunade sighs. "That's not an attic, Hiashi, it's an apartment, though I will admit that pretty much the only thing that makes it different from an attic is the fact that it's got a kitchen. And I will allow that the fact that you've lived on the Hyuuga compound all your life probably accounts why you can't tell a low-end apartment from an attic."

No wonder the rent's so low, Hiashi muses. "Hokage-sama, this is absurd."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Hiashi," Tsunade interjects, smiling wryly.

"Sandaime-sama let him live here?" he asks, scandalized.

A weary sigh hits the air. "No, Sarutobi didn't have much say, as I understand; it was out of his jurisdiction. The advisory council determined where Naruto would live. When I found out about this and asked them they said that it was the only place that could be found for him. Coincidentally—" the Godaime Hokage's tone becomes considerably sharper "—a brand new apartment complex was opened around the time Naruto was moved into this apartment."

Hiashi wonders how much infuriated shouting Koharu, Homura and Danzo had to endure; the fruits of carelessness, he supposes.

"Hiashi…" The Hyuuga knows that tone and he can't help but flinch when he feels Tsunade's eyes boring into him; those amber eyes of hers are even more piercing than those of a Hyuuga. "Have you ever bothered to look and see where Naruto was living? Did you check at all?"

"It was my elder daughter's fourth birthday," Hiashi explained defensively. "I was busy. I agreed to Sandaime-sama's request, signed the paper and went to go help Neji save Hinata from drowning in the pond again. I don't think Hinata's ever had quite so memorable a birthday."

Tsunade sighs again. "Whatever."

The Hyuuga clan head also finds occasion to sigh as he looks at the pictures of Naruto's pitifully small apartment again. "Do you suppose Naruto-san would be willing to relocate to a more comfortable apartment when he returns with Jiraiya-sama?"

"I seriously doubt it."

"That's what I was afraid of. Well, Hokage-sama, as it stands I will continue to provide the money for Naruto-san's rent until such time as he reaches his eighteenth birthday, as agreed with Sandaime-sama and the advisory council. If there's nothing else—"

"There is something else," Tsunade interjects. "Please, Hiashi, sit back down." When he does, she frowns at him, her brow furrowing deeply. Finally, she asks, quietly, "Why?"

"Why am I paying for Naruto's rent?"

"Yes."

Hiashi smiles a little. "Some, I believe it would be somewhere between twenty and twenty-five years ago, my brother became the jonin-sensei of one Uzumaki Kushina. It seemed only fair. The fact that Naruto-san is also Yondaime-sama's son—he looks too much like Yondaime-sama to be anyone else's child—helps too, but really, it's because he is Kushina-san's son. A child of two people like that, especially after what was done to him at the time of his birth, deserves better than homelessness. Now, Hokage-sama, I have matters of the clan to attend to." Matters of the clan being getting Hinata back into the habit of training with him. "If you will allow me to leave..."

Tsunade's still gaping a little when he leaves.

She hadn't been aware that common decency still existed among the clans of Konoha. Figures it would be a cold fish like Hyuuga Hiashi who'd prove her wrong.