8The dark sky draped over Konoha like a midnight blanket. The village was quiet except for the pitter-patter of rain against roof tops and windows. There was something unusual about the stillness of the night.
Anko stepped into the living room of her apartment. She was exhausted. She allowed the screen door to slam behind her. Her hair was down and she was dripping wet and the water left footprints across her old carpet. Anko did not switch on the lights as she walked through her dark home. She stripped out of her wet clothes and scattered them across the narrow hall that led to her bathroom.
The weather outside became progressively worse. The breezes morphed into fierce winds that slightly rattled the windows. Lightning sparked in the distance before Anko heard the low rumbled of thunder.
Anko looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her body was bruised and scarred due her shinobi career. She traced the marks lightly with her fingertips. Each scar held its own memory of her mistakes. On her shoulder lied the curse mark. It stuck out from the rest of her body like some horrendous defection. She turned away from the mirror in disgust. Anko slowly slid her entire body into the warm bath she had prepared for herself and closed her eyes and tried to relax.
Inside Anko's bedroom, her unlocked window was lifted opened. As a shinobi she should have known better than to be so careless. The snake of a man slithered inside and shut the window lightly. He was wet from the rain. He didn't turn on the lights. His eyes were well adjusted to the darkness. He stalked about in the home of his old student while she bathed unsuspectingly her tub. He noted that her room was rather dull. There was nothing more than what was necessary in her home. There was no decorative furniture. She had no photos of any sort.
Well, there was one photo. Anko kept it away in one of the drawers. It was old and torn in one corner. She hadn't even framed it. It was picture of the two of them. Sensai and student. He remembered that smile, so wide and full of joy and mischief but that was a long time ago.
"Do you still smile like that?" he wondered a loud.
The lights flickered on and he was not prepared for the shriek that assaulted his ears even though he should have been.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she all but screamed at him.
He turned to see his former student wearing nothing but a towel around her body and rage in her eyes. He had truly missed this woman.
"Now, Anko, after all these years of being apart this is how you welcome me back"
"What do you want?" she snarled at him and scanned the room for weapons or anything to defend herself with.
"My Dear Anko, I didn't come all this way just to hurt you" he said reading her body language perfectly. He was always good at that. He walked with an evil glint in his eye. Anko warned him with empty threats to back away but of course he didn't listen. He had her backed against the wall. Wet strands of his raven hair tickled the sides of her face. The lack of distance between the two of them made the woman uncomfortable.
"What do you want from me?" he heard the fear that hid behind her anger. He chuckled.
"I do not want anything, my dear. It's just that I noticed there's a really bad storm tonight and I figured that you didn't want to be alone" he said with his snake like charm. Anko fidgeted with her hands wishing that her old sensai was anywhere but with her.
She looked out the window and saw that the rain was pouring down heavily now and lightning struck more frequently. The kunoichi remembered nights like these. When she was a young genin and to her thunder storms were the most terrifying things in the world. As a child, she would sneak into the bedroom of her sensai and ask to spend the night with him. And of course he never refused her.
"I'm not a child" her voice was quiet and timid. His smirk grew wider. He leaned closely into her ear and breathed lightly.
"Hmm, you're right. Perhaps, it is I who doesn't want to be alone tonight"
He traced the outline of her jaw and she pushed him away at the feel of his touch, but doing so caused her towel to fell to the floor. Quickly, she scrambled to pick it up, but he got to it first.
"You look better without it"
She covered herself with her hands. She hated the feeling of vulnerability growing inside her. He moved to touch her, but she pulled away from him.
"My dear, you've grown so cold to me"
"Why can't you just leave?"
She was close to tears. She couldn't bear being in his presence. Just the sight of him brought her mixed emotions that she was uncapable of dealing with. It was so frustrating to her. Anko was single handedly the toughest kunoichi in the village and yet this man could so easily reduce her to a meek child. He saw her inner agony and embraced the young girl within his arms. She was repulsed at the idea of being so close to him and still she found herself holding on to him as tightly as she could.
"I'm not planning to leave this room without you" he declared. She let go of him shocked and angry at his words but she had no words of her own to give him. "I know you're not happy with your life the way it is now"
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because a good teacher knows his student, and I know that there isn't a day that goes by that you don't think of me"
He moved his thumb over the mark he had given her all those years ago. It tickled under his touch. Anko giggled and then quickly chastised herself for it. Why was it that the man she despised the most could make her smile so easily?
"…I'm not going with you"
"You don't sound very convincing"
"…There is no life for me with you" she wished she sounded a little more confident.
"No, there is no life for you in this place. You don't belong here. You belong with me"
"You're wrong" Anko tried her hardest to be defiant.
"Am I? I don't think you believe that. Look me in my eyes and tell me that" he commanded her. She instead turned her attention to one of the corners of the room completely avoiding his gaze. The last thing she wanted to do was look into his eyes.
"Anko" He said in the tone of voice that he used when she was still a genin. Something inside her was compelled to obey him. Anko could never describe the feeling she felt every time she looked at him. It was always a mix between admiration and fear.
"You're too good for these people. They have nothing to give you. I can give you everything power, strength"
Anko could see him for the snake that he was and still she was enchanted.
"I can give you forever" He whispered seductively into her ear. "And all I ask is that you spend it with me"
Anko remained silent as she allowed his words to swim around in her head and cause internal chaos. She was fighting a war between her deepest desire and her moral duty. He could read all of her subtle signs and acted accordingly. He turned away from her and headed for the exit, but she grabbed his arm to stop him. He smirked to himself. Anko breathing ceased and for a moment she felt like she was eleven years old again. Then she let his arm go.
"I'm not going with you" she stated firmly with new found confidence. He was only slightly disappointed.
"It's fine if you're not ready now. I have forever to wait for you"
Totally wrote this at 1am. I had every intention of updating my other story today but because of this that isn't a possiblity anymore. Oh well, I like this piece.