'I will be your undoing.'

--

Blonde, blustering, blatant... Bruised, belligerent, bare.

'How I have changed.' she mumbled, a graceless heap on the stained sheets of a hotel mattress. The smell of blood and other bodily fluids permeated the room, sneaking into her broken nose and launching a full attack.

The man had left hours ago. He even had the decency to leave some money on the floor.

It wasn't the first time she had suffered broken bones. With her right hand, she pushed some chakra into the bridge of her nose. Within seconds it had been healed. It wasn't even crooked. She wasn't even sure why they picked her. Her skin was hard and worn. Though she didn't have many wrinkles, her eyes had the constant circles underneath them, that even the makeup couldn't hide. Some days they matched the colour of her eye shadow.

Sitting up, she let out a groan. She dressed quickly and efficiently. She had even gotten the information she needed.

--

'Hello, Hokage-sama. I have brought your report.' she said in a breathy monotone. Her eyes shifted towards the girl with pink hair. Over the years her hunter green eyes had lost their luster, while her soft body and full cheeks had begun to hollow. She still wore the ridiculous red outfit, which attracted unnecessary attention. Ino had long since abandoned purple. She wore the standard jounin garb, complete with small bags of herbs. The village had once said she was useless, while the pink haired girl would surpass even Tsunade herself. That was when she began to train. She left her team, and trained herself with animals. When she surpassed that, she went for Naruto. She wanted to learn his shadow clone technique... and spy on Sakura.

--

'Sakura-chan!' she yelled happily, holding out her arms. The pink haired girl ran into her arms delightedly, and Ino sniffed her raspberry scented hair. Every day, they would meet like this. 'What should we do today? Pick flowers?'

Sakura looked up. 'I... think we should go spy on Sasuke-kun!'

Ino moved sharply, disconcerted. 'Sasuke.. Why him? He's so stuck-up.'

--

'Ino.' said Sakura, eyes narrowed. 'You lied to me. You like Sasuke-kun too, don't you?'

'What?' said Ino, eyes wide.

'We... aren't friends anymore.'

--

'Naruto.'

'Ino? What do you want?'

'... I want to learn the shadow clone technique.'

--

Tsunade gave her a neutral stare. 'I see. Here is your payment.'

Ino tried to smile, but her lips stayed in place.

Tsunade didn't notice...

But Sakura did.

--

Ino snorted disgustedly. These ninja were low-level idiots. Thrusting a knife into one kid's stomach, she turned and began lazy handsigns. A few clones later, she was surrounded by dead bodies. She grabbed the scroll, and began to head back home.

--

'The report, Hokage-sama.'

'Thank you, Ino. I want you back here tomorrow, at eight o'clock sharp.'

--

Sakura sighed. She had been working overtime for weeks now. 'Tsunade-shishou... I have a favour to ask.'

The Hokage looked up suddenly from her towers of paper. Putting a motherly smile on her face, she turned towards her favourite student. 'What sort of favour, Sakura-chan?' she asked, almost sickly sweet. It may have been the alcohol, or some version of biological-clock-ran-out-of-time syndrome. Sakura steadied her hands over the stack of files she was organizing. 'What... is the matter with Ino? Why is she so plastic? What sort of missions do you put her on to make her this way?'

Tsunade was startled, but she tried not to show it. 'Sakura, why do you care? The village knows how you feel about her. You two fought over Sasuke, didn't you? Also, be here for eight o'clock tomorrow. I have a special mission for you.'

Sakura lowered her gaze. '... old habits die hard, I guess.' She left the room abruptly.

Tsunade was confused. 'What the hell does she mean by that? Kids these days...'

--

Sakura tried to look happy as she sat down to ramen with Naruto. He was slurping down his fifth bowl already. At seventeen, he was huge, but his appetite dwarfed even his size. Sakura looked into the silver of her spoon. Her face was distorted, with a huge nose, small eyes and her chapped lips apparent. She looked like a rat.

'Oi, Sakura-chan.' he mumbled through thick noodles. 'What's the matter?'

'I... guess I'm fine.' she lied, mouth clumsy. In reality, she was worried about tomorrow's mission. She had overheard Tsunade mention Ino... And she was afraid of what might happen. 'Don't lie, Sakura-chan! I know you're unhappy!'

It took an hour to explain. Naruto for once, shut his mouth when Ino was mentioned. Suddenly, he burst out, saying 'She... Wanted to learn my kage bunshin technique, you know?'

'What?!' cried Sakura. 'Why didn't you tell me before? I could have...' she left off. 'What?' retorted Naruto, 'Trained with her? I thought you hated her, because she liked teme!'

'I guess.'

--