Thunder and Black Wings

Chapter 5:

– Blake –

Shizune clearly noticed that something had happened between Tsunade and me the second we walked into the hotel. Especially since Tsunade was holding my hand, her fingers loosely entwined with mine. Shizune gave us both a look, her eyes darting between the two of us, but she didn't say anything at first.

Tsunade, of course, wasn't going to let the silence last. "Better step up, Shizune," she teased, her smirk as wide as ever. "You're going to fall behind if you don't."

Shizune's face turned pink immediately. "Lady Tsunade!" she squeaked, clearly flustered. She looked at me, then quickly looked away, muttering something under her breath that I didn't catch.

Tsunade just laughed and patted her on the shoulder. "Relax. I'm just teasing. How about we all go out to dinner? My treat," she added. Before Shizune could respond, Tsunade headed toward the bathroom. "I'm going to get changed. You two behave while I'm gone," she called over her shoulder before disappearing into the other room.

That left me alone with Shizune. The awkwardness was immediate.

She busied herself with tidying up the already clean room, her hands fidgeting with anything they could find. Finally, she glanced at me. "So… uh… did you two have a nice walk?"

"Yeah," I said, trying to sound casual. "It was nice. The town's got a lot of charm."

Shizune nodded but didn't look at me. After a moment, she blurted out, "You were holding hands."

I scratched the back of my neck, feeling the heat rise in my face. "Uh… yeah. That just kind of happened."

Her hands froze mid-motion, and she finally turned to look at me, her cheeks still pink. "Did… did anything else happen?"

I wasn't sure how to answer that. "Well, uh, maybe a little? I mean… yeah."

Shizune stared at me for a second before sighing and shaking her head. "I knew it. Lady Tsunade always gets what she wants." She said it like she was scolding herself more than me.

"It's not like that," I said quickly. "I mean, it just kind of happened. I wasn't expecting it, and—"

Before I could finish, Shizune leaned in quickly, cutting me off by pressing her lips to mine! For a moment, I was too stunned to react, but then my instincts took over. My hands found their way to her waist, and I pulled her body closer, feeling the warmth of her against me as I started kissing her back.

Her lips were soft, and the kiss deepened naturally. Our tongues danced together, the moment growing more intense with each passing second. I hadn't expected to be making out with two beautiful women in one day, but something about this felt right—like it was meant to happen. We stayed like that for a while, lost in each other, until Shizune finally pulled back, her cheeks flushed and her breathing slightly uneven. She looked up at me, her eyes searching mine as if trying to gauge how I felt.

"Sorry," she murmured, though her tone didn't sound apologetic at all.

I shook my head, my hands still resting lightly on her hips. "Don't be. I… I'm not complaining."

Her lips curved into a small smile, and for a moment, neither of us moved. The sound of the bathroom door opening broke the moment, and we quickly stepped apart as Tsunade reappeared, looking every bit as stunning as ever. She was now wearing an elegant kimono that made her amazing figure stand out even more. Especially since the top of her kimono was loose exposing a fair amount of cleavage.

"Well, well," Tsunade said, her eyes flicking between the two of us with an amused smirk. "Looks like you two didn't waste any time."

Shizune's face turned bright red, and she stammered something incomprehensible. "We–I mean–It was–hmph!"

Tsunade laughed, clearly enjoying the situation as she grabbed her bag. "Come on, you two," she said, still grinning. "Let's go."

…

We ended up at the town's main restaurant, seated in a private round booth tucked away in the back. It was cozy, with enough room for three people, though Tsunade and Shizune didn't seem interested in giving me any space. They were pressed up against me on either side, Shizune still looking a bit nervous while Tsunade was more bold. She was a lot more handsy, occasionally letting her hand rub over my thigh, making it hard to focus on anything else.

The waiter had taken our order a while ago, and now we were waiting for our food. Tsunade had ordered a bottle of sake for the table, and she poured each of us a small cup. 

I hesitated when she handed mine over.

"You've never had alcohol before, have you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Shizune's head snapped toward me. "Really? Not even once?"

I shook my head, feeling a little self-conscious. "No. It's just not something I ever got around to trying."

Tsunade grinned. "Well, tonight's as good a time as any. Come on, have a drink!"

I glanced at the small cup in my hand, then at the two women watching me expectantly. "Alright," I said, lifting it to my lips. The sake burned a little going down, but it wasn't unpleasant.

Tsunade laughed when I made a face. "Not bad for your first time. You'll get used to it."

Shizune sipped hers more carefully, still glancing at me every so often like she wasn't quite sure how to act. Meanwhile, Tsunade was already pouring herself another cup, clearly in her element.

"This is nice," Tsunade said, leaning back against the booth. "Good food, good company, and now we get to see how you handle your first night drinking!"

I chuckled nervously, not sure what I'd gotten myself into.

…An hour later, I was on my knees in the hotel bathroom, gripping the sides of the toilet bowl like my life depended on it. My stomach churned violently as I dry-heaved, my throat burning from the sake I'd been so confident about earlier.

Shizune was kneeling next to me, one hand gently rubbing my back. "We're going to have to build up your tolerance a bit, Blake," she said, trying to comfort me. Her voice was soft, but I could hear the hint of amusement in it.

From the other room, I could hear Tsunade laughing loudly, clearly enjoying my misery. "First-timers are always the funniest!" she called out, her voice carrying easily through the walls.

In between dry heaving, I made a solemn promise to myself. From now on, I was going to stop at one drink. Just one! Getting drunk sucked!

– Tsunade –

Blake was sound asleep in one of the rooms, the faint sound of his breathing barely audible through the door. Tsunade sat on the couch in the main room with Shizune, the two of them sharing a bottle of sake that was already halfway empty. 

Tsunade swirled her glass lazily, leaning back into the cushions with a sigh. "I probably shouldn't have let him drink so much," she admitted, a bit guilty. "It was his first time drinking, and I went and got him plastered."

Shizune glanced at her, raising an eyebrow as she poured herself another glass. "You think?" she said, though her voice was more teasing than critical. "It was pretty obvious after the second cup he wasn't going to handle it well."

Tsunade winced slightly and took another sip of her drink. "Yeah, yeah, rub it in. I'll make sure he takes it slow next time. Build up his tolerance gradually or something."

Shizune set her glass down and looked at Tsunade thoughtfully. "Lady Tsunade," she began hesitantly, her hands fidgeting with the hem of her skirt. "Can we talk about… Blake? And, um, what's going on between the three of us?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly as she leaned forward. "Oh? The 'three of us,' huh? Sounds like you've been thinking about this a lot."

Shizune flushed but didn't back down. "I just think it's better to talk about it now, while it's still… new. Otherwise, things might get more complicated later."

Tsunade nodded slowly, her smirk fading into something more serious. "Alright. Let's get the awkward conversation out of the way, then. Go on."

Shizune hesitated for a moment, taking a sip of her sake before speaking. "I guess I just want to make sure we're on the same page. About Blake, I mean. I care about him, but I don't want things to get weird between us—between you and me."

Tsunade chuckled softly, reaching out to ruffle Shizune's hair like she was still the same shy apprentice she'd taken under her wing years ago. "Shizune, I've known you for how long now? You think something like this is going to mess that up? Please."

Shizune swatted her hand away, but she smiled despite herself. "I'm serious, Lady Tsunade."

"I know, I know." Tsunade leaned back again, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"Do you think this could really work? The three of us?"

Tsunade glanced at her, her expression softening. "I think it could. If we're honest with each other, and we don't let stupid stuff get in the way. It's not exactly conventional, but who cares about that? As long as we're happy, that's what matters."

Shizune nodded, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Yeah. You're right."

Tsunade grinned and added, "I've always seen you as my family, Shizune. So what better person to share a man with?"

Shizune's face turned beet red as she covered it with both hands. "That… that's the worst thing you could have said! That just makes it even weirder!"

Tsunade burst out laughing. She reached over and wrapped an arm around Shizune, pulling her closer on the couch. "Relax. You'll get used to it."

Shizune let out a muffled groan but didn't pull away. Instead, the two of them stayed like that, leaning against each other as the night went on. The sake bottle slowly emptied, and the conversation drifted to lighter topics until both women eventually passed out.

…The next morning, Tsunade woke up first. Her head ached slightly, a dull reminder of the night before, and she started passively healing herself. She stretched, rolled her shoulders, and took a moment to glance at Shizune, who was still slumped on the couch, snoring softly. Smiling to herself, Tsunade stood and began tidying up the room, making sure everything was packed away properly before they had to skip town.

It wasn't like her to take on the responsible role—she usually left that to Shizune—but something about the past few days had stirred something in her. She wanted to start being better, to snap herself out of the funk and depression that had followed her for so long. Who would have thought all it would take was a hot younger man swooping into her life?

As she folded the last of the blankets and set the sake glasses aside, she glanced toward Blake's room. She decided to head inside and wake him up, using her medical jutsu to cure his hangover while she was at it.

Blake stirred as her glowing green hand rested gently on his forehead. "Ugh… actually, I don't feel that bad," he mumbled groggily as his eyes fluttered open.

Tsunade giggled softly. "There are perks to having the best medic in the world as your girlfriend," she teased.

The blush that spread across his cheeks was adorable, and Tsunade felt her own cheeks warm slightly as well. It was a bit embarrassing to be considered someone's girlfriend at her age, but if everyone was happy about it, then screw what anyone else thought!

"You should get up and get ready," she said, her voice a bit softer now. "We've got to get moving soon."

Blake nodded sleepily, a small smile forming on his face as he sat up. "Thanks, Tsunade."

She gave him one last grin before standing and heading back out of the room, feeling lighter than she had in years.

– Blake –

We were back on the road again, and I couldn't help but start singing the classic, "On the Road Again." My voice was nowhere near professional, but it wasn't terrible either. I belted out the lyrics as Tsunade and Shizune walked beside me down the dirt path toward the next town.

Tsunade chuckled, clearly amused. "This song's catchy. Is this what music's like in your world?"

Shizune sighed. "Is every song from your world this annoying?" the pink pig she was holding in her arms nodded along with her. Yeah, I found out that little Tonton was a lot smarter than I gave him credit for–or was Tonton a girl pig? Meh, who cared…

I shrugged at Shizune. "Not really. This one's more of a meme at this point. People love it for the nostalgia and irony."

"Meme?" Shizune echoed, raising an eyebrow. "What's a meme?"

"Oh boy," I muttered. "How do I explain this...?"

"...Your world is weird," Shizune told me, her face scrunched up. Tsunade snorted beside her, clearly more amused than confused.

"I mean, yeah..."

Trying to explain memes without actually having them in front of me was hard. And I was never big into them anyway, since I'd never had my own smartphone to begin with. Not that this world even had cell towers or the internet in general. I was honestly surprised they even had electricity given the fact that all the roads were still paved with nothing but dirt. 

I asked Tsunade and Shizune about that and they claimed that even their old village, the Hidden Leaf, the second wealthiest village in the Land of Fire still had only dirt roads. 

"So, what's the next town like?" I asked, glancing over at Tsunade.

She shrugged. "It's a bit larger than the last one. More things to do, better food, and definitely better inns. You might even find something resembling entertainment if you're lucky."

"Entertainment, huh?" I grinned. "You mean a casino, right?"

"Of course," she replied, but said she wasn't going to be going to those as often anymore. "And maybe a bar or two where you won't puke your guts out after one drink."

I was about to ask more when I noticed both Tsunade and Shizune stiffen slightly.

"What's up?" I asked, my voice dropping.

Neither of them answered. They just kept walking, their eyes scanning the surroundings like hawks.

I frowned, feeling a twinge of unease as I carefully stepped around a puddle in the middle of the road. It was shallow, barely an inch deep, but I wasn't about to soak my new sandals in muddy water if I could help it.

Right as I stepped around it, Tsunade suddenly growled! An actual growl. She spun around so fast it made my head spin, her fist glowing with blue chakra as she slammed it down on the puddle with enough force to make the entire road tremble.

"What the fuck!" I yelped, jumping back as a shockwave sent mud and debris flying.

For a second, I thought she'd lost it and decided to take her frustrations out on the road. But then, out of the puddle—the fucking inch-deep puddle—two ninjas went flying, landing in the dirt and wheezing in pain from the shockwaves.

"How in the fuck did that work!?" I asked, staring at the two bodies sprawled out on the road. "That defies all laws of physics! There was nowhere near enough water to hide them all!"

"Focus, Blake," Shizune said sharply.

Right... Ninja magic bullshit. I'd have to get used to it all.

Tsunade cracked her knuckles and stepped closer to the two ninjas, who were now on their knees, glaring up at her.

"Care to explain why you're hiding in a puddle and spying on us?" she asked, her voice cold and dangerous.

One of the ninjas spat blood onto the ground. "We don't have to explain shit to you!"

Tsunade's fist shot out, knocking away a couple of the ninja's teeth. Not that he looked like he had many to start with.

"Try again," she said while wiping the blood from her hand. 

The ninja she just punched collapsed backwards unconscious. Tsunade stared awkwardly, and I was pretty sure she didn't mean to hit him that hard because now she couldn't interrogate him.

Thankfully, the other ninja started spilling his guts immediately and said that he wasn't after us. They would have had to be insane to go after one of the legendary Sannin, he pointed out, and said that his target was just some random bridge builder and whatever weak genin team was assigned to guard the guy...

Shizune was not happy. I mean, I couldn't exactly blame her. These hidden mist ninjas—I learned that was where they were from—were openly talking about planning to kill a Leaf Village genin team. Which was usually comprised of kids. Even though Tsunade and Shizune had technically left the village, it was pretty clear they still held some loyalty to it. Or maybe it was just a sense of principle.

Either way, Shizune looked pissed. "We should just kill him and keep moving," Shizune said. She wasn't even trying to hide the irritation in her voice.

Tsunade nodded, cracking her knuckles. "I'm with you on that one. Genin teams usually have a jonin leading them. If we stick around, the jonin will probably recognize me, report back to the Hokage, and then it'll be this whole huge hassle…" She rambled on, waving her hands for emphasis, and for a second, I couldn't help but think how damn cute it was.

"Go ahead and kill me," the ninja said, glaring at us defiantly. "I'm a dead man anyway after failing Zabuza and Gato."

"Zabuza and Gato?" Tsunade repeated the names, her head tilting slightly as if she recognized them. Something shifted in her expression—her eyes suddenly lit up! "Tell me more about Gato specifically."

I turned to Shizune while Tsunade crouched in front of the ninja, pressing for details. "Who? Why does she care?"

"Gato… he's supposed to be the richest man in the elemental nations," Shizune explained.

My eyes widened as the realization hit me. "Oh, my god. She wants to rob him, doesn't she?"

Shizune smirked slightly. "You're the one who put the idea in her head."

"What? How is this my fault?" I asked, incredulous.

"You're the one who was talking about unconventional ways to make money," she pointed out. "And, well, Tsunade doesn't exactly need much encouragement in that department…"

You know what? "That's fair…"

There was a loud cracking noise. The ninja Tsunade was talking to dropped dead with a broken neck. She then finished off the other one that was knocked out. 

She turned back to us with a bright smile on her face, like she hadn't just casually murdered two enemy ninjas. "We're off to the Land of Waves," she said cheerfully. "The richest man in the world is there, and supposedly he brought his entire fortune with him! He was going to pay these clowns a lot of money to kill this bridge builder guy, so I'm sure there's more to the story, but that's not our problem."

Shizune pinched the bridge of her nose. "Let's just get moving before the Leaf genin team shows up."

"Good idea," Tsunade said, already starting to pick up the pace by a lot!

I glanced between them and sighed. "So, are we running, or what?"

"Yep, we're running," Shizune said.

"Great. That's not gonna work for me," I muttered, unfurling my fallen angel wings. I leapt into the air, flapping hard to keep pace with them as they dashed down the road at ridiculous ninja speeds.

"Try to keep up, Blake!" Tsunade called out, laughing as she glanced back at me.

– Kakashi –

Around a half hour later…

"Kakashi-sensei! There's two dead guys in the middle of the road!" Naruto pointed out the obvious.

"Good observation, Naruto," Kakashi deadpanned. 

"You didn't need to point out the obvious dweeb!"

"Shut up, Sas-Gay!"

"Don't call him that, BAKA!"

Kakashi let out a tired sigh. This was only their first mission out of the village and already things were becoming a headache. One thing he did notice was that the bridge builder they were guarding was suddenly looking very nervous upon seeing the two dead mist ninjas. As if he knew about them beforehand.

"Why don't you and I have a chat, Tazuna-san…?"

XXX

Thanks for reading!!!

I have a patreo n. My subs can read advanced updates of my stories ahead of standard release and even check out pics for some of the more naughty chapters. 

Link:

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Here is the list of Current Advanced Chapters:

The Fallen Gamer ch 314-318

The Fox Hole ch 48

The Blood Queen ch 31

The fox hole ch 47

Thunder and Black Wings 7

The Titan ch 23

The Fox Hole 46

Thunder and Black Wings ch 6

The Fox Hole ch 45

The Blood Queen ch 30

The Titan ch 22