Chapter 15—Truth and Lies

They trudged through the trees back toward Konoha, Jiraiya almost pulling Tsunade along behind him by her wrist. She had been silent since they left the cave-in and was moving sluggishly. They'd been walking less than an hour when she stumbled and fell. Jiraiya stopped to wait but she did not get back up.

"I can't – I don't want to go any further," she muttered.

Jiraiya looked down at her, sitting on the forest floor, burns along her right arm and leg, bruises on her neck, and covered in blood – not only her own, but Orochimaru's, Jiraiya's, and Hidan's as well.

"Okay," he said. "It's okay." He sat down across from her and she drew her knees up to her chest and put her head down. He thought about saying something to her, trying to comfort her, but it didn't feel right.

It's better that it ended like this, he thought. Orochimaru was right. She's the Hokage; she shouldn't have had anything more to do with him after he left. He did the right thing in the end…

Dammit, he shouldn't have.

"Ugh…" Jiraiya covered his face and got a sharp reminder of the deep gash in his arm. He glanced down at it and saw that his whole side was drenched with blood from the harsh wound. "Dammit," he murmured, trying to stay the bleeding with little success.

"Tsunade," he said gently. "We can't stay here like this. We're falling apart. You're a mess and to be honest, if I lose any more blood you're going to have to drag me back to Konoha."

Tsunade looked up abruptly and hurried to Jiraiya's side. "You should have said something sooner, you idiot," she told him. She had him hold out his arm and laid her hands over the long cut it but her vision kept blurring.

"Dammit…" She rubbed the fresh tears away with the heel of her hand, streaking blood across her face, and tried again, but Jiraiya could see that she couldn't quite bring herself to look at the bloody wound. Once she began healing it, she closed her eyes and Jiraiya stopped her after it had been healed enough to stop the bleeding. He stood then and said, "Let's keep moving. Just a little farther." He held out his hand to help her up. "It'll do us some good."

Tsunade accepted his help and they pressed on a short distance until they came across a small stream. Tsunade sank to her knees beside it gratefully and dipped her hands into the cool water. Faded red clouds rose from them as the blood washed away. A few minutes later, they had cleaned up and started on their way again and Tsunade felt as though she could finally breathe a little easier. But her thoughts were still heavy.

"…Jiraiya," she said quietly as they walked. "I'm sorry."

He glanced over at her. She was looking away and she had that posture of insecurity he'd learned to recognize in her over the years, even rare as it was to see. "…What for?" he asked, though he thought he knew.

"Orochimaru and I… we shouldn't have… I shouldn't have kept our friendship secret from you. After all this… I can't even think why I never told you and I just–"

"It's okay," he interrupted.

"…What?"

"I think I get it," Jiraiya said. "…You two are… similar."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Just that… you both went through some tough losses when you were young. You were both always so good at developing new and complicated jutsu. You've even each developed original regeneration techniques." He reached over and poked her forehead and she swatted half-heartedly at his hand. "I mean," he continued quietly. "I would be lying if I said I never felt… a little out of place sometimes when the three of us were still a team."

"Jiraiya…" Tsunade said softly but he cut her off.

"Hoo, but he really was an evil bastard wasn't he!" he laughed and Tsunade glared at him, but even she couldn't help but smirk.

"Just a minute…" she said. "You're not still comparing us, are you?"

"A-Ah no. Of course not, heh." Although, he thought, still laughing a little to himself. That look'll give you chills!