A Little More Than This (Discontinued)

Chapter 37

Itachi, Zetsu and Mei were getting increasingly annoyed. The only thing stopping them from returning to some form of calmness was finding a small seal on Mei's body. All three had searched every inch, although Mei had had a more private search previously, and were now sitting on the floor as Itachi and Zetsu combed through Mei's tangled and messy hair.

"Do we even know what the fuck we're looking for?" Zetsu asked irritably, their annoyance reaching a peek. "Well... it looks something like, oh I dunno, a damn seal?" Mei snapped at them. "Shut it both of you" Itachi growled back as Zetsu open their mouth to snap back at Mei.

"Whatever" Mei replied, starting to itch at her foot. "Stop scratching, you'll Scratch yourself raw" White Zetsu sighed, swatting away her hand. Mei stuck her tongue out at him and continued scratched her foot, before rolling in her back and whining loudly.

"What's wrong with my damn foot!" She whined continuing to scratch violently. "Something probably bit it" White Zetsu replied as Itachi started to reread the black book, a frustrated scowl on his face. Zetsu inspected her foot looking for the reason of Mei's vigorous scratching and finding a small skin coloured seal staring back at him. The seal looked similar to the eight prongs seal but instead had ten prongs, and it was tinny, fitting neatly on the sol of her foot.

"Found it, damn thing is the same colour as her skin" Zetsu growled at Itachi, shoving the foot in his face and dragging Mei along the ground with it. "Quit pulling my leg numbskull!" Mei growled, hitting his arm lightly and snatching her foot away.

"Right, now that we've found the damn thing what do we do with it?!" Zetsu asked, crossing their arms and glaring lightly at the tangerinehead. "Now we need to release the seal, which it simple enough, but I need to coat my hand in something called Akiraka no jūsu and she needs to coat her foot and drink the remaining juice" Itachi replied. "Ohhhh, I know where we could get some. We'll be back soon!!" White Zetsu chirped, getting up and sinking into the ground.

"I was gone a day, what the hell?" Itachi asked, watching as Mei walked over to the little beds he and Zetsu had made on their arrival and snuggled up to it. 'Oh that's what's wrong' Itachi told himself, sighing a little at the pubescent teen.

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Shikamaru continuously twiddled his thumbs, waiting to be allowed into the office. Suddenly the door to his left opened and a group of ninja left the said office.

"Shikamaru Nara! Enter!" Tsunade called out as soon as the ninja left. Shikamaru walked in, fiddling with the ever-present scroll in his pocket. "Sizune please leave us and tie this to the handle" Tsunade instructed, handing the dark-haired kunoichi a paper tag with red ink and string.

Sizune nodded and bowed before leaving with Ton-Ton, a pink pig. Tsunade then stood and placed similar tags around the room. "Those were silencing tags, no one outside of this room will even acknowledge the fact that we have had this conversation. Please place the scroll on my table" Tsunade informed, pointing to the pocket, in which Shikamaru was hiding Mei's scroll.

Shikamaru didn't even try to act dumb and placed the thick and worn scroll on the Hokage's desk. The blonde pick up the scroll and slowly read through the scroll and then rolled the scroll up and placed it standing up on her desk.

"I'm sure you've read the other scroll and put two and two together" Tsunade sighed, lacing her fingers together and resting her chin against her hands. "Yes ma'am, I have" Shikamaru replied. "So? What would you conclude of this situation?" Tsunade asked.

"I, uhh, I..." Shikamaru stuttered, not sure what she wanted him to say. "Here, taking in consideration of all you know of Mei, and all that both scrolls have informed you, what is your judge of Mei's character?" Tsunade asked, sighing a little. "H-her character? Are you asking me to determine whether or not she's a threat biased on someone that may not be completely real?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes. I'm waiting" Tsunade replied, smiling lightly. "Well, of all the years I've known her she's never been one to betray anyone, choosing to retreat when friends argue then get involved. She's bright and caring and full of life, and is almost never seen without a smile, whether it be fake or real. The scroll indicates that her life with them was happy and fulfilling, and the fact that they haven't come looking for her after all these years says they either want her here or think she is dead. The latter seems more plausible as the disturbance a while back was seen without incident of Mei. Especially since her father was one of the intruders. I think she is a Leaf Shinobi, but I think she's Kisame Hoshigaki's daughter and I think we shouldn't make her choose between her family and us. In short I think she's apart of this village, but she's apart of that organisation as well" Shikamaru told her.

Tsunade tilted her head slightly. "You feel... indifferent about her?" Tsunade asked. "No, she's one of my best friends" Shikamaru replied. "I want you to tell me what you think personally, not professionally" Tsunade sighed, leaning back in her chair.

"I want her to stay here. I don't want her to go. I need her to stay here with us" Shikamaru replied quietly. Tsunade smiled before bowing her head. "Good, now stop moping around and get your act together. Keep that in mind and train hard" Tsunade smirked, dismissing him from her office.

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Zetsu burst through the door with a glass jug of sickening green liquid. "I got it!!! You mean we got it dickhead" Zetsu chimed, waving the liquid in Itchi's face. "Shut it! Mei's asleep" Itachi hissed, barely glancing up from his book. "We'll do it tomorrow or something, she deserves a nice rest. She's been pushing herself hard lately. Just let her be" Itachi told Zetsu, taking the jug from them.