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Tayuya and her chaperone (aka Naruto) were walking through the busy street, looking for a casino. Of course there were plenty of those around but Naruto was babbling on about how the casino needed to 'speak to him' so they kept walking.
She didn't really care where they went, she was just following Naruto around, not like she had much of a choice in the matter.
He seemed excited though and Naruto's mood was often contagious. She had a weird feeling welling up in her chest, which made sense, this would be her first time gambling!
But It was all so strange, she was a prisoner which was evident from the seal Jiraiya placed on her, but Naruto treated her so normally that it was hard to remember.
"This one! We're gonna be rich, I can feel it!"
Naruto's voice roused her from her thoughts. She looked up to see a fancy looking casino with bright lights and promises of grand prizes. People flowed endlessly in and out of the casino doors, some with smiles and extra cash and others who hung their heads, carrying out what coins they had left.
Naruto began to walk through the front doors proudly and as he stepped inside, the smell of tobacco and alcohol washed over him.
There were slot machines as far as the eye could see and tables where dealers waited patiently to try and crush their customers.
He turned to Tayuya and asked "What should we do first?"
Tayuya had seen people gamble before so she had some idea of how it worked, but she was nearly clueless. She shrugged her shoulders.
"I've never gambled before." she said.
"Oh really? Me neither." he responded nonchalantly.
She looked at him incredulously. "You said we were gonna be rich but you don't even know how to gamble? What the hell is wrong with you?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly and smiled. "We'll figure it out!" he declared confidently.
He began to push through the crowds, periodically looking back to check that Tayuya was still following close behind. She wondered if he was looking back to make sure she wouldn't get lost or if he was worried she'd try to escape.
Naruto sat down at a slot machine whose bright colors caught his eye, he stared at it for a moment and then cocked his head to the side like a curious puppy. There was a small slit for money to be put in and a lever protruding out from the machine. Naruto slowly entered a coin into the machine and pulled the lever. The symbols started to spin rapidly and before he knew it they stopped. Suddenly, money came pouring out of the machine, much more than what he'd put in. He smiled broadly at Tayuya who was staring in shock.
"This is easy! Why don't people do this every day?" He exclaimed laughing.
After the money stopped pouring out Naruto eagerly entered another coin and pulled the lever. The symbols spun once again and the pair watched intently. Once again money began to spew out, although much less than before.
"Whooo!!" Naruto cheered, he was laughing heartily and happily. Tayuya was also harboring a small smile, Naruto's mood was getting more and more infectious. He was beginning to catch people's attention.
"Let me try" Tayuya said with hidden excitement.
"Sure!" Naruto said while handing her a coin.
Tayuya sat down at the machine one over from him and entered the coin, she slowly placed her hand on the lever and hesitantly pulled it. The symbols spun and stopped one by one.
7
7
7
The machine blared with strange music and money burst forth in magnificent quantities. She stared at the river of money with delighted surprise, and Naruto stared too, but with a slightly different emotion.
"It's still going?!" He said with a little jealousy.
Tayuya began to run her hands through the piles of coins, she had never seen so much money. It was another ten seconds before the flow finally ceased, and as it did Naruto locked eyes with her. There was a competitive fire burning in those cerulean blues and Tayuya could tell she was going to have fun, for the first time in a while.
Naruto grabbed one of the bags hanging from the side of the machine. It was a large sturdy sack that was meant to hold a slot players winnings. He began to fill up his bag and Tayuya did the same.
"Okay! Let's have a competition!" Naruto proclaimed, while holding out his bag.
"What kind of competition?" Tayuya asked with restrained interest.
"We're gonna stay here for two hours and after time is up we count the money we made. Whoever has the most money at the end wins."
She gave him a sly grin. "Are you kidding? I'm definitely going to win."
She pointed to a spot on the machine where the word "Jackpot" was flashing red.
"I already hit the jackpot! There's no way you can catch up."
Naruto maintained eye contact with her as he slid a coin into a random machine. He proceeded to pull the lever and confidently said "Watch me."
The machine spun, but this time it stopped and nothing happened.
Naruto looked at the machine with an annoyed expression which caused Tayuya to stifle a laugh. He blushed slightly in embarrassment.
"I'm still gonna win!" He declared.
"Fine." she said.
"But don't cry when you lose."
"Right." Naruto answers sarcastically. Having issued the challenge Naruto goes off to find something more interesting than slot machines, of course Tayuya follows, partly because she's still technically his prisoner, and partly because she wanted to win.
A large wheel happened to catch his eye, next to it, there was a display case. Inside of the case were the finest silk robes Naruto had ever seen. They were black robes with gold accents and embroidery, just the look of these clothes made one long for its silky smooth embrace.
Naruto and Tayuya stepped closer to the wheel with curiosity and as they did so, a man came forward to greet them.
"Hello and welcome to the wheel of fortune! Would the lovely couple like to take a spin?"
"Yes!" Naruto shouted absentmindedly.
Tayuya shot him a confused and surprised look.
'Couple?' She thought slightly embarrassed.
Naruto walked up to the wheel and paused.
"So I just spin it?"
"Well yes, but first you must pay the small fee. It's a measly 10,000 ryo, surely a small price for someone like you."
Naruto beamed and Tayuya deadpanned.
'He's falling for that guy's act hook, line, and sinker.' she thought.
"Here ya go!" Naruto said as he paid the fee.
Naruto grinned and turned to the wheel, grabbed it and spun the wheel with all his might. He stepped back to watch as it went around and around, wondering if this would help him win their competition. The wheel spun and spun and kept on spinning.
It seemed Naruto had really put his back into it. As the rotation finally began to slow, Tayuya was able to see some of the rewards, the highest number she could see was 100,000 and then there was the jackpot which she assumed was the silk robes.
She smirked knowing that even if Naruto got the 100,000 ryo she would still be in the lead, as the slot machine had dished out a 500,000 reward. The wheel slowed further and further, every time she thought it would stop it pushed on. At last, it slowly pushed past the 5,000 ryo reward and into the jackpot.
"And we have a winner! You are now the proud owner of these gorgeous robes! You would look quite dashing in these robes if I do say so myself! But, if they're not your style it's a perfect gift for your woman. Something tantalizing for her to wear before you take her to bed if you know what I mean…"
He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively while handing Naruto the robes. Tayuya giggled as she noticed Naruto's expression and decided to pay him back for calling them a couple.
She wrapped her arms around him from behind and whispered to him.
"Well? Do you want me to wear that tonight…?"
Naruto blushed, but quickly took the robes and threw them over Tayuya's face before walking away. Tayuya put the robes on and chased after him laughing.
"So you don't want to spin again?!" The man yelled after them.
Naruto stopped in front of a table that was surrounded by a decent crowd of people. He stared at it wondering how the game worked. There seemed to be a wheel imbedded in the table, it had black and red numbers that were also shown on the table itself.
Tayuya stood beside him and they watched as people placed chips on the table, after they were done, a man at the end of the table spun the wheel and placed a marble inside. The marble spun around and around until finally landing on a red 3.
They watched as people who had chips on red cheered and the people who had chips on 3 or near it cheered louder.
Naruto wanted to play, but Tayuya needed more information, she still wasn't sure how it worked.
She approached a man who didn't seem to be betting and tapped him on the shoulder getting his attention. Meanwhile Naruto went up to the man at the wheel to ask if he could join.
"Can you tell me how this game works?" Tayuya asked the man.
"Umm sure, nothing like getting a random stranger to deliver exposition."
"Anyway, the game is called roulette. It's more or less based completely on luck. In order to play, you have to place your chips onto the table, signifying what you want to bet on." The man explained.
"You can place your chips onto a number, row of numbers, or column of numbers. Basically, if the ball in the wheel lands on anything you bet on, you win. You can also bet on a color, red or black, so if the ball lands on red and you bet red…"
"I win." Tayuya said, following along with the rules.
"That's about it. You want a tip?"
Tayuya leaned in, excited to get an edge and blow Naruto out of the water.
"Always bet on black." The man said with a sly smile.
Just then Naruto approached her.
"That guy said we can't play unless we get chips from the lady over there. You coming?"
"Yeah. I got a good feeling about this game." Tayuya said.
As they walked away the stranger started muttering to himself.
"Man, all that talking got me thirsty, Kage should've just made you guys google the rules. It would've been way easier than typing all this."
They went to the counter and got their chips. Of Naruto's 240,000 ryo, he converted 100,000 into chips. And of Tayuya's 500,000 ryo, she converted 250,000 into chips.
They went back to the roulette table and began to play. Tayuya was considering what the man said and figured that she should take the advice of a more experienced gambler. She set aside 40,000 in chips and prepared to put it on black, but stopped as she saw Naruto shove all 100,000 of his chips onto red.
He looked her in the eye and smiled wide.
'That son of a bitch. He's challenging me! He thinks I'm too pussy to bet it all! Well news flash! MY BALLS ARE HUGE!'
She pushed all her chips onto black and grinned right back at him.
After all the bets were locked in, the wheel was spun and the ball dropped into it. That little marble went around and around, jumping in and out of the slots, until it finally stopped.
On 36 red.
Tayuya looked like her soul was crushed along with her hopes and dreams. Naruto looked around as everyone else was cheering, but was surprised when someone slapped a hand on his shoulder.
"I can't believe you called it right you crazy bastard!" The man said laughing.
Naruto blinked.
"Oh I won…? WOOOO!" He shot out of his seat to celebrate.
'H-he.…. He doesn't even know the rules!?'
Her head shot up and snapped to the side as she made eye contact with the man who explained the rules to her.
He quickly averted his gaze, started whistling, then began to slowly back away from the table and the malicious redhead.
"Hey Tayuya!" Naruto's voice broke her out of her murderous thoughts.
"Where did all your chips go?" He gloated.
And just like that, the murderous thoughts resumed.
"But seriously that was a lot of money to lose. We can stop competing if you want."
"Oh that's convenient! Stop the competition while you're ahead? In your dreams!" She exclaimed.
He waited for her to return as she got more chips, having exchanged another 100,000 ryo.
"Should we keep playing roulette?" Naruto asked.
"No. This one's rigged." Tayuya said pouting, as if she was talking about some game at a festival.
Naruto chuckled and led the way to a new table. This one had seven people sitting with cards in their hands. Naruto approached someone who was standing nearby.
"What game is this?" He asked.
"This ones called poker. You play it by…"
"Ugh... my head hurts already, this is too complicated. Thanks though" Naruto said while walking away. Tayuya followed.
"But… that other guy got his time in the spotlight…" the stranger mumbled.
"Even the wheel of Fortune dude got more dialogue! Don't leave!"
The man hung his head as he realized the two shinobi didn't even look back.
"Oh! I know this one!" Naruto exclaimed.
"I thought you said you never gambled before?" Tayuya asked.
"I haven't. But I remember playing this with…" He trailed off and glanced at her.
"With who?"
"...My grandfather. He taught me this and solitaire."
Tayuya glanced over the many tables set up for this game. From what she could see, the dealer lost more often than not. It could be a good way to regain the lead.
"How do you play?" She asked.
"In blackjack you just need to beat the dealer's hand by getting as close to 21 as possible but without going over. To do that you can either "hit" and take another card or "stand" to not."
"So the numbers on my cards just have to be higher than the dealers?" Tayuya asked.
Naruto nodded.
"What about the king and the other ones?"
"The royals all count as 10 and an ace can count as 1 or 11, whatever helps your hand. There's a couple other things, but you'll pick it up as we go."
A group of people got up from one of the blackjack tables, leaving it empty except for the woman on the other side, the dealer. Tayuya decided to sit at that table. There was writing on it that read "Dealer must stand at all 17's"
The dealer decided to make conversation as they settled in.
"I see you've won big in the Wheel of Fortune, you're quite a lucky lady!"
"Well, actually he won. I just took the robes." Tayuya laughed.
The dealer leaned in close so that Naruto wouldn't hear. "He's rather handsome. It looks like you hit the jackpot either way!"
"Are we starting soon?" Naruto cut in.
The dealer cleared her throat. "Sorry about that sir, we'll begin right away. Please place your bets."
Naruto decided to bet 50,000 chips and Tayuya did the same.
The dealer began handing out cards so that everyone had two, though one of the dealers cards was face down. Tayuya was given an 8 and a 2, The dealer's face up card was a 5, and Naruto had a king and an ace.
"Well look who's on a lucky streak tonight!" The dealer said to Naruto.
She turned to Tayuya to see what she would do. Tayuya decided she should take another card.
"Hit me."
The dealer handed her another card, a 9. With her total now at 19, she decided that taking another card was too risky. So now it was the dealer's turn to play her hand. She flipped up her second card and revealed it to be a 7.
She took another card, a 5, making her total 17.
"Ah, you guys got me!" The dealer exclaimed. She dished out the rewards and cleared the table.
"Who's ready for another round?"
"Excuse us." A deep voice called out.
Two men approached the table, they were wearing suits and looked like they were part of the security staff.
"We're gonna need both of you to come with us."
"What? Why?" Naruto asked
"We just want to ask you a couple questions that's all." His partner said.
Tayuya glanced around for a moment, she could see more men in suits all around them, some were circling like vultures while others blocked the exits.
"If all you want to do is ask questions, I can answer them from right here." Tayuya stated.
The man with the deep voice spoke up again, this time with some attitude.
"The two of you have been awfully lucky tonight, don't you think? Because I'll let you know what I think."
He stepped closer for dramatic effect.
"I think you're a couple of no good cheating thieves. We already caught your blonde headed partner, so just come with us and don't make a scene."
Tayuya didn't really see a way out of this, but considering they haven't been cheating, it shouldn't be a problem to just go with them. It was really annoying her though, she was actually having fun for once.
They both stood up from the table and then suddenly…
WHACK!
Naruto had taken the tray that held his chips and slammed it into the poor man's face. He turned to Tayuya.
"RUN!"
Naruto took off, pushing the other security guard to the floor. Before Tayuya could even register what happened, two more guards came at her.
'Well I can't get caught now!'
She took a page out of Naruto's book and threw her chips at the first guard, then she took her bag of ryo and smacked the second across the face with it.
The bag tore open and coins flew about the casino. People got out of their seats and threw themselves to the ground, trying to collect the fallen coin. The casino descended into chaos, but Tayuya didn't pause for a second.
She ran past the two guards, trying to catch up to Naruto who hadn't stopped sprinting. From her position she could see a guard coming from Naruto's right side, about to intercept him.
"Naruto look out!" She shouted.
Naruto saw the guard coming and as he got closer Naruto dropped down to the ground causing the guard to trip over him and get a mouthful of dirty carpet.
Tayuya ran past Naruto giggling uncontrollably. He was still on the ground, surprised his idea worked that well.
"Get up faster! We gotta go!" She yelled through the laughter.
Naruto got up to his feet and dodged another guard before continuing his grand escape. The two were now nearing the entrance, with Tayuya in front.
Her plan was simply to run out the front doors but what she saw stopped her dead in her tracks.
In front of the door stood the largest man she'd ever seen. He had to be at least six foot, but he wasn't just tall, he was wide.
This giant boulder of a man came rushing toward her, moving at a speed that should be impossible for someone that size. Tayuya was about to turn around, run back into the casino and the chaos.
"DUCK!" Naruto's voice called out to her.
She dropped to the ground as Naruto came flying overhead. He planted both feet into the guards chest, sending them both tumbling down to the ground.
Tayuya quickly grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him up. They made a break for the exit and Naruto shouted out.
"Sorry Humpty Dumpty! You were in the way!" Then he started laughing maniacally.
They pushed the doors open and made it to freedom… or so they thought. As they looked back to see if guards were pouring out of the casino, they saw a lone man exit calmly. His suit was different from the others, more distinct. He was probably the head of security.
They saw him, and he saw them.
They started to run through the streets, trying to lose him. But everytime they looked back, there he was, hot on their trail.
'This guy is fast! He's gotta be an ex shinobi or something!' Naruto thought.
They were running out of options, but when Naruto thought all hope was lost, Tayuya called out to him.
"Naruto! Over here! I know how to shake him!"
She darted into an alleyway and Naruto followed. They ran side by side through the alley until it split two ways.
Naruto began to run to the right but Tayuya grabbed a hold of his shirt and pulled him to the left. They ran for a bit and then Tayuya stopped behind a certain building, climbing up and over obstacles until she could reach the roof.
Naruto opted to just walk up the wall.
"Well rub it in my face why don't ya." She grumbled.
She quickly opened a door and pulled Naruto inside, shutting it behind them. As Naruto entered, he could see that this little room on the roof was used for storage.
He didn't have time to continue searching however, as suddenly they could hear footsteps on the roof, they both froze. The footsteps went from one side of the building to the other. like he was looking out onto the streets for them.
After a second they heard the man speak.
"Damn. Those little bastards were fast."
And with that the footsteps retreated back towards the casino.
They both let out a sigh of relief, having shook the super-guard off their trail. Tayuya went to the door and slowly took a peek outside, while Naruto resumed his search.
He looked inside a couple of boxes, but all he could find were different types of instruments. They were mostly instruments that had fallen out of fashion, or were just too old.
"What is this place?" Naruto wondered aloud.
"There's an instrument shop below us. They never lock the door up here."
"You've been here before?" Naruto asked.
There was a sudden tension in the room, Naruto wasn't sure why. He decided that maybe it wasn't the best time for questions and changed the subject.
"I've always wanted to learn how to play an instrument. Do you know how?"
"I can play the flute." She answered, relieved at the quick diversion.
Naruto began to rummage around in the boxes. He paused and then pulled something out of the box as Tayuya shut the door again. He turned and showed it to her.
"Will you play something for me?" He asked.
Tayuya stared at what was in his hands and laughed.
"That's a trumpet." She said.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"A flute and a trumpet are nothing alike!"
"You blow in both of them." Naruto pointed out.
"Ok yeah, but a flute is beautiful and elegant. A trumpet on the other hand…"
She grabbed the trumpet and blew into it, creating a terrible sound.
"A trumpet is a trumpet."
Naruto chuckled and then he remembered something.
"Hey where's all the money you won?" He asked.
She pulled out the ruptured bag and a few coins fell out of it.
"It broke after I hit a guard with it."
Naruto began laughing "So that means I win right?"
"What? That's not fair! You're the one who started smacking people with chips! I only hit that guy to catch up to you!"
"The rules were simple, who ever has the most money in the end wins." Naruto said smugly.
"Yeah well… I'm keeping these robes!"
Naruto snickered. In reality he didn't really want the robes, but he was glad Tayuya got something out of this.
"Anyway let's hit another casino, I still have a job to do after all." Naruto said.
He opened the door and walked to the back edge of the building. He started looking over the rooftops for another casino they could search. There was one not too far from where they were, he just hoped the first casino didn't alert the others in the area about them.
"Let's get going." Naruto said.
"Wait. I… just wanna check something first."
Tayuya then dropped down to the front of the shop and Naruto followed. The shop had a large glass window that let you see all their instruments from outside.
But there was one instrument set apart from the others. There was a flute sitting on a purple pillow on a pedestal. It was white and gold and looked masterfully crafted, Tayuya stared at it through the window.
"It's still here…" she muttered to herself.
"Damn. That's a nice flute." Naruto blurted out.
"It's not just a nice flute. It's the best fuckin flute you'll ever see." She was obviously very passionate about this fuckin flute.
"You know the old shop owner let me touch it once… always wondered what it sounded like." She said without thinking.
She backed away from the glass, forcing herself to tear her eyes away from the display.
"That's all I wanted. Let's go."
Tayuya started to walk away, but Naruto didn't follow immediately. She couldn't turn back to check because if she did, she knew she would go right back to staring at that flute.
Naruto caught up to her soon enough though. As he walked beside her he started talking.
"We've a couple more hours before we need to go meet Jiraiya at the motel. You haven't seen any blonde women with big boobs have you?"
"No." She said amused.
Suddenly her step faltered and she paused for a moment. Her head was starting to hurt, and she felt groggy.
Naruto stopped as well.
"You okay?"
She nodded and waved a hand dismissively. As she did so, she took note of her new silky robes. She stared at the sleeve that covered part of her hand.
"You sure you're okay?"
Then she came to a realisation.
"Do you remember what the guard said to us? When they tried to question us?" She asked randomly.
"That we were no good dirty cheaters."
"No, when he said that they already got our blonde partner?"
"Oh yeah! I remember now…. You don't think he was talking about our target, do you?
"Well he didn't say big tiddy blonde but we got one part."
"Should we go back?"
"Fuck no!" She exclaimed.
In that moment, she got the worst case of vertigo she's ever had. Her head started aching, like her brain wanted to hop out of her skull.
'ugh... this seal is no fucking joke.' she moaned.
Suddenly Tayuya lost the strength in her legs and the world started spinning. She tried to get back up but had completely lost her balance.
Naruto was saying something to her but she couldn't really understand him. Then her world went dark and she hit the hard ground.
She awoke in some sort of lobby, and she couldn't feel her feet on the ground. As her vision cleared she could see that she was clinging onto Naruto's back. It seemed him and Jiraiya were talking.
"It was kinda hard to keep looking when your poison made me carry an unconscious girl through the streets."
"Ok. Fair point. But still, all you got was one lead?"
"You didn't find her either, did you pervy sage? Not only that but I got here at sunset like you said. The moon is out!"
"All right. All right. I'm sorry I'm late, let's just get our rooms and rest up for tomorrow, okay?."
Naruto sighed and nodded. They approached the counter and Jiraiya began speaking to the attendant.
"I need a double for me and a single for the kid." Jiraiya handed her some money.
"No problem." The attendant said as she grabbed the room keys and handed them over.
Jiraiya placed Naruto's key on the counter beside him.
"All right, hand her over to me." Jiraiya held his arms out, ready to carry her.
Naruto was ready to hand her over but she whispered to him. He stopped in surprise, he didn't even know she woke up.
"No…"
"Don't let him take me… please?"
Naruto never heard her sound so distressed.
"Um, pervy sage?"
"Huh?"
"I don't mind taking the double and watching her. That way you can bring all your lady friends back here."
Jiraiya stepped forward with a serious expression.
"Naruto… do you have any idea… HOW HAPPY I AM TO HEAR THAT?!"
"There's a whole town of curvaceous, voluptuous women waiting out there! There's no one else in the world I'd rather call my student Naruto."
He shoved the key into Naruto's hand and took the other, immediately taking off into the night to lay down his masterful charm.
Naruto watched him retreat into the night before heading up to the stairs.
Naruto got to the room and began to fiddle with the key.
"Put me down, I can walk." Tayuya said sleepily.
Naruto obliged.
"Feeling better?" Naruto asked.
She rubbed her eyes. "Just tired."
He opened the door and they both walked inside. Naruto set down his belongings and Tayuya sat on one of the beds.
"Can I ask you something?"
Tayuya nodded.
"What happened while I was gone? Why do you act like pervy sage is gonna chop you up into little pieces?"
"..." Tayuya kept uncomfortably silent.
"Ok fine. What about the shop then? How did you know about it?"
"..." once again, silence.
Naruto sucked his teeth and turned his back to her. He started searching through his belongings until he pulled out the jar he got from Tsukurou.
He sat upon the floor and began to undress before beginning to apply the ointment. Naruto hissed quietly at it's sting.
There was a moment of silence before he noticed Tayuya come over, setting aside her new robes to make sure they didn't get dirty.
Without a word, she reached into the jar and began applying it. Just like last night, her soft and supple hands took away that sting, and Naruto let her do the rest.
Like the time before, she started with his arms, then his torso, neck, face, and finally his back.
When she got behind him to treat his back she stopped.
Naruto hadn't relaxed under her hands like before, in fact, he hadn't relaxed at all. She didn't want to push him away, he was the first thing to make her laugh in years.
But if she told Naruto everything, all the things she was hiding from the anbu, from Jiraiya…. They wouldn't need her alive anymore. But if she gave them nothing they'd kill her anyway.
There was a weight on her chest that she just couldn't lift. Every option she could think of resulted in death, or torture and then death.
Except for one.
If she could trust him, if he could help her, if for just this once, she could actually rely on somebody… then maybe.
Although, she'd rather experience death than another betrayal.
"Jiraiya…"
Naruto perked up as she began to speak.
"When you left, he came to threaten me, to tell me that if I didn't give something up he would have the anbu torture me non stop."
"He said that?!"
"No. But it's what he meant. He even said that he knew I've been with you, that I can't talk to you or else you'll be tortured too."
Naruto stared off with a concerned look. That didn't sound anything like the perverted Jiraiya he knew. Why would he let them stay in the same room if he thought that?
"Liar." Naruto scoffed.
"What?" She said quietly.
"You're lying to me! Straight to my face!"
'This is going so wrong.'
"I-I'm not."
'It won't work. I'm going to die.'
"I know you're lying. Pervy sage isn't like that."
'You keep making the same mistakes. Keep trusting people.'
'Now you'll die for it.'
Naruto tried to get up from the floor, he was done with this, done with her. Tayuya threw her arms around him, keeping him down.
"Please believe me! I need your help…"
'But what else can you do? I'm too weak to fend for myself.'
"You want me to believe you?! How the hell am I supposed to do that!?"
"I'm one of the sound four Naruto! I know a lot about orochimaru, don't you have any idea what they'll do for information on him?"
'please...'
"I know everything! His plans, his experiments, his bases."
Then something clicked in Naruto's head.
"Tell me how you knew about the shop." He said calmly.
"... There's a base, outside of town…." Her voice was breaking up and Naruto could feel tears falling from her face onto his body.
"Working for orochimaru was miserable. It was even worse inside the bases, filled with crazies and twisted experiments. I got away as much as I could… that shop was the only place I felt… right. My only home."
Naruto listened as she spoke. It sounded genuine and everything was starting to click into place.
'But… can Jiraiya really be that cruel?'
"Please Naruto… I don't want to die…"
Naruto was silent for a while and Tayuya's crying had stopped. He wasn't sure what to do, he didn't even know what he could do to help in the first place.
'I need to talk to pervy sage… but if what she said was true, I can't let him know about this.' he thought.
"I'll try and help you Tayuya. I promise."
Naruto felt that she was hanging loosely off of him and turned his head to look at her face. She was asleep, having poured the rest of her energy into getting him to save her.
As Naruto carried Tayuya to the bed and went to lay in his own, a coin at the bottom of Jiraiya's coin pouch disappeared into smoke.
Jiraiya rose from the bed slightly and his eyes widened as the memories of his clone came back to him. He crawled out from under his naked lady friends and entered the bathroom.
He stood still, sorting through the memories. Then he opened his eyes.
"Shit…."
Jiraiya was taken aback at the girl's actions. He thought that she would've pulled away from Naruto but instead she confided in him.
Their continued relationship was going to be really complicated.
'I need to talk with Naruto…' Jiraiya thought.
Hope you enjoyed, leave a review cuz I read em all.
I'll see you all in another 32 years.