The night after The Incident was cold and dark, encasing Anko in a bleak chill.

Fitting.

There was no way she could just brush this one off. Everyone had seen. Ibiki had seen. What was wrong with her...? What even happened!? It was just supposed to be a quick thing, a stupid 'please' to nab a man's dango, not...not that!

Anko slouched on a tree branch nearby her apartment building, exhausted but strangely unwilling to go back to her home. It was, in all likelihood, plain and clear paranoia. But still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something bad would happen if she went back there. It was too...obvious. Ibiki might show up there, demanding to see her so he could fire her. After all, somebody who ever acted like that was probably not fit to be in T&I.

Oh kami her life was ruined, wasn't it.

There was just a need to lay low for a bit. If people were looking for her for any reason, her apartment would be the first place they'd check, and she wasn't exactly feeling up to explaining what the hell had happened at the dango shop.

Dango...That reminded her, she had two and a half sticks worth of the stuff held tight in her clenched fist. For a moment, she felt a surge of anger, raising her hand to throw them as hard as she could, blaming them for whatever had happened back there. But…

Her movement halted, and she slowly brought them back, angrily taking bite off of one of the sticks.

These things were her only compensation for that ordeal. No point in making it all for nothing.

Still, the taste was bittersweet. It didn't feel worth it at all. She was stuck wanting to avoid thinking about tonight, yet it being the only thing she could possibly have a thought about.

'...something's wrong with me.'

Anko shook her head to crack apart the thought. There was nothing wrong with her. It was a freak accident. That whole...mushy moe crap! That wasn't her. That wasn't what she's like.

Before she'd even realized, she'd eaten all of the dango she'd procured, and was left with nothing but a few thin wooden sticks.

...She didn't even have the energy to toss those.

Running a hand through her hair, she sighed, hopping off the tree and walking down the street, silently twirling the dango sticks between her fingers.

She'd have to put in a lot of work to make up for that slip in personality. Maybe she could act like she'd done it on purpose...? To freak Ibiki out. That might be believable. Either that, or she'd need to go twice as hard as usual. Really push the limits of what was allowed in terms of spooking people in the workplace.

Bribing wouldn't work. Too many people had seen. Besides, if she bribed him to keep quiet, it would be acknowledging that she really did have the capability to act like that when her guard is down. That was not acceptable.

Decided. She'd go hard on her violent mistress personality tomorrow, before rumors of what had happened at the dango store could really spread. Mess with some bystanders, scare a few poor saps into wetting their pants, and the blow of "Did Anko seem off to you...?" would be lessened by a pretty good amount. "Yeah something did seem off! She was even more cool and scary than usual!"

Hah! Yeah, that's what would happen! It'd be great!

Nobody would believe anyone who said she was acting anything other than her violent self.

Yeah. That's how it'd go.

Her stare lifted from her feet as she found herself in one of Konoha's many parks. Slowing her pace, Anko took in the view of it. Dark, silent, and still. Nobody ever came to a lightless park at night. This whole part of the village was still, all of the nearby residents having turned in as the sun set, leaving the area empty and calm.

There were a few benches inside the park. Anko trudged over to the nearest one, dropping onto it with a grunt. The adrenaline had mostly left her at this point, leaving her feeling heavy and absolutely exhausted. She didn't want to even stand anymore, let alone walk back home.

She laid down across the bench, letting a hand drop off to brush against the grass below her. She had a lot of work to do tomorrow, a Redemption Day to fix everything up all nice, but right now...right now she just wanted some rest. A bit of time to not have to think about it.

Pushing all of the day out from her mind, Anko could feel herself relax as her eyes drifted shut, allowing her the sleep she desired.

.

.

.

"...-ko..."

Egh...what was that...?

"...-nko?"

Someone was talking, shaking her gently on her shoulder, and if they didn't stop, they were gonna get a kunai through the eye.

"-hey, Anko. Are you alright?"

This dude wasn't leaving her alone. She was still half asleep, quietly mewling in indignance at the voice, trying to shake the hand off of her.

"Yeah, what...? The fuck you want...?"

The voice chuckled a bit, and the hand retreated.

"Sorry, sorry. I just...saw you sleeping on the bench. I thought maybe you were drunk or- or something. You're alright?"

Her eyes blinked open a crack, the bright light of morning overwhelming her for a moment. The bright white of the world started settling, and the shape of a person outlined in front of her, slowly blocking in until she could clearly make out a young boy, likely a chunin, looking at her all concerned and nervous.

Wait...she knew this guy...at the very least, she knew his name. That scar across his nose was a pretty clear identifier, and even moreso was the nice guy shtick and that timid demeanor.

Iruka something or other. Some academy teacher she'd met a handful of times in the past.

Anko yawned a small, weak little yawn, sitting up slowly to face the guy.

"Yeahhh, I'm good..."

The man looked a bit relieved. He really did worry too easily. She was a tokubetsu jonin, she could take care of herself! Even if she were drunk and passed out on a bench.

Still pretty out of it from just having woken up, Anko wasn't really thinking about what she was doing. She closed her eyes and stretched, pushing her arms out as some squeak of effort escaped her, and bringing them back in. Anko let out another meager yawn, pawing lightly at one of her eyes to rub the sleep out.

When her eyes slowly opened again, she was met with the blushing face of Iruka, staring at her in wonder.

"...the hell you lookin' at?"

That seemed to shake him out of his weird little trance, and he laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head as the other hand rose in front of him as if to say "nothing wrong here".

"Oh, haha, nothing, I just...I didn't know you could be so, um, cute!"

The kunai flew from her hand before she even knew what she was doing, eyes wide and body tense, all traces of drowsiness obliterated the instant that word was spoken.

Iruka shrieked as the kunai shot past his head, embedding itself into a tree with a harsh thunk, a small red line forming on his cheek where it had cut him.

FUCK.

Already. ALREADY. Ten seconds into her redemption day and it had already started. That weird feeling she got when she said…'please', in the dango shop. That same feeling she'd gotten when she'd decided to see what the tea place was like. It had already started like...like some sort of freaky infection, out to RUIN her.

Iruka was staring at her in fear, literally shaking in place.

'Think-think-think, Anko, think!'

What could she do to get out of this? What had she done so far?

...She ran. Before she could even stop herself, she was darting through the park's trees and out of the scene, not listening to Iruka as he shouted something in concern at her.

This couldn't keep going on like this.

She needed advice.

...She knew who she had to talk to.