To live, to trust, to love

There you go, I apologize for the long wait. This is the last chapter before the epilogue, enjoy!

Chapter 6: reckless fool

An eerie laugh echoed from the sides of her soon to be prison, contorted by the curving walls that were about to close above her. Anko raised her eyes to get a glimpse of Kakashi, but couldn't see her silver haired partner anymore. Instead she found something else blocking her view of the night sky.

She threw her hands over her head and cowered down, just before a giant water dragon came crashing down upon her prison. The earthen walls were washed away and the missing-nin loosened his grip around her ankle. The force of the water based nin-jutsu had hit him even in the shallow depth of his cavern. Too stunned to stop her retreat, Inamoto could do nothing as the kunoichi made her way back to her teammate's side.

"I could have done without getting wet, you know", she told Kakashi as a manner of greeting, before adding a heartfelt, "Thank you."

Her eyes met his and she could see the strain in them, he was definitely running low on chakra. Anko didn't even want to consider what the water-dragon had cost him – s far away from any water source. Gently, she reached for his forehead protector and tugged it down to cover his Sharingan once more. Meeting his confused gaze with a simple 'Anko-smirk' she shrugged the lingering question off.

"So what do we do now?" Silence met her question and the kunoichi could tell that her silver haired companion had yet to come up with a new plan. "We're pretty much screwed, aren't we?"

He nodded almost imperceptibly, Anko was right. With Inamoto hidden beneath the ground they could not attack him, couldn't even be certain where he was. The only time when he had come even close to the surface had been when he was certain of his victory after he had caught Anko in his well-set trap. And even then it had only been his stone-covered left arm; he had practically still been out of combat-range. And those weren't the worst of their worries.

His chakra-level was running dangerously low and he wondered how much longer Anko's leg would be able to support her weight. He knew the energetic kunoichi well, had seen her moves countless times during missions or friendly sparring matches, and she certainly wasn't up to her usual strength anymore. And even though their opponent was

most likely low on chakra as well, they could not use it to their advantage as long as he had the advantage of a perfect hideout. Kakashi had to come up with a plan, and fast.

His mind formed vague outlines of strategies but he discarded them all for too little chance of success before contemplating them further. And then he noticed something that let his blood run cold. A feral grin had stolen across Anko's features, a sure sign that she was about to do something incredibly foolish (or annoying, or – in most cases – both).

She threw a sidelong glance at Kakashi and when their eyes met, he could see a mix of emotions in hers. Excitement and anger towards their opponent but also worry for his health seemed to be reflected in the brown depths. The silver haired jounin wondered for a second if he really looked strained enough to garner such a look.

Before he could reach out a hand to hold her back, before he could even say a word, she had pushed herself off the branch and landed on the clearing below. Ignoring the throbbing of his broken ribs and the angry objections of his injured back he took off after her. The pain didn't matter right now, nothing mattered but saving Anko from her own recklessness.

A plan had formed in Anko's mind as she'd realized how Inamoto's only vulnerable moment had been when he'd attacked her. True he had still been hidden mostly beneath the earth but coupled with his self-confidence and the fact that he was off the deep end that moment posed a chance to strike. At least it was a possibility, and one that wouldn't force Kakashi to do another high-level nin-jutsu to draw Inamoto out, as Anko was certain Kakashi would have proposed as his next plan.

Anko approached the centre of the clearing and as she had expected the missing-nin's voice welcomed her. "Back so soon?" The taunting was still there, he was still feeling superior, but that would only work to her advantage.

"Yes", Anko made sure that he could hear the smirk in her voice, "come and get me you freakish-wannabe golem." Her remark seemed to have the desired effect, as accompanied by a cry of anger stone-snakes once again rose from the ground to attack her.

Anko did not move, but instead formed the proper seals and spit a volley of fireball at the animated earth. As she had expected it little effect on her earthen opponents. But it drew another hollow laugh from her opponent.

He seemed to be certain of his victory, which was what Anko wanted. Overconfident shinobi tended to make mistakes.

The Konoha-nin performed a hasty backflip to escape the attack of a stone-snake and caught a glimpse of Kakashi landing on the clearing as well. 'Good', she thought, 'let's end this!' But when her feet touched the ground again, her injured leg buckled beneath her and she sank to one knee.

Inamoto saw the opening and once more his stony left hand closed around her ankle, seizing her so tightly that she could feel her bones shift and finally break under the pressure. Anko bit back a scream as the pain assaulted her.

Dark brown walls rose from the ground to close around her again, but this was the opportunity Anko had waited for. Using the kunai she still held firmly in her hands she thrust it at the patch of earth where she assumed his head or neck would be, close to the place where his arm vanished into the ground. But her weapon met with solid stone and vibrations ran down the length of her arm at the sheer force of the blow.

The kunai broke.

Shrill laughter accompanied her bad luck. "Well, well that was your last weapon, what will you do now Konoha-nin?" The grip around her ankle tightened further, ripping a small scream from Anko's lips as her broken bones ground against each other. The stony prison was all but completely sealed and Anko's weapons spent. In front of her Inamoto's other hand rose from the ground, clutching a kunai of his own. "I'd say you die."

With her foot still caught Anko had no way to dodge the attack nor would she be able to flee on her broken foot. More and more of Inamoto's body rose from the ground, his head and torso finally linked the two arms together. It seemed that he wanted to see her eye-to-eye while he killed her.

'Sick bastard', Anko thought. But then again it was what she had expected. Clutching onto her actual last weapon for dear life, Anko waited no longer and thrust the senbon deeply into Inamoto's neck. His eyes widened in shock and pain, he brought his right

hand up to clutch the wound instead of bringing it down to kill her. The walls of her dark prison crumbled along with his concentration.

And Kakashi was right there behind them. Finally getting the strength to strike at their opponent he took it. He drove his own kunai deep into the missing-nin's back. Anger at having been unable to aid Anko before now lend him the strength to pierce the ribcage clean through and the point of the kunai protruded from the Iwa-nin's chest. Blood splattered onto Anko's feet and legs as the shinobi sank lifelessly to the ground, which still enclosed half of his body.

His limp fingers released her ankle and as the life faded from their opponent, so did the adrenalin from Anko's body. Worn out she sank to the ground, mindful of her broken bones. Gazing up at Kakashi, she noticed that he looked like death warmed over, but figured that she didn't look much better herself.

Her teammate shook his silver head, "reckless fool", he chastised, but there was relief and teasing in his voice.

Anko flashed him a smile that matched her answer: "You know, contrary to other shinobi I could name, my pans work."

"You just keep telling yourself that", he replied, joining in on the playful banter that helped to relax both their uneasy nerves. It had been a close call.

Kakashi leaned down to pluck the forehead protector from Inamoto's face; it would work as a proof for their accomplished mission. Then he moved over to pick up Anko.

"Whoa, what do you think you're doing", the kunoichi exclaimed as she squirmed in his grasp. Only silence met her outrage and she had to admit defeat, Kakashi would not let go of her anytime soon. She had to admit that her plan had been a little rash and that she had caused Kakashi to worry when she had rushed headlong into battle again. It was the least she could do not to argue about her condition now, and, truth be told, she could not have walked if she wanted to.

Anko fell asleep in Kakashi's arms even before he reached a decent place to rest for the night and tend to both their wounds.

TBC

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