-Aagh, so did Tsunade actually confess her feelings to me or not?! I need to know! Now, now, now!
-Damn it, why won't Jiraiya look my way?! I'm so mad, mad, mad!
The two of them, secretly in love with each other but kept apart more often than not for all sorts of reasons, raced headlong down their own trains of thought.
They walked side by side in perfect sync, missing the love in each other's eyes.
They agonized, hesitated, then sank into a slightly awkward silence.
Their budding affection ripened within the little hospital room, but with their minds working in utterly different ways, neither could find a topic to break the silence.
Sunlight streamed unhurriedly through the window, falling across Jiraiya's slightly dazed face and bathing it in a soft glow.
Tsunade stared at his absentminded profile, her hands clenched and her feelings tangled.
She had seen scenes like this far too often.
Whenever training wore him out, Jiraiya would stare into space like this, letting the faint light fall across his face, his lowered lashes hiding the dimness in his eyes.
Sometimes it was sunlight, sometimes moonlight, sometimes lamplight, sometimes... lightning.
On the night the Jashin Cult attacked, lightning flashed, thunder roared, and wind lashed through the rain.
A dazzling flash of lightning illuminated Jiraiya's pale, bloodless face.
Tsunade stood amid the blood covering the floor, her body ice-cold.
Turn the hourglass over, and wind time back to that night of torrential rain.
Tsunade had sealed away the ninja who had been bitten, only for Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others arriving to help to witness the violent nature she had hidden so well. She plunged into utter mortification.
*Teacher Hiruzen, why didn't you knock?! The ladylike image I worked so hard to build! It all went