Chapter Text

prologue

The autumn weather had been so pleasantly crisp that morning. Tsunade was taking tea alone outside in one of the decorative gardens near the Hokage Tower when her Anbu captain materialized directly in front of her, leaned in, and informed her that Uchiha Sasuke stood several inches from the border of Fire Country. Tsunade confirmed the name, and there was a brief pause during which Tsunade shut her eyes. Then she leapt up.

It was the northern border with Whirlpool where the air was rich with pine and a calm stream demarcated the land. And it was true. On the final plank of a little, red bridge, his pale face flushed under the sun, there was Sasuke.

Whatever else she may have thought was overridden by diplomatic sense: capture the criminal, cuff him, and put him into underground confinement before his chakra was detected by those closest to him. She interrogated him on the same day. Then she sent Shikamaru, and waited.

Deep in the musty halls of the prison, Shikamaru was last of a line of Anbu guards to exit the final security checkpoint. Flickering firelight gouged the lines deeper under his eyes, though his expression, as always, was carefully neutral.

Tsunade said, “Do I need to go in there again?”

“I don’t think so,” said Shikamaru.

“So he disgorged to you everything I need to know to avoid an execution?”

Distantly, another door closed: the Anbu guards leaving. The torches crackled with fire.

“He didn’t really say much,” said Shikamaru.

“I see.”

“He said he wants to come back.”

“And?”

“He said—”

“Oh, no,” Tsunade said with a breath of amusement. “He got to you.”

Shikamaru lowered his gaze. “It’s just a suggestion, but if you really want something else out of him, perhaps Ibiki-sensei is worth a shot.”

“I sent you in there because the information I want won’t come through anyone else. Now, you’re not a cherry-cheeked genin straight from the academy. I expected it would be you to make Sasuke swoon, or at the very least his patience would come up short against yours. But this is so unlike you. What on earth did he tell you?”

Shikamaru bore the scolding professionally. With a straightening of his shoulders, he seemed to recover from whatever sentiment had possessed him. “He said there was no particular reason for coming back when he did, but that he was getting hungry, and tired of walking, and he heard someone speaking with a Konoha accent, and since the border was so close, he just… decided it was time.”

“That’s what persuaded you.”

“There were other things.” Under the influence of a bewildered stare, Shikamaru continued. “It’s hard to explain.”

Tsunade passed a hand over her forehead. For a few moments, she stood motionless, staring at the stone walls.

Shikamaru said, “He was calm, but…”

“Fidgety?”

“I was going to say honest.”

“No,” said Tsunade, with force. “What you saw was a well-rehearsed piece of exquisite acting.”

“I’m not sure. But there were times when I saw his eyes clear, like he had suddenly became aware of his surroundings, and then he just shut down completely. I’ve never known him to do that. I feel like he might not know what he’s doing either, or he’s made a tough choice he doesn’t know if he can follow through with.”

Tsunade stared at Shikamaru, at his smooth face as yet unmarred by age or experience. She had known there would be a danger in doing this with someone so young. “What were you talking about?”

“At the time I’m thinking of?” Shikamaru looked away. “Naruto.”

“And who brought up Naruto?”

“I did,” said Shikamaru, steadily.

“I see.”

“I told him how Naruto was and what he was doing. He asked where Naruto was. I told him he was out on a mission somewhere.”

“And that’s what caused him to wallow in thought?” Tsunade laughed. “It was an act! Do you really think he didn’t plan this whole thing out? Sasuke is no fool. It doesn’t take much to clasp your hands together, stare into space, and spear half a dozen of the most carefully chosen words at the heart.”

“I guess I just got a different impression of him.”

“You guess.”

“I just…” Shikarmaru frowned.

“I avoided mentioning you-know-who with the blonde hair and blue eyes on purpose. I wanted to see if he would broach the topic first. He didn’t. And I could see him getting irritated when he realised none of his needling little tricks were going to work. Makes you wonder if his act hinged on a name that’s so often associated with benevolence.”

Shikamaru stared at the ground in silence.

“Come on.” Tsunade’s shoes clacked out a staccato rhythm on the stone. “We’ve used up more time on this than I have to use. The council needs an answer. Well, I need to tell the council first, and then I need to give them an answer.”

Exiting the facility, the sun blazed high in the full blue sky. Closing the door, Tsunade crouched and flicked her fingers through signs. A slippery black seal burst across the metal like barbed spider legs, the force of it sending birds screeching from the trees as her robe billowed out behind her.

“What if he’s telling the truth?” said Shikamaru.

Tsunade stood. “He may well have been hungry, and tired, and overheard a Konoha accent. But it’s only one tiny sliver of the real truth he keeps locked behind his pearly-white teeth.”

“Taka checks out.”

“Of course Taka checks out. Taka at the very least needed to check out.”

“I think,” said Shikamaru, carefully, “he’s telling the truth.”

Tsunade regarded Shikamaru for a long moment. The wind turned his ponytail to feathers, his head politely bowed. “The only thing stopping Uchiha Sasuke’s return from blowing up into an S-rank ordeal is his mouth and he knows it. I want to believe him too. But he’s not talking to us. He’s talking to the people we can talk to.”

“He did come back on his own,” said Shikamaru. “Voluntarily.”

“There were Anbu guards all along the border. He just had the spine to put a foot back into Fire Country.”

“As peacefully as anyone could ask. Unarmed. He didn’t resist.”

Tsunade's sigh contained the full weight of her position. “There’s something else. I know there is. And I need to get it out of him, but I don’t know how.”

“He was never one to trust authority.”

“There are other means.”

Tsunade saw the slight shift in Shikamaru’s expression. Not anywhere near as much as others, as was his reticent nature, but enough for her to read his alarm.

Tsuande said, “It’s not as simple as walking back into a country you have threatened to destroy and just… carrying on with life.”

“Do you mind if I ask what you plan to do?”

“Call Naruto back from his mission, first of all. Then I’m going to spend the rest of the morning locked up in the Hokage Tower, and when I’ve sobered up,” said Tsunade, “I’m going to talk to him. One last time. And then I’m going to have to bend the law so that I don’t have two deaths on my hands. Or more.”

Shikamaru closed his eyes in relief. Tsunade flinched at a prick to her chest the likes of which she had not felt with Sasuke. So that was what Shikamaru feared, though she held back from trusting his reaction. He was still green, and hardly impartial, and only minutes distanced him from everything he had heard and seen. She distrusted her own reaction to Shikamaru, too, which had come to her through Sasuke.

“Damn that Uchiha spawn,” she muttered. Shikamaru looked at her quizzically.

They began along the path back to Konoha, freckled by moving shapes of sunshine and shadow. Above, the tree leaves hissed. Tsunade looked up at a wall of dark clouds laden with rain, just starting to push in from the east.

“I mean no disrespect saying this,” said Shikamaru, “but I think you’ve made the right decision.”

“I haven’t made any decision yet.”

Shikamaru nodded, walking quietly at her side.

“Well, we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we,” said Tsunade, “because this could be my legacy.”

Main Characters:

Minor Characters:

(images may be down when I need to update the image host)

Naruto icon – goosygirl_icons @ LJ
Sasuke icon – sometime_usagi @ LJ
Sakura icon – xiicons @ LJ
Sai icon – tenicons @ LJ
Tsunade icon – lunargullicons @ LJ
Kakashi icon – stacylilly @ LJ