disclaimer: I don't 'Naruto'.

Chapter Three

-Sweet Surprises-

(Ino)

Dawn came too early for Ino.

As the gentle array of sunbeams poured over the grass, Ino lifted her arms for a long stretch, listening to her back crackle and pop in protest. She smiled as she stood, taking in a deep, lengthy, lung filling breath as her cerulean eyes scoured over the hills in front of them.

It was amazing how the scenery changed as you got further away from Konoha, and soon the ever green hills would turn into dunes of golden sand. She scowled at the thought of sand.

Ino hated Suna, mainly because of the humidity, but because of some of the 'people' she would have to put up with when she got there. That mainly pertaining to the Kazekage's brother and sister. Her scowl only increased as she turned to find the entire camp quiet. Didn't they take her seriously when she said dawn.

Ino's eyes flickered over to the fire, where a pot and a wooden spoon hung forgotten over the burnt out embers.

Ino strolled quietly over to the pot, her eyes flickering menacingly as she grabbed the spoon and took a deep, calming breath.

"RISE AND SHINE!" She yelled, clanging the spoon against the pot as she walked calmly around the camp, a smirk flickering across her pale lips as she heard the groaning of the men. "We leave in ten."

--

Ino yawned as she looked back at the wagons, Hinata and Naruto sitting with the men from the campfire as they watched the men steer the cattle pulling the cargo.

She was not interested in such. She had enough of farm animals, especially the grazing kind. Her lips twitched with the memory of her first time feeding the deer at the Nara compound. She shook her head, no use thinking of something uneventful.

Ino stretched her arms above her head, letting them rest as she drank in the scenery.

That was one part of her job that she simply wouldn't regret, the sites.

Being a Shinobi meant traveling, and that meant she got to see the world- well...at least a portion of it. And what she had seen so far, it had been amazing.

The trees were so different here, like Christmas trees, the whole forest was. It was made of Cedar and fur, some Evergreen sprawled about if she looked close enough. And it wasn't even the forest exactly that amazed her, because she grew up running around in the woods. It was the size of the trees, like the ones from the Genin exams.

Ino sighed as she looked at the path, noticing that the further they traveled, the more scarce the trees were becoming, and that little by little there was more dirt on the path.

Ino sighed. They were at the border of The Hidden Sand.

(Shikamaru)

Shikamaru awoke to the sun shining down in his eyes.

The sun? Since when did he have a window in his room? Shikamaru growled as he lazily pushed himself over with a grunt. His arm immediately slinging over his eyes in a lazy manner, he sat up slowly, huffing and puffing as he squinted under his he most certainly was in the same room he fell asleep in.

Shikamaru's eyes rested on his pants that were kicked over in the far corner, as his hand came up to wipe his face thoroughly.

He scrubbed his eyes and mouth as he stood upon wobbling feet, teetering over side ways as he made his way over to his bag.

He bent down and examined it, his fingers clutching the zipper tightly as he pulled the troublesome thing open and searched deep in his bag for his clothes. Shikamaru pulled out a pair of black pants, identical to the last, and a black fishnet top, while fishing around for a new pair of boxers. He groaned, remembering that the only pair he had with him (that were relatively clean) was the ones that were currently wrapped around his waist. He sighed. He knew he would regret not bringing Ino along. She always did his packing. Always.

With a sigh he stood, pressing his feet through the legs of his pants, and pulling the cloth up to his waist, were he secured the button before bending down and stretching the fishnet over his ponytail, which still stood perfectly erect on the back of his head, even through sleep, and grabbed his shoes, pulling them over his feet with a grimace, noting that they were filled with dust.

That was one of the things he disliked about Suna. All the dust, or sand that accumulated in his shoes.

With a click of his tongue he walked over to his dirty trousers, and pried the shining silver coin piece from his pocket, and twirled it around his fingers.

With a stiffled yawn he pulled his door open, and peered down the hall way. It appeared no one was alive and running yet, so he slipped out of his room as quietly as possible, and headed for the winding staircase that would lead him to the city.

With a groan that was slightly more forced than it should have been, he opened the door and squinted , his hand raising to immediately block the sun's harmful rays, that always seemed to find their way to his eyes. He sighed, and stepped out of the door frame, the door slamming loudly behind him.

Well if his grunting and shuffling hadn't woken the Shinobi inside, that most certainly would. Shikamaru merely shrugged and began his descent down the stair well of doom, his hand firmly pressed against the wall for support. He briefly wondered why the architect put the stairs on the outside wall. What was the point? Well he supposed that it prevented the idea of a break in, for people could see you climbing up the tower from across the village, he felt slightly insecure about that fact. He also supposed that it was cost affect, as most things were these days, what with it being that these buildings were made to be structurally sound. That built up his confidence quite a bit, and so he decided, since no one was looking, he would take his hand away from the wall, even for just a moment. Wrong move.

As soon as his hand left the wall he felt his head start to spin, and he immediately stopped, his head tipping to the side, giving him a perfectly good view of the drop. Needless to say he was practically sidling against the wall like a thief, who was going down the building..

Once Shikamaru made it safely to the bottom, he threw the building a hateful glare and made his way out of the alley ways, his eyes ahead of him. The same drowsy expression holding his eyelids half lidded, while he stuffed his hands deep into his pockets and tilted his head back.

If there was one good thing Shikamaru could say about Suna, it was that they had clear blue skies, fit for cloud watching.

(Ino)

Her hands were on her hips as they finally parted the forest. Her eyes squinted as she looked out at the flat- nothing in sight for miles upon miles- No Where Land. Suddenly, her mood turned sour as she walked to the wagon, climbing up the small ladder and sitting beside Mr. Karada.

"If we can keep a steady pace we will make it by at least dusk." She said, looking over at his aged features, her scowl still etched onto her own.

" I see," He whispered, his eyes searching over the barren land with a scowl of his own. Suddenly he turned, and leaned dangerously over the edge, his head looking back and his eyes squinted. "Move out." He called back, as he shook the reins, which caused the wagon to jerk slightly as the cows mooed and grunted along.

Ino laid her head against her palm, her feet curling up beside her on the small bench. She felt her eyes droop in tiredness, as her hand automatically went to her hair, where she wrapped her fingers around in her own golden tresses.

Karada looked down at her with a soft, pleasant smile. "What's bothering you?" He asked quietly, his eyes meeting her own as she peered up at him.

"Nothing in particular. just hate the land." She sighed, her gaze returning to the sand in front of them. That was all they would be seeing for hours. And Ino was not pleased in the slightest.

"Ah I see." He replied, his gaze breaking away from her and returning back to the cows.

"I'm going to go speak with my team, will you be alright here by yourself?" She asked, her voice not really portraying any emotion.

Karada merely nodded his head, and watched Ino jump off the side of the wagon and walk away.

--

Ino looked out over the blue sand with a hand held to shield her eyes, although it was night time, she was having a hard time seeing. "I can see the walls of Suna." She announced from the roof of the wagon.

She jumped down with ease, eyeing Naruto and Hinata as her eyes darted about their small make shift camp. "Ten minutes till departure, Hinata, you and I will scout the area while Naruto watches over base."

The Hyuuga heiress merely nodded, "Hai." And turned on her feet, activating her Byakuugan as she jumped away. Ino following in suit behind her, she grasped Hinata's elbow and pulled her back, her eyes full of some strange emotion.

"I have a strange feeling about these men." She said, her eyes darting about suspiciously as she took a second glance back at the wagons.

Hinata nodded in agreement. "They seem far to friendly for ambassadors."

Ino's eyebrows furrowed as she thought about that statement. She found it to be true, although she did not know about the affairs of wealth and business of that nature, she trusted Hinata's judgement.

"Yeah, it is almost like they are pretending." Ino bit her lip.

Kami she wished Shikamaru was here, He would know what to do. But he wasn't here, and she most certainly was not going to ask for his help anytime soon. Ino pressed her hands against her hips in frustration.

It would be too suspicious to turn them back now, and she very well couldn't be making accusations against them, in fear that they would cancel the treaty, which would mean more war between the nations. Ino sighed heavily as she looked at the girl in front of her. "Well we will just have to be careful, report any suspicious activity to me-" Suddenly Ino turned around and stalked back to camp, forcing a cheerful smile upon her face. "Let's get moving!"

(Shikamaru)

Shikamaru stood up from his spot in the sand, brushing his pants and shirt off as looked up at the setting sun.

How long had he been asleep? He didn't know..An hour? three hours? The day was slow, time just seemed to waste away as he lay there, watching the puffy water masses float by lazily.

Shikamaru sighed heavily, his eyelids drooping tiredly as he dragged his feet through the sand. He wondered if anyone had searched for him? Possibly not, or someone would have come along. He was glad he got to rest his troubles off today, because tomorrow was when the real work was going to begin.

Shikamaru let his eyes wander back to the sky as he walked back to the tower, the same, brightly glowing star catching his eye. He wondered what it's name was. Maybe he should ask Ino next time he saw her? Nah. She'd probably still be upset with him whenever he got back, if he got back. Shikamaru sighed and folded his arms behind his head, his feet dragging along in the sand, until he looked up at the Gates.

There was something going on- shikamaru blinked and stood up straight, his arms fallign to his sides as he rushed to the gate, watching as the guards pulled upon the thick brown ropes.

The doors creaked to a stop, protesting against any further movement as they reached their half way mark. Shikamaru watched the dust settle, his eyes widening as he watched his blond haired teammate walk through the gates.

"I-Ino?"

Drop by and leave a review for me.

Sorry it is so short, but I wanted to get that out of the way, It was jsut too troublesome to make a big long chapter out of nothign really. And you got some important facts somewhere in there..if you looked. So please dont hate me.

The next chapter will be long and event filled! I PROMISE!