Hey everyone! First of all many thanks again for everyone who read and specially reviewed the last chapter. Second, my apologizes for the delay with this chapter. It's been a busy week and it has taken me ages to finish it. I'm sorry and I'll try this doesn't happen again! In return, this one is longer than the other two chapters together, so it is a long one that I hope you all like! :)

Please please REVIEW and let me know what you think of this and what I can improve! It means a lot and motivates me to keep writing :D

Well, that was it! Let's go with chapter 3 now! I hope you all like it :D

Jiraiya was the first one to open his eyes. He wanted to sleep more, but there was work to do; the first day of the journey was over but he still had to plan the second one, and why not, maybe write a bit about his next best seller. In fact, it was early in the morning and there was time to do all that before starting walking again. He sat up in bed, still with his eyes half closed and sleepy and the first thing he did was looking at the woman who was still sleeping in the bed next to his. Jiraiya looked at her face for several seconds. She looked so calm, and it seemed that she was sleeping so peacefully "Who would say that this woman is able to kill me with just a punch" he thought. He could spend the whole day just looking at her sleeping, although there was nothing in the world he wanted to do more than lay down next to her and hold her tight. He shook his head, thinking that that wasn't something very professional for a bodyguard, and got out of bed, heading to the bathroom. There, he looked at himself in the mirror; there was a smile in his face that he wasn't even aware of. He soon understood why it was there; the day before had been amazing. He spent the whole day with Tsunade, talking and laughing with her, just like in the old times. Since they had met again when Jiraiya went to search for her to become Hokage they hadn't had much time to spend together. Some days he went to her office and annoy her a bit, but that was all. He wasn't going to lie to himself, one of the reasons why he took the mission of being her bodyguard so easily was just to spend more time with her. Jiraiya did know that Tsunade saw him just as a good friend, and that her heart was closed since Dan died, so he wasn't coming for a chance with her. It was too much to ask for. Just spending time with her was enough for him.

After that little thinking, he took a quick shower, dressed and went back to the room where Tsunade was still deep in her sleep. Seeing his sleepyhead teammate made Jiraiya laugh a bit, and then he just sat on the chair that there was in front of the desk and decided that he wanted to start the day writing some chapter of his novel. After all, he was in good spirits and inspired.

Tsunade woke up when the sun rays that went through the window hit her face. She opened her eyes slowly, sat in bed and started to stretch, lifting both her arms above her head. That's when she saw Jiraiya sitting in the chair, who was turning around and looking at Tsunade now

"Good morning Hime"

"Morning" she was now rubbing her eyes. Even though she slept for many hours, her "not a morning person" attitude was still there. "How long have you been up?"

"For some hours now" he took and showed her the papers that were on the desk "I've had time to plan today's journey and even write some chapters of my best seller!"

"Some hours?" She totally ignored the comment of his useless book and looked to the window "Jiraiya, what time is it?"

"Mmm… About eleven o'clock"

"WHAAAAT?" her eyes widened and quickly got out of bed, running around the room taking all her clothes "Why didn't you wake me up before you idiot! It's too late and we still have a long way ahead!"

Jiraiya watched her running from one sided of the room to the other, totally panicking. He decided whether to talk or not. Seeing her hysterical was so fun, but he decided to be a good person. "Calm down Hime,I didn't wake you up before because today the journey will be short. We will have more than enough time just departing after lunch"

"Oh" she suddenly stopped and was standing still in the middle of the room, with her hands full of her clothes. "I see. And we will still arrive on time to the meeting?"

"We will. I planned this one to be short since we walked too much yesterday"

"I see…err... well done"

They both stayed looking at each other when suddenly Jiraiya burst out in laughter. Tsunade frowned at that action.

"What are you laughing at?" She was already preparing her fist

"You know, you have some crazy and funny hairs when you just woke up"

Her eyes widened and her face turned redder than a tomato after those words. That statement caught her so off guard that she forgot about hitting him and ran fast to the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror. When she was doing so, she could still hear Jiraiya laughing in the room, so she showed her anger by a slam on the bathroom door. Looking at the mirror, her hair was truly a mess. One of her ponytails was totally undone and the other one was nearly in the same situation. The rest of her hair was chaotic, and it seemed that she even had spiky hair "This idiot, laughing at me…" That's when she realized it: the red of his face had gone, but there was a little blush on her face. Tsunade looked at it for some seconds. In the last two days she has been blushing a lot… because of him. Sometimes she felt the blush on her cheeks when they were just talking. Why was that? Maybe because they hadn't been like that since a long time ago? With all her duties as the Hokage, she hadn't much free time, so seeing Jiraiya was barely impossible. When they were in the village this didn't bother her at all. They could spend weeks or even a month or more without seeing each other and she didn't even care, but thinking about it now… he was his best friend, and even if she hated to admit it, she enjoyed being with him, so she started to think that deep in her hearth she missed these moments, being with him, talking with him, laughing with him… and blushing? You don't blush when you're just talking with a friend… or is it because…

Tsunade shook her head. What was she even thinking? She quickly took a cold shower so all the stupid thoughts would go away, dressed up and returned to the room, only to find Jiraiya still focused in his book. He turned around as soon as she entered the room.

"Ahh, now you really look like my Hime" he said, laughing a bit

"I hate you" Tsunade started to pack all her things, preparing to leave. She put her backpack on the bed and put all her stuff inside.

"And when haven't you?" he said, laughing again and turning on the chair to keep writing.

"I think that the only time I haven't hated you was when I hadn't met you yet"

"I love it when you say such beautiful things to me" he didn't even take his look of the papers in front of him to answer. He just turned around when a loud sound coming from behind him caught his attention "What was that?" Tsunade was with her hand on her stomach and looking at him, with a really funny embarrassed face "Don't tell me that was your stomach". The Toad Sage couldn't help but start laughing really loud, with even tears forming on his eyes.

Tsunade started to get angry at his reaction. Her teeth were about to break and a vein appeared on her forehead. She quickly headed to Jiraiya, grabbed him from his clothes lifting the man from the chair and pulled him near her.

"Keep laughing at me and I will punch you so hard in the face that you won't be able to laugh again in your whole life" Jiraiya had now stopped laughing and was staring at the vein in her forehead, which was about to explode

"Okay, okay I got it!"

She freed Jiraiya from her grab and took her backpack "Let's go then, I'm hungry". Tsunade headed to the door, opened it and went out, without waiting for her teammate. Jiraiya watched her going, and when he was sure she was away enough, he sighed and started packing all his papers "This woman is going to be the end of me someday" he said quietly, before closing the backpack and leaving the room, in search of his Hokage.

Both sannin went to a bar that was close to the Inn they had just left. When they entered, Jiraiya saw some newspapers on the corner of the counter, so he took one. They sat on a table very well situated near a window and made their order. Since their dinner last night had been quick and they didn't eat much both of them were starving, so they ordered a good amount of food. For the waiting, Jiraiya took out the newspaper and started reading it

"A newspaper? You are really getting old" Tsunade was looking at him with her right eyebrow raised

"I like to know what happens around the world. Is it that bad?" He answered, while he kept reading the pages. He heard Tsunade sighing and some minutes after their order arrived.

Even though it was much food, they ate it fast. When they finished, both sannin leant back on their chair, with Jiraiya even rubbing his stomach because of how full he was. Suddenly, Tsunade leant forward and took the newspaper that Jiraiya had left folded on the table before they started eating.

"I thought you said it was an old's thing" he said, with a half-smile on his face

"And it is, but a Hokage must be aware of everything that happens" Tsunade started passing all the pages fast, just looking over the titles of the news "At least it seems that Konoha hasn't burned yet under Shizune's hands"

Jiraiya was now playing with the chopsticks that were on their plates, and laughed at her teammate's words "You really should trust more on your student Hime". After keeping playing with the chopsticks for some seconds, he stopped when he heard no answer from Tsunade. He then lifted his head and looked at her; that's when he saw her horrified expression "Hime?" Jiraiya was starting to worry. Her face was pale, even whiter than his hair. Her eyes were open up wide and beads of cold sweat were going down her face. She wasn't even moving a millimeter and was barely breathing. "Hime what's going on?" Jiraiya was looking at her with such worried eyes. He didn't know what was going on. He had read the newspaper before and there was nothing that could bother any of them both, there were no news about Konoha or even Akatsuki. Jiraiya saw nothing important on it, or at least something that could affect any of the sannin. But clearly she had. Her eyes couldn't be more open and had an expression of unbearable pain and fear. It wasn't the first time that the white haired sannin had seen that expression on Tsunade's eyes. "Tsunade!" he shouted, while reaching for her hand. That's when she finally reacted. She blinked, as a sign of returning to Earth and quickly moved her hand, just before Jiraiya could touch it. She threw the newspaper to the ground and stood up.

"We are leaving, It's getting late" Because of Jiraiya's shout, everyone in the bar was looking at them

"Tsunade what happens?" the worried look in his eyes was still there, and could even be felt on his tone.

"Nothing, let's go" she was now putting her green jacket on

That answer didn't leave the Toad Sage satisfied. He knew something happened "Tsunade wh..."

"Jiraiya, please" They were now looking at each other's eyes. Jiraiya was feeling something in his chest, some kind of pain. "Let's go" They stayed like that, looking at each other for several seconds until Jiraiya closed her eyes, sighed and finally stood up.

"Okay" he said, very serious, while taking his scroll and backpack and putting them on. Tsunade didn't even wait for him, she just turned around and headed to the door to left the bar. Jiraiya looked at the newspaper that was on the ground "What the hell did she saw there to be like this now". He gritted his teeth at the thought of her suffering. Still with the thought in his mind, he followed her, leaving the bar with everyone still looking at him.

More than two hours had passed and Tsunade haven't even muttered a word. Sometimes Jiraiya threw some comments to make her talk but she totally ignored them. He was constantly looking at Tsunade very worried but she was looking at space all the time deep in her thoughts. He was lost in his thoughts as well; he couldn't stop thinking about what it could be that made her be like this. In the morning she was full of energy and now, after looking the newspaper, she changed totally. Her face was still pale and her eyes didn't have that shine that he loved so much. In his head the pages of the newspaper were passing again and again, trying to figure out what could have been, but still nothing seemed important. He had no clue. Suddenly, Tsunade stopped walking, and he only moved his eyes from her face to look at her fists, which were now clenched. She was facing the ground when she started talking.

"Jiraiya… Will you please stop?" Along with the worried expression a surprise one appeared on Jiraiya's face

"Stop what?" after saying that, his eyes widened. Tsunade was now looking at him with a face full of anger, but what caught his attention were her blurred eyes. Was she about to cry?

"Stop looking at me with such eyes! As if you were so worried about me!"

"Because I am! I am worried about you but I don't know what the hell is going on! And you don't…"

"I told you that nothing happens, so stop! Stop worrying about me! I don't know why you are doing it and I also don't need it. I don't need your worried looks, you make me sick! I feel as if people should fell sorrow for me or something. Mind your own business. You are here just in case someone tries to kill me, nothing more. You are here as my bodyguard and that's it, you're not my babysitter. Fucking stop it! If you are going to be like this, please GO" she yelled at him, while a tear that didn't fall formed in her eye.

Many thing were passing through Jiraiya's mind in that moment, but the tear that was forming in Tsunade's right eye stopped him from saying anything. In fact, he couldn't have said anything even if he wanted too. He was paralyzed. Those words felt like a sword that stabbed him a thousand times all of them in his heart, a heart that he didn't even fell beating. He would have sworn that it had stopped when hearing those words. He couldn't move. The only thing he could do was seeing her turn around and keep walking forward, leaving him behind. For him that scene, her leaving him behind, was some kind of metaphor of his life. Every time he got closer to Tsunade, she suddenly pushed him away. It was always the same, but this time… This time was different. This time he had to bring his hand to his heart to know for sure that it was still working, that it wasn't broken in half as he felt it was. He gritted her teeth as he grabbed his clothes where they were covering his wounded heart. Was it really worth it all the pain? She didn't feel anything for him, but still he had no doubt on dying for her. He looked at his princess in the distance to find the answer…and he found it.

Tsunade was standing in the middle of the way, some meters ahead, giving her back to him and looking at the ground.

"What did I do, I really screwed up this time… please…please, don't go... I…." suddenly she felt the embrace of loneliness again, she felt her mind crashing again returning to the days of pain, returning to those days when everything was dark, when everyone was dead. The days when her beloved brother died as a victim of the war the day after his birthday. The days when she felt the cold blood of her lover on her hands while his dead body was laying in front of her, unable to do anything that would have saved him. Along with them died the dream that both shared, the dream of being the Hokage, the dream of protecting their village and its villagers. How ironic that that dead dream was the one that brought Tsunade to life many years later.

But now there she stood, embraced tightly by that pain again, the pain of seeing someone loved going away from her. Someone loved. That was it, that's what Jiraiya was for her. She suddenly realized how important he was for her. He was as important for her as Nawaki and Dan were, but… was it because he was her best friend, or was he even more?

A warm feeling on her shoulder got her out of that embrace. Tsunade's eyes open up wide, and all the shadows around her suddenly disappeared. She lifted her head and saw Jiraiya beside her with his hand on her shoulder, looking at her with a smile that warmed her entire being now. He was in pain, she could see that, but he recomposed himself for her. Just for her.

"Jiraiya…" the tear finally fell "Thank you…again"

Even though all he wanted was ask her about what the problem was, he understood it wasn't the moment. "You don't have to thank me anything, Hime" his smile was even warmer and brighter now "Let's keep walking, shall we?" Tsunade wiped with her hand the remains of the tear on her face and nodded at him.

After three hours walking, they finally reached the village where they were going to sleep. They hadn't talked. Jiraiya knew that what happened was something like a breakdown, and that even though she thanked him for not going, she still wasn't well. Tsunade was still in pain. As soon as they arrived, Tsunade suggested to go directly to the local in, since she was tired. Jiraiya agreed and both headed there.

The inn seemed much better than the one they had slept in the day before, at least from the outside. Same as the day before, when they entered Jiraiya stepped forward to get a room

"Hello, do you have a room with two separated beds please?"

"I'm afraid we don't sir. We only have one room left, and it only has one bed"

"Oh… Doesn't matter, we will get it th..."

"Jiraiya…" Tsunade was still with her thoughts, but wasn't deaf. She had her arms crossed and the vein in her forehead was starting to appear" What are you doing?"

"Don't worry Hime" he said looking at her, before turning to the receptionist "I believe your rooms have something like a couch too right?"

"Each room has an armchair, yes"

"I will sleep there then. Would you give me the key please?"

Tsunade was looking at Jiraiya. After everything she has done to him, he was still there. He has always been. Since they were kids she treated him bad. When they were children, she couldn't stand him, he was totally unskilled as a ninja, was always asking her out and was rather stupid. The only reason why she didn't ask for another team is that she was with Orochimaru, who she respected. Unlike Jiraiya, he was an excellent shinobi. The best one indeed. He was cold and barely spoke or socialize with the other gennin but Tsunade felt as if she could learn a lot from him. Plus, he humiliated Jiraiya many times and it was so much fun to see. As time passed, she started swallowing Jiraiya a bit more. He started training hard to become stronger in Mount Myoboku, and that caused him to change a bit. Even though he was still rather stupid for Tsunade, he stopped being so annoying to her. In fact, since he was training far away they barely see each other, only the few times that he returned and in some missions. He was getting much stronger eventually catching his teammates, and he even act more seriously. One could say that he "maturated" but still he was rather immature and his perverted side was of course untouched. Jiraiya started travelling, and some time passed that they didn't see each other. Tsunade never admitted it to anyone, but she did miss him when he was gone.

And then the war came. Everything changed; allies turned into enemies in the blink of an eye and suddenly you could trust no one. There was no peaceful place left, all the shinobi nations were fighting and blood ran all over the globe. In that era of change, Tsunade discovered a side of Jiraiya that she had never imagined. He had just returned from his travels to fight for Konoha along with his old teammates in the war, and at first it seemed that there wasn't much of that stupid perverted and unskilled man anymore. He was now as strong as Orochimaru and Tsunade, or even more. He was wiser and a serious expression was on his face. Tsunade soon realized that side of Jiraiya was just for the battlefield; out of it when they weren't fighting he was the same brat and that made Tsunade smile in relief. Seeing that his old friend hadn't changed at all after all the time out made her incredibly happy.

The three of them were strong, the strongest ones in fact. No one could beat them. But killing someone isn't the only way to defeat them. Love is a doubled edged sword that can make you stronger wielding it or can break you in pieces.

Dan and Nawaki's deaths drowned Tsunade in misery and agony. The two persons she loved the most got torn from her hands. But once again, there he was, throwing some light in her life. Jiraiya showed his support since the first moment, leaning his shoulder to her. Even though he was important for Tsunade, she had punched him a hundred times, insulted a thousand and treated him bad uncountable times. And after all, there he was then, and there he was now, thirty years later.

When they entered the room, Tsunade threw her backpack next to the bed and laid down on it, looking at the ceiling. Jiraiya headed to the desk that was in one of the corners of the room and started unpacking all his papers, leaving them on the desk. After that, he left her big and tall body fall on the armchair, which made it crack a bit because of such weight. He tested it a bit to see if it was comfortable enough to sleep in it, and after considering that his options were either sleeping there or in the roof, it quickly felt much comfortable than it truly was. His little research about the comfortability of the armchair where loudly followed by a sound coming from his stomach. He was indeed hungry. He already wanted to eat something when they arrived to the village, but as soon as they got there Tsunade wanted to go to the inn and he didn't want to gainsay her, so he just agreed and came here but now he was starving. He decided to take a quick shower hoping it would take the feeling of hunger away from him at least a little bit, but as anyone would have expected, it didn't do anything. Back in the room again, he stared at Tsunade. She was in the same position as when he left, still looking at the ceiling without saying a word. A worried look appeared on the white haired sannin once again, but he quickly shook his head so she wouldn't see him. The day wasn't going well and he didn't know what to do with Tsunade; watching her like that was hurting even more his wounded heart, so he decided to go take something to eat to spare his mind for a moment.

"Hime, I'm starving so I'm going to get something to eat. I saw a ramen bar right next to the inn when we were coming so I think I will go there. Do you want something?" Tsunade just shook her head at her teammates words, declining his offer "You sure? You will be hungry later". This time there was no answer. The Hokage kept laid down on the bed, with her eyes staring at the ceiling and her two blonde ponytails scattered on the sheets. The white haired sannin sighed and left the room without saying anything more.

Jiraiya arrived fast to the ramen bar. It was right next to the inn, and he went fast since he didn't want to leave Tsunade alone for much time. He was her bodyguard after all.

"One special ramen please, to take away" as soon as he heard him the cook started working on it at a fast speed that got Jiraiya's attention. He was quite faster than the Ichiraku's old man "You know, make it two specials instead of one" the cook nodded at Jiraiya and started working on another one, without taking away his eyes from his creations. Jiraiya decided to take another one for Tsunade, since he knew she was going to be hungry later. Apart from it, the next day was going to be long so they needed as much energy as possible.

While waiting for the order, the sannin took a look at the bar. It was bigger than the one in Konoha but still wasn't huge. The walls were decorated with floral motifs that Jiraiya didn't really like. He liked flowers but thought that putting them as decoration for a wall was rather girly. There were many tables for customers, each one again decorated with a vase with a flower in it. Jiraiya was about to smirk at the ridiculous amount of floral presence in the bar when something got in his eye; there was a newspaper in one of the tables. He quickly headed to it and grabbed the paper, decided to search for what has caused his Hime to be like that now. He returned to his spot next to the corner, and leaning on it started rereading the paper searching for anything that could be important and maybe he had passed the first time he read it. Every news, every paragraph and every picture were checked, but again, he found nothing. When finishing reading the last page, he couldn't help but clench his fists causing the paper to shrivel. It was frustrating to see her like that and can't help her, it was frustrating to know that he had the answer in his hands and he couldn't see it. Suddenly, the cook appeared with his order, already correctly packed into a bag and ready to take. Jiraiya quickly folded the newspaper and gave the man the money for the meal. It was, in fact, more expensive than Ichiraku. When he turned around to put the money in the cash machine, Jiraiya quickly opened a bit his green kimono and placed the folded newspaper inside, to bring it with him back to the inn. He was going to find out what was going on. He took the order and then headed to the inn to meet with Tsunade again.

As expected, the Slug Princess was in the same position as he left her.

"I'm back, Hime" he said while entering the room and closing the door. No answer was heard "I know you said you didn't want anything to eat, but you know, I bought you something anyways" he said, leaving both of the ramens in the table and turning the chair around to be facing Tsunade. He took the chopsticks and started eating.

"Well" he started talking, full mouth "They are good, the ones from Ichiraku are far better but these ones taste really good too. I bet Naruto would love to try them" The smell of the freshly made ramen was filling every corner of the room. It was a smell that made you want to eat it so bad. Jiraiya knew it as much as he knew the woman who was laid in the bed in front of him. He saw how even if she was still not moving a bit, her nostrils were opening each second a bit more and her breaths were deeper "Wow, the sauce is reeeeally good, it's been a long time since I haven't eaten a sauce like this. It is sweet but with a little spicy touch in the end… and the meat is just really well cooked, in its right point, so soft…" he narrowed his eyes when saw Tsunade taking her hand to her stomach. He smirked and continued "and the shrimps, they are so tasty… and don't make me talk about the noodles, they are…" Suddenly Tsunade sat on the bed and a big smile of victory appeared on Jiraiya's face, along with his still full mouth.

"So… you took one for me?" she asked, with a pouty face and evading looking at him. It was the same face she made when they were younger, every time she had to ask Jiraiya for something. That face was another one of the uncountable things he loved of her.

"Yeah" he said, handing it to her. She grabbed it and started eating. They both ate in silence, but still Jiraiya thought it was such a step forward. At least she had finally reacted.

It was starting to be late, so when they finished eating, it was time to sleep. Tsunade took a quick shower and then got in the bed, again, without saying a word. Jiraiya sat in the armchair and placed himself as comfortable as he could, and then turned off the lights.

"Good night Hime" he said in the dark, but no one answered.

Some hours had passed and still Tsunade couldn't fall asleep. Her head was still filled with thoughts, the same ones again and again since she saw the newspaper. She knew Jiraiya was trying to help her, that the dinner was his way of cheering her up, that he wanted to know what was going on, but she didn't feel like talking about it with him. Not now, when she was starting to wonder if her feelings for him were beyond friendship.

"You should sleep Hime. We have a long day ahead tomorrow"

Tsunade jumped a bit in the bed, and immediately sat on the bed, only to find Jiraiya in the armchair looking at her with a serious face, along with a surprised one.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I guess it sounded kind of creep right?" a very little smile appeared on his face

"So you haven't fall asleep yet either..." she said, really soft

"Yet? I'm not planning on falling sleep at all, just in little turn of 15 minutes. I'm your bodyguard, so I must protect you. This is what we were taught in the academy, don't you remember?"
He was right. In the academy, shinobis were taught that for scort missions they had to sleep in turns at night. If there were more than one shinobi, each one would sleep an amount of hours while the other guarded, and then they changed, but when the bodyguard was just one, he had to sleep in turn of fifteen minutes and then stay awake for an hour or so. It was such a hard duty.

"There's no need to do so now, we are in a closed space. That was especially designated for open places like forests. Go sleep now for God's sake!" she stopped when realizing that she had barely shout that last statement. Again, all that care for her… it was overwhelming.

"I know, but I don't mind doing so now. I had much sleep yesterday. It's you the one who should sleep Hi.."

"Why are you doing this?" She interrupted him. He was now very serious, looking at her. "Why are you here now, why are you my bodyguard?"

"Because you asked me to"

"You don't like this kind of things, they are hard, they are boring… they are not for you. Why the hell did you accept it at first, why didn't you refuse it?" she was talking loud, nearly shouting at him and had lost all trace of her nerves. Jiraiya, on the other side, was trying to stay very calm, although many things were happening inside him. He took some seconds to answer.

"Because I don't trust in anyone more than in myself to protect you. That's why I accepted it so fast."

That answer left Tsunade breathless and with wide open eyes that started to get blurred. In any other occasion their talk would have ended with such an answer, but she was tired of thinking, keeping everything to herself and not talking about it.

"Why? Why do you care so much about me? I have always treated you so bad and you treat me so well… why?" she was still talking loud but softer than before. Her stare was directly in Jiraiya's eyes "You even said you would die for me, is it true? Is it?"

"Of course it is"

"Why? Why would you do so?" her tone was starting to raise again and you could feel in her trembling voice that she was near crying. Jiraiya recognized all that; that face, that tone, all those questions… It was just like then.

"Of course I would die for you Tsunade but I don't see where you want to lead with all this, is this abo…"

"I said why do you care so much about me!" this time screaming with all her strength, which made Jiraiya's calm face turn into a surprised one with traces of fear. The open and blurred eyes of the blonde Hokage were deeply staring at him. He had it clear now; all this reaction was the same as when Dan died many years ago, when she thought she was alone in the world, that there was no one left. But why did all those feelings suddenly appear again?

"Because I love you with all my heart, and if something happened to you I would die as well" was all Jiraiya had in mind, and he was dying to say so, but it just wasn't the moment. This wasn't to moment to say such thing to her. She was broken and saying something like that would probably break her even more. So, avoiding that part, he started talking.

"Why do I care about you so much? We've been together since we were six years old Tsunade. We have fought together, we have laughed together and we have cried together. We have shared so many moments, goods and bads, but always together, the two of us. And even if you think you have treated me bad all this time, I disagree. You have helped me as much as I have helped you during hard times, believe me. Each moment I have passed with you since the day I meet you is something I treasure and if something happened to you during this travel I couldn't forgive myself so that's why I had to come. Good times always help making good friendships but hard times are what really stick two people together because that's when they show who they really are. I am sure that you will agree with me in the fact that we have had many bad times but here we are the both of us, because we had each other. I have seen how you really are, I have seen inside you just the same as you have seen inside me. That's why I care about you. Because you just feel like another part of my being, a soulmate someone would say. You are and have always been the most important woman in my life so never dare to ask me why I care so much about you again."

Tears started to fall through Tsunade's face when Jiraiya ended talking. She was now looking at her hands, which were grabbing tightly the white sheets that covered her body. Jiraiya was looking at her very worried, wondering if his words had put her under more pressure. After several seconds, he was about to start talking again when she spoke

"So that's it…You really care…" Tsunade hated to cry in front of people, and even though the man in front of her had seen her tears many times before, she still hated it. That anger with herself for crying in front of someone made her stop talking for some seconds "I see, you would really die for me"

"Yes I would, without a doubt. I don't want to see you hurt again Tsunade, but seeing you like this right now it is…"

Suddenly, without saying a word she got out of bed and stood up, heading to Jiraiya who was now looking at her confused. She took his right hand and pulled him gently, asking to stand up. He did so and before he could even notice she buried her face on his chest and placed her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Jiraiya was really surprised with such thing, but didn't hesitate to hug her back, pulling her even closer.

Tears stopped falling from Tsunade's eyes. His body was so warm and calm and she could hear every heartbeat on his chest, so she quickly relaxed. She felt safe there, she felt loved.

"Never die idiot, not even for me. I don't want to see anyone close dying again. I wouldn't forgive you" she said, rubbing gently her face against his chest. Jiraiya smirked and hold her even tighter as a response. He couldn't promise her that; given the situation, he would do it without thinking it twice. But her words reminded him of something; she said again, so now it was even clearer that Dan and Nawaki were the ones in her mind for the whole day. He still had to discover why.

About an hour had passed and Tsunade was finally asleep. After their hug, she just got into the bed again and tried to sleep. She was quite better than before but still she wasn't as always. Jiraiya was in the armchair, making sure that she was deep in her sleep when he got the newspaper out and started looking at it. Even though it was dark some moonlight went through the window and it was enough to see what Jiraiya thought could be the problem. He searched for it and there it was. As soon as he found it, he closed his eyes and leant his head on the back of the armchair "How can I be so stupid of not realizing this". He leant forward and stood up, throwing the newspaper to the bin that was next to the table on his way to the window. Looking at the shining moon that was in the middle of the night sky, he couldn't believe how he had passed something as evident as the date that was printed on top of the pages. He now understood everything, and started preparing himself for the next day for a thought that brought a shiver down his spine.

"Tomorrow will be thirty years since Dan died"