"What are you doing here? I thought you lived in the center of town."

Sakura turned to see Sasuke looking at her expectantly, carrying two bags of groceries in his one good hand.

"Research," she said, shrugging. She was clutching a square of paper like a lifeline and staring at the entrance to the shrine with something akin to anxiety on her face.

"You're researching monks in your spare time?" Sasuke asked. He'd been pretty sure Sakura's areas of interest extended out to medical jutsu and him. To learn there was something else in there was amazing. It was like she was a real person.

"It's...about Chuunin Uzumaki."

"He goes here? But Hinata lives closer to you than to me…"

"No…" She sighed, "Have you heard about 'holy' and 'unholy' chakra?"

The question brought him back, unwillingly, to fall afternoons with his mother. Slowly reading mythology books in her lap, about the Rabbit Goddess and the various suitors she had. Mikoto Uchiha had been very devoted in her belief of the spirits and small deities that she swore occupied their woods, and his father hadn't discouraged it, always reiterating the importance of being respectful to their surroundings. Itachi had still been home lots then.

"I know that everything's just a mix of the two." Sakura blinked big, green eyes at him and he felt uncomfortably open to her, all-of-a-sudden. "My...mother used to say that there was no such thing. That everything's just part of a circle, and some parts are darker than others, but there's not really any such thing as 'holy' or 'unholy'."

"Huh." He could sense skepticism from her about that, and suddenly felt ire - why was his set of beliefs any more unbelievable than hers? "Well… I'm researching it, and this is my first lead."

"What does it have to do with Uzumaki?"

"I think the chakra he has...the one that makes me react...I think that's because it's dark."

"Wouldn't the library be better to research?"

"You'd think," she snorted, "I started there this morning. Nothing that wasn't steeped in moral politics."

"And you think priests are going to be better?"

She rolled her eyes, "Are you coming in with me or not?"

"Well, with that attitude…" he said, but walked with her up to the gate, anyway.

A painful prickle started on the right side of his neck as they entered the grounds, and didn't show any signs of going away, no matter how he rolled his shoulder. He didn't realize he'd been acting unusual until Sakura actually stopped to stare at him.

"Something wrong?"

"I'm fine."

"You were tossing your head around like a horse." She seemed to realize as she said the last word she'd been rude and covered her mouth in apology, but didn't retract what she'd said.

"It's fine, I'll deal with it."

She gave him a doubtful look, but kept walking, looking around for any sign of someone who worked there. Within a fifteen minutes, Sakura's flattery had them sitting in a dusty shed surrounded by stacks of books and scrolls taller than they were, the priest cheerfully pulling out records and newspaper clippings related to Tsunade of the Sannin.

"Can you show us anything about what she studied?" Sakura asked, and the priest nodded eagerly and shuffled out of the shed, still chipper from her puffing up his ego earlier.

Sasuke watched her snoop around the old editorials about one of their famous ninja, scribbling other references down on the little piece of paper she'd brought with a pen she'd procured at some point. There wasn't any good reason for him to be standing there with an itching nose, a growing pain in his neck and grocery bags that seemed to be getting heavier by the minute just to watch her work, but he didn't mind all that much, particularly since here she seemed to be in her element, not chatting or trying to flirt, but seriously and carefully researching.

"Ohhhh, here we aaaare!" The priest ran inside with a stack of books. Sakura's face momentarily brightened, until she noticed…

"Um. Sir, I really appreciate you going through the trouble of bringing these for me, but…"

"Hm?"

The books were, quite obviously, for children. The one on top had a picture of a dancing cat on a bright yellow background, and the ones below it were no different.

"We were looking for...texts. Something we could study from."

Sasuke pulled one he recognized from the precarious pile. The Rabbit Queen's Garden. There was a paradise of some sort, he remembered, and a shadow or something tried to rule the animals within it, so the queen cast him out. Itachi had been too old for the story when their mother had read it to both of them, but he'd sat and listened with Sasuke anyway, humming agreements when his little brother had pressed sticky fingers over the illustrations of berries and soft animals, asking if they could get a rabbit. It was hard with one hand, but he opened the book and turned the pages while Sakura tried to get the priest to let her look at what she came here for. If this had been his copy, it would have had a stain on the third-to-last page where he'd spilled grape juice on it when he was four. He set it back on the pile.

A small breeze fluttered the decorative strips of paper hanging from the roof of the shed, bringing in fresh fall air. A few dead leaves made a scraping noise on the concrete as they scattered over the main pathway.

He wondered if there was a temple the Uzumaki frequented, and mentally scoffed at the image of Hinata in a nice kimono. She seemed like she'd need Naruto's help just to dress herself in one, let alone get up and make her way all the way down to a place of worship. And Naruto didn't seem religious at all. A kimono would suit him, though. He had that lean frame that could really pull one off. He'd look good in one, classic.

"Sasuke-kun? I'm all set, if you wanted to leave." Sakura smiled at him, a precarious pile of texts tucked under her chin.

"He's letting you borrow them?" he asked, collecting the groceries he'd set down to give his hand a break.

"Yep!" she said, much peppier now. "I'm going to use them to study!"

"Study what?" Why on earth would a kunoichi waste time studying priesthood?

"Holy chakra."

[-M-]

A month into the 'training' trip and all Naruto had learned from Jiraiya was how to drink-and-dash at four-star establishments effectively.

That was only when they stopped in a town, mind you.

The majority of the time they were on the road, walking from one place to another. Every couple of hours, an automobile grumbled by, kicking up dust and making him sneeze. The first week they'd just camped and made conversation. It became apparent after several days that Jiraiya was not going to be training him daily, so Naruto started doing basic strength training exercises and stretching before they left each morning, which Jiraiya didn't acknowledge.

To an extent, he'd been expecting this. He knew Jiraiya sometimes had to be bullied into training, and that, now, with this new and 'controversial' discipline, it might be harder, but he hadn't exactly planned on walking around Fire Country aimlessly for weeks on end and doing nothing but losing weight (a quick stop on a scale in a shop at the last town they'd been at revealed that he'd shed seven pounds since they'd left Konoha - he wasn't happy). He'd made his frustration clear - almost every other day, he asked Jiraiya what they'd be doing, and when the answer was "Walking," Naruto didn't hide his disappointment.

"Easy," Jiraiya drawled when Naruto pointed out that he'd only left Konoha for training, "You're not ready for a lot of this stuff yet. I want to see where you're at first."

"That'd be a lot easier if you could perform some sort of assessment first," Naruto retorted, and Jiraiya had just shrugged.

Naruto probably shouldn't allow all turning points in his career be attributed to alcohol, but without the buzz, he probably wouldn't have gotten anywhere for another two weeks, at least.

Jiraiya, per usual, lead them to a hotel (this time a crummy little one on the edge of a town), dropped some names and a little cash, and pretty quickly was nestled into the arms of a leggy woman who told them she worked as an entertainer. A bottle of champagne was passed around, then another, and maybe one more, and at some point Naruto realized he was more than tipsy, Jiraiya's laugh was annoying as hell, and that he could see the entertainer's nipples through her dress and he didn't want to.

When he couldn't stand the noise anymore, he decided to weave to the lobby to stare at the phone, wondering if he should call his girlfriend and mope. Seventy-five percent of him said calling her while drunk was a terrible idea - particularly since he hadn't yet done so on this trip, so she might be upset with him if this was the first time - twenty-five percent really wanted some sympathy from a pretty girl.

It was eleven, so right about now, she'd probably be showered and just munching on something before bed, or night cream or lotion on. A week before he'd left, she and Ino got into a new skincare routine together which, while the amount of time she spent in the bathroom for it was annoying, left her somehow even softer to touch, and smelling like rosehips in the evening.

A loud cackle from his master briefly shattered the fantasy, leaving Naruto feeling like he'd just watched someone sneeze in his hot chocolate before handing it to him, but he closed his eyes, breathed, leaned his too-warm forehead against the metal phone booth and let the image of Hinata wash over him again.

She liked to sleep in shorts and oversized T-shirts, but the weather was getting colder, so he guessed she'd be curled up in his grubby old sweatpants that made it seem like his butt was five inches lower than it actually was when he wore them. If he was home, they'd be able to snuggle and fall asleep on the couch again, or some other similarly intimate activity -

- Jiraiya whooped and at least four women shrieked in response, the sage's high-pitched laughter echoing through his skull.

Fuck. This.

He stomped into the party room, past a bellboy, past five other women that had meandered in after the first, grabbed Jiraiya by the collar of his shirt and hauled up, his vexation making the display of strength easy.

"Wha th' hell?"

"Tomorrow, I'm going home."

"Excuse me?"

"I didn't come out here to watch you grope women and hike around the whole damn country, you old bastard!"

"Oh, what's got yer panties in a twist? Should'a known better than to let one of you kids have some juice - can't hold yer liquor, can ya?" Jiraiya slurred, and Naruto punched him right in the jaw.

"Don't give me that shit! You've been trying to get me to drink at every crummy breakfast bar we stop at, so don't - "

" - Did'ja phone your girlfriend? She happy you're calling her for once? She sad that it took you getting hammered to - ?" Naruto leaped the table and grabbed Jiraiya by the collar again; the sannin simply grabbed his wrist and twisted to make him let go, then yanked him back with enough force that Naruto flew and hit the wall.

For a second he couldn't catch his breath, and he just lay on his back and blinked up at the ceiling, feeling bile rise in his throat, until he absolutely had to vomit, and he rolled over to hack foul-smelling stuff onto the carpet, which didn't look very different after the fact.

"Damn...I was aimin' for the window…" Jiraiya garbled.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Naruto coughed, groaning when the acid got into his nose, sneezing, then slowly getting up and limping out of the room.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going the fuck to bed so I don't miss the first bus back to Konoha!"

There actually weren't any buses that went straight to Konoha, but he could at least hop on something that went in that general direction, and it was a lot easier than walking.

Jiraiya followed behind him, not sparing any thought to the timid "Ah, Jiraiya-sama...about that table…?" and other inquiries that were accruing behind him.

"You're really as cool as a cucumber, huh? Would've thought that Uzumaki temper would make an appearance if I jabbed ya enough but I guess not..."

Naruto ignored him.

"Well, your mom was the only one I ever met. But she had enough of one that I got the gist."

'My what?'

He slowly turned around to face the Toad Sage. Jiraiya leaned against the paper-thin wall of the lobby and gave him a gentle smile, and Naruto suddenly knew without a doubt that he was completely sober. Whatever the display in the party room was, it had nothing to do with how much alcohol the man had consumed.

"She used to get so worked up that her face would turn red - kinda like your girl, actually. And she had red hair and a cute, round face, so whenever she got worked up, she looked like a tomato."

"You - " - Naruto swayed, feeling way too drunk for this conversation - " - you knew my mom?"

"Her name was Kushina."

"Why didn't you tell me this?"

"It was kinda a secret."

"Why?"

"Well, if you think you can wait to jump on the bus home until after you hear the story…"

Naruto rolled his eyes and instantly regretted it when the world kept spinning after he was done.

"Although... We probably should wait to have this conversation until you aren't at risk of barfing." Jiraiya put a heavy hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, you're showering and going to bed. Tomorrow, I'll tell you about your mom. And tomorrow…" he trailed off, raising his eyebrows, "...we'll start training for real."

[-M-]

"What...is this?"

Anko snorted, "What does it look like?"

Hinata blinked. She knew what it was, and she wasn't too shy to say it out loud or anything, but.. "Why are you giving me a dildo?"

"It's a vibrator."

"Okay…"

"It's a nice one, too. Three power settings."

"...And, uh...this is for me?"

"Yep."

"...Why?"

"Because you are a strong, confident woman, in charge of her own orgasms."

"...Yeah, uh, I don't really…"

"You're taking it and you're at least trying it. After training, take a bath, then get into bed with this. It'll help you fall asleep."

"Anko...what the hell?"

The older woman rolled her eyes, "I gave one to Ino, too."

"That in no way makes this less weird."

"I just don't want you guys having sex before you even know how to cum."

"I know where my clit is, Anko."

"Great. Use this on it." Hinata grimaced and Anko raised an eyebrow, "What're you so squicked out about?"

"My boyfriend's supervisor from work gave me a vibrator on what's supposed to be a really vanilla lunch date."

Anko smirked, "I don't know the meaning of vanilla."

"Obviously." Hinata snorted, and tucked the sex toy away into her bag.

"Tell me about your life."

Anko's spontaneous lunch invitation was really out of the blue - she'd talked to her before and she loved her, but they didn't ever actually hang out, and Naruto was kinda weird about her meeting work people. Which she sorta got, given that they all tortured people for a living and probably didn't throw holiday parties that he could bring her to, anyway.

Naruto's leaving had temporarily inspired a brief spur of Get Shit Done in her, which she rolled with and cleaned the entire apartment in full, even wiping down the dust from the insides of their vents (and accidentally discovering Naruto's secret porn mags, which were hilarious to leaf through - apparently he liked kink), but after getting everything to look spotless she quickly ran out of things that made her feel productive. Work wasn't easy to find when you were her - she only got crappy manual labor jobs, since no-one would let her babysit anything for fear of her 'bad influence'. As a genin, to pursue a C-rank without a team, she needed written permission from her instructor and, to be fair, Kakashi gave her this, but it came with the ultimatum of 'if it interferes with training, you're back to no C-ranks' and given that C-ranks typically took several days, it was kind of pointless.

Training was alright. With Sasuke slowly recovering from various small injuries, she and Sakura got Kakashi's attention for a little while, but it quickly became apparent that Sakura was much farther behind than she was, and as a result, Kakashi compensated, which left Hinata as the figurative middle child. Another week into this, Ino steamrolled their workout plans to instead drag Hinata to a local kennel to walk and play with the animals à la "Here's your productive thing now stop fucking moping." And that was how she ran into Kiba again.

Apparently he and Akamaru went to the kennel almost weekly to volunteer and train the animals. Usually, he said, he tried to look for puppies or just young dogs that had a chance of becoming nin-animals which would mean he could adopt them into the Inuzuka kennels and out of this depressing place, but that that was rare, so he just did his best to give them a good time while he could. He was honestly one of the sweetest boys she'd ever met and when he excitedly asked her if she wanted a dog, she felt her self-worth go down as she said, "I don't think that's a good idea for me."

"Well, why not?"

Naruto have an episode and eat it. "My boyfriend's not a fan." At the very least, he'd scare the shit out of it. Animals didn't like him. Now that she thought about it, it was weird Akamaru liked her at all, given that she definitely wasn't human anymore.

"Oh, that sucks." Kiba gave a weird laugh, "I don't think I like this guy."

She giggled with him, "I know - if I ever live somewhere that allows animals, I'm gonna get one. Dogs are better than boys, anyway, right Akamaru?" And the behemoth of fluff enthusiastically licked all over her face to show agreement.

"I don't disagree with you, but I'm hurt that you'd say that to my face," Kiba said, dramatically placing a hand on his heart.

They started hanging out a lot more, usually with Shino, and it was a wonderful change from all the broody, moody boys she had in her life.

"Kiba roped us into helping his sister bottle-feed puppies. Which, on the one hand - puppies! - but on the other, I'm nervous. I hear his mom's…"

"A nasty woman?" Anko snickered.

"...Intense. Kiba said the important thing is not to show fear - she can smell fear."

"Doy. She's an Inuzuka."

"Yeah. Anyway…"

"Listen, I wasn't going to say anything, but if you're worried about money, why don't you apply for a paid internship with T&I? At the very least, you'll have references to take to another department if you don't like it."

"I can do that?"

"Absolutely."

"What did you mean by you 'weren't going to say anything?'"

"Well…" Anko looked annoyed. "Look, I'm trying very hard not to start drama, okay?"

"Is it Naruto?"

Anko nodded.

"What about Naruto?"

"Around the time of your graduation, he specially requested that you not receive a scout letter for the department."

Hinata blinked. "So...I could've had an internship months ago?"

"Well, you could've been asked to apply…"

"And I would've been likely to get it, wouldn't I?" Anko nodded. Hinata pressed on her temples. "Ughhh! I hate him! He does all this stupid stuff, doesn't tell me about any of it - !" She angrily stabbed the salad she'd been munching on and shoved it into her mouth before continuing, "You know he was gonna let that kid Gaara live with us after he resurrected him? He didn't even ask me!"

Anko's frown grew harder, "That's fucked up."

"Right? And then he agreed to this training trip, which - like, I get it, he probably needs it to deal with whatever, but I wish he'd thought to talk to me about it! ...And he's been struggling with paying for us to live at our place and for groceries and all the other stuff, and apparently it's bad enough that his sensei will talk to me about it but God forbid he brings it up with me!" Hinata continued to stab the leaves in the bowl angrily.

"Okay. That's it. Fuck whatever Naruto wanted - you're gonna start in T&I. It's good money, and I'm positive you can take the dirty work. I'll find a position for you."

Hinata blinked, "That sounds like a lot of trouble for you, though…"

"It's not, don't worry - all 'finding a position' means is I'm foisting jobs off on you, it's nothing major. If we can't get you a good wage, we'll get you a stipend and then you can ration that to handle rent."

"Seriously?"

"What're you doing tomorrow?"

"Um... I was going to meet Kiba…"

"Cancel, and come down to our offices."

[-M-]

"Hey, you."

He could almost almost sense Hinata's smile through the phone, and it was like a deep breath of fresh air after getting put through the wringer by Jiraiya all week.

"Naruto? Oh my God, how've you been?! Where are you?"

"First of all, I wanna say sorry for ignoring you for a month."

"Yeah, you should be, but I have better things to be angry with you about."

"What could I have possibly done to you halfway across the country?"

"Try in Konoha, a couple months before I graduated. Anko says you requested for me to be skipped by the scouts."

Damn it. "I'm sorry. But you wouldn't've liked it in T&I anyway! It's gloomy and half the job is paperwork. That's not your thing.'

"Well, tell that to Anko because she got me a position as her secretary."

"So you...work there now?" What did Anko even need a damn secretary for?

"I'm set to observe my first ever interrogation on Tuesday. Actually, third if I count yours. But I'm told yours are unusual."

Right.

"Naruto, I'm seriously so mad at you about this. You said you were done parenting me!"

"Hey, okay, in my defense, the T&I thing happened before we had that conversation!"

"But you didn't fix it afterwards, did you?"

He was seriously regretting this phone call. "I guess I didn't, no. Hinata, what is so wrong about me wanting to keep you safe?"

"It's not your choice where I work, you bastard."

Oh, yikes. "It sounds bad when you put it that way…"

"It is bad, Naruto! Don't ever do something like this again!"

"I won't. I'm sorry…" Please let that be the end of it.

"Good." They marinated in the silence for a bit before she ventured, "So how have you been? Found her yet?"

"Nope. I don't think we're even close, to be honest. We're keeping busy, though. I'm getting a decent handle on using this one move - it's like a...a chakra cloak. And it minimizes damage and makes my hits harder. But the minimizes damage part means Jiraiya throws a bunch of jutsu at me to test it, and sometimes it's not strong enough. I broke my collarbone the other day."

"Uh-oh."

"It's mostly healed, I think. We went to an outpost that was nearby, they had a medic-nin. But, anyway, I have...weird news."

Hinata hummed a question.

"Jiraiya...he...he knew my mom."

On the other side of the line, Hinata was silent. He licked his lips and stared at the ground and tried to imagine what she was thinking right now. He still couldn't comprehend it. At all.

He'd been aware of his lack of parents every since he'd been aware of anything, it felt like. He'd put them up on a pedestal for the longest time until he met Hinata, and realized families could also be exactly the reason for someone's unhappiness, but ultimately, he really, really wanted one.

And now…

"Her name was Kushina Uzumaki. She - she wasn't married, when she had me. Um. What else?" He'd listened to Jiraiya better than he'd ever listened to anything else, including T&I session briefings. "He showed me a picture of her, from the records - she was a ninja! She had really long, red hair - that's an Uzumaki 'thing' apparently..."

He hadn't even known Uzumaki was anything but an arbitrary last name someone filling out his birth certificate had scribbled down for him, but now it belonged to someone. Hinata had bull-headedly decided it was hers, too, but his mom had given it to him.

"Naruto that's wonderful."She might've been crying. He couldn't really tell over the phone, but he instantly ached to hug her. They'd had each other to hang on to for world-flipping news recently, he'd forgotten what it was like to be alone for this.

"Jiraiya says I look like her a lot. I don't really see it, but…" He couldn't really express the joy at being told he had a relative who he looked like.

"Does she also look ridiculously tired all the time?"

"No, she looked happy. In her picture, I mean. It wasn't really professional. Jiraiya said you're a lot like her."

"Don't get a complex now," she drawled, but sounded pleased all-the-same. "What else did he tell you?"

Naruto started at the fact that Jiraiya had definitely told him more, but he couldn't remember it! Which was just stupidly unacceptable. He'd been wanting a family all his life and now, when some measly scraps of information about one were given to him, he went and forgot them in less than two days.

"She specialized in sealing, and…" The one thing he wasn't ever going to forget, "She died in the Kyuubi attack."

"Oh, Naruto…"

"You know how I was born the day of? She had me, and then - she - became a casualty."

"Hey, hey," Hinata's voice substituted for their usual way of petting each other when they were upset, "She'd be so proud of you, Naruto."

He coughed a laugh over the lump in his throat, "There's no way of knowing."

"I am. And I'm like her, so…"

He laughed again, feeling a little lighter. "I'm really sorry I haven't called before now. And really, really sorry about the T&I thing."

"Don't stress about it right now. Just work on training and finding the lady so you can come home."

"I'm trying. Jury's out on whether Jiraiya actually is or not, but...we're making progress with some things."

"Okay. Be safe."

"No worries - it's just me and Jiraiya. We've been camping most of the time. All we've got to worry about is snakes."

[-M-]

"Good evening. I'm Danzo Shimura."

Gaara blinked at the man who'd interrupted his game of solitaire, standing in the doorway like a vampire. "Good evening."

"I hate to distract you from your cards, but I was struck with the notion you might like company." The man lifted a picnic basket to show, "And maybe a break from prison food."

"I've been told time and time again not to call this a prison," Gaara replied, picking the cards up one by one and returning them to the deck, then sliding that into the little paper box they came in. The cards were a gift from Ino, along with a box set of young adult novels, some candy, and a filthy magazine she'd bullied the guards into letting him keep, then bullied him into keeping.

"Well, you can speak plainly in front of me," the elder said, slowly sitting down into the chair opposite the redhead, and beginning to unwrap what he'd brought to share.

Half a baguette, sliced fruit, cheese, smoked meats, and a tin of what looked like hummus, along with an ice cold bottle of a sparkling melon flavored soda that made Gaara's mouth go dry. "The guards could still report my insubordination."

"Do you see any guards?" Danzo smiled, and Gaara realized with a slight shock that there was no-one standing in the room with them. The door was open into the hallway, but there was no-one there. He could usually sense chakra from the hallway, but not right now - it was truly clear.

He could just - run.

But he wouldn't. He'd stayed here for weeks on his best behavior, all because he wanted to endear himself to the higher-ups and get a spot on Konoha's force, and he definitely couldn't do that if he ran for it.

He turned back to Danzo, "You aren't afraid to eat with me without a guard?"

"I don't need a guard to feel safe."

Danzo passed a thin slice of bread slathered generously with the nutty paste, and Gaara placed it into his mouth, spread-side down. Immediately memories of lunch breaks back home came back to him, helped along by a mouthful of the melon drink. The tastes were so perfect, so innocent that Gaara immediately asked,

"Why are you here, Danzo Shimura?"

"I'm the reason you are in this room, Gaara." The one-eyed man replied benignly, layering slices of cheese and meat onto a piece of bread for himself. "And if you get out, I'll be the reason you do."

"I've been questioned, psychoanalyzed and otherwise probed for a month. I've told you everything I know forwards and backwards," Gaara said, ire rising, "Is there another language you'd like me to say it in so you understand?"

"I understand," Danzo said carefully, passing some grapes to him, "That you have told us everything you know about the attack, who was involved, and about your resurrection. What I am still not certain about is where your loyalties lie."

"I will not betray Naruto."

"And there we have it." Danzo smiled, and Gaara realized he'd misspoken before the explanation came. "You are loyal to Naruto. And who is Naruto loyal to?"

"To - to you?" Oh, God, that should not have sounded like he wanted an answer.

"I'm afraid that's questionable as well."

"You think Naruto is working for someone else?"

"Oh, heavens no - nothing as treacherous as that! Naruto is, as you may have noticed, driven by the whims of his conscience. You're alive because of it."

This was the most delicious food he'd had in months and it was absolutely unenjoyable.

"If someone with an agenda against Konoha happened to elicit some sympathy from him, who is to say he won't overlook a few unsavory details about them to do them a kindness?"

"How am I to prove to you that I am an asset to Konoha - and only Konoha - inside this cell?"

Danzo's eye locked on his. "I was hoping you'd be open to a little test of your patriotism."

[-M-]

The silence stretched out for forever, first tense, then awkward, then finally just irritating.

"It's been a long time," Tsunade said, raising an eyebrow.

"That it has," agreed her old teammate.

Orochimaru looked just as handsome as ever. She used to have a crush on him, back when they were kids, but that curled up and died upon the realization that a.) he wasn't interested in her and probably not in women in general and b.) he was a megalomaniac with a dislike for basic human decency.

Although 'human' was no longer the right word for her old teammate.

The words 'What have you done to yourself?' almost made their way out of her mouth before she remembered herself enough to realize she did not want to get sucked in to his insane games.

"I've got some sad news, I'm afraid," he said, radiating glee, "Our dear sensei has left this mortal plane."

"I thought he died, like, a year ago." Her attendant's huff of irritation at her disrespect told her she'd managed to fool someone with her aloofness, but not the person she meant to.

Orochimaru's freakish tongue stuck out to sample the air and his smirk got wider; demons could taste what you were feeling if you weren't careful, and it seemed she'd gotten sloppy with hiding her feelings since she'd last seen her ambiguously dressed teammate.

No, she wasn't indifferent to the news of her sensei's death. You couldn't really ever get used to the people you knew dying.

"That's so cold, Tsunade," he said through snake-like fangs, "And here I was thinking you were a softie."

"Well, we're all surprised by what a bitch I am sometimes."

"If only Dan was here, I bet he could convince you to behave more like a lad - "

Faster than lightning, Shizune had shot a senbon at him for the insult, which his own attendant caught just as quickly. The gangly, four-eyed boy looked like a real bookworm, not at all what she'd pegged as her teammate's type. But then, there were a lot of things she didn't know about Orochimaru.

"Get out of here before I kill you," she said, her shoulders feeling too heavy for the words.

"I can bring him back, you know."

"I know what you can do, Orochimaru." Tsunade said through clenched teeth. "I know how you do it, I know every step of the ritual, and all of its components - "

"Then you know that I can just as easily bring him back without binding him to myself?" Orochimaru challenged, "That I can bring him back, and not be able to lay a finger on him once I do?"

"Don't act magnanimous. It doesn't suit you."

"All I want is for you to help me with a project. And you will get your loved ones back.

"Dan. Nawaki. Don't you know how happy they'll be to see you, Tsunade?"

Shizune turned big, scared eyes to her to try and read her, and Tsunade hoped she was doing a good job of hiding how she felt on her face, because she knew what Orochimaru would taste if he stuck his disgusting tongue out at her again.

"I'll let you mull it over. One week. I'll be back."

And he was gone.

One week was such a long time.