"Congratulations," Tsunade said after she'd shut her office door. "You are hereby invited to girl's night."

"Girl's night? Which girls? When?" Mei felt the stirrings of excitement at this news but waited patiently.

"Shizune's in town, so we try to spend one evening out, just us girls. Frankly she gives us the excuse. We try to go out other times but someone's shift changes or there's this surgery that has to be done." Tsunade waved her hand as if surgery was a minor inconvenience. "But when Shizune's in town we need to make an active effort or we might not see her. So suddenly we pull together." Tsunade explained. "It's usually Sakura, Shizune, and myself but other times Kurenai and Hinata join us along with some of the other kunoichi, and you now, if you'd like."

"I would and my schedule's pretty open," Mei admitted. "Thank you for inviting me. If it's a night that Kakashi and I already have plans I'll ask him to reschedule. It doesn't sound like Shizune's in town long?" Mei didn't know who Shizune or Kurenai were, but she wasn't against making new friends. She liked Hinata and Sakura from what she'd seen of them.

"Just this weekend, then she heads back out to the remote regions of Fire Country," Tsunade gestured her hand idly into the distance. "If you ask me, I think she's sweet on someone at one of the outposts."

Mei stayed silent. She wasn't really in a position to comment on the love life of anyone, much less someone she'd never met.

When the appointed day and time arrived, Hinata had managed to make it, but not Kurenai. Sakura, Hinata, Shizune, Tsunade, and Mei sat at a round booth at Tsunade's favorite bar.

"They keep certain sake aside, just for her," Sakura whispered to Mei.

"I'm old, not deaf," Tsunade complained. Still, she smiled behind her already full cup. Tsunade was always served first as well, as the owner felt it was her due. When Mei showed up the server and then owner nearly fell over themselves. He had not been prepared for two kage. But they were soon happily seated and everyone else's drinks were on the way.

Shizune ignored their banter and introduced herself to Mei. "It's a pleasure to meet you Lady Mizukage."

"The pleasure is mine, and you can call me Mei." The five women settled in as the rest of the drinks arrived.

Tsunade was going to open conversation when the look on Sakura's face stopped her. The young woman was sitting at attention and staring at the floor by Mei's seat. The rest of the women leaned over to see what had caught her eye. Pakkun sat next to the Mizukage, looking thoughtfully up at her.

Mei's brow furrowed but her heart leapt in worry. "Pakkun? What's happened? Is something wrong?"

Sakura was already halfway out of her seat. "Is sensei hurt?"

Pakkun was quick to correct the table full of medics. "Kakashi's fine." He turned his attention back to Mei. "He sent me to look for you. He said you had a date planned?"

Mei blinked and then gasped in realization. "I forgot to tell him I had to reschedule!" Embarrassment flooded her, making her face pale.

"Go, we understand," Shizune said kindly.

"No, no, I meant to tell him and- oh I just forgot." Mei was mortified. She could feel her cheeks heating now and turned to the hound. "He's not mad, is he?"

"He's not mad," Pakkun confirmed as he sat back on his haunches. "Confused, definitely concerned, but not mad."

"About time someone else made him wait," Sakura muttered, remembering to retake her seat.

"Is he still in the tower? I should go in person to explain, I'll be right-" Kakashi appeared in the doorway of the bar, cutting Mei off.

Pakkun sighed. "He couldn't wait, apparently." Job done, the summons departed in a puff of smoke.

Mei turned to the other women. "I'll just be a minute."

"Take your time," Tsunade invited. The former Hokage wondered what kind of gossip this random meeting outside a bar was going to strike into life. She'd never married and the Third had been a widower since the Nine Tails Attack. The Hokage and his wife would have been a topic for gossip even if she wasn't the Mizukage.

Mei strode over to her husband. Kakashi waited for her, his eyes taking in her companions.

"You're having a girl's night? That's right, Shizune's in town." Kakashi sized up the situation quickly.

Mei hurried past the correct supposition to apologize. "I'm sorry, I was going to ask that we reschedule our date and I completely forgot."

Kakashi nodded in understanding, eyes on his feet. Mei noticed the tension easing out of his shoulders.

"You were worried about me?"

"You've never been late before. And when you weren't in your room, I got worried, yes. Something might have happened to you." Kakashi scanned the patrons of the bar, just in case someone was within hearing distance. If that small piece of information went into the rumor mill, who knew what would be spat out? He also didn't want to meet his wife's eyes.

Mei couldn't help but smile. He was so cute when he was embarrassed. "I think it's sweet that you were worried. Although with my present company, I couldn't be much safer."

At that, Kakashi looked up and smiled. "Very true, but I didn't know where you were, much less who you were with, hence Pakkun." He sighed. "I'm sorry I overreacted."

"I think, considering our occupations and your station, you reacted appropriately. Overreacting would have been sending your ANBU to scour the village for me."

"How do you know they aren't?" Kakashi asked, mirth in his eyes.

"No offense to Pakkun, but if he found me before all of your ANBU, I'd say your organizational training needs to be kicked up a notch. Maybe you should have Shikamaru turn it into a drill." They chuckled together at the thought.

Kakashi scanned the bar again. "I guess I'll just go back to my lonely tower, read my books," he winked at her, showing she really hadn't hurt his feelings. "You owe me a date."

Mei grinned. "You'll get it."

Kakashi took his leave in a swirl of leaves. Mei snorted and rolled her eyes, a smirk still on her lips. When she turned back to the other women, they all had various grins of their own.

"What?" Mei asked when she rejoined them. She nearly giggled and restrained her smile to swallow it.

"It's just suddenly obvious that you're the only one of us who's married. And you two are adorable." Tsunade folded her arms on top of the table.

Mei struggled to hide her blush. Tilting her head to shield her face with her bangs just made it more obvious.

"Hinata's dating," Sakura protested. "And so am I!"

"If what you and Sasuke are doing can be called dating," Tsunade stated.

Sakura's mouth dropped open in shock. If it had been anyone else, she would have put them through the wall. As it was, she pulverized a napkin under the table and ordered another drink.

Hinata wisely remained silent. The observations that she and Naruto had made about the health of Sakura and Sasuke's relationship had been shared in private and would remain private.

"Just calling it like I see it," Tsunade threw another cup back.

Mei looked down at her glass, wondering if she should have come. This was getting awkward and she didn't know these women well. She knew Tsunade in a social setting but that was one on one. Mei didn't know how she fit into this group.

"Thinking you should have gone on your date after all Lady Mei?" Sakura addressed the Mizukage. She had a look on her face that said she was reconsidering her choice as well.

"I was thinking," Mei quickly thought something up so it wasn't technically a lie, "that I'm the only one here without any medical ninjutsu training. All my medical knowledge involves cutting up a body, not putting it back together."

An uneasy silence fell on the group like a boulder. Mei often made such comments offhand and it always came as a surprise to her how she could shock Leaf ninja by stating something so obvious about their profession.

"We could teach you, Lady Mizukage," Hinata offered tentatively. There was a chorus of agreement to fill the silence.

Mei waved them off. "My skills are best used at a distance. Anything that up close and personal, I'd expect the person to be dead already." Mei nearly bit her tongue, what was she doing? She silently cursed herself.

"I can imagine," Shizune said politely, although she really couldn't.

There was silence again. Tsunade had gone quiet, brooding. Sakura was worrying a nail. Hinata sat with trained poise, displaying nothing.

"So, Shizune, what's your favorite thing, about your work?" Mei struggled to get the conversation going again.

Shizune smiled. "I like how the children's faces light up when I heal them or someone else. I like showing them how ninjutsu can be used to build and nurture. That it's about how and why one uses their skills that's important."

Mei had never had that luxury but she appreciated Shizune's ideals and work ethic. Shizune had put her comments too kindly to possibly be taking a shot at Mei, she was just expressing her feelings about her own work.

The conversation stumbled forward from there. Although Mei felt she'd managed to pull herself out of the hole she'd dug, it wasn't a satisfying evening. No one had dared ask about Mei's favorite part of her work.

000000

"Well that was a disaster," Mei told Tsunade the next day. They'd met in Tsunade's office for her afternoon break, as usual.

"What was?" Tsunade asked, shutting her door.

"Last night," Mei couldn't put into words how she'd felt, the unbelonging that seemed to consume her.

"Oh, that? I wouldn't worry about it. Hinata and Sakura are young and Shizune was kept out of the Third War because of me. They haven't had to work in the same conditions you and I have. And even the two of us had very different horrors to deal with." Tsunade was silent for a time and then, "next time I'll see if Kurenai or Anko can come, even things out a little. You'll fit in just fine, give yourself time."

This cheered Mei up significantly. Making friends had always been hard for her and making friends as a kage was even harder. Her kage peers had been the first people she'd considered friends in a long time.

Then Tsunade clarified what disaster she'd been referring to, "I thought you were talking about missing your date with Kakashi."

Mei and Kakashi had talked together that evening, after Mei returned home from the girl's night. They'd rescheduled their date night and then Mei vented about her social awkwardness. Kakashi had listened politely but he hadn't had much to add. Social graces weren't something he cared to dwell on if he didn't have to. If only it was that easy, Mei lamented. What Tsunade had said was just what she'd needed to hear. Now though, Mei wasn't sure what the older woman was getting at.

"What? About missing the date? I apologized for forgetting. He said it wasn't a problem," Mei watched Tsunade's eyes crinkle with a smile.

"Did you have to make it up to him?" Her eyebrows jumped suggestively.

Mei blinked, once. Then she slitted her eyes and quirked the edges of her lips up in a smile. Her mischievous grin hid her feelings well. Oh how she grew tired of this game. "Your interest in our sex life is highly unusual, I hope you know that." Then, thinking that maybe she should try for a little honesty, Tsunade was her friend after all, Mei said, "please never ask about it again. It's very personal and I'd rather not discuss it."

Tsunade sat back, a small frown on her lips. "Just an old lady living vicariously through young peoples' romances." She met Mei's eyes seriously. "I didn't know it'd bother you; I apologize."

"We're not that young," Mei countered, moving on from the awkward moment. She was relieved. She didn't want to lose Tsunade as a friend, but the woman had pushed the wrong button. The kernel of honesty seemed to have worked though.

The Fifth Hokage laughed. "Neither am I. You're lucky you're retired."

"If you don't mind my asking, why are you still working?" Mei hadn't thought about it before but she was suddenly curious. Tsunade was considerably older than she looked and yet instead of being on the council or traveling or only being called in as a specialist, Tsunade was still grinding away at the hospital while Mei read books and trained only out of habit. "Why aren't you on a beach somewhere? Surely you trust Kakashi to handle things?"

Tsunade chuckled. "Kakashi IS handling things, that's kind of the reason."

"Meaning?"

Tsunade looked sharply at her peer, suddenly curious. "He didn't tell you?"

Mei shook her head.

Tsunade paused, debating. Finally she sighed and said, "back when I took office I had some…rather large gambling debts following me. Since I was the Hokage and could no longer run from them, I had the Leaf cover them for me."

Mei's emerald eyes widened. She only just kept her jaw from hitting the floor. Despite the closed door, she lowered her voice. "You used village funds for personal debts?"

"Personal loan," Tsunade corrected. "It's different. I was going to pay the village back. The point is that when Kakashi took office, he recommended I pay those back sooner rather than later. He strongly recommended that I don't attempt to pay them off by gambling. So I live off of my Hokage retirement fund but I work to pay off my loan."

"I can't say I disagree," Mei replied slowly. "But your service as Hokage-"

Tsunade disregarded that with a shake of her head. "Kakashi and I worked that out already, how much I would have been paid per year as Hokage, bonuses for my services to the hospital, etc. He subtracted all that from the balance. The remainder was still…substantial. So, here I am."

Mei didn't know what to say. She was suddenly very uncomfortable. The Mist hadn't always had money for her to pay herself, much less borrow. The back pay she was drawing on now only existed after the salaries of government positions were officially put into place, which did not cover all of Mei's time in office. She'd waved the other years; the village couldn't afford it even now. She respected Tsunade, but Mei was once again struck by how different two villages could be.