A/N:

Before I get started I'd like to get a couple things out of the way. First of all, I don't own Naruto, and once of all I'm going to bend the few details we're sure about to get my own way and to further the story. This likely won't be a romance, but it'll be close

Chapter One

He'd abandoned her in the dead of night. The man she'd looked up to, admired, and even loved had just abandoned her as if she'd meant nothing to him, and perhaps, she hadn't. She just didn't want to believe that. She was his only student and was going to be the heir to his techniques, so why would he do this? He'd looked her straight in the eyes and told her she was weak and didn't deserve to be following him, and then he'd left her there, injured and lying in a pool of her own blood while he ran, fleeing Konoha and the ninjas trailing him.

It hadn't taken long before they found her, trying futilely to hide in the nearby bushes. The ANBU had debated killing her, but it wasn't in their orders and none of them wanted to be responsible for killing a fourteen-year-old girl. They'd questioned her urgently, but she refused to answer and soon passed out from the lack of blood. Without any other choice they dragged her back to Konoha.

Which was where she was at this very moment. She was lying on a hospital bed while the Hokage, Sandaime himself paced worried circles around her bed. "Did he mention anything about where he was going?"

"No."

"Did he tell you what he was doing here? Or why the ANBU is after him?"

"No."

"How did you get injured?"

"I took a kunai in it and then I fell and broke it."

"Did you get wounded protecting him?"

"No."

He sounded weary, but she could still perceive the concern and pity in his voice. "Anko...he rejected you, there's no reason for you to protect him anymore. Do you have any idea how many people he's killed?"

She wasn't a fool. Her sensei was a Jounin, so he'd been on a lot of dangerous missions. "I know it was a lot."

"At this point we've found forty-five bodies of your fellow villagers that he killed in his quest to perfect an immortality jutsu and I have reason to believe that he was not above using you."

Her breath hitched in her chest. Sure Orochimaru could be a bit condescending, but he wouldn't kill her, would he?

"He left you to die Anko. He doesn't care for you at all."

"It's only a broken leg, he knew I wouldn't die."

Sarutobi sighed. She was being difficult. "You may not realize it, but by going with him, you became a traitor to this village. You know very well that ANBU are allowed to kill traitors. And Orochimaru knew this as well."

Anko clenched her fist. "I don't want to talk anymore. Could you please leave now?"

He nodded and locked eyes with the ANBU member leaning against the wall. "He'll stay here with you for the night."

She acknowledged him with a soft grunt and kept her eyes trained on her cast, not bothering to watch Sandaime leave. She was so very tired, but she couldn't sleep, not with that ANBU's eyes burning holes into her back. "Can't you look somewhere else?"

"It's my responsibility to watch you and that's what I'm going to do." He slid down into an Indian squat, his arms folded across his chest.

His voice had a slight squeak to it and she guessed that it hadn't completely deepened yet. So he was a teenager, and probably not much older than her. Great. That made her feel so much better. Now her imagination made his eyes on her feel so much more terrifying. "Please, do you have to look at me like that?"

"How would you prefer I look at you?"

"I'd rather you didn't at all."

"Unfortunately, that's not an option. I'd be held responsible if you escaped my custody."

"How am I going to run with this on my foot?" She motioned to the bulky cast.

"You're a Chuunin." She could hear the smile in his voice. "I'd say you're capable of it."

"Where would I go?"

"Back to your sensei."

"I told you what happened. He doesn't want me anymore."

"That won't stop you. You love your sensei, don't you?"

"Why does it matter to you?"

She heard him sigh and then the rustle of his clothing as he rearranged himself. "It doesn't. Go to sleep."

She groaned at his authoritative tone and pulled the thin sheet up over her head. How dare he think he could boss her around like that? She'd show him. She tightened her fist under the covers and was overcome by a massive yawn. That needle the nurse had given her for the pain had finally kicked in. She lost control of her eyelids as they slowly descended over her eyes, the soft whirring of the machines lulling her to sleep.

When she woke up the next morning he was still there, sitting in the corner, staring at her.

He stood up. "You're awake."

"Yeah." She struggled into a half-sitting position, careful not to jostle her leg. "You're still here."

"I am." His answer was short and to the point, designed so that she couldn't find an issue to provoke him over.

"I told you that I'm not going anywhere."

"I'm not guarding you for my own health. It's for your safety."

"I'm not important enough to kill. There's nothing to worry about."

"Sandaime isn't worried about anyone else."

It took a moment for the true meaning of his words to sink in. "Suicide?" True, her thoughts had been of a more depressing nature as of late, but that had never crossed her mind.

"You lost your family didn't you? And now this."

"There isn't anyone in this village who hasn't lost anybody."

He was silent for a long moment, probably remembering his own losses.

"And when you're the last one left in your family there isn't any point in dying. Right?"

He nodded quietly.

Anko could tell that his mind was occupied and stared at the door, her own mind wandering. Like a lot of the others, her parents had been among the ninjas who'd gone out and helped in the fight against Kyuubi two years ago. She remembered crying, clutching at her mother's skirt, begging them not to go, but her father had ruffled her hair, told her she was a big girl and promised that they would come back.

He'd lied. The next morning she'd learned that Yondaime had sealed Kyuubi, but hadn't been able to prevent his own death or those of her parents. Her sensei had been out of town then, and she'd had no one to turn to with her grief, so she'd buried it deep inside. Sandaime had started sending her on missions as soon as the village's period of grief was over, trying to get her mind off of her losses. And then she'd seen him again three weeks ago. He'd never told her why his trip had lasted so long, but she trusted that he would take care of her again, protect her like he used to do. It turned out that her trust was misplaced. He left her again to fend for herself.

The door opened and once more the Hokage entered the room, the ANBU standing to attention upon seeing him. "Good morning Anko, I trust you're feeling better?"

"My leg hurts."

"I'll send the nurse in soon enough," he sat in the chair next to her bed. "However, I would like to get some answers from you first."

"I don't see how I can help you," she glared at Sandaime. "I don't know anything."

He sighed. "Anko, do not make this difficult for yourself. If this continues I will be required to keep you under protective custody. And you might even have to be jailed. I would hate to have to do something like that to someone as promising as you are."

She groaned. "I told you already. I don't know anything. He just said that he was in town temporarily and I wanted to go with him when he left. Why is that such a big deal?"

"Because he's a criminal," the ANBU inserted, obviously fed up with her simple idiocy.

Something inside of her snapped. "Shut up bastard! You don't know him!"

"I know enough," he replied curtly, turning his masked face on hers, daring her to continue.

Sandaime cleared his throat. "Perhaps it's about time I tell you the true nature of my visit here this morning."

Both teens turned to look at him, shooting each other a glare one last time.

"I'd like to thank you for spending the night here, and I have your next mission right here," he reached into his robe and passed the young ANBU a brown scroll. Satisfied with completing that action, he nodded to the teens and left the room.

When the door closed Anko returned to glaring at the room's only other occupant. "Well..."

"Well, what?"

"Aren't you going to open it?"

"This isn't any of your business."

"Why do I get the feeling that it's totally my business?"

He scowled at her behind the mask, and then smiled sheepishly when he realized that she couldn't see his expressions and against his better judgment squatted on the floor again, opening the scroll before her.

"So?" she rested her chin on her hands and looked down at him.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Damn you."

"Aww, what's wrong? Don't tell me a big strong ANBU like you has to search for someone's pet pig?"

"No. Worse."

"You have to clean up after someone's pet pig?" she shuddered as she remembered a similar horrible experience.

"No. I have to watch you. For the next two months."