So much for slow updates...

May seem shorter than usual but is about the same length, my chapters are never less than 2000 words not including AN's at the beginning and end.

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~Shout out character for Suicidal Rose, may or may not become a reoccurring character~

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The list of problems went on for Max. After being confined to a white room she was then confined to a hospital bed while she recovered. At the foot of her bed hung a clipboard, all of her visitors had looked at it without fail.

Malnourishment, dehydration, muscle waste, infection from the tube into her stomach, the substance from the needle in her arm was still unknown. Those were only the physical problems, no one quite knew the metal damage done to Max, just like no one knew just what had happened. It wasn't like Max was actually talking to anyone at the moment.

From Max's point of view, she had been stuck in a white room for an unknown period of time. Then one day her two closest friends waltz in along with Tsunade and she's released only to find she's in Konoha. But then it didn't make sense, if they had known she was there, why did they leave her there? Why hadn't they asked about her 'death'?

Hopefully she was going to get some answers. Then she would weave her story, omitting most of the truth. For the moment she sat on her bed staring at the ceiling. After a week in hospital she had been given a choice, stay at the hospital or at her house. She had picked her room, it smelt normal but was still white.

White. The colour of that room.

The absence of colour surrounded her, suffocating, she was back in that room, her movements constricted, restrained like an animal. Phantom pains plagued her, the feeling of the tube that had been in her stomach, the twinge of the needle. Her breathing was quicker now, her heart rate had risen too, she could feel it throbbing in her temple.

Max let out a frustrated growl and rolled off her bed practically diving out of her room into the dark blue hallway. Her breathing evened out as she calmed herself, the whiteness gone. Now composed, she stood up and headed to the shopping district. She needed some paint, her room was not going to remain white.

She managed to avoid anyone who would drag her back to a bed. There were some skills that you just couldn't loose, like riding a bike.

When she returned with the paint she found Laura waiting for her in the living room. They stood in silence for a while, neither quite sure what to say. Not being able to stand the silence Max continued to her room with the paint, picking up a brush and popping off a few lids. She wasn't a conventional artist, she couldn't draw or paint realistically but what she planned on doing didn't matter. At long as there was no white she would be happy.

She loaded the brush with a colour, not caring which and flicked it at the wall in a wide sweeping arc. Red spots littered the wall like blood splatter.

Someone picked that moment to enter. Max supposed she really should activate those traps, it would stop all these intrusions.

"Who are you?" Max asked bluntly, splattering more paint on the wall, she hadn't even looked at the intruder.

"I'm Rose, your new therapist." 'Ah, so they had decided she was nuts,' Max thought. The woman didn't sound patronising like the last one had, that was a good point at least, and she had been clear about her intentions, one of her other therapist had pretended to just accidently keep bumping into her and trying to make conversation. First impressions were important, and Max's first impression of this woman, she was cheery and to the point.

"Are you aware that I drive people insane as part of my job?"

"Yes." Rose hadn't moved, either she was brave or didn't care. It would be interesting to see the out come of these sessions.

"Cool. Just so that's clear. Are you also aware that my work ranges from classified to everyone and their left kneecap knows?"

"Anything you say to me will not be recorded in anyway and I will not repeat unless given permission by you and only you," Rose recited. It was obviously standard procedure for her.

"Good to know, now that we're acquainted I would like to finish painting my room before I go nuts because of it"

"The white hurts?"

"Only when you've been stuck in a white room for what seemed like years"

"Can I help?"

"Pick up a brush and paint anything white"

"Interesting range of colours," Rose commented, all of the open tins were dark colours, the lightest being a medium grey.

"Shut up and paint or get out." Max did not want her choice of colours to be psychoanalysed.

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It was two hours when they finished, near the end Max had opened another tin, UV paint, and started scrawling stuff over her walls, Rose hadn't been able to see what, not exactly knowing what she was doing. A couple of lines of poetry here, some lyrics there and Max declared her room done. Both women vacated the room to let it dry. Rose did wonder how Max had managed to do all that painting and not have a drop on her.

Laura had gone from earlier, leaving a note about Tsunade wanting to see her ASAP. Had Laura thought this meeting was important, she would have lied on the note or told Max in person.

Max smirked, 'as soon as possible' could be anything up to next week, Tsunade had forgotten the golden rule when dealing with Max, be specific.

"Want something to eat?" Max offered. Rose looked at her a bit confused, she had seen the note.

"Aren't you sup-"

"'Possible' is after I've eaten at least, I haven't had a decent meal in ages, hospital food just doesn't cut it"

"What do you have?" Rose asked.

"Uh, food, maybe…" Max said sheepishly, she hadn't actually checked. "I'll treat you to lunch somewhere"

"Sure, sushi bar, ok?"

"Let's go"

As they walked to the sushi bar Rose couldn't help but ask a question she had been dying to ask since meeting Max.

"Why are you being so nice?"

"You have yet to irritate me." Max said simply, it wasn't a lie, just not the whole truth. Rose looked like she was about to say something but stopped.

A while later Rose realised that by being so open Max had managed to keep a lot hidden.

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It was nearing sundown when Max finally bothered to go see Tsunade. Rose had errands to run so the two women were alone, staring at each other.

"I asked you to be here as soon as possible," Tsunade reprimanded.

"I asked for answers a week ago, neither of us got what we wanted. Do you have answers for me now?" Max asked, her voice was cold, she was tired of these games. She could tell something was being hidden from her, it wasn't just paranoia, things weren't adding up and she wanted to know why.

"It's not that simple-"

"So make it simple, if you want I can seal this room, no one would be able to listen in or observe. I want answers." Tsunade couldn't tell that Max had already done so, sealing the room completely, Max knew something was going to be aired, something that probably shouldn't be common knowledge.

"It not just that I'm worried about-"

"You don't trust me. Do you think I've been compromised, that I'm a liability? Is that why I was stuck in that white room slowly loosing my mind?" Max hissed, her hand subconsciously rubbed her arm where the needle had been.

"You weren't even in that room for more than a day!" Tsunade yelled, finally showing a crack in her calm façade. Max remained calm, now outward sign of victory, not yet, she knew there was more to this story.

"So tell me what happened"

"Someone brought you back, with the state you were in we didn't want to risk it if you had been compromised so we put you in an isolation room"

"We? Who else knew I was there?"

"I! I didn't want to risk it, my duty is to protect the safety of this village." Max didn't believe this 'I' business for a second but the defensiveness said that there was someone else at least, a possible weak link.

"So where was I before?" Max asked, she let some desperation seep into her voice.

"No one knows." Tsunade regretted her choice of words as soon as she said them.

"Someone rescued me, so that someone must know, and if that someone didn't bring me all the way back then the person who did should know. You know. You just aren't telling me, I wonder why," Max said as if she was just musing aloud. She was amazed Tsunade hadn't punched her yet.

"You of all people should know that there are some secrets better left in the dark. You have plenty of your own. I don't suppose you've met a red haired girl before. Green eyes, wore a black jacket and bamboo hat." That was a low blow. Max narrowed her eyes at the blond Hokage.

"Small time thief turned mercenary, I know of her. What has that got to do with anything?" Nothing in Max's words gave any indication that she and Murdock were the same person. Tsunade gave a look of confusion, the wind dropped from her proverbial sails. Max repressed a sigh, she had almost been caught out.

"I just wondered," Tsunade lied.

"Did you think I was her? I was stuck in a white room, Last think I remember before that was being betrayed by a… person." Max really didn't know what to consider Itachi. She wanted to call him a traitor but it hurt so much to think of it.

"So you keep saying. Enough answers for you? I've told you what I know about your situation"

"No, no you haven't, that may well be your downfall"

"Are you threatening me?"

"You of all people should know I have paranoia, I make links that most people don't see. Things seem a little too perfect, slotting into place like a well oiled plan. I'm surprised I didn't see this coming. Nothing good ever lasts." Max's voice cracked, she paused to swallow and then continued, no longer looking Tsunade in the eye. "When I came here I was three years old, I wanted someplace to call home, a place I could protect. Konoha became that. I should have expected this though. A Kunoichi is a tool, to be used and manipulated like a puppet without emotions. I never fully managed the 'without emotions'. Now I wish I'd tried harder."

Tsunade couldn't speak, never had anything like this gone so wrong. What scared her more was where Max was going with this.

"I…I don't know what to say"

"I don't care what you say. It wouldn't change anything." Max shushined to crouching on the windowsill, her privacy spells lifted. "I will find out what happened, you've only harmed yourself by not telling me." Max was gone, Tsunade looked out the window, the sun had long since dipped beneath the horizon bathing the village in shadows.

She let her head drop into her hands. How could she fix this without it getting worse. The plan had been flawless, after the betrayal Max was supposed to want to defend her home, possibly even actively take down some of the Akatsuki.

It had all gone wrong though, Max was never supposed to be kidnapped, nor was she supposed to suspect the existence of the plan, even a slight change in behaviour could have blown the whole operation. It was too late for that, it was already half sunk. While it had been doubtful before of a happy ending it looked almost impossible for anyone involved to have even a normal ending.

Max sat in a tree. Her room would be the first place anyone would look, she was supposed to be resting after all. She wondered about Rose, she had seemed like a smart woman but had she figured it out? One day people would realise therapists assigned to her would end up needing their own therapist.

She gazed up at the stars, she was lost, no idea what to do. Never had she felt this betrayed, even after Itachi, sure that had hurt but being used, that cut deeper. One thing was for certain, she no longer had any respect for Tsunade.

Earth sounded nice, if she went missing they would probably check Atlantis first, that's where she went last time, giving her plenty of time to hide on earth, staying here was once again hurting.

Just a few things she needed to do first.

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Review please

This is the chapter before the start of the crossovers, new and revisited.