The Hyuuga Estate is huge, with tall walls made of pure white stone, red brick roof and grand stone statues of dragons. Located in the center of Konoha, the grand estate was heavily guarded. The heavy gates swung open to accommodate the grand entourage of carriages.

Inside, Tsunade scoffed openly at the lavish display of wealth, a stark contrast to the poor countryside she hailed from. If she had not refused the position offered to her by the Daimyo, she may well be living in a place as grand as this, attended to hand and foot by maids and not waste her skills away in an old, dilapidated pharmacy in the rickety old town of Takeda. But Tsunade could not stomach the blatant corruption and hedonism of the current shogunate, and she rather while away in poverty than lend her services to these sanctimonious old farts who did nothing but siphon the country's money to their own pockets.

Besides, she promised Dan. She promised not to become their property.

"Senju-sama?"

The healer looked up at the Hyuuga patriarch.

"We have arrived."

She was assisted down from the couch and try as she might she could not stifle the gasp that escaped her lips. Up close, the main house of the Hyuuga gleamed bright from the afternoon sun. The smooth wooden floors shone. Servants lined the pathway, bowing in timed synchrony at the presence of Hyuuga Hiashi. From the main entrance, Shizune, who used to be Tsunade's pupil, welcomed them.

"Hyuuga-sama, Senju-sama," the young woman bowed. "How timely, Hanabi had just--"

Tsunade interrupted Shizune. "I will assess her myself. Where is she?"

Shizune motioned towards the interior of the house. "This way."

Tsunade wasted no time. The sooner she finishes her task, the faster she'll be able to go back to Takeda, away from the scrutinizing eyes of the Hyuuga and the silent torture of reliving her days in Konoha.

Shizune led her to a large room filled with the smell of burning incense. The smoke from the lighted sticks wafted lazily around a thin girl wrapped in blankets. Tsunade knelt at the girl's side with Shizune across her and Hiashi hovering behind them.

"How long had she been like this?" Tsunade asked while she assembled her tools.

"Ever since the lady of the house died. Six months ago."

Tsunade pulled out an assortment of vials and Shizune was quick to anticipate the needed mortar and pestle as well as the different apothecary bowls.

While her hands worked, Tsunade's eyes wandered over the sick girl, expert eyes taking notice of the pallor, the thin sheen of sweat and the dry chapped lips. In that brief moment, she had concluded what has to be done for Hanabi.

She turned to Hiashi. "It is still quite early to conclude," Tsunade started, hazel eyes hard with determination. "But give me three days and I will have found the cure for your child's illness."

Hiashi bowed in gratitude, a rare sight for everyone. "Thank you O-hime. But, is it like her mother's?"

"No. It is something different, I'm afraid. But just like what we say in Takeda, winter always bows to spring."

~~~~~~~~

In the next three days that Tsunade stayed, her first order of things is to nourish Hanabi back to health.

"Are all of you fools? Of course the girl won't have energy to do anything, you barely feed her!" Tsunade pushed the bowl of porridge away. "Go tell the servants to cook up a warm broth, rice, fish, and pick some fresh fruit from the garden!"

The maid bowed in apology and scampered away. Meanwhile, Shizune approached her master.

"Tsunade-sama, it's not the maid's fault. Hanabi refuses to eat anything we offer her."

"That's stupid!" Tsunade scoffed. "She refuses to eat because all you serve her is gruel! Do you know how that tastes?!" 

Soon enough and the maid returned with a tray heavily laden with fish, rice, soup and all assortments of fruits. Tsunade herself propped Hanabi with a pillow and fed her. To everyone's surprise, the girl actually opened her mouth and ate everything that Tsunade offered, eating more than half of what's in the tray. It was the most the girl had eaten in months.

"I want you to make her eat that much every day," Tsunade instructed the servants. "If she refuses, shove it down her throat."

At this, the maids gasped but Tsunade was unfazed. "What?" She turned to Hanabi. "You want to get well, don't you?"

~~~~~~~~

The second day, Hiashi's early morning meditation was disturbed by a servant's presence.

"O-sama! Please, pardon my intrusion."

Hiashi sighed deeply and opened his eyes, irk hardening his steely gaze. "What is it?"

The servant bowed deeply. "My deep apologies sir but you have to see Hanabi-sama."

Alarm caused Hiashi to stiffen. "What happened?"

"She's out of bed."

When the Hyuuga patriarch reached the heiress' room, Hanabi could be seen seated on the tatami mat, dressed in a crisp white kimono with flower patterns, surrounded by maids who fussed over the young girl. Although her sickly pallor was still present, bones still stuck out of her exposed clavicle and her cheeks still hollow, seeing Hanabi up and free from the swaddles of her blankets was more than Hiashi could hope for. His eyes traveled over his daughter, seeing the faint image of his late wife, before turning his attention to the blonde healer.

"Senju-sama."

Tsunade bowed in acknowledgement before turning her back to leave the room. Hiashi followed.

"She's well."

"Not yet." Tsunade tipped the bottle of sake to her lips before turning towards Hiashi. "True, her appetite's better, she's strong enough to sit up and bathe but she's still a far cry from being healed."

"Then what is wrong with my daughter?" Hiashi asked.

"I still have one last day," Tsunade's eyes hardened with resolve. "But I have a hunch that what afflicts Hanabi is far from physical pain."

~~~~~~~~

The third day.

"Oh Kami-sama! Look, Shizune-san!"

Shizune rushed to see the commotion. The house servants and some members of the Branch House had converged by the small Zen garden, looking on to some spectacle. The brunette nurse pushed her way through and gasped herself at the sight.

There on the bridge was Tsunade with Hanabi. The young girl was holding on to Tsunade's hand as they looked on at the koi fish at the pond.

It was the first time since she got sick that everybody saw Hanabi up on her feet, much more outside the house.

There were exclamations of awe and surprise at the speedy progress that Tsunade had brought to the sickly girl. Deep inside, Shizune's heart swelled with pride at the sight of her master, the renowned healer, practicing the noble art of healing once more. 

'Uncle Dan will be so proud, Tsunade-shishou!'

Later that day, Hiashi and Tsunade spoke to each other.

"Surely, you must stay for a couple more days," Hiashi said. "You had made my daughter better. She's eating more, she speaks and she walks! Please, just until--"

"We had a deal," Tsunade insisted. "You promised three days."

"I will triple your payment!"

Tsunade sighed. "This isn't about the money, Hyuuga-sama. Please listen. Your daughter is not physically ill. She doesn't have small pox, the disease that took your wife. Rather, Hanabi's illnes is in here," she pointed to her heart. "And it's not easy to cure. I can only do so much. That is why there is no use for me to stay longer than what is necessary."

There was a pregnant pause between Hiashi and Tsunade, and the healer took this time to assemble her instruments back to her kit. After a while, she spoke to Hiashi again.

"Hyuuga-sama, do not despair. I am not saying that Hanabi will not get well. She will but science can only go so far. There are ails in this world that no herb or medicine can cure. And your daughter has it."

Her brown eyes met with Hiashi's sober, pearlescent ones. "What is it that truly ails my daughter, Senju-sama?"

"It's a disease called... loneliness."

~~~~~~~~~~

As Hiashi watched the blonde woman leave the Hyuuga compound, he could not help but wonder if Senju Tsunade had been messing with his mind all this time.

The healer had claimed that the reason Hanabi had been sick was because she's lonely from the death of her mother, his wife. 

It made no sense to the rational and straightforward patriarch. The clan had mourned Lady Chizuru but none had been ill as Hanabi was. True, for some time he himself had been cloaked by grief, but he learned to dust himself off and continue with life.

"But Hanabi isn't like you, Hyuuga-sama," Tsunade had said. "Think. When was the last time you even spoke to her? To your daughters?"

The Senju woman spoke the truth. Hanabi had started to fall into her fevers when Chizuru died and for fear of contracting the disease, Hiashi had made Hinata, Hanabi's elder sister, live on the estate of their grandfather, out in the countryside of Gion. The sisters had been close prior to the death of their mother but that changed when Hinata had turned three and had to undergo her education in order to fulfill her role as heiress. Still, there was a strong bond that bound the sisters and Chizuru had been alive back then.

But the lady of the house died and all that was left in the compound was Hanabi and Hiashi. And that was when Hanabi had stopped eating, had stopped speaking, had stopped living. Hiashi had always blamed the milk pox, the disease, but really, shouldn't he blame himself for not being there for her daughter?

"Chizuru... help me," Hiashi whispered to himself. "I don't know what to do."

He wasn't the kind of man to succumb to his emotions. He is a clan leader, the head of the Daimyo's trusted samurai clan. He carries the responsibilities of the Hyuuga clan, the favor of the Shogunate. 

"But there's still hope," Tsunade had said. "Your daughter is lonely and she needs something to take that loneliness away."

"Then I will have the finest performers from Suna to entertain in my house," Hiashi had declared. "And the best makers of children's toys from Iwagakure as well!"

"Hiashi-sama, your child has enough playthings and trinkets. As for the performers, I doubt she'll appreciate Noh performances."

"Then what?"

The healer's eyes gleamed with sudden inspiration. But whatever it was behind her ambiguous smile, the woman kept secret. 

"I will go back to Takeda. Give me another three days and for sure, I will have found a cure. You will receive it on the fourth night."

That was how their last conversation went before Tsunade left the Hyuuga Estate. As he watched the healer disappear into the distance, the Hyuuga patriarch could not help but feel uneasy. A part of him doubted Senju but another part of him was desperate to take back her daughter.

Was this the curse Hizashi had bestowed on him when he said the Main House will suffer?

~~~~~~~~