.
.
"I will be the one who makes you feel. Anguish. Sorrow. Regret. Everything. And only then you will be mine."
.
The road to Konoha is a long one, and it's only when she returns to the river that she sees the ANBU rescue squad ahead. "Taichou!"
Anko looks up. The recovery team rushes toward her. "Taichou! We've been searching for days! Where is the prisoner?"
Anko shakes her head, then closes her eyes.
xXx
.
"Kimimaro. You have failed to take my vessel, and you have failed to kill that girl. It seems that your usefulness is starting to fade."
Kimimaro keeps his eyes lowered as Orochimaru speaks, staring resolutely at the ground. "A shame," Orochimaru says. He reaches a calloused hand and touches the side of Kimimaro's cheek. "I have no need for such a broken boy."
Orochimaru kneels beside him, his face just a finger's breadth away from his.
"Shall I send you to the afterlife, Kimimaro-kun?" Orochimaru's voice drips like honey, whispering in his ear. "Shall I put an end to your shame?"
Kimimaro sets his jaw, staring at the ground.
Orochimaru flows back to his full height, then smiles, pulling at his robe. "Did you love her?" Orochimaru says. "Kimimaro-kun?"
Kimimaro looks up at him with darkened eyes. "She needed me," Kimimaro says. Orochimaru smiles.
"I see," Orochimaru says. And then he starts to laugh, cruel and low and echoing throughout the hall.
xXx
.
She is in the hospital for nearly two weeks, her chakra depleted past a critical point. Shizune works tirelessly, tending to Anko's wounds as Tsunade works on finding a cure for Anko's cursed scar. "Everything in time," Tsunade says. She helps Anko sit upright, healing chakra flowing through her wounds.
The report Anko submits is a thin one: she had unsuccessfully infiltrated Orochimaru's hideout, the Uchiha child was already gone, and the escaped prisoner is presumed to have died. "You did the best you could," Iruka says. He doesn't question her when he sees the tears fill her eyes.
Anko takes a month's leave to recuperate. It is an autumn day, and the sky is a dark curtain threatening to rain. Quietly, Anko goes to the requisitions locker and unlocks the items that had been in Kimimaro's cell: several scraps of charcoal drawings, a half-hewn rock carving. A piece of bone, blunted from scraping it against the stone cell walls. Anko picks up the bone piece in her hand, and her face wrenches. Tears fall, and her hand trembles when she reaches to wipe them away.
The items are no longer needed for evidence, and are scheduled for routine incineration. Quietly, Anko slips the piece of bone in her pocket, locking the door and making official notation that she is taking it with her. "For personal inquiry," is the reason. In her pocket, she turns the bone over in her hand.
xXx
.
"Oi! Tenten! You're going too fast!"
Anko sits at the training grounds, watching the genin teams train. Quietly she takes out the piece of bone and rolls it between her fingers. It has become a habit, a morbid sort of worry stone; she isn't paying attention when the shuriken sails toward her.
"Anko-sensei!"
Anko dodges, but the movement is too fast, and the bone goes flying. Tenten and Neji rush toward her. "I'm so sorry!" Tenten says, but Anko pushes past them both, panic rising in her chest. She can't find the bone anywhere.
"Sensei?" Neji and Tenten stand hesitently, before Anko whips her head up and snarls.
"Go home," Anko says. The two genin hesitate a moment, before running off the grounds.
When they're gone, Anko falls on her knees, searching through the grass. Her movements grow frantic as she feels the panic rising in her throat.
"Shit," Anko says. She searches harder, hands desperately groping the ground. "Shit, shit, shit."
She turns hard, and in her frustration nearly knocks into the man standing behind her.
Anko's eyes widen. Slowly, Kimimaro kneels, taking her hand and pressing the piece of bone into her palm.
A/N: And that's the end. LOL. Thanks everyone for reading! Hopefully the denouement wasn't too abrupt, I just really wanted to finish this story before my work obligations start kicking in. The opening quote is from Genshiken episode 2.05, which is a fantastic series. Everybody should watch it if they can. Also, in regards to the lack of hugs/kisses/fluff, I *do* have a pr0ny oneshot in this same universe - I'm just debating whether or not I should post it separately or post it as a bonus!oneshot at the end of this story XD So yeah. W00t.