Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto (or ‘Temperature’ by Sean Paul/ ‘Pon de Replay’ by Rihanna. You’ll see). Normally I would insert some witty comment here, but I have a bad case of ‘lack of witty comment’ syndrome (otherwise known as LOWCS. As in, locked off from witty comments).

This story is going to be Anko’s POV, just so you know.

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I groaned as I walked off the bus with Kurenai. I mean, work was usually tough, but Tsunade was really unhappy today. And when Tsunade ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. Spending a night with Jiraiya can’t be that bad, but hey? What do I know?

But I digress. The bus had stopped in front of my favorite Chinese restaurant, just like it always did. I only lived a few blocks away, but I usually stopped in here first. Today was no exception.

Nudging me back to reality, Kurenai asked me, “What do you want? I’ll pay.”

Thinking for a while, I just came up with the best thing that came to mind. “Dumplings would be fine.”

“Okay.”

We walked in and sat down at a random booth that didn’t have used napkins and paper straws all over the table. It was still wet from the waiter wiping it, so you got that really annoying feeling when you lifted your arms up and they would stick slightly for a second, and you would have to wipe the water off. It only adds to the sucky day in Suck-land that you’re having.

Oh, wait, that’s me.

After the waiter took our orders, Kurenai and I chatted for a bit before we heard the front door’s bell chime. It wasn’t out of the ordinary, since it probably did that a bazillion times each day, but human reflexes cause everybody to turn their head at the first sense of a disturbance.

Which is what I did. Which is probably what I shouldn’t have.

Closing the door behind him was Kakashi Hatake, a guy from work who kept to himself all the time. So I couldn’t understand why practically every girl in the Big Apple wants him. It must have something to do with those cliquey magazines that dub emo and regular cuties as hot, so this guy (who is, like, exactly in the middle of those two descriptions,) must be Mr. Right.

I turned my head back around quickly, but it was too late; our eyes had met. Silently begging whoever lives up there for him to not walk over and actually start talking to us, I focused on the waiter that was walking to our table with the food.

As it turns out, the food wasn’t for us. And as it turns out, Kakashi walked right over. Of course; if I hadn’t even looked at him, he still would have recognized me from the back. It’s not every day that you see a girl with naturally purple hair.

Playing around with my chopsticks, I saw out of the corner of my eye a pair of black shoes. I decided to keep silent and let Kurenai do the talking.

Nodding in her general direction but at the same time ignoring her, Kakashi talked to me.

“Do I know you from work?”

“Maybe.” So much for that plan.

“Yeah. Anko... Mitaruno, right?”

Forcing myself not to roll my eyes, I politely corrected him, “It’s Mitarashi.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

I looked up at him and cracked what I hoped was a smile before asking, “So, what are you doing here? I don’t see you around these parts a lot.”

He shrugged and said, “I was in the mood for Chinese.”

“Isn’t there one near your place?”

“They closed it down.”

“So you came all the way here? I thought you lived, like, ten miles away?”

“I don’t get it. You want me to leave?”

“No, just asking.”

“Okay.” At that moment another waiter came and cleaned up the table behind ours. I just gave in to the natural forces at work and predicted that Kakashi would sit at that specific table.

Which he did. Darn that waiter; I hope he cuts off a Buddha priest in traffic and gets what he deserves.

I tried not to bang my head down on the table. In doing that I needed something to vent my frustration out on.

Poor little chopstick. Once again, reflexes and disturbances are best friends, so since it wasn’t a busy night and there was a small sound out of the air, Kakashi turned around. Why can’t they make these stupid little pieces of wood stronger?

My god, did our bus cut off a Buddha priest in traffic or what?

As he glanced over his shoulder, I stared at the broken chopstick in my hand and held it like it was a dead rat. Sensing my urgency, Kurenai reached over to another table and grabbed a second set of chopsticks for me.

As she tossed them to me, Kakashi must have thought, Hey, I’m already turned around; why not talk to the girl?

When I caught the chopsticks, he asked me, “Are you okay?”

I shook my head in disbelief and said, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You seem mad.”

“Well, you know, Tsunade was in a really bad mood at work today, so, um, yeah,” I replied, adding a chuckle for good measure.

Kakashi nodded in an, Okay, I don’t believe you but I don’t want to ask any more questions, kind of way and turned back around.

For the rest of the meal, Kurenai and I would occasionally bring up things from work. Who tripped, who didn’t turn in their report on time (Naruto), who didn’t do the report at all (Shikamaru), and other stuff.

Things were going fine until Kurenai asked the forbidden question.

“What do you think, Kakashi?”

While trying not to hunch my shoulders, I did tense up a little. Well, actually, enough to make it obvious to anyone who looked. I shot Kurenai a murderous glare that clearly read, I will kill you for this.

“Well,” he started. “Shikamaru isn’t exactly the kind of guy to...”

He stopped when he saw how still I was. I moved my chopsticks around on my plate so that I looked like I was listening instead of dreading him.

It didn’t work.

“Hey,” Kakashi said while tapping on my shoulder, forcing me to turn around and face him. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes,” I laughed, throwing in another chuckle. “Really, yeah.”

“’Cause it seems like you hate me.”

“What? No, of course not!”

“Okay, just checking.” He turned back around and continued eating.

Soon we were finished with our food. We paid the check and left the restaurant.

I was ready to turn left when someone tugged on my sleeve. Turning around (and fearing the worst,) I saw it was Kakashi.

“Yo,” he said. ‘Yo?’ Since when does anybody say ‘Yo?’

“I’m going to this party tomorrow. It’s over at J&J’s. You wanna come?”

To clarify, one, ‘J&J’s was short for ‘Jazz and Jams,’ a club downtown that was so crowded every Saturday night it wasn’t even funny. I personally think that the name is kind of nerdy, but I like going there. And two... Did he just ask me out?

“Tomorrow? Just like that?” I asked him. “Didn’t it occur to you that I might have plans?”

“Do you?”

Defeated, I said, “No.”

Nodding, he said, “Okay. I guess I’ll see you there.”

As he headed for his car, he yelled out, “Oh, I might be a little late.”

“Why?” I screamed back.

“Bad habit.”

As he closed the door and drove away, Kurenai nudged me with her elbow. “Wow, Anko, way to pick up a date!”

Dumbfounded, I searched for a response. “I-I, didn’t, I mean, I don’t know, well...” I continued to babble like an idiot.

Kurenai spoke again. “Tell me if you see any cute guys there.”

Suddenly a light bulb went off in my head. “Oh, no,” I said, smiling. “You’re going to find out yourself. You’re coming with me.”

“Huh?” Kurenai asked, completely in shock.

But I walked away before she could say anything else.

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The bus dropped me off in front of J&J’s. As I walked in, I could see that the Saturday night crowd hadn’t hit yet. Of course; I had a habit of getting everywhere early.

I nervously adjusted my shirt sleeve, hoping I didn’t look too much like I was asking for it. I had chosen one of my off-the-shoulder blouses, a personal favorite of mine, but now I was starting to worry what Kakashi would think.

Wait a minute. What was I saying? I didn’t care what Kakashi thought of me, right? Right.

I sat down at the bar and paid for a drink, waiting for someone else to walk in.

Thirty minutes later, the place was packed. I was literally squeezing myself in and out of hundreds (maybe thousands) of screaming partiers. A few minutes later, I saw a familiar head in the crowd. Kakashi was standing at the entrance.

Walking over, I tried to act casual, which is pretty hard when you have to scream over practically half the world’s population.

Catching his attention, I yelled, “Some party, huh?”

“What?” he screamed back.

“You just proved my point.” I yelled back. Although he couldn’t understand what I was talking about, I was sure he heard me.

We walked over to a less crowded area. Translation: A place we could actually move around. I took the time to look at his outfit. A black, collared, longed-sleeved shirt (which he rolled up the sleeves and let some of the top buttons loose) and jeans.

As I looked at him, I saw that if this was the way he dressed outside of work, no wonder he was the heartthrob of NYC.

I tried to pay more attention to my drink in front of me. He started to talk once the party had died down.

“So, Tsunade was pretty hard on you yesterday, huh?”

I nodded meekly.

“Yeah, she can be tough,” he said nonchalantly while taking a sip. I nodded again.

Clearing his throat, he spoke to me again. “You’re kind of quiet. Aren’t you usually the one doing all the talking at work?”

Smiling, I said, “Yeah.”

I felt a tap on my shoulder and found Kurenai, who looked kind of pissed off.

“Finally, I found you!” she exclaimed. “Do you know how much I hate these crowds?” Noticing that Kakashi was there, she grunted an almost undecipherable ‘Hi,’ before turning her attention back to me. Soon some guy walked up next to Kakashi, who took notice.

“Oh, hey, Asuma,” Kakashi acknowledged before turning back around. Then I saw him do a double-take in my direction. I looked at Kurenai and saw she was love-struck. No, really; I could see hearts in her eyes. Looking back at Asuma, I found the same results.

Before I could say anything else, Kurenai walked right over, grabbed Asuma’s arm, and walked off onto the dance floor with him. I stared in shock, as did Kakashi. Just like that! Wow. Kurenai’s even better at this stuff than me.

Making eye contact with each other, Kakashi and I waited for a split second before bursting out laughing. After we stopped, Kakashi took one last sip before finishing his drink. He waited for me as I finished my own.

“So,” he said when I was done. “You wanna dance?”

I could feel my heart start to beat faster. He probably could have heard it himself had it not been for the song that was currently ending.

He grabbed my hand as the next one started.

The gal dem Schillati

Sean da Paul

So me give it to...So me give to...So me give it to...to all girls

Five million and forty naughty shorty!

Baby girl

All my girls...all my girls...Sean da Paul say...

Soon I found myself dancing to the beat.

Well, women, the way the time cold I wanna be keeping you warm,

I got the right temperature to shelter you from the storm

Oh lord, gal I got the right tactics to turn you on,

And girl I wanna be the papa you can be the mom, Oh oh,

Trying not to look like an idiot, I got closer to Kakashi, hoping he wouldn’t notice. This was one of my favorite songs of all time.

Then something happened. Suddenly my back was to him and he had his arms wrapped around my waist. I could feel them moving down to my hips, the other one moving...upwards...

I closed my eyes, savoring the moment.

Wow…this felt...nice...

Wait a minute!

I snapped out of my little fantasy and broke free from his grasp. Turning to face him, I tried to go back to regular dancing.

Then my mind started to wander. What if somebody else saw? What if more than one person saw? Had it been obvious?

Before I knew it I was running off in a random direction. As soon as I had taken in my surroundings, I realized that the safest haven nearby was the girl’s bathroom.

I took a left and burst in, ignoring the women putting on their lip gloss and mascara and other crap.

I ran into an open stall and locked it. It wouldn’t be a safe place for long, but at least Kakashi couldn’t get in.

After a certain period of time (I had lost count of the minutes), I unlocked the door and walked out. Heading up towards the sinks, I splashed cold water on my face and wiped myself with a towel.

I took a good, long look at myself in the mirror. I looked normal, other than the expression I was wearing.

I heard the bathroom door open. I didn’t pay much attention until I heard someone call my name.

“Anko?” It was Kurenai.

I turned to her and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Kakashi found me and asked where you were. I said I would look in the bathroom. Are you sure you’re okay?”

I stared at my reflection for a while before slapping the towel on the counter and saying, “I’ll be fine.”

“Be? What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine, Kurenai.”

She was silent for a moment before talking. “Okay, I can see you’re not in the mood. Can you come out? We’re getting worried.”

I nodded silently and followed her out of the bathroom.

As we got back into the crowd, I spotted someone out of my peripheral vision. I looked and saw Kakashi in a quiet hallway, tapping his foot like he was waiting for something.

Or someone.

Still looking at him, I told Kurenai, “Hey, I’ll be back in a minute.” There was no response.

I looked around for her, but she was gone. Probably to be with Asuma.

I smiled at my inside joke as I walked over to Kakashi. That moment was short-lived when he looked up and found me.

His face fell, as well as mine. We both stood there, not saying anything. ‘Temperature’ continued to blast out of speakers around the club, but it was ending now. We were still quiet when ‘Pon de Replay’ started up.

Hey, Mr. DJ, song Pon de Replay,

Hey Mr. DJ, won’t you turn the music up?

All the gals ‘pon the dance floor, wantin’ some more,

Come, Mr. DJ, won’t you turn the music up?

“So,” Kakashi started, but I could tell it was just to make conversation while he thought of something.

Sighing, he just came out with it.

“Hey, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to freak you out like that.”

I didn’t say anything. It’s not that I wanted to make him nervous or think I didn’t forgive him or anything, but I just wasn’t sure what he would do if I spoke.

“It’s just,” he continued. “You’re a good dancer.”

Silence.

Well, it was a start.

Catching his mistake, he said, “I-I mean...”

It goes one-by-one, even two-by-two,

Everybody on the floor, let me show you how we do it

Let’s go, dip it low, then you bring it up slow,

Wind it up one time, wind it back once more.

I guess I had no choice. “It’s okay,” I muttered.

He looked up from the ground and came closer to me. I looked around for a witness to defend me, but a.) We were in the hallway, b.) It was dark, and c.) The only person I recognized was Gai from work, who would make a big deal over it, which I really didn’t need right now.

Seeing me look around frantically, Kakashi put one arm to my side on the wall to block people from my sight while cupping my chin in the other hand.

Come on, come on! Do something! I thought while he closed in. Slap him! Knee him in the groin! Something!

It didn’t occur to me to just stay there until it happened.

This wasn’t a first for me. I had made out with Genma a few times when we were together, but it had never felt... like this.

I closed my eyes again, anticipating and dreading the moment he would have to separate from me. I tried to make it last as long as possible by counting the seconds, but that only made it tick away faster. Where did he learn this stuff? He definetely caught girls’ attention, but I had always seen him as a loner. I could feel him toying with the one sleeve that covered my shoulder, pulling it down slowly.

I snapped back to reality once he moved away from me. I found that I had to remind myself to breathe. The only words that came to mind were, Oh. My. God.

I forgot that my sleeve was hanging really low and tried to fix it when he came in again, starting the process all over.

But this time I heard a muffled scream, like someone had started and then had a hand clamped over their mouth. Apparently so did Kakashi.

Quickly fixing my shoulder strap, he walked out of the hallway and looked around for the culprit. Coming up to his side, I obviously surprised him by talking.

“Maybe we should stop,” I suggested. He continued to look around, but he nodded in agreement.

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When it was around, oh, I don’t know, eleven thirty, Kurenai and I walked out of the club. Kakashi offered to drive me home in his car, but I refused, so I gave a small wave to him while smiling and putting a finger to my lip. I’m pretty sure he got the message as he waved back.

I took notice that on the way home, Kurenai looked awfully guilty.

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A/N: Wow. I am really proud with this, especially since this just came off the top of my head last night. I figured I needed to put a KakaAnko story on here to prove my love for it.

Remember, R&R!

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