Part II

Punishment

"A rapid bolt will rend the clouds apart, and every single White be seared by wounds. I tell you this. I want it all to hurt."

― Dante Alighieri, Inferno

Chapter 21

She had a dream that night. She dreamed of Rin's smiling face and loving embrace, worried eyes, and trembling lips quivered out a hollow goodbye.

It was only a nightmare when she awoke. It felt like when she closed her eyes, she was given a glimpse heaven only open her eyes and descend into hell.

»»⎯⎯⎯¤⎯⎯⎯««

Months passed like hollow points prickling in Anomie's stomach as she carried out Orochimaru's orders down to the last drop. She never thought her hands for possible of getting more stained in blood until she looked into the open eyes of a decaying corpse, still withering with the last bit of warmth as she exited his body with an echo of a sigh.

It wasn't sorrow that filled her heart with a sickly silence. The rain fell against the house, pelting droplets against the roof and running down the clear glass windows. She slowly took the scroll from the rain ninja's rigid corpse with a frown, as she found his fingers were stiff with his hold on it.

None to gently she ripped it from his hands moments later and glanced out of the window once more before opening the bindings around the scroll and looking over the markings of Jutsu forbidden to the rain village clan Hoshimozu. She let out one last sigh and glanced towards the corpse behind her.

"You chose death," she mumbled, kicking his body over so his face fell against the floor and his dead gaze no longer stared her down in uncomfortable silence.

She tucked the scroll into her weapons pouch with a hollow huff of annoyance as she pulled out her hood and walked out of the drafty house and into the rain.

She could vaguely feel the Chakra of the dead man's partner and quickly used the moisture of the droplets to wash away the blood. She knew, judging by the apprehension that swelled in her gut, that if she was caught, she was as good as dead.

She quickly henged her body, making sure to change her noticeably unique hair color. She had thought about dyeing the color to black many times over the months but never brought herself around to doing so. Her now black bangs restricted her vision as her clothes changed from ninja gear to standard rain village attire.

"This is gonna suck," Anomie muttered, taking out her knife and cutting into think material of her shirt. The tip of her blade parted her flesh until red soaked through the partition of her skin, just below her rib cages.

She then bit her bottom lip, digging the knife into her stomach, just near her intestines. She closed her eyes, making sure to miss any vital organs as she stared into the sky. The moment she tossed the knife away, she covered her wound with her hands, forcing some tears and moisture to gather in her hands as she sat down at the base of a tree.

It couldn't have been two minutes later that a ninja dropped to the ground next to her. She cracked her eyes open, finding that her henge stayed in place, judging by the black bangs in her eyes.

"What happened here?" The man's voice was a mirror of kindness.

"I was attacked...by a ninja..." Anomie's voice wavered as she tried to sniff back her tears. "My father..."

"Why would a ninja attack you?" He asked, kneeling down so he could meet the henged girl's eyes.

"H-How would I know...?" Anomie's brows furrowed as she attempted to shift. Her giant, now green eyes, connecting with his, who's gaze was narrowed in diminishing suspicion. "She took my father's horse and his life."

"Where is the body?"

Anomie used her free hand to cover the sobs, "I had to get away...I just left him there...I just..."

"Hey, it's okay. I know the girl who attacked you." He said simply, and moved her hands so he could stare at her wound.

"Y-You do?"

"She attacked and killed my friends," he stared into Anomie's eyes. "I will get revenge for you..."

"Ohashi," Anomie greeted weakly.

"Ohashi, I am Hoshimozu Aruto," the name sounded strange on his tongue, but he didn't question it. "I will kill her in your name."

"I don't want anyone to get hurt," she replied, palming her wound so the blood would cease to leak.

He shook his head, wrapping his arm around her back. "I'll get you somewhere safe." He allowed her form to lean against his, causing her to glance his way and stare at the side of his face. His hair was flat, dampened with the rain.

He is kind.

Anomie hated that she knew that.

"Where do you live?" He asked, and she shook her head.

Her tears burned out her reddening eyes with no relief. "What if she's there?"

His lips quirked in a tiny smile, "I assure you, Ohashi... The woman is long gone by now if she's smart. She's not after you."

"What was she after?" Anomie could tell that her comment made him suspicious, but her part was still in motion of being played. "Please. I must know why my father died."

"A Jutsu," he finally answered. "And a location."

Anomie raised a brow, slightly surprised. She knew about the Jutsu, but not any location. She didn't ask, knowing her limit of suspicion would only go so far.

"You're kind," she finally leaned her head against his shoulder as she allowed him to carry her in his arms. "I'm so grateful you found me."

"As am I, Ohashi. Your injury looks treatable, so that means the white haired bitch is not very efficient at least," he said simply, allowing her arm to rest over his shoulders as she attempted to walk.

"Must not be," 'Ohashi' agreed slowly, wincing when the rain began to soak through to her wound. "Is it only you? I'm scared she'll come back."

Her lie rolled off so smoothly, but she still felt the ruminants of a vile bitterness when she heard Ohashi's name roll off the foul man's tongue. Ohashi deserved far more respect than what Anomie was capable of offering and the guilt festered like a tasteless disease at the murmur and thought.

Ohashi deserved an actual grave, and not just the bones underneath ashes and wood of what was left of her home.

"It's only me, but I will take you to the infirmary," his stare pierced through her and she felt a tinge of guilt at the honesty in his tone. "You have my word, Ohashi, I won't let you die."

Anomie briefly mused just going along with her lie and letting him live. She mused its possibility, but almost immediately shot it down. She knew it by the anger in his eyes. If he lived, he would never stop hunting her.

She murdered his clan...all for the contents of a scroll. He was unlikely to just let that go.

The last thing she needed was a man going on a pointless revenge crusade.

"Thank you," Anomie whispered, catching his eye and she noticed his pupils slightly dilated in response. She felt a small portion of pity for him.

She supposed she didn't need white hair to make men desire her.

He led her to the place where she said the attack went down. The empty plot of dirt that was supposed hold the body of her 'father', but all that was there were patches of dirt without even a trace of dried blood.

"...where's my dad...?" Anomie's voice cracked, and Aruto barely managed to catch her when she lost control in her legs. Her body was burning and every aspect of her form was barely managing to hold up in the rain.

"Hey, stay with me Ohashi," Aruto whispered. "I'll find your father."

Don't call me Ohashi.

"Please," Anomie's eyes spilled with forced tears that she barely managed to contain. "Find my dad."

"Hey," he placed her cheeks in between his palms and caught her eyes. His form was so defenseless in front of her.

Why is it that when a man is the presence of a beautiful woman, he is so quickly to look past the eyes of a demon?

"I'll protect you with my life," he whispered.

How honorable and true.

She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, gripping her fingers into his hair, taking advantage of his surprised form. With her head blocking the rain, her lips and tongue turned into smoke and filled his head and brain. He withered in pain, and she was swift to grab a kunai from his belt and stab it quick and true into his chest.

She quickly merged the smoke into her body, losing control of the henge and letting her white hair fall over her shoulders. She watched his eyes widen and with his last breath, pressed his hands into her throat in attempts to choke the life out of her.

And she let him.

She didn't bother wasting her limited breath on words and allowed the light to leave his eyes when she pulled the knife out of his chest.

She glanced up through the trees and let the rain plummet over her body.

It hurt, but the pain in her abdomen wasn't intolerable.

"The things I do for you, Orochimaru," she whispered, holding her palm over her wound.

Perhaps he was the demon, and she was just his servant.

That would make it worse, knowing a human would be rotten enough to follow the orders of a demon.

»»⎯⎯⎯¤⎯⎯⎯««

"I can't remember my logic when I stabbed myself," Anomie muttered with a down casted sigh as she leaned against the back of the cave as she wrapped her wound. She figured that it was the safest place to get away from the rain.

Before she found out about her abilities, once upon a time, she loved the rain. When she was an Oiran, she would stare at the droplets and let it consume her. She loved the idea that the sky pouring with tears, strong enough to wash away the dirt and filth that the world would surround her in.

But now, all it meant was another weakness. Maybe she was immersed in too much filth, that the only way to rid her body of it was to soak away every part of her until she became nothing.

She hissed in pain when she ran her fingers over the wound, noticing a trickle of pain was uplifting from the downward spiral of guilt that festered in a forgotten portion of her mind.

I didn't have to kill him.

She knew that much. She knew that she could have left the man live. He could have had children and a family. She didn't just end his life, but she ended lives that could have existed if he still had that twinkle of light in his eyes.

I didn't have to kill him...but the horrible truth is that I wanted to.

She glanced up at the glimmer of Chakra that erupted in the rain. She glanced up, standing and nearly turning to smoke when she saw a masked man enter the cave in escape of the rain. His frame froze when his masked and one visible eye connected on her form. There was something oddly familiar about his stare, but she honestly didn't care enough to figure out what that something was in the end.

"Tobi found someone lurking," his voice was light and playful, playing off the pause of surprise from before.

"If anyone is lurking, I believe it would be you," she commented in return, and she saw his head tilt.

"You're hurt," he commented smoothly.

"That tends to happen when a person is stabbed," she decided to omit the embarrassing fact that she stabbed herself. He let out a light laugh, and she raised a brow. She noticed the pause in his step, as if he were calculating what he was going to say next, "Your amusement is feigned. You're not as good an actor as you believe yourself to be."

"I suppose Tobi needs to work on that," he replied, and she narrowed her gaze. "You're rather rude, senpai, but that's alright, because Tobi was looking for you."

She felt her lips dip into a frown. "For someone who claims to be searching for me, you looked awfully surprised when you found me."

Tobi chuckled, light and amused. "Well, I wasn't expecting you to be so pretty, senpai." A lie. "I was just told to search for the woman with white hair and the ability to immerse herself in smoke. It's a unique ability."

"That happens when the family she belongs to is dead," and by the devil she serves no less.

"Senpai is more cynical than rumors state," Tobi took a step forward while Anomie took a step back. She was beginning to feel like a cornered animal, and she felt something as stupid and pointless as fear. She couldn't turn into smoke, not while the rain is so close. She'd have nowhere to run to.

"Rumors are often misleading," she retorted. I need to keep him talking. He seems to like hearing himself speak.

He chuckled again. "It says you work under a Sannin by the name of Orochimaru."

She stopped darting her eyes to the exit and moved her gaze to his one visible eye. It was just a hole shadowed in nothing ness. It hovered over his right eye and it made her wonder if his other eye was missing.

She hoped not...she really didn't have good luck with one eyed men with masks.

But at the mention of Orochimaru's name left her with a fearless euphoria. She slowly glanced away from his masked face and looked at his body movements, slowly noticing the cloak he wore was damp and covered in red clouds. "What do you want Orochimaru for?"

"I want him to join my club," this was not the answer she was expecting from him and it caused her to take a tiny step back in surprise.

"C-club?" She muttered with furrowed brows, and the masked man tilted his head to the side. The action was so innocent that it bordered creepy.

And yet a gut instinct went against what her mind was screaming in her ears. It told her that he wasn't going to hurt her. "Orochimaru is SUPER hard to find, senpai, but rumors say you're close to him."

Anomie snarled, "I don't like how you enunciated 'close'."

Tobi chuckled again, "so what do you say, senpai, my club president really wants to meet Orochimaru."

"I am doubtful that Orochimaru wants to meet you. I'm close enough to not lead random freaks to his location."

He was in front of her so quickly that her heartbeat skyrocketed and she instinctively move back, causing her back to hit the jagged cave wall and a the pain in her stomach to spread as if she was just stabbed again.

"What if I ask really nicely?" He asked, and his words and playful demeanor didn't cancel out the harsh posture of his stance. Moments later, as if a switch was flipped, he glanced down at her wound. "You're badly hurt?"

"That's none of your business. I reject your proposition, so if you're going to kill me, then kill me and be done with it," she replied smoothly.

His shadowed gaze hit her, and even with the close distance, the darkness of the cave didn't allow her to see what his one visible eye looked like.

"Do you want me to kill you, Anomie?" He asked, and her brows furrowed.

"How do you know my name?" She asked instead, and he tilted his head to the side.

There are worse things than death, Tobi.

"I told you, the rumors about you are quite extensive," he replied, and her face emptied of emotion. Somehow, I don't believe you.

"You're a bad liar, Tobi," she answered in return. "I know when men are trying to manipulate and deceive me."

He took a step back, "Senpai, you're being too cruel. If it makes you feel any better, me and Pein-sama would be happy to have you join the club too. I wouldn't want you to feel left out."

After moments of fighting back her pride, she finally spoke again, "what is this 'club' you speak of?"

He took another step back, his form practically bouncing with enthusiasm. "I knew you'd be interested." She instantly regretted humoring him. "We're still working out some of the major details, but we're known as the Akatsuki, and we plan on spreading peace throughout the world." He raise his hand towards her in an annoying peace sign.

"Is that so? No offense, but Orochimaru doesn't care about world peace," and neither do I. A world that lets people like Rin and Ohashi die is hardly one that can become peaceful.

"We offer so much more than that, Anomie-chan..." He mused. "We offer Ninjutsu and secrets that Orochimaru has never even dreamed of knowing."

She felt her interest slightly spark, and hated herself for allowing it to become apparent in her face.

She let out a sigh, and a reluctant, "Is that so?"

She hated the greed that surfaced in her gut.

Maybe she was turning into a demon as well because a part of her coveted the scroll in her bag and that dream of power that rested on the masked man's slithering tongue.

I have nothing else to want.

All I am is a sad, sick, twisted little girl with a rotten heart.

"Fine."


Author's Note

This is basically the prologue to chapter one, for my veteran readers, you should probably know that I severely edited the prologue 'Hana' and added the words part II along with an important epigraph in the beginning just to outline a quote that describes the essence of Anomie's character and the plot of the story. For the most part, I only omitted certain cringeworthy mistakes in the first couple chapters.

I would also suggest checking out a video I made for the first 20 chapters (and a couple quotes in the video for chapters I've yet to write out completely). I have the link to it on my bio if you want to watch it. I uploaded this story to Wattpad too, cause for wattpad, I can embed images and videos to the story as I go along. Sadly I can't have an outlet for art on . *sighs* I can't link stuff here, soooo...It's a pretty good mmv. You can actually find it by typing in 'Anomie Kakashi' on YouTube to be honest. Actually, funny enough, I think the video is better than the actual story, but if you watch it, you'll finally be able to see how I pictured Anomie to look like and what her Oiran marking looks like and stuff.

watch?v=omdNXhFpFUY

Again, I'll link it on my bio as well.

BUT ANYWAY, this chapter is called Torikabuto (トリカブト) and in English it is a poisonous flower that I'm sure you all know quite well. Aconite. Or rather more commonly known as Wolfsbane. In the language of flowers it means '人間嫌い' or rather Misanthropy: the hatred of humankind. Isn't that such a fitting and ironic word for a plant that is used to kill things in mythology such as werewolves (something so obviously non-human). Wolfsbane is also mentioned in mythology and werewolf lore as being able to either repel the werewolves/lycanthropes, or to induce the wolf state regardless of the moon phase. (Hence the name)

Wolfsbane, also known as leopard's bane, woman's bane or devils helmet, is a plant belonging to the buttercup family. These perennial plants are native to mountainous regions of the northern hemisphere.

The plant contains very large quantities of a poison called alkaloid pseudaconitine, which used to be used by the Ainu people of Japan as poison for hunting, on the tips of their arrow heads. In cases of ingestion, symptoms, which include burning in the limbs and abdomen, sets in immediately. In cases of large doses, death can occur within 2-6 hours and 20ml is enough to kill an adult human.

Right, but Wolfsbane is such an amazing poison because it's virtually undetectable, so you can kill someone without it being traced back to you. Wow. I sound like such a psycho when I say it like that...

Guys, I've never tried to kill anyone with Wolfsbane! I swear. Okay me denying it sounds even more suspicious. Jesus.

Anyway, the meaning of Wolfsbane went well for my view of this chapter because this is the beginning of Anomie's true hatred for humankind. Which is hypocritical because everything she hates about humans are characteristics that she herself emits.

She contradicts herself omg.

Anyway, more chapters to come. I plan for this story to have three (possibly four) parts.

I accidentally created a one-sided romance between Anomie and Rin, so I REALLY hope I don't do that again with Tobi. I don't ship. I will be the iceberg on this ship, but it's really heard because for some reason I create sexual tension when I am writing about Anomie. It's not my fault.

Naruto characters are just so cute and it's weird cause I really hate Obito, but I think I created some odd chemistry just now and shit, not I kind of ship it. But don't worry. I'm an iceberg. Kakashi x Anomie all the way.

UPDATE: OMG I got so scared cause I thought I already uploaded a chapter with the flower of Torikabuto and I got so mad at myself because, why would I use my favorite flower so early. I was calling myself trash. Jesus.