.
.
"I love you," Anko says. And then, in a smaller voice, "It's okay if you don't love me, too."
She looks frightened and her hands are pressed lightly against his chest, as if ready to shove him off at a moment's notice, and he remembers what she told him once, how Orochimaru had taken her trust and later threw her away.
He kisses her forehead, then cradles her close. "Of course I love you," he says. "Why would you say such a thing?"
"Because we've been doing this for a while now, and you've never said it," Anko says. Kimimaro frowns.
"Forgive me. I thought you already knew."
And Anko just stares at him, poised somewhere between relief and irritation.
"You really are an idiot, aren't you?"