The Secrets ANBU Keep

I | Take Comfort in Reality

Take Comfort in Reality

And it was evident in the way she loved that when she did love, she loved deeply. Whether it be her little brother, who she openly admitted she would give an arm and a leg for if it was demanded of her, or her small, fractured family who she laughed and argued with and no matter how many times she left that she ultimately came back to, even if she wasn't whole and happy to be pieced back together. It could even be witnessed in the big, old dog that lived in her apartment with her and brother - who she was seen walking around the village with, dutifully, and who she would pet gently when he rubbed against her leg.

With shinobi who were taught not to scream, not to make noise, who's identities were hid behind masks and silent language, she reminded them how to be human, opened her door to them every night - one, two squads at a time, sometimes just a person or five or six it didn't matter - and she'd fix them food, talk to them, and they'd talk to her in turn, in grumbles and grunts and that silent language that she sometimes answered back in. They got to meet her brother, play with the old dog, were welcomed into her small, private life, where the masks weren't important, where they could be themselves - broken, shattered, vulnerable, bitter - and she would be the one to patch them up again, one warm meal and soft smile at a time.

She became a grounding force for so many, many of Konoha's ANBU. One person touched the lives of so many without judgement. Because she was a civilian who had known horror and still retained the ability to smile like the world hadn't ripped her to shreds at one point. She had the heart of a shinobi buried under a civilian's gentle hands.

Perhaps that's why they trusted her. Perhaps that's why they didn't tell their superiors about her. Perhaps that's why she was the best kept secret among operatives that had seen too much, done too much and just couldn't handle it any more.

Because with her there was no fine line between civilian and shinobi. There was only humanity, reality, and sometimes...sometimes that's all they needed. A reminder on how to be human.

The Third and Fourth Hokage died with the wish that they could have thanked the person who kept their ANBU from breaking. Perhaps she could have saved others too.

But that was a secret for the ANBU. She was theirs. The hospital couldn't have her, neither could the other divisions. Her quiet civilian home, tucked out of the way and unassuming, was a safe haven where everything was alright. Where things were okay even when everybody inside was broken and the world outside was so, so wrong and so very dark. They weren't about to let the rest of the world taint the safe haven they had created for themselves in her home.