She shifted her weight, grinding down just enough to draw a choked sound from his throat. "You're not empty yet, Sasuke. That little moment with Sakura—gentle, even when you were running—proves it. Orochimaru would've snapped her neck without blinking. You didn't. That's the part he can't copy, no matter how many bodies he steals."
Sasuke's head fell back against the chair the metal itching against his neck. "Then what the hell do you want from me?" The words came ragged. "You've already sealed me, stripped me, humiliated me. If this is your idea of saving me, it's a shitty one."
Anko laughed—low, genuine, the sound vibrating through her chest into his. "Oh, emo boy. This?" She gestured lazily at the torn clothes, the toys on the walls, the way she was still very much occupying his lap like it was her throne. "This is foreplay. The real saving comes when you stop lying to yourself, and maybe stop being like your grandfather Madara, we don't have a Hashirama yet to put you down when you're as strong as him so we can't afford that. We'd rather have a broken Uchiha than a rough one."
Sasuke made a pleased yet horrified soud.
"Tell me, where you suppose to meet these people?." Anko asked her face dangerously close to his, her hand writing something on his chest.
Anko's finger paused mid-scrawl on Sasuke's chest, the nail digging in just enough to leave a faint red line that followed the faint pulse of the cursed seal. Her eyes narrowed, playful edge sharpening into something professional, predatory in a different way.
"The meeting point," she prompted again, voice low, almost coaxing. "Don't make me start round two of the genjutsu demo just to jog your memory, boy. Where exactly were those four freaks supposed to drag your ass once you slipped past the gates?"
"The eastern forest outskirts," he said. "Beyond the main road, near the old border markers where the Land of Fire starts thinning into neutral territory. They called it the rendezvous clearing—big enough for summons, hidden by natural cover. Kidomaru said they'd wait until sunrise , if I was late, then move without me. No landmarks they named specifically, just 'the clearing where the river forks around the three pines.' Said Kidomaru's transport would meet us there—some kind of underground passage or summon tunnel straight to Otogakure."
Anko's lips curved, not quite a smile. She shifted in his lap, thighs flexing like she was testing if he'd flinch. He didn't. Not outwardly.
"Three pines, river fork. Classic," she muttered, committing it to memory. "That's old ROOT recon territory—abandoned waystations from the Third's era. Makes sense they'd repurpose it for quick extractions. Explains how those clowns slipped in and out without tripping every sensor we have."
She leaned back slightly, giving him breathing room for the first time since she'd mounted him like a trophy. Her hand left his chest, trailing up to tap his jaw almost gently.
"You just bought yourself a few less broken bones, Uchiha. That's the kind of detail that lets us hit them before they scatter like roaches. Orochimaru's running out of time—he's desperate enough to send his best for you. Means he's vulnerable right now."
Sasuke's eyes flicked to the side, jaw tight. "You think you can kill him with that?"
Anko barked a short laugh. "Kill him? Sweetheart, I'd settle for making him scream like one of his lab rats first. But yeah—intel like this? We move fast, we cut the head off before he sheds again." She stretched in like a serpent in—whatever this was called, her body wraps around thightly and she bit his cheek.
"Consider that a gift for the Intel. I'll be back soon enough."
She stood finally, thighs releasing their vice grip, leaving him cold and exposed on the chair. She stretched again like a snake, mesh creaking, then pulled off her coat from, oversized—and tossed it over his body like an afterthought.
She turned toward the door, scroll still in hand, but paused. Looked back over her shoulder, expression unreadable for once—no smirk, no leer.
"You almost gave him everything, Sasuke. Your body. Your eyes. Your future. But you talked. That's not weakness. That's the part of you that knows you're better than his next skin suit." She shrugged. "Rest up. Hokage's gonna want your ass in a debrief at dawn. And if you're smart? You'll stay put this time. Konoha's got monsters too—but at least ours don't collect pretty boys like trading cards."she paused.
"I might if you are insisting on going to Orochimaru."her leer returned full, force."Anything Orochimaru wants would be a treasure I'll keep to spite him."
The door hissed open. Anko stepped through, purple hair swaying.
The door sealed shut behind her, leaving him alone with the hum of the bulb, the ache of the seals, and the faint, lingering scent of dango and snake musk.
He sat there, coat draped over his bare torso like a half-assed mercy, ripped mesh armour hanging off one shoulder, pants still shoved down to mid-thigh because she apparently hadn't felt like fixing that particular detail. The cursed seal pulsed lazily against his neck, a living tattoo that felt less like Orochimaru's poison and more like Anko's claim now.
Minutes bled into an hour. Or two. Hard to tell when your chakra was still gagged and your dignity was in the trash with Sakura.
Doing the only thing he could he slept as uncomfortable as it was.
______________________________________
Anko arrived via Shunshin in a burst of leaves and smoke, aiming straight for the open window like she owned the airspace. She landed with her signature dramatic flair—a controlled roll that scattered a few stray mission scrolls across the tatami floor—then popped up instantly, trench coat already she'd left draped over Sasuke earlier, fresh dango stick yanked from a storage scroll and clamped between her teeth.
Tsunade Senju, Fifth Hokage, didn't even flinch. She kept scowling at the stack of reports on her desk, one hand massaging her temple like the incoming migraine had already filed paperwork.
"Anko," Tsunade said dryly, finally glancing up. "I saw you handled the Uchiha." She gestured vaguely toward the crystal ball on a side table, its surface still faintly shimmering with residual scrying. "Excellent morally gray job. Really living up to the 'special' in Special Jōnin."
Anko mock-gasped, clutching her chest with one hand while twirling the dango stick like a baton. "Oh COME ON! You mean to tell me I wrote this report for NOTHING?!"
She waved the second scroll she'd scribbled during the "interrogation"—the one with Sasuke's intel on the rendezvous point.
Tsunade's lips twitched—just barely—into something that might have been amusement if she weren't so tired. "Oh no, please. Submit your report. I'm dying to read your artistic rendition of events."
Anko grumbled something about "sadistic lazy bosses who watch everything through magic balls but still make us do paperwork," then tossed the scroll across the desk. It landed with a soft thump amid the clutter of sake bottles and medical charts.
Tsunade unrolled it with deliberate calm, brown eyes scanning the hurried notes. Her expression darkened as she read.
"The eastern forest clearing. Three pines at the river fork. Kidomaru's spider summons for quick exfil, probably linking into those old ROOT tunnels we never fully mapped." Tsunade set the scroll down. "We hit at sunrise, we catch the Sound Four before they vanish back to Otogakure—empty-handed or not."
Anko nodded, leaning against the wall with arms crossed under her assets. "I suppose you've already sent people to take care of our guests?"
Tsunade shook her head once. "They'll likely expect that once Sasuke doesn't show. And that's assuming they didn't have a summoning watch on him first." She took a measured sip of sake straight from the bottle—no cup tonight. "I've sent word to Kakashi and a few other jōnin to set up contingencies in Rice Country. Ambush prep. If the Four bolt, we clip them on the way back to their snake master and try to capture them no doubt those people were at one point innocent."
Anko tossed her second scribbled note the rough map Sasuke had dictated while she was... motivating him onto the desk. "Exact spot from the brat's memory. Orochimaru's failing faster than intel predicted. If Sasuke had slipped past the gates..."
"He didn't," Tsunade finished for her, voice flat. "Because you were there—your mission wrapped early, lucky timing—and because the kid hesitated. Put Sakura down gently instead of snapping her neck. That's more mercy than Orochimaru ever showed anyone. Including you."
Silence stretched for a beat. Anko's usual smirk faltered—just a fraction—before she recovered with a shrug.
Tsunade exhaled sharply through her nose, "You used the suppression seal on him."
Anko didn't deny it. She licked sugar off her thumb instead. "Had to. Kid was about to rabbit. Sharingan glitching, chakra spiking like he was gonna force a genjutsu breakout or something stupid. One quick bite—my seal variant, the one I cribbed from Orochimaru's old notes but tweaked so it doesn't leave anything like the cursed seal." She rubbed her neck. And continued "Just locks the chakra flow tight. No access, no summons, no running. He felt it like someone flipped his soul's light switch to 'off'."
Tsunade's eyes went wide. "That's nice. The seal you put on him—it's not the reason why he was being so cooperative was it ?"
"Nah." Anko tapped the side of her own neck where her faded curse mark scar still hid above the mesh. "Didn't need to brand him like cattle. This was just a chakra gag—snake venom mixed with a yin suppression sealing formula. Temporary. Painful as hell, but reversible. He'll hate me for a week, but he'll breathe Konoha air tomorrow instead of rotting in Orochimaru's lab tanks."
Tsunade studied her for a long moment. The Hokage's voice dropped, quieter. "You stripped him. Sat on him. Threatened him with... creatively why didn't you just use your "toys". I watched enough to know you pushed every button he had except pain."
Anko looked sheepish."He's so much like I was at that age. All that hate, all that pain, thinking revenge will fix everything, he's already in pain way more perhaps than we can guess." She shook her head. "Someone should've grabbed me before I went too far. No one did."
Tsunade was quiet for a moment. Then, softly: "Is that what you're doing? Grabbing him?"
Anko's mind flashed with her recent encounter with the snake of sannin. The pain of the failed forbidden jutsu which was meant to kill both her and her former teacher.
"Something like that." Anko turned away from the door. "Besides, if I'm gonna have a student, might as well be one who doesn't need training wheels. Kid's already a prodigy. Imagine what he could do with someone who actually knows how to teach and who knows I might improve from him."
Anko's grin returned, slow and feral. "Worked, didn't it? Kid talked. Gave up everything—the Sound Four profiles, the deadline, the backup candidates. Orochimaru wanted him bad. Primary vessel. Sharingan eyes, Uchiha body, pretty face for whatever twisted experiments come next. I showed him the alternative: me. Supervision. My couch. My rules. He chose talking over bolting."
Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're impossible."
"Flattery, Granny. Keep it up." Anko pushed off the wall, stretching like a cat. "So what's the play? We let him stew overnight—chakra still locked, pride bruised—then drag him in at dawn for the official debrief? Or do I get to keep babysitting the emo indefinitely?"
Tsunade rolled the scroll back up. "Dawn debrief. Full council if needed. You supervise until we verify the intel and make sure he doesn't try round two of defection. House arrest. Your place. And Anko—"
Anko paused at the window, already half-turned to leave.
"—keep the hands professional. At least until he's not a flight risk. We need the last Uchiha functional, not broken."
Anko laughed—low, throaty, unrepentant. "No promises. But I'll feed him breakfast first before taking a bite out of him. He looks like he hasn't eaten since the massacre."
She vanished in another Shunshin burst, leaving only the faint scent of dango and danger in the air.
Tsunade stared at the empty window for a moment, then sighed and reached for the sake again.
"Damn snake women and their pretty-boy projects..."
______________________________________
Back in the interrogation room, Sasuke slept fitfully against the ropes—unaware that his fate had just been decided over paperwork and veiled threats.
Then the door opened again waking Sasuke up.
Anko stepped back in, fresh coat on, new stick of dango already half-gone. Behind her, two ANBU peeled off like shadows, closing the door with silent finality.
She didn't sit on the table this time. She straddled the armrest of his chair instead, one mesh & leather-clad thigh draped over his lap, the other foot planted on the floor like she owned gravity itself.
"Bad news, emo. Tsunade-sama wants you in her office at dawn. Good news?" She leaned down, purple hair curtaining them both, lips brushing the shell of his ear. "She said I get to keep supervising your 'rehabilitation' until you're no longer a flight risk. Congratulations. You're my new favorite project."
Sasuke's voice came out hoarse. "Define… supervision."
Anko's grin was all teeth and fangs. She reached down, lazily tugging his damaged shorts and ripped the rest of the way off with one hand while the other traced the edge of the seal on his neck.
"Simple. You eat when I say. Train when I say. Sleep when I say. And if you even think about running again…" She squeezed the half-hard length she'd just freed, thumb swiping over the slick tip with shameless familiarity. "I'll seal your chakra permanently, chain you to my bedroom wall, and spend the next six months teaching your body every single thing Orochimaru would've done to it — except I'll make you beg for it first."
She gave him one slow, deliberate stroke, watching his hips twitch despite himself.
"Or," she continued, voice dropping into that dangerous purr, "you can be a good little Uchiha, cooperate with the Hokage tomorrow, and maybe — maybe — I'll let you be free."
Sasuke's breath hitched. The Sharingan flickered uselessly in his eyes again, red bleeding into black and back, like his body still couldn't decide whether to fight or submit.
Anko laughed softly, low and filthy, and pressed a sticky-sweet kiss to the corner of his mouth.
"Tick-tock, pretty boy. Dawn's in four hours. Plenty of time for one more lesson before the grown-ups start asking questions."
She stood, stretched like a cat, then tossed something small and metallic onto his lap.
A key.
To the finger cuffs—specially made for shinobis.
"Untie yourself. Get dressed — or don't, I like the view either way. Then you're coming home with me. My couch is comfier than this chair, and I've got spare toothbrushes. Also," she added, already heading for the door, "if you try anything cute on the way, I *will* carry you over my shoulder again. And this time I won't be gentle about where my hands go."
She paused at the threshold, glanced back with that same feral, almost-soft smirk.
"Welcome back to Konoha, Sasuke. Try not to defect again. I'd hate to have to break you properly"She laughed "Just kidding I'd break you with a smile enjoying everything about it!."she stepped outside The door clicked shut.
Sasuke stared at the key in his palm, then at the mess of his clothes, then felt the faint red handprints already blooming on his hips where her hand was and of course his thighs where hers had been.
He closed his eyes.
"…Tch..why is this place filled with idots."Sasuke muttered noticing that the seal Anko gave didn't hurt now. Still no chakra though.
Thirty seconds of silence.
Then the door slammed open again.
Anko stomped back in, dango stick clenched between her teeth like an angry cigarette, eyes narrowed in pure "I forgot something" irritation.
"God damn it," she muttered, marching straight to the chair. "I'm an idiot. Forgot the part where I actually untied you before the dramatic exit. Tsunade would roast me for days if I left the last Uchiha trussed up like a festival turkey."
But she didn't just free him and leave.
Instead, she stayed crouched there, one hand still loosely holding the rope she'd just undone, the other sliding up his thigh with zero shame.
"Hold still, emo boy," she purred around the dango stick. "Wouldn't want you to accidentally kick me while I'm down here. Or… would I?" Her grin was filthy. She gave the rope a playful tug, letting it drag across his bare skin like a threat and a promise at the same time. "You're still half-hard from earlier. Cute. Means the seal's not completely killing the mood."
Sasuke glared down at her, cheeks burning despite the cool mask. "Just untie me."
"Oh I will." She moved to the ankle ropes next, but deliberately slow, dragging her nails along the inside of his leg on the way. "After you say the magic words."
He gritted his teeth. "…What words."
Anko looked up at him through her lashes, all fake innocence and real menace. "Say 'Thank you, Anko-sensei, for not leaving me tied up like a present for my many horny fan girls.'"
Sasuke stared at her in dead silence for five full seconds.
She waited, twirling the loose rope around her finger like a cat toy.
He finally exhaled through his nose. "…Thank you, Anko-sensei, for not leaving me tied up like a present for my many horny fan girls"
Her laugh was bright and evil. "Good boy." She yanked the last ankle rope free, then stood up, tossing the whole bundle of rope over her shoulder like a trophy. "There. Free range Uchiha. Now get dressed before I change my mind and decide the coat looks better on the floor."
She didn't move away. Just crossed her arms under her chest and watched — openly, shamelessly — as he stood on shaky legs, pulled his ruined shorts up, and tried to salvage what was left of his mesh armour. Every time he winced from the seal's throb or the rope burns, she made a little "aww" sound like she was watching a kitten learn to walk.
Sasuke ignored her taking a good look at his body a thing every shinobi was trained to do—to a shinobi even they're own was just a asset.
There were a lot more buirses on his stomach from the violent removal of his armour. And so were on his shoulders.
she stepped in close again, draping her oversized trench coat over his shoulders properly this time. He quickly let go of his poor excuse of Shorts and just as quickly buttoned up the borrowed coat.
"Better," she decided. "Now you're coming home with me. My couch. My rules. And if you even think about pulling a midnight defection rerun…" She flicked the edge of the cursed seal on his neck, sending a fresh spark of heat through his veins. "I'll tie you up again—Wait I already told you that."
She turned toward the door, then glanced back with that same feral, almost-soft smirk. Her hooked in the coats belt pulling him along.
Sasuke felt the empty rope burns on his wrists, the coat that smelled like dango , and the faint red handprints still blooming on his hips.
He closed his eyes.
"…Tch."
But he followed her out anyways it was better than being dragged like this.
The door clicked shut for the second (and final) time behind them both.
______________________________________
The door to Anko's place kicked open with her usual zero-fucks subtlety—boot heel first, Sasuke slung over her shoulder like a particularly grumpy duffel bag. She'd carried him the last two blocks after just because she could, so she'd just scooped him up again without asking.
"Home sweet snake den." she announced to the empty hallway, dumping him unceremoniously onto the worn leather couch that took up most of the living room.
Sasuke landed with a grunt, coat sliding off one shoulder, rope burns on his wrists now angry red lines under the dim lantern light. The apartment smelled like burnt sugar, old leather, and something faintly metallic—blood definitely because of the bundle of clothes. A single potted plant (half-dead) sat on the windowsill next to a kunai-sharpening stone and three empty dango boxes stacked like trophies.
He pushed himself upright, slow and deliberate, refusing to look as pathetic as he felt.
Anko kicked the door shut behind her, locked it with three different seals (two of them hissed like tiny angry vipers when they activated), then turned to face him with hands on hips.
"Rules, little Bird," she said, ticking them off on her fingers. "One: no running. Seal's still live; you try to force chakra, you'll puke your guts out and pass out. Two: you eat when I say eat. You look like you've been living on spite and bad decisions since the massacre. "
Sasuke glared at her from under dark bangs. "I'm not staying here."
"You are." She crossed the room in three strides, crouching in front of him so they were eye-level. "Because the alternative is a T&I holding cell with Ibiki staring at you like you're tomorrow's lunch special. Or worse—Tsunade assigns you to Sakura for 'emotional recovery sessions.' Imagine that. Pinky in nurse mode, crying your name while she force-feeds you hospital Jell-O."
He grimaced. The mental image was worse than the seal's burn.
Anko laughed at his expression "you just know she'll feed you mouth to mouth!"
She stood, stretched until her spine popped, then disappeared into what passed for a kitchen. A minute later she returned with two steaming bowls of instant ramen (the kind that came in suspiciously military-grade packaging) and a pair of chopsticks.
"Eat, or I'll feed you like a mommy bird." she ordered, shoving one bowl into his hands. "cuz at this rate you will pass out from low chakra and low blood sugar, I'm not carrying your ass to the hospital. Tsunade would never let me live it down."
Sasuke stared at the noodles like they'd personally offended him, but his stomach betrayed him with an audible growl. He took the chopsticks, broke them apart with more force than necessary, and started eating in silence.
Anko flopped into the armchair across from him, legs kicked up on the coffee table, slurping her own ramen with obnoxious enthusiasm.
"Good boy," she said between mouthfuls. "See? Cooperation isn't fatal."
He swallowed, glared. "This doesn't make us friends."
"Never said it did." She pointed her chopsticks at him like a twin kunai. "But it does make you my responsibility until dawn debrief. Which means you're stuck with me. Lucky you."
Silence stretched again, broken only by the quiet slurp of noodles and the distant chirp of crickets outside.
Sasuke set his half-empty bowl on the table. "Why are you doing this?"
Anko paused mid-bite, eyes flicking to his. For once, the smirk was gone.
"Because I know what it feels like to wake up one day and realize the person you trusted most was planning to hollow your life of everyone that you loved." She tapped the faded scar on her own shoulder where the old curse mark used to spread. "Orochimaru didn't just give me this thing. He made me *want* it. Told me I was special. That I had potential. Remember?"
Sasuke looked away, jaw tight.
"I was blinded by his praise," she continued, quieter. "Thought he was going to make me strong. Instead he made me a lab rat. Took years to claw my way back to something resembling human. The Third pulled strings to keep me out of a cell, but he never really fixed what was broken. Just… redirected it."
She leaned forward, elbows on knees. "Again I'll repeat only for you darling,You still have time, Sasuke. You hesitated with Sakura. That's not a weakness. That's the part of you Orochimaru can't copy, no matter how many bodies he steals. So yeah—I'm doing this because someone has to be the asshole who drags you back from the edge. And lucky for you, I'm really fucking good at being an asshole."
Sasuke stared at the floor for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was low, almost careful.
"…Thank you."
Anko blinked. Then barked a laugh—genuine, surprised.
"Don't get soft on me now, emo. I still haven't decided if I'm gonna make you do push-ups at dawn or just sit on your face until you admit you're staying."
He shot her a flat look. "You're deranged."
"Part of my charm." She stood, stretched again, then tossed a spare blanket and pillow at his head. "Sleep. Or don't. I don't care. But if you try anything stupid, the snakes on the porch are trained to bite first, ask questions never."
She headed toward what he assumed was the bedroom door, paused in the threshold. Anko came back and bent down at the foot of the couch and she pulled the frame out, in a blink of an eye Sasuke was on a bed in the livin' room.
Anko straightened up from where she'd yanked the hidden pull-out frame from under the couch, turning the lumpy leather monstrosity into a surprisingly decent bed with crisp black sheets already tucked in place. The mechanism clicked solidly into locked position; she'd clearly done this before—probably for drunk teammates, captured bounties, or the occasional stray genin she decided needed saving from themselves.
In reality it was how Anko slept one of the best financial decision she made. According to her for more dangos.
Sasuke stared up at her from his new horizontal vantage point, pillow still clutched in one hand like a shield, blanket half-draped over his legs.
"What I never said you'd be alone on my couch."
"What," he said flatly.
"What I never said you'd be alone on my couch," she repeated, slower this time, savoring each word like it was coated in dango glaze. "It pulls out. It's a bed. You're sleeping here. I'm sleeping here. Same surface. Different ends. Mostly."
She kicked off her sandals one after the other, letting them thud against the wall, then peeled off her mesh undershirt in one fluid motion, leaving her in a black sports bra and the shorts that always looked one wrong move away from sliding off her hips. The faded curse-mark scar on her shoulder caught the lantern light—so much like his.
Sasuke's eyes flicked to it, then away. Fast. But not fast enough.
"Eyes up here, little bird," she drawled, dropping onto the far end of the mattress with enough force to bounce him half an inch. She stretched out on her side, propped on one elbow, facing him like a predator deciding whether dinner was worth the effort tonight. "You're not getting the bedroom. Too many sharp things in there. You'd probably try to steal a kunai and slit your wrists out of sheer teenage angst before sunrise."
"I wouldn't," he muttered.
"You would've three hours ago." She reached over and flicked the rope burn on his left wrist—light enough not to hurt, hard enough to remind. "Now? Maybe not. Progress." her hand glowed green—the mystic palm jutsus. The marks disappeared healing his body completely.
She rolled onto her back, arms folded behind her head, staring up at the cracked ceiling. The silence wasn't awkward so much as loaded—like two live wires lying next to each other, not quite touching.
After a minute she spoke again, quieter, almost to herself.
"I used to wake up screaming sometimes. After he put the mark on me. Not because it hurt—though it did—but because I could feel him in the back of my skull. Whispering. Telling me I was nothing without him. That I'd be nothing again if I ever got this off me."
Sasuke didn't answer right away. When he did, his voice was rough. "Ever since I've gotten this I've gotten his voice in my head... until now I thought it was my subconscious reminding me of my revenge."
"Yeah that's how he conviences you that it's you but it's him wearing your skin." She closes the distance between them.
"Night, pretty boy. Try not to dream about me. Would totally hate for you to wake up hard and confused."
Silence settled again, thicker now.
Sasuke stared at the ceiling for a long minute, feeling the mattress dip under her weight, hearing the slow rhythm of her breathing shift from alert to something softer.
"…Anko."
"Hm?"
"If I had gone with them tonight—"
"You'd be in a tank by morning," she finished without turning around. "Or already hollowed out. Eyes gone. Body walking around with his soul wearing it like a cheap suit. And Sakura would still be crying in a trash can because no one stopped you."
He swallowed once.
"…I know."
"Yeah." Her voice was almost gentle. Almost. "So go to sleep, Sasuke. Tomorrow you get to be angry at me in person instead of at ghosts. Lucky you."
She pulled the blanket up over her own shoulder and his.
A snake turned off the light.
But after another long minute, he shifted—closer to her.
And for the first time since the compound bled rivers of blood, the dark didn't feel quite so empty.
______________________________________
End
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This was supposed to be a crack fic but here we are. Lol see you all next time. This isn't a one shot btw!