"Are you sure you won't stay?" Anna asked.
Storm Shadow shook his head, "I think it's about time I return home." He put an arm around Jinx's shoulders.
"Well then I can't say thank you enough. Without you I never would have gotten Snake Eyes back." Anna said, looking at her ninja who was standing with Roadblock and Scarlett.
Storm Shadow smiled, "Take care of him."
"Oh I will, he's not leaving my sight." Anna said with a smirk.
"If you ever need anything, you know where I'll be." Storm Shadow said.
"And me." Jinx piped up, "I always like the chance to get out of the temple."
"Bye Storm Shadow." Anna said, giving him a hug.
"Goodbye Anna." he said, giving her a squeeze before turning to Jinx, "Ready?"
"Ready." she said.
Anna watched them retreat down the hall before disappearing through the front doors. She felt a slight sadness with the departure of her friend, but she was happy he was finally returning home. She lifted part of the bandage that was wrapped around her head to keep the stitches across her eye from bleeding. She looked like the soldiers that came home with bullet wounds in their heads.
Snake Eyes hugged her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. She leaned her head against his and said, "Did he say goodbye to you?"
She felt his head nod, "What did he say?"
"Nothing much." Snake Eyes said, "He told me to make you visit him sometime."
"I would like to see the temple sometime." Anna said.
"Hey guys." Roadblock beckoned them over to where he stood with Scarlett, Lady J, Cover Girl, and Ripcord, "I know it's been a long and stressful week, but not a lot of people know about Cobra's plan. To the world, it was just a busy work week, nothing out of the ordinary."
"Typical." Ripcord said, "We save the world and they don't even know about it."
"Well, a local high school is having a career fair and they'd like a couple of us to attend." Roadblock said, "I haven't replied to them yet because I was wondering if anyone would want to do it or not."
"Like you said," Scarlett said, "no one knows what happened. It would be rude of us to deny their request.."
"Yeah, I'll go." Anna said, and looked up at Snake, "You?"
Snake shrugged and nodded.
"I like talking to the kids." Ripcord said, "It might be fun to take Leatherneck along too. He likes to sneak up behind people and scare them."
Roadblock smiled, "Alright, I'll tell them we'll be there."
"When is it?" Ripcord asked.
"Tomorrow." Roadblock said, "At noon."
"Awesome, see you then." Anna said, and turned to Snake Eyes, "I'm going to my room."
"I'll meet you there." Snake Eyes said.
Anna smiled, "Okay."
Snake Eyes traveled outside and found the courtyard empty. He silently sighed, missing his opportunity.
"Something wrong?"
Snake Eyes turned, delighted to find Storm Shadow, "I thought you left."
"Jinx is getting transportation." Storm Shadow said, leaning against the building, "You came out here pretty fast."
"I came to find you." Snake Eyes signed.
Storm Shadow frowned, "What for?"
"I wanted to say thank you." he said.
Storm Shadow looked mildly surprised, "For what?"
"Taking care of Anna while I was gone." Snake Eyes said, "And for rescuing me."
"Please," Storm Shadow scoffed, "if it wasn't for Anna, I would have left you for dead. She wouldn't leave me alone about it, so I figured I'd be saving myself the misery of hearing her cry about it."
"I know you care for her." Snake Eyes said, "You can't fool me, Storm Shadow."
The white ninja smiled, "Take care of her, Snake Eyes."
"You don't have to worry about that." he said, "It was an honor to go on a mission with you again, brother." And with that, Snake put his hands together and bowed to Storm Shadow.
Storm Shadow looked astonished, and for a moment Snake Eyes thought he saw his comrade's eyes water before he mirrored Snake's bow.
Without another word, Snake Eyes left Storm Shadow standing outside to find the woman he loved. He passed other Joes in the hall, and they all smiled at him, some even going so far as to say it was good to have him back. Snake would stop and nod at them, to let them know he was grateful for their words.
He took a pit stop in his room and gathered some clothes, making his way down to the showers before he met Anna. The water was steaming, soothing his aching muscles. He let it run over his chest which was riddled with old and new sword slashes, as he thought about Anna. He had hurt her badly, and he wouldn't be able to forgive himself for a while. He looked down at his bare hands, wondering how he was capable of doing that to her.
Finally he turned off the water and dried off, shrugging into a black sweatshirt and loose fitting black sweatpants. He walked barefoot back to his room and placed his armor in his wardrobe. Finally he left his room to find Anna, his spirits in a high place.
He entered her room and found her sitting on her bed cuddling a pillow. On the TV was Parker. "You're watching this movie again?" he signed to her.
She shot him a look and said, "I still haven't finished it yet! No thanks to Storm Shadow." She paused, her gaze running up and down his body, "I like the look."
Snake Eyes stepped into the room further, swinging the door closed with his foot. He took a half a step forward before turning slightly to twist the lock on her door. He looked back to where Anna was smiling.
He put one knee on her bed, again removing his helmet so he could see her again without the mask. With one swift move, he was leaning over her, their lips pressed together. Anna wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him down to lay over top of her.
He wrested on his forearms, looking down into her dark eyes. He reached out to touch the bandage over her eye, and she caught his wrist, "Snake, don't do this to yourself."
He looked away, and frowned, but she caught his face with her hands, placing them on either cheek, "Hey, it wasn't you. It was Cobra Commander, so don't beat yourself up about it. And besides, it makes me look pretty badass. I ain't even mad."
Snake couldn't help but grin and silently laugh, "Only you." he mouthed.
She laughed, and tucked her head into the crook between his chin and neck. After a moment of silence she spoke, her voice somewhat muffled, "You smell good."
Snake smiled again, "You're missing your movie."
"Damnit!" Anna said, looking up at him, "You distracted me."
"I can leave." he signed.
Anna wrapped her arms around him again and pulled her down so he laid next to her, "No." She scooted closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder, his arm lying underneath her to prop her up. His other hand reached over to gently stroke her arm.
"Snake, will you promise me something?" Anna asked.
"What's that?" he awkwardly signed.
"Promise that you'll never leave me again." She said, her voice cracking.
"I was gone for only a couple days, was it that hard?" He asked.
She twisted to look up at him, her eyes watering, "Of course it was, Snake. I didn't know how long it would be until I had you back. It killed me inside thinking about all the things they could be doing to you, and that I wasn't doing anything to get you back. And the loss of Duke made everything worse."
Snake felt his stomach drop thinking about his friend. The friend he had killed.
"And that wasn't your fault either." Anna said, holding up a finger to his face, "Snake I love you, losing you to the enemy, even for a couple days, was horrible. I-"
He watched her face as she spoke, twisting into different emotions. He smiled, leaning down to kiss her mid-sentence. When they broke apart she looked up at him, "Promise?"
"I promise you, Anna, I will never leave you again. And if I do, it's only because it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride the night before their wedding."
Anna's face turned to one of surprise and she put a hand to her heart, her mouth open and at a loss for words. Snake laughed silently saying, "Of course that's not for a long time."
She hugged him tighter, "I should just really give up on this movie."
"But I thought 'Jason Stathem was too much of a hottie not to watch this movie'." Snake Eye signed.
Anna laughed out loud, "Well, I guess I just won't watch it tonight."
"No?" he asked.
"Nope."
"Why's that?"
"Because," she said simply, "you're wearing a sweatshirt."
He cocked his head to the side, "And?"
"Well you see," She said, sitting up to straddle him, "sweatshirts are way more easy," she started to unzip the top of his sweatshirt, revealing his muscled chest underneath, "to take off than armor."
Snake Eyes allowed her to unzip his sweatshirt and shrugged out of it, before he jumped up and twisted so that she was underneath him.
Anna looked up at him and smiled, "I have a feeling I won't be sleeping too much tonight."
"I don't think so." Snake said, shaking his head, and leaned down to kiss her deeply.
Ok, I'm totally not trying to drag this out, but there is one more chapter yet! The reason I didn't want to end it at the last chapter is because I HATE in movies how they just end it after all the action and don't have anything about what happened to the characters after it all! So there you go!
I am totally distraught that this story is ending because I LOVED writing it. So what am I planning? A SEQUEL! I have the storyline and everything all planned out, I just want to know what you guys think? If I make another one will you stick with me and read it? Because I totally want to write it badly. So tell me what you all think!