Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
AN: The random ramblings that an author puts before a story, and then occasionally after one. Greetings to the person who has clicked on my story and is about to read the contents of it, I hope you enjoy it.
"Is this okay?" Kabuto asked Orochimaru. The two men stood on a wall, and watched Sakura slowly drag her love-interest away from the village. "This is not exactly how I had planned for things to work out," the Snake-sannin admitted, "However; I believe I like it better this way actually."
"This way," Kabuto asked?
Orochimaru smiled, "This way he will come to me of his own free will. And because he will come of his own free will he will be all the more loyal."
Kabuto nodded, not questioning his master's decisions.
"For now though…" Orochimaru's gaze now turned elsewhere, and Kabuto followed it. The man's attention now rested upon a purple-haired woman, who along with the help of Kakashi, Guy, and Iruka was keeping Orochimaru's army of sound Ninja at bay, while the inhabitant of the leaf village fled. 'Mitarashi Anko, Orochimaru's first student' Kabuto mused.
The pre-maturely gray-haired doctor liked to think he was a highly intelligent being, as most people do. The difference between Kabuto and most people is that Kabuto actually is a highly intelligent person, and most people are not. And because Kabuto was a highly intelligent being he had realized that his master did actually care a couple of other people aside from himself. An absurd thought that no one would believe, which was why he kept this observation to himself. Besides those people were ignorant fools, he'd be wasting his time trying to convince them. And they did not see the look in Orochimaru's eyes when they fell upon his former student.
Anko had been kicking ass since this battle had began. One by one she beat Orochimaru's minions into a substance that resembled red goo. Quite literally one by one, these sound ninja seemed to have orders to always make the fights be one against one. And none of them were following those making an escape for it. 'What is he planning' Anko thought. Her former mentor must have some diabolical, evil, self-serving reason for his actions.
"Stop," a voice called. The ninja she had been half-way through the process of beating into a substance that resembled red goo froze and flipped away from her. As did the other three ninjas that had been engaging Kakashi, Guy, and Iruka; and then they fell into a people wall of defense stances. Even in the heat of the moment Anko couldn't help but think her observation of how they looked was amusing.
Kabuto slipped out from among the ranks of men and women. Iruka fell back into a defense stance; Guy allowed one word of surprise to escape his lips, "You…" before he regained his composure and to fell into a defensive stance.
Anko had not been surprised when the news that Kabuto was Orochimaru's right-hand man reached her ears. He had always been good at corrupting the 'nice' ones, and making them evil. She too fell into a defensive stance, not speaking a word. Kakashi however, just stood in his normal laid back stance and then the two gray-haired men began a stare-down. And about thirty seconds into the stare down a pain shot through Anko's neck and she fell to the ground.
The snake-lady didn't know how long she lay on the ground, unaware of her surroundings. Only, after what felt like a rather long time (because pain has a way of really dragging out time) the pain that coursed through her entire body resided into a dull throb. In her neck the pain was greatest, although all the other molecules in her body weren't feeling that good either. In other words she felt like hell. It reminded her of training with Orochimaru.
"Anko climb that mountain."
"Okay."
"Walking on your fingertips, while juggling these kunai with your feet" There had always been a catch in the seemingly easy instructions.
Now that her senses had returned to her, Anko opened her eyes and sat up while looking around wildly. Kakashi and Kabuto were still having their stare down, and Kakashi was winning with only one eye. Guy and Iruka were staring in horror at something to the left of her. She quickly followed their gaze because things that people stare at in horror are for the most part at least fairly important. And then she gave a small scream that a kind person might excuse as a yelp, in shock and fear.
In Anko's defense anyone would scream having Orochimaru within a foot of them. They'd scream in fear, or gives fangirl screams but either way they would scream. Probably a lot louder than Anko did too. The Snake-sannin knelt beside her a look of mock-sympathy and concern on his face. Anko glared at him, because with every molecule in her body screaming in pain, all she could do was glare. Good thing, she was really good at glaring. It was one of the things Orochimaru had taught her, the secret ninja art of glaring at people; very scary.
'Go to hell,' Anko told him with her eyes. Orochimaru smiled in amusement, 'Now, now Anko-chan is that anyway to talk to your Sensei?' At least that was she guessed he would say. It suited his character, to say something along those lines. He might exchange the word 'Sensei' for 'Master'.
He was getting to his feet now, pulling Anko to hers as well. Wrapping his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder; conviently, for him, this would allow him to whisper things in her ear. Orochimaru had never, exactly, respected personal space.
"Perhaps you should allow Anko to decide. After all, it is her life."
These words caused Anko's gut to clench, uneasily. What did that mean? Her life, what decision? Why was Orochimaru being considerate towards her feelings?
"Decide what?" Anko demanded, pulling away from her former mentor's embrace. An act which might have been a good thing, unfortunately her legs were not strong enough to support her weight yet. And this resulted in her falling back to the ground. Orochimaru was nice and pulled her back to her feet, so she didn't look quite so pathetic.
Kabuto looked away from Kakashi, thus declaring him the winner of the staring match. He cleared his throat, "Mitarashi Anko, you have two options to choose from. Call it a trade if you will; an exchange. The people who have escaped and are fleeing will be allowed to escape." Kabuto explained, "Oh and I'll even throw in the nine-tail fox for good measure." Naruto's unconscious body appeared at Kabuto's feet.
Anko tensed, "In exchange for what, the Uchiha?"
Kabuto chucked, "Not exactly, Mitarashi-san, in exchange for you."
Anko clapped a hand to her mouth in horror, and again fell to her knees. This time Orochimaru made no move to help her up. Now she knew why the twisted bastard had allowed this choice. A choice designed to tear her apart. A decision no one should have to make. One's own life, or the life of one's comrades. Her life, or the lives of everyone else here…Shit she was having a bad day.
He'd always had been good at mind games, Orochimaru had. A master in getting inside her head, so she'd thought of him and no one else. And he'd always come to visit her in dreams, when she started getting over him. But none of these thoughts were relevant, and so she pushed them from her mind. This time she manages to get to her feet by herself, and turned to face Orochimaru. He's leaning against a tree that he's summoned, arms-crossed, and its making him look laid back; an amused smirk danced on his lips.
She looks into his eyes, "You win," she said, pleased that her voice is steady. And it is him that has won, not the smart-alecky brat but him. And then she turns to look at Guy, Iruka, and Kakashi.
"Anko…" Iruka whispers, "You don't have to do this."
Anko gives the chunin a sad smile. Both they all know she has to, if they are to escape. If they are to have any hope of overthrowing Orochimaru. Still, Anko is comforted by his words, though she is not sure why. "Go," Anko said, her voice calm and cold. "All of you maggots go"
The three paused only to bow to her once in salute, and Iruka grabs Naruto. Then they are running away. Anko saw Kakashi grab Sakura, and Sasuke and then really pick up the pace. He'd take care of the Uchiha; Kakashi would make sure Orochimaru didn't get his hands on him as well.
The pain in her neck started up. 'Come and save guys' Anko thinks as she watches them disappear over the hills. The pain is getting strong, and falls back and Orochimaru catches her. "Poor Anko," he whispers in her ear. "Don't worry; I'll take good care of you."
Anko is back in the arms of her mentor now. Suddenly, she wanted to laugh at the absurdity of her wish. Oh they just might (one percent chance) of success that they'd rescue her from Orochimaru. But they will never, never be able to save her from herself. And now she's laughing although she's not sure why. But then her laughter turns to sobs.
Anko has had a really bad day. She didn't sleep well, being kept up by nightmares. Her favorite dango shop had sold out by the time she'd got there. Her view for watching the Chunin exams had been crappy. Orochimaru shows up, and assassinates the Hokage, takes over her village. She is now at Orochimaru's mercy, and to top it all off her curse mark is now making her feel like someone stabbed her in the neck. Anko has had a really bad day.
And she blames her really bad day on her neck actions. Anko turns, wraps her arms around Orochimaru, buries her face in his shoulder, and cries her heart out. Just as she had when she was little, and his student; when she'd fallen and scraped her knee. For this more she would pretend to be a little girl again, because it's okay for little girls to cry.
Kabuto looked away from the strange sight of a crying girl hugging Orochimaru. True, it was frequent for people –male or female-to cry around Orochimaru. However, never before had held let any of the people crying hug him. Come to think of it, Kabuto had never seen him let anyone hug him. This was why the sight was strange.
However, because Kabuto enjoyed not having spiky pieces of metal shoved up his ass, he chooses not to comment on the strangeness of the scene. And to keep his evil mouth from saying something he knows he will regret, he addressed the army of sound ninja.
"Repair the city," Kabuto told them. He loved telling great big tough guys what to do. It was because Kabuto is a nerd. And unfortunately, some nerds have 'I love telling big tough guys what to do' tendencies. Now that the big tough guys were repairing Konoha, Kabuto's work was done. This meant he go back to 'Orochimaru cares about Anko' studies.
The purple-haired girl was still crying her little heart out, and now Orochimaru had put his arms around her, and was petting her hair. To make the scene even stranger Kabuto was fairly certain Orochimaru was petting her hair, and whispering 'It'll be okay' in her ear. Oh Kabuto could not wait to write this all down in his 'Orochimaru cares about Anko' notebook. The sadistic doctor smiled, and pushed his glasses into place.
AN: This is the note the author puts at the end of her story. On said author usually asks for reviews. I like reviews; they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. =)