Sakura sighed as she restocked the shelves behind the bar. It was a bit after 2 o'clock in the morning. She had just closed up her saloon and began the arduous task of preparing it for the next day.

"Another tough day" she lamented to herself as she placed the various bottles in their respective positions.

Once she was finished with this task, she retrieved a white rag from beneath the counter. Now began the equally, if not more, arduous task of wiping the counter and all the tables in the entire saloon. She was very meticulous in her cleaning which made this particular chore very time consuming.

Sakura was about halfway through when she heard the saloon doors pushed open. She was facing the opposite direction but didn't bother to turn around. She figured it was just another drunk.

"Sorry but we're closed" Sakura stated almost robotically.

"Heh, can you really afford to be turning away customers?" a familiar voice asked.

Sakura stopped what she was doing and turned around. The voice belonged to her best friend Ino, as she had thought. And standing beside her was another of her friends, Tenten, who was giggling at Ino's joke. There was however, one other person with them, one who Sakura didn't know.

Sakura examined the mystery person carefully. She had blonde hair that was almost totally concealed under a black cowboy hat and blue eyes that studied the entire room carefully. Sakura's focus was then broken by Ino and Tenten as they approached her.

"How have you been? It's been a while since the three of us got together" Tenten began, placing her hand on Sakura's shoulder.

Sakura gave a weak smile "Yeah it's been a long time hasn't it?"

"Too long" Ino interjected "But how's the saloon going? Getting any better?"

Sakura frowned "Unfortunately not. I'm just not getting as much patrons as I used to. I'm actually operating at a loss these days. If business doesn't pick up, I might have to sell this place"

"Really?! It's that bad?" Tenten questioned apologetically.

"Yeah and to make matters worse the mayor's going to raise property tax for business owners by 15% pretty soon. So the state of affairs is looking quite bleak" Sakura answered.

"Oh is that so?" Ino mumbled.

Sakura smirked "I know you guys didn't just come here to shoot the breeze with me. What is it that you guys, and your friend, want?"

Ino and Tenten looked at each other sheepishly.

"Straight to the point, as usual eh Sakura?" Tenten said smiling.

"Well you're right, we came here because we've got… a job" Ino said shakily as she took out some papers from her pocket and handed them to Sakura.

Sakura unfolded the crinkled papers, they were bounty posters of two criminals. She frowned and held out her hand with the bounty posters "Sorry guys I'm not interested. You know I'm not a bounty hunter anymore, I've retired"

"Yeah Sakura we were retired too. But things have been difficult, you know financially. So we talked it over and we decided to come out of retirement… just for one last job" Tenten explained almost hesitantly.

"You guys know full well that I completely gave up bounty hunting, ever since 'that day'" Sakura said, looking down dismally at the floor.

The moods of Sakura, Ino and Tenten all immediately changed at the mention of 'that day'. A feeling of gloom momentarily entered their hearts.

"I know Sakura, I know. We gave up bounty hunting too. But as we've come to realize it's the one thing that we're truly good at. That's why we've decided to come out of retirement for one last job" Ino explained "Take a look at the bounties on their heads"

Sakura had not actually looked at the amount of money being offered, she simply saw a bounty poster and refused their request. She reopened the posters begrudgingly. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the figures, it was the biggest set of bounties she had ever seen.

"No way, you got to be kidding me. Are these real?" Sakura asked in total shock.

"As real as you and I. 6 million dollars for this Kakuzu guy and 4 million for his partner Hidan" Ino answered.

"Apparently they're the leaders of some gang called 'The Immortals'" Tenten added.

"I-I don't know" Sakura stuttered to herself.

She truly did not know what to do. Her mind was going off in a million different directions. Should she take the job? She did in fact give up on being a bounty hunter. But this is just one, final mission right? Nothing too serious. What would happen to her saloon if she refused? Will she see bounties as big as these ever again? What to do?

"I don't think she would've minded" Ino whispered to her solemnly.

Sakura was silent for a couple of seconds until she let out a big sigh and finally agreed, almost begrudgingly "Alright, I'll do it"

Ino smiled and put out her hand "Alright then, let's shake on it"

They shook hands and therefore consolidated their deal.

"So are you going to introduce me to your friend?" Sakura finally asked.

"Oh yeah she's going to be-" Tenten was about to explain.

Sakura smirked "Yeah I know, she's going to be the fourth member"

"Uh yeah that's right. Her name's Temari" Tenten intorduced.

Temari was leaning up against the wall, her arms were crossed and all the while she tapped the floor with the tip of her boot. Upon hearing her name she pushed off the wall and approached Sakura to shake her hand. They exchanged a brief 'Hello' as they did so.

"So, can you shoot?" Sakura questioned.

"I can hit a barn door if the situation demands" she replied cheekily.

Sakura smirked at her answer "Alright that'll do"

Sakura didn't really like the idea of getting a new member. But there wasn't much of a choice, they used to be a four woman team until 'that day'. However those days were gone and the current situation demanded a fourth member.

Sakura walked to the bar and surveyed the display of alcohol for a suitable drink. She then gathered 4 glasses and brought everything to a table. Everyone gathered around.

"Alright let's commemorate this occasion with a drink" Sakura announced as she poured and distributed each of the glasses.

"What shall we toast to?" Tenten enquired.

"You guys know each other well, and I'm going to be travelling with you throughout this job. So how about we toast to a fruitful and long lasting friendship?" Temari suggested.

Ino lifted her glass and seconded the motion "Yeah friendship!"

Everyone followed suit and with a clink of their glasses their new team had been formed. They all downed their drink and set their glasses on the table.

"Alright, we plan to set off tomorrow morning. We don't want any sons of bitches stealing our kills so we'll meet up outside this saloon at 7am sharp. Catch whatever sleep you can, we want to use up as much daylight hours as possible. Comprende?" Ino explained.

Everyone nodded in agreement, it was already quite late, meaning sleep was relegated to only a few hours. They therefore decided to skip all the pleasantries and head home to rest up.

Sakura washed the glasses and put away the bottle of alcohol that was used, she then resumed cleaning the tables. She saw a very faint reflection of herself in the table that she was wiping, she stopped what she was doing and just stared at it.

Sakura looked at the white rag in her hand. She then threw it disdainfully into the corner of the room. Cleaning served no purpose. She was going to be a bounty hunter tomorrow. A bounty hunter for the first time since the incident. The incident that changed her life and ended life of her friend.

***Author's Notes***

I'm back and with a super cool new story no less! So yeah I'm also a huge fan of Westerns so I figured I'd do a Western fic. Pretty cool and unique huh?

I also decided to have the girls as the main characters this time because my last fic involved Naruto and Sasuke so it seemed like the next logical choice.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed reading! See you in the next one.

-Cloud