Disclaimer: Naruto and all characters mentioned are created by Masashi Kishimoto.

After All This Time

Her heels echoed faintly as they clicked across the floor of the long, empty corridor. The hospital was usually quiet at night, but tonight, it seemed even more desolate and somber.

Shizune sighed and rubbed her aching shoulder. It had been a long day.

They had returned in the late afternoon, with grave news and two badly injured teammates. Tsunade's face was grim as she listened to their report. Her hands laced tightly together on the desk in front of her were the only indication of the terrible anxiety she must be feeling inside. But the Fifth had taken charge in her calm, competent way, quickly setting about healing the wounded, sending out a retrieval team and ordering for preparations to be made.

Because the kids were still out there. And they were expecting heavy casualties when they returned…

…if they returned at all.

The young medic chased that last depressing thought away with an angry shake of her head. She was exhausted and not thinking clearly. Their mission had been difficult, taking longer than any one of them had anticipated. And the huge amounts of chakra she had poured into pulling Raidou and Genma back from the brink of death had drained her further.

Fighting back a yawn, she rounded another corner as she walked towards the wards. It was past midnight already and she knew she should grab some sleep before the first of the injured arrived. But she had been busy the whole afternoon checking medical supplies and getting the operating theatres ready, she hadn't had time to look in on her wounded teammates.

Not that she didn't trust Tsunade's word that they were stable after treatment and well on their way to recovery, she just had to see for herself that they were really alright.

To reassure herself, because the last sight she had of them was Genma lying limply on the stretcher, eyes closed and still as death, the streak of dried blood running from the corner of his mouth down his chin a stark contrast to his ashen face.

The door opened soundlessly when she pushed against it and she slipped quietly into the room. Raidou lay curled up on his side, his breathing deep and even as he slept. But the small table lamp beside Genma's bed was lit and the man was sitting up in bed, gazing out of the window with a distant look in his eyes.

He glanced over at her, the senbon twitching in the corner of his mouth in greeting. "Hey."

"Hey yourself." She smiled, her weariness forgotten. Genma was still terribly pale and seemed strangely vulnerable without his bandana and hitai-ate, but she was almost lightheaded with the sudden relief at seeing him conscious and sitting up by his own strength.

Walking past the two unoccupied beds in the ward to Raidou's side and taking care not to disturb the sleeping man, she took his pulse and studied the read-outs of the machines he was hooked up to.

"How's he doing?" Genma called out quietly from his bed, straining a little from where he sat to get a better look, the undercurrent of concern clear in the slight furrowing of his brow.

"He's recovering well, don't worry." She picked up the charts at the foot of Genma's bed before settling herself into the chair by his bed. "But yourself? You need to rest and it's late, why aren't you asleep yet?" Her gaze flittered over his face in assessment, trying to decide if he was in any sort of distress, eyes lingering with concern at the thick bandage peeking out at the collar of his loose hospital shirt. "Is it the wounds? Are they still hurting you badly?"

"No, they're fine." He flashed her a quick smile but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm alright." Instead, he curled a knee to his chest and rested an elbow on it, his lips twisting around his senbon in a wry sort of grin. "It's nothing really…" He said, his voice quiet and subdued. With that, he fell silent and looked away, staring absently out of the window into the dark night once more.

Shizune nodded and didn't press. Genma was troubled about something but he didn't want to talk about it, that much she could tell, having known each other since their genin days. Yet, there wasn't that cold edge in his voice that usually meant he wanted to be left alone, so he tolerated her presence at least.

Frowning slightly, she studied his profile for another moment longer, at a lost of how to comfort the man. Eventually, she gave up and flipped open the patient folder, preparing to read. For now, she would be content to sit with him and perhaps some company would do him good.

The wind rippled through the trees outside and the leaves rustled, making the night seem all the more quiet and peaceful. Together, they sat in companionable silence, undisturbed other than by the occasional soft click of the senbon against Genma's teeth as he toyed with it absently in his mouth.

It was an old familiar sound, yet somehow all wrong and strange at the same time.

Shizune bit her lip and couldn't help but snuck a careful glance at her teammate. It was strange to see Genma like this, quiet and serious. He was still the same glib joker kind of guy he had been when they were younger. With the same old flippant attitude, always ready with a witty retort or a smartass comment.

Yet, he was different too. She had seen for herself in their latest mission how competent and-heaven forbid!-responsible Genma had become. Out in the field, he was a strong team leader, exuding a cold professionalism and deadly efficiency that was the trademark of a good ninja. But it was not these changes that troubled her, for after all, she too had grown up and become skilled in her own area of expertise.

She frowned as she gazed at him, the patient folder forgotten in her lap. Although Genma smiled often and was as laid-back as she remembered him to be, there was a touch of darkness in his good humor. It was hard to define but there was a vague sort of melancholy in his expression. These days, his smiles were more like smirks and there was a bitter, cynical edge to his laughter.

It made her sad to see it, made her wonder where that carefree boy with lank brown hair that was always falling into his hazel eyes had gone.

Some of it she knew from the pain in Genma's eyes as he looked at the scars on Raidou's face, when he thought his best friend wasn't looking. A two-man mission gone wrong, she was told.

Some of it came from Hayate's death, she gathered from speaking with the others. She did not know the ninja well but understood he and Genma were close. It must have been hard to endure, watching a dear friend's health slowly deteriorate over the years to end in violent death.

And maybe it all started even earlier, when the Kyuubi tore through the village, leaving few untouched by the devastation.

It made her heart ache a little to think she wasn't there for any of it; sorry that she wasn't there for him through all these difficult years when he needed her the most. Did he wish for her when he sat waiting for news while they operated on Raidou? Did he hate her for not being able to make their best healer stay? Hayate may have been cured, made fighting-fit so he would stand a better chance on that fateful night. Shizune bit her lip, the questions swirled around her mind with no hope of answers. Back then, Tsunade had been determined to leave Konoha and she had followed…

"Shizune?"

She was startled out of her reverie and looked up to see Genma frowning quizzically at her. "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing." She smiled, shaking her head dismissively.

He considered her for a moment longer, then nodded. "Any news from the retrieval team?" He asked instead, his tone too careful to be casual, chewing on the end of his senbon, a habit she knew he did whenever he was worried.

"Not yet." She admitted quietly, dread pooling in the pit of her stomach but she managed an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, they'll be all right."

To her surprise, Genma huffed out a bitter laugh. "How can they be alright?" His voice trembled; tired, jaded and stretched thin with bottled anxiety. "You saw what those bastards did to Raidou and me…and they're only a bunch of children…"

He closed his eyes and slumped forward, pressing one hand against his forehead. "I thought these things would end with the Kyuubi. Hell! I thought it'll end with the war. No one should be made to go through what we've gone through…all this bloodshed and sending out children to fight battles which they cannot win…"

"…dear gods, they're only children…" He trailed off, swallowing hard against the raw anguish that was threatening to drown him.

Shizune bit her lip, her heart constricted. Wordlessly, she reached out and took one of the tightly clenched fists in both her hands and rubbed soothing circles on the back of his hand until it relaxed and he was looking up at her.

"We were only children then too and look how well we turned out." She gave his fingers a gentle squeeze to stop the protest she saw he was about to make. "It's true they're only children, they're probably not going to win, most likely be brought home half-dead or worse-" Here, her voice caught a little but she forced herself to go on.

"But they're Konoha's children, and that devotion will keep them strong." She gripped his hand fiercely to emphasize the truth she believed with all her heart. "Especially when it's to protect and bring back one of our own."

Genma was silent as he sat looking at her, his gaze solemn and intense. Little by little, the despair faded from his eyes, replaced by a look of admiration and wonder that spread slowly over his face as if what he saw took his breath away. The flickering lamplight reflected in his eyes, flecks of dancing gold against the warm hazel brown and she suddenly realized she was still holding his hand and how very close they were.

Then, he broke into a soft smile. "Since when did you become so wise?" He teased, giving her a light tap on the nose with the end of his senbon.

"Since when did you become so serious?" She countered, caught between smiling and frowning at his little antic.

"Since the day you left."

Shizune froze, her breath caught in her throat.

They had been going out for a little while before she left but they were barely teenagers then. And it had been so many years ago. So much had changed, she didn't think he would still think about getting together after all this time. Especially not when she had left in such a hurry, left without even telling him. Was he angry?

But she sensed no anger in his voice and when she looked at him, she only saw tender affection mixed with an earnest hope as he gazed at her. His smile was a tad hesitant and there was a shadow of uncertainty in his expression, as though he was afraid.

Afraid that she would not want this.

Afraid that a girl who had traveled all over the world and was the protégé of the great Hokage herself would want nothing to do with a guy who had spent most of his life in the village, as he had put it jokingly once.

She should have known he was only half-joking then.

As it was, he was already easing his hand from hers, eyes downcast, senbon drooping with disappointment even as he pretended he had not said anything.

She caught his hand, her mind flying back to the scene she had come upon earlier that day. The utter devastation, and Genma slumped against the foot of the tree with no breath on his lips and no heartbeat in his chest…her heart had nearly stopped as well.

Holding his hand tightly, she met his startled eyes and said slowly. "But I'm back now."

She watched the surprise melt into wonderment, then unrestrained joy broke across his face like the first rays of sunrise in the morning after a long dark night.

"Yes." He smiled, and suddenly he was that old Genma again. "Yes, you are."

Perhaps some things really never change.

"It's getting really late. You should get some rest." She plucked the senbon from his mouth and placed a light kiss upon his lips in its place.

The wide-eyed stunned look on Genma's face made her giggle. The silly man, you'd think we've never kissed before. She thought as she leaned in to remind him with a more thorough kiss and he responded this time.

His lips were dry with the faint sickly sweet taste of one of those chakra replenishing syrup they must have given him. There might have been a hint of blood from earlier too. But underneath those foreign tastes was the slight metallic hint that came from having a senbon in his mouth all day. It was exactly as she remembered.

Subtle, familiar, unmistakably Genma.

She smiled into their kiss, reaching up to cup her hands around his face, only to draw back sharply at the unusual warmth.

"Genma! You're still feverish!" She slipped a hand beneath the hair falling into his eyes and felt his forehead, looking at him worriedly. "How could this be? The medicine should have worked by now…"

"Ah…well, er-" He put a hand guiltily under the pillow and produced three small round tablets. "The pills make me drowsy and I really want to stay up in case there's any news…"

She glared at him, caught between anger and amusement. The scene reminded her of their genin days when he hid his medicine and slipped out the back door so their team could go for the chunin exams together.

Handing him a glass of water, she frowned. "Swallow those pills right now and go to sleep." She ordered sternly, then sighed and added. "Don't worry, if something crops up, I'll come wake you, alright?"

He grinned and obediently did as he was told, lying down almost meekly after he was done. She covered him warmly with blankets and when she smoothed back his hair, he caught her hand and kissed it. Smiling down at him, she marveled at how they have come a full circle.

Different, and yet still the same.

After all this time.