status complete
pairing Kakashi/Anko, established relationship
background takes place after Team Kakashi has returned from Suna
notice It has been so long since I wrote anything Naruto-related. I hope I haven't completely lost my touch. Truth is, I quit Naruto more than two years ago (around chapter 500, I think) in favor of tv shows and movies and books and life in general. I thought I had outgrown it. I have never been so wrong in my life. I am planning to properly catch up at some point, but for now I've spoiled myself with everything I need to know. And oh boy, what a ride it has been. But, nevermind. That's a story for another time. The thing is, other than sort of catching up with Naruto, I've also delved into the depths of its fanfiction once again. And now I've read everything I possibly ever wanted to read and I'm going through withdrawal. Which is not fun at all, so I had to somehow channel all these feelings and—voila. I feel pretty good about this, given how I recently reviewed my previous Naruto work and it freaking sucks so badly. Ugh. We're all works in progress, what can I say.

ways to skin a cat;
you have witchcraft on your lips.

"Don't you have genin to terrorize?" Kakashi asked her, raising his eyes from his book to see her sitting nonchalantly on the window sill of his hospital room.

Anko shrugged, examining her nails. "It's a Sunday. The Academy's closed."

"What about Naruto? He's a genin."

"You know I adore the kid, but Tenzou ruins my fun."

He had to agree at that. Given his ANBU past and present, Tenzou had yet to figure out what it meant to take it easy every once in a while. "Kurenai?"

Anko snorted. "Have you seen Asuma around?"

She was right about that one, too. Those two were always together. As far as couples went, they took 'attached to the hip' to a whole new level. "Shouldn't you be at the Interrogation Department?"

"Why, are you trying to get rid of me, Kakashi?" she asked in a mock-hurt tone, placing a hand on her chest. "I'm hurt."

"You've been visiting every day for the past week. I'm rightly concerned."

"Maybe I just like the atmosphere in here. You know, blood, needles, sick people. Totally my thing."

Kakashi flipped a page while maintaining eye contact with her. "Maybe you just want something else."

"You give yourself way too much credit, Kakashi," Anko said, plopping off the window sill. "You're not that much of a lover."

Kakashi let out a sigh and tapped his book shut. Not that he would ever expect Anko to praise his sexual prowess, even if the facts were against her on that one. Otherwise, their little trysts wouldn't have spanned over so many years. "What is it, Anko?"

"Nothing," she said, as unconvincingly as she could. "I'll just sit here until you decide to tell me what happened with Akatsuki."

Oh, so that's what it was about. He should have guessed. "That's classified information."

"So is your face, but I've got a picture of it that I'm sure most women of Konoha would pay to even get a look at," she countered with a malicious glint in her eyes.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "That's blackmail."

Anko grinned. "No, it's fair trade. Your secret for mine — simple as that."

"They're both my secrets."

She waved him off, staring out of the window. "Not relevant."

Kakashi ran a hand through his hair. He was nowhere near healed enough to be having this conversation. What if she decided to employ other methods in order to extract the information she wanted? He didn't think his body could handle any more prodding. "Why do you want to know about Akatsuki?"

"Because I live in this village, because I am a jounin, because they are dangerous missing-nins, because last time you had a face off with them you ended up in a coma and this time you got away with barely less damage," she ticked off the reasons with her fingers.

"Because you think they can lead us to Orochimaru."

Anko stiffened visibly, before shrugging as if it didn't matter at all to her. "If you can hit two birds with one stone, you might as well do it."

"Only these aren't normal birds. They are hawks that are threatening to devour us if we don't play our hand right."

"You're just proving my point. I need to know—we all do. Tsunade can't keep all this behind closed doors. The threat is too imminent to be taken lightly."

"That's true," Kakashi agreed, but he raised a hand to placate her when he saw Anko's eyes gleam. "But that is still her decision to make. And I have a feeling that she will. So, you only have to wait."

Anko huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "You and your code of conduct. Do you ever wonder what else they might be keeping from us? The Hokage, the Council? Jiraiya even, maybe?" She shook her head. "We're just pawns in this game, Kakashi. And it's always the pawns that are sacrificed first."

"What do you propose we do then? Assemble a team and go off on our own in search of Akatsuki? Try to lure out Orochimaru?" he asked incredulously, ignoring the murderous look she threw his way. "You know as well as I do that we can do nothing without the sufficient information and the qualified personnel. The Akatsuki are a force to be reckoned with and we can't take them on unprepared."

Looking out of the window himself, he could see the training grounds in the distance. He knew that the Hokage would send his team to trail Sasori's spy in hopes of leading them to Orochimaru. He just hoped that it would go smoothly and without any unfavorable surprises. He trusted Tenzou to take care of his students, but the risk was still high. As he had told Anko, these were dangerous times. As soon as they were back, he would start Naruto's training. It was well past time for his nature manipulation training to proceed.

"What are you thinking?" Anko asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. "You have this look in your eyes, like when you're trying to decide whether chapter eight is better than sixteen."

He chuckled at that. Another tough choice, for certain. "I'm just thinking that I need to pick up Naruto's training soon."

"Hm," she exhaled, taking a seat on the bed by his knees. "Three years out training with Jiraiya, now about to go out with another captain on his team, and you still want to train the brat? You really care for him, huh?"

Kakashi let his gaze rest on her face. She used to be more cheerful, he remembered; it had been rare to catch her with a frown. She was always blabbering at everyone who was willing (or unwilling) to listen and laughing at everything. She was loud and she made an impact wherever she went. Nowadays, he could scarcely remember her laugh. With a sad smile, he wondered what else they were going to take from her. This life was not meant to lead to happy endings, that was for sure.

"I guess I do."

"Are you sure you're not doing it for him?" she prodded, nodding towards the window, where the Hokage Monument that could be seen clearly in the distance.

His sensei's carved face stared at him but Kakashi kept his gaze on her.

"Part of me does," he admitted easily. "Watching over his son is the least I can do in return for everything he taught me. For all those times he stood by my side. But it's not just for him. It hasn't been for a long time. Naruto has a way of worming into your heart, as I'm sure you have realized."

Anko snorted at that, but didn't deny it. Her only first-hand experience with Naruto had been before he had left to train with Jiraiya. She had led Naruto, Ino Yamanaka and Shino Aburame on a mission in the Land of the Sea, and in the short time that their mission lasted, the short shit had managed to acquire a spot in her heart. Granted, that didn't mean that she would ever stop terrorizing him — she did have to live up to her 'crazy snake lady' title, after all — but she had become more tolerating when it came to him. She even went as far as to ask Kakashi after him sometimes.

She had no doubt that he would live up to his father's legacy.

"He's tolerable," Anko grumbled, making Kakashi smile under his mask.

"Either way, he is my student. And he is perhaps the most important person in this village. So, his heritage aside, I am going to try my best to prepare him for anything that may be in store for him."

Anko looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Do you think they'll try to kidnap him again?"

"I don't know. But they are on the move and they are interested in the Jinchuurikis. That much we do know."

"The Kazekage needs to up his security measures, then."

"What we have to do is to make sure that Naruto is safe and ready. For Gaara, what's done is done."

Suddenly, Anko leaped to her feet and pointed her finger at him. "Aha! So your mission in Suna did have something do with Akatsuki and the Jinchuurikis!"

Kakashi felt sweat forming on the back of his neck. "I-I didn't say I acquired this knowledge from my mission."

She waved at him dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Knock it off, Kakashi. The beans are spilled. Ah," she exhaled happily, having achieved her goal at last. "You're not that good at keeping secrets after all."

Kakashi frowned. "I told you nothing."

"Uhuh, sure thing. But you at least got to admit — I'm amazing at my job."

It was his turn to snort. He had to make up for his slip up somehow. Gods, how could he still be affected by her after so long. "I didn't see any torture taking place, Anko. Hard to evaluate something that didn't happen."

She grinned mischievously at him. "I didn't think your beat old body could handle torture, Kakashi. So I resorted to the mildest form available: manipulation."

"This beat old body has kept you awake more nights than I can count, Anko."

She shrugged, walking towards the door. Kakashi felt a dull ache in his chest. As much as her mind games took their toll on him, he never grew tired of her company. And the hospital room was much more tolerable when she was sharing it with him.

"My memory's a little weak, Kakashi, you know that. I guess I'm gonna need you to refresh it when you get out of here," she said in a flirty tone. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think your student has been slacking off lately."

Despite the cold shoulder he definitely wanted to give her, Kakashi laughed openly at her comment. He had no doubts that she had a soft spot for Naruto — who didn't? — but the blond boy was still awfully terrified of the special jounin even after all these years. It didn't help that Anko went out of her way to make his life difficult with any chance she got.

"Go easy on him," Kakashi warned her, although it was only half-hearted. God knew she wouldn't listen to him anyway. "He is leaving for a mission soon and I need him relatively sane for his training."

"Your words, not mine, Kakashi. I'm sure the kid's missed me anyway. I bet he can't wait to see me."

With that, she left the room and Kakashi watched the door click shut behind her. Left alone in the silence of his hospital room, he picked up his book to resume his reading. But as his eyes roamed over the words, Anko's own kept swirling in his mind.

We're just pawns in this game, Kakashi.

She was right, of course. The game itself was so vast and so complex that shinobi could not afford to be anything more than pawns. Some of them, like the Kages, the most powerful members of certain clans, the Legendary Sannin, and a few other people, were bishops, knights and rooks. One of them — and Kakashi had a pretty good idea whom it was, or whom it was going to be — was the queen. And Asuma was always going on about who the king was and why it had to be protected at all costs. But the rest of them were simply pawns, destined to follow orders and inevitably fall.

However, Kakashi mused, there was one truth that made pawns even more powerful than any other piece.

Pawns may be beaten, but they move first. And moving them forward may start a winning game.