Sakura exited the office of the 5th Hokage where who two other team mates stood opposite ends of the other, ignoring the others existence as much as humanly possible. Sakura giggled lightly at the sight before her.

Something's never change… She sighed gently as Naruto perked up at the sight of his comrade as she exited the office and gently closed the door behind her.

"Everything okay, Sakura?" Naruto spoke softly as if comfort the troubled nin. But through her worries she put on a façade and gave Naruto the biggest smile her face could endure without looking sloppily fake.

"Tsuande-Sama has a mission for us." She spoke with confidence as she eyed the two nin who looked at her inquisitively. "She needs us to go back to where the snake was defeated and retrieve a specimen sample from it, but first…" She looked down at her torn and stained attire and frowned one more uniform for the pile… she thought to herself. Her appearance was less than appeasing and she knew she smelt something unpleasant and though she wasn't one to be overly fussy about her appearance…she had two day old reptile remains on her skin along with her own dried blood and that was just too much for her to deal with on top of sleep deprivation and hunger. "I need to bathe..." She concluded, looking up at her two male counterparts who rolled their eyes at her girlish hygiene.

O-o-O-o-O

With the boys left amongst themselves Sakura pushed on the door to her cozy and quaint apartment that was still as neat as she left it two days ago. She sighed heavily, eyeing the bed with much enthusiasm but fought her natural instinct to crawl into bed and not wake up till the sun had risen the next day.

"Yooo! Sakura-Chan, that you?!" Came a voice from the tiny kitchen around the corner.

"Hai, Ino! It's me!" Sakura responded as her cocky blonde friend came around the corner as Sakura kicked off her shoes before entering her humble abode that she shared with her childhood friend.



"Moi…" Ino said as she leaned up against the door frame to her room, slurping on some freshly brewed ramen that teased Sakura's sense, reminding her she had not eaten in two days. "Where have you been?" Ino mumbled through a mouth full of noodles.

Sakura shrugged as she began to draw her bath "No where…" she retorted, only to hear Ino's brash voice call her on her bluff.

"You're full of crap, Haruno!" Ino swallowed the remainder of her noodles before proceeding in her sentence. "I heard all about you running off and Sasuke coming to your aid! You were in the woods with him all night! You can't tell ME you weren't anywhere! Not when you've been gone for two days with Sasuke in tow!"

Sakura giggled as she continued to focus on her bath, drawing in the relaxing smell of her sandalwood oils she had become so fond of. As she shut the warm water off she turned to Ino who was still looking at her as stern as ever, her expression quickly softening as she saw the wound that rested visibly right above her friends right breast.

"Geez, Sakura! What the hell happened to you?!" Ino blurted out as she motioned towards the crusted wound before taking in the rest of her friends physical condition. "Why didn't you heal yourself?"

Sakura smiled gently, she always knew Ino meant well even if others didn't see her in that light "You know I'm frugile with my Chakra, Ino."

"Yeah…but…" Ino was know kneeling on the floor, examining the flesh for herself "that's going to leave a scar, now no one will want to marry you off and you'll be stuck living with me forever!" Ino waved her hands dramatically in the air in an attempt to make Sakura laugh and it worked. "I'll leave you to your bath, Haruno…you gonna be around for awhile?"

Sakura shook her head in response "After this I have another mission with Squad Seven…" she retorted, slowly unzipping the back of her frayed uniform. As she finished unzipping she was almost alarmed when Ino had not replied as she looked over her shoulder she saw the doorway where she had been standing was empty and Sakura frowned. She missed her younger years that were filled with play instead of missions and drama. As she sank into her bath she groaned with pleasure as the warm water flushed her skin and her sandalwood oil soaked deep into her pores. She enjoyed it while she could and 

after she scrubbed her hair and bathed till her skin was wrinkled she quickly pulled a fresh uniform from her closet and neatly placed her blue headband back in its proper place amongst her now freshly washed and combed hair. She took one last look in her reflection glass before she signed with a slight smile and moved her way towards the door until a steaming bowl of ramen with a sloppily written note caught her eye.

Sakura,

Don't work too hard, you idiot.

You're Friend and Competition,

Ino.

P.S. The Raman's poisoned. I just put it here to piss you off. ; P

Sakura giggled and smiled at the letter her friend had left and with haste she grabbed the bowl and a pair of chop sticks and hastily walked and ate as she made her way to greet her comrades.

o-O-o-O-o-O-o

AN: I guess this would be considered a filler chapter?? I dunno…I wanted to write some Ino goodness…I always thought she was interesting…at least to me.