The Underground Chapter 3

Several hours later, Kabuto was just “waking up” as it were. Not like he could have really gone to sleep with the racket Ino was making (she was a doll, albeit, an often loud and petty one), but the young doctor at least had a few hours worth of snooze time and that would be enough to get him through the day.

Up first on the agenda, of course, was to get ready and presentable. Nary a thought went into the monotonous actions as it was the same thing as the last five years. Next it was –

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Mr. Yakushi? Breakfast is ready now.”

Right on time. For a person who prided himself as being lazy, Shikamaru worked like clockwork. “I’ll come out in a moment,” he replied, putting a finishing loop in his tie and grabbing his glasses. As he opened the door, Kabuto placed his spectacles on. “And what is for breakfast today?”

Shikamaru began to rattle off the morning’s meal in his bored tone and, when he had finished, began to give an overview of Kabuto’s schedule, all the while following behind the silver-haired man. When they entered the modest dining room, Ino was puttering around the table, placing this or that on there. Upon seeing the two males enter she gave them a ferocious glare. “Sit.”

Even Kabuto, who was her employer complied, scrambling for a seat along with Shikamaru. Kabuto was enough of a doctor to know not to test a stout woman such as Ino, especially given what he knew of her mental and physical capacities prior to her pregnancy. As Shikamaru muttered about ‘troublesome women,’ Kabuto smiled and read the morning paper, looking around the room.

“Um… Doctor Yakushi?”

Kabuto blinked, folding the top half of the paper to look over it and at the young girl. “Yes… Sakura, correct?”

The pink haired girl nodded slightly, fidgeting with the dark cloth that made up the dress she was wearing. “Um… I…” she bit her lip in a highly enticing way that made Kabuto just want to go and –

Ah, need to stop letting my instincts get the better of me. That’s how I lost the last one, wasn’t it?

“I was wondering… What’s with these clothes? The room Miss Ino (“It’s JUST INO!” “Oh, shut up, Ino-pig!”) showed me only had a bunch of these,” she clutched the clothes she was wearing, “that were too big!”

“Well, sorry, but I think my last assistant was a bit taller than you are.” he replied with a nonchalant air.

He watched as the young girl huffed, before sitting down with a flourish of billowing cloth, just as Ino came back with the last of the food. The blond sat down next to Sakura and looked at Kabuto expectantly.

Blink.

What did the woman want him to – OH! Crap, he had to say grace. Kabuto mumbled through the prayer and, the moment the ‘Amen’ was echoed, started to eat the food, a standard British breakfast. He purposefully kept elbows off the table, back straight as Ino had painfully drilled into him, and couldn’t help but smirk when Shikamaru got the other end of her spoon whenever he slouched.

From his position at the head of the table, he could see Sakura giving him an odd look. He nodded his head in a gesture to show that she was free to speak her mind… for now.

“Are things… always so crazy here?”

A devilish smirk crossed Kabuto’s features. “Sakura, darling, you haven’t seen crazy yet.”

That… didn’t placate Sakura as much as Kabuto had hoped it would…