Anko was experiencing one of her bad days. The sort that got her drinking and doing stupid shit.
"We should scare those kids so bad, they shit themselves," she said to Ibiki on one of their monthly meet-ups.
He sighed and picked up his tea before taking a sip and shaking his head. "We will not be doing that. At least not today."
"Come on~!" she whined, and laid her face onto the cool table. Splaying out her arms, she tried to take up as much room as possible. Just to see if she could get a reaction, despite knowing the limited likelihood of it.
"Your boyfriend will be disappointed in you," Ibiki informed her in a curt tone. Then he poked her head and released a cruel laugh. "Got you there, didn't I?"
"No," she muttered, but didn't move.
It wasn't like she had a boyfriend. It was just that people under the impression had never been explained otherwise. She never tried to inform them of the changes in her life or even of the fact that she seemed to be forgetting an awful lot of things, both recent and from the past. Like how she had ever gotten into a relationship with Kakashi at all, or how everybody learned of it to begin with.
There was so much that she didn't know anymore. It had been this way for a while, had been months since she became aware of not knowing, like waking up to a bad dream. She didn't know where that dream began
"How old am I?" Anko asked, not sure why she wanted to.
"Hmm...nineteen, I think?" He grinned a little. "I'm older than you, that's all I know."
On the outside, she laughed and gave him a look. "Are you sure it's okay you're out with such a young girl like me?" She winked and broadened her grin. "You're girlfriend will get jealous too, won't she?"
She expected him to joke back with her. Say something stupid, or look a bit embarrassed. Instead, he just smiled back at her. "She won't. Mayumi knows that I'm only trying to help you."
It caught her off guard more than she expected it to.
Anko blinked. "Why?"
She might've sounded angrier than she intended but it was... it was...
After the investigations into her and all of the interrogations, she'd known they had no reason to meet anymore. But she had never thought there was reason at all to their relationship in the first place, so why bother asking? Still, she waited for his answer and tried not to look to eager as she took a sip of her own bitter choice of drink.
"I met you on the night your teacher was outed," Ibiki answered, serious again and surprising her even more. "When everything blurred into procedures and practices being put to use. The very night you got hurt the way you did and the night you clung to me begging that you could stay in Konoha forever. You may not remember but... it was me who brought you to the hospital and the entire time you cried. It was the agony you were in but it was eerie. Like you'd already known what else had happened."
"When my father died, fighting that son of a bitch," she said, numb.
"You didn't cry after that," Ibiki continued, as if she hadn't said anything at all. "You just looked out the window and waited."
"Waited for what?" Anko wondered and tilted her head in confusion. "I don't remember any of this at all."
"Eventually, he came. The only person in the world who could make you smile after something like that," and as if to punctuate his words, he grinned and took another sip of his cooling tea. "He asked me to look after you and that's why I still do."
Her face must've looked red because it sure as hell felt hotter than usual. Probably from the steam of her coffee.
"Tch," she looked away. "That's damn irritating."
"The second reason is because by now we're friends and I like you, kid."
If it could have been possible, she got even redder and refused to meet his eyes. "Old man."