Naruto God of The Shinobi

CHAPTER 27

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Chapter Twenty-Seven

Naruto could feel that she was there, but similar to the time when they first met, Anko didn't show herself immediately, hiding in the trees on the clearing's edge. He would have thought that she would have learned that she couldn't hide from him.

But instead, she stayed in the trees, watching him as he continued to meditate as if he hadn't noticed her presence.

Eventually however, without prompting, she dropped from her perch in the tree, landing with an easily heard thump that Naruto supposed was his cue to realise her presence.

"Ah, Anko," He called to her as he twisted around in his seated position, a smile on his face. One that almost dropped when he saw that she still wasn't meeting his eyes. "How are you, now that the seal is gone?"

There was a bandage over her shoulder but under her clothes, easily visible through Anko's fishnet shirt, right where the cursed seal once was.

Anko didn't reply immediately to his question, finding something immensely interesting in other parts of the clearing to look at. This went on for seconds, then a minute, then more, until nearly five minutes had passed without a response from the chūnin. With a barely audible sigh, Naruto began to question the girl what was wrong.

"Ank-"

"I'm sorry," Anko interrupted hurriedly, still not looking him in the eye, "When you asked me to take my clothes off and I made a joke." Anko paused for a moment before she spoke in a much quieter voice. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

Frowning at the sudden apology, Naruto rose from is seated position, brushing off some specks of grass that stuck to his clothes, and walked towards the purple haired girl. A girl who was tensing as he approached out of nervousness.

Finally, he stopped in front of her, Anko still refusing to meet his gaze.

"Anko, look at me," Naruto told her. He received a jerky shake of the head. "Anko," He repeated again, softer this time. "Look at me." The same response. "Anko," He asked again, "Please."

If using 'please' did anything or it was 'third times the charm', Naruto didn't think to ask, because when Anko raised her face to stare at him with unshed tears in her eyes, it was the furthest thing from his mind.

In a slow movement, he bent down and drew the child into a hug, something that she didn't resist against and eventually collapsed into. He didn't hear the sound of sniffling nor crying as Anko rested her head against his shoulder, but the occasional shake of her shoulders and the small amount of wetness he could feel under where her head rested said enough.

Taking a moment to think over what Anko had apologise for, Naruto found himself sighing. His reaction to Anko's joke while he was removing her cursed seal would have been warranted in any other situation that he could think off, except the one that he used it in. Unfortunately, he used it in a situation in which Anko didn't have the most stable emotional grounding, the chūnin feeling vulnerable with cursed seal visible for all to see. He should have thought over his situation more, Anko had asked him if he'd still be her friend after seeing a seal, it should have been obvious from the beginning that Anko was fragile emotionally then.

His snap reaction, coupled with the fact that it was the first time he'd actually shown anger directed towards her, along with her emotional instability would mean the she could, and did, take his reaction the wrong way. It probably didn't help that he apparently missed her when she came out of surgery, if her being here meant anything.