Hey! Please Read! (Author's Note dedicated to Vampire-Hime 101, for being a fellow "101")

Sorry for the long delay, you guys. Finals and all. But Kristy made me promise for every "A" I got, I would write a story. So there'll be seven new stories for you! (and for those of u who dn't understand math, that translates to me getting an A/A- in every class). XD

This story was inspired by nonowriting PLEASE review her amazing story "A Glass of Tea with the Uchihas" because with just a few more reviews, she'll write another chapter!

This story was beta-ed by Indifferent Nobody who is now going to be my official beta! (Yup, it's a surprise for her too). SHE wrote an awesome story called "Truly, Madly, Deeply" so please read and review that as well!

Be Thankful for these two, because without them, you would have my crappy version of Old King Cole for our trio. TRUST me. It was crappy. XD

The sake slipped down her face like a lover's caress, gently curving along her sun-kissed cheek, teasing down her throat to disappear into the darkened cove of her ample curves.

I stared envyingly, not so much that I wished to replace it's translucent drop with my hand, but of the fact she could reach such a state of oblivion where her appearance no longer mattered. The spit-slick hand glistened as she wiped the back over her lipstick-smeared mouth, belching with all the graceful beauty of a fishwife.

Three Sannin. Three Sannin.

"Hey... Jiraiya? 'Sthat you? Took ya awhile."

Her almond eyes, glazed from too many drunken nights and lonely days, finally focused upon me. They questioned with a lackluster smirk, knowing I would have found her, eventually, even without the invitation. I always did.

"Yeah, hime. It's me."

A flash of sobriety at the childhood nickname flared through her eyes, narrowing them into angry slits. They were perfect for a dominatrix, large assets swaying, held firm by the too-tight leather as she smirked, a whip grasped by perfectly manicured hands.

But the vision was fleeting, just as her anger, a mere echo of once strong emotions from a life lived to its fullest.

See how they hate. See how they break.

"Whatcha' doin' over there? C'mon! Let's get drunk!"

"Alright."

"'Course, once ya take a sip, there ain't no goin' back."

"I know,"

I whispered, more to myself than to her, slowly swirling the milky powder until it disappeared into the sake. Her lip curled in revulsion at my hesitance, but whether it was directed towards my not swigging it down or the fact that I didn't rush her towards the nearest hospital I didn't know.

"I've got sheventeen minutesh,"

"Wait, wha-?"

They drank a toast to all their woes,

"Hey, Oro'! Knew ya'd accept the invite!"

Cursing furiously at my lack of awareness, allowing an S-class criminal to sidle up behind me without even a breath of warning, I leapt and pinned Orochimaru against the wall, sake cup teetering on the edge of the bar.

"Now, now, you two. Play nicsh."

"You're as big an ass as ever, Jiraiya. I'm not here to fight."

"Like Hell you aren't,"

I muttered, this time completely to myself, though I'm sure he heard me, stubborn bastard with that stupid smirk. I shoved out a bar stool for him, ignoring the way it shook the sake bottle, the last tiny white grains at the lip of the bottle finally fluttering in, dissolving in the golden fluid.

Orochimaru knocked back his drink like a pro, smirk faltering, probably as he remembered the last time he drank with us, but who knows? Maybe it was the fact his clothing resembled Tsunade's expensive kimono far more than my own. He looked better in it than Tsunade, the loose cloth hinting at softer curves and a delicate frame, hers bulging out to reveal a figure more suitable for a youths wet-dream than a romantic, candle-lit dinner. I shook my head to clear those thoughts and images, swirling the sake cup once more.

Sick of not knowing their friends or foes.

"Sheventeen minutesh."

"I heard you tell Jiraiya that, Tsunade. What does it mean?"

Confusion laced his normally icy tone, softening his eyes and perpetual smirk. And for a moment I thought of another time, another life still filled with strong emotions of both love and hate, when we were more than a trio of murderers, drunkards, and runaways.

But then she spoke again, a bitter, mocking tone replacing the slur, and I wondered which was worse: a Tsunade who ran away from her troubles, or a Tsunade who realized there isn't any place that far.

"Like ya always said, Oro', the best medicines always taste the bitterest. Then why shouldn't the best poison taste the sweetest?"

"W-what? What are you-"

"You have about thirteen minutes, now."

He spluttered, rising and flinging the sake bottle, glaring hatefully at the innocuous liquid as it trickled down the wall, tiny white grains clinging to the time-worn surface. His gaze hardened, as, hissing furiously, he spun towards us, denial shining bright as tears within eyes no longer a gentle shade of golden amber, but of bile and piss and withered flowers too long away from the sun.

"You tricked me! You, you're trying to kill me! Even after... I was a fool to trust you,"

"No,"

She whispered, almond eyes soft and watery, tears the color of autumn leaves trickling down her lipstick-smeared cheek to fall into the darkened cove of her sagging bosom. Fine wrinkles, none of them laugh-lines, adorned her smile as she reached out with a hand all flesh and bone to stroke his pale white forehead, trailing down his paler cheek beaded in sweat and tears to rest by her side once more.

"No, I didn't lie. This will be our last reunion. For all of us. Forev-"

I lunged to grab her, no handsome prince rushing in to save the pretty princess from an evil dragon. Not this time. The princess herself is the dragon, and she cannot run from herself. No one can. The kimono draped and wrinkled across her body, all harsh edges and bony protrusions. Gently I lowered her to the floor, trying to wipe off the lipstick, only smearing it further.

Can you blame them for the path they chose?

"No. I can't die. Don't let me die!"

He screamed, low voice spiking high with a growing sense of urgency and denial. Chanting, over and over, a mantra, honey drops glistening gold as they slip down his sickly white cheek, staining his pretty tan yukata scarlet like lipstick and face paint and an immortal dragon named Death.

"Please, Ji-Jiraiya. Please. D-d-don't let me,"

"It's okay."

"Don't let-"

"Shh,"

"Plea-"

Gently, I held him close, cradling him as a china doll, eyelids dipping inward oddly as I closed them, just like hers, wiping away with the edge of my sleeve the egg-like juice of his once proud gaze. Tsunade sure knew how to pick her poisons. Or maybe she brewed it herself, damn it if Oro' wasn't the only one experimenting while I was away.

A soft groan echoed from behind the bar, I leapt over unhesitatingly with the instinct of too-many years of fighting. Looks like the bartender didn't want to give hime her sake after all, that was one massive bruise peeping out from her pretty black hair.

The Three Sannin

"A toast,"

I whispered, the tiny pop of the sake cork echoing louder than the pretty girl's groan as I poured another cup before tossing it away and grabbing the bottle, the drink and poison I needed long since absorbed into the woodwork of the time-worn wall.

Softly, I caressed Orochimaru's hair, smooth in death as it had been in life. I ran my fingers over the ridges and pockmarks of Tsunade's cheek, a new surface to map and remember in the scant minutes I had remaining, before the girl behind the bar awoke, before the sun came up and the town came to life and the two people I loved most in the world stayed dead.

"To Life,"

The little jar rattled across the ground, finally stopping beside her perfectly manicured nails. I grasped it as a dying man might a lifejacket, grinning to myself at the irony I poured the tiny white granules smelling of nothing and tasting of blessed freedom into my mouth and counted down the minutes as my eyeballs cracked and bled black and white amidst the cacophony of screams from the black-haired girl, the laughter of a silver-haired boy and the sobs of a golden-haired man.

"And to Death."

And here's a toast to you, my fellow readers and writers!

Envy4, Aeruthin, akatsuki-tenshi-kitsune, Fayneir, GespenstKAF, icefireSpirit Wolf, InfinityAtmo, nonowriting, Mariko666, Markus, NarukitX3, Shien-San, sora0179, The Eye Behind The Mask, vampgal26, BKwriter, Hollow Inside, Unknown Variable, show(.)me(.)the(.)stars., demon in training, Shiro Kitsune-chan, bali55, Duffums, Anbaanobaka, The Dark Side Has Yaoi, candysmymiddlename, demon in training, PirateCaptainBo, Roosjuh1986, Snake D'Morte, ZaffyWuffyBuffy, xXRawkin-ZwinkeyXx, Akatsuki-Hidan, Hiei Luvs Sweetsnow, xxXTheXFallenXxx, TheAlbinoBlackCat, Bloodroot Godot, 3Kiyoshi3, APG66, raralovesrock, Yuki Himura, virgo angelnine4, Vance.G, yoshino-sama, -PENUCHI-, X(.)x(.)Yaoi(.)Kix(.)Ass(.)x(.)X., kyuubi233, Ironically Insane, voidal, BluAugust, SecretSnow, Chaos Raider Tenshi, TuffChick, Shadow-The Black Queen, FaustVII, an239, Demon Naruto 117, Sutzina Zion, Sable Scribe, Labbear, Grim Sinistre Symer, Overlander43, NamidaNoNozomi, YoIhsakak, piratepenguin666, EverlastingBreeze, blindrain, Sycojay, lokiwolf, Lykanthrope, Keelen, and aura183.

And a second round! For my new, sick and twisted friends!

Yancha Kitsune, Hiki-nii, Rilili, Vampire-Hime 101, Mizuki-of-the-Moon, Indifferent Nobody, Asuki, Melody-chii, and Blake-Duff.