I've gotten myself into a horrible situation, thought Tsunade as she walked from her last class to the shooting range.
As an Interpol agent, her life always had been in danger. Whether it was a risky infiltration of a foreign threat, or holding her tongue during a violent interrogation, Tsunade had always managed to pull through. She had been beaten, bruised, threatened, and even shot, yet she always finished her missions quickly. However, this time, she had accidently fallen into the most dangerous trap of all.
She was in love with the enemy.
No, no, no! she shook her head vigorously, I can't admit that yet! How do I know it's not just a passing attraction? All these criminal bosses have charm, after all. But as much as Tsunade tried to deny it, she had to admit that she had never felt this way about anyone before. No matter how hard she tried to shake off the feeling, it still lingered.
….
During work earlier, she had found herself constantly glancing out of the window, looking for something. After a while, she heard Keiko giggling behind her. "What?" she said confused. Keiko burst out laughing at that moment and said, "Reborn-kun is studying for finals so that he won't be coming here today. You can stop checking all the time!" Tsunade blushed deeply. "I'm not looking for Reborn-kun," she muttered. Although she had denied it, she still felt a disappointed sinking feeling in her chest when she heard Reborn wasn't coming. Is it true that I was looking for him subconsciously? She wondered, am I really…falling for him?
…
Tsunade let out a frustrated sigh. I really am hopeless, she thought. She went into the shooting range.
"Tsunade-chan!" said Akai as he warmly embraced her.
Seriously, does no one around here have respect for proper honorifics? thought Tsunade as she carefully extracted herself from Akai's embrace. Oh well. "Hello Akai-kun, I'm here to try the Black Diamond Course again."
Akai laughed loudly. "Try?" he said incredulously, "You mean completely dominate again, right? You're not the only one with that idea."
Tsunade gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"Go to the break room to drop off your stuff and you'll see what I mean," Akai said mysteriously.
Tsunade shrugged and went to the break room. She was about to go in when she felt a familiar presence behind the door that made her freeze. She slowly pushed it open and her heart leapt.
"Hello Tsunade-chan," said Reborn, who was sitting with his legs propped up on the table.
Tsunade stared for a moment, trying to calm her racing heart. Tsunade, you are pathetic, she chided herself, calm yourself and act normal! "Hey Reborn-kun," she said breathlessly, "What are you doing here? I thought you were studying for your finals."
"Well I was," said Reborn lazily, "but I got bored and decided I needed to blow off some steam. So I came here. Are you, by chance, going on the Black Diamond Course?"
"Yeah, I was just dropping off my stuff," said Tsunade.
"What a coincidence! I was going on it too!" exclaimed Reborn, "I have an idea! How about we go on it together! I bet we could finish the course in half the time!"
Tsunade's heart began to beat faster again. Together? Like, just the two of us? "Yeah! Sure!" she replied.
Reborn grinned and got up. "Ok then!" he said, heading out of the door, "I'll tell Akai-kun." The door closed behind him.
Tsunade let out a shaky sigh and sat down. Reborn is still acting like he usually does. I guess it's just me with these jumbled feelings, she thought sadly.
…
Reborn heard the door close behind him and almost collapsed in relief. I'm so glad that was over, he thought. He had tried to act as normal as he could around Tsunade, but it was a lot harder than anything he had ever done before. For once in my life, I have no idea what to do, thought Reborn, emotions whirling around his head, I have shaken hands with some of the most dangerous criminals known to man, but it's this one girl that makes me a mess.
Is it true that I'm…in…
love?
Reborn tried to deny it, but he found that he couldn't completely get rid of the thought. Instead, he pushed it to the back of his mind and went to ask Akai to prepare the course for two.
…
Akai viewed the both of them through his monitor. Tsunade and Reborn were stretching and warming up at the starting line, checking their guns repeatedly. Akai was almost bursting with excitement. This is going to be the greatest shoot-off of all time, he thought enthusiastically.
….
In the course, the computer was starting to count down. Tsunade shot a glance at Reborn and was relieved to see that he was nervous too. Before they went in, they had decided that Tsunade would take the lead and shoot as many drones as she could at her top speed. Reborn would be only a few feet behind her and shoot any ones that she had to skip. Don't take all the fun! Reborn had said with a grin, almost making Tsunade blush again. I hope I don't screw up, thought Tsunade grimly.
The buzzer sounded and both of them shot off from the starting line. Tsunade took the lead at an astounding speed, running nearly twice as fast as she had yesterday. She pulled out her guns and began to take down the drones, careful not to sacrifice speed for quantity because she knew Reborn would get the ones she skipped. Tsunade evasively weaved through the bullets and quickly reloaded. So far so good, she thought. She dropped the empty gun cartridge and sprinted off.
…...
Damn she's fast, thought Reborn as he shot the few targets Tsunade missed, even I'm having trouble keeping up with her, and I'm supposed to be several feet behind. What's more unbelievable is that she can still shoot so many targets with such precision! He looked at her for a moment and found himself admiring the way her body twisted in the air, the way her slender fingers expertly handled her guns, the way her honey golden eyes seemed to sparkle and the way her soft pale lips were curled into a hint of a smile. Then, Reborn swore as he realized he nearly missed a target and quickly turned to shoot it down. "I can't be thinking these thoughts right now!" he growled to himself, his voice drowned out by the shots ringing through the air. "I have to focus!"
…
They continued to obliterate the targets, quickly reaching the Boss Chamber. Once they were there, with Tsunade's special four gun handling skill, they took down the Boss Drones at an even faster pace. We're making really good time! Tsunade thought as she took down the last of the drones, it has barely been 15 minutes and we're already almost done! She was starting to head for the finish line when her blood ran cold. Tsunade whipped her head around and saw Reborn reloading so he could shoot the last drone she had missed—but it wasn't shooting back. The drone I disarmed! she thought, panic setting in. I forgot to tell him about the tribute to my brother! Time seemed to slow down as Reborn took aim. Years of habit and pain overcame instinct, and Tsunade jumped into Reborn's line of fire. He shot, and watched in horror as the bullet sank into Tsunade's shoulder. She slumped to the ground, clutching the wound. Damn! she thought through the pain that was slowly seeping in, what've I done?