Um, yes, so I tried to write this, it might suck, but hey, boredom is the devil's playground. Beware of SasuSaku.

~*~

"Damn it Naruto!" Sakura stomped unhappily towards the Hokage's office, angry that her idiotic childhood friend had interrupted her right when Kent was proposing to Susan! Soap Opera's were her latest addiction. So, the pink-haired ANBU stormed down the corridor in all her glory.

Black fingerless gloves made of course fabric came to her elbows, and she wore her animal mask on the side of her head, she felt it got in the way most of the time anyway. She was 20 now, and had kept her hair at that short, meek cut, although its vibrant pink had faded some, and the strands had become slightly more wispy and grunge. But why did she care? She no longer cared for her appearance, she was more focused on her missions.

Angrily Sakura slammed the door open, glaring at the spiky haired blond who had been reclining lazily in his chair until her rather noisy entrance.

"You called?" she growled through gritted teeth, her smoldering gaze boring into her old friend's face irritably.

"Sakura!" there he went, back to his old chirpy self, and he sat straight in his chair, his signature goofy grin spreading across his face like some frighteningly contagious wildfire. "Good, I have something for you to do." The nin rolled her eyes.

"Obviously. Details about the mission and when I leave." She had become very blunt over the past few years as well, and the excitement dimmed from Naruto's eyes.

"I hate it when you guess." Sakura raised a pink eyebrow delicately, arching it over her shiny azure eye.

"It's really not that hard, the only reason you call me in here is if I have a mission or you want to go out for ramen." He squinted at her tactless comment, pouting obscuringly.

"Fine, just ask Sasuke then, I already told him. And he was nice about, unlike you." For the first time since she entered the room that she noticed the fellow ANBU standing to the side of the room, his obsidian oculars studying her emotionlessly. How she tired of that stare, it wasn't even cold, just knowingly blank, if that made any sense at all. He wore gloves that matched hers, and his mask was also discarded to the side of his head. Black shirt, grey pants.

"Hello." Finally she acknowledged his existence, throwing a short, fluid nod in his direction. If she was in an even pissier mood than she was in now she would have smirked, copying his favorite facial expression. The Uchiha arched an eyebrow, symbolizing he returned her greeting.

Naruto looked from one to the other then let out a whiny groan in strict displeasure.

"Will you two stop? How long has it been now?" Sakura was silent, but her opponent chose to answer.

"A year." Naruto frowned, dropping his hot-aired head into his hands.

"I can't believe you two." He glared at them. "Go away, and discuss the mission before you two split for your brooding sessions." Both ANBU cast a dangerous look at their lazy Hokage, and his bright eyes widened and his hands waved in front of him, showing he meant no harm, knowing that they would not hesitate to attack, especially because they knew him so well.

With that the two grumpy nin left the blonde's office and walked side-by-side, ignoring the other as they stalked down the hallway towards the entrance to the outside. When Naruto asked 'How long has it been?' he was referring to the fact that the two refused to believe in the other's existent. Both were elite's and both worked well together because of their great power and agility, but they refused to speak regularly to one another.

The whole silent treatment thing was more Sakura's fault actually. After they let Sasuke out of the cell he had been in for eight months she completely ignored him. She didn't love him. She didn't. Or at least that's what she chanted in her head every time she caught a glimpse of him. Sakura declined the act of forgiving him. The ANBU was angry over his betrayal, how he tossed aside his friends and community so easily and carelessly. She hated him, held such a spiteful grudge over him it clouded her vision every time that little unforgivable snake appeared in her view. The pink-haired medic just couldn't stand his prideful stoicness, the superior air that floated about him as he strutted around, showing off his greatness. He thought himself a deity, didn't he? Well, she did not.

Sasuke was silent because she was silent, and she was silent because of his silence, along with the healthy side dish of hate and disapproval. And so that's how it went in a continuous circle, resulting in a near silence for an entire year, a few muttered "hellos" and "good-byes". Poor Naruto had to stand it, two of his closest friends torturing the other in a never-ending stream of choked greetings and dismissals, never a true sentence exchanged between either one.

~*~

Sakura and Sasuke sat under a tree, sitting stiffly as they had been doing for the past twenty minutes. They had come here to discuss the mission after they left Naruto's office, but neither could bring themselves to speak. Finally Sakura braved her stubbornness and, not even throwing a simple glance his way, brought the hard, airy silence to a close.

"So, what're we doing this time?" her voice was croaky from lack of speaking, and she cleared her throat right after she spoke.

"It's just us two, actually. There is this band of ninja that is leaving trashed villages in its wake, and we've been hired by a similar village to get rid of the band." Sakura nodded jerkily, her eyes flickering on him for a moment, then back to the small stream that sputtered in front of her. This slight action encouraged him to go on. "You're coming along mostly for your medical skills, namely because these guys aren't too bright but they've got crazy good aim." She knew the bastard was insulting her, telling her he only needed her for medical use. She turned and smiled sweetly at him.

"Don't worry, I'll patch you up. It's understandable I'm coming with, you never were good at dodging, I guess everyone's 'got crazy good aim' to you." Sakura could see the petty anger she had unleashed upon him pinch his pronounced, flawless features. Happy with her reply she turned away again, watching the cool water trip over the smooth gray stones huddling along the gravely bottom. But Sasuke hadn't resigned himself from this battle yet.

"I'm glad I'm going on a mission with you." Her heart did a clumsy little ballet twirl in her chest, but she ignored it. Where was this revelation coming from? "I mean, you'll be quiet, but if I went with another medic girl I think she'd talk all the time and be annoying." Sasuke tilted his head, the corner of his mouth tugging up into a smirk as he delivered his piercing blow. "Kinda like you when we were genin's Sakura. Only, I doubt they could beat you at being annoying, you were just so good at it." He didn't move when a kunai whistled cleanly past his ear, nicking the shell ever-so-slightly before it cut neatly into the tree behind him, sliding deep into its wooded flesh. Impressive, he hadn't even seen her flinch, and even now she still stared out innocently at the brook in front of them, falsely fascinated by the choppy, noisy waves caused by the underlying rocks.

He raised his hand gingerly to his ear, flicking away the drop of blood that had hesitantly escaped from the miniscule cut the kunai had made. Sasuke didn't like to bleed.

Sakura didn't jump in the light pain Sasuke's kunai caused when it shot past her hand, cutting just underneath the knuckles, which, she realized warily, were significantly deeper than the peck she had laid on his ear. Cheeky bastard. The pink-haired ANBU knew that if she turned around Sasuke would no longer be there, so she just didn't bother.

Dipping her hand into the stream she sighed softly as the cold, hurried water stung at the notches in her flesh the kunai had made, and she watched her blood turn orange as it ran into the rushing brook, being carried away by the eager waves of the creek. Sakura decided against healing the cuts, she would keep them, let them scab, let them make her thoughts wander to Sasuke. No matter how she wished him not to be, often when she was alone with nothing to do he was the object of her thinking, filling her mind with anger and memories, confusing and annoying her, regularly leaving her very frustrated and put out. But she promised herself only to think of the happy memories of him and Naruto when they were kids, memories she used to think painful, but now she looked back upon them fondly. Tonight they would start their mission. Tonight the turmoil would begin to ensue.

~*~

I wonder if you hated it, perhaps you did. I don't know, I kinda like the aspect of them being ANBU and all. Things will get more interesting, I promise, and no, this fic will not be ridiculously long, just a mild length. Review? Oh come on, you know you want to!