Week #65 - Trigger
Title: Trigger
Rated: 13+
Character: Anko
Warnings: Needles; Orochimaru's mad science
Word Count: 277
~~~***~~~
Anko hates needles.
More than that, she hates that she hates them.
It's stupid--she's a strong kunoichi, doesn't flinch from blades or bombs or even senbon, not any kind of weapon; she's not afraid of blood and bruises and broken bones. She's tough, fierce, a fearsome shinobi of Konoha, and vaccinations are par for the course. They shouldn't be anything to send her into a panic.
But there are very primal instincts wired deep in the human brain, and a med-nin approaching her with a hypodermic never fails to make her break out in cold sweat, make her heart-rate go up and her respiration go shallow. She flashes back to the lab, Orochimaru's cool hands, restraints and tests and watching her rag-tag 'family' die one after the other when their bodies couldn't handle the Curse mark; she remembers being the lucky one who survived, being subjected to all kinds of experimental injections that reacted painfully with her seal, having her blood drawn again and again in attempts to re-create her success in others. It hits her in a disjointed rush all at once, and it makes her want to vomit.
It makes no sense, that a simple needle can set off such a visceral reaction when she can face down the man responsible for those nightmares without batting an eye, but psychological trauma often flouts the dictates of logic.
Anko, though, is tough, and fierce, and a fearsome shinobi of Konoha who will not be ruled by her irrational fears; she shows her teeth in a savage grin and bares her arm to the needle that she hates and never lets anyone see how acutely relieved she is when it's over.
Rated: 13+
Character: Anko
Warnings: Needles; Orochimaru's mad science
Word Count: 277
~~~***~~~
Anko hates needles.
More than that, she hates that she hates them.
It's stupid--she's a strong kunoichi, doesn't flinch from blades or bombs or even senbon, not any kind of weapon; she's not afraid of blood and bruises and broken bones. She's tough, fierce, a fearsome shinobi of Konoha, and vaccinations are par for the course. They shouldn't be anything to send her into a panic.
But there are very primal instincts wired deep in the human brain, and a med-nin approaching her with a hypodermic never fails to make her break out in cold sweat, make her heart-rate go up and her respiration go shallow. She flashes back to the lab, Orochimaru's cool hands, restraints and tests and watching her rag-tag 'family' die one after the other when their bodies couldn't handle the Curse mark; she remembers being the lucky one who survived, being subjected to all kinds of experimental injections that reacted painfully with her seal, having her blood drawn again and again in attempts to re-create her success in others. It hits her in a disjointed rush all at once, and it makes her want to vomit.
It makes no sense, that a simple needle can set off such a visceral reaction when she can face down the man responsible for those nightmares without batting an eye, but psychological trauma often flouts the dictates of logic.
Anko, though, is tough, and fierce, and a fearsome shinobi of Konoha who will not be ruled by her irrational fears; she shows her teeth in a savage grin and bares her arm to the needle that she hates and never lets anyone see how acutely relieved she is when it's over.