SPOILERS for book 16 of the manga! Also, for those of you who are as crazy about this series as I am, it is my belief that Obito-san means 'respected person' ['o' as in Okaasan instead of just kaasan and 'bito' which means person] and is not an actual name. Also, there is another coupling coming up ^.^

            In just a few hours, the war was over. Historically, it would be known as the "Chuunin Exam War" but it might just as well have been called the "War of One Afternoon." The Leaf showed its strength to the world that day by defeating two other hidden villages before the sun set.

            The challenge before them was to remain strong in its wake. This was a difficult task, especially without an Hokage.

            No one could believe he was dead. Some had not even known he fought against one of his former students. The rumor was that Sandaime didn't go down easily and that Orochimaru was forced to retreat. Despite the victory, the Leaf mourned the loss of its leader as if its collective father had been killed.

            Junko was surprised to find him at the memorial on the day of Sandaime's funeral, but knew what his death meant to him.

            "Are those for Hayate?" the older Jounin asked. "The ceremony for Sandaime is about to begin. If you don't…"

            She wasn't in the mood to be told who she should mourn. "Kakashi-sempai, you're here for him, aren't you?" Junko answered with her own question. "You're always late for things… Is it for any special reason?"

            "Actually, today I was early…" he artfully avoided the topic. They talked briefly, as people in mourning do, in quiet and poetic tones and then made their way up to the service.

            When she returned to her apartment, the afternoon sunlight filtered through thinning clouds. Her black dress was fairly soaked through. She sloughed it off and crawled into bed where she lay, only half-sleeping for hours. It had been hard to keep back the tears during the wake; tears she had held in for three days; tears she had not allowed herself to part with. At last, in the privacy of her room, Junko let go.

            All those years they had been together, she had prepared herself for Hayate's eventual, slow, painful death. She never thought that he would leave her so suddenly.

            Sorrow echoed off the Hokage monument and into the valley. The sunlight spilling through the window onto the floor seemed cold and stark, as if it too felt lost. Only when a messenger bird chirped at her window a few days later, did Junko reluctantly leave her apartment.

            Work was a good distraction. To be Anbu meant to act as a machine: to fight, kill and move without emotion. Junko was one of the best. She was not only very skilled, but startlingly good at turning herself off. Once she was on the job, the job was all that mattered.

            In the aftermath of the Chuunin Exam War, the Anbu found themselves very busy. Junko hardly had any free time and for someone trying hard not to think about how miserable she was this was just fine.

            Junko got by behaving like that for a few years, but as peace settled on the Hidden Leaf and missions tapered off, her heart grew heavy again.

            One sunny, beautiful afternoon, she walked as she usually did to the memorial with a small bundle of seasonal flowers. Wordlessly, she talked to him, updating him about happenings in the Leaf, and telling him how much she missed him. It was this particular, slow, sunny afternoon that she realized she was no longer in mourning. He would always be in her heart. The ache she still felt in her chest wasn't the same anymore.

            "Hey," a woman's voice called smoothly, breaking her from her reverie. "Is that you, Junko-chan?"

            She shielded her eyes and looked up at the woman's silhouette. "Oh, hello Kurenai-sempai."

            Kurenai smiled. "Am I interrupting?"

            "Oh, no," Junko stood and dusted herself off. "I'm done for today."

            The other woman stared at Junko with her large, reddish eyes and suddenly clapped her hands together. "Would you like to get some dinner with me? Asuma's out on a mission and left me to fend for myself tonight."

            "Sure," she agreed and the two headed into Konoha as the sun dipped behind the tree line.

More flashbacky goodness to come… Probably only one more 'chapter'. -aks

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