"That should do the trick." Tsunade says, collapsing onto the little chair beside the bed. She has spent the last two hours healing Sarutobi Michiko, a young Anbu and niece of her former sensei, Hiruzen.
She is speaking to no one in particular because the room is empty. However, she is aware of the pairs of ears listening in from the outside. Someone pops his head into the doorway, "Can I come in now, Tsunade-sama?"
Tired, she doesn't spare the unfamiliar voice a glance at first, but as Shisui enters the room, she nearly balks. The tall young man has a strangely familiar gait, and Tsunade has to squint at him to make sure she's not seeing a ghost.
"Oh…" Her surprise makes Shisui hesitate and he pauses, finally realising that he is in the same room as her.
"Tsunade-sama." He greets gently, a half-smile appearing on his tired face. His eyes crinkle at the ends, and the other woman makes note of the telling creases hidden beneath his thick lower lashes.
Tsuande gives him a tight-lipped smile, eyeing him in a way that makes Shisui flush from consciousness. He looks so familiar to her that she is struck by the semblance.
"Are you Kagami's grandson?"
He finally understands why she is scrutinizing him and nods, "Yes, I am."
"You look just like him." Tsunade smiles weakly, gesturing for him to come into the room, "Please, come in. I didn't mean to stop you."
It's almost as if he has released a breath, and in a blur, he is by the bed and looking over at Michiko's sleeping form. Tsunade is glad that she has healed all the bruises and cuts from the girl's face. There are still some yellowed marks, but those will fade in a few hours.
She pushes back the chair, watching Shisui with concern as his shoulders tense up. Hiruzen has mentioned him to her before, saying he uncovered evidence to implicate Orochimaru in her kidnapping. Tsunade wonders what he might have to say about the sharingan damage the girl has experienced.
Sensing that the boy would like some privacy, she decides to leave the room.
Emerging from the curtained doorway, she is more startled to find Kakashi outside, knowing fully that he hates hospitals.
"Kakashi." She greets him, bemused, "I wonder what brings you here."
"Tsunade-sama." He pushes away from the wall he's leaning on to stand straighter, "You just healed one of my comrades. Thank you."
Comrade, eh?
Tsunade makes a show of glancing around the waiting room, "I don't see the rest of your team."
Nonchalantly, Kakashi shrugs, "They didn't mind leaving. How bad is the damage?"
Ah, so he has heard. Shinobi don't gossip much, unless the information is important.
"Fairly bad, but she'll live. We'll know more once she's awake, it really depends on whether she can remember her ordeal."
The Hatake nods and resumes leaning on the wall. He knows he doesn't need to be here, but over the two weeks that Michiko has been missing he has been extensively involved in investigating her kidnapping- he doesn't want to leave Shisui.
He doesn't want to leave until Michiko wakes up.
"Care to join me for lunch?"
It's noon, and the bright light hurts Tsunade's eyes. Wordlessly, or maybe he does reply but she doesn't hear it, Kakashi falls into step with her.
They climb up another floor to the cafeteria which is on the roof. The ward Michiko is in is a private section of Konoha Civil Hospital, and the roof-top cafeteria is for private-ward patients and attendees only.
Because it's a private affair, one would expect the food to be good. Kakashi wrinkles his nose at the smell of it- hospital food will always be hospital food.
Tsunade scans the menu on the board with her hands on her hips, and dissatisfied with her options, orders a cup of tea after instructing Kakashi to find them a table.
Tea is the one thing that will ease her crankiness.
Weaving through the cafeteria to the very end, Kakashi plops himself down on a four-person table where they can feel the breeze and keep their distance from the hustle bustle. He has scoured the cafeteria for any strange characters, but they are mostly old women, some single men, or women with children.
'No families.' He notes, as he lazily places his right arm on the back of the empty chair next to his.
"That took a lot out of me." Tsunade complains as she drags the heavy chair back and sits down.
"Does it normally take so much time?" He asks, his eyes just coming to rest on Tsunade after carefully eyeing each of the cafeteria-staff, slowly.
She stirs her tea, spoon clinking noisily against the ceramic, a finger on her chin as she thinks for a moment, "It depends- but it almost always takes a long time. I just feel bad for whichever chump did this, he's probably lost 2/3 of his vision." She shakes her head, "In any case, it's very concerning that this happened under our very noses."
Kakashi takes a deep breath and begins speaking in a hushed, low voice.
"This whole thing feels very off. She was recovered from Orochimaru's lab, but we know he doesn't have any Uchiha allies. Unless the clan is hiding that someone defected- which is very, very unlikely."
They share a dark look. The Uchiha clan has a very strict policy for defectors- death, unless you have a very good reason. Most defectors that survive lose their eyes and then die anyway.
Tsunade remains silent. For a sannin to make any statements about the loyalty of a clan is, at the moment, inappropriate. She steers clear of politics. The perceptive ANBU captain understands this.
"Will she wake up soon?" He blinks a little too quickly.
"Probably in another 8 hours- but Kakashi," She takes a sip of her tea, "You can't tell her about Biwako-senpai, not until she's more stable. In her state, she may relapse…"
The younger boy nods. Biwako has raised Michiko since her mother left- when Michiko hears of her death, she will be…. Well, Kakashi doesn't want to imagine how she might feel- he is afraid of kindling his own memories of loss.
Minato and Kushina's absence now is his own failure- He is unable to keep this thought from resurfacing, so he lets himself suffer the guilt.
Seeing the sudden mellowed gaze, a buzz of mischief and boredom prompts Tsunade to provoke Kakashi. She knows he is simply on Michiko's squad as her captain, but on the chance occasions that his team members have been healed by her, he hasn't stuck around before.
'Michiko is a special comrade, eh?'
The opportunity to tease him is one she doesn't want to slip up.
"So…" She begins, eyeing him from over the rim of her mug, "Are you and little miss Sarutobi seeing each other?"
To her absolute glee, for a millisecond Kakashi feels affronted. His ears begin to burn and Kakashi wishes his only visible eye were also hidden. Tsunade's eyes twinkle with mirth.
He feels exposed.
Calmly, he sighs and explains to Tsunade that Michiko is seeing Uchiha Shisui.
"Oh… But you're not saying you don't have feelings for her?" Tsunade finds the way he steps around the subject…endearing.
"She is on my squad." Shiftily, he glances at someone brushing past their table a little too close for his liking, "She is my friend, in a way."
"In a way?"
His single eye roams from the passing stranger to the table, the mug and then finally, Tsunade.
"Yes."
He enunciates carefully, and Tsunade finds herself feeling very amused.
She chuckles, "Oh Kakashi. You just never change."