49

Jiraiya glanced towards Anomie as she continued to uncharacteristically sip from her flask. She was a little shorter than him, so it wasn't hard to glance at her every once and a while from the corner of his eye. "Who are you trying to be, Tsunade?"

"Chill," Anomie told him, glancing up at him. "If I'm legal enough to buck you wild then I'm legal enough to drink."

His nose burned with blood at her comment, but he hid it so she wouldn't see. "What happened? You know you can talk to me."

"Nothing happened. I like the taste," Anomie told him, and she smiled slightly as it tasted very similar to gasoline. Tsunade said she liked the taste in the beginning, but after her brother died, Jiraiya never knew what to feel about anything that woman told him. Anomie was perhaps even more difficult to read, and most of the time he noticed that she never showed much expression. When things got difficult, she would off balance the tension with a little bit of harmful flirting.

"Sanshi is the monk's boyfriend or something. It was all very confusing," Anomie said with an uncaring wave of her hand as they stopped right in front of the temple. "Ask him all your questions. I'm going to change my bandages."

"You don't want to come with?" Jiraiya asked and Anomie slightly smiled.

"He won't talk if I'm in there," Anomie told him with a smirk and a slight shrug.

"So the normal Anomie type of interaction," Jiraiya said with a sigh, contemplating working with her. He knew that she was technically on Konoha's side, but Anomie had a quality of unpredictability. He wanted to trust her more than he actually did.

Anomie slightly smiled, taking a sip from her flask. "It was a bit above average."

Jiraiya sighed, turning to walk away, "This is beginning to be tedious."

"Wait," Anomie stopped him, placing her flask into her pouch. She walked closer, placing her palms against his chest as she glanced up at him. He froze at her touch, feeling the heat from her hands as she ran her fingers over the mesh shirt underneath his shirt, only visible through the opening of the v along his shirt. "I'd remove that if I were you."

"What kind of temple are you sending me into?"

Anomie smiled, biting her bottom lip. "This village has an occupancy of roughly 40 people. What do you think these people do for fun?"

That sparked Jiraiya's attention and his brow slightly twitched.

"The bath houses are at its greatest in about an hour, but for now," Anomie ripped a v into the mesh underneath with one hand in so fast a motion that it danced around aggressive and oddly flirtatious. "Sanshi likes a bit of skin."

"I'm going to repeat: what kind of temple are you sending me into?" Jiraiya asked, and she bit her bottom lip, mid grin with her hand slightly covering her lips. "And can you not rip my clothes. I am a nomad, I live off the land."

"If you like, you can rip my clothes a bit," she told him and watched as his eyes wandered over her very tight kimono with a bleeding nose. "Just curious, does that happen mid game? I'd hate to be the girl underneath a faucet."

"This is my cue to leave," Jiraiya said with a dead pan, hiding his nose. "You never answered me about this temple."

"Don't you trust me?" Anomie asked, watching Jiraiya run his fingers through his hair.

"This isn't about trust," he began to tell her, but didn't get another word out when she reached up and pressed her lips against the corner of his mouth. It was quick, but it sent his blood pumping through his veins.

"Good luck," she whispered when she pulled away with a sultry smirk that wasn't at all genuine.

She disappeared in a cloud of smoke before he could get another word out.

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Anomie stared into the sky, thinking about nothing at all. It was easier to think about nothing rather than to be crippled by loneliness and defeat and hatred. It didn't matter what she did, she felt rather trapped and suffocated as if every reprieve didn't make a difference and nothing ever would. If she had the choice, if she could go back in time, she wondered what she would do differently.

She blocked out the 'what ifs' of her life. Instead, she basked in the sun as her back rested against the roof of the temple where Jiraiya attempted to negotiate where the stone could have gone. Of course, she would have gone too, but Sanshi had disliked her from the beginning, so she didn't make it any better when she put a bit of effort into the matter.

Her wound still throbbed, just waiting for those stitches to pop. Even still, she didn't bother fixing it as she stared up into the sky, making out the shapes of the clouds. Doing so reminded her of when her mother would lay next to her on the cliff behind the temple and point out shapes in the sky. She had made up stories to go along with it.

That memory had been buried for so long that the reminder brought her mother back to life for a moment. If Anomie closed her eyes, she could feel her mother's hand in hers, squeezing tightly for dear life. Anomie remembered all those small details. She breathed them in and they embraced her fondly.

She closed her eyes and remembered her mother's long red hair and dark blue eyes. For once, the haunting memory of her face was not lost. Perhaps this memory was a gift for avenging her death and it was perhaps the only thing Anomie could do to repay the woman who raised her and tried to teach her kindness and compassion.

Anomie had been very kind at first, but being nice doesn't bring any rewards. It brought her to handing that man, that murderer, a flower from her garden near her house. She was the one who saw him, spoke to him, and told him her dreams of a house made of cheese. Kindness makes people covet innocence. Kindness made him covet her and take her body every night until she was sold to a high end brothel that he could not afford.

Anomie wasn't kind. She didn't know what she was anymore. She thought that by accepting the Hokage's proposition of joining Orochimaru and reporting his misdeeds then she would be able to do some good in her life. Instead, she had moments to make a choice between slaughtering a handful of Anbu or assuring that Orochimaru would never trust her again. Perhaps there could have been an alternative, but at the time, gaining Orochimaru's trust took first command and she drenched her hands in blood.

She didn't regret it. She halted Orochimaru's most deadly research time and time again because he trusted her so greatly. She had another opportunity arise from the ashes when she was asked to slaughter only a portion of the Uchiha clan. There was no way out for her. She could have said no, but fear of civil war in the village that Kakashi called home was not something she could have taken lightly.

She wanted to be someone else and rewind the clock to a time when her touch didn't cause him so much pain. She knew what it was like to hate herself, so she could see what desiring a murderer and a traitor was doing to him. She wanted to set him free, but she didn't know how to quit him.

Anomie pressed her arms against her stomach and squeezed her eyes shut. Her heart drummed painfully in her chest, and she feared that if it beat any harder then it would break her ribs. She desired him. She missed him. She wanted him.

She tried to think of bad qualities to soothe the emptiness, but unlike her, he was too perfect. He was kind, he was strong, he was modest, he cared, he forgave, and he loved with his entire being. She loved every last thing about him. She loved the freckle below his lips. She loved that he wore three masks just waiting to make a joke about what was underneath the first. She loved his sense of humor. She loved the look in his eyes when she kissed him. She loved that the passion never went away and how his body always devoured hers and ruptured every nerve in her body.

She could never have him. Not really.

However, she would protect him. She would make this world safer, even if she could never stay at his side. Even if the greatest monster she had to fight was herself.

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"It was a normal temple," Jiraiya said as he stepped on the roof next to where Anomie laid down with the back of her head resting in her hands. Her kimono was creeping down, giving him a full view of her long legs and heels that really outlined her legs. They were fashionable, with ribbons attached that wrapped around her calves.

Jiraiya tried not to stare, but Anomie was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever spoken to and she was sitting right in front of him with the impure intention to show off. She glanced up at her, her eyes outlined with that girlish sweep of winged eyeliner. Her hair was up in a bun with small purple flowers woven in between delicate strands.

His nose begun to dampen with blood as she adjusted her position and he caught a glimpse down her robes where her lacy bra rested. He looked away, feigning to scratch his nose and hide his face.

"I know," she said in a low tone, her lips quirking up into a small smile. "How long did it take you to realize I lied?"

"Very funny," he said, raising a brow as he watched her glance up at him.

"He does hate me though," Anomie admitted after she slowly sat up. She wanted to run her fingers through her hair, but having styled it that morning made such a thing difficult. She glanced over to him, the amber hue of her eyes cutting through his deadpan.

"Not surprising," Jiraiya said, holding out his hand for her to take. She glanced at it for a long time before she placed her surprisingly soft fingers onto his palm. She slowly wrapped her fingers around his and stood up. The spark of their connected skin flowed through her for a moment and he dropped her hand as if he had been zapped. Her lips quirked up for a moment as she met his gaze. "You are being vague on what you did."

"Am I?" Anomie smiled, not elaborating. "Did he know anything?"

"He didn't seem too broken up on the monk's death. Someone came around to chat with him only a week ago. Asked a lot of pushy questions about the stone and about you," Jiraiya told her.

"Sanshi talked about me?" Anomie said, but Jiraiya sighed, running his fingers over his jaw.

"Not by name, but I don't have trouble understanding when someone is talking about you," he replied, and she tilted her head to the side.

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you insulting me or complimenting me?" Anomie asked, her brows furrowing, but that ever present smile still managed to slip out towards the end.

"We should go. There is a buyer around here looking for this item."

"A buyer? Who?"

"The Izana clan," Jiraiya answered, and Anomie paused, surprised but not for long since the Izana clan truly did rule the underworld and dabbled in just about every type of illegal trade. It didn't surprise her that a faction also coveted the ability to control a demon. Also, more than anything, at least she wouldn't have to deal with Orochimaru.

"Ah," Anomie murmured. "Which one?" Tsukasa was immediately the name that filtered through her mind, but she doubted that someone as loyal to the village as that girl appeared to be would be so ostentatious about betraying it.

"Hell if I know. The old guy only said that it was an Izana through recognition of the crest on their sleeve," Jiraiya answered.

"Did you just call Sanshi old?" Anomie's lips quirked up, a small flower bud falling from her hair from a slight gust of wind. "You remember that he is actually your same age?"

"Exercise keeps me young," Jiraiya told her, causing her to smirk.

"I've never known you to exercise," she replied.

"I'm a Sannin. Have some respect for Jiraiya the great toad sa-"

"Do you have an off switch?" Anomie's interruption caused Jiraiya to pause with an exhausted sigh.

"Will you let me finish?"

"When you finish with me, you will be thankful that you waited," she told him, and he met her gaze and felt his body heat.

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"You know what."

Anomie's brow raised and she tilted her head up. "Are you ashamed to be attracted to me because of my age now or because you met me when I was a child?"

Jiraiya's eye twitched when she laughed, her lips curling up in a rather genuine burst of sound. She glanced behind him, her laughter departing but her smile staying in place.

"Looks like we have company," she told him, and he sighed, having already felt the killing intent. He turned around to see a woman jumping up on the rooftop. Her eyes were a very familiar silver that the Izana clan were notorious for and her lips were curled in a much too sweet smile.

"Two for the price of one," the woman said, her lips widening in a beautiful and pearly white smile. Anomie's eyes ran over the green flower tattoo over her brows and light black hair that almost looked grey in the lighting. "Is that you Koneko?" The woman walked as if she were drunk, but the malice in her eyes was wide awake.

"No," Anomie answered, her lips spreading in a coy smile while Jiraiya let out a sigh.

"I never forget a face with such an expensive bounty," the woman said, staggering a bit before her bright silver eyes began to narrow as a dark Chakra started to cover her in a thick shroud.

"Is that so?" Anomie didn't dare move closer, too afraid that her stitching would open right back up. "Who cares about one kitty when you have a Sannin right here."

"I thought we were closer than that," Jiraiya stated, glancing over at her from the corner of his eye.

The woman glanced between the two of them, but the action appeared to make her slightly dizzy. Slowly her lips spread into a rather crazy grin as the once vibrant silver of her eyes began to roll back so Jiraiya and Anomie could only see the whites of her eyes. "I'd rather not fight, Izana Kira," Anomie said, and the woman's silver irises came back, her grin slightly diminishing.

"You should have thought of that before you tried snooping in something that doesn't concern you," Kira said, holding up a beautiful stone that looked as red as blood. "Looking for this?"

Jiraiya glanced towards it and smirked. "You should just hand it over. You can't defeat the both of us."

"I've always found that I'm at my best in threesomes," Kira replied, catching Anomie's eye and giving her a sultry smirk.

"And like that I'm out," Anomie replied with a brow raised until it was tucked behind one of the stray flowers hanging just barely out of her hair. She reached up and cupped it into her palms, letting the wind blow it away with the other one.

Kira grinned and before anybody could move, she had pressed up against Anomie's body who matched Kira's crazy with a deadpan of her own. "Give me six minutes and then we can have a monogamous little fight."

Anomie slightly smiled, pressing her finger against Kira's lips as she leaned forward. "I'm going to pop your eyes out of your skull."

Jiraiya let out a letcherous chuckle. "I'm feeling so left out."

Kira turned her head around like the lights had flickered on and died, the expression of pure madness over come her. It was unpredictable and caused Anomie to disappear into smoke for being too close when Kira let out a cackle. In moments, the energy around her became stifling, as if something was channeling out oxygen.

Jiraiya barely had time to dodge the two blades since Kira leapt in so swift a moment that Anomie could not follow her body movement. From that moment, Anomie turned corporeal once more on a taller building and sat down against the roof of the house.

Jiraiya was perhaps the most skilled fighter she had ever seen. He was nimble and more than that, he was strong. She knew that the moment he nearly exploded the roof with a single fist as if he were covered in muscles. Kira, however, had battle abilities unlike Anomie had ever seen before. They were unpredictable and always aimed at vitals with precise pinpointed ability.

More wary than that, she was fast. It was like trying to hit water, the droplets merely went around flesh of a fist with no real damage. Jiraiya must have known this, and that was when Anomie saw him activate a summoning, but instead of his usual toad, they all appeared inside the belly of the beast.

Kira glanced around, straightening her back as she took in the fleshy surface she now balanced her feet on. She pressed her finger tips against the wall, and Anomie grimaced as a slippery saliva coated the girl's fingers. Almost immediately, Anomie turned into smoke as a way to make sure her shoes weren't ruined.

Kira grimaced and her white stare disappeared as her irises once more came into view as she stared over to Jiraiya, her mind coming back and sobering her up. "Our first date isn't going so well."

"I don't usually go for seconds anyway," Jiraiya commented, offhandedly as he took a step forward with ease. Kira noticed this, already feeling the difficulty as the esophagus was restricting her movements almost immediately making it hard, no, nearly imposible, to walk.

Kira gave him a hard stare, almost completely sober now, her dark Chakra retreated. "What is this?"

"This is the stomach of my summon," Jiraiya told her. "Your movements are already restricted so you can't beat me with speed. You will eventually find it difficult to breathe. Soon enough, I can control everything at will, and you will be digested at a rate far greater than anything you've ever seen. You've lost, Izana-san."

"Lost now have I?" Kira smirked, taking a difficult step forward. She took another, pressing her feet harder into the squishy ground. Jiraiya noticed the deadly Chakra was beginning to return and flood out her pores. She took another step, this time it was effortless. "I decide how this battle will go, Sannin of the Leaf."

"You are from the Leaf too," Jiraiya reminded her with a sigh.

Kira's eyes rolled back as the dark Chakra all but surrounded her in a way so visible that Jiraiya might have thought she were a demon. "I am Izana. I serve Izana. Fuck Konoha, fuck this toad, and fuck you." Kira leapt forward, so much Chakra pounding through her skin that Jiraiya knew that she wasn't fully human as no human could survive that much concentrated power.

Jiraiya move back, dodging her fist that lodged into the flesh below her. Jiraiya watched it surround her arm and hold on tight, and if she was normal, there was no way she could escape the weight that held her down. It was eight tons of pressure and Jiraiya felt a cold chill when Kira turned her head towards him, only the whites of her eyes visible, and she grinned. Her canines looked especially sharp in that moment, and moments later, Jiraiya realized that they were getting sharper.

Kira ripped her arm from the flesh that attempted to devour her as if it were just stuck in a pool of water. The cold sweat intensified when she leapt close to him, nearly cutting him with the mere force of wind coming from the speed of her palm.

Anomie, from her place in the air, grew more thrilled that this was not her battle to fight. She knew little about the Izana clan, nearly none, and she had never really seen them fight before. All she knew was that they were so deeply linked in the very essence of commerce and donors for major economic works in the village, and that they were nearly untouchable by the law. The secrecy of their dealings was unknown because of the near impossibility of putting spies in their organization due to the Izana tradition of nepotism.

Then again, Hyuuga and Uchiha weren't so different in that regards either. They were both rather publicly untouchable, at least, they were. The Uchiha massacre changed the game of the way Konoha ran. Even that required proof and a spy from the inside. Doubtful there could ever be another spy quite like Itachi.

The Uchiha police force could be easily replaced, either way. Trade and money made this world and Konoha was rightfully reluctant to mess with their economic rise to the top.

Besides, Anomie frowned, watching wherever Kira stepped had left a black imprint of poison, spreading throughout this toad's mouth. Her very Chakra was deteriorating a flesh and acid environment of a fire resistant toad. I wouldn't want to attempt to battle a clan if they fought like her.

That feeling was intensified when Jiraiya managed a fatal blow, impaling Kira only slightly on the girl's own blade. Kira glanced down, blood dripping from her lips. Slowly, she laughed, placing her palms against the sharp blade, locking her fingers around it and pulling forward, moving closer to Jiraiya and impaling herself further.

"I just love having you inside me," she said, and he grabbed her by the back of the neck and used his other hand to summon the rasengan. She glanced down at it with a grin, not the least bit fearful.

She grabbed him by the wrist and squeezed, he slightly winced, but his bones didn't break. Perhaps if it was anyone else, it might have, but Jiraiya was durable and he shoved her back into the stomach walls, allowing the flesh to suction against her. It was all up against her entire body, raising her above floor so she couldn't get a proper grip on the ground and push off. She raised his Rasengan and just as he went to strike her down, her never ending grin an slightly unnerving, she was enveloped in Chakra to the point where the walls of flesh behind her burned right open, disintegrating, and she escaped through it.

It wasn't something Jiraiya hadn't ever seen before and he immediately deactivated the Rasengan in his palm with a raised brow.

The surprised silence was immediately broken. "Did you like it inside her?"

"They're gonna kill me," Jiraiya said, referring to the giant hole the stomach of one of the bigger toads. Just outside, Anomie could see the village as bright as day, but Kira's potent and nearly impossible to hide Chakra was gone.

"Summonings are petty that way," Anomie agreed, and moments later the stomach around them disappeared and they were back standing on the roof. Kira was nowhere in sight. "She's battle capable. She realized she was outmatched against you. Now she has the relic."

"I am the Great Toad Sage. Undefeated, unbroken, and-"

"Get to your point," Anomie said in a deadpan, practically hearing his pained sigh as he held up the stone, red as ever, in the palm of his hand. Anomie glanced at it and let out an amused laugh. "You are in for a horrible enemy when she finds out you stole that from her."

"Can you let me finish a speech for once? You are missing out of some really cool quotes," Jiraiya said, ignoring her comment and getting back onto the true issue at hand.

"Fuck your speeches. Let's get out of here before the demon bitch realized she doesn't have that."

"I, Jiraiya the Toad-"

"Shut the fuck up."

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"Jiraiya you still have a knack for surprising me," Anomie commented, glancing towards the jewel in her hand. It was a pain in the ass to find and even worse to obtain, but now that it was in front of her, it was a bit anticlimactic considering the amount of men who wanted it and the Izana who coveted it.

She would not have found it if Jiraiya wasn't a little letcher, getting all handsy with that psychopath, mid battle. "That I do. Anomie, when you live as long as I do-"

"Can you like, not go on another speech?" Anomie stated, glancing towards Jiraiya with a sideways smile.

"One day you will let me finish a speech," he replied. "This is our first quest together so let's not fight honey."

"I'll fight if I want to, dear. Don't think I didn't catch you writing notes when I was chatting up Ibukuro for this beautiful discounted room," Anomie retorted, shoving her pointer finger into his chest, finding that it was firmer than she thought it would be.

"Those were import field research notes," Jiraiya informed her, and Anomie took a step forward, slyly tossing the stone in the air and catching it, making sure to watch his eyes slowly glance towards the object in her hand.

"Research notes? On what? The way my butt looks in these pants?" Anomie asked, and Jiraiya scoffed.

"Not everyone is looking at your butt," he informed her, but the way his eyes shifted made her doubt that.

"Hm," Anomie took a step closer, walking past him and taking a seat on the hotel bed. "This mission was exhausting, do you want bed or the floor?"

Jiraya's eyes slightly narrowed, but his nose burned from a buildup of blood that had yet to fall. "Same room?"

"Safer in numbers, Jiraiya-sensei," Anomie told him with a cheeky smile as she pat a spot on the bed next to her.

"What type of man are you insinuating that I am?" Jiraiya's question was met with her sly smirk.

Anomie undid her braid, allowing her hair to fall over her shoulders as she leaned back on the bed. Those curly silver locks spread over the comforter of the bed and blanketed it from underneath her. Slowly, she reached her hand out for Jiraiya, who stared at her palm suspiciously.

"I'm not insinuating anything. You are a good man," she told him and he crossed his arms over his chest, causing her to let out a giggle as she dropped her hand onto the sheets.

"How about you hand over the stone, Anomie," Jiraiya warned her, and her lips spread into a sneer as she stared up at the ceiling.

"I thought your newest book was sloppy," she told him.

"You don't appreciate good literature," he told her and she giggled.

"You haven't a single clue how a true pro is in the sheets, do you?" Anomie shrugged, and felt the tension in the room grow with Jiraiya's offense.

"I'll have your know I am very well versed," he told her and watched her sit up so she was leaning on her elbows with her back to the bed.

"I'm sure you've seen lots of pleasure. After all, you're ambidextrous," she gave him a cheeky grin, showing off the smooth dimples on her cheeks.

"Mean."

"At least sit next to me," she said with a laugh. "I want to know all that I missed while you whored my image to a best selling novel."

"Who says that's you? Your arrogance knows no bounds," he told her and she grinned, reaching over and grabbing his forearm so he had to walk closer. Anomie wasn't strong enough to force him on the bed, but he let her bring him in front of her knees.

"I've looked in a mirror recently. In my own dreams, I too fantasize about myself."

"Again, if you read my forward, you would know that any similarities in characters are purely coincidental-"

She stood up so she was closer to him, her chest sliding up his body as she did, her body brushing over every inch of his due to their close proximity. Finally, she stopped and she stood up straight, her face only inches under his. She felt his breath stiffle as he felt her cool hand cup his chest, glancing up at him and allowing him to see her long lashes and nearly invisible pores. Her lips pouted before opening slightly, inviting him closer. She ran her finger tips down his chest, giving him just a brush of skin on skin contact over the slit in his shirt before she lowered her hand.

"Fuck it," he reached down, cupping her perfect jaw in his hands and running them through her hair so his fingers could be resting against the back of her head. His lips were less gentle, filled with desperation and need. She smiled against the kiss, allowing him to push her onto the bed with him on top.

The next morning, however, the stone and Anomie were gone.

Author's Note

KIKYOU (桔梗) It is also known as Platycodon grandifloras (bellflower), which is a species of herbaceous flowering perennial plant. This flower is native to east Asia, such as Japan, China, and Korea. Depends on the regions, there are Chinese bellflower, Korean bellflower, and Japanese bellflower. It symbolizes endless love, and honesty. There is a belief that, this flower has "The return of a friend is desired."

Now, this has been a long time coming. I've just been so busy. Jiraiya and Anomie's relationship is purely physical, since I'm an adamant TsunadexJiraiya fan. Anomie really fucked him. Literally and figuratively! That's what she does. It is a stone that controls demons after all.

I wish I could realistically add Kakashi in this story more often, but I literally don't know how since they are just so far apart in distance and responsibilities. If anyone has any input or ideas, pm me guys. I just wanna make it realistic, and making them see each other is a challenge!

However, he will be in the next chapter quite a bit! I promise! 100% guaranteed KakashixAnomie moment coming up guys. Brace yourselves

Oh and I was asked that the next time I imply a sex scene between this skank, to write the lemon. I did my best to do just that, but I've legit never wrote one before and I got embarrassed so it's super vanilla. If anyone wants to read it, pm me ! The reason I don't just attach it in the story is because when I look back on this and read it, I would like to not have to remember that my ass attempted to write a sex scene. What if my mom finds this? No thank you!

Thank you everyone for reading. I love you all. Stay tuned for the next chapter, hopefully this month.