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TenTen walked down the bland hallways of the Konoha Hospital. She was eager to see Drake again. She wasn't quite sure how, but it seemed she'd made a friend overnight. Truth be told, she had been somewhat lacking in the friend department lately.
Neji had just gotten married, something arranged by Hiashi to benefit his clan, and as a result had been up to his neck in arrangements and paperwork. Lee had been putting his all into training the team of genin he'd been recently assigned about the "Springtime of Youth". It made her shudder. However, though she missed him, she was glad Lee hadn't managed to convince any of his students to wear one of those hideous green jumpsuits. Sakura had been plotting her wedding by day and working long hours at the hospital by night. Ino was trying to get into ANBU and was up to her neck in training.
The list went on. It seemed that whenever TenTen got some down-time between missions, all her friends were too busy for her. It had been nice talking to someone who wasn't. She quietly knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal Sakura sitting beside the bed changing an IV bag.
"Hello Ten-chan." she said with a smile.
"Good morning Sakura-chan." replied TenTen, "Is he awake?"
"No, not yet. He snuck out of the room last night." said Sakura irritably, "Getting out of bed in this condition! can you believe that? He even took out his IV!" TenTen looked at the man on the bed, and blinked when she saw one of his eyes open and look back.
"What?" asked Sakura, seeing the suprise on TenTen's face. She turned to regard the man, who was still sleeping peacefully. TenTen had never had to try so hard not to burst out laughing. Something about the sheer childishness of the situation was unbearably funny.
"Well, I've got to go deliver his medical report to Tsunade-sama, can you watch him for me? It shouldn't be more than ten minutes."
"Sure," agreed TenTen, still fighting off the laughter. "I think I can manage that."
"If there's an emergency hit this." said Sakura as she pointed to the big red button on the side of the bed.
"Okay." said TenTen, still fighting.
"I'll be back soon." stated Sakura as she walked out of the room. When TenTen felt the pink-haired girl's chakra recede to a safe distance her facade crumbled and she laughed. She laughed so hard that after a few seconds she had to sit down to avoid falling.
"Thanks," she said, wiping tears from her eyes. "I haven't laughed that hard in a long time."
"Glad to be of service." said the man on the bed without opening his eyes.
"Why didn't you just let her know you were awake?" asked TenTen with a wide smile.
"It's way too early in the morning for politics." he stated.
"Politics?" TenTen was confused.
"The way I see it..." Drake said, sounding defeated. "As soon as I'm back on my feet, I get to go meet the Hokage, explain my 'gift', and, in all likelihood, get told to leave."
"Why would you get told to leave?" asked TenTen, feeling panic for some reason.
"My power makes me a huge liability." he said sadly. "When a village finds out about it I tend to get either thrown in prison or thrown out of town."
"You've been thrown in prison just for being like this?" she asked, shocked.
"In the Mist village." he stated quietly. "for about eight months."
"How did you escape?" she asked.
"I didn't escape, although I could have. I decided not to."
"Why not?" she asked.
"Escaping would have been breaking the law." he reasoned. "Plus the free room and board wasn't that bad."
"Then how?" she began
"They let me out." he stated, remembering. "The village was being raided, the enemy were using genjutsu, I offered to help." His hand unconsciously moved to a jagged scar on his stomach.
"Is that how you got that scar?" she asked, entranced in his story.
He looked to where his hand was and nodded. "The leader of the raid was good with a Katana, damn good." he turned to show her a matching scar on his back. "I had to get stabbed to get the damn thing away from him. Luckily it missed my vitals." He paused. "When I came to, the Mizukage was there. He told me I was free, but if I ever came back they'd kill me."
"That's not fair." TenTen said, her voice angry. "How could they treat you like that when you fought for their village?"
Drake shrugged. "I don't know, but they always do."
"We won't treat you like that." stated TenTen.
"I believe you." he admitted with a smile, "It's the rest of the village I'm worried about. You can come in Sakura-san!"
The door slowly opened. "Sorry." the pink haired medic said bashfully. "didn't want to interrupt."
"So when do I meet with the Hokage?" Drake asked.
"How did you know?" Sakura looked baffled.
"Past experience." he said simply, and Sakura saw a sad expression pass over TenTen's features.
"As soon as you're ready, apparently someone has already vouched for your character." she said, looking at the other girl in the room with a smirk. One of Drake's eyebrows rose. He looked curiously at TenTen. She blushed and started to stutter.
"I... I can explain... I bumped into Tsunade-sama this morning... and I... I thought I'd..." she went quiet when she felt his hand settle on top of her own.
"Thank you." he said softly, looking her in the eyes. Sakura watched the moment the two were sharing, intent on not doing anything to interrupt.
"You don't need to thank me. You saved me from being..." she looked away. "This was the least I could do."
"Thank you TenTen." he repeated quietly as he released her hand.
Nobody spoke for a couple minutes.
"You'd better get ready." stated Sakura. "Tsunade-sama will be expecting you soon."
Drake nodded and slowly walked to his pack to get a clean shirt. He started to lift his arms to put it on. When he lifted his right arm moved intense pain flared through his back. He reached out to steady himself against the wall.
"Or not." he muttered, waiting for the stars to clear from his vision.
TenTen moved to help him stretch the shirt on without lifting his arm too high. He thanked her breathlessly and set about covering his headband with a black bandana from his pack, it took him a bit longer one handed.
"Sakura-san," he began, "May I ask where you've hidden my coat?"
Sakura walked beside the tall man as they slowly made their way through the streets of Konoha to the Hokage's office. She watched him rotate his right shoulder slowly. He was wearing his coat over his shoulders like a cape. He had his hands buried in his pockets and he looked apprehensive.
"Don't be so nervous," TenTen attempted to reassure him. "I'm sure it will be fine."
"That would be a first." he said without a trace of sarcasm in his voice. After a long walk, they arrived at the impressive building that housed the office of the Hokage. Drake felt cold resignation building in the pit of his stomach as they navigated the twisting hallways.
"Here we are." Sakura said simply, gesturing to one nondescript door among the many that dotted the hall. Drake took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Enter." was heard from the other side. He opened the door and walked in, eyes on the floor.
"Hello Drake, my name is Tsunade." a woman's voice spoke from the desk. "I am the Hokage."
"It's an honor to meet you Hokage-sama, as you know, I am Drake". He bowed deeply, gritting his teeth when his back stretched painfully.
"You look nervous."
"I don't have a good track record with the hidden villages." Drake muttered simply, looking up. Drake blinked. He was expecting some wrinkled old beaurocrat. The woman he was looking at was stunning. She couldn't be more than thirty, with a beautiful face and a nice figure. A very nice figure. He remembered he'd been spoken to and regained his composure.
"Now you look surprised." she stated, sounding amused.
"Well, in my experience most politicians are..." he paused. "How do I word this?" He decided to be blunt. "...ugly."
Tsunade smiled. "Well, I am not most politicians then... am I?"
Now it was Drake's turn to smile. "...apparently not."
"From what TenTen told me I would assume you aren't very fond of shinobi. Am I right?" the older woman asked, gauging his reactions.
"Actually it's usually the other way around." he stated, relaxing a little. "I have no problem with Shinobi, they just don't really ever seem to like me."
"What about TenTen?" Tsunade decided to try pushing his buttons. "She seems to have taken a liking to you."
Drake tensed a little, which did not go unnoticed by Tsunade. "She's different." he said simply.
"And she seems to trust you. Granted, if you went through what she says you did..." she paused "It would seem you earned it."
"If I went through it?" Drake asked.
"I'd like to know what happened." stated the Hokage. "In detail."
Drake took off his bandana and pointed at the seal on his headband. "Sakura-san told you about this?" he inquired. Tsunade nodded. "Okay, that saves me from having to explain it again." he continued. "as you probably know from the guys at the gate, I stopped in this village last Thursday to resupply." he stated
And so, Drake slowly explained to the Hokage what exactly had transpired from the time he'd left to his return.
Two hours later, TenTen sat in the waiting area outside the Hokage's office and tried not to fidget. She was worried about Drake. He'd told her he would probably be asked to leave the village as soon as he was healed. She didn't want that to happen. She couldn't explain it, but she didn't want him to leave. That was why she'd come to the Hokage first thing in the morning to explain everything. She idly remembered the last thing she and the Hokage had discussed.
**FLASHBACK**
"Could he stay here?" asked the brown haired kunoichi, barely above a whisper. "He hasn't had a home in nine years."
"In a best case scenario, the council will have to come to a verdict. To influence that verdict, it would be best if he could serve the village somehow."
TenTen wracked her brain for a way for him to provide something nobody else could. *That's it!*
"I have an idea." she began, "He could..."
A voice shook her from the memory.
"Ten-chan?" asked Sakura shaking the other girl's arm. "You spaced out on me."
"What? oh sorry Sakura-chan" TenTen muttered.
"What were you thinking about?" Sakura asked, curiosity showing in her green eyes.
"Oh, nothing." said TenTen, looking at her feet.
"What really happened when you got ambushed?" asked Sakura, out of the blue.
"What do you mean?" asked TenTen, knowing the pink-haired girl had heard the story from Drake.
"Why do you trust him so much? and why did you seem to already know each other when I got back to the room this afternoon?"
TenTen told Sakura about his shielding her from the huge storm of kunai and shuriken. "Then he fell over, I thought he was dead." she continued. "The last Sound-nin backed me against a tree and was about to..." her voice trailed off, tears welling in her eyes. Sakura's eyes widened. "I could feel his eyes all over me. It was disgusting. But before he could touch me, Drake had him a hanging a foot off the ground." she stated with a small smile, remembering the moment vividly "He didn't even flinch when the man stabbed him in the back. He just twisted his wrist, and it was over."
"So he played dead to trick the sound-nin." stated Sakura, more to herself than to TenTen. TenTen nodded. "What happened next?"
"I remember him catching me, just before I passed out. He said 'It's okay... you're safe now. I'll take you home.'." TenTen said, tears starting to form in her eyes. "And then he carried me all the way here. I remember drifting in and out when he was carrying me and just feeling safe. Safe and warm. Whenever I'm near him I feel like I did then."
Sakura couldn't think of anything to say.
"I was going to die, and he came out of nowhere and almost died to save me, and now he may have to leave." she started to sob, all the emotion she'd been holding in from her ordeal came forth.
"It's okay, it's okay Ten-chan, let it out." Sakura brought the other girl into a tight hug.
*These two already have quite the connection...* she thought, *...and what's it been? ...two days? well... technically five...* Sakura waited a few minutes until the brunette had calmed down. "Well that answers the first part of my question." she stated. "Now how did you two get to know each other so well in the ten minutes I was gone today?"
"Remember when he woke up last night?" asked TenTen, wiping her eyes.
"How do you know about that?" asked the pink-haired girl.
"I couldn't sleep last night," she said simply. "So I went back to the hospital."
"So you were there?" asked Sakura.
"I was outside the window." TenTen replied.
"So you heard everything we talked about?"
"Pretty much." admitted TenTen. "After you left he snuck out and went to the roof."
"So that's where he went." stated Sakura
"I was looking for him." began TenTen "and when I landed on the roof he heard me."
"So you two talked?" It wasn't really a question.
"Until the sun rose." nodded TenTen.
*How romantic...* chimed Inner Sakura,
"So that's where he was coming from when I caught him outside his room."
"Yep." confirmed TenTen. "I went home and ate breakfast, and then came here to talk to Tsunade-sama." Sakura was about to respond when the door to the Hokage's office opened again. Both girls looked up to see Drake walking out, followed by Tsunade. Tsunade gave the girls a smile.
"I've decided to give Drake-kun here a chance to prove his usefulness." she stated. "A month from now, we will test him, he's already agreed to the method of testing. After the test the council will make their decision. Until then, he will stay in Konoha."
Drake let a smirk appear on his face. TenTen and Sakura both smiled. He turned to face Tsunade.
"Hokage-sama, I have one request." he said politely.
"What?" she asked.
"Can I stay somewhere other than the Hospital?" he asked. "It's one of the nicest Hospitals I've ever regained consciousness in." he continued, noticing the smirk it induced from the blond Hokage. "But your beds are too small."
Tsunade laughed. A real, heartfelt laugh. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you Hokage-sama."
"You're welcome." she said. "Now go eat something. Your stomach has been growling for the last hour."
"Yes ma'am." he said with a smirk as he bowed and began to walk toward the Exit. TenTen followed him out the doors of the Hokage's building.
"Looks like I get to stay." said Drake as they slowly walked the streets in the direction of Konoha Hospital.
"I'm glad." said TenTen.
"Is there anywhere besides Ichiraku that has good food here?" he asked.
"You know Ichiraku?" TenTen asked him.
"Yeah, when I was here resupplying last week Sakura-san's fiancé showed it to me." he stated. "We had an eating contest."
"How close did you get?" she asked.
"It was a tie." Drake said simply. "Twenty one each."
TenTen stopped in her tracks. "You... ate as much ramen as Naruto?" her voice conveyed her disbelief. "I didn't think that was possible."
"I have a high metabolism." Drake shrugged. "So, where should we eat?"
"I don't know." she began.
"Well you live here." he stated. "Pick somewhere."
"What do you feel like having?" she looked up at him.
"I haven't eaten for three days." he stated. "I think dirt would taste good right now." He took a contemplative pose while eying the ground they were walking on.
TenTen laughed. "Okay, there's a barbecue place around the corner. The food there is good."
"Better than dirt?" he asked, trying to make her laugh again.
She did. "Better than dirt."
Tsunade watched the two of them walk away through the window. It had been a long time since she'd seen TenTen laugh like that. After her team had gone their separate ways, the young weapon mistress had been somewhat distant, immersing herself in her missions and her training. Her idea for what to have this stranger do for the village was brilliant... but she'd have to wait and see what the council thought after his evaluation. Eventually they vanished into a nearby restaurant and she went back to her paperwork.
TenTen and Drake found a booth near the windows of the barbecue, and she helped ease him down into his seat.
"So what is this 'Test' that Tsunade-sama has lined up for you?" TenTen asked as she sipped her drink.
"It's a fight." Drake said simply.
"A fight?" she asked.
"Yeah, all I have to do is beat some guy named Lee." he stated nonchalantly.
TenTen froze.
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