A/N: I do not own Naruto. I do kidnap Itachi from time to time, but that doesn't mean anything...
Enjoy. ^_^
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Chapter Four: And Life Goes On
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SIX YEARS LATER
Hemi was a happy child. She loved to play, but also more than anything, loved to please her elders. She was raised to train hard, and she knew that if she did a good job, she would get praised.
When she was praised, she felt whole.
Her father would always speak of this woman. He called her Hemi's "Mother". Hemi of course knew nothing about this woman, but it excited her when Orochimaru would talk about this Mother of hers.
Because he did not do it very often.
And she would dream of her mother. She would dream about meeting her and hugging her like she does her father. She always wondered what this person would look like.
Would she look like me?
Her favorite animals were snakes. Of course, that was no surprise considering she was raised around them her whole life.
Sasuke, a man she had also been raised around, she looked up to. He was stronger than any other ninja she knew besides her father, and she had always hoped that one day she may surpass him in power. But that was not possible, according to her father.
Hemi always thought of Sasuke as an older, wiser sibling. But he always seemed to hate her. Especially when she received attention from her father. It was like they both had to fight to win it. But the Uchiha would never tell her that he hated her. Just the look in his eyes made Hemi weary. When she would train with her dad, Sasuke would be watching from afar, his eyes focused only on her. An emotion so strong filled his eyes; and it was there every day.
It scared her.
When she would ask Orochimaru about him, he would simply change the subject. So she finally decided to leave it alone. Though she was only seven, she knew when enough was enough.
Her head was always swimming with new questions to ask. And Orochimaru would answer them all, unless they had something to do with her mother or Sasuke.
She didn't quite understand her father's reluctance to questions of those two kinds, but then again, there was a lot of things she didn't understand.
She wondered why they moved all of the time. Going from place to place. It seemed as if they were hiding from something. But what?
She could never understand why she could not have any friends. She could see other children playing sometimes by their new home and she would always ask if she could go out and meet them.
The answer was always, "No."
When she questioned why she was not allowed to have friends she was told that Sasuke and Kabuto were her friends. Kabuto, maybe. He was never mean to her. Sasuke, on the other hand, she'd beg to differ.
The small girl was sitting in her room when the door opened a crack.
She turned to see the black eyes of Sasuke peering through her door.
"Breakfast." He stated in monotone.
She smiled. "Sasuke-kun! Good-"
Slam!
"Morning..."
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Six years of searching.
Six years of crying.
Six years of hoping.
And six years of that hope being crushed.
Anko had been completely broken since the taking of her angel years ago. Her meaning and purpose was taken away from her almost as soon as she had received it.
And it wasn't fair.
She felt like dying most of the time because most of the time, she already felt dead. Her heart was empty; her soul left the night Hemi had.
She hoped that Orochimaru might be taking care of her soul. As well as her sanity.
And most of all, her daughter.
The only thing that kept her moving forward was that invisible little girl reaching out for her, calling her name. She knew her daughter was out there. But where?
Now that was the big question.
It's not like she hadn't been searching. She had searched everywhere. Very few members of the Village helped her through the years, but she made due with what she had.
Which wasn't much.
Her and Ibiki tried to stay strong when they would find an old hideout and it would be abandoned. She would try to smile when they found the slightest lead, no matter how miniscule that lead might have been.
And she would find herself praying each and every day that she would feel that excruciating pain in her neck; so that they would know when they were close to him. She longed for that agony, that built in tracker for Orochimaru, because just thinking about receiving that horrible feeling gave her a sense of renewal. Because if the burning ever came back, it would mean that her daughter, her Hemi could be just around the corner.
But when she would retreat back to her quiet home she would scream into the silence of it, wishing she would hear her baby cry and wake up from this horrible nightmare.
Six long years of a nightmare.
She found herself pushing the people she cared about further away for fear that they might disapeer from her life as well.
Ibiki was the worst.
He was always there, ready to be anything she needed in an instant, whether it be friend or lover, but she would always distance herself from him.
She thought that maybe if she didn't get too close, it wouldn't hurt as bad if something ever happened to him.
A stupid reason really. And it was killing him.
So she was stuck. Alone. A barrier in between her and her loved ones. The only thing that lay next to her at night was her sorrow. The only things she felt was sadness and guilt.
Six years of depression.
Seventy two months of tears.
Three hundred and twelve weeks of loneliness.
Two thousand one hundred and ninety days of hell...
...and counting.
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A/N: Sorry for the wait, and I hoped you liked the latest update. Please send me your love and review my story, okay? ^_^