Her legs were almost ready to buckle beneath her. How far had she run from that damn frilly tea shop?

The night was cold but her body was burning both from the stress of her encounter and the ensuing escape, leaving her exhausted and trying to catch her breath on a street corner. This is what she gets, letting herself have a moment of weakness like that. Why did she even go in that place!? She'd never wanted to before!

'It was just there, Anko.', she reasoned to herself, slowly starting to walk again, this time towards home. 'That's all it was.'

Right...Right. She was stressed, and just passing by. Maybe she could say she was curious about what it was like? Inoichi would probably believe her. She'd certainly never been in a place like that before, and she wasn't about to let her image as a badass fall apart because of a passing whim to see the inside of a tea shop.

And that's all it was, right? Just a passing whim, a one time thing that she could forget about now.

After all, it's not like she's into that cutesy shit.

'Though…'

Her pace slowed, coming to a halt on one of the commercial streets of the village, streetlights flickering on around her as the sun sank beneath the trees.

'It's not like it was...bad…'

...Welp! Curiosity sated, that's great! Now she never had to go in there again!

"Hah! Thank Kami! Ha-HAaha!"

Fairly late, she realized that she'd been speaking out loud, standing tall, hands planted firmly on her hips while villagers paused from their walks to stare at her sudden scene.

A beat passed, and Anko ducked her head, shoving her hands in her pockets and striding along, gruffly pushing past anyone in her way.

This whole thing had just added to her stress in the end. Obviously, it was a bad idea from the start.

Well. She'd learned her lesson.

Amidst her self chastisement, a sparkle caught her eye, coming from one of the shops she was about to pass.

It was...a dress. A big, poofy dress, adorning a mannequin in the window. That thing was...was...garish! She stopped in front of the window, looking the thing over.

It was gigantic. Big and frilly, with- were those sparkles? Did that thing have GLITTER on it!? What the hell kind of shop was this? Taking a step back to read the sign, she read out that it was exclusively a dress shop, 'packed with everything to make you feel like the princess you are!'.

That certainly explained that. Her eyes settled back onto the object of question.

'Who the hell would actually buy this thing…?'

Were people actually into that? Look at it! It's...it's obscenely...something. It's something. It's not like it's ugly, or bad looking. In fact, if there was a word to describe it, it would be...cute. Yeah. Cute. WAY too cute. Offensively cute. Sugar pixies would vomit up the rainbows in their guts looking at this thing.

She glared at it, pinning her frustration to the thing, as if her narrowed eyes could will it to burst into flame and fix all the trouble that today had been.

"Um...window shopping?"

A voice spoke calmly beside her, and Anko turned distractedly, eyes lingering on the offending dress before moving to see-

...Kurenai? That was a startlingly pleasant surprise. Kurenai was a good friend, always knowing just how to calm her down, and speaking with a respectful softness that Anko never really got from anyone else. Though, distracted as she was, she missed what she'd said.

"Hey hey, Kurenai! This is a nice surprise. Out for a walk?"

Kurenai seemed a bit distracted herself, blinking away the bit of surprise on her face before continuing.

"Ah, yes. It's a um, a very nice evening out."

That was Kurenai. Always calm, out in town just cause it looked nice outside. Anko nodded, humming a quick sound of approval.

"Hm, yeah! It's not bad out, huh? Sorry, I was a bit out of it before, what'd you say?"

Her companion's eyes flicked to the window of the shop they stood in front of before returning right back to Anko's.

"Uh...are you, window shopping?"

"...wha?"

She looked to the side herself, and-...

Oh. She'd been staring at the dress. And Kurenai…OH.

"Wh-what!? No! No, I- I-"

On any other day, that accusation wouldn't have bothered her nearly this much, but her close encounter with Inoichi had left her shaken, and the idea of another misunderstanding- that- that she had an interest in this dumb, girly, frilly dress was just-

"Anko, are you...blushing...?"

WHAT? No, Anko NEVER blushed! She isn't-...Is- is she? Oh Kami she is. She had to explain that this was just a misunderstanding. She had to just explain everything that had happened, and Kurenai would understand. She was a good listener like that.

But...she was giving her this...look. The way she was staring down at her in awe caused the words to catch in Anko's throat and just left her sputtering, unable to speak at all as she started to sweat.

'C'mon, Anko! Just- tell her what happened today!'

And she was trying, Kami, she was trying. But Kurenai just kept watching her, causing to shrink back into herself more, and she could feel the warmth in her cheeks getting redder and redder, and-

She bolted, street lights blurring alongside her as she sprinted away. The dress, Kurenai, and that whole freaky situation was left in the dust behind her. Still, the embarrassment clung to her like tree sap, impossible to shake. Her hands clapped against her face, feeling the heat in her cheeks as she darted through Konoha's commercial district, back to her apartment.

Today was just awful. It was filled to the brim with bad luck; she could sleep it off and be back to her normal self tomorrow, putting this whole thing in the past

Everything would be normal tomorrow.

AN: To the guest who reviewed asking for an update: ye ask, and ye shall receive. Happy holidays y'all. Enjoy another chapter of de-stress fic, cute anko style