Standard disclaimers apply. I'm just borrowing these characters for a little while.
Author's note: Kishimoto-sensei's plan is to fit the entire 4th Shinobi War Arc into a matter of days in the Naruto timeline, but I'm taking the liberty of extending it since war is never so quick and clean-cut. Events from the manga will be added, removed or shifted around. Please pardon my impudence.
I really, really appreciate the super-long reviews I receive. They remind me that I actually have a fanfic I am supposed to update :O
Tsunade had never been fond of the War Council meetings to begin with; they were playing political dartboards in there, as the war dragged on and the Kages with their accompanying officers began hurling blame at one another for their current impasse.
And to think it was all caused by a certain redhaired Kage's crushing outlash at Akatsuki for the near-death of his beloved personal medic.
If Tsunade had to be reasonable about it, it was her own fault for assigning one romantically-inexperienced woman to tend to the well-being of one romantically-inexperienced man. Hindsight was fifty-fifty after all; although Gaara's non-fatal subduing of Sakura during the attack of Sunagakure all those years ago should have been a hint of sorts.
However, Tsunade was glad that being a Kage meant that she did not have to behave like a reasonable person all the time.
Which was probably why she had passed on the otherwise secret birthday celebration plans to an Iwa kunoichi, and set the wheels in motion for The Birthday Event of the Century Despite an Ongoing World War.
Besides, Iwagakure was well-known for their high-quality sake (aged in special earthenware, she was told), of which Tsunade made certain to order plenty of for the birthday of an underage Kage.
This morning, she would be attending yet another council meeting, expecting to near the same reports of "nothing to report" and hear the old Tsuchikage and Raikage pick at each other like children in a too-small sandbox; she would rather be at the medic base to stare at Yamato's monitor screens that relay everything but tell her nothing. At least the steady 'pings' the machines gave out were predictable and familiar.
The Fourth Shinobi World War, however, has never to be one short of surprises.
Inoichi and Shikaku were already standing next to her seat at the council table, which was nothing out of the ordinary. What was different, though, was the addition of one other shinobi.
"Kotetsu? Why are you not on guard duty?" Tsunade asked; said man was supposed to be in the smaller building next door – a temporary prison they built for the resurrected shinobis whom they considered to be possible information sources.
Kotetsu bowed and moved forward, a hand raised to shield the words that he was about to whisper into the Hokage's ear when A suddenly slammed a hand down on the council table.
"There are no secrets allowed in this room; either you speak to all, or you speak to none."
Tsunade frowned at her fellow Kage's attitude, but at the same time, knew how raw everyone's nerves already were. She nodded to Kotetsu, who suddenly seemed hesitant to speak.
"Do you have something to report, Kotetsu?" voiced Tsunade perhaps a little louder than necessary – for the Raikage's sake.
For some reason, Kotetsu seemed to shrink before their eyes, and Tsunade knew right away that the shinobi was not going to deliver any good news.
"One of the prisoners has requested your presence, Hokage-sama."
A looked ready to throw a fit about how dare a prisoner of war make demands of a Kage, but Tsunade had shot him a glare that would have instantly killed a lesser man; he decided to allow this madness to go on for now, and it was not as if the Hokage made it a secret that she paid visits to one specific resurrected Konoha-nin on several occasions.
"Honourable Kages," Kotetsu unexpectedly turned to address the other four Kages in the room, "I would like to humbly request for your presence as well."
Gaara lifted an invisible eyebrow at Tsunade, and all the woman could do was to shake her head in obvious confusion. What message or secrets did this resurrected shinobi hold that was so great as to require the presence of all five Kages?
"Lead the way, Kotetsu."
The moment the Kages and their personal entourages stepped out of the war council building, they knew something was terribly wrong.
The prison building was awash in strobes of yellow and white lights, flashing out from whatever openings the prison had to the outside world. Tsunade felt a sense of dread overcoming her – the light that was being given out pulsed like a dying beast – she had already accidentally taken one step forward before she reminded herself to not jump to conclusions.
"It's happening too fast," Kotetsu mumbled to himself, then turned to the group behind him and said, "We must hurry – time is running out."
"Running out? What is happening exactly, Special Jounin?" demanded A as the entire group broke into a sprint towards the prison.
"A few of the prisoners started experiencing cracks on their bodies a little while ago, Raikage-sama, We suspected that it might have something to do with the special operative we tasked with the assassination of Kabuto; now, it looks like he was successful."
"Special operative? Tsunade, you secretly deployed a single shinobi to track down the war criminal Kabuto Yakushi?! Were you even planning on telling us about this?" roared A as expected.
Tsunade whipped her head around, startling A with the angry tears flowing from her blazing eyes as she shouted back, "The odds were so heavily stacked against him that I did not expect him to succeed. But now that he has…"
Dan.
She was going to lose the man she loved all over again.
This is a war. No death is personal.
Those were the exact same words that Tsunade said to Sakura less than twenty-four hours ago, and she had believed in them with utter conviction. She had to.
That did nothing to lessen her bitterness towards Uchiha Itachi, though.
The shinobis standing guard at the prison entrance automatically parted ways and formed the hand seals required to remove the protective barrier around the building before they moved to open the imposing steel door.
No one present was able to hide their winches or grimaces when the yellow light hit them straight in their eyes. Or perhaps they were feeling somewhat uncomfortable when the shrieks and yells of the prisoners of war seemed to increase ten-fold when the door was cracked open.
Either way, Tsunade was the first to recover and took hurried steps into the building, one hand partially shielding her eyes as she did so. She barely spared a second glance at the jailed shinobis that were now piles of ash, dust and decayed corpses; she had only one destination in mind.
It was the Mizukage who shot out her arm to stop the other Kages from running after Tsunade; she had seen the grief in the Hokage's eyes, and Mei knew the last thing she needed was an audience.
A looked at the piles of dead, nameless shinobis, snorted, and finally grudgingly admitted, "Whoever this Konoha operative was, he had accomplished this seemingly-impossible mission. I would like to meet him when he returns."
Gaara noticed Shikaku and Inoichi exchanging slightly uncomfortable looks, and filed that away as a mental note. Tsunade had ordered what was equivalent to a suicide mission – sending a single shinobi against another who could raise the dead as his personal army – and miracle of miracles, this one shinobi had succeeded where squads of scouting parties had failed to even pick up any traces of Kabuto's location.
There are only a handful of Konoha shinobis capable enough to accomplish such a task, and most of them have not been ordered away.
The uneasiness of Tsunade's two aides, combined with Sakura's almost-confession of her Village's sins to him prior to her mission to assist Naruto, led him to one conclusion:
This was a shinobi whose name could never be spoken aloud.
The image of a particular half-crazed, desperate Uchiha male surfaced in his mind's eye. There had been no reports on Sasuke's movements since his attack at the Kage Summit. In fact, it was almost as if he had vanished off the face of the earth after eliminating Danzo. However, this was a man who trained under one of the Legendary Sannin and bested him – if Sasuke's loyalties were not of concern, Gaara would have immediately marked him as the operative whom the Hokage had sent out.
Gaara minutely shook his heads to clear his thoughts; he was just making speculations, and Tsunade's ability to judge people – sending poison specialist Sakura to heal Kankurou, assigning the level-headed Kakashi to lead Team Ten on their vengeance-seeking mission – were signs that he should trust in her to have selected the right person to eliminate Kabuto.
No matter whom that person might be.
"It is clear what has happened – Kabuto Yakushi is dead, or at least no longer able to wield our own shinobis against us," Gaara gave voice to the thoughts in everyone's heads, then slowly turned around to walk towards the building entrance.
"Kazekage-sama?"
Gaara paused to cast his gaze at Inoichi and Shikaku briefly before resuming his walk, saying, "I will return to the Allied Shinobi Forces, but I will not disseminate any information of what has just occurred until I receive the official report from the Intelligence Division. And when Hokage-sama is free to speak, I'd like an audience with her."
The message was clearly directed at Tsunade's aides: Once the Hokage is ready to reveal the secret or secrets that she was hiding, I want to be the first to know.
Baki could only shrug discreetly at Shikaku before he turned to follow his Kage out of the building.
Haruno Sakura was being kidnapped.
… Alright, perhaps it is too strong a choice of words. In addition, she was no longer a 'kid'.
More accurately, she was being forcefully led away by Temari from a 'I-think-I'll-juggle-Giant-Rasenshurikens' Naruto, who was in charge of the birthday party entertainment. Sakura was partially filled with dread that Naruto would actually proceed with his half-arsed act, and partially relieved that she would not have to beat the stuffing out of someone she considered a brother.
Besides, she already had Katsuyu relay Naruto's antics to Kakashi – he should eventually find his way out from his Road of Dreamy Days to knock some sense into the blond.
"Here we are!" Temari declared cheerfully as she practically deposited Sakura onto a chair in her tent before she began rummaging through her footlocker.
Still a little unnerved by the actions of the eldest of the Sand Siblings, Sakura asked warily, "Is there a reason you needed to see me so urgently, Temari-san? Has someone been injured? Do you need any heal…"
Temari promptly cut Sakura off by whipping around to point her fan at the pink-haired kunoichi's face, a twinkle in her eyes as she replied, "Nothing of that sort, Sakura. And stop calling me 'Temari-san'. I told you before – you're dating my brother; it is ok to use my name directly."
Inwardly, Sakura shuddered.
Temari was scary when she was being nice.
"Ta-dah!"
Sakura had to fight back the urge to punch at the sudden blanket of whiteness obscuring her vision. It took her a moment later to realise that Temari was waving a piece of clothing at her.
Correction: a piece of swimsuit.
"Temari," began Sakura slowly, "You're not actually going to take part in this bikini showfest, are you? I know Gaara allowed it to continue only because it would completely crush the morale of our troops to take away something that they already had a glimpse of, but I thought you disapproved of the entire affair. I mean, you are even having some members of the Hyuuga clan guarding Gaara's cake to make sure no kunoichi tries to sneak herself into it."
"What? No, white is not my colour at all," it was as if Temari was having a completely different conversation, "I picked this one out for you."
Sakura discreetly stuck her pinky in her ear and twisted it about for good measure, in case Naruto's earlier failures with his juggling act and the subsequent explosions had damaged her hearing; or at least, caused something to lodge in her ear.
There was no way Temari was being serious.
"I'm being perfectly serious, Sakura."
Okay, scratch that.
"You should have seen it!" Temari flicked the swimsuit in her hand, although she did not seem to be referring to it at that moment, "I thought for sure Gaara would send Kankurou to the stockades, but instead, I caught him sneaking a look at this particular piece when he should have been lecturing Kankurou alongside me. And I can tell you from experience, Sakura, that Gaara does not give two hoots about women's clothing; this is the first time I've actually seen him look at one for more than a second."
"Erm…" Sakura was a little troubled by Temari's enthusiasm, "Are you sure he's not just looking at it and wondering where Kankurou-sa… I mean, where Kankurou found all these swimsuits from? Gaara could have been looking at this piece out of pure coincidence."
"Sakura, the war has done you no fashion favours. Yes, you were still wearing that cute red number in the early days of the war, but all I ever see you in these days are the standard shinobi attire or a medic's scrubs. Now, I really don't want to broach this topic since this is my little brother we are talking about…"
"Then please don't."
"… However, Gaara is a teenager in spite of the matured political front that he has to put up. Do you think he's not going to be affected in one way or another when over half the kunoichi population is running around in bikinis and his own girlfriend is dressed like a nun?"
Sakura puffed herself up, scowling as she retorted, "I'm not dressed like a nun, Temari; I wear whatever that is practical for the war."
"What about outside of it?" Temari asked, "Gaara puts on that poker face for the other Kages and ranking officers, but I doubt he does the same thing for you when the two of you are in your tent. Don't tell me you don't try to help him forget his burdens as Regimental Leader and Kazekage when you two are alone by dressing a little more casually or just putting on a bit of that lotion of yours that he seems to like?"
Sakura's silence was all the answer Temari needed.
Too young, the both of them; too new to love to know how to feed it properly.
Wordlessly, Temari held the swimsuit out to Sakura and looked away, crossing her arms as she did so. Sakura did not risk looking up at the eldest of the Sand Siblings and instead tried to give the swimsuit her full attention.
"I'll be outside," said Temari suddenly before disappearing past the tent flap.
The message was unmistakable – try on the swimsuit.
Sakura sighed softly. There was no harm in putting on the swimsuit in the privacy of Temari's tent. Besides, even if anyone else saw her in the swimsuit, they would probably brush her off as another of the bikini-clad kunoichis and conveniently forget that she was the Regimental Leader's personal medic.
She hoped.
Sakura made quick work of disrobing herself, folding her shinobi attire and placing it on a nearby chair before she picked up the swimsuit. It was just a plain white, one-piece swimsuit. There was nothing spectacularly eye-catching about it except for a small trail of silver butterflies dancing from her left hip to her right breast.
It was only after she had put on the swimsuit and adjusted it that Sakura noticed several… problems with it.
Firstly, there were some bits of fabric missing. More specifically, two triangular-shaped pieces was cut out from a little above her hips, and a matching triangle was trimmed away a short distance under each breast. Sakura did not notice these cutaways previously – that was how devious white swimsuits could be.
The biggest problem, however, was when Sakura reached behind to check her back.
The entire back of the swimsuit was missing from pelvic bone-up.
Was Gaara really looking at this? It does provide easy access to… no, Haruno – not going to think about that. Stop it stop it stop it STOP IT.
"Everything alright in there, Sakura?" Temari shouted from outside.
"No! Everything is NOT alright!" Sakura all but shrieked back, "I refuse to believe that he was interested in this… this… thing!"
Temari poked her head in, gave Sakura the once-over, and deadpanned, "Wow, you really don't know what turns guys on, do you?"
Sakura desperately slapped her hands over the cutaways under her chest, blushing as she said, "I do not for one moment believe this is going to "turn guys on", as you put it. It's embarrassing for both parties if any guy looks too long at something so… exposed!"
"Tsk!" Temari swept back into the tent, "Is it really so hard to believe that a man will want to see his girlfriend in something sexy?"
"We're talking about the Kazekage here!"
"Who happens to be a man, Sakura. Did you even once consider getting to second base, or God forbid, third base with Gaara?"
Sakura blanched and shook her head so hard, that she could have sworn she gave herself a mild concussion.
"… Yep. That about confirms it for me," Temari sounded pleased, "Gaara won't know what hit him when we send you to him in a nicely-wrapped box."
Sakura prayed that Temari was joking.
There was a flare of chakra outside the tent – Baki's chakra signature. Temari pushed her tent flap slightly open – just enough to meet Baki's gaze and not expose Sakura.
"Is something the matter, Baki-san?"
"I'm sorry to interrupt, Temari-sama, but I have urgent summons for Sakura-san. I was told that she was with you."
Sakura's head popped out of the tent directly under Temari's; the sight of two disembodied heads was an almost comical sight to behold to Baki, but he wisely held his tongue.
"What has happened, Baki-san?"
"Sakura-san, there is a situation in your tent right now that involves Uzumaki-sama and Kazekage-sama. The sand-cat…"
Baki did not have the chance to finish speaking before Sakura simply bolted out of Temari's tent, completely oblivious to her state of dress. Mr. Fluffy-kins was not particularly fond of either male that Baki had just mentioned, and to bring them up in the same sentence…
Oh, stars, Sakura suddenly remembered, Gaara's present!
Sakura's still-sandaled feet broke off into an even faster pace.
In the meantime, Temari was eyeing Baki with a strange smirk on her face. Finally, she stepped out of her tent and gave Baki a swift kick in the shin.
"Put your eyes back in your head, Baki-san."
"You catch it."
"No, you catch it."
Troublesome.
Shikamaru watched expressionlessly from a corner of the Regimental Leader's tent while Gaara and Naruto argued over who was to stop the hissing, swirling mass that the sand-cat had now taken the form of.
The sensor shinobis had informed him and Baki that the Kazekage's sand-cat had returned, but with a suspicious parcel that it had refused to part with. And while both men knew that the sand-cat had probably brought said parcel under Sakura's behest, it was standard protocol to subject all packages coming into or leaving the camps to a thorough search; the enemy forces could have snuck a malicious device into the package, and there was no telling if the sand-cat had guarded the package from such possibilities.
The Nara prodigy was the first to sense Sakura's approaching chakra, and cleared his throat to get the attention of the two men, "Our problem is about to be solved; Sakura is here."
What they did not expect was for Sakura herself to bring a whole new set of problems.
Meanwhile, Sakura at least still had enough of a mind to remember to flare her chakra before bursting into the tent, whisper-shouting, "Mr. Fluffy-kins!"
However, three other minds ground to a screeching halt at the sight of Sakura's present state of dress. Or undress. Whatever.
Shikamaru's jaw had quite literally dropped; he had been to the beach with Sakura, both as a friend and when they were dating, and she always wore a modest dark blue or black one-piece suit. While her current choice of swimwear was not as bold as some kunoichis', it was definitely more… exposed than what he had seen her in.
Naruto openly, unabashedly gawked.
Gaara, however, stiffened like a statue.
Not that Sakura noticed their reactions; she was too occupied by the sight of the sand-cat in its cloud form, and was approaching it gingerly while she called its name repeatedly.
After what seemed like forever, the cloud of sand began to swirl less ferociously, and gathered together to take a misty shape of the sand-cat. A few heartbeats later, the misty visage solidified into the familiar form of the sand-cat.
With one deft leap, the sand-cat found its way into Sakura's outstretched arms and was soon brought into a cuddle. Sakura, with all her attention on soothing her pet, did not notice the odd behaviours of the men around her.
Shikamaru reached up and nudged his jaw close with a soft "click" of his teeth; he was purely surprised at Sakura's state of dress, and did not wish for Gaara to get the wrong impression that he was bearing impure thoughts towards the future Kazehime.
Naruto, however, bolstered by the knowledge that Gaara regarded him as one of his closest friend and was therefore not likely to kill him, blurted out, "Sakura-chan, you never wore something this… exposed when we went to the beach. What gives?"
It took Sakura but a heartbeat to realise the situation she was in; she promptly dropped the sand-cat like a hot potato and grabbed the brown-wrapped package on her bed to shield herself with it. As a shield against her modesty, it worked reasonably well considering it was a large and relatively flat package.
However, what has been seen cannot be unseen, unfortunately.
Seeing that no one was going to do anything about the present situation, Shikamaru decided to take the initiative for once; he held out a hand and gestured to the package that Sakura was so desperately clinging to.
"Sakura, your sand-cat did not allow any of the sensor shinobis to clear the package before he brought it right into the Regimental Leader's tent. You of all people should be aware of what a potentially dangerous outcome this could lead to."
Sakura turned to face Shikamaru, still holding the package like some sort of chastity shield as she muttered weakly, "It's a present for Kazekage-sama – it's supposed to be a secret."
Shikamaru frowned as he scratched his head in mild annoyance, then said, "Ok, I get the point that the present is supposed to be a secret, but it still has to undergo security clearance, especially since the Kazekage is the recipient."
"But…"
"I promise I'll not let the package out of my sight, and I'll make certain no one tries to probe its contents," reassured Shikamaru as he gestured for the package once more.
With a quiet sigh, Sakura relinquished the package to Shikamaru, whom wisely adverted his gaze as he took the package and made a beeline for the tent flap.
Suddenly conscious of the two men inside the tent, Sakura folded her arms over her chest, doing her best to meet their gazes and not be ashamed of how she was dressed; there were plenty of kunoichis going about their daily activities at that moment, some dressed in even less fabric than she was – there was no reason why she could not act as naturally as they were while in a similar state of dress.
"Well?" Sakura's voice rang out as a clear challenge, even if it did waver a little.
Naruto glanced out of the corner of his eyes at the still-frozen-to-the-spot Gaara before he leaned over to nudge the redhead with his elbow.
Not a single movement nor a peep of sound emerged.
Naruto turned back to Sakura and stated solemnly, "I think you broke him, Sakura-chan."
"Out, out!" Sakura all but yelled at Naruto when she saw the grin that was starting to form on his lips.
"So you mean you weren't part of the surprise birthday present?" Naruto asked over his shoulder while Sakura determinedly shoved him towards the tent flap.
"OUT!"
With Naruto now out of the picture, Sakura was able to give her full attention to Gaara.
He was still not saying anything, but the skin above the bridge of his nose had begun to pull together, and his eyes narrowed.
Not a good sign.
"Erm, Gaara?" Sakura ventured uncertainly, taking a single step forward as she continued to speak, "I'm sorry if this swimsuit was not what you were expecting; Temari dragged me into this, I swear! She had some crazy notion in her head that I should be wearing this because she saw you looking at it, and when Baki-san came to tell us about Mr. Fluffy-kins, I didn't have time to change back to my shinobi attire before rushing here."
Alright, so it was not the bravest of moves to shove the blame in Temari's direction, but Sakura figured that at least it was the truth, and the truth was something that both she and Gaara valued between them.
"Come with me," Gaara's voice cracked a little near the end.
In two strides, Gaara closed the distance between them, seized both of Sakura's wrists in one hand and wrapped his other arm tightly around her waist. There was something off about his expression, but it was swallowed up as the sand swirled around and transported them away.
Sakura's back collided with the face of the rock cliff before the sand which was transporting them had even completely vanished. On instinct, she tried to push against her captor, but Gaara was literally in his element; he nudged her flush against the surface and pinned her wrists above her head to immobilise her before Sakura could jerk forward.
By the time the sand cleared away, Sakura became aware of her splayed position against the rock, with Gaara neatly pressing himself against her to keep the rest of her body from automatically fighting back. He quickly and carefully trapped her legs between his, knowing from his academy days that kunoichis held in any position similar to Sakura's were taught to go for a swift kick, usually aimed at someplace delicate on the male anatomy.
"… Gaara?"
The young Kazekage did not seem to have heard her, and was still glaring at her as if she had committed some great offence against his person.
Silently, he leaned forward, inevitably pulling Sakura's trapped wrists higher and forcing her to stand on tip-toes.
When did he grow taller?
Gaara gave her no more time to think further before he pressed his lips to hers in a strange imitation of a bite; it provoked the exact response he wanted from Sakura, whom had gasped and responded in kind with an equally fierce kiss.
What the swimsuit revealed called out to him like a siren's song; the skin it exposed was a soft shade of peach from being hidden from the sun for so long. Except for a few thin scars along her arms and on her back that Gaara could feel, in his eyes, she was perfection. For the first time, without seeking her permission, Gaara's lips quested lower – her chin, her jawline, the underside of her ear, a trail against the column of her neck mapped out by her frantic pulse…
"Gaara…" Sakura hissed, placing a little chakra in her foot as she shoved against his ankle.
Gaara's lips drew back from her neck, but instead of backing away, he leaned forward and rested his forehead against the rock beside Sakura's face. It was only with sheer willpower that he did not lift even a centimeter of the swimsuit away from Sakura's skin to touch and taste more of her. His breathing was a little faster than he liked it to be, but there was no use trying to force it back to normal; it would have to come down on its own.
Case in point.
"Erm, Gaara?" Sakura flexed her wrists a little, "Your kunai is poking against my thigh."
"I never carry kunais, Sakura."
"You know what I mean," Sakura's face was turning an interesting shade of maroon red.
Beside her ear, Gaara's chuckle tickled her skin, "An interesting choice of words, though not the most flattering."
Then just like that, he released her wrists and wrapped his other arm around her waist as well. Sakura's brain which was still trying to catch up to the latest developments, left her with little else to do but to respond in kind with a hug of her own.
"I'll never touch you against your will, Sakura."
"I know," she sighed softly, his robes comfortably warm against her bare skin, "It's just a biological reaction – completely natural; I trust you, and I know you will control your urges."
"I'll have to thank Shukaku for that," muttered Gaara, "Taming the thirst for blood and victory, however, seemed much easier compared to taming teenage hormones. It is not befitting of a Kage to vanish with his girlfriend to make-out in the middle of a war."
Sakura giggled, not realising her act of doing so was causing parts of her body to press against Gaara's rhythmically.
"You're killing me here, Sakura," Gaara groaned in a mixture of resignation and… something else.
Just as quickly, Sakura's body stilled and she placed her open palms against Gaara's chest. That gesture earned her a quirked invisible eyebrow, but Gaara complied and took a step back.
"I… I want my first time to be special; not amongst the madness of a war and your ever-expanding birthday party. And definitely not because of something I happened to be wearing," Sakura found it hard to keep eye contact with Gaara as she spoke.
Gaara reached up and plucked at one of the swimsuit's straps, nodding as he replied, "The Kazehime's first time should not be like a roll in the barnyard. I apologise for getting carried away earlier."
"Thank you for understanding."
"Only when we are both ready, Sakura, and not just because we are adults in the eyes of the shinobi world and should have better self-restraint," Sakura looked up when Gaara paused, and his next words cemented themselves into her heart forever, "And because I love you, I will wait for as long as it takes."
The only thing a woman in Sakura's position could do was pretty much down to throwing herself into Gaara's arms and hugging him with unbridled affection.
Which, unfortunately, left Gaara with his first clear view down the back of Sakura's swimsuit.
"Sakura…" Gaara covered his face with one hand, "You're going to break my resolve if we don't get you into something less exposed soon."
Sakura frowned and asked, "Then why did you stare so long at this swimsuit that Temari had to come up with this ridiculous notion that you would want to see me in it?"
Gaara groaned and rubbed his face, doing his best not to let his eyes stray as he replied, "I was merely curious about where the cut-out parts would fit on a woman's body. It looked like an accident waiting to happen, and never in a thousand years would I have thought that the accident would happen to me… and you, if you want to blame Temari's meddling."
"Maybe you can take me back to camp so we can talk to Temari about this?"
"The better for both our sanities."
"Oh, absolutely."
Gaara had one arm wrapped around Sakura's waist and was starting to summon sand from his gourd when he suddenly paused and asked, "So, the package that Mun brought back… it's not a swimsuit, is it?"
Sakura's reply was a hard slap against his shoulder.
It was yet another milestone victory for the Allied Shinobi Forces.
Edo Tensei was finally broken; no longer would the shinobis be haunted by visages of deceased loved ones whom they dare not raise arms against.
For Tsunade, however, this victory was bittersweet.
She ran as fast as she could, winding through the maze of jail cells on a route that she had taken a thousand times in her heart. But just before Tsunade rounded the final corner of her destination, her pace dropped rapidly to a walk, and finally to a stop altogether.
She was afraid.
Afraid of what was waiting for her in that cell. Or worse, if there was nothing left waiting for her.
But time was of the essence, and steeling her nerves, Tsunade swung into the last corner with eyes closed.
"Tsunade?"
She could have sworn her heart stopped at the sound of that voice. All decorum of a Hokage cast aside, Tsunade bolted down a few more cells and skidded to a kneel outside the cell where the voice came from.
"Dan."
Their hands laced together through the humming, chakra-filled iron bars.
"I have to go now. The curse has been broken," whispered Dan as he lifted her hand to his cold cheek.
Tsunade was sobbing silent tears, and Dan took the chance to speak his last words to her.
"At least we managed to say goodbye properly this time, Tsunade. I will be waiting for you when it is your time, and I hope it will be a very long wait."
Tsunade blinked away her tears. Dan was right – they finally had a proper closure, and now, he would return to a world without pain or suffering, where he would no longer risk falling under the control of a mad man.
"Goodbye, Dan," Tsunade choked out, and then leaned forward to brush a kiss against his crumbling cheek.
"Goodbye." He whispered.
Tsunade did not know how long had she spent leaning outside the cell that formerly housed her resurrected love. Sometime after Dan had vanished, Shikaku and Inoichi approached her and stood behind the corner, respecting her need for her vulnerable state to remain hidden from their eyes.
She had only a dim recollection of what they told her, but from Shikaku's words, she could summise that the Kazekage had become suspicious of this covert operation, and that he might have even guessed who was sent after Kabuto.
Tsunade smirked ironically to herself as she leaned forward and rested her chin on her knees; Gaara might be suspecting the involvement of a certain Uchiha male, but it was more than likely that he had the wrong Uchiha in mind. He was, after all, acting in a perfectly natural way a man would react to the heroic antics of his girlfriend's ex.
Inoichi had reported that their last communications with Uchiha Itachi was a little more than six hours ago, when he had located Kabuto's hiding place and was formulating an attack plan. He had intended to present that information to Tsunade that morning, but the speed of Itachi's success made his report moot.
There had been no further communications with Itachi since, and attempts at locating him yielded no results.
Perhaps in time, she would issue a posthumous pardon for Uchiha Itachi for his war efforts.
Today, however, she would mourn the twice-death of Dan.
Nobody questioned where the Hokage was for the rest of the day.