Gambling…

A year had passed since Kannai Village, TonTon had grown spoiled, Tsunade no longer hid her gambling addiction, and Shirohi was an up and coming Mercenary, he would accept local jobs to protect a caravan or to transport supplies between villages for merchants. Shirohi was actually making a name for himself as 'Ginkamen' , a name one of the merchants gave him due to the silver mask Shirohi would wear.

This past year had been increasingly difficult on Tsunade, without the busyness of the Village she had been forced to grieve putting a massive toll on her mind and due to this Shirohi had stepped up to take care of their money situation while Shizune focused on helping around the house and helping Tsunade throughout the day when she wasn't gambling.

Recently his time as Ginkamen had been quiet, there had rarely been bandits on the prowl in the flat lands of the Land of Grass, Flickering through the village Shirohi 'shunshin' through the window of a small one story dilapidated house on the outskirts of town.

"*Eek!* How many times do I have to tell you to stop that,'' While hitting Shirohi repeatedly with a broom Shizune tried to calm herself but every time he comes bursting through the window like a mad man, "I'm supposed to keep my identity a secret remember?! If Ginkamen just knocks on the door and enters people will be curious… so I make sure they don't see Ginkamen at all."

Taking off the silver mask he opened a drawer and laid the mask inside, as he closed the drawer he injected a sliver of mana locking it shut with the help of a 'Locking Seal' he had placed previously, looking around he tilted his head to look at Shizune, "Where's Tsunade?" Shizune averted her eyes and Shirohi groaned "Which one?" Shizune meekly said "The 'Lucky One', I'm sor—"

Shirohi waved his hand "Don't apologize," before disappearing leaving an envelope in his place. Shizune snatched the envelope out of the air and quickly hid it.

At the heart of the gambling den known as 'Lucky One', a drunk Tsunade threw down her cards: "Two Pair!", the dealer threw down the river and Tsunade shrank back as the man next to her cheered "Straight!" As he revealed his cards Tsunade sulked as all her money just disappeared… The man's arm hooked around her neck as he whispered in her ear "I know a way you can make your money back," Tsunade shuddered as his tongue ran across her ear, she felt disgusted at the thought but in her drunken state she couldn't put up any resistance, the man cheerfully spoke "Ohoho seems like your already feeling it, and here I thought I was going to have to persuade you…"

The man's hand gripped her thigh causing her to exclaim, but the next moment blood filled her vision and she went stiff. "Dirty bastard," that voice Tsunade turned her glazed eyes up, "Shirohi…?" Using a rag Shirohi cleaned the spots of blood off Tsunade's face while the dealer dragged the unconscious man away. This wasn't the first time this had happened and sadly the dealers had grown used to it… "Yes Tsunade, it's me… let's get you home and cleaned up alright?"

Lifting Tsunade up he put her arm around his neck, his hands holding her at the knees and back while she snuggled into his chest mumbling nonsense. Shirohi ignored her as she spoke "Clean up? I'm clean… cleaner then you *sniff sniff* you smell good, like flowers mmmm…"

As Shirohi reached the house, Shizune opened the door "I already ran some hot water just lay her down in the room and I'll get her cleaned up" Shirohi gave a small smile as he rested Tsunade down on the tatami mats, struggling to remove himself from her grip before giving up and slipping out of his shirt, turning to Shizune who had averted her eyes he gave her a pat on the back "She was drugged, probably an aphrodisiac make sure you get it out of her system before taking her to bed." Shizune nodded giving a soft thanks before entering the room, the moment the door closed she tried to snatch Shirohi's shirt from Tsunade only to get a whiny "Noo~" as Tsunade balled up her face buried into the shirt.

This is how the days passed, Shizune would wake up first and prepare breakfast while TonTon woke Shirohi up, Tsunade would sleep in an extra hour while Shirohi ate and left to find a job, Tsunade would wake up with a hangover and drag herself to the dining room only to eat the cold breakfast left out for her before letting Shizune know she was leaving.

Luckily Shirohi had come up with a plan, every morning Shizune would leave 10,000 Ryo on the end table for Tsunade to gamble with, this way she wouldn't bet unreasonably and could make it last throughout the day without running them into debt, a supply transport job would usually pay 20,000 Ryo for a single days work and with Shizune growing fruits and vegetables they had a decent income, there would be days when things are looking kinda glum and Shirohi couldn't find work but Shizune could always count on Shirohi to figure something out.

However today was unlike any other day, Shirohi had already left and Tsunade was still asleep, usually Shizune would tend to her garden but a series of knocks at the door caught her attention. Quickly looking around she groaned as she realized Shirohi left some of his kunai laying out, quickly hiding them she fixed her kimono and hair before slightly opening the door and poking her head out.

"Jirayia?! Oh come in, come in."