"I have a recon mission for you." said Tsunade from behind her desk. "You can pick any partener you want as long as they aren't already booked for a different mission." she explained.

"Great. I want Sakura," Genma told her without hesitation. He had a crazy idea with this fortunate event falling in his lap like this. He just hoped that he would be able to get it to work right.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at him, "Sakura, you say?" she asked.

"Yeah. Ino says that she hasn't been out in the field in a while and since this is a simple no mess kind of mission I thought she might like the opportunity," Genma explained, hoping that Tsunade took the bait.

Tsunade sat back in her chair and looked out the window towards the hospital. Sakura had not been on a mission in several months and had only been working at the hospital for regularly scheduled days. No shinobi should be off the mission roster for as long as Sakura had been at that point.

But Tsunade also understood why Sakura didn't want to take missions anymore; she had been that way since returning from the war. She didn't want to bond with another team, didn't want to watch anyone else die without a fighting chance. In a lot of ways, Sakura's phobia reminded Tsunade of Kakashi after his first war and after losing his team.

That thought only pulled her deeper into questions, Why would two people who have experienced the same tragedy avoid each other like Sakura and Kakashi do, they understand each other better than anyone else could. So why did they never bother trying to bond after returning home? Tsunade thought to herself. She would need to look a bit deeper into that.

Tsunade understood the strain that the loss of a teammate had on the surviving members of the team. She and Jiraiya had grown apart after their teammates' departure as well, never really mending that broken bond until it was too late. She hoped that Sakura and Kaashi weren't going down the same path.

Genma's cough reminded Tsunade that he was waiting for her answer. "Fine, you can take Sakura. But you better make sure to stay out of trouble."

"Of course, Hokage-sama," Genma reassured her. He wouldn't need to worry about that; if things went the way he planned he wouldn't be the one going on that mission at all. "When do we leave?" he asked.

"You leave tonight. Use the darkness to get to the lookout point undetected."

"You got it."

Ino was putting together a flower arrangement for an order when Genma walked into the flower shop.

"Hey, dollface."

"Stop calling me that," Ino fumed.

"Alright what should I call you then?" He asked.

"Ino, " she told him. "That is my name, you know."

"So it is, huh?" Now he was just teasing her.

Ino rolled her eyes, "Is there a reason you're here, Genma?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact, I was hoping to get some flowers for a lovely lady. Do you think you could help me out?" he asked.

Ino would never admit that she was a little hurt to hear that Genma had a date with another woman. She knew she had no right to be hurt or upset, though. They weren't dating or anything. I guess that means his interest stops in the same place as every other guy'sIt is Genma, after all. What did you expect?

"Sure, come on," Ino said as she pulled out a vase and began dressing it with ribbon. "What kind of flowers does she like?"

"Ehh, I don't really know. What do you suggest?"

"Ugh, well what colors does she like? We can start there instead," Ino said, annoyed.

"I'm sure whatever you like will do just fine, dollface." Genma grinned.

"Okay, fine." He had some nerve to flirt with her while she was putting flowers together for him to take to another woman.

"Great, while you do that I'll tell you about the meeting I just had with Tsunade and what I plan to do with it."

"What!?" Ino asked, confused.

"See, I just got handed a scouting mission. Low profile, hideout is already set up, two person job, four to five days," Genma told her. "I requested Sakura to be my partner on it."

"Sakura? Why the hell would you request Sakura?" Ino asked. "These better not be for her. If so I swear, Genma…" she warned before she was silenced by Genma's finger on her lips.

"Hold on, I'm not done yet. We don't leave until late tonight. I'm about to go see if my old friend Kakashi is feeling up to a spar."

"I don't get it? Why did you ask Sakura to go with you, and why are you going to go spar right before a mission?" Ino was seriously doubting his intelligence at that point.

"Because I'm going to throw the fight. If I get hurt in a spar with Kakashi, I can't go on the mission. If it's last minute and he is there with me in Tsunade's office, and he's the reason I can't go…."

"Then Tsunade is likely to send him to your place," Ino finished.

"Exactly. That will put Sakura and Kakashi in a small hideout, just the two of them for a few days and no way out."

"Genma, you're a genius," Ino squealed, nearly knocking over the vase of flowers she had just finished for him.

"Of course, this all depends on my other plans working out though."

"Wait, what? What other plans?" Ino asked.

Genma grabbed the flowers as his only response.

"Are you kidding me? Are you really basing all this off how your sleazy date does?" Ino scowled at him.

"Yep." Genma was pleased to see Ino showing a little bit of jealousy for him."If you say yes to going to dinner with me tonight, then I'll have no choice but to find a way out of this mission so we can go."

"Look, you a... " Ino stopped mid sentence, Is he talking about me?

"So, what do you say? Want to have dinner with me tonight?" Genma asked her.

Oh shit! He is talking about me! "Why?"

Genma exhaled. "Because believe it or not, I like you. I've been trying to break down this damn wall between us ever since that day at the park when I found that you were Niko. But you're so damn stubborn and guarded that it's been hell trying to get through to you. So, I thought maybe it would be better if I took a more direct approach," he explained.

Ino was speechless, she was flattered, and she was more excited than she thought she would be at his confession. She nodded, still at a loss for words in her state of shock.

"Alright then, I'll see you at 7 tonight" he told her before heading for the door. Only then did Ino realise that he was still carrying the flowers.

"Hey, wait." she shouted.

"What is it?"

Ino was a little embarrassed to point out such a thing, but if she was his date then those were her flowers right? "What about the flowers?" she asked shyly.

"Huh, oh. You don't get these until I pick you up tonight. Besides, I need them for something else first." He was out the door before she had a chance to argue.

"Hey, Kakashi," Genma greeted as he approached the silver-haired Jonin.

"Yo," Kakashi replied. He closed his book and tucked it back in his pouch before looking up at Genma. When he did, he noticed the vase of flowers he was carrying in one hand.

"What's that about?" Kakashi asked him.

"Oh, this? Well, I pissed off Ino so I thought I would buy her some flowers to say sorry." Genma said, just as he had rehearsed.

"Is that so?'

"Yeah, we had a fight last night. She was going on about something… I don't even remember what, to be honest. Anyways, I was looking for you because I wanted to know if you were in the mood for a spar? Before I go make up with Ino, I thought I should blow off some steam first, you know?"

Kakashi was not a stupid man, Genma's story was fine on the surface. But Kakashi knew that something about this wasn't adding up, just like at the festival. Once again though, he would only figure it out by playing along.

"Sure, why not. I've got time."

Sakura was walking home from the hospital after being released early due to a last minute mission when a familiar voice called out her name. Turning around towards the voice, she immediately came face to face with none other than her ex, Kiba.

She threw on a fake smile. "Hello, Kiba," Sakura greeted.

"Hey, I hear you're heading off on a mission later."

She simply nodded.

"How long is it? The mission, I mean," he asked, clearly tiptoeing around the real reason he had gotten her attention.

She frowned. "It should take about five days," she answered shortly.

"Nice. So you'll be home just in time for the weekend then."

"Yeah, I guess so." Sakura had an idea about where Kiba was going with this.

"I was thinking. When you get back, let's hang out. You know, just you and me. What do you say?" he asked with a knowing smirk that had Sakura resisting the urge to smack it right off his face.

But instead, she would just make her point with words. "No thanks, Kiba. I already have plans," she told him with a smirk of her own.

"Come on, you can reschedule with Ino," he argued.

That hit a sore spot with Sakura. But she wouldn't lose her composure; she was determined to not let Kiba get to her. "For your information, I will be spending the weekend with my boyfriend. Which is how I usually spend my weekends for the past couple of months." she explained, before turning on her heel and walking away with her victory.

Kiba stood there in the middle of the street taking in what Sakura had just said. It had taken him a couple of months to realise that he had made a big mistake breaking up with Sakura. Choji had told him right after it had happened that he would end up regretting it, that Sakura was a good catch and that Kiba was simply not appreciating her.

Shikamaru had tried to warn him that there were plenty of guys out there that would want a shot with Sakura and that it wouldn't take her too long to find one who did appreciate her. I guess they were right.

Kakashi stood in Tsunade's office with a limp Genma at his side, only being held up by one arm draped over Kakashi's shoulders.

"Tell me again how exactly this happened," she snapped.

"Well, you see Lady Tsunade." Kakashi began, "Genma had asked to spar, and he said no holding back so…"

"So you shattered his shoulder?!" she screamed. "He has a mission that's supposed to start in a couple of hours. How did you even manage this, Kakashi?"

"In my defense, I feel like the attack was dodgeable," Kakashi justified. It wasn't; Kakashi's speed was above most others in the village. Genma didn't have a chance in hell of avoiding it.

One of Tsunade's eyebrows twitched in annoyance, "Take him to the hospital and go home. Be at the front gate at 7:00 pm tonight," she said, waving her hand around.

"At the front gate at 7?" Kakashi asked, confused.

"Yes!" she started, "Because you made Genma unable to take this mission, you will be the one taking his place."

The look on Tsunade's face told Kakashi that this was not negotiable and there was no way he was getting out of this mission. He just hoped that his partner on this mission could pull their own weight in the field.

He didn't want this mission to drag on longer than five days; he wanted to be back in time to spend his weekend with Saki as usual.

"Understood," he sighed before leaving with Genma.

Sakura's alarm went off at 6:00 pm. She only had an hour until she had to be at the front gate to meet her partner for their mission. She threw the blankets off of her and headed for the bathroom for a quick shower. It would likely be a couple of days before she would be able to have a proper one.

As she quickly washed herself, she went through a mental checklist of the things she needed to do before she left the house. She had already done most of it before she had laid down for her nap; she had cleaned out the fridge, watered her plants, washed a load of laundry, and packed her travel bag.

Stepping out of the shower and quickly dressing herself, she did one final check around the house before grabbing her travel bag and heading out the door.

Kakashi was already standing by the front gate. He had shown up twenty minutes early to the meeting point. He wanted to make good time on this mission so that he would be back in time to see Saki; he had never known until then just how irritating it could be to wait for someone.

"Kakashi-sensei," came a soft voice behind him. "What are you doing here?' Sakura asked.

"I'm waiting for my mission partner. We're supposed to meet here at 7:00," he answered. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm supposed to be meeting Genma for a mission. We were also supposed to meet here at 7:00," she told him while looking around. "Have you seen him, by chance?"

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose, not believing his bad luck. Of all the shinobi in this village for Genma to have as a mission partner, it had to be Sakura.

Seriously, what are the odds? There is nobody else in this village who hates me more than this pink haired girl. Perfect. This mission couldn't get any more complicated.

Kakashi let out a frustrated sigh before informing her that he was filling in for Genma

Sakura could tell that Kakashi wasn't happy about the arrangements. She tried to lighten the mood with a joke. "I never thought that I would see the day that you showed up to a meeting on time, Kakashi-sensei. You were always late to everything when you were the leader of Team Kakashi." She let out a small laugh.

Great, she was going to point out his shortcomings the whole time. "Some things are worth changing for," he said shortly. "Let's get going; I need to get this mission over with as soon as possible."

Sakura frowned at him. He wasn't even trying to hide how displeased he was to be stuck with her. Her patience was wearing thin with him.

She could understand it if he just didn't like her or blamed her for Sasuke's death, but he could at least act professional when they were on missions together. They were both shinobi and active; they were naturally going to run into each other occasionally.

Sakura was torn between giving him space and trying to force some kind of deep life altering conversation between the two of them. Ultimately, she decided to meet in between and take this opportunity to be a little more casual and familiar with Kakashi.

But for now, she would leave it be. She could take the trip to the hideout to think about how she would go about breaking the ice between them. "Right, let's get going," she said with a forced cheerfulness in her voice.

Kaakshi internally cringed. He could tell she was faking the cheerfulness; she obviously wasn't happy about being on this mission with him. She was just trying to be polite. Oh well, all I can do is keep my distance the best that I can, he told himself before they took off into the trees.

Genma showed up at Ino's front door right on time. He was well dressed in dark blue jeans and a button down shirt. He had the vase of flowers in one arm, but the other was in a sling.

"Genma, what happened to your arm?" Ino asked him, concern clear on her face.

"That's just how I managed to get out of my mission. It looks worse than it feels, promise," he answered.

Ino felt a little guilty that Genma had gotten himself hurt for their date and to help her with Sakura and Kakashi. She knew he had been going to spar with Kakashi, but she didn't think that he was going to sustain such an injury from it.

Once he was inside, she closed the door behind him and grabbed the flower vase from him, walking over to place them on the kitchen table.

"Nice place you have here," Genma told her as he looked around the small living room.

"Yeah, it fits my needs. Small and cozy." She smiled at him. "Genma."

He turned to face her.

"Why don't we hang out here tonight?" she suggested.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, a little worried that she was getting cold feet.

"No, nothing like that. I'd just like for it to be just the two of us tonight. We can have dinner delivered and stay in. Plus, I do feel bad about your arm. You already hurt yourself because of me. I don't want you to go and strain yourself because of me too."

Genma thought about what she said for a moment before replying, "So, you just want to stay in tonight then?" he asked.

She nodded. "If that's alright with you."

Well, his arm did hurt quite a bit at the moment, and it would be difficult to keep up with her while out and about with his arm in the damn sling. "Yeah, alright. But under one condition."

"You and your conditions." Ino rolled her eyes "What is it this time?"

"You have to be my nurse while I'm here. Since you feel bad about my arm and all." He smirked.

"Sure thing," she said before she brushed past him, bumping his shoulder lightly with her own as she did so.

She was definitely a handful, but one that Genma thought was worth holding onto. She picked up the phone and a stack of take out menus. "What are we eating?"