~Chapter 6: The Toad's Sage's Sunflower~


(Tuesday September 16 Hanako's Apartment

~Genma~

Genma sniggled, his voice low and husky as he sprinkled kisses over his girlfriend's body. Not that they'd had that talk. He'd wanted to, but well...

"Why are you such a tease?" Hanako mumbled, her breaths hot and shaky.

"Well, that's your fault," Genma chuckled, very nearly blowing a raspberry on her hip bone. "You're the one who said, and I quote, 'couldn't kiss to save my life.'"

Hanako's body arched upwards as he peppered a trail of nips and kisses up her abdomen, making soft noises escape from her. "Now, who's the one eating their word, huh?"

"Shut. Up," Hanako managed to utter through an airy moan. Her cheeks were flaming red, and her fingers twisted unforgivingly into his hair.

Scars were commonplace in the life of a shinobi. Each was a mark of survival. However, Hana hid hers. She once told him why and only once; it reminded her of a harrowing childhood incident that she'd sooner forget than accept.

Internally the tiny Uchiha was as delicate as a lily flower, despite her outward certitude. So, whenever she did lower her guard in his company and behind closed doors, he revelled in it unapologetically.

Smirking at her reactions, Genma moved slowly up to her neck, pressing sweet butterfly kisses upon her scarred flesh while whispering affirmations with each one. Their morning romp was rudely interrupted by a ceaseless buzzing from Hana's alarm clock.

"Fuck! Make it stop," he begged, scrounging around desperately for a pillow to clamp over his ears.

~Hanako~

Hanako reached out and tapped the top of her clock, silencing the alarm. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she looked over her shoulder at Genma. He was muttering Kage-knows-what into the pillow.

Good grief, he's such a sook.

Hanako pried the pillow off of him and whacked him with it. "Some of us have to work," she huffed.

Knowing she had to lead a mission for Team 7, minus Kakashi, she'd made a conscious effort to keep her drinks to a minimum last night.

Hanako turned the shower on, stepping under its hot spray while thinking about her sensei's birthday party and her best friend.

She outright balked at kissing Kakashi-Sensei. Who does that?

Hanako herself held a teenage crush on the silver-haired man, and Nina was fucking stunning—the understated girl next door. Neither her sensei nor friend were blind, so she concluded it was impossible for there not to be a smidge of mutual physical attraction between them.

For a long time, she believed Nina had been single through bad luck, but it was evident the medic-nin was determined to keep that part of her life unchanged.

Can I really blame her?

Nina hadn't had much time on her hands lately; none of them did. They were always busy and…

And we wasted the night.

The one chance they'd had in forever, and they'd barely spoken two words to each other for the entirety of the night.

Hanako bit down hard on her bottom lip.

Showered and dressed, she made her way into the kitchen, where she could hear Genma groaning and knocking about in the cupboards. Hanako watched as he hobbled over to the dining table with two steaming cups of coffee in hand.

He could be adorable when he wanted to be.

Hanako's eyes settled on the clock on the wall. "Crap." She could already hear her little brother Sasuke's sarcastic dig about being a minute late.

Battling to put her shoes on, she looked over to a pouting Genma. "Why don't you ask Nina to treat your hip?" Hanako leaned down, giving him a chaste kiss."You…we kind of owe her an apology for last night."

~Genma~

"What the hell fo—?" The door banged closed, cutting Genma off and causing him to jolt to his feet. "Dammit," he grumbled, wincing in pain and looking at the spattered hot drink as it dripped down his bare chest.

Grizzling and dabbing at his chest with a cloth, he tried to take his mind off his hip. Little Sarutobi sure as fuck needed a time out, and he wasn't about to impose on that or cough up an apology.

It was just a fucking kiss.

Putting all his weight on his right leg, Genma threw the cloth into the sink and began rinsing it.

Hmm.

It was interesting that the Copy-Nin didn't close out the deal. But by putting himself in his shoes, Genma could appreciate the logic. Ayame was primed and ready to go, and Nina?

Yeah, enough said.


(Nina's Apartment)

~Nina~

Nina awoke with the first rays of sunlight streaming through the open curtains, warmth following wherever they hit. Not fully awake, still playing catch up for the sleep she'd denied herself too often as of late, she rolled over and faced away from the window.

Achoo! Achoo!

Two sneezes were never a good sign. According to superstition, one sneeze meant you were being praised, two meant someone was speaking ill of you, and three...

Hah! Not a fucking chance.

Nina hauled her doona over her head.

Nope, just nope.

She decided today was as good as any to hide in her bedroom. However, there was a loud rap on her door.

She buried herself deeper under her covers; she'd earned a sleep-in.

I've earned it, dammit. Who the fuck is knocking on my door?

"Sunflower!" Jiraiya's booming voice called her from the other side of her front door.

~Jiraiya~

A thump was followed by garbled profanities; Jiraiya chuckled while keeping a keen ear out for the kunoichi. It was barely nine in the morning, and Nina was already causing the dead to turn in their grave with her colourful language.

Eventually, the door opened, and Jiraiya was greeted by a semi-dressed Nina.

"Don't peek, Old Man," she growled, wrestling with her entangled camisole and hair.

As unbelievable as it would seem to so many, that was the last thought to cross his mind. Folding his arms across his chest, Jiraiya lazed back against the balustrading in no hurry to be anywhere else. Peering down at the street below, he spotted two very pleased men, pointing and snickering to each other about their good fortune to cop an eyeful of the kunoichi's exposed bust.

Hmm. It's a little too early in the morning for a peep show, even for my tastes.

Jiraiya placed one of his hands on Nina's shoulders, forcing her back into her apartment.

"Hey! Hands off!" she snarled from behind the tunnel of fabric she'd caught herself in.

"You had an audience," he hit back, closing the door behind them with his foot. "Now,"—he dug one finger into her shirt and peeked down at her—"shall I help you?"

"Mmph." Nina's tough-girl facade lasted all of twenty seconds. "Yes, please."

Jiraiya gently pulled and rolled down parts of her black singlet, freeing the trapped strands of hair from under and around the straps as he went.

She offered him a lopsided smile. "Thanks." She had one foot into the kitchen before she paused, "Don't think I've forgotten what you owe me."

There's my Little Sunflower.

Although, there was nothing little about Nina. Jiraiya watched as she went about brewing a pot of tea for them both and then curled up next to him on the lounge with her knees resting against his thighs.

Heh. I can't believe she's giving me puppy eyes.

Jiraiya pulled the gift out of the internal pocket of his vest, where it'd been safe-kept from Nina's eagle eyes and dexterous fingers last night, and handed it over. She clapped her hands together with child-like glee, staring at the leather-bound novel in her lap.

Answering the pot's whistle, Jiraiya stood up and padded over to the stovetop. From behind the kitchen counter, looking into the living space, his eyes drifted over Nina as he poured the freshly-brewed tea into the cups she'd set out.

Time had passed.

A lot of time.

It'd been close to a year since his last instalment, and his previous visit to her was…?

Jiraiya grinned at the girl's enthrallment; she'd already devoured the first page and was flipping to the next one. However, he could see the effects of the last fortnight in her eyes. The ones Nina hid, as she always had, behind a mask of earnestness.

Rejoining her on the lounge, Jiraiya took a sip and placed his cup beside hers on the coffee table. Sighing, he watched steam curling from their cups. "So, five then?"

~Nina~

Nina laid the opened book on her lap and twiddled with its twine page marker. Jiraiya's company may have eased her feelings of inadequacy, but his question did not.

She swallowed thickly and took a breath, meeting his eyes—defeated. "Yeah, and I couldn't even save one of them."

But he knows all of this.

"I wouldn't be beating yourself up about it too much," Jiraiya remarked.

Instinctively, her head dropped, squeezing her eyes closed for a moment before anger rose from the pit of her stomach. Slamming the book closed and onto the coffee table, Nina sprung to her feet. "I've got Ibiki breathing down my fucking neck because four of them were ANBU operatives,"—her hands were as animated as her face—"and a dead nine-year-old boy. Tell me, Master Jiraiya, how the fuck I'm not meant to…?"

Gritting her teeth, Nina pushed a breath out through her nose and counted.

One, two, and three.

Picking up her now-lukewarm tea, she sat back down. At first, she flinched when Jiraiya took the teacup out of her hands and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Nina felt her entire body relax, letting herself nestle into his heartening presence.

Jiraiya rested his chin atop her head. "I believe in you, kiddo." His voice was gentle, cautious—like that of a parent. Borne not of blood but out of choice and happenstance.

The self-doubt that ate away at Nina's insides had her clinching onto his vest. Her next breath was ragged.

Short-lived or not, this was nice.

Sitting up to drink, Nina squirmed around to face Jiraiya, tucking one foot under the thigh of her other leg. "So, how did your night work out?"

"Ah, you know what she's like. My wallet is a lot lighter."

Nina half snorted, half coughed into her tilted teacup.

Jiraiya laughed too, stretching his hands up and back, cradling his head in a makeshift pillow against the lounge's backing. "But,"—he closed his eyes and sighed—"waking up with her made it infinitely worth it."

"So," Jiraiya grunted, getting up to the kitchen. "I heard some chatter on my way here about a birthday kiss."

"Pfft," Nina responded, leaning forward to swap her cup for her gift. "How many times must I tell you that Konoha's rumour mill is not a reliable source?"

Kage knows what has been circulated.

Either way, Nina didn't care, and she carried on reading.

"Enough that I listened this time," Jiraiya replied, collecting her empty cup and returning it to the kitchen.

Nina snuffed her nose, curling over another page. If it wasn't one of Konoha's gossip queens, it could only be…

"You spoke to Hana, then?"

A significant part of her bonds with Hanako Uchiha stemmed from their shared stand-in father-daughter relationships with Jiraiya. Seven years younger, spirited, free-spoken, and formidable, Hana became much more than just a friend to Nina.

"Briefly. Although I suspect it was more of a means to distract us from commenting on her own exploits. She tried ever so hard to conceal the young man—"

"Hah! Shiranui is hardly young; he's eleven years older than Uchiha," Nina stated, turning another page.

"Well, they do say men mature later than women, so—"

"Again, you're giving Shiranui too much credit. But he makes Hana happy, so that's that," Nina sighed.

Like Hanako, she didn't give a fuck about their age difference; she just didn't think Genma and mature belonged in the same sentence. While Nina trusted that Uchiha could handle herself against the likes of Shiranui, it didn't stop her from having a quiet word with him.

"Anway, our darling Hana was a wee bit sketchy on the details regarding this so-called kiss, so how about you straighten me out?" Jiraiya asked.

"There's nothing to straighten. There was no birthday kiss involving me. Hatake walked me home and then went and fucked Nood—"—Nina reconsidered the harsh moniker—"Ayame."

"Jealous, my Little Sunflower?" Jiraiya jibed, ducking just in time to narrowly miss the cork coaster she pegged in his direction.

"Gah!" Nina picked up another coaster and sent it hurtling towards the Sage's head, which he avoided by taking a step back from the sink.

~Jiraiya~

"Ayame?" Jiraiya contemplatively tapped his index finger to his chin, "Isn't she Teuchi's daugh—?"

"Yes," Nina snapped, bending over to retrieve the thrown coasters. "Also, Konoha's hospital part-time receptionist."

Ah yes, the lady in the red summer number. She had Kakashi in her sights from the get-go last night.

"What's going on in that brain of yours, old man?" Nina asked, flicking the tea towel and clipping his fingers that were not covered by guards.

Jiraiya scrutinised the red welts that appeared on three fingers of his left hand, between the first and second knuckles. Nina giggled, readying herself into a defensive stance armed with a teatowel and two cork coasters.

He was reminded of a younger, more innocent Nina for a second. Jiraiya missed that version. The one long before the shinobi world swallowed her whole.

Drying his soapy hands, he opted to play along with her kiddish regalement. The more he straightened up, the more his body broadened to tower over her petite frame.

Jiraiya held up his hand with the truly minor inflictions. "Is this the thanks I get for giving you the next instalment before it's even gone to the printers?"

"Yes, because you broke our deal. Remember?" Nina's last word tittered with laughter and sass before breaking into cackles.

Jiraiya herded her into the corner of the kitchen and began tickling her. "Still ticklish, I see," he taunted.

Nina was a puddle of flailing limbs and breathy shrieks. "Okay, okay. I yield," she rasped between knocks and clunks against the kitchen cabinetry.

On her feet, with Jiraiya's assistance, she turned over his hand and released a small amount of chakra to treat the marks she'd left on him earlier.

Once finished, Jiraiya sighed. Their unimpeded joy was at an end.

Again.

"Well,"—patting the back of her hand that held his with his free hand—"I best be off. Be good, my little sunflower." Jiraiya opened his arms as Nina buried herself into his chest, only to poke him in the ribs.

"I'm not the pervert stalking ladies' bathhouses," she teased, swinging the door open for him.

Although he went to ruffle the top of her head, she held a single digit up and tutted him against the action. Jiraiya shrugged and made his way down the staircase.

Tsunade's right. My little sunflower does indeed need a reprieve from the village.


(Konoha's Hokage Office)

~Tsunade~

The calamity occurring on the other side of Tsunade's office doors and before noon could only result from Naruto Uzumaki and…

"I'm sorry, Milady," Shizune relayed, hanging onto the door, vainly trying to keep the intruder out. "He, Master Jiraiya. He just—"

Tsunade observed Jiraiya push past her assistant without a care in the world. "Never mind," she said, laying one file down and picking up another. "You can leave us, please, Shizune."

"Yes, Ma'am," Shizune said, bowing and exiting the room.

The poor girl was next in line to have some respite. Tsunade figured she ought to speak with Ibiki about two ANBU guards for her door one of these days too.

Taking a break from signing off on the medical files Nina had dropped off, Tsunade pulled out a bottle of saké and two cups. "You know, Jiraiya, you can't just keep barging in here whenever you want."

Tch.

It sounded even stupider when she said what she was thinking.

This man can't be told.

"Sure I can," Jiraiya gloated, clinking their cups together. "I'm happy to report the night brought a solution for your conundrum."

My emptier bank account, the village's upcoming mission roster, or…?

"Send Hatake to Amegakure," said Jiraiya, helping himself to a topup.

Kakashi was a prime candidate for S-ranked missions. The biggest problem was prioritising which one he was best suited for above the heaping of others. Tsunade rearranged the paperwork on her desk and reviewed the drafted mission roster. "If I send Hatake, who would be his best…?"

Tsunade's eyes shot to Jiraiya and his all-too-triumphant smile.

No. He can't be suggesting that I…?

"Yes, Tsunade," Jiraiya affirmed, walking over to the window behind her. "I think you should assign Kakashi Hatake and Nina Sarutobi for the mission to Amegakure."

"That's absurd," Tsunade spat, slamming her cup on the table. "It'll never work."

"Hmpf. What a pessimist the Fifth Hokage is," he quipped.

Grabbing the bottle, Tsunade corked it, putting it to the side. The village's coffers needed this mission to be a success. "I'm sorry, I can't stake this mission on one of your crazy ideas, Jiraiya."

~Jiraiya~

The walk here from Nina's had given Jiraiya ample time to contemplate how this conversation may go. Naturally, he expected Tsunade's first response to be an outright refusal. However, he had an ace in the hole.

The heavy-handed Fifth Hokage had a weakness.

He sauntered around the desk and returned to sit on the chair across from Tsunade. "How about we make it a bet?"

~Tsunade~

Similar to a game of tug-o-war, Tsunade couldn't afford to give up a sliver of rope to her opponent. "Hmmm." She tapped her index finger on the rim of her cup. If it were any other country except Amegakure, she'd be tempted to send Ino or Hanako with Hatake on the mission and Nina off to a retreat for a few days.

Why'd it have to be Amegakure?

"Fine, I'll bite," she replied, downing the last of her drink. Eyeing the empty cup, Tsunade knew saké wouldn't cut it; she needed more. "What do you wager?"

Jiraiya leaned in for the bottle and uncorked it using his teeth, filling both of their cups. "If I win, you must officially date me for a month."

Tsunade's lips twitched up at one side.

Cocky bastard.

One of the more tedious sides to mission allocation was the daily occurrence where Leaf shinobi would request specific missions or teammates for any number of reasons. The younger generations were the worst offenders. Their inexperience meant they didn't fully understand the ramifications of a failed mission. Loss of money wasn't the only concern when a mission failed; lives were at risk too.

"If I win, you are here"—Tsunade pointed her finger to her desk, indicating she meant here in Konoha—"for a month to make up for the money, and possibly bodies, that I will lose when the mission fails."

Jiraiya sat back in the chair, rubbing his chin. "I do believe that coincides with the Fireworks Festival in Amegakure. Feel like meeting up in the village to see the mission's outcome?"

Leaving the village unattended wasn't going to be easy, but something told her she needed to keep an eye on the fool. "I'll work something out," Tsunade replied.

As if sensing her distrust, Jiraiya held his cup up mid-air awaiting hers, "Getting cold feet already?"

"Not likely," Tsunade scoffed, chinking their cups to seal the bet. "Here." She passed him the map outlining the location of the village. "I'll see you there Friday week."

"Ah yes, I know the one," Jiraiya said dolefully.

Tsunade noted how his brow furrowed.

Amegakure.

They'd spent a long time there during the Third Great Ninja War. Hanzō had bestowed them—her, Jiraiya and Orochimaru—with the title of the Three Legendary Sannin.

Jiraiya cleared his throat, bringing Tsunade to attention. "I look forward to our dates," he said, and then he was gone from her office.

"Shizune, send notice to Kakashi Hatake and Nina Sarutobi to report to my office tomorrow morning, together, please?" Tsunade ordered without looking up while she put away the two cups and half-full bottle of saké.

Dammit.

Tsunade had forgotten Shizune was back at the clinic.

Never mind, I'll use a messenger bird.

She quickly scrawled a note for Nina outlining her request.

Watching as the bird flew off into the village, Tsunade quietly laughed at herself. She'd never won a bet against Jiraiya. Yet, she was somewhat confident about her chances this time. She patted the beginnings of a stash of well-paying missions destined for the stupid fool.