Well, last chapters' poll was a resounding 'yes' to the Anko/Genma relationship so woo it goes ahead.
This is Anko, the anti-femininity ninja so don't expect any make-out sessions. But certainly do expect some cute little moments.
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Five Days from Konoha
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Naruto awoke from his light sleep plagued with nightmares, face slicked with sweat. His chest felt heavy, and his arm was really hurting.
Cradling his throbbing appendage to him, he almost stumbled as he stepped lightly around the sleeping Anko beside him. An empty fuuton indicated it was Itachi who was on watch, no doubt above them in the trees.
Once Naruto was standing, he crept silently to the dying fire, stoking it back to life. He leant back against a log, closing his eyes and breathing deeply, willing the churning of his stomach to go away
Despite lying on cold ground and against a nobbly, rough log, he found a certain comfort. The different sensations were taking his attention away from his pain, at least a little.
When Itachi and he had entered the water a few hours earlier, he had been quietly relieved. For the last few hours of their travel, his arm had been getting progressively more painful and stiff.
He also knew that Anko was keeping an eye on his chest, and had been working to keep his coughing at smooth intervals, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore the tickle in his chest. He closed his eyes again, trying to relax his stomach.
After a few minutes his eyes snapped open in frustration, letting a silent hiss escape his teeth. His stupid arm was really hurting, and he briefly regretted not letting Anko take it off before the thought was quashed.
With a pout he pinched his throbbing arm, finding no pain relief no matter what he did. He rolled up his sleeve, examining the spreading bruises, tiny brow twisting into a scowl. The pain was definitely increasing, and so was his irritability because of it. He had felt a sudden intense urge to slap Itachi when he had picked him up earlier, but he caught himself before he could act.
It wouldn't do for them to notice his character changing so drastically, they were already pushing as hard as they could in travel, there was no point increasing their worry.
His eyes turned back to the glowing fire, watching the flames flicker, burning almost as hot as his arm felt. He reached his fingers to hover just above the light, barely feeling any change in temperature until he was grazing the top of the licking flames.
Growing bolder, Naruto reached fully into the fire, feeling the heat against his skin, but not feeling any different pain. He twiddled his fingers. In fact, it felt kind of nice. The heat distracted him from the pain in his arm.
His arm became a strange mix of green tint, blue bruises and red skin as the fire licked him.
He almost smiled. His stomach didn't feel sick anymore. The burning of his arm had lessened as the heat flitted across his skin. Honestly he had copped worse from a surprise fireball Juutsu when training with the Uchiha.
Naruto wasn't sure why but he suddenly plunged his hand straight into the heart of the flame, grabbing a fistful of the glowing wood, marvelling at how it crumbled in his palm.
His short arms meant his face was now right in front of his face, and he felt a brief feeling of weightlessness, as if he were swimming in fire.
This time he was smiling. The pain was all gone.
And then he was yanked viciously backwards, a shaky hand on the back of his neck like a scruffed puppy.
In an instant he was gathered up in a trembling Uchiha's arms, hanging limply as he adjusted to the rush of cold and darkness.
"What are you doing!?" Hissed Itachi's hysterical voice.
But Naruto didn't respond. The fire was still blessing him with a pain-free arm. He couldn't quite bring his eyes back into focus, and he wasn't sure he even wanted to, in case it brought back the pain too.
The fire disappeared from his field of vision completely as he was hoisted around like a doll as the Uchiha rushed to Anko, viciously stomping on her hand and yelling her name.
The brief flash of anger disappeared quickly as Anko registered the unusual frantic tone to the Uchiha's voice, and she focused on the listless form of Naruto in his arms.
A scream bubbled in her chest as her eyes locked on his blackened arm, and she thought her healing cream had failed. But the yell died in her throat as her sensitive nose picked up the sickly sweet smell of cooked flesh.
She sprung up from her fuuton, tearing a hole in it with her foot when she was too impatient to extricate it from the folds.
She met Itachi half way to the ground as he collapsed holding the small boy, guiding the Uchiha's young hands to lie the blonde boy down.
Quickly, she grasped the shiny, cracked flesh in her hand, activating the only healing Juutsu she knew.
"Cream." She grunted towards Genma, who had been awake since the Uchiha began shouting. He rushed to retrieve it, tearing the lid off as he followed Anko's juutsu up the boys' arm, rubbing cream into the areas she had already healed.
Her Juutsu combined with the Kyuubi's accelerated healing soon had the blackened flesh crumbling off, blisters bubbling as they formed back to smooth skin.
Itachi's hands fluttered restlessly over the boy's face, dark eyes fixed on unfocused blue.
Finally, as Anko reached his shoulder, his eyes snapped back into focus with a hiss, flexing his arms and legs as he tried to curl in on himself.
Sitting back panting, Anko allowed the boy to twist to his side, curling his body around his bruised arm.
Itachi wasn't as lenient, grasping the boy by his soft yellow locks and wrenching his face to meet his own.
"Why?" The Uchiha whispered with a choked voice, not even caring as he bent Naruto's neck at an uncomfortable angle.
Blue eyes blinked slowly.
"It hurts." Spoke the blonde in a dead voice, with no reaction to his rough handling.
Itachi stumbled back in horror as he saw the awful, dead look in Naruto's young eyes. He barely made it to the treeline before he fell, retching, as his stomach reacted to his horribly twisting emotions.
Genma sat frozen, wide eyes staring off into the dark forest, a living statue.
But Anko couldn't tear her terrified gaze from the face of Naruto as he stared insensibly at the shuddering Uchiha's back. There was no flicker of recognition, of worry, of life.
And even after all the experiments she had been put through, all the horrors she had witnessed as a ninja and as Orochimaru's apprentice…
She had never seen something so horrible.
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Itachi sat with his head in his hands. He couldn't bear to look at the tiny body beside him, as his small exposed chest rose and fell slowly.
Anko had knocked the boy out with a sleeping Juutsu, which had allowed his tense muscles to finally relaxed. However, she was still haunted by the small grateful look she had received as the boy recognized her hand seals, just before his eyes slipped closed.
Even though most of them were still awake, Genma had taken over watch. He sat slumped on a branch, observation skills clouded by his thoughts.
Finally, after many, many tense minutes, Anko sniffed, turning her face away from the group as she subtly rubbed her nose.
"We have to sleep." She observed emptily. Receiving no reaction, she pulled herself from the floor, feet dragging as she made her way to the Itachi's fuuton.
She gathered it up and placed it behind the boy, gently pulling the Uchiha's shoulders back until he all but fell onto the blankets.
Tucking the blanket around the boy as best she could, Anko retreated to her own fuuton, collapsing on it without bothering to climb inside.
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The flames had almost completely died before Itachi could sum up the courage to turn his head and face Naruto's sleeping form.
When he finally had, his gaze was locked to the boys' face, observing the smooth, unwrinkled brow with weary eyes as he waited for day to come.
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And here marks the end of where my first attempt at the story finished. Still a while off before it is finished, I'm thinking double the length again. Nothing too long, just a nice snack to hit the spot as you browse the buffet that is .
Please review to tell me what you think of the changes if you were around for the first run through, or alternately just let me know what you think!