Harmonia

by Raye Johnsen
raye_j@yahoo.com

*****

	'Naruto' is copyright The Original Author and all
associated parties, NOT ME.

*****

Part One

	The Hokage of Konoha Village was, on this particular
morning, going through the requests for the services
of the Konoha ninja corps.  Sometimes she did it
alone, sometimes with her medical apprentices and
sometimes with one or more members of the ANBU corps. 
Right now, her chief apprentice/secretary/personal
assistant, who had been with her for years, was her
current audience.  She had cheerfully dispatched a
group of chuunin off to apprehend a murderer, and sent
a training team of genin on a simple
information-gathering trip, when she picked up a
delicately calligraphed envelope.  She read it, and
then said, "Hey, Shinori, listen to this:

"To the Hokage of Konoha Village:  Greetings, Lady
Tsunade.
	"I am the idol singer known as 'Cherry', and I wish
to hire a team of genin for a bodyguarding mission. 
This mission will last no longer than two months, and
require the team to travel around Fire Country.  They
will be required to provide physical protection to my
entourage while we are travelling on my concert tour,
and examine our accomodations and destinations on our
journey for traps and dangerous fixtures.
	"I would not rate this mission above a 'C' in
difficulty.  I feel confident in making this
assessment, as I was a genin of Konoha under my true
name of Haruno Sakura, before an injury in the line of
duty forced my retirement.  For this reason the
mission will not include the defence of my person.
	"The reason I am making this request is that I have
been receiving anonymous letters threatening me. 
Although I can protect myself, I cannot protect the
support personnel that I require to perform on tour.
	"I do not believe that I am being targeted by shinobi
from another country, but instead a lone civilian, and
so a team of genin should be more than adequate to
deal with the problem.
	"I look forward to your prompt reply, etcetera,
etcetera."

	Tsunade tossed the square of parchment towards her
desk.

	"So, what do you think?"

	Shinori looked at the neatly written letter.  "I
remember Miss Haruno," she said quietly.  "Quite a
brilliant young ninja.  A shame about her leg, really.
 I'd trust her judgement about this.  However..."

	"However...?" Tsunade prompted.

	"She *was* Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto's
teammate, and she was injured defending them.  They
might take the issue of her safety... rather
personally."

	"So I'm likely to find two jounin in my office
demanding to go, if they find out.  Which means that
they *don't* know.  Which means that Miss Haruno
didn't tell them." Tsunade commented, a dark grin
beginning to creep across her features.  "We'll give
this one to young Hinata's team."

	Shinori blinked.  "*Hyuuga Hinata's* team?  But that
guarantees Mr. Uzumaki will find out!"

	"Indeed it will," Tsunade replied.  "Why should I get
my ear chewed off when I can feed Miss Haruno's to
them?"

	"Sometimes, Master Tsunade, you are quite evil."

	"It comes with being Hokage."

*****

	Sasuke leaned against the wooden post of the bridge
that he'd agreed to meet Naruto at.  He was early (as
usual) but he did not mind waiting.  Years of being
Naruto's teammate had worn irritation at his quirks
into familiar exasperation.

	"Saaasuke-kuuun!" sailed across the air, and Sasuke
stiffened in sudden shock.  But the voice was alto,
not a contralto, and the figure jogging towards him
was brunette, with her hair tied up in buns.

	"Sasuke-kun!  I wasn't expecting to see you here!"
TenTen said cheerfully as she drew close to him.  "How
have you been?  Heard from Miss Sakura recently?"

	"Fine," Sasuke said, dropping into the taciturn
demeanour of his teenage years.  "She sent a letter a
few weeks ago.  She's going on tour soon, and she says
she's managed to get Konoha on the itinery this time."

	TenTen grinned and began to do some stretches.  "Oh,
Lee will be beside himself when he hears *that*!  Not
to mention the rest of the Cherry fanclub.  Who
would've thought ten years ago Miss Sakura would
become Fire Country's biggest idol?"

	Sasuke glanced away.  "Hn."

	"Anyway, I've got to go.  Neiji-kun and I are going
out to dinner, and I've got to go get ready," she said
cheerfully, and jogged off.  Tossing over her shoulder
as a parting comment, she added, "It'll be good to see
Miss Sakura again, neh?  Byeee!"

	Sasuke sank back against the post.  Sakura's absence
was a subject that he never liked to be reminded of
but constantly hovered in the back of his mind, like a
missing tooth.  None of Konoha's vistas were complete
because none of them included a pink-haired figure
with the rest of the village's population.

	"Hey, Sasuke!" a loud tenor shrieked from the end of
the bridge.  

	Sasuke grinned.  "Naruto."

	"Ready for dinner?  I hope Hinata-chan's making
ramen...."

	Sasuke blinked with amusement as Naruto began his
soothing prattle, praising his oath-wife's cooking
skills.

	Hinata and Naruto weren't legally married yet
(emphasis on the 'yet') because of a law that had been
largely unknown until recent times.  It declared that
fully-trained shinobi were not permitted to marry
until their thirtieth birthdays.

	Which had not impacted on the village much until the
current group of young ninja had reached their
twenties, and started pairing off.  Wishing to marry
(as a high proportion were orphans and/or had lost at
least one parent in early childhood, and they wanted
to build the families they missed), they had
discovered that they were legally unable to.

	Some had chosen to remain as residents of their
parents' homes and wait.  Some had chosen to move out
and set up their own homes, where they could act as
they chose, but without contravening the law.  And
some, like Naruto and Hinata, said, "Stuff it",
exchanged rings and promises, and made it clear that
they were husband and wife in all but law.  The
village treated such couples as married; the Hokage
made officialdom ignore them; and informed observers
confidently expected Hyuuga Hiyashi to start talking
to his eldest daughter again any decade now.  Sasuke
sometimes wondered how Hinata had managed to overcome
her natural retience to live so.  Then he would be
dragged off to dinner or karaoke or something with
Naruto, and he remembered why.

	They entered the foyer of Naruto's home, and Naruto
called out, "I'm home!"

	"Sorry for the intrusion," Sasuke added.

	"Welcome back!" Hinata's voice called out from the
spare room.  "I'm just -- UGH!"

	"HINATA-CHAN!" Naruto yelled, kicking off his shoes
and running into the house.

	Sasuke followed at a more leisurely pace, and saw
Hinata and Naruto carefully setting down a box full of
Naruto's camping gear.  She looked up and spotted him.

	"Oh, Sasuke-kun!" she said cheerfully.  "I'm sorry
about dinner -- it'll be ramen tonight, I'm afraid. 
Lady Tsunade is sending my team out on a mission
tomorrow morning, so I have to prepare."

	Both men blinked.  "What are you doing?" Naruto
asked.

	"Well, Lady Tsunade received a letter from Miss
Sakura.  Apparently she's being stalked and she's a
bit worried about her tour, so she asked for a
bodyguard --"

	"She's being stalked?" Sasuke cut in.

	"Yes, that's what her request letter said --"

	"I'm sorry Hinata, Naruto," Sasuke interrupted again.
 "I'm afraid I can't stay to dinner."

	"Wait up," said Naruto quickly.  "I'm coming too!"

	Hinata blinked.  "Excuse me?  Where are --?"

	"We're going to go see Grandma," Naruto told her.

	"You know you shouldn't call Lady Tsunade that...."
Hinata sighed to the swinging door where her husband
and his best friend used to be.

*****

	"You didn't know?" Tsunade said innocently.

	"*No*, we *didn't*," Sasuke replied through gritted
teeth.

	"So tell us, Grandma," Naruto added.  "What's going
on?"

	"*Don't call me that*, and it's fairly
straightforward," the Hokage said.  "Miss Haruno has
received threats that she believes might affect the
support personnel that she's taking with her around
Fire Country, so she's asked for a team to bodyguard
them.  It's a reasonable request, and she says that
the nature of the threats lead her to believe it's one
person, that they're a civilian and that they'll try
to set up a trap rather than generate a group for an
ambush.  It's a standard C-class mission."

	"Okay, that explains why Hinata's genin team, they
specialise in spying, stealth and dirty tricks,"
Sasuke said.  "But what about *Sakura*?"

	"Miss Haruno *was* a genin," Tsunade said.  "She may
not be capable of major taijutsu, but I seriously
doubt she's forgotten how to throw kunai.  She says
that she feels confident she can protect herself, and
who am I to disagree?"	

	"But she *was* a genin," Naruto pointed out.  "That
makes her a security risk."

	"An extremely minor one," Tsunade replied.  "She's
not leaked any information, ever, in the ten years
since her injury and retirement.  The only people who
even know that she was born in Konoha rather than the
capital outside the village are her family."

	"But she could be forced to," Sasuke said.  "This
stalker could be a cover for something bigger.  That
makes it a B-class mission."

	Tsunade frowned.  "You know jounin don't do B-class
missions."

	"We'll slum it, Grandma."

	"Don't.  Call.  Me.  That."

	"Sure thing, *Grandma*."

	"Brat."

	"*Old* *lady*."

	"You're trying to get me riled up, tadpole."

	"Is it working, Old Slug Lady?"

	"Get out of my sight!  *Both* of you!"

	Sasuke grinned.  "We'll give your regards to Sakura."

	"Do that, bastards!"

*****

	"That didn't take long," Sasuke commented.

	"Eh," Naruto agreed.  "I wonder why Sakura-chan
didn't tell us."

	Sasuke shrugged.  Naruto frowned.  It was Sasuke's 'I
have some suspicions but I'm not going to tell you'
shrug.  After over eleven years of working with the
other man, Naruto had learnt to read him fairly well,
and right now, Sasuke was radiating a fair bit of
anger, determination, petulance and protectiveness.  A
mixture that Naruto had to admit he was feeling more
than a bit of himself.

	"Anyway, I'm off home," Sasuke broke the silent
moment.  "Packing to do.  Meet you at Miss Hinata's
team's meeting spot at dawn?"

	"Sure," Naruto agreed, heading towards his own small
house.  "I'm home!" he called, as he opened the door.

	"Welcome back," Hinata's voice floated in from their
bedroom.

	"Can you pull out my bags too, Hinata-chan?" he
asked, walking into the room.  "I'm coming too."

	She looked up, her pearl-white eyes wide with
surprise.

	"I... eh heh heh... I kinda said...."

	Hinata sighed.  "She's kicked you out of the village
again, hasn't she?"

	"No!  Well, kinda," he admitted.  "But I told her I'd
be going with you, not to the Pervert Master."

	"You shouldn't talk about Master Jiraya that way,"
Hinata said flatly.  "You know he's a really good
teacher."

	"You wouldn't say that if you'd heard what he says
about you," Naruto muttered under his breath.

	"What was that, Naruto-kun?"

	"Anyway, you know I can't let you go off for two
months on your own," he said, pulling out his sleeping
bag and inadvertently raking his chestnuts out of the
frying pan and into the flames.

	"What did you just say?" Hinata demanded, her tone
saying quite clearly, 'I heard but I'm going to give
you a chance to rephrase before I kick you out of the
house'.

	"I... you know I get lonely without you!  I don't
want to be alone for that long!"

	Hinata's face softened and Naruto let out a sigh of
relief.

	"Don't get in the way of my team and I, though,"
Hinata added.  "I have a job to do and children to
teach, and I really need you to stay out of it."

	"Okay," Naruto said, cheerfulness restored.  "But you
will call on me when you need me, right?  I mean,
there's nobody in Konoha that can match me for shadow
clones and chakra!"

******

	"So let me love you / That's all I want...."

	Haruno Sakura, better known throughout Fire Country
as 'Cherry', let her head fall forward, whilst the
backup band brought the song to a close.  It fitted
the melancholy tone of the song to have the singer
look mournful as she sang, and she played it to the
hilt.

	It wasn't feigned, either.  She'd written the song
about the time some ten years beforehand, about her
feelings for a boy she'd thought she loved (and maybe
she had, as much as she'd been capable of loving
anyone at fourteen), and what she thought must have
been the feelings of the two boys who'd had crushes on
her.

	Back then, she'd had her life planned out.  A quiet,
steady progression through genin to chuunin to jounin,
then a successful career as a kunoichi, interrupted by
marriage to her crush, brought to an honourable close
by the birth of their children.  This plan had come to
a screaming halt the day she'd chosen to put herself
between an enemy far too strong for her and her
injured teammates, paying for it with a shattered leg
and destroyed ankle and knee.  Her injuries had healed
well enough for her to walk again (albeit with a
pronounced limp) but she would never be able to make
kunoichi.  She had been informed that it was
considered an honourable retirement -- but when all
her friends were ninja-in-training, and she wasn't,
anymore....

	Her mother had been terribly worried by the
depression she'd sunk into, and had sent her off to
stay with her aunt in Fire Country's capital city,
thinking that the change in lifestyle would help.  It
had, mainly because once there she'd been discovered
by her recording company's talent scout.  The totally
unexpected new opportunity had generated other dreams,
and the fact that it required effort had successfully
distracted her.  If there was one thing Sakura had
never been scared of, it was hard work, and she worked
at being a good musician as hard as she had at being a
kunoichi.  Which was why she had hit the top of the
charts and stayed there.

	In a bittersweet decision, she'd kept contact with
her friends in Konoha -- Ino and Hinata wrote gossipy
letters full of news, a bouncy missive arrived from
Naruto every two weeks or so, and every month Sasuke
sent her a full report of his doings (as he wrote, "I
don't know how to write letters, only how to tell you
what's been happening").  But it had become very, very
clear to her that they were now moving in different
worlds.

	She hadn't yet heard a reply from the Hokage to her
request for guards, and she refused to confirm her
latest tour until she did.  The latest threats had
been worrying.  Not the ones to her person; she still
practiced daily with her kunai, genjutsu and ninjutsu,
so she was quite sure she could handle anyone who
tried to attack her.  But some of the things hinted at
in the last few could impact on others, and she would
not put civilians in danger.

	Sakura waited for the lights to go down.  This
particular concert had been performed standing, and
her leg had passed 'ache' some time back and was now
in that special realm of 'numb' where the moment she
did anything silly, like walking, she'd feel as though
she were being stabbed over and over up and down the
length of the limb.  Normally, when she wasn't playing
her keyboard with its specially-designed seat, she was
draped artistically across some plaster rocks or
furniture, with a heating pad strategically placed
under her right leg.  This time, however, the venue
hadn't been able to take her equipment, and she'd had
to perform without the support.  Her gown hid the
ankle and knee support bandages she was wearing, but
strapping a gel heat pad to her leg would disrupt the
line of the costume.

	It was well-known to the media and her fans that
Cherry had been in an accident as a child that had
injured her leg so she couldn't dance the way other
idols could.  Only her friends in Konoha and her
roadies knew the full extent of her injuries, and
Sakura wanted to keep it that way.

	Finally the lights went down, and after taking her
bows, she stumbled along the corridor to her dressing
room.  Flopping down into the easy chair that had been
set close to the heater, at just the right angle to
let her aching leg absorb the warmth while not
scorching her face, she set her hand down to find a
bottle of chilled water right there.

	She stiffened and said softly, "Who is it?"

	"Who do you think, Sakura?"

	Swinging around in the armchair, she blinked to see
her old teammate (and, ironically, the crush she'd
been singing about) leaning against the wall beside
the door.  "Sasuke-kun!  This is a surprise," she
replied.  "Did you like the concert?"

	"Why didn't you tell us?" he demanded.

	/Uh-oh,/ Sakura thought, and decided not to play
dumb.  "I can take care of myself," she replied.  "Why
are you here?  It's a C-class mission and you're
jounin now."

	"Really.  I was able to walk in here, totally
rearrange your room, and watch you for a full minute
before you spotted me, and you can take care of
yourself."

	"Thank you for switching on the heater," Sakura said
calmly.  "For the rest -- I'm a highly paid
entertainer, someone normally comes in and cleans up
my dressing room for me.  Your alterations weren't
screamingly obvious, so I dismissed them as the maid's
work.  And you're jounin now -- when you hide your
chakra, I can't spot it unless I'm actively looking
for it.  Plus, I trust you.  This wouldn't happen if
you were my stalker."

	Sasuke snorted, and then the door opened.

	"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, bouncing into the room,
followed by Hinata, who said, "Hello, Miss Sakura."

	"Hello to both of you!" Sakura replied.  "What brings
you both here?"

	"I'm in charge of the genin team that has been
assigned to your contract, Miss Sakura," Hinata
replied.  "Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun, however, are
here because they had a fight with Lady Tsunade when
she wouldn't assign them to get rid of your stalker."

	Sakura gave the two young men a slit-eyed look as
Naruto added, "So we're here to do it anyway!"

	"Why am I not surprised," Sakura murmured.

	"Her security is woeful," Sasuke told Naruto firmly,
ignoring the two women.  "I came back here during the
concert and I wasn't accosted once."

	"And how stealthy were you attempting to be?" Sakura
demanded.

	Sasuke gave her an injured look.  "A reasonable level
of stealth," he said reproachfully.  "No jutsu."

	"We were trained to melt into the shadows without
jutsu," Sakura commented.  "It doesn't count."

	"Ne, ne, aren't you happy to see us, Sakura-chan?"
Naruto asked, giving her his best puppy-eyes.

	She sighed.  "Yes, of course I'm happy to see *all*
of you," Sakura replied, including Hinata in the smile
she gave.  "It's just, I don't need a babysitter!"

	"I never said you did," Sasuke said in an aggrieved
tone.  "I'm just saying, you need more security than
you have.  But we're here now, so you don't have to
worry anymore.  We'll take care of you."

	"Miss Hinata," Sakura said quietly, in tones
simmering with anger, "tell your husband and his best
friend that I am *perfectly* *capable* of protecting
myself."

	Pearl-white eyes met jade-green, and while Sakura
could read wry sympathy in the other woman's
expression, she also saw an unyielding strength.  "I'm
sorry, Miss Sakura, but you know Naruto-kun and
Sasuke-kun as well as I do.  They'll do it with or
without our permission.  At least if you say yes you
won't be tripping over them in the middle of the
night."

	Sakura shut her eyes and sighed.  "All right," she
conceded grumpily.  "Fine.  We're *all* going on
tour."

________

Author's Notes:
	1. The 'no marriage before thirty' law is not
canonical, but rather my way of accounting for the
fact that there are no young married couples floating
around Konoha.
	2. I have done my best to translate the Japanese
honourifics appropriately, but there is no really good
way to translate either '-chan' (because the English
equivalent(s) are either too intimate or too
condescending to cover all the usages) or '-kun'
(because it can mean either a person of equal rank, or
an extremely high-ranked person, higher than '-sama').
 Thus I have left them alone.
	3. I know Hinata is a lot bolder here than she is in
the canon series.  This story is set ten years after
the manga, though, and I think Hinata will gain
confidence as she gets older and grows up, especially
as she now has Naruto on her side.  I've tried to show
that she's still very polite and diffident with people
she sees as equals and superiors, but that she's
confident in her ability to do things she knows how to
do -- such as teaching a genin team.

=====
raye_j@yahoo.com
livejournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/windtear
http://www.thejohnsens.com/index.html

"Look, I do this job because the pay's good, the scenery
changes, and they let me use explosives."
  -- Rockhound, 'Armageddon'


		
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