A/N: It's now two chapters that I owe you.....
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I snorted, stepping carefully across the angled ceramic tiles until I reached the chimney. Without asking for permission, she wouldn't give anyway, I sat down right next to her. The last orange light of sunset bled out of the sky.
For a moment, we just sat there, in silence. Well, "silence" if you ignored the obnoxiously loud, wet, enthusiastic smacking of lips and the aggressive chewing of sweet dumplings. She chewed with her mouth open like a barbarian, cheeks bulging, completely unbothered by basic table manners. It was equally disgusting and weirdly endearing.
I bumped my shoulder against hers. "Thank you."
She spared me a fleeting glance from the corner of her light brown eyes, then swatted my arm away. "Don't get all sappy on me now. I had business in Wave anyway." She bit off another chunk of dango, speaking around the mouthful. "Figured I'd multitask, I'm amazing like that."
"Uh-huh. Sure."
Her grin twisted into a predatory delight, all teeth and mischief. She jabbed the dango stick at my chest like a weapon. "But don't think this was a freebie, lover boy. You owe me now. Big time. And I never forget my debts."
I raised my eyebrows. "Pretty sure this just cancels out one of the many favors you already owe me. I'd say this puts us at... maybe I still owe you a back rub? Wait, no, you cashed that."
"Lies and slander!" Anko barked a laugh, loud enough to probably startle a few pigeons three roofs over. "I have never owed anyone anything in my life! I am a paragon of independence and fiscal responsibility!"
"Did you pay for this dango?" I gestured at the stick in her hand. "Or did you put it on my tab…. again? After you couldn't find a wallet to steal."
"Civil forfeiture!" She cackled, then slung a mesh-clad arm around my neck and yanked me sideways. She smelled like exertion. Sweat and road dust and the metallic tang of her armor, mixed with the sickly sweet scent of sugar syrup. And then there was the soft, generous press of her tits against my arm and shoulder, the weight of them impossible to ignore even through the mesh of her bodysuit. "Careful with those accusations, hotshot. Keep talking like that and I might decide to collect interest on your debt right now. With compound rates."
I deadpanned at her. This woman. This ridiculous, shameless, dango-obsessed menace who somehow thought she had the upper hand in literally any situation. It would be infuriating if it weren't so fucking amusing.
"Are you just threatening me with a good time?" I smirked at her. "It's confusing my survival instincts."
She shoved me away with a snort, releasing my neck. "As if you have survival instincts. You're the one who—Wh—hey!"
I reached out, wrapped an arm around her waist, and pulled.
Her words cut off as I hauled her curvy-but-light body onto my lap, back pressed against my chest. She let out this surprised "oof" sound that was half-laugh, half-grunt, twisting in my grip immediately, jamming an elbow half-heartedly toward my ribs while looking back over her shoulder with a glare that promised retribution.
"The hell do you think you're doing?" she asked, eyes narrowed, but there was amusement dancing in them. "Getting handsy without permission? That's a good way to lose fingers, brat."
"You were shivering," I said, meeting her mock-threatening glare with a smile. "Can't have that. I'm providing a public service. Body heat conservation. It's very tactical."
"I wasn't shivering, you ass. I'm cold-blooded." She snorted, the aggression in her posture deflating slightly. "But fine. If you want to be furniture, be furniture. Just don't complain when my elbows bruise your delicate ribs."
She shifted between my legs, settling her weight more comfortably, back flush against my chest. Then, because she was Anko and couldn't let me have a win, she ground her ass against my crotch with deliberate pressure, shooting me a smug look over her shoulder.
I felt her body heat seeping through the thin mesh, the curve of her spine fitting against my sternum, the tickle of her violet ponytail brushing my collarbone. She smelled like travel dust and sweat and that faint metallic tang from her mesh armor.
She made to bite into her dango stick, but as the sore loser I was, I couldn't possibly let her have a win. I reached out and plucked it from her hand before she could.
"Hey!" Anko growled, a low sound deep in her throat, vibrating against my chest. Anko did not appreciate people getting between her and her sweets. "Give that back before I bite you instead."
I held it just out of reach with my left hand, meeting her glare with a calm, unimpressed look. "You're going to get sauce all over my shirt if you eat like a barbarian."
"I'll get sauce wherever I damn well please!" She clicked her tongue, abandoning the stolen stick to reach for another one on the plate.
I returned her glare with an unimpressed look.
She clicked her tongue, irritation spiking, and reached for the paper plate sitting beside us. "Fine. I'll just grab another—"
I caught her wrist mid-reach.
"Seriously?" She stiffened, muscles coiling. "Are you looking for a fight, Eishin? Because I swear—"
Instead of answering, I pulled her hand back toward her body, wrapping my arm fully around her midsection, trapping her arm against her stomach. I pulled her tighter, burying my face in the crook of her neck, inhaling the scent of her skin. The teasing faded, replaced by the sheer relief of having her back, solid and safe and breathing in my arms.
"Welcome back, Anko," I murmured against her skin, my lips brushing the sensitive spot just below her ear.
She went still. The aggression melted away, leaving her rigid for a split second before she squirmed, trying to hide the way her breath hitched.
"Ugh, seriously?" she grumbled, though there was zero heat in it. "You're so fucking clingy. And you get worse every time I leave. What are you, a puppy?"
I kissed the side of her neck, right where it met her shoulder, and felt the involuntary shiver that ran through her. The quiet, purring sound she made despite herself.
"Can't help it," I said, voice low and warm. "Every time you disappear, I just miss you more. It's a problem."
"Flattery will get you everywhere," she muttered, though she didn't try to pull away.
"I hope so," I chuckled, before tightening my hold one last time, savoring the moment, then shifting my grip. I brought the stolen dango stick back around, hovering the syrupy dumpling right in front of her mouth.
Anko blinked at it, then raised a skeptical brow, cranking her neck to look at me like I'd grown a second head. "Wow. Hand-feeding now? What am I, some stray you found scrounging in the village dumpsters?"
"Well, you do hiss a lot. And you scratch." I grinned, leaning fully into it. "Pspspsps. C'mon, girl. Don't be shy." I waved the dango stick slightly, like I was coaxing a feral animal. I kinda was. "You want the treat? You want it? It's the good stuff. Extra sweet, just how you like it. C'mon."
"You're such a dork." Anko rolled her eyes, but the heat in them shifted. "You really think dangling sugar at me is gonna domesticate me?" She leaned her cheek against mine, where I was nuzzled into the crook of her neck, just for a split second, a whisper of affection, before tilting her head back toward the dango stick. "Keep it steady. If you drop it, I'm hunting you down and making you pay in blood."
I just hummed against her skin. "For a wild animal that doesn't want to be tamed, you sure do spend a lot of time purring." I intertwined my fingers with hers, where they rested on her stomach, holding her tighter. "And I'm not bribing you. I'm feeding you. Now open up."
Anko snorted but complied, parting her lips. I guided the dango stick forward, and she bit into the mochi softly, surprisingly gentle for someone who usually tore into food like she was afraid it would fight back. Her teeth scraped the skewer, pulling the sweet dumpling free with methodical precision. She chewed slowly, savoring it, her body relaxing further into mine.
I smiled against her hair. Anko Mitarashi. The village's most notorious special jounin. The interrogator who made grown men piss themselves. The loud, crass, snake-contracting menace who wore fishnet like battle armor. Peel all those layers of spikes and venom away, and underneath was a molten core of sheer softness. Like one of those hard candies with the gooey center, you just had to be willing to crack a few teeth getting there.
Come to think of it, all that syrupy, cavity-inducing sweetness she inhaled 24/7 had to go somewhere. It probably settled right in her core, making her someone who craved affection even while pretending she was allergic to it.
We stayed like that for a long moment, perched on the roof as the sky deepened from orange to indigo. Stars began appearing one by one, distant pinpricks of light bearing witness to two idiots sharing dango and body heat. I fed her, and she leaned completely into me, her smaller frame enveloped by mine. It felt good. It felt nice. It felt right.
Like the natural culmination of everything. All the missions where it had just been us against fuck-all odds. All the blood shared, the trust forged in fire and adrenaline. All the nights spent patching each other up. It all led to this quiet intimacy on a rooftop.
When the stick was bare, Anko nudged my arm toward the paper plate without a word. I grabbed another one. Feeding her was oddly satisfying. A primitive kind of caretaking that scratched an itch in my brain. And for all her bravado about independence, Anko didn't seem to hate it either.
She bit into a fresh dango, chewed thoughtfully, then said, "This is weird."
She leaned into my shoulder, tilting her head back to look at the emerging stars, exposing the pale line of her throat. My eyes traced the vulnerable curve automatically.
"Time…. time flies, huh?" Her voice was softer now, reflective. "People change. You blink and suddenly nothing's the same."
"Indeed," I murmured. I couldn't resist the invitation of her bared neck; I pressed a soft kiss to the pulse point under her jaw, feeling her breath hitch. "Never thought I'd hear you talk like an old man reminiscing about the good old days. What's next, complaining about your back? The effect of time for you."
Anko snorted, the sound morphing into a half-giggle. She turned her head to look at me, eyes bright with amusement. "I was talking about you, dumbass. Yoy have changed. You have grown. You bought a house. A big-ass samurai house. And now you're stockpiling women instead of just... You know. The usual fuck-and-dump routine. You're nesting. It's weird."
Now it was my turn to snort. I guided the dango stick to her mouth. "For the record, I kept a room for you. Corner suite. Great sunlight. Just the way you like it."
She took a bite, smirking around the mochi. "Careful now. Give a stray food and a warm bed, and you're stuck with her for life. You sure you're ready for that kind of pest problem?"
"Hey, I've always been a fan of difficult cases," I shot back. "Besides, pests are way more fun once you get a collar around their neck."
"Wow. A collar, huh? bold." The young woman let out a low, throaty laugh, eyes narrowing with a mix of mischief and genuine heat. "Usually, I'd say you were courting death with talk like that. But..." She shrugged, the movement rolling through her whole body against mine. "What chance does a simple stray stand against a Kage-killer? Might as well submit to the inevitable before I get crushed."
"Mmh-uh," I nodded, pitching my voice into dramatic arrogance. "You can do nothing but offer your humble adoration to your lord."
"Don't push it, Lord Fancy-Pants," she muttered, swatting my knee.
I fed her another piece, and silence returned, comfortable and warm. The night air cooled around us, but where our bodies touched, there was only heat.
"I really didn't expect you to accept," I admitted after a while. "Thought I'd have to fight you on it. Or at least bribe you with more than just dango."
Anko shrugged, her shoulder shifting against my chest. "House looked big. I'm not dumb enough to say no to free rent and home-cooked meals. Even if your cooking is barely edible."
I licked my lips, pressing my hand more firmly into her stomach. "Speaking of the future... about what we talked about before—"
"You really love pushing, huh?" Her voice took on a warning edge, though it lacked real venom. She sighed, and her tone softened. "Give me some time to think about it, yeah?" She paused, and I felt her tense slightly, like she was embarrassed by what she was about to say. "I was thinking... maybe I'd try teaching first. See how that goes. If I'm any good at it…. with children, I mean."
I pressed my forehead against the side of her head, breathing in the scent of her hair. "You'll be an amazing teacher, Anko."
"You… think so?" Her voice was small, uncertain in a way she rarely allowed.
"I know so."
She nodded slowly, processing. Then, as if the sincerity was physically painful, she shook herself and shoved an elbow into my ribs. "Oi! The feeder is malfunctioning! I'm starving here. Either do your job or let me go so I can eat in peace without your useless ass getting in the way."
I scoffed, removing the dango stick from her vicinity entirely. "Dango alone isn't dinner. You've had enough sugar to kill a horse. Time for real food." I slapped her thigh lightly. "Up. Let's go."
She grumbled, complaining under her breath about dictatorial brats ruining her life, but she stood up. I followed suit, the night air suddenly biting now that her warmth was gone.
"Since you live here now, you're on kitchen duty sometimes," I said, starting across the tiles toward the edge of the roof. "Tsunami and Inari must be exhausted, but they should eat something solid before crashing. And you..."
"Yeah, yeah," Anko grunted, falling into step beside me. "Though if you're cooking, I might just stick to the dango. Your miso soup tastes like dishwater."
"Liar. You licked the bowl last time."
"Slander! I was starving!"
I shook my head, smiling into the darkness as she followed me down.
Because that was the funny thing about strays. Once they stopped running and started following, they were already domesticated. They just hadn't admitted it yet.
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