Just tell the nurse, you slipped and fell
It starts to sting as it starts to swell
She looks at you, she wants the truth
It's right out there in the waiting room
With those hands
Lookin just as sweet as he can
Never Again

- Never Again, Nickleback

"You know he's standing out there trying to hear this."

Tsunade didn't bother to look up from the scrolls she was absently working her way through. "Let him. He won't hear anything worthwhile."

"If I may say so," Kakashi spoke, "you should at least tell him that--"

"I have already done what I can and made my report." Tsunade's eyes flickered up to meet Kakashi's. "And there have been no official questions to my authority, now have there?"

"That doesn't stop people from speculating." Kakashi tilted his head to one side. "After almost two years, you'd think that you'd change his status at least to KIA."

"You would think that, wouldn't you." Tsunade returned her attention to the scroll, effectively ending the conversation before it could begin again. Kakashi withheld a sigh and began to leave the office, pausing only when Tsunade called after him, "Tell Sasuke that loitering outside my office is not only impolite, but a fire hazard."

"Yes, ma'am." Kakashi gave a flourishing bow and stepped out of the office. He had hardly closed the door behind him when he noticed the lanky man lounging in one of the plush waiting chairs. An air of nonchalance hung about him, as though he were not attempting to eavesdrop on the Hokage's private conversations.

"You heard the lady, Sasuke," Kakashi told the man. "You're being a fire hazard."

Sauke looked up, gracefully quirking an eyebrow. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm out of the way, aren't I?"

"Not enough for Tsunade-sama." Kakashi watched as Sasuke pulled himself to his feel with all the liquid grace of a cat. His black pants made no sound as he stalked by the elder ninja and the wide-necked white shirt, emblazoned on the back with the familiar Uchiha crest, drooped off his shoulder, revealing a large scar as though his entire shoulder had been brunt near-completely off.

"She should be used to me by now."

Kakashi caught up to the man in two strides, falling in-step with him as they made their way out of the Hokage Tower. "It doesn't matter how long you sit outside her office, she won't tell you anything."

Sasuke's hand clenched, but that was the only sign of his outrage. "And yet she would tell that idiot anything his little heart desired."

"She doesn't want you going off on some holy crusade to bring him back." Kakashi watched Sasuke out of the corner of his eye. "You shouldn't take this so personally, you know."

"And why not?" Sasuke reached up to absently touch his shoulder, knowing that the black fire would never appear again. "It was my fault completely that he left, why shouldn't I be allowed to beg his forgiveness?"

Kakashi shook his head. "I don't know how you got that notion into your head, but you should just drop it." He turned to look at Sasuke with complete seriousness in his eye. "Naruto left. That's all anyone knows."

Sasuke glared at Kakashi, eyes flashing a deep crimson. Silence befell the two men, tension filling the air so thick it was almost impossible to breathe. Kakashi kept his arms crossed over his chest, and Sasuke kept his arms lingering at his sides, though both knew that the other would be quick enough to strike even from the facade of relaxation that had cast its spell over them.

Tense minutes passed by, feeling like hours but as fleeting as seconds, before Sasuke turned away. He growled to himself in anger and hissed, "You're wrong, Kakashi."

Before anything more could be said, not that there would be, Sasuke had vanished in a puff of smoke.

Tsunade stretched backwards in her chair, throwing her arms above her head and wiggling her fingers to make sure blood still circulated in them. She gave a little squeal of a yawn, trying to breathe at the same time trying to stifle it in case anyone decided it was time for her to retire for the day. Sunset cast light though her window, staining her office a deep golden orange. The lamps had not been turned on yet, for Tsunade was fond of the color flooding the room.

Outside her office, she could hear the footfalls of Shizune, possibly coming to inform her of the time and ask whether or not she was going to go home. Tsunade looked mournfully at her desk, where a stack of scrolls still waited for her approval.

'I shouldn't have taken this job,' she thought to herself, not for the first time.

With a pouting sigh, she reached for the stack, taking off the top-most scroll. As she was about to unfurl it, she blinked at the flash of white she suddenly saw hidden between a pair of scrolls.

"What's this?" She reached out with a delicate-looking hand and pulled out a pearly white envelope, her full name written in rick black ink. The first scroll she had grabbed dropped and her face paled. "Did they really...?"

She flipped open the envelope, shattering the hauntingly familiar red wax seal, and drew out the thick paper, reading the words penned in the same expensive ink she knew so well.

"Dearest Cousin Tsunade,

"It is my deepest regret that I have been unable to contact you in so long. Since you did not leave us an address when you left, it is only through the ingenious way of messenger hawk that I am able to get this to you.

"Mother and Father are still waiting for you to come back, indeed your room is still being prepared for you just as you liked it. Katherine also wishes to see you again, for I myself am unable to practice lifting the piano with her as I have been accepted into the glorious military branch here.

"In regards to the message your hawk left, I must say I have indeed come across a boy such as the one you described. He arrived here not more than two years ago and is in the very best of health now.

"Even if you wish not to visit the home that took you in when you were lost, I shall be glad to assist you in the retrieval of the young boy named Naruto.

"Sincerest regards,

"Major Alex Louis "Strong Arm" Armstrong."

This is actually going quicker than I thought it would. I didn't think I'd have this chapter up for months. But anyway, I don't own Naruto nor FMA, so, till next time!