Wow, it's been a while, eh? Bet you'd thought I'd abandoned you, didn't 'cha? But I didn't! I just fell out of the fandom and was thusly only working on this when I really felt like writing! Here we go now!
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Abakuraku's Fourth Street was an outdoor market. As far as the eye could see, the walls were lined with stands and kiosks, selling everything from live ducks to eggs, pineapples to sunflower seeds.
Currently, Shizune was trying to find an adequately ripe tomato from a fruit stand. She was holding one of the pieces of overripe produce, when she sensed something.
Sensing a large chakra signal wasn't an unusual thing- she had been identifying vacationing ninjas since she got to Abakuraku; but there was something about this particular time that was different. This chakra signal was larger than normal, and vaguely familiar…
She looked up from the tomatoes, and instantly the same thing went through two heads simultaneously.
Crap, not again.
For, when she looked up, she saw none other than a mildly surprised Kabuto holding a bag of groceries.
Once again, the two were instantly on edge, and time seemed to freeze.
The air itself seemed to tense up, and the business of the surrounding marketplace went unnoticed. The two ninja were on full-guard now, prepared to attack at the slightest notice.
Suddenly, it happened. A crash resounded, and fruit flew everywhere.
The hair-trigger guards of the ninjas were set off, and the two medics moved- grocery bag dropped and tomato abandoned; Kabuto and Shizune were in a face off. Kunai in the hand of one, fingers laced through the triggers on the arm of the other, and the two paused once more.
Shizune was contemplating her next course of action, when suddenly and without warning, she felt herself being grabbed from behind.
"What the Hell?"
Across from her, an equally surprised Kabuto was being restrained by a stocky man with burn scars on his arms, and behind her a woman's voice rang at her.
"Shinobi battles are strictly prohibited, ma'am, you're going to have to come with us."
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The calm gray lighting of the police station did nothing to help the atmosphere.
Kabuto and Shizune sat on opposite ends of the holding room, with a tall, heavyset woman guarding them from her seat between the two; and other than that, the room was empty.
Kabuto idly admired the way the lights glinted off of his chakra-sealed handcuffs, and wondered how long it would be until it was decided what was to be done with them.
"Well, this is a fine mess." Shizune was the one to break the silence at last, though she was still staring awkwardly at her lap. "This isn't exactly how I had intended to spend my vacation, you know?"
Kabuto nodded. "I understand what you mean." He looked thoughtful for a moment, then added almost to himself "I rather wish I hadn't dropped those groceries, now I'll have to do that shopping all over again."
Shizune gave a low, unenthusiastic chuckle. "If we even get out of here, you mean."
"Now, you oughtn't to be so pessimistic, Shizune. I'm sure they won't keep us her for very long."
She chose to ignore him. "Oh, man, what am I gonna do? What will Tsunade-sama say when she hears about this?"
"Oh, dear. Come to think of it, I do hope Orochimaru-sama doesn't notice how long I've been out… He can be quite frightening when he's angry, you know. "
Shizune smirked. "Being evil ain't all it's cracked up to be, huh?"
He looked insulted. "Excuse me, but I'm not actually evil; I'm just heartless. There is a difference."
Shizune gave him a smile of mild interest. "Oh?"
"Yes. While I do occasionally enjoy seeing others' pain, I don't actually mean harm to anybody. In fact, what I'm after could even be thought of as… Well, noble."
"Noble?" Shizune scoffed incredulously. "Where the fuck is the nobility in being Orochimaru's bitch?"
His smile, amazingly enough, didn't falter. "Ah, that's where you're mistaken, being a lackey is just an unpleasant side note to reaching my goal." Kabuto regarded her carefully, before giving her an infuriating smirk. "Would you like to know what that goal is?"
"Will I regret knowing?"
"Possibly, but I rather doubt it."
When Shizune simply looked thoughtful rather than giving an actual response, the young Yakushi took that as a go-ahead. "The reason I'm working under Orochimaru is the because he's looking for immortality."
Shizune choked a little. "W-what? Why on earth would you want to be immortal?"
He looked at her with an almost surprised expression. "Be immortal? You misunderstand entirely. I think that the idea itself is a terrible one. What I want is to find immortality- not have it."
"The difference being?"
"It's not about living forever, it's about doing what's scientifically impossible! The immortality itself is practically incidental, I just want to FIND it! As it is, Orochimaru is the only one looking for it, and therefore the only one who can fund my research. This is very important to me."
Shizune looked dumbstruck. She shook her head, "I can't believe this, the only reason you're the right hand of evil incarnate is for the sake of science? That's insane! There are plenty of other places to research, you know!"
"Not where I can research immortality. And besides, It's not like my life is hell on earth. Being evil has its perks. I get all of the dead bodies I could possibly need on hand, for example."
Shizune was at a total loss for words. A brief silence fell, until suddenly, she burst out laughing.
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Meanwhile, inside a small office on the far side of the room, the pair's fate was contemplated.
"Look, we really don't have the room to hold them just for disorderly conduct, ya know?"
Another nodded. "It's true; the holding cells are all full up already."
The lithe woman who had arrested Shizune added in. "Well, technically, they weren't even actually fighting, were they? They were just… Going to…."
The first man shook his head. "The rules are strict. Look, if they were going to fight, who's to say they wouldn't when we let them out of here? It's too risky at this point."
Another was looking out the window of the small office, into the next room. "I dunno, they seem to be getting along okay to me…"
Everyone turned to watch the pair converse through the thick glass, before the lithe woman added in "Ya know, I think I saw those two the other day, actually."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"They were having lunch. I remember 'cuz I was keeping an eye on them, since they weren't exactly hiding the fact that they were ninjas real well, ya know?"
"Hmm." The first man suddenly swung the door open. "Fujisaki! What do you think?"
The borderline-obese woman between Kabuto and Shizune didn't even look up from the newspaper she was holding as she gave the curt but loud reply, "Freaks."
The man nodded and closed the door again. "Usually she just says something like 'Off with their heads!'." He paused. "I think it's probably alright in this case."
The other two nodded, and the room emptied.
"Alright you two, you're free to go for now, but I don't wanna see anymore trouble from the two of you."
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Once outside, the almost suddenly handcuff-free pair enjoyed the fresh air.
Shizune turned to Kabuto with a smile. "You know, last time you stuck me with the bill. I think you owe me lunch."
