Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters affiliated with Naruto.

Notes: This story will start off lighthearted, but it will get serious later on. Especially when the battles and fight scenes come around. It should also be noted that this story takes place sometime after the Chuunin Exam saga. Also, for the sake of flexibility and originality, this story does not adhere strictly to the manga storyline.

Hey, and to the readers, thanks for the reviews! Fanfic authors adore feedback!

Anyway, enjoy.

CHAPTER BEGINS...

Four people were sitting in a row at the counter of Ichiraku Ramen, a popular little ramen booth in the middle of Konoha village. The biggest person was all the way to the left, a fatherly figure of a man. A noisy blond girl was to his right. Then a grouchy pink-haired girl was up next. And finally, all the way to the right, was a blond boy even noisier than the blond girl.

Ino sighed in relief as she stretched her arms up to the heavens. "I'm so glad that we finally heard some good news about Sasuke-kun! Geez, I can't believe he's making us worry like that, running off all by himself to the Mist Village!"

Naruto laughed as he slurped up a sizable portion of noodle from his pork ramen bowl. "Haha, I wasn't worried! With Kakashi-sensei chasing after him, there was no way Sasuke could make it that far! I bet Kakashi-sensei is already carrying Sasuke back home right now!"

Sakura scowled at the ramen soup which Naruto had just splashed onto her bare forearm, and she irritably wiped away the salty spicy stain. "Damn it, Naruto, stop being such a messy pig when you eat!"

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan! I didn't mean to!"

"Iruka-sensei, please trade seats with me!"

"Now, now, kids, let's not fight." With an appeasing smile, Iruka tried to soothe the burning pink-haired one. "We should be in a joyous mood, now that we know Sasuke-kun is safe and sound."

Ino chirped now, "Yeah, Sakura, don't be such a party pooper! Don't ruin the celebration for my dear Sasuke-kun!"

"YOUR Sasuke-kun, huh?" Sakura grumbled something about how pig girls, like Ino, should be sitting next to pig boys, like Naruto. But she let it go. After all, she WAS happy that Kakashi-sensei had finally sent back a report bearing good news concerning Sasuke-kun.

But now that Sasuke's safety was no longer a concern, she had other concerns to worry about. Namely, she was worried about her scheme to hook up Ino with another boy. It had been two days since she had conceived her brilliant plan, and the lack of progress was alarming. As a matter of fact, the plan had not yet even gotten off the ground, mostly because the two potential prospects, Neji Hyuuga and Shino Aburame, were proving to be difficult to manipulate.

The difficulties with Neji were not really his fault. It was that damn Tenten's fault. The girl was so crazy lovesick over her teammate, she refused to let any other girl even get close to Neji. If a girl approached Neji, Tenten would always pop up, without fail, and interrupt. She would ask Neji if he wanted to go train, or she would ask if he could help with her homework. Or she would make up some ridiculous excuse about how Neji was needed elsewhere, and then whisk him away before he could protest. Sakura had already dubbed Tenten as Neji's other "absolute defense". An absolute defense against girls, that is.

As for Shino, the difficulties were of a different kind, but hopefully more fixable... what's this? Speak of the devil! Sakura had just caught a glimpse of Bug Boy from the corner of her eye! He was walking down the street this way, approaching the ramen booth...

Sakura thought to herself, "Where the hell has that guy been?! It's about time he worked up the courage to approach Ino! Well, no matter. He's finally here to make his move on her, and that's all that counts."

Pretending to pay close attention to Naruto's blabbering, Sakura occasionally smiled and nodded her head, all the while keeping an eye on Shino as he plodded towards the quartet. His pace was slow and measured, deliberate and thoughtful. He was probably thinking of a way to introduce himself to Ino...

No, Sakura thought to herself. He had probably already come up with a pickup line, since he seemed like the type of guy who was always well-prepared. Yeah, he probably had a line, and he was now rehearsing it inside his head. Oh man, she dearly hoped that he had a good one for Ino. Because if he didn't, Ino was going to think that he was a total loser, and then there would be no way he could ever become Ino's boyfriend, and then Sakura would have to find another guy to draw Ino away from her beloved Sasuke-kun. It would be just so much hassle to do all that, sheesh.

Inner Sakura's imaginary hands were clasped in prayer as she begged to the powers that be: "Please, please, please, Shino, don't say anything cheesy or corny! And PLEASE don't make any references to your bugs, that would be just plain icky... hey! Where are you going?!"

Sakura blinked in shock as Shino kept right on walking past the ramen booth. What the heck! For a moment, she was unable to comprehend the reality that Shino was ambling down the street, away from her and, more importantly, away from Ino. He was not here to ask Ino out on a date. He was just here by coincidence!

Inner Sakura bellowed a war cry. "Damn it all to hell!" And Outer Sakura hastily jumped out of her seat from the ramen booth. "Hey guys, I'll be right back!"

"Huh?" Ino looked up from her ramen bowl. "Where are you going?"

"I just remembered, I have to go run a errand real quick! You guys will be here for a while, right?"

Iruka looked to Naruto, who was drinking the soup from his ramen bowl. "I think we'll be here for a while, Sakura-chan. That is only Naruto's first serving, after all."

The whiskered fox boy had not even noticed that Sakura was no longer sitting next to him, as he held out the emptied bowl to the amused cook. "Gimme more, hee hee!"


"Shino-san!" Sakura was sprinting after the plodding bug boy. "Hey, wait up! It's me, Sakura!"

Shino did a stutter step at the sound of his name and her name. And then he turned to face the incoming pink-haired Genin, his hands buried deep inside the pockets of his huge turquoise-colored coat. As always. With the collar turned all the way up, practically hiding his entire face. As always. And he spoke with that quiet and infinitely calm voice. As always.

"Hello, Sakura-san."

She reciprocated his greeting with a burst of breath: "Hey!" Then she screeched to a halt, hands already on her hips. And she demanded, "What have you been doing for the past couple days?"

A strange look from the strange young man. "I have been training."

Sakura nodded, waiting for him to continue. But that was it, much to her chagrin. He had nothing else to say.

Unfortunately for him, she still had plenty of fuel left inside her tank, and she immediately fired another question at him: "What about Ino?!"

"What about her?"

Outer Sakura quietly sighed in disappointment, while Inner Sakura roared and ripped out her hair in a frustrated rage. This guy was fricking clueless! "Don't you remember what I told you a couple days ago? About Ino?"

"Yes."

"Well then... aren't you going to ask her out?!"

"No."

"Why not?!"

"I am not interested in her."

Sakura's jaw dropped to the ground at this stunning piece of information. For some insane reason, despite all her careful planning and scheming, she had not anticipated this potential pitfall.

"You're not interested in her? Why? What's wrong with her?"

He shrugged. "Nothing's wrong with her. I'm just not interested in her."

"But she's so pretty! And she's so smart!" Sakura then thought about what she had just said, and she amended, "Well, okay, Ino isn't that smart. But she's not dumb! She's fun to be around, too. And she's a strong ninja! Oh, and most importantly..."

Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "She thinks you're cute!"

Now that she had spelled it out in stone for him, Sakura stood back and waited for his response. She was hoping that he would blush a little in the cheeks from her bold proclamation. Or maybe he would burn a little hot red in the ears. At the very least, she wanted to see SOME sort of reaction out of Shino Aburame.

But nope, he just stood there, looking at her. Unflappable as always. Staring at her from behind those dispassionate shades. Geez, was this guy really human?

An inspiration suddenly hit her, and she brightened up with an enlightened smile. "Aha!" She smacked a fist into an open palm. "I know what's going on now!"

"You do?" Judging from his mildly surprised voice, Shino evidently could not see with such clarity as Sakura.

"Ah yes, I understand everything so perfectly now!" Sakura now thrust a somewhat accusing finger at his chest. "Shino Aburame, let me ask you this..."

"What?"

She boomed, "You have never asked a girl out on a date before, have you?!"

At her momentous revelation, everything around the two suddenly died down to an eerie silence...

A busybody breeze had been swirling through the main street of Konoha Village, playing with Sakura's skirt and her neatly bobbed hair, tugging at Shino's coat and his wild mop up top. But now the breeze faded away, all the air taken out by her words.

The indistinct background babble of idle conversation had been going on all around them. Birds had been singing from high in the sky, from the branches of the trees, from the roofs of the buildings. But now, at least to the ears of the two Genins, all of that was gone. The passerby's talk and the birds' singsong gossip became little more than muted nothings.

The motionless bodies of Shino Aburame and Sakura Haruno, as still as statues in the middle of the street. Staring at each other with incredible intensity. Shino's normally deadpan face was now deeply creased, while Sakura's eyes sparkled in excitement. His face was still difficult to read, so she was not quite sure what was going on inside his mind. But she knew what was going on inside hers.

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" Inner Sakura was pacing back and forth inside Outer Sakura's mind, vigorously pumping her fist in victory. "Yes, I finally got him to react to something I said! And more importantly, I finally figured out what's wrong with him!"

Sakura's lofty high of elation and satisfaction was then tempered by the realization that Shino had not yet responded to her allegations. And Inner Sakura suddenly froze in mid fist pump. Was Shino mad at her? Was he sensitive about this sort of thing? Was he a total loser around women?

Still, even if he was a total loser around women, she should not have just blurted out something like that. He did not seem tremendously agitated, but Sakura now toed the ground in embarrassment as she murmured, "Shino-san, I'm sorry if I made you feel bad just now."

Shino had been tilted forward a little, staring at her. But he straightened his back now. "Do not worry. I do not feel bad."

Sakura looked up now. "Really?"

"It is true, I have never asked a girl out on a date. But the same can be said of the majority of boys in my age group."

"Oh yeah, huh? When you put it that way..." She slammed a fist into an open palm. "Well then, Shino-san! This is your chance to be special! If you go out on a date with Ino, then everyone will think that you are the coolest guy in our class!"

"I don't care what other people think of me."

"Oh come on, don't say that! What if everyone thinks you're a total loser?"

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. I know that I am not a loser."

"Geez." Sakura sighed as she squinted up at the annoyingly unflappable Shino. Then she brightened up. "Well, I guess it's a good thing that you're so confident in yourself, because girls find confidence to be very attractive in boys. Especially girls like Ino!"

"That's nice."

"Listen, Shino-san, you're going to have to start dating girls sooner or later. So why not start now? Think of it as training for the future."

He had to wrinkle an eyebrow at that one. "Training?"

"Yeah, training! You will be the student, and I will be your sensei! What do you think of my idea?"

He said quite honestly, "I don't know what to think."

Sakura wasn't listening, of course, as she took a step back to look him over. And the first thing that stuck out, literally, was that crazy shock of hair. "Geez, you haven't done anything with your hair, have you? Did you try combing it back like I suggested?"

He reached up with a hand to press down onto the top of the woolly tuft, in an effort to keep the hair down. But it was all in vain, of course, as he said, "I tried to follow your advice, Sakura-san. But I failed."

"Geez, that's not good. What did you try? Hair gel? Hair spray? Mousse?"

"I did not use anything of the sort."

"What?! Why not?"

"Hmm. It never occured to me to use such things."

The pink-haired kuniochi was flabbergasted by his alarming ignorance concerning such essential matters. "Shino-san, are you saying that you have never used hair care products before?!"

"I suppose so."

"What about hair conditioner? Please tell me that at least you use hair conditioner!"

"I use Pert Plus shampoo. Does that count?"

"Pert Plus?!" Sakura almost choked at his innocent yet outrageous suggestion, and she had to pound her chest a couple times before she could continue. "You use Pert Plus?! Shino-san, hair care tip number one! Never use Pert Plus ever again! That 2-in-1 concoction is BAD for your hair! Bad, bad, bad! Dry and tangly hair, itchy scalp, split ends, oh my god, Shino-san! For how long have you been using that stuff?!"

"Hmm. Let me think." Sakura's distress was contagious, as Shino's face now furrowed in consternation. "For five years now, I believe."

"Yeegh! Five years?!" Sakura instinctively shied away, holding out her hands to fend off any possible bad-hair-day vibes that might be radiating from him. Then she composed herself, taking a deep breath as she placed her knuckles against her chin. And she started to think out loud.

"This is bad, Shino-san, this is really really bad. I'm not so sure if your hair can be saved..."

She lapsed into silence, puckering up her lips in deep thought. Shino awkwardly stood there for a few moments, not quite sure what was going on. Then he actually pulled one of his hands out of his pockets (!), and he put it over his mouth as he lightly coughed. "Sakura-san, why is my hair so important?"

"Because Ino likes boys with nice hair."

"Ah. I see." Hand back in pocket, Shino looked off into the distance now, pondering the mystery of it all. Then he asked, "Do all girls think that nice hair is important when it comes to boys?"

"Well, it's not SUPER important, but it does help if you have nice hair. Ino just happens to be very picky about her guys, that's all."

"I see." Shino pondered some more, then asked, "What about you?"

Sakura blinked. "What about me?"

"Does nice hair matter to you?"

"Oh. Well, it doesn't matter as much to me as it does to Ino. But yeah, nice hair is always a plus. Especially if a boy has nice hair like Sasuke-kun's..." Sakura's eyes turned to pink cartoony hearts as she clasped her hands to her chest, thinking of her beloved Uchiha ninja's soft, shiny, full-bodied, and manageable mop. His beautiful hair flowing in the wind, with those dark flashing eyes and his wonderfully intense brow...

She snapped out of it. "Okay, Shino-san! That does it! Are you doing anything tomorrow morning?"

If he was caught off guard by her sudden change of subject, he did not show it. "No, I do not yet have anything planned for tomorrow morning."

"Good! Then meet me at Training Area #7 tomorrow at 9 AM, because I am going to fix your hair into something stylish and sexy!"

Shino was certainly caught off guard now, his eyebrows raised in perplexion and his voice slightly raised in pitch. "Stylish and sexy?"

"That's right, Shino-san. Stylish and sexy! Trust me, once I'm through with you, Ino will be drooling over you and your sexy new hairdo!"

"Sexy new hairdo?"

"That's right! Your sexy new hairdo!" Sakura was already starting to step away, as she checked her wristwatch. "I have to go now, Shino-san, some of my friends are waiting for me at Ichiraku Ramen! Don't forget, 9 AM tomorrow morning at Training Area #7!"

As Sakura ran off, Shino simply stood there, hands buried in pockets. Then he turned, and he started to plod down the street once again.

And as a bug crawled across the bridge of his nose, he thought to himself: "What a weird girl."


Sakura burst into the ramen booth. "Hey guys, I'm back!" She then blinked when she realized that only Naruto and Ino were sitting at the counter now. "Where's Iruka-sensei?"

Naruto tried to answer her, but he was in the middle of a ramen slurp, and he ended up choking on soup and noodle. Sakura sighed at the gagging blond boy, and she walked over to give him a whack on the back. "Ino, what happened to Iruka-sensei?"

Ino was leaning against the counter, obviously bored out of her mind. "Iruka-sensei had to leave because he got an emergency call from the Hokage about some rescue mission. He told us not to worry about him, though, he thinks he'll probably be back in a week or so."

Sakura frowned. "Geez, even Iruka-sensei has to go on missions now?"

Naruto had finally swallowed down the noodles stuck in his throat, and he piped up, "Yeah, almost all the Jounins and Chuunins are on active duty these days, there's just so many missions to carry out! They are so busy now, I heard that Tsunade-sama might even start sending out Genin teams for B-rank missions!"

"Really?" Ino tried to imagine herself carrying out a B-rank mission. B-rank missions were usually Chuunin-level tasks, which meant any enemies would probably be at least at the Chuunin level... Ino shuddered. Scary stuff. "You know, Naruto, I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

"Oh, don't worry, Tsunade-sama said that she would consider only the elite Genins." Naruto hooked his thumbs towards himself. "And I'm sure she thinks of me as an elite Genin! Oh man, this is so cool! I want to go on a B-rank mission! I hope something comes up soon - "

"Naruto," Sakura said in a somber voice. "Don't forget that this manpower shortage is happening because of all the people who died during the battle against the Sound and the Sand."

The fox boy's enthusiasm promptly waned at the stern reminder. "Oh yeah." After a moment of contemplation, he then commented, "I sure hope Sasuke is all right."

Sakura said with confidence, "Sasuke-kun will be all right. Kakashi-sensei is with him now."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, that's true. I'm really glad Kakashi-sensei got to Sasuke before Sasuke could find his brother." He couldn't help but shiver as he recalled his one encounter with the elder of the surviving Uchiha brothers. "That guy was really scary..."

The three sat in silence, considerably downed now. Then Sakura took it upon herself to brighten the mood, as she turned to face Ino. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

The blond kuniochi shrugged. "Sure. What about?"

Sakura was smiling so brightly and innocently...

"Ino, I was just wondering. Do you like guys who have big poofy hair?"

CHAPTER ENDS

Notes: Okay, since this story is labeled as "Romance/Action", you might be wondering to yourself, "Where's the action? Where's the fight scenes? Damn it!" Well, don't worry, the action is coming. I have it all planned in my head...