"Please, Tsunade-shishou! I'm begging you!"

I was. I was down on my knees, prostrate on the ground before her desk. I was crying, my makeup was a wreck and my hair was completely disheveled. My clothes were in disarray and my heart was beating a mile a minute.

"Please," I said again, desperately hoping she would hear my plea.

There was a pause. And then she spoke.

"No."

Another pause and then laughter. Tsunade-shishou was laughing!

"I'm sorry, Sakura, but it really can't be as bad you make it out. They are your friends, more importantly, your team. Just... exert some leadership."

I sat up and looked at her, Inner's fury burning through my eyes. "Then you treat them."

Tsunade smiled, an idea brewing in her mind. "Only if you promise to do all my paperwork."

"No, no, no," Shizune said, striding into the room with Tonton close behind. The little pig came up to me and I scratched her ears while I frowned at Shizune.

"I'll do it," I promised. "Every last bit of paperwork."

"And none of it would be legal," Shizune replied. Before I got a chance to reply, she turned around swiftly and smacked shishou's hand as it reached into her desk for something. Based on the pile of papers in Shizune's hand, I was guessing it was her secret stash of sake. "You'll be fine, Sakura. What is the worst they can do?"

I would have answered, but the Village's fire alarm sounded and it said more than I could have. I disappeared and went to check on the hospital, somewhat surprised that it was not the building burning down. I walked into the waiting room and a haggard nurse catapulted herself towards me. The frazzled look on her face could only be the result of trying to check in on my team.

The nurse cried, muttering something about how one insulted her hair, the other almost attacked her when she tried to give her a shot, and the last... well Hinata was always quiet. I promised the nurse I would take care of it and stormed off towards the recovery ward.

Sure enough, it was in pure chaos. The male nurses were running around following Ino's sharp commands I could hear coming from the room. I saw them carrying pitchers of water, a vase of flowers and... was that a box of chocolates? I stepped in front of the door and they all came to a stop. I eyed each of them with disapproval, snatching items from their hands. Honestly, taking orders from Ino like that. What were they thinking?

"Hey, what's the holdup?" she demanded, suddenly sashaying to the door. Her blond hair was completely down, her robe was pulled in such away that nothing was indecent but, boy, did it give them a lot to imagine. And... when did she get bigger boobs than me?

"INO!" I yelled.

"Oh... hi, Forehead."

"Don't call me that!"

"Fine. Dr. Forehead. I needed a drink."

"And flowers and chocolates?" I yelled. "I told you, you are on a specific diet until I say so!"

"You could probably use the diet more then me," she smiled, poking my side... which was not flabby! It was just the way I was standing!

There was a harsh gasp from behind me and I could sense that the nurses were backing up. I looked at Ino, anger threatening to unleash the full force of Inner's wrath on her (which of all people, SHE should know not to invoke) but instead, I pushed her inside and then closed the door. I heard her protests but I ignored them as I turned to face the nurses behind me. I glared at them and they stood frozen in fear.

"BACK TO WORK!" I yelled and they scattered quickly. I turned back to the door and took in a deep breath. Shishou was right; I just needed to exert some control over the situation.

"Haruno-sensei?"

I almost bit off the head of the person that was asking me a question. Luckily, I had a bit of common sense left and decided to check who it was beforehand. Standing behind me was Hyuuga Hiashi, flanked by several members of his family. I groaned inwardly. I knew exactly what was coming up.

"Good morning, Hyuuga-sama," I said politely, quickly picking up Hinata's chart from the folder by the door. "Are you here to check in on Hinata?"

He nodded once. "And to see if I can convince you to allow her to come home."

I smiled and pulled up the pleasant noncommittal face that shishou had taught me was 'being diplomatic'. "I would, but to be honest, the last two members of your family I sent to your house to recover returned two days later with training injuries."

"A mistake that will not be repeated with my daughter," he said, tone smooth and without hesitation. The head of the Hyuuga had that polished voice that can only come from years of experience. And he was clearly going to outmatch any diplomacy I tried on him.

"Well..." I started, suddenly remember shishou laughing at me. "You should ask Hokage directly. Final discretion is with her."

When he agreed to do just that, I couldn't help but smile. Tsunade was completely on board with keeping Hinata here for another couple of days (what was it with Hyuugas and training?) so she'd have to defend the position herself. That'll make her day five times better.

I was relaying Hinata's condition as we opened the door. I sensed the danger as soon as I did and ducked, barely missing the pillow Ino tried to hit me with. Hiashi simply caught it and held it in front of him, looking at it with interest. No one spoke; Ino had turned pale as soon as she realized her mistake. Hinata just stared at him, as if waiting for something to happen. Tenten... odd, she was suddenly eying the floor by her bed as if she was plotting to escape under it.

Hiashi simply walked forward and held the pillow in front of Ino until she took it.

"Thank you, sir," she said politely, tugging her robe shut.

Hiashi continued forward to his daughter's bed, drawing the curtain closed around him and the other Hyuuga. Once they were gone from view, Ino looked at me sharply.

Why didn't you warn me? she mouthed.

Why did you try to hit me? I mouthed back.

Ino frowned and instantly started playing with her hair and straightening her clothes. She rifled through her drawer and pulled out her makeup, working on her eyes. I saw Tenten move out of the corner of my eye and shot across the room, grabbing her arm and pulling her back on the bed. She fought back, shaking her head at me and mouthing something that looked suspiciously like 'hide me'.

The curtain opened and we all stopped moving. I pretended to be checking on Tenten's arm, she pretended to be interested. And Ino... wait a second, was she flirting with Hiashi? I know that smile! It was her come-hither look!

Hiashi paused for a moment and glanced over at Tenten, giving her a brief nod of the head. She looked a bit sheepish but managed a smile back. He turned to Ino who continued the smile and added a blush. He quirked an eyebrow and turned to me.

"Thank you, Haruno-sensei, I will return once I've spoken with the Hokage to take Hinata home."

Yeah, good luck with that, I thought. But on the outside, I smiled and bowed and wished them all the most super pleasant morning possible. Well maybe not in those words, but definitely with that attitude. Eesh, Lee-san was starting to rub off on me.

As soon as they were clear, I whipped around and faced Ino. "Were you just flirting?"

Ino shrugged. "What? It's like Neji... but, like, thirty years later. You can't deny he's old guy hot."

My jaw dropped, Tenten blinked and then looked over at Hinata. She grimaced. "Ah... I think you broke Hinata, Ino." I looked over and it was true. Hinata was staring at Ino with a mixture of horror and disbelief.

"Oh come on, it was just a smile. It's not like I can't flirt with..."

"Flirt with who?"

"DADDY!" Ino cried, switching from normal to adorable in two seconds flat.

"BABY GIRL!" Inoichi replied, enveloping her in a hug. He looked like he had just gotten back from his mission; his uniform was dirty but his hair was still perfect. Behind him were Shikaku and Chouza, arms full of flowers. They both looked over and greeted Ino before depositing the flowers around her bed.

"They're beautiful!"

"I picked them for you on the way back!"

Chouza looked over at Shikaku who was bending backwards, trying to work out a kink in his back. Inoichi may have picked them but it was clear who had carried them. Their dynamic was exactly like Ino's team.

"So, Sakura-chan," Inoichi said, turning to me. "Is my baby giving you any trouble?"

I put on my best smile. "Of course not, sir. She's just... perfect!"

Inoichi laughed. "You're a good liar," he said, patting me on the head. "Wow, you grew up while I wasn't looking."

I twirled a strand of pink hair in my fingers and blushed. "Not that much..."

"No, you've grown from being cute to being quite pretty."

I giggled and waved him off. He laughed and kissed Ino once before taking his teammates out the door, promising her they'd be back tomorrow. Ino shouted out how much she loved him and then turned on me with angry eyes.

"Were you just flirting with my dad?" she demanded.

I stuck out my tongue at her. "He's old guy hot."

"THAT'S MY DAD!"

"You... you flirted with my father!" Hinata squeaked, suddenly come back to her senses.

Neji had taken two steps into the room at that point and came to a dead stop. He looked immensely confused and ready to backpedal out of what clearly was something he never, never wanted to hear. Ino and I lunged at the same time, grabbing an arm each before he could get away.

"HI, NEJI!" we cried in unison, dragging him towards Tenten's bed. He was forced to take a seat before we let go, stepping back with our arms linked and staring at them dreamily. EVERYONE knew the story. The last desperate attack, the valiant run to save her. It was like a fairy tale come true! And we were going to watch the happily ever after.

Or we would have if he hadn't have pulled the curtain around so we couldn't see. We knelt down on the ground and strained to hear. There was nothing!

Ino looked over to Hinata and pointed to her eyes, motioning to open them. I nodded vigorously and did the same motion which just confused Hinata. At the same time Ino and I mouthed BYAKUGAN but as soon as we did we heard Tenten call out.

"Don't even think about it."

Ino frowned and looked around, trying to find another way to eavesdrop. She picked up a glass and held it to the curtain. I smacked my forehead.

The curtain opened and Neji appeared, uttering a polite good evening before exiting the room. I looked up at Tenten and found her blushing still ever so slightly. Ino immediately jumped on her bed.

"DETAILS!" she demanded, jumping up and down. I joined her shortly and we both were kneeling on Tenten's bed, bouncing around like idiots while singing our refrain.

"AH! STOP!" she cried, putting her hands over her ears.

"Fill. Us. In." Ino demanded.

"No!"

"Tenten-chan," I whined. "Come on. We don't have a love life. We need to live vicariously through you!"

"Yeah!" Ino replied. "Forehead doesn't have a love life. So spill!"

"I'm not the type to kiss and tell," Tenten stated.

"AH! THERE WAS KISSING" Ino squealed.

"There was not!" Tenten protested. "Not in a hospital. How would that be romantic at all?"

"Hey!" I said. This was my hospital and it was plenty romantic once you got past the bed pans, the blood and... okay maybe she had a point.

"I DEMAND to be invited to the wedding. In fact, I think I should be maid of honor for getting you two to hook up," Ino stated.

At that, Tenten did what any normal, sane person would do. She reached around, grabbed her pillow and hit us with it.

Ino shrieked with indignation and turned to Hinata. "Hina-chan. Arm me."

Hinata smiled and tossed a pillow to her before jumping off the bed and coming towards us, her hand clutching a second pillow. Ino hit Tenten, Tenten hit me and Hinata got a good shot on Ino. In a second, chaos completely reigned and the hospital room was an explosion of feathers.

"Ahem."

We all jumped to attention. Ino hit me with the pillow once more, though, just because she always had to win.

Shishou stood at the door, arms crossed against her chest. Behind her the nurses had all bustled back to work, looking as if they had been doing that all day.

"I see everyone is feeling better," she said. "Sakura, if you have a moment."

I pulled feathers from my hair as I quickly went over to where shishou was waiting for me. She rolled her eyes and plucked a feather from my shirt. "So... I see they are real trouble."

I looked at her sheepishly and followed as she led me away from the ward towards her office.

"Thank you to for sending Hiashi my way," she continued.

"I'm sure you had a pleasant discussion." She snorted and smiled at that.

The hospital office was not nearly as grand as the Hokage's office but I think shishou preferred it in some ways. It reminded her of the good old days of being a simple medic. And it contained a stash of alcohol that Shizune hadn't found yet. Shishou pulled out two cups and poured them. I got the message and sat down. We were going to have a serious talk. And I had a pretty good idea of what it was.

"I didn't put the Ruby order on Sasuke," she said.

I nodded. "I know. You promised you wouldn't."

She looked at me as if she wanted to say more. I know she worried about me. That I was still clinging to the past.

"I don't know who did," she added. I looked up at her surprised. "And it makes me realize... I don't know who to trust anymore."

"You can trust me," I said firmly. "You can trust my team."

She smiled and nodded. "I know. But this is a lot to ask. If someone somehow manipulated the council enough to fake a Ruby order..."

I looked at her with continued determination. I believed in my team, that we could complete any task that was given to us. Even this. "Shishou. I promise we will find out who did this." I held the cup up. She looked at it for a moment before clinking it with her own. We both drank the sake down, the best way we knew how to seal an agreement.

Shishou poured another cup. "Are you... okay, then?" she asked.

I shrugged and nodded, taking the cup in my hand. "He didn't cause anyone to get killed," I said. "I guess that's..." Something? Ugh, that sounded so pathetic. Hey, the guy I love... er loved, is usually way more homicidal then this.

"Did you find anything in the book?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Not yet but..." Shishou finished her cup and put it down. She stood up, leaving the bottle on her desk.

"They found Uchiha Itachi's body last week," she said as she left.

I didn't move. I didn't breathe. The cup in my hand clattered to the ground. It took me almost half an hour to stop shaking.

I woke up the next morning being vigorously shaken by Shizune. I didn't even remember falling asleep.

"Really, Sakura... I hope you don't pick up any more of her bad habits," Shizune chastised, pointing to the empty sake bottle.

"Oh..." I said, not really remembering how I had managed to take that much down. Odd, I didn't feel bad at all. I eyed the bottle and saw a familiar shade of red. That wasn't my lipstick at all. Shishou must have snuck in after I fell asleep and finished it herself!

"Sakura," Shizune said, standing in front of me with a serious face. "Please, please, for the sake of this hospital, discharge your team."

I cringed and went outside to get a look at the damage.

For once, everyone was extremely diligent with their paperwork. And so, by mid-afternoon, everyone was standing outside heading home.

"Seven o'clock on the dot!" Ino demanded. "Don't even think of not showing up well dressed and ready to party. I will come find you."

Tenten waved her bandaged arm as she wandered off with Hinata. I sighed. Only Ino would demand a victory party for getting out of the hospital. I followed her as she headed home. She barely limped but I could occasionally see the strain as she moved.

"Ino..." I started. It was the first time we were alone. I wanted to apologize. For not answering her call. When I showed up for ice cream and she wasn't there and then I got the alert... it's not something I ever wanted to relive.

"It's fine," she said, waving off my concerns. "I should have backed you up at the debriefing."

"I guess," I replied.

She came to a full stop. "Look. Are you okay? I mean, first the opera and now here."

I nodded. "Yeah, I mean... I think so. I just... if anything had happened to..."

"It didn't," she interrupted. "And honestly... that creepy guy could have killed us all." She frowned. "I guess Sasuke is a bit less homicidal then before."

I giggled and enveloped her in a hug. "Thanks Ino. You're the best."

"I know," she sighed, hugging me back. "Oooh, you're squishy!"

"I'M NOT SQUISHY, PIG!"

Ino ran off and I followed her. We spent the rest of the afternoon digging through her closet for clothes. She called everyone she could think of, making them promise to be there with bells on. She made me wear a green dress that was way, way too short. Until I saw the black number she tried on.

"Come on, we're going to be late," she said, climbing out her bedroom window.

"Why don't we just go downstairs?" I asked, not looking forward to trying to climb down a tree in high heels.

"Duh, like I would let my dad see me in this," she replied before disappearing.

The place Ino picked was nice. There were a couple of bars, a lot of seating and music played at just the right volume. Ino left me quickly and started to mingle. I found Naruto standing at the bar waving his arms around. Hinata was sitting close by looking positively adorable in her lilac dress. I didn't think the blush on her cheeks was due to any makeup.

"And then Hina-chan was like BAM!" Naruto exclaimed, waving his arms around wildly. "It was incredible. I couldn't even keep track of what she was doing. And then WHAM the book opens. It was the coolest thing I've seen."

I stood next to Hinata and gave her hand a squeeze. She looked up at me and smiled. "Hey, Naruto," I called out. "Tell it again!"

He was happy to comply.

I was glad Ino had suggested this. We could all use a night out. Ino was surrounded by a horde of people on the dance floor. Tenten was attempting to laugh off whatever embarrassing thing a bunch of heart-eyed girls had told her and Neji. I was going to enjoy myself tonight. I was not going to think about Sasuke and the implication about what shishou had told me. I was not going to worry about how we would find who had issued the Ruby order. I was going to have one evening of fun before things got serious again.

Ino pulled Tenten to the dance floor, stumbling a bit as she did. I didn't even want to know how much she had had to drink already. I took Hinata by the hand andlead her to where half of our team was already dancing.. Ino squealed and hugged Hinata before handing her a drink that someone had just bought her.

And we danced and danced and danced until the sun came up.