A/N: Hi!

Sorry for not updating faster. Somehow I was lacking inspiration lately and without your wonderful reviews I would've been lacking motivation, too.

Chapter seven

Kakashi summoned Pakkun. The three were again at the entrance of Akuma's hideout and the copy-ninja was quite sure that the Iwa wasn't there anymore. So with Pakkuns nose they could find out if he had left the cave without coming back. This would not only save time also Kakashi didn't want Anko to be down there again as long as it wasn't absolutely necessary. The dog confirmed his suspicion: Had left heading eastwards. With the ninken the two jounins chased after Akuma until they reached a rocky area pretty close to the border of Iwagakure where they found him. Because there was no place to hide in this area they chose the direct way. And the Iwa being the arrogant bastard that he was didn't even make the slightest attempt to avoid a confrontation with the two jounins standing in his way; instead he threw stone-kunais at them as soon as he was close enough.

Dodging them Anko saw Kakashi doing the same and almost in unison both threw shuriken back at him hitting the Iwa but no damage was done because he had used a doton that had transformed his skin into stone so that even a powerful shuriken attack was nothing more but a mosquito bite. Then Akuma performed another jutsu causing a heavy earthquake. Anko almost lost her balance. From the corner of her eye she saw her teammate throwing a kunai with an explosive tag pinned to it at the enemy who disappeared in the following explosion. But where was he? A breath of wind told Anko that he was right behind her so she whirled around throwing a kunai and at the same time leaping backwards to increase the distance between them but in midair she just had enough time to see that he had opened a small bottle with a violet liquid in it, which came flying towards her with no way of dodging it, before mentioned liquid directly hit her eyes, blinding her.

She blinked several times but her vision stayed blurred. She clearly felt his intent of killing as he heard him running towards her. Stupid situation she thought prepared for the unpleasant experience of how it felt if there was a kunai slicing through you but instead there was another, this time warm, liquid that hit her face. She blinked again trying to see what was happening and when her vision became a bit clearer she recognized Kakashi standing in front of her with a stone blade through his shoulder and Akuma lying some meters away though he already struggled to his feet.

With a quick movement the copy-ninja jerked the sword out of him and looking back to Anko he said "If you can hold him with your snakes for a minute or two then I should be able to kill with my Chidori. Do you think we can do that?" Anko nodded and immediately ran towards the Iwa dodging his attacks and then performing the Hidden-Shadow-Snake-Hands capturing him. From behind she heard the noise of thousands birds, which meant that Kakashi was already preparing his move. She only hoped that he would hurry because she was already out of breath and the air around her seemed kinda thin, thinner than it should be. Or was it her imagination? Suddenly there was a lightning first next to her and not even a heartbeat later it was inside the Iwa who had stopped struggling just as sudden. Then he was dead.

Kakashi summoned his pack of ninken. They could take care of the dead body while he could take care of Anko. He definitely didn't like the sound of her breathing; it appeared to be somehow… whistling. Plus she was still constantly blinking because of whatever this violet thing had been she had gotten into her eyes. He should wash it out of her eyes. Kakashi stopped next to her telling her to look up and stand still. Then he carefully let water from his water bottle flow over her eyes and over the rest of her face. Thus he cleaned the blood away, too. Then with this done he wanted to get back to Konoha as fast as possible since now they both were in need of medical treatment and sitting around with a bleeding hole in his shoulder could always prove to be a bad idea.

So they both started running back but after some time Anko first got slower and then stopped completely shortly before falling down. Within a second Kakashi was at her side. She had started coughing once again and blood was already covering the ground and her palms. She looked awfully pale. When she had stopped coughing blood Kakashi didn't wait for her usual reaction (pretending to be alright) and picked her up, carrying her back. Too weak to struggle Anko just let him and eventually fainted not much later.

Kakashi felt that his heartbeat was faster than it just would've been because of running. He was really worried. Somehow, somewhere he had gotten used to the presence of the stubborn kunoichi. He had noticed Anko every time she had watched on those rainy days. He could have talked to her, joined her on her walk or at least let her know that he acknowledged her presence but he never did. Why? Maybe because he didn't want anyone to be close to him again. Everyone he ever really cared for soon died so he preferred not letting anyone be close to instead of going through the loss of someone precious again. But he realized that it was already too late for something like that: He already cared for Anko much more than he thought he could ever. Another reason why he would make sure that she wouldn't die.

Xxx

Anko found herself lying somewhere surrounded by comfortable warmth. She knew that she was awake but still she didn't want to open her eyes. It had been the first time after far too many nights she had been able to sleep peacefully and somehow she wanted to hold on to it just a little longer. She felt the sun on her face. Slowly and still feeling sleepy she opened one eye. White blankets, white curtains, everything white – this could only mean that she was in the Konoha hospital though she couldn't remember getting here… Wait, she remembered passing out on the way back so that meant – Kakashi must have carried her back. Where was he? Images of the vents came floating back to her mind. The jounin had received a not minor injury when he had protected her so he might be here as well. But not in this room. This room was empty.

She looked to the left. And found sweets and some flowers on a little bedside table. Kurenai must have been here. A click told her that the door had opened; since she was lying at the window side she couldn't see the door. Shizune stepped into her sight. Seeing Anko she smiled.

"Finally awake again?" She asked although it was more a statement than a question.

If Anko hadn't been so awfully tired she might have wondered about 'finally' but so she just nodded.

"So how are you feeling?"

"Okay." Anko mumbled.

"Everyone will surely be relieved to her that you've woken up again since you've almost slept for a week." Shizune continued. "Especially Kakashi… The way he glared at us medics while we were treating you. We had to shove him out of the room in order to concentrate." She said with a giggle before she grew serious. "But you should really be more carefully next time. If the rock had hit you only a bit different you would've died from the blood in your lungs before even thinking of returning to Konoha."

Anko smiled apologetically.

"Anyway you should take this medicine although it might make you feel a bit tired." She handed her a small pill and waited until Anko had swallowed it before she left to visit her other patients.

Anko closed her eyes again. After some minutes she felt that someone just had slipped into the room but not through the door. Through the open window.

"Kakashi what are you doing here?" she asked her eyes still closed.

"Well I was hanging around here and when I heard that you were awake I decided to pay a visit."

The kunoichi opened her eyes again. "Shizune left only a minute ago so how do you know?"

A mischievous grin spread over Kakashi's face. "Maybe I'm a fortuneteller."

Anko threw her pillow at the copy-ninja growling "Stupid".

Smirking Kakashi caught it. "So are you now planning to sleep without your pillow?" He asked, his tone teasing. Anko just stuck her tongue out of her mouth.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile at her childish reaction and gave her the pillow back before he sat down at the end of her bed.

"So how do you feel now?" He asked although he already knew the answer. Maybe because he eavesdropped to the conservation of her and Shizune.

"I'm fine." She said with a stifled yawn.

Kakashi sighed. "You always say that even if you know that it's a lie."

"I don't lie…" She muttered. Somehow he thought he had heard an 'often'.

"Then why did you still insist that you were feeling alright even after coughing blood in Grass Country?"

"That was merely a different interpretation of 'feeling alright'."

Still too stubborn to admit it Kakashi thought with a slight smile. He knew there was a reason for Anko to be like this. Most likely she had already been stubborn as a baby but even for a stubborn person she was too stubborn. He wasn't quite sure about it but he had an idea why Anko wouldn't admit that she wasn't in any condition for a mission.

"And why didn't you agree to go back to Konoha earlier?" He questioned.

Finding the ceiling more interesting Anko didn't answer.

"Was it because you didn't want to be left behind?"

Still no answer but she clutched her blanket. So he was right.

"Anko, going back to Konoha because of an injury isn't the same thing as…"

He didn't know how to say it even though he had started to understand the way she thought. The copy-ninja was sure that it had something to do Orochimaru, after all he – as her (former) sensei – had just abandoned her, casting her off like trash. But it still might prove to say it the direct way.

"…as being abandoned. You can be sure that no one of us will ever do that."

She looked away obviously not fully believing what he was saying. Kakashi felt like he was talking to a wall. To a very stubborn wall.

"Why don't you trust me?"

"I dunno…" She muttered in response still looking at anything except Kakashi.

"You should really try to trust people again; otherwise you will end up all alone."

She glanced at him saying in an almost inaudible voice "You shouldn't say things like that even though they might be true but also you don't have any close friends do you? Sure you get well along with everyone but still the same thing you just told me goes for you, too."

The silver-haired jounin was surprised by that comment. He hadn't expected someone to see through him ever since the last one important to him had died. Maybe it was worth one more try.

"I guess you're right." He said with a smile. "And since we both have the same problem maybe we could start trusting each other."

Now Anko eventually looked at him although she still seemed to be a bit unsure her typical grin spread over her face.

"Maybe we can…"

Then finally the medicine Shizune gave her started working and after blinking a few times Anko fell asleep.

TBC

A/N:

So, I hope you guys weren't thinking this would end her – NO I'm far too evil for that… eg

There are still at least two chappies left though I don't feel motivated enough to write them…

Anyway please leave a review so that I know that you're not ignoring me :D

Thanks to DancingPickle101, Akanan and Sayomi XD for reviewing!

disappears in a poof of smoke