A/N: I'm not certain how I feel about this chapter, it proceeds how I'd planned for but it seems a little disjointed. That being said I don't think I know how to keep a story, or even a chapter, completely serious, so I apologize if the humor seems out of place but if you're reading this you probably should try to get used to it because I don't know how to get rid of it.
Chapter 21 – Putting Things In Motion
Hanging his head sorrowfully Minato clung to a dainty hand belonging to the comatose Mitarashi Anko, squeezing the poor thing so hard his own hand was beginning to feel a little sore from exertion. He'd spent the past two days begging her to wake up, as if it might happen if he simply wished for it hard enough. Spending so much time just staring at her hoping for any kind of movement he was taken aback by her incredibly small size. While he had been aware she was a tiny girl usually he didn't notice her diminutive size. Her personality was larger than life and her shinobi skill amazing, so when in her presence the last thing on anyone's mind was her height. Now, however, lying unconscious in a giant hospital bed that dwarfed her already slight body, it was hard to focus on anything else. She was just so small, and she was so pale; just a shell of the Anko he knew and loved. Minato had a hard time believing she would really wake up, and he really needed her to.
Obito, Kakashi, and Itachi had all woken up in the past two days and each had been confined to a holding cell where they would remain until it was proven they weren't Konoha's traitors. The problem with that was that the only person who could clear their names didn't look like she was about to do so anytime soon. Hell, she didn't even look like she would ever wake up again, forget about clearing their names. The doctors had no clue what was wrong with her, and told him as far as they could tell she should wake up any minute, while his medic-nin had no answers either; occasionally muttering things about unnatural chakra and curse marks. All they would say was that her vitals were fine and she could wake up at any second or not at all. None of the medics currently in the village had enough experience with neurosurgery to even try a chakra scan, apparently the procedure was far too dangerous for any of them to perform alone; without supervision they would most likely do more harm than good. They all lamented Tsunade's absence, and not for the Sannin herself but for her poor put upon apprentice; her skill in that area surpassed even her mentors. Shizune's knowledge of the brain was unsurpassed among all the hidden villages and her expertise was frequently sought out while she was traveling according to his doctors claims. Of course nobody could get a hold of either woman anyway so it really didn't matter. He'd sent several carrier pigeons out looking for them, as well as several nin-dogs, all to no avail; when a Sannin didn't want to be found, a Sannin was simply not found, they went completely off the grid. Without Tsunade or Shizune's help Anko might never recover, and without Anko to testify on their behalf, Itachi, Obito, and Kakashi would rot in containment forever, or worse, wind up swinging in the gallows.
To their credit all three boys seemed to be taking it in stride; all completely certain that Anko would definitely wake up soon, at which point she would exonerate them and they could take their rightful place as heroes for the village. Unfortunately this calm demeanor only served to provide more ammunition for their detractors, actually getting Danzo to decry, "It's obvious to all who gaze upon them that they are guilty of treason. Would an innocent man wait so patiently? No! A man with clean hands would thrash, and flail about, declaring his innocence at the top of his lungs. He would overwhelm his captor's ears with his howls of wrongdoing and protests of injustice. An innocent man's lungs would give out from his never ceasing cries of righteous indignation. That all three of them just sit quietly, waiting patiently for Mitarashi to wake up, something that we don't even know if she can do, but which it is certain they know she won't. They are guilty as charged and I say the sooner we hang them the better!"
Minato had bit his own cheek to keep from leaping on the old bastard and throttling him. As it was he was taking quite a bit of heat from the council for writing the ancient fool a citation for incitement of a riot, but he was remaining firm on this; Danzo would pay the fine or Minato would throw his ass in jail right next to Obito, Kakashi, and Itachi. That manipulative fucker could not be allowed a soap box for his hate filled rants or soon the masses would be calling for the death of three innocent boys. And Minato did believe from the very bottom of his soul, that they were, all three, guiltless of the accused crime. They might be guilty of something else, but he knew that none of the three would ever betray Konoha. They had all told him they were not the traitor and he believed them, but the man they fingered as responsible was just ridiculous and he believed something had been done to them. Something he hoped Anko would be able to shed some light on when she woke up.
Uchiha Madara had lived decades ago and nobody would believe their claim that he had conspired with the enemy samurai, even if they themselves believed it. Minato had brought in the Inuzuka matriarch and Hyuga clan head Hiashi during his questioning of them to determine the truth or to sniff out or catch a lie, but it had been the opinion of both that all the boys were telling the truth, or at least the truth as they believed it to be.
Unfortunately without Anko's testimony nobody was buying it. He really needed Tsunade-hime and her merry band of medics to come home. He swore to himself that the next time they were back in the village he was forcing Shizune to participate in the jonin exam. Once she passed it he could demand her presence in the village. An order like that wouldn't work on Tsunade, being in the village was still far too painful for her. She'd probably go missing nin on him if he demanded she stay. But he knew Shizune loved the village and hated leaving, she might even consider it a favor to be able to stay behind. Besides, now Tsunade had Rin as her new apprentice so she wouldn't be travelling alone. Wait. Tsunade had Rin with her. Rin was with Tsunade. Shit! Why hadn't he thought about this before?
Practically skipping with the excitement of his new plan, Minato ran down all 30 flights of stairs to the tower basement where the holding cells were located. The boys were all sitting quietly when he walked in but both Obito and Kakashi perked up instantly at the sight of him. They had all been forbidden visitors on the chance that if they were the traitors they could still provide intel to accomplices if allowed to communicate with anyone. Minato's was the only friendly face they'd seen since waking up, heck he was the only person not shooting daggers at them and wishing for their deaths.
"Sensei! Are we getting out of here? Did our lazy teammate finally decide to get her ass out of bed and clear our names?" Obito shouted loudly from his cell.
"No," Minato shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry to say she hasn't."
"Dammit," Obito mumbled under his breath, shuffling and kicking his feet at nothing in particular, just venting his frustration. He'd been sure she would be up already; in fact he had been shocked that he'd woken up before her. Their Anko was strong and tough and there was nothing he'd seen that could keep her down, or at least so he'd thought. He was fast coming to the realization that maybe she'd met her match, and it was entirely his fault. If he'd had better chakra reserves and he hadn't collapsed after freeing the Kyubi he could have helped her and maybe she'd be awake right now, insulting him probably, and maybe even hitting him, but they'd all be home or visiting Kushina and the new baby Naruto, or training, or hunting the demon fox together, instead of having the three of them stuck in these damn cells without Anko. From here they couldn't even see, let alone offer comfort to their teammate and best friend.
Before Minato could propose his plan he noticed Kakashi inching closer to the bars of his cell to get near him without Obito noticing the unshed tears glistening in his eyes.
"Ano sa, sensei," the grey haired teenager's soft voice scratched out despondently; so upset that he was no longer acting line an 80 year old man but actually showing characteristics of his teen age. "Anko's going to be okay right? She's going to wake up soon right? She has too, right? Right sensei?"
Obviously his students had been close to the girl, they'd all been living and working together in the same house and squad, but up until this moment, seeing the guilt washed all over Obito's face and the all consuming worry carved on Kakashi's, he hadn't truly realized how important the "crazy snake girl" had become to them. He'd thought nobody could be as important to them as Rin, but by forcing them all to live together he'd unwittingly turned three orphans into a family. And now one of them was hurt, they couldn't even go see her and it was killing them. That was it, Tsunade had to get back here and fix her up. Anko and the boys needed to get home.
"Where is your communication orb?" Minato asked without further delay.
"It's at home in Kakashi's closet," Obito answered. "But I'd rather not have Rin see us in jail. It will just make her worry. Besides we aren't allowed any communication devices in here. They won't let us use it."
"You seem to have forgotten that I am the much loved Yellow Flash and number one Hokage of Konoha, and I get to have things my way. You two are going to contact Rin and give Tsunade-hime my order to come home immediately."
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Standing on the balcony in the bright Ame sun, sparkling in the biggest diamond necklace she had ever seen, Tsume found it was next to impossible to wipe the gigantically idiotic grin off her face whenever she looked over at her mission partner Hyuga Hizashi. They were undercover in Amegakure, as a wealthy couple who'd recently be married, to discover the identity of the Kouukage. It was imperative for everyone to believe in their affluence if they were to get any information; wealthy citizens of a nation making a bid for a recognized kage would be called upon to lend financial backing, which would certainly gain them access to a meeting with said future kage. Hiashi and Tsume were to act like greedy children in a candy store. While in the Rain capital they would waltz in throwing money around (something Tsume was definitely enjoying since it was on the village dime) until someone noticed. Hizashi had actually provided the diamonds for the farce from his own family coffers and Tsume had in fact found herself jealous of the woman who would get to wear them regularly. They were exceptionally beautiful jewels especially if even the rough and tumble Inuzuka had become smitten with them, never one to wear things she labeled as frippery, these had her wishing she never had to take them off.
While Tsume was weighed down in gold and diamonds, Hizashi had been cursed with the humiliation of a little red bathing suit that resembled little more than underwear. Minato had argued that arrogant rich men wore Speedos; using the men he often saw at the onsen as proof. Hizashi had countered that those men were at a same sex spa where they would not be embarrassed by the ridiculous bathing attire and not a five star resort with men, women, and children present, to which Minato had replied that since most of the men at the onsen were overweight Hizashi's argument held no merit because he was in excellent physical condition with nothing to be embarrassed about. To this the shinobi had offered up the fact that as a Hyuga, branch member or otherwise, he was a wealthy man and would not be caught dead in the offensive garment. Unfortunately for the Hyuga, Minato was sure he was right and had pulled the "I'm Hokage and what I say goes" card and now here he was, outraged and completely uncomfortable, in a tiny red Speedo that had Tsume giggling at him with every glance in his direction.
"For this to work you need to stop laughing at me," the fuming man reprimanded her as he fitted bright blue contact lenses over his pale orbs. "We can't leave this room until you can look at me with a straight face."
"I'm sorry Bright Eyes, but I can't help it," Tsume said before laughing at him again. "You look so miserable ridiculous. If we're going to pull this off you have to stop looking so uncomfortable. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. You have a great body. Now you need to own it."
"I have repeatedly asked you not to refer to me as 'Bright Eyes,' and besides that we are on an assignment, our real names, or anything that could be used to determine our true identities are not permitted. Please use the mission code name Rex when addressing me."
"Okay, Rexy-poo," Tsume said in a sickeningly sweet voice while rolling her eyes farther than Hizashi thought possible. "Whatever my baby wants, my baby gets, especially when he is wearing his big boy panties."
"I am not amused by you, Yasu," he grumbled while wearing the most serious face she had ever seen, and she sighed loudly.
"Well you better start getting amused by me, because if you go out there being all mean and grumpy looking at your hot sexy young wife with those serial killer eyes nobody is going to think we're married."
"I was unaware you would be employing a genjutsu for this mission," he responded wearing the same somber face and deadpan voice he used when reprimanding her that it took a minute for Tsume to realize he'd actually made a joke. Granted it had been at her expense, but a joke was a joke as far as she was concerned and that constituted progress; maybe Hizashi could actually be a human.
"Haha, you're hysterical Mr. Sexy Panties. You just better make it look like you're drooling over my perfect body."
Even though he'd teased her about it, Hizashi knew she was right. Tsume was here to play the role of a trophy wife; beautiful to look at with nothing going on upstairs. In Sarsai, where their mission documents stated they were from, it was common knowledge that women were for being seen and not heard, and almost all of the richest men in the wealthy yet backward thinking town were married to young and beautiful morons, or at least young beautiful girls who could convince everyone they were morons. Tsume had protested playing an idiot and asked for someone else to be sent on the job but Minato had remained firm, so here she was. Secretly Hizashi was unsure if the brazen kunoichi would be able to pull it off. While it was common knowledge that Inuzuka Tsume was impetuous, wild, and crass, and generally an all around good time, he had never heard her name brought up when men were discussing which kunoichi got them hot and bothered. Not that he'd ever participated in such talks, he just happened to be having lunch in the cafeteria when others were discussing those things, and Tsume's name had never been mentioned.
Though she would never mention it, Tsume herself was having reservations about her role in this charade. She'd never been one to hold her tongue and doing so while pretending to be a moron was not high on her list of things she wanted to do, or even thought she could do. She'd been in the presence of rich, powerful, and arrogant men before and she knew the way they talked down to women, even knowing she was a shinobi had not stopped them from treating her like a piece of meat, and she knew holding her tongue was going to require an extreme measure of forbearance that she was not sure she possessed. Furthermore, she did not enjoy the skimpy wardrobe she'd been provided. Sure she'd admit she really, really, really wanted that diamond necklace, but she'd never be the type of woman who could parade around in these ridiculous clothes just to get it.
"Put your bathing suit on, Yasu," Hizashi ordered using her mission name again in an attempt to associate it with her rather than use mongrel or mutt as he usually did. "And take that necklace off; you don't wear diamonds in the pool."
"Okay Rexy-poo," she resolved to use that moniker the entire time they were here, knowing it would piss him off but still fit with the image they were presenting to the world so there would be little he could do about it. "Just give me a minute to change and we'll go knock'em dead."
Tsume grabbed her suitcase and dragged it into the bathroom with her. Flipping it open she surveyed her options and hated every single one of them. Fingering what appeared to be zebra striped string, she thought Minato-sama had to be kidding her, or maybe he had a death wish. Thinking about the ridiculous red underwear Hizashi was standing in outside the bathroom door and judging the hot pink floss she held in her hand she decided the Hokage definitely had a death wish, why else would he send them out with such ridiculous wardrobe choices. Two small triangles held together by a string that could malfunction at any time, or simply snap because it was so thin, exposing her goods to the world should hardly be allowed to call itself a bathing suit and looking through the rest of her suitcase revealed that every single bit of swimwear in it was a thong. She should never have teased Hizashi about the Speedo; this was going to be so much worse.
She had spent years cultivating an image of being just one of the guys. In the shinobi world there were very few well respected kunoichi, and other than Tsunade-hime, almost none were those their fellow ninja thought of as sexy or cute so Tsume had made sure never to be thought of as either. Only clan members had ever even seen her in a kimono (for formal clan functions only), and besides the father of her children only a few random drunken strangers in foreign villages had seen her in less than pants and her jonin vest. Even dressed in her full jonin gear Tsume had thought she looked too feminine when she'd first gotten the stuff so she'd insisted on larger pants (the original pair was too tight on her great butt and she hadn't wanted anyone to notice she had one) and always spent a good deal longer than she should tenaciously straining to bind her breasts as compactly as possible; on a good day she could manage to make it look like she didn't actually have any at all. Sure she often looked like a small man but her skill as a ninja was never called into question because of her looks. Having to wear this bathing suit was actually making her pretty nervous.
She finally settled on a simple black bikini. The bottom tied on each side, riding low on her hips, barely covering the gentle curve of her oh so perfect butt to hide only her ass crack, leaving her butt cheeks completely exposed (there would be no hiding it on this mission she thought despondently). She was glad Rikku had recommended that spray on tan before she left, at least she wouldn't be pasty and pale on top of practically naked. The top was little more than two small black pieces of cloth that barely covered her nipples. Whoever had done the shopping for this mission must have had her specs from before Kiba's birth, because she was still breast feeding her little pup and her boobs were practically falling out of the cups meant to contain them, for a brief moment she thought she might understand how Tsunade felt but then realized that even at their current size her own breasts had nothing on Konoha's princess's.
Tsume surveyed herself in the mirror and thought that she looked pretty damn good. Kiba had been born only three months earlier, and while she had managed to only gain 25 pounds (her mother had said it was far too much weight to gain but she knew many other women who had gained much more, people forgot about her excellent hearing and she'd heard Nara Yoshino complain she'd gained almost 40), it was taking more time than she'd like to get it off. She still had about 5 pounds to before she was back to her pre-pregnancy weight but at 5'4" and 128 pounds she still looked far better than most women; in her own humble opinion anyway. At 24 years old she'd already had two children and her small body had held up remarkably well, she probably owed that to her constant training and conditioning as a kunoichi but regardless of the reason she was in amazing shape. She noticed a small stretch mark right below her belly button and a little bit of cellulite on the back of her upper thighs but surprisingly overall she figured she fit into the entirely too small bathing suit quite well. While she still had her doubts about this whole thing, she figured there was half a chance she could pull it off. Slipping on a pair of black stiletto heels (Minato had insisted she wear the stupid things throughout the mission, as if they were synonymous with wealth and not strip clubs) she took a deep breath and walked back into the hotel suite. You have nothing to be ashamed of, she thought, you told Hizashi to do and now you have to "own it" as well.
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Waiting around in the stupidest bathing suit ever designed, Hizashi hoped Tsume would hurry up. He needed to get out of this mirror filled room before he went crazy. Everywhere he turned he was confronted by his more than half naked visage and if he never got to see himself ever it would be fine with him so long as he never had to see himself in a Speedo again. While all these mirrors were probably awesome for their intended purpose, spending time with your wife or girlfriend, he would have to say not so much for a mission headquarters with Inuzuka Tsume.
Noticing his own well defined muscles in the mirror Hizashi found himself once more worrying that Tsume wouldn't be able to pull off the part of a trophy wife. While she hadn't yet gotten the facial tattoos that would mark her as an Inuzuka, she was a kunoichi and her body, as far as he could tell from the giant coats she always wore, was most likely angular and heavily muscled like a man's. A look that he had no doubt did not scream trophy wife. The majority of kunoichi were heavily muscled like little men, only the pretty ones like Tsunade-hime and Uchiha Mikoto were ever assigned seduction missions or the like, and it was well known that Tsume had never been given any of those. Her face, Hizashi conceded, would have been pretty enough, despite her crude behavior and propensity for foul language he features were quite delicate and soft, but the masculine body she hid under all those clothes would not cut it and he hoped she at least looked decent enough that people would believe he'd married her. Arrogant though it might sound, he knew he was a very attractive man; people would not believe a man as rich as he was supposed to be who looked as good as he did would wed anyone homely.
As he was mulling over what to do when the crazy dog ninja fell short of impressing and indubitably failed at her task, she stepped out of the bathroom and all his doubts were put to rest. Tsume was by no means manly, in any way. Hizashi did his best not to stare but the woman's breasts were phenomenal, he would never have guessed she even had them, let alone that they were quite so amazing. Huge, and perfectly rounded, the bathing suit she had on displayed them remarkably well and he found that he couldn't take his eyes off of them. That was only until she turned around to grab a towel for the pool and he was treated to a view of the most perfect ass he had ever seen. He'd always been an "ass" man and hers was amazing; well toned, supple, and smooth. He wanted to run his hands across her skin to caress and give praise to such a perfect backside.
"I guess you won't have to pretend to drool over me after all," she interrupted his gawking to tease him.
Hizashi bit back an insult and even refrained from saying anything about how she shouldn't have teased him over his own lack of clothing. He was obviously entranced by her, something he was loathe to admit to himself but a fact nonetheless, and one that he thought seemed to amuse and interest her, if the sexy smirk she was giving him was any indication any way. She even began swaying her hips seductively as she stalked across the room to turn and wink at him. Being fully aware of how much fun ninja could have on fact finding missions such as these during their downtime, Hizashi smiled to himself as they walked out of the room and he thought that maybe those mirrors would indeed be awesome.
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Was it wrong to be feeling grateful that someone could be experiencing great trauma to the brain? Shizune definitely thought it was, and yet she was feeling it, just a little, anyway. She was extremely worried for Anko, who she'd held a soft spot in her heart for ever since she'd seen the younger girl summon a snake to bite Jiraiya when she'd caught him peeping on Shizune and Tsubaki in the bath house, something she herself would never had summoned the courage to do; even if he was a pervert he was one of the legendary Sannin and Shizune was far too proper to treat him with much less than respect. The poor girl seemed to always be in dire straits and in need of some kind of grand medical intervention despite her seemingly genius shinobi acumen. Shizune hoped she would be able to help her as much as everyone else seemed to think she could. Helping the girl should pose a challenge to her, which was where her excitement was coming into play. While she really and truthfully wished nothing had happened to the impertinent little kunoichi she was eager to tackle the malady head on. It wasn't very often that she got to hone her neurological skills, most ninja injuries involved stitching things back together, mending bones, creating new skin for burns, or repairing internal organs, and she relished the idea of undertaking something new. Did that make her a bad person? How could she perfect her abilities if she didn't get a chance to test them out, right? Shizune was sure she wasn't a bad person and resolved that no matter the cost to her own well being she would make sure Mitarashi Anko woke up from that coma to prove it.
Worried about the girl and terrified for her village at the mercy of the demon fox, she found that she was still glad to be going home. She, Tsunade, and Rin had been travelling for over ten months now and it seemed to her that it had been even longer. Missing her village had always been a problem for Shizune when out on excursions with her mentor but this particular one had proven to be extremely trying. She and Tsunade had been on trips longer than this in the past but never before had it felt like such an eternity.
Shizune always missed Konoha when she was away, on lengthier trips her longing for it had sometimes seemed like an aching in her soul so much was her love for her village, but this trip had been the worst by far. Tsunade's training of Rin, whose talent Shizune was in awe of and was sure would surpass her own, had taken them to beautiful and exotic locations in search of patients ailing from specific diseases that Tsunade knew would help in strengthening the girls' abilities and sharpening of her chakra control which usually would have thrilled her. Normally Shizune would have reveled in the fascinating foreign locales. Her curiosity was unparalleled and she always enjoyed visiting new places and seeing new things; she was not above abandoning the newest apprentice in a cramped hospital with their wicked taskmaster to lounge on the beach and work on her tan while Rin suffered through the exhausting process of learning from the best. She'd put in her time healing the sickly masses with the slave driver woman already, and for the severe cases or just when three medics would be necessary to help with an epidemic, she rolled up her sleeves and dug right in alongside her mentor and associate, but she could tell her heart just wasn't in it anymore.
Traveling wasn't new and exciting for her as it had once been, and the open road no longer held the appeal it had in her genin days. So while she knew Tsunade was still running from the memories of Dan and Nawaki, she didn't think she wanted to keep running alongside her. Shizune lamented Tsunade's loss of her little brother and felt her pain at the death of her uncle; she would always miss him but her period of mourning had past, now all she wanted to do was go home. She was young and ready to celebrate life (specifically life in Konoha) not run from it, and if her mind occasionally wandered to Ibiki and his magical hands and sweet kisses when she thought about doing that celebrating, well that was only natural. She was just a 16 year old girl with raging hormones after all.
When she'd left the village she had worried that Ibiki would forget about her. He was a good looking concupiscent teenage boy who just happened to be best friends with Shiranui Genma, the biggest flirt in all of Konoha, for crying out loud. It was not a big stretch to believe his eyes, and maybe his hands, would roam when she was gone for practically a whole year. Out of sight, out of mind wasn't how the saying went for nothing. Yet every time they stopped at Tsunade's postal box or got messages from home there had been a letter there for her, and while they weren't the epic manuscripts declaring his unending love for her that Rin received from that little Umino boy, one had simply read "Been missing you," they had been enough to quell her insecurity. Not to mention that the aforementioned Umino boy had done a favor for his beloved and spied on Ibiki for over a month with nothing to report. Not that Shizune had asked for this she'd even been a little upset that Ibiki's privacy had been violated, but Rin had taken it up on her own to request it and though she wouldn't admit it Shizune had felt a better knowing it.
Now she was anxious to get home. Seeing Ibiki again definitely topped her list of things to do, but even if he wasn't there she would have wanted to go back home to Konoha. She was a medic nin so of course she liked helping out the sick and injured people in the under populated hick villages they frequented while on the run from Tsunade's debt collectors but she was ready to put her talents to use healing their own. They were in the middle of the Third Great Shinobi World War at any rate, and she was more than positive her skills could better serve Konoha on the battlefield. Sure, what she, Tsunade, and Rin were doing nurtured good will for the village but right now saving her fellow Leaf shinobi lives should take precedence over making friends as far as she was concerned. Which was to say nothing about her offensive prowess, which was also nothing to sniff at if she did say so herself, and could certainly be used on the front lines. Shizune packed a mean punch (not quite as amazing as Tsunade's but there were very few people with enough chakra control to take down a whole mountain and Shizune's own was still capable of crater sized holes in the ground and felled trees, certainly enough to smash some enemy heads into a pulp), and she'd been looking forward to unveiling her new poison mist technique. It had taken a long time and a lot of work to create, but recently she had perfected it on her free time on this trip, a fact that made her finally feel confident enough to enter the next jonin exam, and the thought of releasing it full force (something she had yet to do for fear of killing innocent bystanders) against the enemy and finally getting a chance to let everyone see she was more than just Tsunade's shadow sounded very appealing.
Now only two days journey away from Konoha the reality of the situation at home started to sink in. When Rin had originally gotten the call from Kakashi and Obito the young girl's focus had been on her imprisoned teammates. She'd cried for hours after hearing the news that they could possibly be executed for treason and still occasionally broke down in tears as they raced home. Rin was a very sweet girl and Shizune had grown quite fond of her over the course of their ten month journey, but she was still pretty green when it came to the roll of emotionless shinobi. She was going to have to learn to steel her emotions if she wanted to be a field medic. The more she cried the more frequently Shizune dreamed of a world where she could just smack the shit out of the girl without a chakra laden punch courtesy of Tsunade knocking her through the trees. However, the closer they got to the village and all the damage they saw seemed to quell her emotional outbursts as the threat to their mutual home became more and more apparent and thoughts of her teammates fell to the back burner as she worried more and more about Konoha's well being.
The devastation of the countryside and small outlying towns of the Fire Country was obviously caused by the Kyubi no Yoko and it finally hit Shizune that returning home might not be as fun as she'd imagined in her head all these months. Looking at the still smoldering remains of a small trading village on the Kinpaku River, she was brought to the stunning realization that her home was in fact under attack. Previously Konoha had seemed to her like a shining beacon of hope in a dark world full of violence and bloodshed; the Village Hidden in the Leaves had always been an impregnable fortress offering refuge and sanctuary to all those who needed it. Having been born long after the Second Great Shinobi World War's end the idea of Konohagakure as anything but a longstanding stronghold of safety was completely foreign to her. She had never imagined there could be something strong enough to threaten that security blanket.
Sure, she knew that Konoha was at war and that the Kyubi had been summoned by their enemies, but until now it had been an abstract concept. Seeing the charred remains of what could have previously been a family, maybe even the very same family she'd purchased that large pack of gauze, cajuput oil, and camphor from at the start of their journey (they'd had that tiny red head freckled faced girl who'd begged and pleaded for a ride on Tonton until Tsunade had finally relented) brought it home and made it real in a way that hearing about it just couldn't have done. Her village was in danger, a demon was loose, and a traitor walked the streets of Konoha while innocent boys sat in jail taking the blame, and one of the most promising kunoichi she'd ever seen lay in a hospital bed comatose. The stark reality of it all made her want to join Rin in her vomiting at the side of the road.
Shizune felt entirely helpless. Against the atrocities this war was brining to her home what could she possibly do? Her brain started spinning entirely too fast and her breathing became rushed as panic overtook her. They needed to get home right now, they didn't have enough time, and Konoha needed them, even if there wasn't anything she could do. How could they hope to stop a demon? Konoha was finished. Gasping for air, Shizune fell to her knees with tears in her eyes. She didn't know what to do, this was too much to handle. How could they ever even hope to fight against the Kyubi when it had so much power? Her breathing becoming more and more erratic she had now collapsed fetal style into the dirt clawing at her chest while her heart pounded in her ears and raced uncontrollably.
Her mind focused only on the Kyubi and her helplessness she really had no handle on her current predicament. It wasn't until she felt the cooling sensation of medical chakra entering her body and easing her struggling lungs that Shizune realized she'd been having a panic attack; something completely unacceptable for a shinobi, especially one who was not even currently in battle. Feeling embarrassed at her unbecoming behavior she started to thank her shishou for bringing her back around. Her words however, got caught in her throat when she noticed Tsunade smugly smirking at her from over ten feet away. It was Rin who had stopped her panic attack and brought the world back into focus, and to whom she owed her gratitude.
"You feeling better Shizune?" Tsunade said with mirth.
"Hai, I'm fine now sensei. Arigato, Rin," she replied.
"Well then, if you can stop with the theatrics we can get you home so you can wake that poor girl up and get those three idiots out of jail. You think you can manage that?"
"Yeah, yes, I can do that sensei," Shizune flushed red with embarrassment as Tsunade took the lead on their return to Konoha.
"Don't be embarrassed Shizune-sempai," Rin's soothing voice calmed her further as they walked side by side. "I just threw up all over the side of the road, I'm lucky I didn't get it all over my shoes. Some heavy breathing is nothing."
"Thanks again, Rin," she answered, seeing the sincerity written all over the younger girls' face.
"No problem, you'd have done the same for me."
Thinking of her earlier desire to smack the poor girl, Shizune really hoped so.
XoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoX
A/N: Hopefully I didn't lose my audience with the fluff in the middle but I've got a grand design and that was part of it. If everything goes the way I planned it will all fit in perfectly.