It feels good to have posted something once again after over half a year! I still intend to finish Shikamaru's Ninja Wagon and I'm sorry to anyone who's gotten tired of waiting for an update on it...I've had some issues with my Word program for a while, but I'll get it done.

Anyway, I hope this story will provide an fun read for anyone interested. As I mentioned in my summary, this story is primarily concerned with original characters - which I confess that even I'm usually not very interested in reading about - but has a specific time and setting in the Naruto universe. Cannon characters do make an appearance every now and then, but only in supporting roles. The action takes place specifically in the ninja village of Grass (I've decided to also call the country Grass as well, even though it has yet to be given an official name in the manga) some time a little before the chunin exam and Orochimaru's invasion in part one. Feedback and comments are welcome and appreciated - enjoy!

CHAPTER 1

"Hey, are you alright?"

The quiet tremor of concern in the voice came as a suprise even as the stranger placed a light hand on the back of her shoulder. Takara opened her mouth to answer, but instead burst into tears. For a moment all she could do was sob and clutch her injured ankle.

She had no idea what had possessed her to run away from the theives in the first place - her feet had simply acted on their own. The full realization of how stupid she'd been now dawned on her; they probably would have been satisfied just to take the small ammount of money she had with her and then been on their way. Now, as it was, she found herself in a throbbing heap on the ground, lucky to be alive. The vagabonds who'd been persuing her currently lay crumpled and motionless nearby, making up two ragged piles on the forrest floor. Were they dead?

Her awareness was suddenly brought back to the stranger still standing behind her: out of nowhere he'd appeared and done - someting - but she'd still been facedown where she'd landed and it had all been over so quickly. The young woman swallowed the reaminder of her sobs and attempted to pull herself together.

"Here, let me take a look," he said even as he knelt down in front of her and a pair of thin hands coaxed her fingers from her throbbing ankle.

"Hmm, well it's definitely not broken."

Takara wondered how he'd come to that coclusion so quickly. She glanced up at him for the first time and gazed into a pair of the palest eyes she'd ever seen.

His face was delicate and framed by a halo of light, whispy, pinkish-brown hair, but the first thing her eye went to was the metal band across his forehead - the leaf insignia stamped into it as plain as day. Suddenly a lot of things made more sense: he was a ninja - a Leaf ninja. Simultaneously, it raised even more troubling questions which must have registered on her face because he immediately slid his hands back from her and raised them in a nonthreatening gesture.

"Relax, I don't mean you any harm." He followed her gaze to where the would-be robbers still lay. "They're not dead," he assured with a slight smile that did little to put her at ease, "though they're certainly not going anywhere for a while."

"I-I'm sorry," she plucked up her courage enough to stammer, "who are you if you don't mind?"

He paused for a moment, as if trying to decide whether he should answer. "My name is Tenmei" he finally said, "and you are?"

"Takara," she replied as she gingerly shifted weight onto her injured leg, testing its capacity - she wanted to be leaving soon and she still had at least twenty minutes left before she reached home again. A sharp bolt of pain sent her crouching swiftly back to the ground. Tears of pain and frustration were stinging her eyes once again; why hadn't she simply given those two men her money? she would be broke but heading safely back to Kusagakure instead of hunched in a ditch with a sprained ankle and alone with a strange foreign ninja.

The one called Tenmei calmly watched her futile struggle a few moments longer before finally thrusting an assertive hand down to her. "Take it ," he commanded when she hesitated. Takara reluctantly did so and he pulled her lightly up.

"Now let me ask a question," he posed, situating her arm securely around his shoulder and pressing his hand to her waist, "what business does a lone girl have wondering through bandit-infested woods?"

Despite her situation, Takara rankled at the question. She could think of quite a few choice words to answer him with - firstly that she wasn't a 'girl' but a fully grown woman who'd been doing fine on her own for quite some time now, thank - you - very - much, secondly that she'd been traveling these woods for most of her life and this was the first time she'd ever encountered any sort of 'bandits' in it. she settled instead for, "I wasn't wondering around, I was taking a short-cut back home."

"Back home," he repeated. They were now ambling carefully up the incline that Takara had fallen into. "And 'home' would be Kusagakure?"

"How did you know," she asked.

"It's the direction you were heading in before those two started chasing you."

"How do you know that," she repeated more vehemently, "were you spying on me?"

He made a slight noise that might have been a laugh, "No not on you in particular, but I do notice a lot of things."

"And what about you? You belong out here even less than I do; why are you hiding out in Grass? Don't tell me you just came here to hang around and rescue damsels in distress."

Together they reached the top of the steep ditch and he pulled her up the remainder of the way. "Sorry, that's confidential," he replied.

000

The walking was slow and torturous and Takara was beginning to worry about how long the trip would take now that she was oblidged to rely on Tenmei as a crutch. He said little, and she found herself wondering what was going on behind his placid, colorless eyes. 'Why are you doing this', she wanted to ask. Did he have ulterior motives? She willed herself to relax a little, if that were the case it probably would have been obvious by now.

Not that she wasn't grateful for his help, but a lifetime of living in close proximity to Grass Ninja had instilled in her a strong suspicion of shinobi from other countries - especially those from the five great nations - like Earth and Fire. Takara still had vivid memories of the destruction that ravaged the land after the Third Secret War to remind her of how quickly her country had become a foot bridge in the power struggle between those two giants. Stone, of course, had easily been the cruelest (Kusa had always been their dog) but the people of Grass Country were largely fed up with foreighn powers all together.

"So you are in the middle of some sort of mission I suppose," she spoke up in an attempt at casual conversation.

"That's right," he affirmed and turned a sober look on her, "What about you - on a mission as well?"

"Um no, I'm not a ninja," (She would have thought that was the most obvious thing in the world.)

The wide grin that suddenly spread across his face looked as out of place on such a prim mouth as a glob of barbeque sauce would. He was mocking her. Heat rising to her cheeks, she made a noise of disgust before turning her head pointedly in the other direction. Now she could feel his shoulders quivering underneath her arm and her irritation quickly escalated into anger.

"What is so funny," she demanded, whiping her head back round to face him.

"I'm very sorry," he appologised, however, far from looking contrite, Tenmei looked positively mirthful. "It's simply that your face turned as red as your hair just now," and his statement dissolved into a brief stint of obnoxious chuckling.

Takara's hand itched to slap grin off his face. "Well, I'm happy to have provided you with so much amusement," she shot back in a tone that indicated he should get bitten by a venemous reptile.

His idiotic sniggering only increased with her anger, "Good, because I don't think I've laughed this much in weeks!"

The insulted woman had had just about enough, she immediately stopped and attempted to pull away from him. "I can get back the rest of the way by myself - I don't need you!"

He did his best to keep a hold on her while still guffawing. "Alright, alright, don't struggle - you'll only hurt yourself worse."

"Let go of me! I don't care what happens, I can't stand being with you for one more minute."

The ninja's laughter was now subsiding as he tried to pacify his unwilling burden. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you; please calm down." He held her for a moment with his large pearly eyes that still sparkled with residual merriment, "Listen, if you'd like I can get you to your village quicker so you don't have be near me any more; would that be okay?"

She paused in the middle of her struggling, "How would you do that?"

Before she could even register what was happening, her feet had been swept out from under her and she was lying bridal-style in his arms. She let out a cry of shock, "What are you doing; put me down!"

"It'll be quicker this way," he assured her, "we'll be there in no time." And without giving her the opportunity to protest any further, he lit up and into the trees with her.

They traveled for what seemed like only a few minutes, the entire time of which Takara kept her eyes tightly shut, then without warning they stopped. Takara opened one cautious eye and looked around; they were in front of the entrance to Kusagakure.

"Here we are," he announced unnecessarily.

"Tha-that was quick."

"I said it would be," replied the ninja, lowering her carefully to her feet once again. "However, I'm afraid you'll have to find someone else to take you the rest of the way."

She frowned questioningly at him, "Is that so?"

"I don't have clearance to enter Grass's hidden village."

"I see," Takara nodded, "That's fine, I'm sure I can manage on my own at this point." She hesitated, "Um, I don't think I thanked you for everything you've done - I mean I'm sure I've caused you a lot of trouble..."

The man's expression remained blank, and she found herself sqirming under his piercing gaze. An extremely awkward moment (at least for her) passed as neither of them spoke - then -

"Takara!"

The red-headed woman started at the familiar adolecent squawk, her head jerking up. Above them, perched on one of the massive bamboo posts that made up the wall of the Village Hidden in the Grass, stood a scruffy-looking genin surveying the two with a disgruntled look.

"Ah Hiro! Good to see you; I'm back."

With a giant leap, the boy left the pole and landed effortlessly in front of them. His dark eyes traveled down the two, pausing at the hand that Tenmei still held against the woman's waist, then continuing to the leg that Takara was favoring. He looked sharply at Takara, "What happened to your foot," and without waiting for a reply, returned his accusing glare on the Leaf-nin in the manner of a judge about to deliver the death sentence.

"Hiro relax, I'm okay," she tried to assure him, "I just fell and sprained my ankle and this man helped me home."

Hiro snorted and thrust his hand out for her to take. Once she'd been transferred safely over to his posession, the boy steered her toward the entrance of the village. Takara cast a final glance over her shoulder at Tenmei, who stared after her wearing a faint smirk on his lips, then they were within the walls of Kusa.

Suddenly the thirteen-year-old rounded on her, "I knew you shouldn't have gone by yourself - what was that Leaf ninja doing with you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Obviously he was helping me get back here - what did you think he was doing?"

"How did you get hurt in the first place?"

"I told you; I fell."

He fixed her with a deeply suspicious glare, which she pointedly ignored. "Takara," he said, taking the tone of a parent loosing patience with a fibbing child, "you're not telling me something."

"What makes you say that," she retorted, trying her best to sound indignant instead of guilty.

Hiro narrowed his eyes back, challengingly, "you're terrible at hiding things - even if I wasn't highly trained in reading people."

Caught somewhere between amusement and annoyance, Takara supressed a grin. She knew all too well that he wouldn't let it go until she told him what happened, so she gave him the story of the robbers and Tenmei's intervention. All the while, the young ninja's expression grew stormier; "You shouldn't have gone by yourself," he repeated tersely.

"Hiro, it was a coincidence," reasoned the woman as her teenage companion helped her to the hospital, "I've made the trip between here and Ito plenty of times in the past without any problems; besides, you can't be there to protect me every moment of the day, you know."

"Well someone needs to," he muttered.

"Come on, I'm nearly twenty five years old," she jabbed her finger at him playfully, "give me some credit."

The boy shook his brunette head vigorously, "Nope, s'got nothing to do with that - you're still a walking disaster no matter how old you get."

"Hey!"

000

Takara's ankle was indeed only sprained, and with the help of medical ninjutsu along with bandages and a crutch, she was well on her way to recovery - which was good because she couldn't afford to miss any more work after her excursion to Ito.

The place Takara worked was a small, outside diner with an awning where she cooked and served lunch customers. Along with Hiro, she ran the business almost single-handedly. Besides the two of them, there were no other regular employees accept for the owner - an elderly man with no remaining family who, due to health problems, only worked part time.

When she arrived (more or less on time) the following morning, she found her young co-worker already setting up; he looked at her disapprovingly as she hobbled over. Before Hiro had come along half a year ago, it had just been she and Hayato Ojiichan, and she'd had to work everyday they were open as it was just too much work for the old man to do by himself.

At that time, they'd had major problems with robberies and it had seemed they might have to close down shop completely, but then suddenly the genin boy had appeared one day. Taking the iniative, he'd set up traps and captured the culprits who'd been stealing them blind. Hayato had been so overjoyed that he'd immediately offered the boy a job cleaning and busing tables.

To Takara's suprise, the seemingly promising young ninja had accepted the position; when she'd asked him about it he'd merely told her that he had no team anymore and needed work. Only later did she hear the whole story about Hiro's teammates and sensei's deaths during a botched mission from one of her ninja customers. Even the waitress knew that without a jounin teacher it was impossible for genin to register for the chunin exam or even recieve missions, and it was unlikely in the small village of Kusa that any other jounin would take on just a single student. Her unfortunate coworker had simply slipped through the cracks of the system, it seemed.

Still, Takara quickly learned that the genin didn't respond well to sympathy - whatever pain he felt over the loss of his team he kept to himself and did his job. He'd proven to be a dilligent worker, going above and beyond what was asked of him, and he hadn't completely given up ninja-ing either. During the six months he'd been employed there, they hadn't had another robbery - and what was more he'd taken it upon himself to become Takara's personal bodyguard. The woman still wasn't quite sure how she felt about the latter.

"What good are you going to be like that," he reprimanded, "you should have just stayed home and let me take care of everything here."

She snorted, "And let you do the cooking - we'd loose all our customers!"

He shot her a look as she made her way into the kitchen, but said nothing.

"Besides," she went on, "it's not like I'll have to do a lot of walking around - that's what I have you for."

000

The day was going well; customers were steady and Takara had plenty of work to keep herself occupied. However, she still found her mind continually wondering over rediculous things: every time she had to take a step on her crutch, or felt a throb in her ankle she was reminded once again of those misty white irisis gazing solicitously at her. She could still hear his sharp laughter cutting through her armor of pride, causing her cheeks once again to burn with humiliation. Did her face really turn as red as her hair? How rude of him to say that! Did he like red hair by any chance? Did he like her hair? What had her hair even looked like yesterday?

"Stop being so pathetic, Takara," she muttered to herself, "it's not like you'll ever see him again; besides, he's a jerk - who cares what he thinks." Still, despite her dismissal of the whole incident, yesterday's events played relentlessly through her mind like a sappy song stuck on a repeat.

"Takara, I've got two orders of Tonjiru for table four," Hiro announced, snapping her back to reality.

"...Sure, coming right up."

He gave her what was probably his 80th suspicious look of the day, "Are you doing okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine!"

The boy looked unconvinced, but shrugged and picked up the bowls for table three.

The woman let out a long sigh and dabbed the sweat from her forehead. Usually she liked to walk around a bit and serve customers when she wasn't cooking since most of the dishes contained similar contents that could all be cooked in bulk. She'd initially planned to stay in the kitchen - if only to keep Hiro off her case - but now thought she would like to hobble around and greet people. So, grabbing the crutch firmly, she hefted herself through the doorway and out of the kitchen.

"Good afternoon, Goro-san," she greeted one of her regulars with a wave.

The chunin glanced up from his soup, "what happened to your foot, Takara-san," he asked.

"Ah this? I had a little - um - running accident - that's all."

He favored her with a kindly smile reserved only for small children and idiots - "you know, you should really be more careful where you're going - especially if you're going to run."

Takara returned the smile with some effort, "Yeah, I guess so." Having spent a large part of her life as a civilian in a ninja village, she'd built up something of a tollerance for the patronization that came along with it. Still, not wanting to push her limit too much, she decided to continue on her way.

She spent a few more minutes chatting with people before getting ready to head back into the kitchen once again when something unexpected nearly caused her to slip off her crutch and onto her face. There, strolling casually across the street, was the white-eyed Leaf ninja! What was he doing in Kusa? She sqinted hard in concentration - was she going crazy? Unfortunately, the mysterious person rounded the corner before she could come to any solid conclusion and she was left gawking at the empty place where he had been.

000

Five o'clock eventually came and together she and Hiro closed down the cafe for the evening.

"You sure are absent-minded today," he told her, wringing out his table cloth.

"Huh?"

"I said you sure are-" then he saw the grin spread across her face, "ha, ha - but seriously all you did was stare off into space all day."

"I did not; I was working the whole time!"

"Yeah, but that still doesn't mean you weren't off in another world," he insisted stubbornly. Finishing up, he turned to her and gave the long-suffering sigh of a weary babysitter saddled with a willful five-year-old, "Even though I already know what the answer will be, do you want me to walk you home?"

"Would you want me to walk you home," she retorted.

Hiro's look soured like rancid milk, "Just forget it then...I'm going to go set the traps before we go."

Takara watched him walk away. Truthfully, she had no idea where he even lived; the boy never spoke of his parents or home life to anyone, and she didn't ask for fear of injuring his pride.

"Okay, I'm all finished," he told her as he returned, "let's go."

Takara's apartment was located on the edge of the village, its lone window offering a spectacular view of Kusa's enormous bamboo wall. Still, she didn't think much of it anymore; as far as living spaces went, it suited her needs and, for what it lacked in a view, gave her the opportunity to learn the latest village news from the guards stationed above.

Heading home on her crutch now, Takara absently followed the huge poles of grass to her doorstep as she usually did. She glanced up every now and then as she plodded along to see who was patrolling that evening. For the most part, it was the same people that were usually on the wall at that time of day, but one unfamiliar head in particular - or rather one that didn't belong there - caught her attention. The lank, salmony - brown tresses themselves were unmistakable.

Takara's mouth fell open even as the head dipped back down out of her line of sight. She considered hitting her injured her foot against the wall to jar herself out of whatever all-day hallucination she was in the middle of - why was this strange Leaf ninja suddenly following her everywhere she went?

"That's it; I need to get home and lay down," she mumbled, and turned to go without glancing back.

The next morning found the red head back in her kitchen at the diner preparing for the lunch rush while Hiro worked setting up the front of house. She was busy chopping onions and listening to the sound of her coworker setting up the cash register while her mind wandered ever again over recent events. Already her ankle was beginning to feel less sore - medical ninjutsu was amazing like that, nevermind the extra-strength aspirin she'd popped earlier just to be on the safe side. She almost felt as if she could ditch the agrivating crutch, at least while puttering around in the cramped kitchen space, but (to her credit) quickly dismissed the brash idea.

She only vaguely realized that the sound of money clinking in the register had stopped when she heard Hiro's shrill snarl.

"What are you doing here?"

There was a quiet reply that she couldn't make out, then the genin immediately shot back, "We're not open - go away."

Takara was shocked. She couldn't imagine who Hiro was speaking so rudely to; immediately she scrambled for the door. She popped her head out, but her reprimand died on her lips.

"I realize it's early," the man was saying to Hiro, "and I'm sorry for inconveniencing you, but I've been on guard duty all night and I'm very hungry; do you know of any place that's open right now?"

The woman let out an astonished gasp. The frustratingly elusive man who'd been haunting her for the past two days stood revealed at long last before the counter, glancing guilelessly up at her through pupiless eyes.

"You," she roared accusingly, jabbing her finger between those eyes like a dagger and causing them to cross slightly, "it has been you all this time; I'm not crazy!"

His expression indicated he thought otherwise: "Hello, nice to see you again," he said mollifyingly to the breathless woman.

Takara quickly caught herself. With some effort, she returned to her senses enough to straighten up from the counter and remove her finger from his face before calmly continuing, "Sorry, that came out wrong. What I meant to ask was: why are you in Kusagakure; I thought you didn't have permission to enter?"

"I didn't at the time, but things are different now," he replied evenly.

"What 'things' are different," the almost forgotten boy now demanded directly behind her.

Takara turned to him, "Hiro, why don't you go count inventory...Now, please," she added before he could object. Hiro stomped off, muttering under his breath.

"Sorry about that; he just gets a little intense sometimes," she told the foreighn man.

He merely shrugged and smirked, "I think I know the type." His gaze slowly traveled to the crutch propped under her arm. "How's that sprain?"

"Oh, much better, thank-you. So what did you want to eat?"

"But I thought you weren't open," he remarked in suprise.

She smiled, "Well, Hiro already has the register set up so I don't see any reason why we can't serve you."

Fifteen minutes later, Tenmei selected a piece of chicken from his rice bowl and chewed it methodically. While he ate, Takara busied herself wiping the counter that was just as free of spots now as it had been last night when she'd cleaned it before closing. Every now and then, she glanced at him to see if he was enjoying his meal. He ate considerably more proper than the majority of her Grass customers she noticed, and swollowed each individual bite before taking the next one.

"I heard you say you were on guard duty," she said casually "were you on the wall last night?"

"Yes," he replied.

"I thought I saw you there yesterday - now I know I did."

He nodded as he finished another bite, "I saw you too, actually."

"You did?"

"Takara, I think we're almost out of peaches," called Hiro loudly.

"Okay, how many do we have left," she answered.

"Ummmmm," there was a long pause, "ten."

"That should be enough for the day, then."

"Are you sure, what if a lot of people want peaches; we'd be cutting it awfully close if we only have ten."

Takara rolled her eyes, "Fine then, get a couple more." She turned back to Tenmei, "So I wanted to ask you..."

"Hey! We're also almost out of mushrooms too!"

"No we aren't," she yelled back at him, "stop being a pest."

"You're the one who asked me to count inventory," he reminded her testily.

Before she could respond, a couple of lunch customers walked up and Takara was obliged to abandon her pristine counter and the Leaf ninja in order to take care of them. By the time she was done with the serving, Tenmei had already finished his meal and left.

000

"They certainly have some interesting clans in Konoha, don't they," one of the customers who was a guard from the wall was saying as Takara passed by much later.

"I remember seeing other members of that clan during the Third Secret War," his companion, a konoichi with deep shrapnel scars over the side of her neck and face commented, "Hyuuga, I think they're called."

"No wonder Leaf is so strong - with kekkei genkai like that in their midst - and then of course there's Uchiha..."

"Hyuuga," Takara repeated under her breath. She'd never heard of the clan before, but that was no big suprise (she'd never really been up on her who's who in the ninja world.) She atleast knew a little something about 'kekkei genkai', though. She remebered there had been, until recently, a clan in Grass possessing a bloodline limit - however that clan was no more and now the village had no such clans to speak of.

What sort of bloodline ability might Hyuuga have? The only other she'd ever heard of was the legendary Uchiha, another clan from Leaf who were feared by all for their eye jutsu that could read and copy an enemy's moves - sharingan. Did Tenmei possibly have a bloodline anything like that? On top of everything she still had no idea why he was even in the village! She silently resolved to seek him out as soon as Hayato Ojiichan arrived to relieve her. Hopefully, she'd be able to talk to him while he was still around.

The hours passed and, at last, the old man arrived. Having not heard about her recent inury yet, he wanted to know all the details of her mishap in the forrest. Takara gave only enough information for him to be satisfied - she was sure he'd get the colorful version from Hiro later - and bid the two of them good day.

First and foremost, she needed to pick up something for dinner, so Takara headed first for the store. Kusa was a small enough village that people regularly shopped and ate at the same places, so it wasn't strange that everyone at the grocer knew her by name and she, likewise, them. In fact, Takara probably knew close to everyone in town in some fashion or another - having lived there since she was around Hiro's age.

She'd originally intended only to pick up a couple of items, but found herself buying enough food that she might have been planning a moderate-sized dinner party. She couldn't say why, but she felt in the mood to cook gormet food - despite having already been behind a stove for the majority of the day. the only thing missing now was someone to cook for, but she could always make something for Hiro (she was pretty sure no one other than herself ever cooked for the boy anyway.)

By the time the temporary invalid had lugged her bag of purchases to within a block of her home, however, she was beginning to have serious buyer's remorse.

Pausing to catch her breath, Takara cast another hopeful look toward the bamboo ramparts, but once again, she could not find Tenmei. The thought suddenly occured to her that she was being silly; the Leaf ninja obviously had work to do here and it was unrealistic of her to think he had the time or desire to answer all of her minor questions.

Hefting her great bag of provisions onto her shoulder with a sigh, she decided not to think about him anymore. Soon enough he would be gone and there simply wasn't enough time to get to know him after all. Forcing down the sudden aching feeling trying to claw its way into her throat, she entered her appartment and shut the door behind her.

That night, she dreamt of her parents: she was serving them tea at the diner when Stone nin appeared out of nowere and set fire to the place. She tried to reach her mom and dad, but the Iwa ninja grabbed them first; they demanded ransom from her. Before she could respond, however, a swarm of Leaf nin fell from the trees and onto the enemy shinobi. Sucking up the surronding fire into their mouths, they spewed it back out like a fountain over the inhabitants of Earth Coutry and her parents, engulfing them. She shreiked helplessly for them to stop when, out of nowere, someone grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the forest. She found herself staring into the face of a handsome young man with magenta eyes who gazed folornly back at her.

"At some point we all get left beind," he told her.

Takara awoke panting. Shakily, she got up and went to the sink to splash her face with cold water and try to collect herself. She hadn't had a dream like that in years, and couldn't understand why all of a sudden her subconscious had decided to revisit the most painful events from her past. What did it all mean - especially what the young man had said at the end?

She'd only ever met him once, but she'd thought about that man a lot over the years: she often wondered where he was now, what he was doing - what the rest of his team was doing. Were they still together - were they even still alive? She didn't like to think about the last possibility. Now that she considered it, the one thing both he and Tenmei had in common was that she'd been saved by both of them...

Takara cut the thought short; she needed to stop dwelling on Tenmei. For all she knew he might be on his way back to Konoha even now. She needed to move on.

Pushing her red hair back from her dripping face, the woman gave her reflection a final stern look before heading back to bed.