Chapter 6: So Far Away From Me

Shikaku yawned and stretched. It was getting to be late in the evening, he wondered when Tsunade would be ready to call it a night.

Looking around the lab he did take a measure of pride in the work they had done getting the lab ready and the equipment set up over the last three days. Well, after he'd cleaned up the broken glass. He was proud of his work since then.

Most of it had been pretty standard stuff, not much different than you'd see in one of the chemistry labs back at the Academy, tubes, flasks, gas spectrometers.

The building also had a reverse pressurized room with two separate levels of keyed entry required for access. Now that had been interesting. He'd never worked in one of those before and the little "push" of the air as you entered the room, plus the slight popping in your ear made you pay attention to the fact that there was some scary shit that was going to be going on here. There wouldn't be a room like this if there wasn't a reason for it. And the reason was to keep things 'in' that had better not get 'out'.

The work had been slow going because it had only been the two of them working on it. He thought about asking Tsunade about that but then decided against it. There was only one obvious answer – the fewer people in here, the better.

The days had been long but the work interesting. And the pay was ridiculously good, too – A-rank and he really couldn't see a reason for it. The building was complete, but empty, they were essentially a two-shinobi moving-installing-cabling-testing-debugging-stocking-system-checking crew. Of course the answer to the pay scale question was obvious, too – keep your mouth shut Shikaku.

That was easy enough – he didn't know jack shit anyway, only that Tsunade looked like a kid in a candy shop. Except every once in a while when she thought he wasn't looking he'd catch her with her thumbnail at her lips. He realized then that for the first time in his life she had nine perfectly lacquered nails and one ragged thumbnail.

Extremely scary shit was going to be going on here. Fuck. And the fewer people who knew about it the better.

So, since he'd been such an idiot showing off in front of Tsunade back when he was 14 and first working with her, she knew that he was capable of pretty much anything she might need setup wise. So she'd picked him as her one-person go-to guy. Wasn't that just like a woman? Hauling out something from four or five years ago and using it to her advantage?

He slumped onto a stool wishing she would just call it quits for tonight. Shit it must be after 1a.m. They'd been here since 7 in the morning until after midnight for the third day straight. He closed his eyes and leaned his head to one side, stretching the muscles in his neck.

He might be peeved that his past had come back to haunt him but he was actually very glad of the work, not just for the pay but because it kept him busy during the day and too tired during the night to dwell on Yoshino too much.

He missed her.

He actually missed her.

How was it possible to still be missing a girl after three days when you'd only ever spent 8 hours with her in your entire life? Four hours the night they were grading the exams and four hours on that incredibly awkward first date that Chouza and Inoichi, plus the fucking ANBU had screwed up. Shit, he hadn't even gotten to say anything to her before she left.

He yawned again and let his head slump forward toward his chest just a little bit. Maybe he'd just close his eyes for a few minutes while Tsunade decided either what she wanted to do next or else it was time to go home.

He was peacefully relaxed, thinking about kissing Yoshino when he felt two soft warm hands on his shoulders and he jerked his eyes open.

"Shikaku, I'm sorry, I've kept you here too much. You're exhausted." And those two soft warm hands began to knead his knotted muscles at his neck and shoulders, healing chakra slowing seeping in from her hands to relax them.

Somewhere, there was an inner-15-year-old Shikaku exclaiming "Tchaa! Tsunade's touching me and I didn't even have to bump into her!"

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Shikaku was struggling half-heartedly to maintain control, uttering internal exclamations to himself like 'Down, boy!' But it was only a half-hearted attempt, really. And when she moved her hands further down his back, running thumbs down and pressing gently along his shoulder blades he closed his eyes and thought that maybe he could just dissolve into a puddle right here and now.

He closed his eyes again wondering if he dared to lean his head back. Because if he did he could have his head pillowed on Tsunade's tits. Talk about your wildest fantasies!

He was just planning his motions out – lean his head a little to the right as if stretching the muscles there, then back just a little bit like he was rolling to the other side and pausing somewhere in the middle of that circuit and bingo! His head would be on Tsunade's…

"Careful, kid, she's a maneater," came a booming baritone voice followed by a deep chuckle.

Shikaku's eyes jerked open at this most unwelcome intrusion and he nearly jerked up out of the chair but Tsunade, with both her hands still on his shoulders pushed him back down.

"Shikaku, sit still!" she ordered. She leaned over him almost possessively and he felt her breasts against his back. Nirvana achieved and he couldn't even savor his moment of bliss. Damn. Life sucked.

"Actually, I hear she prefers boys," a second voice spoke in a soft tenor accompanied by it's own faint laugh.

"Well, then, that makes two of us, doesn't it Orochimaru?" she snapped back, standing up and pushing away from Shikaku with a flick of her wrist that tumbled him out of his chair.

"Sheesh, Tsunade, don't treat the kid like that," Jiraiya said, stepping over and extending a hand to help Shikaku to his feet.

"So, you admit you prefer boys?" Orochimaru smirked, "Guess you were right Jiraiya, Dan is her boy-toy. How much do I owe you?"

"I dunno, Oro," Jiraiya laughed, looking at Shikaku, "This one's got a beard. Straddling the fence between men and boys, hmmm, Hime?"

"Straddling something," Orochimaru agreed. Shikaku felt the tips of his ears go pink.

"Shut the fuck up, creeps!" Tsunade huffed.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsunade, not in front of the children," Jiraiya chastised, winking at Orochimaru.

Shikaku rubbed his eyes. Here he was about to achieve heaven on earth – his head on Tsunade's tits. And who knew what other wonders might follow. And it had to be interrupted by her teammates? The legendary sannin? Who were now standing in front of him bickering and calling each other names the way he did with Chouza and Inoichi.

Shit, piss and double damn fuck. He was too tired for this shit.

"So what are you two assholes doing in my lab at 1:30 in the morning?" Tsunade asked.

"We bring you offerings, oh Princess of Bitch-a-lot," Jiraiya said, enjoying watching Tsunade fume.

"That's right, Lady On-the-Rag," Orochimaru chimed in, sidling closer to Jiraiya just in case they pushed Tsunade too far and she decided to take it out of both their hides. "We have what you seek." And he held out a small plastic bag containing two bright green pills.

Instantly she was all business. "These are the ones from Wave?" she asked Orochimaru who nodded.

Jiraiya held out a similar bag and answered before she asked, "And these are the ones from Rain."

Tsunade held them in each hand. "Shikaku, why don't you go on? I'll get these labeled with Orochimaru and Jiraiya and we can start again in the morning." Her voice took on a somber tone, "I'll fill you in on what this is all about, then, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Shikaku answered, yawning. "See you in the morning."

He sauntered back home, entering the apartment quietly so as not to disturb his roommates if they were home. Shit. He didn't even know if they were home. He thought about checking their rooms but decided that would be a little too parental. He hadn't seen either of the two of them for three days. He hadn't seen Yoshino either. He thought about getting a beer out of the refrigerator, but decided against it since he'd have to be up in four fucking hours anyway.

Shikaku went to his room and stretched out on his bed, still in his clothes, the last thought he had was he wondered what Yoshino was up to in Wave. That was where Orochimaru's "sample" had come from. What was going on there? And Rain, wasn't that where Jiraiya's sample had come from? The same place the ANBU had been so interested in when Chouza and Inoichi had returned from there. What was up? What missions were Chouza and Inoichi on? He'd have to check the board tomorrow.

And what was Yoshino doing?

Was anything major going on in Wave?

His dreams that night were a tangled mess of black and gold hair.