Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Hey guys…just a short little author's note before we start….this is important so don't skim over it….I'd like to thank everyone that took the time to review, it really means a lot to an author to see that encouragement! This is not the finale chapter although it's only going to be 2 or so chapters longer. I just thought of a better way to get the couples together than what I was originally going to do so drop a review and tell me what you think about that! Now without further ado….SONG LYRICS! Actually, this song is what gave me the inspiration to write this fan fiction and it really sets the mood for the chapter so read it! If you're interested in hearing the bands or anything just say so in your review! As for the pairings…well just look at the summary or you could just read this chapter! Don't worry, they're not going to change. Well….good reading…you'll hear from me at the end….you know you can't wait…..

Have I told you how good it feels to be me,
When I'm in you?
I can only stay clean
When you are around.
Don't let me fall.
If I close my eyes forever,
Would it ease the pain?
Could I breathe again?

Maybe I'm addicted,
I'm out of control,
But you're the drug
That keeps me from dying.
Maybe I'm a liar,
But all I really know is
You're the only reason I'm trying.

I am wasting away,
I made a million mistakes.
Am I too late?
There is a storm in my head;
It rains on my bed
When you are not here.
I'm not afraid of dying,
But I am afraid of losing you.

Maybe I'm addicted,
I'm out of control,
But you're the drug
That keeps me from dying.
Maybe I'm a liar,
But all I really know is
You're the only reason I'm trying.

When you're lying next to me
Love is going through to me.
Oh it's beautiful.
Everything is clear to me
'Till I hit reality
And I lose it all...
I lose it all...
I lose it all.
I lose it all...

You're the only reason,
Yeah, you're the only reason I'm trying,
Oh, I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying,
Don't want to lose it all,
Don't want to lose it all,
I'm trying, I'm trying..
I'm trying ...
Yeah, you know I'm addicted,
You know I'm addicted,
Yeah, you know I'm addicted...

OoOoOoOoOoO

Tsunade grabbed the sake bottle that had been sitting on the edge of her desk for the past hour now. The village elders had taken away all the sake she had stored in her office, hidden around her house, and jammed in random places, and forbidden her to buy anymore. They'd even gone so far as threatening the shopkeepers with the destruction of their stores if they so much as considered selling her alcohol. Some job, she thought darkly.

She spent half her time taking care of the desperately ill at the hospital; the other half was spent avoiding the mountains of paperwork that threatened to cause a destructive avalanche in her office. Not to mention the meetings, the public appearances, and the overall stress of trying to run a country as well as have a life! It was getting to be too much. It was almost time to retire.

If only I had the luxury of thinking about that now. There are far too many other problems threatening us at the moment. The Village Hidden in the Mist had sent another urgent letter an hour ago, urgently requesting immediate help. Their people were dying off like flies, and they were powerless to stop it. I sincerely doubt that any volunteers will be coming forward any time soon. The only people that would take this mission are those with death wishes.

"Tsuande-sama?" came a familiar female voice from the opposite side of the ancient oak doors. "Shishou, are you there?" Now it could only be one person. Only Sakura calls me Shishou. She could hear her quietly talking to someone, but the words were too indistinct to make out.

"Hokage-sama, we need to speak with you. It's about that mission," came a lazy drawl, obviously belonging to the person Sakura was speaking with. "Che, don't tell me you've been drinking again." He pushed the doors open while simultaneously avoiding the stack of papers that fell from a makeshift shelf on top of a nearby plant.

"Sakura, Shikamaru……what happened? You two look like shit."

Sakura could feel a sweat drop forming; Tsunade had never been one for beating around the bush. But, she didn't want her to know the circumstances either. While she thought of Tsunade as a mother-like figure, one that had given her the strength, skills, and the self-confidence to earn herself a place in the new legendary three, these circumstances were…..retarded, unbelievable, too stupid to believe? She shook her head, now was not the time for doubt.

While the two of them were walking to the Hokage's Tower, they talked about what they would tell people, eventually deciding that their parents would be the only people, other than the Hokage, who knew that they were leaving. To their parents, they had been assigned anbu work in Kirigakure. To the Hokage, they had volunteered for a mission with minimal chances of survival. But, to be honest, they just didn't care.

Tonight's events had left them broken, confused, and hurt. What ever had possessed Sasuke and Ino to do that had left four very pained people in its wake.

"Tsunade-sama, we want that mission." Sakura screwed her eyes shut so no tears could leak out. Over the years she had gotten better at restraining herself, but she had never been able to hide her emotions from anybody, especially those who knew her well.

"We're requesting that we be sent out of the village as soon as possible for the sake of the people in that village." Shikamaru too, had resigned himself to staring at a particularly interesting part of the floorboards. The silence was strained and deafening.

Finally Tsunade moved. She grabbed two scrolls from one of the drawers in her desk and handed one to each. Somehow, she knew exactly who the volunteers would be.

"I don't know why you two have decided to come forward, but I'm glad someone with your obvious expertise has. But now, on to business. Simply put, in those scrolls you will find all the information you need on the organization and your new identities. All of it needs to be learnt by heart by no later than next week." She stopped, sensing the incredulous looks on their faces.

"N-nnext week? Why not now?" Damn it, we need to go now!

"You need to train, learn new techniques, adopt your new personas. Sakura, Shikamaru, you will be training with Kotetsu-san, one of the jounins of the village. He came from the area of the country where you now come from. He will be teaching you the native techniques, some of which will take you the full week to master. Also, you are far too recognizable in your current conditions. Your anbu tattoos would give you away immediately if the pink hair, or ponytail and earring didn't. First thing in the morning I want you to report here so we can remove the tattoos as well as disguise you two. There's no point in gen-jutsu as that would most likely get you killed on the spot. That is all."

With that the two younger ninjas left the building, still clutching their respective scrolls. They bid each other goodnight before going home to cry.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Sasuke and Naruto sat in Naruto's tiny apartment, both looking ready to cry too.

"So, that's the whole story then? That's why you and Ino are," he struggled for a moment, "getting married." asked Naruto, staring into his empty ramen cup.

"Yah." Sasuke's head was in his hands. His head was throbbing from all the screaming from Naruto. But that pain was nothing compared to the pain in his heart. "I messed everything up….again." He screwed his eyes shut as he thought about all the times he had hurt her, left her, caused her pain.

"I don't understand teme! Why would you do something like that to Saku-"

"I'm not like you! I can't always be perfect!" he stood up and started pacing from the couch to the window and back again, making sure he wasn't facing Naruto.

Naruto was stunned. Their whole history had been defined as a struggle for strength. Their genin days had been Naruto trailing after Sasuke, eventually catching up and resulting in a massive battle that almost killed them both. Then, once he came back, they would still fight, but as friends, neither one willing to yield any ground to the other, And now he was suddenly perfect? "Wha-what do you mean?"

"You….you can always better the better person! All I can do is hurt the people I care about." He stopped pacing and finally turned to face Naruto. "What did I do?"

"Sasuke….you love her don't you?" a soft smile played at the edges of Naruto's mouth. "And you realize it now that you've gone and screwed her best friend." The smile vanished.

"No, I knew that I loved her as soon as I returned and she took me back. Don't you get it Naruto? She was the only person who took me back with no questions asked. She always believed in me, always loved me, always trusted me, and look what I did with that?" He turned and hit the wall in frustration, creating a hole between Naruto's living room and bedroom.

Naruto stared at his teammate, fiercest rival, and closet friend in barely concealed shock. He started speaking, softly, watching Sasuke's every move, "She loves you too. Baa-chan told me how she'd wait for you to come home everyday at the gate. Then, when we finally brought you back, she said it was the first time she's seen Sakura happy in three years. You were always the only one who could make her smile."

"You know how bad things are when I'm listening to your advice." muttered Sasuke, while dodging the vase Naruto threw at his head. "But, when you and Hinata got in that fight last year, how did you…" he trailed off, uncertain of what to say.

Naruto just laughed at his apparent unease. "How did we make it? Well teme, we were never as messed up as you and Sakura-chan. No offense, it's just a fact of life. Believe it or not, she thought I was still in love with Sakura."

Sasuke's eyes widened. Naruto may have been oblivious to Hinata when they were genin five years ago, but he had been nothing but whole-heartedly devoted to Hinata ever since he realized his feelings for her. Her thinking that Naruto loved Sakura was just….strange. "Well…." He asked the obvious question, "were you?"

"No! I mean Sakura-chan's a great girl and everything but she's not for me. She's meant for you." He eyed Sasuke before continuing. He just slumped farther down in his seat. "We're way too alike for that to ever work out. It happened when Sakura hit that rough patch with her parents last year. She just needed a friend and I ended up pushing Hinata-chan to the side because of that."

"I just don't know what to do Naruto."

Naruto sighed and put a hand on Sasuke's back. "That makes two of us."

OoOoOoOoOoO

At exactly seven the next morning Shikamaru and Sakura were waiting outside the doors to the Hokage's office, nervously anticipating what was in store for them. Both had red swollen eyes, both had not slept a wink. Sakura was absent-mindedly playing with her long pink locks. Shikamaru was leaning against the door, sighing repeatedly as people walked past, giving the pair strange looks. He attempted to sigh again but was cut short as the doors suddenly opened.

"Come in you two." came Tsunade's stern voice, seemingly from behind a mountain of paperwork.

"Did you clean up in here Shishou?" What the hell? I can actually see the floor. She looked at her mentor expectantly.

"No," she coughed into her hand, attempting to hide the red tinge in her cheeks. "Yuri just needed some space to work. Sit down, and we'll start the transformation." She gestured impatiently to the two salon chairs that had been set up in one corner. "We'll start with the tattoos. Shizune! Get that girl in here!"

As if on cue a tall woman walked into the office, carrying many bags. She proceeded to walk over to Sakura and Shikamaru, examining and commenting on them as if they weren't in the room.

"Obviously the tattoos have got to go. That can be taken care of easily, however they will both have red marks on their arms for a couple of days."

"That's fine," interrupted Tsunade, "they have a week before they leave. Anything you can do to drastically alter their appearances before that time is acceptable."

Anything you can do to drastically alter their appearances? What the fuck did we sign up for?

"Yes, well, the pink hair is out obviously. Same with their eyes, the colors are far too uncommon in that area."

"Our eyes?" asked Shikamaru, vaguely interested, "How can you change our eye colour?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know." said Yuri, still poking and prodding at their faces. Both turned to look at the Hokage, doubt written all over their faces. She in turn merely shrugged, as if this happened every day.

"I think I have what I need to get started now. If both of you will roll up your sleeves…" she gestured to their baggy sweaters with disdain. While they were doing that she pulled out two large syringes from one of her many cases. "Now, we'll have to match your individual skin tones with this dye. Then we'll inject it into your arms and your skin will look good as new! They'll just be sore for a couple of days."

As she was talking she jabbed each one in the arm, earning collective glares and exclamations of pain. Sakura let a few tears roll down her cheeks while Shikamaru clenched the arms of his chair, grinding his teeth in an attempt to block out the effects of the needle.

"There we go! All done! That's the painful part. Now ….Sakura was it?" Sakura merely nodded in reply, "I'm going to cut your hair off to just above your shoulders, layer it, cut you bangs shorter and-"

"Don't tell me," she rasped out, the pain still evident on her face, "I really don't care what you do." She slumped back into her seat, cradling her arm delicately.

"Well then….Shikamaru, I'm going to cut your hair too, but I'm assuming you don't want the details." Shikamaru nodded in reply. "Typical man," Yuri shrugged.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Three hours later, two radically different people were staring into a mirror, stunned at their appearances.

Sakura's hair was as Yuri said, only it was now a deep mahogany colour. Using needle injections, her eye colour had been tinted until it was a brilliant purple. Shikamaru's hair had been cut to about an inch in length. It was spiked out in all directions and dyed mahogany as well, only it had been highlighted with red. His eyes were purple too.

"I look like a frickn girl," muttered Shikamaru, the only response that was elicited from either of the two. Sakura felt her tears welling up again and shook her head fiercely to prevent them from falling.

"Yuri-san," began Shikamaru again, "our eyes, will they stay like this permanently? Or will we have to inject ourselves with the dye in order to keep them this colour?"

"No, every six months your true eye colors will begin to resurface as will your true hair colors. You will each have to inject each other with the dyes and find someplace private to dye your hair again. Otherwise, this should be relatively simple to maintain. As for your clothing, you'll have to buy clothes without your clan symbols on them. That would attract suspicion as well as be foolhardy."

"Arigato, Yuri-san." Said Sakura, putting on a smile again.

"Your welcome Sakura, or should I say, Mayakashi. It was a pleasure to work with you Rai."

"Who's…." the proverbial lightbulb went off in Sakura's brain. She had forgotten to start reading the scroll last night, far too depressed to do anything other than cry on her bed. "My name is Mayakashi? Why that name…and why Rai?"

Tsunade impatiently knocked her fist against her desk before answering, "Why not? I'm assuming you didn't read the scroll last night." She glared at the two for all of five seconds before her look softened, "They are a mercenary team consisting of a brother and sister who we recently caught and jailed for their crimes. The only people who know of their capture are standing in this office since it was a mission I saw to personally. Moving on," she shuffled a stack of forms on her desk before continuing, "Kotetsu-san will be here momentarily so I'd suggest that you change into training clothes. This next week is not going to be an easy one."

"Wardrobe! Ah how silly of me!" cried Yuri "I forgot! Now, Maya-chan and Rai-kun, I think you should both stick to the darker colors. Probably deep purples for you Maya-chan and blacks and browns for you Rai-san. Also, you should consider wearing clothes remniscent of your…for lack of better word, profession."

"What exactly were these two known for Tsunade-sama?" questioned Sakura, "Afterall, I hope I'm not impersonating a hooker or a-"

"Nothing of the sort!" came Tsunade's indignant answer, "They just happen to be nuke-nin who smuggled illegal substances in and out of the country."

"Great! We're drug pushers!" Shikamaru clasped his hands together in mock glee, rolling his eyes all the while. "What if they escape, I mean, isn't there a chance they know about this plan. Wouldn't it be safer for us to assume the identities of lesser-known mercenaries? Those two have been on our wanted lists for quite a while. And even with all of this," he gestured to their hair and eyes, "we still don't look like replicas of them. Anyone whose seen them in real life or who has a picture of them will be able to tell the difference at a moment's glance."

Tsunade scoffed, "Of course they don't know about our plan! How stupid do you think I am?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. Next to him, Sakura giggled. "Do I want to know what you just said? I thought not. Oh, here he is! Now, get out of here before I change my mind!"

With that she shoved them out of her office and grabbed her sake bottle, downing half of it before anyone could take it away from her.

"Tsunade-sama," began Yuri, looking down at her folded hands, "I didn't know they'd be so young. Surely they can't be more than eighteen! Are you sure that-"

"Of course I'm not sure! But what, was I supposed to tell them? That this mission would be a piece of cake? That they'd be back here in a couple of days no worse for the wear? This is a one-way trip and they know it. In fact, I think that's why they signed up."

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Mayakashi! Rai! Get over here now! You two move like my mother carrying thirty pounds of groceries when she's pregnant! " Kotetsu yelled at them from across the clearing, impatiently gesturing for them to pick up the pace. They had been running laps around the village for the past hour, Kotetsu, insisting that they were far too out of shape for his training.

What the hell is this? All we've been doing is running frickn laps for an hour! How does this qualify as training? We don't need to run to learn techniques! For the love of God get on with it! The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can leave.

Kotetsu sat in a lawn chair near the gates of the village, watching his two new pupils. All things considered, they were pretty good. He was fairly certain that they weren't running the entire circuit, but that was to be expected.

"Alright, alright that's enough running for one day. Come over here." As they came closer to him they both collapsed onto the grass, panting and heaving. "Che, and you call yourselves ninjas. You should be able to run for a day in a sprint before you get tired! And what about-" And so it continued for the next five hours. Kotetsu would yell and Sakura and Shikamaru would train their asses off, complaining all the while.

Why did we sign up for this? Is it really worth leaving? Sakura glanced over at Shikamaru who was frowning with intense concentration as Kotetsu sat on his back and made him do one hundred pushups. Ino always said that we'd be friends…forever…

OoOoOoOoOoO

Sakura sat in an inconspicuous desk in the back corner of the classroom, trying not to be noticed by Iruka-sensei. Today they were demonstrating the substitution technique and she was sure that she wouldn't be able to do it in front of the class.

Iruka glanced down at him clipboard, skimming over the names of his twenty-seven students. "Next up, Sakura! You haven't gone yet!"

She shook her head, hiding her face behind her long bangs. "Nnnoo, someone else can go now."

"What's the matter mutant-forehead? Not quite up to snuff yet? You can never be a ninja if you can't do something this simple! I mean-"

"That's enough Ami! If you're so good then you're up next. Come on!" Iruka glared at the small girl, unable to understand why they were all so determined to pick on Sakura.

"You just watch forehead, I can do this no problem!" Ami walked down to the front slowly. While she was plodding down the steps, Ino slid into the empty seat next to Sakura.

"Come on Sakura-chan! Why are you letting her talk to you like that? And why are you hiding your forehead again! You know that they're only going to make fun of you again. You know you can tell me, I mean, I am your best friend right?" She looked at Sakura, her bright blue eyes showing her confidence.

"You are but-"

"But nothing! You know you're fifty million times better than she'll ever be! Don't let her talk you down like that!" Ino mildly scolded her best friend. The things she did for her.

Sakura gave Ino a big grin in return. "You-you really think so?"

"No, I know so! Now look, she couldn't do it! It's your time to shine girlie! Go show everyone what you can do!"

"Ano, Ino-chan…" Sakura suddenly looked serious as she fumbled nervously with her hands, "Even if I don't do it right, you won't hate me?"

"'Course not Sakura-chan! You're my best friend and nothing's ever going to change that!"

OoOoOoOoOoO

Well something obviously did. She rubbed her eyes again. Life just wasn't fair.

OoOoOoOoOoO

So….it's me again! Anyways I didn't really like the way this chapter ended, it felt too abrupt to me but I thought you'd rather see this long long rambling of mine sooner rather than later. So….what do you think about me not ending it here? I have to say I'm happy because I thought of an amazing idea to get them together and make something we all know is gonna happen, happen in my story! Wow, am I ever happy! So it definitely is only going to be one of two chapters longer so drop me a review and tell me what you think. I'll update arranged marriage in a couple of day, that story's getting pretty juicy too! So, I think next chapter I'll focus more on Ino and Shikamaru's rather peculiar relationship. I liked the scenes of friendship between Naruto and Sasuke and Ino and Sakura. I think I'll add one between Chouji and Shikamaru next chapter! Tell me what you think about that! Thanks for reading and don't forget to drop a review!