.

.

She is ANBU, and she is not afraid.

Squinting, she turns her face upwards to meet the gray-blue haze. It is a forest of bones, each thrusting upwards into the mouth of the sky.

Anko steps forward only to see Kimimaro's body slouched over the crest of bone; he's still as death but his eyelids flutter, and if Anko concentrates hard enough, she can just barely hear him breathe.

They descend on him, her ANBU team, and Anko tries not to tremble when he opens his eyes.

xXx

.

The bucket of cold water slams against his face. Kimimaro coughs, then sags, long strands of wet hair dripping over his eyes.

Anko watches behind the mirror, her jaw clenched, as the ANBU team starts to work on him. A knee to the gut; the sound of ribs cracking. A strike. Kimimaro sags and coughs up blood.

"He isn't going to tell us anything," the ANBU interrogator says. He looks up at the mirror. "Taichou?"

Anko presses the switch to the intercom. "Enough."

The interrogator bows stiffly, then leaves the room.

Anko squares her shoulders, then pushes through the heavy metal doors to Kimimaro's cell. The room is dark and the cement floor is gritty from the water and mud, and a dirty patch of light filters through the high-set windows.

Kimimaro doesn't look at her when she approaches. His body is backlit by the filthy light, and close-up he looks even more haggard than she remembers. His body heaves, and Anko can just barely see the cursed mark on his chest start to throb.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Anko says. She sets a chair in front of him and sits, the chair facing backward and leaning against her chest. "That cough you have? It's from that mark," Anko says. "The more you use it, the more your chakra tears up the lining of your lungs. Try to use it again and you'll drown in your own blood."

Kimimaro watches her stiffly, his dirt-streaked face a perfect mask. Anko leans forward.

"Let's make this easy on ourselves," Anko says. "Tell us where Orochimaru is. Then perhaps we can think about getting you more comfortable."

Kimimaro doesn't answer. She steps forward, pressing her hands against the back of the chair.

"He wants a new vessel, doesn't he?" Anko says. "I wonder how that must feel, being so easily replaced."

"Kisama," Kimimaro says.

"I know how it is," Anko says, softly. "He abandons you, he leaves you like so much trash--"

"Orochimaru-sama would not do such a thing," Kimimaro says.

"Really?" Anko says, and she pulls down the neck of her shirt.

The cursed mark throbs. Kimimaro's eyes widen slightly.

"I know what it's like to be abandoned," Anko says. "I will be here once you've come to terms with it."

She waits for a reaction - anything - but Kimimaro keeps his eyes trained resolutely on the floor.

She snaps the collar back up and stands, motioning for the guards to unlock the door.

"Let me know when you're ready to cooperate," Anko says.

Kimimaro closes his eyes.

xXx

.

Lee insists on visiting him, despite everybody's better judgment. "He was my first worthy opponent!" Lee said. He shot his fist into the air, declaring, "I will not let him down!"

Now Anko watches, perplexed, as Lee sits outside Kimimaro's cell and tries to sneak sweets past the iron bars.

"Idiot. This isn't a hospital," Anko says.

"But Kimimaro-kun is injured! He deserves visitors, just like anybody else!" Lee says. Anko huffs and allows him entrance. An ANBU guard taps Anko on the shoulder.

"What?" Anko says. The guard bows, stiffly.

"We have word," he says. "Orochimaru is making no rescue attempt. They consider the prisoner as good as dead."

"I thought as much," Anko says.

xXx

.

The light from the doorway spills onto Kimimaro's gaunt frame as Anko enters the cell. Much to her chagrin, Lee follows after her; his buggy eyes widen when Anko delivers the news.

"He isn't coming," Anko says.

"Anko-san! You are much too harsh!" Lee says.

"Quiet," Anko says. Lee's hands clench into fists.

"He was his precious person!" Lee says. "He was his reason to fight!"

"Tch." Anko turns, her heels clacking against the concrete. The door closes, but on the other side of the two-way mirror, Anko can see Lee crouching beside Kimimaro's cell. With the intercom switched off, she can't hear what he's saying, but from his gestures she knows Lee is trying his best to comfort him.

"Idiot," Anko says. She switches off the light.

xXx

.

That night, Anko has a dream.

She is running through the forest. Kunai explode around her and Anko is thrown, pitched forward and slamming onto the ground.

She winces, gripping her shoulder and trying to push herself upright, when a shadow falls over her. "Anko," he says, and Anko is paralyzed by the sight of Orochimaru's eyes.

"Anko. Are you planning to commit suicide?"

Anko jerks awake. She had fallen asleep at her post. She raises a hand and wipes the side of her mouth, glancing back at the prisoner before straightening out her clothes.

"You are having nightmares," Kimimaro says. Anko turns and sees the prisoner watching her curiously from behind his cell.

"Hmph," Anko says. Her own damn fault for falling asleep during guard duty. "How long were you watching me?"

"Not long." Kimimaro turns, and in the darkness, Anko can just barely make out the flash of white hidden under his sleeve.

Anko darts forward, fully expecting to see a weapon concealed in his palm, when she halts to a stop. There, carved on the stone walls of Kimimaro's cell, are faces; she recognizes one of them as Lee's. Kimimaro seems to read the question in her eyes.

"They are carvings," Kimimaro says.

"Carvings?" The word is thick in Anko's mouth. Her eyes follow the carvings to the small shard of bone lying in the corner, the end blunted from repeated scratchings against the stone.

"I have no intention of escaping, if that is what you think," Kimimaro says. "It is only to pass the time."

Anko strikes a match, shining a torch into Kimimaro's cell. The carvings are intricately detailed, and delicately etched; she's struck by how beautiful they look in the torchlight. She glances back at Kimimaro and frowns. He has not once tried to escape. Though his chakra was depleted and he was physically weak, Anko knew if he wanted to, Kimimaro could muster up enough bone to smash through the iron bars that held him; she wonders silently if the knowledge that Orochimaru no longer cared for him had broken his spirit, and if that's the case, how long it would be before he finally begins to cooperate.

"This cell doesn't bother you?" Anko asks, finally. Kimimaro shakes his head.

"I was raised in darkness. This cell is not unlike my home."

"Tch." Anko stands, lifting the torch. "You trouble me, Kaguya Kimimaro. I only hope you are not a waste of my time."

Anko starts to leave when she hears Kimimaro stand. "I am not a Kaguya," Kimimaro says.

"What?" Anko turns. Kimimaro is standing by the iron bars, one hand against the metal door.

"A Kaguya," Kimimaro says. "They never considered me a part of their clan."

Anko itches for an uncomfortable moment. Then she clears her throat, pressing her hand on the handle of the door.

xXx

.

The door swings open. Anko walks inside, then tosses him a book of blank paper and a few charcoal pencils. They land by Kimimaro's feet. Kimimaro looks up, surprised.

"Because we can't have you vandalizing our cell," Anko says. Kimimaro touches the notebook, uncertainly.

"What am I to do with this?" Kimimaro asks. Anko huffs, impatiently.

"I don't know, fold paper cranes or something. Figure it out," Anko says, and she turns away before he can see her blush.

The next day, Anko rounds back on the cell and isn't at all surprised when she sees the charcoal drawings littering the concrete floor. Quietly she unlocks the door and enters his cell: Kimimaro is curled up on the shabby mattress in a fitful sleep; he doesn't notice when Anko kneels beside him and gingerly picks up one of the scraps of paper.

They never considered me a part of their clan. Anko frowns. She remembers the report Gaara and Lee had given at the end of their encounter: how Kimimaro had been confined when he was young, and how the rest of his clan had feared him. It was no wonder he would ally himself with the likes of Orochimaru, who preyed on the insecurities and loneliness of others.

There is a strand of hair falling on Kimimaro's face, and absently Anko brushes it back with the tips of her fingers; Kimimaro stirs.

"Tch." Anko jerks her hand back, silently kicking herself. Kimimaro opens his eyes.

"Anko-san." He looks up at her, before pushing himself upright; Anko can't help but notice the large welts on Kimimaro's arms. "What is it?"

"Nothing," Anko says. Her throat is dry. She swallows, then rearranges her face into a perfect mask. "My orders are to check up on you."

Kimimaro's eyes are dim. Anko squats beside him, picking up one of the drawings from the floor.

"I don't understand," Anko says. "All you have to do is cooperate, and we can let you go. Why are you so loyal to him?" Kimimaro closes his eyes.

"Do you remember what it's like to be needed, Anko-san?" Kimimaro says. "I do. Every moment of every day."

"You let yourself be used," Anko says.

"Perhaps," Kimimaro says. "Perhaps that is just my fate."

"Tch," Anko says. She glances back at the drawings; they're dark and roughly sketched, and in the half-light she can just make out the crouched figure of a boy sitting alone in the dark. She wonders if this is supposed to be a self-portrait, and she rubs her mark, unconsciously.

"Does it hurt?"

Anko turns. Kimimaro is watching her, dark eyes probing, silently.

"What?" Anko says. Kimimaro motions to the mark on her neck, which Anko touches self-consciously.

"Sometimes," Anko says. "Sometimes the pain is almost too much to bear."

"I see," Kimimaro says. He curls back on his side, facing the wall.

xXx

.

Dark falls like a thick black curtain, and through the high metal bars, Anko can just barely make out the carved shapes on the wall. Kimimaro curls up into himself, the sharp red welts on his skin starting to fade. Anko takes a breath, then picks up her stride, walking away from the cell and determined to regain her objective.

No more fraternizing with the prisoner. No more trying to find parallels between herself and him. Anko touches the mark on her neck, then sets her jaw.

xXx

.

"Taichou!" Guards are running. They burst into her office.

"What's wrong?" Anko says.

"The prisoner! He's..." the guard's face is pale. "Taichou, you must hurry!"

Anko pushes past them, rushing down the hall.

"Shit!" Anko skids to a stop when she sees the spray of blood gushing from Kimimaro's neck.

"Move!" Anko says. She pushes past the medic nins and yanks Kimimaro up by the shoulders.

Kimimaro's eyes have rolled back. Quickly Anko shoves chakra into the wound.

The chakra pulses. Kimimaro breathes.

xXx

.

He had tried to kill himself to keep from leaking information. Apparently the torture was almost enough to get him to talk, and so to prevent himself from saying anything, he had taken a shard of bone and taken things into his own hands. It would have worked were it not for the medic nin stationed nearby.

"Idiot," Anko says. "Trying to kill yourself to save him. He doesn't even care."

She searches his face, but Kimimaro's eyes are trained onto the floor.

"Oi," Anko says. "Look at me."

Kimimaro raises his eyes. She leans forward, invading his space.

"He abandoned you," Anko says. "Why are you still helping him?"

Kimimaro doesn't answer.

Outside the cell, Anko can hear the soft sounds of ANBU guards speaking quietly among themselves, and the footsteps echoing down the hall. She glances up at Kimimaro's face, which is twisted and full of pain.

"Why won't you kill me?" Kimimaro says.

Anko's chest tightens.

"Please..." The rims of Kimimaro's eyes darken; he closes his eyes, tears spilling over.

Anko steps closer. "Kimimaro."

She touches his arm, trying to offer him some modicum of comfort. He looks up at her with terrible eyes.

"Forgive me," Kimimaro says, and an explosion of bones slams her against the ground.

xXx

.

Someone screams. ANBU guards whirl around and see the prisoner grappling Anko, twisting her arm and shoving a shard of bone against her neck.

"Do not move," he says. Anko struggles but the bone digs into her neck. "Do not make me kill her."

"Teme!" Guards come running.

"Open the door," Kimimaro says.

The guard fumbles for the keys. Anko wheezes.

"Your weapons," Kimimaro says.

They toss them on the ground.

xXx

.

"This won't work!" Anko says. Kimimaro leaps through the trees, dragging his hostage with him. "They'll find us - they'll catch you and they'll kill you!"

Kimimaro reaches a clearing in the forest. The bone around Anko's neck retracts. She pitches forward, coughing and wheezing.

"Forgive me," Kimimaro says. He glances behind him, then fingers a kunai at his waist. "We are not too far from the village; you can make it back by nightfall."

"What?" Anko stares. "You're letting me go?"

Kimimaro turns his back toward her. "I apologize for my actions earlier," Kimimaro says. "I took advantage of your kindness. If it is any consolation I had no intention of hurting you."

The wind stirs, and Anko knows he is telling the truth. "And where do you think you're going?" Anko asks.

"To Orochimaru-sama." Kimimaro's voice sounds far away. "I am still alive. I still must serve him."

Anko's eyes narrow. "Then I'm coming too."

"What?" Kimimaro's eyes are wide.

"He kidnapped one of our genin. I intend to get him back," Anko says. Kimimaro stiffens.

"And how do you expect to do that?" Kimimaro says.

"Easy," Anko says. "You'll take me to him."

"You are in no position to bargain," Kimimaro says.

"Then you'll have to kill me," Anko says. She grips her kunai and takes a stance. "You caught me off guard before. Be assured that will not happen a second time."

Above them, a breeze stirs and the trees rustle slightly. Kimimaro stands before her, loosely holding the piece of bone.

He lowers his stance, then turns. "Killing a hostage would be inefficient," he says, finally. "There are doubtless more Konoha nin on the way."

Anko loosens her guard. "Then...?"

"We head north," Kimimaro says. He glances back at her. "I will not let you kill him," Kimimaro says. "Orochimaru-sama."

Anko glares. "And I won't let him take that child," Anko says.

They stand for a moment without saying anything. Finally Anko slips her kunai back into its holster and steps forward.

"Let's go."

A/N: So, I initially set out to write a shippy Kimimaro/Anko fic, and yeah. This is what happened D: I'm marking this as gen for now. Not really sure where I'm going to go with this, so we'll see. Also: Anko being ANBU is just my personal head canon, I know in the manga and anime she wasn't ANBU at all, but I like to think she secretly was :)

I realize the premise is completely cracked out, but there you go XD