Comfort

Caramel brown eyes glanced once at the uncomfortable Jōnin standing before her desk before looking down at his anxious genin who was practically hiding behind him. No words had been exchanged while the duo waited for acknowledgment. Seeing as Kakashi had slipped through her open window with Sakura protesting the entire time, Senju Tsunade - Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure - felt inclined to make them wait.

Kakashi coughed.

Tsunade felt her eyes narrow.

A knock at the door drew the attention of the room's occupants, the odd trio watching as Shizune peeked inside the office with arms loaded down by more documents that were oh so important and needed the Hokage's signature. "Tsunade-sama, you better not be- oh. Hatake-san, hello."

"Mm." Kakashi inclined his head in greeting. The pink haired little girl at his side bowed, displaying more manners than her brat of a sensei ever had in Tsunade's presence.

"It seems I have a meeting." Tsunade drawled, half in amusement, half in exasperation.

Shizune snapped her head towards the Sannin, dark eyes wide before turning back to the Jōnin. "Eh? But Hatake avoids this place like the plague, why is he-"

"I need to file form 33F, subset C." Hatake announced. Sakura and Shizune shot him twin looks of confusion, but Tsunade grew still as her brown eyes flickered down to his student yet again in assessment. The girl was wringing her hands - had been since they had arrived - and Tsunade could see the faint traces of burns healed by iryō ninjutsu. The healing was efficient, but a medic of Tsunade's caliber could still sense the soothing chakra that was stimulating Sakura's cells and boosting her healing factor.

"Shizune, get me the documents. It's in the family files."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." With a confused bow, her long-time student and assistant scurried away. Tsunade herself leaned forward intently, crossing her legs under her desk even as she set her elbows upon its surface and laced her hands together. Balancing her chin upon them, the Godaime rose an eyebrow.

"Report, Hatake."

"I'm charging Haruno Mebuki with child abuse against a minor that has since transformed into an assault against a Konohagakure genin after receiving evidence of maliciously inflicted burns and a confession to past abuse."

"Kakashi-sensei, you don't-" Sakura tried to interrupt, eyes wide in panic before cutting off with an eep as Tsunade turned her attention to the girl.

"...anything else?" Tsunade asked after a moment, taking stock of Hatake's serious demeanor. The brat was treating this meeting with as much seriousness as his accusations called for, a point in his favor. His student's obvious distress at the revelation of her misfortunes were in line with common abuse cases - most children believed the blame to be place on their own shoulders and displayed anguish at the disclosure of their past weaknesses.

"Sakura needs a psych evaluation and therapy courses due to cognitive dissonance." Well, that was a term the Hokage had firmly believed Hatake was ignorant of. What a surprise.

"Oh?"

"She's repressed her kunoichi mindset in favor of the perfect civilian daughter her mother favored." Kakashi clarified, causing Tsunade to withhold a wince because, yeah, she could see where the Copy-Nin was coming from with his therapy recommendation. On that subject, however…

"And what of your own psych evals? Inoichi-san is rather insistent you visit him."

Before the brat could react other than to flinch away, Shizune entered the room. Pale and grim and understanding, she handed over the blank form without comment, smiled reassuringly at the twitching Sakura, and once again left the room silently. Tsunade sent an assessing stare towards the closed door, wondering if she should call the woman in after Hatake left before dismissing it as a later consideration. Looking down at the small stack of papers the Jōnin had asked for, Tsunade spoke.

"You know what could happen." She warned. Her only answer was a growl the likes of which she had failed to hear since Hatake Sakumo's death. Members of the Inuzuka clan could closely emulate the deep-throated sound but the Hatake…

Well, Kakashi may summon ninken, but his clan had always been associated with wolves before any other canine.

"If that happens, register her as a Hatake."

Tsunade dropped the pen she had been fiddling with. "What?"

"What?!" Sakura echoed, her features a disorienting mix of emotions (she was confused, frantic, touched, terrified and oh so many more) that had Tsunade absently wondering if she had ever felt so many emotions when she was the girl's age. She was also startlingly expressive and in painful need of suppression training. Actually, seeing as repressing herself was the main reason Hatake was asking for therapy sessions, maybe a mask like her new father would be a better option. Or maybe Kakashi would rather be her brother? Who knew.

"You realize only a clan head can adopt a new member." Tsunade stated after a moment of staring at Hatake in bewilderment, Sakura copying her actions.

Kakashi shrugged. "I am the Hatake clan head."

What? Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "...you don't go to those damn meetings."

She would know. She had to listen to the council raving at every decision she made, whining at the budget cuts and the shift of towards better funding for the hospital. Tsunade didn't much care for their opinions, she had been wanting medics on every team of deployed since the Second World War and she would damn well get it now that she was in charge.

Hatake's bland look was explanation enough, the accompanying lifted brow only making him seem impertinent.

Lucky bastard. Seeing as not even she had known he had taken up the Hatake headship, the old farts on the council probably lacked that knowledge as well. No, they most definitely didn't know because they would be bitching about his absence if they did. Leaning back in her chair (her nice, cozy, expensive chair because Tsunade spent more time in this office than out of it so she would be comfortable, dammit) in irritation, she waved her hand nonchalantly. "Minato-san saw to it, didn't he?"

"Aah." He nodded.

Sakura just looked confused and worried. Understandable, Tsunade wouldn't know what was happening if she had been replaced with her genin self either.

"Alright, brat. Tell me what happened to your hands."

Kakashi followed her stare, single visible eye resting upon his student and seeming to soften. Leaning down slightly, the Hatake patted Sakura's head in a manner reminiscent to a ninken. "It's alright, Sakura-chan. We'll get some anmitsu after this is all over, okay?"

Emerald eyes narrowed and Tsunade watched curiously as Sakura glared suspiciously up at the man who had pointedly took a step away. "You hate sweets."

"You don't, though." He noted, tilting his head with his eye squinted shut in a smile.

Tsunade wasn't sure whether to be amused at their display, or disgusted with the underlying affection seeping throughout her office. Before she could decide, the genin turned to her, and began detailing the events of the last day and a half and skimming over past mental abuses and a few incidents of slaps and other such physically damaging episodes since the Chunin Exam invasion. It was far from the worse abusive situation Tsunade had learned of (and she knew of so, so many due to her role as a medic-nin) but the appearance of Sakura's inner personality was what made the entire case so alarming. According to the girl 'Inner', as Sakura had dubbed her, had been within her mind since she was eight years old. It correlated with the time of the Uchiha Massacre, when Haruno Mebuki's demands for Sakura's future betrothal and instruction into becoming a 'desirable bride' had increased in frequency. If Tsunade had to guess the cause, it would most likely be from the social vacuum the Uchiha's absence had caused, leaving new families to jockey for higher positions within their society.

By the time Sakura had stopped speaking Tsunade was completing the emancipation forms, eyes constantly flickering up to the girl to ensure her that the Hokage really was paying attention. Hatake was notably silent, his ever-present porn absent and his hands buried in his pants pockets as he leaned up against the back wall.

The Hokage let a few seconds of silence stretch when Sakura finished, waiting as the girl composed herself, wiping away any trace of tears. Tsunade was fairly impressed how well the girl was taking it. She had only confided in her woes for the first time mere hours ago and now she was taking action into solving them - though it was mostly due to Hatake's influence. She was still reeling from the fact that the brat had went to one of the instructional lectures held for those of Chūnin or Jōnin ranking and actually listened. Chūnin were advised to attend them due to the somewhat infrequent assignments to the Academy there was a chance of receiving at a time when the usual teachers were otherwise occupied. If someone reached Jōnin without drawing the short straw for teaching the little hellions, the lectures were recommended due to their eventual task as Jōnin sensei. Though there were a few notable exceptions for those the psych division declared too mentally unstable to care for children while also maintaining enough sanity to work in the field. Mitarashi Anko was one such example. Kakashi would most likely be another, had he ever turned up to his scheduled sessions. Why the Sandaime had still decided to give the man Team 7, Tsunade failed to comprehend.

Hatake appeared to be doing a good job, though. Especially if the way Sakura shuffled up to his side was any sign of his teaching skill. Sure, he was obviously uncomfortable with the hug she tried to grace him with - he was even pushing her away with a gentle but stern hand clamped on her shoulder - but there was clear affection in both of their underlying actions. The way he kept checking for tears in her eyes, the way she seemed to analyze his level of discomfort and the amount of touch she was allowed to get away with in response before acting upon it…

Their relationship was a careful balancing act between a determined preteen and a social defunct adult.

Deciding that yes, she most definitely was amused with the duo, Tsunade finished the emancipation forms with the quick strokes of her signature. Slapping down the official stamp of Konohagakure's Hokage, the last of the Senju cleared her throat to gain her ninja's attention.

"I'll have a Chūnin deliver these in the morning. Sakura." The genin quickly snapped to attention, straightening her spine as best she could. Hatake's attention only sharpened in response, his posture still slouching and as disrespectful as ever. Really, how had the man ended up with a student such as Sakura, Tsunade didn't know. She was silently envious too, Shizune had been a curious little imp with no regards for boundaries.

"Hai, Hokage-sama?"

"I recommend you go home and tell your mother you're being assigned a last minute C-rank before packing away anything of importance. I doubt you could freely return there after she receives the news."

The most likely former-Haruno winced. "Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Hatake."

"Hn?"

The Godaime watched the elbow Sakura shot into the Jōnin's unflinching side with a raised eyebrow. Hatake failed to react even as the genin pursed her lips in dissatisfaction, glaring at him pointedly.

"Don't screw this up."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." He agreed, deferential even while the amused look he shot his student ruined any appearance of subservience.

Tsunade let out a hum before waving a pointed hand, pushing the finished forms into her outbox. "Leave."

She started on some of the papers Shizune had dropped off earlier while the two retreated, not looking up as they exited through the door like civilized people instead of using her window as an exit just as they had used it for an entrance. Now if only she could break Jiraiya of the habit.

"Tsunade-sama?"

Brown eyes glanced up as Shizune once again peeked into the room. Smiling soothingly at her long-time student (almost her daughter, to be completely honest), Tsunade motioned for her to enter the room.

The brunette wasted no time, quickly stepping up to the desk and hugging Tonton securely against her chest even as she let out a hiss and the tiny pig let out a strangled oink of protest at her tightening grip. "Child abuse?"

"The Hatake brat actually did a good job reacting to it, all things considered." Tsunade agreed.

While Shizune started mumbling about the 'poor girl' and 'despicable mothers', Tsunade once again laced her fingers together and rested her chin upon them while she stared at her closed door. Her assessment on Hatake was honest, yes, but she wondered how things would proceed from here. Especially if he went through with his plans of adopting the girl.

Well, a cheerful thought that was as equally malicious came to the forefront of her mind, if he does go through with it, he can't avoid the council meetings anymore.

Tsunade was hard pressed to restrain the evil cackle curling up her throat.