Hello. My Internet's down, so I'm typing. Even though my mom's yelling at me to get up and do something… I'm listening to music but since I've already written this, it won't affect the story. That's good, because it's kinda depressing…

- - -

After traveling in silence for a while, Sakura reached into her pouch and drew out four weight bracelets.

"Oh, yeah; Ino-pig, shishou said that you should begin wearing these today," she instructed, holding them out.

Ino strapped them on as she ran – with a little difficulty, due to the fact that she needed both legs to run. Despite this, though, her pace never wavered.

"Weights?" Kakashi observed casually. "How much do they weigh?" Ino lifted an arm, letting it fall quickly.

"Ano… Ten kilograms… Forehead girl?" She looked over at Sakura, biting her lip. The rose-haired kunoichi giggled girlishly, shaking her head.

"Of course not, silly! Shishou said she gave you the fifteen-kilogram weights, but she was drunk. Heh heh… I think they're twenty kilograms each." Ino groaned.

Sasuke snorted in contempt; however, Sakura heard him and jerked her head in his direction, adding, "That's ten kilograms more than this genius was carrying around the last time we met him."

"What, no weights for you?" Sasuke asked mockingly. "Can't you handle a little bit of weight?" He smirked. Ino glared at him, but remained silent.

"You shouldn't be one to talk, Sasuke," Sakura told him sweetly, "seeing that the last time I put ten-kilogram weights on you, you ran crying off to Tsunade-shishou and couldn't even hold your own in a battle against Naruto." Eyeing said blonde, she added thoughtfully, "Though he has gotten stronger… As for the weights, shishou didn't want to tire me out for a mission of this caliber."

Sensei, on the other hand, would have no second thoughts about that, she thought amusedly. Ino giggled nervously, the same thought having occurred to her.

"How would wearing twenty-kilogram weights tire you out? I imagine you've got infinite stamina," Sasuke said sarcastically to Sakura, who opened her mouth to reply. But Ino beat her to it.

"Not quite infinite, but pretty darn close!" she drawled, throwing an arm around her friend's neck.

"Ow, pig…" Sakura grimaced, gently prying Ino's tanned limb off of her. "Watch where you're swinging those weights. They hurt, you know!" Without looking back at Sasuke, she continued, "Twenty-kilogram weights would probably make me collapse."

"And this is because…?" he sneered.

"She's already wearing weights!" Ino announced. Naruto bounded to Sakura's side, peering curiously at her face.

"Really?" he asked, frowning.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes," she replied exasperatedly. "I don't take them off. That's why you never see them." This answered his unspoken question.

"Oh." He fell silent fro a few moments, contemplating this, before speaking up again. "How much do your weights weigh?"
Sakura lifted a hand lazily, looking at the bandages. "These? Hold out both of your hands." When he obeyed, she rested her arm on his. "Hold my arm." Once he had complied, she relaxed – completely. Naruto let go quickly.

"Sa-Sakura-chan!" he gasped. "Those things are heavy!"
Sakura shrugged nonchalantly, speeding up. "It's only a hundred kilograms. Don't tell me you can't lift something like that!" To emphasis her point, she flung an arm into the air with a smug smile at Sasuke's expression.

It's nothing? Ha! You spent the first month complaining to me how tired your arms were! Show off…

Oh, shut up…

"We can slow down in you want, Sakura-chan!" Naruto offered quickly. Sakura scowled, glaring straight ahead.

"What, am I suddenly handicapped?" she growled. "If I couldn't stand the weights, I would have told shishou that ages ago!"

"Do you always travel this fast?" Kakashi asked, sweat trickling down his face.

Ino giggled. "Yes. We could go faster if we really put our minds to it and didn't talk – "

"Bicker," Sakura muttered darkly.

"But we can only focus like that if it's really urgent," Ino added cheerfully. "Because we like to debate – "

"Bicker," Sakura mumbled, ducking as Ino swiped at her head.

Of course, sensei always stops us when we annoy him too much.

He'd smack them both on the head and speed up significantly, saying that if they had enough breath to yell at each other, then they must not be going fast enough.

"How long can you stay at this pace?" Kakashi inquired.

"Don't know," Ino laughed carelessly. "We run our laps at this speed every day, so it's hard to say. We usually have to spar right after our laps, so there's quite a lot of energy in us afterwards. Not to mention that we had a good night's sleep."

"Aa," Sakura contributed.

"Can't you say something, Sakura-san?" Ino mimicked Sakura's reaction to Itachi's monosyllabic answer with open amusement.

"Hn…" the green-eyed kunoichi replied, her face poker-straight. Ino threw up her hands, much as Sakura always did to Itachi.

"I give up!" she cried dramatically, looking to the heavens. Now it was Sakura's turn to lift an elegant eyebrow.

"You needn't think I'm going to hug you," she stated flatly. Naruto cocked his head quizzically.

"What are you talking about?" he asked curiously. Ino waved it away with a painstakingly painted hand. (A/N: This was the one thing that Itachi approved of doing to enhance their looks. After all, his fingernails are purple!)

"It's nothing," she dismissed it. "Just telling forehead girl here not to be such an ice cube." She winked at Sakura, who glared back.

"Some people are born ice cubes," she snapped, irritated. "I guess they're rubbing off on me…" Sasuke wondered briefly if she meant him.

"That's sad," Ino mused, putting a dainty (purple) finger to her cheek. "Here I was, hoping that one day I would rub off on you, too…"

Sakura laughed. "You have already rubbed off on me more than enough, pig. Now hush. We're getting close to Stone. We're going to walk in as civilians and attend a ball thingy where we'll meet our target. Later on, we can finish what we came here to do."

"Why? Why can't we just go in now?" Ino demanded. "That's how – "

"I know, pig," Sakura interrupted. "We always do that, but shishou said we had to go to the ball thingy and have fun. Plus, we'll meet someone there."

"'Ball thingy…?'" Ino looked skeptical.

Sakura shrugged. "That's what shishou said," she muttered. "It was too troublesome to think of another word."

Ino stifled a giggle. "You really have been handing out around my team too much," she teased. "Just don't start gushing about youth, okay? You've been sparring with Lee a lot, so… If you do, I'm out of here!" Sakura laughed.

Sasuke started. "You're training with Rock Lee? That – that green freak?! Why?" he demanded.

"Shishou taught me a little taijutsu, but not a lot… I needed to find someone who would teach me. Gai-sensei offered to do it, so I said yes; after he found out that I was learning taijutsu from Gai-sensei, Lee wouldn't stop bugging me to spar with him," she shot back. "Why do you care?"

He abruptly shut up, unable to think of an answer. Why did he care who she sparred with?

"How did you do yesterday?" Ino inquired, grinning knowingly. "Did you lose again?" Sakura scoffed, looking insulted.

"I won," she sniffed.

Ino groaned, smacking her forehead. "Great! Just great! Now I owe sensei 500 yen! Couldn't you have lost this time?" The sparkle in her eyes told Sakura she was kidding – except about the part about owing Itachi.

Nonetheless, the pink-haired kunoichi answered, rubbing her arm. "That would hurt," she said ruefully. "Lee-san hits hard."
"OF course he hits hard, forehead girl!" Ino exclaimed, looking affronted. "You're a tricky opponent!"

"Aa…"

"Anyway; this is what – the ninth, no, tenth time you're beaten him?"

"Aa…"

Sasuke cut in. "You're stealing my line," he informed her sulkily.

"Hn…"

He gave up. Naruto turned to Ino as they approached the front door of a hotel.

"Why does Sakura-chan talk like Sasuke-teme?" he asked as said teme pushed open the door.

"Uchiha rubbed off on her."

Sakura paid for two rooms, smiling sweetly.

"Sorry, boys. Looks like you three will have to share a room," she told them, looking innocent.

"Sakura, what did you – " Kakashi began. The emerald-eyed kunoichi had used henge to transform herself into a teenage boy. She shook her head, placing a finger to her lips.

"Upstairs." She'd found it slightly strange to hear a male voice come from her mouth at first, but training with Itachi had made her used to it. She could hold this illusion for days without much chakra, thanks to Tsunade's instruction. Without another word, she slung a causally arm around Ino, who recognized the henge, and made for the stairs, motioning for the men to follow.

- - -

"My pink hair makes me stand out," Sakura explained in their room, once she'd checked for hidden traps. "Also, if anyone's looking for two kunoichi and three male shinobi, this should help throw them off. Ino and I have done this before."
Ino giggled, playing vapid airhead. "Let me look at my fiancé, dear," she crooned, pulling Sakura closer, who made a face and pulled herself away.

"Pig, you already know what I look like," she snapped. "They need to know what I look like so they'll recognize me."

Sasuke surveyed his "new" teammate. Sakura's hair was black but still longish, tied neatly back into a low ponytail with a black band at the base of her head. Glassy onyx eyes stared back at him, set into a handsome, pale face. It resembled… someone he knew… But who?
Kakashi probed with his chakra, trying to find a flaw in the illusion. But he could find none; a second later, he felt himself being pushed away. Sakura looked at him passively, her cold eyes betraying nothing.

"Don't do that, please," she said quietly. "There are no flaws."
Naruto shivered. "I don't like your eyes," he whimpered when Sakura turned to him. To his surprise, she grinned, altering the henge. Her eyes became warmer, kinder, and deeper.

"How's that?" she asked cheerfully. He nodded.

"Better. Thanks, Sakura-chan."
"Call me Haru from now on," she smiled; something tugged urgently at Sasuke's mind – but what? Sakura continued, "Ino will be Yuri (lily); Naruto, your name is Hatori; Sasuke, Ryu; and Kakashi-senpai, you are Kyo. However, try not to give your names."

"Understood, Haru-chan," Ino purred. "Now, let's go change for the 'ball thingy'!" She made quotation marks in the air with her fingers.

"I hope you brought nice clothes," Sakura smirked. "It was on the list." Sighing as they froze, she shook her head and pulled out three outfits – yellow for Naruto, red for Sasuke, and dark green for Kakashi. She also produced a black outfit for herself. "How did I know you'd need these…?" she sighed.

"Thanks, Sa – Haru!" Naruto chirped. "C'mon, let's go change!" They withdrew to their room. Quickly, Sakura slipped on the pitch-black, loose pants and thin shirt before turning to help Ino.

"Do I look too much like him?" she asked worriedly. Ino laughed reassuringly, spinning around so that Sakura could tie the ribbons that laced her dress together.

"Don't worry, Haru, dea," she murmured, gazing at her friend in the mirror as Sakura fixed her hair (Ino's) into a bun, held up by senbon. "Just keep the lines off of your face." This managed to coax a reluctant laugh out of Sakura.

I never noticed how much "Haru" looks like Itachi… "Haru" was supposed to be a pretty-boy.

And Itachi is a hottie! So what's the problem?

Never mind…

"Oi, Haru-kun? Haru-kun! Wake uuuuup!" Ino snapped her fingers in front of Sakura's face. "Haru! Don't space out like that!"

"Aa…"

Ino huffed impatiently. "Fine, then! Be that way! Let's go see how the guys are doing! Hurry up!"
Both girls were used to calling each other by their codenames because they'd done so many undercover missions together. Itachi had accompanied them the first couple of times as a cousin – an excuse, Ino thought smugly, to make him kiss Sakura (on the cheek). Tsunade-sama was brilliant!
"Hatori! Ryu! Kyo! Get out here now!" Ino called through the wall. "We're going to be late!"

"Coming, coming," Kakashi answered lazily, stepping into the room. Sasuke and Naruto followed; Sasuke froze at the sight of Ino in her dress. Dark blue ribbons fluttered behind her, long blond hair piled atop her head elegantly.

Sakura caught him staring and grinned, winking. "Like what you see?" she teased. "I did her hair." Ino and Sasuke blushed. "Eh… Yuri's my fiancé, but Ino's definitely not… I look forward to seeing little Uchiha kiddies!" The blushes deepened furiously.

Finally, Ino calmed down. "I could say the same to you," she retorted., smirking wickedly.

Silence. Then –

"PIG! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Sakura shrieked; Ino ducked her punches before standing a safe distance away with a finger in the air.

Solemnly, she recited, "Don't lose your temper. It blinds you." Immediately, Sakura calmed down, emitting an icy aura.

"Hai, hai," she muttered, looking away. "Yuri?" She offered her arm, which Ino took, putting on a bright, empty-headed smile.

"Thank you, darling…" Suddenly, Sakura grinned mischievously and twirled her "fiancé" away – straight into Sasuke's arms. "H-Haru! What – "

"Hm?" Sakura looked innocently at them. "As leader of this group, I'm changing our alias a little. He's your fiancé, dear. We mustn't let him get jealous!" She winked and laughed evilly.

Payback feels so good…

You said it!
"Anyway, let's go," Ino mumbled, trying to ignore the blush rising in her cheeks. Sakura laughed gleefully and led them to the "ball thingy", with Ino hanging onto Sasuke with adoration – which might or might not, Sakura decided, be feigned. If it was, then Ino was a better actor than she'd thought. The rose-haired girl sensed a chance to matchmake, and she wasn't about to let it slip by.

- - -

Sakura gets to go matchmaking! Normally, I'm not a fan of SasukexIno, but here… It just works out perfectly!