Shiranui Genma walked out of the Hokage's tower feeling frustrated, as usual. The old man had him on guard duty. Again. It wasn't what he had expected when he had finally reached Jounin rank two years ago. All through his teens as a Genin and then a Chuunin he had been frustrated by his work. It was all protect this, escort that, retrieve this package, kill those rurouni. There was nothing to truly challenge him as a shinobi. When he was younger he had dreamed of infiltration missions into enemy villages, only the moonlight glinting from his blade as he took an unsuspecting life. Or of the thrill of the chase as he hunted down dangerous missing nins; the sounds of glorious battle and the scent of blood in the air as he battled ninja of opposing countries for the honour and reputation of the Leaf. What he got was entirely too pedestrian. He wanted to prove himself as a ninja, to show his skill and impress his peers and his superiors, but the Hokage would give all the best missions to more experienced Jounin like Kakashi or Anko. How was he supposed to demonstrate that he was truly among the elite of Konoha's shinobi when he was lucky to get an A-class mission a year? It was entirely too depressing.

These were the thoughts that occupied Genma's mind as he made his way to his favourite bar, a place where a lot of Konoha's stronger ninja went to relax. He was expecting to meet some friends there. The smell of smoke and sake hit him as he pushed aside the blue curtain that hung over the doorway. Casting his eyes about the large room filled with off-duty ninja, Genma couldn't see his old Genin team mate and fellow Jounin Gekkou Hayate, but he was distracted by a shout from a booth in a corner of the bar where smoke drifted about in thick, lazy curls, almost obscuring the three ninja who sat around a table there.

"Oi, Genma-kun!" the shout was from Yamanaka Inoshi, a respected veteran ninja who he didn't know all that well. Genma walked over, not about to insult the famous trio who sat at that table by ignoring one of them.

"Yamanaka-san," he said, standing before them and addressing the nin with a blonde ponytail and a black jacket who sat between his two companions.

"Your friend Hayate-kun said he couldn't make it tonight. He pulled extra guard duty. And don't be so formal, you make me feel like an old man."

"Since your friend isn't here, take a seat, kid." This was from Nara Shikato, a dark haired man in a string vest who was sat next to Inoshi at the edge of the booth, leaning back with his feet on the table and a cigarette in his mouth. "You're a Jounin now, a real man. Drink with us."

Genma smiled and slipped into the booth to sit opposite Shikato and Inoshi. Akimichi Choumaru, the third member of the legendary team, a huge, bear-like man with a thick mane of spiky hair and heavy-lidded eyes, put down the dango he was eating and pushed a cup and a jar of sake towards Genma wordlessly. Genma clacked his senbon needle between his teeth, then removed it from his mouth and tucked it into a fold of his bandana. He poured himself a drink, and downed it, suppressing a cough at the strength of the rice wine as he didn't want to look like he couldn't take his drink in front of the older men. He sighed and leaned back against the wall of the wooden booth with his hands behind his head.

"So, Genma-kun," began Inoshi, grinning at him, "I hear you broke up with the Inuzuka girl, Kagura…"

"Eh?" Genma blinked owlishly at the man. "Well, yeah, about a month ago now. She told me it wasn't working out or something. Said I didn't give her enough attention."

"Ha, ha, ha, so she dumped you then, eh? Left you flat after five months together?" Inoshi looked positively gleeful, which made Genma scowl. He was about to think up a retort to the man when Shikato butted in.

"Don't tease him, Inoshi, I can still remember the last time you got dumped ya know. Every man has women troubles, they are our curse. She's a hot one though… If I was fifteen years younger I might have gone for her myself…" The Nara trailed off with a look in his eye Genma had been seeing a lot lately, since the Icha Icha series had become popular. A lecherous one.

"Shika, fifteen years ago you were already married, and your wife would have given you a sound beating for even looking at another girl, just like she still does."

Shikato sighed and took a drag on his cigarette, eyeing Genma. "See kid, just like I told ya, a curse. These days I can't even read Jiraiya-sama's latest masterpiece without getting a katon jutsu to the face."

The blonde man laughed before getting an unpleasant glint in his eye.

"What about your sister, eh, Genma-kun? Still dating Hayate? I bet that's uncomfortable huh?" Choumaru raised his eyes from his plate slowly to fix Inoshi with a stare.

"Enough gossip, Inoshi. This is why we get a private booth these days, because every time we meet any other nins you have to start asking them about their love lives. Are you not getting any or something?" Inoshi opened his mouth to protest but Genma cut in.

"Anyway Inoshi-san, how's your daughter doing? She's a Genin now right?" Genma said, trying to change the subject and defuse the row before it started. Unfortunately Inoshi seemed to take it the wrong way, narrowing his eyes at him.

"She's far too young for you. Don't get any ideas now." Then he grinned and elbowed Shikato in the ribs, "anyway, our wives have got that one covered. They're planning the wedding already, aren't they Shika?" The other man just grunted, shifting slightly away from the offending elbow. Then he took a sip of his sake and started talking.

"The kids are doing alright. They're on a team together… Though I get the feeling they haven't exactly got the hang of proper teamwork yet. Their sensei is, ah…"

"Sarutobi Asuma. The Hokage's son," said Choumaru between bites.

Inoshi nodded. "Yeah. He, Copy-nin Kakashi and Yuuhi Kurenai are the sensei for this year's Genin teams."

"Kurenai?" said Shikato, confused.

"She's a genjutsu specialist. Her sensei was Uchiha Kotaku. You remember?" He sighed at the perplexed look on Shikato's face. "The hot one with the red eyes." Shikato nodded sagely and Choumaru snorted. "Kami, what a lecher," said Inoshi, turning to Genma again. "Hey, she was in the year above you at the academy, right Genma-kun? Maybe you should ask her on a date."

Genma thought about that for a while, but Shikato just poured him another drink and answered the question for him. "Not that one, Inoshi. Sarutobi Asuma is all over her, he'd probably break Genma-kun's nose just for asking her out."

Inoshi slammed his palm down on the table. "That chain-smoking divorcee! He may be the son of the Hokage but a babe like Kurenai can do better than him! He's got a kid! I say Genma-kun goes down to that barbecue place their teams hang out at tomorrow and offers to take the girl on a date, and if Sarutobi tries anything we'll take care of him!"

Genma, though he wasn't averse to the idea of dating Kurenai, was getting pretty pissed of by all the talk of Asuma breaking his nose. "Hey, I can take care of myself, you know. Asuma isn't that tough, just full of himself."

Shikato looked him over critically. "Yeah? You always just looked like a senbon-chewing pretty boy to me. In fact, as I recall Sarutobi flattened you in your first Chuunin selection exam."

Genma blushed. He had hoped that they wouldn't remember that. "Eight years ago! I've come a long way since then ya know…" He trailed off, remembering the third Genin who with he and Gekkou Hayate had made up the then Team Four, and the name now carved on the Konoha memorial stone.

Shikato probably recognised the look in Genma's eyes, because he poured him another drink.

Choumaru put down his dango again. He had been eating slowly but steadily through the whole conversation. "They made it past the first two parts of the exam, but only Shikamaru made it through the preliminaries they had in advance of the third test."

Inoshi took another drink. "What the hell, Chou? We stopped talking about that ages ago! Genma-kun doesn't want to hear about how weak our kids are."

"Actually, Inoshi-san, I was out on border patrol during the exam, so I don't mind hearing about it." Genma made a fist and slammed it on the table. "It's typical, ya know? Whenever something interesting happens in this village, I'm not around to see it."

Shikato raised his eyebrows at him. "So you're desperate for some real action, huh kid? Want to make your name as a shinobi? Well we've lived through war and let me tell you, I don't want to have to see it again." He took the cigarette out of his mouth and coughed a little. "'May you live in interesting times'. Should only be said to your enemies. Have another drink."

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Genma came to slowly, his trained ninja senses not taking in his surroundings at all. What they were registering was his pounding headache, the churning in his stomach and the disgusting sticky taste at the back of his throat that made him wonder if he had swallowed a honey-coated skunk. The young Jounin opened his eyes slowly, blinking against the morning sun, and rolled out of what he realised was his own bed. Groaning, he crawled to the door of his bathroom, and threw up, then pulled himself into a standing position and washed his face, drinking cold water from the tap to try and soothe his nausea.

Another hour and a half found Genma at his kitchen table, head in his hands and an empty coffee cup in front of him. His stomach rumbled. The cupboard was bare.

Genma was trying to remember what happened last night before he stepped out to face the world. He vaguely recalled boasting about how Sarutobi Asuma was a weakling and wouldn't last two minutes against him if he 'got serious', and, cheered on by his trio of drinking buddies and whatever other drunk ninja were still hanging around, leaving the bar at around three am to 'challenge' the older Jounin.

He had had no idea where the man lived though, but had ended up in front of a big house that said 'Sarutobi' outside, shouting 'Come out and fight me you weak monkey! I challenge you!'

Genma's head slipped from his hands and slammed onto the table. The Sandaime Hokage had answered the door in his nightclothes and had had to call an ANBU squad to take him home. He was lucky the old ninja hadn't just knocked his lights out.

"Aw, shit," Genma moaned, "he's gonna have me on D-ranks for the rest of my life. This is all Shikato's fault. Or maybe Inoshi…"

A crashing noise from outside his apartment door roused the young Jounin from his self-pitying reverie. He pulled his Hitai-ate bandana out of a pocket of his trousers and tied it backwards over his head, capturing most of his shaggy, jaw-length hair inside. Genma wasn't wearing his Jounin vest - he didn't like it much and only put it on when custom demanded it and his rank needed to be obvious. His clothes were plain, though - light, baggy black trousers which were cut off at mid calf by tightly wrapped white bandages, and a form fitting long-sleeved shirt, also black. The sleeves bulged slightly at the forearms where his comrades knew he hid his favourite weapons, but that was obscured when he pulled on a dark green thigh-length collared jacket over the top. The coat had no clan markings or emblem, but Genma was an orphan from a family with no proud history, so there was nothing for him to put there. Sticking a bone senbon needle between his teeth, Shiranui Genma opened his apartment door, ready to face the world, and silently praying that those ANBU had kept quiet about last night.

The sight that greeted him was a pleasant one. Long shapely legs, the creamy calves uncovered while the thighs were hidden by a pair of burgundy shin length short trousers, which were pulled tight over pert buttocks. There was a girl leaning over a large cardboard box, just outside the open door to the apartment opposite his. Genma blushed slightly, realising that he was staring, and carried on doing so. As she lifted the box and carried it into the apartment, his gaze took in the large pile of boxes just outside the doorway and belatedly realised what she was doing. She was his new neighbour.

Gentlemanly instincts kicking in, not to mention the desire to find out whether the girl looked as good from the front as she did from the back, Genma stepped across the corridor and through her open door, just as she dropped the heavy box on her toe.

"Argh! Fucking shitty boxes! God dammit!" She kicked the box and Genma blanched, deciding he was better off staying away from the uncouth woman. He was sure Shikato had warned him off women who were anything less than demure just last night, and if his 'whipped' status was anything to go by, the veteran of both war and marriage knew exactly what he was talking about. Too late. While he had been shocked still by her coarse language, the girl had turned around and spotted him. His eyes flickered over her body, taking in her lithe form and small but shapely chest, and the tight, white, short-sleeved tunic that covered them. He finally looked up at her face, with its thin, pretty features, dark eyes and long red hair tied back in a tail, and saw the unfriendly expression that was plastered over it.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" she snarled, "and what are you doing in here?"

Genma coughed and looked down at the floor, then up at her scowl again.

"I'm, ah, your new neighbour actually... I was just wondering if you wanted some help moving in." He was already regretting coming anywhere near her, and was hoping she would just tell him to get lost so he could escape, but from the look in her eyes 'I was staring at your ass, actually' was more likely to earn him a beating than give him a chance to get away.

Her expression didn't get any more friendly.

"What, you think I can't move a few damn boxes by myself, just cos I'm a girl or something? Fucking men are all the same."

Genma wasn't having that one. He might be a bit of a pervert on occasion but he wasn't a chauvinist. His sister had made sure of that. Looking into the girl's angry eyes though, his reply didn't come out quite the way he had hoped.

"What? I'm sure no one could mistake a vicious woman like you for a demure girl who needed help… er, I mean, I just saw your ass and-" Genma clamped his mouth shut before he made it worse. The girl's left eye was twitching and her hands were clenching and unclenching as if around his throat. "Okay nice to meet you bye-bye!" Genma pumped chakra into his feet, his hangover rapidly receding in the face of overwhelming terror, and fled his apartment block at speeds that would make most ninja green with envy. He stopped, realising this.

"Damn, forgot my weights. Well I'm not going back to get them while that scary woman is still around. Just have to train without them today." He sped off again.

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Genma slowed as he approached his favourite training ground, a small clearing in the forest a short distance outside Konoha. Catching his breath on a tree branch, he sat down to watch his best friend and former team mate Gekkou Hayate as he ran through a complex kata with his sword. The brown haired man was dressed in the standard Jounin uniform - black trousers with white bandages, a black shirt with fire country symbols on each shoulder and the flak vest that Genma disliked so much. The only thing that marked him out from the norm was the sheath strapped across his back and the sickly pallor of his face. Genma looked on in concern as his friend's flow was broken repeatedly by coughing fits; his breathing seemed heavier and his overall speed slower than usual. Hayate had started using the blade when he joined the ANBU shortly after his promotion to Chuunin, in the same exam in which Genma had been beaten out by the older Sarutobi Asuma. He had quickly become known for his talent with it. Genma had trained hard after being left behind by his team mate and not only won the following Chuunin exam but followed Hayate into the ANBU immediately on his promotion. For a few years he had felt overshadowed by Hayate but they had both left the ANBU together and been promoted to Jounin the same year. Although Genma still wasn't as well known as the katana-wielding prodigy, they trained together regularly and he knew that he was the stronger of the two.

As Hayate began to cool down and draw his kata to a close, Genma saw the sickly-looking Jounin's eyes flicker towards the tree where he sat. He jumped down silently and walked out towards his friend.

"Morning, Hayate," he called, lazily raising a hand in greeting.

Hayate also raised his free arm, then pulled it towards his face to cover his mouth. Cough Cough "Genma…"

Genma watched as the other man sheathed his sword, then they walked to the far edge of the clearing where a quartet of tree stumps served as seats for spectators, and sat down.

"You're still slow, Hayate," said Genma, looking his friend over in worry. "I thought the medics said you were improving."

"…The drugs they gave me aren't cough working. Kurosaki-sensei is going to try a new chakra technique to cough heal the cough lung damage tomorrow."

"They told me that you not resting properly is making it twice as hard for them to heal you. Yukari is worried about you, ya know. She told me she wanted you to take a leave of absence for medical purposes."

Hayate frowned. "Genma, if I did cough that, I would have to stay in the hospi- cough hospital again. I already spent a cough whole month in cough there after I was first injured. The smell of sickness and death was driving me insane… not to mention the doctors… every time something goes wrong they moan and wail and say 'waah, if only Tsunade-hime was here, waah' - they're pitiful." Hayate rolled his eyes and started coughing again.

Genma grinned. "True, true. Hey, you know, you just said all that without coughing once! That's probably a good sign. Then again, you're coughing again now, so… maybe not." He lost his smile again. "Seriously though, you need to take care of yourself. If you let one B-rank missing nin with a fixation for poison gas ruin your career as a ninja then my sister will never forgive you."

Hayate sighed, and coughed again. "I can still cough fight, you know, even cough with my injury," he looked at Genma's frown. "Alright, I know. I'll cough cough ask the Hokage to reduce my cough workload… I'm cough still going on duty tonight though, I cough told cough Tsumon I would cover for him. cough cough He has a date with some village cough girl."

Genma nodded slowly and got to his feet. He stood facing the centre of the field and pulled a pair of kunai from his waistband. He started off slowly, kunai moving into predetermined positions, and an imaginary foe blocking his strikes one by one. Genma stepped up the pace, his legs flicking out in sharp kicks and crushing knee strikes, a slight blue flicker around his feet and an invisible wind pushing away the grass where he trod the subtle evidence that the ninja was pumping chakra through his muscles, enhancing his speed to far beyond the capabilities of ordinary humans. Occasionally there would be a snapping sound and metal would flash out from beneath one or the other of Genma's wrists before disappearing so fast an onlooker might think they had imagined it. The Jounin's movements were a blur, the senbon needle clenched tightly between his teeth humming softly from the speed, before he came to an abrupt halt with his right arm extended out in front of him, the glint of metal flashing out and in from beneath his hand at an almost imperceptible speed, with a final snap that coincided with his right foot hitting the ground.

"You're cough not weighted today, Genma?"

Genma turned to face Hayate, who had been observing his friend's movements in silent approval, then closed his eyes and began circulating chakra carefully through his arms and legs, soothing his body and preventing muscle damage.

"I was distracted by my new neighbour moving in next door. Forgot them."

Hayate gave a little chuckle, which turned into a hacking cough. "Was she pretty?"

Genma opened his eyes again and began a routine that he and Hayate had done almost every day for the last three years. He flicked the kunai in his hands up into the air, then put out his hands, palms flat, fingers pointing in the air and caught the kunai, balancing them point down on the tips of each of his index fingers. Slowly, Genma began to concentrate chakra into his fingertips, a small but steady flow that caused the kunai to float upwards, and hover just a few millimetres above his extended fingertips.

"I don't remember saying she was a girl," he said, looking at Hayate, who raised his eyebrows, "but yeah, she was pretty," he finished, grinning. Hayate tipped his head to the side questioningly and Genma nodded. "A real foul mouth though," he said, concentrating hard for what was coming next, and beginning to focus chakra through the tips of his middle and ring fingers. Genma was ready when Hayate threw another two pairs of kunai towards him, and caught them flawlessly on the chakra he was pushing out from his fingers, the points of the kunai never touching his skin.

"So, I cough heard you cough made a fool of your- cough -self last night," said Hayate, raising four more kunai and tossing them all at once at Genma, who suspended them above his thumbs and little fingers without trouble despite being caught off guard by the comment. Hayate raised another four kunai.

"That's already got around, then?" said Genma, flicking four of his kunai towards Hayate at the same time as the other man sent off the four he held.

Hayate caught the four kunai in one hand the same way Genma had, suspending them above his fingertips, then with his free hand drew a final two kunai and threw them towards Genma, saying "you'll have cough to do something cough cough to make it up to the old man, I cough heard he was going cough to have you cough teaching the youngest class at the cough academy."

Genma swore softly and threw four of his kunai as he caught the two that Hayate had passed to him. They stood there for a moment, each man releasing his chakra steadily, suspending four kunai in each hand - one over the tips of all their fingers.

"I was thinking I might buy him one of those, ah, H books... ya know. The ones he likes."

"You'll have to cough make it cough good, I heard he cough has most of them cough already... presents from Kak- cough Kakashi for being late."
"...Yeah."

The two men began juggling steadily, passing the kunai between each other in a blur of movement, faster and faster until they never had more than one knife in their hands at any time. As the exercise wore on Genma began to sweat slightly and he could see that Hayate was breathing heavily, then all of a sudden the shorter man doubled over in a coughing fit, five kunai he failed to catch whipping past him and one leaving a bloody tear across his right arm, while the other four struck glancing blows off his flak vest.

"Hayate!" Genma dropped his own kunai and ran forward, concern for his friend showing in his eyes. Hayate sat down heavily and looked up, gripping his arm. "Let me see it," said Genma, pulling Hayate's hand from the wound. Fortunately it wasn't serious, and Genma wiped the wound clean with a tissue before focusing chakra into his fingers and using what little knowledge of medical jutsu he had to close the wound, Hayate coughing all the while.

"Thanks, cough Genma," Hayate said, struggling to his feet. "I'd better go cough home and cough cough get cleaned up."

Genma stood with him and placed his hands on the other man's shoulders, before dropping his hands to his sides and looking into his eyes. "Alright, Hayate... Take care of yourself, though. I have to go find that gift before i get demoted." Hayate turned to leave.

"I will. cough Bye, Genma"

"See you tomorrow," Genma called as his best friend bounded off through the trees. They never saw each other again.

Genma went back to his solo practice, running through his taijutsu routines and some elemental ninjutsu like a man possessed, his drive to improve himself only increased by the worry he felt for Gekkou Hayate.

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Well there you have it, the beginning of what is (as far as I know) the first ever Genma/Tayuya romance (and the first romance I have ever begun writing). I already have more written (though not a whole chapter's worth), but I thought that would be a good time for a break. Updates - hopefully - soon.

I've labelled it a T because where I come from Tayuya's rather excessive swearing is at an acceptable level for someone over the age of 13 to hear (and read, even more so). However, I realise this is an American website, with a largely American readership, and that Yanks are somewhat more… sensitive to this sort of thing, so, if anyone feels I'm being unreasonable, drop me a line and I'll bump it up to an M.