A/N: Once again, this story is set during the time interval between the first series and Shippuden

DISCLAIMER: obviously I don't own Naruto or its characters ^^

Chapter One: Westward Bound

Ino never fails to look her best, whether it's in a grand party, a boring clan reunion, or in a fifty-fifty life and death situation. She showed up in the Hokage Tower as early as always, with her hair well-brushed and tightly ponytailed, her clothes washed to perfection, and her face bright and cheerful. She peeped inside the Medical Training Room along the way, and saw her pink-haired rival Sakura, concentrating furiously, her fists balled together in front of her. They were glowing with blue chakra. Sakura looked much different than Ino remembered. Her hair was longer, now grown past her shoulders, and her arms, which were ones just as skinny and soft as hers, were now lean and firm. It was as if the happenings in her team yanked Sakura out of her naïve, superficial little realm and forced her to mature.

Suddenly, Sakura's spine stiffened. She turned around quickly and spotted Ino. "Oh, hey Pig. Going on a mission?"

Ino was sure she had been moving as silently as she could. Since when did Sakura learn how to detect foreign chakra so quickly?

"Yeah," Ino raised the scroll, "I was assigned to a C-Rank mission,"

"Lucky you," Sakura sat up and wiped her palms on the skirt of her red qipao. "I'm going to be cooped up in the village for the next few months, no doubt,"

"What were you doing just now?" Ino asked, "Your hands were glowing,"

"Just doing a few chakra concentration exercises," Sakura shrugged, gathering her things, "Tsunade-shishou said I need it for my next training. I have no idea what that training is going to be all about, though. How 'bout you? How's the Medical Training going?"

"Fine. I'm getting the hang of it. Shizune-san says I'm a natural," Ino was proud of the progress she made in her Medical Training. She swallowed every bit of her pride just to ask Sakura to convince the Hokage to apprentice her, too. It had been humiliating on her part, but it was worth it. As much as Ino hated to admit it to herself, or to anybody else for that matter, Sakura's skills were growing faster by the day, and she had trouble catching up. Her experience in working in her family's flower shop gave her the upper hand when it came to brewing healing antidotes though.

"If you're having trouble with anything, you can just ask your senpai," Sakura mocked with a cocky grin.

Ino sneered, "I'll pass, senpai,"

Sakura pushed open the door of the Hokage's office and stepped inside, followed by Ino. Tsunade was hunched over her desk, with papers scattered around the floor, a large empty bottle of sake was on the table, and the Hokage was snoring. Very loudly.

"Tsunade-shishou," Sakura sighed, walking over to the sleeping Hokage and shaking her shoulders, "Shishou, Ino's here,"

Tsunade woke up slowly, and Ino and Sakura stood back as far away as possible in case the obviously sleep-deprived Hokage felt the need to flip the table. Fortunately, she simply sat up and wiped her chin with her sleeves. She swept her arm over the table, and the two kunoichi watched the empty sake bottle and everything else that was on the table collapse on the floor.

"Umm…everything okay, shishou?" Ino asked cautiously.

"I'm fine. Just had too much to drink last night and work's piling up and—bah!" She slammed her fist against the table, staring around drowsily.

Ino and Sakura both backed away simultaneously.

"Shishou, you sent a mission scroll to me yesterday," Ino tried reminding her, "You said I was going on a C-Rank mission with Hyuga Neji-san,"

"I remember that," Tsunade snapped, but the expression on her face told the two kunoichi that she didn't remember at all. "So where is Hyuga?"

"I'm here,"

Ino and Sakura both jumped at the sound of his smooth voice, coming from the back of the room. He stepped out of the shadows and into the light, a calm expression on his face. How did he even get in here? Ino thought to herself. But Hyuga Neji just turned into a Chunin, so perhaps his ability to sneak around unnoticed shouldn't be all that surprising. Ino was displeased with this fact. She was supposed to be the espionage ninja around here. It ran in her family.

"Good," Tsunade was rummaging around her desk in a disoriented manner, no doubt trying to find scroll for their mission. After a few moments, Ino was positively sure she was about to flip her table upside down, but thankfully, she found it before it happened. Tsunade slapped a scroll on top of her table, pleased with herself. Neji sauntered over to pick it up. Obviously, he was going to be in charge again.

"Shishou, where are the other team members?" Ino asked.

"I'm only sending three of you," Tsunade replied, "The last one is Inuzuka Kiba from Team Kurenai. He should be here soon,"

"Great," Ino groaned. Her first mission in months was with a prissy know-it-all and a loudmouthed moron.

By the time Kiba arrived, Tsunade was sober enough to avoid chucking her desk at him for being late. He sauntered over to Sakura's side. "So, what's the mission?"

"This is basically a very simple mission," Tsunade informed them, hands clasped together on the table in front of her, "It should actually get a D rank for its simplicity, but things can get a little tricky. After all, I'm sure none of you have actually gone on a mission like this before," She turned to Ino, who was listening attentively, "The main participant of this mission is actually Ino,"

Ino looked baffled, "Me?"

"I'm sending Inuzuka as support," Tsunade continued, "And I'm sending Hyuga to lead,"

"Wait, wait, back up, shishou," Ino waved her hands in front of the Hokage, "What do you mean I'm the main participant? I'm not going to be used as a decoy, am I?"

"It's a little like that actually," Tsunade replied, eliciting a mortified groan from the blonde Yamanaka.

"This mission does not require violence or much physical force," This time, the loudmouthed Inuzuka made disapproving noises.

"This is an espionage mission," Tsunade continued, "And I'm guessing that's somewhere around your forte, Yamanaka. Isn't your clan originally filled with espionage ninjas?"

Indeed. The ninjas from the Yamanaka clan are talented spies. "Yes, shishou,"

"This mission can get a little tricky, but nevertheless, if done right, it can be fairly easy," Tsunade stared at the curious faces of Ino and her temporary teammates. "Your target is a business tycoon from the westernmost areas of The Land of Fire. He goes by the name Shihoudani Saiga. There are rumours that he is involved with the upper echelons of the Hidden Mist Village, and as you know, it has already been confirmed that the Hidden Mist has connections, if not affiliated, with the Akatsuki,"

Ino never had any first-hand experiences with the Akatsuki, but she knew that they were a group of extremely dangerous ninjas who got inside the Hidden Leaf once in an attempt to kidnap Naruto.

"And this is where you come in, Ino," Tsunade said sharply, "You need to coax information out of him,"

Ino's mouth dropped open, "What? You mean…like seduce it out of him?"

"I said coax," Tsunade emphasized dryly, "Not seduce,"

"Then get Hyuga or mutt boy over here to do it," Ino said, jabbing her thumb towards her current teammates' directions.

"It'll be easier if a girl does it," Tsunade said, "You know that more than anyone, Ino. If you play it well, this mission can be done overnight,"

"Can't we beat it out of him instead?" Kiba suggested.

"And let the Hidden Mist and possibly the Akatsuki know about it?" Tsunade raised a brow, "Absolutely not. That's why we need to gather information discreetly, to render them unprepared. Element of surprise, Inuzuka. It's a basic, common tactic, but it can tip the odds to your favour if done correctly."

"You did a similar mission back then, right Ino?" Sakura said in an attempt to encourage her. Sakura was of course, talking about that strange little mission she took with Naruto back then. Her mission was to disguise herself as a princess and flirt with the princess' fiancé. It felt like ages ago, and this time, Ino didn't want that kind of mission anymore. She was honestly hoping for a mission that would be able to test her worth—her skills and knowledge—real worth; not just her looks and charms.

"I'm still going to give you a chance, though, Ino," Tsunade told her, "If you don't want to do it, you can back out. I actually have a few other alternatives prepared in case you decide to,"

One of those alternatives was probably Sakura, and there was no way Ino was going to lost. "I think I can handle it, shishou,"

"Good," Tsunade rested her chin on top of her entwined fingers, "Shihoudani Saiga's villa is located near the westernmost borders, right before the Sayuri mountain range. The village of Sayuri is nearby, as well. It's a rather festive village filled to the brim with gambling joints and drinking pubs. The perfect place for a snake like Saiga,"

Ino wanted to point out that perhaps Tsunade would like that village too, but she wisely chose not to.

They left the Hokage Tower after Neji asked for some more details about the mission. Ino didn't bother to listen this time. The horizon wasn't looking too good for this mission; she could see a storm brewing miles away. Sakura accompanied them to the village gate, chattering about medical lessons, antidotes, boys and training. Ino noticed she still wasn't talking about Sasuke. The dark circles under the pink-haired kunoichi's eyes, proof of her despair after Sasuke's departure, lightened overtime, and she could see that Sakura was laughing and smiling genuinely this time. That's good, Ino thought. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she sort of worried for her rival, too. Sasuke's departure saddened her too, but for Sakura, he was a teammate. Ino didn't want to think about how she would feel if either Shikamaru or Choji ever left. As annoying as they were, she was actually quite fond of them.

"—if he's hot,"

"Huh?" Ino blinked, "Sorry Sakura, I didn't catch that,"

Sakura rolled her eyes, "I said, I wonder if Shihoudani Saiga is hot,"

"I hope he's not some old lecher," Ino shuddered, "A business tycoon could only mean one thing—he's definitely way older than us,"

"That's just like you, Yamanaka," Kiba said, his arms folded together behind his neck, "Worrying about the target's age instead of the success rate of the mission itself,"

Ino shot him an irritated glare, "Shut it, Inuzuka! It's not like you're the one who's actually going to talk to him. If you were told to bat your eyelashes at someone unwillingly, you'd wish the person's hot, too,"

Kiba only chuckled. Neji walked in front of their group, as silently as always.

When they reached the gates, Sakura stayed behind and waved until they were out of sight. Briefly, she wondered if they were going to be okay. Neji and Ino were two of the most incompatible people she knew, be it as friends or as lovers. And lumping a stoic by-the-book kind of guy with a prissy emotional train-wreck on a mission together was bound to produce some unsightly results. Here's to hoping that Neji's prodigal skills can withstand an emotional hurricane like Ino.

Frankly, the odds weren't really tilting towards Neji's favour.