Island of Storms [Sakura]

Chapter 57 | Letter

Kosai let out another sigh as he sat next to Inari and across from Shino as they ate a victory meal in a restaurant.

"You've been sighing a lot. This is the first time I've ever seen someone not excited over passing the Chunin Exam," Shino muttered. Kosai let out a grunt.

"It's not that I'm not excited. I am. I just would rather be back in Arashi...."

Shino stayed silent, understanding what it was that the boy had felt from the eyes of the crowd. A knock on the door of their private table called their attention.

Shino called for them to come in and the door opened to show Mei, some of her bodyguards behind her. She lifted her hand in greeting with a smile.

"Hello!"

"Lady Mizukage?" Inari asked in surprise.

"How many times have I told you to call me Auntie!" she laughed as she stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. "May I join you all for your celebration meal?"

After the acceptance of her request, the woman sat down next to Shino, who had moved over to give her a place to sit. She ordered some food for herself before paying for the rest of them as well.

"You both impressed me today," she smiled, chin resting in her palm. "Inari you didn't even need ninjutsu to win against your opponent. That's something to be proud of."

He nodded a bit in embarrassment before she reached across the table and ruffled his hair, causing him some panic as he still was unused to the gesture of affection from her. "And Kosai, while your opponent was inexperienced and you won quickly due to the fact, you impressed me by helping him up and even giving him advice about what to do next time in the situation."

"Thank you," Kosai muttered, embarrassed. He hadn't expected to hear about someone being proud of him for helping his opponent up after the fight.

Their meal passed by filled with laughs and conversation before they all stood to leave.

"I came here for another reason as well," Mei said as she smiled, placing her hand on her hip. "I have a meeting with Lady Namikage, so I'll be traveling back with you. Along with a few other people."

The way she had said it made them think it was someone important.

╌❀✿╌╌💮╌╌✿❀╌

Tenten hummed a tune to herself as she looked over the invitation that was in her hand. Her other hand was stirring a large pot of curry that was sitting on her stove. After she finished stirring, she placed the lid back on before going back out to the dining room where Temari, Ino, and Kankuro were sitting at the large table.

The four of them had the least to do job-wise at that moment in time. Even though that would change with the fact that Ino was now the owner of a flower shop and Tenten was looking into opening a weapons shop.

At the moment, they were helping sort out some of the less important parts of the wedding that would be happening between Shikamaru and Temari within the next year.

"They're too bland, aren't they?" Temari asked as she looked through a book of desserts she had borrowed from a bakery.

"Well, how about you decorate the envelope? The invitations themselves look nice, and I don't think changing them would do any good to stress you out less," Tenten said.

"Decorate the envelope?"

"Like, use some colored wax and the Nara clan seal or some kind of decorative seal. Maybe use some flowers." Temari seemed confused. "Ok so you take some little flowers and put the wax over the stems so they stick to the paper and it seals the envelope at the same time. Then, you press the seal in to make the impression."

As she over-explained, Temari gave a thoughtful expression.

"That sounds nice actually."

"You could use the same type of flower as the decorations and such."

"I really like that idea. I'll write that down," she muttered as she wrote down some lines in the wedding planner book she had made.

"I'm sure I'll be able to provide a lot of the flowers you need by the time the wedding comes," Ino grinned. "I'll be sure to stock up on wisteria."

╌❀✿╌╌💮╌╌✿❀╌

Sakura picked up the suggestions folder and pulled out a few small papers. She flipped through them, finding a few different ideas that a small group of board members had accepted to move on to her. One caught her eye, however, as it was one that she had already thought about but had yet to install.

The legally changing of one's name was something small and not thought about by anyone unless they were the ones wanting to change. But it could be something life-changing for those who wanted or needed to change, just like Kosai. She slipped it back into the folder along with the others she approved of before setting it in the going-out bin.

She was curious to know who else would want to change their name before thinking about the possibility of a criminal. It could be as simple as someone wanting to change their name to something they liked better, it was hard to guess.

Later that day, Sakura was interested to find that a letter from Mei had arrived. Though, upon reading it, she was sent into shock.

"Holy shit." She read over the letter again, and then another time to make sure she was reading it correctly. Letting the letter rest on the table she looked up in surprise, going over the news in her head as she stared at her office. She turned her chair and stood, walking over to the window and crossing her arms. "How did she manage to get them to come here..?"

She took a deep breath to calm herself and looked out over the horizon, or rather she looked at the wall of storms that surrounded the island that kept the horizon from being seen. "This could be of help...."