Kushina and Tsunade were left staring at each other, the air thick with extreme awkwardness and an indescribable sense of absurdity.
The person they'd been arguing over had fallen asleep. What were the two of them even still arguing about?
And that guy had actually said something like that!
They looked at Uchiha Ling, sleeping sprawled out without a shred of decorum, then at each other. For a moment, neither knew what to do.
In the end, Tsunade was the one who took several deep breaths, barely suppressing the turmoil inside her and regaining some of her composure.
"F-first... let's get him into bed. We can't just leave him sleeping here." Tsunade's voice was a little hoarse.
Kushina silently nodded.
The two women worked together, struggling to help the dead-drunk Uchiha Ling into the bedroom and onto the bed. As they looked at the culprit sprawled across the middle of the large bed, they fell into another awkward silence.
Should they leave? They didn't feel entirely comfortable doing so, and it would make it seem as if one of them had lost something. Stay? Surely they weren't really going to...
Just as they reached an impasse, perhaps because the alcohol was hitting her again, or perhaps because she was exhausted from all the commotion, Kushina yawned and rubbed her eyes. Her eyelids were growing heavy, too.
She looked at Ling, then at Tsunade, standing by the bed with a complicated expression. A reckless, what-the-hell attitude welled up inside her.
"I... I'm tired too," she said softly. Then, as if in a fit of pique, she took off her outer clothes, climbed onto the inside of the bed, and lay down beside Uchiha Ling with her back to the others, staking her "claim" through sheer action.
Tsunade watched her, standing rooted