Limbo

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto. If I did Genma would be in it a heck of a lot more...so would Ino.

Several hours earlier...Sano Bar, Konoha.

The bar was noisy and crowded, even without the group of jounin, special jounin, and chuunin crammed into the big booth at the back. They'd dragged an extra table up too to accommodate even more bodies. It was Genma's birthday, which one he wasn't divulging, but Raidou and Kakashi knew and they had been lording the knowledge over him for at least a bottle and a half of shochu already. Shinobi need very little excuse to cut loose when off-duty.

The youngest member of current and former assembled ANBU members was presently squeezed in between the birthday boy Genma, and Iruka at the very back of the U-shaped booth. Ino hadn't said much all evening, still a little too intimidated by the sudden change in relationship of most of the ninja gathered from her sensei's to colleagues, so she'd simply sipped the shots of shochu Genma'd given her, tried not to scratch the newly bandaged tattoo on her shoulder, and not make too big of an ass out of herself. So far so good.

She felt the brush of Kakashi's fingers bump against her fresh tattoo as he slung his arm around Iruka who was next to her, the contact making the sore flesh sizzle. She brought her fingers up to rub it without thinking, only to have Genma suddenly wrap his arm around her shoulders, covering the hidden bandage and mark of her new affiliation with his large hand. She pulled in a surprised breath, her new assignment to Morino-san's special ANBU squad wasn't really supposed to be general knowledge yet. While she wasn't the youngest ANBU member ever, Uchiha Itachi and Hatake Kakashi held those honors, at almost nineteen she was the youngest to be personally taken under Morino Ibiki's wing. Many in the squad going so far as to call her his pet protégé behind her back.

"Let it alone," Genma said around his senbon, his deep voice low in her ear. "It'll heal faster if you don't pick at it." Ino looked up at the bandana'd special jounin and gave him a nervous smile. Leave it to Genma to already know about it.

The last three years had seen her moving farther and farther away from the Rookie Nine she'd originally been a part of. She'd never been a very important genin, and it really hadn't been until Tsunade found out that Inoichi had finally trained Ino --the last of her clan-- in the most advanced and secret of the Yamanaka family jutsu's that her career as a shinobi started to take off. Not long after that the nature of Ino's missions had begun to change, they started with low level espionage and reconnaissance and before long she had found herself transferred to and swept up by Ibiki and then the ANBU. The nature of the work had matured her fast, it was hard to stay a naive, brassy girl when she was being taught to torture, lie and kill. She still saw her former teammates frequently; Shikamaru, still a full-time Academy sensei, and Chouji, who was going to be a proctor for the next chuunin exam, as well as Sakura and the others, but she didn't have much in common with them anymore. Oddly enough, only Neji.

She'd been surprised by how quickly she'd fallen into new friendships with some of the older chuunin and jounin that were either current or former ANBU members. Uzuki Yuugao had been especially kind in helping her acclimate to a new team and a new way of doing things. Ino looked up to the violet-haired kunoichi very much. It was through Yuugao that she had become acquainted with Yuugao's boyfriend Namiashi Raidou, and his best friend Shiranui Genma. Ino knew who the older jounin were, Genma had been the examiner during the chuunin exam that Sound and Sand had invaded at six years before, and she'd seen them both around the village many times. They were almost legends, not in the way that Kakashi was famous, but in the way they seemed almost indestructible. They came in wounded from missions often, but considering the level of those missions they went on and their age, they still seemed rather blessed with good luck.

Ino thought it was nice how quickly they had warmed up to her and included her. Yuugao and Raidou often treating her like a younger sister whenever they invited her along to go out to dinner or to have some drinks with them. Genma treated her like a younger sister too...most of the time.

Genma moved his arm from around her shoulders to drape across the back of the booth. She could feel him there if she leaned too far back, so she held herself strangely rigid, feeling oh so out of her element with these people, no matter how friendly they were. Or maybe it was just Genma.

"Yo! Birthday boy," Asuma bellowed from the other end of the long table, his lit cigarette wagging up and down between his grinning lips. "You gonna hog those bottles all fucking night, or what?" He waved his shot glass meaningfully toward the cluster of shochu bottles in front of Genma. At his side Kurenai gave an amused smile at his antics.

"Asuma-san! You should watch your language! There are ladies present and you wouldn't want to offend their delicate youthful sensibilities!" Gai proclaimed loftily before striking a modified good-guy pose for the few ladies present at the table. Anko looked appalled, and from next to Ino, Iruka broke down into giggles at the sight of Gai's posing. Ino tried not to look at him too much, it was just too strange watching her old Academy sensei get plastered and all kissy cozy with Kakashi.

"Shut the fuck up, Gai!" Raidou called out good-naturedly, then grabbed one of the bottles and passed it down toward Asuma, Kurenai and Anko at the end of the table. "Genma, open your damn present already," Raidou told him, tossing a small wrapped package his way. Genma grinned around his senbon and poured another round for those sitting closest to him; Ino, Raidou, and Yuugao, before dropping the package into Ino's lap.

"Open that for me, willya?" Genma drawled, drinking his shot. Ino slid him a sidelong glance, before lowering her head to unwrap the small package, tucking a lock of her loose chin length hair behind her ear.

"Lazyass..." she muttered under her breath. Though really, nobody could compare to Shikamaru when it came to minimum effort in life expended, but it was the principal of the thing. Genma moved the arm behind her forward, reaching out with his fingertips to brush against the nape of her neck lightly, almost a ghost of a touch, but she noticed.

"Pacing myself. Evening's still young," Genma replied for her ears only.

Ino tore open a corner of the wrapping paper and immediately started to blush as she saw the familiar bright orange cover of Jiraiya's latest contribution to adult entertainment, 'Icha Icha Paragon' . "Yay, smut..." she deadpanned, trying to hide her embarrassment. The comment drew Kakashi's attention though, as did the bright orange cover and he leaned over Iruka for a better look.

"Icha Icha Paragon? That's not supposed to be out for another week," Kakashi said excitedly, reaching to pluck the book out of Ino's hands. She instinctively clutched it to her chest, since it was Genma's gift and leaned away, trying to get out of range. "Where'd you get that Raidou, you sneaky bastard?"

"Bribed Jiraiya-sama with a picture of Yuu-chan in a bikini," Raidou replied smugly, earning himself a dark look from his ANBU girlfriend.

Ino was finding herself about spot welded to Genma's side as she crowded against him to get away from Kakashi who was nearly pushing Iruka on top of her as he leaned over. "Just let me see it for a second, Ino-chan," Kakashi wheedled, his one visible eye curved in that engaging manner he had.

"No!" Ino said stubbornly, "It's Genma-san's present!" She propped an arm against Iruka's shoulder, trying to brace him up so he didn't wind up sprawled on top of her, while she held the Icha Icha over her head, out of reach of Kakashi's questing fingers. Iruka gave a strangled squawk as he found himself sandwiched squarely between Kakashi's muscled chest and thighs, and Ino's bony elbows and knees.

"'Kashi! Git offa me!" Iruka groaned.

Always helpful, Genma chose that moment to casually lean back in the booth, removing Ino's vertical support. The three of them, Ino, Iruka, and Kakashi, all came toppling down backwards like dominoes. Ino on the bottom, sprawled out over Genma's lap, Iruka next, as he flopped over her lower body, and then Kakashi, grinning like mad and still after his prize as he crawled bodily over Ino and Iruka. Genma plucked the book nimbly from Ino's grasp before Kakashi could grab it, and flipped it over to Raidou with a smirk.

"Oi!" Raidou yelled, getting Anko's attention before he tossed the volume down to her. Kakashi tracking its progress like a cat with a mouse. He was coiled to spring, perched on top of Iruka as Anko looked left and right, trying to decide whether to toss the book back to Raidou or over to Asuma. Kakashi launched himself across the table like a panther and Anko made her decision, all but flinging the book at Gai instead.

The Green Beast hadn't been paying that close of attention to the goings on at the other end of the table, so confusion clouded his face as the orange book in question smacked him in the chest. His eyes widened though as he looked up to see his Eternal Rival flying across the table at him in mid pounce. Kakashi landed squarely on Gai, knocking them both backwards from the end of the table to sprawl on the floor in a heap. Kakashi snatched the book away from Gai and beat a hasty retreat while Gai bellowed his indignity and gave chase, much to the amusement of the rest of the table.

Iruka pulled himself up off of Ino with a muttered apology, one hand to his throbbing head. "Che...you know those books of Jiraiya's make him act like a total lunatic," he scolded, sliding out of the booth to go after Kakashi. "You guys can be such dicks!" Iruka told the laughing Raidou and Genma with a mock serious scowl.

"We try," Raidou replied saluting him with his shot glass when Iruka flipped them off and then left. Still shaking his head.

Ino put more space between she and Genma as she untangled herself from his lap now that Iruka was gone, and she smoothed her ruffled hair and clothes self-consciously, hoping she wasn't as red in the face as she felt.

Yuugao smiled brightly from the other side of Raidou and handed Genma another book the same size and shape as the 'Icha Icha' one. The boring green cover on this book reading, 'Shore Birds of Sea Country' on it. Genma chuckled and flipped the book open, already knowing what was inside.

"Decoy... Nice," he said, then offered the book to Ino. "Wanna borrow it?" he teased with a wink. Ino was getting used to Genma's teasing and flirting with her, one moment treating her a bit like a kid, and the next acting like there was possibly something between them. It still made her hesitate though, like standing on shifting sand as she tried to figure out how she was supposed to respond to him. She wondered if she ever would.

"Genma, quit picking on her already," Raidou chided jokingly, "You're gonna break the poor kid, just look at her." Ino put her hand behind her head and laughed loudly, taking her cues from Yuugao as she giggled behind her hand, and Raidou as he laughed. She was grateful to the Raidou for the save, even if it meant being the butt of the joke.

Some time later...

After Kakashi and Iruka's hasty departure the party started winding down. Anko disappeared leaving Asuma complaining loudly over having to pay her share of the bill too. Once the tab was finally all settled and they stepped outside, Ino took a deep cleansing breath of the cool night air and tipped her head back to look at the stars. When she closed her eyes she could feel the slow, slow spin of the world, telling her she'd probably had a tiny bit too much to drink. Shaking her head to clear it, she stumbled a little, bumping into Asuma.

More than a little tanked himself, her old sensei pounded her on the back and then put his arm around her shoulders, whacking her right on her new tattoo. Just when she'd almost forgotten about it, making the soreness come alive. "One of my favorite students..." Asuma proclaimed loudly, thumping her sore arm again. Ino grimaced. "My little loudmouth...you could be such a great shinobi if you'd just spend as much time on your training as you do worrying about your hair or chasing boys. Better than Shikamaru even. Haven't I always said that about her?" he asked Kurenai, dragging Ino along with him as he joined her.

"You have," Kurenai sighed, humoring him.

Trying not to feel offended, Ino carefully extracted herself from her former sensei's grasp and nudged him in Kurenai's direction. Asuma kind of slumped against Kurenai with a crooked grin, his lit cigarette dangling from his lips. Kurenai rolled her eyes and held him up. "Come on you good for nothing, let's get you home," she said fondly. Raidou went around to Asuma's other side to help take the load off of Kurenai as they supported the bearded jounin. Yuugao followed along, walking backwards as she waved goodbye.

"I'll see you tommorrow, Ino-chan! G'night Genma-kun!" she called before the four of them continued down the darkened street.

"Later," Genma replied lazily.

She'd almost forgotten Genma was there. He had this singular talent of fading into the woodwork unless he wanted to be noticed, then the magnetic pull of him was almost overwhelming to her. She was tempted to ask if it was a genjutsu he was employing, but she suspected the truth was that it was just him. The way he was, captivatingly ordinary.

"I'll walk you home," Genma said at last, rolling his senbon to the other side of his mouth as he stuck his hands in his pockets. Ino plucked absently at the long sleeve of her bandaged arm, trying to keep from fussing at her sore tattoo.

"Don't have to," Ino shrugged, but then fell into step beside him anyway.

"I know it."

The chirping of crickets and the slight sound of their sandals scuffing the ground was the only thing disturbing the late night stillness as they walked. Ino tried hard not to scowl as she kept dwelling on Asuma's criticism hidden in a compliment. Compliment or not, it still rubbed at her. Why couldn't he see she'd changed? She was kind of a part of the ANBU now, for crying out loud, and yet her old sensei still treated her like she was some green genin teenybopper chasing after Sasuke. It wasn't fair. TenTen and Hinata didn't get such treatment from their sensei's.

"He didn't mean it, you know, not the way it sounded," Genma said quietly a few minutes later. He could practically hear Ino fuming next to him.

"Eh?" she queried with a lifted eyebrow,

"Asuma. He was just drunk. I've never heard him say anything negative like that about you or your old team before, he's always spoken very highly of you," Genma told her.

"I guess. I just...sometimes I wish..he, they..." Ino faltered as she tried to find the most diplomatic way to say what she meant without overreacting. Genma stayed silent and just watched her silent struggle with herself. "I mean, I'm not a stupid thirteen-year-old genin anymore!" she finally burst out, her hands fisted on her slim hips as she stopped walking abruptly.

"No," Genma agreed.

"I've worked so hard, Genma, to get where I am now. To be taken seriously," Ino fumed, warming to her argument. "But do they ever see it? Hell no! They just all gave me crap about my clothes being too skimpy for me to be a serious ninja. Ha! Like what I wear has anything to do with how I fight! But I changed." She gestured viciously at her conservative outfit, a long-sleeved dark violet tunic and black pants edged with fishnet, her hitai-ate tied loosely around her waist. "They act like all I ever do is...is diet or chase guys! I don't see anyone ever giving Sakura a hard time, just cause she's Godaime-sama's favorite. It pisses me off!" Ino growled, punching the air in front of her briefly.

Genma rested his hand on top of her blonde head and the fight just evaporated out of her as she looked up at him. "Feel better now?" he asked, grinning around his senbon. Ino gave him a crooked almost sheepish grin in return as she blushed.

"Yeah, guess I just needed to vent. Sorry..." she mumbled. So much for not making an ass out of herself that evening.

"Doesn't bother me. I kinda like it when you're feisty and loud," he chuckled. "You remind me of someone..."

Genma snaked his arm around her neck to rest over her shoulders companionably as he guided her down the street with him. Ino was a very affectionate and open person herself with her closest friends, like Shikamaru and Chouji, so she kept reminding herself not to keep reading too much into Genma's casual touches. He was probably just more like her and needed human contact. Even surly stand-offish Shikamaru wanted hugs every once in a while.

"Gonna tell me who?" she finally worked up the nerve to ask. Hoping it was a good thing.

"Nope."

They came to the mouth of the long fenced alleyway that was a shortcut to her apartment building and Ino stopped, cocking her head to the side. Something wasn't quite right. Genma nudged her and she followed his lead immediately, ducking out of sight as they sent a couple of clones down the alley in their stead. Ino crouched at the corner, peeking around to watch the clones progress as she drew a kunai from her leg pouch. There was a genjutsu of some kind going on down toward the end of the alley, she could see it. Genma just leaned against the fence casually, arms folded over his chest and his eyes closed as he half smiled.

As Ino watched, the clones walked into the traps set at the mid point of the alley. It was quite spectacular really with smoke screens and flash tags. Their clones poofed out of existence when a barrage of shuriken from the sprung traps hit them.

Kakashi.

"Lame," Genma muttered at her side. Ino raised her arm to throw a kunai into the fray, but he stopped her. "Don't encourage him," he said, shaking his head. He picked up a broken piece of masonry from the head of the alley and hefted it in his hand, testing the weight of it. With a devious grin, Genma fished an exploding tag out of his pouch and fixed it on the bottom of the masonry then did a transformation on it so it looked like the 'Icha Icha Paragon'' book before lobbing it down into the alley. Ino gaped.

"That's encouraging him!" Ino pointed out accusingly. Several seconds later a small explosion sent up a cloud of dust and stone chips. "What the hell!" she hissed, "you two are gonna wake up the whole neighborhuh--!" Ino huffed out the rest of the sentence as an surprised squeak when Genma scooped her up and in two leaps carried them to a nearby roof overlooking the alley, several kunai burying themselves in the dirt where they'd just been standing.

"--neighborhood," Ino finished dumbly as he set her down. She should have been paying more attention. Genma was still grinning madly as he crouched on the roof, trying to figure out Kakashi's next move. He looked like he was having a ball. Ino just hoped he and Kakashi's fun wouldn't end up getting her kicked out of the neighborhood, she liked her little third floor apartment, and she looked over toward her building a half a block away with a wistful sigh.

Genma looked over his shoulder at her and held a finger to his smirking lips. With a quick tiger hand seal he did a henge and transformed into Iruka. "I'm really going to mess with him now...wanna help?" Genma's deeper voice sounded strange coming out of Iruka's cheerful face.

"Sure," Ino replied, drawing the end of the word up like a question. Genma/Iruka stood and reached into his back pouch, drawing out the actual book that Kakashi wanted so badly and then handing it to her. He just wanted her to guard the book? "Oh the responsibility. How ever will I handle it?" Ino said sarcastically, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance. Her tone wasn't lost on Genma, and he gave her a knowing smirk that looked completely wrong on Iruka's face.

"Ah, but I'm counting on you to see through his little genjutsu tricks and watch my back," he told her as he turned to go. Ino reached out and caught his sleeve, turning him back around. She held her hand out palm up and pointed at his mouth.

"Senbon."

"See? That's why I need you," he drawled with a wink as he gave her the long senbon he always had between his teeth. Ino was glad it was a dark night, because she could feel her face heat up and her heart trip over itself. He was doing it to her again. Ever since the day she'd met the older jounin he'd had this effect on her. It was like taking every girlish crush she'd ever had and balling it up with a great big fat dose of adult lust. Genma was her friend. They were just friends, she kept forcibly reminding herself. It didn't help much when he reached out and cupped her face in his warm palm briefly, running a calloused thumb over her cheekbone. The fact that he was still transformed to look like her old Academy sensei kept her from going totally weak in the knees. Because that thought was just kind of too 'eww' for her.

Ino sagged to sit on the rooftop with a heavy sigh after Genma vanished to cause more mischief. She propped her elbow on her knee and rested her chin in her hand as the faint metallic clinks of shuriken striking shuriken drifted up to her from the alley below. With the way they were carrying on it was a surprise the night patrol hadn't come by to break it up yet.

She remembered back when she became a genin and being a shinobi was all serious business, all the time. They would never dream of doing anything as childish as ambushing each other or setting pit traps in the middle of the village as a game. She'd learned later from people like Yuugao, Raidou, and Genma that the longer you were a shinobi, --the more dangerous missions you went on--, the more outlets for stress you needed to find. Ino knew Genma and Kakashi were just blowing off steam, but it was mildly ironic to her that two of the most experienced jounin in Konoha were acting like a couple of little kids playing ninja, stalking each other around a dark alley over some smut. And not even that great of smut either, she thought as she tucked Genma's senbon behind her ear and flipped the book in question open. She couldn't see too much in the diffused moonlight, but she'd seen some of Jiraiya's earlier work before and honestly, she didn't really see what all the fuss was about.

Maybe it just had a really fabulous plot.

"Why, Yamanaka Ino...whatever are you looking at, you naughty girl?" a familiar deep voice purred teasingly right into the shell of her ear.

Ino whipped her head to the side to see Genma hanging right over her shoulder, a lecherous grin pasted on his handsome face. She could feel the heat of him almost against her back and she didn't even hesitate, just rolled away from him and then hopped back out of range in a small burst of chakra. Letting loose towards his leering head with a couple of kunai for good measure, before she reached up and touched the senbon tucked behind her ear, just to be sure. Genma caught the kunai easily as he stood up, twirling them on his fingers as he rolled the senbon in his mouth to the other side.

"Told you she wouldn't fall for it, 'Kashi...you lose," Genma -the real one- said with a chuckle as he stepped out of the shadows behind Ino. Kakashi released the henge of Genma and smiled, his one visible eye crinkling.

"So you did. What gave me away?" Kakashi asked lightly, handing the kunai back to the furious Ino.

"What didn't give you away? You pervert!" she yelled, one fist raised and ready to do damage. Embarrassed that she'd let Kakashi sneak up on her, that was twice tonight that she'd been careless and distracted because of her thoughts. And twice that something Genma had said --and for a half of a heartbeat she had been fooled-- made all the blood rush to her face. She hated being embarrassed.

Kakashi held up both hands placatingly as he smiled at her. "No harm done, no hard feelings, Ino-chan?" he asked. Ino was sorely tempted to take Genma's long senbon from behind her ear and try some target practice on the Copy-nin with it, but Kakashi was too good. It would just be a waste of time and a perfectly good weapon. She folded her arms across her chest while still hanging on to the 'Icha Icha' and sulked.

"Yeah, whatever," she muttered, her cheeks still burning. Genma bumped her elbow lightly with his before taking the 'Icha Icha' volume from her hand and tucking it back into his pouch.

"Feel up to another couple of rounds, Genma? Iruka's got beer at his place," Kakashi asked, then turned his smiling gaze to Ino. "You're more than welcome too, Ino-chan."

"I think Ino has another date already," Genma said quietly before she could answer. Ino followed his gaze to the silent figure standing at the high point of the roof behind Kakashi. His white and red mask almost glowing in the ambient light.

Neji.

So much for having the night off.

AN: I am currently working on the next chapter and hope to have it finished soon.

Thanks always to Sedens for the proofing and putting up with me.