A/N: Quick note, sorry if some of you received a notification that this chapter came out earlier than it did now. I meant to re-edit something here at like 4am when I was still half-asleep and ended up removing the chapter all together instead of replacing it. I didn't realize it or remember until a few hours ago. So sorry for the confusion.
Moral of the story: Don't do anything productive while you're barely even conscious.
Anko woke to the sound of a door being shut. Her eyes opened immediately, just as a shinobi's should when roused from his/her slumber. She stared at the ceiling in her dark room for a while, listening out for any more sounds. She heard a bit of shuffling coming from her bathroom.
"What is that girl doing up so late?" Anko grunted, looking at her alarm clock that stated that it was 4:25am. Throwing her covers of her, Anko got out of bed, placing her bare feet onto the cold hardwood floorboards. She exited her room, cracking and stretching her limbs while walking into the living room that Tayuya slept in. Anko looked at her couch, and saw the said girl missing.
Looking in the other direction, she saw the light from her bathroom shining from under the door. That's where the shuffling sounds were coming from. As Anko listened closer, she heard what sounded like... sobbing.
Anko approached the door and opened it. She was greeted to see Tayuya sitting on the floor, against the farthest wall in her bathroom. Tayuya had looked up in shock, and Anko was able to look into them. They were red, with tears flowing down them like a leaky faucet. Her hair was a mess and her body was sweaty.
Anko continued staring at her analytically, while Tayuya stared back, her face full of emotion.
"Why are you up, crying in my bathroom?" Anko asked, crossing her arms. Tayuya sniffled and wiped her eyes, looking away. She decided not to answer Anko's question and got up to walk past her, out of the bathroom. She tried to rush past her with folded arms, but was stopped when Anko blocked her path.
"I asked you a question." Anko stated, looking at the red-head out of the corner of her eyes. Tayuya's own watery eyes glared at the Jounin out of embarrassment, more so than frustration.
"Don't worry about it." The ex-sound nin grunted, "Sorry for waking you this time. I'm going back to bed, alright?"
"Waking me 'this time'?" Anko wondered, "What are you talking about?"
Tayuya was beginning to get frustrated, and decided to just let Anko know everything so she can be done with this conversation.
"Listen. I've been through a lot of shit, alright? I told you that these last three years have been fucking brutal for me. I was crying because I had a nightmare, and I have these nightmares damn near every night. This one was one of the worse ones, and I guess I let it get to me too much. Like I said, I'm sorry for waking you. I just want to get back to bed."
Anko continued looking at her through the corner of her eyes. After a brief stare-down, Anko moved out of her way. No more words were said as Tayuya headed back to the couch. Anko followed suit and headed to her own bed, but not before she heard the sobs of Tayuya pick up again as she closed her door.
The Special Jounin stood there for a while before sighing. Making a mental decision, Anko returned to her bed to try and salvage as much sleep as she could for the next day.
*Hours later*
Contrary to yesterday morning, Tayuya was in for a rude awakening. A pillow flying through the air and smacking her in the face brought her back into the real world, making her jump out of her slumber.
"Wake up. The Hokage called us in."
Tayuya groaned and threw the pillow off of her. She slowly rose up off of the couch, giving Anko a tired leer.
"Alright, shit... What's with the attitude?"
"Just shut up and get dressed." Retorted the impatient Anko with crossed arms, "Don't keep me or the Hokage waiting."
Despite looking confused and offended, Tayuya got up and did as she was told.
The two soon left Anko's home and headed to the Hokage tower without much words spoken between them on the way. Tayuya wondered what Anko's problem was this time around. Was she just cranky because she woke her up last night? Tayuya was unable to figure it out, but felt it wasn't even worth going into.
After all, chances are that she won't see her again after today.
After entering the tower, Anko headed to the Hokage's office and knocked on the door. Once the pair heard Tsunade say 'Enter!' on the other side, Anko entered and gestured toward Tayuya.
"Alright, she's here."
Tayuya looked at the Hokage, who was staring intently at her. The ex-sound nin began to prepare herself for what was coming after this.
"Tayuya, was it?" Tsunade asked. Tayuya nodded, "I thank you for being so willing to cooperate with us while gathering information with you."
"No prob." Tayuya simply shrugged with no real emotion.
Tsunade reclined back into her chair, "So I hear that Anko took the time to keep you fed and buy you some clothes." Her eyes turned toward said Jounin, "That's awfully nice of you."
Anko simply shrugged and said nothing. That was a bit of an unexpected response from both Tsunade and Tayuya. Anko usually always has something to say for anything said to her.
Dismissing it, Tsunade turned back to Tayuya, "In any case, I suppose you'll be wanting to head back out now. There's no need to keep you here any longer."
Tayuya simply let out a sigh. There was no point in protesting or putting up a fight, not that she had the energy for it anyway.
"I guess."
Tsunade nodded, "Alright then, you're free to go. I wish you the best of luck."
The redhead nodded and turned around to exit the office. Just as Anko got one last look at Tayuya's face, she saw it. She almost missed it, but Anko could see the pain in Tayuya's face, even if only slightly. She could tell that Tayuya didn't want to head back out there. Hell, no sane person would want to, in her case. She knew that staying in Konoha was a nice break from what she was going through out there, especially if her life was as bad as she made it seem last night when she was in her bathroom.
But Anko simply shook her head. That wasn't her problem.
No words of goodbye were said, nor was any eye contact made between Tayuya and Anko as she left. Anko simply brushed it off and began walking toward Tsunade to discuss a few business related matters with her.
However, throughout their conversation, Anko could slightly, just very slightly, feel something tugging on her in the back of her mind as a result of Tayuya's dismissal.
"So are ya sure Kurenai-sensei isn't just, you know... getting fat?" Naruto asked Shikamaru with an unsure mumble. The Jounin sighed and shook his head.
"No, you dolt. I told you that she's pregnant." He then switched back to the subject at hand, "Anyway, let's hurry up. Tsunade is waiting on us so we can figure out what Jiraiya's message is supposed to mean."
"Right." Naruto nodded. The pair then picked up the pace of their steps to talk with the Hokage.
However, they noticed a certain someone with red hair about to walk past them. Her arms were folded just below her bust, and she was looking down, seemingly caught up in her thoughts. Naruto waved to her with a small smile, but she didn't even notice.
"Hey, Tayuya! You okay?" Naruto asked. Tayuya passed him without so much as a glance in his direction. Naruto continued staring at her as she walked away before narrowing his eyes and walking after her. Shikamaru made a small attempt to prevent Naruto from doing so, but Naruto refused to listen. Shikamaru simply decided to trail behind them, mumbling something about a troublesome blonde.
"Tayuya, what's wrong?" Naruto asked, walking in step with her.
"Nothing, I'm leaving." Tayuya said with hardly any emotion in her voice.
"Leaving?" Naruto repeated, "As in leaving for good?"
"As in leaving for good." She replied with a feeble nod.
"Why?"
"Because I'm no longer needed here. I hardly knew much about Orochimaru, and anything I did know is pretty useless now that the asshole is dead." Tayuya's eyes glanced over to him, "Did you honestly think that I'd be staying here permanently after you found me in that cave?"
"Well... I don't see why not." Naruto admitted, "Why do you want to leave?"
"You think I want to?" Tayuya scoffed, "I just spoke with the Hokage, and she made it clear that she expects me to leave. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm not gonna be a burden to anyone."
Naruto furrowed his brows, "Baa-chan told you to leave? She just decided to kick you to the curb like that?"
"Pretty much."
Naruto stopped walking. For some reason, this made Tayuya stop, as well.
"That sounds like a load of crap to me." Naruto grunted, "Why would Baa-chan do such a thing? She knows you don't have anywhere else to go out there, and that you might not even last much longer if you continue living like that! She knows you're just a girl with no home and no cruel intentions, so why would she just decide to toss you back out like that?!"
Tayuya looked at him for a while before answering. Why was he getting upset?
"Do you not realize that the Hokage nor your village owes me nothing? I served under Orochimaru for years, one of Konoha's top enemies. Even if he is dead now, do you really think that I'm entitled to a house and home for such a thing? The fact that I was even able to come to this village and have a roof over my head for a few days is an act of kindness within itself."
"It's not about you owing us anything!" Naruto argued, "You were in need of help and we took you in! Yeah, you may have had useful information about Orochimaru, but that wasn't the only reason I wanted to bring you here. And now that we see that you have no useful information, we're just gonna throw you back out there?! You said it yourself, your life was shit living like that for three years! You could have died at any point! So why would we throw you back into such a hard spot like that, when you can just stay here?!"
There was silence among the group. Shikamaru simply stood back and watched the events in front of him, figuring it'd be too troublesome to get involved.
Tayuya was just staring at him, wondering what Naruto's deal was. They weren't friends. They only knew each other for three days. So why would he be so adamant on having her stay here? Why did he care? What was his true reason for wanting her to stay?
A sudden thought then occurred to her as she thought about the conversation she and Anko had two days ago after leaving the T&I Headquarters:
"So you helped in the invasion of Konoha, huh?"
"Um, yeah, I guess."
"..."
"Why do you ask?"
"Because that's something that you didn't tell me or Naruto when we first found you."
"Well... Is it really that important? I mean, I already said that I didn't have a choice in the matter."
"Yeah, I get that and understand fully. But Naruto still doesn't know that you helped his best friend escape from Konoha."
"Ooh... That was his best friend, huh?"
Anko nodded.
"Well, if you understand that only did what I did because I was forced to, I'm pretty sure he would, too."
"I don't know... All I'm saying is that if he knew, he might not be so quick to defend you like he did earlier today."
Tayuya chuckled sourly in her head. He still doesn't know. Thinking back on it, she did remember seeing a loud blonde kid with the group that was chasing after them once she and the Sound Four were transporting Sasuke back to the Sound Village three years ago. That kid was Naruto. And she was there, helping Naruto's closest friend fall into the hands of Orochimaru. She even tried to kill one of his friends, who was the person behind him. Furthermore, even before that, she aided in the invasion, and assisted in sealing off the fight between Orochimaru and the Third Hokage, which ultimately caused him to die. She's committed crimes against this village. And it didn't seem that Naruto realized that or recognized her. All he seemed to know about her was that she used to work under Orochimaru, and a summary of everything after that.
Before she could even think of a response, she was taken by the wrist and was being pulled in the other direction. Surprised by this, she yanked her hand back.
"Let go of me! What do you think you're doing?"
Naruto turned his head toward her, "Do you want to head back out there, where you have no home or anyone to look out for you? Or do you want to stay here, where you'll be safe?"
Tayuya glared at him. Not so much out of anger, but out of confusion, "I think the answer is pretty damn obvious."
"Then come with me. We're going to have a talk with Baa-chan." He passed his friend as he restarted his path to the Hokage tower, "C'mon Shikamaru."
The member of the Nara clan glanced over at Tayuya, who glanced back. No words were spoken between them as they began to follow Naruto.
She nodded, "Ibiki and I thought the same thing, too. But it seems some of those prisoners are-"
Anko's and Tsunade's discussion was cut off when the door to the Hokage's office suddenly burst open. Naruto stormed in and approached her desk, with Tayuya and Shikamaru trailing in from a distance.
Naruto slammed both hands onto Tsunade's desk, looking her right in the eyes, hardly even noticing Anko's presence next to him.
"Just what do you think you're doing, Baa-chan?!"
Tayuya's eyes grew and placed a hand over her mouth, "My God... This kid's got a fucking death wish. Does he really think that he'll walk out of here alive after storming into her office like this?"
Shikamaru chuckled and shook his head, "He's one of the only people in the entire village that can really get away with that. Those two blondes are much closer than you think."
Tayuya scoffed, though still skeptical as she looked at the glare Tsunade was sending Naruto, "Must be, considering how he calls her 'Baa-chan' all the time and doesn't get the shit beat out of him."
Tsunade leaned forward in her chair, meeting his glare with one of her own, "Naruto, I highly suggest you don't make a habit of approaching me like this, for your sake." She warned him sternly, "Now just what the hell are you talking about?"
Naruto grit his teeth, "So you're just going to send Tayuya out on her merry way, knowing she doesn't have a home to go to?!"
Tsunade's leer was much calmer than Naruto's, but was equally, if not, more fierce than his, "Tayuya has outlived her purpose here. She is not a member of Konoha, nor is she our responsibility. She was originally supposed to be a prisoner, but I've decided not to fully place her as one out of the kindness of my heart. But now she must go on about her business, as should we. Whether or not she has a home to go after this has nothing to do with us."
"It has everything to do with us!" Naruto exclaimed, "You know she's been out there hardly surviving on her own out there! Why so you feel the need to send her back out to that kind of life when we can keep her and give her a new opportunity to have a better one?!"
"Because that is not our responsibility." Tsunade answered with crossed arms, "We are a village of shinobi, Naruto, not a village of caregivers. If she was a member of Fire Country, I may feel more inclined to help her. But she is an ex-Sound nin, Naruto. She used to be an enemy of Konoha. Therefore-"
"Used to be an enemy of Konoha!" Naruto repeated, "That was three years ago! And she was forced to do what Orochimaru told her, or else she'd die, so it's not like she voluntarily made herself an enemy! I can't believe you're being so cold as to refuse to lend a helping hand to someone who can use it!"
Tsunade narrowed her eyes. This was the second day in a row that she was getting yelled at by this boy. She had gotten an earful from him when she and Fukasaku had informed him of Jiraiya's death.
Despite the frustration building in her core, she remained calm enough to have a sensible debate, "I'm not being cold, Naruto, it's just common sense. What should compel us to help her? I thanked her for being so cooperative, but that's not much to be that grateful for. She was even fed, had her wounds healed, and had a home to sleep in for three whole days, which is what most prisoners here would consider a luxury. Even if she wasn't an ex-sound nin, what use would she be of the village if we kept her?"
"She could become a kunoichi of Konoha!"
"Out of the question." Tsunade dismissed, "Tayuya has fought against our shinobi, and even has the Curse Seal on her. Orochimaru may be dead, but we still don't know much of the effects of such a seal. I refuse to let someone who was once against this village to gain enough power to potentially betray us."
Naruto snarled, "I can't believe you! First you get Ero-Sennin killed, and now you-!"
"YOU WATCH YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH!" Tsunade shouted, standing up out of her chair. Naruto had pushed her past her breaking point with that one, "I will not sit here and be condemned by you for my decisions as Hokage! If I were to command that Tayuya leaves, then that is my decision! If I were to command that she be beheaded, that is my decision! Who the hell do you think you are to tell me how to rule this village?!"
Everyone, including Anko, were shocked at Tsunade's outburst. Even Tayuya knew that the wrath of the Hokage was not to be taken lightly.
Naruto took a step back as Tsunade snapped at him, but immediately tightened his jaw and stepped forward, his face now less than five inches away from Tsunade's. He could see that he was wrong for his last comment, after seeing Tsunade's eyes building up with excessive liquid, but refused to back down nevertheless, "I'm just standing up for what's right! Tayuya needs our help; who knows how much longer she'd last if she were to go back out there! It doesn't matter that she used to serve under Orochimaru! It doesn't matter that she has the Curse Seal! I can see that Tayuya will gladly prove her loyalty to Konoha if given the chance! And the fact that you're not even granting her that much is pissing me off! We represent Konoha, the strongest village out there! And one of the reasons we're so strong is because we help those who need it, and aren't so selfish as to turn away anyone who can use it! So why is that changing now?!"
"Naruto," Tsunade sighed in an attempt to calm herself, "You have to understand that I would like to help Tayuya under the right circumstances. But given her past affiliations and crimes against the village, it's not easy for me to just trust that she'd be no threat to Konoha, even if it were three years ago. With everything that's happening now, especially with the Akatsuki, we have to tread carefully. I don't want to take any unnecessary risks to hurt this village. We've let Tayuya through these walls and helped her out enough as it is, so I just don't feel the need to do more than we already have for her."
Naruto looked back at Tayuya, He saw her looking down at the ground with an emotional mask on to hide the look of disappointment that Naruto was still able to see.
He then turned his head back to look at his Hokage, "Fine, we don't have to enlist her as a shinobi if that bothers you so much. But at least let her stay here as a civilian. She can keep her chakra seals on her, so she won't be of any threat. I'll even let her stay at my place to keep an eye on her."
Tsunade stared at her desk for a moment before meeting Naruto's gaze again, "Naruto, I have a question for you."
"Shoot."
She narrowed her eyes, "Why do you care so much about this girl staying here? I understand that you're standing up for what you think is right, but I'm beginning to think that there's a little more to it than that."
Naruto didn't answer right away, "We made a promise." He said, "We talked a bit last evening, and she helped me in regards to how I felt about Ero-Sennin being dead. I was thinking about turning in my hitai-ate. But she convinced me otherwise. And we made a promise for her not to give up on her life as long as I didn't give up my title as a shinobi. And I want her to be here so she can see that I'm living up to that promise. She's had it rough out there, Baa-chan. It would be heartless to just throw her back into that life again."
This made Tsunade sit back into her chair. Naruto's words had broken through, and she was letting them marinate inside her mind.
After what seemed like minutes of silence among everyone in the room, Tsunade turned to Anko.
"What's your thoughts on this, Anko? You've spent more time with her than Naruto has." Tsunade stated, "Do you think she's trustworthy?"
The Tokubetsu Jounin looked back at her fellow Curse Mark bearer. Their eyes locked with each other momentarily before Tayuya averted her gaze.
Anko closed her eyes and sighed, turning back toward the Hokage, "... She snores in her sleep."
Everyone else's right eyebrow raised in confusion at Anko's statement, "Err, okay. That doesn't answer my question though." Tsunade said.
"That's the only problem I really have with her." Anko elaborated, "Therefore, she doesn't really give me much reason to believe she's untrustworthy."
Tayuya looked at Anko with a bit of shock. Was she... standing up for her?
"I see." Hummed Tsunade. She then looked towards Shikamaru, "From the information I received from Inoichi, I saw that you've actually fought against her at one point. What are the skills that she possesses?"
Shikamaru glanced at her, "Well, she can summon powerful creatures via summoning jutsu and command them with a flute. She's also pretty good in genjutsu, and can double her skills as a result of the Curse Mark. She's also pretty smart and analytical like me. She'd make a hell of a shogi player." Shikamaru shrugged, "That's about all I know, if I remember correctly."
"Interesting." The Hokage mumbled, studying Tayuya carefully, "Tell me, do you think she'd pose as a threat to Konoha if we were to enroll her as one of our shinobi?"
The lazy boy sent another look at Tayuya before grinning, "Nah. Even if she were to go against us, she was a pretty weak opponent."
"Says the guy who was getting creamed by a girl, and let another girl come save him." Tayuya couldn't help but reply with a scoff. This made Shikamaru chuckle.
Tsunade sat there and thought for a moment before closing her eyes. She came to a decision.
"Tayuya." The eldest woman in the room called, "Step forward."
The girl hesitantly did as she was told and approached the Hokage's desk, standing between Naruto and Anko. Tsunade opened her eyes to look at Tayuya carefully.
"If I were to offer you a place in our village, would you swear your complete loyalty and allegiance to this village from this day onward?"
Tayuya looked at Naruto before answering. He nodded his head with a smile. Tayuya then did the same with Anko, who gave a similar response.
The ex-sound nin looked at one of the most powerful leaders in the world of shinobi and nodded, "Yes, Hokage-sama."
Tsunade took a brief pause after she answered, and Tayuya could swear she only did it to build suspense.
The heavy-chested leader leaned back in her chair. She issued Tayuya with a small smile.
"Very well. I hereby grant you citizenship as a member of Konohagakure no Sato."
Tayuya's eyes grew. Her heart was pounding.
Tsunade smiled wider and extended a hand out for Tayuya to shake.
"Welcome to your new home, Tayuya."
Tayuya wasn't sure why, but she felt this overwhelming, but comfortingly warm feeling in her chest upon hearing those words.
And before she knew it, she suddenly found her cheeks coated with tears of joy.
