56: Shattered Situation

Kana's mind, for once, had become completely blank.

She stared forward in shock, standing rigidly as the sounds of Kaoru gasping and Dan inhaling a sharp breath vaguely registered in her ears.

"A Senju... no wonder she could control her chakra so well!" Kaoru muttered under her breath - not quietly enough to escape Kana's hearing.

Tsunade and Dan spoke out as well, but Kana's own heartbeat drummed louder and louder within her own ears, soon becoming the only thing she could hear.

She couldn't even bring herself to think. Lines of thought started and ended abruptly before she could grasp hold of them, overflowing her mind with incomplete questions and panicked emotions. Rather than the usual calm introspection, her head echoed with the incoherent noise of internal screaming.

Fear. She knew this was fear.

Tsunade knew about her, about Kana's power - at least one of them that she had been able to use, and that scared Kana. Monstrous things had tried to kill her for this power. They had tugged at her soul and tortured her body to obtain it. Her first instinct was always to obsessively hide it away until she was safe. Until she was alone, where nothing could hurt her.

Though her heart balked at accusing a person like Tsunade... Kana knew the Sannin was dangerous in her own way - her senses still warned her of the woman's power. Warnings she so earnestly wanted to ignore, for it would probably make this all so much easier.

Fear, confusion, anxiety - it was all pressing down on her.

But when Kana looked up at Tsunade's face, a face with eyes that shone with a special warmth and concern. Why...?

Relief? Why was relief the greatest feeling in her heart?

Moisture accumulated at the corners of her eyes and gradually leaked from her eyelids. Kana did not even feel the tears.

Such a profound feeling washed over her with all the rest of her shock, throwing her back into hopeless confusion.

She should hide, or run - anything to escape the danger she felt she was in. But she could do none of those things. Some of the more calculating instincts at the back of her mind told her that this was an acceptable risk. That the relief she felt held a far greater chance of revealing what she always sought.

Her heart, its powerful beat ever-accelerating, began to feel strange - that change in chakra flow around her heart that she noticed the day before.

Focusing on it intensified the feeling, which began to grow slightly. Like something forceful, a growth or addition of some kind. She clutched at her heart, overwhelmed by conflicting stimulation in emotions, mind, and body.

Kana heard rather than felt herself falling to her knees - arms dangling limply at her sides as she looked up with raw confusion at the adults around her.

The edges of her vision grew dim, a comfortable drowsiness accompanying the growing warmth of the strange chakra flows in her core.

Distant-sounding exclamations echoed around her, and someone's arms caught her as she fell forward.

But soon the gentle encroachment of that darkness and drowsiness shut out her senses once more, releasing her from having to think at all.

Tsunade stood up from beside the large bed with a sigh, glancing at the unconscious girl she had just laid upon it. Walking to a nearby wardrobe, Tsunade extracted a few towels, bathrobes, and toiletries.

It had taken until midday to arrive at this place, her grandmother's supposed vacationing sanctuary, after all of the unexpected developments the Sannin and her comrades had encountered.

Tsunade had to admit, she felt more than a little guilty.

She hadn't expected the girl to collapse in shock, but in hindsight it was only a given. Being told you bear the same power as the greatest shinobi of all time was not something that a child could just stay calm about. Especially after an entire night apparently spent on special training, only for some kind of mishap to place the child amidst unexpected combat.

So out of concern and regret for her lack of consideration, Tsunade had insisted on returning with the Yamakuni and checking over Kana's health. When Kaoru admitted that her people had yet not performed a comprehensive examination of Kana's health, that insistence became a demand. It would be convenient to have Dan rest using their facilities as well, and the rest of her team could meanwhile investigate the intruders and gather up the assailants' corpses.

So a deal of sorts was struck with the Yamakuni group, with more details to be discussed once they all learned more.

Before they all departed from the scene, a cursory examination by the Sannin showed that Kana truly had passed out from shock and exhaustion, which gave Tsunade some measure of immediate relief.

But the ache in the Tsunade's heart had only intensified from there, as in the aftermath she discovered more concrete signs of how the young Kana had suffered. For after the girl fainted, it was Tsunade who caught and carried her in her arms.

She could tell at a glance that girl was already impossibly light, especially to someone with Tsunade's strength. Frail, thin, bony - any ordinary child like this ought to have been too weak to help herself, let alone do half of the things she had apparently done.

Even the child's breathing was shallow and muted.

Yet such a pitiful figure had still lent her aid to Dan in dire moments, and had endured to save another adult amidst an arduous journey.

Kana had apparently done several people a great service, including one of paramount personal importance to Tsunade - saving Dan's life. And the child could not even possibly know how much that meant to Konoha's Senju Princess.

Tsunade would not forget this debt. Ever.She already bore responsibilities of duty and family towards the girl, but this debt of blood was added atop even that. Grandmother Mito had always insisted with a terrifyingly fierce expression that saving the life of a loved one is a debt of blood, a debt that could not be ignored. The old woman had muttered ominously that debts of blood were always to be paid in full.

Tsunade never forgot those words. Grandmother... just what had she been up to in secret all these years?

Returning to the bedside where she'd lain the girl temporarily, Tsunade had to admit she was emotionally moved. It was clear that this girl had inherited the vitality and strength of both the Uzumaki and the Senju, using both to their limits even in such a weakened state. Using them to protect and save others.

Tsunade felt that with such actions, the girl probably bore the same loving heart as her noblest ancestors.

The Sannin had also met another Uzumaki woman on the way here, the administrators' daughter Fuzō. That woman became distraught at seeing Kana's condition, relaying in the process how much the girl had done for her.

But even so, this girl had apparently grown up mistreated and alone... for a long time if Kaoru and her daughter Fuzō were to be believed. And it was true that a child did not end up in Kana's condition without prolonged lack - especially someone with the vitality of her bloodline.

Such long-suffering endurance was undoubtedly testament to Kana's own character, however it was she that managed to survive, but it was uncharacteristic of an ordinary child.

Tsunade already knew the girl was extraordinary, at least in terms of potential1Oh Tsunade, you don't even have any idea how correct you are., but context and nuance continually implied that the child was even more extraordinary than that.

Having finished her preparations, Tsunade lifted the girl once more, cradling her between both arms as she carried her to where Kaoru had indicated.

A private hotspring in the Yamakuni's main complex, one filled with various palliative and recuperative features that would serve as their preliminary treatment.

Surrounded by pleasant and soothing heat, a layer of refreshing coolness seeped all over Kana's body, returning her to consciousness.

Blinking blearily, looking down revealed how she lay in a shallow bath filled with the steaming water of a hotspring. It was just deep enough to soak her entire body while her head.... was propped up onto some kind of plush pillow. A pleasant shade from behind her head shielded her vision from the brightness of the overhead light, and a long towel soaking in some sort of pleasant scent was draped across her entire torso.

Her long hair had been all combed out to its full length to her sides, also suffused with a refreshing scent as it floated floating around loosely.

Eyelids drooping half-closed, Kana felt so relaxed everywhere that she just continued to lay there for a time, vaguely tuning out her surroundings in favor of listening to the gentle trickling of water.

She couldn't quite recall how she had gotten here, but she remembered the feeling of falling forward after a great shock. Her heart felt clear again, her chakra once more flowing slightly greater through that region of her body. It was a little bit stronger than before, again, right?

What... what was she worried about again? For now there was only peace and relaxation.

"Kana-chan, have you awoken enough to talk?" a caring voice called as the pillow beneath her head shifted. Pillow...

Eyes snapping open, Kana twitched up into a sitting position and looked behind.

The form of Konoha's Legendary Sannin reclined there, barely covered by a similar scented towel as Kana wore, Kana's head having just previously been propped up on one of the woman's outstretched thighs.

Somehow, the girl's immediate thought was not of fear or surprise, but a strange new sensation in her chest. Kana was momentarily unable to respond to Tsunade's question, too distracted by the awkward new feeling... one similar to appreciation or gratitude. A very bizarre inclination indeed.

Was it the feeling of softness that she liked? Or the gesture itself? Perhaps it was soft in both a physical and emotional sense. But regardless, to Kana it felt... nice.

"Kana, are you alright? We have been in here a while, this might be your limit." The same voice as before whispered, tinged with caring concern as the woman shifted her position and leaned forward to brace Kana's shoulders.

Kana in turn lifted a hand to her own face, still unable to respond as she detected an unusual and somewhat exhilarating heat flowing to her cheeks.

She shook her head to try and clear the distracting feeling, but Tsunade seemingly interpreted that as an answer to her previous question,

"Ahh, I'm sorry," she whispered again, drawing Kana closer to her, "They all suggested I make use of these baths to help you recover, and well, I've been enjoying it so much I may have lost track of time...-"

She spoke plenty more, providing more explanation, but Kana was no longer paying attention.

For the girl had been pulled into a close embrace, her entire body being supported by Tsunade and pressed against the woman's chest. Two thin and saturated towels between them.

It was only then that Kana realized how horridly mistaken she had been - as her quickening pulse continued to send blood to her cheeks. She thought she had known what the pleasantness of softness was, but that notion was utterly shattered by the sensation her head now rested against.

Kana felt her thoughts growing hazy again, pondering on the true nature of her goal to find joy and happiness as she lifted her arms and returned the embrace.