Anko took in a shaky breath as the world started coming clearer. There was warmth all around her, but right in her core. She was so cold. She opened her eyes to the blurry abyss she was always in. There was someone above her; touching and whispering things that she didn't understand.
Some of the features were familiar: the dark hair and the soft voice. She thought she had it figured out.
"Orochimaru?" she asked, almost hopefully.
The face became clearer and she was proven wrong.
"Do I look like that bastard to you?" The person asked, coldly.
That face…Anko recognized it. He was the boy who Danzō made drag her out!
"Open up." He said.
The boy held out a glass thermometer and shoved it between her lips before Anko could do otherwise. The cold felt relaxing against her hot tongue which helped her calm down.
Suddenly Ryik, with a demented grin on his tan face, popped out beside the boy. "Hey, girly, what's happening?"
"Ryik." Anko whispered, surprised. He was still in one piece.
Ryik giggled and flopped down beside her on the bed. "Yeah! Uchiha and I thought we'd stop by and check up on you and your crazy self. He found you drowning in the shower, so we saved you little buddy!"
Anko looked back at 'Uchiha'. He didn't say anything nor did he give her direct eye contact when he bent over and took the thermometer out of her mouth. "One hundred and one. Sick as a dog."
Anko sat up and was welcomed with a massive headache.
"Hey! Easy! Easy!" Ryik exclaimed. "Come on girl, I had to restraint—resituate—re…Uh…"
"Resuscitate?" Uchiha corrected impassively.
"That's the one. I had to resuscitate you, because you went crazy as Hell, and tried to kill yourself in the bathtub."
Anko laughed weakly. "Aren't you a little young to be cussing?"
"Ha! Girl, 'Hell' is on every page in the bible; I don't know what you're talking about. Read the bible, honey."
"Not a Christian."
Ryik laughed softly and muttered under his breath "Me neither."
Anko smiled. This kid was something else. She looked over to Uchiha and saw the look in his eyes; he needed to talk to her without Ryik's presence.
"Uh, Ryik, you think you can get me something for this headache of mine?"
Ryik stood up straight "Sorry, girl, I don't know Uchiha here too well. I ain't leaving him alone with you without-…" he stopped when he saw Uchiha's glare. "I'll get you tea with that." He speed out of the room.
Anko turned her attention back to Uchiha who was closing the door, which caused her to become a little defensive. "So, is your name Uchiha or do you come from our fellow police force."
"The second one." He answered, sitting at end of the bed and stared at the floor. "I won't tell Lord Danzō about this, if you promise to stay out of trouble."
"I can't promise that." She mumbled, as Orochimaru's face flashed across her mind. "But I'll stay home until my sentence is done."
"That's fine, I suppose." He sounded so distant, lost and alone. Almost like her.
Anko wasn't the kind of person who started off with small talk; she liked getting straight down to business.
"So, why are you here." She inquired, softly.
Uchiha answered without looking at her. "I'm in charge of looking after Ryik, so when he asked me about where you were, I thought he should find out first hand. You scared him to death, by the way."
"You snuck him here."
He nodded. "He deserves his freedom, just like me and you."
Anko sat up some, her back resting against the headboard. Her head banged some but she got use to the throbbing. "What does that one-eyed geezer want with him?"
Uchiha remained silent for a moment, but Anko pressed on.
"I'm not afraid to beat up kids."
For the first time, he smiled. "I haven't been a child in a long time." He then looked to her, his expression was grim again but his eyes were smiling. "Ryik is a weapon waiting to happen."
"I was already told that he had a demon of some sort living inside him, but he doesn't seem that dangerous, if you ask me."
"Looks can be deceiving." Uchiha shrugged his shoulders. "The demon in him is called the Phoenix. You've probably heard about it in myths and folktales."
"I don't do too much reading outside of scrolls and jutsus."
"In that case, I should give you a heads up on why the ANBU want him concealed so badly." His knees curled up to his chest, making him look like the child he should be instead of an emotionless killer. "Unlike Bijū, the Phoenix is unable to be sealed into people, it chooses its host. Why it chose Ryik, we do not know. Anyway, Ryik is able to summon great fire abilities, which you've probably have seen already."
The images of Ryik blasting out of the hospital and the red marks spreading over his body ran through her mind. Only now that she knew the truth did she feel fear.
"So," she started, swallowing her anxiety "They want his powers."
"That's only part of it." He told her. "According to our records, the last person to have the Phoenix inside had some…very strange premonitions."
"What do you mean?"
"It's said that the girl was able to communicate with creatures of spiritual creatures, such as summonses, impartially Bijū."
Anko's eyes widened. "Ryik can communicate with those things?"
"It's most possible, but only training and time will tell."
"He's a child!" Anko exclaimed, outraged. "He needs to learn how to cope with that thing, not set it off!"
Itachi looked into her eyes. "Why do you even care?"
Anko stared at him in shock. "I…"
She never did figure out why she was so attached to this child. She didn't even like kids and she felt an attachment to this one that was so broken, and yet so serine that she couldn't leave it alone.
Uchiha sighed, tiredly. "If you want to help him, I suggest you start by staying under house arrest. It'll look good on your criminal record if you behave yourself."
Anko laughed slightly. "That's a hard promise to keep."
"Yes," Uchiha said "I sure it will be, considering Orochimaru's constant visits."
Anko's heart stopped.
He saw her face pale and the disbelief in her expression. "Oh, yes, I know all about his sudden reappearance in our humble village."
Anko gulped; she was dead meat in this ANBU's jaws.
He leaned into her until they were face-to-face. "But I'll make you a proposal, you make him leave and I'll drop the whole subject."
"….What?"
He moved away from her and walked to the door. "I have no reason to screw your life any more than it already is."
Anko glared.
"Consider this a random act of kindness; you don't screw up, I won't slip up."
The door opened and almost hit Uchiha. "Alright! I've got tea, and these weird, red pills-" Ryik stopped when he saw Uchiha's eyes.
"We're going." He commanded, taking the tray out of Ryik's hands and setting it on the dresser. Ryik gave Anko a, 'What the Hell?' look and disappeared from her room. Uchiha poked his head back in. "You won't be able to take the bracelet off anymore, so I suggest you find something to keep you preoccupied for the next eleven days. Start with staying in bed until your fever goes down."
"Hmph." She pouted, and then thought of something. "Yeah, I didn't catch your first name."
"That's because I didn't give it to you." He retorted, seeing the scowl on Anko's face and decided it was time to stop playing with her. "Itachi Uchiha."
"Ah." The name ran a slight bell, but it didn't mean too much to her.
"Goodbye." Itachi bid her farewell.
"Sayonara." She mumbled. She listened as the two sets of footsteps began leaving her apartment. She smiled when she heard Ryik's southern voice curse and then a slight pop. Itachi must have hit him.
How had he known about Orochimaru? Was he a spy or was Orochimaru not being careful enough? She'd have to ask him the next time he showed up, whenever that is. She laid back down on her bed and fell back to sleep.
.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'
After two days of sitting around, Anko decided that she'd do some experimenting.
She 'borrowed' some wooded poles, a tape measurer, and some fishing line and went into the front of the apartment complex. She started out by putting one pole at beginning of the staircase where the house arrest bracelet didn't go off. She then tested her distance and stopped whenever the bracelet started going off. She stuck each pole at the stopping distance and tied the fishing wire around each one and creating somewhat of a fence in front of her apartment.
By the end of that day, she had a decent 40-by-40 square around the apartment complex, where she could walk around without getting in trouble.
She pulled out a sun chair and sat outside to watch the sunset and admire her work.
"Hey!"
Anko growled in disapproval and looked up. One of her neighbors on the fifth floor was practically hanging off the side of the long porch that connected the apartments and yelling at her. "Why the Hell did you put all that shit out there?"
"Old man, barely anyone lives on this side of the complex! I can do whatever I want!"
"You pick that shit up, or I'm talking with the landlord!"
Anko jumped out of her chair and started going up the stairs. "You always have to mess with someone's probation officer!" Anko muttered out loud when she decided what she was going to do.
She finally made it up the stairs where the neighbor was waiting for her. "That's right you…" The man ran back into his apartment when he saw Anko pull out a knife.
"Where'd you go, old man?" Anko screamed as she tried to kick down his door. "Who's the piece of shit now, you ass? WHO'S THE PIECE OF SHIT NOW?"
The last kick was strong enough to create a huge dent in his door. Anko stepped back and leaned against the porch. She covered her mouth with her hands and quietly crept back to her apartment on the seventh floor. She closed the door upon entering and slid down the cold wood.
"Why did I do that?" she asked out loud, hoping someone would hear her. "What's wrong with me? No, no way! It's that guy's fault! He should have kept his damn mouth shut! But fuck, I probably just lost my apartment now!"
The sound of a knock vibrated through Anko's ears. "Fuck." She cursed. She took in a few deep breaths and opened the door. "Look, I…Iruka?"
"Hey." He greeted her softly, smiling in a reassuring way. "I saw what happened down there?"
Anko paled slightly, but Iruka didn't seem to want to cause her problems.
"Um," she hesitated before opening the door. "You want to come in?"
"Are you going to throw me out again?" he joked.
Anko smiled. "Just get your ass in here."
He laughed and stepped inside Anko's semi-clean clean apartment. He noted how she quickly locked the door before walking to her kitchen. "You want anything, I'll make tea."
"All right." He called and took a seat on her dark blue couch. The living room was plain with exception for the two couches that were across from each other. The table that was between them, and a self with books and a television on it that was against the wall in front of the couches. The living room was connected to the kitchen, which allowed him to hear Anko swear as she rummaged through her cabinets when she couldn't find what she was looking for.
"Hey…Is Kool-aid okay?" she called hesitantly.
Iruka held back a laugh. "Anything's fine, Anko."
She appeared minutes later with a glass picture of red Kool-aid. She poured herself and Iruka a glass and sat back on the couch opposite from him. They sipped their glass quietly, both trying to think of something to start up a conversation.
"So…" Iruka tested. "Um, that guy who cussed you out should be moving into a different apartment complex soon. You know that, right?"
"Really…?"
He set the glass down and smiled at her reassuringly. "Don't worry, that old man's a complete senile geezer. He won't even remember this tomorrow."
"Yeah." She mumbled, not entirely listening.
Iruka hated the sad expression on her face and wanted so much for it to go away. He looked around before he realized what he needed was right under him, literally. "Hey! Didn't I buy you this couch?"
Anko looked at him and then the piece of furniture she was sitting on. "Well, what do you know.?"
"Yeah!" Iruka exclaimed. "You had just moved into this apartment and didn't have much money for the luxurious stuff, so Asuma and I went out and got you these couches."
Anko laughed slightly. "Yeah, and I told you two that I wasn't going to take charity and threw both of these hunks of springs out the window."
Iruka was still laughing. "It took Asuma and I two days to get them back into your apartment window, because you wouldn't let us bring them through the door."
"I love making fools out of you guys."
"It's so easy with you." Iruka replied, drinking his Kool-aid.
Anko stared at him compassionately for a moment. "Out of all the people who are in my life, you're one of the few who hasn't walked out. Why is that?"
"Well, I…" he wanted to say the right thing, but he had never given much thought as to why he liked her so much. She scared just about anyone who knew of her and Orochimaru. Not to mention she highly aggressive and easily irritated. But then again, she had a good heart, even if she didn't let anyone know about it. "I just…I just like the fact that someone like you is around all the time."
She smirked and crossed her legs, eyeing Iruka dangerously. "What do you mean someone like me?"
"Um…" he cleared his throat, nervously. "You're…violent at times, and you…" He trailed off when he saw a look in her eyes made him hesitate. He took in a deep breath and started over. "You're crazy; even you can't deny that."
"True." Anko admitted, shrugging her shoulders lightly.
"But you're a good person, which I can see clearly."
Anko's smile disappeared. She looked down angrily at her hands. "I'm not a good person Iruka. I can't be; no true shinobi can be."
"That's not true." Iruka retorted.
Anko slammed her hands on the coffee table. "We're created to kill, you idiot! How can we be good people when we're forced to kill or abandon our own comrades?"
Iruka stared impassively at Anko's raging form until she started screaming again.
"Answer me!"
"I don't have an answer." He responded in a low voice.
Anko glared at him. She wasn't entirely sure what had caused her to get so angry before, but now all she could do was calm down.
Maybe everything was falling in on her: being locked up, Orochimaru, Mizuki, the ANBU who knew about Orochimaru's visits, all of it was finally crashing down and she just needed to scream to let it out. Too bad it had to be Iruka, though.
"I'm sorry." She managed to whisper.
"You have nothing to be sorry for." He assured, placing his hands on her shoulders and stared at her. "It's a difficult life, but somehow, even if you never realize it, you change someone's life." He pulled her gently and hugged her. He held the confused and somewhat disgusted kunoichi. "It'll all make sense one day.
And with that he released her and left, leaving behind a not as sad as before Anko. She sighed and started cleaning up the dishes.
.,,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,
Just outside her apartment, Orochimaru was watching Iruka leave. That smiling, rookie ninja Iruka…How dare he lay his hands on her!
He gritted his teeth and fought off the urge to go down there and kill him; he needed to be careful if he wanted to regain Anko's trust. He smirked when the perfect person popped in mind.
"I suppose Mizuki isn't totally worthless…"
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Special thanks to NinjaSheik.
Since I'm almost done with "We can Still Pretend.", which story[ "Martyrs" "Cure Me Pt. 2"] would you like the read more of?