Full summary: Summer is drawing near, and a vacation is just within Anko's reach. She is just one mission away from the blessed long overdue rest that awaited her. Just one quick seduction mission at a masquerade and she is free. But when a certain S-classed missing nin gets thrown into the mix, things starts to heat up in a totally different way. So, summer is drawing near... Hot? Hell, yeah.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and any of its characters.
Enchant. Seduce. Enthrall. Charm. Those are a few of the things that Anko was required to do. All things considered, it was a pretty laid-back mission. If Anko was like any other kunoichi, that is. Yet Anko wasn't just any other female ninja.
Ask her to hide in a mud pool to ambush an enemy, fine.
Tell her to guard a shipment of provisions for a traveling trader, sure.
Order her to scale mountains and travel plains to deliver a secret letter to another village, consider it done.
But mingling and making small talk among strangers at a party? Getting close to -that is to say, seducing- someone to obtain information? No, thank you very much.
Yet, for all the formidable skills the Hokage have at her disposal, Tsunade can be strangely deaf at times. And how queer that such times always coincides whenever she have violent objections to her missions, Anko thought sulkily, as she watched Tsunade slam the stamp of approval on the slip of paper indicating her mission. Staring at the fuchsia ink that stained the mission slip, she knew that she had to see this through whether she like it a not.
Sure, she understood that Tsunade had no other choice as the rest of the other kunoichis are already on a mission or are in the middle of their vacation, but that doesn't mean that she has to like it.
~.*~.*~.*~.*~.*~.*~.*~.*~
A frown marred her features as the hall started filling in with guests, small chatters breaking out slowly around the area. Her eyes scanned the place, seeking out Fujita Kogen, his picture still etched in her mind as Tsunade's words relived themselves in her head again.
"We have used our sources to secure an invitation to an upcoming masquerade ball where a high ranking official, Fujita Kogen, will be present. We have received reports that he have been abusing his power, and there are also rumors of him stirring up a coup d'état. The residing feudal lord have requested for our assistance in cutting off the funds he is receiving. Some damage have been dealt by the feudal lord to Fujita and now he is running short on his funding."
"This ball is his last desperate attempt at gathering funds, and we're told that he would be meeting up with a large sponsor. The feudal lord wants to personally deal with Fujita and have asked us to stop the transaction and find out the reason behind this mystery sponsor's action. Based on what you find, the feudal lord will decide on how he will want to deal with that person. So, do not engage this unknown player. He is not ours to deal with."
"This is a picture of Fujita, remember it well."
"That said..." Tsunade paused, her eyes leaving the document in front of her as they locked with Anko's eyes, a knowing smirk on her face."Do you have a dress suitable for the event?"
It was a rhetorical question, both of them knew. Because Tsunade was also present when Kurenai gave Anko that blasted dress as her birthday present. And she had forgotten all about it. Until now.
"Yes." Anko replied as she valiantly fought off the urge to burn the dress when she get home. Dammit.
"Then it is settled. You will go under the identity of Tanuma Hatsue. The identification papers and other necessities will be prepared by the next day. Rest well for today and move out tomorrow."
Sighing, Anko reached for a flute of champagne from a passing waiter, taking care to sip the honeyed liquid carefully before sitting down on one of the elaborately decorated benches in the shadows of a hanging balcony from the second floor. Most of those invited have not yet arrived, so this was time she could afford. Taking a moment to savor the hint of apple and vanilla, she felt herself relax as the delicate and mellow wine slid down her throat. Her gaze drifted to the mirrored walls from across her and she assessed herself in their reflective surface.
The damnable dress in question isn't all that bad actually. The midnight blue satin evening gown is smooth on her skin and reached floor length, mostly bare-backed and sleeveless, with two broad straps on either shoulders. Delicate cascades of semi-sheer chiffon silk crawled down from a center knot design, going around her and down her back, flowing in the wind behind her whenever she walked.
And the dress was complete with a low V-neckline and a silt down the middle of the dress, starting form mid-thigh.
Okay, it's official. She hates the dress.
If it was any consolation, it was that she was able to smuggle two kunais in, the comforting weight currently strapped against her thigh, their coolness against her skin a cold reminder of her actual mission.
Her eyes slowly trailed up to her reflection's face. The mask she was provided with is a half-face plastic gold mask, with intricate designs carved upon it, completed with a blue flower adorning one extreme side of the mask, with strategically placed feathers on the plastic flower.
Damn that Tsunade. Anko'd bet a few months salary that Tsunade had fun picking this mask with the blue flower, just because she knew that Anko hates dresses, and now she is forced to wear one. So, ofcourse, the good friend that she is, Tsunade just had to pick a matching mask for her.
All in all, with her hair let down and light make-up on, she was presentable enough, she assumed, finishing and satisfied with her assessment of herself.
She snapped out of it as she notice a young man approach her from her peripheral vision. A bronze mask, covering only one side of his face, black hair combed neatly to the side, with a smug smile on his lips. A dark blue tux over a half unbuttoned white dress shirt that exposed too much of his chest, paired with a matching pants.
He isn't the one...
Her eyes slipped over his hips and thighs. The clothing that he wore was meant to be a proper fitting, so it is pretty much figure hugging, showing that there wasn't anything underneath his clothes that she should be wary of.
As she brushed her hair back, she let one earring fall off in an accidental fashion, and immediately stooped down to retrieve it before he could offer his help. Her eyes darted to his feet.
Nothing strapped to his ankles too...
So he isn't an enemy.
"Hey, maybe it's just me but I think you are making it hot in here." He drawled as his eyes drifted down to her chest before snapping back up to look at her, a smirk slowly forming on his face. Though she didn't invite him, he took a sit beside her.
Anko gave a mental sigh. Just her luck to have attracted such a playboy, one with a ridiculously bad pickup line at that, so early in the party.
But having to keep up appearances, Anko participated in the small conversation he started, slapping some enthusiasm into her views of the current sweltering weather while discreetly scanning the rest of the ballroom whenever appropriate.
"So what is your name cutie?" The guy -he'd already introduced himself, but what was his name again?- asked, in what he probably assumed was a sensual voice. To Anko, it resembled a slobbering dog attempting at human speech.
She inwardly cringed as the conversation took a steep downwards plunge into areas that she'd hate to go. Giving a small giggle that came out awfully high pitched, Anko snapped open her folding fan to cover her grimace as she almost choked on her reply. "Well, since you asked so nicely, my name is Tanuma Hatsue."
"Hatsue-chan, I don't know about you but I feel that I've got all the time in the world to find out more abou-" His sentence was cut short as his eyes focused on her neck, puzzlement evident on his face.
"There seems to be something on this side of your neck," he said, as he reached over her left shoulder towards the back base of her neck.
Anko stiffened, as she reigned in the sudden onslaught of compulsion to withdraw her kunai and slash at his offending hand. She should have expected this, should have prepared for someone who could have seen through the sloppy coverup she did. It was unavoidable as people are likely to get in close proximity to her, seeing that this was a social event. Crushing her thoughts with vengeance, she forced herself into the role again.
Closing her fan with a snap, she tapped on the side of his hand lightly, effectively halting his movement. Smiling playfully as she looked into his eyes, she giggled again. "That is nothing. Just a minor incident of the past. But let's not be bothered by it, because I'm interested in knowing more about you-"
Anko paused as she rummaged in the depths of her mind for his name. Natsuko Hito? Natsune Hiroshi? Ahh...Nakao Hiroji.
"-in knowing more about you, Nakao Hiroji-san" Anko finished as she snapped her fan open again, looking up at him through her lashes, effectively steering the subject of conversation back to him.
A gleeful look instantly formed on Hiroji's face at Anko's obvious, albeit a little bad, attempt at flirting.
Careful not to let the torture she was feeling show on her face, she tuned Hiroji's -or was it Hitomi's- voice out, occasionally offering weak laughter, sympathetic simpering, pseudo awed looks and nods whenever appropriate.
"And so he tried to lie to me, telling me that he did not embezzle my company funds. But ofcourse, I saw right through his pathetic act and caught on his lie, saving my company form being cheated-"
Such a pity.
"-once again. Then there was also this one time, after my wife died from a mysterious illness-"
Or maybe it's a suicide. Either way, must have been a relief for her.
"-and just two days after her funeral, this girl at my office started flirting with me, telling me how handsome I was-"
Girl's probably blind. Poor thing.
"-not that I needed any reminders, but then she wasn't my type, to small, you know?" He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively to Anko.
Giggling in the falsetto voice and feeling rather stupid, Anko had no choice but to play along or risk appearing really fake when she approach Fujita and his associate. Better to flirt now so that she can continue to appear as natural to the sponsor and Fujita later, than to get caught just because she only targeted her flirting at Fujita when he appears.
Still, there was only so much bullshit that Anko could tolerate.
"So then, I told my cousin that he could work at my factory, but shouldn't he help me out for free-"
Shut up.
"-since we're all family, there was no need to be so rigid right? And that sad idiot agreed! He was so kind that-"
Shut up! Shutup ShutUp SHUTUP.
"-he even asked his wife! Free labor is hard to get, but this was totally effortless on my part!"
Ohmygosh, just SHUTTAFUCKUP!
Her patience running out, Anko so close -oh-so-close- to strangling him, damn the mission, that the sight of Fujita in his hideous brown suit wadding into the center of the ballroom was heaven sent.
"And so, till now, they are still-"
"You know, I'm rather famished after all that talking. Do you mind if we head to get some refreshments?" Not even apologizing for interrupting him Anko stood up, placing the now empty flute on the tray of another waiter. Making her way towards the rows of assorted bite-size hors d'oeuvres where Fujita was currently at, she did not even bother to see if Hiroji was keeping up.
As she approached, two bodyguards became visible to her as her viewing angle changed from where she had been sitting down. As did a man wearing a crisp black suit.
Something unexplainable drew her gaze to focus on that man, and that man only. It struck a chord within her, as a sense of familiarity flared. As did a sense of unease.
But with a sliver mask covering the upper half of his face, Anko couldn't identify this person. And the way they were conversing, he could be anyone, from the mystery sponsor to a mere acquaintance of Fuijita's.
Shrugging off the feeling of uneasiness, Anko opted for just keeping a close watch on Fujita and those he come into contact to for now. Then she'll approach at the opportune time. As easy as that.
Afterall, what could possibly go wrong?
Reviews~? :D