Anomie was nearly gasping for air the next morning. It was sardonic fate held at the lips to her demise and she was just waiting for the last gasping breath to leave her poisoned tongue. The assassin had disappeared not long after spewing that venom down her throat. Orochimaru wanted to destroy her, and he chose a way to take his time.

She fell for it and this was the cost. Her veins had begun to swell and her eyes felt like they were about to rip from their sockets. When she tried to turn into smoke, a once reprieve to pain, she found her Chakra to take no form, like water dripping from her fingers. When she looked into the mirror, she saw her face was pale and her eyes were discolored.

Yet still she couldn't seem to die. She couldn't sleep and food wouldn't stay down. If the poison didn't end her life, then surely she would end up starving.

The outside air did nothing to ease the suffocation of her lungs swelling for breath and the trees were all that kept her upright. She tightened her cloak around her shoulders, finding that her body was trembling despite the sun being high in the cloud-free sky.

"Am I to die from cold?" she croaked out, her fingers tightening around the material of her cloak. If she didn't find shelter she knew that she wouldn't last the night, but she couldn't go back to Tanzaku Gai with Orochimaru's spies littering the grounds. He would have that town destroyed in his search and with the way she looked now was likely to create a commotion.

She knelt down to a small plant, running her fingers over the leaves, taking notice to the beautiful pink bud that peaked out from the top. She would recognize a turmeric plant any day as they grew commonly in Kemuri. She gripped the base and pulled, finding the action of movement left her winded as she glanced at the orange colored roots. She separated it from the plant. She leaned against the tree with a deep breath as she took out her canister of water.

She snapped her fingers, attempting to bring about a small flare but she just grew more exhausted. The continuous snapping eventually paid off as she obtained enough chakra to boil the water. In her other hand she gripped one of the roots and placed it on a flat rock, before grinding another rock against it until she got a smooth powder. She sprinkled as much as she could into the water, mixing it and quickly gulped it down.

It wasn't a cure, but it would have to do. She felt her pulse begin to slow after an interval of minutes. It aided in reducing the swelling of her veins at least, but her fever was fast approaching.

A part of her believed she deserved this fate, as poison was an ugly way to go. She was likely to die slow at this way, and soon her insides would smear across the ground as she coughed out her lungs. Orochimaru's experiments of the poison master clan was one of the many kekkei genkai's he had studied in the sound village. She only wished she took more interest.

"I can't even summon the Ho'ou," her voice came out in a whisper, hoarse and broken. How fitting that the only thing that could save her was the first thing she lost the ability to do. Her Chakra was running thinner and thinner by the minute, and if she had trouble doing a D ranked jutsu, she would never pull off a summoning.

She was to die, alone in the forest of the land of fire. She was too close to Kemuri and another hour long journey and she would be in the same spot she was almost murdered so many years ago. Perhaps it would be better for everyone if she died that day, before she had a chance to dig her claws in Kakashi's heart and taint his future.

She stood up, her eyes blurry and her balance distorted. If she was to die, it would not be by Orochimaru's hand. He didn't deserve her blood. She may have done some awful things in her short years, but his actions could curdle even stomachs of steel and she would not add her death to his never ending list of victims.

She would take her own life before she gave him that satisfaction.

Her heart was steel, her will was iron, but her legs were brass. Her body was always more beautiful than strong, and brass was weak. Her hands slammed down against the grass as her knees trembled and buckled.

"Get up," she whispered, over and over like a prayer.

She wasn't certain how long she watched her hands clutch at the grass as her veins bulged from her neck and down her shoulders. She couldn't move. It was as if her nerves had locked and her brain had ceased sending signals down her spine.

That was when she felt the warm palms cup her cheeks. "Kid, if you don't get up, I'm going to have to miss the tournament for you."

"I can already tell you the outcome, lady Tsunade," came another voice. "It ends with us losing out money for a proper hotel, you getting drunk, and me crying myself to sleep."

"Nonsense, I don't need to lose a poker game to get drunk."

"I know quite well."

"Don't help me," Anomie whispered, as her eyesight fluttered like a light switch being flicked on and off. The woman's hair was bright and her eyes were kind. It was the ambience of warmth and Anomie felt shackled to its embrace, much like a cobra among mice.

"And let you die?" The black haired woman asked, and in her arms rested a pig. Anomie's eyes were losing the ability to recognize details and her throat was beginning to close. It wouldn't be long until she lost consciousness and died, giving Orochimaru's the satisfaction of her death.

"The bad ones never die," she muttered before she felt her body collapse, her head slamming in between two of the biggest breasts she had ever seen.

She could think of worse places to die, but Tsunade became determined that the monster in her arms lived.

Villains hardly ever get what they deserved.

»»⎯⎯⎯¤⎯⎯⎯««

Tsunade's hands rested underneath the girl's neck, holding her up so she could drink the concoction as Shizune fed the small pig in the corner of the room. The white haired girl in the bed still remained unconscious, but color had begun to soak back into her light pink lips and her pale cheeks.

Tsunade leaned over the girl, forcing open the girl's eyelids and inspecting her skin. For the most part all physical ailments had begun to heal. The child's skin tone had returned to its milky hue and even the bulging veins had begun to reverse its inflammation, and yet the child still wouldn't awaken.

Tsunade brushed her hands, glowing green, against the girl's chest, weaving her chakra against the white haired girl's coils. It took her moments to feel the dark chi that coiled around the central core of the poisoned girl's Chakra.

"Poisoned Chakra?" Tsunade's brows hitched together, taking a feel to the poison that attempted to break free from all Tsunade's antidotes. "Who wants you dead so badly?"

"Surely you recognize the mark on her neck, lady Tsunade," Shizune's voice broke in, and Tsunade's eyes focused on the seal she had attempted to ignore. "It looks like some kind of Fūinjutsu. Do you know it?"

Tsunade would recognize a seal made by Orochimaru's hand any day, but Orochimaru had ceased to be her problem years ago. The whole lot of her team and Konoha itself was not her concern. She wanted the white haired child to awaken before the unconscious nuisance dragged her back into the drama of Konoha's legendary sannin.

"Hell if I know," Tsunade said instead. "Bring me something strong, Shizune."

"Are you sure you should be drinking right now lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked as the blonde woman sat heavily into her chair, running her fingers through her hair with a sigh.

"Why not? I have the focus of an ox," Tsunade replied and Shizune grumbled something unintelligible under her breath.

Anomie was stuck in the dark, hearing two women complain with muffled voices as she remained chained as if an anchor had been tied to her ankle and thrown down into the dark abysmal nothingness. She tried to pry her eyes open, but her body was numb.

Perhaps she had already died and this was the purgatory for all her sins. If that was so, she could scarcely wait to meet Orochimaru in this endless hell. Perhaps she could use him as a stool to catch a glimpse of the light in the distance.

"Do you wish to die here, Fuyu?" came a voice that lit a spark in what remained of her heart.

"Mom," Anomie croaked out, attempting to find her mother's face in the darkness. It would be difficult to not see the woman's bright red hair and dazzling blue eyes. Likely, they were warm enough to pierce through ice.

"Fuyu, have you forgotten all that I taught you?" Nagisa asked and Anomie felt her eyes burn as if she was ready to cry but nothing rolled down the numb skin that covered her cheeks.

"You didn't teach me anything," Anomie muttered out. "Only to die a meaningless death."

"I promised to protect you."

Anomie wanted to scream, "how can you protect me if you're dead?"

"I taught you to be kind and to always do the right thing," Nagisa scolded. "You are in this mess because you never listened."

"I tried, mother," Anomie whispered.

"You never tried, Fuyu. From the moment you are taken and even during the rape, you never tried to fight," her mother's red hair became visible in the darkness. "Even when I was murdered, you only watched without trying. And here you are, dying without trying."

Anomie felt her eyes burn once more, "I didn't want to get hurt."

"Don't you ever get tired of being a coward, Iburi Fuyu?" Nagisa asked and Anomie felt a warm palm cup her cheek.

"What is it you want me to do?"

"I want you to fight. I want you to make good decisions. I want you to be kind," her mother's voice was a melody in the dark. "Most of all, my little flower, I want you to wake up."

Anomie's eyes snapped open, the bright light blinding her and forcing her squint as she attempted to sit up, but her head crashed into a cushioned pair of breasts that forced her to lay back down onto the pillows that the chest woman finished propping up.

"Are those even real?" Anomie asked and Tsunade raised her brows.

"I drink a lot of milk," Tsunade said, humoring the girl's odd first question.

"Drink or squirt?" Anomie usually only saw boobs that big in a woman's third trimester.

"I'm going to forget I heard that," Tsunade asked. "What is your name?"

"Sarutobi Hiruzen."

"You think you're funny?" Tsunade asked and Anomie shrugged.

"You caught me, I am actually Jiraiya the Toad Sage," she said and Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"With the way you keep staring at my chest, I wouldn't be that surprised," Tsunade said, sitting down on a wooden chair near the bed and chugging down a liquid that was probably not water.

"They will be the only thing I remember about you," Anomie swung the blankets off her body and stood up, only to collapse onto the ground. "Shit."

"Yeah, that happens," Tsunade said, taking another chug. "Would have warned you, but you were off being an ungrateful child."

"I'm going to gut that bitch," Anomie whispered under her breath when she noticed red scars on her bare legs. They were the markings of where her veins had nearly bulged free from her skin. Her once beautiful, nearly unmarked skin, was tainted with scars.

"The important thing is that you are awake so we can talk," Tsunade said and Anomie crawled back onto the bed, finding her legs were still weak and her breath was labored.

"It's not like I'm going anywhere," Anomie grumbled.

"I have healed your body to the best of my abilities, but I can't do anything else without the original poison. The symptoms: nausea, swelling, fever, fatigue, and the loss of your control over your nervous system, not to mention your Chakra control. All of that will reappear before long and eventually you will die," Tsunade said, and Anomie eyes narrowed.

"The person who did this is likely long gone by now. If there is no cure then I will die. Don't waste your time," Anomie said and in moments she felt her body lift up in a forceful motion as Tsunade's hands gripped onto her shirt.

"I spent my entire weekend taking care of you, missing many chances at having actual fun and you have the audacity to have this little regard for your life?"

Anomie's eyes narrowed but her expression was empty, "I told you to let me die. If me screaming and crying about how badly I want to live will magically cure me then watch me start crying."

"You are so irritating," Tsunade grumbled. "Tell me who poisoned you so I can help."

"Why do you care?" Anomie's heart had begun to lighten, and her eyes scanned over the woman's face over and over until it was embedded in her memory.

"Well, you are the great Jiraiya the Toad Sage, and sad to say, we are actually friends," Tsunade replied and Anomie found herself wanting to smile.

"That is very unfortunate indeed," Anomie agreed. "He is incredibly irritating." Tsunade let out a bark of laughter in response as Shizune came in with a bottle of sake.

"I'll drink to that," Tsunade said, taking a sip straight from the bottle.

"You'd drink to anything, lady Tsunade," Shizune said in reply, and Tsunade motioned to protest, but she shrugged instead, taking another chug. Shizune moved towards Anomie's bedside, her lips spread into a smile.

Anomie found the girl to be kind, but not too threatening. Although Anomie suspected that the lady Tsunade was threatening enough for the both of them. During her time in anbu, she would have had to gauge her ears out to escape from the gossip of the third legendary sannin that stood in front of her. The very same Tsunade that remade the team structure and stressed the importance of a medic. Perhaps if that decree had never passed, then maybe Rin would have never been near the front lines.

Anomie scolded herself for that thought, having promised herself that she would no longer lament on the dead and find blame with the living.

"I'm so happy you're awake," Shizune said, holding a bowl of soup that she had carried in the hand that wasn't holding the liquor. She placed it on the nightstand next to Anomie's head. "I was very worried."

"Stay worried, Shizune. This kid has chosen death," Tsunade replied, and Shizune's expression contorted in surprise. The obvious disappointment in Tsunade's voice was not appreciated by Anomie, who just wanted to go to sleep and never wake up. At the same time, a part of Anomie desired to live, just to spite Orochimaru's sadistic and futile attempts.

"W-Why?" Shizune's voice stuttered out, and Anomie glanced towards the bowl of soup. If she ate it, it would be like fighting for life and if she didn't touch it, it would be a sign she had given up. She could finally join her mother and her father and Rin and Saru and even Obito.

No, that was unlikely. Where ever Rin ends up, it was unlikely Anomie could ever follow. That sort of death would be too kind, and Anomie had never known the world to be kind. It was cold and painful. It was a place where six year olds get beaten and raped. It was a place where women's bodies are sold for passing men's coin and dominated like property. It was a place where Ohashi was raped and murdered. It was a place where it dangles a future in front of Anomie's face before it is snatched away with the words and manipulations of a snake. That was this world and it was filthy and difficult.

If this was Anomie's life, she didn't want to think of what her death would be like. She has had enough of this world and its decay, but if this world is dying then whatever comes next is dead already.

Anomie reached over and grabbed the bowl, feeling the warmth cover her fingertips and spread across her skin. It was probably the warmest she had ever been, in between two people who genuinely cared if she lived or died. "I was poisoned by a woman by the name of Kazehaya Mineko, of the poison master clan."

Tsunade leaned back in her chair, "Why?" Obviously, the Sannin was gaging whether or not the woman on the bed was a person worthy of her assistance, and Anomie wasn't about to correct her or show her that perhaps she should let Anomie die.

"I betrayed her master," Anomie said instead, and watched as Tsunade's eyes lingered on the open seal on the girl's neck. Anomie's lips curled up, pressing her nimble fingers on top of the seal as her eyes lingered on her shoulder. Of course, Tsunade already knew. "Orochimaru."

"What did you do?" Tsunade asked and Anomie smiled.

"He thinks I aligned with Konoha and spread his secrets," she answered.

"Did you?"

"Yes."

»»⎯⎯⎯¤⎯⎯⎯««

Kazehaya Mineko was a patient woman to a point of course, but nothing was more boring then waiting for a person to die. "Make it slow." Orochimaru had ordered and she agreed because there was nothing else to do unless she wanted to be in Iburi Fuyu's position.

A Kazehaya clan member being done away by the cold compress of poison. That would be absolutely humiliating. She took a slip of her water with a scoff glancing down at her untouched alcohol with a sigh.

She glanced to the side as she noticed bright white hair of a beautiful woman walk past the food stall. Her eyes were focused, skin full with color, and her muscles were still able to maneuver successfully enough to walk.

"That's impossible," Mineko stood, leaving her seat to follow after the perfectly healthy Iburi Fuyu.

Her eyes scanned the woman's back, watching as she stopped to buy flowers and even help an old woman carry her basket of vegetables. Watching her walking around healthy made Mineko's blood boil as it felt like a personal mockery of her own poisons.

"How could you possibly cure yourself?" Mineko muttered to herself, keeping hidden behind the crowd. The action wasn't difficult considering the festival created a stampede of people all around her.

It was only when she saw Fuyu disappear into the hotel that she lost sight of her. Following her at this point would be dangerous and annoying but just as she motioned to leave and return later she ran into a blonde busty woman.

"Well, Orochimaru is still getting children's hands dirty so he doesn't have to do so himself," Tsunade said, pressing her fingertips against her chin as Mineko motioned to step back the moment she recognized the Sannin Tsunade.

She didn't get far as her back nearly brushed against the white haired Fuyu who now stood behind her. "I'm older than I look," Mineko stated with a glance between the two women.

Mineko felt a trickle of apprehension as she gauged whether or not she'd be able to take Tsunade in a fight. Orochimaru had assured her that in fair fight, she would be unlikely to defeat Fuyu. Luckily poison is hardly a fair tactic.

"What do you want?" Mineko settled for keeping the two talking as she found herself backed into an alleyway by Fuyu and Tsunade.

"The cure," Tsunade said with a shrug. "I would very much appreciate it if you just handed it over, so I can get back to my Sunday."

Mineko's brows furrowed, seeing Fuyu was quite healthy and in no need of a cure. Of course, looks were deceiving and Fuyu's body went up into smoke as the henge wore off. Mineko felt a moment of shame as she allowed herself to be fooled by a transformation Jutsu.

The girl next to Tsunade was Fuyu no longer and her hair was short and black. Her face was not nearly as slender and her eyes no longer sparkled with Fuyu's thunderous and golden irises, with just the hint of pink.

"I didn't know the kid had friends," Mineko said, trying to think of an escape plan that wouldn't end with the Sannin pummeling her body into the ground.

"To be honest, I don't even know her real name," Tsunade replied, taking a step forward as her heels scraped against the ground. "But unlike Orochimaru, I remember what my sensei taught me and I would not let a kid die when I can do something about it."

"You speak as if the kid was innocent," Mineko almost grinned, the very thought of someone fighting for Fuyu made her want to explode in laughter.

"Doesn't matter what she has done," Tsunade replied. "I treat the sick, not interrogate them. Now you can hand me the cure or I will find a way to get it using less acceptable methods."

"I would do what she says," Shizune warned. "She's been irritable all morning."

Mineko let out an annoyed sigh before she grabbed one of her knives and sliced it across her hand, letting the blood puddle on top of the blade. "I've never needed to make a cure. The poison is transferred from my body, embedded in my blood and my saliva. Synthesize it if you even can, but I won't hold my breath."

Shizune glanced towards Tsunade in concern, "can we trust this?"

"It matches what the girl told us," Tsunade grabbed the blade, but Mineko didn't let it go for a moment longer, forcing the Sannin closer.

"That girl you are so keen to save would wouldn't give water to a man dying of thirst," Mineko warned.

"Nobodies perfect," Tsunade said with a shrug, turning to walk away while being careful with the blade.

»»⎯⎯⎯¤⎯⎯⎯««

Anomie felt her strength begin to return not long after Tsunade had left the cure next to her beside with a note that only said:

Off to salvage my trip. Rest for another six hours. Drink and eat only liquids. I will not heal your broken body a second time.

-Tsunade

PS: I expect compensation the next time we meet.

She carefully folded the letter, pressing it against her chest as her forehead rested against her knees. Oddly enough, something about Tsunade's words filled her chest with air, as if she was hovering over her own body and able to see all her past actions subjectively.

For a moment, she imagined her life if she traveled beside Tsunade, helping her heal the sick and gamble her life away around the country. It sounded almost peaceful.

"That's not my path," Anomie whispered, placing the note into her weapon's bag.

At the same time, she had no idea what her actual path was anymore. She was merely walking aimless, hoping she could somehow gather vital information on an organization that she didn't even care about and give all of it to a village that despised her.

It was all rather foolish and pointless, but she could never die peacefully without making some type of amends for all that she had done.

Maybe when that day came, she could tell Kakashi that loved him. Maybe that would be a lie. Maybe it was a fairytale she told him to convince herself they weren't better off apart.

Of course, fairytales were all pretend, used to cover up what she could never make right.

Author's Note

ノコギリソウ (nokogirisou) or in English means Yarrow Flower. It symbolizes Good Health.

I am slightly surprised I'm not out of flowers yet. There are so many flowers that mean sappy things like 'love you forever' or 'endless jealousy' which are two themes that are not ready to be apart of Anomie's life.

I actually wrote this chapter within days after my last one, but decided not not post it too quickly so I don't overwhelm you guys with the length. Aha.

Anomie's character is growing, and she's getting significantly less mean and she will discover that her bitch mask is her lifeline to stop herself from drowning in depression.

There aren't many people who call Anomie 'Fuyu' besides her mother and Orochimaru, so that's why during Mineko's POV I had used her birth name since that's what Orochimaru calls her. To be honest, Anomie really hates that name.

I will see you next time guys. Eat well, have fun, get laid. I don't care. Be happy~! :D