"This is fucking ridiculous!" Ryik cursed under his breath.

Itachi glared at him. "You were all for it not even an hour ago."

"It just now occurred to me how damn stupid this all is!" he turned to Itachi with a dangerous look. "You, with your Sharingan eyes, and I…" he paused to think of a special ability of his "Ryik Katzan, are enough to take down the asshole whose man-handling Anko and whatever that other guy's name is."

Itachi groaned, regretting the second he met Ryik. 'Why did I ever decide to take this kid on?'

FLASHBACK

Itachi, ANBU member for almost six months, had just gotten done reporting to his superior and was about to head home. In order to get to the main entrance, he had to past through his least favorite place in the entire base, the prisoner cells. He hated the hateful, sometimes dejected faces of the prisoners of war.

It reminded him of the faces of his much older comrades before they had fallen in battle; insane, bloodthirsty, or just plain scared like an eight year old should have been. But then again, Itachi was far from normal.

He kept his gaze straight ahead, hoping to avoid those faces for once. The stench of men who rarely were given clean clothes hit his nostrils and he started running, images of the battlefield flashing through his mind. He smiled through the arm over his mouth when the metal door came into his view. His fingertips touching the smooth metal surface when a headache-starting scream reached his ears.

"Get up! Do it, I ain't scared of ya!"

Itachi closed his eyes, pondering if he should waste the time he could be using this time to spend with his little brother or if he should waste five minutes breaking up whatever stupidity going on below. He began to open the door when shouts and roots of encouragement filled through the air.

"Ah, damn it!"

Securing his mask, Itachi brought out his sword and ran to the commotion. He stopped on the stairs and watched as a large crowd surrounded a giant man and a…a kid.

"What the Hell is this?" he asked himself. What was a kid, probably not much older than he was, doing in a security prison?

"Yeah, fool, bring it!" Ryik shouted.

The man he was fighting came at with a tattooed fist. "You're going to die, you little brat!"

Before he reached him, a smudge jumped in and grabbed Ryik, causing the man to collide with the wall. The smudge reappeared on the bridge overlooking the arena.

"I suggest all of you go back to your business." He watched them file out slowly. He turned back to the boy for questioning but was met Ryik's fist. He flew back and hit the floor.

"What the Hell, man?"

Itachi got back up quickly. The taste of blood was in his mouth and he spitted it out. He glared at Ryik. "You punched me!"

"No, duh—AH!"

Itachi jumped on him and they were in the wrestling fight.

"You're out of your mind!" Ryik shouted. Itachi switched their positions so that he was on top. He tried to punch him in the mouth like he had done him, but was grabbed before he even lifted his arm.

"What the Hell is going on here?" the guard, who was holding Itachi, shouted. Another one grabbed Ryik, who was trying to go at Itachi again. "I'll be damned. I'd expected this out of a newbie, but you Uchiha."

"I thought this boy had snuck in, I was trying to help him."

"I was doing just fine!"

"You were about to get crushed!"

"You know nothing!"

"Both of you hush!" the guard inserted sternly. "This boy, Itachi, is a prisoner here."

"What?" Itachi's jaw dropped slightly in shock.. "But he's my age, he should be in a juvenile center, not a hand core prison."

"You call this hard core?" Ryik snorted. "Boy, I'm from Saktraz. I went through worse by walking out on my own porch."

"Hush!" the guard holding him commanded. Ryik only rolled his eyes.

"He's special." The guard replied. "He's a murder and a thug-…"

"Shut your fucking mouth!" The guard bonked him upside the head, causing Ryik's body to go weak and hit the ground.

Itachi gasped. How many dead bodies had he seen in that positon?

"Little shit." The guard spat. He dragged him out of the arena, Itachi and his guard following.

Later, Itachi and Ryik were sitting outside of Danzō's office. Itachi had his eyes locked on Ryik, while he was curled up in the fetal position on the floor. Itachi slid down beside him.

"Are you all right?" he whispered.

Ryik smirked, turning onto his back and placing his arms behind his head. "Yeah fool I's okay." He sat up with a groan. "I probably should be used to it by now."

Itachi frowned ay him sympathetically and sat down beside him. "Why are you here?"

Ryik rolled his eyes. "I set one doctor on fire and everybody goes nuts."

Itachi examined him with his Sharingan. There was a dark red, very frightening chakra around him. 'What…Was is he…'

One of the previous guards opened the door. "All right, you two."

Itachi and Ryik stood and walked in the office, and Ryik stuck his tongue at the guard before he closed the door. Itachi bowed to Danzō. Ryik just stared at him questionable.

"Who's the geezer?" Itachi kicked him. "Hey!"

"I'm quite surprised by your actions, Itachi." Danzō stated, breaking them up. "But considering your status here, I'm willing to let this all slide. On one condition, that is."

Itachi cocked an eyebrow. He wasn't intimidated at all by this man, but he was curious about his punishment.

"You are to train Ryik here and keep him out of trouble."

Itachi opened his mouth to protest but Ryik cut in. "Hold up now, old man, I ain't fixin' to become no ANBA."

"ANBU." Itachi whispered, so his correction went unheard.

Danzō sat back comfortably in his seat. "Either you're an ANBU or you're a prisoner, which would you prefer?"

"I'll take the prisoner for two-hundred, Alex." He turned to Itachi. "Lock me up now! I rather be up in geezers old prison cell, fighting for my virginity, than be sitting here dealing with this."

Itachi pinched his ear and started dragging him out. "He'll become a great shinobi, sir."

Ryik struggled and protested. "Who the Hell is you pulling? What the Hell is you doing?"

END FLASHNACK

Itachi couldn't help but smile at the memory. Ryik and he had become immediate partners after that, and despite their completely different personalities, they got along to an extent. Ryik was a laugh, and he was glad to have him in company.

There was a knock at the door.

"Well it's about damn time!" Ryik shouted out. He opened the door and motioned for the people behind it to come in. "Come on, come on, get in here."

Itachi sat down as the three shinobis he had summoned did. Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, and Hayate Gekkō stared at him accusingly.

"You do realize we wouldn't have come here if you weren't ANBU, right?" Kakashi pointed out, believing that Itachi was still an equal, despite his status.

"Could you just give us our mission and be done with it?" Asuma demanded.

"Come on, fool, be cool." Ryik whispered to him. The Sarutobi eyed him strangely.

"So, what's this all about?" Hayate asked strangely.

"Your comrade, Iruka Umino, has gone missing. Lord Hokage was hoping that perhaps one of you might have seen him, considering how close you all are to him." Itachi had lied. Something he had been good at for the longest time.

The Jōnins stiffened and exchanged glances.

"He was supposed to turn in a mission report this morning, but when he didn't show. Ryik here and I went to see if he was all right. A neighbor said that he had left his apartment early this morning and hasn't been seen since this morning…Unless, you have any in tell."

They replied "no" and Itachi looked down in false doubt. "Then you can already guess what your mission is."

Ryik spoke up, "Uchiha, you-…"

"Find Iruka Umino." Kakashi clarified.

"Correct." Itachi nodded simply.

Ryik was sputtering. "B-B-B-But…!" over and over

"Report back immediately if you find anything."

"Uchiha, what the heck-…"

"Let's go!" Kakashi ordered. With that, the three disappeared leaving the flaming Ryik and passive Itachi.

"I knew it!"

Itachi sighed and stared at the accusing Ryik.

"I knew that you cared nothing about Anko! You were doing all this just to play with my head!"

"Ryik, that's not-"

"I'm going to go after her myself! Fool, I was trusting you!"

"Ryik, shut up and listen!" Itachi snapped, finally losing his patience.

"Whatcha' want, fool?"

Itachi growled. "If they found out about Anko, word would spread immediately to the Hokage and she, along with you and I, would be in a bigger shit load of trouble. I have this feeling that wherever this Iruka fellow is, Anko is as well."

Ryik stared at him wide-eyed. "So…"

He blinked. "Yeah, I care."

A wide grin spread over Ryik's tan face. He wrapped a brotherly arm around Itachi's shoulders. "Well then, let's go! Anko-girl needs both of us!" He released him and ran to the door. "Let's go, let's go, let's go…!"

Itachi smiled. Ryik, his partner, was something else. Ryik stuck his head back in the door. "How we gonna do this?"

The fucker was completely serious!

.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.' .'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.' .'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'

The Jonin team rested on a rooftop to more carefully put together the pieces of this mission.

"You thing he's hurt?" Asuma questioned Kakashi.

He shrugged. "Something's not quite right about this whole thing. If this were near important, we would have been summoned by the Hokage, not some rookie ANBU."

Asuma chuckled. "It doesn't seem to long ago that you were just a rookie ANBU, huh, Kakashi?"

"Hmph." He snorted bitterly.

Asuma laughed again. "Still, it's not abnormal for ANBU to give out orders every now and again. "Da—Lord Hokage must have just been too busy is all."

Kakashi was about to retort when the sound of a violent cough reached them. He and Asuma turned to see their almost forgotten comrade Hayate crumpled to the ground.

"Hayate!" they shouted together. They went to his side, prying his hand from his mouth so that he could breathe better.

"You're bleeding!" Kakashi exclaimed.

Hayate swallowed another mouthful of thick blood. He tried to get on his knees. "I'm fine…"

He fell back down and Asuma pulled his arm over his shoulders.

"You're going to the hospital right now." Asuma turned to Kakashi. "You coming?"

"If it's all right with you, I'd like to look a little bit more into this matter."

"Whatever." Asuma answered absently before disappearing.

Kakashi looked ahead. Yep, something felt wrong about this whole thing. He bit down on his thumb and made summoning hand signs. A few seconds later, Pakkun appeared in a puff of smoke. "…What's up, Kakashi?"

Kakashi leveled his shirtsleeve with Pakkun's nose. "I need you to trace Iruka Umino's scent. He's missing and could be hurt."

Pakkun sniffed the sleeve and then lifted his nose to the air. "This way."

Unaware to both of them, they being watched.

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Anko felt a cough lunge through her throat as she woke up. Bits and pieces of early events immediately began to fire; there was a kid, two actually, and she remembered feeling tired and something painful that helped her go to sleep.

She tried to look around, but she couldn't move her neck. She couldn't move anything, actually. Her blurry vision only allowed her to stare straightforward, right at the person strolling to her.

"I-Iruka?" her voice started off in short, low-whistled bursts.

She was proven dead wrong when the all too familiar cold hand touched her head.

"Sorry, darling, not this time." A wet rag replaced his hand. "You're still running quite a fever." He disappeared for a moment and then came back with a chair. He turned it backwards and sat in it, watching her as if she were an exhibit at a zoo.

"Where…is…?" speaking had never been this hard. She could barely breathe. Maybe that kid had done something to her lungs! "What's…wrong…me…?"

He chuckled and ran his fingers over a sensitive place on her arm. "We had to put you asleep so that you're your body could cool down. If you weren't so hot-headed in the first place, situations like this could be avoided."

He laughed at his little joke, but it wasn't as funny if no one else laughed or at least smiled with you. He calmed down and redirected his hand to her chin, lifting her bobbling head to his.

"As for that boy, who you don't have any business seeing in the first place, I may have been a little too rough with him. He hasn't moved since I brought him here."

The nerves Anko's eyes started to work all of a sudden. Her pupils shrunk as the image of Iruka's unmoving body shot through her mind. A tear ran down her cheek and oozed on Orochimaru's hand.

"There, there," he soothed her in a comforting way. He released her and her entire body fell out of the chair she had been sitting in and face first in the dirt. She would've screamed if her vocal cords weren't paralyzed.

Orochimaru squatted down, running his fingers through her head. "He's not dead, sadly. But he's in a very similar condition as you, only he's not recovering as fast-…"

"You bastard." Anko spat out angrily.

His fingers stopped. "What did you say?" She didn't answer him, so he fisted his fingers in her hair and drug her up. "I want to hear you say it!"

"…You're a fucking monster."

He frowned at her. "You don't-…"

"Why?" she raged at him. Her arm shot out and grabbed his hand. "Why Iruka? What has he done to deserve this!"

Orochimaru stared at her and then at her shaky arm, gripping his hand for dear life. He smiled at her strength; maybe she wasn't as soft as he made her out to be.

"Answer!" she coughed and went limp again.

Orochimaru turned her onto her back and scooped her up, earning a nice groan from her. He laid her down on the much softer cot on the other side of the cave. He ran his hand up her arm. "He seems to be quite in love in you, have you noticed?"

"Iruka…" she coughed, steadying her vision, "Iruka and I…are just friends."

His hand slid to the side of her face, digging into her temple, pressing on it. "I'd like to believe that, but you don't seem to see the stares he gives you."

His eyes became angry at the thought of his arms around her. He had been fighting with that twister inside his soul for days trying to figure out why he had gotten so boiled the day he saw Iruka hugged Anko.

Maybe he enjoyed playing with her so much that he had no room for anyone else to join the game. Or maybe it was that possessive nature that had developed since the day he became her teacher. Despite how long he had been out of her life, she, or at least a part of her (the part no one but he should be allowed to go near), still belonged to him.

"Please…" she whispered in a begging tone. "…Don't hurt him anymore."

"I'm sorry, my dear," he comforted "but that's what he deserves. I have to make sure he can't get near you again." He watched her eyes water up. If he weren't so sadistic, he would have felt sorry for her. Her teeth grinded together and her angelic face screwed into an ireful scowl. She wailed and suddenly they were up and Orochimaru was tripping over supplies until Anko had him pinned to a wall.

Her frail frame was shaking, but Orochimaru didn't know if it was from weakness or strength. "I…want to see him."

Orochimaru rolled his eyes and Anko's grip tightened.

"I want to see him, now!"

Orochimaru grabbed her wrists and pushed her back, causing her to fall to the ground. "You are in no position to make commands, dear."

He grabbed her ankle and flipped her onto her back to prevent her from fighting back. He pressed a knee into her stomach.

"Get off!" she wheezed out. He clamped a hand over her mouth. "Hush now." He cooed. He looked into her eyes, distant and angry.

"…You always had such strange eyes." He pointed out. This thumb traced her jaw as he studied the shrinking and expanding orbs. They were filled with a strong fire, but there was something she was seeing that was causing it to die down. Him? "Are you afraid right now, Anko?"

She glared at him. She focused on clearing away the fog covering her judgment; one slipup and she and Iruka were done for. "I'm not…as afraid, as I was a few days ago."

His finger tapped on her shoulder while he thought. "You should be though." He stopped her from speaking. "You have grown stronger, my dear, that much is clear. But you've also become so weak. You're too soft…"

Her eyes closed for a moment, as if she were reminiscing. 'That's why I'm here right now; I was too merciful with Mizuki and I felt sorry for a child I barely knew. I let those feelings, those wants, get in the way and now…I've destroyed someone else's life as well as my own. He was right; I have become weak.

But then again, those are the things that had kept her going when she felt like giving in. Iruka, Ryik, and even Orochimaru were her strength.

When they opened again, they were angry and yet so confident. "I am soft, I am caring, but I am strong enough to get rid of you!"

With that she slammed her knees in his stomach and threw him off her. Their fight echoed throughout the cave; kicks, punches, groans, and then finally a scream. Anko's scream. Orochimaru had her on her stomach; he straddled on shoulders with her arms twisted.

"G-Get off!" she yelled in pain.

Orochimaru leaned down and laughed in her ear. "I have half a mind to take you like this."

Anko's eyes widened and a light blush spread over cheeks. She would've never imagined her former sensei to have such a perverted mind.

"You're sick." She retorted to fight for the embarrassment, trying to push her body up.

He chuckled. "Perhaps, but it's your own fault for being so filled out." One of his hands went to her thigh and squeezed it to better emphasize what he meant. "That Iruka friend of yours probably was thinking the same thing."

Anko's face turned as red as a tomato and she glared. "YOU SICKO! NOW YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT-!"

"Lord Orochimaru?"

They both turned (or at least Anko tried to) to see the wide-eyed Kimimaro staring at them.

Orochimaru sighed irritated and turned. "What is it?"

Kimimaro averted his eyes from the scene. "We're packed up now. We'll leave when you're…ready."

"Hmph, I'll be right there."

Kimimaro bowed and left as Orochimaru got off of Anko casually and started to leave her in the dirt.

"What was he talking about!" Anko demanded. She used her arms to get on her knees, but soon found herself on her stomach again with the by Orochimaru's foot. "Get off!"

He lifted his foot off her for only a mere second before slamming it right in the middle of her spine. She froze, the pain taking its time to spread. The only thing she could feel was Orochimaru's breathe in her ear.

"Now I'm going to give you very precise instructions." He warned dangerously. The darkness in his voice made Anko's involuntary muscles shake. "You are not to move from this spot until me and my subordinates are far away. If you do, I will kill this Iruka fellow on spot. Do you understand?"

Anko stared at the darkness ahead with both apprehension and contentment. Iruka was still alive after all.

Orochimaru's foot was gone and Anko stood very still so that she could hear the sound of him leaving. She could hear hushed whispers and the sound of heavy objects being moved around. Her nerves were so jacked up that every time she heard an abnormally footstep, she jerked. She heard a chuckle, Orochimaru's, and she held her breath.

'Please disappear, please disappear, please disappear…'

Finally, after what felt like hours, there was silence, complete silence. She took in a deep breath and slowly stood, just in case she had to be put back down. She looked around carefully; no sign of Orochimaru or anyone else. Wasting no more time, she ran to the direction Orochimaru had gone into moments before.

There wasn't a ray of light anywhere; how the Hell was she supposed to find Iruka?

'Come on, buddy,' she begged while trying to keep from crashing into anything. 'Be here, make some noise or-…'

"Oof!" was the sound she made as tripped and hit the ground. She glanced back at the thing she had fallen over. She sat up and reached out cautiously; scruffy, thick hair. What?

The thing groaned and Anko's hand and body shot back, hitting a table of some sort. She listened again and it groaned louder. Her hand searched the table for a weapon of some sort and hit something; getting a good grip on it, she discovered it was a flashlight and turned to powerful beam on at the creature.

Green kakis…green t-shirt…tan, dirty skin…Leaf Village headband…

"Iruka!" Anko screamed excitedly. She jumped on him and pulled him into her arms. "Iruka! Buddy, if you can hear me open your eyes!"

He was very still for a long time; causing Anko to panic but she couldn't leave him again. Finally, he brown eyes opened, and after adjusting to seeing and recognizing her, smiled.

"I knew you'd come." He whispered hoarsely.

Anko hugged him, tears of joy and pain on her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Iruka. This is all my fault, I…"

She couldn't find the strength to tell him the truth at the moment. She had to save all of it for getting him out of there and back home. She wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Hold on, okay?" He groaned in response.

She aimed the flashlight at the abyss she had to travel in. Hopefully, she would find her way out.

"That fuck Orochimaru should've at least left me some directions!" she muttered out loud. Thankfully, Iruka was too zoned out to hear her.

Finally after what felt like hours, Anko heard the sound of wind blowing strongly through leaves; the air was cleaner now.

"Yes!"

The world was dark, but the moon gave it a welcoming atmosphere. Anko let the cold night air hit her as she dragged Iruka along. She smiled down at him.

"Hold on, buddy, we're almost home."

.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.' .'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.' .'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'

"His scent's getting stronger!" Pakkun called out.

"Stay on it." Kakashi ordered. He glanced back at the ninja's on top of him.

Above him were Itachi, serious and careful, and Ryik who was chasing a moth and screaming at it like an actual person. "You think ya'll can leave all that dust shit up on me? I'll show ya'll otherwise, ya butterfly wanna be!"

Itachi rolled his eyes and decided that Kakashi was a better company than his nut-case partner. "How far along are we?"

Kakashi looked at him. "He's close."

"I see." Neither one of them were good at starting conversations. Suddenly, though, Kakashi laughed. Itachi eyed him questionable. Kakashi was smiling though the black cloth on his face; he was sure of it by the way his eyes crinkled in the corners.

"Don't worry about it." He said through a laugh. "I just…I haven't been with a member of Obito's bloodline since I was fourteen."

Itachi's eyes widened slightly. He had barely known Obito Uchiha except for small mentions of his tragic death years ago. "I see."

Suddenly, Ryik, with leaves and sticks in his crazy hair, landed beside him and stumbled slightly. He smiled nervously at Kakashi. "How goes it?"

Kakashi looked away.

"Grouch." Ryik pouted. He turned back at Itachi. "How the hunt for my main gi-…"

Itachi stopped and slapped him down to keep him from slipping up.

"I-I meant what's his name!" Ryik gasped.

Kakashi was about to answer the strange people, but Pakkun interrupted. "We're right on top of him!"

.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.' .'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.' .'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'

Anko felt the weakness from earlier returning. She was burning up and patches of sweat were breaking out all over her body. The extra hear source and weight that Iruka provided wasn't helping out at all.

She started to stumble as she walked, her vision unsettling, but she wanted to keep holding on for as long as possible. "…No…"

Her legs buckled down and as a last effort, threw Iruka safely on a patch of soft grass while she fell stomach first into the dirt. She picked her face up and stared ahead. Darkness. No hope at all.

'Am I…going to die?' she closed her eyes, hurt. 'Shit. I didn't even get Iruka in a safe place; he's going to die as well.' She sighed and smiled slightly. 'At least…Hell, I don't even know why I'm happy about this… at least I got to see Orochimaru one last time.'

She was about to give into the death that was whispering to her, but then she heard a unsteady rhythm of rushing footsteps come her way. Her eyes snapped open as something cold, small, and wet touched her forehead.

She stared somewhat disgustedly at one of the ugliest dogs he'd ever seem. It disappeared instantly and rushed over to Iruka, her eyes followed.

"He's alive but he needs to get to a hospital. Same with the lady." The animal shouted. Anko looked back at the three blurry figures over ten feet away from her. She summoned her strength and stood to face them.

"Anko-girl?" one shouted.

Anko squinted her eyes at the one in front of the group. "…Ryik?"

Ryik Katzan's face lit up (imagine his eyes turning into anime hearts).

"Anko!" He ran after her. Suddenly, something grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Instead of being chastised as he thought he was about to be, Itachi ran past him. This time, Ryik disappeared in a myriad of flames and re-appeared in front of Itachi. "What the Hell, man!"

"I want to make sure she's okay before you kill her!" Itachi replied, kicking Ryik out of the way. Ryik turned into flames again and for the next couple of minutes, Itachi and Ryik dodged, cussed, and fought each other on who got to Anko first.

Anko, despite the fatigue, couldn't help but smile; there were still twopeople in the world that gave a damn about her, and were barely a cementer from her when Kakashi appeared in front of her and blocked the two.

"Hold up now," he said in good humor. "I need answers and I need as many people conscious for questioning."

Ryik and Itachi groaned and stopped fighting, though they were still glaring at each other.

"You weren't exactly mentioned in the mission report." He turned to Anko, giving Ryik and Itachi a slight glance; they were staring innocently at the sky, Ryik whistling.

"Good to see you, too, Scarecrow." Anko returned. With that, she passed out on top of him.

"Anko!" Ryik and Itachi shouted together. They glared at each other (electricity is going across their eyes like in anime cartoons).

"She's fine." Kakashi reassured, picking her up bridal style. "She's burning up, though…"

"Hold me back." Ryik whispered to Itachi. He punched him to calm him down.

"You two get Iruka."

"Right." They nodded. They each grabbed Iruka's arms and hoisted him to their shoulders. Their attention was focused on the girl in Kakashi's arms.

.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.' .'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.' .'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'

"Can ya'll believe you is getting of early for good behavior?" Ryik exclaimed to Anko just a little too loudly.

Anko rolled her eyes as Itachi handed her a piece of paper. "The only problem you have now is a way to pay for that house arrest bracelet you dismantled."

Anko smiled sheepishly. "Yeah…I'll have to work on that."

"Alright." chimed in a very tired Iruka. "I think it's best that we let Anko rest for the rest of her sentence." He smiled at Anko's pouting expression. "Pneumonia is a serious thing, Anko, the doctors said it was miracle that you survived this long with it."

"Yeah, yeah," Anko muttered, crossing her arms.

The night before, Anko and Iruka were admitted into the hospital. Iruka had very light injures and was suffering from dehydration while Anko was diagnosed with a case of Pneumonia that would have killed her if it were left untreated a day more. Thanks to Itachi, with slight help from Kakashi who was surprising good at charming the nurses would treated her and the doctor who handled her chart, she was able to go home that morning and have the trip to the hospital erased from her records.

Everyone, including the still suspicious Kakashi, agreed to keep the incident a secret. Anko was overflowing with thankfulness and did what she could to retain it; she didn't need her comrades to think she was soft.

"See ya later, Anko-girl." Ryik saluted as he gave her a fist punch; a body sign that would soon become part of their everyday lives.

Itachi nodded a goodbye, back to his impassive self again. However, Anko could have sworn that she saw a red blush on his cheeks before he turned away from her.

"Thanks for helping me!" she called out to him; she laughed when he ran.

Kakashi shot her a piece sign and disappeared; all who remained was Iruka.

Anko stared at his passive expression. She knew we would be haunted by the nameless ninjas who took him out and the fact that Anko almost died because he couldn't stand his own ground.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. Anko threw her alarm clock at him; it didn't hit him or break when it hit the wall, thankfully.

"Don't you dare! How many times am I going to have to tell you that it wasn't your fault?"

"There's no number." He reminded her. He rubbed the back of his neck and sat down on the end of her bed. "If you had been out there a minute more…you would've…" He clenched his teeth to avoid the thought.

Anko touched his hand. "I was out there because I wanted to be, because I hadto be. If you had been out there anymore, you would've died and I would be the one feeling guilty." She tried to add some humor to the matter. "And…Anko Mitarashi isn't going to go on a guilt trip because of you and your ramen eating ass."

"Thank you." Iruka laughed lightly at this. He finally did what he wanted to do for quite some time now; he kissed her. It was a harmless, cheek kiss, but it was enough to make him satisfied.

Anko stared at him¸ smiling cheekily; she knew he like her.

"Get some rest." He told her as he walked to the door. "I'll bring some lunch tomorrow."

"Anything but ramen, okay?" She was answered with her front door slamming. "I'll going hungry for the next five days."

She laughed. She sighed and laid back on her pillow, attempting to obey doctors' orders. Less than ten minutes later, she heard loud, heavy objects being dropped from outside her windows.

"Now what?" she griped. She sat up and looked out her window. Directly across from her apartment was her landlord, unlocking an apartment that, as far as Anko knew, had never been rented out. She cracked her window just a bit and listened carefully:

"Are these all your things?" asked the man, handing him the keys.

Anko squinted to see the man's face for he was completely hidden by bright sunlight. But then, he slowly turned to her until he was facing her window. He stepped forward and his face was revealed.

Anko's heart stopped the second she saw his eyes. His dark, golden eyes.

Orochimaru smirked as he caught sight of his new "neighbor" who was half hidden in the shadows of her bedroom. "No, not quite…"

Anko shot back around and covered her mouth to stop a scream. "No. NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"

I am a total screw up [nothing wrong with that by the way]

…Oh shit…what does he want NOW!