New chapter! Yay! Smooching ahead. ;)

I do not own the Naruto universe and its contents.

Chapter Ten

Sakura turned up at his team training the next afternoon. After greeting her with a kiss, Minato shooed his gennin away (though Rin didn't go easily) then let her lead him through the village.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"The Senju compound," she told him. "I thought I'd give you that tour you wanted."

"Are you sure that's alright?" Minato asked, trying to hide his enthusiasm, though he must have been unsuccessful, judging by her grin.

"Don't worry," she reassured him, "Kushina's on a mission until tomorrow, so she won't come chasing you out with a big stick or anything like that."

"I doubt she'd do that," Minato said, then frowned. "At least, I don't thinkshe would…"

Sakura giggled.

They soon reached the gates of the compound, and Sakura held his hand, with their fingers interlaced, as he stepped through. Minato felt the cool chakra of the wards wash over him as he stepped through, felt the way it connected to Sakura's own chakra, which felt like rain and earth. That gave him a clue to her nature affinity, at least. One of the perks of being a sensor. Once they were through, the compound lay before him, and he stared in awe at the sight of all the traditional style houses.

It was quite a bit like the Uchiha compound that way. But then, the Uchiha and Senju were both founding clans, after all. Even the Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka were a bit more modern than this, even if they did still have some traditional elements. Those three clans had been the first to agree to join the village once the building had started, followed shortly by the Sarutobi and a few of their smaller allies.

"So, what kind of tour do you want?" Sakura asked. "Do you just want the main sights? Or do you want to see the hidden gems of the compound as well?"

"…That kind of sounded like a tourism pitch," Minato said, earning him a giggle. "How about we start with the main stuff, and go from there?"

"Alright," Sakura nodded, then looped her arm through his. "Let's start with the main residences then."

Half an hour later, and they were standing in front of the Shodaime and Nidaime's houses. Minato was just staring up at them, while Sakura laughed at him. "Stop laughing," he ordered, embarrassed at his gaping, and she mimed zipping her lips shut. "What's down that path?" he then asked.

Sakura sobered and stared to where he pointed. "The Shodaime's grave," she said. "That's a no-go zone for you, in case you were wondering."

Minato nodded, respectful and just a little bit superstitious of going anywhere near the resting place of the first ever Hokage. Sakura grabbed hold of him and they headed down the street to a large building. The sign over the door said it was a library.

"This is where Jiraiya and I are most of the time," she told him as they walked up the steps. "Main rule here is, no pocketing scrolls. Even Jiraiya's not allowed to do that."

"Are you?" Minato asked as they stepped in through the doors.

"Probably, but I still leave them all here anyway," she told him.

Jiraiya-sensei was inside when they went in.

"Minato!" he greeted. "I wasn't expecting you to show up."

He gave Sakura a look that Minato didn't understand, but she just shrugged. "He wanted to see the compound," was all she said.

"What are you looking for?" Minato asked, even as Sakura let go of him to look at what scrolls were in front of Jiraiya.

"A scroll written by the Nidaime," Jiraiya told him. "A counter to a jutsu in another scroll of his."

"A counter scroll…?"

Sakura let out an undignified snort. "Shishou and the baka here activated the other scroll," she said.

"And you want to fix what happened?" Minato guessed.

Sakura and Jiraiya shared a glance, and the latter shrugged. "Maybe," Sakura said. "Depends on if there's even one at all, and on how things go with the… effects…of the jutsu."

"Don't look at me like that, mini-hime," Jiraiya said. "You know what I think about the whole thing."

Sakura sighed, even as Minato looked confused. "I did tell you some stuff," she said.

"But not all of it," was the counter.

Minato stared from one to the other, then back again. "The two of you are making no sense whatsoever," he said flatly.

Sakura sighed and said, "Don't worry about it. In the meantime, wanna help? All you have to do is find something written by the Nidaime. We've found a couple, so you can match his handwriting to anything you find."

Minato picked up a scroll she indicated, eyes running over it briefly to find that it was a rather bland looking report on the financial status of the clan. By the looks of it, even the Nidaime was bored by writing this. He sighed. "Where do I start?"

OoOoO

They'd spent hours going through scrolls (coming up empty handed as usual) before Jiraiya called it quits for the day. Sakura decided it was all enough too, and after the sannin was gone, she led Minato out onto the streets of the compound.

"There's somewhere I haven't shown you yet," she said. "Wanna see?"

"Of course," Minato agreed.

She led him to a little garden that was near the Shodaime's house. Sakura'd discovered it on her third day in the compound, and decided it was the best place to go to when she needed a break from all the scrolls. It was quite overgrown with flowers, some dead, but most were alive. In fact, some of the 'dead' ones even looked like they were starting to do better lately. Must have been the rain they'd had a few nights ago.

"Nice," Minato said.

Sakura gave him a 'look'. "It's more than nice," she told him. "It's peaceful here, and not just because the whole compound is deserted. Because it doesn't feel like that here. Come on! Sit, close your eyes, and just listen."

"Listen to what?" Minato asked as Sakura pushed him to sit on a marble bench.

"To nothing, everything," she said, sitting next to him and closing her eyes. "Just listen."

Minato sighed and followed her example, listening. Sakura smiled lightly as she heard nothing.

"I still don't get it," Minato said, and she shushed him.

After a few minutes, Sakura felt his fingers thread through hers, and she opened her eyes to see that he was staring at her. He raised a hand to her face, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and she tried not to blush. She must have failed at least a little bit, because he grinned at her, then leaned down to press his lips to hers. Sakura's lips parted to allow his tongue entrance to deepen their kiss.

Minato pulled her closer, both hands now cupping her face. Sakura's arms came up to wrap around his neck, and he pulled her to him, lifting her up by her upper thighs so that she ended up straddling him. Warmth suffused her as she pressed against him, and she felt even more warmth, this time pooling in her stomach. One of his hands moved down to cup a breast, and Sakura gasped into their kiss.

Their lips parted, but Minato didn't stop, instead trailing a path along her chin to her ear, which he nibbled. Sakura let out a soft little sigh at this, before she reluctantly pulled back. The hand that was not on her breast moved down to the small of her back as they stared at one another. The other one stayed where it was. She grinned at him.

"You alright with your hand there?" she asked, voice a little husky.

"I have no complaints," he said, squeezing lightly.

Sakura giggled and kissed his nose, then said, "You know, other than when we had breakfast… I don't think we've been on a proper date yet."

Minato frowned, though she could see it was a playful one. "Well, that's not right," he said. "How about tomorrow night? You can get all dressed up, I'll take you to a fancy restaurant, and even walk you to your door like a gentleman."

"I like that idea, but nothing spicy please," she said, then glanced down briefly. "Do you suppose I could have my breast back?" she asked.

He sighed dramatically. "If you must," he said, and lowered his hand.

Sakura disentangled herself from his grasp, then stood. She held out her hand, and Minato took it. They walked back through the compound streets, never having noticed the dead flowers in the garden were now alive and as fresh as the day they'd been planted.

OoOoO

Tsunade threw back another shot of sake, moping. She was depressed, because she was doing something that she'd sworn she'd never, ever do. And that was, go back to Konoha. Glowering at the jug of sake in front of her, she poured another shot and downed that as well. All of this was Sakura's fault, she just knew it.

The other day, something had happened. A shift in the wards, and she knew that now, she and her niece slash cousin Kushina weren't the only ones on the wards at the Senju compound anymore. She'd felt them change, and also felt obligated to go check on them. That was the wards at work. They were calling her home, and she resented that.

So she sat drinking, even though she'd have a hangover tomorrow. It would make her grumpy as hell, but she didn't care. It would be a few more days before she and Shizune (who was ecstatic at being able to go back to the village) arrived, and Tsunade was determined that they weren't going to be wasted. Her last days of freedom, as it were.

Whatever that brat had done, she was going to give her a hell of a lecture over it. The way the wards had changed, there was only one thing that could have done that, and she cursed her grandfather for leaving that behind after he'd gone. Sure, it was family tradition dating back from who knew how long. But the wards that were centred in a tree of all things, were unpredictable and unreliable.

Sighing, she kept pouring her sake until there was no more left, then loudly ordered another from the barkeeper, determined that she wasn't going to get through this day sober. She was going back to Konoha. Her life sucked.

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