AN: Chapter title: Peers.
She needed air. Air that didn't reek of cheap cologne, of sweat. Of alcohol. As much as she wanted to remain by Tsunade's side, the smell of this latest gambling hole was getting to her. She had already been at the table with her for hours, had been with her as her master went on a hot streak that helped supply her with more and more alcohol courtesy of the house bar.
'At least no one recognizes us.' Their latest disguises had been the work of a night. Her master's recognizable blonde hair had turned a dark brown. Of course, no one noticed her hair color with her substantial chest nearly on full display from her new low-cut blouse. A new, and expensive, purchase from the earnings from another hot streak in the last town.
"I'll be back." Her master hardly noticed her departure.
It was hard for most to read but she was desperate to lose.
She bet all her winnings on her latest hand, threw down something with low odds of coming out on top. From the groans that went around the table as she walked out the door, the cheers from the trio of women bringing a fresh round of drinks over, she had won. Again.
Her latest bout of good luck seemed set to continue.
"At the rate she's winning, they'll at least give us one of their nicer rooms." Just like the last few gambling spots.
Shizune was worried for her master, didn't know what to do. She was still rushing them around, refused to leave if they weren't in disguises. Actual disguises. Half of her face was caked in makeup, her hair had been dyed a bright blonde, and her clothing similar to Tsunade's own to convey the message of the two being here for a fun time, traveling around the many gambling spots before heading to the big festival at Tanzaku Quarters.
'I hope she isn't as bad tonight as she's been…' Perhaps it was the pressure of this unknown hunter but Tsunade wasn't her normal self any longer. And her drinking had turned excessive, was bringing out a side of her she normally kept private, saved for her days of heaviest indulgence. It was a side Shizune didn't like seeing from her master. She was careful when she dabbed at her eyes, didn't ruin the makeup her master had spent so much time on.
Everything Tsunade said during those times weren't words she meant.
The stress. Whatever she was feeling, it was something she usually kept pushed down. But on nights when her luck was so good, when she drank too much, the things she said…
She didn't mean it.
She didn't mean it.
The gray hair in front of her was familiar. He didn't even bother disguising it. He didn't see the need to.
She didn't draw any of the weapons on her person into her hand.
She didn't need to.
"Yakushi."
"Kato."
"What are you doing here?"
"I was in the area and wanted to see my fellow apprentice." The man's smile was hollow. In a way, it was his own form of honesty. There was no angle he was playing, there was nothing he was after.
She couldn't afford a fight, couldn't risk it with whatever unknown pursuer was after her and her master. She didn't nod or point, simply headed off to a more secluded space. If Yakushi followed, they could talk. If he didn't, she would return to Tsunade and tell her it was time to leave.
From the sounds of footsteps behind her, he was following her.
Her new heels made it only slightly harder to ascend the wall, settle on the rooftop.
Yakushi was next to her in a moment.
"What do you want?" She wouldn't waste either of their time.
"Nothing. I wasn't lying when I said I was in the area." He didn't need to say where he was going.
These meetings with Kabuto Yakushi, they were hard to place for Shizune. He was working for Orochimaru, a criminal, an enemy of Konohagakure but…her situation with Tsunade was complex. If the Hokage ever changed his mind, if he stepped down and his successor had different opinions, her master could be branded a criminal just like he had.
And he was one of her few peers. He was cruel, sadistic even, but he was a welcome reprieve from drunk gamblers and relentless debt collectors. As twisted as his work was, as obsessed as his master was with his own cruelty, she had found herself craving someone beside her own master to speak with.
Even if it was Yakushi. He was preferable to nothing.
She had decided to do her best to remain neutral. Avoid learning too much from him, remain able to deny knowing anything if someone ever asked her. As flimsy as it was, the excuse allowed her to have these meetings.
"There's nothing to see here." Shizune had been in enough gambling towns to know this one was just like all the others, maybe slightly better. Better games, less thugs openly wandering the streets, and it was safe enough you didn't need to be armed to play the games and be able to walk away with your winnings.
"True." Yakushi spoke with that same hollow smile on his face. When they had first met, she thought he was taunting her, mocking her with it. Now, after so many years, she had grown used to it. "Tanzaku Quarters won't be filled with tourists for at least another week. I take it she still intends to head there?"
"…Yes." It was pointless to lie. Her master had made a habit of visiting Tanzaku Quarters at the same time every year for as long as they had traveled together. She didn't need to ask the reason why.
A part of her couldn't break from the tradition either.
"She's painfully predictable around this time of year." It wasn't an insult. Yakushi simply spoke a fact. And he was right. For the rest of the year, Tsunade was nearly impossible to find unless one had skills comparable to her own. This time of the year was an exception. If you knew her habits, you could find her.
Luckily, few of her debtors did. And the few who did know about her visit knew better than to try and collect at such a time.
"Your talents are wasted with her." Yakushi made his opinion of Tsunade known with that. He spared a glance to the building she had found the need to step out of. "I would offer you a position at one of our labs but I know your bleeding heart would never allow you to accept."
"Because what you do there is nothing short of monstrous." Before, when he had first offered such a thing, Shizune had all but snarled her words. Now, after so many years, so many repeated offers, they were merely stated as fact. Akin to commenting on the weather, if a day was particularly hot, if it was extraordinary cold. "I've seen enough results of your 'work'."
"You know that wasn't my work. Standards slipped rather far during our absence from that base. Rest assured, the ones responsible for such shoddy work were…reassigned. They were put to better use in their new positions."
"You mean as experiments." Shizune's words only earned that same empty smile from Yakushi, Orochimaru's apprentice not showing if he was pleased or not at whatever their fates had become. A macabre part of her was curious, wanted to know what had happened to the man that had almost required her master to tap into her Yin Seal to defeat, what had happened to the handful of Shinobi who had arrived to retrieve his beaten form.
'It was one of his Cursed Seal experiments.' A part of her still wasn't sure, the abilities too varied, too adaptive, to be one of Orochimaru's Cursed Seals. They were powerful but inflexible, didn't normally cause the madness at the second stage she and her master had observed from the transformed man when he had attacked.
"Who was that man?" She lost nothing by asking the Shinobi in front of her. Yakushi's smile changed. Enough for Shizune to know she had, unintentionally, struck a nerve.
"One of our willing research participants. I assure you, Jugo is usually much more well behaved. He's simply going through a trying time at the moment. His close friend is ill." Yakushi would say no more.
Shizune mentally filed the name away. 'He's been around long enough for Yakushi to learn his name. He must be special.'
"While I enjoy our talks, I am on a mission at the moment. We'll have to catch up another time." Yakushi was more upset than she thought if he was choosing to leave. His smile was empty again as he turned to face her. "If I have the chance, I'll stop by Tanzaku Quarters and we can share a drink while we chat."
"If we run into each other there." She turned away from him. She could claim not to know where he went.
Even if there was only one place of interest for Kabuto Yakushi in the Land of Fire.
She could deny knowing where he was going, what he intended to do.
She was left alone on the rooftop.
And, judging by her master's current run of luck, she would remain alone for a few hours more.
For a moment, she closed her eyes. The sounds around her grew dim, the constant lights gone. Even the stench of the town was easier to manage.
This far up from the street, the countless voices were akin to white noise.
Up here, she was far away from it all.
Alone with the darkness, embraced by the unbroken wind.
As cold as it was, it was an embrace nonetheless.
Would it hold her if she fell or would she slip through its fingers?
AN: 1/5 chapters for this update.