Disclaimer: I no own, you no sue.

Author's note: I've been sitting on this and two other ideas for a while and I've had the first part sitting in my documents for the last month or so. I want to write more but I wanna know if people would even want to read it so I'm throwing my first chapters up and seeing what people think. I don't need a huge review saying how good it is or you love it or you hate it and think I'm stupid for making such a crack pairing. If just one or two people say, I would like you to continue I would be happy. BTW please don't asked for scheduled updates, I have two part time jobs, do freelance art stuff and go to college part time so it's uncertain. That and I work better when the mood hits me so don't be mad, but I'll try not to go more then a month without an update (I'm hoping that'd be an extreme case). Otherwise please enjoy! It's been a few years so I may be rusty.

Flowers

Ch.1 Seedling

"Excuse me? I think I heard you wrong." Sakura looked on with a mix of shock and confusion.

"What? I thought it was fairly clever," said Tsunade not seeing the same oddness her apprentice was seeing with her idea.

"A shinobi masquerade ball, but we don't just dress up, we henge?" This seemed like one of her shishou's more eccentric ideas.

"Come on, even if we dress up with all the costumes and makeup out there we're all shinobi and we'd be able to figure out who the other is. The whole fun of a masquerade ball is everyone is a stranger and mysterious meetings and dancings with strangers seems rather romatic don't you think," Tsunade asked looking a little wistful like she was remembering something from long ago.

"Shishou...even so there will be people who can figure others out regardless. The Inuzuka's can easily detect a person by their scent, the byakugan can see through any henge, I mean over all it's kind of pointless isn't it?"

"Sakura, you didn't used to be so pessimistic." Sakura had to clamp her mouth shut and averted her eyes slightly embarrassed. No, she didn't used to be but a lot of things had happened and she had changed.

The fourth great ninja war had finally ended, the entire shinobi world had come together to face what seemed like an invincible enemy and though worn and bleeding, they had stood victorious at the end. It's not to say the whole world was at peace or there were no casualties but bonds between friendly countries were stronger then ever and those with strained ties weren't so strained. And Naruto had come out victorious, not just for Konoha or the world, but also for jinchuriki.

He created a worldwide treaty outlining the care given to the treatment of jinchuuriki. Unfortunately the first seven tailed beasts were too strong to just dispose of and had to be sealed once again in infants. But with this treaty all countries agreed to normal treatment of the child, no cruelty or abuse or the child would be removed from the country and even war could be declared. This happened while all the countries were still united under the same truce that helped them defeat Uchiha Madara. It was also then that the five great nations decided to divide a tailed beast to each of the nations and the other two would go to Konoha and one of the lesser nations (they eventually agreed on waterfall). This had come after a huge announcement from once again Naruto, the world's most surprising ninja. He said Konoha would need a bijuu because even though he was a shinobi of Konoha, he was one of the last of the Uzumaki, one of the last people of the fallen country of whirlpool, and his dreams had switched from becoming the hokage to becoming the uzumage (a word she was sure he made up on the fly), and reestablish the country of whirlpool.

Since he had found out of his parents and his heritage he felt tied to his mothers lost home and heritage and felt it still had a chance and didn't have to die out. So with the hokage's permission he was still a konoha shinobi taking missions as such but he was saving and gaining support and followers to create a new nation of whirlpool in the ruins of the old. That meant gaining financial backing, followers (people who would come with him), and especially bloodlines. Konoha was one of the most powerful shinobi villages because of the many families with bloodline abilities, most ninja villages were graced with only half a dozen. Konoha had at least that many in her graduating genin class. Things seemed so bright, but that's because they had already been their darkest.

They had lost Sasuke...they had also almost lost Naruto. Sasuke had been too driven by revenge his whole life when he found out he had gotten revenge on the wrong person, he snapped and was broken beyond repair. Even in the end they tried to reach out to him, but it almost cost Naruto his life, if Sakura hadn't been pessimistic, if she hadn't prepared for the worst, she wouldn't have brought enough chakra pills to power her for a week, which was about what it took to heal Naruto to drag him from the brink of death. Even though she admitted she no longer loved him, when Sasuke died, it still hurt. Even her crush aside, she saw his pain, and even if she couldn't comprehend it all she wanted to help, and knowing she wasn't strong enough to help...it made her feel weak and useless like when they were genin. So much had happened...

"Gomen, shishou." Tsunade sighed and rested her chin in her hand.

"Sakura I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. This is supposed to be a celebration. We're asking people not to use their bloodline limits, though we can't force them not to. It's just for fun. I mean we even have people from Sand, Waterfall, and Water countries comming. Just try to have fun, as of right now there are no imminent threats and before you say anything that doesn't mean our guard is lowered. With people from foreign countries we do have extra guards. Sakura since you've been a genin it seemed like war was imminent, which it was, and it did happen and you made it through alive. Now is a time of peace, of celebration, of life."

"Shishou you're not usually one to give speeches like this." Not that she couldn't be kind, but she wasn't usually one to give her perspectives on life.

"Sakura, I'm saying that I lost a lot of my youth running from place to place, I learned a lot of jutsus and I learned a lot about life, but I also lost out on a lot. I believed I could never love again after Dan, and I gave up on any dreams of a family or a place to belong. By the time I found myself again it was too late. I'm not telling you to go out, get married, and start a family. What I am saying is you should take a breather, look around you, and enjoy what you fought so hard for." Her head down, Sakura seriously thought over her words and took a deep breath before meeting her eyes again.

"Hai, shishou, I'll see you Friday then. Or rather I probably won't, right?" Tsunade smiled feeling like she finally had gotten through to her apprentice.

"Have fun Sakura, I know I will." With that she turned in her chair to look out the window in a way dismissing Sakura. She left the room and instead of taking the rooftops back to her apartment like she always did, she decided to take a walk back on the streets. The war ended only 4 months ago and they were still rebuilding some places destroyed in the war, but with Yamato's help they were almost complete. Even then it had only been a month since Naruto declared his intentions about rebuilding Whirlpool. 'I think it might have been because of her...Hinata.'

He was really happy, Hinata had finally confessed to Naruto during the fight with Pein, she had almost lost her life, but she had fought for her most important person and told him so. It was almost a month after that before they actually saw each other again and even though Hinata was shy she didn't back down. Naruto didn't know what to do with himself, but he didn't reject her and they'd been together ever since. A lot of people were actually worried she was jealous, but with everything that had happened to Naruto she was glad he finally had someone to walk by his side always. She could walk with him as a friend and a teammate but she never saw herself as someone who would be with him in that aspect.

It was the fact that the Hyuuga's announced their branch house would be moving to whirlpool under the guidance of Hinata that made her think she may have given him the final push to go for his dreams. 'His dreams...' That was one thing that struck her while her shishou was making her speech. 'What do I want now?' Back during the war there were so many things she wanted, she wanted to save Sasuke, she wanted to defeat Madara, she wanted to protect Konoha. But now that she had all of that, 'what do I want?' When she was a genin she wanted to marry Sasuke and start a family, but now she didn't know if she wanted to get married or have a family or anything like that. 'Though...I don't want to be alone.' She thought back to Tsunade and how she said she had lost out on so many things. 'I...would like to find someone. Someone to share my life with.' She sighed and closed her eyes when a familiar scent hit her nose. 'Flowers?' It was then she noticed the Yamanaka flower shop. It had been so long since she'd just walked home that she didn't realize Ino's family flower shop was on the way. 'Speaking of which, how long has it been since I've seen Ino?' They'd fought and healed together during the war. Both of them being medic nin they saw a lot of each other on the field when they set up make shift medical tents, but since the war they'd only seen each other a few times. Though they no longer fought like when they were kids they weren't as close as they used to be. 'Maybe, that's something I should change.' With that in mind she stepped into the flower shop.

"Welcome, can we help you find something," came a call from the register, "Sakura!" Sure enough Ino was managing the register and she seemed shocked to see Sakura come in.

"Hey Ino, how have you been?"

"Not too bad, been working a lot since mom's still not able to get around yet."

"You're mom? But you're moms not a ninja." Ino actually giggled at that.

"No she's not but she's a volunteer with the emergency teams. When they were evacuating civilians to a shelter a building collapsed." Sakura gasped. "Oh don't worry she'll be ok, but she broke her hip. She's still healing and then with physical therapy," she trailed off. "Well I don't have to tell you, you know it'll be a while before she's up and running again."

"Sorry I didn't hear anything about it."

"It's fine, it's fine. I've hear about all the different things going on with your team so it's not surprising you didn't hear about something small like this."

"Still...Anyway, make sure you tell her I hope she gets better."

"Ah she'll be surprised but happy. Ah not to cut this short, but did you need something? I'm not trying to sound mean but you usually only visit when someone's in the hospital so..."

"Huh? Oh no! Nothing like that, it's just...I had a conversation with Tsunade and she had me thinking about a lot of things and...I felt like I needed to stop in."

"Huh? Things like what? Is something starting up again?"

"No, no, you're misunderstanding. It's...a long story." Ino hmmmmed.

"Well you know the shop closes up in 3 hours, if you wanted to talk we could meet somewhere. It's been a while since we've been able to talk." For the first time since she entered the store Sakura gave a smile, a real smile and it kind of took Ino aback. 'When was the last time I saw Sakura smile like that?'

"Would you mind if we met at my apartment? I just...I don't want to talk about some of these things in public. Kind of personal you know," she said with a light blush on her face.

"Ah, I can't." Sakura looked shocked. 'Is she rejecting my invite?'

"Huh? Why not?" Ino gave her a goofy grin.

"When you moved out I never got your new address. I have no idea where you live goofball."

"Ah! Seriously? Do you have some paper?" Ino pulled a post it off of the counter and handed it to her. Sakura not only printed the address but also made a mini map on the other side.

"So if the shop closes at 7 should I expect you at like 7:30?"

"Yeah sure, sometime around then. It's not an exact time since I don't know how long it'll take to close up. But that's not a problem is it?"

"Ah no, but I wanted to clean up a little first so..." She avoided meeting Ino's gaze.

"Ah I knew it, you're still just as messy as when you lived at home," Ino teased.

"No I'm not! I just need to pick up a few things," she said embarrassed as Ino had hit the nail on the head. "Anyway, I'll see you tonight."

"Sure, bye Sakura," she called as Sakura tried not to hurry out the door, determined not to let Ino see how messy her apartment was.

It was a little over three hours later and Sakura was exhausted. She stopped at a store on the way home to make some kind of meal and grab some tea before running home and cleaning like Tsunade was coming to inspect it. Not to mention making dinner, she wanted to take a bath but settled on a quick shower instead and felt awkward waiting for Ino to arrive. 'Has it seriously been that long since I've had someone come over just to visit?' Visits with her teammates didn't count because they usually just randomly stopped by and made themselves at home, and left the same way. She was a bit startled then when she actually heard a knock at the door instead of someone just randomly inviting themselves in via the window. She went and opened the door and sure enough there was Ino.

"Hey Ino, come in," she said backing away from the door so she could take her shoes off.

"Thanks for having me over," she said as she made her way inside. She whistled as she looked around the apartment.

"Wow nice, and it's even clean."

"Of course it's clean," Sakura said slightly annoyed.

"Hehe, juts kidding with you. Hey what's that smell," she said as she closed her eyes and sniffed the air."

"Ah I'm making a baked chicken and noodle dish, it should be done in about another five minutes. Don't worry I made enough for both of us."

"You cooked for me?"

"Well if you're coming right from work I figured you'd be hungry so the least I could do was make you some dinner too." Ino did something that she hadn't done since they were kids, she came up behidn her and hugged her.

"Aww Sakura chan, if you make dinner for me when I come home from work every night I may have to marry you," she said joking, and it worked as Sakura giggled.

"If that's all it takes to get you to marry someone you must have been dating some bad cooks up until now."

"Come on Sakura you're the same as me aren't you? Who had time for dating during a war?" She let go and walked over to Sakura's traditional low dinner table and sat on a pillow on one side. "Hell it's still hard to believe it's over isn't it?" It struck a cord in Sakura as she realized she wasn't the only one still getting over it.

"Yeah, I know." She heard the timer go off and went to get the food before setting it on the table. They ate in comfortable silence, basking in the others presence, just enjoying being together in a relaxed state instead of constant alert like the interactions they'd had over the last two years. Sakura cleaned up and brought out tea for them to sip on though it was Sakura who spoke up first.

"That's what Tsunade and I were talking about today."

"What? The war?"

"No, the end of the war. I had so many goals and things I had to do when we were at war, I needed to get stronger, heal faster, make my charkra reserves larger. But now...what?"

"What? You mean, where do we go from here?"

"Yeah, when I look back at all the things I wanted when we were genin, I either accomplish my goal or they changed. I mean I wanted to become a chunin, marry Sasuke and start a family," she said noticing Ino's eyes dim a little as well at his name. "Now, I am a chunin, but I have no idea if I want to get married or start a family. Hell, Naruto wants to rebuild whirlpool and I know it's only a matter of time before he offers me a job at the hospital they plan on building there. Well maybe a doctors office first before a hospital, but you get the point. He's my friend and my teammate but I don't know if I actually want to go. It's like..."

"You have no direction and you can't even figure out what you want let alone what to do?" Sakura and her locked eyes over the table.

"So...I'm not the only one."

"Hell no, you don't know how many times Shikamaru, Choji, and I sit around babbling about the absolute nothing that happened this week or that and just sit there in silence. Shikamaru said this happens a lot to soldiers after a war, which is why Tsunade's having that dance this Friday."

"I'm a bit relieved to know I'm not the only one. Though Tsunade gave me some good advice today, which is why I went to you're store."

"Hmm, what did she say to get you to talk to me?"

"She just told me about how she missed out on so many things in life because she ran away and by the time she stopped to look at what she had where she was she couldn't have them."

"She was talking about having a family right?" Sakura was a bit surprised but she guessed by the way she worded it, it had to be taken like that.

"Something like that. Though she straight out told me she wasn't telling me to get married and have a family, but I should look around and find the things important in my life and make sure I don't miss out. I decided to walk home and came across your shop and I just thought back to when we were kids and...I thought it was important," she blushed as her voice softened. "I thought it was important to try and be friends again. We're not enemies, we haven't been since we both became medic nins but we also haven't really been close friends. So that's why I went in." There was a moment of silence where Ino had her eyes closed and Sakura was wondering what she was thinking, but then Ino smiled.

"Thank you, that means a lot to me. At times during the war, when it got really bad, I liked to think back to those times. Things were simple and our biggest worries were not getting caught by Iruka sensei." There was another moment of silence when Ino stretched and laid on her back on the floor staring at the ceiling. "So what have you been doing since the war ended?"

"Hmmm, I wonder? Mostly working in the hospital, though when I'm not I'm helping Tsunade-shishou with paperwork trying to get the village back together, though that's become lighter recently. Do you think I should take up a hobby?" Sakura also laid out on the ground staring at the ceiling.

"I've been helping out a lot at my shop but I also put in some hours at the hospital, though I think I'm more physicals and patient visits while you're more trauma, right?"

"Yeah, usually, that would explain why I haven't see you much even though we both work there."

"Aside from that I've been helping my family a lot. That last war, we almost lost so much."

"Your family?"

"Not just my family, the whole village. If we'd lost, there'd be no Konoha, no five great nations, we were so close to losing everything."

"But we didn't," Sakura said firmly turning her head to stare at Ino even with the table between them.

"I know that, and you know that. But it shook my dad a bit, I mean it's a bit different for us then you."

"How," Sakura asked though she sounded slightly annoyed. Ino sighed and looked over meeting Sakura's eyes.

"I didn't mean to imply anything, to me I don't think it's very important but my dad..." She sighed and turned her head back to look at the ceiling. "He's been pressuring me to date, and maybe see some guys. I'm only 17 so I don't think he's trying to marry me off, but the thing is with my uncle dead and my mom can't have more kids, he's worried about the bloodline. Then Naruto wants to start whirlpool and he's worried about our family. I mean Shikamaru's in the same boat. But Choji, Shino, Kiba, they all have lots of relatives so even if they don't get married and have a family it's not like they have to worry about their bloodline. Lucky pricks."

"Seriously? I didn't think you're dad was ever one of those kinds of guys to worry about clan 'breeding' and such."

"He wasn't, but I think the war changed him a bit. But it's not that big a deal he's just trying to push me to date more so I can just blow it off for now. Speaking of which though, you're going to be at the party Friday right?"

"Of course, shishou would kill me if I wasn't." She made a sour face at that.

"Sakura, just have fun. For one night, be a random person and meet other random people and have fun. For one night don't be Sakura, just be...a flower floating on the wind."

"Ino...?" Ino continued staring straight ahead. "...cheesy," she said giggling. Ino pulled the pillow out from under her butt and tossed it at her over the table.

"Fine see if I try to be poetic again." Sakura quieted her giggles but kept smiling, Ino turned to smile as well and they extended their hands until they clasped each others under the table and looked back at the ceiling just enjoying each others company. Both of their minds going back to that summer their friendship started, holding hands on the grassy hill watching the clouds go by, with flower petals fluttering all over them.