Disclaimer: I own Naruto in no way or fashion…period.
The Presence Felt
She'd never forgiven him after all those years, and she never would. Not after what he did – it was too despicable, too vile to bear. Yet here she was, reflecting on this presence she felt.
Anko sat upon her bed, chilly and shivering. It was sometime in the early morning, and she had just woken up from another haunting dream. These dreams had terrorized her for years now, slowly wearing down at her nerve. It made her paranoid almost to just think of the content of those nightmares.
She glanced nervously around, looking for a sign of anything. Her actions were not answered, but the chill still surrounded the room. This presence she felt was unexplainable. There was no cause, nothing there. It was all in her head she told herself, but was it?
It was those eyes that haunted her every waking moment, destroying any semblance of confidence she may've had. Those gold, gleaming eyes shown through the night to her, yet they were inexistent in the area. Probably hundreds of miles away by now, she confided in herself.
However, she still felt their presence, no matter where she went.
A few years flew by, and the advent of the Chuunin Exams had arrived - just another one that Anko found herself one of the proctors. This year's bunch of Genin, fresh meat, was as scraggily as she'd ever seen them. One rambunctious little monster in an eyesore of an orange jumpsuit had thought it'd humorous to imitate her foreboding words of warning.
An amusing one was what this one was as she slid up behind him. Another reached near her and dispensed the thrown kunai into her hand, actually more like delivered it into her hands covered dripping saliva with an insanely lengthy tongue. That was another odd one, this Grass shinobi with taunting, gleaming eyes.
One disturbance after another was all there was for her.
It seemed that the fates had granted her worst day yet as she sped off in towards the heart of the Forest of Death. She could sense it once more, that chilling presence. Anko was near, she could tell.
How that bastard, her former mentor, found his way her she did not acknowledge nor care fore. All that mattered truly mattered in her eyes at the moment was to find him and destroy him, even if it cost her own life. Which it probably would, but she didn't contain a trace of worry or anxiety.
Anko finally found the clearing upon a branch of one of those immense trees. She felt his presence once more, her curse seal angrily sending scorching pain through her collar. There he was, and she quickly launched out a barraged of shuriken hoping to catch him off guard.
She knew it had failed the minute the bunshin slopped muddily onto the ground. Suddenly, Anko found herself cornered against the trunk of the tree. He worst nightmares were coming true as their subject matter spoke to her in that sinister voice. She shouted back at him, glaring into those haunting eyes of his. Orochimaru merely simpered and turned away, evidently amused at her contempt.
He smiled oddly and explained his "intentions" for Konoha to her; all the while she was still somehow frozen against the tree. The unnerving feeling in her gut arose again as she screeched and bellowed towards the terrorizing figure.
The next thing Anko realized, she was being freed from the jutsu that bound her. The enemy was seemingly fading into nowhere, out of existence with that merciless cackle and stare of his. She collapsed upon the flooring matted with bark and vines, exhaling heavily and somehow exhausted from the encounter.
It was all over, yet his presence still lingered as always.