Summary: Ino notices that her fellow ninja have been feeling lonely. Solution? Improve their love lives! But while Ino is busy making matches for others, she never stops to think about making a match for herself... Ino's POV

Main pairings: InoSai, ShikaTema, SakuKiba, NaruHina, NejiTen

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 1: Part time Kunoichi

I was lying in the sun when I met Sakura. It was a lovely day in Konoha, I had no mission, and I decided to make the best of the weather. Shikamaru's obsession of clouds must have been rubbing off on me, because there I was, stretched out on the grass, looking up at the sky. I enjoyed the heat of the sun and closed my eyes.

"Ino?"

I opened my eyes and saw Sakura standing over me. Normally she was holding some ingredients for soldier pills, or some of Tsunade-sama's paperwork, but today her hands were empty.

"Hey there, forehead," I said teasingly. To my surprise, she did not snap back and call me "Ino-pig". She must have something on her mind, I thought. "What are you thinking about?" I asked.

Sakura sat down next to me and looked up at the sky. "I'm just wondering... how Sasuke-kun is," she said quietly.

I stared at her. She still wasn't over him. I couldn't believe it, and had no idea what to say.

"Sakura..."

She looked at me, her green eyes sad. I couldn't continue. Three years. Three years since he left, and still, after all that time, she's still wallowing away in sorrow. She needed something to take her mind off Sasuke, someone to take his place... I gave myself a small smile as a plan formed in my head. I stood up.

"Sorry, forehead, but I gotta run. I told... Shikamaru that I'd meet him somewhere," I improvised quickly. Sakura nodded and lay back, just as I had been doing and stared up at the clouds. I could tell she was still thinking about Sasuke.

I hurried away, but kept glancing back at her, but she never moved. I was so deep in thoughts that I crashed right into Shino!

"Oh... uh, sorry!" I said, helping him to his feet.

"Not at all," he said, but he sounded a bit put out. Of course, it was hard to tell anything from his expressions, because you couldn't see his expressions. I looked Shino up and down. Would he be a good distraction for Sakura? I couldn't tell whether he was good-looking or not, but he might be... No, I thought. He's too closed off. She needs someone who's open.

I walked off without a word, heading towards one of the training grounds. Lee was there, kicking a tree stump and counting. I leaned against a tree.

"Hey there, Lee."

He looked up, but carried on kicking the stump. "Hi there – 735 – Ino-san – 736." I examined him carefully. Of course, I knew Sakura liked him as a friend, and I also knew that Lee would gladly go out with her. But ew! I mean, his hair, his eyebrows, his clothes? Although, I mused, if he had a haircut, shaved his eyebrows a bit and wore different clothes then he might be quite good looking...

"Um... Lee?"

"740. Yes, Ino-san? 741."

"Have you ever thought about... getting a makeover?"

He was so shocked he stopped practicing his kicks. "A makeover?"

"Yeah, like... change your look," I said, hope rising inside me. Would he do it? If he did, then Sakura would definitely go out with him...

Lee shook his head. "But I look so youthful already! Why would I want to change?" With that, he went back to kicking the stump.

I sighed and scolded myself for ever thinking that Lee might change. "Well, see you later then."

Who else was there? Of course, there were lots of guys in our age group – twice as many as there was girls. There was Shikamaru, but he was too lazy. There was Chouji, but he was too big-boned (I'd gotten so used to not saying the F-A-T word near him I don't even think it any more). Shino was too antisocial; Neji's hair was too long; Lee was, well, Lee; Naruto was too much of an idiot; Sai... I paused. Why not Sai? I couldn't think of anything wrong with him, but for some reason I really didn't want him to go out with Sakura. Why not? I shook my head and carried on with my mental list. Which leaves... Kiba. Of course! He was quite good-looking, and he wasn't lazy, big-boned, antisocial, long-haired or an idiot. Kiba. Perfect.

I went to the Inuzuka house and knocked. Kiba's sister Hana answered the door. She looked surprised to see me. "Ino? What can I do for you?"

"Is Kiba around?"

Hana looked at me and smiled, clearly jumping to the wrong conclusion. "He went to buy some more dog food."

"All right, thanks!"

I made my way towards the shops, but Kiba wasn't around no matter where I looked. Then, I spotted two big dogs playing together. The smaller one was pitch black with a white spot on his head, while the bigger one was white. I recognised him at once. "Akamaru!"

Akamaru looked up and barked happily at me, then went back to playing with the other dog. I saw Kiba sitting on one of the stone benches, looking quite sad. I ran towards him and sat down.

"Hey, Kiba! Who's Akamaru's friend?"

"One of Hana's dogs," sighed Kiba. I understood. There was Akamaru with a new friend, while Kiba was left out. Kiba would appreciate some female company, I was sure.

"You doing anything this afternoon?"

My question startled him. "No," he said, eyeing me with surprise.

"How about you join me and Sakura later in the park around two? We'd love for you to come."

Kiba nodded. "Sure." He sounded a lot happier at the thought.

"See you later, then!"

I walked back into my mum's flower shop and took my mobile phone out of my pocket. I scrolled through the contacts and phoned Sakura. She picked up after the first ring.

"Ino?"

"Hey, Forehead! You got anything planned later?"

"Not really..."

"Well, meet me and Kiba at the park at two. We'll have fun!" Or at least, you will, I added in my head.

"Yeah, sure." She still sounded down.

"See you later, then!" I hung up. Perfect. Now all I had to do was wait a while then cancel, and Kiba and Sakura had a date! I felt immensely pleased with myself. I liked this feeling. I wanted to experience it more.

"All right!" I said to myself quietly. "From now on, I'm part time kunoichi, and part time matchmaker!"

"Ino? That you?" Mum came out of the back room. "Give me a hand with these daffodils will you?

Sighing, I went to work.

Hope you liked that. I just thought that if any of the five kunoichi in their age group would become a matchmaker, it would be Ino.

Please review! You could give me ideas for other pairings to add as well, because there is absolutely no limit if Ino's the matchmaker (well, there are only a certain number of characters). I'm thinking of pairing Shizune with someone, because I bet she gets tired of working for Tsunade every single day. She needs a social life.