Hey! It has taken me a (long) while to load this up ... and I shoot myself in the foot with that promise as well so ... yeah ... All I can promise is that I'll try to keep the uploads more regular from now on, but school's an asshole and things aren't that rosy... BUT, I still have a silver line at the horizon: and that is writing. So I promise that this one won't go discontinued !!

And with these words: enjoy the next chapter!

A bath when you're born

...or...

Searching for bait

Anko bit into the pink candy mouse and chewed. The sweet flavor on her tongue made her smile as she passed the coffee shop.

"Good morning, Anko." She heard a dark voice greet her.

The konoichi looked up, the pink mouse still hanging between her lips as she met the lone eye of one Kakashi Hatake. He 'tsk'ed smiling.

"Sweets for breakfast." He bent down a little and sunk his teeth into the mouse, before he pulled it softly from her mouth. Without her seeing it he already chewed it.

"Not bad. See you around, Anko."

He waved lazily and all she could do was stand there and blush about what had just happened. Still blushing she continued her way to the tower and made her way into her room. The pack of pink candy mice was placed forgotten on her desk when she started daydreaming about the soft tissue against her lips.

"Earth to Anko, please answer."

A familiar voice woke her from her dreams. Startled she looked up to meet Izumo Kamizuki's smirk. She scowled immediately.

"What?" she snarled.

"Aw … did the little dango kitten not get its' milk today?" he mocked.

"Listen up gate watcher, if I had a good start in the day or not is none of your freaking business. You came here; just tell me what you want."

"Yare yare …" he calmed her again. "Sakura and Morino-sempai wanted you in his office, since you're second in command."

"Thanks, Izumo."

"So you think he'll show up there…" she concluded after Sakura explained her new findings.

"It is most likely. Seeing as murderers of this kind follow their pattern … and I also think he'll put one just right in the middle. It is also possible that he'll start just a new one around another city. But that is mostly unlikely, seeing as he has already hung around sometime around Konoha. He'll want to finish what he had started."

Ibiki nodded, her words truly made sense.

"By the way, I wanted to ask if any similar cases are known." The pink-haired medic asked. "And if there are, we better clear them soon, because I'll be going back to work in four days." She informed.

What, already? The month was already over?! He hadn't realized it. The time with her around went by so quickly – like water flowing down a river. It had taken him some time to admit, but he really liked having his Lollypop around. But now it was almost over … he felt like pouting. Only that the one and only Morino Ibiki wasn't one to pout … so he didn't.

"Well … I don't think there were …" Anko tapped her chin. "A murderer of young females, all twenty you say?" Sakura nodded in affirmation. "No … nothing like that."

"So it's a first. Then he will finish his piece of art for sure." Sakura continued. "We need to get to the pub…"

"We need bait." Anko interrupted.

"No need, I'm nineteen." Sakura waved it away.

"No way you're going to be the bait." Anko wanted to talk her out of it.

"It's better. We're not threatening a civilian's life, I'm throughout capable of protecting myself and I have immediate access to the files as well as to the information. I won't let you play with the life of a civilian, for this." She told them, the sound of her voice left no room for discussion.

Well, he thought to himself, she surely comes after her shishou in more than just her inhuman strength.

"How do you imagine that, Sakura? What if something goes wrong?"

"Then we won't have killed an innocent civilian girl, but have let a konoichi die on a mission. A konoichi who had been ANBU with fourteen and has killed enough in her life; we can't send a civilian on a mission." She explained.

Damned, why was she always reasoning? Why did she always find the right arguments? He grunted and if he'd have hair, he would have run his fingers through them … but he had long but lost his hair, leaving only a bald head adorned with scars from interrogations.

"Lollypop … that's a stupid idea, I agree with Mitarashi. We'll have another konoichi work as bait for us."

"And let her get killed? By the way the only other konoichi in my age are those of the Rookie 9 and by heavens I forbid you to even think of them." She countered vehemently. "They are my friends and the reason why I am here. To be useful, to protect them … besides: they have families that will be on your asses if you lose them."

"Which would be?"

"Hinata Hyuuga, no explanation needed, I hope." She stuck out her thumb.

"Ino Yamanaka. Not only the sole heir to the Yamanaka household but also promised to Takeo Hiduto – the fire lord's counselor. Don't even think about messing with her." She stuck out her forefinger.

"And the third." She wiggled out her middle finger. "Would be Tenten, who has no direct family … but you can be sure that her husband, Neji Hyuuga, will kick your asses into the next millennium as well as the rest of the Hyuuga clan – they are very protective of her."

She smirked at the defeated face of Anko. "So the only one who's there is me. I have no family, Tsunade will be destroyed when I'm not here anymore, but she's already training Naruto for the Hokage post, so it will be a personal problem. Hatake won't be able to go on any S- or A-class missions anymore once Naruto is Hokage and well … the two of them will be destroyed, but that's it."

She shrugged. "So … as you see … you don't have much of a choice."

It sure was driving Anko crazy. He could see it in her eyes. She liked the young woman too much to have her go on a mission like this. But she was right – in every point. They would have their asses handed to them if they took any other konoichi and she had good arguments.

"She's right. She's right and we will have no other choice …"

"We could always use a genjutsu on one of the older jonin … Tsunade will go on rampage if you're not coming back from that one …" Anko thought out loud.

"Hn. Who do you want to take? You already belong to someone who will hand scarface's ass to none other than a thousand birds…" she began; ignoring the small blush that had spread over the purple-haired konoichi's cheeks.

"And don't even think of Kurenai she has a baby boy at home …" she seethed. "So … who else would there be … help me, I don't know the jonin as good as you do…"

"Ummm … there are no other female jonin …" the purple haired woman affirmed.

"Oh, really. Funny." Sakura remarked sarcastically, then she turned to Ibiki again. "Any other ideas, oh great tree giant?"

"We could place a genjutsu over one of the men…"

"Oh … well let's see. I'm sure Lee would make an incredible woman … only he would scare them away in the first five seconds and make them search another victim." She stuck out her thumb.

"Neji would pass even without a genjutsu, but you'd have Tenten, Hinata, Hanabi and the rest of the Hyuuga clan on your asses if something goes wrong." She stuck her forefinger out.

"Moving on." She took a sigh. "I want to see you make Shikamaru move his ass … and even if he does we would highly endanger our treaties with Wind, seeing as Temari really does have a thing about him … not to forget he's the sole heir to the Nara family." She stuck her middle finger out.

"Choji." She stuck her ring finger out. "I really like the guy but they wouldn't even think about taking him when all he thinks about is food."

She stuck her little finger out. "Naruto? Don't even dare thinking about it, it's like you'd hand an Uzi to your enemy and tell him how to pull the trigger."

Bringing up her other hand she continued by sticking out her thumb again. "Sasuke. The duck butt wouldn't move his ass and even if it would be the queen of England falling on her knees. Besides, he's under curfew."

"Kiba." She smirked. "Well … you really do know Tsume's temper and even if he's not a direct heir, Hinata will hand you your ass … and Kurenai as well. They boy's like her son. Not to forget … he always carries Akamaru with him and is a hothead."

"Shino." She stuck out her middle finger. "The guy just … couldn't. He's nice and decent and with the right genjutsu you could make a lovely woman out of him but … even if he hunts down the special ones … a woman with glasses, that hides her face in a collar and doesn't talk at all … won't be appreciated. Besides you'll have the Aburame bugs in your office for a century at least if something goes wrong and the sole heir to the clan is killed … remember Shino is everything that Shibi has left to live for."

"ALRIGHT, STOP IT!" Anko interrupted, before she could continue. "We got it … there's no one in the place of taking your place. It's stupid … it's fucky, shitty, damned but it is that way, we'll have to cope with it. NOW … we need a plan."

"Good idea." Sakura agreed.

Ibiki sighed. He hated to admit it, but his Lollypop really was the best person for it. There was no way around all this.

"We will have to post at this pub."

"Well … in fact it's a bar …" Anko looked at the two quirked eyebrows. "I come around enough." She caught herself again. "In fact it's a rather popular bar, not too big, but not too small. It has a dance floor in the middle and around it are booths. There's a second floor, only reserved for VIPs … just above the bar. From there out it's pretty easy to watch all the booths." She explained.

He nodded. "I see. So we will have to get up to that damned second floor and have a nice look at the rest … and we'll have Lollypop placed downstairs as bait and will have to have an eye on everyone who talks with her."

"What do we do if they choose another girl?"

"Highly improbable. BUT we'll have Kotetsu and Izumo at the bar. They'll look out for the ones at the bar, we'll have some in the crowd as well, who'll look out for the rest … Lollypop can look out for herself."

"Alright. Then I'll talk to the rest about it." Anko bowed briefly before walking out of the office.

Ibiki looked at Sakura. "You're sure of that Lollypop?" he asked her once more.

"Hn." She smirked. "I'd rather welcome the death surgery than to have to do it on one of my friends or an innocent civilian." She admitted as she left his office.

"A bath when you're born,

A bath when you die,

How stupid." He recited Issa quietly as he shook his head.