Kay, everybody! Here is a major hint about our dear O.C.'s identity. Two more people everybody, just two more and I can post that drabble. C'mon people!

Disclaimer: If we've been over this once, we've been over this a hundred times! I! Don't! Own! 'Naruto'!


She's out on the town, getting dango when she sees her.

And the breath catches in her throat and her eyes fill to the brim with tears and memories, so many memories, flood up into her mind and she sees herself, over a decade ago, darting down the streets of Konoha, her arm entangled in hers, because they are going shopping, but she has just spotted Jiraiya-sama, and if the old perv is here then so is he, and she's dying to introduce her to him

She shakes herself from her recollections, and throws down the money for her sweets, and tears off, like shooting star, after the figure she saw disappear into the crowds. The figure with waves of rich, chocolate coloured hair that cascades down her back in a way that will have every woman in the village envious and scornful. She knows this, because how many nights did she stay up as a teenager, braiding that hair and setting it up on her head like a crown? How many months did she spend growing out her hair so that she could fix it in elaborate twists and turns? Vaguely, she runs her fingers through her now short tresses, wondering if she will be mad that she can't play with it anymore. She had cut it so long ago, over a decade, on that night, that one terrible night when she lost them both…

She tries but fails to push back the image of her, with her tear stained face and grief-stricken eyes, slashing at the long locks, screaming about broken promises and cursing them for leaving her so alone, and how she would never forgive them, ever, and she was cutting her hair so she could never play with it again…

With a burst of speed, she catches up, reaching out a trembling hand to grasp at the blue-clad shoulder. And with unsteady breathes she turned the figure around, the brown hair whipping around the slim frame and she prepares herself to see eyes as green as the leaves in spring look at her in confusion…

But she meets azure fire instead of emerald flames, and she stumbles backwards, looking at her, though it isn't her, it can't be, because she is dead, and she had green eyes, beautiful, haunting green eyes that left him breathless when they first met, left his eyes wide in shock, his gorgeous blue eyes.

And then she realizes.

" You?" She asks, not believing it, but her heart beating faster than ever before. The face, so like hers breaks into a smile.

" Me." She answers.

" I thought you were…" She trails off, ashamed.

" I know." She answers, her voice soft. " I'm here to protect him." She offers as an apology, and apology for not being her. She nods, understanding.

" I see." She whispers, but the blue eyes maiden is already gone, rushing off to tend to the needs of her precious one.

And Anko bites her lip to keep the tears at bay as they threaten to overflow from her eyes.

It was silly really.

After all…

Yumoko's been dead for over twelve years.


Ah? Ah? I'm practically telling you! Just two more! That's it! That's all! So, review, review, REVIEW!

MoS

P.S.- I know I promised Neji-torture, but this just popped into my head and demanded to be posted. So, next time, I swear, I will make our favourite fate-lover squirm!