My Golden Heart
Chapter 12- Behind the Metal Door
"Anko-chan?" Orochimaru said as he opened the door to his former student's room. From the little light that illuminated the area, Orochimaru could see the small silhouette of the girl bundled up underneath her covers. However, she wasn't sleeping. He could tell by the way her body tensed when he moved into her room.
"Anko-chan," he repeated soothingly as he sat down on her bed. "You've been hiding in your room all day, my dear. What in the world is wrong with you?"
Anko would have laughed in his attempt to try and comfort her but at the moment she just wasn't up to saying anything. She had too much on her mind. In fact, she almost started crying when she felt him place a hand on her back. For some reason she just want to jump into his arms right there.
Orochimaru pulled his hand back when he felt her shake under his touch. Something was definitely wrong with the girl but he had no idea what. How could she possibly go from being so happy and hyper this morning and then just shut down completely for the rest of the day? It just wasn't something that he would expect someone like Anko to do.
"Anko?" He said again this time more sternly. She turned her head and looked at him with the saddest eyes he had ever seen her wear. He was about to say something when her hand reached out and grabbed onto his pant leg. She was silent for a moment till she spoke in a barely audible voice.
"I'm sorry, Sensei."
"Anko, wha-"
"I'm kind of tired so I think I'll go to sleep now." Anko interrupted quickly. And before he got another word in she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Her grip was tight, as if she was holding onto him for dear life. As she pulled away Orochimaru could have swore he saw a single tear slide down her face. Even so, he decided he should leave her to her thoughts.
"Good night." Anko said her voice cracking slightly as the door shut behind him.
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"This is it," Anko thought. "Today I'm am completing my mission, I'm doing what I was assigned to do."
Anko never really fell asleep after Orochimaru left. She just sat in the dark staring at the little golden necklace Kurenai gave her, listening to it tick into the night. Then at eleven o' clock she decided it was time. No noise was heard, so she assumed that everyone was either asleep or at least in their rooms. It would be perfect to head out now.
She cracked open her door a bit to peer outside into the hall. Both Kabuto's and Orochimaru's lights were on, but she could hear no movement, so they must've fallen asleep while they were hard at work. Anko smiled slightly as she imagined Orochimaru hunched over at his desk while using the piles of scrolls there for pillows. What a sight that would be.
Anko felt her chest tighten. After this she couldn't see Orochimaru anymore, he'd be an enemy again. And she was just starting to get used to Kabuto. She never thought that she might actually miss the kid. And Sasuke…Well she could live without him. But after this, what would happen? She would go home, right? She would go back to Konoha, her home. If it is her home, why does she long to stay here? Why? Why was this feeling happening to her?
Anko sat down in the hallway, her face buried in her hands. She had to do this. She had to leave. She had already gotten too attached to this place… to him. Anko stood up on shaky legs and made her way out the door. She, thankfully, remembered the way she took the first time she arrived here. To think how quickly she adapted to these walls. At first they just felt like a barrier but now…Anko shook her head, she had to stay focused. This was for Konoha.
The familiar pain shot through her neck and she knew she was getting close to her destination. 'No backing out this time.' She told herself firmly. As she turned the corner feelings of curiosity and complete fear spread throughout her body. Even so, she took slow, heavy steps down the dark hallway and towards the door.
'Come on, just a little further.' Anko cried out in her mind. When the cold metal touched her hand, she felt a shiver run up her spine. Pulling and tugging at the door, she struggled to open it just as she did when she first tried to run from Orochimaru. But this time he wasn't around to slam it back and wrap himself around her. With one final tug, she was able to just barely slide through the door. Once her body was inside, it slammed effortlessly behind her with a loud click.
The first thing Anko noticed was the disgusting smell in the room. It was pitch black in the area so she felt around for a switch of some sort. As she made her way around, her knee collided with a table causing her to wince out in pain. Her hands landed onto the table top. However, it didn't feel like wood, it felt cold, wet, and…squishy? Anko swallowed deeply and felt herself get sick. Leaning back against the cold wall, her back hit the light switch causing an intense light to blind her sight for a moment.
Once her eyes adjusted to the light, she felt her breath hitch and her stomach clench. There were bodies…everywhere…bloodied and disfigured some with their organs cut out and spread all of the tables. It was clear that there were no survivors. Anko's heart beat faster and faster. She was a ninja; she should be used to this type of gruesome scene. But it was this scene that reminded her of that time at sea country, her first time at sea country.
Anko's eyes went around the room frantically, trying to search for one spot that wasn't terrifying. However, it only caused her to panic more. She was starting to hyperventilate and she had to bite down on her wrist to muffle her screams and cries.
Anko was walking backward when she felt herself walk into something. She turned her head to see an eyeless corpse right at her head causing her to flip herself around and step quickly away from the body. She was crying heavily now and continued to walk back when she walked into something else that wrapped its arms around her causing her to scream loudly.
"AGHHH!!! NO MORE!! PLEASE NO MORE!!!" She sobbed out, clenching her eyes shut and clawing at the body. "NO! PLEASE!!! LET ME OUT!!!"
Her nails dug into the arm causing blood to slip out and wipe onto her hands.
"ANKO! ANKO CALM DOWN!" A voice yelled over her screams. "ANKO! IT'S ALRIGHT! CALM DOWN, YOU'RE FINE!!!"
However, she just continued thrashing about in her attempt to get loose. "LET ME GO!!!" She cried out painfully, tears streaming out through her clenched eyes. One arm wrapped more tightly around her waist while the other went up to cover her mouth.
"KABUTO!!" She heard the voice yelled anxiously. And then she felt herself go limp and everything faded away.
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Kabuto stood in shock as he looked across the room to see Orochimaru holding the limp Anko in his arms. They had both run in from the back, when they heard screaming. Never, had he seen Orochimaru panic like he just did. Never, in his whole life would he have thought that this panic could have been caused by feelings for someone else. 'Anko,' Kabuto thought. 'You truly are something special.'
Orochimaru picked Anko up into his arms and wiped away the remaining tears from her face. He had cancelled Kabuto's sleeping jutsu by coating himself with his chakra. He knew that Anko would have never calmed down unless they put her to sleep.
"What do we do now?" Kabuto asked breathlessly. "We tried to warn her not to go in here and she still did despite the fact you activated her curse seal to try and drive her away."
Orochimaru just kept starting into Anko's face as she slept. He didn't even acknowledge that he heard Kabuto's comments.
"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto continued. "She knows now. What will we do? It'd be pointless to put her into the experiment. It was a failure, anyway. No wonder the book said it was unsuccessful."
As Kabuto spoke, Anko twisted he hand into the fabric of Orochimaru's clothes and acted as if she was not able to let him go. There were a few moments of silence between the two before Orochimaru spoke up.
"I'm going to let her choose." He said quietly.
"Excuse me, sir?" Kabuto said confusingly.
"Anko," Orochimaru said clearing things up. "I'm going to let her chose whether she wants to stay here or go."
"Just like that?" Kabuto questioned.
"…Just like that…"
To Be Continued
WOAH!! What happened to Orochimaru!?! Has he gone soft on us…? Well we'll just have to see now won't we?
Anyway, my apologizes again for being a lazy bum and not updating…T^T But better late than never, right? *is thrown off a cliff*
Well, ahem, this is actually the second scene that I've wanted to write most since the beginning. (The first one being later on.) :3 So I hoped you liked it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Though my heart really went out to Anko when she was in the room, I know I would have passed out the minute I stepped foot in there. ^^;
Anyway, please review even though I know I don't deserve it…..
See you in chapter 13!!!
