Well, since everyone is still adding this story to favs and alert lists I do feel pressured to try and keep the story going. I really do appreciate the love.

So I'm just kind of going with whatever occurs to me. Hope you enjoy my darling readers! I'm very sorry there haven't been updates. Completely lost focus…And I could have sworn I had already posted this…Hmm. Anyway. If you haven't read this yet, it's new to you! If you have, I am working on the next chapter finally. I beg all your pardons!!

-Kaigrey

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sakura angrily wiped the sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand, her eyes narrowing onto her target. The last of the birds in the area took panicked flight from the area, looking for a location that offered more security from the intense action below. The actions of the strawberry haired shinobi resulted in what could only be described as a small earthquake, shattered trees and smashed rock surrounded her as she stood trembling, facing her opponent. Said opponent stared back, the perfect image of angelic innocence.

She snorted. "You think you can fool me? I know it was you." She hissed.

Silence greeted the accusation.

She burst into a sprint, throwing her fist forward and releasing the deadly shuriken she held, only just missing her nimble target. 'Dammit!!!' Inner-Sakura burst out in a fussy rage, ashamed at the failure. Sakura huffed and, chest heaving, she slid to her knees.

A twig snapped above her, the sound accompanied by a third presence. Sensing no malicious intention she continued to curse over her sore hands and badly damaged pride.

"Not going to lie, miss medic," a smug voice rolled down to her. "Pretty sad, chasing after and then losing to a squirrel."

Secures' faced flushed a pink to match her hair and she barely managed to control her response to a slight growl. "It stole my ribbon."

"It's giving you a clue." The blonde observer smirked. "Besides, it seems it has better uses for it."

Sakura followed the visitors gaze to a nest, red ribbon now lining it, as the humble but regardless victorious, squirrel peeked over the nests side, along with its three young. She sighed. Maybe she had gone a bit overboard, but honestly, that was her ribbon! The ribbon Ino gave me…She refused to acknowledge the thought.

A gust of wind preceded Temari as she leapt down from her perch to stand before Sakura. "Anyway, aren't you supposed to prevent people from getting stupid injuries?"

Sakura grimaced. "How can I help you?" Sakura demanded coldly, not so pleased to have to deal with a visit from the rude sand-nin. Relations might be friendly between between Konoha and Suna on a political level, but that didn't mean everyone between the nations got along.

Temari leaned languidly against the thick oak behind her and gave an overdone smile. "The Kazekage and Hokage have decided Konoha and Suna will work together on missions in order to help form a better relationship between communities. Some suspicious activity is going on near the southern border of your country. Guess who got the honor of working with you?" She asked, stressing the word honor

Sakura couldn't stop the slight twitch in her left eye.

"We leave in two days, 5 a.m." With that flat statement Temari was gone, leaving Sakura to moodily bash her head against a nearby boulder.

xxxxxxxx

"I swear if you say one more goddamn word about those chips I'm going to shove the whole bag down your damned throat!" Ino roared, spinning abruptly on her teammate, Chouji. Chouji blinked in surprise at the outburst. Then he registered the anger on her face and took a hesitant step back, knocking into Shikamaru.

"I-I'm sorry…It's just…they don't taste like chicken and that's what they say…"

"SHUT UP!" The blonde cut him off, reaching forward as if to strangle him. Shikamaru slid in between the two, just as baffled by this display as his stuttering teammate, and struggled to keep her away from her unfortunate target. "Whoa, Ino….get a hold of yourself. What are you getting all mad at Chouji for?"

"Yea, what did I do?" Chouji demanded warily, stepping out of harms way. He gasped as a thought occurred to him. "Did you want a chip?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

Ino gave up on her desperate fight to get past the shadow ninja to her fellow teammate (and current vent for her anger) and sat heavily on the ground. Muffled sobs came shortly after, causing the blonde to pull up her knees to hide her face.

"You just had to ask Ino..." Chouji murmured, stepping dodging the rock that the blonde threw at his head.

"Oh damn," Shikamaru mumbled. "This is going to turn out to be a big pain in the ass." He turned to ask Chouji to help him get her up only to find a very empty space where his supposed best friend had just been cowering. The dark haired man sighed before squatting down next to his remaining teammate. "Well, go ahead then…what's going on?"

"N-Nothing." It was obvious Ino was trying to stop her crying, though unsuccessfully.

"Please don't make this more annoying then necessary."

"…things are….I don't know what to do."

"What are you talking about?"

"Sakura and I…I think we broke up."

"Ah," he scratched the top of his head. "Ahhhh…I'm not so sure I'm the best person to talk about these kinds of things..." Ino snorted in response and he sighed again. "Want to grab a bite?"

Ino nodded after a moment of thought and stood, awkwardly following Shikamaru to the closest food stall.

xxxxxxxx

As always, let me know what you think about all of this! I love feedback. It keeps me focused and interested -.