[Log]Damned If You Do... [Part One]
Characters: Anko, Kankurou, Naruto, Deidara
Date: December 15
Location: Anko's apartment in Cena
Rating: R
Warnings/Notes: Language, Angst, Blood
Summary: Kankurou comes back from Celo broken by the ARMA and Anko decides to take the matters in her own hands to clean it up and deliver retribution to those guilty of this. Naruto is asked by Anko to watch over Kankurou along with Deidara.
Anko's breath puffed out in small white clouds as she hurried along, having opted to leave her baby at home rather then risk driving the damned thing through the snow. The thought of bypassing the apartment and heading straight on into Ceno still prickled at the far reaches of her mind as she was already fucking tired of going back and forth with the never-ending argument when it was obvious neither her nor Kankurou had any plans to back down. The excuse that she needed to grab supplies was pure bullshit, everything she had in Cena she also kept stored in Celo for such occasions. She just needed to see with her own eyes that Kankurou was ok. She needed to see what they did to him so that the bastards could pay for every blow struck, every mark left on the man who's temper was surely as heated as her own at the moment.
It wasn't that Anko didn't get what Kankurou kept drilling into her head, she did all too well. It was hard enough hearing that he'd been put through all of it to begin with, something that probably could have been avoided if she had gone with him like she had originally planned to have done but bailed at the last minute after catching grief from the boss. Instead, she was left to deal with the aftermath. Going home and just being there was all well and good, not a damned thing wrong with it to be perfectly honest, but there was this helpless feeling Anko couldn't shake off that was demanding retaliation, pure and simple.
A gloved hand reached up to massage at her throbbing temple. Bouncing back and forth between both Kankurou and Naruto (who easily on their own could induce a migraine if they were in the frame of mind to do so) had set off the mother of all headaches and all Anko wanted at the moment was a hot bath, a mouthful of painkillers and her bed. Neither of which seemed eminent in the near future knowing that she had a delusion-ridden significant other waiting for her at home.
Simply put, the body of the man laid out on the makeshift bed on the couch was fucked up.
With his fingers barely movable with the amount of bandaging on them, Kankurou had done a messy job in cleaning up his open wounds and injuries. Every movement it took to get the rest of his body well disinfected and clean had incurred the wrath of his shorter than usual temper these days, polishing up on his dirty language and trying out those new phrases he had learned from his short term stay with the government. Just the image of the concrete Hell made Kankurou lose his appetite for hours, before he tried to shove anything edible into his system. But his system was as stubborn as the owner, refusing to ingest anything fully and then making each time a losing battle.
Supplementary shots were all that was left to save him and a nasty reminder in the back of his mind that he hadn't covered the entire map of injuries his body had suffered from. Some he couldn't reach, and others weren't even humanely possible to clean without sacrificing several popped blood vessels in his eyes from the pressure of the violent sounds built up inside of him as he took the pain.
The more and more he turned conscious and understood what it was the Arma had done to him to spill out what exactly he was doing still alive in this godforsaken world and with some of the strangest yet equally deadly mixtures of chemicals in his apartment. Anything that had spilled out of his mouth was useful to them. At least during the times when he was actually aware of his surroundings and not half-conscious with fuck knows what stuck in fuck knows where.
Little by little, Kankurou cursed himself internally for actually telling Anko to come over. The last thing he needed was for her to up and leave on the basis of him being the catalyst to whatever she was set on doing. But then again, just seeing him was probably enough incentive for her to leave and this was the flaw and losing point in his argument for her not to go. Reason why Kankurou was trying so hard at the moment trying to bind himself back up again in the most orderly fashion ever; covering every cut and blistering sore. It was a pity that one of them had cut straight across his back, ruining the Karasu tattoo design on it.
Hopefully she would be calmed down by the fact that he still had two complete sets to wiggle (in the future, after whatever nerves were lost were overcome and the bones snapped back) and he had everything that actually counted. At least their sex life wouldn't be hindered.
Well, a man could only hope, couldn't he?
All too soon (not nearly quickly enough), Anko was hurrying up that last flight of stairs. Her hand hovered over the doorknob for a brief moment before grasping it firmly and stepping quietly into their apartment. The first thing that caught her attention was the devastation that was once her first aid kit strung out over an amazing stretch of floor space. Stripping off her coat and letting it along with her bag hit the floor, Anko tugged off her gloves and scarf as well, not particularly caring where they fell as she strolled over to where Kankurou was laid out on the couch.
Seeing him like this caused a bloodlust to rise within her that she had not felt in many a year, the urge to hurt, the urge to kill so strong it nearly made her lightheaded. But even with those emotions boiling under the surface, she knelt beside him, fingers cool from the walk home brushing the hair back away from his face, her demeanor calm and composed so as not to upset him anymore then she already had.
"Look at you, can't let you out of my sight for a minute, can I hun?" Blatantly ignoring his warnings from before, Anko let her forehead rest against his, a distinct contrast of her cool one against his burning with fever. Gently dropping a kiss to his lips, she was mindful of the tell-tale swelling that indicated his lower lip at been split at some point.
Someone was going to pay dearly.
"..scarf?" Kankurou blearily asked, prying open his heavily chapped lips from each other to speak, each laced with dry blood all around. His mouth and hands made the utmost effort to remain immobile and not reach out to touch Anko, to truly determine whether or not what was in front of him was an illusion or not. Overall, he looked tired and exhausted, but there was that note of annoyance and stubbornness still evident in his voice when he reinstated his belief that Anko shouldn't be near him at all. His right hand gave up trying to tie another roll of bandages around a nasty burn on his left forearm, seeing that there was no use in trying to hide the evidence now. But even so, the last thing Kankurou wanted to do was actually be guilty of the fact that he was already bringing heaps of unfortunate events upon Anko.
Even if half-lidded, his eyes caught that flash of something in violet eyes that made his lips split apart further into a scowl, knowing full well that it had everything to do with every single opened skin on his body.
The couch springs creaked as Kankurou slowly pushed himself upwards in a sitting position, somehow finding it degrading for her to see him like this. Maybe it was because of the fact that he had reprimanded her harshly for being in a banged-up state as well from before, and now here he was, showing how much of a hypocrite he was.
"On the floor where it's going to stay. I'm not arguing with you right now." Watching him carefully as he pushed himself upwards, Anko paid close attention to see if there were any particular movements that seemed to bother Kankurou more then the norm. Taking advantage of the freed couch space, Anko moved so she could sit next to him as her eyes lit upon each and every mark they could see. It was hard to decipher what the pitifully sad bandaging hid, but there would be time to take care of all of it. Reaching forward, her fingers carefully felt out each line of his ribs, looking for the injuries that she couldn't see that would easily cause far more damage then any of the ones on the surface.
"Does it hurt to breathe? You don't feel anything shifting around do you?" Even now she could see his pride was going to be more trouble then all of his injuries put together, gauging the stubborn look that was settling into place across his face. Gently but firmly she reached out and grasped his chin, her eyes softening slightly at the wince this earned her but she wouldn't let him pull away as she forced him to look at her. "I'm sorry you're not too happy with me right this second but if you're going to fight me and not let me do this without your damned ego in the way, I will knock your ass out but that's just going to make it harder and I can't guarantee that I'm going to find everything. After I finish torturing you with the antiseptic and mummifying you a bit I promise you can bristle back up and be pissy with me all you'd like but for now how 'bout just playing along with me sweetie?" Much as she wanted to, Anko refrained from commenting on Kankurou's faultlessness in the matter, easily reading his wounded ego as hers was often just as troublesome. The fool wouldn't believe her and it would only make him harder to deal with in the long run.
There was already a speech, or rather a long-ass argument built up in his mind, refuting every point or excuse she might've had planned for going off to find these Arma bastards. After all, there wasn't much he could do but wait for her, lying stranded on the couch, covered with every strand of bandage he had pulled out of the first-aid kit he had found. But all it took was just hearing her voice again and feeling those soft touches (at least on the spots where he could feel them) and already, Kankurou knew it was a lose-lose situation.
It was plain and simple. He didn't have the heart to fight her, not when she was finally here. So for now, Kankurou just let out a defeated sigh and reached up to remove her firm fingers. "Not 'xactly on a winnin' streak 'ere, Anko. Think I'll pass on th' fightin' now an' star' when I'm feelin' better. 'Sides, I don't need 'nother shiner anywhere on my body, got 'nough, thanks." The stubbornness on his face faded as well, leaving behind an empty shell of a body, its user finally able to relax. But then again, once they were done with the small talk and the catching up, Kankurou knew what was coming to the end and no matter how tired he was at that time, he was going to say what he had to say.
A small smile quirked her lips and her fingers curled around his own for a brief moment before Anko was all business again.
"I don't feel any cracks or anything that seems out of place so you're lucky in that aspect hun, but there is some obvious swelling that could have been a fairly close call to a break. You're going to have to be careful moving around for probably the next week or so, but I've a feeling with everything else you're going to be better off resting for the next few days regardless," she informed him softly, fingers gently prodding one of the trouble areas to give some backbone to her words. Her eyes tilted downwards to the decimated first aid kit. "I'm just going to go grab some more bandages and a few more things ok? I'll be just a second." A quick reassuring brush of her lips against his forehead and Anko scurried off to round up what she needed. Grabbing a box of gauze and other miscellaneous wrappings as well as a secondary kit from underneath the bathroom sink, all of it was deposited by the couch before heading off into the kitchen to get a basin with some mild soap and water to try to clean him up a bit as she worked.
Finally feeling situated, Anko tugged forward a small stool and plopped herself down. While she was doing her damnedest to exude self-confidence in her medical knowledge and know-how, what she wouldn't give for there to be a trained physician here in her spot. Her field training had always gotten her through the tough spots but her skills were nothing on par of those of say, Rin. Gently wringing out the washcloth, Anko leaned forward to wipe at the dried blood lingering at the corner of his mouth.
"Have you taken anything since you've been home or is this loopiness left over from whatever in the hell it was that you took in the cell or is this something they gave you?" she asked as she set to work finally, carefully unraveling the bandages Kankurou had abandoned around his left forearm. She was sure there'd be some bitch-fit to follow of her not approving of what he'd already done but Anko wasn't planning on taking any chances. She was living proof that while she may take the extra time and care when tending to someone else, what she did to fix herself up paled in comparison.
The side of the mouth where Anko hadn't touched tilted up at her deduction of his "loopiness", something that Kankurou wasn't aware of showing that blatantly. True, his tongue felt sluggish as well as the rest of his body, but he had thought the reason to blame was fatigue. Although very well-trained and informed in chemistry and the information needed not to blow himself to kingdom come, Kankurou was no doctor as well. Hell, it might as well been withdrawal symptoms from the unbelievable amount of time the two of them spent in bed before he left for Celo. Or so he hoped.
"Supplement shots was all I took 'round 'ere. In th' cell, I'm not sure." Eyebrows creased in concentration as Kankurou tried to find some tangible information from the fuzzy and unwanted memories he was dragging from the recessive parts of his mind. After this all was done though, they were good as buried and would never find their way back in his mind unless through nightmares. Kankurou made the effort of swallowing before examining any signs of his body that might give him some clues. Slight tremors through his hands were something as well as remembering the cold sweat running down his back back in Interrogation.
"Might've been forced insulin shots. Excessive amounts cause tremors and cold sweats during sleep. Possibly several dosages of curare, too. Lack of normal body reaction to pain and the voluntary muscles." The words were dragged out in slow syllables from his mouth as he recited them as if by textbook. It was pure irony that many of what he made and sold had came back to bite him in the ass, and to be used on him. It was true he had immunity to some, but "some" wasn't a very reassuring number compared to the variety on the market these days. And then there was a machine.
Kankurou had to bite his own tongue before he continued, suddenly fully aware of his rambling and knowing full well the effect this would have on Anko's decision to go or stay, if she was still undecided, that is.
"I'm fine, though."
"Seriously."
A raised eyebrow was all the response she had to that. But thankfully it would seem nothing happened to any drastic extremes. Granted it obviously hadn't been a pleasant experience by any stretch but Anko knew fully well with the full range of interrogation tools at the Arma's disposal how bad it truly could have been. Of course, that wasn't even counting whatever had been developed during the years of her absence.
"Just a little incentive to keep that tongue of yours loose hun, I'm no stranger to what happens in an interrogation room. If you think by holding back something you're shielding me or whatever it is you're thinking of trying to pull, you're horribly mistaken. The burn marks I'm seeing vary, looks like they tried some electric shock from look of these on your chest, electrodes only leave such a perfect shape. Taser marks on your side and this one here on your arm looks to be seared so they had more or less branded you with something. Can't see your ankles at the moment but I can see abrasions on your wrists that show you were strapped down at some point or another, the buckle left it's imprint too. I could probably keep going but you're the one that's hurting at the moment so you need to be the one telling me what I need to know ok? Obviously some stuff I can figure out on my own but I could be wrong and I need for you to tell me these things." Carefully smearing some burn cream over the aforementioned area, she loosely wrapped it so as not to suffocate the skin.
One arm down, Anko reached over and tugged off the wrappings from the other to see what she had to deal with here. A lot of the superficial injuries were easy to place, cuts, bruises, burns, but here she was faced with torn skin just above the wrist that just didn't compute with anything she was familiar with. Gently stroking a finger underneath the odd wound, she puzzled over it for a moment before something from her memory clicked.
"This is where you had that thing hidden under your skin?"
A low laugh was the response to the question, more like a response to her clever deductions to the marks on his body. Most of them were right, though some of them were not.
"Yeah. Plastic capsule, never thought I'd ever need it, but glad I went through th' trouble of doin' it." Kankurou still remembered the amount of blood that had came from the open wound, so close to the major arteries in his wrist. Next time it should've been somewhere farther from any point of real harm. He shook his head at his own stupidity for not thinking ahead. But then agan, he didn't see this coming at all.
"That's all they did, Anko." Clear green eyes tilted sideways to look straight into hers, willing some kind of hope that she'd believe him. "You're completely righ'. Though it makes me wonder 'xactly how you know tha' much anyways. You've been in Interrogation as well?" A look of concern crossed his face, mostly because of the thought that Anko had been a house guest once of the Arma and also because she might actually know what else happened in there.
Her hand froze in mid-air, a generous glob of healing balm hanging precariously from her fingers when the question came directed at her. The snarky line she had been about to throw out there about half truths being no better then flat out lies died on her tongue even as she scowled to herself. Before the balm could fall Anko kick started her motor functions and carefully began to work the stuff into the torn skin, mentally scrambling to find the best way to answer the innocently asked question. It wasn't that she wouldn't eventually get around to sharing some choice tid-bits about her past, it was just not exactly the best of times to be having this particular conversation in her mind. Wiping her fingers clean, she leaned over and picked out a couple finger splints to set the two decidedly mangled looking fingers.
"This might hurt a bit, gotta set the bones back into place," she mumbled, hair falling down into her face as she bent over slightly to carefully pop the small bones back into their proper alignment. Melding the splint tightly against his finger, Anko wound the tape around it to hold everything in place. Tearing the tape off at the end, she tossed it back into the kit, flickering a quick look up at Kankurou before tossing her hair back out of her face and moving on the next injury that needed attention.
"Yeah, done my time, both sides of the table, but this isn't about me. That's why I'm saying don't try to bullshit me here because I know better dammit."
"Both sides?" Kankurou groaned out, after holding his breath as she set his fingers back. Some shallow breathing echoed into the air before he decided to venture further into this, ignoring her threat on him. There was a tone of caution now in his voice, but he regretted it as soon as it came out of his mouth. More like his paranoia got the better of him than his emotions, something that settled in quite often after he was caught. But could he be blamed to actually wonder about how it was that the Arma had found him so soon right after he met her, and that she did pull an Arma stint on him some weeks back? Even if bygones be bygones, he still did not treat that little "joke" as one, and it still made him uneasy til now.
If the tone of Kankurou's voice wasn't enough to set her on edge the sudden tensing of muscles under her fingertips surely was. She didn't pause in her dabbing of antiseptic into a vicious looking cut that sliced from his upper arm almost clear across to his collar bone, trying to choose her words wisely.
"I know I'm getting up there in years hun but I seriously doubt things have changed so much over time that they're teaching the sort of things I do in the school systems. Had to pick it up from somewhere you figure. It was a long time ago, but it's still a piece of me. I don't like people to know but it's served me over the years. I sure as hell wouldn't be any good to you right now if it hadn't been for what I picked up there. Not everything I learned in my time there was to cause suffering."
"Uh-huh." This time disbelief was in his voice as he looked at the woman in front of him, with a fresh pair of eyes. It would've been handy as well, knowing what he knew about the assassination business. No wonder her rep was so good from the beginning. There was no tone underlying the one present that gave away his previous thoughts, though. Just the simple surprise that Kankurou really had his luck in choosing to be related in anyway to those that had some interesting lives.
"Then why aren't you there, behin' tha' aluminum table an' tossin' razor blades at scum like me?"
And just that quick the closed off brat from the bar was sitting in front of her. Retracting her hands, Anko respectfully sat back and watched him with tired eyes.
"Look, I'm not going to lie and say that I wasn't involved in interrogations. Hell, it's part of your damned training, you have to do it. I did what I had to do and then that was it for me, I went on into other divisions. I didn't have the stomach for it then, can't say that I do now even. Especially not after having been on the receiving end of it. You think you had it bad being someone randomly off the streets? Imagine what they do to their own kind, Kankurou. I was trained to be able to withstand what they put you normal people through without blinking. I've never once lied to you or given you reason to doubt me dammit and I'm not going to start now. Six wasted years of my past is not something I'm exactly proud to flaunt and it's never been an issue before so there's been no reason to say anything yet."
There seemed to be always something new to know, new to find out about Anko. In some ways, surprises were nice but not these kinds. However as much as Kankurou didn't like being kept out of the loop in some things, he at least sympathized in the fact that there were those pasts that no one wanted for themselves. The ones that you wished they would disappear forever and that never turned out the way you exactly wanted it to be.
"An' 'cause of this, its how you're gonna get back at 'em? If you're tryin' t'reassure me, it's not workin'." Newly bandaged fingers flexed testily against their new bindings. At least he could move them now and do something rather than being completely immobile in the minutes from before.
For a brief moment, Anko stared back at him confused, before it clicked what it was he was getting at. "Why would something that happened so long ago set me off with what happened this week? It was a long time ago and I while I can't deny my occasional funk of 'what could have been', I don't let it rule my life. If I did you would have known this by now don't you think? My personal vendettas are my own, plain and simple."
"As for this little disagreement that you're not letting go of, I can give you hundred of reasons why and you're going to give me a hundred more disproving and shooting down everything I say so I don't see why we need to continue on with it just yet." Well hell, it surely didn't take him long at all to jump back into this damned argument. If anything Anko couldn't deny the slight rush of relief seeing Kankurou slowly waking up from whatever fog had been clouding his brain, even though she also couldn't deny the fact that she wished it would have held out a bit longer. He was still rather pitiful looking with yards of gauze and bandages littering his body but there was still the fact that he had made it back here at all.
"So I'm actually makin' some sense t'you. Good." For a moment there, Kankurou wasn't quite sure that his brain and mouth had aligned completely, but it relieved him just as well that Anko was exactly freaking out to his own deducement, no matter how crazy they were. With that settled (if only temporarily), Kankurou observed Anko's work all over his bare body, smirking at those looking seriously like the "mummy" bandaging that had been promised to him. But with every smirk came a wince, as Kankurou's damage report finally concluded and was complete.
"I think I should warn you, in case somethin' does happen though."
Date: December 15
Location: Anko's apartment in Cena
Rating: R
Warnings/Notes: Language, Angst, Blood
Summary: Kankurou comes back from Celo broken by the ARMA and Anko decides to take the matters in her own hands to clean it up and deliver retribution to those guilty of this. Naruto is asked by Anko to watch over Kankurou along with Deidara.
Anko's breath puffed out in small white clouds as she hurried along, having opted to leave her baby at home rather then risk driving the damned thing through the snow. The thought of bypassing the apartment and heading straight on into Ceno still prickled at the far reaches of her mind as she was already fucking tired of going back and forth with the never-ending argument when it was obvious neither her nor Kankurou had any plans to back down. The excuse that she needed to grab supplies was pure bullshit, everything she had in Cena she also kept stored in Celo for such occasions. She just needed to see with her own eyes that Kankurou was ok. She needed to see what they did to him so that the bastards could pay for every blow struck, every mark left on the man who's temper was surely as heated as her own at the moment.
It wasn't that Anko didn't get what Kankurou kept drilling into her head, she did all too well. It was hard enough hearing that he'd been put through all of it to begin with, something that probably could have been avoided if she had gone with him like she had originally planned to have done but bailed at the last minute after catching grief from the boss. Instead, she was left to deal with the aftermath. Going home and just being there was all well and good, not a damned thing wrong with it to be perfectly honest, but there was this helpless feeling Anko couldn't shake off that was demanding retaliation, pure and simple.
A gloved hand reached up to massage at her throbbing temple. Bouncing back and forth between both Kankurou and Naruto (who easily on their own could induce a migraine if they were in the frame of mind to do so) had set off the mother of all headaches and all Anko wanted at the moment was a hot bath, a mouthful of painkillers and her bed. Neither of which seemed eminent in the near future knowing that she had a delusion-ridden significant other waiting for her at home.
Simply put, the body of the man laid out on the makeshift bed on the couch was fucked up.
With his fingers barely movable with the amount of bandaging on them, Kankurou had done a messy job in cleaning up his open wounds and injuries. Every movement it took to get the rest of his body well disinfected and clean had incurred the wrath of his shorter than usual temper these days, polishing up on his dirty language and trying out those new phrases he had learned from his short term stay with the government. Just the image of the concrete Hell made Kankurou lose his appetite for hours, before he tried to shove anything edible into his system. But his system was as stubborn as the owner, refusing to ingest anything fully and then making each time a losing battle.
Supplementary shots were all that was left to save him and a nasty reminder in the back of his mind that he hadn't covered the entire map of injuries his body had suffered from. Some he couldn't reach, and others weren't even humanely possible to clean without sacrificing several popped blood vessels in his eyes from the pressure of the violent sounds built up inside of him as he took the pain.
The more and more he turned conscious and understood what it was the Arma had done to him to spill out what exactly he was doing still alive in this godforsaken world and with some of the strangest yet equally deadly mixtures of chemicals in his apartment. Anything that had spilled out of his mouth was useful to them. At least during the times when he was actually aware of his surroundings and not half-conscious with fuck knows what stuck in fuck knows where.
Little by little, Kankurou cursed himself internally for actually telling Anko to come over. The last thing he needed was for her to up and leave on the basis of him being the catalyst to whatever she was set on doing. But then again, just seeing him was probably enough incentive for her to leave and this was the flaw and losing point in his argument for her not to go. Reason why Kankurou was trying so hard at the moment trying to bind himself back up again in the most orderly fashion ever; covering every cut and blistering sore. It was a pity that one of them had cut straight across his back, ruining the Karasu tattoo design on it.
Hopefully she would be calmed down by the fact that he still had two complete sets to wiggle (in the future, after whatever nerves were lost were overcome and the bones snapped back) and he had everything that actually counted. At least their sex life wouldn't be hindered.
Well, a man could only hope, couldn't he?
All too soon (not nearly quickly enough), Anko was hurrying up that last flight of stairs. Her hand hovered over the doorknob for a brief moment before grasping it firmly and stepping quietly into their apartment. The first thing that caught her attention was the devastation that was once her first aid kit strung out over an amazing stretch of floor space. Stripping off her coat and letting it along with her bag hit the floor, Anko tugged off her gloves and scarf as well, not particularly caring where they fell as she strolled over to where Kankurou was laid out on the couch.
Seeing him like this caused a bloodlust to rise within her that she had not felt in many a year, the urge to hurt, the urge to kill so strong it nearly made her lightheaded. But even with those emotions boiling under the surface, she knelt beside him, fingers cool from the walk home brushing the hair back away from his face, her demeanor calm and composed so as not to upset him anymore then she already had.
"Look at you, can't let you out of my sight for a minute, can I hun?" Blatantly ignoring his warnings from before, Anko let her forehead rest against his, a distinct contrast of her cool one against his burning with fever. Gently dropping a kiss to his lips, she was mindful of the tell-tale swelling that indicated his lower lip at been split at some point.
Someone was going to pay dearly.
"..scarf?" Kankurou blearily asked, prying open his heavily chapped lips from each other to speak, each laced with dry blood all around. His mouth and hands made the utmost effort to remain immobile and not reach out to touch Anko, to truly determine whether or not what was in front of him was an illusion or not. Overall, he looked tired and exhausted, but there was that note of annoyance and stubbornness still evident in his voice when he reinstated his belief that Anko shouldn't be near him at all. His right hand gave up trying to tie another roll of bandages around a nasty burn on his left forearm, seeing that there was no use in trying to hide the evidence now. But even so, the last thing Kankurou wanted to do was actually be guilty of the fact that he was already bringing heaps of unfortunate events upon Anko.
Even if half-lidded, his eyes caught that flash of something in violet eyes that made his lips split apart further into a scowl, knowing full well that it had everything to do with every single opened skin on his body.
The couch springs creaked as Kankurou slowly pushed himself upwards in a sitting position, somehow finding it degrading for her to see him like this. Maybe it was because of the fact that he had reprimanded her harshly for being in a banged-up state as well from before, and now here he was, showing how much of a hypocrite he was.
"On the floor where it's going to stay. I'm not arguing with you right now." Watching him carefully as he pushed himself upwards, Anko paid close attention to see if there were any particular movements that seemed to bother Kankurou more then the norm. Taking advantage of the freed couch space, Anko moved so she could sit next to him as her eyes lit upon each and every mark they could see. It was hard to decipher what the pitifully sad bandaging hid, but there would be time to take care of all of it. Reaching forward, her fingers carefully felt out each line of his ribs, looking for the injuries that she couldn't see that would easily cause far more damage then any of the ones on the surface.
"Does it hurt to breathe? You don't feel anything shifting around do you?" Even now she could see his pride was going to be more trouble then all of his injuries put together, gauging the stubborn look that was settling into place across his face. Gently but firmly she reached out and grasped his chin, her eyes softening slightly at the wince this earned her but she wouldn't let him pull away as she forced him to look at her. "I'm sorry you're not too happy with me right this second but if you're going to fight me and not let me do this without your damned ego in the way, I will knock your ass out but that's just going to make it harder and I can't guarantee that I'm going to find everything. After I finish torturing you with the antiseptic and mummifying you a bit I promise you can bristle back up and be pissy with me all you'd like but for now how 'bout just playing along with me sweetie?" Much as she wanted to, Anko refrained from commenting on Kankurou's faultlessness in the matter, easily reading his wounded ego as hers was often just as troublesome. The fool wouldn't believe her and it would only make him harder to deal with in the long run.
There was already a speech, or rather a long-ass argument built up in his mind, refuting every point or excuse she might've had planned for going off to find these Arma bastards. After all, there wasn't much he could do but wait for her, lying stranded on the couch, covered with every strand of bandage he had pulled out of the first-aid kit he had found. But all it took was just hearing her voice again and feeling those soft touches (at least on the spots where he could feel them) and already, Kankurou knew it was a lose-lose situation.
It was plain and simple. He didn't have the heart to fight her, not when she was finally here. So for now, Kankurou just let out a defeated sigh and reached up to remove her firm fingers. "Not 'xactly on a winnin' streak 'ere, Anko. Think I'll pass on th' fightin' now an' star' when I'm feelin' better. 'Sides, I don't need 'nother shiner anywhere on my body, got 'nough, thanks." The stubbornness on his face faded as well, leaving behind an empty shell of a body, its user finally able to relax. But then again, once they were done with the small talk and the catching up, Kankurou knew what was coming to the end and no matter how tired he was at that time, he was going to say what he had to say.
A small smile quirked her lips and her fingers curled around his own for a brief moment before Anko was all business again.
"I don't feel any cracks or anything that seems out of place so you're lucky in that aspect hun, but there is some obvious swelling that could have been a fairly close call to a break. You're going to have to be careful moving around for probably the next week or so, but I've a feeling with everything else you're going to be better off resting for the next few days regardless," she informed him softly, fingers gently prodding one of the trouble areas to give some backbone to her words. Her eyes tilted downwards to the decimated first aid kit. "I'm just going to go grab some more bandages and a few more things ok? I'll be just a second." A quick reassuring brush of her lips against his forehead and Anko scurried off to round up what she needed. Grabbing a box of gauze and other miscellaneous wrappings as well as a secondary kit from underneath the bathroom sink, all of it was deposited by the couch before heading off into the kitchen to get a basin with some mild soap and water to try to clean him up a bit as she worked.
Finally feeling situated, Anko tugged forward a small stool and plopped herself down. While she was doing her damnedest to exude self-confidence in her medical knowledge and know-how, what she wouldn't give for there to be a trained physician here in her spot. Her field training had always gotten her through the tough spots but her skills were nothing on par of those of say, Rin. Gently wringing out the washcloth, Anko leaned forward to wipe at the dried blood lingering at the corner of his mouth.
"Have you taken anything since you've been home or is this loopiness left over from whatever in the hell it was that you took in the cell or is this something they gave you?" she asked as she set to work finally, carefully unraveling the bandages Kankurou had abandoned around his left forearm. She was sure there'd be some bitch-fit to follow of her not approving of what he'd already done but Anko wasn't planning on taking any chances. She was living proof that while she may take the extra time and care when tending to someone else, what she did to fix herself up paled in comparison.
The side of the mouth where Anko hadn't touched tilted up at her deduction of his "loopiness", something that Kankurou wasn't aware of showing that blatantly. True, his tongue felt sluggish as well as the rest of his body, but he had thought the reason to blame was fatigue. Although very well-trained and informed in chemistry and the information needed not to blow himself to kingdom come, Kankurou was no doctor as well. Hell, it might as well been withdrawal symptoms from the unbelievable amount of time the two of them spent in bed before he left for Celo. Or so he hoped.
"Supplement shots was all I took 'round 'ere. In th' cell, I'm not sure." Eyebrows creased in concentration as Kankurou tried to find some tangible information from the fuzzy and unwanted memories he was dragging from the recessive parts of his mind. After this all was done though, they were good as buried and would never find their way back in his mind unless through nightmares. Kankurou made the effort of swallowing before examining any signs of his body that might give him some clues. Slight tremors through his hands were something as well as remembering the cold sweat running down his back back in Interrogation.
"Might've been forced insulin shots. Excessive amounts cause tremors and cold sweats during sleep. Possibly several dosages of curare, too. Lack of normal body reaction to pain and the voluntary muscles." The words were dragged out in slow syllables from his mouth as he recited them as if by textbook. It was pure irony that many of what he made and sold had came back to bite him in the ass, and to be used on him. It was true he had immunity to some, but "some" wasn't a very reassuring number compared to the variety on the market these days. And then there was a machine.
Kankurou had to bite his own tongue before he continued, suddenly fully aware of his rambling and knowing full well the effect this would have on Anko's decision to go or stay, if she was still undecided, that is.
"I'm fine, though."
"Seriously."
A raised eyebrow was all the response she had to that. But thankfully it would seem nothing happened to any drastic extremes. Granted it obviously hadn't been a pleasant experience by any stretch but Anko knew fully well with the full range of interrogation tools at the Arma's disposal how bad it truly could have been. Of course, that wasn't even counting whatever had been developed during the years of her absence.
"Just a little incentive to keep that tongue of yours loose hun, I'm no stranger to what happens in an interrogation room. If you think by holding back something you're shielding me or whatever it is you're thinking of trying to pull, you're horribly mistaken. The burn marks I'm seeing vary, looks like they tried some electric shock from look of these on your chest, electrodes only leave such a perfect shape. Taser marks on your side and this one here on your arm looks to be seared so they had more or less branded you with something. Can't see your ankles at the moment but I can see abrasions on your wrists that show you were strapped down at some point or another, the buckle left it's imprint too. I could probably keep going but you're the one that's hurting at the moment so you need to be the one telling me what I need to know ok? Obviously some stuff I can figure out on my own but I could be wrong and I need for you to tell me these things." Carefully smearing some burn cream over the aforementioned area, she loosely wrapped it so as not to suffocate the skin.
One arm down, Anko reached over and tugged off the wrappings from the other to see what she had to deal with here. A lot of the superficial injuries were easy to place, cuts, bruises, burns, but here she was faced with torn skin just above the wrist that just didn't compute with anything she was familiar with. Gently stroking a finger underneath the odd wound, she puzzled over it for a moment before something from her memory clicked.
"This is where you had that thing hidden under your skin?"
A low laugh was the response to the question, more like a response to her clever deductions to the marks on his body. Most of them were right, though some of them were not.
"Yeah. Plastic capsule, never thought I'd ever need it, but glad I went through th' trouble of doin' it." Kankurou still remembered the amount of blood that had came from the open wound, so close to the major arteries in his wrist. Next time it should've been somewhere farther from any point of real harm. He shook his head at his own stupidity for not thinking ahead. But then agan, he didn't see this coming at all.
"That's all they did, Anko." Clear green eyes tilted sideways to look straight into hers, willing some kind of hope that she'd believe him. "You're completely righ'. Though it makes me wonder 'xactly how you know tha' much anyways. You've been in Interrogation as well?" A look of concern crossed his face, mostly because of the thought that Anko had been a house guest once of the Arma and also because she might actually know what else happened in there.
Her hand froze in mid-air, a generous glob of healing balm hanging precariously from her fingers when the question came directed at her. The snarky line she had been about to throw out there about half truths being no better then flat out lies died on her tongue even as she scowled to herself. Before the balm could fall Anko kick started her motor functions and carefully began to work the stuff into the torn skin, mentally scrambling to find the best way to answer the innocently asked question. It wasn't that she wouldn't eventually get around to sharing some choice tid-bits about her past, it was just not exactly the best of times to be having this particular conversation in her mind. Wiping her fingers clean, she leaned over and picked out a couple finger splints to set the two decidedly mangled looking fingers.
"This might hurt a bit, gotta set the bones back into place," she mumbled, hair falling down into her face as she bent over slightly to carefully pop the small bones back into their proper alignment. Melding the splint tightly against his finger, Anko wound the tape around it to hold everything in place. Tearing the tape off at the end, she tossed it back into the kit, flickering a quick look up at Kankurou before tossing her hair back out of her face and moving on the next injury that needed attention.
"Yeah, done my time, both sides of the table, but this isn't about me. That's why I'm saying don't try to bullshit me here because I know better dammit."
"Both sides?" Kankurou groaned out, after holding his breath as she set his fingers back. Some shallow breathing echoed into the air before he decided to venture further into this, ignoring her threat on him. There was a tone of caution now in his voice, but he regretted it as soon as it came out of his mouth. More like his paranoia got the better of him than his emotions, something that settled in quite often after he was caught. But could he be blamed to actually wonder about how it was that the Arma had found him so soon right after he met her, and that she did pull an Arma stint on him some weeks back? Even if bygones be bygones, he still did not treat that little "joke" as one, and it still made him uneasy til now.
If the tone of Kankurou's voice wasn't enough to set her on edge the sudden tensing of muscles under her fingertips surely was. She didn't pause in her dabbing of antiseptic into a vicious looking cut that sliced from his upper arm almost clear across to his collar bone, trying to choose her words wisely.
"I know I'm getting up there in years hun but I seriously doubt things have changed so much over time that they're teaching the sort of things I do in the school systems. Had to pick it up from somewhere you figure. It was a long time ago, but it's still a piece of me. I don't like people to know but it's served me over the years. I sure as hell wouldn't be any good to you right now if it hadn't been for what I picked up there. Not everything I learned in my time there was to cause suffering."
"Uh-huh." This time disbelief was in his voice as he looked at the woman in front of him, with a fresh pair of eyes. It would've been handy as well, knowing what he knew about the assassination business. No wonder her rep was so good from the beginning. There was no tone underlying the one present that gave away his previous thoughts, though. Just the simple surprise that Kankurou really had his luck in choosing to be related in anyway to those that had some interesting lives.
"Then why aren't you there, behin' tha' aluminum table an' tossin' razor blades at scum like me?"
And just that quick the closed off brat from the bar was sitting in front of her. Retracting her hands, Anko respectfully sat back and watched him with tired eyes.
"Look, I'm not going to lie and say that I wasn't involved in interrogations. Hell, it's part of your damned training, you have to do it. I did what I had to do and then that was it for me, I went on into other divisions. I didn't have the stomach for it then, can't say that I do now even. Especially not after having been on the receiving end of it. You think you had it bad being someone randomly off the streets? Imagine what they do to their own kind, Kankurou. I was trained to be able to withstand what they put you normal people through without blinking. I've never once lied to you or given you reason to doubt me dammit and I'm not going to start now. Six wasted years of my past is not something I'm exactly proud to flaunt and it's never been an issue before so there's been no reason to say anything yet."
There seemed to be always something new to know, new to find out about Anko. In some ways, surprises were nice but not these kinds. However as much as Kankurou didn't like being kept out of the loop in some things, he at least sympathized in the fact that there were those pasts that no one wanted for themselves. The ones that you wished they would disappear forever and that never turned out the way you exactly wanted it to be.
"An' 'cause of this, its how you're gonna get back at 'em? If you're tryin' t'reassure me, it's not workin'." Newly bandaged fingers flexed testily against their new bindings. At least he could move them now and do something rather than being completely immobile in the minutes from before.
For a brief moment, Anko stared back at him confused, before it clicked what it was he was getting at. "Why would something that happened so long ago set me off with what happened this week? It was a long time ago and I while I can't deny my occasional funk of 'what could have been', I don't let it rule my life. If I did you would have known this by now don't you think? My personal vendettas are my own, plain and simple."
"As for this little disagreement that you're not letting go of, I can give you hundred of reasons why and you're going to give me a hundred more disproving and shooting down everything I say so I don't see why we need to continue on with it just yet." Well hell, it surely didn't take him long at all to jump back into this damned argument. If anything Anko couldn't deny the slight rush of relief seeing Kankurou slowly waking up from whatever fog had been clouding his brain, even though she also couldn't deny the fact that she wished it would have held out a bit longer. He was still rather pitiful looking with yards of gauze and bandages littering his body but there was still the fact that he had made it back here at all.
"So I'm actually makin' some sense t'you. Good." For a moment there, Kankurou wasn't quite sure that his brain and mouth had aligned completely, but it relieved him just as well that Anko was exactly freaking out to his own deducement, no matter how crazy they were. With that settled (if only temporarily), Kankurou observed Anko's work all over his bare body, smirking at those looking seriously like the "mummy" bandaging that had been promised to him. But with every smirk came a wince, as Kankurou's damage report finally concluded and was complete.
"I think I should warn you, in case somethin' does happen though."