Tsunade
“What’s going on? Is he gonna be okay?!”
Poor Sasuke is frantic, tugging at Orochimaru’s clothes the second he’s in the doorway, looking up at him with pleading eyes.
“For now, I guess,” is all Orochimaru can muster. And predictably, that doesn’t comfort the boy at all.
Itachi has managed to give himself pneumonia- how he managed to carry Sasuke on his back for miles, carry on conversations, or even stand upright without fainting from lack of air with his lungs half full of fluid, Orochimaru can only chalk up to a miracle.
(Although exerting himself like that certainly hasn’t helped things any.)
“Well you can fix it right?” Naruto demands, joining in at insistently tugging at his clothes.
He looks so hopeful, he honestly feels bad about crushing him by being honest. But lying won’t do them any good.
“I can’t.”
“Huh?! What do you mean?!”
…maybe he could’ve worded that better. Sasuke becomes so shrill it almost shatters his eardrums.
“What I mean is- Kabuto and I can fix this. But whatever’s wrong with him, it’s more complicated than this. And that’s not a problem either of us know how to solve.”
The boys exchange worried looks, and Sasuke looks like he’s on the verge of tears.
“So what do we do?”
Orochimaru wants to word his answer more delicately than I don’t have a fucking clue, but finds himself at a loss.
Fortunately though, Jiraiya, who until now has been largely silent, speaks up before the children can worry too much.
“You can’t,” he says, “but I know who might.”
“Who?” Sasuke demands.
But Orochimaru already knows who.
Just as much as he knows that it’s not nearly that simple.
“What makes you think she’ll want to talk to either of us?”
“I dunno. Maybe she won’t- but it’s worth trying isn’t it? It can’t make anything worse.”
Famous last words.
But they don’t have much choice but to try.
“We don’t even know where she is though,” Jiraiya grumbles, scratching at the back of his head.
“You don’t,” Orochimaru corrects him. “But I think I do.”
“Eh?! What do you-”
“You’re not the only one with a habit of stalking old friends.”
Orochimaru can’t help but snicker when Jiraiya turns crimson.
“I was not-”
“-You’re a horrible liar.”
That smug tone of voice is nearly enough to make Jiraiya want to punch him in the throat.
“But who are you talking about?” Naruto asks, squinting.
“An old friend of ours.”
“You think she can really help?” Sasuke whines, almost not daring to hope.
“If anyone can, she can.”
“So where is she?”
Orochimaru shakes his head, folding his arms and sighing.
“I haven’t checked in on her for a little while, but last I checked she was just north of Kusa, working her way through every bar and casino in the country. So if she kept going the same direction after that, she’s nearly in Taki by now. So if we leave quickly, we’d be able to catch her.”
“I wanna go with you!” Sasuke declares.
“Yeah me too! I wanna go if Sasuke’s goin’!”
Jiraiya wants to tell them absolutely not, but one glance over at Orochimaru tells him that arguing isn’t worth it.
Finally, Kabuto emerges from the room as well, looking thoroughly annoyed.
(He always seems to come back around when there’s something on fire. Bad luck.)
“I’m trusting you to keep everything in order until we get back,” Orochimaru tells him. “We shouldn’t take long.”
“But I-”
Kabuto huffs, fiddling with his glasses to distract from his scowl.
“Understood.”
“Wonderful. Well then-”
Orochimaru holds his hands out; instinctively, Sasuke takes his right hand and Naruto takes his left.
“We’d best be off if we’re going to catch Tsunade before she’s gone.”
He looks over his shoulder at Kabuto.
“Tell Kimimaro not to get wound up, we’ll be right back.”
“Of course.”
“And tell the others that if they give you any grief, they’ll be dealing with me once I get back, and it won’t be fun.”
“Of course.”
-
It’s far too bright outside, and the summer heat is nearly unbearable, with the humidity in the air so high that their surroundings are practically steaming.
But that’s just Taki in the summer. They won’t be here too long, anyway.
They manage to avoid too many suspicious onlookers, which is a miracle considering they’re two Sannin and a pair of small children. A few passersby glance at them as they walk through the red light district, but it’s mostly not the sort of people they have to worry about trying to interfere.
The children follow behind them surprisingly obediently, worry keeping them quiet for the most part.
“Why would a friend of yours be in a place like this?” Naruto mumbles.
“Indulging in some bad habits,” Orochimaru answers, with a disappointed frown.
“Eh?”
Before he can answer, Jiraiya grabs Orochimaru by the wrist and points a short way away.
“Hey there she-”
(That was quicker than expected)
Orochimaru slaps his hand over his mouth so that he doesn’t give them away before they’re ready. Sasuke and Naruto peer out from behind them to get a look at this person who they seem to care so much about.
She’s a beautiful woman, with long blonde hair tied into pigtails at the back of her head and eyes the color of warm honey and delicate facial features. But she looks so tired, with dark circles beneath her beautiful eyes and a bow in her shoulders like she’s carrying a great, invisible weight with her.
She’s also obviously, incredibly, staggeringly drunk.
Even from a distance, that much is obvious. She’s dangerously unsteady on her feet, and speaks to her beleaguered companion in a slurred sort of way, barely coherent and scatterbrained.
“Eh? Is that really her?”
Sasuke wrinkles his nose and glances from Orochimaru to Jiraiya in disbelief.
“How’s she supposed to help my brother?”
“Just trust us, alright kid?” Jiraiya tells him, prying Orochimaru’s hand off his mouth. “You two just stay here while we go talk to her- it might uh, get a little heated and you don’t wanna get involved.”
“What for?” Naruto asks.
“It’s a long story, just stay here alright?”
The boys exchange a confused look, but they comply with the command.
Pretending they aren’t terrified to do so, Jiraiya and Orochimaru step out into the open and approach her, ignoring the startled and scandalized glare that her companion gives them when they do so and hoping she doesn’t decide to throw something heavy at them.
The dark haired woman throws her hand out in front of Tsunade as if that would be nearly enough to protect her.
“What are you doing here?!” she snarls through gritted teeth, trying to sound tough even though she’s so terrified her legs are shaking.
They keep perfectly still, knowing that even as scared as she is, and as drunk as Tsunade is, neither of them are to be underestimated.
Tsunade squints, looking both of them up and down like she doesn’t believe what she’s seeing. She pinches her upper arm until the flesh is bright red, to make sure she’s not dreaming, and seems frustrated when they’re still standing there.
“...Whaddaya want?” she mumbles, folding her arms underneath her sizable bust and doing her best to glare.
She still manages to be plenty intimidating, Jiraiya thinks to himself, repressing a shudder.
Well, one of them needs to break the silence, so Jiraiya clears his throat and takes a shot at it.
“Hey, I know it’s been a long time, but we really need to talk to you.”
Judging by the fact that Tsunade staggers forward and takes a swing at him, that was the wrong thing to say.
Fortunately, she’s so drunk that she misses his face by a good foot or so, stumbling and nearly toppling forward in the attempt.
“What the fuck makes you think I wanna talk to you?!” she demands, her voice cracking a good half octave.
“We have something important we need to tell you,” Orochimaru says, eyes darting around to look for any nosy onlookers. “At least hear us out. Please.”
“Tsunade-sama-”
Her companion grabs her upper arm, dark eyes still fixed on the intruders.
“Let’s just go, alright? We don’t need to talk to them-”
“I know that, Shizune.”
Tsunade holds her free hand up to cut her off. Maybe the unusual event of Orochimaru actually saying please tells her this is actually serious.
“What do you wanna talk about?”
“It’s kind of important, could we go somewhere private first?”
Tsunade tilts her head like a confused puppy.
“Whaddaya mean?”
“It’s a little complicated. So can we just-”
“-Tell us what you want or we aren’t going anywhere with you!” Shizune snaps.
“Cause they said you could help my brother!”
Everybody stops dead when Sasuke yells, loud and shrill enough to be heard over their bickering.
Naruto hangs off his leg, having tried and failed to hold him back. He gives the adults an apologetic look and a sheepish half-smile. Sasuke has no shame, however, and glares at the woman with all the anger his little body can muster.
“My big brother’s sick and they told us you could help! So are you gonna help or not?!”
“Huh? But-”
“What do you mean, but?! If you’re gonna say no then just do it!”
Shizune looks confused, still keeping an eye on Tsunade to watch her reaction.
Drunk as she is, it takes her longer than usual to put a response together.
She scratches at her scalp with sharp fingernails. Grits her teeth. Wordlessly struggling with the situation in front of her. Pointedly avoiding eye contact with either of the wide-eyed brats staring up at her.
“...great,” she grumbles, pinching the bridge of her nose and growling. “You showed up and brought kids to guilt trip me into helping.”
“No it’s not like that!” Jiraiya insists, flailing his hands in front of him as if to brush the notion away. “They just- they wanted to come because-”
“-Can we take this someplace a bit more private?” Orochimaru asks, cutting both of them off. “It won’t exactly be good for us if we get seen, and this isn’t a matter that’s safe to discuss out in the open.”
“Why-”
“Please just trust me on this. Is there somewhere else we could go to discuss this?”
“Tsunade-sama-” Shizune says, still wary, still untrusting. But regardless, she waits for the woman to answer.
“...Fine. But I’m not fuckin’ happy about it.”
Understandable. But they’re actually getting somewhere with her (drunk or not) so the other two Sanin take their victory without saying anything that would push their luck.
She motions for them to follow, taking wobbly steps that send her all over the narrow street.
They follow her, ignoring the angry looks Shizune keeps throwing back at them. Eventually they make their way back to a smallish hotel room, struggling with the key for just long enough to make it uncomfortable before finally getting it open.
She practically falls onto the nearest bed, covering her face with her hands and letting out a great, shaky breath.
Shizune remains standing, while Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and the boys all crowd onto the other bed.
The poor children look terrified as they watch the woman who holds Itachi’s fate in her (currently unsteady) hands.
Before either Orochimaru or Jiraiya can say something, and without any warning, Tsunade’s breath hitches in her throat, and she starts to cry.
Heavy sobs wrack her entire body, and she smears makeup across her face and sleeve as she desperately tries to stifle tears.
“This is so stupid,” she whimpers. “After all this time, you just show back up because you need something from me- didn’t I matter before now?”
Her voice cracks again, worse this time. Jiraiya hangs his head, guilt weighing it down.
“I thought you didn’t wanna see me,” he says, uncharacteristically quiet. “I mean, after- I thought it was a bad idea-”
“Bullshit!” Tsunade howls, throwing a sandal and missing Jiraiya’s head by millimeters and nearly shattering the window behind him. Fortunately, it misses the glass as well and instead cracks the frame and a significant portion of drywall.
Orochimaru says nothing. No answer he gives will ever be enough, and everyone knows that. Neither will any apology ever be enough to atone for all his sins.
“Look, we know how weird this is and how bad it looks,” Jiraiya tells her, trying to soothe her. “But this isn’t about any of us. It’s about this kid’s brother.”
“Well what’s wrong with him, anyway?”
“To be honest,” Orochimaru says, “I’m not exactly sure. That’s why I’m asking for your help.”
“So what? He’s gonna die if I say no?”
Sasuke whimpers. Naruto goes wide-eyed in worry. The both of them wait with held breath for the answer.
Orochimaru leans back on his hands like he doesn’t care much, but his grim face gives him away.
“Not right away. But far sooner than he should, yes.”
The words hang heavy in the air. Even as drunk as she is, it weighs down on Tsunade greatly.
“Why do you care?” she asks.
“I just think it would be terribly sad for his life to be cut that short if it could be helped.”
That must have been the right thing to say. Tsunade abruptly stops crying, dragging herself into a half-sitting position, her eyes more focused than they’ve been since they found her.
“He’s just a boy. If you hate me, that’s perfectly fine. But this is for his sake, and his brother’s sake.”
He sounds surprisingly sincere. It’s almost enough to dissolve even Shizune’s distrust.
Tsunade gnaws on her painted thumbnail, frowning while the muddled wheels in her head turn.
“Oh come on already dattebayo!” Naruto snaps when she takes too long. “Are you gonna help or not?!”
“Oh quit yellin’ you little brat.”
Tsunade flops back onto the bed, going back to scratching at her scalp so hard it’s a wonder it doesn’t bleed.
“Please,” Sasuke asks, his voice far smaller than he wanted it to be. “He’s my big brother. He’s my only brother.”
“Fine. Whatever. Help the kid. You win. Fuckin’ hell.”
Well that went better than anticipated.
(Maybe a little guilt wasn’t such a bad thing here.)
All that’s left to do is give Tsunade some time to sober up before dragging her back with them.
Orochimaru stands up, stretching himself out as if releasing some pent-up anxiety.
“We’ll head back once you’ve rested a bit and you’re not so drunk,” he says, satisfied with the outcome of their conversation.
Tsunade mumbles something incoherent, which he takes as an affirmative.
“Please go now,” Shizune whines, desperate to be out of their presence.
“Alright then. We’ll meet you back here tomorrow.”
The younger woman doesn’t like the idea, but she also doesn’t want to argue since Tsunade has made up her mind already.
The boys still look unsure as they depart, gripping Orochimaru’s hands tightly for whatever comfort it gives.
All they can do now is wait.