Wide open
A/N After my last one shot about Anko, another character I like but that isn't really fleshed out particularly has her entrance.
Summary: Somewhere between Anyplace and Nowhere exactly, Shizune has an epiphany. OneShot.
Warning: Ummm... None, I guess...
Set: After Naruto meets Tsunade and they return to Hidden Leaf.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Naruto-related except these oneshots.
It hits Shizune like one of Tsunade-sensei's forceful attempts to teach her taijutsu.
Somewhere between Anyplace and Nowhere exactly, realization strikes the young kunoichi, makes her catch her breath and stop abruptly in her tracks. She can't remember the name of the last village they have passed, though she knows she should, and she doesn't know when her teacher has started to quicken her pace. Shizune stands there, somewhere, on a dirty, hot road, and her eyes burn from the dust and sweat that cover her brow. Her bag's not heavier than it used to be: She carries some change of clothes, her small toilet bag, her medical supplies, a few spare kunai and some scrolls. Their weight is comforting, at least something that doesn't change constantly.
There's a difference between loyalty and blind loyalty.
Shizune had always believed what made her follow the blonde sannin was loyalty. Not blindness, not over-reliance, not over-protectiveness. She herself had chosen to give up her life in Hidden Leafs, partly in memory of her mother's brother, partly because Tsunade-sama was the best teacher, partly because she knew there had to be at least someone with her because if there wasn't, she would break. Tsunade-sama, the strong, brilliant woman, would simply break.
Who defines the borders?
If she had wanted to protect her teacher, that meant she didn't trust her enough to take care of herself. If she had wanted to simply learn more, that meant she wasn't loyal at all, she was just taking advantage of her. If she had followed because her uncle had loved Tsunade – that would indicate loyalty, but not towards Tsunade-sensei but towards her uncle.
It isn't that easy.
She remembers the day they left Konoha. Tsunade-sensei was setting a fast pace, as if there was a place she had to be even though both of them knew there wasn't. She remembers the days they have travelled, almost not talking at all, just watching their surroundings and putting as much distance between themselves and Hidden Leaf. Shizune remembers the days her teacher spent in bars and backrooms and gambling halls and the nights when she had to almost carry her back to the shabby hotel room they probably couldn't even afford. Yes, she remembers very well – and she remembers the single tear running down the woman's face when she dreams.
Shizune's not a genius like Kakashi-san. She'll never be as skilled as Tsunade-sensei or as strong as Jiraiya-Sama and she'll probably die young, because that's the fate of average kunoichi. But standing there, on that dusty, dirty road, watching her teacher's back, seeing Jiraiya-san grinning and Naruto laughing and the landscape slowly forming into the high, thick trees and the dark, shady forest of her childhood, she suddenly knows one thing for sure with a dead certainty.
She would follow this woman to the end of the world.
Not because she's a sannin, or because she's a great medical nin, or because she was her uncle's fiancée, or because she's strong. No, Shizune simply loves her sensei. The way a daughter loves her mother, the way a mother loves her child. She has given up everything for her, and she would do it again, she would follow her anywhere, protect her, learn from her, just be with her. And now, while soft, welcoming shadows fall on them, she loves her even more.
Because Tsunade-sensei has decided to go back.
To go home.
They are – finally – returning to the place they belong.
The great gates of Hidden Leaf welcome them with their wings wide open.