Chapter 17: Head Games
Shikaku was tired, exhausted. Unfortunately, he had also found an interesting thread of inquiry and brought it to Tsunade's attention and she wanted to pursue it, and thus had resumed her original grueling schedule.
Terrific.
Yoshino was back in town and Shikaku was stuck in the lab from 7 in the morning until well after midnight each night.
Jiraiya had dropped off additional pills one day. The conversation between the two sannin had been brief and tense, making Shikaku curious about just what was going on between the two former teammates. Whatever was the cause of the tension, that was the day the marathon schedule had picked back up.
He really wished he'd kept his mouth shut that day. They'd been in the anteroom of the building, the three of them, with Jiraiya handing the new samples to Tsunade. It was a good thing that he'd brought them a new supply, they tried to minimize the destructive tests until they could isolate the unique components but some things you just couldn't do that that way.
But something the white-haired man had said about the increasing prevalence of the contraband, just caused Shikaku to say without thinking 'sprouting up like weeds.'
The two older shinobi just looked at him as he went on, making random linkages that actually seemed to make sense on a certain level.
"What if," Shikaku began, thinking out loud, "it is like a weed, it's not something that's manufactured, in an industrial setting. What if it's something that's grown, like that wood Yoshino was talking about. The one with the properties the builders want, not manufactured like pressboard, but grown, the tree grows the way they want it to. It's been genetically modified to have the characteristics they need."
Jiraiya asked quickly, "What wood?"
"They're bringing shitloads of it back from Wave. It's grown to be durable but light weight, hell it even grows to a targeted height and effectively snaps off. Leave it on the ground for a day and the bark just falls off. It's all…programmed into it genetically to behave that way, to have that specific growth cycle. Not only is it the perfect building material for climates like theirs and ours, heavy moisture content in the air, but its own growth cycle removes at least two steps from the manufacturing process – they don't have to cut it and mill the bark off of it. They just wait for it to do all the work and then pick up the readied logs directly from the field."
Tsunade was looking at him, incredulously, "What does wood have to do with what we're talking about here?"
"Don't you see? We're looking for something that would involve a certain level of chemical manufacturing infrastructure. What if that's not it – what if somebody has taken some naturally occurring psychoactive compounds and altered them to the same level that the wood in Wave's been altered. It's no longer just generally psychoactive, not just gonna give you a pleasant awareness shift like those seeds from the spider-glories in the Yamanaka shop…"
He stopped, eyes wide, realizing what he had just said and added sheepishly, "er…so I've been told."
Looking up at the two older shinobi, he was surprised to see them both smiling faintly at him and for the first time that day relaxed a little bit with each other as well.
Tsunade laughed faintly, "or jirobaiyo weed…"
Jiraiya mused fondly, "or slashsalvia…" He jerked himself out of his reverie. "Okay, Nara, good lead. I'll tell Orochimaru, only this time he gets Rain. I'm going to the beach."
And so now, because he had done a good job and opened up a new avenue for them, time with Yoshino was difficult to come by making Shikaku doubly frustrated. Shit, Jiraiya was right, keep your eyes open and your mouth shut.
The irony of the situation was not lost on him. Here he was, spending hours locked in a room alone together with the girl of his teenage fantasties (well, okay, he was nineteen but that was beside the point). And he really didn't want to be with that girl. He wanted to be with Yoshino. He had a whole different set of fantasies now involving Yoshino (well, okay, from a physical activities standpoint there was a lot of overlap but that was beside the point.)
His fantasies of Tsunade had involved sex, sex, more sex, fantastic sex and mind-boggling sex. Not that his fantasies of Yoshino didn't percolate along the same themes but other things kept creeping in there, too, thoughts of just being with her in the meadow. Thoughts of how, even though he wanted to kill Inoichi and Chouza for interrupting what had turned out to be his only full day with her, he couldn't deny that it had been nice all four of them hanging out together that one day, a day that now seemed to far away in a sleep-deprived blur of memory. She had just fit in with them so well.
And that kept bringing him back to thoughts of how she fit with him as well, how his arms fit around her, the dip of her waist seemingly made just for him to hold her. How she came only up to his chin so that when he did hold her his head rested on hers, while hers was on his chest, at his heart.
He shook his head out of his reverie, trying to turn his attention back to the lab equipment he was tending to. Yes, the irony of the situation was indeed not lost on him. As if it wasn't bad enough he was stuck here (he honestly never thought he would get to the point in his life where he would consider time with Tsunade as being "stuck with her" but there you had it.) Yoshino was becoming rather, prickly, about the whole situation.
The last couple of lunches they'd had together (since those were the only times they could be together) had ended on a little bit of a testy note, and Yoshino, after saying goodbye, would add something to the effect of 'I know you have to get back to work' the last word as sharp as a kunai.
Well, yeah, he did have to get back to work and so did she. She didn't have to be so snarky about it.
It was only this morning that he realized how many days they had been at this. She was heading back out for two weeks in just a couple more days. Shit. The whole fortnight of her time in town was almost over.
Lunchtime came and and he hurried out recognizing he only had lunch today and tomorrow left with her before an enforced absence. They met at their normal spot, the meadow and ate together the meal from the bentos she had brought. Her upcoming trip loomed between the two of them and they didn't say much. As soon as they were finished, Yoshino began to pack up. Shikaku looked up at her, wondering why she was in such a hurry to leave.
Sure enough, she said it, "I know you have to get back to work' but then this time she actually added 'with Tsunade' to the end of it.
He stared at her in amazement. She was jealous? Still? After that ridiculous experience with the shirt? And she still thought…
This just pissed him off.
She'd gathered her things now and packed them up. She was turning to walk away when he stopped her with kagemane no jutsu.
"Nara, what in the hell are you doing?" she demanded through gritted teeth.
"I want to know what in the hell you're doing, stalking off all huffy like this," he answered, walking around to face her, still keeping her in the shadow possession. He crossed his arms over his chest and stood looking at her.
She tried to struggle against the jutsu but to no avail, she was locked down tight. Yoshino just glared at him, "What are you talking about? I made a simple statement of fact, you have to get back to work and so do I."
"Yes, but it was the way that you said it."
"What? What does the way I say something have to do with anything?"
"You say it like you're angry," then he added, "at me."
"I am angry!" she snapped, pulling hard against the jutsu, shit, it was taking a lot of chakra to hold her still, he could feel it. "I'm angry that you do have to go back to work with Tsunade…"
He leaned forward and kissed her roughly, still holding her in shadow possession but now also holding her. He stopped and she added somewhat more softly, "I'm angry that you've had to work so many hours with her that we've hardly had any time together."
"With who?"
"Who? What do you mean who? With Tsunade!"
He kissed her again, tilting his head since he wouldn't let her tilt her own.
He stopped and let her talk once more and she continued, "And I am very angry that I have to be gone for two weeks starting day-after-tomorrow leaving you here…with Tsunade."
He kissed her again.
"But I am angry at the situation, not you, or…Tsunade," she whispered.
Another kiss.
"Tsunade."
Kiss.
"What are you doing?" she mumbled. "Is this positive behavior reinforcement? Do you want me to keep saying her name?"
He laughed, his lips brushing against hers, "I'm waiting for you to figure it out."
"Figure what out?"
"That if you'd shut up I could kiss you more."
She paused for a minute. "Stupid Nara. You really don't think these things through do you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Idiot. If you'd release your jutsu then I could hold you and you'd enjoy it a lot more."
"Oh." And he did so.
They clung to each other for a long time, until very softly she said, "We really do have to get back you know."
He sighed and helped her to regather he dropped items. "Lunch tomorrow?" He asked, knowing it would be their last day together for a while.
"Yes," she agreed, "Lunch tomorrow."
Unfortunately, lunch tomorrow didn't occur as planned. On his way to the lab the next morning, a pretty little genin with crimson eyes stopped him and handed him a note from Yoshino. Damn! Her team was pulling out a day early. There was an inbound weather front headed their way and they wanted to make the transfer of crews before it hit.
Both he and Tsunade were in pissy moods that day. He knew his was due to the fact that he'd have two more weeks until he could see Yoshino again. But what had set her off? He was barely cordial that day, to the point of guiltily recognizing that she should have called him on it. However, Tsunade was so wrapped up in whatever was eating her, that she didn't even seem to pay it any mind.
After dragging by, the day finally came to a close. Once again, pitch dark, after midnight when they locked up. The stars were sprinkled in the sky over head. Tsunade had turned her key in the lock and stood aside so that he could finish up. Shikaku had his back to her when he heard her snap, "What the hell do you want?"
Startled, he looked around, wondering if he'd done something to offend her, or if she'd finally had enough of his attitude by the end of the day. To his surprise he saw Jiraiya standing there.
"I came to say goodbye, Hime, I'll be in Wave for the next few days," he answered her.
Tsunade tossed her hair, "Yeah, so." She looked up at Shikaku and told him 'goodnight' and 'see you in the morning' in a tone that made it clear he was dismissed.
Interesting.
Well, hell, since he didn't have anything else to do, Yoshino gone, Inoichi and Chouza gone, after midnight, he decided to hang back a little bit and see if he could find out anything about these two on his own. He walked off in the direction of his apartment and then slipped into the shadows, pulling them closer about him and turning to see what the two were up to.
They were walking away from the lab, arguing. This was going to be tricky. He followed along, hiding effectively in the shadows trying to figure out an optimum distance where he could hear what they were saying and yet have a prayer of not being found out.
Fortunately, Tsunade's voice was escalating so he didn't have to get all that close.
"Do you realize how you sound, Jiriaya?" she was gesticulating, waving her hands at him, "like a…like a jealous kid."
"Okay, forget that part of it just for a moment. I would have never brought it up to you, if I'd known you were going to dismiss the whole theory because…"
"Dismiss? It's crazy! Do you honestly expect me to believe…"
"Maybe you'll believe Orochimaru if he's the one coming back from Rain this time."
"Believe what?"
"I told you, leave out the part that makes you think I'm just a jealous kid."
"So that leaves me with what? A conspiracy theory that is unprecedented? You think ANBU are behind this? And why is that again?"
"Who benefits?"
"You are impossible!" She looked as if she were about to hit him. "Who BENEFITS? What benefit? What benefit is there to maintaining, hell even escalating, a balance of terror between nations? No! ANBU are loyal to their villages. This is the work of some drug cartel, money alone is the only motive."
"There is a profound benefit to maintaining the status quo, Tsunade. Perpetual war for perpetual stability. I'm not saying all ANBU are behind it. But a small contingent, placed high enough could orchestrate things between nations and with the right connections internally within a nation as well."
Tsunade rolled her eyes "Oh, right, I forgot – the other part of your Grand Unified Conspiracy Theory. It's not enough to involve the ANBU, you've got to pull the police force into it, too? The Uchiha clan? What shit were you smoking on that mountain, you stupid Toad Sage or were you just licking their backs?"
"For God's sake, Tsunade," he said, "don't you see the lunacy in the concentration of power of an entire police force within a single clan? Konoha was the first village to adopt that model, but I travel more than you do and other nations, other villages are adopting it as well. It is not a healthy society."
He was standing closer to her now, looking down at her, holding her by one elbow. She jerked her arm away.
"Fuck you! I'm going to Rain with Orochimaru! Have fun at the beach. Take Shikaku with you, hook him up with his little girlfriend. Maybe if he gets laid he won't be such a piss-ant when he gets back. I've had enough crap out of both of you today!"
Jiraiya stood glaring at her with his arms crossed over his chest. "Well, you do the same, Princess, and maybe when you get back…"
"Fuck off!" she hissed over her shoulder, walking away.
Shikaku sat very quietly in the shadows until long after the two had stormed off. Well, he thought to himself, guess that answered the question as to whether or not Tsunade was paying any attention to his attitude today.