"The client was satisfied with the service. Well done," she says as she was looking over the papers where the reports were written.
"Thank you, lady hokage," says the team's leader as the genin members had bowed their heads.
"If I just knew that you went to the ceramics village, I may have dispatched your team to do what you can assist. I didn't have guessed."
"Well, actually─uhmpf!"
The hokage turned her eyes on the group who's in front of her, having their reports submitted to her and giving a further detail orally. "Is there something else that I needed to know?" She asked that the two boys whom she was waiting to say something had stayed quiet so her gaze landed to Yumi which she thought maybe she can explain things to her.
"Yumi? Is something that matter?" Asked Shizune.
"I'm just tired, I had to go," she says flatly and immediately turned her heels and went to the door then left that all they did was to watch her.
"Is she that drained from the mission?" The hokage asked in wonder that the cute pig in the office, Tonton, had made a cute sound as it's response to second what she just said. "I was about to inform the team that they're qualified to enter the chunin exams."
"Really?!" The two remaining genins on the office, beamed in excitement from hearing what she had uttered that made her attention turn to them.
"The chunin exams was still undecided to where it will be it's venue. From the last two years it was held in the sand village. Furthermore, the sand village was still recovering from the sudden attack and kidnapping of their kazekage by the Akatsuki," she informed that she do understand why they are excited about it that she's sure that they aren't listening.
It's their first time to get a chance to try out the exam anyway and everyone had gone through that phase. She turned her eyes towards their jounin, Keisuke, who was been so quiet.
"When was the day of the chunin exam?" Asked Kyousuke who's obviously the most excited.
"It'll probably months away," their sensei had answered.
"Then that means, there's plenty of time to train," says the one who's very composed member of the team, Hiro.
She closed her eyes and shrugged it off. There's one person she had in mind right now.
Yumi.
It may not appear that way, but she always had a place in her mind. She may lack maternal affection towards her that she may consider herself as a failure when it comes to parenting, but she was trying at least to show that she worries about her.
She only doesn't want anyone to think that there's a biased going on, now that its almost everyone knew that she had an adopted a child from the orphanage from getting a liking to her. And that also made her hurt on the part that Yumi was possibly thinking that she had taken her in for her own personal gain.
"I only wanted to help her achieve what she can reach with her talents and nothing else," she told to herself in her thoughts once again that it had been the same voice she had to whisper to herself whenever she think of her adopted child.
Hiro's father was a distant relative of hers, and so did to Kyousuke. And Keisuke whom she personally picked to be the jounin who'll handle the team for the thought that Keisuke and Yumi would do fine by relating to each other since they both came from the same orphanage.
She had picked the team carefully, now she worries that Yumi may take it as she wanted to keep an eye on whatever she'll do.
Also the letters she had sent from the outside of the village, she was thinking if Yumi was thinking she's under supervision. But she's the hokage, and the whole village was all under her wing, not just Yumi. She can't see any reasons possible to why would she let her off the hook with the laws of the village just because she's now a daughter of the hokage.
She doesn't know why, but it made her smile. Maybe that was how a parent with a high influence would think, just like when she was entitled as a princess because of her grandfather who's the most influential through generations.
Even she was entitled as a princess, her suggestion of adding people on medics for the war to not only focus on military power wasn't honored to get into consideration and only her lover, Dan, who had seen the side of her point that medics had a big role in the war and stood up for her to push her suggestion to reconsidered. It's a bittersweet memory of her back on her prime days.
Whatever Yumi was going through because of her, she had gone through that and will go in more of it for the next few years. She understands her, and hope Yumi would understand her position too.
"Is Yumi getting along with you?" She asked to the two genins that if she had to look on the genealogy, they'll be a distant relative as an aunt. Their "aunt", she refuse to go on to think they should be calling her grandma.
"I don't think it's the best, but she had promised us to go to watch fireworks on the festival just on a nearby town."
"That's very honest, at least drop a few white lies like you two are the best of friends that makes everyone jealous or something."
"And she also had said to come and visit tomorrow noon to have our kimono to get checked to see if it needed adjustments," he added as if he didn't heard Hiro.
"I had seen the raw cuts already, and I can tell it's something to look forward to," says Shizune who joined their conversation.
"How about me?" Hiro and Kyousuke turned to Keisuke who's pointing himself who had been left out. "Aren't I invited to tag along to watch the fireworks?" He asked.
"You can tag along. It's not like it needed Yumi's permission for you to come with us."
"I think she wouldn't mind. It was you anyway."
Observing them alone gave her a heads up. She had nothing to worry about.
"Lady Tsunade?"
She opened her left eye and looked over the left side where Shizune was standing next to her with a pig in her arm.
"How about you also invite Yumi sometime to train for the chunin exam? You know, it's a good excuse to have a mother and daughter bonding for once."
"That doesn't sound so bad."
"W-what's with that grin, Lady Tsunade? Of course it's training, strictly no alcohol too!"
Overnight, she had worked herself just on the kimono. And as promised, the next day every kimono was finished and hangs them to avoid wrinkling, it was ready that they all need to do was to come and try the kimono's to check if there's something that needs for adjustments.
"Wow, I had no idea you can sew out clothes, Yumi," says Konohamaru who was very satisfied with his set of kimono that he can't leave in front of the lifesized whole body mirror.
"Glad you like it," she replied that had him turned to her and gave her a serious look.
Hiro pushed Hansuke and Hideout on their backs to get out of the room then pulled Kyousuke on his wrist even with the whining protest just because he's waiting for his turn to use the mirror.
"I really applaud your insensitivity, Kyousuke," Hiro comments, leaning his back on the wall with his arms crossed.
"Why? Is something going on between the three of you?" Asked Hansuke that he immediately covered his mouth by his hands, thinking that it was the matter he shouldn't go mentioning so carelessly.
"Say, Hansuke. Maybe we should take our leave. Besides, we already had the kimono," suggested Hideo which he was signalling that there was something going on that they shouldn't get involved.
"Yeah, I think the kimono doesn't needs adjustments too."
That said, they changed back to their clothes and left that only leave Hiro and Kyousuke standing just outside the room, waiting for something that they don't even know what.
"What's with the big idea, Hiro? Why did we even left the room?" He stole a glance inside Yumi's room then switch it back to Hiro once again. "What is in your brain of yours, speak."
"It's nothing personal," he sighs the glanced back inside the room. "I just thought that Yumi and him could talk. I mean, we tried speaking to her and how she had acted the entire time was like we're talking to a puppet. You know? Lifeless but it somehow moving and talking like how ventriloquy works its magic in shows?"
Kyousuke who's mad just because of the mirror, suddenly realised that it was actually not a simple thing, it's a serious matter. He went to stand beside him and also leaned his back against the wall as his brain fills him up again with the questions he wanted to know.
"Her eyes, you saw it too, right?" He asked to the person whom he actually acknowledges his intellect which Hiro expressed a serious face. "And you know it before that happened?" He asked further.
"Of course I don't know that," he cut off that Kyousuke only says a quiet "oh." "I only pretended like I did not see it, because it won't help anything if I had expressed myself on how surprised I was during that time anyway," he explained.
"Honestly, I kinda envy that personality of you, Hiro. I'm the type of person who over thinks and overanalyze that it would distract me. It made me susceptible on getting panic which an aspiring doctor should never have," he finally said what was on his mind about him and Hiro, but enough about personal matter, he immediately open up the said topic once again. "But you didn't tried to even think of going in depths to it, right?"
"Overwhelming emotions had caused her to awaken that and probably she didn't mean to show it on purpose with how her guards are so low at that time that any one from us would be able to kill her if we had the intention to do so. And for our sensei, I had no idea it was a real deal. I thought it was only a legend."
"That doesn't even answered the question."
Hiro let out a sigh, "Yumi and so did Keisuke-sensei had been hiding something about themselves. I am curious, but I won't push them to answer just because of that. I know you too," he turned his eyes on the side to look at him, "you also had something that you were hiding about yourself."
Kyousuke let out a sigh, "yeah, you're probably right. But among the four of us, I was the most transparent."
"Is there something wrong?" He asked, pulling a chair to sit right next to her. "You can talk to me, I'll listen."
Her face was blank and no signs of even a hidden emotions was there to see.
Her eyes held nothing, not even a hint of light was there to spark. It's dull and held no life in it.
His elbow laid down on the table then he leaned his chin on his hand for support as he stare out to the girl who had her eyes straight looking at the mirror in front of her.
He had an idea, "Look, Yumi," he says as he motioned her to look at herself in the mirror that she only blinked her eyes as her reaction.
"There are two person in the mirror right now and one of them looked dignified," he says as he posed as he was the one he was referring to. "And of course, you too," he added followed by a chuckle.
"Who am I kidding? Why am I doing the same treatment that I did to Miki?"
Flashback..
"Miki~!" he called her name as he was just sitting right next to her.
"Look at our reflection in the mirror," he says.
He was smiling from ear to ear that he knew that he looked silly, but he kept that funny face to be still for at least a minute, encouraging himself that he was doing it in order to make her stop crying.
"Look," he pointed on the mirror. "That cat over there, looks very cute," he says, pointing the cat that was sitting on her lap on the reflection of the mirror. "That one look handsome," he says for believing it was funny and that she would also laugh about it.
"And that one," he says, pointing at her reflection. "That one looks cute. Yiiiehh~! She's gonna laugh now, seriously~!"
But in the end, she cried instead of laughing.
"Of course, you're beautiful even if you cry, but please smile."
"What?"
"Huh?"
"What did you just say?"
He immediately looked away and switched his attention on anywhere just to avoid her.
"Crap!" He cussed to himself inside his head.
What he just said was meant for the one who was in his memories.
It was a memory that he never gets tired of replaying over and over in his head.
There are a lot of things he wanted to add up into that scene if he may able to do it. Repeating it over just to satisfy himself that maybe if he had took that seriously, he could have saved her.
She must be seriously lonely at that time, but what he did to make her laugh instead she have took it in the wrong way.
If he also had taken it more seriously, maybe she was still here.
A pat on his cheek snap him back to reality that his eyes immediately seen their reflection.
"Look at him," she pointed at the reflection of them in the mirror. "He looked stupid."
A tic on his forehead appeared, very convinced now that his mind was sent back to the world of bitter reality.
"Who are you calling stupid?"
"That one," she pointed that she also leaned closer on the mirror to point where his reflection was to not make a place for doubt.
It didn't annoyed him a bit, because it is what he had expected Miki would say and react before than crying as she was naturally very frank but she uses it as her teasing. She may had acted that she was fine, but all her eyes was saying was she wanted to cry.
"Yeah, that one was an idiot."
She turned her eyes to look up to him, "hey, that's a joke. Don't be so harsh on yourself."
"I hope we aren't interrupting or anything," says Kyousuke which he made his footsteps audible as he entered the room that made it so obvious that he was doing it on purpose as Hiro was following him from behind.
"I was wondering why you guys all left."
"Find ourselves to cure our boredom as we wait for our turn to use the mirror."
Hiro ignored him and just went straight to Yumi. "I was fine without the wing on my kimono," he says, asking to cut the wing on the sleeves.
"But wouldn't that make the kimono looked like a bathrobe instead?"
"I'm a man, it didn't really matters."
That somehow made Konohamaru laugh at it, but managed to not let it escape from his mouth.
"Which part of what I said you find it funny?" He asked that all she can do was to take turns on looking at the two.
He cleared his throat before speaking, that also had gave him time to think an excuse. "Sorry, I just find the two of you are cute together."
"Oh, really?" Says Kyousuke on the sidelines with a disgusted look on his face.
"I'll get the measurement of your arm then," then she went on her way to her desk to find probably the measuring tape.
"Me too, Yumi. Please remove the wing for me."
"Oh, by the way, Konohamaru."
(✧ _ ✧ ) (✧ _ ✧ )
"Why are you staring at me that way?"(⌒_⌒;)
"Hiro? Kyousuke?"