OK guys! The summer is sadly coming to an end. I hope there are people who look forward to start at school or go back to work again. Maybe some of you are starting in middle school, high school, college or university?
This chapter has a somewhat unusual pairing that I quite like. Please give a great round of applause for Shizune!
Suiyobi.
"Kaaaaami! This has REALLY been a long day!" exclaimed the woman while she stretched her body. She had just finished her shift for the day and it was time to get back home. 'I better get home so I can make some food. Today is a special day after all' thought Shizune with a smile. Even though her calendar showed that it was in the middle of the week, there was a good reason to celebrate. It was exactly 14 years ago since she got married to her husband! 'I better remember to stop at the grocery shop to pick up some pumpkin. I think we ran out of it last weekend' remembered the female. She put on her light green kimono after she had taken off her cobalt blue scrubs. Even though the medic loved her job, it could be a bit tiresome when she had to work long hours. Thank Kami that Tsunade had the head medic position at the hospital. Another bonus to her old sensei being the boss was the number of shinobis that had been attracted to the medic field. They now had more herbalists, vets, nurses, medic shinobis plus scientists than prior to the shinobi war.
She went towards the mirror to check that her appearance was not too bad. A smile formed at her face when she saw her reflection. There were not too many wrinkles at her face plus that her hair was still closer to black than gray. 'Looks like I'm going to approach 50 without going paranoid like Tsunade-sama. Looks like taking care of your body pays off' concluded the woman with a grin. She brushed her hair a little in order to get the worst knots out of her hair. Since the charcoal-haired female worked at a hospital, makeup was not really on the priority list. Most of her patients looked a lot worse than her plus that her husband told her she was pretty the way she was. 'Got to hand it to Genma…he has a number of good compliments up his sleeves' mused the female as she took off her shoes. She could not believe how lucky she was to be married to someone who was a best friend who loved her. The two of them had met at the Academy for a little more than forty years ago when they were in the same class. Neither of them were geniuses like Kakashi or very social like Asuma. The medic had been a bit on the unsocial side due to her love of books and academics. She was basically a bit of a nerd who was slightly awkward in social things. Genma however simply found some of the people in his class a bit too loud or neurotic sometimes. But perhaps that was what made them such a good couple.
A cool breeze grazed her skin as she exited the hospital a couple minutes later. Some civilians were seen in the street plus a couple of ANBU's who were on guard duty. Ever since the war that occurred 17 years ago, Tsunade had insisted on having both civilian plus uniformed agents on the street most of the day. All of those who were 16 years old or above were able to apply for proper training if they wished. The younger shinobis however were allowed to attend a course to learn the basics. This turned out to be a success since the number of crimes shrank quite a lot. It also increased the success rate on missions taken by Genins, especially those concerning minor crimes. A smile formed at the woman's face as she walked down the street. Passing on knowledge plus using it in relevant situations seemed to be a never ending circle that would keep on going forever. Tsunade had been taught medical jutsus that she had developed from her master. She had then taken in her as her student after Dan had passed away. Then, Sakura had been taken under the older woman's wing to learn medical jutsus.
'It's strange that Sakura is one of the executives in her department now with her own students. Seems like it was yesterday she was this slightly awkward 13-year old girl who was just getting a grasp on how to heal wounds on a fish' recalled Shizune. She then entered the large supermarket where she would get what she needed for her pumpkin dish. The store was somewhat big with bright lights that made her eyes hurt slightly. All of the groceries were neatly stacked up in different shelves all across the shop. Her nose picked up a faint smell of lemon paired with chemicals. 'It seems like they have just washed the floors and the shelves. One more reason why this is a good place to shop' thought the female. She liked this supermarket since they had a great selection of food with somewhat low prices. As a medic, she was disgusted by filthy public areas. Some of the bathrooms she had seen on her travels with her master had left such a bad impression that it still sent shivers down her spine.
The charcoal haired woman then walked further into the shop while trying to remember what else she needed for her pumpkin soup. 'I should buy a couple of onions. Some garlic would probably be nice too. We already have red peppers as well as broccoli' remembered the woman as she turned a corner. She did not really mind cooking the food once in a while after all the travels with the older female. The fact that the younger medic was nearly obsessed with healthy cooking only added fuel to this. Genma did not complain either since his health had improved a bit after moving in with her. Not that he wasn't unhealthy already…many were surprised when he said how old he was. The male could easily pass for being five to eight years younger despite that his hair had started to gray. 'I hope we can stay together when we're old as well. I feel sorry for Tsunade-sama who lost her boyfriend at such a young age' thought the female as she walked towards the vegetable aisle.
She felt a slightly sad look form at her face when she remembered how sad the older woman had been when she told her about her lover. Dan had died when he was in his twenties and the skilled medic had blamed herself for not being able to save him. This had resulted in years of feeling guilty plus a strong phobia of blood. Shizune bit her lip when she remembered how sad the blonde had looked during the funeral…the look in her eyes was unforgettable. 'Get it off now Shizune. You have a dinner to make' remembered the woman as she shook her head. She scanned the vegetables to see if she found the pumpkin she looked for. 'AHA!' thought the medic when she saw a pumpkin on the size of a soccer ball not too far away. The female laid the pumpkin in the basket moments later with a smile at her face. She then spotted a sign that hung just ten feet in front of her. 'Onions: -30% discount. Challenge yourself this week!' stated the sign. 'Ooooh! The onions are on sale this week! What a great timing' thought the woman with a huge smile. She went over to the onion boxes and tried to find some decent-looking vegetables. That took a little while because many had apparently taken the best ones. 'I guess these would do since none of us are huge fans of onions. What else do I need for the soup? I should probably buy some leek as well as some garlic. I know Genma likes leek' recalled Shizune. She headed for the other side of the vegetable aisle to find the leek. The shop had apparently just gotten in a fresh batch of them judging from how strong the colour was. Brightly coloured vegetables with an even texture meant they were fresh, so the female bought a couple. But her luck came to an end when she went over to the basket where the garlics laid. There were no garlics left there apart from some that looked a bit bumpy.
'I got the ingredients now, so I better find some spices. But what sort of spices could be combined with pumpkin? My main ingredient is already sweet enough on its own. Perhaps I can use some thyme or basils to make the soup a bit tastier. I already have some salt and pepper back at the house' remembered the medic. She went straight towards the spice section with a good grip on her basket. This couldn't be regarded as a safe place despite that it was a supermarket. Her nearly forty years as a shinobi had thought her that in more ways than one. Especially since she had traveled so much together with the Sannin after passing her Jounin exam. Onyx eyes studied the area around the spice aisles. The only customers there were two elderly people who were with their grandchild. A smile formed at her face…the new generations were surely going to grow up strong in this new village.
Konoha was in a recovery stage after the war. She remembered how her home village looked like when the shinobis returned from the conflict. Many of the important buildings such as the Hokage tower as well as the hospital were nearly up and going. But the civilians were mainly living in somewhat temporary homes. To cap it all, the landscape of the village itself had changed thanks to what Pein had done. This made it harder for the building crew to restore the village to its former state. Many of the shinobis were given different awards for their effort and were treated like heroes. Shizune and several of the other medics got the 'golden healer' medals. Tsunade received a platinum award since her extensive knowledge had been a tremendous help in the fight against Madara Uchiha. But the very next day, the female had gathered all the shinobis for an important announcement.
"There is no time to rest! What we need to do is to restore our village to what it used to be! Konohagakure no Sato is our home, which we have to restore even if it takes just as much effort as the war did. I want all shinobis who are able to work to sign up for work as soon as possible. To the medics…make sure the wounded ones get a proper recovery. Let's get to work!" had the older woman shouted to all of her shinobis. Cheers had erupted and the spirits ran high. It was safe to say that the will of fire had been ignited in all the shinobis if one looked at the activity for the next couple of months. Many of the Nara clan members plus some senior carpenters were able to create improved building plans for new houses. Several shinobis that were skilled in taijutsu like Rock Lee or Maito Gai donated their muscle power to the construction. Thanks to them, the buildings were restored in a fraction of time. Shinobis that were skilled in raiton jutsus such as Kakashi however were a great help in terms of constructing new electric networks.
Sai had joined up with the Inuzuka clan in order to carry things across the city. Even the hospitalized patients were doing great. Tsunade had cooperated with Iruka to develop a pre-medic program at the Academy. It was a program that allowed non-medic shinobis to learn basic medic knowledge plus other useful methods. Students with the chakra control required for medic ninjutsus could start their training right after graduating. It had proved out to be a success because more shinobis were now recruited as trainees. In addition to this, the new knowledge meant that non-medics could treat themselves or their teammates better. But the high number of students had resulted in quite a lot of work for the charcoal-haired woman. She had to assist in the remake of the teaching plan due to the extensive research that had been conducted. This was where Genma entered the scene. He was after all a Jounin who were often on missions that involved teamwork or highly demanding in knowledge. The woman had lost the count of how many days or weeks they had spent on making outlines for courses or classes with the others. It could be really stressful sometimes; it had been times where she had wanted to scream or hammer her fists on the nearest door or wall. Or even both if it had been a particular hard day.
It was after a couple of weeks where he had started to show some subtle hints of affection towards her. The man made sure to bring some brown rice with him if it was going to be a long day. He often asked her about her opinion about things as well as taking them into consideration. Sometimes, the shinobi even listened to her more than the others. Shizune had initially thought it was because the Jounin did not know much about the topic they were discussing. But a part of her knew it was false because he was a rather clever shinobi. Another thing the female noticed was the subtle things he did to make her comfortable. The male often let her sit close to the heater since she hated to freeze for example. At this stage, the medic was a bit unsure of what to do. She had never been in a long relationship due to her extensive traveling with the older woman. The woman decided to do some thinking in order to decide what to do. On the positive side, Genma was someone she had known for a long time. Another plus was that he had been in a similar profession just as long as she had.
But the downside was the death risk. Tsunade and Kurenai had both experienced this at a young age. Was this really something that the medic was willing to face? The guy she loved was not exactly the one who put himself in danger without reason. Plus that there were plenty of more medics now who were able to accompany shinobis on higher-ranked missions. She then reached her decision after two weeks of weighing the opportunities. This turned out to be a perfect time since Christmas was approaching. A smile formed at her face when she recalled the meeting where they were finishing up a particularly hard course layout. He had told her earlier that he did not have any plans. The woman had then asked him if he wanted to eat at the new restaurant close to the Hokage monument. Genma had accepted her offer and the duo went out to eat at the new eating spot. It was a somewhat low-key restaurant that specialized in ecological food. They had spent that evening laughing about past events plus discussing other matters. She felt sad when she went home, but at least the date had gone really well. It seemed like the male felt the same since he asked her out two weeks later. The charcoal-haired woman was not disappointed when he took her to a Japanese restaurant. Both of them had enjoyed themselves and they decided to have a third date after the planning was done.
It took about two months until the third date were planned. This time, they met up at her apartment. She blushed a little when she remembered what had happened that evening. But the events turned out for the better since they agreed to have a serious relationship after that. Genma had apparently had a crush for her for some time, but he was a bit unsure on it too. The duo agreed to not accept missions that were extremely dangerous unless it was a team mission. Tsunade was happy that her student had found a nice guy while her colleagues congratulated her. After they had been together for two years, they decided to sell their apartments to buy a bigger one they could share. This was not a completely hassle free decision however because their estate agent got hospitalized with serious bronchitis in the middle of the process. The events did however take a turn for the better thanks to an herb that Shikamaru and Ino had found at the Nara ranch. A month later, the woman found herself hosting a moving in party together with her boyfriend. It had been a really great party despite that Kotetsu was incredibly bad at karaoke.
'I can't believe that's almost 14 years ago since we moved in together' thought Shizune with a smile at her face. She went towards the cash register after she had found basil. 'Hm. There's no queue' noticed the female when she reached the cash register. She paid for her goods before she exited the shop. Darkness had settled over Konohagakure no Sato despite that it was not that late in the evening. 'So much for clouds' observed the medic when she looked up at the inky-blue skies. There were numerous clouds that blocked the stars out. She prayed that it would not start to rain as she went down the street. But her prayers went unanswered when something hit her nose five minutes later. 'CRAP!' thought the woman when she realized it was a raindrop. Her umbrella got broken two days ago when Akamaru had accidentally sat down on it. Kiba had promised to get her a new one, but he was called out on a mission to the capital the next day. She started to run towards her apartment complex while holding onto her fabric shopping bag.
'At least it's not too far away…thank Kami for that' realized the charcoal-haired female as she saw the familiar building come into view. She got under the roof just a couple minutes later. Her right hand searched for the key as she went up the stairs to the third floor. Some faint music could be heard from the apartment next to theirs. It made her smile since it was a slightly upbeat tune that lifted her mood a little. A small 'click' could be heard as she turned the key around in the lock. She opened the door slightly before peeking in. It was one of the oldest shinobi tips in the book that the female had always used when she stayed at new places. 'Nobody's home. Better get in' decided Shizune.
She turned on the light right after she had entered her apartment. The woman went straight to the kitchen to start on the pumpkin soup. She glanced at the watch that hung right above the dinner table. '5:50 PM. Genma won't be home in an hour or so…looks like I got plenty of time' noticed the woman. It did not take long until the silence got replaced with the chopping sounds that her knife made. The pumpkin was soon reduced to small pieces that would be mashed into a puree that would work as a base. 'Pretty sure that the machine is here somewhere' thought the medic as she opened the cabinet. She was about to remove it when she saw a shadow behind it. "EEEEEK!" screamed the female as she backed towards the wall as fast as possible. Mice were one of the things she hated the most despite being a shinobi. But she could not hear or see anything move inside. 'Better be safe than sorry' thought the charcoal-haired woman as she lifted her knife. Her kuinochi side emerged as she stepped closer to the cabinet. She quickly did a stabbing motion towards the shadow. Surprisingly, a loud 'CLANG!' could be heard as the knife hit the shadow. The woman raised an eyebrow in surprise at the sound. She pulled out her kitchen tool to see what was at the other end. It turned out that the victim to her knife were the whisks to her mixer. 'Phew. Genma must have misplaced them after he made that omelet yesterday' realized Shizune.
She then reached for the blender and started to crush the pumpkin bits. A couple minutes later, the pieces of pumpkin had transformed into a golden orange liquid. 'Perfect. Time to cook it up' thought the female with a grin. She turned on the stove after placing the kettle on the ceramic plate. Next on the list were the vegetables. It did not take long until the chopping sounds could be heard as the knife hacked up the greens into smaller pieces. Onyx eyes studied the content of the kettle to make sure it did not overheat. The medic then poured the vegetables into the now warm pumpkin soup. '6:40? Won't be long until he's home' realized the woman. A part of her actually loved the time of the day where both of them were coming home from work. She usually had longer shifts than he had, but Wednesdays plus Sundays were an exception. Both of them had Sunday off while he came home early on Fridays. 'It looks like the soup is nearly done. Better put in the last touch' decided the charcoal-haired female. She picked up the spices she had bought and sprinkled a little into the soup. The female then put the soup aside so it could cool down a little bit. Her slender hands opened up the cabinet next to the fridge to where they had the dinnerware. She removed two white bowls from the middle shelf plus two large glasses. They were placed on the table just before a 'click' came from the entrance.
"I'm home!" announced a familiar voice. "Welcome home Genma!" replied Shizune after she had placed the kettle with soup on the table. He came into the kitchen five minutes later; she knew he didn't like to wear the uniform off-duty. The dishwater blonde was now wearing a pair of gray trousers plus a khaki-green sweater. "Hey Shizune. So nice to finally see someone who isn't wearing a mask" told the man with a smile. "I thought you enjoyed working with the ANBU group" replied the woman after kissing his cheek. "I do. But not being able to see their faces is a bit annoying. Especially because you can't tell their emotions properly. How was your day?" asked the Jounin. "Not too bad really. I didn't have that many patients, but a lot of paper work. Which is fine since it puts me in autopilot mode" answered the medic with a laugh. He let out a chuckle; being a shinobi did have its boring sides too. "What's that lovely smell by the way?" inquired the male. "I decided to make some pumpkin soup. I know you had a hard day plus that we haven't eaten that in a while" said the female. He gave her a sweet kiss. "Thank you so much. You're truly the best girlfriend I've ever had" stated Genma with a huge smile at his face. "Thank you. Let's eat now…I hate cold soup" replied the charcoal haired woman. She felt a happy feeling spread through her body. 'I really love the life I got know. Feeling this happy surely makes up for all the work I've put in' thought the woman as she swallowed her first spoonful of warm pumpkin soup.
Whoa...hard to believe that Shizune would be at the same age as Tsunade in this chapter! Had to check the Naruto data book to find their favourite food. Shizune apparently like cooked brown rice while Genma's favourite dish is pumpkin broth. I didn't write about their children since they would both have been about 36-37 at the time they moved in together. And having children is not always a 'must' for couples either.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews with praise/constructive criticism or both are much appreciated!
