A yawn escaped her lips as she stretched the tenseness from the muscles in her shoulders and back. Her eyes widened in fright as she realized that she'd pulled the dark cloth from her face in her sleep. She was thankful to see that Kiba was still sleeping, and she tiptoed outside as she yanked it back on. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she surveyed the area. It was barely dawn, and the sun was barely peeking over the horizon. About three other nin were awake, but they were minding their own buisness, so she didn't mind.

Yawning again, she shuffled over towards a tall tree she'd spotted and stealthily climbed. She selected a branch towards the highest part of the tree, where she could watch the sunise and still not fall. She obliged to the temptation of sliding off her mask for a while, she was facing away from the camp, and breathe in the clean scent of the morning air. She was still wearing her tight black clothing from the day before, she'd been to lazy to slip out of them the previous night.

She quickly pulled her mask back over her lower face as the tree began to shake slightly, indicating that someone was climing up towards her. Sure enough, seconds later, Kiba appeared infront of her.

"Mind if I join you?"

"If you take off that mask." She said as she swung her legs over to make room for him. She'd been amazed that he'd slept with the mask on. When she'd bothered him more about it last night he'd only said that, 'there are missions when a ANBU has to take his mask off, and that was the only time he would take it off.' In her opinion, he would take it off soon, because there was no way that everywhere he went he would keep it on, it was impossible.

"We already talked about this..." He said sitting down.

"Fine." She sighed, too tired to argue. "I didn't wake you did I?"

"Yes you did, actually. It's alright though, I usually wake up right around this time anyway." He explained after seeing her eye brows furrow.

Sakura smiled guiltily beneath her mask.

Her guilt was soon forgotten as the awe inspiring sunrise captured her attention. The pastels littering the morning sky were of such beauty, no one could describe them fairly. Pinks, purples, blues, and shades of orange streaked the sky. This was the only true beauty, in Sakura's point of view.

Next to her, the male ANBU was quite interested in what he was seeing also. But unlike her, his eyes were not glued to the horizon, but on the kunoichi's expression, or what he could see of it anyway. Her deep brown eyes were glittering in an almost... mischevious way. It was amazingly attractive. Noting this, he scrutinized her appearance.

Her hair was a deep black color, clearly it had been dyed, and was grown out just barely past her shoulders. It was still messy from her night's sleep, and a few strands stood out at odd angles. Her face was a nice shape, one he'd seen on only a few kunoichi in his lifetime. Her body was shapely, but not so much that it would get in the way of her training. His eyes returned to her still sparkling eyes, and then looked out into the now very faint purples blending into the usual light blue color.

"I love sunrises and sunsets." She said softly, her attention returning to her company. She stretched as a yawn escaped her lips and let herself fall from the tree as she leaned backwards, landing perfectly on her feet, like a feline.

"So I've noticed." He said, appearing beside her.

"Huh..." She said, obviously grinning beneath her mask. "I hadn't realized so much time had passed."

His eyes scanned the perimeter. All ANBU were awake and either eating, packing, or talking. He turned on his heel, heading towards their camp. He waved as he walked away, "I got it. You can go eat."

Watching him walk ahead of her, she felt an overall gratefullness that she'd been paired up with Kiba instead of Tatsuya. He was an interesting ANBU, and she found that she was overjoyed by the fact that they seemed to be getting along famously. Guilt encompassed her as she took note that she had only taken notice in him for his looks, when he was such a great person.

He was sweet, in his own way, and she felt like she had wronged him.

Feeling guilty, she made her way over to her fellow ANBU who had a meal ready for her.

XXXXXXXXX

The mission ended quickly, in a mere week. They'd discovered quite a few interesting goings-on in the border cities. If they hadn't discovered them, something serious might have resulted at a later time. But there had been nothing too severe, and they returned within a weeks time.

Sakura waved a 'goodbye' to her new-found friends and quickly headed home. It was deep into the night, and if she guessed correctly, it was around one in the morning. She pushed her way through her front door and into her livingroom. Without a second thought, she locked the door and peeled off her mask. Her first breath of fresh air was undescribable, to put it simply, ... it was amazing. Throwing The mask onto the couch, she peeled off her shoes, black pants, shinguards, vest, gloves, and shirt. Soon, she was sitting in her bathtub, soaking herself. The dirt and grime that had piled onto her skin over the past week seemed to disappear into the cool water.

She may be an ANBU, but she was a woman too.

She yawned and pushed away the urgent thoughts of how she was to begin the previously assigned mission tomorrow...


BWahahahahahaha! I am in a very good mood, thank you very much. I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but it's all I could retrieve from my over sleep-deprived head. Yes. I know I should be studying for exams, but ah... the sweet temptation of fanfiction. Oh well, I don't have to suffer until tomorrow, when I wake up early so that I can drill each and every stoopide fact into my head.

Yay.

I hope you enjoyed...

Review! PLEASE?