Author's note: So I decided to expand that oneshot and make it into a collection of drabbles. I'm marking this as "complete," since each oneshot is complete. I'll probably be adding them onto here from time to time, as the mood strikes *nods* :)
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One day, he collapses, Anko rushing up and hauling him up in her arms.
Tsunade's face is grave when Anko returns to the hospital. Glancing behind her, Kimimaro is intubated and connected to a ventilator, and the vitals on the monitor are growing weak. Tsunade touches Anko by the arm and leads her down the hall.
"He doesn't have long," Tsunade says. "Right now, we're keeping him alive with machines. We can leave him on a ventilator like this, but I can tell you it's unlikely he'll wake up."
Anko's face is drawn as she sits on the rickety plastic chair. She grips her knees, staring at her hands. "What should I do?" Anko says. Tsunade sits down next to her, gently touching her shoulder.
"You have two choices," Tsunade says, gently. "We can leave him on machines, let them keep breathing for him. Or we can make him comfortable and let him die peacefully. The decision is up to you."
xXx
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Anko is at the bedside when they extubate him, pulling the tube from his throat and disconnecting him from the monitor. A medic nin touches her arm, sympathetically. "It won't be long," he murmurs. Shizune and Tsunade watch with grave eyes as Anko sinks beside him and tries not to cry.
"Visiting hours are over. You may return in the morning at 7 a.m."
"You can stay," Shizune says. She smiles, wanly. "It's a private room. The other medic nin won't mind."
"Thank you," Anko says. Dully she holds Kimimaro's hand.
Shizune leaves. Anko glances down at Kimimaro, who looks as if he's just asleep. Slowly, she lowers the bedrails to Kimimaro's bed and climbs beside him, leaning her head against his chest. "You can go, you know," Anko says. She combs through Kimimaro's hair, which is tangled from lying in the hospital bed for so long. "I know you're keeping alive just for me, but I want you to know I'll be okay."
Anko's face wrenches. She buries her face into his neck. "I'm going to miss you, though," Anko says, and she starts to cry.
xXx
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Hours pass, and Anko falls into a fitful sleep. She doesn't stir at first when he touches her hand; it's only when he strokes her hair that she wakes up.
"Anko."
Her eyes blink open, and blearily she turns and sees Kimimaro watching her quietly, his hand on her waist.
xXx
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Tsunade and Shizune watch through the observatory window as Anko excitedly sits next to Kimimaro, at turns hugging him and pushing all sorts of inappropriate food at his face. "Amazing," Shizune says. She glances up at Tsunade, awestruck. "He shouldn't have lasted the night."
Tsunade's face is dark when she knocks on the door.
Anko looks up. "Tsunade-sama."
"Anko. Go home," Tsunade says. Anko glances back at Kimimaro, agonized.
Tsunade makes an irritated noise, "He's nowhere near dying, go home. You'll get in the way of the staff," and Anko nods and grips his hand one last time, before leaving the room.
Tsunade waits until Anko is gone before she speaks to him. "You should be dead," Tsunade says. "I've never seen anything like this. It's as if you're keeping yourself alive through sheer willpower alone."
Kimimaro nods, quietly. "It would not be the first time," Kimimaro says. Tsunade sits next to him.
"When you first were brought here, you were fatally depleted of chakra. Somehow it's returned, though only slightly. We've sealed that mark of yours to ensure your chakra doesn't fade more than it already has," Tsunade says.
Kimimaro touches the cursed mark at his chest. He would not be able to join with Orochimaru-sama, but that did not matter, now.
"There is also the matter of your ability," Tsunade says, quietly. "To manipulate bone eats up massive amounts of chakra, which you cannot afford in your condition. You mustn't use your ability; any other strain to the body and you may not last. Do you understand?"
Kimimaro nods. "Yes," he says. Tsunade frowns, and stands.
"Rest well," Tsunade says, and she leaves. Behind her, Shizune stands uncertainly, then steps forward.
"Kimimaro-san?"
"Yes?"
Shizune gingerly steps next to him, turning a clipboard in her hands. "You didn't want to leave her, did you?" she asks. Kimimaro nods, slowly.
"If I died, no one would protect her," Kimimaro says. Shizune frowns.
"You can't use your ability. Tsunade-sama said--"
"That is not what I am referring to," Kimimaro says. Shizune waits a moment, then nods.
"I understand," Shizune says. She flips the clipboard shut. "Get some rest. I'm sure Anko will be here in the morning."