Chapter 265: She Had Thought About It Too
Another two months passed.
During that time, Kitahara Kaede somehow turned "asking about Rin’s condition" into a daily attendance ritual.
He had nearly worn down the threshold of Tsunade’s office.
At first, he at least bothered inventing excuses and putting on a performance.
After asking about Rin, he would remain standing there, his eyes wandering around the office until they settled on the shelves.
"You keep these medical files too high. What if they fall and hit someone? I’ll reorganize them for you."
Tsunade didn’t even raise her head.
"No need."
Kaede behaved as though he hadn’t heard her and began arranging them anyway.
Tsunade held her pen and watched his back from the corner of her eye.
She knew perfectly well why this bastard had come.
She simply chose not to expose him.
After a nearly inaudible snort, she let him do as he pleased.
Later, Kaede became too lazy even to search for an excuse.
On one occasion, after asking about Rin, he pulled a stack of scrolls from inside his clothes and shamelessly occupied the sofa.
"The work is urgent, and the Hokage Building is too noisy. I’m borrowing your sofa."
Tsunade finally lost patience and slapped her pen against the desk.
"Doesn’t the Hokage Building have a desk for you?!"
Kaede continued reading the documents without raising his head, answering with complete confidence.
"I don’t think... it actually does."
Tsunade laughed from sheer anger.
Where had this shameless side of him been hiding before?
She said nothing further. After giving him a cold glance, she picked up her pen and returned to her charts.
One sat behind the desk, while the other monopolized the sofa.
Separated by several meters, they each handled their own work without disturbing the other.
Eventually, Kaede stopped pretending entirely.
He would enter, ask about Rin, pull out the chair across from Tsunade, and sit down before voicing his concern directly.
"The circles under your eyes are darker today. Did you stay up late again?"
The tip of Tsunade’s pen paused against the paper.
"What did you eat for lunch?"
Tsunade drew a deep breath and raised her eyes. Her beautiful gaze narrowed dangerously as she glared at him.
"Kitahara Kaede, in what capacity are you asking me that? As an advisor to the Hokage’s Office, or as a supervisor of the Medical Division?"
Kaede leaned back in the chair without arguing and simply allowed her to glare.
His eyes were quiet, carrying an undisguised focus, as though she were the only person he could see in the entire world.
Under that stare, Tsunade inexplicably grew uneasy and was the first to look away.
"...If you have that much free time, go to the training grounds. Stop bothering me."
"Mm."
Kaede acknowledged her, yet remained seated as if his body had fused with the chair.
Tsunade was completely helpless.
She knew she should throw him out.
But every time the words reached her lips, the sight of him sitting there quietly made it impossible to say, "Get out."
This bastard had clearly realized she couldn’t bring herself to be cruel.
Tsunade also knew that if she truly resolved to keep him away, she had a hundred ways to prevent him from ever crossing the office door again.
Yet she did nothing.
Every day, she simply listened to him ask those inconsequential questions, then habitually snapped back at him.
***
The weather was pleasant that afternoon.
Tsunade brought a prenatal examination report to Minato’s home.
When the door opened, Kushina appeared with one hand supporting her waist and an enormous belly protruding before her. Even walking had become somewhat clumsy.
Tsunade immediately reached out to support her.
"Slow down. Don’t move carelessly."
Kushina waved dismissively and laughed without concern.
"I’m not that fragile. This little one has just been kicking harder and harder lately, like he’s practicing Ninjutsu inside my stomach."
The two sat on the living room sofa.
Tsunade spread out the report and explained each number one by one.
The baby’s position was correct, and development perfectly matched the stage of pregnancy.
Aside from the Jinchuriki seal requiring additional monitoring, there were essentially no problems.
After listening, Kushina waved a hand and set the report on the coffee table.
"I’m not worried about any of that. With you watching over me, what could possibly go wrong?"
Her tone shifted as she stared directly at Tsunade.
"What about you? How long are you and Kaede planning to drag this out?"
The hand holding Tsunade’s cup paused slightly.
"We aren’t dragging anything out."
"You aren’t?"
This time, Kushina didn’t tease her with the usual laughter.
She looked at Tsunade and sighed softly.
"Lady Tsunade, I’m not trying to force you into a decision. I’m afraid that neither of you will ever speak first, and you’ll keep wearing each other down until everything falls apart."
Tsunade remained silent.
"I don’t want Minato and me to invite both of you for dinner someday," Kushina continued, half joking as she gestured, "only for one of you to sit at one end of a long table and the other at the opposite end, with Minato and me trapped in the middle enduring your cold war. How would anyone eat?"
Tsunade’s lips twitched, but she still said nothing.
Seeing her stubborn refusal to admit anything, Kushina suddenly reached out and caught Tsunade’s wrist without allowing an objection.
"What are you—"
Before Tsunade could finish, Kushina gently pressed her palm against the high curve of her belly.
Tsunade’s entire body stiffened.
Warm skin rested beneath her hand.
At the exact moment she considered pulling away—
Thump!
The tiny life within seemed to sense her presence and kicked with astonishing strength.
That vibrant force traveled through Kushina’s belly and Tsunade’s palm, striking directly into her world.
Tsunade forgot to breathe for a beat.
Kushina watched her stunned expression and softened her voice almost to a whisper.
"Tsunade, you should start thinking about yourself too. Have you... ever wanted a child?"
Tsunade froze.
Kushina had asked the same question jokingly before.
Back then, Tsunade had merely rolled her eyes and brushed it aside with, "With whom? You?"
But now...
She lowered her gaze to the rounded curve of Kushina’s stomach.
"...Before, I never thought about it."
"Oh?"
Kushina immediately caught the opening in her words.
"You never thought about it before. Does that mean you’ve thought about it recently?"
Tsunade didn’t deny it. She stared blankly at the belly beneath her hand.
Before meeting Kitahara Kaede, she had always believed that family, children, and having someone wait for her at home were things that would never have anything to do with Tsunade’s life.
She didn’t need them. Living alone, free and unrestrained, was perfectly fine.
But after that bastard forced his way into her life, she realized something.
It wasn’t that she had no longing for those things.
She simply had never met anyone who could make her desire them.
Seeing Tsunade’s expression soften, Kushina knew the timing was right to add more fuel.
She held Tsunade’s hand, her tone certain.
"Tsunade, when that fellow came to my house before, he said something to me."
"He said he had placed an extremely difficult choice in front of you, and he didn’t know whether you could accept it. But he would remain where he was and wait for you. No matter how long you needed, he would wait."
Tsunade’s lashes trembled uncontrollably.
Kushina looked directly into her eyes.
"When he said it, I could tell he meant every word."
The living room remained quiet for a long time.
Tsunade finally withdrew her hand from Kushina’s belly.
She leaned back and sank into the soft sofa.
Images from the past two months flashed through her mind—Kaede’s shameless refusal to leave, his clumsy excuses, and the helpless, indulgent look he gave her even after she snapped at him.
This inarticulate idiot, who didn’t know how to coax anyone, had never once given up.
He could have turned and walked away to find the two women who had no objections to him at all.
But he hadn’t.
He chose to remain in Konoha, appearing before her every day without fail and practically volunteering to be scolded.
Tsunade drew a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the painful emotion surging through her chest.
She admitted she still couldn’t fully accept the existence of those two women.
Whenever she remembered that they also shared memories with him, her heart ached.
But she understood something even more clearly.
If she let Kitahara Kaede pass her by, she would never feel something this deeply for another person in her life.
Should she take the gamble?
Tsunade asked herself silently.