Musings

NOTE: I don't own the anime/manga Naruto either!!!  Feel free to ask questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
SPOILERIFIC!!!
Title: Seal Shatter
Time-line: AU, Naruto: Chuunin Exams
Genre: General/Drama
Rating: PG/PG-13

Seal Shatter – Chapter 33: Gossip and the Ring

            “So, you’re going to stay?”

            Tsunade peered up from the medical text she was studying and frowned at her white-haired former teammate.

            “Yeah, so?”

            “Wonderful!” he beamed.

            She rolled her eyes.  “You’re just glad that you might get another chance to try and peep on me.”

            “Tsunade-hime!” he gasped.  “I would never do such a thing to you!”

            She glared at him.

            “…Okay, I would.” he muttered.  “But, really, it is wonderful that you’re going to stay.  What convinced you?”

            “A lot of things,” she replied.  “I’m tired of running from creditors, it’s not fair to Shizune to keep avoiding this place, I ought to do something productive with my life…a lot of things.”

            He nodded and glanced curiously at her book.  “What are you studying for?”

            “I may have an idea for how to heal that student of Maito Gai’s,” she muttered, dropping her eyes to the words again.  “Even if I’m right, though, it’ll be risky—especially considering how long it’s been since the original injury.”

            “Well,” Jiraiya laughed.  “If anyone can help that kid, it’s you!”  He turned and walked out of the small office in the hospital that she’d taken over.  “It’s good to have you back, Tsunade.”

            She shook her head…but smiled just a little bit.

***

            Kushina sighed as she settled down at the low table in Uchiha Mikoto’s tea room.  The Uchiha matriarch was busy in her home’s kitchen, brewing up tea and putting together a tray of rice cakes, crackers, and some flavor of spread.  It was Friday afternoon, which meant it was tea time.

            The first time she’d been invited over, Kushina had never suspected that she would ever return to the heart of the Uchiha clan’s realm, especially after she’d been less than talkative.  But for some funny reason Mikoto kept asking her back.  And now it was just about a tradition.

            It was downright bizarre.  Kushina had never really had any female friends.  She could get along with other women, but she never sought their company, preferring to socialize with men.  Being a tomboy, she understood men much better than women, and felt more comfortable around them.

            “Hey, Mikoto-san,” Kushina waved as her host brought in the tea.  “How was your week?”

            “It was good,” the dark-haired woman replied quietly as she poured the tea.  “How was yours?”

            “Decent,” the Uzumaki remarked and sipped at her tea.  “One of Hokage-sama’s old classmates showed up at the Tower and made a pest of herself recently.”  She snorted.  “Normally his admirers never make it past the ground floor, but this lady was something else.”  Stuck up bitch…

            “I’m sorry to hear that,” Mikoto murmured, staring into her teacup.  “Did it…have anything to do with the rumors going around?” she asked hesitantly.

            “Probably,” Kushina shrugged and crunched into a rice cake.  “I haven’t heard anything firsthand yet.  The woman was only interested in speaking with Hokage-sama.  She brushed me off as a worthless servant.”

            Mikoto fingered a cracker.  “The current batch of rumors have rather vilified you.”

            “That’s nothing new,” Kushina sighed.

            Public opinion had been thoroughly against her for volunteering Naruto for the sealing, and for protecting, raising, and loving him afterwards.  It had tapered off some when Naruto went to the Academy and the village saw him separate from her—they seemed to forget that she existed half the time then.  But now that Minato had warned her that their relationship and Naruto’s paternity was circulating through the rumor mills, she was sure that the hatred and disgust towards her was flaring up again.

            The Uchiha woman found an invisible spot on the back of her own hand to be strangely fascinating.  “I…I know this is none of my business, but…were you and Hokage-sama ever…involved with each other?”

            “Yeah,” Kushina nodded after a moment’s thought.

            “Things are different now than there were back then,” Minato had said to her when he’d filled her in on the rumor that crazy Chihiro had brought in with her.  “I don’t want to hide things anymore.  If I did, people might start to think that I’m ashamed of being with you, ashamed of Naruto, and I’m not.  I know I should’ve talked this out with you first and probably found a more controlled way to let things be known…but it was really fun to rattle Inoichi like that.”

            “Yeah, we saw each other back then,” she elaborated.  “We kept it quiet because he didn’t his sensei to give him crap about it.”

            Mikoto almost spilled her tea instead of sipping it.  “And all these years…you never said anything?”

            “Naruto had enough enemies on his own,” Kushina answered.  “Why add all of his father’s on top of that?”

            “Oh.”  The Uchiha woman anxiously traced a nonsense pattern on her napkin with her fingernail.  “I see…”

            Raising an eyebrow at her host’s strangely withdrawn behavior, Kushina plowed on ahead with several amusing but unimportant stories of office antics.  She never said anything that was supposed to remain secret.  She was a professional, after all.  But after a little while, she wound down and focused more on devouring the rice cakes than relating how the flighty idiot in the forgery department had a fit after her latest work got coffee spilled all over it.

            Mikoto bit her lip before speaking up again.  “Kushina-sama—”

            “Eh?” Kushina snorted.  “None of that ‘-sama’ now.  The only people who call me ‘Kushina-sama’ are wimpy office ninjas when I’m yelling at them.  If anything, I should be calling you ‘-sama’.  You’re the head of a whole clan!  I’m just one little kunoichi.”

            The Uchiha woman looked as if she was going to argue, but instead settled for continuing what she’d started to say.  “Do think you and Hokage-sama will marry?”

            Kushina almost choked on her tea.  “Huh?” she blinked.  “Why would we?  It’s been so long…why would we bother now?”

            Ideally, people married before they had kids.  If that didn’t happen, they married before the baby was born, or shortly afterwards—when the kid was still young.  But when the child got to be around Naruto’s age, why bother going through the complication of marrying?

            “…Do you want to marry him?”

            “I don’t know,” Kushina grimaced.  “I’ve never really thought about it.”

            Mikoto blinked.  “You never thought about it?  Ever?”

            Kushina shook her head.  Long ago, in the beginning, she had been sure that Minato’s interest was purely born of curiosity and lust (that was certainly what she felt towards him, then) and she was determined to enjoy it until it blew over.  But even when it didn’t blow over and he burrowed deeper and deeper under her skin and feelings deepened, the idea of marrying him really didn’t enter her mind.  She was a tomboy; she never fantasized about the man she would marry or the kind of wedding they would have.

            “I guess…If he asked me…I’d say yes,” Kushina said, toying with her teacup.  “But I don’t see why he’d bother after so long…  Things are fine the way that they are now.”

            “Alright,” Mikoto replied dubiously.  “If you’re sure…”

            “I am,” the red-head nodded.  I don’t need him to marry me; I know that he loves me, and that’s enough.  She glanced at the wall clock and sighed at the time.  “I need to be getting back.  Thanks for the tea and stuff.”

            “You’re welcome,” the Uchiha woman replied and led her to the front door, like always.  However, before Kushina could exit and be on her way, Mikoto caught her wrist to stop her.  “Thank you for the note last week.”

            “No problem,” Kushina shrugged, rather baffled.

            Mikoto looked into her eyes with a strange mixture of anguish and gratitude on her face.  “Thank you…for everything.”

            “You’re welcome?” the Uzumaki replied uncertainly.

            “If you ever need anything…”

            “Sure,” Kushina nodded and pulled her wrist free.  “I’ll see you later.”

            Mikoto nodded and withdrew into her home, leaving Kushina to return to the Tower, utterly bewildered.

            What the hell was that all about?