Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Has there…been any change?"

Shizune looked over at Kakashi, tired, pale-faced and sad-eyed, her body clearly aching from lack of sleep. "No. There hasn't been."

Kakashi bit back a sigh, and stared down at the woman lying prostrate on the pallet, eyes closed, barely alive. If he hadn't seen the rise and fall of her chest to indicate that she was still breathing, Kakashi would have sworn that Tsunade was dead where she laid.

"What are the chances that she will wake up?" Kakashi asked reluctantly, unsure if he even wanted to hear the answer. In ignorance, he could at least hope, but once enlightened, he may end up having no hope at all.

Shizune shot him a helpless look. "As you know, Kakashi, each day in which a person remains comatose lessens the chance that they will recover. Tsunade-sama has been comatose for nearly a week. We have no technology to wake someone up from a coma; it's up to her now."

He nodded somberly. "I suppose so."

Shizune knelt momentarily to take Tsunade's pulse. She performed the movement almost mechanically; Kakashi could tell that she had performed it probably hundreds of times before in just the past few days. He was quite frankly surprised Tsunade's neck wasn't bruised.

The medic stood back up, adjusting the front of her yukata half-heartedly to pull it more closed, and attempted to pull some semblance of composure back over her face. It didn't stop her from seeming dulled, weary and almost apathetic in her grief. "I've heard that the council and the Daimyo have narrowed down the candidates for Rokudaime Hokage, is that true?"

"Yes," Kakashi nodded. "At first they were looking more at some of the clan heads, Nara Shikaku and Hyuuga Hiashi in particular, but now it's looking like Shimura Danzo will be elected instead." He grimaced behind his mask.

Brown eyes narrowed, as Shizune looked at him shrewdly. The light bulb flickered overhead; the electrical grid hadn't really been restored to any measure of reliability. "You are also being seriously considered, even now that Danzo's exercised his influence to strike Nara-san and Hyuuga-san from the list, aren't you?"

Great. Even sequestered in a hospital room and hardly ever coming out, Shizune was still living up to her reputation of being the Hokage's most reliable intelligence agent. Of course, Kakashi wasn't sure he wanted to know how she knew that Danzo had gone behind doors to eliminate Shikaku and Hiashi, since even he hadn't known that.

"Yeah, it's true," Kakashi admitted. He wasn't entirely enthusiastic about the prospect of becoming Hokage; in fact, he fully intended on refusing if he was asked.

"What will you do if you are asked to become Hokage?" Shizune asked quietly, her eyes still narrowed scrutinizingly. For the moment, she seemed to have forgotten her fears.

Kakashi laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "Not sure, to be honest. I'm not really cut out for being Hokage, you know."

Shizune bit her lip. "You realize what might end up happening if Danzo is elected, don't you?"

"Uhh," Kakashi groaned. "Danzo is experienced. Yes, there's an issue of his age, and yes I realize that he's a bit Machiavellian, but really…"

Shizune frowned. "I don't think Danzo is good for the village. He may be well-intentioned, but that doesn't change the fact that he's an extremist with a worrying tendency towards subversion. Do you remember that revolution in Ame twenty years ago, with the reports of Leaf ANBU being killed there? Danzo went behind Sandaime-sama's back to intervene in that affair, and it blew up in his face. Literally, as a matter of fact. If it hadn't been for the fact that the winning faction in Ame—the faction Danzo did not come to the aid of, by the way—assumed that all the Leaf ANBU had been killed, we might have been looking at a war with Amegakure, a war I don't think we could have won, considering we were already fighting Suna and Iwa and Kumo by that point.

"And that's how he deals with everything, Kakashi. A council session becomes a study in subterfuge. Danzo will go behind everybody's backs on such a simple matter of what beverage to serve the council members; I know, I'm there to watch this happening! I'm worried this is how he'll treat international politics. The other villages don't take kindly to that sort of thing, especially not Kumo, and God knows we don't need trouble with Kumo right now. He can not become Hokage."

"Calm down, Shizune," Kakashi held his hands up placatingly. "I didn't say I wouldn't accept if it was offered." Great, she's managed to make me say I'll take the job if they offer it to me. He peered at her. "But am I just the lesser of two evils to you?"

Her face went pink. "I didn't say that. You're capable of protecting the village, you've made a name for yourself, despite your perpetual tardiness you are responsible when you want to be and you don't disseminate in situations when you don't need to be disseminating. And quite frankly, I—" Shizune broke off, clamping her mouth tightly shut.

"Yes?"

She looked up at the ceiling uncomfortably. "Never mind that. I just think you're selling yourself short; you'd make a good Hokage, Kakashi."

"Thank you," Kakashi said mildly, surprised to find that her good opinion did gratify him. Then he looked more closely at her. "And now I have a question for you, Shizune."

"What?" she groaned, probably having a good idea of what Kakashi was about to ask.

"How many hours of sleep would you say you've had since Tsunade went comatose, in a round number?"

Shizune shrugged wearily, short black hair falling over her face. "I don't know, somewhere between sixteen and eighteen."

Kakashi shook his head; typical Shizune. "Get some sleep then. I'll watch her tonight; you're no good to anyone falling asleep standing up or dropping dead of exhaustion."

"Thanks," she managed a grateful half smile. Shizune lowered herself with an almost sore slowness onto a pallet in the corner of the room, near the door, while Kakashi sat down on the floor underneath the window.

"I just…" Shizune didn't look up; fine, dark hair was falling over her heavy, half-closed eyes, her long, pale fingers clenching the white sheets she huddled under. "I have to make sure she wakes up. Everything will be alright again when Tsunade wakes up."

Kakashi sighed heavily, shaking his head and watching her until she fell asleep. He didn't have the heart to tell her that it wasn't that simple.