Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
It wasn't hard to find her. Nagato and Yahiko had agreed to cover for her while she was gone. Nagato had shaken his head and looked dubious and Yahiko outright told her that she wasn't going to be able to accomplish anything, but neither of them tried to stop her. They knew better, and that sense of solidarity the three shared, even after years of being in Konoha, ensured that they would support her.
After four months, Konan had finally thought Tsunade was going to be somewhat alright. After four months of not making good on her threats to leave, Konan finally thought Tsunade was going to try and pick up on the life she left off when Dan died.
The fact that Tsunade quit work a month ago and didn't try to get another job should have told Konan something different than what she assumed. She knew that now.
The little town was barely five miles from Konoha. Konan pulled her cloak hood further up her head as the freezing rain became even driving than before, and put muddy feet inside the bar. The barmaid sighed in exasperation as she watched mud drip onto the floor, but given how much of it there already was, she didn't try to stop Konan from entering.
"Sorry," Konan whispered with a half-hearted smile, and the barmaid only waved at her wearily and went to get her mop, probably not for the first time that night.
It wasn't hard to find the head of sleek blonde hair, either. Tsunade was sitting at the bar near the back of the seedy little pub, sipping her sake as usual with her shoulders hunched over. She looked as though she was in pain and, Konan realized, she probably was.
Good grief… To be brought to this…
The lamps, golden light suffusing the pub, swung overhead as Konan approached her. "Tsunade-san?" she asked quietly.
Tsunade didn't look up at first, still sipping her sake with a sort of serenity Konan didn't think she had ever seen in her before. Konan's pale eyes bore into the side of her head for maybe half a minute before Konan summoned words again.
"Tsunade-san?" She laid a hand on Tsunade's arm, and Tsunade finally looked at her, her eyes clearer than Konan had seen them in four months.
"Konan." That voice didn't have the raw emotion in it that it normally did, and Konan found herself sitting down in the seat beside her. When the bartender asked what she wanted she just waved him off, but Tsunade asked for another sake.
This is how you spend your time, isn't it, Tsunade?
"So…" Konan wasn't entirely sure what to say anymore "…so…"
Tsunade waved a hand impatiently. "If you're going to say something, say it Konan."
Alright then.
"You left," Konan intoned flatly.
"Yes," Tsunade remarked casually, her eyebrows rising as if in surprise. "I did."
She seemed so much… lighter than she ever had been in Konoha. Far lighter since she had been since Dan's death. The weight was gone from her shoulders.
Konan had come out there with the intention of asking Tsunade to come back. But seeing her like this, she couldn't find her words anymore.
So she didn't ask. She just left, and was back to Konoha by morning.
Nagato and Yahiko were waiting. They saw her return, saw her come back alone, and neither of them looked surprised.
"She wouldn't agree?" Yahiko asked, reaching forward to take Konan's pack.
Konan couldn't tell them the truth. She just nodded, and shrugged heavily. "No, she wouldn't."
A hand tapped her shoulder and Nagato's expression was somewhere between sympathy and "I-told-you-so." If she didn't love him like she did Konan probably would have hit him. "Did you expect her to?" he asked quietly.
"No."
