Chapter 17—Homecoming

"The sun's going down," Jiraiya muttered after a drawn out silence as he and Tsunade continued to make their way home. "We should be seeing Konoha any time now…"

Tsunade said nothing, and only a few minutes later the trees thinned and they could see the wall that surrounded their village. They emerged from the forest a short distance off to the side of the main road where the village gates stood. Jiraiya headed toward them but when he glanced back he saw Tsunade still standing at the forest edge.

"Tsunade… what are you doing?"

She didn't answer. She just stood and stared at the grass.

"It'll be okay, Tsunade. Please, we made it this far." He returned to her side. "Let's go home."

"…What… What will you tell them?" she asked quietly. She was startled when he suddenly threw a heavy arm around her shoulders. When she looked up, he was grinning.

"Are you actually worried about that?" He shrugged. "I'll make something up. Something nice and vague that'll probably end in me saving the day."

"Ugh." She shoved his arm off of her and headed for the main road. Jiraiya hurried after her.

The guards posted at the gate had changed shifts again since Shikamaru had let Temari and Kankuro into the village. When they saw Tsunade and Jiraiya approach they were too stunned at first to react. They stared down at the two Sannin in disbelief until Tsunade got impatient. Hand on her hip, she shouted up at the guards. "Well, what's the hold up? Get these gates open!" Jiraiya stifled a laugh.

The guards, shaken from their astonishment, turned to each other and grinned. Then one of them jumped down from her post to open the gates while the other ran into the village, shouting, "She's back!"

The heavy gates opened slowly and already people could be seen running up, lining the main road just inside the village to see if it was true.

"Ugh, you've got to be kidding," Tsunade said under her breath as she eyed the growing crowd.

"Come on," Jiraiya said cheerfully. He nudged her forward and they entered the village to cheers of joy and relief.

Kankuro was standing among the villagers near the gate and soon Temari and Shikamaru ran up beside him as well.

"What happened?" Temari said breathlessly. "Is she back?"

"Yeah, Jiraiya actually did it," Kankuro answered. "…Hey, where've you been anyway?"

"Nowhere. Just around," she said.

"Oh, hey, Shikamaru. I didn't see you there."

"Yeah," Shikamaru said. "It's troublesome but I had to come see what all the commotion was about."

"The Hokage's finally back; you could show a little more enthusiasm," Temari scolded, but Shikamaru just shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged.

"I guess this means you two will be heading home now," he said.

"Man," Kankuro sighed. "And we just got here, too."

"He's right though," Temari said. "We're needed in our own village. We should definitely head out…" Kankuro gave her a look that could have rivaled even Akamaru's puppy dog eyes. "…Tomorrow morning," she conceded with a sigh.

Kankuro brightened immediately. "How about tomorrow afternoon?"

"No."

"Tomorrow… after lunch – an early lunch."

"Kankuro…"

Shikamaru smirked and turned away, heading into the crowd, but he glanced back and caught Temari's eye for just a second before disappearing among the villagers.

"…Well, maybe," she said to Kankuro, still looking back.

On the main road, people were flooding into the street behind Tsunade and Jiraiya, following them as they headed toward the Hokage's Residence, but Tsunade suddenly stopped. They had come up beside the hospital. A little smile crossed her lips and she turned off the main path abruptly, grabbing Jiraiya by the arm and dragging him after her as she headed up to the building.

"Ow, Tsunade! I'm injured, remember?" Jiraiya complained. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry," she said. "Force of habit. This is always the first place I end up after being away. I thought I'd just get right to it. Besides, you're injured, remember? Come on."

Jiraiya glanced back as they disappeared through the doors. The crowd had stalled at the gate around the hospital yard, not wanting to disturb the patients inside.

So that's what she's after, Jiraiya thought.

Inside, everything was quiet. There was one nurse sitting at the desk in the lobby looking bored when they came in. When she saw them she let out a squeak and ran from the room to tell the other nurses and the patients the news, leaving them alone.

Tsunade looked out the window at the still excited but steadily dispersing crowd. Jiraiya was watching her. He was about to say something but before he could, Tsunade spoke.

"I couldn't very well just abandon my patients." She looked up at him, her eyes wet. "Let's just… leave it at that."