Title: Goodbye
Themes: #5, "ano sa" ("hey, you know...")
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Author's Notes: The ages are probably off. Deal with it. ;D
-!-!-
That year summer had refused to give up its hold on Konoha. It was early November and as warm and sunny as mid-June. The two of them were laying on their backs, stretched out watching the clouds go by. It was something the two of them used to enjoy when they were younger, albeit separately. When they were genins they couldn't stand each other, but their childish grudges had long since subsided, allowing them the solace of a strong friendship.
"Hey…Tsunade," Jiraiya began, "I'm turning twenty-nine next week."
She laughed and roller onto her side, propping herself up on her elbow, "I know that, you idiot, you think I forgot like someone forgot mine?"
He smiled, it was a game between them; they both knew there were no hard feelings between them. "I told you I was sorry…And I know that you wouldn't have forgotten. It's just…I dunno…Feels like I'm getting old…And just…I guess I just figured that by now, out of all the girls I've dated, I'd have gotten at least one real kiss."
Tsunade laughed again, "Please Jiraiya, you've had to have gotten at least one."
"Nope," he answered simply. "But I think I know what I'm missing."
"And what would that be?"
"The right girl."
Tsunade chuckled softly, "And why is that? I never would have imagined that the great lady's-man Jiraiya would have trouble getting a woman."
"The one I want is too afraid," he answered in a more serious tone. Jiraiya propped himself up and faced her. Tsunade quieted immediately and held his fixed, solemn gaze for one long, bone-chilling moment before her eyes fell to the ground between them.
"I've had to say goodbye to too many people, Jiraiya…" she whispered, almost as if answering herself instead of him, "I won't let it happen again…" She stood up to leave, not even giving him a second glance. Jiraiya fell back onto the grass and closed his eyes.
Jiraiya herd the gentle whisper of the grass as she began to walk away and spoke suddenly, his voice straining to retain his raging emotions. "So instead of saying goodbye later you'd rather say it to me now?"
Tsunade stopped and turned back, her eyes shimmering with the indication of oncoming tears. She opened her mouth for a response but none came. She closed it and bit her tongue; the expression on his face was too difficult to read. Perhaps sorrow, perhaps anger, even after all the time they had spent together since adolescence she couldn't tell. She opened and shut her mouth once more before turning and slowly making her way back towards the village. As she went, Jiraiya opened his eyes and watched her leave. He was about to call out to her, but decided against it. He regretted it the rest of his life, for the next time he saw her they were thirty years older and by then it was too late; by then they had already said goodbye to the future they could have had.