Disclaimer: First of all, I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. Secondly, this is a lemon fanfiction (by "lemon," I mean graphic depictions of sex), so if you're not 18 or you object to this type of writing, find another fanfic.
--BANDAGES--
Part II
Anko Mitarashi stormed into the saloon and plopped down onto the closest barstool. Kakashi Hatake, who was seated a few stools over, poked up from behind his novel and gazed curiously at the kunoichi.
"Five shots of your worst stuff," Anko muttered, tapping the counter. Kakashi watched quietly from the side as the bartender retrieved five shot glasses from the low-hanging shelf and filled them with some rank, brown liquor. "Leave the bottle, would ya?" The bartender placed the bottle down beside the glasses and returned to the other end of the bar.
"Thirsty?" Kakashi chuckled, amusedly.
"Stuff it," she snapped before downing the first two shots. 'This really IS the worst stuff,' she thought, bitterly.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say something was wrong…"
"Oh yeah? And what tipped you off?"
"Would you like to… talk about it?" Though he admittedly offered a comforting ear, Kakashi was confident that he would be abruptly turned down, allowing him to return to his reading. Because of this logic, the jounin was quite surprised when his colleague gathered her things and shuffled down to the stool beside him.
"It's… complicated," she sighed. Another shot.
"How so?"
"Just… relationship stuff…"
"You mean Naruto?" Anko flinched as though he'd struck her across the face.
"H-how did you-?!"
"Your relationship is not the most well-kept secret in Konoha," he laughed quietly. "What seems to be the problem? Has Naruto done something wrong?"
"No," she replied, "that's just it…!"
"I don't follow…"
"It's all too perfect! He cleans up around the house! He'll do whatever I ask him to! He always says the right things at the right time and, damn, the sex is amazing!" The last comment threw Kakashi for a loop, forcing him to avert his gave.
"I-I see," he coughed.
"And I feel guilty because there's no way I can repay him… Stupid brat…!" She downed another shot and slammed the glass on the counter. "Why does it have to be so damn complicated?!"
"Because you make it that way…" Anko whirled around to shoot him a menacing glare. "Has it ever occurred to you that he simply enjoys making you happy?" She froze. "Despite his overwhelming strength, Naruto is surprisingly frail at heart. He seems to find a kindred spirit in you, perhaps this is his way of nurturing that connection. You have to remember that he didn't always have friends, so his social skills are still developing…"
"Then, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that if he really makes you happy, you might as well enjoy it. You really could have done a lot worse…"
"You've got that right," she snorted. "I pity the poor sap that ends up with you…" Kakashi chuckled softly and returned to his book. 'You might be right.'
After completely ridding her sense of all traces of sobriety, Anko wandered back to her apartment. The walk seemed endless through her liquor-ridden haze. At last she found the front door to her tenement, pushed it open and stumbled inside.
As she'd expected, Naruto was already there, unconscious, sprawled out on the living-room floor with an empty ramen cup beside his head. She smiled bitterly; it was clear he had been waiting for her the whole time. Holding her hands out in front of her, the jounin knelt down beside the sleeping boy and kissed him gently on the lips. He looked so helpless, lying there like that; it was hard to believe he was such a pain in the ass during the day. Her fingertips traced the lines of his cheeks then shifted up to the blonde locks of hair that fell around his face.
'He really is a great guy,' she thought, stroking his head. 'I don't deserve him…' As if responding to her thoughts, Naruto wrinkled his nose and snorted haughtily. 'But, I guess that's not up to me…" Slipping her hands under his back and knees, Anko hoisted the boy into her arms and carried him over to the bed. He was surprisingly light, given his height and muscular build. Gently, she placed him down on the mattress, and before unzipping the jacket of his jumpsuit. Her fingers worked slowly over the fabric, removing each article of clothing with precision and care. When she'd finally undressed him down to his boxers, Anko pulled the covers over his naked body and tucked him in.
"Goodnight, Naruto…"
"I… love… you," he mouthed, sleepily.
"I know, kid. I know…"
XXX
"So," Jiraya sighed, crossing his arms over his chest, "what are you planning to do with Naruto?" Tsunade leaned back in her chair and stared evenly over her tea cup. To be perfectly honest, she had been mulling the situation over for nearly a week, but to no avail. While the best choice seemed to be to keep the boy confined to Konoha, she knew there was no way Naruto would take this lying down. On the other hand, sending him out beyond the borders of the village would provide the perfect opportunity for Akatsuki to make its move. This was definitely a lose-lose situation.
"Any news regarding Akatsuki?"
"Not really," he shrugged. "After capturing the two and three-tailed beasts, there has been a sharp decline in the organization's activity. With the death of two members in such close succession, I doubt they'll surface anytime soon, especially now that news of Orochimaru's defeat has spread…"
"Hmm…"
"What's wrong?"
"I feel… uneasy. My intuition tells me that our worries are far from over…"
XXX
"That's right," Anko nodded, "I figured since I haven't been around much lately, we could use some down-time, together, so I traded shifts with another officer; I'm free all day, today. Now hurry up and eat your breakfast so we can go." Naruto grinned and shoved another pancake in his mouth. Though he wouldn't admit it, he'd secretly been wish he could spend more time with Anko. Outside their regular "sex-capades" and the occasional meal, he rarely even saw her.
"Where are we going?" he murmured through the mass of fluff bulging in his cheeks.
"Does it matter?" Naruto frowned.
"Well… no."
"Alright, then." Once Naruto gobbled down the last of his meal, the two left the house, making their way through the lush wilderness of Konoha forest. As they walked, Naruto eyed the large, cloth-wrapped box Anko carried at her side.
"Hey, what's that?"
"This?" she asked, raising the box in front of her. "It's called 'mind-your-own-damn-business.'"
"Aw, c'mon!" he snapped, his face contorted in an exasperated scowl. "What's with all the secrets, huh?! Tell me, already!" She ignored in his inquiry and continued along. After what seemed like a "small eternity," Naruto spotted a familiar construct looming up ahead. He could barely make out the dome-shaped hood, surrounded by wire mesh.
"Hey, that's-!"
"You're a sharp one, aren't ya?" she sneered. The guard at the front entrance greeted Anko with a formal bow.
"Good morning, Lady Anko! How may I be of service?"
"At ease, soldier. I'm just here to give a private 'tour,'" she explained, motioning to Naruto. The boy exchanged bewildered glances with the guard, then turned back to Anko.
"Umm… Of course, Lady Anko." The guard stepped back and returned to the wooden booth near the entrance gate.
'The Forest of Death,' Naruto mused. It was almost nostalgic. It was here that he had tested his mastery of outdoor survival, unknowingly faced off against the infamous Orochimaru, and met Anko Mitarashi for the first time. The mere thought brought a smile to his lips. Anko reached into the pocket of her trenchcoat and retrieve an iron ring of keys. With surprising brevity, she discerned the appropriate key, disengaged the padlock clasping the door chains, and kicked the gate open.
"The Chunin exams are coming up in a few months, and out of the nine rookies of your graduating class, you're one of the only two that has yet to advance in rank…"
"…"
"The challenge is simple: make it to the tower alive."
"Oh, I'm so scared!" he stated, mockingly. "What's the challenge in routine survival exercises?"
"These aren't 'routine survival exercises… What you'll be attempting to 'survive' is ME." Naruto swallowed hard over the lump in his throat. "Yeah, I heard about that '66 rate-of-failure' exam Kakashi gave you rookies, and trust me: that was NOTHING. Unlike him, I won't hold anything back. If you slack off even the tiniest bit, I WILL kill you."
"K-kill?" he muttered. "You, kill me? I'd like to see you try!" Despite the confident tone of his voice, it was impossible not to notice the violent shaking of his hands.
"You'll be fighting for your life, so there's no restriction on weapons or techniques. Do whatever you can to survive. You've got twenty-four hours to make it to the tower, starting… now." Before he could utter as sound, the kunoichi vanished in a flurry of leaves.
Naruto glanced nervously from side to side. 'Crap! How did I manage to get sucked into this?!' Beads of cool sweat formed over his temples and chest. Would she really kill him? He couldn't be sure.
'Alright,' he thought, 'think about it… Knowing her, she'll head for the tower and wait until I get close… She knows this place better than me, but if I can figure out exactly where she is, that won't make a difference…!'
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" In a puff of smoke, five identical copies of Naruto appeared at either side. "Alright, guys! Split up and figure out where she is!"
"Right!" they nodded in unison.
XXX
"So, that's how it is?" Anko muttered, crouching on a nearby tree limb. "He plans to smoke me out with a batch of clones… Like that'll ever work." The jounin leaned back against the tree-trunk and lifted her eyes to the forest canopy. The lush masses of leaves shielded the ground from the garish sunlight above. "I'll give him a half hour, then I'll make my move…"
Out of the corner of her eye, Anko spotted a flash of blue on the branch above her. Snatch a kunai from her holster, she glared up at the object.
'Oh,' she sighed, inwardly, 'it's just a bird.' The jounin lowered her kunai and smiled amusedly. 'Look at me, getting all worked up... There's no way he could-…!" The words froze in her mouth as her eyes returned to the bird perched overhead. In the blink of an eye, she bounded up onto the overhanging branch and beheaded the creature with a single stroke of her knife. The bird vanished in a puff of smoke.
'Dammit!' she cursed silently, 'Too late!'
XXX
"Found her!' Naruto grinned. It was at times like this he was thankful for everything Kakashi had taught him. It was his mentor that had discovered the Shadow Clone's ability to relay information to the main body; perfect for covert operations and espionage.
By transforming one of his clones into a bird, he was able to discern her location without arousing suspicion. Though her knowledge of the surrounding ecosystem probably tipped her off to the ploy, he was still able to gather her location before she destroyed the clone.
"I've got you now!" With a triumphant grin, Naruto bound into the undergrowth, quickly making his way toward the tower. "There's no way I can lose!"
XXX
"Dammit!" Naruto huffed into the moist soil of the forest floor. Even now he wasn't exactly sure what had happened. One minute everything was going perfectly, the next, he was being ambushed by a half-dozen over-sized snakes. It seemed no matter what he did, he was always a half-step behind.
Anko knelt down beside the battered shinobi. He had done well to make it as far as he did. Had she not tapped into her arsenal of forbidden jutsu, she probably wouldn't have been able to stop him. His improvement was as astonishing as it was frightening. At this rate…
"I almost had it, too! Just wait til I get up! I'll-!"
"Shut up," Anko muttered. "Eat." Naruto's face contorted in look of bewilderment as the jounin placed a large, cubic object down beside him. It was the cloth-wrapped box from before. Using what little remained of his strength, Naruto forced himself from the ground and examined the box suspiciously. After giving the container a few experiment shakes, Naruto untied the surrounding cloth and removed the plastic lid.
"W-wow!" The boy's eyes washed over the vast assortment of snacks that filled the over-sized bento. Grilled squid, sweet dumplings, tempura… The sight itself was almost overwhelming. "This is all for me?! Thanks!"
"Yeah, yeah, enough already…" The jounin plopped down a few feet away with her back to the boy. "Hurry up and eat so we can-?"
"This is great!" Naruto piped up through a mouth full of squid. "Even better than the stuff at the vending stands!"
"Oh?"
"Definitely! If I could eat food like this for the rest of my life, I'd be the happiest-!" Realizing what he'd said, Naruto stopped short, stifling himself with both hands. Anko's posture went rigid. 'Crap,' he thought. 'Why did I go and say something like that?! Me and my big mouth!'
"Is that so?" she murmured. "In that case, why don't you just… move in with me?" Reluctantly, Naruto lifted his gaze to the kunoichi in front of him.
"You're messing with me, aren't you?" Silence. "Then… you're serious…?" Naruto paused, taking a moment to let the proposal sink in. Though he'd known Anko to be a bit of a joker, there was a tone of sincerity in her voice he simply couldn't ignore. Had she really meant that?
On one hand, the proposition seemed somewhat abrupt; after all, they hadn't known each other very long and the nature of their relationship remained unspecified.
But at the same time, sharing a living space carried a certain… appeal. The comfort of having someone to come home to was something he had longed for since his early years. Spending time with Anko made him truly happy, and in the life of a shinobi, moments of joy were fleeting at best. What to do, what to do?
"You know what," Anko muttered, rising to her feet. "Nevermind. Forget I said anything…" Naruto watched in silence as the jounin stretched her arms up over her head. "You finish eating; I'm gonna go on ahead…" And before he could utter a sound, she was gone.
XXX
"Seven shots of the bad shit and leave the bottle," Anko muttered, dropping heavily onto the barstool. The impact of her hands on the counter rattled the line of glasses that covered the bar. Kakashi closed his book and sighed, inwardly. Things were about to get… interesting.
"That's quite a start," he chuckled. "And what are we celebrating, this afternoon?"
"Go to Hell, Kakashi," she snarled. The silver-haired jounin barely batted an eye.
"Oh, I see."
"I fucked it up… The best thing I've ever had and I fucked it up…" In the blink of an eye, two shots of brown liquor disappeared into the flustered kunoichi. "I'm such and IDIOT!"
"So, I take it something happen with Naruto, then?"
"I asked him to…" Another two shots. "… Move in with me…"
"And what did he say?"
"I wouldn't know; I haven't heard from the fucker in three days… Three goddamn days!" Kakashi nodded. 'Ah, I see…'
"Have tried his apartment?"
"No, Kakashi, I just sat on my fucking hands, waiting for a telegram…! What the hell do you think?! Of course I check the apartment!" she snapped. "I check the apartment, the ramen stand, the training grounds…! I looked everywhere!" Kakashi leaned back in his stool and gazed evenly at the kunoichi. He had known Anko for considerable amount of time, but this was, admittedly, the first time he had seen her so distraught. Even in the dim light of the musky bar, he could make out the salty drops welling up under each eye. For such a hardened shinobi to be in this condition…
"As his superior, and friend, I'd like to think I have a pretty good idea of the way he thinks… He's clumsy, headstrong and pretty naïve at times, but above all Naruto isn't the type to simply run away from something… or anything, for that matter…"
"Your point being…?"
"My point being; he must have had a good reason for doing what he did…"
"And what reason is that?"
"That I don't know," he replied, "but trust me, Naruto's nothing, if not reliable. He'll come through in the end."
"You know," Anko murmured from behind her ninth shot, "you sound a lot smarter when you don't talk…" Kakashi smiled,
"Glad I could help."
XXX
Thoroughly inebriated, Anko left the bar and began the long trek back to her apartment. The streets of Konoha were overflowing with sights, sounds and smells. The relentless stimulation was almost overwhelming, and though it might have simply been a product of her imagination, it almost seemed as though the alcohol had further heightened her senses.
As she made her way along the street, she noted the orange gleam of the asphalt under the flaming lamps above. 'Almost the-…" Anko paused, mid-thought. Her eyes cut through the evening shadow to the front door of her apartment. There, on the front steps, was a small figure standing alongside a pair of boxes, overflowing the random objects and articles of clothing.
"You're late," Naruto stated with a grin.
"Whe-? How-? What the hell are you doing here?!" she snapped. "And what's with all the crap?!"
"It's not crap!" he shot back. "Wasn't this your idea in the first place?! Don't cop an attitude with me!"
"So, what, you disappear for three fucking days and I'm supposed to act like everything's okay?!"
"I didn't disappear! I just…!" His voice trailed off as he averted his gaze to the illuminated sidewalk. "I…"
"Save it," she muttered. Stepping past the boy, Anko lifted one of the battered boxes onto her shoulder and moved toward the door. "I could care less what bullshit excuse you thought up before you got here…"
"Hey, who said-?!"
"In," she instructed, gesturing toward the open door. Naruto stared perplexedly up at her, then, broke into a broad smile.
"I guess this makes us roommates," he grinned.
"Shut your ass up… You'd better be ready for some serious make-up sex…!"
Author's Note: Okay, so it's been a LONG time since my last update. Between school, my forum and my other stores, its hard to keep anything together these days. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter (sorry for the lack of citrus flavor). I make no promises as to when the next one will be, but I WILL eventually update. In the meantime, check out my profile and see what else I've been working on.