57: Candid Conversation

"Now that we're all awake and had some time to settle down, are you ready to talk again? I'm afraid we're going to need to have a few... rather frank discussions." Tsunade sighed wryly as she shot a glance towards each person in the room, Kana included.

Four people sat in four plush chairs facing each other, again an assortment of tea and pastries on a low table between them. This sitting room within the Yamakuni medical quarter was getting quite familiar to Kana, the girl thought tiredly.

Dan, Tsunade, and Kaoru were all in attendance, all having changed into thick casual robes of the Yamakuni style. It seemed this room was the place Kaoru prepared to hold difficult conversations.

"Tsunade and I apologize again for the suddenness of all this," Dan posited reassuringly with his deep and mellow voice, "but you must understand that we mean no ill intent. This is simply a matter of too great importance to our families and homeland. As such, we cannot merely ignore it."

It would be a discussion with two strangers and a recent acquaintance - and no matter their words, it was not exactly a very reassuring atmosphere for Kana. Even if they all wore such gentle and relaxed expressions towards her.

Kana herself sat in a fluffy bathrobe still, hair styled via her hairclasp into one long tail that draped down her back. Her Senju hairclasp, Kana amended, as it evidently was recognized by the Konoha duo as a clan sigil. That alone told Kana much, but there was hardly time to indulge in guesses and fantasies about it.

It had been a few hours since they'd exited the hotsprings, but for a while Tsunade had held Kana back from changing to re-examine the girl's body for injuries. At the time, Kana was still too flustered about certain new feelings and sensations to worry over it, much less protest.

Especially since the sensation of the Sannin's medical ninjutsu felt gentle and cool after the heat of the hotsprings. Gentle, cool, soothing, familiar - even more familiar than it had felt with Fuzō.

Whatever had come of that...  seemed to be at the heart of matters to be discussed today. But still, Kana dared not make any rash assumptions.

And while Kana's mind still occasionally wandered to the distracting new feelings she discovered in the hotsprings with Tsunade, now that they'd changed environments she once again felt able to focus. She was strangely even feeling quite calm despite the underlying nervousness, perhaps due to the care and gentleness with which she had evidently been treated.

Still though, every once in a while, she felt her eyes blankly lingering on the blonde woman. She knew more about Kana than the girl was comfortable with, that much was certain. How much exactly... Kana could only rely on luck to decide. An unsettling resignation to be sure. But with it there was hope...

By this point Kana had abandoned thoughts of trying to escape the situation, realizing everyone else knew far too much more than she did. They even knew something of her most powerful abilities, of her two original ones... before she was altered.

In some way, she was deeply involved with these people. Tsunade the Sannin, The Vulpine Lady Mito, the deceased First Hokage... these people were all related, and somehow Kana was tied to them - that had been all but proven several times over. Maybe... just maybe... her past would soon...

But no matter her guesses or the potential danger, for now she had to find out what exactly those connections were, if she was going to make any progress. That realization brought a certain relief and determination, allowing her to embrace the problem and instilling a willingness within her to find a solution according the the situation.

Kana had resolved to search out answers anyway, but instead a potential source for the answers she sought had quite literally blasted into her life with questions of their own. Such was Kana's life at this point.

After recent events, and all that had happened since she came here... Kana had felt that tugging ache in her heart too many times to ignore it.

This ache, and tiredness, worry, stress, and fear... these persistent feelings of Kana's had been relieved by interacting with this woman from Konoha - relieved far more than she could ever have anticipated .

Kana hated the uncertainty, and not knowing her own mind. But because of that Kana had to admit that somewhere in some deep corner of her heart, she wanted to trust that this was all for the best.

That was not a comfortable feeling, but one that repeatedly bothered her all the same. Her perspective was too limited... and time and again that was turning out to be perhaps the greatest weakness left over from her captivity.

"Kana-chan, first a question for you. I've heard from Kaoru-san and her daughter, but it seems you've been through much hardship. Is there... anything you want? Something you need? I, Dan, and Kaoru-san here have spoken and..." The three adults all glanced at each other, nodding, "We want you to tell us how we can help you. You have done each of us here a great service, far more than a child should have to endure, so before we say or ask any more of you - please tell us your own concerns."

Those were the words that left Kana stunned. They all looked at her with those eyes - eyes filled with care? What all had Kaoru told them, what all did they know? How to even...

But there was something that came to mind immediately. Kana glanced to Kaoru first before turning to Tsunade, her neutral expression slipping into a slightly worried frown,

"I've heard... you're an excellent doctor, perhaps Konoha's best. Fuzō-san... she was injured horribly for so long, so if you could help her...-"

She stopped speaking as three faces all adopted somewhat pained expressions, somehow both somber and affectionate.

"Wha-?" she breathed out in response, tilting her head in worried confusion.

"When asked what she wants... the first thing she asks is to help another." Tsunade exhaled softly as she ran a palm through her hair, "And does not even... see our problem here."

"How did such a child come to be so stained with blood?" Dan muttered seriously under his breath while looking to Tsunade, probably unaware that Kana had heard him.

"Kana-sama, ah, Fuzō and I have been talking with Tsunade-sama separately about her health. Please rest assured that that is not the concern in mind for now. We're here out of need to address your ...newfound situation." Kaoru added, with a certain degree of earnestness.

"That's right," Tsunade said as she leaned towards Kana, "So please tell us truthfully what it is that you yourself might need, before we must burden you with our own questions once more."

Well, if even Kaoru was acting this way...

"Something I need... is answers." Kana looked directly at Tsunade eyes, her own sight growing distant as she contemplated all of the questions stirring around her mind. "But I do not even know enough to know what to ask... there's too much. What all is it that you know about me? I knew about Uzushio and being somehow related to the Uzumaki, but what about the Senju? And kekkei genkai... what is so important to you about me having it? What do you mean when you say you cannot ignore it? If you don't mean any harm, then what do you mean? I have been alone so long, why is this happening only now?! Please tell me everything - I have to know more about myself! It's the only thing I-"

The fervor and desperation Kana had felt for a long time had progressively leaked back into the softness of her voice.

She took in a breath slowly, telling herself to keep it calm. She spoke a little more from her heart than she intended. There was no telling what would happen if she lost her grip here.

"A request for answers." Tsunade sighed while leaning back, "I suppose that truly is the only place to start. I'd hoped to be of some aid before springing all of this on you, but I see now that there's no helping it. I just wished we had a chance to get to know each other a little better first." Her voice was tinged both with sympathy and an intense interest.

The other adults wore concerned expressions as well. They had all clearly talked to each other beforehand.

Kana felt she had gotten much better at understanding conversation and feelings since experiencing so many new things. That made things both easier... and more complicated. But regardless, Kana prepared to absorb whatever information she was about to hear. Even if she feared the consequences...

Tsunade folded her hand in front of her mouth as she leaned forward to level her eyes with Kana's,

"What is it that we know about you? Well, the most immediate part lies with my grandfather's power. Through examination I have... confirmed that you possess Mokuton, even if you have yet to control it. I think your body is practically suffused with Mokuton's regenerative properties. And then, there's even more after everything Kaoru-san here has told me, too. But I guess all of that is incidental to what we have concluded. I- I don't know how you will take this Kana-chan."

Tsunade now knelt before Kana, again at eye-level, bracing the girl's stiffened shoulders both gently and firmly, "We are family, Kana-chan, and closely related at that. It is not that you have this power, it is what we have learned from you having it. Not just allies, not just of the same bloodline - you are Senju, my blood and kin. Even if you never come to control my grandfather's power, we cannot leave you abandoned and alone as you have been! There's no telling what dangers that would expose you to!"

Those words.

Those words. The concern in those words. It caused her mind to balk.

Kana thought she must've heard all of those words before, in different orders, dancing around the truth and leaving room for doubt. Family. The truth behind her past. That past she could barely remember anymore.

"No matter what Kana-chan, this power you hold is a unique one - one that many people would covet. I didn't want you to suffer under the pressure of this knowledge. We all certainly never imagined to encounter you like this. And now after all I have seen and done here, I bear more than just responsibility for you, but both a duty and debt in addition. Your protection is now of paramount concern for me.  I wouldn't be able to accept it if you suffered some horrible fate, especially from neglect!"

After holding eye contact all the while, the Sannin finally glanced down before meeting Kana's eyes once more, "I hope you are willing to accept these honest feelings of mine, however selfish they are."

All those words, spoken so passionately, so clearly, in the order she wanted to hear. The order Kana realized she needed to hear.

Tsunade was family.

But it was not the order of those words that convinced Kana of their truth, but the warmth and sincerity in the brown eyes leveled before her own.

Konoha's Sannin, the woman Kana initial feared, then saw as a person, then relaxed with, then whose warmth she felt, then who asked to aid her.

Tsunade was family. All occurring within the span of a day, yet Kana knew it to be true. She and this woman shared a connection.

Someone who thought like that, someone who looked at her like this... truly understood what was in Kana's own interest, even if they only knew a fraction of her secrets, a fraction of what had really happened to her. Of what had been done to her. Of what she was capable of.

Tsunade's words echoed some of Kana's deepest fears, validating them as real concerns and promising to help her - protect her.

And that was something Kana wanted to trust in, even if just a little.

Still face to face, Tsunade practically radiated warmth and concern to Kana, who was only able to muster one question to the forefront of her mind, a whispered plea,

"Please... tell me who I am."

"There is only one who can tell us that for sure, and I believe you already know who it is. My grandmother... if you are willing to come with me, that question can be answered by her alone. But for now, to me and as the Senju's Clan Head, you are Senju Kana."

Kana could only nod, completely unable to speak as a deluge of inexpressible emotions flooded every corner of her heart. The relief Kana had felt was not a lie. Nor the warmth, nor the concern, nor the care, nor the familiarity.

Her heart, was this the feeling of joy?

It must have shown on her face, for Tsunade pulled her into another hug, tucking the girl's head under her chin.

Only then did tears flow from the young Senju girl's eyes.

Only then did Kana weep.