Warning: Blood, injury, threat of sexual assault towards reader. Jiraiya getting violent.

You cringe when the rope was tugged on. Your wrists are pulled apart and tied. Almost like crucifixion position with your arms completely spread out. You're on your knees and the ground underneath you was hard on them. The walls around you are made of earth and it's dimly lit by one burning oil lamp in the middle of the room. You're underground and there's a faint rumbling in the distance. You aren't sure where you are or how to escape.

Mostly, you just feel foolish. How could you be so dumb as to get caught? Jiraiya was gonna be mad. This is like the one thing he told you not to do. You scowl and sneer at any of the men who dare to get close. You try to keep them back. But what can you do? You're at their mercy for the moment. There's no defining features on the people who captured you. They just look like brigades. Sell swords and academy dropouts. A third party hired to deal with you rather than the main culprit. Which felt more insulting. Like you aren't even worth the time of whatever organization wanted you out of the way. They rather have some low lives do their dirty work rather than deal with you themselves. Sheesh. Assholes.

You yank on your bonds when one of them approaches from behind. Their hands touch your clothes. To match your husband, you often wore old fashioned clothes like kimonos. You wore them by themselves or with hakama. You thankfully had your big comfy hakama on. The wide leg pants gave you some sort of security as your kimono was pulled off of you. It revealed your shoulders and back.

"Well I will say one thing." The leader of this little show walked around you like you were a piece of display art. "This Jiraiya fellow has great taste in women."

You sneer and fight it as the man brandished a whip. He smiled at you. Creepy jackass won't get anything from you. He's got a big body to do big damage. This is going to hurt like hell.

"So tell me, pretty girl." He spoke with a strong air of confidence. "Just how much does your husband love you?"

You grip onto your hands and prepare for the strikes.

Foolish. Idiots! Jiraiya pushes past everyone and the door rattles when it's pushed past it's hinges. He's never been so angry. How dare these people lose his damn wife! Who does that? What does he have to do to get good help? And how dare they suggest he shouldn't go find you! You're his wife! His whole god damn world! The woman he loves is in danger and he'll go on a war path if he has to. He leaves the Hokage's estate in a blind rage. Why they told him in a building was a mistake. He yelled and almost threw something out a window.

He stopped at the gate. What does he do? Where does he go? There's no leads he was given. No one really knew where you were taken. That doesn't matter. He'll find you. No matter what. He savagely bit open his thumb before weaving the signs so damn fast.

"Find her." He ordered cold and firm to his tracker toad.

His summon didn't even protest. They all knew better than to argue with Jiraiya when he's mad. It's a rare thing to see, but it happens. And when it happens, it's a cold fury with no mercy. Jiraiya isn't the type to normally tap into these range of emotions. He prefers to be positive and level headed. But when he does tap into these emotions, it'll fuel him until this conflict is at an end. This is no time for sarcastic comments and coy grins. It's time to strike down his enemies and save the one he loves. The toad hopped off. He grit his teeth and followed. He won't just sit around, it'll drive him insane. He'll do everything to find you.

You cry out. The whip came down on your back. It hurt like a son of a bitch. You bite your lip and resist the urge to cry out again. You don't want to give them anything, not even expressing your pain. You can't see it, but you can feel it. The blood dripping down from your open wounds. It ranged from one wrist to the other with no skin in between unmarked. Your captors were getting frustrated. One was kneeling in front of you, eyes narrowed. Staring at you with a thoughtful frown.

"You really are stubborn. Is defending the people you love worth it? All this pain. All the scars we're giving you." He sighed with disappointment. He shook his head. He raised his pointer finger at you when he brought up his next question. "Tell me, what will your husband think at the sight of you? Will he be mad? Or is he one of those give up and cry types when he sees your beaten body?"

"Ah!" Your voice got caught in your throat when you opened your mouth to speak and the whip was brought down on you again. The length of the whip was dragged over your shoulder. It left a smear of blood in it's wake over your yet to be marked skin. The man in front of you now had it and blatantly stared at your chest. You glared at him and rose to the challenge with the same defiance you've shown all damn day. "You'll be faced with a level of hell you've never seen before. Jiraiya is quite protective of the things he holds dear."

"We shall see. Not so sure about you though. I think we found our answer on Jiraiya's greatest weakness." The man nodded in the affirmative.

"What's that? What do you mean?"

He shrugged like it was no big deal. "What better way to get to a man then to hurt the woman he loves?" He then smiled and snapped the weapon in his hand. It cracked the air and struck your chest. "Shame about your tits. They're quite nice. Your pants are coming off soon. Extra shame about what'll happen there."

"Try it. Get any closer and I'll bite your dick off."

He laughs at you. It's sinister. "I love that you got so much fight. Most women we torture give up the moment we got them tied. You're a real shinobi, you know that?"

"Wow thanks. I'll be sure to pass the message along." Your tone dripped with sarcasm.

The whip struck your face. You hissed through the pain. It cut through your cheek. The wave of pain from the strike rolls over your whole face. That was going to leave a nasty bruise. Your tormentor sneered at you.

"But I hate that you're so lippy. You ought to learn your place. You'd be cuter if you didn't talk so much."

A silent exchange happened between the two men. You jump in surprise when the tip of a knife tickled your back. It sliced the tie holding your pants on. You kicked him away, shrieking as you do. No one will get any closer! Not if they wanted to live!

Jiraiya stopped for only a second. His heart was pounding and his lungs hurt. He hadn't stopped. And as another day draws to a close, the dread he feels building in his stomach grows. It's like ice and fire churning in his guts. He feels awful. This is so stressful. Where are you? Why can't he find you? He's on the verge of teetering on the edge. His emotions are going through hell and they aren't sure where to land. He could go into hysterics or shut down. He doesn't know what to do. It's the first time he's ever been driven to such a point. Nothing has ever made him so emotional. He couldn't live if you died. It can't happen. He won't let that happen. The tracker toad stopped a few feet ahead and looked back.

"You coming boss?" It asked.

Jiraiya nodded and caught up. There's no time to take breaks. He'll keep going until his lungs bleed and muscles burn. He clings to hope. You feel close. He must be on the right path. You just have to be alive... Please be alive.

Your whole body hurt. But you still fought. Luckily those dirty bastards hadn't dared to touch you like that. They gave up when you put up too much of a fight. But they lashed out by covering every square inch of you in whip cuts. They covered your legs in cuts and laughed when you struggled. They even got your feet. Which hurt the most oddly enough. You can't walk on them because the soles are covered in open wounds. The flesh was very tender, sore, and bleeding. And you aren't sure if they did something, but you just feel so tired. They untied you and left you on the floor hours ago. It felt demeaning, like you aren't a threat anymore. Your whole body felt heavy. You're cold. It's hard to keep your eyes open for too long. Your captors have teased you and told you it's been several days.

"Does your husband really care? Maybe he's not coming for you at all." They would sneer at you. Then laugh when you got angry.

You exhausted what chakra you had to try and summon something. But the most you got was a tadpole with legs. It poofed back from whence it came after you fretted over the poor thing. What's the point? Nothing you do for yourself will save you. You flop down on the ground and curled up on your side. This sucks. You shut your eyes and try to deal with the circumstances. Maybe with some rest you can try something else.

A soft croak woke you up. In front of your face was a small toad. It was more muted in colour in comparison to some of it's cousins. But it had a little collar woven out of cloth rope and had a few small shide dangling off of it. You smile at it. You haven't met this one before. You reach out and brought the toad against you. You tucked it snuggly against your chest and stroked it's head. It stayed quiet. It enjoyed your pets.

"Maybe I'm going crazy. Did I summon you and forget?" You spoke quietly. It was a great comfort to hold the little summon.

It didn't speak. It just cuddled you back as you desperately clung to it's presence. You love all of the summoning toads. They were always so nice to you. Which always made Jiraiya pout. He crossed his arms and sulked when his summons would spend most of their time talking to you when he summoned them. Gamabunta even tolerated you. Enough to let you stand on his head and share a drink with him. Sigh. You miss them. Especially your dear husband. You can't wait to be in his arms again. You shut your eyes and keep the toad cradled against your body. Once you fell asleep, the toad wiggled from your grasp. He quite liked you. He always heard that you were very nice to his kin. But he shouldn't stall. He did his job. He must return to his master before the poor man had a stroke from worry. He hopped away with the path to you memorized.

"Well?" Jiraiya asked. He had his arms crossed and he stood motionless. He let the tracker go ahead and observe the situation out.

"You were right. She's in a hideout carved in and behind the waterfall." The toad confirmed with a nod. "There's about four people in the hideout and she's in the very back..."

"How... how is she?"

"Weak and injured. She-!" The toad stopped talking when Jiraiya stepped over him and stormed towards the waterfall. Apparently that was enough of the need to know. The toad shrugged and poofed away, his role has been fulfilled. And he's had enough of the grumpy toad sage.

The whole hideout erupted into chaos. You sat up on your knees and braced part of your weight with your hands on the ground between your legs. You recognize the angered tone of your husband. His voice echoed around the walls and it was full of rage. He was pissed. It was like a banshee had entered the cave.

You struggle to stand up. It's excruciating to move. The mere pressure alone on the open wounds on your feet was enough to make you want to fall back down. The rocks and dust digging into your wounds was agony. But you don't care. You have to see him. He was probably well into dragging out a nasty fight. It was hard to navigate in the almost complete pitch darkness. You round the corner and the light from the outside hits your face, along with the disorientating sound of the rushing water. The fight was coming to an end. With two out of the four lying motionless on the floor. One was fearfully crawling away while his comrade was getting messed up. Spots and shadows dance along your vision as your eyes try to adjust.

"Jiraiya!" Your voice was raspy and hoarse. You haven't used it a lot above a whisper in days.

Jiraiya turned his head towards you. He looked you over, his eyes moving rapidly over your body to take you in. His expression only got more furious. You swear you see his hair stand on end and tense like a cat fluffing it's fur up to appear bigger before it's opponent. It was becoming hard and sharp like needles as the Lion's Mane attack seemed to be activating itself. He was going to strangle this man with his hair. With the sharp hard points of the tips of his hair digging into the flesh of his enemy like a thousand tiny deadly needles.

"What the ever loving fuck did you do to my wife?!" Jiraiya demanded. This was the most angry you've ever seen him. "Who do you work for?"

The remaining captor looked at you and smile. "Looks like we got our answer, baby. It's a shame I didn't have time to do more to you."

Jiraiya slammed him against the wall and snarled. "Don't speak to her! You don't have the right to speak to her ever again. He leaned forward and hissed in the man's face in a low and dangerous tone. "I don't usually enjoy killing people, but I'll make an exception for the monsters who harm the woman I love."

Uh oh. You stumble forward. You don't want Jiraiya to compromise his morality. He must be absolutely livid if he cast aside the whole life is precious mentality. You grab his arm. He looks at you and the rage falls from his face. You tend to pull him back to reality when he gets like this. He says your name quietly. The grip on his enemy gets tighter and his fists shake from the strain. You gently tug on his arm as a sign for him to let go.

"Knock him out... it's smarter to bring him back alive for questioning." You reason with him quietly.

"He hurt you. I... I want..."

"I know what you want. But it's not smart. It's not you."

You rest your head on his shoulder and groan quietly in pain. Jiraiya took in a deep breath. You are right. The deep rooted need for revenge wasn't rational. Although... if Interrogation asked him for help, he wouldn't say no. He got a bit of satisfaction punching the man in the face and knocking them out with the single hit. He dropped the man and the body hit the ground with a dull smack.

Jiraiya turned to you and squished you into a hug. You hold onto him, gripping the back of his shirt tightly. He raised your head up by curling his fingers under your chin and tilting it. You perk your lips and he dives in to deprive you of air. You happily make out with your husband. It felt like years since he's done so.

"I missed you." Jiraiya spoke quietly beside your lips before going back in.

"I missed you too." You whisper.

As much as he wanted to hold you for hours and kiss you until his lips hurt, Jiraiya sighed and pulled back. He needed to get you home and taken to the hospital. The sight of you covered in wounds and blood still shook him. It never should have come to this. But you're alive... that he'll always be thankful for. He pecked you with one final kiss before taking his haori off. He put it on you. It's comically big on you, but it's a layer of warmth and protection. You pull on the ends of the cloth to cover yourself. You hardly ever wear his things, it's nice to be wrapped up in his warm clothing. You try to take a step but it hurts too much.

You gasp and almost fall. Jiraiya catches you and slowly leads you to the ground where you rest on your knees. You cry out and cling onto him. All your wounds seem to have their own heartbeat. They pulse and flare in pain. You nuzzle against him for comfort.

"What's wrong?" He pulled you against his lap to keep you close. It's hard to find a place to hold you, since all of you is covered in cuts.

"It's just the bottoms of my feet. I can't walk on them." You explain. You sigh against his chest. You sneak your hands under his kosode to hug him properly. His skin was warm and you could feel it through the netted armour shirt he wears.

"Why? What happened?"

"They cut them open so I couldn't walk."

"What?!"

You whine in complaint when Jiraiya tosses you on your ass and grabs your feet to inspect. You scowl at him and cross your arms. Sure they don't look the greatest, but he doesn't have to be such a big baby about it. You cringe when he pulls on the edge of a wound and it pulls on the rend open flesh. There's blood and dirt mixed in your wounds and it stung.

"Why did you move? It couldn't have been worth it." Jiraiya asked.

"I had to see you and let you know I was alright." You smile at him. You even laugh a little. "I know how you can get when it comes to me, sweetie."

He pouts with a perfect little frown and his cheeks turn pink. It just confirmed that he went overboard trying to look for you. He's a big dork. He's an even bigger dork when it comes to you. He was always very protective. That's one thing that never changed. Even before you started dating, you could always count on Jiraiya to have your back. You were taken hostage before many years ago, but no one knew who you were dating at the time. It was simply to get answers as the war was raging in those years. He saved you that time too, but he was calm, collected, even a little sassy. But this time, you were hurt because of your tie to your husband. They hurt you to hurt him. Jiraiya was good at hiding how he felt, but it was easy to see how much that bothered him. He kept looking over your wounds with sorrow and guilt. It's not his fault but he was blaming himself. But he won't ever tell you that. You could just read it in his face. He was willing to murder a man in cold blood for harming you. He was willing to take down an already defeated enemy simply because he loves you so much and anyone who dare hurt you must fall. He must really love you to go so far.

"Take me home." You reach towards him in a silent way to ask him to pick you up. You spread your legs around his and grin. "Then just take me!"

Jiraiya finally smiled and even chuckled quietly. You've been with him for too long if you make jokes like that. He pulled you back onto his lap. Your body was pressed against his. You purr and grind against him. He cups a handful of your ass while you caress his jawline while kissing him. He mutters your name and squeezes your butt before pulling away.

"What are you doing?" You ask.

You watch Jiraiya bite his thumb. His hands are behind your back as he weaves signs. He places his hand on the wall beside him. The cave walls turned pink and fleshy. It's soft and slimy along your legs. Ah, the stomach of a toad. A comfortable and familiar place. You've been in one many times. It convulsed and partly absorbed the unconscious man to keep him detained. Eventually he woke up. And was grossly subjected to you cuddling and making out with Jiraiya in front of him during the whole journey home.

"Just don't get to cozy!... freaks." The prisoner complained.

Jiraiya turned to him and smiled a sickly sweet smile. "If you keep opening your big mouth you'll die~!"

You giggle. It's such a rare thing to see Jiraiya hold onto some seething anger. It's slightly funny since he's usually the bigger person. You hold onto him as tightly as you could to keep him from harassing the man. Your hug and presence calms him down. You nuzzle into his chest and find it easy to fall asleep. You're still tired and sore. You're in the comfortable embrace of the man you love. He won't let anything happen while you rest.

You woke up in hospital. Your wounds wrapped up tightly in bandages. Your husband asleep in a chair beside the bed you're resting in. He had his arms crossed and had his leg crossed over the other. His head was bowed and all together the position didn't look that comfortable. You woke him up by throwing the straw from your water cup at him. It's dark out, so you know it's past visiting hours. It seems someone pulled some strings to let him stay with you. You'll have to thank Tsunade later for bending the rules.

"Did you just throw something at me?" Jiraiya asked. He was bleary eyed and sleepy. He rubbed the wet spot on his cheek, where the straw landed.

"Yup." You chirped with a smile. You reach towards him and beckon him to come over. "I want to cuddle with my big giant husband."

He smiled and got up. You scooted over and he laid down beside you. You wrap an arm around his torso and set your head against his chest. He held you tightly and securely against him. Jiraiya yawned loudly. These beds always kinda sucked, but cuddling you made it feel like the most comfortable thing in the world. He fell back asleep quickly. You took a bit longer to find sleep again. You enjoyed the first real moment of peace you've had in a week. The little moment of just being back home, in your man's arms, listening to his heartbeat and breathing, letting his warmth soak into your body. You love it. You nuzzle your face against his neck before closing your eyes.

As you heal, Jiraiya really stepped up to take care of you. He didn't mind. He was good at tending your wounds. He cleaned them when they needed and didn't shy away from the ointment. Every time he finished a section and tied off the bandages, he would plant a kiss on it. He really liked playing doctor since you were naked in front of him everyday. As if it was somehow different from the norm. He made a point to call you beautiful and kiss you every time you inspected the new scars. He gave you piggyback rides everywhere to keep you off of your healing feet. He would curl his shoulders up to hide his neck as you found the ticklish spot on his neck and kiss it. You even got him to laugh and spasm so hard from it he almost fell over from the tickles. He'd shudder when you whisper things against his ear in public. You'd lick and bite his ear to tease him. The grip on your thighs got tighter and you could see the smile on his face.

Jiraiya dropped you off on the bed. He's smirking about something as he pulls open your clothes and inspects. He spreads your thighs apart and hums thoughtfully. As if he were a wise scholar looking upon an old tome that held many secrets. His finger on his chin as he looks over your body. He bends over you and puts his hand against your sex.

"Do you need any ointment down here?" He asked in his usual flirtatious purr.

"Jiraiya! Stop it!" You try to whine, but you can't stop laughing.

"I'm just trying to take care of you, baby!"

He's making obscene sexual noises while his fingers play around between your legs. You squirm, giggle, and cry out in giddy pleasure as he teases you in the most ridiculous way. Jiraiya pinned you underneath him while he showered you in his weird funny love. He was so relieved and happy to hear you laugh again.

You hold fistfuls of his hair and kiss him for a very long time. He fell silent to focus on giving you the best kiss ever. It felt so much better now that it felt like he lost you and gained you all over again. You wrap your legs around his waist and bite his lip. He hummed happily in question at the suggestion. His face lit up when you pulled on his clothes. Never a shy man, especially with you, Jiraiya dives right in. You cling onto your husband as he rocks your world. Yep. Life was back to normal.