A/N: Yes, I know, this is long overdue. :x Sorry~!
Lectures were kind of smothering me, and I got hit with a serious case of writers block for this fic. Even writing oneshots didn't help bring any inspiration.
So if you find this chapter not up to standard or anything, I apologize. This chapter seriously didn't want to be written. I had to force out every word. (T.T)
Thanks to those who reviewed!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and any of its characters.
Before…
Itachi... Uchiha Itachi...
Anko was so shocked that her words caught in her throat. What was the S-class nin doing here? What was he doing here?
So speechless was she that she did not even react when Itachi reached to arrange a white and red rose in to the strands of her hair, before tucking them behind her ear.
"What are you doing here?" Anko asked, instantly berating herself for the slight stammer in her tone. Around this man who have the skills to kill his entire clan, showing any hint of weakness is suicidal.
Itachi simply reached down, pulling her up to his chest, his arms encircling her waist. "I've missed you."
~.*~.*~.*~.*~.*~.*~.*~.*~
A few deep breaths and Anko managed to salvage a few brain cells to register that she was still alive, pulled up flushed against a missing-nin's chest -S-class missing-nin's chest- and trying to stay as still as possible. As she regained control of the last few strands of sanity, a few scenes played before her eyes on the possible outcomes of her situation, none of it with her coming out alive.
"How have you been?" Itachi's murmur was a ghostly caress against her ear that had her shivering despite the warmth provided by their close proximity.
It chilled her to the very core.
Her breath got shallower.
Oh, she was fine. Maybe except for the fact that her heart was determined to leave her chest by actively slamming against it. Well, it could be due to the fact that she was held against the body of some guy who could loop her head off at any moment. Didn't help at all that said guy was -and still is- a clan murderer and is a part of a homicidal organization with the aim to take over the world.
"I'm…fine." Anko almost swore. That high-pitched squeak was definitely not hers.
And with the increased beating of her heart, her mind under the stress of possibly dying at any given moment and the goosebumps breaking out at the feeling of his hands at her waist, Anko thought that 'fine' was stretching things a little too far.
But she kept the observation to herself.
Itachi didn't need to know that she was freaked out by his presence anymore than what he already thought her to be.
Amidst her panic-induced ramblings in her head, Itachi pulled back, his hands still around Anko's waist. "Why are you so afraid?"
"Who says I am." She mumbled, even as her palms started to sweat. The trained instincts, the ninja within her clamored for her to grab the kunai at her thigh and slash at the enemy in front of her.
Before he does her first.
It was years of self-control, a skill honed when dealing with Orochimaru -who can be an inconsiderate jerk at times which makes one really want to kill him- that Anko was able to keep her hands still by her side.
But her mind worked furiously as she assessed the situation. The way he was acting, it was as if they were both back when they were still young, in Konoha. Cold sweat trickled down her spine as she sought to find a method to the madness that was Itachi.
Why would he come for her? Why would he come back for her now?
Obviously being in Akatsuki fried Itachi's brain cells. There was no other valid reason for his weird behavior right now. A pity, but it's not something that she is going to dwell on. She'd save celebrating his loss of sanity for another day. Now calls for more pressing matters.
Itachi's nuzzling of her hair brought her back to her present situation. "What are you thinking so intently about?"
On the best way to kill you and come out of this alive, but Anko bit back her retort. To properly deal with this situation, she reasoned, she needs to know why Itachi came. Not to antagonize him.
"…more importantly," Itachi continued after Anko remained in her silent vigil. "Why are you here?"
Her head snapped up, brown eyes wide in disbelief. A flash of something -Concern? Distaste?- in his obsidian eyes, and Anko could almost belief, almost convince herself that they were back in the past where he would comfort her when she felt down, albeit a little awkwardly, when she needed a pillar of support after Orochimaru was gone. That he was still the distant and silent stronghold that she could always rely on, the boy with that rare smiles that had her breathless once upon a time. Instead for the cold murderer in front of her.
Just as fast as it appeared in his eyes, it was gone.
And why, why was she here indeed.
Perhaps she was going insane as well. But that would be her problem to worry over. Not Itachi's. Not after how he betrayed the entire village, betrayed his clan.
So what was he playing at?
"It doesn't concern you," Anko tried to keep the fear out her voice and she succeeded somewhat, with only a slight tremor to her voice that she hoped went unnoticed by the man before her. "Why are you here?"
Itachi looked at her, his midnight eyes unreadable as they have been even since young.
"…I'm just-" His head snapped up, eyes darting to the door.
"Someone approaches." he murmured.
Gripping her arm tightly, he turned back to her. "You will tell no one of our meeting, Anko."
When he failed to achieve a response from her, his grip tightened.
Anko grimaced. "Ouch, that hurts! Fine!"
A small upturn of his lips -the forming of a smirk?- before he leaned in close. "Don't worry, we will meet again soon."
Then, in a swoop of black feathers, he disappeared and just in time too, as the door swung open. Kabuto walked in, his eyes trained on the clipboard in front of him.
"You're needed at the training field." He addressed her, eyes not leaving the medical report before him.
"Wha- I mean why so-"
"They're Orochimaru-sama's orders." He interrupted, before looking up. "You have-" He glanced at the clock on the wall. "-ten minutes to prepare for it. Don't be late."
Before Anko could tell him just where his Orochimaru-sama could shove his orders, the medic-nin slipped out of the door.
She stared at the closed door, as her reeling and spinning mind tried to keep up with what was happening.
Through some mysterious means, or maybe just her insanity speaking, Itachi had appeared before her.
And told her he missed her.
And if that doesn't really take the cake for all the shit that has been happening to her, now she has to meet with Orochimaru now even after last night's fiasco.
So, to put it more eloquently, her life was as screwed up as it could possibly be.
~.*~.*~.*~.*~.*~.*~.*~.*~
The preparations took her more than ten minutes. A mere glance into the mirror and she could tell that she looked like crap. She seemed like the perfect candidate for someone who had too much shit to deal with and too little sleep to survive it on.
Still, she wasn't going to let Orochimaru know that he had gotten to her, she decided with a stubborn set to her jaw as she strode through the endless maze of underground pathways, towards the training ground. She didn't survive this long pinning for him.
She wasn't going to let all her effort, her composure, go to waste and breakdown just because both he and Itachi thinks they can waltz into her life however much and in whatever fashion they please.
She was no longer a naïve kid.
Both of Orochimaru and her were adults, so it would look natural if she were to take it that last night was one with no strings attached. That would give her the space to be nonchalant about that night.
As for Itachi, she have to think of that later.
One thing at a time, one shit at a time, girl, she told herself, a calming chant that filled her head.
Last night, she had cried.
She wouldn't break anymore than that.
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