The Mission was a failure.

What was supposed to be a simple escort mission, became an ambush from some weird Oto Nins, who should have been killed a long time ago.

Apparently, this group was the last batch of Nins still alive after that war.

So when sixty Nin show up just to kill three Konoha shinobi and one shinobi after making their way back to Konoha from their mission, something was obviously wrong.

Anko Mitarashi for once, was afraid.

The last time she had been afraid was when she was in the middle of the mob that was about to kill her, when she was defenseless and weak.

She refused from then on to show weakness.

But now, with the remaining fifty or more against just her as the other three nins with her gave their lives to get her away from them, her left arm was dislocated, kunai and shiruken all over her body; it looked inevitable.

She was going to die.

She would die without her Dango, she would die without getting this stupid seal off of her neck, she would die still being feared by Konoha, she would die single, with no man to care for her, no man to love her, nobody to hold her in these last seconds.

It was over.

"Hirashin no Jutsu"

She was right

It was over.

Her eyes snapped open to find herself in an empty field and in the arms of a blond-haired shinobi.

But the Fourth was dead so this could only be…

"Are you ok snake-san?" Said a voice in a serious tone.

Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto. The strongest Jounin out of the rookie nine who also started off as the dead last of the group.

Son of Minato Namikaze, Fourth Hokage, Godson of Jiraiya the Toad Sannin, Trained by him and Kakashi Hatake, son of the white fang.

His look was so… stoic…a look that didn't look right on him.

But…

But she could…feel the concern in his voice.

"What happened?" was Anko's simple response as she gazed into his cerulean orbs that were fixed on her.

Then a smile appeared.

"Oh that's easy; I was patrolling this area seeing as how we have taken over rice country when I came across three dead Konoha Nin and eight dead Oto Nins with two on the brink of death. I interrogated one and then sent both kunoichi to Konoha for treatment and further interrogation. Then I found you curled up in a ball with about forty Nin about to kill you. So I did my awesome jutsu and killed or disabled them, then went to Konoha to ask for reinforcements, then came back and grabbed you, and now we are outside of Konoha about half of a mile. You're very injured so I had to stop here, otherwise you'll possibly die with the speed I was going and the amount of blood you're currently dripping. It's pretty late so we should prepare firewood Anko-san, don't you agree?" said Naruto all in one breathe.

Anko was floored. She wouldn't let this opportunity go to waste. She was alive; she had a chance to eat dango, to shower again, to live again! To…

Anko gazed into his cerulean eyes again...and her eyes watered…

The last time she cried was in the arms of the Sandaime Hokage when he gave her a chance to be a ninja again.

When she threw him to the floor and bawled in his jounin flak jacket and felt him rubbing her back and telling her it was ok she knew two things.

She was crying again and

She wanted to be held…by him…

When Anko came to, she found herself warm and comfortable. She looked around to find herself underneath a warm knapsack in a tent with the sound of burning wood.

"I see you're awake I hear. How is everything?" Said a voice that Anko knew was Naruto.

"Better." Was her simple reply as she slowly crawled out her tent.

Or tried to.

Pain shook through her body as she gasped in shock.

In two seconds she felt strong arms hold her shoulders.

"You're in a lot of pain right now Anko-san. Moving on your own is not possible right now. Let me help you." Naruto lifted Anko into his arms bridal style and set her down next to a tree before sitting on his log, not seeing the small blush that appeared on her face.

'When was the last time someone did that for me?' she asked herself.

"So what happened?" Naruto asked after passing her a ration bar that was…

Ramen flavored?

Anko inwardly shrugged as she ate the ration and told her the story of what happened with the escort mission and the ambush.

Naruto nodded in contemplation.

"We'll be heading to Konoha in the morning. I'll take you to the hospital where they will fully heal you and then I'll take you to the hokage's office so you can report the mission. But since you're awake, I was looking at that seal…" Naruto raised his eyebrow a bit when he seen her hand unconsciously move towards her neck.

To feel nothing.

"I took it off. I don't know how long you had that on but it couldn't have been for a good cause. It's a good thing we have the originator of that seal in Konoha and I happened to have the chemicals needed to release the seal on you but, your seal is gone." Naruto said as he looked into the sky with his hands behind his head, leaning on the tree.

Anko was scared. This couldn't be happening. This had to be a dream. A…

"Kai!"

Nothing changed.

Could it be? That the man she was looking for to care for her, protect her, be there for her… was right here?

Was Naruto?

Anko slowly tried to crawl over to him as he continued to peer into the sky with his eyes opened. She needed to do this.

Naruto was busy looking into the stars trying to figure out what was going on with his life. First Akatsuki was finished. Sasuke was still alive and was made back into a Konoha shinobi, a Jounin at that, he was instated as the Namikaze clan heir, and then things took a turn for the worst when…

Naruto felt a hand grasp his flak jacket. His eyes immediately locked onto Anko who looked to be straining herself crawling towards him. He froze. He had never seen such a look in her eyes. He had seen mirth, he had seen fear when those Nin were about to end her life, she had seen amusement when she thrown that kunai at him back in the Chunnin exam, but this look was unexplainable.

So he did nothing when she grasped his jacket and pulled herself up to his face and hugged him, continuously thanking him.

When she released him she laid her head on his chest and whispered for him to hold her.

He did. For once in her life… Anko felt… home.

Naruto felt differently.

He felt complete.

"We are close to home Anko-san." Naruto whispered as she nodded on his back.

The two awoke in the morning in each other's arms, somewhat awkwardly, they let go and cleaned up the camp site before Naruto told her to get on his back and they would travel back to Konoha. The whole trip the two just talked, Naruto could see her old self coming back as she mercilessly whispered about how she would feed him to her snakes if he uttered a word to anyone about what happened in the forest. Naruto quickly agreed.

As they came up to the gates, laughing and talking excitably like old friends, the guards kotetsu and izumo had to wonder what happened to Anko as she would always come back barely scratched and fingering a kunai. Not on the back of a Shinobi looking quite bruised and hurt.

The main question, as the two passed by them without a word, was…

"Where is her curse seal?" Izumo asked Kotetsu.

Kotetsu laughed as he watches Anko try to choke Naruto from afar.

"Naruto is just like his father. He's a seal master. So I'm thinking he removed it." He replied, looking towards the fourth hokage.

Izumo was silent before he chuckled.

"That makes sense."

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

"I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY KOBRA-CHAN!"

Shikamaru sighed. There the two went again. Ever since Naruto brought Anko to the hokage and Tsunade ordered that she was to heal under the watch of Naruto to see if any negative reaction would occur from the removal of the seal and until she was back to full health, the two would be screaming at one another and then act like nothing happened in seconds.

This was only the second day.

"Troublesome… you two sound like a married couple." Shikamaru said, sitting on the couch as he watched the two butting heads and growling at one another.

"LIKE I WOULD WANNA MARRY HIM/HER" they simultaneously screamed before noticing the other say the same thing.

"WHAT YOU SAY? STOP SAYING WHAT I'M SAYING! YOU'RE DOING IT AGAIN!" the two continued saying what the other was saying at the same time.

Shikamaru just wanted to hang with Naruto and play shogi, maybe stare at the clouds, things like that. Now, he just wanted to solve this issue and go back to relaxing.

"Look… it's obvious both of your prides won't allow you to admit that you enjoy one another's company being the way things usually occurred when you trust others, seeing as how one of your sensei's defected and abandoned you and another's best friend tried to kill him. but I am pretty sure you both know how to trust others and not be like the people that hurt you, so just get over it and admit you want to be in the other's life. You two are too strong to be acting so foolish. Get over it. Anyway, I am going home. By the way…"

Shikamaru moved one piece to finish the game and left, lighting his cigarette before opening the game and blowing it.

'Checkmate' spelled out the smoke.

'I need to learn how to do that.' Naruto mused to himself before sighing.

"He's right." Naruto said as he sat down next to Anko.

"I don't mind having you as a friend. I think it would be a good friendship…seeing our past has some similarities." Naruto said as he averted making eye contact with her.

Anko was silent before breathing in and out slowly before grasping his chin and looking at him.

"Well, first, friends look one another in the eye instead of blushing and looking away." She said with a smile as Naruto turned red in embarrassment.

"Sorry."

"No problem. Look, I am willing to be your friend as well… it's just, a lot to take in right now, so forgive me if I'm acting out… no one has ever done so much for me for no reason and the last person that did…"

Naruto knew what she was going to say and shook his head in disagreement.

"I will never abandon you." Anko could see the determined look in his eyes and knew he wouldn't.

"Good. Now hold me again." Anko said as she crawled into his laps.

"Do…friends do this? Hold one another?" Naruto asked in a low voice. It had been years that he longed to be held. He never made a big deal about it but when she wrapped her arms around him, he felt all those years of longing coming back full force.

"Yes…They do." Anko whispered as she soon fell asleep.

Naruto smiled before nodding off again, Kyoshi soon joining them and falling asleep as well.

A figure came into the gates of Konoha very late at night next to another figure.

"Returning from training trip?" asked the late night ninja as he instantly knew who it was that entered the gate.

"Yes… I'll be making my way home now." Said a female voice as her sensei nodded and shunshin'ed away into small papers.

The female figure headed off to her home all the while holding onto a three-pronged kunai.

"Naruto-kun…"