'what if she wasn't a ninja' musing pt 1

"Late night?" Kanae looked up from her clipboard, expression caught between amusement and judgement. 

Fuck off. Sakura flashed her supervisor a bright smile and click-clacked her way into the bank on her immaculate black heels. "I feel wonderful, and ready to process the loan paperwork," she said. She knew that her hair wasn't quite up to her usual standards, but she was definitely still hitting the bar of professional-cute. 

The answer she got back was a vague hum, but Sakura knew there would be no complaints from that quarter, as long as she completed the big deal the bank was making with a very rich man from Iron country. Sakura tossed her hair as she sat, clicking her golden bank pen with brisk readiness. 

This was a big client, and the work she was doing would make a lot of money for the company. She focused on the big picture, ignoring the conversation that her coworkers were having about the travel ban Fire Country had expanded to include people from neutral countries who had relatives living in Rock Country, not just citizens of Rock Country. It was draconian, yes, but was it really worth gabbing about during work hours?

'In half a year,' Sakura told herself, 'I'm going to have Kanae's job. And I'm going to transfer her to Wind Country.' 

The smile she directed at page 47 of the agreement was predatory.

She got pulled from the task a few times throughout the morning whenever the front  desk got swamped by bank patrons. Sakura took it in her usual stride, which meant with a sweet smile and steely determination. She liked her reputation for being good at everything. 

The phone on her desk rang at 1:42. Sakura set down her pen and carefully put the papers to the side before answering, cautious of ink smudges. She lifted the phone to her ear and answered in the same bright, professional tone as always. 

"Good morning," said the familiat voice on the other side of the line. "I wanted to talk to you about some paperwork that you processed for me recently."

"On the 27th?" Sakura asked, crossing her legs underneath her desk. She remembered this client- he was a common contact. 

"Yes. Some problems have come up."

She frowned. Her instinct was to say that couldn't be right, her work was always immaculate. But she stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

"The recipient contacted me this morning. There's been some complication with travel plans, so they can be contacted at the second address. A plan of action has not been suggested. but I hoped that you might be able to offer a solution, given your guarantee of quality."

Sakura nodded sharply. "Of course," she said. "I'll handle it." She worked not to let anything into her tone that would draw her supervisor's attention. The woman would hone in like a shark on any indication of weakness or error.

"Thank you," came the polite reply. Then the line went dead.

Sakura gave her goodbyes anyway, because she didn't need her coworkers thinking that she was lacking in basic manners.

"Miss Haruno?" 

The branch manager was standing behind her. She swiveled enough to give him her attention and a polite smile.

He gave her deskphone a pointed look. It was a little unusual for an unscheduled call to go directly to her.

"The Kimoto client," Sakura lied easily. "He wanted to confirm that I had the correct information about an address."

"I see." The tension in his face relaxed, but his square face always looked at least a little hostile and suspicious. "Carry on. Do you still believe you can finish the Hamaura paperwork by the end of hours on Monday?"

"Yes," Sakura said, utterly confident. She'd sneak it home to work on over the weekend if she didn't have enough progress done by the end of hours today. Perhaps she would do that even if she made enough progress, just to be over-carefull that she would meet her deadline. She had printed a double copy already, to leave as a decoy in her desk in case the perpetually-watchful Kanae thought to make sure that sensitive information wasn't being taken off of the property.

Honestly, it was like Kanae didn't think she was trustworthy or something.

She left at 5:11- just long enough that it seemed as if she hadn't been watching the clock. And when she did, she carefully and conspicuously tucked the decoy paperwork away in a file, then a folder, and then into the locked drawer of her desk. She had 11 pages of paper to complete over the weekend in her bag. 

At home, she took a moment to move the meat in her fridge into the freezer, since it seemed that she wouldn't be cooking it today after all. She hung up the laundry that she'd started in the morning, including the dress she had gone out dancing in last night. She held it up carefully to inspect that the mint green fabric had been saved. Last night had been particularly hard on her laundry. It had gotten sweat all over, a stain of whiskey down the back, and flecks of blood on the sleeve from when she'd punched the man who spilled his drink on her dress. 

Despite Kanae's snide implications, Sakura had actually had quite an early evening. She'd left before the police could be called.

The whole outfit had taken a hit, actually. The shoes would need to be cleaned, and her necklace as well to make sure no whiskey damaged the metal. She'd been wearing tights, of course, because she was a lady. But those had been torn in Sakura's eagerness to get them off when she'd gotten back home, so she didn't have to wash them by hand in the sink. They were neatled folded in the garbage bin.

She packed a weekend bag- heels just in case, two practical outfits, one formal one, and one cute one- and changed into pink pants, a lacey maroon sweater, and knee-length boots in a soft brown. She had to get a move on if she wanted to get two towns over and meet with the client before nightfall. 

Murasaki Sachiko was a soft-spoken woman with two young children and a yippy dog. She also had an urn full of her unfortunately deceased husband, a once-chuunin from Iwagakure. Her only living relatives were in Fire Country, and they were willing to pay quite a bit for someone to help Ms. Murasaki over the border.

Technically, Sakura had clearly managed that. If she was to contact Murasaki at the seconod address, that meant that she had successfully passed into Fire Country's border and should probably remember that she was now Nagao Misa. 

So really, she didn't owe this lady anything. But she wanted to know what problem Murasaki had had. It was nearly impossible that the identification papers that Sakura had made were less than perfect. Just the thought of it...

Sakura realized that she was gripping the strap of her bag too hard. She released it and made sure that she wasn't scowling. That made it a little easier for her to flag down someone whose cart she could pay a small fee to ride in. The smell of their fruits was nice, actually. The horse pulling the cart was a little malodorous, but the evening breeze and all the flora around kept the air relatively clear.

'Anyway,' Sakura thought. 'Murasaki-san should consider herself lucky that she contracted the best in the business. Someone less scrupulous would tell her to get lost.' 

The back of her neck itched. She glanced up, towards the trees around them. 

Nothing and no one.

Sakura frowned, a little unsettled. She usually had a good instinct for if someone was watching her.

Hmm. Just a little jumpy.

___________

I firmly believe that if Sakura was not a ninja, she would be a perfectionist nerd criminal. There's no way she would not be gainfully employed, but it's equally impossible for her not to be shady AF. She contains layers.