A/N: Hi again everyone! Poor Anko - having to watch her husband's chewed up leg be cleaned. But comfort is on the way to her. Plus, where is Itachi going now? Read on and find out. Enjoy!

Anko felt her stomach churn as the orderlies dabbed and treated Kakashi's wound. Ugh, she thought that's just gross as she watched them dab clean white gauze against the open wound, then remove it with pinkish, white, ick, on it. She really thought she was going to lose it. She thought thank God it doesn't smell funky. If it did, I'd be hurling for sure. She turned her head away, while keeping a firm grip on Kakashi's hand.

The orderlies worked and cleaned Kakashi's wound as much as they could. They finished their job, gathered their cloths, and basins, and things and were about to leave the exam room when Anko asked, "Hey? Aren't you going to wrap him up again?"

The last orderly leaving said, "Nope. He's gotta have a healing treatment yet. Just sit tight. He'll be better in no time."

"Thanks," Anko said absently as she looked at Kakashi's feverish face. Please be ok, please be ok, please be ok, she repeated over and over until she was interrupted by the door opening. Shizune walked in. "OH thank the heavens you're here Shizune! How are you doing?"

Shizune, who it seemed had recovered well from her brain injury answered, "I'm doing a bit better than Kakashi here. Anko, you look a little worn out. You should be resting."

"I wish," Anko said, "But first, take care of him, will ya?"

Shizune smiled genuinely, "Sure I will." She got into position, and looked Kakashi's wound over very closely. "Oh," she said, "This spot seems worse than the others," she pointed to the spot the orderlies had cleaned that had some infection in it. "I'll start here." She did a few hand seals and then laid her hands over the worst part of Kakashi's wound. Anko watched – amazed – as the angry dark red tissue and skin became pinker. The weeping ooze that had been constantly present became less until the wound looked almost dry, and only slightly pink. Shizune smiled to herself and moved her hands to another part of Kakashi's wound, repeating the healing process. She said, "This won't heal him completely. He'll need a day or two of treatments, but he should be fine. I'll have someone come in and shoot him in the behind with some antibiotics, to make sure the infection doesn't come back. He'll be good as new Anko, don't worry about a thing."

Anko was totally relieved. She trusted Shizune implicitly. She asked, "How's it going Shizune? You all healed up from the wedding?"

Shizune laughed musically. She said, "Yeah that was one hell of a day. I went to your wedding, thrilled that you were getting married, yet troubled in my own heart." Anko knew she was talking about Genma. "Then everything seemed to work out for the best, yet I sustained a brain injury. Go figure!" Shizune laughed again, with Anko laughing right along with her.

"I saw Genma before we left on our mission. He seemed good too."

Shizune said, "He's doing quite well. He's been amazing with me. I had trouble at first, trying to remember certain things. I didn't lose my memory, but it was like my brain didn't work," she paused, "as fast as it usually did. I had to think about some things. Genma was great. He has amazing patience."

"He's a really great guy," Anko said.

"He is." Shizune concentrated on her work. As Anko looked down, she saw that Kakashi's terrible wound was now reduced to what looked like a week old wound. There was no seeping, or bleeding, or exposed nerves or ligaments. There was instead, pink, shiny skin that would need a bit more healing to be complete, but Anko was sure that Kakashi would be feeling far less pain when he woke from his medically induced slumber.

Soon, Shizune finished with her labors. Anko said, "That's it? He's done for today?"

"He sure is. He's fine Anko. After he gets his antibiotic shot, he can either go home, or spend the night here,"

"He'll be going home," Anko said without hesitation.

"Yes, I figured as much. I know how much he LOVES hospitals," she laughed again. "Take him home, keep him still, and either myself or Sakura will drop by in the morning for another healing treatment. He'll need about three more treatments before I'd let him try walking on that leg. No worries. We got to him before any permanent damage was done. He'll be up and chasing you around in no time."

Anko thought I CAN'T WAIT. She smiled broadly at Shizune and went to her. She hugged her fiercely and said, "Thank you so much. It's just that I, I, I," Anko couldn't find the words.

Shizune pushed her back a bit and said, "I know." She then turned and walked out of the room.

Anko was flooded with emotion as she walked back to Kakashi. She suddenly had the need to sit down very quickly. She pulled a chair over to him and sat in it, facing him. She felt the tears come, this time, grateful tears that she had such good friends, that Konoha had such talented people living in it, and that her husband was going to be just fine.

An intern walked in with a large hypodermic needle. Anko looked up through reddened tired eyes. She jumped up and said, "Let me help you." She undid Kakashi's belt, and unsnapped his pants. She unzipped his fly and for a moment, thought incredibly BAD thoughts about her helpless husband, but seeing the intern criticizing her expression quickly put an end to those thoughts. The intern grabbed the back of Kakashi's pants and pulled down one side, exposing his upper butt cheek. In went the needle, in went the medicine. The needle was removed quickly, and up went his pants. Anko asked, "He's been out for a while now, how long until he wakes up?"

The intern grabbed a chart that had been attached to the end of the bed. "Says here he was administered a sedative to knock him out. From the dose he received, I'd say, he should be awake in about half an hour. You're welcome to stay with him until then. When he wakes up, we'll make arrangements to send him home."

"Good. Fine. That's just fine." Anko said as she took her spot in the chair by Kakashi's face. She never noticed when the intern left.

Itachi followed the young woman named Spoo through a secluded area behind the Hokage's offices. They were outside in moments, going through twisted turning paths that seemed to be leading to a dark path near the Hokage monuments. Spoo turned to look at him, "Pardon me if I stare. I've never seen an actual Uchiha before."

"No offense taken," Itachi said. "There aren't too many of us left. I killed the clan,"

"But not your brother," Spoo interjected.

Itachi shook his head and said, "No. Not my brother." He wondered what Sasuke was doing right then.

Spoo said, "Things have changed since then. Tsunade-sama shared the information about your clan's 'removal' with me. She's going to make a formal announcement to the village in a day or so – as soon as Orochimaru's body is disposed of. All the wrong done to you will be righted."

Itachi was silent. He thought to himself all the wrong can't be righted. Not unless every single person I killed was alive again.

Spoo noticed Itachi's silence and said, "It's right this way. If you don't like it, I can't take you to another place." They followed a lit path through the base of the Hokage monument mountain. Itachi felt his feet rising as the ground below him sloped up. He saw brighter light up ahead. Soon, the two came out the other side of an outcropping on the mountain. All around them was lush green grass. A small cottage was nestled against the mountain side itself. It was as if this small oasis had been set up for a worrisome Hokage to come to have some peace and quiet. It was up far enough on the mountain to not be accessible any other way than through the mountain itself.

Itachi felt tired suddenly. The thought of rest almost enveloped him completely. Spoo asked, "Will this be ok for you?" She walked toward the cottage and took a key from her pocket. She opened the door, standing back to let him look inside.

As soon as he took a quick look around, he said, "This will do nicely. Thank you Spoo."

She handed him the key and said, "There are food, drinks, a shower, a bedroom and a sitting room that overlooks the valley below. Enjoy your stay Itachi."

"Thank you," he said back to her, as she left the cottage and was on her way back to let Tsunade know where Itachi chose to reside and rest.

Itachi immediately consumed some nourishment, and drank his fill of hot tea. A steamy shower later and he could barely keep his eyes open. The whole time he was eating and showering he kept thinking that it was quite amazing that the village's most powerful ninja trusted him completely. She'd even developed a healing technique that could reverse years of damage from a sharingan user's eyes. He hoped he'd find Sasuke some day to let him know what Tsunade could do for him if he ever needed her help. Amazed at the things that were happening to him, Itachi climbed into the bed waiting for him.

He slept for an entire day.

Anko waited patiently for her husband to wake up. Instead of taking the half hour that the intern said he would take to wake up, Kakashi instead woke up almost two hours later. Late to wake up from anesthesia too. He'll never change. As his eyes fluttered open, the first thing he saw was Anko, weakly smiling at him. She said, "Hey. You're back. I was starting to get worried. How you feeling?"

Kakashi groaned and said, "My ass hurts."

"Oh, that'd be the antibiotic shot they gave you. Your leg got a bit infected." Kakashi reached back and felt the spot where the needle had been driven into his backside. He winced as his fingers felt the hard ball of medicine under his skin.

He turned back to her and his belt buckle flopped over and clanked on the table below him. He looked down and found that his pants were still un-done. He said, "Did you do anything to me while I was unconscious that I'm going to be mad that I wasn't awake for?"

Anko chuckled, "No, but I thought about it. I undid your pants for the guy who came in to give you your shot."

"You thought about it huh?"

"Yeah I did." She got closer to her husband, just inches from his face. As she was moving in to give him a 'welcome back from being anesthetized' kiss, the door burst open and an orderly walked in with a nurse.

"Oh, excuse me," the nurse said as she saw what Kakashi and Anko were 'almost' doing. "I have his discharge paperwork and instructions for his after care."

Anko said, "Of course, please come in." The nurse then went over the paperwork with both Anko and Kakashi. After they signed that they understood what the instructions and restrictions were for Kakashi's activity level for the next couple of days, the orderly pushed a wheelchair toward the bed.

Kakashi said, "I'm not so sure about sitting in that thing, but I'll give it a try." He pushed himself up into a half-sideways sitting position, where his hip was on the exam table. Anko got under his arm and helped him hop down on his good leg. Then she helped shuffle him to the chair. The orderly held it still as Anko bent with him, helping him try and sit in the chair.

He put both his hands on the arm of the wheel chair and lowered himself into it, wincing as he felt the wound pulling a bit. He said, as he got all the way down, "Not bad really. Everyone fixed me up pretty well. Now, to go home."

"I second that," Anko said.

The orderly headed to the door and said, "Wait a moment, I'll get you some crutches."

"No need," Anko said, "He's got half a dozen pair at home already."

The orderly chuckled and said, "Ok, but have someone return that wheelchair by tomorrow. You can borrow it to take him home in."

"Thanks." The orderly left. "So Kakashi, ready to get the hell out of here?"

"Yep." He looked at his release paperwork as Anko started pushing his chair. He said, "Says here I'm being released into your care."

"Ahuh."

"I'm scared."

"Quit!" she said as she slapped him across the top of his crazy hair. "You know I take good care of you. Plus, Sakura or Shizune will be over in the morning for more healing treatments."

"I'm just worried about what you're going to feed me. I'm not a huge fan of sweets remember?"

"You wanna starve instead?"

"No. In fact, anything right about now would be fine."

"I'm starving," she said. "I didn't eat while we were here."

"Why not?"

"I didn't want to leave you."

Kakashi thought I really never will be alone again. "Thanks. Let's go home, eat, have hours of sex, and then sleep for a day."

Anko said, "Read number 7 on the list of your after care instructions."

In very plain bold letters, the words, "NO SEXUAL ACTIVITY FOR TWO DAYS" was written.

Kakashi smashed the paper against his forehead. "That. Just. Sucks."

"We'll survive," Anko said as she pushed him into the street and back toward the apartment they shared.

Once the two ninjas arrived there, they found it was very difficult getting Kakashi up to the second floor where their apartment was. Anko ended up leaving Kakashi at the bottom of the stairs, racing up into the apartment, grabbing one of the six pairs of crutches Kakashi had in the hall closet, and running back down to him with those. They maneuvered their way up the stairs much easier with the crutches, and after a few attempts, and one minor mishap, they finally made it to the top of the steps.

Kakashi panted and said, "Now THAT'S teamwork!"

Anko panted, "Shut up and get inside. I'm going to go return the wheelchair."

Kakashi went inside their apartment and soon flopped sideways onto his couch. He waited there for Anko to return, and she did ten minutes later. Then after Anko prepared a nice dinner that Kakashi was pretty impressed with, Anko helped him bathe, got him dressed into some comfortable sweats and a t-shirt, and then she put him to bed. He said as she turned to leave their bedroom, "Don't stay up too late."

"I won't," she said. "Just want to get a shower."

"Ok," Kakashi said and was soon, breathing steadily and deeply.

Anko's face wrinkled a bit as she turned to return to the bathroom. She'd done a pretty good job at hiding the fact that her back felt like it was cramping like nobody's business. She didn't want to upset Kakashi, or draw any undue attention to herself. She just wanted to take a hot shower, and rub some liniment on her back to loosen it up. She promised herself that she'd join her husband in bed as soon as she could.

She took an almost too hot shower, letting the water pound her lower back. She loved when she kicked the shower massage on "mega-pulse" and let it spit water at her at a high rate of speed. A hot wet massage always helped her muscles un-bunch themselves after a hard days' work.

She felt a bit more relaxed when she got out of the shower and she put on some comfortable pajamas. She felt dead tired. She knew that under the sink, she kept the liniment that she used to rub into her stiff muscles. She opened the vanity door, and as she bent down, a strong sensation of vertigo hit her. She reached for the liniment, missed it completely, and toppled sideways and forward onto the floor.

A/N: CLIFFY TIME! Only a few more chapters to go and you know I had to throw a couple more cliffies in before the series ended right?

Next up: After a tedious healing session with Kakashi, Sakura worries that there is something DEFINITELY wrong with Anko. Meanwhile, Itachi rests and laments about his past, and recent decisions. Later, Kakashi uses what he thinks is a sure-fire way to wake a sleeping Anko, but will it work? You'll see! No cliffy - I'll be nice. See you soon!