AFTER DARK | naruto

26 | a reminder of fate

"What do you mean those two are gone?" Tsunade was stomping down the hallway, holding  onto her clipboard right. Guy matched her speed down the hall, sweat dripping off of his face.

"Well, Lee and I had made plans for when I returned from my mission. A great thing about that boy, is that he doesn't miss any plans, not a second late, and he didn't show!" He explained, practically telling a story with his hands. "That in itself was concerning enough, but when I stopped by not so long ago to check on how [Firstname] was doing, she wasn't there!"

Tsunade got faster, the grip on her clipboard getting tighter. "I told that girl to stay put, to think, Lee even went along with it! I thought that boy would be concerned over his teammate, with how he always talks of her, You'd think he'd talk her out of it!"

Guy sweat dropped, "You're right, my students are as close as three peas in a pod..."—A casual flex over his squad-bonding techniques, he remembered the first one of those, where he had made the three of you stand shortest to tallest—where you had been at the shortest/middle/tallest position. He wondered if it was still the same. "But maybe that's the problem, [Firstname] can convince Lee to do just about anything...! Neji always knocks sense into them, but since he was out on a mission..." The two of them finally made it to your room, which was as empty as Guy remembered it being, and the window was open.

"A clear escape..." Tsunade observed, closing the window and fixing the curtains. She took another look at the room, noticing the bottle of medicine by the foot of the bed. "This is what I gave to Lee, a soothing medicine for the rest of his recovery..." She said, leaning down to grab the bottle, unscrewing the top. "If he's as good a student as a you say he is, then why..."

She fell silent as she recalled who it was who had been in this room before, a heavy drinker—and she stilled, noticing the similarities of the bottle she gave Lee, and the favorite drink of her previous patient. She took a sniff, and could almost feel her heart drop. Right, if Lee was as good a student Guy claimed him to be, it made sense for him to have offered you some of his medicine—since she had only given you what was left of the batch she made. She said she'd get on it to make a new batch, but it looked like the pain in your head had reappeared faster than she accounted for.

...And Lee had mixed up his medicine for the bottle of Saké the nurses hadn't cleaned out before. "What's the matter, Lord Fifth?" Guy asked urgently, noticing Tsunades sudden silence. Tsunade lowered the bottle of medicine in her hand, turning toward Guy.

"It appears your students mistook Lees medicine for Saké..." She explained, looking down at the bottle. She didn't see the instant look of shock on Guys face—if it was Saké Lee took, then it made sense why he hadn't tried to rebute your escape. But what he didn't know, that it was you who had originally taken a sip. He had no clue that two of his students were capable of the Drunkest Fist, and another thing he had no clue about was that it was you who told Lee to come along.

Tsunade turned toward Guy, concerned by his uncharacteristic silence. She rose a brow at the look of concern, now it was her turn to ask what the problem was. "... If Lee had taken a drink of that, then..." He sweat dropped, "This is a real problem, that boy Lee... Is a master of the Drunken Fist." He explained.

Tsunade was caught off guard by it, but when she thought back on it—she denied that it was the case. "Considering the time, Lee was required to take his medicine not to long ago." She pressed her hand against the sheets you laid on, "The bed is lacking considerable warmth, with her unnatural body heat, that means she has to have been gone for a while now..." She observed. "If anyone had drank, I'd say it was [Firstname]."