Prologue

Cold rain sprinkled lightly near Sensei Akemi's feet. He tracked the progress of it closely, watching moist shiny beads of water roll over the powdery dust on the ground until the weight of them collapsed through the surface tension and blend into something that resembled chocolate pudding. Meanwhile, his ward, around 20 children, were jumping and moving around in the muck. Some were more animated than the others, jumping high in the air, knocking others over or otherwise causing mayhem. One of them fell into the bigger puddles, much to Akemi's chagrin, and waded to the edge. It was a little boy maybe half the man's height. The old man watched as the boy waded out of the muck and walked by him, barely recognizable under all of the slimy coating. The old man thought about the cleanup that would ensue and groaned slightly, rationalizing internally, 'At least he's getting exercise'.

The wind changed direction and blew a warm moist breeze across the playground. The surrounding trees swayed and the direction changed again quickly, this time much cooler. A blinding light flashed against a nearby mountain, casting an eerie shadow across the graven images of the town's founding fathers. Seconds later, an explosive sound followed by loud rumbling shook the ground Akemi stood on. It rolled across the valley and reverberated off the surrounding cliffs. A colder wind came in the clouds swirled, growing darker. With it a torrent of large drops of rain, striking loudly on the surrounding metal and ceramic roofs like a thousand pachinko balls.

Akemi blew his whistle two times and yelled, "Everyone, get inside!"

After most of the children were inside, he counted them to be sure nobody was missing; to his dismay, two students were missing. The dark skies and rain would make finding them difficult, too. He looked over the yard but was unable to see anything with his naked eyes. No problem. He knew he could rely on his special talent to locate the children. He closed his eyes, breathed meditatively and called upon the power. At first, all he saw was darkness but slowly his mind's eye saw the landscape appear before him. He needed more distance, so he concentrated his energy field, the source of his power, to his abdomen where it mixed with spiritual energy and was fed through his chakra lines to his mind. He mentally swept his sensor vision across the entire school's grounds. Two distinct areas of brightness showed just beyond where he stood, in an alley. 'There they are,' he thought. He threw his hood up over his head and walked towards them. The surrounding terrain was mucky but the clay was hard enough to walk on without too much trouble. He walked in between two buildings. Rain gushed out of gutter spouts to either side of him. As he approached the end of the alley, he detected that they were just beyond. He cloaked his presence and stood by a wall. He decided to observe them, to gather information on why they were missing. He recognized one boy as Orochimaru, and the other as Monogatari Jiraiya.

Orochimaru wiped rainwater from his eyes and snorted derisively, "I'm not interested. The teacher called us in. Let's go!"

"I know one more move, Oro-chan. I learned it from a friend of mine." The white-haired boy said, trying to be persuasive.

Orochimaru growled, "I'm not your friend, teme, so stop adding '-chan' to my name."

Akemi decided to end the fight that would soon start and laid his hand on the boys' shoulders. He leaned over to their ear level and quietly commanded, "Orochimaru, Monogatari-kun. Go inside."

This startled the two boys. The three of them walked back to the classroom.

Akemi entered the classroom first. Once inside, he walked to the podium and removed his raincoat. The students inside talked amongst themselves until the two boys came in. Akemi handed towels to the boys and the noise in the classroom died down while many of the students watched, wondering what happened.

"Please take your seats." Akemi said, approaching the wall with a stubby piece of chalk. He held it against the chalkboard and tapped and slid it until the word "Ninjutsu" was written there. He turned around and asked, raising an eyebrow, "Can anyone tell me what this word means?" He scanned the crowd of students.

Jiraiya shook his head and thought, 'How boring. This feels like punishment for being late.' He did his best to turn his attention to anything less boring. He thumbed through some study guides in hopes of finding some material that might be a bit more exciting.

The classroom door opened, and a girl he didn't know walked in. She had blond hair just past her shoulders and an air of confidence.

"Please take a seat." Akemi said to her.

The girl looked around and spotted a seat a few seats away from Jiraiya. She sat down, turned her head slightly towards Jiraiya, who was staring at her, and stoically looked away.

Akemi shook his head and said, "Since most of you didn't raise your hand, I'm going to go over the basics again."

Everyone groaned.

"As you should know, Ninjutsu is the combination of spiritual and physical energies. These energies can be controlled through seals produced with movements of your hands. Some of the effects of jutsu may seem impossible, but they are easily explained once you understand how they work. Not all effects require a seal to invoke their power. With enough focus, you can direct chakra energy to parts of your body and enhance it. They can make muscles stronger, bones harder or provide extra power to senses, like hearing or sight..."

Jiraiya played with his pencil and sighed. He looked across the aisle to the girl he saw earlier. She turned her head slightly. She noticed Jiraiya looking back at her. She quickly looked away with a blush of embarrassment. Jiraiya went back to his pencil. He thought back to a conversation he had with his friend Nishi at lunch the day before.

"There's going to be a new girl in our class."

Jiraiya smiled. He asked, "Who?"

"Senju Tsunade," Nishi replied, "I'm surprised you haven't heard about her. She is the granddaughter of the legendary Shodai Hokage."

"Dating a Hokage's granddaughter…" Jiraiya exclaimed excitedly with his young voice breaking into a falsetto, "Fix me up with her! Tell her how famous I am!"

Nishi shook his head, "No, Jiraiya. If she caught me, I'd be in trouble. Trust me. If she doesn't kick my ass, the Senju clan will. Just admire her from a distance like me. It's safer."

Jiraiya returned from his memory only to realize he was staring at the girl. 'She's pretty, but is she really related to someone famous,' he wondered. She made a look of disgust, and then grabbed her pencil. She wordlessly raised her eyebrows and snapped it in her hands and held out the broken bits towards him demonstratively.

He was confused.

She smirked, pointed at it and mouthed out the word "you" and dropped the splintered wood on his desk. After that, she acted as though he didn't exist.

Jiraiya yelled, "Hey, that's…!"

Akemi set down a book he was reading to the class and growled, "Monogatari-san! Demonstrate what I've been talking about for the last few minutes!"

Jiraiya turned white as a ghost. He looked around nervously. He had no idea whatsoever what was going on while he was transfixed on the pretty blonde girl. He stood up and walked to the front of the class nervously and asked, "I, uh…what we were demonstrating again?"

Akemi shook his head in irritation, "If you paid more attention to me instead of Senju-san..."

Jiraiya looked astonished and wondered, 'That girl is Senju Tsunade?' He couldn't think or do anything at that point. He just froze.

Akemi waited. After a few seconds, some of the children in the class started to laugh at Jiraiya's blank expression. When Jiraiya didn't respond, he roared, "Monogatari! Just create a clone already!"

Jiraiya snapped out of it. A clone was easy enough. He closed his eyes and concentrated. From his abdomen, swirls of spiritual and physical energies welled up and circulated throughout him. He gestured the necessary seals and touched his index fingers together. A tingling warm feeling built in his fingertips and he yelled, "Bunshin no jutsu!" A poof of smoke surrounded the space next to him. When it cleared, a duplicate of him stood there. He playfully reached through the illusion with his arm and made bunny ears with his fingers. A few of the kids in the class laughed.

"Good enough," Akemi said with an irritated expression, trying to compete with the giggles in the room, "Go to your seat and let someone else try."

Jiraiya strutted towards his desk, grinning like a maniac. He walked by Tsunade who turned away to avoid eye contact. He changed direction, leaned on her desk and smiled winningly at her. The entire class silently watched the spectacle in horror or amusement. Tsunade's face was pink with embarrassment. Jiraiya posed in what he felt was a manly way and said, "I'm Jiraiya. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Tsunade's brown eyes squinted, and she bowed slightly and said, "Senju Tsunade, and I wouldn't be surprised if you were a shiseiji. Do you even have a family name? Or do you lack the common decency to introduce yourself properly. Either way, you are a worthless, nameless waste of my time."

Jiraiya whispered in Tsunade's ear, "You will change your mind, once you get to know me."

Tsunade's fingers tensed against the edges of her desk, causing the wood to crack.

Akemi cleared his throat and said, "Monogatari-san, take your seat."

Everything returned to normal after that. At the end of class, Akemi closed the book he was reading and gave out his assignments.

Tsunade put her book into her bag and started to walk out of the classroom.

"Wait, Tsunade-chan…." Jiraiya said.

Tsunade's eyebrow twitched at the repeated familiarity Jiraiya used with her name and the growing embarrassment of having this scene displayed in front of the class. She gritted her teeth and walked out before Jiraiya had a chance to say anything more.

Jiraiya dejectedly put his book in his bag and sighed.

The next day, the weather improved quite a bit.

Jiraiya tried everything he could do to make up with Tsunade. He followed her around, apologized to her about how he acted the day before and even offered her gifts. She was nice enough and accepted his apologies, but being nice only made him worse.

The situation only worsened during class. Whenever Tsunade looked his way, he was looking at her with a kind of dreamy, creepy look. She tried to focus on the assignment and the teacher, but she couldn't shake the creepy feeling that went up her back.

Towards the end of the day, Tsunade headed towards her locker on the other side of the building. Jiraiya followed beside her and jabbered in her ear the whole way.

"Nishi-kun and I, we saw this giant monster in the forest. He was afraid, but I kept telling him there was nothing to worry about because I knew some great moves. Would you like to go there with me?" Jiraiya asked, trying hard to give Tsunade eye contact.

"No. I don't. Just leave me alone!" She yelled and quickened her pace to get past him. She made it to her locker, but he was unshakable. Again, trying to ignore him, she turned the dial of her lock on her locker. She kept having to redo the combination on the lock because Jiraiya broke her concentration.

"Do you want help with your locker?" Jiraiya offered. "They stick a lot."

"No!" Tsunade cried, "Leave me the hell alone!"

"Why are you being like this? I said I was sorry about yesterday." Jiraiya said, sounding a little hurt.

Tsunade whirled around and said, "I don't care! I just want to be left alone. You can't get it into your thick head that I don't want you around."

Jiraiya's eyes misted over. He looked away before Tsunade could notice and said, voice cracking, "Whatever. I'll be around if you change your mind." He walked down the hallway.

"I'm going to kill him." Tsunade said, gritting her teeth. She unlocked her locker and threw her books inside so hard, it splintered the wood backing.

One of the girls from her class opened her locker a few feet away from Tsunade and looked at her clenched teeth and angry posture. She asked, "Everything ok?"

Tsunade composed herself and took a deep breath. "No. Not really."

"Don't I know you from Akemi-sensei's class? I am Mitsuki Kirako," the red-haired girl said, bowing slightly.

Tsunade remembered her manners, bowed in return and said, "Senju Tsunade."

"Was that Monogatari-san you were talking to earlier?" Kirako asked.

Tsunade nodded with frown.

"He's always like that. The only thing that worked even a little was for me to ignore him completely."

"Kami, he annoys me so much. I just want to beat him into the ground."

Kirako laughed heartily, "Welcome to the club."

Tsunade managed a smile, then nodded towards Kirako and asked, "Want to go to practice with me?"

"Sure. Let me change. I'll meet you in the training area."

Shortly, the two girls were outside enjoying the beautiful day and practicing taijutsu, which involves the most physical aspects of their training. Tsunade and Kirako jumped and performed leg sweeps, blocks, and throws. After a couple of hours, they both decided to cool off and switch to chakra manipulation exercises.

Tsunade wiped her forehead and neck with a towel. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Jiraiya watching her from a distance. She shook her head and tried to ignore him.

Kirako asked, "So… where are you from?"

Tsunade performed a slow kata and replied, "I'm from here, but I've been living with relatives. I moved back here to help my mother and little brother since my dad died."

Kirako put her fingers together and went into deep concentration. Chakra energy infused her feet, causing a swirl of dust to blow around her legs.

"Not bad, Mitsuki-san." Tsunade complimented and attempted the same. She kept her eyes closed and meditated. Just when she raised her chakra level, she sensed someone was watching her. She lost her focus and turned around. Jiraiya was standing right next to her. His mouth was open as though he was going to speak. She felt her temperature rise in anger and yelled, "Just say it, Monogatari-san! Otherwise, you'll just hover over me all day long. It's hard enough to do these exercises!"

Jiraiya cringed a little; he scratched the back of his head and asked, "Are you related to Senju Hashirama?"

The question caught her by surprise. She composed herself and replied, "Not that it matters, but yes," She tried to focus her chakra energy again, but her curiosity got the best of her. "Why do you ask?"

"Wow," He exclaimed with wide eyes, rudely ignoring her question, "People called him 'King of Konohagakure.' You're practically royalty!"

Tsunade frowned at Jiraiya. She complained, "I hate it when people talk about my grandfather that way. He never saw himself as better than everyone else. He sacrificed himself to save everyone here. When he died, we had to move out of the Hokage mansion. Things were never the same after that."

"Leave her alone, Monogatari," Kirako said protectively, glaring at Jiraiya. "Can't you see you're bothering her?"

"I'm not doing anything to bother her," Jiraiya defended soberly. He pointed at the stump he sat on and said, "I'm just sitting here."

Kirako pushed Jiraiya off of his stump and he fell on his back. She stood over him threateningly and declared, "Not anymore! Now go away."

Jiraiya growled and flipped to his feet, "Why did you do that?"

Kirako said, "She told you to leave her alone, baka."

"I'm sick of this, teme," Tsunade said, feeling her temper flaring to dangerous levels. She took a deep breath and said, "I'll tell Sensei if you don't stop."

Jiraiya stood up and dusted himself off. He didn't like being pushed over, so he thought he'd mess with her. He shot her a mocking smile and said, "'Princess Tsunade' sure has a pleasant ring to it…"

Tsunade stood up and switched to a menacing stance and flexed her muscular arms. She growled, "Look. Couldn't you find something better to do?" Her eyes lit up and she poked him in the chest and said, "I have a great idea! You could go count rocks you see as you fall down a cliff! I can help you!"

Jiraiya pursed his lips then bowed, "If that's what her ROYAL highness, Princess Tsunade commands."

Tsunade's temper flared into rage. She focused chakra into her arm muscles and punched him so hard, he flew against a wall. She screamed, "I told you to stop!"

Kirako gasped as Jiraiya slumped on the floor with a bloody nose and a glazed over look. Tsunade bit her lip in worry. Her anger melted away and now all she was left with was guilt. She cried and rushed over to him, "Oh Kami. Please tell me I didn't kill him!"

Kirako didn't have much sympathy for Jiraiya, but she was worried he might have been seriously injured. She got up and said, "I'll go get help." She performed a jutsu and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Tsunade panicked. The blonde boy wasn't moving at all. She wasn't sure he was even breathing. She held his face and said, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please forgive me. Why didn't you listen to me, you stupid jerk?"

Akemi came around the corner and saw Jiraiya on the ground. He immediately checked Jiraiya for vital signs. He looked up at Tsunade and sighed with some relief, "Well, you didn't kill him, but he's going to have one hell of a headache when he comes around."

"I'm so sorry, Sensei! I shouldn't have lost my temper like that." Tsunade apologized, bowing deeply with guilty tears forming in her eyes. She fought them off and wiped her eyes.

Akemi laid his hand softly on her shoulder and said, "We'll talk about this after I get him to the infirmary." Akemi replied softly. He did a more thorough check for broken bones and internal bleeding before carefully carrying Jiraiya off.

After arriving at the hospital, Akemi set Jiraiya down on a bed and called for a nurse. One happened to be nearby, so he asked to be notified as soon as the boy woke up. He turned around and saw Jiraiya staring at him and said, "Never mind. I see he is awake." He peered over at the boy for almost a minute before exclaiming, "Tch! You made her mad, Monogatari-san. What did you do?"

The boy sat up, which had the unfortunate side effect of causing the broken blood vessel in his nose to leak blood even faster. He quickly pinched the bridge of it to stop the bleeding, then gasped in pain as he realized it was broken. "All I did was called her a Princess. She didn't have to hit me!"

Akemi sat down next to the boy in one of the guest chairs and said, "Why are you pursuing this girl? There are other girls you can be friends with. Why don't you try talking to them?" He grabbed a washcloth and wiped up some blood from Jiraiya's face and neck.

Jiraiya's brows wrinkled and he said sadly, "Because it's a waste of time. Nobody wants me."

Akemi shook his head, wrung out the washcloth and said, "You're being too hard on yourself. But there is a lesson here. Do you understand why she doesn't want to be friends with you?"

"How should I know," the young boy asked rhetorically, "I did all of those nice things for her."

"Well, she doesn't really like you." Akemi offered, finished with cleaning up Jiraiya's face.

Jiraiya experimentally let go of the bridge of his nose and was glad to see that the bleeding had stopped. Curiously, asked, "Why do you think she doesn't like me?"

"Maybe you haven't been listening to her." Akemi suggested.

"I hear just fine." Jiraiya defended, frowning.

Akemi's studied Jiraiya and scolded gently, "Senju-san told you to leave her alone. Everyone heard her. You walked right up to her as though you didn't hear a word she said."

"I heard her just fine. But she judged me before she even knew me, so she's the one with the problem in the first place. Hell, I was nice to her. None of this makes any sense. I'm not the bad guy here." Jiraiya said indignantly.

Akemi sighed and replied, "You have a lot to learn about girls." He patted Jiraiya on the shoulder and said, "Get some rest. Tomorrow we're going to have another talk about this." He left and closed the door behind him.

A nurse came in and took a look at Jiraiya's nose. She performed a basic healing jutsu on it and the swelling and the sharpest pain receded. She said, "It'll take a while longer for your nose to completely heal. I don't see any anything else broken. Take these pills to help with the pain and sleep. I'll follow up in the morning." She smiled and left the room.

Jiraiya swallowed the pill and drank some water from the cup near his bed. He looked around the room. There was nothing there to comfort him, and he felt lonely. He silently wished Tsunade were there so he could apologize; he felt like an awkward outcast and began to compare himself to other boys that he was certain that she liked. He laid his head on his pillow and, began to pity himself out loud, "Why does she hate me? What did I do to deserve this?" Afterwards, he felt better and tried to sleep. Luckily, the pain medication was beginning to work, so he drifted off.

After three or four hours, the moon shone into the room through a break in the clouds. A faint knocking sound came from the door. After a few seconds, it clicked quietly open. Tsunade walked into the room timidly. She was shocked when she saw Jiraiya's face black and blue and swollen. Guilt burned in her cheeks, but she just had to apologize to him. She went to his side and said softly, "Monogatari..." She shook him gently.

Jiraiya didn't move. He snored.

She leaned over and said in a whisper, trying her best not to wake him, "I'm so sorry for hitting you like that. I can't control my temper. I had no right to do that to you." She hesitated a little and looked at Jiraiya's sleeping form. She could hardly believe how innocent he looked while sleeping; she leaned over and gave him a light kiss on his head. She wiped her eyes and walked out quietly from his room.

On her way home, she walked through misty darkness, past street lamps and quiet walkways. She flexed her hands and then looked down at them. She boggled at them. They were not meaty hooks like a prizefighter; they were feminine and slender. So the question that came to her mind was 'What power is this?' She knew what Akemi-sensei said about chakra, but she didn't think it was normal for a girl her age to be able to have such strength. This worried her. If she weren't careful, her temper could literally kill someone, and the person she'd kill would be Jiraiya at this rate.

She entered her room and changed into her bedclothes. She sat on the edge of her bed and sighed. The scene from the hospital was bothering her. She recalled with frightening detail how she leaned over and kissed Jiraiya's head. Embarrassed and revolted, she covered her face with her pillow and hit the pillow as if to knock some sense into her. Worst of all, she felt something when she kissed his head, even if she could never admit it to herself. She pushed those feelings down deep and locked them away. She decided to think about all of the reasons she didn't like him to offset the feelings, 'He ignored me when I wanted to be alone, he lacks humility and he called me princess even when I told him I hated it. He is arrogant, selfish, insensitive…'

The exercise instilled a feeling of confidence and control. She knew a guy like Jiraiya was no good for her. She was bred from one of the top two families in the village. He, on the other hand, was a no-name shiseiji. She was sure her father wouldn't approve of a guy like that. She felt that way often about most boys. She could picture her father scolding her and telling her that she was his princess and that only the best could measure up. But… her father was gone now. The pit he left behind when he died was enormous, and her standards grew to the size of the monument she built in her mind around her feelings of love for him.

Just the thought of him brought bittersweet feelings. He had always protected her, even to the point of dying. She wanted to turn back the clock and do anything she could to stop her father's death. Too many times she had to rock her little brother to sleep or hold her mother while she cried. It wasn't something she told anyone about. She kept those jagged splinters of memories to herself and bore the pain. Too many negative thoughts and emotions overwhelmed her and she cried a little to herself. Her room was gloomy and dark, too, which didn't help. She plopped down on her bed and snuggled under the blankets. She clutched her pillow and pushed her worries out of her mind and imagined that her father was looking over her and protecting her in her sleep and that her mother was next to him, happy again.

Jiraiya woke to a sunbeam shining on his eyelids through the window. He touched his face with his fingers and winced a little. It was still bruised and achy due to the painkillers from the night before wearing off. To make matters worse, he had a pounding headache. He kept his eyes shut and pulled his blanket over his head. Nope. He didn't want to get up.

He felt a gentle shake. He flipped the blanket down a little and whined, "I'm tired...go away" He flipped the blanket back over his head.

The attending nurse pulled the edge of his blanket down again to where she could see his whole face and said, smiling, "You can sleep longer. I just want to help." She closed her eyes and held her hand over him. Blue sparkling energy trickled down from her palm and illuminated Jiraiya's bruised nose and cheeks. White smoke wafted from the wounds, revealing healed skin.

Jiraiya looked around curiously. His headache was gone. He touched his face. There wasn't a sharp shooting pain he felt before. The nurse said, "All done. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Jiraiya grumbled.

She smiled and pulled the blanket over Jiraiya's face and said, "You can go back to sleep now."

The boy closed his eyes. He started to think about Tsunade. He felt like an ass for teasing her like that. He had to apologize to her as soon as he could. Images of Tsunade punching him replayed in his mind and he began to feel his heart pound in fear. He tossed his blanket off and sat up. He said, "G-Great. Now I can't go back to sleep."

The nurse smirked and said, "Ready to leave then?"

He grabbed his clothes off of the table and complained, "Some bedside manner you have. I would rather sleep on my own bed, anyway."

She laughed and teased, "Want me to help you change?"

Jiraiya blushed and grabbed the curtain and pulled it around the bed. He said, "No."

The woman behind the curtain said with a tone in her voice that he could tell hid a smirk, "You know, I was the one that changed you into what you're wearing."

Jiraiya pulled off his hospital clothes. He pulled his pants on and straightened his robes out. After he came out, the nurse was gone. He grumbled and walked out the door.

Tsunade sat in class, having some trouble concentrating. Eventually the lessons were over and she walked up to Kirako. She said, "Kirako…about yesterday…"

Kirako noticed who it was and frowned. She slung her book bag over her shoulder and said, "I don't want to talk to you."

"Please just listen," the blonde kunoichi pleaded, looking down towards the floor, "I know I lost my temper. I shouldn't have punched Monogatari-san. But, how can you blame me? You saw how he was acting."

"Are you crazy? You put him in the hospital over a little annoyance!" Kirako exclaimed angrily. She sighed and said, "If you did that to him, what's to stop you from doing the same to me when I say something you don't like? I don't trust you. Go find someone else to be friends with." She did a seal and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Tsunade looked around awkwardly and noticed a few students were watching. They left the room, murmuring to each other indistinctly. She grabbed her books and left, feeling embarrassed.

That evening, Akemi led Jiraiya to the Hokage mansion.

Akemi walked alongside the boy and said, "Don't give me that look, Monogatari-san. Senju-chan is a member of one of the prominent families of Konoha. You should have known better than to harass her."

Jiraiya was dazed and confused as to why Tsunade filed harassment charges against him. It was a literal case of insult to injury. He was so miserable and angry with himself about having blown his chances with Tsunade in such a spectacular way, and for the injustice of being the one injured yet being punished.

Every footstep to the mansion was heavy, slow and deliberate, as though he had forgotten how to walk and had to direct his body's every move. Fighting back the urge to cry, he turned to Akemi and choked out, "I don't care anymore. Just do what you have to."

The Hokage mansion was a tall cylindrical shaped building, probably used by one of the founding families as a home before the Hokages used it. There was a huge mountain behind it with a sheer rock face and graven images of past Hokages carved into it. The entrance to the building was made from sturdy wood and had a stairway that led to the second floor where the Hokage's office was. Everything from the rugs to the lamps was tasteful and elegant.

Akemi and Jiraiya went inside to the second floor and knocked on the door to the Hokage's office. The air had a musty smell like a library, which made it seem even more official and therefore consequential to those who were there for the wrong reasons. The boy was scared. He had been in trouble before, but never was brought in front of the actual Hokage before. The door opened, and they both went in.

Akemi bowed formally to the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen who was adorned in white robes and a ceremonial hood.

"So is this is our troublemaker, Jukei-san?" Hiruzen asked, pressing his fingertips together several times. He was a trim, shrewd man in his forties with a small goatee on his chin. His brown hair was fashionably spiky in the back. He dropped the smile and studied Akemi's expressions, waiting patiently for an answer.

"Hai." Akemi replied in respectful tones. He gestured towards Jiraiya and said, "This is Monogatari Jiraiya. He is the one Senju-chan filed the harassment complaint about."

Jiraiya growled, "I wish you would stop saying that. I didn't harass her. I called her a princess. How is that a crime?"

Hiruzen sat back in his chair and said drolly, "And then she hit you afterwards, right?"

Jiraiya winced at the memory and then answered, "Hai."

Sandaime Hokage smiled and tapped his fingers together. "In her complaint, she says she asked you to leave her alone several times, but you didn't. Is this true?"

"She knows I like to joke around. She should have understood that." The boy argued unconvincingly.

Hiruzen shook his head. "I don't feel like you're taking this seriously." He shuffled some papers until he found a file. He pulled a sheet of paper out of it, tapped the document and commanded, "Go ahead. Read it."

Jiraiya accepted it. He looked up at the Hokage and back to the document. He opened it gingerly and flipped through some pages. Tsunade appeared to have spent hours writing her complaint. His heart sunk. He looked down at the highly polished wooden desk and sighed, "I can't believe she wrote all this about me. I thought we were friends."

"I'm under a lot of pressure from the Senju clan to deal with this, Monogatari-san. I can't just let you off with a warning, either. We take harassment seriously."

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked suspiciously.

"I'm going to have to punish you."

"What are you going to do?"

"I think cleaning up the male side of the public baths for the next three weeks is a good punishment."

Jiraiya gagged a little in his mouth and gasped, "You wouldn't!"

"Yes, I will. I'll be watching you closer from now on. You better do a good job, too, or else I'll think of something even worse."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Jiraiya said, bowing and leaving, burning with anger and disappointment. It was all he could do to resist the temptation to slam the door behind him. "I-I don't need her anyway." He said, trying to push down the hurt. He spoke to the floor, "Why doesn't she like me? I won't…" he held back from the pain in his heart. He sniffed then cried pitifully, "…I won't bother her anymore, if that is what she wants."