Chapter Two: Past Sins
By the end of the day, Kakashi was unable to get any information out of the purple-haired woman. She managed to duck his questions and redirect the conversation to a different subject. It was apparent to him that Anko Mitarashi knew everything about him, although it was also apparent to him that he knew nothing about her. In his investigation into Orochimaru, Kakashi hadn't heard of Anko, nor had he seen her in any pictures associated with the White Snakes gang: Orochimaru's henchmen. After dinner, Kakashi had had enough of Anko's avoidance of his questions. He needed answers.
In the bedroom, he sat her down on the mattress while he parked himself across from her on a rickety folding chair.
"We need to talk," Kakashi stated in his most serious voice so that Anko would know that he was serious.
"Oh, you're not going to break up with me, now are you, Kakashi?" Anko grinned, placing a hand over her heart.
"I'm serious, Mitarashi." He scowled.
"I'm serious too, Hatake, don't break my heart now." Anko's smile had a trace of bitterness.
"I want to know who you really are. How do I even know that you're part of the Snakes?" he said ignoring her discomfort. "I can't protect you if I don't even know why I'm protecting you. Why has the Akatsuki taken an interest in you?"
"If I tell you that, then it wouldn't be half as fun now would it?"
"Enough of your cryptic jokes, Anko, I need some answers!" Kakashi watched the woman before him with a steady gaze, looking for signs of deceit.
Anko glared back at him stonily.
"If you want answers, you should be nicer." she said.
"I don't have time to be nice right now." His gaze went straight to her tattooed neck. To his knowledge, only Orochimaru's strongest and closest confidants were given that tattoo. "How did you get that mark on you? What did you do to get that?"
Anko self-consciously touched the mark with her finger. Her expression turned sombre as if remembering a painful memory. Gauging Kakashi's personality, she was sure that she could trust him, but her only worry was that he would throw her out if he found out who she really was.
"I was a spy for Orochimaru, that's how I got the tattoo." Anko started. "I got him information about top pharmaceutical companies all around the world so he can blackmail them into dealing with the black-market."
"That's ridiculous!" Kakashi snapped. "Top CEO's would never jeopardize their livelihood by being associated with criminals."
"That's why everything was clandestine, and after every transaction, all evidence would be destroyed; sometimes evidence were people, so, Orochimaru found a way to dispose of them as well." Anko's heart began to beat erratically.
"What did you do exactly?" Kakashi's stoic expression hadn't changed since the beginning of Anko's story.
"I was the bait." She answered. "Men wanted me, and I seduced and led them to their deaths."
Kakashi said nothing.
Anko met his gaze. "Do I disgust you, Kakashi?"
"No," he lied.
"You lie," Anko watched him. "I disgust even myself. How could you not help but hate me? As a former cop, catching criminals like me was your duty. How can you look at me and not feel repulsed for what I've done?"
He found that he couldn't give an answer.
"Do you regret it?" he asked softly, making eye-contact.
"Why do you think I came to you?" she answered his question with one of her own. "Yet, I know that this won't end until I'm dead and in hell with Orochimaru."
Kakashi got up from his seat and pulled Anko up into his arms. He didn't know what possessed him to embrace a woman who admitted to leading men to death, but he felt her pain, and her guilt. Anko clutched his shirt and cried bitterly into his chest. She could barely remember being held like this before. There was one time when her father held her like this when she was a child, but after that she was on her own. Anko pressed her cheek to the warm body against her and closed her eyes, falling asleep; and for the first time feeling completely safe.
Kakashi placed Anko onto the bed and covered her with his blanket. He then sat at his spot in the corner of the room and observed her from across the room. He pulled the gun from his holster and placed it near his hand on the floor as he watched, leaning against the wall like the night before. She wasn't to be trusted. He knew from experience that the most dangerous people looked and acted like the weakest. He wasn't going to be swayed or seduced by Anko. He wasn't ready to die yet.
Sleep consumed him hours later. Meanwhile, Anko had watched him the entire night, through the veil of darkness. She knew that she had limited time left on earth, and she wasn't going to waste it. Kakashi Hatake might be in for more than he was expecting, but she knew that he would be her only hope. Tomorrow, she told herself, he would know everything. Well, almost everything.
XXXX
In the morning, Kakashi had woken up to the sound of clicking. He jumped up from his spot on the floor and made a grab for his gun. He found that it wasn't anywhere near him, it was on the night table near the bed. It meant that, Anko must have taken it while he was asleep. He was known to be a light sleeper, but it seems that Anko possessed exceptional skills. He wasn't going to let his guard down again.
"Oh, you're awake," Anko came back into the room wearing her stiletto-heeled shoes. "I didn't want to wake you; you look so cute when you're asleep."
Anko picked up clothes from the floor.
"I'm doing the laundry, if you have any more clothes you want cleaned, I'll get a cycle done. I'm doing the dark colours first." Anko brushed past him again, her boots clicking on the hardwood floor.
"Why is my gun on the table?"
"About that, I was worried that it might go off while you were sleeping."
"How did you get it from me?"
"I took it from your hand and put on the table." She replied, confused. "You were snoring so loudly, I didn't think that you'd mind."
"I do not snore!" Kakashi interjected.
"Well, you also talk in your sleep." Anko added. "Who are Obito and Rin?"
Kakashi clammed up at the thought of his old friends at the precinct. It was his fault that they died, it was his fault. He started to shake, anger boiled up inside of him.
"They don't concern you." He stated flatly, eyes blazing.
Anko got the message and walked out carrying an armful of dirty clothes. "Well, I'll stay out of your way."
Kakashi stalked out after her and went straight to the bathroom to take a shower.
XXXX
As water fell over his head, old memories started to gnaw at him. He could vividly remember Obito telling him that he shouldn't be captain of the squad just because he got the highest score on the test. Obito had always spouted on and on about how the leader should be the one with the most field experience.
At the time, Kakashi had thought that he had ignored his teammate's words, but they came blasting back when they were doing a routine highway stop. It was a car going at least thirty below the speed limit. The old Toyota looked suspicious. So he had stopped it against Obito's wishes. Obito had said that by the looks of the car, the guy belonged to a gang; either the Akatsuki or the White Snakes. But, Kakashi pulled rank over him.
They were still rookies then, so when a big, hulking man of six-foot-three straightened up from his seat, and pulled out a semi, it was Obito who took action as Kakashi froze. Obito managed to push his partner between the squad car and the beat up Toyota and took a shot on the leg. By this time, Obito had pulled out his own gun, took aim and fired shot after shot at the man. This caused the taller man to also jump behind his own vehicle for safety and fire shots at both rookies.
Kakashi finally managed to break out of his shock when he pulled out his own weapon. He took it up and fired, hitting the man in the chest with a single shot. If he had been prepared, he could have managed the feat before his partner was shot. As the man fell back unconscious, Kakashi motioned to stand and noticed that there was a sticky, slick fluid beneath him. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was blood.
He turned to Obito who was in a prone position. His leg was bleeding heavily. Kakashi hurried to his side and applied pressure to the wound. Obito screamed in agony. By the amount of blood, it looked like the bullet had pierced Obito's femoral artery.
"Damn it, I can't feel the right side of my body." Obito told his partner as he slowly lost consciousness. Kakashi had stripped of his uniform shirt and wrapped it tightly around Obito's wound. He had called for an ambulance minutes before, but he knew that if Obito didn't die that night, the damage would still be irreversible.
Kakashi tried to keep his partner talking, even after seeing the blood quickly soaking through the navy shirt turning it black. Minutes lagged on, feeling like hours.
"Tell me about Rin," Kakashi had known his partner had a huge crush on Rin, the head of the narcotics department at the station.
"Well, she's one hell of a woman, isn't she, Kakashi?" Obito smiled at the thought of his fellow officer. "Pretty too."
"Yeah," Kakashi agreed.
"She agreed to go out with me, you know. Thursday, she said she'd have lunch with me on Thursday."
"Really, I didn't know that you had the guts to even ask her out."
"Oh, I've asked her many times. She just ignores it. But, this time, she'll find out what an awesomely, lovable guy I am and forget all about her stupid crush on you." Obito said confidently. "Damn it, when is the ambulance coming."
"I hear it," Kakashi lied. "It sounds like it's only a block away."
"Good," Obito smiled ruefully. "Do you think that Rin will agree to go to the hospital for our date? Because I'm sure that this bum leg isn't going to heal in two days."
"Rin loves you, Obito." Kakashi said.
"But, she doesn't love me as much as she loves you." Obito had closed his eyes. "But, I love her more than you could ever love someone. That's the one thing I can beat you in any day of the week."
"You're probably right." Kakashi chuckled.
Obito was slowly fading away; his breathing laboured. The ambulance could be heard in the distance. Kakashi watched and listened as his partner spoke fondly about Rin.
"I love you, Rin." Obito said just as the paramedics rushed out of the ambulance.
They quickly put him on a stretcher, and pressed on his wound. They quickly filled out papers and attached O negative blood to him.
But, Kakashi knew that Obito wasn't going to be saved. He wasn't going to be able to go out on a date with Rin, nor was he going to stay in the hospital for very long.
"We're losing him," one medic shouted and started compressing Obito's chest. Up-down, up-down, "Someone get the paddles."
They tried to revive him, but couldn't. Obito was written as DOA: dead on arrival.
Kakashi had followed the ambulance in his squad car. He swallowed the bile in his throat uncomfortably. What was he going to tell Rin, what was he going to tell everybody. It was his fault. It was his fault for stopping the car. It was his fault for freezing; it was his damned fault for letting Obito die.
There had been tapes of the incident. As for normal protocol, he had turned on the dash-cam before exiting his car. Rin had seen it. She watched it unflinchingly at Kakashi's side. She watched even the last moments as Obito admitted his love for her. Only when the two had left the precinct that Rin broke down.
"I'm so stupid, aren't I?" she asked Kakashi, tears carving down her cheeks. "I took him for granted. I never took him seriously because I always thought that he was joking. That he was an idiot."
Kakashi didn't know what to say, so he stayed silent. He stayed silent as the woman before him repeatedly tried to bare her soul to him. He felt a distinct detachment to her now. He couldn't feel any emotion. He couldn't even hold Rin in his arms for comfort. She's Obito's girl and forever will be.
Rin looked up at him, at his stoic gaze and grim expression.
"I love you, Kakashi." She told him. "But you don't love me, do you?"
"Not the way that Obito loved you." Kakashi admitted. "He'll always love you more, even after death."
Rin sobbed even louder.
"I was afraid of that." She stated softly.
Rin turned away from Kakashi, more broken-hearted than she thought she ever could be.
That was the last time that Kakashi had seen the beautiful Rin alive. The next he'd heard that she had died in a gun showdown in a back alleyway with the White Snakes. Other officers called her a stupid woman for trying to take down an entire organization by herself. But, Kakashi knew that what Rin wanted wasn't revenge, she wanted love. He was certain that if he had only said that he loved her, she wouldn't have gone after the gang that killed Obito. Rin was looking for pieces of her heart. She'd foolishly though that Obito left it with the White Snakes and went to get it back.
Well, she got it back, but at a price.
XXXX
Anko was wondering what was taking Kakashi so long in the bathroom. She had still yet to take a shower, and would have really wanted one. She knocked loudly on the door but there was no response.
"Kakashi, are you alright?" she asked from behind the door.
Yet, still there was no reply.
She took a pin from her hair and picked the lock with ease. She slowly swung the door open and found the shower curtain still closed around the bathtub and the shower still running. She cautiously walked to the tub and drew back the plastic curtains.
She found Kakashi sitting at the bottom of the tub his legs bent up at his knees, his arms hanging from the top of his knees and his eyes stared blankly at the ceramic wall. His cheeks bore tracks of either water or tears, Anko didn't know.
Anko turned off the water. She grabbed a towel from a closet and draped it around the now shivering man. He had been under the water, which had since gone cold, for almost a couple hours now.
"What's wrong?" she asked him.
He kept silent.
Anko entered the tub behind him and proceeded to lift him up. He stood easily enough, although his body still shook. She wrapped the towel draped over his shoulders around his waist. She took him to the bed room, laid him down on the bed and plied him with blankets.
"Sleep," she whispered in his ear. "I'll be right here when you wake up."
Beneath the blankets he still shook, so Anko wrapped her arms around his larger body to share her body heat. Minutes later, she could hear his soft snoring, indicating that he was asleep. Anko tried to pull away, but his arms were tightly locked around her; his cheek seeking the warmth of her neck. It didn't take long before sleep claimed her as well.
So, she wasn't able to tell him everything today. Maybe there'd be tomorrow for her and for him too.
A/N:
I would just like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! And I know that this chapter doesn't really inspire a lot of Christmas Holiday cheer, but I hope that you continue your fabulous support. Also note that I will be changing the rating for this story to "M" just to be safe. Please Review.