Chapter 4
Their lovemaking lasted into the wee hours of the morning. It was almost afternoon and the old Sannin should have been sleeping the sleep of the dead after all his nocturnal activities. Instead of visions of his lover his mind showed him awful scenes of carnage. "No…No Please!!!" He bolted up from the bed drenched in sweat. Tsunade's reflexes took over and she leapt up as well kunai in hand. "What is it?" searching for the source of worry. Frantically he put his pants on all the while not saying a word and finally disappeared. "Jiraiya, Jiraiya," she screamed desperately, the room death to her pleas.
I just have to make sure he thought to himself as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop half naked at top speed. Arriving at his destination he climbed over the banister and looked through the window holding his breath. "What's up Pervy Sage?" Naruto said mouth full of ramen from the screen door. Jiraiya sighed a breath of relief and quickly tried to hide his anxiety from his pupil.
"Why aren't you wearing any clothes besides your pants?' Naruto inquired disturbed. "Well kid" he began "I came to tell you no training for a little while, your sensei needs a break" he said smiling trying to sound convincing. "What, why! Break from what Pervy Sage?! Are you getting so old peepings tiring you out now too!!!?"
"Watch it kid!" Jiraiya snapped "I just have some personal matters I need to handle and then we can go back to our regular routine" As he sped off he could hear Naruto screaming "What's her name?!?!?"
To what seemed like an eternity to the pacing Tsunade, but in reality was a matter of minutes, Jiraiya's return brought about a dozen questions. She ran up to him slapping him so harp he flew across the room. "Don't you ever do that to me again you stupid bastard!" she screamed as she dropped down next to him. "I'm sorry" was all he could manage to say through his profusely bleeding lip. Instantly she regretted reacting like that and quickly healed his lip. Leaning over as thought to examine it further she softly kissed it instead.
"There all better now. Care to tell what the hell that was all about, and where exactly you went?" She could see a mixture of sorrow and embarrassment I his face. "I just needed to check on something" he responded sheepishly. "Something? What something could be soo important you leapt out of my bed, and run off half naked?" her patience wearing thin.
His eyes met hers they looked as though they were pleading with her to drop the subject. "I…I was" the words failing him. He brought his head down into his hands trying to get hold of his emotions. "It was just a dream" he repeated over and over to himself out loud. "What was just a dream?" Tsunade now truly becoming concerned asked.
"His mangled body," he answered shuddering. "Who's?" Tsunade prodded when he didn't continue. "Naruto's" his voice breaking, tears rolling hot down his cheeks. Now she understood, but it still broke her heart to see him so upset.
"I never realized how much the damn kid had grown on me. At first it was just because he looked so damn much like his father. I thought I'd seen a ghost when I found him training with Ebisu that day. Now watching him go from an annoying brat to an almost annoying man…it's just hard. He's getting older and I'm not going to be able to protect him forever. Even if I could he wouldn't let me. That kid's got more enemies at 15 that most men ever have in their entire lives. He should be worrying about making money, getting laid, falling in love, spending time with his friends, not surviving!"
Tsunade was not at all surprised at his feelings; God knows she felt the same way about the boy. "I wonder if this is what it feels like to be a parent? He continued looking up at her. "Do you ever regret not having a family?" What an odd question coming from Jiraiya she thought. Of course she'd though what it would have been like to be a mother, but she never dwelt on whether never becoming one was a mistake or not. "Regret…I'm not sure our lifestyle isn't exactly conducive to raising children. Look at Naruto, he's been alone his entire life" He smiled sweetly at her and softly stroked her cheek. "Any child would have been lucky to have you as a mother and they probably would have been damn cute to boot" She couldn't help blushing at the comment.