Top Secret: ANBU Mission Logs

Chapter Two

A year before...

The alarm clock beeped annoyingly at me, it's bright digital numbers glaring fluorescent doom into the back of my skull. I slammed my hand down on it, shutting it up, and considered sleeping in and skipping work.

I'd been part of ANBU all of a month now, and already my entire life had changed.

Unfortunately, that also meant I could never seem to get enough sleep any more. Phooey.

But I risked blowing my cover, because before this month, I had never missed a day of work. And I wasn't going to start now. Besides, if I didn't show up Iruka was going to show up in a few hours with some homemade chicken noodle soup to force feed me, thinking I'm dying of some horrible illness. That guy worried too much.

So I dragged my butt off the futon, and straight to the kitchen. I turned on the coffee maker, and dug out some fresh fruit from the fridge.

That was another thing that had changed. I drank coffee. Kakashi, or Wolf, I guess I should say, had introduced me too it on my first mission when I was nearly passing out from exhaustion. That liquid has become my lifesaver. I can't function without it now.

But not just trivial things had changed. My entire being had changed. Not on the outside, all though I certainly do have more scars, but who I fundamentally am. Before, I use to abide by the Bushido code like a virgin priest. It was who I was.

Now I wasn't so sure where to draw the line between right and wrong anymore.

I also had nothing to lose. No family, no close friends. No boyfriends. No children. Just lonely ol' me. But now, I had my team. And they meant everything to me. Because now, they were the only thing I had to hang onto. They were the only thing that kept me from falling into that deep dark pit in the back of my mind where all the violent, horrible thoughts are.

The coffee maker beeped, and I poured myself a cup. I prefer the first cup black – it wakes me up faster.

I put on the usual black pants, long sleeve shirt and chunin vest, except the shirt was black lace, and stretched up into a mask that covered my face. And instead of sandals, I wore black, light weight, but solid flat boots. I strapped my weapons pouch to my leg, balancing my peach and coffee in the other hand as I did so. I brushed my hair, a platinum blonde cropped down to a measly pixie cut so that it would stay out of the way, back with my hitai-ate. I set the food down so that I could knot it firmly in place. Then I strapped my katana to my back, and my wakizashi (a type of small sword, or large dagger if you will) to my belt.

And I was ready.

Sighing, I locked the door behind me before I went on my way. I'd spend some time tutoring the young ones at the academy on their genjutsu, then leave for my shift at the Intelligence Offices.