If one really knew Orochimaru, really knew him, they would've known he was actually having a nightmare instead of suffering from the cold as he would of claimed.

Besides, his entire body was drenched in a cold salve of sweat, his hands the only warm part of his body for he had been clawing at the sofa he was lying on for some time now. He was panting, as if he was suffering from heat dehydration rather than cold.

"Anna…" he kept saying over and over again."Anna…please…just let me try…"

././.

It was their wedding night and she was nervous, he could tell from the light blush on her delicate cheeks and the way her eyes stayed adverted from his.

He had never been too interested in what was under the many, colorful robes she always wore, but it was a custom for man and wife, or whatever he considered her to be to him, to share one another. But the ring on Orochimaru's finger didn't matter; she was his newest pawn, not his wife. He would take what he wanted plus more.

He brushed a long strand of her black hair away and lifted her gentle blue eyes to his gaze. "Anna…I'm going to try to make this painless, Anna."

She stared at him in curiosity; a cute innocent stare. He kissed her slowly, wanting to get at least a taste of what human really was. He felt her gasp in his mouth, too innocent to get taken advantage of.

His hand moved to her stomach where chakra would be shot into her stomach and put her to sleep quickly. "I'll try not to let you suffer Anna."

When his hand went through her stomach, he had expected to see blood and hear her screams of pain and terror. But instead, he heard laughter and heard his owns scream as he toppled into the darkness.

Anko, her purple hair mattered with Anna's blood, smirked at him, but he couldn't hear what she was saying to him.

././.

He shot up; the presence beside him was so strong.

Without a second of hesitation, he brought a concealed kunai to the person lingering beside him neck. Kimimaro froze mid breath and dared not move as the point of the kunai embedded his throat. Orochimaru managed to stop before causing any real damage. He snarled at the child.

"You know better to sneak up on me when I'm sleeping, Kimimaro!" he yelled so loud that Anko probably could have heard from her own apartment.

"I-"

Orochimaru grabbed him and shook him harshly, "Do you honestly want to die?"

"No, Lord Orochimaru." His voice was cracking. "I…heard you moaning…I thought you were hurt…"

Tears were starting to pour down his pale cheeks. He was so unused to his master acting like this: like he hated him. Yes, Orochimaru was a bit strict at times, but it was usually only a mild scolding or a serious command that couldn't be fouled. Ever since they had moved into the retched city, his master had been so…cruel.

Orochimaru threw him back so that he was barely able to catch himself. "You sicken me, go back to bed."

Kimimaro stared at him in disbelief before Orochimaru jumped up. "I said go!"

A sob broke Kimimaro's throat and he sprang to the safety of his room as fast as his nine-year-old legs could take him.

Orochimaru sighed irritated and walked into the kitchen for a glass of water. Yet, he could drink the liquid for the sound of Kimimaro's barely audible sobs kept him from swallowing. Part of him wanted to go to Kimimaro's room and check on the child, but the other was stronger and wanted to start ripping heads. He had to get away, even if just for a little while. And there was only one safe haven he could think of.

"Kimimaro, I'm going out."

The first thing Anko's very tired mind processed as it awakened by an absurd knock was "If it's Ryik, I'll kill him. If it's someone else, I'll kill them." She closed her eyes again in hopes that the knocker would disappear and never return. Dreams are pointless.

The knock was louder this time.

Anko jumped up, her eyes glowing red. "Who the fuck is dumb enough to mess with me this time of night!" she practically tore the covers in half in order to storm to the door to find the unfortunate soul that was keeping her from her eight hours of sleep.

She immediately swung the door open to scream at the person, "Ryik, you better have one hell of a-"

Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and realized that this person was a few feet too tall to be Ryik.

"Orochimaru?" she whispered in case she was wrong. His familiar touch came across her cheek and all she could do was stare.

"Please, let me stay with you."

"You didn't hit him, did you?" Anko asked over a yawn. She and Orochimaru were currently sitting in her room: Anko was sitting on her desk while Orochimaru was lying on her bed as if he owned it. In a way, she was counseling him.

"No," he stated. "But I wanted to so badly."

Anko laughed softly. "Don't worry about it, I feel like hitting you all the time."

He shot her an irritated look. "Not helping, Mitarashi."

She sighed and jumped down, sitting beside his resting form. "Let's try something else, all right? I'm not a good therapist."

"No kidding." He said, smiling a little.

"So…" she thought hard, but she had already had her next thought on the mind all night. "Why'd you kiss me tonight?"

He looked at her curiously. "Why does it matter to you?"

She laughed nervously, "Well, when you are finally caught, I want to make sure child molestation is on your crime list."

He rolled his eyes and sat up, swinging his legs over the bed so that they were closer. "It's a custom to share a light kiss after the first date, Anko, or at least that was the way it was back when I was a teenager. You probably have sex after the first date, eh?"

She twitched slightly but kept her cool. "Technically, I threw Irukaout of the house after the first date."

Orochimaru twitched as well. "What is it about that boy that draws you to him?"

She shrugged, "He's nice…"

"But?" he added, knowing her mind.

"He just…not who I want to spend the rest of my life with."

"Ah…"

She turned serious. "I feel like kicking your ass all of a sudden."

He laughed and lay back down. "In the morning, all right?"

"Whoa…" she started as he laid back on her bed and shut his eyes. "You are not sleeping in here." But the moron pretended he was asleep.

"Oh, hell no!" Anko exclaimed. She jumped up and grabbed his ankles and yanked him off of the bed so that he landed with a smack on the wooden floor. "Uh-uh, couch! Right now!"

She yelped as he quickly switched their positions so that she almost cracked her skull open as she hit the floor. "Make me."

She growled and turned their positions. This suddenly became a completion for dominance. The two rolled around the room, yelling, growling, and even clawing at each other to get the other to slow down.

"MY HOUSE, MY RULES!"

"DOES THE WORD "HOSPITALITY" MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU?"

"NOT WHEN IT COMES WITH YOU!"

He threw her to the side, causing her to his her head to crash into the backboard of the bed.

"Ow!" she whined.

"Are you all right?" Orochimaru moaned as he stood from where he was.

"No!" she yelled back.

He approached her slowly, "Is anything broken; can you move?"

"Will you shut up?"

He smirked viciously. "I'll take that as a yes."

She stopped rubbing her head and looked up at his strange expression. "What—Hey, let go of me!" she screamed to the top of her lungs as Orochimaru picked her up by the shirt collar and slammed her into the door behind them, crushing her body into the wood with his so that she couldn't move.

Anko started to panic. He was so fast and dangerous that could do anything and she wouldn't see it coming. But, he only stood there, catching his breath and stopping her from making any kind of escape. His head collapsed on hers, causing a small shriek of surprise to come from Anko. His hot breath smothered her lips as he tried to regain his strength. His half lidded eyes stared into hers, hypnotizing her and causing her mind to slow down.

The thoughts of a few hours ago ran through her mind; she was petrified.

His lips came down beside her ear. "Good night."

Suddenly the support behind her disappeared and within a second's time, Anko found herself on the floor outsideher bedroom.

"HEY!" the door slammed with a click; Orochimaru had locked the door.

She jumped up and pounded on the door with her clench fists. "YOU SON OF A BITCH! OPEN THIS DOOR, OR SO HELP ME I'LL BLOW THIS ENTIRE APARTMENT COMPLEX UP WITH YOU IN IT, DAMN IT!"

A mocking chuckle was her only reply.

Mad or pissed off weren't the correct words to describe the emotion burning in and outside of Anko. She was embarrassed, ashamed that she had let him take her out so easily; that one out of character action could throw her so far off.

She took a few shaky steps back until her back hit the wall and she let her legs give out under her so that she toppled to the floor. She glared at the door as she sprawled out on her side.

"You'll regret this." She swore as she closed her eyes, the mirages of that man in her bed haunting her.

About an hour later, the door of Anko's bedroom opened just an inch before opening the rest of the way, a very careful man stepping out to retrieve his sleeping cargo. Picking her up as carefully as possible, he carried her to the bed they were going to be sharing that night and laid her down gently, pulling the light sheet over her before taking his place beside her.

"You make things quite interesting, Anko." He whispered to her sleeping form. He was having one of those moments when he wasn't sure what was running through his mind; he was so lost in her image.

"When I first came here, I hadn't anticipated on seeing you this much, neither less, spending the night in your house at least twice a week." His thumb grazed her jaw slightly, causing Anko to flinch and moan. He smiled. "But you seem to be adjusting just fine."

He stared at her a moment longer before sliding back to give her the sleeping space she had made clear they would have whenever he spent the night.

White was now Anko's favorite color. It provided warmth, softness, and a new sense of peace to her worrisome mind.

She snuggled deeper into the warmness, breathing in the scent of…Mmm…fresh sunlight. Despite how much she wanted to drift back to sleep with it in her nostrils, her instincts told her to make some kind of attempt to wake up. Turning on her back, she let her eyes slowly open to see the familiar ceiling of her bedroom, instead of the hallway as she expected.

She shot up and quickly looked around. It was just her in the warm sheets.

"How'd I get back in here?" she asked out loud. Something fuzzy brushed against her side and slowly looked down to see Orochimaru, in all his awesomeness, glowing in the afternoon light.

She shuddered before quickly, but smoothly, getting out of bed and taking a few steps back. She stared at his well-defined back for a moment. Her mind wondered what he had to go through to get muscles like that, and what was the rest of his body like? His chest was almost the same, with exception of being for comfortable to sleep on. But what about down south…

"Damn it!" she half screamed. Almost pulling her hair out, she made the wise move of taking her thoughts out into the hallway.

As soon as she was in the kitchen, she went over to the sink and turned the water on cold, soaking her entire head in the freezing liquid before drawling it out quickly. She sighed loudly through her shivers as she searched for a rag of some sort to dry her hair with. She finally settled with shaking herself out.

"Okay, okay, bad thoughts gone." She leaned on the counter and surveyed her kitchen. Her stomach made a gurgling sound and her hand went to it. "Guess I might as well make me and the asshole something to eat."

Anko decided on scrambled eggs and bacon to quench her hunger. She was whistling a slight tune as she prepared the meal, but she was taken off key but the sound of a manly yawn and a chair being pulled out behind her.

"Morning." His tired voice greeted.

"Yeah, yeah." Anko snapped back. "Just be glad I was starving or I wouldn't have gotten up to fix anything. I always make too much for one person anyway." All she received was a groan from the snake.

She glanced back to see Orochimaru had his head buried in his arms; either he was still waking up, or in deep pain.

"You all right?" she asked, trying to sound as casual as she could; it's not like she cared or anything.

He said something but his arms blocked his words out. Anko threw the spatula she was using down and went over to him, yanking him up by his hair.

"Answer me when I talk to you." She commanded.

He grabbed her wrist and twisted it very painfully to the right. "Don't you dare try to act like you have some kind of control over me!"

Anko twisted and got her free hand around his throat, growling sternly. "And don't you ever put your hands on me like you just did."

He glared and was about to retort when he saw black smoke rising just behind her.

"Anko!" he exclaimed, pointing to the stove.

She shot around and announced, "Aw, man!" and ran to the window, opening it, and then running under the sink and grabbing a fire extinguisher. Orochimaru stood beside her as she put out the fire as moral support.

"You're so careless." He hissed as soon as the smoke cleared to reveal the slightly burned wall.

"Shut up…" she coughed.

After a moment, the two turned to each other.

"Wanna just eat out?" Anko suggested.

Orochimaru simply shrugged. "Why not? Just let me check up on some things."

"He's gone." Orochimaru finally announced.

Anko threw a couch cushion down that she thought it would be fun to look under. "You could have saved us an hour.

After arguing over what Orochimaru should wear for their little breakfast 'date', the two had begun the search for the almost forgotten Kimimaro to see if he was starving to death. This had been going on for almost an hour now and they still hadn't found the boy.

"Maybe he just went out to eat; you don't exactly keep this place stalked with food."

"I'd like to say the same about your apartment." He muttered.

"What was that?" Anko asked dangerously, bringing out a kunai in case he decided to recite it again.

Orochimaru's eyes widened as a thought came to him about Kimimaro's whereabouts; it was a long shot, but it was all he had at the moment.

"Come on." She put the kunai away as he dragged her out the door. "Where are we going?"

"I think I know where he is."

"Here." Kabuto Yakushi said as he sat a bowl of rice in front of his depressed comrade. "Sorry but that's all I have to live off of until my first check comes in; studying to be a medical ninja isn't cheap."

"It's fine," Kimimaro replied, pushing the bowl away "I'm not that hungry, anyway."

Kabuto watched the boy's crestfallen expression as he poured himself a cup of tea. Whatever went down between him and Orochimaru must have really been something if he came to him of all people.

The medical ninja wanted to press deeper into the details. "Um…"

"It's all that girl's fault!" Kimimaro burst out suddenly.

Kabuto held onto his cup to keep it from spilling from Kimimaro's outburst. "Girl? Orochimaru's found a…" it word was almost unspeakable. "Girlfriend?"

Kimimaro's angry expression calmed slightly. "I wouldn't call her that exactly, but Lord Orochimaru's been with her a lot enough to make it seem like she is."

Kabuto secretly smirked. "So he's seeing that Anko Mitarashi girl, eh?"

The boy nodded solemnly. "I don't hate her. I really don't, but ever since Lord Orochimaru and I moved here, he hasn't acted at all like himself and I just know she part of the reason."

"How is he acting?"

"Just…different. He's not sleeping at night, he's bitter on some days and happy on others," his hand traveled to the small bruise that rested on his chest from Orochimaru last night. "And…He's been so violent."

Kabuto actually looked sympathetic. "He's been beating you?"

"NO!" Kimimaro immediately defended, like any broken child would. "Not physically at least; with exception of last night."

Kabuto was silent for a long moment. His head was spinning with all kinds of thoughts and flashes of smirks were appearing on his tan lips. "Well, I know what you can do to make it all go away."

Kimimaro stared at him with hope as darkness filled Kabuto's eyes. "Kill Anko."

Kimimaro turned dead white. "Kill her?"

"Yep," Kabuto answered casually. "If you wipe out the source of Lord Orochimaru's problems and he'll be fine."

Kimimaro stared down at the rice that remained untouched in its bowl. "I don't know…"

"Kabuto!" someone yelled outside of the house.

"Damn!" Kabuto hissed, immediately recognizing his master angry tone. He also heard a "Calm down, you idiot" from another unfamiliar voice, but it didn't mean as much to him.

A second later, the door almost came off the hinges as Orochimaru and an irritated Anko came through it.

Kabuto and Kimimaro stood at attention, both scared out of their skin.

The flaring Sannin went up to Kimimaro. "What were you thinking?"

The pale boy flinched in fear "Lord Orochimaru, I-"

Orochimaru's hand shot up on its own and slapped the boy across the face before he had the chance to finish. Kimimaro hit the table and then curled up into a pain filled ball on the floor.

The room was so silent for that moment.

Anko could only stare in shock and stifle a gasp. She as Orochimaru's ex-student, she had seen him during some infuriating moments, but not once did he abuse her. He smacked her once or twice, but it was more of constructive criticism on both their parts.

Kabuto gripped the chair he was leaning against for support. He had seen Orochimaru get crazy on a lot of people, but he never experience it himself, nor saw someone he knew very well get it. And now, Kimimaro wasn't moving, nor did he seem to breathe.

But Orochimaru was the most shocked out of all of them. The palm he had slapped Kimimaro with was tingling, but the rest of his body was so numb. 'Did I kill him?'

Finally, a cough broke through the white haired boy's throat. He picked his head up to show everyone the small trail blood exiting his nostril. There was a large, red mark on the side of his face now, which he touched as he got to his knees. Small noises left him and soon enough the sounds turned into sobbing as he tried to wipe the tears that came after them.

Orochimaru glared down at him, a child he had trained never to be weak.

"Get up…" he growled low and dangerously. As the boy remained as he was, Orochimaru's temper flared and he was a second away from breaking his neck. "I said get up!"

In a flash, Anko was hovering over Kimimaro, using her body as a shield to protect him with. She shot a glare at Orochimaru. "What the hell are you trying to prove?"

Orochimaru snarled at her. "Get out of the way, Anko!"

She jumped up and got dead in his face. "They might be your subordinates, but I'm not. I don't care who or what you are to them, but if I ever see you lay a hand on this kid or any other, I will kill you, got it?"

His hand twisted into fists; why was it that he could smack anyone around he wanted, but when it came to her he could barely scream at her?

She looked back at Kimimaro who had been dragged out of harm's way by Kabuto. She looked back at Orochimaru with hard eyes.

"You and I are out of here; Kimimaro is staying here for a day or so." She turned and pulled her wallet out of her pocket, laying a few crumpled bills on the table. "That's money for food, don't waste it." She grabbed Orochimaru's arm. "We're going."

And surprisingly, he left with her like a child with his mother.

She dragged him in silence all the way back to his apartment, ignoring the stares she got from the people who saw them.

She practically threw him through the door before locking it. "What the hell is the matter with you?"

Of course, he decided not to answer.

She was following him into the kitchen where he got himself a glass of water and gulped it down slowly. She leaned into the doorframe, defiant that she wasn't letting him get away with this one.

"Why did you go off like that?" she asked again.

He slammed the glass down and panted out "Why are you always angry?"

"Don't switch this around on me!"

He chuckled lightly. "That's exactly what I mean." He sighed and turned to her. "He needed to be taught a lesson; I believe the slap across the face did it."

Anko could sense the tension hiding under his voice. "You're lying."

He smirked at her. "Am I?"

She glared. "Like I said, I'm not letting you pin this around on me. You need to deal with your own problems."

"I don't have problems," he defended "You, however, have them up to your pretty little eyes."

Anko didn't move as he brushed past her, but her eyes followed. "Why can't you admit you did wrong?"

"Why are you pretending to care?"

She shot around. "I hate people who leave kids in pain."

He had her. "Like I did you, Anko-chan?"

She flinched. She hadn't met to make it come back to her, but now that it had, it made sense. Maybe it was her past that caused her to respond to Orochimaru's actions and protect Kimimaro. But, it wasn't Kimimaro she was trying to protect; it was herself.

"Stay put." was all she said as she left his house.

He stared in confusion as she left, but didn't say anything to make her stay. He pinched the area between his eyes in annoyance; he should have just let Kimimaro be, then he wouldn't have had tonight's problem. He flopped back on the couch; things were defiantly not going the way he had wanted them to.

He looked up as the door opened again and Anko entered with a paper bag in her hand. She walked over to him silently and placed the item down on the coffee table before revealing it.

"Aren't you a little young to be in taking such strong liquor?" he asked with a smirk as he studied the long bottle of vodka.

Anko opened the bottle and took a long gulp as her answer. She brought it down and panted as the warmth sunk into her throat. "I…I want to forget."

She was about to take another drink when Orochimaru's hand around her arm stopped her.

"Forget what?"

She snatched it away from him. "Everything."

It was then Orochimaru saw all the pain she had spent years bottling up fill up her eyes. Every sleepless night, every heartache, every scream and cry, was visible; it was up to him to take it all away.

He took the bottle from her and watched her eyes as he took a long gulp of his own. "We're going to need a lot more than this."

MAKE OUT SECTION UP NEXT!