Disclaimer: The concept of Ranma 1/2 and Naruto belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, and Masashi Kishimoto. This is a product of pure amusement values, with no profits made.
"I can't believe you and Jiraiya drank so much… again!" Tsunade grumbled and almost tripped in the darkened street, feeling a touch lightheaded from her own indulgence of sake while her companion made another attempt to lurch away from her. "Stop moving! It's bad enough that Nawaki's going to yell at me for coming home so late!"
"Geez…" Ranma moaned, wet bangs plastered over his eyes, courtesy from a cup of hot tea. He hiccupped, "Izza… speeeecial cele…bration!" He wiggled a finger in Tsunade's direction, a goofy smile plastered on his face, "Mission!"
Tsunade sighed, resisting the urge to pinch her nose, "Jiraiya always has a drink when one of us completes a mission, Ranma-kun. You should know that already. That idiot'll use any excuse to get drunk and ogle at your other form… I expected better of you to follow him… Every. Single. Time."
"'S fun." The pigtailed man mumbled, almost sounding dejected, if it weren't for the burst of giggles that followed.
"Yes yes. And Orochimaru and I are charged with dragging your drunken ass back home, every time." Tsunade muttered, but couldn't for the life of her, wipe that small smile from her face. Stopping in front of the door, she gave him another tug. "And we're here, give me your keys."
After several minutes of frustrated fumbles, they were finally able to unlock the door, and stumble into the small apartment.
"Come on." Tsunade dragged a suddenly quiet Ranma into the bedroom, pushing him on to the bed, sitting down as well, "You need to sleep this off."
She made a move to get up, when a hand tugged on her arm.
Blue eyes stared into her face with singular intensity, unblinking.
"Ran… Ranma-kun?" Tsunade squeaked, a warming sensation creeping to her cheeks as that handsome face leaned closer.
"Uncute tomboy." Ranma stated with a serious face, before breaking in a heart-warming smile.
It took a moment for her mind to process the words, Tsunade blinked, then blinked against, feeling the conflict emotion of outrage clashing with the overwhelming urge to facefault. Outrage won.
"WHY YOU…" And suddenly, they were tumbling down in his bed, and his lips were on hers, warm, kissing her. It was awkward, because his breath still tasted of sake, as did her own. His teeth clicked painfully against her lower lip, she was going to get a bruise later on. But it was a kiss, from Ranma, in all its warmth and awkwardness and lingering sake.
A droplet of warmth touched her chin, shaking Tsunade awake from the surreal dream, another droplet followed, as a gentle hand cupped her face, thumb stroking her cheeks in slow, soft circles.
Glittering blue eyes looked down into hers, wet with tears, seeing, yet unseeing. A tender brush of lips on her forehead, and words whispered with heart-wrenching grief, "I'm sorry… so sorry…"
Ranma collapsed on her side, one arm flung loosely over her, a name breathed pass his lips before he pass away in drunken slumber.
Tsunade lay there, pressed against his warm body, feeling the even rhythm of his breath, ticklish against the nape of her neck. Slowly, she pushed his arm away, and got up from the bed, surveying its inhabitant, who looked so peaceful and relaxed, lost in his dreamless sleep.
She brought a hand to her lips, it felt tender against her fingers.
"Enjoying yourself?" Tsunade yelped, twisted around to find Orochimaru, leaning casually against the door for who-knows-how-long, amusement sparkling in his slitted eyes. He smirked, taking pleasure in Tsunade's surprise. "I dumped the idiot at his home, and thought I come over to… help." He licked his upper lip with deliberate slowness, "Though you seem to be doing fine by yourself, Tsunade."
"Orochimaru." Tsunade hissed, overcoming her embarrassment, "You have three seconds to disappear, else I will make you wish you had never been born!"
The pale man bowed, still smirking, and vanished in a puff of smoke.
She walked out of the door, glancing back one last time, remembering the feeling of his lips against hers one last time. Warm and spicy, awkward and just a touch painful with the aftertaste of sake. Not bad, for her first kiss.
A wistful smile graced her face, as the ash-blonde woman slowly closed the bedroom door behind her, a name ringing in her mind, as Ranma had whispered, full of sweetness and regret and such deep, painful longing.
Akane.
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Ranma woke into a familiar pounding headache. Not bothering to open his eyes, he sat up slowly, whilst rubbing his fingers against his temple. He was finally starting to develop a tolerance, sort of, to the 'celebrations' that Jiraiya always dragged him off to, ever since that night.
I'm turning into Pops. He thought with a small laugh that soon turned into a grimace.
A finger laid against his forehead, spreading the numbing chill that effectively killed Ranma's hangover. He grinned, raising his head up with a smile, expecting golden-brown eyes to look down at him with exasperation, "Thanks, Tsuna…"
Golden eyes looked down, a much lighter, and wilder shade than what he expected, pale fingers gave him a firm poke on the forehead, releasing the steady steam of cold.
"Ow…" Ranma stared in confusion, idly rubbing his forehead. "Didn't we do this already?"
Orochimaru laughed, sounding genuine amused, "Yes, we did. You were less clothed last time, I believe."
"O…kay." His neck was starting to get a crick from looking up.
Orochimaru sat down on the bed, his lips still quirking in a not-quite-smile.
"…Can I help you with something?" Ranma muttered drolly.
"Sarutobi-sensei thought you much of a threat." The pale shinobi stated suddenly, gesturing to the door with a hand.
"Err… yes?" Ranma tried tentatively, knowing exactly who was behind it.
"It's a dangerous time, Ranma-kun…" Orochimaru ignored Ranma's twitch at the honorific, "I find it strange that the Hokage would assign a simple guard-duty mission to a member of ANBU to watch over you… in the middle of a war, no less."
Ranma blinked, trying to process the comment. Something clicked in his mind, and the words left his mouth with incredulity, "Are you trying to make small talk?"
Smack.
A scroll landed in his face, and he fell back from the jolt, banging his head against the headboard in the process with a painful yelp.
Orochimaru turned away, bringing a hand to his mouth, long raven hair sliding over his face as Ranma rubbed the back of his head furiously, but not before the pigtailed man caught a touch of color on the paler man's cheeks.
He tactfully swallowed an inquiry on the shinobi's 'facial coloring', knowing that the other would not take well to the question. The ninja had been a constant presence in his life for the past months, along with Tsunade, since the duo never seemed to trust Jiraiya when he's in the company of women, sake, and money… or all of the above.
Heh, Tsunade watched over Jai like a mother hen when it's about women, though when the latter's involved… Ranma frowned slightly to himself, recalling an embarrassing event that had occurred at a gambling house located in a nearby village, when Tsunade had 'ordered' his guard 'off-duty' via a finger and a smashed wall, then sneaking him out of the village, where they met up with the two remaining members of the trio.
Thankfully all four of them were under the Henge no Jutsu when they stepped into the gambling den, courtesy of Orochimaru's foresight when the ash-blonde and dice are placed together. The shinobi could act like a pretty good mother hen himself, when he's not busy mocking them for their 'idiocies'.
Speaking of Orochimaru…
Ranma picked up the scroll, eyeing it curiously. It looked familiar. "What's this?"
His pale companion gave an exasperated sigh. "It's yours."
"Eh?" Confused, Ranma opened the scroll, scanning its content quickly, his eyes widened. "This…"
"Saotome-san, if you've seen the cure for this… mark that you bore, would it be possible for you to draw it out?"
"… I never saw the full chart, it was in pieces, and the vital portion was missing… but I'll try."
"Offers an interesting concept." Orochimaru continued on, with the pigtailed man blinking stupidly at him. Leaning over, his golden eyes peeking from behind a waterfall of raven mane, he tapped the scroll with a finger, smirking in that strange way of his.
Ranma took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of pine trees and wet moss, "How so?"
His companion shrugged, tracing a finger over the Chakra pathways on the scroll as Ranma laid it down between them, stopping at the center of the human figure, right over the blank portion. "It seems, that by infusing the human body with a single burst of Chakra over a vital Chakra opening point, and enforcing the intrusion with a seal, the process would disrupt several vital Chakra pathways of the human body…"
Ranma's head snapped up in surprise, blue eyes widened as they stared into gold, which had narrowed in concentration, "You got that much, from an incomplete chart?"
"You shouldn't act so surprised, Ranma-kun, I am a genius after all." Gold grinned back.
The pigtailed man twitched again, and grumbled under his breath, "Just get to the point."
He could definitely hear the laughter in Orochimaru's voice as the shinobi spoke again. "Of course, Ranma-kun. As I was saying… With the Chakra flows re-directed, several Chakra points have been 'sealed', in a way. It's similar to the Hyuuga Clan's style, but permanent…" The pale man trailed off, his eyebrows knitting together in thought, "Ah… no wonder they hold such interest in you, Ranma-kun."
Ranma chuckled, becoming interested in the topic despite his own misgivings. "Seems like you've got everything down, so…"
"I've already requested to observe in your 'healing' sessions, Ranma-kun." Orochimaru replied casually, rolling up the scroll.
Blue eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Because." Pale fingers tied the knots with expert flourish. "I've learned all I could from this. And came up with several variations." Toss, the scroll landed in Ranma's lap. Golden eyes locked into blue once more, and he almost shivered from its intensity. Fascination. Delight. A deep hunger that he once saw in himself, when martial arts had been his world… And endless darkness that echoed his own.
"Think, Ranma-kun, if a Chakra-induced seal can weaken the body by altering the Chakra flows, wouldn't there be another way to alter the Chakra flows… and make you stronger?"
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TIMELINE – Year Four, early June.
Eh, at least the summary's been explained, well, some of it.
Word of advice for this story: Every little detail may or may not counts to something grand that may or may not come into play at a later date that may or may not provide more confusion. This is not a mystery/suspense, this is a snippet of scenes from one man's life as it progress through time. Don't try to understand it from the beginning.
A hearty thank to Serafita on the anifics forum, who was gracious and wonderous enough to fix all the grammar errors I had with this chapter.