Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), some moderate Dumbledore bashing (he's more manipulative than evil but mostly just stubborn), and who knows what else.

Chapter Warning: There is a reference to consensual sex (no details), nudity, and the use of foul language (Anko gets a bit of screen time, so cussing is to be expected) in this chapter.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter 20: Curses, Seals, and Gratification

Satoshi slipped inside the Hokage's office when he'd been given permission to enter and he took the time to murmur a greeting to the Sandaime before he directed a dark look towards Jiraiya. It was a look that made the other three adults in the office curious as to what had happened between the two since Satoshi usually treated the Sennin with respect. Those that had been let in on the recently sealed secret about Jiraiya's status as Naruto's godfather wrongly figured that the sixteen year old was pissed about Jiraiya wanting to take Naruto as his apprentice later down the road.

The beaming smile and overly friendly greeting that Jiraiya gave Satoshi in return only confused them more since Satoshi's reply was an exceptionally polite greeting that was at odds with the dark scowl that they could just barely see on his face. There was no time to question the pair about what had happened between them though as Mitarashi Anko turned up a moment later in a foul mood. The snarky and oft sadistic kunoichi was not a morning person and the sun hadn't even fully cleared the horizon.

"When I find out whose bright damned idea was it to drag me out of bed before dawn, I'm going to peel the flesh from their body one strip at a time and salt their wounds just to hear them scream. Why the hell am I here anyway?" Anko growled as she scowled at the now fidgeting adults in the room before her eyes landed on Satoshi. "Hey there, runt, I see they dragged you here for this super secret meeting too."

"Ohayou, Anko-chan," Satoshi greeted with a small smile for his old friend. He then glanced at the Hokage, Kasai, and Jiraiya (since they were basically the ones in charge of his current mission) and arched an eyebrow over the top of his sunglasses as he inquired, "No one told her what I was going to be doing? I hope you aren't intending for her to be the guinea pig for the first attempt."

"We thought it best to wait until we were certain that you were both capable and ready to perform the extraction before we let Anko know what was going on since we didn't want her to get her hopes up if it turned out that the extraction was not possible," Kasai explained with a shrug. "And no, you'll be attempting the removal on one of the prisoners first."

"What are the two of you talking about?" Anko demanded with a frown as she glanced between Satoshi and Kasai several times.

"Where am I going to be working?" Satoshi asked after glancing at his irritated friend for a moment. "I wouldn't want to destroy the Hokage's office if the procedure should backfire."

"We have a place set up in an abandoned house twenty miles outside of the village walls," Sarutobi answered after removing his pipe stem from his mouth. "A team of AnBu has already collected the man that was chosen to use for the first test and they should have delivered him to the place an hour ago after securing the house and its surroundings from prying eyes and intruders."

"Will somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Patience, Mitarashi," Kasai ordered. "You will have your answers soon enough. Do you have everything you will need to proceed, gaki?"

"Hai, Kasai-sama."

"Good. Jiraiya will be going with you to supervise and record the process while Tokage will be monitoring both your health and the health of the prisoner throughout the entire process. Anko will stand as an extra guard while you are testing the removal procedure and if it is successful and you are capable of doing so without needlessly putting yourself at risk you can proceed to deal with hers as well. The remaining two prisoners will be brought to you when you are ready for them."

"Wakatta."

Satoshi silently followed Jiraiya and Tokage out of the room while Anko trailed along behind him grumbling under her breath the entire time. Satoshi smirked a couple of times as he overheard some of the things Anko promised to do to Kasai for sending her off with no information, to Jiraiya if he so much as thought of trying to peep at her, and to the first person that looked at her wrong. Knowing that half of Anko's irritation came from the fact that she was being sent out of the village without her morning fix of dango and coffee, Satoshi discreetly formed a clone and sent it off to ask Dobby to make an extra large batch of dango and coffee along with breakfast for eight (he had to think of the others after all) and have him deliver it once they reached their destination.

An hour later, Satoshi was kneeling the middle of the floor using his blood to draw a large, nine pointed star made up of three equilateral triangles while Anko alternately promised and threatened to steal his house elf from him between bites of dango and gulps of rich, dark coffee. Her moans of pure ecstasy were unsurprisingly providing inspiration for the pervert as he kept leering at her each time he glanced up from the stack of paper he was frantically filling up with who knew what kind of smutty perversion that he intended to use for his next Icha-Icha book. Tokage in the mean time was giving the prisoner a thorough check up and making certain that the man was as healthy as possible to prevent any complications that could arise during the removal of the seal.

When the star was finished, Satoshi stood up and carefully leaned down so he could draw a trio of interlocking circles in the middle of the star. Once those were finished, he began inscribing a series of runes mixed in with kanji and complex seals along the outer edges of the circles, over top of the lines where the circles intersected, and in the nine points of the three triangles. After placing the final rune, he bandaged the palm he'd slit to draw the blood he used and drank a blood replenishing potion to dispel the lightheadedness he had begun to feel due to the large amount of blood required to draw the specially designed magical seal.

To give the potion time to kick in and start replacing his blood, Satoshi lightly coated the lines of glistening blood with a fine dust made from quartz crystals, moonstones, unicorn horn, pure silver, sea salt, and dried dittany. Next he unsealed a rather plain looking oak chair that had been carved all over with runes and seals, including a trio of interconnected circles directly carved onto the seat that were an exact replica of the circles on the floor, only smaller. He situated the chair overtop of the blood seal on the floor so that the feet of the person sitting in the chair would fall inside of two of the circles.

The grove of the circles on the seat of the chair were then filled with more of his blood and dusted with the powdery substance he'd used on the seal he'd drawn on the floor. Preparations nearly complete, Satoshi stood back and spent a few minutes cleaning away the powder and blood that clung to his skin and clothes using his wand.

"I'm finished, Satoshi-kun; he's as healthy as can be considering he's been in prison for well over a year now," Tokage declared just a couple of minutes later. "Did you want me to heal your hand before you start?"

"He'll need to be stripped and given a bath before I can finish preparing him," Satoshi instructed after giving the captive Chuunin a cursory glance. "And no … there's no need to heal my hand just yet as I'll need to use more blood to finish the preparations."

"Gaki, explain to me again why you think all the extra mumbo-jumbo is necessary to remove Orochimaru's seal when you didn't need to go to such lengths for Danzou's seal and why, oh, why does it require the guy to be naked in order to proceed?" Jiraiya inquired with a frown as Satoshi's order to strip the Chuunin cut through the perverted fog that had surrounded the man.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… back that pony up a bit. Did you just say that the runt has a way to remove Orochimaru's cursed seal?" Anko demanded as she tore her attention away from her dwindling pile of dango and jumped to her feet.

"I told you, Jiraiya-sama; the curse seal is far more integrated into the physiology of the one it has been applied to and therefore requires more intrusive means with which to remove it completely. I need the elaborate seals and runes to augment my Kekkei Genkai," Satoshi explained for the hundredth time. "I need him naked because I can't risk anything interfering or providing the curse with anything it can latch onto once it is removed from the body and yes, that means I'm going to be just as naked when it is time to start."

The teen then turned to Anko in order to answer her question, "Yes, Anko-chan, we think we've managed to come up with a viable means of removing Orochimaru's curse seal but we aren't exactly certain it will work; which is why yours is not the first one I'm going to attempt to remove."

Anko fell back into her chair and just stared at Satoshi with a mixture of shock and desperate hope. Satoshi gave her a small understanding smile as he dug out a thick coil of acromantula silk rope out of his pocket before he unzipped his jacket and draped it across the back of a chair that had been salvaged from another room in the house (said chair sitting well outside of the seal array he'd drawn with his blood). He then slung the coil of rope over his shoulder before taking out his wand as Tokage and two of the AnBu guards returned with the freshly bathed prisoner, the Chuunin's brown hair dripping water down his still damp body.

Wrinkling his nose, Satoshi flicked his wand at the prisoner and dried him with a silent spell. Two more spells saw the man falling unconscious and floating a foot off the ground as Satoshi first stunned him and then levitated him. The next ten minutes were then spent securing the man to the chair using the rope of spider silk in combination to a series of light sticking charms that would prevent the man from moving and disrupting the blood seals the moment the removal process was started.

Once he was secured, Satoshi reopened the cut on his palm and used his blood to draw a series of geometric shapes, seals, and runes around what looked like a trio of fish hooks tattooed onto the fleshy part at the base of the Chuunin's neck on the right side. He then added additional runes on the man's forehead and over his heart before pulling out a bottle of ink that he mixed with the powdered quartz, moonstone, unicorn horn, silver, and dittany before using it to paint what looked like seven sets of chains leading away from the seal and circling the rest of the man's body before meeting right over the center of the man's chakra coils on his stomach.

The last thing he did was pull out a kunai and slice a thin circle around the curse seal and divide the circle into three sections; each section holding one third of the actual seal. Stepping back away from the Chuunin, Satoshi asked Jiraiya to check his work for any mistakes while he cleaned himself up and allowed Tokage to heal his hand. When the Sennin declared his work flawless, Satoshi nodded and proceeded to remove the rest of his clothes unmindful of the others present as he'd long since grown used to changing in front of others during his five years at Hogwarts and sharing a room at home with his brothers.

Though he did tense up when he removed his shirt because all of his scars would be on open display; even the ones on his back that he usually covered up with a combination glamour and henge (to keep people from asking about them). He ended up blushing when Anko (the only kunoichi in the group) whistled appreciatively before commenting on how well built he was for being a scrawny runt. She also bluntly asked him if he actually had a spare inch of skin that hadn't been scarred at some point in his life; which he'd responded to with a shrug of his shoulders and a self-depreciating smile.

Preparations complete, Satoshi took his place in the center of the blood seal inside of the third circle so he was standing in front of the still unconscious prisoner. Closing his eyes, he ran through a long chain of hand seals so fast that those watching had difficulty determining which ones he was using. Upon reaching the final seal, the ram, a bluish-black cloud of Kikaichu poured out of him and converged on the Chuunin strapped to the chair in front of him; the destruction bugs devouring the man's chakra at an incredible rate.

When the man's reserves were down to practically nothing, the curse seal automatically activated and attempted to take over the prisoner until Satoshi dropped his right hand over the man's heart and activated the seals he'd painted on the man. Their job complete, every last Kikaichu in Satoshi's swarm rapidly retreated from the room as Satoshi created hundreds of chakra strings and thousands of magical threads that rose up into the air before diving down to burrow beneath the man's skin through the thin circle that Satoshi had carved around the curse seal. The entire seal array that had been painted onto the man lit up like a roman candle as Satoshi then activated the next layer of the seal he'd drawn onto the man.

The prisoner woke up screaming and thrashing at that point as Satoshi's magic sought out every last particle of the curse seal from inside of the man's body and drew them back up towards where the main part of the seal sat while his chakra severed the connections between Orochimaru's chakra and the man's own chakra. The curse seal wasn't giving up without a fight though and after the first ten minutes, Satoshi was sweating up a storm and straining to maintain control of the jutsu as he hauled the curse out bit by bit through sheer willpower.

After the first half hour, a thin strand of foul black chakra infused ink and venom was pulled free of the cursed seal by Satoshi's magic and the blood seal on the floor began glowing as Satoshi activated the array with a thread of magic. As more of the foul substance was pulled free of the man's body, it began pooling in the air just above Satoshi's head while strands of magic rose up out of the seal on the floor and wove themselves around the goop to prevent it from lashing out at any one in the room or attempting to return to the prisoner.

Those witnessing the removal were both amazed and intimidated by the display of sheer power; all of them unable to tear their eyes away from the maelstrom of magic and chakra that was swirling endlessly around the sixteen year old. In the center of it all, Satoshi stood unmoving with one hand forming half of the ram seal while the other hand was still pressed over the prisoner's heart; his messy black hair whipping about his head in the endless eddies created by the rush of power surrounding him.

The prisoner, on the other hand, continued to writhe and scream in agony as Satoshi's magic and chakra continued to steadily rip Orochimaru's curse from his body. By the time another twenty minutes had passed, smoke had began rising from the floor as the heat generated by the blood seal set the floor of the house to smoldering and still the foul chakra laced ink and venom of the seal poured forth with agonizing slowness.

Two hours and eight minutes after he'd started, the last strand of the curse had been pulled free and the Chuunin finally fell silent as he passed out from pain and exhaustion. Satoshi dropped both of his hands and swayed on his feet for a moment before he shook away the fuzz filling his brain so he could encase the writhing mass of chakra, ink, and venom that had made up the curse seal into a thick layer of cement so that it could be studied and properly disposed of at a later time.

He then sank down onto the floor as his strength gave out after the stress of fighting against the curse seal for so long. A blanket being draped around his shoulders had the sixteen year old glancing up to find Jiraiya standing over him with concern and Satoshi gave the older man a wane smile that was more of a grimace before glancing up to watch Tokage free the unconscious prisoner and haul the man off to give him another medical exam.

"Are you going to be alright, gaki?"

"Hnn… eventually, I think… maybe," Satoshi murmured as he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around his legs before dropping his forehead onto his knees as he closed his eyes. "If I didn't know the teme was already dead and that Orochimaru had no magic, I'd swear I'd just spent an eternity fighting against another of Riddle's damn soul fragments. I wonder what the chances are that Riddle and Orochimaru met each other in a pub once and shared soul mutilation techniques over a pint of whiskey or wine in their quest for immortality."

"Did… did it work? Was his seal removed?" Anko inquired in a voice that quavered slightly though there was a hard look on her face that said the answer had damned well be yes; the kunoichi completely ignoring Satoshi's rather odd comments since she wasn't aware of his magic or his missions Outside.

"Yes, I removed his seal," Satoshi answered as he rolled his head sideways to meet Anko's burning gaze with tired green eyes. "However, we don't yet know what that removal cost. For all I know, I might have turned that man into a mindless vegetable or shattered his chakra coils beyond repair. All I do know is that removing that damn curse was a hundred times harder than removing the Root seals that Danzou gave his secret army."

"You think maybe you can use your experience to refine the process and make it a little easier to do the next one?" Jiraiya asked as he critically noted the gray tinge to Satoshi's skin.

"There're a couple changes that can be made to the arrays to give me a bit more control but other than that; no, the seal is far too ingrained to make it any easier. Anko-chan's might be easier because she's never activated hers but I won't know for certain until I actually go in to remove it; if she wants me to remove it now that she knows how much its going to hurt."

"I don't give a flying fuck about the pain," Anko spat as she dropped down onto the floor on her hands and knees so that she was kneeling face to face Satoshi. "If you can remove this wretched curse from my body, I will happily give you anything you asked for; hell I'd even willingly become your sex slave for a chance to be free."

Satoshi blushed over the passionate declaration and pressed his face back into his knees while Jiraiya hinted that he'd be willing to accept her favors if Anko was passing them out. The Sennin ended up walking around with a goose egg on his head for the rest of the day from where the irate kunoichi had bashed him with her fist for his crude suggestions. Satoshi would have snickered over the short exchange between Jiraiya and Anko if he'd had the energy to spare.

As it was, the sixteen year old was half asleep when Tokage returned to the room to check on him and make certain that Satoshi was only suffering from exhaustion. He only made a half-hearted protest when Jiraiya picked him up and carried him into another part of the house where they'd set up a bed for him to sleep off his exhaustion. He was out cold shortly after being tucked beneath the covers; far too tired to protest being treated like a child for the second day in a row by the Gama Sennin.

Nine days later, Satoshi wearily trudged through the gates of Konoha along with the other seven individuals that had been part of the seal removing team. The eight of them made their way to the Hokage's office to give their report and for the four AnBu guards that had watched over the prisoners during the sealing process to have their memories of the past week sealed for Satoshi's protection. The prisoners had already been turned over to Ibiki, Inoichi, and Shibi to be interrogated before their memories were also locked away. The reason they'd been gone so long was because he'd only been able to remove a single curse per day and needed nearly an entire day to recover in between due to how much effort it took to remove the seals.

Anko's had been the last one, much to the kunoichi's ire, since Satoshi had wanted to refine the process as much as possible to reduce the amount of pain his friend could expect to suffer. There was also the fact that up until it came time to remove Anko's seal, he'd never actually seen a naked woman before. Oh, he'd seen scantily clad ladies, caught glimpses of girls in bikinis, and seen a picture or two but up until that day he'd never actually seen a naked woman in the flesh.

Now, Satoshi liked Anko as a friend and he had no real romantic interest in her but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy the view; she was a rather beautiful (if dangerous) young woman. He did not, on the other hand, enjoy feeling like a pervert as he tied her naked body to the chair (much as he had the three prisoners) in order to prevent her from scuffing the seals or falling off the chair. Her teasing and flirting commentary while he was doing so only made it worse as she tended to be far cruder than his alter egos were when they flirted. At least his embarrassment over the entire situation prevented him from physically showing his appreciation of her well endowed body at the time.

It didn't take long for the group to give their report to the Hokage and Kasai after which the four AnBu guards were dismissed once their memories had been sealed. At that point, Satoshi was ordered to seal away the knowledge of his ability to remove the curse seal (and all other seals) using the Fidelius Charm. Kasai had then ordered Anko to give Satoshi permission to seal away the secret that her curse had been removed and the fact that Satoshi had been the one to remove it. That brought the total number of secrets that Satoshi held up to twenty-three with nine of them belonging to other individuals.

Once the secrets were sealed, Satoshi shared them with those in the office (the Sandaime, Jiraiya, Kasai, Tokage, Anko, and himself) before calling on Dobby to allow the other departmental heads and key individuals know the secrets and at Anko's request he gave half of her secret (the part about the curse seal being removed but not who had removed it for her) to her friend, Yuuhi Kurenai. Jiraiya took his leave at that point, the Sennin mumbling something about taking Naruto out for a bowl of ramen before needing to leave. Tokage left next after he ordered Satoshi to take it easy for the next week.

Just before Anko left, she boldly walked up and kissed Satoshi before ordering him to meet her at the dango stand at five for supper so she could properly thank him for what he'd done. Satoshi had stared after her in bemusement for a moment before his attention was brought back to the present by the sound of the Hokage and Kasai laughing at him. Once their amusement trailed off, Kasai informed him that he had the week off in order to recoup from the seal removals before he was required to present himself at AnBu Headquarters for his orders for the next month. Sarutobi jumped in next to inform him that he was scheduled for the evening patrol of the walls from midnight to six a.m. starting on the second of December.

The Hokage then told him he was proud of him before kicking him out of the office so he could get back to his paperwork and Satoshi paused in the doorway and asked him why he didn't have a trusted assistant that could prioritize the paperwork for him so as to save some time and make certain that the important stuff was addressed first. The gleam in the Hokage's eyes boded ill for some hapless individual and Satoshi quickly made himself scarce to avoid being given the dubious honor of being said assistant. It had, after all, been an innocent question since as a future Clan Head, Satoshi had been introduced to the evils of paperwork as a part of his training so he knew how mind numbing the task could be.

He arrived home to find the house practically empty, most of the children off at the academy bar Shin, Haku, and Kimimaro. The three kids greeted him enthusiastically as they hadn't seen him in over a week. Once they had finished greeting the teen, Satoshi hauled them into the kitchen and set them to helping him make lunch. It was a familiar routine for the four and in no time at all they were sitting at the table eating while Satoshi grilled each of them about how their training or studying was coming along. After their meal, he helped them clean up the kitchen and sent them out to get some fresh air before he dropped down onto the couch to nap for the rest of the afternoon or until the rest of the children arrived.

It was Naruto's loud voice that pulled Satoshi back into wakefulness long before the hyperactive blonde even stepped inside the house. Grinning and shaking his head, Satoshi sat up and stretched while he waited for the stampede to reach him as seven pre-teens and one teen piled through the door followed by a silent but an amused Ko. With the senses of a hunting fox, Naruto's eyes zeroed in on Satoshi and giving out an excited cry, the blonde launched himself across the room. Satoshi had a split second to wonder how the blonde managed to cross the entire room without touching the floor (or the walls, ceiling, and furniture) or using a jutsu before he was tackled back onto the couch by the nine year old.

"You're back, niisan!"

"Yes, my mission is finally over," Satoshi replied as he flipped the blonde over his head so he could sit up once more as the other children crowded in close for hugs.

"Did you rescue any helpless princesses? Or maybe capture a super high ranked missing nin? Or did you carry a super secret message across three countries while being chased by bandits?" Naruto asked with wide eyes as he climbed up onto Satoshi's back and peered around his shoulder at him.

"Nothing quite so dramatic," Satoshi laughed while all of the children leaned forward a bit, their interest in hearing about his latest adventure easily read in their eyes. "I'm afraid most of the time I did nothing but sit around drawing seals or sleeping. Though… there was a kunoichi present but I think she'd skewer me if I even thought about calling her helpless or dared to call her a princess."

"Ah, that sounds so boring, dattebayo… didn't you do anything exciting?"

"Not all missions are glamorous," Satoshi sighed as he reached up and lightly flicked Naruto on the nose. "In fact, very few missions are anything but dirty, thankless jobs that are very important to the clients. I didn't become a shinobi to rush off to save princesses, I became a shinobi to protect my family and because at the time I thought it was the only way to make otousan, okaasan, and ojiisan proud of me. I didn't know that they would have been proud of me even if I'd decided to become a street vender selling trinkets. Still, I'm glad I chose to be a shinobi because it has allowed me to be strong enough to protect my precious people; like you children, my family, and my teammates."

"Do you think we'll ever be as strong as you?" Hinata asked softly as she twirled her index fingers around each other; the young kunoichi rather shy when she wasn't training (though she'd never developed a stutter and had plenty of confidence in her abilities thanks to Satoshi's encouragement and Naruto and Shino's companionship through the years).

"I think that each one of you will be as strong as you need to be," Satoshi answered as he glanced between all eight children. "There will always be shinobi out there that are stronger or faster than you and the only way to truly gauge your strength is through your personal growth. So long as you are always willing to surpass your current limits, then you will always be just a little stronger than you were before. And strength isn't just about what you can do physically; it's about being able to think on your feet, being able to push past your fears, and learning how to recognize your weaknesses and finding ways to make those weaknesses into something that will help you in a fight."

"Well said, little bug, well said," Shibi declared as he stepped up behind the crowd of kids. "It is good to see you back in one relative piece. Did you have any preferences for supper?"

"Ano, I won't be home for supper tonight, tousan," Satoshi revealed to the disappointment of those children that had been in class when he first arrived. "I'm having supper with a friend who refused to take no for an answer."

"Oh? Any one special?"

"No, not really; just Anko-chan," Satoshi replied with a shrug. "I did a big favor for her during our mission and once we finished reporting to the Hokage, she promptly ordered me to meet her for supper at the dango stand so we could discuss returning the favor."

Because he was focused on the children and not really paying attention to his father, he missed the look of shock on Shibi's face as his eyebrows climbed high; the older man one of those who knew what the 'favor' was that Satoshi had performed for the kunoichi. Shibi was also aware of the reputation that Anko had earned through the years of repaying favors in one of two ways; a slow and painful death or an evening of carnal pleasures. Given how the twenty-one-year old felt about the curse seal and how much being free of that cursed link to her former sensei meant to her, Shibi suspected that she'd be offering him the latter option if she hadn't already.

"What time are you supposed to meet her there?"

"Not for another two hours; which gives me plenty of time to take a shower and hang out with the kids for a bit before I go."

Shibi nodded and retreated to take his own shower so he could start supper while Satoshi grabbed two decks of cards as Shino and Sai pulled the coffee table up next to the couch and the rest of the kids took their seats around it while Ko dropped down onto the couch beside Satoshi. After a brief debate over which game they would be playing (five card stud), Satoshi shuffled and dealt out the cards while Shin and Torune divided up the poker chips they'd grabbed from the game cabinet.

When his father called the kids to supper an hour and a half later, Satoshi put away the cards and went to take his shower. Contrary to his father's belief, he was very aware of Anko's reputation and he also knew that for the most part the reputation was unearned; even if she capitalized on it because it meant she wasn't propositioned by most of the shinobi on the force. His friend had had a difficult time after what had happened with Orochimaru and she had protected herself by presenting herself as a sadistic, sarcastic, and scandalous individual in order to push others away.

Satoshi had taken the small changes in his friend (the kunoichi had always been more than a little standoffish, after all) in stride much as she'd not batted an eye over his emotionless façade and long silences he'd adopted after the Kyuubi's attack. Satoshi also knew that Anko had been serious when she'd told him that she would do anything he asked in return for freeing her from Orochimaru and the biggest reason for that was because she knew that Satoshi would never use that promise to hurt or humiliate her.

He wasn't certain what to feel over her offer though; he wouldn't refuse her outright because it would cheapen what he'd done for her and Satoshi would never do that to his friend. He had no idea what he could ask for that would be equal in Anko's eyes without making either of them regret his asking and he knew she'd hate owing him (or anyone) a favor so he couldn't just put it off either.

When he stuck his head into the kitchen to let his father know he was leaving, he was a bit confused and surprised when his father told him to clear off all of the Kikaichu that didn't belong to him from his person but followed through with the request before slipping out the door. Anko was waiting outside for him when he arrived at the dango stand and she flashed him a grin before grabbing his hand and leading him inside where she proceeded to order them both supper with an extra large order of dango for desert.

They ended up sitting side by side in the shadows towards the back of the small restaurant and made small talk while they waited for their food. Anko asked Satoshi what he'd been doing for the last seven or so years (which is about the last time they'd spent any real time together – other than greeting each other in passing) while offering anecdotes about things she'd seen or done. Satoshi answered her questions while carefully avoiding any classified topics and in turn asked a few questions of his own; especially about the kunoichi that Anko had befriended since, as a general rule of thumb, Anko thought kunoichi were weak and pathetic.

When she mentioned that the kunoichi was a genjutsu mistress, Satoshi expressed an interest in meeting her as he'd always had a talent for genjutsu due to his magic's innate ability to bend and twist reality. He had been caught off guard by the immediate invitation to follow her home that evening so she could introduce the two of them but accepted readily enough without thinking about her motives.

Their food arrived shortly after that and talk turned to Anko's reassignment to the T and I Department four years earlier when she'd impressed Yamanaka Inoichi with her handling of a spy she'd found slinking about the village. That of course led to the two of them discussing a handful of individuals that they both knew that worked within the department, including Ibiki, Inoichi, Aoba, and his father. Anko confessed to having a bit of a crush on Ibiki but found him hard to read because he had as much personality as a brick except when he was working and then he was just downright evil.

Satoshi had laughed over the description of the stern Jounin and asked Anko if she'd ever met Idate (Ibiki's little brother). He then proceeded to describe a few of the more entertaining arguments the two siblings had had through the years that he'd known both of them.

By the time their dessert arrived (the dango promptly declared inferior to that which Dobby had served her but devoured all the same), the two of them were laughing as they traded stories about various pranks they'd pulled over the years. Though Anko's were decidedly darker in nature and tended to involve the spilling of blood more often than not. Anko got a little violent when Satoshi attempted to pay for their meal but it quickly passed when he apologized and explained it away as habit since he had grown used to treating the kids to lunch two and three times a week.

The two of them then slipped out of the stand and strolled through the streets of Konoha in companionable silence as Anko led the way to the small apartment complex that she and Kurenai lived in. Satoshi wasn't all that surprised to learn that the kunoichi was three years older than Anko (and one year older than Kakashi) as he knew Anko had never really felt all that comfortable around those her own age; especially after what had happened with Orochimaru. He was, on the other hand, rather surprised by the hard look that Kurenai had given him along with the disapproving look she'd directed at Anko when she'd first opened the door.

Her entire attitude changed when Anko introduced him as an old friend from her Academy days and someone she'd obviously mentioned to Kurenai before since understanding and warmth replaced the cold disapproval. Satoshi, for his part, thought the older woman was pretty with untamable, long, wavy, black hair that kind of reminded him of his own wild hair with the way it tumbled about her face and down her back. Her eyes had been a shock for him though and he'd stared into them for nearly a full minute while lost in memories of a far more menacing pair of red eyes before he shoved his memories of Tom Riddle out of his mind and apologized to the woman when he noticed her frowning at him.

The three of them then spent a pleasant hour talking over a bottle of sake with Satoshi and Kurenai discussing the finer points of genjutsu while Anko added a comment here and there as she watched Satoshi over the top of her cup. There had been one point where Kurenai asked him if he was even old enough to drink and he'd dryly informed her that he was sixteen and a Jounin before flat out telling her that he had no intentions of getting himself drunk (not that he could if his first experience with alcohol was anything to go by).

By the time Kurenai left an hour later, she'd somehow talked Satoshi into a mutual exchange of a couple of genjutsu and a friendly spar which Satoshi looked forward to since he didn't often get to spar with genjutsu against another genjutsu user. She'd also extended him an open invitation to visit as she'd enjoyed having an intelligent conversation with someone who appreciated the finer points of manipulating one's perception of reality.

Satoshi actually climbed to his feet as he considered taking his leave as well (not wishing to wear out his welcome) only to tilt his head questioningly to one side when Anko closed and locked the door before leaning back against the door as she studied the sixteen year old through hooded eyes. Satoshi took the time to study the kunoichi in turn, taking in her dark lilac hair that was pulled up in a spiky ponytail that fanned out behind her and her intense pale brown and pupil-less eyes.

He couldn't help the light blush that crept across his cheeks as his eyes trailed down to take in the mesh body suit and skimpy orange skirt she wore beneath her long trench coat, his mind supplying memories of what she looked like without the formfitting outfit. His blush deepened as he recalled her comments on his body and the things she'd said to him when he'd been securing her to the chair in preparation to removing Orochimaru's seal. Tearing his eyes away from her body, Satoshi swallowed thickly as he glanced back up to find Anko with strange half smile on her face.

"Have you given any thought to what you'd like to ask of me, Satoshi-kun?" Anko asked in low, suggestive voice as pushed away from the door and slowly crossed the distance that separated him.

"Some," Satoshi replied with a short nod. "I must admit to finding myself without an answer though because I'm not quite certain what you'd consider an acceptable exchange and I don't want to offend you by asking for something you think is too cheap and therefore making you think that I think less of you than I do. I've lost too many of my precious people to carelessly throw you aside like that. I also know that to ask for nothing will only make you angry with me even if I think that doing what I did was reward enough knowing that it helped you."

"Still as honest as you were when you were the runt of the class," Anko laughed softly as she came to a stop just a few feet away from Satoshi. Her eyes turned slightly wistful as they turned inward in memory and it softened her face and emphasized her subtle beauty. After a moment she softly spoke up once more, "You had such passion when we were still at the Academy and a boundless well of energy to call upon. I sometimes find myself wondering what happened to that perpetually smiling child."

"He grew frightened the day he learned what true pain was when his world came crashing down around him in a single night. He spent a long time lost and alone before he finally realized that it was time for him to grow up. Something I think we all learned at some point after we set foot outside of the Academy wearing those shiny new hitai-ate for the first time."

"Yeah, I think we all grew up pretty fast," Anko agreed as she took another step closer. "Do you trust me, Satoshi?"

"Yes."

Anko smiled when he answered promptly without hesitation before she leaned in and kissed him much as she had earlier in the Hokage's office. Unlike the fleet meeting of lips of the earlier kiss, this time she leaned into him and applied gentle pressure as she reached out to guide his hands to her hips before sliding her hands up to his shoulder. While he wasn't exactly an expert when it came to kissing girls, Satoshi had kissed enough girls in his fourth and fifth year at Hogwarts to know what he was doing and he willingly returned the kiss without becoming demanding; allowing Anko to lead while simply enjoying the fact that he was kissing his beautiful friend. He did pull back when he felt her hands slide around to take hold of the zipper on his jacket.

"Anko-chan…?"

"Please, Sashi-chan," Anko pleaded as she fisted her hands in his jacket as if afraid he was going to push her away; the use of the childhood nickname she'd bestowed upon him the first time they'd met sending shivers down his spine. "I want to show you how much what you gave to me means to me and since you've already admitted to not having an idea of what you can ask me for in payment, I'd like to give you something that I know you, of all people, would never ask of me."

She tentatively reached up to remove his sunglasses only for him to intercept her hand before removing them himself as he held her eyes with his own; the two of them close enough in height that neither one of them had to crane their necks (Anko being just over an inch taller than Satoshi). After a minute or two, Anko leaned forward and pressed her lips to Satoshi's once more; her eyes fluttering closed as he returned the kiss readily enough that she released the tension she'd felt along with her fear of rejection. Satoshi's eyes closed a moment later as he continued to hold her left hand loosely in his right hand while his left hand returned to rest on her hip.

This time when she slipped her hand out of his and fumbled with the zipper of his jacket he didn't stop her though he did shiver just a bit when he felt her hands sliding over the fabric of his shirt as she explored his chest and deepened their kiss. Not long after that, both of their jackets were discarded and Anko slowly led him towards her bedroom in between kisses while her hands wandered boldly over his chest and stomach.

Satoshi's own hands rarely strayed far from her hips unless it was to run his fingers along her spine as he was beginning to feel a little out of his depth; he had never gone beyond kissing with any one. When he finally realized that Anko was leading him to her bed, he faltered for a moment as he pulled back and glanced between the obviously aroused kunoichi and the rumbled covers of her bed.

"Um… Anko-chan… are you sure about this?" Satoshi asked to cover up his growing nervousness.

"I'm sure. You're not afraid of little old me, are you?"

"No… I'm not afraid of you, just feeling a little unsure of myself."

"Are you always this bashful with the ladies, Sashi-chan?"

"Well no but it's just… I don't… I mean I've kissed girls before but I've never… that is, I haven't…"

"You're still a virgin?" Anko asked in shock as she immediately picked up on what Satoshi was trying to say; his blush confirming his inexperience. "How…? Why…? Are you saving yourself for someone?"

"No, there just wasn't any opportunity or a girl interested in me that way that I trusted enough to put myself in such a vulnerable position. I suppose it didn't help that for the last five years the long term missions my team was sent on had me surrounded by people whose family values and social mores were stuck back in the seventeen hundreds. That and fighting for my life nearly every time I turned around kind of made it difficult to find the time to relax."

"So, you're a completely blank slate when it comes to pleasuring a woman," Anko purred with pleasure. "Oh this is just too perfect. I had been nervous that I wouldn't measure up to your past lovers and leave you feeling as if my gift to you wasn't equal to the gift you gave to me but now you've given me the perfect solution to the dilemma we'd been facing of placing value on your services."

"Why do I get the feeling that I should be scared," Satoshi deadpanned as he eyed the now giddy kunoichi.

"Relax, Sashi-chan; I'm going to give you the one thing that will one day save your life and your manhood. I'm going to teach you how to properly treat a woman in bed and make her beg for more."

"Ano…"

"Trust me; when some lucky kunoichi finally catches your interest she's going to personally thank me for training you up properly and you will appreciate the things that she will do for you in return. But first, I'm going to show you just what you've been missing out on."

She didn't give Satoshi a chance to protest as she proceeded to strip him of his weapons before divesting him of his clothes and pushing him back onto the bed. His heart was racing by the time she sauntered up to him and sinuously crawled up the length of his body while smiling hungrily down at him. Time held no meaning for Satoshi as his long time friend became his first lover and introduced him to the sinfully delightful pleasures of the flesh. He lost count of the number of times she brought him to completion, though he would forever remember each and every single one in startling clarity thanks to his eidetic memory.

When he finally stumbled into the house just after two-thirty in the morning, he was still basking in the afterglow of the hours of pleasurable torture that Anko had bestowed upon him; and there was no doubt that it had been a form of torture as the sadistic kunoichi hadn't allowed him a moment's respite or let him so much as think of attempting to pleasure her in return. He'd enjoyed every single minute of it even as he'd been frustrated at not being allowed to return the favor.

And damn it if he didn't wish it could have gone on for hours more despite the fact that he felt rather sore and wrung out.

He was also so out of it that he hadn't even noticed that his hair was messier than usual and stuck out all over the place or that his clothes were rumpled, his jacket unzipped and half hanging off, and his hitai-ate half tucked into his left boot instead of tied around his left thigh. He was more than a little mortified when he stumbled into the living room and found his father sitting on the couch going over the Clan's budget with an open bottle of sake sitting off to one side. His father glanced up and took one look at his disheveled state and sighed before he set aside his paperwork and gestured for Satoshi to join him.

"We need to talk," Shibi stated as Satoshi settled onto the couch beside him. "As the heir of the Aburame Clan you have certain duties and responsibilities and while our clan is no where near as strict as say the Hyuuga Clan or the former Uchiha Clan when it comes to the rules that an heir is expected to follow; there are certain protocols that you are required to follow. One of which is that you are expected to enter a formal betrothal contract and eventually sire an heir of your own to carry on our clan. Mitarashi-san is a nice enough young kunoichi despite her sadistic nature and I do not have any problems with her being your friend but she is also not the marrying kind and it is well known that she dislikes children in general and babies particularly."

"Anko-chan is a friend, tousan," Satoshi quietly explained as he fought the blush that was creeping up the back of his neck over the direction of the conversation. "And while she may have taken my virginity tonight and fully intends to be the one to teach me how to properly bring pleasure to a woman (her words, not mine); I don't think of her as anything other than a very dear friend. Tonight was about her giving me a gift of her choice in return for the gift I gave to her in freeing her from the curse seal. Could I have refused her? Yes. Did I want to refuse her offer? No, I didn't. I'm willing to admit that I have always thought Anko attractive and we both trust each other. Do I expect a long term relationship to form because of what we shared? No, neither Anko nor I am interested in each other that way and we both knew that before we became lovers."

"And it is better to have lost yourself and left yourself vulnerable with a friend than a young woman you are attracted to but don't really know," Shibi half sighed and half mused. "I am also relieved to hear that I will not have to worry about you pining after a woman that will have no interest in a long term relationship."

"Hey, tousan, when you said betrothal contract; does that mean I will have no choice in who I marry?"

"You don't have to worry about me forcing you to marry a woman you don't know or can't stand, little bug," Shibi reassured him with a soft laugh. "Typically, for our clan, the moment we find a woman we are interested in forming a serious relationship with, our father or the clan head will approach the woman's father to negotiate a two year betrothal contract to allow both individuals to get to know one another and make certain that they both want a more permanent relationship. The contract also allows the young woman to grow accustomed to the idea of having the Kikaichu implanted and to make certain that she is compatible with the Kikaichu; since there have been cases where the bugs rejected a person outright."

"Is that what ojiisan did for you and kaasan?"

"Hai, I met my brave Mayumi a little over a year before I found you in the forest," Shibi fondly replied. "I was on a mission near the borders of Fire Country and her father approached our team and asked if we'd escort her to Konoha for formal training as a medic because Mayumi had an interest in healing. I must say she captivated me from the moment we met and I was smitten by the time we reached Konoha. Two months later, otousan visited her village and negotiated a contract with her father without my knowledge after witnessing how close we were becoming. Come to think of it, I was not much older than you are now when I met your mother."

"You loved her very much, didn't you?"

"I still do."

Translations: Japanese to English

Ano – um/uh
Gaki – brat
Hai – yes
Ojiisan/jiisan – grandfather
Okaasan/kaasan – mother
Oniisan/niisan – brother
Otousan/tousan – father
Sashi-chan – intentional misspelling of Satoshi's name and the nickname given to him by Anko when they first met

Notes:

Satoshi/Anko – as stated in the chapter, Satoshi and Anko will not form any time of lasting or formal relationship outside of the friendship that they already have. I just felt that needed repeating due to Anko's gift in this chapter.

AN: First up, I know this chapter is two days late; Firefox had issues with two days ago and I don't use any other browsers. I ended up getting frustrated since I was trying to get into my account for over eight hours and finally just walked away from the computer. I also just didn't feel like updating yesterday. It sounds rather selfish but there are times when I just don't feel like doing much of anything and forcing myself to write doesn't work out well.

Anyway, I've updated now and wanted to let my readers know that I will be modifying my update schedule from this point forward; posting just one chapter per day rather than two. My reasoning for changing how many stories I update a day is to give me time to actually answer your reviews; meaning that I will update one story per day and then reply to the reviews of the story I updated the previous day instead of updating a second story. ~ Jenn