Valentine 2013: Well Planned Plots

Warnings: Not part of AtO timeline at all.
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Harry rolled his shoulder, trying to ease the stiffness in his arm. With a huff he threw the pen down,  gather all the pages together and read through it one final time. By the time he reached the final page, warm sunlight spilled in through his window and Naruto snuffled sleepily beside him.
Satisfied with the work, Harry stuffed the papers into a large envelope.
After coaxing Naruto to leave the dining table and sleep on the couch, Harry left the apartment with the envelope in hand.

=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=

Naruto fiddled with his sleeve and looked beyond the village gates. “Where is he?”
Harry tilted his head slightly and squinted, trying to see any movement on the road into the village.
“He's probably peeping again,” Naruto said, “Stupid ero-sennin.”
Harry sighed tiredly. “True.” Harry winced and cursed alongside Naruto as someone smacked both their heads at the same time.
“Brats shouldn't be bad mouthing their betters.”
Harry turned incredulously. “When did you get here? And how come we didn't see you come in?”
Jiraiya smirked.
Naruto stared at Jiraiya with accusing eyes. “Did you use your stupid cloaking technique to hide from us?”
“Stupid? I'll have you know that technique helped me carry out dangerous research and reconnaissance. It's the reason my books became masterpieces.”
Noticing Naruto's willingness to argue and eager to prevent their conversation from escalating into a pointless argument, Harry said, “The Hokage wanted to see you as soon as you got here.”
“I was going to go there first anyway,” Jiraiya said.
“We're supposed to make sure you don't get distracted on the way there, ero-sennin.”
Jiraiya scoffed. “I can't believe she sent you two to babysit me.”
“Yeah!” Naruto said, “like we have nothing better to do.”
“What's that...”
Harry interrupted their conversation and pointedly asked Jiraiya, “So how's your writing going?”
Jiraiya blinked in surprise. “Fine.” He blinked again and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Why are you asking?”
Harry shrugged as they walked into the village. “Just thought you'd be stressed out.”
“Stressed out?”
Harry discreetly motioned to one of the Kunoichi they passed.
Jiraiya frowned at the small purple coloured book in her hands. “So, it's become famous over here as well.”
“Have you read it?” Harry said.
“Who'd want to read that?” Jiraiya said in irritation even as they passed a group of people who were discussing the very same book. “Can't believe my publishers allowed that to be printed.”
“Because it's not porn?” Naruto said.
“Because it can't compare to my work!” Jiraiya retorted and stubbornly stayed silent until they reached the Hokage's office. He pushed the doors open with a wide smirk and said, “I heard you were eager to see me today, Tsuande.”
Harry cautiously entered the office alongside Naruto and nodded a quick greeting to Sakura.
“Jiraiya,” Tsunade said frostily enough to make everyone in the room wince.
Jiraiya stilled hesitantly.
“You really thought I wouldn't find out?” Tsunade said.
Jiraiya stared at her blankly for a moment before he paled. “Look, they were just there. How could I ignore them and...”
“Don't think you can distract me,” Tsunade interrupted with a snarl. She pulled out a familiar purple book. “Even if you use a lousy pseudonym, you think I wouldn't realize that you were the author?”
“You...” Jiraiya gaped. “You think...”
Sakura moved away from Tsunade's desk and hurried to stand beside Naruto.
“There's no point in denying it. Who else would know about...” Tsunade took a deep breath as though to calm herself.
“About what?” Jiraiya asked indignantly.
Tsunade grit her teeth.
Naruto clutched Harry's sleeve, ready to pull him away, and Sakura steeled herself as Tsunade moved to the front of the desk.
“You utter bastard.” Tsunade moved forward with a murderous expression.
Jiraiya closed his eyes with a wince but didn't move away.
Tsunade grabbed Jiraiya's collar and, to the surprise of all three teenagers in the room, kissed him right on the lips.
Naruto sputtered.
Harry gaped.
Sakura hastily turned away and pulled the two of them out of the office.
Without having to discuss it, all three of them rushed out of the tower and headed towards Harry's apartment.
Harry led the way up the stairs to his apartment in silence. He glanced at the large unmarked box beside his door but ignored it in favour of unlocking his door. Naruto brought the box inside and Sakura locked the door behind her.
The all stood motionless and silent for a moment before they all cheered loudly in triumph.
“I can't believe that actually worked,” Sakura said in amusement.
“It is rather unbelievable,” Harry agreed and sat down on the couch. “How did we make that work?”
“Because we're awesome.” Naruto opened the box enthusiastically and grabbed a large pile of envelopes from inside. “And when three awesome people work together... we do even more awesome stuff.”
Harry and Sakura turned to him.
Naruto just shrugged and held up the envelopes. “Want to read our fan mail?”
When they were almost at the bottom of the envelope pile, Sakura sighed happily, passed the letter she'd finished reading to Harry and said, “We should write a sequel!”
“But ero-sennin and baa-san are already together. There's no reason to write another book,” Naruto protested and opened a big thin envelope. “Oh! Someone sent a picture.”
“A picture?” Harry asked, looking up from the letter in his hand.
“They drew the ending scene of our book!” Naruto said in excitement.
Harry and Sakura both scrambled up from their seats and huddled beside Naruto to stare at the picture.
“A sequel would be interesting,” Harry said after a few minutes of silence.
“Nii-san!” Naruto whined as Sakura cheered.
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A sort of Valentine thing? As usual, not really romance but anyway... hope you guys have/had an interesting Valentine's day.

Polar