Thanks to Inanari for the review!

Tsunade - Visitor

Hope shines brightest in the darkest moments

"I bet everything!" she exclaimed in a slurry voice and slammed the remaining money down on the ground in front of her. The other gamblers looked at each other and then cheered. They knew of the famous reputation of the legendary sucker, the slug princess that always loses. Only a few minutes later they were confirmed that the rumors were true: She had lost everything.

"Too bad, lady" the winner said but he grinned widely. She though only shrugged and grabbed the sake bottle the man offered her probably as a mocking booby prize.

Drunkenly she stumbled out of the house and into the cold and fresh night. The sky was illuminated by stars and even though it was already past midnight the village was still buzzing with life.

She had lost her assistant Shizune and her pig Tonton some while ago. That light weight was always out cold too soon.

Her vision was blurry as she stumbled through the night toward where she thought her apartment should be. Her mind was foggy, lulled by the effects of the alcohol.

That was good. The alcohol kept the dark thoughts away from sneaking into her mind, throwing her into the depths of depression and despair. It's already been years since their deaths but she just couldn't stop grieving. Every night she had nightmares that forced her over and over again to watch her beloved ones die in front of her. And during the day she was haunted by painful memories she only could make disappear with enough booze.

The apartment must be somewhere in the parallel street, she thought. If she'd go through an alley connecting those two streets then she should make it faster.

The ability of a healer allowed her to drink more alcohol than normal people could but at some point even she had her limit when she couldn't think and stand anymore.

She stumbled toward a dark alley that appeared in her blurred vision. Steadying herself against the wall she lifted the bottle she was still holding to her mouth. Her hands were shaking. Some of the liquor missed her mouth and ran down her chin. She gulped the alcohol down, the only medicine helping her through these days.

She couldn't allow the memories to resurface in her mind, along with the guilt, pain, despair and sadness.

Entering the alley the light from the busy street was immediately sucked up. Darkness was now the only thing surrounding her. Guiding herself along the wall she took one shaky step after another.

She looked down. Some liquid flowed in a little stream over the stone. In the moonlight shining from above it almost looked crimson, like blood.

Blood.

She started to tremble. Her entire body was suddenly frozen in fear. The bottle slipped through her numb fingers and crashed onto the stone, shattering into pieces. It sounded just like thunder roaring in her ears.

Thunder in the sky… blood coloring the ground red… a weak beating heart… cold flesh… the smell of death and blood… her scream echoing through the darkness…

She doubled over and vomited into the stream. Sweat covered her skin. Her blonde hair hung messy in her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks, dropping into the river, into the river of blood.

"Dammit stop coming out! Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop…"

No, not now! Shaking she stumbled out of the darkness and into the light of the illuminated and busy street.

Frightened she moved her hands in front of her face, afraid of what she would see. But they were clear, only stained with her vomit, but no blood.

Looking ahead she saw the house with her apartment. It took an eternity to get there but she already remembered nothing of it as she finally stood in the floor leading to her room. Luckily she still had her key and didn't lose it like so many times before.

She wanted to take a step in front of the door when she suddenly noticed the figure curled up in front of it. Cursing she barely was able to put her foot away to not step onto the person. Narrowing her eyes she could make out a small girl sleeping peacefully on the ground in the middle of the hallway in front of the entrance to her room.

"Hey get up and move it" she slurred, about to kick the girl. It was her own damn fault for sleeping in front of her apartment. But before her foot made contact with the girl's side, she suddenly stood up, yawning and stretching.

"Out of my way" she grumbled and wanted to push the girl aside to try and put the key into the keyhole.

"Oh so you finally came!" The loud high voice of the girl made her cringe. "I thought you'd never appear."

Her foggy mind couldn't quite process what the girl just said and so she just grunted and tried to hit the keyhole.

"You don't look good… And you smell like a whole liquor shop!"

Damn, why were there suddenly three of these holes?

"Where are that young black haired woman and the pig that are always with you?"

The key did not match in any of the three holes.

"Shall I help you?"

"Okay door you wanted to have it the hard way" she mumbled, struck out and let her fist collide with the poor door.

Stepping through the new created passageway she finally got into her apartment. Exhausted she collapsed right on the bed. Out of the corner of her eyes she noticed the girl following her but she was too tired to send her away. She just wanted to close her eyes in hope that she would for once get a restless sleep without any nightmares.

But then her eyes captured the blue crystal lying next to her head. The necklace seemed to have slipped out of her cleavage.

This necklace…

The necklace of her grandfather: She gave it to both of them, as a present, a sign of her faith in their dreams, a sign of how precious they were to her. But all that this necklace had brought to them was death and now it was only a constant reminder of her hurtful memories.

Tears gathered in her eyes, fell down and soaked the blanket.

She missed them, missed them so much.

Something warm touched the top of her head. Out of the corners of her eyes she saw the girl sitting down next to her, smiling sadly at her.

She recognized her from somewhere. This childish face that at the same time bared so much more than a simple child could ever bear. These bright blue eyes sparkled with laughter while they held an expression like they have seen all the terrors in the world.

She knew her… from these times… she had been there… a white dot in the sea of blood, a light in the darkness.

"You have to sleep" the child softly said, caressing her cheek and wiping away her tears. "Don't worry. I will ease your pain. I will make the darkness in your heart disappear for this night so that you can get the deserved rest. I'm here with you." She smiled, bright and beautiful. This carefree smile reminded her so much of him…

"To be Hokage that is my dream!"

And her words were so calm and soft like Dan's, calming down her very own soul and giving her strength.

"Let's make our dreams come true."

"I will not leave you this time. Tomorrow we will fetch you back together but for now sleep." With that the warmth consumed her, gave her peace. She was too tired to hold her eyes open any longer.

Her mind drifted off into sleep and somehow she knew that this time she wouldn't be plagued by any nightmares because she was here.

I love Tsunade, she is next to Konan the greatest female character in Naruto so I hope you liked it. Next chapter will be Itachi.

Please review!