Anko was right. Everything went right back to normal after a good night's sleep. At least...she was right for a while. The first week after her confrontations at the tea and dress shops had been eventless. Absolutely nothing seemed to have come of it so far. Inoichi hadn't brought up that he'd seen her drinking tea with a big dumb grin on her stupid face, and she had yet to see Kurenai since that night.

Though, that one...may have been on purpose. She was just...giving her some time to forget that whole encounter. It's not that she was still embarrassed about it. That wasn't it at all. Anko didn't do embarrassed.

So, everything was fine again. Her reputation was perfectly intact, and she hadn't had even a lingering speck of curiosity about anything remotely adorable. She was alright.

Until...it happened. 'The Incident'. Something that Anko would never live down; something that even years from now she would look back on in shame and humiliation.

The day had started out perfectly fine, not a single thing alluding to the horror that would await her. The events of what had happened last week had even started to fade from her mind. It was just a momentary lapse of sense, after all. Nothing to worry about.

It was evening, and Anko was trudging along slowly to her favorite dango place, content with her efforts from today's workout in the training grounds. She was tired and sore, but not in a bad way at all, smirking to herself as she caught her breath before entering the snack shop.

The air inside was cool, a nice breeze flowing over her tired muscles and making her sigh out contentedly as she licked her lips, looking over the snacks in the display stands. This really is the one place she could get away with anything~

Nobody, absolutely nobody would challenge her when it came to dango. It was like her one guilty pleasure. The one thing she could get away with. In fact, her sharp personality was tempered even further by the knowledge that she had a sweet spot for the treat, people whispering in fear about her and the snack.

"Don't mess with Anko while she's getting dango, she'll mess you up!"

"Anko would destroy you if you messed with her dango, and she'd make it slow!"

"Just stay away from her while she's eating, she's so cool and awesome and good looking too!"

The reputation she'd worked so hard for had been able to combine with her snack time, as it was just the one sweet thing about her, and create a perfect little paradise in which she was the ruler.

It was her retreat from the world. It was where she de-stressed, and relaxed. It's where she should've relaxed a week ago, as always.

Anko shook the thought from her head. That night was behind her now. This wasn't the time for worrying, this was the time for dango!

She slithered up to the counter, smirking mirthfully at the server. He knew exactly why she was here, shaking just slightly as he nervously stepped behind the snack case, reaching to grab two sticks of the treat to start off this evening feast.

He held them out over the counter, not meeting her eyes as he spoke.

"T-two hundred yen, please…"

Already drooling at the smell of the dango, Anko patted her pocket and…

It was empty.

She...forgot her wallet.

The employee was now looking up at her, likely wondering what was taking her so long.

"...uhhhh...Hey, buddy. Uh, listen to this right? So, I left my wallet back at my apartment, see? And-"

"I can't...I can't give you the dango unless you pay..."

It looked like it had taken a mountain of effort on his part to say that. It probably had. She leaned onto the counter, giving her most charming smile. She may or may not have pushed up her cleavage as she spoke.

"Listennn...I come here all the time! You know that, riiiight? Just 200 yen worth of dango...just two sticks! That's not a big deal...right?~"

The kid was sweating. He looked like he was about to keel over, but he still held the dango sticks on the other side of the counter, trying to glance anywhere but at her.

"I'm sorry, but, I can't give you these unless you pay…"

Her eyes narrowed, voice dropping low as she tersely bit out,

"Gimme the dango."

"I- I can't!"

...There wasn't much she could do about this one, huh. Dammit! Could she make it home to grab her money and back before the snack shop closed? Probably not. It was pretty close to closing as it was. Ugh...there were other places open later that would still be selling, but none of them had dango as good as this place did...

Turning away from the terrified employee with a sneer, she'd started towards the door when…

'...Well helloooo, what have we here?'

Inside the shop, lazily eating away at the second of four sticks of dango, was none other than Ibiki. Her boss, Ibiki.

...She could totally mess with him.

Anko slid beside him like a shadow, speaking as sweetly as the dango he held.

"Heyyy, boss~ What a coincidence!"

He'd paused mid bite to look at her, rolling his eyes and taking a deep breath as he lowered the stick.

"Wooow...you, here, at this shop...with dango! The world sure is a mysterious place, huh?"

"I'm sure it is, Anko. Can I help you?"

"As a matter of fact!"

The man sighed like he knew he'd just invited disaster into his home.

"See, here's how it is…"

Anko pulled a chair next to Ibiki's in one swift motion, the thing rocking from the sudden movement before she leaned across it, stilling it with a click as its legs snapped against the tiled floor.

"So I come in here all the time, you know that right?"

Ibiki nodded his head, silently willing her to get on with it.

"Well! Today, it just so happens I lost my wallet...and after training so much today, really pushing myself out there, bettering myself as a ninja, you know? I was so looking forward to a little treat, after all that hard work and effort...And so then I see you, with-"

"No."

"Aw come on old man!"

Ibiki smirked, picking up the remaining sticks of dango in one hand and jabbing them tauntingly in her direction.

"Nope. I'm not giving you my food just because you forgot your wallet. If you really want to better yourself, you should start with not forgetting things that simple."

"You have like four sticks! That's more than any man needs, just gimme two, and we'll call it good!"

"No."

"One?"

"No."

"One piece?"

He refused to even say it again.

Anko looked away with a frustrated 'tch'. What could she do here? How could she get that dango? Kick him in the balls and run? Hm...the idea had some merit, but, assaulting her boss probably wasn't the greatest idea.

"You really don't wanna give me those things, huh?"

Ibiki radiated an aura of triumph, looking smug as he barked out a laugh.

"Hah! I wouldn't give you these even if you begged."

"Yeah right...You so would."

"I'd like to see you even try, Anko."

This was getting into dangerous territory...but...well, she'd always been a bit too confrontational.

"What, you think I won't?"

"I know you won't."

This was a battle indeed. Within her, two options were fighting for dominance. Either leave and get dango somewhere else, or actually do it and take this smug bastard's. It was honestly a close battle; her pride against the challenge Ibiki set for her, which he was so certain she could never complete. In a way, that was a matter of pride as well. And that…

Well. Take Ibiki down a peg and take his dango? That might just be too good to pass up. But...

Ech. She could beg, but it would be all ugly, and terrible. Still, she probably wouldn't have to do too much in the way of it. Just the fact that she'd even ask nicely would be enough to shock the guy, probably. A quick please, and she'd nab the sweets and hightail it out of there. Victory, thy name is Anko. That sorta thing.

Closing her eyes, Anko lowered her head down into her arms, rested firmly on the back of her chair. Taking in a deep breath to prepare herself, she felt...something. It was like something started to click within her, but she couldn't place exactly what. Ah well- she couldn't distract herself, asking all nicely was gonna leave a bad taste in her mouth, so she didn't wanna mess it up and have to redo it all.

Her head raised slowly, and something about her felt...different. She'd said please before, and it was never pretty. It was an embarrassing moment that caused her no small amount of suffering to perform, so there was no reason for this to be anything other than that, but...

But something was. She could feel it in the way her lip quivered, in the way her eyes were slightly damp with unshed tears, the way her gaze was avoiding the man in front of her, shyly looking away. Before she could even stop herself, her voice spoke in a small, delicate tone she unaware she was even capable of producing.

"P-...please...?~"

.

.

.

Nobody said a word. Every eye in the shop was trained directly on her; at the sparkling aura that had surrounded her when she spoke. The moment the words left her mouth, Anko recovered herself, freezing in place, absolutely petrified. A few seconds later, she had to courage to look around the deathly still snack shop.

To her horror, her moment had gone far from unnoticed. Most of the observers were sporting a small blush, in a state of shock at what they had just witnessed. And Ibiki…

Ibiki's jaw was dropped, the arm that held his dango shaking with the threat of going slack. A light dusting of pink slowly made its way onto his stunned expression.

Anko snatched the dango and ran, the door of the shop nearly flying off its hinges as she smashed through it.

The cold night air and the sweet smell of dango did next to nothing to mollify her as she fled.

That happened.

She just did that.

She just did that in front of a whole shop full of people.

One of which was her boss.

...fuck.

This isn't-...

This-...

...she-...

...something's wrong with her.