Valentine's Day Aiko special

A short story set after Aiko's theoretical return to her time period. Not canon, just fun.

...

Aiko stood with her arms crossed, looking out the window with a scowl. "Yuck," she muttered resentfully. She screwed up her face. "So gauche. Too foreign."

"As you say, Hokage-sama," Sasuke disagreed blandly. He let the box in his hands fall to her desktop. It hit with a concerning crack.

She froze. She slowly turned to make eye contact.

He stared back, with nothing but calm in those liquid black eyes. "These are all the complaints about the recent policy changes."

Aiko rolled her eyes and meandered back towards her desk. "I've changed," she said for the nth time. She uncrossed her arms. "I actually experienced a lot of leadership positions and have experience that improved-"

"No," he said silkily, and looked down at his through his horrible long lashes. "Again, we are not attaching any grandiosity to your experimental mistakes and the administrative work hours lost due to them."

Ugh. "I met the-"

He cut her off with a bored sigh.

Aiko fumed. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Izuna was so much cuter," she muttered resentfully.

Sasuke cut her a sideways little look that said he'd heard exactly what she said, didn't like it, but wasn't going to get tricked into conversation. "There's some thoughts about your choice to invest half the national deficit into pencils here," he said, and fished out a paper to show her. It was covered in red ink.

It somehow looked angry.

"They're going to really take off if they only have the funding," Aiko said loyally. She entirely forgot about the unhappiness that had flashed over Sasuke's face. "I don't care what the ink industry has to say."

"This is from your entire council," he said blandly. But he let it drop regardless. She saw his gaze lift over her, out the window to the garish red and pink street decorations that she'd been scowling at. "You aren't enjoying the Valentine's Day cheer?"

He hadn't said "you're just bitter because your boyfriend dropped you when you came back raving about being the mizukage in the founders' era", but she felt the judgment nonetheless.

"It's tacky," Aiko snapped. She pretended to be very interested in one of the letters of complaint. Someone was arguing that there was no need to send penicillin to Mist. Hmm. That seemed mean-spirited. She skipped down to look at the name. "I'll remember you," she said grimly.

"So you don't have any plans?"

Sasuke's tone was so airy that she nearly forgot what they were talking about. Aiko had to blink a couple of times to dredge up the memory.

"Uh, no," she said, absorbed in the details. "I thought I might have a training trip, since apparently the whole village is going to shut down for this."

"Oh, good." There was the sound of a pen scribbling. "Then you're free for a training session? I need someone to hit."

She lifted her face just enough to look at him. "You didn't make a reservation for training grounds, and you want me to force someone else off," she diagnosed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and leaned forward to tug on her hair. He evaded her returning elbow. "No," he said. His tone added "dummy." He sighed. "As you said, people have other plans. It seems to be a night to get a hotel, stay in, or go to a restaurant. Therefore, the training grounds should have lots of openings."

Aiko made a small "oh" of realization. "We can reserve multiple grounds for a bigger scale exercise," she realized.

"Hn." Sasuke punctuated the agreement with a nod and then a pat to her shoulder. "You'll need to move around once you've fought your way out from underneath all your hate mail." He turned on his heel and was slipping out the door before she could properly respond.

"They'll come to see it my way," Aiko cheerfully called after him.

He lifted a hand above his shoulder in an ambiguous sort of shrug and then disappeared into the dark hallways of the Hokage tower at 4:14 am, on a Tuesday morning.

She felt lonely the instant he was gone.

"I miss Nishikawa," Aiko said to herself. She sighed and got started on the day's work.

There was a lot.

It was… strange to be here again. From her perspective, she'd been gone for years. She'd had two different lives. She had left a beautiful young Hokage and miraculously returned a beautiful young demigoddess Hokage-Mizukage-Hokage again.

From everyone else's perspective, she'd turned up massively late to a meeting with Gaara with an awful haircut and started talking about people who'd been dead for a hundred years and also advocated for making an outpost in Wave ("Extremely illegal," Shikaku-san had emphasized for the third time, "The diplomatic nightmare far outweighs any potential benefits"-)

Ugh.

The point was, they were being massively uncool.

"I've evolved past this," Aiko validated herself. She stamped something, but it didn't spark joy. She kind of missed being worshiped. What was the point of being immortal and powerful beyond reckoning if people didn't even take you on your word that pencils were going to be the next big thing?

The office workers began trickling in. She noticed immediately that they were caught up in the ridiculous foreign holiday that had appeared from nothingness as a result of her changing the history books. It had been a footnote about the cultural practices of Iron country when she'd last been in this decade. It was apparently now a juggernaut.

Some of them were wearing more makeup. One of them unsubtly hid a bag that had a nicer outfit in it.

Aiko rolled her eyes and pinched her nose shut against the onslaught of new perfume and the sickening sweetness of chocolate. It was just too much. She escaped at lunch for fresh air and came back to an audacious pile of offerings on her desk.

Aiko looked at the shiny red and gold bags and boxes. She looked at the office, where a line of desk workers were pretending not to wait for her reaction.

'They got me presents. One or more of them wants my favor.'

"Oh, so cute!" She enthused, clasping her hands below her chin. She all but felt a sigh of relief sweep the room. She glanced over her shoulder. "When's my next meeting?"

"14:30, Hokage-sama," someone said a little too quickly.

"Thank you," she said, and then shut the door. The smile fell off her face. She backhanded all the presents into the trash can with a satisfying clatter. She turned her face up at the ceiling and massaged her temples. "This day cannot end soon enough."

She buckled down to answering the myriad of concerns that her abrupt policy changes had prompted. By the time of the meeting, she had run her fingers through her hair enough to tug the braid loose. Shizune showed up early and sighed at her. She didn't help fix it, but she held up a mirror while Aiko redid her own hair. It worked well as a chance to quiz Shizune about hospital supply acquisition.

She was feeling a little optimistic about her base level knowledge about the current state of the hospital by the time the next person arrived. Of course, it was one of the worst people she knew.

"Don't help her," Sasuke said to Shizune. He blew hair out of his face as he entered the meeting room. "They already know she doesn't know anything. They're planning to baffle her with jargon and then hit her with the list while she's still reeling. Kawamoto sensei deserves this win."

"Come in," Aiko said pointedly.

"Whenever you ask," Sasuke promised. He gave her a little smirk and sat himself down.

What. Aiko stared at the back of his head. What was that.

Shizune sighed, blowing warm air across Aiko's ear in the process. "I'm not involved," she said under her breath. She took a step back. Her heels clacked. "The hospital board will be here in… 6 minutes," she confirmed. She shot a tired glance at Sasuke. "I'll just go confirm the tea is coming."

Aiko watched her go with bemusement. She shook it off and then seated herself. She avoided eye contact with Sasuke by picking up the paperwork she'd prepared.

"The head of pediatrics," Sasuke said under his breath as a tremblingly frail old woman entered the room. "Surgeon. Trauma surgeon. Internal medicine," he identified for her benefit as the meeting room began to fill.

"It's all internal?" Aiko confirmed, just as quietly.

Sasuke gave her a very tired look. "Head of dermatology," he said next, eyes flicking to a tall man in a white lab coat. "Optometry."

She conceded the point with a nod.

It quickly became one of the meetings where experts passed around rapid-fire jokes that she didn't understand and then issued a demand for funding. She obediently took it and thought a little longingly of Naruto's current mission. He was probably punching a tiger-hoarding cocaine importer right now. Or maybe the tiger, actually. Naruto's mid-mission report was tantalizingly vague.

'Can't believe he thought he wanted this job. He would hate this job.'

When everyone else left, Aiko stayed behind and read through the list of demands. She used a foot to propel her chair in a lazy circle as her eyes scanned the page. "What even is a hematology analyzer," she asked herself. She flipped the page. "Hot plates, sounds like they're cooking, it's probably crucial instead." It was a little humbling to know that she could hardly pronounce so much of what went on in her village. Things were simpler before.

The smell of chocolate wafted in again. Her stomach turned and she sneezed violently.

"Correct. The hot plate is not for cooking. You're reading notes for the laboratory now."

She ignored that and continued to pretend that she was alone in the room. She needed a moment.

"Aiko."

She hummed to herself. Then she cut herself off mid note when she realized she was humming that jingle about the ruby jewelry that was apparently du jur on valentine's day.

"You can't sulk forever about this."

Her head snapped up. "I went into hell and started a cult," she informed him. "I survived decapitation and I've petted dogs that died before I was born. And this is a stupid holiday."

Sasuke made a pained sound. "Please," he stressed. "You need to stop calling the Church of Izanami a cult and disparaging their traditions. They're going to send assassins. I don't want to try to soothe relations with them."

Aiko paused. She hadn't realized things had gone that well. "Cool," she said, a little thrilled. "I started that cult, you know. Church."

He sighed again. "Remember that we have a training appointment," he said. "Field 47, as soon as the work day is finished."

Aiko stole a look at him through her eyelashes. He was such a pretty bastard. Why didn't he have plans for the night? He could probably find half a dozen takers in her office if she suggested it. She waved a hand at him dismissively. "I won't forget. I need to pull your hair."

She selfishly dismissed the idea of trying to scrounge the poor loser up a valentine's day date. It just didn't sit right with her for some reason.

"I'll look forward to it." Sasuke sailed out.

Aiko scrunched up her mouth in a pout. That wasn't what he was supposed to say. He was supposed to banter. Crabbily, she finished looking over the paperwork.

The rest of her day was spent writing memos and having replies sent off by messenger. When the clock hit 5, the office emptied disgracefully fast. She scrubbed her face in the sink by the coffee pot, switched her shoes, and went to meet Sasuke at the training field he'd picked.

He was there already, lounging handsomely against a tree. She threw a rock at his shin and scowled when he kicked it away. "What's the plan?" She asked.

"Put your hands up," Sasuke said, cracking his neck. He pushed away from the tree and stood straight. She obediently prepared for a hit. "I want to try something."

She saw his fist coming at her.

She saw the sky through the leaves overhead. "...huh," Aiko said, and tried to sit up. The hand on her collarbone stopped her.

"No, sorry," Sasuke said. She relaxed into the soothing prickle of what she knew was green medical chakra against her skull. "You were supposed to block that."

Aiko cast her memory back, trying to pinpoint the instant when he'd apparently hit her in the face. She didn't remember it. "Maybe I wasn't," she said contemplatively. She shut her eyes and pushed her head a little against his hand. "Maybe this was meant to happen so that I could blackmail you."

Sasuke snorted. "You blackmail me?" His free hand picked through her hair, checking for a bump or maybe blood. "What for? I laid you out with one hit. That's embarrassing for you, not me."

Aiko considered it. "No."

"No?" Sasuke mimicked. He let out a huffing laugh. "Well, if you say so. I must owe you something."

"You do," she said, latching onto the idea. "At least you owe me dinner."

"Alright," Sasuke agreed, suspiciously easily.

Aiko faltered. She opened her eyes to peer at him. There was nothing in his facial expression that hinted at the trap. "Now," she said suspiciously. "At a place I choose."

"Fine by me," Sasuke said silkily. He extended a hand to help her up. "But you're going to choose the place you always choose."

"I will not," said Aiko, who thought through all the restaurants she remembered in Konoha and then had to admit defeat at a kaiseki place. She loved it, but she hated paying for it.

"Come on," he said, tugging her. Aiko went with the motion. Something in her subconscious was unnerved at how easily he moved her weight around. She reminded it that Tsunade had been involved. She let him fix her hair and changed into the slip dress he had in his bag for unfathomable Sasuke reasons ("It has less blood on it," he said airily) and they were walking through the door of the very expensive restaurant before Aiko even remembered the holiday.

She balked. "This is it," she said mournfully. "This is the joke, we won't be able to get a table."

Sasuke tugged her into motion again. "I never joke. I lack a sense of humor," he said with absolutely no inflection at all. He turned to the staff member at the door before she could respond to that. "Uchiha, table for two."

The woman bowed. "This way."

Gradually, the situation dawned on Aiko. She looked down at her hand, which Sasuke was holding. She looked at his calm expression.

She looked at the dress she was wearing, which was in her size and one of the colors that Karin insisted flattered her complexion.

Sasuke waited patiently for her to finish processing. He seemed a little smug.

Finally, Aiko looked around the exclusive restaurant where Sasuke had apparently already had reservations for the night. "Ah."

"Aa," Sasuke agreed smugly. "Sake or wine?"

"You don't have to pretend that you didn't already order it," Aiko said wryly. She nudged her cheek against his shoulder as they reached the private room in a wordless tease. When she glanced up at him, there was the faintest flush on his face.

She braced her weight against him while she shucked her sandals in front of the tatami room. "Is this my dress?"

"It's your dress now," Sasuke said, and helped her up into her room. "Unless you think I'd look better in it?"