Tsunade bit her thumb. It was a gesture carried over from childhood, and not a hygienic one, but it helped her mind focus. The call had gone out to Suna and the measurements taken from Jiraiya's remaining arm to base the prosthetic off of. She performed the surgery yesterday to slip the amplifier pieces under the skin and then worked for hours attaching the complicated web of chakra to them.

There in a waiting game now, and the Toad Sage was anything but patient. He'd left the hospital and had since taken to pacing and snapping at anyone unfortunate enough to try and strike of a conversation with him. His actions didn't trouble her as much as his words a few nights before. He was still hung up on losing an arm. He was still convinced that bit of missing flesh made him less a man.

It simply wouldn't do.

She loved him, would never say the words but he was hers and with or without an arm. He was whole in her eyes. She looked down at her ragged thumbnail and dropped her hand in disgust. Jiraiya needed a heel in the ass to get out of this rut, and she was just the person to do it.

He was easy to find. The man had holed himself up in her Hokage quarters with his typewriter slowly pecking out his next novel. It was a pitiful sight to say the least. Tsunade let the door slam behind her and strode over leaning so that her face blocked his view and spoke in an even tone.

"You're a terrible writer."

Charcoal eyes dragged themselves up from her exposed cleavage to glare at her. "I don't need your critique Hime."

She smirked and inwardly danced glee. He was perturbed, she wanted to see if she would tweak into outright anger and then go from there. "Really, I thought you valued opinions, or can you just not take someone not falling down on you in adoration."

"What the hell are you talking about Tsunade? I'm…" He voice was rough and almost guttural as he stood towering over her. "Why are you doing this? Like I need someone flattering me, I put up with you and you wouldn't know how to be nice if it bit you on the ass."

Her foot, heeled in black stepped on the table, followed by the other as she moved to lessen their height distance.

"Bah, look at you. Pecking away at your writer like some sort of broken thing. Where's the Sannin I fought with? Where's the man that fought Orochimaru while drugged? Hmmm… where did he go?"

Jiraiya reached out, his hand curling into the collar of her kimono top as his voice rose in a shout. "He broke! He went to go fight like a good little Shinobi and got his arm ripped off and left for dead by a bitch of a Hokage who couldn't be bothered to care!"

Her brow rose, even as her stomach trembled. Did he really think she didn't care? They thought he was dead. Ma and Pa Toad said he was dead. Still…still she wouldn't back down, not from this and not from him. Her hand curled around his wrist and she jerked it back with a flair of chakra, uncaring that the fabric ripped before he could let go.

"Why should I care? Give me a reason." Her voice was sharp egging him on. "Why should a care about a man, because you for damn sure aren't one of my Shinobi right now, who let the loss of his arm of all things define him? Who let one lost battle define him?"

He swelled up, his mouth opening to spew venom, when it clicked what she was doing. Tsunade was crafty, as crafty as it comes. He knew her though, knew that she'd push and prod at him until he was man and then turn it so that he was laughing. Hadn't she done the same thing when they were young and the horrors of war had him breaking?

"You should care because I'm stupid in love with you, Hime."

The blonde stilled her body and even her breath came to a halt as the words processed. How long had they danced around their feelings? She stepped back and her heel met only air. The world tilted as she started to fall, only to have it go in reverse as he grabbed her arm and jerked her back to press her body to his.

"You would think I flustered you Lady Hokage?" he mocked letting her go to slide down his body to stand on her own.

She let her shoulders slump, and for once admitted defeat. He'd gotten under her skin, wormed his way into her heart and she…she was just sick of fighting it.

"It surprised me is all. I thought I was only one stupid with their feelings."

There was silence before his fingers reached out to trace her cheek gently, knowing exactly what it cost her to admit her feelings in the light of day.

"Can I have you Hime? I know I'm not whol-"

"Idiot," she responded venomously. "You could be missing every limb and be whole to me. If you haven't released that yet, I'm simply wasting my time here."

She unmanned him, took those bits of pride and indifference he armed himself with and broke through them as sure as if she'd punched him. She made him strong, forced him to stand beside her, when all he wanted to do was crumble. It was an uncanny thing, to have come so far and only be starting.

-Go to bed Hime. I plan on loving you for the rest of the day."