Disclaimer: DweebessAlert does not own Naruto and any other characters. Dweeb is just filling out some time gaps. ^^
PREVIOUSLY:
"…and that night, he gave me this damn curse mark. The pain was unbearable, I thought I was gonna die. The next morning, he checked on me and he was actually amazed that I was still alive." Anko stopped and took a deep breath, "But he said that I- I lack of hatred, I lack the desire of power, so he.. so he…" Her voice filled with anger and disgust.
"Abandoned you." Tsunade continuing her sentence, looking at the purpled hair konoichi with sympathy.
"No" Anko whispered, almost not audible.
CHAPTER 2
The amber eyed Hokage raised an eye brow, "No? What do you mean 'NO'?" Looking closely at Anko, waiting for an explanation with an unreadable face. Anko looked at her and chuckled at her reaction.
"Anko" the Godaime Hokage said with a low voice, impatiently waiting for what she have to say.
"So he gave me… the opportunity to choose whether to… to follow him or not." Anko looked down, fist clenched on her lap and shaking. She can feel Tsunade's eyes were on her. "I left him. I wasn't casted aside. I left him on my own will."
'This is it. She's gonna let it all out.' Tsunade thought, and stood from her sit and moved to where Anko was sitting. She sat beside her and placed her hand over to Anko's shaking hands. Anko gasped at the contact and looked up to face Tsunade. Tsunade let out a soft smile and said "It's okay. Let it out. You'll feel much better after this," her amber eyes meeting with the chocolate pupil-less eyes and gripped tighter on Anko's hand, "I promise."
Anko shut her eyes tight and let out a sigh, "W-when I first found out that Orochimaru is doing experiments, I… I was amazed on how much knowledge he have. I a-admired him more and more, and wanted to be like him but somewhere in me, I know what he was doing is wrong. But I- I admire him so much that I set that thought aside, I'm so stupid" she paused, her voice was shaking like she was in the verge of crying, "W-when we left Konoha and stayed at the Land of the Sea, he- he taught me a lot of stuff. He took care of me when I was sick. He- he even praise me when I mastered a jutsu he taught. That's the Orochimaru-sama I know until he gave me this." She grit her teeth and placed a hand on her curse mark, her eyes still shut tight. Tsunade held her hand as she continued, "All this time I hated him not only for being a traitor, for giving me the burden of the curse mark, but also for tossing me aside like trash. I- I hated him so much for a wrong reason!" There's a lot of emotion in Anko's voice, most noticeable is her confusion.
Tsunade then pulled Anko into a hug, making Anko's eyes shut open in shock. Her face settling on the blonde's chest and she heard her say "It's okay, Anko. It's okay to miss him."
"Hokage-sama…"
"I miss him too."
Right there, Anko's wall has broken down. She started crying on Tsunade's chest so she hugged her tight. Making her feel that she's not alone, that she's not at fault of anything and that her decision of leaving him was the right thing to do. After a few minutes, Anko calmed down, only sniffs and sobs can be heard from her.
Anko was lost in her thoughts while Tsunade held her close, trying her best to calm her down. Tsunade-sama, the Godaime Hokage with a bad temper, vulgar mouth, superhuman strength is comforting me to this level! Unbelievable! Being so close to her like this is, is just overwhelming. She felt her blood go up to her cheeks, she was fortunate that Tsunade can't see her face. Anko let out a soft chuckle on her thoughts. Tsunade pulled away and looked at her curiously, "What's so funny?"
Anko grinned while wiping away her tears, "Oh nothing, Hokage-sama, I never thought that you, of all people, have that kind of soft side."
"Is that your way of giving thanks?" the Hokage glared at her.
"No, Milady, actually I feel lucky to see it and experienced it" Anko answered quickly before she ends up in the hospital. Tsunade eyed her and then stood up and went to her table where her cup of sake was. After she finished her cup, she felt someone on her back and arms enfold on her waist, "Thank you, Hokage-sama, for tonight." Anko spoke softly as she rested her head on Tsunade's back. She can feel how warm the blonde woman is, and she felt her cheeks flushed. Luckily Tsunade can't see her face.
Tsunade smiled and placed her hand on Anko's, "Anytime." This made Anko blushed more. Why the hell am I blushing!
"I- I should be going now," Anko said as she pulled away "It's late."
"Hmm. Yeah, it's late." The Hokage answered wearily. Anko bowed and headed to the door. Just as she was to go out, "Anko," Tsunade whispered, Anko stopped but didn't look back "Spend the night here. It's pretty late and you must be tired. You can sleep on the couch or I can get an extra futon for you." Anko was gonna refuse her offer but before she can say anything Tsunade spoke again "And besides I wouldn't mind a company here as I work."
"You're not gonna sleep?" Anko asked, not facing the blonde beauty.
"Well, as much as I want to, I can't. You see, I need to finish those damn paper works."
Anko for a second wanted to refuse, but she felt that her body's gonna give up soon after all what happened today. And maybe, just maybe, she won't have any damn nightmares tonight. She faced the Hokage and grinned "Thank you, the couch would be just fine."
"Alright, I'll get you a blanket instead," Tsunade disappeared behind a door and came back with a grey blanket on hand and handed it to Anko.
"Thanks."
"Sleep well." Tsunade went to her desk and started working on mountains of paper work.
After a few hours, Anko was fast asleep on the couch and there she was, stuck with, what else, paper work. Tsunade stood up and stretched, she walked near the couch to see how Anko was. 'Her face was like an angel', Tsunade found herself thinking, 'She look so vulnerable.'
"It must be a real burden to you, huh?" she muttered. Then she walked behind her desk, looking out the window, the moon was watching over Konoha. It was a peaceful night. She closed her eyes and gave out a soft sigh. 'You care for her didn't you, Orochimaru? I know you. You can persuade anyone by your words, especially those who looked up to you like Anko. But you didn't. Instead, you gave her a choice. I don't know what's your motive in giving her that burden curse mark but I know you cared for her, somehow.' She let a small smile crawl to her face whilst lost in her thoughts, 'Orochimaru, you're always a mystery.'
After a few moments, she remembered the huge pile of paperwork on her desk. She then went back to work muttering, "Why the hell did I take this job again?"