Chapter 28—Even
Kotone was well enough to be back on her feet before long, and Orochimaru put her to work again right away. Tsunade hovered nearby as much as possible. She wanted to try to cheer Kotone up since Tsunade had been the one to insist on Jiraiya leaving and she was still feeling guilty over her inability to properly treat Kotone's wounds when she had first found her.
Tsunade was heading through the hallways of the hideout for just that reason when she passed by her and Orochimaru's bedroom. The door was closed and she paused in front of it. That's odd… she thought. She opened it and looked around. No one was there.
Without thinking about it, she headed off down the hall. She turned down a hallway she couldn't remember having seen before and followed it to the end where a door was standing slightly ajar. Without hesitation, she pushed it open and stepped inside.
The scene before her could have come straight from her nightmares. Orochimaru and Kabuto were both on the ground. Blood covered the floor around them and a sword was protruding from Kabuto's chest. Neither was moving and Tsunade could easily see that Kabuto was already dead, his eyes open but dull and unseeing.
She took a shaky step toward Orochimaru and her legs folded under her.
Not again, she thought desperately and her body trembled. How can this be happening again? What is going on? She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, hoping that when she did she'd be able to ignore the blood that immobilized her, but it only got worse the longer she sat there.
Get up, she told herself. Kabuto's dead. You have to save Orochimaru. Get up! She pushed herself forward and stumbled forward a few steps only to fall again at Orochimaru's side. He was still breathing, but he was hurt and bleeding badly.
I can do this, Tsunade told herself as she reached out a shaking hand. Her fingers just brushed the warm, wet blood at Orochimaru's side and she gritted her teeth against a violent tremor. With a wrenching force of will, she kept her eyes open and pressed first one palm then the other carefully against the worst of his wounds.
I saved Kotone, she told herself firmly. I can. I can do this–
She blinked and suddenly she was standing just inside the doorway of the bedroom. Orochimaru was standing in front of her.
…It was a genjutsu, she thought. Of course it was a genjutsu.
"You did well," Orochimaru said, moving forward to kiss her head lightly. "Do you still want to quit?"
"No," she answered quickly. "No, I want to fix this. I feel like I can."
Orochimaru smirked. "Good. And after that, maybe you should have Kotone give you some tips on playing poker. You won't accept my bets anymore if you know you can't beat me."
"I – what?" She thought back to their game and almost gasped. "You knew exactly what you were doing!" she half-shouted. "Who taught you how to play? It was Kotone, wasn't it?!"
Orochimaru laughed quietly. "I think you'll forgive her, Tsunade."
"Yeah," Tsunade said easily. "But not you. You owe me."
"Is that so?" He pulled her closer with an arm around her waist and gently touched the crystal still resting at her chest. "I gave you such a lovely gift and I'm helping you overcome your fear. I think–"
"Fine," Tsunade cut him off, pressing closer and tugging him down slightly by the front of his shirt to kiss him. She held on to him tightly, letting the feel of him wash away the images she'd seen in the genjutsu. "We'll call it even."
[X]
Blood and Crystals—Author's Note
Blood and Crystals is finally done! I feel like I should have more to say about it than that but I can't think of anything… I guess I'll move along to the next subject .
So as I mentioned in my previous author's note, this was the second to last installment in this series. The final story doesn't have a title yet cause I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with something good. (The working title is "Stupid" because when I started writing it, I was still working on Breaking Point, and I knew that by starting this last story I was getting myself in way over my head. And I was right. Everything after Breaking Point was never meant to happen, but when I get an idea for a story I just can't help myself…) Anyway, "Stupid" is going to be another one of the longer, chapter stories and the final installment (I have to keep telling myself that to keep things from getting out of hand… you know, more than they already have.) but I don't know when I will start posting it since I'm still working on it and my life is in a bit of a shambles at the moment. I'll do my best!
Thanks again for reading, everybody! You're awesome.
~DS
P.S. Oops I wrote a bonus chapter :3 Go check it out~
