"You know Hime, I had thought when you re-grew my arm… it would look like the rest of me." Jiraiya mused as he shifted the warm weight of her higher up on his back. "No offense to the best medic in the world mind you, but it looks like you stole an arm from Orochimaru and sewed it to me."

Tsunade chuckled weakly, before leaning her head against the broad expanse of his back. "Baka, I'm a medic not a genjutsu user. You should have hunted Orochimaru down and asked him how he superimposed his body over others. Then you wouldn't have one arm pale and the other tan."

"Please if I'm going to look up that snake, it won't be to ask advice on jutsu."

She yawned and tightened her arms around him, grateful beyond mentioning that he hadn't said a word about her legs giving out and just picked her up like it was an everyday occurrence. "He came to the village you know, after I got sick and you had to take that mission. I opened my eyes and he was just sitting there calm as ice in the wing back chair."

Jiraiya's hands tightened squeezing her thighs until the Godaime's muttered yelp and slap upside the head broke the trance. "Did he try to hurt you Hime?"

"Bah, even sick as I am he wouldn't stand a chance." It was an obvious lie, but one she hoped would help soothe the tension. "No, he offered me a zetsu clone. The old snake has realized that he's close to being the last of his generation. It bothers him I think." She yawned again and felt her eyes start to close. The sickness was bad enough, but this bone tired weary was the worst by far. "I turned him down of course, told him if he didn't want to be alone, he was always welcome to die with me..."

She was asleep again. Jiraiya could feel her body relax against him. He hated it, hated how this strong woman had been reduced to chakra barely holding together flesh. When she'd gotten ill, he'd guised one last mission and went out in search of Orochimaru himself. He'd never tell her about it, or about his pleas to the other Sannin to help.

Five years just wasn't enough time.

His geta'd feet walked slowly on the path to Shikkotsu Forest. When she'd fallen ill and that blonde hair turned white nearly overnight, Tsunade had only one request. The Senju clan started in the woods and she wanted it to end there as hated her for asking. How could she ask him to watch her die? How could he say no?

He walked until the sun set and the stars became their beacons. She never stirred, only curled up into a ball when he shifted her to the ground and laid his vest over her shoulders.

It was in the stillness of the dark that he saw them, those yellowed eyes of the snake he used to call a friend. One hand curled around a kunai while the other dropped protectively to Tsunade. The last time they'd fought, he'd been drugged and Orochimaru had nearly killed her. That would not be happening this time.

There was a tittering laugh as he walked out of the woods, as if the snake knew exactly what Jiraiya was thinking and was laughing at him for it. "Be calm Oaf. Didn't Tsunade-hime tell you I left her unharmed before?"

Jiraiya's jaw tightened at the thought of them being spied on and him not realizing it. Regardless of her fragile state, Tsunade was still a very high bounty in the Bingo book. It made him want to rise from his crouch and show the bastard just what he was capable of.

"Idiots the pair of you" Tsunade spoke weakly, and pulled herself into a sitting position, irritably shaking off Jiraiya's helping hand. Her shoulders curved as if the weight of her life pushed them towards the ground, too much for the shrunken frame to support. "I'm glad you're here Orochimaru. I need to talk to both of you."

The Godaime paused as a coughing fit took her. Worrisome more was the gasping after the barks of sound, evidence that the Sannin couldn't get the oxygen she needed to her lungs. When she calmed, it became apparent that though the mask of indifference stayed firmly in place, Orochimaru had walked halfway across the clearing and had his hand out. Perfect

"I need you to promise me, both of you promise that you'll let me have peace." Whiskey eyes focused on the Snake Sannin, though her hand reached for Jiraiya's. "I'll have none of this Edo Tensei. I don't want my cells, degenerated as they are used for anything. The Senju clan… my clan ends with me. I want to be put in the care of Lady Katsuyu and left there."

"Hime, you don't mean-"

"Of course she does Jiraiya. Our Lady Tsunade is smart enough to know that even without a bloodline limit, Senju cells are a commodity. All sorts of unwashed would want to get their hands on it. I'll assume you're throwing me in with that mix Hime."

She laughed weakly. "I am indeed. Who could resist the cells and legacy there for the taking?"

Orochimaru refrained from saying her cells were a poor substitute compared to the ones he had of Hashirama. Of course even the god of Shinobi wasn't that delightful mix of Senju and Uzumaki. There was temptation there now, a chance to explore the unknown. His eyes shifted to the one who stood in his way and the kunai clenched tightly in the Toad Sage's fist.

Then again, what could she really offer him.

"Tsunade you can't do this. I would have never agreed to take you to the forest. It's desecration to be melted like some sort of plague victim."

"I'm done talking about it Jiraiya. I won't have my body raised against my will. I'm trusting both of you to make sure that doesn't happen. I'm trusting you to help me make it to the forest Jira, and you Orochimaru… if you would to keep Jiraiya from having a moment of weakness."

Slitted eyes narrowed before he nodded sharply. "I'll play my part Hime, though this changes nothing about my ambitions."

"Of course not, but it'll be a different generation stopping you this time neh?"

The words were spoken to the dark. The rogue Sannin disappearing as quickly as he had shown himself.

Jiraiya huffed and unsealed another blanket to lay over her. He moved to a squat, prepared to stand guard through the night over his charge, but her voice beckoned him to lie down. He did, reluctantly and pulled her into his arms. She was smaller than she'd been, the journey seeming to sap even the last of her reserves. Would she live to make it to the forest tomorrow?

"Hime, please don't die tonight. I can't- I can't wake up and you be dead in my arms." Tears she'd made him swore to hold back leaked out.

"Baka, I bet you I'll live through the night." Her words were whispered, a numbness taking hold in her limbs as sheer exhaustion drug her down. "Trust me; I never lose when I bet my life."

The sun broke the horizon, its tender light brightening the Sannin who held his lover. Jiraiya was awake, had been awake since that stillness during the night when Tsunade exhaled and never inhaled again. He couldn't make himself move. If he stayed still, if he held on to her and kept her warm… she wasn't really dead right?

His big frame shook with sobs as a cool hand touched his back. "She's gone then. The Slug Princess went home to her brother. Come on then Oaf. Let's carry out her wishes."

Jiraiya pinched his eyes shut, lids pressing hard until even the hint of moisture was gone. "Dan better take good care of her until I come for her. I'll blacken his eyes if he doesn't."

He'd had her for five years.

Five years wasn't near enough time.