A/N: Hi, guys! I'm back! Sorry to keep you guys waiting for so long! I finally got my new laptop on November 29 and after spending a little time adjusting to my new laptop, I found time to sit down and proof-read Chapters 13 and 14! As promised, two chapters for you guys to make up for not updating for a long time! Again, I'm really sorry being away for so long, so I hope these two chapters can make it up to everyone. See? I kept my promise, didn't I? It's just like I said before: I'm not like the other OroAnko authors out there that just give up on their fics for long periods of time or quit writing because they lose interest.

I want to thank everyone all so much for supporting me this far and sticking by me! It really meant a lot, so thank you very much for reading Morning Glory. Also, I think since we're almost done with Morning Glory, it's time to say this:

I want to apologize to those that might find Morning Glory to be a little...boring recently. It's okay and I understand, because Morning Glory has taken a different turn I first thought of the idea and it might seem to some of you that Morning Glory has gone south since it first began. Despite how it's going to turned out in the end, I'm actually quite proud of what I'd accomplished with this story. It's been my longest multi-chapter story, since the chapters so long in the beginning, and my first long story to include sex scenes.

I'm okay with how everything turned out in the end, and that's why I don't mind that Morning Glory went in a different direction than from what I'd originally expected. Morning Glory was originally created to be a mind story for me, a story in my head that I played to past time in school when I was bored. Even when I had so many ideas at the time, I wasn't even sure if I was going to type it or even post here on this site. But I did, and it turned to be a big success! And that's because all of guys supported this far, and that made me really happy.

So even if Morning Glory didn't turn out to be what I expected it to be or what you guys thought too, I'm really glad I did this because not only did other authors took up my writing style slightly, like Lalexx, Jigoku-chan, Ryunn-kun, Cutebutdeadlyalchemist, and Angelus Iapsus such as using the term "Snake Sannin" in their stories, I was able to bring a small, fresh twist into OroAnko stories—even if it was just a small one since mostly all OroAnko stories are similar to each other.

I also wanted to make a difference. I'm sure you I don't to tell you this, but the majority—a huge majority—of OroAnko authors usually droped their fics due to lack of interest or motivation, like Lalexx, for example. And as a fellow author, I don't like that. I believe that authors should finish their stories before moving on to something else, because I'm a big believer in finishing things that I've started. I'm really sad and disappointed at the amount of authors who does that, because they let down their fans who greatly enjoy their fics. I'm think by now most OroAnko authors are tired of it, like I am, so I wanted to show that there are OroAnko authors that are capable of finishing their stories. And it's not only me, either. Recently, I've been seeing authors that are doing their best to update their fics even they're busy with work or school. My good friends, Jigoku-chan, Ryunn-kun and Cute-chan are good examples of that. That's why I worked so hard to bring up the fans for the OroAnko stories. Even though the fans of this pairing is smaller than most Naruto pairings out there, I don't want the remaining fans to think that all authors just give up their fics and the OroAnko are dieing out. That is probably the main reason why I even started working on Morning Glory in the first place.

So, that's all I wanted to say in this chapter, so please enjoy.

ஜ ~ ஜ

Anko sat uncomfortably on the wooden chair in the brightly lit interrogation room. Although it has been a day after her capture, her body felt numb from the drug that was injected into her system by Kurenai. She kept her face down on the floor, refusing to see the people staring at her through the wide window from outside of the room. When the news of the snake kunoichi's return spread through the Leaf last night, many of her former comrades and friends came to see her. They were all outside the interrogation room, sympathetic and worried expressions dancing on their faces.

Her body was chained to her seat—shackles on her ankles, on wrists arms behind her back, and a belt-like restraint on her midsection, imbued with chakra to prevent her from breaking out of them. It didn't take long for the door to the room to swing open and Ibiki to stepped in, his menacing six-foot-tall figure looming over her like a stone tower. His eyes were cold as ice while he glowered down at Anko with a firm, disapproving frown on his countenance.

"I never thought I'd see you running off with a S-class criminal—Orochimaru, of all people, too," he began, preparing to put his knowledge of the human soul to good use to get the truth out of his friend. However, the door to the room opened once more, and entered another person that the violet-haired woman did not want to see right now.

"Ibiki, wait. I want try this myself first." Tsunade announced, her hazel irises gazing at restrained woman sternly. "Out with it, Anko. How did this happen? When? What caused this?"

Silence was only responder.

"You've put me in a difficult position. From what Kakashi and Kurenai told us, there's something more going on between you and Orochimaru." The Sannin placed her palms on the table, leaning forward close to Anko's face to intimidate her. "I'm here because I want to help you. Tell me, why you left the village and why you went to him."

"Why does it matter?" Anko inquired hoarsely, lifting her face so her eyes met with the blond woman's. "Nothing you can do or say will change the Leaf Council's minds. They want me dead!"

"Damn it, Anko!" Fury laced the Fifth Hokage's words, her fist banging on the desk so roughly that the vibrations shook the whole room. "What the hell happened between you and Orochimaru? I'm your friend, we all are! What, was he forcing you to stay with him? What was it? Blackmail? Drugs? Jutsu? Or did he manipulate you again and you let him sink his fangs into you?

"How dare you!" Anko shouted, seething in rage at the insinuation of her being so weak and foolish enough to be played with by former mentor. "I'm not an idiot! I know who he is and what he does!"

"Then why did you go to him? You of all people should've known what kind of person he is! You can't trust him for a second!"

"I know that!"

"Then tell me why!" Tsunade demanded, her volume rising with every word. "Your actions have cost you greatly. By leaving the village without my permission and joining Orochimaru, you've signed your death warrant! You realize that, don't you?"

Anko growled furiously. "I will not die. Not here, not now."

"What were you doing with Orochimaru, Anko? Why him?"

"You know why, don't you?" she sneered, struggling in her restraints. "After all, you and everyone keeps telling me I have feelings for him, right? There's your answer!"

Tsunade was taken aback for a moment. A look of…something…flashed across her countenance as she exhaled a sigh to calm herself. "You love him, then? You left the village for that reason, fully knowing that he was never going to return your feelings?"

"Shut up! You don't know anything!" Anko bellowed, clenching her teeth together in rage.

"I know that he's manipulating you—he has ever since you were a child!" Tsunade argued back hotly. "He used you, twisted your life, erased your memories, and betrayed your trust. He done all of that to ruined your life, and now you were stupid enough to let it happened again!"

Something snapped inside Anko then, and she jerked forward in attempt to lash at the Hokage, despite she knew she couldn't because of her shackles. The blond woman recoiled, watching her struggle as the metal of the chains scraped against her skin, causing her to bleed. When the snake kunoichi finally managed to calm down, the look in Tsunade's irises from before was clear to her now—and she despised it so much. Nothing's change whether she was with the Leaf Village or not, because they all look at with one emotion.

Pity.

"Lady Hokage, I'll take it from here." Ibiki intervened. The Hokage nodded, sparing one last glance at Anko before she left the room and joined the others out in the hallway. When the door shut close, the male Special Jōnin and stared down at his friend solemnly. "Anko, we're trying to help you. You're not stupid, so I don't know why you're refusing to cooperate with us."

"Nothing you say or do is going to make me change how I feel, Ibiki." Anko told him quietly, hanging her head so that her bangs would cover her face. "You don't know me anymore."

"You're wrong, Anko. I do know you, and I know a part of you still cares of the Leaf," he retorted calmly. "I still can't believe you of all people would run off to Orochimaru. I thought you said you hated him, said you wanted to kill him. What in the world were you thinking? A better question: Were you even thinking at all?"

"I didn't plan for that to happened, okay? You don't know that the hell you're talking about!" Anko yelled, her head bolting up so he could see the pain in her caramel hues. The desire to comfort her like he did when he found her broken and weak shot overwhelmed him, but Ibiki knew there was no room for sympathy right now. In this room, he was the interrogator and Anko was his victim of torture. "He found me! I left the village, but I didn't go to him! I was wandering around in a town and he found me there! I didn't thin—"

"That's your problem, Anko, you don't think! You just do whatever you want without thinking about the circumstances or the consequences!" he interrupted sharply.

"Yes, Ibiki, that's me!" she shouted in a biting tone. "You think you know me so damn well? What I did, I did out of love!"

"For Orochimaru?"

"For the Leaf Village, you jerk!" Anko corrected heatedly, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I was seeing him behind the village's back, but I knew I couldn't do it forever because I didn't want to betray the village! He wanted me to come with him, but I refused him! I couldn't stay in the village either, so I left! I didn't know where I was going and I didn't care, just as long as I was away from you and the Leaf and Orochimaru!"

"So how did it happened? How did you two meet when you left? What happened when he did? He seduced, told you that he loved you? But falling for that would make you an even bigger idiot, Anko, which I know you're not. So I'm assuming you didn't fall for it, not at first at least."

"Aren't you clever?" she spat him vehemently.

He ignored that remark. "Where is Orochimaru, Anko?"

"I don't know."

"I find that hard to believe. Kakashi and Kurenai told us that Orochimaru ordered Kabuto and Sasuke to head their hideout when they confronted you. Out with it, Anko. You know something, don't you?"

"He didn't trust me enough to tell me. He hardly tells me anything." Anko murmured, averting her eyes to the floor. "And I didn't trust him, no matter how much I did love him."

"Hmm… You love him, but didn't trust him." Ibiki repeated, processing the information into a tactic that he could use to squeeze more information out of her. "Then why stay with him?"

The snake kunoichi gave him a faint mocking smile. "He was very…persuasive."

Ibiki held back the scowl on his face. "So you stayed because he was good in bed?"

Anko sneered at him. "No, I stayed because I love him."

"But you knew that he didn't love you."

"How would you know that?"

"Because people like Orochimaru are not capable of love, Anko, something you must have forgotten." he countered darkly. Anko's eyes widened and her face blanched, her teeth clenching together tightly at his cruel words. "Have you've gotten that weak, Anko, that you allowed yourself to be used by Orochimaru again? Are you just using him just as much as he's using you? You've been on you're own for so long, you probably just wanted someone to be with."

"Shut up, Ibiki!" she screamed, the Curse Mark throbbing as the painful memories came flooding back into her mind. She grimaced at the anguish, the Curse Mark taking its toll on her body. She didn't want to listen to anyone anymore; she didn't want her doubts make her regret every decision she ever made; she didn't want hear the words that made her feel weak and pathetic.

"Orochimaru only claimed that he loved so you could turn against the people who took care of you and taught you. He doesn't love you and anyone else, he only cares for himself and that's a fact, Anko!"

"Shut up!"

"You're being ridiculous." Ibiki went on, cracking her even more. "Orochimaru doesn't love you, Anko, he's using you! He just wants to see you crushed and then he'll tossed you aside."

"Ibiki, that's enough. Quit it!" The door the interrogation room whammed open and Genma walked in, his handsome face etched with concern for the sobbing snake kunoichi. "Get over here, now."

The sadist looked down at the broken girl tied to the chair, a flicker of regret crossing his features before he left the room with Genma, leaving her to cry her wounded heart out, just when she thought it was finally going to heal. Hearing those words was worse than having knife plunged into her heart, and she wanted so damn badly to get them out of her head. However, as she wept uncontrollably, she felt her heart shattered into a million pieces.

ஜ ~ ஜ

"Why did you stop me?" Ibiki asked gruffly, standing in the hallway with Genma and the others.

The brown-haired Special Jōnin gave him an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me?'

"I was about to break her."

"In half, which is not helping!" Genma retorted back, gesturing his hand at the window that showed Anko weeping. "Look at her, she's a wreck. That's going too far, Ibiki. You're concerned about Anko when you're cold, but you—"

"I'm doing my job," the older man argued frigidly. "My job is to get answers out of her, and that's what I was doing."

"I agree with Genma, that was taking things a little too far." Kurenai inserted softly.

"That's enough questions for now. The medics are coming in to heal her wrists and do an exam on her, and then the ANBU will take her to a cell. Ibiki, come with me. Everyone else, go home." Tsunade commanded, rubbing her temple in frustration as she and the interrogator made their way to the Hokage Tower.

ஜ ~ ஜ

Kabuto stared down at the village from a cliff from his location in the Leaf Village's forestry, adjusting his frames as he perused on the actions he should take to bust his lord's lover out of her cell. He managed to disguise himself as one of the ANBU in the interrogation room where Anko was, and he was inwardly pleased that Anko really proven herself loyal to Orochimaru and not the Leaf. Everything was going as his master suspected. Anko's friends were beginning to turn on her and she will no longer have anyone to turn to…except for Orochimaru.

However, he had a feeling that those words said by the Leaf ninja to Anko would put a strain in her relationship with the Snake Sannin. Curse those Leaf shinobi for rising doubts to Anko's head when she was finally falling his master's grasp. They were ruining Orochimaru's plans and getting in the way.

"Well? How is it?" a voice asked impatiently, snapping Kabuto of his thoughts. "Let's hurry and get this over with."

"Patience, Sasuke," the medic told him wryly. "We have the formulate a plan before we just go waltzing in there to take Anko back."

The dark-haired youth's hand reflectively reached for his Snake Sword that was held in place on his back by the purple obi. "I say we just do it. We're wasting time just standing there. Anko could be dead for all we know."

The silver-haired man smirked at the boy knowingly. "You've taken a liking to Anko, am I right, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha boy didn't reply, only glared at the older male with his Sharingan irises threateningly. Though he didn't want to admit it, Kabuto was pretty much hitting it home. He was right, Sasuke did earned some sort of respect towards the snake kunoichi since she taken care of him while he was sick. Having her around that time was almost having a mother again, and he enjoyed her company…occasionally. He didn't want to lose that warm feeling again, which he was so eager to get her out there. But, of course, he wasn't going to admit to anyone. "Can we go in or what?"

"You head back to Lord Orochimaru and tell him I'll be arriving shortly with Lady Anko in tow." Kabuto replied, jumping off the cliff to infiltrate in the Leaf Village for the second time.

ஜ ~ ஜ

Anko stared expressionlessly at the ceiling to her cell, fatigued and doubts swirling in her head. The medics came in and healed her injured lacerations on her wrists, sampling some of her blood and performing a medical examination on her before they left her alone. Her eyes loopy and half-closed, her mind numb and empty, her face washed out and stained with her dried tears.

She wondered what was going to happen to her now, although she was pretty sure that she was going to put on trial and then have the nail hammered down to her coffin after the Leaf Council pressured Tsunade to execute her. She deserved it after all she'd done. It would save her a lot of grief if she'd just gave up fighting the Leaf and just accept her fate. The corners of her lips curved up into a bitter smirk when she realized just how pathetic she'd become. It's too bad… Just once more… I wanted to see his face before I die…

A scream of pain jolted Anko out her self-pity as she heaved herself up to sit in the bed, the shackles still chained behind her back and on her wrists. A series of cries and shouts of agony and clanging of clashing blades vibrated to where she was until a shadow figure appeared in front of her cell.

"Kabuto?" Anko squinted her eyes through the darkness of her cell, the light from the outside blinding her a bit. He sent Kabuto to come back for me?

The cell door opened with a click and Kabuto rushed in with the keys in hand, coming up from behind her bed and unlocking the chains off her.

"Are you all right?" he inquired politely, hoisting her up on her wobbly feet out of the bed.

"Peachy." Anko responded sarcastically, rubbing her wrists soothingly. It felt good to have those things off of her. "For a while, I thought you guys was going to leave me to my death."

The medic gave her his trademark half-smile. "Your lack of faith in us is insulting. In any case, we better get going before more guards come. Lord Orochimaru is awaiting your arrival back home."

"All right, lead the way." She followed Kabuto out of the cell without missing a beat, noting there were multiple bodies of unconscious ANBU and other ninja scattered on the floor. Within minutes, they were out of the Leaf Village and heading back to Orochimaru.

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"Orochimaru and Anko… I still can't believe it." Tsunade sighed as she debriefed with Ibiki in her office later that night.

"There's no mistake." Ibiki nodded gravely, his hands in his black trench coat pockets. "She confessed to it during the interrogation, but I understand the disbelief."

"As if leaving the village was bad enough, but this is…" The Fifth Hokage took in a deep, long breath as she leaned back in her chair. "Keep this information a secret for now, and tell Anko's friends to keep their lips sealed. No one else should know about this, understood? To leave with the enemy is one thing, to do that with him too, it's just so—"

"Lady Tsunade!" The door the office burst opened and Shizune ran in, panic expression on her face to match the distress laced in her voice. "Anko Mitarashi was escaped!"

"WHAT!" Tsunade exclaimed in shocked, jumping to her feet at once urgently. How in the world did Anko was able to accomplish that? Did she had help from someone? "Alert the village of this, now! She and whoever who broke her out must not leave!"

"Yes, milady, but first… I think you might want to see this." Shizune held out a sheet of paper to her mistress. "It's Anko's medical report."

The blond woman snatched the paper from her aide, her hazel optics reviewing over it quickly. According to this, Anko is… Her eyes enlarged when she saw the results on the report, and she fell back in her chair in horror. "Oh, my God…"

ஜ ~ ஜ

"What's wrong?" Kabuto glanced at Anko when stopped her tracks, her optics glued to dirt ground as they stood outside of the hideout. It was nearly dawn by the time they were able to get back to Sound from the Leaf, and the medic knew that was something wrong with the snake kunoichi, due she was too quiet on the way home. If he had to guess, it might had something to do with what happened during her mental torture with that scarred-face Jōnin. "Anko?"

She didn't answer him, but slowly brought her hand over the Curse Mark and curled her fingers tightly over it. It's been throbbing every since she got separated from the Snake Sannin, but her hesitation on entering the hideout was not because of that. Tsunade and Ibiki's words still echoed inside her head like resonating bell. She didn't want to return to Orochimaru if they turned out to be right. She wanted to go and ask the Sannin, but she was too afraid to.

"Is the Curse Mark hurting you?" he pressed on, sauntering forward to where she stood like a statue. "If it is, Lord Orochimaru will take care of it when he sees you."

Anko shook her head. "No, it's not that. I'm a little tired, that's all."

"Come, I'll bring you to Lord Orochimaru." Kabuto placed a hand on her back and escorted her in, walking down the dimly lit hallways decorated with swirls and torches. He led her to a wooden door and rapped his knuckles softly before he twisted the doorknob and entered, pushing Anko. His lord sat in his throne-like chair talking to Sasuke, who pivoted his head around when they came in. "Pardon the intrusion, my lord, but I've retrieved Lady Anko as you'd requested."

The Sannin's lips formed into a pleased smile. "Good work, Kabuto. You and Sasuke are free to leave."

The stoic Uchiha boy swiveled on his heel and strolled towards the door, inclining his to Anko when he passed her as he left with the silver-haired Sound ninja. Moments passed until the pale-skinned man took his dear girl's hand, and led her back to the room they share. The violet-haired woman wanted to speak to him, he knew that perfectly, but she couldn't find the words right now.

It was when they got the bedroom and sat on the bed did she decide to ask him. Surging up the courage within her, Anko quietly croaked to the Sannin in front of her, "Are you using me again? I need to know the truth."

"No." His answer came quickly and surely, realizing that what was troubling her. "Whatever the fools of the Leaf told you, cast those words aside. I've kept my promise to you thus far, haven't I?"

"Yes, but…" Her sentence was cut off when she felt Orochimaru gripped her shoulder and pinched down on her pressure point. She was out in a second, her back flopping softly down on the mattress. She was sleeping soundly now, although the nagging thought couldn't stop gnawing at the back of her brain—the single doubt of whether or not she could trust him. She didn't know why, but she had a strange feeling something was going to happen that would make her decide if she could trust him or not.

The Snake Sannin watched her sleep with dissatisfaction, caressing her exhausted face before he slithered out of the room, the wheels turning his head on how to handle the Leaf. Those stubborn shinobi of the Leaf wouldn't let Anko go without a fight, and neither would he. Fierce possession simmered inside of him at the thought of Anko belonging to anyone but him. She was his, and no one was going to take that right away from him.

ஜ ~ ஜ

"There's no way that could be true." Kurenai denied with a shake of her head. She sat with her friends in the Jōnin Standby Station the next morning, receiving the news from Ibiki about the results of Anko's medical report and the Fifth Hokage's orders to keep it on the down low. The female Jōnin was absolutely furious and disappointed at the snake kunoichi for escaping from the village and back to Orochimaru, but she never expected to hear that Anko could... It just couldn't be possible.

"I'm with Kurenai on this one." Kakashi remarked, sitting at the genjutsu specialist's right. "Could they run more tests and check again? They weren't able to examine Anko very thoroughly while she was here."

"They could, but it won't do any good." Genma replied, his toothpick flickering up and down his mouth. "I don't believe it either, but how else can we explain it?"

Asuma blew out a ring of smoke from where he sat next to his lover, taking the cigarette from his mouth to speak. "Genma's right. Last time I'd checked, a man's DNA doesn't just pop up inside a woman without his participation."

"Are they sure it's Orochimaru's?" Raidō quizzed the sadist.

Ibiki inclined his head. "Yes."

"What's the Leaf Council going to do when they find out?" Kurenai inquired, crossing her arms over her chest thoughtfully. "They can't kill Anko now that this had happened."

"Lady Hokage is putting a lot of thought into it, but she's still indecisive." The interrogator exhaled a fatigued sigh. "One thing still worries me, though."

"What's that?" Genma questioned.

"Does Anko know?"

"Unlikely." Kakashi stated, leaning forward in his seat to rest his elbows on his kneecaps. "I'm more concerned about what she's going to do when the time comes, and what the elders will do. You don't actually think they're going to kill her when they find out, do you? Kurenai's right, they can't. It'd be murder."

"No matter what the circumstances may be, it doesn't change the fact that Anko violated the law and ran off to Orochimaru." Raidō retorted grimly. "I care about Anko just as much as you guys do, but I hardly think whatever we do is going to change the Leaf Council's minds. Lady Hokage wouldn't be able to do much, either. Anko is going to pay the price as a traitor to the Leaf, no matter what."

Asuma raked a hand through his dark hair, sighing profoundly at the troublesome situation. "This is turning out to be more and more of a nightmare by the minute."

Everyone else in the room concurred silently, all of them praying that Anko would make the right decision when the time comes for the news to reach her. They hoped that their friend's life was going to be spared when they find her again and take her away from Orochimaru's poisonous trap...or when Anko comes back to them. After all, when the news hit both the Snake Sannin and the snake kunoichi, then that's all the incentive that Anko will need to leave him once and for all.

ஜ ~ ஜ

A/N: I think I made this chapter too melodramatic, but that's okay with me since it is my story. Sorry for it seemed kinda...boring or weird or anything. Like I said, Morning Glory was never intended to be dragged out this much from its original plot, but then I started to write and everything went in different directions. I don't regret it, though, because if you guys think everyone is OOC in this now, you'll be surprised to have read what Morning Glory was really like inside my head. I'm too much of a romantic to be writing all of this dark stuff, but I thank all of you who's been reading it. Oh, yeah! Sorry about the grammar mistakes I've been making thus far. I tend to type too fast, so I always miss some words and stuff, but once Morning Glory is done and if I'm not in the process of writing any new stories, I'll go back and fix it like I'll do with my old stories. Thanks again and sorry for the delay!