In a moment of adrenaline-fuelled panic, Fukasaku makes a split second decision that wrests our favourite toad sage from the cold grasp of death!

AN: This one's a little angsty, but it should be the last one like that. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant Continues by ShadowedNara

XxX

Chapter 0.5

Back from the Brink

"What appears to be the end, may really be a new beginning."

—Anonymous

The torrential downpour of rain cascaded relentlessly down along the glass of the hospital windows, the dim light from outside softly filtering into the room. The sky was littered with dark grey storm clouds, storm clouds that hadn't ceased in the past few days. And although the tapping of rain drops thudded dully off the window, the only sound currently filling the room was that of a painfully slow heart-rate monitor.

Tsunade felt the state of the weather mildly appropriate, considering the state of her white-haired teammate who was laid up in the hospital bed beside her. He was covered in bandages from head to toe, and he had a thick cast wrapped around his neck. There was also the noticeable absence of his left arm, though under the blankets it was impossible to pick up on.

The blonde haired woman adjusted her position in the chair she was sitting in, though she didn't let go of Jiraiya's right hand that was still gently grasped within her own. She hadn't moved from his bedside since he'd been brought back to Konoha on the brink of death, her medical skills being pushed to the absolute limit as the life of Jiraiya rested on her shoulders. "You stupid idiot..."

It had been touch and go. He had already lost so much blood upon his arrival, and things were looking worse than dire during the operation. There had been a moment where she'd honestly thought they might lose him. Such a thing would have devastated her, even more so due to the fact that it was by her hand that he wouldn't have made it.

But she refused to lose one of the last remaining precious people she still had in this life, one of the last remaining people she still cared so deeply for. "Or maybe I'm the stupid idiot."

A part of her was slightly angry with herself. Angry that it had taken the near loss of Jiraiya for her to finally come to terms with how she truly felt about her white-haired teammate. She'd loved him for far longer than she knew, far longer than she was willing to admit. After all her hardships, all the death she'd had to experience, keeping people at arm's length was something she'd done to protect herself from further possible heart ache.

Though now she knew that life was too short and fleeting to think like that. She wasn't going to push people away anymore. She'd make sure to hold onto them and never let them go for as long as she was still able to draw breath.

Tsunade stood staring out at the storm that was raging outside the village, her arms folded guardedly across her chest. She had a sombre expression on her face, and her loyal and faithful student Shizune seemed to sense her master's weariness. "Don't worry Lady Tsunade, I'm sure he'll be back in no time."

Tsunade didn't say anything for a moment as they stood in silence, only the pitter-patter of the rain filling the quiet atmosphere. "That idiot isn't coming back. And if he is... well, it'll be in a body bag."

Shizune's eyes widened at her master's words, Tsunade glancing back at the raven-haired girl with a watery smile. "At least, that's what he made me bet him before he left. Cause you know, I always lose my bets."

Tsunade sighed wistfully at the memory. She'd almost lost something a lot more important to her than a silly bet, and she'd never take it for granted again, repeating the words in her mind that she'd uttered to herself after Jiraiya had left. 'If you make it back here, you won't have to put up a tough front for my rejection any more you damned pervert.'

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The dull sound of a steady beeping noise gently filled Jiraiya's ears as he slowly found himself waking up, his senses rebooting painfully slow one after the other. His eyes were next, and he gingerly peeled open his sleep-covered eyelids, the dim light of the room going easy on his still-adjusting vision.

He found himself staring through a blurry haze at a white ceiling. If the earlier beeping hadn't given it away yet, he had no doubts now that he was lying in a hospital bed. He would have sighed, had tried to actually, but that's when he became acutely aware of the pipe that was fastened to his mouth and likely being fed down his throat. 'Oh right... crushed throat. No way I'll ever forget that.'

The white-haired Sannin blinked a few more times, his blurry gaze gradually clearing up. Once it did though, he realised he couldn't move much at all aside from a slight tilt of his head. His entire body from his neck down was deathly numb, and he wondered briefly if he was just a head. The thought simultaneously terrified and amused him, but he quickly cut that line of thinking when he felt something warm.

Jiraiya closed his eyes and tried to focus as closely as he could on that feeling, and that's when he felt it again, the sensation barely registering through the numbness of his body. A firm yet gentle squeezing of his right hand drew his attention, and he gingerly tilted his head as much as he could, his eyes sweeping over a head of familiar blonde hair, two pigtails lying splayed over his bed sheets.

The soft sound of her even breaths made him aware of the fact she was sleeping, though that didn't affect her grip one bit. Jiraiya's heart swelled at the sight, though he didn't get much time to contemplate it as a sudden wave of drowsiness overtook him. His eye lids were succumbing to gravity's pull, and his world slowly faded to black once more. 'It's good to see you again... Tsunade...'

XxX

Jiraiya once again found himself waking up to the dull beeping of the machine he seemed to be hooked up to, its steady noises filling the air to the rhythmic beating of his heart. 'Beating of my heart… I guess Boss somehow managed to save me.' He was quickly getting tired of the sound though, but he found that his body was still quite stiff and numb from his grievous injuries and whatever medication he was currently on.

He gently tilted his head up a little and glanced around the room, finding it empty apart from himself. He furrowed his brows curiously as he vaguely recalled a pair of blonde pig tails spread over his blanket, and a vice-like grip on his hand that was surprisingly gentle. He quickly banished those thoughts though as he once again turned to stare up at the ceiling. 'Who am I kidding…? Tsunade has better things to do than worry about an old pervert like me.'

He continued staring up at the white ceiling, lost in his thoughts and trying to recall all that had transpired during his battle with Pain. He wasn't left to dwell long though before the door to his room opened, and the all too familiar form of his blonde haired teammate came into view. She wasn't looking at him as she entered, her gaze focused on opening the door. It gave Jiraiya a good opportunity to eye her from head to toe, and he frowned at what he saw.

She was carrying herself in a lacklustre manner, her posture a little hunched in what he could assume had to be weariness. Her usually confident eyes were glassy, coloured a dishevelling tone of red, a clear sign of crying. There were also noticeable dark bags beneath her eyes, so it seemed that to top it all off, she hadn't been getting any sleep either.

It broke Jiraiya's heart to see her in such a state, a pitiful contrast to the beauty and confidence she usually exuded. Getting caught up in his saddening thoughts, he hastily tried calling out to her, forgetting that his throat was still very much damaged, the lack of tubing running down his throat convincing him of such. Scorching hot pain erupted within his throat, and his eyes began to water as he coughed out in agony.

Tsunade was quick to hear him and whipped around at the sound, shutting the door and desperately rushing over to the right side of the bed where she'd been spending her nights over the past week. "Jiraiya!"

Her wide eyes immediately scanned his body, and upon noticing his right hand attempting to reach for his throbbing throat, quickly deduced the cause of his pain. Her hands were instantly bathed in a glowing green aura of healing chakra, and she diligently went about tending to his obvious pain, letting out a relieved sigh when he yielded in his soft wheezes.

Her eyes were wide once again after the initial shock of him being in pain wore off, and she reached a shaky hand down towards his sole remaining one. Slowly and gingerly she turned it palm up, tracing the aging lines of his hands with a gentleness Jiraiya had never experienced from her before. His own eyes were fixed upon her soft ministrations, and a blissful feeling of warmth spread throughout his body as she tenderly grabbed his hand with her own.

He tore his eyes away from their hands and drew them towards her face, and his breath hitched in his throat as he eyed the tears freely flowing from her beautiful amber eyes. 'Why… could she possibly be crying for me?' The thought simultaneously filled him with joy and wretched at his heart. He wanted to be the last reason to make her cry. 'Please Tsunade, don't waste your tears on someone like me…'

With a gentle squeeze of his hand, he slowly removed it from beneath hers and shakily brought it up to her face, running the pad of his thumb across her cheek to rid her tears. Tsunade closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, bringing her other hand up to her face and enclosing it around his. Jiraiya wished more than anything that he could just speak to her, to ease her of her worries and reassure her that everything was going to be all right. Not for the first time he cursed his failure to defeat Pain, leading him to this point in time.

They stayed like that for a little while longer before she brushed her lips on the back of his hand, looking into his soft eyes with relief. "I-I'm sorry Jiraiya. I'm so sorry."

Jiraiya's eyes widened at her words, and a sorrowful frown creased his face. He couldn't even begin to comprehend what she was apologising to him for. He was the one that had caused her all this pain, all this agony. If anything, he should be the one apologising to her. 'You have nothing to be sorry for,' he thought while shaking his head at her. He hoped that she could get the gist of what he was trying to convey.

Tsunade continued brushing the back of his hand with her thumb, shaking her head before flashing a watery smile at him, her eyes shining with happiness. "Oh don't give me that look you old pervert. You don't need to be gallant for me." She pushed her lips to the back of his hand once more before staring at him with a guilt-stricken gaze. "The way I treated you all these years… I was so sound in the knowledge that you'd never leave me, that I took you for granted. You were always so brave and so fearless, and I deluded myself into thinking that you'd live forever."

A small sob escaped her throat, and before Jiraiya could move to comfort her, she flashed him a relieved smile. "But I'm not making that mistake twice. I'm not letting you leave me again. Not if I have anything to say about it."

Jiraiya looked up at her with a spark of happiness in his eyes that Tsunade had never seen before. He honestly couldn't really believe everything that he'd just heard, and he was wondering to himself if this just wasn't some kind of extremely lucid dream. He sincerely hoped not. Tsunade – his first and last love Tsunade, finally seemed to be coming around after all these years, and Jiraiya honestly felt like he could take on the world.

Tsunade took in his joyed expression and slowly bent down over him, stopping just before his face, his warm breath tickling her nose. She revelled in the way her heart rate seemed to sky rocket from their proximity, and although she'd been this close to him before, closer in certain instances, it had never been under circumstances such as these. Cursing her sudden lack of iron-clad nerves, she placed a small chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth before pulling back up a little.

She took in the widening of his eyes, that same spark she'd never had the pleasure of seeing too often back in full force, and her heart swelled with happiness, glad that she could finally give him the adoration that he deserved. She placed a hand over his forehead, leaning into his hand as he once again brought it up to her face and cupped it gently. "Don't worry Jiraiya, I'm not going anywhere. So rest for now…"

Her hand on his forehead quickly glowed a soft green as healing chakra once again enveloped it, before his hand slowly fell back down to the bed. She watched him as his chest rose and fell in a gentle rhythm, and once again rejoiced in the fact that he wasn't going anywhere. "And neither am I."

AN: So yeah, that's chapter 2. My exams were pushed back a week so I had a little spare time, but that means that I won't be back behind my pc until early December instead, so it has its share of pros and cons. Any ways, like I said, this chapter was a little angsty, but I didn't see any other way of writing this chapter without making it as such, and I really wanted to have this in here.

I've decided that I will try my best to turn this into a story, and I'm starting to plan what will be happening, but that's slow going while I have to study for exams, so please be patient with me. Let me know what you think! Cheers for now.

ShadowedNara