For Anttolas, who requested an AnkoHina fic. XD (Sorry, it's a little late. And when I say a little, I mean a lot.)

Note that it may seem a little angsty at the beginning, but it evens out. D:

Um, might get a little choppy a bit later in the fic. ):

Flames will be laughed at and then put in a bucket of water.

Pairings: AnkoHinata, GenmaShizune friendship.

Summary: (Anko, the rumour mill and a rather interesting bet.) The chuunin exams come around again.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.


The Concequences of Gambling


The special jounin sighed slightly and shoved her arms under her head. Messy black locks fell over her headband and over her eyes, creating a temporary shade from the bright lights of the library.

"Ne, Anko-chan, that doesn't look like you're working," the librarian called over to her chidingly. She was ignored by the ninja, in favour of Anko turning her head to the other side. "Anko-chan… wake up please."

"Mmn," the Konoha kunoichi groaned, waving a pale hand in the air. "Five m're minutes p'ease…"

Sighing, the librarian tried the first thing that came to her head in order to get the tired Anko up and alert. Giving a lovesick sigh, she whispered, "He's so handsome… polite… the perfect man." She mentioned to her friend and colleague whispering loudly, "I hear he likes Anko, you know."

There was a quiet few moments, before said woman opened a bleary eye and scanned the room. The room was empty enough to those who didn't look close enough, but Anko was a trained ninja, and she wasn't about to let her skills go to waste. She studied the entire library around her, careful not to look too suspicious, and came to the conclusion that it wasn't a good idea to stick around.

Glancing briefly at the pile of books at the side of her head (because god knows she had been working but had just got side-tracked), and deciding to come back for them later, the spiky-haired woman preformed a few hurried hand-seals, disappearing in a puff of chakra-emitted smoke.

Behind a large bookshelf, the librarian frowned. Her plan had worked, but not so much in the way that she expected. She wished to ponder the information further, but was distracted by a certain senbon-chewing shinobi.

Giving out an exasperated huff, she hurried over, a stern look set in place while berating quietly, "How many times do I have to tell you not to bring them in here? One day you're going to damage something!"

She would store that juicy little piece of information- though it was based on mere speculation of course- on Anko for later… although she couldn't wait to tell everyone.


"Hey." The casual greeting startled Genma slightly, but when he saw who it was, he simply puffed out his cheeks slightly.

"Shizune." A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Haven't seen you since last week… where've you been?"

Her face pulled into a slight frown. "A mission," she paused slightly. "Didn't I tell you?"

He squinted at nothing in particular and raised his eyes to the ceiling. "…It slipped my mind?" He offered nervously. In response, he received a half-hearted glare. He grinned- he knew that he was already forgiven. Though he wasn't about to take any chances.

"You any good with gossip?" The not-so-subtle change of subject made him wince on the inside, but his fellow jounin took the bait. He smiled gratefully and thanked the gods for Shizune's lapse of attentiveness (or if she had noticed, her forgiving nature).

"Not really, no," the dark-haired woman smiled ruefully. "You've got to look to someone like Anko about that." Absent-mindedly, she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"That's the point," he gave a sly smirk. "It's about Anko." The special jounin snickered at the eyebrow that was raised.

"Well, you can't just stop there… you've piqued my interest."

"I see you've changed your tune," Genma poked his tongue out slightly, ending up slightly awkward- with his senbon threatening to fall out. He was forced to take it out before it fell on the floor, frowning at the quiet giggle from his comrade.

"Stop it," he grumbled with a slight pout, which disappeared once he actually realised it was there.

"Anyway," Shizune stressed, feeling uncomfortable from her friend's obvious embarrassment. Uncharacteristically, she decided to have one last dig, just for luck. "You need to lighten up."

In response, she gained a playful push.

"Whatever… but," the brown-haired man tried to regain his composure slightly, almost forgetting what the conversation with his friend was about anyway. "Hey… do you think Anko's, well, you know…"

"Know what?" The medic-nin sighed, knowing that nothing good was going to come out of this conversation.

"Well, some librarian girl said that Anko doesn't like guys," he deadpanned. "And don't say you heard it from me." He added the last part as an afterthought, grimacing slightly at the thought of Anko hearing about it. That wouldn't be a pretty sight, because as childish as Anko was at the best of times, she packed a punch.

Sceptically, Shizune snorted. "I doubt that… I really do. They're all about the gossip… half of it's all just rumours. Nothing more. You remember when they said Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya were together?"

"Yeah… I hear that they didn't say much after that though."

"Mn. Tsunade-sama scared them, I think," she grinned mirthfully, remembering a particularly vexed Tsunade on the day that she heard the rumour. Luckily, Shizune wasn't on the receiving end of that temper, though she could have sworn that another IOU had wormed its way into the Godaime's possession.

"Yeah… well I think it's true," the honey-blond said offhandedly, chewing slightly on the senbon in his mouth, though not getting anywhere due to the fact that it was certainly harder than his teeth would ever be. "Wanna bet?"

"What?" A glare was sent in his direction. "You know that I don't condone gambling." She ran a distracted hand through short black-brown hair, while muttering incoherent words. Genma knew Shizune well, and he was pretty sure that she was going to do it anyway. As stubborn and practical as she was, she could hardly resist a chance to prove herself right.

"It's not gambling… it's more of a… game?"

"Fine… Not much though." Defeated, the medic-nin slapped a note to the side of her, stubbornly refusing to look.

"Deal."

They shook hands in agreement, only to be met with a rather awkward silence, which Shizune was the first to break.

"Well what now?"


"Neji-nii-san."

"Hinata-sama."

They both fell into an offensive stance, palms outfaced and glowing blue with chakra.

"Isn't that a little dangerous for just training?"

Hinata flinched at the sudden interruption from the gates of the main-family's house. Both cousins fell back into casual stances, and eyed the stranger behind the gates.

"What is your business here?" Asked Neji frostily, ignoring Hinata's attempts to answer the woman's question.

"Well, how rude," the stranger huffed, shaking her head in mock disapproval, purple-black hair flopping casually across her vision. "Well, kid," she stuck her tongue out at him defiantly at the small victory, "I've got a message from the Hokage- for a certain Hyuuga Hiashi."

A small frown of distaste spread across the young Hyuuga male's face at the childish behaviour of the ninja (he could see it now, a worn and scratched headband perched on her head, masked by unruly hair), though it was barely registered by those around him due to its short existence.

"I can take it to him from here--"

"That won't be necessary," the woman cut across sharply, frowning at the young man through the gates. "I was asked personally by the Hokage to deliver this important message in person. Now remove that stick from up your ass and open the gates," the jounin rubbed tiredly at her eyes, muttering under breath. ("I always knew he was bad, but not this bad, geez.")

"U-um, please, he o-only offered to help," Hinata interjected softly, smiling hopefully at her cousin.

"Hn," was the only answer given, and the branch family member stalked away.

"I think I might have pissed him off," Anko grinned.


"Y'know, you could have just given me directions."

The young girl pushed her fingers together nervously, and said in a small voice, "I-it's easy to get lost r-round here..."

They turned around another corner (which Anko found disturbingly familiar,) and headed towards a door hidden in the shadows which Anko wouldn't have noticed had it not been pointed out to her by her guide.

"My f-father's office."

"Thank you," Anko smiled gratefully.


--(Time skip!)-- :gets slapped for being lazy:


Anko sighed dejectedly. After the last Chuunin Exam, she really wasn't too keen on supervising anymore. It was a stressful job at the best of times.

"Oi, I'm goin' on lunch break," she called over to her friends and co-supervisors dismissively. She knew that they would bring it up later, but to hell with later, she needed to eat now.

"But it's not even ten yet!" She heard someone call out to her, followed by a chorus of agreement from the other jounin and chuunin on duty.

She just ignored them.

This was definitely going to be talked about when she got back.


"The usual?"

"You bet," Anko sighed and stretched lazily. She decided in that moment that she really needed to sleep more- people had been commenting about the bags under her eyes (or at least, those who weren't scared shitless of her) and she had been yawning all day.

"Here's your dango, dearie," called an old woman. They knew each other well; they had come to be almost friends over the years that Anko had attended the small house-come-cafe-come-shop on the outskirts of the town- rather conveniently placed near to where Anko was working.

Anko responded with a simple, "Thanks," and began to eat greedily. Because damn she was so hungry and it tasted so good.

"I see you're enjoying that." Startled by the sudden voice (it was usually deserted whenever she went in- in fact, it was usually deserted full stop- that's why she was liked so much by the old woman who ran the place) Anko shot up as if she had been electrocuted, though she calmed back down again when she saw who it was.

The intruder sat opposite of the examiner, and looked her directly in the eye.

"I see that you're shirking," the intruder began. "...Again."

"S'in my nature, you of all people should know that, Shizune- after all, I hear that Tsunade makes you do most of the paperwork."

The medic-nin sighed and shook her head disapprovingly. "Those rumours are over-exaggerated, fortunately. Also, you do realise that I'm under obligation to report this to the Hokage, don't you?"

The other woman made a non-committal noise, looking away quickly before she responded, "you won't though."

"You don't sound so sure."

"Piss off, will you?" A discontented frown was sent in Shizune's direction.

"No," Shizune smiled sweetly, before adding, "You're not wrong though."

"Knew it."


Anko groaned slightly when she got up from her slouched position on the seat, carelessly clicking a few joints when she moved. "Gotta go... M'going to get a tongue-lashing when I get back anyway, and I'd hate to deny them their pleasure. "

The medic only gave a nod of the head in response and what Anko was sure was an affirmative noise, obviously barely listening to what was said.

"Bye, then," Anko grinned slowly, walking out of the shop.


"Anko, you need to go introduce yourself," Genma called over the hubbub. "Ibiki'll throw a fit if you don't."

"Now there's something I want to see," she replied loudly, earning a few appreciative chuckles from within the crowd of Chuunins.


"Yo," Anko said nonchalantly. A few of the new students stared in awe after her dramatic entrance, while others (who had seen the same or similar act before,) just looked on disinterestedly.

"Oi, Y'bastards!" Was yelled into the silence, breaking many from their reverie. "I'm going to be taking you for your next test. You'll be informed of when it is by your jounin teachers."

With that brief explanation, she strolled casually out the door.

"What's up with her?"

"Who knows?"


Anko sighed dejectedly. They had been following her all morning, and though at times she was sure that she had lost them, they kept on.

She was sure that they were plotting something. If she only knew.

Though she would give them a little show for their efforts, Anko thought mischievously. Time to let them in on a little not-so-secret secret.

Anko was going to knock them for six.


"...Right, so you all know what to do?" Anko had just finished explaining the rules of the second examination to those who had passed the first test, and didn't especially fancy doing it again. "Yes? No? Maybe so? Good."

She strolled off again. Even those who didn't know her (or at least, of her) were shocked by the brief behaviour of the examiner.

"Anko-san...?" A small voice piped up from the back of the crowd. "W-what is it?"

And suddenly, Anko was hit with an idea. A very good idea... (in her book, at least).

She blinked.

Smirked.

And then grinned (looking mildly psychotic as she did so).

"Hyuu- Hinata...san," she was out of audible range of any of the Hyuuga bigshots anyway. "Would you mind coming with me, for the moment?"

"U-um," looking around nervously, Hinata caught the encouraging looks from Kiba and Shino, (though both for different reasons. Kiba was not totally opposed to cheating, though he would never call it that, and Shino just tried to be encouraging anyway) and nodded, before voicing it. "Yes, Anko-san."

Slowly shuffling to the front, Hinata followed Anko, acutely aware that she didn't have the slightest clue as to where she was going.


"Anko-san?"

The jounin was silent.

"A-Anko-san...? Please... what's wrong?"

"Hinata-san, don't take this too seriously."

Cautiously, Anko turned around to face the young girl. Their eyes met briefly, before Hinata looked away. The air was thick with tension, until Anko chose to grin brightly.

"'Less you want too," she continued, before leaning forwards, and clumsily bumping their lips together.

I was short-lived, because less than a second later, the examiner pulled back from a fiery-red Hinata and grinned again.

"Come on, they'll be wondering where we've got to." Turning her back, Anko strolled hastily back to the group of waiting ninja.

Hinata followed her silently, wondering hazily if the jounin knew that she had just taken her first kiss.


"Oh? You made a bet?"

"Yes," was the short reply.

"You're just as bad as me," Tsunade smirked, ruffling Shizune's hair fondly, the hand being shaken off a few seconds later. "Don't go wasting our money now."

"...Just do your paperwork."


Not half as good as I wanted it to be. ): I dunno. Umn, reviews are nice?