With my wide eyes
I've seen worlds that don't belong
My mouth is dry with words I cannot verbalize
Tell me why we live like this
Broken – VII
"I don't get it. What's so great about this girl that Orochimaru wants her so badly?"
"It's not that she's great, though from what I've heard she's an exceptionally bright girl with a lot of potential. But that's not what he cares about."
"Then what?"
"It's what she had, what he longed for, what makes him hate her, that makes him want to punish her. That's why he wants her back."
Jiraiya sighed and scratched his head. He'd just wanted to come back to Konoha for a nice, quiet visit with old Tsunade, and instead he found himself mixed up in some crazy custody case involving his old roommate.
Maybe he would have been better off staying away all together.
"Well, we all know Orochimaru isn't all there anyway." Jiraiya sighed. "Why would anyone in their right mind leave him to be the guardian of their kid?"
"You don't remember Mitarashi Sachiro, do you Jiraiya?" The white-haired man blinked. That was a familiar name…
"Wasn't he that stupid kid that followed Orochimaru everywhere? Worshipped the guy, for some strange reason." Sarutobi nodded.
"Sachiro was a boy starved for attention, and Orochimaru gave it to him. Sachiro become very attached to Orochimaru after that. Even after they left…"
"So this girl is Sachiro's kid? Feel sorry for her."
"Yes…well, as I was telling you, now Orochimaru's fighting us for custody. Anko is, in the eyes of the law, legally his ward. And according to him, we had no grounds to take her in."
"How'd she get here anyway? If Orochimaru is fighting for her, he can't have left her here himself."
"He wouldn't, he'd be taking the risk that she'd tell someone the truth. No, three of our residents found her on the street one night. She was terribly beaten, and they didn't want to leave her. They recognized her from school, and wasted no time bringing her here."
"Raising more humanitarians here, Sarutobi-Sensei?" Jiraiya smirked. "Anyways, it's obvious you can't let this girl go back to Orochimaru, it'd be as good as sending her right into death's open arms. Sounds like you've got one screwed up case here, huh?"
"It certainly won't be easy. We're trying to keep it from getting back to the other kids, including Anko. She doesn't need to know what's going on. All we can do is hope that the court will see sending Anko back to Orochimaru is a bad idea."
Jiraiya nodded, though he didn't put much faith in the court system. After all, they'd had no problem sending him back to his own neglectful parents. It had a mistake that nearly killed him.
"What are you doing up here?"
Anko looked over her shoulder. Kakashi was standing in the door to the stairs that led back down into the school (she was currently sitting on the roof). It was lunchtime, and everyone was relishing in being able to take a break from classes so they could eat and talk and make fun of their teachers.
It was never something Anko had taken part in. Apparently Kakashi felt the same way.
"Just thinking. You?"
"Saw you up here alone. Thought I'd join you."
"You're making a habit of that, aren't you?" Anko asked as Kakashi sat down next to her. "Coming to me in my time of need? Better be careful. One might think you were taking advantage of me."
"Yeah, because I'm really the kind of guy that would do that." Kakashi rolled his eyes. "My name isn't Uchiha Obito, you know."
"Uchiha ever made a move on me I'd hit him."
Kakashi smiled on his mask. That was pretty much the kind of answer he'd expected. But at the same time, for some unexplainable reason, it annoyed him.
"You don't have to do that, you know."
Anko looked up at him in surprise. "Do what?"
"Be so strong all the time. Saying things like that. You don't have to. You don't have to be strong like that every second of the day."
It was weak bait and he knew it. But he wanted her to start talking to him. He wanted to know she trusted him. He wanted her to know she was free of the torment and suffer of Orochimaru.
He wanted her to be okay for real.
"You just want me to tell you the truth."
Damn she was good. "I told you if you wanted to talk, I would listen. But I'm not going to force you to."
"Yeah right."
"Yeah. Right."
They fell silent for a minute.
"I can really talk to you if I want to?"
"Of course you can. I'm a good listener."
"Okay."
The two lapsed into silence again, and went back to watching the people below. The bell was going to ring in about ten minutes.
"I was three when my parents died." Kakashi looked at Anko. He wondered if she was even aware of the fact she was speaking. "I was with Orochimaru-sama when it happened, he was babysitting. They went out for a dinner, just the two of them. They promised me the next time they went out we could all go, because I was mad at them for leaving me behind. I never even said goodbye to them when they left. I didn't say anything to them at all, I just pouted in my room. So they left."
Kakashi wanted to say something. But he knew now that she was talking, it would be better not to stop her.
"When I woke up the next morning, Orochimaru-sama told me what happened. The driver was drunk. He crashed head on into them. They died on impact. I didn't understand any of it. I wanted to know why my parents weren't coming home. I was too young to get it. And I felt so mad at my parents. I was mad because they had left me, mad because I hadn't gone with them. I know I shouldn't have felt that way, but I was just so mad. I couldn't help it.
"I started living with Orochimaru-sama about a month after they died. It took everyone a long time to get the legal stuff worked out. I still don't understand any of that. But I still remember my first night there. I don't even remember what I did wrong, I think I might have knocked over a lamp or something…and he hit me."
Kakashi's hands curled into loose fists.
"It was the first time anyone had ever hit me. My parents never did anything like that. But he did. He backhanded me. I still remember how that felt. It was the worst feeling in the world, and I didn't understand it. So I started crying. Orochimaru-sama didn't like that. He locked me in the basement. I remember it was really cold, and there wasn't anything to cover up with. I stayed down there all night. When Orochimaru-sama let me out the next morning, he said, 'I hope you learned your lesson.' I didn't know what he meant. I didn't know what I was supposed to learn. But I guess I never learned it, because he kept hitting me."
Her voice was so low now Kakashi could barely hear it. He strained his ears and leaned forward. He wanted to hear the story.
"When I was little all he did was slap me. When I was six he started actually punching me. When I was eight he started kicking me. He was always careful to make sure he didn't leave a mark where anyone could see it. But it always hurt.
"Sometimes it was for something really stupid, like I'd eat something I wasn't supposed to―"
Kakashi remembered the day at the river, when she had been so hesitant to eat. One mystery solved.
"Or I'd forget to do something he told me to. Once he really beat me, because I almost got him into trouble. A teacher at school saw a bruise he left on my arm and called social services. I spent some time in foster care while they investigated ― I told you before, he has connections, he told everyone the bruises were all self-inflicted ― and when I went home, he really let me have it. After he finished he threw me in the basement again. He hadn't done that in years. But he said I still hadn't learned my lesson. He left me in there for almost three days."
The bell was ringing. Anko didn't seem to hear it though. Kakashi ignored it. He wanted to hear this story to the end.
"That happened when I was nine. The beatings just got worse after that. Sometimes he would tell me to stand up, like he was encouraging me to fight back, but I never could. I couldn't fight back. I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't do anything. When I didn't do anything, he'd call me worthless and hit me harder. Sometimes I thought maybe he was right. Maybe I was worthless." She bit down on her lip, drawing blood. "Maybe I am."
"You're not."
It was the first time Kakashi had spoken. His fists were now clenched so tightly he was drawing blood.
"How do you know?!" She straightened up to look at him. Her eyes were wide and shining with tears. "You don't know me, you don't know anything about me! If I'm really worth anything, anything at all, then why…why?!"
She looked away, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. A few stray tears slipped down her cheeks.
"I looked up to him…I admired him…he took me when my parents died, he was all I had! So why, why, why couldn't I be good enough for him?!"
Good grief. The poor girl was completely brainwashed. She thought it was her fault she was being abused.
What a cruel way to mess with a kid's head.
"Anko…" It was no surprise she didn't answer. So he did the only other thing that made sense. He reached his arm across her shoulders and carefully drew her close to him. She flinched upon the initial contact, but relaxed instantly, resting her head against his chest.
"It's not your fault." He said, reaching up his free hand and running it through her hair. It was a comfort technique he'd learned a long time ago. "There's only one person to blame for what happened to you. And he'll never come near you again. I promise."
"Obito-kun, I'm worried." Rin said as she and Obito made their way home. "Don't you think we should go look for them?"
"Nah." Obito rested his hands behind his bed, his eyes closed. He was completely unconcerned by the fact that Anko and Kakashi had never returned to class after lunch. He wished Rin wouldn't worry as much about it either. "Come on Rin-san, I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe they both felt sick and left early."
"I doubt it." Rin shook her head. Obito sighed as he elbowed open the front door and walked in.
"Quit worrying." Obito said. "I'm sure it's nothing."
"Sure what is nothing?"
Obito looked over his shoulder. Well speak of the devils.
"Where've you two been?"
Anko, Rin and Obito were quick to notice, looked particularly worn. Her tired eyes were downcast, and she just looked tired.
"It's…a long story. Teachers notice we were gone?"
"Yeah." Obito pulled a folder out of his bag and handed it to Anko. She took it with a murmured 'thanks.' Rin repeated the process with Kakashi. "Luckily you two are just such exceptional students that they didn't question it. So what happened?"
"I'm going upstairs." Anko muttered, pulling her backpack tightly over her shoulders, still not looking at any of them. "Thanks for getting my work Uchiha. And thanks Kakashi…thanks."
"No problem." Kakashi watched her walk away. Obito glared at Kakashi.
"What the hell happened between you two?"
Kakashi ignored the Uchiha. He knew it would take a long time for Anko to recover, and get the idea out of her head that it was all her fault. But he wanted to help her. And no matter what it took…he would.
Author's Note - Nnn...must...sleep...forever...review please...naptime - Sam
