Author's Note: This chapter was also written with the help of Mistress Winowyl. As always you have my affection and appreciation.

XXX

Anko was following along behind Tsunade in sullen silence. She could guess what this was going to be about. Somehow or other the Slug Princess had come to see herself in a sort of motherly protector for Naruto. Just how in the hell he had managed to bring out maternal instincts in one of the most bitter and cynical women she'd ever known was a mystery. Though if anyone could do it it would be him, he has a gift for getting past a person's defenses. She knew that far too well.

When she saw where they were going she grunted.

Tsunade turned to look at her. "There a problem?"

"No I just didn't expect you to bring me to the Copper Cellar that's all. How did you know it was my favorite place? Have you been checking up on me?"

"No," Tsunade replied with an amused expression. "For these sorts of meetings I always head for the cheapest dirtiest bar I can find. It sets the proper mood."

"Great," Anko said with just the right amount of sarcastic emphasis. "Now I'm really looking forward to this."

"Oh so am I," Tsunade told her with a bit of sarcasm of her own.

Though it was early afternoon the bar was about a quarter full. That wasn't all too surprising considering that this was a bar that catered to shinobi. Ninja didn't work regular hours and didn't feel the usual hesitations about drinking early in the day.

Normally when Anko walked in the door most of the male attention would be directed her way. This once though she was overshadowed by the woman in front her. Most of the older ninja knew who she was and gave her a respectful nod and knew better than to approach her. At one table though were a pain of young Genin still in their teens who only saw a good looking woman. One of them oggled her openly and spoke to his friend in a voice that was deliberately too loud.

"Take a look at that rack! I tell you I'd die for the chance to suck on those babies even once."

Tsunade heard him (she couldn't not have) and went over to the table appearing friendly enough. "What was that again?" She asked pleasantly. "I just might let you do as you please."

"Really?" The Genin asked excitedly.

"Sure," she said. Then in the next instant she brought her fist down smashing their table to kindling. "Just so long as really are ready to die for it."

The youngster paled and silently shook his head.

Anko stood there and couldn't help but nod approvingly. She had to admit it, Tsunade had style!

"A bottle of sake and two glasses," Tsunade ordered.

The bartender quickly produced them.

Tsunade paid him and then led Anko over to a table in the back away form any prying ears. The two women sat down and Tsunade filled both glasses to the brim. Anko took hers and lifted it carefully to her mouth.

"So what was so important I had to miss out on watching my laundry dry?" She took a long sip of the cheap alcohol.

"Well to start with I'd like to know if you and Naruto have had sex." Tsunade asked in an amiable way.

Anko started to choke and spat up some of her drink. "Wha… what?"

"Have you taken his virginity?" She repeated still sounding congenial and friendly.

Anko looked longingly at the exit and wondered if there was any chance she could make it outside before Tsunade tore one of her ears off.

XXX

"You know when I said I wanted you for a mission kid I wasn't planning on leaving right this minute," Jiraiya told him. They both had back packs on and were walking towards the gate. "I was planning to stay a few days and take in the local sights of the old village."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Who are you trying to kid ero-sennin? You just want to go peek at the women's bathhouse."

Jiraiya's grin was both childlike and perverted all at once. "Like I said the local sights."

"If it's an important mission we shouldn't waste time lounging around the village," Naruto said sounding like a serious and conscientious ninja devoted to his duty.

Jiraiya wasn't buying it for even a second. "The snake charmer wasn't waiting by the phone all this time was she? Now you're running for cover."

Naruto flinched but tried to pretend that hadn't described his situation perfectly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't bullshit a bullshitter kid. I've seen it all, done it all, and had it all done to me don't think you're fooling me. It's way too obvious."

"This has nothing to do with Anko-sensei."

"In that case why are you not wearing a trench coat and fishnet shirt? More than two years together on the road and that was the only outfit you ever wore."

Naruto grimaced as the perverted sage brought up another good point. He was currently wearing his Chunin vest over a plain long sleeve black shirt and black pants. Despite his childish behavior Jiraiya possessed a sharp mind and keen eyes. He didn't miss much, and never missed the obvious.

Unlike me, Naruto thought bitterly. "I suppose you're going to tell me, 'I told you so.'"

"Oh yeah! I definitely am! In fact you can expect to hear that quite a few times, but I'm not going to say it right now. Look kid, the fact of the matter is your expectations were never reasonable. It's only natural that you're hurting since she did the worst thing a person can do; fail to be what you imagine them to be."

"Was it unreasonable to expect her not to sleep with half the village?"

"That wasn't what you were expecting," Jiraiya reminded him. "You were expecting her to be waiting for you faithfully. You expected her to come running into your arms gushing like a virgin bride. That was never going to happen kid. If you'd come back and found her in love with one other person or she told you she'd slept with three or four other guys would that have been any better?"

Naruto stopped and thought about that.

He imagined for a second coming back to find her in love with that arrogant jerk Kakashi. He imagined her telling him she'd seen a handful of other guys.

He gave a sour grunt. "I wouldn't like either of those," he admitted. "But I could forgive that more easily if she wanted to be with me and just me."

"I take it that's not what she wants?" Jiraiya asked neutrally.

Naruto shook his head miserably.

"In that case move on," Jiraiya said easily. "Take what happened as a life lesson and learn from it. There are plenty more where she came from."

"Anko's special! I love her!" He blushed and looked down. "I mean I loved her, I really loved her… or I thought I did."

He felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I believe you kid. I don't doubt for a second that you loved her, but first loves very rarely work out." He had a gloomy far away look, as though he were speaking from experience. "The fact is that no matter how much or how deeply you might love her she's unwilling or unable to give you what you need. You've obviously figured this out for yourself kid or you wouldn't be so desperate to get away from her."

They walked on for a bit in silence as Naruto thought about that.

"So… so what do I do?" Naruto asked plaintively.

"You move on." Jiraiya told him. "You can't force someone love you the way you want them to, either they do or they don't. If she's not going to return your love and give you what you need accept that and try to find someone else who can."

"So that's it? I'm supposed to just forget about her?"

"As your one true love? Yes. Should you just forget about her completely? No. Give it time Naruto, with enough time all wounds heal. Even broken hearts. Maybe eventually you can accept her for what she is and you can have a friendship with her or some sort of relationship. Just don't expect her to be something she's not."

That was not what he wanted to hear.

It did sound like good advice though. "Maybe," he said.

Jiraiya nodded satisfied and said no more.

They walked out of the gate to begin their mission in a comfortable silence.

They'd gone a few miles when Jiraiya turned to his student. "Hey kid."

"Yeah?"

A wide teasing grin consumed Jiraiya's face. "I told you so!"

XXX

"No I haven't slept with him," Anko bit off. I offered to but he turned me down. She knocked back about half her drink. "Not that it's any business of yours."

"I'm making it my business," Tsunade told her sharply and had some of her own sake. "That kid reminds me of some people who were very precious to me and I mean to help him fulfill his dream."

"What? And you think I don't? I've known him a hell of a lot longer than you have and I've done more for him than anyone except maybe the old man!"

Tsunade nodded. "My sensei told me about how much you helped him starting out. For that I want to thank you, but I think it would be best if you stayed away from him from now on."

Her mouth fell open. It was bad enough for Naruto to say that too her. Hearing it from someone else was too much. "Just who do you think you are to tell me something like that?" She demanded furiously. "I don't care how scary you are you can't just tell me to stay away from my own student!"

"Oh would you like to know who I think I am?" Tsunade replied sweetly. She stabbed a finger towards her face and continued in a low voice. "I think I'm about to be the next Hokage."

Seeing the shock on her face Tsunade nodded and continued on grimly. "The old man is going to retire again, this time for good. He's planning to name me his successor. The Fire Daimyo, the clans, and the Jonin will all accept me without a murmur. By this time next week I will be the Fifth Hokage."

Anko sat there a bit stunned by this unexpected revelation. When she stopped to think about it she saw it shouldn't have been so surprising. The Hokage was well past regular retirement age and Tsunade was indeed the perfect candidate to succeed him. Even with this news Anko was not the sort to tamely yield.

"Whether or not you're going to be Hokage that still doesn't give you the right to keep me away from Naruto."

"Wrong!" Tsunade said and refilled her glass. "As Hokage it's my duty to do whatever I feel is in the best interest of the village. The main reason I agreed to take the position in the first place was to try and make sure that Naruto achieves his dream by being the one to take my place when I step down. That means I will do everything in my power to help him get there."

"And that includes keeping him away from Orochimaru's former apprentice?" She asked bitterly. "Don't want the future Hokage associating with a possible traitor."

"Oh cut the crap!" Tsunade told her sharply. "I SAW how Orochimaru treated you and how much you loved him. The fact of the matter is that he did love you back when he took you under his wing, but you reminded him so much of Konoha and all it stood for. It was easy for him to twist your love into something that he could use. I don't blame you for your sensei's actions, I never have. The fact of the matter is I want you to stay away form him because you're a disgrace to all women and kunoichi."

"WHAT?" She shouted and jumped to her feet glaring down murderously.

The entire bar was silent as the grave as all eyes turned to her.

Tsunade remained seated and totally relaxed. "Sit your ass back down."

Anko glared at her. She and the old man were the only people in the world who could get away with talking to her like that.

She slowly sat back down while continuing to stare murderously at her. "Just what do you mean by that," she ground out. "I am a damn fine kunoichi!"

"Huh, you're not even going to try and claim to be a damn fine woman though are you?" She took a long sip. "I can understand why, at heart every woman, kunoichi or civilian, longs to love and be loved."

"So you're going to call me a whore now? How original."

"Oh you're much worse than a whore Anko," Tsunade informed her. "A whore sells her services for money or other assets. You on the other hand sell yourself for no reason at all, and you do it while claiming to love someone." She shook her head. "You are dis… gus… ting!"

"Who are you to judge? I at least never ran away! I stayed here through all the hard times and dealt with all the pain my sensei's betrayal caused me. I never ran away from my responsibilities!"

"You're right," Tsunade admitted willingly. "I have messed up my life from the moment I lost Dan and Nawaki. I gambled millions away. I've woken up drunk in places where I would have been raped, killed, or who knows what had it not been for Shizune. I certainly won't pretend to be a role model or say I have all the answers. What I am going to say is this; the person you love is still alive, willing, and ready to receive you. All he asks is that you love him faithfully as he has always loved you. Yet you won't give up sex with other men for him? Are you kidding me?"

"You don't understand! I can't give him what he wants! I don't know how! I see how much he needs me to be that way. I see how I keep hurting him and I don't want to! It's just...well...normal for me to do these things. He keeps saying that I'm betraying him, but I'm not. I never promised…"

"Oh, shut up, Anko," Tsunade snapped, turning away from the snake mistress. "Oh, poor you...do you even hear the crap your spouting? Isn't that part of the shinobi code to endure distress for the sake of the betterment of your village, your people, your friends, and those that you love? You could be enjoying those times with Naruto! If he has the stamina and the desire to please you like he does to learn and complete a mission, I'd say you're cutting yourself short! He's alive Anko! He wants to be with you! You can still reach him, touch him, be with him! Do you even understand how lucky you are? I would gladly give up the rest of my life and spend eternity down in hell if I could have just one day with Nawaki and Dan again, and you sit there complaining that he wants you to stop sleeping with other men? Are you listening to yourself?"

Anko closed her eyes feeling weary all of a sudden. "Oh what does it even matter any more? I can't be the person he wants me to be! I'm not capable of it! Maybe I used to be, probably when I was with sensei, but...but I just don't know how and it feels WRONG to just be dependent and isolated with just one person." She opened her eyes and looked defeated. "He doesn't want to have anything more to do with me any way."

"Well that's for right now," Tsunade said. "Feelings don't simply disappear because we want them too. These situations usually have a way of resolving themselves, but it's usually when you have the least amount of control. That time will come for Naruto well before you are probably ready to handle it. No matter how he feels right now I'm sure his feelings haven't vanished. If you really want to be with him it's not too late. So long as you are both alive it is never too late."

"Didn't you bring me here to tell me to stay away from him?"

"If you're going to keep letting half the village into your bed you'd damn well better stay away from him," she growled. "If you keep hurting him with your selfishness I'll assign you to the Diplomatic Corps. You can spend the next five years in our embassy in Swamp country."

Anko shivered, it was an effective threat. For someone like her it would be a fate worse (or at least more boring) than death.

"If you decide you're serious about returning his feelings and actually behave like a woman in love I won't interfere."

Tsunade finished what was in her glass and slammed it down on the table.

"It's your choice," she said as she got to her feet. "You can keep doing what you're doing or you can try and find the courage to really love someone. But understand that you are NOT going to get close to Naruto again as long as you behave the way you have been. It's Naruto or all the other men you've been seeing, either or but not both. Think about it."

Tsunade left, she'd said what she'd wanted to.

XXX

Anko sat there in silence.

She poured what was left in the bottle into her glass. She was not alone for more than a minute before a Jonin came over to her table.

"Hey Anko, long time no see. I just got back from a mission and I was wondering…"

"No," she cut him off and finished off the sake. "I'm not interested."

She got up ignoring his look of confusion and headed back to the laundromat.