Book XI: Shizune
Shizune's devotion to Tsunade was absolute and irrefutable. They were the family they each should have had, but for the loss of one man: her Uncle and Tsunade's lover. When Dan had died, her first thought had been anger at how the infamous healer had failed to save him. Her second thought had been one of overwhelming disgust at herself. Her third thought, as she looked up at the hollow broken gaze of the woman who should have been her Aunt, was that she would do anything in the world to keep those eyes from dying. To keep the last remaining link to her family from shattering.
She attached herself to Tsunade without another thought, and lucky for her, thinking up worst case scenarios was one of her specialties. Traveling with Tsunade for years, and struggling to pick up the pieces left behind in the wake of the woman's reckless gambling habits had helped her hone that skill. She wasn't arrogant enough to think she could try to stop Tsunade when a particular decision made Shizune's hair stand on end because she could see the catastrophe looming ahead, but she was forever attempting to shift the tide just a bit to avoid total disaster. All in hopes of lessening the amount of strain and suffering that would inevitably come back to haunt Tsunade.
When she first met Naruto she knew he'd be trouble, and not only because he was tagging along with Jiraiya. He was an irreverent, temperamental, naive little punk, and worst of all he was outspoken and openly honest about exactly what he felt. He was the embodiment of hope, wrapped up in a stubborn clumsy package. He was an echo of the past, and a glimmer of the future. He was what they had been running from since they'd left Konoha. He was the number one worst case scenario.
His worst case scenario status in Shizune's mind never changed over the years, though her fondness of him did end up growing from her initial simple desire to protect him at all costs for Tsunade's sake. He had a way of worming his way into a person's heart and staying there like an inoperable benign tumor. After Pain's attack there had been no denying his strength in battle, and after the Fourth War it had been almost unbelievable.
However, the day Sai brought Naruto back half-dead and very nearly beyond saving due to the seal preventing them from healing him was a staggering blow to the unquestioning confidence everyone had in his inherent ability to be completely indestructible. It was the longest 24 hours of Shizune's life, working alongside Tsunade and Sakura to keep him from dropping off the edge. When they were finally done, and he was out of immediate danger, she did the only thing her weary mind thought would be right at the time; she followed Tsunade to her office and poured the sake herself.
With the state they were in, it only took two small cups for them to begin talking about old memories and silly things. Shizune surprised herself by being the one to bring up Naruto's lack of a...personal companion. From the beginning they'd both known how he felt about Sakura, and as time went by the subject of Naruto getting himself a girlfriend had become something of a taboo topic between them. She could see it in Tsunade's eyes, how it ached to watch her little brat love someone from a distance because they were in love with someone else. It was like watching a replay of herself and Jiraiya, and the thought of Naruto ending up alone forever was too painful to talk about.
Fortunately, Naruto liked to defy the odds by breaking the endless cycle of the past repeating itself, and their unspoken relief at his acceptance of truly letting Sakura go had only been matched by the awkwardness of knowing Hiashi was just barely keeping the impatience of the elders of the Hyuuga Clan in check. Planning an arranged marriage between two adults was a delicate thing in itself, but it was especially difficult when the Winds of Change were blowing with such irrepressible force. Shizune could honestly sympathize with Hiashi, having to deal with a few dusty tradition-bound elders herself on a regular basis.
Still, the idea of Naruto marrying into the Hyuuga Clan wasn't out of the realm of possibilities, and Shizune was more than delighted to find herself giggling with Tsunade like a couple of teenage girls as they imagined what the children would look like. It felt so good to talk about the future, even if it was a ridiculous fantasy centered around someone else's nonexistent love life. They left it at that, though. Just idle gossip to bolster their hearts after coming so close to never being able to gossip about the subject at all.
Several weeks later they both noted that Naruto was looking 'restless' about something other than being stuck on low-ranked missions while he recovered. The conversation again devolved into gossip, but Shizune didn't leave it at that this time. Naruto was rather well sought-after, and being one step ahead was invaluable in terms of avoiding a public debacle. Naruto could be with whoever he wanted, but egos might need some soothing behind the scenes and Shizune wanted to be prepared for that.
It was frustrating when the usual sources for juicy tidbits of what was going on in Konoha behind closed doors had nothing to offer her. As Naruto's restlessness continued to sharpen, Shizune's warning alarms started scrolling through numerous worst case scenarios. Tsunade was content with smiling into her tea or sake, patiently waiting until Naruto made his move, but Shizune was tearing her hair out every night because surely someone should be talking about this and she couldn't find them!
She was damn near her breaking point when the blonde bane of her existence skittered into the Hokage tower, late and glowing. GLOWING, FOR FUCK'S SAKE! And he had the oblivious audacity to look at them like they'd lost their minds! She could have strangled him when he gave bland neutral answers to Tsunade's polite inquiry about his day off, and she wanted to strangle herself because she was practically dancing in place with the need to know who he'd been with.
When he blushed and made a hasty retreat after declining their offer to let him take a companion, she was 99.3% sure he had hooked up with a kunoichi. A regular civilian wouldn't have been able to keep everything under wraps, and she had seen a flicker of hesitation in Naruto's eyes. He'd wanted to say a name. As soon as he was gone, she bolted out the door. The civilian council members that also sat at the Mission Assignment Desk weren't blind. Word would spread like wildfire soon enough, and she needed to scramble to do some damage control.
It felt a little degrading to send ANBU out with the messages, but speed was of the essence. She paused as she looked up at a familiar mask, and her face fell as she set the note back on her desk.
"Ah, that's right! You delivered that mission scroll to Kakashi-san, didn't you," Shizune scowled.
"Yes, ma'am," Onigawara replied, his shoulders stiffening.
"Damn it, I'd forgotten about that," she sighed, unfolding the message and writing another quick note at the bottom before handing it over. "Here, deliver this to Shikamaru instead."
She felt a touch of pity when she saw the relieved sag in his shoulders as he sank into the floor. Knowing he'd been the one to have the undesirable job of night-watch over Kakashi while his chakra had been so unstable, his reluctance wasn't that surprising. Kakashi could be downright impossible when he set his mind to it. However, she gave no more thought to it than that, and sent for another ANBU agent as she continued to write out her carefully worded messages.