Tsunade never done this before. Triple-checking her office…and now doing it four times.
She went over to the chair that Ino would use during their session. A nice light blue padded recliner with a small light-sea blue memory-foam pillow to make her relaxed and focus her mind. Tsunade had spent the last hour rearranging her desk and the floor to be less cluttered of books and other junk. As the grey skies wouldn't help with recovering from depression, Tsunade attached some orange and violet curtains to block the dull view and reinforce positive elements. Tsunade dusted and vacuumed the place, cleared out all the booze, and just generally arranged the room to be nice and clean.
And Tsunade did this all on her own. Didn't even call Shizune, even gave her a day off. She was really going the extra mile on this.
Ino would arrive in about twenty minutes. Tsunade paced around the room, wondering if she should go at it again. Just to make sure. She tried to calm herself by sitting down at her desk and pulling out from a drawer a half-finished novel to dig into. A mystery about a amnesiac ghost helping a down-and-out detective to reveal a fake conspiracy to a nation about to go to war. Oddly enough, the last time she read from the novel was before heading out to deliver Inochi's recovered handband.
She went straight to her bookmark and continued:
"So." Detective Hajime cleared his throat before asking, "All this…over land?"
"Very profitable land." Kousuke floated over to Hajime's side. "155 acres isn't much, but the land is perfect for growing crops, raising animals…and planning raids. It's on neutral ground, so if Arianana goes to war with Forowlost…"
"Senator Blake will take the land and get revenge." Hajime sighed. "Always revenge. It's good for business tho', when smart people want revenge without breaking the law."
Tsunade found herself drifting off from reading. Sure, the heroes were talking about the villain's motivations and why he wanted to get his country to go into war with a innocent country, but she couldn't focus on absorbing the information. Having only managed to cover a few paragraphs, she left her bookmark as it were and put the book away. Eighteen minutes. She only wasted two.
Why was she so distracted? This would be simple. Ino would walk in, Tsunade would ask her to take a seat in the chair. They would discuss various things, like Ino's recent encounter with her friend and her dreams. Tsunade would prescribe some medication and a strict regulation to help her recover. They would part ways for now and have another session two weeks from now for a check up.
But this seemed to extend beyond a normal doctor's visit, huh? Tsunade figured she felt more nervous than Ino did. She wanted to get up and rearrange the room again just to make sure that Ino would be completely comfortable when she finally sat down for the meeting. Tsunade turned her head sharply at the clock to notice that she still had seventeen minutes. What would she do for that time?
Tsunade opened the drawer on the opposite side of her desk from the book. Inside were pads of lined paper and a few pens and pencils. Tsunade snatched up a pad and a pencil to jolt down a few things. She started with her dreams, what she saw and possibly a few things about they could mean. The pink being she talked with? Tsunade originally figured it represented her doubts. She was nearly hitting sixty years of age...a bit late for a mid-life crisis, but given her nigh-endless life force and incredible chakra control, she figured she could make it a little over hundred years more!
…so not even close to a mid-life crisis. She needed another two decades before she go into the town-square and announced she was going through a mid-life crisis.
She continued to write down ideas. What did the tall rock the being sat on represent? Maybe she wanted a vacation to someplace new, somewhere up in the mountains? Nah, that's a bit on the nose. Maybe…the tall mountain represented something overwhelming to her…her own guilt over the people whose lives were lost because of her? Tsunade clutched her chest in a mild panic as her own issues came flooding over her. She took several deep breaths and focused on the good memories from years prior to calm her down. After a few minutes, her chest went back to the normal pace of breathing.
Still only ten minutes to go. God, would she even be able to go on with the whole thing? She nearly had a panic attack just now, and if Ino were to say certain words, this could trigger a actual panic attack.
What she needed to do now is to find something calming. Reading and writing were out; the former couldn't keep her focused and the latter proved to do the opposite effect. What else? Not eating, not drinking, not sleeping…
…maybe a little catnap wouldn't hurt. Tsunade ducked into the nearby bathroom and grabbed a towel off the rack. She turned the cool water handle on halfway and quickly dabbed the towel in the water. With the towel damp, she turned off the water and wringed out the excess water. Tsunade returned to the office and leaned back in her chair, applying the wet towel to her forehead.
So much better. The cool cloth washed her troubled mind down like a nice shower. Tsunade's breathing slowed into a relaxed pace and a easy smile developed on her face. Soon, time went away as she relaxed in her chair with the cure-all towel.
"Lady Tsunade?"
A nudge from the right. Tsunade awoke with a sudden start and saw that a very tired-looking Ino stood next to her. "Lady Tsunade?" Ino asked again, her voice weak. "Uh, sorry I arrived late, I didn't get much sleep last night."
"I heard." Tsunade blurted out, taking the matted-down towel and folding it on the desk. "From Sakura. She called me this morning. Been having some nightmares recently?" Ino nodded. "Yeah, I got a nightmare of my own, although it's more of the weird sort than horrific."
She cleared her throat and realigned herself properly in her chair. "Shall we begin?"