A/N: Epilogue to Witness.
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The field he crested opened into a clearing, and for the first time Kimimaro could see the edges of the training grounds. Children were throwing shuriken while the adults who supervised had started to spar.
No one had seen him. He was thankful for this, because the month on foot toward Konoha was unforgiving: he had already been injured when he escaped from Orochimaru.
Escaped, but in truth let go, for the old man thought it funny somehow, letting his worthless vessel fend for himself in the middle of the woods.
Kimimaro crouched behind the brush, suppressing a tight cough and keeping his eyes fixed on the training grounds. Konoha had been ridiculously easy to penetrate, even for someone in his condition, and once he found Anko he would tell her as much.
"Go home!" Anko said. Kimimaro's eyes widened.
Anko was there. For once dumb luck was on his side. She was shouting at a group of children. She would be, Kimimaro thought, and he smiled at the memory of Anko, bellowing like a young bull in the middle of the forest.
The genin team dispersed, but to Kimimaro's surprise Anko fell to her knees, searching the ground.
No one was there, but for the first time, Kimimaro hesitated. Not once during the month-long journey did he wonder if he was doing the right thing; if he would be welcome, or if she too would turn him out like so much trash. He had pinned his hopes and dreams on something that neither one of them had openly named.
He started to turn, when his foot knocked into what he thought was a stone.
He knelt, and was surprised to find it wasn't a stone but a piece of bone; one of his, in fact. He could recognize it anywhere.
Kimimaro looked up. The sun was setting, and streaks of sunlight backlit the grass, and Kimimaro suddenly understood that this bone fragment was what Anko had been looking for.
A feeling, something he couldn't really describe, settled painfully on his chest as he stood up, moving quietly in the grass to where Anko was searching. If he were an assassin, he could kill her with ease. She was on her hands and knees, too frantic to realize he was standing behind her, when she backed up and knocked into his leg.
"What-" Anko turned, and Kimimaro could see the thousand emotions flashing on Anko's face.
Then she threw her arms around him, the force of her weight making him stagger backwards. Kimimaro smiled and pressed a hand to her head while Anko buried her face against his shoulder and started to cry.