Fandom:Naruto
Title: Of Shame and Deception
Author: Crimson Kaleidoscopes
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Summary: There was once, a little girl who played in the fields of shame and deception. One shot.
Collection's notes: Orochimaru will be very OOC.
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The room was quiet, the silence disturbed by the occasional curse from a pretty purpled haired girl. The said girl was working on the mountain of paperwork on her desk, in a bid to finish them before the deadline was up.
The girl sighed; she placed her pen down to drink her coffee and to relax for a while. She smiled in contentment. The coffee was heavenly. It would be perfect if she could just…
The girl blinked, in a bid to rid the haziness that was clouding her brain, to clear the sleepiness that was fogging her brain, and found that her gaze, without meaning to, had fallen on the two flowers that were always by her desk.
"Anko, tell me, do you know the meanings behind these flowers?"
Anko blinked once more. Where had that voice come from? She must be dreaming. Or perhaps, she was losing what little sanity she had left within her. Without meaning to, her eyes drifted shut and she entered the memories of her mind.
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A little purple haired girl with a smile that was as bright as the sun ran across the fields filled with only two different kinds of flowers. The kinds that were known as snapdragon and peony. Her teacher was following her, though at a slower pace.
"Sensei! Look! Those flowers are very pretty! One is pale pink and the other a vibrant one! Wow! Look! There are blue ones too! Even the colour red is here! Sensei! Out of all the colours, which one is your favourite? Is it the white one? Or is it the pure pink one? Is it the beige coloured one? Or is it the one with the colours pink and white mixed together? Which is your favourite sensei?" the excited little girl questioned.
Her teacher smiled at her gently. He reached out to pick a pale purple flower and a flower with a purple core with white petals.
"These. Anko, tell me, do you know the meanings behind these flowers? Do you know what species of flowers to they belong to?"
Anko shook her head. She had absolutely no clue to what the types of flowers they were, let alone the meaning behind the flowers!
Her teacher smiled.
"Anko, this flower," he held up the pale purple flower, "is a snapdragon. It means gracious lady. However, this flower also symbolizes deception. Someone once said that this flower also represents betrayal."
"This," he held up the other flower, "is known as a peony. It means a happy life, and a happy marriage. Like the snapdragon, this flower has a darker meaning. Shame. This flower also represents shame. Remember this Anko, you might never know when you need this knowledge."
Anko smiled.
"Hai sensei."
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Anko shook her head, effectively ending the memory. There was no time for her to daydream about her childhood, to dream about the happy times that were no longer within her reach.
She looked at her desk and groaned. There was a mountain of paperwork, still innocently sitting down there. Anko glanced at the clock. It was three in the afternoon. She had been working on that pile for three hours, and yet, it only went down by half. How she wished that the entire pile would disappear. It did not matter if it was by some freak occurrence!
She sighed. She badly wanted to take a break, but she had to finish that dreaded pile of revolting stack of papers. The council would have her head and not even the Third Hokage could stop them if she handed in the paperwork after the deadline.
"Anko, take a break. This mountain of paperwork never ends."
Anko whirled around. Where on earth did that voice come from? Who had just spoken? Was she really losing the sanity that had not exactly made itself home in her exhausted body? Oh well, she could use the advise given to her by her imagination. She rubbed her eyes. Perhaps she should not have tried to do the paperwork for three hours straight.
Grabbing her cup of coffee, she headed to her couch that was located in the same room and reclined on her plush cushion as she gazed at the teal coloured ceiling in the room.
Strange, her vision was getting all blurry. Anko blinked, trying to clear the fog in her head.
There were spots dancing all over the place… so pretty, so colourful…
With a smile of disdain directed to herself, Anko gave into the temptation and drifted to sleep.
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"Argh! This mountain never ends! How am I going to finish it?" a brown eyed lady screamed.
Her teacher poked his head into her room. The room was neat, but he could not see his pupil. The paperwork blocked her from his view. He edged into the room, trying to locate his pupil. The said pupil did not notice him at all. She was busy ranting about the evils of paperwork. When he finally found her, he held back a chuckle. His pupil was buried under all the paperwork. Seeing her mutter all sorts of curses under her breath, he decided to take pity on her.
"Anko, take a break. This mountain of paperwork never ends."
"Sensei? When did you get in here?" asked Anko with a stupefied expression plastered on her face.
He smiled at her bewildered expression.
"When you were too busy cursing the paperwork."
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"Why sensei, why? Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this to me? Why? Sensei, tell me, why are you doing this?" Anko asked the thin air. Her sensei had abandoned her to be a missing nin. That was not all. He used her as an experiment subject. He had branded her with his cursed seal.
"Sensei… why?"
Anko closed her eyes and cried. The scalding tears were flowing down, mixing with the grim found on her face. She did not bother to wipe them away. She just allowed them to fall.
When her tears had run out, she blinked, and without meaning to, she found her gaze on two flowers on the table. One was pale purple, the other, purple with white mixed in it.
Anko gasped.
"No… no… you don't mean that… no… NO! Sensei, where are you? Come back here and tell me this is a joke…"
"No… you can't do this to me… no…"
Snapdragon and peony. The two kinds of flowers that once made her day now broke her heart.
"No… sensei… no…"
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Anko woke up, with tears in her eyes. Of all possible dreams, it just had to be that dream! Why? Why must she be reminded of her teacher's betrayal? Could she not have a dreamless sleep?
Could her memories stop trying to break her?
Could she not have a moment of peace?
Could her teacher not haunt her dreams?
Anko sighed and wiped the liquid that was clinging to her eyelashes. There was no time for her to cry over the betrayal. She had a lot work to do.
On second thoughts, she would cry later, in the dead of the night, where no one would ever hear her sobs, would ever see her tears, would ever see the façade of her break and shatter into millions of pieces.
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With a smile and a slight cheer, Anko placed the last piece of paperwork under her "done" pile.
She glanced at the clock hanging by the wall. It was seven in the evening.
Her stomach rumbled. It was time for dinner, time to face the villagers and the never-ending hatred and anger.
As she walked towards the dango store, she noted her surroundings.
Anko sighed.
The stares of hatred, the stares of misplaced anger, the stares of fear.
The snake slithering towards its prey, the mouse.
The place where she is eating her dinner.
The food that she is eating, dango.
The flowers that grew on the bushes that decorated the roads.
Everything she looked at reminded her of her teacher, the snake sannin, of the happiness she once had within her grasp.
Finishing her last stick of dango and the last cup of her sake, Anko decided not to hang about any longer and just head home to sleep.
As her head hit the pillow, she was once again assaulted by the memories of her teacher.
Tears filled her eyes, and this time, she allowed them to fall.
She cried for her lost innocence, her lost happiness and her teacher.
She cried for all the mistreatment that she had to endure.
She cried for the fact that almost no one would trust her anymore.
As her tears finally ran dry, she allowed one last thought to pass through her mind before she succumbed to the land of dreams.
Sensei, I wonder… I wonder if you had not betrayed me, had not betrayed Konoha, had not betrayed all that you hold dear, would I still be the little girl who was once your apprentice?
Would I still be the innocent girl who played in the fields of shame and deception?
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So how did I do?