CHAPTER TEN
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DANZO HAD STARED AT THE LISTS OF NAMES in Anbu, their profiles, looking for the best fit for such a mission. He barely needed to glance before he had picked Koneko's name from the pile. Danzo held it out and the shinobi waited for a moment before he lifted it delicately in his hands. "I don't mean to question anything," the boy said, looking nearly terrified to even mention a thing of complaint. That fear turned all the more horrified when Danzo glanced at him as if he had forgotten he was there at all. "Does her age not concern you?"
Danzo scoffed, wondering why such a thing would matter. "Why should it? She could be 12 or 13, and it wouldn't make a difference." Danzo didn't care. Like always, it was up to him to get the dirty jobs done since the light-hearted fool of a Hokage refused to dirty his own hands to protect his country, his village, and the people. One girl hardly made a difference. And besides, Danzo thought with another scoff. "She was a courtesan before this. I am merely playing to her strengths."
The shinobi didn't have to like it, but this was the way of the world. Danzo only wished there was a Hokage who would be willing to get the hard things done. It was necessary and Danzo felt no guilt for the assignment.
If Namikage Minato continued to fight back against Danzo's orders, it only meant that he'd finish creating his own roots, his own army, to do the nasty jobs that tarnished the Hokage's precious moral compass.
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He had grown weary of watching her waste away as if she wanted to live so little, eat so little, and then ultimately disappear. Even then, when Kakashi invited the rather selfish girl into his home the first time, he didn't mean for it to turn into multiple occurrences. He didn't mean for it to become part of their routine and he especially didn't mean for his eyes to naturally search the room and find her gazing out his window from his couch with her arm lazily perched against the cushions the moment he walked into the apartment.
They didn't see each other often outside of these moments, as it was a rare occurrence for them to be teamed up together in missions. However, he was able to notice that her body gained a bit of its lost color.
A couple of times when he walked in his kitchen from a long sleep to find her sitting, lazily eating a cold onigiri with her butt propped up on his counter, he would just walk back into his room. The fact that she was able to enter his apartment and not wake him up was actually impressive, but he naturally assumed that she either body flickered or slipped under the door crevice like smoke.
He ruled out the latter because he was fairly certain that she would be naked if she had.
Did she hide clothes in my apartment? Kakashi thought to himself warily.
"Morning," she greeted, lazily nibbling on an onigiri. He was slightly annoyed, especially since he knew she could cook for herself. If Rin was any judge, Anomie was one of the best cooks she ever met. A pang ran through him at the thought of Rin's smile, her bobbing head as she spoke, and her ability to see the best in people. Kakashi wondered if that ever grew exhausting for her.
Most of the time, Kakashi often saw the worst in Anomie, which was unsurprising since she was very open about how cruel she could be.
His hair was messy, and while his mask securely covered his lower face, his Hitai-ate was nowhere to be seen so his scarred eye was uncovered, but closed. It wasn't often that he appeared so unkempt in front of her, and he noticed her raise a thin brow as her eyes ran up his body and rested on his hair. He felt rather embarrassed, almost naked with the way her eyes unapologetically scanned her. It reminded him about one quality that he did consider endearing, which was her boldness and confidence.
She oozed it, and even when she stared at him, not hiding her interest in him, made his heart hammer in his chest. He was never more thankful for his mask, hiding these emotions better than he ever could.
"So it is natural," she murmured, blinking at the scowl from underneath his mask.
"Anomie," he warned, and she gave him a wry smile and a lazy, one shoulder shrug. She held the onigiri delicately in her fingers, obviously not minding that she had just eaten the breakfast he prepared. He grew more irritated that he had accounted for her presence, and made extra last night. He was tempted to walk back into his room and sleep away the day just to get away from how embarrassed he was.
"I always thought you styled your hair," she said, her voice low as she hopped down from the counter and landed lightly on her feet. Her hair was half in intricate braids, making him wonder just how long she spent on something so frivolous. He hated how he liked that about her, hated how he wanted to see her unkempt, her hair messy, her clothes hastily put on.
He squeezed his eyes shut at the thought, intrusive and unwelcome. Instead, he leaned against the doorframe, rubbing his temples. She was already walking towards him, towards the small table near the door, running her fingers along the plant that rested there. It was a small cactus, in perfect condition since Kakashi meticulously took care of it. She was still chewing when she glanced up at him.
"I can't see you shopping for decorations," she said with a smile after swallowing her food. The onigiri was almost gone, and she held it carefully in her fingers.
"I didn't," he answered, glancing over to it with a shrug. He paused, uncertain before saying, "Rin gave it to me."
She let out a soft, "hmm," but ran her fingers over the pot now reverently. He liked the small ways she showed she cared, but was sad how quickly she reverted back to not caring about anything at all.
"What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked softly, glancing over her jaw, her high cheekbones. She was a small distance away, and a bit of sunlight that peeked in through the blinds was highlighting her face in so smooth a way. If he wasn't so certain she was a demon, he might have thought her an angel.
"I got hungry."
"You know, when I said you should eat, this isn't what I had in mind."
She only shrugged finishing off the onigiri and walking past him towards his room.
"What are you doing?" Kakashi asked, and she brushed her fingers along his arm in a calming motion. He hated that it did calm him down, yet also made him feel as if his body filled with static.
"Snooping for dirty magazines," she said, bending over to check under his bed. He scoffed when all she found was a bit of dust. She made a sound of disappointment, but turned back towards him with a smile, sitting on his unmade bed.
"I'm not that kind of guy," he said, waiting too long before he could even speak.
The feeling he had, watching her sit there, watching her body sink unto the cushion, was a distracting thing. He had to look away. She was staring at him now, at his hand, and it was too late to stop her before he realized why. Before he could process her gaze, she had already walked up next to him and grabbed his wrist with a light, ghost-like touch. Her fingers were cold and made him stiffen at her oddly gentle grip before he saw her gaze glance towards the title of the book in his hands, her eyes swimming with amusement. He immediately felt like banging his head repeatedly into a wall.
She obviously recognized the title and when her eyes met his he saw her lips actually struggle not to smile. "Not that kind of guy, huh?" Anomie had that look in her eyes that he found all the more attractive as if she had just uncovered a secret that was shared only between them. "I do believe that this isn't the same book I had given you."
"...shut up," he said, but even he knew it was lame and too breathy.
"I knew you would begin acting like a boy someday."
"That's rather rude."
"You are a man now. Would you like to have the talk?" Her voice grew more mocking the more she spoke, causing his frown to deepen.
"You're pissing me off," he stated, but there was no real anger in his voice as she let go of his wrist.
"Don't worry, Kakashi, I will always be here if you need a helping hand." He wasn't sure if she was joking.
"W-What?"
"What?"
"S-Shut up."
Her laugh ended the topic as she walked towards the front door where her shoes rested. She slipped them on with a blank face that held none of its previous amusement.
"Where are you going?" He found himself asking and she blinked.
"Mission."
He didn't really care, but he asked anyway, "What kind?"
He noticed, however brief and fleeting, her eyes clouded with reluctance that made his attention narrow on her. She quickly evened her expression and adjusted her boots. "...Seduction and espionage."
"I see," his blank voice immediately made her eyes rest on his figure and her head tilted to the side, her hair in those beautiful braids that now made sense as to why she looked so well styled.
"I just wanted to see you before I left," she whispered an honest smile that simultaneously made his heartthrob and pound at the same time before dropping into his stomach.
"Do you have to leave now?" Kakashi asked, hating that he wished she could stay. Her head tilted to the side, no longer smiling.
"I left you some breakfast as payment for my intrusion," she said. "A diet of rice will make you scrawny and lean," she reminded him with one last smile. "I like a man with a bit of muscle."
Her mocking tone only made his heart throb all the more. He closed his eyes when she placed her Anbu mask over her face. Koneko stared back at him and any trace of the smiling Anomie that had been happily stealing his food had suddenly vanished as if she never existed at all.
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It wasn't a real secret of her prior occupation and the rumors of her promiscuity had worked its way around the Anbu ranks, so she wasn't surprised when she was assigned the mission. She wasn't shocked or angry or humiliated. There was a moment, however, where she looked at it with a sense of disappointment. There really is no escape, Anomie thought, reminded of something Ohashi had said so many years ago.
"This is all you will ever be good at doing," she told the younger girl. Anomie shook away the thought, shook away all emotion as if she were shoving it behind a wall. Her nickname, Koneko, always compared Anomie to that of a small cat, but she had always felt more like a snake, shedding skin to become something else. Maybe they should have named me 'hebi' instead? Anomie scoffed, pushing that away next.
All she needed was her objective and a name.
She wasn't humiliated when she opened her Anbu locker to a small note that had the words 'whore' written in bold script. She was only slightly surprised that bullying even existed among Anbu comrades, but she supposed something like this was to be expected. She was young and didn't really earn her position like the rest of them. To them, she was given special consideration that they deemed she didn't deserve. She wondered if they ever even saw her as one of them. Was she doomed to be an outsider, even here?
They should be grateful that she was here, getting the mission that no one wanted. The missions that only a woman could do. Since there was a severe lack of women in Anbu, she wished they would thank her. She wanted them to bow their head, get on their knees and grovel. To be grateful and to ask for her help since Anomie doubted that half of Anbu could make even a puppy love them. Most of Anbu had the social skills of a hermit crab.
Anomie slammed the locker shut, wishing they would bow.
She missed the warmth of Kakashi's apartment, the warmth he provided so freely. Sometimes, when she closed her eyes, he almost felt like Rin. A little pretend was all she had. Anomie sighed, adjusting the straps of her outfit, tying the laces of her thigh-high boots, and stewing in bitterness as if she could hope for different.
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By the time the fifth night ended, her body was covered in moonlight seeping through the window. A strong arm rested over her bare stomach as gentle eyes stared into hers while his fingers ran circles over her skin. He wasn't too old, but he was definitely nowhere near her age of 16, not that he knew that as she had always had the looks of a girl older than her age. Training and aerobics had long since gotten rid of any of her baby features, but she supposed she had never managed to look her age. If she had ever looked too young, no man ever cared before in the past.
The way he was looking at her as if she was the most beautiful woman in the world, made her stomach feel like it was filled with rocks, but she did her duty and trailed her fingers down his tan skin.
Not long ago, three Jounin were taken down while on a mission to deliver official documents from Konoha to Suna, obviously hired by the man on top of her, Yamaguchi Hisuo. Her mission was to find them, and Hisao had a reputation of having a very unattractive wife along with rumors of many secret mistresses.
Getting him to want her was simple enough. He liked girls innocent, untouched, and submissive. She played the part well, as it was often a popular request among men who held none of those similar qualities. It required very little effort on her part, taking the place of a nobleman's daughter. Said nobleman was a Konoha spy, set in place many years back to handle missions much like this. He had been a rude, capricious old man, but Anomie didn't need to like him.
"Where did you get these tattoos?" Hisao's question was soft as he trailed his lips up the small kanji seals over her arms. Her Anbu mark had been covered by Genjutsu and makeup, but she left the others to add an air of mystery. Men usually liked something extra to touch during sex, and she liked where his lips would touch and how it encouraged foreplay. This was not only to make the sex enjoyable for her but because said foreplay made intimacy easier. The more he touched her, the more he enjoyed her, the more he might even like and trust her.
His lips kissed against her skin and she forced a childish giggle. "I'll tell my secret if you tell me one of yours." Her tone was playful, daring, but innocent enough for the occasion. She could immediately recognize the tiny glimmer of amusement and lust that clouded his eyes when he met her stare.
"What kind of secret?" he asked, his voice smooth as he trailed his lips over her chest. She made sure to keep up her smile, even though her stomach dropped as he pressed his lips over her collarbone. She giggled as if his touch made her sensitive, ticklish.
However, it didn't make her feel anything.
Everything made her feel as if she went back in time as if she were shackled back to Ohashi and the oiran house. Maybe this was real and all the rest was a dream. She felt more like a whore than a ninja, but at least whores were better paid.
"A personal one," her voice came out in a whisper as her pale leg, bare and naked, escaped the cover of the blankets. "Something you have never told anyone."
The moment his amused gaze met her childlike eyes, his secrets spilled, one after another.
In the span of two weeks, she practically knew everything about him.
In the span of two weeks, he even began talking about leaving his wife for her. It was laughable that a man would give up his entire life for a pretty face and flattering lies. He didn't tempt her with his promises, with promises to give her everything she ever wanted, as if that were possible. Nobody ever could, she'd leave them broken and deflated because that was the thing about want.
It was quicksand. It was the ocean. Who knew when one reaches the very bottom? Anomie didn't think she had a bottom, an end to the want.
She only smiled at him, whispering how happy it would make her to become his, how delighted her father would be for such a prosperous match. If she ever knew her father, she wondered what he'd think of her or if his opinion would even matter.
On the eighth week, she had the documents and his corpse lay wrapped in blankets.
She slipped from the bed, her body covered in splotches of blood and she glanced out towards the large window as she paid no mind to the corpse in the bed with eyes wide in surprise. Hisao hadn't suspected what those kanji seals were, and if he were truly curious about who she was as a person, he might still be alive right now. Anomie smiled at the thought, raising her arm to dance her fingers down each symbol. She sat down and leaned her head against the window seal, paying no mind to her naked body. She closed her eyes, not minding the cold or the night air or the moonlight shining.
She wondered if some people might find the sky tonight beautiful and if she ever could again. At the thought, she curled her legs into her chest, before her body lost form and turned to smoke. It had been an accident, but she was disappointed in herself and her lack of control. She would become better. If she got stronger, smarter, maybe she could be more than this.
The moment her body was corporeal once more, she was standing. She activated one of the seals on her arm and in a cloud of smoke, her body was dressed once more as the storage seal turned inactive.
The blood remained on her skin from under her clothes, but she wore it like battle wounds as she closed her eyes, feeling oddly morbid as the smell of blood and rot filled the room. She didn't have time to linger or wash away the blood or wallow in self-pity as if she deserved pity.
Perhaps this was what she was good at and this was all she'd ever amount to. This thought ran through her mind, making that hidden desire flicker away and die.
She supposed it didn't matter and suppressed that bitterness before it could suppress her. Hatred was a weakness. Anger was a weakness. Jealousy was a weakness. Envy. Desire. Dreams. Hope.
And yes, love was a weakness too.
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By the time she managed to make it back to Konoha, back to her empty apartment, and back to the dark bathroom, she turned into smoke causing her clothes to pile at her feet. She turned corporeal again and walked, naked and bloody and dirty, into the shower. She made sure to turn the water scathing hot, letting the water turn her skin red as it burned into her head, her hair, and mixed with the blood. It all fell down around her, washed away, down into the drain. The water swept it away from her body, and she couldn't look away because there was just so much.
The Hokage had not been in when she went to turn in the documents and she was forced to trust them to a senior member of Anbu before body flickering into her apartment. She wanted to ask him so many things, like why he sent her on this mission, why he let her join Anbu if this was what Anbu really was. But, he didn't even show his face. Anomie scoffed at the thought.
According to the rumors of Anbu, Kushina was pregnant, and considering the woman held a demon sealed in her red haired body, apparently being close to labor meant risks that required a good percentage of Anbu black ops and the Hokage himself. He hardly had time to answer any of Anomie's questions, and she wasn't certain there was any use voicing them.
She hadn't been assigned with any duty to protect the Hokage's wife, so naturally, other Anbu missions had recently fallen on her shoulders at an almost alarming rate. Her previous one-week vacation was obviously a one-time thing because now, she hardly had days in between for rest.
It didn't help that rumors had begun to spread about her, outside of the usual, childish, insults of her being promiscuous, sadistic, and cruel.
She shut her eyes and felt smoke rise from her body and fill the shower with a thick cloud as steam covered every crook of the room. She forced the smoke to return to her flesh moments later.
By the time she turned off the water, her vision became distorted from the cloud of steam. The moisture in the air might have made her cold, but Anomie was always cold. She took small steps, and if she hadn't been familiar with her bathroom then she might have tripped.
Instead, she only wrapped a towel around her body and wiped a bit of the misty cover of water off the mirror. She leaned in close and saw a tiny scratch mark over her neck, where Hisao had desperately fought to live, even though she had thought she killed him before it could happen. Had she hesitated? Perhaps, but it wouldn't happen again.
The injury was right above her collarbone and just over a couple of love bites that covered a good portion of her neck. She traced her fingers over them, her face blank as she shook her head and walked out of the bathroom. She quickly changed her clothes before walking out to the balcony of her apartment. She leaned over the railing, letting the night's air run through her damp white hair as she dangled her arms over the edge.
A part of her mused over the idea of getting sick, but she didn't have time to muse long when a voice from above her interrupted her thoughts.
"So you're back," Kakashi stated, and she turned so her back was against the railing and her face was pointing up to where Kakashi was lazily reading his 'Icha Icha Paradise' book, ironically written by Jiraiya. She would never admit to the said man that the storyline and erotic scenes weren't so bad. She would also never risk inflating the man's ego by telling him that she had already preordered the latest issue.
But she had been correct in assuming that only about 20 percent of what he observed went into the Toad Sage's books.
"Seems so," she agreed, closing her eyes. "It went well. A nice adventure."
"Hmm."
"Is that judgment I hear?"
"Many members of Anbu will eventually partake in this kind of mission. No need to judge," he said, and she heard him turn a page as the wind brushed against her skin, making her want to float away with it into the sky.
"Espionage is a standard rite of passage," even though she said that they both knew espionage wasn't what he meant. She briefly wondered if he heard rumors that had been increasing around Anbu, but she doubted he would ever say much, considering half of the Shinobi in Anbu called him Nakamagoroshi no Kakashi. Name-calling had never been her thing, so she stayed out of all the taunts and humor-less mentions of Kakashi killing Rin.
If anything, the reminder had begun to make resentment grow in her chest before she repressed that to.
"Any injuries?" he asked, even though she did have an obvious bandage on her neck.
"Mostly my pride...I got cocky," she admitted the last part rather lowly, but he no doubt caught it with his dog-like hearing. "Did you make food?"
"I'm starting to think you've been using me for a free meal," Kakashi's tone was surprisingly mocking, and she opened her eyes to see his lazy stature resting both elbows against the railing with a good amount of distance between the railing and his body.
"It's so convenient," her voice grew light, less dry than usual. She stood straight and jumped onto the railing, using her Chakra to stick her feet on the thick poles before jumping to his balcony. Her damp hair fell over her shoulders as she nonchalantly used her towel to dry it. "I hear you are one of Kushina-sama's personal guards."
Kakashi shrugged, closing his book and placing it in the pocket of his jacket as he watched the girl from the corner of his eye, resting on the bandage over her neck before he noticed the tiniest of skin blemishes. They were red and slightly fading but when she saw where he was looking he noticed she used her hair to cover the obvious love bites.
Anomie wasted no more time and walked into his apartment, feeling Kakashi follow and lay down on the couch while she raided his refrigerator. It was difficult not to notice that he had more food than usual with the amount to feed two people instead of one. To save him his dignity, she made sure to not bring it up as she grabbed an onigiri before walking over to the couch and leaning over so her body hovered over his and her chest hung just over his head. He slowly opened his eye while her hair hovered a couple of centimeters over his face.
"Thank you," she whispered, and his visibly froze. Her polite behavior was slightly out of place and surprised him. Anomie had to admit that thanking someone had always been difficult and was even more difficult when she was genuine about it.
"It's just rice," he muttered, turning on his side so he could no longer see her face. Her lips spread into a thin smile as she hopped over the couch so she could be in front of him and slowly sat on the ground so her back leaned up against the couch, in front of his stomach while she nibbled on the rice.
She didn't speak for a long while, and his eyes rested on her bare arms, covered in seals that he hadn't seen before. They had the markings of storage seals and he raised an eyebrow at the ingenious of it. Her arm was covered in seals, but they weren't the tattoo that caught his attention. Her damp hair had parted over the back of her neck, revealing a pronged tattoo that was the common sign of an Oiran.
His fingers absentmindedly hovered over it, and he noticed her entire body stiffened and her hand slapped over the back of her neck. By the time she removed it, hair was covering the marking once more.
"Is this why there are rumors about you?" He asked, and she glanced over to him from over her shoulder before pursing her lips.
"Must be." Her voice came out slightly strained before it was light and unchanged as before. "It's not like I've had the time to whore my body to passing clients and Anbu." Her chuckle almost startled him, as she stood up, finishing off the onigiri before turning towards him. "What's say we train?"
"You just got back from a mission."
"Training is better than sleep."
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Once upon a time, Anomie had briefly wondered just how much stronger Kakashi was from her. After around 20 training spars and five months later, her answer was obvious as he all but tore her body into the ground.
Standing up from the crater they had made in the ground, she felt her back pop as she weakly stood up before falling on her hands and knees.
"You should take a break," he suggested, and she held up her palm to silence him before she stood up and wiped off the dust from her body.
"Nah. One more time. If I can pin you down, then I win," she suggested, and he sighed as he began to realize that the girl in front of him was far more competitive than he had once initially assumed.
It also turned out, he would find that day, that she was willing to do anything to win against him. Most of her antics didn't work, such as the surprise of her bitch slapping him until he stumbled back. While it had successfully caught him off guard, he had swiftly managed to catch himself before she could do more.
What had managed to make her win were her lips, pressed tightly against his with only his mask to break off complete contact. His body stumbled back after she tripped him, and she managed to pin him underneath her smaller frame before she finally separated her lips from his face.
"I win." Her voice was free of arrogance, and he was much too stunned to think of a good reply.
"That was...cheating," came his weak reply as he felt his own kunai press against his neck. Later he would reprimand himself for allowing her to steal his weapon.
"A loss is a loss," she said simply, her lips spreading in a wry smile that didn't look very innocent.
His cheeks were tinted red and he body flickered out from under her, using his free hand to make the hand signs. He landed weakly to his feet, his back to her as he pressed his fingers to his mask.
"Are you mad?" she asked. "That wasn't your first kiss was it?"
If he hadn't been mad before, he would be now when he turned to scowl at her. "Anomie."
Her laugh broke the tension. "Don't be such a prude. Tell you what. I'll never kiss you again," she said, and when she saw that his glare hadn't disappeared, she pursed her lips standing up with a leap as he took a step towards her. "Unless you ask me to."
He soon realized that snapping at her wouldn't make a difference, so he settled for merely rubbing his temples and making his voice bitter. "Well, we still have the night off, so I'm going to go home."
"Instead of that, let's get something to eat. I'm a little tired of onigiri," she suggested, and he sighed, deciding to humor her.
However, he immediately regretted humoring her as he felt her stare in the corner of his eye as he attempted to eat his udon in peace. He could already recognize her curiosity at what was underneath his mask, and her attempt to take a peak was not unlike many of the others who had done the same.
"You know, I'm less curious of what's under the mask and more curious as to why you wear it at all," she stated, and he noticed that she still hadn't touched the udon, but the rice had been devoured clean.
"It's a tragic story," he replied, taking out his book. As months passed, it had become easier to not care who saw him read it.
"Oh?" She leaned in, obviously intrigued.
"It happened many years ago, on a mission with my mother. Ninja from Kiri pulled a surprise attack that cost my mother her life, and me a scar across my face. Ever since then, I've worn a mask."
"..." Anomie's face became unreadable as her eyes stayed focused on the man who nonchalantly turned a page in his book. "That is quite tragic."
"I'd prefer you not repeat it."
"I wouldn't go around to gossip on a story you pulled out of your ass," she mused, taking a bite of her udon and a grimace of disgust immediately stole her expression.
"It could be true."
Anomie shoved the udon to the side and focused on eating the pork dumplings instead. "You are so full of shit..."
But by the time her eyes went back to Kakashi, his food was gone and his mask was still in place.
As he met her gaze, taking notice to the way her eyes slanted into crescents as she smiled, and then she spoke again, "But I like that about you."
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Their dash to the front of the gates was silent and swift and by the time they arrived, Tadashi was already standing there, doing squats.
They decided not to question it as they headed out, their bodies all disappearing in a flicker, and this time Anomie didn't land in a dumpster, which was a step up she supposed as usually long-distance Shunshin for her went terribly wrong.
With a soft thud, her feet landed on thin branches, her heels cupping into the wood as she jumped to the next one. She could vaguely feel Kakashi and Tadashi's Chakra from behind her, but she didn't slow down, knowing at least one of them would catch up.
The bear had never been very fast but could gain a momentum of speed in a fight and he was quick to the kill. She hadn't fought alongside him very often, since they had been in completely different divisions of Anbu, but Minato had started to pair up different skillsets in one team. She had seen few of Kakashi's skillsets, especially since most of their missions didn't require much contact with each other.
They all had been debriefed separately for their mission, which was one of infiltration and annihilation. The Daimyō who had been selling secrets to Kumo had finally been found and secrets of Konoha had been compromised, so no one really knew who in his faction knew what. The mission was rather straightforward. Kill everyone and burn the small village to the ground. It was all dirty business, but it wasn't Anomie's first.
From there, a different member of the Daimyō family would be appointed, to which Anomie could only assume meant that it was all preplanned. She didn't care about royal family drama, she just thought it odd that such a thing was something that the Hokage would get involved in.
She almost wondered if it would be Kakashi's first real assassination since sometimes Anbu weren't allowed to risk letting even the innocent ones live on the fear of them not being innocent later on. It was a sad fact, and she doubted Kakashi had it in him to kill a child. The interrogation was annoying and sometimes a pointless business that was not usually done out in the field. Murder was more final, and in the end, many murders kept the people safe. Or, as Anomie saw it, kept the right people in power and rich.
But as she remembered Kakashi's hands, scrubbed clean of some kind of imaginary blood, Anomie began to wonder if this kind of life would be good for him. She doubted it would heal the stain that his comrade's deaths left on him, but after all the rumors she had heard on his skill, she didn't doubt that he wouldn't be able to hold his own.
She came to an abrupt halt, waiting for the other two to catch up. They all stopped on close branches, and she slowly turned to them.
Tadashi pulled out what looked to be a haori and the red cloth was slightly torn and stained with blood. The hidden village was hidden for a reason, to keep the Daimyō safe. It all meant that someone or some faction in the Daimyō family wanted him dead.
"I heard you were a tracker. The village shouldn't be too far," Tadashi held out the haori and Kakashi but his thumb and wasted no more time to summon a small dog that appeared in a cloud of smoke on Kakashi's shoulder. It was a tiny animal, and it probably would have been cute if Anomie actually liked animals, which she didn't.
"Kakashi," the dog greeted, his voice much deeper than she expected. "Pakkun at your service."
"Once we get there, the Daimyō will be carefully guarded," Tadashi explained. "We can't let word get out that Konoha is murdering off a village...no survivors. The Daimyō must die first, and then everyone else. If he gets away, the mission fails."
"I can get close enough to him easily," Anomie stated, and Kakashi glanced her way, barely able to see the hue of dark pink in her eyes, but now that they were in the sun, he saw that they looked more yellow than ever. She didn't sound particularly bothered by the aspect of using her body, and Kakashi couldn't forget the marking on the back of her neck that he had seen only months ago.
"I did hear he had a thing for beautiful girls," Tadashi said, his voice gruff and calm. "Do what needs be done to get around the guards..."
Anomie nodded, looking all the more expressionless, and made no sound of complaint.
"I'll stick with my part in the plan, you two just make sure that there are no survivors," she said slowly, wishing that it wasn't him who had to do it. Yet, maybe a part of her was glad, glad that maybe, in the end, he could be as broken and as twisted as her.
"Ready?" Tadashi asked, and Kakashi slowly nodded. He had to swallow his emotions for his new duty.
It was his duty, his mission, his job, but a part of him was already screaming, already dying.
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By the time the night ended, the village of the Daimyō was up in smoke and Tadashi's blade was covered in blood. His hands shook as he took the blade out from a woman's neck, hearing the cracking sound of bone and blood, dripping out onto the ground. His mask was covered in blood, and his grey jacket was red. It took everything he had to keep his hand from dropping the blade.
Until now, Kakashi felt like a coward, a traitor, because he couldn't do it, he couldn't hurt anyone. If Tadashi was having trouble, he made no sound, and with his mask, Kakashi couldn't see it if he did. He must have felt something, because he leaned his hand against the wall, supporting his weight, blood dripping off the blade. The mask they were weren't the normal Anbu type, and instead, black clay masks with no visible village marking.
Anomie had fulfilled her side perfectly enough, having used whatever methods she needed to possess the Daimyō. Then, ordered the Daimyō's militia to slaughter the people. Those men had hesitated, had questioned, but ultimately, it was their Daimyō who ordered it, so they obeyed. Whoever they missed, Tadashi and Kakashi were to pick off. Then, they would kill the militia.
It was messy, but he had seen familiar sights during the war. Or perhaps it was never quite like this.
Tadashi stepped outside, looking sick, but Kakashi couldn't leave. He may not have raised the blade, but he might as well have with his lack of spine and voice. He should have questioned it. He should have questioned the mission. Was this truly what Minato had wanted? Kakashi felt as if he hardly knew his sensei right now.
That was when Kakashi heard the cries.
His pounding heart had blocked it out at first, but he slowly turned his head at the sound of two children, crying under the bed in perfect view of where Tadashi had killed their mother. Where Kakashi had done or said nothing to stop it.
The look in their eyes as they stared at him caused his throat to burn as he tried not to vomit. The fear, the confusion, the hatred.
He could feel it pierce through him with such force that he could scarcely breathe. They were begging to live. He could see it in their eyes even if all that came from their lips were sorrowful gasps.
Kakashi raised his tanto, watching their eyes widen. They couldn't be more than four years old and the fear made him want to cry, to scream, or to do anything but kill.
He couldn't physically make the move, and he forced his body out of the house, leaving the kids with the mother that had been slaughtered in front of them. The moment he exited the house, Anomie was waiting next to him and he noticed that her jacket was covered in blood. She didn't look phased as she walked next to him. The black ash that was smeared across her hands told him that she was obviously the one who had set the village on fire. He could see the fire in her eyes, peeking through the slits of the mask, and knew of her growing abilities in manipulating flames.
"I sent Tadashi to the east section of the village," she said slowly, no hint of the turmoil that was filling up him. "To take care of the Daimyō's men. We should follow." He heard the sound of footsteps inside the house.
Her head abruptly turned to the home before connecting her eyes with his, which had widened when he saw the realization in her narrowed gaze. Her steps were so quick that he had no time to stop her as she went inside. He was close behind, but she didn't slow as she took one look at the two children who cried over their mother's corpse.
"You were going to let them live?" Her voice had no judgment as she glanced his way. His answer was obvious.
"They're young...too young," Kakashi replied. "They don't need to die."
"Everybody dies. You can't choose favorites just because you feel like it," her voice was cold, making him freeze as she took a step towards them. "Everyone dies eventually. Death is the only thing we have in common."
"Stop," he ordered when he watched her body flicker behind them, but he was faster, slamming her into the wall and watching the motion knock the mask off her face. Underneath, her face was empty, not nearly as horrified as he felt. "Stop," he begged now, but she only stared at him, not fighting against him. Kakashi didn't look at the kids, couldn't look at them, otherwise, she might get away and he would crumble with the guilt. "Run."
He heard them scramble to their feet when Anomie spoke again. "They get away and tell of Konoha's involvement? What then?" Anomie asked him, calmly and irritating rational. "It's too late to back out. Too late, Kakashi."
"We aren't wearing our headbands, they won't know who we are."
"I can't take that risk," she said, slowly, and he looked down, noticing that her arms were gone, having turned into smoke. He let her go, turning around as if he could stop anything. The children had fallen to the ground, just outside. They were suffocating, suffering, and he lifted Anomie up by the collar of her shirt.
"Let them go," he ordered, he had to save them, but to do that, he knew he'd have to kill her.
"No," she said, lifelessly, apathetically, confirming that fear. She watched his hand squeeze the hilt, shaking, trembling with the blade, but he did not raise it for a moment. When she finally felt it press against her throat, she glanced it. He didn't get a chance to see if he could do it when her entire body turned to smoke and passed right through him. The blade was against nothing, and the children weren't moving.
Anomie bent down, lifting the mask she dropped from the ground, placing it back over her head.
"This is what we do," her voice was so cold, that he could hardly believe that she was the same person who had cried over Rin's death, who stole his food, who laughed, and who kissed him just to secure a win. He could hardly believe she was even human. "We are not heroes, not the good or the just. We are Anbu and if you don't like the mission," she said, turning towards him, head tilted to the side. "This isn't the life for you."
Her voice was reprimanding, cold, without a trace of mercy and he found himself staring at her and unable to accept anything she was saying. She, who had only just joined, who had only learned how to fight not long ago. He had been fighting his whole life, training, practicing. Who are you to tell me that? Kakashi thought with rage and despair, clouding his vision. He had never wanted to hit her before, to knock sense in her, but he did at this moment.
Anomie didn't soften, didn't back down. "I did your dirty work today," she said, cold and without hesitation. "If you are going to be angry at anyone, it shouldn't be me."
She looked like she was hesitating to say something else, but she only turned around and left him there. He dropped to his knees, clutching the ground. I have to bury them, he thought, barely comprehending the fire, the odd silence. No one was screaming. Did no one get the chance? I have to, he couldn't remember anymore.
He felt physically sick as he searched the village for any Chakra signals, finding nothing but Anomie and Tadashi.
Everyone was dead and burning.
A part of him felt like he had burned with them.
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Anomie had blood, caked under her nails.
That was the first thought she had, the first time she looked upon them. She raised them to her face, wondering what happened to her gloves. They were steady before her, pale, and bruised. What have I done? Anomie hardly felt like she had been here at all, as if pieces of her were floating away. She felt drunk, high, and alone amongst it all. It had all been working, she hadn't looked into any of their faces, had taken time to notice the details. That was what the mission entailed. The scroll had been straightforward.
She followed the mission, she wasn't the bad one here.
She wiped her hands against her pants, against her torn vest, but all it did was smear over her skin. She would need to wash it away and hope nothing stained.
The Daimyō had stunk of fish when he had kissed her. She had been told to take possession of his mistress, a spy assigned to stay by the Daiymō's side. Of course, there was always a spy. Nothing or no one was trustworthy. Anomie wondered how long this mission had been planned, if they ever really imagined how grotesque it all was.
Anomie doubted it. In war, no one cared about the citizens who lost their lives. No one cared that her own village of Kemuri had been decimated, so long as they got what they wanted out of it. And now, she knew what it felt like to be the one in power, the one who hurt others. She couldn't get the taste of it out of her mouth, and relished the feeling of blood filling her tongue when she had been punched in her stomach.
She could feel Tadashi and Kakashi close by, but she couldn't be bothered to catch up to them. She felt her hands disappear in smoke, before returning form as she stepped away from her emotions. She had to remember to focus. She had gotten lucky that she managed to segment her body into smoke, lucky that it was enough to fill those children's lungs. She had been desperate, desperate to finish this mission so she could leave, so she could go home.
She could still see the frightened expressions of those children when she closed her eyes, but the pain faded into a dull throb when she opened her eyes. There was a bitterness in her.
She was bitter that Kakashi couldn't finish them off himself, bitter that he had seen her do it, bitter that she had checked if they were there in the first place, and bitter that the feeling of blood was intoxicating. She felt drunk, at peace, and at war. Guilty and happy. The emotion was raw, and she felt her body lose form a mere instant before coming back at full force.
She had to calm down. She knew that.
She had to be heartless, in control...
Or she would die. She would die. She would die. She would have no purpose.
What good was she if she couldn't follow the orders given? What good was she?
The thought made her heart go numb, and in a mere moment, her eyes stared at the village as it burned. She could feel the heat from underneath her mask, and she felt at peace again.
She felt empty and hollow and it was important that she stayed that way.
The journey back to the village was even more silent and tense than before, and not even Tadashi had the nerve to speak or laugh or do anything but immerse himself in thoughts. Anomie didn't know what went through either of their minds and didn't care to think about it. All she could picture was water to wash off the blood and to wash off the stench of death that had begun to settle in her skin.
She didn't particularly care about anything else, and her speed and desire got her past the gates of Konoha before her teammates.
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The report to the Hokage made Minato break down, despite the necessity of the mission, despite the fact that the Daimyō was going to continue the war that Konoha worked so desperately to end. She supposed it was half because Minato hadn't approved the mission, and the council and a man named Danzo had apparently gone behind the Hokage's control. She hadn't known that was possible, hadn't thought that anyone but Minato ordered the missions.
Who the fuck is Danzo? Anomie had to ask herself. But she supposed that didn't matter either. Danzo, the council, Minato, it was all the same. She didn't care for politics, so naturally toned out the comments and discussions.
After that, through Anomie's request, she was assigned away from Kakashi's immediate team indefinitely. It was for the best, she thought to herself. He was such a soft thing, with a kind heart, a merciful heart, a weak heart.
He thought that the killing ended with the war, but shinobi had been butchering left and right since before she was born. Ninja never stopped killing. She had seen that as a whore and she had seen that as a 'ninja', if that is what she is. Anomie didn't know. She felt more like a puppet, one who didn't know pulled her strings.
Kakashi was a good fighter and his technique was flawless, far above her own, but he was also sloppy and sentimental when it counted. He could take down an army but paled at a gruesome sight. He had mercy where there shouldn't be, and Anomie didn't want to be the cause of crushing that out from him. Anomie hated that a part of her wanted even that.
He had seen the darkness in her, unlike before, and now he had refused to look at her. Do you hate me? Anomie thought, watching his back as he walked out of the room. Minato was covering the tears, the anger, and she didn't look at him again.
She followed after him, like a child, reaching over to touch his arm. He pulled out of her touch. Her arm flopped to her side, wounded from his retreat. Finally, he turned and looked at her. There were no words, his eye said it all, and her face went slack.
"Do you regret any of it?" Kakashi asked, his voice weak as he covered his face with his hand, exhausted.
Anomie thought over the question, wondering if she could feel that. As if she could ever put any descriptive word for anything she ever felt. "If it wasn't us, it would have been someone." Anomie slipped on her anbu mask, becoming that person again. "So," she paused, "no."
She turned and walked away, wondering if this, if she had broken something between them. She wondered if that something could grow back.
But this wasn't a plant one could water.
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Kakashi didn't question it when Anomie had been transferred to a different team, and a part of him was slightly relieved that it had come to pass. Another part of him was strangely disappointed before he became sickened by the image of her killing two children in front of him.
His next missions weren't nearly as controversial or gruesome. They didn't make him question everything he had stood for, but he couldn't say that they weren't without sickness. Minato had taken full control over Anbu again, pushing Danzo off to the sidelines.
Team Ro had been changed, but he was the constant on it, although he made sure to keep his distance from his teammates. They weren't weak, and they made it easy to take a kill without mercy. He killed only those who deserved it, questioning Minato at every turn whether it was justified.
The more missions he went on, the more he was able to understand Anomie's disposition, but at the same time, he had grown even farther away from the answer. How could she just not question anything? He didn't understand that. He didn't understand why she couldn't uncover her own meaning and opinion, wondering if that meant maybe something was lacking in him. Maybe he was also the broken one.
It had been months since he had seen her, both never being back at their apartments, never having the time. As if drowning in missions was their answer, the only answer they had.
He had been returning to submit a report when he saw her. She was covered in burn marks, down her arms, and up her neck. On her neck, it looked like someone had scratched into her throat. The scars were desperate, but when he saw her hand in a mission report on the Hokage's desk, she didn't look bothered even though most of her clothes were almost hanging off her, parts burnt and damaged.
Half of her Anbu mask was broken, and the porcelain was in broken chips on the top half of her face. This allowed him to see the top of her head, running down to her eyes.
She glanced his way as she left the office, and he was frozen at the door. Her teammates grumbled as they roughly shoved past her, but she didn't look affected when she turned towards him. Her only visible eye was oddly empty, and when she slowly took off her mask, he saw that her face look almost hollowed out. Her cheeks were sunk in as if she hadn't been eating.
"How embarrassing," she said and her voice light, but emptiness in her voice cut through him. "This isn't my best look," she said, smiling even though it didn't reach her eyes. He wasn't that surprised, especially since she had been on missions for months. He doubted anyone would look their best. It was still surprising since she had always been so high maintenance about her looks.
A well of pity formed in his stomach, but he didn't act on it.
"You've made an impression lately," he stated and saw her fake smile disappear.
Her name had been spreading throughout the ranks as Reikokumujyou, and he had heard rumors of her brutal and inhuman actions to get missions completed. He didn't believe all of them, but watching how her teammates treated her and staring into her eyes, he couldn't doubt them all. He had seen first hand her drive. Even before all that, she had always been highly competitive, as if the very thought of loss was something that made her panic.
The girl he remembered smiling and placing a flower in Rin's hair was nowhere to be seen.
"Rumors spread," she brushed off the comment as if it didn't bother her.
"Are these ones true?" He didn't know why he asked or why he was curious. He thought he was done with this, with her, but he did care. He did want to know.
He was thought to be ruthless in the field, same as her, but because of his skill and his name and his methods, he hadn't been ostracized. Hell, maybe even his gender had something to do with it too. He couldn't help but compare himself, to wonder if he should have been helping her all this time, showing her that she could ask questions instead of mindlessly follow every order. Instead, he abandoned her to her own devices.
And, despite his pity, he was disgusted by her all the same.
"Maybe, but I've never failed a mission," she stated, and her tone wasn't harsh. It wasn't anything. She let out a sigh as if it were a complaint as she leaned on one hip. "You'd think they'd be grateful, but everyone needs someone else to blame or to hate or to," she looked at him now, really looked, "be disgusted by." She smiled, sardonically, and he nearly felt sick by how quickly she saw right through him. He didn't get a chance to reply as she turned her back to him and slowly waved over her shoulder. "I gotta get a new mask. I'm due for a mission in an hour."
"You just got back," he commented in return and she turned her body slightly to glance his way.
"Are you worried?" Her voice was far more mocking than he remembered, and a part of him, that old lingering part that still cared deeply about her, wanted to answer, yes, I'm worried.
"Do I need to be?" Kakashi asked instead and saw her lips curve into a smile. Of course, he was worried, but he could never tell her that. He could barely tell himself that.
"Never," she said a simple bow of her head before she turned around and walked away. Her white hair was messy, and he noticed that a bit of it was frayed and burned at the ends. He began to wonder if she really was okay, and an odd feeling settled in his chest as he watched her turn the corner.
He didn't know what the emotion that darted in him was, but it was oddly protective. He swiftly entered the Hokage's office for his mission, wanting to forget Anomie and burn her eyes from his mind.
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Anomie glanced towards the mirror, wincing as she gently wiped off the blood from her neck. The nail marks stood out, and she disinfected them as she used the towel to clean the blood. Each touch throbbed, sending jolts of pain through her, but she had to do something to make sure they wouldn't scar.
All her clothes were scattered to the ground, ripped and bloody. She supposed that her arrogance was at fault. She had a feeling she would run out of patience to continuously fix the stupid flak jacket. She had a mind to throw it out since it had always been ugly, but sadly, no one would take her seriously if she only wore a part of the uniform. Did they take me seriously now?
Her fingers were bruised and sore, still red from the training sessions and even after she washed the blood from her hands, they were still red and raw. Most of the blood, however, wasn't her own and much of it was dry and caked on her skin.
After traveling for a day, unable to properly wash it out, she felt relieved when she stepped under the warm water of the shower. The heat burned into her injuries but she closed her eyes and embraced the pain while watching the blood mix in with the water to her feet. Still so much of it, and she couldn't look away as it glided around and over her feet.
Most of the injuries were practically self-inflicted as she overestimated her abilities too much and often times that got her hurt. She sighed, hissing as she brushed her fingers against her skin. She knew half of the reason she continuously got injured was that she was trying to control her abilities. It was more difficult than she thought it would be, but soon enough, she'd be able to turn portions of her body into smoke before they hit her, that way she'd be practically untouchable.
But testing out this ability in mid-combat probably wasn't the best move.
By the time she was done and dressed, she reported for her next mission and saw that the room was filled with a couple of familiar masks of Anbu, and a couple who were less. Anomie saw Saru, and a warm familiar feeling rose in her heart. A longing for that familiarity brought her very little. She wanted to ask where had been, where he had gone, or what he'd seen in the missions after the war's conclusion. She wondered if he'd answer as she would if he knew how difficult it was to quell the righteous anger of the people of the Fire country.
How many people still thought it all ended with a signed treaty? Instead, blaming her that nothing was turning out as anyone hoped it would. There was no unified shinobi world.
Anomie bowed towards Minato, the man who still believed everyone would ever be able to maintain the peace he signed his name on.
"I want you all to be a part of my personal guard during Kushina's birthing tonight," Minato stated, and Anomie's felt her eyes widen as she stood, side by side with the six other members of Anbu.
She wanted to know how he could trust the 'monster of Anbu' with such a personal mission. One of the anbu members, the kitsune, looked at her, as if even she didn't understand how Anomie could be included in this. Anomie didn't care what they all thought and her heart felt oddly warm at the thought of being trusted with the Hokage's wife. "Saru. You'll be captain of this team. I trust you to take care of the rotation details." Minato's face was kind, but the stress was clear on his eyes that seemed to have aged beyond his years ever since he became Hokage. "You're dismissed."
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Any warmth she thought she felt for the Hokage had been promptly shoved away in exchange for the pure boredom of the mission. She had expected much more excitement and found herself missing the thrill of the battlefield.
"Try not to look so bored, Koneko-chan," came Saru's pouty voice.
"Bored?" Anomie's voice came out with a twinge of melancholy. "I'm having the time of my life. Tied with the night my village burned down and when I was raped into the ground."
"That was oddly specific."
Anomie shrugged, twirling her silver ponytail onto her finger.
"Do you need to talk?" Saru's tone was oddly specific.
Anomie's eyes rolled back and she adjusted her mask, "Number four."
"Wha?"
"I've just added your sympathetic dribble to my list of worst moments of my life. Right after that movie date I was forced on with Genma and Gai."
"I love you too, baby."
"Number five. Wanna hit the next number cause you're about to," Anomie said, her voice chilling a couple of degrees cooler.
"That's rather rude. I thought we were bonding," Saru's voice was strained, and Anomie's eyes darted towards him.
"I'd sooner bond with a cockroach."
Saru shrugged, glancing around at the open forest ground that surrounded them. "Are you happy to get a calm mission?" His question pulled her out of her stupor and she glanced over at him with her brows raised. Her cat mask tilted with her head as she ran her eyes over his at ease form through the slits in her mask.
"To be honest..." She had thought about lying and making up some bitchy remark about bananas, but decided that Saru of all people deserved more than a made-up facade. "I am surprised."
"You've received some of the most unpopular missions, Koneko..." Saru replied with a simple shrug. "Many say otherwise, but I trust you...that's why I wanted you on this mission."
"Do you need a tampon?" she asked with a raised brow, and his lips pulled into a wry grin from under his mask. "Maybe a tutu as well?"
"I still think you need to work on that attitude," Saru mused simply.
"Well, I do hope that you reach puberty eventually, Saru, so balls aren't gonna drop by themselves," she told him, causing him to chuckle.
"That's the last time I try to get sentimental with you," he said, his monkey mask shaking back and forth with his head. She smiled slightly, her heart engulfed by the warmth of his voice.
She opened her lips to reply, but his voice cut off her retort.
"You're going to ruin the sentimental moment I'm building," he told her.
"You trust me here?" Anomie asked, glancing over towards the tree line.
"Why wouldn't I? When my wife gives birth, how about you come to that too?" Saru suggested, and Anomie snorted.
"I always thought you were married to your right hand," Anomie retorted.
"For your information," Saru said with a laugh. "I'm a lefty."
"You need to find religion," she suggested.
He snorted, loudly. "Says the avid sinner."
"You know, there's an old legend that says if you shut the fuck up, you wouldn't be so annoying," Anomie said with a smile.
"Ohh good one," he said sarcastically. Shit that was a good one, he thought with a frown.
"What's her name?" Anomie asked after a moment of silence, causing Saru to grin towards her.
"Look at you, interested in someone other than yourself. This is progress!" Saru felt a warmth fill him, and for once, Anomie did look 16 years old, bashfully looking away.
"Write about it in your diary," she said back.
How did she know about Yume-chan?
"Setuna," Saru finally said with a serious smile. "My wife's name."
He slipped out a small photo from his vest pocket. "Here," he said handing it to her. She glanced at it, staring at it as if he were handing her a pile of shit instead of a photograph of his beloved Setsuna. Before he could get offended, she took the photo.
She was a beautiful woman, smiling into the camera with curly red hair like a lion's mane. Anomie ran her fingers over the photo. "Wow," Anomie said, in perhaps her most monotonous voice. "She's beautiful."
"Is natural for you to be this sarcastic or are you really trying?" Saru asked, frowning at her. She shrugged.
"I've never tried at anything," she answered.
Saru sighed, "So where's you're special someone. Or have you just dug yourself into anbu missions as if that's the only thing in the world?"
"There is someone," she answered, and quickly shot down his excitement and surprising joy for gossip. "Me. Pretty sure I'm the one."
"Is this sarcasm really the only thing that motivates you to speak?"
"And spite."
"Of course," he replied with a smile. "Either way, the offer stands. I'll invite you to brunch one day. You'll never see another cook like Setsuna."
Anomie looked down at the photo, the smiling woman, and back towards the mentor whose face she had never actually seen. Curious happiness filled her chest at the thought. But she had nothing to say to that, no clever quip or witty retort. Just a comfortable silence that was soon broken.
"Koneko," Saru's voice broke her out of her thoughts as she glanced his way, cat mask tilting with her head. "Do you feel that?"
"Feel what?" They should have known by now that she wasn't the best sensor, but she struggled through her handicap as she closed her eyes and felt for whatever he had commented on. For a moment she thought she felt something, a flicker of a foreign Chakra unlike any of the six Anbu members stationed around the perimeter, but before she could focus on it, it disappeared. "Is it a threat?"
"I'm not sure. I can't get in contact with Kitsune," Saru stated, as he tried to contact the other members through his radio. "Kitsune? Tora? Fukurō?" His contact of the fox, the tiger, and the owl didn't go through and all that he got in return was static.
"Assume the worst," Anomie said, but he didn't get a chance to reply as a blade tore through his neck. "Saru." She took a step back as a masked man teleported from a swirl of the sky behind Saru. She didn't even notice this until the blade had already pierced Saru's neck. Saru's mask flew off once the straps were broken. For the first time, Anomie was able to see the man's entire face. His eyes were the color of opals, widened in pain and fear. His lips were full and pink, stained red with blood that fell down his chin. His skin was pale, flushed with blood and droplets of moisture that leaked from down his cheeks.
Anomie's heart painfully constricted in her chest. The pain of it made her almost falter as her pulse skyrocketed until she could no longer hear Saru's pained gurgling as he fell to his knees in front of her. Anomie watched as the light left his eyes. It was the first and last time Anomie ever saw this man's face, contorted in fear and apprehension. His muttering had come out weak and she could barely understand him, but vaguely she heard the gurgled cry of, "Ko...neko...Hokage."
The masked man disappeared and Anomie's eyes were wide as she jumped back, using the seals on her palms and bringing out two blades into her hands as she activated them. Her stance was swift, but she couldn't feel enemy Chakra no matter how hard she tried to focus it.
The silence pierced through her as she scanned around the forest, her eyes darting from side to side as she tried to find the enemy. It was like he was gone. Like he disappeared completely off the face of the earth and it terrified her when she felt a flicker of chakra suddenly bubble behind her.
She felt a blade go to pierce her heart. The moment it bit into her skin near her spine, the area around it turned into smoke, making the fetal attack lessen just as it was about to pierce the fatal organ. She fell forward, feeling another blade pierce her shoulder just as the first one exited her body.
Her body hit the grass face first, and she felt the man step over her bleeding form as red dyed into the grass.
She was afraid...
She didn't want to die...
She couldn't die...
But she could feel the killing intent and at that moment she raised her hand up, weak and feeble, and snapped her fingers, igniting a strong and powerful flame that overtook the forest and her body, just as she lost consciousness for a couple seconds of agonizing silence.
Her body turned into smoke, mixing in with the flames as it floated into the distance. Her consciousness faded in and out as she tried to regulate her Chakra to keep from letting the wind rip apart her form.
She left the bodies of Tora...of Kitsune...of Saru...of everyone behind.
She left behind the fire and in her last escaping vision of that place, she felt deep, dark Chakra erupt over the clearing of the perimeter she had been assigned to guard. She knew Minato and Kushina were in trouble, but it didn't matter as she saw her flames washed away with a quick Jutsu.
When her naked form stumbled into the hospital after being tossed from the air as her body turned from smoke to corporeal, nurses and medics swarmed to her side. She coughed, feeling the blood start to pool at her feet as a blanket was placed over her shoulders to cover up her body.
"Take her to surgery!" The words burned into her head, but Anomie wouldn't have it as she grabbed the scruff of clothing around a random medic's jacket and brought it close to her face.
"The Third...Hokage...you must take me to him," she whispered, desperately as she used the blanket to stop the bleeding.
"You're wounded...we have to treat it or you will die," the woman insisted and Anomie growled.
"You don't understand-"
"I'll take her," a man's voice interrupted the voices and her eyes glanced up to see a man who she could barely recognize through blurry vision. Genma rushed to her side, his trademark senbon nowhere around as he held her up.
"She's wounded," the medic insisted, and Genma shook his head.
"Then whatever she has to say must be more important than her injury," Genma glanced towards the half conscious girl before body flickering, and hoping that he was doing the right thing.
By the time they finally made it to the prior Hokage's building, Sarutobi was startled to see a half naked girl bleeding on his carpet. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked, and Anomie met his gaze, her lips pale, her hair messy and caked with blood. Her skin was three shades too pale and she looked like she was fighting back from fainting. It was a rare sight to see her purposefully so unkempt, and immediately the sense of urgency make him stand.
"I was on the team...guarding Yondaime..." Her lips were trembling and it was obvious Genma was the only thing keeping her standing. "...everyone is dead...I...the nine tails...is compromised...I can't..." Her breathing was staggered, and immediately the Sandaime began strapping on armor. "I..."
"It's okay," Genma whispered, but he couldn't keep the fear out of his voice when he thought about what she was implying. "You're safe."
"No...you don't understand...the seal on the nine tails...it was weakening...it will be released any minute."
Anomie's eyes drooped and the last of her strength failed her as her vision faded to blackness.
All she could think about was that she failed...
And that she did what she did best...
She ran away and left corpses behind.
Author's Note
Anomie's true personality is coming out in these new chapters. She's all about self-preservation, and its in dominance with her desire to protect the village. I hope I don't make her overpowered, or Mary-Sue. I mean for her to have her faults, and for them to be of many. She wasn't let into Anbu for her strength, and she knows this so she works hard to keep up.
Kakashi was in the beginning chapters, and I have big plans for their relationship. As of right now, they are a little too young to be all lovey dovey, and Kakashi's too focused on his Anbu career, and Anomie is too focused on herself.
Ah, the Shiragiku (白菊) flower. It is a White Chrysanthemum. In Japanese, it represents truth or grief (the most common flower for funerals). In western cultures, it means death and grief. Not too common for funerals, as most give roses and stuff, but still means death.
Saru is dead to. Anomie's first real Anbu teacher. He was like her mentor I suppose. Bit of a jackass though.
Obito's a bitch to, but I don't think he really knew nor cared who any of the masked Anbu ninja were, so it's cool.
