Empty Eyes: The Sequel

Chapter 28

The three of us chose to rest for the remainder of the day so we'd be ready to travel back to Kakurega come early tomorrow morning. We sipped sake as we sat around a small campfire, the atmosphere calm now that my unease had been quelled.

I looked between Tsunade and Jiraiya as they argued playfully about their past bets. According to them, they've made hundreds of them, and the score is nearly even. The more time I spend with them, the more I feel they may be romantically involved, but I'm too nervous to ask. If I'm wrong, things could get awkward, so I simply grinned and sipped my drink.

"You thought you could seduce me after downing three bottles of wine, remember?"

My attention was piqued again as Tsunade laughed at Jiraiya's red face. That does it; I have to know. "Sorry if I'm overstepping, but are you two...?"

My new friends looked at me with wide eyes before turning their gazes onto one another and laughing. Jiraiya waggled his eyebrows at Tsunade, "Well? Are we, Princess?"

The woman rolled her eyes before giving me an irritated glare, "This geezer wishes I was his."

The man in question made an exaggerated offended sound, "If you're so against it, how come you won't let anyone else claim you, huh?" He turned his brown eyes onto me, winking, "Don't let her fool you. She adores me."

Tsunade elbowed him in the ribs, muttering, "You're unbearable."

A laugh passed my lips, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I recognized that the alcohol was beginning to warm my cheeks, "How long have you known each other?"

They glanced at one another again, Jiraiya responding with a more sober glint in his eye, "Just over a thousand years, I believe. We have the same master."

I choked on my sake and ended up coughing a few times, a hand covering my mouth, "Really! That's so interesting!"

"I'm the youngest of our master's three fledglings. Grandpa here is almost a century older."

Jiraiya chuckled at Tsunade's playful jab, "I remember when you were too scared to talk to me like this."

Curious, I asked, "You said there were three of you?"

The light and cheerful air swiftly turned a stark cold, and they both averted their gazes. After a moment, I mumbled, "I'm sorry if I asked something inappropriate. It wasn't my intention to-"

"We just don't want you to think of us differently, Beautiful." I searched both of their faces in silence, waiting for some elaboration.

Tsunade's fierce topaz eyes locked onto mine, "I'm afraid our brother took a different path shortly after it was discovered that I have Otsutsuki blood. His interest became an obsession, and we were forced to part ways when that obsession became dangerous."

I frowned, "I'm so sorry. It must've been hard." If having your master turn someone else affects their other fledglings like I suspect it does, cutting someone out like that must be painful.

"Why would that make me think of you differently?"

They looked surprised: "Many vampires assume those that share blood also share temperaments."

I shook my head, "I don't judge a person by another's actions," I paused before adding on, still curious, "Is he still alive?"

Jiraiya sighed wistfully as he stared at the small fire between us, "It's complicated. He is, but he isn't." When my confused expression didn't falter, he waved dismissively, "This topic's too serious when we should be sharing happy stories. We're celebrating your newly earned "Genius" status, after all!"