A/N: Late update. Chapter I was working on got too big, the previous one too angsty. Expect one as it's own story sometime in the future, the other in here once it's been revised.

WARNING: Contains more language than my previous chapter and probably any future chapters. Consider the rating M. Because I'm paranoid like that.

(Note! =HxI= means a line break or POV switch.)

Ino knew she shouldn't have had that last drink. She stumbled out to her car, confusedly fumbled around her purse for the keys, and started the engine.

Shikamaru had offered to drive her home, being mostly sober, but she refused. She'd made the drive home before (Although that was after consuming considerably less alcohol) so she could do it again. Besides, she didn't need to be drunk in a car with him.

For all his complaining about women, Shikamaru was quite the player. Perhaps it was the stubble on his chin, the cigarette hanging from his mouth, that smirking smile, or the athletically muscled body that drew women to Shikamaru. Ino didn't know, and didn't care to find out. The memory of the last attractive player's trap she'd fallen into was still fresh in her mind. Sasuke Uchiha. Bastard

"Crap!" Ino shouted, staring out her windowshield. A white squad car was sitting outside her apartment. Ino knew there was no way she would be able to park in the awkwardly slanted parking spots without giving away her current condition. She quickly turned onto a side road and randomly drove on, turning and twisting her way until she was driving on a road right behind the parking lot of a big, abandoned, warehouse-like building.

All that separated the road from the parking lot was a tiny, tiny curb and a strip of grass, mulch, and flowers. Ino made a quick decision, twisted the steering wheel, and ran right over the curb and flowers, swerved into the parking lot, and shut off her car. She was dead-tired, drunk, and could care less if she slept in a bed or in her car. The only thing on her mind was how bad of a hangover she was going to have. tomorrow...

=HxI=

"Shit! My geraniums! I'm gonna kill the fuckhead that did this, rip his arms of his body and burn him alive!" Hidan cried, his eyebrows bent in uncontrollable anger. "Who did this? I'm coming for you, you son of-"

"What's the matter Hidan, someone ruin your precious flowers?" Hidan turned around to face the sneering Kisame.

"Shut up, sharkface!"

"Meh, don't feel like it. By the way, idiot, follow those muddy tire tracks and you'll find a car parked over there." Kisame gestured with his thumb and Hidan jumped up.

"Where's the bastard? I'll get him for this!" He started running, following the messed up and swerving tracks through the parking lot.

As he dashed around, he heard Kisame mutter, "That gardener... takes his job much too seriously."

"I'm a lawnscaper, sharkface!" Hidan shouted.

When the tracks ended, Hidan looked up and saw a single purple car stranded in the middle of the giant parking lot, behind one of the smaller buildings. He angrily stomped over to it and started banging on the driver's window. He could see someone sleeping, covered up by a jacket, their face buried in the seat.

"Hey, hey, wake up you bastard! You freakin' think you can run over my flowers and get away with it? Fuck you! Okay?"

"What... ooh! M'head!" Hidan heard the muffled sound of someone muttering in a half-awake state and started banging harder.

"You heard me! Wake up, you psycho-ass!"

The blanket moved around, slipped off to reveal the newly awoken underneath it. Long blonde hair, tangled and messy, swiveled slowly around until Hidan could see the long bangs hanging over one side of the face and the single visible eye -sky blue- glaring at him.

"Damn! You're a bitch!" Hidan yelled, taking a step backwards.

=HxI=

Ino glared with all the power of her hungover fury at the maintenance man who dared interrupt her slumber.

He slowly backed up, still yelling out curses like there was no tomorrow. Ino clamped a hand to her head in pain. She grabbed her purse, dug in it for her bottle of aspirin, retrieved the bottle, and opened it to reveal the empty insides.

A dark cloud of doom hung over the car as Ino's eyebrows bent further in rage. She could still hear the maintenance man, swearing louder and louder, cursing at her for something she couldn't make out between the colorful language.

Ino opened the door, tripped out of the car, and pulled herself to her feet, ignoring the naseua that pulsed through her ever fiber.

"Give me aspirin or die." She muttered, as soon as the maintenance man stopped his cussing barrage to take a breath.

"What?"

"Don't make me scream it! Aspirin!"

"Hell no!"

Ino once again clutched her head as the sudden movement made her stomach lurch.

She stumbled over to the side of the car, and puked onto the asphalt as the maintenance man snapped into action. Alternately swearing at her and yelling for some "Sharkface" to get her some aspirin, he ran away, but his loud voice never got any fainter.

He returned, and Ino heard the sound of running water before she was hit straight in the face with an icy spray. She screamed, but her mouth filled with water and she both swallowed and breathed some in, and had to fall down to the ground as she coughed and choked.

"Not there, you idiot bitch!" Screamed the maintenance man. Ino opened her eyes, letting a few drops of water that clung to her lashes fall in her eyes and temporarily hinder her vision and looked at where she was sitting.

Right in her own vomit.

"Dammit." She muttered, burying her face in her hands.

=HxI=

Hidan screamed and yelled and cursed and cussed until the airheaded blonde staggered up and out of the way, and then he washed her vomit down the drain with his hose, his finger clamped over the opening to make the spray more focused and powerful. He looked over at the girl, her blonde hair now dark and clinging to her body as she shivered.

"What the heck?" Hidan turned around and rolled his eyes. Just what he needed.

"Shut up, Deidara, and go give that bitch over there some aspirin."

"Do it yourself, un."

"Do I freakin' look like a carry a damn bottle of aspirin with me, idiot?"

"Fine..." Deidara disappeared, presumably to get the blonde some aspirin. Hidan turned his attention back to washing the puke down the drain. Once he finished, he turned back to the girl and focused his anger at his thumb numbing with the cold of the water on her.

"Stand by the drain, turn your back towards me, and I'll clean you off." He ordered, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

"But... the water's cold." She said, quietly.

"Damn straight."

"But... I'm... I-"

"Do you want to walk around with vomit on your ass?"

"No." The girl reluctantly walked over to the drain and turned away from Hidan. It was then that Hidan saw the tight, white pants stopped halfway down her calf and the clear picture they gave of her ass.

"Nice..." He muttered to himself, grinning. The girl turned her head around and glared at Hidan.

"I know what your thinking. Don't mess with me, I'm pretty badass when I'm hungover."

Hidan snorted. "Yeah, I can totally tell that from your vomit." He didn't give her a chance to respond, and started spraying her with the hose. As anyone knows, white cloth becomes see-through when wet, making his job much more enjoyable.

"Are you done yet?" The girl asked.

"Shut up. I'm done when I say I'm done."

"Jerk." She muttered.

"Heard that, bitch."

"My name's Ino."

"Don't give a fuck."

"I'm back! And I have aspirin!" Hidan turned around to see Deidara.

=HxI=

Ino looked up at the young man in front of her, and realized he looked a lot like her.

"Aspirin...?" She choked out, shivering in her freezing, drenched clothes.

"Yeah, un! Hey, you look a little like me? What, are we cousins are something?"

"Aspirin." She repeated, glaring at the blonde.

"Oh, yeah! Here ya go!" He tossed the bottle, but the silver-haired jerk caught it in mid-air.

"Eh eh eh. I'll give you the aspirin if you give me your car keys." Ino scowled, dug in her pocket, and produced the keyring. She threw them to him and he retaliated with the aspirin bottle. Ino happily poured two capsules in her hand and swallowed them.

"So, Hidan, uh, what are you gonna do with this girl, un?" The blonde said.

"Get your mind the hell outta the gutter, Deidara. Wait for her to dry off, then take her to leader. He can call the cops and they can throw her in the slammer for trespassing and nail with a DUI or something."

"Oh, okay." The three sat there in silence as Ino shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. "Shouldn't you get her a towel?" Deidara asked.

"Shut up. Do I look like a fucker with a bleeding heart or something? Din't think so. Bitch ran over my geraniums."

"Geraniums? You're this uptight over some freakin' flowers?" Ino said.

"I'm the gardener, okay? Flowers took me forever to grow. Some shitheaded bitch thinks they can run them over and get away with it? Hell no!"

Ino sighed, shivered again, and let the silence begin again. Better than a conversation with this psycho.

=HxI=

Hidan waited until Ino stopped dripping, then grabbed her by the arm and made sure she didn't try to escape as he led her into the building and up the elevator and steps to Leader's office.

First they had to get through Itachi, the security man. Well, Kisame and Itachi were security. Kisame was supposed to be the muscle, but he was always wandering around causing trouble. Itachi was the brains of the partnership, and besides scaring the pants of people with his special intimidation stare, he handled all the security and surveillance equipment. Itachi fixed Ino with one of his stares and after careful scrutiny, gave them the nod that decreed entry. Hidan rolled his eyes and quickly ushered Ino in.

Next was Tobi, the elevator man. Hidan suffered through two floors with the hyperactive guy asking Ino non-stop questions before he left and used the stairs for the remaining four flights.

After Tobi came Konan, Leader's secretary and assistant. She set her cool gaze on Hidan, Ino, and Deidara for several minutes each before paging them in. When they finally gained entrance into Leader's office, Deidara immediately plopped on one of the two chairs and Hidan shoved Ino in the other, standing behind her so she couldn't run. Leader looked up from his paperwork and gave each of them their third stern look.

"If this is about on of Deidara's family members getting a job, you can forget it."

"The fuck it has to do with Deidara! Why are you even here?" Hidan shouted. Deidara frowned.

"If this is about one of Hidan's fellow Jashinists getting a job, you can for-"

"Bitch sure as hell ain't no Jashinist!"

"Use your inside voice, Hidan." Hidan scowled at the redheaded man.

"Look, this bitch ran over my geraniums, and thinks she can get away with it. Hell no! Call the police and get her for trespassing!"

"Hidan... do we really have to get the law enforcement involved in this?" Leader rubbed his forehead in an attempt to stifle the anger, but Hidan ignored it.

"Fuck yeah! Bitch has to pay!"

"It was an accident!" Pleaded Ino.

"Sure it was!"

"I'm not really involved in this, un. I think I should go." Leader waved his hand at Deidara and he left. Hidan watched Deidara's back until the door closed, than turned back to Leader.

"Just make her pay." He said.

"Have her replant the flowers that can be salvaged, Hidan. Then, seeing as she seems to be hungover, you can drive her home and then when you get the other flowers, have her come and help you plant them. Nothing as drastic as you're suggesting, but I'm not letting her off."

"Just letting her off easy."

"Easy as hell." Muttered Ino.

"Quiet! This is my final decision! If you don't agree, Hidan, I'll let the girl leave without doing anything to pay for the mess she made of your gardenias."

"Geraniums."

"Whatever. Girl, if you don't agree, I can have the cops here in two seconds."

"Fine..."

Hidan scowled, but there was nothing he could do about it. "Follow me, bitch." He said.

=HxI=

Ino pulled the glove on, then the other one. Outside, it had finally warmed up. She pulled on the pair of overalls over her white leggings and fastened the suspenders. They were big and bulky but better than nothing. To complete her look, rubber boots. The boots and overalls were borrowed from Hidan who had two extra pairs of everything, excluding the really expensive machinery. The shed where Ino quickly donned the gardening gear smelled of gasoline, mulch, cut grass, potting soil, rubber, and plants. The clothes had the smell of dirt and grass and sweat mixed in them, along with some kind of deodorant. They hadn't been cleaned for awhile, but Ino didn't mind.

This would be the easy part. She just didn't want to have Hidan drive her home.

She walked out of the shed, saw Hidan leaning against another outbuilding with a few small gardening tools in hand, and stopped. He took notice of her and immediately left, assuming she would follow behind. He was right.

They stopped at the strip of earth between the road and driveway, rimmed by the low curb. Hidan knelt, waited for Ino to kneel beside him, and tossed her a rake and shovel.

"Here, I hope you know how to use these." Ino nodded, and took the shovel. She started on the nearest flower, brushing the soil gently off it's leaves and covering it's roots with the dirt. She began the next, saw it was beyond repair, and dug it out. She could tell just by looking, these plants had been newly planted, and wouldn't survive the damage they'd taken, even if the particular flower was perenniel.

"Your good at this." Hidan's voice made her jump. She looked up from where she was stretching over to put the flower in the bucket he'd brought and stared into his purple eyes.

"Yeah, well, grew up working part time in my parent's flower shop." She had turned her attention back to the flowers and was once again startled as he heard him laughing.

"No way! Bitch like you in a flower shop?" He started cracking up as Ino scowled.

"Yeah, well it didn't last too long. I took off to earn my nursing degree and haven't seen or thought about the flower shop for awhile."

"Heh, sounds familiar. I grew up in a tourist town and ran away from home when I was, oh let's see... nine? Yeah, nine. Couldn't stand the fucking hellhole."

"And now your a gardener." Ino couldn't help but comment, with a snide tone in her voice.

"Lawnscaper! And it sure as hell beats being a drunken nurse-in-training who sat in her own vomit." Ino blushed, and looked down, returning her attention to the flowers.

"So you have it a little better than I do, whatever. Karma's a bitch."

"Ha! Then the two of you should get along great!" He crowed.

"If she'd stop courting a certain idiot and kick him in the balls like he deserves, than yeah, we would."

=HxI=

"Hope you aren't talking about me."

"Nah, some other son of a bitch. Listen, you don't need to drive me home. I can do it myself."

"Yeah, you sure proved that last night."

"She sure proved what last night?" Hidan groaned, pulled up the nearest trampled flower and threw it at the voice. He looked up and was rewarded with dirt-splattered Kisame.

"Get your head out of the fucking gutter, sharkface."

"Make me." Kisame squatted down. "It's so nice to see that Hidan finally found someone who shares his interests. What's your name, beautiful lady?"

"Ino." She still didn't look up at Kisame. Hidan saw she was fussing around with something in the dirt.

"Ino? What a lovely name. Too bad your tastes run to such as Hidan." As Kisame blathered on, Ino subtly turned so Hidan could see what she was messing around in the dirt with. There, beneath a freshly fixed-up flower, were four words scrawled in block letters.

Hidan grinned, nodded, and watched as Ino happily took advantage of his answer to her question "Can I hurt him?".

Kisame rubbed his shin and glared at Ino as she walked back to Hidan. She knelt down, and without glancing back, said "Either shut up or help work."

Kisame glanced from Hidan to Ino, and then back again. "I changed my mind. She's perfect for you, Hidan."

=HxI=

As the sun set, Ino finished watering the last flower and yawned. She had enjoyed today: not only did she help with the geraniums but she had helped Hidan with all his other work as well. It felt good to work with nature again, without the rush and bustle of the hospital to disturb her. Of course, there was that instance of the man Hidan called "Sharkface" hitting on her but she solved that rather quickly...

Hidan was silent as he worked, occassionally interrupting the work to tell her a certain technique or tell her they were switching to another area or different task. The day passed by, and Ino had the most fun she'd had in a long time.

Hidan caught sight of her yawn and smirked. "Tired?"

"A little. I think I should be heading back now." Ino stood up, as did Hidan, and she remembered his order to drive her home. "Oh, I can make it back. Don't bother yourself."

"When Leader gives you an order, you either obey or wake up in an alleyway with no memory of what happened, no money or shoes, and sometimes a finger missing." Hidan deadpanned.

"Ah, well..."

"Besides, do you seriously think I'm gonna let a little flower-wrecking bitch like you disappear? You still have to plant those flowers when I order them." His grin made Ino sigh.

"You're a miser, you know that?" She said.

"Can't hang around that old bastard Kakuzu for too long and not have some of his money-grubbing ways rub off on you."

Ino resigned herself to her fate, smiling at her dramatic apprehension, and dusted off her gloved hands before pulling the gloves off as she walked back to the shed. Once inside she took off the boots, loosened the suspenders over her shoulders, and pulled off the overalls. She slipped her shoes on, gathered the clothes, and turned around to place them on the shelf when she bumped into something.

It took her a few seconds to distinguish what her face, shoulder, and chest were pressed against. She couldn't see very well and whatever it was smelled exactly like the shed and was warm, firm, and moved. Then she heard the heartbeat and caught the scent of deodorant -the same fragrance that graced her borrowed overalls. The something she was so close to was in fact a person, and that person was Hidan.

"I'm sorry!" Ino cried, than wondered why she was apologizing.

"Yeah, yeah. Watch where you're going." Ino listened to the infuriatingly amused voice and watched the dark shadow move across the shed. "You know that the light switch is right here?"

Light flooded the room and Ino lowered her head to let her eyes gradually adjust to the brightness.

"Didn't need in the day, couldn't see it night." She supplied, closing her eyes tight. She didn't need to see to imagine the tilted head and scrunched eyes that would accompany Hidan's gales of laughter.

"What the hell? Ah, you're one funny bitch."

Ino glowered at him until her eyebrows hurt. "Am not." She pouted.

Hidan ignored her and took off his overalls, boots, and gloves and put on his shoes and walked out the door. Ino followed as he went straight to her car. He opened the door, sat in the drivers seat, and started the engine. After he reached over to unlock the passenger door, Ino slid in and watched as he shifted gears and then planted his foot firmly on the pedal. Watching him, it was almost like he wasn't used to the tiny car -even though Ino's car was normal sized- and unfamiliar with how to handle it.

"You drive a truck or something?"

"Huh?" Hidan looked over at her, lip caught in his upper teeth, as if he had been lost in thought.

"You look like you're having trouble."

"Oh." His face relaxed as he mulled it over, gave a satisfied scoff, and grinned. "It's 'cause I raced -fucking good at it too! Street racing. I'm used to bigger, pimped-up vehicles. They called me Mr Immortal Bastard 'cause I was bastard and survived more accidents than anyone else."

Ino wondered at the shine of excitement in his eyes. Where had the calm gardener from before gone?

=HxI=

Despite his unease with the car at first, Hidan managed to get used to it fairly quick and was zooming along the streets with a maniacal grin. Ino took it relatively calmy, turned the radio so some rap song with a strong beat was providing background noise, and made conversation with him as she gave him directions. Occasionally she'd snap at him to "Slow the hell down! This is police patrol area!"

Hidan was enjoying himself. It had been awhile since he'd felt the urge to drive on the edge again, and the unfamiliar car only made the adrenaline rush more enjoyable.

"Hidan, when will the geraniums you ordered arrive?" Ino asked.

"In about two weeks. They're specially ordered because they match the building and road nicely and they'll survive almost anything... except for being run over. I'm getting them from a nursery across the country."

"Two weeks..." Ino sighed.

"Seems a long wait." Hidan said, meaning for his flowers, but also -surprisingly- meaning to see Ino again. Hidan remembered how happy she had looked working in the dirt, how her friendly silence made him so comfortable, how her slight sunburn on her nose was irrististible.

"I'm not a patient person, too." Ino complained. Hidan could only half-listen, but he still caught the sudden gasp at the end of her words and once again, the pair was silent. The each contemplated their new realizations, and being the first one to notice he had actually enjoyed the day, Hidan spoke first.

"I'm only supposed to get your address, but what if I got your phone number? I'll be getting some trees in this monday, and if you help me, we can finish early and-"

"Get something to eat. Reward our hard work with something nice?" Ino said.

=HxI=

Hidan smiled at her and Ino's heart jumped for joy. Even with her previous hesitance, she recognized she was attracted to Hidan; and no, the gentle but cursing-prone, sometimes violent but always charming gardener was nothing like Sasuke. Hidan was the type of bad boy that falls in love fast and breaks his heart, doesn't try to hide who he is or what he's thinking, and has a cheery way of looking at life. In fact, Hidan and Sasuke were exact opposites.

Ino bid Hidan goodnight, gave him her number, thanked him, and the two parted: Hidan to walk back, Ino to open the door to her apartment and sink into her bed.

Two days later, a saturday, Ino got called in to work even though it was supposed to be her day off. She groaned and put on her purple scrubs, preparing for yet another day working at a hospital that never ceased to remind her that she should by all rights be a nurse by now... Sakura was well on her way to becoming a doctor! Ino frowned as she slipped on her comfortable shoes, remembering that she was low on her funds and would have to take yet another break from earning her degree to a get a job that actually paid instead of this student work.

She remembered meeting the redheaded, piercing- covered "Leader" with Hidan and wished that it had been an interview and he had said yes, instead of him outright rejecting her and then making her pay for property damages and threatening cops. If she had a job now, even a part-time one, she could continue trying to earn her degree and still paying rent and eating and putting gas in the car. She was laid off two days before she met Hidan, and didn'r regret anything except settling for the low-paying, horrible job in the first place and having to wait until she could cash a check to drink away her worries.

Ino sighed, decided to deal with it all later, and left to go take all the grunt work of the hospital in her hands. She was lost in her job, too busy to do anything except count the hours until her lunch break, when she saw Hidan holding a bouquet arguing loudly and colorfully with someone at the nurse station.

Ino quickly tore off the blue rubber gloves, threw them in a trash can, and walked over to see he was arguing with. Her boss: Shizune. Ino groaned and plodded through the mess determinedly.

"Oh, Hidan, are you here for a patient?" She asked. "I can take it from here." She told Shizune, who looked extremely offended at being dubbed a "Bitch" by Hidan and stomped away.

"Hey Ino! Nah, everyone at Akatsuki Inc's all in good shape... unfortunately."

"Haha, so, um..."

"Don't give me that clueless face, bitch! Hell like you don't know why I'm here. You think I'm fucking patient? I like to wait? Dear Jashin, why do I put up with this shit! Just take the fucking flowers." He shoved a bundle of spindly but fragrant purple flowers in her arms. Ino recognized the round, ball-like heads and smiled.

"Globe Amaranth... and in my favorite color too." She looked up, surprised to see Hidan blushing. "How did you know? And how did you know I worked here and was working today?"

"Drove to your house, neighbor got in a fight with me for making noise, told me where you work. And it was a lucky guess: your shirt was purple and so are my eyes."

Ino laughed, breathing in the scent of the flowers once again. "You don't see these everywhere." She said.

"Nope. South American." Ino nodded as Hidan looked proud of himself.

"So, if you know that, I suppose you know what they mean?" She asked coyly. Hidan lost his triumphant look, seemed dazed, then glanced at her with clear embarassment.

"Immortal love..." He muttered. "They mean immortal love."

And, as Ino stood on her toes to kiss him, she hoped that immortal love it would be.

A/N: Geraniums mean gentleness. I cracked up when I found that detail in my research (Oh, wikipedia, how I do adore thee!) considering my first mention of them is rather eloquently surrounded by Hidan's favorite words.

Review?