A loud clash of thunder boomed throughout the village, and a few seconds after the massive noise, giant flashes of lightning lit up the sky. The flash was accompanied by large amounts of rain that could be heard beating the ground. The raucous pattering of the droplets was extremely vexing. The hokage had become very abhorrent of thunderstorms. Not only (as she had recently discovered) were thunderstorms galling, there had also been an abundance of storms ever since Jiraiya left—there was a storm the night of his departure, and they continued every week after that. Tsunade had become aware of them as she stayed faithfully perched for days at her window, constantly searching for any sign of him. After Lord Fukasaku had alerted everyone of her friend`s death, the storms were less frequent, though they still appeared.
She sighed to herself, thinking of how many people she loved had passed-first Nawaki, then Dan, and now, Jiraiya. She had no one left. No, that wasn`t true. She had Shizune and Sakura-they were both close to her. But of course, they had no idea what she was going through. Sakura was distracted by Sasuke`s return. After Tsunade awoke from her coma, Shizune had assisted her and would sometimes try and cheer her up, but every time Jiraiya`s name arose, when she saw the pain that Tsunade was in, she just quit her effort.
"I`m sorry, Jiraiya," She whispered; she`d said the phrase often, though every time it was uttered it felt so foreign—she could still barely believe he was dead. Yet some part of her knew it was true.
She glanced outside the window, once again; the rain had nearly stopped, and she decided that she would go and visit Jiraiya`s grave. It was torture, really, but she felt that she deserved the feeling of misery to haunt her forever. She slowly arose from her desk, and walked steadily towards the door. Her hands shook as she opened it. She passed Shizune in the hallway, and, sensing her conspicuous distress, offered her a smile, though it was insincere.
The walk to the cemetery was long, though she walked at a slow pace. When she arrived, she went to his grave and sat in front of it.
Jiraiya
1956-2009
She couldn`t read the rest, for her eyes were clouded with tears. "You were an idiot, Jiraiya, rushing into danger like that." She chuckled, darkly. "But I guess I was stupid, too." She traced his name, gently—she was crying hard, now. "Yep, we`re just a bunch of idiots. A bunch of damned fools, you and I," She muttered through sobs.
Suddenly, she heard a strange noise. She looked up, and hoped that no one would catch her in such a weak state. Thankfully all she saw was a small toad. She knew better than to hope that it was a message from Jiraiya—it had been too long for hopefulness, especially after she was even told of Jiraiya`s death. Because of this, she could barely believe her eyes when the toad started to rapidly increase in size. "What in the hell--?!" She thought, as it`s mouth opened wider than her size, and a blood-soaked hand immerged from inside of it.
A/N: I really wanted to write a Tsunade and Jiraiya story, and this was the outcome. I might not be able to update this for a while, but I`ll try to do the next chapter, soon...