Culmination
This story takes place several months after Blood and Crystals.
Chapter 1—Retreat
Tsunade staggered and fell, trying to get to Orochimaru. Intense heat shimmered in the air all around them, but Orochimaru saw her form the seals for a jutsu even as she was struggling to her knees. He ran to her side and knelt so she could reach him. The crystal necklace was clutched in her hand and she pressed it firmly to Orochimaru's chest. Her chakra flowed into him and with this borrowed strength he was able to pull Tsunade close and sink into the ground with her until they had both disappeared.
[X]
The forest floor seemed to ripple as Orochimaru rose up among the roots, pulling Tsunade along with him. He let her go and staggered forward a few steps, but Tsunade didn't even make it that far. She dropped to the ground almost immediately, one hand still grasping the crystal and the other clutching at a kunai protruding from her thigh. She held her breath and pulled it out before glancing up at Orochimaru. He was facing away from her, trying to catch his breath. His back was covered in blood.
"Take off your shirt," Tsunade panted as she tried to quell the heavy flow of fresh blood down her leg. Orochimaru did as she said, trying to ignore the pain each movement caused as he dropped the heavy purple belt onto the ground and removed both of his shirts. When he turned back to her, he was alarmed to see that she was now lying in the leaves, her eyes squeezed shut against the pain as she continued to heal her leg.
"Tsunade…" He sat beside her and reached for her but she shook her head.
"I'm all right. I just… lost a lot of blood…" She finished closing the wound and dragged herself upright again so that she was sitting behind Orochimaru. After slipping the crystal necklace back around her neck, she swept his hair carefully over his shoulder and laid her hands on his back. A deep gash reached from his left shoulder almost down to his right hip and as she began to heal it she became more acutely aware of Orochimaru's labored breathing.
"I'm sorry; I don't have anything for the pain," she said. Orochimaru shook his head but did not speak. He couldn't seem to catch his breath.
As Tsunade moved her hands down along the cut, she noticed the first signs of deep bruising over Orochimaru's ribs. She quickly finished closing the wound and carefully pressed her fingertips to his side. Immediately he tensed, unable to completely hide the pain her touch had caused.
"Your ribs are broken," she murmured. "I need you to lay back." She helped ease him onto the ground and, as she did, she noticed more cuts along his arms. They weren't bleeding badly so she ignored them, more concerned with his other injuries.
"Tsunade…" Orochimaru gasped, voice faint. "I can't… breathe…"
Tsunade felt a shock of adrenaline run through her but she kept her focus, moving her hands over his chest to try to determine what was wrong.
Here, she thought. His lung's been punctured by a piece of bone… She pressed her hands down on his side as gently as she could and attempted to mend the hole, but the bone was in the way and a strangled sound escaped from Orochimaru's throat as the lung began to heal around the obstruction.
"Dammit," Tsunade muttered. She pulled back immediately and stared down at Orochimaru. He was fighting for breath but his efforts were growing weaker as the lack of oxygen clouded his head.
He doesn't have enough chakra for the body shedding technique, Tsunade thought. There's only one thing I can do. She reached for the kunai she had pulled from her leg and spun it once by the loop on its handle. "Not good enough," she muttered. Her hold on it was unsteady. She needed precision now.
Setting the blade aside briefly, Tsunade took a few seconds to heal the deep cut in her right shoulder. Then she took up the kunai again and tested her hold on it once more before pressing the point to Orochimaru's side. Very carefully she pierced his skin, making a cut just above his broken ribs. Blood poured onto the ground as she worked to move the broken bone and close the hole it had made.
It wasn't long before Orochimaru passed out from the pain and blood loss. Tsunade gradually continued to heal him, working from the inside out as she mended what she could of his ribs and healed the blood vessels she had cut before finally closing the wound.
When she had finished, Tsunade let herself drop into the leaves again next to Orochimaru, too exhausted from her own injuries to do anything more for either of them. Her eyes closed and she let them, consciousness slipping quietly away from her.