Concerning I'm making no profit off this story, I guess I still don't own these characters. Oh well…


My Golden Heart

Chapter 13- Decisions

It was bright. That's the first thing her mind registered through the pounding pain in her head. It was too bright. Anko became used to the darkness in Orochimaru's hideout, but for some reason all her eyes could pick up at the moment was white.

Despite the pain, Anko managed to open her eyes to see a blond woman before her.

"T-Tsunade?" Anko's voice cracked out in disbelief.

The woman quickly looked at Anko before throwing her arms around the girl into a big hug.

"Oh Anko, you're awake!" Tsunade exclaimed. "I was afraid you weren't going to wake up after finding you passed out in the forest!"

"F-Forest?" Anko squeaked. "B-but what about Orochimaru and Kabuto and…and…"

"Oh dear, you must've hit your head really hard." Tsunade replied sadly.

Anko could feel tears forming in her eyes. It was all a dream? She never went to the sound? Never walked around with Kabuto? Never shared those moments with Orochimaru?

"Anko? Are you alright?" Tsunade asked after noticing a tear slide down the girl's face.

"N-No…It can't be…" Anko choked out. Tsunade went to put a hand on the girl's shoulder, but before she could, Anko buried her face into the blanket to muffle her cries.

"Anko! Anko, please tell me what's wrong!" Tsunade called out worryingly. Anko lifted her head up quickly to take in a sharp breath.

"I want to go back!" She sobbed out.

"Back?" Tsunade questioned. "Back where?"

"I have to go back! I have to go to Orochimaru!" Anko cried out as she kicked off her sheets to jump out of the bed.

"Now hold on, Anko, lie down." Tsunade protested as she pushed Anko back against the pillow.

"No! I have to find Orochimaru! I need him!" Anko screamed as she tried to fight away from Tsunade's grasp.

"Why in the world would you want to go to him, Anko? After everything he has done to you?" Tsunade replied through Anko's struggles. She stopped fighting though after the last word left Tsunade's mouth. Everything…Everything he's done to me…

Flashes of her in the dark room, the curse seal burning her up seeped into her mind. She remembered the pain clearly, the pain from the seal, the pain from his bite, the pain of him leaving…

More tears rolled down her face as Tsunade loosened her grip on her even more. Anko just continued staring blankly up at the ceiling feeling her tears slowly drip off her cheeks and onto her bed.

"I don't care about any of that," Anko replied after a long moment of silence. "I can't let him get away from me again. I-I lov-"


Anko's eyes shot open only to find the familiar darkness of Orochimaru's hideout around her. She quickly sat up which caused her head to pound in response to her quick movement.

"You should really lie down." A voice said from beside her. Anko turned her head in order to see the familiar form of Orochimaru just barely illuminated from the lamp beside him.

"Orochi-" Anko began, but he pushed her back against her pillow.

"Anko, listen to me," He began as he stared into her wide, brown eyes. "I want you pay really close attention, so don't go and start day dreaming while I'm talking."

Anko felt a small smile form on her lips as she remembered those days that seemed so far away.

"Anko," Orochimaru continued causing her to look back at him to see two headbands, one in each hand. In his right, there was her Leaf village band and in his left was a Sound one.

"I'm going to let you choose now. You can either go back to Konoha," He motioned his right hand toward her as he said this. "Or you can stay here."

Anko felt her eyes water but she refused to cry.

"If you stay here, you won't be a prisoner anymore. You'll be free as long as you don't do anything that might incriminate you," Orochimaru said as he looked at her confused expression. "Now if you choose to go back, I'll let you walk right out of here and you can go right back to Konoha, no strings attached. But if we meet again, I won't let you off easy like I'm doing now, you'll be an enemy, understand?"

Anko nodded as she looked from one hand to the other. Konoha or Otogakure? How would she pick? All of her friends were in Konoha. But did she really still go back and consider it home? But Orochimaru did all those experiments. All the bodies, could she live with that?

Reaching out her hand slowly, she grasped her Konoha head band. She picked it up and looked at it as it shined from the small light of the lamp. Anko glanced back up at Orochimaru to show that she had made her choice.

Anko quickly tossed the headband over her shoulder and lunged onto Orochimaru, trapping him in a hug. She could hear her headband clanking as it hit the floor, but she just grasped onto him tighter as her tears soaked his shirt.

Orochimaru seemed surprised for a moment but then slowly wrapped his arms around her as his hand rubbed her back. "Are you sure?" He whispered in her ear and she nodded in response. Once his lips pressed into hers, she knew she had made the right decision.


Kabuto smirked as he watched Orochimaru and Anko walk into the kitchen. Orochimaru had his arm around her waist and Kabuto could see a sound ninja headband replaced the leaf one that used to be on Anko's forehead.

"Anko." Kabuto nodded curtly at her as she sat down at the table. Orochimaru had left her side in order to go over to the stove to make himself some breakfast.

"Kabuto." She replied with some venom in her voice.

"Now, now you two, let's not start a war." Orochimaru sighed as he played with his fork while waiting for his egg to finish cooking.

"Sorry, sir, I'll do my best to get along with her no matter what." Kabuto replied as he smirked at Anko's glare.

"Suck up." Anko growled under her breath toward the medical ninja.

"You would know." Kabuto hissed back. Anko went to lunge at Kabuto when suddenly both were pulled back sharply. Orochimaru had unexpectedly appeared behind them and were know holding both Anko and Kabuto by the collars of their shirts.

"Alright, let me make this perfectly clear," Orochimaru said dangerously. "Anko, you had better learn to treat Kabuto with respect because if anything were to happen to you, it wouldn't be to your benefit to having our best medic holding a grudge against you."

Kabuto snickered at this causing Orochimaru to shoot him a glare. "And you," Orochimaru continued. "Anko is going to be here for awhile, so just get used to it!"

After that statement, he dropped them both to the ground and went back to the stove to wait for his breakfast.

Both ninjas straightened out their collars with shaken hands.

"Truce?" Kabuto said quietly after a moment.

"Truce," Anko replied. "But that doesn't mean I'll stop teasing you."

"Fair enough," Kabuto said with a shrug. "Though I suggest you do it after breakfast. Orochimaru was never a morning person."

"Wow I couldn't tell," Anko replied as she rolled her eyes. Thankfully, Orochimaru was too busy watching the stove to hear what they said.

After a moment, Orochimaru sat down with them at the table acting as if he didn't just scold them. Anko sighed before standing up to walk over to the cupboards to search for something to eat.

"Do we have any more dango?" She asked after a moment of searching.

Kabuto nearly spat out his juice, thankfully he didn't or else Orochimaru would have surely killed him for spitting juice onto his breakfast.

"What happened to all that dango I got you yesterday!? It should have lasted you at least three days!" Kabuto exclaimed.

"Three days? That small amount? You have to be kidding me." Anko sighed. The boy clearly didn't know her appetite for dango.

Anko paused for a moment before looking back towards the two ninjas before her. "Wait…does this mean…there's no more dango?" The tears were forming once more.

"Oh no! Not this again!" Kabuto nearly cried out, but he stopped when he noticed Orochimaru's glare towards him.

"I'll get my coat." Kabuto replied quickly, not wanting to try the snake sannin's patience any more.

Kabuto was nearly out the door when he felt Orochimaru's chakra rise.

"Just a moment," Orochimaru said loudly causing both ninjas to freeze where they stood. He paused for a moment before finally speaking again, "I think it's time we switched bases."

Kabuto and Anko looked at each other in confusion, wondering what could have possibly caused this random outburst.

To Be Continued


Ah! Another chapter! A miracle, right? Well I have Trissacar to thank for that, her story inspired me and got my Orochimaru/Anko fangirl going again. XD I originally started the first half of this story like weeks ago, then got stuck. Yeah, even crazy fangirl's like me take breaks from their OTPs every once in awhile, but they always come back stronger than ever. X3

So yay! Anko is an official Sound ninja! *insert cheer here* So what caused Orochimaru's random outburst? Did he sense something wrong or was he just bored and decided to amuse himself by making everyone go through the trouble of moving? Whatever it is, the answer is in the next chapter.

Also, I hope none of you will kill me for that little trick in the beginning. I'd never actually write a story that turns out just to be all a dream, that's too cruel. :P So please review for a poor writer. ^^;

See you all in chapter 14!