The One Night Henge

Chapter 10

"I have a recon mission for you." said Tsunade from behind her desk. "You can pick any partener you want as long as they aren't already booked for a different mission." she explained.

"Great. I want Sakura," Genma told her without hesitation. He had a crazy idea with this fortunate event falling in his lap like this. He just hoped that he would be able to get it to work right.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at him, "Sakura, you say?" she asked.

"Yeah. Ino says that she hasn't been out in the field in a while and since this is a simple no mess kind of mission I thought she might like the opportunity," Genma explained, hoping that Tsunade took the bait.

Tsunade sat back in her chair and looked out the window towards the hospital. Sakura had not been on a mission in several months and had only been working at the hospital for regularly scheduled days. No shinobi should be off the mission roster for as long as Sakura had been at that point.

But Tsunade also understood why Sakura didn't want to take missions anymore; she had been that way since returning from the war. She didn't want to bond with another team, didn't want to watch anyone else die without a fighting chance. In a lot of ways, Sakura's phobia reminded Tsunade of Kakashi after his first war and after losing his team.

That thought only pulled her deeper into questions, Why would two people who have experienced the same tragedy avoid each other like Sakura and Kakashi do, they understand each other better than anyone else could. So why did they never bother trying to bond after returning home? Tsunade thought to herself. She would need to look a bit deeper into that.

Tsunade understood the strain that the loss of a teammate had on the surviving members of the team. She and Jiraiya had grown apart after their teammates' departure as well, never really mending that broken bond until it was too late. She hoped that Sakura and Kaashi weren't going down the same path.

Genma's cough reminded Tsunade that he was waiting for her answer. "Fine, you can take Sakura. But you better make sure to stay out of trouble."

"Of course, Hokage-sama," Genma reassured her. He wouldn't need to worry about that; if things went the way he planned he wouldn't be the one going on that mission at all. "When do we leave?" he asked.

"You leave tonight. Use the darkness to get to the lookout point undetected."

"You got it."

Ino was putting together a flower arrangement for an order when Genma walked into the flower shop.

"Hey, dollface."

"Stop calling me that," Ino fumed.

"Alright what should I call you then?" He asked.

"Ino, " she told him. "That is my name, you know."

"So it is, huh?" Now he was just teasing her.

Ino rolled her eyes, "Is there a reason you're here, Genma?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact, I was hoping to get some flowers for a lovely lady. Do you think you could help me out?" he asked.

Ino would never admit that she was a little hurt to hear that Genma had a date with another woman. She knew she had no right to be hurt or upset, though. They weren't dating or anything. I guess that means his interest stops in the same place as every other guy'sIt is Genma, after all. What did you expect?

"Sure, come on," Ino said as she pulled out a vase and began dressing it with ribbon. "What kind of flowers does she like?"

"Ehh, I don't really know. What do you suggest?"