Chapter 19: Prey

Ino’s sixth sense was tingling. Purple-haired idol must be around. Or maybe she’d heard her voice from down the street. Whatever. Ino knew that the shinobi’s name was Anko, but for some reason it didn’t feel right to call her by her name. She was too perfect, and therefore needed to be referred to by a title. 

Ino was sitting with the Harunos at a restaurant that happened to serve dango. 

It also happened to be the location of six of her eleven total purple-haired idol sightings. She had each encounter meticulously recorded in her journal. Well, as meticulous as one could get with her limited vocabulary. Sakura and her parents had commented that every time it was Ino’s turn to pick restaurants they happened to end up here, which Ino shrugged off whenever asked about it. 

Ino carefully extricated herself from the conversation Sakura was having with her parents about libraries and glanced out to the street to see whatever it was that purple-haired idol might do. 

Luck was on her side that night as Anko walked into the restaurant. No, that wasn’t right. She strutted into the place. Ino memorized every movement. Her entire being exuded confidence and… and something Ino couldn’t quite put her finger on, but she knew people were affected by it. She could see it written on their faces for the world to see whenever purple-haired idol walked by. Most men and a lot of women too just seemed to notice her aura even if she wasn’t interacting with them in any way. 

Ino watched as the woman zeroed in on her target. “Mmmm, Iruka-kun!” Purple-haired idol purred, practically straight into the man’s ear, as she draped an arm across Iruka-sensei’s shoulders. “Is this a new jacket? It looks very good on those shoulders of yours.” 

Iruka immediately froze upon hearing his name and seemed only to grow more rigid as purple-haired idol spoke into his ear and draped her arm around him. If Ino didn’t know any better, she would think he was paralyzed. 

“M-M-Mitarashi-san,” Iruka finally choked out, “S-so good to see you again.” 

“Oh Iruka dear,” purple-haired idol sighed, casually starting to eat one of Iruka’s dango, “surely you want to make a girl happy and call me Anko-chan don’t you?” Ino watched with a critical eye and wasn’t sure exactly why her idol was eating so slowly, or why she referred to Iruka like a very close friend while he used formal language. Ino was pretty sure that Iruka was not functioning at a high enough level to realize the food Anko was eating had been purchased by him. 

“Ah-uh-well-Ahem, excuse me. Something in my throat.” The woman made another noise which elicited another reaction from Iruka-sensei. Ino was starting to feel bad for him. 

“Well, how about A-Anko-san? Would t-that be ok?” 

What on earth had she done to him? Purple-haired idol had somehow reduced her stern and commanding teacher to this helpless stuttering idiot in about 10 seconds flat. She had finished Iruka’s first stick of dango by this point and started on the second without hesitation.  

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Anko said slowly, shaking her head from side to side. “Anko… san?” She sounded wounded. “Even after everything we’ve… well… done together?” Iruka became one with granite. Even though her voice sounded hesitant and embarrassed, Ino was 95% sure purple-haired idol was anything but. She looked more like a wolf toying with her prey. 

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Iruka forced words out of his mouth. “I-I thii-ink you might have me confused w-with someone else.” He sounded like he was struggling to breathe, and even from mostly behind him Ino could see that his face and neck were the color of a tomato. 

“Oh no Iruka-senpai,” Anko’s voice was now very low. “I could never forget a man like you.” She stood slowly and seemed to bump into him unnecessarily; Ino was pretty sure she wasn’t that clumsy. 

“Could I trouble you for one of your dango?” She asked in a dainty voice, ignoring the fact that she’d already eaten two. “I’ve got to run to work and I don’t have time to get anything.” 

Hmm… I use a kinda similar pouty voice when I try to get stuff. Purple-haired idol had already taken the dango before she even finished her request and was moving towards the exit by the time Iruka managed to respond. 

“O-of course. H-have a good evening, Anko-san.” Iruka sounded like he was just happy to finally be done with his impromptu public torture session. 

On her way out Anko caught Ino staring starry-eyed at her and gave her another smirk and a wink, which completely blew Ino’s cover as she “eep’d” turning red herself. Sakura looked at her quizzically, before returning to her questions. 

It was probably a full sixty seconds before Iruka was aware enough of his surroundings to realize that Anko had eaten three quarters of his dinner, which led to a very loud “Damn that woman!” Ino knew that word already, but Iruka still got scolded mightily by the chef and apologized to everyone. He looked mortified to have put on such a show in front of two of his students, let alone the entire restaurant, and apologized Kizashi and Mebuki again before stomping away. 

For the rest of the night Ino analyzed everything about the encounter. That had been a display of power. She took what she wanted and exuded confidence and made it all look as easy as breathing. When Anko-sama (she was trying to use her name because it took too long to keep saying purple-haired idol) walked into a room everyone knew she was there.

Like bees drawn to a flower. 

Ino was going to command that same attention. 

 

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