With my wide eyes
I've seen worlds that don't belong
My mouth is dry with words I cannot verbalize
Tell me why we live like this
Broken – V
Anko pouted a little as she moved around on the crutches. She hadn't wanted to use them, but Tsunade had insisted. And that woman was truly terrifying. Anko decided to take Kakashi's advice, and do everything the blond woman told her.
But the entire day she was scared. Not of Tsunade. Well, maybe a little of her. But more of what would happen when she went home bandaged up. She was afraid of what Orochimaru might think. He would think she went somewhere, got help, told the truth…
But she had to go home. If she didn't, bad things could happen. People could end up hurt. She didn't want anyone to get hurt. Especially not over her. She wasn't worth that.
"Hello." Anko jarred out of her thoughts and looked down. There was a boy of about three standing in front of her, looking up at her through wide, bright blue eyes. He smiled. She smiled back. "What's your name?"
"Anko. Yours?"
"Kai." He cocked his head at her. "Are you new here?"
"Sort of." Anko paused, realizing the boy didn't understand what she meant. "I'm not staying." She elaborated.
"Aw, how come?" Kai asked. He looked put out. "It's really great here, everybody is super nice, even all the adults. Especially Sarutobi-sama, he's the absolute best. There's nobody better than him."
Anko smiled weakly. She'd heard many good things about the owner of Konohagakure. He was very good to the kids he took in, and never turned anyone away.
"Hey, Anko-nee-chan, will you play with me?"
Anko snapped out of her thoughts. "Yeah. Sure."
"I hope you're not bothering our guest, Kai." Sarutobi was standing behind them. Kai shook his head viciously.
"No Sarutobi-sama." He said quickly. "I'm not bothering her at all."
Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at Anko, who shook her head, smiling. "It's all right."
"Yay!" Kai jumped up and down, smiling. He grabbed Anko's hand and dragged her forward. Anko jumped as she tried to stay off her bad leg, and followed the small, hyperactive boy. Sarutobi watched them, smiling. He couldn't really send Anko back to Orochimaru, could he?
Kakashi looked at the board, not taking in anything he was seeing. The teacher might as well have been writing in ancient Latin for all he knew.
It was weird. Usually he was really good at paying attention. It was one of the many things that separated him from Obito. But today he had more important things on his mind, namely the purple-haired girl who was currently staying at Konoha.
Would Minato-Sensei and Sarutobi-sama really let her go home again? Could they? What if home was where she was being hurt? How could they allow her to just go back there? But then…what if they didn't have any choice?
"Hey Kakashi-kun, where are you?"
The silver-haired teen jolted out of his thoughts as Rin tapped him on the shoulder. He hadn't even noticed that the bell had rung. Rin was waiting for him so they could catch Obito and leave. They left and jogged down the hall to Obito's class.
"Thank you Obito-kun." The teacher was handing Obito a folder when Kakashi and Rin entered his class. "Now you'll make sure she gets this?"
"Do I have a choice?" Obito sighed and slipped the folder into his bag. "She'll get it, don't worry Sensei."
Rin and Kakashi gave their friend a searching look. "I made the mistake of mentioning that I'd see Mitarashi after school, so Sensei decided to give me the work she missed. Sorry I said anything."
"Gee Obito, I didn't know you cared." Kakashi said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Obito shot him a glare.
"Shut up Kakashi. I don't remember asking you."
"Oh don't start." Rin said, smiling and shaking her head She might as well have told the sun to stop shining; when Obito and Kakashi started in on each other, there was no stopping the fight.
"Looks like she's made a friend." Kakashi said when they got home. Anko was sitting on the floor with one of the three year olds, working on a puzzle. The small boy grinned as he held up a piece for Anko to see.
"Where do you think this goes?"
Anko looked at the half-finished puzzle. "Dunno…what about here?"
"Having fun?" She looked up at Kakashi and the others, who were standing over her. She gave them a small smile.
"Actually, yes." She put another piece of the puzzle in. "Tsunade-sama didn't let me out until around noon though, so that wasn't as much fun."
"Yeah, she can be a real stick in the mud sometimes." Obito laughed. Kai laughed as well, though he obviously had no clue what he was laughing about. Anko smiled at him. All around them, other kids of all ages were sitting and talking and playing. Everything was quiet. And for one, single second everything just seemed okay.
So of course, it all came to a crashing halt.
Crash!
Everyone jumped as the front door flew open, and all eyes turned towards the entrance. Anko's skin went a few shades paler.
Orochimaru was standing in the door, glaring at her.
Kakashi, on instinct, moved in front of Anko, as if trying to save her from Orochimaru's glare.
"Oh look, a hero." Orochimaru sneered. Kakashi narrowed his eyes. Okay, so the man was a little intimidating. Kakashi wasn't going to back down though. "I knew I'd find you here, Anko. Sarutobi is a meddling old man. But that doesn't matter now. Come with me."
Silence rang through the large room. Orochimaru scowled. "Don't make me repeat myself Anko. Come with me."
"Why should she?" Rin, surprisingly, was the one that spoke up. She stepped towards the man, shaking a little. "Why don't you let her decide what she wants to do?"
Orochimaru turned to Rin, who blinked, instantly regretting that she had said anything. "Mind your own business, girl."
He grabbed her by the throat and dragged her into the air. "Rin!" Obito shot forward, only to have his face met by Orochimaru's fist.
"Stop it!" Anko yelled. Before Kakashi could stop her, she jumped up and rushed forward. Kakashi tried to grab her hand, missing by inches. She ran to Orochimaru, who turned to her. "Stop, let her go―"
Rin slipped from his hand, crumpling the second she hit the floor and coughing, holding her neck. Without waiting, Orochimaru grabbed Anko by front of her shirt and dragged her towards the door.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes and walked forward, his hands clenched. He raised one fist and punched Orochimaru in the cheek. The man stumbled back, though his grip on Anko's shirt held strong.
"Why you―"
"Enough!"
The loud voice rang through the open room, and everyone looked around. Sarutobi, Minato, Tsunade, and some of the other adults and volunteers had come downstairs to inspect the source of all the yelling. Everyone looked at Sarutobi in shock. It was the first time they had ever heard him yell. Orochimaru was still holding onto Anko's shirt. Her face had become paler still, and she was breathing heavily.
"Let her go, Orochimaru." Sarutobi said, his voice low. Orochimaru hissed under his breath.
"I'm not a little boy anymore Sarutobi, you can't control me."
"Bet I can still beat you up though." Tsunade said angrily, clenching her fists and stepping forward.
"Tsunade, stop." Sarutobi said simply. "You're quite right, Orochimaru, I can't control you. You can let Anko go and leave voluntarily, or you can be escorted out by the police ― who can control you. Either way, you'll be leaving alone, because I won't allow Anko to go with you."
"You won't allow it?!" Orochimaru asked, sounding outraged.
"That's right. I won't. Now, I'll say it one more time: let her go."
And finally he did. Anko stumbled back and collapsed as her legs gave out from beneath her. Kakashi was at her side in a second, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She was shaking.
"I'll get her back one way or another." Orochimaru growled before turning and storming out, slamming the door behind him.
"Rin?" Obito had crawled over next to the girl. She was holding her throat, massaging it carefully.
"I'm all right." She said, raising a hand and resting it on his cheek. The spot where Orochimaru had nailed him was already swelling. "Too bad. That bruise Anko-san gave you was just starting to fade."
Obito grinned, trying not to shudder under her touch. She had never touched him like that before. "I'm fine." He said, waving her off. "I'm tough, I can take a punch. And that guy's a sissy. Don't worry about me, Rin-san."
Both of them looked over at Anko and Kakashi, the latter of which was helping the former stand. She leaned heavily against him. Her face was still extremely pale, and she was still breathing hard. "You all right?" Kakashi asked, looking down at her in concern. She nodded, her eyes staring at something in the distance.
"Yeah. I'm okay. Thanks for that."
"I didn't really do anything."
"You hit him." She smiled weakly. "That's more than I've ever done."
Obito had to literally restrain himself from rolling his eyes as he stood up, helping Rin as well. "All right, that's great and all, everybody's okay, yeah, yeah, can we move on already?"
"Hush, Obito." Minato rested a hand on the boy's head. Tsunade made her way over to Anko, looking down at her.
"I'm okay." The girl muttered, trying to push herself off Kakashi. She wobbled slightly and he held her shoulders to keep her steady.
Minato looked around as Sarutobi walked over to him. The younger man raised an eyebrow. "It's pretty obvious what we have to do now, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is."
"So once Tsunade-sama decides you're okay to leave, you'll be sharing a room with Rin." Anko looked up in surprise. "Her roommate was just taken by a foster family, and Sarutobi-sama decided it would be better for you to share with someone you know, instead of a complete stranger."
Kakashi expected a better reaction then a nod and a distant glance out the window. He'd actually kind of expected Anko to be happy.
"You don't…want to go back to him, do you?"
"Doesn't matter. I always end up back there anyway." Kakashi blinked in surprise. "I've been taken away before, everyone and their mother has been in the house. But Orochimaru-sama has a lot of connection, he can get things covered up. He just feeds people the story that I'm a klutz, and they always believe him. I've never had a chance to tell my story."
"Well you have a chance now." Kakashi said in a low voice. "Sarutobi-sama won't let you go back to him, he'll make sure of it. Don't worry, you'll be all right here."
Anko bit her lip, brown eyes drifting up to meet Kakashi's black ones. He saw a look of hesitation and fear, and knew that he wasn't going to be able to convince her to talk. Not yet, anyway.
"It's all right. When you're ready to talk about it, though, I'll listen. Okay?"
The girl smiled weakly. "Yeah. All right." She paused. "Thank you."
Kakashi smiled under his mask as he stood up. "I didn't do anything."
"You did enough. Good night."
"'Night."
Author's Note: So...what'd you think? Let me know! ―Sam