While any form of distraction or break from the monotony of being Mizukage would have been greatly appreciated by Mei, even she hadn't expected this. With Kirigakure's debts to Konoha no longer a problem and a distinct lack of company to keep her entertained in the way only Sasuke could, Mei had set about the process of training Chojuro into the position of Mizukage.
Though some of his shyness remained, Mei was both proud and delighted to see that the determination and confidence he had acquired during the war were still present. It was these qualities and the way he could silently absorb information like a sponge, that made him a natural selection for her replacement. She had no doubt that his confidence in himself would grow and eventually lead to him becoming a very calm and level-headed Kage.
While training her apprentice proved entertaining for a time, he didn't exactly provide the best conversational material. She didn't doubt that Sasuke would be anymore talkative, perhaps it had more to do with the fact that her heart ached for him which was why she longed to hear his voice.
While another two weeks had passed since Naruto came to visit, there had still been no word from Sasuke, or sign that he would be returning soon. There was always that creeping fear that he had left for good, just another man stepping out of her life.
Mei shook her head, she was tired of feeling sorry for herself. If Sasuke didn't have the courage to come and face her to either apologise, or tell her that he had no further interest in continuing the relationship, then he wasn't half the man she thought he was. She wasn't going to waste her time and energy in pursuing him. However, with little to occupy her free time, she found her mind wandering back to the lone Uchiha.
As she was about to head home for the night, Nise, one of her best Anbu came marching in.
"Lady Mizukage, we've just received word that Sasuke Uchiha has been ambushed as he was leaving the Land of Fire, apparently he was gravely wounded." Nise informed her with an urgent tone.
"Sasuke, wounded?" Mei asked sceptically.
"Yes ma'am, apparently he has been infected with some sort of lethal poison. Konoha Anbu found him and took him back to their village, I thought you would want to know and leave immediately."
Again, not exactly the distraction she had in mind, but the fact that Sasuke had actually been injured was definitely cause for concern.
"Very well, go get Chojuro and Shin, we-"
Before she could even finish her sentence, Nise's partner practically teleported beside her. She liked these two, efficiency could be such an exotic commodity in Kirigakure, that Mei made sure it was properly rewarded.
"Chojuro has been made aware of the situation and is on his way." Shin coolly declared.
"Nice job, you two. Allow me to gather some supplies while Chojuro makes his way over here."
The two Anbu nodded silently and took positions either side of the door. When Mei stepped out again, a panicking and out of breath Chojuro came rushing in. Mei was about to greet him before he started babbling a load of incoherent nonsense. Mei held up a hand and he stopped speaking immediately.
"Now, Chojuro we've prepared for this, we all knew that one day you would replace me."
"But Lady Mizukage, I wasn't prepared to take charge so soon."
"Sure you were, how else are you going to practice? Think of it like some first hand experience."
"But-"
"No more 'buts'." Mei said sternly. "There isn't a whole lot left to do today as I was just headed home, and honestly I can't see that changing for the rest of the week. Just work the documents I told you to and if there is a decision that has to be made, send a messenger bird to Konoha. I don't know how long I'll be gone, so just use your best judgement for the most part, I trust you."
Mei couldn't help but notice how similar Chojuro looked to a puppy who knew it's master was about to leave it all alone, it was rather adorable. Still, he took a deep breath, straightened up and saluted her.
"I won't let you down Lady Mizukage!"
"That's the spirit. Oh, and if the Seven Swordsmen have somehow managed to reform and attack the village, I have no doubt you'll be able to defend the people."
"Wait, what?" Whatever confidence Chojuro had briefly gained immediately collapsed and he went deathly pale.
"Bye, Chojuro." Mei waved to him as she ran off, her two Anbu in tow.
It felt great to stretch her legs again, dashing through the trees, even the rain was refreshing to her. Mei had not had a lot of chances to leave the village after the war, in that way she was always envious of Sasuke. She had been in such a rush to leave that she still hadn't fully processed what she heard, Sasuke, lethal poison. The fact that something managed to bring him down and knock him out, was definitely something to give her pause.
Mei was so engrossed in her thoughts, that she didn't notice the swishing sound of a kunai headed her way. If only for the quick reaction of Shin who caught her and managed to bring her out of harm's way, however not before one of the kunai buried itself in his thigh. Grunting as they hit the ground, Nise was immediately at their side and inspected Mei for any visible injuries.
They had just crossed the border into the Land of Fire, she hadn't travelled this path in a long time. The geography of the area was a complete mystery to her. Mei had favoured speed over safety for this trip, not thinking anything of the dangers that may face them.
Once Nise was satisfied that the Mizukage was fine, she went over to check her partner. Mei scanned the treeline for any sign of the incoming threat, she didn't have to wait long, as four ninja landed opposite them with a heavy thud.
Mei looked back at her Anbu, Shin's blood was mixing with the rainwater on ground. He used the tree to steady himself and gave out a growl of pain, as Nise pulled out the kunai and immediately applied some bandage wrap.
"Now this is a surprise, if I do say so myself," One of the ninja drawled, "Mei Terumi, the great Mizukage of Kirigakure."
"I'm glad my reputation and beauty precedes me, and you fine gentlemen would be?"
"Well that is the interesting part, actually now that I think about it, the surprise is waning. In fact, it makes sense that you would be passing by here."
"Listen I'm kind of in a rush here, so if you could skip the preamble and tell me why the hell you just attacked us, I would appreciate it. In fact, if you're very quick, I might let one of you live, you can decide amongst yourselves who gets the honor."
"Oh, that's the least threatening you stand to do to us."
"Wasting my time..." Mei said irritably.
"You see, the reason we know why you're on the way to Konoha is to visit dear old Sasuke. There's a group of us who, well really find it hard to get over some of the... just inexcusable acts he committed in the past. We've hunted him and hunted him, but he's just constantly on the move and even when we do catch up, he just brings out that purple eye and that's the end of that."
Mei cocked her head and gave them a fiendish grin. "That offer about letting one of you live, that's off the table now."
"You're angry, I get that but let me explain. Sasuke comes from a cursed clan, I mean look at the history there: Madara, Obito, hell his own brother did everyone a favour by massacring the rest of them. So no matter how much people think he has changed, we both know better. That's where you come in, whore. You see, the idea of that monster creating more Uchiha spawn, really makes our skin crawl. The last thing we need, is anymore of them set upon the world."
"Ooh, you've really touched a nerve that one. That's really been a point of contention with me for the past few months and I haven't had much of an outlet. So after I butcher your men, I'm going to kill you last. Tell me, which would you prefer, death by lava or death by asphyxiation? I assure you they're both agonising."
"Oh we'll get to the butchery, just let me finish my story. So after about a year of no success killing the Uchiha in open battle, we figured we'd try something a bit more underhanded, stoop to his level."
"Poison? Now that is disappointing and cowardly."
"I'll agree with you on the cowardly side, but it's anything but disappointing, just look at your man."
Mei turned to Shin, who was shaking rapidly and using the tree to basically support his whole weight. Losing his grip, he collapsed and started seizing on the wet ground, Nise desperately removed his mask but grimaced when she found him foaming at the mouth. After a few seconds his body stopped having spasms and went disturbingly still.
"Took us a damn long time to create something that potent, it goes straight into the bloodstream. Here's the kicker, after we landed a lucky shuriken coated with the stuff across his face, the bastard still wouldn't die. He went down, but he had reduced our numbers to us four here, so we retreated and hoped that the poison would finish him off. We heard he passed out and got carted back to Konoha, but by any luck the poison will wipe him out by... oh, let's say midnight tonight."
"Going after Sasuke was your first mistake, relentlessly hunting him can really put him a bad mood which I have to deal with when he comes home. Somehow managing to wound him was your second, Sasuke is a freak of nature, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he was fully healed up by now. Even if he wasn't capable of doing it himself, you do know that Konoha has some of the best healers, right? Attacking, insulting and killing one of my best men, that's strike number three, boys. But where you really crossed the line, was when you mentioned my future children." Mei said, complete and utter calmness in her voice.
The ninja who had been doing all the talking snarled, while the rest of his men looked completely unnerved. After some rapid hand signs from Mei, the light rain turned into a deep fog. Nise gathered up Shin's body to move it, then assist the Mizukage, however looking towards the fog, it seemed the latter wouldn't be necessary.
Though she couldn't see any of the horrific acts of violence she knew the Mizukage was delivering under the cover of the thick mist, Nise only had to hear the gruesome sounds to know what was happening. From a young age, all Kirigakure ninja are trained how to operate and move in mist as if they had full visibility.
Mei was in her element, though she didn't know the terrain, she didn't need to. The ninja were so loud as they tried to either counterattack or retreat, it gave away their position which made it all the easier to hunt them. Using a wide array of her skills, Mei burned, boiled, dissolved, melted, sliced and slashed her way through the first three ninja. Their screams made her wonder if she should have ended them quicker, though one split thought of Shin and Sasuke was enough to dispel any notions of charity.
Jumping lazily to avoid a poor excuse of a kunai throw, Mei performed some more hand signs and took the branch out from under the last ninja with a Mud Jutsu. As he went to catch another branch, Mei met him mid-air with a vicious kick to the ribs. Rewarded with a brutal crunch and a high-pitched scream, Mei landed graciously on the ground next to him and placed her foot on his neck.
"Now, you created this very deadly potion and while you don't seem like the sharpest kunai in the set, I'm sure you all thought far enough ahead to a scenario where one of you accidentally got exposed to some of it, no?" She may as well have been talking to herself, because the man had not yet stopped screaming.
"Shut up!" Mei kicked his head to emphasise her point. "A cure, or some form of remedy, do you have one?"
"Go to hell, you crazy bitch!" He ground out. "You and that Uchiha deserve each other, you're both monsters."
"Me?" Mei couldn't keep the offence out of her voice, as she rifled through his pouches and pockets. "I could understand hating Sasuke, to an extent, but you brought this on yourself."
Finding a small jar of a viscous liquid, Mei scrutinised the contents before looking down at the man whose facial expression didn't even attempt to hide his burning fury. That was all the proof she needed.
"Now then, before I give this to Sasuke and we procreate like crazy, I must ask you again, death by lava or death by asphyxiation?" She asked with a sadistic smile.
"Fuck. You."
"That's a great idea, why not both. I'll use some molten lava and then... actually, there really won't be a 'then' now that I think about it. Just remember when you went after Sasuke, that was how you decided to live the rest of your life. We all got to live, or in your case die, by the decisions we make." Mei started to create the hand signs as she moved to give herself some extra space to avoid the heat.
Nise cradled her comrade's corpse as the fog began to lift, she turned in the direction where a brief moment of heat could be felt. She saw a silhouette eventually transform into the Mizukage, however she was almost unrecognisable. A far call from the elegant beauty she was a few hours earlier, Mei was now decorated in mud and gore. She had gone from sophisticated leader, to crazed serial killer.
"Come along Nise, let's see if our destination is anymore inviting." Mei said flatly.
Sasuke Uchiha opened his eyes and the first thing he was greeted by was a blood-soaked figure who looked like they had come to finish the job they had started. Panicking and immediately reaching for his sword, he was stopped when a soft hand grabbed his wrist. Breathing heavily and looking around the room, he was met with a group of people who he was pretty sure were about to give him an intervention. His drinking problem hadn't escalated that bad, had it?
"Sasuke, can you hear me?" A voice, coming from the person who had grabbed his hand, his eyes trailed lower to the person's chest. "He's fine." Tsunade muttered.
"Trust Sasuke to immediately stare at a woman's breasts first thing when waking up, after almost dying." Sakura scoffed.
"I mean, to be fair, they are fairly noticeable when it comes to Tsunade." Naruto murmured.
"I didn't think he would be quite so bold as to blatantly stare when his, uh... girlfriend, is in the room?" Kakashi mused.
"Oh, we've given up on deciding what to call our relationship a long time ago, and I wouldn't worry about him staring at another woman's breasts when you've gone as long as we have without fornicating, you can forgive a few such discrepancies. I for example, have been having a torrid affair behind his back." The blood-soaked figure replied, no wait, not a blood-soaked figure.
"You look like you've been rolling around in faeces, then to clean up, you decided to take a bath filled with blood." Sasuke informed her. The room went deathly silent as all eyes stared at the duo, that was until Sakura ran to punch Sasuke only to be held back by Naruto.
"That is a nice way to introduce me to your friends, Sasuke. I see you've grown a pathetic excuse for a beard again, with that disgusting stubble on your face. You didn't use the razor I got you, because everyone knows you can't afford your own. Actually a beard might convey the fact that you are homeless quite nicely." Mei responded.
"You know, I had every intention of getting you another gift but I was a bit strapped for cash after I pretty much bailed you out of your debts."
"Oh yes, I've been meaning to thank you for that actually. It was nice to finally receive some payments after basically being treated like a prostitute by you, for the past year."
Kakashi looked over at Tsunade and raised a concerned eyebrow, somewhere the tone of the conversation had gone from light jests to venomous insults.
"No you're right, my fault for immediately leaving when I heard you were hurt, finding the people who hurt you and slaughtering them, losing one of my best men in the process, bringing Tsunade and Sakura the cure and basically being the reason why you're even awake now." Mei said bitterly.
Sasuke's eyes widened before he rubbed his head, he was still a bit groggy and this was not how he wanted this to go. Introducing a significant other to the family could be a delicate matter and so far he had not handled it the best.
"Mei, perhaps you'd like to come back to my house and get cleaned up." Tsunade suggested.
"No. I need to talk to her, alone." Sasuke interjected.
"It's quite alright, Tsunade, I will join you after. I would appreciate if you could attend to my Anbu member, maybe get her some food and take my other member off her hands."
Kakashi stood up. "As Hokage, I am at your service. Anything you need, I will be more than happy to provide."
"Thank you, Kakashi." Mei smiled, as both he and Tsunade walked out.
"What did he mean by clearing her debts?" Tsunade whispered.
"I'll explain later." Kakashi replied.
Sakura gave Sasuke's cheek a quick look over before moving towards the door.
"He'll be fine, a few punches might even wake him up properly and do him the world of good." Sakura added before flipping him off, which Sasuke returned, as she walked out.
Naruto gave a low chuckle, before placing a hand on his friends shoulder and giving him a playful dig, causing Sasuke to scowl and try to hit him back. He gave Mei a smile and a quick wink, as he joined his companions and closed the door. Mei sat on the edge of the hospital bed and looked at the small bandage that covered Sasuke's cheek, hard to believe that such a small cut was capable of such harm.
"What happened?" Sasuke asked, his voice containing a wave of concern.
"Ran into those friends of yours on the way over here, finally got to see what kind of people you've been running from the past few years. I was careless, Shin had to save me, took some of the poison that you got. It was a direct hit, he's not as strong as you, he was gone in about a minute." Mei said matter-of-factly.
"I'm sorry." Sasuke said sullenly.
"I took care of them easily enough, figured if they were dealing with something that deadly, they'd have to have a method of stopping its effects. Found a jar of... goo, on one of them. Naruto came out and met us when we were close to Konoha, I told him to just take the stuff and go, we'd catch up. When I got here, your team were all gathered, thankfully Tsunade said that the goo, had... uh, I forget the name of it. Bottom line, it worked, you came to not long after."
Sasuke took in her tale and stared dead ahead at the wall, he hadn't thought anything of the shuriken at first. He was more annoyed that he had not managed to dodge it more than anything else. He could feel it take effect not long after though, he knew something was wrong. He dispatched as many of them as he could before he passed out, there was a point where he thought it was over. It would have been a pretty dismal death all things considered.
"I never thought the next bed I would be talking to you in would be a hospital bed." He said after a while, causing Mei to laugh.
"Not the ideal reunion." She agreed.
Another silence gripped the room. They were both unsure how to proceed the conversation, normally they started off pretty light whenever Sasuke returned, or they had other things on their mind. They were never thrust into the deep end, things that desperately had to be addressed before moving on.
"Mei, I-" Sasuke started.
"Why did you pay off Kirigakure's debts? Was it your feeble attempt at an apology, because I don't want your money Sasuke."
"I didn't need it. There's more money there than can I could spend in a lifetime, plus I've already got my own funds. Besides, I like the sound of Philanthropist more than I do Avenger." He smiled.
"You shouldn't have done it." Mei turned away.
"There's a lot of things I shouldn't done, things I wish I could go and take back-"
"Do you know why I got attacked?" Mei asked him.
"Your connection to me?"
"Yes, there are people out there who don't like the idea of our children. They say that more Uchiha will be a curse upon the world."
"And what do you think?"
"I think I killed them... painfully."
"Just think, one day you'll have kids to do that for you." Sasuke smirked.
"The personal touch is what makes it though. Also, did my ears just deceive me, or did you just almost admit that I'm now up to the task?" Mei asked sarcastically.
"Sakura gave me an... excruciatingly accurate reminder about the female anatomy and the new advances in technology and Jutsu that can really help with fertility." Sasuke grimaced at the memory.
"I'm starting to like her more and more already." Mei laughed, causing Sasuke to groan as he laid back down in the bed. She placed her hand on top of his. "Sasuke, I'm fairly certain we won't need any help with fertility if we go down that road, but that's a conversation for another day."
Sasuke stared back at her through half lidded eyes and made a guttural sound in agreement. She stroked his hand with her thumb. He wanted to reach out and touch her more, but he simply didn't have the energy and feeling her hand on top of his, was enough for now.
"Get some rest." She whispered, as she leaned over to his face.
"You're disgusting." He moaned.
"Well with that mess of dirt on your face, we're about even." She smiled and placed her lips to his.