He stood in the middle of the green fields of Konoha's training grounds. The sky was bright blue and a gentle wind lifted his long raven hair. The afternoon sun's rays warmed his pale skin. Normally, he did not care for this kind of weather but he was in a rare mood. He allowed himself an even rarer smile. It was small and did not extend across the full distance of his face, but it was a smile nonetheless.

Then suddenly, he was attacked from behind. His assailant pounced and tackled him to the ground. A small voice laughed uncontrollably at his expense as he laid face first in the tall grass. He rolled over to face his attacker. His golden eyes scowled at the deep brown eyes of his student.

"Don't give me that look. You let your guard down"

He relaxed. His shadow of a smile returned to his face.

They kind of just lied there together side by side in the sea of green with the sun shining down on them. They finished training for the day, and the small genin waited for her sensei's directions but he was lost in his own mind.

While he thought, the small girl ran off to explore.

When he opened his eyes, she was back with a handful of wild flowers. This intrigued him.

"I thought you didn't like flowers"

"Oh, I don't" she reassured. "Flowers are for pretty people. These are for you"

He watched her as she placed the bright yellow flowers in his silky hair. There was reason a he chose to teach this girl. She was more talented and intelligent than most ninja her age. Although, she seemed like a perfect choice when he read her file, he soon discovered that she was possibly the most frustrating person he had ever met (after Jiraiya of course). Her personality, six days out of seven, annoyed the hell out of him. She was hyper, loud, rude, and constantly challenging his authority, but today he did not mind any of that, in fact he appreciated those qualities in her.

"Orochimaru-sensei?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you thinking about?" she asked as she lay horizontally across his stomach. He ran his smooth finger through her dark brown hair. She jumped slightly not used to such affection from him.

This girl was going to be something amazing. He was going to make sure of it. It did not show through her childishness because she was still a child, but she was a kunoichi now and it was his duty as her teacher to extract all that immaturity from her and replace it with killer instinct,

But he decided to let her have her youthfulness for today. She was a ninja during peace times. The girl still had many more years to learn what the true definition of Shinobi was.

"Sensei"

"Yes, Anko-chan?" he said in a gentle tone he doubted he had ever used before today.

"I'm hungry. Let's get dango"

"That sounds wonderful"

The two of them walked into town to the nearest dango shop. Anko led the way. The Sannin seemed immune to the odd looks and smothered giggles the people made when they saw his new choice in hair accessories.

A/N: Yes more OroAnko. It's just that I can't stop writing it. They're just soooooo perfect and complete like peanut butter and more peanut butter.