I know it's been a very long time since I last updated, but I have such a terrible case of laziness. But thanks to the people that reviewed, I've finally decided to start back up again. Hope you enjoy!
Xxx Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, but to Masashi Kishimoto xxX
… Gangnam Style …
It's been a couple of days since Jiraiya had left for "Mount Myoboku", but he still hasn't returned like he said that he would. Tsunade has remained calm looking for the most part, but on the inside, she was slightly worried about him and her missing granddaughter. She was also starting to worry about her other granddaughters and the group of gentlemen that came with them. Never has she seen her children look so... forlorn.
Ino and Sakura would be caught crying from time to time with Shikamaru and Konohamaru trying to console them both. Sai would go off somewhere to draw, but it seemed that everything that he drew, he would just rip up, which was so unlike him. Lee and Temari would often train and spar for hours on end, just before Temari would storm off in a fit of rage. Neji and Tenten would train sometimes too, but then would quit and cry with one another over Hinata, and the others.
"How can Grandma Tsunade be so calm?!" Temari screeched in her usual fit. "Hinata is gone, Karin is dead, but yet she sits here like they never even existed!" She throws her gloved hands up in the air. "Even her boyfriend is missing and she doesn't give a damn!"
Sakura, hearing Temari's remark about their grandmother, abruptly stands and marches over to her sister. "Now you know that's not true, Temari!" Sakura yells, pointing her gloved finger directly in the blonde's face.
Temari's teal eyes harden and she looks down at the pinkette.
"Grandma Tsunade definitely cares about them! You're just being bitter because you couldn't do shit to stop anything from happening to Hinata and Karin!" Temari's eyes widen and the group around the arguing sisters gasp in shock.
"What did you just say?" The now thoroughly pissed off blonde questions. She slowly cracks her knuckles, readying herself to punch Sakura in the face for her snide remark.
"You heard me!" Sakura sneers, preparing herself for Temari to swing. "Grandma Tsunade knows how to keep her anger under control, unlike some other blondes around here. So just because you can't keep your bitchiness to yourself, doesn't mean that you can come at Grandma Tsu-!"
Before she could even finish, a fist clocked her square in the jaw, knocking back on her feet. Looking up with pure rage in her eyes, Sakura wiped the drop of blood from her lips.
"What the hell!" The green eyed beaut screams and starts to stomp her way towards her sister, her fist pulled back. But just before she could step in front of her, Sai comes up behind her and wraps his arms around her shoulders.
"Fuck you, Sakura!" Temari shouts, and just as Sai had done to Sakura, Shikamaru does the same to her. "Get the hell off of me, you Pineapple bastard!"
Shikamaru tuts and mumbles to himself as he drags Temari away from Sakura, who was kicking and screaming for Sai to let her go.
"Temari, you need to calm down. Fighting with Sakura isn't doing us any good."
"It's doing me some good!" Temari retorts back, earning her glare from the seething pinkette. "She deserves to get her ass beat! Walking around and putting the hag on a pedestal. If anyone mentions one bad thing about her, she goes off. It's like she doesn't realize that she's not the only granddaughter!"
"Of course I know that, you bitch!" Sakura shouts back, tugging harder at Sai. Oh how she wanted to sock Temari straight in her cocky mouth. "I just have more respect for her than you do! You're just a bitter person!"
"And you're not?!" Temari counters, raising her brow. "You let Karin die because you were bitter over her and Sasuke doing things behind your back!"
Sakura's eyes widen just before her face flushes red with fury. "YOU BITCH!"
"Sakura, you must calm down before you do something you might regret." Sai tries to add, but is silenced by a sharp 'shut up' and an elbow to the face.
Sai instantly releases her to hold his now bloody nose. He watches Sakura charge her way over to Temari, who had just forced Shikamaru to release her as well so that she could defend herself against her raging sister.
… Gangnam Style …
Tsunade was sitting in the kitchen with old pictures displayed out on the table in front of her. Picking up one of the pictures, she smiles at the happy memory. It was a picture of her and all of her girls. It was a family photo that she had arranged for so that she could have something to remember the girls by.
Since she, Anko, and Shizune were the oldest, the girls had the three of them sit in chairs while they stood behind them. It was supposed to come out as a nice picture, but considering who the family was, of course it didn't come out how they thought it was. While Tsunade and Anko sat with smiles on their faces and their arms wrapped around one another, Shizune had her head turned, looking at the mess behind them.
Somehow, in the span of a few seconds, Sakura and Ino had started arguing with one another. This caused for Temari and Tenten to pull them apart; Temari looking thoroughly annoyed and Tenten looking to be over with the entire thing. Hinata was standing next to Temari and Ino with a worried smile on her face, while Karin stood in between Sakura and Ino with a sly smile on her face and her glasses giving off a mischievous glare.
"Heh..." Tsunade titters as she continues to stare at the photo.
"No matter how many times I asked the photographer to take another picture, he insisted that he did not want to deal with us anymore." She snorts. "I can't say I blame him."
Gazing at the picture a moment longer, Tsunade finally places it down and looks for another picture. Just as she was about to pick up one of her and her daughters, Konohamaru comes rushing into the kitchen, practically screaming her name, startling her a great deal.
"Miss Tsunade! You have to come quick!" He exclaims breathlessly.
The older blonde turns in her chair with an annoyed look. "What is it?"
"It's Sakura and Temari!" He shouts. Not bothering to wait for her to stand up, the brunette runs towards her and grabs her by the wrist.
"What are you-!" Tsunade starts but is cut off by the boy's next words.
"They're fighting! Bad!"
Upon hearing this, it was now Tsunade's turn to drag Konohamaru.
"Where are they?" She asks sternly.
"Outside, in the back."
Taking no more than half a minute to reach the backdoor, Tsunade bursts through the backdoor, startling some of the teens, but what her eyes land on rocks her to her very core.
"Why..?"
What she sees is something that she has never ever seen before from her girls.
On her back was a bloody Temari with and equally battered Sakura straddling her. Sakura was trying to pound away at the blonde's face, but Temari had her arms held up to cover her. Just as Sakura was about to deliver another blow, Temari snakes her leg between them and kicks the pinkette off with enough force that sends her flying a good five/six feet away.
Taking the opportunity to strike back, Temari quickly gets to her feet just as Sakura does the same. Rushing at he sister, Temari delivers a swift kick to Sakura's abdomen and then another towards her head, but Sakura manages to block that one. Sakura then grabs Temari's foot and pulls on it, flipping Temari over her head and onto the hard ground. Just before she could stomp her foot down on her sister, Temari rolls out of the way and sweep kicks Sakura's feet, sending her to the ground.
Both are up on their feet in a matter of seconds and both glare daggers at the other. But just before the other could even move a muscle, Temari is sent soaring by someone else fist. And just as Sakura turns to see who the culprit was, that same fist connects with her own face, making her soar as well.
After landing roughly on the ground, both Temari and Sakura look up and are shocked to see their fuming grandmother standing dangerously over them. Their eyes widen in a mixture of shock and fear.
"Just what the hell has gotten into you two?!" The older woman bellows out at the two girls.
With out a second to spare, Sakura raises a pointed finger at her sister. "It's all Temari's fault, Grandma Tsunade!"
"What?!" Temari screeches, turning a seething glare toward the pinkette.
"She was going around badmouthing you, so I stepped in to defend your good name!" The pinkette continues, moving to get on her knees so that she could beg for forgiveness.
"Is this true, Temari?" Tsunade questions, looking from Sakura to the blonde with a sharp frown and glaring eyes.
Temari's teeth grind together as she scowls up at her grandmother. "Yes."
"And just what were you saying about me that made Sakura feel the need to fight you over?"
"I didn't want to fight her!" Sakura quickly defends herself. "She was the one who hit me fir-"
"Enough Sakura!" Tsunade barks at the younger girl, causing her to gasp in surprise. "I want to hear what Temari has to say for herself."
"Grandma Tsunade..." She mumbles mutely to herself, her jade eyes wide and watery.
Tsunade turns her attention back to Temari, whom still held her glare in place. "Well?"
Turning her head to the side, but keeping her gaze on her grandmother, Temari tuts out a bit of blood from her mouth.
"I was saying that you obviously don't give a damn about my sisters nor your boyfriend considering how cool you are about the whole situation. That's all I ever got a chance to say about you before little Miss Kiss Ass over here decided to open her mouth."
Tsunade stares at Temari for a moment, letting the teal eyed girl's words sink in. Does it really come off as me not caring about them?
After a brief moment, Tsunade turns her gaze on Sakura, who was scowling back at Temari. "Is this true, Sakura?"
Sakura's head snaps forward and her eyes immediately cast downward. "...Yes, ma'am." Her eyes then look up towards her.
"But what she had said had crossed a line with me! I've let her get away with saying so much crap about everyone and everything for these last couple of days, but what she said about you was far from the truth. Right Grandma Tsunade?" The pinkette's eyes are now brimming with hope and tears as she stares into her grandmother's eyes.
Tsunade is silent for a moment as the other teens watch the scene unfold before them with bated breath. After what seemed like forever, Tsunade releases a much needed sigh and crouches down in front of the girls, offering them a sad smile.
"It may be true that I haven't been acting all that concerned with everything lately, but if you girls are going to be depressed and stressed out, this house needs at least one sane woman. So if that means that I have to tuck away all of my own stress and worries just to make sure that you girls are okay, then I am willing to do that."
She turns her amber stare onto a teary Temari. "Now if you want me to show a little more emotion towards the loss of your sisters and to the much longer absence of my lover, if that's what it'll take to shorten these tantrums of yours, then I will do that too. I will come to you and show you the pain that I am holding inside over the loss of Karin and the kidnapping of Hinata. I will use you as my shoulder to cry on instead of using my pillow. Will that suffice for you, Temari?"
Temari sniffs and wipes away the tears that are streaming down her bruised cheeks. She smiles sadly while covering her reddened eyes. "A little more emotion would be nice, but I'm not going to be anyone's shoulder." She chuckles lightly. "I'm not good with crying girls."
Tsunade and the other teens each let out a short, breathy laugh, their own tears gliding down their faces. The older woman then turns her stare onto Sakura, who was sitting on her legs, hugging herself with her head held down and eyes leaking.
"Sakura, look at me." Nothing. "Look at me Sakura." Sakura raises her head a bit before looking back down. With a sigh, Tsunade places her hand under her granddaughter's chin, gently forcing her to look up.
"I said to look at me, Hun." She says softly as Sakura's eyes finally meet hers. "Now while I do love how quick you are to defend me, I never want to see it escalate to this point. Especially if it's with your own sister." Sakura sniffs. "Sisters are supposed to love and care for each other; always be there when the other is feeling down. Sisters aren't supposed to fight. Yes, they do have their minor quarrels here and there, but those arguments should never reach up to the point of trying to kill each other."
"I saw the look in you and your sister's eyes. You two were ready to fight to the death if necessary. That's not okay. So from now on, if any of your sisters say anything bad about me, just let it go. Don't let it irk you so much. At the end of the day, I still love you all no matter what you may say at any given moment. We are a strong family that can get through anything. Remember that, okay girls?"
Both Temari and Sakura nod, sobbing quietly to themselves, both feeling ashamed of their harsh words and actions. Staring at the two crying girls for a moment longer, Tsunade stands back up with a grunt and turns towards the other teens. She smiles when she sees both Ino and Tenten huddled next to Sai and Neji, balling their eyes out as well.
"I take it that you girls will remember what I said also?" She asks, already knowing the answer.
"Y-Yes ma'am." Both Tenten and Ino say, sniffling and hiccuping in between.
"Good." She turns back to her two children on the ground. "Now I want you two to get yourselves cleaned and patched up. You know where the first-aid kit is, now I want you two to do it together. No one else will help you. This will give you just enough time by yourselves so that you can apologize to one another without anyone watching. Got it?"
"Y-Ye-Yes m-ma'am." Both Sakura and Temari nod as them both slowly stand up and leisurely make their way into the house.
Once the two were inside, Tsunade turns her attention on the rest of the group that was spread awkwardly away from each other. She rubs the bridge of her nose.
"As for the rest of you," She looks up with a small smile. "I would really appreciate it if you guys could find something to do outside for a while. I would really like it if those two could have the whole house to themselves for a bit, just so that can cry it out without being heard."
"Sure." Shikamaru agrees for the rest of the group. "No problem."
"Also," Tsunade crosses her arms under her bust and closes her amber eyes for effect. "I want you to let tell them this after they are all better, and what I'm about to say goes for the rest of you too. If anything like this ever happens again, I will deliver more than just a punch to face to make you stop. I will give you the full after effect of what it feels like to be in a fight with me. Am I understood?"
"Perfectly!" The group of remaining teens shout as a cold shiver runs down there spines at the threat that the older woman had just made.
"Good." Tsunade smiles triumphantly. "Now go find something that all of you can do together out here. I want this to be a bonding thing for when Temari and Sakura are finished."
"Okay Grandma." Tenten says as she and Neji walk towards Shikamaru and Konohamaru. Lee, Ino, and Sai make their ways over as well, leaving the older woman satisfied.
Feeling that there is nothing left to be said, Tsunade heads back into the house, closing the door behind her. As soon as the door is shut, she is greeted by the howling of her two granddaughters that are hidden behind the bathroom door. She smiles for what seems to be the umpteenth time that day as she makes her way back to the kitchen and into her seat. Picking up from where she left off at, she lifts a picture of her, Anko, and Shizune, and then another picture of just Tenten, Temari, Sakura, Ino, Karin, and Hinata.
She grins widely at both pictures seeing as all of them were grinning in each one. How she wishes that she could go back to the times when her granddaughters were just toddlers and her daughters were just starting out as adoptive parents. Back then, she never even met Jiraiya. If it wasn't for him, she would have never moved out into the woods just so that he could be closer to the little brat and his parents.
"Damn..." How she wishes that she could hate Kushina for what she did to the family, but for some reason she just can't. She knows that it's not the woman's fault for her doings, and that's one of the reasons why she can't hate her for it. Although, she can admit that she does pity her. And just as her thoughts ran to the redheaded beastly woman and her idiotic son, her mind raced right back to her lover.
"Dammit Jiraiya. Where are you?"
… Gangnam Style …
Well that's it for now, sorry if it seemed short or rushed, but I did want to get something out there. Admittedly, I was going to write more, but I decided to save that for the next chapter so that I have something to update quickly on. Anyway, so super sorry for the extremely long wait, but hopefully I'm back for good now and I can update this story and not abandon it. And thank you to those that wanted me to continue the story. It's because of you that I did. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and Naruto and Hinata will be in the next chapter. Thank you all for reading and if you would like, please leave a me a review, follow, and/or fave. It would be much appreciated and show me that this story is still going strong. Thanks again and have a great day or night! Bye-Bye! (^u^)
